live from london, this is bbc news. israel socially three hostages were mistakenly killed by troops in gaza by holding a white flag... the by holding a white flag. .. the killinus by holding a white flag. .. the killings have _ by holding a white flag... the killings have increased the pressure on israeli government to resume negotiations with hamas and the release of most of held captive. al jazeera b news network said one of its camera operators has been killed after israeli air strike in southern gaza. italy prime minister is hosting a forced day right—wing festival, rishi sunak and elon musk us among the guests. british prime ministers due to speak later. doctor who is part of the christmas line—up on bbc one in the uk for the first

time in six years. now abusing bbc news it is time for the travel show. it is incredible to think that this thriving metropolis was once a sleepy fishing village. it became an international port a crucial meeting point between east and west. a fusion of cultures in a globalfinancial and west. a fusion of cultures in a global financial centre. and west. a fusion of cultures in a globalfinancial centre. hong kong global financial centre. hong kong is globalfinancial centre. hong kong is always evolving. it is often at the sharp end of political debate on the sharp end of political debate on the right now it is in a fascinating time of transition. this former british colony was handed back to china in 1997. however since then it has had a connection with the past, the mainland, and its future has been evolving. the transition hasn't always been smooth. hong kong retains its own currency and

identity. it is one of the most densely pop related cities on the planet. it has more skyscrapers than anywhere else on earth and it is a fusion of cantonese culture with the colonial past. join me as i explore this unique mix of east and west. where i put my dumpling making skills to the test. learn more about this visual identity of the city. meet the conservationist putting hong kong back in touch with its rural roots.

now this is the way to arrive into hong kong. i'm on the star ferry which goes all the way into the heart of hong kong island and it costs about four hong kong dollars which is about... we will find hong kong off the southern coast of mainland china. it is made up of about 250 islands. here in the main

island space is tight. driving can be tough. around 90% ofjourneys here are made using public transport. one of the most iconic ways of getting around are these. the famous hong kong trams. they were first introduced by the british backin were first introduced by the british back in the early 1900s. i'm on my way to meet the driver, also known as a motorman who will tell me more about this classic way of getting around hong kong island. hello. good morning. look at this. how long have you been driving this tram? 13 you been driving this tram? 175 years. you been driving this tram? 13 ears. c you been driving this tram? 13 years- c of — you been driving this tram? 13 years. c of the _ you been driving this tram? 13 years. c of the expert. - you been driving this tram? 13| years. c of the expert. maybe.

you been driving this tram? 13 - years. c of the expert. maybe. what can ou years. c of the expert. maybe. what can you telling _ years. c of the expert. maybe. what can you telling me _ years. c of the expert. maybe. what can you telling me about _ years. c of the expert. maybe. what can you telling me about this - years. c of the expert. maybe. what can you telling me about this tram. | can you telling me about this tram. it looks old and rickety. so it sounds to me you are a hong kong icon. it is a proper rickety tram. it is made of wood. this has got to be one of the best ways to explore hong kong. the network is

the worlds largest double—decker tram fleet still in operation. carrying 200,000 passengers a day. it is notjust for tourists. locals use them daily. they call them doing things. these trams are definitely part of the fabric of the city. local photographer found thousands of photographers of the trams. what is it about trams that capture your attention? i like to capture the

activities in a 24—hour cycle. cleaning, maintenance and repair, safety checks — all these activities are conducted there every day. the trams are such an important part of the landscape here in hong kong. they're really part of the soul of this place. it's very dear to hong kong people. it's like an old friend. so this is the spot? yeah. this is a very good location to shoot. if you're lucky, we may have three trams in one photo. 0h... so the timing is very important. i've only got my iphone, so i'll do my best. yeah. oh, i think i got a bus. and then you get another one, you get three trams. ah. that's the jackpot. 0k. oh, oh, oh! we've got three. you've got it? i think so. very good. thank you! no kidding. and you'll become a tram fan. do you know what? i'm from melbourne, i'm already a tram fan. yeah. this is a very good photo,

really spot—on, and lighting condition is good. you captured it. aw! thank you! this city is just bursting at the seams with enterprise. from the streets to the boardroom, commerce is in the blood here. around 100,000 millionaires call hong kong home. and down on the streets, it feels like there's no backstage. everyone is out doing their thing, making some money and maybe even working two jobs. ashley yu is a local busker who, in true hong kong tradition, has a side hustle running street food tours around the blue collar district of sham shui po. and as i'm feeling hungry, she's invited me along. why is this place so well known for its food? you can find pretty much

all the nostalgic hong kong localfood here, and you can actually find a lot of reasonable priced local restaurants here. uh-huh. and some of them go back way, generations after generations. so, basically, if you want an authentic taste of hong kong, this is a place to come. yeah. she greets woman we are going to my favourite dumpling restaurant. it's owned by a little family. it's very much quite hidden. are you up for a challenge to make some dumplings? if you will, i will. sure. why not? let's go. you spread it out. uh-huh. so it's like a plait. oh, ifeel like... ifeel like he skipped over the difficult bit there. yeah, i think he did. see, i've now seen the process and i'm feeling quite nervous. all right. i hope this is not

too disastrous. ok, so i do like... like this? oh, is that more than one? argh! one. is that one? oh, its two. it's two. two, two. all right, we're off to a great start. ok, let me do like this and then... yeah! ok, well, not bad. yeah! not bad, not bad, not bad. for your first go, that's not bad. thank you very much. 0k. i was proud of my efforts, but they've swiftly been redone professionally, so i think that's just for the best. what's special about this place for you? i think it's the quality of the food. mm—hm. it's just... you can't find better dumplings somewhere else, at least not on the hong kong island side. and they keep the price low, which is really rare in hong kong. like, the owner wanted to keep it as affordable as possible for the community instead of, like, rebranding it into something like a hip dumpling restaurant. hipster dumpling bar. oops! very cool.

the leek is making me burp. it'll do that. yeah. i don't think... i don't think this is the one i made. they laugh it's too nicely formed. too perfect. yeah. so, yeah, we're heading to my favourite dai pai dong. it's an outdoor restaurant with a kitchen on the street. unfortunately, we only have around two dozen of these restaurants left in town. most of the time, it's because the law makes it very difficult for the licence holder to pass it on to someone else. to pass it down to their kids is a little bit more difficult than you would imagine... 0k. ..so a lot of the time, people just kind of give up, you know, and then slowly, slowly, like, you know, before you know it, everything is gone. so, yeah. like, the one we're going to right now has been operating since 1956. wow! 0k. so, it's been a while. bruce and his mother run one of the oldest dai pai dongs in hong kong. popo started the business

over 60 years ago. her son, though, is worried that changing times may impact the license for the business. do you feel like you have a responsibility to keep this tradition going in hong kong? they want to sit outside to see the chef cooking.

the neon lights of hong kong have been part of the city's visual identity for decades and have inspired artists, photographers and film—makers. i haven't been to hong kong for about 20 years, but my main memory of that time was you would look down a street and just be met with a river of neon glow. but looking around here, i don't see so much of it. cultural conservationist cardin chan has been monitoring the decline in neons for years. you're the expert. tell me, am i imagining things or is there less neon now on the street? you are absolutely right. they are considered illegal or not in compliance. that's why, bit by bit, they need to go. why are things different? why has this changed? around 2010, buildings department actually

implemented, like, a new regulation for all signs, notjust neon signs. it's very sad. it is sad! craftsmen known as neon masters created the signs. but as they've aged, their unique skills are disappearing. led has become a popular and cheaper alternative. so is this neon? i can't even tell. this is not neon. we call these led neon or led strips. so there's no master neon artist doing this? it doesn't need to. it's not glass tube bending. it doesn't take that kind of craft, if you ask me. isn't it strange, though? because if someone had said to me, "oh, what's "the difference between neon and led?" i would have said, "oh, not much difference." but there's a huge difference here, isn't there? it's warmer. it's... softer...

softer. ..more alluring. what is happening to the old neon? please tell me they're not just being thrown away. well, usually, without our involvement as conservationists, traditionally and conventionally, all the tubes would be smashed, basically treated as junk. we want to actually save as many remaining neon signs. they're a part of our lives and they have been in our blood. they are actually in our dna. do you have an emotional connection with these neons? of course. like, sometimes when i got really frustrated, like, when i could not actually save a sign, i cried because i felt like i failed my city. sorry. it is my mission and my commitment to present to the world what our city has to offer.

wow! i didn't think that a little question about, "oh, "hey, there seem to be fewer neons around hong kong," could turn into a really quite heartfelt and interesting story about the cultural heritage of the whole city. i must say, talking to cardin was quite emotional. she cares so much about this, so it feels a bit privileged to actually try and understand it from her point of view. many of the neon signs salvaged by cardin and her team have been painstakingly restored back to their former glory and are now on show at a temporary exhibition. i've come along to look at these icons of hong kong up close. yes! one special guest here today is tse ching yuen, who is now in his late 805.

the sign hung outside his family bakery for three generations before it was taken down. cardin has arranged for him and his son to come and see the sign all lit up one more time. it might surprise you to learn that around 70% of hong kong is green. for my final stop, i'm off to lantau, one of hong kong's 250—odd islands. it's almost twice the size of hong kong island

and around 40k”! away. lantau is a distinct contrast to the hectic buzz and skyscrapers of downtown hong kong. it's not unusual to spot a cow wandering the streets of lantau, even though we are so close to the city. hello! hi, christa! hi. how are you? i'm good, how are you? i'm here to meet ho loy, a conservationist who's dedicated her life to taking care of another bovine creature — the water buffalo. we're going to have a long day. are you ready for it? i think so. i'm ready to get my hands dirty, help the buffalo. this is the eco farm i grow. we bring the community here to take class and learn from us what the ecosystem is about. the hong kong people mostly are urbanisers. they don't quite understand what nature is about. so, we get their hand

in touch with soil and plant and get dirty. we need to pack this bag, like, heavily pack. i'll give you 20 minutes. so all of this. all of this? all of this grass? yeah. so what do these animals mean in chinese culture? we have 12 animals, but cow, tiger, chicken, pig are all real animal. they represent a value, a cultural value in our history. so the cow to me is the most important species among all of them. yep, loy is a serious... ..taskmaster. be worth it, though. hi, guys! we're going to start going now. ijust need a bag. it's time to serve lunch, but where are all the water buffalo? i'm going to call the buffalo now. you're going to call

the buffalo? yes. come with me. 0k. stay behind me, don't be in front of me, cos they may come to me. 0h... where do they... where do they hide, loy? don't come over, just stay on this side. 0k. there are water buffalo in this little stream here. they hide under the water. well, theyjust stay cool under the water. loy calls out they might not hear loy�*s call, so they might not know that lunch has arrived. hopefully, they hear it today. loy calls out squeaky bellowing just came out of nowhere

and they kind of sound like ducks. who knew? stay behind me. so he is trying to dominate the herd now because he's getting old and is shrinking. but he is denying it. oh! so they're having a dialogue. it is just incredible to see this. we just watch this sort of natural process happen and i can still hear the road just over there. it's so close to the city, it's so close to civilisation. and yet you can come out here and witness something like that. it's incredible. so, originally, we were hoping this would be ideal for breeding herd in lantau, but we lost this breeding ability now, so they are just taking their time to slowly die out, which is a shame. so this is mother and son.

they�* re amazing, right? i can't believe we're less than an hourfrom central hong kong and we're seeing this. look at how beautiful they are, right? it's glorious. you know what i mean? it's beautiful. if we have enough time to learn about them, then we can learn more about ourselves. and this is what my message... we want everybody... so please, we need to learn more about what is in our environment. it is the most astonishing experience to have so close to the city. it feels like the kind of experience you might have when you've been on a safari for two days, notjust, you know, popped in the car overfrom hong kong island out to lantau. what an experience! they're just beautiful creatures. they're so big and strong. i think the most incredible creature i've witnessed

today is loy. she is a force of nature, this woman. i mean, i think the buffalo are definitely safe in her hands, that is for sure. water buffalo bellows what a way to end my trip to hong kong, with this cable car ride over these incredible hills, just hundreds of feet above the green. it's been a really eye—opening trip, and i've seen different sides to the city and met some incredible people. what struck me was their passion for preserving the best bits of hong kong while still keeping an eye on the future. and i suppose that's fitting in a place like hong kong, which is always changing.

hello. we've seen a bit of a respite in the weather after the recent rain that many of us have seen. high pressure has been building over the past day or so and into the weekend. lots of dry, cloudy weather, quite mild and breezy. some rain in the forecast. it will mainly be across the north west of the uk. and on saturday we're seeing that rain as the weather front moves in across the western isles, parts of highland, some rain up towards the northern isles too, could be the odd spot for northern ireland, the cumbrian fells as well, but drier weather elsewhere, some brightness breaking through. but generally it is going to be another cloudy day, but it's milder than recent days. so double figures across the map, somewhere between about 10 to 13

degrees on saturday. but let's take a look at the expected rainfall. it's going to accumulate just through the weekend. you can see these colours, these deep greens and white colours across the west of scotland. we've got an amber warning for heavy rain across parts of highland. could be about 175 millimetres there. so enough to cause some flooding. that's through saturday night and through sunday as well. so wet weather continuing to pile in across the west of scotland as we head through into sunday morning drier elsewhere and again, a frost free night with temperatures remaining between around 8 to 11 degrees. so we've got the mild air with us on sunday. it's coming in from a south westerly direction. it's lasting through the day on monday and for some of us into tuesday as well. but colder air just waiting to the far north there and where those two air masses meet, that's where we're seeing the rain. so for sunday, the rain persistent across the north west of scotland. at times it's going to move in for northern ireland, northwest england as well, clearing away, ithink, later on from the far north of scotland. but temperatures certainly on the mild side, 13, 1a degrees for many of us, a touch cooler in the far south.

and i'll say the northern isles, we're in the cooler air to the north of that weather front. so this frontal system, as we head through into monday, slips its way southwards and eastwards tending to fizzle out. but it will bring a few showers, another fairly breezy day, i think, on monday. for many of us, quite a bit of cloud. the odd spot of rain around across central parts of england and wales, possibly staying dry for the south east of england and eastern scotland, who should see some dry weather with a bit of sunshine breaking through. but in general, it's mild, breezy and cloudy once again. temperatures certainly above average, really across the map between about 10 to 13 or 1a degrees, just a little cooler across the northern isles, maybe through into tuesday now and the next active weather front moves in from the atlantic. that is going to bring quite a lot of wet weather i think for tuesday across parts of southern and central england, wales to drifting gradually eastwards through the day, really windy conditions through the english channel. and then further showers move in on this north westerly breeze developing across the north west of the uk. could even be a little bit of snow over the highest ground of scotland, but for most of us it'll be rain.

but we're back into single figures across the northern half of the uk, holding onto the mild weather down towards the south but into the middle of the week. then for a time the milder air clears away. so if something a little bit colder for a time through the middle of the week, but it looks like that atlantic milder air will push in quite quickly again from the west. so what does that mean? a cold start to wednesday, perhaps one or two wintry showers over the highest ground in the north. but by the end of the day, as that milder air sweeps back in, it's going to bring further rain towards the west. so still in double figures for the likes of belfast. plymouth as well. aberdeen only around about seven degrees or so for wednesday, further ahead. then for thursday onwards, still a fairly unsettled spell of weather on the cards, some shower or rain symbols on the outlook here. perhaps just a chance of things turning a little bit wintry towards weekend, but i think any winter is over the higher ground across the north by for now.

live from london, this is bbc news. israel says the three hostages who were mistakenly killed by israeli troops in gaza were holding a white flag when they were shot. the killings have increased the pressure on the israeli government to resume negotiations with hamas on the release of those still held captive. maybe now someone will understand that there is only one way to free the hostages. the aljazeera tv news network says one of its camera operators has been killed in gaza by an israeli air strike. italy's prime minister hosts a right—wing festival. rishi sunak and elon musk are among the attendees. and the missing british boy who was found in france, six years after he went missing, is expected to travel back to the uk today.