BBC News with Marion Marshall.

The UN Security Council has passed a resolution demanding a halt to Israeli settlement building on occupied Palestinian land which it calls a flagrant violation of international law. The vote passed after the United States-Israel traditional ally abstained. The US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said the resolution was consistent with Washington’s support for a two-state solution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the move. A statement from his office said Israel will not abide by the terms of the resolution. A Palestinian spokesman Saeb Ereket said it represented a victory for international law and a total rejection of what he called extremist forces in Israel.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her government is doing everything humanly possible to step up security in the wake of the Berlin Christmas market attack. She said the State needed to be stronger. Mrs. Merkel spoke of her relief that the danger posed by the Tunisian who carried out the attack was over. Anis Amri was shot dead by Italian police early on Friday.

A group of prisoners serving sentences in Chile for humsn rights abuses committed under General Pinochette have asked for forgiveness at a Christmas mass held inside their jail. Relatives of victims of the Pinochette era dismissed the move as cynical and an empty gesture.

Donald Trump’s team has made public a letter they say as from President Vladimir Putin in which the Russian leader talks of his hopes for improved relations between the two countries. The document dated from earlier this month refers to boosting cooperation to a qualitatively new level. The US President-elect described the letter as “so correct”.

The American film star Carrie Fisher who plays Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies has suffered a heart attack on the flight from London to Los Angeles. Her brother said she is in stable condition in hospital.

BBC News.