on the devastating indian ocean tsunami. ukraine's president calls russia's christmas day attacks on energy infrastructure inhumae. dozens of people survive a plane crash in kazakhstan — authorities say 38 people were killed. welcome to newsday. it's been 20 years since the boxing day tsunami that caused devastation across the indian ocean in 200a. the tsunami first hit the shores of indonesia and thailand before making its way to sri lanka, india and the maldives and even as far as east africa. it killed more than 200,000

people in 14 different countries, making it the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. people in the countries worst affected are remembering those who lost their lives with memorial services. indonesia was the worst hit country, with waves reaching more than 50m. more than 167,000 people were killed. these images are from commemorations held today in the coastal city of banda aceh, where residents have been taking part in a vigil to remember those who lost their lives. a minute's silence was observed and a siren, replicating the warning siren of 20 years ago, was played. and we can bring you these images live from thailand, where local residents, and foreign dignitaries, are gathering for a religious ceremony in a southern coastal province to remember the day. 0ur south east asia correspondentjonathan head

reported extensively from the region in the wake of the tsunami and reflects on what he saw. i think it is, the thing about a natural disaster compared to so many other stories we cover where there is a huge amount of outrage and analysis, there is not a whole lot you can say about a disaster of that scale. it was so much bigger than anything else we covered. i started by reporting here in thailand in phuket commodore was my first exposure to it, arms and legs sticking out in the concrete, i never experienced anything like that. then i got to aceh, the worst part of indonesia, around 120,000 people died. you could not believe it. to deal with the level of human suffering, what hit me

at the time was notjust the immense amount of grief and shock but the sense of total loss. people had seen their entire villages wiped out. sometimes even the land their villages had stood on vanished as the sea took whole coastlines away. they were wandering around in a daze. it had taken quite a while for a sufficient aid operation to get up to speed and there is only one small airport. people looked absolutely desolate. what really stands out is when you go back, those memories are seared into people, very easy to bring tears as they remember, and yet people have rebuilt people are tough and resilient and i think people understand when there is a natural disaster the only thing you can do is come together for some we definitely have better preparedness now. just the awareness of tsunamis today is so much better even though there are some questions about how effective

these various warning systems are they've got. everybody now knows if there is a massive earthquake or they see the sea start to go out, which is what happened, in thailand where all these people holidaying on the beach, saw the sea disappear and go back out, they ran out onto the beach, they did not know an enormous wave was coming to crush them. today they know and they know if you can get to higher ground quickly you will be ok. almost everybody killed was killed within one kilometre of the coast. there were lessons learned. many good lessons. it is that spirit of human endurance that stands out. the fact you don't have to blame anybody financial you just have to be prepared and there is a strong sense today 20 years on that people need to remember it is a long

time ago now and a lot of people do not experience said but they must be ready in case something like that happens again. ridwan gustiana is a humanitarian worker and doctor who was one of the first on the ground in indonesia in 2004 — he explained what he saw when he arrived. the image i still remember vividly, you know, the destruction was so bad. again, as doctors, i don't really focus on the destruction. i come to help. so, when i was there, basically establish my emergency clinics and help people with a lot of wounds, and of course, with wound which is probably very difficult to treat. some of them had to be amputated. i remember evacuating a lot of people to the hospital to be treated for amputation. but also treating a lot of people with, you know, very heavy wounded. but of course, the need is bigger than medical. we also see that many people were traumatised by the

event. that was 20 years ago and i still remember that. today i'm also in banda aceh. i'm commemorating the 20 years of the tsunami by riding bicycles from medan to banda aceh. just to see the difference 20 years back along the coast hit by the tsunami. yesterday was the hardest part where i have to cycle around 240km from malabo, the place where i worked for almost two years, and cycle to banda aceh along the coast. i can see of course the difference we found after 20 years. i met a lot of people who — very fortunate to meet one father who was basically — was beneficiary of

my clinic during that time. it was memorable. there are now early warning systems providing real time data across the indian ocean for better prepardness across vulnerable like indonesia. tsunami expert, professor nazli ismail, lecturer in geophysics at syiah kuala university, is here now. we just heard testimony of what happened back in 2004 and how difficult it was to rebuild. what systems are in place now, you know, there ever was such a big disaster?— big disaster? sorry, can you sa that big disaster? sorry, can you say that again? _ big disaster? sorry, can you say that again? what - big disaster? sorry, can you l say that again? what systems are in place — say that again? what systems are in place now— say that again? what systems are in place now in _ say that again? what systems are in place now in case - are in place now in case there's another tsunami of the type of scale we saw in 2004? 0k, type of scale we saw in 2004? ok, i think the government

already installed equipment regarding the early warning system in the indian ocean. to face the next tsunami. i think it's quite good and quite nice. 0k. what were the major lessons learned from the early warning systems last time around? and for the tsunamis and earthquakes that have happened in the years since 2004? the most important _ in the years since 2004? tue: most important things in the years since 2004? tte: most important things is actually to give indication to the people to understand the system that we have already in our country. i think between the development of the early warning system and the understanding of people in banda aceh, not synchronised.

so the government should put more effort to educate them to understand what they have so far. in that case, the education, the assimilation performed by the government and other early warning systems, can be useful for the other early warning systems, can be usefulfor the people. in the future. if it happens — a disaster — again. we in the future. if it happens - a disaster - again. we heard a lot of testimony _ a disaster - again. we heard a lot of testimony about - a disaster - again. we heard a lot of testimony about the - lot of testimony about the damage that was caused and how long it's taken for people to rebuild their lives. but we also are facing the challenge of climate change, aren't we? how is that affecting these countries and these communities' ability to prepare forfuture communities' ability to prepare for future weather events? fik. for future weather events? ok. in my opinion. _ for future weather events? ok. in my opinion, the _ for future weather events? ok. in my opinion, the effect of global warming and climate change today really happens.

for example, the increasing of large — increasing of the landslides and also drought for a long time, that could affect the economy for the people in aceh. so, it means if the same tsunami for example happened again, so people already suffer with such kinds of hydro — hazards. so maybe they need double effect from the tsunami and also the other kind of hydro meteorological hazards. professor ismail, we'll have to leave it there. many thanks for joining us. we also have plenty of coverage on our website, including this piece from my colleague geeta pandey, who was in the region when the tsunami hit.

she recounts her story and the stories of those she met in the weeks following the devastating tsunami. a number of fires are burning across the australian state of victoria on thursday, with emergency services on edge. the entire state is under a warning of extreme fire danger, with temperatures of up to 40 degrees celsius and winds of around 90kph making it a challenge for firefighters to contain blazes. earlier i spoke with jason heffernan — chief officer at the country fire authority. he's also spokesperson for victoria's state control centre. he gave me the latest update on the fires burning across the state. the fire conditions across victoria are as you describe in your opening piece, extreme. we are seeing those 40—degree temperatures and right now we're starting to see a westerly push come across the

state, averaging 50km/h or, yeah, 30 miles an hour in the uk speak. to give peek a bit of perspective of the fire we're dealing with in the grampians national park, just in the west of the state of victoria, it's 143,000 acres or twice the size of edinburgh. with approximately 192 miles of fire edge currently active and burning across it. over 1,000 burning across it. 0ver1,000 firefighters are on the ground trying to battle that blaze while those winds are pushing it to the east. many communities around that fire are under emergency warning. they've been directed to leave immediately. to neighbouring cities and relief centres nearby. it's certainly a challenging day for firefighters but it's not all about the grampians fire, there's other fires as you quite rightfully pointed out across the state of victoria which, are currently still contained, but we're really fearful when the wind comes through the rest of the state

it may escape containment lines and again cause further concern. many, many hours for firefighters, you know, being on edge, working within their communities to try and suppress this fire for many — for more time to come. so it's going to be a very challenging day. scientists, policymakers are unanimous these types of events are only going to keep increasing. are you content with the happy and the resources you've been given to try to fight them?— try to fight them? what we've seen here _ try to fight them? what we've seen here in _ try to fight them? what we've seen here in australia - try to fight them? what we've seen here in australia has - seen here in australia has been, you know, bushfire seasons — they've been starting earlier than normal. they've been lasting longer than normal. the state of victoria has seen a period of deficit rainfall which has led to the conditions we're experiencing now. back in winter, we were over 150mm short of our average annual rainfall for much of the part of the state. we didn't see rainfall in winter, we

didn't see rainfall in spring, now we've come to the summing months with those really high temperatures and those really hot winds that led to the fire situation that we have now. firefighters hopefully will have a reprieve in the next couple of days that will give them opportunity to try to work on these containments. unfortunately in australia, you go on a cycle — a fire cycle — where you have one spike day, generally a lot of activity, fire running generally because of those very high temperatures and high winds, and low relative humidity, then you go for about two or three days of benign weather before seeing the next spike day come along and for victorian firefighters that's likely to be on monday. certainly not as bad as today, but it will bring some challenges. so we are getting interstate assistance from right across australia, new south wales, queensland, and western australia. to bolster local resources. everyone is out there doing their absolute

best to protect local communities. even the local land—holders themselves, the farmers, have been doing a fantasticjob ploughing and fantastic job ploughing and creating fantasticjob ploughing and creating fire breaks, burning breaks and doing everything they can to prepare their properties for what we expect to be — and what we're seeing unfold right now — some devastating fire scenes. around the world and across the uk — this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky says a christmas day attack on his country's energy system was "inhumane." moscow launched more than a hundred and 70 rockets and drones in the early hours, hitting power plants and electricity infrastructure. at least one person was killed. in a statement, us president biden called

the pentagon to continue "surging" its deliveries of weapons to kyiv. five people have also died in russia after strikes from ukraine. 38 people were killed in the azerbaijan airlines plane crash near the city of aktau, khazakstan. officials say the aircraft had been trying to make an emergency landing when flames erupted at the front. almost half the 67 passengers and crew survived. the plane was en route to the city of grozny in russia's chechnya region before being diverted due to fog. duncan kennedy reports. this was the plane in its final moments. descending at high speed, its landing gear down. the pilot appears to be struggling to control the jet. it banks just before impact. much of the aircraft was crushed into a burning trail of wreckage. emergency workers converged on the scene, some crawling

inside the plane looking for survivors. incredibly, dozens of passengers made it out. this man, just one of those staggering from the carnage. they were saved by this tail section, the only part of the aircraft left intact. the local hospital was filled with those wounded, but alive. this man says, "when the plane crashed, my wife was sitting next to me. "i haven't seen my wife since the crash." the plane had been diverted by bad weather en route to grozny, in southern russia. the president of azerbaijan says experts will now look at all possible causes. translation: the reasons for the crash are not yet - known to us. there are various theories,

but i believe it is premature to discuss them. a criminal case has been launched by the prosecutor general�*s office. president putin is sending in this plane, with specialist teams, to help. some of the passengers on the crashed aircraft were russian. it was made by the brazilian firm embraer, which has a robust safety record. it will now help with the investigation of a crash that both took, but also spared many lives. duncan kennedy, bbc news. the interior ministry for syria's new regime says 14 members of its forces have been killed in clashes with alawite protestors, members of the same religious group as the ousted former leader bashar al—assad. the deadly violence erupted in tartus after security forces tried to arrest a former officer thought to be connected to the notorious saydnaya prison. protests also sprung up across syria after a video showed an attack on an alawite shrine in aleppo. syria's new administration says the footage is old, dating back to when aleppo fell

to the islamist rebels earlier this month. the interior ministry said unknown groups were behind the attack, and that they republished the video to stir up division among syrian people. the bbc�*s lina sinjab is in damascus and sent this report. this is the first time we see unrest in alawite cities and towns since the toppling of the assad regime. first in the city of tartus, in the town of tartus, there were clashes between hts and former operatives of the assad regime, according to hts. we learned that, also, they've been ambushed by former regime operatives as they were trying to raid one apartment to arrest former regime operatives. but then there were protests in many cities and towns, especially in homs, in response to a video released of vandalising an alawite shrine in the city of aleppo. that incident happened nearly ten days ago,

but it was released again and although there have been reconciliation with the leaders of the alawite religious leaders. however it was released today, provoking tension and protest in many cities and towns, even here in damascus, in the mezzeh 86 district, which is predominantly alawite supporters of assad's power. there were reports of some shooting in homs. we can't confirm who are the ones who opened fire at protesters. we've seen videos of hts fighters trying to calm down the situation and just now there was a statement coming out from hts confirming that those who opened fire are also regime operatives. there are many questions about the situation here. many people are calling for calm, for avoiding revenge, forjustice and prosecution for those who have blood on their hands. but the alawite communities are fearful, especially because many of them took part

in torturing and killing during the days of the uprising, and many syrians here blame them for the bloodshed. it will be a big challenge for this new leadership to maintain stability and providejustice for everyone while these kind of incidents will happen and possibly may happen again. now let's turn to gaza, where reports say at least five journalists have been killed following an israeli airstrike on a vehicle outside the al—awda hospital in the nuseirat refugee camp. videos that have not yet been verified by the bbc show a bus engulfed in flames with the word �*press' written on the doors. meanwhile, israeland hamas are blaming each other for the failure to reach a deal to end the war in gaza, and secure the release of hostages. hamas said israel was seeking new conditions while israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has accused the group of going back on previous agreements.

let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines: japan airlines says a cyberattack has briefly disrupted some of its flights. the attack affected the airline's baggage check—in system. more than a dozen flights were delayed at several airports before engineers identified and isolated the target of the attack. the airline apologised for inconvenience to passengers and suspended further ticket sales for the day. south korea's opposition is expected to make a decision thursday on whether to impeach acting president han duck—soo. it says he is stalling on the bills that would widen the impeachment of president yoon seok—yuol, the man he is filling in for. meanwhile, president yoon has again failed to attend questioning about his unsuccessful attempt to impose martial law. it's the second time the suspended leader has defied a summons to appear before investigators. officials in mozambique say 1,500 inmates have escaped from at least three jails. they say 350 had been recaptured, while at least 30 people were killed after a a prison riot on the capital,

maputo. mozambique has been experiencing severe civil unrest since a disputed election in october, where clashes among rioters have left dozens dead. the bald eagle is now officially the national bird for the united states after presidentjoe biden signed a law on christmas eve honoring the bird. the yellow—beaked and white—headed bird has been a national emblem of the us since 1782. red light, green light — squid game season 2 is finally here. the first season of fight to the death action became netflix�*s biggest ever series launch, streamed by 111 million users in its first 28 days. now player 456 has returned to play once more. but this time, instead of trying to win the prize jennifer kang is a lecturer at the digital media research centre at queensland university of technology. she told me what she thinks is behind the success of squid game.

korean dramas have been popular since the 905. they were very popular in east asia and when netflix came along in 2015, they provided a platform for korean dramas to spread more widely across the world. squid game came at the right moment when korean dramas were receiving worldwide attention, there was already a fanbase in place and the storylines were very dark thrillers, exactly the type of content you would not be seeing on television which is what netflix as a subscription—based platform was looking for. all of these things came together and resulted in this mega worldwide hit called squid game. hello. it was an exceedingly

mild christmas day. not a record breaker, but the met office reports that it was the mildest since 2016 overall, looking across the uk, and the highest temperature was recorded in aberdeen — 14.2 celsius — with similar values elsewhere across the country. how about boxing day? well, not quite as mild, but the temperatures will remain above the average for the rest of the year, and also a little bit of rain in the forecast. the satellite picture hasn't really changed much since yesterday. we still have this conveyor belt of cloud to the west of us, and ahead of this conveyor belt of cloud, a tongue, a stream of mild air all the way from the azores, spreading across the uk, western europe and into the baltic and also much of scandinavia. so we start the day with temperatures hovering between 5—10 celsius, so a little fresher compared to the last couple of nights. so here's the forecast, then, for boxing day.

a weather front sneaks into northern ireland and scotland, so expect a little bit of rain here on and off, perhaps in glasgow into edinburgh. some sunny spells are possible in the northeast of england, around the pennines, yorkshire, maybe one or two reaching lancashire as well, but across the bulk of wales and england, it will be cloudy. and those temperatures between around 9—12 celsius, so certainly on the mild side. now here's friday's weather forecast — high pressure still very much in charge of the weather and weather fronts once again brushing the northwest of the uk. so, again, some rain possible in northern ireland, scotland, but elsewhere, it's going to be pretty much the same. so rather cloudy, odd sunny spell here and there, generally to the lee of high ground, so to the east. and those temperatures will be around 9—12 celsius. now, let's have a look at the weekend. here's saturday. signs of change. now we're starting to see the weather coming in from the west.

so this low pressure moves into ireland. it brings some outbreaks of rain, once again to scotland too. no rainfall for england and wales, but there will be some bigger, sunnier breaks, i think, in that layer of cloud. temperatures won't change much, still hovering around 10 celsius. and then this outlook takes us into new year's. the weather is expected to turn more unsettled beyond new year's eve, and potentially quite stormy,

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello from the french riviera. i'm tom brook, and welcome to talking movies. and i'll look back at highlights from one of the world's biggest and most exciting international movie events, the cannes film festival. je declare le soixante—dixieme festival de cannes ouvert. applause meryl streep and france's juliette binoche jointly declare the cannes film festival officially open. it was a veritable feast, a combination of commercial

blockbusters like furiosa: a mad max saga... do you have it in you to make it epic?