welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: the us calls on europe to do more to support ukraine in its conflict with russia over the crimean peninsula. a sharp increase in migrant boats crossing the channel to the uk. ministers say its being organised by criminal gangs. we track down some of those responsible. translation: a boat, it will cost you £3,000—4,000. i'm taking three people with me. they pay in cash. we get a boat, and off we go. votes are being counted in mississippi's special election, where republicans hope to extend their majority in the senate. politicians from around the world put some tough questions to facebook, but mark zuckerberg is a no—show at their inquiry into fake news. a court in crimea has ordered 12

ukranian servicemen captured at sea be held for two months. another 12 will be brought before the court on wednesday. they and their three naval vessels were seized on sunday near crimea, the ukrainian peninsula annexed by russia in 2014. the men are not being treated as prisoners—of—war, but look set to face criminal charges of illegally crossing into russia. lebo diseko has more. captured at sea by russian forces and now sentenced in the crimean court, one of 12 ukrainian sailors ordered to be held untiljanuary. russia says they crossed into its waters illegally. but ukraine insist the incident

happened in the areas that are free to shipping. russia's security service has released filmed statements from three other captured ukrainians, which were widely shown on state tv. one said that he was aware the actions of his navy were provocative. we cannot verify the circumstances of the interviews, but kiev says the men were forced to lie under duress. this footage, also released by russia, apparently shows the incident which led to the crisis, the most serious escalation between the two countries in years. the kerch strait, where this happened, is the only way of accessing ukraine's key ports in the azov sea, which both russia and ukraine are meant to share. but, since russia annexed crimea four years ago, it has been able to block access in and out. on monday, ukraine imposed martial law, saying it is the victim of a deliberate act of aggression. translation: i don't want anyone to think this is fun and games. ukraine is under threat

of full—scale war with russia. the us is calling on european countries to fully enforce the sanctions on russia over its annexation of crimea. it's a dangerous escalation on the part of russians' continued aggressive behaviour against ukraine. the united states continues to support ukraine's territorial integrity. the secretary is heading to nato, as many of you know, in the coming days. i would imagine that that would be a big topic of conversation. america says russia violated international law, and president trump now says he might cancel a meeting with president putin at the g20 later this week. mr trump says he doesn't like what is happening, but he hopes they will be able to straighten things out soon. earlier i spoke to our correspondent dan johnson in washington, who said president trump is indeed wading into this confrontation.

yes, and saying that he might go as far as calling off the meeting with president putin that was scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the g20 later this week in argentina. so i think that gives a clear indication that the white house and the department of state, the government here in washington, feels that it is russia that has overstepped the mark in this confrontation. russia, of course, blames the ukrainians for straying into their waters around the coast of crimea. but it seems the white house and the department of state are all in agreement that this was russia's act of aggression, a dangerous act of aggression, as it's been described. and that's why there's a call for greater sanctions, for sanctions to be fully applied on the russians, and for more to be done through nato, a call for european countries, and germany was named in particular, to contribute more to nato, and to work harder through nato

to find a solution to this, even though ukraine is not a nato member. yes, i wasjust going to say, dan, a real sense in washington that european nations could be doing more on this. yes, and that's something that donald trump and the state department have made clear before — that they feel european nations haven't done their share of the funding of nato, and the heavy lifting when it comes to making decisions and taking action. so there is a big nato meeting scheduled. i'm sure ukraine will be discussed there as a topic, and clearly the us feels that that is the forum in which this issue should be tackled and should be taken forward. but donald trump saying that, if he doesn't see enough progress there, or maybe as well as the progress there, when he's got further details of exactly what happened on sunday, he will determine whether to go ahead with this meeting with president putin or not. the british government has expressed concern at the significant increase in migrant boats crossing the english channel. home secretary sajid javid says the traffic is being organised by criminal gangs, and he has promised more cooperation with the french authorities. this month alone 110 migrants, many saying they are iranian nationals, have made it to kent on the english coast.

all of them have been passed to immigration officials. the french police say they believe the recent surge is down to tighter security at the eurotunnel entrance, and also because of brexit, with migrants wanting to get to the uk before it happens. our correspondent colin campbell reports. rescued off the coast of dover, in an inflatable dinghy, these are migrants from northern france trying to get to britain. in the last few months, there has been a surge in this kind of activity. a migrant camp in dunkirk we're secretly filming using an undercover researcher. it is smugglers like this man who are at the heart of the problem, willing to risk lives forfinancial gain. translation: a boat, it will cost you £3,000—4,000. i'm taking three people with me.

they pay in cash. we get a boat, and off we go. he says he was a fisherman in iran, and getting us across the channel would be easy. translation: look, i will check the weather. you have waves in the sea, ferries cross the water, and they can drag you underneath them, even if you are one kilometre away. but i know the sea routes where you will not be disrupted by the ferries. more than 100 migrants have reached the kent coast by boat in the last three weeks, but not all that depart succeed. farhad, from afghanistan, was put in a dinghy with 11 others. he was rescued at night after the engine stalled. he thought he was going to die. it was freezing a couple of days ago, and when you get wet, we were fully wet. i was like that to myself. a couple of guys they fainted, they were sleeping and we were

trying to wake them up, and they were, and we were trying to wake them up because their hearts will stop from the cold. this migrant told me the boat he was in capsized after being battered by waves. living in a squalid makeshift camp in calais, they claim they fled their countries because of religious and political persecution. their desperation to get to the uk is being fuelled by fears of brexit. how many of you think that it is going to get harder? harder — put your hands up. you all think it's going to get harder? there is a rush. everybody‘s talking about it in here, in thejungle, we're like, we need to get in quicker, you know what i'm saying, in case the security gets tighter. even as winter sets in and temperatures start to plummet here, migrants in this part of the north of france are continuing to prepare to cross this treacherous stretch of water. it is happening at night—time, in the dark, and they're using their mobile phones to navigate across to the kent coast. waiting to catch a dinghy to the uk, these iranian migrants told me they had paid £6,000 each,

and were waiting to be taken to a nearby beach by smugglers. translation: we have to go by boat. we know we are putting our life in danger. i've tried before, but the waves were three metres high, and came up over the boat. i already stared death in the face. there are fears drowned migrants could wash up onto calais‘s beaches. migrants trying to cross are risking their lives, every night, here in calais. is the french authorities doing enough? well, we try to stop them. we stopped quite every boat that tried to cross the channel, but we need to face the truth. the truth is we cannot stop everyone. overloaded with migrants, this was the boat stopped by french authorities this morning. they were rescued, but there is real fear lives may soon be lost. colin campbell in dover. let's get some of the day's other news: indonesian authorities are set to release the preliminary findings

into why a boeing 737 plummeted into the java sea, killing all 189 people on board, last month. some of the grieving families have launched a legal challenge for compensation from boeing, and there is also intense pressure on the budget airline lion air over its safety record. president macron of france has said that nationwide protests against higher fuel taxes will not stop him moving the country to cleaner energy. mr macron wants all coal—fired power stations in france closed by 2022, but he says he understands the anger of the protesters. stephen hillenburg, the creator of the hit children's cartoon series spongebob squarepants, has died. he was 57 and had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease. the show, which was set underwater, was inspired by mr hillenburg's early career as a marine biology teacher. the british prime minister, theresa may, is on a tour of britain

to promote her brexit deal to voters. mrs may insists that the deal, which has been widely criticised across the political spectrum, protects the vital interests of the whole of the uk as it leaves the european union. so what kind of trade deals could britain strike with other countries under the terms of theresa may's brexit deal? remember president trump saying the deal looked good for the eu, but could prevent future trade deals between the uk and the us — is he right? our business editor simonjack has been looking at the possibilities. well, the first thing worth saying is that the uk already does a lot of trade with the us. in fact, the us buys more uk goods and services than any other single country, by miles. uk exports to the us in 2016 were worth £99 billion a year, that is nearly double what we sell to germany and much more than we do

to france and ireland. but, to the eu in total, we sell £241 billion worth of goods a year, so it is still our biggest trading partner overall. now, there is no reason that existing trade with the us should be affected, but what mr trump may have meant is that the pm's plan could make it hard to strike a new trade deal with the us, and there, he may have a point. the uk is due to leave the eu at the end of march next year, but there will then be a transitional or status quo period until december 2020 at least, during which time the uk can negotiate new deals, but they can't come into force until that period is over. and, if a deal is not done by then, the backstop designed to ensure the irish border remains open could be triggered, which again means the uk stays in the customs union with the eu, making a trade deal with the us very difficult. even if a deal is eventually done with the eu, theresa may's plan

talks about a close alignment with the eu on rules and regulations, which could make doing a us deal tricky, as it has different standards for things like food. but remember, as we've seen with the uk's existing trade with the us, you don't necessarily need a trade deal to do trade. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: lots to answer for. campaigners and politicians ask where is mark zuckerberg, as facebook faces questions over fake news. president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world. the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number 10 to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's

first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot air balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash." cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 1960s. it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the us calls on europe to do more to support ukraine in its conflict with russia over the crimean peninsula. a sharp increase in migrant boats crossing the channel to the uk. the uk government says the traffic is being organised

by criminal gangs. voters in the us state of mississippi have been casting their ballots in a special run—off for the last senate seat of the mid—term elections. no candidate reached 50% on the 6th of november. president trump has been a big supporter of republican candidate cindy hyde—smith, but her campaign has been overshadowed by comments made about public hangings. that has re—opened some old wounds in a state with a difficult history of race relations. our correspondent chris buckler is in oxford, mississippi. polls have now closed and they are being counted at the moment, the votes. and certainly the early indications we have are that they're going to follow along

what the opinion polls suggested, and that is that cindy hyde—smith is looking likely to win the seat. however, it is very early still. we're waiting to see exactly what the votes finally say. but the fact that this has even been a contest, this has been a relatively tight battle, will be something of a victory for the democrats. and a lot of that does come down to the comments that cindy hyde—smith made during this campaign, particularly that comment that, if a supporter was to hold a public hanging, that she would be in the front row. that has particularly caused problems for the republican party here and that's because it does look back towards potentially racial lynchings that took place in this state many years ago. and something that a lot of people still remember and still causes a great deal of shame in this state. as a result, we have president trump here really trying to buoy her support on the eve of the election. it does feel like that has worked. at the same time, though, given that this is a holiday period, thanksgiving has just passed, christmas is coming, there has also been this real problem of getting the boat out

for both democrats and the republicans. certainly today they have said the votes have been slow but steady. it's pretty clear that, as far as republicans and democrats are concerned, that both could have got more votes out potentially. but, as i say, it does look like cindy hyde—smith is edging it, but we won't know until a little bit later. so, in terms of what this means for washington, it won't change the balance of power in the senate, will it? so is it more about the perception of how close they run this race? well, as you know, duncan, apart from anything else, president trump likes to win. and he had very much put his own support behind cindy hyde—smith. and he was determined to get 53 seats in the senate, as opposed to 52. of course, republicans need 50 seats at least in the 100—seat senate in order to make sure that they can pass laws, they can push forward president trump's policy. of course, while he can be comfortable for the senate, what's a real problem for him coming up is the house of representatives, which is now going to be a democrat majority. that's where he could find himself

struggling to get legislation passed, and where he could find a lot of investigations being launched in committees into his dealings and into his policies. chris buckler in mississippi. us secretary of state mike pompeo will meet his counterpart from mexico's new government on sunday for talks over a possible deal that would see asylum seekers wait in mexico while their claims are processed. a caravan of thousands of migrants, made up largely of hondurans, has in recent days started to arrive at the us border. our correspondent will grant has sent this update from a migrant camp in tijuana. the migrant camp here in tijuana is reaching a sort of critical mass, after the first caravan of migrants from honduras was caught up with by a second and a third with people from el salvador and guatemala. the result is there are thousands of people in this space that simply isn't adequate for them.

there isn't enough space, there isn't enough food, and as you can see around me, every square metre of this area has been taken up by a cheap tent or temporary accommodation put together with plastic sheeting, tarpaulins and pieces of wood. of course, migrants are generating a lot of rubbish, a lot of waste. amnesty international have described the conditions here as squalid, and having been around the camp was some time now, it would be difficult to disagree with that assessment. after the protest on sunday, which was met with tear gas fired from the us side of the border, mexico has requested an investigation from the us authorities as to what happened. and the migrants themselves have choices to make. some will choose to stay here in tijuana, where temporary work visas may be made available. others have already decided to go home, deciding that enough is enough and that these conditions aren't sustainable. others still will continue to try to cross that border wall

that you can see behind me and make it into the united states, either legally or illegally. but either way, christmas is coming, in due course, the nights are getting much colder, and people will be here probably well into the new year. efforts to tackle climate change are way off track, according to the united nations, which is hosting a major climate conference in poland next week. last year, greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high — and it's notjust a matter of industrial pollution. food is also a factor with livestock producing methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. our science editor david shukman reports on how our food choices have an impact on the planet. every breath from a cow, and especially every burp, releases methane — 600 litres every day. most from the front end, not the back. and, because methane warms

the planet, the more we eat beef and dairy products, the more the temperatures rise. at this farm, researchers encourage the cows to feed inside this hood so they can measure the methane. there has been a huge increase in milk and meat consumption. that the man is going to increase so i think we need strategies for sustainably producing that meat and milk. one option is adding special supplements to the feed. some of these make the cows a lot less gassy. but on its own, that won't be enough to head off the worst of global warming. so it comes down to the key and highly controversial question of what we all choose to eat. here at manchester university, researchers study the climate cost of food. the fertilisers, tractors and processing all generate gases that cause more warming. so, add all that up, and these chocolates are responsible for up to 1.4 kg of carbon dioxide and other gases.

that's the equivalent of driving for 12 miles in a car. producing this blt sandwich involves 1kg of the gases. that's like driving for eight miles. and this serving of beef comes out top, creating more than 3.5 kg of warming gases. that's like a journey for 30 miles. so what does this mean for our everyday shopping. well, mike berners—lee helps supermarkets work out their climate costs. the differences are striking. so making the switch from beef and lamb down to plant—based proteins is about one 50th of the carbon footprint. there are some simple rules of thumb, so is it either in season, or is it robust enough to have been able to travel from elsewhere in the world on a boat? mike and other experts say they don't want to preach about low—carbon food, but they say, if we want to tackle climate change,

we need to eat less of this. david shukman, bbc news. politicians from nine different countries have expressed their anger after the facebook founder mark zuckerberg refused to appear as part of an international inquiry into so—called fake news, despite being asked repeatedly to attend. the politicians were left having to question facebook‘s european policy chief at westminster leaving an empty chair for mr zuckerberg. our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones reports. they had demanded the boss, and they weren't happy that mark zuckerberg declined their invitation. so, the facebook executive sent in his place came under immediate attack from a canadian mp at this multinational hearing. our democratic institutions, our former civil conversation, seem to have been upended by frat boy billionaires from california. so, mark zuckerberg's decision not to appear here at westminster today to me speaks volumes. and the pressure continued to mount.

facebook cannot be trusted to make the right assessment on what can properly appear on its platform... it has become a serious threat to modern democracy... do you accept that facebook needs to be regulated...? at the weekend, documents were seized by a commons official from an american executive whose firm, the maker of an app hunting down bikini photos, is in a legal dispute with facebook. why didn't facebook disclose that as a company...? the man who ordered this highly unusual move described one seized e—mail which he said suggested facebook had known about russian interference for years. an engineer at facebook, noted by the company in october 2014, that entities with russian ip addresses have been using a pinterest api key to pull over three billion data points a day through the ordered friend's api.

now, was that reported to any external body at the time...? facebook later released a statement saying the engineers who had flagged their concerns subsequently looked into this further and found no evidence of specific russian activity. mark zuckerberg may have been a no—show today, but the political pressure on his company shows no sign of letting up. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. sometimes it pays to stand out from the crowd, especially if you're a cow that goes by the name of knickers from western australia. his owner geoff pearson tried to sell him at auction last month, but meat processors said they couldn't take him as he's just too big. the seven—year—old is among the largest of his kind in the world — weighing 1.4 tonnes and two metres tall. you're watching bbc news. hello there.

we've lost our dry, cold weather now, and replaced it with something very much more unsettled. and, in fact, today is looking extremely unsettled. a deep area of low pressure bringing spells of gales or severe gales. with it some very mild air drawn up from the azores. this area of pressure means business. it could cause travel disruption across the north and west — the combination of gales and heavy rain. keep tuned to the bbc local radio for the latest updates. this morning starting off on a mild note, you'll notice. temperatures ranging between five and eight celsius. but it will be cloudy and wet. something perhaps a little bit drier into the early part of the afternoon. but then another batch of heavy and persistent rain pushing into northern ireland and scotland, where we could see some very high rainfall totals, particularly on south—facing hills. a very mild day, though. temperatures in double figures, as high as 15 or 16 degrees in the south.

it will be very blustery. gales of 60—65 mph in western exposed areas. and then, later in the day, we could see 70mph plus in the northern isles of north—east scotland. then slightly drier weather into the evening and for the first part of the night. then the next area of low pressure will move into southern areas to bring another bout of wet and windy weather. it looks like this next area of low pressure could bring strong wind across wales, the western side of england through thursday morning. a band of heavy rain spreading northwards and eastwards. something brighter into the afternoon, with plenty of heavy and blustery showers following on across southern and western areas. temperatures again in double figures. maybe not quite as mild as what we will see today. as we end the week, another area of low pressure will keep things unsettled. very windy — tight isobars across the northern half of the country. we could start off with plenty of sunshine around, particularly eastern areas. lots of showers into western areas, especially western scotland, where they will be blustery and even

wintry over the higher ground. temperatures a little bit down on what we will expect today and also thursday, nine to 11 or 12 celsius. as we head on towards the weekend, it looks like it is fairly mild across england and wales, with blustery showers, some sunny spells. maybe a bit cooler than that, though, across scotland and northern ireland. this is bbc news, the headlines:

the us state department has called on european countries to do more to support ukraine in its conflict with russia over the crimean peninsula. earlier, a court in crimea ordered the first twelve ukrainian sailors captured by russia on sunday to spend two months in detention. polls have closed in the us state of mississippi, where voters have been choosing a new senator. if the republican candidate cindy hyde—smith wins the vote, president trump's party will extend its senate majority to 53. she has faced a tough challenge from the democrat, mike espy. the british government says there's been a significant increase in migrant boats crossing the english channel. home secretary, sajid javid, says the traffic is being organised by criminal gangs, and he's promised more cooperation with the french authorities. now on bbc news — panorama.

tonight on panorama, the implants that put patients at risk. it's really important to know whether these devices are safe or not. millions of people in the uk have a medical device inside them. would you want that going inside your child? no. but these products aren't always adequately tested. i couldn't believe it. i'm frightened that this can happen and i'd no idea. we reveal how potentially dangerous devices get into our bodies. why did the mhra allow that to go into humans? we can't talk about decisions that were taken.