this is bbc news, my name's mike embley with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a court in france returns guilty verdicts in the trial 01:14 people accused of taking part in the charlie hebdo attacks in paris, nearly six years ago. despite pressure from doctors and scientists, the uk is to allow the easing of coronavirus restrictions over christmas, but with a warning. a smaller christmas is going to bea a smaller christmas is going to be a safer christmas, and a shorter christmas, is a safer christmas. in a giant leap for pandemic diplomacy, the world health organisation is given the green light to visit wuhan in china to investigate the orgins of the virus. nigerian officials claim they will not pay rent them for the

boys kidnapped from a boarding school in the country last friday. a chinese space capsule has successfully returned with the first samples of moon rock in more than forty years. a court in paris has found 1a people guilty of being linked to the three islamist extremists who carried out attacks on the satirical magazine, charlie hebdo, and a jewish supermarket, nearly six years ago. 17 people were killed. the longest sentences, of 30 years, were given to a close friend of one of the attackers and his former girlfriend who is believed to be in syria. our paris correspondent, lucy williamson, has been following the case. this trial has struggled to match the scale of the events behind it. those in the public gallery today better known than those in the dock.

arriving for the verdict, surviving staff from a jewish supermarket and the magazine charlie hebdo, the two key targets in the attacks. the harshest verdict was for ali riza polat, sentenced to 30 years for complicity in the attacks. more than a dozen others were convicted of lesser crimes. seven were cleared of any specific link to terrorism. translation: what this decision says is that without this loose group of people around the terrorists, there is no attack, and anyone who supports terrorism even a little can be punished very severely. the men who carried out the islamist violence five years ago were all killed by police. amedy coulibaly and brothers cherif and said kouachi killed 17 people in a three—day campaign targeting journalists, jews and police officers. the satirical magazine charlie hebdo was targeted after printing cartoons

of the prophet muhammad. those cartoons have since become the front line in a battle over freedom of speech in france. on the one hand, a symbol of the nation's right to blaspheme. on the other, a lightning rod for more jihadist attacks. two months ago, teacher samuel paty was beheaded in a suburb of paris after showing his class the cartoons during a discussion on freedom of speech. the government has proposed a new law to combat islamist extremism in france. but one survivor believes repeated islamist attacks are changing behaviour here. translation: al-qaeda is waging a communications war. it wants to scare people, and it's working. cartoonists no longer want to caricature the prophet. it's self—censorship. after the recent beheading of the teacher, a lot of teachers don't want to speak about secularism but freedom of expression.

today's verdict said charlie hebdo marked the end of a cycle of violence. not many here think it's over. much of the terrorism has been home—grown — and convicting people isn't the same as convincing them. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. the four nations of the uk have agreed to go ahead with the easing of coronavirus restrictions between the 23rd and the 27th of december, despite pressure from many health experts and scientists for the rules to be toughened. borisjohnson has urged people to "think hard" before meeting family and friends but said it would be "frankly inhuman" to ban christmas at this point. we are keeping the laws of the same but we all want to send the same message. a smaller christmas is going to be a safer christmas and a shorter

christmas is a safer christmas. china has agreed to allow a world health organisation team into the country next month to investigate the origins of the coronavirus. beijing has been reluctant to agree to an independent inquiry into the outbreak, causing a series of diplomatic rows with other countries. no who scientist has been allowed to visit wuhan — where the virus was first detected — since february. let's take a look back at how the pandemic spread. on the 3rd january chinese authorities launched an investigation into a viral pneumonia which had infected dozens of people in the city of wuhan, chinese media reported the first known death around a week later. the 2nd of february saw the first recorded death outside of china, while on the 11th of march the world health organisation officially declared the outbreak a pandemic. the global death toll increased rapidly, passing one million on september the 28th. finally, on december 8th a uk grandmother became the first person in the world to be given

the pfizer covid—i9 vaccine. we can now speak to dr krutika kuppali who's assistant professor of medicine, division of infectious diseases at medical university of south carolina. shejoins us now from charleston. what hope do you have for this mission? it is quite something that it mission? it is quite something thatitis mission? it is quite something that it is happening at all. it is great that it is happening, they are hopeful that this will help us get some more answers into the origins of this pandemic. i think it is great that they have so many diverse researchers and scientists in various fields, that will help us various fields, that will help us understand more about the origination of the covid pandemic. with all that range of expertise, what knowledge will they be hoping to come back with? their hope is going to be to understand how this evolved, so we believe that the

original coronavirus came from bats, but what we are trying to understand is what the intermediate animal host is that led to spill over into humans, so there is going to be a wide range of scientists from epidemiologists, veterinary doctors, food researchers, virologist, infectious disease doctors, all who have great expertise that will be coming together to really understand where the origins of this disease came from and also understanding how long it may have been going on for before it really showed up into the public by. that it is very important for us to understand that we can prevent something like this from happening again. i have to ask you because it is clear from social media, there area clear from social media, there are a lot of people still wondering about it, whether we give the idea any credence or not. will this team be looking at whether this virus could have escaped from a laboratory? presumably the chinese authorities would be keen to

discourage any such enquiry. sure. i think that there are definitely still some conspiracy theorists out there andi conspiracy theorists out there and i think that will be important for any group that goes to wuhan to go in with an open mind and to look at all the evidence and i think it will be very important for the chinese government to have transparency so the scientists can look at everything, so i think it will be important for everybody to have open, transparent communication and having access to all the information so that they can make an informed decision. and in the broader investigation, leaving that particular element to one side, the chinese are not known for broad, open investigation. it is going to be important in this particular insta nce be important in this particular instance that they want to dispel the myths that have been out there for them to give open, trans parent information to the who and again, this is a

tea m to the who and again, this is a team of scientists from all over the world that will be going that have been assembled and they are experts in their field, so if they want to help dispel these myths, that is going to be very important. let's get some of the day's other news. brazil will start a mass coronavirus vaccination programme in february. president jair bolsonaro says the government will buy millions of doses, once regulators approve one of the new vaccines. the country reported another 70,000 cases of covid—i9 on wednesday bring the total close to seven million. the death toll in brazil is the second highest in the world. the chairman of the federal reserve, jerome powell, has called for steps to be taken to stimulate the us economy, which is struggling to cope with the effects of the coronavirus crisis. mr powell said the case for deploying government finances was very, very strong. the state of texas, backed by nine other us states, have filed a lawsuit

against the parent company of google, accusing it of illegally abusing its monopoly over the technology that delivers online advertising. prosecutors say google edges out rivals who try to challenge its dominance and then overcharges publishers for the adverts it shows on the web. dutch prosecutors have confirmed a hacker successfully logged into donald trump's twitter account by guessing his password, maga2020! victor gevers disclosed the hack immediately, sharing what he said were screenshots taken of mr trump's account during the final stages of the us presidential election. prosecuctors say they will not be punishing. ransoms will not be paid for the schoolboys kidnapped from their boarding school in northern nigeria. that's the message from the regional governor who's spoken to the bbc. he said the authorities are in contact with the group holding the children — he described the group as a gang of well—known local criminals — with links to the islamist militant group boko haram. more states in northern nigeria have ordered all schools to close following last week's kidnapping of hundreds of pupils

in katsina state. our nigeria correspondent mayenijones sent this report. bring back our boys — that's what these young activists plan to ask the government during their march on thursday. they are worried any delay could prove disastrous. these children could be exposed to dangers of training on the use of arms, so they can be used for further attacks in other places, and also they can be exposed to drugs. the government has come under fierce criticism for its handling of attacks. boko haram's claim of responsibility for friday's mass kidnapping shows their influence could be spreading. boko haram doesn't usually operate in this part of nigeria, and the governor of katsina state tried to downplay its involvement. even though the methods being used by boko haram have been employed in this abduction, we cannot precisely say we are

dealing with boko haram yet. there have been repeated comparisons between friday's kidnapping and a 2014 abduction of the chibok girls. over half of them were freed. it's unclear how the government secured their release. some believe they paid a ransom. the authorities deny they did then, and won't entertain the thought now. i don't think the issue of ransom for money is on the table. it should not be on the table. it should not. we don't pay kidnappers money, because it's an encouragement. we don't pay it. back at the secondary school where her child was abducted, this parent is sceptical about boko haram's claims. translation: i don't believe the claim by the leader of boko haram that he ordered the kidnapping of our children. we were told that thieves took away our children, and i stick to that.

with schools here now closed until security improves, getting an education in north—west nigeria has become precarious. mayenijones, bbc news, katsina. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: some much—needed christmas cheer — the story of the music teacher who took her lessons online. music and chanting. saddam hussein is finished because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes, but they brought a formal end to 3.5 years of conflict, conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders,

the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: a court in france has convicted the accomplices of the islamist militants who carried out the charlie hebdo attacks in paris. their sentences range from 4 to 30 years in prison. britain's prime minister borisjohnson has urged people

to keep their christmas celebrations "short and small" to avoid spreading covid. but he says the relaxtion in rules on meeting up for the festive season will still go ahead. the british foreign secretary dominic raab, who's visiting india, has acknowledged that a post—brexit free—trade deal with the country could take many years. but, he said, it might come much sooner and the mutual benefits would be "enormous". mr raab met indian prime minister narendra modi, and also announced a new vaccine partnership with the country. our south asia correspondent rajini vaidyanathan spoke to mr raab about brexit. one of the great things that i've been able to talk through the prime minister today and with the foreign ministry yesterday was the, if you like, the road map, the milestones deepening our trade in the interest of both indian and british businesses and consumers. of course, free—trade negotiations are a haggle, if you look at the joint mutual benefits over a ten or 20 or 30 year period,

notjust over two or three months, they are enormous. free—trade agreement with india will not hope happen overnight, could take as long as a decade. free—trade agreement is important in their milestones to reaching that and sometimes it can take as long as you suggested but i think with political will and my sense of the uk side and also on the indian side, there is the political will with the right leadership on both sides, that is both there, we can work much quicker than that. let's move the issue of democratic values. international human rights groups are gravely concerned that indian policies have put minority groups, especially muslims, under increasing pressure. we are talking about brutal crackdowns against the government's critics. arbitrary detentions, internet shutdowns, increased media censorship and a decline in press freedom. how much does that concern you?

i think the big picture context is that india is the biggest democracy in the world and has a vibrant culture of debate, protest and what we have seen recently in many ways as an example to the world, of course, there are cases of human rights issues and we know about them, they are reported to me, they have desperate constituencies with us. i had a candid conversation with officials in the indian government and i spoke to them this week and equally, we recognise that we have a democratic depth and breath of india is pretty much unrivaled in this region and i think it is important to set it against that context. a chinese space craft has returned to earth with the first samples from the moon in more than a0 years. the craft spent three weeks in space, sampling rocks and soil. the capsule, carrying the samples gathered by the un—crewed craft, touched down in the northern region of inner mongolia

about five hours ago. scientists hope the samples will help them understand the structure and history of the moon. a chinese flag was planted near the capsule once it was located. let's get more from doctorjonathan mcdowell, who's an astronomer at the center for astrophysics, harvard and smithsonian. how big a deal is this? well, this is a pretty good dealfor china. they have been catching up china. they have been catching up in space and this is the most ambitious project i have done. they held a rehearsal for this and 2018 so they have been preparing for this moment a long time and the fact it went off so successfully will give them confidence to give even more ambitious projects in the future. an why is where they search the moon important? the

latter history of the moon rolled out and it tells us the history of our planet. rocks going through space heating the men and the earth but erosion has wiped the history clean on the earth but on the moon we can study these rocks. it is a pretty exciting time for space exploration? it has been a very busy time and particularly in these deep space missions. we are seeing a new these deep space missions. we are seeing a new era these deep space missions. we are seeing a new era where the sample returns from distant asteroids, from the moon and people are trying to figure out how to bring back rocks from mars so the maturity of these programmes, the return of the japanese probe, united emirates probe heading to mars so it is

becoming more international as well. is it opening new opportunities? that's right. we saw the first real test flight of the spacex starship rocket, a few miles. they have a few ways to go to debug it but once they get working, it will be cheaper to putting things in orbit. a lot of new developments, other new rockets on the way. the new zealand launchpad rocket lab has a small rocket which can put more satellite in orbit so a lot of foment trying out new things and more imaginative thing. each country tries a different approach stop is china making a political and perhaps strategic point and what it is doing? absolutely. china was not

really into space and early 90s they made a strategic decision that we better catch up and be a player and a sense that they have been ramping up and now, in terms of launch rate, they are launching as many rockets as the us is so a huge investment on their part, an impressive capacity and they wa nt to impressive capacity and they want to see this as a way to prove they are at the forefront asa prove they are at the forefront as a nation into ology. great to talk to you. thank you very much. thank you. members of the taleban leadership have arrived in pakistan for talks with senior government officials. it comes after the afghan peace talks, which have been taking place in qatar, were put on hold following an upsurge in violence, which the afghan government blamed on militants. hong kong civil servants have sworn a new pledge of allegiance to the government, to enforce loyalty to the city and its government.

civil servants were one of the groups that took to the streets in large numbers last year, calling for greater democracy and police accountability. china's authoritarian leaders have overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent in hong kong. teaching children music has been a life passion for emma hutchinson. so when lockdown was announced, her shift to online teaching, and the impact this had on her children was stark. her efforts to draw out something positive from the experience led to her writing a christmas song that, to her surprise, has gone global. here's emma's story. # la, la, la—la, la, la... when lockdown was announced, i was at home, in devon. our whole professional world turned around overnight to zoom lessons. it's lovely to see you here today. are you ready to roll? # something is tapping in my box...# a lot of families said, "oh, this is quite good fun, let's all have a go at doing the digital thing." but i think, after several weeks,

you could get a sense of screen fatigue. smash! over the nine months, we noticed that many of our children are more reserved. they're less responsive to engaging with each other. language delay is becoming more evidenced. # christmas is here again, all around the world. ..# i was thinking, how can i make this a positive experience? how can i write something that is going to look forward to the future? i wrote four christmas songs. # christmas is here once more # family, neighbours, knocking at the door...# i gave my song to moonbug entertainment as part of a collective of christmas songs for children to enjoy. and then they got back in touch and said, "thank you very much, we'd like to use christmas is here again as our christmas single." # christmas bells are ring, ring, ringing # everyone is sing,

sing, singing...# being deaf, i have to say, it has been, initially, a nightmare. and then it became quite funny. having a mask on, suddenly i couldn't see the face. and i rely a lot on lip—reading. # love and peace, as my candle burns # singing my christmas song. if we can hold a candle up together on christmas eve, wouldn't that make a difference? just so they know they are not alone. # everyone is sing, sing, singing # whoever you are, wherever you roam # ringa—dinga, ding, ding, ding.# soian mckellen is among the latest to receive the anti— coronavirus vaccine. this study is 81 and is known for both

theatre and screen roles including blog after movies. he said he looked forward to one day hugging people again, starting with the doctors and staff at the hospital where he received the jab. he was optimistic about the future of the arts. this is the first on the theatres have been closed. during sha kespeare's lifetime because of the bubonic plague, the theatres were shut off and for years at the time and during one of those breaks, shakespeare not able to act, wrote three plays, anthony cleopatra, mcbeth and king lear that's what he did with his lockdown and so that to be an inspiration. and, during the war, theatres closed, particularly in london, during the blitz. but we spring back. the conviction of the conviction 01:14 people in the charlie abdo trial. ——

charlie hebdo much more on our website and twitter feed. thank you very much. hello there. on wednesday, we saw a pretty deep area of low pressure sweep up from the south to bring rain and gales, particularly to western areas. today, though, it's looking a bit quieter. we're in between weather systems, so we should see a good deal of sunshine around. it'll stay quite breezy too, though, not quite as windy as it has been. so that's wednesday's low pushing away to the north of the uk. this feature will come in during thursday night. and in between, we've got a good slice of drier weather. there'll be a few showers around this morning, mind you, across southern and western areas. plenty of sunshine across eastern scotland, central and eastern england — areas here staying dry all day. out west, we'll see further showers and the clouds will tend to build up here through the afternoon, and the outbreaks of rain will start to arrive across northern ireland, along with strengthening winds.

it'll be quite fresh across northern and eastern areas — 9—10 celsius around average, but it will be turning quite milder further west, as this band of rain and stronger winds starts to spread across the country, as we head through thursday night. it will be followed by further areas of cloud and showers to the south and west, and it'll be turning very mild across the south — lows overnight 12—13 celsius. and after a chilly start in the north, it'll be turning milder there too. now, this is the pressure chart for friday — and you can see we're back to very unsettled weather. this very active weather front, with lots of isobars on the chart, means wet and windy weather moving our way. so we'll start off with a little brightness across the north—east england, north—east scotland, but generally a rather cloudy, misty, murky day. some patchy drizzle across the east. heavy rain across western areas. chances of flooding for south—west england and south wales — areas which have seen lots of rain already. and it'll be a windy day. those gusts showing 30—110 mph for many, particularly across southern and western coasts. with our winds coming in from the south,

it's going to be a very mild day for the time of year. highs of 13 to maybe 15 celsius, for example, in parts of north—east wales. low pressure sticks around as we head on into the weekend. it'll send bands of showers into the northern and western areas. but there will be some sunshine around too. you will notice though the mild air starts to get replaced with those bluer tinges, so it will be cooling down through the weekend. so a sunshine and showers weekend. most showers across western areas. and then, it'll be cooling down, and that'll be particularly noticeable as we head through sunday.

as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc news,

the headlines: the biggest terrorist trial in french history has ended with the conviction of fourteen people for aiding islamist attacks in paris in january 2015. seventeen people were killed in the assaults on the charlie hebdo magazine and a jewish supermarket. the longest sentences, 30 yea rs, the longest sentences, 30 yea rs , we re the longest sentences, 30 years, were given to one of the attackers and his girlfriend, believed to be in syria. the uk prime minister boris johnson has urged people to keep christmas celebrations short and small to reduce the risk of spreading covid over the festive period. despite warnings over rising infections from scientists and doctors, restrictions will still be relaxed between 23rd and 27th december. china has agreed to allow a team world health organisation scientists into the country next month to investigate the origins of the coronavirus. beijing has been reluctant to agree to an independent inquiry into the outbreak, causing a series of diplomatic rows with other countries.