The authorities in El Salvador have asked the Mexican government to investigate the disappearance of scores of Salvadoran migrants. The Salvadoran foreign ministry said unidentified gunmen stopped a cargo train in the state of Oaxaca, in the south of Mexico, on Thursday. It said the men kidnapped around 50 migrants who'd stowed away on the train. This report from Vanessa Buschschluter.

Eyewitnesses say gunmen forced the train to stop in Chahuites by blocking the rails with logs and stones. They reportedly boarded the train, robbed and hit the stowaways with machetes, and took a group of them away at gunpoint. The Salvadoran consulate, which interviewed the migrants who escaped, believes 50 were kidnapped. Migrants are increasingly being targeted by drug gangs looking for new recruits.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron has said his Business Secretary Vince Cable will play no further part in deciding whether Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate, News Corporation, will be allowed to take over the satellite TV company BSkyB.

Mr Cameron said remarks about Mr Murdoch by Mr Cable recorded by an undercover reporter were totally unacceptable and inappropriate. Mr Cable was recorded as saying he'd declared war on Mr Murdoch and was going to win. News Corporation said it was shocked and dismayed.

World News from the BBC

The European Union Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas has described as "unacceptable" the severe disruption experienced by thousands of people in northern Europe trying to travel in the current wintry conditions. Heavy snowfalls have forced several European airports to close, as Maddy Savage now reports.