BBC News with Jerry Smit
The international envoy Kofi Annan is planning new proposals to revive his faltering peace plan for Syria. Diplomats say he will on Thursday urge the UN Security Council to create a new contact group to help its efforts to end the violence. It would include permanent members of the council and key regional powers. Reporting from the United Nations, Nada Tawfik.
Mr Annan hopes that by engaging countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, efforts to begin a political transition in the country can get underway. However, there are already signs that his new proposal will not be immediately welcomed in the council. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking from Azerbaijan dismissed Iranian involvement in any process, saying it would be 'unimaginable to invite a country stage-managing the Assad regime's assault on its people'.
Syrian opposition activists say government forces in Syria have killed about 87 civilians in the central Hama province in what they calling a massacre similar to that at Houla. Activists say that the pro-government militia accompanying official security and military forces took part in an attack on the village of Qubair, shooting many people at close range and stabbing others to death. There's been no independent confirmation of the reports.
The US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the American use of drone strikes in Pakistan will continue. Speaking during a visit to neighboring India, Mr Panetta said that the US had made it very clear that they were going to continue to defend themselves. Pakistan's foreign ministry has protested about such attacks.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the construction of 300 new homes for Israeli settlers in an existing Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. The announcement came shortly after the Israeli parliament voted on a proposal that would have legalize several existing homes built on private Palestinian land in the same area. Mark Toner, a spokesman for the US State Department, criticized the move.
"We are very clear that continued Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank undermines peace efforts and contradicts Israeli commitments and obligations, including the 2003 roadmap. Our position on settlement remains unchanged. We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity."
Nato-led troops in Afghanistan say they've appointed a team to assess an operation in Logar province in the east of the country. Afghan officials say at least 18 civilians, including women and children, died in a Nato airstrike late on Tuesday.
The latest figures from the US Central Bank indicate a general improvement in the American economy. The Federal Reserve survey showed growth across the country in the period of April and May. The bank said economic activity was expanding at a moderate pace – a more positive assessment than two months ago.
World News from the BBC
The business social networking site LinkedIn says it's investigating claims that more than 6 million of its users' passwords have been leaked onto the internet. With more details, here's Leana Hosea.
Hackers have posted a file containing millions of encrypted passwords onto a Russian web forum, inviting people to help with the decryption to enable them to access people's accounts. LinkedIn holds users' personal information which might get into the hands of criminals, and experts advise members to change their passwords immediately. LinkedIn, which has over 150 million users, has twitted that they are investigating.
Some of the tents have been cleared in Yemen's capital Sanaa from the area that became the center of the protest movement against the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The clean-up for the area, now known as Change Square, is sanctioned by the government. But activists from the main Islamist party, Islah, appeared to be carrying it out. The clearing of the square was part of the political agreement that eventually saw President Saleh resign.
Archeologists in London say they've unearthed remains of an Elizabethan theater, in which some of Shakespeare's early plays were seen. The Curtain was probably only the second purposed-built theater in England; the first, known simply as 'The Theater', which gave them their name. Our arts reporter Vincent Dowd reports.
The Curtain Theater opened in 1577 – a year after The Theater nearby. Most experts reckon that was the first dedicated theater building in England. Earlier, performances had been in tavern yards or at court. The approximate location of the Curtain was already known, but now experts of the Museum of London say they've identified remarkably intact elements of walling and the yard where poorer theater-goers stood. Vincent Dowd.
BBC News
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