welcome to bbc news. i'm david willis. our top stories: the 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. and the worry here and on another frontlines of this war is that the bombardment could get even more intense over christmas and in the new year. 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 a christmas celebration. a very warm welcome to bbc news. more than a million americans and canadians are facing christmas day without power as a winter storm continues to barrel it was way across north america. the so called bomb cyclone has brought heavy snow, strong winds, and freezing temperatures. at least 19 people have died due to icy roads and high here's our north america correspondent nomia iqbal. the bomb cyclone has plunged

more than half of this country into subzero temperatures. from coast to coast, it has bought 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 the sidewalks in the 2a hours after the storm, i'm out here doing it with a shovel because the snow blowers wouldn't start. every type of travel has been thrown into chaos, on the roads in the midwest fatalities, and east coast of buffalo in new york isn't taking a chance, driving has been banned. conditions of 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's a gamble, you never know

what's going to happen, you always need to get there early and be prepared, be flexible because there's always change. as have thousands of flights with hundreds more delayed over the weekend. our whole airport was 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. hundreds of people who'd been hoping to cross into the us from mexico are camping in the cold, as the extreme weather has even reached that far south. the us supreme court has ruled that restrictions can stay in place temporarily, allowing us authorities to return migrants to mexico — or other countries — without a chance to request asylum. without clarity on when the restriction will be lifted, some officials worry their cities could be overwhelmed if more

migrants turn up. hundreds of people have been lining up to seek asylum at the border with el paso in texas, where temperatures are forecast to drop to —6 celsius. many have been sleeping in the streets. jack stanton is an offshore lobsterman in cape cod and joins me now from westport, massachusetts. welcome to bbc news. it must be the toughest job welcome to bbc news. it must be the toughestjob in the world right now. what have conditions been like? ., right now. what have conditions been like?— been like? you know, the past 48 hours _ been like? you know, the past 48 hours has _ been like? you know, the past 48 hours has been _ been like? you know, the past 48 hours has been truly - 48 hours has been truly extraordinary. there was a huge drop in barometric pressure. we had a short trip this last week since we didn't want to be out there in this inclement weather and the storm that we sort of experience over the past 48 hours has just dustjust really

unlike anything i have seen, having grown up on cape cod. what was it like them, describe it to us, with you would —— if you would, this sense of witnessing this first—hand? 50. witnessing this first-hand? so, surprisingly _ witnessing this first-hand? so, surprisingly the _ witnessing this first—hand? srr, surprisingly the arctic witnessing this first—hand? s57, surprisingly the arctic blast that leapt out of the jet stream really came through the centre of the country and was very, very cold, but here in the north—east we were sort of on the side of that. so the storm was more emblematic of a hurricane or a tropical storm in terms of it coming from the south, there being a very, very large storm surge, so it was really sort of the wind and the tide that really did an enormous amount of damage here and to coastal communities in south—eastern massachusetts. the run for state representative in the past on an environmental platform. —— you have run. what are the risks for coastal communities across the us?— across the us? they are extraordinary. _

across the us? they are extraordinary. we - across the us? they are extraordinary. we know| across the us? they are i extraordinary. we know we across the us? they are - extraordinary. we know we have several feet of sea level rise thatis several feet of sea level rise that is basically big ten. you know it's coming. and i don't see the resources of the planing to the extent we should at this point, knowing what is coming any to come —— big ten. what can people they do, if anything, to mitigate these extremely inclement conditions? i think we have to be looking long—term in terms of, you know, what the climate is going to look like and what types of effects we're going be having at the regional level. for us here in massachusetts it is going to be an enormous amount of sea level rise in communities which are predominantly coastal. in some areas having a staged retreat from the coast, in other areas improving infrastructure in places that are frequently traffic by people. you know, we have to adapt to a future that's going to be increasingly

perilous, and i think that it's best to start emergency planning now while we have time to prepare for what's to come, as opposed to being caught lying footed in years to come. and how long is this lisa's cold snap expected to last? figs cold snap expected to last? sis opposed cold snap expected to last? is opposed to last through the weekend and that things are supposed to warm up next week. what was remarkable was the song, as i said, came up through the south, the storm was actually pretty warm, it was actually pretty warm, it was just wasjust raining, you could be outside in a sweatshirt, it was cold, but not the sort of frigid temperatures use across the country. after that, the wind shift and we had a rapid drop in temperature to sub— freezing temperatures over the past 24 hours. so the actual damage was done in more of a warm blast and then the temperature dropped in the past 24 hours, it is absolutely frigid now. it 24 hours, it is absolutely frigid now.— 24 hours, it is absolutely frigid now. it is a tough “ob ou do frigid now. it is a tough “ob

you do in fl frigid now. it is a tough “ob you do in temperature h frigid now. it is a tough job| you do in temperature such frigid now. it is a tough job i you do in temperature such as this. givenjoining us on bbc news. this. given “oining us on bbc news. . ,, , ., it's a similar story injapan, where heavy snow in the north and surrounding areas, has left more than a dozen people dead and at least 80 injured. over 10,000 households have also been left without power, and the meteorological agency has warned that snowstorms and high waves along the sea of japan coast could lead to snow drifts up to 60 centimetres deep. the us secretary of state antony blinken has said he is deeply concerned that the taliban make ban on women delivering humanitarian aid in afghanistan will disrupt vital and life—saving assistance to millions of people there. the un has also condemned the move, saying it would violate the most

fundamental rights of women. the bbc world service's south—asia regional editor anbarasan ethirajan told us more about the international reaction. 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. yalda royan is the afghanistan team lead with voice amplified, an organisation working to end violence against women and girls in conflict. she told me today's announcement did not come as a shock. the decision that the taliban

made today was not a surprise for us. we knew they would make another decision to buy women from wherever they want. it is very unfortunate that a group of 70,000 terrorists are challenging the whole world and international community and stopping women from working now at the humanitarian agencies means that already the $40 million that has been delivered to the taliban mark on a weekly basis under the name of humanitarian aid was not reaching to the right people. women headed households, human rights defenders that we did the research last september on them, only one out of four human rights defenders say that they were receiving humanitarian aid and that was in the case that women were working. crosstalk. sorry to interrupt, we have a limited amount of time.

this comes just a week women were banned from attending university. there have been some student protests in response to that, i believe, will they have any effect? of course it will have effect, because you know that women who are working right now in the ngos are the only breadwinners for theirfamilies or the only people who are working and bringing income to their families. in the context that there is no job opportunities and there is an economic crisis going on. so with families losing their only income generating source, i am sure that there will be a lot of added protests again inside the country... crossstalk. will that have any effect on the rulers, on the taliban? we hope it will have effects, yes. because when the people are resisting the taliban it will be the end of them, hopefully. just very finally, the us has condemned this latest move. what can the international community do to put pressure on the taliban in this regard?

well, specifically in terms of the united states, if we talk about it, they have an argument with the taliban which they did in 2020 with the taliban in doha, so they can go back to that agreement and hold the taliban accountable based on that agreement and the annexes that they never made public. and the international community can do a lot of things to hold the taliban accountable, starting from stopping engaging with them to supporting them financially under the name of humanitarian aid and many other reasons, especially the travel ban and not letting the taliban to use the platforms, international platforms for their own benefits. yalda royan there. let's get some of the day's other news. at least ten people have been killed in south africa after a fuel tanker exploded. the blast apparently happened after the tanker hit a bridge. 40 people were injured in the incident which occurred in boksburg, a city

to the east ofjohannesburg. a four—year—old boy has died after a "serious medical incident" at a center parcs resort here in the uk. police say the death is not thought to be suspicious. a spokesman from centre parcs say they are saddened by the news and were offering support to the family. a spokesperson for the duke and duchess of sussex says an apology from the sun newspaper regarding a column, in which broadcaster jeremy clarkson said he hated meghan markle is "nothing more than a pr stunt". on friday, the newspaper issued a statement expressing regret for the publication of the column. at least ten people were killed when russia carried out widespread shelling of the ukrainian city of kherson. more than 50 others were wounded. president zelenskyy has described the attack, which came exactly ten months

after 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. sobs. the suffering is endless. siren wails.

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. president zelensky has recorded a defiant video message on christmas eve. he said russian missiles could not harm the steel spirit of the ukrainians, and described how ukrainians would be seeing the first star in the night sky. translation: someone will see it on the highway, on the road from the ukrainian—polish border to kherson or

zaporizhzhia. some will see it through the holes of the bullet—riddled roof of their own homes. someone will celebrate the holiday in other people's homes, but not with strangers. and someone will spend this christmas in captivity, but please remember that we are coming for our people. we will return freedom to all ukrainians. wherever we are, we will be together today. and together, we will look into the evening sky. the pope has held his annual christmas eve mass at st peter's basilica in the vatican. in his sermon, the pope remembered victims of war, particularly those in ukraine. this year marks the tenth year of his papacy. later the pontiff will be speaking to the faithful who will gather below the balcony for his christmas day blessing. here he is speaking earlier. translation: men and women in our world and their hunger. for wealth and power consume 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 weak and the vulnerable. from christmas day, china's national health commission will no longer release covid—i9 case figures for the country. for the past three years the organisation has published the number of persons infected with the disease on a daily basis. officials say the chinese center for disease control will now only be reporting relevant data going forward. it comes as the country sees a new surge in the number of cases. according to one government official, 250 million new cases have been reported in the first 20 days of december. french police have clashed with protestors at a demonstration

in paris — which was held in response to the fatal shooting of three people at a kurdish community centre in the city. all of the victims of friday's attack were of kurdish descent. a 69—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. his former bandmate — sister bliss — said he passed

away "peacefully in his sleep" on friday night. wendy urquhart reports. faithless were pioneers of stadium dance music and their club classic insomnia was one of the many hats that made the band popular all over the world. maxwell fraser help found the group in the mid— 90s alongside sister bliss who broke the news of maxi jazz's death:

despite their meteoric rise to fame the band said maxijazz kept his feet firmly planted on the ground, adding that it was an honour and the ground, adding that it was an honourand a the ground, adding that it was an honour and a true pleasure to work with him. she said he was a brilliant lyricist, dj, buddhist, a magnificent stage presence, car lover, endless talker, beautiful person, moral compass and genius. rest in peace dearest acts. he was also a huge fan of pallets for club and became an associate director in 2012. a spokesperson for crystal palace says the team will walk out to faithless on boxing day as a tribute to maxi jazz. maxwell fraser, more widely known as maxi jazz,

fraser, more widely known as maxijazz, whose fraser, more widely known as maxi jazz, whose died at the age of 65. tens of thousands of people from around the world have gathered in bethlehem on the israeli—occupied west bank for christmas eve celebrations. christian leaders led midnight mass in the church of the nativity and the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, was amongst the congregation. the eastern region of the democratic republic of the congo is emerging from a ten year conflict and the un projects that 150,000 people will have fled their homes by the end of this year. now, a local n60 is ensuring that some displaced children do not miss out on the christmas cheer. they held a party for the children in a village in the north kivu, a few miles away from the frontline. daniel dadzie reports. around the world by daft punk plays. a reason to celebrate in the midst of chaos. for several months, these children and their families have been on the run from war.

they found refuge in the kibati stadium in kanyaruchinya, a village east of the democratic republic of congo. it's in the north kivu province at the epicentre of a decade—long conflict between the drc government forces and m23 rebels, the most notable of numerous armed groups. on saturday, local ngoa new day visited the displaced persons in their makeshift homes to give them a taste of christmas. translation: 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. translation: we want the new year to start . with good things. let the enemies leave our villages in kibumba and let us leave this camp. on friday, m23 rebels handed over the town of kibumba 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 daniel dadzie, bbc news. us military officials have assured anxious children that the bad weather in north america won't prevent santa claus from delivering his presents. the north american aerospace defense command, or norad, tracks santa's yuletide

flight every year. he is currently heading to delaware and more than five billion presidents have already been delivered. you are watching bbc news. 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 south—east. 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 south—east 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 south—east, 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.