BBC News with Marion Marshall.

Investigators have described a scene of devastation where a German passenger plane crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board. After flying over the area, the German Foreign Minister, Frank Steinmeier, spoke of a picture of horror. Video footage of the remains of the Airbus A320 shows a mass of tiny pieces of wreckage strewn across the site of a steep valley. The authorities say that one of the aircraft's black box recorders has been found. Alex Capstick is at the rescue base in Seyne les Alpes.

Helicopters have been taking off all day and making the, or for helicopters, a three or four minutes' journey to the crash site. The reason they are using helicopters, it is very difficult to get there. Well, you can't get there by road. There are very few clear tracks to actually walk there. It is in a very remote location, and that's why it's been difficult for this rescue operation. But teams have gone. They found the aircraft. They found debris scattered across the mountainside, and they have managed to recover the black box, and that will enable the accident investigators to piece together what exactly happened to Flight 9525 before it plunged from the sky into the mountainside.

The United States says it's changing its plans to halve the number of troops in Afghanistan by the end of this year, following talks in Washington between the U.S. and Afghan Presidents. A joint statement confirmed U.S. troop numbers will remain at nearly 10,000 until the end of 2015.

The Canadian Prime Minister, Steven Harper, has told Parliament that Canada would expand its military campaign against the Islamic State group to include airstrikes on Syria, where IS controls a wide swathe of territory. The government is also seeking the support of this House for its decision to explicitly expand the air combat mission to include Syria. The government recognises that ISIL's power base, that's the so-called caliphate's capital, is in Syria. In our view, ISIL must cease to have any safe haven in Syria. Mr. Harper said he would not seek Syrian government consent.

The United Nations has extended its staff benefits to all married gay couples despite a campaign led by Russia against the measure. The General Assembly Budget Committee voted to recognise same-sex partners and spouses regardless of whether or not gay marriage is legal in their country of origin. Nick Bryant reports.

Russia has been staunchly opposed to Ban Ki-moon's decision last year to give same-sex couples identical U.N. employee benefits as heterosexual couples, so long as they were married in countries where gay marriage is legal. Moscow favoured the U.N.'s previous position, which gave same-sex couples pension entitlement and travel allowances only if they were citizens of a country where gay marriage is recognised. The U.S. Ambassador, Samantha Power, accused Moscow of trying to export to the U.N. its domestic hostility to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

World news from the BBC.

The Libyan army says at least seven of its soldiers were killed when two cars, packed with explosives, drove into a military checkpoint in the eastern port city of Benghazi. Sources in the city say a 17-year-old girl was also killed in a separate rocket attack on a residential building.

Reports from northeastern Nigeria say that hundreds of children may be missing from a town that was recently recaptured by the military from the jihadist group, Boko Haram. One man told the BBC he believed more than 500 children were missing. But this cannot be independently verified.

The President of European football's governing body, UEFA, Michel Platini, has warned of a return to the dark days of football hooliganism. Speaking at UEFA's annual meeting, he said violence sparked by nationalism and extremism was threatening order at Europe's stadiums. Speaking through an interpreter, Mr. Platini called for the creation of a European sports police force.

We are not, neither judges nor police officers, nor legislators. And therefore I renew my call for greater awareness at the level of public authorities, so that we do not relive the dark days of a not so distant past. Some of us experienced that past at first hand. In my case, it was exactly thirty years ago. And nobody wants a repeat of such events.

Delegates later reelected Mr. Platini on a post as UEFA President for a third four-year term.

Four African writers are among the ten finalists with this year's Man Booker international Prize worth nearly 90,000 dollars. The award recognises an author's overall literary contribution. There is a first-time entry from the tiny French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, and writers from Libya, Mozambique, Hungary and the Republic of Congo, are also among those on this year's list. Previous winners of the prize, which is awarded every two years, include Chinua Achebe, Alice Munroand and Philip Roth.

BBC News.