Vanuatu president Baldwin Lonsdale dies after heart attack


The president of Vanuatu, Baldwin Lonsdale, has died after a heart attack at the age of 67.
Mr Lonsdale, an Anglican priest, had been leader of the Pacific archipelago since September 2014.
The Vanuatu Daily Post said he died suddenly in the capital Port Vila shortly after midnight on Saturday.
Australia's Governor-General Peter Cosgrove said Mr Lonsdale "served the people of Vanuatu with dignity and humility, and was much loved".
While president, Mr Lonsdale oversaw the vast rebuilding of parts of Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam left an estimated 75,000 people homeless in March 2015.
In October the same year, he vowed to clean up corruption in Vanuatu after a scandal involving his deputy.
Speaker Marcellino Pipite was one of 14 MPs - half of the country's parliament - convicted of giving and receiving corrupt payments over a vote of no confidence in a previous government.
He went on to pardon himself and the other 13 MPs while Mr Lonsdale was out of the country, a pardon the president then rescinded on his return.

Vanuatu - Key facts


  • Population: 278,000 (2016)
  • Languages: Bislama, English, French
  • GDP: $773m (£605m)
  • Life expectancy: 75.1 (women); 71.8 (men

BBC NEWS

Qatar's Al Jazeera Twitter account back after suspension


The Arabic-language account of Al Jazeera has been restored on Twitter after being suspended due to what the network called "an organised campaign".
The account, with just under 12 million followers, was suspended for an unspecified reason early on Saturday.
Al Jazeera is the flagship broadcaster for Qatar, which is under pressure from its Gulf neighbours. They accuse the emirate of links to terror groups.
The account was restored by early afternoon Qatar time.
Twitter's rules state that an account can be suspended for three main reasons: because it is posting spam, because it has been hacked or compromised, or because it "engages in abusive behaviour, like sending threats to others or impersonating other accounts".
It is highly unusual for an account with as many followers, belonging to a national broadcaster, to be suspended.
A senior editor on the website wrote that there had been an "on going storm of mass reporting" of the account - of Twitter receiving significant numbers of complaints at the same time.
Accounts for Al Jazeera's different language services, as well as its Arabic-language breaking news account, had remained online.
Saudi Arabia has led moves to isolate the gas-rich emirate since earlier this month. Riyadh sealed its border, closed its air space to Qatari Airways and - along with Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt - severed diplomatic relations.
The countries, as well as US President Donald Trump, have accused Qatar of destabilising the region through its alleged support of extremist groups and links to Iran. Qatar has denied funding terror groups.
Even before the recent row grew, Al Jazeera had found itself in the crosshairs of Qatar's neighbours.
Its website was blocked by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain in late May.
On closing the broadcaster's offices this month, Saudi Arabia said it promoted terrorist "plots", supported Houthi militias that Saudi Arabia is fighting in Yemen, and had attempted to "break the Saudi internal ranks".
Al Jazeera says it is "not partisan to any ideology, group or government".
BBC NEWS

John Avildsen, Oscar-winning director of Rocky, dies aged 81


John G. Avildsen, the Oscar-winning director of Rocky and The Karate Kid, has died at the age of 81.
Avildsen's son Anthony told US media the filmmaker had died of pancreatic cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Rocky - starring Sylvester Stallone as a rags-to-riches boxer - became the highest grossing film of 1976, despite having a relatively low budget.
It won an Oscar for best picture, as well one for Avildsen as director.
Stallone, who wrote the film, led the tributes to its director, posting on Instagram: "R. I. P. I'm sure you will soon be directing Hits in Heaven- Thank you , Sly."
Avildsen directed the box-office winner The Karate Kid, released in 1984, as well as The Karate Kid Part II in 1986 and The Karate Kid Part III in 1989.
He also guided Jack Lemmon to his only best actor Oscar for his role in the 1973 film Save the Tiger.
"Throughout the decades, his rousing portrayals of victory, courage and emotion captured the hearts of generations of Americans," Paris Barclay, president of the Directors Guild of America, said in a statement.
BBC NEWS

Egypt Hisham Barakat killing: 30 sentenced to death


A court in Cairo has recommended the death penalty for 30 people convicted of involvement in the killing of Egypt's top public prosecutor.
Hisham Barakat was assassinated in a car bomb attack in June 2015.
He was the most senior state official to be killed by militants in recent years.
Mr Barakat had sent thousands of Islamists to trial since the overthrow of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-backed government in 2013.
Hundreds of Islamists were sentenced to death or life imprisonment, as part of a crackdown on supporters of the banned group.
Egypt blamed the Brotherhood and Gaza-based Hamas militants for Mr Barakat's killing, although both groups have denied they were involved.
Last year the Interior Ministry released a video showing several men confessing to the killing, and saying they went to Gaza for training from Hamas. Some of them later denied the allegations in court and said they had been tortured.
The court's recommendations will now be sent to Egypt's highest religious authority, the grand mufti.
All death sentences have to be sent to the grand mufti for his opinion on whether they should stand. But even when the grand mufti gives his approval, convictions are still open to appeal.
BBC NEWS

Carrie Fisher died from 'sleep apnoea and other causes'


Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher died from sleep apnoea and "other factors", the Los Angeles County coroner says.
Her death certificate said in January that the 60-year-old, best known for her role as Princess Leia, had suffered a cardiac arrest.
But in a statement the LA coroner said the exact cause was unknown.
Sleep apnoea is a common condition in which a person stops breathing during sleep, either for a few seconds or minutes.
As well as listing sleep apnoea as a cause of death, the coroner's statement cited other factors, including heart disease and drug use.
In a statement released to People magazine after the coroner's ruling, Fisher's daughter Lourd said: "My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it.
"She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases."
Her manner of death would be listed as undetermined, the coroner's statement said.





















Fisher had been on tour promoting her book The Princess Diarist when she was taken ill on a flight from London to Los Angeles on 23 December.
She never regained consciousness and died on 27 December at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre.
The daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher made her film debut opposite Warren Beatty in 1975's Shampoo.
She also appeared in The Blues Brothers, When Harry Met Sally and Hannah and Her Sisters, and provided the voice of Peter Griffin's boss Angela in the adult animated sitcom Family Guy.
But her enduring fame is thanks to her role as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy. She will appear in the latest Star Wars sequel, The Last Jedi, which is to be released in December.

USS Fitzgerald crash: Seven navy crew missing off Japan

Seven US Navy crew members are missing after their ship collided with a merchant vessel off the coast of Japan.
Among the injured is the USS Fitzgerald's commanding officer, who was taken to hospital by helicopter.
The destroyer collided with the container ship about 56 nautical miles (104km) south-west of Yokosuka.
Aerial images showed heavy damage to the Navy ship's starboard side after the collision at about 02:30 local time on Saturday (17:30 GMT Friday).

What happened?

The collision occurred near Yokosuka, a Japanese port city that is home to the US 7th Fleet, which comprises up to 80 submarines and ships and including the USS Fitzgerald.
It is unclear where the 154-metre (505ft) guided missile destroyer ship was heading at the time.
The ACX Crystal, a 222-metre (730ft) Filipino-flagged container ship, was travelling between the Japanese cities of Nagoya and Tokyo.
Marine traffic records suggest the ACX Crystal made a sudden U-turn roughly 25 minutes before the collision with the USS Fitzgerald. It is not clear why it changed course.
Marine traffic records suggest it was travelling at 14.6 knots (27km/h) at the time of the collision.

Marine traffic records for the USS Fitzgerald are not publicly available.

How bad are the damage and injuries?

Japan's coastguard is co-ordinating the search with US teams for the seven missing crew members. As of late afternoon local time, the 7th Fleet said the crew members were still unaccounted for.
The Navy ship's commanding officer, Cdr Bryce Benson, was in a stable condition after being transferred to US Naval Hospital Yokosuka, according to Navy officials.
Two other sailors were flown to hospital by helicopter for treatments for "lacerations and bruises", the 7th Fleet said on Twitter.
By mid-afternoon local time, it said that all flooding on board the USS Fitzgerald was under control. It is not at risk of sinking.
The ship has now returned to Yokosuka - under its own power, but with limited propulsion.
The Japanese coastguard said the ACX Crystal weighed just under 30,000 tonnes, about three times that of the USS Fitzgerald.
It sustained lighter damage to its port bow, and has now reached Tokyo.
The Associated Press agency said there were no injuries reported among the 20 Filipino crew members on board the container ship.

What is the fallout?

Relatives of those on board the USS Fitzgerald have been posting on the US 7th Fleet's Facebook page, requesting information on their loved-ones. An information hotline has been set up.
The collision took place in waters that get heavy traffic and that have experienced prior collisions, Japanese broadcaster NHK said. Ships travelling to and from Tokyo, as well as crossing the Pacific in both directions, pass through the bay where the crash happened.
NHK said that an association of commercial ship captains is calling for the creation of east-west lanes in the area to avoid collisions.
In a statement released on social media, US Navy operations chief Adm John Richardson said: "As more information is learnt we will be sure to share it with the Fitzgerald families and when appropriate the public. [...]
All our thoughts and concerns are with the Fitzgerald crew and their families."

One of the most advanced warships in the world - Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News, Tokyo

The area where the collision took place is extremely busy, with shipping heading in and out of Tokyo bay.
However, the USS Fitzgerald is one of the most advanced warships in the world - with highly sophisticated radars systems.
At the moment the focus is on the search for the missing sailors. Later will come the investigation into how one of the world's most sophisticated warships failed to avoid colliding with a 30,000-tonne cargo ship on a calm, clear night.
BBC NEWS

'Illegal immigrants' found in East Grinstead lorry


Sixteen suspected illegal immigrants, believed to be Iraqi nationals, have been found in the back of an "exceptionally hot" lorry.
The people inside waved to catch the attention of passing motorists, who flagged down the driver on the A22 in East Grinstead just before 09:30 BST.
Thirteen men, two women and a child were inside. Two of the men were taken to hospital suffering from dehydration.
The driver was arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration.

'Life-threatening situation'

The 63-year-old driver pulled over in a bus stop close to the junction with Dorset Avenue.
The nearby Trinity Methodist Church was then used as a refuge centre until immigration enforcement officers arrived.
Sgt William Keating-Jones, of Sussex Police, said: "The vehicle was exceptionally hot and it was important we reacted quickly.
"This was a great multi-agency response to a potentially life-threatening situation, with emergency services, immigration officials, volunteers and even local residents all pulling together."
BBC NEWS

Apple to scan iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple has announced details of a system to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on customers' devices. Before an image is stored on...