this is bbc news, i'm lewis vaughanjones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. nigerian officials say more than 300 schoolboys taken captive by gunmen last week, are safe and well, and on their way home. a court in france jails a morrocan man for life, afterfinding him guilty of a terror attack on a paris—bound train in 2015. us cyber—security experts say a major hacking campaign, uncovered this week, posed a grave risk to the government's nuclear stockpile. politicians are blaming russian intelligence. and, the british actor jeremy bulloch, who played boba fett in the original star wars trilogy, has died aged 75.

hello and welcome. hundreds of schoolboys, kidnapped in northern nigeria last friday, have been released. the governor of katsina state says 344 children are on their way back from the forest where they were being held. the bbc‘s nigeria correspondent, mayenijones, is in kano in katsina. she says the news obviously comes as a huge relief to the parents. the state government has told the bbc that 344 boys have been released and are currently on their way to catalina in north—western nigeria. we are not clear whether that is the total number of boys who were

abducted, there was some doubt as to how many boys had been taken, the state government said it could be anywhere from 340 - said it could be anywhere from 340- 400 said it could be anywhere from 340— 400 boys. boko haram claim that they took over 500 boys, so that they took over 500 boys, so there is some uncertainty about whether it is all of them. the extremist group boko haram have claimed that they we re haram have claimed that they were responsible for the attack, the state authorities say that it was local criminals, kidnappers for ransom with some connection to the extremist group. all of this news comes off the back of a video allegedly coming from boko haram on thursday that showed dozens of young boys looking distressed in the forest, begging the nigerian government to call back their troops and say that some of their peers had been killed and airstrikes. according to state officials, that is not the case. all of the boys who were recovered a re case. all of the boys who were recovered are alive. this will be great news for their pa rents, be great news for their parents, some of whom have been

waiting anxiously at the school where the boys were taken last friday waiting for news copy there has also been protests and katsina state calling for the president to bring back security to the state. it is unclear what the authorities plan to do to avoid this type of incident moving forward. schools in the region are currently closed until they find out how to keep them more secure. a french court has sentenced a moroccan man to life in prison for attempting to kill passengers on a high—speed train. the attack five years ago was stopped by passengers including off—duty american soldiers. they overpowered ayoub el khazzani on the amsterdam to paris express train. we can speak alek skarlatos former us army national guard soldier who, along with fellow americans spencer stone and anthony sadler, overpowered the gunman. thank you so much for coming on the programme and talking to us. the programme and talking to us. of course, thanks for having me stop eia appreciated it must be a strange day for

you today but what was your reaction to hearing that present? honestly i am just glad that he got the maximum allowed under french law. it is allowed under french law. it is a huge relief that he will at least be locked up for the foreseeable future, anyway. and large part of that of course thanks to your efforts, you and your friends thanks to your efforts, you and yourfriends on thanks to your efforts, you and your friends on that train in those moments. if it is ok, just take us back to that moment where you first realised what was going on, a man with a gun in yourtrain what was going on, a man with a gun in your train carriage, what happened next?” gun in your train carriage, what happened next? ijust heard a gunshot and breaking glass and a train employee running away from the noise and a look back to see where they we re a look back to see where they were running from. there was a shirtless man with an ak—47, i'd ducked down behind my seat and spencer stone was on the aisle seat next to me, waking up aisle seat next to me, waking up from aisle seat next to me, waking upfrom a aisle seat next to me, waking up from a sleep he saw the terrorist and ducked next to me stop eiajust terrorist and ducked next to me stop eia just tapped terrorist and ducked next to me stop eiajust tapped on terrorist and ducked next to me stop eia just tapped on the shoulder and said something to effect of let's go, and to his

credit he ran at the guy and anthony sadler followed me. can you remember what on earth was running through your mind during those moments? to be honest, i'd just thought that there was just no way, it was like a sense of disbelief. like, a new it was actually happening, but my mind just thought, there's no this is real life, but of course it was and there was just a sense of fear and dread of knowing that this is how we die, but fortu nately we this is how we die, but fortunately we got incredibly lucky. yeah, of course. but just tell us how did you eventually overpower and then restrain him? long story short, spencer stone choked him unconscious while i was hitting him in the head with his ak—47. that's pretty... well, comprehensive, yeah. and i have heard you say before that your

training kicked in after that and you realised there could be other threats on the train, things like that. absolutely. i took the ak—47 and charged the weapon and realised that he had actually attempted to fire at but the ammunition failed, and then i'd check the rest of the train to look for any other wounded passengers or even terrorists, and then spencer, who is an emt in the air force, crawled over and stop the bleeding of michael gallian who was shot in the neck prior to oui’ was shot in the neck prior to our involvement. and then i suppose it must have been a pretty overwhelming feeling once you had done all that and then suddenly you take a moment to think what could have been. if you hadn't have been there on the train carriage, what could have happened. absolutely. honestly, that didn't sink in for quite some time. we werejust didn't sink in for quite some time. we were just kind didn't sink in for quite some time. we werejust kind of in awe of what had happened. we we re awe of what had happened. we were really just awe of what had happened. we were reallyjust doing it to save each other and save ourselves, that's why i don't really like to be called a hero

because we didn't really have any other option. there was no escape for us, we just did what we did to save each other. we have all known each other since we we re have all known each other since we were young kid and it all worked out, i think, the way it was supposed to. well, i am afraid that you certainly are heroes and you have the medals to prove it so there is no getting away from it. can you just reflect on how life has changed for you since then? just reflect on how life has changed for you since themm has changed completely for all of us. we are still in touch with mark and chris norman, and i think, especially for the three of us, me, spencer and anthony it has really changed the trajectory of where we thought our lives were headed and kind of turned them on their heads, i guess. and what now for you? you looked at politics, i'd believe? a looked at politics, ran for congress here in oregon and lost this november, but i haven't given up november, but i haven't given up completely yet so we will see what happens. good luck

with any future endeavours, of course. and what is your reflection now given the court case and this kind of chapter of your life is over, does it feel like it is all well events on that day, just in those moments, those minute still reverberate? absolutely. i will carry that with me for the rest of my life. it was really an incredible experience, good and bad, but in a way, now that he has been sentenced they feel like it is kind of a closing of a chapter of our lives. it has been five years where it seems likely terrorist attack has really overtaken likely terrorist attack has really overta ken a ny likely terrorist attack has really overtaken any other thing going on in our lives and iamjust thing going on in our lives and i am just glad to look forward to the future knowing that ayoub el khazzani is behind bars. and finally, just before i'll let you go, because it is one of those moments that we all thought of dread or daydream about, when you put yourself in your shoes and think what would i do in those moments and people always ask

themselves those questions. when you look back now you must be immensely satisfied of what you instinctively lead? be immensely satisfied of what you instinctively lead ?|j be immensely satisfied of what you instinctively lead? i would say yes. we were very lucky. were used to joke about something like this happening and just knowing each other for so and just knowing each other for so long, when it finally did happen we were just on the same page immediately, so why would encourage everybody to really think about what you would do ina think about what you would do in a situation like that. not just that but really anything, even a car accident or someone next to you having a heart attack and they would just encourage everyone to do something positive, even if you don't know how to disarm a terrorist or take care of someone terrorist or take care of someone medically who was having an issue, call police, call ems, do whatever you can, just do something that helps change the situation in a positive manner. if chris norman hadn't been there to help us tie the terrorist up and free us up to do other things or even help translate, there is no telling how the situation may have devolved

otherwise, and just get involved and do whatever you can to help change the outcome ina can to help change the outcome in a positive manner. that is certainly an absolutely remarkable story, thank you again for coming on and sharing it, thank you. let's get some of the day's other news. a panel of experts in the united states has voted in favour of granting emergency approval to moderna's covid—i9 vaccine. the us food and drug administration is expected to authorise its use on friday, paving the way for six million doses to start being shipped as early as this weekend. india's supreme court has refused to block large—scale farmers' demonstrations, saying they have the right to protest, as long as there's no violence. the court was responding to petitions complaining about closed roads. thousands of farmers have been protesting for three weeks against new laws they say will harm their profits. tropical cyclone yasa has hit the pacific island nation of fiji. with winds of more than 300

kilometres an hour, authorities imposed a nationwide curfew. power was cut to much of the country as the cyclone approached. the uk's brexit negotiator, lord frost, has suggested that progress in trade talks with the eu seems blocked, and time is running out. his comments came after boris johnson set out his concerns during a telephone conversation with the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen. much is resting on the talks for who are businesses still not clear what the next few weeks hold. as the closest uk port to mainland europe, dover handles i7% of the uk's trade in goods. from there, simonjack reports. radio: there are long, long delays because of lorries waiting to get into the docks into dover. this might be the most important trade route in europe, the approach to dover. 9,000 lorries a day transport nearly a fifth of all goods

bought and sold in the uk. avoid the a2 in that area at all costs that wasn't an option for these drivers this morning. here on the road, six hours. six hours in traffic? there are still two weeks to go before the biggest change in decades to trade with our biggest partner, so is dover ready? the port is as prepared as they can be. we've been at this for four years now. i think the most uncertain thing is how prepared is business to trade post ist of january? there's an aspect of our operation where certainly if we add some additional friction to it, it's going to slow things down but the critical thing will be, at what point is that a tipping point? because it will take 24—36 hours via other routes to do the same thing that we can do in about six hours via this route. dover is the most important artery serving the blood stream of uk business and the challenge ahead is set against the logjam of other issues: disruption coming out of china, people bringing christmas

stock, brexit stockpiling and on top of that, in 14 days, a whole new set of procedures for the first time in decades, requiring paperwork that many businesses haven't mastered, which they will need — deal or no deal. at the moment, they seem to be stuck in calais. logistics director adam shuter said he's seen truck movements rise 50% as traders scramble to get stuff in before year end. he said his customers haven't been given all the information they need. the detail is not there and because the detail‘s not there, people are saying, yes, we need to get ready but they don't know what to do and in lots of respects i think they're just giving up and i think they're just saying, we'll wait and see what happens. brexit will mean 200 million additional customs declarations, requiring tens of thousands of customs agents that we don't have, according to a man who is training new agents. it could well be that we have a chronic shortfall of customs agents. it's the export side of things, that's what really worries me because if you want to take your goods to france,

you've got to do an export from now on and if you've got no means of doing that, it's going to be hard to find that means when it comes to the ist january because if you came to our company, we'd almost certainly turn you away and most other agents would as well. we just don't have the staff to take on the additional work. the government has provided grants for training new agents and will waive requirements for customs forms on imports till july but this isn't about lorries, it's about toys, car parts and building supplies going undelivered. supply chains are fraying before the uk's journey into the unknown. simonjack, bbc news, dover. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we'll reveal what happened when our moscow correspondent got the chance to put questions directly to president putin. 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: nigerian officials say more than 300 schoolboys ta ken captive by gunmen last week, are safe and well and on their way home. a court in france jails a morrocan man for life, afterfinding him guilty of a terror attack on a paris—bound train in 2015. the two departments that manage the united states' nuclear stockpile say hackers have gained access to their networks. the us energy department and the national nuclear security administration are the latest government agencies to be targeted as part of a massive cyber attack that some analysts and politicians have blamed on russian intelligence. 0ur washington correspondent lebo disekojoins us now. it is difficult to think of government agencies you would not want targeted by a cyber

attack. how serious is this? it is really serious. the department of homeland security says this places a grave risk to the us government and for days now we have heard more and more and more agencies saying they have been affected. the treasury, the department of homeland security, the pentagon and as you said those two agencies in charge of the us nuclear stockpile and this has been going on since march, a full nine months that hackers have been at the network and get information. the hackers did notjust use one way of getting into the system so it is likely to be wider than we have seen and the attack is still ongoing so very serious. do we know who is behind it? as you said, russia is being

widely blamed that exactly what the us media is saying but the trump administration is not yet formally blamed moscow. moscow itself, the embassy here has said the allegations are baseless. and what about trying to protect this information, how does one go about doing this? i imagine it would be quite a job. three agencies are trying to deal with this. working with various affected agencies but i imagine it must be huge. they said actually getting the hackers out and cleaning out the foreign agency or whatever the attacker is is going to be incredibly difficult. the fbi is investigating and trying to find out exactly what is happening but as we said the attack is still ongoing and we do not know how many other agencies, companies and people are affected. thank you for

that. russia's president has dismissed claims that his security services had anything to do with the poisoning of kremlin critic, alexei navalny. vladimir putin said if they'd been behind the attack on mr navalny — who's still recuperating — they would have finished thejob. president putin was appearing at his annual news conference in moscow. steve rosenberg was there. this was something new. video conferencing with vladimir. due to the coronavirus pandemic, for his annual end of year news conference, russia's president took social distancing to the extreme and stayed at home. forfour and a half hours, journalists competed for a chance to ask the kremlin leader a question. n0 audio no audio translation available.

"mr president," i ask, "after 20 years in power, don't you accept at least some responsibility for the new cold war between russia and the west? or are the russian authorities squea ky—clean? " translation: i feel responsible for what is going on in russia, for its people, and i will do everything in the interests of russia. as for being squeaky—clean, we are, compared to you. you promised that nato wouldn't expand into the east, but you didn't keep your word. shouting. i asked, too, about mr putin's most vocal critic, alexei navalny. experts in sweden, france and germany, confirm he was poisoned by novichok. "can you explain to me, steven," president putin says, "why can't they provide us with an official report about the use of this novichok?" "you're asking me?" i reply.

"i'm the journalist here," i say. "i ask the questions." "i'm sorry," replies mr putin, "i'll continue to answer it." now that is rare — an apology to a bbc correspondent, from the president of russia. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the british actor, jeremy bulloch, who played boba fett in the original star wars trilogy, has died aged 75. his agent said he died in hospital from health complications after living with parkinson's disease for many years. he was best known for playing bounty hunter boba fett in the empire strikes back and return of thejedi. the character has since featured in the second season of star wars spin—off series, the mandalorian. jeremy bulloch also appeared in the james bond film, 0ctopussy, and the doctor who series in the 1970s. with me is our news reporter, paul hawkins. this is clearly a huge figure for star wars fans as well. the

hard—core star wars fans. for those who do not know or are not star wars fans, jeremy bulloch was a bounty hunter into of the original star wars he was a peripheral character. the bounty hunter was in a few films, a few scenes, a few lines. it was all about physical presence and like the late jeremy bulloch physical presence and like the latejeremy bulloch —— the actor who played darth vader, jeremy bulloch was all about how he moved. he based it on clint eastwood's character in a fistful of doctors, the way he holds the gun, moves slowly. interestingly, he does notjust play boba fett in the empire strikes back but also another character, the imperial

officer. princess leia shouts it's a trap and then is bundled offset and that who played boba fett. they went and grabbed the uniform because they couldn't find anyone to play in. good versatility. absolute versatility. absolute versatility. he's into three james bond jobs as well playing even more peripheral characters even more peripheral characters even though one has the line of, commander, in 0ctopussy. and he also played characters in doctor who in the 1970s. the incredible worldwide reach of this film franchise. massive, massive. as a spin—off there is atv massive. as a spin—off there is a tv series called the mandalorian which has paid real

dividends for disney who now own the star wars franchise. they bought it from george lucas. speaking of whom, he said ofjeremy bulloch, that he played the character and gave it... also others paid tribute... his sons and ten grandchildren will be sent terribly. thank you so much for that. and finally at a romantic interlude that would make any screenwriter proud. the train driven by paula as she pulled into dublin train station. keep

your eye on the left of screen. you will be able to see a carefully placed series of placards spelling out the phrase, will you marry me? meeting at the end of the platform, her boyfriend connor. flowers in hand and as you can see the answer to that question was, yes. 0ther irish roster we re was, yes. 0ther irish roster were in on the plan and helped with music on the station and make show another driver was on hand to replace paula so she could fully enjoy the moment. it just goes to could fully enjoy the moment. itjust goes to show romance can blossom anywhere and anytime, even in a pandemic. congratulations to them. that set the bar pretty high. that's it from me. plenty more online and you can get me online as well. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones i'm lewis vaughn jones.

i'm lewis vaughnjones. this is bbc news. hello. 0ur spell of unsettled and mild mid—december weather is set to continue for another few days yet, before things get a little bit cooler into next week, but certainly for friday, it's going to be a windy day, very mild once again with some heavy rain around. now, the heaviest of the rain will be affecting south wales, where the met office haveissued an amber rain warning. that rain could be bringing some travel disruption and some flooding, up to 100mm falling over the higher ground of south wales. now, through the course of the early hours of friday, that rain is moving its way in from the west. throughout friday, it's going to be heavy for the south—west of england, wales, moving into northern england, into scotland as well. this is 3pm in the afternoon. not only will there be

a lot of heavy rain, it will be drier in the south—east. but the gusts of wind will reach around 60 mph three exposed parts of the irish sea, 30—40 mph gusts of wind elsewhere. northern ireland will see that rain clearing to leave sunshine and some scattered showers, but a wet and to the day for much of scotland, northern england, wales and the south west. very mild once again, 13—14 degrees. we could see 15 celsius and one or two spots. that rain will continue its progression, across east anglia and the south—east, during friday evening and overnight into saturday. so, again, it's an unsettled picture as we head through into the first part of the weekend. plenty of showers on the map first thing saturday, frost—free certainly once again with overnight temperatures between about 7—11 degrees to start off your weekend. so the weekend will be dominated by an area of low pressure sitting out towards the north—west. we're going to be seen showers rotating around that area of low pressure, driven in on quite a brisk south—westerly wind, so still quite a mild direction, but a little bit cooler than it's been over recent days. lots of scattered showers, most of them in the west and along some of these

exposed southern coasts as well. sunny spells, nowhere immune to catching one or two showers, but generally driest in the east. temperatures still around about 10—12 degrees, a touch down on recent days. heading on into the second half of the weekend, and it's a fairly similar story, with a mix of sunny spells and a few scattered showers, again mainly in the north and west, but some coming in along the english channel as well. not quite as warm by this stage, temperatures around about 8—11 degrees on sunday. stays unsettled and a touch cooler as we head into the middle part of next week. bye for now.

this is bbc news, the headlines: a senior official in nigeria says that more than 300 schoolboys, who were kidnapped last friday have been handed over to government security forces. the state governor says the boys, who were located in the zamfara forest, are safe and well, and on their way home. a french court has sentenced a moroccan man to life in prison for attempting to carry out a deadly attack on a high—speed, paris—bound train in 2015. ayoub el khazzani was overpowered by passengers, including three off—duty american soldiers. the incident was later turned into a hollywood film. us cyber—security experts say a major hacking campaign, uncovered this week, posed a grave risk to the government's nuclear stockpile. the treasury and commerce department was also the subject of an attempted attack. several politicians have blamed the russian government, but moscow says the claims are baseless. now on bbc news, on the 70th

anniversary of one of her