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. his opponent roy moore claimed voter fraud. now at 10pm huw edwards will be here

with a full round—up of the news. first, one of the year from our award winning documentary series. in indonesia, the dead sometimes share space with the living. it's the great unspoken. a taboo. something that i've had to face up to recently myself. most of us don't know how to think or talk about death. but there are some people who do think they know. on the indonesian island of toraja, centuries—old customs make the dead a constant part of day—to—day life. i have come here to learn more about these remarkable practices, which blur the line between this world and the next. a morbid obsession?

or a healthier way to deal with the grief of losing a loved one? tana toraja in indonesia is an extraordinary place. here, ancient aminist beliefs intertwine with new religions, resulting in unique rituals. at this traditional torajan funeral friends and family gather to celebrate the life of a local wealthy man called dengan, who died over two years ago. but here is the strange thing. as far as his family and everybody else here are concerned, dengan is still alive. torajans have a strong desire to stay connected to

their dead loved ones. in spirit and in body. to see what this means in practice, i went to visit a torajan family. hello. nice to meet you. this man is 86 and his family take care of him. he died more than two years ago.

here, it takes months and sometimes years, until a funeral actually takes place. in the meantime, families keep the deceased in the house and care for them on a daily basis. they treat them as if they were sick. torajans traditionally rub special leaves and herbs over a body

to preserve it. nowadays, a chemical called formalin is often injected into the body to embalm it. there is a powerful odour of musk and the chemical. when my father died, we buried him in two days. it was all very sudden, it was all very bam, bam. and to be honest with you, a few years on, i still feel i haven't adjusted. it was just too sudden. i am still in a bit of a shock. does this help you? what's really incredible, none of these kids seem to be fazed by the fact that there is a dead person lying here. everybody is so calm. he will remain here until his family have saved enough money for a lavish funeral.

during their lives, torajans work hard to accumulate wealth. but rather than saving for a luxurious life, they save for a grand departure from this earth. the wealthier they are, the larger and more elaborate the funerals. some last for days. dengan was a rich man. and his funeral lasted seven days. animal sacrifice is a fundamental part of this tradition. buffaloes are a very important element to the torajan

funerals, because they are believed to be the carriers of the deceased's soul into the afterlife. the meat is eaten at the funeral feast, and the buffalo horns decorate homes and tombs of the deceased. a symbol of wealth and status. the sacrifice, it's one part of helping your soul to reincarnation. by the way of ancestor, everybody will be going to reincarnation. but not everyone gets the same way, gets the same time, gets a short way or long way. $50,000 was spent on dengan's funeral. roughly ten times more than the average annual income here. they sacrificed 2a

buffaloes, more than a0 pigs, as well as feeding and accommodating hundreds of guests. the funeral is one way to make your soul get to reincarnation. even at this point, dengan's funeral is not complete. only when his coffin is carried to the top of this special platform, is he finally considered dead. according to ancient animist beliefs here, this is the

point where the soul finally ascends to the cosmos. from there, it watches over living relatives, bringing them good fortune, as long as the families take proper care of their dead. for centuries, the torajans have been laying their dead to rest in caves like this. yet another place where the afterlife connects with this one. this cave winds for two kilometres. and it's pretty full. even here, friends and families bring necessities for their dead relatives. in a tradition predating photography, statues of dead noblemen and women are carefully carved out of wood. most people here are

farmers, and their average income is around $5,000 a year. it's clear that for torajans, the process of dying and being reincarnated is far smoother if you are rich. these sculptures are dressed in the clothes, jewellery and even the hair of the deceased. silent sentinels looking out over this one from another. here, the physical relationship between the dead and the living

continues long after death. even after burials. people are coming out of the church now, and they are all shaking hands in their traditional manner. they do this and then they touch their chest. and they're getting ready for a less usual ceremony. the village leader explains that the ritual is called manene, also known as the cleansing of the corpses. once every couple of years, families bring the coffins of long departed relatives out of their graves and open them up for a big family reunion.

these are the close relatives of a woman called maria, and they are here for the cleansing. one of the guests is a torajan professor of sociology. it means doing something for someone beloved who has passed away. the family will bring maria out of this tomb for the first time today. chanting. they're bringing maria out now.

we're just waiting for them to open her coffin. i'm feeling a bit nervous, to be honest. i had to come out to get some distance from it. there really was no escaping death. i watched as they slaughtered pigs. and the final sacrifice. a buffalo. the coffin is finally opened. once again, that strong odour of musk and formalin filled the air. thank you. they want me to show what she looked like before and what she looks like now. she died three years ago and got buried two years ago. they kept in the house for one year. maria is covered in her most treasured possessions. relatives touch her as a greeting.

i'm going to try to touch her hair, just as everybody else does, as a sign of respect. she feels... she feels very hard. the hairfeels like normal. still very soft. i couldn't help but wonder how children feel seeing their mother this. her eldest son seemed very calm. i don't see any more sign of grief. it's just normal. it's just the body is here and it's normal. when you couldn't see the body, when it was inside the coffin, even i was shaking. i was a lot more nervous. and everybody seemed more upset. well, the relatives. but now everybody is content. another guest particularly close

to maria is esther, her daughter—in—law. how do you think this helps you deal with the grief? but for me, i want to remember my relatives, my dad, i want to remember him when he was alive. i'm worried that if i see him dead, i will — his identity

will change in my mind. many of these practices are slowly disappearing. the majority of horizons converted from the old animist religion to christianity after dutch missionaries arrived less than a century ago. but here, the two can and do coexist. they're wrapping maria in this white sheet. this is a symbol of changing her clothes. in some villages they literally change the outfit into a new fashionable one. but here, because they are christians, they don't want to mess around too much with the corpse. all this is so different to how i've dealt with my father's death. or so i thought. what did you do to your father? we buried him. buried him, yeah. and then until now? i visit his grave sometimes.

how? yeah. so perhaps the principles behind rituals here are not very different from most other cultures. remembering our dead is something most of us try to do. torajans don't leave that to chance. and for them, there certainly appears to be great comfort from their unique rituals around death. the first part of the new year looks

set to bring something a little bit milder. but before the old year is done there is still potential for wintry weather to cause some issues. a met office amber be prepared warning for snow through the first pa rt warning for snow through the first part of friday, particularly across northern england but not exclusively. that's where we expect the most significant snowfall across the most significant snowfall across the south of the pennines. through northern england into southern scotland, snow even to fairly low levels. northern ireland, rain, sleet and snow. similar in parts of wales and the midlands. is this rain

falls on very cold surfaces, there could be some icy conditions through the first part of the day. which ever way you slice it, some disruption is possible through the first part of friday. going on through the data rain, sleet and snow will drift north across northern england into scotland, fiddling away. to the south something brighter developing, spells of sunshine, a scattering of showers. generally quite a windy day and a range of temperatures. just two in glasgow. milder showing its hand towards the south—west. the warm frontal system clears away through friday night, another slide into the picture on saturday. again bringing rain northwards. again that could turn to snow particularly over high ground in scotland. even at fairly low levels we could see snowfall during saturday. rain flirting with the far south of england. 13 degrees in plymouth, much milder than it has been but still cold air holding an further north. moving out of saturday into

new year's eve, it's all about the south—westerly winds bringing mild weather, particularly in the south. wind is quite strong at times, gales in exposed spot outbreaks of rain moving from the south—west of the north—east, may be cold enough for snow in the north. temperatures around 5—13d. if you are out celebrating at midnight on new year's eve, expect clear spells overhead. the chance for one or two showers blowing in on the south—westerly wind. though temperatures don't look particularly low on the face of it, on the strength of the wind it could feel on the chilly side. what about 2018? new year's eve will start off fine and dry and chilly, but will cloud over from the west with outbreaks of wayne. strong winds as well, and u nsettled wayne. strong winds as well, and unsettled new year's day. temperatures for— 10 degrees. out of new year's day into tuesday, south—westerly winds, pressure

north—west of the british isles. this could be a deep feature bringing strong winds indeed, gales, possibly severe, in places. bands of rain sweeping erratically north and east, temperatures of 6—12d. weather will be dictated on the other side of the atlantic, a cold snap continuing. as the cold air tries to dig south it strengthens the jet stream, the jet stream, dig south it strengthens the jet stream, thejet stream, high dig south it strengthens the jet stream, the jet stream, high winds way above our heads, driving the weather systems around the world. as the cold air built into the jet we speed up these deep areas of low pressure. through the coming days into early 2008 we'll see spells of rain and gales and generally less cold as we go into the first part of the new year. tonight at 10pm:

a suicide bombing in the afghan capital, kabul, has claimed the lives of at least a0 people. the islamic state group says it carried out the attack in the west of the city. we report from the scene. this is the building where the explosion happened that you can see that the building has been almost completely destroyed. more than 80 people were injured. there were women and children among the casualties. weather experts say they're expecting further disruption in many parts of the uk, because of ice and heavy snow tonight. how the nhs in england raised more than £174 million in hospital parking charges last year. and an unbeaten 244 from alistair cook puts england in control of the fourth ashes test in melbourne.