27/12/2016 BBC News

Carrie Fisher, the Hollywood actress famous for her role

Her co-star in the films, Harrison Ford, has

led tributes to her, saying she was one of a kind,

She shot to fame in the first of the Star Wars movies

as Princess Leia and went on to star in three more.

She'd been in hospital since suffering a heart attack

on a flight from London to Los Angeles last Friday.

Our entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba looks back at her life.

Clever and confident, occasionally caustic.

Will somebody get this big walking carpet out of many I way?

Carrie Fisher's Leia wasn't your typical princess

What appealed to me George Lucas did not want a damsel in distress, your

stereotypical princess, a victim, frightened, incapable of dealing

with a situation without the guys. He wanted a fighter. The galactic

Princess grew up as Hollywood royalty, the daughter of movie

legend Debbie Reynolds. She dropped out of school at 15 and took up

acting. She made her film debut while a teenager opposite Warren

Beatty in the romantic comedy Shampoo. You think that is funny?

Yes. Throughout her acting career she battled with drug addiction and

mental illness, and writing about it was a form of therapy. Her

semiautobiographical novel was turned into a Hollywood film. You

gave me sleeping pills! The central character - an actress

and recovering drug addict - Her mother was played by Shirley

MacLaine. People asked me after I got sober initially, so you are

happy now? I would say, among other things. Happy is one of the many

things and emotions I will go through in a day. You are not

skipping around, spouting Hallmark cards. I love you. I know. I'm

instantly recognisable face after Star Wars, from time to time there

were appearances in other films such as When Harry Met Sally.

Restaurants were to people in the '80s what theatre

I rate that. Her mother led tributes, saying... Her Star Wars

co-star Mark Hamill tweeted... Harrison Ford said...

Star Wars creator George Lucas said...

In 2015 she reprised her role as Princess Leia in The Force Awakens.

And that's how millions will remember her -

a groundbreaking, modern heroine from a galaxy far, far away.

And our correspondent Peter Bowes is in Los Angeles.

She was a one-off who had a unique insight into the Hollywood celebrity

circus? She did, she resonated with people in a way that few celebrities

in Hollywood, actors and actresses, managed to achieve. I think that is

because she was honest, honest about her life and problems she had, the

drugs and the drink, mental problems, as well, the depression

she talked about. People respected her for that. She was honest about

why she thought she suffered from these problems. She lived in

Hollywood, born into a family of show business, and only 19 when she

first appeared in Star Wars. Later, she blamed to some extent the

response to the movie for the way she had problems and she managed to

deal with them. She was determined to be honest. She had a website

where she talked about being a mental health advocate and she

wanted to be honest with people to try to help other people.

President Obama and the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have laid

wreaths at the site of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

It's the first visit by leaders of both countries since the attack

in which nearly 2,500 Americans died.

The Japanese leader pledged that the horrors of war must never

be repeated but stopped short of apologising.

Here's our Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield Hayes.

It has taken 75 years but today the Prime Minister of Japan and

president of the United States stood side-by-side in silent

contemplation, the spot where the Pacific war began. They threw

flowers into the water where the wreck of the battleship Arizona

lies. More than 1000 US sailors died when the Arizona exploded under a

reign of Japanese bombs. More than 2400 Americans were killed in the

surprise 1941 attack. Today the Prime Minister of Japan spoke of his

profound sadness that so many young lives were suddenly ended without

warning. TRANSLATION: We must never repeat the horrors of war again.

This is the solemn vow we, the people of Japan, have taken. It was

President Obama who took the first step on this journey of

reconciliation when he went to Hiroshima. In May he was the first

serving US president to pay respects at the sight of the world's first

atomic attack. We force ourselves to field the dread of children. We

listen... While Japan and America heal their old wounds, China still

stands aggrieved and unforgiving. TRANSLATION: Japan cannot turn over

a new page of reconciliation with China. They should not invade the

crucial point. The rise of China is the driving force behind the Prime

Minister's push for a closer alliance with the United States, but

that alliance is about to face the challenge of President-elect Donald

Trump, who has threatened to pull out US troops from Japan and even

suggested Japan build its own nuclear weapons. For Shinzo Abe it

has given greater urgency to lay ghosts of Pearl Harbor to rest.

The government has defended its proposal to make voters

in England show ID before casting their ballot,

saying it will preserve the integrity of the electoral

Trials will be conducted first, using a range of methods

But critics believe the pilot schemes could deter some

Here's our political correspondent Carole Walker.

These were the scenes when Lutfur Rahman was elected

mayor of Tower Hamlets in east London two years ago.

The people of this borough, I have said, will judge me on my record.

But he was accused of corruption and illegal practices and thrown out

of office amid claims of voter fraud and intimidation.

Now the government is to try out new plans requiring voters

to present photo ID or proof of address in some local

When it comes to ensuring people from vulnerable backgrounds,

vulnerable communities, are given the right to vote,

we are determined everyone should have their say and one

of the reasons we are bringing this measure in is to make sure nobody

faces undue influence or intimidation and that that person

has the right to cast their ballot in an election for the person

It follows a review of election rules by the former Cabinet

His report said authorities were turning a blind eye

to corruption and the worrying and covert spread

He accused some authorities of a state of denial,

failing to tackle alleged vote rigging because of

He said there was evidence of pressure put on vulnerable

people to vote according to the will of elders in some

communities of Pakistani and Bangladeshi background.

The government has accepted many of the report's recommendations

and says it wants to protect anyone who is at risk of being

tricked or bullied out of their democratic rights.

Though the case here in Tower Hamlets captured

the headlines, there were fewer than 700 allegations

of electoral fraud in 2015 - a year in which more than 51 million

And just a handful of people were actually convicted.

Critics say the Government's response is disproportionate

and could deter some people from voting.

Some Labour MPs believe the Government has a hidden agenda.

It is a generalisation, but if you accept that more people

who do not have a passport, or a driving licence,

are likely to be from poorer communities and that people

from those communities are more likely to vote Labour,

then absolutely I think it does disproportionately affect

The evidence shows most elections in the UK are free and fair,

but ministers believe they do need to do more to ensure

people have confidence in the system and if the trials are successful,

all voters may have to show proof of ID before they can vote

The author of the novel Watership Down, Richard Adams,

His tale of a family of rabbits was rejected by 13 publishers

before eventually becoming a bestseller.

It was also turned into an animated film.

A former civil servant and World War II veteran,

he was a prominent environmentalist and campaigner

You can see more on all of today's stories on the BBC News Channel.

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