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Hello, I'm Neil Nunes with the BBC news.
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Syrian rebel forces have pushed militants of the Islamic state group out of a strategic town in northern Syria after days of heavy fighting. The town ofal-Rai in Aleppo province has been a stronghold for IS as it sits on a border crossing linking Turkey to Syria.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles in San Francisco say Uber Technologies has agreed to pay 10 million dollars as part of a 25-million-dollar settlement to end a civil lawsuit against it in California. The app-based taxi services faced accusations of misleading customers about its checks on drivers.
Dave Lee reports from San Francisco.
“If you want to drive a traditional taxi in California, you need to provide a fingerprint to check for prior convictions. But to drive an Uber,that's not necessary as the company uses a different system to vet its drivers. So when Uber advertised itself as the safest drive on the road, authorities cried foul. Prosecutors said Uber missed 25 people with prior convictions including several sex offenders and a convicted murderer. Uber has agreed to change how it advertised its safety procedures, but the BBC understands it won not be adding fingerprinting to its vetting process.”
The World Bank has launched an action plan to spend 50% more on projects to help developing countries cope with climate change, details from Mark Pivac. “There is a growing consensus that poorer countries would be more vulnerable to climate change than richer ones. So the Washington based Work Bank is raising special spending to 3.5 billion dollars by 2020 and it hopes to encourage even more from the private sector. Part of the plan envisages boosting enough renewable energy to power 150 million homes. It also proposes an investment in what it calls climate smart agriculture for 40 countries and more spending on green transport. Top bank officials said the plans are a bold response to last December’s landmark global climate conference in Paris.”
World news from the BBC.
The former head of the Italian defense group Finmeccanica Giuseppe Orsi has been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for false accounting and corruption. The case resulted from an investigation into the sale of 12 helicopters to India.Mr. Orsi's lawyer said he would appeal.
The Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has threatened to slash the term of the opposition led national assembly if it continues to try to topple him. He saidhe would seek a constitutional amendment to reduce the term of the legislator from five years to 60 days. President Maduro also said he would lead a revolution if the oligarchy, as he put it, won power through unconventional means.
A South African court has ruled that Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandelahas no rights to the late president's rural home. It's unclear whether she will appeal. Milton Nkosi reports from Johannesburg. “Winnie Madikizela-Mandela had argued that under customary law, the house in Qunu village where the former president spent much of his time until his death in 2013 belonged to her. The government opposed her bid to inherit the home. Mr. Mandela divorced Mrs.Madikizela-Mandela in 1996 after 38 years of marriage. He left her out of his will. They were regarded as South Africa's first couple until their marriage collapsed six years after his release from 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid.
A court in Guatemala has convicted and sentenced five men to prison for the murder in 2011 of the Argentinian musician Facundo Cabral who was hugely popular across Latin Africa. Prosecutors said Facundo Cabral was the unintended victim of an attack on a Nicaraguan nightclub owner Henry Farinas whose car he was in when it was riddled with bullets. Mr. Farinas survived.
That's the latest BBC world news.