of minorities by islamist leaders, after the burning of a christmas tree near hama. one of the worst starvation crises in modern times — a new report says famine in sudan has expanded to five areas and likely to spread further next year. drive for greener cars — uk government consults with motor industry to phase out new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 to combat climate change. president—elect trump vows to pursue death penalty for violent criminals after president biden commutes 37 federal death sentences. and pope francis holds a special christmas eve ceremony opening the holy door at the vatican to mark the start of a jubilee year.

hello, i'm geeta guru—murthy. protests have erupted in syria over the burning of a christmas will tree in a christian—majority town near hama. demonstrators took to the streets of the capital damascus, calling for the new ruling faction, hts, to punish those who are responsible. the islamist hts movement has promised to protect minorities since toppling president bashar al assad earlier this month. lina sinjab reports from damascus. chanting. "we will sacrifice our souls for our cross," these men chant as they demonstrate through the streets of damascus. they are christians. many fear life in the new syria. despite promises made by the country's latest leaders, these protesters and other minorities are not so sure. and this was the catalyst of the christmas eve protests — masked gunmen setting fire to a christmas tree in the main square of suqaylabiyah, a christian majority town

in central syria, the incident captured and shared on social media. a spokesperson from the country's new leaders said foreign fighters were responsible and had been arrested. this transitional phase comes with uncertainties for many people, including minorities, and such incidents will increase the worries and fears among them. there are people who have vested interests in spreading those fears, and it will take time for the new government to maintain stability and for people here in syria to adjust to the new reality. hayat tahrir al—sham is the group that brought down bashar al—assad. they began as a jihadist organisation, wanting to establish a state governed by islamic law. since taking over, its leaders have vowed to protect the rights of the country's diverse religious and ethnic groups. translation: to be honest, we're not protected. - we're scared.

they need to publicly catch those who are creating problems and, if they're foreigners, they should leave. across the country, people have been celebrating the collapse of the 50—year assad regime, but it could be some time before everyone in syria is convinced. lina sinjab, bbc news, damascus. also in syria today — hts, which is effectively in control of much of the country, says it has now �*absorbed all armed factions into the armed forces.�* syria's de facto leader ahmed al—sharaa has reached an agreement with former rebel faction chiefs, after meetings over the last few days. but it's not clear which groups were included, nor whether forces in areas which were not previously controlled by the government or groups linked to hts are covered by the agreement. famine is spreading in sudan, 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. it says famine conditions have been confirmed in two camps for internally—displaced people in el—fashir, also in parts of the darfur region and south kordofan state. another five areas are expected to slip into famine by may next year. the ipc says about 24.6 million people urgently need food aid. earlier i spoke to sheldon yett, unicef representative to sudan, and began by asking for his response to the review. this is not the news any of us want to hear on the eve of christmas. it's a disaster for sudan. it's a disaster for the world. it tells us that the situation is getting worse and worse. we're now almost two years into this conflict now, and it's critical that we're able to get assistance to all children and all people in sudan who need it. and just tell us

what your teams are saying and telling you. well, we're having difficulties getting assistance to those most in need. this is a country at war, and it's a country that is in desperate need of food into those affected populations clean water, health care, education. we need a package of services, but most importantly, we need to be able to target those most in need. we need access. we need to ensure we can get consistent delivery of food and nutrition supplies and health supplies to those populations in need, and that has proven difficult. and we've obviously heard a lot about the crisis that sudan is facing. does this review tell you and others something new? it tells us that we all have to increase our efforts, and we need an end to this war. we need to make sure that we have consistent, sustained

and predictable deliveries to these populations in need. again, we've seen pledges to to make this happen, but we haven't seen the consistent mechanics to make this happen. and that's what we need in place. the uk government has started a consultation with the motor industry on the phasing—out of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, to combat climate change. the ban on sales of these vehicles had been extended to 2035 under the previous conservative government, but labour said it would restore the 2030 deadline in its election manifesto. marc ashdown reports. one in four cars sold in the uk right now is electric, but there remains a strong dose of scepticism from some about the idea of switching. i'm living in a block of flats and we really don't have an option to charge electric cars there just yet. we have family in scotland so i need to make regular trips to scotland so it wouldn't be suitable for me.

when you get outside of london, there's not that many charging. stations, so that's probablyl the reason i wouldn't get it. and also the price point is crazy. - solving some of those issues is what the government wants from an eight—week consultation, canvassing views from the industry about how policies can be shaped to help make electric vehicles cheaper and easier for manufacturers to build, and for drivers to buy and run. under the zero emission vehicle mandate, 22% of cars and 10% of vans a manufacturer sold in 2024 had to be electric, with big fines for those who failed to comply. next year the target ramps up to 28% for cars and i6% for vans. and by 2030, 80% of cars and 70% of vans sold must be fully electric. the automotive industry is broadly on board with trying to meet the 2030 target, but some big names have been making some big noise recently about the difficulties they are facing, and the trade

body for motor manufacturers say they want to see urgent resolution to help car—makers boost sales and to bring in some bold incentives to encourage drivers to go electric. there is some concern, however, that wider green targets could be undermined if sales rules for manufacturers end up being watered down. you would actually remove the competition that is driving manufacturers to reduce the cost of their evs as they compete for ev sales, which means prices would likely go back up, which would make evs more expensive for more people and would actually keep people driving more expensive and dirtier petrol and diesel cars for longer. car manufacturing has seen a steep decline in recent months, with electric vehicles worst affected. the government promises to bring clarity to how it plans to stay on track and deliver cleaner roads. marc ashdown, bbc news. joe biden may have promised a smooth transition to donald trump's second term in the white house, but that hasn't stopped the president—elect from voicing some harsh criticisms of the current

commander in chief about his decision to commute the death sentences of 37 federal prisoners to life in prison. donald trump took to his own social media platform, truth social, to criticise the sparing of what he described as 37 of the worst killers in the us. he added... it's no secret that the two men have completely opposed views of the death penalty. there have been no federal executions during mr biden�*s time as president — and there will now be just three people remaining on federal death row. during his first term in office, mr trump brought back federal executions — which hadn't been carried out for almost two decades. i3 murderers were executed by lethal injection. 0ur correspondent in washington, rowan bridge, has the latest. there are three people who will remain on death row. they are all cases of mass killings, basically in the united states.

they still could face the death penalty, but donald trump doesn't have the power to undo the commutations that joe biden has given. so those people will be removed from death row and will face life in prison without parole. other people who come on to death row subsequently, clearly then, could face the death penalty under a trump administration. it is christmas eve today, but has there been any reaction to what donald trump has said on this? i mean, there had been reaction to the decision byjoe biden in the first place to do this. it clearly split... i mean, it splits american opinion and it split the opinion of some of the families involved in these cases. and i think the biden white house was well aware that this was going to be a controversial decision and in some ways, to kind of pre—empt that, they issued a bunch of statements alongside joe biden�*s decision from campaign groups welcoming the move, but also from some of the friends and family of some of those who were murdered by some of these people

on death row, saying that they also supported the decision to commute some of these sentences. however, that was not universally welcomed. the daughter of one of the people whose mother was murdered said that as a result of this decision, joe biden and his supporters had "blood on their hands" to use their words. so this is a very divisive issue. the latest gallup poll, for example, suggests that around 53% of americans support the death penalty in murder cases. so it is very divisive. and clearly, donald trump has kind of firmly stated his case that he plans to bring back the use of the death penalty and he plans to bring back the use of the death penalty, and if he can, he is keen to expand it as well. he made that clear on the campaign trail. the former us president bill clinton has been released from hospital in washington dc, after being admitted

for a fever yesterday. in a statement, mr clinton's deputy chief of staff said the former president was gratefulfor his "exceptional care" and the well wishes he received at the georgetown university hospital. after being admitted for tests he was treated for flu. the former us president has had a number of health issues in recent years including undergoing quadruple bypass surgery. a nasa space mission is hoping to make history as it attempts the closest—ever approach to the sun. the parker solar probe has to survive radiation — and temperatures of 1,400 degrees celsius as it descends into the star's outer atmosphere. it's hoped the data it sends back to earth — if it's not damaged in the process — might help explain some of the sun's mysteries. 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. nasa's parker solar probe blasted off in 2018. 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 only way to be able to understand those processes is to fly through them, 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 1,400 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, but 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 probes even recorded the sounds of the sun — dispersive chirping waves, langmuir waves and doctor who—like whistler mode waves. 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. armed men in haiti have opened fire at medical staff, police officers and journalists during a media conference to announce the reopening

of the country's biggest public hospital. at least two people have been killed and many others injured. journalists were waiting for the arrival of the health minister at the general hospital in the capital, port—au—prince, when the shooting began. the site had been recaptured by haiti's government injuly, after being occupied and destroyed by violent gangs that control much of the city. a russia missile has struck the ukrainian city of krivyi rih, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others. the strike on president zelensky�*s hometown came as his christmas message was being broadcast. local authorities say the ballistic missile hit a four—storey residential building. videos posted online showed rescuers pulling injured people from the rubble. standing before kyiv�*s saint sofia cathedral, mr zelensky said ukrainians wanted to see a christmas star shining in the skies, not russian missiles and drones. pope francis has launched a specialjubilee year for roman catholics in a christmas eve ceremony at the vatican.

singing. jubilees take place once every 25 years — and pope francis has marked the start by opening the normally bricked—up holy door of st peter's basilica. more than 30 million people are expected to make a pilgrimage to rome. i spoke to candida moss who is a professor of theology at the university of birmingham about what the jubilee means. so a jubilee year is really a year of grace and reconciliation. it's a period where people kind of renew their faith inside and out. and while it is for catholics and has been going on for 700 years, at the last greatjubilee in 2000, popejohn paul ii invited all christians to join in this period of celebration. and the theme of this jubilee is hope. pope francis has talked about how there's a feeling of pessimism in the world, and he wants to strengthen people's faith and hope in the future as they look forward to the coming year. and why does it happen?

where did this idea come from in the first place? the very firstjubilee in 1300, or 725 years ago. it actually followed on the heels of a period of war and disease, not dissimilar from our experience of the pandemic, and it was seen as this kind of clean slate, this new beginning for christians who were feeling very pessimistic about their place in the world. and this is an opportunity for roman catholics to wipe the slate clean, to become almost like newly baptised infants again. so we're looking at some some pictures coming into us from the vatican at the moment. i don't know if you're able to, to see them as you're speaking to us, but can you just explain for us what the ceremonial side is? so the ceremonial part is the opening of the doors. so you sort of break a brick, but that turned out to be quite dangerous. and now the opening

of the doors is sort of symbolising thatjesus is the path to salvation. and pilgrims over the coming year will pass through those doors as a means of gaining what's called a plenary indulgence. that's the sort of wiping of the slate clean. part of the preparations for thejubilee have involved restoring many of the key objects that are at saint peter's basilica, including bernini's canopy that sits atop the altar and on top of the relics of saint peter, the first pope. they have also put the pieta behind bullet—proof glass now. wow. and in terms of the year ahead 2025, what are the highlights that will people see? so thejubilee does go on all year, and there are special days celebrating groups. as you would expect, people like priests and bishops, but also other groups likejudges, police officers, teachers and groups like teenagers and even very modern.

even very modern — and i promise i'm not making this up — groups like digital influencers and catholic online missionaries. i think one of the highlights will be the canonisation of carlo acutis, who was a 15—year—old british born boy who was a software developer in his spare time and who died of leukaemia. he will be canonised — that is, made a saint — during thejubilee of teenagers in april 25th to 27th. around the world and across the uk. rwandan habineza antoine grew up with a passion for languages. he has studied over 30 languages and speaks many of them fluently, including russian, japanese, spanish, german and arabic. we put habineza's language skills to the test and found out which languages were the hardest and easiest languages to learn, which languages he dreams in and what advice he has for other linguists. take a look. cote d'ivoire. this is a japanese grammar book. this is a russian

to french dictionary. meet habineza antoine, a hyperpolyglot from kigali, rwanda. a hyperpolyglot is someone who speaks six languages or more fluently. right now i have managed actually to study 32 different languages. but today, right now i can speak or use 22 different languages. those are different books which are very useful for me as a hyperpolyglot in learning and mastering different foreign languages. which language was the hardest to learn? german. so because of some differences in terms of the syntax or grammatical structures. which language was the easiest to learn? italian.

so because i already knew french, italian and french are very close languages. what inspired you to learn so many languages? i have some members of my family who used to study in the former soviet union, so they used to speak both russian and french. and when i heard them speaking both languages, i felt extremely happy. so therefore i decided to study or to be interested in foreign languages. which language do you dream in? so i dream, obviously, in different languages. so because i'm a tutor or a teacher of different languages, sometimes in my dream ifind myself dreaming, speaking, for example arabic, hebrew, greek, japanese, russian.

but most of the time i dream in kinyarwanda, my mother tongue. what advice do you have for other language learners? try to find different language partners, especially native speakers, to practice with them. a language that someone is studying. so because it helps a lot. translation: thank| you for this interview. he studied over 30 languages, amazing. a man from derbyshire who's thought to be the oldest man in the uk has been celebrating his 110th birthday today. donald rose was born at the beginning of world war one and served as a soldier in world war two. his care home in ilkeston hosted a celebration for him and one of today's highlights was a special call from

the musical star alfie boe. rob sissons reports. nice to see you. i hope you're celebrating well... celebrating 110 years — a musical birthday greeting from the singer alfie boe. # happy birthday to you happy birthday to you...# and they put on a wartime—themed party at donald rose's care home in ilkeston. born at the start of world war one, donald saw active service in world war two. he survived the d—day landings and marked the 80th anniversary of the allied invasion of normandy at derby cathedral back in june. d—day was a much easier landing than when we landed in italy. yeah, he got a bullet- in his leg, but you know, he's still here to tell the tale. and for that, we have to be grateful for. - # in berkeley square...#

at today's party, katie ashby from britain's got talent�*s the d—day darlings, sang wartime songs. today is donald's 110th birthday. tomorrow there'll be another chance to celebrate — it will be his 111th christmas day. rob sissons, bbc news, derbyshire. let me show you this. it is the live shot tracking santa on his annualjourney, christmas eve annual journey, christmas eve of annualjourney, christmas eve of course. the north american aerospace command says they have repositioned its radars and satellites to track santa claus as he sets out on his worldwide mission to deliver presents to children around the globe. norad, a joint operation between the us and canadian militaries, is responsible for guarding the skies over north america. later, as santa approached the north america, they will dispatch a fighterjet — to greet santa.

norad tracks santa the same way we do our 365—day coverage of north america every day. so we use a combination of satellites, radar and fighter aircraft. so specifically with santa, we pick him up normally on radar. first off, our north warning system, which is the northern canada and alaska, and then as he gets airborne and higher and further away from north america, we use our satellites that are in geosynchronous orbit that are ir capable, so infrared capable. and rudolph�*s nose gives off the same signature, so we use that to to track them around the world. and then as they get closer to north america, we launch fighterjets to go out and intercept and escort santa briefly as he's delivering gifts to the kids in north america. well, we don't know exactly where he is at the moment, but norad have said that santa is an unbelievable aviator because he's been doing this for 16 centuries and he's never had an accident yet. good luck to him. this is bbc news.

christmas eve ushered in calm or whether after the wet and windy weather we had at the weekend. the remanence sitting by the side of the road in northern ireland, centring here though. it was a slightly different story in the uk in cornwall, damp, mistand murky, it didn't deter some from taking an afternoon walk on the beach. that cloud story will continue into christmas day. the wind direction is south—westerly, feeding in that cloud from the ocean, and thick enough for some drizzle. this weather front here still continuing to produce some outbreaks of rain and still windy. so through this evening, we'll have some showery rain into the far north west of scotland with gusts of winds 40—50 miles an hour. we keep that blanket of cloud, though, preventing temperatures from falling too far, so it will be a very

mild start to christmas morning for early risers. temperatures sitting at around 7—10 celsius. again, the cloud thick enough for some drizzle, misty, murky first thing in the morning. hopefully that will lift, and we'll see, once again, some breaks in the cloud from time to time. more persistent rain into the western isles and northern isles and the far north west of scotland. here it stays windy. but on the whole it's a quiet story for christmas day, temperatures around 11—13 degrees. not as mild as today, but nevertheless, that is pretty good for this stage in december. now that mild air is going to stay with us all the time, the cold air starting to sneak in from the back door. but it will take its time in arriving. so as we go into boxing day, there'll be little in the way of change — spot the difference. we're trying to see breaks of the cloud and some blue sky from time to time, and our weak weather front sinks its way down across the borders into the north of england. temperatures, again, staying in double digits. moving out of thursday into friday and the start of the weekend, we will start to see a change because weather

fronts will start to push that a little bit further across the country. the wind direction swings around to a north westerly, and that is going to gradually start to introduce some cooler air as we head towards the new year. so you'll start to see that some showers could turn a little wintry in the far north and east of scotland. now on bbc news — the interview — julia navalnaya. alexei navalny was a charismatic and popular russian opposition leader, an anti—corruption activist, a passionate believer in a free russia, a thorn in president putin's side whose videos reached millions, including his claims about putin's $1 billion palace on the black sea. poisoned by a deadly nerve agent, novichok, in 2020, navalny was flown to germany for treatment. are you nervous?

no, not at all. after he returned to russia, navalny was arrested, tried and imprisoned. he died in one of the country's harshest penal colonies. putin is responsible. his wife, yulia navalnaya, believes he was murdered. now navalny�*s memoir, patriot, is being published. it includes never before seen prison diaries about his brutal treatment. everybody can see what a high price he was ready to pay. i meet yulia navalnaya to hear their story — a story about politics, freedom and love, her hopes and fears for her country and whether she would stand as president of russia.

well, yulia, thank you very much for doing this interview. it is eight months since your husband alexei navalny died in a russian prison. it's been, i imagine, the most horrendous year, a horrendous few years. and i want to ask firstjust how you are, how the children are, how you are coping with what's happened? thank you for having me, first of all. er... as you understand, i am asked this question very often, but i never know how to answer still. i don't have the right answer. everything has changed in my life. changed in ourfamily life. everything has changed in our children life. i feel myself, very busy. a lot of meetings, a lot of things about publishing the book. a lot of everything

new in my life. er...