this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm joanna gosling. our top stories: russia says at least three servicemen have been killed in a ukrainian drone attack on an air force base in the south of the country. china carries out one of its biggest incursions to date in the seas and skies around taiwan. the united nations tells the taliban to reverse its decision on banning afghan women working for humanitarian agencies, after five major organisations suspend their work in afghanistan. we cannot reach the most vulnerable communities if we don't have female staff, and if we are not allowed to have female staff at all levels of our organisation, we cannot continue to operate in the country, as is the current situation.

a tenth person has been killed by an explosion at a block of flats injersey earlier this month — kathleen mcginess was injured by the blast and died in hospital yesterday. boxing day sales begin in the uk — but will the high streets be busy or will shoppers be cutting back as the cost of living crisis bites? hello and welcome to bbc news. a russian air base hundreds of kilometres from ukraine has come under attack for the second time in less than a month. the russian defence ministry says the engels base in the southern saratov region was targeted by ukrainian drones during the night. russia says it shot down the drones, but that three of its servicemen were killed by falling debris. the airfield is believed to house russian long—range strategic bombers. there has been no

comment from ukraine. the bbc�*s russia editor — steve rosenberg — says the last attack on the airbase, three weeks ago, led to calls for tighter security. this is deep inside russian territory. when the first attack happened earlier this month that was embarrassing for the russian authorities that ukraine had the capability to launch a drone attack on an air force base so far away from the border. the fact this has happened again is doubly embarrassing. ukraine hasn't accepted responsibility for this but the russian defence ministry issued a statement saying this was a ukrainian drone attack. during the night there were reports of loud explosions in the vicinity of the engels airbase and then unconfirmed reports that there had been an attack on the base. this morning the defence ministry in moscow confirmed that, saying a ukrainian drone flying at low altitude was shot down by russian air defence systems

on the approach to the airbase but the falling debris from the drone had killed three russian servicemen down below. the russians added that no aircraft at the base were damaged and that base, engels, near saratov, housed long—range bombers which have taken part in missile attacks against ukraine. you describe this as embarrassing for russia. how did russia respond last time and what is likely or expected this time? after the previous attacks we saw more russian missile attacks against ukraine but also after the previous attacks, and it wasn'tjust on the engels airbase, there was also an attack on another airbase, after those attacks there were widespread calls

here to tighten security in and around russian military installations. the fact that there has been another drone attack on the engels airbase shows that hasn't happened and that will be an embarrassment for them. is it having any impact on public opinion? how it is being reported there? it is being reported dryly. the state news agencies are reporting it, the state media is reporting it. i don't think you can say it is having an effect on public opinion here. i think public opinion is divided. there are some people who are firmly in favour of the special military operation, as the kremlin calls it, and some people are shocked by what has happened. china is carrying out one of its biggest incursions to date in the seas and skies around taiwan. the taiwanese defence ministry says it has detected 71 chinese aircraft, the majority of them fighterjets, and seven chinese warships

around the island. it added that 43 chinese airforce planes had crossed the median line of the taiwan strait, marking the de facto border between the island and the chinese mainland, in a 24—hour period. earlier we heard from our correspondent mariko oi in singapore, who gave us the latest. tensions between taiwan and beijing have been quite tense and have been escalating this year, especially after some very high—profile visits by western officials, including nancy pelosi of the united states. also uk lawmakers, japanese lawmakers visiting taiwan, sparking very angry reaction from beijing. then on sunday, christmas day, we saw this intrusion into taiwan's air defence force, so we're talking about fighter jets and drones.

beijing calls it a strike drill and they say this was in response to what it calls provocations by taiwan and the united states. but the office of tsai ing—wen, president of taiwan said that she will be holding a high—level meeting tomorrow to reinforce its civil defence system. how are people in taiwan feeling about this? despite this early morning report on monday morning by taiwan's defence ministry, it has been reported there is no major alarm because tensions have been quite tense but still the fact this happened on christmas day, this is definitely worrying and this follows on friday, china conducting military drills nearjapan and japan has recently increased its defence spending. joe biden hasjust signed a new defence bill to establish a defence and modernisation programme for taiwan so well

tensions have been quite tense, even though we had joe biden meeting with the president recently, it seems like tensions and are going to eat anytime soon. and are going to ease anytime soon. and what are the expectations and where this go? is it seen as sabre rattling which will mostly pass? of course, china claims taiwan as its own territory and has said it will not rule out using force to reunite the island. taiwan has strongly rejected beijing's sovereignty claims and it has its own democratically elected government. tensions have been on and off for many decades but especially this

year we have seen that really spiking,especially after nancy pelosi's visited taiwan and it feels like a lot of the regional powers as well as the united states are just monitoring how china may react. after russia's invasion of ukraine some observers in this part of the world were saying that beijing might be watching how russia is treated very closely. beijing might be watching how so we will see how it goes in the new year but tensions remain high at the end of 2022. police injersey say a woman who was injured in an explosion at a block of flats earlier this month, has died in hospital. 73 year old kathleen mcginness, lived an adjacent building to the one which collapsed. she's become the tenth person to die after the incident on the 10th of december. in a statement, jersey's chief of police robin smith said that her family are being supported by specially trained police family liaison officers. the police investigation into what happened is continuing. the acting head of the united nations mission to afghanistan has

asked taliban leaders to reverse a decision to ban afghan women working for humanitarian agencies in the country. five major aid organisations are suspending their work in afghanistan following the order. islamic relief and the international rescue committee are the latest agencies to halt their activity. earlier, caree, the norwegian refugeee council and save the children said they �*could not effectively reach afghans in desperate need' without their female staff. samira rahman from the international rescue committee described the effects of the taliban's decision. it is a very disappointing situation that we're faced with in the country. the latest taliban edict banning women from working in ngos comes after months of increasing restrictions on the participation of women in public life and attending universities. we have seen over the course of the last year that the sidelining of women in the workspace has already cost the afghan economy over $1 billion.

as ngos who have been working towards delivering services in the midst of one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet, we are unable to do that without female staff, without our female staff, so we have decided it is a difficult decision, to spend our activities currently in the country. to suspend our activities currently in the country. what does that mean for the people who you are there to help? it is a very difficult situation. afghanistan is in the midst of the worst humanitarian situation, 98% of the country is at risk of poverty, 28 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. however, we cannot reach the most vulnerable communities if we don't have female staff, and if we are not allowed to have female staff at all levels of our organisation we cannot continue to operate in the country,

as is the current situation. so what will you do? we are hoping that discussions between the united nations and the de facto authorities bring some results. we are coordinating with other organisations on the ground and the united nations, engaging at the highest levels to push back on this decision. how do you feel about this? it has been a very tough yearfor afghan women, with the restrictions on secondary schools, restrictions on universities, the space for women in this country has been decreasing day by day. and with this new, latest edict, it is a very difficult situation for us. we have over 3000 female staff in afghanistan. they are generally, most of them are the sole breadwinners for their families. they are supporting multiple

households with this income and if they are not allowed to work, it is only going to exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the country. i am assuming, i don't know what your circumstances are, but i'm assuming some working for the organisation will be able to leave the country and pick up work elsewhere but, as you are describing, there are many more in a very different situation. that is the case. this edict at this point only applies to afghan national staff, which is 99% of our staff at the irc. they can't pick up and go anywhere. there needs to continue to be discussions around this with the de facto authorities and we urge them to this decision. here in britain, most shops are now open again, after being closed on christmas day, in the popular boxing day sales. retail experts say they're expecting shoppers to spend less as the cost

of living crisis continues. sarah montano, retail expert and senior lecturer in marketing at the university of birmingham said the cost of living alongside a change in shopping habits may influence a change in the footfall we see today. for many consumers, they will have spent before christmas, things like the black friday sales, and as we move into new year, we expect consumers will be cautious because some of the heating bills will still be to come for customers, which will impact on their discretionary spending. what will the shops be doing to try to tempt customers to spend when every penny counts? most people have had notifications. you have probably had e—mails about the sales, so we are certainly seeing some headline discounting to get customers either to buy online or to go into stores.

how important is it going to be for the shops that they actually do get the tills ringing today and through the sales period? the main period for retailers is, of course, in the run up to christmas. we talk about that being the golden quarter, when retailers want to maximise their income and profits because that will sustain them through the quieter periods. then we have the after christmas sales, where they get customers back into the store. i'm sure many teenagers and young consumers have probably had gift cards or cash for christmas, so retailers will want to attract them to get a nice boost after christmas as well. of course, online shopping, people's habits changed particularly during the covid lockdown. how much do sales skew towards online versus footfall on the high street? that's an interesting one that we've seen with this data.

we saw our lowest period of online sales over the summer. they were still higher than before the lockdown, but still dramatically down. we've seen bit of an increase in online sales in the last period, so we would expect online sales to be up again, as many people will buy online for convenience. if we look at footfall from christmas eve, actually we saw a bit of an increase in footfall, particularly around retail parks, again impacted because of the rail strikes, so somewhere that is easy for people to get to. they have done well for footfall, and we have seen an increase in customers shopping locally as well, so good news for your high street as well. russia's defence ministry says at least three service personnel have been killed as a result of a ukrainian drone attack on an air force base

in the south of the country. china carries out one of its biggest incursions to date in the seas and skies around taiwan. the taiwanese defence ministry says it's detected 71 aircraft and seven warships around the island. chetan patak has all the sport. good morning. after six weeks on hold because of the football world cup, the english premier league resumes in the next few hours. lots of questions around how the tournament in qatar will affect returning players. the tottenham boss says he could rest all his world cup stars and that could include harry kane who, england fans don't need reminding, missed this crucial penalty against france in the world cup quarterfinals. spurs are at brentford in the day's early kick off. but antonio conte doesn't think this moment will have an affect on the rest of kane's season: we are strong, we are strong, we are strong people. who play at this level, has to be strong. in every situation, negative

or positive situation, and try to address positive or negative events in the right way. because you have to be strong, and harry is a strong person. brentford v spurs is a 1230 kick off, tottenham's north london rivals arsenal are the team to catch at the top of the premier league, they play west ham later. 7 matches in total. newcastle could go second if they win at leicester. next to an eventful first day of the boxing day test in melbourne between australia and south africa, where the hosts are in control at the close of play. there were emotional scenes at the mcg where tributes were paid to australia legend shane warne. this the first match played at his home ground since he died earlier this year. both sides lined up to pay tribute to warne before the match putting south africa into bat, cameron green got his maiden five wicket haul, ripping

through the lower order as the tourists were bowled out for 189. in reply david warner hit an unbeaten 32 as australia reaching 45 for1 at stumps, usman khawaja the only wicket to fall. meanwhile in karachi it's the opening day of pakistan's first test against new zealand. the hosts looking to bounce back from their series defeat to england. babar azam leading the charge, at tea pakistan are 261—4. the tampa bay buccaneers have kept their nfl playoff chances alive after beating arizona 19—16 in overtime. they were 10 points down in the fourth—quarter before the comeback began — sealing the win with a a0 yard field goal. tampa can now clinch the nfc south division and a postseason spot

when they host the carolina panthers on new year's day. elsewhere the green bay packers kept alive their playoff hopes with a 26—20 win over the miami dolphins. but russell wilson had a day to forget as his denver broncos were embarrassed 51—14 by the los angeles rams. in the nba nikola jokic totally dominated in denver as the nuggets beat the phoenix suns 128—125 in overtime. jokic delivered a triple double — when a player scores 10 points or more in three different scoring categories. the serbian finished with 41 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists — that's the largest christmas day triple double in nba history. the win leaves denver top of the western conference. the boston celtics are still the team to catch in the east — they beat second—placed milwaukee 139—118. that's all the sport for now.

dozens of rohingya refugees have drifted onto a beach in the indonesian province of aceh in a boat with a broken engine. the wooden boat with 57 men on board landed on sunday morning.it�*s not clear if they're part of a group of nearly two hundred rohingya who became stranded at sea weeks ago, without food or water. immigration officials described them as hungry and weak after many days at sea. the united nations says it fears many of that group have drowned. rohingya muslims are a persecuted group in their original home, myanmar. war has transformed life for millions of young ukrainians, many of whom are still living as refugees ten months after russia invaded their country. among them is teenager nika, who now lives in the uk and is coming to terms with the fact that she won't be able to return home anytime soon. sarah rainsford has been following herjourney. nobody here understands what i experienced. i hope they never will understand what i experienced. when russia invaded her country,

nika played piano to drown out the sound of the explosions. i was hearing bangs, bombs. it was quite loud. yeah, unfortunately, kharkiv is one of the most attacked cities in ukraine. we first met as her family were fleeing kharkiv. nika was leaving her city and friends behind to become a refugee. she is now at a school in england and we went to see how she is doing. i needed time to understand that now i am in a safe place, i don't hear alarms every hour and i don't need to think about what if in the next second a bomb is going to be near me. the bombing of kharkiv was intense for months. hundreds of missiles fired by russian forces who only retreated in september. we found nika's old school

there, eerily empty. her teacher still comes in. but she is the only one because all lessons are online. most of nika's classmates fled too when war broke out here. maria is trying to stay positive it will end soon, but that is hard. kharkiv life is still a long way from normal. i went to meet nika's grandmother, who has no light or lift for hours a day because russian missiles are now targeting ukraine's power supply. it was nika's 16th birthday, so she called her at school to tell her she loves and misses her and urge her to study well. it is the first time they have not celebrated together. what have they done

to us and what for? she wants to know. and she means russia. nika is meeting new friends in england, impressing new teachers, making the most of a life she never chose, but kharkiv is never farfrom her thoughts. i want my home back. i want my previous life back, but of course i know it is not really possible. i would like peace and calmness in ukraine and i would like people to stop dying. all around the world, millions of people have been — or are still — celebrating christmas. it's usually a time for family, friends and maybe a little excess. but for some this is proving to be a difficult festive period, as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. singing here in kyiv, not for the first time,

the sound of song rings out in the middle of an air—raid alert. in one of the city's underground railway stations a carol service is under way. a celebration of the season but also a moment of defiance. translation: it was really hard. at first because it seemed strange to celebrate the holiday, but if you perceive it as a carol for victory, a carol of wishes to the warriors, then it is normal. everything falls into place. no threat of war in rome but there are still plenty who are desperate and in need. this christmas dinner held annually at the church of santa maria is laid on for the poor of the parish. translation: we are all gathered here in harmony and peace - with ourselves and others. it is a beautiful initiative and has existed for a0 years

and thank goodness it exists. help can take many forms and in the capital it looks a bit like this. hundreds and hundreds of father christmases running through the city raise money for charity. this year it's an edition of santa running. for this organised santa run we will have around 200 families in need and many, many people who are in need of food or something. christmas is a time for giving and plenty of dressing up. tim allman, bbc news. (tx next) finally, the severe winter storm across north america is not only affecting the human population ....in south florida, iguanas have been falling from trees — paralyzed because of a sharp temperature drop to 45 degrees fahrenheit — that's 7 degrees celsius.

in most cases it's thought the creatures will �*defrost�*, and be on their way again once temperatures rise. hello. 0verall hello. overall it is a brighter day than yesterday, though it is feeling colder. there are some wintry showers to be had, especially in scotland, some snow even at low levels. after a frosty chart to tuesday, milderareas levels. after a frosty chart to tuesday, milder areas coming back and with that there will be widespread wet and windy weather. focusing on the snow showers in scotland and the brisk north—westerly wind piling on towards northern and western parts. some accumulations the loan levels, especially the hills. in the wind some snow will be drifting. there may be blizzards as well. after an icy start in northern ireland, further wintry showers around here

stop much of the midlands, eastern and south—eastern england much of the day will be dry, just a few showers filtering into the midlands and towards east anglia later in the day. many of us just reaching highs of mid—to single figures and feeling cooler in that win. gail or severe gales in the northern ireland is. a lot of the showers will gradually fade into tonight. we have those that could be icy in places and a widespread frost set again. this is the most widely cold night left now for the rest of the year. late in the night temperatures head up across western part is the breeze picks up, and we see the next spell of wet and windy weather moving in. rain spreading across parts but clearing away quite clear northern ireland. some snow on the leading edge of this in scotland before it turns to rain, perhaps into the higher parts of the pennines too. it will be late in the day before east anglia and south—east england see much in the way of any significant rain. hiring totals like to be through the higher ground of wales and the western side of england. it

will be a slow process lifting these temperatures, but eventually through northern ireland, england and much of wales, getting back towards double figures. there will be a brief lull on tuesday when more wet and windy weather moves in on wednesday, feeling cooler on thursday with sunshine and showers, a wintry flavour to some of these on higher ground, before more wet and windy weather moves in for friday. it looks like another system heading in at the weekend as well. 0verall for the rest of the year, scotland and northern ireland, temperatures close to average, certainly looking mild through much of england and wales. very active weather with spells of wind and rain on the way.

this is bbc world news. the headlines: russia's defence ministry says at least three service personnel have been killed as a result of a ukrainian drone attack on an air force base in the south of the country. china carries out one of it's biggest incursions to date in the seas and skies around taiwan. the taiwanese defence ministry says it's detected 71 aircraft and seven warships around the island. the united nations tells the taliban to reverse it's decision on banning afghan women working for humanitarian agencies. five major aid organisations are suspending all their work in the country following the order. a tenth person has been killed by an explosion at a block of flats injersey earlier this month. kathleen mcginess was injured by the blast and died in hospital yesterday.

the 73—year—old lived in a building adacent to the flats.