tornado ripped through greater manchester, damaging around 100 homes. and from research to reality — why 2023 was a breakthrough year for gene editing technology. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. hi there, thank you for being with us. the government of taiwan has accused china of mounting a major misinformation campaign, to try to influence the outcome of the island's presidential election that's taking place next month. taiwan's ruling democratic progressive party — or dpp — is seeking an unprecdented third consecutive win. but the ruling party is loathed in beijing, which has long laid claim to taiwan. china's air force has also increased incursions across the taiwan strait in recent weeks. rupert wingfield—hayes has that story.

it's 6am and this fighter base on the coast of taiwan is already a hive of activity. on the apron, mirage 2000 fighter jets from taiwan's rapid reaction squadrons, theirjob to meet any incoming threats to taiwan's airspace. these taiwanese fighter jets being scrambled behind me here are heading out into the taiwan strait to confront chinese aircraft that are coming across the strait and probing taiwan's airspace. this is now happening multiple times every day. these pictures are from chinese television, showing their fighterjets, and that down below is the coast of taiwan. just over the horizon, there is another game of cat and mouse. this man puts up a long antenna to eavesdrop radio chatter

that's the chinese navy talking to the taiwanese navy, saying, "your territorial waters, that you claim, do not "exist," that the people's republic of china is the only legitimate government of china and taiwan is an inseparable part of china. "they tell us the taiwan strait is peaceful," he says. "then why are there chinese ships and harassing "us all the time? "how is that peaceful?" back in taipei, the former head of taiwan's armed forces says china's tactics are designed to intimidate the island's voters and send a warning to its allies. i think china is sending a very strong signal to the united states, evenjapan — "this is our area, "our territorial area, so i can do whatever i want." but also in the meantime, they can use this kind of aggression to make taiwanese people scared and make taiwanese people capitulate.

as polling day approaches, there is little sign that the intimidation is working. at this rally, supporters of the frontrunner to win taiwan's presidency tell me they would rather fight than capitulate to beijing. i'm very worried, but i'm not afraid, because i will volunteer to be a soldier if they invade our beautiful country. if someday, we may be at war or something else, i'm not afraid because i think, "i'm taiwanese. "i need to protect my country." 0n the coast, the jets are returning from yet another patrol. taiwan has fewer than 300 fighterjets, china more than 2,000. whoever wins taiwan's presidential race will face a military balance tipping ever more in china's favour. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in hsinchu, taiwan.

so, is china's propaganda strategy in taiwan working? i asked isabel hilton, a visiting professor at the lau institute at king's college london. they are certainly having an effect. and the last time china tried to do this, it had a negative effect, because it was rather crude and obvious, and people reacted by voting overwhelmingly for the dpp, the current ruling party, but china's tactics have got more sophisticated since then. so it's got much better at generating disruptive messages, feeding them into social media, making them look as though they originate in taiwan. it is simply, the sophistication of its attack has grown exponentially in the past few years. and there are 20 million cyber attacks daily on taiwan, mainly from china, so the sheer volume of the effort is also pretty impressive. it certainly will have an effect. it will depend how

sophisticated taiwan internet users are, if they can be counted on to recognise this is coming from the mainland or if theyjust take it as an amplification of existing divisions and disputes which certainly exist in taiwan, as in any democracy. and voters in taiwan, they are also witnessing what's happening to hong kong as beijing tightens its grip. we just heard another pro—democracy activist, tony chung, fleeing hong kong to take asylum in the uk. yes, and the hong kong situation, from the imposition of the national security law two years ago, has had an effect on taiwanese thinking, because it made the taiwanese think that china promised hong kong 50 years of noninterference, and it broke that promise, so it has made taiwanese voters much more suspicious of any offer from china.

and more than 80% of taiwanese voters say they would like the status quo, they like the de facto independence that taiwan has. the problem is how to maintain that. and as china amplifies the threats, both the kind of incursion that we heard about earlier and the undermining of social issues — the creation of that sort of sense that you cannot trust anything or trust anybody — that all has an effect. and on the one hand, we have a party — the kuomintang — which is promising to lower those tensions, and on the other, we have beijing saying that if you vote for the dpp, it's effectively a vote for war, so these are difficult choices for the taiwanese people. let's bring you some breaking news, because there's been new setbacks for mr trump after

main�*s top election official has disqualified donald trump from the state valid in the next year's us prudential primary election —— maine. act to become the second state to bar the former president for his role in the january 6 attack on the capital, colorado was the first one to bar him. the republican party in colorado has already appealed against that decision and mr trump himself has said he will do the same, so the issue is likely to be decided by the us supreme court, although it is not clear when they will be taking up the issue. the state of michigan, meanwhile, has said it would allow him to run, so we had the latest story on this story on our website, so do check that out as well, but breaking news this hour, act to becoming the second stick to bar the former president from running index year's presidential election, primary election, in that state. —— in

next year's. israel is expanding its ground offensive into palestinian refugee camps in central gaza, forcing thousands of people to flee. the united nations estimates 150,000 are on the move. israel says it's trying to protect civilians in its operation to destroy hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation by the uk government. meanwhile, egypt has put forward a plan to end the fighting, including more prisoner and hostage exchanges. shaimaa khalil has the latest from jerusalem — and her report contains some distressing images from the beginning. once again, a child tells their story of the war. this child's home in khan younis was bombed overnight. "we were upstairs," she says, "then we were hit, and i started running." she tries to comfort her sister, but she has no idea that her mother and brother

were killed in the strike. herfather, abdullah, sits next to the body bags. he's still in shock. "this is my son," he says. "this morning, he asked me for biscuits. "i went to buy them. "when i came back, ifound him and my wife dead." the ground offensive continues to deepen in the southern city of khan younis, where hundreds of thousands have fled from the fighting in northern gaza. israel says it's trying to protect civilians during its operation against hamas fighters. but it said it regretted what it called extensive collateral damage in a strike last weekend. the hamas—run health ministry says at least 86 people were killed in the strike on al maghazi refugee camp in central gaza. israel says it used the wrong type of munition. people shout here injerusalem, thousands of teenagers march towards the israeli parliament.

"alive, now," they chanted. they want a new deal to return those still in captivity. the war is not going to end any time soon. that is the message from the israeli government. but that only increases the frustration among the young people gathered here, many of them from communities that have been worst—affected by the 7th october attacks. their message to those in power — bring the hostages back home now. i am from kibbutz kfar aza. i was there on 7th october and my people were kidnapped. we want them back. for me, personally, i really hope that it ends for both sides as quickly as possible. war is horrible on either end of it. judith weinstein haggai was thought to be in captivity still, but now she's believed to have been killed on october 7. her husband gadi is also believed to have been killed by hamas. in the agony of war, new life begins. iman tends to three

of her quadruplets. one is still in intensive care. there is very little food and not enough formula or diapers. she and her family are sheltering in a un school after being forced out of their home in the north. her new babies born into displacement. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, jerusalem. around 100 homes in the uk have been damaged by a mini tornado, which ripped through a part of greater manchester. police declared a major incident in tameside after roofs were torn off homes, trees were blown down and walls collapsed. there were no reports of any injuries. elsewhere, three men died after their vehicle plunged into the river esk in north yorkshire — police said the weather conditions had "made driving hazardous." fiona trott reports. the eye of the storm.

so strong that some homes couldn't even keep the residents safe. they'll evacuate us now. this tree smashed through a roofjust metres from where maisie pilkington slept. if you was to get a wrecking ball and go through the house, it was like, because i opened the door and i thought, "oh, my god." in daylight, the damage was clearer to see. metal and glass not strong enough, lead not heavy enough to withstand the force of this tornado on her street. what seems to have happened is the tree's hit the roof, gone through my bathroom, so the whole roof and ceiling of my bathroom is down, the tree is in the bathroom. the whole tree is being held up by one branch and it's starting to snap currently, i've been told. so if it does snap, it's going to go through the whole house. it wasn't just maisie�*s street. look at the devastation in other parts of stalybridge. their homes and their lives have been ripped apart.

this was the village of carrbrook. and we were so scared, we didn't know what to do. i don't know who phoned the police. police, ambulance, fire brigade, everybody were around. and tonight, hundreds of residents still have questions that can't be answered. can i go back home? when can i go back home? is my house safe? so we're trying to get movement ion that as quickly as possible, i but the amount of damage that it's done to the amount - of properties, you know, - we haven't got the resources just yet to get that done very quickly. | so we have gone out to get support. - what people here are still coming to terms with is how so much devastation was caused by something that lasted less than a minute. tornadoes can be massively damaging. you can see winds in excess of 100mph concentrated on a very small area. that is enough to bring down parts of houses, trees, cause massive amounts of damage.

what is striking is how sudden this was but also how random it was, the path of the tornado. how can the roof of one house be completely ripped off and another stay intact? but even those who have been worst affected by this, they say that they feel lucky. they say that repairs and replacements are an inconvenience compared to the tragedy that could have occurred. fiona trott, bbc news, stalybridge. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news in the uk. a man who died after a car collided with a group of people in sheffield yesterday has been named as father—of—two christian marriott. mr marriott was with his wife and two young sons when he went to provide first aid to a woman following an altercation between a group of people. police have described him as a good samaritan who lost his life while helping a stranger.

the uk's health security agency says at least 30 confirmed cases of e.coli may be linked to contaminated cheese that was recalled on christmas day. an urgent recall of four types of mrs kirkham's lancashire cheese, which is produced in preston, began on monday. lancashire police say that what was thought to be a fire at the iconic blackpool tower was actually orange netting. six fire engines were deployed to the landmark this afternoon, after reports of flames coming from the top of it. you're live with bbc news. 2023 was the year when the crispr gene—editing technology went from research to reality. crispr gene editing allows the genetic information of living organisms to be modified. in november, uk regulators became the first to approve a genetic treatment for use, with the us food and drug administration following suit

earlier this month. in both cases, the treatments were for sickle cell disease — a deadly blood disorder that affects millions worldwide with a much higher incidence among african—americans. so what does the future hold for people with sickle cell? and could crispr be used to treat other diseases, like cancer? i spoke to dr cece calhoun, who's medical director of the sickle cell programme at yale university school of medicine. thank you so much for having me. as you mentioned, the global burden of sickle cell disease is tremendous, and so what this means for us is a new frontier and opportunity to cure a disease with such a shortened life expectancy. but the expense of this treatment, reportedly some $2 million, it will put it out of reach for many people. how hopeful are you that the price will eventually come down?

sickle cell disease has been known, and the mechanism behind sickle cell disease has been known, for over a century, yet the treatment options for sickle cell disease have been quite limited, and so what this represents is a new frontier in that area. this is a first step, but to your point, it's quite expensive, and so the next step is, how do we improve accessibility and decrease costs so that we can offer this notjust in developed countries but also worldwide, where we know sickle cell is most prevalent? i think with any new drug, initial uptake is slow and costs are high, but i am so optimistic that this drug will be made more accessible to people worldwide. i understand that it is also a fairly complicated treatment. part of your work is to get in touch with young people who are affected by the disease. what do they think about this new treatment? do they think that this

will one day become accessible? absolutely. so. . . crispr for sickle cell disease were approved on a friday. the following monday, i had clinic and every single patient asked me about it. people who have sickle cell disease, who have been struggling just to survive, are so thrilled at the opportunity to thrive. we have other options for curative therapies, but what this does is it broadens the landscape. so it's not to people in the scientific community who are impassioned and excited about this, but more importantly it's patients who live with this disease every day. and beyond sickle cell, what other diseases might gene editing help to treat in coming years? we're hopeful that the science behind gene editing will be able to be broadly applied, like you mentioned, to cancer, to infectious diseases — there's already been clinical trials — to neurodegenerative diseases like parkinson's and to alzheimer's. there is broad applications

in which clinical trials are already under way to improve inherited disorders and also life—ending disorders. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the venezuelan leader, nicolas maduro, has ordered military exercises by the venezuelan armed forces around an oil—rich disputed region with guyana, after a british warship was deployed to the guyanese coast. nikki haley — one of the contenders for the republican presidential nomination — has sought to downplay comments in which she seemed to reject slavery as the cause of the american civil war. at a town hall meeting,

ms haley said that the conflict had been about how the government was run and what freedoms people could have. on thursday, she clarified that statement, saying that as a southerner, she knew the war had been about slavery. coastal communities in california are on high alert with what's being described as a dangerously high surf expected to peak in the next few hours. bulldozers have been deployed to build a sand wall to keep the water from nearby homes. flood warnings have also been issued. the christmas travelling period can be stressful, but passengers at portland international airport were treated to an unusual way to destress this christmas — therapy llamas. dressed in their christmas best, llamas beni and prince visited the airport to bring festive cheer to travellers and staff. handler shannonjoy walked the duo round the airport and made sure they behaved themselves — portland airport said that animals had brought "instant joy".

live now to shannon and her mother lori from mountain peaks therapy llamas and alpacas. and the llamas themselves! are they beni and prince? thank you so much forjoining us on newsday. firstly, how do you decided to provide therapy llamas for stressed travellers? my llamas for stressed travellers? my mum and i have been actually sharing our llamas in the committee for therapy and education for over last 15 years —— in the community. so the airport knew what we do in our community and thought it would be a really great way to a people de—stress during holiday travels. 50 a people de-stress during holiday travels.— a people de-stress during holiday travels. so what is it about llamas _ holiday travels. so what is it about llamas that _ holiday travels. so what is it about llamas that is - holiday travels. so what is it about llamas that is so - about llamas that is so soothing for humans? it about llamas that is so soothing for humans? it is like hu: ulna soothing for humans? it is like hu: .'n. a soothing for humans? it is like hugging a giant _ soothing for humans? it is like hugging a giant teddy - soothing for humans? it is like hugging a giant teddy bear, i hugging a giant teddy bear, they arejust so hugging a giant teddy bear, they are just so big and fluffy. look at prince, he is 350lb, a lot of it is fluff, so... just relieving about

wrapping your arms around them and getting all up in their beautiful hair, and then to feed them carrots as well and give them character kisses. it is joy inducing! give them character kisses. it isjoy inducing! i give them character kisses. it ison inducing!— give them character kisses. it is joy inducing! i saw you have both llamas — is joy inducing! i saw you have both llamas and _ is joy inducing! i saw you have both llamas and alpacas. - is joy inducing! i saw you have both llamas and alpacas. i - is joy inducing! i saw you have| both llamas and alpacas. i was actually looking up the difference and i don't know if it is correct, but i was reading that llamas could be more aggressive than alpacas, so do you have to train them or are they pretty instinctive? we hand select — are they pretty instinctive? - hand select our herd for their personalities, to go out for therapy and education. it is a very common misconception that llamas are more aggressive than alpacas. they are just really confident animals. they are going to stand their ground and say, you have to wait for me, whereas alpacas will be more timid and shy and run away from you first. but you can find the

social and sweet llamas and intelligent alpacas as frequent as ever single one being that way. as ever single one being that wa . , ., , ., way. they are behaving quite well, way. they are behaving quite well. aren't _ way. they are behaving quite well, aren't they? _ way. they are behaving quite well, aren't they? and - way. they are behaving quite well, aren't they? and do - way. they are behaving quite | well, aren't they? and do the llamas — and also alpacas, i guess — work in sectors outside the airport? guess - work in sectors outside the airport?— the airport? yes. this was our first time _ the airport? yes. this was our first time visiting _ the airport? yes. this was our first time visiting the - first time visiting the airport. we went three days this holiday season. we're looking forward to making the thing for travellers, but we routinely go inside senior communities and special—needs schools and hospitals and work with individuals with down syndrome, autism and all over the portland, oregon area. we are very familiar with going to lots of different unique locations at. i lots of different unique locations at.— lots of different unique locations at. ~ locations at. i think we might actually love _ locations at. i think we might actually love to _ locations at. i think we might actually love to see _ locations at. i think we might actually love to see them - locations at. i think we might actually love to see them in l actually love to see them in a tv galleries, do you think that would be allowed? laughter we visit a lot of our news crews, we've got to lots of news studios. they know in elevators and greitens had lots of locations. —— go in lots of

different locations. of locations. -- go in lots of different locations.- different locations. shannon and lori. — different locations. shannon and lori, thank— different locations. shannon and lori, thank you - different locations. shannon and lori, thank you for - different locations. shannon i and lori, thank you for coming onto our show. and for the llamas for behaving! it onto our show. and for the llamas for behaving!- onto our show. and for the llamas for behaving! it is past their bedtime! _ from llamas to lemurs — let's look at some more cute pictures. lemurs are critically endangoured. this little one was born at chester zoo 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. the species are native to madagascar and are 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. shall we call this animal programme newsday? a reminder

of our breaking news, mr trump disqualified in the state of maine as well, but that is it for this edition of the programme. thank you so much for watching. hello there. friday is shaping up to be a fairly decent day for many. there should be more sunshine around, the winds not quite as strong. there'll still be a few showers around. it will be a little bit cooler than of late, but things turn a lot more unsettled, though, for the last couple of days of 2023. you might want to take note if you have travel plans. for friday, then, we have low pressure anchored to the north—east of scotland. that's still going to bring strong gale force winds here to the northern isles, some snow showers at times.

more sunshine for southern scotland. this weather front will bring a band of cloud to northern england, northern ireland, a little bit of snow to the higher ground and plenty of sunshine for the rest of england and wales. but there will be a few showers running into wales, south—west england, the midlands, southern england later on. just about double figures in the south. otherwise, it's a cooler day across the board. as we head through friday night, it stays blustery. further showers across northern scotland, but many places will turn drier with clearer skies and light winds — a recipe of quite a cold night to come, i think, to start saturday, with widespread frost and ice to watch out for across parts of scotland. however, into the weekend, if you have travel plans, you'll want to take note to the forecast the next few days. we'll see further wet and windy weather, with snow on the hills in the north, so there could be some travel disruption. and it's all down to this next area of low pressure, a deep, low moving in on saturday to bring gales and heavy rain. many southern, eastern, northern areas will start dry and cold, but as the wind and the rain bumps into that

cold air, we'll see snow falling over the high ground of northern england and across scotland, maybe even to lower levels for a while. i don't think the conditions will be too bad across the south—east at this point for saturday. double figure values again, but wet and windy further north and west. that band of heavy rain spreads across all of england and wales through saturday night. the centre of the low moves in towards the north of the uk, so the winds turn a little bit lighter here. so i think on sunday — of course, new year's eve — the strongest, gustiest of the winds will be across southern britain, where we'll see plenty of showers rattling in. some of them could be quite heavy, but there will be some sunshine through central and northern areas. but it will be a chillier day, i think — temperatures in single digits for most. so an unsettled end to the year. as we head into new year's day, the ist of january, it stays quite cool and unsettled, and a chilly first week of january to come with low pressure always nearby.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. a warm welcome. i'm kim chakanetsa. i've come to hollywood, to the women in film headquarters, where i'm joined by keri putnam and stephanie allain, two women who are working to reshape the industry.

they are both part of an initiative founded and led by women in film and the sundance institute called reframe, whose aim is to advance gender equity. keri putnam is a film executive and producer and the founder of putnam pictures. she served for 11 years as the ceo of the sundance institute, which runs the sundance film festival. prior to that, she worked as a senior executive at miramax and hbo. she is also the co—founder of reframe. welcome. thank you, it's great to be here. stephanie allain is a film producer and writer and the newly elected co—president of the producers guild of america — the first woman of colour to hold the position. stephanie served nine years as vice president in women in film. she runs her own company, homegrown pictures, which focuses on creating content by and about women and people of colour. keri and stephanie, welcome to you both. happy to be here. now, keri, you were set on a career in theatre, but there was a plot twist when hollywood came calling.

tell us about what happened.