Hello, I\'m Sue Montgomery with the BBC news.US officials say that president Barack Obama is to send 250 additional military personnel to Syria to support local militias in the fight against the IS group. According to the officials, the main objective is to encourage more fighters in northeastern Syria. From Washington, here is Laura Bicker. This is a significant expansion of troops for a president who has been reluctant to send US boots to Syria. 50 members of the Special Operation Spotters were sent last year to help in the fight against the IS. And now US officials have confirmed that a further 250 military personnel will be deployed. Mr Obama is expected to make the announcement after the talks in Hanover in Germany. The US, along with the coalition of allies, began an air campaign against IS in Syria in 2014 but the strikes rely on troops on the ground, mostly Kurdish fighters, to help identify potential targets.
A penal of international experts investigating the disappearance of 43 Mexican trainee teachers in 2014 has said the government of Enrique Pena Neto hampered its inquiries. In their final report, the experts dismissed official conclusions that the trainee teachers, after they were arrested following a protest in the city of Iguala, were handed over to a criminal gang by corrupt police.
The candidate of Austria\'s far-right Freedom Party Norbert Hofer has won the first round of the presidential election. He will face an independent candidate supported by the Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen, in the runoff for next month. Speaking on Austrian television, Mr Hofer said he was confident he would win the runoff. I think it\'s possible to convince many to vote for me again in the second round and I can reiterate that the president has to represent all Austrians but that doesn\'t mean I will discount my principles. It is very clear I have my positions and I will stick to them.
Serbia\'s canter-right Progressive Parties won the country\'s parliamentary election. Preliminary results suggest it gained almost 50 precent of the vote, representing an endorsement of its pro-EU stunts. GB has more. It\'s a major victory for Mr Vucic and his progressives. He said the results show strong result for democracy, reforms and EU integration. The center-left was the big losers. The Democratic Party governed Serbia for more than a decade. This time it barely passed the 5 percent threshold to enter parliament. The far-right fared better. Two nationalist movements passed the threshold but they\'ll have little influence on the government and may simply allow Mr Vucic to strengthen his credentials as the only choice for moderates at home and abroad. BBC news.
Fighting is continuing to escalate in the Syrian city of Aleppo. At least 26 people were killed there by Syrian government air strikes and rebel shelling. Activists say 12 people, including several children, were killed during an attack on a food and vegetable market in an area of Aleppo controlled by the rebels.
Yemeni government forces have advanced into the southern city of Mukalla which has been in the hands of Al-Qaeda militants for the past year. The military said the rebels had withdrawn from the port city which had been an important source of income.
The Brazilian government says last year it managed to repatriate 125 million dollars, siphoned off to foreign bank accounts by corrupt officials, politicians and businessmen. Brazil\'s Justice Ministry said this was 8 times more than had been recovered over the precious decade. Much of the money had been siphoned off from the state oil company Petrobras which has been the subject of one of the biggest corruption scandals in Brazilian history.
The Congolese singer Papa Wemba has died after collapsing on stage during a performance on Ivory Coast. He was 66. Julian Bedford assesses his life and legacy. In the 1980s, soukous became the dominant sound in African music and one of its pioneers and most gifted exponents was Papa Wemba. With his bands Zaiko Langa Langa and Viva La Musica, Papa Wemba took soukous from the suburbs of Kinshasa right across the continent. At times, he was caught in controversy, serving a prison sentence in what was then known as \'Zaire\' allegedly for sleeping with the general\'s daughter and later in Belgium, for involvement in a people smuggling network but he will be remembered best for his music. BBC news.
