BBC News with Julie Candler

The first detachments of troops and tanks have begun arriving in three northern Nigerian states as part of a combat operation against Islamist militant groups. The army says it’s making the deployments in order to completely root out the insurgents. When asked about the prospect of civilians getting caught in the crossfire, a spokesman for Nigeria’s president, Dr Doyin Okupe, told the BBC that he could not make any predictions about casualties.

"Some sacrifice will have to be paid for people to move forward. You know, that’s, you know, isn’t easy in all history of all nations. It is better for us to, you know, within a short time, say about three, four, five, six months, completely root out the insurgents and return normal scene to these places so that, you know, they and their children can live a better life.”

On Tuesday, a state of emergency was declared in the three states in response to attacks by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for a political transition in Syria and condemning President Bashar al-Assad’s government for its increasing use of heavy weapons. But the non-binding resolution had less support than a similar one last year. From the UN, Barbara Plett reports.

A solid majority of 107 states voted yes, but that contrasted with 133 which supported a similar resolution in August. The text was drafted by Arab states that have championed the rebels and critics said it overwhelmingly favoured the opposition. Diplomats say the comments reflected a growing unease about the fragmented nature of the insurgents and the extremist elements amongst them. Some states also claimed the text was aimed at giving Syria’s UN seat to the opposition National Coalition. In fact the Arab drafters have watered down the language, backing the coalition as simply a representative interlocutor for a political transition.

There’s been fighting outside the main prison in the Syrian city of Aleppo, which rebel fighters have tried to storm. Opposition sources say the rebels launched an attack on the prison using suicide car bombs to try to blast holes in its walls.

Scientists in the United States say they’ve created a human embryo through cloning. Ever since British researchers produced Dolly the sheep in 1996, scientists have been trying to apply the same reproductive cloning method to human cells. Campaigners hope the developed embryonic cells can repair damaged tissues and cure diseases. James Gallagher has more.

Dolly the sheep was the first cloned mammal, but scientists have struggled to reproduce even the early steps in people. Now a team in Oregon have used a skin sample and a woman’s egg to produce some early cloned human embryo. Their aim is not to produce a baby, but a source of stem cells. In theory this could be used to repair the damage after a heart attack or the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease. However, other experts say there are easier, cheaper and less controversial sources of stem cells.

World News from the BBC

Police in the Iraqi capital Baghdad say more than 20 people have been killed in a wave of bomb attacks in Shia districts in the city. Aleem Maqbool reports on the continuing violence in Iraq.

The frenzied news of attack after attack came suddenly this evening. Until now 11 bombs have been confirmed by police. Most are said to have been car bombs, at least two targeting restaurants. Last month over 700 people were killed, Sunni and Shia, in an alarming surging sectarian violence across Iraq. The deep rift between Shia and Sunni are not healing. Once again the possibilities of civil war and even the break-up of Iraq are being openly discussed and feared.

A powerful cyclone is expected to hit low-lying coastal areas in Bangladesh in a few hours’ time. More than a million people are being moved into the country’s vast network of concrete shelters. But there are concerns that there won’t be enough room. Similar evacuations are underway in Burma, which is also threatened. Many thousands of displaced Rohingya Muslims are seen as particularly vulnerable. But some are reluctant to leave their makeshift camps, saying they distrust the authorities. 

The 66th Cannes Film Festival has opened with the star-studded ceremony on the French Riviera. Stars of the screen paraded up a rain-soaked red carpet as they arrived for the first event— the European premiere of Baz Luhrmann's film The Great Gatsby. After this 20 films will be shown, each one vying for the most prestigious prize in the film industry—the Palme d’Or. And the director Steven Spielberg leads the jury for the first time. 

The British football club Chelsea have won the Europa League Cup beating Benfica 2:0(2:1 rather) in the final in Amsterdam. It was only in injury time at the end of the match that Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovi? scored the winning goal. It’s the club’s second European title in as many seasons. Chelsea also won last year’s Champions League.

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