serious proposals, but it's not what the russians are after. so they keep going back and forth. the only problem is, it's my life that's draining away. why would you do this? you know, it's five years. it's unfathomable to me that they'd left me behind. the us can get its prisoners back. last year, an american basketball star was swapped for a convicted russian arms trader released by the us. but paul whelan was left behind. and now it seems like russia is collecting hostages. evan gershkovich was detained in march, accused of espionage for doing his job as a journalist. his newspaper, his government are clear. the charge is false. dear evan, i didn't take my laptop. polina writes to evan in prison every week. they started out together as reporters in moscow. now he's locked up and she's

abroad for safety. evan's friends collect and translate letters of support for him from all over the world, helping keep his spirits up and their own. evan is not a spy. evan is a journalist. and my greatest hope is that evan is released as soon as possible and can go home, can go back to work and go back to his family, can come and spend time with all of us again, as he should be doing right now. that's the greatest hope. the conditions in the camp have declined seriously. the barracks have black mold. but paul whelan is now facing his fifth christmas as a prisoner. are you worried that there's going to be another deal that you're going to be left behind again? yeah, i am worried that there'll be a deal to leave me here. with each case, my case is going to the back of the line that's being left in the dust. it is russia that put him here, but paul whelan

wants america to push harder to get him home. sarah rainsford, bbc news. some breaking news. the irish government has decided to take a case against the uk in the european court of human rights over london 5 plans to change the way killings from the conflict in northern ireland are investigated. earlier this year, westminster passed legislation to set up a new commission to take over investigations relating to the troubles. the new law provided for a conditional amnesty to be given to suspects who gave information to the commission. the irish foreign affairs minister, micheal martin, said: this legislation is opposed by people in northern ireland, especially the victims and families who will be most directly impacted .

the parents of children diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder are calling for more screening for the condition. ii—year—old lucas and 7—year—old penelope both have mld, which severely damages the brain and nervous system. penelope was diagnosed after her brother who is terminally ill showed symptoms. gemma dawson reports from saxilby in lincolnshire. oh, my word. look how you go, lucas. special memories from just a few years ago. wow. look at those ninja skills, nanny. i know. they loved playing out in the garden, getting into scuffles with each other. you wouldn't suspect anything. but after becoming concerned about lucas during lockdown, he was eventually diagnosed last year with mld, a genetic disease that gradually attacks the brain and body. ultimately, everything that lucas was and is will be slowly stripped away from him. it feels really bad because it's

like a payoff, isn't it? for the fact that he's been diagnosed led to penelope being tested, obviously, with it being genetic and being presymptomatic, it meant that she was eligible for this mld treatment. penelope was one of the first children to receive the treatment on the nhs. her parents say they still don't know if it's worked, but the family now want all babies to be screened for the condition. lives can be saved and anybody, if you could save this utter devastation that we're living through every single day knowing that our gorgeous little boy is dying is just what his whole body is going to go through, isjust unbearable. the department of health and social care has told us more in—depth research is now being carried out into the latest evidence on screening for mld. while this family are preparing for

christmas and making more special memories together. gemma dawson, bbc look north at saxilby near lincoln. the european union has reached a breakthrough deal on new migration rules — after years of failed talks. the new laws are intended to limit the numbers of people coming in to the eu — and make it easier to deport failed asylum seekers. our reporter naomi choy smith is in the newsroom with more. it is intended to speed—up and standardise the number of people coming into the black. they propose to do this with five new eu laws. speedy vetting of arrivals into the eu using biometrics, so that could be facial recognition technology, or

fingerprinting. it could be done at one of these new border detention centres that are being proposed. thirdly, an accelerated consideration of asylum cape city cases, so they speed—up the determination of whether the migrants have a valid claim, if it's not a valid claim, they will accelerate the deportation of that person. and finally and crucially, a lot is being proposed for a solidarity measure, this would be a way for countries in the eu to financially support or even to help with an influx of migrants by accommodating them in northern european countries for the countries that are bearing the brunt of an influx of migrants. that is places like italy or greece. those countries have seen a large number of migrants coming in from the middle east and north africa. many of them fleeing war zones. to put

that into context, this shows you over the years, the number of migrants coming into the eu from those countries. you will see there at the peak, more than a million backin at the peak, more than a million back in 2015. the neighbours have come down dramatically over the years, though we are seeing a slight uptick here into 2023. this is why it has been a thorny issue in european politics. to agree on migration laws and why it's been a priority. of course, this latest law does still need ratification, it's not a done deal. member states in the eu are already taking matters into their own hands. just today, france's parliament passed a tougher immigration bill that would make it harderfor immigrants in france to bring theirfamily harderfor immigrants in france to bring their family members over harderfor immigrants in france to bring theirfamily members over and delay the access or impede access to welfare benefits. certainly, migration continues to be a big discussion and a thorny issue in the

eu. a prominent businessman from north yorkshire who was kidnapped in ecuador has been released from captivity. 78—year—old colin armstrong was abducted on saturday, from a farm he owned in south america. local police posted this image on the social network x formally known as twitter, saying mr armstong was "found safe and well." nine people had been arrested in connection with the kidnap. next, let's get some good news from scotland. beavers have returned to the cairngorms 400 years after the species were driven to extinction in the country. over the next five years, 15 families could be released in the cairngorms national park. some landowners have raised concerns about damage the animals could do to farm and woodland. let's get more on this with andy ford, director of nature and climate change at the cairngorms national park authority.

thank you forjoining us on the programme, i was interested in to hear that you believe beavers will help to deal with some of the effects of climate change and improve biodiversity in the national park, explain that for us. hello everybody. _ park, explain that for us. hello everybody. we _ park, explain that for us. hello everybody, we know— park, explain that for us. hello everybody, we know that - park, explain that for us. hello everybody, we know that beavers build dams and they slow the water flows, hold water back from the landscape. this could take the fluctuations out of floods, which can help retain the water and we know it's good for times of drought as well. if you can keep water into the landscape that way. plans, more natural rivers, or really good for invertebrates, amphibians, frogs, toads and stuff like that. a positive contribution it can make to both climate change and biodiversity.— both climate change and biodiversi . �* . both climate change and biodiversi .�* . ., biodiversity. beavers a nose for the fi . ht, biodiversity. beavers a nose for the fiuht, i biodiversity. beavers a nose for the fight, i believe. _ biodiversity. beavers a nose for the fight, i believe. there _ biodiversity. beavers a nose for the fight, i believe. there are - biodiversity. beavers a nose for the fight, i believe. there are farmers.

fight, i believe. there are farmers there in the cairngorms that worry they will destroy vegetation, farms, how are you trying to ease these concerns of the farmers there? imoll concerns of the farmers there? well we know there's _ concerns of the farmers there? well we know there's a _ concerns of the farmers there? well we know there's a lot _ concerns of the farmers there? -ii we know there's a lot of positives with beavers, and many of the land managers i have spoken to recognise the positive benefits. they also very well aware they will have impact on land management businesses if they are not carefully managed. it is absolutely crucial we worked with lammers dee farmers, land managers. we have been working with the fus on since 2017, we have been held events and stacks of consultation to make sure we listened. we have listened, we know it is important to get that out there quickly. we know it's important to make as little bureaucracy as possible associated with the project and the events we

do. it's fundamental we work together going forward, because release is just the first step of a very long journey. release is just the first step of a very long journey-— very long journey. sorry to interruot. _ very long journey. sorry to interrupt, before - very long journey. sorry to interrupt, before we - very long journey. sorry to interrupt, before we let i very long journey. sorry to l interrupt, before we let you very long journey. sorry to - interrupt, before we let you go, tell us how the first beavers doing, though is that have made it into the cairngorms?— cairngorms? they did well when we saw them at — cairngorms? they did well when we saw them at the _ cairngorms? they did well when we saw them at the cage, _ cairngorms? they did well when we saw them at the cage, we - cairngorms? they did well when we saw them at the cage, we are - cairngorms? they did well when we | saw them at the cage, we are trying to stay out of their way now to give them a few days to settle in, give them a few days to settle in, give them some time to settle into their new home. hopefully they will be building a lodge in the next few days. building a lodge in the next few da s. ., ~ building a lodge in the next few da s. . ,, , ., building a lodge in the next few da s. ., ~' , ., , building a lodge in the next few das. .~g , . building a lodge in the next few da s. . , . ., building a lodge in the next few das. .~g , . ., , days. thank you very much, that is andy ford. — days. thank you very much, that is andy ford. bill _ days. thank you very much, that is andy ford, bill ford. _ now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. as we head into christmas, we've got a spell of a windy weather to come. and the strongest of the winds are likely to be overnight tonight into thursday. and it's during this period that we've got the higher risk of some travel disruption. now, what we're seeing

at the moment is a lot of clouds streaming our way, bringing some rain and drizzle over western hills and coasts in particular. but the winds are strengthening already, this run of westerly winds around the top of that area of high pressure. but it's this low pressure that we've got here towards iceland that is going to run to the north of scotland and then into scandinavia. that has been named storm pia by the danish weather service. but there will be some impacts here in the uk as well. so we've got windy weather through this evening, very mild, ten, maybe 11 degrees, some more rain over these western coasts and hills where it's a bit misty, too. most of the wet weather is going to be across western scotland, but overnight it does turn wetter more widely in scotland and that rain will push down into northern england and northern ireland, replaced by squally showers as the winds really start to intensify. it does turn a bit colder in scotland, but otherwise temperatures aren't going to change much. it'll be a mild start to thursday, but a windy day on thursday everywhere, the strongest of the winds as you head further

north, widely gusting to gale force. but we could see gusts of 70 or 80 miles an hour in northern and northeastern parts of scotland. so some windy weather on thursday. we've got the band of cloud and rain pushing further south towards southern parts of england and wales, followed by some sunshine and streams of squally showers, some snow over the higher ground in scotland as it turns colder here. but we've still got temperatures of 12 degrees in the milder air further south across the uk. now, as the storm pushes towards scandinavia, we could see the surge of stronger winds pushing down those north sea coasts. that weather front there is still producing a little bit of rain and it's the boundary between milder air that's trying to push in from the atlantic and that colder air that's still across the north east of the uk. so this is where we have that boundary. this is where we've got this patchy rain. to the south of it, still a lot of cloud, but maybe a bit of sunshine. further north, particularly in scotland, this is where we'll see showers and there will be some snow falling in the northern isles. temperatures barely getting above freezing here, but for large parts of the uk,

those temperatures will still be in double figures. live from london. this is bbc news. colorado's supreme court rules that

donald trump cannot run for president next year in the state. he says he will appear to the us supreme court. the head of her mass is in egypt for talks. a volcano erupted in the south—west of iceland is becoming less active according to the countries meteorological office. hello, i'm lucy hockings. welcome to bbc news now, 3 hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. the leader of her mass, israel hermia is in gaza right now. israel's price didn't is ready for another humanitarian pause. after

tuesdays vote was delayed. nearly