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BBC news 2013-12-16

BBC News with Julie Candler.

Nelson Mandela has been laid to rest in South Africa's Eastern Cape where he grew up. Friends, family and political leaders paid final tributes to him at a state funeral remembering the qualities that turned a young activist into the world's most famous political prisoner and later his country's first democratically elected president. From the village of Qunu, Mike Wooldridge reports. “For its most celebrated leader, South Africa staged the biggest state funeral in its history. One of Nelson Mandela's granddaughters Nandi paid tribute to the man whose principle regret about going to prison for 27 years was it he missed so much of a family life. “We shall miss your voice as you told us stories of a childhood, we shall miss your laughter.” In the most emotional tribute of all, Ahmed Kathrada in prison with Nelson Mandela on Robben Island said his life was now in a void. President Jacob Zuma pledged to continue promoting non-racialism, reconciliation, forgiveness and the other values for which Nelson Mandela was renowned.”

Some 200,000 opposition supporters have converged on independence square in Ukrainian capital Kiev demanding the resignation of the President Viktor Yanukovych. It's the latest protest over the government's refusal to sign a deal on close integration with the European Union. The US Senator John McCain was cheered when he told crowds that Washington support them. “Ukraine will make Europe better and European will make Ukraine better. To all Ukrainians, America stands with you.”

The polls have now closed in Chile where people have been voting for a new president. The socialist candidate Michelle Bachelet has seen as the favourite, she fell just short of the outright majority she needed in the first round. The electoral authority says the turnout appears to have been low despite repeated calls by both candidates for people to vote.

France says President Francois Hollande will not attend the opening ceremony for 2014 winter Olympics in Russia, nor will any other top French official. The announcement was made by the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in a radio interview, but he did not elaborate on the reasons. Analysts say the Russian President Vladimir Putin has staked his personal prestige on staging a successful Olympic in an effort to showcase his country.

A human rights group in Saudi Arabia says one of its members has been sentenced to four years in prison and 300 lashes for calling for greater democracy. Omar al-Saed is the latest member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association to be jailed as the authorities continue their campaign against the group.

World News from the BBC.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has appointed the country's first female Defense Minister. SDhe's Ursula von der Leyen, currently Labour Minister and a mother of seven. Chancellor Merkel was unveiling her new cabinet after the centre-left Social Democrats voted to join a grand coalition with her centre-right bloc. Stephen Evans reports from Berlin. “The headline may be the appointment of the Germany's first female Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, but other appointments may be more significant in terms of policy. She is unlikely to be any less reluctant than her male predecessors to get the German military involved abroad. In terms of policy, the big change may be the new Foreign Minister from the Social Democrats Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The SPD is thought to be keener on reaching an accommodation with Russia despite concerns about President Putin's record on civil rights.”

The public prosecutor's office in the Brazilian city of Manaus has demanded the immediate suspension of a building work of the World Cup football stadium where a construction worker was killed on Saturday. The worker plunged more than 30 meters to his death from a roof. The authorities say the working conditions are unacceptably dangerous and the urgency to finish in time for next year’s tournament cannot cost more lives.

The actor Peter O'Toole who shot to fame in an Oscar winning film Lawrence of Arabia has died, he was 81. A mesmerizing and versatile actor, O'Toole was nominated for an Oscar eight times for roles ranging from King Henry II in Becket to an alcoholic journalist in Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell. Although he never won any of those, he accepted an honorary Oscar in 2003 when he was given a standing ovation. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, my foot. I have my very own Oscar now to be with me till deaths do part.

BBC News.