welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is martin stanford. our top stories: a volcanic eruption and a tsunami in indonesia — rescuers say at least a0 people have been killed in the sunda strait. and this was the moment the wave hit a concert at a beach resort onjava. crew working with the south korean band seventeen are missing. closed for christmas — no end to the us government shutdown as senate democrats and the white house face off over the border wall. the us envoy to the fight against islamic state resigns in protest at donald trump's decision to withdraw american troops from syria. we start with some breaking news —

at least 43 people have died and around 600 have been injured in a tsunami in indonesia. the giant wave 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, it struck on saturday night, hitting beaches in the area. the authorities are investigating whether it was caused by the nearby volcano, kra katoa. terrifying pictures of this tsunami are being posted to social media. this video has emerged of a concert which was underway when the surge of water hit land. suddenly, the stage you see is destroyed and the water comes into the audience itself. members of the crew, the wife of the lead vocalist

are said to be missing. they are feared dead. the group was reportedly a popular south korean boy band called seventeen. the bbc‘s indonesia editor rebecca henschke gave us more details. another disaster for this area that is no stranger to these kinds of events. authorities are now getting a fuller picture of the kind of devastation. we're seeing images of these beach towns along the coast of west java closest to the sunda strait, and this is an area that is popular with local tourists, so we're seeing images of water 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're seeing a lot of rubble there, 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, in lampung and the sumatran side of the strait that still haven't been able to contact. so, 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 krakatoa system of volcanoes could be to blame for this incident. that's right. anak kra katoa 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 sutopo nugroho said that he believed that some underwater landslide may have been triggered by this volcanic eruption in the strait that then

triggered the tsunami. it was also high tide last night with a full moon. he said that could've contributed to the huge waves that then hit the beaches. this anak kra katoa sits in the strait, and it's emerged from the ocean half a century after kra katoa, the famous volcano, erupted in 1883. now, that's one of the most deadliest and renowned volcanic eruptions in recent history. because of the nature of that phenomenon, was there a clear warning given, or as some reports seem to suggest, this, once again, caught indonesians by surprise. there wasn't a warning about this. there was some eruptions, but not major eruptions from the volcano. there are many active volcanoes that are watched across this archipelago. there was another confusion last night about whether a tsunami 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 some questions, hard questions being asked of the authority at the moment about its monitoring systems. at the same time, indonesia, well 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 these inevitable natural disasters that seem to be hitting the country one after another. earlier, i spoke to oystein lund andersen who was at the beach when the waves struck. well, i was photographing the erupting krakatoa volcano, and suddenly ijust saw a huge white wave come towards me,

bigger than normal. so i saw, within the 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 maybe went 15, 25 metres in. then one or two minutes later, the second wave came and then 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. we were more at labour later in the bullet and throughout the day. —— more on that later in the bulletin. 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. there was further bad news for mr trump as his top official in the fight against so—called islamic state quit over the decision to pull us troops from syria. 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 secretary, jim 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 the 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 buckler, bbc news, washington.

let's get some of the day's other news. the main opposition party in sudan says 22 people have been killed in four days of protests over a rise in the cost of bread. the leader of the opposition condemned what they had been the armed repression of the demonstrations. the protests had been muted on saturday after the authorities closed universities and shut down mobile internet services. a car bomb has killed at least 12 people in the somali capital, mogadishu. the explosion happened less that 400 metres from the presidential palace. the militant islamist group al sha bab says it was behind the killings. hundreds of people in morocco have attended vigils to mark the murder of two young scandinavian women in a tourist spot in the atlas mountains earlier this week. louisa vesteragerjespersen from denmark and maren ueland from norway were found dead near the village of ismil with wounds to their necks. paddy ashdown, the former leader of —— the head of a un observer team has arrived in yemen to monitor

a ceasefire in the port city of hodeidah. the retired dutch general, patrick cammaert, arrived in the countryjust hours after the mission was unanimously approved by the united nations‘ security council. caroline rigby has more. for the first time in years, a glimmer of hope for peace in yemen. the un team deployed to oversee it arrived on saturday. headed by retired dutch general patrick cammaert, the group of observers are tasked with helping to implement and monitor hodeida's ceasefire. a fragile truce, which came into force on tuesday following talks in sweden between delegations from the yemeni government and houthi 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 cooperate for the success of this mission. he will meet with the other party

shortly and then he will start work on the ground. as a key entry point for aid supplies, the port of hodeida acts as a lifeline 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 there've already been reports of sporadic gunfire this week on the outskirts of the city. but the success of a truce here could mean the beginning of the end of this brutal conflict, and help save millions of lives. caroline rigby, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the world's biggest lottery — el gordo, the fat one — delivers nearly $800 million to the lucky winners. the world of music has been paying tribute to george michael who's died from suspected heart failure at the age of 53. he sold well over 100 million albums

in a career spanning more than three decades. the united states troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon said that it's failed in its principle objective to capture noriega and take him to the united states to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. in its place, 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 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. business 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: at least a0 three people have been killed by a tsunami in indonesia. it came ashore in the sunda strait near the kra katoa volcano. donald trump has said he'll stay in the white house over christmas after senators failed to end the deadlock which has shut down parts of the federal government. more now on the decision by president trump's top official in the fight against so—called islamic state to quit over plans to pull us troops from syria. zaki lababidi is president of the syrian american council. hejoins me from scottsdale, arizona. zaki scottsdale, arizona. lababidi, do you think this gentleman zaki lababidi, do you think this gentleman had to resign, or do you think he's making something of a gesture 7 think he's making something of a gesture? he was about to finish his term anyway in a couple of weeks. i think he was the architect of stf

being a force, the main force, that the united states depends on in the area “— the united states depends on in the area —— sdf. after the sudden pullout position by president trump, i don't think he had a choice. is also making a statement obviously, like you said, he's only got two weeks to go, he's making a statement of resignation saying it's his own decision —— he's also making. there are reports president trump made this decision after talking to president erdogan and the conversation was linked to the decision that came straight afterwards. why would president erdogan in your view want the americans out of syria?|j erdogan in your view want the americans out of syria? i don't think necessarily president erdogan wa nts think necessarily president erdogan wants american troops out of syria, but what he wants is what turkey

considers as terrorist organisations, the pkk and the pyp, out of the southern border of turkey. he does not want any more terrorist attacks against turkey starting from syrian territories. if you remember in the last week or so, there was a series of bomb attacks killing syrian civilians in different cities in turkish controlled areas. the pkk basically came out and claimed responsibility for it. remember what happened two yea rs for it. remember what happened two years ago in turkey, that was the fear, they're going to start attacks in syria and they make sure it's successful and they're in syria and they make sure it's successful and they‘ re going in syria and they make sure it's successful and they're going to turn it into the turkish territory itself. this is the conundrum, that american allies are turkish enemies,

oi’ american allies are turkish enemies, or enemies of turkey, as mr erdogan would see it. how on earth... no wonder bret mcguirk felt he had to go if he is, if you like, selling short the very people he's been working with? exactly, that's exactly what happened. bret mcguirk has been supporting the stf, although we pointed out many times to the administration over the last couple of years that the stf is behaving in the areas like the assad regime is behaving, arresting people, including kurds, by the way, a lot of syrian kurds are against the pkk and the leadership, most of them from kurdish turks. they're not syrian kurds, but turkish kurds across the border is who came and they're directing the operation, the

military operations on syrian territories. when you talk to people in raqqa and other areas where the stf are controlling, they're taking over houses, their arresting people, they're taking them against their will to fight among their ranks —— sdf. all kind of behaviour the assad regime has been doing after the last seven or eight years against its own people. zaki lababidi, we'll have to leave it there. thank you very much indeed for joining it there. thank you very much indeed forjoining us. thank you. 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. thousands of cuban medics have returned from brazil after the cuban government fell out with the brazilian president—elect

jair bolsonaro over a joint health—care programme. cuba's communist government pulled the doctors out after brazil's far—right leader questioned their qualifications and called them slaves. he accused the cuban government of keeping 75% of their pay, and of not allowing their families to join them. will grant reports. welcomed home to flowers and flags, thousands of doctors who'd been working in remote and poor parts of brazil back in cuba after an acrimonious end to their posting. after brazil's president—elect, jair bolsonaro, had described them as slaves, most were just glad to be home. translation: we'd expected some move oi’ change with the new president in brazil. we didn't expect it to be so fast, so abrupt. i'm pleased to be going back to my home, to my family, to my children and to be back in cuba, which is my country. i consider myself to be slave to my medical specialism, to my profession and the people who need my services.

they were greeted off the plane by president miguel diaz—canel, a sign ofjust how political their exit from brazil has come. "you return with your heads held high," he told them. brazil's president—elect had criticised the cuban state for keeping the lion's share of their wages and desired, commanded the doctors receive it all. in response, cuba's health ministry robustly defended itself. translation: part of the money went to the cuban doctors and part went to the cuban state, but it was all previously agreed and approved by the medics. they were told these are the terms and conditions and they agreed to them. they went in agreement, not slavery. the international medical brigades are an important source of income for the cu ban state, and the loss of a wealthy partner in brazil is a blow worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year. the question now is whether

the returning doctors will be put to work in cuba's own ailing and underfunded healthcare system or be sent abroad once again. with a left—wing president, andres manuel lopez 0brador, recently sworn in in mexico, speculation is rife that the cuban medics back from brazil could do a similarjob there instead. for now, nothing has been signed. translation: some medics will go out to the communities here to carry on the same work. others will do international postings wherever they're needed, whether in mexico, chile or wherever in the world cuban doctors are called for. mr bolsonaro offered the cuban doctors asylum and some chose to stay in brazil. the majority, though, put such politics aside and came back to cuba, returning to their families but also to greater economic uncertainty. will grant, bbc news, havana. it's one of the biggest lotteries in

the world... el gordo, or the fat 0ne. millions of people in spain take part hoping to win prizes that will change lives. this year's draw has taken place and, as always, the winning's have been spread far and wide. the bbc‘s tim allman has more. in spain, christmas wouldn't really be christmas without el gordo. it goes back more than 200 years. a real festive tradition. local schoolchildren picking out and then singing the winning numbers. although the pressure was perhaps a little too much for this girl. the beauty of el gordo is that the

prize money may be big, more than 2 billion euros, but the number of winners is pretty substantial too. all across the country, groups of families, friends and co—workers clubbed together to take part. plenty of people were celebrating, as were those who sold the winning tickets. translation: it brings me great happiness because we know we've given joy to someone. we spend all year trying to deliver happiness, and with this prize, we've done it. the winners came from cities including madrid, bilbao, cordoba and barcelona. the "fat 0ne" paying off once more. a christmas to rememberfor so off once more. a christmas to remember for so many. tim off once more. a christmas to rememberfor so many. tim allman, bbc news. a rare albino orangutan has been released into the wild in indonesia, nearly two years after being rescued from captivity. she was released into a park

in the heart of borneo earlier this week. daniel mckerrell has more. this is alberta, the well‘s only known albino orangutan a few weeks after she was rescued from a remote corner of borneo last year. local environmentalists say she was found and emaciated, her face environmentalists say she was found and emaciated, herface still environmentalists say she was found and emaciated, her face still bloody from her capture, being kept by villagers as a pet. but after a year of the food and recuperation, she is now going on a journey back into the wild. she is being taken to a national park on the river in the heart of borneo. the forests orangutan live in have been devastated in recent years, much of it due to logging and palm oil plantations. as a result, according to wwf, orangutan habitats have been halved in the last 20 years and

orangutans are now critically endangered. 0ther orangutans are now critically endangered. other of the year at a rehabilitation centre, alba was more than ready to return to the jungle. she was released along with her friend kika, another female orangutan, who was even more keen. alba quickly climbed up into the tree canopy, as much as 35 metres, and began eating fruit from the forest. 0fficials and began eating fruit from the forest. officials from the borneo orangutan survival foundation, who rescued alba and are now overseeing her return to the while, say it's a clear sign she's adapting well. a very rare primate and a sign of hope for a threatened species. daniel mckerrow, bbc news. we wish alba friends all the very best. that's it for now, stay watching bbc news. —— alba and friends. 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 nearly 600 people have been injured. 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. a top american official in the fight against the islamic state group has quit over president trump's decision to pull troops from syria. before mr trump's announcement, brett mcgurk, the envoy to the global coalition fighting is, had insisted that american troops would continue to operate in the country. now on bbc news — it's time to take a front row seat as mark kermode gives his view on the big releases of the year —