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Dundee United come from behind to win at Ibrox and deny Rangers the chance of going top of the Scottish Premier League table.
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Simelane is to appeal against the verdict and the sentence A serial killer responsible for at least 28 deaths in the southern African state of Swaziland has been sentenced to death by hanging.
A judge handed down the sentence nine days after David Simelane was convicted.
His lawyer said he would appeal against both the verdict and the sentence.
The killings are thought to have begun in the late 1990s and lasted until 2001 when police arrested Simelane after a tip-off.
He led the police to shallow graves where 45 bodies were found altogether, including several pregnant women.
The serial killer was charged with 34 murders and convicted of 28.
No executions have been carried out in Swaziland since 1983.
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Police have released the name of the 26-year-old man who died in a car crash near Omagh, County Tyrone.
Simon Glenn, from the Strabane area, was involved in a collision on Dougary Road at about 0410 BST on Saturday.
Two women, aged 48 and 23, and a three year-old girl, who were travelling with him have been taken to hospital. Their injuries are not life threatening.
The 18 year-old driver of another vehicle involved in the accident remains in police custody.
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Police and fire crews are at the scene of a house fire in Islandmagee, County Antrim.
It is understood an elderly woman has died in the fire which happened on Middle Road on Saturday.
The cause of the fire has not yet been established.
Enquiries into it are ongoing.
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Smoke rises from the centre of Abidjan Heavy fighting is taking place in Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan, for a third day as rival forces battle for power.
Fighters loyal to internationally-recognised president Alassane Ouattara battled for control of the presidential palace and barracks still loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.
Mr Gbagbo’s whereabouts are unknown.
In the country’s west, at least 800 people are reported to have been killed earlier this week in Duekoue as a result of inter-communal violence.
The battle for Abidjan remains fierce, with heavy fighting reported on Saturday around the Agban military base in the centre of the city.
But the situation inside the city is unclear, with some reports that soldiers defending the base were fighting amongst themselves.
State television station RTI, appears to be back under the control of Gbagbo supporters after being briefly seized by their rivals.
One soldier, accompanied by a dozen members of Mr Gbagbo’s Defence and Security Forces (FDS), read a statement on the channel calling for the mobilisation of troops to protect state institutions.
“The FDS, wishing to reaffirm their determination, to ensure their sovereign duty to protect people, property and institutions of the Republic of Ivory Coast” calls for “all the staff of the armed forces” to join five units located in Abidjan.
Residents of Abidjan say they are too afraid to leave their homes as the fighting continues. Many report running out of food, with all shops closed and widespread looting.
The BBC’s Valerie Bony in Abidjan says: “In all districts of Abidjan there is sporadic gunfire. There is a lot of looting going in the city, for example on Boulevard Valery Giscard d’Estaing, where shops and houses have been looted by youths who are taking advantage of the situation.”
She also says young, pro-Gbagbo supporters in several districts of Abdidjan have been armed by pro-Gbagbo supporters, according to witnesses.
Mr Ouattara was internationally recognised as president after winning a run-off vote in November, but Mr Gbagbo also claimed victory and refused to leave office.
Duekoue ‘massacre’
Tens of thousands of women, men and children have fled fighting in Duekoue since Monday Staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who visited the western city of Duekoue, said the scale and brutality of the killings were shocking.
The city was captured by fighters supporting Mr Ouattara this week and has seen fierce fighting.
Aid agencies have warned repeatedly that civilians were being subjected to major violence.
The ICRC said delegates and volunteers from the Ivorian Red Cross had visited the city on Thursday and Friday to gather evidence of the killings, which are believed to have taken place on Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of women, men and children had fled fighting in Duekoue since Monday, they said.
It is not clear whether Mr Ouattara’s forces were involved in the killings.
The United Nations human rights office says it has received reports of major human rights violations committed by both sides in the conflict.
West Africa’s second biggest economy has been brought to its knees by the conflict, which has sent global cocoa prices spiralling upwards. Ivory Coast is the world’s largest cocoa producer.
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The BBC’s Paul Wood: “It shows how this issue really inflames passions”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned an attack on a UN building in Afghanistan as “outrageous and cowardly”.
At least 14 people were killed when demonstrators torched the building in the city of Mazar-e Sharif.
Three UN workers and four Nepalese guards were among the dead.
Local officials said clerics had urged people to protest over last month’s burning of a copy of the Koran in the presence of US pastor Terry Jones.
He has denied responsibility for the violence in Afghanistan.
Witnesses said the protest began peacefully but suddenly turned violent.
Several demonstrators were killed by guards, who were then overpowered by the mob.
Mazar-e Sharif is one of Afghanistan’s largest cities – as well as one of its safest. Just last week, thousands peacefully celebrated the Persian new year.
The city is on a list of areas to be handed to full Afghan security control later this year. The attack on the UN compound raises serious questions about that plan.
A state of emergency has now been declared in the city, Afghan intelligence sources told the BBC. All roads in and out of Mazar have been blocked and cars are being checked. Special army and police units have been deployed to prevent further unrest.
The authorities are well aware of the dangers of protests spreading. In 2006, anger at cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper swept across Afghanistan. Dozens were killed or injured.
Local police told the BBC that 27 people had subsequently been arrested.
Dan McNorton, spokesman for the UN mission in Afghanistan, said: “Three international Unama (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) staff members were killed, and four international armed security guards were killed.”
Initial reports said eight foreign UN workers had died.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt later confirmed that one of the dead was a Swede, 27-year-old UN worker Joakim Dungel.
The Norwegian defence ministry said another of those killed was Lt Col Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot. The other foreign victims are believed to be a Romanian and four Nepalese guards.
US President Barack Obama condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms”, saying the work of the UN “is essential to building a stronger Afghanistan”.
The top UN representative in Afghanistan, Staffan De Mistura, has flown to the area to handle the matter.
Witnesses said a crowd of several hundred staged a protest outside the Blue Mosque in the city after Friday prayers.
The crowds moved to outside the UN compound, where a small group broke away.
Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for Balkh province, said the group seized weapons from the guards and opened fire before storming the building.
Local police spokesman Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai told reporters that two of the UN staff had been beheaded.
However, police Gen Abdul Rafu Taj said that “according to the initial reports… none were beheaded”. He said they were shot in the head.
Kieran Dwyer, director of communications for the UN mission in Afghanistan, said the UN workers had been trapped inside the compound and “hunted down” in what was an “overwhelming situation”.
“These are civilian people, unarmed, here to do human rights work, to work for peace in Afghanistan – they were not prepared for this situation,” he told the BBC.
Mr Dwyer said it was too early to tell how the attack happened or why the UN was targeted, but that the organisation would now take extra security measures.
But he added: “The UN is here to stay. We’re here to work with the people to help them achieve peace, and this sort of thing just highlights how important that is.”
On 20 March, Pastor Wayne Sapp set light to a copy of the Koran at a church in Florida.
The burning took place under the supervision of Pastor Jones, who last year drew condemnation over his aborted plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Protests were held in several other Afghan cities on Friday which demonstrators in Herat had called a “day of anger”, Afghanistan’s Noor TV channel reports.
The BBC’s Paul Wood in Kabul says Mazar-e Sharif is known to be a relatively peaceful part of the country, but that the attack on the UN will raise questions of whether the city will be able to make the transition from foreign to Afghan security control later this year.
He adds that in a deeply religiously conservative country such as Afghanistan, the act of Koran burning has the power to inflame passions in otherwise peaceful areas.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Nearly half of China’s 1,176 dairies are being shut after failing to obtain new licences, as Beijing tries to shore up its scandal-tainted milk industry.
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India’s former telecoms minister, A Raja, is charged with conspiracy, forgery and fraud in connection with a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal.
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Recent EDL protests have taken place in Bolton and Rochdale Up to 6,000 people are expected at rival protests between the English Defence League (EDL) and their opponents in Blackburn later.
Lancashire Police are gearing up for their biggest ever operation for the demonstrations on Saturday.
Areas of the town centre have been closed to the general public during the protests and a number of road closures will be in place.
Ch Supt Bob Eastwood said any violence or damage would not be tolerated.
Mr Eastwood has described policing the demonstrations as Lancashire Police’s biggest ever operation.
The force said said it had been necessary to restrict numbers to 3,000 from each side for the “safety of the community”.
The police have no powers to ban a peaceful public assembly or protest, but can impose conditions such as where it takes place and the number of people who can attend.
A Lancashire Police spokeswoman said it was up to the organisers to ensure greater numbers did not turn up on the day.
The EDL is demonstrating outside King George’s Hall on Northgate from 1245 to 1345 BST, while the group, Blackburn and Darwen Unite Against Racism (BADUAR) will meet between 1300 and 1500 BST at Sudell Cross, about 150m (490ft) away.
Both sides will be kept apart in cordoned off areas away from the general public.
Some roads will be affected, including temporary closures, but officials said they were working hard to make sure that people could “go about their daily business as usual”.
The main Mall shopping centre is open for business as usual, but a number of smaller traders have told the BBC they are not opening.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The referendum on 5 May will be the first across the whole of the UK since 1975 The campaign for a Yes vote in the referendum on changing the way MPs are elected is being officially launched.
Celebrities including comedian Eddie Izzard and former athlete Kriss Akabusi will be at the central London event – being billed as “politician-free”.
On Tuesday Labour leader Ed Miliband and senior Lib Dems urged people to back the “fairer” AV system on 5 May.
The No campaign, launched in February, says AV would mean some people’s votes became worth more than other people’s.
Voters across the UK are being asked whether they want keep the current “first-past-the-post-system” for electing MPs to Westminster or change to the alternative vote (AV) method where candidates are ranked by preference.
The Yes campaign says the alternative vote would ensure MPs secured at least 50% of the votes in their constituency.
At the moment MPs are elected by the first-past-the-post system, where the candidate getting the most votes in a constituency is elected.
On 5 May all registered UK voters will be able to vote Yes or No on whether to change the way MPs are elected to the alternative vote system.
Under the alternative vote system, voters rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference.
Anyone getting more than 50% of first-preference votes is elected.
If no-one gets 50% of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their backers’ second choices allocated to those remaining.
This process continues until one candidate has at least 50% of all votes in that round.
Q&A: alternative vote referendum What is the alternative vote? AV poll: Where parties stand
Supporters argue it will provide voters with more choice, force candidates to appeal to a broader section of the public and work harder to get elected.
Those who oppose change say the current system generally leads to stable government and has historically reflected the will of the public in that unpopular governments have been voted out.
They argue it is straightforward and easy to understand, and other systems are more likely to produce indecisive outcomes.
The campaign in favour of change claims it is a people’s movement and has secured the backing of celebrities for the official launch event instead of using politicians.
Messages of support have been sent by broadcaster Stephen Fry and actor John Cleese.
On Tuesday, Mr Miliband shared a platform with leading Lib Dems including former leader Charles Kennedy, party president Tim Farron and Baroness Williams, as well as Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, to urge a Yes vote.
However, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was on a trade and diplomatic mission to South America instead.
The Labour leader has urged Mr Clegg to “lie low” during the Yes campaign, given public anger towards the deputy prime minister over student tuition fees and public sector cuts.
Mr Miliband was joined by shadow cabinet colleagues Tessa Jowell and John Denham, but senior Labour figures such as former cabinet members Margaret Beckett and John Prescott are campaigning for a No vote.
At the launch of the No vote, campaign director Matthew Elliott put the total cost of changing to AV at £250m – a figure disputed by supporters of the system.
Under the current Westminster electoral system, voters place a cross next to their preferred candidate. Under the alternative vote they would rank candidates in order of preference.
If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their backers’ second choices allocated to those remaining, with process continuing until one candidate has more than half the votes in that round.
A separate advertising campaign to raise awareness of the referendum was launched on Friday.
The adverts for television, radio and newspapers will highlight an Electoral Commission information booklet being sent to all households.
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John Sergeant on Mrs Thatcher’s way of dealing with boredom
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At least 800 people have been killed in the western Ivory Coast city of Duekoue this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.
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Will it get cheaper to use mobile devices abroad?
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How Wills and Kate walking tours cash in on the royal wedding
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His daily appearances in front of the world’s media have made Moussa Ibrahim a familiar face. Col Gaddafi’s information minister spent 15 years in the UK, but how much do we really know about him?
With his smooth, confident demeanour, crisp dress sense and impeccable English, he is the face that the beleaguered leadership in Tripoli wants to show the world.
Like Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf – the Iraqi information minister during the 2003 invasion, nicknamed Comical Ali for his lurid and improbable claims – Moussa Ibrahim has become familiar to millions as the mouthpiece for a regime under fire.
But Ibrahim is no figure of fun, as shown by his icy attempts to discredit a Libyan woman who told foreign journalists she had been raped by members of a government militia.
His laconic, quietly forceful delivery gives him a gravitas not normally associated with the Gaddafi and his associates, while his drive is reflected in his rapid elevation from unknown to government spokesman to information minister.
“I know every street in London”
Moussa Ibrahim
What British audiences watching may not realise is that this Gaddafi advocate, with his neatly-trimmed goatee beard and open-neck shirts, spent 15 years in the UK gaining his education.
Ibrahim, who has a German-born wife and a young son, studied politics at the University of Exeter in the early 2000s and worked on a PhD in media arts at Royal Holloway, University of London, completing his final exam in May 2010 – although he has not formally received his doctorate as supervisors are awaiting a small number of required amendments to his thesis.
Those who knew him in his student days describe a serious, friendly but short-tempered young man who caused a diplomatic incident on a university trip and attracted the attentions of the police in an ice cream-throwing incident.
Ibrahim narrowly escaped causing a diplomatic crisis on a visit to Jordan while an Exeter student “I lived in London for 15 years,” he told Sky News in a recent interview. “I know every street in London. I know how decent the British people are.”
Born in 1974 into Gaddafi’s Qadhadhfa tribe, Ibrahim benefited from belonging to the same clan as the dictator, an association which would have made it easier for him to gain a place on the payroll of the state.
One former visitor to his home in Libya recalls his family had a street reserved for themselves and enjoyed a visible level of wealth.
Dr Larbi Sadiki, a lecturer at Exeter who taught Ibrahim, remembers him as an engaging, friendly but serious student – “a nice guy but with a short fuse”.
According to Dr Sadiki, Ibrahim asked him not to disclose his connections to the Gaddafi regime although the student made no secret of his loyalty to his clan or his support for the dictator’s son Saif. “He was being cultivated to protect the dynasty and serve it,” the academic remembers.
Dr Sadiki says Ibrahim joined his courses despite knowing that the lecturer was a critic of Gaddafi and an advocate of political reform in the Middle East. Like Saif Gaddafi, Dr Sadiki says, Ibrahim spoke the language of democracy although “the practice is something else”.
Two incidents from a university trip to Jordan in 2000 stick in Dr Sadiki’s mind.
Ibrahim rose swiftly through the ranks of the Libyan elite In the first, the academic had to intervene to keep Ibrahim out of Jordanian police custody after the student threw an ice cream at a street vendor in the archaeological site Petra.
The second occurred as the university party passed the heavily-fortified US embassy in Amman in a minibus. Suddenly the vehicle was surrounded by embassy security and Jordanian intelligence intelligence officers: someone on board had been filming the building with a video camera.
Ibrahim, it transpired, was the culprit – and given that Libya was still, at the time, an international pariah, the ramifications were potentially serious.
“I spent the rest of the day in Jordanian intelligence HQ whilst Moussa, my student, was being interrogated,” Dr Sadiki recalls.
“The night before, luckily we had a reception at the UK ambassador’s residence. So I re-connected with the UK ambassador whose intervention secured Moussa’s release 12 hours later.
“Like in a spy film, a UK ambassador’s rep and myself waited for Moussa at the Hilton until intelligence brought him back at around midnight.”
Another witness who remembers both incidents was Brieg Powel – then a politics undergraduate on the same course as Ibrahim, now a lecturer in international relations at the University of Plymouth.
His memory is of a sociable character who nonetheless appeared older than his years.
“He wouldn’t have come near us because of his closeness to the Gaddafi regime”
Ashur Shamis Libyan dissident
“When I saw him on TV he actually seemed younger than he did back then,” Dr Powel says.
“He was an amiable guy. He was obviously quite wealthy because he used to turn up with all these gadgets – the video camera, of course, and dictaphones. I remember he used to go off to London a lot.”
However he spent his time in the capital, it was not with its community of Libyan exiles – most of whom were opponents of Gaddafi.
Ashur Shamis, a London-based Libyan dissident, says most of his compatriots had not even heard of Ibrahim until he began appearing on news bulletins at the start of the conflict.
“He wouldn’t have come near us because of his closeness to the Gaddafi regime, because he was an acolyte,” Mr Shamis says.
“Very quickly he rose up. One minute he’s a spokesman, the next minute he’s the minister of information. He’s obviously well connected.”
In the fast-moving events shaking Libya, it is impossible to predict what will happen to Ibrahim. But although his dedication to the Gaddafi regime has always defined him, so too must his years in the UK have left their mark.
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