this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. 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 says all men will now be required to serve one year's military service — after china launches one of its biggest incursions into taiwanese airspace. serbia has put troops on high alert over rising tensions with kosovo. here in the uk, two people are being questioned in connection with the fatal shooting of a young woman in merseyside on christmas eve. and another unexplained death involving russian oligarchs — the sausage tycoon pavel antov has been found dead at an indian hotel.

at least 60 people have been killed in the winter storms that are sweeping across north america. the city of buffalo in new york state has borne the brunt of the arctic conditions. at least 27 people have died there. president biden has approved financial support for the state. our north america correspondent nada tawfik has this update. the worst is over in buffalo but it is not over yet, they expect around

13 centimetres of snow. numerous people had said they have never experienced anything this badge, hurricane force winds, near wipe—out conditions in the city and the priority at the moment is trying to dig out of the residence. vehicles have been buried, the death toll is over 20 now, emergency responders the other number could go up as they clear out the city. a driving ban is still in effect, residents can hopefully get around as they are trying to clear the roads, there is the hope that people can get basic food supplies after several days stuck inside. then there is the power situation, authorities hope to restore parity residents who have been without that. certainly this will be a christmas know it will soon forget —— or restore power to residents. there have been harrowing

scenes out of buffalo, people stuck in vehicles trying to walk with their families to shelter, spending hours in their vehicles until they are reached by emergency responders, those emergency vehicles themselves being stuck in the snow at certain points, this is a dire situation for the city of buffalo but across the rest of america milder temperatures are setting in and the deep freeze is beginning to thaw. 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. earlier we spoke to lin fei—fan, deputy secretary—general of the taiwanese majority ruling democratic progressive party. we started asking him what he thought about the chinese explanation for the drills, accusing taiwan and the united states of collusion and provocation. here is what he had to say. we have seen the chinese government

saying all these words many times about provocation from taiwan, but we have seen in the past six years or longer, for decades, we have witnessed china changing the status quo, so china is a country that is trying to provoke the regional countries like taiwan, like japan. their actions, just like yesterday, they sent over 71 fighter jets across taiwan's median mark of the straight, and seven navy vessels too. we have witnessed china as a country he was changing the status quo and trying to provoke the regional countries. we had tried to maintain the stability and peace in the past. we see that taiwan is a democratic country, we have a right

to make connections and make friends with the regional democratic countries, so we believe taiwan should have the right to make friends with anyone. we are a sovereign, independent country, but in their view, the view of china, taiwan as part of china, which is unacceptable for the majority of countries and the majority of taiwanese people. i believe that is the real provocation to democracy. serbia has put troops on high alert over rising tensions with kosovo. it comes after weeks of escalating rethoric between belgrade and pristina. new roadblocks appeared on tuesday, in the majority—serb town of north mitrovica. kosovo is a small, landlocked country which many serbs consider the birthplace of their nation. that's despite out of the 1.8

million people living there, only 6% are serbian — 92% are albanian. in 2008, kosovo unilaterally declared independence from serbia. many countries — including russia and china — do not recognise it. the latest flare—up in tensions follows conflicting reports about a shooting incident. reports from belgrade alleged ethnic serbs came under attack, but the claim was rejected by authorities in pristina.(read 0n) let's speak now to bbc serbian reporter aleksandar miladinovic in belgrade. cited the barricades go up in the area? ,, , , ., cited the barricades go up in the area? ,, ,, ., ., ., ., area? serps from the north of kosovo claimed their — area? serps from the north of kosovo claimed their basic— area? serps from the north of kosovo claimed their basic rights _ area? serps from the north of kosovo claimed their basic rights are - claimed their basic rights are threatened in the north of kosovo —— serbs. they thought they only way it was to direct barricades. 0n the other side of kosovo government

claims that the barricades were erected by criminal structures from the north of the state and those criminal structures are supported by the officials in belgrade. we criminal structures are supported by the officials in belgrade.— the officials in belgrade. we get a resonse the officials in belgrade. we get a resnonse from _ the officials in belgrade. we get a response from the _ the officials in belgrade. we get a response from the serbian - the officials in belgrade. we get a i response from the serbian president in belgrade who says he is putting his army on high alert. why? it is im ortant his army on high alert. why? it is important to _ his army on high alert. why? it is important to note _ his army on high alert. why? it 3 important to note this is his army on high alert. why? it 1 important to note this is the seventh time in the previous five years the serbian army has gone on combat readiness status, as it is officially called. so far none of these situations lead to any further developments but belgrade again stated it is a necessary measure, it is ready to do everything at their disposal to protect the rights of serbian minority in kosovo. for whatever the examples of how those rules are being broken and how the minority of serbs are not getting fair treatment, there is the recent

ban on the visit of the serbian patriarch to kosovo, pristina says there was no ban, it was a conditional visit but the patriarch should have publicly condemned the barricades and those who support them, on the serbian side it was a unilateral decision not to let the leader of the religious group visits sites. ~ , ., ,._ , leader of the religious group visits sites. ~ , , sites. when you say he is prepared for the army _ sites. when you say he is prepared for the army to _ sites. when you say he is prepared for the army to do _ sites. when you say he is prepared for the army to do anything - sites. when you say he is prepared for the army to do anything and . for the army to do anything and everything, what does that mean? an incursion into the northern of kosovo? it incursion into the northern of kosovo? , , ., ., kosovo? it is very hard to say what the serbian — kosovo? it is very hard to say what the serbian armed _ kosovo? it is very hard to say what the serbian armed forces - kosovo? it is very hard to say what the serbian armed forces can - kosovo? it is very hard to say what the serbian armed forces can do l the serbian armed forces can do because of a very extensive international presence on the ground. there are around 4000 international troops, there is a late —— a nato united nations with a main goal to preserve peace in kosovo and to treat fairly all citizens, so the serbian army from 1999 does not have access to the territory of kosovo, that was the

year when the nato campaign was directed against former yugoslavia for protecting the rights of albanians living in kosovo. as a result of that, serbian armed forces were never to return to kosovo and until now that has not changed. we will leave that bar, thank you very much, aleksandar miladinovic. —— we will leave that there. here in the uk two people are being questioned in connection with the fatal shooting of a 26—year old woman in merseyside on christmas eve. a 30—year—old man is being held on suspicion of murder and a 19—year—old woman is being detained on suspicion elle edwards died in hospital after being shot in the head at the lighthouse pub in wallasey village. 0ur correspondent fiona trott has been speaking to people there. "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. today people are returning to work for the first time after the christmas break. they say life is supposed to go on, but it's hard. we had a lovely build—up to christmas, everything was lovely, we were all happy, and now we've come here and it'sjust a scary place to be. did you know elle? i did know elle, yeah, so... which makes itjust even more awful. michelle has lived here all her life and runs the local launderette. that whole family, every christmas is never, ever going to be the same forthem, is it? ever. such a shame. do you think the community can move on from this? i think it will always be there, won't it? | every time you go into that - lighthouse, every time you're sat there, you're going to think about it, aren't you? - i don't think you are safe anywhere, you know? we are here, we are in wallasey, it's a nice little community, a nice area. but we are not safe, are we, anywhere that we go now? do you really feel that? yeah, ifeel like it's not safe.

after elle's family visited the scene yesterday, the investigation moved quickly. forensic teams have searched the local area and community leaders issued a fresh appealfor information. then, a few hours later, police activity across the city. officers were seen here at addresses in tranmere, the area where two arrests were made. 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. a murder investigation is under way after a 23—year—old man was stabbed to death on the dance floor ofa birmingham nightclub in england. the man was fatally injured at the crane nightclub in the digbeth area of the city. 0ur midlands correspondent phil mackie has more on this. well, they are desperate to talk to people who were here last night. there was a major boxing day event here at the crane, it lasted from three

in the afternoon and it was scheduled to finish at midnight. the 23—year—old was stabbed just before the close, a dj from italy called marco carola was playing a set at the time. a lot of people have already been interviewed by the police but they still want to hear from anybody who was here last night and may have something else to add. we had a statement from the crane nightclub in the last half hour or so, they say that they are deeply shocked and saddened that a man lost his life last night as our boxing day event came to a close. our thoughts are with the victim and his family and friends. they say they're working closely with west midlands police. and also the statement from one of the djs who played a set earlier in the afternoon, dj steve lawler. he said, "i'm just hearing now that someone was murdered at the show last night, which is beyond unbelievable and so, so sad. my prayers and love go to this person's family and loved ones. i left after my set was done, and to wake up to this is so heartbreaking." as i said, the dj who was actually playing the set at the time,

we think, was dj marco carola. he is due to be on stage in liverpool later today. the club has said it has cancelled its new year's eve events. west midlands police detectives obviously desperate to find out what happened. and we have seen them coming and going from here in the past hour or so. obviously not just appealing for witnesses but studying cctv, and hopefully we will get some kind of update later on this afternoon. a russian oligarchy made his millions producing sausages, pavel antov, has been found dead at an injured hotel. —— who made his millions. the millionaire's death is the latest in a series of unexplained deaths involving russian tycoons since the start of the russian invasion, many of whom have openly criticised the war. last summer he denied criticising russia's war in ukraine after a message appeared on his whatsapp account. 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. sport, and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's hugh ferris. hello. not since the 1990s have chelsea lost four matches in a row, but that could happen in the first of the day's two premier league games. later manchester united take on nottingham forest, before then chelesa play bournemouth having gone into the world cup break with three straight defeats... which have left them in eighth place in the table, but manager graham potter insists his team are better for the time off. a break can help, an international break or a different fixture in terms of a different competition. we had the break, the guys that went

away to the world cup, that is cleared away, everybody can research and all the learning that has happened in that intense period can consolidate and that has been beneficial for going forward. the premier legaue last season — and not starting this one particularly well — dean smith has been sacked by norwich. he's been the centre of a toxic atmosphere at recent games, with some fans demanding smith be replaced. they lost 2—1 at luton on monday and are currently fifth in the championship afterjust three wins in the last 13 league matches. lionel messi will return to his club psg on the first of january after leading argentina to the world cup. he'll miss two french league games between now and then having had more time off than those other players involved in the final in qatar, when he scored two goals in helping his country win the trophy for a third time. psg boss christophe galtier will have france forward kylian mbappe avaliable for their match on wednesday against strasbourg. david warner scored a double century in his 100th test to put australia in control against south africa after two days of the second test in melbourne.

warner retired on exactly 200 because he was cramping in the heat at the mcg, but he helped australia to a lead of 197 runs. steve smith scored 85 as the home side finished on 386—3 on a day where south africa's anrich nortje avoided a serious injury after being knocked over broadcaster's �*spidercam'. australia lead the three—match series 1—0. meanwhile new zealand have made a good start in response to pakistan's first innings total of 438 on day two of their test in karachi. they're 165 without loss, openers devon conway and tom latham well on the way to their centuries. pakistan aiming to bounce back from their recent 3—0 test series defeat at home by england. 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 14

of their last 15 games. durant�*s haul took him past former san antonio spurs great tim duncan into 15th on the nba's all—time scoring list. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. thank you, we will speak to you later. rail passengers in the uk are being warned they face more disruption, despite members of the rmt union returning to work today after the latest strike. an ongoing overtime ban, engineering work and a walk out by members of another transport and travel union — the tssa — means that only 70% of services are running. theo leggett has the latest. large crowds, plenty of would—be passengers and very few trains setting off. this was the scene at paddington station in london this morning. i completely support the strikes. i just... yeah, hope that it doesn't continue for too much longer and i hope that they get what they need.

some of them are due for it, all right. but to do it on a holiday time like this and that is spoiling everyone's holiday, isn't it? the national strike by rmt union members at network rail ended at 6am, but getting a railway back up and running takes time. the staff are returning to work so it is a much later start up for passenger services. so passengers should really check before they travel today to ensure they don't turn up at a station and no trains be there. but we'll expect to run about 70% of normal services today. network rail�*s christmas strike may be at an end but the disruption certainly isn't over. we're seeing plenty of cancellations and delays. there's an overtime ban still in force across much of the network and some localised train strikes, as well. and next week, things are set to get even worse. some of the worst problems today are being felt by passengers at crosscountry. the company says no services will be running north of york because of ongoing industrial action.

meanwhile, two further 48—hour national strikes by rmt members, working at both network rail and 14 train companies, are due to take place next week — from tuesday to wednesday and from friday to saturday. and in between those, a national strike by train drivers, called by the aslef union, is scheduled for thursday 5th january. and these strikes are unlikely to be the last. disputes between unions and railfirms over money, jobs and working practices show no sign of being resolved. that leaves rail travellers facing the prospect of a bleak new year. theo leggett, bbc news. the singer mel c has pulled out of a new year's eve concert in poland after being made aware of issues that do not align, she says, with the communities she supports. the spice girl had been due to perform in the town of zakopane on saturday. polish authorities and the tv station organising the concert have

been widely criticised in recent years for their stances on lgbt rights. 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 14 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! some fairly zany devices. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @cfraserbbc.

i will have the headline shortly, stay with me. hello. a wet day today for many of us, and the run up to the new year is indeed looking quite stormy at times. and, of course, it's not uncommon this time of the year, especially around christmas and the new year, to have big weather systems spawned by a jet stream across the atlantic. you can see a whole trail of cloud here, which is heading in our direction, multiple weather systems lining up and they'll be coming in one after the other after the other, literally day by day. here's the low pressure over us today. this is the one we're going to get tomorrow. and there's more weather systems behind that one, too. so the picture around the end of the afternoon shows the heaviest of the rain in south—western parts of the country. it won't be raining absolutely everywhere and certainly not all the time. come the evening, skies will actually clear across many

western parts of the uk, at least for a time, before the next low pressure, the one i showed you on that pressure chart, sweeps into south—western and southern england as well as wales, and will be nudging into the midlands too. but further north, clearer skies, lighter winds and also a touch of frost in scotland. so here's that low pressure, strong winds blowing to the south of this low. so that means gale force winds around coastal areas — 50, maybe 60 miles an hour inland around 30 or40. that is quite a strong wind. with the rain, it's not going to feel pleasant, even though the temperatures are actually going to be relatively high, around sort of 11s or 12s across england and wales. a bit colder there in the north of scotland, the other side of the weather front, six degrees for stornoway. and then tomorrow evening that rain will make its journey further north, and behind it we've got a rash of blustery showers, and thursday is going to be a very blustery day because that low pressure pulls away to the north, into the norwegian sea and behind it we've got strong winds. so a very changeable day. but, yes, some sunny spells,

frequent showers sweeping through, some of them wintry across high ground in scotland. but on the whole, actually a pretty usable day if you manage to dodge the showers, but it will feel colder in that wind. and then end of the week, friday, we've got a really nasty area of low pressure sweeping across the country — heavy rain, very strong winds and possibly even severe gales around coastal areas and really windy inland, too. and you can see into the new year it stays really unsettled with those temperatures in the south perhaps reaching 13 degrees celsius. bye— bye.

this is bbc world news. the headlines... 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 said the move is in response to growing pressure from beijing. serbia has put troops on high alert over rising tensions with kosovo. president vuchich said he would "take all measures" to protect his nation. ethnic serbs in northern kosovo have been demanding the release of a former serbian police officer. here in the uk, two people are being questioned in connection with the fatal shooting of ellie edwards at a pub in merseyside on christmas eve. four other people were injured in the incident.