over the next few hours. new york's jfk airport set an all—time low on saturday at minus 13 degrees celsius. in canada, temperatures approaching minus 50 degrees celsius are forecast in northern ontario and quebec. reports from syria say 17 people have been killed in air strikes on a besieged rebel—held stronghold close to the capital, damascus. aid workers said that over the past ten days, ten hospitals had been hit by air strikes in both this area and the rebel—held northern province of idlib. tributes have been paid to longest—serving american astronaut, john young, who has died at the age of 87. he first went into space in 1965. later, he become one ofjust 12 people to walk on the moon and then commanded the first space shuttle mission. nasa said the world had lost a pioneer. now on bbc news, celebrating life at 117. welcome to my great—grandmother's 170th birthday. —— welcome to my great—grandmother's

117th birthday. right now, she is taking pictures of people who have come to see her and celebrate this big day with her. there's more than 90 years difference between me and her. she's 117 and i am just 23. i'm priscilla ng'ethe. and i'm returning to my ancestral home in kenya to celebrate a remarkable birthday of one of the oldest people in the world — my great—grandmother, elizabeth koinange. i am here to discover the secrets of her long life as she throws a party and reunites five generations of my family. applause. this is kiambu, where i was born.

it's about ten miles from nairobi, the capital of kenya. this fertile land has been home to the kikuyu tribe and to my family, the koinanges, for at least six generations. today, there are hundreds of koinanges like me, spread around the world. i am returning from my home in london to visit a woman very close to my heart who has never left kenya but has cultivated a globalfamily. we arejust heading up to my great—grandma's house. the road is quite bumpy because it is like a makeshift road. this is a shrine where most of my family are buried — my great—granddad, my granddad, his children and his five wives. my great—grandmother is the fifth wife out of six.

we are heading up to my great—grandma's home. she lives right by the side of where my great—granddad used to live, and i am really excited to see her. here she is! hi! hello! how are you? i'm fine. it is good to see you. good to see you. she is fine. long time. long time, many years. this is my great—grandmother, elizabeth gathoni koinange. she is going to be 117.

this is my great aunt irene, and she is here to help with the translations, because i can understand everything my great—grandmother tells me, but to speak kikuyu is really difficult. great—grandma elizabeth has lived on this land for 90 years. she grew up tending cattle on her father's farm, then moved here as a young bride and raised seven children. she built this house with profits from the farm. my great—grandmother is proud of her government identity card. it doesn't show the exact month or day that she was born, but does have her year of birth as 1900. the kikuyu tribal tradition of age groups gives the same name to all children born in the same year. my great—grandmother belongs

to the kihiu mwiri age group, meaning we know she was born sometime between 1899 and 1900. do you remember when you got married? and how do you remember your wedding day? is it force?

force. so... she was brought by force, she was married by force because she was too young. yeah. and at that time, she didn't want to get married to an old person because she was the fifth wife. great—grandmother elizabeth was the fifth of six wives of senior chief koinange. he worked with the british during colonial rule and is well known in kenya for playing a part the country's independence. so, was it difficult for you to be the fifth wife? leonard is elizabeth's sixth child

and he is my great uncle. he lives next door to my great—grandmother and was a child during the 19505, when his father, senior chief koinange, was detained during the mau mau uprising. the mau mau uprising was a revolt against european ownership of land. file: mau mau suspects were being checked prior file: mau mau suspects were being checked prior to interrogation. all were members of the kikuyu, the tribe which has suffered most from the mau mau.

a state of emergency was declared in kenya, and although it eventually led to the end of british rule, it was a tough time for my great—grandpa rents and for my uncle leonard. in 1952, my father was taken into detention. kenya had been declared emergency and he was detained for the next seven years he was in detention. we used to be children of a chief. we became beggars. we were being helped by those people we would have called poor. during now the mau mau, it was not only affecting our family, it affected other families. one of my aunties, who had i think there were nine children, my mother took them and already she had taken two other children who belonged to her sister who had died. my mother's sister.

so, we were — my mother was raising about 20 children. yeah! so we had a lot of... it was not — you know? like, we are fighting for food. this shrine is resting place of my great—grandfather. he lies alongside his five wives, and there is a space reserved for my great—grandmother elizabeth. as theirs was a polygamous marriage, visiting this shrine puts into perspective how large the chief's family really was. my great—grandfather is resting here

but his legacy is living on in hundreds of descendants. what do you think about polygamy today? would you advise me to go down that route? you wouldn't like me to, no? you were the last one to practise polygamy. does that mean that our family will now be smaller and smaller and how do you feel about that? so you wouldn't want me to just have one or two kids, you want me to have five, six...? regardless of how many children i may have in the future, there is no doubt that the family is growing. my great—grandmother gave birth to seven children

and there are tens of grandchildren. my father was one of them and i am his second child of three, making me one of many, many great grandchildren to elizabeth. who is in those pictures, that one there? and is that you? so pretty!

that picture there, the one — i think it's you and those kids around you. i can see that photographs play a big part of my great—grandmother's life. to celebrate her birthday, she is throwing a party. and we are going to attempt something very special — a family photograph, a living family tree, with five generations of my family and my great—grandmother at the centre. but with so many people involved, it could take a while. the first of january is a big day for my great—grandmother,

elizabeth koinange. she has invited family and friends to celebrate her 117th birthday. they have travelled far and wide and it is a chance for me to reunite with my kenyan family. so your family, your children, children's children, they are all spread out across the world like me in london. do you like that we are all over the world? so have you always celebrated on the 1st of january,

since you can remember? right now, everyone is preparing the food. there is going to be loads of meat, loads of vegetables. so now it's time to get changes all the guests are slowly arriving so i will wear something that is a bit more comfortable. by throwing this party, my great—grandmother is continuing

the tradition started by her late husband, of gathering friends and family together on the first day of the year. so right now, the party is in full swing. most people have eaten. there are still some people getting served over here. we still have some late arrivals coming in, as you'd expect. we have my great uncle right now giving a speech and saying once everyone has eaten, the whole family, everyone gets together and takes a group picture of the family tree. next, it's time for the guest of honour to take the microphone. time for cake, and one of elizabeth's granddaughters

does the honours. happy birthday. happy birthday! great—grandmother puts longevity down to a diet of yams and milky tea but for today, she is happy to indulge. she's been given some cake and the first people to be given some cake was everyone named after my great grandad. so what was said was, all the koinanges, come and give your grandmother, you great—grandmother, your great—great—grandmother some

cake and i think she is happy, she has had a lot of cake. hopefully when i'm old and 100 years old, i will be fed cake by all. all the people who come after me. it's a beautiful thing and i'm quite jealous, to be honest. so we are just going to wait... i'm going to choke. this cake is good. so we are just going to wait for my great—grandmother to go to where they are all taking a family picture. once we are all sat down, we will start will move into that area. 0rganising so many people is a tough task. everybody is keen to catch up. and while great—grandmother patiently waits, it is a chance to meet relatives i didn't know i had. do you know how we are related? i belong to the grandmother. he is my cousin. so his son is your dad?

hello. hi, hi, hi. thank you very much. lam youraunt. people are so excited to see each other that they are socialising and they are slowly, slowly, slowly moving towards this way. so hopefully we get the picture by the end of the day. first to join our living family tree, great—grandmother elizabeth. surrounded by her six surviving children, who have a combined age of more than 400. next to join, my aunts and uncles. so now another generation has been called, for

whom she is their great—grandmother, so i nowjoin. my mother has been holding this party for about 20 years. she enjoys it. she would like to do it every quarter of the year. she is happy to see her family coming together. she has created a great family unit. camera clicks applause many of us enjoyed tracing our family tree but for most families, gathering so many generations like this together is impossible. it's no surprise that people have travelled from far and wide because great—grandmother elizabeth's enthusiasm for life is infectious. i finally got my selfie. hers is a life well lived, a life focused on providing her descendants advantages that she didn't get to enjoy. faith, love and food

are the fundamentals of my great—grandmother's life. and although she rarely leaves a small house, the world comes to her, to her children, grandchildren and great—grandchildren like me. one of the things which i like about her, and i think this is god—given, is her memory because she doesn't get old. if you come here, you say hello to her and talk to her, next time you come, she will remember you very well. she can't forget. bye! improvements in medicine mean we can all expect a longer life but it's how you live it that really matters. and for this, my great—grandmother elizabeth is my inspiration. hello there.

sunday is set to be another very cold day. we have clear skies which is set to bring us a good deal of sunshine by day, but dawn could well look something like this. a lot of sharp frost around, the potential for temperatures close to —15 degrees across the sheltered glens of scotland. so a very cold start with some icy stretches to watch out for as well. a lot of sunshine on offer, though, as we move through the day on sunday.

let's look at the morning. it's across the rural glens of scotland that we will have the coldest temperatures, as i say, potentially close to —15. around about —8 eight by 9am. a few showers for the northern isles of scotland. down across northern ireland and northern england, lots of sparkling sunshine, frosty — watch out for some icy stretches, particularly where we have had some showers. there could still be a few showers across the north—east of england. a lot of dry, sunny weather towards the south—east. just a little bit of cloud drifting around. bit of wind chill with the brisk north—easterly winds across southern england and wales, too. but through the day, it is looking dry, fine and settled after that cold, frosty and icy morning. there will be a lot of sunshine on offer for most places. quite breezy, i think, in the far south, and also for the northern isles of scotland with one or two showers. elsewhere, dry, but temperatures only between around about zero to six degrees for most of us. sunday also ending on a cold note. another very cold night ahead sunday night and on into monday morning. if you're heading to work

during the early hours of monday, do watch out for some icy stretches forming once again on the roads because even in towns and cities, the temperatures will be down below freezing. just a little milder along the south coast because we will have a bit more cloud filtering in here through monday morning. and that's going to be a theme for monday. the cloud in the south will nudge its way further northwards, so clouding over, i think, for parts of east anglia, the midlands into wales later on in the day. and then eventually, we lose the blue colours, the cold air mass, and we'll see something a little milder creeping in from the atlantic as we head through monday night and into tuesday, too, with eventually some wet weather arriving in the west.

but actually, much of tuesday again dry, fairly cold, fairly cloudy, the breeze picking up from the west. temperatures around 4—6 degrees on tuesday. slowly turning a little bit milder with some outbreaks of rain through the course of next week. goodbye. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: in the next few hours, 30 american cities are expecting the coldest temperatures they've ever recorded. reports from syria say government and russian air strikes have hit ten hospitals in the past ten days. he walked on the moon and flew the first space shuttle mission. astronaut john young dies at the age of 87. hello.

welcome to the programme. the east coast of north america is shivering in a record—breaking freeze. it comes after a massive snowstorm that reached as far