we have a special preview of the programme coming up. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. us armed forces have carried out air strikes in iraq against what it called �*iranian—sponsored militias�*. the strikes — authorised by president biden — were in response to an attack on the erbil airbase that injured three us military personnel — one of them critically. pictures of the attack have been posted on social media — the bbc has not yet verified these videos. baghdad has denounced the us strikes in iraq as a �*hostile act�* that violate iraqi sovereignty.

in a statement, us defense secretary lloyd austin said that military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on kataib hezbollah and affiliated groups in iraq. he added, we are committed and fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and ourfacilities. shahin modarres is the director of the iran desk at itss verona, an independent think tank. he told me about the possibility of the war between israel and hamas escalating into a wider regional conflict. it is possible that the war breaks out somehow from the region.

it is most important to understand the reason behind the idiosyncrasy the islamic republic has put into play what we are facing today are a series of proxy and satellite groups that we have. the fact is, after the 1979 revolution, and the lack of r and d and sanctions regimes, the islamic republic international community is somehow came to an alternative way of using and creating those proxy groups and ballistic missiles as a part of a programme that it can raise the tensions in the region so they can use the same tensions later as leverages against the international community in order to make them pay or in order to make them somehow agree and come to agreements with the islamic republic. it is quite probable now that if the united states tries to raise the level of terrorist against the proxy groups of the islamic republic, it is quite probable that the war between israel and hamas might break out and be wider in the region. i think that is the first reason why the us has been so cautious regarding increasing the level against islamic republic and its proxy groups.

however, the cmf coalition can be quite useful in the red sea region as we already that the eisenhower and navies being sent to the region somehow created some sort of deterrence. i think it is important to mention that the us and iranian officials have both said that they don't want to see any kind of escalation, they don't want to see the situation get out of hand. it is what they claim but the truth is, the islamic republic somehow is being a satellite state itself for russia because if you look at both wars that happened and both levels of increased tensions that happens, within the past few months, you can see that the main country benefiting from this is russia because first of all, the price of oil is rising, that is what russia needs in order to provide for the war against ukraine. the second thing is the media map,

the mass media, is somehow covering and changing focus to cover the news from israel and hamas from the red sea. we can again see that the tension and focus on russia has been losing colour and finally, the united states has been made somehow to divide forces between the red sea, mediterranean sea and the focus it already had on aiding ukraine both militarily and humanitarian aid is somehow decreasing and we can also see that congress members more prone somehow to help israel and taiwan than to help ukraine. so, the real winner of the existing conflicts that somehow were triggered by the islamic republic of iran both between israel and gaza and both arming the houthis within yemen and the red sea has been russia and somehow the islamic republic has been playing as a satellite state in favour of russia. the un's humanitarian agency says a hospital in gaza has been overwhelmed by victims of an israeli air strike on sunday night.

survivors of the attack were taken to the al—aqsa hospital. the hamas—run health ministry says 70 people were killed. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has vowed to intensify the fight against hamas. this report from meghan owen. there's a constant stream of casualties entering the al—aqsa hospital in gaza. with no fuel, no water and minimal supplies, it's overloaded. ijust left the resuscitation room where a nine—year—old boy named ahmed was being treated basically with sedation to ease his suffering as he dies. he was crossing the street in front of the shelter where his family is staying when the building beside him blew up. we're seeing kids like ahmed dying unnecessarily because of bombing and fighting and because the health

system doesn't have the capacity to even come close to managing these kinds of complex cases. aid agencies in gaza have reiterated their fears for civilian safety after hundreds were killed in major strikes over the weekend. following reports of one attack on al—maghazi refugee camp, the israeli military told the bbc that it's committed to taking feasible steps to minimise harm to civilians. but the war is not close to being over. benjamin netanyahu has vowed to intensify the fight against hamas. after visiting troops on the ground in gaza, he faced the families of hostages heckling their prime minister at the israeli parliament with demands for the immediate release of their loved ones. his answer? translation: we won't succeed at releasing all the hostages - without military pressure, operational pressure, political pressure. and that is why there's one thing

that we will not do — we will not stop fighting. but at a time when so many around the world are celebrating as the year draws to a close, there's no sign of such respite for the people of gaza — or those trying desperately to save them. meghan owen, bbc news. these are live pictures of looking out to northern gaza from southern israel and we have seen smoke billowing out over the skies. the israeli military saying it will intensify its operations in the territory to defeat hamas. i'm joined now by tess ingram from unicef, the un agency that provides aid and support to children worldwide. we looked at what is happening in

hospitals and i understand your teams have been visiting facilities in the territory. what is the situation like?— in the territory. what is the situation like? they have been visitin: situation like? they have been visiting hospitals _ situation like? they have been visiting hospitals across - situation like? they have been visiting hospitals across the i situation like? they have been i visiting hospitals across the gaza strip and al—shifa in the north, that hospital was described by a colleague at absolute chaos and they sole horn as they are beyond anything they had seen in their entire career as an emergency professional. they told me stories about children lying on the floor wounded, with doctors who have no time or supplies to help them over that. i think 50,000 internally displaced people using that hospital as a shelter and one harrowing story of a 17—year—old girl who my colleague met who had her leg

amputated without any anaesthesia, so these are the sorts of conditions children are having to endure in gaza at the moment and hearing these hostilities are not going to stop as a complete nightmare further children there and aid agencies like unicef who are trying to help. i might earlier we heard from the un that could be a breakdown in law and order in gaza, is that something you are seeing on the ground? we are now 79 days into the conflict and people have absolute desperation. there is no food and very little safe water available and i can imagine what it would be like if you're in that circumstance, if you're not able to get food for an elderly relative are water for your child, get food for an elderly relative are waterfor your child, you get food for an elderly relative are water for your child, you would become desperate. it is something we are seeing and people are just trying to survive at the moment.

very briefly, we had calls from the un security council resolution calling for more aid to get into gaza, is that happening? hat calling for more aid to get into gaza, is that happening? not to the scale it is needed. _ gaza, is that happening? not to the scale it is needed. it _ gaza, is that happening? not to the scale it is needed. it is _ gaza, is that happening? not to the scale it is needed. it is really - scale it is needed. it is really just a trickle compared to the enormous needs on the ground, particularly when children are really the ones bearing the biggest burden in this crisis. about half the population of gaza our children so they are being this proportionately impacted. it is not just getting aid but getting into the children across the gaza strip and things like piles of rubble and damaged roads and the ongoing hostilities and the lack of trucks and the telecommunications blackouts we have had in recent weeks make it really difficult to get that aid everywhere it is needed.

india says it's sending three warships to the arabian sea after an israel—affiliated merchant vessel heading to an indian port was hit by a drone off its western coast last week. a navy statement said three guided—missile destroyers had been deployed to maintain what it called a credible deterrence. our south asia correspondent anbarasan ethirajan has more from delhi. the fact that within days of this attack on a tanker, mv chem pluto, in the arabian sea about 400 kilometres off the coast of the indian state of gujarat shows how seriously india is taking this particular attack. this oil tanker was supposed to go from saudi arabia to southern india when it came under attack in the arabian sea. we still do not know who carried out this attack.

now, what it shows is that whatever was happening in the red sea, where the houthi rebels were targeting many of the vehicles, we touched on the subject early in the programme, now the impact can be seen far away, more than 2,000 kilometres away from the red sea. the us blamed iran for this attack but the iranian foreign ministry dismissed that accusation as baseless. but what is important for india is to maintain the security of its shipping lanes because it depends on oil supplies from the middle east — some of the topmost oil exporters are saudi arabia and iraq, to india — so that is why india is sending three guided—missile destroyers to send out a message in case this particular drone was launched from any boat or from any other medium—range ship, that would send a clear warning that we are here to protect our waters

and protect our shipping lanes because this will have a huge impact on the economy. a ukrainian missile has damaged a russian warship in the black sea. the novocherkassk was hit in an attack on the port of feodosiya in russian—occupied crimea. ukraine says it destroyed the vessel. local officials say at least one person was killed. james waterhouse reports. ukraine has done this before. it took out a major russian warship called the moskva last year in a missile strike. and overnight, it seems that a russian landing vessel has been targeted, too, through an air strike. we have had ukraine make that claim and it has subsequently been confirmed by the kremlin. the landing ship was in the port town of feodosiya, but we don't know what the military significance of that might be yet. i think russia's naval dominance, certainly round the crimean peninsula, an area it has occupied since 2014, as well as the neighbouring black sea. russia's dominance has been slightly weakened over the past few months, when we have seen successful

ukrainian missile strikes, but whether this alters the overall course of the battle in the near term, i think that is less likely because in this part of the world, on the north—eastern and eastern front lines, it is russia mounting attack after attack. we've seen russian forces claiming to have taken the city of marinka in the east, which like so many places has been reduced to rubble. ukraine dispute that but i think what that shows is the direction of the tide here, where it is russia, for now, mounting attack after attack and it is not ukraine realising its ambition of liberating all of its territory. live now to howard gethin from the russia desk at bbc monitoring, who is also a former royal navy officer. how difficult would strike like this be for ukraine and what would it

hope to achieve? your mac the main difficulty would be getting through russian air defences and targeting the ship in the first place but it has the ability to launch the missile and then the russian air defences seem to be quite incapable at the moment of stopping these missiles. , . ., . , at the moment of stopping these missiles. , . , , , ., missiles. the significance is russia is uuite missiles. the significance is russia is quite short _ missiles. the significance is russia is quite short of— missiles. the significance is russia is quite short of these _ missiles. the significance is russia is quite short of these landing - is quite short of these landing ships and the ships they have are mostly from the soviet era and where in service when i was in the royal navy. in service when i was in the royal na . , ., , navy. over the past few months we have seen more _ navy. over the past few months we have seen more similar _ navy. over the past few months we have seen more similar strikes - navy. over the past few months we have seen more similar strikes like | have seen more similar strikes like this, not only around the black sea bed within russia itself by ukrainian military. what does this tell us about the direction of the conflict? it tell us about the direction of the conflict? , ., , , tell us about the direction of the conflict? , , ., �* .,~ tell us about the direction of the conflict? , ., �* .,~ ., conflict? it probably won't make a big difference _ conflict? it probably won't make a big difference to _ conflict? it probably won't make a big difference to the _ conflict? it probably won't make a big difference to the direction - conflict? it probably won't make a big difference to the direction of l big difference to the direction of the conflict as my colleague just

said in his comments a moment ago, it will probably not alter things on the ground but if this landing ship was full of drones drones it will take the pressure off them for a short time in that respect. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. homelessness among military veterans rose by 14% over the past year, despite government funding to support those facing difficulty with housing and wraparound social care. according to the department of housing, 2,110 veteran households were assessed as homeless — up from 1,850 in 2022. ministry ofjustice figures show that shoplifters would benefit the most from the government's moratorium on 12—month prison sentences.

shoplifters account for about 12.5% of sentences that would be suspended under the new rules, which would see offenders punished under community payback schemes. more than 5,000 sentences were handed out last year. a 16—year—old has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 22—year—old woman in south london on christmas eve. police were called to a residential propertyjust after 10pm on sunday and provided emergency first aid to the woman, who died at the scene. that's all the other headlines. you're live with bbc news. sport now and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. let's start with football, and five games in the premier league today, starting with newcastle taking on nottingham forest at stjames' park in just over an hourfrom now. eddie howe's side hoping to bounce back from that surprise

1—0 defeat at luton last time out. they'll be looking to continue theirformidable home form — having won seven straight games at st james' park. liverpool could go top of the table later as they travel to relegation—threatened burnley. liverpool currently sit just a point behind arsenal, who don't play until thursday. burnley ended their winless run with a 2—0 victory at fulham at the weekend — and liverpool bossjurgen klopp says they're are a team better than their position shows at the moment. i think burnley could have easily had much more points because they had so many good spells in the games where they then don't finish the situation off from the young players in some positions. so i knew before that they are much better than the position and the points they have. we all know, if you win once and have the chance to play three days later again and you will want to win again, and that's exactly what we expect. aston villa also could finish the day on top, they're level on points with liverpool. they go to old trafford later, to play manchester united,

who are in action for the first time since the news on christmas eve that sirjim ratcliffe is buying a 25% stake in the club. united desperate to get their season back on track after a poor start. we have to put things right. we have to do things different. and i really... we really appreciate all the time they're supporting us, even with the setbacks we have during this season. they all the time behind us and we are really appreciating that. but, of course, we need any help. but first of all, the team and i have to do it. elsewhere today, bournemouth host fulham, whilst down at the bottom, there's a really significant tie with luton taking on sheffield united. both sides are currently in the relegation zone, but luton manager rob edwards believes that some of his side's critics were harsh in dismissing their hopes of staying up this season. being honest, i probably would have written us off as well from outside, but i think there's ways of doing that. i think some people were disrespectful with how they did it, and that angered me a little bit. but i don't use that and i don't — you know, in the end i can't affect

what other people think, talk, write, say, whatever — it's down to us to to get results. that match at bramhall lane will be refereed by sam allison. he'll become the first black referee in 15 years to take charge of a premier league game, following uriah rennie who officiated in the competition for 11 years until 2008. the pgmol which governs referees says it wants an increase of 1,000 women referees and 1,000 black or asian referees at all levels of football in three years. just one game in the scottish premiership this boxing day. leaders celtic travel to dundee — with the opportunity to stretch their lead at the top of the table to five points ahead of rangers. after today, though, rangers will have two games in hand on their rivals, with the top two facing each other on saturday. away from football, australia have the advantage after the opening day of their rain—affected boxing day test against pakistan in melbourne.

australia, put into bat, made 187—3 on a rain—affected first day at the mcg. marnus labuschagne top scoring on 44 not out. australia lead in the three—match series. and south africa have started their test series against india — it's day one of the first test at centurion. the home side chose to bowl first. india — who won the recent one—day series on their tour — have lost early wickets. .. captain rohit sharma going forjust five. currently 98—4 in the second session — virat kohli now looking to salvage this innings. and that's all the sport for now. nearly 7.5 million people in the uk watched the king's speech on christmas day. and for those who want more royal viewing, the bbc will on tuesday evening broadcast a new documentary. cameras followed king charles for more than a year for the programme. it features new video of the king with his grandchildren rehearsing for the coronation, as well as informal moments with the queen. our royal correspondent,

daniela relph, has more. the coronation rehearsals inside westminster abbey. an important practice for all the family. wow. look at that! and a greeting from a grandfather and father, as well as a king about to be crowned. what struck me particularly is how extraordinarily affectionate they are. they're clearly a very close family. you know, of all the generations. and, in a sense, you felt you're part of a family occasion as well as, you know, a royal occasion and a national occasion. for the first time, the programme will show the intricate preparations and alterations that were made to the crowns used during the coronation. and on the big day, after the service, cameras filmed the welcome back at buckingham palace. three cheers for his majesty, the king and her majesty, the queen. hip, hip. hooray! the programme is not a critical eye

over the royal family's year. there is no mention of the duke and duchess of sussex, harry and meghan, nor prince andrew. it is instead a view of some of those moments we don't normally get to see. ijust love the way the sun comes through the cotinus. it's marvellous, isn't it? the king and queen are here at balmoral and some time away from public duty. where's your ball, beth? there we are. they chuckle. don't leave it. they're all busy eating grass, what are you doing? she loves eating grass. for those who know them best, amidst the noise of coronation year, a reminder of something very personal. she is his rock, and i can't actually emphasise that enough. she's somebody who is completely loyal and she isn't somebody who has huge highs and lows. he brings to her everything. i'm not talking about all of this,

but, you know, he has such a knowledge and interest in so many different things, which she wouldn't really have been open to if she hadn't met him. it's lovely to bounce on that bridge. every child that comes here, they rush there and bounce about on the bridge for hours. all access to the royal family is carefully managed. but here the curtain is slightly lifted on some of the more private moments of a very public year. i knew that would be... yes. daniela relph, bbc news. for viewers in the uk, that documentary, charles iii: the coronation year, is on tonight at 6.50 on bbc one and the iplayer. a mass wedding ceremony for 50 couples has been held in afghanistan.

these kinds of ceremonies have become increasingly common in afghanistan, as couples try to avoid the high costs of a traditional wedding. the ceremony took place in kabul, and involved recitations from the koran. but there was no dancing or music, which remain banned by the country's taliban rulers. the event was organised by a charity. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. today one of the better days this christmas period to get out and enjoy some fresh air. most parts of the country dry with some spells of hazy sunshine, before tomorrow potential for more travel problems as wet and windy weather pushes its way in, and plenty of snow on the scottish hills. that's the weather system brewing for tomorrow, that's the one clearing from christmas day. we're in the window between them. most dry, even fewer showers

across northern scotland compared with the morning. during this afternoon we'll see areas of high cloud drifting northwards, though, so sunshine a bit more muted for some of you during the second half of the day. temperatures down on yesterday but overall, at if not above average for the time of year. finish the day with rain in cornwall, channel islands, pushing its way northwards overnight. heavy rain at times later, and as that hits colder air in scotland, where we've seen temperatures drop down to “4, —5 before it moves in, snow will fall. even maybe on the hills on the tops of the pennines and the southern uplands too. into tomorrow, some chilly air in the north of scotland but this is the weather system that will bring extensive rain and strong winds. the snow, though, even on modest scottish hills in central and northern areas, will cause some travel issues. could see some blizzards as well,

with over 15cm of snow mounting up and some strengthening winds, too. rain will be the issue elsewhere, lots of puddles, surface water, maybe east anglia and the south—east, though, some will stay dry here until into the afternoon, and it will brighten up after some heavy bursts of rain out in the west later. the other issue tomorrow, of course, the strength of the wind. strongest in the far north of scotland, 60 or 70 mph gusts, and around through some english channels. yes, ok, temperatures on the milder side of things for late december but don't forget, that will be tempered a bit by the strength of the wind. and it will remain windy through wednesday night. windier spell through the irish sea coast compared with the day. winds gradually easing down in northern scotland but, for most, the blustery conditions continue into thursday. winds down a little bit compared to what we saw on wednesday and a bit more sunshine at times but a scattering of showers, some of them heavy and thundery, and some longer spells of rain and even a bit of snow on the tops of the mountains later. to see out the new year, further rain at times. your best dry and brighter weather for the end of the week and weekend will be on saturday. take care.

this is bbc news. now a look back at the royals�* year. a moment in history —

the coronation of king charles iii. god save the king! congregation: god save the king! cheering. across three days in may, the nation celebrated the newly crowned king and queen. at a star—studded concert, a poignant tribute from prince william. as my grandmother said when she was crowned, coronations are a declaration of our hopes for the future. and i know she's up there fondly keeping an eye on us. and she'll be a very proud mother. cheering. also this year, prince harry reveals family secrets in his bestselling memoir and in evidence as he takes on the british press.

and digging deep on his first official royal engagement,