this is bbc news — the headlines. prince andrew and bill clinton are among those named in newly—released court documents relating to sex offender, jeffrey epstein. sirens. a day of mourning in iran after two explosions in the southeast of the country kill nearly 100 people. as what's likely to be an election year begins, labour leader, sir keir starmer, sets out his agenda. ini941, in 1941, they started rounding people up. past and present — the new film contrasting modern—day amsterdam with life during the occupation of the second world war. the labour leader sir keir starmer is about to make his first speech of the new year. 2024 is expected to be a general election year in the uk.

sir keir will be at a technology centre in the city of bristol where he will also be taking questions from journalists. live now to westminster and our political correspondent, henry zeffman. what is expected to be the priority for him to set out in his speech? i think you're going to have keir starmer trying to set the tone for the year ahead and, as you will know, it is a big year ahead for keir starmer because he begins the year as leader of the labour party, leader of the opposition but he may well end the year as prime minister. we are expecting a general election, almost certainly to take place in 2024. i think you will have keir starmer trying to use rhetoric and language to talk about the choice that he thinks will come in the general election. this is not going to be a policy heavy speech, it is going to be keir starmer trying to talk about the year ahead, the choice ahead. some of the rhetoric

we have had already in advance from his team we are expecting him to use is quite striking in how doom laden it is. he will talk about ending the despair of a downtrodden country. he will tell voters they are right to be anti—westminster. and the delicate political dance he then needs to pull off is telling voters their right to be furious but also trying to cast himself as the solution to that fury. labour have been ahead _ solution to that fury. labour have been ahead in _ solution to that fury. labour have been ahead in opinion _ solution to that fury. labour have been ahead in opinion polls - solution to that fury. labour have been ahead in opinion polls for. been ahead in opinion polls for quite a while, is there a sense of having it all to lose, in effect? kind of, yes. i can't remember the last time the conservatives where ahead in an opinion poll. it was back when borisjohnson was prime minister, i think. back when borisjohnson was prime minister, ithink. in back when borisjohnson was prime minister, i think. in any opinion poll, pollsters vary on the margin of labour�*s lead, but they all agree

that labour, as it stands are well ahead of the conservatives. but the people who run the labour party, strategists in the labour party have lost four general elections on the bounce and so they are not complacent and they are drumming into their teams, walking around labour hq, into their teams, walking around labour ho, telling them not to be complacent. it is extraordinary in the context of the 2019 general election because that was labour's wadge general election defeat since 1975. but it is true to say that now anything other than keir starmer being prime minister of the general election will be a serious disappointment for labour supporters and staff members.— and staff members. henry, thank you ve much and staff members. henry, thank you very much for— and staff members. henry, thank you very much for that _ and staff members. henry, thank you very much for that assessment. - a man has been arrested after reports shots were fired at a cinema in liverpool on wednesday evening. the showcase cinema in croxteth was put on lockdown when a man

threatened staff in the foyer before shooting at the outside of the building. bbc�*s andy gill is there and filed this report. well, several hours after it happened you can see the police are still at the cinema here. officers have been going to and from the foyer of the cinema. it all began at about 8:30 last night when a man walked into a newsagent in the norris green area of liverpool and demanded cash. he fired a shot but left empty handed. police say the newsagent was unharmed but shocked. about 20 minutes later, at 8:50, police had reports of shots being fired outside the cinema here. a man with a gun walked into the foyer and threatened staff. when he left police say he fired several shots into the air before escaping in a car. the police were called, armed police were called to this incident. the cinema goers and staff were escorted to safety. the third incident was in the croxteth area of liverpool, again not far from here. police say shots were fired at a property there. the police say that then at 4:45 this morning, in the fazakerley district of the city, they arrested a 49—year—old man.

they say that during this operation, which was carried out by armed police, the man became aggressive and he was tasered. he's been arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, also on suspicion of robbery. and he's now being questioned at a police station on merseyside. the police are stressing that these incidents are very rare and they say this is the first time on merseyside that they've had to deal with an incident like this with very many shootings in a short space of time. three shootings in less than two hours. but they're also stressing that in all of the shootings here, nobody has been injured. millions of young people in china are struggling to find a job as the country's economic downturn leads to historically high youth unemployment.

more than one in five 16 to 24—year—olds are jobless in china, although it's difficult to know the realfigure after the country stopped releasing the statistics. fixing the crisis could be one of the biggest challenges facing the government in 2024. our china correspondent laura bicker has been to south—west china to meet young people who graduated last year to find out how they're coping. china's economic miracle helped build cities like this, the home of the country's pandas. and while those who played a key part in its rise enjoy reliving their past, a new, highly educated generation is struggling to find work as the miracle falters. joy, is the first person in herfamily to get a university degree.

only around a third of her class have found full time jobs. she's taken a job in sales, not a dream career, but she's determined to make the most of every opportunity. do you think it's more difficult now than when your parents were growing up to get a job? translation: yes. the fact is there are lots ofjobs. the problem is whether you are willing to lower your expectations. these jobs don't have good prospects for your future. they offer low salaries and you are easily replaceable. that's why most people would rather stay at home than choose one of these jobs. some disillusioned graduates posted photos on social media suggesting their degrees were worthless. others lay on the ground. lying flat, it's called — a term used by young people opting out of the competition of modern life. as the number of young, unemployed people continued to rise the chinese leader, president xi, came up with an idea.

for decades, young people have left rural areas such as this. they've gone to big cities to study and find a job. he wants them to come back, get employment here and revitalize rural economies. the problem is young people are finding it's not that easy. manyjobs in the country are lower paid and require fewer skills. even in the city, this job fair, in beijing, there's a skills gap. most of the openings don't need a master's degree. mr xi wants the next generation to eat bitterness, a way of saying just suck it up. but after enduring years of strict covid lockdowns, many young people don't want a hard life. this lady has a marketing degree from a city a few hours drive from beijing. after a few months of searching, she's taken a job in customer service for now.

both she and her boyfriend want to work. but the pandemic also changed their outlook on life. translation: my parents are less educated. - the things they've encountered, the places they visited are few and limited. they've never left their home province. they just want a stable life. but we want to see more things, see the outside world, and think about what we really dream of. studying hard no longer guarantees a glittering career in china. the post—covid generation is adjusting its expectations and finding its own way through an ailing job market. leaders will hope to get a grip on this crisis in the next year in case it festers into a more troublesome generational discontent. laura bicker, bbc news, qinhuangdao. there's some relief for millions

of people in the uk facing soaring housing costs. lenders have started the new year by slashing the cost of mortgages — as financial markets bet the bank of england will soon begin to cut interest rates from their 15—year high. banking giant hsbc becomes the first major lender to bring back mortgages below 4% since last march. it comes as rival halifax slashed almost a percentage point off some of its mortgage rates this week. and it's raised hopes of a price war between banks. our cost of living correspondent kevin peachey reports. more than one and a half million homeowners are going to be renewing their their mortgages because their current deal is expiring this year and that new deal is likely to be more expensive. so this renewed competition between lenders is really good news for them, may relieve some of that financial pain, may make it a little bit less intense. remember, too, that landlords, the pressure on them may ease a little and that could feed through to tenants who may see

those rent rises go a little less sharply. all this is possible because economists are predicting that the next move and the bank of england's benchmark rate will be down. and so that's already fed through to mortgage lenders�* own funding costs. and so that's why the halifax, the uk's biggest lender, has been able to announce this quite chunky fall, really. and then others like hsbc will announce further or we'll see further reductions. and it does depend on what deal you've got. it will depend on your circumstances. and another warning that brokers expect more rate cuts to come, but they won't fall to the ultra low levels that we've benefited from for a decade or so. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

this is new beginnings were racehorses come before the find new homes. , ., ., racehorses come before the find new homes. , . ., ., homes. they are at the end of their racin: homes. they are at the end of their racing career. _ homes. they are at the end of their racing career, they _ homes. they are at the end of their racing career, they are _ homes. they are at the end of their racing career, they are fighting - racing career, they are fighting fit. when they are no longer a racehorse, they learn to slow down a little bit and use their body differently and learn new skills. we do specialise in quirky, difficult horses — do specialise in quirky, difficult horses if— do specialise in quirky, difficult horses. if a horse, when he finishes racing. _ horses. if a horse, when he finishes racing. there — horses. if a horse, when he finishes racing, there are places that can take _ racing, there are places that can take the — racing, there are places that can take the horse and retraining. but if it is_ take the horse and retraining. but if it is quirky and difficult you need — if it is quirky and difficult you need the _ if it is quirky and difficult you need the expertise to turn the hose around _ need the expertise to turn the hose around and — need the expertise to turn the hose around and give it the time and space _ around and give it the time and space it — around and give it the time and space it needs to adapt a new life. in 14 _ space it needs to adapt a new life. in 14 years. — space it needs to adapt a new life. in 14 years, new beginnings have helped former racehorses find new homes. first, they go back to basics and then slowly build from there. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news.

lagos in nigeria is one of the world's fastest growing cities — with a population of more than 20 million people and counting. but like other major cities in africa — it's struggling to cope with that growth. traffic gridlock means a commute that should take 50 minutes can actually take three hours. the cock crows are done and the sun ajeti rise and the still air is a suburb of lagos, nigeria's commercial hub. youssef rises to get ready in time for a 50 minute commute to his office where he works as a bbcjournalists. but like many commuters leaving africa's most popular city, this journey could take up to three hours. i popular city, this journey could take up to three hours.- popular city, this journey could take up to three hours. i had to wake early- _

take up to three hours. i had to wake early. this _ take up to three hours. i had to wake early. this makes - take up to three hours. i had to wake early. this makes me - take up to three hours. i had to| wake early. this makes me feel very... wake early. this makes me feel ve , , wake early. this makes me feel ve ,, ., ., wake early. this makes me feel ve ,,., ., ,�* very... this is lagos. lagos isn't the only african _ very... this is lagos. lagos isn't the only african city _ very... this is lagos. lagos isn't the only african city with - very... this is lagos. lagos isn't the only african city with a - very... this is lagos. lagos isn't| the only african city with a traffic issue. kampala and nairobi also have some of africa's longest commute times owing to huge traffic gridlock. in kampala, the 2022 report showed commuters lose the equivalent of one working day to traffic jams equivalent of one working day to trafficjams each week. in lagos come home to over 21 million people, spending long hours in traffic like this is not only a problem for workers. lagos cab driver say their productivity levels have reduced, owing to the number of hours they spend commuting.— owing to the number of hours they send commutina. , . spend commuting. sometimes we decide we will sleep in — spend commuting. sometimes we decide we will sleep in the _ spend commuting. sometimes we decide we will sleep in the car _ spend commuting. sometimes we decide we will sleep in the carjust _ spend commuting. sometimes we decide we will sleep in the carjust to _ we will sleep in the carjust to have a rest. sometimes where you stay is about 45 hourjourney. so

you have to decide to find somewhere to rest. then you can start working the following day. the to rest. then you can start working the following day.— the following day. the 2023 report from the dane _ the following day. the 2023 report from the dane institute _ the following day. the 2023 report from the dane institute says - the following day. the 2023 reportj from the dane institute says lagos could be to spend an average of 2.5 hours daily in transit. fine could be to spend an average of 2.5 hours daily in transit.— hours daily in transit. one is mental health _ hours daily in transit. one is mental health and _ hours daily in transit. one is mental health and the - hours daily in transit. one is l mental health and the second hours daily in transit. one is - mental health and the second is financial— mental health and the second is financial losses. you could tend to -et financial losses. you could tend to get a _ financial losses. you could tend to get a significant impact on the economy _ get a significant impact on the econom . ., _, , get a significant impact on the economy-— get a significant impact on the econom . ., , ., , economy. for commuters who can sit in traffic for — economy. for commuters who can sit in traffic for up _ economy. for commuters who can sit in traffic for up to _ economy. for commuters who can sit in traffic for up to four— economy. for commuters who can sit in traffic for up to four hours, - in traffic for up to four hours, using the new lagos blue rail or the ferries could be an alternative. but these two means of transportation come at a cost. now at the office, use of get ready to report the biggest west african stories of the day. but as he settles in, he is aware that getting home tonight will involve hours on the road. he hopes

to get back and bond with his son before bedtime. a new documentary on thejewish population of amsterdam is called occupied city and it is a time when anti—semitism has pledged because of the conflict in the middle east. soon the nazis started to banjews from parks, pools, shops, cafes and schools, from all public life. this documentary is a steve mcqueen family endeavour. he lives in amsterdam and it's a project inspired by his dutch wife, bianca stigter, a historian and film—maker who wrote a book, atlas of an occupied city. a door—to—door compendium detailing the fate of amsterdam jews and others during

the nazi occupation. steve mcqueen's film juxtaposes images of covid—era amsterdam with chilling stories of the nazis' systematic efforts to extinguish alljewish life in the city. in 1941, they started rounding people up. in 1942, the deportations began. steve mcqueen hopes his film brings out from the shadows a very dark chapter in the history of his adopted city. what really shocked me in some ways when i first started living in amsterdam was that i thought i was living with ghosts, that there was another narrative going on under my own. and somehow to trace that through the present day was sort of, for me, vital. it was the evidence of things not seen. with my film, what i'm trying to say that it doesn't make sense. i mean, how do you make sense of six million people being executed ? out we came of these wagons, we had to line up. and i asked, "where are we?" and they told me, "auschwitz."

other documentaries on the holocaust, like the landmark 1985 french film shoah, used testimony from holocaust survivors themselves. but that population is fast disappearing. so as steve mcqueen's wife bianca explains, occupied city tries to tell the story in a different way. there's no talking heads. there's no archive footage. what you see is contemporary images of amsterdam on the street. you are seeing what happened there during the german occupation of amsterdam. steve mcqueen's documentary has won some significant endorsements from majorfilm critics, but there have been detractors. the running time, four hours and 22 minutes does intimidate. but the director maintains that once audiences start watching, they become immersed. they forget about the length. in a tumultuous time with the ongoing war in ukraine and the conflict in the middle east, mcqueen hopes his film makes audiences aware of pending

political dangers. it is a call to arms in some ways for sort of being active in our everyday, to make it, you know, just change things, you know. we have to be proactive in it, particularly in these times. and like i said, you know, it's all about love. it's the only thing worth dying for and living for. the film is arriving in cinemas at a time when the middle east conflict has become very inflamed once again, and anti—semitism by different accounts is rising. do you think that's going to change the way in which people view the film? yes. in fact, maybe it made the film more vital, more urgent. this is a film about resilience and triumph in us all, jews, as non—jews or whatever, as human beings who are resilient and come through it all, absolutely. there's no point of making this picture if it'sjust going to be about a certain kind of idea of people. i'm totally not interested.

this is about resilience and triumph, absolutely. courtroom security footage has caught the moment a convicted felon lunged at a judge as she was about to sentence him to jail. 30 year old deobra redden is seen launching himself over the bench atjudge mary kay holthus at the clark county court in las vegas. i think it's time he gets a taste of something else. shouting a court spokesperson says the judge has "experienced some injuries" after she fell back from her seat and the court marshal who came to her aid was taken to hospital for treatment. the defendant was being sentenced in a battery case. new charges have been laid against him.

you are watching bbc news. from a young age, will melbourne was described as a genius with a troubled mind. a rising social media star who documented his mental health struggles online. aged 19, he died alone in supported accommodation. three years on, his inquest has finally taken place — and will's family say they only got the answers they needed because of a trail of evidence he had left for them. ruth clegg has the story — and you may find parts of her report upsetting. hi, my name's will, i'm 18 and i have severe mental health problems. he was passionate about so many things. he was intelligent. he was so loving. he had been troubled his whole life. go away. right. stop harassing me.

you cannot go out. you cannot smoke cannabis. will was 19 when he died. his family and will himself say he was let down by the services that should have supported him. are you going to kill me? are you going to throw me down the stairs? the crisis service is just not fit for purpose. and more of that is that no—one should have to wait until they're in crisis to be treated. as the need got stronger, the help seemed to fall away even more. it wasjust incredible. leave me alone. i think it's important to share my experience so other people can get the treatment that they need. it's now been three years almost to the day since we lost - will, and we have the inquest this morning. j a long three years, trying to figure out how their son died. we're the ones that got his computer and did that. it wasn't that the police took his computer away and investigated it. we have worked out how will died. he's left an awful lot of evidence

of what happened that day. don't smoke that in here. with little support for his mental health, will began to self—medicate with illegal drugs. but this was kind of done in, - you know, in quite an autistic way. this is like an obsession with trying to make - himself feel better. and that was one of the biggest mistakes in my life. stop it. let go. will's life had spiraled out of control. let go. you're strangling me. let go. in the end, i went for a risk- assessment, and they said to me, you know, you've basically ticked every box of risk, i and something has to change. you can't live in the same house with your son. - that isjust... ..the most painful thing. because that feels like... that feels like you're throwing

out your sick child. _ but things were so desperate and so dangerous. _ there was really nothing else that we could do. . will ended up in a flat in macclesfield. now the house isjust here on the left. it was run by a charity supporting those with mental health problems. at 18, he was the youngest there. i this is assisted accommodation, i he was supposed to be checked on. his room was at the back of the house. he wasn't found till the sunday, i but we know he died on the friday. he'd been lying dead in that room for almost three days. _ the policeman who attended was really shocked that this could happen in an assisted accommodation. that somebody could die like that in those circumstances. that's an image that will never leave me or us. there were some tablets

on his on his desk. - on his desk. so near enough above him from where he was found. | and it didn't appear that they'd been analysed at all. _ so we asked the coroner that they analyse them essentially, because one of the things that we knew from the records i was that will had self—medicated by ordering various - tablets on the dark web. ifound on his computer, written on the day that he died a spreadsheet where he'd recorded everything that he'd taken, every drug that he'd taken, what dosage of each drug that he'd taken, and at what time. so this is a document that he made. there's a column — drug taken. oxycodone, dose, 20 milligrams. those are the two tablets that were missing from the bag of tablets on his desks. he thought he was taking oxycodone to help his anxieties. _ and unfortunately, i the drug that supplied

wasn't and was a really nasty — ahe nasty drug that's taken his life. - those were, as we now know, metonitazene and we're absolutely sure that that's how he died. we've just come out of the inquest now. it was a relief that the coroner came to the conclusion that will's cause of death was the toxicity of metonitazene because we know that from everything we've seen, and everything we've worked towards, like making sure those tablets were tested. despite all the things that were going against us that's something that we can take from this. everything is a fight. everything all the wayl along has been a fight. and luckily my parents did that for me. but imagine if you couldn't do that or if you don't have parents. thanks for watching. the words of will melbourne,

recorded shorty before his death, ending that report from ruth clegg. if you want to know more about will's story, the documentary about his life is available on bbc iplayer now. this is bbc news. the labour leader xi keir starmer is about to make his first speech of the year. it is expected to be a general election year and this is the scene live in bristol. he will be taking questions from journalists after the speech. it has been fairly widely trailed he is going to urge voters to hold on to the flickering that hope life can get better. he talks about an attempt to end the despair of a downtrodden country and he has been

saying that this year at the general election against the understandable despair of the downtrodden country, i will ask the country to believe in it again. let's bring on ian watson. we have seen some of the lines already, appearing in the newspapers and elsewhere, how difficult is it to counter apathy? it is and elsewhere, how difficult is it to counter apathy?— and elsewhere, how difficult is it to counter apathy? it is going to be fairly difficult. _ to counter apathy? it is going to be fairly difficult. i _ to counter apathy? it is going to be fairly difficult. i think— to counter apathy? it is going to be fairly difficult. i think he _ fairly difficult. i think he believes that is the case. certainly back at the labour conference a few months ago, what was concerning some of the people around keir starmer at that point, they felt that people had not bought into this idea that rishi sunak represent a change. that was the prime minister's big thing during the party conference season. but equally, what they were picking up but equally, what they were picking up is they were cynical about all politicians. while they didn't like what the government was doing, they were not in a position where they believed the opposition would suddenly bring about change either. we are seeing this theme being developed by keir starmer that he

has to try and convince people he will be different in government and different from the conservatives. he is trying to go where he believes some of the voters he needs to win over. he's going say, they are not right —— they are quite right not to trust westminster politicians. saying, it must be exhausted after years of scandal and he wants to position himself there and bring people with him. the question is whether he has the policy is all the inspiration to do so. again, in his speech he will be talking about some of the policies, not new policies but policies labour have agreed on so far. they want to count it idea that perhaps, as the conservatives would suggest, he is devoid of policies and only says things that people want to believe at any given time. also there will be an attack on the conservative record and suggesting they have not achieved anything of substance after 14 years in power. what is haunting some of

the people of keir starmer�*s generation inside the labour party is the spector of the 1992 general election aware the party was ahead in the polls for much of the campaign for the conservatives where it returned with a narrow majority. he has always said that they cannot be complacent and although he has a substantial lead, an average 18 points over the conservatives, and the commitment to the party is still quite shallow. he the commitment to the party is still quite shallow— quite shallow. he talked about the olicies, quite shallow. he talked about the policies. how— quite shallow. he talked about the policies, how difficult _ quite shallow. he talked about the policies, how difficult is _ quite shallow. he talked about the policies, how difficult is it - quite shallow. he talked about the policies, how difficult is it to - policies, how difficult is it to strike a balance between setting out policies that will engage voters and then saying too much and having them shut down before you get to the general election? how much is that the problem at the moment? ihe general election? how much is that the problem at the moment? he has tried to no the problem at the moment? he has tried to go down _ the problem at the moment? he has tried to go down a _ the problem at the moment? he has tried to go down a route _ the problem at the moment? he has tried to go down a route where - the problem at the moment? he has tried to go down a route where he i the problem at the moment? he has tried to go down a route where he is| tried to go down a route where he is saying there are symbolic differences between him and the conservatives. for example, they say they would invest in education but at the same time get rid of tax loopholes that favour private education, private schools, for example. it is that level of

symbolism rather than a fully fledged manifesto,