hello, i'm anjana gadgil. the uk defence secretary has announced that hundreds of british—made air defence missiles are being shipped to ukraine. it follows one of the biggest aerial attacks by russia since the war began. at least 30 people have been killed and more than 160 injured in a wave of deadly explosions across the country. ukraine's air force says it has "never seen so many locations targeted simultaneously". cities hit include kyiv, lviv in the west, odesa in the south, and dnipro, kharkiv and zaporizhzhia in eastern ukraine. a maternity hospital and shopping mall were among buildings damaged and destroyed. poland has said an object entered the nato country's airspace overnight. a polish general says the object, which is likely to have been a russian missile, spent less than three minutes over polish territory.

from kyiv, our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse reports. it is and always has been the whole of ukraine which is under attack. kyiv is still moscow's biggest prize. air defences have improved here, but this attack proved too much. translation: i was woken up at 7:30 by a horrible sound, _ it was so frightening, the missile was flying and everything was buzzing, so noisy. you are left in no doubt that this was a direct missile strike, the scale of the damage, the size of the blast zone, the heat caused. you are more used to seeing damage caused by falling debris when a missile is intercepted, but this reflects the scale of this russian attack, and scenes like this are being replicated right across ukraine. a lucky escape in kharkiv in the north—east. this city is familiar

with missile strikes, but not 20 in a single morning. a shopping centre in dnipro in the east, as well as a maternity hospital, were hit. it did not stop there. this is the port city of odesa in the south, where a residential block was struck. zaporizhzhia wasn't spared either, where at least eight were killed. even lviv in the west, which sometimes feels farfrom this invasion, wasn't immune this time. all military targets were hit, as far as russia's defence ministry was concerned. ukraine's air force says it had never seen so many missiles in one attack. in a war where moscow routinely strikes cities it can't occupy, that is saying something. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. in the last few hours president biden has responded to the attacks on ukraine. he said...

"after nearly two years of this devastating war, putin's objective remains unchanged. he seeks to obliterate ukraine and subjugate its people. he must be stopped." and mr biden warned... "unless congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons..." "congress must step up and act without any further delay." brendan kearney is a retired colonel with the us marine corps — he gave me his assessment of president biden�*s comments. the president is justifiably frustrated with congress. they went on their christmas break without passing that legislation that zelensky had made a trip to washington, dc to try to obtain. so he's frustrated. he wants to send a message of support and that it's unwavering support to ukraine. and i think he's hopeful that when congress gets back from its recess, that this will be the number one priority on their agenda. and how likely is it that congress will listen and then take action

after these words and these actions by russia? well, you know, that's hard to predict. there's an awful...there�*s more support in congress for ukraine than is being discussed right now. what the republicans and some democrats quietly are doing is they're trying to force the president's hand by linking the funding legislation to what's going on in the southern border, which is an absolute disaster for the united states with this completely unhindered flow of immigrants across the border. so it's politics at its worst. but i think what's going to happen is you're going to see the congress eventually go ahead and pass the legislation and give ukraine most, if not all, of what it wants. is this a personal mission by president biden or is it purely political?

i think with politicians i'm not sure you can... go ahead and separate those things. i think, number one, it's purely political. he's going into an election year. his polls out here in the united states are awful. his performance is generally by democrats and republicans acknowledged as awful. ukraine is one of the very few things he has been consistent on. so we're going to have to wait and see how this all develops. but the republicans sense blood in the water over the southern border issue. so they're going to they're going to continue to punch biden in the nose, so to speak, over these efforts that he is purportedly going ahead and promoting. so a huge wave of attacks overnight on several cities across ukraine. how, in your view, do you think the war is going for president putin and also for ukrainians?

well, i think this clearly was a response by putin to show that he is still a powerful man. he's still a player. the russians were embarrassed by that successful ukrainian assault there on that landing ship just a couple of days ago. so you can almost always predict when the russians strike back hard is because they've been hit hard. and the ukrainians, as usual, did a superbjob with no fleet themselves. they've managed to sink over 20% of the russian black sea fleet. so this is not you know, this is a continuation of the russian way of war, which is putin as a bully, attacking primarily civilian targets, residential areas. i've heard that city hospitals and schools were also attacked. so it's a shame. it's a tragedy. but there's, nothing, not a single thing that's a surprise other

than maybe the magnitude of the attack. but these you know, these missiles are hard to replace. so russia really stepped up its game for this particular set of attacks. the united nations says an estimated 150,000 palestinians are being forced to flee areas of central gaza, as israeli forces advance on refugee camps there. an israeli air strike is reported to have killed 20 displaced people in rafah — a town that many people have fled to in recent days. talks to stop the fighting are reported to have restarted in egypt — though there's no indication of progress. 0ur middle east correspondent, yolande knell has sent this report — which does contain distressing images. gathering in disbelief at the scene of another israeli strike. this is rafah, crowded with displaced gazans. last night, the scenes here were frantic, with 20 people killed including children.

0thers somehow making it out alive. amid all this suffering, ordinary palestinians ask when the war will stop. "the situation has gone beyond all limits," says samad. "we're asking the world to protect us and stop the aggression. we're helpless." 0ngoing fighting means little aid has been reaching gaza city. new pictures show the desperate looting when this convoy finally arrived. the vast majority of gazans have now been forced from their homes. people here have been setting up new makeshift camps as they've fled from advancing israeli troops. but new diplomatic efforts are taking shape even as the war rages on. a hamas delegation is now in cairo after egypt, a key mediator with israel, proposed a new ceasefire deal. crowd chants. in israel there is pressure to find a way to bring home the 100—plus hostages still in gaza.

those released during a truce last month say they endured harsh conditions while held captive by hamas fighters. mia schem now accuses all gazans of being complicit with the armed group, something many would deny. translation: it's families under hamas control. - you know in retrospect i realised i was staying with a family. i was asking myself, why am i at a family's house? why are there children and a woman here? israel says its aim in gaza remains to dismantle hamas's military and governing capabilities. but for now, palestinian civilians are paying a huge price — forced to flee from their homes with no safe place to go. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. israel says it has struck hezbollah militants in southern lebanon in response to missiles fired over the border. these pictures released by the israeli defense forces show them striking what they describe as hezbollah infrastructure near wadi hamul in lebanon. israel says they hit a number

of targets including launch sites and a military compound. large crowds have gathered in yemen's capital at a houthi rally to show support for palestinians. chanting. thousands of people packed into sanaa, chanting and waving placards. iranian—backed houthi militants in yemen have recently stepped up attacks on vessels in the red sea, to show their backing for hammers. to show their backing for hamas. the number of anti—semitic hate crimes recorded by some of the uk's largest police forces rose sharply in the weeks following the hammers attack on israel. data released by 31 forces show incidents peaked in larger urban areas, including in west yorkshire, the west midlands, greater manchester and merseyside. however hate crime overall appears to have fallen significantly

over the last decade. mark easton reports. stop taking out innocent civilians! killing children every single day! in the weeks after the start of the israel hamas conflict, tensions spilled over into a spike in anti—semitic and islamophobic hate incidents in the uk. this is anti—semitism. data obtained from freedom of information requests show that in england's more diverse urban areas, police saw a rise in anti—jewish incidents in the month following the hamas attacks on october the 7th. greater manchester police recorded 7a anti—semitic offences, up from 15 in the same period a year earlier. west midlands police recorded 22, up from just one. west yorkshire police recorded a9, up from 29. and the british transport police recorded 87 incidents, up from eight in the same month a year before. we have seenjewish people who are worried about sending their children to school, about going to synagogue, about wearing anything that might allow other

people to identify them as jewish. the pro—palestinian marches in london saw arrests for suspected anti—semitic offences, with the met reporting last month that 19 people had later been charged with anti—jewish hate crimes. in some places, there has also been an increase in anti—muslim hate incidents. hello, you do takeaways? yes. ok, so i come over and take away your life. bleep, bleep. israel for ever. this palestinian restaurant in london received abusive messages in the days after the hamas attack. the situation in the middle east has increased fear in bothjewish and muslim neighbourhoods in britain, every alleged hate crime adding to those anxieties. however, it appears community relations have since started to improve and overall, hate crime appears to have fallen significantly in the last two decades. mark easton, bbc news. we asked london's metropolitan police to respond to suggestions they weren't doing enough to protect

thejewish community. they have responded... "we do not underestimate the impact that the october seven terrorist attacks and the subsequent conflict have had here in london, in particular injewish and muslim communities." "the met has had a dedicated operation focused on responding to the increase in hate crime, fear and uncertainty in communities and protests throughout. " around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. two british skiers have died after an avalanche swept through part of french ski resort, in the area of saint gervais les bains. the two are reported to be a 54—year—old woman and her 22—year—old son. another skiier was injured. the chief inspector of prisons for england and wales has called for a fundamental re—orientation in the way the system is run. charlie taylor said the high availability of drugs in some prisons

was a barrier to rehabilitation. and he said many inmates were failing to learn to read and not developing the skills they need for a life of work, rather than crime. the home of the manchester city footballer, jack grealish, has been broken into while he was playing in his side's 3—1 win against everton. according to local media, a million pounds worth ofjewellery and watches were stolen. no arrests have yet been made. you're live with bbc news. here in the uk, tributes have been paid to a man who died after a car hit a group of people in sheffield. police say christian marriott had stopped to help an unconscious woman after an argument between two groups of people. his family have paid tribute. saying the circumstances of his death "show the sort of man he was — going to help rather than to turn away." 0livia richwald reports.

chris marriott spent his life helping others — at a food bank, for a debt advice charity, and volunteering to make life better for those less fortunate than himself. the father of two young boys had a strong christian faith. when he saw an unconscious woman while out on a walk with his family, he rushed to help her and give first aid. but while he was trying to save her life, he lost his own. his boss said the it manager would always help others. chris's sort of whole raison d'etre was to help others. i mean, he would sort of see anybody and be prepared to go and help, and i think hejust had a heart for people. this is where chris marriott was hit and killed. a wedding party had been taking place in a house in this cul—de—sac. it descended into violence and disorder and that spilled out into the street. chris marriott was just an innocent passer—by. just be a good samaritan,

which any good person, and he lost his life and, you know, it'sjust a big, big loss to the family and to the community as a whole. in a statement, chris marriott's family said... chris was a wonderful husband, dad, uncle and friend to many of the circumstances of his death, although tragic and unfathomable to us, his family, show the sort of man he was, to go to help rather than turn away. one man, aged 23, remains in police custody. a 55—year—old man has been released on bail. a real good samaritan, chris marriott died trying to save a woman's life. she is in hospital in a life—threatening condition. 0livia richwald, bbc news, sheffield. to the us — maine has become the second us state to rule that donald trump cannot run for president next year,

because of his actions leading up to the us capitol riot in 2021. it follows a similar ruling in colorado earlier this month. both decisions are on hold though, as legal challenges make their way through the courts. 0ur north america correspondent, shingai nyoka has been following events and gave me her assessment. i think the significance, mainly, is that this particular decision is the first that's ever been taken by a state official to ban a presidential candidate from appearing on a primary ballot. and the official who made this decision, the secretary of state shenna bellows, who is a democrat, ruled that according to a provision in the constitution that anyone who has been found to have engaged or supported a rebellion against the state is not eligible to stand on the primary ballot. and this came as a result of a public hearing after several registered voters applied

to her office challenging donald trump's eligibility to stand. and how have donald trump and his team reacted? well, donald trump himself has not said anything, but he has over the course of the day, been posting on his social media platform truthsocial, showing the polls in which he has surged. he's the frontrunner in the republican party, but in several swing states, he's also ahead of president biden. but there's a wider argument made by his supporters that this is a ploy by the democratic party to prevent him from standing in these elections in november 202a. but it's a very divisive issue. and we've heard arguments on both sides of the aisle where among them, some democrats, have also said that they don't believe that this is a decision that the state that a state

official should make. they say that this should be a decision that should be made by congress and also that donald trump, even though he's accused of engaging in an insurrection, hasn't actually been formally charged or convicted. he does face a separate case in which he's accused of trying to overthrow the 2020 elections. he's pleaded not guilty. and so what will happen now is that this case is likely to be appealed at court, at the supreme court, which will likely decide who really has the power to make these decisions. there are several other states in which in which a former president trump has been allowed to run, but dozens others still have to make that decision. with summer in full swing in south africa, many are heading to the beach for the holidays — but there is some concern, with great white shark sightings on the rise, and a number of recent fatal attacks. the bbc has been to see the measures being taken to keep people

and sharks apart in the water, whilst protecting both from harm. daniel de simone sent this report from cape town. protecting the public from sharks by scanning the waters of cape town. i'm checking for the movement in the water. from here, i have to see whatever is coming, be it fish, sharks, dolphins or whales. here christmas is summertime and great white sharks have been seen this month for the first time in years. a sighting means an alert and the sea cleared of swimmers. men shout. each morning, the team seeks to create a safe bathing area off one beach. there have been fatal shark attacks in this bay in the past and that's what has led to this exclusion net being put in to keep sharks away. the team here are actually putting the net down to the sea bed and right across the bay to keep sharks away from swimmers. how close can the sharks come

in in this bay we are in now? like, close. they come inshore, like waist deep already. they come in close. the nets are lifted each evening to avoid hurting or killing sea life. up the coast at plettenberg bay the shark spotters were called in after two fatal attacks last year. hi, i'm kimon. kimon bisogno ran a pizza restaurant with her partner, diego. she was very bright, bright in personality, big smile on her face, playful and kind and with a big, big heart. she was killed by a great white shark, the second person to die in months. only then were shark spotting measures put in place. an action sometimes will make a difference and not action will never make a difference. if someone put up a sign and say, "beware of shark", then maybe she wouldn't probably be in after the first

accident, you know? and that is just one action. a new kind of shark barrier is being built in cape town. it's recently been fitted on a private island in the bahamas. designed to mimic an underwater forest of kelp, which sharks dislike, it contains magnets intended to repel them. sharks have a very sensitive organ around their eye and around their nose that allows them to feel electric and magnetic fields in the water. so when we present them with a very large magnet such as this one, we overwhelm that sense. it is very uncomfortable for them to come closer than one metre to this magnet. some places seek to tackle danger from sharks by killing them, but in cape town the approach is different. if you have the top predators taken away from the environment, then you create a domino effect to the ecosystem that is going to be detrimental.

they overall do a really good job in keeping everything in balance. how to live with sharks is a life and death issue. daniel de simone, bbc news, cape town. the heiress of the beauty brand l'0real has become the first woman in the world to hold a $100 billion fortune — that's according to the bloomberg billionaire's index. francoise bettencourt meyers. she's also ranked the 12th richest person globally, according to the bloomberg billionaires index. her grandfather founded the french beauty empire l'0real, and she's the vice chairperson on the company's board. l'0real�*s shares rose to a record high in paris on thursday, and the firm has seen its sales rebound after the pandemic, when people under lockdown were using less make—up. now, the 70—year—old heiress has been named on this list. this is the bloomberg billionaires index. it's a daily ranking of the world's richest people. and the top of the list is dominated by men in the tech

industry from the us. and sitting at the very top is elon musk, spacex and tesla chief executive, who's now worth $232 billion. but what about the other women on the list? well, seven places behind francoise is alice walton. she's the heiress to the walmart fortune. she's now worth $70 billion. closely behind alice walton isjulia flesher koch. she's worth $66.6 billion. she's the widow of david koch, former chief executive of koch industries. and in 26th place on the bloomberg billionaires index is jacqueline badger mars. her grandfather founded the mars confectionary company. now, it's worth noting that of the 500 people named on this list,

more than 180 of them are from the us, china provided 52 and britain 17. the us military�*s robot space plane has blasted off from florida on its seventh mission. it was carried into orbit by a space x falcon heavy rocket for the first time. hello there. love it or hate it — new year's eve is just around the corner. and once again, it looks likely that the weather is going to play a leading role when pulling down the final curtain of this year, because this weekend we are likely to see further heavy rain. snow is likely even at lower levels in the north for a time. and once again, the winds a feature. it's this area of low pressure that's drifting towards our shores and it will gradually move its way steadily east. ahead of it — a brief ridge of high pressure that's going to allow for those temperatures in scotland to fall well below freezing. a cold, icy, but hopefully sunny start to your new year's eve. that's where the best

of the drier weather will be. cloud and rain gathers out to the west, some of it really heavy across north—west england, wales, south—west england, accompanied by gales, particularly on exposed coasts. but central and south—eastern england will stay dry and bright and still relatively warm with 11—12 degrees celsius. a colder story in scotland. and where that frontal system then bumps into that cold air, that's when we're likely to see the risk of significant snow for a time, and it may well cause some disruption even at lower levels. now, it will gradually turn back to rain as we start to see some milder air pushing in. but as i say, there could be some issues. keep abreast of the weather forecast and tune into your bbc local radio station. on sunday, the low pressure still centred up into the north—west, slightly milder start for most of us, 2—9 degrees first thing on sunday morning. but that low sitting to the north—west will continue to push in a frequent rush of showers for our new year's eve.

so the showers out to the west and some of these will gradually feed their way steadily eastwards as we go through the afternoon. sheltered eastern areas, staying relatively dry and bright. most of the frequent showers out to the west, windy along channel coasts — temperatures between 8—10 degrees. some of these showers will push east as we go through the evening. frequent rash of showers into northern ireland and western scotland, but north—east scotland faring a little better than of late. dry — we should keep some sunshine and it should stay largely dry into the evening. now, as we move into new year's day — on the whole, a quieter story. need keep an eye on this frontal system down to the south, but for many it will be slightly cooler and slightly quieter, but there's still going to be some rain around at times. take care.

2023 was a remarkable year for sport. up here, an historic treble. down under, a women's world cup. england and australia couldn't be separated in the ashes, whilst cricket, rugby union and netball all had world cups of their own. golf came togetherfor the solheim and ryder cups. but the start of this sporting year was, for some, less a beginning and more a resumption.

football had onlyjust returned after its unprecedented winter world cup break. also resuming, returning, the australian open once more welcomed novak djokovic, a year on from his deportation over his covid vaccination status. still no vax for novak but here he was, back and unbeatable. his was a 22nd grand slam title. for irina sabalenka, a first. saudi arabia's bid to become a major player in global sport was laid bare. cristiano ronaldo becoming a figurehead for the fledgling football league. before the end of the year, they had all but been awarded a world cup. there was shock, too, injanuary, after buffalo bills' damar hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during an nfl game. the world watched on, as he would eventually make a recovery. here, rugby union's six nations, well, that was all about ireland. it is time for the six nations, and no better place to start than in cardiff.

james lowe, all the way!