Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to stand down from his role as Middle East envoy representing the US, Russia, the UN and the EU, sources confirm.

He will leave the role next month after he fulfils "outstanding commitments", a source close to Mr Blair told the BBC.
Mr Blair, who took the role just hours after leaving Downing Street in 2007, has written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to confirm his decision.
He will "remain active" in the region in an informal role, the source said.
Mr Blair remains "fully committed to assisting the international community in its work with Israel and the Palestinians to bring about progress on the two-state solution", they said.
"He believes that he can best support these efforts through working with the key regional players, the USA, the EU and others, without any formal role."
By Kevin Connolly, BBC Middle East correspondent
No-one is going to consider Tony Blair's period as Quartet envoy a resounding success.
But it can't be written off as a failure either, largely because of the mandate he was given.
The role came with considerable media fanfare, but in truth they were big headlines heralding a modest set of responsibilities.
It was the envoy's job to bring economic development to Palestinian areas, and there were some successes on improving freedom of movement and mobile phone services.
But everyone knows some sort of political progress has to come - stability, if not a proper deal - before the Palestinian economy can really flourish.
That never came on Mr Blair's watch. But it wasn't his remit either.
Some felt he was too comfortable with the Israelis and that the Palestinians never felt he put in enough hours at the job.
His time may not be ending gloriously but it is difficult to hold Mr Blair to account for failure in a region where very few international diplomats have succeeded.
Although he did contribute to the political process, Mr Blair felt the post was "limited" to supporting the Palestinian people on economic development and strengthening institutions, the source said.
But despite the "political constraints" of the position, Mr Blair believes "much has been achieved" over the last eight years.
The former Labour prime minister feels an "entirely new approach" is required to find a two-state solution, the source added.
Mr Blair will now "concentrate on strengthening relations between Israel and the wider Arab world", which he believes could help "underpin international efforts to end the ongoing impasse in the peace process".
"He will also focus on encouraging Israel to take measures which will dramatically improve the daily lives of Palestinians in Gaza," the source said
"He believes that achieving this progress on the ground is an essential prerequisite to strengthening broader Arab-Israeli relations."
James Robbins, BBC diplomatic correspondent, said Mr Blair's time in the role had coincided with "hope draining away throughout the Middle East peace process".
He said the Quartet of powers was now likely to examine its own role in the peace process - as well as the future role of another possible envoy.
"So little has been achieved - arguably nothing has been achieved - in the Israel-Palestine process in the past decade and more, so I think if the Quartet examines its own usefulness it will certainly think twice before rushing to have a new envoy," our correspondent added.


Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, has launched his campaign to earn the Republican nomination for US president.

At a rally in Dallas, the 65-year-old promised he would "end an era of failed leadership".
His 14-year tenure at the helm of the country's second largest state earned the socially conservative Christian a reputation for cutting spending.
This is his second bid for the White House.
His first was derailed by a very public moment of forgetfulness when in November 2011, he stumbled over the name of a government department he wanted to abolish, during a Republican debate.
Unable to remember the agency, he instead uttered the word, "oops".
He dropped out of the race two months later, during a period that his wife Anita described this week as a "dark time".
But his supporters point to the economic successes of Texas under his leadership as evidence of his talents.
Mr Perry made his announcement in a Dallas airplane hangar surrounded on stage by military supporters.
Hundreds of supporters gathered in an un-airconditioned airplane hanger on a hot June Texas morning to listen to Rick Perry launch his presidential bid.
"Perry stands out because he's done the most," says Nancy Oliver, who came to the event with several handmade campaign signs.
During his speech, Mr Perry boasted of leading the world's 12th-largest economy and overseeing robust job growth. It's part of what he hopes to be his two main selling points - the economic health of the state under his leadership and his foreign policy expertise as a former Air Force pilot who has the support of military veterans.
"The economy, the jobs, and we didn't suffer too much here in Texas during this last downturn," said another in the crowd, Mark Easton, when asked why he backs Mr Perry. "What's not to like about that?"
That's Mr Perry's pitch. We'll see if voters outside Texas agree.
The speech began with his humble beginning on a farm in west Texas, and then moved on to his two terms as state governor.
"Leadership is not a speech on the Senate floor" Perry told supporters in attempt to distinguish his candidacy from other Republican contenders.
"It's not what you say. It's what you do."
In 2014, he was indicted by a grand jury on charges of abusing his power, which he denies.
Earlier on Thursday Mr Perry announced his candidacy by launching a new fundraising website.
He becomes the 10th Republican to join the race, with several big names still to jump in.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said on Thursday he will announce on 15 June.


York City have signed Lewis Alessandra on loan for a month from Rochdale.

The 27-year-old striker has made just 11 appearances for Rochdale this season, scoring just once in League One - against Sheffield United in October.
Following their defeat by Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday, the Minstermen are five points from safety in League Two with 11 matches remaining.
Alessandra, who has previously played for Morecambe and Plymouth, will be in Saturday's squad against Barnet.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


A man has been charged following an investigation into historical abuse at a former children's home.

David Mann, 67, of Westhoughton, Bolton, has been charged with three counts under the Sexual Offences Act.
Police launched an investigation in 2015 after a number of complaints of both sexual and physical abuse at Wood End Assessment Centre in Atherton.
The counts relate to three separate reports, between 1982 and 1987, when Mr Mann was employed there.
Greater Manchester Police said the complainants were aged between 11 and 16 at the time.
Mr Mann has been bailed and is due to appear at Wigan Magistrates' Court on 11 October.
Lancashire County Council opened Wood End - which has since closed - in 1969 as a remand home for boys aged between 10 and 17.
However, many sent there were simply from dysfunctional families or in the care of social services.
In February 2015 Wigan Council - which took over the home in 1974 -  issued an apology to former residents after police launched Operation Milan to examine the complaints.


As a transgender woman living in Guyana, Petronella Trotman has grown accustomed to violence and daily abuse on the streets.

But when she was physically attacked in January, while walking in Georgetown, the South American country's capital, she decided to seek justice.
"The young man came up to me and asked if it was me who disrespected him the other night," she said, in reference to a previous argument with her alleged assailant.
"And he joock [stabbed] me to my neck with scissors. I fell to the ground and when he left, I ran away. Then he came back with some glass bottles and pelted me down."
"It happens a lot here in Guyana to transgender women," she added. "We live in a very homophobic society."
Ms Trotman reported the matter to the police and the case went to Georgetown Magistrates Court.
But seeking justice as a transgender woman is not easy in Guyana due to a colonial-era law, now 124 years old, that criminalises cross-dressing.
Guyanese Summary Jurisdiction Act
On her first day in the courtroom, Ms Trotman was told by the presiding magistrate to "dress like a man" at her next court date.
When she returned to court on 2 March to hear the final verdict, she defiantly wore a blue top and a long, patterned skirt.
This time, Magistrate Dylon Bess refused her entry, citing "inappropriate dress".
"I felt really bad because the magistrate ordered me out of the court and he literally tried the case without me," Ms Trotman told the BBC.
The case was dismissed and, with Ms Trotman not allowed inside the court, she only learned of the decision when her alleged attacker shared the news upon leaving the courtroom.
Magistrate Bess defended his demand that Ms Trotman dress in male clothes.
He said that while it was "a preference and not a requirement" that transgender women dress as men in his courtroom, "sometimes persons commit offences dressed as males and then when they appear in court dressed as a female it can have implications for how a victim can identify his or her accuser, or vice versa".
He also said that it would be up to parliament to abolish Guyana's law criminalising cross-dressing and not a court of law.
The managing director of Guyana's Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Joel Simpson, strongly disagrees.
"It's really a dereliction of duty for Magistrate Bess to say that parliament has to change the law," he said.
"While he is a magistrate, not a judge, the court should not be applying an unjust, unconstitutional law... Where there's conflict, the constitution prevails."
A former president of the Guyana Bar Association, Ronald Burch-Smith, also questioned the continued application of the law.
"There's a legitimate concern when it comes to things like crime and robbery, that persons dressed in disguise might take advantage of female clothing," he said.
"But in the [cases] that have come up so far that has never been an issue. It's taking advantage of an already oppressed minority.
"I think the courts should take the lead in recognising that these things are irrelevant to justice."
Opposition to the cross-dressing law was sparked in 2009 when transgender activist Quincy McEwan and six others were arrested and fined for loitering and wearing female attire.
In protest, Ms McEwan founded Guyana Trans United (GTU) and in 2010 launched a Supreme Court challenge against the cross-dressing law, in partnership with sister organisation SASOD and the University of the West Indies' Rights Advocacy Project, U-RAP.
When the case came before the court in 2013, Guyana's then-chief justice, Ian Chang, ruled that cross-dressing was legal unless done for an "improper purpose".
He did not say what constituted an improper purpose.
Seeking clarification, Ms McEwan and her supporters took the matter to Guyana's Court of Appeal, denouncing the law as "discriminatory" and "unconstitutional".
But late in February they received the news that their appeal had been dismissed and Mr Chang's ruling upheld.
Although frustrated with the decision, GTU and SASOD are determined to press on.
"Our next step is to continue to have protests, let our voices be heard and then to get a petition before parliament," Ms McEwan said.
"And we're not stopping there. We're going to appeal our matter before the Caribbean Court of Justice."
If the Caribbean Court of Justice upholds their case, Guyana will have to amend its laws. "That's the highest court so we will have to follow the decision," said Attorney General Basil Williams.
LGBT activists will likely face opposition along the way, particularly from religious pressure groups.
"The Church is one factor in all of this," said the Attorney General. "But as time goes by everything becomes more enlightened."
Ms Trotman is hoping change comes soon. Without the money to appeal Magistrate Bess's decision, she said: "I finished with the case. It's sad but what you can do? Certain laws need to be changed. It's very discriminating to us here in Guyana. When you're one thing and people want you to be something else."


Bolton missed the chance to move four points clear of third-placed Fleetwood as they were held to a drab draw by relegation-threatened rivals Bury.

The hosts edged a tame first half before Bury forced Mark Howard to tip James Vaughan's header over the bar.
Wanderers finally showed urgency in the last 15 minutes, with Joe Murphy saving David Wheater's long-range volley.
Adam le Fondre struck the underside of the bar and Filipe Morais' free-kick went close but the Shakers survived.
The point ends a three-game losing run for Lee Clark's side, moving them two points clear of the drop-zone, while second-placed Bolton are winless in three as they look to seal automatic promotion to the Championship.
To make matters worse for the Trotters, midfielder Darren Pratley was forced off in the closing stages with a head injury.
Meanwhile, Bury winger Jack Mackreth was an unused substitute after being recalled from his loan at Macclesfield earlier on Tuesday.
Match ends, Bolton Wanderers 0, Bury 0.
Second Half ends, Bolton Wanderers 0, Bury 0.
Corner,  Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Joe Murphy.
Attempt saved. Filipe Morais (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from very close range is saved in the top right corner.
Mark Beevers (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Cameron Burgess (Bury).
Mark Beevers (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by George Miller (Bury).
Attempt saved. Adam Le Fondre (Bolton Wanderers) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Chris Long (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Cameron Burgess (Bury).
Corner,  Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Cameron Burgess.
Foul by Adam Le Fondre (Bolton Wanderers).
Leon Barnett (Bury) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Adam Le Fondre (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Leon Barnett (Bury).
Attempt blocked. James Henry (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Filipe Morais (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Greg Leigh (Bury).
Foul by Dorian Dervite (Bolton Wanderers).
George Miller (Bury) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Attempt missed. Mark Beevers (Bolton Wanderers) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high.
Corner,  Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Greg Leigh.
Attempt blocked. Filipe Morais (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Corner,  Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Leon Barnett.
Corner,  Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Greg Leigh.
Adam Le Fondre (Bolton Wanderers) hits the bar with a right footed shot from the centre of the box.
Foul by David Wheater (Bolton Wanderers).
(Bury) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner,  Bolton Wanderers. Conceded by Joe Murphy.
Attempt saved. David Wheater (Bolton Wanderers) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Substitution, Bolton Wanderers. Chris Long replaces Darren Pratley.
Substitution, Bury. Ryan Lowe replaces Scott Burgess.
Mark Beevers (Bolton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by George Miller (Bury).
Attempt missed. George Miller (Bury) left footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left.
Attempt missed. Andrew Taylor (Bolton Wanderers) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.
Attempt blocked. Filipe Morais (Bolton Wanderers) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution, Bolton Wanderers. James Henry replaces Derik.
Corner,  Bury. Conceded by Mark Beevers.


A few hours after US President-elect Donald Trump took to the stage to make his acceptance speech, as evening fell in Berlin, small candles were quietly lit and carefully placed in front of aged, stone doorsteps and along the darkening pavements.

Berliners were marking the anniversary of Kristallnacht (when Jewish people and their businesses were violently attacked in 1938).
It was barely noted amid the febrile howl of international reaction to the US election. Neither was the 27th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which shares the same date.
But both events - and all that they represent of this country's past - explain, partially at least, why Germans were so repulsed by Donald Trump's election rhetoric and why so few (4% by one poll's reckoning) wanted him in the White House.
There is almost universal shock and horror here. Even Germany's foreign minister (who once described Trump as a hate speaker) could not bring himself publicly to congratulate him.
One newspaper headline exclaimed "Oh my God!",  another "We're in mourning". Another minister described the result as "a nightmare from which we can't wake up".
A poll conducted by national broadcaster ARD found that the majority of Germans don't trust Mr Trump and that most believe his election will result in a deterioration of the transatlantic relationship.
It's a relationship which, for some years now, has fallen into the "special" category.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the outgoing US President Barack Obama forged a strong and warm partnership, which survived the revelation that American spies had listened in to her mobile phone calls.
And it was a relationship that had implications for the rest of Europe.
When the US wanted to send arms to the Ukrainians, for example, Mrs Merkel weighed in and deterred them. And as the main interlocutor between Russia's Vladimir Putin and the West, Mrs Merkel - and Germany - have wielded influence.
The problem now is that no-one knows what happens next.
As Germany's rather shocked defence minister pointed out, we don't really know where Mr Trump stands on foreign policy.
That uncertainty is not going down well with German business, finance and industry leaders.
"The self-destruction of the West continues," noted Joerg Kramer, chief economist at Commerzbank.
America is Germany's biggest trading partner. More than a million jobs are thought to depend on the export market.
Mr Trump's comments about trade agreements have unnerved many here. TTIP - the controversial, planned trade deal between Europe and the US - was already struggling. Many believe it's now finished.
But shock is turning to pragmatism.
"No-one really expected this result, so no-one had established communication with anyone on his team," says Peter Beyer, spokesman for Mrs Merkel's CDU party on transatlantic relations.
"What everyone is trying to do now is contact anyone we might know who might play a role in his team."
It's accepted in Berlin that Angela Merkel will have to make this relationship work.
Donald Trump was initially scathing about her - and her refugee policy - during his election campaign.
Nevertheless the chancellor - who spoke by telephone with the president-elect on Thursday - has offered her congratulations and co-operation, albeit on the condition that Mr Trump respects "shared values" like freedom and the rule of law, and applies them to all, regardless of gender, creed or background.
But, as Mr Trump prepares to take office, arguably Mrs Merkel's greatest challenge is how to hold her country - indeed the EU - together.
Because what's really got German politicians so jittery is that in Donald Trump's victory they see parallels with the sweep of right-wing and populist parties through Europe.
Germany itself goes to the polls next year. The established parties are losing votes to the anti-migrant, anti-Muslim Alternative for Germany (AfD).
No wonder, perhaps, that some here see the US election result - following the Brexit referendum - as a wake-up call.
Wolfgang Schaeuble, the finance minister, told the tabloid newspaper Bild: "In politics, business and society the elites don't always make a good impression. Decision-making processes are very often not transparent. Everyone must be prepared to learn - if we're open to the perspective of others and to a change in the direction of our thinking then populism will have a hard time."
Mr Trump's victory has been described as a political earthquake.
The aftershocks will shift the German and European political landscape. Berlin wants to continue an important transatlantic relationship and maintain global influence while upholding values it holds dear. These are, as Peter Beyer puts it, "fragile times".
"This will bring changes to the world. It's not the same place as before 8 November. Someone with the character of Donald Trump has an effect not just nationally but internationally, globally."
Mr Beyer speaks for many here as he adds: "Maybe he'll prove us wrong. I hope so."


Wales must move beyond the European Union referendum and look to the future, Plaid Cymru's leader has said.

Leanne Wood claimed Labour and the Conservatives did not represent Wales' interests and only Plaid could secure a successful EU exit for Wales.
She said it was time to move on from the result and a subsequent Brexit to focus on "what a good deal for Wales could look like".
Labour's Chris Bryant said only his party would "stand up for Wales".
Writing in the Sunday Times, Ms Wood said if people did not move past the referendum and "vote in Wales's national interest on June 8" in the general election, Wales would be "defenceless from Tory attempts to sell off the Welsh NHS and allow cheap imports to undermine our steel and agriculture sector as it pursues dangerous foreign trade deals".
"It's time to move on from the 2016 referendum and focus on what a good deal for Wales could look like," she wrote.
"We will seek a positive future for Wales based on the defence of our economy, our communities and even our identity.
"Now is the time for us all to move beyond the decision to leave the EU, to show that we believe in Wales, to defend Wales and to vote for Wales."
Labour's Chris Bryant said a vote for Plaid Cymru risked letting the Tories "walk all over Wales".
"Plaid Cymru like to pose as a progressive party, but in the Welsh assembly they joined with the Tories and UKIP to vote against vital funding for hospitals, homes and education," he said.
"It is only Welsh Labour that will stand up for Wales."
On a visit to Bridgend last month, Prime Minister Theresa May said backing the Tories would "strengthen my hand" in Brexit negotiations and be a vote for a "stronger Wales".


Former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal says he has not retired, but is instead taking a sabbatical until the summer.

The 65-year-old has been out of work since leaving Old Trafford in May.
On Monday, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf said Van Gaal had ended his coaching career, with the sudden death of his son-in-law influencing his decision.
But he told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser that although retiring was a possibility, it is not "definitive".
The Dutchman also revealed he had turned down the opportunity to coach struggling Spanish club Valencia last month.
"Whether I continue or not will also depend on the offers I get," he added.
"I've coached many clubs and I think it's very difficult to improve on that level of clubs.
"It's not true that I've retired, not at this moment, but I'll decide at the end of my sabbatical, next June or July."
Van Gaal won seven national titles with Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AZ before being appointed Manchester United boss in May 2014.
He guided the Red Devils to the FA Cup, as well as a fifth-place finish in the Premier League, before being replaced by Jose Mourinho.


Congolese ex-rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has been jailed for 18 years following a landmark conviction at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and sexual violence.

Bemba was found guilty in March of crimes committed in the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003.
He was accused of failing to stop his rebels from killing and raping people.
Bemba's lawyers have already said they will appeal against his conviction.
Judges announced sentences of between 16 and 18 years for five counts of rape, murder and pillaging, with the jail terms running concurrently. The eight years Bemba has already spent in custody will be deducted from his term.
Passing sentence at the ICC in The Hague, Judge Sylvia Steiner said Bemba had failed to exercise control over his private militia sent into CAR, where they carried out "sadistic" rapes, murders and pillaging of "particular cruelty".
Bemba had sent more than 1,000 fighters to the CAR to help former president Ange Felix Patasse put down an attempted coup.
Who is Jean-Pierre Bemba?
Profile: Jean-Pierre Bemba
More about DR Congo
The court heard that his troops committed acts of extreme violence against civilians, crimes which the judge said Bemba was made aware of but did nothing to stop.
Bemba's conviction was the first time the ICC has focused on rape as a weapon of war, and the first time a suspect had been convicted over crimes committed by others under his command.
He had led the MLC rebel group during DR Congo's brutal civil war and after a 2003 peace deal he laid down his arms and joined an interim government, becoming vice-president.
Geraldine Mattioli-Zeltner, international justice advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said the sentence offered "a measure of justice" for the victims.
"Other commanders should take notice that they, too, can be held accountable for rapes and other serious abuses committed by troops under their control," she said.


Rising costs do not appear to be dampening confidence in the building sector, research from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) suggests.

The survey indicated Northern Ireland was one of the few parts of the UK to see a pick-up in output growth in the final quarter of last year.
It added that a significant majority of respondents expect workloads to rise during the course of this year.
Rics research is published jointly with the Belfast law firm, Tughans.
Private house building is rising, as is private commercial activity but Northern Ireland infrastructure workloads are weak, and well below UK average.
The report said labour shortages and rising costs are increasingly concerning.
About half of surveyors saw a rise in costs and that has pushed up output prices.
The rising construction activity in Belfast is because of a number of new hotel, office, and student accommodation projects.
Rics construction spokesman, Jim Sammon, said: "The lack of growth in infrastructure workloads remains a key concern for Northern Ireland.
"Infrastructure investment from both the private and public sectors is essential to delivering long term growth, particularly as we seek to continue to attract Foreign Direct Investment."
Michael McCord, from Tughans Solicitors, said: "Clearly some uncertainty lies ahead, and rising input costs may impact on profitability, but a weak sterling also has the potential to help increase the competitiveness of Northern Ireland companies working in the Eurozone."


The Brazilian military launched a pre-dawn crime crackdown in various favelas across Rio De Janeiro on Saturday.

The newly launched Operation Onerat aims to tackle violent gangs operating in the city.
Footage from the Globo news network showed armed soldiers frisking residents and checking vehicles.
Last month the government deployed more than 10,000 soldiers and police on the streets. A crime wave has hit Rio since Brazil's financial crisis.
The operation seeks to reduce citywide robberies and crimes related to drug-trafficking.
Five favelas were targeted by the combined forces of the military and police, the Rio state security service said in a statement.
These were Lins, Camarista Meier, Morros de Sao Joao and Engenho Novo in the north, and Covanca in the west.
Residents posted on social media about waking up to the sound of gunfire and helicopters.
President Michel Temer has signed a degree allowing the military deployment to carry on until end of the year. He said this may later be extended throughout 2018.
"We are going to stay in place until the goals are met," Defence Minister Raul Jungmann said in an interview with Globo. "It could be 24 hours, over the weekend, three days, 15 days. The goal, as always, is the one we said before, to block organised crime, to create a surprise effect."
The state security service said some roads were blocked and the airspace for civilian flights has been restricted over the sectors where the armed forces are operating.
Rio experienced a previous military crackdown on crime ahead of the Rio Olympics, which began exactly a year ago.
However, the retreat of the security forces after the event led to crime increasing again.


North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died of a heart attack at the age of 69, state media have announced.

Millions of North Koreans were "engulfed in indescribable sadness", the KCNA state news agency said, as people wept openly in Pyongyang.
KNCA described one of his sons, Kim Jong-un, as the "great successor" whom North Koreans should unite behind.
Pyongyang's neighbours are on alert amid fears of instability in the poor and isolated nuclear-armed nation.
World reactionDeath triggers swift reaction
Fears were compounded by unconfirmed reports from South Korean news agency Yonhap that the North had test-fired a missile off its eastern coast before the announcement of Kim Jong-il's death was made.
Unnamed government officials in Seoul were quoted as saying they did not believe the launch was linked to the announcement. The South Korean defence ministry has declined to comment.
Following news of Mr Kim's death, South Korea put its armed forces on high alert and said the country was on a crisis footing. Japan's government convened a special security meeting.
China - North Korea's closest ally and biggest trading partner - expressed shock at the news of his death and pledged to continue making "active contributions to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in this region".
Asian stock markets fell after the news was announced.
Mr Kim's death was announced in an emotional statement on national television.
By Lucy WilliamsonBBC News, Seoul
North Korea has shocked the world by announcing that its leader has died.
Kim Jong-il had been presented to his people as a father-figure and demi-god - all-powerful and benevolent. But his tight control of the country, and his creation of a nuclear arsenal, has meant his death has caused political shockwaves around the region too.
His presumed successor, Kim Jong-un, is largely unknown outside the secretive state, and countries throughout the region are watching closely for any instability in the transition of power.
The announcer, wearing black, struggled to keep back the tears as she said he had died of physical and mental over-work.
The KCNA later reported that he had died of a "severe myocardial infarction along with a heart attack" at 08:30 local time on Saturday (23:30 GMT Friday).
He had been on a train at the time, for one of his "field guidance" tours, KCNA said.
The state news agency said a funeral would be held in Pyongyang on 28 December and Kim Jong-un would head the funeral committee. A period of national mourning has been declared from 17 to 29 December.
Images from inside the secretive state showed people in the streets of Pyongyang weeping at the news of his death.
Ruling party members in one North Korean county were shown by state TV banging tables and crying out loud, the AFP news agency reports.
"I can't believe it," a party member named as Kang Tae-Ho was quoted as saying. "How can he go like this? What are we supposed to do?"
Another, Hong Sun-Ok, said: "He tried so hard to make our lives much better and he just left like this."
KCNA said people were "convulsing with pain and despair" at their loss, but would unite behind his successor Kim Jong-un.
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Country where pavements are washed by hand
Life inside the North Korean bubble
Kim Jong-il: The cinephile despot
"All party members, military men and the public should faithfully follow the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-un and protect and further strengthen the unified front of the party, military and the public," the news agency said.
Little is known about Kim Jong-un. He was educated in Switzerland, is aged in his late 20s and is believed to be Kim Jong-il's third son - born to Mr Kim's reportedly favourite wife, the late Ko Yong-hui.
Kim Jong-un was unveiled as his father's likely successor just over a year ago. Many had expected to see this process further consolidated in 2012.
South Korea - which remains technically at war with the north - urged people to "go about their usual economic activities" on Monday, while putting the military on alert.
President Lee Myung-Bak spoke to US President Barack Obama by telephone and they "agreed to closely co-operate and monitor the situation together", a South Korean presidential spokesman said.
Reaction from Washington was muted, with the White House saying it was "closely monitoring" reports of the death.
The US remained "committed to stability on the Korean peninsula, and to the freedom and security of our allies", it said in a statement.
China said it was "distressed" to hear the news of his death. "We express our grief about this and extend our condolences to the people of North Korea," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.
By Donald GreggFormer US ambassador to South Korea
Kim Jong-il's death should not have come as a complete surprise to anyone, given his tenuous health.
But it is safe to say that the North Koreans would have very much preferred that he lived one more year, so that in 2012, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, his father, Kim Jong-il would have been on hand to pay homage to "the Great Leader".
Now that lot will fall to Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il's youngest son who has been put forward as the natural and fully prepared successor to his father.
Will Kim's death aid ties with US?
Analysts say that with the process of transition from father to son incomplete, Mr Kim's death could herald "very unstable times" in North Korea.
"We have to be very worried because whenever there is domestic instability North Korea likes to find an external situation to divert the attention away from that - including indulging in provocation," Professor Lee Jung-hoon, specialising in international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul, told the BBC.
Christopher Hill, former US representative to the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme, said all parties needed to "keep cool heads".
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said it could be a "turning point" for North Korea to engage more closely with the international community.
Kim Jong-il inherited the leadership of North Korea from his father Kim Il-sung.
Shortly after he came to power in 1994, a severe famine caused by ill-judged economic reforms and poor harvests left an estimated two million people dead.
His regime has been harshly criticised for human rights abuses and is internationally isolated because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Under Mr Kim's leadership, funds have been channelled to the military and in 2006 North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. It followed that up with a second one three years later. Multinational talks aimed at disarming North Korea have been deadlocked for months.
He had reportedly been in poor health since suffering a stroke in August 2008.


Almost 3,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Shoreham Toll Bridge to be renamed The Bridge of Flowers following the airshow crash.

The footbridge has become the focus for hundreds of tributes since a vintage Hawker Hunter jet crashed on to the A27 on 22 August, killing 11 people.
Petition organiser Charlotte Taylor said it was important for the community to note the significance of the event.
"It's really touched so many people," she said.
Councillor Neil Parkin, leader of Adur District Council, said there were also plans for a permanent memorial to the victims.
He said: "We're looking at doing a remembrance walkway from the end of the toll bridge, down the riverbank to Adur Rec, and building a permanent remembrance garden and some sort of memorial."
Mr Parkin said it would first have to be discussed with the next-of-kin.
Inquests into the deaths of the 11 who died were opened and adjourned on Wednesday.
A pre-inquest review has been scheduled for 22 March, with the full inquest expected to take place in June next year.
Police said they have no reason to believe more than 11 people died in the crash.
Pilot Andy Hill remains in a critical but stable condition at an unnamed specialist hospital.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is studying the wreckage of the 1950s' RAF jet to determine the cause of the disaster.
What we know so far about the air disaster
Profiles of the victims
'Like a bomb exploding' - eyewitness accounts
The air crash in pictures
Jet restrictions announced


Mae arweinwyr y prif bleidiau gwleidyddol wedi gwrthdaro am y tro cyntaf ers i Brif Weinidog Prydain, Theresa May, ddweud ei bod galw etholiad cynnar ar 8 Mehefin.

Mewn rhaglen arbennig ar BBC 1, Sunday Politics Wales, dywedodd Carwyn Jones ei fod yn cefnogi galwad canghellor yr wrthblaid bod angen benthyg £500b yn ychwanegol er mwyn buddsoddi yn yr economi.
Dywedodd: "Does dim gwell amser i fuddsoddi. Mae'n rhad.
"Yn 1945 fe ddaeth Llywodraeth Lafur i rym wedi'r rhyfel pan oedd pethau yn llawer, llawer gwaeth. Ond fe wnaethon nhw greu'r NHS, gwneud yn siŵr bod yr economi yn cael ei hail adeiladu, adeiladu tai.
"Os oedden nhw yn gallu gwneud hynny adeg hynny does dim rheswm pam na all Llywodraeth Lafur wneud hynny ym Mehefin."
Fe wrthododd arweinydd y Ceidwadwyr yng Nghymru, Andrew R T Davies i ddweud na fyddai yna drethi yn cael eu codi wedi adroddiadau bod llywodraeth Theresa May yn ystyried rhoi diwedd ar y gwarant na fydden nhw yn eu codi.
"Wnaiff hyn ddim achosi unrhyw gymysgwch achos ni yw'r blaid sydd yn gosod trethi isel. Bydd pobl yn gallu darllen yr hyn fydd yn ein maniffesto."
Dywedodd bod y blaid Geidwadol eisiau sicrhau system sydd yn deg.
Safbwynt Leanne Wood, arweinydd Plaid Cymru, yw bod Cymru yn wynebu "bygythiadau difrifol" a bod angen amddiffyn buddiannau'r wlad.
"Yn ogystal â dyfodol ein gwasanaethau cyhoeddus a thoriadau parhaol, mae pobl hefyd yn wynebu dirywiad yn rhagolygon yr economi.
"Ar ben hynny mae'r posibilrwydd bod San Steffan am ddwyn pŵer. Felly mae angen i Gymru gael tîm o ASau gyda lleisiau cryf i amddiffyn Cymru."
Pan ofynnwyd iddi a fyddai hi yn hoffi ymuno gyda'r tîm hwnnw dywedodd bod ganddi "benderfyniad mawr" i'w wneud yn y dyddiau nesaf.
Dywedodd arweinydd UKIP yn y Cynulliad, Neil Hamilton bod yr etholiad yma ynglŷn ag "ethol gwrthblaid effeithiol, a'r wrthblaid orau i herio'r Ceidwadwyr yw un sydd yn eu gorfodi i gael y fargen Brexit gorau i Brydain, eu gorfodi i weithredu addewidion Theresa May ar fewnfudo er enghraifft."
Mae arweinydd y Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol yng Nghymru, Mark Williams, yn dweud na fyddai yn hoffi gweld clymblaid gyda Llafur a'r Ceidwadwyr. Dyna yw safbwynt y blaid yn Brydeinig hefyd.
Dywedodd ei fod yn falch o glywed mai dyna yw safbwynt y blaid, "am ei bod hi'n bwysig bod gan bobl ddewisiadau clir, digamsyniol."
Fe wrthododd yr awgrym y gallai'r blaid fod yn dal y fantol wedi Mehefin.


Police officers have been asked to stop conducting bail checks on a man accused of murdering a prison officer, the MP for East Belfast has claimed.

Prison officer Adrian Ismay died days after car bombing in Belfast in March.
DUP MP Gavin Robinson alleged in the Commons that a police email said checks were resulting in "too many complaints" from the suspect's solicitor.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said they "rigorously enforce all bail conditions set down by the courts".
"If a person is required to wear an electronic tag as part of their bail conditions, there is no reason for police to duplicate this monitoring unless otherwise requested or directed by the investigating officer or senior police officer or the court," a PSNI statement said.
The bail checks refer to Christopher Alphonsos Robinson who has been charged with the murder of Mr Ismay, who trained prison officers at Maghaberry Prison.
Dissident republicans claimed responsibility for the attack.
The accused, from Aspen Park in Dunmurry, west Belfast, was granted bail under strict conditions in May.
The conditions including electronic tagging and an exclusion order for an area of east Belfast.
Speaking during a Westminster debate, the DUP MP said: "I received information at the weekend that PSNI chiefs sent an email to their officers not to conduct bail checks because it was generating far too many complaints from his solicitor and offending his sensitivities."
In response, a PSNI statement said: "Police will continue to rigorously, but impartially, enforce all bail conditions set by the courts and we will not hesitate to arrest those who breach their bail conditions."
The House of Commons debate focused on Libyan-sponsored terrorism.
The MP said Mr Ismay "was blown up by a bomb planted by the new IRA containing Semtex, which is presumed - since there have been no recent purchases - that it is of the same origin and extraction, sourced from the Czech Republic, through Libya to the IRA and disseminated through their splinter organisations."


Former Motherwell and Sligo Rovers boss Ian Baraclough has been appointed the new Northern Ireland Under-21 manager.

Baraclough, 46, takes over from Jim Magilton, who remains the Irish Football Association's elite performance director.
The new under-21 manager moves into the post after leaving his role as assistant to Oldham boss John Sheridan.
"I am looking forward to working with young players in Northern Ireland," said Baraclough.
"I will be aiming to help the team be successful in qualifying and also to help develop future senior internationals."
Baraclough had a 20-year playing career which saw him play for QPR, Notts County and Scunthorpe United.
He became Scunthorpe manager in 2010 before moving to Sligo Rovers two years later, where he guided the Irish club to the League of Ireland title plus FAI Cup and Setanta Cup triumphs.
After being appointed Motherwell manager, he kept the club in the Scottish Premier League and was then handed the Oldham assistant's role after departing from the SPL outfit.
Northern Ireland senior manager Michael O'Neill said Baraclough would be a "great addition to our international coaching team".
"We were looking for a candidate with good coaching and management experience and Ian certainly fits the bill given his previous roles as both a manager and assistant manager," said O'Neill.
Northern Ireland's Under-21s have never progressed to a European Championship Finals and finished last in their previous qualifying group after picking up only two points from 10 matches.
Baraclough's Under-21 side have have been drawn with Albania, Estonia, Iceland, Slovakia and Spain in their 2019 UEFA European Championship qualifying group.
The Northern Irish begin their campaign against Estonia in Tallinn on 8 June.


A couple had a narrow escape when a car ploughed through railings into the front of their house in Weston, Bath.

Homeowner Clive Hunter told the Bath Chronicle, his wife Jane was sitting "right next to the window" when the car crashed through "inches away".
The BMW 320 hit the house on Southlands, at the bottom of Lansdown Lane, just after 23:40 BST on Thursday.
The male driver of the car escaped serious injury and no-one in the house was hurt, police said.
The crash comes just months after a tipper truck crashed further up Lansdown Lane, leaving four people dead, including a four-year-old girl.


The sister of Mary Travers has said it is not good enough for a woman jailed for her 1984 murder to say it was a "tragic mistake".

Ann Travers was reacting to Mary McArdle's first interview since her controversial appointment to a top Sinn Fein job at Stormont.
Mary McArdle was part of an IRA gang who ambushed magistrate Tom Travers and his family as they left Mass.
Ms Travers said: "Words are words... the action she needs to do is resign."
Ms McArdle told the Andersonstown News - in her first public comments since she was appointed as special adviser to Culture Minister Caral Ni Chuilin - that she regretted that it happened and she did not believe anything she said could ease the family's grief.
"If I were to begin to describe the specific context of conflict I would be accused of trying to justify her death, and I have no wish to do that."
But Ms Travers said: "Rather than Mary McArdle and Sinn Fein saying her death was a mistake, what they should be saying is Mary Travers' murder is an embarrassment which has come back to haunt us."
She said her 23-year-old sister's death could not have been a mistake because she was shot in the back.
The Chair of the Victims Commission Brendan McAllister said Ms Travers' comments had "been important in giving voice to the feelings of many victims who often experience the peace process as adding insult to their life-long injury".
Ms McArdle told the newspaper she had played "a constructive and positive role in winning and maintaining support for the peace process within the nationalist and republican community".
Ms Travers said she believed her appointment was a breach of the Good Friday Agreement's code of conduct for ministers as it did not promote good community relations.
She said Ms McArdle knew it would "cause upset but hoped it would blow over".
"It hasn't blown over for us, and this last week has just been dreadful," she added.


A coroner has raised the issue of a link between suicides and perceived problems with benefits.

Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh said it was possible the number of such cases were increasing.
He recently held an inquest where Kim Burns, of Codsall, near Wolverhampton, left a note criticising the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
However, the DWP said that death was not linked to loss of benefits and Ms Burns had been receiving her payments.
More from Stoke and Staffordshire
A spokesman said Ms Burns, 51, was still receiving the higher rate of mobility allowance and personal independence payments were not a factor at the time of her death.
Ms Burns, a former worker with the British Council and at various universities, had worked full time until she developed an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis, her friend Christine Hammonds said.
She killed herself on 17 January. Her inquest in April recorded a verdict of suicide.
Ms Hammonds said Ms Burns had suffered with depression, but thought she would lose Â£1,000 a year in benefits from April and feared losing her car.
"She was an independent, very proud  woman and I don't think that she wanted to get to the state like so many people, she felt, who somehow find themselves on the edge of society," she said.
Valerie Grant, 73, of Great Bridgeford, died in April. Her son had been told he was to lose his disability allowance on 3 May.
Her inquest has yet to be heard, but following her post-mortem test, Mr Haigh said: "Every now and again I do have to deal with sad cases of people who have killed themselves because of perceived problems with state benefits.
"These do not occur very frequently and I cannot really say if there is an increase in trend, but it certainly is a possibility."
He added he thought it was a "worthwhile issue to explore".
The DWP said it was inappropriate to comment on Mrs Grant's case as she was not in receipt of the benefit.


Jose Mourinho says it is "game over" for Manchester United's hopes of signing Wales international Gareth Bale from Real Madrid.

United boss Mourinho previously said he would "fight" to sign Bale if Madrid wanted to sell, but conceded it looked unlikely after the forward started the 2-1 Uefa Super Cup win over United.
"I think now everybody knows he is going to stay," Mourinho said.
When asked if he had been told he could leave, Bale said: "Not that I know of."
Madrid president Florentino Perez was later quoted by Spanish newspaper Marca as saying the Spanish champions were "not considering selling Bale".
The Welshman added: "I'm just concentrating on my football and I'm not listening to anything. I'm not reading anything, although people tell me bits and bobs.
"I'm enjoying my football and playing as much as I can and winning trophies."
Bale, 28, joined the Spanish giants for a world record fee of £85m from Premier League side Tottenham in 2013.
He committed his future to Madrid at the end of last season, saying he was happy to stay with the 12-time European champions.
Last October, he signed a new deal to stay at the Bernabeu until 2022.
But he made just 17 league starts for Zinedine Zidane's side and has been linked with a move back to the Premier League.
Madrid are also reportedly keen on signing teenage Monaco forward Kylian Mbappe in a £160m deal.
But after Bale started the Skopje victory against the Red Devils, setting up the second goal for Isco, Mourinho told BT Sport: "Clearly the club want him, the manager wants him and he wants the club.
"So for me, game over, even before it started."
BBC Sport's Simon Stone
Jose Mourinho has previously said that signing Bale is "mission impossible". But if he's available - and if Mbappe for instance comes into Madrid it may create a bit of uncertainty - Mourinho is pointing out to Real Madrid he's interested.
But just as much, he is also telling Manchester United that if someone like Gareth Bale is on the market, he expects to be in there pitching for him.
While United were outclassed by Spanish and European champions Madrid, Mourinho insists there were plenty of positives to take from the match going into the Premier League season.
The Red Devils, who finished 24 points adrift of champions Chelsea in sixth place last season, start the new campaign when they host West Ham United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Despite a poor league performance, United won the Europa League and EFL Cup in Mourinho's first season in charge.
"I am so happy to be manager of these guys and told them I have never had a group I like as much as I like them," said the former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto manager.
"I am going to fight with them all the way.
"I am happy because although we lost a game, lost a cup, we did not lose the season. We are better now than we were last season when we won the Europa League."
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Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen has said the central bank no longer needs to give the US economy some "oomph".

The Fed has only raised interest rates three times in the last decade - most recently in March - in a bid to encourage economic growth.
But Ms Yellen said the US economy was now "healthy" and required less help from the central bank.
Investors were unmoved by Ms Yellen's comments, with yields on US Treasury bonds little changed.
Ms Yellen said that "before we had our foot pressed down on the gas pedal trying to give the economy all the oomph we possibly could".
"Now allowing the economy to kind of coast and remain on an even keel - to give it some gas but not so much that we are pressing down hard on the accelerator - that's a better stance of monetary policy," she said at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy.
Other Fed officials have indicated the central bank will raise rates twice more this year.
"We think a gradual path of increases in short-term interest rates can get us to where we need to be, but we don't want to wait too long to have that happen," Ms Yellen said.
Stocks on Wall Street finished broadly flat ahead of Ms Yellen's appearance.
The Dow Jones rose 1.9 points to 20,658.02, while the S&P 500 edged 1.6 points higher to 2,357.16.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was 3.1 points higher at 5,880.93.
Many investors are looking ahead to the start of the big banks' earning season which is expected to have gotten a boost from the election of President Trump.
JP Morgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are all set to unveil their first-quarter results on Thursday.
There has been speculation that the Trump's administration may relax banking legislation introduced to curb the excesses that led to the financial crisis.


Ten people have been killed as Typhoon Goni  dumped torrential rain in the northern Philippines, triggering landslides and floods, officials say.

Several were killed when houses were submerged under rocks and mud. Others are reported missing in flooded areas.
Thousands of people have been evacuated to higher ground and some domestic flights were cancelled.
At one point, Typhoon Goni was packing winds of winds of up to 195km/h (121mph).
However it weakened as it moved northward off Taiwan's east coast, AFP news agency said.
It is the ninth of an average of 20 that hit the Philippines each year, the country's weather bureau said.


Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes fancies his side to have a good season following his decision to appoint Joe Leach as skipper.

Daryl Mitchell's removal as captain, to be replaced by his vice-captain Leach, came as a surprise when it was announced at the end of last season.
But Rhodes is convinced that Leach has the right leadership skills to help Worcestershire succeed this summer.
"Joe's got a lot of good qualities for captaincy," he told BBC Midlands Today.
"He's a good man manager, a motivational sort of guy. And I'm really looking forward to the new season, as I think we'll do well under Joe.
"Tactically, he'll learn and get better at it. But I do know that the more you do it, the easier it gets."
Worcestershire once again start in Division Two in the County Championship, having finished third last season, when they and second-placed Kent lost out to Essex in the race to win the one promotion place to the restructured new eight-team Division One.
That leaves Rhodes' men in a reshuffled 10-team division, which includes relegated Nottinghamshire and Durham, chasing two promotion places again.
And, although they are unlikely to see much of England all-rounder Moeen Ali this summer, they do have a double dose of all-round international quality in the form of their two overseas signings, Australia's John Hastings and, for the T20 Blast only, New Zealand's Mitchell Santner.
Not to mention potential international stars of the future like Joe Clarke, already part of the England Lions set-up over the winter, and possibly also wicketkeeper Ben Cox.
"I did check out some of the betting markets, which surprised me," said Rhodes. "We're long odds and nobody seems to rate us.
"But that's a good position to be in, with nothing to lose and and it gives us a chance to prove a few people wrong.
"I've always liked being an underdog and it's generally worked well for Worcestershire, apart from the era in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when we had Ian Botham, Graham Dilley and Graeme Hick and were favourites for quite a while.
"But it would certainly be nice to surprise a few of these big clubs this summer."
Rhodes is very pleased with the county's acquisition of Australia international all-rounder John Hastings, who is scheduled to be at New Road for the whole summer.
"Getting the right type of person is very important to us," said Rhodes.  "It always has been. We take a lot of time and effort trying to get it right.
"He's a bloke we're very pleased to have in our dressing room, a good club man, like another Australian we had here Andy Bichel was before.
"It's so key to the dressing room. I have a saying I often use that it's about getting the right people for our bus and putting them in the right seats."
Hastings added: "I liked the feel of the club when I've come here in the past. They're well led by Steve Rhodes, who is the linchpin of the club.
"The reason I was so keen to come was because I liked the way they went about things in the game I've played against them for Durham and I can't wait to get going."
Rhodes admits that he has concerns over the imbalance of a 14-game fixture list in Division Two, in which not all the 10 counties will now get the chance to test each other both home and away.
"The way they've chopped it up and reduced the number of games makes it a strange system, having 10 teams and only 14 games. But we'll give it a good crack," he said.
"We know the likes of Nottinghamshire are favourites. They've been a Division One team a long time.
"Durham will be strong, even with their 48-point deficit at the start of the season, and Kent will be tough. They proved it last year when they pipped us for second.
"But you can look at all the teams and their recruitment has been strong. There's a lot of foreigners coming in playing as locals and non-overseas players.
"That may enhance some of the quality of the cricket but it's not great for James Whitaker and the England selectors as it gives them less players to pick from."
Worcestershire's 23-year-old batsman Tom Fell starts this season determined to bounce back to his form of 2015, when he reached the landmark of 1,000 Championship runs, before missing the opening half of the 2016 season following his battle against testicular cancer.
"Getting that 1,000 run mark and averaging 40 plus are the kind of standards I've got to set myself if I do want to go to the next level," he said.
"Last season was always a little bit of a write-off but there is still plenty of time in my career.
"I was considered for the England Development Programme and was fairly close although I never actually got onto that tour.
"And I was part of the ECB Scholarship going out to Perth so it was nice knowing I was in their minds for potentially going on a tour at some stage."


Police in Berlin have found 140kg (309lb) of cocaine hidden in banana boxes which were sent to a supermarket in an apparent mistake by traffickers.

Cocaine valued at 6m euros (Â£5m; $8.2m) was found in fruit sent to five branches of Aldi-Nord in and around the German capital, police said.
The drugs are believed to have arrived by sea in Hamburg from Colombia, from where they were shipped by lorry.
Smugglers probably made a "logistical error", a police spokesman said.
It was Berlin's biggest cocaine haul in years, Olaf Schremm added.
Workers at five branches of Aldi in Berlin and one in Brandenburg uncovered the drugs while unpacking the boxes, the German news magazine Spiegel reports.
Aldi declined to comment, citing the continuing investigation.
Four years ago, workers at Spanish branches of another German budget supermarket chain, Lidl, found nearly 80kg of cocaine hidden in boxes of bananas imported from Ecuador.
Police said Lidl had had nothing to do with the smuggling operation and thanked the chain for its help in finding the drug, The Guardian newspaper reports.


Veteran broadcaster Tony Blackburn has returned to BBC radio, announcing: "Good Lord, I'm back."

The 73-year-old presented a three-hour live show, Soul Party, on Radio 2 on New Year's Eve, opening with Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive.
Blackburn said of his return: "I went for a long walk and got lost. Somebody found me yesterday."
The show was his first broadcast since he was taken off air in February over the Jimmy Savile inquiry.
Director general Tony Hall said at the time that Blackburn had failed to fully co-operate with the inquiry.
Blackburn said at the time the inquiry had claimed he was interviewed about a girl's diary by a senior BBC executive and a senior lawyer - but he insisted he was never interviewed by either.
In a statement made in October, announcing his return, the BBC said both it and Blackburn stood by their statements but Blackburn had "recognised that the BBC considered a period off-air was appropriate".
In the same statement, Blackburn said: "I do not seek to criticise the BBC for decisions it has made in the past.
"I have had a difficult year personally, but I'm pleased to be returning to the BBC and can't wait to get behind the mic again."
The son of a doctor from Guildford, Tony Blackburn was the first DJ to broadcast on Radio 1 when it launched in September 1967.
He spent 17 years at the station and also presented Top of the Pops and was a weekly fixture on Noel's House Party. Prior to that, he broadcast on Radio Caroline South and then Radio London.
After Radio 1, he was one of the launch presenters on Capital Gold. He has also hosted Radio 2's Pick Of The Pops as well as regular bank holiday specials for the stations. He has also had shows on BBC London 94.9, BBC Radio Berkshire, the Magic network, BBC3CR and KMFM.
In 2002 he won the ITV reality TV programme I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
As his new slot began, he said: "It's New Year's Eve, it's BBC Radio 2 and what do you know? Good Lord, I'm back."
He was welcomed back by many fans on social media - including Sir Roger Moore, who tweeted: "He's back!"
During the show, Blackburn played tracks from Michael Jackson, The Temptations and Dionne Warwick among others.
He will be presenting an hour-long BBC Radio 2 show called The Golden Hour, at 7pm on Fridays, starting on January 6.
It is the long-term replacement for the Desmond Carrington's weekly show The Music Goes Round following Carrington's retirement in October after 70 years of broadcasting.
Blackburn told listeners he was "looking forward very much indeed" to starting the new programme, which he said would be full of "fantastic" music.
He has been replaced on Pick Of The Pops by Paul Gambaccini.


Teachers at a high-flying East London academy have claimed they witnessed coursework and examinations being marked falsely.

The tutors allege there was a "climate of intimidation and fear" at Green Spring Academy Shoreditch, where "dishonesty was the main ingredient".
Head teacher Mark Keary was suspended last month over exam-fixing claims.
Green Spring Education Trust said it had acted robustly in dealing with the allegations.
Mr Keary, who was reportedly paid Â£220,000 per year, was suspended in February along with a number of other staff members.
An investigation into alleged misconduct in relation to some examinations had found "irregularities".
The Department for Education (DfE) said exam malpractice had been identified and disciplinary action was being taken.
Mr Keary has not responded to approaches for comment.
GCSE results had gone from being among the worst in the country to making the academy one of the top-performing schools nationally.
In its latest results it recorded an 83% A-C pupil pass rate for GCSE English and maths.
Mr Keary took over the then Bethnal Green Technology College in June 2006 and oversaw its transformation into an academy at the start of 2012.
BBC London has heard from six former teachers who spoke of a culture of intimidation where some felt they had no choice but to cheat or leave.
Jahangir Alam left the school in 2012. He said: "It became like an exam-production factory.
"Everything was geared toward the exam and it really didn't matter how you got the result.
"On a few occasions I have seen malpractice with coursework, meaning inflated coursework marks."
John McKelvey, who retired after many years at the school, alleged there was a "climate of intimidation and fear".
He said: "People would come into work one morning and, presumably, they were asked to leave and escorted from the premises.
"This happened to a large number of people, at least 10 that I know personally. This was very upsetting. People were watching their backs."
He added: "I would say it would be extremely difficult to get those kind of [GCSE grade] percentages from the student intake as I remember it; very difficult indeed."
A spokesman for the DfE said: "There is no place for cheating in our schools, and while exam malpractice is extremely rare, it is right that any allegations are thoroughly investigated.
"Following an investigation at Green Spring Academy in Tower Hamlets, exam malpractice has been identified, resulting in disciplinary action being taken.
"The regional schools commissioner is working closely with the academy trust to ensure students face as little disruption as possible during this time, and we continue to monitor the situation closely."
In a statement, Green Springs Academy said: "The independent investigation commissioned by the trust board has now concluded and appropriate action is being taken which cannot be discussed for reasons of confidentiality.
"Working with key authorities, including the DfE, the trust board has acted robustly and with integrity in dealing with the allegations made."
The school made headlines in 2015 when three pupils, Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum, aged 15 and 16 at the time, left the UK during February half term for Syria.


A six-year-old boy from Kent has beaten older children to take the title of UK yoga champion for under -11s.

5 May 2016 Last updated at 15:41 BST
Ishwar Vishwanath, from Halstead near Sevenoaks, started practicing yoga a year ago.
His father Nanjundiah said it had helped his son improve his studies and his concentration.


Thousands of people left homeless by a powerful earthquake in northern Italy have spent the night in shelters as aftershocks continue to hit the region.

At least seven people died and more than 50 were injured when the quake struck in the early hours of Sunday.
The magnitude six tremor, centred north of Bologna, destroyed or badly damaged many historic buildings.
Italian officials say the priority is to find safe accommodation for an estimate 3,000 displaced people.
Civil protection officials in the town of Finale Emilia organised the setting up of tents on a football pitch to accommodate hundreds of residents.
Many had seen their homes destroyed but others were simply too afraid to return home.
"The current situation is really tense but not dramatic," said co-ordinator Diego Gottarelli.
"People are obviously afraid of staying inside their homes so we are setting up these emergency camps to let them spend the night and maybe some days in a safe environment, until these earthquakes finally stop. We are trying to make the citizens feel safe."
In pictures: Italy earthquake
One woman said she just wanted her elderly parents to have shelter for the night.
"We are going to sleep in the car, it is not a problem for us. The important thing is that they (Civil Protection authorities) finish setting up the camp so that my parents can go inside," she said.
A 5.1 magnitude aftershock struck Sunday afternoon, destroying several buildings already weakened.
One firefighter was seriously injured after falling from a wall in Finale Emilia.
The original earthquake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10km just after 04:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Sunday.
Its epicentre was between the towns of Finale Emilia, San Felice sul Panaro and Sermide, about 35km (20 miles) north of the city of Bologna.
It was felt across a large swathe of northern Italy, as far away as the cities of Milan and Venice.
Italian TV showed many historic buildings reduced to rubble. Cars lay crushed under fallen masonry.
The roof of a recently renovated sixteenth-century chapel in San Carlo, near the city of Ferrara, collapsed, leaving statues of angels exposed to the elements.
Architect Claudio Fabbri told AFP news agency that the restoration had taken eight years, adding despondently: "Now there's nothing left to do."
Firefighters in Finale Emilia rescued a five-year-old girl from the rubble of a house after a series of phone calls between a local woman, a family friend in New York and emergency services, AP news agency reported.
Officials said that warehouses storing more than 300,000 wheels of Parmesan and Grana Padano cheese - with an estimated value of more than 250m euros (Â£200m; $320m) - also collapsed.
Stefano Berni, head of a consortium that protects the Grana Padano designation, told Ansa news agency: "It's a very heavy loss, but there have been no casualties, which is a great relief."
The victims included two workers at a ceramics factory in Sant'Agostino.
Another person - believed to be a Moroccan national - died in Ponte Rodoni do Bondeno and a worker in Tecopress di Dosso died when the roof of a foundry collapsed, local media reported.
Three women were also reported to have died as a result of heart attacks or other illness induced by the tremors.
Sunday's earthquake was the worst to hit Italy since the L'Aquila tremor killed nearly 300 people in 2009.
Northern Italy is frequently rocked by minor earthquakes, but the country is well-prepared to deal with them, the BBC's correspondent in Italy, Alan Johnston says.


An engineering company in County Tyrone is to employ 16 people as part of its expansion plans.

Lagan Engineering in Cookstown intends to double its turnover within two years. Eleven of the jobs are already in place.
It has extended its workshop and installed new machinery.
The company designs and makes products for the sand, quarry, waste and recycling industries.
Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell said: "This bold investment by Lagan Engineering Limited, supported by Invest Northern Ireland, will enable the company to consolidate its success to date and strengthen its long-term viability.
"The new jobs will contribute Â£345,000 annually to the local economy and expand the manufacturing skills base in the Tyrone area.
"They include key management posts that will help guide the company as it moves to the next level."


London's A40 Westway could feature a segregated bike route according to detailed consultation plans for the capital's "cycle superhighways".

Two more cycle routes have also been proposed linking Bloomsbury to the West End and Farringdon to King's Cross.
Other proposals include banning rush-hour traffic from Regent's Park in support of cyclists.
Mayor Boris Johnson said the plans would ensure London's "cycling revolution" continues.
Further details have also been released on existing plans for two cycle-superhighways approved in February last year - one running 18 miles from Barking to Acton and the other between Kings Cross and Elephant and Castle.
The new cycle track on the Westway would take up one of six existing traffic lanes on the flyover between Westbourne Bridge and Wood Lane, White City.
It would be separated from traffic by a concrete barrier topped with a glass panel, which the Mayor said would also reduce traffic noise and pollution for residents on the north side of the flyover.
Once the links are complete, cyclists would be able to ride from Swiss Cottage and Camden Town to Canary Wharf, Barking or Elephant & Castle entirely on separated cycle tracks or low-traffic streets, according to the Mayor's office.
The mayor's vision for cycling in London has met with opposition from some quarters.
In January the London Taxi Drivers Association launched a judicial review opposing the mayor's plans for a Â£47m Westbourne Grove to Tower Hill cycle route.
Responding to the proposed Westway cycle route, the association tweeted: "Awaiting the judgement on our Judicial Review on CSH [Cycle Super Highway]. We will challenge this scheme in every way possible incl(uding) through the court."
The consultation by Transport for London will close on 20 March.


Businessman Jovenel Moise has won Haiti's presidential election in the first round, preliminary results show.

Mr Moise polled 55.67%, well ahead of his closest rival Jude Celestin's 19.52%, provisional electoral council chief Uder Antoine said.
Jean-Charles Moise secured 11.04% and Maryse Narcisse 8.99%, he added.
The election was held on 20 November, more than a year after the previous poll was annulled following allegations of widespread fraud.
That vote, in October 2015, was won by Mr Moise but opposition challenger Mr Celestin called foul and, after violent unrest, the ballot was annulled.
Violent clashes have also marked the wait for results since the latest election.
Interim leader Jocelerme Privert appealed for calm ahead of the announcement.
"Resorting to acts of violence can only spoil the fruits of the beautiful day we had on 20 November," he said.
Mr Privert was appointed by parliament in February after the incumbent President, Michel Martelly, stepped down at the end of his term. Mr Moise was President Martelly's chosen successor.
Haiti has been blighted by political instability and poverty for decades and is still struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake in 2010.
Tens of thousands of people still live in temporary shelter while cholera has caused nearly 10,000 deaths.


France's data protection watchdog has set up a meeting with Google to closely examine its controversial privacy policy.

The search giant consolidated 60 privacy policies into one single agreement in March.
The EU expressed concern over the legality and impact of the change.
France's information commission, the CNIL, said it was not yet "totally satisfied" with Google's explanation of the amendments.
"We want to untangle the precise way that specific personal data is being used for individual services, and examine what the benefit for the consumer really is," CNIL president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said.
Google spokesman Anthony House said its privacy policy "respected the requirements of European data protection law".
"The meeting will give us [the] chance to put things into context and explain the broader actions we are taking to protect our users' privacy," he said.
Under the new policy, Google is able to pool the data collected on users across its services, including YouTube, Gmail and its social network Google+.
This data is used for various reasons, including powering the network's targeted advertising system.
Google has already provided a 94-page response to a CNIL questionnaire on the new policy.
The meeting, scheduled for next week, will more closely examine the implications of the policy for users.
The French authorities are acting on behalf of the EU, and the decision is likely to apply to all 27 member states.
The review could lead to financial penalties or administrative sanctions, but it is not clear whether they would be imposed collectively or if individual states would seek their own fines.
The CNIL can impose fines of up to 300,000 euros (Â£240,000).


When I first read Mark Zuckerberg's 5,500-word letter to the Facebook community, I was struck by two things.

How far it ranged - over subjects as diverse as globalisation, the people who feel left behind, our spiritual and communitarian well-being - as well as the rather more obvious social media issues of fake news, polarisation and sensationalism.
And secondly, that this letter could be described very fairly as a manifesto.
It is not just a statement of where Facebook as a business is going. It is also a statement of the type of world Facebook believes it can help create.
As such, it is political (although carefully crafted to contain no direct reference to the new US president).
And when I interviewed Mr Zuckerberg, the same sense of political purpose was clear. And the same care not to reference Donald Trump.
Of course, many will find talk of "connectedness", "community" and "bringing people together" very easy to dismiss.
Here is a very rich man running a very powerful - and often controversial - company, who, one assumes, might find it hard to relate to the ordinary concerns of the ex-steel workers of Monessen, Pennsylvania, or the former pottery workers of Stoke in the west Midlands.
But in an era of technology giants like Facebook which have so much "reach" - 28.5m users in Britain alone - the rebuttal is simple.
Better that Mark Zuckerberg is public about his vision for his company - agree or disagree with that as you like - than the alternative of corporate silence.
In my interview with him, I did push on taxes paid (or not) and privacy violations. Mr Zuckerberg answered that he wanted Facebook to be a "good corporate citizen".
And on fake news it is clear that Facebook, and other technology giants, have been ill-prepared for the type of editorial controls necessary in an era when millions of people receive their news via their chosen "filter bubble" with little mediation.
Facebook, Google and others have a central philosophy - act quickly to launch new products and then "iterate" if there is a problem.
That has led to mistakes, which Mr Zuckerberg does admit to.
This is a century when the most powerful are not simply the elected leaders or dictators of the world, but are the corporate leaders who can do so much to influence - and control - what billions of people experience every day.
Speaking publicly about how they view that role is, for many, better than the alternative.
We can then at least test his company, this global behemoth, against the standards Mr Zuckerberg has set himself.
Does the Facebook founder want to be a politician? Particularly given that he sounds so much like one - and I mean that in the broadest sense, not pejoratively.
Not yet, certainly. And maybe not ever.
As the head of a company with 1.86 billion active users a month, he is probably well aware that he has plenty of power already.


A lorry was used to deliberately destroy the front of a vacant detached house in Gloucestershire.

The entire frontage of the home in Cheltenham collapsed and garden walls were flattened.
The attack on the home on Tewkesbury Road took place early on Wednesday evening.
A lorry, thought to be the one used, was later found burnt out in a field off nearby Withybridge Lane, Gloucestershire Police said.
According to the Land Registry, the house is owned by John Connors, who was jailed in 2012 with four other members of his family, after being found guilty of keeping a private workforce.
In 2014 he was ordered to pay just over Â£300,000 as part of a proceeds of crime hearing.
The house was put up for sale earlier this year, but the estate agent dealing with the sale was unable to tell the BBC whether it had yet been sold.
Gloucestershire Police said enquiries were ongoing.
BBC Radio Gloucestershire reporter David Smith said: "It's quite a sizeable house, a nice house, with gable windows built into the roof.
"Now the entire ground floor has gone. There is nothing left of it. There is brickwork all over the floor."


Former TV weatherman Fred Talbot has gone on trial accused of indecently assaulting several teenage boys on school trips to Scotland.

He is also accused of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour towards a boy aged 12 on a trip.
Mr Talbot, 67, of Greater Manchester, went on trial at Lanark Sheriff Court after a jury of 15 men and women was selected.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A witness told the court he "froze" after Mr Talbot carried out an assault during a trip to the south of Scotland in 1979.
The man, now aged 54, described the night-time incident involving Mr Talbot, who was then a teacher at the grammar school he attended in Cheshire.
During a weekend camping trip to an area known as Grey Mare's Tail near the Scottish town of Moffat, the witness said Mr Talbot asked to share a tent with him and a friend.
He described how Mr Talbot put his hand into the opening of his pyjama bottoms and tried to masturbate him.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, added: "I was shocked at the time so I just froze for a moment."
He said he then moved the teacher's arm away.
Defence lawyer Alan Grevelle suggested to the witness that he had reacted to the incident in a "measured" way at the time.
The man said he had been too frightened to do anything else.
The lawyer then put it to him that he had seen a media report about Mr Talbot and "jumped on the bandwagon".
"I'm really sorry you had to say that," the witness replied.
Mr Talbot is accused of carrying out offences involving pupils aged 15 to 17 on trips in Scotland while he was employed as a school teacher.
He faces eight charges of indecent assault between January 1978 and November 1981, as well as one charge of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour in February 1978.
One of the charges alleges he gave a 15-year-old boy alcohol, rendering him intoxicated, during a camping trip.
Six of the incidents are alleged to have happened on camping excursions in Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway, and three on boating trips on the Caledonian Canal in Inverness.
The trial, before Sheriff Nikola Stewart, is expected to last for two to three weeks.


The celeb contestants tell Newsround's Ayshah who they think could win Strictly Come Dancing.

18 November 2016 Last updated at 16:58 GMT
They weren't allowed to choose themselves, but there seemed to be one popular choice...
Watch what they all had to say!


Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has been cleared to race by a landmark ruling questioning the validity of so-called gender tests around naturally high testosterone levels in female athletes.

Chand, 19, had been banned since last summer after failing a hormone test.
But the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has suspended the International Association of Athletics Federations' "hyperandrogenism" rules for two years.
The rules will be scrapped if the IAAF cannot provide new evidence.
In a statement, the IAAF said the regulations had been adopted "following a lengthy and comprehensive consultation exercise" with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Athletics' governing body said it would meet the IOC and experts as soon as possible "to discuss how best to address this interim ruling".
In its ruling, Cas urged the IAAF to create a procedure where athletes should be allowed to compete in one of the female or male categories and should not be excluded as a "consequence of the natural and unaltered state of their body".
Chand's initial suspension was applied by the Athletics Federation of India in line with the IAAF's guidelines on women testing for high levels of naturally-occurring testosterone.
The Indian champion's legal team argued the ruling was discriminatory and flawed at a hearing in March.
And Cas has expressed its concerns not only over the validity of the guidelines, but also over a lack of evidence proving the precise degree of competitive advantage that a hyperandrogenic athlete would possess.
Chand, who has missed the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games during her suspension, has been the first athlete to challenge the regulations, introduced in the wake of the Caster Semenya affair in 2009.
The South African teenager was asked to take a gender test shortly before winning the 800m at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
Subjected to enormous media scrutiny, Semenya subsequently returned to the sport, winning an Olympic silver medal at London 2012.


Police in Tunisia have foiled a new plot to attack the beach resort of Sousse, where 38 people were killed in June, the interior ministry says.

More than a dozen suspected Islamists, believed to have trained in Syria and Libya, were arrested, it adds.
Most of those killed by an Islamic State (IS) militant in the earlier attack were British tourists.
Tunisia is the biggest exporter of jihadis, with at least 3,000 of its nationals fighting in Iraq and Syria.
The arrests are part of one of the country's most significant counter-terrorism operations, says the BBC's Rana Jawad in Tunis.
Officials said the militants had planned to target politicians, beaches and security centres in Sousse, which has seen tourism plummet since the June attack.
On Monday, the interior ministry said security forces had arrested seven women suspected to be part of the media wing of the Islamic State group's Tunisia affiliate, Jund al-Khilafa.
Tunisia is the birthplace of the 2011 Arab Spring, and has been the most successful among the Arab states involved, in efforts to establish multi-party democracy.
However, it has seen an increase in jihadi activity, including the killing of more than 20 people at the Bardo museum in Tunis in March.


A British-born man has been named as a victim of an attack by Palestinian militants on a synagogue in Jerusalem.

Avraham Shmuel Goldberg was one of four people killed when two people attacked worshippers with knives, axes and guns. The attackers were shot dead by police.
Mr Goldberg, 68, held dual UK-Israeli citizenship and lived in north London for many years before moving to Israel, according to Jewish News.
The Foreign Office said it was aware of the death.
Mr Goldberg had five daughters and one son, aged between 20 and 40.
He is thought to have attended the Liverpool Institute High School For Boys. His wife Bryna, from north-west London, is a teacher.
A cousin of Mr Goldberg, Michelle Hirschfield from north-west London, said he was a peaceful man with no political involvement.
She said: "My cousin Rabbi Abraham Goldberg [was] born and brought up in Liverpool and then lived and worked in London before going with his family to live in Israel.
"He leaves a widow and six children, many grandchildren and great grandchildren.
"I heard the news this morning so texted my cousin to check he was OK. When I heard nothing back, I called my sister who lives nearby.
"She tried calling him too but when she got no reply she went to the house. Abraham's son was there - very distressed.
"After a while, my sister called me to say that he had indeed been killed. And killed in such a brutal and awful way. He only wanted peace."
Mr Goldberg worked as a chemical engineer in London and Israel, specialising in the pharmaceutical industry.
He was also involved in setting up educational facilities in Jerusalem to allow religious students to learn more about the secular world.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said on Twitter he was "appalled by today's horrific attack" and that his "thoughts are with the victims' families".
The other three victims, Moshe Twersky, Arieh Kupinsky and Kalman Levi have all been named as dual US-Israeli citizens.
US Secretary of State John Kerry denounced the attack as an "act of pure terror and senseless brutality and violence".
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond also condemned the violence.
Speaking alongside Mr Kerry, he said: "I'd like to join Secretary Kerry in condemning absolutely the attack that took place in Jerusalem, and share his call for leaders to step up across the board and condemn what has happened in this religious place."


At least eight police officers have been killed by unknown gunmen in a late-night roadside ambush in Tanzania, according to the president's office.

The police were attacked while driving from patrols back to Bungu village, 110km (70 miles) south of the main city Dar es Salaam, local media report.
Police say they pursued the bandits back to their hideout, killing four of them in a shootout.
President John Magufuli has expressed his shock at the officers' deaths.
Police described the attack as "banditry" and said that the attackers had stolen weapons.
The BBC's Sammy Awami in Dar es Salaam says attacks on police and police stations, where bandits make away with weapons, are relatively common in Tanzania.
Home Affairs Minister Mwigulu Nchemba has announced a wide-ranging investigation into the killings, local media report.


World stock markets face a turbulent open on Monday after the attacks in Paris on Friday night that killed 132.

Market sentiment was weak before the attacks, with the UK's FTSE 100 closing at a six-week low and Wall Street having its worst week since August.
Investors may now seek traditional safe-haven investments such as gold, the US dollar, and Japanese yen.
Meanwhile, French financial markets will be open as usual on Monday, stock and derivatives exchange Euronext said.
A spokesman said: "Our priority is the safety of our staff and there will therefore be extra security in place in Paris on Monday."
As well as the recent lacklustre performances in the UK and US, France's Cac-40, the German Dax, and  major Asian indexes had all closed down on Friday.
And French stocks, including those connected with the country's large tourism sector, could be most at risk of large falls, analysts say.
The tourism sector accounts for about 7.5% of French GDP.
"These Paris terrorist attacks and the larger scale of this attack could have a meaningful negative impact on the travel and tourism sector," said Robert T Lutts, president and chief investment officer at Cabot Wealth Management told Reuters.
"It is possible this could cause investors to take a bit more cautious stance on the higher risk sectors of the markets."
And IG France analyst Alexandre Baradez told the agency that stocks "angled towards consumer goods or tourism, notably the luxury industry with the Christmas season, could be affected."
Hidenori Suezawa, financial market and fiscal analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities, added: "Given that France has a big tourism industry there may be some damage to the economy if this leads to a fall in visitors to France, or in tourism in general after the crash of a Russian plane."
Meanwhile, the organisers of the Euro 2016 football tournament, which will see a huge influx of tourist visitors from across Europe, say the event should not be cancelled.
Tournament organiser Jacques Lambert told French radio station RTL: "We will take the necessary decisions for Euro 2016 to take place in the best safety conditions.
"Security in stadiums works well, the risk is more in the streets, in spontaneous gatherings."
Following the Madrid bombings in 2004 and London bombings of 2005 the Spanish and UK markets dropped by 2.2% and 1.4% respectively after those events.
"The knee-jerk reaction in other terrorist attacks over the last decade has been a rush to safety, including aggressive buying in the US Treasury markets," said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC.
Investors in Europe and the US will be closely watching the reaction of markets in Asia and Australia when they open.
Shane Oliver, chief economist at Australia's AMP Capital in Sydney, said there would be short-term market nervousness, but he thought the economic impact would be limited.
"Markets will quickly recover and go on to focus on other things," he added.


Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny has held talks with US President Donald Trump in the White House.

"I love Ireland," said Mr Trump, adding that he would visit the Republic of Ireland during his term in office.
The president told Mr Kenny he was his "new friend" and their governments would forge an even tighter bond.
After their meeting on Thursday, Mr Kenny made an impassioned plea for the 50,000 "undocumented" Irish who live in US without legal permission.
"This is what I said to your predecessor on a number of occasions - we would like this to be sorted," he told the president at a lunch event.
"It would remove a burden off so many people that they can stand out in the light and say: 'Now I am free to contribute to America, as I know I can.'"
Noting the presence at the lunch of Northern Ireland politicians Ian Paisley of the DUP and Sinn FÃ©in president Gerry Adams, the taoiseach said: "We want to protect this peace process and I know you are going to work with us in that context also."
Mr Trump quoted from what he said was an Irish proverb that he had heard "many, many years ago".
"Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but never forget to remember those that have stuck by you."
Later, Mr Kenny presented Mr Trump with a bowl of shamrocks for St Patrick's Day.
Mr Kenny had breakfast with US Vice President Mike Pence in Washington earlier in the day, in the company of their wives Fionnuala and Karen.
That followed his attendance of the Ireland Funds America gala dinner, which included a speech in which Mr Pence emphasised the commitment of America to the island of Ireland.
He said the US was pledged to securing the gains of the Northern Ireland peace process.
At the dinner, Mr Pence congratulated the people of Northern Ireland for turning out to vote in high numbers during the recent assembly election.
"The advance of peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland is one of the great success stories of the past 20 years," he said.
"We thank those unsung heroes in Northern Ireland who, day-in and day-out, do the difficult and important work - strengthening communities, educating children, building that brighter future for the emerald isle and all who call it home."
Mr Pence also recalled his Irish grandfather Richard Michael Cawley, who emigrated to the US from County Sligo in 1923, and spoke with pride about his Irish heritage.
He added that he had thought about his grandfather during inauguration day in January.
"The truth is that whatever honours I will receive over the course of my service as vice president, to receive an honour in the name of the Irish people and my Irish heritage will count as chief among," he said.
"All that I am and all that I will ever be and all the service that I will ever make is owing to my Irish heritage."
Mr Kenny presented Mr Pence with a roll book from a County Sligo school that included the name of his grandfather.
He said Ireland "took special pride in the fact that, for the first time in the history of this great republic, one Irish American has succeeded another in the office of vice president".
The Irish prime minister added that immigration was the main focus of his trip to the US.
He said he was pursuing a process where Irish people living in the US illegally can "come in from the cold, and feel the warmth of this great country they have made their home".
A number of politicians from Northern Ireland are in America this week.
Mr Paisley, a DUP MP, who also attended the Ireland Funds America gala dinner, said that he expects little progress to be made during political talks at Stormont until the last minute.
He said he was hopeful the political parties could get "the show back on the road".


Floods which devastated an island in 1953, killing 59 people, have been remembered on a 262ft (80m) sea wall.

Almost every one of Canvey Island's 13,000 inhabitants had to leave their homes during the North Sea tidal surge.
The floods have been depicted on panels along a mural on Concord Beach, painted by professional artists and Canvey inhabitants.
The project was made possible with a Â£10,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The idea to paint the mural was put forward by the charity Friends of Concord Beach.
Its chairman, Colin Letchford, said the mural was intended to "involve and educate the community".
He said school groups and others had already been to visit the wall and learn about the history of the island and its relationship with the sea.
"People have wept at the pictures because of the memories they've brought back. They've also wept with joy," he said.


Britain's Geraint Thomas is fit and ready for Tuesday's first time trial of this year's Giro d'Italia, after crashing heavily on Sunday.

Media playback is not supported on this device
Thomas' hopes of winning the race were dealt a huge blow when he was caught in a pile-up involving a police motorbike.
Having started Sunday's ninth stage in second place, Team Sky's co-captain is now more than five minutes behind the leader, Movistar's Nairo Quintana.
Welshman Thomas had a precautionary scan on a shoulder injury on Monday.
Having been given the all-clear, the 30-year-old was then able to join his team-mates on a training ride on the Giro's second rest day.
Thomas is 17th overall, five minutes and 14 seconds behind Quintana.
"I'm OK and there's nothing broken. I've had a lot worse injuries and I'll be able to get through it," Thomas told Team Sky's website.
"There's still a lot of racing to be done, whether I go for trying to improve my GC [general classification] position all the way through to Milan, or just try and target a couple of stages.
"I think just take it day by day at the moment, but certainly go 100% tomorrow [in the time trial]."
His co-captain Mikel Landa also had a scan on Monday after being involved in the same crash, and the Spaniard is hopeful of completing the race.
1.  Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) 42hrs 06mins 09secs
2.  Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ) +28secs
3.  Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Sunweb) +30secs
4.  Bauke Mollema (Ned/Trek) +51secs
5.  Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Bahrain) +1min 10secs
6.  Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita/AG2R) +1min 28secs
7.  Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha) +2mins 28secs
8.  Davide Formolo (Ita/Cannondale) +2mins 45secs
9.  Andrey Amador (Crc/Movistar) +2mins 53secs
10. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/LottoNL) +3min 06secs