the hardest part this time around was watching our seven—year—old try and collect all her christmas presents, breaking her heart thinking our christmas was ruined. she said it's the worst christmas ever, and it was just horrendous. in the town of tarland in aberdeenshire, food trucks for those who have been without power since yesterday afternoon. had a pretty poor night, had the kids and the dogs up at my parents', did nobody really settled well, so... we lit the fire and we had baked potatoes in the fire, _ and we played stupid games. i should have gone home yesterday, because i live in inveraray. so i should have gone home yesterday morning. in shetland, the evidence of gusts reaching 83 mph was obvious. it's been here and the north—east that's been worst hit. we were aware of the weather, but the wind speed was higher than what was actually forecast. they were about 10 mph higher, which can actually cause more disruption to the network.

disruption on the rail network, too. damage to trains and train lines had left routes closed. many are now back on. the vast majority of the network is back open for business, but we do expect some disruption into friday morning, and the advice to passengers is to check before you travel because unfortunately there is more bad weather on the way. not good news as roads that were closed slowly begin to reopen. flooding and landslides mean some smaller roads still remain impassable. gerrit is gone, but its effects will be felt in scotland for some time to come. chris mclaughlin, bbc news. the government is considering boosting the amount of electrical goods which get recycled by arranging direct collection from homes. the scheme, which is subject to a ten—week consultation, would be funded by manufacturers.

ben boulos has the details. no christmas tree is complete without twinkling lights, but we're hardly stars when it comes to recycling them. in fact, we throw away around 500 tonnes of festive lights each year, according to government estimates. but that's just part of the problem. small electrical items like toasters, kettles and cables also contribute to the more than 155,000 tonnes of electrical waste discarded in the uk throughout the year. many of those contain valuable natural resources — metals that can be used to make new tech. so ministers now want retailers to do more to encourage us to recycle more. we want the producer and the retailer that are selling those electrical goods to have more responsibility to take back the disused products. and that's where we're trying to create a three—tier system — one where a drop—off point is potentially put out at a big retail outlet, or one where it can be collected

directly from your home, or one where if you're getting a new item delivered, the disused item is then taken back on delivery. retailers, manufacturers and small businesses will be able to give their views in a ten—week consultation starting today. the plans would also see suppliers of disposable vapes having to fund the estimated £200 million annual cost of separately collecting and recycling the five million vapes that are thrown out every week. ben boulos, bbc news. wind turbines provide renewable energy, but producing the steel they're made from, isn't such an environmentally friendly process. well, now, a wind turbine made of wood has begun supplying electricity to the swedish grid, asjonah fisher reports.

having brought us abba, meatballs and flatpack furniture, from sweden comes another innovation thatjust might change the way we generate electricity. welcome to the world's tallest wind turbine tower made out of wood. steel is great material, right? but steel is very heavy. and with this material, we can perform the same task, but with 30% less weight and with more than 100% less carbon emissions. we're the firstjournalists invited inside for a closer look. wind power is already one of the cheapest and cleanest ways to generate electricity. using wood could make it even greener. if you stand there. i'm now 105 metres up at the very top of the tower. these blades are — like almost all wind turbines —

made out of fibreglass. the generator that i'm standing on is primarily made of steel. but the company who's built the wooden tower say that by making the tower out of wood, it's storing carbon dioxide, it's carbon negative. and it's that carbon dioxide that's warming our planet. but this isn't only about being greener. to reach stronger and more consistent winds, turbines need to get even taller — and that means bigger and wider turbine towers. getting those massive pieces of steel on site by road is already a major headache. and that's where wooden towers just might come in. there's a huge amount of potential in this. that's because the towers are modular. at a factory in gothenburg, more than 100 thin sheets of wood are glued together to make the wall sections. those modular pieces can then be more easily taken

to the turbine site. making around steel chip is quite easy, but making steel modular towers is a challenge, really. we do not bolt our towers or screw them together. we glue them together. right? and wood and glue is a perfect combination. so is it alljust a bit of a gimmick? well, maybe not. the project is being backed by vestas — the world's largest installer of wind power — and they told us that using wood could end up solving some of the industry's transport problems in a more environmentally sustainable way. jonah fisher, bbc news, in gothenburg, in sweden. an international study has found a new antibody treatment could cut the number of babies being admitted to hospitals with a common winter virus by more than 80%. at least 30,000 children under the age of five are treated in uk hospitals each year for infections caused by rsv — up to 30 die. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh reports.

lion! and this? polar bear! caolan�*s mum knows how worrying rsv can be. when he was eight months old, the virus gave him a serious chest infection and temperature, and he struggled to breathe. caolan was admitted to hospital in southampton twice, and needed oxygen each time. it was very stressful, it brought a lot of anxiety, a lot of doubt — especially as a first—time mother. you're constantly questioning what to do, and i didn't really understand what rsv was or the symptoms. jessica and ellie from southampton are among 8,000 children who took part in an international trial of the antibody jab. the study showed that a one—off injection meant children were 83% less likely to be admitted to hospital with an rsv—related infection. jess got the antibodyjab,

but they both remained healthy. and i hoped that, in the long term, if it was shown to be effective, that it would prevent families from their babies being ill, and lots of hospitalisations. a paediatrician in southampton who helped lead the trial said the results were stunning and could bring huge benefits for children and the nhs. every year, rsv has an absolutely huge impact on children's hospital services in the uk. so to have a drug that we can give as a preventative treatment — even during the rsv season — that can stop children being admitted, is really amazing. this antibody treatment gives children instant protection against one of winter's most common viruses. the jab — called nirsevimab — contains antibodies against rsv which fight infection. it's not a vaccine — they work by priming the immune system to create antibodies,

but take a few weeks to be effective. thejcvi, which advises the government on immunisation, is considering whether the antibody jab, or an rsv vaccine for pregnant women, should be introduced by the nhs. crocodile! caolan�*s parents are hoping their one—month—old rian could get the antibodyjab — but things will need to move fast if an immunisation programme is to be ready ahead of next winter's rsv season. fergus walsh, bbc news. some rather cute pictures to leave you with this half hour. they are of a critically endangered lemur. this little one was born at chester zoo here in the uk and weighed in at 120 grams. experts say it'll be a little while until they find out the sex of the baby coquerel�*s sifaka. the species are native to madagascar and are also known as dancing lemurs for the way they spring across the floor. lemur babies ride on their mother's back for about three months

until they are ready to explore the world on their own. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear. good evening. well, storm gerrit certainly brought some challenging weather conditions on wednesday, particularly for those of you returning back from seeing friends and family over the christmas period. now, an early heads up if you're travelling this weekend to see in the new year — there's further heavy rain forecast, maybe some snow likely in the north, and the winds, widespread gales on exposed coasts, so that's worth bearing in mind. through the night tonight, we'll see a rash of showers turning increasingly wintry in scotland, some showers into northern ireland. a milder story further south with rain easing — here, around 5 to 9 degrees. it's going to be a chilly start in scotland, though, still under the influence of low pressure. and with the winds coming

round to a northerly, that means that showers to higher ground in scotland could be a mix of rain, sleet and snow. but this weak weather front as well, that's going to produce some persistent outbreaks of showery rain into northern ireland, north—west england, and a westerly flow will drive in a few scattered showers across south—west england and wales, which will drift its way steadily eastwards as we go through the day. here, we'lljust scrape double digits, but a cooler story across the far north and east of scotland in particular. now, as we move out of friday into saturday, here's that area of low pressure which could cause some further travel disruption, bringing some wet and windy weather in from the west. now, ahead of it, under clearer skies, we could see temperatures falling below freezing in the far north of scotland, so a cold start, and that could be relevant as that front starts to move in. so first thing on saturday, dry and bright, but the rain will start to push in from the west and some of it quite heavy. and as it bumps into that colder air, we'll see some snow even at lower levels for scotland as well. so it's going to be a windy day, the best of the drier weather through the midlands, east anglia, south—east england — 12 degrees the high. the rain heavy as it moves its way gradually into south—west england, wales and northern england.

some real torrential downpours likely. a brighter end to the day in northern ireland, but look at this. yes, we could see some snow even at lower levels for scotland — and that's worth bearing in mind — accompanied by gale force gusts of winds. so that low pushes through at quite a pace in the early hours of sunday morning. sunday is, of course, new year's eve. and for those of you out and about, it is going to get a little bit cooler, but it's going to stay pretty unsettled. happy new year.

live from london, this is bbc news. the israeli military shows journalists what it says is the largest hamas tunnel it has discovered so far in gaza. you can live in them, you can sleep in them, take a bath. you can keep prisoners here for years, if you like, and no one from above would know what you are up to. police in greater manchester declare a major incident — after a tornado sweeps off roofs, and leaves thousands without power. and tensions in taiwan ahead of a presidental election. beijing accuses the island of "hyping up" interference claims.

hello, i'm lauren taylor. we start with the latest in the israel—gaza war. the israeli military has taken journalists into what it says is the largest underground tunnel found so far. since the beginning of the conflict, hamas has maintained an underground network allows fighters to move, undetected, from one part of the territory to another. finding — and clearing them — has been hard. this video released by israel, claims to show part of the tunnel network being destroyed. the tunnel that our correspondent kasra naji and camera operator soran qurbani were taken to is not far from the erez border crossing which was breached by hamas — when it launched its attacks on israel. here is their report. at the main crossing into northern gaza, for the israeli military, progress in the war has been a lot slower than anticipated.

the reason — the vast network of tunnels that hamas