i] think that is what ou call a think that is what you calla nan—darter! think that is what you call a nan—darter! that is all your lot for this evening. thank you for watching sportsday. the national trust is the uk's increasingly unpredictable in weather patterns and causing chaos for nature. it warns climate change is upsetting the regular rhythm of the seasons and making plans and wildlife more susceptible to disease. but the national trust says it is finding ways to build increased resilience into our ecosystems. our climate editorjustin rowlatt has been finding out. the seasons are changing, says the national trust, with hotter summers and milder winters. oh, yeah. and our shifting seasons are affecting the natural

world all around us. there's quite a few of them, aren't there? red deer are rutting later in the year. that is when stags do battle to attract females. it means their babies are increasingly being born in the autumn instead of the summer. they're unable to get the fat reserves on to get them through the winters. these weather conditions take the heat and energy out of anything, and they're just not capable of surviving. so we're seeing a higher mortality rate. and it's notjust deer. all our plants and wildlife depend on the cycle of the seasons. you may have noticed grass needs to be mowed later into the year, for example. many plants and trees flower earlier, making them susceptible to cold snaps and affecting the pollinators and birds that feed on them. nature is a really good indicator of climate change. but we need to help nature in order to help ourselves, because nature can deal

with the challenge, if it's given the space and the time. on this estate in somerset, the national trust has reset a river. diggers have filled in the main channel of the aller. over the years, it had been deepened and straightened to help drain farmland. now that has been reversed, and the water is finding its own way through the flood plain. let the water do what it wants to do. and what it wants to do is create this amazing, amazing habitat with just channels all the way through the landscape, pools, ponds, wetlands. and all the water, instead of going down like a drain, it's just been soaked up into the landscape. these represent another success on the same estate. baby beavers born to adults released into two large pens. now they call beavers ecosystem engineers. well, just look at this dam! this is some serious engineering. it took just a few months

for the beavers to build the dam, and the new wetland area it has created is another haven for all sorts of species. it is evidence, says the national trust, that given space, nature can rebound and establish the resilience it needs to endure the impacts of our changing climate. justin rowlatt, bbc news, somerset. more than 50 french actors, writers and cinema producers have signed an open letter in support of gerard depardieu, who faces accusations of sexual assault. there've been calls for him to be stripped of his legion d'honneur. the letter denounces what it calls the "lynching" of depardieu, one of france's most famous — and most divisive — actors. he denies any wrongdoing. meghan owen has more. gerard depardieu is one of the most famous faces of french film. the oscar and bafta—nominated actor is famous for his work in over 200 films and tv series.

but since 2020, he's been under investigation for rape. he also faces allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment from over a dozen women. and a documentary released in december revealed sexual comments that he'd made to and about women. now, he strongly denies all of the allegations and there's no court ruling against him, but it's continued to spark controversy across france. now, the french president, emmanuel macron, came underfire for a tv interview he did in december where he defended the actor, saying that it was all a manhunt. and most recently, over 50 french actors and other a—listers have written an open letter to le figaro, which is a french newspaper, saying, "don't cancel gerard depardieu." they say that it's a case of lynching. now, here are some of the famous faces who have signed the letter, including former first lady and singer carla bruni. yannis ezziadi is one of the other actors to have signed the letter. translation: gerard depardieu is part of the history _ of french heritage. he has left an indelible mark.

so whatever you do, you won't be able to erase it. and we don't want to cancel him and we don't want to do without him. he's essential to the artistic history of our country. the letter has sparked backlash from feminist critics and has divided opinion, including on the streets of paris. translation: why should he be protected just because he's - an important figure? translation: it's not just - one person making accusations, there are quite a few, so i don't think it's a lynching. i think there are real questions to be asked about depardieu, who was a brilliant, sublime actor in the '70s and '80s and who's become a real wreck. translation: as long i as he hasn't been judged, we cannot attack him and take him down. i but on the other hand, i we have to stop it taking too many years for him to be brought to trial. _ depardieu himself has called the signatories "courageous" and has praised the letter. but mounting accusations against the actor suggest he won't be out of the spotlight any time soon.

it's been more than eight months since the lives of millions of sudanese people were plunged into uncertainty as a result of war. fighting in the country has caused one of the world's largest displacements of people and shows no sign of ending. more than six and a half million people have left their homes. aid agencies have struggled to access the areas where most of the fighting has occured. the bbc�*s anne soy has spoken to a family who's been trapped for months in the crossfire in the capital, khartoum. the form of an african giant. once one of the continent's most prosperous nations, sudan is now a war zone. it started with a political fallout between two generals, one heading the national army... ..and another, its former sidekick, the now powerful paramilitary force rsf. millions of civilians have been caught in the middle of what critics have called a senseless war. it's now one of the world's biggest

displacement crises. but many are trapped... hi, what's your name? ..like rasha amin and herfamily. he's so shy. are you taking pictures? her husband and children are british citizens. when foreign nationals were pulled out, they were eligible for evacuation, but she wasn't. even though the rules were relaxed later, the family remains stuck in the war zone. you can see my baby's bed over there. her house in khartoum, the capital, was hit by a missile strike. shrapnel flew across her bedroom where her baby was sleeping. all the windows and some doors were blown off. luckily, no—one was hurt. we're still scared because we have to put our mattresses on the floor, away from the windows. we hear their cars around us. we hear their machine guns around us. so we have to stay as safe as possible, away from the windows,

maybe in the corner of the house, because the corners are more safe than other parts of the house. the capital, and darfur in western sudan, have seen some of the fiercest fighting. the region, which isjust emerging from what was described as genocide, has slipped back to anarchy. hundreds have been killed, their homes burned, and there are reports of widespread rape. western nations have described what's happening there as ethnic cleansing. we will do everything we can, along with our allies and like—minded people, to bring those who perpetrate any form of human rights abuse and breaches of international and humanitarian law to account. ceasefires have failed to hold, and with no end in sight to the fighting, aid agencies have struggled to reach the people in need. we've only been able to reach khartoum with a convoy of trucks with food assistance once

in the last three or four months. and the conflict is spreading. earlier this month, it reached one of the last—remaining sanctuaries, wad madani, where many of the displaced had sought refuge. so, yet again, they were forced to flee, but where to? the options are narrowing. anne soy, bbc news. time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. hello there. storm gerrit has brought quite a bit of disruption up and down the country, with heavy snowfall, blizzards across scotland, some road closures there — certainly the a9 — some localised flooding and some trees down from the strong winds. we're likely to see further disruption from this system as we move through the overnight period. now, the strongest of the winds will be confined to the north—east of scotland, the northern isles, through the evening. but overnight, we hold on to the windy weather. in fact, renewed gales for southern and western coastal areas, bands of showers, blustery showers,

spreading their way from west to east. severe gales with further blizzards across north—east scotland, certainly for the northern isles. it'll be a little bit chillier, ithink, tonight than it was the previous night. lengthier clearer skies at times across more central and eastern parts. thursday, we've still got low pressure nearby. it's going to be another windy day, not quite as windy as today, but still gales, north—west england, north and west wales, bands of showers merging together to produce longer spells of rain as they spread towards the east. and we'll see further wintriness over the hills of scotland. and very gusty winds to come for all, but certainly around southern and western coasts. temperature—wise, ii to 13 degrees. it won't feel like that because of the strength of the wind. another chilly day to come across scotland. thursday night, we see further showers rattling their way in from the west. it stays blustery. longer spells of rain across scotland with snow on the hills. turning very windy again, far north of scotland into the northern isles. and it will be cold here.

temperatures ranging from around 5 to 7 degrees further south with further clear spells. friday, we see this area of low pressure bring gales again to the north—east of scotland, with showers of rain and certainly some snow, so we could see blizzard conditions again here. further south, the cold air will be moving down in towards central areas, so it could turn this band of showery rain a little bit wintry on the hills. southern britain will see sunshine, a few rain showers, but it will be chillier across the board — single figure values, i think, for most of us. then we will look to the atlantic, to this new area of low pressure, deep low which will move in for saturday, and that's likely to last into new year's eve as well, we think. so it could bring some disruptive weather both saturday and sunday. again, snow on the hills in the north, gales, heavy rain. it'll be turning chillier for all areas as we move into the 1st of january.

live from london. this is bbc news. israel expands its operations in central gaza... while in his first tv interview since the war began, the central and southern regions becoming the focus of its assault. the new york times sues microsoft and openai — claiming chatgpt has used millions of newspaper articles without permission. a major incident�*s declared in scotland, as storm gerrit sweeps across the uk bringing strong winds, snow and heavy rain.

hello, welcome along. we start with the latest on the israel—gaza war. the israeli military is keeping up its offensive across the gaza strip, with southern and central areas now the main focus of attack. over the past 2a hours, israel says it has carried out strikes on at least 200 hamas targets in gaza. hamas — which is holding about 130 people hostage in gaza — is designated a terror organisation by the uk and us. the hamas—run health ministry says at least 195 people were killed as a result of those strikes. the united nations human rights office has said it's deeply concerned about the continued bombing of gaza's middle area. in a further sign of the conflict�*s wider reverberations — turkey's president has lashed out — comparing israel's actions in gaza to atrocities committed by the nazis. in the red sea, the danish shipping company, maersk, says it is prepared to resume sailings — despite the threat of attack by houthi rebels in yemen who are supporting hamas.