BBC News with Stewart Macintosh
Egypt's military-backed interim government has declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, the government blamed the group for Tuesday's bomb attack on the police headquarters in the city of Mansoura north of Cairo that killed at least 13 people. From Cairo here's R S.
The Egyptian government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in the statement today, the statement added that the Egyptian cabinet will take punitive measures against any person who promotes the organization in any way. The Muslim Brotherhood had already been declared a banned organization by a judicial verdict after the Brotherhoods Mohammed Morsi who won elections to become president of Egypt was ousted from power. In a swift action to the latest move, the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm condemned the decision. It twitted that it is a worthless decision from an illegal government.
According to Turkish media the MP and former Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin has resigned from the ruling AK party in the wake of a corruption investigation for this has already led to the resignations of the three top ministers in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. R Aslan reports from Istanbul.
None of those who have resigned so far are directly implicated. But all of them have fell the impact of the investigations that are now underway. Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said he had resigned to help unearth the truth about what he called an ugly plot. Interior Minister Muammer Guler had come under intense pressure of the several police chiefs who had authorized the corruption investigation's role sect. And Environment Minister Erddogan Bayraktar called for the resignation of Prime Minister Erdogan, said he acted under the Prime Minister's orders. The Prime Minister has gone to see President Abdullah Gul,sparking speculation that the cabinet reshuffle is imminent.
At least 34 people have been killed in two separate bomb attacks targeting Christians in the Iraq capital Baghdad. In the first attack, a car bomb went off where worshippers were leaving a church after a Christmas service, killing at least 24 people,another bomb nearby left another 10 people dead.
The Russian authorities have dropped charges against all but one member of the 30 strong Greenpeace activists who've been arrested for protesting against oil exploitation in the Arctic. Because no translator was available on Wednesday's state of process,the final member of the group who's Italian,his case is not expected to be closed until Thursday.The BBC's Artyom Liss is in Moscow.
Basically, there is one more bureaucratic hurdle they have to jump. They have to obtain exit visas from the Russian authorities and then they can get on the plane and fly out. The process of obtaining those exit visas I don't think it'll be a terrible and long process and in any case it does have to finish before the end of the year, because then Russia goes on its new year break which is held on 10 days.
You're listening to the World News coming to you from the BBC
Queen Elizabeth has looked back on some of the notable royal events of the year in her Christmas broadcast of the nation and Commonwealth. In the annual address, she urged everyone to poise and reflect on service and duty, remembering her own pledge of service at her coronation 60 years ago. The Queen also mentioned the arrival of her great grandchild: Prince George.
“Here at home my own family is a little larger this Christmas as so many of you will know, the arrival of a baby gives everyone the chance to contemplate the future with renewed happiness and hope.”
An international team of researchers have pinpointed new areas in DNA that increase the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. The results come from the largest genetic study ever carried out involving nearly 30,000 patients. This report is from our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh.
The research team compared the DNA of arthritis patients with those without the disease. They found 42 faulty areas that were linked with the disease. The hope is that drugs can be developed to compensate for these faults. Indeed, the lead researcher Pro.Robert Plenge of Harvard Medical School found that one of these areas in DNA produced a weakness that was treated by an existing drug, that was developed by trial and error, rather than specifically made to correct the genetic problem.
Around 37,000 homes in the South England are still without power as a result of a severe storm earlier this week. The company that of owns and maintains the electricity cables and lines across the region says some properties in Kent, Surrey and Sussex may be without electricity until the end of the week, more than 100 flood warnings are in place for England, Wales and Scotland. One Hotel Area in the historic spa town of Bath had to cancel more than 50 Christmas dinners after the river Avon flooded his property.