this is bbc news, i'm simon pusey. our top stories: travel chaos in some parts of north america as frigid temperatures ground planes and turn roads into death traps. the roads are freezing, the roads are going to be like an ice rink and your tyres can't handle this. violent clashes grip paris after three people are shot dead at a kurdish community centre. nurses in england, wales and northern ireland threaten to strike again injanuary unless pay talks are opened. and ladbaby bag the christmas

number one spot for a fifth time, giving them more christmas number ones than the beatles. hello and welcome to bbc news. more than a hundred million people in america, are under extreme weather alerts, and more than one and a half million people have no power, as temperatures in some areas are predicted to drop, to as low as minus 45 celsius. an arctic storm is approaching, predicted to hit canada and extend down to the deep south and the border with mexico, including texas. this thermal satellite imagery shows the huge spread of the coldest areas, with the mid—west enduring the lowest temperatures. the chill is also being felt on the gulf coastline, although areas in the far north—east, like maine, and western states like california, nevada and arizona are escaping the this satellite image, from

the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, gives an idea of the spread of the cold weather system, with the lowest temperatures underneath the clouds at the top of the picture, across the northern us states and canada. we'll hear from someone who's been directly affected by the cold in just a moment, but we begin our coverage with this report from our north america correspondent, john sudworth. it couldn't have come at a worse time. america's peak travel season hit by a once in a generation storm. two days before christmas, two thirds of the country are now under extreme winter weather alerts stretching from here on the canadian border all the way to florida. on airport runways planes have been replaced by de—icing trucks... we're out here, period. i mean, we'll be out him until it stops snowing, really. ..leading to thousands of cancelled flights with the city of chicago the worst hit. flustered. we're trying to search on our phones, figure out other

routes, maybe even taking a bus from here to atlanta. it will take us about 21 hours, so that's really inconvenient. but anything we can do just to get there is what we're going to do. a once in a generation bomb cyclone is actually causing temperatures to plummet. on the us networks, there's talk of little else. the term bomb cyclone describes a drop in pressure of 2a millibars in 2a hours. whatever you call it, the risks are clear. exacerbated by the strong desire to travel at this time of year. the roads are freezing, the roads are going to be like an ice—skating rink and your tires cannot handle this and that lends itself to a great possibility of pile—ups, they can be dangerous, people can get stranded. the storm is expected to last through the weekend. after the years of covid, millions of americans face another disrupted christmas.

our news reporter, tom brada, joins us with the latest. what joins us with the latest. is the current situation? this what is the current situation? this storm is causing chaos across north america, there are blizzards, rain, snow, ice, extreme cold and i would like to run through some of the numbers which should give you a sense of the scale of the disruption they are facing up there. around 1.5 million people are currently without power and that is largely because of strong winds which are uprooting trees and disrupting powerlines and i should also say that same situation as being seen in canada, so in the united states, north carolina and virginia more than 150,000 people in both of those dates are currently without power and in quebec and ontario more than 300,000 people are without power so that is a really big ongoing problem. transport is also a major issue at the moment, there is a serious chaos in airports, there have

been around, more than a500 cancelled flights just today and there has also been disruption for trains. amtrak the rail company has suspended 20 of the rail routes and we see lots of the images of icy roads, people still choosing to drive in spite of warnings, this is a pileup in ohio. i should say we don't know whether there have been any casualties as a result of that pileup but there have been debts on the roads reported in kansas, in tennessee and kentucky and as it stands there have been six deaths which have been attributed to the storm but i should say also that number is expected to rise. and it's not just _ number is expected to rise. and it's notjust snow _ number is expected to rise. and it's not just snow and it's notjust snow and ice, is there? there are other dangers out there. there? there are other dangers out there-— out there. yes, there is an issue in — out there. yes, there is an issue in the _ out there. yes, there is an issue in the east, - out there. yes, there is an issue in the east, i - out there. yes, there is an issue in the east, i should | out there. yes, there is an i issue in the east, i should be able to show you some pictures from new york, this is new york state where there is quite serious flooding, entire areas submerged underwater and that

is because heavy rains and really strong winds are pushing coastal water ashore and really causing a lot of issues, so there are actually coastal flood warnings in place currently in maine, massachusetts and york state, and there is a follow—up to this because the weather is expected to stay extremely cold and there could be a flash freezers which means areas that are already wet could become extremely icy and very dangerous underfoot in the coming days. dangerous underfoot in the coming days-— coming days. extraordinary ima . es coming days. extraordinary images there, _ coming days. extraordinary images there, thank - coming days. extraordinary images there, thank you i coming days. extraordinary l images there, thank you very much for bringing us up to date. gerard jebaily is meterologist for newsnation and he joins us now from chicago. thanks a lot for joining thanks a lot forjoining us. is itjust as bad as has been pretty? itjust as bad as has been re ? , ., ., itjust as bad as has been re ? . pretty? good evening, thanks for having _ pretty? good evening, thanks for having me. _ pretty? good evening, thanks for having me. it _ pretty? good evening, thanks for having me. it has - pretty? good evening, thanksj for having me. it has certainly been quite a system. i am here in chicago, we like to very affectionately call it chiberia, the wind is howling outside right now we have to

bridges that have really plummeted since this time yesterday. right we are roughly around the 0 f which is about -18 around the 0 f which is about —18 celsius and we have had wind chills all day long hovering around —a0 celsius which is the same as in fahrenheit. has been quite incredible, we've had other places even further than that with those individuals. we have the snowfall which hasn't been as much of a problem, many areas in the great lakes region areas in the great lakes region are used to getting several inches of snow but the wind has been blowing a0, 50, 60 miles an hour picking up the snow and making it so tough to see comedy visibility has been lowered not to mention covering the roads and the ploughs have not been able to clear the roads with just a moment behind them, the roads are being covered up again with snowfall, so we are seeing this arctic last covering most of the united states from the rockies all the way to the east coastlines, in fact earlier,

just yesterday we only had about three states in the whole lower a8 that were not being affected so this has wide reaching storm with arctic temperatures reaching all the way to the gulf coast states bringing temperatures that they have never seen before. it is re have never seen before. it is pretty extraordinary. - have never seen before. it is pretty extraordinary. it - have never seen before. it is pretty extraordinary. it has been described as once in a generation, is that a statement you would agree with?- generation, is that a statement you would agree with? there are some that _ you would agree with? there are some that have _ you would agree with? there are some that have not _ you would agree with? there are some that have not seen - you would agree with? there are some that have not seen this - you would agree with? there are some that have not seen this in l some that have not seen this in 30 years, absolutely stopping at don't know if you can see this behind me but you need to see some of the numbers here. it's notjust how much the temperatures are falling, it's how fast. we've seen a drop of 37 degrees in only an hour, and thatis 37 degrees in only an hour, and that is fahrenheit, in denver, 30 degrees in one hour in texas and one of the ones that has just been absolutely mind blowing, dropping from a3 fahrenheit down to 11 fahrenheit in about nine minutes, that was in shyam wyoming. we have not seen images for that fast, they have been blasting through with a vengeance in such a speed that

the ground, even if it was just wet, flash frozen and caused a lot of trouble. select roadways, binding snowfall, all of this combined in the worst possible time right during the christmas holidays and people trying to get around so it has been an absolute nightmare for people to try to get to go where they want to stopping many people had their flights can had to change them. myself included. we have been stuck in places waiting for the weather to break before we could get out. �* , ., ., to break before we could get out. �* i. ., ., out. and you are in chicago which is — out. and you are in chicago which is of _ out. and you are in chicago which is of course - out. and you are in chicago which is of course one - out. and you are in chicago which is of course one of. out. and you are in chicago l which is of course one of the worst affected places. that is all we have a but thank you very much and it bringing us us up—to—date, very interesting details and statistics. the french president, emmanuel macron, has condemned a shooting at a cultural centre in paris as an �*odious attack�* on the country's kurdish population. three people were killed and three injured by the gunman, who had just been released from detention for targeting a migrant camp a yearago. following the attack, us secretary of state antony blinken sent his �*deepest sympathies to the victims of the attack at the kurdish

cultural center in paris�*. also saying via twitter: �*my thoughts are with the members of the kurdish community and people of france on this sad day.�* clashes later broke out between police and a large crowd which had gathered at the scene. protesters started a fire in the street, and threw chairs and bricks. police in riot gear responded with tear gas. hugh schofield reports. shouting not long after the attack, rioting in central paris. these are people from the city�*s turkish kurdish community, angry because it was three of theirs who were shot and killed. it was just before midday when the man described as white and quite old, pulled out a handgun and started firing outside a kurdish community centre, not farfrom the gare du nord. he was overpowered and detained by police. to the authorities, the most plausible theory is that this was a racially motivated anti—foreigner attack. translation: obviously, - he wanted to attack foreigners. we will find out from thejudicial inquiry if he was specifically targeting kurds.

for the moment, it�*s impossible to know. the man has been identified as a 69—year—old former train driver. he�*d onlyjust been let out ofjail in connection with an attack with a sword on an african migrant camp in paris a year ago. translation: it concerned people who were living - in tents, and the person concerned attacked the tents. an investigation was opened at the end of 2021 and the person concerned has recently been released. this evening, the area remains tense. many in the kurdish community here accusing the french government of failing to protect them. let�*s get some of the day�*s other news. a french serial killer who�*s been convicted of two murders, and linked to 20 others, is on his way back to france. charles sobhraj says he feels great after being released from jail in nepal. the 78—year—old, whose crimes were dramatised in the tv series the serpent, served 19 years for killing two

americans in 1975. the former fijian army colonel sitiveni rabuka has been confirmed as fiji�*s prime minister after a coalition of parties voted to support him, ending frank bainimarama�*s 16 years in power. the appointment ends ten days of uncertainty in fiji after the election delivered a hung parliament. rabuka accused the outgoing government of stoking "fear and chaos" to derail his return to power. twitter has in the past few days removed a feature that promoted suicide prevention hotlines to users that look up certain content. the removal of the safety feature, #thereishelp, has not been officially announced, but various organisations noticed its disappearance and expressed concern. twitter and its new owner elon musk have not commented. just over a week ago twitter disbanded its trust and safety council. ethiopian investigators have completed their final report into an ethiopian airlines crash nearly four years ago which led to the worldwide grounding of boeing 737—max aircraft.

all 157 people on board were killed. the nairobi—bound plane came down minutes after take—off from addis ababa. the investigation concluded that a software failure was to blame. a wave of industrial action has been affecting different sectors of the uk economy from postal workers, ambulance staff, to uk borderforce officials. thousands of nurses will go on strike onjanuary 18th and 19th, with more dates to be confirmed in the new year. the royal college of nursing, says the stoppages will continue, until pay negotiations with the government are opened. our heath editor hugh pym has more details. people back to us on the picket lines this week and we don�*t want to make them anxious at this time of year. that was the argument for postponing next wednesday�*s strike by ambulance staff. but there is a new strike date, january the 11th and a message to the

government.- and a message to the government. and a message to the covernment. ~ , , ., ., and a message to the covernment. ~ , ., government. we beg you to come to the table — government. we beg you to come to the table now, _ government. we beg you to come to the table now, talk _ government. we beg you to come to the table now, talk to - government. we beg you to come to the table now, talk to us - to the table now, talk to us and call this offer because there will be further days of action in the new year without action in the new year without a resolution to this dispute. the royal college of music has set two more straight days in england next month. it will happen they say unless ministers agree to pay talks. we cannot have another meeting like the last where my boss, our general secretary is called to a meeting to go into a room to a meeting to go into a room to ask several times please can we talk about pay and be told no. ~ , , no. the prime minister visiting a homeless — no. the prime minister visiting a homeless support _ no. the prime minister visiting a homeless support charity - no. the prime minister visiting | a homeless support charity said pei had been set according to independent review proposals but he would talk to unions about anything else. i�*m but he would talk to unions about anything else. i'm really crateful about anything else. i'm really grateful to _ about anything else. i'm really grateful to all _ about anything else. i'm really grateful to all our— about anything else. i'm really grateful to all our public- grateful to all our public sector workers including those in the nhs for the fantastic job they do for us and the health secretary and i have always said our door is always open stopping the government as

was wanting to talk to people, to engage with them to make sure that theirjobs are fulfilling, rewarding. so sure that theirjobs are fulfilling, rewarding. so as of now we know _ fulfilling, rewarding. so as of now we know there _ fulfilling, rewarding. so as of now we know there will - fulfilling, rewarding. so as of now we know there will be i fulfilling, rewarding. so as of. now we know there will be four separate strike days injanuary involving health unions. two back—to—back told by the royal couege back—to—back told by the royal college of music and add more hospitals than on previous strike days. health leaders say the escalation is deeply concerning and again they are urging ministers and unions to start pay talks without delay. in scotland the royal college of music says embers will be striking at some stage next year after a new government offer was rejected. so challenges for the nhs across the uk, a sharp rise in blue cases in hospitals is causing concern with official warnings to the public to reduce the risk of spreading infection to the most vulnerable over christmas. while flu is a worry for hospitals, figures today showed another increase in covid infections in the community. all that is adding to other pressures and the

prospect of further strikes in the new year. this is bbc news. the headlines — travel chaos in some parts of the us as frigid temperatures ground planes and turn roads into death traps violent clashes grip paris after three people are shot dead at a kurdish community centre. the united nations says the ban on women going to university in afghanistan is a dramatic setback, denying a future for the country. girls had already been banned from attending secondary school by the taliban. the new restrictions affecting higher education were announced this week and have prompted protests across the country, as our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley reports. all chant. defying the taliban in a show of fury and of extraordinary courage. here in the north of afghanistan, they were chanting, "why won�*t you let us study? and the taliban used water cannon to disperse them. we�*ve blurred their faces to protect them from taliban reprisals.

translation: i beg you. please, please, just let us continue learning. all chant: let us in! in kabul yesterday, women vowing to stand together against oppression, but several were arrested. others, beaten. translation: they gave all the girls lashes. - they�*d brought their own female enforcers who whipped the girls. we fled, but others were taken by the taliban. only a few weeks ago, young women were sitting their university exams, separate from men. but still, it gave secondary school girls hope that they�*d soon be allowed to resume their education — a dream that�*s now been snatched away. crying. this was the reaction at one university in kabul when they heard the news. in kandahar, some young men walked out of their studies

in solidarity. on national television, the minister of higher education accused women students of not properly following the taliban�*s dress code, trying to justify a decision that�*s caused an international outcry. this is a dramatic setback. denying women the right to education is denying a future to afghanistan, to the country and to the people. we are asking for this to be immediately reversed and we are working on it. malala yousafzai, campaigner for girls�* education, survived an attack by the taliban in pakistan a decade ago. we always feared that it would get worse, which is happening right now. it�*s getting worse for women. and this is two decades of progress that women in afghanistan fought for. the bbc�*s sana safi grew up in afghanistan under the taliban�*s previous rule and could only go to underground schools. ifeelangry, ifeel sad, because those women will lose

the precious time that i lost. they will lose the childhood that i lost. everything we have seen from the taliban in regards to their decision—making indicates that they�*ve not changed. whatever happens with the protests, these afghan women are sending a very clear message to the world. caroline hawley, bbc news. ajudge in the us has ruled that two movie fans can sue the universal film studio forfalse advertising — over the trailer it issued for the 2019 movie yesterday. that clip featured the actress ana de armas, but her part was entirely cut from the finished movie. the plaintiffs say they only rented the movie because they thought ms de armas was in it and they have now been cleared to take their claim for $5 million in compensation to court. let�*s get more perspective on that story with an entertainment lawyer. his name is domenic romano, founder and managing partner of romano law, and hejoins us live from new york.

thank you forjoining us. $5 million for two fans? have you seen anything like this before? well, first of all, on behalf of the two fans, it is on behalf of a class of other viewers of the film but were deceived as i�*m not surprised the judge allowed this to go on. the trailerfeatures the judge allowed this to go on. the trailer features a well—known actress who does not appear in the film and it�*s understandable that the court would deem that lodges these two but other viewers of the trailer may be misled. do you think this _ trailer may be misled. do you think this will _ trailer may be misled. do you think this will therefore - trailer may be misled. do you think this will therefore have | think this will therefore have implications for trailers and the industry as a whole in the future? ' :: :: ' the industry as a whole in the future? ' :: :: , ,., ., future? 100%. universal argued this trailer— future? 10096. universal argued this trailer was _ future? 10096. universal argued this trailer was an _ future? 10096. universal argued this trailer was an artistic - this trailer was an artistic expressive work and should be protected free speech under the first amendment in the united states but the court ruled it�*s not, trailer is a commercial, not, trailer is a commercial, not only speech but commercial speech and there was a likelihood that others may be

misled, or at least was arguable if an actress featured in the trailer and then doesn�*t appear in the film. it�*s important to note also that $5 million has been claimed on behalf of this class of viewers were misled, the film itself grossed 10a million dollars at the box office alone, not including streaming and other revenue, so to put in context, it is not an outrageous amount. and apologies for being naive but where does it go if they are successful?— but where does it go if they are successful? the next step would be _ are successful? the next step would be discovering, - are successful? the next step would be discovering, it - are successful? the next step| would be discovering, it would go to the viewers that can make a claim that but for them seeing anna de armas in the trailer they would not have paid the $3.99 whatever they paid the $3.99 whatever they paid to watch the film. find paid the $3.99 whatever they paid to watch the film. and in terms of legal _ paid to watch the film. and in terms of legal practice, - paid to watch the film. and in terms of legal practice, will. terms of legal practice, will be set a precedent, do you think of other similar cases being opened? i think of other similar cases being opened?— think of other similar cases being opened? i think it will make studios _ being opened? i think it will make studios and _ being opened? i think it will make studios and other - make studios and other distributors cautious about misleading viewers and from a consumer perspective, this is

not a bad thing. so for you, do you think this is a landmark moment that people will refer back to in the future? you know, i think it is rare that a trailer will feature an actress oran trailer will feature an actress or an actor then cut from a film but i think misleading scene, thejudge also film but i think misleading scene, the judge also said scenes on the trailer that are misleading, as a consumer protection mechanism is more and more people consume streaming media, ithink and more people consume streaming media, i think the ruling will have an effect on the way content, entertainment content, is advertised in the future. domenic romano. life there in new york. thank you so much for explaining that to us. —— live there in new york. king charles is expected to pay tribute to his mother, the late queen, in his first christmas day message. a photo released in the uk on friday evening shows the recording being made in st george�*s chapel at windsor castle, where a committal service was held during the queen�*s funeral in september.

british youtubers ladbaby have gained their fifth consecutive uk christmas number one, beating a record set by the beatles. colin paterson reports. they�*ve only gone and done it again. ladbaby are number one! the moment ladbaby found out that they had beaten the beatles. # it�*s christmas time! # let�*s come together for food aid... this is ladbaby�*s fifth christmas number one — the fab four only had four — and celebrations have begun. where is the fifth one? it�*s on its way, it�*s on its way down to us. i don�*t think they knew if we were going to get it right until the last minute. i think it's in traffic on the motorway, actually! it�*s leaving london like everyone else, probably, yeah. # feed the uk... bob geldof gave them permission to change the words of band aid�*s do they know it�*s christmas to make it about the uk�*s cost of living crisis. this is no all—star sing—along — those are all lookalikes. the only famous name — money saving expert

martin lewis. and he got the bono line, so what an incredible thing. and he did show mark up with his singing, because he�*s a lot better at singing than mark! yeah, at one point, i was like, "stop showing me up here!" # tonight we're reaching out and helping you. - # feed the world. having a christmas number one may not be quite what it once was. the original band aid sold a million copies in a week. ladbaby have managed 65,000... # i need some love like i never needed love before... ..but it�*s still a huge achievement. the spice girls only had three christmas number ones... # mistletoe and wine. ..the same total as cliff richard. even the x factor only managed four in a row. ladbaby have beaten that total, too. how nice is it now that the history books are tied to food banks?

yeah. that is what is so special about what we�*ve been doing. charity wins! colin paterson, bbc news, nottingham. let�*s bring you a quick reminder of our top story. more than 100 million people in america extreme weather alerts and more than 1.5 million people have no power. temperatures in some areas are predict to drop to as low as -a5 predict to drop to as low as —a5 celsius. an arctic storm is approaching, to hit canada and extend down to the deep south and the border with mexico, cleaning texas. this is satellite imagery, showing the huge areas of the cold areas with the midwest in during those lowest temperatures and the chill is also being felt on the chill is also being felt on the gulf coast of areas in far north—east like maine, although california and arizona are escaping the worst. that�*s just about it from me. find me on

twitter. for me and the rest of the team, thank you for watching and stay tuned right here to bbc world news. hello. it looks as if for most, it will stay mild in the run—up to christmas, but there is the hint of some colder air returning. the reason is because we�*ve got these mild south—westerly winds at the moment. this is the band of rain, the weather front, that swept right the way across the uk during friday, giving 10—15mm of rain, turning to snow over the scottish highlands and grampians, even at lower levels temporarily in the north. showers elsewhere but largely frost—free away from the chilliness in the north. so, not particularly cold to start but perhaps one or two mist and fog patches to watch out for the first thing this morning. but then, a lot of dry and bright weather for england and wales. the showers get going quite quickly across northern ireland, pushing into northern england and other western extremities. our rain band with its hill snow slow to drag away and it

will stay in the cold air up in shetland all day. a lot of cloud behind but temperatures will be higher, notably for scotland, than they were on friday. and it is mild across, not as windy. then, through the evening and overnight, those showers push their way gradually eastwards and then just the hint that a north—westerly returns to the north and west of scotland so, again, not particularly cold as we head into christmas day morning — just local frost, really, and quite a bit of showery weather around through the day. some brightness around but there�*s a question mark as to a weather front coming up to the south which might give cloudy, wet conditions later on across southern conditions and eastern areas. then, we�*ve got those showers across the north, probably brightening up with some sunshine behind, but that�*s when it turns chillier with the chance of some wintriness, as you can see. temperatures are still for most at eight to 12 degrees, on the higher side of normal. but as i say, there is the chance that we could see the definition of a white christmas — snow falling across the north and west in the showers as we go through the second part of the day. and that�*s because the cold

arctic air is coming back and it might well push right the way across the uk as we go into boxing day, but it will be a short—lived chilly spell and it doesn�*t mean snow for all. we�*ve still got, as i say, that question mark over rain later on christmas day in the south, dragging its heels to clear on the south—east on boxing day and then, a wintry mix of showers with hail, sleet, hillsnow, mostly. degrees celsius — that is a few degrees down on those of christmas day. but as i say, it does look like a short—lived cold snap because the mild atlantic influence returns, looks like with wet and windy weather on the way. the warnings, as ever, are on the website.

prospect of further strikes in the new year. this is bbc news, the headlines: frigid temperatures and heavy snowstorms in the us and canada have grounded planes and turned roads into ice rinks. hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses are without power and meteorologists say temperatures could drop to minus a5 celsius in some places. there�*s been violent clashes in paris after three people were shot dead at a kurdish community centre. the french president, emanual macron has described the attack as odious. the alleged attacker was a 69—year—old frenchman who had previously targeted an african migrant camp in paris. thousands of nurses in england, wales and northern ireland are threatening to go on strike again onjanuary 18 and 19, and say their industrial action will continue until pay

negotiations are opened with the government. a second day of ambulance strikes has been called off.