the 19805 and new the 19805 and now we here in the 19805 and now we have closer to 618, so we've lost about 50% of our polar bears in the last several decades and we've tied that to the fact that these bears are online longer than their grandparents were. hello i'm kasia madera.�* the kremlin says it knows ukraine was behind the assassination of the head of its army's chemical weapons division. russian authorities have detained an uzbek suspect in the death of general igor kirillov but kremlin spokesperson dmitry peskov told the tass news agency, we know who ordered this act of terror, and we are fighting those who ordered it, we are fighting that nazi regime and we will continue to fight. general kirillov and his aide were killed by a remotely controlled explosive device on a scooter parked outside his apartment. a statement from the investigative committee described the suspect as a

29—year—old uzbek national who confessed to having been recruited by the ukrainian special forces. the bbc cannot confirm these details. vitaliy shevchenko is bbc monitoring's russia editor. he's been giving me his reaction to developments. what we know is basically these two statements, one issued by the russian federal security service, the fsb, and also the official investigations committee. they're saying that a man, an uzbek man, aged 29, has been arrested on suspicion of killing general igor kirillov yesterday and the russian security services issued a video of a man, apparently this uzbek citizen, basically confessing to what he did. he's shown handcuffed and saying what those two security agencies said.

he's saying that he, several months ago, he bought a scooter, and then later he received parts forfor the bomb, which he assembled and attached to the scooter. then he parked it outside general kirillov�*s house. and also he apparently rented a car also parked outside the house, placed a camera inside the car, which was basically a live streaming from the site. now, importantly, the russian security services and this man are saying that he was acting in the interests of the ukrainian security services. he had been recruited by the ukrainian security services, allegedly, and was live streaming from outside general kirillov�*s house to to his ukrainian handlers, apparently based in the ukrainian city of dnipro.

so yesterday morning, when they saw general kirillov and his aide emerge from the house, the uzbek man pressed the button and the bomb went off, killing the general. now he also speaks about why he did it. he said he had been promised $100,000 and a place of residence in the eu. now, were there any of that is true is, of course, another matter. but it's really important that the russian security services are basically saying that ukrainian agents have been able to organise an assassination, an assassination of a key russian generaljust outside of the kremlin. well, i've also been speaking to luke harding who's a guardian journalist specialising in ukraine and russia. he gave me his reaction to the suspect�*s purported confession video.

i watched the confession or confession by the 29—year—old suspect, which has been circulating on russian social media channels. it's a very halting confession. it almost looks as if he's reciting a script. and so i think we don't know weather he did it or not. i mean, certainly my sources in kyiv say that local collaborators would be necessary to do an operation of this kind. you need someone on the ground. it's 700 miles away from ukraine in the front line. so i think there was some kind of local assistance, whether it was this suspect or someone else. we don't know. but i think what we can say was it was a very spectacular, very clinical, um, operation designed to spook the kremlin elite and to push the idea that ukraine is not necessarily losing this war, that it still has capacity,

imagination and can do extraordinary things. but your understanding is that it was the sbu. and in that case, it's an extraordinary ability to do something like this right in the hot of moscow. yeah. i mean, it was the sbu. i was told this yesterday by people in kyiv that, that's not being disguised. and they point out that this man was a war criminal. he'd been charged with, um, ordering chemical weapons attacks which had which had hurt and injured more than 2000 ukrainian soldiers. they regard him as a legitimate target, and i think have also been kind of quietly celebrating about how successful, um, this operation has been. and i think the bigger point is one of asymmetric warfare. ukraine has got fewer troops. it's got fewer planes, uh, you know, fewer tanks. and it's been losing ground in the east of the country. um, and so what it's trying to demonstrate to its own people

and to the world is that it can still strike back and work effectively. so these kinds of operations are, i think, are very important. and certainly general kirillov was the highest ranking russian functionary to be killed in this way. others have been shot and bombed. but this really was a pretty astonishing operation. we're just getting a line coming from the kremlin. they're saying that the killing of kirillov, they describe it as ukraine using the methods of terrorists. 0bviously, luke, they would, you know, heavily criticise this. but ijust wonder if i could just get your reaction to that. i mean, they would say that. i mean, let's just take a step back and, and look at what's happened, which is that that nearly three years ago, russia launched a full scale invasion of ukraine. and i've spent a long time reporting from ukraine. i'm going back there soon, every night. russia bombards ukrainian cities with drones, with ballistic missiles, kills civilians, kills children,

um, and has eradicated entire cities by turning them into rubble. so i mean, sure, they can say it's terrorism, but this isn't the context of a kind of brutal and savage war to to extinguish ukraine and its population. the cost of buying things like petrol, food and goods in the shops in the uk has risen to its highest level since march. official figures show the rate of inflation increased to 2.6% last month. that's up from 2.3% in october. the rise will be taken into account by the bank of england as it prepares to make its next announcement on interest rates tomorrow. our business correspondent ben boulos has more of the details. well, this is certainly not the christmas gift that many households will have been hoping for. prices rising more sharply as we approach an already expensive time of year. 0fficialfigures out this morning show that the cost of goods and services that we typically spend our money on, the average increase in those went up

by 2.6% in november compared with a year earlier. now, a lot of that was driven by an increase in the cost of cigarettes and tobacco after the government increased tax on that in the budget. but rising petrol gusts also pushed the average inflation rate higher. remember it is an average. so some things will have risen even more sharply in price than that 2.6%. it is nowhere near the peak of 11% that we saw at the height of the cost of living crisis a couple of years ago, but this reveals a very definite trend of price rises speeding up in recent months. it's higher than the 0ctoberfigure of 2.3%, which itself was higher than september's figure of i.7%. and that will put pressure on households and businesses, as the chancellor has acknowledged. i recognise that the cost of living crisis continues to bite. that's why in the budget we increased the national living wage.

a pay rise for 3 million workers. and it's why we froze fuel duty. so that motorists are not paying more at the pumps. so we recognise the challenges that families remain under and are taking action to address that ongoing cost of living challenge. why does this matter? well, the novemberfigure is now even further above the bank of england's target for inflation. remember, the bank likes to see inflation at 2%. so it will consider this latest data when it makes its next decision on the cost of borrowing through interest rates. of course, that affects the cost of loans and mortgages. it has begun cutting interest rates this year, albeit slowly. they are now at 4.75% the base rate. but this rise in inflation, together with wages rising faster than expected in recent months, means that it's now very unlikely that we'll see any further cut in the cost of borrowing this year. but we will get that

decision from the bank of england tomorrow. a magistrate has ruled that devon and cornwall police can seize more than two million pounds from the social media influencer, andrew tate, and his brother tristan. westminster magistrates court heard that they had failed to pay a penny in tax on £21 million of revenue from their online businesses between 2014 and 2022. syria is not stable enough for a large—scale return of refugees, according to a warning by the head of the un's international organisation for migration. speaking after a visit to damascus, amy pope said about a 100,000 people had already returned. 0ur middle east correspondent lina sinjab who's in damascus, gave us the latest on the challenges for refugees getting back to syria. the country has suffered 13 years of war and its economy has collapsed. the assad regime

is a corrupt regime, depleted all its resources for his own benefit and the benefit of its own, you know, group of loyalists. and, you know, to have the thousands of or hundreds of thousands of refugees to come back. that's a big challenge because most of their cities, towns, streets and homes have been destroyed by assad's bombing. we visited the outskirts of damascus, right at the edge of the like the outskirts of the city centre, and it's completely flattened. and we were told that 400,000 lived in that neighbourhood. and to for that to be rebuilt, to be inhabited again, it needs a flood of international aid and money to come in for the reconstruction. and that's only one example from many other towns and cities across the country that, you know, their inhabitants had to flee because of the bombing and their homes have been destroyed. and even internally inside syria, there

are nearly 7 million internally displaced that they can't go back to their towns and cities because they've been destroyed. infrastructure is not there, electricity is not there. water, you know, sewage system not working. but even here in the capital, damascus, that has been intact by the war and many people are still living here. the electricity is not there, the heating is not there. it's really cold in winter. many people cannot afford, you know, buying generators, cannot afford putting the solar system. so there are a lot of challenges, mainly on the economic level. and it really needs a funding coming in. and for the interim government, led by the de facto leader, ahmed al—shara, they've been stressing out that they need the sanctions imposed of the contract by by the eu and the us to be lifted. those sanctions were tailored because of assad's atrocities on its own people, but they've crippled the economy and hindered any aid coming in. and that's the priority now for these sanctions to be lifted,

to allow international community to help. i correspond in reporting on the challenges of many people returning to syria. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

welcome back. concerns are mounting that the cyclone that hit the french indian ocean island of mayotte has caused great loss of life. a surgeon said the emergency department at his hospital had seen worryingly few patients, given the scale of the destruction. there are reports that many people had disappeared in shanty towns where thousands of illegal immigrants lived. many homes were flattened by winds and mudslides. our correspondent, mayeni jones, reports from reunion. the aid efforts by the french government have been coordinated here from reunion,

because a lot of mayotte has simply been too damaged for them to be able to work there very well. aeroplanes can't land at night because of damage to the one airport on the island, so currently an air corridor has been built from the island of reunion, here right up to mayotte. the situation on the ground remains very chaotic, very desperate for people, particularly outside of the capital. a number of people are struggling to get access to water or food. they've had to fix the amount of water and food people can buy in local supermarkets. there's reports of large queues outside banks as people try and get some cash out to buy whatever food there is, there is left. it's also very difficult to move around the island. a lot of the roads have been damaged. petrol is being reserved for the emergency services, understandably, but that makes it very difficult for people to move around if they do want to try and find some food and water. so the authorities say their main priority is to get water to the people there, to get the treatment plants, water treatment plants back up and running to avoid an outbreak of infectious

diseases like cholera, because they don't want to complicate an already very desperate situation. i'm just bringing you some images... some drone aerial images... some drone aerial images there and you can see the destruction of those residential areas in mayotte. people calling for aid after the cyclone swept through with wind speeds of hundred and a0 miles an hour that's roughly 220 kilometres per hour. 0fficials 220 kilometres per hour. officials and health workers are saying that hundreds even possibly thousands of people

could be dead from this, the worst storm to hit for more than 90 years. we had a health worker concerned that he was concerned that he had seen so few people come for medical aid given the level of devastation. there is a warning that the final toll could be thousands or several thousands. cyclone tudor believed to be the worst to hit these islands for more than 90 years with high winds and huge waves up to eight metres high hitting this, one of the poorest parts of france, one of the french, indian ocean

territories. devastation in those images that we have just received. for hundreds of years, residents in one town in northern canada have lived alongside their polar bear neighbours, but scientists are warning that climate change could spell danger. as the temperature rises and melts the ice, polar bears need to hunt seals. however they're being forced spend more time on land, bringing them closer to people. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill has been in churchill, along with a team of polar bear researchers. there is a polar bear under our buggy right now. there is a polar bear under our buggy right "ow-— buggy right now. he's very cufious buggy right now. he's very curious about _ buggy right now. he's very curious about us. - buggy right now. he's very curious about us. at - buggy right now. he's very curious about us. at the i buggy right now. he's very - curious about us. at the height of polar bear season in churchill, manitoba. the polar

bears are _ churchill, manitoba. the polar bears are starting _ churchill, manitoba. the polar bears are starting to _ churchill, manitoba. the polar bears are starting to gather i churchill, manitoba. the polar bears are starting to gather in | bears are starting to gather in this area because they is going to be cic and for polar bears seaice to be cic and for polar bears sea ice means food. as the climate warms up here the bears are having to wait longer. we have lost bears... in are having to wait longer. we have lost bears. . ._ have lost bears... in the long term this _ have lost bears... in the long term this threatens _ have lost bears... in the long term this threatens the - term this threatens the survival of the polar bear population. but in the short term it means the bears are getting hungrier. the longer they hear— getting hungrier. the longer they hear the _ getting hungrier. the longer they hear the longer - getting hungrier. the longer they hear the longer they i getting hungrier. the longer. they hear the longer they need to be _ they hear the longer they need to be looking for alternative sources _ to be looking for alternative sources of food. that could mean — sources of food. that could mean us _ sources of food. that could mean ve— sources of food. that could meanus. ., . ., mean us. that poses particular

issues for _ mean us. that poses particular issues for the _ mean us. that poses particular issues for the rangers. - mean us. that poses particular issues for the rangers. the - issues for the rangers. the olar issues for the rangers. the polar bear _ issues for the rangers. the polar bear was _ issues for the rangers. the polar bear was testing the door _ polar bear was testing the door at_ polar bear was testing the door. at that _ polar bear was testing the door. at that point - polar bear was testing the door. at that point you . polar bear was testing the i door. at that point you usual horns. — door. at that point you usual horns. you _ door. at that point you usual horns, you chase _ door. at that point you usual horns, you chase them - door. at that point you usual horns, you chase them in - door. at that point you usual horns, you chase them in a i horns, you chase them in a desirable _ horns, you chase them in a desirable desert _ horns, you chase them in a desirable desert direction i desirable desert direction which _ desirable desert direction which in _ desirable desert direction which in this _ desirable desert direction which in this case - desirable desert direction which in this case would i desirable desert direction. which in this case would be away— which in this case would be away from _ which in this case would be away from town. _ which in this case would be away from town.— which in this case would be away from town. this is a place that takes _ away from town. this is a place that takes pride _ away from town. this is a place that takes pride in _ away from town. this is a place that takes pride in how - away from town. this is a place j that takes pride in how humans can coexist with polar bears. everyone we have spoken to is very aware of it all the time... should we go? i can hear shots over there which means they may be moving a bear. there is a bear there! the polar bear alert team is moving around so we are going to get back in the car. you can just see it through the trees there. we can see the polar

bear. there are quad bikes moving the bear along. while a loss of sea ice threatens the bears... it also opens up the port. a new marine... this is a town preparing for a future without sea ice in the bay. the town's mayor mike spence says that could present opportunities. what do you think this place could look like in ten years' time? it will be a bustling port. the future looks bright. the fate of the polar

bears of the polar bear capital of the world, though, depends on us, and whether we can rein in rising temperatures and preserve the ice that they depend on. we can keep arctic sea ice in the north and protect the species as a whole. sea ice is so much more thanjust like frozen ocean, it really is. it's a garden, it's a platform, its access to food. it's life, really. victoria gill, bbc news in churchill, manitoba. if you're watching us in the uk, a documentary about the polar bears is available on bbc iplayer right now. china's space agency says two of its astronauts, or taikonauts, have broken the world record for the longest single spacewalk. they spent a total of nine hours and six minutes working on the outside the tian—gong space station. they installed space debris protection devices and inspected external equipment and facilities. the previous record for extra—vehicular activity was set at eight hours and 56 minutes in 2001 by nasa astronauts.

the tian—gong space station is china's first long—term space station. in may this year, beijing announced its plans to become a space superpower within 20 years. 0ur correspondent martin yip in hong kong told me state media are giving prominence to the story. this piece of news at least, is being published on page two, in page two of today's people's daily, the national flagship newspaper. of course, is the key propaganda mouthpiece, if you if you like, of the communist party, so it's definitely a big thing that they are celebrating. it's precisely 50 minutes that they've managed to stay outside in the space for this spacewalk, longer than the record that the the united states have kept since 2001. remember, back injune this year, china spent sent

an unmanned space mission, the change 6 mission, to the backside of the moon to collect rock samples. that was already a big breakthrough because nobody has ever done that, not even the us. now, the next thing would be whether they can finish sending people onto the moon itself, and they are planning to do it by 2030. if they succeed, china would become the second country on earth ever to do that since the us did that back in the 1960s. so it's a thing that china is very keen to work on and make sure that that would become a success. from playing a military pilot to being the reason many signed up to serve — hollywood actor tom cruise has been recognised for his outstanding contributions by the us navy. he's been awarded the navy's highest civilian honour, thanks to his lead role

in the 1986 smash hit top gun helping spike military enlistment. tom cruise said he was proud of the extraordinary acknowledgment. stay with us here on bbc news. hello again! it's been a windy and a mild start to the day. we've also had some rain courtesy of this area of low pressure. the rain pushing northwards and eastwards and clearing, only to be replaced later by the next batch of rain coming up from the southwest. so as we go through the course of the afternoon, we will see behind the rain, some brighter skies developing, even some sunshine, a peppering of showers coming in across the northwest, and then heavier rain moving in across the southwest and also in through wales. temperatures today widely10 to 13 degrees, but in scotland and northern ireland, as the wind veers to a northwesterly,

temperatures will actually go down. so through this evening and overnight the rain continues to clear away towards the north sea. behind that, some clearer skies, but also a lot of showers coming in to the north and the west, and on the hills in the north and the west. some of those will be wintry. it's going to be a colder night and in fact we could see a touch of frost. northeast scotland, northeast england and also northern ireland. so tomorrow we'll all be bathed in this northwesterly flow. it's going to feel colder than today. it's going to be a blustery day. so when you add on the wind chill it will feel colder than the temperatures. i'm going to show you in a jiffy, but a lot of dry weather, some blue skies, showers in the north and the west again, some of those will be wintry on the hills. temperature wise, well, temperature is much lower than today. on your thermometer it will look like there are 5 to 9 degrees, but add on the wind chill and it will feel colder than that if you're stepping out overnight. thursday, this ridge of high pressure builds in to some of us will see a frost. and then on friday, this

next weather front comes in introducing some rain. so a cold start to the day on friday, but there'll be some bright skies to start with. showers developing ahead of the weather front, moving out of scotland and northern ireland into england and wales. and behind that we see a return to bright skies and some showers, but not quite as cold, the wind veering now from a northwesterly to more of a westerly. then, as we head on into the weekend, while we've got a deep area of low pressure coming our way with its weather fronts, look at the isobars. on saturday it is going to be a windy day worth bearing that in mind, if you're travelling. we could have gales across the north and west, but windy everywhere and through the weekend it's going to turn colder with the showers turning more wintry.

gearing up for a mega—merger? honda and nissan are in talks to join forces — against growing competition in the electric car market a cut today. but that could be it — for now. the us federal reserve is set to ease the cost of borrowing in the next few hours — but the outlook for next year is far from certain 0n the rise again... uk inflation rate hits highest level for eight months plus — from council estate to billion dollar boardroom. enrepreneur dean forbes tops

the uk's power list for 2025 — he tells us about his remarkable career welcome to business today. we start injapan with reports of a mega—merger in the car industry. shares of nissan were suspended on the tokyo stock exchange after soaring on multiple reports it is in talks to set up a joint company with rival honda. they closed up 23% after trading resumed, nissan's french partner, renault currently trades around 6% higher in paris. honda shares on the other hand fell about 3%. a merger would create japan's biggest carfirm by stock market value — overtaking toyota. the talks come as established car brands struggle with the transition to electric cars — an industry now dominated by china. and there will inevitably be fears forjobs here in the uk — where nissan employs around 7,000 people.

will roberts, head of automotive research, rho motion.