this is bbc news, the headlines. a syria war monitor says rebel fighters are advancing towards the country's third city homs. calls from the leader of his own party to step aside, pressure on south korea's president grows, after he declared martial law this week. rush—hour trains are delayed across britain this morning because of a "nationwide fault" with a communications system. families of children operated on by a disgraced surgeon have labelled independent reports into their care as a "whitewash". warnings that the nhs in england is under more pressure going into winter due to a sharp rise in cases of flu. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan.

here in the uk, national rail is warning passengers about a nationwide fault impacting their services this morning which is expected to cause delays and cancellations. the issue is related to the radio communication system used between national rail train drivers and signallers. passengers are being advised to check services before they travel, with trains to several airports affected. let's speak to our reporter meghan owen, who's at waterloo station in london. how much of a disruption impacted things where you have? i got here this morning and bearin i got here this morning and bear in mind this is a busy friday, before christmas, but also this happened in the peak of rush hour, so there were dozens of commuters looking frustrated, one woman said she was going to be three hours late for a job interview, others said they were a couple of hours delayed to get to work

and with very little communication so there was immense frustration from workers in central london this morning. now, those delays seem to have eased slightly, looking at the arrivals board there are more trains operating but it doesn't mean it hasn't been an incredibly stressful morning and of course a network rail said this was due to a communication system error between train drivers and signallers, they were working to resolve that, they were looking at a work around, we haven't had an update but judging by the situation something seems to have eased sightly. is something seems to have eased siuhtl . , . something seems to have eased siuhtl. , ., ., sightly. is it fair to say we are hearing _ sightly. is it fair to say we are hearing more - sightly. is it fair to say we are hearing more about. sightly. is it fair to say we - are hearing more about failure, that kind of thing, i have been at stations in london in recent months where there have been massive delays due to power failures and things like that, you know, how much is that growing issue?— you know, how much is that growing issue? you only have to look at bbc _ growing issue? you only have to look at bbc live _ growing issue? you only have to look at bbc live page _ growing issue? you only have to look at bbc live page so - growing issue? you only have to look at bbc live page so see - look at bbc live page so see there is major disruption in leeds this morning because of

an unrelated issue as well, so there have been many occasions, where there have been more train delays, more train cancellations, but this hasn't happened for a long time, the actualfailure between happened for a long time, the actual failure between the communication system. many passengers though have told me that they are coming to expect this on their commute and they don't find that the train system in the uk is reliable enough, particularly for every day use. enough, particularly for every da use. �* , ., enough, particularly for every da use. , ., ., day use. and just on today's incident, when _ day use. and just on today's incident, when are - day use. and just on today's incident, when are we - day use. and just on today's incident, when are we likelyj day use. and just on today's i incident, when are we likely to be hearing that things are back up be hearing that things are back up and running, what are the operators sayings in up and running, what are the operators sayings ir- operators sayings in network rail have said _ operators sayings in network rail have said check - operators sayings in network rail have said check your - rail have said check your route, leave plenty of time and some tickets are available for other services such as on buses, as i said, they haven't given an update yet on whether the problem has been fixed, but i know that many of the people i know that many of the people i have spoken to are finding their own work around because they say they keep, can't rely on the trains this morning for

fear of being stranded.- on the trains this morning for fear of being stranded. good to talk to you. _ fear of being stranded. good to talk to you, thank _ fear of being stranded. good to talk to you, thank you - fear of being stranded. good to talk to you, thank you for - talk to you, thank you for bringing us up—to—date from whatter loo station. a massive police operation is still under way in new york after a gunman shot dead the chief executive of one america's biggest health insurance companies. police released new photos of "a person of interest," last seen on a bike in central park fleeing the shooting on wednesday morning. unitedhealthcare chief brian thompson was shot in midtown manhattan on his way to the company's investor meeting, and later died in hospital. our north america correspondent rowan bridge has more. hi, i'm brian thompson, ceo of unitedhealthcare. brian thompson in a corporate video for a health care event in 2021. it was the same year he became the ceo of the company where he worked for two decades. flags were lowered at unitedhealthcare's headquarters following the shooting. the company is a massive player

in the us health market, but mr thompson wasn't a public figure. which raises the question, why was he targeted? it's been revealed the bullet casings found at the scene had the words "deny," "defend" and "depose" written on them. it's possibly a reference to some of the tactics critics say insurers used not to pay medical bills. mr thompson was attacked as he walked through midtown manhattan by the hilton hotel. police say this man is a person of interest in their murder investigation. this is the first sighting of the gunman as he leaves a subway station about half an hour before the shooting. he then visits a starbucks, where again, he's seen on cctv before making his way to the nearby hilton hotel, where brian thompson was due to attend an event. following the shooting, he leaves the scene and is later spotted on an e—bike. police say it was a planned and calculated attack. he has a shooter stance, he's masked and he's thought about his escape route.

all of these things make it challenging, but farfrom out of the ability range of the nypd. they have great resources to nail down a crime like this. despite the challenges, the investigation is moving at pace. earlier, police visited a hostel where the suspect checked in, and they're also examining a starbucks coffee cup for fingerprints and dna. now it's emerged he took a bus to new york several days before the attack. two days on from brian thompson's murder, the suspect remains at large, the motive remains unclear, and the investigation continues at a relentless pace. rowan bridge, bbc news, washington. families of children who were operated on by the disgraced surgeon yaserjabbar say that independent reports into their care are a whitewash and a final insult. great ormond street hospital ordered individual reports into each of mrjabbar�*s 723 patients after he stepped down last year, following a damning report by the royal college of surgeons.

the hospital says commissioning the reviews is in line with nhs guidelines, but only a few have been completed so far, and several of those have not satisfied the families. chloe hayward reports. bunty was referred to yaserjabbar for leg lengthening surgery. in may 2020, after a series of failed operations, her lower left leg was amputated. none of her operations worked and none of them were of any benefit to her whatsoever, they've admitted this. now when the leg lengthening didn't work, he shortened her leg by about eight inches. so this was when ella's legs were at their worst. claire's daughter, ella, has a rare bone condition, which led to a referral for a series of operations to realign her knees as she grew up. the first operation worked, but then she switched to mrjabbar. this is how mrjabbar's surgery had left her. she went from walking for miles to, "mummy, i can't walk round the supermarket. "

and it was at that point we had to make the choice to get a wheelchair for her because she just, she just refused to walk through pain. concerns about jabbar�*s practice led to a damning report from the royal college of surgeons, and he left his post at great ormond street hospital. the hospital says it is deeply sorry to the patients they have let down, and that "patient safety is our core purpose." in response to the rcs report, gosh commissioned independent reviews for all of jabbar�*s 723 patients. so far, around 10% of families have had their personal reports back, but several are unhappy. this report is not worth the paper it's written on because it hides the truth. it states that she only had six procedures when i can count ten. it's just a smoke screen to cover up what really went on. our review itself, i feel, missed out a lot of important information about ella's personal journey. they missed out a condition that she's got in the hip, wasn't even detailed in the report.

they also missed out discussing one of the surgeries that had been done in betweenjabbar's and the successful one. there was a couple of things that we reallyjust couldn't find any clarity in, because it felt like it wasn't ella's report. both bunty and ella were referred for psychological support prior to this year, but ella's report said she suffered no psychological harm. i find that very, very hard to digest because i know other consultants that we've seen have told me that if you met with ella, you would not come to that conclusion. unfortunately, we were never given the opportunity to meet with the independent reviewer, so we weren't ever able to put that across to him. a gosh spokesperson says... "the independent experts have and will continue to invite

it adds that all reviewers can access full patient records with dedicated support for them to do this. many parents have joined an online group to discuss their concerns. of the 12 families that i've been in contact with who have had their report, i haven't seen anyone who's been very positive about the situation. most have been quite unhappy that there was information that they haven't felt was addressed or it was missing details, and that, you know, they felt like they wanted a bit more of a, a response from gosh as to the results. chloe hayward, bbc news. with me is our health editor, hugh pym. waterloo /staeugs /—fpl

staggering story, 723 patients making accusations against this surgeon, we saw some of the details in that report, bring us up—to—date on what is being accused? us up-to-date on what is being accused? ~ , ., , . ~ accused? well, this goes back to 2022, great _ accused? well, this goes back to 2022, great ormond - accused? well, this goes back to 2022, great ormond streetj to 2022, great ormond street one of the most famous children's hospitals globally, and concerns began to emerge, so the hospital commissioned a report by the royal college of surgeons, to look into what had been happening in the paediatric orthopaedic department, where the surgeon worked. they completed their report, in 2023, in the autumn, handed it over to the trust, and it only started being sent out to families of the young patients a month or so ago. and that report concluded that he had carried out surgery which was incorrect, unsuitable, and resulted in life altering

conditions, including in at least one case amputation and the report said there were serious concerns is about the working culture, now families felt that that report had been redacted and therefore wasn't particularly useful for them. then you have this separate process of independent reveilles of each of these 723 cases, and outside expert, a surgeon from another employer coming in to do these individual case reviews, only 60 have been completed so far, and bbc news, chloe heywood my colleague has spoken to four of the families and there has been indirect contact and feedback from about a dozen more and they are very very unhappy because they feel these case reviews are not complete, they are only based on medical records, they say no interviews were carried out by the reviewers, and this has resulted in at least win family saying there is a whitewash here, the there is a cover up,

it is an insult, and therefore, they really feel this process of independent reviewing is not working for them. now great ormond street have said they are deeply sorry about what happened and they want every patient and family who comes to the hospital to feel safe, and cared for, and they say that the independent review process is in line with nhs england guidelines.— is in line with nhs england uuidelines. ., ., guidelines. you mention there something _ guidelines. you mention there something about _ guidelines. you mention there something about the - guidelines. you mention there something about the working | something about the working culture, that came out in one of those reports, are there concerns more widely? well, i think this _ concerns more widely? well, i think this does _ concerns more widely? well, i think this does raise _ concerns more widely? well, i think this does raise questions about the environment some time, the royal college of surgeons said there was a toxic environment in the paediatric orthopaedic area of great ormond street, it raises questions about the power of surgeons, and maybe not being kept check, not being collegiate, a lack of a collaborative approach, he did practice at other hospitals and they are carrying out their own reviews

including private hospitals in london, and i think this will continue to be a question, which is unanswered, to what extent was he challenged, and to what extent were the management actually made aware of what was going on, it is certainly known that the there were concerns passed on, to generalise on whether it is a problem throughout the whole health service is probably not possible but i think there are certain question marks ability how in hospitals this sort of thing plays out.— how in hospitals this sort of thing plays out. 0k, hugh pym, thank you _ thing plays out. 0k, hugh pym, thank you for— thing plays out. 0k, hugh pym, thank you for bringing _ thing plays out. 0k, hugh pym, thank you for bringing us - thank you for bringing us up—to—date on that story. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

there are warnings that the nhs in england is under more pressure going into winter than ever before. a sharp rise in cases of flu and norovirus are seemingly to blame. our correspondent steve knibbs has more? the nhs under strain

in the winter isn't unusual, but this year the pressure is hitting harder and earlier than before, and there are now warnings of a potential quad—demic. the first nhs figures for the winter show that the average number of patients taking up beds in hospitals in england last week with flu were almost 1,100 — that's four times higher than this time last year. 751 beds were occupied with patients with norovirus—like symptoms. more than 140 children were in hospital with a respiratory condition — rsv. and nearly 1,400 beds had covid patients in them — which is lower than last year. and, out of a total of100,000 beds, 95,000 are already occupied. staff at one hospital in nottinghamshire say they're already experiencing extreme pressure on services. there's a 92—year—old gentleman who's been in ed now for 2h hours waiting for a medicine bed. now, that's almost unheard of here.

with increasing admissions across the uk, the national medical director for the nhs, professor sir stephen powis, warned that the next few months will be difficult. with cases of flu — and norovirus, in particular — rising sharply, there are concerns that the extra pressure caused by the huge number of patients will lead to many hospitals declaring critical incidents. the nhs says that one of the ways the public can help is that for those who are eligible for vaccinations, to get theirjabs as soon as possible. 27 million people have already had jabs for flu, rsv and covid, but there are many that haven't. applause. this all comes the day after the prime minister said one of his six long—term priorities for government was hitting the 18—week target for non—urgent hospital care. but, as it stands, pressure on the service is mounting earlier than ever before. steve knibbs, bbc news. iceland is often considered a great country to be a woman,

as it tops world rankings when it comes to gender parity. but it's also a country with persistently high rates of gender—based violence with about 40% of women subjected to physical and sexual violence — significantly higher than the global average. for bbc 100 women, our gender and identity correspondent sofia bettiza took a look at the issue. iceland has ranked as one of the gender equal countries and there was the last 15 years. one of the secrets of their success — start early. at this nursery the girls and the boys are separated and then encouraged to do things that are normally associated with the opposite sex. the girls are taught to be unapologetic and fierce. shouting. while the boys are getting in touch with their caring side. the idea is that they develop their personalities without the constraints

of conventional gender stereotypes. iceland became the first country in the world to make it illegal to pay men more than women for the same job. and this equality also applies in the home. parental leave here is 12 months. the mother and the father can split equally. that's what katrin and fana are doing. they have five kids. have you everfelt, oh, if i get pregnant things will be hard for me at work? no. never. i've never felt like the pressure of not having kids because of my career. 90% of all fathers take paternity leave. research shows that after going back to work they continue to be significantly more involved. when do you think that iceland will close the gender gap? my ambition is for iceland to be first to close the gender gap and hopefully by 2030.

but are things as perfect as they seem? we have been marketed as this feminist paradise, which we are not. at home we are not anny more safe than women anywhere else in europe. singing. we are at a vigil to remember all the icelandic women who have been killed by men. it just shows that even in a country that is supposed to be a great place for women things are far from perfect. about 40% of icelandic women have been subjected to physical or sexual violence, and because of that the icelandic state is being sued for misogyny. we thought it was completely unacceptable that women were not taken seriously and we decided to use the european court of human rights to sue the icelandic state. now we're just crossing our fingers we will win.

do you think that the government is doing enough to tackle the issue of gender violence? no, i don't think any government is doing enough. as long as there is gender—based violence we're not doing enough. it's as simple as that. sofia bettiza, bbc news, iceland. every day, emergency service phone operators across the uk answer tens of thousands of calls for help. while most callers are respectful, reports of sexist, homophobic and racist abuse towards staff have increased by more than a third since 2019. our reporter daniel o'donoghue has been speaking to operators at a 999 call centre in manchester. this is a recording of a 999 call received by james just

an hour into his morning shift. i took a particular call for a gentleman whose mum had an itch. the gentleman spoke about me arranging a taxi. happens all the time, we remind people that we're not a taxi. it must have frustrated him. he just started hurling abuse at me. it doesn't normally faze me, but on this particular call, it became personal, it was very homophobic and i could barely get a word in. and all i was doing was triaging his mum. are you done? i was shocked. you get called all sorts and you tolerate certain things and certain words, and there's certain buzz words that will affect certain people differently. but by the end of this call, i mean, i came off the phone and i was shaking. what impact did that call have on you? i'm a bit more apprehensive

about sort of my tone of voice and things. and obviously with this guy being homophobic, i got quite self—conscious. do i sound gay? ambulance service, is the patient breathing? over the last 11 months, more than 250 abusive calls were logged by staff who work in the north west's three emergency call centres. ambulance service, is the patient breathing? and it doesn't take long for one call to turn abusive here in manchester. you have called an emergency line. ok, you've come on the line and started swearing at me and calling me names. right, again, i'm going to ask you not to take that tone with me, ok? i am only trying to help you. how does it make you feel when you're on a call like that? it makes you feel worthless. it makes you feel like you're not doing yourjob properly. it does make you feel like you don't want to do it any more. it's something that natalie is trying to tackle in her role

as head of violence prevention. it's an emotional time needing an emergency service, needing an ambulance. and i think there's that frustration, certainly in the call centres, we have to go through a set of questions to make sure we get the right care to people, and that brings a level of frustration. and we just ask, really, for the public to stick with the questions and just answer them as calmly as they can. and what we don't want to do is for our staff here at northwest to come in and feel in fear to work. james's abuser was identified as 36—year—old mahendra singh from trafford. he got a £500 fine, 100 hours of unpaid work and a suspended prison sentence. i don't need to listen to this, ok? yeah, because you're a bleep, because you're gay, you're a bleep. one more time, i'm going to clear the line, ok? james never got to look his abuser in the eye, but this is what he would have said. the comments reminded me of slurs and insults i received whilst i was at school, when i was coming to terms with my sexuality when i was younger. this made me feel

personally attacked. i don't think it's acceptable in this day and age in 2024 to be homophobic. attacks and abuse may be on the rise nationally, but our emergency services remain ready and on hand to help. dan o'donohue, bbc news. traditional wisdom says you need something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue for your wedding. but what jack reeves really wanted for his big day was a new accent. jack has cerebral palsy and uses a communication device with a robotic voice, but wanted a dudley accent to read his vows. our reporter rachael lewis has the story. robotic voice: i am really excited about l getting my new voice. ever since jack was a child, he's dreamed of sounding like those around him. the 22—year—old student was born with cerebral palsy, and has always spoken through a device with a robotic voice. robotic voice: i want to sound more like my family, _ and we live in birmingham. i am getting married, and i want to be able| to say my vows in my own voice.

jack and his fiancee beth are getting married injuly 2026. after a joint appeal from bbc wm and west midlands ambulance service, jack was inundated with people offering him their voice. and how did you choose which voice to have? i chose a voice with a dudley accent, as that is where - my fiancee is from. i also liked the timing of the voice. - i wanted to make the right choice. i it is going to be my voice for the rest of my life. i jack's anonymous donor was chosen, and has now recorded around 1,500 phrases to make up his vocabulary. today he's hearing his new voice for the first time. 0k. ready? the big moment. are you ready? go for it. dudley-accented voice plays. he gasps.

are we ready to show mum and dad? hello, jack. you all right? dudley accent: i love you, mum and dad. . aww! i love you too, jack. super happy. super proud. i had my little — . shed my little tear. emotional. and super thankful to the guy that's, like, i donated his voice forjack. like...what a thing - to be able to have done. but there's one other thing jack wants to do before his wedding. i want you to take me to an aston villa game now, please, dad. i want to show off my new brummie voice. fair enough — 0k, jack. now it's time for a look at the weather, with elizabeth rizzini. hello there. well, it was wet and windy on thursday, and the weather is about to turn even worse still, as we head into the weekend with our next named storm, storm darragh barrelling in from the west. damaging gusts of wind, that's what we're most concerned about, but also the risk of flooding,

especially in the northwest, and there will be some snowfall over the higher ground of scotland. but friday, a fairly quiet day of weather, the calm before the storm, particularly for the eastern half of the uk. a cold start to the morning, compared to how mild it was on thursday. the sunshine lasting longest in the east. high cloud pushing eastwards and turning very wet, very windy by the end of the afternoon across northern ireland and for these western coasts too. temperatures staying in single figures, so a lot cooler than on thursday. but here comes the storm on friday night into saturday. deep area of low pressure. tight squeeze on the isobars. first down towards the irish sea coast and then the strength of the wind transfers to north sea facing coasts on saturday afternoon. there are plenty of weather warnings in force, but this is the most serious, an amber warning for damaging gusts of wind, gusts exceeding 70—80 miles an hour, perhaps, with some irish sea coasts within these areas. we're likely to see coastal overtopping, transport disruption and even trees down. so this is the small hours then of saturday. blizzard—like conditions over

the higher ground of scotland, even perhaps some snow to lower levels and across the pennines and the cumbrian fells. the rain will be relentless in the north west, but it's mostly the strength of the winds we're concerned about. this is how we're starting off the day on saturday. now, if you've got travel plans, or indeed pre—christmas plans, perhaps, then do keep checking the forecast. it will be very windy, even inland across england and wales. we're expecting gusts of 50—60 miles an hour. the winds easing a little through the afternoon for irish sea coasts, but picking up for north sea facing coasts, coastal overtopping expected across parts of norfolk. and these will be the day's temperatures. not that you'll notice the temperature too much. it will feel highly unpleasant outside and there'll be a lot of added wind chill, too. now the area of low pressure pulls away as we head into sunday. high pressure builds in behind, but there's a brisk northerly wind, and it certainly is going to feel cold, and there'll be a lot of added wind chill too. windiest towards the eastern half of the uk. plenty more showers piling down on that wind, and temperatures for most will stay in single figures into the start of next week. bye bye.

live from london. this is bbc news. thousands flee syria's third largest city as islamist—led rebels advance, nowjust 5 km away from homs. rush hour chaos — a nationwide fault with communication system causes delays across uk rail network. at least nine lines are affected. calls from the leader of his own party to step aside — pressure on south korea's president grows, after he declared martial law this week. president macron vows to name a new french prime minister within days — after michel barnier ousted in no—confidence vote. i'm live in paris where the search for a new prime minister goes on to bring stability

amidst france's chaos.