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BBC news 2012-01-13

BBC News with Kathy Clugston

A hearing at a United States military base has recommended that Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking a huge number of classified government documents, should be sent for court-martial. If convicted, he could face life in prison. Jonathan Blake reports from Washington.

Private Bradley Manning was arrested in May 2010. The 24-year-old from Oklahoma is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the Wikileaks website while working as a US army analyst in Iraq. There are 22 separate charges against him for distributing state secrets and aiding the enemy. At a pre-trial hearing, defence lawyers said the soldier was emotionally troubled and that the government had failed him, but prosecutors described the evidence against Manning as irrefutable.

The Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is holding talks with trade union leaders as a nationwide strike threatens to shut down the country's oil industry. It's the first time the president has become directly involved since the industrial action began four days ago. Mark Lobel reports from Lagos.

The threat by the main oil and gas union to disrupt oil production could be a tipping point in the dispute over a recent doubling of petrol prices. The union workers announced the action after the government removed a subsidy on fuel, which has badly affected transportation costs and Nigeria's informal economy. Any oil shutdown would seriously damage the Nigerian economy as it accounts for 80% of state revenues.

A former member of the British royal family is facing charges in a Turkish court. Prince Andrew's former wife, Sarah Ferguson, made an undercover trip to Turkey in 2008 to examine orphanages for a British television programme. Secretly filmed images appeared to show children tied to their beds. The court on Thursday accused her in her absence of going against the law and violating the privacy of five children.

The director of public prosecutions in Britain has announced that no criminal charges will be brought against British intelligence officers over their alleged complicity in the torture of two terrorism suspects. It was alleged the two men were tortured in foreign countries before being sent to the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Hours after its launch, the election campaign website of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been flooded with calls for his resignation. Mr Putin's aides blamed a hacking attack. From Moscow, Daniel Sandford reports.

Vladimir Putin's presidential election website putin2012.ru went live with a little under eight weeks to go to polling day. The site includes a suggestions page, and immediately it was being bombarded by readers supporting requests that he resign. There were more positive posts and ones asking him to improve things like housing and infrastructure. But the ones being discussed with great glee on social networking sites were those where he was asked to leave politics.

World News from the BBC

The US State Department has imposed sanctions on three international energy companies for dealing with Iran. They include China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which the State Department said was the largest supplier of refined petroleum products to Iran. Two other energy companies based in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are also affected.

Roman Catholic bishops in the Democratic Republic of Congo have denounced the recent elections which gave President Joseph Kabila another term in office. A statement issued by the bishops complains of cheating, lies and terror. Grant Ferrett reports.

The Congolese bishops are unstinting in their criticism of November's presidential election. They point to violence and irregularities, and call on the election commission to correct what they call serious errors or resign. Congo's most senior Roman Catholic clergyman, the Archbishop of Kinshasa Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo, has gone still further. He's urging foreign governments not to recognise Mr Kabila as president, and he's planning what he says will be a non-violent protest next month.

A Moroccan rap singer who made his name criticising the power of the monarchy has been released after serving four months in prison for assault. As he was released, Mouad Belrhouat, better known as al-Haqed, said he would carry on performing in protest at what he called the contempt ordinary Moroccans suffer at the hands of the state. The trial was seen as an early test of the Islamist party now leading the government and its commitment to ensuring the independence of the judiciary.

Italy's highest court has rejected a proposed referendum on electoral reform. More than a million people have signed a petition calling for a plebiscite on whether to scrap or change an electoral law brought in by the former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi seven years ago. The law is controversial because it gives the coalition that wins most votes, bonus seats and an automatic majority in parliament.

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