welcome to bbc news. israel has reacted with anger after the united nations passed a resolution condemning israeli settlements on palestinian territory. it happened because the united states changed its usual veto policy and abstained in the vote. israel's ambassador to the un said it was a shameful move. but the us said it had long argued against settlement building. the resolution specifically calls for an end to settlement building in the west bank and eastjersualem, settlements that are considered illegal under international law. the us and israeli ambassadors to the un responded soon after the vote. today, the security council reaffirmed its established consensus that settlements have no legal validity. the united states has been sending the message that the settlements must stop, privately and publicly, for nearly five decades. by voting yes, in favour of this resolution, you have in fact voted no. you voted no to negotiations. you voted no to progress, and a chance for better lives for the israelis and palestinians, and you voted no to the possibility of peace.

prime minister netanyahu of israel has rejected the resolution. a statement from his office said israel would not abide by its terms. it said israel looked forward to working with us president—elect, donald trump, to counter what it called the harmful effects of the resolution. well, mr trump also has responded to the un vote. he tweeted this. "as to the un, things will be different afterjanuary 20th." it's worth mentioning that mr trump has chosen a pro—settlement hardliner, david friedman, to be america's next ambassador to israel. barbara plett—usher has been following this story for us. she explained the ramifications of what occurred at the un. well, i think the resolution shows a strong international consensus that israeli settlement—building in the occupied palestinian territories is illegal,

and is a very serious threat to a viable peace deal. and the obama administration strongly felt that there was this threat, so it decided not to veto. it abstained, and therefore the resolution passed. but this is something that was a diplomatic earthquake at the un, because the americans always support the israelis there. they always protect israel against criticism. so it was a very strong rebuke, as you said, and the israelis are very angry. but president obama has only taken this step right at the end of his administration, so it's going to have far less of an impact than it might have done had he done it earlier. right now, he's reallyjust putting down a marker, especially as he is going to be handing over to donald trump, who has shown that he is ready to strongly support the israeli government and its policies. and in fact, after the vote, he's already tweeted, things will be different after 20 january, which is of course when he takes office. you can find out more on the

website. there are maps of the disputed areas, and analysis of why the issue has become so bitter. all that, at bbc.com/news. in other news: the us state department has issued travel warnings for americans travelling to egypt and jordan, because of threats from terrorist groups. there were several bombings in egypt this month and more than a dozen people were killed injordan on sunday in two attacks by islamist militants. the actress, carrie fisher, who played princess leia in star wars, has suffered a heart attack on a flight from london to los angeles. her brother said she was "out of emergency" and in a stable condition. fisher, who is 60, had just completed a tour to promote her new autobiography. two hijackers who held over 100 passengers hostage on a flight which they diverted from libya to malta have been arrested after a standoff on the runway lasting several hours. the crew and passengers were gradually released before the men were taken

away for questioning. the united nations refugee agency says over 5,000 migrants and refugees have died in the mediterranean this year, the highest annual death toll so far. about 100 migrants are reported to have died on thursday when two boats sank off the italian coast. after many days of protests, opposition leaders in the democratic republic of congo say they've reached an agreement with the governing party over the transition of power. presidentjoseph kabila will stay in office until the end of next year, despite his term having expired. a new prime minister will be chosen from the opposition. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: victims of violence, as britain's homelessness crisis grows, a new study reveals that almost 80% of rough sleepers have been attacked or abused in the past year. germany's chancellor, angela merkel, has warned that the country's

security services can't be complacent, despite the killing of the man believed to have carried out the attack on a berlin christmas market killing 12 people. anis amri was shot dead by police in italy in the early hours of friday. security officials are trying to work out how he ended up in milan. and who he was linked to. 0ur europe correspondent, damian grammaticas, has the latest from berlin. anis amri's brief, violent life as a terrorist ended here, in an exchange of gunfire on the edge of milan. alone and hunted, he managed to flee 1,000 kilometres south from berlin. but, at 3:00am in the morning, acting suspiciously, he was stopped by two officers, and tried to shoot them. translation: at that moment the man, without hesitating, pulled out a pistol and fired towards the policeman who had asked for identity documents. the officers reacted immediately.

the one who was hit is recovering in hospital, but his condition not life—threatening. and this has been released by the so—called islamic state, a recording made in berlin by anis amri sometime before the attack, pledging his allegiance to is. it is now believed that the 24—year—old tunisian may have been radicalised after he arrived in europe, perhaps during the four years he spent injail in italy. german security services knew he was a threat, but he talked of buying guns, not using a truck. so how did he get all the way to italy? this is what we know about his movements. at 8:00pm on monday, he attacked the christmas market. then he vanished, but managed to get to chambery, in france. from there, a train ticket found on his body shows he managed to travel to turin, then on to milan's central station, arriving at 1:00am in the morning.

finally, he took the metro to the last stop, san giovanni. translation: at the end of this week, we can be relieved that one acute threat has come to an end, but the general threat posed by terrorism will continue. we will do our utmost to make sure our state is a strong state. germany is trying to root out islamic networks. we visited this place today, a short distance from where anis amri's new video was recorded. well, this is one of the places that anis amri was known to frequent in the months when he was in berlin. it is a residential complex. but the reason he would come here, over in this corner, what used to be a mosque. it was closed down, though, and became a meeting point for radical islamists. one of the neighbours told us small groups of young islamic men continued to use the building. they would meet late at night, apparently discussing attacks. translation: of course

it was dangerous. when the men sit here and fantasise about carrying out attacks, yes, i was worried. my children and my family live here. with the immediate danger apparently over, berliners gathered for a memorial this evening by the brandenburg gate. we are all one. all people come together here, and think of the victims. the berlin people, where something is, they have to be. germany is confronting the reality that it faces new and hidden threats. extensive rail engineering is starting across britain tonight. with 200 different projects being carried out over the christmas break. the biggest re—signalling scheme in the network's history will close the line between cardiff central and the valleys. and several stations, including paddington in london, will be either partially or completely shut for several days. our transport correspondent, richard westcott, reports. it is going to be the biggest rail

upgrade ever taken on, and it all starts late tonight, hitting services across south wales, london and manchester. the lack of trains will make the roads busier. this was the m6 today. and it is a popular time to fly away for the holidays. here is sta nsted. so why do they always pick christmas to close the railways? we have a huge programme of works that we have to deliver, as part of our railway upgrade programme, and some of that work just can't be done on a live railway. we have to shut the railway. and so christmas is the best time to do it, because it's one of the quietest times of year. 211,000 engineers will work on 200 sites across britain. well, one of the biggerjobs they are doing this christmas is to open up and test these new lines between the concrete blocks there. critically, they unblock a bottleneck between the trains

going from heathrow into paddington station in london. it will hit services across the country. paddington station will actually close for six days after the last train leaves tonight. services at other big stations, including london bridge, charing cross and liverpool street, will be severely affected. there will be no trains late on christmas eve between cardiff central, bridgend, newport and the valleys, because they are resignalling the whole area. it's affected me, i have to take an extra day off work because the replacement bus service is not good enough for what i need. but i understand the work needs to be done. they know it's the busiest time of year. families want to get together, and they haven't seen each other for a while, and they're all disrupted, aren't they? you can't get to where you want to go. totally inconvenient. a lot of commuters over the christmas period, shopping between christmas and new year. christmas engineering overran two years ago,

causing chaos because the back—up plan failed. network rail says all the holiday work since then has gone without a hitch. richard westcott, bbc news. vladimir putin has written to donald trump, calling for stronger relations and co—operation between their countries. and speaking to the world's media in moscow, the russian president said he did not want a new arms race with the west, after donald trump suggested he would expand america's nuclear arsenal. mr putin also rejected accusations that russia had intervened in the us presidential election. from moscow, steve rosenberg reports. he is always confident, but is he a little confused? as vladimir putin met the world's media today, there were mixed signals from across the atlantic. donald trump, sabre rattling one moment, and talking friendship the next. the kremlin leader said he hoped he and america's new president would work together to improve relations. it's not so simple. apologies. we seem to be having technical difficulties with that report from steve rosenberg. the main headlines. the un security

council has passed a resolution demanding a halt to israeli settle m e nt demanding a halt to israeli settlement building and occupying palestinian land. the us abstained. chaosis palestinian land. the us abstained. chaos is predicted on the railways as round—the—clock engineering work has begun around the uk. 200 different projects are under way over the christmas break. two men have been found guilty of using aid convoys to send thousands of pounds of cash to extremist in syria. the old bailey heard how high—profile was in community led convoys became unwitting participants in a plan to fund terrorism. one of the aid missions which was targeted included alan henning. the taxi driver later kidnapped and murdered white militants from so—called islamic state. humanitarian aid for people stuck in one of the most dangerous

places on earth. syrians caught in the crossfire of syria's conflict. three years ago, these convoys were at the heart of those efforts. now, two men have been found guilty of infiltrating them. syed hoque, a former probation officer, and mashoud miah, used the aid missions as cover to send cash to fighters. hoque sent these pictures by his nephew, who was fighting with a group affiliated with al qaeda. he was advised to behead his enemies, but not mutilate them. aid convoys were infiltrated, and the goodwill of charities was abused, by taking money and goods from the uk out to syria to help terrorists. reactions in the public gallery highlight how emotive these issues have been for muslim communities. alan henning, taken hostage by so—called islamic state in december 2013, and murdered nine months later. he went into syria on one of the convoys used by the guilty men. alan henning, taken hostage by

islamic state in december, 2013. murdered nine months later. he went to syria on one of the convoys of the guilty man. this man was on that same convoy. he publicly appealed for alan henning's life. we beg you to ta ke for alan henning's life. we beg you to take the path ofjustice and ensure the justice in the hearts of believers. under pressure from police, the aid convoy came to an end after alan henning's kidnap. a survey of rough sleepers suggests they are 17 times more likely to be a victim of crime than the general public. the charity crisis says homeless people are regularly attacked and abused. there are thought to be about 4,000 people sleeping rough in the uk at any one time.

our social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan reports. for some people, rough sleepers have no value. one stamped the head, the other kicks the lakes. —— legs. one stamped the head, the other kicks the lakes. -- legs. are used to come in here and sleep on the trains initially. it was safe and it was warm. corky slept rough for many yea rs. i was in leicester square, got into a discussion with a young man around the fact i was homeless. he became quite aggravated i would guess by the fact i was homeless and i was saying being homeless isn't a choice, people are homeless for different reasons and from there he punched me in the face, and it was quite a nasty punch. his experiences not unique. this report lays bare the abuse rough sleepers can suffer, they are

subjected to beatings, assaulted and even urinated on. it's notjust the incident itself but it's the impact it has on that individual, on their mental health, on their ability to even ask for help. we found that most homeless people who are rough sleeping actually feel ashamed already and surely if you're then urinated on you're going to feel more ashamed and even more marginalised. so your eyesight, who's looking after that? this police officer is in charge of a police average team working rough sleepers. it's no life, is it? one encourages them to report crimes and he understands why this report says many don't trust the police. there's other aspects of their life, maybe drug use, may be begging, maybe other forms of antisocial behaviour, when they come into contact with police regarding those types of behaviour, that's when they might not trust police because they get arrested. for these homeless people, this centre will provide shelter and sustenance over christmas. susan walker is currently

bedding down in a stairwell. sleep is an easy due to her constant fear of attack. being raped because you can get some of these people now who do see a woman and they think, i'll go for her. if that happened, well, asa go for her. if that happened, well, as a woman, we'd have no chance. rough sleepers are permanently vulnerable. they have no shelter. any stranger could attack at any moment. and unfortunately many do. michael buchanan, bbc news. the hijacking of a libyan plane to malta has ended peacefully. the two men who seized control of the aircraft freed those onboard and surrendered to the authorities. the domestic flight with 118 people on board was hijacked on friday morning after taking off from sabha, bound

for the libyan capital tripoli. as david campanale now reports, it appears the hijackers are supporters of the late former leader, muammar gaddafi. though terrifying for the passengers on board, the hijacking of a libyan state—owned airline appears more of a political stunt than a terrorist incident. this had been an internalflight to tripoli, when the airbus was forced by two men on board to divert to malta. they told crew they had a hand grenade, and threatened to blow up the plane. pro—gaddafi claims were made by the hijackers, with one appearing and waving a plain green flag resembling that of gaddafi's now defunct state. after hours of talks, a promise was given to free those on—boa rd if unspecified demands were met. the passengers were then taken away, with flight attendants following. they were asked to surrender any weapons in their possession. they were found to be in possession of a hand grenade and a pistol. nevertheless, the armed forces of malta are currently conducting a full search of the aircraft, and a second pistol has been found so far. the search is ongoing.

the hijackers were apprehended on the tarmac and taken into custody. libya's internationally backed government says they want to set up a gaddafi party. they will be asking how they manage to get the weapons onto the plane, even if replicas. in tripoli, families are waiting for their loved ones to come home. it is evident that in libya airport security is as lax and chaotic as the country's politics. well as 2016 draws to a close, the us presidential election will undoubtedly go down as one of the most memorable events of the past year. a new photo exhibit in new york explores how candidates have shaped their images over the years. we went to have a look. we're at the international centre of photography at the exhibition

winning the white house from press leaks to selfies which takes a look at the last 5—6 decades of us presidential campaign photography. it traces the relationship of power and how personas are developed. the idea is that the visual image in the media is how presidential candidates portray their personas to the public as we do not interact with them. we understand them through newspapers and illustrated periodicals. and now up to the present, through internet and social media. each candidate sort of conveyed through photography what they wanted the voters to understand in different ways that were relevant at the time of their candidacies. john f kennedy in his stills showed charisma and the energy of his supporters. ronald reagan portrayed himself as a cinema president, the movie version of what we would expect a president to be. bill clinton used photography

to cast himself as a rock star with kennedy—like charisma and appeal to young voters. barack obama similarly used photography to project himself as a young and relatable candidate. these two photographs are meant to address the fact that both candidates in 2016 were national public figures for decades prior to their candidacy. the juxtaposition of the two photographs actually is surprisingly relevant to the way they attemped to portray themselves in 2016. you have hillary clinton trying to seem soft and relatable. but the american public saw her as a complicated figure as having her own career and not being a traditional first lady. donald trump as host of the apprentice was trying to portray himself as a tough businessman. those two personas ended up being how they portrayed themselves in the 2016 elections as well. while presidential candidates may spend a lot of effort controlling their image, the advent of digital photography

and smartphone photography all sort of lead to a situation where candidates do not have as much control over their persona as they wanted. the former england manager sam allardyce has agreed a deal to become the new manager of crystal palace. allardyce has been out of the game since having to leave the england job in september afterjust one match following remarks he made to undercover reporters. here's our sports correspondent, richard conway. three months on from losing his dream job as england manager, sam allardyce is smiling once more. i like the look of the squad and that's probably the reason that i'm here. he was forced out of wembley afterjust one match in charge. following a newspaper sting in which he discussed getting around fa transfer regulations. a period on the sidelines looked inevitable.

was that your last job in football? who knows. but alan pardew has manoeuvred himself out of the crystal palace hot seat, after winning just 26 points in his 36 games in charge this year. and allardyce, well, he is seen as an expert in keeping teams in the top division, in a career that spans periods in charge of bolton, blackburn, west ham and sunderland. with crystal palace flirting with relegation, the club's new american owners have been forced to take action. an attempt this season to play a more expansive style of football looks likely to be an abandoned. the focus now will be doing whatever it takes to stay in the premier league. i think any team who gets big sam will tell you he's never got a team relegated, so it's a great record and i'm sure palace will have that in the back of their mind. for sam allardyce there's unfinished business to attend to, after his briefest of stints with england. crystal palace will settle

for survival for now, but this ambitious club hope in time he'll do much more thanjust keep them up. richard conway, bbc news, selhurst park. let's have a quick look at some of the christmas eve front pages. the headline in the i newspaper: it adds that europe's open border policy has been blamed for allowing the suspect to flee more than 1,000 miles across three countries. the telegraph also leads on that story. it says counter—terrorism experts are warning that europe's open borders are putting security at risk. the guardian's headline: it says the moroccan authorities had warned germany about the wanted man, anis amri. the times has a picture of the body of anis amri, under a blanket in a milan street. it also carries the story of a banking terrorist blacklist which is apparently so useless it includes a 3—year—old member

of the royal family. the daily mail has some advice for anyone who's feeling unwell over the festive season, postpone christmas. the paper says health chiefs prescribe self—isolation to keep the pressure off casualty units. and the daily mirror says chocolate santas could kill. it reports the co—op has withdrawn them from its shelves after button batteries were found inside. you're up to date with the christmas eve front pages. lots more as always on our website. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter, i'm @kasiakadera. the weather now with chris fawkes. yesterday's weather was all about storm barbara, the second named storm for the season. it has been a quiet winter season so far. there is barbara with cloud

working into the uk. the strongest winds are in the scottish islands. reports of power supply problems here. transport disruptions as well. into the atlantic our next storm system is forming, this is connor, strong winds to the north of scotland especially on boxing day. the weather watchers had their work cut out enjoying strong winds, being driven out into the bay in lerwick by the strong winds. that is how we start the day. showers and snow in scotland above 200 metres, perhaps 100 metres at times. this is mainly in the hills where we will see that. because of that, we will have icy conditions on some of the roads first thing. england and wales, a lot of dry weather to start the day. a few isolated showers working into north—west england and across wales as well first thing. the further south and east

you are the better chance you have of starting the day on a dry note with a fair bit of sunshine. but it will be quite breezy for all of us. through the rest of the day, those gale force winds will bring plenty of showers in. again, they will be falling as snow up in the hills of scotland. a more general spell of rain moving into northern ireland late in the day. turning damp here. england and wales, a mainly dry day with sunny spells. temperatures, 8—11 degrees. colder than that in northern ireland in scotland. the cold air will be behind us to start christmas day. mild air is on the way. these are the temperatures first thing on the big day itself. christmas day, quite windy. a lot of cloud around. this cold front will go south during the day. bringing wet weather for northern ireland, the north of england, and north wales. the south is still quite mild. temperatures, 111—15 in the mildest spots. further north, cold air moving in. that means late in the day some of us could see a white christmas. the chance of getting a bit of snow in the hills of northern scotland. for boxing day, remember connor? i showed you that on the satellite. it is bringing strong winds

to the northern isles of scotland where we have an amber weather warning. gale force gusts for the northern half of the uk. further south, quite windy. a lot of dry weather with sunshine. temperatures between 7—8. later next week, the weather should calm down and we will see a return of night—time frosts. the latest headlines from bbc news. i'm kasia madera. the un security council has passed a resolution demanding a halt to israeli settlement building on occupied palestinian land. israel's traditional ally, the united states, abstained, saying it wanted to signal its backing for the creation of a palestinian state, as part of a future peace agreement. italian police have shot dead anis amri, the man suspected of carrying out the attack on a christmas market in berlin. amri was killed in a shootout in a milan suburb when he was stopped for a routine identity check early on friday. the star wars actress,

carrie fisher, has suffered a heart attack on a flight from london to los angeles. she's now thought to be in a stable condition.