this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: a plane with 100 people on board crashes in kazakhstan, authorities say there are survivors. israel's prime minister retains the leadership of his likud party, he will lead it into the general election due in march. blocked roads and widespread flooding hamper rescue efforts in the philippines, where a typhoon has killed at least 16 people. is this a way to save the world's coral from climate change? scientists are trying to grow new reefs in the seychelles.

hello and welcome to bbc news. a plane crash in central asian country of static site. —— the country of static site. —— the country of static site. —— the country of kazakhstan. it's understood the aircraft was a fokker 100, carrying 95 passengers and 5 crew. it went down shortly after taking off from almaty en route to nur—sultan. in the last few minutes, the government updated the official death count to m. these pictures we received in the last hour show the scene of the crash. the kazakh aviation authority said the plane lost altitude during take—off and broke through a concrete fence. there was a collision with a two—storey building. there was no fire and much of the fuselage of the plane is still intact. rescue operations and the evacuation of passengers and crew began immediately. all flights of this type of aircraft have now been suspended in kazakhstan until the circumstances of the accident are clarified.

and in the past few minutes, the president of kazakhstan has tweeted his condolences to the families and relatives. he says a special government commission has been set up to determine the cause of the accident. for a leaderfacing criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust it was a big test of his hold on power. but the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has retained control of the governing likud party, in an internal election, and will now lead israel into its third national election within a year. it is due in march. mr netanyahu has tweeted that he's achieved a huge win, and his rival, gideon saar, has admitted defeat. rich preston reports. this was the first serious challenge to benjamin netanyahu's leadership in ten years but he seemed to still have the support of party loyalists,

winning more of 70% of the votes. "a huge win," benjamin netanyahu tweeted, shortly after polls closed. confidence in israel's longest serving prime minister had been shaken after two failed general elections, and an indictment on corruption charges, accused of accepting gifts in exchange for political favours, and doing deals to get good press coverage. charges he denies, calling the whole thing a witch—hunt. his challenger in the leadership contest was former cabinet minister gideon saar. he had wanted to take the party on a different path but now says he will back the prime minister in the general election. rich preston, bbc news. guy ziv is an expert on israeli politics and professor at the american university in washington. he gave us his reaction to the leadership challenge results.

it was badly assumed he was going to prevail in today's primary challenge but not by this margin. he won nearly 70% of the vote, this was a knockout and it definitely attests to his political powers, is a politician, he has a strong survival instinct, he is a great campaigner, he crisscrossed the country in his last several weeks as if you're running for the first time despite his frontrunner sectors and as always, he went for the jugular. his frontrunner sectors and as always, he went forthejugular. it is you he is strong. bravery, and three separate criminal cases especially, having said the

he is by no means assured of victory. i think it tells you that he's strong within his own party. he's got a lock on his party, the base is still with him despite being indicted forfraud and breach of trust, bribery in three separate criminal cases, and the bribery charge being especially egregious. netanyahu is by no means assured of victory in the forthcoming third round. i think there is a certain bibi fatigue and we may see soft right votersjumping ship, the momentum at the moment seems to be with the centrist blue and white alliance of three former idf chiefs of staff and a popular politician. recovery operations are beginning in the philippines, where typhoon phanfone has left at least 28 people dead on islands in the centre of the country. winds up to 190 kilometres an hour stranded tens of thousands at ports, many unable to join their families for christmas. james waterhouse reports. typhoon phanfone first arrived on tuesday night. with it came winds of almost 120mph, 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. buildings were torn apart, roofs blown off. whole villages were devastated as the typhoon swept through, leaving residents to pick through the debris left behind. it was so powerful, even 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 people are still missing. james waterhouse, bbc news. rhoda avila is the humanitarian response manager for 0xfam in the philippines.

she explains that typhoon phanfone could not have come at a worse time for many communities in the country. communities affected by this typhoon are just getting started, getting back on theirfeet, because of the previous typhoon that struck the central philippines this month but now another typhoon has damaged most of the houses, mostly from the coastal communities in central philippines. government figures showed that over 155,000 people are affected by this typhoon, around 114,000 families, and people, based on our assessment, are urgently needing shelter materials because most of them are camping outside the destroyed homes or cramped inside evacuation areas. they also need shelter materials and bedding materials that they can sleep on because most are sleeping on floors.

water is urgently needed because most of the water sources are powered by electricity. there is no electricity in most of the communities now and people are actually needing portable water. coastal villages are relying on fishing for livelihood, sustaining big damages not only to their totally destroyed homes but also on their fishing boats and gears so they lost all their boats and gears and it would take some time for them to get back on their feet. so cash is also an urgent need identified by our assessment teams conducted christmas day. and another problem, rhoda, i guess, from the figures we're seeing

here for rescuers, people trying to help, is that those 114,000 or so families you talk are so scattered. something like 580 odd villages. it is a huge area to cover? yes, indeed. the path of typhoon phanfone curved the impact of typhoon haiyan so a big portion of central philippines was affected by the typhoon. mostly those coming from the coastal communities are much more vulnerable because they sustained totally damaged homes, including their livelihood. let's get some of the day's other news: an earthquake has hit iran near a nuclear plant. the quake is recorded as magnitude 4.9. the centre of the quake was near the nuclear plant east of bushehr, on iran's southern coast. state tv says there are no immediate reports of damage. rescue workers in austria and switzerland have been searching for possible victims of avalanches

that hit two ski resorts in the alps. swiss police say several people were freed from the snow on a piste in andermatt. wikipedia has welcomed a ruling from turkey's constitutional court declaring a ban on the website unconstitutional, a violation of the right to freedom of expression. wikipedia was banned in turkey in 2017. the government claimed it had cooperated with what officials called terrorist organisations in syria. it's two years since the military crackdown in myanmar that sent hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims fleeing across the border to bangladesh. programmes that support refugees and the communities hosting them were a big topic of discussion at the global refugee forum, a high—level meeting in geneva this month. 0ne clinic in south—east bangladesh has been trying to give just that kind of support. so is it working? catherine karelli reports. it's it's the only facility

of its kind in the area. the physiotherapy clinic in south—east bangladesh welcomes not only refugees but also their bangladeshi hosts. this is a woman that suffers from chronic pain and is a regular visitor to the clinic. translation: when i recover in the name of allah, i will go to the mosque and i will cook beef and provide food for the children. the clinic was set up by the un's refugee agency last year, hundreds of thousands of people have visited since it opened. it employs two physiotherapists, and all treatments provided free. but it's about more thanjust medical care. the doctors here see themselves as a bridge between two communities. translation: most of the patients here have lower back pain or paralysis or knee pain, that is the case for most of our patients, from both the rohingya and host communities. providing services to both groups makes us feel good. in 2017, bangladesh took

on 750,000 rohingya, who were expelled from myanmar in a military—led crackdown. bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. the strain on resources has led to simmering tensions between bangladeshi locals and members of the ethnic muslim minority. but here refugees and locals alike are treated side—by—side. over 1000 people have received treatment for ailments ranging from back pain to paralysis. and for some locals, it is one way of showing solidarity with those fleeing persecution. translation: the rohingya have made their temporary home here, they're making they're home here. i feel good about that. muslims will come to the aid of other muslims. stay with us on bbc news, still to come:

in search of a giant african butterfly — a team of french scientists take to the treetops in search of the mysterious swallowtail. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're going to use money we picked up in belgium today. and then we'll be in france and again it will be the same money. it's just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. reporter: it was just good? no, fantastic. that's better.

big ben bongs this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: officials in kazakhstan say an aircraft with a hundred people on board has crashed shortly after take off from the almaty airport. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has retained his leadership of the governing likud party and will lead it in the next general election due in march. firefighting teams in australia have had some respite over the past few days, with lower temperatures, but that's about to end as the intense heat returns. since september, close to 3,000 firefighters have been out nearly every day battling blazes. almost 90% are unpaid volunteers. many families in new south wales are spending the holiday season

in shelters — their villages and towns still smouldering from last week's fires. ben shepherd, from the new south wales rural fire service, told us how they are preparing for yet another heatwave. many of our volunteers have been out there on the fire line trying to get some level of containment on these fires before we see the onset of another heatwave. unfortunately, where we are expecting temperatures to climb into the a0 degrees and coupled with strong westerly winds, dry winds, from the centre of the continent which tend to drive these fires. so they're doing what they can. they understand this is going to be still another difficult time and the real thing that we obviously need is rain and there is just none of that really on the horizon. so, it's going to be a difficult few days and a difficult few weeks, whilst we continue to deal with more than 70 fires burning across new south wales. we're fortunate at this time

of year, many of our members do take leave, but they're using that leave to go out on the fire ground and actually assist where they can. but the community response this year has been amazing as well. to see people actually preparing their own homes, ensuring they are well prepared for any impact of fire makes ourjob easier as firefighters but, look, we have had the support of fire rescue, national parks and also from other states but, look, with this heatwave now gripping a number of states across australia, that assistance from interstate is going to start to diminish a little bit but, look, as i said, they are in good spirits, they continue to throw up their hand to go and help but we have a long way to go before this fire season's finally over. 15 years ago more than 230,000 people died in a massive tsunami along the coast of the indian ocean triggered by an earthquake. there've been memorial services in indonesia, thailand and sri lanka — some of the worst—affected countries. since then money has been spent to improve systems, to give better warning of a similar disaster. 0livia crellin reports.

15 years, the images of devastation brought by the indian ocean tsunami are no less shocking. waves as high as 17 metres steamrollered pristine beaches, homes and entire communities, killing more than 230,000 people and displacing more than 2 million. while the physical landscape has recovered and development has returned to thailand, sri lanka and indonesia, among other areas affected, a psychological trauma remains. suwanee maliwan lost both parents and five other relatives. when the soon army hit the thai province of phang—nga. translation: i'm still scared, very scared. i want to go to live somewhere else but it's not possible because i was born here,

grew up here, my father and mother also died here, so i must remain and live here. sometimes i dream that a wave is coming, i'm still scared. it's an image that still haunts me when the wave was coming, i can still remember it. the disaster was indiscriminate, hitting families from the small fishing village of ban nam khem, like suwanee's, where an interfaith memorial was being held, foreign tourists holidaying, and even the country's royalty. 0fficials remember king maha vajiralongkorn‘s nephew, who was last seen jet skiing off the coast when the tsunami hit. over 50,000 bodies were never recovered. today, 15 years on, millions of dollars have gone into building a vast network of seismic and tsunami information centres. but doubts remain about how ready countries on the indian ocean really are for another giant wave. translation: if we encounter it

again, i am not confident we can handle it. anyway, thais are always ready when it comes to volunteering in a crisis. those killed in 2004 received no former warning of the approaching waves and were left with no chance to escape. those still living with the threat of a similar disaster today hope that by now lessons have been learned. 0livia crellin, bbc news. the seychelles off the coast of east africa is setting itself up as a hub for marine preservation. at least half the world's reefs have already been lost to rising sea temperatures, so could this tiny archipelago help save some from extinction? catherine byaruhanga from bbc africa has been finding out. they're called the reef rescuers. atina and chloe 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 man—made coralfarm and one of the biggest in the world. 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 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, 0k? 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. the african giant swallowtail is one of the world's most mysterious insects. it's a butterfly but it's almost completely unknown to science. it's never been seen in its caterpillar or chrysalis state. now a team of french explorers has headed out to the central african republic to see if they can find out more about this elusive creature. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. you have to admit the scenery

here is pretty spectacular. the opportunities for discovery even more so. hidden away somewhere in this forest are butterflies, but notjust any butterfly, these men are looking for papilio antimachus — africa's largest. and the search is exhaustive. we used different techniques. we have a look out on the banks of the river, on top of the trees, searching for the host plant with a botanist. and also searching for the host plant with a drone. so far, this is as close as they've got, an illustration by the expedition‘s in—house draughtsman. the african giant swallowtail with its distinctive orange—brown wings and dark markings. the team want to learn more about its early stages, crucial in understanding its development and longevity. but that is easier said than done. translation: we find ourselves

in a forest that is rather deforested, and in which there is mining activities, which does not make things easy. and even the animals are looking for them. the big ones, but even the small ones. the search has so far been unsuccessful but no—one is in any mood to give up. this forest is keeping its secrets, these men will keep trying to unlock them. we will let you know if they do. and let's bring you up to date with our breaking story this hour — there's been a plane crash in the central asian country of kazha kstan. there has also been an earthquake in bushehr, 50 kilometres from the capital of iran. the quake was 4.9

magnitude. details are still coming in, but its understood the aircraft was carrying around 100 passengers and crew. it went down near the city of almaty, en—route to nur—sultan. in the past few minutes, the official death count has risen to 14. these are pictures we received in the last hour or so showing the scene of the crash stop according to officials this is at 7:22am. the kazakh aviation authority says the beck airline floght in the direction almaty — nur—sultan lost altitude during take—off and broke through a concrete fence. there was a collision with a two—storey building. rescue operations and the evacuation of passengers and crew began immediately. the plane was a fokker 100 — pictures from the site of the crash show much of its fuselage remained intact. the kazakh aviation authority has now suspended all flights of this type of aircraft until the circumstances of the accident are clarified. the president of kazakhstan has tweeted his condolences to the families and relatives. he says a special government commission has been set up to determine the cause of the accident. that's it for now. thank you so much

for watching. hello there. after the dry and often bright weather of christmas day, boxing day brought a return to something wetter for many of us. this was the scene for a weather watcher at southport on merseyside, quite a lot of rain here. but it wasn't like that everywhere, parts of northern scotland had the lion's share of the bright and dry weather. and i think more of us will get to see some dry weather over the next few days. a lot of cloud around, and with that it is going to feel milder. this is what's going on as we start friday. this warm front moving its way north eastwards, taking a bit of rain with it, but also as the name suggests, introducing some warmer, or at least milder air, which will be wafting its way up from the south.

particularly, i think, western areas feeling the effect of that as we go through the day ahead. so, we start the morning with a outbreaks of rain drifting across scotland, some of that rain getting into northern england as well, pushing its way eastwards. anotherfrontal system bringing rain back into western scotland and northern ireland through the day. elsewhere, generally a lot of cloud around but generally it will be dry. some glimmers of brightness here and there, top temperatures in single digits across eastern areas of england, but further west, 12 degrees for belfast, stornoway and plymouth. quite windy across the north—west of the uk, particularly western scotland. then as we got the friday night, we will see another pulse of rain putting back across northern ireland, northwards across scotland. for england and wales it's predominantly dry. some clear spells, generally a lot of cloud on what will be quite a mild night. i think the vast majority will stay frost—free. so, the saturday morning then, still frontal systems running up towards the north—west, so there will be positive rain at times, but high pressure close to the east and south of the uk keeping things fine and dry here.

but still, rather cloudy for many of us on saturday, some glimmers of brightness again developing, i think particularly across the south of england and south of wales through the afternoon. but for northern ireland, for scotland, we will again see some outbreaks of rain, some of that will be heavy over hills in the west but notice that mild theme, temperatures of 9—12, maybe 13 degrees. and it stays mild into sunday and at this stage we're likely to bring some slightly drier air up from the near continent. so more sunshine to come across england and wales, northern ireland and also the south and east of scotland. still some rain to the north—west of scotland, but with those southerly winds, those temperatures up to 11, 12, 13, maybe for the moray firth for example, could see around 14 degrees. and then we head into the last couple of days of 2019, we stick with that relatively mild theme, a lot of dry weather, still some rain up towards the north—west.

this is bbc news, the headlines a plane with a hundred people on board has crashed in khazakhstan, shortly after taking off from the airport in almaty. the deaths of at least 12 people have been confirmed. the plane, operated by bek air, was on a flight to the capital, nur—sultan. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has defeated his rival, gideon sa'ar, for the leadership of the governing likud party. he will now lead likud into israel's third general election within a year — despite facing criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust. a rescue and recovery operation is under way in the philippines, hit by typhoon phanfone on christmas day. authorities say the storm killed at least 16 people and cut a swathe of destruction through the centre of the country. many more people are missing. now on bbc news: