this is bbc world news today. i'm sharanjit leyl. our top stories: supporters of george weah celebrate as the former international footballer wins liberia's presidential election. 41 people are dead and many others are wounded in a kabul suicide attack. the islamic state group said it carried out the attack. this is the building where the explosion happened, and you can see the building has been destroyed. an easing of the diplomatic tension between turkey and the united states as both countries say they will restart visa services. and coming up: te social media campaign which helped to reunite a christmas wage packet with its very grateful owner. we were just astounded how quickly and how far it went. hello and welcome to bbc world news.

we start with liberia, where it was announced a short time ago that the former international football star george weah has won the presidential election. his supporters celebrated as the electoral commission announced that with almost all the ballots counted, mr weah had won more than 60% of the vote. george weah made his name playing for ac milan, he was the first and only player from africa to win the coveted ballon d'or award. but for the last three years he has been a senator in liberia. when he becomes president next month, it will be liberia's first democratic transition in more than 70 years. umaru fofana is in the liberian capital monrovia. obviously this has been a huge reaction. what is it like on the

ground? absolutely. wild celebrations. minutes after the electoral commission announced the result, hundreds of people celebrated in front of the building. and then, across the city, you could hear the sound of jubilation, honking horns. it has been 12 years of waiting. it is going to go on until tomorrow morning. this is the first democratic transition in 70 yea rs. first democratic transition in 70 years. how ground—breaking? first democratic transition in 70 years. how ground—breaking ?m first democratic transition in 70 years. how ground-breaking? it is very ground—breaking. liberia is the old est very ground—breaking. liberia is the oldest republic. first time since 1944, oldest republic. first time since 19114, democratic handover. even the last one was questioned. it was not universal. technically speaking, in the real sense, some people argue

this is the first time it is happening. watershed. 12 years ago, the first female elected president, and now an ex footballer. liberia is proud. any concerns about the transition, from being a well known footballer — to leadership? transition, from being a well known footballer - to leadership? in 2005, two years after retiring, the question was asked. it was said that he had been lacking academic wherewithall. he won the fourth ballot. he went back to school. came back six years later. second shot but lost. he believes he has learned

on the ropes. he has been senator for the last three years. going to make a good leader because he has got the team to be able to do that. it is interesting, his running mate, the former wife of the war lord charles taylor. how is the international community going to see him? a lot of discussion around that. the fact that mrs taylor, ex wife of the convicted war criminal was his running mate. apparently a telephone call from the jail in england to george weah, but he denied he was going to be influenced. mrs taylor has said that she has her own woman. those

celebrations are likely going to continue. a suicide bombing in the afghan capital, kabul has claimed the lives of at least a0 people and injured more than 80 others. women and children are 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. 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,

male and female, from different universities in kabul. translation: i saw many dead in the area, i was looking for my cousin but 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 nobody 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 has 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. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. officials in alabama have formally certified democrat doug jones as the winner of the state's us senate race, after a judge denied a legal challenge by his republican opponent. roy moore, whose campaign had been plagued by allegations of sexual misconduct, lost narrowly and had claimed voterfraud. his lawyers said there'd been a higher—than—expected turnout. india's lower house of parliament

has approved legislation to outlaw the muslim tradition of instant divorce. a supreme court ruling has banned the right of muslim men to divorce their wives by simply speaking the word "talaq" three times. it means divorce in arabic. 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. 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. earlier seref isler from the bbc‘s turkish service explained the background to the problem between the us and turkey. backin

back in october, the government of turkey detained an american embassy employee. this led to an argument with the us embassy. the us embassy asa with the us embassy. the us embassy as a diplomatic compound. the government of turkey had detained the employee because in the aftermath of the coup attempt, a series of raids and operations against people that turkey considers to be terrorists. apparently led by a man in the us. the united states is not extraditing him. it has been asking for more evidence. it had been back and forth, discomfort between the two. the american embassy stopped issuing visas to citizens of turkey and vice versa.

the disagreement between the countries only affected each other diplomatically. it was the first time it had a practical impact on citizens. the relationship has not a lwa ys citizens. the relationship has not always been good. what does this particular story say about the relationship going forward? the embassy of turkey is denying that they had given any security assurances to officials, in return for these to resume. but the embassy in the capital of turkey has said that they had received security assurances. we do not know what happened behind closed doors. some sort of conversation must have taken place. turkey and the united states are natural allies, close for a long time, but some disagreements when it comes to syria. an also russia. turkey is against donald trump recognising jewellery as long as the capital of israel. donald trump also

has the tower in istanbul. it is an uncomfortable collation shot. what happens next? from this point, the visa services are going to resume. the regular lives of those who want to travel — more. but more is going to travel — more. but more is going to be discussed when it comes to israel. an also the syria issue. united states is going to need turkey to on board. turkey will want a better relationship with american officials. more than 2,000 cases of diphtheria have been recorded among rohingya refugees who fled to bangladesh from myanmar. the world health organisation says at least 20 people have already died from the highly contagious disease. the uk is sending an emergency team to help fight disease as claire fallon reports. leaving manchester, british medics heading for bangladesh. now, another threat — diphtheria. the makeshift home to thousands

of rohingya muslims, this is the refugee camp. those living here left myanmar and a situation described by the un as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. 6,000 people have been killed, a figure denied by the government in myanmar. wonderful... among the a0 plus staff, sent by britain, becky, a children's nurse at watford general. i know from my experience as a paediatric nurse and as a mother, families will be feeling desperate. i know there are loads of children involved, 75% of the people affected by diptheria are under the age of 15. we need to act fast. when the team arrives, medics will be working in tough conditions. diphtheria has been spreading

rapidly, up to 160 new cases reported every day. it will be tough, 40 of us going out in its first tranche, more people coming later. we will be working with other organisations, not just 40 of us. this is the uk response, one of the fastest because of the critical nature of the emergency and the speed at which the disease can spread, because of the need to do something very quickly. the situation facing the rohingya people has been described as the fastest growing refugee crisis. with equipment and expertise, the british medics hope they will make a difference, and save lives. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come... all the sport. including arsenal against crystal palace. two goals scored. we'll tell

you by who. tomorrow, we are going to use money we picked up today. george harrison is recovering in hospital after being stabbed. a man is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murderlj think it was good. just good? fantastic. that is better. this is bbc world news today.

the latest headlines: the former footballer george weah has won liberia's presidential election with 61% of the vote, easily defeating his main rival — vice presidentjoseph bokai. a bomb attack in the afghan capital, kabul, has left 41 people dead and more than 80 others wounded. islamic state says it was behind it. and we have got the sport. one match in the premier league this evening, with crystal palace aiming to move further away from the relegation places, at home to arsenal, who are currently sixth. bit is currently 1—1. arsenal took

the lead in the first half. mustafi with the goal. it had been parried by speroni. but crystal palace equalised. andros townsend. george weah, the only african player to have won the baldor, has been confirmed as the president of liberia. 61% of the vote. he played for ac liberia. 61% of the vote. he played forac milan, psg, liberia. 61% of the vote. he played for ac milan, psg, as well as chelsea and manchester city. england's cricketers will begin the fourth day of the fourth ashes test in melbourne in control and with a great chance to seal the victory that would at least restore some pride. alistair cook is 244 not out, with england on 491 for nine, a lead of 164. still plenty of work for england to do, but for cook it was the highest total any batsman has made against australia at the mcg. it is all about trying to put in a

good performance as a team. banged on about it. brisbane, it was level. three days. fourth we struggled. it was the scene with the other two test matches. we have got another opportunity tomorrow to come back with a good lead. try to put some pressure on australia. he looks exhausted. rafael nadal‘s ongoing knee injury has forced him to pull out of the brisbane international, the warm up event for the student open. he pulled out of next version event this weekend. but he still hopes to be fit in time for the australian open. the man who defeated rafael nadal in this year's australian open, roger federer, is in perth. he has been enjoying the

sun, sea, sand. roger federer stealing typically grounded. expectations are higher but i try to remind myself, it is not normal and realistic to look for the same things that i have done in 2017. i am going to try to keep it cool. try my best. we will see what happens. the preparations have been good. we will see what happens at perth.- skiing, the dominance continued, third straight win. finished a first run second clear. extending the lead at the top of the overall standings. she has got an astonishing 20 of the last 25 races. homewinner in the men's, paris

winning by four 100ths of a second. the writ for the next race. still 1-1 at the writ for the next race. still 1—1 at selhurst park. that is the sport. thank you. the un children's fund has said the scale of attacks on children in the world's conflict zones, reached shocking levels in 2017. in a new report, unicef says all sides blatantly disregard international laws designed to protect the most vulnerable. it says children are being targeted and exposed to attacks and brutal violence in their homes, schools and playgrounds. justin forsyth, deputy executive director of unicef in new york, told us why children are often targeted. children have always been victims of conflict. what we have at the moment, if huge amount of complex emergencies, from yemen, sudan,

syria, iraq. increasing reports from staff on the ground about children being specifically targeted. becoming human bombs in nigeria. 130 children have been used as bombs by boko haram. also human shields. children also deliberately targeted by snipers. even in playgrounds. we have this terrible situation that syria, very few children evacuated, and just 30 minutes away from a hospital. we are particularly worried about how children are becoming brutalised by war on this huge scale. tens of thousands of children have been affected by the war in syria but there's been hope for a few in the last few days in the besieged rebel—held area near damascus.

12 seriously ill children were evacuated on wednesday. aid agencies expect thirteen more to leave ghouta over the course of today. among the dozens of children still waiting to be rescued is baby karim, he lost an eye when artillery shells struck a market. this is his story. that was the story of the baby waiting to be evacuated in syria. now... 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 marius 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 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 envelopes 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 a similar packet when i first came to the country. all they had was the name mariusz and £600. the landlord and his wife posted a picture on social media which is reposted by authoij 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! has 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. 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! 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 is probably when his wage

slip fell from his pocket and under this chair, and he did not notice until about a day later. he 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. lucky man! american airlines has apologised to two professional basketball players who were kicked off a flight after being wrongly accused of theft! marquis teague and tra hson burrell boarded a plane on christmas eve, en route to a game. but before take off, a flight attendant claimed the men had taken blankets from the first class cabin — and they were forced off. it later emerged the pair had been given the blankets by passengers. neither of the athletes,

who play for the nba's minor league team memphis hustle, have commented. now how about this for an alternative christmas tree... it's at a depth of five metres in the chilly waters of lake ohrid in macedonia. the decoration of an underwater tree has become a tradition among local divers dressed as santa claus and has lately become quite a tourist attraction. and just to keep you up—to—date with those football results, arsenal ahead of crystal 3—1. that's it. did evening. snow and ice have already caused problems and it looks like more to come. the met office hasissued like more to come. the met office has issued the amber warning for parts of the country as we head through tomorrow. this evening,

things are going to turn very cold. hard, widespread frost. freezing patches. some rain, but also some snow. temporarily for northern wales, ireland, the midlands. tomorrow morning, the area of most concern, to the south of the pennines. lancashire, west yorkshire. this could get 10—15cm of snow on high ground. even at low levels, a cover. also southern scotland. more likely rain and sleet close to the coast. further south, rain. but as the rain starts to fall, it could become freezing. some travel issues. through the day, the snow moving northwards. tending to

peter out. rain and sleet. further south... brighter. some scattered showers to the south coast, temperatures starting to climb. 11 in plymouth. on friday evening, another weblog system coming in, that could temporarily get some snow over high hills, mostly rain. skies should brighten on saturday. sunshine for the south. some uncertainty but wet weather fringing in. mild feel to the south. windy on new year's eve. sandrine, potentially cold enough for snow. generally, milderfeel. potentially cold enough for snow. generally, milder feel. highs potentially cold enough for snow. generally, milderfeel. highs of 5-13. and generally, milderfeel. highs of 5—13. and if you are celebrating at midnight, dry weather. clearspells. just the small chance of some showers. the temperatures do not

look particularly low, strong and chilly breeze! this is bbc world news. the headlines: former footballer george weir has won the liberian presidential election. the election commission says he won with 61% of the vote, defeating his main rival, the vote, defeating his main rival, the vice president. officials in kabul say at least 41 people have been killed and others injured in a suicide bomb attack in the capital. the islamic state group says it was behind the attack. turkey and the us are to resume issuing visas to each other citizens. they were suspended amid a bitter row when turkey arrested an employee in october. doug jones has been cemented as winner of the us senate race.