described as the architect of the modern eu, has died aged 98. hello, i'm samantha simmonds. 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 day, israel says it 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 homes. our first report is from our correspondent shaimaa khalil. a warning, you may find some elements distressing. no funeral, no dignified burial, no tombstone. a bulldozer carries their bodies into a mass grave. their final resting place. israeli forces are expanding their ground offensive into the densely populated urban refugee camps in central gaza. and this is the scene at the neighbouring al aqsa hospital. overwhelmed, they've had to treat the injured on the floor and in hallways. across gaza at the moment, health capacity is at about 20% of what it was 80 or so days ago.

so almost all of the hospital beds, almost all of the hospital services have stopped functioning. on foot, donkey carts are crammed onto the back of trucks. those who fled from northern gaza have come here for safety, but the war has chased them out again. heavy bombardment continues in the south, and there aren't many places left to go. israel says the war will last for months and insists the aims are clear. we can't destroy hamas's ideology, unfortunately. that's not realistic. but we can remove them from power. we can prevent them from having control over this territorial enclave, and that will do a lot to save lives and prevent future conflict in the region. in the west bank, an israeli air strike killed six palestinians. the military says they were armed militants. locals deny it. this, as the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, has warned that the area could implode.

a new refugee camp has now been set up for those twice displaced, first from northern gaza and now from the centre. this man lost six family members. "our houses have been destroyed," he says. "this is what's left. it's worse than hell here." more than 21,000 people have now died in gaza, according to local health officials. those who've survived are running out of places to flee. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, jerusalem. we mentioned incendiary comments from the turkish president, recep tayyip erdogan. at an event in ankara on wednesday, he said this about israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. translation: all the values of humanity have been - destroyed before our own eyes for the last 80 days. we saw israel's nazi camps

in the stadiums, right? they are, in every sense, the way we were talking about hitler. how does benjamin netanyahu and hitler differ? is there anything that netanyahu does that is less than hitler? no. dr brandon friedman is the director of research at the moshe dayan center at tel aviv university. he gave me his assessment of how far israel was achieving its goals in gaza. i think israel is currently fighting on seven different fronts, according to our defense minister, and so the war is quite complex. not only is israel deeply engaged on the ground in gaza, but we're facing attacks in the north in both lebanon and syria and attacks from iraq as well. and to a certain degree,

you can argue the houthis have been actively targeting us for the last two months. so i think israel's success should be measured on the basis of its objectives, which are to destroy hamas's military and governing capacity and to return the hostages. and i want to remind your audience of the hostages. there are 129 israelis still being held by hamas in gaza, and their families feel their absence every day. and that's a humanitarian issue as well. in terms of whether israel will ultimately be able to destroy hamas's military and governing capacity, i think it's a question of time. and i think the big question is how much time israel will have to complete its mission. we heard from our chief of staff that it's going to take, it may take a couple of years even to finish destroying hamas's military infrastructure. they have reportedly 500 kilometres of underground tunnels in gaza, which makes gaza basically an underground launching pad for attacks on israeli

civilian infrastructure. so i think on one hand, there's a demand within israel to return the hostages, and obviously the entire country of nearly 360,000 people are mobilised as part of this war, which takes a toll on the economy. so there's some pressure for the war to have some quick success, but i think the security establishment and the political elites recognise that it's going to take time. you're an expert in regional politics. what's your thought about what neighbouring arab countries want now, how much longer they're willing to tolerate this, and in particular saudi arabia, which was moving towards a normalisation of relations with israel before october the 7th? sure, i think most of the arab countries want a cease—fire now because i think that from their perspective, the war is destabilising regionally.

and i think that the houthi escalation over the last couple of weeks is for them an indicator of the dangers of this war, of its potential expansion and escalation, which they see as being a huge risk. so, on one hand, a country like saudi arabia and to a certain extent the emirates have no love lost for hamas. i think they would like to see hamas defeated by israel. on the other hand, there is widespread public support for the palestinians in both of those countries, which their leaders are very attentive to, and so there's a bit of a tension there between what they would like to see happening in a strategic sense and i think their fears in terms of the destabilising effects of the war. one of the largest newspapers in the us, the new york times, is suing the companies behind chatgpt — openai and microsoft. the times alleges that the powerful artificial intelligence programme used millions of articles for training without permission. the newspaper is seeking damages, as well as an order that the companies stop using its content and destroy the data. the defendants are yet

to respond to the lawsuit. for more on this story, i spoke to new york times technology reporter ryan mac, who's in los angeles. the lawsuit was filed this morning and we reported it as of this morning, which is that the new york times believes that openai has been infringing on its copyright, as well as microsoft. and so, yeah, we reported this story this morning. and how long do you allege this has been going on? well, the complaint says that there is content going back to as early as the 19505 that has been used in openai's training models and chat bots to develop these new technologies, and the company is enforcing its copyright and pursuing claims under that arugment. can you tell us a little bit more about how the us law operates in terms

of your expectations for this case? is there any guidance in terms of what kind of permissions ai is required to ask before they use content? i mean, that is exactly what is at the crux of this case, companies like openai, companies who have a massive billion—dollar of valuation and billions of dollars of funding, have essentially scraped the web and taken content — a lot of it copyrighted — forfree and used it in its technologies. and the new york times is going to court to argue that that wasn't legal. so is this effectively a test case in this arena? it's one of many, yeah. there are ongoing lawsuits from other creative industries. you look at something like, you know, actors that have sued openai, authors, fiction authors and nonfiction. and this is sort of the beginning. getty images has sued another ai company that uses its images to train generative al to create realistic images.

so i think we're at the forefront of this, and it will remain to be seen what happens. yeah, well, what are the possibilities here, do you think? you know, i think it's for the courts to decide. there could be rulings that, you know, suggest that these companies may have to pay up for these rights and to use this content. i mean, openai itself has already struck deals with some publishers, including the likes of the associated press and the publisher of politico and business insider, so there has already been some precedent for these companies is paying for copyrighted material but we will see what the courts decide. the united states' top diplomat, antony blinken, is having talks with the mexican president on how to deal with a surge in the number of people trying to reach the united states. mr blinken is accompanied by the us homeland security secretary for his meeting with president lopez obrador in mexico city.

the meeting takes place as a reported new influx of migrants, estimated at around 6000 people, are walking through mexico from tapachula to the us border. at stake for mr blinken�*s boss, presidentjoe biden, is securing some means of easing the wave of people trying to cross the us southern border. both democrats and republicans are calling for practical solutions. our correspondent shingai nyoka, who's in washington, is monitoring the talks. this is a high—level meeting between america and mexico, and it comes amidst this unprecedented surge in the number of migrants making their way from mexico into the united states. 2 million people so far have crossed this year, and in the last week also there were about 10,000, an average of 10,000 people, that were crossing. and that's double the number that were crossing during during the pre—covid era.

and so thatjust gives you a sense ofjust how overwhelmed both countries are with what's happening at the border. and you've asked what it is that they want to come out of this meeting. well, the us has been trying to put pressure on mexico to do more to ensure that mexico stops the migrants before they cross the border into the us. and what has happened over the last couple of weeks or so is that several border crossings have been closed, including railway as the us has deployed patrol officials across this 3000—kilometre border at some of the illegal point to try to stop the migrants from coming in. on the other hand, mexico says that it's doing all it can, but it hopes that some kind of an understanding can be reached during the meeting that is taking place. but it also says that the us needs to look at addressing broader issues. many of these migrants are coming from countries

like venezuela and cuba, countries that the us sanctions on and which, according to them, have created economic crises. many of these migrants that are coming from latin america are economic refugees, and so this is where they stand, is that while the us would want to see mexico doing more, mexico also wants to make some demands in return. let's get some of the day's other news now. police in the czech republic have confirmed that they discovered a suicide note in the home of the man who carried out last week's mass shooting in prague in which he confessed to an earlier double—killing. they said he admitted to shooting dead two people in woods in the week prior to the attack on charles university in which he killed 1a people before taking his own life. an opposition leader in the democratic republic of congo says several people were injured when police dispersed supporters protesting outside his party's headquarters in the capital, kinshasa.

opposition politicians had called for the demonstration after rejecting last week's general election, which was marred by delays and administrative chaos. the eiffel tower in paris was closed to the public today because of a strike by staff. employees were protesting against the way the tower was being managed. the date of their strike was not picked at random. december the 27th is the centenary of the death of the tower�*s creator, gustave eiffel. the eiffel tower in paris was closed to the public today a major incident has been declared in scotland, with long queues of vehicles stranded in the highlands. storm gerrit has been sweeping across the uk, bringing high winds and heavy rain. about 20,000 homes are still without power in northern scotland. on the roads, trains, ferries and at airports, people are facing delays and hazardous conditions. shiona mccallum reports. as you can see, we are stuck on the a9 just south of dalwhinnie. thick snow and ice took grip of the a9, the main trunk road

between perth and the highlands. a major incident was declared. richard was at a standstill with his wife and daughter for over six hours, trying to get home to bristol after christmas. so, yeah, when we set off from loch laggan, it was just raining and the snow was actually melting away, it seemed to be all right. and then as soon as we got to dalwhinnie, itjust was a complete white—out. the skies opened, and within minutes it was just complete white—out. the traffic had come to an absolute halt, and we were going nowhere. away from the white—out, and it was the rain that was causing problems in cupar in fife. some residents had to be rescued from their homes after severe flooding in the town. specialist boats were brought in to help. woke up and i could hear some rustling noises, and i looked out and there was two to three feet of water, up to my bed. i'm thinking most things in the lounge are going to be gone. so obviously not what you want

to wake up to just after christmas. in aberdeenshire and angus, more than 20,000 people are without power. winds reached over 85 mph in some parts. storm gerrit has mainly impacted - scotland at the moment, with around 20,000 customers without power. access proving a real- challenge for our engineers, and weather is expected to be worse iagain overnight, so we are keepingl a very close eye on that. if you are in an area affected by a weather warning, - we would urge you to make preparationsjust now, - but know that engineers - and customer service teams, thousands of people, - are working around the clock to reconnect power as quickly as they safely can. _ trains were hit, too. not only were services cancelled, but some passengers were stuck on board for hours. a tree fell on this line at dumbarton, and it remains blocked by flooding at bowling. our advice to passengers as always

is to check before you travel. take a look at the scot rail website or download the app. disruption will continue into tomorrow in some parts of the country. two top—flight football games were postponed, including ross county's trip to ibrox. a series of met office yellow rain and snow warnings are still in place tonight. flood warnings and alerts will also continue into tomorrow. shiona mccallum, bbc news, glasgow. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. nearly 90,000 nhs appointments had to be cancelled because of last week's junior doctor strike in england, according to new data from nhs england. most were hospital check—ups and operations, but some community appointments were also affected. next week, junior doctors will take part in a six—day walk—out, the longest in the history of the nhs. rail passengers are experiencing major disruption to theirjourneys

out of london st pancras because of a fault with the signalling system between st albans and the station. east midlands railway have cancelled all services towards luton airport. thameslink services have also been severely affected. network rail has apologised for the delays. the chancellor, jeremy hunt, will unveil his spring budget on the 6th of march in what could be his last chance to introduce tax changes before a general election. the conservative party has been hinting it could make pledges on housing and taxes, as rishi sunak struggles to turn around his party's major deficit in the polls. you're live with bbc news. sport, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah mulkerrins. thank you very much, samantha. let's start with the three games taking place right now in the english premier league. approaching full—time in two of them. wolves winning 4—1

away at brentford. four of the goals in that coming in a frantic first half, hwang hee chan scoring two for the visitors. at stamford bridge, chelsea have taken the lead over crystal palace. michael olise cancelled out mykhailo mudryk�*s opener. but chelsea just taking the lead from the penalty spot. and manchester city are trailing 1—0 at goodison park. jack harrison has everton ahead. they have just come out and kicked off in the second half in that one. follow it all live on the bbc sport website. the matches coming thick and fast over this christmas period. a couple more on thursday, with two sides meeting each other absolutely ravished by injuries — brighton and tottenham, with both their managers confirming earlier more problems with their respective squads. tottenham manager ange postecoglou has revealed that vice—captain and defender cristian romero will be out for up to five weeks with a hamstring problem. it means spurs now have eight injuries in the squad as well as a number of suspensions,

but potsecoglou insists it doesn't hasten his recruitment plans ahead of te january transfer window. no, it doesn't change anything. just like i said, disappointed to lose him for sure. we obviously missed him with the suspension, and now we've just got him back and kind of steadied things up, but obviously with him missing again for quite a chunk of time, it doesn't change, really... you can't accelerate time, mate! it's still december. january the 1st stays january the 1st. the brighton manager roberto de zerbi, meanwhile, says his side have "more or less ten injured players", the latest being kaoru mitoma, who could be out for up to six weeks of action and could now miss the asian cup forjapan. brighton have just one win from their last five games. to cricket now, and pakistan trail australia by 124 runs after pat cummins and nathan lyon took key wickets for the hosts on day two

of the second test in melbourne. pakistan were 1211—1 before cummins took his first wicket, abdullah shafique caught and bowled by the aussie skipper. a couple of overs later, he dismissed babar azam, while lyon's spin saw off imam—ul—haq and shan masood as they swug things back in theirfavour, with pakistan ending day two on 194—6. elsewhere, south africa closed day two on 256—5 in response to india's first innings total of 2115 in their first test in centurion. opener dean elgar on 140 not out, the star of the day in this, his farewell series. david beddingham with a half century as the hosts edged ahead. and the fairy tale is continuing for 16—year—old luke littler at the pdc world chamionship in darts. the british teenager was in fine form beating canada's matt campbell 4—1 to make it through to the last

16 on his debut at the tournament, becoming the youngest player to do so. thejunior world champion, who says he's been playing since he was 18 months old, made headlines before christmas becoming the youngest person to win a match at the world championship when he defeated christian kist in the first round, and then went on to defeat uk open champion andrew gilding to make it to this third—round match. and that's all the sport for now. you can keep right up to date with those latest results and scores from the football using the bbc sport website and that's it for me. a bit of breaking news just coming into us at bbc news. south african playwright, composer, choreographer and theatrical director mbongeni ngema has died. he was killed in a car crash earlier this evening. he was recognised internationally following the success of his musical sarafina, which depicted socio—political conditions of black

people under the racist and murderous regime. in 1992, the play was adapted into a film starring whoopi goldberg. mr ngema was also a controversialfigure. in 2002, he made headlines over a song that accused south africa's indian population of exploitation and resisting change. the former european commission presidentjacques delors, described as the architect of the modern eu, has died aged 98. he helped create the single market, allowing the free movement of people, goods and services within the eu. adam fleming looks back at his life. he was the architect of modern europe. in the �*80s and �*90s, the president of the european commission thought the eu should come more closely together, socially, economically and politically. some british conservatives reacted in horror. no! no, no! born to a working—class, devoutly catholic family, jacques delors first became a banker. in 1981, president mitterrand appointed him finance minister.

four years later, he headed for brussels. good friends theyj certainly aren't... margaret thatcher signed up to the single european act, which tore down barriers to trade. but delors then championed something she couldn't stomach. this government has no intention of agreeing to the imposition of a single currency. the iron lady saw him as europe's new bonaparte. that would be entering a federal europe through the back delors. the sun said the same in less diplomatic language. in 1992, the maastricht treaty laid the foundations of the euro. translation: let's look. to the future, with economic and monetary union, the 12 member countries can hope to draw the greatest possible benefits of a common economic area, with its social dimension, too. arguments over that future led to the downfall of margaret thatcher and john major. tony blair and gordon brown

disagreed onjoining the euro. in 2016, britain decided enough was enough and left. the british people have spoken, and the answer is — we're out. l at times, financial crises in europe have been blamed on the way the single currency was constructed, but the high priest of european integration never had a doubt. you're watching bbc news. 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, 11—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—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.