Ebola case confirmed in Glasgow hospital

A healthcare worker who has just returned from West Africa has been diagnosed with Ebola and is being treated in hospital in Glasgow.

The woman, who arrived from Sierra Leone on Sunday night, is in isolation at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital.
All possible contacts with the case are being investigated, including on flights to Scotland via Heathrow.
UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that the woman would be taken to a specialist unit in London.
She will be flown from Glasgow and taken to the Royal Free Hospital in north London "as soon as we possibly can," Mr Hunt said.
The hospital has a specialist isolation unit and treated William Pooley, the British nurse who contracted and recovered from Ebola.
Low risk Mr Hunt said the government was doing "absolutely everything it needs to be" to keep the UK safe.
He insisted NHS processes "worked well" after the woman starting exhibiting symptoms.
The health secretary added: "We are also reviewing our procedures and protocols for all the other NHS workers who are working at the moment in Sierra Leone."
Charity Save the Children confirmed the woman was an NHS health worker who was working with them at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone.
The organisation's humanitarian director, Michael von Bertele, said: "Save the Children is working closely with the UK government, Scottish government and Public Health England to look into the circumstances surrounding the case."
At a news conference in Glasgow, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stressed that the risk to the general public was very low.
She added that the patient was thought to have had contact with only one other person since arriving in the city, but that all passengers on the flights the woman took will be traced.
Ms Sturgeon said: "Apart from other passengers on the flights and obviously the hospital staff since this patient's admittance to hospital, she, the patient is thought to have had contact with only one other person in Scotland since returning to Scotland last night and that person will also be contacted and given appropriate reassurance."

Glasgow Ebola case

Patient flight details - 28 December

• Flight AT596 from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to Casablanca
  
• Flight AT0800 from Casablanca to London Heathrow
  
• Flight BA1478 from London Heathrow to Glasgow, arriving 23:30
  

Reuters

Alisdair MacConachie, of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: "She's being managed in an isolation facility by staff who are comfortable managing patients in such a situation. She herself is quite stable and is not showing any great clinical concern at the minute."

NHS Scotland said infectious diseases procedures had been put into effect at the Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases at Gartnavel.
Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with the bodily fluids - such as blood, vomit or faeces - of an infected person.
The patient returned to Scotland from Sierra Leone late on Sunday via Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving into Glasgow Airport on a British Airways flight at about 23:30.
While public health experts have emphasised that the risks are negligible, a telephone helpline has been set up for anyone who was on the BA 1478 Heathrow to Glasgow flight. The number is: 08000 858531
The woman had been admitted to hospital early on Monday morning after feeling unwell and was placed into isolation at 07.50.

 
What are the symptoms?
 

The Ebola virus causes a range of painful and debilitating 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.

A British Airways spokesman said: "We are working closely with the health authorities in England and Scotland and will offer assistance with any information they require.
"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."
Ms Sturgeon has chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Committee (SGoRR) and has also spoken to Prime Minister David Cameron.
Mr Hunt is to chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee on Monday evening.

The patient had travelled from Freetown in Sierra Leone via Casablanca

Ms Sturgeon said: "Our first thoughts at this time must be with the patient diagnosed with Ebola and their friends and family. I wish them a speedy recovery.
"Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa and I am confident that we are well prepared."
Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, said: "It is important to be reassured that although a case has been identified, the overall the risk to the public continues to be low.
"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."

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Gmail access appears to be blocked in China

Easy access to Google's email service Gmail is now blocked in China, according to reports.

Using Gmail directly via Google's site has been impossible in the country for some time, but locals had still been able to use third-party apps, such as Microsoft Outlook, to use the service.
However, Google's own data indicates such traffic took a nosedive on Friday and has not recovered since.
The US firm said there were no known issues with its provision of Gmail.
"There's nothing technically wrong on our end," Taj Meadows, a spokesman for Google Asia Pacific, told news agency Associated Press.
The digital rights campaign group, GreatFire.org, was one of the first organisations to flag the fact that internet protocol addresses used to let software access Gmail had become inaccessible in China.
"Those protocols are used in the default email app on iPhone, Microsoft Outlook on PC and many more email clients," it said.
"Chinese users now have no way of accessing Gmail behind the GFW [great firewall]."
Google's data suggests there is still, however, a low level of Gmail use in China.
The Chinese government has neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind fresh restrictions.
"The past two years have seen a consistent tightening of all kinds of censorship on the internet and media," said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Beijing-based media tracker Danwei.
"There is an increasingly aggressive attitude towards what they [Beijing] call 'internet sovereignty' and they are confident about talking about internet censorship in positive terms."

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Mumbai attack 'leader' wins Pakistan appeal

The alleged leader of the 2008 militant attacks on Mumbai has won an appeal against his detention in Pakistan.

Lawyers for Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi said a government detention order issued last week infringed his rights, as he had been granted bail by another court.
Analysts say he could be freed as soon as the paperwork is completed.
India says a Pakistani militant group carried out the attacks, which killed 165. Pakistan has not convicted anyone suspected of planning the attacks.
Mr Lakhvi is among seven suspects who have been in jail awaiting trial for six years. Nine others have been charged in absentia.
Analysts say the decision to grant him bail came at an embarrassing time for the Pakistani government.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently promised to crack down on militancy after the Taliban killed 141 people at a school in Peshawar
Mr Lakhvi was granted bail by an anti-terror court on 18 December, but hours later the government imposed a three-month detention order and said it would appeal against the bail decision.
Mr Lakhvi's lawyers argued in Islamabad's High Court that the detention infringed his rights.
The judge accepted the arguments and quashed the detention order.
The suspect is now technically free to leave jail, but has been ordered to appear in court for every hearing concerning his case.

 

 

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

Correspondents say the charges brought against Mr Lakhvi and other suspects held in Pakistan were mainly based on a confession given by the only gunman captured alive after the attacks.
Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab was executed in 2012.
The attacks severely strained relations between India and Pakistan.
India has repeatedly criticised Pakistan for failing to prosecuted any of the suspects, and has summoned the Pakistani high commissioner to discuss Mr Lakhvi's case.

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Taliban declares 'defeat' of Nato

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have declared the "defeat" of the US and its allies, a day after the coalition officially ended its combat mission.

A Taliban statement said the US-led force had "rolled up its flag" without having achieved "anything substantial".
Nato formally ended its 13-year mission on Sunday, but about 13,000 troops will stay to train the Afghan army.
Meanwhile, officials said four Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack in Helmand province on Monday.
Three other soldiers were injured during the attack on an army checkpoint in Sangin district. Eight insurgents were said to have been killed.
The US-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) marked the end of its mission by lowering its flag at a ceremony in Kabul on Sunday.
Mission commander Gen John Campbell said the Nato force had "lifted the Afghan people out of the darkness of despair and given them hope for the future".
'Demoralised' But in a statement on Monday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Nato ceremony was "a clear indication of their defeat and disappointment".
He said the Taliban would establish "a pure Islamic system by expelling the remaining invading forces," adding that Western troops were "demoralised".
Nato's Afghan deployment began after the 9/11 attacks against the US.
At its peak, the US-led Isaf deployment involved more than 130,000 personnel from 50 countries.
But from 1 January, the force will consist of about 13,000 mostly-American troops and will shift to a training and support mission for the Afghan army.
The US will also have an additional force of a few thousand troops whose focus will be counter-terrorism operations.
While the US and its allies say the Afghan security forces have been able to prevent a Taliban offensive, violence has increased in recent months.
This year has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001, with at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces having been killed.
Nearly 3,500 foreign troops have been killed since the beginning of the Nato mission in 2001, including about 2,200 American troops.

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Obama suggests Putin 'not so smart'

President Barack Obama has said Vladimir Putin made a "strategic mistake" when he annexed Crimea, in a move that was "not so smart".

Those thinking his Russian counterpart was a "genius" had been proven wrong by Russia's economic crisis, he said.
International sanctions had made Russia's economy particularly vulnerable to changes in oil price, Mr Obama said.
He also refused to rule out opening a US embassy in Iran soon.
"I never say never but I think these things have to go in steps" he told NPR's Steve Inskeep in the Oval Office.
'Reliant on oil' Mr Obama was giving a wide-ranging interview with NPR shortly before leaving for Hawaii for his annual holiday.
He criticised his political opponents who claimed he had been outdone by Russia's president.
"You'll recall that three or four months ago, everybody in Washington was convinced that President Putin was a genius and he had outmanoeuvred all of us and he had bullied and strategised his way into expanding Russian power," he said.
"Today, I'd sense that at least outside of Russia, maybe some people are thinking what Putin did wasn't so smart."
Mr Obama argued that sanctions had made the Russian economy vulnerable to "inevitable" disruptions in oil price which, when they came, led to "enormous difficulties".
"The big advantage we have with Russia is we've got a dynamic, vital economy, and they don't," he said. "They rely on oil. We rely on oil and iPads and movies and you name it."
Following a disputed referendum in Crimea, Russia unilaterally annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in March. It did so weeks after a revolution ousted Ukraine's pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych.
The US, EU and other countries then implemented a series of economic sanctions against Russia.
The Russian currency has since lost half its value against the dollar and the economy has begun to contract.
Mr Obama also said that sending US troops to fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria would be counter-productive.
"If we do for others what they need to do for themselves - if we come in and send the Marines in to fight ISIL [IS], and the Iraqis have no skin in the game, then it's not going to last," he said.

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Smoke spotted during AirAsia search

Indonesian officials say they are sending teams to investigate reports of smoke on an island in the area where AirAsia flight QZ8501 has gone missing.

The multinational search for the plane has entered a third day, with the operation area now widened to cover 13 zones over land and sea.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday.
The pilot's last contact was a request to divert around bad weather.
Indonesian officials say air traffic control had approved one request, to veer left, then gave clearance to a second request for permission to climb two to three minutes later.
No reply was received and the plane then disappeared from radar. No trace has yet been found.
Countries around the region as well as the US, France and Australia have joined the search over the Java sea.
On Tuesday, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue officials in Banka Belitung province told the BBC they were deploying teams to investigate reports of "billowing smoke" on Long Island, just south of Belitung island, inside the search zone.
Andriandi said the smoke was spotted on Monday by a Chinese television crew, about 29 miles from Manggar in East Belitung.
"There is a possibility that it might be from the missing AirAsia plane but we are still doing further verification," he said.
Experts have cautioned the smoke could be unrelated to the plane. Reports of a possible oil slick spotted in the seas off Belitung island on Monday turned out to be reefs just below the surface.
Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency, also said on Tuesday that officials would be speaking to two fishermen who had reported hearing a loud bang on Sunday.
But he said no signal had been detected from the plane yet. On Monday, he had said he suspected the aircraft was at the bottom of the sea.
US destroyer en route On board the plane were 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew.
Most were Indonesian but the passengers included one UK national, a Malaysian, a Singaporean and three South Koreans.
Pilot Capt Iriyanto had more than 20,500 flight hours, almost 7,000 of them with AirAsia. The co-pilot was French national Remi Emmanuel Plesel.
At least 30 ships, 15 aircraft and seven helicopters joined the operation when it resumed at 06:00 local time, said Indonesian officials, with the search now covering 13 different areas across land and sea.
The multinational operation, led by Indonesia, has been joined by Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, with other offers of help from South Korea, Thailand, China and France. The US destroyer USS Sampson is on its way to the zone.
The BBC's Alice Budisatrijo at Surabaya's Juanda airport says those offers come as welcome news to the relatives, who understand the limited technical capabilities of the Indonesian authorities to locate and retrieve the plane, especially if it is underwater.
'Then no reply' The plane had left Surabaya at 05:35 Jakarta time and had been due to arrive in Singapore two hours later.
Wisnu Darjono, AirNav safety director, said Capt Iriyanto requested permission to bank left at 06:12 to avoid a storm. The request was immediately granted and the plane changed course.
According to state navigation operator AirNav Indonesia, the pilot then asked to take the plane from 32,000ft (9,800m) to 38,000ft but did not explain why he wanted to do so.
Indonesian air traffic control staff told the pilot he could take the plane to 34,000ft but no higher because another AirAsia airliner was flying at 38,000ft.
"It took us around two to three minutes to communicate with Singapore," Mr Darjono said. "But when we informed the pilot of the approval at 06:14, we received no reply."
The plane was officially declared missing at 07:55.
It is unclear what happened next but one report suggests the plane may have tried to climb through the storm.
Former pilots say a climb could have led to reduced stability and possibly a fatal stall, as cross winds and down draughts battered the plane.
The AirAsia plane was delivered in 2008, has flown 13,600 times, completing 23,000 hours, and underwent its last maintenance in November.
AirAsia previously had an excellent safety record and there were no fatal accidents involving its aircraft.

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Nato marks Afghan mission change

Nato has formally ended its 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan - heralding the start of a new phase of support for local Afghan troops.

Commanders lowered the flag during a ceremony in Kabul - raising the flag of the new mission named Resolute Support.
"We have lifted the Afghan people out of the darkness of despair and given them hope for the future," mission commander Gen John Campbell said.
Nato's Afghan deployment began after the 9/11 attacks against the US.
From 1 January the alliance's role will shift to a mainly training and support mission for the Afghan army.
Sunday's ceremony was low-key - held inside a gymnasium at the alliance headquarters away from the public.
A military band played as the flag of the International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) was lowered in the presence of senior military personnel from both sides.
Unfurling the new flag, Gen Campbell said the mission "will serve as the bedrock of an enduring partnership" between Nato and Afghanistan.
"We honour coalition and Afghan fallen in this mighty struggle, those who paid the price for Afghanistan's freedom," he said, adding: "The road before us remains challenging but we will triumph."
At its peak, the US-led Isaf deployment involved more than 130,000 personnel from 50 countries.
But from 1 January, it will bring together around 12,000 men and women from Nato allies and 14 partner nations.
"The security of Afghanistan will be fully in the hands of the country's 350,000 Afghan soldiers and police. But Nato allies, together with many partner nations, will remain to train, advise and assist them," said Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a statement.
More than a decade after this long and expensive mission began, the Taliban are still active and gaining in strength, launching a number of attacks in recent months, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kabul.
This year has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001, with at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces dying in the fight against the Taliban.
It underscores the challenges that lie ahead of the Afghan security forces, our correspondent says.
Nearly 3,500 foreign troops have been killed since the beginning of the Nato mission.

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Cameroon air strikes on Boko Haram

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

The military repelled the attacks and regained control of the base, he added.
The spokesman did not confirm local media reports that the militants had killed at least 30 people.
The Nigeria-based group is increasingly carrying out cross-border raids, threatening Cameroon's security.
'Training camp dismantled' The latest fighting was the most intense, lasting for three days along several fronts, reports the BBC's Jean-David Mihamle from Cameroon's capital Yaounde.
About 1,000 militants attacked five villages, including Amchide, and seized the nearby Achigachia military base.
"After that, the head of state ordered the air force to carry out strikes. With the bombardment, the fighters were forced to decamp from Achigachia," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
Last week, Cameroon said it had dismantled a Boko Haram training camp on its territory, and had seized 84 children who were being trained there.
More than 40 of its soldiers have been killed in fighting with Boko Haram this year, according to Reuters.
Boko Hara

m launched its insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009, saying it wanted to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
It recruits mainly unemployed youth and has seized large swathes of territory in Borno state, raising fears that it could launch an assault on its main city, Maiduguri.
At least 2,000 civilians have been killed by the group in Nigeria this year.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in April from the town of Chibok in Borno state sparked international outrage.

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

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The Interview makes $15m in online release

Controversial comedy The Interview has become film studio Sony's most-downloaded title of all time, just four days after its release on 24 December.

It was downloaded more than two million times as of 27 December, making back a third of its $44m (£28m) budget.
The film, about a fictional American plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had previously been pulled from release over security fears.
It angered North Korea and may have triggered a cyber attack on Sony.
The hack, from a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace, led to the leaking of confidential information including upcoming movie scripts, confidential emails and actors' salaries.
Sony halted the release after unspecified threats of attacks against cinemas.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later said its investigation into the hacking attack pointed the finger at North Korea. The country denied involvement, but described the hack as a "righteous deed".
Sony said in a statement on Sunday that the movie was made available in the US and Canada through Google services YouTube and Play, Microsoft's Xbox Video and its dedicated website in HD versions for 48-hour rental at $5.99 and for purchase at $14.99.
It made $15m (£9.6m) in its first three days on sale.
There was also a "strong turnout" for the movie's limited theatre release, after major US chains backed out of screening it.
Sony's move to cancel the film's release had garnered criticism in the US including from President Barack Obama, who said it meant freedom of expression was under threat.

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Greece parliament holds crucial presidency vote

Greece's parliament is holding a third and final vote on whether to approve a president nominated by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, in a move that could trigger a snap election.

The candidate, Stavros Dimas, has so far failed to get the constitutionally required majority.
Failure to elect him would force a fresh general election.
Opinion polls give a lead to the left-wing Syriza party, which has pledged to renegotiate the country's bailout deal.
This would put Greece on a collision course with its EU and IMF creditors, who have loaned the country billions of euros in exchange for deep cuts in government spending.
Syriza has vowed to keep Greece within the eurozone but wants to roll back some of the reforms imposed as part of the bailout deal.
"Syriza's victory in elections will jumpstart a massive national effort to save society and restore Greece," Syriza's leader Alexis Tsipras said in an article in Avgi newspaper.
Samaras warning In the second round of voting last week, Mr Dimas obtained 168 votes, 32 short of the 200 he required.
Greece's two-party governing coalition has 155 seats and needs support from opposition or independent lawmakers to ensure a win for former EU Environment Commissioner Mr Dimas.
In the final round, he needs the support of only 180 MPs to be appointed president - a largely ceremonial role.
But few believe he has it, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Athens.
If he does not get the votes required, parliament will be dissolved within 10 days and general elections will be called within a month, either in late January or early February.
"The Greek people don't want early elections. The Greek people understand where this adventure could lead," Prime Minister Samaras told Greek television.
Although polls suggest Syriza would win early elections, it is not clear they would win a majority.
The Greek economy has begun to show signs of recovery after years of contraction.
But unemployment remains over 25%, and many people have had wages and benefits cut.

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Bangalore blast kills Indian woman

A home-made bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, killing a woman who was passing by and injuring five others.

The blast on Sunday night took place in a busy area and the police have described it as a "terrorist attack".
Bangalore has been on alert since earlier this month when an engineer was arrested for allegedly running a pro-Islamic State Twitter account.
Since then, police have received several threats of retaliation.
Mehdi Masroor Biswas's Twitter account had tens of thousands of followers worldwide.
The blast took place on Church Street in the central business district at 20:38 India time (15:38GMT), reports BBC Hindi's Imran Qureshi in Bangalore.
Bhavani, the woman who died, was walking past the popular restaurant when the bomb placed outside its gate exploded.
Her nephew received shrapnel injuries on his left shoulder and is being treated in hospital.
"It is a professional job. The IED [improvised explosive device] and the timer is not the handiwork of an amateur. It is a terrorist organisation but we are yet to identify the group," a senior police official told BBC Hindi.
The blast has prompted a security alert in other Indian cities.
Bangalore, home to hundreds of IT companies including multinationals like IBM, Hewlett Packard and Microsoft, is considered a soft target for terror attacks and has had several low-intensity blasts in the past few years.
Last year, 16 people were injured in an explosion near the office of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In April 2010, the Indian Premier League cricket semi-finals were moved from Bangalore to Mumbai after two devices exploded outside Bangalore's Chinnaswamy Stadium.
In July 2008, one woman was killed and several others injured when seven bombs hit crowded areas of the city.

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Italy ferry fire: Scores awaiting rescue

More than 120 people are still awaiting rescue on the deck of a blazing Italian ferry amid freezing temperatures off the Greek island of Corfu.

Helicopter crews have been winching small groups of people to safety despite gale-force winds.
The Italian coast guard said 356 of the 478 people on board had been evacuated by early Monday after a fire broke out on a car deck on Sunday.
One person is confirmed dead but a passenger has said he saw more bodies.
The Italian navy said that the body of a Greek man and his injured wife had been removed from the ship, Norman Atlantic which had been travelling from Patras in Greece to Ancona in Italy.
It is 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 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.
Hypothermia 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.
It is not yet clear what caused the fire.
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.

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Huge funeral for shot New York policeman Rafael Ramos

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

Vice-President Joe Biden praised the "finest police department in the world" at the service, attended by police forces from across the US and Canada.
Mr Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot after weeks of anti-police protests.
Police at the funeral again snubbed New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had appeared to back some of the protests.
Funeral details for Officer Liu have yet to be announced. Officials say it will be held when relatives arrive from China.
Telling the mourners Officer Ramos had been a "hero", Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced he had promoted both officers posthumously to Detective First Grade.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also paid tribute to the dead officer as well as to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
'It affects everyone'
"I believe that this great police force of this incredibly diverse city can and will show the nation how to bridge any divide," Vice-President Biden told the congregation at the Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens.
"You've done it before and you will do it again."
Officer Ramos, 40, had been studying to become a police chaplain and was described as "a man of great faith" by a pastor who knew him.
Commissioner Bratton, his voice choking with emotion, said: "Rafael Ramos was assassinated because he represented all of us."
The two police officers had been killed by a "madman", he continued, who had only been able to see two uniforms, not the people wearing them.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told mourners he had watched recent protests and seen "people hurling insults" directly in the face of the police officers, but the police continued doing their jobs.
When the Ramos family arrived for the service, the eldest son Justin, wearing his father's NYPD jacket, was hugged by a police officer. The policeman is also survived by his younger son Jaden and his wife Maritza.
Officer Dustin Lindaman of the Waterloo Police Department had flown from Iowa to attend the funeral.
"He's one of our brothers and when this happens, it affects everyone in law enforcement - it absolutely affects everyone," he told the Associated Press news agency.
History of violence Inside the church, Mr de Blasio's speech was met by polite applause but outside, police officers could be seen turning their backs when he appeared on a giant video screen.
The mayor had been snubbed in a similar manner by officers at the hospital where the two men were pronounced dead on 20 December.
The two police officers were shot following weeks of protests over several killings of unarmed black men by white police officers.
In New York, a grand jury decided not to press charges against a white police officer over the death of unarmed black man Eric Garner, who was placed in a chokehold while being restrained by New York police officers.
Commissioner Bratton has said he strongly rejects the notion that Mayor de Blasio increased the risk to police officers by appearing to side with protesters following the death of Mr Garner.
Black man Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, shot and killed officers Ramos and Liu as they were sitting in a patrol vehicle in the borough of Brooklyn. He then killed himself nearby.
Brinsley had a history of violence and mental instability and had been arrested at least 19 times in Georgia and Ohio, police said. Before attacking the police officers, he had shot and injured his girlfriend.
On the day of the shooting, he went on social media to say he was planning to kill police officers.

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Italy ferry fire: Evacuation hampered by winds

 Ships and helicopters are taking part in a major rescue operation after an Italian ferry carrying 478 people caught fire around 40 nautical miles north-west of Corfu.

The Norman Atlantic was travelling from Patras in Greece to Ancona in Italy.
Choppy seas and strong winds are hampering the rescue. Early reports that it was tilting have been denied.
One person has died and another injured, Greek and Italian officials say. 161 people have been rescued.
Most of those on board were Greek. Others came from Italy, Turkey, Albania, Germany and many other countries, officials said.
The British ambassador to Greece said officials were investigating reports that two Britons were on board.
Italian media say the fire broke out on the ferry's car deck early on Sunday morning.
"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.
Italian and Albanian teams are also taking part in the rescue operation.
One of the passengers told Greek TV station Mega: "On the lower deck, where the lifeboats are, our shoes were starting to melt from the heat."
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."
Ferries are an important mode of transport between Greece's hundreds of islands as well as neighbouring countries.

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Ice warnings as temperatures fall below zero across UK

Temperatures have plunged below freezing in parts of the UK amid warnings that drivers could face treacherous conditions on icy roads.
The lowest recorded temperature was almost -5C in Perthshire overnight with "widespread" frost hitting large areas of the UK, the BBC Weather centre said.
The Met Office issued yellow warnings to "be aware" of ice in all areas.
Widespread icy patches could form on untreated surfaces, especially where snow has fallen, the Met Office said.
Forecasters predict the temperature could drop below freezing even in southern cities on Sunday night and could fall as low as -10C in rural areas.
It follows wintry showers across northern Ireland, Wales and eastern England on Saturday, with the town of Leek in Staffordshire recording the day's heaviest snowfall of 12cm (4.7in).
The Met Office has warned drivers to take extra care on the roads.
A section of the M62 near Huyton was closed after an accident. In Derbyshire, part of the A6024 near High Peak was closed and in south Yorkshire the A631 near Beckingham was closed - both because of ice.
BBC Weather's Philip Avery said some of the lowest recorded temperatures overnight had been in areas where snow had already fallen.
He said temperatures had fallen to below freezing in parts of northern Scotland, while in much of England, Wales and Northern Ireland it was either close to or below zero.
Meanwhile, a cold weather alert for parts of England has been issued, with the Met Office saying there is a 90% chance that severe weather until 12:00 GMT on Wednesday could "increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services".
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.

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

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Croatians vote for new president

Croatians are electing a new president, with the poll seen as a test for the main political parties.

The incumbent, Ivo Josipovic, is one of four candidates. He was nominated by the governing coalition.
The other three are Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, from the main opposition party, right-winger Milan Kujundzic and activist Ivan Vilibor Sincic.
The president has a largely ceremonial role, but has a say in foreign policy and is head of the army.
Croatia is the newest member of the European Union, joining in July last year.
But its economy has struggled, and is now entering its sixth year of recession. Parliamentary elections are expected to be held towards the end of next year.
If none of the four candidates wins more than 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff in two weeks time.

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Ukraine crisis: Separatist rebels free more soldiers

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have freed four Ukrainian prisoners a day after the two sides exchanged hundreds of captives.

The release was announced by a Ukrainian defence ministry adviser, Vasyliy Budik, who said three were soldiers and the fourth a civilian.
On Friday, rebels freed 146 prisoners for 222 people held by the government, in the biggest such swap to date.
President Petro Poroshenko greeted those freed on Friday at an airport.
Elsewhere, Ukraine has frozen vital bus and rail links with Crimea, its southern peninsula annexed by Russia in March.
Crimea has no land corridor to Russia, and relies on a ferry in the Azov Sea and flights from Russia.
The latest moves come ahead of the traditional holiday season in the region, when people travel to be with their families for New Year.
The releases are part of a 12-point peace plan agreed in September, which also included a ceasefire. Fighting continues, however, and more than 1,300 people have died since the truce was announced.
'More to come' The latest releases took place without any rebels being freed in return, Mr Budik wrote on his Facebook page (in Russian).
He added that the three soldiers had spent around four months in captivity after being captured at Luhansk airport. The fourth person freed was the head of a factory security guard service, he said.
According to the defence adviser, a further 10-12 Ukrainians could be freed shortly.
Friday's prisoner exchange took place near the town of Avdiyivka, about 35km (22 miles) north of Donetsk.
Ukrainian and Russian media showed rows of men in civilian clothes standing on a road, supervised by armed men.
Among the rebels released by the government are a number of civilians from eastern Ukraine, detained as suspected rebel sympathisers, according to the pro-rebel Donetsk News Agency.
Those released include 35 women, the same source said.
The rebel leadership in Donetsk region has appealed to observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Red Cross to investigate allegations of maltreatment by the Ukrainian authorities.
Inconclusive talks were held this week in Minsk, Belarus, on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed 4,700 lives.
Ukraine accuses Russia of actively supporting the militants with Russian soldiers and heavy artillery.
The Kremlin denies this but says its regular forces are fighting in eastern Ukraine as volunteers.
Crimea cut off People queued at railway stations in Crimea on Saturday to return unused train tickets.
Col Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's security council, told reporters on Saturday that the freeze on public transport traffic to Crimea was expected to be only a temporary security measure.
The Crimean peninsula - which is also heavily dependent on Ukraine's power supplies - has also seen blackouts in recent days.
Kiev says it has to limit supplies, because Ukraine itself is experiencing power shortages.
The world's two largest credit and debit card companies, Visa and Mastercard, have said they can no longer support bank cards being used in Crimea, following fresh US sanctions imposed this month.
Russian media reported that a number of people in Crimea on Friday were unable to withdraw cash or pay for goods bought in local supermarkets.

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