the kremlin says it's wrong to speculate. two sailors are killed in separate incidents in the sydney to hobart yacht race. the home office reports that more than a50 people cross the english channel in small boats on christmas day. former indian prime minister manmohan singh dies aged 92. he governed the country for two terms, and liberalised its economy. israel has been carrying out air strikes across yemen, including on the international airport in the capital, sanaa. the head of the world health organization,

tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, was at the airport about to board a flight when it came under israeli attack. he was not injured. the israeli military says it has been targeting the houthis, the rebel group backed by iran. houthi rebels say three people were killed in the strikes. houthi fighters in yemen have targeted israel, and ships in the red sea and the gulf of aden, in solidarity with palestinians in gaza. our correspondent shaimaa khalil has more on those strikes in yemen. we've seen very dramatic footage from inside sana'a international airport of people running in a panic with their luggage and their trolleys, some of them trying to leave the building through a gate, others running in different directions. we also saw one from outside the building showing smoke rising. and in the last hour or so, we've also been getting reports that commercialflights are still landing in yemen airport, despite reports of damage to the facility. we're getting reports and an image of an airbus a320

of the yemeni airlines aircraft landing there. we heard from the head of the who, the world health organisation, tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, who said that he was in the airport when the strike happened, that he was about to board a plane when the airport was struck, and that that resulted in one of the air crew members being injured not very far from where his group were sitting. he said he was ok. we also had confirmation from the israeli army, the idf, who said that they struck targets used by the iran backed group to smuggle iranian weapons into the region. we know that the airport in sana'a was targeted, was hit, but also other targets in the red sea port city of hodeidah. the israeli military targeted two power stations, hit two power stations, some key ports as well. meanwhile in central gaza, health officials say five of its journalists have been killed in an israeli strike in the central gaza strip. the strike hit a marked

broadcast van outside al—awda hospital in the nuseirat refugee camp. the israeli military said those killed were members of a "terrorist cell". russia has said it won't speculate on claims that russian air defences hit a passenger plane before it crashed in kazakhstan yesterday, killing 38 people. an unnamed us official suggested a russian anti—aircraft system may have struck the azerbaijan airlines plane. however, president putin's spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment before the official investigation was complete. the azerbaijan airlines jet had been travelling from baku to chechnya, when it was diverted to kazakhstan, before coming down near aktau. jonathan josephs reports. on board the stricken aeroplane, the passenger filming this notices some damage under the wing. back inside, despite oxygen masks and life jackets being visible, those

on board seem calm. it's not clear how long before the crash this was filmed. there were 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. the force of impact split the plane in two, with the front half destroyed by fire. the key question is why. i spoke to one military expert who said suggestions of a bird strike being responsible were unlikely. 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, almost 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. these holes in the surviving

part of the fuselage will be examined by investigators. meanwhile, azerbaijan airlines have suspended all flights in the region. they have not grounded their other six embraer e1905, suggesting the cause was not technical or mechanical. the aircraft has a good safety record. russia's government says no conclusion should be drawn until the kazakh—led investigation is complete. amongst those wanting answers will be those survivors who 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." at baku's airport, large crowds 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. earlier i spoke to aurel braun, a professor of international relations and political science at the university of toronto. he is also the author of nato—russia relations in the 21st century. i asked him why some are speculating russia is behind the crash. somehow the factsjust do not add up as this being a simple crash that occurred because a flock of birds hit the aeroplane. this was the first claim made by the russian media. this was a simple flight that was supposed to take off from the city of baku in azerbaijan to grozny, which is within russia, the chechen area. and when it landed, crash landed, it was on the other side of the caspian sea in a very uncharacteristic diversion. and it sustained damage that, to experts such as richard aboulafia and others, do seem to be

caused by shrapnel, not by engine failure, not by some kind of flock of birds. it is also very interesting that the russian spokesman, dmitry peskov, who tends to be very aggressive in defending russia in every possible way against any kind of accusation or even hint of any russian malfeasance, has been extremely cautious and he is saying, "well, let's wait for results." so i think the circumstantial evidence at the moment is not favourable to russia. it's early days. we have to wait, but i think this has been an area where the russians have been very nervous. the ukrainians have launched a number of drone attacks. the russians have been shooting at these drones, often wildly and recklessly. and it's almost miraculous that somehow so many of the people on board of this aircraft

managed to survive. let's get some more of the story we heard about in the last hour. two people taking part in australia's annual sydney to hobart yacht race have died in separate incidents, according to police. both crew members died in separate incidents after being hit by a boom — the large pole attached horizontally to the bottom of a sail. the race, which began in sydney on thursday has continued, with the first boats expected to arrive in the city of hobart, in tasmania, later on friday or early on saturday. several have already retired due to bad weather. let's speak to chris rowbottom, he's a sports reporter with the abc in hobart. hello to you. tragic news for the teams and obviously for the families, what do we know about what happened. the

families, what do we know about what happened-— what happened. the date is relatively — what happened. the date is relatively scant _ what happened. the date is relatively scant at _ what happened. the date is relatively scant at this - what happened. the date is. relatively scant at this stage. we've heard from the cruising yacht club of australia david jacobs who was unable to provide too much more information more than what you've provided there we know two sailors dead as a result of a similar incident on different boats, both struck by that sale boom one aboard flying fish arctos and another smaller boat the incident occurred overnight and of course epr was attempted by the crews of both boats but was unsuccessful forcing the retirement of both boats from the race, it is the worst tragedy in the sydney hobart yacht race since 1998 where six sailors were killed and 55 had to be rescued as a result of a wild storm that battered the fleets and as i say, both of those yachts are now retired

and it is sent shock waves through the race. indicative of a night of wild whether the conditions going to the race were described as boat breaking they were 25 not wins northerly that carried the fleet down the coast of new south wales was sought 18 retirement so far including the favourite which suffered mainsail damage they were on record pace before they were on record pace before they were forced to withdraw from the race we have seen another incident with a man overboard, a tasmanian yacht lost a sailor during the race and they drifted at one point two km out to sea, a full scale operation was about to be triggered before they retrieved their own sailor thankfully they were all

0k sailor thankfully they were all ok in the end. so the fleet is limping to hobart in the first finishes are expected in the early hours of tomorrow morning. a tragic start to the race and as i said, the worst since 1998. race and as i said, the worst since 1998-— race and as i said, the worst since 1998. you have detailed the are since 1998. you have detailed they are the _ since 1998. you have detailed they are the conditions, - since 1998. you have detailed they are the conditions, the l they are the conditions, the fact that there were boats that were retired but were worried about the conditions are there any questions as to whether the reese should have gone ahead. the vice commodore made it very clear that every yacht and crew participating in the sydney hobart passes a set of rigorous examinations in order to take part, the crews have to go through several courses of training and sessions before taking part in they have to have completed pedigree one reese's before and every boat and a lot of those checks and

balances come into play after the 1990 race where there was an inquiry that commended some safety changes so the conditions were able to be handled by the entire fleet, the sea conditions were not particularly tumultuous it was the wind, it was nothing too out of the ordinary, it was a set of unfortunate events a boa rd set of unfortunate events aboard these two separate boats. ~ ., ., ., boats. we will have to leave it there, thank _ boats. we will have to leave it there, thank you _ boats. we will have to leave it there, thank you for _ boats. we will have to leave it there, thank you for a - boats. we will have to leave it there, thank you for a time. . the eu has threatened to impose further sanctions on russia, after one of its cargo ships was blamed for severing an underwater cable. the estlink2 carries electricity between the finnish plant of anttila and pussi in estonia, but stopped working on wednesday. finnish police then boarded a ship which they believe was operating as part of russia's so—called shadow fleet. they say they found evidence there that the anchor had been used to cut the cable in two.

our europe regional editor paul moss took us through what happened. for once with one of these incidents, and there have been several, i don't think it required an enormous amount of detective work to work it out because this cable, a crucial cable carrying electricity between finland and estonia, stopped working at around lunchtime on what was christmas day in finland and estonia. and at exactly the point that it stopped working, a ship passed overhead. not surprisingly the finnish police acted quickly. they boarded the ship. now this is flagged to the cook islands, a small nation in the pacific, but what they're suggesting is that's just what's called a flag of convenience and it was really part of russia's shadow fleet. the shadow fleet is used to evade sanctions, but they're suggesting it may also be used to sabotage cables. and that's what they're suggesting here, as you said, that the anchor dragged along

the bottom and snapped the cable in two. and is there any way that could happen accidentally? well, the thing is there are an awful lot of these cables around, more and more of them, and the fact is that, yes, they do break. however, this is the third time it's happened in about a month. in november, two cables — one going from germany to finland, the other going from sweden to lithuania — both broke, and on that occasion it was a chinese ship which just happened to be passing overhead at the moment when the cables snapped. so what they're suggesting quite simply is a programme of sabotage. more than a50 people crossed the english channel in small boats on christmas day, according to home office figures. new data shows a51 migrants arrived on 11 boats. emer mccarthy has more. the christmas day arrivals from france mark the first arrivals in more than a week. more than a50 migrants crossed the english channel in small boats on christmas day. 11 boats made thejourney to the uk on christmas morning, and more are expected to follow

in the coming days. the home office says a51 people arrived on christmas day. the last time there were crossings on christmas was back in 2022, when 90 people arrived. the prime minister, sir keir starmer, said that smashing the gangs who facilitate small boats crossings was one of his top priorities and has set up a new border security command. more than 35,000 people have made thejourney so far this year. that's 20% higher than in 2023. commemorations have been taking place in countries around the indian ocean to mark the 20th anniversary of the 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. andrew harding has this report.

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. 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. the former indian prime minister, manmohan singh, has died at the age of 92. mr singh was in office for a decade, from 200a until 201a, and was the first prime minister in india from the sikh faith. anbarasan ethirajan, the bbc�*s south asia regional editor, took us through his legacy. well, mr singh, when he took over in 1991, india's foreign exchange reserves was hovering around $1.5 billion, enough for

only three weeks of imports. the country was going through a severe economic crisis. and he realised what the challenge was at that time. in fact, today we are talking about india having $600 billion in reserve and one of the top economies in the world. it is mainly due to the policies taken by manmohan singh in the early 905. so what he did, what he called liberalisation process, where he allowed foreign investments, and then privatisation of public sector undertakings and big companies, and he boosted growth. and all this economic growth really helped india to come out of the woods in the 90s, early 905. and then he came back in 200a as the prime minister. in fact, he was a surprise choice when the congress party won the power, the then leader, sonia gandhi did not take up the job. so it came up to him. and from 200a until 201a, mr manmohan singh wa5 the prime minister.

once again, india witnessed one of the fastest growth rates around that time from 200a to 2010, where the economy was growing around 7—8%, and he also introduced some schemes with the far reaching consequence, like for example, introducing a unique identification number and rural employment scheme. that really played a key role during the covid cri5i5 when the when millions of workers were without jobs. so manmohan singh will always be remembered for being the architect of modern india, a man who took india out of trouble when he was the finance minister, and also during the prime mini5tership, when he was able to build con5en5u5 with the political parties to take india forward. and he's one of those few leaders in india who was not touched by, directly touched by any corruption allegations. so building ties internally, but also credited with improving or increasing india's standing on the world stage

in terms of his sort of diplomatic relations with the big world powers at the time. so india's rise as an economic power also, you know, coincided with how india boosted its relations with the particularly with the united states. you know, in the previous 19905, before 19905, india was very much in the soviet bloc, supporting ru55ia, soviet union around that time. but after the liberalisation process started, you saw how the american companies investing and also diplomatically, the two countries coming together, both saw that they were natural partner5, natural allie5. and even that led to a landmark nuclear agreement between the two countries in 2007 and 2008. so indian and us also started engaging in defence production, and us started selling very modern weaponry to indian armed force5, which even now 5till relies on majority for russian imports. but then the modernisation

happened and then again with the rest of the world. so with japan or with the european union, that's where mr manmohan singh, when he came to the table, there was a lot of respect. and then he boosted india's image around the world, and that's what he will be remembered for. 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 whopping overnight audience of 12.32 million — making it the biggest non—sports overnight of 202a. million5 tuned in for the final ever epi5ode of the beloved british 5itcom. 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. caroline fro5t is a tv and film, critic and columnist for radio time5. she explained why the hype over the gavin and stacey finale was justified.

the audience came. and not only are those figures ma55ive, i mean, they have superseded the audience figures for 2019, five years ago, but also it looks set to dwarf the 18 million consolidated figure if these numbers continue to rise. so well done, everybody. the critics have been kind. everybody, it seems, seems to have gone home happy. yeah, i went home happy. i watched it, i thought it was great, but i thought we were supposed to be, you know, domestic tv was supposed to be going down. and yet here we are — these figures are pretty extraordinary, aren't they? bearing in mind the competition from streamers, etc. yes. and i think the more remarkable thing is that if you look at the top ten list for yesterday's tv, all of those top ten, not to shout from inside the tent, but they are all bbc titles. so a bravo, a big bravura performance of scheduling, of planning, of marketing. all of those things came good. and i think it does put into doubt the idea that linear tv is dead.

i think christmas particularly, is the time that you will perhaps compromise. you will put down your iphone, your ipad, your tiny little personal way of watching tv and bingeing all those streaming programmes at your convenience, and you willjust sneak into the living room and perhaps sit down next to somebody that you may not have spoken to for the rest of the year, and watch something together. there are signs that shoppers are shunning the high street this boxing day — — with footfall data showing that the number of people going into stores has dropped by almost 8% across the uk compared with last year. several big chains including next and b80 didn't open their doors today. but people did flock to traditional stores before the holiday, with numbers up on christmas eve by 18% year on year. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. boxing day has been another relatively quiet one. mostly dry, a lot of cloud around.

best of the sunshine across north—east england and wales, and the only place seeing rain, scotland and northern ireland. the next few days look very similar. it's mostly dry thanks to high pressure, staying on the mild side with any rain focused across northern areas. that's because we've got this weather front pretty much stationary across the north of the uk. and notjust today, but for the next few days, even as we head into the weekend. to the north of it, there is some colder air looming, but most of us will be in this wedge of less cold air with less cold nights as well, particularly where we hold on to the cloud. so, as we head through tonight, it does look like it stays damp for parts of northern and western scotland, maybe northern ireland. elsewhere, where we hold on to the cloud, temperatures no lower than around 5—8 degrees, but under clearer spells, say north—east england, we could be close to freezing, one or two spots 1—2 degrees. so, for friday, again, still high pressure dominates the scene across the south. this weather front loiters across the north and west of scotland, perhaps northern ireland. i think for friday, looks like most of the rain will be across argyll

and the highlands. elsewhere mostly dry. a lot of cloud again with limited spells of sunshine. probably the best of the sunshine eastern scotland, north—east england. winds light for most, and temperatures again 8—11 degrees. and then as we move through friday night, we start to see that rain pepping up a bit across scotland and northern ireland. to the north of here, skies turn clearer, but it'll be colder air with some blustery showers running into the northern and western isles. elsewhere, its business as usual. it's light winds, a lot of cloud around, just the odd clear spell here and there. so, as we head into the weekend, we've got that weather front across the north of the uk pushing into high pressure, so it will begin to fizzle out. to the north of it, we may see more sunshine across scotland and northern ireland on saturday, but there'll be some blustery showers in the north—west of scotland. elsewhere south of that weather front looks like being another benign day. light winds, a lot of cloud around, limited sunshine. temperatures 8—12 degrees. then as we head through sunday, there'll be some wet weather in the north.

into next week, the run—up to new year, we could see colder air spreading south across the uk, and with low pressure systems moving in off the atlantic, we're likely to see weather turning more unsettled, wetter and windier, with the chance of some snow mainly across central and northern areas. but still some uncertainty to the forecast into next week, so stay tuned.

now on bbc news, i take a look

back at what has been a quite extrodinary royal year. —— extraordinary. a year like no other. first the king, then the princess of wales diagnosed with cancer. this, of course, came as a huge shock, and william and i have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. good man, this one. prince william called it the hardest year of his life, supporting his wife and family while flying the flag for britain abroad, honouring the fallen on the beaches of normandy 80 years on from d—day. and harry, the party prince, back in the uk.