first female referee for premier leaue female referee for premier league game when she takes charge of full a match against burnleyjust before christmas. —— fulham. good evening. a 17—year—old british boy who went missing in spain in 2017 has been found in france, according to the french authorities. alex batty, who's from oldham, was discovered walking along a road in toulouse early on wednesday morning. he went missing at the age of 12 while on holiday in southern spain along with his mother and grandfather. jon donnison has the latest. missing for six years, but now apparently found. alex batty from oldham was just 11 years old when he disappeared in southern spain. he'd

been on holiday with his mother, who wasn't his legal guardian, and his grandfather. melanie and david batty has been accused of abducting alex, possibly to take them to live on a commune in morocco. back in 2018, his grandmother, who was his legal guardian, spoke to the bbc. been an absolute nightmare, _ guardian, spoke to the bbc. been an absolute nightmare, wanting - guardian, spoke to the bbc. been an absolute nightmare, wanting to - guardian, spoke to the bbc. been an absolute nightmare, wanting to see. absolute nightmare, wanting to see the grandson that you love so much, might not see him ever again. but she could soon be reunited with his grandson. officials in southern france cy alex, now 17, has been found in the town of revel east of toulouse. in a statement, greater manchester police say offices in oldham are in contact with french authorities to establish the authenticity of the report. they added, this is a complex and long—running investigation and we

need to make further inquiries as well as putting appropriate safeguarding measures in place. the whereabouts of melanie and david batty are not known, and police say they are still wanted in connection with alex batty�*s disappearance. jon donnison, bbc news. we can speak now to our correspondent in toulouse, just bring us up to date with the latest. indeed, right behind me as the courthouse, thejudge here, the prosecutor has told me tonight that alex is staying in a shelter every few hundred metres away from here, and tomorrow diplomats from the uk, as well as british police, are coming over here to see if they can bring him back to his grandmother in oldham. his grandmother is too old and too ill to come and retrieve him herself, so diplomats and british police are coming to toulouse this evening to try to bring back by the end of the weekend. that is the latest. he was good health, they

don't know about his mental state, and he will not say where his mother is or where he stayed in the pyrenees. as the nhs heads into its most difficult time of the year, new figures show improvements compared to this time last year, but patients needing emergency care are still facing long waits in england. 30% of patients waited longer than the target four hours in a&e last month, while last week over a third of patients arriving at hospital by ambulance waited more than 30 minutes, instead of the target 15, to be handed over to a&e. but the waiting list for treatments has fallen slightly to 7.71 million from a record high of 7.78 million the previous month. our health correspondent sharon barbour has spent the day with two paramedics coping with nhs winter pressures. 5—7—8, good morning. all of us are worried about winter pressures. delays at hospital are a worry. we're worried about

the system becoming overrun. so we've got a category one call, a male who was unconscious. siren wails their first call of the day, and ryan and debbie from the north west ambulance service are on their way to see a critically ill patient. hello, are you ok? please can we get some pads on him just in case? and then let's get some access. he was really septic and with his heart rate being so low, his blood pressure and saturations and recordable, i believe he was at the stage just before going into cardiac arrest, he was that poorly. right, we are good to go when you are. we're going to go on blue lights. our eta to wigan is six minutes, ever. can you open them eyes for me? hold my hand. ifeel really privileged to do ourjob. it's only a short distance to resus. within minutes of getting the patient into intensive care... do you think you could step out with us and we will get you straight into a chair?

i know it's painful. so, resus said they could make room for him in there. ..ryan and debbie are called to help another patient arriving at the hospital. you've had a facial weakness, is that right? we'll take you on blue lights, we'll get you seen straightaway. then another call from control and another medical emergency. his observations are as follows, he's got a heart rate of... since we've been filming with the paramedic crew, it's been nonstop. and the thing about this job is you just don't know what kind of call or where you're going to go to next. they've already been to four calls that have all been potentially life or death and they're only halfway through their shift. good morning, north west 111, sarah speaking. - the pressure in the control room is palpable. but because of the sheer number of calls and as so many ambulances are held up at hospitals, across england the average response time for category two emergency calls such as heart attacks and strokes is still more than 38 minutes — that's more than double the target of 18 minutes. getting paramedics to

patients is one stress. getting the patients inside the hospitals is another. i would say least over half of our ambulatory fleet at times can be waiting to hand over patients. and you could be talking at times hours for handovers. how many hours? so this week probably our longest handover was around 11 hours. and often that can be multiple ambulances which really does impact on our ability to manage the risk in the community. and last week across england, nearly 13,000 ambulances were waiting for more than an hour to off—load patients. as ryan and debbie set off on yet another urgent call, they're aware that they're also driving into one of the busiest, most difficult winter is ahead for the nhs. sharon barbour, bbc news. and you can check how your local hospital trust is performing using the bbc�*s winter tracker. the tracker can be found on bbc news online.

new cctv footage has been released of the last known movements of a woman who has been missing since friday. gaynor lord, who's 55, was reported missing in norwich after failing to return home from work. police say there's a high probability that she went into the river wensum in the city. specialist divers are continuing to conduct searches of the area. our east of england correspondentjo black is in norwich tonight. jo. reeta, as you can say, there is still a police presence at wensum park, because it is sealed off from the public, but the search teams that have been in and out of the water all day have now gone home, because it is dark, and that naturally hampers the work they do, but they will return tomorrow at first light. police told us that around 30 members of the public have come to talk to them about this

investigation, and as you mentioned there, they have released new cctv which they hope will encourage people with information to come forward. this is the last sighting of gaynor lord on cctv before she goes missing. the pictures released today by police show the married mother of three walking down st augustine's street in norwich city centre. officers believe the mother of three came here to wensum park a mile and a half away and, for some reason, may have entered the water. her clothes, phone, glasses and jewellery were found nearby. today, using specialist equipment, the painstaking work of searching the ground and water continued in the hope of finding her. the divers can see about one foot in front of them, so it's an extraordinarily challenging environment for them to work in, so it's slow, methodical at the moment, working with the equipment, and it will take probably a couple of days to get to a position where we are kind of content with what we've done, it may even be longer.

gaynor lord left work at jarrolds department store on friday afternoon. this cctv image appears to show her smiling, but for some reason she leaves an hour and a half before his shift finishes. she then picked up on various cctv cameras in the city. it looks like she's in a hurry but then spends around 30 minutes in the grounds of the cathedral. it's unclear why she went there or if she met anybody. as she left work, gaynor made a phone call to herfriend julie. it was unexpected, and julie said she would call her back. hours later, gaynor�*s phone called herfriend again. so i answered the phone, said, "hi, gaynor," thought she was calling me back, and it sounded like a pocket call. i could just hear the movement in the pocket, and i thought, "she's made a mistake now, ringing me." tomorrow, gaynor will have been missing for a week, and her friends and family are desperate for answers. jo black, bbc news, in norwich. the bank of england has held interest rates at 5.25% —

the third time in a row the bank has kept rates where they are. the decision leaves borrowing costs at their highest level for 15 years. our economics editor, faisal islam, is here with me. what is the thinking behind this, and when will rates come down? yes. and when will rates come down? yes, well, we and when will rates come down? yes, well. we heard _ and when will rates come down? yes, well, we heard from _ and when will rates come down? yes, well, we heard from the _ and when will rates come down? ye: well, we heard from the bank of england governor today that he felt that it was too early to speculate even about when rates would come down. we have heard that before, we had a hold before too. what is difference now is that international counterparts, particularly in the usa, have started to talk about when rates could be cut, when the anti—infl? 7 medicine, rates could be cut, when the anti—infl?? medicine, there may be enoughin anti—infl?? medicine, there may be enough in the system, and international markets where they essentially bet on what will happen to rights over the next day, they are starting to assume they will come down. the bank of england was at pains to say they did not know when that would happen and they will start the current rate for an extended period of time. the mortgage markets are taking their

cues from the international markets, starting to bring down rates slowly, writes that did go up a huge amount, even without the bank of england cutting, and that may have an impact on the housing market. maw; cutting, and that may have an impact on the housing market. many thanks. a bod has on the housing market. many thanks. a body has been _ on the housing market. many thanks. a body has been found _ on the housing market. many thanks. a body has been found at _ on the housing market. many thanks. a body has been found at the - on the housing market. many thanks. a body has been found at the site - on the housing market. many thanks. a body has been found at the site of. a body has been found at the site of an explosion on an industrial site in wales. it follows wednesday night's blaze. formal identification is not taken place, and officers are supporting the family of a person who had been missing. ukraine has taken another step towards joining the eu. the european union decided to open accession talks with ukraine and moldova. the decision came out today's leaders summit, despite hungary threatening to veto the process with ukraine. vladimir putin has said there will be no peace in ukraine until russia has achieved its objectives there. speaking at his first major news conference since the start of invasion, he insisted russian troops were improving their positions along the entire front line.

despite the winter weather, there is heavy fighting going on around bakhmut and avdiivka. mr putin says there are currently a total of 617,000 russian troops fighting in ukraine. here's our russia editor, steve rosenberg. there haven't been many — actually, any — opportunities for western media to get anywhere near vladimir putin since his full—scale invasion of ukraine. but today the kremlin invited us, and otherforeign media, to the president's end—of—year tv extravaganza — half press conference, half phone—in. on the war in ukraine, he sounded confident. translation: there will be peace when we achieve our goals. - they haven't changed. practically along the entire line of contact, our armed forces are, to put it modestly, improving their position.

they are in an active stage of operation. there was a definite military theme to the show, which was broadcast by every main tv channel in russia and went on for hours. the public had plenty of questions about what the kremlin�*s still calling its special military operation, would there be a new wave of mobilisation in russia? mr putin said no. this didn't happen last year — the kremlin had cancelled the annual putin phone—in and his end—of—year press conference following the full—scale invasion of ukraine. the fact that the four—hour tv marathon is back reflects his growing confidence nearly two years into the war. he was asked about two americans being held in russianjails — wall streetjournal reporter evan gershkovich and former marine paul whelan. is a prisoner swap possible? translation: we want to do a deal, but these agreements should be

mutually beneficial. we are in contact with our american partners on this matter. a dialogue is under way. it's not easy. i won't go into detail, but in general i think we understand each other, and i hope that we will find a solution. irina was lucky — she got a question about egg prices. "you are my favourite president," she says. but all i got, after four hours, was a sore arm. pity, that. i have so many questions for vladimir putin. another day, perhaps. steve rosenberg, bbc news. our top story this evening: a british boy missing for six years is found in france. and coming

on bbc news, hard work and the heat of mumbai for the boilers on day one of mumbai for the boilers on day one of the test match against india finishing unfortunate ten to seven with four of their batters reaching a half—century. —— 400. in israel, the defence minister has said the war against hamas — designated a terrorist organisation in the uk — will take more than several months. president biden�*s national security adviser is meeting israel's leaders — as the us continues to urge them to limit civilian casualties in gaza — and to restart negotiations over a palestinian state. our international editor jeremy bowen considers now whether the war in gaza has any chance of ending in a peaceful solution to the long—running conflict between israelis and palestinians. jerusalem, a historian wrote, is the only city where the dead are more important than the living.

he meant the weight of its bloody past. but it's the last two months and more of killing that have sent palestinians and israelis into new and unknown territory. and here in the holy city, which both sides claim as their capital, they are tense, watchful, waiting. choices lie ahead — a cease fire will come eventually. will itjust be a pause before the next war? or will israel and the palestinians decide that the only way to avoid more sorrow and death is to try again to make peace? arabs and jews have contested the land between the mediterranean and thejordan river for more than a century. this is hebron on the israeli occupied west bank. do you have many families left here? i can see since october 7th... and this is issa amro, a palestinian activist. since 7th of october, palestinians who live near hebron�*s illegaljewish settlement have been mostly under a curfew.

so the army's coming. what do you think they want? intimidation. everything they do is about intimidating the palestinian population and make them scared to make this area empty. that is what they do. issa is well known in hebron and the army regard him as a troublemaker. they didn't want us to film, but we did when one of the soldiers butted into our conversation. you don't know what it's like to grow up in israel with neighbours like this. i know them. i live with them. i want peace. they don't want peace. even the ones working for me, they hate me. take your mask off. i'm not your enemy. confrontation is built into israel's military occupation of the palestinian territories. peace is impossible while it continues. can you have peace? with them? no. we should force them to peace, pressure them. you should...? pressure them. pressure them? yes.

the international community and the international law must be implemented. the international community should make israel accept peace. do you think that the shock of the war in gaza and everything that's happened, the hamas attacks, everything that israel did in response, do you think that will change things orjust make them deeper and worse? i think it's two opportunities. it's either we choose to make it deeper and worse, or we make it as an opportunity to solve the conflict and to solve the occupation, to solve the apartheid and make living together possible because their security solution failed. israel says it has a right to be in hebron and this is security, not apartheid. this was kibbutz be'eri, just after 7th october. the government here says the only response is to destroy israel's enemies. vivian silver lived at the kibbutz. she was one of israel's

best—known peace campaigners. she believed israelis would never have real security until palestinians had their own state. on the 7th, she was at home in the place where she'd brought up her two sons. the bodies of israelis killed by hamas were still being recovered when we went there to try to find vivian's house. her family hoped she was a hostage inside gaza. as hamas shot their way into be'eri, she texted her son, yonatan, that she feared a massacre. her house was burnt. a month later, vivian silver's remains were identified in the ash left by the fire. so you were there. i was there afterwards. and her bones were in the safe room, all the while — yonatan believes the war lacks a political objective. war, if we're not. naive, it should be

a mean, a means, right? but it feels like this war is a cause in itself. - of revenge. of making a point. you are still a believer in peace, even though these people came over into your country and killed your mother? they came into my country and killed my mother- because we didn't have peace. so, to me, thisjust proves the point that we need it. i after the war the americans want israel's walls and fences here betweenjerusalem and bethlehem to go from a security measure into an international frontier with an independent palestine. the current israeli government says the two—state solution will not happen. so when the war is over, what needs to go right to give peace a chance? well, first of all, a change of leader on both sides. there's too much bad history

and they don't trust each other. next, there has to be even—handed mediation, something the americans have never managed to do. and as well as that, both israelis and palestinians are going to have to accept painful compromises on things that really matter to them, especially territory. so much has to go right to move from war to peace. so much has already gone wrong that peace mightjust be impossible. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. the commons standards committee has recommended the mp scott benton should be suspended for 35 days. mr benton, who was a conservative but now sits as an independent mp, has been accused of offering to lobby ministers on behalf of the gambling industry. if mps approve the suspension it could lead to a by election in his blackpool south constituency. two men and a woman have been found guilty of murdering a 14—year—old schoolgirl in west dunbartonshire

27 years ago. caroline glachan�*s body was found in the river leven in august 1996. police say they were able to make the convictions after opening a reinvestigation in 2019. from the high court in glasgow, catriona renton reports. caroline glachan was just 1a years old when her body was found in the river leven. her mother, margaret, has waited for more than 27 years forjustice for her only child. it will not bring her back but at least we know who is responsible is serving time for it because for the past 25 years they have lived their life and they have had their christmases and their birthdays. and my caroline was in the ground, so this is a great day. it was a saturday night when caroline left her home

in bonhill in west dunbartonshire to go and meet her then 18 year old boyfriend, robert o'brien. she told friends she'd be back before her mother was home, but caroline's body was found the next day in the river leven. he had serious head injuries. herfriends remember a bright, bubbly teenager. she was always smiling, she was full of life, full of fun, full of cheek, full of banter, just giddy all the time. the case featured on the bbc�*s crimewatch programme and was the subject of a major police investigation. but it would be 25 years before charges were brought against robert o'brien, donna marie brand and andrew kelly. key to their conviction was the evidence of archie wilson, who was four at the time. archie was being babysat by andrew kelly on the night of caroline's disappearance and witnessed her murder. archie told officers, i saw caroline in the water. asked where this was?

archie replied, "down the leven." he said it was dark and he saw robbie hit caroline with a stick and a metal pole. caroline's killers will be sentenced next month. catriona renton, bbc news. as britishjews celebrate the final day of hannukah, new figures reveal the number of anti—semitic incidents against them has reached more than 2,000 since the attacks on israel on 7th october — that's way up from around 300 in the same period last year. our special correspondent lucy manning went to meet a group of young jewish teenagers to hear what life is like for them. singing the candles of hanukkah symbolise light where there is darkness. as soon as we step out the gates, we feel, i feel victimised. i always have to look over my shoulder. they show hope where there has been death, war and despair. in a way, it's strengthened myjewish identity. never so appropriate for these times for these young britishjews. it's made life a lot more scary, going around. at the uk's largestjewish

school, they're not immune to the more than 1,000% rise in anti—semitic incidents. this is real, this is anti—semitism. i was walking out from school and a group of men screamed from their windows some anti—semitic comments at us. and how did that leave you feeling? i was... i felt so uneasy. i felt worried and stressed. my friend's school, - some of the walls were plastered with swastikas. it's just horrifying to see. shockingly, it's led to a change in public displays of theirjudaism. around hanukkah at the moment, we aren't putting our hanukkiahs by the windows, which you're supposed to, because my mum doesn't want other people around to know that we're jewish. my grandma, she used to wear this magen david necklace and we've had to take it away from her — just because we just don't feel safe. everyone here feels connected to israel. two former pupils, jake marlowe and nathanel young, were murdered by hamas on october 7th. it was completely shocking.

they were in our shoes, i they were in our position, just a student at this school and now they've... - they've passed awayl because of a conflict. what are your thoughts about the suffering of civilians on the palestinian side as well as the israeli side? there's a real stigma around — like you're either pro—palestinian or pro—israel, when at the end of the day, you can be both. you can want civilians on both sides to have peace. since october 7th, how do you feel now to be a britishjew? on the one hand, we have to kind of hide our identity because obviously there's been a huge rise in anti—semitism. but then, i feel like i almost have a duty to be more proud of who i am. itjust makes you feel proud. we can still come together, we can still celebrate all the good things we have — that we are still standing after all these years. it's hanukkah, the festival- of lights, where it might be dark outside but we can make it light in here. _ lucy manning, bbc news. just off the tip of the antarctic peninsula

is the world's biggest iceberg — and now scientists know exactlyjust how big it is. known as a23a, satellite images show a square—like shape with an average width of 65km — around the distance from manchester to sheffield. it has an area of 3,900sq km — more than twice the size of greater london — but scientists say it's losing 2.5 metres a year, because of increasing ocean temperatures. it has an average thickness of 280 metres — that's nearly as tall as the eiffel tower. and it weighs around a trillion tonnes. now, what do gift tags, clocks and several bars of music have in common? well, they have all found their way into the annual christmas challenge set by the uk intelligence agency, gchq. thousands of school children from around the country have been trying to solve the brainteasers. but as we've been finding out —

they are proving just as hard for adults to crack, too. what breaks but cannot fall, can leap but never cruel, can be seized, what breaks but cannot fall, can leap but never crawl, can be seized, but never gripped. often present, never skipped. it's very hard. can we do a different one? it's not my language. laughter look at this message. can you work it out and find the secret four—letter word ? i couldn't even read all of these words! oh, my goodness. er... there will be children that can get this, i'm sure, but no, not me. i ruined my day! laughter just came for a coffee. i got one of them. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. might be worth looking at the guys

because they could be a shooting star. you may get to see dozens of meteors each hour if this skies stayed clear, if you get any good photos send them in, have your say @ bbc.co.uk. but as i say, you will need clear skies to see that display of shooting stars, geminids., there are some clear skies across north—east england, north—east scotland, too, but elsewhere it may be a little bit frustrating, some quite large amounts of cloud around right now. i'm hopeful the cloud will break up from time to time to give at least some clear spells. still a few showers through the night. rather chilly across many parts, central and southern parts. north and west, a bit milder, that's a sign of things to come. as we head into tomorrow much of england and will start with fog patches early but some spells of sunshine. the

western part will cloud over into the afternoon. the cloud already affecting northern ireland, pushing up across scotland, some outbreaks of patchy rain and drizzle and it will be quite windy. increasingly windy across the north west of scotland. gales in the far north late in the day. starting to turn mother in the west, 11 in glasgow 12 degrees in glasgow at bathurst do bathurst, colderfurther east. into the weekend, this milder air will work across just about all parts of the uk, double digit temperatures expected. the same south—westerly winds bringing the milder conditions and also some really wet weather, relentless rain in the western side of scotland, some places could see up to 175 millimetres hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm hugh ferris. the headlines this evening.

taking centre stage — rebecca welch will become the first female referee of a premier league game.