BBC News with Ian Purdon

Initial results from Italy’s general elections suggest that there is no clear winner. From Rome, here is Gavin Hewitt.

After early results from the Italian election, the country appears to be heading for political deadlock. Whilst the center-left under Pier Luigi Bersani seems to be heading for victory in the Lower House, Silvio Berlusconi and his allies are performing strongly in the Senate. It may get him influence but he won’t be returning to power. To complicate matters further, the protest movement led by the comedian Beppe Grillo is showing huge gains.

The French foreign minister Laurent Fabius has described images posted online of seven members of a French family kidnapped in Cameroon last week as shocking. The video which appeared on YouTube shows the family including four children surrounded by masked men who say they belong to the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram. Will Ross reports

In the three-and-a-half-minute video, one of the male hostages reads from a piece of paper and says the group that’s holding them is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, this is the official name for the Nigerian Islamist militant group popularly known as Boko Haram. The hostage says the group is calling for the release of its members detained in Cameroon and its women being held in Nigeria. The French news agency says a source closed to the kidnapped family has confirmed the video does show the seven French nationals taken hostage in Cameroon last Tuesday.

European Union agriculture ministers have called for more DNA testing of meat across Europe as yet another company was caught up in the selling of beef contaminated by horseflesh. Their announcement followed the recall by the Swedish retailer IKEA of its meatballs after tests showed traces of horsemeat in one batch. From Brussels, Christian Fraser reports.

A great number of states are in favor of country or region labeling for process food. The commission agreed tonight to fasttrack by three months to report it was already preparing on the impact of such change. It will now be produced in the autumn. But they agree this is an issue of fraud. Any proved labeling while giving some confidence to the consumer won’t necessarily cure the problem. The common consensus is that tougher penalties are required. The chair of the meeting, the Irish agriculture minister Simon Coveney said it was widely accepted in the meeting that the newer technique of DNA testing of food should now be standard across Euro.

The Syrian opposition has said it will attend an international meeting in Rome later this week reversing an earlier decision to boycott it. The leader of the Syrian National Coalition Mouaz al-Khatib said the change of heart came after the U.S. Secretary of State and the British foreign secretary promised specific help to ease the suffering of the Syrian people. Meanwhile, residents say there’s been a large explosion in the Syrian capital Damascus. The blast was followed by heavy gunfire in the eastern district of Al-Kaboun. It’s not clear what the target was.

World News from the BBC

At least 15 people have been killed in fighting between Christian and Muslim youth in Nigeria’s eastern Taraba state. The violence began after a quarrel during a football match in the town of Wukari which spread to neighbouring villages.

The most senior Roman Catholic cleric in Britain has resigned after allegations that he behaved inappropriately towards priests three decades ago. Cardinal Keith O’Brien said his resignation as the head of the Church in Scotland was immediate. At the weekend, he said he would contest the allegations. James Robbins reports

These accusations of improper behavior bring the taint of scandal to the very heart of Catholic Church. Other cardinals have largely been accused of cover-up rather than direct personal involvement. The Vatican has been working particularly hard in these last days of Benedict’s pontificate to blame enemies of the Church accusing them of sensationalizing scandal to disrupt the coming election of his successor. But this blow has come from inside the Church itself.

An Italian prosecutor has formally requested that the captain of cruise ship Costa Concordia which sank off the coast of Tuscan should face manslaughter charges. Thirty-two people died when the ship carrying more than 4,000 people ran aground on the Island of Giglio and partially sank. Prosecutors also want the captain Francesco Schettino to face charges of causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship.

The President of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto has passed into law sweeping reforms of the country’s education system. For the first time, Mexico will have an independent body to oversee teaching and the curriculum and teachers and schools will now be assessed.

Finally almost half a million people have voted to name one of Pluto’s newly discovered moons Vulcan in a tribute to the classic sci-fi series Star Trek. Vulcan was the fictional home planet of Mr. Spock who was second in command on the USS enterprise.

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