this is bbc news broadcasting in the uk 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. five people were killed here, 20 were injured. every single day, there are people being killed in this city. pope francis says his predecessor benedict xvi is �*very ill�* and he is praying for him. in 2013, benedict became the first pope in six centuries to resign. the united states is the latest country to consider entry restrictions for travellers from china — due to soaring covid infection rates, after beijing relaxed containment measures this month.

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. and — building model plane kits for a new generation of fans — we report on the revival of a classic hobby... 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. our 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. our 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. ordinary 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. - 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 viktoria'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. pope francis has asked roman catholics to pray for his predecessor, pope emeritus benedict, who he said was very ill. francis made the surprise appeal at the end of his

general audience at the vatican. benedict xvi is now 95, and his health has been deteriorating. he stepped down as pope in 2013, after nearly eight years as pontiff. he became the first pope in around 600 years to resign. joining us now is ac wimmer, who is interim europe editor at the catholic news agency. an american new service reporting on the catholic church. welcome and thank you forjoining us. how much of a surprise was this announcement? well, on the one hand it's not surprising giving the pope emeritus at 95 or that he is ill but we heard from sources close to benedict saying he was well up until the 24th of december and then took a turn for the worse. so in that sense, yes, it is surprising. the worse. so in that sense, yes, it is surprising-— is surprising. how much has been known publicly — is surprising. how much has been known publicly about _ is surprising. how much has been known publicly about him - is surprising. how much has been known publicly about him since i is surprising. how much has been| known publicly about him since he resigned and how much of a presence has he been? his presence has been particularly

spiritual, a life of prayer in a monastery in the vatican gardens so far. but we heard from pope emeritus especially in the abuse inquiry be public, calling for a voice in what was going on. so there have been a few instances where he has piped up, as it were, but mostly it has been rather quiet. as it were, but mostly it has been rather quiet-— as it were, but mostly it has been rather quiet. and we are of course in an extraordinary _ rather quiet. and we are of course in an extraordinary situation. - rather quiet. and we are of course in an extraordinary situation. i - in an extraordinary situation. i mentioned he was the first pope in around 600 years to resign. so uncharted territory, this, to have a former pope living alongside the current pope, as has been the situation for such a long period? the church is in a moment of particular crisis on a number of fronts and as you pointed out, the leadership has changed in a number of ways and is under growing changes

as we speak. we are at a point in time in other words when you are seeing a lot of changes being brought online. there is solidarity looming for the church worldwide. a number of things afoot. we are in a particularly exciting time, if you like. but at the same time, this couldn't have come at a worse time for the church, between christmas and new year's, they are scrambling to find people to respond to all our questions and ourjournalists on the ground at the vatican. tell questions and ourjournalists on the ground at the vatican.— ground at the vatican. tell us more about the former _ ground at the vatican. tell us more about the former cardinal _ ground at the vatican. tell us more about the former cardinal who - ground at the vatican. tell us more i about the former cardinal who became pope after the death ofjohn paul ii in 2005, what did he stand for when he was pope and what has he stood for since? having been an archbishop himself in his native bavaria, he has a lasting legacy there, in the sense of he was one of the people who had attended the second vatican council as an

expert, but theologically then was able to formulate what is an attempt to bring the church into modern times without forsaking what the catholic church has brought to history and to humanity in terms of what it brings as the church of jesus. so in a way, he has been a seminalfigure for the jesus. so in a way, he has been a seminal figure for the church on a theological basis. but also because he was the leader of the doctrine of the faith and in charge of working against abuse, he was also a seminal figure in the early fight against sexual abuse in the catholic church and of course as a teacher of the faith, when he was pontiff and also through his books, he wrote a number of very important books, including the three volume jesus of very important books, including the three volumejesus of nazareth. thank you forjoining us, ac wimmer. 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 — and japan, india and malaysia have already said they'll monitor chinese arrivals. here's an update from our correspondent, martin yip. taiwan has literallyjust announced in the last couple of hours that they will impose a rival pcr test, that's the most sophisticated test for the 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 just varies

in different places. japan is probably the toughest one. they are testing onlyjust mainland chinese tourists as well but if you have found positive, you have to be quarantined 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 entrance... airports you can use to get intojapan if you are coming from mainline china, this time including hong kong and macau as well. we are already hearing in the past hour that 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 okinawa in the south, where you go for beaches and sunshine, that kind of stuff.

so that is kind of probably a little panicking from around the world. beijing actually over the past few hours, the foreign ministry has 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's effort to open up china. martin yip. 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. cbs news correspondent jarred hill says it has also caused travel chaos — with thousands of flights cancelled. this is still a pretty tricky situation here. flight tracking website flightaware

says that the company 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 that thousands right now are left stranded at airports across the country. the company here is pointing to the weather and the fact that many of their routes they fly through are in some of the mostly heavily impacted areas, but a member of the pilots' association with southwest has argued that the company's scheduling software isn't up—to—date and that's a big reason for all that we're seeing here. now, it's notjust in the private sector. the federal, the department of transportation is looking into exactly what happened, if this was avoidable and if the company is holding them to its 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's being described as the blizzard of the century and the high death toll obviously reflects that. what is the latest in terms of the number of casualties and deaths and how bad 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 the buffalo, new york, area. this is 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's still an incredible sight. you still have a lot of people who are stuck inside of their homes. they're hoping to be able to lift up 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 that they themselves are starting to run out of some

of those essentials. so we're at a point now in which they're trying to really 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 pop up over the next few days. 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... other 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. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's jane dougall. hello.

good morning. we start with manchester united because the manager has said he wants to see improvements and specifically more goals. that is despite his side's 3-0 goals. that is despite his side's 3—0 win on tuesday in the premier league. marcus rashford scored the first against nottingham forest, then set up anthony martial and fred got there third. however united missed several chances to score more. it was their first match back in the premier league after the breakfor the world in the premier league after the break for the world cup. meanwhile, chelsea manager graham potter has said he has his fingers crossed after england defender reece james suffered another knee injury in their win over bournemouth on tuesday. james had to be taken off in the 53rd minute of their 2—0 premier league victory. it was his first game since returning from the knee injury which ruled him out of the world cup. later in the premier league, manchester city travel to leeds as they look to reduce the gap on

leaders arsenal. city are now eight points off the top spot with a game in hand, having gone into the world cup break with a defeat at home to brentford. manager pep guardiola is aware that any more mistakes could prove to be costly in the title race. after our defeat against brentford and how strong is our son —— maker arsenal, we have to be alert because the distance if it is bigger, it will be so difficult to catch them. cricket and australia are closing in on a series win against south africa after day three of the second test. having declared after reaching 575-8. having declared after reaching 575—8. wicketkeeper alex carey scored a maiden century, following on from david warner's 200, as australia replied to south africa's 189. the decision to declare look to be a wise one. south africa lost the early wicket of their captain dean

elgar in the second innings, finishing on 15—1 before play was abandoned because of rain. one of the nfl�*s greatest ever defensive players is to retire at the end of the season. jj watts wrote on social media that it had been an honour and a pleasure. the arizona cardinals defender was voted nfl defensive player of the year three times. he has spent the last two seasons with the cardinals after playing for the houston texans between 2011—2020. more details on all of those stories on the bbc sport website. that is it for now. thank you. you might think the days of spending the christmas holidays building your new model plane are well and truly over. in fact, the classic hobby is alive and kicking. lockdowns and social media have fuelled a boom in sales — and the models are proving popular with boys, girls...and adults, including the bbc'sjohn maguire.

before you build a model aeroplane, the kit you use is built here in a factory in east sussex. it marks a return to uk production. molten plastic is pumped into a high pressure press, which contains an intricately detailed mould. what comes out and are then checked by eye are the frames known as sprews. they hold the parts ready to be removed and assembled. this is the 1/24 scale mk9 super marine spitfire, a new kit created by airfix and in painstaking detail. the spitfires were renowned for being incredibly well made. so some aircraft, this kind of effect of the wind is really pronounced. but actually for spitfires, especially when they were newer, it wasn't quite so bad. chris, the designer, has been back to the drawing board. the drawing board that the original aircraft engineers used to design the real wartime plane.

you have to be careful because what was initially planned isn't necessarily what actually came out of the factory, because when they're putting these bits of metal together, they find, ah, i need to make a little tweak here, i need to adjust that. and in the, kind of, how quickly they had to produce them as well, they found little workarounds. but it's a great starting point to go from the original drawings and amazing thing to be able to get to hold and work with. just check that wing span, make sure it's nice and straight. this kit isn't for the faint hearted. it could take months to build. it's not a cheap kit. it's a considered purchase. and obviously the model has an expectation level of what should be in the kit. and obviously this is a 433 part kit. it represents as a truly authentic scale product. today i'm starting on my first ever aircraft model. it's a super marine spitfire mk1. making the models and the dedication, concentration and passion the hobby requires is appealing to a whole new generation.

this is building spitfires for the tiktok age. you're into the classics, you're old, you're really old. your social security number is two. for some, it's a voyage of rediscovery. richard spreckly was a keen modeller as a boy and was reintroduced to it by his late father—in—law. a retired police officer who also served in afghanistan, richard says working away in the shed he's converted into a studio is the perfect way to relax. you get engrossed in it. certainly you have to stop when you can't, yourfingers are stuck together or your paint�*s not quite dry or something like that. but yes, time just disappears. nowjust before we 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. you're watching bbc news. hello again. 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 continue 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 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 a touch on today's,

so feeling a little bit cooler, but still windy. 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. pope francis says his predecessor — benedict vxi — is �*very ill�* benedict xvi — is �*very ill�* and he is praying for him. in 2013 benedict became the first pope in six centuries to resign. 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. here in the uk, the family of cody fisher,

who was stabbed to death at a club in birmingham on monday,