'Outsider' Solis leads in Costa Rica presidential vote

In a surprise turn-around, Luis Guillermo Solis gained the lead in Costa Rica's presidential election

With more than 80% of the votes counted in Costa Rica's presidential election, Luis Guillermo Solis of the left-leaning Citizens' Action Party has a one-percentage-point lead.

Mr Solis, 55, edged ahead of the governing National Liberation Party's Johnny Araya, 56, who had led in opinion polls and early vote returns.

If Mr Solis wins in the 6 April run-off, it would be another victory for centre-left parties in Latin America.

He ran on an anti-corruption ticket.

Continuity v change

With 82% of the votes counted, Mr Solis was ahead with 30.9%, followed by Mr Araya on 29.6% and Jose Maria Villalta of the left-wing Frente Amplio (Broad Front) with 17.2%.

Pre-election opinion polls had suggested Johnny Araya was the favourite to win

As none of the candidates has won the 40% of the vote needed for an outright victory, the poll is expected to go into a run-off between the top two candidates on 6 April.

While his first-round lead is very slim, analysts say Mr Solis would be likely to pick up the votes of Mr Villalta's supporters in the second round.

They say Mr Araya's support was eroded by a series of corruption scandals involving his predecessor in office, Laura Chinchilla, and the governing National Liberation Party.

Mr Araya had promised to reduce poverty and to maintain a stable economy.

"We represent the safe road, the responsible road, to maintain political, economic and social stability in Costa Rica," he told supporters as the counting was under way.

But as he lost his early lead he admitted his party had not done enough to distance itself from recent scandals.

"There's no doubt that the result shows that we've not made it clear to the people that we're going to correct [our course], that we want responsible change," he said.

Euphoric

Mr Solis, whom pre-election opinion polls had never shown as a favourite, was euphoric at the surprise turn-around.

Mr Solis and his supporters were ecstatic when the counting started to show him in the lead

"Costa Rica's time has come," he said.

"From coast to coast, the rising wave has become a great tsunami that has washed away traditional politics forever."

The winner of the run-off will replace president Laura Chinchilla, who became the first female president of Costa Rica in 2010.

Ms Chinchilla was barred from running again under the country's constitution, which does not allow presidents to serve for consecutive terms.

Her successor in office faces a deeply divided Congress with representatives from nine parties, none of which has a clear majority.

Analysts say the new president will also have to tackle growing government debt and rising unemployment.

Moscow school shooting: Student held after killing two

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports from outside the school

An armed student who entered a school in Moscow and shot dead two adults before taking more than 20 teenagers hostage has been arrested.

Police said the student had killed one officer and a teacher. Another policeman was shot and injured.

The hostages were freed after the student's father went in to the school.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the incident as "tragic", while Moscow's mayor called for a review of school security.

In comments at a meeting with theatre workers in the city of Pskov, Mr Putin suggested improved arts education could help prevent such incidents.

"A new generation of spectators with good artistic taste should be brought up - capable of understanding and appreciating theatrical, dramatic and musical arts," he said.

"Had we been doing this properly, maybe there would have been no tragedies similar to today's tragedy in Moscow."

'Breakdown'

The gunman was a pupil at School No 263 on the northern outskirts of Moscow.

Russian investigators named him as Sergei Gordeyev, and said he was an excellent student who appeared to have had an "emotional breakdown".

He was armed with two rifles legally owned by his father.

Images of the scene showed emergency vehicles and police

Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's main investigative agency, said a school security guard had been unable to stop Gordeyev from entering the school when he arrived carrying the weapons.

But the guard did manage to hit an alarm before following the student to his classroom, he said.

Gordeyev shot dead a geography teacher before locking more than 20 10th grade students - aged about 15 - inside a classroom.

He then fired at least 11 shots at police officers who had responded to the alarm, wounding one and killing another, Mr Markin said, in the statement quoted by Russian news agencies.

The stand-off was resolved when the student's father was called to the school; wearing a bullet-proof vest, he went into the building to speak to his son.

The hostages were freed unharmed and all children and teachers were evacuated from the school.

Soon after, the student was disarmed and taken into custody.

Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said he had "made a decision to conduct a complete review of how our school security system is working, and to take additional steps".

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says school shootings are incredibly rare in Russia.

In the worst ever such incident, Chechen separatists took over a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, holding more than 1,000 people hostage. More than 300 people, mostly children, were killed as security forces stormed the school to end the siege.

The latest incident comes amid heightened security across Russia as the country prepares to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi, in the far south, next week.

Last month, 34 people were killed in two bomb attacks in the southern city of Volgograd. That incident was blamed on Islamist militants based in the Caucasus republics of Dagestan.

Parents come to collect children at the school after the incident

A student walks out of the school with a relative

A crowd of bystanders and students' relatives gathered outside the school

A security-service member used a mine and metal detector outside the building after the shooting

Russia warns Ukraine opposition as protests continue

Protests continued as President Viktor Yanukovych went back to work on Monday

Russia has urged Ukrainian opposition leaders to end their campaign of "ultimatums and threats" and to step up negotiations with the government.

Russia's foreign ministry said Moscow was concerned by activists' attempts to "inflame" the situation.

Protesters in Kiev have repeated their calls for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych, who is now back at work after four days of illness.

The EU and US are considering a big loan to help debt-laden Ukraine.

"We are looking at how we could support the Ukraine in the times of the crisis when it comes to the economic and political situation," a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Monday.

Both EU and US officials say the aid package would be conditional on Kiev embracing "real reform".

No further details of the plan have been revealed.

'Deep crisis'

Protests have continued since November, when President Yanukovych backed away from closer EU ties and agreed a loan with Russia.

Thousands of people joined a new rally in the centre of the capital, Kiev, on Sunday, with opposition leaders calling for international help.

The Russian foreign ministry denounced their actions in a statement on Monday, saying they were particularly "puzzling" in the wake of asummit held in Munich last week on Ukraine's future.

"We expect the opposition in Ukraine to avoid threats and ultimatums and step up dialogue with the authorities in order to finding a constitutional way out of the country's deep crisis," the foreign ministry said.

Protesters want to see closer ties with the EU rather than Russia

Activists gathered in freezing conditions in Kiev's Maidan square on the eve of the president's return to work

Russia has announced it is delaying the next instalment of a $15bn (£9bn) aid package to the Ukraine.

The next tranche is dependent on the formation of a new Ukrainian government, it says.

Concessions

President Yanukovych's first task on returning to work is to name a new prime minister to replace Mykola Azarov who resigned last week.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian parliament will debate calls for a broader amnesty for people detained during the protests and for a return to a previous constitution, which will restrict the powers of the presidency.

Mr Yanukovych had been on sick leave since last Wednesday. His office said he had been suffering from a fever and breathing problems.

Opposition leaders had previously expressed scepticism about his illness - on Sunday they again called on him to stand down while speaking to crowds of protesters in Kiev's Maidan square, which has become a focal point for the opposition.

Mr Yanukovych has offered a number of concessions and his cabinet quit their jobs.

But the demonstrators, many of whom want to see closer ties with the EU rather than Russia, have not been placated.

Meanwhile, the severely injured Ukrainian opposition leader Dmytro Bulatov has arrived in Lithuania for medical treatment.

Mr Bulatov appeared on TV last week saying he had been abducted and tortured.

Corruption across EU 'breathtaking' - EU Commission

EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom: "Price of not acting is too high"

The extent of corruption in Europe is "breathtaking" and it costs the EU economy at least 120bn euros (£99bn) annually, the European Commission says.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem has presented a full report on the problem.

She said the true cost of corruption was "probably much higher" than 120bn.

Three-quarters of Europeans surveyed for the Commission study said that corruption was widespread, and more than half said the level had increased.

"The extent of the problem in Europe is breathtaking, although Sweden is among the countries with the least problems," Ms Malmstroem wrote in Sweden's Goeteborgs-Posten daily.

The cost to the EU economy is equivalent to the bloc's annual budget.

For the report the Commission studied corruption in all 28 EU member states. The Commission says it is the first time it has done such a survey.

Bribery widespread

National governments, rather than EU institutions, are chiefly responsible for fighting corruption in the EU.

But Ms Malmstroem said national governments and the European Parliament had asked the Commission to carry out the EU-wide study. The Commission drafts EU laws and enforces compliance with EU treaties.

In the UK only five people out of 1,115 - less than 1% - said they had been expected to pay a bribe. It was "the best result in all Europe", the report said.

But 64% of British respondents said they believed corruption to be widespread in the UK, while the EU average was 74% on that question.

In some countries there was a relatively high number reporting personal experience of bribery.

In Croatia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, between 6% and 29% of respondents said they had been asked for a bribe, or had been expected to pay one, in the past 12 months.

There were also high levels of bribery in Poland (15%), Slovakia (14%) and Hungary (13%), where the most prevalent instances were in healthcare.

Ms Malmstroem said corruption was eroding trust in democracy and draining resources from the legal economy.

"The political commitment to really root out corruption seems to be missing," she complained.

The EU has an anti-fraud agency, Olaf, which focuses on fraud and corruption affecting the EU budget, but it has limited resources. In 2011 its budget was just 23.5m euros.

The Commission highlighted that:

• Public procurement (public bodies buying goods and services) forms about one-fifth of the EU's total output (GDP) and is vulnerable to corruption, so better controls and integrity standards are needed
• Corruption risks are generally greater at local and regional level
• Many shortcomings remain in financing of political parties - often codes of conduct are not tough enough
• Often the existing rules on conflicts of interest are inadequately enforced
• The quality of corruption investigations varies widely across the EU

Swedish model

The EU study includes two major opinion polls by Eurobarometer, the Commission's polling service.

Four out of 10 of the businesses surveyed described corruption as an obstacle to doing business in Europe.

Sweden "is undoubtedly one of the countries with the least problems with corruption, and other EU countries should learn from Sweden's solutions for dealing with the problem", Ms Malmstroem said, pointing to the role of laws on transparency and openness.

Organised crime groups have sophisticated networks across Europe andthe EU police agency Europol says there are at least 3,000 of them.

Bulgaria, Romania and Italy are particular hotspots for organised crime gangs in the EU, but white-collar crimes like bribery and VAT (sales tax) fraud plague many EU countries.

Last year Europol director Rob Wainwright said VAT fraud in the carbon credits market had cost the EU about 5bn euros.

Australia announces inquiry into asylum child detainees

More than 1,000 children are currently in immigration detention - both in Australia and offshore

Australia's Human Rights Commission has announced an inquiry into the mandatory detention of children seeking asylum.

The inquiry would focus on the well-being, health and development of the detained children, AHRC President Professor Gillian Triggs said.

More than 1,000 children are currently in Australia's immigration detention facilities, the AHRC said.

This included more than 100 in Nauru - the offshore centre condemned by the UN and rights groups for poor conditions.

"These are children that, among other things, have been denied freedom of movement, many of whom are spending important developmental years of their lives living behind wire in highly stressful environments," Prof Triggs said in a statement.

The commission's first report on the subject, in 2004, found that mandatory detention of children of asylum-seekers was inconsistent with Australia's human rights obligations, and that long-term detention placed children "at high risk of serious mental harm".

In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Prof Triggs highlighted a lack of co-operation from the immigration department.

"I think I'd have to say over the last few months, we've had minimal co-operation in relation to the kinds of details that I need to know, particularly mental health, self-harm and the processes for those that are transferred," she said.

"In particular, we'd like to understand more about the mental health of these children. The instances of self-harm, how they're being treated when they're manifesting conditions of extreme anxiety."

Prof Triggs said the AHRC did not oppose detention for an appropriate period to establish the identity and health of a child.

"However, we are concerned that when the time moves beyond three to four months - to six, to 12, to 15 months - the likelihood is that we will be finding that there are breaches of international law."

'Chaotic mess'

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said officials would co-operate with the inquiry.

"But the reason there are children in detention is because over 50,000 turned up on illegal boats on Labor's watch so we're dealing with Labor's chaotic mess here,'' he told local radio.

Those who arrive in Australia by boat to seek asylum are placed in mandatory immigration detention. The number of boat arrivals rose sharply in 2012 and the first half of 2013.

In response, Australia re-opened offshore processing camps in Nauru, a tiny Pacific island, and in Papua New Guinea. The previous Labor government also introduced the deterrent "PNG solution" - an agreement whereby those found to be refugees would be settled in PNG, not Australia.

Under the new Liberal-National coalition government, "Operation Sovereign Borders" - putting the military in charge of anti-people-smuggling efforts - has been introduced.

Reports suggest Australia has been turning asylum boats back to Indonesia - and in January, Australia apologised for "inadvertently" violating Indonesia's territorial waters on multiple occasions.

The government is strictly controlling the release of information around its asylum policy, prompting critics to accuse it of excessive secrecy. The government says it has drastically cut the number of boats arriving in Australia.

Rights groups and UN agencies, meanwhile, continue to criticise conditions in Australia's offshore processing centres and to question whether its current asylum strategy violates its international obligations.

The inquiry could be concluded before the end of the year, Prof Triggs said.

Election officials: Thailand voting to take time

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva says the government "clearly has not respected the law"

Thai election officials have warned that it could take several weeks to re-stage voting in areas where Sunday's election was disrupted by protesters.

Anti-government protesters halted voting in parts of Bangkok and the south by blockading polling stations, rendering millions unable to vote.

Former PM and opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva told the BBC the government had "lost the trust of the people".

He said people had no faith in the system and that reform was essential.

"We are saying the government needs to recognise it has lost trust of people because of its abuse of democratic processes," Mr Abhisit told the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.

The ruling party of Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to win the election but legal challenges and a lack of MPs as a result of the disruption to voting may create political limbo.

The protesters, many of whom are still out on the streets, allege that Ms Yingluck's government is controlled by her brother, ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra. They accuse Thaksin-allied parties of buying rural votes with ill-judged schemes that hurt the economy.

Mr Abhisit said all sides accepted that elections were necessary, but disagreements were about the measures put in place "so people have trust that these elections are free and fair and that they will actually lead to an achievement of reforms".

His Democrat Party, which is the main opposition and allied to the protesters, boycotted the elections on Sunday. It has been unable to win a majority in parliament for more than two decades.

He denied that responsibility for the failure to reach consensus also lay with the opposition bloc: "What we have certainly done is offered alternatives and a way out which the government has refused to accept," he insisted.

'Right to democracy'

The disruption means not all seats in parliament will be filled, requiring by-elections in many places.

Many protesters are still on the streets, with reports saying they are moving to block key intersections

The government wants elections that were disrupted to be re-run as soon as possible - a new parliament cannot sit until 95% of seats have been filled, reports our correspondent.

But the official election commission has warned it may take weeks to hold by-elections in so many constituencies.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called the snap election after a sustained campaign by the protesters. She said on Sunday that going to the polls had been the right thing to do.

"At least I think at this election it is very important that people come out to vote for their right to democracy," she said.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, however, told supporters late on Sunday he was "confident this election won't lead to the formation of a new government".

Thailand's Election Commission said six million voters were affected by disruption on Sunday, but 89% of polling stations operated normally.

'Shutting down'

On Monday protesters again took to the streets, marching through parts of Bangkok.

"We are not giving up the fight. We still keep fighting,'' Mr Suthep said. "Our mission is to keep shutting down government offices, so don't ask us to give those back.''

The protesters are to reduce the number of major road junctions they have blockaded in Bangkok from seven to five. They cited fear of attack as the reason, though some observers pointed to dwindling numbers.

The protesters want the government to be replaced with an unelected "people's council" to reform the political system.

They allege that Ms Yingluck's government is controlled by her brother, ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra. They accuse Thaksin-allied parties of buying rural votes with ill-judged schemes that hurt the economy.

The opposition says it will challenge the poll as it "did not reflect the intention of the constitution or the people".

Ms Yingluck's party is already facing a host of challenges in the courts that could force it from power, as has happened with pro-Thaksin parties in the past.

'Pocket optician' trialled in Kenyan schools

A 'pocket optician' made from a modified smartphone is to be used by teachers in Kenya as part of trial to catch pupils' eye problems.

Access to eye care is a major issue in the developing world.

The same kit used on older people had promising results and led to more than 1,000 people receiving treatment.

The team behind the project, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said treating children could stop them falling behind in school.

The World Health Organization says 285 million people are blind or visually impaired, but four out of every five cases can be prevented or cured.

The main problem in children is poor eyesight, which means they require glasses.

But in large parts of the world there is a massive shortage of people able to perform eye tests, especially away from major towns and cities.

Basic training

Eight teachers in one of the most deprived areas of Kenya, Kitale, will be trained to use the Portable Eye Examination Kit (Peek).

The smartphone app uses a shrinking letter which appears on screen as a basic vision test and it uses the camera's flashlight to illuminate the back of the eye, the retina, to check for disease.

A patient's records are stored on the phone and the results can be emailed to doctors.

The mobile app in action: Scanning the back of the eye

The trial will begin in 10 schools, before expanding across neighbouring areas.

Dr Andrew Bastawrous, part of the group which designed Peek at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the BBC: "Many children under-perform at school due to undiagnosed vision problems, which if corrected gives them a greater opportunity to realise their potential.

"Currently, clinicians, of which there are very few, go to schools to screen children. This takes them away from the hospital where they are needed most and puts the hospital under increased pressure."

Children with eye problems will be referred to the Kitale Eye Unit for further evaluation and treatment.

Dr Hillary Rono, an ophthalmologist at Kitale District Hospital, said he was "extremely excited" by the project.

He commented: "Ever since the Peek team introduced their impressive adapted smartphone, we saw that it could really make a difference to the problem of screening in schools, and help increase the detection rates of children with poor vision, hopefully helping them realise their educational potential."

The trial using Peek in adults is still taking place, but early results suggest it is effective at picking up vision problems.

The phone can be used to look at the retina at the back of the eye and check the health of the optic nerve

It can also scan the eye lens for cataracts

Letters on the phone display function as a basic vision test

The idea is the phone is mobile and can be used with minimal training.

If problems are identified then patients can be taken for treatment.

The trial is funded by the International Agency for the Prevention (IABP) of Blindness and Standard Chartered.

Peter Ackland, the chief executive of the IAPB, said "Teachers are the gateway to testing children in many low-income countries simply because there are not enough human resources to have a more efficient way of screening.

"In people's younger days, regular checks mean that problems with their vision can be treated as early as possible. However, in the current system, many children slip through the net and go through life with an eye condition that's entirely avoidable."

Richard Meddings, the chairman of Seeing is Believing at Standard Chartered, said "Developing effective methods for screening children at school is a key challenge to eliminating avoidable blindness for good.

"If this pilot test increases detection rates, it could be the difference between children spending their days seeing clearly, having blurred vision, or even going blind."