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BBC News with Fiona McDonald.
Ethiopian government troops and allied local militias have taken control of Mekelle, the capital of the northern province of Tigray. Residents said forces of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front left in large numbers in military trucks as federal troops entered. Witnesses have described widespread looting. BBC Africa's Kaleb Moges reports. The latest conflict began ten days ago after Tigrayan rebel forces seized three airports in the region and reportedly launched an attack on federal positions. The conflict is increasingly becoming a regional diplomatic crisis as Ethiopia accuses Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of supporting the rebels in the north. The last war in northern Ethiopia killed more than half a million people, according to the African Union. Yemen's army says it's striking the Iran-backed Houthis in the capital Sana'a and the group's stronghold of Saada. A spokesperson said it hit what he described as vital targets. Earlier Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said that the capital had been repeatedly attacked by Saudi jets. Since the war with Iran started, the Houthis have declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting oil facilities and shipping. The governing centrist bloc, which is pro-Europe and pro-Ukraine, is set to win Latvia's general election. Exit polls put Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs' United List well ahead, with more than 35 percent of the vote. He's ruled out working with the populist Latvia First, which had courted the Russian diaspora vote. The election was dominated by the threat from neighboring Russia. As the result came in, Mr. Kulbergs expressed surprise at his party's success. "I was not expecting such a result, honestly, because we were not a favorite partner for the rest of the older parties which have been ruling the country, because we want to bring change, we want to bring considerable change and we are, with this result, if we are nominated to continue, I think we can do that." The head of Tennessee's prison system is resigning days after the failed execution of an American woman on death row. Frank Strada said it was in the state's best interest that he went. Sean Dilley has this report. Krista Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed classmate Colleen Slemmer. She spent more than 30 years behind bars after becoming the youngest woman to be sentenced to death. A last minute reprieve was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court but the execution failed after two unsuccessful attempts by state workers to administer lethal doses of pentobarbital. Ms. Pike's lawyers said they believe the drug was injected wholly or partly into her body rather than into her bloodstream. They say the 50-year-old is now in a coma in hospital. World news from the BBC. Spanish police say they've arrested three members of a far-right group and fired rubber bullets in the capital Madrid as tens of thousands continue to protest about the housing crisis. Police said the far-right activists had tried to reach demonstrators camped out in the Puerta del Sol square. The main contenders in Brazil's presidential election on Sunday have made their final push for votes, with polls suggesting a very tight race. President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva told supporters in São Paulo it was a choice between democracy and barbarism. He accused his main rival Flávio Bolsonaro, the right-wing senator and son of the former president, of being a gang leader backed by organized crime. Football, England have trounced Croatia in the UEFA Nations League, winning 7-0 in the port city of Rijeka. The England coach Thomas Tuchel said he hoped it would heal the disappointment of the World Cup. England went out in the semifinals. Here's John Murray. England produced the complete performance against top-level opponents they've been looking for. They drove forward right from the outset, and a Croatian team with plenty of stars of their own couldn't live with England, who recorded a record win for this competition. Starting for England for the first time, the impressive Alex Scott began the move that led to Harry Kane opening the scoring and the floodgates in the eighth minute. By half-time, it was 4-0, as the brilliant Bellingham, Gordon and Saka made it goals for all of the front four, and there was no let up as Kane, Saka and substitute Rogers added further goals as Croatia subsided to their heaviest defeat. A new lizard species has been discovered high up in the Peruvian Andes. Liolaemus archipensis, as it's been called, is up to eight centimeters long and survives on a diet of spiders, beetles and insect larvae. The research team said finding a new species represented an important advance for biodiversity. And that's the latest BBC News. |