this is bbc world news. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: former footballer george weah wins liberia's presidential election, the country's first democratic handover in decades. afghanistan's president condemns kabul‘s suicide bomb attack as a crime against humanity. the blast left more than a0 dead. this is the building where the explosion happened, and you can see the building has been destroyed. an easing of diplomatic tensions between turkey and the us, as both countries say they will restart visa services. and the ugly side of beauty pageants. miss america officials resign after leaked emails show widespread has won the liberian

presidential election. mr weah played for a string of high profile clubs, including ac milan, chelsea and manchester city. he entered politics after his retirement in 2002, and will succeed ellenjohnson sirleaf, africa's first elected female president. from monrovia, umaru fofana reports. hundreds of jubilant supporters of george weah took to the streets minutes after the electoral commission had announced the results. they chanted, "it was george weah we wanted. and it is george weah we have got". the capital reverberated with singing. it was never in doubt the former world footballer of the year would win.

election observers, both domestic and foreign, have hailed the conduct of the poll. this man was used to winning trophies but found it hard to win this, the biggest award of his life. liberia has stabilised after a decade of a long and bloody civil war, but it's still suffering with abject poverty and corruption. isaac zawolo is the media and communication strategist for george weah's cdc party. he joins me now from waldorf, maryland. thank you forjoining us. how does it feel to win, and win quite big as well? thank you for having me. let mejust say, well? thank you for having me. let me just say, thank you to the liberian people for the way they conducted themselves through this election campaign. i would also like to thank our opponents, the unity

party, for putting up a very stiff opposition to us. in full the furtherance to our opposition, we are very much overjoyed and excited. -- full are very much overjoyed and excited. —— full deference. we ran a campaign based on integrity. besides that, president weah connected with ordinary liberians in so many ways. prior to rising to soccer stardom, he came from the slums. it is for those people that he decided to enter politics, to give them a better life. it is no surprise to us that we had such a good margin of victory. what is it specifically, in

terms of policies, that he will do for the liberian people? well, in terms of policies, let me be quick to say that our country emerged from civil war from the last 12 years, there has been tremendous progress made in our country, that our governing president, ellen johnson si rleaf, governing president, ellen johnson sirleaf, there have been numerous challenges in this country. parts of the country are very inaccessible in the country are very inaccessible in the rainy season we have huge unemployment. we have issues with youth education and youth unemployment. we have broken infrastructure. our energy grid is not fully functional. so there are lots of issues for our government to face. but our resolve is strong. to boost more liberians above the poverty line, more so than any other government in the history of liberia. we're also committed to making sure that our farms are

connected to our roads, so that their products can the markets. —— can reach the markets. we are committed to expanding the pillars of our economy. to move from a raw material producing country to country that produces raw materials, involves itself in agriculture and manufacturing. those are the priorities that face us and those are some of the things that we will be sitting down to prioritise and with a plan in place for our people. but we think that we have a tremendous opportunity to really improve the lives of order mary liberians. isaac, thank you for joining us here on bbc news. at least a dozen people have been killed and several injured in a fire at a multi—storey building in india's financial capital of mumbai. the fire began in the early hours of friday at a commercial building in kamala mills compound in central mumbai.

the building houses some commercial establishments including hotels. the cause of the fire is not yet known. we are getting reports of a fire at a multi—storey apartment block in new york. the emergency services have reported at least 15 people injured and an unconfirmed number of deaths after the blaze in the bronx. the american broadcaster, cbs, is reporting six people have died. the fire is said to have taken place towards the northern end of prospect avenue, which stretches up through much of the bronx. local media say that the fire erupt shortly before seven o'clock in the evening, local time, on the third floor of the 5—storey building. what you are looking at now why the latest pictures coming in to us. firefighters working on the ground. a witness from a neighbouring building described the scene to us.

i woke building described the scene to us. iwoke up building described the scene to us. i woke up and i realised that i smelt smoke, and i thought it was my building that was on fire. it wasn't actually my building, it was the building across the street. as i looked, i saw flames, and building across the street. as i looked, isaw flames, and i building across the street. as i looked, i saw flames, and i realised everybody was panicking. so i went down to see what was wrong and obviously by the time i got downstairs the fire had escalated from one apartment, to two, from 223. i saw a bunch of kids on the fire escape, cold, no jackets or pyjamas or nothing. all i could see was kids in shorts, no socks or nothing. i knew they were cold, they we re nothing. i knew they were cold, they were waiting for the firemen to save them, but in order to do that they have to put the fire out. a witness to the apartment block fire in new york. a suicide bombing in the afghan capital, kabul has claimed the lives of at least a0 people and injured more than 80 others, with women and children 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.

in recent months, so—called islamic state has attacked many shia muslim targets in this area of kabul, where the majority of the city's shia population lives. 0ur 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, female students, male students, from different universities in kabul. translation: i saw many dead in the area, i was looking for my cousin but i 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 no—one 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's been 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. zia shahreya, bbc, kabul. in venezuela, hundreds of people have been protesting in the poorer parts of caracas against the shortage of promised pork, a key ingredient for traditional christmas meals. president maduro has accused portugal of sabotaging deliveries. a portuguese company denied the claims and said venezuela still owed portuguese firms almost $50 million from pork deliveries made in 2016. 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. officials in alabama have formally certified democrat doug jones as the winner of the state's senate race. that's despite attempts by his defeated republican rival, roy moore, to stop his certification going ahead. mr moore filed a last minute lawsuit to challenge the result, alleging voterfraud, but a judge denied the request. roy moore, whose campaign had been plagued by allegations of sexual misconduct, lost narrowly. his lawyers said there'd been a higher—than—expected turnout. but state officials were emphatic that they found no evidence of fraud. i don't think there's any doubt from the minds of anybody

here in this room or anyone within the sound of my voice, that there was ever a question about whether or not the state of alabama conducts honest and fair and safe and secure elections, that question has been eliminated from anyone's thought and mind, period. a suicide bombing in the afghan capital, kabul has claimed the lives apple has issued a rare apology to iphone users after admitting it deliberately slowed down there older model phones to help deal with wea ker model phones to help deal with weaker batteries. the tech giant has also announced it will drop the price of replacement batteries for all the right phones which are out of warranty. for more on this, let's go to sydney and speak to technology expert charlie brown. charlie, were all those iphone conspiracy theorists right, then? good to be with you, doug. they were correct. what was quite interesting was the ground swell of anger from customers grew so large that apple had to

respond. i don't believe apple had toissue respond. i don't believe apple had to issue an apology for what they did, but rather the way they did it. not telling your customer these days what you are doing in the background isa what you are doing in the background is a real no—no, especially when you are making a product so many of us rely on, day to day, our two—hour. —— hourto rely on, day to day, our two—hour. —— hour to hour. the apology was well received and i think the $30 for replacing your battery will be fantastic. iphone customers will be able to extend the life of their batteries. i think you will see other manufacturers responding in kind before long. their hand was forced, wasn't it? it was actually some tech experts who worked out it was the battery is causing the problem? correct. -- batteries. what we saw was that every time apple did a software update, when the changes to people's operating structure occurred, there would be a massive

spike on google for people searching" slow iphone". that told us, hang on a second, something is going on here. it didn't take too long to these programmers to debunk what was happening. do you think we will see more transparency from apple now, now that they have had to back down on this issue? well, getting a apology out of apple traditionally has not been that forthcoming for other issues. —— an apology. i think this is more part ofa apology. i think this is more part of a more transparent apple that we are going to see. if you go back ten yea rs are going to see. if you go back ten years or $0 are going to see. if you go back ten years or so to when the iphone was launched, or even before that, when we all had ipodss, we might have owned one apple product. today we have an iphone, and laptop, an ipad, so have an iphone, and laptop, an ipad, so the net that apple is taking with its customers to keep them happy is much larger. —— so the bet. so it needs to focus on maintaining that relationship and keeping it positive, and i think the apology

todayis positive, and i think the apology today is a step in the right direction. charlie committed to talk to you. —— charlie, good to talk to you. let's return to one of our main stories of this sour, a blaze in an apartment building in new york which is now believed to have left 12 people dead. —— this hour. you'll the blahs yeo recently held a news conference. —— bill de blasio. holidays and families together. tonight, there are families in the bronx who have been torn apart. this is the worst fire tragedy we have seen is the worst fire tragedy we have seenin is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in the city in at least a quarter of a century. this will rank as one of the worst losses of life

from fire in many, many years. at this moment, based on preliminary information, and there will be more information, and there will be more information coming in but based on the information now, i'm very sorry to report that 12 new yorkers are dead including one child as young as one—year—old. there are four people critically injured who are fighting for their lives. 0ther critically injured who are fighting for their lives. other serious injuries as well. thank god, because of ftn why‘s quick response, based on information we have now, at least 12 people were rescued and will survive but the search of the building continues. —— fdny's. and that —— and even though it is horrible to report that 12 dead, we might lose others as well. that was the mayor of new york confirming that 12 people have died

in an apartment fire. do stay with us. still to come: the pub, the pay packet, and the power of social media. how one man was reunited with his missing money. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we will use money we picked up in belgium today, and then we will be in france and we will use the same money. it has just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. you... just good? no, fantastic!

that's better. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: former footballer george weah has won liberia's presidential election in the country's first democratic handover in decades. afg hanistan‘s president has condemned kabul‘s suicide bomb attack as a crime against humanity. the blast left more than a0 dead. the iconic miss america beauty pageant is in turmoil, over an e—mail scandal that's forced it's most senior board members to step down. the huffington post has published e—mails, which allegedly show

pageant officials making vulgar comments on contestants' weight, sex lives, intellect — even wishing one was dead. miss america executive director sam haskell has resigned, as well as presidentjosh randle, and some other board members. an online petition with tens—of—thousands of signatures is gaining traction. it's calling for everyone on the board to be sacked. earlier i asked feminist writer jamia wilson how shocked she was by these revelations. unfortunately, we live in a culture where misogyny and sexism are ingrained deeply and you can see that from the reckoning of the me too movement and this is a part of that. these things happen coming to light and women have been injuring them for too long because it is embedded in our system. in terms of miss america, just for the moment, what you think should happen to the organisation? there should be full accountability. i really support the women who have been speaking out, like mallory hagan, who says that there needs to be

new leadership and represents those who have been through this process and reflects the women who have been part of miss america. i support their call to action and the petition campaign that they have valiantly put out there and want to encourage them to continue to organise and make their organisation reflect the people who it serves. do you think there is any part for an organisation like this in the modern world? is it not harking back to a bygone era when women were far less empowered ? my vision for the future is that we have platforms that this big and is supported and widely watched that will actually support women's views rather than support women's shoes. it is important for us to help women uplift their lives systemically and that give more people access to education and opportunities that are connected to their intellect

and not the way they are presented in their appearance. while this is a scholarship pageant and i fully respect the choices of those who participate, i would like to see more opportunities for women to be out there and supported with a full leadership without being objectified in any way. going back to something you said earlier, do you think this is part of a bigger cultural reckoning that we are going through right now? absolutely. i think this is part of a ground swell of organising that will continue and i think that the backlash we are now seeing is a sign of progress, because women coming together and speaking truth to power is making a change and it is showing people who are harmed was that we are coming for you, we are coming together and we are going to people accountable for behaviour that is harmful to our society. jamia wilson in south carolina. thousands of people have marched through cities in peru to protest the pardoning of former president alberto fujimori.

they accused the current president of granting the pardon in exchange for political support from a party led by mr fujimori's daughter. on thursday both she and the president were interviewed by prosecutors investigating a major corruption scandal. these protest is thought ex—president alberto fujimori would spend at least another decade in jail but his convictions for corruption and for ordering the killing of opponents have now been quashed and that is what brought thousands onto the streets. translation: they gave a just sentence to alberto fujimori and he hasn't fulfilled it. who is he? we all deserve justice. we work hard. but now pedro pablo kuczynski has betrayed us. let's get rid of him. last week, president pedro pablo kuczynski celebrated after surviving an impeachment vote despite admitting taking money from a

brazilian company while a government minister. the company has admitted paying millions of dollars in bribes to officials in several countries including peru to secure contracts. however, president pedro pablo kuczynski says he was only paid legitimate consulting fees. on thursday, he was interviewed for four hours by prosecutors investigating the case. they also interviewed kuczynski's main rival, the leader of the majority party in parliament, keiko fujimori, the daughter of the former president. she was the main drive behind the impeachment vote. the party split in the move failed. days later her father was pardoned. on the streets, protesters assumed a deal was done and blamed the entire political class. the man at the centre of the angen class. the man at the centre of the anger, alberto fujimori himself, remains in hospital, seriously ill according to his doctor. his future and that of the country are once

again intertwined. 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. 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 landlord mick and his wife posted a picture on twitter. that was retweeted by authorjk 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!

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. hello.

friday starts with a number of wintry weather warnings from the met office covering many parts of the british isles. we have very specific concerns about the amount of snow that is likely to fall across the higher ground of england. into an already cool atmosphere, it will eventually bring quite a bit of moisture from the atlantic. and as that moisture falls into a pretty chilly atmosphere, so there will be a ready conversion of some of the rain into significant snowfall. here we see the extent of it, around about seven o'clock in the morning on friday. and anywhere really from the central belt of scotland down towards the higher ground of northern england, we will see lying snow accumulating. ahead of it, some of the lighter rain will be falling onto pretty treacherous surfaces. so, there are warnings about ice.

but over the high ground of the pennines, we may find up to 15 centimetres of snow. further south, it is one of those mornings. that rain will again be falling onto some pretty cold surfaces. a risk of ice even across the southern counties of england. as the morning wears on, we will find the bulk of that moisture moving out into the north sea. but following on behind, just the northern portion of that front lingering for a time, just enhancing the snowfall across the southern uplands of scotland and the top end of the pennines. as that system moves away, so it makes room for another set of weather fronts to work its way in, particularly across the southern half of the british isles, as we get into the first part of saturday. a wet and windy combination gradually clearing away. you will notice the northern portion of the weather front eventually pushes up across the heart of scotland, with yet more snow to come.

chilly here, as you can well imagine. further south, the temperatures rebounding. the sort of values we have seen of late. even as far ahead as new year's eve, there is another combination from another little system of some wet and windy weather. there is a great deal of mobility. nothing hanging around for any great length of time. if you happen to have plans for seeing in the new year, it will be a chilly start to the new year, no doubt about it. further south, passing showers, perhaps. given the strength of the wind we are showing eight degrees, but it may feel cooler than that. so, what news for the start of the new year? well, i suspect you have already guessed. yes. more weather fronts coming in from the atlantic, more wet and windy weather to come. this is bbc news. the headlines: the former footballer george weah has won a convincing victory in liberia's presidential election. his win paves the way for the first democratic transfer of power in the west african nation since 1944. his supporters have been celebrating on the streets of the capital monrovia.

so—called islamic state group has said it was behind a suicide attack on a shia cultural centre in the afghan capital kabul. many of the a0 people killed were students attending a conference. the afghan president has called the bombing a "crime against humanity." at least 12 people are dead, including a child, after a fire at a multi—storey apartment block in the bronx, new york. four others are critically injured. because of the fire, which began on the first floor and spread to higherfloors, is not known. —— the cause of the fire. now on bbc news, rachel horne looks back at the big business stories