BBC news 2016-04-03

Hello, this is Charles Carol with the BBC news.

The Supreme Court in Brazil has ruled that it will hear a politically sensitive corruption case against the former president Lula da Silva rather than have it dealt with by a federal judge leading an anti-corruption probe. Mr. Lula, whose recent appointment to President Dilma Rousseff's cabinet has been suspended, is accused of money laundering as part of the investigation launched by the federal judge. President Rousseff is due to face impeachment proceedings over alleged budget irregularities. She denies wrongdoing. Julia Carneiro reportsfrom Rio de Janeiro. “President Rousseff is under mounting pressure, but the government and her supporters compare the move to impeach her to a coup. The grounds for her impeachment are controversial. Her critics argued that she illegally manipulated government accounts to mask Brazil's financial woes before her reelection in 2014, but others say there is no legal basis to ouster. Earlier this week, Brazil's biggest party the PMDB left the governing coalition, a major blow to President Rousseff.” Tens of thousands of her supporters waving red flags are holding rallies in over 30 Brazilian cities.

North Korea is dominating early proceedings at a global summit on nuclear security in Washington. After meeting President Xi Jinping of China, President Obama said that both were determined to work towards a nuclear free Korean Peninsula. “A great importance to both of us is North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons, which threatens the security and stability of the region.President Xi and I are both committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and full implementation of UN sanctions. So we're gonna discuss how we can discourage action like nuclear missile tests that escalate tensions and violate international obligations.”

The government of Monaco has joined an investigation into what it calls a vast corruption scandal implicating a number of multinational oil companies. The government said it was helping British investigators probing media allegations thata little known company based in the Principality UNAOIL had delivered millions of dollars in bribes to Middle East oil chiefs. Roger Walker reports. “Anexposé published by the online newspaper Huffington Post and Australia’s Fairfax Media said there was clear evidence that instead of using its expertise to help multinationals win contract legitimately, the company UNAOIL had paid over huge amounts of money in bribes, sometimes with the active participation of the multinationals it was working for. There has been no comment from the company or the British authorities.”

Hundreds of rescue workers led by soldiers, engineers and medics have worked through the night in the Indian city of Kolkata to save dozens of people feared trapped under a partially built flyover that's collapsed. Officials say that at least 20 people have been killed and nearly 100 have been wounded, some of them gravely.

World news from the BBC.

The Belgium public prosecutor’s office has agreed that Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving suspect in the Paris jihadist attacks, can be extradited to France as that’s what he wants. He was arrested earlier this month in Brussels after four months on the run and began talking to investigators about his alleged role in the November attacks in Paris.

Opposition parties in South Africa have called on President Jacob Zuma to resign or to face impeachment after the country's highest court ruled that he had failed to uphold, defend and respect the constitution. Mr. Zuma had ignored an order to repay some of the millions of dollars of taxpayers' money that was used to upgrade his private ranch.

France has promised to shed full light on allegations that its troops sexually abused girls in the Central African Republic. The UN high commissioner for human rights has described the latest allegations as sickening. They include reports of cases of bestiality.

A new report says that more adults in the world are now obese than underweight and that there is almost no chance of meeting a global target to reduce obesity.

Jane Draper reports.

“The scientists writing in the Lancet say that four decades ago being underweight was a far more common problem than obesity, but now the world has changed with more adults obese than underweight. The research which pulled data on heightened weight from 186 countries found obesity among men has tripled since 1975 and more than doubled in women. More obese men and women now live in China and the US than in any other country. However, being underweight remained a significant health problem in countries, such as India and Bangladesh.”

A new scientific study suggests that climate change has altered the populations of hundreds of common birds species in Europe and the US. The research teams found that birds they thought would prosper in a warming world has flourished over the last 30 years.

And that's the BBC news.