live from london. this is bbc news an ethics report into matt gaetz — who was briefly donald trump's nominee for attorney general — says there's "substantial evidence" he paid for sex with a minor and used illicit drugs. a breakfrom tradition — this year the king's christmas message will be delivered from a former hospital chapel — rather than buckingham palace. the uk economy flatlines — revised figures show no growth at all in the last quarter. and one of india s most respected filmmakers, shaam benegal, has died at the age of 90 the uk economy flatlines — revised figures show no growth at all in the last quarter. and wallace and gromit makes a return to our screens for a christmas special — the first in a decade! hello.

republican congressman matt gaetz — has found "substantial evidence" that he paid women for sex or drugs on numerous occasions — including paying a 17—year—old girl for sex. according to a final draft of the report by the house ethics committee, the politician — who was donald trump's initial pick for attorney general — is said to have been involved in prostitution, statutory rape and illicit drug use. the age of consent in florida — where the majority of the incidents are alleged to have taken place, is 18. mr gaetz denies any improper conduct — and had mounted a legal challenge to try to block the report's publication. our north america correspondent in washington, tom bateman, explains the seriousness of these allegations and just how damaging they will be. this amounts to a really searing set of findings by the house ethics committee, concluding that there is substantial evidence that mr gaetz paid numerous women for sex, including a 17—year—old girl and

repeatedly used and purchased illegal drugs including using his office in capitol hill to buy marijuana online, among otherfindings. but as you say, highly damaging for the former congressman and given the fact that he had only last month been picked by donald trump to be the attorney general, to be the most senior law officer in the united states, officer in the united states. now, he then withdrew from that nomination to do the nomination due to the groundswell of controversy over this and incendiary and capitol hill and divisive even among his own republican colleagues. but mr gaetz has denied any wrongdoing in the lead up to this and after today's publication of the report, he has been very active on the social media site x, saying that, in his view, giving funds to women that he was stating that they did not ask for is not in his words,

prostitution. and also accusing the ethics committee the ethics committee and others of what he calls a smear campaign, saying this is all being done by his enemies to damage him politically. and he is no longer the nominee for attorney general but this is because the blowback for mr donald trump at all? he withdrew in the weeks after as it was very clear he was not going to get the support he would need even from republican colleagues to make it through the nomination process to become attorney general and the seat in the cabinet of the united states. in terms of damage to donald trump, donald trump news that knew well about these allegations, and the house ethics committee had been ongoing but mr trump had been ongoing when mr trump

made this decision and out of all the picks that donald trump made among republicans, many of them, among his own party were aghast at this decision and it became clear it was going to be untenable. some of the political damage is already been done and is now baked in and i think you have to remember that mr trump is not a conventional politician and it will not damage him to the extent that it might a more conventional politician. that said, mr trump is having some trouble at the moment, particularly among his republican colleagues. there has been a vote which nearly closed down, shut down the american government over the holiday period, largely instigated by mr trump as he pulled support for the budgetary arrangements that were going through. he saw a significant number of his own republican colleagues defy him in the course of all that over the last few days it's becoming clear that the degree to which he might want to ram things through the republican

party has not proved quite as easy as he might�*ve hoped and this may add to the sense that there will be questions of his judgment and decision—making. that said, he still feels that he goes to the presidency with that said, very significant mandate and still very significant control over both the party and the levers of power in washington. for the first time in almost 20 years — the monarch�*s christmas day message is not being broadcast from a royal residence. instead, king charles has chosen a former hospital chapel, the fitzrovia chapel in london, which was used by staff and patients of the middlesex hospital before it closed in 2005. it is now used for community events. our senior royal correspondent daniela relph has more. an image taken from this year's christmas day broadcast after a turbulent year for the king with a cancer diagnosis and treatment. to reflect that, he wanted his christmas message to come from a location connected to health care and used by the community. he chose here — fitzrovia chapel in central london. the chapel is tucked away

amongst the modern blocks of flats and offices near oxford circus — a small, intimate space that will this year host a piece of royal history. the king is said to have been bowled over by the chapel�*s beauty. it was once a place of solace and reflection for patients, staff and families using the middlesex hospital before the hospital was demolished in 2008. i assume that this space, being one of kind of calm reflection, but also thinking about health, about care and about the medical profession, would make it a pretty apt choice. we did feel very privileged. the chapel is not consecrated and is open to people of all faiths. it's now used for community events and there are royal connections too. sister dorothy louise thomas

was awarded the gold medal. j in 193a, the king's great grandfather, george v, was at middlesex hospital to honour nurse sister dorothy thomas for her bravery in a hospitalfire. she is now remembered on the chapel walls as an heroic colleague. the king wanted to do something different this year to make his message more personal and delivered from a space used by the community. but taking a christmas broadcast out of a royal residence is highly unusual. i usually make my christmas broadcast to the commonwealth from windsor or buckingham palace — this was queen elizabeth in 1989 at the royal albert hall for a christmas broadcast that focused on young people. in 2003, she took the message to a barracks in windsor during the iraq war, where she thanked servicemen and women and their families. but virtually every other christmas broadcast has come from a royal residence. to choose this peaceful space in central london is a significant break with convention from a king who this year wants his christmas broadcast to reflect some of the experiences and challenges he has faced. daniela ralph, bbc news,

fitzrovia chapel. here in the uk, the chancellor says the challenge to fix the economy is �*huge�* after revised figures showed there was no economic growth between july and september. the office for national statistics originally estimated a small growth of nought—point—one per cent over the three months. but rachel reeves insists the government's economic plans will deliver long term, sustainable growth. the conservatives say the economy has "tanked " under labour. here's theo leggett. a bleak midwinterfor a government that's made the economy its top priority. the latest figures show zero growth between july and september. businesses say they're losing confidence and prices are rising. this is how the economy's been performing over the past three years. as you can see, there was a fairly steady decline throughout 2022 and into 2023 and, at the end of last year, it went into recession,

then a rally in the first half of 2024, but no growth, we now know, between july and september. and then there's inflation — a steep rise peaking at more than 11% in late 2022, but then falling steadily. but now it seems to be ticking up once again. the government insists the future is bright. this labour government is going into 2025 with absolute resolve to work with investors, wealth creators and workers across the country to stimulate economic growth and improve living standards for workers across the country. this is our number one mission as a government. businesses say changes to national insurance and the minimum wage introduced in the budget are pushing up their costs. the confederation of british industry says many are tightening their belts. what firms expect over the next quarter is to have falling output to reduce employment, and also we're going to have pressure on prices increasing as well. the british retail consortium

says consumers are also losing confidence. these shoppers in manchester today were certainly feeling the pinch. i think i'm asking people l what they want and buying what they want them, and i think the thingsl that they want are affordable because everyone's - understanding that it is a very tight year. i it's quite expensive this year, more than any... well, everything's gone up, hasn't it? things are definitely getting more expensive, but there's not really much you can do about it, is there? the conservatives said today warning lights were flashing on the uk economy and that the government should urgently revisit what they called a disastrous budget to push for growth rather than decline. the government's gamble is that short—term pain will lead to long—term gain but, in the meantime, many businesses expect to be feeling chilly economic winds well into the new year. theo leggett, bbc news. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

the ongoing conflict in sudan, pitting the sudanese army against the forces of the rsf, has devastated the country and led to many thousands of deaths. civilians in towns and villages across the country have been attacked as atrocities are committed by both sides. the bbc verify team have obtained footage filmed at the time of one incident in which dozens of people were killed to piece together what took place. here s merlyn thomas — and we should warn you, that some of the imagery in this report is particularly graphic. in sudan, a brutal power struggle has been raging since last april between the army and a paramilitary group. human rights groups have condemned both sides for widespread atrocities. a series of recent incidents appears to have been the result of one man's defection. abu shakeel. he became a senior commander with sudan's paramilitary group, the rapid support forces, or rsf, shortly after the conflict broke out last year.

but he recently switched sides back to the sudanese army, which appears to have triggered a series of reprisal attacks. now there are almost 70 attacks in towns and villages injazirah state, south of sudan's capital khartoum, in the two weeks following his defection. at bbc verify, we've been investigating one of these attacks in detail and how it unfolded. the massacre took place on the 25th of october. we've analysed four separate videos of the aftermath. much of the footage is very graphic. this is one of the videos showing bodies lined up in the courtyard of a mosque covered with shrouds and blankets. the un said 124 people had died in the killings. we were able to independently confirm at least 80 people were killed by counting the bodies. we've also uncovered evidence of freshly dug earth mounds in the town cemetery. have a look at these satellite photos. so this was taken in may and this was taken after the attack.

an expert who analysed these images told us that the graves appear to have been recently dug, and the size of the earth mounds measured against nearby buildings like this one, suggest many bodies may have been buried there. so who is responsible for these killings? we don't have any videos of the killing itself, but we do have videos of fighters before talking about their plans and videos of the aftermath. by analysing videos like this one, we confirm the troops are wearing rsf insignia on their arms. and you can hear them celebrate their attack on the town and the killing of locals. the rsf denied those seen in the clips with their troops and said you can easily obtain their uniforms and then commit crimes against civilians. and we located this video by matching it up with satellite imagery using distinctive features like these you can see in the coloured boxes. in videos we verified to be from the same incident, fighters also filmed

their hostages, including the elderly. we've blurred their faces and some appear to be in bloodstained white robes, and in other videos the troops mock and humiliate them. we've been told by a resident of the town that the fighters have been demanding ransoms for their captives, and many are still being held, but we haven't been able to confirm this ourselves. the conflict in sudan, which continues to this day, has killed at least 20,000 people, according to the un. in september, in what they've called one of the world's largest displacement crises. officials in mozambique say the number of people killed after the cyclone chido hit the country last week has risen to 120. the cyclone hit mozambique on 15 december with winds of 260 kilometres per hour and dumped 250 millmetres of rainfall in the first 2a hours. it struck after also causing widespread devastation in the french island of mayotte in the indian ocean. unicef�*s nick wasunna is one

of those on the ground in pema in cabo delgado — one of the worst affected areas. he explained how difficult it has been to get aid to those in need. in cabo delgado, we've seen three districts that were hit. they are south of the capital, where i am in pemba, where tropical cyclone chido came and created absolute destruction. i've seen pylons downed, trees down, houses destroyed. i've seen about 98% of the houses in one of the districts, called mcafee, were just flattened. many of these houses were made of bamboo, corrugated iron sheets that were just tossed up in the air. it is a devastating sight, and as unicef and the other un and ngos, we are busy responding to the needs of these desperate communities. and how difficult is it for you to get that aid into these areas? because in the past there have been problems as well in in mozambique with insurgencies and so on. yes, correct.

our biggest challenge, because it's in the south, which has less cases of the non—state armed group, was around actually clearing the roads and getting the debris out of the way to get to the communities. so we've been able to do that and the government has really played a leading role in opening up the access. we still don't have a solid communications power is still based on generators, so there are still many, many challenges. but we're now at least from monday. last week we were hit by the cyclone on sunday. by monday, there were already teams in the field doing assessments, and already by tuesday assistance, life saving assistance was getting to the very needy families. and you mentioned the scale of the problems here. what is the priority in terms of aid? what are you focusing on as a first priority? in the initial stages? what people really need is shelter material. they need food. they need access

to clean water. this will ensure that people can start to rebuild their homes, that we don't have the spread of disease. cholera is a big risk in this area and that we try to get the systems back up and running. so we're working very closely with the authorities to get their health systems up and running. many people were taking shelter in schools. many of the schools have had the roofs blown off. over 218 schools are affected, a thousand classrooms. we're trying to get the schools back ready for the new school year by the end of january, so there's a lot of work to be done in a very short time. and obviously, unicef is a primarily a charity for children. you mentioned some of the efforts for schools. how badly have children been affected in this in this case in terms ofjust general kind of access to food and so on? there are over 105,000 children who we who we're engaging with at the moment that have been affected. children, of course, being impacted by a climate change like this has become a real concern for us and the impact on children is devastating. we are creating what we call child friendly spaces so children can feel safe.

they can, uh, we can access casework for them where we feel that, uh, children are mentally, uh, damaged by what's happening. we have ensured that we can trace families for children, and children are reunited, and that children can try to get some sense of normality out of this very devastating situation. the man accused of killing the us healthcare insurance chief executive brian thompson has pleaded not guilty to state—level murder and terrorism charges. luigi mangione appeared in court in new york to face 11 state criminal counts. he also faces federal stalking and murder charges that could lead to a death penalty sentence. donald trump has threatened to reassert united states control over the panama canal, saying american ships are being charged excessive fees by the central american nation. panama's president has hit back — insisting panama's sovereignty and independence are non—negotiable. the canal — which links the atlantic and pacific 0ceans — is critical to international trade — with about 40%

of american container traffic passing through it. largely built and administered by the us from the beginning of the last century, it was eventually handed over to full panamanian control in 1999. mr trump made his comments to a conference of the conservative �*turning point usa' group in arizona. it's his first political rally since winning the presidential election in november — and comes four weeks before he officially takes office on january 20th. let's speak to michael donoghue, professor of history at marquette university. what is your reaction to donald trump's comments about the panama canal?— panama canal? when he is callin: panama canal? when he is calling for— panama canal? when he is calling for is _ panama canal? when he is calling for is a _ panama canal? when he is calling for is a clear - calling for is a clear violation of international law on the organisation of american states and of the un charter. no nation has the right to invade another sovereign nation through violence to take over their territory and so, this is

clearly a rather outrageous statement on the part of mr donald trump. d0 statement on the part of mr donald trump.— statement on the part of mr donald trump. do you think this is a visual _ donald trump. do you think this is a visual follow _ donald trump. do you think this is a visual follow through - donald trump. do you think this is a visual follow through on - is a visual follow through on or is this him since trying to negotiate a deal? it or is this him since trying to negotiate a deal?— negotiate a deal? it can be art of negotiate a deal? it can be part of the _ negotiate a deal? it can be part of the blustar - negotiate a deal? it can be part of the blustar that - negotiate a deal? it can be| part of the blustar that uses a lot and some of the threats he uses to try to get a deal. he is every spoken about annexing canada and they can at the 51st state in talking about invading mexico to deal with the drug cartels and so, he often makes these kinds of exaggerated statements. he these kinds of exaggerated statements.— these kinds of exaggerated statements. , ., ., statements. he said he would not let the — statements. he said he would not let the canal _ statements. he said he would not let the canal fall - statements. he said he would not let the canal fall into - statements. he said he would not let the canal fall into the l not let the canal fall into the wrong hands, referring to china, is that what you think he means by that? probably. there's a _ he means by that? probably. there's a company, - he means by that? probably. there's a company, not - he means by that? probably. there's a company, not evenj he means by that? probably. i there's a company, not even a chinese company but there is a company in hong kong that helps to manage and runs the ports at either end of the canal. they've been doing that since 1986 so, there is no chinese state control. this is, again, a rather paranoid fear that

some folks have had and they've had ever since the treaties were signed in 1977. do you think there's _ were signed in 1977. do you think there's any _ were signed in 1977. do you think there's any risks - think there's any risks associated with these kinds of assessments?— assessments? yes, very risky because it _ assessments? yes, very risky because it causes _ assessments? yes, very risky because it causes enormous l assessments? yes, very risky| because it causes enormous ill will with our friends in because it causes enormous ill will with ourfriends in latin america. the united states as a member of the organisation of american states and all the states recognise the sovereignty and all the states borders. it is central in the concept of noninterventionist states. and he's clearly falling for an intervention —— calling, whether he would actually carry it out is another question. it actually carry it out is another question. if he didn't want to follow _ another question. if he didn't want to follow through, - another question. if he didn't want to follow through, over| want to follow through, over the options be, do you think? he could certainly come at the united states has tremendous military forces in the region. he could invade panama city are ready but that would be an important option that would be

very similar to what vladimir putin did invading ukraine and it would bring immense criticisms from all latin american nations and armed resistance in panama as well. thank you very much indeed for sharing your thoughts on this situation. two of the most famous faces in stop motion animation are back this christmas. 35 years since they first appeared on our screens, wallace and grommit return in a new adventure called �*vengeance most fowl�*. lizo mzimba has been meeting the film's creators. i'm live outside the west wallaby street house of the evil inventor mr wallace. evil? once again, wallace's inventions... there's clearly been a mistake. ..have got them both into trouble in their first major adventure for more than a decade. whenever we've done talks around the world, the last question is always, "when is the next wallace and gromit film? "

and on the last time we did that, i came home just burning with this idea that's been around for years, actually, about, what if wallace created an automated gnome? hi. i'm your nifty- odd—jobbing robot. call me norbert. now this new story has the return of an old villain who the pair last encountered back in 1993's the wrong trousers. whenever we were out and about talking about wallace and gromit, and maybe talking about the future of wallace and gromit, the single most asked question is, "when will feathers be back?" it seemed a perfect opportunity to bring feathers back for this story. sadly, one person who isn't back is, of course, the original voice of wallace, peter sallis. it has been quite emotional since we lost peter, but we have been blessed with a youngish actor who we've known for many years, in fact, peter knew him, actually, who can do a fantastic wallace impersonation, ben whitehead.

he says he's honoured to take on the role. as animation takes time, aardman have given me time to work on the voice. you kind of have to do the sort of the "mm," and the, you know, "hee—hee," and definitely the elongation of the vowels, like the, you know, "cheeeese." put him through his little paces. you'll have to wait until christmas day to see if the duo defeat feathers mcgraw. and if they do, the aardman team say they're sure that wallace and gromit will be back for more adventures in the future, but it just might take a while. gromit! lizo mzimba, bbc news, bristol. we'll leave you now with some live pictures of kilauea volcano erupting on hawaii's big island. the us geological survey says the eruption has stabilized and there are no immediate threats to infrastructure. stay with us here on bbc news

hello. it's been a chilly day across eastern areas of the uk, with the weather slowly turning milder in the west. as the milder air started to arrive we had extensive low cloud, a bit of a fog up over the hills as well, and there's more of that to come over the next few days. in the eastern side of the uk, though in particular, we've got a big jump in temperatures on the way — temperatures climbing by ten degrees celsius between this afternoon and tuesday afternoon — christmas eve afternoon. the changes are all brought about by this warm front. 0nce that's pushed through, which will happen overnight, we then get these southwesterly winds working in and it's these winds that will be bringing us some exceptionally mild weather. so overnight tonight, a lot of low cloud developing across western areas with some mist and fog patches around coasts and hills. some damp and drizzly weather. we could see some drizzle just about anywhere, to be honest, but it's one of those nights where temperatures will rise hour by hour through the night.

and by the end of the night, for many of us, we'll be looking at temperatures into double figures. and so it's going to be a much, much milderstart to the day tomorrow. but a case of really grey, cloudy, drab conditions. bit of morning drizzle slowly fizzling out as the day goes by. probably staying quite damp though for the hebrides and the highlands of scotland. sunny spells in short supply, but you might see a few brighter spells for north—east scotland and perhaps the eastern side of the pennines. temperatures 13, 1a, maybe even 15 celsius. that would make it one of the mildest christmas eves we've ever seen. and this mild southwesterly airflow stays with us for the big day — for christmas itself. and so it's a case of extensive cloud around again, some mist and fog patches around coasts and hills, some damp and drizzly weather. we do have a weather front that's going to be bringing more general rain in across the hebrides and the highlands through the day, but with temperatures across the board double figures —10—13 degrees — there's no chance of it being a white christmas anywhere. indeed, it's going to be a very, very mild christmas.

boxing day — little overall change. the changes that we do see are all towards the north of the uk, where we see this band of rain that was across the hebrides and highlands, just sinking a bit further southwards. could bring a few spots of rain into northern ireland, the central belt of scotland, but not really amounting to too much here. the wettest weather will be still affecting parts of highland scotland. this mild spell of weather looks like it's going to hang around for about a week, but there are signs that it could turn colder in the run—up to new year's day and potentially, for some of us, a bit more wintry.

0ur climate is changing. we're seeing more extremes. we need to cut our use of fossil fuels, but other solutions will be needed... you look out of the window and you see a tree and you say, "well, clearly that tree is collecting c02 out of the air", so we know it can be done. ..new ideas that could help pull us back from the brink. it's in everyone's best interest to start taking action.

the one thing that you can do with it that you can't do with any other climate risk mitigation method is that you can cool the planet down quickly. time is running out. so can scientists help save the world? the sooner we stop this warming, the better. we could stop the warming within a generation if we just put our minds to it. here we go. this is a programme looking for hope, from scientists

across the world who are working on new ways