welcome to bbc news, i'm james reynolds. our top stories: the un says parts of idlib province in syria are almost deserted, as nearly a quarter of a million people flee from a government offensive. 12 people are killed as a passengerjet crashes into a building in kazakhstan. dozens of people have survived. they all start screaming, kids are crying and the lights were on in the plane but there was no sound, there were no instructions from the crew. russia puts into service its first strategic missiles which it claims can travel 27 times the speed of sound. as chile's president gives in to one of the key demands of anti—government protesters, we have a special report on how months of unrest have changed what was once one of latin america's

most stable nations. 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 on what is the rebels‘ last stronghold. the un says the maaret al—numan region in southern idlib is now almost empty — as the bbc‘s tim allman reports. before the war, more than 50,000 people lived and worked and thrived here but now it looks more like a ghost town. the streets almost empty, the houses deserted.

convoys of cars and vans and lorries snaking out of this town and others like it, as the people of idlib flea for their lives. from the end of april until the end of august, we had more than 400,000 people displaced, at that time. so the latest displacement figures comes on top of that, so what we have is one crisis compounding another. these are desperate times, people taking what they can, what few possessions they are able to carry with them. many have fled north, heading to refugee camps like this one, near the border with turkey. it's safer here but these people have lost everything. each and every day is a struggle. translation: a lot of bombs targeted us and we didn't know where to go. we were searching for a car to take us away from the bombardment. we got out in the cold and rainy weather. we came here and they told us they would help us.

now we're living in tents. we can't keep living like this. syrian government forces, backed by russia, have been bombarding idlib, trying to win back control from the rebels. the last pockets of resistance in a war that has been raging for nearly nine years. these refugees, desperate for peace, and the chance to return home. tim allman, bbc news. dozens of passengers have survived a plane crash in kazakhstan in which 12 people lost their lives. the crash took place in heavy fog, although the cause isn't yet known. the khazak company bek air operated the plane, and it crashed shortly after taking off from kazakhstan‘s largest city almaty. it was en route to the capital nur—sultan with 100 passengers and crew on board. of those, 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 intoa 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'd 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 cellphone lights, so helping out each other. so all of the guys were trying to take out people. because there was a high risk of fire. what were you thinking when this was happening? 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, while 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. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. russia says it has put into service the first batch of new strategic missiles that, it claims, can penetrate any existing orfuture missile shields. the ‘avangard' is what's known as a hypersonic glide vehicle which can steer an unpredictable course, making detection much harder. it's the latest move in what appears to be an escalating missile race with the united states. bill hayton reports. somewhere on the southern fringes of russia close to the border with kazakhstan, a new era in missile technology begins. this was a test launch last year of russia's new avangard weapon. it is fired into

space atop an intercontinental ballistic missile. it can then glide over the atmosphere dodging defences until it reaches its target. translation: that we have a unique situation in our recent history. 0ther situation in our recent history. other countries are having to catch up other countries are having to catch up with russia. no other country has hypersonic weapons, not to mention, hypersonic weapons, not to mention, hypersonic weapons, not to mention, hypersonic weapons of intercontinental range. in truth, there are many such weapons, all intercontinental ballistic weapons travel many times faster than the speed of sound. but the russian military hopes its new system can give itan military hopes its new system can give it an edge in a new arms race. a race that is putting pressure on the international arms control system built up over the past a0 yea rs. system built up over the past a0 years. in october, china displayed its own new hypersonic glide vehicle ata its own new hypersonic glide vehicle at a military parade in beijing. the us wants chinese missiles included ina new

us wants chinese missiles included in a new intermediate range treaty but it is not clear whether any government is willing to agree to new controls at the moment. professor melanie marlowe is from the american think—tank, the center for strategic and international studies. melanie, president putin says this missile puts russia in a class of its own. is he right? in a sense he is. the united states and other countries have been very far behind in this technology. we have been focused on counterterrorism the last two decades and china, as your introduction noted, as well as russia, have been developing these kinds of technologies. so it is something the united states have started to make some advances on. we are currently investing in hypersonic strike but we are not as far along as the russians apparently are. if the us feels compelled to respond, are we now on the cusp of 2020, on the cusp of a new arms race? i don't know that it is an

arms race but if it is, it has been arms race but if it is, it has been a one—sided one because the us has not been focusing on it. there are problems with this. we need to keep it in perspective, whether it is marked 27 or mach 20, that can do a lot of damage and we need to be ready for that. these weapons are highly manoeuvrable, very difficult to track and target and if one of these came towards us, what with the response be? there would be very little time for decision—making and with the united states respond in a nuclear or a conventional way? how does this innovation change the balance of power among nuclear capable balance of power among nuclear ca pa ble states, balance of power among nuclear capable states, in particular with china in the same region is russia? this is a difficult problem to solve because the united states, we have allies in that region and we need to make sure they are protected. in my view, the threat rip —— really is regional but we need to be concerned

about what is going on over there, not as concerned about a strike on american home ground but we need to make sure that our capabilities are strong. is the balance of power altered? it strong. is the balance of power altered ? it is strong. is the balance of power altered? it is in the sense that china or russia could easily attack one of our bases or an aircraft carrier, do a significant amount of damage and it would take a while for the united states to be able to respond. as i mentioned before, it is not just respond. as i mentioned before, it is notjust the tuppence of a strike that we need to — make sense of strike that we need to look at but also the defence. in the earlier space race in the 60s and 70s, once idid space race in the 60s and 70s, once i did something and the other side said right, we have to do something, at least to show a population that we are not sleeping. and that is a bit what putin has been doing today. he is happy to brag and have some barrett —— bragging rights on this andi barrett —— bragging rights on this and i hope that pushes our united states allies in the direction of taking this threat seriously. the national defence strategy from 2018

recognises that we are back in great power competition, that we need to ta ke power competition, that we need to take the threats from russia and china, hypersonic and otherwise, seriously. 0ur china, hypersonic and otherwise, seriously. our service chiefs, all of them, have been making suggestions and pushes it towards developing more hypersonic technology as well as ways to respond to them. being more flexible and mobile and may be looking at should we have so many aircraft carriers or should we have other kind of platforms in which we can launch our missiles? thank you so much forjoining us. thank you. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: surviving an avalanche — a skier is found alive after being buried in the snow for five hours. we have the story. 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 news. the latest headlines:

the un says parts of idlib province in syria are almost deserted, where nearly 250,000 people have fled from a government offensive. a passenger plane has crashed in kazakhstan, killing 12 people. most of the 100 people on board survived. 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 the coming days in several states including new south wales, south australia and victoria. deadly bushfires have destroyed more than a million hectares in five australian states since september. courtney bembridge reports. almost 3,000 firefighters have been working around the clock, since the bushfire crisis started in september. many of them are volunteers who've given up their christmas break to try to contain the fires and to save homes. sporadic rain over parts of eastern

australia has done little to help 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. so that's going to elevate fire dangers and we know the winds are going to start turning around to the west and the north—west, which is why so much work has been going on, over this last week, while conditions are more mild. the crucial work involves strengthening containment lines to stop the fire spreading. and controlled backburning of dry grass, which acts as a fire fuel. that's seen as a last resort, an indication of how desperate the situation is getting. in new south wales, there are 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 degrees celsius, marking the start of a new wave of heat in the continent's south. over the past two weeks, hundreds of people in south australia have needed medical attention for heat—related illnesses. look out for the signs and symptoms that are generally associated with dehydration, and they include headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and ultimately, potentially, collapse. authorities in new south wales are also worried about protecting water infrastructure, which could be damaged or contaminated by ash, including the warragamba dam, which supplies the majority of sydney's water, a city home to 5 million residents. what that means, when it does rain again, what sort of run—off will there be? what sort of siltation will there be? ash soil, all of that stuff getting into the waterways. 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 it's such a shame that, when we came, it looks like this.

a bit disappointed. we came into sydney and 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, way down. i'm doing about a third of what i would normally do at this time of year. i think that's 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 than1 million people are expected to attend the famous fireworks display for new year's eve. courtney bembridge, bbc news. emergency services in the us state of hawaii say they've found the wreckage of a tour helicopter that went missing on thursday, carrying seven people, including the pilot. members of two families are thought to have been on board the flight. debris from the helicopter was found in a remote area of hawaii's koke'e state park. emergency crews said the crash site is consistent with known routes ta ken by helicopter tour companies in the region.

the cause of the crash remains unclear and an investigation is under way. chile's president sebastian pinera has set a referendum for the 20 sixth of april, to decide whether or not the country's constitution should be changed. he's agreed to the vote after more than two months of anti—government protests, which have taken their toll on the economy — and chile's reputation as one of latin america's here's the bbc‘s cecilia barria. a warning: her report contains distressing images. sirens weeks of violence have scarred santiago. the main square is called ground zero, the metro system is burnt and the human cost of this crisis is clear. translation: we can't go out on the streets so i come home crying. i live a block away from the main square and see the destruction at night. it's dark, there's no

lights, it's terrible. graffiti is used to express anger. people feel the police are targeting them but many, like this young man, are scared to show their face and speak out. translation: they grabbed me and squeezed my testicles. i was punched in the face and kicked. they beat me with the — i don't know if it was gun handle. but i was beaten by many members of the police. this is the home of daniel. he's one more than 100 protesters who have been blinded by security forces. he is telling me hejoined the protests a week ago. he believes he was targeted by security forces and he was hit by a tear gas canister. right now he cannot work and he has lost his eye. translation: we looked away and covered our eyes so we would not get shot.

then i stood up and looked towards the policeman, and i felt it hit me. he shot right at my eye. they no longer shoot to warn you but to hurt you. the financial cost is also taking a toll. the unrest has already cost businesses more than $1.5 billion. many have closed and those who have escaped the looting, are struggling. carlos is the third generation of his family to run this shop. it has been open since 1935 and has survived hard times before, but he thinks it may be hard to continue. translation: economically, things are terrible. it's just like a war. at this point, i have a lot of staff working for me, but i think it will be too

complicated for me to keep them. while the authorities try to return the country back to normal, it's clear chile has changed and there may be no turning back. cecilia barria, bbc news, santiago, chile. in india, protests are continuing over the country's new citizenship law, which grants amnesty to illegal migrants from three countries , but only non—muslim ones. since it was passed, more than 20 people have died in clashes. most of them were from the northern state of uttar pradesh. the bbc‘s india correspondent yogita limaye reports from there. in kanpur, a policeman appears to fire a gun at protesters who were throwing stones. in muzaffarnagar, those demonstrating are beaten. even an older man. in meerut, police break cctv cameras mounted on shops in a muslim locality.

nearly a week since clashes broke out in the state of uttar pradesh over india's new citizenship law, videos have been emerging that raise serious questions about police behaviour against muslim protesters. shouting gunshot 19 have died in the state — all civilians. most had bullet injuries, like mohammed mohsin. his mother says he wasn't part of the protests, but had gone out to buy fodder when he was shot in the chest. the 28—year—old was the father of this baby. "we wantjustice, the police killed my son," she told me. "who will care for his children now?" police say they didn't open fire.

they claim that some among the protesters had guns. but that's not all security forces are being accused of. i went to one of the homes allegedly vandalised by the police in the dead of the night. in room after room, hardly anything left unbroken. there was jewellery in this box and cash in the tin — it was all stolen, i'm told. "there were many policemen and some people in plain clothes." "they told us to go from here and that our house would soon become theirs," she says. "so what if i am a muslim?" "don't i have a right to live in india?" in every locality, we were told of homes that had been ransacked. many here see the police action —

and the law — as part of the ruling party's hindu nationalist agenda. the government insist that indian muslims won't be affected by the new citizenship rules and it's blamed protesters for the violence. translation: there were 50,000 people on the streets, throwing stones, shooting, setting things on fire. the police had to respond. and to catch miscreants, they had to go inside people's homes. things break sometimes in a scuffle. what they've witnessed over the past two weeks has left many from the muslim community here worried about what kind of future they're facing in india. the government is trying to allay fears about the new citizenship law, but even before that's implemented, the handling of the protests has already had a tangible impact on the ground. religious polarisation has deepened. many areas of the state are now a tinderbox of fear and anger. yogita limaye, bbc

news, uttar pradesh. a man has survived for five hours after being buried by an avalanche in the austrian mountains. it happened at a ski resort in the state of styria neargrobming. shaun hassett has more. the rescuers seen in this photo are calling it a christmas miracle. they were able to save a man who spent five hours buried beneath a metre of snow. police were contacted in the early evening on christmas day when 26—year—old didn't return from skiing. it took two hours to find him. translation: we sent small groups to search all areas. we then found the avalanche, and then we started to search in detail and we quickly hit him. they were able to find him by picking up electromagnetic signals from an emergency transceiver worn on his body.

but that was no guarantee he would still be alive. it seems he had quite a large hole for breathing, and this was his luck. otherwise he would not have been able to survive. rescue teams in the area say surviving for five hours under an avalanche only happens once every 20 years. the 26—year—old was taken to hospital with hypothermia, but had no injuries and has now been discharged. he is not the only person to survive another lunch this week. on thursday rescue teams freed several people from the snow at a swiss ski resort. two of them suffered minor injuries. a reminder of our top story. the united nations says nearly 250,000 people have been forced from their homes this month because of fierce fighting in idlib province, in syria. the town of marat al—numan is reported to be all but deserted and the main highway heading north has been packed with vehicles. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews.

please stay with us. hello there. saturday morning is getting off to a mild but rather cloudy and murky start in many parts of the uk. it's going to stay mild throughout the weekend. in fact, by sunday some spots could get up to 1a or 15 degrees. it should slowly turn a little brighter as well. but there will always be some rain at times towards the north—west. this is the earlier satellite picture. and what we've had is a moist south—westerly flow across the british isles, bringing a lot of cloud, some mist, some murk, some drizzle, and the thicker cloud up to the north—west associated with this waving frontal system here, which will continue to feed rain into parts of northern ireland and scotland through the day ahead. so, this is how saturday's weather shapes up. across england and wales, yes, a lot of cloud, mist and murk to start. the odd spot of drizzle but it

should be basically a dry day. and i'm hopeful that cloud will break up to some extent, particularly across north wales, and merseyside and parts of north—east england. rain will feed into parts of northern ireland, some particularly heavy rain across western scotland, but for the north—east of scotland, with some shelter from the mountains, well here has a fighting chance of seeing some brightness. and for the moray coast we could see temperatures up to 13 degrees. but generally speaking, 10, 11 or 12. that is above where we should be at this time of year. now, during saturday night it stays wet — at least for a time — across the west and north of scotland. further south, northern ireland, england and wales, predominantly cloudy, but an increasing chance of seeing some breaks in that cloud by the end of the night. it is going to be another mild night as well, temperatures typically between 7 and 10 degrees. and some really mild air is heading our way for sunday. this plume of orange here on the chart is heading

towards the north—west of the country and that is where we will see the highest of the temperatures. but at the same time, hopefully we will start to tap into this drier air to the south which should allow us to break the cloud up a little bit and give us a bit more brightness. sunday, still lots of cloud around, you can see some holes appearing in that cloud. there is a chance of some spells of sunshine across england and northern wales. also northern ireland and southern and eastern scotland. a bit of rain to the far north—west, where it also stays breezy. look at the temperatures. the north coast of northern ireland, the north—east coast of scotland, 1a or 15 degrees. it will turn a little bit cooler as we head into the start of next week and indeed the final couple of days of 2019, particularly in northern areas. those temperatures back down into single digits, closer to where they should be this time of year. and further south, after a very mild monday, it will turn a little bit cooler as we get into tuesday. and then during tuesday night, if you are celebrating on new year's eve, it should stay mostly dry. it will be fairly chilly and there could be some patchy fog.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: the united nations says nearly a quarter of a million people have been forced from their homes this month because of fierce fighting in idlib province in syria. the town of marat al—numan is reported to be all but deserted, and the main highway heading north has been packed with vehicles. dozens of passengers have survived a plane crash in kazakhstan in which 12 people lost their lives. the crash took place in heavy fog, although the cause isn't yet known. the khazak company bek air operated the plane, and it crashed shortly after taking off from kazakhstan's largest city, almaty. russia says it has put into service the first batch of new strategic missiles that, it claims, can penetrate any existing or future missile shields. the avangard is what's known as a hypersonic glide vehicle, which can steer an unpredictable course, making detection much harder. now on bbc news, we're chasing the land speed record