this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm annita mcveigh. our top stories: at least 60 people have been killed in winter storms across the united states and canada. president biden has approved emergency federal help for new york state, as the arctic freeze continues. taiwan's president, tsai ing—wen has announced that all men will be required to serve one year's military service. she says the move is to counter growing pressure from beijing. as covid cases surge in china's capital, imported coronavirus tablets are being rushed to treatment centres. two people are arrested after a woman is shot dead, at a pub in merseyside in the north—west of england on christmas eve.

and fashion designers in hong kong are using artificial intelligence to help them create cutting—edge modern clothing. hello. at least 60 people have been killed in winter storms across the united states and canada. president biden has approved an emergency declaration allowing federal support for new york state. the city of buffalo, in new york state, has borne the brunt of the arctic conditions. it lies in the great lakes region and near the canadian border. 27 bodies have been recovered there, and more are expected to be found in cars buried in the snow. blizzards have blocked roads and brought down power lines making it hard to get food and medicine. sean dilley reports.

forfive days, blizzard conditions have disrupted life and travel across america. dozens of deaths have been reported, more are expected in the coming days. emergency services are among those struggling with the weather. a quarter of a million homes and businesses are estimated to have been hit by power cuts on christmas eve and christmas day. the impact of the storm has stretched from canada to the mexican border. montana has experienced the coldest weather, with temperatures dropping to —45. the most impacted residents live here in buffalo, upstate new york, where half of all deaths have been reported. the state's governor says they are at war with mother nature. anyone who declares victory and says it's over, it is way too early to say this is at its completion. the severity is downplayed now and right now it's not as bad as it has been over the last couple of days but it's still a dangerous situation to be out. forecasters say conditions should

improve in the days ahead, but until then authorities say people should only travel if it's totally essential. sean dilley, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to matthew cappucci — a meteorologist based in washington. he told me that this extreme weather had been widely predicted but the severity has taken many by surprise. this is something we saw coming days in advance, but the bigger story is kind of how this fits in the pattern. last week, we talked about the us bomb cyclone, the low pressure system over the great lakes, sucking down cold air on temperatures of —40 over the central us. the focus was on that, people forgot about the second act. as the storm pulled away to canada, cold air raced down parallel to the great lakes and picked up moisture and deposited those little strips of moisture at the end of the lake ontario and snow belts

like the city of buffalo. they saw 150 plus centimetres of snow, that was the second act. the storm is done for everyone else, except these localised communities seeing the brunt of the impact. you say is done for everyone else, can you give us an overview of conditions? in buffalo, it is starting to wind down but in terms of blizzards, blizzards in general are bad, you need three hours of wind, and visibility is down to 500 metres. what is happening in buffalo, they saw two or three days of hurricane force winds, visibility down to five metres, for an extended period of time, so you can't go outside. to see that for so long, the reality is people did not take it seriously because buffalo

is prone to heavy snow but the big issue was not only that, but the crash in temperatures, the reduced visibility and how quickly the snow was coming down. can you give us some context? how unusual is it to see extreme weather like this? to see something like this, buffalo average return of snow every winter, 500 centimetres, what is happening this time is an anomalous event and one that stands alone. the death toll unfortunately points out how bizarre this is. the unfortunate reality is how people died to have a good conversation about this. three or four people died from heart attacks shovelling the snow. some people died from excess mortality, the emergency services could not reach them. but 14—15 people perished because they ventured out into the storm got stranded. it is very sad to see but people should have been more prepared for this, especially as the warnings were there in advance. taiwan's president,

tsai ing—wen, has announced that all men will be required to serve one year's military service. the announcement came after china carried out one of it's biggest incursions to date in the seas and skies around taiwan on sunday, with fighterjets and warships deployed around the island. the taiwanese leader said it was needed to counter the growing military pressure beijing is exerting on taiwan, which it regards as an integral part of china. translation: the current four-month military training service system - cannot provide sufficient troops or frequency of training to cope with the rapidly changing combat situation and satisfy the need for combat readiness. after two years of complete assessment and review, considering the demand for troops in the new strategic structure, we have decided to restore the one—year compulsory military service from 2024, applicable to male draftees born afterjanuary the 1st 2005.

for more on that, we are joined now by ben blanchard, taiwan bureau chief for reuters who's in 0xted here in the uk. thank you for your time today. give as the reaction festival to news of this extended military service. well, it's been something that the president has been discussing with her top security officials are quite a while now, so it wasn't exactly a surprise. we knew it was going to come before the end of the year. this is something that really has bipartisan support in taiwan. both the ruling party and the main opposition party have... do understand the need to strengthen taiwan's defences, especially in the face of china's stepped up military capabilities and what taiwan calls a clear and present danger, a threat from china to the democracy that is

taiwan. 50 from china to the democracy that is taiwan. , , , taiwan. so bipartisan support. does it have widespread _ taiwan. so bipartisan support. does it have widespread public _ taiwan. so bipartisan support. does it have widespread public support i taiwan. so bipartisan support. does| it have widespread public support as well? �* . ., , well? again... the military conscription _ well? again... the military conscription in _ well? again... the military conscription in taiwan - well? again... the military conscription in taiwan is i well? again... the military - conscription in taiwan is something that has happened ever since 1949 since the defeated... that is something the vast majority of taiwanese men have grown up with. it is not a new system. the point i would make, in going back to one year, it is different to south korea for example. south korea faces its own hostile neighbour in the face of north korea. in south korea, it's an 18 month conscription system. so going from four months back to one year, it is not as severe as south korea and as i say, this is something that... the threat from china is something everybody is very well aware of in taiwan and there is definitely a wide social consensus that taiwan does need to strengthen

its defences. we that taiwan does need to strengthen its defences-— its defences. we saw china's presents _ its defences. we saw china's presents very _ its defences. we saw china's presents very much - its defences. we saw china's presents very much on - its defences. we saw china's i presents very much on monday. president tsai was talking about being on the front line of authoritarian expansion. taiwan is really feeling that pressure, isn't it? , ,., really feeling that pressure, isn't it? , a, , really feeling that pressure, isn't it? a, it? yes, so certainly for the last two years _ it? yes, so certainly for the last two years or _ it? yes, so certainly for the last two years or so. _ it? yes, so certainly for the last two years or so, china - it? yes, so certainly for the last two years or so, china has - it? yes, so certainly for the last two years or so, china has beenj two years or so, china has been carrying out almost daily incursions into taiwan's's air defence identification zone around taiwan. so obviously this really stepped up in early august when china carried out war games near taiwan, just after the then usp could nancy pelosi visited taiwan. that was very, very traumatic. they were firing missiles over taipei and missiles that came close to the taiwanese coast. since then, the military actions have continued so taiwan is well accustomed to this. taiwan's military has strained, especially the air force which has to scramble almost on a daily basis to scramble almost on a daily basis to go and see off and worn away

these chinese warplanes. so it is something... 0n the ground in taiwan, there is no sense of panic though is that you have to remember, taiwan has lived with the threat of chinese invasion ever since 1919, thatis chinese invasion ever since 1919, that is not something that has gone away. china has never renounced the use of force to bring taiwan under its control. this is something that president tsai ing—wen... he president tsai ing-wen. .. he mentions _ president tsai ing-wen. .. he mentions this. _ president tsai ing—wen... he mentions this. 0k, thank you very much for your analysis. mentions this. 0k, thank you very much foryouranalysis. ben much for your analysis. ben blanchard, much foryouranalysis. ben blanchard, taiwan bureau chief for reuters. as covid cases surge in china's capital, imported coronavirus tablets are being rushed to treatment centres. it comes as china said it is scrapping quarantine for travellers from the 8th january, marking the biggest shift from the country's zero—covid policy. earlier we heard from ben cowling, who is head of epidemiology and biostatistics at the school of public health at the university of hong kong. so about two weeks ago, the chinese government decided they would move

away from the very strict measures they had had in place since then, zero covid measures. so for the last two weeks, infections across mainland china has been on the rise to very high levels in some cities like beijing. because of the very abrupt change in policy, there were not a lot of preparation is like getting hospitals ready for a surge, getting hospitals ready for a surge, getting medications in place and stockpiles and so on forced stop today, there has been an announcement travel measures are going to be relaxed on the 8th of january. that makes a lot of sense because travel measures are not needed once you move away from zero covid, those can be relaxed immediately but what i am concerned about is there hasn't been much effort to slow down the virus across the country at the moment. 50 effort to slow down the virus across the country at the moment.- the country at the moment. so you sound pretty _ the country at the moment. so you sound pretty relaxed _ the country at the moment. so you sound pretty relaxed about - the country at the moment. so you sound pretty relaxed about the - sound pretty relaxed about the relaxation of travel measures. many people might be asking the question, why do that at a time when cases are so rife in china? in why do that at a time when cases are so rife in china?— so rife in china? in terms of allowing _ so rife in china? in terms of allowing people _ so rife in china? in terms of allowing people back- so rife in china? in terms of allowing people back into i so rife in china? in terms of- allowing people back into china, which a lot of people outside china have been waiting three years now to

get back into mainland china, it's been so difficult. there is really no need to maintain travel measures once you've decided not to do zero covid. it will not keep any strains out of the country. there is already a lot of infections and in inside the country anyway. what we have seen very recently, ijust saw on the news just now, seen very recently, ijust saw on the newsjust now, it's seen very recently, ijust saw on the news just now, it's other countries are reacting by having some measures in place and people coming out of china. but in terms of measures to get into china, there is really no public health rationale for travel —related matters at this point in time. we for travel -related matters at this point in time-— point in time. we have been reporting — point in time. we have been reporting about _ point in time. we have been reporting about japan - point in time. we have been reporting about japan and i point in time. we have been l reporting about japan and the measures it is introducing four people travelling from china to japan. do you think it is sensible for other countries to have measures like that, given the number of cases in china currently? i like that, given the number of cases in china currently?— in china currently? i don't think those will _ in china currently? i don't think those will actually _ in china currently? i don't think those will actually make - in china currently? i don't think those will actually make a - in china currently? i don't think those will actually make a lot i in china currently? i don't think| those will actually make a lot of difference. if you remember back to a year ago when i think the uk put a ban on travellers from south africa to try and slow down the spread of the 0micron variant, but as we know,

thatis the 0micron variant, but as we know, that is a minimal effect because whatever new strains are coming, whether it was 0micron a year ago or whatever might happen in china now, those strains willjump somewhere else first, go an indirect route. travel measures will not stop the international spread of currently circulating strains are anything new. they might delay a few days or by most week but i don't think that is a justification for quite drastic travel measures like the ones you mentioned injapan. its, travel measures like the ones you mentioned injapan. pl. bit travel measures like the ones you mentioned in japan.— travel measures like the ones you mentioned in japan. a bit more on the japanese _ mentioned in japan. a bit more on the japanese response _ mentioned in japan. a bit more on the japanese response to - mentioned in japan. a bit more on the japanese response to what - mentioned in japan. a bit more on| the japanese response to what has been happening in china. japan's prime minister says his country will tighten restrictions on passengers arriving from mainland china in the light of the rising number of cases numbers. travellers will be required to show a negative test taken on arrival. anyone who tests positive will have to quarantine for seven days. the new measures will come into effect on the 30th december. here in the uk, merseyside police are questioning two people in connection with the fatal shooting of a woman at a pub

in wallasey on christmas eve. a 30—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of ellie edwards. a 19—year—old woman was detained on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. 0ur correspondent fiona trott has this report. "a beautiful angel." that's how elle edwards has been described by colleagues. a beautician who was shot and killed whilst celebrating christmas here with family and friends. a man opened fire at the entrance. four others were injured. one is in a critical condition in hospital. at a time of year when relatives come together to celebrate, elle's family came here to express their condolence. the police say what they're going through is incomprehensible. the card from her parents reads, "to my beautiful elle, "you are the light of my life. "you will never be gone." people living nearby have also paid their respects. they're struggling to understand how a family pub, just a short walk from their own front door,

is now a crime scene. just astounded it's happened here. never heard of this in 50, 60 years. i think everyone's upset. it's just shocking that it's happened because we don't want guns in this community. i've just literally picked some stuff up for a neighbour because she's scared to leave her house. yesterday, the investigation moved quickly. first, forensic teams searched the local area, and community leaders issued a fresh appealfor information. then, by the evening, there was police activity across the city. these were two addresses in the tranmere area. merseyside police have said they don't believe elle edwards was deliberately targeted. it makes her death all the more difficult for her family to comprehend. fiona trott, bbc news, merseyside. south korea's president has vowed to strengthen the country's military and surveillance capabilities after officials accused north korea of flying drones across their mutual border.

here's more from our correspondent jean mckenzie in seoul. this happened yesterday. five drones from north korea came over the border into south korean airspace without permission, so something that south korea said was a violation of their airspace. now four of the drones flew off to the west, but, crucially, one of the drones managed to make it all the way down to the capital, just north of the capital, seoul. so this clearly the most concerning drone because it had the potential to kind of run surveillance operations. it could have potentially been photographing areas of the capital that the south koreans want to keep secure. so the south koreans sent up a series of helicopters and jets to try and shoot these drones down, bt after hours of trying to do so, they were unsuccessful and they lost sight of the drones. so clearly this caused a lot of concern to the public here and it was an embarrassment for the government, which wasn't able to kind of shoot these drones down in the ways that it wanted to. so tell us more about what the president,

the south korean president has been saying, in terms of dealing with anything like this or preventing anything like this happening again. well, the military have come out and apologised for failing to shoot these down and saying that the reason that they couldn't shoot them down was that they actually have the equipment, the capabilities to shoot down larger drones. so the more serious drones that would be used for attacks but these were smaller drones that would be used for surveillance, and because of their small size, they said that they didn't have the capability to shoot them down. but clearly, it's embarrassing and clearly it exposes a weak point in south korean's defences. so the president has come out today and said that he is going to review all the defences when it comes to drones and he's also going to speed up the creation of a new specialist military unit. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. good morning. the premier league is back, after it's world cup break — with arsenal extending their lead at the top — with a win over west ham in the late boxing day game.

after liverpool returned with a win too. they beat aston villa, and are just five points off the champions league places. some further good news forfans too... they've reached an agreement with dutch side psv eindhoven for striker cody gakpo — for a fee in the region of £37 million. gakpo scored three goals for the netherlands at the world cup in qatar, and is very much one of the most coveted strikers in world football at the moment. the los angeles chargers have made the nfl playoffs for the first time since 2018, after a 20—3 victory over the indianapolis colts. quarterbackjustin herbert played a key role in the win, completing 25 of 31 passes for 235 yards. austin ekeler then ran for two touchdowns and cameron dicker kicked two field goals for them. the victory means they've clinched an afc wild card spot. it's the chargers' first appearance in the post—season under head coach brandon staley. 0ur season is not over, we have two more games

against really, really good teams, and we need to search to play our best football so we can not only get into the play—offs but make a run to super bowl championship which is what our goal is. so, we've got a lot of work to do, but i am certainly proud of everybody in that locker room because today was a great day for our team. in the nba, the brooklyn nets beat cleveland 125—117 to extend their winning streak to nine games. it was another big night for kevin durant — he and kyrie irving both scored 32 points. the victory edges brooklyn ahead of the cavs for third place in the eastern conference. after a difficult start to the season, they've now won 1a of their last 15 games. durant had some celebrating to do after the game — he's now passed former san antonio spurs great tim duncan for 15th on the nba's all—time scoring list. over in detroit, the los angeles clippers beat the pistons 1112—131 in overtime. the win leaves them in fourth spot in the west. elsewhere, there were wins for new orleans, miami and san antonio. australia are firing

on all cylinders — and opener david warner is the man to thank, after his stunning double century put them in control, after day two of the 2nd test against south africa. warner retired on 200 after tea — helping australia to a lead of 197 runs with seven wickets remaining in melbourne. steve smith helped himself to 85. australia lead the three—match series 1—0 after a six—wicket win in the first test in brisbane. and pakistan made a38 in theirfirst innings, of their second test with new zealand. captain babarazam with that huge 161, and agha salman also making his century. new zealand are short while ago on 115 without loss, devon conway passing his 50. that's all the sport for now. we will be back with more later on, see you then. gavin, thank you very much. it's been 25 years since world leaders agreed to ban the use of anti—personnel landmines — in what is known as the ottawa treaty. it's considered to be one of the world's most successful

disarmament treaties, but every year thousands of people continue to be killed or injured by the devices. anna foster reports from lebanon, where a huge de—mining operation is going on. three, two, one, demolition. nine anti—personnel mines destroyed in a split second. for years, the ground here has been sick with them. many were laid less than a metre apart by israeli forces during the conflict of 1982. every day, a team of de—miners carefully scans the land. they uncover the mines and make them safe. suaad is an expert now. when i found the mine, i call the supervisor to check it. and after that, and at the end of the day, i make an explosion. you say that in quite a relaxed way,

you make an explosion? yeah, because it's four years, so it's a daily routine. it's dangerous work. the mines advisory group has been active in lebanon since 2001. here in this village alone, they've cleared nearly 800 devices. it's right next to the politically sensitive boundary with israel. that means special techniques are needed to destroy the explosives without damaging the barrier. this is a clear, safe channel through the minefield. on this side, behind the white sticks, you have these new green shoots and they were planted right after the land was handed over only about a month ago now. but look how close it is to this. this is an active minefield, still contaminated land, still loaded with anti—personnel and anti—tank mines. and they plant their crops fast.

lebanon's economic crisis makes them desperate for cleared land to grow food. translation: we were frustrated. i can't describe the feeling of not being able to use the land where we grew in the past. we had to stop because of mines. it was an awful feeling. worldwide, around 15 people a day are still injured by landmines. translation: l was knocked i unconscious and when i woke up i could not see my fingers. they were gone. heider detonated one while planting trees in his garden. i still keep the photos from when i was injured. it was horrible back then. my hands were about to be amputated. they turned black. but thank god, they are ok now. 80% of lebanon's mines have now been removed. but each year, the funding to clear them decreases. and that makes it hard to predict

how long it'll take before these people can walk on their land again. anna foster, bbc news, lebanon. fashion designers in hong kong are embracing artificial intelligence to help them create cutting—edge modern clothing. it's said to help designers consider new prints and fabrics for their collections. emer mccarthy reports. science fiction meets high fashion. at this hong kong fashion show, more than 80 outfits by 1a different designers paraded down the runway, all with one thing in common — they were designed with the help of an artificial intelligence assistant. the rationale of developing aida is not to use ai replacing designers, what we are talking about is al is just a supporting tool for the fashion designers, so that is why we named aida as an assistant of fashion designers, just to help them, you know, to work together.

designers can upload design sketches, materials and colour palettes to a virtual mood board in the system. the software algorithm then generates blueprints which designers can tweak and add their own unique flair to. it can produce a dozen templates injust ten seconds. translation: our relationship is compatible to a romantic- relationship in that i seem to gradually get to know the assistant and she gradually got to know my own designs. in accordance with my lines, styles and databases, the system will suggest something to me that i may not have ever considered. i believe we are developing a long—term relationship. talk about dressing to impress! thank you for watching. i am back in

30 minutes. you are watching bbc news. hello there. it was a cold and wintry scene in scotland on boxing day. for many parts of the uk today, it will be turning milder but only because we have atlantic wind that is strengthening and blowing in some wet weather from the west and we are seeing some more snow in the colder air we have still in scotland. there is more cloud and rain looming in the atlantic for tomorrow but this is the cloud that has been bringing the wet weather in today. in the afternoon, more snow, mainly over the hills to the north of the central belt, turning back to rain in the south and drying off later in the day. some sunshine after the morning rain in northern ireland but we have this cloud and rain coming into england and wales. wales and the south—west could see some heavy rain in the hills with heavy winds,

east anglia and the south—east probably stay dry until after dark. temperature is widely getting up to nine or ten. northern scotland where we still have the mixture of rain, sleet and snow first thing in the evening. it tends to become dry here, a few showers for a while. the wet weather in england and wales moves away but returns back into the south and south—west later on in that night. so a brief respite in between all this wet weather. it won't be as cold tonight as it was last night. but we follow this wet weather here in the south—west again, is in heavy rain across wales over the hills and that wet weather moves across the whole of england and wales, across northern ireland, up into the southern half of scotland. it may ten drier in the afternoon in england and wales may be some late sunshine in wales and the south—west. it may well stay dry in the far north of scotland with temperatures of 6 degrees. could make 13 in the south. it will be windy with the wet weather coming in tomorrow. around the area of low

pressure. it tends to move away most of the wet weather but we are left with a run of strong winds on thursday can. that will bring some sunshine but also some frequent showers in western areas, some showers in western areas, some showers get blown into eastern parts. it might be cold enough for some wintry nets over the hills in scotland, temperatures are 6—10 on thursday. we look ahead to friday, another area of low pressure coming in from the atlantic. this will also bring some very windy weather and we will find some more rain as well. thatjust will find some more rain as well. that just continues this will find some more rain as well. thatjust continues this very unsettled often wet, windy theme as we head towards the new year.

this is bbc world news, the headlines... more than 60 people have been killed in winter storms across north america. president biden has approved an emergency declaration allowing federal support for new york state, where blizzards have blocked roads and power lines. china will scrap quarantine for travellers from the 8th of january, marking the biggest shift from the country's zero—covid policy. the move comes as china struggles with the virus' spread after restrictions were lifted. taiwan's president, tsai ing—wen, has announced that all men will be required to serve one year's military service. she says the move is to counter growing pressure from beijing. two people are arrested after a woman is shot dead, at a pub in merseyside, in the north west of england on christmas eve.