DNA tests as Argentina seeks children of 'disappeared'

An Argentine judge has ordered the heirs to a powerful media empire to take DNA tests to establish if they are victims of a forced adoption scheme.

Under the country's former regime, babies were often given to families considered loyal to the military.

Rights groups believe the two children of media mogul Ernestina Herrera de Noble were taken from political prisoners who gave birth in custody.

Felipe and Marcela were adopted by Ms Herrera de Noble in 1976.

They both gave their blood samples at a federal forensics agency, their lawyer said.

They made no comment after giving the sample, but a spokesperson said the family had nothing to hide.

The move to take the sample at the agency rather than the state-run National Bank of Genetic Data - which holds DNA samples of families of the disappeared - has angered campaign groups.

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo group, which seeks to find some 500 children born to prisoners or abducted along with their parents during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, has demanded that the DNA be collected at the data bank.

The group's founder, Estela de Carlotto, said on Tuesday that the tests would not be valid and said they would take further legal action to ensure a fully independent investigation.

Last month, the Congress backed a proposal from the group, allowing the forced extraction of DNA from adults who may be the children of political prisoners - even when they do not want to know.

Taliban claim bombing in Karachi

Pakistan's Taliban have said they carried out the suicide bombing which killed 43 people in the commercial capital, Karachi, on Monday.

A spokesman threatened to carry out more such attacks in the coming days.

Meanwhile, firefighters are still trying to douse flames following rioting after the attack on a Shia Muslim march.

Dozens of people were injured in the bomb, which struck as Shias marked the climax of the holy month of Muharram.

After the explosion, marchers turned their anger on ambulance workers, security forces and journalists.

'Our man'

"We carried out the suicide bombing in Karachi," the AFP news agency quoted Asmatullah Shaheen, one of the commanders of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as saying.

"He [the bomber] was our man. His name was Hasnain Muawia and we did it to protect the honour of the companions of the holy prophet," said Mr Shaheen whose name is on a government list of 20 most-wanted militants.

"We will carry out more such attacks and also target government installations," he said.

Meanwhile, fire tenders in Karachi were still struggling to control the fires that erupted following Monday's attack, officials said.

Arsonists set on fire nearly 2,000 shops and warehouses between Light House and Boulton Market in central Karachi.

The area houses Pakistan's largest wholesale markets that supply goods all over the country.

Traders said hundreds of shops were gutted in fire and that they had lost merchandise worth more than $350m. It is estimated that thousands of people have been rendered jobless.

City fire chief Ehtisham Qadri told the BBC Urdu service that the fire was still not doused and that a dozen fire engines were working the narrow lanes of markets in the old city area.

"There are no leaping flames on the skyline, but it's far from over. It's not safe yet," Mr Qadri said.

"I cannot give a time frame to bring it under control, because the area is very congested and heavily built, with narrow lanes and small shops which retard our progress."

Pakistan has seen an upsurge in violence in recent months.

Hundreds of civilians have died in bomb attacks as Pakistan's army concludes an offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan and surrounding areas.

Brazil's 'needle boy' out of danger after operation

Doctors in Brazil say a two-year-old boy who was pierced with at least 31 sewing needles is out of danger following a third successful operation.

Surgeons in Salvador de Bahia have decided to not remove the remaining few needles left in the boy for now.

The boy's stepfather Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, 30, has confessed to inserting the needles into the boy's body as part of a black magic ritual.

He said he did it as a means of taking revenge on his wife.

Doctor Roque Aras said the remaining needles were small and posed no significant threat, the Associated Press news agency reported.

'Happy ending'

However the unnamed boy may still have to undergo more operations in the future.

On Monday, doctors took out four needles from the child's neck.

In an earlier three-hour operation, surgeons took out 14 needles piercing the boy's liver, bladder and intestines.

Four needles which had come perilously close to his heart and lungs were removed during an initial operation last week.

Surgeon Jose Siqueira said he was optimistic following the third surgery, AFP reported.

"We think that this child's story will have a happy ending", he said.

Mr Magalhaes told Brazil's Globo TV that he inserted the needles one at a time, up to three times in a month.

He said he got the boy drunk before driving the needles in.

Mr Magalhaes, 30, and his lover Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos have been formally charged with attempted murder.

Police said Mr Magalhaes, a bricklayer, told them his mistress had urged him to ritually kill the child to take revenge on his wife.

The boy's mother had taken him to hospital in the north-eastern state of Bahia, suffering from stomach pains and vomiting.

She suspected the child had been the victim of a black magic ritual after she found suspicious objects in the home she shared with Mr Magalhaes - her husband of six months - and her six children.

In appreciation: Farrah Fawcett

Farrah Fawcett's death in June was eclipsed by that of Michael Jackson, who died hours later. She was the style icon for generations of women, says Sasha Wilkins, executive style editor of Wall Street Journal magazine.

The Jennifer Aniston of her day, Farrah Fawcett became the female icon of a generation. To appreciate her influence on 1970s style, pick up any family photo album from around that time.

At least half the women inside will be wearing high-waisted denim flares, with a tight bra-less T-shirt crowned by "the Farrah" - a confection of sun-kissed, flicked, feathered and layered bouffant hair that looked natural, but owed its volume to a strafing of industrial quantities of hairspray.

The key to the appeal of her wholesome good looks was its unthreatening obtainability. To men she was the girl next door, the apogee of natural, unaffected beauty. To women she represented an achievable, relaxed image.

It's difficult for children that came of age in the 1990s to understand the appeal of unadorned, unmanipulated beauty. To them Charlie's Angels doesn't automatically mean Farrah and her cast mates, Jacqueline and Kate, but instead Cameron, Lucy and Drew. Where we had Farrah and her hair, they had Demi and her plastic surgery.

But the 1970s was a very different time. Until Farrah and her fellow Charlie's Angels blazed on to British television screens, female British TV icons were terribly posh: Dame Diana Rigg, Joanna Lumley, Honor Blackman. Fantasy figures, sure, but no everyday bloke honestly thought he would have stood a chance. The Angels became the popular antidote to the previously prevailing stylish but unapproachable female.

No gadgets, just babes

Charlie's Angels first appeared in 1976 as a TV movie. Farrah, along with Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, played sassy private investigators for a detective agency run by Charles Townsend, a reclusive multi-millionaire whom the women had never met.

Townsend referred to his employees as angels, a term that would never have got past the PC police in the 21st Century. The movie was so successful that a series was promptly commissioned, and TV history was made.

Given the nature of our multi-media, multichannel viewing experience nowadays, it's easy to forget the vast impact of television in the 1970s. A show like Charlie's Angels dominated the television landscape and became the cultural reference for an entire decade.

It's no wonder Farrah and her cast mates became international superstars - they WERE the show. The Charlie's Angels of the 1970s is a reflection of a less sophisticated time. No technology, no CGI, no go-go-gadgets to distract the viewer from the pulchritudinous babes who carried the story.

Farrah, who concealed a sharp brain and quick wit behind the pouffed-up hair, told TV Guide in a 1977 interview: "When the show was number three, I thought it was our acting. When we got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra."

The real key to Farrah's resonance with men and with women was her styling. In an age where the celebrity stylist was yet to make its mark, Farrah was just herself. With her wide, ultra-white toothy grin, fluffy hair, jeans and sneakers she was the epitome of Californian wholesomeness. The open-necked, rolled sleeved gingham shirts, waisted jumpsuits and silky slip dresses looked simple and uncontrived.

The hair was a different matter. Men may have been taken in by its artless bounce, but women knew better: the Farrah took time to achieve: "I'd curl, pin, curl, pin. And when it was done, I took the pins out, turned the hair upside down and brushed it out so you wouldn't have a 'set' look," her hairdresser Allen Edwards told a journalist.

But it was the poster that made Farrah into a global sensation. She was already well-known as a model before landing Charlie's Angels, and the poster, a collaboration between Fawcett and the photographer, was shot at her home before she was cast on the show.

The success of Charlie's Angels sent sales of the poster into the millions. It's been estimated that it sold as many as 12 million copies, and Farrah received a royalty on each one. She was paid $5,000 (£3,123) per episode for the one season she appeared on the show, but is believed to have racked up over $400,000 (£249,801) in poster royalties.

Farrah did her own make-up, wore her own swimsuit, picked out six frames from the 40 rolls of film shot on the day, marking out as her favourite the image that finally became the poster. She knew how to market herself.

"The reason that the all-American boy prefers beauty to brains is that he can see better than he can think."

When Farah Fawcett died this year, the dreams of the 1970s died with her.

Apple tablet computer rumour sends shares up

Apple shares have jumped another 1% as speculation grows that it will launch a new touch-screen computer.

Over the past two weeks the iPhone manufacturer's share price has been pushed up steadily by the rumours.

Apple has booked San Francisco's Yerba Buena Centre on 26 January for a "major product announcement" without giving any further details.

The company has previously used January launches to unveil products including the iPhone and the MacBook Air.

The venue is the same used by Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs when he made his return earlier this year following a liver transplant.

Touch-screen rumours

Blogs and analysts have fuelled rumours that Apple will launch a new touch-screen "tablet" computer - resembling a larger version of the iPhone and variously dubbed the iSlate or the iTablet.

The rumours have already helped Apple shares rise by more than 11% since early December.

But the company's share price has dropped in recent days, amid a continued patent dispute with mobile phone maker Nokia.

Nokia claims that most of Apple's products - from the iPod to the iPhone - make use of its patent-protected technologies.

French public debt in new high after stimulus spending

France's public debt has risen to a new high of 76% of economic output after additional state spending during the downturn, figures have shown.

The national statistics office INSEE said government debt stood at 1.46 trillion euros ($2.1tn; £1.3tn) at the end of September.

This was an increase of 29.4bn euros since the end of June.

Debt levels of all major economies have risen sharply as governments have tried to spend their way out of recession.

French government spending helped the country's economy to emerge from recession between April and June.

Lower tax receipts have also contributed to spiralling debt levels.

The 1.46tn euros is the largest debt France has run since INSEE records started in 1995.

According to forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), French public debt as a percentage of economic output will hit 96% by 2014.

Of the G7 economies, this is less than Japan (246%), Italy (129%), the US (108%) and the UK (98%), but more than Germany (89%) and Canada (69%), the IMF has predicted.

Japan Airlines shares fall 24% to hit a new record low

Japan Airlines shares touched a record low for the second day running, falling 24% from Tuesday's price to 67 yen.

The drop followed more reports that the carrier would file for bankruptcy as part of a revival plan.

Last week, Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said the state would not give the airline any more loans.

Japan Airlines has rival offers from American Airlines and Delta to buy a stake in the firm. A bankruptcy filing would make a deal more complicated.

The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp - a state-backed fund - was asked in October to help out the debt-laden Japan Airlines.

A decision is due in January.

Japan Airlines is less efficient than its rival All Nippon Airways and is struggling with 1.5 trillion yen of debt ($16bn; £10bn). It has been bailed out by the government four times since 2001.

It has made a loss in four of the past five years.

US aware 'Nigerian' prepared for terror attack

The US was aware that "a Nigerian" in Yemen was being prepared for a terrorist attack - weeks before an attempted bombing on a US plane.

ABC News and the New York Times say there was intelligence to this effect, but its source is unclear.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab flew from Lagos to Amsterdam before changing planes for a flight to Detroit on which he allegedly tried to detonate a bomb.

The Netherlands is to introduce body scanners on US flights within weeks.

Dutch Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst said Mr Abdulmutallab did not raise any concerns as he passed through Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport to board the flight.

She said the airport would be able to use body scanners on all flights to the US from the airport in three weeks. Nigerian authorities also said they would start using the machines next year.

Obama denounces lapses

Ms Ter Horst said that though the US had previously not wanted the scanners to be used because of privacy concerns, Washington had now agreed that "all possible measures will be used on flights to the US".

"It is not exaggerating to say the world has escaped a disaster," she said.

US President Barack Obama has acknowledged unacceptable security failures.

He said a systemic failure allowed Mr Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, to fly to the US on 25 December despite family members warning officials in November that he had extremist views.

The source of the intelligence about "a Nigerian" in Yemen was reported as coming from the Yemeni government or from US intercept intelligence, which can refer to intercepted e-mail and phone calls.

Mr Obama said he wanted to know why a warning weeks ago from Mr Abdulmutallab's father did not lead to the accused being placed on a no-fly list.

"We need to learn from this episode and act quickly to fix flaws in the system," Mr Obama said.

Some passengers and crew tackled Mr Abdulmutallab in his seat about 20 minutes before landing in Detroit as he allegedly tried to detonate explosives in his underwear.

Initial investigations found he had used the explosive PETN and a syringe filled with liquid.

The Dutch interior minister described the bomb as professionally made but executed in an "amateurish" way.

She said Mr Abdulmutallab had passed through standard security checks, including a metal detector and a hand baggage scan, without raising suspicions.

Nigerian airports 'safe'

Mr Abdulmutallab has reportedly told investigators that he trained in Yemen with al-Qaeda.

He was living in Yemen from August to early December, the foreign ministry said, according to an earlier report from the official Saba news agency.

He had a visa to study Arabic at an institute in the capital, Sanaa.

UK hostage Peter Moore released alive in Iraq

British hostage Peter Moore has been released alive from captivity in Iraq, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

He said Mr Moore, an IT consultant from Lincoln who was seized in Baghdad in May 2007, was in good health and "absolutely delighted at his release".

Mr Miliband said the Moore family felt deep relief after two-and-a-half years of "misery, fear and uncertainty".

Four bodyguards were seized with Mr Moore. Three were shot dead; the fourth is also thought to have been killed.

The bodies of Jason Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, of Glasgow, were returned to the UK in June 2009, followed by that of Alec MacLachlan, of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, in September.

Mr Miliband has called for the release of the body of the fourth guard - Alan McMenemy from Glasgow.

Mr Miliband said Mr Moore, who had been released on Wednesday morning, was in the British Embassy in Baghdad and would be reunited with his family as soon as possible.

Mr Moore's stepmother Pauline Sweeney told the BBC that hearing of his release was "the best Christmas present ever".

"We spoke to him this morning. I just burst into tears and kept asking if it was true. He sounds really well, very upbeat, he's cracking jokes," she said.

"He said when they came in to him this morning, he thought he was going out to a bullet in his head.

"He had seen quite a few of the appeal broadcasts, which kept him going and made him realise there were people out there fighting for him and that he wasn't forgotten."

The foreign secretary said he had had a "very moving" conversation with Mr Moore, who was "to put it mildly, absolutely delighted". He is undergoing medical checks.

Mr Miliband said: "The joy and relief that will be felt by Peter's family will be mirrored by the continuing anguish of the family of Alan McMenemy.

"We have believed for some time that he has been killed and his family have been told our view of his likely fate."

The foreign secretary also told the BBC there were no concessions or deals made to secure Mr Moore's release.

"This was an Iraqi-led process of political reconciliation in which an armed group has made vows to come within the political system and to renounce violence, and that's the foundation of Peter Moore's release," he said.

Mr Moore had been working for US management consultancy Bearingpoint in Iraq. The other men were security contractors employed to guard him.

The group was captured at the Iraqi Ministry of Finance by about 40 men disguised as Iraqi policemen.

They were understood to belong to an obscure militia known as the Islamic Shia Resistance, which demanded the release of up to nine of their associates held in US military custody since early 2007.

Several had already been handed to the Iraqi government and some had since been freed under the reconciliation process.

'Key' figure released

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said it appeared "some kind of deal" had been done, though not necessarily involving the British government.

"The main person the abductors wanted back, I'm told, is out of US custody... and handed over to the Iraqis," he said.

Qais Al-Khazaali had been suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and eventual killing of five US soldiers, Mr Gardner added.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "I am hugely relieved by the wonderful news that Peter has been freed.

"At this moment of celebration, we also remember the families of British hostages who have been killed in Iraq and elsewhere.

"And we pledge to continue to do everything we can to bring British hostages back to their loved ones."

Mr Moore's father Graeme, 60, from Wigston, Leicestershire, said he was "over the moon" at the news.

He said: "We are so relieved and we just want to get him home, back now to his family and friends.

"I'm breaking down, I'm just so overjoyed for the lad."

His natural mother, Avril Sweeney, 54, from Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire, said: "It's like a big black cloud has been hanging over me and it has lifted now.

"I can smile again."

Terry Waite, who himself was a former hostage, said he was absolutely delighted at Mr Moore's release.

He added: "It is both a very happy time for Peter and his family and... while the other families will be delighted for him, there will be that tinge of sadness and one keeps them in mind at this point."

US rejects Russian missile shield concerns

The United States has rejected fresh concerns raised by Moscow about its planned missile defence system.

The State Department statement came after Russian PM Vladimir Putin said the US plans were holding up a new nuclear disarmament treaty.

The statement said the two issues were completely separate, and discussions would continue separately.

Russia and the US are yet to find a successor to the Cold War-era Start I treaty, which expired on 5 December.

Analysts say Moscow wants a clause in the new treaty that would limit the scale of any US defence shield.

The US has shelved plans for missile defence stations in Central Europe, but intends to use a sea-based system.

The BBC's Imtiaz Tyab in Washington says it is clear from Mr Putin's comments Russia still sees any missile shield as a threat - one it is now pledged to counter.

But the hardening of Russia's position must be frustrating for US President Barack Obama, our correspondent says, after the concessions he has made.

'Keeping the balance'

The US statement said that Washington and Moscow's joint position recognising the inter-relationship between defensive and offensive weapons systems had not changed.

"While the US has long agreed that there is a relationship between missile offence and defence, we believe the Start follow-on agreement is not the appropriate vehicle for addressing it," it said.

"We have agreed to continue to discuss the topic of missile defence with Russia in a separate venue."

Earlier Mr Putin said the US plans would allow them to do whatever they wanted and thus upset the balance.

He said that "to preserve the balance, we must develop offensive weapons systems", but did not specify what kinds he had in mind.

Earlier this month, President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would continue to develop new warheads, delivery vehicles and launchers despite the disarmament talks, describing this as "routine practice".

Russia and the US are negotiating in Geneva on the details of a new treaty. Last week, the Russian foreign minister said a deal was very close.

The 1991 Start I treaty led to deep cuts in nuclear arsenals by Washington and Moscow.

Both sides have agreed to continue observing Start I until they reach a new agreement.

Under a joint understanding signed in July, deployed nuclear warheads should be cut to fewer than 1,700 on each side within seven years of a new treaty - a huge cut on Soviet-era levels.

Nonetheless, between them the two countries will retain enough firepower to destroy the world several times over.

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow says that Russia's nuclear arsenal is the only part of its military that remains world-class, and therefore it fears that it could be disadvantaged by cuts to nuclear capability.

Mr Putin's comments could be a negotiating ploy, rather than a reversal of Russia's commitment to a treaty, our correspondent says.

Analysts in Moscow think what Mr Putin really wants is a commitment from Washington to only deploy a small-scale missile defence system, that would be effective against Iran and North Korea but would not neutralise Russia's nuclear missile force, he adds.

Nigeria sect violence victims 'mostly children'

The Red Cross in Nigeria says many of those who were killed in clashes on Monday between troops and members of an Islamist sect in Bauchi were children.

Adamu Abubakar, its representative in the northern state, told the BBC 39 people had died - some 60% of them students aged between nine and 15.

Local officials said if any children had died, it would have been because they were hit by vehicles or trampled.

Twenty members of the Kala Kato sect had been arrested, Mr Abubakar said.

The fighting started when locals called in the authorities after members of the sect broke a ban on open-air preaching, which was introduced after an uprising earlier this year by the Boko Haram sect.

Hundreds died in the subsequent fighting across northern Nigeria.

'Result of preaching'

Mr Abubakar told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme the death toll from Monday's violence was 39. Sixteen people were also admitted to hospital, among them a seven-year-old who died on Tuesday morning, he added.

He said some of the victims had been shot, but most had been attacked with machetes and knives.

The Red Cross representative said the crisis "was the result of preaching" at an open-air gathering, after which members of the Kala Kato sect threatened to kill locals who would not join them or leave the area.

An army officer who was sent from a nearby base to speak to the sect's leaders was killed with a machete, he added.

Mr Abubakar said most of the dead were children from outside Bauchi who had been sent to study Arabic and the Koran with local clerics.

But a spokesman for the government of Bauchi, Alhaji Sanusi Mohammed, told the BBC that 32 people had died in the violence, and that most of the people killed were adult members of the sect who had attacked the security forces.

"Most likely, those children that might have been killed were probably crushed when running away from the scene, or they were victims of head-on collisions with cars," he said.

"But I definitely don't think it was security officers that went to quell the rioting who shot them down."

It was impossible that the troops had used machetes, he added.

Mr Mohammed said the clashes had been a result of a "misunderstanding within the religious sect" about its leadership, and that it had quickly escalated.

Correspondents say Kala Kato is a non-conformist sect made up of poor tradesmen, labourers and other working people.

Roger Federer and Serena Williams win ITF awards

Roger Federer and Serena Williams have been named as 2009's world champions by the International Tennis Federation after topping the year-end rankings.

Federer, who wins the honour for the fifth time, completed a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros before winning his 15th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

And Williams won the Australian Open and Wimbledon, her 11th major success.

The pair will receive their awards at the annual ITF world champions dinner in Paris in June.

Federer regained the world number one ranking from Rafael Nadal after his Paris victory and his Wimbledon win over Andy Roddick saw him surpass Pete Sampras' haul of Grand Slam titles.

He was also runner-up at the Australian Open and the US Open and helped his country retain its Davis Cup world group status.

"It is an honour for me to be named ITF world champion for a fifth time. It was an incredible year for me both on and off the court," said the 28-year-old Swiss star whose wife Mirka gave birth to twin girls in July.

"To win my first Roland Garros title, break the all-time Grand Slam record and regain the number one ranking is amazing. It means a lot to me to finish the year again at the top."

Williams takes the award for the first time since 2002. As well as her Grand Slam wins, she won the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha, sealing the top ranking in the last event of the year.

She also took the doubles year award with sister Venus after taking their career total to 10 Grand Slam titles. In doing so she joins Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis as the only players to become singles and doubles world champions in the same year.

American twins Bob and Mike Bryan were named as the men's doubles world champions for the sixth time in seven years.

Britney Spears recalls top 75 'absurd' stories of 2009

Singer Britney Spears has hit back at the gossip columns, listing the top 75 "most ridiculous" or "patently absurd" stories written about her in 2009.

Published on her website, The Year in BS said there were more than 13,000 stories written about the 28-year-old.

The list includes various reports of new boyfriends, emotional breakdowns and one claiming her family was once so poor they ate squirrels.

At number one was a story about Spears dating choreographer Sandip Soparrkar.

In January, the Daily Mirror reported Spears was dating Soparrkar and that she had hosted a private New Year's Eve party to introduce him to her friends and parents.

'Factually inaccurate'

The Daily Star later reported in October that sales of squirrel meat soared after a new Spears biography included claims the star's family would eat whatever father Jamie could hunt.

"We ranked the ones we believe were the most ridiculous," the post on the website said.

"Either because they were factually inaccurate, because they reported the patently absurd, or because we believe they are simply offensive to the sensibilities."

The list culled mostly from US and British websites, celebrity magazines and tabloid newspapers, also included allegations she was being drugged by her father and supposed demands for stripper poles in her room at London's Dorchester Hotel to help her keep in shape.

The star quashed rumours that she was pregnant with a third child, was addicted to gardening and under orders from her father to read the Bible every day to keep her "on the straight and narrow".

Several of the stories also related to Spears's recent troubled tour of Australia, where it was reported fans had walked out of a concert in Perth because of her lip-synching.

Star Trek was the 'most pirated movie' of 2009

The latest Star Trek film was illegally downloaded more than 10 million times in 2009, according to an internet blog site that monitors file-sharing.

The figures suggest it is 2009's most pirated film, ahead of Transformers sequel Revenge of the Fallen.

Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla was the third most pirated movie, with The Hangover and Twilight completing the top five.

The TorrentFreak blog reports on peer-to-peer activity which uses BitTorrent file-sharing software.

BitTorrent is one of the most popular means of transferring large files over the internet.

Other films featured in the list of most illegally downloaded titles include sci-fi thriller District 9 and the sixth Harry Potter adventure.

But X-Men Origins: Wolverine ranks fairly low in the Top 10, despite an unfinished version of the film appearing online ahead of its release.

Directed by JJ Abrams, Star Trek charted the early days of James T Kirk, Mr Spock and other crew members of the Starship Enterprise.

Pope visits soup kitchen in first trip since attack

Pope Benedict XVI has had lunch with 150 needy and homeless people at a soup kitchen in Rome.

It was his first journey outside the Vatican since he was attacked during Christmas Eve Mass inside St Peter's Basilica.

A Vatican judge will decide within the next few weeks whether the 25-year-old Swiss woman who assaulted the Pope will face criminal charges.

She is under observation in a psychiatric facility near Rome.

There was exceptionally heavy security by Italian police as the Pope made the short drive from the Vatican to a soup kitchen in Trastevere run by a Roman Catholic lay community.

No marginalisation

The Pope stopped to greet people who had gathered outside the soup kitchen under the keen surveillance of Vatican and Italian security agents.

Then he had lunch at a table seated next to a man from Afghanistan and a young family from Romania.

In a short speech the Pope urged that no-one should be marginalised, abandoned or left alone in Italy today.

Before leaving he distributed sweets and gifts to all the children present.

Saudi Arabia arrests officials in flood investigation

At least 40 Saudi officials have been arrested in an investigation into the authorities' response to devastating floods in Jeddah, local media say.

Some 150 people were killing in the floods in the port town last month.

The officials included a number of senior assistants to the mayor of Jeddah, the reports said.

The Saudi government have launched an unprecedented public investigation after a wave of criticism over the handling of the floods.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who ordered the inquiry, has said that those responsible will be punished.

Local government officials, consultants and, and construction contractors are among the people arrested by police, it was reported.

Heavy rainfall sparked a flash flood in the town, Saudi Arabia's second city, on 25 November.

Angry Saudis have blamed local authorities for not providing basic protection from floods and failing to act fast enough.

Arabic media reported that the arrests did not necessarily mean the officials were being accused, but that the it was necessary for them to be detained to ensure the inquiry could be completed.

It was not clear if they would be released on bail, but they would be prevented from leaving the country, Arab News reported.

The public anger in the wake of the floods has been dubbed by some Saudis as a turning point, with Saudis for once forcing the authorities to take responsibility for their mistakes.

But correspondents say that while some members of the local government may be named and shamed, the endemic corruption that Saudis privately hold responsible for the disaster, and for the fact that no adequate drainage was in place in Jeddah, is unlikely to be tackled in any systematic way.

Pakistan 'militants' kill official and family members

Militants in Pakistan have blown up the house of a local official, killing him and five members of his family.

Sarbraz Saddiqi, a government official in Kurram district, his wife and four children were killed in the attack, a police official said.

Sunday morning's attack came as the family were asleep.

No-one has admitted planting the bomb. But the police spokesman said it could be linked to a Pakistan army offensive against the Taliban in the area.

The army has captured territory in South Waziristan, a hotbed of Islamic militancy, but many insurgents are believed to have fled to nearby regions, including Kurram.

Small children killed

The attack occurred in Mosu Zai village, about 200km (125 miles) from the north-western city of Peshawar.

"Unknown miscreants planted dynamite around the house and exploded it between 0200 (2100 GMT) and 0300 and the house was destroyed," Abab Ali, a local official told AFP news agency.

"Those killed were aged five to 11," he said.

"We don't know whether the Taliban, terrorists or Shias were responsible," Mr Ali said.

But police officer Naeemullah Khan said the attack appeared to be linked to the army's efforts against the Taliban militants in the area.

Ban Ki-Moon: Gaza reconstruction not being addressed

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said more must be done to repair damage done in the Gaza Strip by Israeli military action one year ago.

Mr Ban said Gazans were being denied "basic human rights" and urged Israel to end its "unacceptable and counterproductive blockade".

He said Israeli well-being depended on conditions improving in the enclave.

Rallies are being held across Gaza to mark a year since the conflict, in which 1,400 Palestinians were killed.

In comments posted on the UN's website, Mr Ban said he was "deeply concerned that neither the issues that led to this conflict nor its worrying aftermath are being addressed".

He said that while levels of violence had been low in the past year, there was still no durable ceasefire after Operation Cast Lead and Gazans were "denied basic human rights".

"The quality and quantity of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza is insufficient, broader economic and reconstruction activity is paralysed," said Mr Ban.

'Hopelessness'

Under Israel's blockade of Gaza, only basic humanitarian supplies are allowed in, meaning Gazans have not been able to obtain materials to repair damaged homes, buildings and infrastructure.

The UN Relief and Works agency (UNRWA) in Gaza told the BBC that public health was suffering as a result of inadequate and unsanitary water supplies, and there had been a rise in infant mortality.

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said thousands of tonnes of sewage were being pumped into the sea every day, because material for rebuilding treatment plants and other facilities was so scarce.

An international humanitarian aid convoy of some 200 vehicles is hoping to mark the anniversary by delivering supplies to Gaza.

The convoy is currently in Jordan, awaiting permission to cross the Red Sea and proceed to Egypt.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, is holding 22 days of rallies to mark the anniversary.

Senior leader Ahmed Bahar said Gazans remained "steadfast" after the conflict

"The resistance, which defended its land with honour, was not broken," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

Mr Ban called on Israel to end its blockade, uphold international law and make it possible for economic activity and civilian reconstruction to take place. He also urged Hamas to respect the law and bring an end to violence, and for all Palestinians to "work for unity".

He said there was "a sense of hopelessness in Gaza today for 1.5 million Palestinians, half of whom are under 18" and that "a fundamentally different approach to Gaza is urgently required".

"Their fate and the well-being of Israelis are intimately connected."

The BBC's Katya Adler in Gaza City said the mood on the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead was relatively quiet, but uneasy.

Both Israel and Palestinians in Gaza believe 2010 is bound to bring further violence, our correspondent adds.

Blast in Pakistan-administered Kashmir kills five

A suspected suicide bomb attack on a Shia Muslim gathering in Pakistan-administered Kashmir has left five people dead, officials say.

The blast in Muzaffarabad came as Shia Muslims commemorated the festival of Ashura that mourns the 7th-Century death of Imam Hussein.

More than 60 people were reported to have been injured in the blast.

Pakistan's security forces were on high alert fearing sectarian clashes between Shia and Sunni Muslims.

The attacker detonated his explosives as police tried to search him at a checkpoint set up outside the gathering, a police spokesman told the Associated Press news agency.

South Korea awarded UAE nuclear power contract

A South Korean consortium has been awarded a contract worth some $40bn (£25bn) to build four nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates.

The group, led by the Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco), beat bids from a US-Japanese group and a French firm.

South Korean officials said the deal was the biggest single contract the country had ever won abroad.

Though the world's third largest oil exporter, the UAE says only nuclear power can meet its energy demands.

The nuclear reactors should all be in operation by 2020, by which time demand for electricity in the UAE is expected to have more than doubled. The first is scheduled to begin supplying power in 2017.

As well as Kepco, the winning consortium includes Samsung, Hyundai and Doosan Heavy Industries, as well as US firm Westinghouse and Japan's Toshiba.

The South Korean president's office described the deal as "the largest mega-project in Korean history".

It also represents that first time the country has exported a nuclear power plant, according to the Associated Press news agency.

South Korea first introduced atomic power in 1978 and now has 20 nuclear reactors in operation.

Greece votes for big budget cuts to reduce debt

The Greek parliament has voted to adopt big budget cuts designed to lower the country's high levels of debt.

Greece aims to shrink public debt to 9.1% of overall economic output next year, down from 12.7% this year.

To do this, it has outlined measures to cut public spending and boost revenue by cutting back on red tape.

Concerns about Greece's high level of debt have led the three main international credit ratings agencies to downgrade Greek government bonds.

Greece's public debt currently stands at 300bn euros ($428bn; £268bn).

The single-chamber parliament adopted the budget by a large majority, with the 160 Socialist Pasok deputies voting for, and 139 opposition members against.

One opposition member was absent.

Speaking after the vote, Prime Minister George Papandreou said the budget was "a contract to reconquer our credibility".

"We shall prove our capacity and determination to change this country, to ourselves and to any foreigner who puts in doubt our will," he continued.

Spending cuts

Last week, Mr Papandreou warned that the country was at risk of "sinking under its debts", unless it introduced spending cuts.

He outlined a number of measures to reduce debt levels, including a 10% cut in social security spending.

He also announced a 90% tax on the bonuses of senior bank workers.

Other proposals included a cut in defence spending, pay and hiring freezes for public sector workers, and the closure of a third of Greece's overseas tourism offices.

England begin solid reply after South Africa tail wags

England built a solid reply to South Africa's 343 before bad light struck Durban on day two of the second Test.

Andrew Strauss, who fell for 54 after contentiously surviving a referral, and Alastair Cook put on 71 for the first wicket before England closed on 103-1.

They had earlier been frustrated by Dale Steyn's 47 at number 10, in which he struck three sixes off England's best bowler Graeme Swann (4-110).

But Strauss played some scintillating shots in an encouraging response.

When South Africa's ninth wicket fell on 285 soon after lunch, England appeared to have the initiative.

But Steyn's bold last-wicket stand of 58 with Makhaya Ntini - who himself played an intelligent hand, surviving for 47 minutes - was the cue for the home fans finally to drown out a typically well-represented Barmy Army.

In fact, South Africa's innings would have ended on 289 if Ntini had been given out lbw to Swann, but despite the evidence from the replay going in England's favour, Strauss had already had two unsuccessful referrals and could do nothing about it.

Conditions at the start of the day, with the floodlights on and murky cloud cover resolutely in position, appeared for all the world to favour the bowlers.

But South Africa had few genuine problems as they advanced their precarious overnight score of 175-5, with AB de Villiers on eight and Mark Boucher five.

James Anderson got a ball 61 overs old to swing impressively into the two right-handers, but they read most deliveries well, and while Boucher seized on anything straight enough to punch through the on-side, De Villiers favoured the off-side with some cultured strokes.

As the threat of a really dangerous stand loomed, once again it was Swann who showed up the inconsistency shown by Anderson, Graham Onions and Stuart Broad by grabbing a desperately-needed breakthrough to end a partnership of 63.

Boucher, on 39, played down the wrong line to a ball delivered from round the wicket, and England - slightly reluctantly - referred the not-out verdict from on-field official Amiesh Saheba to the TV umpire. Eventually Boucher had to go, lbw.

The new ball was soon available and the tail was now exposed, but a further 36 runs were added before De Villiers fell for exactly 50, Broad sending down a fairly harmless-looking delivery just outside off-stump which the batsman tickled to Matt Prior from an attempted pushed drive.

The long two-and-a-half hour morning session finally came to an end with the score on 284-8 after Paul Harris had become Swann's third victim as he attempted to sweep a ball that was too full and departed lbw, and just one run was added before Swann picked up his third lbw with the wicket of Morne Morkel.

But Steyn, who famously hit 76 in a match South Africa won in Melbourne exactly a year ago, produced some memorable blows and England had stopped seeing the funny side of it by the time he finally nicked a catch to Prior off Anderson.

Strauss blew away the frustration with a series of breathtaking pulls and cover-drives off South Africa's seamers. Ntini was the most profligate and England's skipper played one brilliant cut shot for four off the 101-Test superstar to a delivery angling sharply into him from around the wicket.

The tea interval gave South Africa a 20-minute respite, extended by a further 30 minutes when a rain shower swept across the ground.

Strauss did not look the same batsman in the murky conditions late on and was troubled by Morkel, who needed two attempts to remove him.

The England captain successfully referred an lbw shout, third umpire Steve Davis appearing to take the decision into his own hands after pick up a barely detectable inside edge via the stump microphone.

It took him three and a half minutes to overturn Aleem Dar's decision, however, and if Strauss had gone on to make a big score South Africa would have had every reason to grumble.

In the event, Morkel made no doubt four overs later when flattening two of the left-hander's stumps via an inside edge.

Cook's form looked decidedly ropey before tea, but in contrast to his skipper was an improved player later on. He hit some decisive pull shots against the seamers and produced welcome aggression against the spin of Harris.

At 4.26pm local time (1426 GMT) Saheba and Dar decided the light could be offered to Cook (31) and Jonathan Trott (17), and that was that for the day.

Monday's play will start at 0730 GMT as every effort is made to make up time lost both on Saturday and Sunday.

Study blames two genes for aggressive brain cancer

Scientists have discovered two genes that appear responsible for one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer.

Glioblastoma multiforme rapidly invades the normal brain, producing inoperable tumours, but scientists have not understood why it is so aggressive.

The latest study, by a Columbia University team, published in Nature, pinpoints two genes.

The researchers say that the findings raise hopes of developing a treatment for the cancer.

The genes - C/EPB and Stat3 - are active in about 60% of glioblastoma patients.

They appear to work in tandem to turn on many other genes that make brain cells cancerous.

Patients in the study whose tumours showed evidence of both genes being active died within 140 weeks of diagnosis.

In contrast, half of patients without activity from these genes were alive after that time.

Master controls

Lead researcher Dr Antonio Iavarone described the two genes as the disease's master control knobs.

He said: "When simultaneously activated, they work together to turn on hundreds of other genes that transform brain cells into highly aggressive, migratory cells.

"The finding means that suppressing both genes simultaneously, using a combination of drugs, may be a powerful therapeutic approach for these patients, for whom no satisfactory treatment exists."

When the researchers silenced both genes in human glioblastoma cells, it completely blocked their ability to form tumours when injected in a mouse.

The Columbia team is now attempting to develop drugs they hope will achieve the same effect.

Using state-of-the-art techniques, they effectively mapped out the comprehensive and highly complex network of molecular interactions driving the behaviour of glioblastoma cells.

Dr Iavarone said: "The identification of C/EPB and Stat3 came as a complete surprise to us, since these genes had never been implicated before in brain cancer

"From a therapeutic perspective, it means we are no longer wasting time developing drugs against minor actors in brain cancer - we can now attack the major players."

Nell Barrie, science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "This research is exciting, as it sheds light on the key changes that drive cells in the brain to become glioblastoma cells.

"By finding out exactly how healthy cells turn into cancer cells, scientists hope to find clues for preventing or reversing the process.

"The technique used in this study should help scientists to understand these changes in other types of cancer, leading to new and more personalised treatment approaches in the future."

Obama orders air security review after jet bomb attempt

US President Barack Obama has ordered a review of air security measures after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jet on Christmas Day.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president wanted to know how a man carrying dangerous substance PETN had managed to board a flight in Amsterdam.

He said the system of watch-lists would also be examined after it emerged the man was listed and known to officials.

A US record for 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was created last month.

Mr Gibbs told ABC News that the review would examine, firstly, the system of watch-lists used by government agencies, which includes three lists which become progressively shorter as risk increases.

'Dangerous substance'

The lists include a watch-list, with some 550,000 names on it, a "selectee" list with 18,000 people within the higher-risk category, and a "no-fly" list with 4,000 names of people who are not permitted to board planes.

Mr Abdulmutallab was placed on the lowest-risk list by US authorities in November 2009, after his father alerted authorities about the behaviour of his son.

Mr Gibbs said the number of people on the watch-list was "a huge number".

"The president has asked that a review be undertaken to ensure that any information gets to where it needs to go, to the people making the decisions. The president wants to review some of these procedures and see if they need to be updated," he said.

On 24 December Mr Abdulmutallab travelled from Nigeria to Amsterdam and then on to Detroit with an explosive device attached to his body, US officials say.

Shortly before the flight was due to land in the US, he allegedly attempted to detonate the device beneath a blanket but he was overpowered by passengers and crew.

Mr Abdulmutallab, the son of a prominent Nigerian banker, has been charged by US authorities with trying to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight as it was coming in to land.

US airlines especially have tightened security after the attempt, increasing screenings and body searches and, in some cases, confining passengers to their seats without pillows or blankets for the last hour of their flight.

Mitigation measures

Mr Gibbs said "air detection capabilities" would also be examined as part of the review.

"The president has asked the Department of Homeland Security to answer the - quite frankly - the very real question about how somebody with something as dangerous as PETN could have gotten onto a plane in Amsterdam."

PETN, or pentaerythritol, is the same material used by convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid who tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001.

Mr Abdulmutallab's route originally began in Yemen, from where he travelled to Ethiopia, then to Ghana and finally Nigeria.

According to Nigeria's information minister, Mr Abdulmutallab had arrived and flown out of Nigeria in the space of a single day.

"The man in question has been living outside the country for a while," said Dora Akunyili.

"He sneaked into Nigeria on the 24th of December and left the same day."

Nigerian authorities, who on Sunday pledged to co-operate fully with the US investigation, said screening would be enforced for all passengers passing through the country's 22 airports.

Wealthy or influential people and their families are often allowed to skip checks, media reports say.

Speaking to ABC News, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there was no immediate indication that Mr Abdulmutallab was part of a broader terror plot.

"Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger. But obviously the investigation continues. And we have instituted more screening and what we call mitigation measures at airports," she said.

'Grisly' Brittany Murphy artwork withdrawn

Promotional artwork for a DVD release showing late actress Brittany Murphy lying apparently lifeless in a bathtub has been pulled by a US rental chain.

Redbox said it planned to complete the removal of DVD covers and posters from its outlets by 1 January.

The artwork promotes Deadline, a direct to DVD title in which Murphy played a writer staying in a haunted house.

A private funeral service is expected to be held later at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

'On her game'

It is the same cemetery where singer Michael Jackson was laid to rest earlier this year.

Murphy, 32, was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre after collapsing in the bathroom of her Hollywood home on Sunday.

The county coroner's office is awaiting the results of toxicology and tissue tests before releasing an official cause of death.

Best known for her roles in Clueless and 8 Mile, Murphy completed a number of films this year that are currently awaiting release.

The director of one, a thriller called Abandoned, said she was delightful to work with and "was on her game".

"She was such a pro and so good at her craft that she could turn it on and off as necessary," said Michael Feifer.

Ancient whale sucked mud for food

An ancient "dwarf" whale appears to have fed by sucking small animals out of the seafloor mud with its short snout and tongue, experts say.

Researchers say the 25 million-year-old fossil is related to today's blue whales - the largest animals on Earth.

The ancient animal's mud slurping may have been a precursor to the filter feeding seen in modern baleen whales.

These whales strain huge quantities of tiny marine animals through specialised "combs" which take the place of teeth.

The research is published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

The fossilised remains of the primitive baleen whale Mammalodon colliveri were discovered near Torquay, in Victoria, Australia.

This animal still had teeth; it had not yet evolved the baleen plates - used for filter-feeding - which characterise present-day baleen whales.

Although Mammalodon was discovered in 1932 and named in 1939, it has not been widely studied, according to Museum Victoria, which holds specimens of this group.

The study's author, Dr Erich Fitzgerald from Museum Victoria, said that his study of the fossil led him to the conclusion that Mammalodon was a bottom-feeding mud-sucker.

Splinter group

The idea would support Charles Darwin's observation about whale evolution in his seminal book On the Origin of Species.

In it, Darwin speculated that some of the earliest baleen whales may have been suction feeders - and that this served as a precursor to the filter feeding of today's giants of the deep.

Mammalodon had a total body length of about 3m. But it appears to have been a bizarre evolutionary "splinter group" from the evolutionary lineage which later led to the 30m-long blue whale.

It was effectively a dwarf whale; the research suggests that Mammalodon may have evolved into a relatively tiny form from larger ancestors.

Mammalodon belongs to the same family as Janjucetus hunderi, fossils of which were also found in 25 million-year-old Oligocene rocks near Torquay in Victoria. This family appears to be unique to south-east Australia.

"Clearly the seas off southern Australia were a cradle for the evolution of a variety of tiny, weird whales that seem to have lived nowhere else," said Dr Fitzgerald.

The baleen plates which allow today's baleen whales to filter their food from water, distinguish this group from the toothed whales - a group which includes beaked whales and dolphins.

Baleen whales are a taxonomical group which includes not only the majestic blue whale, but also the right whales, fin whales and humpbacks, to name but a few.

Bridge collapse in western India 'kills 40'

The collapse of a bridge being built in western India is feared to have left some 40 people dead, local police say.

Dozens of labourers working on the bridge are thought to have fallen into the river Chambal when it collapsed late on Thursday.

Rescuers have recovered 12 bodies but there is little hope of finding anyone else alive, a senior officer said.

The accident happened near the town of Kota, some 170 miles (270 km) west of Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Police Inspector General Rajeev Dasot said an inquiry had begun into the circumstances leading to the collapse of the bridge, which is being jointly built by South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Gammon India.

Mr Dasot said it could take another three days to clear all the debris, AP news agency reported.

The government has ordered an investigation and police have arrested two project managers.

Correspondents say construction site accidents are relatively common in India, where health and safety rules are often overlooked.

Midwest US states face fresh blizzards

A severe winter storm in the US that has seen record amounts of snow fall is set to continue, forecasts say.

Blizzard warnings are still in place for parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The storm has already dumped 14in (35cm) in Oklahoma City - 11.5in more than the previous record snowfall.

Icy roads had been blamed for at least 21 deaths since the storm hit a few days ago.

Drivers in Minnesota reported brief white-out (zero visibility) conditions, and while some managed to continue to their destinations, others were stuck either in their cars or accommodation as the snow made roads impassable.

In Texas, volunteer fire-fighters and sheriff's deputies rescued hundreds of people stranded along Interstate 44 and Texas State Highway 287 near Wichita Falls.

Thirteen inches of snow fell in the area, a National Weather Service meteorologist said

"It's really been horrible," Wichita County Sheriff David Duke said.

"Although we live in north Texas and get a lot of cold weather, we weren't prepared for the significant amount of snow that we've received."

Interstate roads were also closed in North Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming.

Snow drifts and strong winds could cause further whiteouts, meteorologists warned.

Flights were cancelled, including at Sioux Falls Regional Airport, Rapid City Regional Airport and Pierre Regional Airport.

The Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma's largest airport, was not expected to fully reopen for another two to three days.

National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Kraujalis said the strong winds were producing snow drifts as deep as 5ft.

"It's awful, it's just awful," he told AP news agency.

"It's a big workout just walking outside to check my weather equipment."

Asia marks fifth anniversary of Indian Ocean tsunami

Countries across the Indian Ocean are marking the fifth anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that killed almost 250,000 people.

In Indonesia's Aceh province, where 170,000 died, thousands held prayers in public mosques and private homes.

On Thai beaches, Buddhist monks chanted prayers as mourners held pictures of loved ones lost five years ago.

Hundreds of tourists also returned to Phuket island to mark one of the worst natural disasters of modern times.

A moment of silence was observed on Phuket's popular Patong Beach marking the time the tsunami struck.

German survivor Ruschitschka Adolf, 73, and his wife Katherina waded into the turquoise seawater to lay white roses as a tribute to the dead.

"We [still] come and stay here because we are alive," Mr Adolf told Reuters news agency.

Other ceremonies were expected in the 14 countries hit by the massive wave.

Communities rebuilt

Thousands of survivors in Indonesia's Aceh province, the hardest-hit area, gathered at mosques and beside the mass graves where tens of thousands were buried.

"None of my family members survived in the tsunami," Siti Aminah, 72, told AFP news agency at a grave site near Banda Aceh, Aceh's capital.

"My children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, they all have gone and left me alone here."

Banda Aceh's main business district, which was completely destroyed by the tsunami, is again bustling with activity, says the BBC's Karishma Vaswani there.

Our correspondent says many have rebuilt their lives thanks to billions of dollars in international aid.

But five years on, the grief and trauma of the disaster are still very real for the people of Aceh, she adds.

After Indonesia, Sri Lanka was the country worst hit by the tsunami.

More than 40,000 people died there and half a million were displaced.

Visitors can still see blackened, destroyed buildings in the country's south and west, the BBC's Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.

There are also large vistas with a view of the ocean from the coast road, which were once blocked by buildings, our correspondent says.

But there has been good recovery too - aid grants have brought some farmers to a higher technical level than before.

And one model village built by a philanthropist - which started out as 1,000 homes for victims - has now developed to take in a health centre, diving classes and more, our correspondent adds.

Unprecedented scale

The tsunami was sparked by a 9.2-magnitude earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra - the mightiest earthquake in 40 years.

In Aceh province, the quake toppled homes and buildings and sent panicked residents rushing into the streets.

About 20 minutes later, a wall of water up to six stories high surged in from the sea, burying thousands in thick black mud and leaving others to scramble up buildings or cling onto trees.

It was a disaster on an unprecedented scale, the BBC's Rachel Harvey reports from Bangkok.

Apart from the deaths, hundreds of thousands people lost their homes and livelihoods.

No single agency or government could have been prepared for the challenges the tsunami presented, our South-East Asia correspondent says.

Following the disaster, the UN has been designated to coordinate relief work in massive disaster zones.

The so-called Cluster System for emergency response was used to good effect after the Padang earthquake in Indonesia in September, our correspondent says.

Charlie Sheen arrested after domestic violence claims

Actor Charlie Sheen spent much of Christmas Day in a cell after being accused of domestic violence.

Police arrested the 44-year-old Platoon and Wall Street star on Friday morning after an emergency call from a house in the ski resort of Aspen, Colorado.

An ambulance went to the house, but no-one was taken to hospital.

Police said the Two and a Half Men TV sitcom star was suspected of assault, menacing and criminal mischief. He was released on $8,500 (£5,300) bail.

Mr Sheen is the son of actor Martin Sheen and brother of actor-director Emilio Estevez.

He was married in May 2008 to Brooke Mueller Sheen, a property investor who gave birth to the couple's first children, twin boys, in March.

Two and a Half Men has proven one of US TV's most popular sitcoms and made Charlie Sheen America's highest paid TV star in 2008, raking in $825,000 (£422,000) per episode.

It is not the actor's first brush with the law. He was arrested in 1996 for assaulting a woman, who claimed she had been knocked unconscious at his home.

He was also the only star named as a client of "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss, testifying at her trial that he had paid her $50,000 for escorts.

Mr Sheen ended up in hospital in 1998 following a drug overdose and checked into rehab on his release. Subsequently arrested for drinking and drug driving, he went back to rehab on doctor's orders.

Pakistani air strike kills 10 in tribal area

Pakistani fighter jets have targeted suspected militant hideouts in the Orakzai tribal agency, south-west of Peshawar, killing at least 10 people.

Officials say the dead were militants, but eyewitnesses told the BBC the bombs destroyed the home of a tribal chief, killing three women and four children.

Pakistani troops have been engaged in an major offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, further south.

The army believes many insurgents fled from there to areas such as Orakzai.

A number of air strikes have targeted militant targets in Orakzai in recent weeks.

The UN says more than 40,000 civilians have left their homes in Orakzai and are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Sesame Street star Alaina Reed Amini dies aged 63

Alaina Reed Amini, best known for playing Olivia Robinson on long-running children's show Sesame Street, has died aged 63, her publicist has confirmed.

The star - previously known as Alaina Reed Hall - died Thursday at a hospital in Santa Monica after a two-year battle with breast cancer.

Her stage credits included Chicago and Hair. She also appeared in several movies, including Cruel Intentions.

She also guest-starred in various TV shows such as ER and NYPD Blue.

Reed-Amini joined the Sesame Street cast in 1976 and played a photographer and sister of the character Gordon.

The actress remained on the show until 1988 and also starred in NBC's 227 playing the landlady and best friend of the show's main character.

During the final series Reed-Amini married a character who was played by her real-life husband, Kevin Peter Hall, who died in 1991.

She is survived by her husband, Tamim Amini, and two children from a previous marriage.

According to her husband, no memorial service will be held, but a celebration of her life is being planned for next year.

Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins split confirmed

Hollywood couple Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have ended their relationship after more than two decades together, Sarandon's publicist has confirmed.

"Actress Susan Sarandon and her partner of 23 years, actor Tim Robbins, have announced that they separated over the summer," she said in a statement.

Sarandon, 63, met Robbins, 51, on the set of their 1988 film Bull Durham.

The couple, who never married, have two sons. Sarandon's representative said no further comments would be made.

Sarandon, whose films include Thelma and Louise and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, won an Oscar in 1996 for her work in Death Row drama Dead Man Walking.

The film was directed by Robbins, who went on to win an Academy Award for his performance in 2003's Mystic River.

In addition to the couple's sons Jack, 20, and Miles, 17, Sarandon has a 24-year-old daughter, Eva Amurri, from a previous relationship.

The actress recently attended the Royal Film Performance in London of her latest movie, The Lovely Bones.

She also travelled to Sweden last month to accept a career achievement prize at the Stockholm Film Festival.

US condemns Taliban video of captive soldier

The US has condemned a Taliban video of an American soldier captured by the militants in Afghanistan last June as an affront to his family at Christmas.

The man in the film, identifying himself as Private Bowe Robert Bergdahl, criticises the US over the Afghan war and relations with Muslims.

A Taliban spokesman then calls for the release of captured insurgents in exchange for the 23-year-old.

His parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, responded by appealing for his release.

The Western military alliance Nato confirmed that the man in the video - seen wearing sunglasses, a military helmet and uniform - was Pte Bergdahl.

It said he had clearly been forced to read a prepared statement. It is not clear when the video, released on Friday, was recorded.

The airborne infantryman, originally from the US state of Idaho, spoke clearly and appeared healthy.

He was captured in Paktika province, a Taliban stronghold in eastern Afghanistan, on 30 June.

US Navy Rear Adm Gregory Smith said in a statement: "It reflects nothing more than the violent, deceitful tactics of the Taliban insurgency.

"To release this video on Christmas Day is an affront to the deeply concerned family and friends of Bowe Bergdahl."

The Bergdahl family later issued a statement through the Idaho National Guard, urging the captors "to let our only son come home".

And to Pte Bergdahl, the family said: "We love you and we believe in you. Stay strong."

'Next Vietnam'

In the video, Pte Bergdahl gives his rank, date and place of birth, and deployment details.

"This is just going to be the next Vietnam unless the American people stand up and stop all this nonsense," he says.

He adds: "You are not fighting a small group of terrorist guerrilla fighters.

"You are fighting an organised guerrilla army that has perfected guerrilla warfare better than any country has ever perfected it in history."

A statement read by a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, appears at the end of the video and renews demands for a "limited number of prisoners" to be exchanged for Pte Bergdahl.

The insurgents also released a video of the American a few weeks after he was captured.

The Pentagon has said Pte Bergdahl was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment in Paktika province.

He vanished from his base, near the border with Pakistan, just five months after arriving in Afghanistan.

The military has been trying to locate him ever since, and a reward has been offered for his safe return.

He is believed to be the first soldier seized in either Iraq or Afghanistan for at least two years.

Worshippers gather to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem

Thousands of Christian worshippers have celebrated Christmas Day in Bethlehem - believed to be the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Palestinians and pilgrims from around the world came together in the town to celebrate the event.

Hundreds attended morning mass at St Catherine's Church, in the Church of Nativity complex on Manger Square.

About 15,000 tourists are expected to stay in the town during the holiday period.

Rock music was played while traditional carol singers mingled with worshippers in the town.

Other celebrations took place at locations including at Saint George Orthodox Church in the West Bank village of Burqin near Jenin.

'Family gathering'

Some 300 Christians over the age of 35 from the Gaza Strip were given permission by the Israeli military to travel to Bethlehem and stay for 24 hours to celebrate Christmas.

About 80 people were also reported to have stayed and attended services at Gaza City's Roman Catholic Church.

Visitor Jonathan Croy from Alabama in the US said the feeling in Bethlehem was one of a "giant family gathering", the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported.

"It's interesting being here and seeing the dichotomy of religions, all nationalities and religions mixing together," he said.

The Vatican's envoy to the Holy Land, papal nuncio Antonio Franco told AP he was "hopeful" that peace was possible.

Earlier, during midnight Mass, Latin Patriarch Foud Twal, the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, delivered his Christmas message to thousands of pilgrims in Bethlehem.

"The wish that we most want, we most hope for, is not coming - we want peace," he said after arriving in Bethlehem after the traditional holiday procession from nearby Jerusalem.