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. millions of people in the us and canada are spending the festive season in the grip of a severe winter storm. at least 38 people are known to have died. 175,000 homes are without power. 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. 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.

you are watching bbc news. next it's time for charles's kingdom. born a prince, he grew up in the public eye, the man who would be king. with the queen's passing, the responsibility for the united kingdom and the wider commonwealth now rests with king charles iii.

amidst the pomp and circumstance, the royal family's private grief has been on very public display. but once the wave of sadness and sympathy subsides, what will the future hold? as the latest census underlines how northern ireland has changed utterly, and the clamour for scottish independence continues, we ask can the monarch keep his kingdom united? it's one o'clock in the morning in south east london and there's no time to lose. hearing rumours the uk's longest queue might soon be closed to new arrivals, this group of friends, straight off the plane from belfast, hurry along. it's only when they are sure they've

passed the point of no return that kathryn beggs and her companions from county tyrone pause to explain their extraordinary late night pilgrimage. i think it's a really historic moment. i'm a teacher, primarily english, but i do teach a bit of history and i just think that the palace of westminster was built after william the conqueror and we teach about that in year eight in school. we're still talking about him a thousand years later and i think we will be still talking about this queen for many generations to come. i think the crowd will carry us through. there's eight of us here and we're in it together and in the end it is to pay respects to the queen that served for over 70 years. so i think this is the least we can do. kathryn, good luck, good luck with the rest of the trip. this is by no means the only group from northern ireland joining this queue. a number of the aeroplanes that have been going across tonight have been

packed with people who are intent on waiting all night in order to see the queen lying in state. it's been the longest apprenticeship in british royal history. 1969 charles receives the coronet, sword and mantle that go with his role as the prince of wales. i, charles, prince of wales, - do become your liege man for life and limb and earthly worship, in faith and truth i will bear unto thee to live and die against all manner of folks. more than a half century would pass before he assumed his new title — king charles iii. i have say that am really pleasantly surprised. i think he has done everybody proud.

i know talking to people at home we've all sort of felt the same way. he's stepped up, so hopefully he will do her proud. - charles's job will be to push them through to the 215t century. - i mean, the queen did - a greatjob over her reign, transitioning from the empire to the commonwealth. - i think he and william . have a lot on their plate to transition to modern day. as a prince, charles iii's relationship with ireland was marked by tragedy and trauma, as well as gestures of friendship and reconciliation. his ceremonial role as head of the parachute regiment made him a target of republican protests when he visited londonderry. he himself suffered first—hand with the loss of his favourite great uncle, lord mountbatten, murdered by the ira

more than a0 years ago. at the time, i couldn't imagine how we would come to terms with the anguish of such a deep loss since for me, lord mountbatten represented the grandfather i never had. through this dreadful experience though, i now understand in a profound way the agonies borne by so many others on these islands. charles shared his mother's determination to build bridges, travelling to dublin in 1995, 16 years before the queen's historic state visit. i think it is great to see him here. he is very welcome. good relations between the countries. in a sense, his visit paved the way for her visit - and he is a frequent visitor. to ireland along with camilla. and he has in fact said he wants

|to visit every county in ireland, | and you must give him ten out of ten for effort. _ when he comes here he does things like he, you know, - would have a go at an irish sport and so on — i don't know if he's quite reached the heights that his mother did in her 2011 visit, which was a really landmark visit. a uachtarain, agus a chairde. like his mother, charles held out the hand of friendship to irish republicans. it must have been very difficult for her late majesty and our new king to engage with sinn fein figures, having suffered that very real personal loss. i mean, it seems clear that they were both very close to lord mountbatten, and losing him and his grandson, and others in that tragedy,

you know, makes them definitely... i mean, they fall, ithink, within the victims of the northern ireland troubles. so, when charles iii made his first visit to northern ireland as king, few could have been surprised by his diplomatic approach to politicians across the spectrum here. nevertheless, the king's encounter with stormont�*s sinn fein speaker was striking. ba mhaith liom comhbhron a dheanamh leat ag an am crua seo. i would like to sympathise with you at this difficult time. we are thankful for queen elizabeth's commitment and encouragement to building peace and reconciliation across these islands and indeed for all of those who seek to keep us moving towards that goal. there certainly was, for me anyway, a moment of watching the king and alex maskey at hillsborough thinking this is really an extraordinary evolution of history. but i think if you'd ask most historians with the best of crystal balls to gaze into 20 years ago,

that would have been unthinkable. it would have seemed like something out of a work of hopeful fiction. we passed our condolences under a man who had lost his mother, we were respectful and we were also recognising the significant contribution that his mother, queen elizabeth played in advancing peats and reconciliation. and my own experience is that this is something that republicans were comfortable with. 50 years ago, in the wake of bloody sunday, the british embassy in dublin was burned down. in the days after the queen's death a small number of floral tributes were laid at the embassy gates. i think there's huge potential for king charles to continue the work his mother championed, as trying to unify people, and support reconciliation.

throughout his life, he's been enormously positive about his mother's work. so i would be optimistic that he would be able to follow in those footsteps. but his room for manoeuvre could be limited by the souring of relations between london and dublin in the wake of brexit. i think the post-brexit scenario does make things very - difficult for king charles. 0bviously relations between britain and ireland now at a government level are not good, in fact probably the worst in recent memory at least. prince charles obviously will be trying to remain above all that, but it's a difficult situation. what is really interesting is that there is an opportunity to get brexit sorted in some way, in some workable way. and i think in parallel with that, king charles can probably reach out the hand of friendship to ireland again. i don't think we'll see the high water mark that we saw underj

queen elizabeth on her really ground—breaking state visit. i but it can be better. than it is, because it's pretty bad at the moment. certainly, he can't do anything that is seen to undermine his own government. he can't be seen to contradict their policy. but i think given what we know about the king's personality, it wouldn't surprise me if that was another flashpoint in this brexit process. back in the queue, 12 hours after they set out, the friends from tyrone are tired but elated. they have just had a royal morale booster. the end is in sight. it's been unbelievable. we've done very well together encouraging ourselves along the way. there was a bit of a surprise. tell me what happened. we were just coming down to lord's lambeth bridge. and we saw the car with the royal standard on it. and word got round that charles and william were both arriving. so i got to shake both their hands.

i said to william that him and his father are doing such a great job with such a difficult time this last week. and he just said thank you very much. you've done a fantasticjob. good luck with the queue. three cheers for the king! hip hip hooray! when queen elizabeth acceded to the throne 70 years ago no—one could have predicted all the political, economic and social turmoil that played out during the course of her reign. equally no—one knows quite how long king charles will rule or what the world will look like or when his time draws to a close. however it's safe to assume that the monarchy will face more of this kind of thing. commonwealth countries like barbados deciding to jettison the crown

in favour of their own elected head of state. godspeed, barbados. may yourjourney be long, fruitful, and bright. and may your sons and daughters all flourish. stand easy! there's no question that there will be fewer monarchies - in the commonwealth within five to ten years, i mean _ that's almost a given. we've seen a groundswell to stay in the commonwealth but not - to remain tied to the monarchy with a head of state _ from the royal family. his royal highness, the prince of wales, prince charles! charles wants to govern with the broad consent of the people, and wants to be seen as a modern monarch. so in some ways, perhaps, being seen as the midwife at a new age of the transition to republican government. politically it might play well for the king at home. because what's the alternative? you are seen as someone who wants

to reign from afar over countries where a majority of people are of other ethnic backgrounds. and that sits uneasily with a lot of people in the 20205. whatever happens throughout the commonwealth, king charles's reign could witness big changes closer to home within the uk. here in scotland the snp is pushing for a split from england, but crucially, it wants to leave the new king in place. at no point have the snp been critical of the monarchy, indeed, been critical of the king. it has been stressing that their policy was always that they would maintain the crown in an independent scotland. just even the visuals of seeing nicola sturgeon at that proclamation ceremony, at one stage singing god save the king, that is something that i think a lot of scottish people and other people in the uk

and around the world haven't seen before. and it's a fascinating insight into what the snp actually believe in a way that will surprise many people. i think this wave of pro—uk, pro—monarch sentiment is going to have a big effect on scottish independence for a while. when the scottish last got to vote on independence, queen elizabeth urged them to consider theirfuture very carefully. the general assumption is that buckingham palace would like to keep its kingdom united. but with the snp supporting a continuation of the monarchy, that's an issue king charles will have to handle with extreme care. the queen passed away on her scottish estate at balmoral. there's been speculation that the affection expressed for her across scotland may bolster support for the country staying in the uk.

i think it is going to have an impact, most definitely. i think, you know, a lot of people will reassess and rethink things. and if it's going to do anything, it's going to give people probably a push to think again, and i hope it does. i love the queen, i love princess anne, but i'm still a yes. i think we could make it a lot better with independence. so i would probably stick with being a yes, i don't think this has impacted my decision at all. i think the political. thing is different from the royal thing, you know? with the royal thing, i i think sort of we've got an affinity to the queen| and to the royal house, but politically with what's been going on under borisjohnsonl and the rest of it, i don't know- about liz truss being any different, that's a stumbling block. and that might be why people want to go independent. - as for me, i'm on the fence a bit.

how soon the impact of recent events will be tested remains uncertain as london continues to resist edinburgh's demands for a fresh referendum. one question that we really need to ask ourselves for the next few months, especially with a view to a potential referendum in 2023, as nicola sturgeon has promised, is, have people been monarchists, or have they been elizabethists? is it actually support for queen elizabeth that has felt like support for the institution of the monarchy and does that dissipate under king charles? if scotland goes it alone, albeit with a monarchy, what will the future hold for the rest of charles's kingdom? it would be very, very difficult for charles to, you know, continue to say he was the king of the united kingdom because the kingdom would no longer be united. there are risks around the union at the moment, and i think it is crucial for everyone, you know,

who believes in the union to make a really positive case for it. and i think we also need to sort of engage the wider business communities, the civil society. of course it's important for those of us in elected office, to explain that unity and working together has tremendous advantages. it's the most successful political union in history. | i wouldn't be able to make any kindj of a prediction about whether or not i northern ireland will be breakingl away from the union anytime soon, but if the opinion polls are to be | believed and sinn fein does winj the next election and lead the next government in dublin, _ certainly you will hear talk- of a desire for a united ireland ramping up a good few notches. whatever happens in scotland, last week's census results show the underlying picture here is also in flux.

when queen elizabeth took the throne in the 1950s, more than six out of ten people here were protestant and there was no doubt a clear majority of northern ireland's population — roughly two—thirds — favoured the union. the latest census reveals, though, that for the first time people here from a catholic background outnumber their neighbours from the protestant community. it's important, of course, not to equate someone's religion with their politics. however, taken together, the findings on religion and national identity show that the northern ireland king charles reigns over today is a very different place from the one his mother inherited 70 years ago. well, i wouldn't take the census in isolation. i think that it is an example out of many, which shows that we are living in a society that has changed. we are living in a society that will continue to change.

and i think the results from the census show that there is a momentum and a trajectory to further change on this island. there is a conversation around constitutional change, and i do think it's inevitable that the question will be put to the people on this island, north and south. unionists reject the notion a united ireland is inevitable. some believe the monarchy�*s popularity here will shore up the argument for staying in the uk. undoubtedly, demographic change means that it's more important than ever for those of us who believe in the union to make a positive case for it. you know, i absolutely don't think that attitudes to the union have to split down sectarian lines. i feel sure that our new king and the royal family will continue to provide an important symbol of unity for our country, which i hope will be part of this continuing positive advocacy for keeping our nation together.

do you believe that king charles iii will be the last monarch to reign over this part of the world? well, i don't know. but what i do say is that i do think constitutional change will be coming to this island. that's open for debate. but if an independent scotland would keep the monarch in place, what role, if any, might the king play in the event of a united ireland? if, as is likely, sinn fein becomes the largest political party and achieves power in the republic of ireland, and prioritises its unity agenda, would they be open to the idea of ireland rejoining the commonwealth? given that they will be under pressure to emphasise what they are prepared to compromise on when it comes to their relationship with unionists? could the commonwealth be a part of that story? if you were to achieve a united ireland, would there be any symbolic role that you could envisage

king charles or his successors continuing to play? well, i'm an irish republican. i'm not a monarchist. but what i would say is that the shape of a new ireland is for all of us to have input into. everything needs to be on the table for conversation. in terms of a cultural emotional tie to unionism, the monarch is an extraordinary force. i think we would be naive, there's no possibility if there's a border poll that there will be any role for the monarchy in the island of ireland politically or from a head of state role afterwards. but i think the strength of royalist enthusiasm within the loyalist or unionist community would last for quite some time after any border poll, potentially for at least two, three, four generations. of course, charles's kingdom isn't just about lines on a map. it's also about what the public think and whether they remain

content with the traditions of a constitutional monarchy. you only have to look at these queues to appreciate the enormous levels of affection felt for the queen. but in the future, will the people be content for the royal family to continue as if nothing has changed, or will they want a more cost—efficient streamlined monarchy? i think we will end up within ten years, maybe within five, of being closer to the model used by the danish monarchy which is slimmed down. certainly, they have been pretty efficient about making sure that queen margaret ii doesn't include all the grandchildren or even all her children in hrh duties, for want of a better word. so i think the british monarchy will go down that route where it is smaller in its composition. we've seen dramatic changes during her late majesty's reign, so one would expect that to continue. it is an institution that's shown itself again and again ready to adapt to new circumstances,

so i suspect we are likely to see some changes from our new king. polling carried out after the queen's death indicated that, across the uk, 67% of the public supported a continuation of the monarchy, with only 20% backing an elected presidency. in the polling the polling for my own newspaper, the times, by yougov, you see for the first time in living memory, a majority of people saying they think king charles would make a good king. the difficulty is, as time goes on, will questions over whether this king is the right person to shepherd the institution into a new age rear their head again? back home in county tyrone, catherin and her the friends relive the 1a hours that culminated in entering westminster hall.

just to have been a part of history and to have the opportunity was amazing. what do you think of prince charles filling her shoes? i think he's had a long time to learn the i think he's had a long time to learn the ropes so i think that's been a good learning curve for him. the nation is trying to come to terms with the loss of a queen of 70 years, and so i think that we'd quite like a bit of steadiness and consistency. there are changes within government as well, so hopefully king charles will continue and maintain the high standard that his mother has set. he may not get as long as his mother to make his mark but king charles iii's reign could yet turn out to be one of the most decisive and eventful eras in his kingdom's long constitutional history.

hello. as focus we have wintry showers across the north of the country today and particularly across the highlands and the settling through this afternoon and into this evening. it's also quite a cold day. a noticeable breeze out there. the wind has swung in from there. the wind has swung in from the north—west and the cold air has temporarily spread across the country. but there is milder in the atlantic and its heading away. for the rest of the day the snowy settling across the highlands in some spots it could be as much as ten centimetres. more typically a

couple of centimetres. further south, much to mild although it's not particularly warm. three or 4 degrees. the snow showers continue for a time in the evening but they fade and it will be clear across many eastern areas. there is a frost on the way. the next weather front is approaching and it pushing in milder air across ireland into wales and the south—west of england. that weather front is actually going to bump into the cold air that is in place across scotland. that does mean tomorrow there will be what we call a spell of transience now across the highlands and perhaps a bit of snow in the pennines too. elsewhere, it's a case of rain, milder conditions, strong winds as well. this is where the rain will be in the middle of the afternoon. so south—western england, wales,

through yorkshire. actually clearing northern ireland. through the evening that weather front will spread further east to reach east anglia and the south—east. so a wet end to tuesday here. for the rest of the week, we will see a succession of low pressure sweeping across the uk. here is another one on wednesday. a weather front sweeping in from the south—west and another wet day for many of us. the winds will strengthen to gale force around coastal areas. very mild conditions so 12 in london and a little bit colder the other side of the weather front in northern scotland. and in the running for the new year, it's looking very blustery, gales at times and rain as well. and with that turbulent weather it's going to stay relatively mild. goodbye.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm lucy hockings. 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. north america's deep freeze, severe winter weather, claims 38 lives, across the united states and canada. more rohingya refufgees reach the indonesian province of aceh as the un refugee agency fears 180 may have died, after their boat was adrift for weeks in the indian ocean. 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 shoppers be cutting back

as the cost of living crisis bites?