the new syrian authorities launch an offensive against fighters loyal to ousted leader bashar al—assad following clashes on wednesday. ceremonies are held to mark the twentieth anniversary of the indian ocean earthquake and tsunami. and 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. military bloggers and aviation experts have accused russia of shooting down the azerbaijan airlines plane which crashed killing 38 people in kazakhstan yesterday. they've suggested the plane was mistaken for a ukrainian drone and attacked by russian air defences. no proof has been offered. the plane left baku for grozny but was diverted to aktau because of fog.

the kremlin has warned against promoting "hypotheses" about the cause of the crash and urged people to wait for the outcome of an official investigation. jonathan josephs reports. 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 that it was struck by an air defence missile, most certainly russian, in the area over grozny where the plane was holding. ukrainian drones were active at the time and this is commensurate with everything we've seen in the pilot's communication with air traffic control, and currently it's the only thing that fully fits the facts that we know. investigators are carefully preserving the debris and will 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's airport hundreds of people queued 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 were taking all necessary measures to ensure flight safety. the new authorities in syria say they're carrying out

an offensive against militias loyal to the deposed president, bashar al—assad, in the western province of tartous. syrian state media say the operation has already "neutralised" — as they put it — a number of people involved in clashes on wednesday. 14 fighters from the group that now controls most of syria, hts, were killed. it's being seen as the first big test for the country's islamist leader, ahmad al—sharaa, who has threatened to crack down on anyone attempting to undermine syria's security. 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 syria's bloodbath. while assad sought asylum in russia with his family, his followers are left to face prosecution here. many refuse 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 chanting about their alawite religious shrine that was vandalised in november. although there had since been reconciliation between the alawite and other communities, when the video was released yesterday tensions once again ramped up. locals reported that some religious leaders called for protesters to take to the streets. this is mezzeh 86, a predominantly alawite neighbourhood that largely supported assad's regime. many here took part in the brutal crackdown against syrians, arresting and torturing people inside prisons. when videos were released of the vandalised alawite shrine, weeks later after the incident happened, protests took part here and some clashes were reported. but it appears that the main reason behind these protests in the alawite communities is to pressure for a 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 are mainly from the alawite community. a general 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 reconcile with their loss. lina sinjab, bbc news, damascus. dr ha hellyer is a senior associate fellow at the royal united services institute. he said social media and disinformation are sowing confusion in syria. there's a few things here that i want to put out there from the outset. first of all, there's a lot of disinformation that's going to be spread around via social media and various channels on this particular issue, and we've seen that a lot over the last few days. so, for example, the video

of the burning of the alawite shrine, as your reporter pointed out, that happened weeks ago. it happened before the transitional authority took control in damascus, but it was released again yesterday in order to, you know, spike tensions. the second thing is that we know that there are remnants of the assad regime that are still in operation in different parts of the country, and there are also provocations, very public ones, being made by the iranian regime. and you saw that from khamenei on his public channels. you saw that from the iranian foreign minister as well. and the interim syrian foreign minister had to come out and say publicly that they would respond to any provocations for civil unrest within the country itself. so there's a there's 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 community was the backbone of the assad regime. i want to sort of clarify here, though, and say that i don't think that we know that the majority of them supported the assad regime, despite what the report just said. i don't think we have that information, and i think it's important to distinguish between those within the community that 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. and i don't think that that fear is necessarily unjustified, because as we know in other conflict situations, when, you know, transitions like this take place, you will see reprisals and revenge attacks and so on. and against that backdrop... it does show how difficult it's going to be for al—sharaa to unite the country, which is what he's promising to do. absolutely. and, you know, you saw these protests and these clashes in places like tartous, in horns and latakia.

and you also saw incitement take place from, you know, especially in latakia. you've seen different videos of that. i won't mention the names because i think those still need to be verified. but you also had senior alawite preachers like come out publicly and demand de—escalation and so on. so you have these different things take place. there were these violent attacks that took plac against the new government security forces, resulting in at least a couple of dozen dead that happened in the tartous countryside. and there are these old scores to settle with shabiha, with these sort of thug like groups that supported the regime. and while the authorities did say there would be a general it's not clear that others will be given that amnesty, and there's a huge need for the authorities to guarantee a transitional justice system. that will be a process.

because if you don't have that, then what you will find more likely to happen is vigilantism, which i don't think would be in the best interests of the country at all. so there are lots of things here, i think, that need to be put into the frame in order to understand what's happening in the country right now. commemorations have been taking place in countries around the indian ocean to mark the 20th anniversary of the huge 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. 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 ceremonies held. ——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. our correspondent andrew harding reported from aceh at the time, and met a schoolgirl who had lost both her parents. 20 years on, he's spoken to her again. this was aceh 20 years ago, just after the great wave had come ashore. i remember walking through the ruins, a haunting landscape, but above all, i remember marwadah. she was 11 then, bruised and alone, orphaned by the tsunami. but a few days later she discovered one relative had survived, her big sister, mutiyah. we followed the girls as marwadah returned to school and the sisters moved to a new home, hauntingly close to a mass grave. "i'm scared of ghosts", she told me.

even if they are all my relatives and neighbours, i don't want to sleep here". the years passed and then came the tenth anniversary of the tsunami. she screams hey! i missed you so much! it's so good to see you! look at you, you're huge! i'm so big. you are big. marwadah was now a 21—year—old student, full of life, bouncing back like indonesia itself, but still wrestling with the loss of her parents. no, um, my life without my parents, of course, very sad. um, because there is nobody caring about me. and now 20 years have gone by. a stranded boat kept as a memorial here. but aceh�*s physical wounds have healed in a country now preoccupied with new challenges. hi, guys.

as for marwadah, she's traded in a career in teaching to become a travel vlogger, offering advice for tourists on low budgets. a life no longer defined by the tsunami. and i have patience so i can be useful for people. so i feel happy and i feel proud of me. and look now at the beach where the tsunami hit, wiping out herfamily and her village all those years ago. today, that's marwadah on a jet ski, 20 years on. andrew harding, bbc news. remarkable. a 49—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of a double murder after two women were fatally stabbed in milton keynes in southern england yesterday. thames valley police said officers were called to a block of apartments in bletchley and found the women, aged 38

and 2a, dead at the scene. another man and a teenage boy were also injured. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

welcome back, time to catch up with all the sport with gavin. hello from the bbc sport centre. a busy boxing day of premier league action to bring you. manchester city's stuttering form continues — the premier league champions failed to beat everton at the etihad. they drew i—i. city got off to an ideal start, with bernardo silva's effort deflecting in, to give them lead in the first half. iliman ndiaye scored everton�*s equaliser, with a sweet finish before half time. a huge moment when erling haaland had his penalty saved byjordan pickford, but it's nowjust one win in the last 13 for pep guardiola's side and they've only taken five points in the league

since the start of november. the penalty was really good,. but we are not happy with the performance, well done, the guys again, and of course, we're going to score the goals we're going to score the goals we need, but no, i'm not... there are other days where that do not see many things i like with the way they play, but today was not the case. the majority of the boxing day games are now under way. chelsea can close the gap temporarily on liverpool with a win at home to fulham. 1-0 1—0 up in that match there, cole palmer with the goal. newcastle play aston villa — both fighting for a european place. newcastle i—0. southampton�*s new manager ivanjuric 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. a full complement of games in the scottish premiership, celtic can stretch their lead at the top. they're playing motherwell. the goal is there. —— currency goal is there. rangers are away at st mirren a bit later. earlier — hibernian got the better of hearts — winning 2—1 at tynecastle, thanks to dwight gayle�*s second half winner. 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 1—1 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 marcus labuschagne followed. but india hit back in the final session. jasprit bumrah taking two quick wickets as the home side finished the day on 31! for 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 21! — south africa currently 74—3 in their reply. banbridge overhauled long—time leader il est francais at the last fence to claim a dramatic win in the king george vi chase at kempton. il est francais had been ahead for almost all of the three—mile boxing day showpiece and built up a comfortable lead, and with two to go banbridge was the only horse who looked likely to challenge. and that's all the sport for now.

a quick update in the football, chelsea 1—0 up at fulham, newcastle chelsea i—0 up at fulham, newcastle 1— chelsea 1—0 up at fulham, newcastle 1— up. —— i—0 chelsea 1—0 up at fulham, newcastle 1— up. —— 1—0 up. that is it. did you make thank you very much. we have some can use to bring you from the capital of yemen, multiple spill air strikes, airport, military base and a power station been targeted, with confirmation from the israel defense forces —— multiple air strikes in sanaa. they say they attacked multiple targets belonging to the houthis terrorist regime. they say they have repeatedly attacked the state of israel, its citizens, including in surface—to—air missile attacks on israeli territory. that news just coming to us from the idf in the past few minutes or so. we

are keeping a cross that story and will be live in the middle is shortly and throughout the day to bring updates on this as well. to stay with us. but to give you the context, it comes after an escalation in hostilities between israel and the houthis rebels who are in control of yemen at the moment. health officials in gaza say five journalists have been killed by an israeli strike in central gaza. the strike hit a marked broadcast van outside al—awda hospital in the nuseirat refugee camp. one of the journalists is reported to have 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. our correspondent in jerusalem, shaimaa khalil, has more on the strike. two very different narratives about what happened in nuseirat camp outside al—awda hospital today, and as you say, it is not possible for the bbc

to independently verify either account on either side of this because international media is not allowed by israel to report freely in gaza. what we understand from the al-quds today channel is that five of its journalists were killed in an israeli air strike on a broadcast van that was clearly marked press. we could see in very dramatic footage the van all but charred, but you could see at the back of it the word press, written in english in red. we also understand that one of those journalists, his wife was in al—awda hospital in nuseirat camp, and she was about to give birth. we also saw footage of a mother, a mother of one of the journalists, inconsolable, crying out for her son, saying, "who did you leave me to?" and one of the fellow local journalists who was at the funeral saying that today is a tragedy, whatever the israeli story is, it does notjustify killing the journalists. the israeli military said that they had intelligence

that the men were posing, as they described it, as journalists, and that they were involved in combat and propaganda operations for the palestinian islamichhad. very crucial point to make here — we understand that the al quds today channel is affiliated with the palestinian islamic jihad. that means that the channel is understood to receive funding from the palestinian islamic jihad. this group was part of the hamas—led attack on israel on october 7th 2023. but we also heard from the committee to protect journalists, and they say that they are devastated by this news. we understand from the local community that these men were known as localjournalists who were regularly covering stories about the war in gaza. according to the cpg, the committee to protectjournalists, i33 journalists have died in gaza from the beginning of the war until december the 20th, making

this the deadliest conflict for journalists to cover. more than a50 people crossed the english channel in small boats on christmas day, according to home office figures updated on thursday. new data shows that a51 migrants arrived on 11 boats on the 25th december. the figures take the total number of crossings in 2024 to 35,491, more than 21% higher than last year. uk's prime minister sir keir starmer has made "smashing the gangs" who are responsible for small boat crossings one of his top priorities since coming to power. 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 are 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. 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. go to the bbc news website to get more on the israeli air strikes in two cities in yemen, a story we will be covering throughout the day here on bbc news. 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. 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.

now on bbc news — i was there: the boxing day tsunami. it was a bright, sunny day and there was no danger music. and i'd never heard

the word "tsunami" before. i told them that's the sound of wave. but nobody trust me. man: get in, get in, get in! we knew it was likely to be bad. we just had no idea quite how cataclysmically bad it was going to be. hey, hey, hey, hey! there were bodies and their hands were reaching out. i dream about that sometimes. lou and i had just got engaged. it was a bit of a whirlwind romance. we met each other at school, but we'd not seen each other for about 15 years. i proposed to her in a really seedy pub in york and she said

yes, and we decided to get married in december.