live from london. i'm kasia madera. this is bbc news. a new report says famine in sudan has expanded to five areas and will likely spread to another five by may next year. as ukraine prepares to mark the third christmas since russia's invasion, we bring you a special report from the city of pokrovsk, the birthplace of a well—known carol. and it is notjust the physical destruction of the city that you can see all around me, ukraine also accuses russia of trying to erase its cultural identity. live pictures of bethlehem, where muted christmas celebrations take place this year, as the war in the region rages on. and a nasa spacecraft hurtling towards the sun is poised to make history, with the closest approach ever to the star.

welcome. we start with breaking news. american airlines flights have returned to normal after being briefly grounded at the start of a very busy christmas eve. the airline said the massive disruption was due to what they describe as a technical issue. it said it was trying to fix the problem in the shortest possible time. injuly, the airline grounded all its flights after an it crash caused by a faulty software update from the cybersecurity firm crowdstrike. we hope to speak to our correspondent in a few moments to get the very latest butjust to get the very latest butjust to bring you that breaking news, american airlines flights have now returned to normal after being briefly grounded at the start of this christmas

eve. we turn to sudan where famine has expanded to five areas and is expected to spread to another five by may next year, according to a global hunger monitor. the famine review committee of the integrated food phase classification, ipc, says warring parties continue to disrupt humanitarian aid needed to alleviate one of the worst starvation crises in modern times. the ipc says about 24.6 million people, about half of all sudanese, urgently need food aid. let's speak to our correspondent richard kagoe in nairobi. richard, we knew that the situation was bad in sudan during this civil war but brings up—to—date now. actually, those were the predictions aren'tjust actually, those were the predictions aren't just looking at the highlights of this report, itjust helps us understand how deepening and escalating the food in security

situation in sudan is. right now, an additional 17 other areas have been identified as at risk of famine and looking at risk of famine and looking at this, specifically people who have been affected are those living in internally displaced camps so this is a very dire situation and that is why this particular report casts a looming crisis that would be exacerbated by the conflict that to a certain extent has affected the delivery of aid, especially to those who mostly need it. find those who mostly need it. and of course _ those who mostly need it. and of course we — those who mostly need it. and of course we know _ those who mostly need it. and of course we know that with these, it is the two warring generals that continue to make this situation incredibly difficult in sudan. where are we in terms of the possibility of some kind of peace deal being reached?— of some kind of peace deal being reached? well, that is a remote possibility _ being reached? well, that is a remote possibility at - being reached? well, that is a remote possibility at the - remote possibility at the moment because several diplomatic efforts that have been initiated by different

people to bring them to the negotiating table haven't been actually fruitful but there has been significant progress made in getting both sides to open up in getting both sides to open up areas where they had imposed blockades for humanitarian access and that has been a major relief, especially to the west of the country which has been devastated by the 20 month conflict. so that, you would say, has been good progress made regarding relieving the pain that those who have been displaced in this conflict are currently facing.— currently facing. richard ka . oe, currently facing. richard kagoe, thank _ currently facing. richard kagoe, thank you - currently facing. richard kagoe, thank you so - currently facing. richard i kagoe, thank you so much currently facing. richard - kagoe, thank you so much on that report which is saying that report which is saying that famine is spreading across sudan, thank you so much. let's go back to our breaking news story about american airlines. we believe flights are now returning to normal. with me is david waddell, business reporter. bring us up—to—date on what we know because the situation now

changing very swiftly. it is changing very swiftly. it is very early _ changing very swiftly. it is very early in _ changing very swiftly. it is very early in the _ changing very swiftly. it is very early in the day - changing very swiftly. it is very early in the day in - changing very swiftly. it 3 very early in the day in the us on the east coast, just gone 8am, on the west 5am. it is christmas eve, really busy time for travellers all around the world especially in the united states and many passengers have been grounded on the runway or in airport terminals, not really knowing what is happening and the details are a bit sketchy. we know there was some kind of technicalfault and that the federal aviation administration grounded all american airlines flights so we don't have the detail on precisely what caused that. we do know it has lifted that restriction so those flights can now go ahead but many of course may now be delayed or may have to be cancelled altogether, despite that. david, we are just getting the faa is saying that nationwide ground stops for american airlines has been cancelled so thatis airlines has been cancelled so that is to your point then of course early in the day at the moment. but the faa are saying

that the ground stop, that granting of those flights, has been cancelled. in terms of american airlines, this is a huge, huge company. it is the bi est huge, huge company. it is the biggest us — huge, huge company. it is the biggest us carrier, _ huge, huge company. it is the biggest us carrier, the - huge, huge company. it is the| biggest us carrier, the biggest airline in the world as measured by scheduled passengers carried, revenue, passengers carried, revenue, passenger per mile and daily flights, it operates 6800 flights, it operates 6800 flights per day across the year. probably more on a day like today, i don't have that data, but to 350 destinations in 48 countries, you can see i have all the data here. a big disruption to all the passengers that would be carried on a day like this. we are not really clear on precisely what that disruption is at this stage. as i say, it is at this stage. as i say, it is very early in the day in the us but some passengers will have been disrupted already. as to whether there is further disruption, whether it means some passengers won't make their destinations for christmas, that much remains unclear. , ., _ , unclear. obviously christmas eve, millions _ unclear. obviously christmas eve, millions are _ unclear. obviously christmas eve, millions are expected . unclear. obviously christmas | eve, millions are expected to fly but for the time being, david, thank you so much. to

reconfirm to everybody, the federal aviation administration is saying that granting of those american airlines main flights and the subsidiaries has now been cancelled. a story that, of course, we will keep an eye on. but our thanks to david. ukrainians are marking their third christmas since the russian invasion, with putin's forces pushing deeper into the east of the country. the city of pokrovsk is russia's next target. its troops are now less than three kilometres from the city centre. it's a key military hub. but it's also part of ukraine's cultural identity too. it's the birthplace of a well—known christmas carol. 0ur defence correspondent jonathan beale has this report. music: shchedryk the discord of christmas in a shattered city. but this is where the composer of this well—known carol once lived. pokrovsk — the next russian target. explosion

most of its population's already fled. explosion no sound or sign of christmas here. just shelling. those left behind only break cover to find essentials. many are cut off from gas, water and electricity. ihor says you never know where or when the next hit will be. he likens it to living on a powder keg. 0ksana hopes ukraine can hold on, but she thinks it's unlikely. pokrovsk, she says, will probably fall. russian forces are still advancing towards the city of pokrovsk. they are nowjust a few miles from where i'm standing. and it's notjust the physical destruction of the city that you can see all around me. ukraine also accuses

russia of trying to erase its cultural identity, too. music: carol of the bells this familiar tune, known as the carol of the bells — or shchedryk in ukraine — was composed by mykola leontovych. this is where he worked as a music teacher in pokrovsk — a plaque now the only reminder. the hasych family fled pokrovsk this summer. they're now shocked at the scale of devastation. mum yulia says it makes her want to cry. but she isn't letting her daughters forget home or the signature song of their city. translation: when i played it at home, it seemed happy. - it reminded me of winter and christmas. now it's more of a sad song to me, because it reminds me

of home, and i really want to go back. but for one ukrainian military band, it's also become a song to inspire resistance. they're even taking it to the trenches — with weapons as improvised instruments. translation: we'll visit any brigade on the front line - and perform ukrainian songs on any weapon. it lifts the spirits, those beats and rhythms cheer up the guys and inspire them to fight. shchedryk shows that ukraine is a civilised nation now at war, fighting for its identity. for ukraine, there is a special significance to this tune this christmas. russia may be able to destroy

its towns and cities, but it can't erase ukraine's separate identity or its past. jonathan beale, bbc news, pokrovsk. a russian cargo ship has sunk in the mediterranean sea. this video — posted on social media — shows the ursa major listing off the coast of spain. the russian foreign ministry says the vessel sank after an explosion in its engine room. two of the 16 crew members are missing. the ship is reported to have been transporting specialised cranes to the russian port of vladivostok. tracking data from marine traffic shows that it left st petersburg on 11 december and had recently passed through the staits of gibraltar. it's the third russian ship to go down in ten days. russia has been accused of using a so—called "ghost" fleet of ships — which are often poorly maintained and lack proper insurance — to circumvent sanctions.

it's not known whether the ursa major was part of that fleet. let's turn to the middle east. the rebel fighting factions which together toppled syrian leader bashar al assad are moving to unite as one army. syria's de facto leader ahmed al—sharaa has reached an agreement with former rebel faction chiefs to dissolve all groups and consolidate them under the defence ministry. christmas celebrations are muted for a second year in bethlehem. this is the scene live in the city, the biblical birthplace ofjesus, where traditional festivities have been scaled back, leaving church leaders to focus on providing spiritual guidance and solidarity during a time of profound grief. 0ur correspondent emir nader is in bethlehem — where he says few have come to mark the birth ofjesus. it is quite incredible to be here as the world begins to celebrate christmas and to see bethlehem looking so quiet for the second year in a row. usually by this time, the main square here, manger square, would be full of children,

marching bands, processions. we can see the 1,700—year—old church of the nativity, wherejesus is believed to have been born. usually we would see pilgrims from around the world that would have travelled here to take part, tourists from around the world, but the hotels are empty and many of the shops are shut. that is because many of the people have the war on their mind which is going on in the palestinian territory of gaza not so far away. the cardinal leading the mass tonight, the head of the catholic church here, has just returned from gaza where he addressed a massive palestinian christian group there, and he told the congregation that, "the world is with you, the war will end and we will rebuild." he has said that everything is destroyed in gaza, but the people are not. it is a very solemn mood here obviously, as of today, over 115,000 palestinians have been killed in the war, and people are really hoping for a ceasefire deal

to be reached. emir, when it comes to that ongoing war in gaza, for the first time, israel has publicly acknowledged killing the hamas leader ismail haniyeh in iran. what has the defence minister israel katz been saying? he made a speech yesterday saying that israel took responsibility, for the first time, for the assassination of the political leader of hamas in the iranian capital tehran in july. they hadn't previously acknowledged that. it came as part of quite of a belligerent speech by the minister of defence, after days of exchanges of missile fire with houthi rebels in yemen, who have been sending missiles out of solidarity, they say, with the palestinians in gaza towards tel aviv. the minister of defence, israel katz, directed a speech towards the houthi rebels saying, "we will decapitate

you and your leaders in the way we have done with hamas and hezbollah as well." emir naderjoining us there from bethlehem. a nasa space probe is set to make history later as it attempts the closest—ever approach to the sun. the parker solar probe must survive radiation and extreme temperatures as it descends into the star's outer atmosphere. it is hoped the data it could retrieve may help solve some of the sun's mysteries. 0ur science editor, rebecca morelle, has the story. 0ur sun in all its fiery splendour. we've been studying it for centuries, but there's still so much we don't know about it. now the closest—ever encounter is set to finally shed light on our star. three, two, one, zero. nasa's parker solar probe blasted off in 2018, heading to the centre of our solar system. it's been orbiting our star,

getting ever nearer, but this latest flyby is taking us to a new frontier — to touch the sun. even though we've had missions that have gone very close to the sun, that wasn't close enough to get into this sort of magic region where all of this physics and all of this — all of these processes are happening, and the the only way to be able to understand those processes is to fly through them and take the data right where all the action is happening. this mission is breaking records. parker solar probe hurtles past the sun at 430,000 miles an hour. no human—made object has ever gone so fast. it's the equivalent of flying from london to new york in less than 30 seconds. at its closest, it's 3.8 million miles — 6.2 million kilometres — from our star's surface. that's closer than any other spacecraft. it will have to endure scorching temperatures of 1400 degrees celsius as it passes

through the sun's outer atmosphere — known as its corona — and this could solve a long—standing mystery. the corona is really, really hot, and we have no idea why. so the surface of the sun is about 6,000 degrees or so. for the corona — this tenuous outer atmosphere that you can see during solar eclipses — that reaches millions of degrees, and that is further away from the sun. so how is that atmosphere getting hotter? the mission is also studying the solar wind — the constant stream of charged particles bursting out from the sun's corona. the probe's even recorded the sounds of the sun. three different types of solar wind. various tones dispersive chirping waves. langmuir waves. and doctor who—like whistler mode waves. when these particles interact with the earth's magnetic field, the sky lights up with dazzling auroras. but this space weather can cause problems, too,

knocking out power grids, electronics and communication systems. the hope is the mission can help us to better understand this. but first, the spacecraft has to survive its burning—hot flyby. i will worry, but we really have designed that spacecraft to withstand all of these brutal, brutal conditions. it's a tough...tough little spacecraft. during this close approach, the spacecraft is out of communication for several days, so the nasa team face a nervous wait over christmas before they can finally discover the secrets of our star. rebecca morelle, bbc news. extraordinary pictures there. let's get some of the day's other news now. hong kong's government has offered rewards of more than a—hundred thousand dollars for the arrest of six pro—democracy activists living abroad. it brings to 19 the number of bounties placed on people who've fled china's crackdown who've fled china's crackdown on rights and freedoms. on rights and freedoms. one of the founders one of the founders of medellin cartel has returned for drug trafficking. of medellin cartel has returned to colombia after serving more to colombia after serving more

than 20 years injail than 20 years injail in the united states in the united states for drug trafficking. fabio 0choa, who's 67, was once a senior member in the gang led by pablo escobar. he was arrested by the colombian police in the 1999 and extradited to the us two years later. south korea has become what the un describes as a �*super—aged society', with 20% of the population now over 65. newly released figures show there are just over ten million elderly south koreans out of a total of 50 million. to the uk now where a consultation on phasing out new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 has been launched by the government. the conservatives extended the ban on uk sales of these vehicles until 2035 while they were in charge —

electric cars are gettign more popular. they certainly are. one in four cars sold currently are electric vehicles but i think if you talk to people around here packing up, driving home for christmas, you would still find a healthy dose of scepticism amongst some. firstly the cost, they do tend to be more expensive than petrol or diesel models. then there is charges, charging points like this one here but are they really enough of them around the uk? concerns over that infrastructure, people concerned, range anxiety some call it, can i get to where i need to go without running out ofjuice need to go without running out of juice and need to go without running out ofjuice and when i get there, how can i plug it in? fine if you have a driveway, what if you have a driveway, what if you live in a top floor flat in a citymike could be more challenging. those are the big questions hanging over the industry and they will be concerning for the government which is desperate to stick to

this target of banning the sale of all new petrol and diesel models by 2030 so it has launched this eight week consultation with the industry, which i should say is broadly on board with it, to try and help shape policy, really. how can they try and make these vehicles cheaper and easier to make? and forfolk vehicles cheaper and easier to make? and for folk to buy and run them. what could we see? possibly, changes to the targets. manufacturers have strict rules about how many of these cars they have to make and sell compared to their overall sales and also possibly some more incentives to stay up demand, to really get people to think these cars are the must haves, not the, if i absolutely haves, not the, if i absolutely have tos which is still the case for many. a pretty long road ahead, the green lobby of course also sharing some concerns. they are worried that if they do fast track to get to this target, will some of those rules to be watered down and compromise longer term green gold is? certainly the government has promised to bring some clarity to a topic

which has remained very uncertain for many years and i think everyone would welcome that. , , . ., , that. yes, they certainly would- _ that. yes, they certainly would. marc _ that. yes, they certainly would. marc ashdown, i that. yes, they certainly. would. marc ashdown, as that. yes, they certainly - would. marc ashdown, as always, many thanks. the princess of wales has urged people to slow down and reflect on issues which connect each other at christmas. in a personal message — recorded for her carol service at westminster abbey — the princess also encouraged the world to turn to love, not fear. 0ur senior royal correspondent daniela relph has more. the princess of wales came to this year's carol service after a challenging year. like so many others whojoined her here. with her children and husband, she described christmas as a moment to slow down and reflect on the deeper things that connect us all. she has recorded some of the voice—over being used in tonight's broadcast. join me for this christmas eve for a special carol service to celebrate all those who've show love, empathy and kindness in our communities this year. this is a personal project

for the princess of wales and supporting her with the music has been lady gabriella windsor. earlier this year, her husband took his own life. the princess said she was incredibly grateful for lady gabriella's contribution. for paloma faith, singing in westminster abbey for the first time has been something special. it is something first of all that when i was born i never thought i'd be doing. i have spent my whole life watching this place on television in various situations and now we are here and there and no—one that i know can believe it. people are just like, "what?" "we can't believe you are here." what is striking about walking and isjust how much more magnificent it is in person. # do you know what i know?# along with carols from

the abbey choir, gregory porter will also perform. an experience, he says, was deeply meaningful. # do you know what i know?# it was really wonderful to sing in the abbey. because the acoustics - are perfect, the visuals are perfect and the construction i was meant to be awe—inspiring and to feel- the presence of god. and you feel that in this extraordinary space so, | yeah, i was very excited. i love to be taken - back to my childhood. around this time of year, without_ around this time of year, without question. - it is awe—inspiring, - i like to feel like a child in a place like this. the tree roared in the win... the theme of taking care of each other run through the whole service. this actress reads a poem, the kindness of trees. when every child was asleep in

bed, the tree sung a lullaby. the princess of wales will make another public appearance tomorrow, when she joins the rest of the royal family for the christmas day celebrations at sandringham. think it is only fair we say with that christmas theme and we are going to live to miami in florida where the annual cocoa beach surfing santas are just about to get under way to hit the waves, an annual event where the santa hit the waves, an annu