BBC news with Jonathan Izard.

Venezuela's National Assembly has been meeting to elect a possible stand-in for President Hugo Chavez who's struggling to recover from cancer surgery in Cuba. The assembly has reappointed a leading ally of Mr Chavez, Diosdado Cabello as its head. Sarah Grainger reports from Caracas.

Mr Chavez is due to be sworn in for another term of office on Jan 10. But it looks unlikely that he'll be well enough to attend. If he steps down before then, Mr Cabello would become Venezuela's care-taker president while fresh elections will organize within a month. Opposition politicians have said they would welcome the return to the ballot box, but government ministers are insisting that Mr Chavez's inauguration can be postponed to a later date. They say that President Chavez is on the road to recovery.

A court in the Indian capital Delhi has ordered five men accused of the gang rape and murder of a woman on a bus last month to appear before it on Monday. The case has sparked widespread anger in India and beyond. From Delhi, here's Andrew North.

Prosecutors say they have extensive evidence against the five men charged with the crime that continues to shake India. At a pretrial hearing, they told the court DNA tests show a match between the woman's blood and stains found on the clothes of the five men. Indian media say the bus driver has testified they planned to rape any woman who got on with some of the men posing as passengers to trick people into boarding. Delhi police have rejected allegations by the woman's friend that they were slow taking them to hospital.

Police in southern India say they've arrested seven people suspected of involvement in an illegal kidney transplant ring. The men including some government officials were allegedly arranging for kidneys to be removed from the poor and sold for transplant. Investigators say they paid the donors only a fraction of the money they took from recipients. Trade in human organs is illegal in India but there are widespread concerns that the law is not properly implemented.

A colonel in the Nepalese army has been denied bail by a London magistrate in order to return to court later this month. He's charged with two counts of torture during the Nepal's long civil war. Ben Geoghegan was in court.

Colonel Kumar Lama is alleged to have committed the offences when he was the commander of an army barracks in western Nepal in 2005. It's claimed he intentionally inflicted severe pain or suffering on two people. Although he's charged with offences that are alleged to have taken place in Nepal. The legal concept of universal jurisdiction means he can be prosecuted in the UK.

Police in Northern Ireland have clashed for the third day running with protesters opposed to a recent decision to restrict the flying of the Union Flag at Belfast city hall. Police used water cannon against a hundred demonstrators who threw bottles, bricks and smoke bombs. Cars have also been set alight. A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following reports that shots were fired.

World news from the BBC.

Egypt's state news agency says that there will be a cabinet reshuffle on Sunday. The news agency says that ten ministers will be replaced including the interior and finance ministers. The move follows weeks of political instability over a new constitution that was approved in a referendum two weeks ago.

The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to implement a set of measures designed to ease tensions between the two countries. After talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the African Union envoy Thabo Mbeki said the two men had promised to adopt unconditionally a deal first reached last September. It allows for the resumption of oil exports and cross-border trade, as well as the withdrawal of troops from contested border areas. The two countries have come close to all-out war since the south declared independence 18 months ago.

A cat has been detained at a prison in Brazil after being spotted carrying banned equipment including a mobile phone. Leonardo Rocha takes on this story.

Brazilian prison guards were surprised to see a white cat going through the main gate off the jail of that remote northeastern city of Arapiraca on New Year's Day. On closer inspection, they saw a number of items were strapped to the cat body which could be used by inmates to plan an escape, mobile phone and SIM card, drills, a phone recharger and small metal saws. Brazilian police say it's difficult to find out who among. More than 200 prisoners was involved in the plot. The cat has been taken into custody at an animal rescue center.

The French actor Gerard Depardieu is in Russia for a private meeting with President Vladimir Putin, the latest move in the star's bid to avoid a new French wealth tax. A Kremlin spokesman said Mr Depardieu could receive a new Russian passport from President Putin in person in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. On Thursday, the Frenchman was granted Russian citizenship after announcing his intention to give up his French passport over the government's decision to raise the top rate of tax to 75%.

BBC news.