welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is martin stanford. our top stories: a tsunami in indonesia — first reports say 20 people have been killed in the sunda strait. —— early reports say a0 people have been killed in the sunda strait. closed for christmas — no end to the us government shutdown as senate democrats and the white house face off over the border wall. we start with some breaking news — at least 43 people have died and around 600 injured in a tsunami in indonesia. the giant waves hit the sunda strait, which is the channel between the islands of java and sumatra.

the government's disaster mitigation agency said in a statement that the tsunami struck on saturday night, hitting beaches in the area. authorities are investigating whether it was caused by the nearby volcano, krakatoa. our indonesia editor rebecca henschke‘s on the line from the capital, jakarta. another emergency under way. what is the latest information you have? yes, that's right. another disaster for this area that is no stranger to these kinds of events. authorities are now getting a call a picture of the kind of devastation. we have seen images of these towns along the coast of west java closest to the sunda strait, and this is an area thatis sunda strait, and this is an area that is popular with local tourist, so we are that is popular with local tourist, so we are seeing images of water that rushed into hotels and restau ra nts that rushed into hotels and restaurants on the beach last night. a lot of the towns there are made of wood and bamboo, tin roofs, so those

houses have collapsed. we are seeing a lot of rubble there are, as well as some cars that have been washed off. people have been evacuated from the area, those that fled last night are now sleeping in mosques on higher ground. authorities are trying to reach the area, setting up community kitchens so that people can get some food and medical teams are heading to the area. there are places, though, on the sumatran side of the strait that still haven't been able to contact. the officials are warning that the death toll could definitely rise. there does appear to be a link at least by some of the words coming out of the authorities that the kra katoa system out of the authorities that the krakatoa system of out of the authorities that the kra katoa system of volcanoes out of the authorities that the krakatoa system of volcanoes could be to blame for this incident. that's right. kra katoa be to blame for this incident. that's right. krakatoa is erupting at the moment. it sits in the sunda strait, so we are seeing images of lava and smoke coming out of it quite dramatic images last night.

the national disaster agency spokesperson said that he believed some underwater landslide may have been triggered by this volcanic eruption in the straight, that then triggered this you know me. it was also high tide last night with a full moon. he said that could have contributed to the huge waves that then hit the beaches. krakatoa sits in the straight, and it has emerged from the ocean half a century after krakatoa, the from the ocean half a century after kra katoa, the famous from the ocean half a century after krakatoa, the famous volcano erupted in 1883. that is one of the most deadliest and renowned volcanic eruption in recent history. because of the nature of that phenomenon, was there a clear warning given, or some reports seem to suggest this, once again, poor indonesians by surprise.

there wasn't a warning about this. there wasn't a warning about this. there wasn't a warning about this. there was some eruptions, but not major eruptions from the volcano. there are many active volcanoes that i watched across this archipelago. there was another confusion last night about whether a syn army had been triggered with the disaster agency withdrawing this tsunami warning and then saying that in fact it had hit the area. so there are questions, hard questions being asked of the authority at the moment about its monitoring systems. at the same time, indonesia are ready to deal with a disaster like this, and they are deploying medical teams and disaster agency workers to the area. but many questions, once again, about how ready this country is for the inevitable natural disasters that seemed to be hitting the country one after another. thank you very much for that.

earlier, i spoke with oystein lund andersen who was at the beach when the waves struck. i was photographing the erupting krakatoa volcano, suddenly i just saw a huge white wave come towards me, bigger than normal. so within a few seconds that i had to get out there, so i ran — i ran quite far. that was the first wave. right. just tell us which beach you were on at this point, where were you located at this moment? i was located on west java, around 47 kilometres from the erupting volcano. were you able to witness how far inland to the water went? the first wave — there were two waves — the first wave went maybe 15, 25 metres in. then one or two minutes later, the second wave came and that went maybe

50, 60 metres inland. is it possible to estimate the height of the wave, the depth of the wave, the amount of water coming in? i don't know. maybe two metres. i don't know. it was difficult to tell. i was standing over it when the wave hit. the us government will remain partially shut down over christmas after politicians in the senate failed to resolve their differences over the budget during a special session. democrats oppose donald trump's plans to use federal funds to build a wall along the us—mexico border. chris buckler reports. in the us, some government buildings are being closed and many federal employees have been told not to go to work. not because of christmas, but because of a government shutdown. senators, however, were working. they were called to a special session of congress to try to find a funding deal acceptable to all. but without any sign of compromise, democrats and republicans were left

simply blaming each other. they brought this about because they're under a lot of pressure, we all know this. from theirfar left, they feel compelled to disagree with the president on almost anything, and certainly this. the rise about donald trump's long promise for a physical barrier along the border between mexico and america. he's been unable to get mexico to pay for the controversial border wall, and in the us, democrats have refused to give the president the $5 billion he says he needs to build it. so, mr president, president trump, if you want to open the government, you must abandon the wall, plain and simple. relationships between the white house and even some republicans in congress were damaged during the last week after president trump made a surprise and sudden decision to pull us troops out of syria. it led to the resigned

of his defence secretaryjim mattis, and now another member of his administration is leaving as a result of the president's plans. brett mcgurk is the us special envoy to the global coalition fighting the so—called islamic state group. in his resignation letter, he made clear his concerns that the president's claims that is had been defeated were premature. only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. but the point is that military commitment doesn't end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. the head of the un observer team has

arrived in yemen to observe a ceasefire. the retired dutch general arrived in the countryjust hours after the mission was unanimously approved by the united nations security council. for the first time in years, a glimmer of hope for peace in yemen. the un team deployed to oversee it arrived on saturday. added by retired dutch general, these group of observers were tasked with helping to implement and monitor the ceasefire. the fragile truce which came into force on tuesday holding talks in sweden between delegations from the yemeni government and hootie rebels. a precursor to more significant negotiations scheduled for the new year. translation: today we met general patrick, the head of

the committee. we welcomed him and informed him of the president's instructions to co—operate with the success of this mission. he will meet with the other parties shortly and then we will start work on the ground. as a key entry point for aid supplies, the port at as a lifeline to millions of people on the brink offamine, but to millions of people on the brink of famine, but in recent months, it has been a flashpoint for fighting. progress towards peace was never going to be simple, and have already been reports of sporadic gunfire this week on the outskirts of the city. but the success of a truce he could mean the beginning of the end of this brutal conflict, and help save millions of lives. emperor akihito of japan has broadcast his last birthday message before he steps down next april. the emperor, who turned 85 on sunday, appeared to be overcome with emotion when he thanked the people of japan and empress michiko for having supported him throughout his life on the throne. he said he was relieved that his reign was coming to an end withoutjapan having been drawn into fighting in a war again.

the emperor is the first living japanese monarch to relinquish the chrysanthemum throne in nearly 200 years. stay with us here on bbc news. still to come: tributes have been paid to lord ashdown, former leader of the liberal democrats and bosnian peace envoy, who has died at the age of 77. a man and a woman are still being questioned by detectives in connection with the criminal use of drones near gatwick airport. police are also searching a house in crawley in west sussex. sightings of drones over the last three days led to the cancellation or delay of a thousand flights, affecting more than 140,000 passengers. the airport's remained open, but there are still some delays. jenny kumar reports. police activity at a house near gatwick airport. officers have searched inside the property and examined vehicles

parked on the drive. this comes after sussex police confirmed last night that a man and a woman had been arrested in connection with illegal drone activity. well, tonight, there is a small police presence outside the property that was searched earlier today. meanwhile, gatwick airport say measures are being taken to keep the airfield safe and to keep flights running. at gatwick, flights have been getting back to normal after three days of disruption. but there's a backlog to clear, and frustration amongst passengers. we fly off to france today, skiing in the alps. the kids — taking them away properly for a first white christmas. and, yeah, we've been — it's been really anxious times for us. i only had a couple of weeks at home, so it's cut my trip short by a day, which is really upsetting when you don't get to see your family and friends that often. so i'm — i was really sad. i've been really sad about it, but i'm just excited to be on the ground and back home.

it's not ideal, we're not at all happy with that. we don't have a very long holiday, so it's frustrating to miss out on some of it. it seems rather stupid that this incident had to happen at all. the disruption caused widespread chaos, affecting 1,000 flights and 150,000 passengers. today, six flights have been cancelled, but the airport hopes to run the majority of services. one estimate is that the disruption is costing airlines around £15 million as they refund customers and make arrangements for others to get to their destination in time for christmas. jenny kumah, bbc news. this is bbc news. the headlines: indonesia's disaster relief agency has said that at least 20 people —— a0 people were killed when a tsunami came ashore in the sunda strait. the former leader of the liberal democrats, lord ashdown, has died at the age of 77. as we were hearing, earlier the top white house official in the fight against the islamic state group has quit over president trump's decision

to pull us troops from syria. in brett mcgurk‘s resignation letter, leaked to the media, he said the militants were on the run, but not yet defeated. it comes just a day after the us defence secretaryjim mattis handed in his resignation, with the syria withdrawal thought to be a bone of contention there too. kamran bokhari is director of strategy and programs at the center for global policy based in washington, dc. he was about to quit anyway. he had to make this resignation gesture? no, buti to make this resignation gesture? no, but i think that he wanted to express his displeasure over the president's decision to pull out 2000 troops. mind you, he has been working very closely on the ground with the us allies, the kurdish

militia that has been a front—line troop against the isis. it put mr mcguirk ina troop against the isis. it put mr mcguirk in a very awkward position. it is understandable that he quit the way he did. what do you think will be the ramifications if, as seems to be the plan, these us forces leave? there are actually two sides to this argument. obviously, there are is a symbolic impact. there is the fear, the risk that this will embolden isis, this will embolden other malign actors such as russia and run and of course the regime. at the same time, if you look at it in pure military terms, we have to ask the question, what were these 2000 troops doing that we'll now no longer be served? what functions we re longer be served? what functions were they serving, where they involve in combat and is the us com pletely involve in combat and is the us completely pulling out? i've variously doubt that is the case. at

think there is, the us will continue to have a commitment against isis and syria, but the president, he needs to declare mint —— mission accomplished and as for his promise, bring the troops back home. what number would you put on it? what number would you put on it? what number of troops coming back home is sufficient to please president trump while leaving a sufficient number of troops in syria to do any decent work? it could be as many as half of them. we were also getting word that there are plans that are being considered for the removal of about half of the us contingent in afghanistan, about 5000 or 6000 troops that we're hearing. these are preliminary reports. if the president can show, look, he has brought troops home, that would satisfy his base and of course he gets to say, look, i promised to

defeat isis and therefore i have and here is the evidence. mr bokhari, thank you very much indeed. my pleasure. here in the uk, lord paddy ashdown, former liberal democrat leader and former high representative to bosnia herzegovina, has died at the age of 77. in november this year, lord ashdown revealed he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer. our chief political correspondent, vicki young, reflects upon his life. there's some flash photography in her report. this is how most people will remember paddy ashdown — the action man, the party leader with the least affection for westminster. long before he fired his first political salvos, he was a military man. a marine, he saw active service in borneo and malaya, as documented at the time. newsreel: at this post, 20 yards from the border, 23—year—old marine lieutenant ashdown, from somerset, has local forces as well as marines under his command. he excelled as a member of the elite special boat squadron,

spoke fluent mandarin chinese. he spent time too in his native northern ireland during the worst of the troubles. after a period as a diplomat, and some time on the dole, paddy ashdown got involved with the liberals, elected mp for yeovil in 1983. later, in 1988, after the painful merger with the sdp that formed the liberal democrats, he became leader. i say to the millions out there who are concerned about poverty and about unemployment, come and join us. the party was at rock bottom in the polls, and financially crippled. paddy ashdown built it up again, but at some cost to his home life. he admitted an affair with his former secretary, tricia howard. what paddy said stands. he's made a statement already, and i was perfectly well aware of what he was going to say. fears that his party's poll rating would suffer were unfounded, and in 1997 he guided it to its greatest election achievement since the ‘20s, doubling

the number of lib dem mps. by this stage, he had already been contemplating the prospect of coalition government with labour. a joint cabinet committee was established, with liberal democrats invited to talks at number ten. according to ashdown, the plan to bring the lib dems into government foundered on opposition from senior labour ministers and the thorny problem of electoral reform. charles kennedy is duly elected the leader... paddy ashdown resigned the leadership in 1999, handing the baton onto charles kennedy, and retiring from the house of commons two years later. he spent time in bosnia, at some personal risk, at the height of the war there. and in 2002, became the high representative in bosnia and herzegovina. myjob is to create, to help to create, the structures of a modern european democratic state, and then to repatriate

the powers that the international community has held here back to the bosnians. but he wasn't done with westminster politics. in 2015, after the lib dems had spent five years in coalition with the conservatives, lord ashdown returned to chair the party's general election campaign... and we are saying the conservatives are the largest party. ..famously disputing the exit poll's prediction of a dire result. if this exit poll is right, andrew, i will publicly eat my hat on your programme. this is a hat. andrew, you are so predictable, aren't you ? ijust knew you'd... i wanted to get a bigger one. hi, guys. he had great enthusiasm and energy, optimism, drive. he was very much mr action man. the style that he acquired in the military, he carried into politics very effectively, and he did great things for our party. he inspired respect for his constant ideas and enthusiasm,

and his efforts to build the liberal democrats into a force in national politics. paddy ashdown, who died yesterday. retailers hoping for a last minute rush of christmas shoppers on so—called super saturday have been left disappointed. footfall on the high street is down again this year to its lowest level since the 2008 recession. sarah corker has more from leeds. # joy to the world, the lord has come... with three days to go until christmas, millions of us are hitting the high street to bag those last few presents. in leeds today, shoppers were certainly getting into the festive mood. so we tried to get things online, but then you can't feel it and touch it, so we've come into leeds because you get the atmosphere, and to me the two days before christmas, where everyone is running around getting shopping, are kind of like a nice atmosphere, it's quite nice to come out and see everybody.

it's actually quite stressful, i'm in such a bad mood. i can't find anything i want, i should have prepared, but it happens every year. why have you left it until the last minute then? i always do, every year. it's not last minute — christmas eve is last minute. i have seven grandchildren, ranging from nine months to 23, so... so you've got all the food to feed the family. oh yeah, definitely. shoppers are expected to spend more than £1 billion today, which has been nicknamed super saturday, and many retailers are banking on that last—minute rush to boost sales after a difficult run—up to christmas on the high street. prices are being slashed to boost sales and shift stock. 2018 has been one of the toughest years on record for retailers, who are being squeezed by rising costs and online competition. today is normally the busiest day for christmas shoppers in the lead up to christmas, but this year the situation is different and consumers are feeling less confident around the future so they have been reining back their spending, so footfall, the volume of activity,

the number of people going to retail destinations, is lower than last year. even for internet retailers, sales this season have been lower than expected. it's christmas, you should be organised! one thing people are splashing out on today is turkey and all the trimmings. it has been non—stop since 6:30am. we were here at 5:30am. today, we're hoping to be five times busier than a normal saturday and we have the staff in to cope with that. so it may still be one of the busiest shopping days, but this year more than ever, the high street has lost some of its sparkle. sarah corker, bbc news, in leeds. church attendance in the uk has been in steady decline in recent years, but not in cathedrals. they're bucking that trend with a 13% rise in attendance in the last decade. religious affairs editor martin bashir has the story. if wise men followed a star, then what would they make of this? a laser light show

at lichfield cathedral in the run—up to christmas. £6 for adults, £4 for children, and it's a sell—out. inside this mediaeval cathedral, 22,000 doves float above the need, modern technology telling the ancient story of peace on earth. you can see as you walk in, it draws you in. absolutely brilliant. think it is really good to come and see something like this locally. the spectacular light show is also having an impact here. a recent study found that cathedrals give a £200 million boost to their local high streets. with all the light shows and all their events, basically it's bringing in a lot

more people to lichfield, which is great for the bars, the restaurants, the shops. attendance at lichfield is up 25%. and while they are reluctant to attribute this to any single cause, the dean says that cathedrals have worked hard at improving their product — combining the tranquillity of a sacred space with the stimulus of modern media. what has any of this to do with the message of a saviour who is christ the lord born at christmas? the message of the angels was joy. i bring you news of greatjoy. when you look in the face of a newborn child is you experience joy. it's that experience of non—anxiety, of joyful freedom, that we want to put people in touch with. the light of the world has certainly come to the midlands. martin bashir, bbc news, at lichfield cathedral. that's the way the world looks so

far today. you can reach me on twitter, i'm @martinstanford. the weather now, with helen willetts. hello. what a difference a day makes — certainly the better day of the weekend for the dry and bright, even sunny weather on saturday, whilst today brings with it more cloud for most of the country and some rain. the exception being northern and central scotland, where actually saturday brought most of the rain. from showers, it looks drier through the day ahead. but this is what's galloping in from the atlantic, this array of weather fronts which will alleviate the fall in temperature through the remainder night, except of course in scotland and the north—east, where we'll also see some fog issues. but the rain already upon us will move its way across most part by mid—morning. into northern ireland, perhaps brushing into southern scotland, some heavier bursts for a time, and then perhaps again later. it looks like the lion's share of the sunshine will be across northern and central scotland. mind you, it's going to be a cold start, and there'll be patchy fog, which at this time of year, struggles to clear. it may dry up again

for northern ireland and southern scotland later but for much of england and wales, misty low cloud, it'll be grey and foggy over the hills and around some of the coasts as well. relatively mild with the atlantic air and moisture coming in but a very different day, quite a great miserable day. whilst in the north, as we saw yesterday, temperatures around six or seven. that clearer air and drier weather will eventually push across more parts of england and wales through the coming night, limiting the rain to the far south. but obviously we've had the moisture, so there could be some fog, and we'll see a more widespread frost as we go into the morning of christmas eve, with temperatures below freezing in some parts. a really chilly start to the day. and it means a much brighter day ahead, a much drier and brighter day. you saw those those temperatures hovering around freezing, even the towns and cities, so they'll take a while to recover. it's not going to be as mild as we'll see through this day ahead. but it'll be brighter, there'll be more sunshine around, except in southern and western areas. and yes, there will be some fairweather cloud elsewhere, but it does look fine and dry. the reason high pressure

is squeezing all the rain out of that weather front, but unfortunately, as we get back into tuesday, christmas day, it pushes that weather front and the cloud back in from the west. so not as sparkling, we don't think, on christmas eve, in terms of sunshine amounts. could be misty and foggy, but it should be mostly dry, despite being rather cloudy. again, hopeful there will be a little bit of wintry sunshine to enjoy for some of us during the day on tuesday. and it won't be particularly mild, but it will be a little less cold, if you like, than christmas eve, because of all that cloud, particularly in the west. as ever, there's plenty more information on the outlook on the website, butjust taking a quick glance at wednesday and thursday, it's more of the same — cloudy. this is bbc news. the headlines: at least 43 people are reported to have been killed by a tsunami in indonesia. it came ashore in the sunda strait, the stretch of water that separates the islands of java and sumatra. the country's disaster agency said more than 150 people have been injured. —— nearly 600 people

have been injured. paddy ashdown, the former leader of britain's liberal democrats, has died. after leaving british politics, he served as the international high representative for bosnia and herzegovina. a former royal marine, lord ashdown led the lib dems to their best election result in 70 years in 1997. a partial us government shutdown is now set to last until at least thursday. earlier, the us senate ended talks to resolve an impasse over the budget without agreement. democrats are refusing to give in to president trump's demands for $5 billion to build a border wall with mexico.