this is bbc news, broadcasting in the uk and around the globe. i'm frankie mccamley and these are the latest headlines... the us braces for its coldest christmas in four decades as a major storm sweeps across the country, with temperatures plummeting to minus 45 degrees celsius in some places. misery awaits passengers arriving at britain's busiest airports — with warnings of delays at passport control as border force officials begin an eight day strike over pay and pensions. arrests continue in afghanistan as protests persist against the new ban by the taliban on women and girls attending universities. police in pakistan say at least two people, including a police officer, have been killed in a suicide blast in the capital islamabad.

going green — we meet the teenage entrepreneur, who rents real christmas trees each year to save them from being thrown out after the festive period. hello and welcome to bbc news. a fierce arctic winter storm has triggered emergency alerts across large parts of the united states, and forced the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights. forecasters say the cold snap could bring the coldest christmas in decades. presidentjoe biden has encouraged everyone to heed warnings and bring forward christmas travel plans where possible. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports.

this is what it looks like when a bomb cyclone descends on north america. these huge banks of snow in north dakota are the result of an intense blizzard that swept through the state. conditions that are set to engulf almost the entire country, just in time for christmas. but this is no winter wonderland. the storm could prove deadly. great swathes of the us will experience some of the lowest temperatures ever recorded here. there is already chaos at the airports. this is new york. for many, it should have been the first normal christmas after covid. but across the country, thousands of flights have been cancelled. some people have been forced to abandon their plans to travel, while others are scrambling to find another way to get to theirfamilies. flustered. we're trying to search on our phones, figure out other routes, maybe even taking a bus

from here to atlanta, which it'll take us about 21 hours, so that's really inconvenient, but anything we can do just to get there, it's what we're going to do. president biden has urged people to take extreme care. this is really a very serious weather alert here. it goes from oklahoma all the way to wyoming, and wyoming to maine, and it's of real consequence, so i encourage everyone, everyone, please heed the local warnings. the rapidly deepening low pressure system will bring snow, strong winds, ice and frigid conditions all the way from canada to the deep south, including texas and the border with mexico. the midwest will be particularly badly hit, where it could be the coldest christmas since the 1980s. even florida, the sunshine state, will experience temperatures well below freezing. in new york, intense

blizzards are expected to last for several days. americans are being advised to travel earlier than planned, or hunker down for christmas. peter bowes, bbc news. i spoke to cbs correspondentjarred hill, who's at la guardia airport in new york city and told us about flight cancellations. not necessarily here, lots and lots of cancellations, but that's something that has been happening across the country. and as the weekend goes, that is expected to follow. what is interesting with the storm, as big as it is and as big as the country is, is that it is impacting almost every community differently, but one factor is the fact that community differently, but one unifying factor is the fact that during the christmas weekend, a lot of people are trying to travel and a lot of them are getting caught in similar snags. and we're seeing this weather snap coming through and we're hearing from the us president is saying how dangerous it could be. do you feel that

people are prepared? it depends where you are. one of the plus sides is that a lot of these communities have known about this for a couple of days and we've seen places where they're starting to salt the roads or treat the roads to make sure they're not as slippery as they could be. and we've seen a lot of places, especially in the south, which are not used to such temperatures, developing warming shelters for anyone who may lose power or doesn't have a home. we've seen some preparation here, but the real test will be over the next couple of days to see how those systems hold up. texas ended up losing power in some areas on the coldest day of the season. they're promising not to have a repeat of previous years, where a cold snap really hit the power grid in a way that was crippling and incredibly dangerous. we've seen some locations promising they will do a betterjob than they might have done in the past. but we'll have to see

over the next few days. jarred hill reporting there. passengers using some of the uk's busiest airports are being told to expect delays at passport control as border force staff begin eight days of strike action. around 1,000 staff at six airports, including heathrow and gatwick — and the port of newhaven — are taking industrial action as part of a row about pay, pensions and job security. here's more from our employment correspondent, zoe conway. hello, madam, are you all right? where have you flown in from today? border force officers have the job of keeping the country safe while also being as welcoming as possible. there you go. thank you. have a good day. but for the next few days, most of them won't be staffing these desks. the public and commercial services union says 75% of officers are going on strike. theirjobs will be filled by members of the armed forces and home office volunteers. industrial action is a last resort, a last resort because the government is treating our members worse

than anybody else in the economy, giving them a 2% pay rise. the effects of the industrial action are most likely to be felt in the international arrivals halls at heathrow, gatwick, glasgow, manchester, birmingham and cardiff airports. there are fears of lengthy queues, although border force managers are hopeful no airports will have to close. flying into heathrow from costa rica on a strike day later this month is jasmine 0'donoghue. she's been told she can change her flight, but she can't get through to her airline. i am feeling anxious just around the uncertainty of it. i think if i knew that i could change my flight or if i knew i had to go on the same flight, i wouldn't feel as worried because i would have a plan. but right now i don't know whether i am getting on the flight on the 27th or if i will change my flight.

while arriving might not be as welcoming as normal, airlines and airports have been keen to downplay the idea of travel chaos. flights are not being cancelled. the government says passengers should be prepared for disruption and it's advising them to check with operators before travelling. zoe conway, bbc news. the bbc�*s hannah miller's been at london gatwick airport. she told us how things have been going so far. this is the first test, really, here at gatwick airport this morning. things so far appear to have been running smoothly. there is a steady flow of passengers who have been coming through the arrival gates and everyone we've spoken to has said that their experience has been relatively normal. they are seeing military personnel at the passport control rather than the usual border force officials.

but so far, the contingency plans appear to be working. one person also said to me that they were using the e—gates, those gates where you just scan your passport and don't have to speak to anyone. those, of course, don't go on strike, the passenger said. the airport is hoping that people using the e—gates and the military personnel will limit the impact here. we're also hearing from heathrow airport this morning, which is expected to see the worst of this strike, that things are going relatively smoothly. the boss of gatwick airport said that in the worst case, there could be queues at passport control of up to two hours, but that is not the case at the moment. are you feeling any frustration from passengers? we have had so many strikes around the country. these are people who are arriving. is there a sense when they are

arriving that it is not as welcoming as it could be when we have got strikes happening on our borders? i think most people at this point of the morning are just glad to have got off the plane and be able to get out of the airport smoothly although, as you say, a lot of them will be impacted in the coming days as they try to get around the country, particularly by the ongoing rail strikes. that, for some passengers, is a cause of further disruption and delays. but we were in the departures hall earlier this morning, and while many people have got their christmas jumpers on and they're heading off on their holidays away from the uk for christmas, there is a worry about what happens before the new year with regard to the strike as people come back into the uk. they're heading off on their holidays quite happy at the moment, but a little bit concerned about how smooth their arrival will be when they get back before the new year.

mark serwotka is the general secretary of the pcs union which represents border force staff striking today. he says talks have broken down. there are no talks going on, which is disappointing and an abdication of the government's responsibility. the border force staff are civil servants. they are in pcs and they are part of our union where 100,000 civil servants voted by a record majority to go on strike. the government has offered a 2% pay rise even though they know it is the lowest in the economy and many of their own workforce are using food banks and claiming benefits. but the government, for six months, hasjust said, "there is no money,

it's 2% and we're going to cut thousands ofjobs and slash your redundancy terms by 30%". it's a massive attack on people who were clapped by this government in the pandemic for delivering the furlough scheme, claims to universal credit, keeping ourjustice system running and our transport and borders open. so it's a terrible thing the government is doing to its own workforce and the strike is a last resort. but unfortunately, it's likely to escalate injanuary if the government still refuse to talk. there are concerns that if there are lots of parties on strike at the moment, and it does feel like the winter of strikes, but there are concerns that constantly awarding pay rises could keep inflation high. i don't think any serious economist has those concerns. the government keep parroting this line, but they know it is not pay that causes inflation, it is corporate greed and and international issues and the government's own incompetence in mismanaging our economy. if you give a public sector worker,

whether that's a nurse, border staff or a job centre worker a pay rise, those people will spend that money in our economy. they will spend it in their communities, supporting manufacturing and hospitality locally. and when a recession is coming, people having money to spend and paying tax and national insurance regenerates the economy. by keeping people poor, it stifles demand. the recession will grow and the people who are suffering are currently people like our members, who are using food banks and claiming benefits because they're poorer at the end of the year than they were at the start through no fault of their own, even though they've worked harder than ever before. that was mark serwotka. the royal college of nursing is expected to announce new strike dates in england, which will take place in midjanuary. the rcn says its decision follows 10 days of no negotiations between the union and government — about pay — despite two days of strike action earlier this month. royal mail staff who are part of

the communications workers union are back on the picket line again today and tomorrow. it's over an ongoing dispute about pay and job conditions — but as many of these strikes have taken place in the run—up to the festive period, businesses relying on christmas sales say they've suffered as a result. the headlines on bbc news... the us braces for its coldest christmas in four decades as a major storm sweeps across the country, with temperatures plummeting to minus 45 degrees celsius in some places. arrests continue in afghanistan as protests persist against the new ban by the taliban on women and girls attending universities. staying with that story, security forces have arrested several women as protests continue against the new ban by the taliban on women attending universities. social media is awash with videos showing women protesting in kabul. the taliban have since stopped the protests and have arrested

at least five women. i spoke to sana safi from bbc pashto, who told us more about what's happening right now. the latest is that women who went onto the street yesterday were arrested. some told us the taliban security forces used force against them. some were beaten, others were taken. but we were told others were released. the taliban of course deny that they have used force, but this morning we heard from the minister in charge of higher education, who issued this ban on universities. the interview was given to state tv, which is controlled by the taliban. when the announcement was made, there was no official reasoning for why the taliban decided to ban universities for women. but in this interview, the minister in charge says that proposed reforms were not

implemented by the universities, so that was why they made that decision. but he goes on to say that in his view, there were four other reasons why they made that decision. one was that the curriculum is not compatible with what the taliban want. he says there were 160 fields that women could choose from. but according to him, some of those fields are not suitable for women. the examples are engineering and agriculture. the second reason, he says, was that classes were not gender—segregated enough, which is what the taliban have always demanded. thirdly, women were not complying with the taliban dress code, the head to toe black garment. fourthly, women were staying at hostels. and he goes on to say the mixing of the genders usually leads to moral corruption and for those reasons, they needed to make that decision. this is typical of what the taliban have always said with regard to women.

gender segregation was always seen as a problem by them, but they already issued directives to universities that they needed to separate the days so that there were allocated days for female students and other days for male students. so women are saying that is illogical reasoning that they are giving, but we haven't yet officially heard from the men higher up as to why they are making this decision. another interesting development is that over 60 male faculty members across the country have resigned from their posts in protest and in solidarity with women in protest against the ban by the taliban on female students. sana safi reporting there. a reminder of our top story. a fierce arctic winter storm has triggered emergency alerts across large parts of the us, and forced the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights.

forecasters say the cold snap could bring the coldest christmas in decades. i spoke to highway patrol officer benjaim gardner in kansas city. he told us more about the situation there. it is extremely cold. right now we've had —5 sitting still. when the wind is blowing across, it brings temperatures to an extremely low concerning condition for anybody that might find themselves outside. for emergency services, of course, you have some serious weather coming in. are you prepared? do you feel like other emergency services are prepared in case there are any emergencies you need to respond to? absolutely. i can certainly speak to my agency, the kansas highway patrol. we've got troopers patrolling up and around all of kansas.

just to make sure most importantly we're finding motorists that are stopped and in distress. right now with the extreme temperatures vehicles are not working as well as they should. we are finding ourselves checking a lot of motorists, they are stopped, disabled because their vehicles aren't functional. most important, as we go around finding the individuals, checking them, trying to find mechanical help or removing them from these vehicles and getting them somewhere warm so they do not freeze inside the vehicle. if people are concerned and they are sat at home thinking, i am not sure what to do, what should i be doing? is there anywhere i can go? have you been speaking to any community centres or anything like that where people can get warm, speak to other people, hunker down together? there are places and outlets all across our state, certainly across kansas. for resources with your local mayors, governors are providing resources for people in distress. reaching out to those people, there are resources readily available. we come together as humans to make

sure we can help each other. that is what these times are, to look after and find those people in distress and that's certainly is happening now. a french murderer who admitted killing several western tourists has been freed from jail in nepal. charles sobharj, also known by the nickname, the serpent, owing to his reputation as a disguise and escape artist, was serving two life sentences in nepalfor the murder of an american backpacker and canadian tourist in the 1970s. these are the latest pictures of mr sobhraj leaving prison in nepal. he's been released on health grounds and a lawyer says he will be flown to france later on friday. police in pakistan say at least two people, including a police officer, have been killed in a suicide blast in the capital islamabad. they said the suspect, travelling in a vehicle, detonated his explosives when he was stopped by security personnel during a surprise check. i'm joined now from

islamabad by the bbc urdu reporter, sahar baloch. what more do we know about this? right now, what we know is that at 10.15 in the morning, the police found a suspicious vehicle and they started following it. as soon as the police reached the vehicle, the person inside detonated himself. it is also said that the police told me there was a woman and a man inside there was a woman and a man inside the taxi. so the area where this incident happened at a residential area and it is being used right now as a thoroughfare by a lot of travellers. a lot of vehicles go through that area because the nearby road, the main expressway is under construction right now, so a lot of people take that road. this has come as a shock to many people. it is one of the first attempts at a suicide blast in islamabad after a decade, these incidents had been happening in other parts of pakistan, but

nobody had been speaking about it as such. the media were not reporting on it, so this was the first time it happened in islamabad. everybody has now taken notice of the fact that the pakistani taliban have come back, because they are the ones who took credibility for this attack as well. d0 took credibility for this attack as well. , ., took credibility for this attack as well. ,., ~ ., took credibility for this attack as well. ~ ., ., , ., well. do we know any more about the susect, well. do we know any more about the suspect, whether _ well. do we know any more about the suspect, whether he _ well. do we know any more about the suspect, whether he was _ well. do we know any more about the suspect, whether he was part - well. do we know any more about the suspect, whether he was part of- well. do we know any more about the suspect, whether he was part of a - suspect, whether he was part of a specific organisation? right suspect, whether he was part of a specific organisation?— suspect, whether he was part of a specific organisation? right now, we don't know anything _ specific organisation? right now, we don't know anything about _ specific organisation? right now, we don't know anything about the - don't know anything about the person. the police said the person blew himself up as soon as they reached the vehicle. at the same time, there is one police head constable who died in the incident and there are other policemen who are injured right now. there was a security high alert when i reached there a while back. the police have completely sealed off the area. i also spoke with a few citizens over there, who were really shocked and they were saying they had to come back to their homes to check out what happened because the sound of the blast could be heard miles away. that was why a lot of people are

shaken up. also, a few years back, in pakistan, every thursday and friday, they used to be a suicide blast. so a lot of people were reminded of that again, of how this used to happen in major cities of pakistan. just this year in march in peshawar, there was a suicide attack on a shia mosque in which 63 people were killed and 200 were injured. so this is not like it is happening out of the blue. this had been happening over a few months and people had been marching peacefully, trying to get the attention of the government to do something about it the impact of the pakistani taliban. that to do something about it the impact of the pakistani taliban.— of the pakistani taliban. that was our bbc urdu _ of the pakistani taliban. that was our bbc urdu reporter _ of the pakistani taliban. that was our bbc urdu reporter sahar - of the pakistani taliban. that was i our bbc urdu reporter sahar baloch. there's more on this story on the bbc news website and app. the environmental impact of christmas is something many people are considering when choosing decorations, gifts and especially the tree.

there's the usual choice between a fake or a fir, but now one 14—year—old boy from east lothian in scotland is hoping his eco—friendly alternative of renting out, then replanting real trees will take root. and it's so far proved to be pretty popular, with families borrowing the same tree every year. this is holiday. her name is holiday. it is the second year we have had holiday, actually. that was four christmases ago. now we just really look forward to having eggnog back every year. it's quite weird. i'm renting my christmas tree, dancer, for the fourth year. i my name is will and i am the founder of the christmas tree company. it is a company where we rent out christmas trees. all the trees have their own unique names. so we just basically thought of anything like christmas from eggnog to dasher to, like, sleigh bells. it is like a tree daycare.

the idea of christmas tree rentals is that you can just basically take it for the time that it is needed and then it comes back, sits on our irrigation system with all its other tree buds and then it can be ready for you again next year. people do get ridiculously attached to it and when we have offered them, say, a bigger tree because it has become available this year, people are like, "no, ijust want my own tree back again, please." so this is eggnog back in 2019. a touch over five foot high. that's amazing. somebody else had gone to look at the trees in the yard and had spotted eggnog and said, "oh, i like the look of that one." and ewan told me about it and i was like, hands off eggnog! eggnog is part of our family! my boys like seven foot, eight foot trees. when i bought dancer for the first time, they looked at it and went, ok, it's not very big, dad. but i said to them, you have got to be patient and wait. a little bit nervous. we are lucky we have high ceilings here, but as she grows with us, i if she will continue to fit in the room, how high. she is going to grow. the main motivation is for the environment. this is a fantastic and sustainable environmental solution to the traditional christmas tree.

there's something quite sad about taking all the decorations off a cut christmas tree and then, as you say, dumping it outside. so to be able to take all the decorations off, hand it back, have it looked after and then have it back the next year, you haven't got that sort of sentimental... iyou feel a sense of responsibility, i too, because you want to make sure she is properly looked after and going back. looking healthy, just - as she was when she arrived. thanks for watching. this is bbc news. hello again. today we have a band of heavy rain pushing northwards and as it does, it is going to drag in some milder air behind it. this mild weather is set to continue until christmas day evening, when the cold air in the north of scotland sweeps south across us all. these weatherfronts are bringing rain, pushing northwards. we will see some

hill snow for a time and as we head through the next few days, you can see how the mild air stays with us, except for in the far north of scotland. but it is on christmas day evening that that all pushes south in time for boxing day. this morning, we have this heavy rain that has been fairly persistent through the course of the morning, summer thunder and lightning embedded in it. as it crosses northern england, it will have some transient snow in it. ahead of it, the cloud will build, but for scotland largely dry in some sunshine. behind it, sunshine and showers but generally today, it will be a windier day than of late. tonight we have to stand the rain continuing to push northwards, taking sleet and hills know with it. might lead to some disruption over the higher routes in scotland, where the higher routes in scotland, where the snow will be starting to accumulate. behind it, still comparatively mild conditions. we are not anticipating any frost. as we head through christmas eve, this band of rain and snow, many on the

hills, and sleet, bushes northwards into the northern isles. there will be a lot of dry weather and a fair bit of sunshine. still some showers towards the north—west, where it will be windy, and these are our temperatures. you can see how the milder air is slowly pushing northwards. as we head into christmas day, we have this area of low pressure, you can see the weatherfront wrapped around it. in the cold air follows behind. we also have another weatherfront close to the south—east. during boxing day, look at the blues crossing us, indicating that it is going to turn colder across the board. as we head towards christmas weekend and beyond,it towards christmas weekend and beyond, it does remain unsettled. it does stay mild for a time, but then it turns colder. as we move into next week, temperatures will rise a bit again. if you are on the move, you can find out what the weather is like where you are and where you are going on the bbc weather app.

this is bbc news. i'm frankie mccamley and these are the latest headlines... the us braces for its coldest christmas in four decades as a major storm sweeps across the country with temperatures plummeting to minus 45 degrees celsius in some places. at least 1,500 flights have already been cancelled with more expected to follow. misery awaits passengers

arriving at britain's busiest airports — with warnings of delays at passport