30/12/2015 BBC World News

Welcome to BBC News, my name's Mike Embley, our top

stories: The US says airstrikes in Syria and Iraq have killed 10

leaders of the extremist group, the so-called Islamic State, including

Iraq's Prime Minister visits Ramadi a day after IS fighters were ousted

Counting the cost of Britain's wild weather: after

Storm Frank threatens further flooding.

And, the American teenager who avoided jail for

a fatal drink drive crash, claiming he suffered from "affluenza,"

US military officials say American-led airstrikes in Syria

and Iraq have killed ten leaders of the extremist group that calls

itself Islamic State, including two with links to last

One of those killed was a Frenchman called Charaffe al Mouadan.

It's thought he had close contacts with the ringleader of the Paris

A US Army Colonel, Steve Warren, announced the news to journalists

These pictures, released by the US military, show fighter jets bombing

Bridge is controlled by Islamic State in Iraq. The aim is to destroy

key infrastructure and supply routes, but they have also been

targeting the leaders of the group. Over the past month we have killed

ten ISIS leadership figures with airstrikes. Including several

external attack planners, some of whom are linked to the Paris

attacks, others who had designs on further attacking the west. Among

those killed is this man, Charaffe al-Mouadan. The US says he has a

direct link to the cell leader who directly planned the Paris attacks.

It is thought he was planning further attacks against the west.

This organisation is losing its leadership. We are striking at the

head of this snake. We haven't severed ahead the snake yet, and it

still has fangs, we have to be clear about that. An acknowledgement that

despite these airstrikes, the campaign against Islamic State is

still far from over. More details now from the BBC's

Laura Bicker in Washington. He said that in the last month, ten

Islamic State leaders had been killed in airstrikes, two of which

seem to be significant. One of the names he wanted headline was

Charaffe al-Mouadan, who has direct links to the leader of the Paris

attacks. He is a Frenchman, said to be a close acquaintance of the man

at the centre of the Paris attacks. And there were some reports that his

name was mentioned in connection with the Bataclan Concert Hall

shootings. That is something they are working on to see whether Ron

not he has been linked to that. Another name that was given to us

was Abdul happy in, who was said to have been an operations specialist,

who is an expert at forgery. He also had links to the Paris terror attack

is. Another significant name was that of a Bangladeshi man who was

educated in the UK, a computer systems analyst and expert in

engineering. He worked on anti- surveillance equipment and weapons

equipment. Why we have been given all these names? They are trying to

show that they are targeting, hunting and targeting the leaders of

the Islamic State. Iraq's Prime Minister Haider

Al-Abadi has visited Ramadi - a day after the Iraqi army announced

it had driven the so-called The centre of the city now

appears calm, but sporadic clashes Engineering teams are clearing

booby-trap bombs from streets Safe at last. These are the first

pictures of the families who were trapped on the frontline in Ramadi.

Among the civilians, many women and children and elderly people. They

were handed food and water as Iraqi soldiers took them to safety in a

nearby town. TRANSLATION: There is still fighting in Ramadi. ISIS

fighters are using our homes as shields. They didn't want to let us

go. We and other residents in the neighbourhood got together and tried

to get closer to where the army was. We screamed for help, and when they

heard us a rushed towards us. ISIS wanted to take us along with them to

another area, but some families closed their doors and refused to go

anywhere, so ISIS started to treat them like the enemy, and a shot at

them. Iraqi authorities are keen to show a triumphant face. PM Haidar

al-Abadi went to some areas to cheer the men who fought the week-long

battle. But the fighting has inflicted monumental damage to the

city. Humanitarian relief will be needed once Ramadi is secured, but

it will take time to rebuild. For now, there is an urgency to clear

streets and buildings of booby-traps. Here, militia are going

house to house. They were kept from the frontline to avoid sectarian

clashes with the mostly Sunni Muslims residence. A victory in

Ramadi will restore some trust in Iraqi forces. Support from coalition

forces has been crucial and has finally paid off, but the recapture

of the city has shown that in the fight against Islamic State,

military plans must combine ground and air action, rather than one or

the other. For more on the liberation of

Ramadi, and the fight against IS in Iraq and Syria, go to our website,

where you'll find live updates, analysis and background information.

That's all at bbc.com/news. A suspected suicide bomber

on a motorbike has killed at least At least 30 others were injured,

as they queued at a government It's one of the deadliest attacks

in a year which has seen a decline A husband

and wife have been found guilty in London of planning a terror attack

on the city to coincide with the anniversary of the deadly bombings

on July the seventh ten years ago. Mohammed Rehman used social media

to ask people to suggest targets. The United Nations Refugee Agency

says the total number of migrants and other refugees

crossing by sea to Europe in 2015 The UNHCR says more than 89%

of these have arrived in Greece from nearby Turkey,

with most others crossing the It's Europe's worst migration

crisis since the Second World War. People in the north-west of England

already affected by flooding have been warned they

could face a very bad situation The extreme weather could also

affect people in southern and central Scotland, and parts

of Wales and Northern Ireland. On Tuesday people in York were out

assessing the damage done to Tonight, after three days of

resisting the torrent, the bridge over the River Wharf in Tadcaster

finally, dramatically, succumbed. Amid the destruction,

a gas main was fractured, and that triggered the immediate

evacuation of dozens of homes. A bitter blow

for those who have already suffered We've just been evacuated from our

home, that's just the culmination of It's all a reminder that

is this is not over yet. Despite today's sunshine,

communities along the River Ouse are still fighting to hold back

the water. The ancient city of York,

struggling to emerge Flying over all of this water

in this kind of weather looks dramatic and spectacular,

and even quite beautiful, but what you realise, of course, is

that it's down there on the ground, down in places like Huntingdon Road

that things are very ugly. Jason and Jack, among those

returning home for the first time. Their beekeeping business

lost to the rising waters. Look at

the difference 24 hours has made. But, as the waters retreat, the

questions for ministers keep coming. We have spent an incredible amount

of money on flood defences over But if more needs to happen,

more needs to happen. The focus here, now,

is all about cleaning up and moving on, throwing out what's been

destroyed and facing the future. I can't tell you how many offers we

have had of homes and everything, Would it be rotten

of me to say happy New Year? I am hoping that once this is

over next year's my new start. For a few - a very few - there

is actually fun to be had here. For most, though, it's a matter of

holding on, waiting for the great Storm Frank is expected to sweep

across the north-west of England through the night and on Wednesday

bringing significant rainfall Parts of Wales and Northern Ireland

are also likely to be affected. Our correspondent Robert Hall

reports from Croston in Lancashire. Nine hours of back-breaking work

and the calls How long has the operation

been going on for here? In this farmyard on the outskirts

of Croston, 50 volunteers have been working in shifts to meet

the demands of villagers who fear Today, the Yarrow flowed sleepily

behind Croston's pretty terraced cottages but the evidence

of its Christmas assault A chaotic mess of carpets,

furniture and personal belongings. The Jones family had lit

a fire to bring some warmth to Now they fear Storm Frank

may bring a third. As the days go on and the magnitude

of what's about to face us becomes clear, then it becomes really like

a process of mourning, I think. Across the road, one of Richard's

neighbours is philosophical Obviously,

the forecast is a bit concerning but it's at the point now if it happens

again we've already flooded, so really we are just putting sandbags

back in place to act as a filter if Across the fields,

the thud of rotors heralding the arrival of a Chinook rushing 400

tonnes of sandbags to a wide breach Engineers hope they've done just

enough to protect the village. In the face of a new threat,

villagers are turning to each other. Hundreds have found food and rest

at Croston Sports Club where organisers have been overwhelmed by

the local and national generosity. I am calling them heroes, that's the

word we are tagging on Facebook. Tonight, there is another

reassuring presence. Emergency services here

in strength and ready to react. Everyone hopes they will have

a quiet night. Stay with us on BBC News, still to

come: Smart machines, smart money. Could the stockbrokers of the future

be computers? The most ambitious financial

and political change ever attempted has got underway with

the introduction of the euro. Tomorrow, in Holland, we're gonna

use money we picked up in Belgium today, then we'll be in France,

and again it'll be the same money. George Harrison, the former Beatle,

is recovering in hospital after being stabbed

in his Oxfordshire home. A 33-year-old man from Liverpool is

being interviewed by police The latest headlines: The US says

airstrikes in Syria and Iraq have killed ten leaders

of the Islamic State group in the last month, including two

people linked to the Paris attacks. The Iraqi prime minister has visited

Ramadi, a day after his government declared

the city free from IS militants. Islamist extremists in Nigeria have

killed dozens of people, just days after the country's

President said the war against Boko The group has been responsible

for thousands of deaths. Our correspondent, Martin Patience,

has been granted exclusive access to the Nigerian army operating

in the northeast of the country, We're heading out

of the city to some of the most Travelling in a military convoy, the

Nigerian army are taking us to the All along the road -

abandoned homes, herdsmen fleeing the fighting with their cattle

and military firepower. Half an hour later,

we reach Konduga. Once a busy market town, now just

a handful of people remain. The silence is eerie -

life's seeped out of this town. But the group brings death

and destruction to towns and Take a look at this

and you can see shop after shop has By destroying people's livelihoods,

Boko Haram in effect kills the town. At the military base,

soldiers tooled up for a fight. Once low in morale,

spirits are now high. Despite being hollowed out

by corruption, the army insists We are the last line right now,

because we have moved into a So what is remaining is one

last offensive and we're there. But the nature

of this conflict is changing. They've retreated to the bush,

after being pushed out Before, they had tanks looted

from the army. And they're still holding thousands

of kidnapped women and children, Back with the army, we're taken to a

fishing community close to the base. The villagers here live

in the shadow of the insurgency. Bringing in the latest catch,

these fishermen try to go TRANSLATION: We live

in constant fear of being attacked. You can't guarantee safety,

but we've got used to it. The army, though, has made progress,

but a huge amount And Boko Haram are not finished

as a force. The World Health Organisation has

officially declared the West African state of Guinea free

of Ebola nearly two years More than 2,000 people died

there during the epidemic. With the New Year around the corner,

Guineans have been given Their country is now declared free

of the Ebola virus transmission and they can officially get back to

their everyday lives. We have to be very clear,

althought today is an important It is not the end of the Ebola

response in West Africa. What we have learned is, while we

have stopped the original chain of transmission, we are still seeing

small flares, 2-3 cases reappearing. 2000 died and more than 6000

children are now orphans, having Those who have survived are still

living in fear of the stigma and the long-term side effects

associated with the virus. The fight against Ebola has been

particularly difficult in Guinea. Some communities didn't believe

that the disease was real. A university teacher,

whom I met in January at the height of the emergency,

blamed Ebola on Western countries They want the people to buy there,

I don't know how to call it, The medical charity, MSF,

says it will now focus on the 1300 survivors and their families, as

well as the frontline health staff who lost 115 of their colleagues

in their fight against the virus. Some of the biggest names of African

and Guinea music will perform at the huge concert on Wednesday at the

capital to say, "goodbye, Ebola." They can only hope they will never

face such a deadly epidemic again. An American teenager who avoided

jail over a fatal drink-driving crash by claiming he suffered

from affluenza has been detained by police in Mexico after breaching

rules of his probation. He's a Texas teenager,

who it was claimed, was so rich he Lawyers representing Ethan Couch

said he suffered from "affluenza." They succesfully argued that his

millionaire parents failed to instil In 2013, Ethan Couch was 16,

when he crashed his pick-up truck in Fort Worth,

and killed four pedestrians, he was three times the legal drink-drive

limit and had been speeding. Earlier in the evening,

he and his passengers had stolen two Couch pleaded guilty to four counts

of intoxication manslaughter and faced up to 20 years in prison, but

a juvenile court judge decided that he would be better served by 10

years probation and enrolling in a private rehabilitation centre,

paid for his parents. Earlier this month he failed to

report to his probation officer in Texas

and an arrest warrant was issued. It was claimed that he

and his mother fled in November. On Monday they were detained in

Mexico, and Tonya Couch and her son Ethan will be taken into custody

and go to a hearing with We now have

an arrest warrant issued for Tonya Police will also investigate reports

there was a video of Ethan Couch If found to have been drinking, his

probation will be revoked and he As part of the BBC's series looking

at artificial intelligence, we now focus on how it's transforming

the financial industry. Are machines taking over

Wall Street? And what could it mean

for investors? The BBC's New York correspondent

Michelle Fleury takes a look. Hello, I am technology that is

changing investing for. Your next stop may just be a computer. Wealth

management firm, Charles Schwab, recently launched a new service. The

service is unique in that it is not a person who decides where to invest

your money, it is an algorithm. Lets imagine a 35-year-old investor.

Saving for retirement. They will start at a minimum of $5,000. What

do we have. We have a fairly aggressive investor, the choice to

the right hand side. 77% stock, 11% fixed income -- have? For decades,

this was the familiar face of Wall Street. But the work once done by

traders is being replaced by a competitor that does not need

cigarette or holiday breaks. Machines are now responsible for

most of the activity on Wall Street. The computers can read the news

faster, they can read a regulatory fine. As such, they can look through

information and find anything in there that may have taken a human

five minutes. Now, they can do it in fractions of a second. The changes

the dynamics and speed of which things happen. Is now happening in

nearly seconds. But as this trading expert explained, speed also has its

downsides. There are a number of milliseconds in a second, a lot can

happen before humans can react. Five years ago, the Dow Jones

inexplicably plunged. An example of extreme market volatility, critics

laying to computerise trading. For regulators, it raised awkward

questions. Where they keeping pace with market changes? You need to

spot it and adopt to them, get them in place and draft them properly.

Implement the rules. What the stuff of science fiction, AI is taking

over Wall Street. For better or worse, it is not going away.

Divers on Japan's Honshu Island had a surprise visitor on Christmas Eve

when a giant squid swam close to the coast.

At 3.7 metres, it was certainly not the biggest

creature of its kind - they can grow to 13 - but it was rare to see

Divers took to the water with cameras as it swam

A reminder of our top story: The US military is declaring the coalition

air strikes have killed ten members of Islamic State, including this man

who is said to have had direct links to the ringleaders of the Paris

attacks. And you can get in touch with me

and most of the team on Twitter,