british government. nearly 13,500 migrants nearly 13,500 migrants who did not have the right who did not have the right to stay in the uk — to stay in the uk — have been returned have been returned to their home countries to their home countries since the election — since the election — according to the according to the

british government. more than 13,000 people who came to the uk without permission have been sent home since the election. with illegal immigration at a level no politician is happy with, she was keen to highlight the highest number of so—called returns in five years. we highest number of so-called returns in five years. we have moved peeple _ returns in five years. we have moved people in. _ returns in five years. we have moved people in. around - returns in five years. we have l moved people in. around 1000 people into returns and enforcement and as a result of that we are now on track for over 13,000 removals returns since the election. a big increase in returns and also a big increase in the raids on illegal working.

a big increase on arrests and enforcement, because the rules have to be respected and enforced. theyjust haven't been for far too long.

well, quite the opposite. we've made clear that the border security is actually one of the foundational issues, before you even get to any of the missions. the conservatives say labour is failing to control the country's borders, yet it's a problem the government's rivals know all too well is hard to solve. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, rome. the home office has announced the creation of a new �*joint international irregular migration unit', drawing on expertise from the fcdo and home 0ffice.according to the department, the new unit will: �*coordinate the extensive work already being done across the fcdo and the home office to tackle irregular migration, recognising that it requires international collaboration. us lawmakers are expecting further classified briefings which may address the unexplained drone sightings across a number of american states. the fbi says its had more than three thousand reports since the flying objects first started to appear in the skies over the state of newjersey about a month ago. here s our north amnerica correspondent, rowan bridge.

another drone. it's the mystery that is gripping america. all the drones in the sky. they are not scary per se, they are not looking through your window or crashing into your house, but it is still concerning because there are these mystery ufos — unidentified flying objects — flying around that nobody is giving any answers to and nobody seems to know what they are. but who is behind the drones being spotted over the northeast of the united states? i've seen them over my house just about every single night for the last 2.5 weeks. at first, they were more sporadic and i would see one or two or perhaps three of them and now, we seeing anywhere between six to eight in a single sighting. they first appeared in mid—november over newjersey. since then, the fbi says it has had more than 3000 reports across six states. basically, what i've seen regarding the drones is also just when you are driving around at night and you see the blinking lights in the sky.

and when i was driving home from a friend's house, i saw one that looked about the size of a car that was hovering over flanders valley golf course. in the face of a mounting frenzy, the white house addressed the matter directly. on thursday, it said there was no evidence the drones spotted over newjersey posted a national security threat or a risk to the public. if the aim was to reassure, it doesn't seem to have worked. how do they know that? what aren't they just revealing or are theyjust saying it? how could anyone regulate or issue assurances to thousands, millions of americans who have witnessed — thousands who have witnessed the drones that there is no threat? for weeks, we've asked for the truth and action to mitigate any known threats to people and property. now, we are demanding it. those demands were echoed by the incoming president donald trump. he was in washington for the annual army versus navy american football game.

he then called for them to potentially be shot down. lawmakers are expecting further classified briefings from the authorities next week. for now, the speculation and unanswered questions remain. rowan bridge, bbc news, washington. from the moment luigi mangione was named as the person arrested over the fatal shooting of united healthcare ceo brian thompson in new york, stories about the 26—year—old went into overdrive online. social media users have manipulated photos of mangione to provide alibis and suggest he was in different places at the time of the crime. after his arrest mangione gained 1,000 followers a minute on x, as people poured through his past posts. for more on the social media reaction to this, let's speak to kara alamio, who is an author and professor in communication in newjersey.

in fact, you have written an article about all of this, haven't you? it has been really bizarre and extraordinary, the reaction on social media to this. talk us through some of it for people who perhaps haven't been following it that closely. haven't been following it that closel . . v closely. that's right. the -iece closely. that's right. the iece i closely. that's right. the piece i wrote _ closely. that's right. the piece i wrote looked - closely. that's right. the piece i wrote looked at i closely. that's right. the - piece i wrote looked at ideas as to how the internet is handling this story. people in the us and i guess around the world are absolutely obsessed. there are people creating means that are basically breaking the internet, providing alibis to luigi mangione. —— creating memes. they are picturing him at different locations during the time of the supposed crime. people are saying he's too hot to be a killer. people going through his social media posts and following him. this was before his accounts were taken down from the social media platforms. but people are

absolutely riveted by this. for the victim's — absolutely riveted by this. for the victim's family, this must be such a distressing thing for them to see going on on the internet. people seem to get carried away by the fun of posting online and they actually forget what has actually forget what has actually happened here and that somebody has actually been murdered. that's right. fin murdered. that's right. on social media _ murdered. that's right. q�*i social media everybody wants to talk about what everybody else is talking about. everybody is in competition to create the most clever, the wittiest take on this. we are talking about a murder here and we really don't have all of the facts and i think this is usually the case in the immediate aftermath of something like a crime but it is all the more confounding because the facts of this particular case don't really add up. luigi mangione came from a very wealthy and prominent family. he and undergraduate and graduate degrees at an ivy league

institution. people who knew him at that time said he was normal, that he was thoughtful. united health care said they did not ensure him. there was a comment about insurance from luigi mangione and it said that a different insurance company had covered his claim. the facts are very bizarre here. it is really difficult to peg who luigi mangione actually is, if he is in fact the killer here. but on social media we do not sit and wait patiently, right? everybody is quickly coming to conclusions long before we really have the facts in this case. . ~' really have the facts in this case. ., ~ , ., really have the facts in this case. ., ~ i. really have the facts in this case. ., ~ . ., case. thank you so much for talkin: case. thank you so much for talking to — case. thank you so much for talking to us _ case. thank you so much for talking to us about - case. thank you so much for talking to us about this. - case. thank you so much for talking to us about this. my| talking to us about this. my pleasure- — there's a warning that disabled people are being failed by the planning system because of a lack of suitable new housing. the district councils network, which represents 169 councils across england, wants housing authorities to be given new powers

to ensure developers build more accessible homes. nikki fox reports: daniel has a physics degree. he's a photographer, writes code and has worked alongside nasa. he's done much of this from his bedroom. he has had to because the home he has lived in with his mum julia for more than 30 years isn't accessible or adaptable. this is daniel's room. the ceiling hoist isn't right for daniel. we have to move the bed every time we want to get daniel out. we have to get him in the sling and hoist him up over to the chair, then he moves out the way so we can move other things out the way. that is a tight squeeze for him to get around and not take the gate with him.

daniel says he has been on the housing waiting list for seven years. next year he will finally move into his new home with his mum, but it's still not ideal. yeah, better than where you are at the moment. yes, yeah. two years ago the previous government promised that all new homes would be built to the new adaptable standard, meaning they don't have steps and are more spacious. but that hasn't happened, and there are growing calls for labour to make this a priority. there's certainly not enough quality accessible accommodation available for them, and that is something that urgently needs to be reviewed and addressed.

so we would be looking for commitments of around 8—10% of homes being built that are accessible. there's no way of really knowing just how many new accessible homes are being built in england because the government doesn't collect that data. the district councils' network says one of the problems is that homes may start out as being accessible, but then the features that help disabled people live independently are then removed. emma was on the housing registerfor eight years before she moved here. her bungalow wasn't built to the adaptable home standard, but it works, and it has changed her and her partner's life. i've got so much more independence, you know, we are stronger as a couple, we have been able to foster a dog, we've been able to...

i've been able to do a bit more voluntary work. it's not just the fact that we live together, it is all, you know, all aspects, really. emma and daniel both say it took years to find their new homes because of a lack of accessible options. you have applied for a few of those? yeah. 50 or 60? and is that because the others just aren't suitable? daniel's local authority says it took over the management of housing in order to build and deliver more affordable and social rented homes, including those better suited to disabled people. it says it's a national issue and strongly relies on increased and more urgent support from government.

the government says it is providing a range of safe and suitable accessible housing of part of its ambitions to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years and it will set out its policies shortly. nikki fox, bbc news. as people in the uk deck their halls with boughs of holly — many are noticing that there aren't as many berries around this year. the red flash of colour is likely to be missing from lots of decorations. an exceptional crop last winter, means many trees have taken a year off to replenish. 0ur reporter alex dunlop has more. with christmas just days away, most of nick's orchard norfolk is decked with holly. this season, something is amiss. there is no red berries to be seen at all on this tree. they've all gone. last year this would have been flushed with red? absolutely, like a red candle.

it is the same story with most of his trees. after a bumper harvest last year, this season the berries are taking a break. you knew this was coming? i did, and i told my customers last year we will see a year of very few berries. what does that mean for business? the price has gone up about four fold and in retail you have to pay about five fold for it. it is a very expensive product this year. what is going on? step up gardening guru bob. not a berry in sight. no, sadly, there isn't any this year. there isn't much of a crop. that is from the whole tree. i can count eight. i don't think there will be much of a christmas. trees use all the resources to make berries so they produce a whole load. they don't want to have another baby straightaway so they are taking a year off. the berries are very important because red and green are traditional

christmas colours. for christians, this represents the crown of thorns at the crucifixion and the red symbolises the blood jesus shed. what you have done so far is looking brilliant with all your greenery... for hannah who runs wreath making workshops. red plastic berries are an option but she prefers a natural alternative. i have these berries, and if you put that alongside your hol,'y, then you have as good as we are going to get without holly berries this year. people have all different trends at christmas. some years it is pink and different colours but fundamentally a traditional

christmas is red and green, and the wreath on the front door with red and green, that is traditional christmas. for holly farmers like nick and for those who helped to create christmas, hannah sums up their hopes. if it will get its act together for next year, it would be quite nice. alex dunlop, bbc news. 0nce common across the uk, water voles have been spotted on the outskirts of bristol for the first time in 20 years — after nearly being wiped out by the american mink. conservationists have been working on improving their ideal habitats and are seeing evidence of the species�* return. 0ur reporter liz beacon has been out to try and spot one. water voles used to be a common sight but for the past 20 years none have been seen. this is a relic of the ancient wetlands which stretched from here all the way to the somerset levels... water voles were nearly wiped out by mink brought over from america for their further they escaped into the wild. you have got to put some more work into it but the signs of water vole recovery are there if you look for them. for a start, they are feeding. the water voles have inhabited this water right along

here and we have found a lot of evidence all the way along that down here on this mound, you know, it�*s going into wintertime now so they are likely resting right within here but there is really good evidence. we have the burrow here. we have all of these feeding signs. this is the classic 45 degrees angle they have. and there is a more scientific way of working out where they are thriving. when i first heard that there were more water voles in this area i couldn�*t understand how they could work that out when we don�*t see them that easily. what eric is doing is looking along the water�*s edge for signs of excrement and from that they can identify and estimate how many water voles there are. the bigger plan is to help them spread further, creating new ditches which will help them move inland. they are so charismatic and endearing but they are also really important mini ecosystem engineers. they maintain the river banks. these little lawns of vegetation they look after.

their burrows are used by other species such as bumblebees for nesting sites. they aren�*t just endearing in their own right, they are really important in ecology terms and food for predators such as owls, as well, so, yeah, lots of reasons to look after them. it was too cold for us to spot a water vole, they are shy too, but eric and his team have had cameras out to spot this. and the joy of working in the same place as david attenborough is being able to find this film of a water vole in all its glory. liz beacon, bbc news. after 13 weeks of glitz and glamour — this year�*s winner of strictly come dancing has been crowned. the comedian, chris mccausland was the show�*s first blind contestant — he beat three other contestants to lift the glitterball trophy. noor nanji has more. time to announce your strictly come dancing champions... the moment history was made. chris and dianne! and after weeks of tangos, salsas and foxtrots,

chris mccausland and his dance partner dianne buswell finally got their hands on the coveted glitterball trophy. this is for her, and it�*s for everyone out there that just thought. .. ..they got told they couldn�*t do something or thought they couldn�*t do it, and itjust shows with opportunity and support and just determination, just anything can happen. chris was the bookies�* favourite and is strictly�*s first—ever blind winner. he and dianne performed three dances on the night, including one recreating their blackout dance moment, which went viral earlier in the season. but they faced stiff competition from the other finalists. the first top scores of the night went tojls singer jb gill and his partner lauren 0akley for their viennese waltz. also in the mix was love islander tasha ghouri and her dance partner aljaz skorjanec, who danced their couples�* choice to what about us by pink. # i can feel my

spirit rising.... last but not least, it was actress sarah hadland. she and partner vito coppola did an american smooth, scoring them 39 out of a0 despite a wardrobe malfunction. are you 0k, vito? we have a wardrobe issue. yeah. # tears come falling. # i scream. # yes, baby, baby, you can go ahead~~~#_ other highlights included a performance by raye. the full cast of 2024 also came back for one more routine. this year�*s series came after a number of former contestants spoke up about their experiences on the show. the bbc apologised to amanda abbington and upheld some of her complaints against her dance partner, giovanni pernice, but cleared him of the most serious claims. before the show began, the bbc introduced new duty of care measures, including putting chaperones in rehearsals. overall, this latest series has been largely scandal—free

and those behind it will be hoping that this draws a line under a difficult period in the show�*s 20—year history. let�*s have a look at our final leaderboard. last night, though, it was all about the finalists. the leaderboard placed jb and lauren top and chris and dianne last. congratulations. for one final time to our wonderful... but in the end it came down to the public vote, and it was chris and dianne who had stolen the most hearts. noor nanji, bbc news. lucy proctor, is executive principal at the royal national college for the blind, which was chris former college. she told me that despite the fact he was the bookie�*s favourite, his victory wasn�*t a foregone conclusion. you can never take anything for granted. live television, anything can go wrong. but there was a huge amount of support for chris every single step of the way. i think when he came out on the dance floor that very first time and did twist

and shout itjust blew everybody away and we thought, well, he�*s already a winner. right, well, yeah, his speech there was really moving, wasn�*t it? saying this is for everyone out there who got told they couldn�*t do something or thought they couldn�*t do it. just explain, if you can, how much it means to people. it is huge. i mean, representation always matters but it is something else chris said a few weeks ago about being an inspiration was that it�*s not about being an inspiration for the visually impaired community, and that�*s the case for our students. they are inspired by him but they already know they are capable of great things. it�*s the wider public who i think need to take a bit of a step back sometimes and think, well, why am i making these assumptions, why am i thinking that this person�*s vision means that they aren�*t intelligent and determined and as chris said with opportunities and support and determination it shows what�*s possible. in that way i think he�*s an inspiration for absolutely everybody to think a little bit differently about visual impairment and disability.

yeah, and in terms of inspiring people to take up dancing, do you think, would that be something, people with visual impairments who may not think it was for them? absolutely. we have got students who are doing dance recreationally regularly on a wednesday afternoon and i know it�*s given them a really strong incentive to stick with it and to think about how he is learning and how they can translate that into their own experiences and just experience that sheer joy of moving around a dance floor. and also may be dance teachers, as well, the influence it might have on them thinking how difficult it might be to try and teach someone to dance if you cannot show them, the routine or whatever, maybe this might change dance teachers�* attitudes. i think it has been really powerful hearing chris talk about the fact that of course he can�*t see himself in the mirror when he�*s training, he cannot watch playback and think from that, well, what can i do differently? how do i learn from that? it isn�*t necessarilyjust about visual impairment, i think everybody benefits, sometimes, from asking the other person, well, what works for you? what can i do to make this an enjoyable experience

and for you to get the most out of it? if you were watching strictly last night, you may have spotted the trailer for the much during the programme. later on today, i will be driving ourfamily later on today, i will be driving our family across the border to a foreign land... the popular sitcom is returning to our screens for one last episode, five years after the last christmas special that ended on a cliffhanger, when nessa proposed to smithy. so we need some answers — did he say yes? and will we ever find out what happened on uncle bryn and jason�*s fishing trip? we�*ll have to tune in to bbc one at 9 o�*clock on christmas day to find out. the upcoming week is looking unsettled and will be dominated by a low pressure which will

bring wet and windy weather. wet and windy at times with low pressure always close by and thenit pressure always close by and then it turns cold again late in the week. temperatures returning to the seasonal norm. with this wedge of warmer air, there is a lot of cloud and mist and murk and rain piling mistand murk and rain piling into mist and murk and rain piling into the north and west of scotland. the orange colours are right across the board indicating milder temperatures above the seasonal norm. it stays with very windy for northern areas, gales in northern areas, gales in northern scotland, rain really piling up across the highlands with gusty winds here. it could be very gusty here as well across the yorkshire side of the pennines during this afternoon and that could cause some travel disruption. despite that, it�*ll be mild with temperatures in the low teens for all. stay a tonight. double figure values for most. the rain still pouring across the north and of scotland. this almost stationary weather front causing issues as we push towards the end of monday with the rain heavy and persistent

at times. elsewhere, looks like monday will be one of a few bright spells, a bit of cloud here and there, maybe drizzle across western areas and it�*ll stay quite mild. could see some concerns with the rain across the north—west of scotland by the north—west of scotland by the end of monday. in the worst affected areas it could be up to 150 millimetres of rain which could lead to localised flooding. beyond monday and into tuesday we change the wind direction is a deeper area of low pressure pushes up from the south. but we will see more rain across the north—west of scotland and winds will be coming in from the south. wet and windy across western areas late in the day on tuesday. central and eastern areas tend to stay dry, bit of cloud, bit of sunshine, turning windy, and mild for all. wet and windy through tuesday night. 0ne mild for all. wet and windy through tuesday night. one area of low pressure clears through, another one hot on heels its heels arriving on tuesday. some sunshine elsewhere, variable cloud, but it turns wet and

windy across southern and western areas as the next front moves on. it could be mild, could be up to the mid—teens, sometime in the east. it turns cooler from the north during the end of the week and it stays mostly unsettled.

live from london. this is bbc news. syria�*s de—facto leader condemns israel for continued air strikes on the country — as the un envoy for syria arrives in damascus for the first time since the fall of assad. a woman is killed and two men injured — after a shooting in north west london. 0ver13,000 migrants have been removed from the uk since labour took power — but the government admits the rate of illegal channel

crossings is still too high. and we hear from a bollywood superstar — hoping his new film could make the shortlist at this year�*s 0scars. hello, i�*m lucy grey. we start with the latest on syria a week after the fall of the assad regime. syria�*s de—facto leader, ahmed al— sharaa, has condemned israel for its continued air strikes on his country. mr al—sharaa, who was previously known as abu mohammed al—jolani, said the strikes threatened an unwarranted escalation in the region. israel says it wants to prevent syrian weapons falling into the hands of its enemies. meanwhile, the un syria envoy geir pedersen says he hopes for a swift end to sanctions to help facilitate economic recovery. speaking in damascus, where he�*s attending meetings, mr pedersen said that reviving law and order — and security — are of paramount importance. he also said it was critical the country receives increased