russia is accused of shooting down a plane over kazakhstan yesterday — killing 38 people. the kremlin says it's wrong to speculate on what happened. 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. israel has been carrying out air strikes across yemen, including the international airport in the capital sanaa. the israeli military says it has been targeting the houthis, who are a rebel group backed by iran. houthi rebels say that three people have been killed in the strikes. houthi fighters in yemen have targeted israel and ships in the red sea and the gulf of aden in solidaity with palestinians in gaza.

in central gaza, health officials say five journalists have been killed by an israeli strike. 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". a short while ago i spoke to our correspondent shaimaa khalil injersusalem, and began by asking her about the air strikes on yemen. a very fast moving story, and we're getting some glimpse now of what it's like in the capital, sana'a. as ijust came out to speak to you on air, i've seen a short video from inside sana'a international airport with passengers in a panic, really. some running with their some running with their with their trolleys with their trolleys and their luggage in a frenzy, and their luggage in a frenzy, not really knowing what to do. not really knowing what to do. but also the red sea city we know from eyewitnesses we know from eyewitnesses that the capital, sana'a, that the capital, sana'a,

the airport was hit, the airport was hit, but also the red sea city of hodeidah was hit as well. not the first time those two targets have been hit. only on thursday, less than a week ago, israel mounted a number ofairstrikes on military and energy infrastructures both in sana'a and in hodeidah that they say are being used by the iran backed houthi rebels. we did get information. we did get confirmation, sorry, from the idf, from the israeli military saying they struck military targets in sana'a international airport, but also two power stations. the idf also said that they struck what they described as military infrastructure in hodeidah, in salif and in ras kanatib.

doctor tedros and the resident coordinator in sanaa, were preparing to leave. this is what he says targeting and disdain for the united nations. look, this is an intensifying, um, tit for tat, if you will. this month has seen intense strikes, either by drones or by missiles from houthi, from the iran backed houthi rebels on israeli territory. in the last seven days, there were at least there were at least five attacks on israeli territory. some of them were not intercepted. now, as i said in the span of this week, israel has struck military targets, energy infrastructure, oil terminals in yemen that it says are being used by houthi rebels. the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has also made a statement and again reiterating his stance that they're going to keep targeting houthi targets in yemen because of how the attacks on israeli territory

and remember, this has started since the beginning of the war in gaza in 2023. houthi rebels have launched hundreds of attacks on israeli territory, but also remember on international shipping as well. and they have vowed time and time again that this is not going to stop until the war in gaza stops. and in central gaza five journalists killed in an israeli strike, but different narratives on who they were and what happened. can you tell us what the idf is saying and also what their employers the palestinian television channel are saying? yeah, and i think the story really highlights the difficulty when international media is unable to independently verify this. the bbc�*s is not able to independently verify those two narratives, because israel doesn't allow international media to freely report in gaza. what we're hearing from the idf is that they had intelligence that these five men, in what looked like a press vehicle, it had

press written on it. they were posing as journalists and that they were struck and that they died, were killed in an air strike and that they belonged to the palestinian islamichhad group. remember, the islamichhad group was part of the hamas led attack on october the 7th in 2023. what we understand from, from the local media community is that these five journalists were known to the local media, were known as journalists, and that this broadcast van was parked outside al—awda hospital in central gaza because the wife of one of the journalists was expected to have a baby, was expected to give birth imminently. and then the vehicle was struck. there was one of the mothers was inconsolable in the funeral that was held. her son, a 20—year—old, was killed in that strike and you could see herjust crying, saying, "who did you leave me to? "you were just doing yourjob."

and one of the journalists said, localjournalists said, "today is a tragedy. "whatever israel's reasons were, "that does not give them the right to do that." one crucial point to make is that these journalists belong to a channel called al quds today, and al quds today is known to be affiliated with the palestinian islamichhad. it is understood that the channel um received funding from the islamichhad group. but again, we get those two narratives, those two stories about the journalists that were killed. but israel once again saying that it was targeting what it described as terrorists. the committee for the protection ofjournalists called this devastating, but it also brought the number up until now, since the beginning of the war, 133 journalists were killed, making gaza one of the most, if not the most deadly conflicts to cover. the head of the world health organization, tedros adhanom ghebreyesus,

says he was at the airport in sanaa when it was hit. he said that he was about to board a plane when the site was struck. some breaking news to bring you that we can source the local media in india that are saying the former indian prime minister has died at the age of 92 he was admitted to a hospital in delhi and a critical condition and passed away shortly afterwards. doctor singh served at the prime ministerfrom 2004 until singh served at the prime minister from 2004 until 2014, the fourth longest serving prime minister of the country, he was a distinguished economist and politician and played a pivotal role in shaping modern india and he championed economic reforms overseeing a period of robust growth that lifted millions out of poverty. the news coming to us from india at the moment that manmohan singh, the former prime minister that governed india for two terms and liberalised its economy has

died. 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. 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. police in finland say an underwater cable carrying power to estonia was damaged by the anchor of a ship, which they described as being part of a russian shadow fleet. the cable stopped working on wednesday and the police have since raided a nearby ship, registered to the cook islands, a pacific nation which often allows foreign vessels to carry its flag. the past few months have seen several underwater cables in the baltic region either damaged or severed completely. paul moss talked me through

the latest developments. on wednesday, as much of the world was celebrating christmas, this crucial cable carrying electricity between finland and estonia suddenly stopped working. now, because of previous incidents, which you've mentioned, there was an immediate suspicion of sabotage. i have to say, this does not seem like it required the greatest detective work, because what we're told is that at the exact moment that the cable stopped working, a ship was passing exactly over the point where the cable is the ship, the eagle s. now, the eagle s is an interesting ship, as you say, registered to the cook islands, which means nothing. the finns suspect it's operating on behalf of russia. they raided the ship. they didn't waste much time. and they now have suspicion that its anchor was what was used to break the cable that was broken, that stopped working. and, paul, this is not the first time that something like this has happened. not at all. it happens a lot, but it seems

to have happened more in the last few months. the this kind of sabotage is accelerating. last month, november saw two crucial cables also cut, one between germany and finland, one between finland, sweden and lithuania. on that occasion, they suspected a chinese ship was responsible, that a chinese ship had deliberately dragged its anchor breaking these cables. why are cables becoming this increasingly easy target, in a way, for sabotage? quite simply, because there are far more of them. let's remember there are two kinds of cable. we're talking about electricity cables and communication cables. in the days when power was generated, electricity was generated mostly by oil or gas or coal. well, you could just send your oil or gas or coal to another country that wanted to buy energy off you. with so much energy generated by renewables, well, if you generated it with a windmill, you can't send the wind, you sell the electricity. and that's very important because renewable

energy clearly varies. one day a country may have excess wind power, will sell its electricity down a cable to another country. that country may, on another occasion, have solar power in excess. so these cables have grown communications cables ditto. because of the internet, a lot of people think the internet goes via satellite when it travels internationally. most of it actually goes via these cables. they make countries very vulnerable. yes, indeed. and so paul, given that, is there anything that can be done to stop this from happening? there are a lot of people scratching their heads trying to answer that question. in september, at a united nations meeting, western nations agreed to take a common approach to protecting undersea cables. theyjust haven't quite worked out what that common approach will be. poland has said that what it needs is to have naval

patrols, particularly in the baltics, permanently. they're protecting what is a vital part of the world's infrastructure. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. 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 24, dead at the scene. another man and a teenage boy were also injured. in breaking news, at least three people have died in a bus crash in norway — that's according to state media. the accident happened at around 1.30 local time in the hadsel district on the country's north—western coast. the bus came off the road and ended up partially in a body of water, according to public broadcaster nrk. dozens of people are thought to have been on the bus at the time of the crash. more than 450 people crossed the english channel in small boats on christmas day, according to home office figures updated on thursday. new data shows that 451 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. 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 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. 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 2024. 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. the security service m15 has released a special version of the poem, the night before christmas, voiced by the actor gary oldman. fans of the show �*slow horses�* will recognise the voice �*twas the night before christmas and all through the house... fans of the show �*slow horses�* will recognise the voice of oldman�*s character, jackson lamb — a spy in charge of a group of failed m15 agents — as he recites a slightly altered version of the classic poem. it�*s been released to highlight the work that continues to be done by the intelligence agency over the festive period. let�*s remind you of the breaking news we�*ve had in the past hour or so we are here from india that the former

prime minister, doctor manmohan singh has died at the age of 92. he was admitted to a hospital in delhi and a critical condition and passed away shortly afterwards. doctor singh served as the prime ministerfrom singh served as the prime minister from 2004—2014 and the fourth longest serving prime minister of the country. a distinguished economist and politician playing a pivotal role in shaping modern india championing economic reforms overseeing a period of robust growth that lifted millions out of poverty. by 2012 he was dubbed and under a and criticised of being ineffectual because of the endless compromises surrounding coalition policies that surrounded his time as a premier. but india mourning the lost of doctor manmohan singh who is back at the age of 92. —— died at the age of.

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. this is bbc news, the headlines... israel carries out air strikes on yemen — the international airport in the capital sana�*a is among the targets. russia is accused of shooting down a plane over kazakhstan yesterday — killing 38 people. the kremlin says it�*s wrong to speculate on what happened. ceremonies are held to mark the twentieth anniversary of the indian ocean earthquake and tsunami. now here on bbc news we look at the famous faces we lost this yearin the famous faces we lost this year in we remember.

music: soul bossa nova by quinchones ladies and gentlemen, mr quinchones! - this is where the movie gets its mojo, baby. mwah! groovy! i feel like the most blessed person on the planet. starting with ray charles at 14, billie holiday, louis armstrong, all the way to 50 cent. # cos this is thriller # thriller night # you're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller- # 0h! applause quinchones- is a wonderful person, not only is he an incredible producer, and we have - made history together. # i�*m gonna wash that man right outta my hair # i�*m gonna wash that man right outta my hair that man right outta my hair # and send him on his way... we were rehearsing, and the shampoo gets in my eye.

isaid... tearful: .."i got some..." so, there was a little store, and in the window was a little tiny bottle ofjohnson and johnson baby shampoo. so, we sent a driver back... she blows we did it in one take. # um diddle, diddle diddle, um diddle ay # um diddle, diddle diddle, um diddle ay... we came up with this nonsense word. "super—something". "super—crazy". super... makes nonsense sounds "supercalifra. . . " "supercalifragilistic"! aha! # if you say it loud enough # you�*ll always sound precocious # supercalifragilistic expialidocious... # our daughters' daughters will adore us # and they'll sing in grateful chorus # well done, sister suffragette. .. # losing my timing this late in my career? i've had greatjoy, and great distress. # and where are the clowns?

how can you sum that up?