BBC News with Marion Marshall.

French investigators say they've obtained usable sounds and voice recordings from one of the black boxes of the German aircraft that crashed in the Alps. But Remi Jouty, the director of the French Air Investigation Bureau, told reporters that it would take time to interpret the recordings. With more, here's Theo Leggett.

The cockpit voice recorder was badly damaged but usable information was recovered from it. However, Mr. Jouty said that it would take several days to carry out even a basic analysis of the recordings and more detailed examination could take weeks or months. Investigators remained keen to find the second black box, the flight data recorder, which should contain detailed information about what the aircraft's control systems were doing in the run-up to the crash. Mr. Jouty said they still had no idea why the aircraft began to descend or why it failed to contact air traffic control.

Nigeria has ordered the closure of all its land and sea borders from midnight on Wednesday ahead of Saturday's elections. The presidential and parliamentary polls are expected to be the most tightly contested since military rule ended in 1999. Voting is due to take place as Nigeria battles an insurgency in its northeastern region. Tomi Oladipo reports from Lagos.

The Interior Ministry said this closure was needed as intelligence reports showed that non-Nigerians were planning to vote in the elections.No further details were given about where these foreigners were coming from. The state security service has also warned the public to be on high alert for possible attacks by Boko Haram. The extremist group has threatened to disrupt the elections in its quest to establish an Islamic state.

US military officials say Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, a former Taliban prisoner in Afghanistan, has been charged with desertion. It follows a lengthy inquiry into why he left his post in east Afghanistan six years ago before he was released later in a controversial prisoner exchange. Jenner Byron reports from Washington.

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was released by the Taliban in may last year in exchange of five detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The move sparked outrage among law makers of both parties who said such a prisoner swap could put other Americans at risk. But Administration officials said the decision was made because it fears that Bergdahl's life was in an immediate danger. He'd been held captive since walking away from his combat post in eastern Afghanistan in 2009, and a video showed him distraught and in ill health. After his release, some of his former comrades said he should had been charged with desertion. And after a lengthy inquiry, military officials now say he will be called marshalled.

Houthi rebels in Yemen appear to be close to taking over the southern city of Aden from forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. The rebels are said to have seized the airport and there're reports of fightings on the outskirts the city. Mr. Hadi, who had taken refuge in Aden, is no longer at his residence. The US State Department said it had been in touch with him but wouldn't give any details of his location.

BBC News.

An American official has confirmed that US-led coalition may soon carry out air strikes against besieged Iraqi city of Tikrit. United States has deliberately distanced itself from the Iraqi government operation to recapture the city from the Islamist state group, because the assault is led by Iranian backed Shia militias. But that offensive has now stalled.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron has apologized on behalf of the government to thousands of people who were infected with hepatitis C and HIV as a result of receiving contaminated blood. A public inquiry has described what happened in Scotland in the 1970s and 80s as the start of nightmares. Jane Draper reports.

1800 pages, 90 days of hearings, just one recommendation, that people who had blood transfusion in Scotland more than 24 years ago should be tested for hepatitis C. More than 5000 patients in the UK are known to have been infected by contaminated blood with more than 2000 dying.

The inquiry decided that screening blood products for hepatitis C should have begun ten months sooner. But the report said measures taken in Scotland to protect blood supplies and to screen them for HIV held up well in comparison to other countries, pointing out that both viruses were relatively new then.

The boy band One Direction have announced that Zayn Malik is leaving the band after five years. They said they would continue as a 4 piece. Zayn has apologized to fans but said he had to do what felt right in his heart.

German media are reporting that a Matisse painting held in a private collection is to be returned to the Jewish family who owned it before the second World War. The painting, worth an estimated 20 million dollars, was part of a Goering collection which contains art works stolen from Jewish families in the 1930s and 40s.

BBC World Service news.