thanks forjoining us here on bbc news. ukraine says at least 16 people have been killed after russia targeted the country with a "record number of missiles" in one day. president volodymyr zelensky says ukrainian defences shot down 114 of the 158 missiles and drones which were fired. almost 100 people have been injured after cities across ukraine came under attack. this was the scene this morning in the capital, kyiv, where at least three powerful explosions were heard in the city centre. ukraine's air force says it has "never seen so many locations targeted simultaneously." lviv, odesa, dnipro, kharkiv and zaporizhzhia were among other cities hit. and the polish military says an unidentified aerial object entered the country's airspace from the direction of ukraine at hrubieszow. poland — which is a member of nato — says the object was tracked by its radar until the

signal disappeared. let's get the latest from kyiv now, where our correspondent, james waterhouse, gave me details of where the air strikes had happened and what had been hit. it's the first time in more than a year, i think, since a russian missile was able to penetrate kyiv�*s air defences, for example, and i think that is a reflection of air defences across ukraine being overwhelmed in the way they have. you have heard what the air force is saying and i think that is really telling something. more than 18 strategic bomber aircraft were used by russia, it said, almost every type of missile was launched, the only ones that wasn't used were the ones that were launched from the sea and i think if you take all of these things together... we have seen lviv in the west, somewhere that so often feels far from the conflict — it was once a city where millions of ukrainians escaped to, to go on to either the borders of poland or romania — we have seen

damage to a high—rise building in the south, in odesa, we are seeing some extensive damage in dnipro, where we are told by authorities a shopping centre was hit, kharkiv in the north—east, which is somewhere that is hit much more regularly because it's only a0 miles from the russian border, where people get used to living with this aerial threat. there are school children who are taught in the city subways there. sumy in the north, this is somewhere that had been left alone, really, since russia's initial retreat from central kyiv. nowhere is untouched and i think this is vladimir putin and russia exercising a familiar flex, in that it can target the whole of ukraine and it has done so in a week when ukraine has thanked the us for receiving the last of its approved military packages, which includes ammunition for air defences. so it really has been another difficult morning, but especially so for ukraine.

that was james waterhouse in kyiv. live now to dr patrick bury, security and defence expert at the university of bath and former nato analyst. hello, thank you so much forjoining us. our condemnation internationally of the strikes, the un possible humanitarian envoy for ukraine has condemned them as a heinous wave of attacks on populated areas this morning. what do you make of the timing at the geographical spread, so many cities hit across ukraine? good afternoon. yes, i think this is a well—planned and coordinated attack and as james said, one the biggest, at least in a year, that we can remember, and has been able to target kyiv successfully and at least six other cities. we are only really hearing about the civilian infrastructure that has been hit, but it wouldn't be surprised if military infrastructure has been

hit, but that is obviously kept much closer to people's chests. for me, anyway, in what we're seeing so far, it looks like it has been a coordinated series of attacks to suppress to some extent ukrainian air defences, so it may be granted their radars to create some space for which all the kinds of ammunitions for missile heads, from aerial drones through to the other missiles, even some hypersonic missiles, even some hypersonic missiles, to create that breach of the confusion for them to get past and rend the ukrainian air defence and rend the ukrainian air defence and indeed, in some cases, making them choose between targets because there are so many coming at them, which ones they have to prioritise, which ones they have to prioritise, which ones they think are the more lethal ones, versus the drones, which are obviously a smaller priority target, but they are forced to choose in a very short timeframe about what to fire at foot target, so i think what it shows is coordination, the ability to breach the air defences and overwhelm them, but i also think these are not that

common. the russians have to basically stockpile their ammunitions to do this over a period and you have a fallow period and they build up to it and then they have used them all and it goes quiet again, but what will be interesting to see is whether they can do this again and again because that would be worrying. again and again because that would be worrying-— again and again because that would bewor in. ~ ., ., ., be worrying. what do you make of the comments peeple _ be worrying. what do you make of the comments people have _ be worrying. what do you make of the comments people have been - be worrying. what do you make of the comments people have been making i be worrying. what do you make of the | comments people have been making in response to the sinking of the ship that was sunk in the black sea three days ago? that was sunk in the black sea three da s auo? ., . , that was sunk in the black sea three da saao? ., . , ., ., days ago? potentially, there are two thins had days ago? potentially, there are two things had happened _ days ago? potentially, there are two things had happened in _ days ago? potentially, there are two things had happened in the - days ago? potentially, there are two things had happened in the last - things had happened in the last week, we have had reports, we don't know exactly how many russian su 3a fighter pilots were shot down in essentially what looks like an air ambush because essentially what has happened in the last few weeks is ukraine has received more patriot missile systems and others, both very effective, and as they receive these they can push them out towards these they can push them out towards the front line and can sometimes put them onto railways so they can move

about and then basically the russians fly into a place they think it's safe and they get the good news, as we say. so i think there is that potential. the sinking of the landing ship, as you mention, but an operation like this in terms of the stockpiling of munitions would probably take more than three days. this is something we have been building to anyway. maybe two recent setbacks has been the tipping point for them to actually launch the operation. for them to actually launch the operation-— for them to actually launch the o eration. ., ., , , . , ., operation. one of the aspects that has been talked _ operation. one of the aspects that has been talked about _ operation. one of the aspects that has been talked about a _ operation. one of the aspects that has been talked about a lot - operation. one of the aspects that has been talked about a lot over. operation. one of the aspects that i has been talked about a lot over the last 2a hours particularly is the settlement with the us, it was yesterday that the us signed ofwat at the moment is the last aid package in terms of military aid. today the us ambassador to ukraine is now calling for more funding for kyiv on the back of these air strikes. is there any link with the timing bear, do you think? i think war is ebb — timing bear, do you think? i think war is ebb and _ timing bear, do you think? i think war is ebb and flow— timing bear, do you think? i think war is ebb and flow and _ timing bear, do you think? i think war is ebb and flow and i - timing bear, do you think? i think war is ebb and flow and i think . war is ebb and flow and i think ukraine is at a bigger than ever at

the moment after the national euphoria of being able to fight off the russians and turn them back, and you would expect this to come on the one hand, and so, russia is looking to increase the costs and basically signal to the west that, we can make ukraine really hurt over a long period, so maybe that is the context, less so about the aid coming through, but let's be clear, ukraine vitally needs this aid if it is going to continue a conventional war, as it is fighting against a larger, more populous and more militarily equipped opponent. it must have that 60 billion in aid from the us, it must have the 50 billion in aid from the eu and essentially what it needs is a resource strategy out to at least 2026 about how it is going to train up 2026 about how it is going to train up its forces, equip them and then fight probably actually in 2025 in a major way with air support to drive russia out of at least some part of

the occupied territories. qm. russia out of at least some part of the occupied territories.— the occupied territories. ok, dr patrick bury. — the occupied territories. ok, dr patrick bury, we _ the occupied territories. ok, dr patrick bury, we will _ the occupied territories. ok, dr patrick bury, we will have - the occupied territories. ok, dr patrick bury, we will have to i the occupied territories. ok, dr. patrick bury, we will have to leave it there, but i really appreciate your time, thank you. the top election official in the us state of maine has ruled that donald trump cannot run for president there in the upcoming elections. the reason? mr trump's actions leading up to the riot at the us capitol in washington in 2021, which the ruling in maine says was enough to trigger a constitutional clause banning anyone from holding office who's "engaged in insurrection." maine is the second us state to take this course of action. colorado did so earlier this month. but similar efforts to prevent mr trump from running have been thrown out in michigan and minnesota. the decision in maine was taken by the secretary of state, shenna bellows — she told the bbc why she had acted as she did. no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection. the events of january 6th were tragic and unprecedented, and the evidence

presented in the hearing before me that i was duty—bound to rule upon indicated that january 6th 2021 was, in fact, an insurrection and mr trump did, in fact, engage in that insurrection. maine's secretary of state, shenna bellows, there. mr trump has not yet commented on this latest turn of events, but his campaign has previously accused mrs bellows of being a hyper—partisan, biden—supporting democrat, and says it will take legal action. let's take a look at how the decision in maine might affect the presidential election. maine is one of only two states in the us which does not operate a winner takes all policy when it comes to presidential elections. it means the four electoral college votes can be split. this happened in both of the last two elections, with donald trump taking one vote each time, and his democratic opponent three votes. for context, america's 50 states share out 538 electoral college votes in total —

the majority needed to win the presidential election outright is 270. so, is the outcome of this us presidential election going to be fought out in the courtroom? i put that question to chris carman, the stevenson professor of citizenship at the university of glasgow. well, we should say there are 1a states, actually, where there are different lawsuits pending relating to whether or not trump can appear on the primary ballots, the ballots that select who the nominee will be for the republican party. so, with colorado, probably we would have expected it to go democratic, but with maine, as you said, it is one of these few states that splits its electoral college vote. donald trump did pick up one electoral college vote in 2016 and 2020. it doesn't sound like much, but when we expect the electoral contest to be quite close, that electoral vote and, perhaps,

depending on what happens in the other states with pending lawsuits, really could be quite important. yeah, so is there the potential for some sort of domino effect here, that yes, it starts in maine and colorado, but others follow suit? and how would that actually happen? possibly. it was the case that a few hours after the maine decision was announced, california, the largest of these states, certainly in terms of electoral college votes, said that they could not, the state electoral officials could not ban donald trump from appearing on the ballot. so what has been happening is campaigners have been targeting states such as colorado and maine, where it is easier to exclude people from the ballots or the state election officials have more power in excluding candidates from the ballot. so, across the entire us, the election laws vary across the states, how easy or difficult it is to get on the ballots varies across the states, and so campaigners have been trying to identify those states where they would have a shot of excluding donald trump from winning

the nomination to be the republican candidate. and what role does the supreme court play in this? find out much more on the us election on a special section of the website. it's called "a really simple guide" and you'll find everything you need to understand how the process works, from getting chosen as a candidate to the debates, and what it takes to win. fighting in central gaza has led to an estimated 150,000 palestinians fleeing the area. the israeli military had called for the evacuation of a strip of land stretching across central gaza, including two large refugee camps. witnesses have reported seeing israeli tanks reaching the outskirts of one of them, at bureij. according to the un's humanitarian office, the majority of those who have fled in recent days have gone to rafah,

at gaza's southern border. they've been forced further south, following that increase in fighting around deir al balah and khan younis. gaza's health ministry, which is run by hamas — an organisation considered to be a terrorist group by many countries — says 187 palestinians have been killed in the past 2a hours. this includes 20 in an israeli air strike on a building in rafah, taking the overall total to more than 21,500 since israel began its military operation. and the un agency which works in gaza, unrwa, says one of its aid convoys was fired upon by israeli soldiers. its spokesman, tom white, says it was using a route designated by the israeli army. no—one was injured, but one vehicle was damaged. meanwhile, diplomatic efforts continue — egypt has confirmed that it has put forward a three—stage proposal to stop the fighting which ends with a ceasefire. a hamas delegation is said

to have arrived in cairo to give its response to the plan. with details on that, here's our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, in jerusalem. some potentially important developments happening next door in egypt, which often acts as a mediator between israel and hamas. and we understand that a hamas delegation has arrived there to give its response to a new egyptian proposal. it's three stages, we understand, that would start with kind of renewable ceasefires that would see the release of more of the 100 plus israeli hostages still held by hamas in gaza in exchange for palestinian prisoners in israeli jails. but it could lead to another stage where there would be a full ceasefire in gaza and ultimately a new technocratic government, as it's being called, to govern there. now, there's a very long way to go, i should stress, before either side agrees to this, but it's being seen as encouraging that at least

there are some of these talks taking place, because on the ground at the moment, what we have is fighting still raging. we have israeli ground troops that are pushing into locations in the centre and in the south of the gaza strip. 0vernight, we saw israeli air strikes in those locations, including in rafah, where reportedly 20 people were killed in a building housing displaced people. and in rafah, on the border with egypt, we've had the un saying that in just the last few days, another 100,000 people have crammed in there. already it had become the most densely populated part of gaza as people had gone there desperately fleeing the fighting. that was yolande knell injerusalem. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. a clean—up operation is taking place after around 100 homes were damaged by a tornado in stalybridge, in greater manchester, during storm gerrit. it tore roofs off some houses, blew over trees and damaged cars. thousands of homes in wales and

scotland were left without power. for a fundamental re—orientation in the way the system is run. the chief inspector of prisons for england and wales has called for a fundamental re—orientation in the way the system is run. charlie taylor said the high availability of drugs in some prisons was a barrier to rehabilitation. and he said many inmates were failing to learn to read — and not developing the skills they need for a life of work, rather than crime. the french tycoon, francoise bettencourt meyers, has become the first woman to amass a fortune of $100 billion. it comes after shares in l'0real, the beauty empire founded by her grandfather, rose to a record high. you're live with bbc news.

let's return to gaza now. fawaz gerges is a professor of international relations at the london school of economics. thank you so much forjoining us. we have been talking today about the number of palestinians who have effectively been displaced, 150,000, according to the un, who are having to find somewhere to seek shelter. well, this is the latest number, but you have now more than 85% of the palestinian population has been displaced. we estimate the united nations estimates there is about 1.9 million palestinians who have been mass displaced in the last 80 days, not to mention, you have, as you know, more than 21,000 palestinians who have been killed, more than 55,000 palestinians who have been injured, 70% of those injured and killed our children. there is little

food, little water, little shelter, little medical care. the head of the world health organization said, there is acute starvation in the palestinian territories and, as the war continues, as israel deepens its invasion of gaza, i expect and humanitarian officials expect the entirety of the population of gaza will most likely be displaced, if the war continues, as israeli officials have made it very clear. what do you make of the efforts by egypt today? they are putting forward what they are calling a three—point plan to try and bring an end to the fighting. we understand that a delegation of hamas have travelled to find, to give a response to the plan that has been put forward. what do you make of that? is there any end, do you

think, to the fighting? i that? is there any end, do you think, to the fighting?- that? is there any end, do you think, to the fighting? i hope so. even though _ think, to the fighting? i hope so. even though i — think, to the fighting? i hope so. even though i am _ think, to the fighting? i hope so. even though i am not _ think, to the fighting? i hope so. even though i am not very - think, to the fighting? i hope so. - even though i am not very optimistic because it is a very long shot. you have to have israel agreed to it, the palestinian authorities on the west bank agreed to it and hamas and other palestinian resistance groups agree to it. in the meantime. this is not really about politics, it is not a bad strategy any more. this is, you are talking about humanitarian catastrophe. what we need now is immediate ceasefire. what the united nations and humanitarian officials and human rights officials, they have been backing for an immediate ceasefire. the challenge now is to save the population. a population that is starved, slaughtered, on the run. there is no safe place. the egyptian plan, proposal, ideas might work in

the next few weeks, but does gaza really have a few weeks? does a terrified, starved population have four weeks? and this is really where the international community, and particularly the united states and the united kingdom dr patrick bury imagine for a second we are in the united kingdom, our population is around 70 million people, imagine, and i know this is quite a wild imagination, imagine if 55 million brits had been displaced. imagine, just imagine the idea that more than 85% of this poor, small, tiny strip of gaza, the population on the run because israel continues to say, run, run for your life! because israel continues to say, run, runforyour life! and it because israel continues to say, run, run for your life! and it keeps forming those who are running for their lives. whereas the united states continues to oppose a ceasefire. and the question is,

again, forget politics. does the goal and the desire to defeat hamas, if it is possible, is it really possible? doesn't reallyjustify the killing 21,000 palestinians in the injuring of many more? these are questions that are being asked to day because hamas, the losing side of the military catastrophe that has taken place, and in gaza on the west bank as well, 300,000 palestinians have been killed by the settlers and the israeli army on the west bank. there is, we'll have to leave it there. fawaz gerges, professor of immigration at the london economic school, thank you for your time. here in the uk, tributes have been paid to a man who died after a car hit a group of people in the northern city of sheffield. police say christian marriott had stopped to help an unconscious woman after a row between two groups. his family have paid tribute, saying the "tragic and unfathomable" circumstances of his death "show "the sort of man he was — going to help, rather than to turn away." two men have been arrested

on murder charges. simonjones reports. the police say what happened in this street on wednesday afternoon was utterly heartbreaking. christian marriott, described as a good samaritan, was out walking with his wife and two young sons when he saw a woman lying unconscious in the street. it's thought she had been involved in a row between a group of people. as mr marriott was giving her first aid, he was hit by a car and killed. the car also struck the woman. she is in a critical condition in hospital. six other people were injured, including an off—duty midwife. when i came out, the car was there. i didn't know there were some people underneath. but one lady, she was before me outside. she said to me there's people underneath the car. it was very, very sad and also very upsetting and i couldn't believe it. a 23—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. another man, who's 55, has been detained on suspicion of attempted murder. the police say they are absolutely determined to secure justice for christian marriott's family.

simon jones, bbc news. the home of the manchester city footballer jack grealish has been broken into while the english premier league forward was playing in his side's 3—1win against everton on wednesday night. an emergency response was launched with a helicopter, police dogs and a number of officers sent to the property near knutsford, but no suspects were detected. according to local media, £1 million worth ofjewellery and watches were stolen. the us military�*s secretive x—3—7—b robot space plane has blasted off from florida on its seventh mission. for the first time, it was carried into orbit by a falcon heavy rocket from elon musk�*s spacex. the pentagon says the orbital vehicle will carry out a series of experiments during its mission. one will involve exposing plant seeds to the effects of radiation during a long space flight.

leroy chiao is a former nasa astronaut and international space station commander — he told us why there's so much secrecy surrounding these missions. all the missions remain classified. the first flight was around 2010, so this was the seven flight, as you mentioned. 0ne this was the seven flight, as you mentioned. one for this particular vehicle. the mission remains classified, the fact that it launched on a falcon heavy suggests it has gone into a higher orbit, deep space machine, higher levels of radiation, probably carrying out civil blue similar levels of radiation and experiments done in the past, changing orbits, doing different movers. as you mentioned, nasa has a space eg experiment on board. we don't really know too much, but we can guess at some of these things. go before go we go, let's show you some pictures of storms in the pacific have led

to huge waves battering the coastline of california, including this wave, which seemed to take everyone by surprise. the water crashed over the sea wall in ventura county, sweeping both people and vehicles away. eight people were treated for minor injuries. the beaches remain closed in the area. stay with this here on bbc news. —— stay with this here on bbc news. —— stay with this here on bbc news. —— stay with us. whilst we'll still see blustery showers around today, it's relatively quiet compared to what is either side of it. after the storms earlier in the week, another deep of low pressure this weekend. if you're on the move, keep across the forecast because there'll be some further heavy rain risk of flooding heavy rain, risk of flooding and maybe impacts from snow, too. strong to gale force winds, main impact from that will be at the centre of the low, though, out towards the west of

ireland as we go through saturday, but can still see gales top and tail of the country as that rain and snow sweeps eastwards. so that's coming up. more details in a minute. back to the here and now. we continue with the rest of the afternoon, cloud across northern parts of england, northern ireland, far south—west of scotland. outbreaks of rain. to the south of it, some sunshine, a few staying dry, a few scattered showers around and a blustery wind. to the north of it, a chilly day with wintry showers in the north of scotland, but through central and areas into glasgow, edinburgh region, this is where we'll stay dry with the sunshine. now, tonight, that band of cloud, rain and hill snow will fizzle out, wet, windy with some wintriness in the far north—east of scotland. and then as the next area of rain pushes in, temperatures will rise later in the night, but not before they drop down into lower single figures, maybe as low as —7 through parts of scotland. so a cold start to the weekend, dry and bright start for the early risers in the north and the east. but cloud and rain already developing in the west, heaviest in northern ireland and then spreading its way northwards and eastwards. could see snow for a brief time in northern ireland, the hills of northern england before turning back to rain, and temperatures, well, rising towards the south and east

where we'll see some of the drier weather through the afternoon, up to around 15 degrees. but lots of cloud here. cold all across scotland and again, some of the roads could be impacted by some heavy snowfall as we go through the second half of saturday. so the a9, a82/83, that sort of thing. but it will turn back to rain later on, as you see, another band of rain sweep eastwards through the latter stage of saturday across england and wales. that clears out into sunday. sunshine and showers the name of the game for many on new year's eve, windiest towards the english channel and across shetland again, could see winds gust 60—70 miles an hour. lighter winds, slower moving showers in the centre, so we could see some large rainfall totals for one or two, but others may stay dry. and then as we head up to the midnight hour and welcome in 2024, it's going to be on the cooler side, but nothing desperately chilly, but some further showers around and still windy in the far south. take care.

this is bbc news. the headlines: ukraine says russia has launched a massive air attack overnight with explosions reported across the country. at least 18 people have been killed, with at least four deaths in the city of dnipro. the top election official in the us state of maine has ruled that donald trump cannot run for president next year in the state. officials say they have banned him because he incited his supporters to storm the capitol building

in january 2021. israel has expanded its military operation into palestinian refugee camps in central gaza. thousands of people have fled the area. it comes as a hamas delegation heads to cairo to give its response to an egyptian ceasefire plan. now on bbc news, women in hollywood: the producers. 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.