29/12/2017 BBC World News

This is BBC World News.

I'm Duncan Golestani.

Our top stories:

Former footballer George

Weah wins Liberia's

presidential election,

the country's first democratic

handover in decades.

Afghanistan's president condemns

Kabul's suicide bomb attack

as a crime against humanity.

The blast left more than 40 dead.

This is the building

where the explosion happened,

and you can see that the building

has been almost completely

destroyed.

An easing of diplomatic tensions

between Turkey and the US -

both countries say they will

restart visa services.

And Apple apologises

for deliberately slowing down ageing

iPhones - it says the move

was intended to prolong the devices'

life.

Hello and welcome to BBC World News.

The former World footballer

of the year, George Weah,

has won the Liberian

presidential election.

Mr Weah played for a string

of football clubs, including AC

Milan, Chelsea and Manchester City.

He entered politics

after his retirement in 2002,

and will succeed

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf -

Africa's first elected

female President.

From Monrovia,

Umaru Fofana reports.

Hundreds of jubilant supporters of

George Weah took to the streets

minutes after the Electoral

Commission announced the results.

They charted, it was George Weah we

wanted an George Weah we clocked.

The capital reverberated with

singing and deafening cough islands.

It was never in doubt the former

world footballer of the year would

win. Election observers both

domestic and foreign plays the

conduct of the poll. This man was

used a winning trophies but found it

hard to win this, the biggest award

of his life. Liberia has stabilised

after a decade of bloody civil war

but it's still suffering with abject

poverty and corruption.

Chris Fomunyoh

is part of the international

election observer

delegation to Liberia.

He's the Senior Associate

and Regional Director of the Central

and West Africa for the National

Democratic Institute.

He joins me now from Monrovia.

First of all, just how historic is

this handover?

This is huge and its

historic. Firstly, because it's the

first in seven decades that we are

changing political power through the

ballot box with a democratically

elected president, handing over to

another democratically elected

president. And it shows African

youth that someone from very humble

beginnings, through hard work and

perseverance, is now going to be the

head of state of Africa's oldest

country. It is a stirring moment of

this country and the Liberian people

should be proud of what they have

done.

What is the mood like in Monro

Vieux? -- in the capital?

The mood

is tested. Especially after the

announcement of the results.

Observers issued a report today

which which spoke of how peaceful

process has been and some of the

improvements that have undertaken

the elections in October and they

set the stage for the jubilation of

supporters and the fact that

supporters have been very peaceful

as of now.

How is the administration

of the selection handles compared to

back in October? What were the

improvements that were made?

Of

course, there were very noticeable

improvements. Notably in the

management of the killing and the

polling places, more attention paid

to training. Making sure there were

signs with serial numbers so that

people will know immediately which

polling place they needed to go to

vote. We did see significant

improvement with the votes. Compare

to what we saw in October and the

Electoral Commission needs to be

commended for that as well.

And

presumably, the local political

parties have an important role to

play in that.

That's correct. We

noted in all of the polling centres

we visited that the two parties that

were in competition had polling

agents, representatives of the

candidates and parties, watching the

polls from beginning to end. All

through the voting as well is during

the tabulation of election results.

That has contributed to the

confidence that the people of

Liberia have seen thus far.

Do you

think the fact that the margin of

victory is so large is helping how

voters look at this vote?

Yes,

that's one of the factors but also

the political leaders of Liberia on

both sides have come to the

recognition that it's important to

them to send a clear message to

their supporters that Liberians want

peace, librarians are committed to

peaceful elections and it will never

be on anybody's interest to disrupt

what is clearly the chosen will of

the Liberian people. -- Liberians.

What kind of message does this send

out to other struggling democracies

in Africa?

Certainly with West

Africa, the ECOAS countries have

been dashed ECOWAS countries have

been doing well and what is

happening now in Liberia is a

testament to ECOWAS and its future

trajectory for countries in the sub

region. In the same time, it sends a

strong message across Africa that a

younger generation of African

leaders is emerging that wants to

derive legitimacy from their fellow

citizens and it's important that we

hold peaceful and meaningful and

credible elections that can set the

foundations for countries to be

better positioned to address other

challenge is and this is a happy

moment for Liberia, for West Africa

and for Africa as a hole.

Thank you

very much for joining us.

It's my

pleasure, thank you.

Let's take a look at some

of the other stories making

the news.

In Venezuela, hundreds of people

have been protesting in the poorer

parts of Caracas against

the shortage of promised pork -

a key ingredient for

traditional Christmas meals.

President Maduro has accused

Portugal of sabotaging deliveries.

A Portuguese company denied

the claims and said Venezuela

still owed Portuguese firms almost

$50 million from pork

deliveries made in 2016.

Apple has published a letter

to customers apologising for what it

calls a misunderstanding around

older iPhones being slowed down.

The company recently admitted

that it was deliberately slowing

down older phones in order to

compensate for degrading batteries.

Italy's President Sergio Mattarella

has dissolved parliament ahead

of an election scheduled

for March the 4th.

Immigration is likely

to be the key issue,

with the anti-establishment

Five Star movement currently leading

in opinion polls.

Officials in Alabama have formally

certified Democrat Doug Jones

as the winner of the state's

senate race.

This was despite attempts

by his defeated Republican rival,

Roy Moore, to stop his

certification going ahead.

Mr Moore filed a last minute lawsuit

to challenge the result,

alleging voter fraud,

but a judge denied the request.

Roy Moore, whose campaign had been

plagued by allegations of sexual

misconduct, lost narrowly.

His lawyers said there'd been

a higher-than-expected turnout.

But State officials

were emphatic that they found no

evidence of fraud.

I don't think there is any doubt on

the minds of anybody in this room or

anyone hearing the sound of my voice

that if there was never a question

about whether or not the State of

Alabama conducts honest and fair and

safe and secure a elections, that

question has been eliminated from

anyone's thought and mind, period.

A suicide bombing in the Afghan

capital, Kabul, has claimed

the lives of at least 40 people

and injured more than 80 others,

with women and children

among the casualties.

The Islamic State group says it

carried out the attack,

which targeted a cultural

organisation and news agency

in the west of the capital.

In recent months, so-called

Islamic State has attacked many

Shia Muslim targets in this area

of Kabul, where the majority

of the city's Shia population lives.

Our correspondent in Kabul,

Zia Shahreya, has sent this report.

The force of the explosion

is clear to see.

Among the rubble, relatives

desperately search for their loved

ones.

But there was little left behind.

The bomb went off inside this

building, a cultural centre and also

home to an Afghan news agency.

Students had been marking the 38th

anniversary of the Soviet

invasion of Afghanistan.

The suicide bomber apparently has

entered through that way,

inside this hall, where the seminar

was happening, and the hall was full

of people, students,

female students, male students,

from different

universities in Kabul.

TRANSLATION: I saw many dead

in the area, I was looking

for my cousin but I

could not find his body.

I'm not sure what happened to him.

The number of dead

people has increased.

After the explosion,

ambulances took the injured

to the hospitals nearby.

This man, one of dozens badly

hurt in the explosion.

Some of the wounded

were taken in for surgery.

TRANSLATION: A total of 35

dead were registered

here and 20 others wounded.

There are men, women,

and children among the injured.

For some waiting outside for news,

it was all too much.

Back in the area, to the west

of the capital, where the bomb went

off, armed guards patrol.

The initial blast was followed

by two other explosions,

but no-one was hurt in those.

So who was behind the attack?

So-called Islamic State has

claimed responsibility,

saying it targeted the centre

with a suicide bomber

and other bombs.

It's been behind a number of other

attacks on Shia targets

across the country in recent months.

The President's spokesman called

the attack "an unpardonable crime

against humanity" and pledged

to destroy terrorist groups.

Turkey and the US are to

resume issuing visas

to each other's citizens.

They'd been suspended after a bitter

row, when Turkey arrested a local

embassy employee in October.

But in statements earlier,

the Turkish embassy in Washington,

and the US embassy in Ankara said

the issue had been resolved.

With me is Seref Isler

from our Turkish Service.

First of all, how did this

disagreement start?

Back in October,

the Turkish authorities wanted to

detain some US embassy staff over

what they claimed to be links to the

coup attempt of 2016. After the coup

attempt of last year, Turkey

launched a very large operation to

find the perpetrators and they claim

it was masterminded by a cleric

living in the US so in the Turkish

authorities wanted to detain these

US embassy staff members, they

stopped Visa services to Turkish

citizens in Turkey in turn stopped

these services for US citizens.

The

last day, some resolution to this

but slightly messy?

Precisely. The

US is stating they received security

assurances from Turkey and that why

they were able to resume Visa

services but Turkey is saying they

are resuming the Visa services but

note security assurances are made

and we don't know what happened

behind closed doors but it's highly

inconceivable that two countries

would, by chance, start issuing

visas again. Some chat should have

taken place. We just don't know any

details.

Arrests aside, other issues

have made it difficult?

The US and

Turkey are staunch Nato allies. I

remember a time when Turkey sided

with the US in the first Gulf War

against Iraq, for example. The two

countries have disagreed, such as

with Syria. Turkey is of the US's

opinion but is talking to Russia and

Turkey has reacted angrily when the

US recognised the capital of Israel

as Jerusalem and other problems in

the region where they might have

been some disagreements but Donald

Trump has a tower in Istanbul so

this is a messy situation.

To put it

mildly. Always good to get your

analysis. Seref Isler about.

Stay with us on BBC World News.

Still to come: The pub,

the pay packet and the power

of social media.

How one man was reunited

with his missing money.

The most ambitious financial

and political change ever attempted

has gotten under way

with the introduction of the euro.

Tomorrow in Holland,

we will use money we picked up

in Belgium today and we will use

the same money in France.

It has just got to be the way to go.

George Harrison, the former Beatle

is recovering in hospital

after being stabbed

at his Oxfordshire home.

A 33-year-old man from Liverpool

is being interviewed by police

on suspicion of attempted murder.

I think it was good.

You...

Just good?

No, fantastic!

That's better.

Welcome back.

This is BBC World News.

The latest headlines...

Former footballer George Weah has

won Liberia's presidential election,

in the country's first democratic

handover in decades.

Afghanistan's president has

condemned Kabul's suicide bomb

attack as "a crime

against humanity".

The blast left more than 40 dead.

Bitter cold continues to blanket

the northern United States

and Canada, as forecasters warn

the deep freeze will continue

into the start of 2018.

New record lows have been set,

including -36.6 degrees celsius

in New Hampshire's Mount Washington.

Officials say parts

of Canada are colder

than the North Pole or Mars.

Further disruption is expected

in many parts of the UK with ice

and heavy snow forcecast.

The AA said conditions for many

drivers on Thursday were appalling,

while passengers who were stuck

at London's Stansted Airport last

night have complained

about the airport's response

to the weather.

Anisa Kadri reports.

Hanging around for a flight

longer than you expected.

It's not much fun, especially

when the queues are just getting

longer and you find out your

flight's now not just

delayed, it's cancelled.

More than 12 hours after Sarah's

flight to Stockholm was meant

to take off from Stansted,

Sarah was still here,

and will now fly tomorrow.

I only found out literally,

I think it was three hours

after my flight was supposed

to leave, that it was cancelled.

And there was no boards to tell us

that it was delayed or anything,

so it was just literally,

like going backwards and forwards

between the one person

that was there, kind of thing.

I just ended up lining up

for like ten hours to try and get

a new flight.

Did you get any sleep at all?

No.

I think I've been

awake 25 hours now.

You only need to head to social

media to get an idea

of the frustration some people

here felt last night.

One person tweeted it was

a shambles, another posted a picture

of people sleeping on seats.

Stansted Airport says it's cleared

the backlog of stranded passengers

and things are returning to normal.

But they say there still could be

delays because of the weather.

And the weather's been causing

problems elsewhere, too.

In the Cairngorms, three climbers

had to be rescued after getting lost

in blizzard conditions.

The rescue took five hours.

The wintry weather is not

going away, as we are being told

to make sure our vehicles

are safe for the road.

Check your tyres, make sure

you've got some good tread

and they're well inflated,

that should keep you safe

on the road, they keep you gripped

to the road, after all.

And pack accordingly,

so have your own winter breakdown

kit with plenty of spare

warm and dry clothing,

a flask, some snacks, a shovel,

and certainly a fully

charged mobile phone.

Today in Inverness, people

were enjoying the snow,

but there's more on the way

for Scotland and the Met Office

is warning that tonight could be

the coldest night of the year.

A woman who was found dead

in an outbuilding in Finsbury Park,

in North London, has

been named by police.

Officers say 22-year-old

Iuliana Tudos died as a result

of a stab wound and a head injury.

It's thought she was

killed on Christmas Eve.

A murder investigation has been

started.

The iconic Miss America beauty

pageant is in turmoil,

over an e-mail scandal that's

forced its most senior board members

to step down.

The Huffington Post has published

e-mails, which allegedly show

pageant officials making vulgar

comments on contestants' weight,

sex lives, intellect -

even wishing one was dead.

Miss America executive director

Sam Haskell has resigned,

as well as president Josh Randle,

and some other board members.

An online petition with tens

of thousands of signatures

is gaining traction.

It's calling for everyone

on the board to be sacked.

Every second, the world drinks

35,000 cups of coffee,

so it's little wonder that it's

a $200 billion industry.

Now, new figures show how more

and more of that money

is finding its way back

to coffee farmers,

thanks to ethically sourced

and sustainable coffee.

Jonathan Josephs reports.

There's never been more choice.

We're all drinking more coffee,

and we're prepared to pay more

for it, but in return,

we want to know more

about where it is from

and how it got to our cup.

This coffee shop in a trendy part

of East London is typical.

They roast their own beans,

which are carefully selected

for the benefits

they bring farmers.

For example, we have

a Ugandan coffee.

We've managed to find a farmer

there that is producing some really

good coffee,

and we talk to our customers

about the impact that makes

in that area,

because there was a lot

of warfare in Uganda.

Telling the story of how those beans

made their way from the farm

to the cup is an essential part

of the growing branding

and marketing effort involved

in making coffee about the wider

experience, as well as the drinking.

It means more profits

throughout the supply chain,

as new figures from the UN's

World Intellectual Property

Organisation show.

For a pound of coffee beans that

end up in the instant

sold in supermarkets,

the roaster can get over $4,

but the export price is just £1.09.

The farmer gets most of that,

but if the same beans end up

in a large western coffee chain,

the roaster can get $8.50,

but the farmer and their community

also do better, getting $2.89.

But when the new wave of socially

aware customer pays a premium

for higher standards,

the roaster can get over $17.45.

But the export price

also rises to $5.14.

That third wave is a clear incentive

for farmers to invest,

in turning their beans into a coffee

with superior standards

when it comes to sustainability

and fair trade.

A farmer can be roughly three

and a half times better off

by taking advantage

of the third wave, and selling

into the third wave context.

Now, that obviously

is a huge difference,

and it brings with it many,

many benefits for the farmer,

obviously a higher

standard of income.

Also looking to cash in are the two

companies that sell the world more

coffee than anyone else.

Nestle and JAB have been spending

billions buying smaller rivals

like California's Bluebottle Coffee.

The trend started in the US

West Coast and has definitely been

expanding into other parts

of the world and some

of the larger roasting companies

like JAB and Nestle,

they want to start enjoying some

of that profitability,

so we have started to see a lot

of acquisations with larger

An increasing amount of the coffee

we are drinking is of the expensive

type that millennials

like to post on social media.

That is stimulating profits

throughout the industry.

The immense power of social media

was once again in evidence

at Christmas, when a welder

from London left his Christmas wage

packet in a local pub in Wimbledon.

More than a million people responded

to an appeal on Twitter and Facebook

and identified Mariusz

so that the pay packet could be

returned - six days

after he lost it.

Our correspondent Chi Chi Izundu

takes up the story.

This is the story of a welder,

a pub and a lost wage packet.

Last Thursday, after a few

hundred people had been

here at The Alexandra pub

celebrating their Christmas parties,

at the end of the night,

a small brown envelope stuffed

with cash was spotted on the floor.

The only reason I realised

it was a wage packet

was because I used to get paid

in similar packets when I first

moved to this country.

All they had was the name

Mariusz and £600.

The landlord and his wife posted

a picture on social media

which was retweeted by author JK

Rowling and then hundreds

of thousands around the world

joined in the search.

We did not find him straightaway

and a couple of celebrities

retweeted it and it went bonkers.

My phone was like a fridge.

Buzzing all the time!

We were getting messages

from all over the world,

so much interest trying to find this

guy, people contacting

asking if we found them?

From Canada and America

and Australia, everywhere.

All over the world.

And then what happened?

Lo and behold, yesterday,

he walked in the door and said

hello, I'm Mariusz

and I believe you've

got my money!

It was like the biggest

anti-climax in history,

he just wandered in

and he said, I think

you've got my money.

Mariusz explained he took

out his phone to take pictures

of his Christmas party,

and that's probably when his wage

slip fell from his pocket

and under this chair,

and he didn't notice

until about a day later.

Mariusz had not seen

the social media posts,

it was his son who alerted him

to them and he may have kept

the loss quiet from his wife

to have, as he called it,

a stress-free Christmas.

He came in yesterday and got it.

In a show of gratitude,

he gave Nobby a generous tip.

And that is a nice, positive way to

finish this half-hour. There are

plenty more news updates and

analysis on our website and you can

get hold of me on Twitter.

I'm @DuncanGolestani.

Do stay with us here on BBC News.