Emergency services in Spain have confirmed a seventh death after a bus plunged from a bridge into a river on Christmas Eve (Saturday). Rescuers retrieved the body of a woman from the Lérez river in the north-western Galicia region on Monday. Two people, including the driver, were hurt after the bus travelling from Lugo to Vigo fell from a height of about 30m (98ft) into the fast-flowing river. Officials say bad weather may have caused the crash. They say the bus driver tested negative for alcohol and drugs.(BBC)…[+]

A sister of the alleged ringleader of a failed coup attempt in The Gambia has called for his release, saying he was not involved in any plot to topple President Adama Barrow’s government. Lance Corporal Sanna Fadera was arrested a week ago after the government accused him of masterminding an attempted coup. Two more officers were detained over the weekend, the government said. This brings to seven the number of arrests over the alleged plot. None of the accused has as yet been charged in court. In a BBC interview, Alia Fadera, the eldest sister of the lance-corporal, said he could not have plotted a coup, as he was only a medic in the navy with no access to weapons or influence in the military. “Since my brother’s arrest, we have not heard from him and we are worried,” she added. Mrs Fadera said the military had detained her brother at his workplace in the capital, Banjul, before bringing him to their village in Kiang Nema, 155km (96 miles) away.(BBC)…[+]

Six people have been charged over the kidnapping of a group of people linked to the world of cockfighting in the Philippines. The group of six is thought to have been abducted on their way to a fight in the capital Manila in January. It’s part of a wave of mysterious disappearances to hit the industry, which is a popular betting sport. Taxes from livestreamed cockfights helped the government replenish its finances after the Covid pandemic. But former President Rodrigo Duterte eventually banned online fights, while allowing traditional cockfighting to resume. The six suspects reportedly deny the allegations. Meanwhile, three former police officers have also been charged with allegedly abducting a cockfighting enthusiast from his house in August 2021, according to the AFP news agency. The victim had been accused of running a fake betting website, AFP reports. The charges come as at least 27 people connected to the lucrative industry remain missing, but hope of finding people alive is fading. “I wouldn’t even want to call them missing cockfighters, but probably dead cockfighters,” Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla said this week.(BBC)…[+]

Russian authorities have started destroying the ruined theatre in Mariupol, according to an aide to the city’s exiled Ukrainian mayor. Petro Andryushchenko accused the occupying authorities of seeking to cover up the murder of hundreds of civilians when the building was bombed by Russian warplanes in March. A screen was recently erected around the ruined theatre. Video showed a bulldozer knocking down some of the rear of the building. Mr Andryushchenko said the Russians were planning to leave the front of the theatre intact and destroy the rest of the structure, to build a new theatre “on the bones of Mariupol’s people”. A screen was erected around the ruins of the theatre last month, complete with images of Russian cultural figures. Before Russia invaded Ukraine last February and laid siege to Mariupol, the theatre was a focal point of city life. This year, Russia’s proxy authority that runs the city and the occupied areas of the surrounding Donetsk region has promised the city’s remaining population alternative entertainment – a revival of a 1960s Soviet cult musical, The Bremen Town Musicians.(BBC)…[+]

The congressional panel investigating last year’s attack on the US Capitol has accused former President Donald Trump of a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn his election defeat three months earlier. The panel has released its final 845-page report on the attack. It places the blame for the 6 January 2021 storming of Congress squarely on the former president. It also recommends barring Mr Trump from public office in the future. He did not co-operate with the panel and declared the final report a “witch hunt” after its release. Over 18 months, the committee held 10 public hearings and interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, including Trump administration officials and staff, Trump family members, Capitol police officers, rioters, militia members, and more. On Monday, the panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans recommended the justice department investigate Mr Trump – who is mounting another White House campaign – for aiding an insurrection and three other federal crimes.(BBC)…[+]

Eight teenage girls have been charged with the murder of a 59-year-old man in Toronto, Canadian police say. The girls, aged between 13 and 16, are accused of stabbing the victim in what police describe as “a swarming” just after midnight local time on Sunday. The man, who has not been identified, had been living in a shelter for the homeless at the time of the attack. Toronto Mayor John Tory said he was “deeply disturbed” by the case in a statement. A group of bystanders flagged down emergency services after finding the man with stab wounds shortly after midnight on Sunday, Toronto Police Detective Sergeant Terry Browne told reporters. The victim, who had only recently moved into sheltered housing, later died in hospital. The girls, whose identities are protected under Canadian law, were arrested near the scene of the attack and a number of weapons were seized. They had met via social media and three of them had had previous contact with police, Detective Sergeant Terry Browne said.(BBC)…[+]

Elon Musk has said he will resign as Twitter’s chief executive officer when he finds someone “foolish enough to take the job”. The billionaire had promised to abide by the result of a Twitter poll which saw 57.5% of users vote “yes” to him quitting the role. He says he will still run the software and servers teams after his replacement is found. Changes on the platform since his takeover have been much criticised.The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Since Mr Musk bought the social media site in October, he has fired about half of its staff and attempted a rollout of Twitter’s paid-for verification feature before putting it on pause. The feature was relaunched last week.

Peru has ordered the Mexican ambassador to leave within 72 hours after Mexico granted asylum to the family of ousted Peruvian President Pedro Castillo. Mr Castillo was removed from office earlier this month after he tried to dissolve Congress. He is being investigated in Peru on charges of rebellion and conspiracy. But Mexico has been supportive of the ousted president, and said early on that it was considering granting him asylum. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has called the removal of Mr Castillo undemocratic. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday the government was negotiating safe passage for the family of Mr Castillo, who were inside Mexico’s embassy in the Peruvian capital Lima. His Peruvian counterpart, Ana Cecilia Gervasi, said safe passage had been granted. But Mexico’s decision to grant asylum caused further anger in Peru, and Mexican Ambassador Pablo Monroy has now been declared “persona non grata” by the government.(NU)…[+]

The White House has ordered the release of thousands of documents on the murder of US President John F Kennedy in full for the first time. With the publication of some 13,173 files online, the White House said more than 97% of records in the collection were now publicly available. No huge revelations are expected from the papers, but historians hope to learn more about the assassination. Kennedy was shot during a visit to Dallas, Texas, on 22 November 1963. A 1992 law required the government to release all documents on the assassination by October 2017. On Thursday, President Joe Biden issued an executive order authorising the latest disclosure. But he said some files would be kept under wraps until June 2023 to protect against possible “identifiable harm”. The US National Archives said that 515 documents would remain withheld in full, and another 2,545 documents would be partly withheld.(BBC)…[+]

The EU has threatened Twitter owner Elon Musk with sanctions after several journalists covering the company had their accounts abruptly suspended. Reporters for the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post were among those locked out of their accounts. EU commissioner Vera Jourova warned that the EU’s Digital Services Act requires the respect of media freedom. “Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon,” she tweeted. She said: “News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying. “[The] EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our Media Freedom Act.” Mr Musk tweeted that accounts which he claimed engaged in doxxing – a term to describe to the release of private information online about individuals – receive a temporary seven-day suspension. “Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” he tweeted. A Twitter spokeswoman earlier told tech website The Verge that the ban was related to the live sharing of location data. Mr Musk took control of Twitter in October in a $44bn ($36bn) deal.(BBC)…[+]