BBC News with Neil Nunez
There's been widespread international condemnation of the Christmas Day bomb attacks in Nigeria that have killed almost 40 people. (Thirty-five) people were killed in the first bomb blast at a Roman Catholic Church near Abuja; four others died in attacks elsewhere in the country. Brenda Marshall has this report.
Describing the attacks as "senseless violence", the White House offered (condolences) to those who had lost loved ones and help for Nigeria to bring those responsible to justice. Political leaders in Britain, France, Germany and Italy decried the attacks as "cowardly". The Vatican called the bombings absurd "terrorist violence" that inflamed hatred. The president of the Christian Association of Nigeria condemned them as "barbaric". The (militant) Islamist group Boko Haram, which is locked in a violent struggle with the Nigerian authorities, said it carried out the attacks.
The American Vice-President Joe Biden has called the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to discuss recent violence and (political turmoil). Tensions have increased in Iraq since an (arrest warrant) was issued against the Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi over allegations he had run hit squads - charges he strongly denies. Shahzeb Jillani reports.
Mr. Biden's phone call to the Iraqi prime minister on Christmas Day followed an earlier conversation he had with the Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani. Washington is keen to ensure Iraq's national unity government survives recent tensions. Along with (a spate of) attacks in the capital Baghdad, in which 60 people were killed last week, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's dispute with his Sunni coalition partners has created a major crisis. There are growing fears that with last American soldier gone from Iraq, the country could descend into an (all-out) sectarian conflict.
Sudan says fighting is continuing in a region near north Darfur where government forces have killed a (key) rebel leader, Khalil Ibrahim, and 30 of his fighters. A spokesman for the rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, admitted their leader was killed in an air strike on Friday. A spokesman for the Sudanese army, Lieutenant al-Sawarmi Khaled, said Mr Ibrahim had died from (his wounds).
"The battle was fought on Thursday, and the armed forces were able to destroy this group. Some managed to escape whilst others were injured. Amongst those injured seriously was the leader of the renegade movement. He was fatally wounded during the battle, but he did not die at the time."
Thousands of people have again taken to the streets of the Yemeni capital Sana. The protest was against the (killing) of at least nine people on Saturday alleged to have been shot by security forces who fired on demonstrators demanding that the (immunity) from prosecution granted to the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Selah be revoked.
World News from the BBC