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The US Defense 1 Department has confirmed that American special forces have captured an IS chemical weapons expert in Iraq. The Pentagon said Sulayman Dawud al-Bakkar, who once worked for Saddam Hussein, had now been handed over to the Iraqi authorities. From Washington, here's Gary O'Donoghue. According to the Pentagon, American special forces seized Sulayman Dawud al-Bakkar several weeks ago in northern Iraq and obtained information from him about IS chemical weapons facilities and those individuals involved in the program. Reports suggest he gave his interrogators details of how IS has managed to weaponized mustard gas by turning it into powder and putting into artillery 2 shells. The Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said the information had led to a number of air strikes which had disrupted and degraded the group's capabilities 3.

US media say Ben Carson, the former hopeful for the Republican presidential nomination 4 is to endorse 5 Donald Trump 6 as Republican candidate for the White House. Reports say a formal announcement is expected on Friday. The news comes just before the start of the latest Republican debate in Florida.

The White House has told the BBC that US deeply values its special relationship with Britain hours after president Obama strongly criticized the foreign policy of the prime minister David Cameron. Jon Sopel reports. Nett Price, senior director for Strategic Communications of National Security Council praised David Cameron's leadership in NATO and on meeting the commitment to spend 2 percent of national income on defense. But this comes after critical comments from the president, linking America's initial reticence 8 to intervening in Syria to David Cameron's failure to secure a parliamentary majority for air strikes in 2013. In his interview, the president blamed Britain and France for the chaos 9 that now reign 7 in Libya and showed the fury felt in Washington that Britain has in recent years considered cutting defense spending. Jon Sopel reporting.

Russia, Egypt and Senegal have strongly objected to a proposal to send home entire contingence of United Nations peacekeepers if they face repeated allegations of sexual exploitation by some of their members. The three countries said this would amount to collective punishment. The US has drafted a resolution calling for urgent measures to end sexual abuse by peacekeepers. The resolution is strongly supported by the United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. Sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel demands nothing less than decisive and bold action and committed to working with member state to confront this criminal conduct and to justify 10 the trust of the people we serve to ensure that this organization remains 11 a beacon 12 of hope for the most vulnerable. You're listening to the world news from the BBC.

Ireland's prime minister Enda Kenny has resigned after a deeply split new parliament overwhelmingly rejected him as the next leader of the government. Neither he nor his three rivals for the position managed to secure enough votes to be elected. Mr Kenny said his coalition 13 government would continue to work in a caretaker position until the political vacuum could be filled.

The US Justice Department has intensified 14 its criticism of Apple for refusing to create software to unlock the iPhone that belonged to one of the attackers in the San Bernardino shooting in December when 14 people were killed. Court paper say there was likely to be evidence of attack on the phone and the public has their need to know. But Apple says the FBI is seeking a backdoor access to all iPhones.

President Obama has welcomed Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau to the White House at the start of the first official visit by a Canadian leader in nearly twenty years. Mr Trudeau 's visit brings to an end a period of frosty relations between the Obama administration and Canada's previous conservative government. Mr Trudeau said relations between the two nations went beyond personalities 15. The relationship, the friendship between our two countries goes far beyond any two individuals or any ideologies 16. I have tremendous confidence in the American people and look forward to working with whoever they choose to send to the White House later this year.

Brazilian prosecutors 17 have requested that the popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva be placed in custody 18 as a case against him goes through the justice system. The request still has to be considered by a judge. On Wednesday, prosecutors filed charges of money-laundering related to the ownership of a luxury sea-front penthouse. The apartment was registered to a company implicated 19 in a major corruption 20 scandal in the state oil company Petrobras. Lula has denied all wrongdoing.