this is bbc news, i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at 8pm. at least 12 people are killed, after a plane crashes in kazakhstan. dozens of people, including babies and children, are being treated in hospital. the cause of the crash is still unclear. the whole plane started, like, vibrating. everyone started screaming, the kids were crying. the head of the uk supreme court, lady hale, has criticised the impact of funding cuts on the justice system especially in family cases. a single dad from preston is celebrating after winning £1 million on the national lottery, but he still went to work on christmas day.

after winning the hearts of fans all over the world — fallon sherrock‘s fairy tale bid to become darts‘ first female world champion ends in the third round. doris day, clive james, toni morrison and albert finney — just a few of those whose lives are celebrated in review 2019: we remember. in half an hour's time. hello, good evening, and welcome to bbc news. dozens of passengers have survived a plane crash in kazakhstan, in which at least 12 people lost their lives. the cause of the crash, which took place in heavy fog, is still unclear. the plane — operated

by the khazak company bek air — was flying from almaty, kazakhstan‘s largest city, to the capital nur—sultan, with 100 passengers and crew on board, when it crashed shortly after take—off. at least 60 people are being treated in hospital, as our correspondent sarah rainsford reports. rescued from the wreckage, a baby boy is rushed to safety. he was discovered in the arms of his injured mother after their flight crash landed. moments after take—off, the plane had rammed into a building. it broke into pieces on impact. but there were survivors. and some even walked away from this unharmed. i was sitting next to an emergency exit. just hours later, aslan nazaraliyev managed to tell me what happened. he had posted this photo on social media, showing his seat on the flight from almaty.

he thinks most in front of him were badly hurt or killed. the plane starts swaying, like a boat. very intensively. everybody starts screaming, kids are crying. and the lights were on in the plane. but there was no sound, there was no instructions from the crew. there was only the sound of people panicking in the plane. the businessman says it took at least 15 minutes for rescuers to arrive. so he and other survivors began pulling people to safety. it was dark, at the same time. we were lighting with cell phone lights, so helping out each other. so all of the guys were trying to take out people. but there was a high risk of a fire. what were you thinking when this was happening? i was thinking about my family.

yeah, that's only what i was thinking. and helping people, that a fire should not kill who survived. the plane was a fokker 100, operated by the low—cost carrier bek air. its entire fleet has now been grounded, whilst the crash is investigated. kazakhstan‘s government says the plane's tail hit the runway twice during take off. the flight had barely got off the ground before it came crashing back down, with terrible consequences that could have been even worse. and sarah, who's in moscow, says an investigation is now under way to determine the cause of the crash. of course, the investigation has only just begun, but a number of areas that are currently being looked into, that includes, of course, pilots error. we know that the pilot of this plane, the captain

actually died in the crash. the investigators are also looking at technical problems, potential technical problems with the plane, and looking at whether there may have been any bad weather that came into play here. the fog, the freezing weather in kazakhstan early this morning when the plane took off. on that note, it's interesting that the man i spoke to, the survivor i spoke to, i said that when he escaped through the emergency hatch and onto the wing of the plane, he said that the wing was icy, and he questioned whether or not the de—icing methods technique had been thorough enough before the take—off of the plane. so, obviously, big questions still to answer for the team who are doing the investigation. but tomorrow has already been declared as a day of mourning in kazakhstan, because whilst dozens of people, almost miraculously, it seems, survived this crash, we know that 12 people did lose their lives. and we'll find out how this story, and many others, are covered

in tomorrow's front pages at the slightly later time of 10:50 this evening and again at 11:30 in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are the former fleet street editor, eve pollard, and the comment editor at city am, rachel cunliffe. the president of the uk supreme court, lady hale, who retires next month, has warned that the lack of access to legal services for those people who most need them, is a serious problem. she expressed particular concern for people going through the early stages of a divorce. lady hale has been talking to our legal correspondent clive coleman, during which she reflected on the momentous day in september when the court ruled that the prime minister had acted unlawfully, when he advised the queen to suspend parliament. it was a case of massive legal, constitutional and political significance. the prime minister's advice to her majesty was unlawful, void and of no effect. the supreme court ruling that the prime minister's advice to the queen to suspend parliament

in the weeks leading up to the brexit deadline, was unlawful. now, the president of the court is retiring, a time to look back on that momentous day. there was a gasp in the courtroom, which was packed, when i said that it was the unanimous decision of us all, that's 11 justices. a time also for lady hale to reflect on the removal of legal aid in 2013 from a raft of areas, including debt, housing and most family cases. most people need legal services at the beginning of a difficulty and if they have them then, it will be sorted out and they won't have to go anywhere near a court, or they won't have their house repossessed or whatever, because somebody has managed to find a solution to the problem at an earlier stage. and it's that lack of initial advice and help which is a serious difficulty. and when you are separating, as a couple, you know, you are being taken apart

emotionally and financially, many people would think that actually it's at that point the state should be there. it's unreasonable to expect a husband and wife or a mother and father, who are in crisis in their personal relationship, to make their own arrangements without help. the government says it is improving early legal support to reduce the number of people going to court unnecessarily. the prorogation was also void... but on the eve of her departure from the highest court in the land, the question everyone wants answered, was there any significance behind the spider brooch she wore on that day, even an ‘incy wincy‘ bit? i regret to have to tell you there was nothing behind it. i do almost always wear a brooch if i'm wearing a dress, or even if i'm wearing a suit. it's a way of livening up what is otherwise quite dull and the particular dress that

i was wearing has a spider on it. and i chose the dress, i didn't choose the spider. as she leaves office, the first female president of the supreme court knows she has her critics... the court will now adjourn. ..but also an army of admirers. clive coleman, bbc news. the school in south—east london, attended by a nine—year—old girl who drowned in a swimming pool on holiday in spain on christmas eve, has paid tribute to a "wonderfully kind pupil." comfort diya died along with herfather and older brother, who tried to come to her rescue, at the club la costa world resort near fuengirola. in a statement, the windrush charlton school said comfort was a "caring girl", would be greatly missed. the building firm, balfour beatty, has had its contract to refurbish m16 headquarters in london terminated, after losing a set of floor plans for the project. the documents, most

of which were recovered inside the building at vauxhall cross, held sensitive information on its layout, including entry and exit points. the us coastguard is searching for a helicopter which has gone missing in hawaii. tourists were amoing the seven people on board the flight which didn't return from a trip over the island of kawaii. a boat and an aircraft are being used in the search but the coastguard says weather conditions are challenging — with low visibility and blustery winds. police believe a man, who was shot dead outside his home in south west london on christmas eve, may have been involved in criminality in sweden. 36—year—old flamur betcheeri was attacked in front of his wife, and young child in battersea on tuesday evening. ian williams reports. a family home, ready for christmas. now the scene of a potential revenge killing. flamur beqiri moved to the uk

from sweden sometime in the last five years. he had been out with his wife and child on christmas eve as they returned to home to battersea church road around 9pm, a lone suspect shot him times. one of the neighbours that i spoke to described hearing the gunshots from inside her own home as being surreal. another said they were evenly spaced out. we think that a young lady, who identified herself as a nurse, tried to give mr beqiri first aid at the scene for a while the attacker fled on foot towards battersea bridge road. when you hear shots like that, you think, well, the first thing that comes to mind is there is going to be more shooting. an exchange of fire, but it was just a number of shots and itjust stopped dead. the met have confirmed they are working with swedish police on the investigation to understand what, if any, incidents might have led someone to seek retribution against mr flamur beqiri. reports in the swedish media suggest the 36—year—old, a swedish national of albanian heritage, was briefly on the most wanted list

in his home country in 2008. he hasn't been seen for, or hasn't been seen as active for several years, but that doesn't go to prove that he has not been active. we've heard his name on the grapevine. we have intelligence about him, but, again, i mean, iwas a bit surprised that it was him that was shot. there have now been more than 145 murders in london this year. another killing that tears a young family apart at a time of year that supposed to bring them together. ian williams, bbc london. firefighters in australia are bracing themselves for more extreme heat as they continue to tackle uncontrolled bushfires. temperatures above a0 degrees celsius are expected in several bushfire—affected states in the coming days, including new south wales, south australia and victoria. since september, the fires have destroyed more than 4 million hectares — that's an area about twice the size of wales. courtney bembridge reports.

almost 3000 firefighters have been working around the clock since the bushfire crisis started in september. many of them are volu nteers september. many of them are volunteers who have given up their christmas break to try to contain the fires and to save homes. sporadic rain over parts of eastern australia has done help to extinguish the flames, but firefighters have ta ken extinguish the flames, but firefighters have taken advantage of cooler temperatures in recent days to try and contain fire fronts. but the cool change won't last long. this is the forecast for monday temperatures building up to 38 celsius or higher across most of the country. we will see the temperatures up in the low 40s across a lot of areas, but it will drink —— bring a dry area as well, that will elevate fire dangers and we know the winds will start turning the west — northwest, which is why so much work has been going on over this last week, while conditions more mild. the crucial

work involves strengthening containment lines to stop the fire spreading. and controlled back burning of dry grass, which acts as a fire if you all. that's seen as a last resort, an indication of how desperate the situation is getting. in new south wales, there is more than 100 fires burning, the largest to the west of sydney. fires are also burning across south australia in parts of the state, temperatures rose above a0 celsius, marking the start of a new wave of heat in the continent south. 0ver start of a new wave of heat in the continent south. over the past two weeks, hundreds of people and south australia have needed medical attention for heat related illnesses. we are encouraging people to make sure that they look out for the signs and symptoms that are generally associated with dehydration, and that includes headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and ultimately potentially collapsed. authorities in new south wales are also worried about protecting water infrastructure, which could be damaged or contaminated by ash,

including the dam which supplies the majority of sydney's water, a city home to 5 million residents. the dam is currently less than half full after an extended drought. we are very focused on trying to get that fire under control, prioritising the life and property, also the invocations of fire burning in the couch when the area, what that means, when it rains again, what sort of runoff will there be, what sort of runoff will there be, what sort of siltation will there be? ash soil, all of that stuff getting into the waterway. the situation is also affecting tourism. visitors to a famous rock formation in the blue mountains took photographs in front of the sign after the real thing was obscured by smoke. i've always wanted to see the blue mountains, so in such a shame that when we've come, it looks like this. a bit disappointed, we came into sydney, the first couple of days, there was a lot of smoke and smoke haze. it made us cough a little bit, especially at night. trade is way down, and doing about a third of what i would normally do at

this time of year. i think that is the same for everyone. this is usually the busiest time of year for australia's tourism industry, and despite the hot conditions and smoke in sydney, more than 1 despite the hot conditions and smoke in sydney, more than1 million people are expected to attend the infamous fireworks display for new year's eve. courtney bainbridge, bbc news. it's 60 minutes past eight, the headlines for you know i'm bbc news this evening. at least 12 people are killed, and dozens survive, after a plane crashes in kazakhstan. the head of the uk supreme court, lady hale, has criticised the impact of funding cuts on the justice system especially in family cases. a single dad from preston is celebrating after winning £1 million on the national lottery, but he still went to work on christmas day. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre.

katie, hi there. hi there, anita. we will start with cricket. england batting collapse has given south africa the upper hand in the first test. we'll start with cricket as an england batting collapse has given south africa the upper hand in the first test. 15 wickets fell on an entertaining second day in centurion as patrick gearey reports. (vt next) to look at the gentle slopes of centurion, you'd never guess there were such monsters in the middle. demons in the pitch that make the ball spit, that left rory burns a hapless victim — the first of many. next to be spooked, dominic sibley. watch that bounce. imagine trying to face it at 90 miles an hour. what a battle. a time for fortune and fortitude. a time to have a cushion of 28a runs on the board, as south africa did. a score that seemed colossal, when joe root succumbed. his decision to bowl first, looking ever more questionable. but there is a time in every scary movie when things seem ordinary. joe denley made it to 50, with ben stokes in support. but something was lurking around the corner. at first, it seemed innocuous. the umpire said not out.

but the decision was reviewed. a slight touch showed up. it was the feather which knocked down england's dominoes. next, jonny bairstow. this winter, dropped, recalled, bowled. stokes was tempted to go where he shouldn't. the rest folded behind them. vernon philander took four wickets. england were 103 runs behind on a pitch that was only going to get worse. to have any chance, they needed to bowl out south africa as cheaply as they could. this tookjimmy anderson five balls. stuart broad got a second. thenjofra archer added some fresh terror. south africa, four down at the close. england clinging to hope. their path back in this match is through a long, dark tunnel. patrick gearey, bbc news. to darts, fallon sherrock‘s fairy tale run at the pdc world championship has come to an end. she lost a—2 in the third round to the 22nd seed, chris dobey in front of an entertaining crowd at alexandra palace. the 25—year—old became the first woman to win a game in the tournament after she beat ted

evetts. i think i've definitely helped darts in general. i think there are people know who didn't watch starts, that won't —— want to watch it now. especially with the ladies just proving now that we can compete with all of these men. it'sjust more opportunity. manchester city have the chance to go above leicester and into second in the premier league with a win at wolves tonight. a team they lost to at the etihad earlier in the season. around half an hour gone at molineux and it's currently 1—0 to pep guardiola's side. raheem sterling missed a twice taken penalty both times, but fired in the rebound at his second attempt. city are down to ten men though after goalkeeper ederson was sent off in the 12th minute for a professional foul on dio—gojota. some transfer news as the former manchester united and sweden striker, zlatan ibra—himovic has returned to ac milan on a short—term deal

until the end of the season. he was a free agent after leaving la galaxy at the end of the mls season. ibrahimovic spent two seasons at milan from 2010. but, the seven—time champions league winners are having a poor season. they are currently 11th in the table after losing their last match 5—0 at atalanta. ——match 5—0 at atlanta. england midfielder, izzy christiansen will return to the women's super league after annoucing that she's joined everton. christiansen moves to merseyside from the european champions lyon on an 18—month deal. she scored five goals in 26 games for the french side since making the move from manchester city. christiansen actually began her career at everton, before moving to birmingham ten years ago. to boxing as tyson fury and deontay wilder have finally confirmed the date of their much anticipated rematch. it has been confirmed that the fight will take place in las vegas on the 22nd of february next year with wilder's wbc world heavyweight title on the line. the last meeting between the pair in los angeles 12 months ago ended in a draw. anthonyjoshua is the one that

holds the other three major heavyweight titles. the eight to one shot potters corner has won the welsh grand national at chepsto. the wining horse, which is part owned by the former wales rugby playerjonathan davies, and ridden by 17—year—old jockey jack tudor, took the lead three fences out, and stormed to victory. it ends the 5a year wait for a welsh winner. that's all the sport. i'll have more for you in the next hour, plus a full round up in sportsday that's at 10:20. bye for now. katie, thanks very much. let's return to our main story — this morning's plane crash in kazakhstan in which 12 people were killed. survivors have been describing how the aircraft vibrated violently before losing height and smashing intoa building. some of the 100 passengers and crew on board the bek air plane walked from the wreckage. with me is aviation expert, sally gethin. sally, thank you very much for

coming in to talk to us about this. what have you been able to piece together from the information we have about what the possible cause might have been? so, it's very difficult at this stage, obviously, everything is pure speculation. but we do know that it was operating in adverse weather conditions, and it was very icy, and one big concern would be ice on the wings, for example. which would definitely affect the dynamic performance of the aircraft. and which was mentioned by one of the survivors, who are her correspondent interviewed when he climbed out of the wreckage onto the wing, one of the wreckage onto the wing, one of the wings of the plane, he said it seemed very icy. yes command that shouldn't be happening. in in very extreme cold temperatures, airports in general have de—icing equipment 011 in general have de—icing equipment on standby. they will de—ice the wings in particular, and all the aerodynamic surfaces before the aircraft leaves the gate, and then, often, again at the of departure at —— before the aircraft takes off on

the runway. if it's very severe. so, yeah, that would have a catastrophic effect on any aircraft. but we don't know if that's definitely the cause. also reports of the body of the plane making contact with the runway twice during take—off. that's unusual. again, it suggests that it just cannot get airborne, that something was preventing the initial you know, the actual aerodynamic performance. again, there could be other issues. i mean from you know, there could be read or issues, but that would have more of an effect while in flight to. what do we know about this carrier, its safety record, and indeed the safety record of this particular model of aircraft and bek air. this is a low—cost carrier, as we do know him and it was operating an older fleet of aircraft, the fokker 100, out of production. it's a point—to—point carrier, and has been operating for a relatively short time for a few years, from whati

can gain. it doesn't look as if it was a member of... has its own safety protocols and its own safety audit. so there needs to be some investigation of the maintenance and safety practices, perhaps, of that particular airline. it was wonderful that people were able to walk away from this crash, obviously, we know of 12 fatalities, but more people than that walked away out of 100 passengers and crew. is it surprising to you that people actually survived this? well, from what we know, it seems surprising. it suggests that perhaps the aircraft did not suddenly drop like aircraft did not suddenly drop like a stone, as it were, straight to the ground. perhaps, there was a final dissent, which might have perhaps saved lives, and it means that the interior of the fuselage was largely intact, although the french, from what i gather, did actually compact, and for survivability to take place, the interior of that cabin needs to be protected. you have to have space

for people to survive, and they have to be secured within that space as well. so if they are strapped and that might help. so the fact that they were still strapped in and observing the you know, and a safety position to begin with, that might have helped save lives also. 0k, sally, thank you very much for your insight into that. the united nations estimates that nearly a quarter of a million people have fled syria's idlib province in the past three weeks. the government and russian forces are intensifying their attacks there as it's the rebels‘ last stronghold. the un says the city of maaret al—numan and the nearby region in southern idlib is now almost empty. tens of thousands of families have been heading north in trucks and private cars. they are taking shelter in mosques and other public buildings. melanie the sister of george michael has died at the age of 55 — exactly three years after the singer's death. her family said that melanie had "passed away suddenly"

at her north london home on christmas day. melanie had followed her brother around the world at the height of his fame and inherited much of his estate after the singer's death on christmas day in 2016. the government has announced that from april, thousands of nhs patients, visitors and staff will benefit from free parking at hospitals in england. most visitors to hospitals in scotland, wales and northern ireland are already exempt from charges. james waterhouse reports. for nhs patients and those who visit them, it's an age old complaint — paying to park at hospitals. during the election, the conservatives promised to do something about it in their manifesto for specific groups, so from april, all 206 hospital trusts in england will be expected to give free parking to those described as being "in the greatest need". this includes... blue badge holders. frequent visitors to

outpatient clinics. parents of sick children staying overnight. and staff working night shifts. and let's not forget, hospitals make a lot of cash from parking. according to freedom of information requests, trusts in england last year made more than £25a million from charges and a further £1.5 million from fines. this has led to concerns from some nhs bosses about losing out. we'll be looking for assurances that the costs of these measures will be fully covered because, otherwise, there's a risk that funding intended to run front—line services could be diverted into running car parks. the government promised a pot of £78 million to help hospitals make the changes. a number of hospitals, some of the best, already do give this free parking to these groups. some don't. what we are doing is bringing clarity and consistency across the board here. it's still not clear, though, whether the hospitals themselves

will have to make up the shortfall. i've made clear that they will not lose out in money for front—line services. nhs hospital parking fees were officially scrapped in scotland and wales more than a decade ago. as england follows suit, it's not yet clear how many will benefit. james waterhouse, bbc news. austrian mountain rescuers, who pulled a man out of the snow after he was buried for five hours in an avalanche — say his survival is a "christmas miracle". rescuers traced the 26 yr old skier through his transceiver, which sends out an electromagnetic signal. he was buried under a metre of snow but luckily there was an air pocket which allowed him to breathe. when he was rescued he was suffering from hypothermia but otherwise unharmed. usually, if avalanche victims are not found within 15 minutes, their chances of survival are slim. it's 828. --

it's 828. —— 8:28pm. a pub chef from lancashire who worked on christmas day despite winning £1 million. has said he felt he needed to finish his shifts. didzis pirags, who's a chef and kitchen manager in preston, won the jackpot on a scratchpad four days prior. mairead smith has been to meet him. this is our very lucky christmas winner! talk about the best christmas present ever. didiz just felt lucky when he logged on to his national lottery account. the news is still sinking in. it's amazing. i couldn't believe it. it's an emotional roller coaster. it started from that saturday, an emotional roller coaster. i couldn't believe it. then i believed it, then i didn't believe it again. i've logged on five times in the same dayjust to make sure it was actually real. dad to a five—year—old boy, £1 million is going to make a big difference to their lives.

he doesn't understand the money or what the money means, he only saw the house which we bought, he has chosen his room, and he's happy. didiz worked 60 hours a week as a chef and still turned up for christmas and boxing day. i can't let my team down, and i've got guests as well, so i said they are all going to finish my christmas day boxing day. this weekend is his last in thisjob, after that, he's going to be busy making more dreams come true. it's just like a safety pillow. an amazing start to the new year. walking into 2020 with no debts whatsoever. with a new house, this new car, hopefully this newjob, that suits me and my family. mairead smith, bbc northwest tonight, preston. congratulations to him. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich with the details. good evening.

friday brought a lot of cloudy and gloomy weather across the uk.