welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: ukrainian forces are continuing to retake more territory abandoned by russian troops. we have an extended report on the high price being paid. russian army uniforms and boots, all of this cast aside by russian troops. what happened here wasn'tjust a defeat for president putin. it was a complete humiliation. hundreds of thousands of people in somalia are facing extreme hunger after the worst drought in a0 years. 300,000 people are living in famine conditions with another 2 million on the brink of famine. so it is hard to imagine a situation more desperate, more urgent,

more compelling. twitter confirms that the world's richest man, elon musk, is going through with his bid to buy the company. # well, i was born a coalminer�*s daughter... #. and musicians and fans pay tribute to the american country music star loretta lynn, who's died at the age of 90. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we start with ukraine where the country's forces have retaken more territory from the russians in the south. the focus is near the city of kherson in one of the regions unlawfully annexed by russia last week. ukraine's president volodymyr zelenzky says his troops are making rapid and powerful

advances against russian forces and dozens of settlements had been recaptured from the russian military in the south and east. over the weekend, ukraine retook the strategic eastern town of lyman, which the russians had been using as a logistics base. but both sides paid a heavy price for the fighting there. 0ur senior international correspondent, 0rla guerin, sent this report which includes some distressing images. driving into lyman — now liberated soil. ukraine is clawing back territory. it has the momentum. but among the ruins, victory can look bleak. further in, the wreckage of war. and among the pines, there is death. along the roadside, evidence of the human cost of russia's defeat.

the bodies of fallen soldiers, still lying where they fell. ukrainian volunteers keep watch over the dead, trying to help identify the remains. unknown soldiers in vladimir putin's war. left behind when his forces retreated. once, they were someone's husband or someone's son. a few steps away, a soviet book for teenagers entitled adventure library. and something else russian troops left behind. deadly anti—tank mines — barely visible. what happened here wasn'tjust a defeat for president putin.

ukrainian forces head for new battles. they know they need to move fast. soon, freezing winter weather could slow their advance. 0rla guerin, bbc news, lyman. the us announced plans to provide an additional $625 million in military aid to ukraine. president biden outlined the plans in a call to president zelensky on tuesday. the package will include high mobility artillery rocket systems, known as himars, bringing the total number delivered so far to 20. for more on this we are joined by melinda haring who is the deputy director of the atlantic council's eurasia centre. she is in washington, dc. thanks very much for your time. let's start with himars because there is a lot of store put on this weaponry. why is it so effective? . this weaponry. why is it so effective?— this weaponry. why is it so effective? _ , , ., effective? . the systems are came effective? . the systems are game changer. _ effective? . the systems are game changer, allowing - effective? . the systems are - game changer, allowing ukraine to hit a number of important russian targets. they've palmer

arms depots, bridges, they've been super successful. at the worst of the war in seven months, 200 ukrainian soldiers were dying every day, another has been massively reduced and a lot of it has to do with these long—range rockets, the himars systems, so the us committed to sending formal today. it's not much but will help. the more, the better, is the bottom line.— help. the more, the better, is the bottom line. the mall, the better, the bottom line. the mall, the better. but _ the bottom line. the mall, the better, but they _ the bottom line. the mall, the better, but they can't - the bottom line. the mall, the better, but they can't handle l better, but they can't handle long for the.— better, but they can't handle long for the. they need them now. long for the. they need them nova the _ long for the. they need them nova the us _ long for the. they need them now. the us promised - long for the. they need them now. the us promised an - now. the us promised an additional 18 but it will take up additional 18 but it will take up to a year to send those additional 18 so it is like a great but send them now because the war is about to turn to winter. there are two to three weeks remaining and the tanks will begin to slow down and everything will slow down very, very soon so the ukrainians have to push and fight like hell right now. it’s hell right now. it's interesting, - hell right now. it's interesting, even l hell right now. it's - interesting, even with hell right now. it's interesting, even with modern

warfare, the elements are critically important, as you point out. where's the balance? there is clearly a sense of momentum for ukrainian forces. but is that being overtaken almost now by the sense of urgency, as you point out, they don't know but it could be any week now that they are facing very different conditions? the mountain _ very different conditions? the mountain is — very different conditions? the mountain is still— very different conditions? tue: mountain is still behind ukrainians, they made enormous amount of progress in the past three weeks, they've captured an area that is double the size of the entire city of london and then some. they're making a lot of progress in the south now, the hardest place for them to make progress. ukrainians announced that they have retaken 50 villages in cities in the kherson region, which is hard going. it's the area i'm really watching. ukrainians have made spectacular progress in the north and east and as you mentioned the city of lyman. that's expected to open up lyman. that's expected to open up an opportunity for them to take more of luhansk province,

the province that russia took entirely. the province that russia took entirel . , ., , entirely. there is a problem here, entirely. there is a problem here. the — entirely. there is a problem here, the more _ entirely. there is a problem here, the more effective . here, the more effective ukrainian forces are at this stage, the more pressure that does he'd back on president putin to be seen to be responding to getting what he wants out of this, and that raises the prostate, as he has pointed out, that raises the prospect as to whether the nuclear question comes back into play. nuclear question comes back into play-— nuclear question comes back into play. that's right. that's wh the into play. that's right. that's why the entire _ into play. that's right. that's why the entire world - into play. that's right. that's why the entire world is - into play. that's right. that's why the entire world is very i why the entire world is very scared now. vladimir putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons dozens of times. he has never fallen weapons dozens of times. he has neverfallen through so never fallen through so normally most people shrug their shoulders and carry on but it is different this time because he is in a corner. everyone knows in russia that the war is going badly, he has been criticised, men and women don't want their sons and husbands to serve in the russian army in ukraine. there are reports that soldiers are

going on without turner gets, but it have any kind of training and that it have uniforms, they don't have the stuff they need. i hear reports that 500 russian soldiers are dying every day. i don't have an exact number but we know that the numbers are very, very high. the word is out. the big question is, how is vladimir putin going to respond? i don't think you'll use nuclear weapons and it doesn't help him. he doesn't want to be isolated, he doesn't want to be like north korea. the us is pushing him and has told him this is what we will do if you use nuclear weapons and other countries with nuclear powers are also telling him to stand down. the biden teams is to get on the phone and reinforced this point, get the chinese, indian, japanese, koreans, anyone with nuclear weapons to tell putin this is not your interest, stop it, knock it off. and then reinforce the threat that we have already made. that we will strike, i don't know whether that is, the

us has not said what it is, we can guess, but the need to keep reinforcing that point. melinda, thank you. melinda haring, referencing on numerous occasions north korea as well and they are in play at the moment as well. the ballistic missiles lodge on tuesday had elicited a response, both countries firing missiles of their own on the japanese coast. the missile from pyongyang was the fifth and last few days following military exercises which brought the us, south korea and japan, the missile as you see travelling for a500 kilometres before falling in the pacific ocean, the longest distance 0cean, the longest distance ever travelled for a north korean test fire. this is what the response looked like, a

precision aerial bombing exercise from washington and seoul to demonstrate their readiness to react to pyongyang's threat with more than just words. tokyo also incensed by what's happened. translation: north korea pop smoke lodge — translation: north korea pop smoke lodge of _ translation: north korea pop smoke lodge of the _ translation: north korea pop smoke lodge of the ballistic - smoke lodge of the ballistic missiles was a reckless act which cannot be allowed. japan will be on the highest alert and respond quickly. speaking to the bbc, the us counselor of the department of state derek shalet said it will take a complete international effort to achieve denuclearisation on the korean peninsula. we're gonna continue to press forward with sanctions against north korea, and forcing those already on the books, pursuing new ones perhaps, but also importantly working this with our allies and partners and other members of the security council including the chinese, to step up and make clear to north koreans this kind of risky behaviour is utterly unacceptable and very

dangerous. jamie kwong spoke to the bbc are saying it wasn't a huge surprise but it is a big concern.— surprise but it is a big concern. ~ �* , ., concern. we've seen more missile tests _ concern. we've seen more missile tests than - concern. we've seen more missile tests than at - concern. we've seen more missile tests than at 2020 j concern. we've seen more - missile tests than at 2020 and 2021. this unit is different, it never flew japan whereas the others have landed on the seas of japan. others have landed on the seas ofjapan. it's worrying. not something entirely new, as the previous statement said, we were seeing tests in 2017 but that was quite a concerning period in our relationships. there is a lot of sanctions currently imposed against north korea. north korea does its best to evade those functions but they have an impact and that has humanitarian implications in addition to trying to for the north korean programme. something we see laurie happen as an alternative is a joint military exercises in the region so the us and south korea and the us and japan have swiftly responded to

tests that just occurred japan have swiftly responded to tests thatjust occurred with military exercises in the region. north korea finds the tests, sorry, military exercise in particular quite provocative. 0ne we do see statements coming out of the north korean state media they are often citing these exercises as the motivation for doing this provocative missile tests and potentially a nuclear test. so we will see responses there. whether or not this ends up there. whether or not this ends up another un security council resolution is a bit uncertain. we saw the us tried to bring such a resolution to the table in may and russia and china veto that so we might expect to see something similar if it gets to that stage as well. now to one of the most severe humanitarian crisies anywhere in the world right now. we have an extended report from somalia, where hundreds of thousands of people, many trapped by conflict, are facing extreme hunger and death after the worst

drought in a0 years. 0ur africa correspondent andrew harding reported on somalia's last famine in 2011 in which 250,000 people died. he sent this report from baidoa — a city at the heart of the current crisis. baby cries. in a crowded hospital in baidoa, 2—year—old mohammed clings to life, week with hunger. "this is the worst drought we've ever been through," says his mother. "i worry for all my children." another child is brought in with swollen limbs, a sign of severe malnutrition. two of his sisters have died in the past fortnight. and already, in this unfolding catastrophe, the hospital is already struggling to cope. sometimes we lack supplies. you lack supplies? that must be incredibly frustrating. sure, sure.

when it happens, it's actually terrifying because people are dying and we cannot support them. 0n the dusty plains around the city, more families arrive each hour and set up camp. bringing little with them but stories of dead cattle, dead crops and a rural way of life that a changing climate will no longer tolerate. officially, no famine has been declared yet here in somalia. but today, right now, 300,000 people are living in famine conditions with another 2 million on the brink of famine, so it is hard to imagine a situation more desperate, more urgent, more compelling. there is help arriving here in baidoa and plans for much more support. but it is too slow. the things we do now, we needed to do three months ago. so in reality, we are behind. i think something catastrophic will happen in this area. by catastrophic,

you meanfamine spreading? famine spreading. but drought is not the only challenge. somalia is at war. a long fight against an islamist insurgency is limiting access to many vulnerable communities. fatima 0mar managed to escape from the conflict but her ten—year—old son died of hunger soon after reaching baidoa. he is buried here beside the family's makeshift camp. "i cannot grieve for my son." "there is no time," she says. "i need to find work and food to keep my "other children alive." listening to her is her 11—year—old son. the mention of his brother is too much for him. 0ne family among millions are now wrestling with drought, war and our climate emergency. andrew harding, bbc news, baidoa, somalia. let's take a look at some other

stories in the headlines. the world health organization says it's stepping up its response to a deadly outbreak of cholera in haiti, where weeks of anti—government protests have contributed to a worsening health problem. the who says it's setting up cholera treatment centres in tents, and making bulk orders of oral vaccines. donald trump has asked the us supreme court to intervene in his legal dispute over classified documents removed from his florida estate by fbi investigators in august. the former president wants the court to reverse an appeal court decision which blocked the appointment of an independent arbiter — or special master — to review the documents. researchers in spain have found that the saliva of wax worms can break down some of the toughest types of plastic. scientists found that the enzymes in the worms' mouths can degrade polyethylene at room temperatures. the research shows that exposure to the saliva has the same impact on the plastic

as years of outdoor weathering. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: tributes from around the world for the american country music star loretta lynn who's died at the age of 90. this was a celebration by people who were relishing their freedom. they believe everything's going to be different from now on, they think their country will be respected in the world once more, as it used to be, before slobodan milosevic took power. the dalai lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibet, has won this year's nobel peace prize. as the parade _ was reaching its climax, two grenades exploded and a group of soldiersjumped from a military truck _ taking part in the parade and run towards the president, firing from — kalashnikov automatic rifles. after a37 years,

the skeletal ribs of henry viii's tragic warship emerged. but even as divers worked to buoy her up, the mary rose went through another heart—stopping drama. i want to be the people's governor. i want to represent everybody. i believe in the people of california. cheering and applause this is bbc news — the latest headlines: ukrainian authorities say fighting is continuing in a number of areas in the east as the country's forces retakes more territory from the russians, in the south. both sides have suffered heavy losses. billionaire elon musk says he is willing to buy twitter after all. after months of trying to back out of a $aa billion deal to acquire the social media

platform, mr musk sent twitter a letter saying he would buy it at the agreed upon price. the arrangement could end a bitter legal dispute, and allow the two sides to avoid a messy public trial set to begin in a couple of weeks. let's get more on the story and speak to sujeet indap, wall street editor for the financial times. he joins us from new york. thank you forjoining us. let's start with the basics. is it going to happen this time? that's a great question. it seems like elon musk finally does want to make this happen after all this drama for the last several months, he sent this letter which seems to indicate he wants to close the deal. at the same time twitter itself as you can imagine is very suspicious and they are going to be putting out all the

efforts to make sure elon musk lives up to his word and the financing shows up at the closing so we are as close as we have been, the stock price of twitter now is very close to the bill price so fingers crossed it seems like we do finally have a deal. stars are aliaunin finally have a deal. stars are aligning a — finally have a deal. stars are aligning a little _ finally have a deal. stars are aligning a little bit _ finally have a deal. stars are aligning a little bit perhaps l aligning a little bit perhaps but interesting but it's twitter who are holding back and they want to be crossing every t and dotting every i before they can stand up and say publicly, all good. exactly. they had assigned a deal a few months ago, and in american dealmaking law, delaware law, it's almost impossible to walk away from a signed deal and elon musk was trying very hard to do that and honestly, he was having some trouble. look what's happened in the proceedings up until the trial, which is coming up in ten days or so, or 15 days,

hasn't necessarily been super favourable for him so perhaps he saw the writing on the wall and decided it was best tojust be conciliatory. it and decided it was best to 'ust be conciliatoryi be conciliatory. it does look a bit like that, _ be conciliatory. it does look a bit like that, doesn't - be conciliatory. it does look a bit like that, doesn't it? - be conciliatory. it does look a bit like that, doesn't it? we l bit like that, doesn't it? we don't know precisely maybe the ins and outs but it feels like it's backing out of a different hole and going back to the point of picking up twitter. but he's got plans for it, hasn't he? he does seem to have these rather grand designs as to what twitter can lead to? that's actually very interesting in that in his claims that he is using to try and get out of the deal, he said some very mean things about twitter�*s management, how it is run, how it counts users and runs its business and now suddenly he is pivoting, saying it can be this wonderful app and he is going to make it great as he had initially said he would when he bought the company so we keep going back and forth, so now he is back in the excited phase, he thinks twitter can be this portal,

accelerant. there are talks it could be in app you can make payments and do several things, like an apple or a facebook so we will see. t like an apple or a facebook so we will see-— we will see. i suppose one of the problems _ we will see. i suppose one of the problems with _ we will see. i suppose one of the problems with twitter - we will see. i suppose one of i the problems with twitter over its lifespan has been making money, hasn't it?— its lifespan has been making money, hasn't it? that's right. it money, hasn't it? that's right. it depends _ money, hasn't it? that's right. it depends on _ money, hasn't it? that's right. it depends on and _ money, hasn't it? that's right. it depends on and revenue - money, hasn't it? that's right. it depends on and revenue and it has been an also—ran competitor to facebook and google, so there has been all sorts of pundits and other businessmen and businesswomen who have said, this is how twitter can be revolutionised, this is how it can become the killer app and elon musk seems like now he wants to at least try make that happen. we will wait and see _ try make that happen. we will wait and see with _ try make that happen. we will wait and see with some - wait and see with some interest. thank you very much indeed. australia has announced plans to halt its extinction crisis and save more than 100 species. they include iconic species like the koala. it's the first time a federal government has announced a zero extinctions target for australia's plants and animals. the 10—year plan also aims

to protect an additional 50 million hectares of land and sea area by 2027. let's hear from australia's environment minister tanya plibersek. the threatened species action plan is a specific plan to stop further extensions in australia. we learnt from the state of the environment report which i released some months ago that the state of the australian environment is bad and getting worse. we are the mammal extinction capital of the world. we've seen around 100 species lost in the times since colonisation and we absolutely have to turn that around. if we keep doing what we are doing, we will keep getting the same results. tributes are pouring in for the multi—award—winning american country music icon, loretta lynn, who has died at the age of ninety. her family said she passed away peacefully at her ranch in tennessee. wendy urquhart looks back at her life and career.

# well, i was born a coal miner's daughter...#. every gutwrenching song loretta lynn ever wrote was based on something that happened in her own life or to someone she knew. the second of eight children, she was born in a 1—room cabin in kentucky in 1932. her family were dirt poor and her dad worked in the fields by day and the coal mines by night just to make ends meet. music was their saviour, with her mum on guitar, her dad playing the banjo and loretta singing her heart out at every opportunity. when she was just 15 years old, she married 0liver lynn and they stayed together until he died nearly 50 years later, despite his relentless drinking and womanising. # and don't come home a—drinkin'...#. don't come home a—drinkin' went to number one in 1966 and was followed by a raft of hit songs that were inspired by cheating husbands, divorce and alcoholism.

coal miner's daughter, which told the story of her life, was turned into an oscar—winning film starring sissy spacek. loretta lynn told her stories from a woman's point of view and that went down a storm with her fans. she recorded 60 albums, which included duets with the top country music stars. # you've been makin' your brags around town # that you've been lovin' my man # but the man i love, when he picks up trash, # he puts it in a garbage can...#. her lyrics were legendary, so it's little wonder she topped the charts 16 times and was nominated for18 grammys, taking home three gongs. loretta lynn, who's died at her ranch in tennessee at the age of 90. she had 60 albums in the course of a career spanning those five

decades. that is bbc news. just time to remind you that we've got the website with much more that he won all those stories. bbc.com/news. thank you for watching. hello. wednesday gets off to a windy start, a wet start in northern and western areas. got an area of low pressure which is spinning up across the uk and will quickly move on towards scandinavia, there'll be a trailing weather front from it though taking that'll rain southwards which will begin wednesday dry and following on behind, it'll be sunshine and blustery showers. this is how things look at 6:00 in the morning. bit of a wet night in northern ireland and across much of scotland, heavier rain for wales and north—west england. look how mild it is, though, through wales and england in particular as the day begins. quite quickly the rain out of northern ireland, it'll be out of much of scotland by end of morning, brighter skies following on behind with scattered showers, some heavy and maybe thundery, moving through quickly on gusty winds.

wales and northern and western england turning drier into the afternoon, sunny spells, chance of a shower, and through the afternoon, spell a brief spell of rain moving through east anglia and the south—east after what is a dry start to the day here, maybe a few sunny spells. it is a windy day, these are some wind gusts, there'll be stronger ones through irish sea coasts, particularly north wales and north—west england, very windy to begin the day and temperatures actually come down a bit once the rain has moved on through so it will feel cooler and particularly fresher into the afternoon. of course, that's helped by that gusty wind. we continue with some showers moving in overnight, wednesday into thursday, particularly towards the north—west of the uk mayjust merge to give a longer spell of rain moving in here. it will become mainly dry the further south you are through wales and england, lower temperatures, so a cooler start to the day on thursday. high pressure to the south keeping many southern areas essentially dry on thursday. whereas another set of weather fronts are coming close to northern ireland and scotland so here, there'll be a few showers around to begin the day but the idea will be that it'll tend to cloud over and we will see some

outbreaks of rain coming into northern ireland and push in parts of scotland. by the end of the day, some of this could be quite heavy in places, notice further south, though, it is mainly dry and a quite bit of sunshine around here. more heavy rain in parts of northern ireland and scotland, overnight and into friday, then pushing through wales and england on friday, very slowly, mind you. behind it, the further north you are, you're back into the sunnier skies, brisk winds still, there'll be showers around, some of them could be heavy, maybe with a rumble of thunder. an area of high pressure nosing in across the uk to give many places a dry start to the weekend before we see further outbreaks of rain, mainly to the north and west as we go on through sunday.

this is bbc news. the headlines: president volodymyr zelenzky says ukrainian troops are making rapid and powerful advances against russian forces. in his nightly video address, he asserted that in the past week alone, dozens of settlements had been recaptured in the south and east. he also acknowledged that both sides have suffered losses. twitter has confirmed that the world's richest man, elon musk, is going through with his bid to buy the company. mr musk had previously tried to back out of the deal, citing an unexpectedly high number of fake accounts. twitter shares were suspended following news of the reactivated proposal. musicians and fans pay tribute to the american country music star loretta lynn, who's died at the age of 90.