City Link owner defends actions

29 December 2014 Last updated at 10:09

Jon Moulton, the founder of Better Capital, which owned collapsed UK parcel delivery service City Link, said the firm's administration could not have been handled any better.

News of the collapse was announced on Christmas Eve, but Mr Moulton said the timing could not have been avoided.

Some 2,000 staff are due to be made redundant from the firm, now being run by administrators, on New Year's Eve,

City Link customers are being urged to collect parcels from depots on Monday.

"We chased every possible way to save this company," Mr Moulton told Radio 4's Today.

Mr Moulton said delaying the closure of City Link over Christmas had not been an option, as trading while insolvent was a criminal offence.

He also defended criticism that taxpayers would end up paying for City Link staff's redundancy following administrator Ernst & Young's (EY) statement that it would refer employees to the government's statutory redundancy payments scheme.

Transport Union RMT's General Secretary Mick Cash said: "It says everything about the state of industry in Britain today that a donor to the party of government can wreck the lives of thousands of people, walk away and leave the taxpayer to pick up the redundancy costs."

Personal loss

But Mr Moulton said: "I don't think the taxpayer is going to end up footing much of a bill on this." He said that City Link had paid "a fortune" in taxes such as PAYE and said ultimately the government would be a net beneficiary of Better Capital's investment in the firm.

"The taxpayer has certainly made an enormous amount of money out of private equity companies and their trading and success.

"We are looking after money that has been given to us to invest, we are in the business of trying to make money for our investors," he added.

Mr Moulton, a multi-millionaire, said he personally had lost £2m on the firm's investment in City Link.

Better Capital, in its first statement since the firm went into administration, said earlier on Monday that it had tried various options to "maximise" its investment in City Link, including an unsuccessful attempt to sell the business.

"In light of continued substantial losses, City Link could not continue as a going concern," it said.

City Link, which was founded in 1969, was acquired by restructuring specialist Better Capital for just £1 in April 2013.

Parcel collections

On Friday, EY confirmed "substantial redundancies" were expected "over the coming days".

The firm also said parcel depots would "remain open for a short period of time" to enable customers and intended recipients to collect their parcels.

It advised customers to use City Link's online tracking system to find out which depot to go to.

Coventry-based City Link employs 2,727 people.

It called in administrators on Christmas Eve after years of "substantial losses".

Union RMT said it had been told by administrators that more than 2,000 staff will be made redundant on New Year's Eve. Remaining staff will be retained in the short term to wind down the company, union officials said.

'Substantial redundancies'

On Friday EY said it was currently assessing the company and the status of existing orders.

"This process will have a bearing on the number of employees retained and those that unfortunately face redundancy in the next few days," it said in a statement.

"It is anticipated that there will be substantial redundancies over the coming days, at which point the administrators will provide a further update."

It said it anticipated that "a portion of employees" would be retained for up to three months.

Administrators were currently gathering expressions of interest from parties interested in acquiring specific assets, divisions of the business or the entire firm, it added.

But given the previous unsuccessful sale process administrators were "cautious about the prospects of finding a buyer", the statement added.

City Link employees
Location	Total employees
Aberdeen	19
Ashford	24
Bangor	16
Basingstoke	25
Beckenham	23
Beckton	32
Belfast	23
Bicester	28
Birmingham	70
Bournemouth	32
Bristol	50
Cardiff	44
Carlisle	28
Chelmsford	48
Coventry	404
Cowes	4
Durham	56
Edinburgh	22
Edmonton	36
Epsom	22
Exeter	41
Gatwick	42
Glasgow	75
Glenrothes	22
Gloucester	32
Guildford	24
Hatfield	116
Heathrow	132
Leeds	1
Leeming	34
Leicester	1
Lincoln	25
London City	19
London West Central	43
Maidstone	48
Manchester	67
Milton Keynes	91
Morley	74
Motherwell	27
Newcastle	45
Newmarket	1
Northampton	47
Norwich	44
Nottingham	48
Peterborough	63
Plymouth	58
Preston	52
Reading	2
Rotherham	34
Scunthorpe	28
Shrewsbury	38
Southampton	33
Stafford	40
Swansea	30
Swindon	73
Warrington	115
West Bromwich	56

Are you a City Link employee or sub-contractor? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experience. Please include a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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Smoking rot highlighted in campaign

29 December 2014 Last updated at 07:43 By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online

Smoking "rots" the body from within, warns this year's quit smoking campaign from Public Health England (PHE).

The graphic online and print billboard adverts feature a roll-up cigarette full of decaying tissue.

While many smokers know the damage tobacco does to their hearts and lungs, they are much less likely to be aware of how harmful it can be to other parts of the body, says PHE.

Cigarettes can damage the bones, muscles, brain, teeth and eyes.

Current smokers are at double the risk of Alzheimer's disease, for example.

Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies says the adverts have been designed to shock and educate, but smoking groups branded the campaign as poisonous.

Stop the rot

The campaign also tackles common misconceptions around hand-rolled tobacco, or roll-ups. Many smokers mistakenly believe that they are safer than conventional cigarettes, says PHE.

But evidence suggests hand-rolled cigarettes are at least as hazardous as any other type of cigarette.

Yet their popularity is growing.

In 1990, 18% of male smokers and 2% of female smokers said they smoked mainly hand-rolled cigarettes. By 2013 this had risen to 40% for men and 23% for women.

Prof Kevin Fenton, National Director for Health and Wellbeing for PHE, said: "Much of the harm caused by smoking doesn't become obvious until middle age but the invisible damage can start shockingly early - even by the late teens.

"The earlier a smoker quits the better, but quitting at any age can help reverse at least some of the damage. That's why there is no time better than now to quit. Stop smoking and stop the rot."

Dame Sally said: "I think people know about the big killers - cancer, heart disease and stroke - but I don't think they realise about osteoporosis and I didn't know about fertility.

"And the doubling the likelihood of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's, I think is quite scary."

Simon Clark, director of the tobacco lobby group Forest, said: "Campaigns like this are an abuse of public money. Education has been replaced by shrill scaremongering that is often counter-productive because it's human nature to switch off when you're being nagged or shouted at on an almost daily basis."

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Sony's Interview makes $15m online

29 December 2014 Last updated at 10:13

Controversial comedy The Interview has become film company 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.

The Interview saga

The Interview features James Franco and Seth Rogen as two journalists granted an audience with Mr Kim. The CIA then enlists the pair to assassinate him.

• 22 November: Sony computer systems hacked, exposing embarrassing emails and personal details about stars
• 7 December: North Korea denies accusations that it is behind the cyber-attack, but praises it as a "righteous deed"
• 16 December: "Guardians of Peace" hacker group threatens 9/11-type attack on cinemas showing film; New York premiere cancelled
• 17 December: Leading US cinema groups say they will not screen film; Sony cancels Christmas Day release
• 19 December: FBI concludes North Korea orchestrated hack; President Obama calls Sony cancellation "a mistake"
• 20 December: North Korea proposes joint inquiry with US into hacks, rejected by the US
• 22 December: North Korea suffers a severe internet outage; US authorities decline to comment
• 23 December: Sony bosses appear to change their minds, saying they will now give The Interview a limited Christmas Day release
• 25 December: The Interview is shown in some US cinemas and released online

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AirAsia plane 'at bottom of sea'

29 December 2014 Last updated at 10:33

The missing AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 is likely to be at the bottom of the sea, the head of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency has said.

Bambang Soelistyo said the hypothesis was based on the co-ordinates of the plane when contact with it was lost.

The search is continuing for the aircraft, a day after it disappeared with 162 people on board, but no trace has been found so far.

The Airbus A320-200 was on a flight to Singapore.

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Distraught relatives have been waiting for news at the Surabaya international airport in Indonesia, as Clive Myrie reports

The pilots had requested a course change because of bad weather but did not send any distress call before the plane disappeared from radar screens.

"Based on the co-ordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea," Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told a news conference in Jakarta.

Regional media reaction

The front page of the Beijing Times says: "Only three days before the New Year - where is the road to home?"

The reactions are similar in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Many on board were travelling to see their families for the year-end holiday season.

Media reports say the families are united in their prayers, hoping against hope for a miracle.

Many newspapers have published personal stories. One that has moved many people is about the Facebook post from the daughter of one of the pilots. It simply reads: "Papa come home."

Some are also calling 2014 a "year of tragedies" for the aviation industry, linking it with the flight MH370 that disappeared in March and hasn't been found yet.

Beyond the emotional coverage, commentators have been asking questions about aviation safety in the region.

South-East Asia has a fast-developing aviation sector with many carriers fighting for space, observers say. Most welcome the competition, but say safety norms have to be strengthened.

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Indonesia's vice president Jusuf Kalla said it was too early to confirm any sightings of possible debris

As the search continued on Monday, Indonesia air force spokesman Hadi Tjahnanto said it was being focused on an area where an oil spill had been spotted but it was not clear if it had been caused by the plane.

Meanwhile the Associated Press news agency quoted an Indonesian official as saying that objects had been spotted in the sea near Nangka island by an Australian search plane.

Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said later there was "no sufficient evidence" to link this to the missing plane.

He said that 30 ships and 15 aircraft were taking part in the search, and that "even fishermen" were being asked to join in.

AirAsia's share price fell 7% in morning trading on Monday in Kuala Lumpur.

Flight QZ8501 had left Surabaya in eastern Java at 05:35 on Sunday (22:35 GMT Saturday) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT).

The pilot radioed at 06:24 local time asking permission to climb to 38,000ft (11,000m) to avoid the dense storm clouds.

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Suwarto, the father of one of the pilots, says he is trusting in "God's will"

Indonesian officials said the request could not be immediately approved due to traffic, but the plane disappeared from the radar screens before the pilots gave any further response.

AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes said this was his "worst nightmare".

Mr Fernandes flew to Surabaya and later said: "We are very devastated by what's happened, it's unbelievable."

Oceanographer Simon Boxall told the BBC the plane should not be too difficult to find if it went into the water.

The sea floor is within diver depth, he says, and it would be "likely that they'll get answers within a few days".

Difficult year

The AirAsia Indonesia plane was delivered in 2008, has flown 13,600 times, completing 23,000 hours, and underwent its last maintenance in November.

The captain, Iriyanto, had more than 20,500 flight hours, almost 7,000 of them with AirAsia, Mr Fernandes said. The co-pilot is French national Remi Emmanuel Plesel.

The AirAsia group has previously had no fatal accidents involving its aircraft. The airline has set up an emergency line for family or friends of those who may be on board. The number is +622 129 850 801.

Special centres were set up at both Singapore's Changi airport and Juanda international airport in Surabaya.

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

• 137 adults, 17 children and one infant
• Most were Indonesian but also one UK national, a Malaysian, a Singaporean and three South Koreans
• The BBC understands that the British national is Chi-Man Choi
• Two pilots and five crew were also on board - one French, the others Indonesian

This has been a difficult year for aviation in Asia - Malaysia's national carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two losses - flights MH370 and MH17.

Flight MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage, thought to be in the southern Indian Ocean, has still not been located.

MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board.

Are you, or is someone you know, affected by this story? Do you know any of the passengers on the AirAsia flight? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with any information. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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Record 2014 freeze for parts of UK

29 December 2014 Last updated at 11:05

The lowest temperatures of 2014 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland were recorded overnight.

Katesbridge in County Down hit -8.8C (16.2F) while Benson, Oxon, fell to -7.6C and -6.7C was recorded in Wales.

Latest figures show the UK's coldest temperature of the year so far was -9C in Cromdale, Moray, on Saturday.

Meanwhile a Met Office cold weather alert for northern England and the Midlands has warned of health risks for vulnerable people.

BBC Weather said Scotland saw temperatures fall to -7.7C in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, overnight from Sunday to Monday.

Weather and travel info

Benson had also previously held the record for the lowest temperature of the year in England when it reached -6.8C on 6 December.

Wales' lowest temperature of the year was recorded in Pembrey Sands, south Wales.

BBC Weather's Peter Sloss said the cold temperatures mean it is already colder now than it was during "a good chunk of last winter", from January to March.

Sunshine on Monday was expected to raise temperatures during the day, he added.

The record lows come as parts of the UK have already been hit by sub-zero temperatures and forecasters warned of further plunging temperatures over the next three days.

A sharp frost is expected in some areas of England and Wales on Monday night, with the UK experiencing similar temperatures to those seen on Sunday night, BBC Weather said.

The Met Office alert remains in place until 12:00 GMT on Wednesday.

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.

A yellow - level two - alert is in place in the rest of England indicating social and healthcare services should be working to ensure they are ready for a period of cold weather.

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
• Read more about how to prepare your car

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Five dead in Italian ferry blaze

29 December 2014 Last updated at 11:41

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Strong winds and smoke hampered the rescue, as James Reynolds reports

Five people have died and 110 are still awaiting rescue after a blaze on an Italian ferry off the Greek island of Corfu, Greek officials say.

One man is known to have died trying to escape the ship, and a further four bodies have been recovered from the sea.

Helicopter crews have been winching people to safety despite gale-force winds and thick smoke.

The Italian navy said that 363 of the 478 people on board had been evacuated.

It is still unclear what caused the fire to break out on a car deck on Sunday.

Coast Guard spokesman Nikos Lagadianos said four more people were found dead on Monday. The body of a Greek man had already been recovered along with his injured wife.

It is still 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 evacuated from the ferry 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.

Italian prosecutors announced on Monday that they had opened a criminal investigation into the fire.

Prosecutors that they would look into whether negligence had played a role.

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.

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.

Are you, or is someone you know, affected by this story? Do you know any of the passengers on the ferry? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with any information. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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Greek MPs' vote triggers snap poll

29 December 2014 Last updated at 11:57

Greek MPs have rejected the presidential candidate nominated by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, triggering a snap general election.

Stavros Dimas failed to reach the necessary 180 votes, which means that parliament will have to be dissolved.

Greece's economy has begun to recover after six years of recession.

But Greeks have endured years of austerity and the left-wing Syriza party leading the polls wants the terms of a huge EU-IMF bailout renegotiated.

The Greek stock market fell almost 10% as MPs voted for a third and final time on Monday. Shortly afterwards, Mr Samaras announced that elections would take place on 25 January.

Mr Dimas, a former European commissioner, secured the votes of only 168 MPs, the same number he had won during the second vote last week.

The final vote is regarded as a major setback for the prime minister, as well as for eurozone countries that worked hard to bring Greece back from the brink in 2010.

Since then €240bn (£188bn; $290bn) has been spent helping Greece pay off its debts. In return for two major bailouts, the EU and IMF demanded stringent austerity measures.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, in an interview on Saturday, praised Greece's progress in tackling its debt crisis. But he warned: "Every new government needs to fulfil the contractual agreements of its predecessors."

Although Syriza's lead in the opinion polls has been narrowing in recent weeks, there is concern in the markets and among EU officials that a new Greek government could throw out many of the fiscal reforms implemented by Mr Samaras's coalition with the left-of-centre Pasok party.

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King's Cross trains cancelled for day

27 December 2014 Last updated at 11:53

All trains to and from London King's Cross have been cancelled because of overrunning engineering.

Network Rail said the work near the station was part of a £200m Christmas investment programme and described the move as "regrettable and unfortunate".

Operators intend to run services into other stations but watchdog Passenger Focus said it was "frustrating".

The Department for Transport said it would have talks with Network Rail about the "disappointing" delay.

East Coast Trains said passengers would need to start or finish their journey at Finsbury Park in north London, with at least one change of train. It said customers should defer travel where possible.

'Chaotic scenes'

Network Rail said Finsbury Park station had been temporarily closed at about 11:00 GMT due to overcrowding.

BBC journalist Vicky Riddell said there had been "chaotic scenes" at the station.

"People were unable to leave the station via one of the exits due to overcrowding in the underground passageways which led to the overground platforms," she said.

"Outside, the entrance to the mainline station was blocked due to the volume of people trying to get in and out, leading to people missing their trains due to being simply unable to get into the station."

Transport for London tweeted that travellers should "avoid the station if possible".

Meanwhile, First Great Western has said there will be no services between London Paddington and Reading due to overrunning engineering works.

The company is advising passengers to use alternative routes with South West Trains and Chiltern Trains.

David Sidebottom, passenger director at Passenger Focus, said: "Investment in maintenance and improvement is necessary, and we passengers understand that.

"We will be looking to see that operators and Network Rail are doing all in their power to alert passengers, to help them make alternative arrangements and to make it easy for them to claim refunds or compensation."

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "It is extremely disappointing that Network Rail's engineering works have overrun and will affect travellers during this festive season. Passengers will be rightly annoyed.

"This was essential work but passengers need to be able to plan and rely on Network Rail meeting its deadlines for having the network back in service.

"The department is in contact with Network Rail to understand what went wrong and if lessons can be learned for the future."

Sunday delays

A Network Rail spokesman said the work was "a small part of a massive amount of engineering investment taking place over Christmas".

He said 4.5 million passengers use the railways on average every day, compared with two million a day over the Christmas and New Year holiday.

Najib Mohamed, 18, from north London, had to make other arrangements after arriving at King's Cross station expecting a train to take him to work.

"It is usually very, very busy here, but not today," the 18-year-old said.

"I am supposed to be working as a fundraiser today - and getting told where to go once I get here - but there are no trains so I think I might just go back to bed."

About 300 projects are being undertaken over the holidays across 2,000 sites up and down the country.

National Rail said a reduced service to and from London King's Cross was expected to operate on Sunday, but journeys could be retimed and take longer than expected.

Trains will leave King's Cross up to 20 minutes earlier than normal, resuming their usual stopping times from Peterborough. Services to King's Cross will arrive up to 40 minutes later than normal.

Other services will start or end at Doncaster, Newark North Gate, Peterborough or Stevenage.

Contact us

Were you planning to travel from King's Cross today? How has the disruption affected your plans? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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Ukraine awaits fresh prisoner swaps

27 December 2014 Last updated at 02:54

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The swap was watched by independent monitors, as Ben Bland reports

More prisoner exchanges are expected between Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels in the east - a day after the two sides swapped hundreds of captives.

Ukrainian officials say they are hoping that four soldiers will be freed. The number of militants due to be released has not been confirmed.

On Friday, Ukraine said 146 of its soldiers had been freed for 222 rebels.

Meanwhile, Ukraine froze 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 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.

In a separate development, the world's two largest credit and debit card companies, Visa and Mastercard, said on Friday they could no longer support bank cards being used in Crimea, following fresh US sanctions imposed this month.

The moves come ahead of the traditional holiday season in the region, when people travel to be with their families for New Year.

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.

Inconclusive talks

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's spokesman said on Friday that Kiev expected four more of its soldiers to be released on Saturday.

Spokesman Vyacheslav Tsegolko wrote in a Facebook post that the soldiers "would be able to celebrate New Year and Christmas with their families".

Ukraine - a predominantly Orthodox Christian country - celebrates Christmas on 7 January.

Friday's prisoner exchange - the biggest since the conflict began in April - 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.

"They only just told us that this would happen," freed Ukrainian soldier Artem Syurik was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"I am looking forward to seeing my parents and wife. They do not know I am coming."

Freed rebel fighter Denis Balbukov said: "I want to eat fried potatoes and talk to my relatives."

But he added: "I will go back to fighting. It was all right once we were moved to the detention centre, but to begin with, they really tormented and roughed us up."

Inconclusive talks were held this week in Minsk, Belarus, on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed 4,700 lives.

Although fighting has lessened considerably, the conflict continues and more than 1,300 people have died since a truce was announced in September.

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.

Ukraine: the human cost

• 5,200,000 affected by conflict
• 4,707 people killed including 36 children
• 10,322 wounded including 102 children
• 542,080 people displaced inside Ukraine
• 597,956 refugees and asylum seekers outside Ukraine

Source: United Nations 16 December

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Pakistan orders arrest of cleric

26 December 2014 Last updated at 21:25

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Abdul Aziz says the authorities should be looking at people who are accused of more serious crimes, reports Shaimaa Khalil

A judge in Pakistan has issued an arrest warrant for a cleric at a radical mosque in Islamabad who has refused to condemn the massacre of children at an army-run school.

Imam Abdul Aziz has been accused of threatening protesters outside the Red Mosque.

The cleric said the charge against him was insignificant.

Last week, Taliban fighters attacked the school in Peshawar, killing 152 people, including 133 children.

Mr Aziz said that the authorities should focus on arresting people accused of more serious crimes.

"My case is very small and even a sub-inspector can grant me bail," he said.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan says that Mr Aziz is well known for his pro-Taliban views.

Earlier this year, a school run by the cleric renamed its library in honour of the former al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden.

A spokesman for the Red Mosque said they would resist the arrest of Mr Aziz.

Civil society activists had lodged the complaint against Mr Aziz, saying that they had been threatened by mosque employees during a protest about his refusal to condemn the school massacre.

The demonstrators are also being investigated for holding an unlawful protest.

Pakistan has stepped up its anti-terror operations since the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December.

Earlier this week, the government announced new measures to tackle terrorism, including the establishment of military courts to hear terrorism-related cases.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that there was a "changed Pakistan" since the tragedy and that there would be "no place for terrorism, extremism, sectarianism and intolerance."

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