welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lebo diseko. our top stories: donald trump says he will dissolve his controversial charitable foundation to avoid any conflicts of interest. israel's prime minister orders a review of his country's relationship with the united nations after a vote condemning settlement building. in his christmas message, pope francis denounces the suffering of children around the world as security is tight at the vatican. and hard—rocking status quo guitarist rick parfitt has died at the age of 68. donald trump's announced that he will be dissolving

his charitable foundation. the president—elect says it's to try and avoid any conflicts of interest with his presidency. the trump foundation has been under investigation by new york's attorney—general since september over suspected impropriety. us media says the foundation is under scrutiny over a donation it made to a group backing a republican politician in 2013. mr trump released a statement saying: lynn sweet is a journalist for the chicago sun times, based in washington. i spoke to her a short while ago about the foundation and why

the president—elect has decided to close it. it has been a big controversy triggered by stories in the washington post and the bottom line here is that donald trump does not give any of his own money to the foundation. he has not given any of his own money, between 2009 and 2014. so at the heart of this is a foundation that goes to other people to ask for money. then there is another set of controversies, and this is what the attorney—general in new york is looking at, and that is weather or not there is self dealing. you are not supposed to use a non—profit foundation in the united states to make political contributions or to help your business. that is at the heart of it. how was it going to work? he says he is closing down, but the attorney—general says that he cannot while they still investigating. both can be right. donald trump can say he is not going to raise any more money. he can say that he is

filing the paperwork to close it down. that does not wipe the slate clean. the attorney—general can still continue to investigate it. how damaging is this for donald trump, or does it not matter in terms of his presidency? one of the things we have learned in this very historic campaign leading to the presidency of donald trump is that nothing seems to hurt him. controversies that would take out other political figures in the united states didn't have any impact on him, and he ended up getting elected and will be sworn in onjanuary 20. so i think that this foundation controversy as one of many dealings with his conflict of interest issues that have not been resolved, and by that, i mean his complex web of businesses that he is yet to tell anyone how he is going to divorce himself from, from his family business, before he becomes president. that was journalist lynn suite

speaking to me earlier. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu says his country will reassess its ties with the united nations. this comes after the security council adopted a resolution demanding an end to israeli settlement building on occupied palestinian land. it passed after israel's traditional ally the us abstained, which was a break with long—standing practice. mr netanyahu also praised donald trump, who's suggested he will reverse america's position on the issue at the un after his inauguration. translation: the decision that was taken at the un yesterday was part of the swansong with the old world, against israel. we are entering a new era and, as the president—elect donald trump said yesterday, this will happen sooner than people think. the passing of the resolution has been celebrated by palestinians, as our middle east correspondent yolande knell explains. here in bethlehem, there

is a festive mood outside the nativity church, but many palestinians feel they have an extra reason to celebrate after this un security council resolution, which said that israeli settlements are a flagrant violation of international law. it has been welcomed by all the different palestinian political factions and they're hoping that it will strengthen their legal case when they pursue action against israel in the international courts. for its part, israeli officials have come out and said that this is a disgraceful, shameful resolution and the israeli prime minister benjamin neta nyahu says he will not abide by its terms. there are more than 600,000 israelis who live in settlements in the occupied west bank and east jerusalem, that is on land that

israel captured in the 1967 middle east war. and the us really feels that at the un security council it was betrayed by its closest ally, the us, which usually uses its veto power to block any resolution that is critical of it. now it is looking to president—elect donald trump for a lot more support. he has already come out on twitter saying that things will be different afterjanuary 20, which is of course when he takes office. pope francis has celebrated a late—night christmas mass at the vatican. the head of the catholic church spoke out against the continuing suffering of children, mentioning those who faced hunger, danger on migration routes, and bombing in syrian cities like aleppo. there was heavy security, and people taking part in the service inside st peter's basilica had to pass through metal detectors. thousands of people have started evacuating their homes in the philippines as a powerful typhoon heads towards the island nation. typhoon nocten, known locally as typhoon nina,

is forecast to bring heavy rain and strong winds of up to 138 miles per hour when it hits on christmas day. boats have been grounded and extra emergency staff called out to help deal with the damage expected from the storm. more than 6,000 people died and 200,000 homes were destroyed when typhoon haiyan hit the country in 2013. for more, here's bbc weather‘s louise lear. it's late in the season for a significant storm to strike through the heart of the philippines, but that's exactly what typhoon nock—ten is likely to do. you can just about make out the eye of the storm on the satellite picture as it continues to move in a westerly direction, and expected to make landfall during christmas day. this is going to be a significant storm. the potential for category three or four. there will be a lot of heavy rain associated with it. strong to damaging gusting winds and a significant storm surge ofjust 2.5 metres, that's eight foot. it will rip through the heart

of the philippines close towards manila. the wider white circles show the track once it makes landfall. we will of course keep you updated. but it's a significant storm and it will cause some issues. 200—300 millimetres per day, which will result in flooding and some landslide. gusts of up to 160 mph, certainly want to keep a close eye on. how unusual is this? sadly it is the third storm to arrive during christmas day. the last one was in 1981 and before that 19117. these were both category two and as i say nock—ten looks likely to be more powerful. more than 100 skiers have been rescued after being trapped in cable cars above the mountains in italy. high winds caused one of the ski lifts to fail, leaving those heading back to the valley after a day on the slopes stuck swinging 30 metres in the air. caroline davies reports. lowered back to firm ground, after hours stuck hanging above it.

these skiers in italy were rescued and winched to safety after strong winds stopped their cable cars. the breakdown happened in northern italy at the alpine resorts of cervinia. it is one of europe's highest ski resorts, and skiers were trapped at an altitude of over 2000 metres while rescuers tried to reach them. heavy winds meant rescuers could not use helicopters to reach those trapped. translation: there was much wind. we stopped at the pillar and remained there for two hours. it took more than eight hours to bring down all 130 stranded skiers. fortunately, the weather was mild and none of them suffered from cold exposure. we have been lucky. the gondola was heavy, but there were moments with gusts of 150 kilometres an hour, during which the gondolas were almost horizontal, and it was a scary moment. the resort said on social media that nobody was in danger during the rescue.

those who are safely out are just pleased to be back before christmas. rick parfitt, guitarist with the band status quo, has died in spain at the age of 68. he was being treated in hospital for a severe infection. the musician was still recovering from a heart attack he'd had earlier this summer. david sillito looks back at his life and career. i have gotten to where i wanted to go, you know, to become a pop star or a rock star. to quo fans, he was easy to spot. he was the man with blond hair and was responsible for some of the greatest riffs in rock ‘n‘ roll. 1972's piledriver was the beginning of a run of a0 hit albums. 57 top a0 singles. no other rock band comes close

and it all began here. rick parfitt met francis rossi when he was a teenager. their first single was a bit of 1960s psychedelia. but their passion for something a bit more raw — a hit making rock ‘n‘ roll formula. all our records do sound the same because it is status quo. i am not trying to get out of a corner here. of course it is going to sound like us. who is it meant to sound like? as soon as i had the idea i couldn't think of anyone better to open this. # here we are, here we are, here we go. # here we go, rocking all over the world. and when it came to sex drugs and rock'n‘ roll, rick parfitt did it all.

this riff arose after a huge dose of amphetamines. he told us he had a riff he wanted to do. we told him good night and left. we came back at 11:30 the following morning and rick was still there. he hadn't been home yet. nearly 12 hours he had been sitting there, after too much speed the previous day. he married three times. of course he has a particular type of woman. blondes. and his health, even after recovering from surgery, he was smoking and drinking. i was smoking and drinking in hospital. it was the rock ‘n‘ roll lifestyle. but when it came to turning rock into hit songs,

he was one of the best. the guitarist rick parfitt who has died aged 68. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, who needs a sleigh? why this father christmas has decided waterskiing may be the best way to deliver presents. we saw this enormous tidal wave approaching the beach, and people started to run, and suddenly it was complete chaos. united states troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon said the operation had been 90% successful, but it's failed in its principal objective, to capture general noriega and take him to the united states to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit

of the pan—am's maid of the seas, nose—down in the soft earth. you could see what happens when a plane eight storeys high, a football pitch wide, falls from 30,000 feet. christmas has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 years. thousands went to midnight mass in the town of shkoder where there were anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: donald trump says he will dissolve his controversial charitable foundation to avoid any conflicts of interest. benjamin netanyahu has ordered a review of israel's contacts with the united nations, after a resolution demanded a halt to israeli settlement—building on occupied palestinian land. petina gappah is an award winning author from zimbabwe. she's been speaking tojim naughtie about hardship and humour

and the politics of her native country. petina gappah by the batter country that some may think the most miserable on earth, zimbabwe, where political dissent —— disintegration and total economic collapse in recent year have consigned so many people to a life of hopelessness. yet in her collection of short stories, as in her previous books, she finds a reservoir of resistance, humanity, cheerfulness and adversity. the people in her pages have the same hopes and fears as in a world of plenty, and although they live in a collapsed state they are in extraordinarily as recognisable as the people next door. welcome. ina way, in a way, these stories are

miraculous because they are a ta pestry of miraculous because they are a tapestry of survival, really, in a country which has collapsed. that's lovely of you to say, because i see myself as writing about resilience, because resilience is the quality that strikes me as being the most extraordinary about zimbabwe is today. it is really a difficult environment economically, politically and socially and yet people somehow managed to find ways to love, ways to be, that are really, i love that word, miraculous. the fundamentals of human behaviour and interaction, through because there's nothing else left. yes, that's right. it's really about ultimately human relationships andi about ultimately human relationships and i wanted to write a book that looks at human relationships through a particular prism and that's the prism of the criminaljustice system. and so i thought this was an interesting commentary about the

political situation in zimbabwe, without necessarily making it particularly about politics. that's right. you are talking about a society in which violence and death are ever present, even in slightly odd ways we've got the story of the man who ends up killing his best friend at school and the people at school can't believe 15 years later that it happened. this is all something that's very close to the surface. i love that story in particular because it is very much inspired by one of my favourite authors, pd james, for whom inspired by one of my favourite authors, pdjames, for whom the character of the person is partly what leads to what happens to them. so it is really a character driven story. it is a bit unusual in this bookin story. it is a bit unusual in this book in that it doesn't have anything to do with the circumstances in the country, because a lot of the crimes that are discussing the book are crimes. crimes that come out of rage and stress and anger. at that one is particularly interesting because

it's a crime that is rooted in the past. you talk about the politics without giving a running commentary on it. there's a wonderful story, ta ke on it. there's a wonderful story, take us back to the moment when the difficult situation suddenly became one of utter desolation. economically people fleeing, people with no money. it was as if all of the normal functions of a state just stopped. i always say that in many other countries, in normal countries, government is supposed to be the facilitator, in zimbabwe government is the inhibitor. the thing that stops you reaching your dream and in many ways the stories reflect that aspect of government. i love that you mentioned the president always dies injanuary. that a statement from the presidential spokesman, because

there are always the these rumours injanuary there are always the these rumours in january that the president has collapsed and died. at the economic situation does play a very important role in that a lot of people have left the country to make better lives for themselves and their children, but the people in the book tends to be the ones that have stayed and they've stayed in this really is difficult circumstances. i really is difficult circumstances. i really admire people who have stayed. i don't like the phrase "brain drain", because it suggests the people who have left the country are better than those who have remained. i think that's a very offensive term, "brain drain", citing the people who have remained in the above way are a special kind of hero. we shouldn't give people the idea that this is a depressing book from beginning to end, because it is full of fun. clearly there is a depressing political background, whatever your political views are, andi whatever your political views are, and i think you are a supporter of the opposition in zimbabwe, so that the opposition in zimbabwe, so that the depressing scene, and of course there is poverty, violence, of course there's injustice. but there is this sort of well of

cheerfulness, which is extraordinary. it is kind of a modern humour. if we can't change the situation we may as well laugh at it. i sometimes think that people in zimbabwe are not able to have any kind of african or zimbabwean spirit in part because we are able to laugh at our own misery. how would you describe the character of the country now? place you grew up, which went to this terrible political convulsion? i am very much influenced by something a friend of mine said. he said, the thing that makes me sad about zimbabwe is that ino makes me sad about zimbabwe is that i no longer recognise the places of my childhood. physically? physically and emotionally recognise. i really felt something in that, but at the same timei felt something in that, but at the same time i wonder whether on not caught up in the nostalgia. because countries to move on and i don't know whether having left zimbabwe when i was 23 and only going back for occasional visits, whether i

really the right person to say this is what zimbabwe has become, it was obviously zimbabwe to me is a very sad place at the moment because it is not the zimbabwe i remember, but maybe that zimbabwe is what has to be in order to get us to the next age. i honestly don't know. how do you explain robert mugabe's npower? it is complicated. obviously it consoles the state. beyond question. it is something that most people don't like to hear. he is quite popular. he is an incredibly funny man, he is extremely charismatic, especially when he speaks in public, so there is a mix of popularity and power there. there are people who generally vote for him, as much as it pains me to admit. there is rigging and coercion, but there are also people who genuinely vote for him. as a say in the book, you present these portraits of characters who are very resilient

and full of fun and, i don't know, philosophical wisdom about their plight. the think it's a place where there is still hope? i think so. maybe it's a desperate kind of hope, but i really believe there is enough in our past and in our presence to give us a really hopeful future. in our past and in our presence to give us a really hopeful futurem interesting, you've written before about life in zimbabwe and these are vivid, vivid pictures of people who are living through this difficulty. it is almost as if you don't want to let this experience go because it is so rich, it provides a writer with so rich, it provides a writer with so much material and so much evidence of what human beings have to do. it is a rich seam, isn't it? that's a very acute observation. in many ways this book is everything... i'm thinking about zimbabwe right now because i want to step away from it for the next two or three books.

stepping away from zimbabwe. so this is my good buy zimbabwe book for the time being, because i will come back to it again, i hope two or three books from now, for now i think is just about all i want to say about the rich —— richness of zimbabwe. just about all i want to say about the rich -- richness of zimbabwe. so you will pause and then say hello again. yes. thank you very much, petina gappah. now millions of children around the world this christmas will be interested in the progress of a certain jolly man with a beard and sleigh. tim allman has more. irrespective of whether you have been naughty or indeed is nice, father christmas was on his way. and like every year, the north american aerospace defence command, or norad, gave people the chance to track his progress. before setting off on his herculean task, santa — well, let's be honest, a guy dressed up as santa — took time out for some waterskiing in the us state of virginia. notjust him, his elves and reindeers gave it a go.

some not as successfully as others. in belarus, hundreds of people dressed up as father frost and his granddaughter the snow maiden, taking part in an annual parade. translation: it's always a joy and a celebration. it is important to be festive in your heart, and then it spreads to both children and adults. although in the orthodox church christmas does not come until next month, they were still celebrating in this part of siberia — underwater, for some reason. a special party taking place in lake baikal. despite temperatures reaching —20, they still managed with a tree and wine. in colombo they have put up what they claim is the world's tallest ever artificial christmas tree, 70 metres tall and painted in a million pine cones. the organisers say they wanted to promote religious harmony. for many, christmas is about food.

but injapan this festive meal is a little unusual. on offer, locust canapes and a cake made with strawberry and earthworms. i think i might stick with turkey. if you want to get in touch with us here at bbc world news, you can do so on social media. we have a remarkable story from india, werea we have a remarkable story from india, were a woman who was thought to have died a0 years ago has a the middle—aged children by reappearing. she was supposedly found dead after a snakebite. she was left floating in the river ganges. but she hadn't died at all. a recent chance encounter with someone from her village sparked her memory and she went back there, aged over 80. good morning, and merry christmas to you.

now, if a sledge was on your wish list, you might be disappointed with this forecast. an incredibly mild christmas day, breezy with some rain in the story. the reason being all tied into this deep area of low pressure which is connor on its way. going to dominate across the northern uk on boxing day. ahead of it, these weather fronts producing a lot of cloud and a wind direction from the southwest. ahead of it, weatherfronts straddling the country, producing a lot of cloud. dragging mild air across the country. from the word go, temperatures likely to be in double figures across central and southern areas. there is only one place for temperatures to go, they'll continue to climb. cloud with outbreaks of drizzle, and more persistent rain moving through scotland and northern ireland. by the afternoon,

a scattering of showers. it still could be potentially quite mild, 1a—15 degrees is not out of the question in sheltered parts of eastern scotland. a band of persistent rain sinking south and east, and ahead of it, again, across northern wales we could see midteens. a fair amount of cloud around. the cloud always thick enough for perhaps the odd spot of drizzle. will it be a record—breaking christmas day? perhaps not. in fact, we need to see 15.6 degrees to equal the record, and that's happened on two occasions. one in devon, in 1920, the other in edinburgh. but it will be a pretty mild story for all. as we move through christmas day evening, more persistent rain will push steadily south and east. that is yet to clear away, and that is when we will see the strongest winds on the back of this area of low pressure. connor could produce some damaging gusts,

particularly across the far north. an amber weather warning. going to be a windy day on boxing day. if you are going to be out and about to try to walk off some of the indulgence during christmas day, again, quite cloudy, with outbreaks of showery, drizzly rain to the south and squally, heavier showers to the far north and west. but as we move away from boxing day, we will start to see a change. from tuesday onwards, high pressure builds, which will quieten the story down nicely. that could bring a new set of problems, fog could be an issue. once it lifts, it will be noticeably cooler across the country with a little more sun in the afternoon. the latest headlines. donald trump says he intends to dissolve his controversial charitable organisation to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest during his presidency. mr trump said he would pursue his interest in philanthropy in other ways. benjamin

netanyahu said his country will reassess ties with the un. he was speaking on day after the security council passed a resolution, demanding a halt to israeli settle m e nt demanding a halt to israeli settlement building on occupied palestinian land. the latest headlines from bbc news. pope francis denounced the suffering of children — saying the world should be challenged by the sight of children crying with hunger or child soldiers holding weapons rather than toys. now on bbc news, time for click.