live from london, this is bbc news. prince harry is awarded £140,000 damages in his historic phone—hacking case. he says the ruling is �*vindicating' and calls for a police investigation. the us keeps up the diplomatic pressure on israel. national security adviserjake sullivan meets the presidents of israel and the palestinian authority. hungary's prime minister blocks a 55—billion—dollar eu aid package for ukraine and threatens to �*pull the handbrake�* on future payments. british police say specialist divers searching for a missing mother of three have found a body. hello. welcome to bbc news now.

prince harry has won his phone hacking case against the publishers of the daily mail. a high courtjudge ruled this morning that on 15 occasions, the duke of sussex was the victim of hacking or other unlawful methods of getting stories about him. he's been awarded £140,000 in damages. in a statement, prince harry said, "it's a great day for the truth" and called on the police to launch a criminal investigation into mirror group newspapers. our media corrspondent david sillito reports. this has been a landmark case. prince harry said his life had been blighted by illegal press intrusion. and today, thejudge justice fancourt ruled, yes, his phone had been repeatedly hacked by the mirror group newspapers. outside court, a statement was read out on the half of the duke. today's ruling is vindicating and affirming. i've been told slaying dragons will get you burnt,

but in light of today's victory and the importance of doing what is needed for a free and honest press, it is a worthwhile price to pay. the mission continues. thank you very much. 33 mirror group articles had been presented to court. 15, thejudge said, had been sourced by illegal activity. hacking, he said, had been widespread and habitual 1996 and 2011, and he concluded that a former editor of the piers morgan, had known about the practice. he has repeatedly denied involvement. referring to one story about kylie minogue, mrjustice fancourt said, "i found mr scobie to be a straightforward and reliable witness and i accept

what he said about piers morgan's involvement in the minogue/gooding story." no evidence was called by mgn to contradict it. the judge also named former senior directors of the company, one of them former chief executive sly bailey, who told the levenson inquiry in 2012 there was no evidence of hacking. we have only seen unsubstantiated allegations and i have seen no evidence to show me phone hacking has ever taken place. this, thejudge said, was untrue, she had known for years about the practice and turned a blind eye. hacking, he said, had been widespread and habitual at the mirror since 1996. this is far from the first hacking case the mirror has lost. prince harry was awarded over £1a0,000 in damages, an amount that could increase considerably as other stories are considered. but costs and damages of more than £100 million have already been paid out to many other victims. the company, now known as reach,

said, "we welcome the judgment that gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago. where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly and have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation." for prince harry, this is a landmark moment, it's 132 years since a senior member of the royal family appeared on the witness stand. but today's court victory is only one of a number of cases he's bringing, in a battle against newspapers he says have brought misery through relentless and illegal activity. david sillito, bbc news. the us says its talks with israel about moving to what it describes as a more precise phase of military operations have been �*constructive�*, with further diplomatic efforts taking place on friday. president biden spoke by phone to israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu — and his national security adviser

jake sullivan had face—to—face talks with him. it's understood the us leadership discussed a scaling back of israel's high intensity military operations in gaza, but with no specific timetable. mr biden said he didn't want israel to �*stop going after hamas�*, but he also wanted it �*to be focused on how to save civilian lives. mr sullivan spoke to the media early on friday. what i'm going to say is at a basic level, we do believe the palestinian authority needs to be revamped and revitalised, needs to be updated in terms of its method of governance, its representation of the palestinian people and that will require a lot of work by everybody who is engaged in the palestinian authority, starting with the president, mahmoud abbas, who i will go see. and ultimately, it is going to be up to the palestinian people to be up to the palestinian people to work through their representation and it will be up to those leaders of the palestinian authority to work through the types of steps that they need to take to reform and update the authority for the situation we face today. the united states will be a partner in that with them,

respectfully. jake sullivan went to meet with palestinian leadership including palestinian leadership including palestinian president mahmoud abbas. we have photos that have been released of the two of them posing for pictures and we are getting a few lines from that meeting between the us national security advisor jake sullivan and mahmoud abbas. president abbas telling him the israeli attacks in gaza must stop. and he said that the us had to intervene to force israel to halt attacks on palestinians in the west bank and jerusalem as well. so we will wait for more lines from that meeting and bring them to you when we get them. also developing on friday, the israeli military says its special forces have recovered the body of a 28—year—old hostage who had been held by hamas in gaza since october the 7th and the attacks on israel. elia toledano was among the people seized from the supernova

music festival, close to the border with gaza. no details were provided on how or when he died, but the military said an "identification procedure" had been carried out by medics, military rabbis and forensic experts. more than 130 hostages taken from israel remain in gaza, though israeli authorities have declared some to be �*dead in absentia'. i spoke to our middle east correspondent yolande knell. and asked if she thought the us was putting pressure on the israelis, given that no timetable to end the war has been laid out. well, mr sullivan said that giving a timetable would be irresponsible, that it would play into the hands of hamas, and it did look like there was an effort when he was speaking to reporters to show less public division between the us positions and those of israel. that may be seen as being counter—productive as well. what mr sullivan said was that really, the war will go forward in stages and that, you know, these will continue, the war will continue for several months to come, and that matches what we've heard from top israeli officials as well. and he said that there would be

a less intense phase that will follow sometime soon, where there will be actually more precise targeting of the hamas leadership. but as you were indicating, all of this happening as on the ground in gaza, we can see a lot of evidence ofjust how fierce the ongoing fighting still is, which raises questions, you know, about how much power hamas still has to launch attacks against the israelis, with fierce battles taking place in the north of the gaza strip, in neighbourhoods around gaza city, as well as in khan younis, the focus of israel's southern offensive. yolande, what will mahmoud abbas be saying to jake sullivan later, do you think? i mean, we know that when us officials go to ramallah, it's really with two aims at the moment. one of them is to stop this conflict from spreading further into the occupied west bank where, of course, the palestinian authority has limited governance. and also, because they really

want to speak, the americans, about what happens the day after the conflict in gaza, where washington does see some kind of a role for the palestinian authority. now, i think certainly, mahmoud abbas will be wanting to talk to mr sullivan about what's needed to have more security in the west bank, what's needed to beef up palestinian authority security forces, and also, the fact that his authority — which is being looked to so much as kind of having this future role — at the moment, it has seen its popularity among the palestinian public fall even further, partly because of its own dire economic situation. so, these will well be topics of discussion. we've had mr sullivan talking about the need to revitalise the palestinian authority, without giving real details of how that can be done. and, yolande, has any progress been made in getting more aid into gaza? i mean, that is something else that is being discussed diplomatically

because, of course, as israel has moved its offensive, its operations right down into the south of the gaza strip, it's become much more difficult to distribute aid, even with more going in, and even with israel now opening up its kerem shalom crossing, which has a big area inside for security checks. the pressure is on from the un, from aid agencies for that crossing to be properly opened, and also for notjust aid to go in, but also some goods to supply the private sector. they say if this can be resurrected in gaza just a little so that, for example, pharmacies can restock, this will also go a long way to alleviating the situation. and the picture on the ground as well, yolande. today, we're hearing more children have been killed in the south of gaza? indeed, and with so much international pressure on israel in particular because of the humanitarian situation and the number of civilians

that have been killed, i mean, this is continuing to be sort of very damaging, with the fact that every day, we do see more air strikes in which it's clear that there are palestinian civilians who are killed, including children. and we're told that most of the nearly 19,000 people who've been killed in gaza through this war have indeed been women or children, have been civilians. uk officials in france are preparing to fly home a british teenager who was found alive six years after he disappeared. alex batty — now 17 — was last seen travelling to spain with his mother and grandfather. the boy was found on wednesday, near the city of toulouse. the first police update on alex batty, the boy from 0ldham last seen six years ago. i think i speak on behalf of the whole of greater manchester police when i say we are relieved and overjoyed to receive the news from the french authorities that they believe alex batty has been found safe and well. alex went missing on holiday in spain in 2017 with his mum

melanie and grandfather david, who weren't his legal guardians. he hasn't been seen until wednesday, when he was spotted on this road in the foothills of the pyrenees by this driver. translation: he was walking in the middle of a forest, - a 20—minute drive from the nearest village. this is not usual. there's no explanation for someone to be walking around out there so late. so on my way back, i thought i should stop and ask him if he was ok. alex used the man's phone to message his grandmother, who is his legal guardian, saying... police hope they will be reunited in the next few days. the young man and alex's grandmother spoke on a video call last night, and while she is content that this is indeed alex, we obviously have further checks to do when he returns to the united kingdom.

susan caruana has previously spoken of her anguish at her grandson's disappearance. it's been an absolute nightmare. ijust can't explain to anyone how it feels knowing you might never see the grandson that you love so much, might not see him ever again. the teenager was taken to this police station in the town of revel when he was found, before being handed over to social services. today's focus is to bring alex batty back to 0ldham and to ensure his wellbeing is at the heart of how this missing boy is welcomed home. mairead smyth, bbc news. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. venezuela and guyana have signed a joint agreement promising to avoid force in their conflict over the oil—rich

essequibo region. venezuela has threatened to incorporate the disputed territory, which is controlled by guyana and forms about two thirds of its area. as part of the deal, the countries have agreed to meet in brazilforfurther talks in three months. global coal consumption reached a record high this year as growing use in china, india and indonesia outweighed sharply falling demand in europe and the united states. the international energy agency shows an increase of 1.4% in global coal use for 2023 to 8.5 billion tonnes. world coal consumption should start declining from next year, according to the iea. dutch authorities are starting a trial to decriminalise the production and supply of cannabis. the experiment will start in two cities, breda and tilburg. consumption of the drug has long been allowed, but its sale remains illegal. the aim is to crack down on drug dealers and guarantee a higher quality and safer product for consumers. you're live with bbc news.

hungary has blocked more than 50 billion dollars in eu aid for ukraine, hours after agreement was reached on starting membership talks with kyiv. after late—night negotiations, the hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban posted on social media "summary of the nightshift: veto for the extra money to ukraine." he then left for the night. speaking to reporters, charles michel? the president of the european council ? focused instead on what he saw as a positive, the opening of membership talks with both ukraine and moldova. he added that the eu would attempt to reach a unanimous decision on aid to ukraine next year. you just saw viktor 0rban. we can take you live to brussels, we have seen charles michel and now we're hearing from ursula von der leyen. there is a degree of compliance with membership criteria is achieved and we have strongly our collective commitment to a future where all six western balkan partners are part of

our union. for example for albania, north macedonia, the commission's objective is to open accession negotiations on the first so—called fundamentals clusters as soon as possible. the attempt to reach that goal next week. i think that yesterday's decisions showed that the european union is living up to its promise. the reason for enlargement today, these reasons have never been stronger and more compelling. in a world that is shaken by multiple crises, it is an investment instability, it is an investment instability, it is an investment instability, it is an investment in security of our continent, but of course, it is also an investment in prosperity for our continent and it is a big investment in democracies, that stand tall and united. let me now turn to the revision of the eu multi—annual budget. as you know, the current

budget. as you know, the current budget was designed... budget. as you know, the current budget was designed. . ._ budget. as you know, the current budget was designed... ursula von der le en budget was designed... ursula von der leyen talking _ budget was designed... ursula von der leyen talking bout _ budget was designed... ursula von der leyen talking bout the - der leyen talking bout the commitment to ukraine earlier and also to say, we saw a few minutes ago the european council president charles michel and he has said there will be a new summit to discuss financial support for ukraine planned for early next year and said, we're confident and optimistic that we will be in a position to fulfil our promise to support ukraine with financial means, adding that 26 member states had agreed so far. so we can presume perhaps that hungary is one of those that has not. earlier, we spoke to our correspondentjess parker, who is in the ukrainian capital, kyiv — she shared the mood of ukrainians towards hungary over all this. i think they're frustrated with hungary, but certainly not surprised. viktor 0rban, the hungarian prime minister, advertised his intentions well in advance of this summit in brussels and he turned up there apparently ready to take on the other eu leaders on these issues.

it is absolutely noted here that he has retained ties with president putin following russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine. mr 0rban, though, for his part, says he thinks the eu needs to look again at its overall strategy towards ukraine. but let's divide up what's happened here exactly. first, on the membership talks, as you mention, mr 0rban absented himself from the room as leaders took the decision to move ukraine onto the next stage of the process, whereby it could one dayjoin the bloc. now, that is a long process, there are no guarantees of success, but undoubtedly, it is a morale boost here for people. however, ukraine also needs money, and that takes us onto the 50 billion blocked euros of cash there. now, that is money for things like teachers�* wages, public services, pensions as well, so it�*s important. experts i speak to say that they think ukraine can without that money for now, but not for long. so, overall, looking at last night�*s events, concerns about wavering western aid

will persist, i think, as we head to the close of the year. specialist police divers have been missing for —— looking for the missing for —— looking for the missing mother gaynor lord and have found a body. herfamily missing mother gaynor lord and have found a body. her family have missing mother gaynor lord and have found a body. herfamily have been told. she was last seen a week ago after leaving work early on friday afternoon. 0ur correspondent in norwich gave us more details on the disappearance of gaynor lord. it has been exactly — disappearance of gaynor lord. it has been exactly a _ disappearance of gaynor lord. it has been exactly a week— disappearance of gaynor lord. it has been exactly a week now _ disappearance of gaynor lord. it has been exactly a week now since - disappearance of gaynor lord. it 1:3 been exactly a week now since gaynor lord went missing in this case has had a lot of unanswered questions. but today, a hugely significant development. around a0 minutes ago, norfolk police issued a statement confirming that officers searching for gaynor lord had recovered a body from the river wensum which runs alongside wensum park, the less place where gaynor lord was seen on friday last week. this case has

attracted so many questions and so much interest in the last few days and my colleague has been looking at the past week since gaynor lord went missing. gaynor lord, a mother of three, went missing last friday. police officers have been searching for her in a specific area of the river wensum in norwich. her clothes, phone, glasses and jewellery were found in wensum park. painstaking work in searching the ground and water continued this morning. this is the last—known sighting of gaynor lord before she went missing. these pictures released by the police show the 55—year—old walking down st augustines street in norwich city centre. she left the department store on friday afternoon. this cctv image appears to show her smiling, but she left one and a half hours before her shift finished.

she was then picked up on cctv cameras hurrying through norwich. she spent 30 minutes in the grounds of the cathedral. a friend said she was upbeat and happy and talking about christmas just days before she disappeared. her family and friends have been waiting anxiously for news of her whereabouts. aruna iyengar, bbc news. dozens of officers have been involved in the search, it has taken a great deal of effort, they have been speaking to lancashire police who were involved in the nickel a bully case earlier this year. and at around 11am, there was a sudden burst of activity —— nickel a bully. i was 200 metres away from where the focus of the search in the river was taking place yesterday when there was officers, vehicles, forensics vehicles, divers, descending on the same area on saint martin�*s road. abode entered the warty, three officers on board and divers also entering the water. all focusing on a relatively small section of the water. and you could tell something

significant was happening. and as we have learnt now, there was something significant happening, a body was recovered officers searching for gaynor lord and this will come as really significant use. it is news which the family have been informed of and the police are supporting them as well. a un report says the taliban authorities in afghanistan is putting women survivors of domestic abuse in prison, claiming it is for their own protection. the united nations assistance mission in afghanistan says the taliban have closed all 23 state—sponsored women�*s shelters because they see no need for them. the report says levels of gender based violence against afghan women and girls were high even before the taliban retook control two years ago. the effects of air pollution on hearts and lungs are well—documented, but there�*s now growing evidence that different pollutants also affect our brains. a team of scientists is trying to work out which things we do in our everyday lives that could cause us the

greatest harm. here�*s our science editor, rebecca morelle. breathing in polluted air, in the name of science. briony evans is a volunteer at this manchester university lab, where scientists are trying to learn about the impact of fumes on the brain. here, we�*ve got everything that we need to conduct the experiments, to expose the participants to air pollution. the team is looking at four different kinds of pollution — diesel from an engine, cleaning products, wood smoke and cooking fumes from a pork chop. the pollutants are carefully measured and piped into a giant plastic bag. are you feeling 0k? the volunteers are exposed to a different fume on every visit to see which ones have the biggest effect on the brain. you could imagine that we find that wood burning is worse than diesel, is worse than cooking, for example. this would then allow people to make lifestyle choices about their exposure to the different pollutants. the world health organization

says that almost all of the global population — 99% — are breathing in air that exceeds the who limits on common air pollutants, and the combined effects of outdoor and indoor air pollution is contributing to seven million premature deaths every year. this makes it the leading environmental cause of premature death. are you ready? begin. the participants carry out cognitive tests before and after their exposure. while we know how air quality affects the lungs and heart, less is known about the brain. the quality of the air you breathe, over the long term, is associated with increased risks of mental illness, poor cognitive development in children, and dementia. so what we�*re trying to do in this study is understand not the nature of the association, but why there�*s an association. deep breath in, and blast it out. taking part in the experiments is a big commitment,

but one that briony says is worth it. anything that can be done to find out things that cause us damage just in our normal way of life, that can be changed, seems like a really valuable thing to do. it will take several months to analyse the data, but the results could mean we think differently about how our everyday activities affect the air we breathe. rebecca morelle, bbc news. returning to brussels, pedro sanchez the spanish prime minister speaking at the european council and we have watched president macron of france responding to hungary blocking 50 billion euros worth of eu aid for ukraine. that was hours after an agreement was reached on them starting membership talks. so reaction coming in from different leaders across the eu, but we do know from the european council

president charles michel that a new summit to discuss financial support for ukraine is planned for early in the new year. stay with us on bbc news. hello. it�*s a reasonably mild, but cloudy, day out there for most of us. most places also looking dry, which is good news after the fairly soggy start to december that many of us have seen as we head into the weekend, a lot of dry weather around, mild and breezy, lots of cloud. but there will be increasing amounts of wind and rain across the north—west of the uk as weather fronts move in here. not moving south too quickly because we�*ve got high pressure that�*s stalling across southern parts of the uk, keeping things largely dry and keeping those weather fronts at bay, at least across much of england and wales. for the rest of the day, a bit of brightness just breaking through that cloud at times, particularly for parts of east anglia, north—east england, eastern scotland as well. the breeze coming in from a south—westerly direction. so it is fairly windy, particularly across the north—west of scotland.

we could see gusts of about 50 miles per hour or more in the far north, mild for most of us. temperatures around about 11 or 12 degrees in the west, but still a little cooler across parts of eastern england, where we�*re sticking in single figures. but through this evening and tonight, then, just a bit of drizzle across the north—west of scotland, most places looking dry. fair amounts of cloud around, perhaps even the odd pocket of mistiness, where the winds are a little bit lighter in the south. so the lowest of the temperatures will be for the south—east of england and east anglia. a generally mild and frost free start to your weekend. the mild air mass is with us. you can see the orange colours on the map. the winds coming in from a south—westerly direction through the course of the weekend. so, yes, frost—free, i think, we�*re not expecting anything wintry through the weekend, but we are expecting some wet weather on saturday, that�*s just going to sit across the far north—west of scotland. i think it could be the odd spot of drizzle for south—west scotland, cumbrian fells, for instance. whereas further south,

yes, a lot of cloud. but you should stay dry, mild and breezy for most of us. so around about 12 or 13 degrees, a touch warmer, in fact, than recent days, but head through saturday night into sunday, and this front really sticking around. in fact, we could see up to 175 millimetres of rain through saturday night into sunday across parts of the north—west of scotland. some rain for northern ireland, perhaps north—west england as well. but there could be some flooding issues across the north—west of scotland, where an amber weather warning is in force through the course of sunday. further south, though, you�*re more likely to stay dry, perhaps a bit more sunshine, in fact, for parts of southern england on sunday. looking ahead into next week, i think the wettest day is going to be tuesday. some heavy rain fairly widely. it�*s a little bit up and down, but a fairly cloudy and unsettled week ahead. bye— bye.

oh, boy! growing pains for china new numbers sparks further concerns over the economic difficulties for the world�*s second largest economy. and the great christmas getaway is about to start but are airports ready for the record numbers of passengers due to travel this year? welcome to world business report. i�*m aaron heslehurst. hgppy happy friday, give me about 13 minutes and i will give you a fascinating snapshot of the latest in the world of business and money.

we start in china where earlier today we got to see more