the new syrian authorities launch an offensive against fighters loyal to ousted leader bashar al—assad, following clashes on wednesday. ceremonies are taking place to mark the 20th anniversary of the indian ocean earthquake and tsunami. and what's occurin�*? gavin and stacey win the christmas day tv ratings battle here in the uk, with over 12 million people tuning in to see whether smithy accepted nessa's proposal. hello, i'm lucy hockings. russia has been accused of shooting down the azerbaijan airlines plane which crashed killing 38 people in kaza khsta n yesterday. no proof has been offered, but military bloggers and a variety of aviation experts have suggested the plane was mistaken for a ukrainian drone and attacked by russian air defences. the plane left baku

for grozny but was diverted to aktau because of fog. the russian government has cautioned against promoting "hypotheses" about the cause of the crash and urged people to wait for the outcome of an official investigation. our reporterjonathan josephs has been following the story. these are some of the survivors of a terrifying plane crash. pictures released by the russian government show nine of their citizens being evacuated to moscow for further medical treatment. they were among 62 passengers and five crew on board this azerbaijan airlines flight from baku to grozny in southern russia. amateur footage shows the pilot struggling to control the plane as it tries to land after being diverted to aktau in kazakhstan. the force of impact split the plane in two, with the front half destroyed by fire. the key question now is why. russia's aviation regulator

says there was a bird strike, but military experts suggest the wreckage shows signs of something else. at the moment, evidence is still coming out but the most likely hypothesis we see is it was struck by an air defence missile, most certainly russian, certainly russian, in the area over grozny where the plane was. ukrainian drones were active at the time and this match is everything we have seen in the pilot communication with air traffic control and currently it is the only thing that fully fits the facts as we know. investigators are carefully preserving the debris and want to understand what caused these holes in the part of the fuselage that survived the impact. russia's government says no—one should draw any conclusions about the cause until that probe is completed. the rear of the aircraft is the part from which some survivors remarkably walked away. this man says his wife had been sitting next to him but he hasn't seen her since the crash. this is the family of one

of the flight attendants. in a video call he reassures them, saying, "don't worry, tell mum not to worry, thank god we're safe". the testimony of those survivors will be a key part of the investigation, as will the flight data recorders which have been recovered from the embraer aircraft, which does have a good safety record. at baku airport hundreds of people lined up to pay their respects and lay flowers in memory of the dead. as families across the region struggle to understand what caused their loved ones to perish. jonathan josephs, bbc news. russia's aviation watchdog has temporarily closed all four airports in moscow and the kaluga airport southwest of the city without giving any reason for the closure. in a statement, it said aircraft crews, air traffic controllers and airport services are taking all necessary measures to ensure flight safety. syria's new rebel—led authorities say supporters still loyal to ousted president

al—assad have killed 14 interior ministry troops in the west of the country. they say ten other troops were wounded in the fighting on tuesday near the mediterranean port of tartous, a stronghold of the former president's minority alawite muslim sect. from damascus, lina sinjab reports. on high alert. security reenforcement is under way. the government has launched an operation against former members of the assad regime from the alawite community. the majority of them supported him and many are blamed for serious bloodbath. while assad sought asylum in russia with his family, his followers are left to face prosecution here. many refused to give up arms and could pose threats to the country's security. these protests erupted on wednesday in many alawite cities and towns.

they are chatting about their alawite religious shrine that was vandalised in november. although there was cooperation between the alawites community and others, when the video was released yesterday tensions ramped up. locals reported that some religious leaders called for protesters to take to the streets. this is a predominantly alawite neighbourhood that largely supported the assad regime. many here took part of the brutal crackdown against syrians arresting and torturing people inside presence. when videos were released of the vandalised alawite shrine, weeks later after the incident happened, protests broke out here and some clashes were reported. but it appears the main reason behind these protests in the alawite communities is pressure for general amnesty for the alawites and protect those who are close to assad. thousands of syrians disappeared in assad's prisons. the security forces who were

behind the torturing and death of tens of thousands were mainly from the alawite community. amnesty means no punishment for those with blood on their hands. families are still waiting for answers, for prosecution of the killers and forjustice to prevail so they can finally to terms with their loss. let's speak to doctor h a hellyer, senior associate associate fellow the new authorities in syria have launched a big security operation against what they say are militias loyal to the ousted president bashar al—assad there is a lot of disinformation that is going to be spread around a via social media and various channels on

this particular issue. . media and various channels on this particular issue.— this particular issue. . we have seen _ this particular issue. . we have seen that _ this particular issue. . we have seen that over- this particular issue. . we have seen that over the i this particular issue. . we i have seen that over the last few days. the video of the burning of the alawite shrine. as your reporter pointed out, that happened weeks ago, it happened before the transition authority took control in damascus, but it was released again yesterday in order to spike tensions. a second thing is we know there are remnants of the assad regime that are still in operation in different parts of the country and there are also very public provocation is being made by the iranian regime, and you saw that from the public channels, the iranian foreign minister as well. and in the interim syrian foreign minister had to come out and say publicly they would respond to any publications for civil unrest within the country itself. there is all of that happening in the background. at the same time, you have very

clear concerns from a lot in the alawite community because the alawite community because the community was the backbone of the assad regime. i want to clarify here that i don't think we know that the majority of them supported the assad regime, despite what the report just that. i don't think we have that information and i think it is important to distinguish between that within the community who supported the assad regime and the community more generally speaking, but certainly the backbone of the regime was drawn from that community as a minority. and they fear reprisals. i do not think that fear is necessary and justified because as we know in other conflict situations, when transitions like this take place, you will see reprisals and revenge attacks and so on. against that backdrop... it attacks and so on. against that backdron- - -_ backdrop... it does show how difficult it _ backdrop... it does show how difficult it will _ backdrop... it does show how difficult it will be _ backdrop... it does show how difficult it will be for - difficult it will be for al—sharaa to unite the country, which is what he is promising to do. ~ , ,., , which is what he is promising to do. absolutely. you saw these clashes _

to do. absolutely. you saw these clashes in _ to do. absolutely. you saw these clashes in places - to do. absolutely. you sawj these clashes in places like tartou and just do incitement from preachers who are linked to the community —— tartous. you have seen different videos, i think there was need to be verified, i will not mention the names. you have senior preachers coming out and publicly demanding the escalation and so on. so you have these different things, these violent attacks that took place against the new government security forces, resulting in at least a couple of dozen dead that happened in the tartous countryside, and these old scores to settle with these old scores to settle with the great groups who supported the great groups who supported the regime. while the authorities did say there would be a general amnesty for people who did not have blood on their hands, it is not clear that others will be given that amnesty. there is a huge need for the authorities to guarantee a transitional justice system, that will be a

process, because if you do not have that, you will find more likely to happen is a vigilante is, which i do not think would be in the best interests of the country at all. —— vigilantism. so there are a lot of things to put in the frame to understand what is happening in the country right now. thank you ve much forjoining us right now. let's look at the commemorations under way in countries around the indian ocean to mark the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people. the vast wave, caused by an earthquake, devastated indonesia, thailand and sri lanka, and displaced nearly two million people. today, in thailand, where half of the more than 5,000 dead were foreign tourists, commemorations began early in ban nam khem, its worst—hit village. tearful relatives laid flowers and wreaths at a curved wall in the shape of a tsunami wave with plaques bearing victims�* names.

in sri lanka, mourners offered flowers and lit incense at a beach—side memorial for 1,270 people buried in mass graves, with buddhist, hindu, christian and muslim ceremonies held. in the indonesian province of aceh, which bore the brunt of the disaster, people gathered at prayer sites in memory of the victims. gloria moss from sussex was responsible for emergency management and leading the volunteer effort in response to the 2004 indian ocean tsunami. she organised a 24—hour meet—and—greet to uk nationals returning to gatwick airport with limited possessions. i'm pleased to say that gloria joins us now. i remember working that day, some of it is still so vivid to me. can you believe it has been 20 years? weili? anyway, yes, and anyway, no. but i tell you, the memory is very clear. no. but i tell you, the memory is very clear-— is very clear. what is that memory. _ is very clear. what is that memory, what _ is very clear. what is that memory, what is - is very clear. what is that memory, what is the - is very clear. what is that memory, what is the first is very clear. what is that - memory, what is the first thing you think of when you think of that day and started to get the

news of the enormity of what happened?— happened? the first thing i think of is _ happened? the first thing i think of is the _ happened? the first thing i think of is the expectation l think of is the expectation that we would be called by london gatwick airport management, with him we had an emergency response partnership arrangement. i knew that i needed to wait for the college. and that is what comes into my mind. what did you go out to buy and think you need to provide for the people coming back —— for the call—out. we back -- for the call-out. we sourced _ back -- for the call-out. we sourced closing _ back -- for the call-out. we sourced closing of _ back —— for the call—out. - sourced closing of all sizes, —— clothing. because as far as we were concerned, people would arrive in the clothes they stood up in and they were coming back to a claude december climate, so it was clothing and. it was surreal

seeing them arrive with clothing they had had on at the beach. literally became in shorts and t—shirts. beach. literally became in shorts and t-shirts.- beach. literally became in shorts and t-shirts. what do ou shorts and t-shirts. what do you remember— shorts and t-shirts. what do you remember about - shorts and t-shirts. what do you remember about the - shorts and t-shirts. what do . you remember about the people you remember about the people you spoke to at the time and what they had been through? i remember that they were quiet until they almost felt they had developed the confidence to speak. and they benefited from the emotional support that the volunteers that i brought to gatwick to assist with this meet and greet service that we were going to provide. ultimately, they were... they gained confidence to speak. not really to talk about their experience. just how glad they were to be back in gatwick

airport and on british soil. latin america what about your volunteers? they would have never had to deal with anything like this. what sort of advice did you give to them? well, the advice we gave was to use the experience they had gained in the training for emergency planning and response. we always did he debriefing following incidents of any emergency kind.- following incidents of any emergency kind. gloria, thank ou for emergency kind. gloria, thank you for sharing _ emergency kind. gloria, thank you for sharing your— emergency kind. gloria, thank| you for sharing your memories of that day. good to see you. thank you, thank you for inviting us. two women have died and a man and a teenage boy suffered serious injuries following reports of a stabbing in bletchley in milton keynes on christmas day. thames valley police

say a 49—year—old man from milton keynes was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and remains in police custody. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

health officials in gaza say five journalists have been killed by an israeli strike in central gaza. the strike hit a clearly marked broadcast van outside al—awda hospital in the nuseirat refugee camp. one of the journalists had been expecting the birth of his child. the israeli military called those killed members of what it said was a "terrorist cell". the funerals of the five palestinian journalists were held earlier today where mourners gathered in prayer. israel does not allow foreign journalists free access to gaza. let's speak shaimaa khalil injerusalem. that is one of the issues, we do not have access ourselves and we have two different narratives. take as their what

both sides are saying.- both sides are saying. you're different narratives - both sides are saying. you're different narratives about. both sides are saying. you're i different narratives about what happened today. it is not possible for the bbc to independently verify either account on either side because international media is not allowed by israel to report freely in gaza. what we understand from —— from a channel is that five of its journalists were killed in an israeli strike any clearly marked than and you could see the back of it charred, but you could see the word press written in english in red, and we understand one of the journalists, his wife was in at the hospital in neser at camp and about to give birth. we also saw footage of a mother of one of the journalists inconsolable and crying out for her son —— nuseirat. one of the fellow local journalists who was at the funeral said today is a tragedy, whatever the

israeli story is, does not justify killing the journalists. these really military said they had intelligence that the men were posing, as they described it, as journalists and they were involved in combat and propaganda operations for the palestinian islamichhad. very crucial point to make here, we understand that the channel is affiliated with the islamic palestinian jihad, affiliated with the islamic palestinianjihad, which is palestinian jihad, which is understood palestinianjihad, which is understood to receive funding from the palestinian islamic jihad, in this group led a attack in october 23. we heard from journalists and they are devastated by this news. we understand from the local community that these men were known as localjournalists who are regularly covering stories about the war in gaza. according to the cpg to protect

journalists. i33 journalists have died since the start of the war, making it the most deadliest conflict for journalistic cover. deadliest conflict for “ournalistic cover. . ~ , ., journalistic cover. thank you. shaimaa khalil— journalistic cover. thank you. shaimaa khaliljoining - journalistic cover. thank you. shaimaa khaliljoining us - journalistic cover. thank you. | shaimaa khaliljoining us from jerusalem. we can now join we can nowjoin gavin for all the sport. boxing day's traditional round of the fixtures in the premier league in under way — manchester city are hoping to turn their dreadful current form around, against everton at the etihad. into the second half there — and it's currently i—i. bernardo silva gave them the lead, but iliman ndiaye equalised with a superb strike. chelsea can close the gap temporarily on liverpool with a win at home to fulham. newcastle play aston villa — both fighting for a european place. southampton�*s new manager ivan juric takes charge for the first time. they play west ham. leaders liverpool play fourth from bottom leicester in the late game, as they look to protect their four point advantage. teams that are positioned in the lower side of the league

table, they mostly lose games, but since ruud is there, they also won a few. so that shows you that he's done really well, especially when he came in. now he has, i think, two tough results in a row so, um... yeah. these teams — all of them — it's special for them to go to anfield, and they know if they go to anfield they have to be at their best. so they will never underestimate us. the scottish premiership has a full round of fixtures, with celtic leading rangers by nine points. and third placed aberdeen by ten ahead of their matches. the edinburgh derby is into its closing stages between hearts and hibernian. it is currently 2—1 to hibernian. there's also a boxing day tradition in cricket, with australia hosting a test match at the mcg.

their series with india is level at one all. with the fourth test of five under way in melbourne. australia's 19—year—old debutant sam konstas made the biggest impression on day one. the youngest test batting debutant for the men's team since 1953 hitting 60 off just 65 balls. half centuries from usman khawaja and marnus labuschagne followed. but india hit back in the final session. jasprit bumrah taking two quick wickets as the home side finished the day on 3ii—6. that's one of two boxing day tests. the other is in centurion with south africa winning the toss and putting pakistan into bat in the first of two matches. dane paterson and corbin bosch have the bulk all of the damage, taking nine wickets between them as the tourists were bowled out for 211 — south africa currently 19—1 in their reply. the nfl's christmas day games provided two lopsided wins, but a moment of history for two of american football's most famous players. in a win over the pittsburgh steelers that secured the kansas city chiefs the number one seed for the afc playoffs. travis kelce became only the third tight end to pass

the 1,000 receptions mark, while he also notched up a franchise record 77th touchdown. the chiefs are now 15 and 1, and will have home field advantage throughout the postseason. while the baltimore ravens also had a comfortable win over the houston texans, with lamarjackson scoring three touchdowns — one with his legs — as he broke the record for most career rushing yards for a quarterback. remember, their mainjob is to throw the ball, not run. the previous mark took michael vick 13 seasons to reach. jackson has beaten it in less than seven. and that's all the sport for now. keep up to date on the bbc sport website, 1—1 between manchester city and everton. the authorities in south—eastern australia have told people in dozens of rural communities to leave their homes "immediately" to escape a bushfire. about 600 firefighters — according to the victoria state emergency services — are trying to control the blaze

in the grampians national park. the fire has been burning for a week, and has consumed about 500 square kilometres of forested land. now, what did people here in the uk watch on christmas day? for many, the answer seems to be gavin and stacey. the show had a whooping overnight audience of 12.32 million — making it the biggest non—sports overnight of 202a. millions tuned in for the final ever episode of the beloved british sitcom. the number doesn't include those yet to watch the episode on catch up. wallace & gromit had the second highest overnight viewing figures — 9.38 million tuned in to watch the duo's tv return. lots of people settling down with chocolates in front of the tv yesterday after their christmas dinner, it seems! tv critic, scott bryan told us why he thinks gavin and stacey had such high viewing figures. no spoilers, may ijust say from the off?

i mean, i would say this was a very much anticipated episode of gavin and stacey. of course, there's been so much buzz about how it was going to move past that big cliff—hanger from their previous special back in 2019, but i think it managed to do it brilliantly and managed to, i think, really stick the landing, i think have something for absolutely everybody, and managed to have a final episode which was wrapping all of the loose ends and providing something that was really rather special. and i think the reason why these ratings were so big last night — i mean, you know, 12.32 million for gavin and stacey, the most watched event so far this year outside of sport, but also the most watched christmas day episode since 2008 — i think was simply because there's been so much love for a sitcom that has been viewed by so many different generations, but also has been repeated viewing over the course of the last ten years. a piece of breaking news to bring you we are getting from

the capital of yemen. we are hearing that israel has struck the international airport there, coming from various israeli sources. we have had no comment from the israeli military, but reports coming from sana that the international airport has been hit. live pictures coming from damascus, as we continue to look at what is happening in the country there with the authorities not in damascus, but in tartous, the home of the alawite majority to which former leader bashar al—assad belong to, unrest there. and at the foreign ministers of lebanon and the new authorities in damascus have also spoken, so in normal seeming day in damascus there and lots of diplomacy taking place too. so it is we cross in the bbc. —— stories keeping a cross on the bbc.

hello there. high pressure continues to bring dry, settled weather to most of the country. i say dry — that is away from scotland, where we're likely to see further outbreaks of rain for boxing day. and indeed the next few days looks mostly settled thanks to high pressure and for most it will stay on the mild side for the time of year. it's dominated by this area of high pressure sitting over the near continent. we've got this weather front pretty much stationary across the north of the uk and that's what's bringing the rain to parts of scotland, maybe northern ireland. to the north of this weather front, the air is quite cold and that will affect the northern isles, where it will be blustery with a few showers. but generally speaking, for much of the country for boxing day it's going to be cloudy, grey, misty and murky in places. outbreaks of rain in scotland, northern ireland, and a few luckier spots see some breaks in the cloud to allow for some sunshine. and generally those temperatures remaining in double figures for most, between 9 and 12 celsius. as we head through tonight, it stays cloudy with further outbreaks of rain across scotland. it looks like the rain moves a little bit further northwards. i think northern ireland, southern scotland southwards should stay dry. again there could be a little bit of drizzle,

some mist and fog with that cloud, and temperatures holding up between 4 and 8 celsius. little change as we head on into friday. it looks like we'll see that weather front still bringing outbreaks of rain across more northern and western parts of scotland. further south, though, it tends to stay dry, but again, like the last few days it will stay rather grey and gloomy for many, with some mist and fog too. a few spots seeing cloud breaks to allow for some sunshine. temperatures 9 to 11 or 12 celsius, so again fairly mild for the time of year. now, as we push into the weekend, we'll see that weather front start to sink southwards again. so again there'll be some rain and thicker cloud across parts of scotland. maybe that rain getting into northwest england, parts of northwest wales as we move through the day on saturday, could see a few breaks in the cloud further south for the midlands southwards. south, for the midlands southwards. that will allow for some sunny spells, and we'll see some blustery showers pushing into the northwest of scotland, so it's quite a mixed day as we head into saturday. again on the mild side,

and you can see the milder air hangs on as we head into the run up to new year, but there's a chance of some colder air spreading southwards. mixed in with areas of low pressure, we could see some disruption in the run—up to new year. so it will turn gradually, more unsettled, turn colder. there's a chance of some heavy rain and strong winds, and even some snow on the hills in the north, so stay tuned. take care.

in this programme, this year's

nobel laureates in economics now on bbc news — nobel minds — economics and medicine. and medicine tell us why some countries are so much richer than others and what a worm tells us about how complex life emerged. this is nobel minds 202a. nobel laureates, welcome to the royal palace in stockholm. we're also joined by some of your family and friends, as well as students from here in stockholm. before we start, let's just give them a really big round of applause. renewed congratulations to all of you. applause