you're watching bbc news — i'm rebecca jones. the latest headlines... a nursing union leader says a planned strike by nurses could be called off if the health secretary negotiates "seriously" over pay. the one day of action that nurses are going to take on thursday hasn't created the 7.2 million people sitting on our waiting lists. scottish officials say a libyan man suspected of making the bomb that destroyed pan am flight 103 over the town of lockerbie in 1988, is in us custody. a teenage girl becomes the first person to be successfully treated for leukaemia using a new type of cell therapy. authorities in jersey say they are no longer looking for survivors after a explosion that destroyed a block of flats yesterday.

england's footballers are on their way home after their 2—1 world cup quarterfinal defeat against france in qatar. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the government has said it can't agree to a call by the nursing unions to negotiate with them directly over their 19% pay claim. the royal college of nusing has offered to pause its planned strikes in england — which are due to begin with a walk—out on thursday, in return for direct negotiations with ministers. the foreign secretary james cleverly said the government wanted to resolve the issue — but it was for the nhs employers to negotiate with the unions. our political correspondent helen catt reports.

nurses in england, wales and northern ireland are due to walk out twice this month. the strikes will cause disruption as only care for life—threatening cases has to be provided by law. the royal college of nursing says it is prepared to pause the action if the health secretary will agree to talks on pay. nurses aren't greedy people, they definitely are not, but a nurse £27,000 a year living in central london needs to be able to feed her children, be able to send them to school, look after them in creches so they can go to work and pay their travel to go to work and also pay their utility bills. the government has said it has had talks with the rcn on making the nhs a better place to work, but on pay it won't go there. the independent review body has made a recommendation, the government has accepted it fully, and that of course means there will _ be a significant increase in pay, particularly for nurses at the start of their careers on lower salaries,

and we recognise how tough it is for everybody. medical professionals included. we have to make sure we do this in a sustainable way. the average pay rise given to nhs staff this year was 4.75%, with the lowest paid guaranteed at least £1400. but nurses say years of below inflation pay rises have left them in a difficult position and are calling for a rise of 5% above the rpi rate of inflation, which would currently work out at 19%. labour insist it is the government's fault if the strikes go ahead but wouldn't promise a rise on that scale. i'm not going to make promises i can't keep, plucking things out of thin air, but i would be prepared to negotiate if we were in government today, and i think that's the least we could expect. mr streeting has had his own run—in with a health union, the bma, which accused him of attacking it in the sunday telegraph this morning. he has claimed the doctor's�* union treated him like a heretic for saying there should be better standards for patients. all sides say they don't want

the nurses�* walk—outs to go ahead but without the government agreeing to talk about pay they will be on the picket lines come thursday. this is of course just one of many strikes this month as the country faces a significantly disrupted december. helen catt, bbc news. a teenage girl's incurable cancer has been cleared from her body using a revolutionary new type of medicine. all other treatments for alyssa's leukaemia had failed. the ground—breaking treatment is known as "�*base editing' — it involves making genetic changes to donor cells, enabling them to attack her cancer. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh reports. iwon! no you didn't! yes, idid. i didn't feel like i wanted to give up. it's not the person who i am. no, it don't count. the whole experience brought me so much closer with my family. alyssa is back home in leicester thanks to a pioneering new cancer therapy. all other treatment options for her leukaemia had failed.

you breathe in and breathe out. thank you, that's a good one. so in may, she received a world first therapy. it is extremely exciting. so obviously, this is a new field in medicine and it's fascinating that we can redirect the immune system to fight cancer. and i think that's a revolution in our field. alyssa's immune system couldn't clear her cancer, so she was given donor cells, which had been tweaked using a new technique called base editing. in the lab, three precise changes were made to the cells dna, and they were then armed to fight her cancer. base editing is part of a genetic revolution, which is transforming our understanding of human biology. it is an incredibly precise tool with huge potential to treat and possibly cure a range of diseases, especially disorders

of the blood. ten children with t—cell leukaemia will have the treatment as part of a clinical trial. it's a very fast moving area of science. there's enormous amounts of innovation going on in terms of how we can use these new tools to manipulate and change bits of dna. and our applications are to cure diseases. and i think there's enormous potential to do that across the board. # home grown alligator # see you later # going to hit the road alyssa is still receiving drugs to help herfight infection and she'll have regular hospital checks. for now, cancer is undetectable in her blood. last year, we were sort of dreading christmas because we thought maybe this is our... last christmas with her.

to have had this extra year, even to have this last three months where she's been well and she's been at home and she's been doing what she's wanted, has been... that's like a gift in itself. you must be so proud of her. yeah, without a doubt. when you see what she's gone through and the sort of vitality for life that she's brought to every situation, it's astounding. it's really is amazing. and you're the first person in the world to have this treatment. how does that feel? it'sjust, it's amazing that i've been able to have this opportunity. i'm very thankful for it because this has given me another chance. and also it's going to help other children as well in the future. so look at all these beads. every one of these beads represents a procedure alyssa has undergone, including two bone marrow transplants since she was diagnosed with t—cell leukaemia, a collection she's hoping to put away for good.

one more, when you're having your line out, doesn't want any more surgery. fergus walsh, bbc news. some breaking news, scottish prosecutors say a libyan man who is accused of making the bomb which destroyed pan am flight 103 over lockerbie is in united states custody. the bombing attack in december 1988 killed 270 people. let's get more on this from bbc scotland's home affairs correspondent david cowan. good to talk to you. tell us a little bit more about why the americans are pursuing this man and what exactly they are accusing him of having done. fin of having done. on the 32nd anniversary of— of having done. on the 32nd anniversary of the _ of having done. on the 32nd anniversary of the lockerbie| of having done. on the 32nd - anniversary of the lockerbie bombing in 2020 the outgoing us general attorney william barr announced charges against abu agila masud, the american said abu agila masud had confessed to making the bomb which was smuggled onto a plane in malta, then transferred onto another plane

in frankfurt and ultimately transferred onto the plane at heathrow. it is an exploded into the skies over lockerbie in scotland, killing everybody on board, 259 passengers and crew, and another 11 people on the ground in lockerbie, when the wreckage fell into their homes. the americans alleged that abu agila masud had made the bomb, only one person has ever been convicted of carrying out this operation,, convicted after standing operation, , convicted after standing trial operation,, convicted after standing trial in scottish court in the netherlands, jailed for life but released on compassionate grounds by the scottish government in 2009 and died in libya in 2012 at the americans and scots always said others were involved and they were saying abu agila masud was one of the people involved in this operation and they have been pursuing him fora number of operation and they have been pursuing him for a number of years. where has abu agila masud been because there were some reports he had been kidnapped in libya. he was servin: a had been kidnapped in libya. he was serving a prison _ had been kidnapped in libya. he was serving a prison sentence, _ had been kidnapped in libya. he was serving a prison sentence, 10 - had been kidnapped in libya. he was serving a prison sentence, 10 years, | serving a prison sentence, 10 years, for bombing activities against people who were rising up against

colonel gaddafi. last month the american ambassador to libya met richard norton, senior officials in the government of national unity in tripoli on november the 8th, then on the 21st of november abu agila masud because my family reported he had been kidnapped in tripoli by armed men and they suggested the government of national unity might be planning to extradite him to the united states. there was something of a backlash to that possibility in libya, there were people from the g nu's justice ministry and also from human rights officials saying the case shouldn't be over, shouldn't be reopened, libya had accepted responsibility and paid huge amounts of compensation in 2003 and what they were saying effectively it had been dealt with but the americans and scots have always felt it hadn't been finished and today we have had a statement from the crown 0ffice, a statement from the crown office, the prosecution service in scotland saying the families of those killed in the lockerbie bombing have been told that abu agila masud is in us

custody, scottish prosecutors and police working with uk government and us colleagues will continue to pursue this investigation they side with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with abu agila masud to justice. figs who acted along with abu agila masud to justice. �* , , ., who acted along with abu agila masud to justice. �* , ,, _ who acted along with abu agila masud to justice. ~ , i. _ , to justice. as you say he is in us custod . to justice. as you say he is in us custody- do _ to justice. as you say he is in us custody. do we _ to justice. as you say he is in us custody. do we have _ to justice. as you say he is in us custody. do we have any - to justice. as you say he is in us custody. do we have any further| custody. do we have any further details about where this man is? irate details about where this man is? we don't, details about where this man is? - don't, no further information at all on his whereabouts. no information as yet on what might happen next. the reaction from the relatives will be very interesting. i think there has been a school of thought amongst many of the american relatives ever since the trial 20 years ago, that the right man at the right country had been convicted of the bombing and they will welcome the news that abu agila masud has been taken into us custody and is presumably heading towards a second lockerbie trial. the other group of relatives, mainly in britain, have believed for a long time that there was a wrong conviction and that they will be

viewing this from a different perspective of the majority of the american relatives. perspective of the ma'ority of the american relatives._ rescuers searching the scene of an explosion injersey in which at least three people died have said they no longer expect to find anyone else alive. specialist teams who spent the night combing the wreckage in st helier said their mission was now a "recovery operation". there are reports the authorities had been warned of a gas leak the day before. 0ur correspondent danjohnson is injersey and joins us now. it seems there are still a lot of unanswered questions. indeed. those re orts of unanswered questions. indeed. those reports of a fire _ unanswered questions. indeed. those reports of a fire service _ unanswered questions. indeed. those reports of a fire service attendance i reports of a fire service attendance at this block of flats on friday have been confirmed by the authorities here on the island. residence smelled gas and were concerned, called emergency services and a fire crew did attend that building at about 830 on friday night. they are not giving any more

detail exactly what checks took place and what action occurred, but the fire crew left that building, presumably declared it safe, no further action was taken as far as we know, but then the next morning at 4am there was this huge explosion which completely destroyed that block of six flats, a three—storey block of six flats, a three—storey block of six flats, a three—storey block of flats which was completely reduced to rubble, and that is where the search and rescue operation was concluded overnight. there are frantic efforts yesterday to try to save people but the rescue teams, some of them brought here to the island from england, search dogs and equipment that has been brought in to assist with that search, they decided overnight they weren't going to find anybody else alive and that is why this has now moved into a recovery phase of the operation. there was a press conference given here this morning by the chief fire officer here this morning by the chief fire 0fficerfor here this morning by the chief fire officer for the island here this morning by the chief fire 0fficerfor the island and here this morning by the chief fire officer for the island and the island's a cheaper place. here's what he had to say. —— chief of police. it is a time tojust think briefly about the families.

we have deployed family liaison officers to those families. but it's vitally important that we are sensitive to their thoughts, considerations, emotions as we now begin what is going to be a meticulous and painstaking search of the debris left following the explosion. so in terms of the forward look, we have now very specialist staff not only in states ofjersey police, but also supported by colleagues in the uk to start carefully identifying bodies when and if we find them. that will take time. the authorities said there were about a dozen people who were unaccounted for. they have recovered three bodies already. the hope is the death toll won't reach that high, that those people may be accounted for in other ways but the fear has got to be that as this

search continues through the rubble, there will be further bodies recovered. the chief of police was warning the families of those missing that that recovery and identification work needs to be done carefully, delicately, with dignity and that may mean it takes pulp perhaps weeks not days to actually recover all the bodies from this explosion. 0n recover all the bodies from this explosion. on top of that there is now an investigation into exactly what caused this explosion, the theory, the most likely cause seems to be a gas explosion of some sort at 4am yesterday morning but then also into the background, what was the nature of that call out on friday night, what action to the fire service and the gas company here take, could this potentially have been prevented?— here take, could this potentially have been prevented? thanks for that u date. the brother of a former us marine imprisoned in russia says his family fears that paul whelan won't be freed in time to be see his ageing parents. the white house is facing a backlash from republicans over its deal to return inset us basketball star brittney griner to the united states.

they argue the prisoner swap was a bad deal with russia. the bbc�*s azadeh moshiri explains. what's your mood? happy! relief for basketball star, brittney griner, but to bring her home the white house gave in to some of russia's demands. that included leaving former us marine paul whelan behind. he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2018 on spying charges. there have been disappointments in the past, i think this one maybe struck us a bit harder, as we'd been expecting, based on the state department's statements about a substantial offer being made to the russian government, that paul would be coming home. the white house, the biden administration, has been much more open about what's going on and that's helpful to detainee families. there is still a lot that goes on behind the scenes, so we may not know until the very last minute and it could

happen at any time. but my concern as months go by and probably years at this point go by, my parents may not be back, may not be here for paul. there's also the matter of viktor bout, known as the merchant of death, the notorious arms dealer was exchanged for brittney griner, a professional athlete. he told russian media that he wished her good luck on the tarmac. republicans argue the swap warranted two americans in exchange. it's put the white house on the defence. they were not willing to — and i said this yesterday — to negotiate in good faith for paul whelan. and so it was either brittney griner, one american, or no american. as for paul whelan, there's still hope. russia and the united states signalled a rare moment of co—operation amidst the war in ukraine. translation: are other exchanges possible? - yes, everything is possible.

this is the result of negotiations and the search for compromises. whether it was a good deal or a bad one, this is the reality of prisoner swaps — joy for some and pain for others. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah. victory for france and morocco but agony for england. there will be a lot of sad england fans this morning, and the players as well. england captain harry kane has said they will use their defeat by france to be "mentally and physically stronger for the next challenge" as they headed home from the world cup in qatar. england were beaten 2—1 in the quarterfinals, with kane missing an 84th—minute penalty having earlier equalled england's scoring record of 53 goals. gareth southgate's side left their hotel this morning in al wakrah

before their flight home. the manchester derby in the women's super league is under way at the etihad stadium. it's the final round of fixtures before their winter break. leah galton has broken the deadlock, scoring just before the half hour mark for manchester united. the visitors ahead there. it has just it hasjust gone it has just gone to half—time. they lead one now. away from the early kick—off, it was due to be a full day of fixtures. but brighton's game with everton & liverpool against leicester have been postponed because of weather. arsenal travel to aston villa at 16:15, and wsl leaders chelsea host reading at 18:45. and the scottish women's premier league cup final is also under way — the first trophy of the season on offer. rangers are leading hibs 1—0 in the first half.

and in the championship, qpr hosts leaders burnley, as they look for a win that will take them into the top six. ican i canjust i can just tell you that burnley have just scored, so they lead 1—0 with 19 minutes played. pakistan have given themselves a fighting chance of winning the second test match against england in multan. after enjoying the best of the first two days, england found life much tougher on sunday with the home side needing another 157 runs to level the series. ben croucher has more. day three, england batting, expect entertainment and runs. belted off the bat of harry brook, wasting little time to get his second test century, a happy harry for england. there is one at least. the batting pakistan out of this

series, that was more problematic. good grab, said ben stokes. he wasn't wrong. five wickets before lunch meant the home side were chasing 355 to win — challenge accepted. hold the pose, stand and admire. 0rjust stare in disbelief as not once, not twice but three times england tickled the timbers, not that pakistan saw the funny side of it. a was falling for 60 to leave this one right in the balance. they will have to work for it. that is why they call it a test. and there's more on the champions cup action on the bbc sport website — sale are under way against ulster — and after three, saracens return to the competition after a few years out — they host edinburgh.

all the latest sport is on the bbc sport website and i will be here throughout the afternoon. nasa's 0rion space capsule is due to return to earth in just a few hours' time, ending a three week test mission around the moon. the unmanned capsule will splash down in the pacific ocean — off the coast of california. if it goes smoothly, engineers could determine that its ready to take astronauts back to the moon later this decade. to test a load of the new technologies that have been developed since the 60s and 70s, the last time we sent humans of the moon, you think how much technology has advanced in that time, rocket technology and electronics and computer systems and human safety systems, a lot of things need to happen before we put humans into rockets and send them to the moon. has it been a success and what have we learned? that has been a success so far, we can't say 100% until it completes

the final and arguably most risky aspect of the mission, the re—entry and landing. when you send a spacecraft from the moon back to the earth that hits the atmosphere at about 25,000 mph and you have to lose speed before you get into the atmosphere because if you don't you can burn up on re—entry and your spacecraft disintegrates and that is not good for any humans on board. the spacecraft has systems and it is designed to slow it down as it comes through the atmosphere and it is a heat shield to protect the spacecraft which has to stand up to temperature is about 3000 celsius and the parachutes have to open correctly and that has to come down at the slow enough velocity that that land safe in the ocean and although systems will be tested later this afternoon. i have heard it described like throwing a football about 300 yards and hitting a penny. is it really is complicated is that, it sounds terrifying. it is, you have to be really accurate. it is a very small window you have

to hit going back from the moon, you travel quite a long way and hitting a very small target is quite a feat but it is a very narrow window because if you hit the atmosphere to steep, that an are too high and a rocket risks burning up on re—entry, if you come in shell you can skip off and go back out into space and then you need a lot of fuel to turn around and come back again. unless you have that fuel you are lost, you can come back, so you have to hit that really accurate small target on the earths atmosphere to come back safely. some people might think we have had astronauts on the moon, what else is there left to learn, isn't it mars and beyond that we should be looking at now? there are a lot of unanswered questions still about the lunar surface. we have sent people to several areas of the moon and there are samples from those areas. those are really important because they can let us give an absolute date to the surfaces, the age of the surfaces on the lunar surface, we can do relative ages

from the ground and photographs from the air but to do absolute ageing you need samples from the grants are going back and visiting more areas of the men will give us more of that information and help us understand the evolution of the earth moon system over the last four and a happy one years but getting to mars is a whole level of additional difficulty, a minimum six—monthjourney there and you would have to be on the surface for something like 18 months and then a six—month journey back again so before we dig it out it makes sense to go back to our nearest neighbour and testing systems and test the rocket technology and human habitation systems at our procedures and whether astronauts can survive with each other on those long duration missions in that sort of harsh environment before we then go on and actually send them to mars for real so there is a lot here that his helping us in that process and getting to mars in the longer term. now it's time to turn to our 100 women series and meet the oscar—winning actress rita moreno. perhaps best—known for the role of anita in the 1961

film west side story but now, at the age of 90, she's speaking out about racial stereotyping and representation in films and on tv. 0ur correspondent nomia iqbal went to meet her. when i could understand what movies were, i wanted to be a movie star. that was the word, not an actress but a movie star. and i still hear that among very young people and i said to them, oh, let me tell you a few things. you went to hollywood during the golden age of cinema. and you were bigger than life. when i got my contract at mgm studios, which was the studio of my dreams because that was the studio that made all the great musicals and when i met mr louis, can you imagine what that meant to this 15, 16—year—old girl?

the men who produced all of those great mgm musicals and they wanted me to sign a contract with them? it was just unbelievable. unbelievable. they did not know what to do with me because my name was rosita dolores alvario. they changed it to rita moreno. what was that like? because these people have your career in their hands. in their hands, i felt like a prisoner in their hands and it really worried me because i was one of those kids that was just afraid to say no to anything. i'm sure you've lost count of some of the racist encounters that you had in the industry, notjust being stereotyped, being puerto rican. tell me what that was like. i was always an island girl. and it seemed just fine at first and then it began to occur to me that that would limit me quite a bit

because normally, those kinds of people have accents and almost always the makeup was dark and that went all the way up to west side story. any actress that plays anita is compared to you, how do you feel about that? i can't tell you how i feel about that. i suppose it is inevitable. i did win some wonderful awards, i won the oscar, of course. and, yes. you were called the pioneer in the community. la pionera. i think of other people who have come after you who were as famous and notable as you and they are not a lot. it is better but we are seriously underrepresented in the hispanic community which is shocking to me, i'm very upset about it.

there should be more of you. there should be so many more of me and then some. it is still difficult. and it breaks my heart. i not only feel it, but i see in how i am employed and what kind of films, the quality of the films that are offered to me, i am still in that bind. and it is not in any way that i mind playing a hispanic, it is the kind of hispanic. i would've gotten farther, which is my deepest regret, had it not been for the fact that i'm hispanic. i would've had a different career. i know it. now it's time for a look at the weather, let's hearfrom darren

0ne one word for you, snow. also cooled, frost and ice- — one word for you, snow. also cooled, frost and ice. this _ one word for you, snow. also cooled, frost and ice. this was _ one word for you, snow. also cooled, frost and ice. this was a _ one word for you, snow. also cooled, frost and ice. this was a picture - frost and ice. this was a picture taken this morning in wiltshire where we have had snow falling. radar picture over the past few hours, the white is where the snow is falling but the snow continuing in parts of the midlands and also developing here along hampshire moving into sussex and eventually kent. a few wintry showers in the north of scotland and around the borders. cold air particularly in the likes of cambridge where it is still grey and foggy. minus three or minus four. snow developing more widely in south—east england and perhaps east anglia overnight. a few centimetres could bring travel disruption. still the threat of some fog through the midlands and into lancashire and there will be a widespread frost overnight. temperatures typically minus five but -13 temperatures typically minus five but —13 in the north—east of scotland. the coldest it has been this year. very cold but sunny for scotland and northern ireland. some

sunshine across england and wales but we still have grey, misty and