this is bbc news. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. train passengers in britain face further delays today, as the rmt union continue their 48—hour strike, only one in five services are expected to operate. hospitals are told to free up beds ahead of ambulance staff going on strike in england on wednesday. work is continuing to restore electricity and heating in parts of ukraine after a wave of russian air strikes hits infrastructure. elon musk reinstates the accounts ofjournalists controversially suspended from twitter. leo varadkar becomes ireland's new taoiseach today, swapping roles with micheal martin, as part of an historic and morocco take on croatia

in the third place play—off at the qatar world cup. we'll be live in casablanca. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. train passengers in the uk are enduring more disruption as rail workers continue strike action today. most services are affected, as rmt union members stage the second day of their latest 48—hour walk outs. eurostar strikes on the 16th and 18th of december have been called off to give union members time to vote on a new pay offer — but more than 100 eurostar security staff are still planning to strike. our business correspondent, ramzan karmali, reports from paddington train station in london.

around 20% of services are running, and you can see behind me, it does seem quite busy but don't forget paddington station is quite a busy tube station as well is a lot of people catching the tube. it's having a big impact, this right, we've heard from retailers, as well. there are a bit worried about football, as well. as a saturday before christmas, the last chance for people to get the last minute shopping and, as well. they've had a pretty dismal figures for november, they out this week for december as well. the last thing they need is a strike on a saturday before cosmos. also, uk hospitality are telling us as well that they've seen cancellations of around 35—40% and they've lost around £1.5 billion in sales, too. it's having a big impact on businesses, too. a little earlier, i spoke to mick lynch who is on the picket line here paddington. he is pretty determined,

and he says his members are pretty determined and that they will strike to get what they are after. it's not just pay that they are after, but they want to improve conditions, too. they want some assurances, as well, from the train companies and from network rail, as well, on the condition is that their workers will have to face, going forward. even though, yesterday we had some mood music, some voices from mick lynch and also from the other side, as well that sounded a little bit more conciliatory, there is no concrete change. talks are ongoing and they are sitting down, at least, and talking, but there has been very little movement in terms of when this dispute can be resolved. find this dispute can be resolved. and that ou this dispute can be resolved. and that you are _ this dispute can be resolved. and that you are talking about the businesses, lots of businesses, there, in paddington. i can also see lots of passengers behind you, too. so things do seem to be moving. rail passengers, are they sympathetic? we are busy in the run—up to christmas, this is when people are getting that last minute shopping.—

this is when people are getting that last minute shopping. yeah, so this is the real test, _ last minute shopping. yeah, so this is the real test, really, _ last minute shopping. yeah, so this is the realtest, really, actually, - is the real test, really, actually, for the unions, as well as the government and for rail operators, as well. do the public still support, up until recently, we've been hearing that public support has been hearing that public support has been somewhat behind the strikers, but because it's disrupting christmas and because it's of the period that these strikes are taking place, will that support start to drop back? we have spoken to a few people around here, some people are very supportive of the strikers, but we have had people approach us and say, we don't think it's fair that they are ruining our christmas. also, it's notjust a railway strikers that are on strike, there are other industries that are on strike, we've had nurses on strike this week as well. it's a big impact on people and they are starting to feel a little bit that their lives are being impacted in a big way by the strikes. hospitals in england have been told to free up beds and prepare for extensive disruption ahead of planned strikes by ambulance workers next week.

nhs leaders have written to managers to warn that it will be a very challenging period. they said medically fit patients should be moved out where it's safe to do so, and the turnaround of ambulances should be speeded up. members of unison, unite and the gmb will walk out in much of england, wales and northern ireland in a dispute about pay and staffing levels. earlier, our political correspondent, jonathan blake, updated us on the upcoming strikes. it's the forthcoming strike by ambulance staff which is causing the most concern in government at the moment, and that is reflected from the warnings you mentioned, from nhs leaders, as well, who are telling hospitals to try to discharge patients as quickly as possible to get patients in from ambulances to hospitals as quickly as possible, and also out of a&e as rapidly as they can. there are already things that should be happening and there has been a bit of push back so far from voices within the nhs saying that, you know, if we can't make those things happen at the best of times, it's

going to be very difficult to do that in a strike. the cabinet office minister, oliver dowden, has warned of significant impact, significant disruption to come from the strikes, and big risks to the public as a result. so it is going to be a challenging time, the government says it can only mitigate so much of the impact of the strikes. but the level of disruption, i think, isjust not going to be clear until the strikes themselves take place. but there is really no sign of any resolution happening before then. well that's it, the resolution. what are you hearing, are people still around the table, are they still discussing? well, there is no prospect of the government and nurses unions or health workers unions coming to any agreements certainly in the near future. it's hard to say, at the moment, if at all. because the two sides are completely opposed when it comes to the issue of pay. you have nurses unions demanding a 19% total pay rise, the government having put forward the offer, which was recommended by the independent pay review body, and saying that that is

the right thing to do. some voices, interestingly, in the conservative party, you've got a handful of members of parliament, now, saying that ministers really should look again at pay and sit down and negotiate. and of course things have changed now, the cost of living rising... yeah, that's right, and inflation is much higher than it was when that pay deal was agreed. but so far, the prime minister's saying that the offer that has been made is appropriate and fair and the health secretary, steve barclay, it has repeatedly refused to negotiate on anything to do with pay but says he is happy to sit down and talk about other issues. but the royal college of nursing is saying if that position continues, it will be on the prime minister's shoulders that further action perhaps has to take place. so possibly more strikes to come. in ukraine, efforts are continuing to repair critical infrastructure following the latest wave of russian missile strikes. the mayor of kyiv said the city's

water supply has been reconnected, and heating and electricity partially restored. the kremlin says president putin spent friday consulting military commanders about how the war in ukraine should proceed. ukrainian leaders say moscow is planning a fresh offensive early in the new year. earlier i spoke to our ukraine correspondent, hugo bachega, in the capital kyiv about the conditions there. there is this dense, thick fog here in kyiv this morning. i think this gives you an idea of how difficult it has been not only for emergency workers who are trying to repair the damage caused by those attacks, but also for residents here in kyiv, and many other parts of the country, who are now without electricity, heating, and in some places, even without water. you can't see, but i am surrounded by snow here so it has been snowing here in kyiv and it's been raining, so very difficult conditions for people. we had an update from the mayor here in kyiv, he said water is now being fully restored, but parts of the city remain

without electricity and heating. and in kharkiv, the country's second largest city, the attacks yesterday meant that the entire city was without electricity. we heard from the officials there in kharkiv saying that electricity is now being restored. i think what we're seeing here is that russia continues with this campaign targeting this country's electricity infrastructure and officials have been accusing russia of weaponising winter with these attacks. temperatures have plummeted, they have been below zero in many parts of the country, and this is obviously a country where temperatures can drop to —15, —20 celsius. yesterday, we have interviewed some people here in kyiv after those attacks and i think there is growing anger with these attacks. i think, people say that civilians have become the target in this conflict.

but one person told me that look, yes, we don't have electricity, but perhaps this is the price to be paid to keep the russians away. and have we heard anything from moscow following the strikes yesterday? i think this has been the strategy for weeks, now. and the authorities in russia say that these targets of power stations, heating stations, are legitimate targets. they have been attacking those for facilities for weeks now. yesterday, the authorities here said russia had fired 76 missiles and most of them, 60 of them, were intercepted by the country's air defence. but more than a dozen hit targets across the country and we saw emergency blackouts being introduced. and i think what we're hearing from president zelensky, from top officials, is that these attacks are unlikely to stop. president zelensky, last night, said, russia still had missiles to carry out

heavy strikes targeting the country's electricity infrastructure. i think the authorities are saying that this is how russia is responding to military setbacks on the battlefield, by attacking civilian sides, civilian infrastructure, and they say that that this is a strategy that perhaps the goal here is to try to force the ukrainians to surrender or to engage in negotiations. but the authorities are saying that this is not going to work. the owner of twitter, elon musk, has taken to the platform to announce that the accounts ofjournalists, which had recently been suspended, will now be reinstated after a poll of users. earlier, the united nations had added its voice criticising the original action. it said the suspensions set a dangerous precedent, and the eu warned that twitter could be hit with sanctions. tom brada reports.

twitter finds itself at the centre of yet another row. on thursday, reporters from the new york times, cnn and the washington post were among a number ofjournalists locked out of their accounts. a twitter spokesperson said they had violated the rules, but many are concerned about what seems to be earning about what seems to be an increasingly blurred line between content moderation and censorship. we're very disturbed by the arbitrary suspension of accounts of journalists that we saw on twitter. media voices should not be silenced on a platform that professes to be a space for freedom of speech. that statement came hours after this warning from the eu commissioner, at the heart of this story,

is elon musk�*s dispute with the now suspended account, @elonjet. using publicly available information, it had been sharing location data on mr musk�*s private jet. something which he says puts him and his family at risk. many of the suspended journalists had been covering that story. the one thing that all of us had in common was that we had linked to the facebook page tracking his private jets. i guess the real lesson is that if they want the real lesson is that if they want to find a real reason to ban people, you know, he can find that, and then he can kind of come up with an explanation later on. doxxing is when you share someone's private information online hoping to do them harm. and, few would argue, prioritising the use of public safety. but some are questioning how this flurry of suspensions matches up with mr musk�*s suppose a commitment to free speech.

tom brada, bbc news. in the irish republic, leo varadkar becomes the new prime minister today. mr varadkar, who is currently the deputy prime minister, will swap roles with the taoiseach micheal martin as part of an historic coalition agreement, made injune 2020. let's get more now from our ireland correspondent, chris page. this is highly unusual in politics, how is this going to work? it is very unusual. _ how is this going to work? it is very unusual, isn't _ how is this going to work? it is very unusual, isn't it, - how is this going to work? it 3 very unusual, isn't it, for one party to willingly hand over the top job in government to another, especially when those two parties have been really fierce rivals for almost a century and that is the situation here in ireland. for the last two and a half years, the country has been led by micheal martin, he is the leader of the

fianna fail party. in coalition with the fine gale party, led by leo varadkar. as part of that deal, the two party leaders will swap over in the office of the taoiseach today. to give you a bit of perspective as to just how historic this is for ireland, given the party has dominated irish politics for most of the irish state's existence and fought each other strongly at every election, it's a bit like labour and the conservatives being in coalition in the uk or even the democrats handing over control of the white housein handing over control of the white house in the us to the republicans or vice versa. the reason why the two parties have come together, while they are both broadly in the political centre but there has been substantial growth in support for the left—wing republican party, sinn fein. now, the official government opposition here in dublin and also the largest party in the devolved assembly in northern ireland, across the border. so whenever leo varadkar

is elected formally as taoiseach in the irish parliament here as he will be in the next hour or so, one of the major challenges he will face will be around the issue of power—sharing in northern ireland. a place that was the scene of a very vicious conflicts fought so to years, and the last century, weathered the sense of it should be part of the uk or part of this state, the republic of ireland. currently, the power—sharing regional government that has collapsed because unionist, the parties that want to retain northern ireland's place in the uk are opposed to the brexit trading arrangements for northern ireland, there is basically a trade border between northern ireland and the rest of the uk. whatever leo varadkar was previously taoiseach as he was between 2017—20, unionist believed he was pretty aggressive in the brexit negotiations. they partly blame him for the imposition, as they would see it, of that economic barrier within their own country. mr li leo varadkar may have a job

building relations with the unionists, his relationships with rishi sunak will be particularly important as negotiations with the uk and eu over the negotiations for northern ireland. an interesting historical point also given that mr sunak is now resident in 10 downing street, mr radtke will shortly be backin street, mr radtke will shortly be back in northern ireland, both will be led by politicians of indian heritage. a government information campaign telling households how to save money on energy has been launched. the advice says a few cheap and simple actions can save people significant amounts of money. our climate editor, justin rowlatt, reports. to the world cup now, and football resumes in qatar later on saturday,

with the third place playoff match between croatia and morocco. croatia made the final four years ago in russia, but lost. meanwhile, morocco will hope to cap their achievement of becoming the first team from africa to reach the semi—finals. lets get the view from morocco now and mayenijones is in casablanca. it looks like you are surrounded by lots and lots of football fans out there, are they excited? the? there, are they excited? they certainly are. _ there, are they excited? they certainly are. these _ there, are they excited? they certainly are. these young - there, are they excited? tie: certainly are. these young players behind me have been inspired by the national team's performance in this world cup, and some of them may well have dreams to match their achievement, if not superseded in the future. this is a country that has been incredibly supportive of their team, week after week, i'm told clouds here in the city's cafe so people tend to watch the match would grow and you would see support

right across the social spectrum, right across the social spectrum, right across the gender divide, right across the gender divide, right across the gender divide, right across different ages and families, so a lot of pride on how well the family has done in the world cup. d0 well the family has done in the world cup-— world cup. do you feel like celebrations _ world cup. do you feel like celebrations are _ world cup. do you feel like celebrations are building i world cup. do you feel like - celebrations are building around you? i celebrations are building around ou? ~ �* , ., ., celebrations are building around ou? ~ �*, ., ., you? i think it's fair to say that the celebrations _ you? i think it's fair to say that the celebrations this _ you? i think it's fair to say that the celebrations this time - you? i think it's fair to say that. the celebrations this time round you? i think it's fair to say that - the celebrations this time round are more muted than during the semifinals, it's a weekend and also lots of people were disappointed by the result of the match against france, they felt they should have been awarded a couple of penalties, as a matter of fact, the moroccan football association has complained to fifa about some of the refereeing decisions in that match, but still cafe owners i have spoken to here have said they are expecting large crowds at the establishments later today and a lot of moroccan football fans will be hoping that their team can at least placed third in this competition after what has been a really incredible performance. {iii really incredible performance. of course, you are surrounded by potentially some of the footballing stars of tomorrow. do you feel like

a success is already trickling down? definitely. this is a country that has invested massively in its football over the last 13 years. for both men and women, and actually, it should be said, theirfemale football team went on to reach the final of the africa cup of nations not too long ago. and so they have built a state—of—the—art facility not to act far from where we are, about an hour. any moroccan that has dreams of reaching the national team and playing internationalfootball, and playing international football, may and playing internationalfootball, may well be able to do so. they had facility is here to do this, and the future does look great for moroccan football.

the chinese city of shanghai has told all schools to hold classes remotely from monday as coronavirus infections increase. shanghai's education bureau has also ordered kindergartens and childcare centres to close. cases have been rising since beijing abandoned its zero—covid policy ten days ago, and there are concerns the country's health infrastructure is not prepared to cope with a rapid increase in patients. the number of state—sanctioned executions in the united states has fallen to its lowest level for more than three decades. that's according to figures compiled by the death penalty information centre. let's take a closer look at their report. it suggests that 7 out of 20 execution attempts were "botched" — due to incompetence, failure to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves. executions had to be put on hold in the states of idaho, ohio, tennessee and south carolina due to failures. in all, fewer than 30 people were executed. and — across the us — fewer than 50 people were sentenced to death. the five—year average for executions — of 18.6 per year — is said to be the lowest in more than 30 years. that's a 74% decline over the course of one decade.

our north america correspondent peter bowes explains how problematic some of the executions have been. the statistics are quite damning of all of the executions that took place in the united states this year. one in three went wrong in some way. they were visibly problematic, according to this report. there were executions scheduled in only six states, involving 18 people. but a significant number of those cases had to be abandoned partway through the process something went wrong, the protocols weren't adhered to, there was one example in the state of alabama where it took three hours to connect the intravenous line. the iv that would deliver the lethal cocktail of drugs to that individual which would eventually kill them. other examples, as well, around the country. it seems one of the reasons given is that some of the personnel that

carry out these executions are simply not medically qualified or experienced enough to deal with some of the potential problems that can occur during the process. in some cases, the inmates have a history of medical problems, of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and that can make them more susceptible to some of the issues that occur during the process. and, especially the attachment of the iv line. now, executions across this country happen far less frequently now than they used to and they are concentrated in just a small number of states. it seems quite likely that reports like this one and others will increase the pressure on politicians around the united states to look again at the process, to look again at executions and especially the technicalities of the lethal injection. there was a poll earlier this year that suggested some 46% of americans

still support lethal injections, but that is lower than some previous polls and they may well be growing pressure on politicians in washington, not only to look again at the process, but to question whether execution should be happening in america at all. south africa's president cyril ramaphosa may find out on saturday if his anc party is going to oust him. the president avoided impeachment proceedings earlier this week over a scandal involving millions of dollars found hidden in a sofa at his farm. mr ramaphosa maintains he has done nothing wrong, but when he addressed delegates injohannesburg on friday, his speech was heckled — take a listen. i want to appeal to everyone who wants to raise their dissatisfaction to do so in an orderly manner, in the way that we do things here in the african national congress.

heckling we have been in existence for 110 years. and this is not the time to come and display this type of disorderly behaviour. crowd jeers the hollywood star, angelina jolie, has announced she will be stepping down from her role as an ambassador for the un refugee agency after more than 20 years. the organisation described her as one of the most influential proponents of refugees' rights. it also praised her work visiting more than 60 field missions. msjolie says she wants to engage more directly with people affected by conflict. officials of a us military office set up by the pentagon have told journalists that they've received several hundred new reports of unidentified flying objects. the all—domain anomaly resolution office was established this year to monitor sightings of unexplained

phenomena in the air, and also in the water and in space. however, so far it hasn't found evidence to suggest that aliens have visited earth from outer space. if you fancy taking a break this december, and you prefer freezing conditions to warm sunshinem then this could your ideal holiday location. the ice hotel in the polar circle in northern sweden is built each year, using ice and snow carved from the surroundings. the design changes every year, and the only thing which is consistent is the sub—zero air temperature in the rooms. you're watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. the cold is not done with us quite yet, but there is a big thaw on the way. let me take you to the outskirts of chelmsford, our coldest

spot this morning. temperatures at —11 celsius at six in the morning. 6am on monday morning, a good 22 degrees warmer. that is quite a turnaround, but it will have some consequences to get from one to the other, i will show you. out there at the moment, still chilly, still some further wintry showers, rain around the coast in the west. sleet and snow inland, giving a covering in places, particularly across parts of scotland and the hills of northern england and north wales. most other spots will be dry, more cloud than recent days, but still some sunny spells. temperatures up a little bit on recent days, but with slightly more breeze. now, as we go into this evening and overnight, temperatures will drop again. risk of ice where we have seen showers in the west. things will become dry for most, but then later on, cloud, wind and rain spill through ireland into the south—west of england. and note the temperatures. plymouth and belfast, frost—free for sunday morning. widespread frost elsewhere, but not as low, the temperatures, as recent mornings. so what is happening through sunday? we've got some very mild and tropical air coming up from the mid—atlantic, but with the weather fronts pushing into some cold air first, that is where we could have some travel impacts. especially if you're travelling across country.

parts of central, eastern and northern england, rain onto cold ground could give some icy conditions, and we could see some hill snow for a time. in the morning, across parts of north wales and into the afternoon, hills of northern england and parts of central and southern scotland. rain, though, to many southern and western areas through the day. that rain spills its way eastwards, as i said, with an ice risk at first, but temperatures rising a little bit later on. still pretty cold on sunday for the vast majority, especially in northern and eastern areas as that breeze picks up, but to the south—west, 12 celsius in plymouth, and notice how the colours, the warmer colours spread to all parts as we go through the night and into monday morning. these are the commuting temperatures for monday morning. gone is the —11 that we saw on friday. eight to around 13 celsius. but also gone are the crisp, blue—sky mornings. it is going to be a rather grey day on monday, outbreaks of rain coming and going particularly to the south and the west, strengthening breeze touching gale—force around some western coasts and hills. but even with the cloud and the wind and the rain, 12 to 15 celsius. it's been a number of weeks since we saw that. well above average.

warmest day of the week, though. temperatures dropping a little bit, but stays on the milder side of things in the run—up to christmas. rain at times with snow melts could lead to some minorflooding. bye for now.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines: train passengers in britain face further delays today, as the rmt union continue their 48—hour strike— only one in five services are expected to operate. hospitals are told to free up beds ahead of ambulance staff going on strike in england on wednesday. work is continuing to restore electricity and heating in parts of ukraine — after a wave of russian air strikes hits infrastructure. elon musk reinstates the accounts ofjournalists controversially

suspended from twitter.