AirAsia bodies returned to airport

31 December 2014 Last updated at 10:57

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Clive Myrie reports from Surabaya as two of the bodies are returned in coffins

The first two bodies from the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crash have arrived back in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, where relatives are waiting.

Next of kin have been asked for DNA samples to help identify the victims.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday and remains were located in the sea on Tuesday.

The authorities say seven bodies have been retrieved, but bad weather is hampering further salvage efforts.

A public memorial will be held in Surabaya on Wednesday evening local time, and the governor of East Java province has told the BBC that all New Year's Eve celebrations have been cancelled.

On board the plane were 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew.

It is not yet clear what happened to the plane but its last communication was a request from air traffic control to climb to avoid bad weather. The pilot did not respond when given permission.

A three-day search culminated on Tuesday with the discovery of remains including aircraft parts, luggage and the bodies in the Karimata Strait, south-west of the town of Pangkalan Bun in the Indonesian part of Borneo.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said it had now been narrowed, with all assets involved in the search being moved to two areas where the aircraft could be.

Wind and rain

The bodies were flown to Surabaya's Juanda airport on Wednesday afternoon from a hospital in Pangkalan Bun, where they had been sent from the crash site.

Another five bodies are reported to be on board a ship on their way to a harbour near Pangkalan Bun.

Four of the seven bodies are male and three female, one of them a flight attendant.

One search and rescue agency official, Tatang Zaenudin, said one of the bodies was wearing a life jacket but this has not been confirmed.

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Pilot's friend: "He was very professional and experienced and a humble man"

But strong winds and 2m waves have slowed down the recovery of bodies and debris, with helicopters mostly grounded and divers prevented from searching the waters.

Ships already in place are continuing the search. Mr Fernandes said they were expecting to operate round the clock.

The weather is forecast to deteriorate further, with heavy rains until Friday.

Next of kin of passengers and crew have been asked for DNA samples to help identify the bodies when they come in.

The BBC's Alice Budisatrijo in Surabaya says concerns are growing that the remains will be too difficult to identify after more than three days in the water.

Officials in Surabaya said a public announcement would be made as soon as any remains were identified.

On Tuesday Indonesian President Joko Widodo promised a "massive search by the ships and helicopters" with the focus on recovering the bodies.

The call came hours after the first debris was spotted in the sea, along with a shadow under the water.

However, Mr Fernandes described reports that a large object had been detected by sonar as speculation.

"[The searchers] feel more comfortable that they are beginning to know where it is, but there is no confirmation... no sonar... some visual identification, but nothing confirmed," he said.

The Associated Press news agency quoted one official as saying the bodies of victims could end up being washed up on beaches.

"It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 50km from yesterday's location," Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi said.

Pictures of debris and bodies were shown on Indonesian TV to distraught relatives waiting at Surabaya's Juanda international airport.

Those watching the pictures were visibly shocked, with some collapsing.

The search is being led by Indonesia but is a multinational effort. Singapore has sent ships equipped with sensors to detect pings that may be emitted from the plane's black boxes.

Malaysia, Australia and Thailand are also involved, while the US destroyer USS Sampson has been sent to the zone.

AirAsia previously had an excellent safety record and there were no fatal accidents involving its aircraft.

Are you, or is someone you know, affected by this story? Do you know any of the passengers on the AirAsia flight? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with any information. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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Eight dead in Canadian 'mass murder'

31 December 2014 Last updated at 05:15

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As Ben Bland reports, police say the handgun was legally owned, but reported stolen

Seven adults and two children have been found dead in the Canadian city of Edmonton after a man carried out what police called a "senseless mass murder" linked to "extreme domestic violence".

The gunman is believed to have killed himself after the murders. Police are not looking for any other suspects.

The incident unfolded in three different locations in Edmonton, in the western province of Alberta.

Seven bodies were found in the same house, police chief Rod Knecht said.

Two "very young" children are among the dead, Mr Knecht said.

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Edmonton City Police Chief Rod Knecht: "It is a tragic day for Edmonton... as we all come to terms with the senseless mass murder of eight people''

He said it was the worst mass killing in Edmonton since six people were killed in 1956.

"It appears to be an extreme case of domestic violence gone awry," he told a press conference, describing the killings as "planned and deliberate".

"This series of events are not believed to be random acts, and there is no risk to the broader public. These events do not appear to be gang-related, but rather tragic incidents of domestic violence."

Police say that the gunman used a stolen 9mm handgun and later killed himself at a restaurant north of Edmonton. They have only released the names of one of the victims and have not detailed the relationship between the shooter and his victims.

Mr Knecht said that the man who committed suicide had a criminal record going back to 1987.

'Depressed man'

Police discovered the body of a woman, Cyndi Duong, 37, at a house in south Edmonton at 18:00 local time on Monday (01:00 GMT Tuesday), he said.

They later responded to reports of a despondent and depressed man at an address in north Edmonton at around 20:30 but were unable to find him.

But when they returned at about midnight after receiving new information they found seven bodies - three women, two men and two children.

Mr Knecht said that the house where the seven bodies were discovered presented his officers with a "horrific and chaotic" scene - the worst crime he had dealt with in 39 years of policing.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, they found a body matching the description of the suicidal male at a restaurant 25 miles (40km) north-east of Edmonton.

He said police would not be releasing the names of all the victims or the killer yet.

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Venezuelan economy enters recession

31 December 2014 Last updated at 07:14

The Venezuelan economy is now officially in recession after the central bank released figures showing that it has been shrinking all year.

The bank said the economy had declined by 2.3% in the third quarter of 2014.

It also revealed for the first time that GDP contracted by 4.8% and 4.9% respectively in the first and the second quarters of 2014.

President Nicolas Maduro said the economy had been hit by political instability and falling oil prices.

He accused the United States of flooding the markets with oil as part of an economic war against Russia.

The central bank also said inflation had reached 63.6% in the 12 months to November, one of the highest rates in the world.

Mr Maduro announced a number of measures to boost economic growth and control inflation, including reforms to Venezuela's currency control system.

"The details will be extensively explained after the New Year's greeting," Mr Maduro told reporters.

'Anti-Opec plan'

Mr Maduro said speculation had affected inflation but he also praised government efforts to rein in the increases.

He said his country was suffering the consequences of an economic war launched by US President Barack Obama "to destroy" the oil producers' cartel, Opec.

"It is a two-year plan, which is affecting the prices of commodities and many developing economies," Mr Maduro said.

"The US wants to impose a unipolar world controlled from Washington. That is madness."

The crisis offered a "great opportunity for Venezuela to change its economic model," the president added.

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves, with its economy highly dependent on oil exports.

The Venezuelan opposition blames the socialist policies of Mr Maduro and his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez, for a shortage of many staples, such as corn oil and milk, amid a serious economic crisis.

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Kazakhstan takes Guantanamo inmates

31 December 2014 Last updated at 09:13

Five men held at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for more than a decade have been sent to Kazakhstan for resettlement, the Pentagon says.

The three Yemenis and two Tunisians had been captured in Pakistan as suspected militants with ties to al-Qaeda.

US officials say the men, who were never charged, no longer pose a threat.

Officials say 28 inmates have been released from the facility this year, the largest number since US President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

It comes as part of the president's push to close the controversial prison, which was opened in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the US.

Earlier this month, four Afghan detainees were repatriated while another six prisoners were flown to Uruguay.

Latest detainees transferred

• Asim Thabit Abdullah Al-Khalaqi, 46, Yemeni
• Muhammad Ali Husayn Khanayna, 36, Yemeni
• Sabri Mohammad al Qurash, 44, Yemeni
• Adel Al-Hakeemy, 49, Tunisian
• Abdallah Bin Ali al Lufti, 48, Tunisian

The latest release brings the Guantanamo prison population down to 127, the Pentagon said in a statement on Tuesday.

The five men were "unanimously approved for transfer" after a review of their cases by an inter-agency task force, it added.

It marks the first time Kazakhstan has taken in Guantanamo Bay prisoners, which senior US officials say followed extensive negotiations.

No reason was given for why the men were not sent to their home countries. However, many detainees cannot be repatriated because their countries of origin are considered unstable or unsafe.

Guantanamo Bay in numbers

• 127 detainees remaining
• 59 approved for transfer
• 15 believed to be classified as "high value"
• 15 freed in December - six sent to Uruguay (pictured), four to Afghanistan and five to Kazakhstan

About half of the remaining 127 inmates at Guantanamo Bay have been cleared for transfer.

Correspondents say President Obama's efforts to shut the facility have been slowed in part by resistance in Congress.

The detention centre was opened in 2002 to hold "enemy combatants" in what the US termed its war on terror.

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World starts new year celebrations

31 December 2014 Last updated at 11:00

Revellers across the globe have gathered to welcome in the new year, with New Zealand and Australia leading the celebrations.

A giant clock in Auckland's Sky Tower counted down the minutes until midnight (11:00 GMT), when fireworks erupted.

Up to 1.5m people have lined the shores of Sydney harbour in preparation for the city's famous firework display.

Celebration plans have been muted in Indonesia, however, in the wake of the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crash.

In Brazil, more than one million people will join the crowds on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach, while New Yorkers will watch the city lower its trademark crystal ball over Times Square.

Send us your pictures of your new year celebrations by emailing yourpics@bbc.co.uk

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Gambia leader 'home after coup plot'

31 December 2014 Last updated at 11:05

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Peter Okwoche profiles the Gambian President Yayha Jammeh

The Gambia's President Yayha Jammeh has returned to the country after a reported coup attempt, sources say.

Heavy gunfire was heard near the presidential palace in Banjul on Tuesday but officials say the military takeover was thwarted.

Details remain sketchy but Mr Jammeh, 49, said there had been an attempted invasion from neighbouring Senegal.

He seized power in the tiny West African nation in 1994, and is accused of not tolerating any opposition.

An official told the BBC that everything had now returned to normal.

A pro-opposition radio station says most businesses are closed, while the market in the biggest town, Serekunda, is deserted.

The pro-opposition Freedom newspaper reports that four people were killed, including the alleged ringleader Lamin Sanneh, a former head of the presidential guards, but this has not been confirmed.

Mr Jammeh was said to have been in either France or Dubai during Tuesday's unrest but different sources agree he has now returned.

Who is Yayha Jammeh?

Seized power in 1994, aged 29

Accused of stamping out opposition

Claims to be able to cure HIV/Aids

In 2011, told the BBC he would rule for "a billion years"

He has won several elections since seizing power but critics say they were neither free nor fair.

Numerous officials and opposition leaders have fled the country, saying they fear for their lives.

Apart from a short Atlantic coast, The Gambia is entirely surrounded by Senegal.

The main foreign-currency earners for the country of two million people are tourism and peanut exports.

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Palestinian UN resolution fails

31 December 2014 Last updated at 11:43

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As Rajini Vaidyanathan reports, the US and Australia voted against the resolution

The UN Security Council has rejected a resolution demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories within three years.

Jordan submitted the motion after it had been agreed upon by 22 Arab states and the Palestinian Authority.

Eight members of the 15-strong Security Council voted for it while the US and Australia voted against.

The resolution, condemned by Israel as a "gimmick", needed the support of at least nine members in order to pass.

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Jordan's Dina Kawar: "We hope that this loss is taken as an opportunity for future steps and negotiation"

Even if it had secured the required nine votes, the US would have used its veto power to stop the adoption of the resolution.

US envoy Samantha Power said after the vote: "We voted against this resolution not because we are comfortable with the status quo. We voted against it because... peace must come from hard compromises that occur at the negotiating table."

Jordan's UN ambassador, Dina Kawar, said the vote should not stop efforts to resolve the conflict.

Of the 15 members of the Security Council

• Russia, China, France, Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan and Luxembourg voted in favour

• The US and Australia voted against

• The UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, the Republic of Korea and Rwanda abstained

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Samantha Power: "Peace will come from hard choices and compromises"

The document called for Israel to fully withdraw from all occupied Palestinian territories by the end of 2017 and for a comprehensive peace deal to be reached within a year.

It also called for new negotiations to take place based on territorial lines that existed before Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 war.

The vote was the culmination of three months of campaigning by the Palestinians at the UN.

In a closed-door meeting of Arab states earlier on Tuesday, all 22 envoys endorsed the call for a same-day vote on the draft.

Media review

The failure of the Palestinian UN resolution dominates the Middle East Arabic press, with the US widely condemned for blocking the measure.

"Security Council: US pressure hampers bid to end occupation" reads a headline in the Palestinian pro-Fatah newspaper Al-Ayyam.

"Bid to end occupation collides with US hurdle," says Lebanon's pan-Arab leftist daily Al-Safir.

The Hamas-run Filastin newspaper criticises Fatah's handling of the resolution: "Fatah did not consult anyone.''

Iran's Arabic daily Al-Vefagh highlights comments by the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to the effect that ''resistance is the only way to realise the Palestinian people's rights''.

The vote is headline news in Israel, with papers carrying criticism of ''Palestinian unilateralism''.

''The morning after the UN Security Council rejected the Palestinians' bid at statehood, Israeli politicians took Palestinian attempts at unilateralism to task,'' Haaretz reports.

Eli Avidar, commenting in Haaretz, urges the Israeli government not to be afraid of international institutions and says ''it must deal with the claims of the international community as an active player''.

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Migrant freighter docks in Italy

31 December 2014 Last updated at 11:54

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James Reynolds reports from Brindisi: "Still don't know where the crew is"

A cargo ship said to be carrying 700 clandestine migrants which was taken under Italian control at sea has docked in the Italian port of Gallipoli.

The Blue Sky M had apparently been abandoned by its crew and at one point seemed to be heading directly towards the Italian coast on autopilot.

Reports suggest Syrians and Kurds are among those aboard the ship.

Photos posted by the local Italian Red Cross show the ship in port with people crowding a deck.

Ambulance crews stood waiting as the ship docked in the early hours of New Year's Eve amid unconfirmed reports that people on the ship were suffering frostbite.

An eyewitness in Gallipoli, local man Gilberto Busti, told the BBC World Service he had seen hundreds of people - who he thought could be Syrian and Kurdish refugees - disembarking from the vessel.

Mr Busti said he had heard reports that some of those on board might be dead.

"I saw the ship arrive and the coaches that carried off the migrants," he said.

"I saw the police and the Red Cross that set up the tents. I have a friend in civil protection who told me that there were about 800 to 900 people inside the ship. We can't confirm that there are dead people inside but my friend told me that there were about four or five dead people."

Italy has had to deal with a massive surge in migrants - many of them from the Middle East and the Horn of Africa - setting off on boats with hopes of reaching Europe.

The most common sea route for the clandestine voyages has been from Libya but this ship is said to have started in Turkey. It is also unusual to find a vessel of this size carrying migrants.

People traffickers who organise the crossings often abandon the vessels at sea to avoid arrest.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, has warned that his agency will face enormous shortages in 2015 as it struggles to deal with what he called a staggering escalation of humanitarian needs across the globe.

Mr Guterres said his organisation might not be able to deliver even the minimum level of assistance needed for many refugees to survive.

'Disaster averted'

The Blue Sky is listed as a general cargo ship, flying under a Moldovan flag.

The safety manager of a company hired to provide safety certification for the ship told the BBC he had withdrawn its certificate several months ago after finding it unsafe.

Italian coast guard spokesman Filippo Marini was quoted by AP news agency as saying the Italians had averted a disaster by interrupting the programmed route that would have had the ship crash into the shore.

"It was a real race against the clock," he said, adding: "Unlocking the engines was a difficult and delicate operation, but they managed to do it."

Greek officials were first alerted to the ship when it was near Corfu.

A man aboard is reported to have asked for food, water and blankets. The distress call to Greek emergency services prompted the navy to send a helicopter and a warship.

The Greek authorities said no-one aboard the vessel was in danger.

The Blue Sky M was reportedly heading for the port of Rijeka in Croatia from Turkey.

According to tracking website MarineTraffic, the ship abruptly changed direction south of Othonoi on Tuesday morning, heading west towards Italy.

Weather conditions in the Ionian sea have been poor for several days, hampering the rescue of those on board the Norman Atlantic ferry which caught fire in the area, killing at least 10 people.

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Venezuela denies ice-cream crisis

30 December 2014 Last updated at 11:40

The Venezuelan tourism ministry has denied reports that a shortage of milk is behind the closure of a famous ice-cream shop in the city of Merida.

The shop, called Coromoto, is famous for offering more than 850 flavours of ice cream ranging from beer to beans.

It announced on Facebook on 26 December that it would be closing "for the high season due to a lack of milk".

But the ministry says there is no shortage of ingredients and that other local ice-cream shops remain open.

Scarcity

Venezuela, which depends on imports for many products, is experiencing shortages of some staples, such as corn oil and powdered milk.

According to the latest official figures released by Venezuela's central bank, the scarcity index stood at 29,4% in March.

This suggests that out of 100 goods, 29 were not always available everywhere at the time.

While this does not mean that Venezuelans cannot get access to food, it does mean that they may have to go to different supermarkets and search over several days to get everything on their shopping list.

Critics of socialist President Nicolas Maduro say government mismanagement is behind the scarcity.

The government blames unscrupulous businesspeople, who it says hoard goods to drive up prices.

Officials also point to the fact that up to 40% of goods Venezuela subsidises for its domestic market are being smuggled into neighbouring Colombia, further exacerbating the shortages.

In a statement published on its website (in Spanish), the tourism ministry said on Monday that "despite the manipulation spread by a number of national and international media and the sign posted by the Coromoto ice-cream shop, in which they blame their closure on a 'lack of ingredients', paradoxically the rest of these businesses is serving more and more tourists and residents as they have all that's needed to prepare ice cream".

The statement goes on to quote the managers of two ice-cream shops in Merida who say they are open for business.

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Greek vote prompts reform warning

30 December 2014 Last updated at 05:14

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The Greek prime minister had warned of the risks of a new election before Monday's vote took place

Greece has been warned to stick to economic reform after MPs rejected the government's presidential nominee, triggering snap elections.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said there was "no alternative" to structural changes.

After years of tough budget cuts, Greece's economy is emerging from recession but the radical left Syriza party is leading in the opinion polls.

Its leader says "austerity will be history" if Syriza wins on 25 January.

Alexis Tsipras said Monday was a "historic day for Greek democracy", as parliament rejected the presidential candidate nominated by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Stavrov Dimas, a former European commissioner, secured the votes of only 168 MPs, the same number he had won during the second vote last week.

The Syriza leader told supporters that the vote had marked the "end of the regime that sank the country into poverty, unemployment, grief and desperation."

Setback

The government's defeat is regarded as a major setback for eurozone countries that helped bring Greece back from the brink in 2010.

Since then €240bn (£188bn; $290bn) has been spent helping Greece pay off its debts. In return for two major bailouts, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund demanded stringent austerity measures.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Samaras, whose centre-right New Democracy party dominates the current ruling coalition, said the public risked finding out "how easy it is to relapse into the deepest and most dramatic crisis" after the new election, the fourth in six years of financial crisis.

Investors fear Mr Tsipras's left-wing opposition party might act on popular resentment at six years of government austerity by seeking to overhaul the international bailout deal.

In response to the vote, the IMF said talks on completing a review of the bailout, which Greece would need if it were to leave the the EU-IMF programme, would take place only when a new government was in place.

The Athens stock market fell 7% on Monday as news of the vote sank in, with bank shares among the worst affected.

Investors sold off Greek government bonds, pushing bond yields above 9%. The government's borrowing costs on 10-year bonds rose to 9.7%, in a reminder of the 2010 crisis when 10-year bonds soared above 11%.

The European Central Bank made clear its preference for Greece to continue reforming its finances rather than ending austerity measures, praising its "impressive progress" in stabilising its public finances.

Mr Schaeuble warned that things could become difficult if Greece took a "different path".

"New elections change nothing about the agreements that the Greek government has entered into," the eurozone's most powerful finance minister added. "Any new government must stick to the contractual agreements of its predecessors."

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Albania seamen die in ferry recovery

30 December 2014 Last updated at 11:50

Two Albanian seamen have been killed on a tugboat while towing the fire-stricken Norman Atlantic ferry.

Both men died after a connecting cable between the vessels snapped on Tuesday morning after it became entangled in a propeller, Albanian officials say.

Ten people were killed and more than 400 rescued, after a fire broke out on the ferry in stormy seas on Sunday.

It is unclear how many passengers are still missing. The cause of the fire on the car deck is unknown.

The Italian authorities said they could not verify the actual number of people originally on board and rescuers are still searching the vessel.

The operator said 478 people had been on the ferry when it left the Greek port of Patras for Ancona in Italy, but Italy's final tally following the rescue comes to only 437, including those who died.

Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said on Monday that a definitive figure could not be given because of errors on the passenger list, no-shows at boarding or people getting off on a stopover at the Greek port city of Igoumenitsa.

Snapped cable

An Albanian port authority official in Vlore told Reuters news agency that the two seamen had been hit by the broken cable.

"One man died on the spot when one cable broke after it got stuck in the propeller," the official said. "The other died on board a few minutes ago when being assisted by a helicopter medical team."

The BBC's James Reynolds in the Italian port of Brindisi says that Tuesday's tugboat accident underlines the many difficulties faced in this recovery operation.

Monday's rescue operation was conducted amid considerable danger and panic.

As passengers tried to escape from the flames by going on to the deck, they were confronted with freezing cold rain and huge waves while heat from the fire below scalded their feet.

Survivors described scenes of people fighting to get to lifeboat slots and into helicopter baskets. Those rescued have complained that the crew seemed overwhelmed by events.

Some witnesses said that there had been no fire alarms or knocks at the door from the crew to rouse sleeping passengers.

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Actress Luise Rainer dies aged 104

30 December 2014 Last updated at 08:54

Actress Luise Rainer, who became the first winner of consecutive Oscars in the 1930s, has died at the age of 104.

The German-born star was named best actress in 1936 and 1937 - a feat achieved by only five actors in Academy Awards history to date.

Her achievement made her a force in the golden age of Hollywood cinema, but was also a curse, making her last major film in 1943.

She settled in London and made occasional appearances on film and TV.

Rainer appeared in US small screen series The Loveboat in 1984, while her last substantial film role came in 1998, playing opposite Michael Gambon and Dominic West in The Gambler.

The actress appeared in a number of German films before being talent-spotted by Hollywood studio MGM and making her debut in 1935.

Just a year later she scooped an Academy Award for her performance in The Great Ziegfeld, playing the legendary theatrical impresario's wife.

In one famous scene, her face was tear-stained as she congratulated her former husband on his marriage to another actress.

The following year, her portrayal of a Chinese peasant in The Good Earth won her a second statuette, at a time when Oscar winners were disclosed some time before the ceremony.

The actress told the BBC in 2003 the awards ceremony "was not as elaborate" as it is today.

Rainer later said that "nothing worse could have happened to me," explaining two awards meant the studio could "throw me into anything".

After clashing with MGM over a lack of artistic freedom and losing out to Ingrid Bergman in Ernest Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls, she broke her contract with them.

"I was a machine, practically - a tool in a big, big factory, and I could not do anything. And so I left. I just went away. I fled. Yes, I fled," she later said in an interview.

Other actors to have collected consecutive acting awards are Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Jason Robards and Tom Hanks.

Rainer was married twice, and second husband Robert Knittel died in 1989 after their marriage of 44 years.

The couple had one daughter, Francesca Knittel-Bowyer, who said her mother had died from pneumonia at her London home.

"She was bigger than life and could charm the birds out of the trees," she said. "If you saw her, you'd never forget her.''

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Mumbai attack suspect detained again

30 December 2014 Last updated at 07:36

Pakistani police have detained the alleged Mumbai attacks mastermind in an unrelated kidnapping case, a day after a court ordered his release.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has spent six years in jail awaiting trial for the 2008 attacks, in which 165 were killed.

The government has been fighting a court decision to grant him bail.

Indian officials say Mr Lakhvi led the Pakistani militant group that carried out the attack, and have reacted angrily to the decision to free him.

Mr Lakhvi is among seven suspects who have been in jail awaiting trial for six years. Nine others have been charged in absentia.

Pakistan has not convicted anyone suspected of planning the attacks.

On Tuesday, the authorities registered a case of abduction under Pakistan's anti-terrorism law against Mr Lakhvi.

He was produced in a court amid tight security and later police took him into protective custody.

Analysts say the Pakistani government, which has promised to crack down on militancy, does not want Mr Lakhvi to be freed.

The government is challenging and earlier decision to grant him bail, and imposed a three-month detention order in an effort to keep him in prison.

But the Islamabad High Court quashed the detention order on Monday, forcing the authorities to bring new charges to keep him detained.

Mr Lakhvi was accused of heading the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was blamed for the Mumbai attacks.

The charges brought against Mr Lakhvi and other suspects were mainly based on a confession given by Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the only gunman captured alive after the attacks.

India executed Qasab in 2012.

The attacks severely strained relations between India and Pakistan.

Mumbai attacks: 26-29 November 2008

• Gunmen storm hotels, cafes and public buildings, shooting civilians and setting off explosions
• Indian soldiers fight gun battles with militants for three days
• Nine gunmen killed; one captured, tried and executed in India

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Putin critic gets suspended sentence

30 December 2014 Last updated at 11:10

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Steve Rosenberg reports from the court on the unexpected verdict

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has avoided jail after being convicted in a high-profile fraud case.

Navalny was given a suspended prison sentence of three-and-a-half years for defrauding two firms.

But his brother Oleg is facing a three-and-a-half year custodial sentence.

Navalny has consistently said the charges were politically motivated. He accused President Vladimir Putin's government of targeting the relatives of his opponents.

The brothers were convicted of stealing 30m roubles (£334,600; $518,100) from the firms, one of which is an affiliate of French cosmetics giant Yves Rocher.

They have also been fined 500,000 roubles (£5,460; $9,030) each and have been ordered to pay some 4m roubles in damages.

In court - Steve Rosenberg, Moscow correspondent

Alexei Navalny is the opposition figure the Kremlin fears most. A charismatic anti-corruption campaigner turned political activist and a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin.

The case against him was widely seen as politically motivated. And because his brother was also on trial he had accused the authorities of trying to take his family members hostage to get at him.

Both men were found guilty of embezzling money, but while Alexei was given a suspended sentence his brother was sent to jail.

Alexei Navalny was visibly shocked: "Why are you jailing him?" he shouted at the judge. "Just to punish me even harder?"

On leaving the courthouse, Navalny accused the authorities of torturing and destroying the relatives of their political opponents. The regime, he said, must be destroyed.

'Political pressure'

Prosecutors had demanded 10 years in prison for Alexei Navalny and eight years for his brother Oleg.

Navalny denounced the verdict as political "pressure". He tweeted in Russian: "Of all of the possible types of sentence, this is the meanest."

His lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, said that the sentence was the "worst moral torment" that could have been given.

Navalny led mass protests against Mr Putin's government in 2011 and 2012.

Some of his opponents criticised the brothers' sentences as too light and said prosecutors should launch an appeal.

Mikhail Markelov, a prominent MP from Putin's United Russia party, told Tass news agency: "Everything should be done to achieve reconsideration of this sentence."

Tuesday's verdict is the latest in a series of criminal cases against Navalny, which he says are fabricated to neutralise his influence.

In 2013 he came second in Moscow's mayoral election, supported by 27% of voters.

Mr Navalny is already under house arrest, serving a five-year suspended sentence for the alleged theft of 16m roubles from a timber firm in 2009.

The latest verdict was due to have been announced next month, but the court session was moved forward to Tuesday after thousands of his supporters announced plans for a big protest rally on 15 January.

After sentencing Navalny called on his supporters to "take to the streets today". Navalny himself is not allowed to attend the protest as he remains under house arrest.

Thousands have already said on Facebook that they plan to attend a rally in Moscow's Manezh Square, near the Kremlin, at 19:00 (16:00 GMT).

Media silence - by Stephen Ennis, BBC Monitoring

Kremlin-controlled TV channels have almost completely ignored the verdict in their main news bulletins, largely confining mentions of the anti-corruption campaigner and his co-defendant and brother to their specialist crime shows.

On Tuesday morning there was an almost complete TV news blackout on the sentences, with only the small liberal channel Dozhd and business channel RBK giving them prominence.

On social media, though, there has been a flood of anger and outrage, with many users accusing the authorities of taking Oleg Navalny "hostage". One user likened his sentencing to the reprisals taken against the family of terror suspects in Chechnya.

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Heavy shooting in Gambian capital

30 December 2014 Last updated at 11:21

Heavy gunfire has erupted near the presidential palace in The Gambia's capital, Banjul, reports say.

Details are sketchy but military and diplomatic sources say soldiers from the presidential guard tried to stage a coup, AFP news agency reports.

The fighting was reported while President Yahya Jammeh is abroad.

Mr Jammeh seized power in a coup in 1994 and his critics accuse him of leading one of the most repressive regimes in Africa.

There has been no official comment on the shooting, but a military source told AFP that the attackers had been beaten back.

"They wanted to overthrow the regime," the unnamed officer is quoted as saying.

Some media reports say Mr Jammeh is on a visit to France, while others say he is in Dubai.

In 2011, Mr Jammeh told the BBC he would rule The Gambia for "a billion years".

The tiny West African state, with its sandy beaches, is a popular tourist destination.

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AirAsia says debris is missing plane

30 December 2014 Last updated at 11:59

Indonesian officials have confirmed that bodies and debris found in the Java Sea off Borneo are from AirAsia flight QZ8501 that went missing on Sunday, a statement by AirAsia says.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said in the statement he was "devastated" and his priority was the victims' families.

Forty bodies were found after debris was spotted on Tuesday, the navy said.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday.

The discovery came on the third day of searching. A navy spokesman said rescuers were "very busy now" with the salvage operation.

The statement said the remains were found in the Karimata Strait, south west of Pangkalan Bun in the Borneo province of Central Kalimantan.

Mr Fernandes said: "I am absolutely devastated. This is a very difficult moment for all of us at AirAsia as we await further developments of the search and rescue operations but our first priority now is the wellbeing of the family members of those on board QZ8501."

The statement said family members would be assigned care providers and an emergency call centre set up for those seeking information.

Are you, or is someone you know, affected by this story? Do you know any of the passengers on the AirAsia flight? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with any information. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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Wolf 'most pirated film of 2014'

29 December 2014 Last updated at 10:26

The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese's true-life tale of corrupt New York stockbrokers, was the most illegally downloaded movie of 2014.

Disney cartoon Frozen was second on the list, said The Hollywood Reporter, quoting piracy-tracking firm Excipio.

Both films were downloaded around 30 million times by torrent users between 1 January and 23 December 2014.

The third most-pirated film was space thriller Gravity.

It was just behind Frozen with 29.357 million downloads.

The Wolf of Wall Street, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as real-life stockbroker Jordan Belfort, caused controversy when it was released in the US a year ago for its scenes of sex and drug-taking.

It was nominated for best picture at the Oscars and contained more than 500 uses of the F-word in its almost three-hour running time.

Other Oscar nominees in the most-pirated top 20 included 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle and Captain Phillips.

The Hollywood Reporter noted that the biggest-grossing film of the year, The Guardians of the Galaxy, was not on the list "perhaps because anyone interested in the film opted to see it in theaters".

And Variety reported that while the number three spot went to RoboCop, the figures included both MGM's 2014 reboot as well as the original 1987 version.

Top 20

• 1. The Wolf of Wall Street 30.035m
• 2. Frozen 29.919m
• 3. RoboCop 29.879m
• 4. Gravity 29.357m
• 5. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 27.627m
• 6. Thor: The Dark World 25.749m
• 7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 25.628m
• 8. The Legend of Hercules 25.137m
• 9. X-Men: Days of Future Past 24.380m
• 10. 12 Years a Slave 23.653 million
• 11. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 23.543m
• 12. American Hustle 23.143m
• 13. 300: Rise of an Empire 23.096m
• 14. Transformers: Age of Extinction 21.65m
• 15. Godzilla 20.956m
• 16. Noah 20.334m
• 17. Divergent 20.312m
• 18. Edge of Tomorrow 20.299m
• 19. Captain Phillips 19.817m
• 20. Lone Survivor 19.130m

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South Korea offers talks to North

29 December 2014 Last updated at 05:08

South Korea has offered to resume high-level talks next month with North Korea on a range of issues, to prepare for a "peaceful unification".

Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said he especially hoped to discuss the reunion of families separated by the Korean War more than 60 years ago.

There has been no response yet from Pyongyang.

The North has previously seen the South's unification plans as an attempt to take it over.

"North and South Korea should meet face to face to draw up a plan for a peaceful unification," Mr Ryoo told a news conference.

"For this purpose, we make an official proposal for the North Korean government to have a conversation about mutual concerns between North and South in January next year."

The minister said he hoped North Korea "responds positively" to the suggestion.

He offered to meet in Seoul, Pyongyang or any other South or North Korean city agreed with North Korean officials.

The last formal high-level talks were in February, leading to rare reunions for Korean families.

More talks planned in October were dropped after North Korea accused the South of not doing enough to stop activists sending anti-Northern leaflets across the border on balloons.

The two Koreas have technically been at war since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

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AirAsia plane 'at bottom of sea'

29 December 2014 Last updated at 10:33

The missing AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 is likely to be at the bottom of the sea, the head of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency has said.

Bambang Soelistyo said the hypothesis was based on the co-ordinates of the plane when contact with it was lost.

The search is continuing for the aircraft, a day after it disappeared with 162 people on board, but no trace has been found so far.

The Airbus A320-200 was on a flight to Singapore.

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Distraught relatives have been waiting for news at the Surabaya international airport in Indonesia, as Clive Myrie reports

The pilots had requested a course change because of bad weather but did not send any distress call before the plane disappeared from radar screens.

"Based on the co-ordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea," Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told a news conference in Jakarta.

Regional media reaction

The front page of the Beijing Times says: "Only three days before the New Year - where is the road to home?"

The reactions are similar in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Many on board were travelling to see their families for the year-end holiday season.

Media reports say the families are united in their prayers, hoping against hope for a miracle.

Many newspapers have published personal stories. One that has moved many people is about the Facebook post from the daughter of one of the pilots. It simply reads: "Papa come home."

Some are also calling 2014 a "year of tragedies" for the aviation industry, linking it with the flight MH370 that disappeared in March and hasn't been found yet.

Beyond the emotional coverage, commentators have been asking questions about aviation safety in the region.

South-East Asia has a fast-developing aviation sector with many carriers fighting for space, observers say. Most welcome the competition, but say safety norms have to be strengthened.

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Indonesia's vice president Jusuf Kalla said it was too early to confirm any sightings of possible debris

As the search continued on Monday, Indonesia air force spokesman Hadi Tjahnanto said it was being focused on an area where an oil spill had been spotted but it was not clear if it had been caused by the plane.

Meanwhile the Associated Press news agency quoted an Indonesian official as saying that objects had been spotted in the sea near Nangka island by an Australian search plane.

Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said later there was "no sufficient evidence" to link this to the missing plane.

He said that 30 ships and 15 aircraft were taking part in the search, and that "even fishermen" were being asked to join in.

AirAsia's share price fell 7% in morning trading on Monday in Kuala Lumpur.

Flight QZ8501 had left Surabaya in eastern Java at 05:35 on Sunday (22:35 GMT Saturday) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT).

The pilot radioed at 06:24 local time asking permission to climb to 38,000ft (11,000m) to avoid the dense storm clouds.

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Suwarto, the father of one of the pilots, says he is trusting in "God's will"

Indonesian officials said the request could not be immediately approved due to traffic, but the plane disappeared from the radar screens before the pilots gave any further response.

AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes said this was his "worst nightmare".

Mr Fernandes flew to Surabaya and later said: "We are very devastated by what's happened, it's unbelievable."

Oceanographer Simon Boxall told the BBC the plane should not be too difficult to find if it went into the water.

The sea floor is within diver depth, he says, and it would be "likely that they'll get answers within a few days".

Difficult year

The AirAsia Indonesia plane was delivered in 2008, has flown 13,600 times, completing 23,000 hours, and underwent its last maintenance in November.

The captain, Iriyanto, had more than 20,500 flight hours, almost 7,000 of them with AirAsia, Mr Fernandes said. The co-pilot is French national Remi Emmanuel Plesel.

The AirAsia group has previously had no fatal accidents involving its aircraft. The airline has set up an emergency line for family or friends of those who may be on board. The number is +622 129 850 801.

Special centres were set up at both Singapore's Changi airport and Juanda international airport in Surabaya.

There were 155 passengers on board, the company said in a statement:

• 137 adults, 17 children and one infant
• Most were Indonesian but also one UK national, a Malaysian, a Singaporean and three South Koreans
• The BBC understands that the British national is Chi-Man Choi
• Two pilots and five crew were also on board - one French, the others Indonesian

This has been a difficult year for aviation in Asia - Malaysia's national carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two losses - flights MH370 and MH17.

Flight MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage, thought to be in the southern Indian Ocean, has still not been located.

MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board.

Are you, or is someone you know, affected by this story? Do you know any of the passengers on the AirAsia flight? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with any information. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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Cameroon air strikes on Boko Haram

29 December 2014 Last updated at 10:46

Cameroon has carried out its first air strikes against militant Islamist group Boko Haram after it over-ran a military base and attacked five villages, an army spokesman has said.

The military repelled the attacks and regained control of the base, he added.

The spokesman did not confirm local media reports that the militants had killed at least 30 people.

The Nigeria-based group is increasingly carrying out cross-border raids, threatening Cameroon's security.

'Training camp dismantled'

The latest fighting was the most intense, lasting for three days along several fronts, reports the BBC's Jean-David Mihamle from Cameroon's capital Yaounde.

About 1,000 militants attacked five villages, including Amchide, and seized the nearby Achigachia military base.

"After that, the head of state ordered the air force to carry out strikes. With the bombardment, the fighters were forced to decamp from Achigachia," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

Cameroon under pressure from Boko Haram

Last week, Cameroon said it had dismantled a Boko Haram training camp on its territory, and had seized 84 children who were being trained there.

More than 40 of its soldiers have been killed in fighting with Boko Haram this year, according to Reuters.

Boko Haram launched its insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009, saying it wanted to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.

It recruits mainly unemployed youth and has seized large swathes of territory in Borno state, raising fears that it could launch an assault on its main city, Maiduguri.

At least 2,000 civilians have been killed by the group in Nigeria this year.

The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in April from the town of Chibok in Borno state sparked international outrage.

Who are Boko Haram?

• Founded in 2002
• Initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
• Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
• Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
• Some three million people affected
• Declared terrorist group by US in 2013

Who are Boko Haram?

Profile: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau

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Schumacher faces fight for recovery

29 December 2014 Last updated at 11:03

Michael Schumacher faces a "long fight" on the road to full recovery, his manager has said, one year after the F1 champion suffered severe head injuries in a skiing accident.

"It's going to be a long time," Sabine Kehm was quoted as saying.

Her comments came after a former racing driver said Schumacher was beginning to communicate with his eyes.

The claim, made by Phillipe Streiff, was dismissed by Ms Kehm and Schumacher's doctor.

Speaking to Le Parisien newspaper, Mr Streiff said he understood that Schumacher was now recognising his close family and communicating with them using his eyes.

The retired French F1 driver said he had obtained his information after being in contact with Schumacher's wife and the surgeon who is treating him.

But Professor Gerard Saillant, the surgeon, denied giving any information to Mr Streiff.

"For a year, I have never had any contact, verbal, written or physical with Phillipe Streiff," he said via a spokesman, according to the AFP news agency.

Meanwhile Sabine Kehm said Mr Streiff was not a close friend of Schumacher and had not been in contact with either her or Mr Saillant.

Schumacher, a seven-time F1 champion, suffered his head injury while skiing near the French resort of Meribel on 29 December last year.

After spending nine months being treated in French and Swiss hospitals he was transferred in September to his family home on the shores of Lake Geneva.

The German driver, who won a record 91 F1 races, had retired from the sport in 2012 after an attempted comeback ended in disappointment.

Michael Schumacher

• Born: 3 January 1969
• First GP win: Belgium 1992
• Last GP win: China 2006
• Races started: 303
• Wins: 91 (155 podium finishes)
• Championships: 7 (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

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Russia shows first sign of recession

29 December 2014 Last updated at 11:17

The Russian economy contracted by 0.5% in November, the first fall in national output - Gross Domestic Product - since October 2009, official figures show.

The Russian government expects a 0.8% decline in GDP next year, compared with 0.6% GDP growth in 2014 as a whole.

The rouble fell to a rate of 57 to the dollar on Monday, a fall of more than 6%, after some gains last week.

Russia's economy, heavily reliant on energy exports, has been hit by the oil price slump and Western sanctions.

The sanctions, imposed because of Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, target the oil and gas industries as well as banks, arms manufacturers and the wealthy elite close to President Vladimir Putin.

Russia blocked most imported Western food in retaliation for the measures.

The rouble has lost half its value against the dollar this year.

The Russian ministry for economic development said the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and service sectors all contracted in November. Energy, mining and the retail trade showed continued growth.

Insurance for banks

President Putin signed a law on Monday doubling the deposit guarantee for bank accounts, to 1.4m roubles (£16,290; $25,370).

The last time Russia suffered a major economic crisis, in 1998, many ordinary Russians saw their bank savings wiped out.

Mr Putin has also given the Russian central bank the power to recapitalise the country's biggest retail bank, Sberbank, directly with soft loans. The total must not exceed Sberbank's capital as measured on 1 January 2015.

The "subordinated debt" issued by the central bank, if Sberbank needs it, will not have to be repaid until other loans have been paid off. It is a cushion in case Sberbank gets into financial difficulty.

Other banks can be recapitalised by the central bank through Russia's deposit guarantee agency, using federal government bonds.

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Five dead in Italian ferry blaze

29 December 2014 Last updated at 11:41

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Strong winds and smoke hampered the rescue, as James Reynolds reports

Five people have died and 110 are still awaiting rescue after a blaze on an Italian ferry off the Greek island of Corfu, Greek officials say.

One man is known to have died trying to escape the ship, and a further four bodies have been recovered from the sea.

Helicopter crews have been winching people to safety despite gale-force winds and thick smoke.

The Italian navy said that 363 of the 478 people on board had been evacuated.

It is still unclear what caused the fire to break out on a car deck on Sunday.

Coast Guard spokesman Nikos Lagadianos said four more people were found dead on Monday. The body of a Greek man had already been recovered along with his injured wife.

It is still unclear how the man died but the Greek coastguard told AP that both passengers had been found trapped in a lifeboat escape chute.

The first rescue ship carrying 49 people evacuated from the ferry arrived at the Italian port of Bari early on Monday morning.

A Turkish man who was on board told local reporters that he was sure that he had seen more bodies.

"I saw four people dead, with my own eyes," he said.

Italian prosecutors announced on Monday that they had opened a criminal investigation into the fire.

Prosecutors that they would look into whether negligence had played a role.

Helicopters crews fitted with night vision equipment worked through the night to rescue passengers despite difficult conditions. One hundred people were taken off the ferry during the night, the Italian coast guard said.

Italian Air Force helicopter pilot, Maj Antonio Laneve told Italian state TV that "acrid smoke" had filled his helicopter cabin, making the rescue even more challenging.

Most of the rescued passengers have been transferred to nearby ships, although some have been taken directly to hospital.

Three children and a pregnant woman are among those being treated in hospital for hypothermia, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Passengers described panicking as the heat rose, then freezing as they stood on decks awaiting rescue.

The wife of one of the cooks told journalists she had had a call from her husband saying: "I cannot breathe, we are all going to burn like rats - God save us."

Another passenger told Greek TV station Mega: "We are outside, we are very cold, the ship is full of smoke, the boat is still burning, the floors are boiling, underneath the cabins it must be burning since 5 o'clock, the boats that came (to rescue us) are gone, and we are here. They cannot take us."

The BBC's James Reynolds says that emergency workers in the port of Brindisi had waited late into the night for rescued passengers to arrive but strong winds had forced rescue vessels to try to dock elsewhere on the Italian coast.

Coast Guard Adm Giovanni Pettorino said that a member of the Italian military had been injured during the rescue.

Nearby merchant vessels aligned themselves in formation to protect the ship from waves and facilitate the rescue.

"This is a complicated rescue mission. The visibility is poor and the weather conditions are difficult, but we are confident because there are a good number of ships in the area," Greece Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said.

Mr Varvitsiotis later told reporters the fire had been brought partly under control.

Most of those on board were Greek. Greek maritime official Nikos Lagadianos told AP that 234 passengers and 34 crew members were from Greece.

Others came from Italy, Turkey, Albania, Germany and several other countries. Four British nationals have been rescued from the stricken ferry, according to the UK Foreign Office.

The chief executive of the Visentini group that owns the vessel, Carlo Visentini, said the ferry had passed a recent technical inspection despite a "slight malfunction" in one of the fire doors, Italy's Ansa news agency reports.

"The tests confirmed that the boat was in full working order," he said, adding that the fire door had been repaired "to the satisfaction of the inspectors".

Ferries are an important mode of transport between Greece's hundreds of islands as well as neighbouring countries.

Are you, or is someone you know, affected by this story? Do you know any of the passengers on the ferry? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with any information. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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Greek MPs' vote triggers snap poll

29 December 2014 Last updated at 11:57

Greek MPs have rejected the presidential candidate nominated by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, triggering a snap general election.

Stavros Dimas failed to reach the necessary 180 votes, which means that parliament will have to be dissolved.

Greece's economy has begun to recover after six years of recession.

But Greeks have endured years of austerity and the left-wing Syriza party leading the polls wants the terms of a huge EU-IMF bailout renegotiated.

The Greek stock market fell almost 10% as MPs voted for a third and final time on Monday. Shortly afterwards, Mr Samaras announced that elections would take place on 25 January.

Mr Dimas, a former European commissioner, secured the votes of only 168 MPs, the same number he had won during the second vote last week.

The final vote is regarded as a major setback for the prime minister, as well as for eurozone countries that worked hard to bring Greece back from the brink in 2010.

Since then €240bn (£188bn; $290bn) has been spent helping Greece pay off its debts. In return for two major bailouts, the EU and IMF demanded stringent austerity measures.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, in an interview on Saturday, praised Greece's progress in tackling its debt crisis. But he warned: "Every new government needs to fulfil the contractual agreements of its predecessors."

Although Syriza's lead in the opinion polls has been narrowing in recent weeks, there is concern in the markets and among EU officials that a new Greek government could throw out many of the fiscal reforms implemented by Mr Samaras's coalition with the left-of-centre Pasok party.

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Malaysia pledges extra flood funds

28 December 2014 Last updated at 06:21

Malaysia has announced an extra 500m ringgit ($142m; £92m) to help victims of the country's worst flooding in decades.

At least five people have been killed in the floods along Malaysia's east coast, with over 160,000 displaced.

Prime Minister Najib Razak made the announcement after visiting flood-stricken areas.

He has faced public anger after being photographed golfing with President Obama in Hawaii during the storms.

Mr Razak cut short his holiday, and defended his "golf diplomacy" with the US leader, saying that it was difficult to decline the invitation as it had been planned for a while.

"Every day when I was there, I received the latest report on the flood situation... as it became more serious, I decided to return to the country as soon as possible," he said in Kota Bharu, the capital of Kelantan province,

The extra funding will go to victims after the floods subsides, and is on top of an initial 50m ringgit ($14m; £9m) allocation.

Entire towns have been submerged by the flooding.

Rescue workers have been struggling to bring in enough food and supplies for families sleeping in relief centres.

Some victims have accused the government of being too slow in responding.

"I am angry with them. We don't care about their politics. We just want the government to do what they should do and help us," one woman told AFP.

Eastern states are often flooded during the monsoon season but heavy rain and winds have worsened the situation this year.

Contact us

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Pope gunman visits John Paul II tomb

27 December 2014 Last updated at 17:59

The Turkish man who shot and injured former Pope John Paul II in 1981 has laid flowers on the late pontiff's tomb in the Vatican.

Mehmet Ali Agca told police he felt he needed to make the gesture, Italian media report.

It comes 31 years to the day that the Pope visited Agca in prison and forgave him for the attempt on his life.

Agca served 19 years in an Italian jail for shooting the Pope twice at close range. His motive remains a mystery.

He spent another 10 years in prison in Turkey on charges related to the earlier murder of a newspaper editor.

Agca, 56, laid white roses at the tomb of the late Pope on Saturday, in his first visit to the Vatican since his attack on John Paul II on 13 May 1981.

The Pope was left seriously injured, with one bullet passing through his abdomen and another narrowly missing his heart.

Vatican officials have for a second time denied Agca's request for a face-to-face meeting with Pope Francis.

"He has put flowers on the tomb of John Paul II. I think that is enough," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told La Repubblica newspaper.

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Snow strands motorists in Alps

27 December 2014 Last updated at 22:58

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Snow and ice has caused major delays for holiday traffic going to and from ski resorts

Snow and ice in the French Alps have stranded 15,000 vehicles, snarling up holiday traffic to and from ski resorts, French media report.

The country declared an orange weather alert, its second-highest, as local authorities scrambled to put up motorists for the night.

One man died when his vehicle slid into a ravine in the Isere region.

The government asked drivers to "exercise the utmost caution" and avoid travel if possible.

Three people died in other snow-related incidents across France earlier this week, according to French daily Le Monde.

Snowy conditions in the French Alps are expected to persist into Sunday, followed by freezing weather next week when Paris should see its first frosts in more than a year, French weather forecasters say.

Local gyms and community halls were opened up as shelters in the Savoy region on Saturday.

Motorists seeking accommodation "stormed" the Chambery exhibition centre, according to a live page (in French) on the website of Le Dauphine Libere newspaper.

Eleven hours

British driver Gavin Rigby told BBC News he had taken 11 hours to drive between Val d'Isere and Bourg Saint Maurice - a journey which would normally take 30 minutes.

Mr Rigby, who is returning to the UK with his family from a skiing holiday, said they had received no help from the French authorities, and had had to rely on other motorists for information.

He felt most sorry for the drivers who had, unlike himself, set out without snow chains.

"The police should have got people to fit chains this morning after half a metre [20 in] of snow fell last night," he said, as he prepared to travel on through the night.

Strong winds caused damage elsewhere in France, shutting the port of Calais, where an anti-migrant fence was partially toppled.

Closer to Paris, the celebrated gardens of Versailles were closed to the public because of gales.

Heavy snow caused disruption to roads in Germany too, causing a 25km (16-mile) traffic jam on the A8 motorway near Stuttgart.

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Writer and journalist Rachel Johnson, whose car is stuck in snow outside Geneva, Switzerland, described conditions

In the UK, the Met Office issued warnings of ice across the country and snow in some areas. Hundreds of homes were without power in parts of England, including nearly 500 in the East Midlands and nearly 300 in Devon.

Has your journey been affected by snow and ice? Have you changed your plans because of the weather? Email your comment to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

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George Weah wins Liberia senate seat

27 December 2014 Last updated at 22:08

The former football star George Weah has won a landslide victory in Liberia's senate elections, in polls disrupted by the Ebola outbreak.

Mr Weah got 78% of the vote for the Montserrado county seat, which includes the capital Monrovia.

He beat Robert Sirleaf, the son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who took nearly 11%.

Low turnout in the poll, which was first planned for October, was blamed on concerns about Ebola.

Strict health controls were in place to try to prevent the spread of the disease.

Those who came to polling stations had their temperature taken, were told to stand a metre (3ft) apart and wash their hands before and after voting.

Liberia has been one of the countries worst affected by Ebola, with almost 3,400 deaths, the UN says.

Other winners in the senate elections include Jewel Howard-Taylor, the ex-wife of the jailed former president Charles Taylor, and the former rebel leader Prince Johnson. Both retained their seats.

The National Elections Commission chairman, Jerome Korkoya, called the conclusion of the vote "the end of a crucial journey".

Mr Weah won the first round of the 2005 presidential election, losing the runoff to Ms Johnson-Sirleaf.

He is the only African to be named Fifa's world player of the year, winning in 1995.

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Top al-Shabab militant 'surrenders'

27 December 2014 Last updated at 17:16

A top al-Shabab militant, Zakariya Ahmed Ismail Hersi, has given himself up, Somali officials say.

Mr Hersi, a leading figure in the militant group's intelligence wing, surrendered to police in the Gedo region, they add.

In June 2012, the US state department offered $3m (£1.9m, 2.5m euros) for information leading to his capture.

It comes three months after al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a US air strike.

A Somali intelligence officer, quoted by the Associated Press news agency, suggested Mr Hersi may have surrendered because of a dispute with al-Shabab members loyal to the former leader.

Mr Hersi fell out with Godane last year and has been on the run ever since but he is still a powerful figure, says BBC Africa editor Mary Harper.

'No fight'

Police stormed a house Mr Hersi had been hiding in for six days, close to the border with Kenya, after receiving a tip off, the district commissioner of the town of El Wag told the BBC.

He said that although Mr Hersi had a pistol, he did not put up a fight.

"Al-Shabab leader Zakariya Ismail surrendered to government forces in El Wag, Gedo region. He is expected to be flown to Mogadishu tomorrow," an unnamed official told Reuters news agency.

There has been no immediate comment from al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab bounties

• $5m: Ibrahim Haji Jama, co-founder

• $5m: Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, also known as Shongole, financier

• $5m: Bashir Mohamed Mahamoud, military commander

• $5m: Mukhtar Robow, also known as Abu Mansur, spokesman

• $3m: Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi, intelligence chief

• $3m: Abdullahi "Yare", senior figure

Ahmad Umar was named the new leader of al-Shabab, days after Godane's killing last September.

The US has supported the African Union (AU) force that has driven al-Shabab out of the capital Mogadishu and other towns since 2011.

The al-Qaeda-linked fighters want to overthrow the UN-backed Somali government and frequently attack government targets as well as neighbouring countries that provide troops to the AU force.

Three members of the AU force and a civilian contractor were killed in an al-Shabab attack on its headquarters in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday.

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Huge funeral for New York policeman

27 December 2014 Last updated at 19:06

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Mia Hunt-Pierce sang the national anthem during the service as thousands of police officers watched outside

Tens of thousands of people are attending the funeral in New York of Rafael Ramos, one of the two policemen shot dead a week ago.

Vice-President Joe Biden praised the "finest police department in the world" at the service, attended by police forces from across the US and Canada.

Mr Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot after weeks of anti-police protests.

Police at the funeral again snubbed New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had appeared to back some of the protests.

Funeral details for Officer Liu have yet to be announced. Officials say it will be held when relatives arrive from China.

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Vice-President Joe Biden says Rafael Ramos "was a cop for all the right reasons"

Telling the mourners Officer Ramos had been a "hero", Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced he had promoted both officers posthumously to Detective First Grade.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also paid tribute to the dead officer as well as to the New York Police Department (NYPD).

'It affects everyone'

"I believe that this great police force of this incredibly diverse city can and will show the nation how to bridge any divide," Vice-President Biden told the congregation at the Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens.

"You've done it before and you will do it again."

Officer Ramos, 40, had been studying to become a police chaplain and was described as "a man of great faith" by a pastor who knew him.

Commissioner Bratton, his voice choking with emotion, said: "Rafael Ramos was assassinated because he represented all of us."

The two police officers had been killed by a "madman", he continued, who had only been able to see two uniforms, not the people wearing them.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told mourners he had watched recent protests and seen "people hurling insults" directly in the face of the police officers, but the police continued doing their jobs.

When the Ramos family arrived for the service, the eldest son Justin, wearing his father's NYPD jacket, was hugged by a police officer. The policeman is also survived by his younger son Jaden and his wife Maritza.

Officer Dustin Lindaman of the Waterloo Police Department had flown from Iowa to attend the funeral.

"He's one of our brothers and when this happens, it affects everyone in law enforcement - it absolutely affects everyone," he told the Associated Press news agency.

History of violence

Inside the church, Mr de Blasio's speech was met by polite applause but outside, police officers could be seen turning their backs when he appeared on a giant video screen.

The mayor had been snubbed in a similar manner by officers at the hospital where the two men were pronounced dead on 20 December.

The two police officers were shot following weeks of protests over several killings of unarmed black men by white police officers.

In New York, a grand jury decided not to press charges against a white police officer over the death of unarmed black man Eric Garner, who was placed in a chokehold while being restrained by New York police officers.

Commissioner Bratton has said he strongly rejects the notion that Mayor de Blasio increased the risk to police officers by appearing to side with protesters following the death of Mr Garner.

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Police Commissioner William Bratton: "He was a New Yorker. He was a New York City police officer. And he was - he is - a hero"

Black man Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, shot and killed officers Ramos and Liu as they were sitting in a patrol vehicle in the borough of Brooklyn. He then killed himself nearby.

Brinsley had a history of violence and mental instability and had been arrested at least 19 times in Georgia and Ohio, police said. Before attacking the police officers, he had shot and injured his girlfriend.

On the day of the shooting, he went on social media to say he was planning to kill police officers.

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