BBC News with Iain Purdon

The French President François Hollande who is in Mali to congratulate French military successes against Islamist rebels has said the terrorism in Mali has been forced back but not yet overcome. Earlier in the northern town of Timbuktu Mr. Hollande said that French troops would stay until UN-backed African forces were deployed. From Timbuktu, Andrew Harding

The French campaign here has been quick, successful and widely popular. But for President Hollande this could be as good as he guessed. He now needs an access strategy but if he moves too quickly then Mali could be plunged back into chaos. And so today, Mr. Hollande tried to strike a balance. He told his troops their job was not yet done here but he also urged Mali and its neighbours to step up and take a much bigger role. The Islamist militants have withdrawn for now but this remains a dangerously fragile nation.

Russia says it wants to stay in regular contact with the Syrian opposition. The announcement came after the first high-level talks between the two sides. During the meeting on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov invited to Moscow the head of the main opposition collation, Ahmed Moaz Alkhatib. Our diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus reports from Munich.

The United States and Russia are not yet on the same page in terms of forging an UN Security Council resolution to chart a political way out of the crisis in Syria. Before all the disagreements here in Munich, the meeting between the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and the president of the main Syrian opposition grouping Moaz Alkhatib is a rare sign of diplomatic progress. There wasn’t necessary agreement. Russia is still not willing to see President Bashar al-Assad force aside, but equally Moscow’s patience with the Syrian leader is wearing thin.

In Syria, meanwhile rebels are reported to have taken a strategic neighbourhood near Aleppo’s international airport. There’ve been days of fierce clashes in the Shaikh Sayeed district.

France’s national assembly has approved the first and most important article of a controversial new law that would allow homosexual couples to marry and adopt children. The draft legislation redefines marriage as an agreement between two people not necessarily between a man and a woman. Hugh Schofield reports.

As expected the article passed easily in the Lower Chamber of Parliament where the Socialists and their left-wing alliance have a clear majority. The justice minister Christiane Taubira said that the government was establishing a freedom for all men and women to choose their partner of whatever sex for future life. More than another week of debates are planned as parliament has to get through the hundreds of amendments filed by the opposition centre-right approving on the way the bills other key measure which is the right of gay couples to adopt.

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The Israeli President has asked the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new government following last month’s parliamentary election. Mr. Netanyahu said he wanted a broad coalition whose main aim would be to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. His likeliest allies are other right-wing and religious groups although he may also need the support of the new centrist party Yesh Atid.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has unveiled a new domestically produced fighter jet at a ceremony in Tehran to mark the 34th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. The futuristic aircraft known as the Qaher F-313 or Conqueror looks similar to a stealth fighter. Mr. Ahmadinejad told that Iranian defense officials said the new jet was part of a military programme based on deterrence rather than aggression.

“The development of the Iranian nation’s military path is not aimed at violating other nations’ rights. It is not for expansionist policies rather it’s for deterrence and defensive purposes and is in fact a manifestation of Iran’s ingenuity and talent to defend and protect itself with the least possible costs and in the most humane way.”

The Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has denied allegations that he and members of his governing Popular Party have received unofficial payments from a secret fund. Mr. Rajoy said he had nothing to hide and promised to publish his tax returns. The newspaper EI Pais says printed documents which detail illicit payments by big businesses to the Popular Party, some showed Mr. Rajoy’s name.

Football and in the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Ghana have beaten Cape Verde 2-0. Extra time has been played in the game between the hosts South Africa and Mali and that match will go to a penalty shoot-out if the scores remain locked at 1-1.

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