this is bbc news, the headlines: joe biden agrees to give anti—personnel landmines to ukraine in another reversal of policy. the use of mines is banned in most countries. higher energy bills push uk inflation to its highest level since april. official figures show a greater than expected increase. and my brain tumour and me — we take a look at bbc glenn campbell's documentary on life after a shocking diagnosis. i want to get as much out of every day as i possibly can. this is me living with my brain tumour. yes! hello, i'm lewis vaughan—jones. more now on our main news that the biden administration will provide ukraine with anti—personnel

landmines — to support efforts against russian advances within ukrainian territory. russia says it shows the us wants to prolong the war. our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams is in dnipro with more. the situation up and down that eastern front is one in which russian forces are gradually moving forward, yard by yard, mile by mile, and there is a very keen desire in washington to try and limit that advance as much as possible. that area of eastern ukraine is largely made up of agricultural land, small towns, the occasional city. a lot of this fighting is taking place out in the open, it's not taking place in heavily populated areas. and the kind of landmines that are being provided by the americans under this new move are what are described as nonpersistent. they can be essentially timed to stop working after a matter of hours or up to two weeks.

and it's all about trying to confront the russian tactic, which up and down the front involves the russians sending forward tiny little teams, four or five men at a time, sometimes on foot, sometimes even on bicycles. they are essentially suicide missions because they go in, they try and get in behind the ukrainian lines. they preoccupy the ukrainian defences and artillery, and they allow the larger force to gradually move forward. that is what the ukrainians are trying to confront. it's very difficult. it sounds simple, but it's actually quite difficult to try and control the situation, and these landmines will allow them to try and do that. so i think that is the logic. it will be up to the lawyers to try and convince everyone that this is in line with modern conventions. yes, we all get very squeamish about the use of landmines, but for a very long time, they've been a grim but rather essential part of this kind of warfare. so, what's the situation within ukraine, how much territory has russia gained?

here's bbc verify�*s nick eardley. analysis of the picture since the start of this year shows that things are going far betterfor russia. let me show you the picture for 2024, based on analysis by the institute for the study of war. this is the picture in february. if we fast forward to september, look at this area here. you can see russia has made inroads. this might look like a small amount on the map, but it's a significant amount of territory on the ground, and that advance is continued in recent weeks. more land being taken by russia. so far this year, russia has seized nearly 2,000 square kilometres of territory, just over 1,000 square miles. that's nearly six times more than it did in the whole of 2023. let me show you what all of this means in practice. this is kurakhove in eastern ukraine. you can see it on the map there. if we show you this video, we can see the devastation.

this is a key town russia is trying to capture. it's come under heavy bombardment recently as part of the russian offensive. you can see the damage that that has caused. there's been heavy fighting in the kursk region of russia too. ukrainian troops captured, you can see it here, a large amount of territory in august. but russian forces have now retaken, as you can see here, around half of that. all of these gains have come at a cost for russia. tens of thousands of troops have died. but as things stand, it looks like that is a price moscow is willing to pay. and this is important with president trump's return to the white house looming. mr trump has said he can end the war in a day. it's not clear how, but if there were peace talks, territory will be an important bargaining chip and some analysts think that russia's recent gains will give it a stronger hand in any

potential discussions. new officialfigures show higher energy bills pushed up the uk rate of inflation last month. the office for national statistics said inflation rose to 2.3%, from 1.7% in september. the bank of england's target is 2%. let's speak to our business reporter peter ruddick. talk us through these numbers. as you say, above the bank of england's to % target, which is the most important takeaway, but if we dig into the details of this, we are talking about an increase in the inflation rate, an increase in the speed at which prices are rising. it's almost entirely down, as you say, to energy bills because these are backward —looking figures. we are talking about october, when people might remember the price cap went up, which means household gas and electric bills in the uk, a lot of them went up. but there are two big

worries from these figures. 0ne, if you dig into the details, if you look at core inflation, that's when you strip out some of the volatile things in inflation figures like energy. core inflation did still tick up, and there is a fear that bits of inflation are proving a bit stubborn and sticky, even now. potentially, that could be to do with wage increases. the second concern is, could government policies keep this inflation figure higherfor keep this inflation figure higher for longer? keep this inflation figure higherfor longer? the boss of lidl today told the bbc that businesses can't absorb all of the impact of higher national insurance contributions and of course, the increased minimum wage. in other words, businesses as a whole might have to make job cuts or pass on higher prices to us, also known is an inflationary impact. the chief secretary to the treasury, darrenjones, told us businesses are going to welcome the economic stability

that comes from the new budget. we were expecting this figure to tick up a bit today. it's not a massive surprise, but the concern, as i say, is that core inflation and budget policies, could those things mean that unfortunately, the inflation rate stays a bit higher for longer? rate stays a bit higher for loner? ~ ., _, rate stays a bit higher for lower? . ., u, ., rate stays a bit higher for loner? ~ ., _, . ., longer? what could that mean for interest _ longer? what could that mean for interest rates, _ longer? what could that mean for interest rates, the - longer? what could that mean for interest rates, the cost - longer? what could that mean for interest rates, the cost of. for interest rates, the cost of borrowing?— borrowing? that is the key question — borrowing? that is the key question from _ borrowing? that is the key question from all- borrowing? that is the key question from all of- borrowing? that is the key question from all of this. l borrowing? that is the key | question from all of this. as borrowing? that is the key i question from all of this. as i say, the bank of england's target is 2%. it seems very unlikely that the bank of england are going to suddenly raise interest rates. the prospect for inflation hasn't massively changed. the bank of england themselves were expecting inflation to tick up to date. what it has raised questions about is when there will be the next move lower. some people had hoped that in the next meeting, which isjust before christmas, we might get a tick down in interest rates then. the reality is that expectations for the next move,

which will probably be lower, not higher, but the next move, the prospects for that are pushed into next year and the bank, like all of us, are going to be watching closely, but inflation figures and the stickiness of it, but also the impact of the government policies themselves on businesses and inflation. thank ou, businesses and inflation. thank you. peter- _ the uk government is reviewing the role of physician and anaesthesia associates in england because of growing worries about their use in the nhs. the british medical association had expressed concerns that those in the roles were being asked to perform tasks they were not meant to. 0ur health editor, hugh pym has this report. physician associates work alongside doctors in hospital wards, in gp surgeries, and in a&e. the role was created to help support doctors and improve patient access to trained health professionals. they have fewer years of training than a doctor, though it includes a relevant biomedical degree and then

a two year masters. but some concerns have been raised about their role with patients. stephen is a pa who now runs a group representing the profession. the things that we care about are looking after patients and also taking the pressure off the vast majority of the medical workforce that is struggling right now. some doctors have said your profession raises safety concerns and it's not properly regulated. what do you say to them? i'd say they're fundamentally wrong. for 20 years, we've done this now. we're very underrepresented in the statistics around safety incidents. we've worked very hard alongside our consultant colleagues to make sure that we practise safely. doctors created our role and doctors asked us to do it and doctors are the ones that designed our curriculum for us to be able to do the things that we do. but over the last 12 months, the doctors' union, the british medical association, says patients have been put at risk by pas. in one case, a coroner highlighted concerns about a hospital death and the role of a pa.

what we've seen is physician associates undertaking roles that are above their training. patients are believing that they're seeing a doctor when they are not, and that's leading to some unsafe decisions and, very sadly, patient harm and even death. is there an element of doctors trying to protect their elevated status in the health world? i'm not sure that the medical profession has an elevated status. what we have is expertise. we're not trying to protect doctors, we're trying to protect patients. the health secretary acknowledges the debate has become toxic, but he hoped a review would take the heat out of the issue, as he hinted in a recent breakfast interview. before we put the foot down on the accelerator to expand the number of roles, i think we also firstly need to take stock on where we are, dive deeply into some of the challenges that have been put to us by the medical profession about the deployment

of these roles, because i need to assure myself, in order to assure the country that we've got the right people in the right place doing the right thing. both the bma and the physician associates welcomed the review, and with the government hoping to treble the number of pas in england to 10,000 over the next decade, the outcome of the review will be crucial for nhs workforce planning. hugh pym, bbc news. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

the popular social media personality logan paul is facing fresh questions over his cryptocurrency dealings, with ongoing concerns he may have profited by misleading fans. he has promoted cryptocurrencies to millions of followers online, and appears to have caused prices in these investments to spike, leading to suggestions he could have profited from sales of any tokens he held.

the bbc has seen new evidence suggesting he promoted investments without revealing he had a financial interest in them. he denies any wrongdoing. matt shea has been investigating the influencer, and has this report. i have to say, the real logan paul looks very different. did you come all the way over here to ask about how i look? is logan coming? i'm right here, bro. we've been investigating the influence of logan paul's crypto activities for nearly a year. but when we booked an interview, he sent a lookalike and trolled us. bleep. i wanted to ask about allegations from critics who say he made personal gains by misleading his fans about crypto. for this, he denies any wrongdoing. the allegations relate to the way the influencer�*s used his social accounts to promote cryptocurrencies, like in 2021, when at the height of his interest in crypto, he posted about an elon musk—themed meme coin to his global following. what he didn't say is that he may have been a secret holder of the token.

our investigation looked at an anonymous crypto account with close links to logan paul. we noticed the anonymous account was first funded by logan paul's public crypto account, then from his fan clubs nft project, and it purchased a large amount of the coin. moments before the tweet, he bought almost $160,000 worth. when the market peaked 12 hours later, it sold its holding at roughly $120,000 profit. shortly afterwards, the price crashed. so it appears an account with close connections to logan paul made a lot of money from that tweet by buying directly before and selling after. i went to the head office of the securities and exchange commission. i asked their chair about the laws around promoting crypto. they're supposed to tell you if they get paid, how much they get paid, whether they own the tokens, whether they've made money on the tokens, whether they actually know something about the project. and we at the securities and exchange commission have brought a number of cases in these areas over the years.

gensler couldn't speak specifically about paul, but he told us... influencers, whatever their name might be, don't go out and tout something and mislead the public. because it's illegal? yeah. it's also wrong. there are still questions around paul's crypto activities, but instead of answering them, he chose to send a lookalike. in doing so, he appears to be ambivalent about what happens to fans who invested based on his endorsements. and with a class—action claim filed for his failed cryptozoo project, the allegations around paul exploiting his significant platform to promote cryptocurrency continue to mount. logan paul has consistently denied any wrongdoing and blames other team members for the failure of the cryptozoo project. injune last year, bbc scotland s political editor glenn campbell fell off his bike. he first felt he had a lucky escape, but six weeks after his accident, he had a seizure.

he was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. in a new documentary, glenn shares his experience of living with a brain tumour, and explores why treatments for the condition have barely changed in many years. there is great clarity in being confronted with your own mortality, because you realise what really matters in life and maybe what doesn't matter quite so much. my name is glenn campbell. i am a husband, a father of two children, and i'm currently political editor at bbc scotland. hey, how are you? so interviewing prime ministers and first ministers. to embarrass glenn? last year i fell off my bike and i broke ten ribs. i was ready to go back to work when something even worse happened. i got a scan, and that's what revealed that i had a brain tumour.

so basically, i'd been told i had a terminal illness and that's a big blow. it's devastating. and i thought, "well, you're still here. what do you want to do with your life?" and one of the things i came up with was, i love climbing mountains. why don't you climb every munro in scotland to raise as much money and as much awareness as we can? you know, why don't you just set yourself that challenge and get on with it? but it's also for me, you know, it's something that i can do that i love, that makes me very happy. this is me living with my brain tumour. yes! fantastic. so i've kind of woven it into the fundraising and the awareness raising. thanks very much for being here. thanks for raising lots of money for a good cause and have a great cycle. i certainly wouldn't have wished to be in this situation,

but i'm still having a good life. i'm learning to live with my cancer. i'm not going to worry about dying from it unless that's staring me in the face. and i want to get as much out of every day as i possibly can. let's speak to cameron miller — director of policy & campaigns at the brain tumour charity. talk us through a bit of definition. tell us what brain tumours are.— definition. tell us what brain tumours are. there is no such thin as tumours are. there is no such thing as a _ tumours are. there is no such thing as a single _ tumours are. there is no such thing as a single brain - tumours are. there is no such thing as a single brain tumour definition. there are over 130 different types of brain tumours and impact that it has on people can vary from person to person depending on where it is in the brain. that means that it's difficult to diagnose, because there are nonspecific symptoms connected

to it ranging from headaches and dizziness to physical symptoms where you are unable to walk or have difficulty moving different limbs. so it's a real change to diagnose it. and moving on to treatments, tell us what they are.- tell us what they are. again, it will depend _ tell us what they are. again, it will depend on _ tell us what they are. again, it will depend on the - tell us what they are. again, it will depend on the type i tell us what they are. again, it will depend on the type of| it will depend on the type of brain tumour you have. and it will depend on the person. but standard treatment will include some level of surgical resection and then chemo and radiotherapy. but they haven't really improved for a long time, as glenn alludes to, and thatis time, as glenn alludes to, and that is the problem. we have had a historic lack of funding into research for brain tumours for a long time, and that means where we have seen survival in other cancers double or triple, in brain tumours we haven't seen those improvements in survival rates at all. is seen those improvements in survival rates at all.- survival rates at all. is there a feeling _ survival rates at all. is there a feeling that _ survival rates at all. is there a feeling that if— survival rates at all. is there a feeling that if more - survival rates at all. is there l a feeling that if more research was done, there could be some breakthroughs and different treatments?—

breakthroughs and different treatments? , , ~ treatments? definitely. we need more research _ treatments? definitely. we need more research to _ treatments? definitely. we need more research to understand - treatments? definitely. we need more research to understand the disease and see more things coming down the pipeline. you need that critical mass of research to make a difference. at the brain tumour charity, we have committed, over the last five years, to £35 million worth of research. we fund everything from clinical trials through to early stage research. the hope is that by encouraging more early—stage research and getting more interest in this area, we will see that critical mass come through and we will not have to ring—fence as much money because we will see tacit people submitting fantastic projects to get funding. and then we will start to see those improvements that we need to see. ., ., ~ ., ~' i., stay with us on bbc news.

tonight is the annual country music awards in nashville — and it's going to be broadcast in the uk for the first time. country has been rapidly increasing in popularity this side of the pond, and our media and arts correspondent david sillito has been looking at britain s new enthusiasm for the sound of nashville. country is having a moment. it's great to see a genre that's been hidden away in the uk for so long actually finally having its moment. country music is good, it's catchy, it's lovely. it's always been cool, - but it's definitely cool now. take lainey wilson, from baskin, louisiana. she's as nashville as you can get, but the place where she says her career really took off? you've played the uk, haven't you? we started visiting back in 2017 and truthfully, i had more fans there than i did here. so they caught on a lot sooner than the folks here in the states.

sorry, you had more fans in the uk than the us? i had way more fans in the uk than i did in the us. did they know the songs beforehand? they knew the songs beforehand. it was the craziest thing. my mom and daddy only knew my songs at the time and i will never forget, i was playing a song i had just put out and you could hear a pin drop, and they started singing it back to me, that was the very first time i ever heard anybody sing a song i wrote back to me. of course, britain has a long country history. artists such as carson robison and the buckaroos were pioneers back in the �*30s. in the �*70s and �*80s, it had a devoted following. wembley hosted a huge annual country festival. and then it rather faded. but it's now really back.

the country 2 country festival has spread across the uk, streaming is rising, and new clubs are popping up. it's not feeling very nashville here. i don't want to say anything about the weather, but it's feeling a bit manchester at the moment. this place, i think it used to be a mexican, but it's suddenly gone country. something is going on and that's why we're here, to find out. you must be nicole. nice to meet you, i'm david. hello, david. you're going to be teaching me about country music. absolutely. nicole loves country music. there we are, willie nelson, dolly parton. one of many new young fans. so, i had a question. why? it's like a warm hug. it's just, it has so many different sides to it as well. there's the up and get dancing and let's go, and then there's the really

heartfelt but still, i don't know, just a homey vibe, which is quite strange because country is primarily american artists. but it's just like a piece of home that i think everyone can find in it. are there any manchester country acts who want to play here? yes, everyone. we've had so many requests. instead of asking people to come in, they're asking us to come in. it's just absolutely taken off within the first weekend of opening. so you've unlocked this latent country enthusiasm. it's magical. and now all of a sudden, everyone's coming out and now they finally have somewhere to go, everyone is able to embrace their country side, and i love it. a music that might in the past have been mocked by some has acquired a new respect — something has clicked.

i think at the end of the day, everybody all over the world is craving realness. um, they want to feel at home. and if i'm being honest, i feel like that's why i love country music so much. it reminds me of home when i'm not home. when i'm listening to it, it makes me feel like i'm home. country music reminds me of the important things in life. not even the fans quite know why it's taken off, but its earnest, heartfelt soul is what many of us are turning to at the moment. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. hello. this cold spell of weather does look set to last for another few days, before what could be quite a dramatic change over the weekend. more on that in a moment.

in the short term, for the day ahead, after a frosty and icy start, we will see quite a lot of sunshine. still some wintry showers and a cold northerly wind, that wind coming all the way from the arctic, ushering in further wintry showers, particularly in those spots exposed to the wind. so, many places, actually, after that frosty icy start having a decent day with quite a lot of sunshine. but eastern england will see some showers, a mix of rain, sleet and snow. a few for wales, the south—west of england, some wintry showers for northern ireland and frequent snow showers continuing in the north of scotland. further accumulations of snow here with some pretty brisk winds, so temperatures at best — north to south — 2—8 degrees. factor in the strength of the wind, it is going to feel colder than that, and temperatures certainly dropping away during the night. another cold night. still some wintry showers, but i think they'll tend to clear away from the east coast. a few more into these western parts, particularly in the north—west of scotland.

and by the end of the night, you may have noticed there some rain and perhaps some snow pushing towards the far south—west of england, in association with this area of low pressure. now, the centre of this low is set to stay away to the south of us, but it may just get close enough for the south—west of england to see some rain, sleet and hill snow. could even see something wintry across the channel islands. elsewhere, quite a lot of sunshine around. still some wintry showers in spots exposed to the wind and it is again going to feel cold for the time of year. now, on friday, again, we'll see some wintry showers, particularly around the coast, but we could see some rain, sleet and snow getting inland at times. most places, though, by the end of the day should be dry. still rather cold, but there is a change on the way for the weekend in the shape of this deep area of low pressure, the centre of which is expected to stay to the north—west of us. but notice all these isobars, some very strong winds, some heavy rain sweeping

across the uk. but with that, it is expected to turn much milder.

live from london, this is bbc news. in another reversal of policy, the us agrees to send anti—personnel landmines to ukraine. an international treaty bans mines in most countries. the us closes its kyiv embassy because of air—attack threats. it's urging its citizens to take shelter if an air alert sounds. rising energy bills push uk inflation above the bank of england's target. official figures reveal it's at its highest level since april. the pro—democracy media tycoon, jimmy lai, testifies for the first time in his national security trial in hong kong. and we head to the canadian arctic to see how the un climate conference decisions will drastically impact polar bears.