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BBC news 2012-02-11

BBC News with David Austin

The government and rebels in Syria have blamed each other for two bombs in the city of Aleppo that killed 28 people and wounded more than 200 others. The Syrian government said terrorist gangs targeted a military intelligence complex and a security base. The head of the rebel Free Syrian Army, Arif al-Hamoud, told the BBC it was operating in the area at the time but was not responsible for the blasts.

"We launched an attack on two security headquarters in Aleppo this morning. The point of this attack was to target the security forces who were heading to districts in Aleppo to repress demonstrations. Following the attack, there was a big explosion in the military building. We suspect it might have been explosives planted by the regime to prevent any storming of the building."

Syrian government tanks and artillery have continued to bombard parts of the city of Homs, where hundreds of rebel fighters are believed to be entrenched. After a week under siege and shell fire, conditions in Homs are reported to be getting desperate.

One of the sons of the late Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has threatened to lead an uprising against the transitional authorities now running Libya. Saadi Gaddafi made the threat in a television interview given from Niger, the country to which he fled after his father was overthrown. Jonathan Head reports from Tripoli.

Could Muammar Gaddafi's playboy son Saadi really launch a Gaddafi comeback in Libya? That's what he's just claimed in an interview with the al-Arabiya television network. He said he had many supporters still even inside the transitional council which has governed Libya since overthrowing his father. The new Libyan authorities are worried about possible actions by Gaddafi loyalists. Saadi Gaddafi probably has plenty of money and weapons, but the likelihood of him leading a full-scale uprising seems remote given the broad support in Libya for the new regime.

Five ministers have resigned from the Greek coalition government after refusing to back fresh austerity measures demanded by the eurozone in return for a bailout. The leader of a junior party in the coalition described the demands as humiliating, but the Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos warned of uncontrolled chaos if the country defaulted.

The international agency Standard & Poor's has lowered its credit rating for 34 Italian banks. The downgrade affects nearly all the Italian banks rated by the agency. Here's our economics correspondent Andrew Walker.

Standard & Poor's has lowered its general view of the soundness of the Italian banking system. The agency now puts it in the same category as Brazil and Mexico. This partly reflects the high level of Italian government debt and possible spillovers to the banks. S&P says that banks' profits and the country's economic growth are likely to be weak and banks may find it harder to borrow the money they need.

Andrew Walker

World News from the BBC

The Nigerian authorities have recaptured a man suspected of masterminding the deadly bombing of a church on Christmas Day. The man, Kabiru Sokoto, who's accused of being a member of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, was first arrested last month. His escape the next day led to the sacking of Nigeria's national police chief. Police said Kabiru Sokoto was recaptured in the eastern state of Taraba.

The Somali militant group al-Shabab has formally declared its allegiance to al-Qaeda. In an Internet video, the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, welcomed the statement, describing it as very good news. The video also features the chairman of al-Shabab, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, promising to support al-Qaeda. The transitional government in Somalia said both groups acted against Islamic law and killed innocent Somalis.

The Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon has called on Britain and Argentina to avoid any further escalation in tension over the Falkland Islands. Mr Ban made the appeal as Argentina lodged a formal complaint to the UN after Britain sent one of its most modern warships to the islands. Britain says the ship is carrying out routine operations. The two countries went to war in 1982 over the islands. Speaking through a translator, the Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman pressed his government's case at a news conference in New York.

"Argentina urges the UK once again to comply with the UN resolutions to sit down at the negotiating table and to refrain from this military escalation that they are carrying out in the South Atlantic."

An American woman has admitted that she was guilty of kidnapping a child she raises as her own for more than two decades. Ann Pettway told a court in New York she'd taken Carlina White from a hospital in the city as a three-week-old baby in 1987. Carlina grew up under another name, but as she aged, she became suspicious about her own identity.

BBC News