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BBC news 2012-02-09

BBC News with Iain Purdon

Turkey says it wants to build an international coalition to make Syria stop its onslaught on opposition strongholds like the city of Homs. The Turkish foreign minister said his government was ready to host an international conference. Sebastian Usher reports.

International diplomatic efforts on Syria hit a major roadblock with the veto by Russia and China of a UN Security Council resolution on Saturday. But with the images of death and destruction from Homs in recent days, calls for international action to stop the killing have only grown more urgent. Turkey is now trying to keep up the pressure on President Assad. The Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has proposed an international conference hosted by Turkey, saying that if the UN Security Council can't protect civilians, then like-minded countries should get together to do so. He's now heading to the US for talks although it's not clear what new plan of action Turkey is advocating.

Meanwhile, in the city of Homs, residents say the Syrian army has been mounting its heaviest bombardment so far. The BBC's Paul Wood has recently left Homs.

If I was to use one word to sum up the mood as we left, it would be despair, people absolutely terrified. You know, we heard the army is coming, the army is using chemical weapons or this kind of thing absolutely beside themselves, and that is the effect that constant shelling produces. We counted hundreds of what appear to be tank shells and heavy artillery shells, hundreds of mortars. They are using airburst shells as well. No doubt there's a lot of sniper fire, and it appears to be deliberately directed at civilians. It's not clear exactly what the Syrian forces are targeting, whether they are trying to deliberately hit military targets of the Free Syrian Army, but whatever their intention, civilians are undoubtedly bearing the brunt.

Security forces in the Maldives have used batons and fired tear gas to break up a rally in the capital Male in support of the former President Mohamed Nasheed. Andrew North reports.

I'm in the main square in Male where large numbers of army and police in riot gear are still cordoning it off after the clashes with supporters of the former President Mohamed Nasheed. We saw several of his supporters being taken away in plastic handcuffs, among them, one of his top aides. The former president himself is reported to have been injured in the clashes, and he is now thought to be in his home. People are still lingering around the square, denouncing what they say was a coup. There's a smell of tear gas in the air and still a sense that there could be more trouble.

The Mexican navy has found two mass graves containing at least 10 bodies in the eastern state of Veracruz. They said they'd been led to the graves by a man they'd arrested on Tuesday, who said that he was a member of the country's most powerful drug gang, the Zetas.

World News from the BBC

After more than two decades of drilling, Russian scientists say they've reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake in Antarctica. Lake Vostok is beneath nearly 4km of ice. Jonathan Amos reports.

This has been one of the great Antarctic ventures of recent decades. Radar surveys have indicated the presence of a lake six times the size of Luxemburg, the base of the ice sheet. Its water is kept liquid by the warmth of the rock bed and by the immense pressure of the overlying ice. Scientists expect their studies of Lake Vostok to tell them about the past climate of Antarctica, but they are fascinated also by the life forms they may find down there. The water has very probably been cut off from the outside world for millennia, in which case any microorganisms in the lake will almost certainly have evolved into new forms.

The England football manager Fabio Capello has resigned. The Italian has been in dispute with the Football Association after it removed John Terry as England captain without consulting him first. Capello publicly criticised the decision on Terry, who's facing charges of racially abusing another player. Capello had a meeting with the Football Association this afternoon. The former chief executive of the FA, Brian Barwick, said the meeting had ended amicably.

"My understanding, and I have spoken to key people at the FA, I understand that Fabio actually resigned, that there was no ill feeling, that he left on very good terms, that the whole meeting was played out with proper decorum."

Ivory Coast will face Zambia in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, the continent's biggest sporting tournament. Zambia shocked Ghana, one of the favourites, with a 1-0 win in the first of the semi-finals. Ghana missed a penalty and had a man sent off. And then in the other match, Ivory Coast beat Mali 1-0 also to book their place in the final.