voting has ended in israel, where prime minister benjamin netanyahu is being challenged for the leadership of his party. he is facing long—term rival gideon sa'ar in the likud party elections. rescue workers in austria and switzerland are searching for possible victims after avalanches hit ski resorts in the alps. swiss police say several people were freed from the snow at a piste in andermatt. a powerful typhoon has caused major destruction in the philippines, killing at least 16 people. it's left tens of thousands stranded with many spending the night inside improvised shelters. wikipedia has welcomed a ruling from turkey's constitutional court declaring its ban unconstitutional. the court said the ban contravened the right to freedom of expression and ordered it be lifted.

thousands of people across the uk have been taking part in traditional boxing day swim dips — braving a swim in chilly waters. some events were called off because of strong winds. but as rebecca ricks reports from the south west of england — even blustery conditions didn't stop eccentrics and the christmas spirit. weather it is to cure a festive hangover, raise money for charity or just because... a swim in the sea, the activity of choice for hundreds of west country folk this christmas. it was not as cold as i thought but i cannot feel my toes! it was really exhilarating but not too bad. i cannot feel my toes! it was really exhilarating but not too badm catches your breath but you have to do it. for many swimmers in painting this is a boxing day tradition. we have been doing it every year for the last couple of years and it was like a baptism! but much colder! we have done this for 10 years sol think have done this for 10 years so i think this was the warmest year!

we are doing this for our great around the coast in sidmouth, organisers we re the coast in sidmouth, organisers were forced to close both swims, playing with people not to enter the water for their own safety. the swim has only been cancelled in paint once in years but today organisers we re once in years but today organisers were keeping a close eye on the weather. we have the coastguard here nine o'clock advising us as to weather it was suitable and that was bluey and windy but the sea was calm, relatively calm, and the coastguard said he had no problems with us going in. in exmouth, thousands packed onto the sea front for a christmas day swim. the sunshine made for the spectacular scenes at the beach. what a great way to start boxing day! now on bbc news — one of the most striking films of 2019 from our world. the best pakistani transgender retirement home.

in a country where it's expected that your extended family will look after you in old age, what do you do if they rejected you a long time ago? mobeen azhar reports from the city of lahore 7 and a warning that this programme contains some adult themes. once upon a time, in the pakistani city of lahore, lived the superglam guru. ashee was the talk of the town, the life of the party and an after—hours artisan. ashee is someone who describes herself as neither male or female — in pakistan, commonly known as the third gender. but entertaining is the preserve of the young and, as the years went by, ashee realised more and more of her community faced destitution when they could no longer work.

this is the story of guru ashee's quest to change the future of the third gender people in old age. the history of the indian subcontinent is rich with stories of third gender people. during the mughal empire, from the 16th century, they were advisors to the ruling class and experts in the arts. the reality today is much less romantic. i'm about to meet one of the most revered members of the community, known affectionately as guru ashee. guru literally means teacher. they're the elders of the third gender community and are

like surrogate mothers. tonight, guru ashee has invited me along with her students to a private party. i'm fine. you look very nice. thanks.

ashee and her students are expected to get the party started. but there's more to it than that. there's a deeply held belief that those like ashee, third gender, can bring good fortune to the soon—to—be—married. the business of dancing at weddings has taken a hit since pakistan has moved towards a more conservative reading of islam. so tonight, as the money rains down,

ashee makes the most of her role as master of ceremony. i loved it in there. it was really loud and brash tonight. and it was all the things that pakistan is famous for and reasons that i love this place. and it's rare that you see something like that. but these events are few and far between. this is a family that she has history with, she's danced for them for a long time and they take care of her but, realistically, how long is she going to be able to do that?

away from the bright lights and music of lahore's party scene, guru ashee has been working on a project she hopes will one day become her legacy. for the last eight years, she's been developing a retirement home for third gender people. it has everything you could need to stay well in old age, even a running machine. once complete, guru ashee hopes it will become home to a0 members of her community. though there are no official figures for

the third gender community,

it's estimated to be close to half a million people. it's believed that almost 5% of them are hiv positive. if you're third gender, you're 50 times more likely to be living with hiv than someone from the general population. less than ten miles away is the diamond market — one of lahore's worst—kept secrets. almost everyone knows about this place, but it's rarely referenced in polite

conversation. it's where society's outcasts have lived together for generations. it's currently home to guru ashee and many of the people who'll eventually move to the retirement home. madhu, who i met at the retirement home, has invited me to her place for the evening. she rarely ever takes a night off work so, tonight, i'll join her as she waits for clients.

madhu's got her first client of the evening but, before they get to business, he's agreed to speak to me.

madhu told me all of her clients are men and identify as straight. they're either married or, like this guy, plan on marrying a woman soon. in a fiercely patriarchal society, these men make little distinction between women and those who identify as third gender. sex workers like madhu generally charge less than women and, for some clients, that makes all the difference. once madhu finishes up with her client, i spend some time with madhu's housemate, who i also met at the retirement home.

sex workers have a shelflife. in the not too distant future, madhu's going to need help just to survive. madhu can't return to herfamily because they don't accept her as third gender. in a nation where the extended family system is the default for care in old age, what happens when that system

rejects who you are? khurram lives in the diamond market area. today, he's trying his best to fit in to the ocean of bearded men in prayer caps, but it wasn't always like this for khurram. in fact, khurram used to be saima. khurram works as a tailor, making clothes for the third gender community — clothes that he no longer wears himself. i want to understand why

he now dresses as a man.

there's this real sense of sadness, and that's because khurram's not entirely being himself. he said it. there's the person who he was born, that's who he was assigned to be and he was raised as a boy, and then there's saima, and saima is who he feels his spirit is, and he says straight out that he misses saima. and he says saima comes out in the day a few times in a bit of his speech or in a bit of his attitude, but he can't live and dress and, most importantly probably, he can't love the way he wants to. good evening, everyone. you guys are listening to fm 91. we have a very special guest, guru ashee. tonight, at one of lahore's most popular radio stations, guru ashee is using her celebrity

status to win over a national audience and draw attention to the plight of her people.

she's really going for it. to have references to things like hiv and to people rejecting members of their own family and to social stigma, to have that on mainstream radio and to be starting those conversations in this country is pretty revolutionary, actually. the idea that being third gender is so unacceptable that it can't be tolerated is the cause of social isolation for many third gender people. now khurram's getting older, he's attempting to conform. he's turned his back on his third gender identity. he's now a fixture at his local mosque. sure, there's a spiritual element, but it's also about the practicalities of being accepted back into the care and relative stability of his family.

here, it's just accepted that third gender people will lose their dignity,

families and the promise of care in old age, just for being who they are. before i leave pakistan, i want to catch up with guru ashee. today at the retirement home, she's handing out food to lahore's third gender community. guru ashee is changing long established attitudes and demanding care in later life for the third gender.

guru ashee is changing long established attitudes and demanding care in later life for the third gender. the retirement home isn't just bricks and mortar — it's about building a new type of future, one that brings a chance at dignity, care and love in old age to guru ashee and her community.

hello. the weather has been a little bit mixed over christmas. christmas day itself wasn't a bad dad for many of us, some blue sky and some sunshine, followed by more cloud and outbreaks of rain on boxing day. how's it looking to the end of this week? for friday we'll be seeing this warm front moving gradually eastwards across the uk so that will be turning things milder, still some rain to come on friday but it will be mainly across scotland and northern ireland. thankfully a drier day for central and southern parts of england where we've had the recent flooding. wales also having a largely dry day, the odd spot of rain for north—east england at times and some patchy

rain for scotland and northern ireland lasting through the day, where it will be quite breezy here in the north—west too. less windy and drier further south—east, still quite cloudy but reasonably mild with temperatures around 7—12 degrees. moving through friday evening and overnight into saturday, the rain in the north gradually pushing a bit further northwards so as we head into saturday it will largely be the north—west of scotland that will see outbreaks of rain. elsewhere frost—free with a lot of cloud around, certainly very mild for this time of year — overnight temperatures, in fact, similar to what we'd expect during the daytime. so for saturday, high pressure from the east starting to move in. that will dominate the weather for much of southern and eastern parts of the uk over the next few days so it is looking like a dry picture on saturday across england and wales. scotland and northern ireland perhaps seeing a spot or two of rain especially for northern parts of northern ireland and the far north—west of scotland, where it will be quite breezy but elsewhere a drier story, quite a bit of cloud but look at those temperatures, widely between about 10—12 degrees,

a little bit of sunshine perhaps breaking through that cloud at times on saturday. heading into sunday, no great changes, a weather front close to the far north and north—west of the uk, high pressure holding on across continental parts of europe so we've got the winds coming in from the south—west, a very mild direction, you can see the yellow colours indicating that mild air that stays with us through the day on sunday. still a bit of rain to come across parts of northern and western scotland but looking dry for the rest of the uk, probably a bit more sunshine, i think, on sunday compared to what we're likely to see on saturday. light winds for most of us, so a decent—looking day with temperatures as high as around perhaps 13 or 11! degrees for the warmest spots — northern ireland for instance seeing a particularly warm day on sunday. still a bit of rain lingering for the north of scotland as we move through sunday night and on into monday. there's that weather front sitting close to the north, but again for the bulk of the uk, monday looking like another dry day. later on monday there will be more rain pushing across northern ireland and scotland, perhaps reaching parts of north wales and northern england

by the end of the day. further south and east, you should stay dry all day on monday with temperatures between 10—12 degrees. tuesday, new year's eve, of course, and you can see most places once again looking dry. quite a bit of sunshine through the day, perhaps the odd spot of rain lingering close to the far north—west as we head into the evening but not looking too bad. if you have got plans to be heading out on new year's eve, things are looking largely dry and settled. into the new year, so early january and it looks like things start to turn a little bit more unsettled as high pressure sinks further south across europe, allowing more of a westerly influence to our weather into the first week or so of january so after a bit of a dry spell over the next few days, early january 2020 is looking more unsettled. some wet and windy weather at times, certainly mild and it's looking driest towards the south and east. that's it for now. we'll update you again tomorrow. bye— bye.

good evening — you're watching bbc news with me annita mcveigh. we'll be joined by bbc one viewers for a full round up of the day's news with sophie raworth. but first — more than 70 migrants in small boats have been rescued trying to cross the channel to the uk. 49 people in four boats were met by border force officers and brought to england, while a further two boats were dealt with by french authorities. the coastguard said it had been co—ordinating several search and rescue operations. the home office has said it would try to return anyone who arrived in the uk illegally back to mainland europe. the bbc‘s jonthan joseph explained what happens to those migrants picked up by british authorities. those that have reached britain

will have been given medical checks, like the maggots that have been treated in france, likely they have —— migrants. been suffering from hypothermia. they will then be interviewed by immigration officials in dover. their cases assessed, they will be put in government accommodation whilst there asylum claims, assuming they put those in the, are processed. if the minor involved in this was unaccompanied, they will be taken to a reception centre in kent. there are concerns from some migrant charities that human traffickers in france are using the forthcoming january deadline for brexit as an incentive to try to get more migrants to make this crossing at the moment. so it is possible we will see more of these cases in the coming weeks. more on the news that thousands of people have lost their homes after a typhoon ripped through the phillipines. at least sixteen people have been killed. the chairman of the philippine red cross richard gordon,