Russian Rocket Blasts Off Into Space

A Russian, an American and a Briton travel into space. Not the start of a joke, but the latest visit to the International Space Station. We kick off the programme with the launch, live from Kazakhstan. Also: the Turkish army builds up its presence in southeast Turkey's Kurdish towns, power cuts in the Philippines from typhoon Melor, Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa continues his hunger strike in Egypt, words of warning from China as Rupert Wingfield Hayes flies over the Spratly Islands, and Star Wars -- the force has awakened.

Photo: The Soyuz TMA-19M rocket as it is launched at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: AFP/NASA/Joel Kowsky)