this is bbc world news. our top stories. the actress carrie fisher, best known for playing the princess leia in the star wars films, has died aged 60. will somebody get this walking carpet out of the way? the american actors have been in hospitalfor a four days after suffering a cardiac arrest on a transatlantic flight. 29 turkish police officers go on trial in connection with august's coup. and shinzo abe becomes the first japanese prime minister to pay his respects at pearl harbor. hello. american actress carrie

fisher has died aged 60. she suffered a cardiac arrest while on a flight suffered a cardiac arrest while on a flight between london and los angeles last week. lizo mzimba has a look back at her life. what the hell are you doing? somebody has to save our skins. clever and confident, occasionally caustic. i take orders from just one person, me. it's a wonder you're still alive. will somebody get this walking carpet out of many i way? carrie fisher's leia wasn't your typical princess waiting to be rescued. her most famous character was outspoken on screen. i should have expected to find you holding vader's leash. i recognised your foul stench when i was brought on board. carrie fisher was often equally plain speaking in real life, sharing details of her volatile relationship with her mother, screen legend debbie reynolds, and her own struggles with addiction. people used to ask me, right after i got sober initially, so are you happy now? i would say among other things, happy is one of the many things,

the many emotions i'll go through in a day. you're notjust skipping around, spouting hallmark cards, but you know, yeah, i'm in a much better place. somehow you lay the entire blame for your drug taking on me. i do not, mother. the film postcards from the edge was based on carrie fisher's semi—autobiographical novel of the same name. the central character — an actress and recovering drug addict — played by meryl streep. fisher was a teenager when she made her cinema debut, opposite warren beatty in a romantic comedy shampoo, before star wars made her one of the most famous faces. throughout her career, she continued working behind the camera, often as a script doctor, as well as in smaller roles in front of the camera, in movies like when harry met sally. restaurants were to people in the ‘805 what theatre was to people in the ‘605. i wrote that.

in 2015 she reprised her role as princess leia in star wars: the force awakens. that's how millions will remember her — a groundbreaking, modern heroine from a galaxy far, far away. melissa silberstein is a writer and founder of women in hollywood. she joins me from new york. she was born famous into acting aristocracy. but eve ryo ne famous into acting aristocracy. but everyone universally very sad about her death so young? super sad. it is a very sad day. it has been a sad couple of days. when we heard about a carrie fisher's heart attack, it was gut—wrenching. then this

morning, a couple of hours ago, to hear she passes, it is hard to process that. she was really young and so vibrant. a feisty character on and off—screen. but she did a lobster champion women's writes? she did. but the thing i remember of carrie fisher, i went to see star wa rs carrie fisher, i went to see star wars and she was the girl in star wa rs wars and she was the girl in star wars and she was the girl in star wars and she was the girl in star wars and she was the premise —— princess. she was also powerful. that was a time in the late 705 when we are starting to think about women in power and things like that. and being a girl who was lead even a teenager yet, to see this woman being on screen, shejust represented us. she represented what we could be. and ijust will never forget that. did you come cross her? what do you remember her for?” remember herfor what do you remember her for?” remember her for being so smart and for being so honest, and for saying

things that i know that many people think about but never have the guts to say. she didn't care. i think that was something that was so refreshing about carrie fisher. seeing her own tv shows with her dog when she was promoting the new star wa rs when she was promoting the new star wars movies. she would just break protocol and do whatever she wanted. everybody loved her because she was so everybody loved her because she was so real and authentic. she was very honest about her addictions, cocaine, alcohol, she was bipolar. she talked about that as well? absolutely. she has 90 acting credits. that doesn't include things she was in more than once. she also has only a couple of screenwriting credits. 0ne has only a couple of screenwriting credits. one is postcards from the edge that she wrote and mike nichols directed, with meryl streep playing her and shirley maclaine playing her

mother. she put that out there. it was about her story of addiction and trying to get better. for a lot of us, seeing a hollywood celebrity, somebody who was so constant in our lives and everywhere, but she could be so honest about something like that was really refreshing. did you get the feeling there was much more to come from her? well, i recently saw her in catastrophe, where she featured. she was an acerbic and hysterical and i think she was kind of going into those kinds of roles. she has played them her whole life. she has played them her whole life. she would just take over the scene that she was in. i think she had a lot more in her to do. theyjust finished the third season of catastrophe. they had finished filming for the next star wars

movie, so she will appear in that movie. i'm sure she had lots of other great things on the horizon. and give very much indeed. thank you very much. 29 turkish police officers have gone on trial in istanbul charged with —— in connection with the two in august. the authorities accuse fatullah ghulam of orchestrating the plot. amid high security, the first major trial of alleged plotters has begun at this prison on the outskirts of

istanbul. 29 police officers face a range of charges, some accused of trying to overthrow the government injuly. others are belonging terrorist organisation. translation: everyone involved in the two attack must have a fair trial. those who are not guilty must be separated. those who are guilty must be sentenced to the heaviest punishment because this is a betrayal against the country. this is a coup attempt to topple the legal government. more than a thousand indictments had been prepared. if found guilty, 2i face life sentences. so far, 40,000 people have been arrested since july. 0n the night of the coup, rogue soldiers from the army and police attacked parliament and various institutions across istanbul and ankara. thousands of turks took to the streets following calls to defend democracy. more than 200 people died. they were mostly civilians. the coup had been based —— blamed on fatullah ghulam, something he vehemently denies. despite this, president erdogan has been purging turkey of suspects that —— suspected opponents. critics accuse the government of using the alleged coup to hit back at opponents. with more than a thousand jail, these trials are said to be far—reaching legal process in turkey secretary says a series of antinarcotics rates has netted almost a tonne of methamphetamine in what is said to be the biggest drugs haul in the country's history. the value of the drugs, at $120 million.

three chinese nationals were among ten people charged. transport and can indications services in the philippines are slowly resuming after a powerful storm hit on christmas day. the typhoon killed at least four people and injured many others. authorities have warned that flash floods and mudslides for the next 36 hours. the polish driver of a truck used in last week's attack in berlin was killed hours before the incident, according to german police. lukasz the incident, according to german police. lu kasz urban the incident, according to german police. lukasz urban was shot back in the head by anis amri, who went on to use the lorry to killed 12 people and injure nearly 50 at a christmas market. japan's prime minister is on the second day of his historic visit to hawaii to commemorate pearl harbor. 0n historic visit to hawaii to commemorate pearl harbor. on monday he visited the national memorial centre of the pacific and japanese war graves. in the few hours, he will become the first japanese prime minister to pay his respects at the

memorial. archive: we interrupt this programme to bring you a special news bulletin. the japanese have attacked pearl harbor by air, president roosevelt has just announced. pearl harbor proved to be a deadly turning point in world war ii. as the battleships burned and the bodies of over 2,000 american servicemen were counted, the us declared war onjapan. it has taken 75 years for an enemy to become a close ally. shinzo abe will be the first japanese leader to show such penitence that he'll pray at a memorial in the harbour for the sailors and marines who were killed. there will be no apology. but there will be expressions of regret. japan's neighbour china feels those signs of contrition are not enough and tokyo should mend fences closer to home. translation: japan cannot turn over a new page of history

without reconciliation with china and other asian victim countries. the japanese leader should not keep beating about the bush and evading the crucial point. back in may, barack obama was the first sitting us president to see the site of the hiroshima bomb, a symbol of how important this diplomatic friendship has become. we force ourselves to feel the dread of children confused by what they see. we listen to a silent cry. he has made asia his focus, developing strong trade ties. however, this warm relationship may be about to come to an end. president obama is preparing to leave office and the president—elect has, in the past, questioned aspects of the alliance. i'm going to issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the trans—pacific partnership. donald trump suggested japan should pay to have us troops stationed in the country and consider developing its own nuclear weapons to defend itself from a strengthening north korea.

shinzo abe was the first foreign leader to meet with mr trump. he flew to new york just days after the election. perhaps a sign ofjust how nervous he is, how keen to build trust. the public show of reconciliation and remembrance at pearl harbor comes at yet another turning point for us—japanese relations. by openly facing up to the actions of the past, tokyo's hope is that its western ally will not turn its back on them now. laura bicker reporting. let's show you some pictures we have had in the last few minutes of president obama and prime minister shinzo abe in hawaii. it is the second day of shinzo abe's visit. this meeting preceding thejoint visit to the warm armorial around

pearl harbor. reporters setting up. pearl harbor. reporters setting up. pearl harbor. reporters setting up. pearl harbor just pearl harbor. reporters setting up. pearl harborjust behind the actual date behind —— the actual date of the event. the wrecking of the uss arizona, with the loss of 177 sailors and marines. shinzo abe the first sitting japanese prime minister to attend and pay his respects. we are being told there will not be an apology. but it follows on from barack obama's visit to hiroshima in the summer. both of these visits symbolic. and of course, at a time of what has been a very strong alliance between japan and america in recent years. you are watching bbc world news. still to come, a race against time for the

cheetah. scientists say urgent action is needed to save the world's fastest animal from extinction. the most ambitious political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow we will use money in holland we picked up in belgium today. it is the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. the 30 —— a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being arrested by police —— has been arrested by police —— has been arrested by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. fantastic. you are watching bbc world news. the

latest headlines. the american actress carrie fisher, who played princess leia in the star wars films, has died. she was 60. just days after suffering a heart attack ona days after suffering a heart attack on a transatlantic flight. 29 turkish police officers have gone on trial in istanbul charged with involvement injuly‘s abortive coup to oust president ordered again. —— president erdogan. let's return to the death of carrie fisher and indeed the tributes coming in to the actress, who died at the age of 60. mark hamill treat —— tweeted a picture of himself with his star wa rs picture of himself with his star wars co—star. steve sans weird runs a major collection of star wars memorabilia.

he knew carrie fisher when he was head of fan relations at lucasfilm. we spoke to him early about his relationship with the actress. carrie was always a delight. she was confusing at times and sometimes you we re confusing at times and sometimes you were not quite sure what she was talking about or what she wanted. but she was always there for you. she was always there to say yes. i can remember one of my first experiences with carrie. she kept telling the story to her daughter, billie, she would say about how star wa rs billie, she would say about how star wars was so billie, she would say about how star wars was so money billie, she would say about how star wars was so money hungry that they even made a bubble bath figure of her and you had to screw off her head to pour the bubble bath out. but she didn't have one. so i sent one. she was delighted. it showed up in interviews for the next few yea rs, in interviews for the next few years, as well as, i heard, everyone who came to visit, said, look what they did to me. she always had a

great sense of humour. she was a good friend of george lucas. she was the epitome of why we like star wars so the epitome of why we like star wars so much. she went against the grain. she was the princess not in distress. she was seen personally by sony thousands of star wars fans all over the world by doing fan conventions, by doing little snippets behind the scenes, and any time you approached carrie, she would be extremely approachable. it wasn't just, put your would be extremely approachable. it wasn'tjust, put your money down, get my autograph and leave. there was always banter. she would load litter at people. you never knew what he would do next. she was unpredictable. that was one of the things we fans loved about her. you never knew what she was going to say what he was going to do. we are looking at pictures of carrie on film as well as her life. she was known far more than four just

film as well as her life. she was known far more than fourjust her acting. she was a prolific writer, including being on a book tour when tragedy struck on that transatlantic flight? right. it's amazing how many novels and biographies or semi—biographies she has been able to turn out. and of course the most recent one got publicity because she revealed the not so secret affair that she had on the set with harrison ford when she was 19 years old. one of the many stories that she had. if you have ever seen her one—woman show, she had had such delphic —— self—deprecating wit. she was wonderful. she loved the fans back. the fans could tell that. there are some celebrities who will ta ke there are some celebrities who will take money for a picture. carrie was

not like that at all. she was almost an honorary fan girl. she was made an honorary fan girl. she was made an honorary fan girl. she was made an honorary member at a lot of the fan organisations. let's take you back to hawaii. president obama and the japanese prime minister having just entered this memorial in pearl harbor, in memory of the sinking of the sailors and marines on board the uss arizona. the ship destroyed in the japanese attack on december the 7th, 1941. the number of dead on whole wide numbering the thousands. but on this particular attack, 1177 sailors and marines losing their lives. shinzo abe, the japanese prime minister. the first serving prime minister. the first serving prime minister. the first serving prime minister to attend such a

commemoration and memorial. there will be no apology, just in the same way as when president obama attended a ceremony in hiroshima in may, there was no apology either for the end of that particular conflict with japan and the nuclear bomb attacks. this is the symmetry of that conflict, the attack in 1941, sucking both nations into a conflict that was to end with the dropping of the american nuclear bombs. much more from there over the next few hours. rescue teams have found the main flight recorder from a russian military plane that crashed into the black sea on sunday. a spokesman said the black box was ina a spokesman said the black box was in a satisfactory condition. the recorder could help investigators identify the cause of the crash,

which is not believed to be terrorism. from moscow, steve rosenberg reports. they had been searching for this for more than two days. finally, from the black sea today, they recovered the black box flight recorder of the russian plane. it seemed to have survived the crash in one piece. the device was taken away and flown to moscow to this laboratory. for crash investigators, it could provide vital clues to the cause of the disaster. there is data here on the aircraft's speed and altitude, fuel and engines. at the crash site, 70 divers have been working around the clock, searching for bodies and for wreckage of the plane. today, the recovery operation brought to the surface larger fragments of the aircraft. each piece of debris they find, one more clue to this tragedy. the tupolev—154 belonged to the russian military. syria was its final destination, but it crashed after refuelling in sochi.

today, a meeting of russia's most senior military commanders began with a minute's silence. on the video screen, they showed the names and the faces of the victims. most of the people on the plane were members of an army choir. the russian authorities are calling for patience. it will take time, they say, to piece together exactly what happened to the tupolevjet, to find out why it fell from the sky. and while russia waits for answers, it continues to search the sea. back on the shore, it continues to mourn. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. australia's world —famous tour attraction has reopened after this

hit by record rainfall on monday. the landmark in central australia experienced more than nine inches of rain injust one day. the experienced more than nine inches of rain in just one day. the storm was described by meteorologists as it twice in a century event. as you can see, it turned the normally dry sandstone rock into a series of cascading waterfalls. many of the access cascading waterfalls. many of the a ccess roa ds cascading waterfalls. many of the access roads remained closed because of flooding. authorities are searching for a family of six who went missing after leaving a mod community during the storm on christmas day. the world's fastest land animal, the cheetah, looks to be heading rapidly towards extinction. a study by the national academy of sciences in the united states says cheetah's hard in conflict with human beings as they roa m conflict with human beings as they roam beyond protected areas. there are only 7000 in the wild across africa and in a small area of iran. here's matt mcgrath. all across its

traditional habitat, the cheetah is speeding towards extension. in zimbabwe, the population has fallen from about 1200 270 animals. asiatic cheetahs have from about 1200 270 animals. asiatic cheeta hs have been from about 1200 270 animals. asiatic cheetahs have been wiped out virtually. the common problem for the surviving animals in southern africa is that they ranged far outside the boundaries of protective parks in search of prey. as a result, they are coming more into conflict with farmers, who see them as an enemy. cheetah numbers have also suffered from the illegal trade in live cubs, which are in demand as fashion accessories mainly in the gulf states. that itself. plenty more on the website. —— that is it so far. good evening. temperatures are well below freezing across some part of the uk. a hard frost to come. this

shot take an area today in somerset. a frosty night, particularly across parts of england and wales, eastern scotla nd parts of england and wales, eastern scotland as well. generally temperatures will not be so low. fogg is the main problem by morning. further south in england and wales, disruptive fogg. —— fouled. some sunshine across south wales. if you are on the move across central areas, expect some fogg. big freezing fog. there will be some dampness across the western highlands. otherwise no great drama for northern ireland and scotland. for england and wales it will be a struggle to clear some of that fog. many of us will brighten. particularly in the west and part of northern england. in some spot it

will stay murky and cold all day long. mild in the far north—west of scotland. where the fog lingers, noticeably across parts of the midlands and eastern england, i would not be at all surprised if some places don't get above freezing all day long. every cold day. the fog will reform again as we go through the night. a real problem on thursday morning across parts of england and wales. the fog slow to lift. the best of the brightness probably around some coastal areas. for northern ireland and scotland, further dampness. chin lee where the fog lingers further south. we end the week with france beginning to push into the far north of scotland. some more persistent rain. pretty —— a pretty blustery wind as well. temperatures in double figures in parts of scotland. the southeast will not be as mad. with the mist finally lifting, temperatures not as low as they have been. as we head

into the weekend, it is all change. we have glad to see some fairly wet weather for a we have glad to see some fairly wet weatherfor a time. heavy rain. behind that, it will turn colder again. had a good night. you are watching bbc news. the headlines: the american film star carrie fisher has died after suffering a cardiac arrest. she was 06. she died in hospital in los angeles. -- 60. the angeles. —— 60. the japanese prime minister has become the first leader of his country in more than half a century to visit pearl harbor. he joined president obama to commemorate those killed in the japanese attack on the naval base 75 years ago. 29 former police officers have gone on trial in turkey accused of aiding the failed military coup against president erdogan. thousands have been put under arrest following the coup. this is the first trial of the alleged plotters.