good to have you with us. parts of ukraine are again under attack by russian drones after two days of massive aerial assaults by both sides. ukraine's military says its air defence system has been activated in kyiv to repel a russian drone attack. and one person has been killed in kherson by russian shelling. meanwhile, officials in kharkiv say russian strikes hit a hotel and a residential building. 19 people were injured. no deaths have been reported. moscow has been retaliating after ukrainian strikes on the russian border city of belgorod, one of its biggest drone assaults on russian territory since the war began. these pictures show smoke rising above belgorod on saturday. russia says 20 people, including three children, were killed in air strikes. more than 100 others were injured. kyiv says only military facilities were targeted. the city is located approximately a0 kilometres north of the border with ukraine, 80 kilometres away from the ukrainian city of kharkiv. it follows friday's massive bombardment of ukraine, the biggest of the war so far, which killed at least 39

people, according to ukraine's president, volodymr zelensky. here's our russia editor steve rosenberg. caught on dash—cam, a giant explosion in the centre of belgorod. there was panic as people ran for cover — not everyone could. russia says at least 20 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured after a series of ukrainian strikes on the heart of the city. although the russian military claimed it had shot down most of the missiles as emergency crews rushed to the scene, the scale of the damage became clear. billowing smoke making belgorod look more than ever like a front—line city.

ukraine's border is just 20 miles away. the local governor said these were the deadliest consequences of ukrainian shelling that his region had experienced. the attack came just a day after russia had carried out a huge wave of strikes across ukraine with missiles and with drones. at least 39 people, kyiv said, were killed. belgorod has come under attack before... ..with explosions like this one at the airport and at a power station. this kind of thing never happened before russia launched its full scale invasion of ukraine. now a deadly new strike on the eve of the new year holiday. russia has already hit back with new attacks of its own.

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. let's turn now to the middle east where israel says its forces have raided suspected hamas sites in the city of khan younis as it extends its offensive in the south of gaza. the idf says it's recovered what it called "very valuable intelligence material". health officials in gaza say 165 palestinians have been killed by israeli raids in the last day. a representative from the un relief agency for palestinian refugees told the bbc that displaced gazans are living in the open and in the parks. meanwhile, there are reports that in recent days at least 100,000 people have fled to rafah, which borders egypt in southern gaza. amid the deepening humanitarian crisis, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu gave a defiant tv address. translation: the war is at its height. -

we are fighting on all of the fronts. we have huge success but we also have painful cases. achieving victory will require time. as the israeli army chief of staff has said, the war will continue for many more months. yolande knell sent this report from jerusalem. a giant campsite for the displaced. crammed into an ever shrinking area, tens of thousands of gazans who fled the fighting have set up makeshift tents and shacks by the egyptian border. israel says it's not restricting aid for gaza, but the un complains the amount getting in is woefully inadequate. it's a very long and convoluted process with numerous checks before the aid actually gets into gaza, and then once the aid is in gaza it's very difficult to get aid to people. essentially we're delivering aid under fire. gaza streets have been turned into battlegrounds as hamas fighters try to block the advance of israeli soldiers.

a main focus for israel's ground troops is now the southern city of khan younis and the central urban refugee camps. translation: we arrested dozens of terrorists in a school. _ they were hiding amongst civilians, hamas and the islamichhad. we took them to israel to continue their interrogation. large numbers of gazans have been detained by israel. the men here were picked up near their homes in the north. they claim they were beaten, stripped to their underwear, and mistreated, even burnt with cigarettes. we can't independently verify their accounts. "they used obscene words," says this man. "they'd hold you like a dog and make you crawl, then there would be five soldiers who'd hit you alternately on the head and body." israel insists it treats detainees according to international law. for now there's no sign that israel is lowering the intensity of its attacks on gaza. it says its aim remains to dismantle hamas. hamas says it won't give up

the remaining israeli hostages it's holding unless there's a full ceasefire. and with a new year about to begin, for those living close to gaza's front—line, the suffering continues. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. north korea's leader, kimjong—un, says his country faces unprecedented pressure from the united states and has no option but to press on with its nuclear ambitions. mr kim was speaking at his country's year—end party meeting, which wrapped upjust hours ago. he also ruled out any possibility of reunification on the korean peninsula and said he plans to launch three more spy satellites next year as part of efforts to strengthen military capabilities according to state media. earlier, i spoke with professor robert kelly, an expert in inter—korean affairs. very good to have you with us this evening. what do you make of some of these comments from kim jong—un and do you think that regional leaders, western allies, will be taking them seriously?

well, it's nothing really that we haven't heard from the north koreans before. i mean, it would be really remarkable if kimjong—un or anyone in the leadership came out and said that things were getting better and we can talk to the south koreans and maybe the americans aren't so bad and maybe we can strike a deal with them, right? i mean, the north koreans really never talk like that and a lot of that is almost certainly because north korea needs to justify its own existence, right? if north korea wasn't in this harsh, oppositional relationship with south korea and the united states, there would be no reason for north korea to exist in the same way that, you know, once east germany gave up socialism and the berlin wall opened, there was no reason to it exist anymore, so the north koreans have to always talk this way because it helps to explain why the regime exists at all and it also explains the privation that its citizens suffer. so, i don't think it's really remarkable the north talks this way. they often have threatened to make war with the united states and south korea before. to be honest, i think the big thing coming up, from what i've heard from the conference, is this discussion about more reconnaissance satellites. that's operationally something new. but in terms of political rhetoric, no, i don't think there's much new here. well, talking about some of that reconnaissance,

those spy satellites and plans to reportedly put three more up next year... right. ..how concerned do you think the west should be about that if you say it's something new? is it getting to a point now when it comes to that military technology that there is a strong advancement here? yeah, it looks — well, we don't know yet, right? i mean, the last — the first couple of crashes — the first couple of launches last year crashed. then, there was one that went up. the south koreans and the americans were a little bit coy sharing with the international community of what exactly they think the north koreans are getting. in the past, the north koreans have put stuff up and then lied about it, right? so, it's all — you know, right now, it's kind of hard to know. but i think what's important is that the north koreans are increasingly looking for satellite reconnaissance over south korea, presumably, and the united states, right? they're probably — i think we are concerned one, that they're getting that from the russians, right? because we know now that kimjong—un has really thrown his weight, whatever there is of it, behind the russian war in ukraine and the russians in turn are giving kim missile

and satellite technology. that's the first thing. and the second thing is it's now increasingly clear, you know, if you're putting satellites up for reconnaissance, what that basically means is that the north koreans are planning to fight any future conflict with missiles and that almost certainly means nuclear—tipped missiles, right? the south korean stalemate is not a conventional terrestrial one anymore. it's really now all about missiles and you've to have the satellites for better targeting, so this is new. you know, the bbc has spoken with north korean defectors who've described a deteriorating humanitarian situation inside north korea that you were just alluding to... right. ..you know, from anything to, you know, severe food shortages. do you think that this heightened rhetoric by kimjong—un — or continued heightened rhetoric — could essentially be interpreted as a way to distract from the situation within its own borders? absolutely, right? i mean, north korea has had a caloric deficiency on average going back to the 1990s. north korea requires outside subsidisation in order to survive. china provides that but, you know, doesn't fully step up. the north korean military sucks an enormous amount of resources out of north korean gdp, away from the agricultural

sector where it's really needed. you know, again, we don't have a lot of good information and, like you said, there is a defector community and we can talk to them. there is an ngo community that's had sporadic access to north korea. but it looks like most north koreans don't meet the minimum who caloric intake threshold, right? in other words, what that means is that most north koreans are living under malnutrition and there's no reason to expect that to stop. if north korea is going to say, you know, we are going to build more missiles, we're going to build more nuclear weapons, the things in the speech, we're going to put up submarines, all the satellites — all that requires a lot of resources from a country that's very poor, right? i mean, north korea didn't have nuclear weapons. we basically understand them as something like a third world backward or a failed state. and so, you know, the more you put into the military in a country like north korea, you know, the end result of that is civilian privations. so, yes, this will continue. all right, robert kelly, political analyst on inter—korean affairs. always good to get your take. thank you, robert. thank you for having me. let's turn to some important news around the world. the italian city, venice,

is taking another step towards fighting overtourism in the historic city of canals. injune, tours will be limited to 25 people per group. the city is also banning the use of loudspeakers — a common feature of large tour groups. the fragile lagoon city also plans to test a 5—euro daytripper fee in mid—2024. thousands of people rallied in serbia's capital on saturday, demanding that the results of recent parliamentary elections be annulled. the demonstration in belgrade follows reports of irregularities in the december 17 vote. preliminary results from the state election commission suggest the governing party of president aleksandar vucic won the most votes, but opposition parties allege electoral fraud. taiwan's presidential candidates focused on relations with china in a televised debate two weeks before election day. william lai of the ruling democratic people's party defended taiwan's sovereignty while saying he wants communication with china. beijing has refused to hold talks with lai and incumbent president tsai ing—wen. lai is ahead of main rival hou yu—ih of the kuomintang

in most polls. with the 2024 us presidential election approaching, women's reproductive rights is a top issue for voters according to polls. but there is an under—reported crisis where black mothers are far more likely to die in childbirth than any other race. according to the centers for disease control, for every 100,000 live births for black women, there are 69.9 deaths. that's nearly three times higher than white and hispanic or latina women. the cdc says that 84% of these deaths were preventable. the us has the highest rate of maternal deaths overall despite being one of the wealthiest nations in the world. congressional leaders have sought to pass legislation to end the crisis, but advocacy groups and health leaders say more should be done to bring structural change. a short while ago, i spoke to the global race and justice editor at

reuters, kat stafford. kat stafford, really great to have you back with us on the bbc. i appreciate your time. when we spoke earlier this year, you'd just done an investigative deep dive into health disparities impacting black americans, all the way through the life course from birth to death, in particular as well, why so many more black women die in pregnancy. ijust wonder, do you think that started a conversation in this country? well, i think a lot of people were already discussing black maternal mortality and this long—standing impact that it's had on black women for decades. but i think what my project did at the time was really lay out and explain how this is something that is a generational problem, this isn't something that just started recently. and i think the project was really able to show the causes of this, the effects of this, and what a black baby experiences at the start of its life lays the foundation for health inequities they encounter over the course of their life.

i think right now, this conversation is really taking off. we are seeing a lot of people on the ground saying we know it need more attention on this, we need more action on this, since the publication of that project. as you said, your reporting was very clear when it comes to the cause and effects. that conversation continues. have we seen any concrete steps, though, coming out of that? well, i think one alarming thing that happened was when the cdc, the centers for disease control, released their most recent stats earlier this year, we saw another increase in terms of maternal mortality across the country and those numbers made a particular emphasis on how black women yet again were being disparately impacted. so, while the conversation

has taken off, while we are seeing a lot of folks still discussing this, demanding for this to be at the forefront, people are saying right now that we are just not seeing a real change and people are demanding that we see lawmakers, whether that's on a state and local level or in a federal level all the way up to the presidency, people — and when i say people, i mean advocates, doctors, experts, women who have had these disparate outcomes — they really want to see notjust money and resources go toward this, but they want to see some of the structural issues that i've reported about along the way, such as structural racism, biases, discrimination, all of these things that black women encounter throughout the course of their healthcare, they want to see these things actually addressed. as you point out, we had those stark statistics coming out from the cdc, and with all of that in mind, 2024 as well just around the corner, do you think that this is an issue that will come up in the election, especially if we look as well, this will be the first

presidential election since the dobbs decision as well? when you think about reproductive rights in this country, a lot of people have been pointing to the fact that black women and other women of colour are going to be the ones that are most impacted by the dobbs decision. when you see less access to reproductive rights, when they're talking about abortions, a lot of experts have been sounding the alarm already that we may continue to see another increase in terms of black maternal mortality. specifically, black women already are three times — almost three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women. so, we already have some pretty startling statistics, so people are looking at what's happening with abortion rights in this country and raising the question right now of — could we potentially see that rate increase yet again because of what's happening? so, we're seeing a lot of advocates, i would say, right now.

when they're looking ahead to 2024, they are looking at the presidential candidates and trying to understand, where do they stand on this? is itjust lip service or are we actually going to see resources being devoted to this? are we actually going to see the care that black women have been receiving, are we going to see this being disrupted? and i think people are willing to vote in regards to who they believe shows that they are actually caring about this issue that is really, again, been in place for such a long time in this country. and, kat, one thing that is striking, i guess, to perhaps people outside the united states is how precarious health services can be in a developed the country for people based on their employment status, based on their employment opportunities. ijust wonder — do you see the future of the affordable care act coming up for discussion once again through that prism of the presidential election? i think that's something

that people really want to see discussed, right? when you think about some of the critical issues that americans care about right now, healthcare is at the top of that. and if you think about the inequities and how black people across the board are more likely to experience a lot of these issues throughout the course of their lifetime, that is something voters really care about right now. but one thing that i think is particularly interesting when we think about the black maternal mortality crisis is that for black women, regardless of their socioeconomic status, regardless of how much money they make, regardless of even how much education they receive, they are still more likely to die — and that includes whether they had the best insurance — so this is indicative of a serious issue. this is something that, again, doctors have been raising for quite a long time and they are saying this isn't about black women, something being wrong with them. this is about something being wrong with our nation's healthcare system in terms of really providing equitable care across the board for everyone. black women throughout

the course of time that i've been reporting on the subject, they've told me and many other reporters is that when they enter the healthcare system, they feel their concerns aren't heard, they feel that they aren't listened to. so, yes, ithink the affordable care act is something that people — something they really care about, they are also saying that right now we need to deal with these rude and structural issues that have caused a lot of these long—standing inequities. thank you, kat stafford, global race and justice editor at reuters, always great to hear more about your reporting. thank you. american singer and dancer paula abdul is suing a well—known british television executive. ms abdul accuses nigel lythgoe of sexual assault while they worked together on the television shows american idol and so you think you can dance. in court documents, ms abdul details several incidents, including mr lythgoe allegedly assaulting her during what she thought was a professional meeting at his los angeles home.

neither have publicly commented on the case. the bbc has reached out to mr lythgoe's representatives for a response. police in australia are warning people not to go looking for packages of cocaine that have been washing up on beaches in new south wales over the past week. officers have been searching a huge stretch of coastline after more than 260 pounds of plastic—wrapped packages containing the drug began to appear shortly before christmas. from sydney, phil mercer reports. before christmas, the first of these packages was discovered in the central coast region of new south wales, an hour or so to the north of sydney. and since then, many beaches between here and the port city of newcastle — that's about two hours' drive to the north — have been washed up, this cocaine washing up on those beaches in between the two cities. now, the police estimate that 124kg of cocaine has been found

by members of the public and there is an overriding theory that this illicit haul was almost certainly strapped to a cargo vessel and was dislodged during wild seas — the aftermath of a tropical cyclone in queensland. so, certainly not the flotsam and jetsam that people on holiday or walking their dogs along the beach would expect to find here in sydney and further to the north, but a considerable amount of this class a drug has been discovered. this is not a time to be a freelance bounty hunter according to australian authorities. they do believe that all of the drugs have now been recovered, but they do caution that a single block of this illicit substance, weighing a kilogram, if anyone is caught with that, potentially, there is a prison term of between 25 years and life.

so certainly, some harsh penalties for anyone involved in this particular trade, but the authorities believe that all of the drugs have now been washed up and recovered. phil washed up and recovered. murphy reporting there from phil murphy reporting there from sydney. —— mercer. the british actor tom wilkinson has died aged 75. he won a bafta for his portrayal of a steelworks foreman in the full monty. in total, mr wilkinson received six bafta nominations and two 0scar nominations for the films michael clayton and in the bedroom. colin paterson looks back at his life. this was the role which changed tom wilkinson's life forever. he was about to turn 50 when he was cast in the full monty as gerald, the former steel mill foreman hiding his unemployment from his wife and turning to male stripping for money. # hot stuff! it won him a bafta while the full monty beat titanic to best film. suddenly, after a career almost entirely on tv, hollywood was calling. actors are ten a penny, and i, hugh fennyman,

hold your nuts in my hand. the following year, he played a financier in shakespeare in love. it would win best picture at the oscars. american directors started to use him to add gravitas to their films, with both his 0scar nominations coming for roles in which he had an american accent. can't you find something? you know, like... ..like some piece of evidence? that happens — doesn't that happen? there was in the bedroom, playing a doctor whose son falls in love with an older woman. you think you got the horses for that? well, good luck and god bless. and michael clayton, starring opposite george clooney as an attorney struggling with his mental health. indeed, many of his standout roles would be characters dealing with inner turmoil. there were also blockbusters... you're taller than you look in the tabloids, mr wayne... ..christopher nolan casting him as gotham city mafia boss carmine falcone in the blockbuster batman begins. and for more than a decade,

he has been a christmas tv staple... where are you going to, little brown mouse? ..as the voice of the fox in the gruffalo. come and have lunch in my underground house. he once summed up his profession by saying, "all good actors are easy to work with. "it's the ones that aren't very good "who tend to be very difficult." tom wilkinson was very, very easy to work with. the british actor tom wilkinson has died at the age of 75. it's been one year since the death of brazilian football legend pele. in remembrance of his passing, brazil's famous christ the redeemer statue has been given a temporary makeover. lights projected pele's iconic number 10 jersey onto the statue, which towers over rio dejaneiro. pele died last year of cancer at the age of 82. he scored a world record 1,281 goals, and is the only player ever to win the world cup three times.

stay with us here on bbc news. thank you for your company. we will have more for you at the top of the hour. join me then if you can. bye—bye for now. hello. the weather's been continuing to cause some disruption through the final few days of 2023. we've had heavy rain, heavy snow across parts of scotland on saturday. for new year's eve on sunday, still some strong winds and heavy showers, especially in the south and the west. generally, a bit drier and less windy across the northeast of the uk, away from the northern isles — thatis, where we'll have this lingering weather front. but low pressure very much with us, drifting its way gradually eastwards, and there'll be a rash of showers rotating around that area of low pressure, blown in on these brisk west or southwesterly winds. so, the strongest of the winds probably for the southwest of england. the channel isles could be gusting 60mph. similar for the northern isles too.

50mph gusts possible through the davis straits, for instance. and plenty of those heavy showers really across southern and western parts of england, wales, northern ireland and southwest scotland. 6 to 10 degrees cooler than recent days. some drier conditions for central parts of scotland, perhaps the east of the pennines and in northern england as well. but if you're planning on heading out to see some fireworks new year's eve, let's look at what the weather is doing around about midnight. and there are still some showers across southern england and wales, but they will, i think, tend to ease a little bit in frequency, so you may miss them. they are still blown in on these fairly brisk winds, though i think most of the showers will be across northern england, perhaps northern ireland as well and a few of them across the northeast of scotland, where they could be wintry, but some clearer and drier weather for central and western scotland as well. so, really is going to be a mixed picture around midnight with a scattering of showers almost anywhere. moving through into the early hours of monday, new year's day, and the winds will start to ease a little bit. for most of us, it'll be frost—free

but some frost and some icy conditions, particularly if you've got that lying snow across the northeast of scotland. new year's day itself, still some showers around, but they're going to tend to ease for northern ireland, parts of southern scotland, northern england as well, so some drier, brighter, less windy weather for many of us. but heavy rain close to the south coast here just could push in for the likes of the isle of wight, perhaps sussex and kent, for instance, as well. and then, more persistent rain will rattle its way through later on monday into tuesday as well, so a spell of wetter weather, i think, later in the day and more of the same to come over the next week or so. it's still unsettled. further spells of rain. perhaps a little bit cooler and drier towards the end of next week. bye— bye.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. ina garten is one of the most famous tv cooks in america. she's built a whole empire, and we spent a great day with her in her test kitchen, speaking about everything from her recipes to her time in the white house, to her extraordinary following among young people. you probably know her as the barefoot contessa. ina, i'm so happy to meet you. thank you so much for having me. i've really looked forward to this.

what a space! thank you. this is so lovely. thank you for having us here. this is wonderful. this is... this is your work. i live right next—door. this is your store. and this is my office. yeah. so the house is just there. you have a very short commute. a very short commute. sometimes the rabbits get in the way, but, you know, usually it's fairly... fairly traffic free. i feel like i know the space because i've watched so many videos. you don't have any sense of the scale. you don't. when i first told jeffrey i was going to build a kitchen here, i think he imagined, like, a little kitchen. and he kept seeing this thing go up and up and up. and he was like, "what are you building here?!" is it a pleasure to cook in here still? oh, it's just wonderful! and i actually think good architecture makes you better at whatever you're doing. i walk in every day and i think, "i can't believe i get to work here." and itjust makes me like show up more. you feel happy being in this space. i can see that. and i'm actually quite... when i cook, i'm quite manic about cleaning up as i go along, unlike my husband, who leaves a sort of

minor nuclear disaster.