| BBC News with Marion Marshall Stronger-than-expected official figures in the United States show that unemployment fell last month to 8.5% - the lowest level in nearly three years. The number of new jobs rose by about 200,000. A BBC correspondent in New York says that if the employment trend continues, it'll help blunt attempts by President Obama's Republican opponents to discredit his economic stewardship ahead of the presidential election in November. The president welcomed the figures, adding that more needed to be done. "The American people, I think, rightly understand that there are still a lot of struggles that people are going through out there. A lot of families are still having a tough time. A lot of small businesses are still having a tough time. But we're starting to rebound. We're moving in the right direction. We have made real progress. Now is not the time to stop." The Syrian government has blamed terrorists for a suicide bomb attack in Damascus, but the opposition accuses the government of staging it as a diversionary tactic. Syrian officials say up to 25 people were killed and many more wounded. A British reporter who went to the scene said he saw body parts and blood, but no actual bodies or injured people. Tens of thousands of Yemenis have once again held street protests to put pressure on President Saleh to honour his agreement to step down next month. The slogan for this week's rallies after Friday prayers was for the authorities to release all detainees jailed in connection with the anti-government demonstrations. Police in northern Nigeria say at least 14 people have been killed by gunmen in drive-by shootings. In recent weeks, the Islamist group Boko Haram has repeatedly targeted Christians. Mark Lobel reports from Lagos. While they were mourning a loved one and deciding what to do with the corpse, relatives and friends of a person shot on Thursday were also gunned down. Both attacks bore the hallmarks of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram as killers on motorbikes conducted the drive-by Kalashnikov shootings that had become synonymous with a reign of terror now sweeping the north. The attackers chanted Muslim slogans, according to one eyewitness who hid under a table. The gunmen had stormed a meeting of Christians from a southern ethnic group in a town hall in rural northeast Nigeria. The United States navy has rescued a group of Iranian fishermen who'd been held by pirates in the Arabian Sea. The announcement comes amid tensions between the West and Iran in the Gulf. James Reynolds reports. Earlier this week, Iran issued a warning to the United States: keep your aircraft carrier away from the Gulf. But now this same carrier, the John C Stennis, has led the rescue of a group of Iranian fishermen. The US navy says that its strike group in the northern Arabian Sea came across a pirate skiff moored next to an Iranian fishing boat. An American team boarded the boat and captured 15 suspected pirates. The pirates had been holding 13 Iranian fishermen captive for several weeks. World News from the BBC The Kenyan army says it's bombed a camp in southern Somalia housing fighters from the militant group al-Shabab. An army spokesman said 50 Somali militants were killed in the attack as they prepared to strike at Kenyan troops in two nearby towns. There's been no independent report of the raid. A Tibetan protester has set himself on fire in southwest China - the 13th such protest against the Chinese authorities in 10 months. Tibetan support groups said that the man shouted slogans in support of the exiled Dalai Lama in Sichuan before setting himself alight. The flames were put out by Chinese officials, and he was taken away. It's not known whether he survived. The new Prime Minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson Miller, has said she intends to make the island a republic. In her inaugural address, Ms Simpson Miller said the time had come for Jamaica to have its own president. The Queen's grandson Prince Harry is due to visit the island this year. Our royal correspondent Peter Hunt reports. Jamaica's flirting with republicanism is nothing new. A previous prime minister set 2007 as the deadline for severing all links with the island's former colonial ruler and installing a homegrown head of state. Five years on, it's now the rallying call of the recently elected Portia Simpson Miller. Mrs Simpson Miller set no time frame, and she has a troubled economy to deal with. Prince Harry is likely to receive a warm welcome in Jamaica when he goes there in March, and he'll probably charm those he meets. An American teenage runaway who was mistakenly deported to Colombia seven months ago after claiming to be an illegal immigrant is being returned to the United States. Jakadrien Turner, then just aged 14, gave police the name of a Colombian when she was arrested for theft in Texas in 2011. On arrival in Colombia, she was given citizenship papers and found a job. Her grandmother eventually tracked her down using the Internet and alerted the authorities. BBC News |
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