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BBC news 2012-08-22

BBC news with Iain Purdon.

The body of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has arrived in Addis Ababa from Brussles where he died after a long illness. Large crowds carrying candles rattled along the hearse as it made its way through the city. Earlier, the Ethiopian government said it would continue the policies of Mr. Meles. Here is Peter Biles.

Meles Zenawi was credited with having been the architect of economic progress. Growth in Ethiopia has been as high as 11%. However, he recently admitted that democracy was a work in progress and his administration had a reputation for being intolerant of dissent. Internationally, though, Ethiopia's Prime Minister was a key ally of the West in the turbulent region of Africa. He sent troops into neighboring Somalia at least twice. The Islamist militants there al-Shabab have said that following the death of Mr. Meles, Ethiopia will now crumble.

Syria's deputy prime minister says the government is prepared to discuss the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad as part of an unconditional talks to end the 17 months of escalating conflict. Qadri Jamil made the remark at a news conference in Moscow. Grant Ferrett reports.

The Syrian government has said that before it is prepared for unconditional talks but the deputy prime minister Qadri Jamil has gone further, explicitly saying everything could be discussed including the resignation of President Assad. Mr. Jamil has been in office for just two months and recently suggested there could be no military solution to Syria's problems. But the United States, one of many governments that demand the removal of Mr. Assad, played down the remarks. A US State Department spokeswoman said they amounted to nothing new.

In the latest fighting in Syria, opposition activists and residents say at least 20 young men were killed, many shot at point-blank range when government forces seized a suburb of Damascus. Troops and tanks overrun Mouadamiya after two days of shelling. And in Syrian second biggest city Aleppo, the opposition said the attacks by government aircraft killed more than a dozen people.

The managers of the Marikana platinum mine in South Africa have agreed to meet striking workers after violent confrontations in which 34 people were shot dead by police. The South African Council of Churches organized the talks and said it hoped agreement could be reached to end what it called a very sad situation. Navdip Dhariwal is in Johannesburg.

The South African Council of Churches had a long history of involvement in national politics. Its President Bishop Jo Seoka along with other clergymen visited the mine to hear the workers' grievances. The influential group have persuaded Lonmin mine management to sit down and meet with the workforce. Early in the day, the company had dropped an ultimatum that staff should return to work or face the sack. The announcement came after President Jacob Zuma's office raised concerns staff would lose their jobs during a period of national mourning.

World news from the BBC.

More than 400 African migrants have arrived on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa in recent days after crossing the Mediterranean by boats. Many of them are from Tunisia and sub-Saharan Africa. On Monday, Italian coast guards rescued  further 80 people from an overcrowded dinghy. Last year, tens of thousands of refugees fled the uprisings in Tunisia and Libya by sea.

The US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has called on his fellow Republican and Congressman Todd Akin to withdraw from the race for a senate seat over controversial remarks he made about rape. From Washington, Jenner Bryon reports.

Todd Akin has lost the support of his Party's leadership and its campaign cash. And the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has now called for him to step aside, saying it would be in the best interests of the country. But Mr. Akin believes conservative voters in Missouri support his views on abortion and will forgive his comments on a radio talk show that women who are raped legitimately in other words, forcibly, rarely get pregnant because their bodies have a way of trying to shut the whole thing down. He later apologized, saying the mistake was in his words and not his heart but added that his views on abortion which strengthen the country and the Republican Party.

The veteran American endurance swimmer Diana Nyad has abandoned her fourth attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. The 62-year-old had hopped to become the first person without a shark cage to complete the 166km journey. For two days she braved storm, strong currents and jellyfish stings but had to give up about the halfway.

A court in Sri Lanka has given suspended prison sentences to three French tourists charged with taking photographs deemed insulting to Buddhists. They were arrested when the owner of photo laboratory alerted police to the photos which showed them pretending to kiss a statue of  Buddha at a temple.

BBC news.