Dublin City Council has to "scramble" to find emergency places for homeless families any time there is a bank holiday, a homeless charity has said.

Anthony Flynn, from Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH), said people put up in hotels or B&Bs often lose their places when the city is particularly busy.
This weekend is a bank holiday in the Republic of Ireland.
Dublin's Croke Park is also sold out for a GAA All-Ireland SFC quarter-final double header.
In May, several homeless families in Dublin were advised to stay overnight in Garda (Irish police) stations due to a lack of emergency accommodation.
According to the Dublin Region Homeless Executive website, in May 794 families with 1,592 dependents were housed in hotels - and a further 305 families in homeless accommodation.
Mr Flynn of the ICHH said that on Wednesday night the charity dealt with a woman and her three children who had lost their place in a hotel.
"That family yesterday had been walking round town all day with three young children and sat in our offices last night with three children in their pyjamas," he said.
He said they were told they might have to stay in a Garda station as a last resort, but were finally put up in a hostel at about 22:30 local time.
Mr Flynn said he was told a number of other families had been in a similar position.
"It's the case that every time a bank holiday hits Dublin, rooms are being made unavailable to the council and the council are then scrambling to try and place people at night time," he said.
"We need to be planning better, the fact is hotel usage is not the solution in order to sort the homeless or the housing crisis.
"My fear is that tonight and tomorrow night things are going to get a hell of a lot worse as we move closer to the weekend and people are told they have to leave hotels because of this influx of tourists."
Eoin Ó Broin, Sinn Féin TD for Dublin, expressed concerns about homeless families ahead of this weekend.
"Every single night in the city is a crisis in the homeless services, absolutely every single night," he said.
"Croke Park is sold out on Saturday, so you're going to have 80,000 people. People will come on Friday or Saturday and stay a night or two. It's also a bank holiday weekend, there's a ton of tourists in the city.
"So I would be very worried that families who are in hotel accommodation are going to lose their beds over this weekend and you'll have an increased number of people going to the Focus Ireland intake team on top of the people who would already be presenting as homeless.
"It's going to be a real nightmare this weekend and that's before you get to all the single homeless people."
Focus Ireland works on behalf of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive to help families who are homeless to secure emergency accommodation.
It says homelessness will never be solved by providing more emergency accommodation.
"We know from the frontline work of our excellent services staff that one of the main reasons families are becoming homeless is that more property is being taken out of the rental market," said the group's Roughan MacNamara.
"This is happening because the landlord is selling up, or the house is being repossessed by a financial institution or vulture fund."
He added: "The government voted down legislation last year - the so-called Focus Ireland anti-homelessness amendment - which would have stopped the evictions of tenants in buy-to-let properties that are being sold or repossessed.
"We know from our analysis that if this legislation had been passed it would prevent up to 20 families a month from becoming homeless in Dublin alone."
Focus Ireland has called on the government to take action on this issue.
The ICHH's Anthony Flynn said he feared that the family who sought his help on Wednesday night would be in the same position on Thursday.
"They'll have to contact the council and basically they'll be told to wait until this evening again and they'll try and accommodate them at some level throughout the day.
"But if they don't find anything they'll land back down in our offices again," he said.
"When we're looking at three young children at 22:00 with nowhere to go to and being put into a hostel at 22:30, it's unacceptable.
"We need to build houses, we need an exit strategy for those people who are entering homelessness."


A rogue Venezuelan policeman who used a stolen helicopter to fire on government buildings has re-emerged at an opposition vigil.

It was Oscar Pérez's first public appearance since the attack.
He has been on the run since the incident, with the government accusing him of terrorism and of working for foreign powers.
Venezuela has been shaken by often violent protests in recent months and is in economic crisis.
Video footage shows Mr Pérez, 36, in the middle of a group of masked demonstrators mourning the deaths of those killed in the demonstrations.
He called for another general strike on 18 July against the government, a date he called the "zero hour".
Mr Perez also urged Venezuelans to back a symbolic vote organised against government plans to rewrite the constitution.
During the helicopter attack several shots were fired and grenades dropped on the Supreme Court. No-one was injured.
Mr Pérez was a member of the police force for 15 years.
Colourful details have emerged about his past, including an acting role in the 2015 film, Suspended Death, which tells the story of elite police officers rescuing the victim of a kidnapping.
More on Venezuela's turmoil


US police are trying to establish why a man and woman opened fire at a social services centre in California, killing 14 people and wounding 17 more.

The pair, named as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, were killed in an exchange of fire with police.
President Obama said it was "just too easy" for individuals to carry out such mass shootings in the US.
He said it was possible the latest incident was terror-related but the authorities do not know at this stage.
The FBI is investigating terrorism and a workplace grudge as possible motives, the bureau's Los Angeles office said earlier.
The incident took place at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, where Farook worked.
It marks the deadliest mass shooting in the US since 26 people were killed at a school in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012.
Farook and Malik are thought to be a couple with a six-month-old baby. Police said the attack indicated there had been "some degree of planning".
San Bernardino shooting: What we know
Community shock at shooting
Politicians 'shamed' for offering prayers
The attack took place at an event on Wednesday for Farook's colleagues, which Farook attended.
He had been a San Bernardino public health employee for five years, police chief Jarrod Burguan said.
Mr Burguan said that Farook had left the event "under some circumstances that were described as angry".
He returned with Malik to open fire, armed with assault rifles and semi-automatic handguns and wearing military-style clothing.
Hundreds of people were evacuated as police officers swept through the massive complex.
Others locked themselves in rooms waiting for police to arrive.
Terry Petit's daughter, who works at the centre, sent him a text message from inside the centre, according to the Associated Press.
She wrote: "People shot. In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office."
Both suspects were killed in their vehicle after a shoot-out with police involving 20 officers. A tip-off had earlier led police to a house in nearby Redlands.
A third person seen running from the scene was detained, but police said it was unclear whether they were involved.
The authorities said all the weapons had been purchased legally but did not explain how they got into the hands of the perpetrators.
Three explosives devices were also found at the centre.
Farook, who was born in the US, worked for the county as an environmental health specialist, police said.
They had no information on whether he had a criminal record, nor further details on Malik.
Colleagues told the Los Angeles Times that Farook had travelled to Saudi Arabia and returned with a new wife. The couple had a young baby, they said.
The pair had dropped off their infant with relatives early on Wednesday, Hussam Ayloush of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said after talking with family.
Farook's brother-in-law Farhan Khan told a press conference he had "absolutely no idea" what could have prompted the shooting.
The mass shooting comes just days after three people were killed at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic.


A 34-year-old man has been given a suspended three-month jail sentence for a drunken and unprovoked assault on a couple in May.

Declan Aaron McCallion, from Elaghmore Park in the Galliagh area of Londonderry, pleaded guilty to physically assaulting the man.
He also has to pay Â£750 in compensation to the man he admitted assaulting.
He pleaded guilty to assaulting his victim's wife by putting her in fear of violence.
McCallion admitted committing disorderly behaviour and resisting a police officer during the same incident.
A prosecution solicitor told the district judge that on the night of 19 May police received reports of an assault in Academy Road.
When they arrived at the scene two men were restraining McCallion on the ground and the officers then took control.
The solicitor said the husband and wife were out for a late night walk. They saw McCallion approaching them from behind.
As he came closer to them they believed McCallion was following them, so the couple crossed the road.
McCallion crossed the road after them and as he continued to approach the couple the husband turned to him and asked why he was following him and his wife.
The defendant continued to approach the couple and the husband used his umbrella to force a distance between himself and his wife and the defendant.
"The defendant shouted at the husband. The husband shouted to his wife to run and then threw his umbrella at the defendant", the prosecutor said.
McCallion then ran past the husband and chased after the man's wife but she managed to run into her mother-in-law's nearby home from where she telephoned the police.
"The defendant then ran back at his male victim with his fists clenched and jumped on him from behind and began to kick him on the head when the man fell to the ground," the solicitor added.
After his arrest, McCallion told the police he had been drinking excessively at a local bar.
A defence solicitor said it was a disturbing incident for the couple. He said McCallion offered his deepest and genuine apologies to them.
The district judge said these were the sort of offences that could lead to an immediate custodial sentence.
However, he took into consideration McCallion's early pleas of guilty and that his last relevant conviction was 10 years ago.
He imposed a three-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.


Thai police are investigating the release of a set of icons on messaging app Line depicting the royal family.

The Japanese company has apologised and withdrawn the virtual stickers which it said were "culturally sensitive".
Thailand's strict lese majeste law bans criticism of the king, queen and his successor, but has been broadly applied to references to the monarchy. It carries a maximum 15-year jail term.
Critics say the law has been used to silence discussion about the royals.
Line is one of the most popular messaging apps in Asia.
Suppaset Chokechai, commander of the police technology crime suppression division, confirmed the investigation with the BBC but declined to give any more information on the case.
The stickers depicted various members of the family, including the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his children, and appeared to reference rumours about them.
But some stickers also feature known facts about them, such as the king's fondness for the saxophone and Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn's deceased pet dog.
The set appeared to have been submitted to a section of Line's online shop where users can sell stickers to others. Line reviews submissions before they are put on sale.
Line issued a statement on Thursday saying it had withdrawn the stickers, saying they "may have caused discomfort among our users in Thailand".
It added that it would continue to improve its processes and "consider cultural aspects of each country".
Thailand has seen an increased spate of arrests under lese majeste in recent years, some under broad interpretations of the law.
Since its coup in 2014, the military government has used the law to arrest a string of suspects accused of claiming or using connections to the monarchy for personal benefit.


A man dialling 999 to say he had been thrown out of a pub was one of a number of problem calls highlighted by a police force during a live Twitter session about excessive drinking.

Northamptonshire Police tweeted live on Saturday night to show the problems in the county's town centres.
During the evening officers dealt with fights, drink-drivers and more than 100 999 calls after midnight.
The force said it hoped the tweets "highlighted the impact on the police".
Using the hashtag #alcoholharm, the force tweeted into the early hours about incidents in towns including Northampton, Daventry and Kettering.
Officers dealt with criminal damage, fights in the street, people assaulting nightclub and hotel staff and drink-drivers, including one man who was three times over the alcohol limit.
The force said since midnight its control room had received 187 calls, more than 100 of them via 999.
It added it dealt with 129 incidents in total, many of them drink-related.
After the night officers tweeted: "#alcoholharm is a social issue we all have a stake in solving.
"Hopefully tonight has highlighted the realities of dealing with drunkenness & the impact on the #police."


US scientists have developed small robots that behave much like termites.

The insects build impressive, metres-high structures even though they can follow only simple rules and have no knowledge of an overall plan.
The Harvard researchers' robot brick-layers do something similar, sensing just the immediate area and taking limited cues from each other.
Nonetheless, as a report in Science magazine shows, the machines can also build large, coherent structures.
The researchers say this decentralised approach to robot programming can have some major advantages over very sophisticated systems.
The team gives the example of swarms of construction bots being sent into hazardous environments, such as in disaster zones or out into space.
In these types of settings, if one or more machines is destroyed, the others can continue to work together to complete the task.
Contrast this with a complex robot following high-levels commands. If it fails for some reason, the whole endeavour might be doomed.
"We're not going to Mars anytime soon, but a more medium-term application might be to use similar robots in flood zones to build levees out of sandbags," said lead author Dr Justin Werfel from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.
"That's a kind of classic of robotics: you want to use them in situations that are dirty, dangerous and dull."
Dr Werfel was summarising his research here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
He and colleagues are addressing one type of challenge in robotics - that of finding low-level rules that can be followed by machines to give specific, predictable outcomes.
In doing so, the team is borrowing a concept from the world of social insects called "stigmergy".
This is the idea that coordinated behaviour can arise from information left in the environment.
When termites build their mounds, they do so by reacting to their surroundings.
An insect will pick up a lump of earth and transport it to a location. If the location is already filled, it just moves on to the next site and dumps the earth there.
Chemical trails left by the termites in front, and the very shape of the rising mound, guide the workers following behind.
The Harvard team has designed algorithms based on stigmergy for their brick-laying machines.
The scientists specify a particular structure - be that a pyramid or a castle - and the system then automatically generates the low-level rules the climbing robots must follow to guarantee the production of that structure.
Individually, the 18cm-long bots need very little information.
"They have only four simple types of sensors: infrared, ultrasound, an accelerometer for climbing, and tactile sensing - push buttons. That makes them robust and easy to program," said team-member Kirstin Petersen from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
They sense the presence of bricks, other nearby bots and the grid space as they move through it.
They build staircases with their bricks and walk up and down them.
But, importantly, they perceive only their immediate vicinity. They have no information on the current state of the overall structure or the actions of more distant robots.
"They have some traffic rules that tell them how to move through the work space, and these correspond to the particular type of structure being built. That is, if you ask them to build something else, the traffic rules will be different.  And they also have some safety checks that ensure they never put bricks that back them into a corner, such as building a cliff they can't then climb over," explained Dr Werfel.
Bots can be removed or even added mid-task and it makes no difference. Likewise, if the structure experiences damage mid-erection, the bots merely resume construction at that point and carry the build to completion.
"You can see how this is more robust," added Dr Werfel. "If you send [the sophisticated Star Wars robot] C-3PO and it is destroyed, you're out of luck. But if you send an army of ants and half get swept away by the river, the rest can keep on working."
Commenting, Dr Judith Korb from the University of Freiburg, Germany, said it was conceivable such robots could also be used to turn the study back on living things and the mechanisms of evolution.
"It's possible you might use this program to test whether the insects do things in an optimal way. It may be that evolution has constrained them such that they follow very good solutions but not quite the best."
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


Archaeologists unearthing a huge ancient burial site at Amphipolis in northern Greece have uncovered a large floor mosaic.

The mosaic - 3m (10ft) wide and 4.5m (15ft) long - depicts a man with a laurel wreath driving a chariot drawn by horses and led by the god Hermes.
The burial site is said to be the largest ever found in Greece.
It dates from the late 4th Century BC, spurring speculation that it is linked to Alexander the Great of Macedon.
Archaeologists started digging in August and think the magnificence of the tomb means it was built for someone very important.
Some observers say the tomb could belong to a member of Alexander's immediate family - maybe his mother, Olympias, or his wife, Roxana - or another Macedonian noble.
Others believe it could be a cenotaph, a monument built in honour of a person whose remains are elsewhere.
The discovery of the floor mosaic was announced by Greece's culture ministry on Sunday.
It says Hermes is depicted as the conductor of souls to the afterlife.
The image is made up of pebbles in white, black, blue, red, yellow and grey.
Amphipolis site
A circular area near the middle is missing, but authorities say enough fragments have been found to reconstruct a large part.
Correspondents say the unearthing of the tomb at Amphipolis has enthused Greeks and has given rise to a wave of Greek pride and patriotism.
The mound is in ancient Amphipolis, a major city of the Macedonian kingdom, 100km (62 miles) east of Thessaloniki, Greece's second city.
The wall surrounding it is 500m (1,600ft) in circumference, dwarfing the burial site of Alexander's father, Philip II, in Vergina, west of Thessaloniki.
Alexander the Great


US chipmaker Qualcomm has agreed to pay $7.5m (£5.4m) to settle allegations it violated bribery laws by hiring younger relatives of Chinese officials.

According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Qualcomm went to "extraordinary lengths to gain a business advantage".
The probe found the firm also provided gifts, travel and entertainment to try and influence officials.
Qualcomm did not admit or deny the allegations, between 2002 and 2012.
The chipmaker also said it had since improved its internal checks and controls.
"Qualcomm is pleased to have put this matter behind us.  We remain committed to ethical conduct and compliance with all laws and regulations," said Don Rosenberg, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Qualcomm.
The case is part of a push by the SEC against the hiring of relatives of senior Chinese political and state-business figures.
Previous SEC investigations into the hiring of so called "princelings" included the banks JPMorgan and HSBC.
The SEC investigation into Qualcomm disclosed cases where young relatives of managers at Chinese state-owned telecommunications companies had been given internships or hired as staff.
The managers were subsequently credited for helping Qualcomm's business development, the SEC said.
In one case, Qualcomm gave $75,000 for a research grant to a US university on behalf of the son of an executive at a state-owned company so he could complete his PhD, according to the SEC.
The son was later hired as an intern and eventually became a permanent employee despite having been described as a "no hire" and someone "who would be a drain on teams he would join".
Later a Qualcomm executive personally provided the official's son with a $70,000 loan to buy a home, the SEC said.
"For more than a decade, Qualcomm went to extraordinary lengths to gain a business advantage with foreign officials deciding between Qualcomm's technology and its competitors," said Michele Wein Layne, Director of the SEC's Los Angeles regional office.
Qualcomm makes chips used in smartphones and tablets, especially the Snapdragon processor found in many mid- and high-end Android devices.
But it has faced increasing competition from Asian manufacturers like Taiwan's MediaTek or smaller Chinese chipmakers.


The Bank of England has included Apple on a list of companies that qualify for its new economic stimulus bond-buying scheme.

This means the central bank views the company as making a "material contribution" to the British economy.
The decision will anger the Silicon Valley giant's critics, who accuse it of avoiding tax on UK sales by routing them via Ireland.
The European Commission has attacked Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.
It said they allowed the iPhone maker to pay almost no tax on international sales, which amounted to illegal state aid.
On Monday, Apple was put on a list of 100 companies that will qualify for the Bank of England's new corporate debt purchase initiative.
Introduced as a stimulus measure after the Brexit vote, the scheme will see the Bank enter the market for company bonds - tradeable IOUs - for the first time. The Bank says it will buy the bonds in an attempt to drive down borrowing costs and encourage businesses to invest more.
The test for inclusion was whether companies make a "material" contribution to the economy. Relevant factors include if headquarters are located in Britain, or whether a company has a significant volume of sales.
Apple does not have its headquarters here and a proportion of its sales in the UK are legally recorded in Ireland.
The Bank of England declined to comment on individual companies on the list, but a source at the Bank said the bond-buying programme was designed to influence market prices and that including the Apple bond increased its chances.
There are other companies on the list that might raise eyebrows - including the two British tobacco giants British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands - and the US fast food giant McDonald's, whose tax affairs are also under investigation in Brussels.


The day I met Florencia Arietto, there were flags outside her workplace calling for her resignation, and she was being escorted by a police officer after receiving yet another death threat.

Ms Arietto has no ordinary job. She is the first woman working as chief of security at a football club in Argentina.
Employed by Athletic Club Independiente, her main task is to kick out violence from the game, an endemic problem in Argentina.
In the last 10 years, at least 66 people have died in football-related violence in Argentina, according to the NGO Let's Save Football.
Almost every weekend there is violence at Argentine football grounds.
The culprits are the so-called Barras Bravas, gangs of radical supporters who control the terraces and the streets around the stadiums, where they charge fans for parking.
Sometimes there are clashes between rival factions of supporters, before or after the match.
Other times, violence breaks out on the stands, the result of internal disputes for the control of the Barra, and the money that goes with it.
These gangs also demand money from players and clubs in exchange for their support. Independiente says $35,000 (Â£22,000) a month was being extorted from the club.
In some cases these gangs are - or have been - supported by football clubs' managements, and at times some have had links to the highest echelons of Argentine politics.
But this year, a new administration took over at Independiente, one of Argentina's biggest clubs, led by Javier Cantero.
Elected president by club members, Mr Cantero promised to end any ties with people who controlled the Barra.
Mr Cantero felt the backlash almost immediately.
And this is where Ms Arietto came in.
"Last May, after Mr Cantero said he would cut financial support from the club to the Barra, some 30 people burst into his office and verbally threatened him," said Ms Arietto.
"I thought that what had happened was unacceptable, so I contacted Mr Cantero to offer to help in any way I could to kick these violent people out."
This led to the trained lawyer being taken on at the club in September in time for the start of the new season.
"The good thing about being a woman is that nobody can come and pick up a fight with me," said Ms Arietto, half-jokingly.
One of her first steps was to ban from the club the people who were suspected of cornering Mr Cantero in his office. Charges have been brought in connection with the incident.
Next, the board cut off all existing financial support the Barra received from the club.
"Sometimes I get phone calls telling me that something could happen to me, that they will try to make it look like a random crime," said Ms Arietto.
"This is the normal reaction that you can expect after cutting the privileges of the criminal groups that were extorting money from the club."
Most of the time she is escorted by a police officer. On match days, she walks around  the stadium, supervising security, talking to the police and mixing with thousands of fans who attend home games.
"I don't think they [the Barras] would dare to do something to me. But the idea of having an escort deters anyone from doing something unpleasant," she said.
Ms Arietto's experience in the judicial system is seen as crucial to the club's strategy to reduce football-related violence.
"We're trying to follow what was done in England, bringing these people to justice to set an example," she said.
Social inclusion
She previously worked with troubled youths from deprived areas, an experience which she said she was using in her current role.
Athletic Club Independiente, like most football clubs in Argentina, is a members-only social club. It not only offers non-football recreational activities, but also runs a nursery as well as primary and secondary schools.
These educational centres are now trying to reach out to the poorest areas in Avellaneda, just south of Buenos Aires.
"Violence in football is directly related to what happens in the slums. If we can reduce violent incidents in football, it could also help reduce criminality," she says.
The Argentine football season is now over until February. When competition resumes, so will the challenge of tackling violence.
Days after this interview, there was a reminder of the uphill battle Ms Arietto faces.
An object thrown by home supporters hit the visiting team's goalkeeper, which led to the match being called off.
She offered her resignation to the board after the incident, although it was not accepted.
Ms Arietto knows ending football violence is a slow process, but she insists she will not cave in to the hooligans.
"I deeply believe we are doing the right things," she said.


Cannabis with an estimated street value of 3.2m euros (£2.7m) has been seized in a joint operation by police and customs in the Republic of Ireland.

Four men, aged between 25 and 61, were arrested in Ashbourne, County Meath, at about 16:00 GMT on Tuesday.
Some 160 kilos of herbal cannabis was discovered, Garda (Irish police) said in a statement.
It described the seizure as "significant" and said the drugs were "destined for the Irish market".
A business premises in Ashbourne was also searched during the "intelligence-led" operation.
It involved Garda officers from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and the Special Crime Task Force.
Staff from the Revenue Commissioners Customs Service also participated.
All four men, who are Irish nationals, are being questioned on suspicion of drug trafficking offences.


A Bangladeshi man who went missing for 23 years has been reunited with his family, who had given him up for dead.

Moslemuddin Sarkar, 52, arrived back in Dhaka on Tuesday, a day after being freed from a Pakistani jail with the help of the Red Cross.
His family lost contact after Mr Sarkar left for India in search of work in 1989. Years later, he ended up in Pakistan, where he was arrested.
He says he was beaten and tortured in his subsequent 15 years in prison.
"I requested that embassy officials send me back to Bangladesh but no one listened to me," he told the BBC.
"I suffered a lot in the prison and was crying for help. But no-one came to my rescue. Still I don't understand why I was kept in jail for such a long time. At last, I am back with my family and I feel great."
There were emotional scenes when Mr Sarkar was welcomed by relatives at Dhaka airport, the BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan reports from Bangladesh.
A younger brother, Julhas Uddin, told the AFP news agency that Mr Sarkar's mother "passed out as he hugged her" after returning to his home village.
"It was a heartbreaking scene. He could not control his tears for hours," Julhas Uddin said.
A dockworker at the port of Chittagong, Mr Sarkar says he illegally crossed the border to India in 1989 in search of better opportunities, without telling his family.
"We searched for him for years and finally gave up hope believing he might have drowned in the sea. But our mother always believed that her son would return home one day," Julhas Uddin said.
In 1997, he was caught trying to enter Pakistan without valid travel documents, spending the next 15 years in prisons in Lahore and Karachi. He told the BBC he was completely cut off from the world during that time.
"I went to Pakistan believing that I would get a better job there. But they caught me at the border," he told AFP. "I wrote dozens of letters to my village address, but did not have any clue that they were never posted. At one stage I lost all hope of returning home."
His fate reportedly came to light when Pakistan sent a list of long-serving Bangladeshi prisoners to consular officials, who informed Mr Sarkar's family. They in turn appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross, who facilitated his release.


Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto has called on the United Nations to close the Dadaab refugee camp and relocate more than 500,000 Somalis.

Dadaab, near the border with Somalia, is the largest refugee camp in Africa.
On 2 April, Somali militants from the al-Shabab Islamist movement attacked a college in the Kenyan town of Garissa, killing 148 students.
But the head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR in Kenya told the BBC they had not been asked to close the camp.
Mr Ruto said UNHCR had three months to close Dadaab and make alternative arrangements for its residents - otherwise, Kenya would "relocate them ourselves", he said.
Raouf Mazou, country representative for UNHCR in Kenya, said he heard about the government's intentions in the news.
Dadaab was set up in 1991 to house families fleeing conflict in Somalia. Some people have been living at the site for more than 20 years.
Kenyan MPs and governors have previously accused al-Shabab of hiding out in the Dadaab camp.
Al-Shabab was also behind a deadly siege at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in 2013.
Speaking on Saturday, Mr Ruto insisted Dadaab should be closed down and its residents moved back to Somalia.
"The way America changed after 9/11 is the way Kenya will change after Garissa," he added.
Macharia Munene, professor of international relations at a Kenyan university, told the Reuters news agency that moving hundreds of thousands of refugees across the border would be "a tall order".
But he said there were now safe areas within Somalia, from where al-Shabab militants had been chased out by African Union forces.
Kenya has also started building a 700km (440-mile) wall along the entire length of the border with Somalia to keep out members of al-Shabab.
"We must secure this country at whatever cost. Even if we lose business with Somalia, so be it," said Mr Ruto.


Ben Raine took four wickets to help Leicestershire dominate after Sussex collapsed on day one at Hove.

The hosts opted to bat but were reduced to 23-2 as Raine dismissed Chris Nash and Matt Machan, both for four.
Ross Taylor and Ed Joyce (56) steadied the ship but having reached 130-3 Sussex were bowled out for 163, with Wayne White also claiming 3-25.
An unbeaten half-century from Paul Horton saw the visitors reach 140-2 at the close, training by just 23 runs.


The BBC has live coverage of the diving at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest on television, online, mobile app and Connected TV between 14-21 July.

Olympic champions Chris Mears and Jack Laugher will be in action in the 3m synchro, while bronze medallists Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow will be back on top of the 10m platform.
Grace Reid, who finished eighth in the 3m springboard in Rio, will be making her full World Series debut and will compete in both the individual, and synchro with new partner Katherine Torrance.
In the 10m synchro, Tonia Couch and Lois Toulson will compete against pairs from China, Canada and Malaysia as they aim to get back on to the podium.
All times are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any that may be made. Also coverage on BBC Red Button can experience late schedule changes, so details may differ from this page. Further programmes and times will appear when confirmed.
You can view BBC Sport output as well as listen to our radio sports programming on the BBC iPlayer.
The BBC Sport website is available via desktop, mobile, tablet and app, giving fast and easy access to the live stream, reports and on-demand highlights of the day's action. The BBC Sport app is available free on Apple and Android devices.
National and regional variations have been included in this list where possible, but please check your local listings for more detailed information.


Going to the toilet in zero-gravity can be a tricky task and NASA wants your help to make it a little bit easier for astronauts.

28 November 2016 Last updated at 15:35 GMT
The problem is, when on a spacecraft, zipped up in a spacesuit, with no toilet in sight and a crew of other astronauts around, it can be a little difficult to relieve yourself!
Now NASA want YOUR ideas for a poo-removal system that will handle everything for up to SIX days.
Check out our video...


It is one of the most important weeks in the history of European space activity.

On Thursday, two satellites will launch from French Guiana to begin the process of rolling out Galileo - Europe's multi-billion-euro version of the American Global Positioning System (GPS).
If that were not significant enough, the spacecraft will ride to orbit on the first Russian Soyuz rocket to operate from Western territory.
I'll talk more of Galileo later in the week, but I want to concentrate on Soyuz for this posting.
Formally initiated by European space ministers in 2003, the new Soyuz launch complex has been constructed at Europe's spaceport - the Guiana Space Centre (CSG - Centre Spatial Guyanais).
It is inside the Sinnamary commune about 15km up the coast from the Kourou commune where the pad was built for Europe's heavy-lift workhorse, the Ariane 5 rocket.
Engineers have cleared an area of jungle to build a 120ha, near-facsimile of the Soyuz facilities used through the decades at Baikonur, in Kazakhstan, and Plesetsk, in northern Russia.
Those familiar with TV pictures of Baikonur will instantly recognise the giant flame bowl that deflects the exhaust gases and noise away from the rocket as it begins its ascent. Having stood in the new bowl a couple of times myself, I can attest to its immense scale - 250,000 cubic metres of rock and earth had to be dug out of the ground to make it.
Present also is a 700m-long railway to take the rocket from its integration building, the MIK, to the pad, where, just as in Baikonur and Plesetsk, the four-stage vehicle is raised into the vertical position ready for its mission. Bright yellow and blue support towers hold the rocket in place.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," they say, and the purpose of all this deja vu is to ensure the new Sinnamary home of Soyuz stays as true as possible to a very successful launch heritage.
There are differences, of course - some a little less obvious to the casual eye.
The Soyuz-ST, the vehicle that will be used in French Guiana, has a bigger clam-shell fairing enclosing its satellites - 4.11m in diameter compared to 3m on a "classical" Soyuz.
It's also got a digital flight control system and a modified upper stage. But these "evolutions" have all been tested in launches from Baikonur already, and so cannot really be described as "new" for Thursday.
Another "under the skin" change concerns the method used to terminate a flight if it goes wrong.
Back in Kazakhstan or Russia, the detection of an anomaly results in an automatic engine shutdown. With no power, the rocket simply falls from the sky and is destroyed when it hits the ground.
"In French Guiana, this will be same - plus, we will have the capacity to telecommand to stop the engine," explained Jean-Marc Astorg, from the French space agency (Cnes), who has led the Soyuz in French Guiana project.
"So, there will be a Cnes officer who will be following the flight, and if the trajectory is not nominal - he will push a button. It's an additional safety measure."
Perhaps the most noticeable difference in operation is the 52m-tall mobile gantry, which will be used to install the satellites on top of the rocket.
In Baikonur and Plesetsk, the satellites are always attached to the Soyuz while the rocket is still in the horizontal. But the spacecraft preparation facilities at the CSG are set up to do it in the vertical, and so the new gantry has been developed to fit with European custom and practice.
"It also means that if we wanted to change a payload from a Soyuz to an Ariane 5, or from an Ariane 5 to a Soyuz - that would be easy. And we need the gantry for environmental reasons. There are heavy rains in French Guiana, mosquitoes even - so it is better to protect the people working there."
However, getting the gantry built in Russia, shipped to French Guiana, and then assembled and running smoothly on its bogeys, proved quite a struggle. This one item alone added over a year to the project timeline and significantly increased its final cost.
Basing Soyuz in French Guiana should give the rocket a new lease of life. By launching closer to the equator, the rocket receives a bigger boost from the Earth's rotation, meaning it can lift nearly double the mass of a normal Baikonur payload - a maximum of three tonnes, as opposed to 1.7 tonnes, into a geosynchronous orbit 36,000km above the Earth.
And the "European Soyuz" should be a fillip for Arianespace, the company set up to market and operate the Ariane rockets.
With a new small vehicle called Vega also set to debut early next year, Arianespace will soon offer the full portfolio of launch services from CSG.
Ariane will put in orbit the really big telecommunications satellites, Soyuz will loft the medium-class spacecraft, and Vega will take care of the compact scientific payloads.
"The talks about Soyuz in French Guiana started in the late 90s when we began the co-operation with Soyuz at Baikonur with [our subsidiary] Starsem, and in parallel there was - I would say - an opinion shared in Russia and Europe that it could be interesting to build a Soyuz launch pad in French Guiana," Jean-Yves Le Gall, the chairman and CEO of Arianespace, told me.
"For the Russians, the advantage is obvious - to have more launches and so to produce more launch vehicles. And for the Europeans, it was clear that the Ariane 5 would become bigger and bigger, and so we needed a mid-class launch vehicle.
"Developing a mid-class launch vehicle in Europe would have cost between three and five billion euros, and building the Soyuz launch pad has been just - if I can say 'just' - around 400 million euros," he explained.
"The other benefit is that we are able to launch from French territory some satellites with classified components that cannot be sent to Russia or Kazakhstan - for instance, Galileo. For Galileo, we are obliged to launch from French territory."
At the moment, Soyuz is used at Baikonur to launch astronauts to the International Space Station. No-one is talking about human missions for CSG yet, but the space in the jungle is there to build the additional facilities if that option is ever taken up.
UPDATE (09/11/2011):  I should add that before a Soyuz manned mission could ever fly from Sinnamary, considerable modifications would need to be made to its TMA capsule, which was designed to come back on land. A French Guiana launch would necessitate a contingency for an abort over the ocean, and getting the crew out of an unmodified capsule in water would be precarious to say the least.


The Appeal Court in Edinburgh has heard a challenge against his sentence by World's End killer Angus Sinclair.

Sinclair, 70, was jailed for life and told to serve a minimum of 37 years after a jury last year found him guilty of killing Christine Eadie and Helen Scott.
The sentence for the murder of the teenage girls is the longest ever imposed by a Scottish court.
Earlier this year, Sinclair dropped an appeal against his conviction.
That conviction made legal history as his retrial was the first to take place following changes made in Scotland in 2011 to the centuries-old double jeopardy principle, which prevented a person being tried twice for the same crime.
The re-trial came seven years after the original court case in which he was accused of killing the 17-year-olds collapsed.
Christine Eadie and Helen Scott were targeted by Sinclair and his brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton, who died in 1996, on a night-out at Edinburgh's World's End pub on 15 October, 1977.
Their bodies were discovered the following day, having been dumped in remote locations in East Lothian. They had been raped and strangled.
Sinclair had a record of violence against women.
He was just 16 when he strangled seven-year-old Catherine Reehill in Glasgow in 1961 and in 1982 he was convicted of a string of sex attacks on young girls, including rape.
While still in prison, he was given a life sentence in 2001 for the murder of 17-year-old Mary Gallacher, who was raped and stabbed in Glasgow in 1978.
At the Appeal Court in Edinburgh, judges heard submissions over whether or not the convictions in 1982 and 2001 should have been taken into account in determining the punishment part of the sentence as they were events which came after the offence.
Judges Lady Paton, Lady Clark and Lord Malcolm will deliver their judgement at a later date.


A convicted Dutch gangland leader, notorious for the 1983 kidnapping of a Heineken beer tycoon, has been accused of plotting to kill his sisters.

Willem Holleeder is already in jail, pending trial in a number of cases involving the Amsterdam underworld.
The sisters, who testified against him in a murder case last year, say they are "bewildered but not surprised".
The suspect is also accused of plotting to murder crime reporter Peter de Vries. He denies all charges.
Dubbed "The Nose", 55-year-old Holleeder was already in custody facing murder and attempted murder charges, as well as belonging to a criminal organisation.
He was arrested in his cell in April over the alleged plot to kill his sisters after a tip-off from a fellow prisoner, prosecutors said.
"Holleeder allegedly already paid money and promised more, should his plans indeed be carried out," they added.
Appearing in court on Tuesday, Holleeder denied he had plans to kill his sisters and Mr de Vries.
"It's absolutely not in my interest that anything happens to them," he said.
When his sisters testified against him in a murder case last year, one of them said she was signing her death warrant.
Astrid Holleeder told the Dutch newspaper NRC she had hoped she would be safe after his arrest in 2014. But instinctively she knew he would not leave them alone.
"He doesn't tolerate opposition", she told the paper. "Willem wants revenge."
Crime journalist Peter de Vries, who wrote a best-selling book about the Heineken kidnapping, also suspects revenge as the motive: "He's let it be known several times that he's after me," he said.
Holleeder became a household name in the Netherlands for his role in the abduction of beer magnate Freddy Heineken and his driver more than three decades ago.
The two were released unharmed after a large ransom was paid.
Holleeder was sentenced to 11 years for the kidnapping, which became one of the country's best-known crime sagas and was turned into a movie last year.
He was arrested again in 2006 for extortion against two men who were later found dead, and released in 2012 after serving two thirds of his sentence.
He became a minor celebrity until he was re-arrested in December 2014, even appearing on TV and posing for pictures with fans on Amsterdam's beer terraces.


An online fundraising campaign to help a World War Two veteran, who was defrauded out of his life savings, has raised £12,000 in less than 24 hours.

Cyril Banks, 91, had £9,000 stolen from him by fraudsters who pretended to be from the Met Police, officers said.
The Herts and Essex Observer set up a fundraising page after Mr Banks, from Bishop's Stortford, was interviewed on BBC Three Counties Radio.
Mr Banks said he had been "overwhelmed" by the generosity.
"It's unbelievable. I didn't realise people would offer so much," he said.
Read more on this story and other Hertfordshire news
So far, £12,034 has been raised by 455 people since the page was created on Thursday afternoon.
Hertfordshire Police said an investigation into Mr Banks' case was ongoing.
Mr Banks' friend Annie Riley said she had been "appalled" by the people who had persuaded him to withdraw £9,000 from his bank account.
"I don't know how they sleep at night," she said. "Cyril's such an amazing and giving man, he's always collecting for charity.
"At least by talking about what happened to him, we might have stopped someone else from falling victim to the scammers."
Paul Winspear, editor of the Herts and Essex Observer, said the response to the fundraising page had been "amazing".
He said: "We had a lot of comments on our Facebook page about what happened to Cyril and people were asking how they could help him, so we set a page up.
"We hit the £9,000 target within about six hours."
Mr Banks said he had even been offered £40 by a young man who overheard him telling a friend what had happened.
"It's wonderful to see such kindness and generosity," he said.
Mr Banks said he would give any money over the £9,000 he had lost to charities he supported.
"If I can help other people out of this and give back what they've given to me, I would feel I am repaying their generosity".


Google has released Glass in the UK, making it the second country to get the Android-powered eyewear after the US.

The kit - which is still a prototype - costs Â£1,000 and is being targeted at developers, rather than consumers, who must be over 18 years old.
The BBC has learned that the US firm held talks with the Department for Transport ahead of the launch.
The DfT had previously raised concerns that the wearable tech could prove a distraction to drivers.
That is still the case, but a government spokesman revealed that the search firm was investigating ways to allow drivers to legally use Glass while on UK roads- possibly by restricting the information it displays mid-journey.
"Drivers must give their full attention to the road, which is why it has been illegal since the 1980s to view a screen whilst driving, unless that screen is displaying driving information," said the spokesman.
"There are no plans to change this and we have met with Google to discuss the implications of the current law for Google Glass.
"Google is anxious its products do not pose a road safety risk and is currently considering options to allow the technology to be used in accordance with the law."
A spokeswoman for Google confirmed the talks, adding that it urged buyers to use Glass safely.
A video released by the firm to mark the London launch does, however, show the kit being used by a cyclist to get directions and check his pace.
Other organisations, surveyed by the BBC, have raised separate concerns relating to Glass's ability to film video and take photographs:
Google first announced Glass in April 2012.
It was initially limited to US-based developers, but was put on general release in the country in May, at a cost of $1,500 (Â£881).
The kit features a transparent display that creates the illusion of a 25in (63.5cm) screen floating about 8ft (2.4m) in front of the wearer's right eye, which can be used to display information from apps.
A built-in camera and microphone can record photos, video and sounds, while the machine can play back audio by sending vibrations through the wearer's skull using a bone conduction transducer, or via more traditional headphones.
Google pitches Glass as a hands-free, quick-to-use alternative to smartphones.
"We believe it's really to keep you engaged and present in the moment while having access to those things that are digitally available to you," Ivy Ross, head of the Glass division told the BBC.
She added that the eyewear had already gone through five hardware revisions and 12 software updates before its UK launch, and that Google planned further revisions before targeting Glass at consumers.
Many expect that will be accompanied by a price cut.
"To some extent, Google is using the current price to manage take-up, so that the only people buying it have strong reasons to do so - for example building apps," said Ian Fogg from the IHS Technology consultancy.
"The cost of the components involved in the current model is about $152.
"Clearly there are other costs involved in bringing it to market, but Google could create a much more compelling price if it chooses to."
Many of the UK organisations surveyed by the BBC are taking a wait-and-see approach before deciding whether to introduce rules to govern use of the kit.
Ulster Hospital highlighted its no-photography rule, but added "it is obviously an area we will have to consider in the future".
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group- which runs six theatres in London - said it planned to "evaluate the implications of this new technology, especially with regard to the effect on the cast, creative team and members of the public", while the JD Wetherspoon chain of pubs said it planned to "discuss the matter in due course".
Other firms appeared more relaxed.
British Airways said its customers could wear Glass at any time on board its aircraft, as long as they put it in flight safety mode when necessary.
Tesco said it had already developed a concept Glass app that could be used in its stores.
And Waterstones added: "As a bookshop it is difficult to see how Google Glass eyewear could cause us or our customers any difficulty beyond, of course, some mild ridicule."
A spokeswoman for Google noted that Glass lights up when it captures images, and that its battery limits it to taking a maximum of 45 minutes of video at a time.


American Daniel Berger moved closer to a maiden PGA title after a round of 69 kept him three shots ahead at the St Jude Classic in Memphis.

The 23-year-old, in his 50th career start, chipped in for a birdie at the 17th to reach 10 under.
Five-time major winner Phil Mickelson, without a win since the 2013 Open, holed from off the green to par 18 and is in a three-way share of second.
Wales' Jamie Donaldson, the remaining Briton, is nine back after a 69.
Berger, the 2015 PGA Rookie of the Year who surged clear of the field at the halfway stage after a 64, briefly lost the lead on day three when he double bogeyed the par three 14th after finding the water.
But consecutive birdies from the 16th at the TPC Southwind course revived the round for Berger, who has already has three top-10 finishes this season.
Mickelson hit his third shot 22 feet past the hole on the par-four 17th and returned his first bogey in 22 holes, but having driven into a fairway bunker at the last, he rolled in an 18-footer for a round of 68 to remain at seven under.
Dustin Johnson, the 2012 winner and the highest-ranked player in the field at sixth in the world, carded a 73 to fall eight adrift.
We've launched a new BBC Sport newsletter ahead of the Euros and Olympics, bringing all the best stories, features and video right to your inbox. You can sign up here.


League One bottom club Crewe Alexandra have signed Notts County striker Danny Haynes on a month's emergency loan.

The experienced 26-year-old front-man is expected to go straight into the Alex squad for Tuesday night's home date with Peterborough United.
Haynes' arrival follows the signing of fellow forward Febian Brandy from Championship side Rotherham for a further month's loan extension.
The Alex have the joint-worst scoring record in League One.
Saturday's late winner at Walsall was only their 11th goal in 13 matches this season, in stark contrast to their defensive record.
Their goals-against total of 30 is the worst in the Football League.
Former Ipswich Town, Millwall, Bristol City, Barnsley, Charlton Athletic and Hibernian striker Haynes has made two Notts appearances this season, having had his pre-season disrupted because of injury.


A man who stole £23,000 from a 93-year-old after taking his card at a Lincolnshire cash machine has been jailed for three years.

Ion Anghel, 48, of Sherwood Street, Wolverhampton, admitted the theft at an earlier hearing at Lincoln Crown Court.
The victim had his card stolen after being distracted by three men while withdrawing cash from a NatWest bank in Grantham on 14 December.
The man's details were later used to transfer the money from his account.
Sentencing Anghel, Judge Simon Hirst told him: "You deliberately targeted a vulnerable victim. You found the most vulnerable person you could in Grantham that day.
"This was a sophisticated offence. The way you acted as a team must inevitably mean you and your associates practiced what you were going to do."
Lincolnshire Police said "inquiries were ongoing in relation to any other individuals suspected of being involved."
Det Insp Simon Bromiley said it was a targeted crime committed against a vulnerable war veteran.
He said: "He [the victim] is a very proud man, who has shown a great deal of courage through out.
"It is sickening that a man who has conducted himself so well throughout his life should be subjected to such a callous and wicked crime," he added.
Anghel, who is originally from Romania, has convictions for similar offences in both Italy and Denmark, police said.
There is also an arrest warrant in place for him in France.


Manager Mark Warburton says he would be out of a job if he fails to get Rangers back to the top of Scottish football within the next three years.

Former boss Ally McCoist suggested it could take "two or three years" to become a dominant force again.
But Warburton said: "It doesn't work that way.
"The expectation of the club, let's be realistic, if I turn round and say I've got three years to get it right? I don't think so."
Warburton, who delivered the Championship title and Challenge Cup in his first season at Ibrox, believes success must come quickly, such are the demands placed on a Rangers manager.
"We have to be quicker than that," he added when asked about McCoist's thoughts on the team.
"If those timescales are accurate, and I hope they're not, then I won't be here. David [Weir, assistant manager] and I know that."
Warburton takes his team to Celtic Park on Saturday for the first time since their promotion from the second tier.
Celtic, chasing a sixth consecutive top flight title, lead the Premiership by one point from their Glasgow rivals, having played a game less, with McCoist making the home side "strong favourites".
"Ally is a very experienced man, huge Rangers connections, quite rightly legendary status at the club," said the former Brentford boss.
"So Ally is entitled to his opinion and I've seen Walter [Smith, former manager] speaking and various other people. The beauty of the game of football is everyone has got a different opinion.
"It's great Ally voices his own personal opinion. Mine might differ slightly but that's the game we love."
The visitors may be underdogs but Warburton enjoys a winning record against Celtic after a penalty shoot-out triumph in last season's Scottish Cup semi-final.
"If you read the bookies' odds, there is no point us really turning up, which is fine," he said.
"It's exactly the same scenario (as semi-final). We had analysis with the players just now and it's been pointed out by many of them: same scenario, we are going to get beaten by three or four. I read four minimum, one very wise pundit said.
"They are paid to give opinions, that's what the game is all about, so you respect that. But it's about us, it's about Rangers, it's about doing what we do.
"If we go there and we're brave and we get on the football and we move it quickly and do what we do well, we will be fine. If we don't, if we're sloppy, then we will have a tough afternoon.
"It's about us preparing well and being consistent in our preparation, training at the right intensity and quality, which we have been. It's a tough place to go but we are absolutely relishing this encounter."


Police in Dundee have launched an investigation after the sudden death of a 34-year-old woman in the city centre.

The woman's body was found at about 23:00 on Thursday at the top of a flight of stairs behind commercial premises in the Nethergate.
The area was cordoned off by police with scenes of crime officers working at the location on Friday morning.
Police said there were "no apparent suspicious circumstances" surrounding the woman's death.
It is understood that the woman is from Fife.
Detective Inspector Paul Riley said: "Officers attended in the Nethergate, Dundee at around 22:55 last night following a report of the sudden death of a 34-year-old woman.
"Her next of kin have been informed.
"Officers will be carrying out further enquiries, however there are no apparent suspicious circumstances and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal."


Some of the quirkier snippets from the news in Africa that we did not know last week:

The two large telescopes outside Addis Ababa cost around $4m.
Find out more
A stowaway reported to have survived a long-haul flight from South Africa to the UK may have experienced temperatures as low as -54C. He is now in a critical condition in hospital, although his fellow stowaway is said to have died after falling from the plane onto a London roof.
Find out more
3) An English rock star is helping to resurrect Djibouti's national airline:
Iron Maiden front man Bruce Dickinson's company has signed a contract with the government to re-launch Air Djibouti.
Find out more
4) A group of Ugandan artists are living on a floating island:
The piece of land has broken off from Uganda's mainland and is now floating in Lake Victoria.
Find out more
5) A farmer might become next Tanzania's president:
Journalist Joseph Warungu spotted an ordinary farmer running to lead Tanzania's governing party.
Find out more


The Colombian government and the Farc rebels say they have agreed to lay down arms as they approach the end of historic peace talks in Havana.

In a joint statement, the two sides said they had reached agreement on a bilateral ceasefire and how disarmament would take place.
The details will be made public on Thursday.
On Monday, the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said a final peace deal could be signed by 20 July.
The final deal will end five decades of armed conflict in which an estimated 220,000 people have been killed and almost seven million displaced.
What Colombians say about the peace process
What is at stake in the Colombian peace process?
Speaking in Havana, where peace talks have been taking place for more than three years, Colombian government spokeswoman Marcela Duran outlined what had been agreed.
"The national government and Farc delegations inform the public that we have successfully agreed a definitive and bilateral ceasefire, the laying down of arms, security guarantees and the fight against organised crime units."
Farc commander Carlos Lozada wrote on Twitter: "So that this horrible night may end and the path of peace and light may open, on Thursday 23 June we will announce #thefinaldayofthewar."
The agreement on the bilateral ceasefire resolves one of the final points of the peace talks and leaves only one other issue to be resolved.
The negotiators have overcome one of the biggest hurdles on the road towards a final peace deal.
They had already agreed on rural reform; tackling the illicit drugs trade; the rebels' political participation; and how crimes committed during the conflict would be dealt with.
In this latest agreement, the two sides have committed themselves to stop using their weapons for good by entering into a permanent verifiable bilateral ceasefire.
It comes almost a year after the Farc declared a unilateral ceasefire, which resulted in a significant drop in levels of violence.
That move was followed by the government halting air raids on rebel camps and a de-escalation of offensive action by the security forces.
This latest agreement goes further as it will result in the disarmament of the Farc, who will now have to trust state forces to protect them from their enemies, of which they have many in Colombia.
Both sides still need to establish how the peace deal in its totality will be implemented, verified and approved.
The governments wants to put the deal to a popular vote so that the Colombian people can have their say.
Farc negotiators have said they would prefer to call a constitutional convention to incorporate the deal into Colombia's constitution.
The meeting on Thursday will be chaired by President Santos and the leader of the Farc, Timoleon Jimenez.
They will be joined by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Cuban leader Raul Castro and the Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende, who are representing guarantor countries.
The presidents of Chile, Michele Bachelet, and of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, will also be there as well as representatives from the US, the European Union and the presidents of El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.


Captain Alastair Cook led England's reply to Pakistan's daunting 523-8 declared with a fine unbeaten 168 in the first Test in Abu Dhabi.

Media playback is not supported on this device
He batted throughout the third day but England lost two wickets in three overs late on as they closed on 290-3, needing 34 more to avoid the follow-on.
Cook added 116 for the first wicket with Moeen Ali (35) and 165 for the second with Ian Bell.
Bell fell for 63 to Wahab Riaz, who also removed nightwatchman Mark Wood.
Those two wickets for four runs boosted Pakistani spirits on another day when bat dominated ball, on a soporific surface which has been widely criticised.
Cook's 28th Test century was typical of so many of his previous 27, founded on patience, discipline and excellent shot selection.
He dominated his first Test opening stand with Moeen Ali, tucking the ball off his pads with customary ease and capitalising on any width afforded outside off stump.
His approach was unaffected by the departure of Moeen, who was caught behind for 35 pushing at Imran Khan shortly before lunch to end a patient first innings as a Test opener.
Cook had made 147 by the time he offered a chance, substitute fielder Fawad Alam dropping a tumbling effort at backward square-leg off a top-edged sweep.
Bell spent the early part of his innings batting like a man who contemplated retirement following a miserable Ashes this summer.
Knowing that his dropped attempts to catch Mohammad Hafeez and Asad Shafiq cost England 188 runs in the field, Bell himself was reprieved on one when Shan Masood grassed a sharp bat-pad chance at silly point off Zulfiqar Babar.
He managed only one run off the first 33 balls he faced and saw a couple of edges fall short of slip before finally finding something approaching fluency as he compiled a 134-ball half-century.
He perished five overs before the close when he drove the persevering Riaz, who regularly touched 90 miles per hour, to Hafeez at point.
Wood, sent in to protect Joe Root, was dropped at second slip on nought before playing on as he attempted to force off the back foot.
With only 11 wickets falling in nine sessions - four of which came when Pakistan were chasing declaration runs - criticism of the pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium showed no sign of abating.
Although the spinners found turn from early on the first day, the surface sorely lacks pace and bounce and there has been negligible reverse-swing with the older ball.
"This is tedious," former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott said on Test Match Special. "You can't sell this product to spectators."
Ex-England spinner Graeme Swann joked that the pitch is "as lifeless as an away game at Luton Town" - before earning a swift rebuke.
While the departure of Bell and Wood in 14 balls raised the prospect of an England collapse on Friday, a fourth draw in nine Tests on this ground remains the most likely result.
With Cook at the crease, however, England could yet establish a first-innings advantage.
Boycott said: "If England bat all day tomorrow, then they'll have a small lead with one day to go.
"That's not enough time to win the game - who's going to get those wickets quickly and cheaply?"
England captain Alastair Cook on TMS: "For the good of cricket, you don't mind the pitch like this for three days if it ends up breaking up - not that we want it to do that because we want to stay in the game.
"We're still 230 runs behind and that's a long way away. We have got a lot of great batters to come and, after waiting their turn, hopefully they fill their boots too."
Former England captain Michael Vaughan: "Normally, when somebody gets a century, it's the batsmen who rush to congratulate him.
"With Alastair Cook, it was the bowlers - he's the bowlers' best mate. He's given them a day in an air-conditioned dressing room sipping tea."


A new inquest has opened into the death of a soldier at an army base in Surrey 20 years ago.

8 February 2016 Last updated at 17:49 GMT
Cheryl James, 18, from Llangollen, Denbighshire, was found shot dead at Deepcut barracks in November 1995.
The BBC looks back at the case.


Thirty-seven people have been arrested in eastern China over a huge vaccine scandal, state media report.

It comes after police in Shandong announced last month they had arrested a mother and her daughter accused of buying and selling vaccines illegally.
The estimated $88m (Â£61m) worth of vaccines were not properly refrigerated or transported.
The illegal vaccine ring, said to have been in operation since 2011, has sparked widespread anger in China.
The scandal has led to a crackdown, with checks ordered on vaccine makers, wholesalers and buyers.
The vaccines were bought from a variety of sources, both licensed and unlicensed, then sold on to both illegal agents and legal local disease control and prevention centres at inflated prices, reported the Xinhua news agency.
The ring is alleged to have involved hundreds of people across 20 provinces, it said.
Though authorities had known about it since April last year, they only made the news public late on Friday when they issued a call demanding that suppliers come forward to help them trace potential victims.
The delay has angered many people in China who questioned why the authorities had not alerted the public earlier.
Local authorities have now been given a deadline of Friday to identify who bought the medicines.
Three pharmaceutical companies are being investigated, Xinhua reports, citing people handling the case. One, Shandong Zhaoxin Bio-tech Co, has been ordered to suspend operations, it added.
The China office of the World Health Organization (WHO) said vaccines needed to be handled properly or they can become less effective.
But it stressed that improperly kept vaccines did not in themselves present much danger.
"It is important to note, however, that improperly stored or expired vaccine seldom if ever causes a toxic reaction. Therefore there is likely to be minimal safety risk in this particular situation,'' the WHO said.


Gary David Goldberg, the creator of hit US sitcom Family Ties, which made Michael J Fox a star, has died at the age of 68, according to reports.

Brooklyn-born Goldberg, who based much of the show on his own life, died of brain cancer on 23 June at his California home, Hollywood Reporter and Variety said.
He went on to co-create the series Spin City, which also starred Fox.
The double Emmy-winner Goldberg also penned episodes of M*A*S*H.
He won one Emmy in 1987 for outstanding writing on Family Ties and the other for newsroom drama Lou Grant in 1979, for which he won an outstanding series award.
In total, Goldberg garnered seven Emmy nominations and he also wrote the critically-acclaimed Brooklyn Bridge, derived from his New York youth, in a noisy apartment building presided over by his matriarchal grandmother.
"She had the family's only telephone, television and car, thus consolidating her absolute power," he wrote in his official biography.
The writer was also behind episodes of The Bob Newhart Show and he wrote and directed a couple of films - 1989 comedy-drama Dad starring Jack Lemmon and John Cusack romantic comedy Must Love Dogs (2005).
Family Ties, which he created in the 80s, centred around a liberal hippy couple, whose offspring were more in tune with the materialism of the Reagan era.
"That sharp right turn was embodied by Fox, a baby-faced Canadian who played 17-year-old, tie-wearing Alex P Keaton, the oldest kid of aging flower children played by Meredith Baxter-Birney and Michael Gross," said the Hollywood Reporter.
Goldberg was quoted as saying the show was "totally autobiographical in concept", describing himself and his wife Diana as "the parents", adding: "Our daughter Shana was as smart as Alex but could shop with Mallory."
It went on to huge success, attracting US audiences of 28.2m at its peak, and casting a young Tom Hanks in a recurring role.
Running from 1982 to 1989, it notched up 180 episodes, 19 Emmy nominations and five wins. In the UK, it was broadcast on Channel 4.
Post 1980, all of Goldberg's shows were made via his own company, Ubu Productions, in partnership with Paramount.
All of the credits to his shows had a famous ending - a photograph of his black Labrador Retriever in front of the Louvre in Paris, with Goldberg saying: "Sit, Ubu, sit! Good dog," followed by a bark.


Royal Navy warship HMS Bulwark is heading towards Libya after reports 14 vessels carrying migrants have left the country's coast.

The UK government sent the warship to aid search efforts in the Mediterranean amid a rise in the number of people dying while trying to reach Europe.
BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said the ship was sailing south with around 12 other European vessels.
Last week, Bulwark rescued 747 people from boats off Libya's coast.
The ship is thought to have been involved in the rescue of around 1,700 migrants in the past month.
Our correspondent, who is on board the ship, said: "Bulwark, along with about a dozen other European vessels, is patrolling an area of about 70,000 square miles of the central Mediterranean - looking out for those migrants desperately fleeing Africa trying to get to Europe. "
It is likely the vessel will locate migrants in the next 48 hours and attempts will be made to rescue them, he added.
Estimates suggest more than 1,600 people have drowned so far this year trying to cross the Mediterranean.
Many are fleeing war in Libya, where Islamic State fighters are terrorising the population, fuelling instability.


A banker was killed by a single punch for talking to a group of young women, a court has heard.

Oliver Dearlove, 30, spoke about shoes and baby pictures after a night out in Blackheath, south London, on 28 August.
The 20-second exchange prompted Trevor Timon to launch an "unprovoked and senseless" attack, jurors heard.
Mr Dearlove was punched once in the head and died hours later. Mr Timon, 31, of Heavitree Road, Plumstead, admits manslaughter but denies murder.
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard QC told jurors at the Old Bailey the attack was "motivated by the defendant's perceived sense of grievance" that Mr Dearlove was talking to women who Mr Timon knew.
The victim lived with his long-term girlfriend in New Eltham and worked in the City as a banker, the court heard.
On the night of the attack he had been out with friends, leaving Zerodegrees bar just after midnight.
As he left he asked a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, if she was hurt after she took off her high heels on the street.
She replied: "You know what, my feet are killing me", jurors were told.
She went on to tell Mr Dearlove that it was her first night out since giving birth, and he commented to his friends: "Doesn't she look well?"
The woman produced pictures and Mr Dearlove was "very polite" as he complimented her on having a beautiful baby, jurors heard.
Mr Timon, who knew the group of women, allegedly stormed in and demanded to know what they were talking about.
Mr Orchard said: "The next thing that happened was the defendant hit Oliver Dearlove."
The trial continues.


Newport County AFC have signed defender Sid Nelson from Millwall on loan until the end of the season.

The 21-year-old arrives in time to play in the League Two match against Stevenage on 7 January.
Manager Graham Westley said the club need to improve in defence.
"Nineteen goals conceded in seven league games tells you that we lack defensive stability. There's no disrespect to any player in that statement," he said.
"I've seen a lot of him [Nelson] in both under-21 and League One football, where he helped his club into the play-offs last year and I'm sure that the Newport fans will love the heart and quality that he will put into defending our goal."
Nelson joins with Newport four points adrift at the bottom on the table.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


The Army has carried out a controlled explosion on a World War Two mortar shell found on a County Down beach.

The device was discovered shortly after midnight in an area of Dundrum known locally as the Twelve Arches.
The police maintained a cordon at the scene overnight, and Army bomb disposal officers arrived at first light.
Coastguard staff assisted the officers to gain access to the unexploded shell so they could make it safe.


Two sets of siblings were among seven people charged over an attack on a teenage asylum seeker in south London.

Kurdish-Iranian Reker Ahmed was chased and subjected to a "brutal attack" in Croydon last Friday night.
The 17-year-old was left with a fractured spine, fractured skull and a bleed on his brain after the assault.
The seven were charged with violent disorder, while one was also charged with racially aggravated GBH.
Police said about 20 people were involved in the assault.
Barry Potts, 20, and siblings Daryl Davis, 20 and Danyelle Davis, 24, were released on conditional bail after appearing at Croydon Magistrates' Court earlier.
George Walder, 20, who was also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm, has been remanded in custody.
His brother Jack Walder, 24, was granted conditional bail.
Kyran Evans, 23, and a 17-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been charged and are due to appear in court on Tuesday.
In total, 16 people have been arrested. Seven remain in custody.
Det Supt Jane Corrigan said she was confident everyone responsible for the assault would be arrested.
"There was no reason for this attack and I believe because of the numbers involved people have just jumped on the back of it and it's turned into a violent brawl where someone has been viciously beaten and is very lucky to have not lost his life," she said.
"There was only one motivation and that was to cause serious damage."
The incident happened in Shrublands Avenue at 23:40 BST on Friday. A white hatchback with a black roof is being sought by officers.
Mr Ahmed, a student who has lived in Croydon for months, has started to make a recovery, police said.
It is hoped he will be moved out of intensive care soon although his face, which police say was the main focus of the attack, will be left with lasting scars.
Officers are still trying to contact his family who they believe live in Iran.
He was with friends Dilshad Mohammed, an Iraqi Kurd, and Hamo Mustafa when he was set upon, police said. He was not previously known to the assailants.
Officers are trying to establish if the attackers had been drinking at a nearby pub prior to the assault.
Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the assault as "absolutely despicable" and urged anyone with information to contact police.


"Glamping" pods could damage the character of Lord Byron's ancestral home, a civic society has warned.

Nottingham City Council is applying for planning permission to build six wooden luxury camping cabins in the grounds of Grade-I listed Newstead Abbey.
It said the plan will bring in money to the home which is on English Heritage's at risk register.
Ian Wells from Nottingham Civic Society said it may encourage more development near the 12th Century building.
"I sympathise with the council wanting to maximise income there because it's very much a threatened place at the moment," he said.
"But I worry about how intrusive this will be.
"There's a great deal of space there for expansion and if demand seems to suggest it, it might be very difficult to resist that sort of established use."
Newstead Abbey, near Kirkby-in-Ashfield, has cost the authority more than Â£500,000 to run over the last five years.
But portfolio holder for culture and leisure David Trimble said costs have been reduced to a stage where the council can now invest in the park.
He said: "The addition of accommodation will help generate new income to further develop this wonderful site."
The wooden pods could house a total of 16 holidaymakers in search of luxury camping, known as "glamping", in Monk's Wood.
Gedling Borough Council is due to debate the Â£150,000 plan this month. If approved, work could start in the spring.


The FTSE 100 remained on track for its best week since July, but shares in Capita continued to fall.

Capita shares had fallen more than 14% on Thursday after the outsourcing group issued its second profit warning in three months, and by midday on Friday they had lost a further 3%.
However, overall the market was up, with the FTSE 100 index rising 18.75 points to 6,950.30.
MedicClinic International was the biggest riser on the index, up 4.1%.
The FTSE 100 is on track to record five consecutive days of gains. Financial stocks have helped to bolster the market this week, but there were signs that this rally was coming to and end with Prudential down 2.5% and Barclays dropping 2%.
In the FTSE 250, shares in Euromoney fell 5.7% after Daily Mail and General Trust said it would cut its holding in the company to about 49% from 67%.
On the currency markets, the pound edged up 0.1% against the dollar to $1.2595, and rose 0.5% against the euro to â‚¬1.1913.


Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain is to host her own cookery show

Hussain, who won Bake Off in 2015, will feature in the eight-part series for BBC Two, which will seek out great examples of British food.
Her show - Nadiya's British Food Adventure - will see her undertake a road trip around Britain, visiting a different region in each episode.
Hussain explored her culinary roots in Bangladesh in a two-part television series last year.
She is due to travel across the country, from the Scottish Highlands to Devon and Dorset, to highlight some of Britain's most innovative cooking.
Hussain said: "Our country's regional cuisine is much more than tried and tested traditional dishes - there are quirky and clever food producers out there who are reinventing British food in unique and exciting ways.
"I can't wait to meet these local food heroes, to find inspiration in the most unusual food stories and unlikely ingredients and then come up with some brand new recipes in the kitchen, adding my own special twist."


Supporting evidence that the Beagle-2 probe is sitting intact on the surface of Mars has come from a new imaging technique developed by UCL scientists.

Their method stacks and matches multiple pictures taken from orbit to resolve more detail than can be retrieved through standard processing.
When applied to satellite views of what is thought to be the UK-led lander, a more definitive shape emerges.
Beagle-2 was despatched to touch down on Mars' surface in December 2003.
When it failed to radio home, many researchers just assumed it had been destroyed in a high-velocity impact with the ground.
But then new pictures came out last year that hinted at what might really have happened to the European Space Agency mission.
These suggested Beagle did indeed land safely, but for some reason did not deploy its solar panels fully. This would have obstructed its radio antenna.
Jan-Peter Muller and Yu Tao from University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory have now had another go at working with the images, which were acquired by the camera on Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance orbiter (MRO).
Ordinarily, this instrument achieves a pixel width at the surface of under 30cm from an altitude of 300km.
But their Super-Resolution Restoration (SRR) technique can push that to just 5cm per pixel. The key is being able to extract and combine information from a scene when viewed from several different angles.
When they do this with MRO's images released last year of the Beagle landing zone, together with some additional frames recently made available - the "petal shape" of the partially unfurled probe becomes clearer still.
"The feature that we see really looks like an artefact; it doesn't look like any rock I've ever seen on the surface of Mars," said Prof Muller. "And obviously it's not just a blob; it's got some structure to it."
Muller and Tao are excited by the possibilities offered by SRR, a technical description of which they published recently in the journal Planetary and Space Science.
They have applied it also to MRO scenes featuring the investigation sites of two Nasa rovers - Curiosity and Spirit. In the case of the latter, SRR processing makes the tracks of the robot vehicle really stand out.
It is worth noting that the cameras on the rovers themselves only have resolutions of a few centimetres when viewing targets several metres away. Super-resolution satellite imagery is now promising even more powerful assistance to the ground exploration efforts.
"[SRR] has huge potential to improve our knowledge of a planet's surface from multiple remotely sensed images," said Mr Tao, a research associate at UCL-MSSL and lead author of the recent paper.
"In the future, we will be able to recreate rover-scale images anywhere on the surface of Mars and other planets from repeat image stacks."
The two scientists are now talking with Esa about using the technique to find a safe landing site for the agency's 2018 ExoMars rover; they are also keen to see it used on pictures from the new orbiting camera Europe has just sent to the Red Planet called CaSSIS.
SRR is though a very computation-heavy approach. Using it on stacks to produce an image 2,000 pixels by 1,000 pixels can take three days on the MSSL Imaging Group's 14-blade (224-core) linux cluster. This should improve with time, and one driver could well be the desire to use super-resolution restoration on Earth-observation images.
There are other groups out there known to be developing very similar systems.
Phil Davies from remote sensing company Elecnor Deimos UK commented that "stacking multiple images should work very well on an area where nothing changes (much), eg. the Moon or Mars (so long as there are no sandstorms)", but that its application would become more challenging in moving scenes. "Vegetation in strong winds might have enough motion to cause some image degradation," he said.
Prof Muller concurred, adding that it was possible even to combine images at Mars taken several years apart because of the slowness of change at the surface.
"The bottom line is that we now have a civilian technique that obviously we're applying to Mars, but it could equally be applied to the Earth, and it allows us to see five times greater detail with the same assets and without having to change their optical systems or the way they operate," he told BBC News.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


Four British soldiers who tried to smuggle guns and drugs into the UK have been jailed.

The men, along with a fifth man, were caught after firearms, ammunition and cocaine were found in a car arriving at Folkestone from Calais in January 2012.
They were convicted of firearms and drugs charges on Monday after a six-week trial.
At Woolwich Crown Court they were given prison sentences ranging from six-and-a-half years to 14 years.
Describing it as "a carefully planned enterprise" Judge Philip Shorrock said: "The guns were intended for use by serious criminals. They would be used to kill or maim."
The court heard the gang was caught after armed police stopped two of the men in two BMW cars arriving at Folkestone on Eurotunnel last year.
Officers discovered five handguns and three silencers, while 500g of cocaine was found in an Army issue boot covered in duct tape and curry powder to disguise the smell.
Detectives believe the guns were destined for criminal gangs in London.
Ringleader Lemar Loveless, 26, of Brydon Walk, Islington, north London, who had resigned from the army in November 2011 and was on terminal leave, was jailed for 14 years after admitting conspiring to import firearms.
Lance Laurent, 26, of Gloucester Street, Battersea, south-west London, was sentenced to 12 years in jail after admitting conspiring to import firearms.
Both Loveless and Laurent were also found guilty of conspiring to import class A drugs.
Trave Dyce, 22, of Sydney Road, Smethwick, West Midlands, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after he admitted conspiring to import drugs and firearms.
Romone Mashalleck, 25, a civilian, of Huron Street, Balham, south London, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail after being found guilty of conspiring to import firearms.
Duran Wright, a former regimental police officer in the Army, was jailed for 10 years.
The 28-year-old, of Jerningham Road, New Cross, south-east London, was found guilty of conspiring to import class A drugs and firearms.
Laurent had been a trooper with the Queen's Royal Hussars and Wright had been a lance corporal with the Royal Logistics Corps.
Dyce and Loveless had been troopers in the Queen's Royal Hussars. They were all based in Germany.
Marshalleck was their civilian contact in London.
Jurors heard Dyce, Laurent and Wright were serving soldiers while Loveless was on terminal leave ahead of his discharge from the Army.
Alison Saunders, of the CPS, said: "This was a planned conspiracy to bring weapons, ammunition and drugs into the UK organised by four soldiers, based in Germany, and their civilian contact in London."
She said the full extent of those involved was only discovered when phone data was "meticulously analysed and a picture of those involved was created".
She continued: "These deadly weapons could have gone on to be used in violent crimes.
"The high-purity cocaine that was imported had a street value of over Â£70,000 and would almost certainly have made big profits for criminal gangs while damaging lives."


Former All Black Corey Flynn is to switch to Glasgow Warriors this summer from Toulouse after the hooker agreed a two-year contract with the Pro12 club.

The 35-year-old, who has 15 New Zealand caps, will make the switch should he receive a visa and pass a medical.
Flynn has played 42 times since joining the French Top 14 club in 2014.
Warriors coach Gregor Townsend said: "We're excited about his arrival, which will be the first time a Rugby World Cup winner has played for Warriors."
Flynn, who was a member of their Rugby World Cup winning squad in 2011. had joined Toulouse after 12 years in Super Rugby with the Crusaders and also played for Southland and Canterbury in his homeland.
"Corey is a very experienced player, who has played at the highest level of the game," said Townsend.
"He will strengthen our leadership group, having captained Canterbury and the Crusaders, as well as the Junior All Blacks.
"He has shown his ability to adapt to a different rugby environment having been involved in 32 games for Toulouse last season, starting in all but one of them.
"Corey is also going to play an important role to help mentor some of our our younger players and bring the best out of the other hookers in our squad."
Flynn, who will compete for a place with Scotland hookers Pat MacArthur and Fraser Brown, has already played at Scotstoun with Toulouse, having started both of their European Rugby Champions Cup games against the Warriors last season.
Flynn said: "When I played at Scotstoun last season, the atmosphere was fantastic and it shows the club has a really good support base.
"I jumped at the chance to join the Warriors after chatting to Gregor and I'm good friends with Scotland full-back Sean Maitland and he couldn't say enough good things about Glasgow.
"I want to help the young hookers at the club by passing on my experience and helping them come to terms with professional rugby in a similar role to the one I had at the Crusaders."


Triple jumper Phillips Idowu said he was happy to be back in a Great Britain vest as GB finished fifth at the European Team Championships.

The 35-year-old managed a leap of 16.37m to finish fourth in the German city of Braunschweig on Sunday, as he represented GB for the first time since the 2012 London Olympics.
Idowu, who took a break from the sport last year, said: "It's always an honour to put on the red, white and blue."
Germany won the event from Russia.
Britain finished third when the competition was staged at Gateshead last year but fielded a developmental squad this time.
The 2009 world champion and 2008 Beijing Olympic silver medallist competed just once in 2013 before deciding to "take a step back from athletics".
There was doubt as to whether he would compete again after he lost his lottery funding, but Idowu is hoping to jump at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships this summer.
"Today didn't go as well as I would have liked," he told BBC Sport. "I still feel I have a lot in my legs. I haven't quite really nailed it yet but I'll keep pushing on.
"I'm enjoying it here and just want to keep going."
Idowu fell out with former GB head coach Charles van Commenee in the build-up to London 2012, where he failed to qualify for the final despite being favourite for gold.
"I needed a break and time to myself to freshen up," he said.
"I have no plan - I am just winging it right now. It's exciting for British athletics now and I'm happy to be part of it."
There were no GB winners on the final day of the competition, and the team were overtaken by Poland in the overall standings having been in fourth position overnight.
William Sharman, 29, set a new personal best of 13.21 secs as he finished second in the 110 metres hurdles, just 0.01 behind Russia's Sergey Shubenkov.
Sharman's time makes him the third-fastest British 110m hurdler of all time, behind Colin Jackson and Tony Jarrett.
James Ellington was third in the 200m in 20.60 secs, while Anyika Onuora also came third in the women's race, running 23.24 secs.
There were fourth-place finishes for Sophie Hitchon (hammer), Jonny Mellor (3000m), plus the men's and women's 4 x 400m relay teams.
Team captain Hannah England finished fifth in the 1500m and then watched her husband, Luke Gunn, place fifth in the 3000m steeplechase. Late replacement Beth Potter came fifth in the 5000m.
There were eighth-place finishes for Serita Solomon (100m hurdles), Brett Morse (discus), while Lee Doran (javelin) and Jazmin Sawyers (javelin) both came ninth.
Isobel Pooley (high jump) and Mukhtar Mohammed (800m) were 11th, with Rachel Wallader (shot put) 12th.
Steve Lewis failed to register a height in the pole vault.


The chief executive of mining giant BHP Billiton says his firm aims to have 50% female employees by 2025.

It is a steep climb from the current 17% and Andrew Mackenzie described it as an "aspirational goal".
The Anglo-Australian mining company is holding its annual general meeting in London, almost a year on from the fatal Samarco dam collapse in Brazil.
Protest groups have been calling on BHP to do more to make up for the damage.
Nineteen people were killed and hundreds were left homeless last November when the Fundao dam, owned by Samarco - a joint venture between BHP and the Brazilian firm Vale - collapsed.
The dam burst released billions of gallons of sludge, causing significant environmental damage.
The protesters want BHP to expand its compensation scheme and to cancel its plans to build another dam in the area.
When it comes to chief executive Andrew Mackenzie's aim of have a 50-50 balance between men and women, he says there is not just a moral imperative to change, but a commercial one as well.
"We will harness the enormous potential that a more inclusive and diverse workplace can deliver," he says.
BHP argues that the commercial case for action is compelling: more inclusive and diverse workplaces perform better and have a better safety record.
However, mining has one of the lowest percentages of women in its workforce when compared to other sectors.
Currently, only 17% of those at BHP Billiton are women, which is in line with the industry average for mining firms, explains Jackie Woods of Australia's Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
"In the end, though, even an aspirational target is still a terrific thing," she says.
"It is a public show of support and intention to improve gender equality."
BHP's Mr Mackenzie makes it clear that new initiatives will be needed to boost the numbers of women it employs.
"While we have made progress, we still aren't as inclusive or diverse as we could be," he says.
"Without new initiatives, it would take us 30 years just to get to 30% female representation."
In a blue-collar industry, even simple things such as shift patterns can help in breaking down barriers, says Jackie Woods.
"In many cases, women still do the caring and domestic work.
"So measures like changing shift structures from 12 hours to eight hours or introducing split shifts will make it easier for women to enter such gender-segregated industries."
The agency says companies need to take a realistic long term approach.
A first stumbling block to any rapid changes might be that there are simply not enough trained women available for the jobs on offer.
In many cases, it's an issue that in fact has to be addressed much earlier on, in schools and universities, says Ms Woods - by setting student intake targets so that more women can access training for industries traditionally dominated by men.
BHP says it has included the the goal of inclusive and diverse teams in its charter and, says Mr Mackenzie, this will now be "a key measure of performance".


The BBC is to make 24 live HD Olympic streams available to cable and satellite providers.

The deal means viewers will be able to watch every Olympic sport live for the duration of the summer games through their TV sets.
Previously, the BBC had only planned to broadcast the streams online.
It will be the first time viewers have been given the opportunity to follow one particular sport throughout the day.
The services will be in addition to coverage on BBC One and BBC Three, which will air all of the key moments from the Olympics, as well as other platforms including Radio 5 live.
Together, this coverage will deliver around 2,500 hours of live sport coverage through the various BBC platforms during the Games.
"These are the first truly digital Olympics, where we'll offer more choice than ever before,"said Roger Mosey, the BBC's director of London 2012, on his blog.
The BBC's home of 2012: Latest Olympic news, sport, culture, torch relay, video and audio
"You'll be able to watch sport from every venue from first thing in the morning to last thing at night... Hockey fans can watch live uninterrupted hockey, and table tennis fans can stick all day with their sport too."
Mr Mosey said the BBC had agreed with Sky and Freesat to show the live streams across 24 channels, with more announcements from other providers expected soon.
"The aim is that you'd be able to pick from watching BBC Olympics 1 right through to BBC Olympics 24 with full programme guides and the ability to record your favourite sports," he said.
However Mr Mosey added: "Not every platform will be able to accommodate such a huge technical offer, which amounts to 48 channels in total if you count 24 SD (Standard Definition) plus 24 HD."
Freeview users will have access to two additional channels available through the BBC Red Button, providing up to four channels at peak times.