Craig Taylor

JP Morgan Chase has agreed to pay $ 1.7bn to victims of the Bernard Madoff fraud.
BBC News – Business

The first consignment of chemical weapons materials leaves Syria on a Danish ship, as part of a UN-backed deal to destroy Syria’s chemical arms.
BBC News – Middle East

Actress Monica Spear, who won Miss Venezuela in 2004, has been killed along with her British husband during a roadside robbery in Venezuela.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean

Turkey dismisses 350 police officers and the top judiciary body says it will investigate officials overseeing an inquiry into government corruption.
BBC News – Europe

Four people are believed to have been killed in a US air force helicopter crash in north Norfolk, on the east coast of England.
BBC News – UK

A brutal blast of arctic air settles in eastern North America, bringing dangerously low temperatures not seen in two decades.
BBC News – US & Canada

At least 26 people have been killed in an eight-hour battle between government and rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second city Lubumbashi, police say.
BBC News – Africa

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority begins an investigation into the troubled Co-operative Bank and its former senior executives.
BBC News – Business

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki urges residents of the city of Fallujah to force out insurgents linked to al-Qaeda who have taken control of the city.
BBC News – Middle East

The Brazilian government says it is considering allowing foreign airlines to operate internal flights during the World Cup to prevent abusive price hikes.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean

German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffers a partial fracture of her pelvis in a cross-country skiing accident, her spokesman says.
BBC News – Europe

Huge waves are beginning to batter the southern coast of the UK, as forecasters warn coastal areas could see more flooding.
BBC News – UK

Retired US basketball player Dennis Rodman takes a team to North Korea for a match marking leader Kim Jong-un’s birthday.
BBC News – US & Canada

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir arrives in Juba for talks with his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir over fighting there, reports say.
BBC News – Africa

The Conservatives will continue to use the “triple lock” to protect the basic state pension if they win the next election, David Cameron vows.
BBC News – Business

Iraqi troops have reportedly lost control of the strategic city of Fallujah after intense fighting with al-Qaeda militants and local Sunni tribesmen.
BBC News – Middle East