INTERNATIONAL

The search for remaining bodies from a plane crash in the Java Sea ends on Tuesday night, the head of Indonesia’s rescue agency has confirmed. The ships involved in the search will then be pulled out on Wednesday, Bambang Soelistyo told the BBC. AirAsia lost contact with flight QZ 8501 on 28 December as it was flying from Surabaya in ...

Polls have opened in Israel in what is expected to be a close contest between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party and a centre-left alliance. The centre-left Zionist Union has promised to repair relations with the Palestinians as well as the international community. Mr Netanyahu has vowed not to allow the creation of a Palestinian state if he wins a fourth ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has laughed off speculation about his health after making his first appearance in public since 5 March. Life “would be boring without gossip”, he told Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev at talks in St Petersburg. The 62-year-old appeared relaxed and smiled before the television cameras. His disappearance from public view had sparked rumours that he might have ...

Cyclone Pam has “wiped out” development in Vanuatu, its president said, amid ongoing concern over residents of the Pacific nation’s outlying islands. Aid has begun arriving in the storm-hit nation – one of the world’s poorest – where trees and power lines have been felled and many buildings destroyed. Aid agencies say it could be one of the worst disasters ...

The United States will “have to negotiate in the end” with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Secretary of State John Kerry has said. Speaking on the fourth anniversary of the civil war, Mr Kerry said the conflict was “one of the worst tragedies any of us have seen”. He said the US was pushing President Assad to begin negotiations again after ...

Two bomb blasts have killed at least 10 people near two churches in a Christian neighbourhood of the Pakistani city of Lahore, local officials say. At least 50 people were reportedly hurt in the explosions at the Catholic church and Christ Church in the city’s Youhanabad area. Violent protests erupted after the blasts, with large crowds already in the area ...

Vanuatu’s president has told the BBC most of his people are homeless after the devastating cyclone that ravaged the Pacific island nation on Saturday. Speaking from Japan, Baldwin Londsdale said Cyclone Pam had destroyed most buildings in the capital Port Vila, including schools and clinics. A state of emergency has been declared in the tiny state of 267,000 people, spread ...

Vanuatu’s President Baldwin Lonsdale has called for international help after Cyclone Pam ripped through the Pacific archipelago. Describing it as a “calamity”, he said he spoke with a “heavy heart”. Aid agencies say the cyclone, which veered off its expected course on Saturday and struck populated areas, has caused “complete devastation”. Save the Children says eight people are confirmed dead ...

Iraqi forces hope to retake the city of Tikrit from Islamic State (IS) within a week, a commander has told the BBC. The head of one of the Shia militia brigades fighting alongside government forces said that IS militants still held about 70% of Tikrit’s town centre. But he said Tikrit would be “liberated” even if it required street-to-street fighting. ...

The growth in global carbon emissions stalled last year, according to data from the International Energy Agency. It marks the first time in 40 years that annual CO2 emissions growth has remained stable, in the absence of a major economic crisis, the agency said. Annual global emissions remained at 32 gigatonnes in 2014, unchanged from the previous year. But the ...