this is bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm samantha simmonds. the headlines: the search for survivors of a plane crash in nepal has been called off for the night. at least 68 are now confirmed dead. everybody is confused because this pilot is one of the most experienced and well—respected pilots of nepal. at least 22 people killed and 72 injured during a missile strike on an apartment building in the eastern ukrainian city of dnipro. hello and welcome to bbc world news. at least 68 people have been

killed after a passenger plane crashed in nepal. the yeti airlines flight came down close to the tourist town of pokhara. the search has now been called off for the night and will resume on monday in daylight. it's understood a number of foreign nationals are among the dead. from kathmandu, our correspondent rajini vaidyanathan sent this report. and a warning, you may find some of the images distressing. what's thought to be the final moments of yeti airlines flight 691. first, you see it veer off course. then, you hear it. the smouldering remains of the twin—engine plane, which had 72 people onboard, including children. it came down close to its destination — the tourist town of pokhara. most of those onboard were nepalis. chaos and confusion, as people searched for survivors. speaking in the capital, nepal's prime minister says

the authorities are trying to work out how this crash happened. translation: the incident- was tragic, all forces have been deployed for rescue operations, the investigation is going on now, and i have called an emergency cabinet meeting. the plane took off from here, at kathmandu airport, earlier this morning. tomorrow, the bodies of some of the victims are expected to return back here. monday has also been declared a national day of mourning in nepal. it's unclear still what caused the crash, but this himalayan nation has a tragic history of fatal airline accidents. as a nation mourns, some are asking if enough is being done to ensure the country's skies are safe. tonight, as families grieve, they also want answers. former airline pilot terry tozer spoke to us earlier and said that early signs suggest

the aircraft may have stalled. well, it is a very challenging environment. if you look at that video, you have got clear blue sky. there may have been some wind, but i'm not sure if any of the normal things in a mountainous terrain would have been a factor. as the man said earlier from nepal aviation, he had been there a couple of times already that day and would have been familiar with the airport and the conditions. it's perfectly possible that during this turn, they had a problem which distracted them or caused handling problems, but the aircraft looks slow. the nose looks a bit high. and if it didn't have the flaps set,

then that's all a recipe for a stall, and at low level, they didn't have much time to recover. more than 20 people have been killed and 72 injured after a missile destroyed an apartment building in the eastern ukrainian city of dnipro. a0 residents are still thought to be missing. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse reports from kyiv. dnipro has learned to cope with constant threat. being 120 miles from the front line isn't enough to escape moments like this. the cause is obvious, the damage, plain to see, but what disappears immediately are entire lives. the rescue continued as flames were put out and night arrived, as well as the realisation of what had happened. translation: what have you done to my son? - you're evil! i curse you and future generations of your families. may you animals be cursed for

the rest of your lives by everyone! there is anger, and occasional hope. shouting "is anyone alive," ask rescuers? "here, here," they shout. the cranes shut down. "lady, we can hear you," they say. today has brought more breakthroughs, but the number of dead will go up with time. dnipro is a reminder of how ordinary people can end up in harm's way, despite russia's likely target being nearby infrastructure. this was, nevertheless, an attack on the whole of the country. after a relative respite of two weeks, moscow has resumed its tactic of trying to deny ukrainians energy during the height of winter. there were blackouts across ukraine, including

here, in the western lviv region. in a sign of his unchanged position, the country's leader says russia can only be stopped on the battlefield. translation: it can and must be done on our land, _ in our sky, in our sea. what do we need for this? the weapons that are in the depots of our partners, the ones which our troops are waiting for. the rescue of a woman this morning brought more much—needed good news, against a backdrop of continued devastation. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. the destruction in aniro comes alongside calls for more weapons to be sent. nato chiefjens stoltenberg has said ukraine could expect more deliveries of heavy weapons from western countries. the uk is sending 14 challenger tanks, while poland is also considering handing over its german—made leopard 2 tanks, but it needs the german government's permission to export them. earlier, we spoke with rafael loss, defense expert at the european council on foreign relations for more.

for the longest time, there was a red line around western produced heavy tanks and armoured vehicles. the latest decision to send german vehicles alongside american ones, there seems to be an open door and some of germany's neighbours who also use the leppard 2 battle tank want to make available to ukraine this critical capability. i think the meeting of the ukraine defence contact room at ramstein air base next week is a culminating point. poland's president duda has said poland would be willing to provide roughly a company of battle tanks from the polish armed forces�* own stocks if other european countries join them. and there's a discourse driven by finnish parliamentarians, voices from denmark, sweden and other european countries are chiming in as well. then we have german political

figures that are pushing the debate in germany, so pressure is mounting. his mantra has been to not go it alone. if there is a european coalition emerging, i think german leadership would be well placed to bring together this coalition and provide ukraine with a western—produced main battle tank. a british woman has died in an avalanche while trekking in the french alps. the accident happened on saturday on mont blanc's argentiere glacier. the woman, who was a5, was hiking with two other women at the time. a specialist mountain search and rescue team from chamonix was alerted but they were unable to save her. police have launched an investigation. the world health organization is urging china to provide detailed information about the level of covid

infections in the country. 60,000 covid—related deaths have been reported injust over a month, but the chinese government has been accused of not releasing the full details of the pandemic. police say a seven—year—old girl remains in a critical condition, after a shotgun was fired from a moving car outside a church in central london yesterday. five others were also hurt in the attack near euston station. it happened as crowds left a memorial service for a woman from colombia and her daughter, as our correspondent matt graveling reports. a moment of love, stolen by an act of hate. gunshots outside of this church in euston injured four young women and two girls. 0ne, aged just seven, is in a life—threatening condition. one woman has potentially life—changing injuries. moments earlier, 300 people had remember the lives of a local mother and daughter who sadly died less than a month apart.

fatherjeremy trood conducted the service. i was still inside the church when suddenly there was this enormous bang, and people leaving the church just rushed back in and said there had been a shooting. the met police have issued more information about the attack which happened here outside of the church behind me at 1:30pm on saturday. they said that all six victims were injured by pellets from a shotgun fired, they believe, from a moving vehicle. police believe this is the kind of car involved, a 2019 black toyota chr. this was a shocking incident. people came here to attend a funeral, to be with friends and loved ones and to mourn together. instead, they were the victims of a senseless act of violence. no arrests have been made but, tonight, officers continue a search for evidence and answers. the metropolitan police say they will increase their presence in the area. matt graveling joined me in the studio earlier. i asked him what effect the shooting

has had on the local community. yesterday was meant to be a time of them coming together to remember a mother and her young daughter who sadly, in november, died within a month of each other. so as well as this shock, there's also a huge sense of confusion. why would somebody, it looks like, drive past a church and fire a shotgun into a group of people? and that is, of course, what police are trying to work out today. as i left the scene a little bit earlier in euston — if you know london, it's just by the railway station — there was a single bouquet of flowers that had been left there, and people were coming up to me and they were saying, "what do you know about the women involved and their conditions?" because of the four older women that were caught up in this situation, one, we believe, has got potentially life—changing injuries. and there were two young girls as well, a 12—year—old and also a seven—year—old. and the seven—year—old is still in hospital in life—threatening conditions. so there's a lot of interest about what's going on. i did ask the metropolitan police for an update. they said they don't anticipate giving us any further information today so,

for now, that is the latest. but the metropolitan police also want to reassure the community and say that they're going to continue to ask quesions, to find those answers, and there'll be an increased police presence in the area. the uk transport secretary, mark harper, says he hopes a deal can be reached soon between rail companies and unions to avoid further strike action. recent industrial action has causing mass disruption across the country. the minister added that there was still detail in negotiations that needed hammering out. i hope that there'll be a deal. i'm not going to put an artificial timetable on it. i think as soon as you start putting artificial deadlines on things, you tend to end up with a bad deal. but, look, i think both the companies and the rail unions are keen to reach an agreement, but we've got to see if they can hammer out the detail — but that's for them to do. i facilitated an offer. i've brought the two sides together with the rail minister. he's been having regular meetings to make sure that we've got a good process,

and it's for the two sides now to hammer out a deal and try and get somewhere where they can agree. more nurses will be asked to strike next month, in a dispute over pay. that's the warning from the royal college of nursing, which says the next set of strikes will include all eligible members in england for the first time, unless progress is made in negotiations by the end of the month. let's talk more about this to the editor of the nursing times, steve ford. welcome, thanks very much for being with us. explain what impact this will have if even more nurses ballot on strike action and they agree. well, that's right. at the moment, we have a mandate for 130 employers, they are going on strike as you know on wednesday and thursday next week. in around 70 places, i think, which is an escalation on the 63 they did in december. and then of course, as you say, in february, they have said they will do more. they have that mandate in 130 different sites or

employers. so they could come if they want to, go up to that level. then you have the other unions, so unison has a mandate in trusts in liverpool, but they have been talking about re—balloting their members in more places to get a mandate as well and there are of course the other health care unions as well that are involved in different disputes with different groups of professions. so different disputes with different groups of professions.— different disputes with different groups of professions. so we don't know what is _ groups of professions. so we don't know what is going _ groups of professions. so we don't know what is going to _ groups of professions. so we don't know what is going to happen - groups of professions. so we don't know what is going to happen and | groups of professions. so we don't - know what is going to happen and how many people will go on strike, but if it is even more than it is now, just how badly impacted will the nhs be even more than it has been already? be even more than it has been alread ? ~ , , ., already? well, i guess the whole oint of already? well, i guess the whole point of the _ already? well, i guess the whole point of the action _ already? well, i guess the whole point of the action is _ already? well, i guess the whole point of the action is to - already? well, i guess the whole point of the action is to create i point of the action is to create leveraged and therefore affect services, but not safety. i think it is very much what the nursing unions have said. as we know, there is a lot of pressure at the moment, there are winter pressures. 0n lot of pressure at the moment, there are winter pressures. on top of the pressures that were already there. so certainly, some appointments and

surgery and elective care will no doubt have to be postponed as a result. but there are certain exemptions that are built into what is going on. so the unions have agreed with government that things like intensive care will still be, members of staff will not go on strike if they work in those areas. so some things will be as they are all ways, other things will not. where are we with negotiations, is it the case that they will only accept 19%, which is what they originally asked for, the rcn? well, the leader of— originally asked for, the rcn? well, the leader of the _ originally asked for, the rcn? well, the leader of the rcn _ originally asked for, the rcn? well, the leader of the rcn has _ originally asked for, the rcn? -ii the leader of the rcn has indicated that she was prepared to meet the government halfway. 0f that she was prepared to meet the government halfway. of course, that rather depends on where inflation is because the rcn original demand or request was for 5% on top of inflation to make up the ten years of below inflation pay rises. so that was very much their opening salvo. you would imagine that as part of pay negotiation, they would

be prepared to accept less than that, which they have indicated. but then there have been higher offers them that original one that was put out by the government. scotland, that was rejected recently, which was 8.5%, something like that. so it is a mixed picture across the uk, but would think that is pat cullen has indicated, they would meet them halfway. it depends on what the government side of things is in that so far, there has been a lot of smoke and mirrors, in that there has been talk of doors being opened, there was a meeting of course last monday which was hastily organised. again, there seems to be a softening of position, according to the unions, in describing what the government was saying. but again, nothing really that would actually find a solution.— nothing really that would actually find a solution. steve ford, editor ofthe find a solution. steve ford, editor of the nursing _ find a solution. steve ford, editor of the nursing times, _ find a solution. steve ford, editor of the nursing times, thank - find a solution. steve ford, editor of the nursing times, thank you. | the labour leader sir keir starmer

says he believes 16—year—olds are too young to change their legally—recognised gender. he said he had concerns about the scottish government's planned reforms of the law to allow a change to happen without the need for medical diagnosis. but sir keir stopped short of saying labour would join rishi sunak�*s government in considering a challenge to the scottish legislation. 0ur political correspondent david wallace—lockhart has the story. what do we want? trans rights! when do we want them? now! _ members of the scottish parliament backed controversial legislation last month, making it easier for someone to change their legal gender and lowering the age limit from 18 to 16. labour members at holyrood backed the changes but, this morning, the party's uk leader expressed reservations about the bill. i do have concerns about, one, the age of transition, reduced now to 16, and we've put amendments forward in relation to that, and also the primacy of the equality act. you would not agree that you are old enough at the age of 16? no, i don't think you are.

you don't think you are at 16. ok, that's clear. the uk government takes the same view. they could yet decide to block the scottish legislation, and ministers are awaiting final legal advice. there are trans people who have suffered discrimination and want their rights respected but, equally, i've listened very carefully to the concerns that many women have had about worries that they've got about risks to their safety. but another senior tory mp accused some colleagues of using the issue as a battering ram. my committee has taken private evidence from individuals, from trans people, and listening to their struggles, listening to the discrimination and the abuse that they have faced, i absolutely believe we have to make the process simpler and kinder, but i really fear the use of this as some sort of woke culture war to sow division. the leader of the snp, stephen flynn. - the snp�*s westminster leader has warned uk ministers not to block

scotland's gender recognition reform bill. what we have is a right—wing uk conservative government which is seeking to roll back on the democratic powers of the scottish parliament. that's an outrage, and the people that should be most outraged about that are the likes of the conservative and labour politicians who voted in favour of the grr, who must recognise the fact that this is the uk parliament overstepping massively. the scottish gender legislation had plenty of opponents on its parliamentary journey. the uk government blocking the bill would be a watershed moment in devolution's history. they have to make a decision by the middle of this week. david wallace lockhart, bbc news. a major disaster has been declared in california, where a series of severe storms has prompted president biden to send aid from the federal government. at least 19 people have died in the storms. 0ur correspondent sophie long reports from the hills above santa barbara. frantic efforts to protect homes from further flooding.

if we didn't get this done today, we would have lost our house. jeff bailey's wife and young children evacuated. he stayed to protect their home. it's been hard. my wife has been bringing them over, up at the top of the hill, and i've been giving them hugs and kisses and telling them how much i love them. but, you know, we all have to process it. sorry, it's the first time i've become emotional. so, yeah, you know, we're safe, we're surviving, and we'lljust keep going forward. across california, after three weeks of almost continuous catastrophic downpours, rain is the last thing people here need. and yet, it keeps coming. widespread flooding is getting worse and roads are disintegrating. emergency services could only watch as this one collapses into the valley below. we joined the santa barbara bucket brigade, a local volunteerforce

formed after a mudslide killed 23 people here five years ago. what's happened here? just all came down off here. this is the road. this is the road to my mom's house, she can't get home. you can see the impact of the heavy deluges here. this road has been completely cut off. people cannot access their homes. the rains have now started again, after a brief period of respite, and there's concern that more is going to come down. they were west of us. the threat of mudslides means they need to move quickly. the next stop is steve's house. that was a pretty hairy drive, by my standards. so this tree, i planted 26 years ago, it was this tall. and it's the only tree to survive this. the whole thing just slid down, this is about 200—feet wide. you know, you kind of get

overwhelmed with a series of emotional things, which go from hope to pride to fear to despair, to all of that stuff. but at the end of the day, you know, we're a resilient lot up here and we know what to do, so this is what we're doing today. a saturated california can only wait to see what the next storm brings. sophie long, bbc news, santa barbara. thousands of people have taken to the streets in israel to protest against government plans to have more power over the justice system. the proposed changes would make it easier for parliament to overturn supreme court rulings. yolande knell reports. the biggest show of opposition yet to israel's most right—wing ever government. tens of thousands crammed into the heart of tel aviv on a soggy night, clutching israeli flags and umbrellas. they fear new laws will endanger democracy and civil rights. in an unusual move, even the country's top judge

has warned against plans to change the justice system so that politicians can easily overrule the supreme court. more to say here about it's really scary that i think it's going to, kind of, slowly disappear if we don't do anything. the government was elected in a democratic way, but their actions now are not democratic, because we have a situation between government and system ofjustice in israel which should be kept this way. many here accuse the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, of turning on the courts because he himself remains on trialfor corruption, which he denies. it's just two weeks since israel's veteran leader returned to power with a coalition of ultranationalists and religious allies. they accuse the supreme court of overreach and elitism, and say they have a public mandate for change. translation: two months ago, a massive demonstration -

took place in israel. the mother of all demonstrations. millions of people took to the streets to vote in the election. one of the main topics they have voted on was a reform in thejudicial system. israel is deeply divided politically, and it's now locked in what its figurehead president calls an "historic constitutional crisis" which, he says, could tear the nation apart. chanting with no sign the government will change its mind on its reforms, already, more protests are planned. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. potholes are one of the biggest nuisances for motorists and cyclists and, following the recent bad weather, the problem is getting worse. now, the rac says vehicle breakdowns caused as a direct result of potholes have risen by almost a quarter in the past three months. aileen clarke has been looking at the issue on scotland's roads.

a busyjunction in the pollok area of glasgow, this taxi driver pointing out the issue, and this pothole became a very big issue for stephen maxwell as he was driving to work at 4:30 on monday morning. lights are all green, all good. cut this junction, hit a pothole and bust my two driver—side tyres. a big shudder, a big bang. i thought the car had broke a wheel, the way it was that hard i fell into this hole. it's unbelievable! i mean, when i hit it monday, it was semi—filled with water so it didn't look as bad, but now it's all dried up a bit, it's a crater. he's reported it to glasgow city council, although the councils say they're working round the clock to undertake repairs. it was this pothole in paisley which was a problem for elaine hanson on tuesday night. it was really dark, it was wet and, all of a sudden, i drove in and i hit the pothole. and there was a bang

and it was quite... it's quite frightening when it happens. i may possibly have to put two new wheels on, as well as two new tyres. and that could cost? that could cost anything between a couple of hundred pounds to £1,000. it seems elaine and stephen are in good company. this garage says people are coming in daily with similar stories. this is, like, ten times what it normally used to be. - right? so every, maybe every second or third customer's coming - in as a pothole damage, _ pothole damage, pothole damage, so we've seen a huge - increase in customers coming in with pothole damage. if it's not a puncture, it's a bust tyre. - bridge of weir, and the rain was filling up the potholes. realistically, many potholes will not be getting fixed as quickly as the public would like, so what's the best advice in the meantime? that becomes frost... neil greig, the advanced driving expert, says it's vital to keep reporting them for repair and crucial to realise

they are now an everyday hazard. even looking at your radio, looking at your sat—nav, anything that takes your eyes off the road will give you less time to deal with that pothole. so slow down, look out for potholes and don't swerve to avoid them, because that could lead to another crash, which would be even worse than hitting the pothole itself. in paisley, renfrewshire council say they have repaired the cause of elaine's pending garage bill, but all around the country, there are plenty of potholes waiting for the same attention. aileen clarke, bbc news, glasgow. that is it from me for the moment. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @samanthatvnews. now on bbc news the weather with susan powell. hello. some much colder weather on the way for all of us in the week ahead. we have seen so much rain so far this january, it will become relatively drier, but arctic air plunges across the uk in the coming 2a hours and, my goodness, it will look different outside in that it will be drier, but it will feel much different too because it will be cold. snow is a possibility for some this week. despite things being relatively drier, we are trying to pin

down smaller systems, like this one that will run through the channel overnight tonight, and the detail on what they will do. tonight, it looks pretty wet for southern counties of england, but also a difficult wintry mixture, i think, particularly towards the south—east towards the end of the night. for the weald of kent, for the downs, we could see some snow to start us off monday and there will be a significant risk of ice. ice just about anywhere, as we are expecting a widespread frost. snow showers will continue across northern scotland on into monday as well. some parts of scotland won't get above freezing through the day. everywhere else, it's much chillier than it has been of late, but with lighter winds. monday into tuesday, the same thing. a little weather feature developing within a bigger area of low pressure running the show. always quite tricky to pin down these smaller features. at the moment, for tuesday, there is the potentialfor some heavier, more persistent snow somewhere across southern england. don't take that positioning there, though, with the leaning towards the west too literally. it is shifting a little bit

as we move from model to model. basically, these smaller features don't really exist within this big low yet, so it's hard to track them until they start to really shape up. by wednesday, if anything, our uncertainty will be this low to the east in the north sea and whether it will drag any snow showers into north sea coasts. the current thinking has the snow showers across scotland and running down into the irish sea. for many for the week ahead, a lot of fine weather, with bright, crisp blue skies after frosty starts. at the end of the week, potentially, we are going to start to look towards the west for our weather systems to come back in again, so the potential for things to turn more to rain again by friday and for us to see our temperatures lifting up a little as we approach next weekend. in terms of the coming five days, elements we're confident about, it will be cold, there will be frosty nights, look out for ice, but pinning the details on the snow, bear with us and stay tuned.