this is the scene live in iceland — as jets of molten lava spew from the ground. more than 100 people are killed in china's deadliest earthquake in 13 years. rescue efforts are being hampered by sub zero temperatures. rescue efforts are being hampered by sub—zero temperatures. calls grow for a ceasefire in the israel—gaza war and pressure grows for a new resolution from the un. schools in england are to receive government guidance telling them that they should generally tell parents if their child wants to change gender. hello, i'm lucy grey. we begin in iceland, where a volcano has erupted, after weeks of intense earthquake activity. this is the moment of the eruption captured on webcam by the icelandic broadcaster ruv. you can see the red hot

lava start to erupt from the ground like a fountain. then the icelandic coastguard then flew over the area in a helicopter capturing these amazing images of the lava erupting and spewing across the landscape. of the lava erupting and spewing the authorities have already evacuated the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of grindavik. the area is a volcanic and seismic hot—spot south—west of the capital. and these are the live pictures at just after 10am local time in iceland. louisa pilbeam has more. it's a breathtaking sight. the volcanic eruptions on the reykjanes peninsula transformed iceland's night sky. 0ne witness took this video, as they were driven past, as lava spews from the volcano. but with this display of nature's power comes the obvious danger to human life. scientists knew this

was coming for weeks — a series of earthquakes and changes to the ground were the early signs. everyone was prepared. they evacuated the town exactly when they should have done. like the iceland... icelanders are especially good at this because the entire country wouldn't exist if it wasn't for all these volcanoes. like the whole country is volcanic, so everyone is, like, fully educated, fully aware. no one messes about, you know. everyone listens to the scientists, exactly what they're saying. around 4,000 people had already been evacuated from the town of grindavik, near the busy tourist site, the blue lagoon, which has been closed. the town is 25 miles from the capital, reykjavik. that cooling mechanism, experts say, happens roughly every 800 years in clusters of activity. this latest is related to another icelandic volcano eruption in 2010, which caused an ash cloud that closed european airspace. this time, the capital's airport remains open,

but scientists and emergency services are tracking the direction of the lava, as the eruptions could last for weeks and even months ahead. louisa pilbeam, bbc news. let's speak to darren adam, who's a journalist based in reykjavik. these images are extraordinary. you were expecting it, though, weren't you? there had been a lot of activity. talk us through how things develop. we activity. talk us through how things develo -. ~ . activity. talk us through how things develo. ~ . ., , activity. talk us through how things develo. . ., activity. talk us through how things develo. ., ., ., activity. talk us through how things develo, . ., ., , u, ., ., develop. we had actually come to not exect this develop. we had actually come to not expect this because _ develop. we had actually come to not expect this because the _ develop. we had actually come to not expect this because the earthquakes. expect this because the earthquakes which are generally thought to precede events like this actually happened in the first couple of weeks of november, and as every day passed we thought well, maybe, because it was always a possible outcome, may be the eruption is not going to happen, and everyone is very familiar i think with the damage that was caused by the earthquakes to the southern town of

grindavik. but the eruption didn't come. the smart money, i suspect, was probably on it's not erupting. what happened last night was very much a surprise in terms of timing, at least. we had another series of earthquakes at about nine o'clock last night and by 10:17pm, just over one hour later, the eruption began. the photos and images of which you have been showing, they are absolutely dramatic. they are of course terribly worrying for the people in grindavik who have long been evacuated from the town. they have not been there since the 10th of november, although they have been able to return on a daily basis to collect belongings, and indeed many of the residents of grindavik were very hopeful that they might be spending christmas back in their town. that of course is now not going to happen. the blue lagoon, the famous tourist attraction, is also very close to this area, indeed

reopened on sunday for the first time since that earthquake, only for a couple of days, and as you can imagine it has been decided it will not open for the next couple of days at the very least until we work out what is happening here. there are defences being built around the blue lagoon and also the adjacent power station, the geothermal power station, the geothermal power station that feeds the blue lagoon with warm water in which people behave. forthe with warm water in which people behave. for the last six weeks workers have been ceaselessly toiling to build up defensive walls of earth and mud and land essentially around the power station and also ran the blue lagoon to stop any lava that might move in its direction. as we sit here this morning and just after 10:05am magazines command last night has proved we can't see anything with certainty, but it seems as if the larva is moving away from the town of grindavik, that is to the north. there is a so—called watershed which is essentially a point beyond which

the larva will clearly move in one direction or the other. as things stand it seems as if the lava is moving to the north, possibly to the west, which may imperil svartsengi, it may imperil the blue lagoon, but fingers crossed, everyone's are crossed that the town of grindavik itself and the infrastructure of grindavik itself and the infrastructure there is not going to be damaged by this lava as it flows. it is also worth mentioning that the productivity of this eruption is already falling. that is not surprising. that very much fits the pattern of the eruptions we have seen on the reykjanes peninsula in recent years, over the last three years. they start big and then they start to fade. so we shouldn't read too much into the fact that already things are looking a bit less dramatic than they were 12 hours ago. dramatic than they were 12 hours auo. . ~' dramatic than they were 12 hours auo. . ~ , ., dramatic than they were 12 hours am, ., ~' , . dramatic than they were 12 hours auo. ., , . ago. 0k, thank you very much, darren adam in iceland. _ in china, at least 118 people have died after an earthquake struck

the north—west of the country. the epicentre of the quake was in the remote gansu province. tremors were also felt in the neighbouring qinghai region. a second magnitude 5.2 quake struck neighbouring xinjiang hours later on tuesday. more than 250 people have been injured. rescuers are braving freezing weather — with temperatures below minus 13 celsius — to search for survivors. the government has dispatched teams of rescue workers to assist local emergency crews. we spoke earlier with our china correspondent, stephen mcdonell, who's in beijing and had this to say on the condition rescue workers are operating in. very tough conditions. freezing, and as you can possibly see behind me, the night is closing in so it will be even worse. imagine it is —17, —18, plus the wind—chill factor up there on the tibetan plateau. so the so—called golden period to rescue people which is thought to be about 72 hours when an earthquake hits, is much shorter in such conditions. they are up against the clock now to try and find anyone else because, imagine even if you are alive under the rubble, you might freeze to death.

these houses, if you travel around the area, you will know the houses are built from bricks and mud and wood and have collapsed quite easily when this powerful, shallow earthquake hit there just before midnight. some people raced out of their houses and they described then the hills around them coming down as well. so they were coming out of the house only to see boulders coming down from the mountain and having to run away from them. so it has been a very hazardous earthquake for them. terrible for that area. but thousands and thousands of rescue workers have arrived. china is used to these earthquake disasters and you would think that they will have mobile hospitals, generators, water, food, all that sort of stuff up and operating pretty quickly. that's the issue again, isn't it, for people who have lost their homes who are now out in the cold,

and where they are going and being looked after in —13 temperatures. there is a risk that things continue getting worse for them. we have seen footage of people lighting fires and cooking up the local traditional beef noodles to stay warm. but i think most areas will be reached by rescue teams eventually. the problem, of course, is that roads in some places have collapsed. local government officials have pleaded with people not to come up as volunteers to try and join in the rescue effort because they need to keep these roads clear in order to get vast amounts of equipment in there to help with the rescue effort, but also to assist all those who, as you say, have had their homes destroyed in this terrible, powerful earthquake. i suppose there is also the risk of aftershocks as well, isn't there?

i've been in earthquakes in china, the sichuan earthquake, in which around 80,000 people were killed and when the aftershocks come they are as big as another earthquake. imagine you have a building which is damaged, which may have been significantly damaged by the original quake, along comes an aftershock and they can still come down. so you are not out of danger. also, everybody is traumatised because the original earthquake was so strong, and when the aftershocks come it brings memories of what has happened, possibly their loved ones have been killed, their home which has been brought down. so this will go on for weeks, you'd imagine, when they have a big earthquake usually the aftershocks last for some days. stephen mcdonell, our china correspondent. international pressure is growing for israel to ease its military campaign in gaza. the un security council is due to vote on a new resolution today,

calling for an urgent cessation of hostilities in gaza and the release of all israeli hostages. it's reported that the language in the resolution may be watered down to a "suspension" of hostilities, to get us backing. i'v e i've been speaking to yolande knell in jerusalem i've been speaking to yolande knell injerusalem and asked of changing the language will work to get the us backing. there has been a lot of effort put into the negotiations, even the delay of this vote to the today to get the us on board because it has really been seen as a kind of failure of the un security council in these last few weeks to come up with some sort of unanimous position, even the un secretary—general has been critical, saying it is failing to address the global emergency marked by the humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding in gaza at the moment. so we expect that language to be different from what was originally on the table, put there by the united arab emirates. probably a suspension of hostilities what's been talked about.

that does tally more with what we are also hearing from the israelis about what could be possible because we know now as well that we have had the us intelligence chief, the israeli intelligence chief going off to poland to meet the qatari prime minister. qatar was the mediator with hamas that really was such a key player in bringing about that week—long truce that we saw just at the end of last month in which more than 100 hostages, mostly israelis, were released, and also we saw 240 palestinian women and children being released from israeli prisons. and a big increase in aid during that time that was able to make it into gaza. now, it's being stressed that at the moment this is just an initial meeting after those different players really hadn't met in recent weeks to talk about a possible new deal. but still it's an encouraging sign. we heard the us defence secretary lloyd austin

yesterday in israel talking about what the us has been trying to say to israel. he was talking about things like we have been offering advice about how to move from a high—intensity operation to a low intensity one. but still very much trying to do a show of support for israel. he was saying we are not trying to dictate times or timescales to dictate terms or timescales but we are still very much in support of what they are doing. indeed. and after we saw shows of division between the us president last week and the israeli prime minister, i think there was a real effort by lloyd austin when he was here to show that the israelis are on the same page with the americans to a great extent, that they believe that this war should continue but theyjust want operations to come down from major combat operations with a lot of air strikes taking place, with large numbers of israeli troops deep inside the gaza strip, to a lower intensity

which will cause less harm to palestinian civilians. we are not really seeing any signs of that happening on the ground at the moment. but the suggestion is that this will be a transition that takes place in the coming weeks and that israel will still reserve the right of course to go after hamas. we have had the israeli prime minister vowing that he will destroy hamas, that he will dismantle it in gaza and there will be an israeli victory. hamas also talking back very strongly when it comes to this issue of a hostage release. they have said that all of the israeli hostages still being held in gaza will not be free until there is a permanent ceasefire to stop this war. yolande knell in jerusalem. they say there were beaten and not given adequate food or water. the testimonies come after videos went viral on social media. in response to israeli army told the bbc it

follows the law and investigate any allegations that it has broken the rules. from the palestinian city of rafah this report contains images some people may find it distressing. blindfolded and beaten for nearly a month, signs of their detention still clear. these men say israeli forces did this to them. translation: forces did this to them. tuna/mom- forces did this to them. translation: ~ . ., translation: we were in the cold, the rain was — translation: we were in the cold, the rain was falling _ translation: we were in the cold, the rain was falling on _ translation: we were in the cold, the rain was falling on us _ translation: we were in the cold, the rain was falling on us and - translation: we were in the cold, the rain was falling on us and we - the rain was falling on us and we only had one blanket. at night if they had one of us talking they were taken away the blankets and make us sleep without them while water kept dripping on us. they abused us, spat on us and disrespected us. they did not respect the elderly or those injured. not respect the elderly or those in'ured. a, ., ., , .,, injured. mohammed dahoud says he was detained in november _ injured. mohammed dahoud says he was detained in november as _ injured. mohammed dahoud says he was detained in november as he _ injured. mohammed dahoud says he was detained in november as he followed - detained in november as he followed israeli orders to move south. translation: we israeli orders to move south. translation:— israeli orders to move south. translation: ~ ., ., translation: we came from the north and we are moving _ translation: we came from the north and we are moving to _ translation: we came from the north and we are moving to the _ translation: we came from the north and we are moving to the south - and we are moving to the south through the safe corridor. they

captured us from there. they interrogated us, are you hamas? islamicjihad? but they couldn't islamic jihad? but they couldn't find islamicjihad? but they couldn't find anything against us. the men sa the find anything against us. the men say they were _ find anything against us. the men say they were released _ find anything against us. the men say they were released at - find anything against us. the men say they were released at a - find anything against us. the men i say they were released at a crossing in rafah with no phones or clothes of their own. they came to this hospitalfor of their own. they came to this hospital for treatment and some of them made claims that would amount to torture. translation: i was them made claims that would amount to torture. translation:— to torture. translation: i was in my house, i told — to torture. translation: i was in my house, i told them _ to torture. translation: i was in my house, i told them i— to torture. translation: i was in my house, i told them i was _ to torture. translation: i was in my house, i told them i was sick. - to torture. translation: i was in my house, i told them i was sick. i - to torture. translation: i was in my house, i told them i was sick. i am i house, i told them i was sick. i am an old guy, i am 62 years old. they told me no, you need to find out for us where is how mass and where the hostages were. when i told them i did not know they shot my leg. afterwards they amputated my leg. they made me sign a paper saying that my leg was not functioning. videos of palestinians detained by

israel in the north of gaza have recently spread. he says he was treated similarly. translation: aha, treated similarly. translation: bulldozer started to destroy my house. there were around 40 people inside. we got out, our hands up, they asked us to take off our clothes. i thought, what you mean, take off your clothes? we were embarrassed but took off our shirts. they kept ordering us to strip down more. we stripped down to our underwear. i spoke to doctors here in this hospital who told me that the detainees arrived in a poor condition. at least two of them are still being treated here. they are all now stuck here in the south trying to find their families. the israeli army told the bbc that

it follows international law and investigates claims that it has broken the rules. it added that all those held have access to food and water and medical care. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the northern ireland secretary is expected to set out the government's next steps after a pre—christmas deal to restore power sharing in northern ireland was ruled out. chris heaton—harris is due to host the four largest parties for roundtable talks later. it's been 22 months since the dup started boycotting a devolved government in protest against post—brexit trade arrangements. an independent energy think tank estimates that £40 will be added to the average uk

household's electricity bill this year, because of the grids inability to handle extra wind power. carbon tracker says turbines must be switched off if it's too windy to avoid overloading the grid, and the costs involved are passed onto the public. the housing secretary is expected to announce a pledge to intervene if there have been delays to house building as a result of poor performance among planning teams. michael gove is set to say that he will call out local councils that are �*dragging their feet�* when it comes to processing housing applications. you're live with bbc news. more now on the middle east. the united states is leading a new international task force of ten countries to protect commerical ships in the red sea from attacks by houthi rebels. the iranian—backed group says the attacks are in response to israel's attacks on gaza. the group targeted two more vessels on monday. the us defence secretary, lloyd austin, called it reckless and dangerous behaviour.

the attacks are beginning to disrupt global maritime trade. this is the route taken by around 12% of world shipping, which then passes through the suez canal. but several major freight companies have stopped passing through here and are now taking the much longer route all the way around africa instead — adding costs and delays. here's our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. the threats to shipping in the red sea is very real. this was an attack by iranian—backed houthi fighters last month, storming a cargo ship registered in britain. the militia from yemen claiming that any vessels owned by allies of israel were legitimate targets. shouting. there have also been drone and missile attacks — so many that shipping companies are pulling out of the red sea, sending their vessels around southern africa instead. in response, the us secretary of defence, who's visiting the middle east, has formed an international military coalition

to protect ships and ensure freedom of navigation. these attacks are reckless, dangerous, and they violate international law. and so, we're taking action to build an international coalition to address this threat. and i would remind you that this is notjust a us issue, this is an international problem and it deserves an international response. the coalition called 0peration prosperity guardian is made up of ten countries — including the us, the uk, canada, france, italy, and bahrain — some of whom already have warships in the region. what's not clear yet is how far they're prepared to go to defend commercial shipping. the sea way between the suez canal in the north and the bab—el—mandeb strait in the south carries about 12% of world trade — including many of the consumer goods we order blithely online. here at london's insurance markets, premiums for shipping are already going up.

the price of fuel could rise, and some consumer goods could take a little longer to arrive. but much will depend on how many shipping firms join this red sea boycott and for how long. so, the impact of this war is now being felt outside its borders — diverting ships, damaging trade. the risks of escalation still very present. james landale, bbc news. breaking news to bring you. the government published its long—awaited advice on how schools in england should support children who are questioning their gender identity. it says schools in england have been told there is no general duty to allow children to change their gender identity. this is the transgender guidance from the department for education and it says the non—statutory guidance is that parents should not be excluded from decisions taken by a school or a couege decisions taken by a school or a college relating to requests from a

child to socially transition. so that's when people change their names, their pronouns and their clothing. that's the latest news —— just come in from the department for education and we will get more on this a little later on when we speak to our correspondent. to australia next, where the military has been deployed to queensland's far north in a race against time. tropical cyclone jasper has unleashed unprecedented floods, isolating towns and leaving residents without power, food, and clean water. in cairns, a gateway to the great barrier reef, 150,000 residents are restricted to emergency water usage. and major roads, railways, and the region's airport remain submerged. christmas is just days away and this time of year is normally the biggest busiest in bethlehem where tourists and pilgrims gathered to remember the birth ofjesus. due to the war in gaza things have not quite been the same. 0n the streets of bethlehem and outside the church of nativity

throngs of tourists join pilgrims and rub shoulders with costume centres and palestinian marching bands, you can see them here. but these scenes are not from this year. the quiet streets of bethlehem are markedly different.— markedly different. bethlehem is sad, no markedly different. bethlehem is sad. no peeple. _ markedly different. bethlehem is sad, no people, no _ markedly different. bethlehem is sad, no people, no locals- markedly different. bethlehem is. sad, no people, no locals actually, even, no tourists command no decorations, no kind of festivals. there is normally a huge fir tree that sits in manger square outside the church of the nativity built on the church of the nativity built on the spot where christian teachings sayjesus was born. as the bombardment of gaza continues, just some 60 miles away, church leaders injerusalem and bethlehem city took the decision to cancel what they called unnecessary festive christmas celebrations. access to the city has also been restricted with additional security at israeli checkpoints restricting movement into the

occupied west bank where bethlehem lays. occupied west bank where bethlehem la s. �* , , , occupied west bank where bethlehem las. , lays. bethlehem is completely closed from all directions _ lays. bethlehem is completely closed from all directions checkpoints, - lays. bethlehem is completely closed from all directions checkpoints, and l from all directions checkpoints, and even local people, especially the community from galilee and nazareth is coming to bethlehem. the community from galilee and nazareth is coming to bethlehem.— is coming to bethlehem. the story of bab jesus is coming to bethlehem. the story of baby jesus in — is coming to bethlehem. the story of baby jesus in his _ is coming to bethlehem. the story of baby jesus in his manger _ is coming to bethlehem. the story of baby jesus in his manger is _ is coming to bethlehem. the story of baby jesus in his manger is a - babyjesus in his manger is a familiar one too many. but in bethlehem this figurine lay in rubble in what the church of the nativity says is a message to the world. just a reminder of the news we had three in the last few minutes from the government about its guidance for schools in england about pupils who question their gender, schools in england have been told there is no general duty to allow children to change their gender identity and that parents should not be excluded from decisions taken by the school. hello, again. the weather is going to remain

fairly changeable all the way through the rest of this week and even into christmas day. we're looking at rain at times. it's also going to become very windy, especially so on thursday. and there's the chance of snow for some. a lot of that will be on the hills in the north. now, you can see the cooler blues today, but then we've got the milder yellows and ambers during the course of wednesday and thursday. but on thursday and friday, some colder air tries to push in from the north, but the milder air wins out from the south for many of us as we head in towards the weekend. but into this afternoon, we've got the dregs of this morning's rain continuing to pull away from the south and the east. a lot of dry weather behind, a fair bit of sunshine, but all these showers coming in on the brisk winds across the north and the west. strongest winds will be in the north and west, but it will be picking up across the south western approaches and also the english channel. now, temperatures will go down following on behind that band of rain. and as we head on through the evening and overnight, there will be some clear skies for a time.

we hang on to all these showers in the west, the winds are going to strengthen and then a weather front, a warm front, arrives. temperatures three in lerwick to about nine in plymouth. now that warm front is quite salient because this means the temperature is going to change through the course of tomorrow. so there is a front moving from the west to the east, taking the rain with it. behind it, there's a lot of cloud, low cloud mist, murk, dank conditions, especially in western areas and the hills and the coasts. 0ut towards the south, something a bit drier. but the cloud building through the course of the day. and these are our temperatures widely11s and 12s. so, milderairfollowing on behind the warm front. but then it changes on thursday. this potent area of low pressure is crossing us. look at all those isobars. it's going to be windy wherever you are. the strongest winds likely to be in the north of scotland, particularly shetland. here we could have gusts 70 or 80 miles an hour, but widely 50 to 60 miles an hour. so, a windy day. we've also got a plethora of showers. most of them will be of rain. in the highlands,

it will be of sleet and snow in the hills. but that will come down to lower levels for a time. and you can see the colder air trying to filter further south, but the south itself hanging on to the milder conditions. looks like it's still going to be pretty windy, but not as on friday. and temperatures going down in the north. and the jury's still out for christmas day. there could be some snow, though, in the hills in the north.

this is bbc news, the headlines: a volcano erupts in iceland after weeks of intense seismic activity. more than 100 people are killed in china's deadliest earthquake in 13 years. rescue efforts are being hampered by sub zero temperatures. the government publishes its guidance on how schools in england can support pupils questioning their gender. dane esther rantzen joins the dignitas swiss clinic saying she is considering an assisted dying if her lung cancer doesn't take to treatment. dame esther rantzen has said she's considering the option of assisted dying. said she's considering the 83—year—old broadcaster — who has lung cancer — said she's currently receiving a "miracle" treatment but that she has joined the zurich—based assisted dying clinic, dignitas, in case her condition gets worse. talking to bbc radio 4's the today podcast, dame esther said british laws need to be updated. i have joined dignitas.