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BBC news 2012-04-12

BBC News with Mike Cooper

Sudan has pulled out of negotiations with South Sudan as heavy fighting continues for a second day between the two countries over the disputed Heglig oil field. A senior official in Khartoum said Sudan had also complained to the United Nations and African Union about what he called South Sudan's unjustified aggression. But a spokesman of the South Sudanese army, the SPLA, Colonel Philip Aguer, said Khartoum provoked the fighting.

"It wasn't the decision of the government of South Sudan to attack Heglig, but it was Khartoum, who for a whole year targeted, by air and land, SPLA positions, the extent to which we may publicly know. In just one month, in March, Khartoum carried out 60 air strikes, and in the last 48 hours, the Khartoum government decided to attack SPLA positions in Unity state. The SPLA responded to this attack, fought back and chased the attacker up to Heglig.

The Syrian government has promised to stop military operations on its territory at dawn on Thursday, but it said it would respond to what it called attacks by "armed terrorist groups". Syria has used the expression to refer to operations by opposition forces. Anti-government forces say they'll abide by the truce, provided government troops withdraw their heavy weapons from towns and cities. Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon.

Even as the ceasefire announcement was being made, people in Homs were still hearing the terrifying noises of incoming shellfire that had been traumatising them for weeks. Activists reported a flurry of offensives by troops and tanks in many other parts of the country: the north and northwest, the valley just to the west of Damascus and down in the south near Deraa. But if both sides stick to their words, the sounds of war should die away at dawn. The announcement from the Syrian defence ministry said that after successfully combating the crimes of what it called "armed terrorist groups", the military forces would cease all operations as of Thursday morning.

The United States government has filed an anti-trust case in New York against the technology giant Apple and some major book publishers, claiming they conspired to limit competition for electronic books. The lawsuit accuses Apple of colluding with the book publishers to change the way books were sold. From Washington, here's Peter Bowes.

According to the lawsuit, Apple colluded with publishers, such as Macmillan and Penguin, to limit competition for the pricing of e-books. The lawsuit alleges Apple and the publishers reached an agreement where retail price competition would effectively end and prices would significantly increase, guaranteeing the computer giant a 30% commission on each e-book sold. According to reports, three other publishers have agreed to settle the case.

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A judge in Arkansas has fined the American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson more than $1bn for misleading doctors and patients about the risks of an anti-psychotic drug, Risperdal. The juries found that Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals engaged in false or deceptive acts by claiming that Risperdal was better and safer than competing drugs.

American prosecutors investigating the shooting dead in Florida of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, say they'll now charge the man who fired the gun. The neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman said he shot in self-defence after he was punched and beaten by Mr Martin. Mr Zimmerman was not arrested at the time because a controversial Florida law allows citizens to use lethal force if they feel threatened.

The death has been announced of Ahmed Ben Bella, one of the men who led Algeria's war of independence from France and who went on to become its first elected prime minister and president. He was 96. Peter Hiett looks back at Ahmed Ben Bella's life.

Ahmed Ben Bella spent most of Algeria's long and bloody independence war inside a French prison. He gave political direction, but escaped blame for military mistakes. And on independence in 1962, he became Algeria's first elected prime minister and the following year, its first elected president. Once in power though, not all Ben Bella's policies were popular. And in 1965, he was overthrown and jailed. After more years in detention, Ben Bella went into exile in Switzerland. In 1990, he made a dramatic return to Algeria, but Ben Bella was already old, and he eventually went back into exile.

Nine Peruvian copper miners who've been trapped underground since last Thursday have been brought safely to the surface. Witnesses said the men left the mine one by one at around 7:00 in the morning local time. They had been trapped in a tunnel about 200 metres below the surface when the small informal copper and gold mine partially collapsed. The accident has prompted calls for closer regulation.

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