this is bbc news, i'm christian fraser. the headlines at three... spanish police have named the three british holiday—makers who died in a swimming pool on christmas eve. gabriel diya and his two children drowned at a hotel on the costa del sol. a powerful typhoon tears through parts of the philippines, killing at least 16 people and leaving thousands homeless. firefighters continue to tackle out—of—control bushfires in australia, with a warning that more record—breaking temperatures could be on the way. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, faces a political fight, as his likud party decides who will lead them into the country's third general election in a year. what's occurin‘? more than 11 million people tuned in for the return of gavin and stacey, making it the most watched christmas day programme of the decade.

and, in half an hour we take a special look back at the life of eunice kennedy shriver, the sister ofjfk, who used sport to help change the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. good afternoon. spanish police have named a british holiday—maker and his two children who drowned in a swimming pool on christmas eve. gabriel diya had been staying with his family at a resort on the costa del sol. police say the pool appears to have been working normally at the time. emily unia reports. according to spanish police, gabriel diya, who was 52, died trying to rescue his nine—year—old daughter, comfort, after she got into difficulties in this

hotel swimming pool. his 16—year—old son praise—emmanuel tried to help and also died. postmortem examinations confirmed that all three drowned. a 14—year—old girl, the children's sister, raised the alarm. a british tourist who's staying at the resort told the bbc she spoke to the children's mother. i noticed a woman was walking towards where i was. she looked really distraught. when she came closer, she was just saying, "help me, help me. please help me. my children are drowning." it was horrible. i didn't sleep. i can't even begin to tell you how distraught i feel. and i don't want to imagine what the mum is going through. after the incident, police divers retrieved the girl's swimming hat from the pool pump, but couldn't find anything wrong with the filtration and pump systems. the pool, which doesn't have lifeguards on duty, has now reopened to the public. emily unia, bbc news. at least 16 people have died

and many more are missing after typhoon pha nfone hit the phillippines on christmas eve. the storm carried winds of 100 and 20 miles an hour and has left a trail of devastation through the centre of the country. james waterhouse reports. typhoon phanfone first arrived on tuesday night. with it came winds of almost 120 miles per hour, causing devastation and fear. the storm then worked its way over the islands of the central philippines. 0nly today is there a sense of the damage caused. as buildings were reduced to rubble, 16,000 people were moved to shelters. thousands more were stranded as they tried to get home for christmas. coastal villages have been devastated. the typhoon was so powerful, large boats were overturned. the philippines is no stranger to tropical storms and typhoons, with around 20 arriving each year.

the most powerful one to hit land ever in the world, typhoon haiyan, struck in 2013, leaving more than 6,000 people dead. today, as a country rebuilds, the red cross warns it could take weeks to bring back power and running water. not only that, many filipinos are still missing. james waterhouse, bbc news. firefighters in australia are bracing themselves for a return to heatwave conditions, replacing recent cooler weather. there are currently 72 bushfires in the state of new south wales, about half of them burning out of control. 0ur correspondent, phil mercer, has travelled to the town of bilpin to meet one of those affected. simon tadrosse lost 40% of his orchards when the fires tore through. the emotional and financial toll has been immense. he stayed to defend his property in the blue mountains against flames a0 metres high and he almost died.

what was the most frightening bit for you? um, facing it, driving towards it in the tractor and you couldn't sort of really get out of it. that was the frightening thing. but obviously i made it through, but scary, very scary. what was it like looking into that beast of a fire thinking you might not make it? it's worrying, very worrying. yeah, look, you can't bring a life back, you only get one chance, and if you lose a life that's the end of it. your trees, your houses, your buildings, you can always rebuild. communities have been traumatised by the fires and recovering from devastation like this could take years. cooler conditions today in new south wales are helping the firefighting effort, but more dangerous days do lie ahead. here in australia's most

populous state more than 70 blazes are still burning, but this is a nationwide crisis. there are still active fires in the states of victoria and south australia. phil mercer, bbc news in bilpin, the blue mountains. the return of gavin and stacey to our tv screens saw the highest christmas day ratings for more than a decade. more than 11 million people tuned in for the show‘s christmas special comeback, according to initial figures. seven of the top ten most watched programmes yesterday were made by the bbc. 0ur correspondent, lizo mzimba, said the success of gavin and stacey was a huge win for the corporation. the biggest overnight audience of the year. the biggest christmas day overnight audience for more than a decade, since 2008. in recent years, the story we have been telling is of christmas day viewing figures slowly declining on terrestrial tv but gavin and stacey has really reversed that trend this year.

unlike most of the recent offerings on recent christmas days, this related feel like event, must see television. the first new episode for nine years, unlike for instance, just having festive editions of shows which are regular parts of the fixtures. this felt like something really special for audiences. it's also a pretty big achievement beating the queens christmas message which for five years in a row has been the most watched programme on christmas day, because it is a tradition, that families like to sit down and watch together and of course it also has the advantage of being notjust on bbc one but itv and sky as well. now, the last time we had a christmas day viewing figure of this magnitude, the last time it was bigger than gavin and stacey, was back in 2008, with the special one—off wallace and gromit,

a matter of loaf and death so this really feels like getting back to that kind of special tv, not quite the days of only fools and horses christmas specials or something like that but proof that there is still huge audiences out there wanting to enjoy this kind of thing together. it also got 11.6 million yesterday. if it can add another 2 million or so, on catch up, which is perfectly possible, it could topple line of duty, the finale, and be the most watched show of 2019. it has been a long time since the most watched show of the year has been something on christmas day, new year's day has become the one for actually launching big shows or expecting really big viewing figures along with things like big sporting sporting events, the final of great british bake 0ff, that kind of stuff. so it is within touching distance of that as well. and if the bbc can persuade ruth jones and james corden

the co—writers, to return to it, the door, no spoilers, has been left open. bbc one would really absolutely love to have more gavin and stacey. i suppose the reason we had to wait nine years is because he has gone to make his fortune in the united states? well, ruthjones has been busy doing stuff like stella, james corden has been off in the us becoming a huge star over there with his late late show and with car pool karaoke etc. he is not doing it because the bbc are offering him barrel loads of cash but because he has a real affection for the show and what it means to the audience and if you wanted proof of what it actually did mean to the british public, those viewing figures yesterday mean it has now been elevated into that very select group we like to call classic british comedies. the audience out there will be expecting, whether on not they get it, who knows,

but they will be expecting and hoping that they will be enjoying more, perhaps a big series of gavin and stacey but more special. and there is risk with something like this bringing it back back after nine years, i read today that the two of them had gone to la to write it without telling anyone else and were not particularly satisfied with the first draft they came up with and suddenly there was a spark? they work very well together, the co—created the series together and yes there is a risk that expectation is going to be let down on the day by something where the headline of gavin and stacey returns was not quite as good as the programme. people will always have differing opinions on that, just glance at social media, there will always be some people out there who did not love it the way they did other episodes but enough people seem to have really enjoyed it, they watched it for the whole hour, there has been a very positive outpouring, so an indication it has been a success and that there is a real appetite out there for more comedy like this. my wife said they cannot leave it

like that, there has got to be... that has got to be another series! talk to us about the other big shows, you mentioned the queen's speech, but a number of shows have done well for the bbc? the bbc traditionally does well on christmas day, almost like the shop window of what it can actually be out there as a demonstration of the range of its output. it has big films, we had finding dory, it has comedy, particular things like michael mcintyre, mrs brown's boys, it had festive episodes of something like eastenders, its big soap opera and also general entertainment like festive episodes of strictly. so all those kind of programmes have done well as expected for the bbc. again, not exclusively but generally trending slightly down year on year and gavin and stacey is the one thing that has actually really bucked that trend. but a very good day for the bbc, they will be thrilled

it has done so well. lizo there, reporting. this week marks the century of women being accepted into the legal profession. during that time the number of women practising law has increased. however, figures show that they still hold less than 25 percent of the top jobs. sian lloyd has been finding out about some of the changes that have taken place. and i'm introduced to somebody very charming, very pleasant, and they'll say, "what do you do?" and i'll say, "well, i'm a judge," and quick as a flash, they'll say, "do you work in family?" it tells you a lot, doesn't it, about subconscious assumptions that are still being made that we need to battle against. this piece of art is an emblem of how the change has happened and how the future has got to be different because law has to reflect the world that we live in, and it's getting there. the first ever artwork commissioned to celebrate women's contribution to the legal profession,

marking the centenary of them being allowed to practise law. unveiled in the supreme court, a legacy to those who paved the way, part of a campaign to inspire future generations. i think it will give the courtroom a different feel, an altogether different atmosphere. a new atmosphere of a more egalitarian and modern approach. this is how it looked 100 years ago — not a woman in sight. times have changed. mrsjustice carr has recently been promoted to the court of appeal. she wants to see more women get the top jobs. my own personal experience at the top levels, certainly in terms of the judiciary, is everybody is willing you to succeed. and we've got this far, we've almost done the hard stuff. the hard stuff comes in the 30s to 40s.

that's when you see the numbers drop, for all the obvious reasons. so i think the work has to come right from the bottom — schools, universities, getting women in, giving them confidence, then creating the right working environments to encourage women to break through the ranks in those middle years, and then encouraging them to carry on. all rise. and these are the lawyers of the future. as long as we raise our sons and daughters to believe in women as equal and then we pass that on, we've got to break the mold. it looks a bit like a dream... to say, like, "i'm going to become a judge one day." but i think it's step by step. marking a new chapter as the first 100 years draw to a close. sian lloyd, bbc news. 49 migrants in four boats have been rescued trying to cross the channel to the uk. the coastguard said it had been co—ordinating several search

and rescue operations, involving border force officers and the rnli, off the kent coast near dover. a helicopter and plane were also involved in the rescue. police said a man, shot dead on christmas eve, was killed in front of his family as they returned home from a night out. police were called to reports of shots being fired in battersea church road at about 9pm on tuesday and found a 36—year—old man with gunshot wounds. no arrests have been made and detectives are continuing to appeal for information. it's 3.15pm. the headlines on bbc news... spanish police have named the three british holidaymakers who died in a swimming pool on christmas eve. gabriel diya and his two children drowned at a hotel on the costa del sol. a powerful typhoon tears through parts of the philippines, killing at least 16 people and leaving thousands homeless. firefighters continue to tackle out—of—control bushfires in australia, with a warning that more record—breaking temperatures

could be on the way. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, sam curran‘s been england's star bowler against south africa... taking 4 wickets including quinton de kock when he was 5 short of his century as england look to mop up the tail on the opening day at centurion. they were 111 for 5 at one stage. james anderson striking with his first ball. stuart broad with the wickets of hamza and du plessis. but it's sam curran who's looked like he's going to make something happen every time he's stepped and he got de kock on 95. it's been a gruelling day with ben stokes not emerging after the tea break. the ecb says he's dehydrated and not feeling well. he'll continue to be monitored.

tottenham came from behind to beat brighton and boost their hopes of finishing in the premier league's top four. adam webster had given the visitors a deserved lead towards the end of the first half. but spurs raised their game after the break — harry kane with the equaliser before dele alli's sublime lob completed the turnaround. villa—norwich both in the bottom three. mikel arteta taking charge of his first arsenal game at bournemouth. fourth place chelsea looking to go six points clear of fifth if they can beat southampton. carlo ancelotti first game against burnley. boxing day's biggest game is the one that comes tonight, top of the table liverpool against second placed leicester. jurgen klopp‘s side were in qatar a few days ago lifting

the club world cup and now — like all teams — face a packed festive schedule. something the liverpool manager isn't impressed with. none of us managers have a problem with boxing day. but playing the 26th in the 28th is a crime. it is absolutely not ok. every year the managers, this year we don't have the 26 and 29 it is like holiday, but i understand all the others who are mourning, not morning, telling it just should not are mourning, not morning, telling itjust should not happen. full —— moaning. in the edinburgh derby, hibs beat hearts 2—0. martin doyle scored both goals for hibs in the first half at tynecastle, volleying the first just six minutes in, with the second on the half hour mark. that makes it back to back derby wins for the first time since the 1970s. hearts remain at the bottom of the scottish premiership table.

these are the latest scores. celtic goalless at the site men. —— st mirren. and aside from football, another sporting boxing day tradition is the sydney to hobart yacht race. over 600 miles to tasmania and blue skies when they left from sydney harbour overnight, with little smoke from the bushfires that have been raging in new south wales. 11 hours into the race and a third different leader too. last year's runners up black jack are ahead. very calm winds at the minute with the winner set to be crowned late tomorrow night or early saturday morning. in the last few moments, clan des 0bo has won the king george the sixth chase at kempton. ridden by sam twiston davies, the 11 to 2 shot beat off competition from the favourite to romp home by over 10 lengths. it's trainer paul nicholls' 11th win in this race. you can keep up to date with that on the bbc sport website.

the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, is a facing a vote today, for his leadership of the likud party, from long—time rival, gideon saar. it's said to be the biggest challenge mr netanyahu has faced to his 20 year rule of likud. yesterday evening, a rocket fired from the gaza strip, interrupted a party rally in the border town of ashkelon. the prime minister and his wife were escorted from the stage, after sirens went off. 0ur middle east correspondent, barbara plett usher, is injerusalem. she explained a little earlier, why support for benjamin netanyahu could be showing signs of weakening. there has been a united front in likud behind him, despite a lot of problems in the past year including two elections after which he was unable to form a government, and then charges of corruption against him. so he is very popular still, there is a lot of loyalty to him, but this is beginning to show a crack, and that is a challenge not

expected to unseat him necessarily, that would be a big upset, but one that shows disquiet amongst some members of the likud party, not the senior members publicly, but gideon saar does have growing amount of support amongst the grassroots, local party leaders and so on. the concern is that mr netanyahu may have lost his magic touch. he wasn't able to form a government in the past year and now they're going into a third election he again will not be able to form a government and the right wing could ultimately lose power and likud could go into the opposition, this is mr saar‘s campaign. that's what we're seeing now, and the big thing to watch is by how much benjamin netanyahu wins substantially, he wants to quell any sort of dissent. if he does not win substantially, that will weaken his grip on the party. so what is the fear for those at grass roots of likud who may have turned against him? the fear is that he is no longer going to win elections for them. in the last year, he was expecting to be able to form a right—wing

majority government which is what he has had over the past decade. he hasn't been able to do that. he also hasn't been able to form a coalition government, a national unity government and so, the likud members are concerned that if it continues in this way, he is going to get weaker and ultimately the right wing will lose its grip on power and mr netanyahu's rivals, also a centre right party but allied to more centrist and leftist parties, will get in. it is about party politics, about pragmatic things like will they will be able to keep their seats? there is a great deal loyalty towards mr neta nyahu in the party itself, there is a tradition of fierce loyalty to the leader. nobody has ever unseated an incumbent before. but if it looks as if he is gradually going to lose his grip or his touch in terms of providing them seats in government,

then you may see this dissent grow. they are celebrating hannukah holidays there, how do they feel about another election, they have a third general election coming up and a vote within the likud party, is there some fatigue setting in? the fatigue has very much set in, there was a great deal of unhappiness when the third election was announced, and there was great deal of sort of a blame game on either side, in mr netanyahu's party but also his main rival, both of whom tried to form a coalition government after the second election. they already knew people were fed up with the political stalemate. they just want a government, not a caretaker government, but one that can make decisions in terms of notjust on security and diplomacy and also on social issues. it is a very unpopular election coming up. that is probably also adding to the disquiet among likud ranks. the seychelles off the coast of east africa is setting itself up

as a hub for marine preservation. the first ever large scale coral reef restoration project was set up there — and now they are transplanting what they call " super coral‘. with over half of the world's reefs already lost because of rising sea temperatures, there's hope this tiny chain of islands could hold the key to saving these animals from extinction. catherine byaruhanga has more. they're called the reef rescuers. they work in the indian ocean trying to find ways of saving the world's dying coral. today, they're checking on their nursery. it's a manmade coralfarm and one of the biggest in the world. so this is a large—scale coral reef restoration project. the nursery that we use is a rope nursery. so our coral fragments are actually placed inside a rope and then they are hung mid—water. over half the world's reefs have already been lost because of climate change.

coral gets its colour and its energy from the algae which live inside it. as the water gets warmer, though, the algae becomes toxic, so the coral evicts it. this is called bleaching. with its food source expelled, the coral often die. from the nursery, the small coral are brought down and cemented to the ocean floor. within minutes, fish swim to what the reef rescuers call super coral. 0ur coral gardening methodology identifies resilient colonies by visiting reefs shortly after bleaching events and looking at which colonies have survived and have some level of confidence that they are resilient and will make our restoration site resilient forfurther climate change events. the nursery is also an open water classroom. from the surface, i can see hundreds of coral beneath me.

scientists have come from all over the world to learn how it's done here. this technique has already been taken to countries like colombia and the maldives and next are kenya, tanzania and mauritius. the reef rescuers‘ project was born here on cousin ireland, a thriving here on cousin island, a thriving world class nature reserve. cousin island was the desired prize... it was set up by nirmal shah. he's been running conservation projects here for over three decades and he's already thinking about the next big idea. so all these experiences we've learned from scratch. we know the entire technique now. so the next step is to grow corals on land, tinker around with them until they become resilient to climate change and plant them back. scientists predict most of the world's coral will be gone by 2050. innovation might be the only way to preserve them.

catherine byaru hanga, bbc news, the seychelles. people across certain parts of the middle east, india and south east asia have witnessed the last solar eclipse of the decade. the path of the eclipse allowed millions of people to see it. shaun hassett has more. this is an annular solar eclipse or as some people call it the ring of fire. it happens when the moon covers the sun centre, but leaves the outer edges visible. although it doesn't feel this way for many of us this way for many of us in the northern hemisphere right now, we are getting closer to the sun. that means the sun is actually larger in the sky than average so the moon is not able to cover it completely leaving an annulus of light, hence an annular solar collapse. millions of people were able to see this. from astronomers in the uae, to schoolchildren and their teachers in mumbai. to these crowds in singapore,

where people will not get another chance to see the ring of fire until 2063. it's an annular eclipse and the next one will be when i am in my 605 and so i might as well take my youth and look at this lovely ring of fire. it took around five hours for the path of the eclipse to move across the indian and pacific oceans. for those watching on the ground, the celestial show was even shorter. it's only two minutes but it's so intense that you talk about it with your friends and family for the next... month. whilst some places will have to wait decades for their next annular solar eclipse, others will not have to wait anywhere near that long. the good news is a very similar in fact even better eclipse will occur on the 21st of june next year. the path of that eclipse will take in parts of africa and the middle east and southern

china. not much chance of seeing that in the uk i'm afraid. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith—lucas. hello. boxing day has brought us some fairly mixed weather, there has been quite a bit of cloud and some outbreaks of rain but thankfully things are looking drier over the next couple of days, particularly for some of the flood affected parts of central and southern england. milder too as temperatures will be on the rise. into this evening, still a bit of patchy rain but it will ease away for most places, lingering longest for the south—west of england and south wales and then the next batch of rain and wind pushes into northern ireland and western scotland through tonight. further east still fairly chilly, temperatures a few degrees above freezing but it is turning milderfrom the west, so mostly frost free to start your friday morning. through friday we have the warm front bringing mild through the uk, still fairly breezy with some outbreaks of rain for northern ireland, and at times for scotland,

perhaps the odd spot of rain for northern england. a much drier day thankfully further south, still quite a bit of cloud around, the odd brighter spell around during the afternoon. temperatures on friday fairly mild 7—12d. bye for now. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... spanish police have named the three british holiday—makers who died in a swimming pool on christmas eve. gabriel diya and his two children drowned at a hotel on the costa del sol. a powerful typhoon tears through parts of the philippines, killing at least 16 people and leaving thousands homeless. firefighters continue to tackle out—of—control bushfires in australia — with a warning that more record—breaking temperatures could be on the way. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, faces a politicalfight as his likud party decides who will lead them