we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour. which is straight after this programme. welcome to this special year—ending edition of hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. big elections, catastrophic conflict, 2024 has been a year full of upheaval and alarm. does that give you the right to lecture us on climate change? i am going to lecture you on climate change! inflation is eating people's pay cheque alive. we've had 10 million illegal immigrants come into the country, raping and murdering people. people do not believe the policies are working. we are not seeking to punish anybody. i we are seeking to bring back. the hostages and to make sure that hamas will not be able to kill us _

the situation is much worse now, much worse, because people see no horizon, no hope, and they are still killed in mass numbers, starvation is back. right now, i am sure that these four regions will belong to russia. ukraine has proven over these two and a half years that - when our army has everything it needs, we know how— to beat russians... the russian army. there's so much goodness in this world, stephen. i would not be standing and talking to you without the goodness of so many others. and love has to win. of all the world's elections this year, from russia to mexico, the uk to india, it was the presidential vote in the united states that offered the most compelling,

consequential narrative. for those who wrote donald trump off after his 2020 election loss and his supporters�* assault on the capitol, 2024 delivered the mother of all shocks, because trump won the popular vote, he won the electoral college, the convicted felon took back the white house. inflation is eating people's pay cheque alive. we've had 10 million illegal immigrants come into the country — raping and murdering people. people do not believe the policies are working. they're living the consequences of disastrous policy choices. inflation is down, as you well know... been over 5%. ..you accuse kamala harris of being soft on crime, in california she was criticised for being too tough on crime, and the fact is — and again, facts matter — violent crime and murders across the united states have gone down during the biden/harris years. i don't buy that one bit.

but again, it's difficult to conduct a conversation if you won't accept facts which come from official us government agencies. i don't accept the fact that america along the border is chaos. you're telling me that these border communities are safe? go to one of them! go tell the people, whose families have been raped and murdered by illegal immigrants, things are fine. america is not buying what you're saying, cos it's not true. i'm very honest about the shortcomings of the left when it comes to being in a conversation with american men. i think there is a crisis happening amongst not all american men, but many. but why are the democrats in particular not connecting? well, i think part of it is that the right is having a direct conversation with those men. the right is talking to them... exactly. ..very specifically about their position in a post—patriarchal world. now, the republican message is very simple — let's just dial it back to 60 years ago, 100 years ago,

when you had more legal, cultural, political, economic power than women — let's take power from women and give it to men. i do think the democratic party left has to be in a more transparent, direct conversation with men... you call yourself... ..and talk to them about power, right, but say, "we don't need to deliver it to you from women, "we need to deliver that power to you from the corporations "and the billionaires and the millionaires that right now "possess too much of it." i don't think he's . fit to be president. i don't think he understood the nature of the job - when he held it the first time. idon't think he learned anything in four- years in office. if anything, he's - forgotten things that he knew at the time. and i think his performance in office poses real risks . for the united states. i'm going to choose my words carefully, but when you wrote about trump in his first term and your work with him, you called him, quote, "unfit, erratic, stunningly uninformed". you said, "his mind is nothing more than an archipelago of dots." and yet you worked for him for 17 months. what was that all about?

well, i thought when i took. the job that, like every other president before him, - trump would be disciplined by the gravity of the i responsibility and the implications of the decisions he took on national - security issues. and i found fairly quickly that. i was simply wrong about that. he was not disciplined. the looming prospect of trump 2.0 will have global impact, not least in the middle east. 2024 saw israel expand its asymmetric military response to hamas' october 2023 assault on southern israel. gazans experienced a year of catastrophic devastation. israel's bombs, starvation, disease and displacement have left the entire population dependent on emergency assistance for survival. the key agency tasked with delivering un relief in gaza is unrwa, but in october, the netanyahu government banned unrwa from operating inside israel, claiming it was dangerously infiltrated by hamas —

a claim denied by agency officials. my fear today is education. we have today 600,000 girls and boys living in the rubble in gaza, deeply traumatised, who haven't been at school for one year. according to a study from cambridge university, they have already lost two years. and the more we will wait, the more we are sowing the seeds for more revenge, resentment and extremism. and, hence, if you get rid of an organisation like ours today, who will step in and provide education at scale to such a number of youths? you went along with your camera to your own family's house —

was it your aunt? yeah, my aunt's house, yeah. and you had to take — well, you didn't have to, but the decision was to take pictures. i didn't take pictures for them because they all were flesh — we didn't find any complete body for them. because their house is very small, and the bomb that israel threw on them was very big. so no—one survived and they all literally were flesh. and till now we didn't find any body for my aunt. we don't know where she disappeared. so, er... yeah. so i didn't have the time to grieve or to show any emotions. and i start, i continued what i'm doing, because when you lose that much of people in a short time, your heart becomes dead — dead heart. dead? yeah, it's really dead, because now i... there is different thoughts now in my mind that i should accept

it in a way to another. israel doesn't want to engage wars, we neverwanted... - we didn't again, as i said, we didn't engage the war. i started the war on october 7th, it was hamas, - it was actually iran. but we cannot fool ourselves, we cannot think that, - you know, if we would not. want to have a war, then our enemies would not want... ..would not want to do the same thing. | they do want to have a war, . they do want to destroy israel. by the way, they don't just want to destroy israel — . they want to take down the entire western - civilisation. they are saying it. only yesterday in tehran, they burned american - flags and they shouted, "death to israel, - death to america". this is what they i actually want to do. you know, a couple of weeks ago, i saw a video... - i understand that you want to analyse iran's motivations, but, as you're sitting here with me on hardtalk, i want to have you discuss with me israel's motivations. and respond to this,

vali nasr, a former senior state department official in the us, has said that, these assassinations were, quote, "done in a deliberately provocative manner. "designed to invite — invite escalatory retaliation." do you agree with that? no, of course i do not agree with that. - fouad shukr, he was the person in charge of killing 12 _ children in northern israel just a couple of days ago. | what are you offering? you're saying we should not respond to that? . when we are attacking back, this is part of. defending ourselves. this is what we are doing. the situation is much worse now. much worse because people see no horizon, no hope, and they're still killed in mass numbers. starvation is back. i'm sure you're following the numbers already, 33 children died of late, especially in the north. people are still asked to evacuate, still, they are forced out of their homes.

not once, not twice, multiple times. it's carnage. as an outsider, one always looks for chinks of light. if there are chinks of light, perhaps one is that the israelis say that their intensive assault on rafah, with all of the refugees, the displaced people who are in rafah, that is coming to an end. and at the other end of the strip, there are some reports that the desperate humanitarian situation in parts of the north of gaza isn't quite as bad as it was. yeah, but the israelis want to turn gaza into an open killing field for as long as it takes. so they might lower the intensity, having killed and maimed 120,000 — mostly women and children. having literally decimated 70% of gaza's homes, 80% of gaza's schools, 90% of gaza's hospitals and 100% of gaza's universities. and now they are talking about low intensity. this year, the war in gaza morphed into a multi—front confrontation between israel

and its regional enemies — all of them linked by one common factor — iran. amid assassinations, covert operations and aerial attacks, israel sent troops into lebanon to defang hezbollah. it even traded direct missile strikes with the tehran government. lebanon today is paying a very, very heavy price — the people of lebanon are paying a very heavy price, the economy of lebanon is paying a very heavy price, but it's a fact we are in war. i believe it's still containable. i think this war needs to stop immediately, and i'm hoping that the discussions going on in new york today, tomorrow and the days to come will be able to really put an immediate end to this war, because lebanon cannot bear another day of this war. you understand, i guess, when prime minister benjamin netanyahu says this is not

a war against the people of lebanon, it is a war against the armed militants, as he would put it, terrorists of hezbollah. i guess you understand that? honestly, i don't understand anything that neta nyahu is saying. i actually am, all i understand is i'm seeing hundreds of people dying, i'm seeing thousands of people fleeing, losing their homes, losing their family members. filling up every school today with no food, no shelter in very difficult circumstances and explosions all over the country. the spiralling conflict in the middle east has raised questions about the relevance and applicability of international law, and they will resonate for years to come. the international court ofjustice, where cases against nation states can be

brought, is now hearing a case brought by south africa against israel, based on the international conventions prohibiting genocide. i was granted an exclusive interview with the former icj judge, who presided over the court when it decided to take on that case. so the court decided that the palestinians had a plausible right to be protected from genocide, and that south africa had the right to present that claim in the court. and it then looked at the facts as well, but it did not decide — and this is something where i'm correcting what's often said in the media — it didn't decide that the claim of genocide was plausible. it did emphasise in the order that there was a risk of irreparable harm to the palestinian right to be

protected from genocide. but the shorthand that often appears, which is that there's a plausible case of genocide, isn't what the court decided. so what you did say in your ruling is this... "in relation to palestinians in gaza, israel must take "all measures within its power to prevent the commission "of acts within the scope of the genocide convention." it's now weeks and months since you issued that order, do you think israel is complying with it? so, i won't answer the question directly, because it's actually a question that will be before the court, but i will say personally it's disappointing what has happened since then. we hoped at the time that our closely watched order would be more of a contributor to a solution. and you'll recall that at that time there was a lot going on in terms of negotiations, etc. and while i assumed i would never know how our order might play into those negotiations, i hoped that it could be a factor that would help push things towards an outcome in which the hostages were released, and the tragedy would end in gaza.

year's end can be a time for wishful thinking. 12 months ago, there were fervent hopes that 2024 might bring an end to russia's war on ukraine. well, it didn't. instead, there was a grindingly slow and costly russian advance in the east — a ukrainian incursion into russian territory — and moscow's deployment of troops from north korea. net result, terrible battlefield losses, and a sense that vladimir putin thinks he can outlast kyiv and that the russian world will be remade. i don't think that it will be a compromise. it will be... the endgame is quite clear. ukraine will be a country non—aligned, non—nuclear, with normal relations with its neighbours. it will not have a nato membership.

it will be demilitarised. and finally... and you will withdraw, will you, from its territory? ..and finally it will abolish all racist laws that it has taken during all these years. will russia withdraw from the territory that it occupies? i don't think so, i don't think so, because earlier when we conducted negotiations in 2022, that was an option — a possibility. right now, i am sure that these four regions will belong to russia. you are right that diplomacy and military effort walk hand in hand. but ourjob is to create diplomatic conditions where it will be russia who will be making concessions. because to demand from a country that was attacked, brutally attacked by its neighbour, permanent member of the un security council and nuclear power, to demand from us, to start with concessions, isjust flawed and distorted logic. and this is why we will not allow it to happen. but, minister, sorry to interrupt, but isn't it

ultimately the logic of war? putin made a point of saying, "we have taken 47 small towns, "villages and settlements from ukraine "in our most recent offensive". and of course, that includes the offensive just north of kharkiv. he's saying to you that he has the men, the material and the intent to continue this war and continue it in a way which, frankly, in the end, ukraine cannot combat because you don't have the scale that he has. ukraine has proven over these two and a half years that when our army has everything it needs, we know how to beat russians — the russian army. we all have to fear what it l means if russia retains land and does not have to retreat in its own internationally- recognised borders.

but, at the same time, georgia has not been invaded once. - georgia has been invaded three times at least, - and we can count more. so there is nothing much more that russia has to do, russia i is occupying our territories. it's not a question _ of separatism, it's a question of directly occupying russia's military bases _ on our territory. so what russia is now trying to do, and will continue, - as it does with other countries in europe and elsewhere, - it's a hybrid war, - which has already started. here's a memorable statement that a us official said about you and about serbia some time ago. he said to you, he said, "you cannot sit on two chairs "at the same time, especially if they are farapart". isn't that an actual description of what you are trying to do? no, not exactly.

i sit only on serbian chair and very much proud of that. i have, as you can see, only one chair — no two chairs. and our chair is that it means that we make our decisions by ourselves. it means that we supported ukraine speaking about humanitarian aid, financial aid, more than all the other in the western balkans all together. so you think there's no contradiction in your position? there is no contradiction at all. there is a lot of contradictions in the behaviour of all the others, but we are very much principled and morally principled. this year i travelled to guyana, south america, now the site of one of the largest oil and gas fields in the world. in the capital, georgetown, it's boom time. guyana is now a petrostate — the fastest growing economy in the world. but fossil fuels come with consequences. most guyanese live below sea level, reliant on flood defences, and the irony is obvious. guyana is betting big on extracting oil and gas, just as decarbonisation is seen

as ever more urgent to prevent rising sea levels. it seems as if our authorities, the powers that be politically and otherwise, are like oblivious to these facts, are oblivious to guyana and the caribbean are one of the most vulnerable places on the whole wide world and on planet earth. but guyana's president isn't interested in climate lectures. let me stop you right there. do you know that guyana has a forest forever that is the size of england and scotland combined? a forest that stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon. a forest that we have kept alive... does that give you the right, to release all of this carbon? does that give you the right to lecture us on climate change? i am going to lecture you on climate change, because we have kept this

forest alive that stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon that you enjoy — that the world enjoys — that you don't pay us for, that you don't value, that you don't see a value in, that the people of guyana has kept alive. guess what? we have the lowest deforestation rate in the world. and guess what? even with our greatest exploration of the oil and gas resource we have now, we will still be net zero. guyana will still be net zero. 40% of guyanese people live in poverty. if the benefits of the oil rush reach them, it'll feel like a blessing. but guyana is navigating a perilous course and there is no going back. hardtalk is always about the human stories, as well as the big global issues. in 2024, one of my most memorable conversations was with diane foley, whose journalist son james

was kidnapped and beheaded by the islamic state group in syria a decade ago. years later, she agreed to meet and forgive one of the jihadists, alexanda kotey, who held james hostage. it was very sad, stephen, it was so sad. and alexanda expressed a lot of remorse over the course of the three days. that seems quite complicated, because you talk about him and the way he talked to you about regrets, but, in the end you say, "we tiptoed around the notion of forgiveness, "but he did not ask for it outright. "i would have given it to him if he'd asked for it." he did not. but why would you have given it to him? how can you forgive? well, because we're all failed human beings when you really come down to it, and... but we're not all killers.

no, that's very true. but we all have the potential to do very evil things, to hurt others, we all have that potential, stephen. and, to be honest, he's the same age as one of my sons, so it wasn't that hard as a mother to see him as a flawed human being. how is yourfaith in humanity, after everything you've been through over the last decade? there's so much goodness in this world, stephen. i would not be standing and talking to you without the goodness of so many others. and there's so much evil and hate in this world. yes, there is. but do you really, even now, having been through what you've been through, believe that good prevails? absolutely, without a doubt. without a doubt. and love has to win. diane foley, thank you so much forjoining me on hardtalk. it's my pleasure, stephen.

hello. the good news is, for those of you still to do some pre—christmas travel, the weather is looking fairly benign for christmas eve for the vast majority. a fair bit of cloud around, admittedly — we saw that roll in on monday — and much, much milder than it has been. temperatures on monday afternoon, 4—5 celsius for quite a few, a good 8—10 celsius warmer for tuesday

afternoon on christmas eve. that milder air�*s been pushing in already, and will continue to do so into the morning, around this area of high pressure to the south of us and behind weather fronts. so, by the time we start christmas eve, temperatures for the vast majority are actually in double figures first thing in the morning. lots of cloud around, a rather grey start to the day, however and, certainly in the west, some outbreaks of rain or drizzle. a few spots further east, too, but some of the wettest conditions throughout christmas eve will be to the north and west of scotland, where it'll also be quite windy at times — winds touching gale force for some. we'll see some rain or drizzle in northern ireland, and around some of these western fringes of england and wales on the hills, it may be a little bit

of damp at times. but, to the east of high ground, east wales, the midlands, parts of eastern england, eastern scotland, we should see some sunshine break through — and it's here we could see temperatures of 14—15. now, to take us through the night and into the big day, we continue with a fairly cloudy story, fairly breezy to the north and west, with some outbreaks of rain getting heavier and more persistentjust to the north of the northern and western isles. but christmas day starts on a warmish note — 8—11 celsius for the vast majority — and, with us stuck between these weather fronts and a run of south—westerly winds, not much will change through the day. compared with christmas eve, though, i'm optimistic of a few more cloud breaks. more of you will stay dry — so if you need to get a christmas day walk in, it is looking fairly decent. best of the sunshine, probably northeast of scotland, but quite windy here. windiest, though, to the north and west, the western isles, northern isles — again, ahe chance of some rain at times, but probably a little bit drier than christmas eve. and temperatures just down a notch, but still well above where we should be, at around 11—13 celsius. for the big journey home, though, after christmas, if you're doing it on boxing day or friday, there could be some fog to contend with ascross parts of england and wales.

most places will be dry. greater chance of some rain at times further north, but nothing disruptive by the looks of it. and, by the time we hit the weekend, we're back to something a bit cooler, but also a little bit brighter. take care.

live from washington, this is bbc news. an urgent appeal for serious new ruler to preserve evidence of atrocities committed under former president aside. for those that _ former president aside. for those that made _ former president aside. fr?" those that made this happen, that ran it, they need to be held to account the same way we held to account the same way we held to account the same way we held to account the nazis or the leaders of cambodia or the genocide they are all the butchers of the former yugoslavia.— butchers of the former yu:oslavia. �* . , ,., yugoslavia. an ethics report into matt — yugoslavia. an ethics report into matt gaetz _ yugoslavia. an ethics report into matt gaetz who - yugoslavia. an ethics report into matt gaetz who was - yugoslavia. an ethics report i into matt gaetz who was briefly donald trump's nominee for attorney general says there is substantial evidence he paid for sex with a minor and used illicit drugs. and in a break from tradition, the king will not be recording his christmas message from a royal residence. hello.

good to have you here with us.