BBC news with Marion Marshal.

　　Thousands of Libyans have been fleeing from the city of Sirte, one of the last strongholds of colonel Gaddafi's forces under a temporary ceasefire. The city has been under siege for weeks but Gaddafi loyalists continued to offer fierce resistence. Jonathan Head is outside Sirte.

　　A mass of cars crowded around two petrol tankers parked beside the road leading west from Sirte.Hoses were hurriedly pushed into petrol tanks, each car getting a few litres, enough to get them away from the besieged town. They were packed with possessions and with people. These are mostly Gaddafi supporters and they seemed very stressed.

　　"I don't understand what's happening", said a male." There were shells and bombs exploding all around my house. We had to leave. With the exodus picking up transitional government forces hope they can finally take the town.

　　The Afghan government says the killer of the former president Burhanuddin Rabbani was a Pakistani citizen and the plot itself was organized from inside Pakistan. Mr Rabbani who's attempting to mediate between the Afghan government and the Taliban rebels was assassinated by a suicide bomber almost two weeks ago.

　　The head of the interim military government in Egypt has said the ousted president president Hosni Mubarak never ask the army to fire on protesters. Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi who is Mr Mubarak's defence minister said he had testified before God and told the truth. Sebastian Usher has more.

　　A strict media blockade was imposed before Field Marshal Tantawi's appearance in Mr Mubarak's trial on Sep 24. His testimony was seen as potentially a crucial element in the trial with the grievous charge against the former president is that he ordered troops to fire on protesters. Mr Mubarak could face the death penalty if found guilty. Now in a speech in the official ceremony Mr Tantawi has said nobody ever asked the army to open fire.

　　The authorities in northern Nigeria said at least 19 people have died in violence in a village in Zamfara State. Eyewitnesses said about 150 people raided the village. Jonah Fisher reports from Lagos.

　　As people emerged from their homes they were either hacked to death or shot. One witness who the BBC spoke to in hospital said his house was targeted first and that he saw both his grand-daughter and his daughter-in-law killed. Zamfara State police commissioner said it was his belief that the attackers were a group of armed robbers seeking revenge. They had apparently being targeted by vigilantes from Lingyado a month ago. Both soldiers and police have now been dispatched to the area in an effort to prevent further reprisals.

　　It emerged in Yemen that a government warplane bombed its own troops in the south of the country on Saturday killing at least 18 soldiers. Other unconfirmed reports speak of higher casualty figures. But the official state media denies the incident took place.

　　World news from the BBC.

　　The Syrian opposition has announced it's formed a national council to present a united common front against its president

　　Assad. At a meeting in Istanbul opposition leaders said their goal was to build a new democratic Syria. The announcement came as both government and opposition sources said the town of Rastan has been retaken by government forces.

　　Basque separatists in Spain have launched a new political party to campaign for pro-independence votes in next month's general elections. The new coalition named Amaiur would fill a political void left by Batasuna which was banned in 2003 because of links with the armed seperatist group ETA . Spain's courts will have to decide whether to let Amaiur compete in the elections.

　　There have been protests across the Pakistani province of Punjab over power cuts which now lasts up to 18 hours a day. Over the weekend technical problems in several electricity plants made the situation worse. Here is Marianne Landzettel.

　　Power cuts in Pakistan are frequent but over the past two days most parts of Punjab have had virtually no electricity at all. Protesters burned tires, blocked roads and pelted buses with stones before being dispersed by police with batton charges.

　　Business leaders say production in all industries has ground to a halt. Some hospitals are running short of fuel for generators and Pakistani government officials say the power cuts are aggravating an outbreak of dengue fever. They say even the energy supply for emergency units can not be guranteed.

　　Scientists have disclosed further details about a giant hole in the protective Ozone layer above the arctic. It matched the size of those found regularly over Antarctic . They say the hole, last in several month earlier this year, meant that people in parts of northern Europe and Mongolia were potentially exposed to higher than normal levels of ultraviolet light which could lead to skin cancers and cataracts.

　　BBC world service news.