News

The Euro has fallen in early trading in Australasia after the Greek exit polls showed a probable victory for the far-left Syriza party.

The Euro fell nearly half a cent to around £1.1170, approaching an 11-year low.

Severe weather warnings have been issued for large parts of the UK as forecasters predict heavy snow in the coming days.

Wintry showers are expected to hit northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning - which means be aware - and called on the public to prepare for disruption to travel.

Forecasters expect 2-5cm of snow to accumulate locally at low levels while higher ground above 150 metres could see in excess of 10cm. Visibility could be significantly reduced at times with strong and gusty winds likely to accompany snow showers.

A statement by the Met Office's chief forecaster read: "An active cold front is expected to push south-east across the UK during Wednesday introducing an increasingly cold and unstable air mass.

"Showers will become frequent and heavy, increasingly falling as snow in the north and west, and driven well inland by strong to gale force north-westerly winds. Accumulating snow is likely, especially overnight."

A fresh gun battle erupted in Nigeria between militants and troops near the airport of the northeastern city of Maiduguri, a security source and nearby resident said Sunday evening.

"I can hear sporadic gun shots and bomb explosions, I am sure the boys are back to retaliate for what was done to them this morning," Bello Muhammad, who lives about 300 metres (yards) from the airport, told Reuters.

Suspected Boko Haram insurgents launched an attack on the outskirts of Maiduguri, including the airport that is used by military and civilian aircraft, on Sunday just after midnight but were repelled by the army in the early afternoon.

The exit polls in the Greek elections could show the collapse of mainstream political parties, ITV News Europe Editor James Mates says, if they do reflect the result.

Greek exit polls are often unreliable but today's is unlikely to be wrong, ITV Europe Editor James Mates reports:

Exit poll shows Greece's far-left Syriza party leading the General Election with 35.5%-39.5% of the vote.

The Conservative New Democracy party are in second place with 23%-27% of the vote.

The biggest party generally needs between 36 and 40% of the vote to win outright although the exact figure depends on the share of the vote taken by parties that fail to cross the 3% threshold to enter parliament.

The exit poll indicated that seven or eight parties will make it into parliament.

The European Union will summon foreign ministers of its 28 member states for an emergency meeting to discuss renewed fighting in Ukraine on Thursday, Foreign Affairs chief Federica Mogherini said.

East Ukraine has seen all out war return in recent days since pro-Russian rebels announced the effective end of a five-month ceasefire and the start of a new offensive.

They launched an assault on Saturday on Mariupol, a port of 500,000 people, the largest city still under government control in two rebellious eastern provinces.

The family of Zac Evans have paid tribute to him as a "happy chap" who "constantly gave us endless laughter, fun and immense pride."