a long—awaited report reveals former republican lawmaker, matt gaetz, spent tens of thousands of dollars on sex and drugs while serving as a us congressman. germany's president says the public must not let extremists divide them, four days after a deadly attack on a christmas market in magdeburg. and a nasa spacecraft is attempting to make history, with the closest ever approach to the sun. hello. i'm martine croxall. a damning report, released by the us house ethics committee, says the former congressman, matt gaetz, paid numerous women forsex, including a 17—year—old girl, and regularly used cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy.

mr gaetz was donald trump's initial choice to run the justice department. the report concluded there was substantial evidence he broke standards of conduct. he denies wrongdoing, and had tried to block the report's publication. mr gaetz is taking on a new role as a political tv talk show host in the new year, but at a conservative conference, he hinted at a bid for the us senate. it seems i may not have had enough support in the united states senate — maybe i'lljust run for marco rubio�*s vacant seat in the united states senate, and join some of those folks! our correspondent tom bateman has more on the fallout from the house ethics report. well, this was a searing set of findings from the house ethics committee, and ultimately, it puts the spotlight back on to the decision by donald trump last month to nominate matt

gaetz for attorney—general, because here you have a decision in which mr trump knew these allegations had been swirling for some time, allegations around underage six, the use of illegal drugs, and still he went ahead with a decision to try to appoint matt gaetz as the most senior legal officer in the united states. now, in terms of any damage that does him, i think you have to bear in mind that he has already taken a lot of the political heat for that because ultimately republicans in congress made clear they weren't going to tolerate this. that's why mr gaetz couldn't get the support to go through any confirmation process to become attorney—general, so that damage is, in a sense, baked in, but it returns attention to that. i think there is a degree to which of course mr trump is insulated from accusations about his judgment, very much because of

the fact he is not a conventional politician. he was elected with a mandate to disrupt the system in washington, as him and his supporters would see it, but also he chose mr gates very much for the fact he was an ultra—loyalist, and like him, someone that claimed that the justice system in the us had been recognised against mr trump. so this was always meant to be a very disruptive choice. i think what it is there is another example of where some republicans in congress are prepared to defy donald trump. this comes already in the last week after there was some rebellion against his desire to try and lift the amount of money that the american government could borrow. things didn't go completely the way he wanted in this government shutdown vote, and also now you have this issue about matt gaetz rearing its head again, and i think it shows you that there is a line over which, if

mr trump tries to cross, there are still some republicans not prepared to tolerate that. germany's president, frank—walter steinmeier, has said germans must not let extremists divide them, four days after a deadly attack on a christmas market in magdeburg. in his seasonal address, he said the attack has cast a dark shadow over christmas, but hatred and violence must not have the final word. on monday night, thousands of people joined rival demonstrations in magdeburg. leaders of the far—right afd party called for border closures and deportations, while anti—racism protesters accused them of politicising the tragedy. bethany bell sent this update. magni bird feels like a divided city this evening. in front of the cathedral, the far right afd party held a rally. one official told the crowd that it had been a monstrous political failure to grant the suspect asylum. from the crowd were

heard shouts of "deportation, deportation". meanwhile, here at the christmas market, a counter demonstration, organised by an antiracism group was held. people here said that it was wrong to scapegoat migrants. they say that magda berg needed a moment to pause and reflect. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, says that some progress has been made in negotiations to secure a hostage release and ceasefire deal in gaza, but added that reaching a final agreement is taking longer than expected. meanwhile, israel's defence minister has confirmed for the first time that israel was behind the assassination of hamas leader, ismail haniyeh, in tehran over the summer. he was the group's main leader, when hamas attacked israel on 7th october last year. meanwhile, the charity, oxfam, says israel has systematically been using starvation as a weapon of war in gaza, and accuses world leaders of not doing enough to address the humanitarian crisis. in a statement, the aid organisation described

the situation as "apocalyptic". israel has denied oxfam's claims, saying that it is doing everything it can to get humanitarian aid into the region. with me is said shehata from bbc arabic. now, mr netanyahu says the ceasefire deal is close. we have had _ ceasefire deal is close. we have had a _ ceasefire deal is close. we have had a long _ ceasefire deal is close. - have had a long time, since november one when the first and the last truce between hamas and israel was struck. if the american presidentjoe biden and other leaders said it is close, optimism, whatever, but in recent days it was reported that they agreed on some controversial issues, especially about a potential buffer zone on the border between israel and gaza. in addition to that, the security

presence of israelis in this area. more about the exchange of prisoners and releasing hostages. but there are differences in the names of them because one is one of the top leaders, and could be succeeding, so in addition to that, withdrawalfrom succeeding, so in addition to that, withdrawal from the delphi corridors, the withdrawal from gaza. delphi corridors, the withdrawalfrom gaza. israel still having resistance on that. so there is a huge gap between the two sides and even though there is optimism, progress, 90% reached, but there are doubts, even within there are doubts, even within the israeli media fade—out that hamas would not accept for a partial ceasefire because it was off to them in october. they refused it because they don't accept no withdrawal of israeli forces from gaza, so

still sticking points, and doubts to reach a deal before the end of the year. it explains why there is a delay. just briefly, is well admitting for the first time they did kill him. it for the first time they did kill him-— for the first time they did kill him. , ., , ,,., kill him. it is a big message for the truth _ kill him. it is a big message for the truth especially, - for the truth especially, because their movement, they are the only headache for israel right now. big brother is out of the equation, syria is out of the equation, syria is out of the equation, iran more or less is out of the the equation, so a few days ago one of the missiles escaped and evaded the interception by the israeli defence and injured about 30 people. it was reported in the last few hours another missile from the houthis was intercepted before reaching israel. so the houthis are a big threat to israel, so they need to send them a message, they are going to

reach them, like they did the others. , ., ., reach them, like they did the others. ,., ., ., reach them, like they did the others. ., , i. reach them, like they did the others. ., , ., ~ others. good to see you. thank ou ve others. good to see you. thank you very much- _ new information has come to light, regarding israel's deadly pager and walkie—talkie attack on the iranian—backed lebanese armed group, hezbollah. in september, more than 2,000 devices exploded across lebanon and syria. dozens of people were killed and thousands injured. now, in an interview with our us broadcast partner, cbs, two former israeli intelligence agents, who worked for mossad, have explained how it happened, revealing the operation was ten years in the making, as jon donnison reports. it was one of the most audacious... ..and deadly spy operations ever undertaken. thousands of pagers and walkie—talkies owned by hezbollah operatives exploding across lebanon, causing panic, killing dozens and injuring thousands.

a walkie—talkie was a weapon, just like a bullet, ora missile, ora mortar. now, former agents from isreal�*s mossad intelligence agency, speaking anonymously, have told the bbc�*s american partner, cbs, how it was done. we have an incredible array of possibilities of creating foreign companies that have no way of being traced back to isreal. shell companies over shell companies, who affect the supply chain to our favour. we create a pretend world. we are a global production company. we write the screenplay, we're the directors, we're the producers, we're the main actors, and the world is our stage. the agents explained how, over the past decade, mossad had sold hezbollah thousands of pagers and walkie—talkies, booby—trapped with tiny amounts of explosives. they were only detonated years later, last september. if you push the button, the only one that will get injured is the terrorist himself. even if his wife or his daughter will be just next

to him, he is the only one that is going to be harmed. the agents said they tested the devices on dummies to measure the force of the blasts. but, in fact, dozens of people were killed in the attack, including civilians and children. thousands more were maimed and injured. the united nations human rights chief called it a war crime. what is certain is such an attack is unlikely to happen again. the agent said mossad was now working on the next thing, and hezbollah would have to guess what that might be. jon donnison, bbc news. several european countries have paused asylum applications from syrians, following the overthrow of the assad regime earlier this month. more than a million syrians, who fled the country during his brutal rule and civil war, now live in the european union.

our special correspondent fergal keane has gone back to some of those he met fleeing syria more than a decade ago, to find out what their hopes are for the future of their homeland, and a warning, his report contains some distressing testimony. i never imagined that i will witness something like that in my life. and i'm so happy. very happy. they hit you, and they said, "confess! "co nfess. " we first met 12 years ago. he'd just escaped syria. gay, pro—democracy, raped by assad's police. they're raping me, one by one. i start to say, "please don't do this. "please don't do that." then, he'd asked to remain nameless, faceless, a voice. but no longer. today, living in holland,

rene shevan celebrates assad's fall by showing his face. you've decided to appear on camera today. why is that? because the fear is gone. because the republic�*s fear is gone. because i'm... ..i'm not scared of them anymore. because assad is a refugee in moscow. watching the release of prisoners triggered traumatic memories. i witnessed this, and i saw people are free. i was so happy for them, but i saw myself there. i saw when they raped me. when they tortured me. i saw everything.

it's a flashback. several hours away, i met another refugee i'd known in the days of the war. one who'd never lost hope. i was certain nothing lasts forever. darkness is followed by dawn. it's nearly ten years since nujeen fled the kurdish region of syria, and ifirst met her among hundreds of thousands of refugees heading into europe. 15 years old, with big dreams. i'd love to be an astronaut, to go out and see and find an alien. nujeen is safe in germany, but berlin has paused syrian asylum claims. assad's fall is welcome, but not the end of the struggle, she says. i knew that we would not... i would never come back

to syria that has assad as the president and that we would never have the chance to be better. and now with that, with that chapter over, i think the real challenge begins. what is the big challenge? we can and will be a better nation. we are a nation of love, acceptance and peace. not one of chaos, fear and destruction. there are many good hearts in syria and beyond hoping she's right. fergal keane, bbc news, cologne. let's get some of the day's other news now. doctors are monitoring the health of the former us president, bill clinton, who has been admitted to hospital in washington with a fever. one of his aides said the 78—year—old was in good spirits. mr clinton was previously hospitalised for five nights

in 2021, due to a blood infection. he underwent a quadruple heart bypass operation in 2004, three years after leaving office. the french prime minister, francois bayrou, has played down fears of a huge loss of life in the indian ocean territory of mayotte, which was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century. mr bayrou said deaths would number in the dozens, not thousands, dismissing the higher figure as "alarmist". 35 people are known to have been killed. a nasa spacecraft is set to make history today. it will get closer to the sun than any other human—made object. the parker solar probe, which first launched in 2018, will come to within 3.8 million miles of our star. scientists are hoping it'll tell us more about the sun's impact on the earth. even though we have had missions that have gone very close to the sun, that wasn't close to the sun, that wasn't close enough to get into the sort of magic region where all of the physics and all of these

processes that are happening, and the only way to be able to understand those processes is to play through them and take the data right where all the action is happening. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

three hollywood stars have publicly backed the american actress, blake lively, after she filed a legal complaint against her co—star in the film, it ends with us. her complaint against justin baldoni, who was also the film's director, alleges sexual harassment, as well as a campaign to "destroy" her reputation. his legal team say the allegations are "categorically "false". nada tawfik has more. tension between blake lively and justin baldoni overshadowed the promotion of the film, it ends with us, over the summer. on the red carpet, their creative differences were apparent. this is not a story about domestic violence. it's a woman's story about her life. there's this intersection

between wanting to make the flowery movie, because oftentimes studios think that's what's best, and then the artistic choice. but it's now clear the drama on set went much deeper. lively has accused baldoni, both the director and a star of the film, of inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment. the hollywood film star and entrepreneur, who first rose to fame on the tv show, gossip girl, and her actor husband, ryan reynolds, who owns wrexham fc, held a meeting injanuary with baldoni and other producers to discuss her concerns. a legal complaint details the alleged demands she made at the time, including no more showing of nude videos or images of women, including the producer's wife, no more descriptions of their own genitalia, no more mention by mr baldoni of him speaking to blake lively�*s dead father. afterwards, she alleges he hired a pr crisis firm to launch a smear campaign against her. who else is engaged in sort of paid—for—hire online manipulation on behalf of,

you know, powerful clients, to manipulate public opinion and do damage to people's reputations? justin baldoni's legal team said the allegations were categorically false, intentionally salacious, with an intent to publicly hurt. they said it was a desperate attempt by lively to try to fix her negative reputation. the reaction in a post—metoo era hollywood has been swift. the talent agency that represented both stars dropped baldoni almost immediately and others in the industry have come out in her defence. her co—stars on the film the sisterhood of the travelling pants, released this statement in support. america ferrera, amber tamblyn and alexis bledel said, "most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation "of domestic violence survivors' stories to silence "a woman who asked for safety. "the hypocrisy is astounding." once again, behaviour in hollywood is back in the spotlight and what lengths some will go to protect their image.

nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. 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. 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. 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. he set off from cape town in south africa lastjuly. now, after crossing two continents, and more than 8,000 miles later, a ugandan runner, who lives in london, has made it back home, after an extraordinary run. deo kato ran across nine

countries in africa, excluding war—torn sudan, which he flew over, before continuing through 11 more countries in europe, and finally reaching west london. leigh milner went to find out why. cheering. reunited with his motherjust in time for christmas. this was the moment deo kato finally crossed the finishing line in his home city of london yesterday, after running the equivalent of more than 300 marathons injust under a year and a half. incredibly relieved to actually have finished. it was overwhelming to see my mum there and she wanted to do a kilometre to get to the finish line with me. so doing that with her was beyond my expectations. day 66 — running from cape town to london. deo wanted to raise awareness about racism by highlighting the history of human migration from africa, in his words, to show that we all come from

the same place. his journey took him through africa and across europe and, along the way, he endured racist abuse and several weeks in a south sudan jail. but he says the support he received along the way got him through it. some of the most proudest moments was actually me running with kids. i had the most incredible kidsjoin me in kenya, and i had to stop them when we reached the school, and said, guys, you have to go to school. so what's next for you? sleep? sleep is definitely on the schedule! leigh milner, bbc news. 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 stabilised and there are no immediate threats to infrastructure.

stay with us here on bbc news. 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, 11—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 southwesterly 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 across 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.

this is bbc news, the headlines: a report reveals former republican lawmaker matt gaetz spent tens of thousands of dollars on sex and drugs while serving as a us congressman. the house of representatives ethics committee released the findings of a years—long investigation into allegations. president—elect donald trump wanted mr gaetz to serve as us attorney general. germany's president has said people must not let extremists divide them four days after a deadly attack on a christmas market in magdeburg. frank—walter steinmeier said the attack has cast a dark shadow over christmas. the suspect was a refugee from saudi arabia, leading to debate over migration and security. a nasa spacecraft is attempting to make history with the closest ever approach to the sun. the parker solar probe is enduring extreme temperatures and radiation to explore our star's outer atmosphere.

the data it gathers should help scientists to better understand