gaza. welcome to newsday. ukraine says it is responsible for a bomb attack that killed a senior russian general in moscow. the lieutenant general was leaving his home in southeastern moscow on tuesday when he and his aides were killed by explosives planted in an electric scooter. bbc has been looking at the images from the scene. an ied or improvised explosive device was used in the attack. the incident comes a day after ukraine reportedly charged mr kerry of of co—ordinating the use of banned chemical weapons on ukrainian forces on the front lines. the kremlin deny those allegations. russia's investigative committee says it has opened a criminal investigation into the murder. the kremlin called the bombings and attack of her and is a vowing revenge. our russia editor has the latest report from moscow. being filmed from

a car opposite, russian general and his assistant. here, what appears to be a scooter. we will come back to that. what followed was a giant explosion. with deadly consequences. the two men were killed, a moscow apartment block was now a crime scene. investigators sifted through the debris searching for clues. latera for clues. later a spokesperson revealed the bomb had been hidden on that scooter. a terrorist attack, she called it. it was a targeted assassination of this man, lieutenant general igor, chief of the russian regulation and biological protection forces. only yesterday ukraine had reportedly charged him in absentia for his alleged use of chemical weapons in the war. the general was known for making wild accusations against the waste. he once claimed

america was plotting to infect russian troops with malaria by releasing mosquitoes from drones. in october the foreign office sanctioned him, calling him a significant mouthpiece for kremlin disinformation. russian tv said with the attack today president zelensky has signed his own death sentence. the former kremlin leader called for the killers to be tracked down in russia. he said they must do everything to destroy the patrons in kyiv. the local residents who may have heard the plants. there is a sense of shock. for muscovites, it is happening a long way away, something to happen on tv or phone. the killing of a general in moscow is a wake—up call and assign

this war is very real and very close to home. this woman says she is scared. " when this kind of thing happens, notjust in your hometown more in your own neighbourhood but in the building opposite, that is shocking." there has been no reaction from president putin but the expectation is after such a high—profile killing in the russian capital, moscow will retaliate. there's concern in ukraine about what retaliation might be coming their way. our defence correspondent jonathan beale has the view from kyiv. the main focus has been on the battle on the ground and there is no doubt in that war it is the russians who are advancing and the ukrainians who are losing ground but there is also the second clandestinely war

involving espionage and assassinations and in that war ukraine claims some successes, not just ukraine claims some successes, notjust in the targeted killing of this russian general who was involved in russia's chemical weapons programme but also last week the shooting of also last week the shooting of a russian scientist involved in its missile and drone programme, again near moscow and tonight ukraine's security service, the spu, says they have uncovered a major russian spy have uncovered a major russian spy ring which included disaffected ukrainians who they allege were trying to pass on details of the locations of western supplied weapons in ukraine including f—i6s, air defence systems, prized russian targets, not least for propaganda purposes. they say they are foiled a plot. we have been down to the front line talking to ukrainian troops. there is no doubt they are tired of three years of fighting. they know they are losing ground. that said, they

are not giving up and i think this clandestinely war shows that too. whatever the uncertainties that lie ahead next year. earlier, melinda herring, senior fellow at the atlantic council's eurasia center, told me it sent the message that nobody in russia was safe. that was the big message that kyiv was sending moscow with his attack on the lift general. is that the first general in russia to be hit. other generals have been hit along the front line, but to get this deep into russia is a big deal. it sends a message. it is chilling no—one is safe and there is a second theme as well. the gentleman who was killed was in charge of chemical weapons and more than 5000 ukrainian soldiers at least have experienced exposure to chemical weapons, so i think tonight in kyiv, there is a sense of sweet revenge that the

person responsible chemical weapons is no longer with us. what sort of retaliation might we expect to see from the kremlin?— we expect to see from the kremlin? , ., ., ., kremlin? there is a tit-for-tat war going _ kremlin? there is a tit-for-tat war going on _ kremlin? there is a tit-for-tat war going on between - kremlin? there is a tit-for-tat war going on between the - war going on between the russian fsb and the ukrainian security services. it is a little underreported. the previous person who spoke with you talked about a couple of heads the ukrainians had. this is not the first success ukrainian services have had but the russian services have also had a number of successful attacks in the past couple of weeks as well.— attacks in the past couple of weeks as well. given that, how would you _ weeks as well. given that, how would you rate _ weeks as well. given that, how would you rate the _ weeks as well. given that, how would you rate the current - would you rate the current state of ukraine's war effort when it comes to soldiers, weaponry, drones when we compare them to russia? let's zoom out _ compare them to russia? let's zoom out a _ compare them to russia? let's zoom out a little _ compare them to russia? let's zoom out a little bit. _ compare them to russia? let's zoom out a little bit. the - zoom out a little bit. the important facts are we are about to go into the third year of the war, february 20 for the

third anniversary, and there are things that are different now — parity between russia and ukraine in terms of shells. before the russians, a year ago if we were talking i would have been complaining the ukrainians don't have shells. it was five to one russia to ukraine, seven to one russia to ukraine, seven to one, eight to one but things are different now and there is parity with shells and attack drones. however, russia seems to have the momentum on their side and definitely making progress. it is very slow and incremental but they are making progress. ukraine has a very big problem with manpower and it is trying to address this problem but has not sufficiently done that, especially on the infantry side. ., ., side. one month left of president _ side. one month left of president biden - side. one month left of president biden in - side. one month left of. president biden in office, questions of american support a month from now. to expect kyiv

to make any big moves before president biden leaves the white house? i president biden leaves the white house?— president biden leaves the white house? ., �* ~ white house? i don't think the resident white house? i don't think the president will _ white house? i don't think the president will do _ white house? i don't think the president will do anything - white house? i don't think the president will do anything big. | president will do anything big. x i expect him to send them beforehand. we don't know what trump will do. has said in ukraine that russia started, in 24 ukraine that russia started, in 2a hours, everyone knows that is a campaign promise and will not happen. the conflict is far more complicated. there are 3—piece clients floating around in washington. moscow has rejected them through its proxies. it says these are a nonsense. nobody knows how to get them to come to the table, to stand on. moscow thinks it is willing. why should it come to the negotiating table? all eyes are on donald trump and what he has when he says he will be able to negotiate with

his friend, vladimir putin. meanwhile, a united states military official has said that north korean forces fighting for russia against ukraine have suffered several hundred casualties since going into battle in russia's kursk region. the ukrainian military says that moscow has used north korean troops in an intense offensive in kursk to push back ukrainian troops occupying russian territory there. in his first interview since taking control of the country, the leader of the rebel group that ousted president bashar al—assad, ahmad al—sharaa, called on the west to lift sanctions imposed on syria during the assad regime, including the designation of hayat tahrir al—sham as a terrorist organisation. it comes as british diplomats meet with the syrian leader to ensure a smooth transition of power, and as the un security council calls for an "inclusive "and syrian—led" political process. across syria, people are trying to come to grips with their new country after more than a decade

of devastating civil war. the city of homs where the assad regime imposed a siege known as "surrender or starve", saw some of the worst fighting during the civil war. now, some of the families and fighters forced out of homs a decade ago are returning. and so has our chief international correspondent lyse doucet, who regularly reported from the city during the war. she sent this report. in 2014, we reported on the end of the old city siege. a thousand starving civilians rescued in a temporary truce, including a little girl named baraa. we've stayed in touch from afar since then. nice to see you! translation: they were the hardest times. - even now, when i think back, i wonder, how did we survive? it was a nightmare and it ended, thank god.

but their suffering didn't stop. theirfather, farhan, raised his daughters on his own. their mother was killed when a rocket slammed into their kitchen. all of them have been striving for a betterfuture. the starving girl we met is now studying food science at university. translation: | never. thought that i'd find a job here in the days of the regime. i always thought that i'd go to europe to work. but now there's a chance to live here with dignity. translation: we want a civilian government, l not even an islamic one. we want to live together, to coexist. we want whoever the president is to pack up and leave at the end of their term. we don't want another president for life, someone they build statues of. they insist we must visit their place of refuge in the siege — thejesuit monastery which opened its doors. a nativity scene now.

the new syrian pastor finds christmas hope in their story. this is what is about the grotto wherejesus and the holy family, they find a refuge. and this now comes to something very beautiful, a very beautiful story, the story of farhan and his family. it's the story of homs, the city they called the capital of the revolution, now a crucible for syria's new start. lyse doucet, bbc news, homs. ceasefire talks between israel and hamas are reported to be gaining momentum with officials saying both sides are inching towards striking a deal. us state department spokesperson matthew miller said the us is cautiously �*optimistic�* about a possible ceasefire deal following months of deadlock. for more on the ceasefire talks, our gaza correspondent rushdi abu aloof

sent this update. he's currently in istanbul. after six months of a complete deadlock in the talks between hamas and israel, the senior palestinian officials have told the bbc there is a significant progress in the way to achieve a ceasefire after 14 months of fighting between hamas and israel. he said at three stages, the ceasefire proposal is three stages. the first stage hamas will have to release all of the civilian hostages, including the female soldiers and the bodies of those who were killed during the fighting. in exchange, israel will withdraw from coastal road and allow hundreds of thousands of people to go back, but israel has put condition they need to be screening everybody going back to the north, to make sure that none of the hamas fighters or hamas militants or any militants from other groups will be allowed back to gaza.

around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. at least 14 people have died from a powerful earthquake just off the coast of vanuatu in the southern pacific on tuesday. the capital, port vila, was the hardest hit at the epicentre of the 7.3—magnitude quake. an intense aftershock nearby and smaller tremors continued through the evening. authorities are beginning recovery operations at several collapsed or damaged buildings, including the american embassy. officials say, while it was the strongest earthquake in decades, the damage could have been worse. nearby, australia says they will provide whatever help is needed and is flying in emergency medical and search and rescue teams to vanuatu.

luigi mangione, the man suspected of shooting a health insurance boss in new york two weeks ago, has now been formally indicted for murder. he faces one charge of murder in the first—degree and two charges of murder in the second—degree, including one as an act of terrorism. the ivy league graduate is accused of shooting brian thompson, the chief executive of the insurance company unitedhealthcare, outside a hotel in manhattan. new york prosecutor alvin bragg said the killing "was intended "to cause shock, attention and intimidation." our nada tawfik has the latest. the killing of the unitedhealthcare ceo, brian thompson, set off a five—day man—hunt that captivated people around the world and set off a debate about healthcare in america. some celebrated, and even rooted for luigi mangione, the suspect. but today in new york, prosecutors branded him a terrorist. they have charged him with three counts of murder, two with terrorism components. and in announcing the indictment,

the manhattan district attorney said this was a "frightening, "well—planned, targeted murder in one of the most bustling "parts of the city that was intended to cause shock, "attention." if convicted, luigi mangione faces life in prison without parole. district attorney alvin bragg laid out the timing of his movements in new york, as well as the evidence against him. but luigi mangione is said to be not fighting extradition to new york any more. he's retained a new lawyer in new york — his previous pennsylvania lawyer said he will be pleading not guilty to the charges against him. in the meantime, though, he will appear in court in pennsylvania on thursday. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the french military has released video showing soldiers and medical teams assisting residents of mayotte and dispatching aid from reunion island. officials say they plan to send four to five planes a day with up to 50 tons of assistance with medicine,

food and water. there are growing fears that the cyclone could have killed many hundreds of people. police in georgia have launched a criminal negligence investigation after 12 people were found dead at an indian restaurant in the country's ski resort of gudauri. the victims, ii of whom were indian citizens, were found in dormitories on the restaurant's second floor. police say that there were no signs of violence at the scene, but that a generator was found running in a closed room near the bedrooms, leading them to suspect carbon monoxide poisoning. the chinese space agency says two of its astronauts have broken the world record for the longest single spacewalk, spending a total of nine hours and six minutes working outside the tiangong space station. they say that cai xuzhe and song lingdong installed space debris protection devices and inspected external equipment and facilities. weeks of reported drone sightings in the skies above newjersey and several other us states have led to speculation

and misinformation. as well as genuine drone sightings, there have been several false claims which have gained millions of views online. bbc verify�*s jake horton investigates some of the most viral claims. what is flying in the skies over newjersey and other us states? videos like these are calling lot of chatter about suspected drones. this is leading to speculation and misinformation. there have been genuine drone sightings, but here are the most viral false claims. there are false claims the pentagon has confirmed the drones are not human—operated, with some people suggesting aliens are involved. several posts have gained millions of views. the pentagon has not said this. it doesn't believe that foreign adversaries are operating the drones. it ruled out the us military being responsible, and there's been no mention of alien involvement. second is the claim drones were dispatched from an iranian ship off the coast. they said that iranian�*s militarised drone carrier vanished from port.

right around when the drones started appearing. these satellite images show the slip in question, identified by experts, remains off the coast of iran, some ii,000km from newjersey. it did change positions in recent weeks, but not significantly. there are posts claiming to show drones that actually show other types of aircraft, like this post that says it shows the best drone footage, which is definitely not a plane in bedminster, newjersey. it's been viewed more thani million times. an expert told us the aircraft is clearly a helicopter. this footage from a local fire department shows the helicopter with a similar appearance. it has the same green and red flashing lights, while us authorities have been unable to provide definitive answers, they say these objects don't pose a danger to the public or national security. earlier, i spoke to clayton swope, deputy director of the aerospace security project at the center for strategic and international studies. i asked him what he thought people were seeing. we keep learning more information about what may be happening. the white house said

there are about 5,000 sightings the us government has been investigating. about 100 of them are still under investigation by the fbi. there's a lot of sightings. that's a lot to parse through. one thing i think is clear is that the united states has trouble tracking real—time drone activity over the homeland. that's something that maybe shouldn't be surprising if you think about air traffic control systems, they're looking for something entirely different, they're looking for aircraft, they aren't small, low flying. if you look at military early warning systems like norad, those are looking at different things too, like ballistic missiles and long—range bomber threats. it's very difficult to figure out what is happening with these drones real time. we're seeing that happen before our eyes in the last month on the east coast. i mean, i guess i was surprised that it was that difficult to identify and track these sorts of drones. does that mean society is basically sitting ducks?

where the government isn't able to assess and respond to threats? i would think back to — i think there's a couple of years ago when there were some high altitude balloons from china that came over the united states. and the pentagon admitted that we may have missed a few of those. it was a similar phenomenon where there was just no sufficient awareness of what's happening in that area of the air space. something similar here is happening with drones, just the way the infrastructures that have developed, it's just a very different set of targets that they were meant to look for. it's not necessarily that we cannot detect and we can't track them, it's just the systems that we have deployed at scale across the united states really can't do that. this probably also isn't unique to the us. there's unexplained drone sightings over in the germany and the united kingdom. there's systems around

the world, they're not set up to look for them. we need to figure out if we want to make the investments in the infrastructure at nationwide scale to track, identify drones in real time. and the president—elect donald trump has suggested there's been a government cover—up and he says the government "knows what is happening". do you think there's any truth to that? to date, the government hasn't been able to really put together a clear story about what it thinks is happening. the latest from the white house was just it could be aircraft, fixed wing aircraft it, could be helicopters. it could be some commercial drone activity. some amateur drone activity, as well as the law enforcement drone activity. so that's just about everything it possibly could be and the kitchen sink. so it behoves officials to try to get more information out to the public about what is happening. this is reallyjust the tip of the iceberg. norad said earlier this year that since 2022,

there's been about 600 unexplained drone incursions over us military bases around the country. we hear a few of those even just happened in the last few weeks, there was a man, a chinese national, arrested in california, for flying a drone over a space force base, who was arrested boarding a flight back to china. there's enough suspicious activities out there to warrant more of a look at these things. maybe this is a scenario where there may be more information the government could be providing, but really also acknowledged there are things the us government should be thinking about improving and maybe how we respond to drone incursions into unauthorised areas that we haven't thought that much about before. now, before we go, we've got some reports on the whereabouts of a very important person. according to footage we've obtained, it seems santa claus

has traded the north pole snow for the sunny shores of copacabana beach — in rio dejaneiro — where he's traded his sleigh in for a jet ski. there, he met dozens of children with disabilities who gathered on the beach to receive their gifts from the white—bearded man himself. that is all we have time for. stay with bbc news. hello there. we again saw temperatures reaching 13 degrees on tuesday, but the cloud this time brought with it more rain. and into the southwest, we're going to find this rain arriving later in the day on wednesday. but at the moment, this area of low pressure is bringing the rain into the night. it's also bringing some strong and gusty winds, and that's all keeping the temperatures up. it's very mild — these are the temperatures of 12 or 13 degrees by the end of the night.

but it will still be windy into the morning, and the strongest of the winds are likely to be over and to the east of the pennines. gusts 50—60mph in the morning — could be quite tricky if you're travelling on the m62 or the a1, for example. may well be some early rain across northern england to move through, and then, following that, sunshine and scattered, blustery showers will develop in scotland and northern ireland. and across england and wales, it may well brighten up as well, before we see this cloud and rain coming in to the southwest of england and wales later on. temperatures still in double figures for england and wales, but with that northwesterly wind developing in scotland and northern ireland, things are going to get colder as we head through the day and temperatures will be falling. overnight, we've got that rain coming in from the southwest to push across england and wales, it should've cleared away from the southeast by thursday morning. and then, we're all going to be feeling the effects of these brisk northwesterly winds, and it will feel colder on thursday. showers, too, and those could be wintry over the hills across northern scotland. quite a few showers for northern ireland, over the irish sea into wales, perhaps the west midlands, 1548 00:26:55,667 --