controlled bomb attack that's killed atop russian general. this is the scene live in moscow where investigators are piecing togetherjust how he was able to be ambushed by a bomb planted on a scooter. at verified today, we've been looking at what we know and what we don't know about the killing of that russian general in moscow. chaos and panic in vanuatu as a major earthquake strikes the pacific island nation — leaving toppled buildings and landslides in its wake. and the shopkeeper turned vigilante — we'll speak to the man taking matters into his own hands to take down shoplifters. hello, i'm lucy hockings. welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. pop up we'll start alive from the old bailey where amap...

—— we'll start live from the old bailey. the father and stepmother of 10—year—old sara sharif have been sentenced to life in prison for her murder in what the judge at the old bailey described as a case of "almost inconceivable cruelty". herfather — urfan sharif — will serve a minimum term of a0 years. her stepmother beinash batool was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years. tip top minus the time spent on remand. hip —— minus the time spent on remand. sara's uncle — faisal malik — who was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child — has been sentenced to 16 years. it follows a 10—week trial that revealed shocking details —

of a campaign of extreme violence lasting more than two years. sara's dozens of injuries included burns and fractures from beatings resulting in what the court heard was "horrific suffering". hip he said this was nothing less than a campaign of torture over several years. the school friend and teacher of sara sharif will always remember fourfor her love of sharif will always remember four for her love of singing and her sparkling personality but in august 2023, aged just ten years old, she was brutally beaten to death in her own home. herfather, urfan sharif, and stepmother were arrested in business class at an airport up after having fled to pakistan following her death and then will return to the uk to face trial. they were both found guilty of murder last week and today thejudge guilty of murder last week and today the judge described the

treatment of sara sharif as torture and gave them life sentences with minimum terms in prison of a0 years and 33 years. the degree of cruelty was almost inconceivable happening in plain sight in front of the rest of the family. judges must be careful using the word torture, it must not be overused but it is no exaggeration to describe the campaign ofabuse exaggeration to describe the campaign of abuse against sara as torture. sara sharif had been known to sorry children services from before she was born, being twice in foster care before the age of three because of violence in your home. and social workers had considered taking her into care permanently is that she ended up permanently is that she ended up living with her mother until there were new allegations of a violence by her. aged six she returned to live with her father and stepmother, the people who would ultimately murder her. in police interviews after their arrests, they gave no comment answers.

did you leave because you killed sara do did you leave because you killed sara— did you leave because you killed sara do you love sara sharif? ma _ killed sara do you love sara sharif? did you _ killed sara do you love sara sharif? did you care - killed sara do you love sara sharif? did you care aboutl killed sara do you love sara i sharif? did you care about her at all? — sharif? did you care about her at all? ., . ., sharif? did you care about her at all?_ police i at all? no comment. police received — at all? no comment. police received a _ at all? no comment. police received a tearful— at all? no comment. police received a tearful phone . at all? no comment. police| received a tearful phone call from herfather. he had beaten sara sharif with a cricket bat and a metal pole leaving her with more than 25 broken bones sustained over several weeks and a serious brain injury. her stepmother was a new home the whole time and she was never taken to hospital. desk caused shock and despair in the quite of woking suburb where she was killed but neighbours welcomed the prospect of life sentences. i do not think in anything is great enough to punish someone who has taken away an innocent child's life but we would feel some justice has been child's life but we would feel somejustice has been served.

also sentenced today to 16 years in prison for allowing the death of a child, sara sharif�*s uncle faisal malik who lived in the house but did nothing to save sara sharif. at the weekend, friends and neighbours held a vigilfor sara sharif, the little girl who wanted to win x factor but will now be remembered for the brutal way she was killed by her own father and stepmother. as part of his sentencing remarks, mrjustice kavanagh set out the facts of the case, doing so so there is an explanation as to why he would hand down the sentence as he went on to hand down but also he said in tribute to sara he said in tribute to sara he said in tribute to sara he said the sentences should not be seen as a value of her life, nothing could compensate herfor life, nothing could compensate her for that. life, nothing could compensate herfor that. that life, nothing could compensate her for that. that is life, nothing could compensate herfor that. that is no recompense, nothing will bring her back but in the course of those remarks, he set out a

list of some of the injuries that sara had sustained and just a warning that this is distressing content.- distressing content. this evidence _ distressing content. this evidence was _ distressing content. this evidence was harrowing. distressing content. ti 3 evidence was harrowing. the post postmortem showed that she had at least a1 separate injuries on her body, mainly bruises and lacerations in several places. i emphasise these were only the fresh injuries, that is those that were sustained in the last few days before death. doctor carey, the pathologist, said he also found marks of all the injuries not included in the 71. i have no doubt that still more injuries will have healed and will have left no mark. sara sharif had been beaten on her head, face, chest, abdomen and on each of her arms and legs. some of the marks were consistent with restraints being used, in other words with

sara sharif being tied up. it’s sara sharif being tied up. it's very easy _ sara sharif being tied up. it's very easy to _ sara sharif being tied up. it's very easy to lose sight of why these court cases are taking place when sentencing is handed down but the judge was a very keen to keep returning to the fact that sara was at the centre of these proceedings and he went on to describe her personality and said she was a beautiful little girl. she personality and said she was a beautiful little girl.— beautiful little girl. she was a beautiful _ beautiful little girl. she was a beautiful little _ beautiful little girl. she was a beautiful little girl, - a beautiful little girl, somewhat small for her age. she was full of personality. she adored her baby brother and cared for him lovingly. her mother, 0lga domin, said sara sharif was always smiling and had her own unique character. a teaching assistant at a primary school said sara was a bubbly, confident, chatty and engaging child who would sometimes approach me and do a dance, sing something or put on a show. she was always happy in

school and you always knew when she was in the class. she had a spark. she was a little feisty and if she had an opinion, she would want to voice it and was not afraid to answer back. it is clear that sara stood up for herself and remain positive and cheerful in the most terrible circumstances. she was a very courageous little girl with an unquenchable spirit. she loved to sing and dance and thejury was shown a video of sara sharif dancing in front of the tva few days before she died and it is clear that by this stage, her mobility was impaled but despite everything she smiled at the camera. the 'udge also said that i smiled at the camera. the 'udge also said that sara * smiled at the camera. the 'udge also said that sara 's i smiled at the camera. the 'udge also said that sara 's case b also said that sara 's case raised more questions about what more could be done to protect her from harm and he said the case brought into sharp relief the risks of allowing unsupervised

home—schooling of vulnerable children. there is a local children. there is a local child safeguarding review under way with surrey county council looking at the various aspects of the case to fully understand what happened to sara and how the various agencies involved could have done more. thank you. we will see martin for more on that story throughout the day but now to russia... —— we will see martine for more on that story throughout the day but now to russia... a senior russian general — who'd been accused of overseeing the use of chemical weapons in ukraine — has been killed by a bomb blast in moscow. igor kirillov was in charge of russia's nuclear protection forces, and died along with his assistant as they left an apartment building. yesterday ukraine sanctioned the general saying it used banned chemical weapons against the troops but it was the only general died along with his assistant leaving apartment building near the street and are russia editor steve rosenberg has been down there.

a moscow apartment block, now a crime scene. earlier this morning, a bomb exploded outside the entrance, killing a top russian general. the explosives were reportedly hidden on an electric scooter. calling it a terrorist attack, a spokesperson for russia's investigative committee confirmed that lt gen igor kirillov and his assistant had been killed. lt gen kirillov was chief of russia's nuclear, chemical, and biological protection forces. 0nly yesterday, ukrainian prosecutors had charged him in absentia for the alleged use of chemical weapons in ukraine. following the blast, there's a sense of shock here. for many muscovites, even after nearly three years of war, russia's war in ukraine is something that's happening a long way away from here — something they see on tv, or on their phone. but the killing of a general here in moscow — that is a wake—up call, and a sign that this war is very real, and very close to home. liza, who lives close

by, says she's scared. "when this kind of thing happens — notjust in your hometown," she says, "or your own neighbourhood, but in the building opposite — that's shocking." russia is convinced that ukraine was behind this. moscow is almost certain to retaliate. so what do we know about the events leading up to the murder of general kirillov. there are a number of videos that have been appearing online. bbc verify�*s nick eardley has been looking at them to try to build up a picture of what happened. yes. this is the man killed in moscow overnight. lieutenant general igor kirillov, a seniorfigure in russian defence, head of moscow's nuclear, biological, chemical protection forces. he was charged by ukraine just yesterday on allegations of the mass use of banned chemical weapons in ukraine.

the uk had previously sanctioned him and branded him a significant mouthpiece for kremlin disinformation. he's one of a small number of russian figures killed since the full scale invasion of ukraine, killed in russia. that is. let me show you where this incident happened. it's here in the southeast of moscow. 0utside these blocks of flats in a fairly new residential neighbourhood. there are a number of videos emerging online and bbc verify has been looking at them to try and build up a picture of what happened. this video that we can show you on the screen here shows an explosion. it's just off camera to the right. but we know this is the same area because features of the buildings nearby match other images we have of the incident. here's another verified video which shows the aftermath of the explosion. you can see the building there. you can see the damage that's been done. there's also significant damage to a car you see later in this video.

but we're stopping it here because at this point, two bodies are clearly visible, likely those of kirillov and his assistant who died. so what happened 7 officials in russia have said that kirillov was killed by an explosive planted in an electric scooter. this image has emerged from the scene showing a damaged scooter. you can see here the handlebar has been blown off. there are other pictures from the scene which back this up. two military experts we've spoken to say this appears to have been an ied, an improvised explosive device. there's also... let me show you over here. ..this video which has been circulated on russian telegram channels. a man in this video showing something on his phone says he has an apartment opposite from where the explosion took place. he shows fragments which he says damaged his flat too. we've been showing this to weapons experts to try and get more of an idea of what

these fragments are, and what it tells us about what happened. as we've been hearing, sources in ukraine have told the bbc they were behind the operation to kill kirillov. what we don't know at the moment is exactly how that was done. nick eardley and the bbc verify team still looking into all those videos were getting in from russia and ukraine. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

welcome back, we are hearing that there is several aftershocks

hitting and hitting vanuatu. a strong 7.3 magnitude earthquake has struck the pacific island nation of vanuatu, triggering landslides, crushing cars and flattening buildings. power and mobile networks across the country have been cut — and the full extent of the damage remains unclear. here you can see the moment the earthquake struck a garage, shaking cars and sending tools flying, with a person and their dog struggling to take cover. several buildings were damaged in the capital, port vila. among them, one housing the american, uk, french and new zealand embassies. this drone footage filmed by a localjournalist in vanuatu shows the aftermath of a landslide on the edge of the island's international shipping terminal. dan mcgarry is a journalist living on vanuatu and he told us what it was like to experience this earthquake. it was a violent earthquake. the worst that i've ever seen in 21 years living here in vanuatu. we get earthquakes on a regular basis, frequently higher than six. but none of us, nobody that i've spoken to here has experienced anything

like it in their lives. so it was very close to the capital. so that 7.3, i think we felt every bit of it. some of the older buildings in town were severely damaged. some of them collapsed entirely. damage was not as widespread as you might see in other countries that don't build to such an exact and exacting standard as we do here. so that's a relief to many of us. however, i went to the hospital shortly after the initial shock and talked to police there. they confirmed one fatality. i spoke to police later on. they said there were multiple fatalities, but they would not give me a number. it's clear from what we've seen at the triage centre outside that they set up outdoors, outside of the emergency ward, that there are dozens of people who have been injured, some severely, some not so much.

thatis that is the situation in vanuatu. many members of the red cross are saying that there have been several the french indian ocean territory of mayotte president macron has said he'll travel to mayotte in the coming days, after it was hit by a powerful cyclone. rescue teams continue to search for survivors deaths in up as hundreds are feared dead. widespread damage to infrastructure — with downed power lines and impassable roads — is severely hindering emergency operations. up journalist anne—elisabeth moutet is following developments — and told me the new french prime minister is facing criticism for his handling of the situation in mayotte

i mean, the fact that jean francois bayrou, the new prime minister, chose to go to a long, sort of decided meeting as his mayor of the city of port in southern france is seen as him not realising that his job has changed. and that's where the criticism is. it's understood in france that this is a disaster for a lot of reasons. some of those is that the island is overpopulated and the immigrant population, who are mostly people who come from the comores on small boats, and it's a small boat problem that makes the the french british one tiny by comparison, live in shanty towns because there are many of them. too many of them. the island is has now a population of 300,000, and half of whom are not french citizens. and building houses fast enough to solve housing problems is... it's a disaster now, but it's not conceivable that it could have been built. it has never existed. there's that thing. the other thing is, mayotte

is a french departement. so they are french citizens. so, there's a help already being sent. but not only is it disastrous, but it relied on the red cross, which has about a00 people. this includes volunteers in mayotte, and 200 of them have not been heard of since the cyclone. so, the support on the ground that they were expecting to find is not necessarily there. and, elizabeth, from the political perspective, it's really interesting what happens in mayotte in terms of how they vote. why has it been such a hotbed in the past for marine le pen and the anti—immigrant right? because it's a kind of future dystopia. it is well worth noting that in mayotte, every single citizen of every party, left and right, and the leaders of both parties are all in agreement in saying that immigration from the comores must stop and that the island is under pressure because public services cannot follow.

you have about 10,000 babies born in mayotte every year, and the immense majority of those babies are not french. and the reason these babies are born in mayotte is that the pregnant mothers come to mayotte precisely to get to have them born in france, so that they would have the french nationality. so the national rally has been using this small island, in the indian ocean, to say this is france in ten years, which is pushing it a bit. here in the uk, a shopkeeper in cornwall says he's carried out over 50 citizen's arrests amid an onslaught of shoplifting. martin gaunt says he has been faced with no choice but to do this to protect his livelihood with police becoming harder to get on site. across england wales last year, incidents of shoplifting saw an increase of nearly thirty per cent. well, i'm very pleased to say martin gaunt isjoining us now.

good to see you. we will get onto your — good to see you. we will get onto your heroic _ good to see you. we will get onto your heroic actions - good to see you. we will get onto your heroic actions and | onto your heroic actions and just a moment before us can you describe shows what an ordinary day is like in your shop and what you have to deal with when it comes to shoplifters? actually, we have made a big improvement because about a year ago, we sort of stepped up the idea of making several arrests ourselves and it is really reducing the amount of repeat shoplifters we have in because they know if they come to us it will not be as easy as going to somewhere that does not step up. going to somewhere that does not step urn-— going to somewhere that does rrot step urn-— not step up. nonetheless it sounds and _ not step up. nonetheless it sounds and can _ not step up. nonetheless it sounds and can be - not step up. nonetheless it i sounds and can be challenging if you had to make 50 citizens arrest so far of the past few years. arrest so far of the past few ears. , ., ., .,, ., years. there is no other option really because _ years. there is no other option really because i _ years. there is no other option really because i heard - years. there is no other option really because i heard earlier. really because i heard earlier that the police recommend if there is a safety ring 999 but nothing will happen if you ring 999 if you witness a theft because they will just ask you a redirect you to 101 and they will only really want to attend if you have detained the individual concerned which makes sense because if i simply

phone the police and say five or ten white male with a hoodie has left with something it would be silly for me to expect the police to be able to do anything or waste any time doing anything about it. it sounds quite dangerous though, have you had any scary confrontations? it have you had any scary confrontations?- have you had any scary confrontations? it can be. obviously _ confrontations? it can be. obviously it _ confrontations? it can be. obviously it is... - confrontations? it can be. obviously it is... the i confrontations? it can be. | obviously it is... the most difficult thing really is the police almost create this atmosphere where it is not considered wrong to steal from shops so over the last two, three, four years because they've taken so little action, reasonably decent people seem to think that because no action is taken, it is ok to steal and this is why we have to get involved. i5 this is why we have to get involved-— this is why we have to get involved. , ., ., , ., , involved. is that what you put it down to? — involved. is that what you put it down to? time _ involved. is that what you put it down to? time is _ involved. is that what you put it down to? time is of - involved. is that what you put it down to? time is of real. it down to? time is of real hardship for lots of people as well? i hardship for lots of people as well? ., _ , ., hardship for lots of people as well? ., , ., ., well? i would say times of real hardship have _ well? i would say times of real hardship have really _ well? i would say times of real hardship have really limited i hardship have really limited effect at all especially in our store, we do not sell anything anyone needs to survive, it is all luxury gift type stuff. we get regular drug users come in

looking to raise money to buy their next fix but by and large we have what you might consider ordinary, decent people come in but i always related to speeding. if we did not have speeding. if we did not have speeding cameras and speeding tickets, people would speed a lot more often and there will be more road accidents and fatalities but what has happened with shoplifting is the police have almost totally dropped off following those cases through so subsequently it is not considered to be something wrong to do. martin, out christmas _ something wrong to do. martin, out christmas goes _ something wrong to do. martin, out christmas goes well - something wrong to do. martin, out christmas goes well and i out christmas goes well and good to hear things have improved, thank you very much forjoining us from truro. some breaking news to bring you around the conflict in gaza which is being reported from the reuters news agency. we cannot independently confirm it right now but we hear the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is on his way to cairo for talks on a ceasefire in gaza and we understand that a gaza ceasefire deal, according to reuters, their sources are saying a deal is

expected to be signed in the coming days. this speculation has been building and the bbc has been building and the bbc has spoken to palestinian sources today have said negotiations have entered a decisive final stage with a sense of momentum building but we hear benjamin netanyahu on his way to cairo to discuss talks of a ceasefire. do stay with us. hello. it has turned into a mild day across the uk, but we've also got some outbreaks of rain and some increasingly strong winds. 0n the satellite picture we can see this hook of cloud, an area of low pressure, and as this swirls to the northwest of the uk, you can see the isobars, the white lines squeezing together, indicative of some pretty strong winds, those winds increasing through the afternoon, gusting to 50mph or more around the coast of southwest england.

wales up through the irish sea, northern ireland, southwest scotland. bands of rain moving northwards and eastwards as well, although the further east you are a decent amount of dry weather to take us. towards the end of the day temperatures 11, 12, 13 degrees and as we head through this evening and tonight we will see a lot of cloud. we'll see further pulses of rain, gales around some exposed coasts in the west, but it is going to be exceptionally mild actually, by the time we wake up on wednesday morning, many of us will have temperatures around 12,13 or 1a degrees. so a really mild start to the day, outbreaks of rain pushing across scotland and northern england, clearing to a mix of sunny spells and showers across northern areas. conversely, further south we will have some dry weather for a time, but rain swings its way into the southwest of england and wales through the afternoon, staying very mild in southern parts but further north, actually something a little bit colder starting to develop. and as we go through wednesday night we see this weather system pushing across the south of the uk. and behind that, all of us get into these cold northwesterly winds. so a very different feel

to the weather on thursday. there'll be a fair amount of sunshine around. it should be quite a bright day actually, but some showers, which could be wintry over high ground in the north and the west, but particularly when you factor in the strength of the wind, it's going to feel much colder temperatures in single digits for just about all of us. as we head into friday, we're going to see another weather system pushing in from the west. more outbreaks of rain, something slightly milder, tucking in behind that, and then a deep area of low pressure moves in for the weekend. that could bring some very strong winds indeed, particularly up towards the north. and as that moves through, it'll turn a bit colder again. so some wet and some blustery weather at times and some ups and downs in our temperatures.

bell us stocks retreat ahead of wednesday's import interest rate decision. weighing up the numbers, wage growth in the uk accelerates unexpectedly ahead of a key bank of england meeting. tiktok�*s trump card ? the president—elect holds talks with the boss

of the social media giant. hello, wolverhampton! from 'oh no, it isn't' to 'oh yes, it is!�*. pantomime is back with a bang. welcome to business today. we start in the us where it is the morning after the night before for the tech markets after a sizzling monday session that saw the nasdaq closed on a record high. the enthusiasm for all things tech ahead of president trump's second term is still in the driving seat with bitcoin finding new heights but it might be back to earth today after the federal reserve meeting begins with the latest numbers for them to crunch the retail sector, showing a healthy uptick in spending last month.