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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Poppy duo and acting stars honoured

31 December 2014 Last updated at 01:59

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Joan Collins: "Dame Joan, wow"

The creators of the World War One ceramic poppy display at the Tower of London have joined acting grandees Joan Collins and John Hurt on the New Year Honours list.

Ceramic artist Paul Cummins and theatre designer Tom Piper are both made MBEs in recognition of the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation which attracted five million visitors.

The acting profession is strongly represented on the list, with Collins and Kristin Scott Thomas becoming dames and Hurt knighted. There is an OBE for Emily Watson, as well as James Corden and Sheridan Smith, who appeared together in TV sitcom Gavin & Stacey.

A total of 1,164 people are honoured by the Queen on the New Year list, three-quarters of whom have been recognised for work in their communities. The awards are split equally between men and women. And a further 87 recipients are named on the Foreign Office list which recognises service overseas.

Dame Joan, who was made an OBE for her contribution to the arts in 1997, is recognised this time for services to charity. She said she was "thrilled and truly grateful". Dame Kristin, who is shortly to play the Queen on stage in The Audience, said she was "thrilled, astonished and worried that I might suddenly wake up".

Among the other new dames are fashion designer Mary Quant; broadcaster Esther Rantzen, founder of the Childline and Silver Line charities, and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

Trevor Hicks and Margaret Aspinall, who campaigned for a quarter of a century for the families of the 96 football fans who died in the Hillsborough disaster, are made CBEs. A new inquest into the deaths is still going on.

Women's Rugby World Cup winners Sarah Hunter and Rochelle Clark are among the sports stars recognised with MBEs.

Athlete Steve Cram, a former 1500m world champion, becomes a CBE in recognition of his recent work as chair of the English Institute of Sport.

The same honour goes to novelist Ali Smith.

Meanwhile, an inquiry is to be carried out into the apparent leaking of a string of names from the list before they were officially announced. Sir Bob Kerslake, the outgoing head of the Civil Service, said he was "concerned", describing the situation as "highly regrettable".

Continue reading the main story

The poppy installation saw 888,246 ceramic flowers gradually fill the moat of the Tower of London, each one representing a British and Commonwealth military death in World War One. The Queen referred to the artwork in her Christmas message.

Mr Cummins said he felt "taken aback and extremely happy to receive this unexpected honour".

He said everyone who had worked on the project "should feel a part of this MBE, without them this installation wouldn't have been created".

Mr Piper added: "I am extremely proud of the part I have played in this unique collaboration. It has been a real privilege to co-create an artwork which has meant so much to so many people."

Dame Esther said: "I am thrilled that this honour recognises the contribution made by Childline and the Silver Line in transforming lives, and I am delighted that the talented teams at both charities have also been recognised for their inspirational work and devotion to the most vulnerable children and older people in our society."

Games success

Among the political honours, former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Paddy Ashdown is appointed a member of the elite Companions of Honour. Stirling MP Anne McGuire becomes a dame and Southend West MP David Amess is knighted. Baroness Ashton, the former EU foreign policy chief, has been made a member of the Order of St Michael and St George.

Dame Mary Peters, who won a gold medal in the women's pentathlon at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, also joins the Companion of Honour.

The honours for sport also acknowledge the work of ex-West Bromwich Albion footballer and racial equality campaigner Brendon Batson, who becomes an OBE.

Great Britain hockey captain Kathrin Richardson-Walsh, as well as Northern Ireland boxer Patrick Barnes and Scotland judo player Euan Burton, who both won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, all get MBEs.

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Dame Esther Rantzen: "I am used to very grand people being Dames and I can't really adjust"

The success of the Games itself is recognised, with a CBE for Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson and an OBE for Commonwealth Games Scotland chief executive Jon Doig.

Others from the world of entertainment on the list include comedian and author Meera Syal and Grammy-winning producer and one half of 1960s pop duo Peter and Gordon, Peter Asher. Both become CBEs.

Aldeburgh Music chief executive and former BBC Proms director Roger Wright, who receives a CBE, said he was "thrilled to be honoured for my work in the service of music".

Oscar-nominated screenwriter William Nicholson, whose work includes Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, Les Miserables and Gladiator, collects an OBE.

In the world of business, wind-up radio inventor Trevor Baylis is appointed CBE, as are entrepreneur James Caan, who appeared on TV show Dragons' Den, and Brent Hoberman who co-founded travel website lastminute.com with Martha Lane Fox in 1998. There is an OBE for Julie Deane, co-owner and founder of The Cambridge Satchel Company.

Youth channel

There is a knighthood for Dr Simon Campbell who played a key role in the development of Viagra while he was senior vice-president at pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer.

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Jamal Edwards, one of youngest people to be awarded an MBE

Jamal Edwards, who founded influential youth broadcasting channel SBTV, becomes an MBE. The 24-year-old entrepreneur from west London, who helped launch the career of Ed Sheeran among others, said: "I'm overwhelmed. My gran doesn't know yet. My mum and dad know but that's it."

Former Lord Mayor of London, Fiona Woolf is named a dame for services to the legal profession, diversity and the City of London. She stood down as the head of the inquiry into how public bodies dealt with historical child abuse allegations earlier this year.

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Trevor Hicks: "I'm a bloke who's done a job of work to the best of his ability"

Kate Lampard, who oversaw the NHS investigation into Jimmy Savile, and Britain's most senior female police officer, Cressida Dick, who is to leave the Metropolitan Police after 31 years, both become CBEs.

There are knighthoods for HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor and former Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Matt Baggott.

David Verey, chairman of the Art Fund, which provided funding for the the Verey Galley at Eton College, now opened to the public, is also knighted.

Two Network Rail executives are also on the list. Patrick Hallgate, a route managing director involved in the repair of the flood-hit line at Dawlish in Devon, becomes an MBE for services to the economy in the South West. David Ward, route managing director for the South East, is given an OBE, for services to the rail industry.

Marathon runner

In a rare occurrence, two members of the same family are recognised for separate activities on the same list.

Mairi O'Keefe receives an MBE for services to people with disabilities through her work as chief executive of Leuchie House in East Lothian.

Her mother Catriona MacKinnon receives a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to the Gaelic language and culture.

Fauja Singh, who at 103 years old is widely recognised as the oldest marathon runner in the world, is also given a BEM.

Among the less heralded recipients, there is a BEM for Joanne Copsey, a town pastor in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, who co-ordinates a team of 50 volunteers working with the police to ensure people are safe on the streets at night.

Hazel Geach, who has given more than four decades of dedicated service to the Scouting movement in Romford, Essex, is made an MBE.

There is also an MBE for Gbolahan Bright, founder of Bright Futerz which provides counselling and mentoring to young people with behavioural problems.

The honours system

Commonly awarded ranks:

• Companion of honour - Limited to 65 people. Recipients wear the initials CH after their name
• Knight or Dame
• CBE - Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• OBE - Officer of the Order of the British Empire
• MBE - Member of the Order of the British Empire
• BEM - British Empire Medal

Guide to the honours

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Ebola screening tests under scrutiny

31 December 2014 Last updated at 09:10

Procedures for screening health workers returning to the UK after treating Ebola patients will be reviewed after an infected nurse flew from London to Glasgow despite raising concerns.

Pauline Cafferkey told officials at Heathrow she felt unwell but was allowed to continue her journey. She was diagnosed in hospital the next day.

Another passenger on her flight said screening had been "chaotic".

The chief medical officer said the case raised questions over precautions.

However, Dame Sally Davies said correct protocols had been followed.

"The risk of raised temperature when she came back appears to have been very low," she said.

"That's why we look at what we do all the time to see should we have been more precautionary, is it in the public's interest? Is it in the patient's interest?"

But she added: "I doubt it would have made much difference."

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Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies says Ms Cafferkey's temperature was "within the range for flying and that she was well"

Dame Sally said Ms Cafferkey had been in the early phase of the disease when she made the journey to the UK from Sierra Leone, via Casablanca, and her fellow passengers were at "very low risk" of being infected.

She told BBC Breakfast: "The public health risk is negligible - Ebola's very difficult to catch."

Ms Cafferkey was diagnosed on Monday after returning from Sierra Leone, where she had travelled as part of a 30-strong group of healthcare workers from Save the Children.

She was allowed to leave Heathrow after her temperature was taken seven times.

Temperature screening

• A normal body temperature is considered 37C
• A raised temperature is one sign of Ebola and forms a core part of entry screening
• The UK uses a relatively tough 37.5C as the cut off for further testing
• Belgium and Australia use a higher threshold of 38C
• India uses 38.3C
• Spain and the US use 38.6C

Source: The Lancet

After an initial test, she told officials she believed a fever might be developing while she was waiting for a connecting flight to Glasgow.

Her temperature was taken a further six times over 30 minutes, but each test found her temperature to be normal.

She reported symptoms the following morning after arriving in Glasgow.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "Naturally, we will be reviewing what happened and the screening protocols, and if anything needs to be changed it will be."

Enhanced screening - which involves passengers having their temperature taken and completing a questionnaire about their health - was rolled out at some UK airports, including Heathrow, in October.

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Dr Martin Deahl: "The whole process was a bit chaotic"

Save the Children said they had "robust and strict protocols in place to protect our staff."

A statement added: "Save the Children also asks staff to be careful outside of the treatment centre, where exposure to risks can be less obvious."

The charity's humanitarian director Michael von Bertele told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's really important for us to try and understand whether it was a failure of training, of protection, of procedure, or indeed whether she contracted it in some incidental contact within the community.

"Because our workers don't just work inside the red zone, which is a very high-risk area, they do also have contact - although we are very, very careful in briefing people to avoid personal contact - outside of the treatment centre."

He also said that while protection is "of a very high standard", "nothing is risk-free" when it comes to dealing with Ebola.

But Dr Martin Deahl, a consultant psychiatrist who travelled back on the same flight as Ms Cafferkey, said there had been issues at Heathrow.

He said there were too few staff on duty and the rooms where returning volunteers were held were too small.

Ms Cafferkey is currently being cared for at the Royal Free Hospital, in Hampstead, north London.

She was said to be doing "as well as can be expected under the circumstances" by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Ms Cafferkey had no detectable fever or symptoms. Anyone displaying symptoms at screening, either in Sierra Leone or in the UK, would not have been allowed to travel.

One third of the 132 other passengers on the flight from Casablanca to Heathrow had been contacted by Public Health England, while advice had been given to more than half the 72 passengers from Heathrow to Glasgow, officials said.

Another healthcare worker who was recently in West Africa and fell ill in the Scottish Highlands has tested negative for the disease.

A third patient from Cornwall, who had recently returned from an affected country, has also tested negative.

Ms Cafferkey could be offered plasma from patients who have survived the virus as part of her treatment.

Dame Sally confirmed that plasma had been donated by British nurse William Pooley, who recovered from Ebola in September after also being treated at the Royal Free Hospital.

Having fought off the infection, his blood should help others do the same.

Other available treatments include antiviral drugs, but there are no stocks left of ZMapp - the drug used to treat Mr Pooley.

Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, such as blood, vomit or faeces.

The virus has killed more than 7,800 people, mostly in West Africa, since it broke out a year ago.

The World Health Organization says the number of people infected by the disease in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea has now passed 20,000.

What are the symptoms?

The early symptoms are a sudden fever, muscle pain, fatigue, headache and sore throat.

This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash and bleeding - both internal and external - which can be seen in the gums, eyes, nose and in the stools.

Patients tend to die from dehydration and multiple organ failure.

Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. If you are happy to speak to a BBC journalist, please include a telephone number.

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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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Warning over abuse inquiry victims

31 December 2014 Last updated at 12:10

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Baroness Butler-Sloss said she was 'not unsuitable' for the job of chair

Baroness Butler-Sloss has cautioned against giving victims too much influence over who runs the planned inquiry into historical child abuse.

The retired judge, who stepped down as head of the public inquiry, said there could be "real problems" if they were to decide who is its eventual chair.

She also told BBC Radio 4 she has "enormous sympathy" for the victims.

The panel has started work but has no one to lead it after its first two nominations resigned.

Home Secretary Theresa May has told inquiry members their panel might be disbanded.

Dozens of the child abuse survivors have called for the government to scrap the current inquiry and replace it with a more powerful body.

'Victim voice'

Lady Butler-Sloss stood down earlier this year amid claims she faced a conflict of interest because her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general at the time of some of the alleged abuse.

Speaking to the Today programme, of which she was guest editor on Wednesday, Lady Butler-Sloss said "there has to be a victim voice on the panel" but the survivors should not be able to chair it themselves or choose who fills the position.

"I worry that the victims, for whom I have the most enormous sympathy [....], for them to be deciding who should become the person chairing it creates real problems," she said.

"Because if you do not have, in the past, a position of authority, how are you going to be able to run the inquiry?

"You need someone who knows how to run things and if you get someone from an obscure background, with no background of establishment, they'll find it very difficult and may not be able actually to produce the goods."

She said it was right for victims to be "at the centre" of the inquiry, but that if they were to run it, there could be "difficulties".

But a spokeswoman for a group of sexual abuse victims said Lady Butler-Sloss's comments were "shockingly naive" and "patronising to victims".

Lucy Duckworth, the chair of Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors, said: "Not to make victims at the centre of their own inquiry displays a shockingly naive attitude."

When asked if the troubled inquiry would ever "get off the ground", Lady Butler-Sloss replied: "I don't know."

She said she had no regrets about accepting the role as the first chair of the inquiry and she thought it was her "duty" to do so.

While she believes she could have done the job, she said she is "so glad" she no longer had to.

Lady Butler-Sloss said establishment figures had covered up abuse in the past.

She said: "I do believe the establishment has in the past looked after itself, partly because people did not really recognise the seriousness of child abuse and they did not think it was so important, and it was important to protect members of the establishment.

"So I would want to go in with a knife and cut the whole thing open and expose it, as to what happened, bearing in mind, of course, that the views of those people are not the views of people today and that is a difficulty."

Criticism 'unfair'

Fiona Woolf, who has been made a dame in the New Year Honours list, also stood down amid questions over her links to former Home Secretary Lord Brittan.

Lady Butler-Sloss said criticism of the honour awarded to Dame Fiona was "very unfair".

"She was Lord Mayor of London, she is only the second woman ever to be Lord Mayor of London," she said. "The very least that the honours system could do would be to honour a woman who has got such a distinguished post.

"Unfortunately she had, like myself, a brief period where she had agreed - for goodness sake, she had agreed to do a very disagreeable job - to become chairman.

"And because she happened to know Leon Brittan, she was unacceptable to the survivors and therefore she stood down," she said.

Lord Brittan could be called to give evidence to the inquiry about a dossier on alleged high-profile paedophiles that was handed to ministers in 1984.

The inquiry, sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, is set to investigate whether "public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales".

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Thatcher explored education overhaul

30 December 2014 Last updated at 00:04 By Sanchia Berg Today programme

Margaret Thatcher explored plans to overhaul the structure of English education when she was PM, files released by the National Archives show.

The documents from the 1980s reveal Mrs Thatcher wanted to make state schools independent of local authorities.

This has been the central plank of the current government's education reforms.

In 1986, policy adviser Oliver Letwin wrote that she had "failed" to give people more responsibility for their own lives within the education system.

Words underlined

In Mrs Thatcher's personal files, there is a critical, very direct memo from Mr Letwin - his "swansong" as a member of Mrs Thatcher's policy unit.

"You were elected to give back to individuals a greater degree of responsibility for their own lives," he wrote. "In education, you have so far failed."

He said there had been no effort to change the "framework" - a point endorsed by Mrs Thatcher with a large black tick in the margin - and that education was still "a nationalised industry".

"The provider decides what the customer ought to have, largely ignoring what the customer actually wants," he continued - words which the then prime minister underlined.

Mr Letwin, who is still an MP and a Cabinet Office minister, acknowledged that radical restructuring would not be popular in some quarters.

"It would provoke intense hostility" from the local authorities and the teaching unions, he wrote.

However, he saw it as the only way to improve the "quality" of schools.

Like Michael Gove, who stood down as education secretary in July this year, Mr Letwin believed giving power to the "customer" - the parents - would drive school improvement.

Mr Letwin suggested state schools could "declare UDI", rather like academies today, and suggested extending the "assisted places" scheme where the state paid for places at independent schools.

Parents could then have the choice of moving their children if they were unhappy with the local state school - just as Free Schools are intended to provide an alternative under the current government.

New approach

The files include a paper titled "Education without LEAs", marked "secret" - politicians and civil servants knew how controversial these ideas would be.

The documents show that Keith Joseph, education secretary from 1981 to 1986, had wanted to create 12 new independent state primary schools to show how a new approach would work.

The idea was supported by Mrs Thatcher, and other members of the cabinet were enthusiastic too.

According to a note of one meeting, then cabinet member Norman Fowler said: "It would reverse a trend for parents such as himself to send children to the private sector!"

On the memo, Mrs Thatcher scribbled: "It isn't meant for parents like him!" That idea was dropped.

It was left to Keith Joseph's successor, Kenneth Baker, to create the first state schools independent of local authorities. He set up the first City Technology Colleges in the late 1980s for secondary pupils.

School budgets

However, Lord Baker has now said he is fascinated to see Mrs Thatcher's files. "I didn't know about any of this," he told the BBC.

He said Mrs Thatcher had not told him what to do when he took over as education secretary, and had asked him to come up with his own ideas.

Lord Baker said: "I was on a rather different tangent but we got to the same destination."

Lord Baker gave schools control over their own budgets, established a national curriculum, encouraged grant-maintained schools - so setting the groundwork for Mr Gove's future rapid academies policy.

In recent months there has been growing criticism of this flagship reform.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector of schools in England, recently called for an end to "sterile" debate over structures.

He said it was not the most important factor and that in practice there could be little difference in school improvement under an academy chain or a local council.

Since 2010 more than 4,000 state schools in England have become academies, accountable to central government rather than local officials.

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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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Network Rail boss will not take bonus

30 December 2014 Last updated at 11:57

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne has said he will not take his bonus, following recent major rail disruption.

Mr Carne was in line for a maximum bonus of £34,000, or around 5% of his £675,000 annual salary.

Overrunning Christmas engineering work led to the closure of London King's Cross station on Saturday, causing chaos for thousands of people.

London Paddington was also temporarily shut after work did not finish on time. By Monday, normal service had resumed.

On Monday, Mr Carne told the BBC the maximum bonus he was likely to get in 2014/2105 would be 5% of his salary.

He refused to say whether he would be taking any bonus but on Tuesday told Sky News he would not be doing so.

Mr Carne said: "I am accountable for the railways and the performance (over Christmas) was not acceptable, so I have decided that I should not take my bonus this year."

Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA rail union, said: "We welcome this decision by Mark Carne but, like many of his trains, it is running late - 72-hours late in this case.

"He should have announced it on Sunday when it became clear the level of chaos suffered by tens of thousands of passengers caught up in the King's Cross shutdown.

"We hope his fellow executives will now follow suit and announce they will also be giving up their large bonuses as well."

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has described Saturday's overrun as "totally unacceptable", while the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail (NR) have launched inquiries.

On Monday, shadow transport secretary Michael Dugher wrote to Mr Carne urging bonus restraint.

Mr Dugher tweeted on Tuesday: "Following my letter yesterday, welcome NR boss won't take bonus. But time ministers acknowledged their responsibilities for rail chaos too."

Given a good performance by Network Rail, Mr Carne would be entitled to a bonus of 20% of his annual salary, amounting to £135,000.

Mr Carne reduced the biggest possible bonus he could get from 160% to 20% when he joined Network Rail in January 2014.

He has apologised for the disruption over the weekend, saying Network Rail's performance had fallen short.

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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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Ebola patient arrives in London

30 December 2014 Last updated at 12:00

A health worker who was diagnosed with Ebola after returning to Scotland from Sierra Leone has arrived at a specialist treatment centre in London.

Pauline Cafferkey, who flew to Glasgow via Casablanca and London Heathrow, was taken to the Royal Free Hospital.

She is understood to have been flown to RAF Northolt in a military plane after leaving Glasgow in a convoy.

Passengers on flights she took to the UK are being traced, but officials say the risk to the public is very low.

Ms Cafferkey, an associate public health nurse at Blantyre Health Centre, South Lanarkshire, left Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow just after 03:00 GMT on Tuesday.

Six police cars accompanied two ambulances as she was taken to Glasgow Airport. She was taken to an isolation unit at the north London hospital from the RAF base in west London.

UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said NHS safety measures in place were working well.

Mr Hunt, who chaired an emergency Cobra meeting on Monday evening, said the government was doing "absolutely everything it needs to" to keep the public safe.

"We are also reviewing our procedures and protocols for all the other NHS workers who are working at the moment in Sierra Leone," he added.

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The BBC's Andy Moore: "She is here being treated in an isolation unit"

Prime Minister David Cameron is chairing another Cobra meeting to discuss the matter later on Tuesday.

Ms Cafferkey, who had been working with Save the Children in Sierra Leone, arrived in Glasgow on a British Airways flight on Sunday but was placed in an isolation unit at Gartnavel Hospital on Monday morning after becoming feverish.

Under UK and Scottish protocol, she was moved to the high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital.

UK nurse William Pooley - who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone earlier this year - was successfully treated at the same facility.

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Dr Stephen Mepham explains how the isolation unit works

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Committee on Monday, said the risk to the public was "extremely low to the point of negligible".

She added that Ms Cafferkey was thought to have had direct contact with only one other person between arriving in Glasgow and attending hospital on Monday.

A second health worker who returned from West Africa recently is being tested in Aberdeen for Ebola, it has emerged.

But Ms Sturgeon said there was only a "low probability" the woman also had the disease as she has not had direct contact with anyone infected with Ebola.

Analysis: BBC health editor Hugh Pym

This latest incident will raise questions about the screening process in place for passengers leaving West Africa and arriving at Heathrow.

Public health officials say the woman was taken aside on arrival in the UK and her temperature was taken - the procedure followed for all incoming health staff who say they have been in contact with Ebola patients.

Her temperature was found to be normal and she was not feeling unwell, so she continued her journey to Glasgow.

Someone with Ebola only becomes infectious once they develop symptoms. In this case, that only became apparent after she arrived in Scotland.

The task of contacting the passengers and crew on the flights she took is now under way. That will be complicated, but officials are insisting the risk to those people is extremely low.

Efforts are being made to trace the 71 other passengers who travelled on the same flight from London to Glasgow as Ms Cafferkey.

A British Airways spokesman said: "The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority and the risk to people on board that individual flight is extremely low."

A telephone helpline has been set up for anyone who was on the BA 1478 flight which left Heathrow Airport on Sunday evening. The number is 08000 858531.

Continue reading the main story

• Flight AT596 from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to Casablanca, arriving 06:10 GMT

• Flight AT800 from Casablanca to London Heathrow, arriving 15:50 GMT

• Flight BA1478 from London Heathrow to Glasgow, arriving 22:20 GMT

Reuters

Tom Solomon, director of Liverpool's Institute of Infection and Global Health, said of the reaction to Ms Cafferkey's diagnosis: "We've had training exercises up and down the country and that's why you've seen that the response has been very calm and very controlled.

"It's very important that despite this case we have healthcare workers continue to go out to west Africa to help bring this disease under control."

Paul Cosford, medical director for Public Health England described Ms Cafferkey as a "very brave person", telling BBC Breakfast she had "put herself in the front line of care for people with Ebola".

He also said that about 150 people in the UK had been tested for Ebola recently - with all except Mr Pooley and Ms Cafferkey returning a negative result.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, said: "We have robust, well-developed and well-tested NHS systems for managing unusual infectious diseases when they arise, supported by a wide range of experts.

"The UK system was prepared, and reacted as planned, when this case of Ebola was identified."

Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with the bodily fluids - such as blood, vomit or faeces - of an infected person.

The virus has killed more than 7,800 people, mostly in West Africa, since it broke out a year ago.

The World Health Organization says the number of people infected by the disease in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea has now passed 20,000.

What are the symptoms?

The early symptoms are a sudden fever, muscle pain, fatigue, headache and sore throat.

This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash and bleeding - both internal and external - which can be seen in the gums, eyes, nose and in the stools.

Patients tend to die from dehydration and multiple organ failure.

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City Link owner defends actions

29 December 2014 Last updated at 10:09

Jon Moulton, the founder of Better Capital, which owned collapsed UK parcel delivery service City Link, said the firm's administration could not have been handled any better.

News of the collapse was announced on Christmas Eve, but Mr Moulton said the timing could not have been avoided.

Some 2,000 staff are due to be made redundant from the firm, now being run by administrators, on New Year's Eve,

City Link customers are being urged to collect parcels from depots on Monday.

"We chased every possible way to save this company," Mr Moulton told Radio 4's Today.

Mr Moulton said delaying the closure of City Link over Christmas had not been an option, as trading while insolvent was a criminal offence.

He also defended criticism that taxpayers would end up paying for City Link staff's redundancy following administrator Ernst & Young's (EY) statement that it would refer employees to the government's statutory redundancy payments scheme.

Transport Union RMT's General Secretary Mick Cash said: "It says everything about the state of industry in Britain today that a donor to the party of government can wreck the lives of thousands of people, walk away and leave the taxpayer to pick up the redundancy costs."

Personal loss

But Mr Moulton said: "I don't think the taxpayer is going to end up footing much of a bill on this." He said that City Link had paid "a fortune" in taxes such as PAYE and said ultimately the government would be a net beneficiary of Better Capital's investment in the firm.

"The taxpayer has certainly made an enormous amount of money out of private equity companies and their trading and success.

"We are looking after money that has been given to us to invest, we are in the business of trying to make money for our investors," he added.

Mr Moulton, a multi-millionaire, said he personally had lost £2m on the firm's investment in City Link.

Better Capital, in its first statement since the firm went into administration, said earlier on Monday that it had tried various options to "maximise" its investment in City Link, including an unsuccessful attempt to sell the business.

"In light of continued substantial losses, City Link could not continue as a going concern," it said.

City Link, which was founded in 1969, was acquired by restructuring specialist Better Capital for just £1 in April 2013.

Parcel collections

On Friday, EY confirmed "substantial redundancies" were expected "over the coming days".

The firm also said parcel depots would "remain open for a short period of time" to enable customers and intended recipients to collect their parcels.

It advised customers to use City Link's online tracking system to find out which depot to go to.

Coventry-based City Link employs 2,727 people.

It called in administrators on Christmas Eve after years of "substantial losses".

Union RMT said it had been told by administrators that more than 2,000 staff will be made redundant on New Year's Eve. Remaining staff will be retained in the short term to wind down the company, union officials said.

'Substantial redundancies'

On Friday EY said it was currently assessing the company and the status of existing orders.

"This process will have a bearing on the number of employees retained and those that unfortunately face redundancy in the next few days," it said in a statement.

"It is anticipated that there will be substantial redundancies over the coming days, at which point the administrators will provide a further update."

It said it anticipated that "a portion of employees" would be retained for up to three months.

Administrators were currently gathering expressions of interest from parties interested in acquiring specific assets, divisions of the business or the entire firm, it added.

But given the previous unsuccessful sale process administrators were "cautious about the prospects of finding a buyer", the statement added.

City Link employees
Location	Total employees
Aberdeen	19
Ashford	24
Bangor	16
Basingstoke	25
Beckenham	23
Beckton	32
Belfast	23
Bicester	28
Birmingham	70
Bournemouth	32
Bristol	50
Cardiff	44
Carlisle	28
Chelmsford	48
Coventry	404
Cowes	4
Durham	56
Edinburgh	22
Edmonton	36
Epsom	22
Exeter	41
Gatwick	42
Glasgow	75
Glenrothes	22
Gloucester	32
Guildford	24
Hatfield	116
Heathrow	132
Leeds	1
Leeming	34
Leicester	1
Lincoln	25
London City	19
London West Central	43
Maidstone	48
Manchester	67
Milton Keynes	91
Morley	74
Motherwell	27
Newcastle	45
Newmarket	1
Northampton	47
Norwich	44
Nottingham	48
Peterborough	63
Plymouth	58
Preston	52
Reading	2
Rotherham	34
Scunthorpe	28
Shrewsbury	38
Southampton	33
Stafford	40
Swansea	30
Swindon	73
Warrington	115
West Bromwich	56

Are you a City Link employee or sub-contractor? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experience. Please include a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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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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Record 2014 freeze for parts of UK

29 December 2014 Last updated at 11:05

The lowest temperatures of 2014 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland were recorded overnight.

Katesbridge in County Down hit -8.8C (16.2F) while Benson, Oxon, fell to -7.6C and -6.7C was recorded in Wales.

Latest figures show the UK's coldest temperature of the year so far was -9C in Cromdale, Moray, on Saturday.

Meanwhile a Met Office cold weather alert for northern England and the Midlands has warned of health risks for vulnerable people.

BBC Weather said Scotland saw temperatures fall to -7.7C in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, overnight from Sunday to Monday.

Weather and travel info

Benson had also previously held the record for the lowest temperature of the year in England when it reached -6.8C on 6 December.

Wales' lowest temperature of the year was recorded in Pembrey Sands, south Wales.

BBC Weather's Peter Sloss said the cold temperatures mean it is already colder now than it was during "a good chunk of last winter", from January to March.

Sunshine on Monday was expected to raise temperatures during the day, he added.

The record lows come as parts of the UK have already been hit by sub-zero temperatures and forecasters warned of further plunging temperatures over the next three days.

A sharp frost is expected in some areas of England and Wales on Monday night, with the UK experiencing similar temperatures to those seen on Sunday night, BBC Weather said.

The Met Office alert remains in place until 12:00 GMT on Wednesday.

The amber - level three - alert is one below a national emergency and indicates social and healthcare services should target "high-risk" groups, such as the very young or old, or those with chronic diseases.

A yellow - level two - alert is in place in the rest of England indicating social and healthcare services should be working to ensure they are ready for a period of cold weather.

How to drive in snow and ice

• Balance your speed - too fast and you risk losing control, but if you go too slow you risk losing momentum
• Start gently in second gear, avoiding high revs. Stay in a higher gear for better control
• Only use the brake if you cannot steer out of trouble
• Increase the distance at which you follow other vehicles
• Plan your journey around busier roads, which are more likely to have been gritted
• On a downhill slope, get your speed low before you start the descent, and do not let it build up
• In falling snow, use dipped headlights or fog lights, but switch off if conditions improve
• Read more about how to prepare your car

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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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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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