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More than 30,000 army, navy, police and air force personnel have been deployed across Sri Lanka to provide urgent aid to people hit by heavy flooding.

A government spokesman told the BBC that more than 325,000 people had been displaced by the floods, which have killed at least 21 people.

The priority since the rains abated on Thursday is to deliver emergency food and medical supplies.

In the centre and east farmland has been flooded and rice fields destroyed.

Thousands of people who fled the flooding are now living in camps on higher ground, a spokesman from the disaster management centre told the BBC.

But officials say that in some cases those camps in turn have been flooded – it is estimated that 25 out of 200 have been inundated in the coastal area of Batticaloa.

“More than one million people have been affected by the floods,” UN children’s fund spokesman Mervyn Fletcher told the BBC from Colombo.

“That means they have either been forced from their homes or have seen their property flooded.

“Access to clean water is becoming a major problem and we and other agencies are distributing purification tablets.”

Mr Fletcher said that the floods were especially bad news for people in the east, who in recent years have also endured a civil war and a tsunami.

The floods have left some stretches of railway line under nearly a metre of water.

Officials in Ampara say the rainfall there since Saturday has been the highest ever recorded in such a short time.

“There is a shortage of food for children,” a member of Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community in Ampara told BBC Tamil on Wednesday.

“In the morning we were forced to divide a single breakfast food parcel into four and give it to our four children.

“We have not got any help from the government. But the local people – especially the rich – have come forward and helped us. We are only getting something to eat because of their generosity.”

A number of big reservoirs have burst their banks, destroying paddy fields in a major rice-growing area.

People in some remote areas on Wednesday told the BBC they had seen no sign of aid agencies or government relief, and that some people in makeshift camps had been missing out on meals.

In other developments:

People in the central districts of Matale and Badulla are being evacuated because of the landslide threat, authorities sayThe price of vegetables has risen sharply because there is no means of transportation to the wholesale marketsThe temperature in Colombo dropped to 18.8C on Wednesday – the lowest recorded for 61 years, the Met Department saidThe Indian government says it will dispatch relief material for the flood-affected people, with the first consignment arriving on Friday

People in Batticaloa district told the BBC Tamil service on Wednesday that they had done their best to stay in their villages, but had been forced to flee in the end.

The air force has helped evacuate people and drop food supplies to some cut-off communities.

The government has made an emergency appeal for ordinary people’s help in sending dry rations, mattresses and bottled water.

Deputy Disaster Management Minister Duleep Wijesekara said on Wednesday that some places, such as Muttur, had been difficult to reach.

“I boarded a high-speed navy boat to get there [to Muttur], but due to the huge waves we had to turn back after sailing for about 15km. After that we had to send food in by air,” he said.

The floods bring a risk of disease, including the mosquito-borne dengue fever, which even in normal times is a severe problem in the country.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Three prisons which have a total capacity of 850 inmates will be closed by July, the Ministry of Justice is expected to announce.

The Times newspaper reports Ashwell prison in Rutland, Lancaster Castle in Lancashire and Morton Hall women’s jail in Lincolnshire will all close.

The move signals Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke’s determination to reduce the prison population.

A MoJ spokeswoman said an announcement on prison capacity would be made later.

BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins said the government is expected to argue that the closed prisons are expensive and inefficient.

It is expected to say Lancaster Castle is a medieval building, while Ashwell – which was badly damaged in a riot in April 2009 – would be too costly to restore to full use

It is understood Morton Hall will become an Immigration Removal Centre.

Our correspondent added the government will say new prisons at Belmarsh and Featherstone will create 2,500 new spaces in the next year, which will offer better value for money.

The inmates from the three prisons will be rehoused elsewhere in the prison estate, while about 500 staff will be transferred to nearby prisons or invited to apply for voluntary redundancy.

In December Mr Clarke set out plans to reduce the 85,000-strong prison population in England and Wales by about 3,000 over four years.

Other plans to reduce prison numbers included allowing some foreign criminals to leave Britain for good instead of going to prison, giving judges more discretion over sentencing in murder cases and handing more offenders fines or community sentences.

At the time, Mr Clarke said it was a “simpler, more sensible” approach but Tory backbenchers voiced concern that criminals would avoid being sent to prison.

The latest MoJ figures show there are currently 82,991 prisoners, about 5,000 less than the usable operational capacity of 87,936.

Ashwell prison, a former Army camp, is a facility for medium risk males with a capacity of 214.

Lancaster Castle is leased from Lancashire County Council while the land itself is owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. It has a capacity of 238.

And Morton Hall, a former RAF base, has a capacity of 392.

An MoJ spokeswoman said: “An announcement on prison capacity will be made to Parliament [on Thursday] morning.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Italy’s Constitutional Court is due to give a ruling on whether the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, can be tried on corruption and fraud charges.

Judges have to decide if legislation giving him temporary immunity from prosecution breaches the principle that all citizens are equal before the law.

Mr Berlusconi is a defendant in two trials, but they have in effect been suspended because of the law.

He has denied any wrongdoing and said he is indifferent to Thursday’s ruling.

“It really does not matter to me whether these trials are stopped or not,” he told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday. “I find the case laughable.”

The law granting members of the government immunity from prosecution for up to 18 months was passed in March in the face of bitter opposition.

If the court’s 15 judges throw out the “legitimate impediment” law on constitutional grounds, Mr Berlusconi faces two sets of proceedings.

He is accused of bribing British lawyer David Mills to give false testimony in 1997 to protect the media tycoon’s business interests.

He is also accused of tax fraud and false accounting in the acquisition of television rights by his Mediaset broadcasting empire.

The prime minister has argued he is the target of left-wing prosecutors.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Daniela Relph returns to Kenya with Britain’s 16-year-old swimming star, Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, to see where her Olympic dream began.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The body of Michaela McAreavey is expected to be flown home to Northern Ireland from Mauritius on Friday.

Mrs McAreavey, 27, daughter of Tyrone Gaelic football boss Mickey Harte, was found murdered in her honeymoon hotel room on Monday.

It is understood her family hope to hold her funeral next Monday – in the same County Tyrone church where she married on 30 December.

Three men have been charged in connection with the murder.

A lawyer for Raj Theekoy, who is accused of conspiracy to murder, said his client had spoken to police and implicated the other two.

The two men accused of murder are 29-year-old Avinash Treebhoowoon and 41-year-old Sandip Moneea.

All three men have been remanded in police custody for a week and will return to court next Wednesday, when they are expected either to be formally charged or released.

‘She is my life’

On Wednesday evening, a police chief in Mauritius told the Press Association that skin tissue found under the fingernails of Mrs McAreavey could prove crucial to the police case against the three men charged over her killing.

Mrs McAreavey’s husband, John, has described her as “his rock”.

He said their hopes, dreams and future were gone and he had been left heartbroken and totally devastated.

“I love my wife, very, very much and my world revolved around her.

“I can’t describe in words how lost I feel as Michaela is not just the light of my life – she is my life,” Mr McAreavey said.

The funeral mass is expected to take place at St Malachy’s in Ballymacilroy near the Harte family home in County Tyrone.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The assembly and UK governments remain at odds over whether an opt-out organ donor system in Wales would be legal.

It follows objections expressed as “fundamental concerns” by the attorney general about a separate system in Wales.

Health Minister Edwina Hart has told AMs that she had clear advice that the move was legal.

Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan has rejected criticism over how the issue is being handled.

The assembly government wants to bring in a soft opt-out system whereby people in Wales would need to indicate that they do not want their organs given for transplant when they die.

Supporters say it would help make more organs available for patients who need transplants.

But before the proposed system of presumed consent can be put in place, the UK parliament must agree the details of the new powers, as part of a legislative competence order (LCO).

However, as Ms Hart prepared to report on the progress of the LCO on Wednesday, she was given details of objections from the Attorney General Dominic Grieve – the UK government’s most senior law officer.

An assembly government source told BBC Wales the email containing the objections was sent from the Wales Office only 14 minutes before Mrs Hart was due to give her statement.

Concerns included whether the LCO was outside the devolved areas, and the practicalities of having a different system in Wales for organ donation to that in England.

But Ms Hart said the assembly government’s view was that the order was lawful “and we would intend to proceed with it”.

One assembly member later told BBC Wales that they felt elected members in Wales had been shown a lack of respect for their views on the issue of organ donation.

But Mrs Gillan said in a statement the LCO was being handled “in exactly the same way” as all other legislative bids from the assembly government.

She said she had “worked closely” with assembly government ministers, including talks on Monday with the first minister, raising potential difficulties with the process.

“It is routine for the government to seek the view of the attorney general on all LCOs, and to obtain government agreement for LCOs to be submitted for pre-legislative scrutiny,” she said.

She said they had reached this stage against a “very tight timetable” and it was now going for detailed scrutiny.

Kidney Wales Foundation chairman Roy J Thomas said “sending emails late in the day on matters of such importance is a major concern”.

He added: “We see it as being very legal [in Wales], and indeed if Westminster or Whitehall chose to challenge that – we would also challenge their view.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Supermarket giant Tesco has reported modest UK sales growth over Christmas, saying it had been “hindered” by the severe winter weather.

Like-for-like sales excluding petrol, which strip out the effect of sales from new stores, rose 0.6% in the six weeks to 8 January from a year earlier.

Non-food sales had been “subdued” as snow and ice disrupted customers travelling to larger stores, it said.

The results follow strong figures from rivals Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

Shares in the company were down 2.5% in early trading.

“Compared to its peers and the high expectations which the company carries, Tesco has fallen short today, as reflected by the share price drop in early trade,” said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

“Anaemic sales growth within its core UK market is a disappointment, particularly given the fact that the severe weather conditions actually provided a positive opportunity for the likes of Sainsbury. This comparative weakness has been seized upon by investors, which is a testament to the outperformance which the market demands from Tesco”.

The firm reported strong like-for-like sales of food in the UK, while its online business, Tesco Direct saw sales grow by 18%.

And there was continued growth overseas, with total international sales over the six-week period up by 14.2%. Sales rose by 24.2% in Asia, driven especially by Thailand and China.

In the US, total sales climbed by 36.9% at its Fresh & Easy convenience store business.

“Our performance remains solid but was hindered in the run up to the important Christmas trading period in the UK by the disruptive effects of the severe winter weather conditions,” chief executive Sir Terry Leahy said.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Some major High Street names including Argos, Dixons report falling sales – and warn of tough trading conditions.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.