this is bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm christian fraser the headlines 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. the woman killed in a shooting at a pub in merseyside on christmas eve has been named as 26—year—old ellie edwards. at least 50 people have died in the united states and canada as deep freeze severe winter weather sweeps across north america. 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. demonstrations in south—western iran to mark the fortieth day of mourning since a nine—year—old boy was killed during anti—government protests.

boxing day sales begin in the uk — but 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 base is host to long—range russian strategic bombers, the type of which have launched numerous missiles strikes on ukraine. from moscow, our russia editor, steve rosenberg, reports. caught on cctv...

an explosion at a russian airbase. russia says it shot down a ukrainian drone but that three russian soldiers were killed. engels airbase is deep inside russian territory, hundreds of miles from the ukrainian border. the base hosts long—range bombers which are believed to have launched missile attacks against ukraine. state tv reacted to the news with a familiar warning to kyiv. russia, she says, will exact revenge by carrying out more strikes on ukrainian infrastructure. russia can rattle those sabres and flex its muscles, but it doesn't change the fact that what happened at engels airbase is embarrassing for the kremlin. for the second time in less than a month, what is an important military installation has come under attack. quite a contrast to the image of military might that president putin's been portraying

in recent days. the kremlin leader has promised his generals all the resources they need for the war in ukraine. he is determined to secure something he can present as a russian victory. putin is not going to back off, and nobody else is going to give him a reason to back off, and therefore he is going to take steps necessary to him to win, whatever that victory may meanfor him. but ten months after russia invaded ukraine, there is no sign of that victory. instead, the war the kremlin started is moving closer to home. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. our europe regional editor, paul moss has been telling me about the reaction in ukraine. ukraine never claims any responsibility but they do drop hints and they dropped a hint that they may be responsible.

a ukrainian air force spokesperson went on television to talk about the attack on the air base and he said this is the result of russian aggression and he said if russia thought people deep inside the country were safe and unaffected by the war, well, they were utterly wrong. a couple of things going on, he's not saying they did it, but he is saying russia, you deserved it, make of that what you will. and secondly, what is really interesting, the fact they are able to strike deep into russia at�*s heartland is in itself a kind of victory, and remembered the base was struck before as we heard in the report. at the time of that attack there were calls in russia for it to improve its defences and not let something like this happen again but this seems like a drone has flown at least 600 kilometres through russian territory before say

they shot it down —— flown about. through russian territory before say they shot it down . ukraine may be want to crow about the success of the attack but not make too much fuss about it. there is a report today from the fsb, unverified so far, that a number of saboteurs who were crossing over were caught, what about that? this is very similar. one was a drone attack deep into russian heartland and we have had suspicions for a while that there is some kind of units operating behind enemy lines within russia and in russian occupied ukraine, we have seen attacks on the airbase in crimea and aircraft destroyed and we have seen assassinations of a lot of officials in russian occupied ukraine. it would not be a surprise if commandos were operating. what the russian internal security service says, they say, four saboteurs who attempted to enter the territory were killed and it says

they were carrying submachine guns, navigation equipment and improvised explosive devices. they distributed some pretty gruesome footage to news agencies showing some bodies covered in blood with guns. we have to emphasise, there is no way we can be sure about this and verify this but if it turned out they were commandos attempting to infiltrate into russia and into russian occupied ukraine, that would not be a complete surprise. a woman who was shot dead at a pub in merseyside in northern england on christmas eve has been identified as ellie edwards. the 26—year—old was shot in the head after a gunman opened fire at the front of the pub , and later died in hospital from her injuries. fiona trott has this report. a young woman shot and killed whilst celebrating christmas with family and friends. the 26—year—old was shot in the head after a gunman opened fire at the front of the pub ,

and later died in hospital from her injuries. fiona trott has this report. the acting head of the united nations mission to afghanistan has asked taliban leaders to reverse a decision to ban on 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, care, the norwegian refugeee council and save the children said they �*could not effectively reach afghans in desperate need' without their female staff. earlier i spoke to jan egeland, the secretary general of the norwegian refugee council. since the announcement the aid agency has halted all work in afghanistan. we cannot operate without or female staff. in our case with the norwegian council we have nearly 1500 staff.

about one third are women. 470, we cannot operate with our or committed, without our or committed, hard—working female colleagues. they are the ones who assess needs among women or children. they are the ones who communicate to the woman, for example, single mother households. and so on. so, or message back to the taliban authorities who gave us this order on christmas eve. was that we have to suspend our work. we cannot work without our female colleagues. this in a situation of desperate need. millions and millions need our emergency relief. i want to come back to that it is an important point you make. in terms of the order that has come from the taliban. it is specific to the ngos through

which the united nations work. is it about all woman orjust local woman? what sort of position does that put western women who work in afghanistan? it is women in general as far as... it is a very general order. and it was communicated by the ministry of economy through the umbrella organisation where there are a large number of organisations, local afghan organisations and international ngos. they said because, they claim, there was some deviations from the strict dress code with the hijab. they said, we are now banning, the taliban is bending, all the female at work across the board by nongovernmental organisations. it is an impossible situation because we are in the coldest

months of the year. we note there is a acute situation inside the country. for a humanitarian like you that it must be an agonising decision. it is. i have been there many times to afghanistan. i see the suffering among the people and there has been a free fall in the economy since the taliban took over. in part because the western countries withdrew their development aid when they left with their diplomats and military. we remained and we have been able to reach millions and millions and we have done that in accordance to the traditional dress code. all of the rules for separation of men and women in the workplace. even offered male relative guardians to our female staff according to the tradition when they travel. we have done everything according to the book and still they come with us out of nowhere. and it is devastating

and paralysing all our work. so it will be reversed, i'm sure of, but it could take time. in the meantime much unnecessary suffering has taken place. or female staff is devastated by this. many of them are the breadwinners not of their family but their whole extended relatives. they are fearfulfor theirjob, theirfuture, the possibilities. it is a very bleak situation in afghanistan. at least 50 people are now known to have died due to the severe arctic freeze that continues to affect the us and canada. one of the worst—hit areas is the city of buffalo, in new york state where the governor called the storm an epic, once in a lifetime event. emily unia has the latest. the arctic storm pummelling the us and canada caused christmas chaos for millions. thousands of flights were cancelled and roads and railways were close to impassible, preventing people from reaching friends and family. emergency services battled treacherous conditions to carry out rescues.

fatalities have been confirmed across the us. one of the worst hit areas was new york state, especially in buffalo and hamburg in erie county. snow blanketed streets and driving was bad. more than two dozen people are known to have died in the greater buffalo region. to all who have lost a loved one, and some of those folks may not even know it yet, just, you have our deepest condolences. this is a horrible, the worst type of storm you can imagine, and you have my deepest condolences on behalf of the people of erie county for the loss of a loved one on christmas day. rolling blackouts left more than 1.5 million people without power on christmas day. connections are now steadily being restored. in south florida, iguanas froze and fell from trees. they won't get moving again until temperatures rise and they can thaw out. much further north, stunning ice formations appeared on lake michigan.

and although the storm is starting to ease, freezing conditions are still expected for some time to come. emily unia, bbc news. now to iran where a large crowd has gathered in a village in the south—west of the country — to mark the fortieth day of mourning since a nine—year—old boy was killed during anti—government protests. kian pirfalak�*s family say he was killed by the security forces during demonstrations in the city of izeh last month. the iranian authorities have denied this. he is believed to be the youngest person to die during the demonstrations that have swept across iran for more than 100 days. iranian activist — hamed esmaeilion — has helped organise some of the biggest protests over the death of mahsa amini, outside iran. a short time ago — he told me why those global protests are so important: sot are so important: after the murder of mahsa amini, we decided to echo the voices of the iranian people inside the country.

on the 1st of october we managed to organise a protest of a rally in more than 150 cities around the world. and we tried to repeat that in berlin on the 22nd of october. between 80,000 to 100,000 people to state they don't want this republic of iran any more. we are reminded by the picture over your left shoulder that you too are a victim and so many people are a victim of this regime. how effective do you think the protests you have organise have been? what we wanted to say. that the voice of the iranian people has been heard. i think the voice has been heard, but we didn't see a lot of concrete action being done by the western countries. we expected them to expel the ambassadors of the islamic republic of iran. we expected them to put the irc on the terrorist organisation list, and also see that they do the same

thing to the iranian oligarchs in the way they did to the russian oligarchs. we haven't seen these kind of actions yet but we saw that the human rights council in the united nations has started investigations about what happened in iran. can i ask you about flight 752? we are two years on and we're coming up on the anniversary which i know is going to be difficult to you. what information have you been able to get from the regime? and how far along is it a proper investigation? i can't tell you nothing. unfortunately 752 never had a chance to have a proper investigation by iran or other countries. so it's almost three years has passed and the families of the victims have no idea what happened to their loved ones on january eight, 2020. so we hope, we still hope, that the four affected countries, ukraine, canada, uk and sweden will take this case

to the international court. so many victims, of course, as well in the country, we are a hundred days into the protests since the death of mahsa amini. where does it go, do you think? i think that this never stops. if we notice, as you said, for kian there was another protest in the south country and tomorrow there will be another protest in the north. this civil disobedience of iranian people continue and this time it is different. this time it is a lot of hope among young iranian people. we just ask the western countries to not help this republic any more. the iranian people can't deal with this regime. for example, these days after three years, they are holding court at the same time they hang young

people after a couple days they are arrested. so you see how this regime works and you cannot expect them to act in favour of human rights. the headlines on bbc news 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. the woman killed in a shooting at a pub in merseyside on christmas eve has been named as 26 year old ellie edwards. here in britain, most shops have been open again, after being closed on christmas day, boxing day sales have previously been a popular date for for shoppers in search of bargains. but retail experts say they're expecting shoppers to spend less this year as the cost of living crisis continues and we see a change in shopping habits. katy austin reports. in liverpool this morning, the shoppers were out and about early.

i was there at half seven. and have you got anything so far? yeah, i've got shoes in my car already, and then clothes. cost of living, you know, - you've got to grab a bargain. these days, not all retailers open on boxing day. some started their sales well before christmas, and more and more customers choose to buy online. but for this big shopping centre in liverpool, it is still a crucial week. it's very important for retailers and ourselves. boxing day gives the retailers the chance to clear some of that stock they perhaps didn't sell before christmas. boxing day is actually one of the quieter days of the week. it builds up throughout this week into some quite extraordinary numbers. cost—of—living pressures are expected to put a dampener on spending this year, but the manager of this store is optimistic. i think people are now looking into what they are buying a lot more than what they used to be, but we are still trading quite well. central london's oxford street filled up as the day went on. have you come out for the sales? yes, i always come out, it is my birthday today and i don't think it is as busy as it used to be.

it used to be a lot busier before. people carried a lot more bags before. the shops have started giving sales may be a bit earlier than usual, but there are still quite a few discounts. what have you found? anything good? just socks so far. a company that tracks how many people are out at shopping destinations says compared to last year when covid badly affected trading it is an optimistic picture, numbers are up. however, football hasn't recovered to what it was before the pandemic. however, footfall hasn't recovered to what it was before the pandemic. it's 30% lower than it was on boxing day 2019, so it is significantly lower, but we mustn't forget there is a train strike. and it is also attached to the cost—of—living crisis, people are a bit more cautious. after a tricky year, shops hope that big discounts can draw in much needed customers. katy austin, bbc news. china has announced that it's dropping its requirement for travellers arriving in the country to go into quarantine. the measure has been in place since the start of the covid pandemic,

but will end on the 8th of january. it's the latest in a series of restrictions to be lifted as china abandons its zero—covid policy. the country is currently seeing an explosion in covid—related infections and medical workers say they're stuggling to cope. the most successful golfer of all time, kathy whitworth, has died at the age of 83. she won a record 88 ladies professional golf association titles, including six majors in a career which started in 1959. whitworth was also the first woman to earn a million dollars on the lpga tour. she died suddenly while celebrating christmas eve with family and friends. alex miceli, a reporter at sports illustrated, explained to me about her influence in the women's game. i think it's true in most of the sports if it be football or other sports. you go back to the people who establish a foundation for the sport, and did what was required to get people interested. kathy whitworth was

part of that equation. there were other players that, as you said, probably not as flamboyant or attractive but yet if you keep winning, as she did, you eventually become a star and people look at you. there are lots of young women out there today that don't realise the fact that maybe their mothers played because of kathy and that's the reason they are playing today. indeed she said winning never gets old. her first title in �*62, her last 20 years earlier. is there anything she didn't win that she regrets about? well, the women's us open she did not win. just like sam snead. did she regret? i'm sure she did. i know sam snead to the day he died wished he had won a us open. just like arnold palmer wished he had won a pga championship. they are majors and they are hard to do. yet, it's not the fact that she one as much as she did.

if you look at what she did in runner up fashion and as well, where she one... finished second in over 90 events. think about that. she was in contention, clearly in contention, for 170 events in her career. only jack nicklaus that i can remember did that the same in regards to majors when he was in so much runner—up finishes after winning 18 majors. 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 a 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 far from 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. very cold conditions in ukraine and the united states as well at least 50 people killed in the storm that came over the christmas period.

these are the pictures in new york it is looking rather gray and cold. the governor said the temperatures will continue until the end of the week. hello. a fine end to boxing day across many parts of the country, especially further east and south across the uk. wintry showers in scotland. how about the next few days? well, it is going to be very unsettled — rain and wind at times, risk of gales, in fact, in the run—up to the new year. but let's have a look at the short term. so, through the course of this evening, lots of clear weather about and temperatures will dip away quite sharply as well. just a few showers there still, wintry ones across scotland, but a weather system is approaching from the west, so milder conditions starting to spread into parts of wales and southwestern england by the early hours of tuesday morning. but this weather system, as it sweeps across the country, in the morning, it will still encounter the cold air in scotland and parts of northern england. so, with that clear night

and the low temperatures, as the weather front overrides that cold air, anything that falls out of the sky will be snow across the highlands, maybe for a time in the pennines, too. but to the south of that, that mild stream of that south—westerly wind is going to be rain, so really unpleasant around welsh coasts, southwestern england through the afternoon — gusty winds, heavy rain. the last place to see the rain on tuesday will be the far southeast. this is, i think, where the rain will reach you early evening. and out towards the west, on the other hand, it should clear up come the evening. here's wednesday's weather map, and the next area of low pressure sweeps in — quite a few isobars there — pressure lines, big pressure gradients. so, strong winds blowing in and, again, another dose of gale force winds, particularly around western and maybe southern areas — a really changeable day. in the south, relatively mild, 12 celsius, but further north, the other side of the weather front — it's pretty chilly there for northern scotland and the northern isles. the low pressure�*s still

with us on thursday, quite a large area of low pressure, blustery winds. a cold front will have swept through by then, so i think slightly colder, particularly in the north — even some wintry showers around, temperatures around 6—7 degrees there for glasgow and aberdeen. in the south, might still make double figures in london and norwich. so, the run—up to the new year, new year's eve there, saturday, it stays relatively mild, but it's not going to feel like it because of all that wind, rain and risk of gales — bearthat in mind. bye— bye.

this is bbc world news. the headlines. russia says at least three technical staff have been killed by falling debris in a ukrainian drone attack on an air force base in the south of the country. the woman killed in a shooting at a pub in merseyside on christmas eve has been named as 26—year—old ellie edwards. police continue to search for the gunman who fled the scene. at least 50 people have died in the united states and canada as deep freeze severe winter weather sweeps across north america. the region around buffalo, in upstate new york, has been worst affected. the united nations tells the taliban to reverse its decision on banning afghan women working for humanitarian agencies, after five major non—governmental organisations suspend their work in afghanistan.

demonstrations take place in south—western iran to mark