30 December 2014 Last updated at 08:21
AirAsia QZ8501: Debris and body seen by Indonesia search teams
Search teams have spotted debris at sea in the hunt for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501, Indonesian officials say.
Several objects and a body were seen floating in the Java Sea off the Indonesian part of Borneo, in one of the search zones for the plane.
An Indonesian official said the debris was 95% likely to be from the missing aircraft.
The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday.
The search operation is now in its third day, with the area widened to cover 13 zones over land and sea.
During a news conference by the head of the operation, pictures of the debris were shown, including a body floating on the water.
Relatives of passengers on the plane watching the pictures were visibly shocked.
Search operation head Bambang Soelistyo said he was 95% certain the objects shown were from the plane.
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny given suspended sentence and brother jailed
Alexei Navalny, who led mass protests against Vladimir Putin, was accused along with his brother in a trial widely seen as part of a campaign to stifle dissent
A Russian court gave Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny a suspended sentence on Tuesday for embezzling money but jailed his brother for three and a half years.
Navalny led mass protests against President Vladimir Putin three years ago, when tens of thousands took to the streets in Moscow and St Petersburg to protest against corruption in Putin’s government and inner circle.
His case has been seen as part of a campaign to stifle dissent.
The Navalny brothers were accused of stealing 30 million roubles, or about £334,000 under the current exchange rate, from two firms, including an affiliate of the French cosmetics company Yves Rocher, between 2008 and 2012.
The Afghan war that didn't really end yesterday ended in defeat
None of the claimed long term objectives for the war in Afghanistan, either from the Bush or Obama administrations, have been achieved.
News websites and broadcasts - and US and NATO press releases - were filled with discussion about the "formal" end of the Afghan war yesterday. But any close reading of the facts will find that they were wrong.
Call it semi-formal, or business casual, whatever you like. The reality remains the same: For American soldiers and for the Afghan people the war that began on Oct. 7, 2001 will go on.
While most of America's NATO allies that hadn't already washed their hands of combat will now do so, American fighting and dying will continue, with 11,000 US troops remaining in the country. There will be talk of "advising," and "training" and "non-combat" presence. But for the most part that can be safely ignored.
Years After Japan's Earthquake Disaster, A Community Struggles To Pick Up The Pieces
HuffPost Japan | By 猪野元健
The Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Japan, was the site of one of the worst tragedies that occurred during the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck the east of the country in 2011. Three years and nine months after the disaster, the community is still struggling to pick up the pieces.
“I don’t want what happened here at Okawa Elementary to happen again,” says Souta Sasaki, a college student and the son of a former teacher at the school while standing in front of the dilapidated buildings.
Seventy percent of the pupils at Okawa Elementary -- 74 students in total -- either lost their lives or went missing as a result of the tsunami. Ten out of 11 teachers at the school were killed. Souta Sasaki, 19, is the son of one of those teachers.
As Liberia recovers from Ebola, what next?
Weak health care systems in West Africa are everyone’s problem
When I fell ill with Ebola in early October, there were times when the future was uncertain and frightening. With some help, I was able to beat the disease and walk back into a changed life. Liberia, where I contracted the virus, is following the same path. There are now fewer cases of Ebola every week, and there is a sentiment that the worst is over. Earlier projections of tens of thousands of deaths appear to have been based on the false assumption that Liberians would not adapt to the threat they faced. Assisted by volunteers from around the world, Liberians tirelessly fought the outbreak and may soon declare a hard-won victory.
To be sure, the battle against Ebola is not yet over, and sustained efforts are needed to prevent a new spike in cases. Still, Liberia will enter its post-Ebola phase at some point in the near future. Questions will be inevitably be raised about how the disease spread so quickly and what measures must be put into place to prevent future outbreaks. The country’s health care system in particular will require major attention. At least 174 Liberian nurses and doctors have succumbed to Ebola in the nation, according to the World Health Organization. The total breakdown of medical services was one of the worst side effects of Ebola.
30 December 2014 Last updated at 00:00
How did Hitler's scar-faced henchman become an Irish farmer?
He was Hitler's favourite Nazi commando, famously rescuing Mussolini from an Italian hilltop fortress, and was known as "the most dangerous man in Europe".
After World War Two, he landed in Argentina and became a bodyguard for Eva Perón, with whom he was rumoured to have had an affair.
So when Otto Skorzeny arrived in Ireland in 1959, having bought a rural farmhouse in County Kildare, it caused much intrigue.
At 6ft 4in and 18 stone, known as 'scarface' due to a distinctive scar on his left cheek, Skorzeny was an easily recognisable figure as he popped into the local post office.
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