this is bbc news, broadcasting in the uk on pbs in america and around the globe. i'm joanna gosling. our top stories: hundreds flee the ukrainian city of kherson because of intense russian shelling — the hospital's maternity ward is among the locations hit. behind me, actually, is where an explosion took place just over an hour ago. explosion took place just over an hourago. five explosion took place just over an hour ago. five people were killed here, 20 were injured. every single day, there are people being killed in the city. the united states is the latest country to consider entry restrictions for travellers from china — due to soaring covid covid infection rates, after beijing relaxed containment measures this month. more than 60 people are killed in winter storms sweeping across north america — described as the �*blizzard of the century'.

here in the uk, the family of cody fisher, who was stabbed to death at a club in birmingham on monday, say their hearts are broken. hello and welcome to bbc news. we start this hour with a special report from ukraine, from the southern port of kherson, which is under increased bombardment from russian forces, and where — on tuesday — the maternity ward of a hospital was among the places shelled. kherson is often called �*the gateway to crimea' and, because of its strategic importance, it was one of the first places taken by russian forces at the start of the war. it was liberated last month, in a significant gain for ukrainian troops. but civilians are now living with a daily onslaught of russian shelling. 0ur correspondent yogita limaye has spent the last four days in kherson —

with colleagues imogen anderson, sanjay ganguly and mariana matveichuk — and they sent this special report. i should warn you — it contains some distressing images. kherson is being pounded. this is where one of more than a0 mortars fell in a single day. a city haunted by relentless attacks. another shell hit nearby between a block of homes. as the firemen worked, we heard the sound of more explosions. after a brief pause, they returned to the job, dousing the fire before anyone was hurt. down the road, we found people in a panic. "punish the russians for their crimes. "punish them their whole lives," a woman cried. they'd just seen a neighbour's

home being bombed. she had to be rescued from the debris. over and over this cycle repeats. the day before, 56—year—old serhii breshun was killed here while he was sleeping. we met his mother, tamara. serhii was her only child. translation: | must have feltj something would go wrong that morning because i urged him to wake up and leave the house. but he didn't and that was it. 0ur lives are ruined. she'd come to look for serhii's passport amidst the rubble. a document to release his body from the morgue.

we barely finish the conversation and there's more bombing. this is a picture of what's happening literally every single day in multiple locations. this is the constant sound that we hear in kherson of artillery fire being exchanged. this city is essentially now pretty much on the front line, close to the river, which has become the de facto front line, in the south. behind me, actually, is where an explosion took place just over an hour ago. five people were killed here, 20 were injured. every single day, there are people being killed in this city. six more died later. 0rdinary people out at the central market. at a spot where just last month they had celebrated being freed from russian

control. surviving in kherson is a matter of chance. viktoria yaryshko, a red cross volunteer, was killed just outside this base, a few feet from safety. in the underground shelter, her mother, luidmyla, showed us the medal of honour she was given. translation: i'm very happy she helped a lot of people. i she was so kind. but it's also painful for me. i must recover and raise her two children. i tell them they should be proud of their mother because she is a hero. viktoria's son, sasha, and his sister live here, clearly comfortable with other volunteers. war and loss bind them together. dmitro rakitskyi was victoria's friend. translation: when someone so close dies, it is difficult. _ but if we give up and stop, then her death will have been in vain. we work to make sure people live. everything else is secondary.

the bombs don't stop. while he waits for emergency calls... ..he checks if his wife and children are ok. then he heads out to evacuate those in need. in the few days that we've been here, we've seen the sentiment of relief that there was in the city after it was liberated from russian control in november change very quickly to one of fear and terror. when the russians withdrew, they pulled back to the other side of the dnipro river, and that's where they're continuously bombarding the city from. hundreds have begun to leave kherson. these roads leading out had been clear till christmas. have you been affected by the shelling? we asked iryna antonenko why she was going. translation: we stayed this whole

time and thought it would pass. - but when the home next to ours and my father's home was hit, it was too scary. at the train station, a mother and three daughters, carrying all they can in small bags and boxes. "it's very difficult to leave. "i love ukraine and my dear city, but we have to get out "of here somehow now," elena selivanova told us. she doesn't know when she might see these friends again. everyone in this city has a painful choice to make. yogita limaye, bbc news. the united states is the latest country to consider covid entry restrictions for travelers from china because of soaring covid infection rates after beijing dramatically loosened hardline containment measures this month. china is to scrap quarantine for travellers from the 8th of january, marking the last major shift from the country's zero—covid policy.

chinese travel websites have been inundated with requests for overseas bookings, leaving governments around the world wary of the potential spread of covid. taiwan has become the latest country to announce restrictions on visitors from china — japan, india and malaysia have already said they'll monitor chinese arrivals. we're joined by our reporter martin yip in hong kong. 0bviously countries around the world reacting to this opening up. tell us more about the global reaction and also the reaction they are and how much people are wanting to travel. yes, so, like you just mentioned, taiwan has announced in the last couple of hours that they will impose a rival pcr test, that is the most sophisticated test for covid—i9 virus. for mainland chinese travelling starting on the 1st of january. but this one is not

applicable for people arriving from hong kong or macau. while you see other places, the measures vary in different places. japan is probably the toughest one. they are testing only just the toughest one. they are testing onlyjust mainland china tourists as well but if you have found positive, you have to quarantine for seven days, while taiwan is only talking about five days of home isolation, which would mean for visitors in hotels possibly. back to japan, they are also restricting entrants airports you can use to get into japan if you are coming from mainline china, this time including hong kong and macau as well. we are hearing in the past hour, some airlines in hong kong will be cancelling flights to other major tourist destinations injapan, such as sapporo in the northern part, where you go for skiing, or an hour

in the south where you go for beaches and sunshine, that kind of stuff. so that is probably a little panicking from around the world. beijing actually over the past few hours, the foreign ministry is given a rather angry response to it. they do call for a scientific approach, not to block exchange of people, but they also blame western media for distorting china' effort to open up china. . ~' ,, , distorting china' effort to open up china. . ~ ,, , . distorting china' effort to open up china. . ~ , . some breaking news to bring you about former pope benedict. we are hearing pope francis has asked for prayers for former pope benedict, saying he is very sick. he made the surprise appeal at the end of his general audience. surprise appeal at the end of his generalaudience. no further surprise appeal at the end of his general audience. no further details were given. you may remember that

benedict retired in 2013, when he became the first pope in 600 years to resign and he has been living in the vatican ever since. 0bviously alongside pope francis. he was elected pope in 2005, following the death of popejohn paul ii. he has chosen to be titled... he has called for prayers for pope benedict saying he is very sick. there have been mounting calls for the newly elected republican congressman george santos to resign in the us. that's after he admitted to what he called "embellishments" on his cv. mr santos flipped control of his new york district to the republicans, helping them clinch a narrow majority in the house. azaday moshiri reports. george santos painted the american dream. the son of brazilian immigrants

and an openly gay republican, flipping his new york district red. but it all came crashing down after a new york times investigation poked several holes in his story. damage control is now in full swing. in a series of interviews this week, mr santos has apologised for what he calls "embellishing his resume". i'm sorry. and it shouldn't be done. and it's just... words can't express 100% how i feel. but i'm still the same guy. i'm not a fraud. i'm not a cartoon character. i'm not some mythical creature that was invented. despite claims on his website and during the campaign, mr santos has now admitted that he did not work directly for goldman sachs nor citigroup. instead, he now claims he did business with them through his company. he has also admitted that he did not graduate from any university. and mr santos, a catholic,

made other claims about having jewish heritage that he now denies. the blowback has been severe. in a statement, the ceo of the republicanjewish coalition said... his opponent, robert zimmerman, tweeted... i think the problem leading up to this election and many of our elections here in new york and throughout the united states, is the focus on whether a candidate is a republican or a democrat and less attention is paid to who they are as a human and the characteristics that they possess, besides for the fancy title or besides for the party lines. george santos is set to take office injanuary, and whether he steps down or not, one question is still hovering over the saga —

will more embellishments come out? azaday moshiri, bbc news. here in the uk, relatives of a 23—year—old man stabbed to death on the dance floor ofa birmingham nightclub have described him as their "best friend". cody fisher, a school sport coach, was fatally injured on boxing day. greg mackenzie reports. 23—year—old cody fisher was in the prime of his life, but his life was cut short, stabbed to death on a dance floor ofa birmingham nightclub on boxing day. described by his family as a best friend, the semi—professional footballer and sports coach was fatally injured at the crane nightclub in digbeth. police believe he was approached by a group before being attacked. tragic incident that really unfortunately brings home how important it is for the police and other partners to really get

on top of knife crime in the city. it's dreadful when these incidents happen because people need to feel that they are safe. they need to feel safe and they need to be safe. many tributes have been paid to cody fisher online, including this one from jessica, describing him as the love of her life. writing on instagram, she said... 0ther tributes include mike burke, bromsgrove chairman. it was a club the 23—year—old once played for. we were due to play stratford next monday at home. and cody is a registered player with stratford and we intend to use that match as a tribute to cody and we can all show our love and respect to him on that day.

in a statement, the family of cody fisher said... police say they are yet to make any arrests and are urging anyone who has information to get in touch. the crane nightclub says it has cancelled its planned new year's eve event on saturday in light of what happened here on boxing day. greg mckenzie, bbc news. at least 62 people have been killed in winter storms sweeping across north america. us officials are calling it the �*blizzard of the century', with an extra nine inches of snow expected during the day in new york state, where the city of buffalo has borne the brunt of the arctic conditions. the storm has affected a vast area, from canada in the north, down through the us, and reaching mexico. it's also causing travel chaos —

with thousands of flights cancelled over the busy christmas break. live now to new york with cbs news correspondent jarred hill. what is the latest on the travel situation? , , , ., , , situation? this is still a pretty tricky situation _ situation? this is still a pretty tricky situation here. - situation? this is still a pretty tricky situation here. flight i tricky situation here. flight tracking website fly to where said southwest airlines in particular has cancelled about 62% of its flights today alone. there is still a significant number that were cancelled yesterday, the day before, even tomorrow. other airlines are booked up right now because of the holiday season and also the scramble for people to find another way to get to where they need to go, which means thousands of right now are left stranded at airports across the country. the company here is pointing to the weather and the fact that many of the routes they fly through are in some of the mostly heavily impacted areas but a member of the pilots association with southwest has argued the company's scheduling software isn't up—to—date

and that is a big reason for all we are seeing here. it is notjust in the private sector. the federal department of transportation is looking into exactly what happened if this was avoidable and if the company is holding them to their customer service promises and making sure that it compensates customers who are right now again stranded and waiting to figure out what they do next. it waiting to figure out what they do next. , , , . , waiting to figure out what they do next. ,, ,. , next. it is being described as the blizzard of the _ next. it is being described as the blizzard of the century _ next. it is being described as the blizzard of the century and - next. it is being described as the blizzard of the century and the i next. it is being described as the i blizzard of the century and the high death toll reflects that. what is the latest in times at the number of casualties and deaths and how bad are things now?— are things now? yes, so again, we are things now? yes, so again, we are seeing — are things now? yes, so again, we are seeing about _ are things now? yes, so again, we are seeing about at _ are things now? yes, so again, we are seeing about at least - are things now? yes, so again, we are seeing about at least 60 - are things now? yes, so again, we | are seeing about at least 60 deaths so far in relation to this massive winter storm. a lot of those are in buffalo, new york. there are still about 600 kilometres from where we are in new york city, to give some perspective there. it started to warm up some. there are some more vehicles being able to move through those street but it is still an incredible sight. you still have a lot of people who are stuck inside

of their homes. they are hoping to be able to lift out some of these driving bans that have been in place because you have to remember, folks have been hunkered down in their homes now for days. food is running out, they might be running out of water and things of that nature. even some of the local elected officials in the area have acknowledged they themselves are starting to run out of some of those essentials. so we are at a point now when they are trying to allow for people to safely as possible manoeuvre through the city, which still is pretty difficult, while making sure that those roads remain passable and safe for emergency crews to get through not only to do some cleaning but also to help with any emergency situations that may p0p up any emergency situations that may pop up over the next few days. back to. the president of the philippines has admitted that inflation in the country is out of control — mostly due to soaring food prices. the philippines is already one of the most food—insecure countries

in south—east asia as it relies on imports to feed its expanding population. farmers have also been hit by devastating losses after several storms and typhoons. laura bicker reports from manila, on fears that the philippines is heading for a food crisis. manila's maze of back alleys start to stir well before dawn. for many, like mary, sleep is a luxury. these hours are essential if she's to feed her family. mary sells pandesal, a breakfast staple in the philippines, but the cost of making them has risen. translation: the prices - for ingredients have increased. but i can't increase the price to sell them because my loyal customers can't afford that change. they won't buy from me any more if i do, because they have competitors who have the same price as mine. mary earns about $4 a day.

back home, she wakes herfour children with the last of the milk. 17 people live in this house to keep costs low. translation: to save food, i put the children on a diet. l we used to eat three times a day, but now we only eat lunch and dinner. i don't know what will happen later. maybe next month, when the prices increase, we won't be able to eat. no matter how hard you work, if the prices are just going up, then it's basically nothing. so as you can see, the problem here isn't a lack of food, the problem is the price of it. the average filipino is already spending around 60% of their wages on food bills. one of the reasons food is so expensive here is because this country has to import many products because the philippines doesn't grow enough food to feed its own people.

and the food this country does grow is never guaranteed. felix wanders through his typhoon ravaged rice crops. his hard work is in ruins. translation: ican't. remember the typhoons and their names, but this has been the most heartbreaking yet. prices of goods have increased. meanwhile, the price of our crops remain the same. it means what we harvest is worthless. 0ur situation right now is the hardest ever. felix is not alone. millions of hectares of precious rice crops have been wiped out by successive storms. farmers have also had to pay more for fertilizer, for machinery, than ever before. the philippines needs its farmers to feed them, but many make so little, they cannot feed themselves.

two thirds of this country are already unsure of where their next meal is coming from. these are resilient people — they do what they can to survive. but experts believe millions more will face hunger and malnutrition if prices continue to rise. laura bicker, bbc news, manila. former spice girl, pop—star mel c has announced she's pulling out of a new year's eve concert in poland. she didn't specify why — but her decision has been praised by members of the lgbt community. the polish authorities have been widely criticised for their attitudes to gay rights. tim allman reports. # i thought that we would just be friends # things will never be the same again...# for more than 25 years, both as a solo artist and as part of the spice girls, mel c has been performing all around the world.

but now she has decided there is at least one place where she does not want to perform. in a statement on twitter she said... mel c is a high—profile supporter of lgbt rights. even being named as honorary gay by attitude magazine earlier this year. gay rights have become something of a flashpoint in poland, with demonstrators on both sides taking to the streets. same—sex marriages and civil unions are not recognised in the country and same—sex couples have no legal right to adopt children. earlier this year, amnesty international said the atmosphere of hostility towards the community is growing dangerously worse. the issue of pop stars performing in countries with a conservative attitude

to lgbt rights was recently highlighted by the world cup in qatar. big names like robbie williams and the black eyed peas held concerts during the event, even though homosexuality is illegal in the country. as for mel c, her decision was welcomed by some in poland. 0ne opposition politican saying, "equality is equality. "no discussion or compromise." tim allman, bbc news. nowjust before i go, let's bring you some pictures of pandas in the snow. the giant panda research center in northwest china is the place where the world's only captive brown giant panda lives. and as you can see, he and his friends have rather enjoyed the conditions. this is apprently the most active time of year for giant pandas, so plenty of enjoyment for them, then. a fa ct a fact about brown pandas, the world's first was discovered in 1985

in the mountains and there are only 200-300 in the mountains and there are only 200—300 living in the wild. you are watching bbc news. hello again. as we go through the next few days “p as we go through the next few days up to the end of this year, the weather remains unsettled. we are looking at spells of heavy rain, we have got that today. it is going to be windy, especially so on friday, and there will also be some snow on the hills in the north. so if you are on the move, don't forget you can find out what the weather is going to be like for yourjourney, where you are going, or indeed where you are, on our bbc weather app. now this morning, we have seen a lot of rain around and through the course of this afternoon, it is going to be continuing to push out of most of england, northern ireland and continue to move northwards across scotland. behind it there will be quite a bit of cloud left and there will also be a few showers, but we could see some late afternoon brightness in wales and the south—west. but it is going to be windy.

gusty winds, the strongest of which will be in the south—west. temperatures today ranging from seven in the north to around 12 as we push down towards the south. through this evening and overnight, a band of rain, hill snow and sleet continued to push northwards across scotland. you can see how we have got this weather front here, that is going to bring some rain moving from the west towards the east through the course of the night and easing by the end of the night and it is still going to be windy, so we are not anticipating any issues with frost. tomorrow, then, we pick up this band of rain here. you can see we still do very much have it and if anything, it is going to be merging with some more showers and the whole lot is going to be pushing from the west towards the east, falling as snow on higher ground across the grampians and highlands, and potentially to towards the tops of the pennines. but there will be a lot of dry weather as we can further south and east with fewer showers. temperatures tomorrow down attach on today's, so feeling a little bit cooler, still one day. on friday, it is pretty wet to start the day, we have got rain pushing northwards

and also eastwards, some hill snow for a time. as the rain clears it will brighten up, we will see some sunshine but there still could be some heavy showers across parts of south—west scotland and north—west england and also northern ireland, and temperatures up a little bit, but don't forget, it's still going to be windy. then on new year's eve, hogmanay, we are looking at further showers. some of those will be wintry, mostly on high ground in the north, but some of the heavier ones, we could see that down at low levels for a time. and we have also got this band of rain in southern areas which will be moving northwards through saturday and into sunday.

this is bbc world news, the headlines: hundreds of people are fleeing the ukranian city of kherson because of intense russian shelling. bombardment of the city has increased sharply over the past few days. on tuesday, a shell hit the maternity ward of a hospital. the united states is the latest country to consider entry restrictions for travellers from china — due to soaring covid infection rates there. taiwan, japan, india and malaysia have already said they'll monitor arrivals from china. at least 62 people have been killed in winter storms sweeping across north america. us officials are calling it the �*blizzard of the century.�* the storm has affected a vast area — from canada down to mexico. pope francis says his predecessor — benedict — is �*very ill�* and he is praying for him. the former pontiff is 95.