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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South Korea offers high-level talks to North Korea

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

Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said he especially hoped to discuss the reunion of families separated by the Korean War more than 60 years ago.
There has been no response yet from Pyongyang.
The North has previously seen the South's unification plans as an attempt to take it over.
"North and South Korea should meet face to face to draw up a plan for a peaceful unification," Mr Ryoo told a news conference.
"For this purpose, we make an official proposal for the North Korean government to have a conversation about mutual concerns between North and South in January next year."
The minister said he hoped North Korea "responds positively" to the suggestion.
He offered to meet in Seoul, Pyongyang or any other South or North Korean city agreed with North Korean officials.
The last formal high-level talks were in February, leading to rare reunions for Korean families.
More talks planned in October were dropped after North Korea accused the South of not doing enough to stop activists sending anti-Northern leaflets across the border on balloons.
The two Koreas have technically been at war since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

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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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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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Hamas prevents Gaza orphans visiting Israel

Thirty-seven children whose parents were killed in the recent Israel-Gaza conflict have been prevented by Hamas from visiting Israel on a trip organised by peace activists.

Hamas said they would have had to visit "settlements and occupied towns".
The children, aged between 12 and 15 and accompanied by five adults, were turned back at the Erez crossing.
More than 2,100 people, mostly Palestinians, died in the 50-day July-August conflict, the UN said.
Israel said 67 of its troops and six civilians died.
The visit, organised by kibbutz leaders, the charity Candle for Peace and Arab-Israeli officials, would have taken the children to Arab towns in Israel, southern areas targeted by militants' rockets in the conflict, a mixed-race school and the beach in Tel Aviv.
A visit to Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was also planned, according to Yoel Marshak of the Kibbutz Movement.
The week-long trip had been approved by the Israeli security service.
But Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, said the cancellation was justified to protect children from "the politics of normalisation" with Israel.
Spokesman Eyad Bozum said Hamas would ensure such a trip "will never happen again".
Three weeks ago, Hamas too had given approval for the visit, Mr Marshak, said, expressing surprise that it was blocked.
Charity for Peace director Malek Freij told Reuters news agency: "They thought that Israel wants to exploit these children, and that's a mistake."
Hamas refuses to recognise Israel, which it sees as occupying Palestinian land, and under its charter is committed to Israel's destruction.
Several nations, including Israel and the United States, count Hamas as a terrorist organisation due to its long record of attacks and its refusal to renounce violence.
The most recent Gaza conflict flared after tensions rose between Israel and Palestinian militants.
Hamas fired thousands of rockets and mortars towards Israel during the 50-day conflict this summer. Israel carried out an aerial bombing campaign and a ground invasion.

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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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Cybill Shepherd

She's been a beauty queen and model, but Cybill Shepherd is probably best known for her outstanding acting career.
 
She her film debut in the 1971 film, The Last Picture Show - but most of us probably know her from the TV detective series Moonlighting.
In a wise-cracking script, she sizzled with co-star Bruce Willis - a chemistry which was apparently not mirrored in real life.
After the series finished in 1989, she went on to star in the long-running sitcom, Cybil, about a hard-working forty-something actress.
The series has now been released as a boxed set of DVDs
Cybill Shephard came into the Breakfast studio on Wednesday - and found Dermot was a fan of her first ever film performance

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Greek ferry fire: Evacuation hampered by winds

A major rescue operation is underway for a Greek ferry carrying more than 460 people which caught fire around 40 nautical miles north-west of Corfu.

The Norman Atlantic was travelling from the Greek port of Patras to the Italian city of Ancona.
Nearby ships have been called in to rescue the passengers and crew but strong winds are hampering the operation, Greek authorities say.
There are no immediate reports of casualties.

Italian media say the fire broke out on the ferry's car deck early on Sunday morning.
Around 35 passengers were transferred to a nearby Greek ferry by lifeboat, Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said.
"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" he said.
Italian and Albanian teams are also taking part in the rescue operation.
Ferries are an important mode of transport between Greece's hundreds of islands as well as neighbouring countries.

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Pope gunman Mehmet Ali Agca visits John Paul II's grave

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

Mehmet Ali Agca told police he felt he needed to make the gesture, Italian media report.
It comes 31 years to the day that the Pope visited Agca in prison and forgave him for the attempt on his life.
Agca served 19 years in an Italian jail for shooting the Pope twice at close range. His motive remains a mystery.
He spent another 10 years in prison in Turkey on charges related to the earlier murder of a newspaper editor.
Agca, 56, laid white roses at the tomb of the late Pope on Saturday, in his first visit to the Vatican since his attack on John Paul II on 13 May 1981.
The Pope was left seriously injured, with one bullet passing through his abdomen and another narrowly missing his heart.
Vatican officials have for a second time denied Agca's request for a face-to-face meeting with Pope Francis.
"He has put flowers on the tomb of John Paul II. I think that is enough," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told La Repubblica newspaper.

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AirAsia flight to Singapore missing

An AirAsia airliner flying from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board has lost contact with air traffic control.

Flight QZ8501, an Airbus plane, went missing at 07:24 (23:24 GMT), Malaysia-based AirAsia tweeted.
Indonesian military planes are searching an area of the Java Sea.
AirAsia, a budget airline, has never lost a plane, but Malaysia's national carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two this year - flights MH370 and MH17.
The AirAsia plane disappeared about two hours into a three-hour flight.
It left the Indonesian city of Surabaya in

eastern Java at 05:20 local time (21:20 GMT) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT).
The missing jet had requested a "deviation" from the flight path due to bad weather, the company said.
Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot had asked permission to climb to 38,000 ft (11,000m) to avoid thick cloud. No distress call is reported to have been issued by the crew.

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

• 138 adults, 16 children and one infant
• Two pilots and five cabin crew were also on board
• Most on board were Indonesian
• Six were from other countries: three South Koreans and one French, Malaysian and Singaporean.

AirAsia has set up an emergency line for family or friends of those who may be on board. The number is +622 129 850 801.
An official with the transport ministry, Hadi Mustofa, told local media the plane lost contact over the Java Sea, between the islands of Kalimantan and Java.
The company's chief executive, Tony Fernandes, tweeted: "Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. We must stay strong."
AirAsia Indonesia is an affiliate of the Malaysian company AirAsia, operating domestic flights round the Indonesian archipelago as well as international services to Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Thailand.
AirAsia Indonesia was banned from flying to the European Union in 2007 due to safety concerns but this was lifted in July 2010.
The latest incident caps a tragic year for Malaysian aviation with the disappearance of one Malaysia Airlines plane and the apparent shooting down of another.
Flight MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage, thought to be in southern Indian Ocean, has still not been located.
MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board.

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Hitler's secret Indian army

In the closing stages of World War II, as Allied and French resistance forces were driving Hitler's now demoralized  forces from France, three senior German officers defected.

Legionnaires were recruited from German POW camps

 
The information they gave British intelligence was considered so sensitive that in 1945 it was locked away, not due to be released until the year 2021.
Now, 17 years early, the BBC's Document programme has been given special access to this secret file.
It reveals how thousands of Indian soldiers who had joined Britain in the fight against fascism swapped their oaths to the British king for others to Adolf Hitler - an astonishing tale of loyalty, despair and betrayal that threatened to rock British rule in India, known as the Raj.
The story the German officers told their interrogators began in Berlin on 3 April 1941. This was the date that the left-wing Indian revolutionary leader, Subhas Chandra Bose, arrived in the German capital.
Bose, who had been arrested 11 times by the British in India, had fled the Raj with one mission in mind. That was to seek Hitler's help in pushing the British out of India.

He wanted 500 volunteers who would be trained in Germany and then parachuted into India. Everyone raised their hands. Thousands of us volunteered Lieutenant Barwant Singh

Six months later, with the help of the German foreign ministry, he had set up what he called "The Free India Centre", from where he published leaflets, wrote speeches and organised broadcasts in support of his cause. By the end of 1941, Hitler's regime officially recognised his provisional "Free India Government" in exile, and even agreed to help Chandra Bose raise an army to fight for his cause. It was to be called "The Free India Legion".
Bose hoped to raise a force of about 100,000 men which, when armed and kitted out by the Germans, could be used to invade British India.
He decided to raise them by going on recruiting visits to Prisoner-of-War camps in Germany which, at that time, were home to tens of thousands of Indian soldiers captured by Rommel in North Africa.
Volunteers
Finally, by August 1942, Bose's recruitment drive got fully into swing. Mass ceremonies were held in which dozens of Indian POWs joined in mass oaths of allegiance to Adolf Hitler.

Chandra Bose did not live to see Indian independence

These are the words that were used by men that had formally sworn an oath to the British king: "I swear by God this holy oath that I will obey the leader of the German race and state, Adolf Hitler, as the commander of the German armed forces in the fight for India, whose leader is Subhas Chandra Bose." I managed to track down one of Bose's former recruits, Lieutenant Barwant Singh, who can still remember the Indian revolutionary arriving at his prisoner of war camp.
"He was introduced to us as a leader from our country who wanted to talk to us," he said.
"He wanted 500 volunteers who would be trained in Germany and then parachuted into India. Everyone raised their hands. Thousands of us volunteered."
Demoralised
In all 3,000 Indian prisoners of war signed up for the Free India Legion.
But instead of being delighted, Bose was worried. A left-wing admirer of Russia, he was devastated when Hitler's tanks rolled across the Soviet border.
Matters were made even worse by the fact that after Stalingrad it became clear that the now-retreating German army would be in no position to offer Bose help in driving the British from faraway India.
When the Indian revolutionary met Hitler in May 1942 his suspicions were confirmed, and he came to believe that the Nazi leader was more interested in using his men to win propaganda victories than military ones.
So, in February 1943, Bose turned his back on his legionnaires and slipped secretly away aboard a submarine bound for Japan.

Rudolf Hartog remembers parting with his Indian friends

There, with Japanese help, he was to raise a force of 60,000 men to march on India. Back in Germany the men he had recruited were left leaderless and demoralised. After much dissent and even a mutiny, the German High Command despatched them first to Holland and then south-west France, where they were told to help fortify the coast for an expected allied landing.
After D-Day, the Free India Legion, which had now been drafted into Himmler's Waffen SS, were in headlong retreat through France, along with regular German units.
It was during this time that they gained a wild and loathsome reputation amongst the civilian population.
The former French Resistance fighter, Henri Gendreaux, remembers the Legion passing through his home town of Ruffec: "I do remember several cases of rape. A lady and her two daughters were raped and in another case they even shot dead a little two-year-old girl."
Finally, instead of driving the British from India, the Free India Legion were themselves driven from France and then Germany.
Their German military translator at the time was Private Rudolf Hartog, who is now 80.
"The last day we were together an armoured tank appeared. I thought, my goodness, what can I do? I'm finished," he said.
"But he only wanted to collect the Indians. We embraced each other and cried. You see that was the end."
Mutinies
A year later the Indian legionnaires were sent back to India, where all were released after short jail sentences.
But when the British put three of their senior officers on trial near Delhi there were mutinies in the army and protests on the streets.
With the British now aware that the Indian army could no longer be relied upon by the Raj to do its bidding, independence followed soon after.
Not that Subhas Chandra Bose was to see the day he had fought so hard for. He died in 1945.
Since then little has been heard of Lieutenant Barwant Singh and his fellow legionnaires.
At the end of the war the BBC was forbidden from broadcasting their story and this remarkable saga was locked away in the archives, until now. Not that Lieutenant Singh has ever forgotten those dramatic days.
"In front of my eyes I can see how we all looked, how we would all sing and how we all talked about what eventually would happen to us all," he said.

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North Korea berates Obama over The Interview release

North Korea has condemned US President Barack Obama over the release of the film The Interview, about a fictional plot to kill its leader Kim Jong-un.

The country's National Defence Commission (NDC) also accused the US of shutting down the country's internet - and used a racial slur to describe the "reckless" Mr Obama.
Sony Pictures had originally pulled the title after a cyber-attack and threats.
But the company later reconsidered, releasing the comedy on Christmas Day.
A number of critics - including the US president - had warned that freedom of expression was under threat if the movie was shelved.
The controversial film was shown in some US cinemas and is available online, with several hundred independent theatres coming forward and offering to screen it.
However, larger cinemas decided not to show the film.
'Righteous deed' In a statement issued on Saturday, an NDC spokesman denounced the US for screening the "dishonest and reactionary movie hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK [North Korea] and agitating terrorism".
President Obama, the statement said, "is the chief culprit who forced the Sony Pictures Entertainment to indiscriminately distribute the movie", blackmailing cinemas in the US.
It added: "Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest."
The NDC also accused also Washington of "groundlessly linking the unheard of hacking at the Sony Pictures Entertainment to the DPRK".
The Interview is a classic Hollywood romp involving two lads who go to a strange place and get seduced (in several senses).
And it is very funny. That's partly because it is also a very good politi

cal satire.
It is powerful because it depicts Kim Jong-un as a vain, buffoonish despot, alternating between threats and weeping that he's been misunderstood. The people around him have all the signs of fear you might expect with a despot - they second-guess his likes and dislikes.
Maybe he - and they - were right to fear the film. North Korean defectors sometimes smuggle USB sticks with films and soaps into the closed-off country, and there is a view in the south that these are a particularly powerful means of undermining the regime in Pyongyang. If that's so, The Interview might be a good candidate for inclusion.
That fear may explain the North Korean leadership's intemperate, deeply racist language. It's not the first time, it has called President Obama a monkey.
Crude insult or satire. Which is more effective?
FBI accusation
Sony Pictures had initially pulled the film after suffering an unprecedented hacking attack at the hands of a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace.
The hackers also threatened to carry out a terrorist attack on cinemas showing the film on its scheduled release date of Christmas Day.
Last week, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said its analysis pointed the finger at North Korea.
However, many cyber-security experts have come forward to dispute this assertion.
At the time, North Korea denied being behind the attack but described it as a "righteous deed".
The country subsequently suffered a severe internet outage.

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Xbox and PlayStation tackle cyber attacks

Microsoft and Sony have been working to restore internet platforms for their Xbox and PlayStation games consoles.

Attacks disabled the online services on Christmas Day, making it difficult for users to log on.
The Xbox Live status page suggested on Saturday that Microsoft services had been restored. PlayStation said some services were being restored and thanked users for their patience.
A hacking group called Lizard Squad claimed to have caused the

problems.
The name is the same used by a group of hackers that has targeted Sony in the past.
Microsoft's Xbox Live has 48 million subscribers and Sony's PlayStation s

ystem has more than double that number, at about 110 users.
In a tweet posted on Saturday morning, PlayStation said: "Update: PS4, PS3, and Vita network services are gradually coming back online - thanks for your patience."
'Member Two' A hacker claiming to be from Lizard Squad - a 22-year-old calling himself Member Two - said it had hacked the sites "because we can".
He also suggested the motive was to demonstrate weaknesses in the two companies systems.
"It's just such a huge company Microsoft... Do you not think they should be able to prevent such an attack?" he told BBC Radio Five Live.
"Is Christmas really about children playing with their new consoles, or playing with their new toys, or is it about them spending time with their families and celebrating Christmas?" he added. "I think everyone's just taking it all out of the ordinary."

To make the most of the Xbox and PlayStation consoles players have to connect to the internet in order to reach the console manufacturers' servers.
The outage stopped people accessing some core services, such as registering a new account, connecting with other people to play the same game and connecting to entertainment channels via the console.
Earlier this month a different branch of Sony - Sony Pictures Entertainment - was hit by a cyber attack that stole huge amounts of data from its servers.
The fallout from that hack soon focussed on The Interview, a film featuring a fictional plot to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.
No link between Sony Pictures hack and the gaming service disruptions has been confirmed.
However, the latest disruption did mean that many families were unable to enjoy their new Christmas presents.
In the UK, Ros Bruce, from Essex, said her 10-year-old son got an Xbox One for Christmas, had spent most of the day in tears, and called for Xbox to provide compensation.
Ian Hornby, from Lancashire, spent a frustrating time trying to connect a new PlayStation to the Sony network, and said he hoped that the electronics giant would now invest in better protection for its systems.

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Christmas baby born on US train in Philadelphia

An infant dubbed the "Christmas baby" was born on a subway train in the US city of Philadelphia when his mother suddenly went into labour.

Two transit police officers were called in and helped deliver the baby after the woman's waters broke.
The mother and child were immediately taken to hospital and are doing well.
Police Sergeant Daniel Caban told NBC TV he had been hoping for a quiet day at work but the baby's arrival had been "just a blessing".
The chief executive of Philadelphia's public transport system tweeted that the baby's fare had been waived.

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