this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. engineers struggle to restore power to millions in north america as one of the worst winter storms in living memory grips the region. the taliban clamps down further on women's rights in afghanistan, barring them from working for aid agencies. ten civilians have been killed by russian shelling in the ukrainian city of kherson — one attack struck the central market as people were shopping. the pope remembers those who are caught up in devastating wars — as he holds his christmas eve mass in the vatican. and a welcome respite — children displaced by conflict in the democratic republic of the congo are invited to celebrate christmas.

hello and welcome to bbc news. an icy blast is affecting nearly 250 million people in the us and canada, as one of the most severe winter storms in living memory takes hold — with snow blizzards, strong winds and freezing temperatures. at least 19 people have died. hundreds of thousands of american households and businesses are without electricity — and thousands of flights have been cancelled. the us state of montana registered a record breaking low of minus 45 celsius. nomia iqbal reports.

the bomb cyclone has plunged more than half of this country into sub—zero temperatures. from coast—to—coast it has brought blistering storms, blinding snow, power outages and can turn boiling hot water into a snow cloud in seconds. the western state of montana is bearing the brunt. temperatures here are the lowest at —50 degrees. residents have been warned to stay indoors, but some are trying to tackle the snow. you need to clear your sidewalks within 2a hours after the storm, so i'm out here doing it with a shovel because my snowblowers wouldn't start. every type of travel has been thrown into chaos. on the roads in the midwest there have been fatalities. the east coast city of buffalo in new york isn't taking a chance, though. driving has been banned. the conditions, the blinding snow, the zero visibility, absolute white outs, it may go down as one of the worst in history. on the railways, many routes have been cancelled...

it is a gamble. you never know what's going to happen. you always need to get there early, be prepared, be flexible, because there's always change. ..as have thousands of flights, with hundreds more delayed over the weekend. our whole airport is shut down, so we drove to omaha, nebraska. got on a flight there. then dc, delayed in dc. the storm is expected to last some time yet. it has left americans facing another ruined christmas after the pandemic disrupted the last one. nomia iqbal, bbc news, washington. darsha dodge is a journalist at south dakota's �*rapid cityjournal�*. she's travelled to the pine ridge reservation in south dakota, to deliver firewood to residents who have resorted to burning clothes and furniture in an attempt to stay warm. i talked with a representative

of the district just a couple of days ago they were out trying to dig people out 21w. people with no firewood at all. a lot of these homes are heated by wood stoves, propane because they are just not together in a grid the same way they would be in a city. so when the snow is four or five feet, or even higher drifting over the roads there's no way for these trucks to get instant they have started to resort to burning whatever they can just to stay warm. anne—marie provost is a canadianjournalist at the newspaper, �*le devoir�* in quebec — and she's been telling me just how bad things are. well, in montreal right now, the worst is past, but there's also a lot of weather warnings across quebec right now and also in the province of ontario which is just next to quebec. we are expecting heavy snow falls during the day today and also tomorrow, and the conditions on the road are really, really bad. there is a lot of blowing snow and visibility is almost zero in many areas.

there's icy roads and many car accidents all across quebec and ontario. and also a lot of wind gusts up to 100 kph. it's quite bad right now and everybody is trying to spend christmas eve the best they can and many people are cancelling because transportation is just very complicated right now. most people would assume in canada, i mean, you have winter proper, don't you, how does that compare to what is happening now? well, it is not very typical. these kinds of storms, especially during this time of the year, usually we have storms, but more later on during january or february, but on christmas eve like that, it is really unusual. i'm 35 years old, and i don't recall something like that. but we are canadians, you know, so we kind of a just come people will be spending christmas in warming centres

because there is a lot of power outages right now. many people are missing their trains, theirflights. so it's quite a bummer, even for us canadians. just to clarify can you mention something there, a warming centre, could you tell us a little bit more about those. yeah, because we have many areas right now in quebec in the province of quebec that are without power, without electricity, and it is quite cold right now, —10 or —15 degrees, so houses and apartments are getting colder and colder, so for security reasons, authorities are opening warming centres all across quebec right now, in the areas where the power outages are the most intense, like in quebec city so people just gather their and they have food and they have warmth. very quickly, i know that in north america, you have people who are very well prepared when winter hits,

you have the winter tires, the chains that are put on, what aspect is that in particular of this storm? is at the wind, is at the speed with which it's hit? what is it? it's especially the wind, i would say, because of the wind. there is a lot of snowfall and with many wind gusts. the visibility on the road is next to zero in many areas. so it is quite complicated, even if you are used to driving in the winter. a similar story injapan — where heavy snow in the north and surrounding areas has left over a dozen people dead and more than 80 injured. over 10,000 households have also been left without power, according to officials there. snowstorms and high waves along the sea of japan coast could cause snow as deep as 60 centimetres, the meteorological

agency has warned. snow storms and highways along the sea of japan coast could lead to snow as deep as 60 cm. the united nations has condemned an order by the taliban rulers to ban women from working for local and international aid agencies in afghanistan. it said the move would violate the most fundamental rights of women, as well as breaching humanitarian principles. this decision by the taliban comes just days after women were banned from studying at universities. the bbc world service's, south asia regional editor, anbarasan ethirajan, told us more about the international reactions. the un has strongly condemned this move by the taliban because this will have a far reaching impact on the ground. there are dozens of ngos, health ngos and food aid ngos working on the ground, and not allowing women to work means people cannot access these services.

for example, one woman worker was saying women can easily relate with us about asking for medicines. for example, if they want to give a polio vaccination, they can go into the any of the houses in the rural areas. but now they cannot express these things freely to any men health worker or even food aid. so this has become a huge issue. this has been a very bad week for women's rights in afghanistan, because a couple of days ago, the taliban rulers, they banned women from studying at universities. and within two days, they announced this far reaching decision to ban women to work from ngos. and it is not only local and domestic foreign ngos, also the un contracts many work to local ngos distributing humanitarian aid. there is acute food insecurity in rural parts of afghanistan following a taliban takeover, the economy has collapsed. now how to distribute the food? that's why the un says that it is going to call

for a meeting on monday with the taliban authorities and they have urged the taliban to reverse the decision immediately. if ngos were to speak out, apart from the un and the work and the collaborations they have on the ground, have any of them spoken out? and is there a risk to their work and their workers if they do speak out against the taliban? one of the agencies which did not want to be identified, involved in food distribution, and it said that it is going to be a difficult task for them to do the work because many of the workers won't be allowed to work. and going and talking with families and understanding their needs is going to be a problem. and don't forget already the women are reeling because of this ban on studying in universities, also in private tuition centres. so secondary schools for girls not had opened. and women cannot go to the universities. women cannot go to public places like gyms, bathhouses and other areas. and they have been banned

from working in several government departments. and now they cannot even work with ngos. and one woman worker was asking, imagine there are many people where men do not support their families or there is no man in the house, and what will happen to those families if they have to leave the job? and even the decision on stopping women going to universities, many islamic countries, iran, saudi arabia, turkey, they have all condemned. they say this is not islamic, this is against the sharia law and taliban should reverse the decision. but they seem to be ignoring the international criticism. and then step by step, they have gone back to their hard line conservative rule, which they had in the late 1990s. at least 10 people have been killed in south africa — after a fuel tanker exploded. emergency services say the blast happened as fire crews were trying to extinguish a blaze — caused

by the tanker hitting a bridge. around a0 other people were injured in the incident in boksburg, a city to the east ofjohannesburg. at least ten people have been killed after russia carried out widespread shelling of the ukrainian city of kherson this morning. more than 50 others were wounded. president zelensky has described the attack , exactly 10 months since the start of the russian invasion, as "killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure." our correspondent yogita limaye reports from southern ukraine. more than a month after it was liberated from russia, kherson continues to live in terror. an artillery attack on the busy city centre, targeting civilians out to buy essential items. "i was walking and the ground started to shake beneath me. i fell down. i then saw smoke coming

up," one woman said. kherson is hit multiple times every day, but this has been the biggest attack in weeks. from here we took i think four orfive critical, injured patients. and then from the hotel we took two injured. and then from the other, down three blocks away, most people were dead. the suffering is endless. and so are the attacks. distant explosion. the sound of more mortar shelling, as emergency workers try to save people. for the people of kherson who had begun to get used to the constant shelling, this attack strikes new fear. and the worry here and on front lines of this war is that the bombardment could get even more intense over christmas and in the run—up to the new year. yogita limaye, bbc news, mykolaiv. french police have clashed with protestors at a demonstration in paris held in response to the shooting which killed

three people at a kurdish community centre in the city. all of the victims of friday's attack were of kurdish descent. a sixty—nine—year—old man has been arrested — he's described himself as a racist who hates foreigners. helena wilkinson reports. this was the scene on the streets of central paris earlier today. chaos as protests turned violent. cars were overturned, fires started, riot police responded with tear gas. those protesting from the kurdish community are angry after friday's shooting, which targeted a kurdish cultural centre. three people were killed, three others were injured. translation: there is no doubt in our mind that these murders l qualify as terrorist and that they are

political assassinations. the fact that our association is targeted in this way is of a terrorist and political nature. of course, there's an investigation and we'll see how it evolves. the suspect in the attack has been taken from custody to a police psychiatric unit. the 69—year—old who hasn't been named is a former train driver who had recently been released from prison. despite no confirmed motive for the attack. prosecutors said the suspect had previously been charged with racist violence. that incident was last year where he attacked a migrant camp in paris with a sword. french president emmanuel macron said the kurdish community in paris had been the target of a heinous attack and has praised police for their courage. helena wilkinson, bbc news. maxi jazz, the lead singer of british dance band faithless, has died — at the age of 65. the group were best known for club classic �*insomnia', take a listen.

# come on, yall. his former band—mate sister bliss said he died "peacefully in his sleep" last night. faithless formed in 1995 and had a number of hits, including �*insomnia' and �*we come one'. bbc radio broadcaster and dj edward adoo explains what was unique about maxi jazz. the way he connected with people he was real, authentic and he was originally a brixton boy, a poet, a rapper. i saw faithless in 2002 it was about a quarter to 12, the big light show it was faithless first and then underworld. ijust remember him saying those timeless words, "i can't get no sleep. "are you ready?" and then he whipped the crowd up. i interviewed him in 2017 and out of all the people

i interviewed he was really calm, to be honest he was too cool for school. he was too chill. he was like, yeah this is what i've been doing. faithless, they more or less revolutionised dance music. at a time where dance music had just become noted by the mainstream sort of in the late 80s, early 90s it was popping up. a lot of people do not understand it and suddenly they realised it had a connection with youth culture and faithless were a part of that. i think maxi jazz, he was part of that generation who came through the soul and rare groove movement and suddenly there was house, this electronic movement championed by the likes of pete tong on radio one. and suddenly it had become mainstream and faithless have become mainstream to the point where you would hear insomnia on breakfast radio.

the pope has held his annual christmas eve mass at st peter's basilica in the vatican. in his sermon the pope remembered those suffering from war. particularly those in ukraine. this year marks the tenth year of his papacy and tomorrow the pontiff will be speaking to the faithful who will be gathered below the balcony. the christmas day blessing urbi et orbi around noon. here's a little bit of what the pope said in his speech. translation: men and women in our role in their— translation: men and women in our role in their hunger _ translation: men and women in our role in their hunger for - our role in their hungerfor wealth and power consumed even their neighbours. even their brothers and sisters. how many wars? and in how many places even today are human dignity and freedom treated with contempt. as always the principal victims of this human greed are the week and the

vulnerable. tens of thousands of people from around the world have gathered in bethlehem in the israeli—occupied west bank for christmas eve celebrations. christian leaders led midnight mass in the church of the nativity, where the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, was among the congregation. here in manger square, despite some damp weather, there is plenty of christmas cheer. at the heart of celebrations, as every year, we had a procession. the palestinian scouts leading the way through the streets, playing bagpipes and drums. lots of competition between them as they entertain the crowds. they escorted church leaders arriving from jerusalem into bethlehem. we saw the head of the catholic church, a latin patriarch, shaking hands with people in the crowds. then it was down into the grotto of the fourth century nativity church just behind me over there. that is built on the very spot where christians believe

thatjesus was born. here in bethlehem, what's giving locals extra sense of relief this christmas is the fact that pilgrims are back. tens of thousands of international visitors have been able to come here during christmas week and that is just extremely important for the economy of bethlehem, which is so reliant on tourism. i have been speaking to some of the visitors who came. you can experience christmas all over the world but in bethlehem, where our saviour was born, it's where we wanted to be this year. i'm really enjoying - the excitement around. all of it, from the parades to the amount of people l who are here to celebrate. it has been very welcoming, the experience is good. seeing people, everyone waiting here, everyone wants to be here in bethlehem for christmas. but in the background of the celebrations there is growing concern about a recent deadly flare—up in the israel

palestine conflict. one palestinian official i spoke to earlier told me that for people here the christmas message of peace and hope is especially important this year. yolande knell reporting from bethlehem. the eastern region of the democratic republic of the congo is emerging from a ten year conflict, and the un projects that a hundred and 50 thousand people will have fled their homes by the end of the year. now, a local ngo is ensuring that some displaced children do not miss out on the christmas cheer. they held a party for them in a village a few miles away from the front line. the bbc�*s daniel dadzie reports. a reason to celebrate in the midst of chaos. for several months, these children and theirfamilies have been on the run from war. they found refuge in

the kibati stadium in a village east of the democratic republic of congo. it's in the north kivu province that's the epicentre of the decade long conflict between drc government forces and m23 rebels, the most notable of numerous armed groups. on saturday, local ngo, a new day, visited the displaced persons in their makeshift homes to give them a taste of christmas. in our villages. our children used to celebrate christmas properly, but now i was beginning to wonder how we were going to do it as we had fled the war. by the grace of god, there are benefactors who thought of us and came with something to make us smile again. so christmas went well and i thank god very much. but even with all this good cheer, there's an uncomfortable reminder of the violence which ripped

them from their homes. we want the new year to start with good things. let the enemies leave our villages in kipchumba and let us leave this camp. on friday, m23 rebels handed over the town of kipchumba to the east african regional force in a first step towards the implementation of a peace agreement brokered in november. the thousands of displaced persons in drc would be granted their christmas wish if they could peacefully return to their homes. daniel darcy, bbc news. us military officials have assured anxious children the bad weather in north america will not prevent santa claus from visiting. the north american aerospace defence command, or norad, tracks santa's yuletide flight every year.

he's left brazil and is heading for king edward point, south georgia and the south sandwich islands, and more than 4 billion presents have already been delivered. bill lewis is norad's santa tracker spokesperson and earlier he told us how the agency got involved in following santa's sleigh. 2a hours a day, 365 days a year, norad defends north america and tracks aeroplanes, missiles, space launches and etc. as they happen all around the world. we use our satellites, fighterjets and radar systems to do that. well, rudolph�*s nose puts off quite the heat signature and it helps us lock straight into him and santa and it allows us to track his path throughout the globe as he does his deliveries.

he always tries to communicate with us and give us an idea of what his path might be. i don't think he really truly locks his path in until he is out and about due to weather, but i know when he comes over north america and the norad aircraft go up to find what is approaching us, he does slow down a little bit because we can't keep up to him. even with our fighterjets. he will wave, we will tip our wings and off he will go. he has been doing this for a very long time and i am sure there isn't a system we haven't seen yet somewhere in the world. the fact that he lives at the north pole, i can't imagine that the cold is going to scare him away. i'm sure the weather will give him a little bit of a challenge but i'm pretty sure he will get his job done. that is the latest on the santa tracker— that is the latest on the santa tracker let me just let you know _ tracker let me just let you know where he is. my goodness. he is moving _ know where he is. my goodness. he is moving at _ know where he is. my goodness. he is moving at a _ know where he is. my goodness. he is moving at a pace. - know where he is. my goodness. he is moving at a pace. not - he is moving at a pace. not him but certainly rudolph there at the front. you can see his

nose. nearly 4.4 billion presence. from myself in the late team a very merry christmas. good morning. the countdown is over. it is now christmas day. and a popular weather question for christmas day is, of course, will it be a white christmas? starting us off today, you'd be forgiven for thinking "no chance." we're in some fairly mild air, really, top to tail across the uk, which is being pulled in from the atlantic on a south—westerly wind. but there is some much colder airjust sitting to the north of the uk, on the northern flank of this area of low pressure. this low will drive the weather across the uk this christmas day. it will push bands of showers through, with some sunny interludes between times, but occasionally the showers lumping together into more persistent spells of rain, perhaps for northern ireland and northern england through the afternoon, later in the day towards the southeast. mild to the south. afternoon temperatures, 10, 11 degrees.

but notice, the keen—eyed amongst you, the map turning blue across scotland through the afternoon. temperatures will actually come down through the day. now, the definition of a white christmas is not for blanket snow coverage butjust one flake of snow to fall anywhere in the uk during the 24 hours of christmas day. so colder air in across scotland, with showers coming in through the evening, and it looks like we could see a white christmas here. perhaps the odd flurry for northern ireland, too. for boxing day, the colder air extending, though, all the way south across the uk. a frosty start. look out for some ice across scotland, parts of northern england, after the showers overnight. the southeast and east anglia getting off to a frost—free start. but the colder air will trickle in here through the course of boxing day. i think there will be a lot of brightness once any early rain clears from the southeast, but it will feel chillier. further north, the showers continue and they're likely to be wintry, across western scotland, drifting some down into the pennines, the odd one across the mountains of northern ireland as well. and temperatures lower

across the board for boxing day afternoon. however, this spell, if you like, of cold weather is barely a fleeting glance, really, of arctic air, because as we look further on into the week ahead, the final days of 2022, we start to pick up a more atlantic influence. once again, areas of low pressure whirling in from the atlantic. our temperatures return closer to average values, if not slightly above. but there will be some quite showery, if not wet and windy, spells of weather to come in the following days.

this is bbc news. the headlines... engineers are scrambling to restore power supplies to hundreds of thousands of people as a winter storm affects large parts of the united states and canada. the severe weather forced the cancellation of thousands of flights and kept some of the busiest roads closed. the un has criticised a taliban ruling that bars afghan women from working for aid agencies, saying it violates their most fundamental rights. last week the hardline rulers announced women were banned from attending university. ten civilians have been killed by russian shelling in the ukrainian city of kherson — one attack on saturday morning struck the central market as people were shopping, before mortar fire targeted other areas. russia has frequently shelled kherson, which was recaptured

by ukrainian forces last month.