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BBC news 2012-02-26

BBC News with David Austin

A gunman has shot dead two senior American military officers inside the heavily guarded Afghan interior ministry in Kabul. Reports say those killed are a colonel and a major, and the gunman escaped. The Afghan defence minister has apologised for the killings, and a Pentagon statement said the United States condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms. Jonathan Blake reports from Washington.

The reaction from Washington has been strong and swift. The Department of Defence says the killings are unacceptable and are condemned by the United States in the strongest possible terms. The Pentagon says the Afghan defence minister called his US counterpart Leon Panetta to offer his condolences and apologise. Now the US is urging the Afghan government to take action to protect Nato forces after what it described as "a challenging week in the country".

The Taliban said they shot the Americans in retaliation for the burning of copies of the Koran by soldiers at a US base last week.

Reports from Pakistan say the authorities have started demolishing the compound in the garrison city of Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden was killed by American forces last year. Ilyas Khan reports from Islamabad.

Residents have told the BBC that a curfew has been placed on the people in the area, and they have been asked not to leave their homes. But many are reporting seeing and hearing bulldozers and diggers at Osama bin Laden's former compound. The demolition started early in the evening and is still said to be continuing. The site is a large compound with several high walls built around the actual house. The former al-Qaeda leader was killed in a secret US operation there last May.

Syrian activists say at least 41 civilians and 16 soldiers have been killed in the latest violence across the country during the day. The figures cannot be independently verified. Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon.

In Khalidiya, a district of Homs close to Baba Amr, which has also been heavily bombarded recently, thousands of mourners packed a square and chanted anti-regime slogans as six coffins were paraded around in a circle. They were of people killed in the latest violence. At Baba Amr itself, hundreds of armed rebels from the Free Syrian Army are holding out against siege and bombardment by security forces. Throughout the day, International Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent officials tried to negotiate another evacuation of seriously wounded people, but by the end of the day, the talks have failed to produce results.

The South African government says the former President Nelson Mandela is in a stable and comfortable condition after being admitted to hospital. An official statement said Mr Mandela, who's 93, had undergone a diagnostic procedure for a long-standing stomach complaint. A presidential spokesman said Mr Mandela was well and in good spirits. He retired from public life eight years ago.

World News from the BBC

Thousands of Zimbabweans have attended the official 88th birthday celebrations of President Robert Mugabe. The party included a beauty contest and a football match. Mr Mugabe told his supporters that those who opposed his stance against homosexuality and same-sex marriage could go to hell.

International staff working for the United Nations in Sudan have returned to the volatile border state of South Kordofan for the first time in several months. The UN said they returned after being granted permission by the Sudanese authorities in Khartoum.

Judges have dismissed charges against the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in his bribery trial. The case was declared void under the statute of limitations. From Rome, here's Alan Johnston.

Judge Francesca Vitale delivering the court ruling, declaring that the case was being thrown out. The prosecution had argued that Mr Berlusconi had paid his tax lawyer David Mills $600,000 to lie in court about Mr Berlusconi's business interests. Mr Berlusconi always denied the bribery allegation.

The Brazilian military says two soldiers are missing after an explosion at its research station in the Antarctic. The blast was caused by a fire in a machine room at the base near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Brazilian navy says the fire has destroyed the entire station and is still not under control. More than 30 people have been evacuated by helicopter to a Chilean research station nearby.

President Obama's page on the social networking website Google+ has been inundated with messages in Chinese after Internet users in China found that local restrictions have been removed. Every current topic on Mr Obama's page attracted hundreds of Chinese comments to the confusion of American readers. Google+ is normally blocked in China.

That's the BBC News.