atop russian general. 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 to home. chaos and panic in vanuatu, as a major earthquake strikes the pacific island nation, leaving toppled buildings and landslides in its wake. and how art is notjust uplifting — a new report says it can be good for your mental and physical health. hello and welcome to bbc news. a judge at the old bailey in london has sentenced the father and stepmother of 10—year—old sara sharif to

life in prison for her murder. the judge described the crimes as being "of almost inconceivable cruelty". sara's father will serve a minimum term of a0 years. her stepmother was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years. sara's uncle — who was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child — has been sentenced to 16 years. following the murder at the family home in surrey in august last year, the defendants fled from the uk to pakistan, sparking an international manhunt. let's cross live to the old bailey and to our correspondent martine croxall. this was a horrifying case, and that was reflected by the sentences and the judge's comments, wasn't it? very much so. courtrooms _ comments, wasn't it? very much so. courtrooms are _ comments, wasn't it? very much so. courtrooms are usually - so. courtrooms are usually places where there is no room for passionate language. everything has to be immensely measured. but in setting out the details of this case, the facts of the case and of sara sharif�*s murder, thejudge, mr justice cavanaugh, used some

really extraordinary language. he said that the treatment that she had received was despicable. it was no exaggeration to describe it as a campaign of torture. he then went on to share some very harrowing medical details of the 71 fresh injuries that were found on sara's body after she died. there were other order injuries, some of which had certainly healed, only to be repeated. he said, this poor child was battered with great force, again and again, and he highlighted the fact that she suffered one very unusual injury, in that the hyoid bone injury, in that the hyoid bone in her neck was broken because of energetic, manuals regulation. he said that she died as a result of complications arising from these multiple injuries and also neglect, but he tried to keep sara at the centre of his sentencing remarks. he said she was a bit of a little girl,

full of personality, very courageous and with an unquenchable spirit, but he said that it raised more questions about what should have been done to protect sara from the abuse that she suffered over many years at the hands of her father and stepmother, and he hands of herfather and stepmother, and he said hands of her father and stepmother, and he said that it highlighted the risks of unsupervised home—schooling for vulnerable children. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford was in court for the sentencing. sara sharif�*s school friends and teachers will always remember herfor her love of singing and her sparky personality. but in august 2023, aged just ten years old, she was brutally beaten to death in her own home. i think you're looking for us. herfather urfan sharif and stepmother, beinash batool, were arrested in business class at gatwick airport 36 days later. they had fled to pakistan when she died, but after more than a month on the run, had flown back to the uk to face trial.

they were both found guilty of murder last week. this afternoon, the judge described their mistreatment of sara as torture and gave them life sentences with minimum terms in prison of a0 years and 33 years. the degree of cruelty involved is almost inconceivable. this happened in plain sight in front of the rest of the family. judges must be careful about using the word torture. it should not be overused, but it is no exaggeration to describe the campaign of abuse against sara as torture. sara sharif had been known to surrey children's services since before she was born. she was twice in foster care before the age of three because of violence in the home, and social workers had considered taking her into care permanently. she ended up living with her mother until there were new allegations of 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? no comment. do you love sara? no comment. did you care about her at all? no comment. sara's body had been found by police at her home in woking after they received a tearful phone call from her father. he had beaten sara 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 in the home the whole time and she was never taken to hospital. her death caused shock and despair in the quiet woking suburb where she was killed, but neighbours welcomed the prospect of life sentences. i don't think anything is great enough to punish someone who's taken away an innocent child's life, but we would feel somejustice has been served.

also sentenced today to 16 also sentenced today to 16 years in prison for allowing years in prison for allowing the death of a child, the death of a child, sara's uncle, faisal malik, sara's uncle, faisal malik, who lived in the house but did who lived in the house but did nothing to save sara. nothing to save sara. at the weekend, friends at the weekend, friends and neighbours held a vigil and neighbours held a vigil for sara sharif, a little girl for sara sharif, a little girl who wanted to win x factor who wanted to win x factor but will now be remembered for but will now be remembered for the brutal way she was killed the brutal way she was killed by her own father by her own father and stepmother. and stepmother. daniel sandford, daniel sandford, and hamas could be moving bbc news, at the old bailey. bbc news, at the old bailey. do stay with us, because in do stay with us, because in about 25 minutes' time, i will about 25 minutes' time, i will be talking to daniel sandford, be talking to daniel sandford, who was in court throughout who was in court throughout that trial and was there for that trial and was there for today bosnian sentencing stub today bosnian sentencing stub so that is coming up, as i say, so that is coming up, as i say, in about 25 minutes' time. —— in about 25 minutes' time. —— today's sentencing. today's sentencing. to the middle east now, where, to the middle east now, where, after months of deadlock, after months of deadlock,

there are new signs that israel there are new signs that israel and hamas could be moving closer to a gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. in recent weeks, the us, qatar and egypt have resumed their mediation efforts, reporting greater willingness by both sides to conclude a deal. hamas has issued a statement, saying a deal was possible

hamas has issued a statement, saying a deal was f happened and then it has not happened and then it has not happened and it has escaped from grass at the last minute. i think, certainly, it feels like, because of the added pressures on the whole process of a change in american administration, it creates this sends around, this might be the last chance this particular structure of deal ahead of a new incoming trip administration, and therefore thatis administration, and therefore that is also putting pressure on the process and i think perhaps why we are seeing increasing signs that it is close, although i would add a caveat to that, matthew, is my sense from the ministration behind the scenes as they believe this is not imminent, to coin a phrase. whether that means it is not what happened in the coming hours and immediate days, wejust in the coming hours and immediate days, we just don't know stub at my sense is they think not imminent, but even trying to work to a kind schedule that would see real progress by the end of this month. , ., , , month. yes, there has been . uite month. yes, there has been uuite a month. yes, there has been quite a lot — month. yes, there has been quite a lot of— month. yes, there has been quite a lot of talk _ month. yes, there has been quite a lot of talk about - month. yes, there has been. quite a lot of talk about some sort of christmas deal. you made the point we have been closed before but not got

across the line. are you getting any sense that the biden administration, in these final weeks, biden administration, in these finalweeks, is biden administration, in these final weeks, is using any actual leverage and is there any extra leverage from incoming double cup administration? he was only talking about this yesterday. yeah, i think they are using any leverage that they can. if there is one thing the bite in there is one thing the bite in the ministration wants to get done when it comes to the middle east, it is this deal, before the end of his term, so they will very happily take the added pressure from donald trump, as he had repeated a phrase used before, he said if a deal is not done, if hamas does not release the hostages before he gets into office on january 20, he said, all hell will break loose. we don't know what that exactly means, but it is all adding pressure to the process. i think the biden administration has no problems with repeating that to his counterparts in the region, but also, they would add a level of

depth to that, which is, with any new and incoming in ministration, it takes them time to get up to speed, there are no guarantees that there would be the same emphasis or the same emphasis on the particular parts of the deal under a trumpet ministration, so i think that does added incentives to all parties, both israel and hamas, to try and close this deal, but as i say, while there is still of the mystic, they are stupid and caution around it. == mystic, they are stupid and caution around it.— caution around it. -- while they are — caution around it. -- while they are mystics, - caution around it. -- while they are mystics, they - caution around it. -- while they are mystics, they are | they are mystics, they are still putting caution around it. thank you, tom bateman. 0ur gaza correspondent rushdi abualouf told me more about what is likely to be in any deal. i think they are back to the point where the talks stopped back onjuly the 2nd, when the talks collapsed and we were very close, i think, or the mediators were very close to work out a deal. so they started from that point back about five or six months ago. what we have been hearing from this source, who is engaged in the negotiation in egypt and also in qatar, that

most of the outline deal is already done. so we are close to a deal, i think he said within maximum 2—3 weeks. and he definitely said before president trump comes. he's talking about a three stages deal. the first stage will last for six weeks, 45 days, and that will include releasing all the civilian and multinational hostages, including the american and the russian. and he said also that the female soldier will be released. and this is, i think, what's significant, because back injuly, hamas was insisting that the price israel has to pay for any soldier is bigger than the civilians. so there is quite a lot of details involving also the issue of israeli withdrawing some of the forces — not all the forces, some of the forces —

from philadelphi corridor and from netzarim area and allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people to go back to the north. but here is also some problem, because israel insists that they want some sort of guarantee that hamas militants will not be able to go back to the north. and now we are talking about technical teams from qatar and, you know, there is no direct negotiation. so the qataris will play this role of mediating and talking to the israelis and hamas. now they are trying to find a mechanism where people will be allowed to go back. but israel can closely monitor who's going back and make sure that no militants are going back. one final issue i want to add about the detail of the hostages is that also the first stage will allow the dead hostages, the civilian dead hostages, also will be released. so not only alive hostages, but also the people who were killed in the air strikes.

and they are civilians. hamas will have to make sure and find them and also hand them to egypt. that's what the source told me. that was our gaza correspondent, talking to me from turkey. dr ha hellyer — a senior associate fellow in middle east studies at the royal united services institute — gave us his assessment. i think what we're seeing at the moment is continued negotiations on hostage releases. i do think it's important to say, these are hostage negotiations, they're not cease—fire negotiations. there is absolutely no suggestion that, following any successful negotiation on the hostages, that there would be a permanent cease—fire that comes into play. 0n the contrary, i think the israelis have made it abundantly clear many times over the past year, the past

months, the past weeks, the past days that they fully intend not to leave gaza, that they intend to actually permanentise the build—up of military infrastructure in gaza, that they will maintain, quote unquote, "security control" over all of gaza. so i think it's important to frame this properly. these aren't cease—fire negotiations, they're hostage negotiations. that wasn't dr ha hellyer, talking to me a short while ago on the programme. in a moment, we will have the latest on that killing of the top general in moscow, the top russian general, ukraine's security service saying they were behind it today's bomb attack. that is coming up in a moment. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you are with bbc news. let's turn to russia. ukraine's security services say they were behind a bomb blast in moscow on tuesday which killed a russian general. kyiv and and its western allies had accused lieutenant general igor kirillov of carrying out

war crimes through the use of chemical weapons in ukraine — something moscow denies. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg has the latest. 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. that was steve rosenberg. john foreman is a former uk defence attache to moscow and kyiv. this was his assessment to the attack. well, i think it's part of a pattern, as your journalists were explaining, that these attacks by the ukrainians inside russia have been going on for two

and a half years now. this is a very high—profile one, bringing the battle back into the heart of moscow, but i think it's part of a pattern rather than an isolated incident. it begs the question, how it was done, who did it? the significant information gathering there must have been, the intelligence. yeah. i think firstly, it's an epic security failure by the russian security service, the fsb. they've had adequate warning for this over the last two and a half years. they had a massive terrorist attack earlier this year, and still the ukrainians seem to be operating with impunity inside russia. i think, as you said, this is not a one—off. it's not a quick reaction to something. this has been planned for a long time. and i think these covert action teams the ukrainians are using inside russia are highly practised. they have both the capability, as we've seen, and the intent to bring the battle — or the war, shall we say — to russian generals and politicians, all those who have been directing, operating, supporting the war over the last two and a half years. you know russia really well. how unsettling will that be to take the war directly to the capital,

to a top general? how unsettling will that be in terms of a message of who else they could go for? well, i think, as you say, if i was in the russian general staff or the ministry of defence or, indeed, politicians, i'd be looking over my shoulder now. this is only, what, 25 minutes from the kremlin? it's all over the news. they'll be saying... well, every time they walk past a scooter, they'll look at that and say, "is that a potential bomb?" and they know the ukrainians are after them. and i think the wider sense of shock that steve rosenberg spoke about is also true. this guy was a high—profile spokesperson for pumping out russian lies about chemical weapons over the last two and a half years. he's now been assassinated. it's been reported widely. and although they can call it a terrorist attack, actually, it's a legitimate, proportionate attack on a military figure. and that won't be lost on russians. 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. incredible pictures, these. you can see the moment the earthquake struck a garage, shaking cars and sending tools flying, with a person and their dog all struggling to take cover. several buildings were damaged in the capital — 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.

0ne one more story to bring you. because for many people, christmas isn't complete without attending — something like this. without attending something like this. choir sings it turns out, it's notjust a pleasant way to spend a winter's evening. but it's also good for your health and general wellbeing. that's according to a new report co—authored by frontier economics and the world health 0rganization. professor daisy fancourt co—authored the report and told me more about what they'd found. this is research that's been carried out over the last few decades, demonstrating very tangible health benefits of engaging in the arts, whether that's improving mental health and wellbeing, supporting cognitive development in children or cognitive preservation in older adults, helping to reduce loneliness, and encouraging and helping people to stay physically active so they avoid problems like frailty and physical decline. yeah, i mean, i guess some of the things, like alleviating depression,

slowing cognitive decline. i was surprised, though things like reducing pain. yes. i mean, there are two main ways that the arts do this. one of them is by actually acting as a vehicle to health behaviours like staying physically active. if we're going out to concerts or other community arts events, that is a way of reducing sedentary behaviours, a nice motivation, so to speak. but also arts engagements involve specific ingredients things like creativity, imagination, multi—sensory stimulation — and these activate diverse neurological and biological pathways involved in processes like pain, actually often in exactly the same way that we see from drugs or medication. so it doesn't really matter, presumably, what type of arts or cultures we're talking about, whether it's ballet or concerts or a play, just as long as you're enthusiastic about it? exactly. i mean, sometimes there are particular ingredients, so to speak, that you might need.

so physical outcomes often the physical components of engaging are important. so lots of the research that's been looking at the role of arts in supporting things like physicalfunction in parkinson's disease or recovery following a stroke that's relied on more physical arts activities like dance, for example, but for broader mental health or wellbeing benefits. by far the more important factors are activities that people really enjoy doing that, really resonate with their sense of identity. you also, i know, made some sort of calculation about the financial benefit for society for health services. what did you what conclusions did you come to? what conclusions did you come to? what sort of figures? well, that's what's really exciting about this report. it's been published by the department for culture, media and sport, applying a new way of monetising these health benefits by thinking about how they affect our own quality adjusted life years. so the amount of time

that we live free from illness, but also how it affects our use of health and social care services and how the engagement can enhance our health so that we're more productive, whether in work, volunteering or in our home labour. and this is identified that for working age adults, the individual benefits are around £1,000 per person per year, and that's around £1,300 per person per year for older adults. these working age and older age health benefits of arts engagement equate to over £12 billion of health economic benefits. that was professor daisy fancourt. you are right up—to—date here on bbc news. hello. it's been a very mild day and it is going to be a very mild night, but it's also going to be a wet and a windy night in places thanks to this curl of cloud, this area of low pressure, which is going to be passing across the north—west of the uk. and notice the white lines, the isobars, squeezing together. that shows that we are going to see some pretty brisk winds, the strongest winds through the evening found around some of these western coasts — gusts of 50mph or more could well cause some disruption.

we will also see outbreaks of rain pushing northwards and eastwards through the night. a lot of cloud, but really it's going to be turning increasingly mild. so temperatures by the start of tomorrow morning up around 12,13 or 1a degrees in quite a few places. so a very mild start to wednesday, a wet start across northern ireland, scotland and northern england, where we will also have some really strong winds over the tops of the pennines, gusts of around 60mph. that could cause some travel problems. across the northern half of the country, the rain will clear to a mix of sunshine and showers. further south, rain will arrive through the afternoon across the south—west of england and wales. it stays mild in the south, but it does turn colder further north. now, through wednesday night, this weather system runs its way eastwards, and behind that, we all get into this flow of winds from the north or the north—west. so that will bring a very different feel for thursday, a much colderfeel, but it is going to be a brighter day. there should be a fair bit of sunshine around.

ome showers pushing into these northern and western parts exposed to the wind. some of those showers will be wintry up over high ground. single—digit temperatures, around 5—9 degrees. when we factor in the strength of the wind, it will feel colder than that. and then another change as we head through friday. after a fairly cold and potentially frosty start, we'll see this frontal system pushing in from the west. that will bring some outbreaks of rain, and it will start to bring some milder air in across western parts — 10 degrees there for belfast, for cardiff, 11 degrees in plymouth on friday afternoon. and then into the weekend, another weather system, this one tied in with a potentially very deep area of low pressure that is set to bring widely some very windy weather. the strongest winds on saturday up towards the north and the west of the uk. windy everywhere on sunday and turning colder through the weekend.

this is bbc news, the headlines. a crime of "almost inconceivable" cruelty — a judge sentences the father and stepmother of murdered 10—year—old sara sharif to decades behind bars. ukrainian security sources say, they were behind a remotely controlled bomb attack, that's killed a top russian general. after more than two years of testimony, it is the last day

of closing statements at the post office inquiry. we'll hear from a former sub post mistress. and a shopkeeper turned vigilante for that will hearfrom and a shopkeeper turned vigilante for that will hear from the man who took matters into his own hands to take down shoplifters. all took matters into his own hands to take down shoplifters. all of those stories coming up. gavin, good evening. hello from the bbc sport centre. it's been a day of very different results for england's men and women's cricket teams. england's men needed a miracle to beat new zealand — and never got close. resuming day four on 18 for 2 — needing 640 runs to win, england lost wickets at regular intervals in hamilton — bowled out for 234 — giving the home side a huge 423 run win. england win the series though 2—1. we know we just didn't play anywhere near our capability. it's obviously disappointing to end the tour and end the year with a loss, but what we came here to achieve

we managed to achieve and it's no mean feat coming to new zealand