Zimbabwe opposition retains gains

Zimbabwe's electoral commission has released seven more results from a partial recount of last month's parliamentary elections.
None of the original results were overturned, making it difficult for the ruling Zanu-PF party to overturn an opposition majority in the lower house.
Mr Tsvangirai says he won presidential and parliamentary polls

Results have still not been released from the parallel presidential poll.
The failure to do so, four weeks on from the vote, is causing mounting concern internationally.
US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said the level of government intimidation in Zimbabwe was now so high that a fair run-off would not be possible.
She said the only solution was an inclusive government, led by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Recount unfinished
The state-run Zimbabwe Herald newspaper said Zanu-PF had retained two seats and the opposition MDC four seats, while a breakaway MDC group held the seventh.
LOWER HOUSE SEATS
MDC and allies - 110 seats before recount
Zanu-PF - 97 seats before recount
23 seats subject to recount
13 of these unchanged
10 seats still being recounted
Zanu-PF needs to gain nine of these 10 to be sure of a majority
Another six have already been declared, but in 10 the recount is still unfinished a week after it was announced.
The BBC's Will Ross in Johannesburg, South Africa says the electoral commission is not making the process easy to follow, and results are being issued in a haphazard fashion.
There is still no word on the presidential election, although there are reports that results will be released when the parliamentary recount ends.
The MDC says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the election outright, while independent monitors say he fell just short of the 50% threshold to avoid a run-off.
Zanu-PF also says there is likely to be a run-off, as no candidate gained more than 50% of the vote.
The results come a day after the MDC's main Harare office and the headquarters of an independent monitoring network were raided by police.
Police said they had arrested 215 people suspected of involvement in political violence.
The opposition said those detained had been taking refuge from attacks by ruling party activists in other parts of the country, and told the Associated Press news agency they included pregnant women and men with broken bones.
Computers and documents were also seized in the raid.
The police say they were looking for those behind political violence
The MDC says its activists have been attacked around the country - with at least 10 killed - since the elections.
But the police and Zanu-PF say that no-one has died in political violence.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has fled Zimbabwe, fearing for his safety and is touring African countries, trying to persuade them to press President Robert Mugabe to step down.

Girl killed in fresh Gaza clashes

Israeli forces have clashed with Palestinian militants during a raid on northern Gaza, hours after rejecting a truce offered by Hamas.
Palestinian doctors say a 14-year-old girl died and eight other people were injured in the raid, in Beit Lahiya.
They say the casualties included the girl's mother, but were mostly gunmen involved in clashes with the Israelis.
Reports say the target of the raid was local Hamas leader Hassan Marouf, but the Israeli army refused to comment.
The Associated Press news agency quotes witnesses as saying the Israelis seized him from his home amid heavy fighting.
The Israeli army said none of its troops were injured.
The raid began before dawn, with an Israeli undercover force entering northern Gaza backed by tanks and aircraft.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants fired at them with machine guns, mortars and homemade bombs.
On Friday Hamas proposed a six-month "period of quiet" in Gaza, which it said could then be extended to the West Bank.
Israel dismissed the proposal as a ruse to allow Hamas to "re-arm and re-group".

Scuffles in Japan at torch relay

and ground footage of the latest Olympic torch scuffles in Japan.
The Olympic torch has met with more protests and scuffles on the latest leg of its troubled relay in the Japanese city of Nagano.
With security tight along the route, two demonstrators tried to seize the torch and a third threw eggs at the flame. All were arrested.
But correspondents say the relay passed off without serious disruption.
The streets were lined with thousands of Chinese supporters, as well as dozens of protesters.
A sea of wellwishers greeted the torch as the final runner completed the relay at a city park.
Officials said four people were slightly injured in separate incidents, and a smoke-emitting tube was thrown at the relay without effect, according to reports.
More than 3,000 police officers were brought in to guard the event after demonstrations had plagued the flame in some other cities on its route.
In a last-minute change, the Nagano leg of the relay began in a parking lot rather than a 1,400-year-old Buddhist temple.
The temple was withdrawn as the starting point after objections over China's crackdown in Tibet.
The start of the relay, with the torch first carried by the manager of Japan's national baseball team, was closed to the public, as were rest stops on the route.
Riot police
Protests elsewhere on the torch's progress - and the huge security operations they have spawned - have turned the celebratory tour of 20 countries into what analysts describe as a public-relations disaster for Beijing.

In pictures: Japan relay
Earlier, Japan told Chinese Olympics organisers that the large team of security officers who have accompanied the flame elsewhere would not be welcome here, says BBC Japan correspondent Chris Hogg.
Instead riot police in running gear surrounded the athletes carrying the torch along each stage of the four-hour relay.
Two columns of 40 police officers each flanked the torch, making it hard for spectators to see much, the organisers admit.
In advance of the torch's arrival, buses full of riot police patrolled the streets and police helicopters hovered overhead.
Vietnam expulsion
Japan, which has had a troubled relationship with China, took extensive steps to ensure that any disruption was kept to a minimum.
Over the following few days, the torch will stop in South Korea, North Korea, and Vietnam.
In Hanoi, Vietnam, authorities expelled a US citizen of Vietnamese origin who they say was planning protests against the torch, reported state media.
Protests in Athens, London, Paris and San Francisco - where demonstrators angry at the Chinese occupation of Tibet tried to disrupt processions - have dominated media coverage of the torch relay.
However, the flame has made relatively peaceful progress through other cities, including Bangkok in Thailand and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

UN probes US Syria reactor claim

The UN's nuclear watchdog has said it will investigate US claims that Syria was building a secret nuclear reactor with North Korean help.
The International Atomic Energy Agency criticised the US for withholding its intelligence until seven months after Israel bombed the site
The US said the alleged Syrian reactor "was not for peaceful purposes".
Syria has said the US claim is "ridiculous" and has denied any nuclear links to North Korea.
The site of the alleged reactor, said to be like one in North Korea, was bombed by Israel in 2007.
'Unused military site'
The director general of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, has now been briefed by the US on their claims but "deplores" the delay, a statement from the agency said.
"The agency will treat this information with the seriousness it deserves and will investigate the veracity of the information," the statement said.
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
6 Sept 2007: Israel bombs site in Syria
1 Oct: Syria's President Assad tells BBC site was military
24 Oct: New satellite images taken show site bulldozed clear
24 April 2008: US claims Syrian site was nuclear reactor
US claims raise wider doubts
Full text: US allegations
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The agency was critical of both the US delay in releasing the information and of Israel's bombing of the site before the IAEA could inspect it.
"The director general views the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the non-proliferation regime," the statement said.
The statement is a clear indication that Mr ElBaradei is not accepting the US claims at face value and wants his own first-hand information, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall.
Syrian officials have said the site that was bombed by Israel on 6 September 2007 was an unused military facility under construction. Building on the site had stopped some time before the air strike, the Syrians said.
On Thursday, American security officials showed members of Congress evidence they said proved Syria was building a nuclear reactor with North Korean assistance.
Among the evidence they displayed were pictures - said to have been obtained by Israel - allegedly taken inside the facility showing the reactor core being built.
The images showed striking similarities between the Syrian facility and the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, the US said.
However, the facility was not yet operational and there was no fuel for the reactor, officials said.
US concern
The White House said Syria's "cover-up" operation after the Israeli air strike reinforced its belief that the alleged reactor "was not intended for peaceful activities".
Images released by the CIA- footage courtesy of US Government video
In late October 2007, an independent American research organisation, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), released pre- and post-strike satellite images of the site which indicated it had been bulldozed flat after the bombing.
"Until 6 September, 2007, the Syrian regime was building a covert nuclear reactor in its eastern desert capable of producing plutonium," the White House statement said.
"The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities."
The statement added that the US had long been "seriously concerned about North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and its proliferation activities".
'Ridiculous allegations'
Syrian officials have denied any North Korean involvement in their country.
"These allegations are ridiculous," Syria's ambassador to the UK, Sami Khiyami, told the BBC.
"We are used to such allegations now, since the day the United States has invaded Iraq - you remember all the theatrical presentations concerning the WMDs [weapons of mass destruction] in Iraq."
Mr Khiyami said the facility was a deserted military building that had "nothing to do with a reactor".
Syria is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which gives it the right to enrich its own fuel for civil nuclear power, under inspection from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
North Korea has previously denied transferring nuclear technology to Syria.
Ulterior motive?
The White House insists it is committed to the ongoing six-nation diplomacy, between North Korea and the US, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia that led to a landmark deal with Pyongyang, in February 2007.
North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in return for aid and its removal from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism. But the US has accused Pyongyang of missing the deadline to make a full nuclear declaration as promised.
The CIA briefing and statement coincided with the end of a two-day meeting between US and North Korean officials on Pyongyang's nuclear programme, which both sides say went well - fuelling speculation that a deal may be imminent.
But questions are being asked whether the reactor claim is designed to reinforce those diplomatic efforts or an attempt by some in the administration to undermine them.

Clinton 'wins key Democrat vote'

Hillary Clinton has beaten Democratic rival Barack Obama in a critical vote in the US state of Pennsylvania, according to early results.
However, it is not yet clear how large her margin of victory will be. Analysts say she needs a big win to keep her campaign alive, but she disputes that.

Hillary Clinton has tried to play down the need to win by a large margin

Mr Obama had predicted he would lose but said he had made big progress in reducing Mrs Clinton's initial lead.
Based on 10% of returns counted, Mrs Clinton led Mr Obama by 55% to 45%.
Preliminary exit polls for the Associated Press and US television networks suggested a high turnout among voters over 60 and that six in 10 voters were women - both groups which have favoured Mrs Clinton.

Hillary Clinton's threat to Iran
About a quarter of those surveyed said they had a postgraduate education and about the same said they had a household income of more than $100,000 last year. Such groups have tended to prefer Mr Obama.
In the final hours of campaigning, Mrs Clinton tried to play down the idea she needed a large margin of victory, saying: "I think a win under any circumstances is a terrific achievement."
And she highlighted Mr Obama's significant edge in terms of spending, asking: "Maybe the question ought to be, why can't he close the deal with his extraordinary financial advantage, why can't he win in a state like this, if that is the way it turns out to be?"
Mrs Clinton earlier emphasised what she says is a strength - her leadership ability and foreign affairs credentials.
As the candidates appeared on the US morning talk show circuit, Mrs Clinton was asked how she would respond if Iran launched a nuclear attack on Israel, and replied with a stark warning.
DEMOCRATIC DELEGATES
Barack Obama:
Pledged delegates: 1,415
Super-delegates: 233
Total: 1,648
Hillary Clinton:
Pledged delegates: 1,251
Super-delegates: 258
Total: 1,509
Source: AP estimates on 22 April
In pictures: Pennsylvania primary
Justin Webb's blog
Wagnerian drama
Pennsylvania voters' views
"If I'm the president, we will attack Iran... we would be able to totally obliterate them," she told TV network ABC.
"That's a terrible thing to say, but those people who run Iran need to understand that, because that perhaps will deter them from doing something that would be reckless, foolish and tragic."
In response, Mr Obama said: "Using words like 'obliterate' - it doesn't actually produce good results, and so I'm not interested in sabre-rattling."
He said only that Iran should know he would respond "forcefully" to an attack on any US ally.
The US fears Iran is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and could use them against Israel. Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for power generation.
Last big state
With four million registered Democrats, and 158 pledged delegates to the Democratic Party's nominating convention in August, Pennsylvania is the last of the big states to hold a primary.

Philadelphia residents discuss the Democratic presidential hopefuls

Although Mrs Clinton is behind in the delegate count and in the total votes cast, she has won most of the big state contests.
And the white working class voters who have formed the backbone of her support so far are a significant constituency in the state.
With the delegates split in proportion to the vote, neither candidate is expected to win sufficient pledged delegates to seal the nomination in the remaining primaries, and the two are courting 800 or so unelected "super-delegates".
Pennsylvania provides a key test for Mrs Clinton's argument - which she hopes will sway the super-delegates - that only she will be able to secure wins in critical large states come November's presidential election.
Clinton 'favourite'
Ahead of the vote, the BBC's North America editor Justin Webb said the state's voters had the power to keep Mrs Clinton's White House dream alive by giving her a substantial victory, to do it further damage by delivering a close result, or to destroy it by handing a win to Mr Obama.

Mr Obama said he had made progress against the favourite, Mrs Clinton

On TV on Tuesday, Mrs Clinton predicted victory, by whatever margin, and said if Mr Obama failed to win it would call into question "his ability to win the big states".
Mr Obama conceded that his rival "has to be heavily favoured to win" in Pennsylvania, but dismissed the big-state argument, saying there was "no chance" of the Democrats losing New York or California in the presidential election, no matter who the candidate was.
The Republican Party also held a primary in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, with presumptive nominee John McCain set to take all the delegates on offer.
Senator McCain spent the day in Ohio - expected to be a key battleground state in November - where he spoke of the need to create new opportunities to replace lost blue-collar jobs.

Darfur deaths 'could be 300,000'

An estimated 300,000 people may have died as a result of the Darfur conflict, the UN head of humanitarian affairs John Holmes says.
That is an increase of 50% from the previous figure of 200,000 killed in the five years of fighting in the region in western Sudan.
More than two million have been displaced by the conflict

Mr Holmes gave the revised total to a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York.
Sudan disputes the figure, saying 10,000 are now known to have died.
The previous figure of 200,000 came from a 2006 study by the World Health Organisation.
It included those killed in the fighting itself as well as people who died from disease and malnutrition because of the conflict.
The 2006 figure "must be much higher now - perhaps as much as half again," Mr Holmes said.
He said the new total was an extrapolation from the previous figure and was not based on a new study.
Disputed figure
Speaking later to reporters, Mr Holmes added: "I am not trying to suggest this is a very scientifically-based figure. It is not a very scientifically-based figure, except on the basis of extrapolation."

Mr Holmes' comments were hotly disputed by the Sudanese ambassador to the UN, Abdul Mahmoud Abdel-Halim, who accused him of exaggerating the figure.

"These remarks by Holmes are not helpful, are not correct, are not credible," Mr Abdel-Halim told the Reuters news agency.
"He should tell us who made that study, who commissioned it and how was it done."
Mr Abdel-Halim put the number who died at 10,000, which is 1,000 higher than the Khartoum government's previous estimated.
The Sudanese number only comprises those who have died in combat, he said.
Peacekeeping force
The Security Council was also told that the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur is unlikely to be up to full strength this year.
The joint UN-AU special representative for Darfur, Rodolphe Adada, said troop levels in the UNAMID mission he leads "is at less than 40% of its mandated level of 19,555 and it is very unlikely to achieve full-operating capability before 2009".
After the meeting, he suggested the force could reach 80% of its strength at the end of this year as attempts were made to accelerate deployment.
The conflict in Darfur in western Sudan began in 2003 after rebel groups began attacking government targets, saying their communities were being discriminated against in favour of Arabs.
In retaliation, the government launched a military and police campaign in Darfur, prompting 2m people to leave their homes.
Arab Janjaweed militia are accused of following up on government raids on villages with a campaign of murder and rape.
The Sudanese government denies links to the Janjaweed, but admits establishing "self-defence militias". It says the problems have been exaggerated.

Colombia orders Uribe ally arrest

Colombian prosecutors have ordered the arrest of a cousin and key ally of President Alvaro Uribe over alleged ties to paramilitary groups.
Mario Uribe Escobar, who stepped down as a senator last October, is accused of criminal conspiracy.
He went to the Costa Rican embassy in Bogota seeking asylum, but his request has been turned down.
Mario Uribe was an influential political figure

Mario Uribe, one of the most prominent figures arrested over alleged paramilitary links, denies wrongdoing.
A jailed former paramilitary leader, Salvatore Mancuso, has alleged that he met Mario Uribe several times and was asked by him to support his senate campaign in 2002.
Former paramilitary commanders have also testified that militias reached agreement with him to help him take over farmland.
A statement from the prosecutor's office accused Mario Uribe of entering into "agreements to promote illegal armed groups," the Associated Press news agency said.
'Inappropriate'
Mr Uribe went to the Costa Rican embassy shortly after the arrest warrant was issued.
But the Costa Rican foreign ministry said it would be "inappropriate to grant asylum to Mario Uribe."

To date, inquiries have been opened into dozens of current or former members of congress over their alleged ties to the United Self-defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries in what has been dubbed the "parapolitics" scandal.
The scandal is inching closer to President Alvaro Uribe

Most of those being investigated are allies of President Uribe. The president remains popular, however, for overseeing aggressive military action against leftist rebels.
He also negotiated the 2003 peace deal that saw paramilitary leaders surrender and demobilise 31,000 of their men in exchange for reduced jail terms and protection from extradition.
The right-wing militias were created by landowners and drug-traffickers to combat left-wing rebels and anyone suspected of being a sympathiser.
The paramilitary groups, including the AUC, and the leftist rebels are listed by the US and the European Union as terrorist organisations.