celebrations are cancelled — due to extreme weather forecast in the scottish capital. and — astronomers prepare to get a glimpse of a dazzling star system that hasn't been visible to the naked eye — for eight decades. hello, i'm lukwesa burak. families of the victims of south korea's worst aviation disaster in decades, are calling for more support from the government. all but two of the 181 people on board died as thejeiju air plane crashed after landing at muan international airport. our seoul correspondent, jean mackenzie, is at the scene and sent this report. shouting.

the bereaved are at breaking point. these outbursts come every few minutes. a day on from the crash, they're still at the airport, waiting to be reunited with their loved ones�* bodies. "why have only five bodies been released," this woman yells. "you're useless!" a police official spares her no details. "they're too badly damaged," he says. "forensic teams are still piecing them together." it's disturbing to hear. and for shin gyu—ho, it's even worse. his two teenage grandsons haven't even been identified. translation: i've been sitting here all day, hoping for news. i i'm so frustrated. i feel like i'm waiting without an end. the plane was carrying koreans back from christmas holidays in thailand when it landed at speed without its wheels down. as it crashed, every passenger was killed.

investigators are now trying to work out why the landing gear seemed to fail, but the flight recorder is damaged. it'll take time to decipher the data. so, today, the attention has turned to what happened on the runway. when the plane made its emergency landing, it was still intact, but because it couldn't stop, it then overshot the runway here. and we now know that it hit this concrete and orange structure that has been raised up on this grassy mound. this is a guidance system that is supposed to help planes land, but this is the point at which the plane exploded into this fireball and fractured into many pieces. and aviation experts are now questioning why this was positioned in this way, so raised up and so close to the end of the runway. the acting president has ordered an investigation of the country's entire aviation industry. without answers, the families don't know who to blame.

for now, the only place they can direct their anger is at the forensic teams, who are still searching, yet to complete their gruelling, unenviable task. jean mackenzie, bbc news, muan airport. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky has announced one of the largest prisoner exchanges since full scale war began with russia nearly three years ago. 189 ukrainian troops are being returned home from captivity, and 150 russian soldiers are being returned in the deal, which was brokered by the united arab emirates. from northern ukraine, our correspondent will vernon told us more about this prisoner exchange. well, we've just witnessed incredibly moving scenes here as the buses with those 189 released ukrainians pulled up outside this hospital here. they'd onlyjust been taken out of russian territory, and the emotion of these men who came out of the buses draped in ukrainian flags and also the family members that were waiting here to greet them really was overwhelming.

there were lots of tears, shouts ofjoy, hugs and kisses. many of the men made phone calls to their families back home to say they were 0k, they were out. many of them, of course, have been in captivity for a very long time, more than 2.5 years in many cases. so, you know, the emotion here was really incredible. the other thing that was particularly touching was there are a lot of family members here of ukrainian soldiers who are still either missing or in captivity, and they were showing photographs of their loved ones to those who'd just been released, saying, "have you seen my husband, my son, do you know anything about them?" so it really was quite an extraordinary seem to behold. i wonder if you could give us a sense more broadly of where the war is at at the moment? well, the war is going badly for ukraine. despite the jubilant scenes

we saw here earlier, the mood is pretty gloomy at the moment here. interestingly some ukrainian officials here in ukraine were telling us that the negotiations with russia over these prisoner exchanges like the one that happened today, it was one of the biggest since the war started, those negotiations are becoming much more difficult because moscow is less when to negotiate because it's advancing on the battlefield. ukraine has a serious shortage of men for the front—line, it's losing territory. ukrainians here feel that the west is losing interest, too. so 2025 is looking to be a particularly uncertain and worrying year for ukrainians. meanwhile, in his final weeks in office, presidentjoe biden announced nearly six billion dollars in additional military and budget aid for ukraine. of that, 2.5 billion dollars is designated for security assistance, while $3.1; billion will help repair critical infrastructure damaged by intensified russian attacks.

it's the final disbursement under the 2024 "ukraine security supplemental appropriations act". in a statement, president zelensky said, additional us security assistance for ukraine comes at a "critical moment" and will help strengthen ukraine's defences along the front lines. high winds and extreme weather has forced the cancellation of edinburgh's world famous hogmanay celebrations on new year's eve. tens of thousands of tickets had already been sold. but organisers say high winds and extreme weather mean they've been unable to continue with preparations for the outdoor events both today and tomorrow. among the events called off — a concert by the rock band �*texas�* — and the traditional

midnight fireworks display to see in 2025. rain, snow and strong winds will hit large parts of the uk this week, with a series of weather warnings coming into force between today and thursday. an amber alert for rain has been issued for parts of scotland on new year's eve, and stormy conditions are expected to spread to the rest of the uk. catriona renton reports from edinburgh. music. this is what people from all over the world come to edinburgh to experience. this was hogmanay last year, and preparations were taking place today for the famous street party, concert due to be headlined by texas and spectacular fireworks. that was until this afternoon, when organisers announced they have had to cancel on safety grounds after the met office issued yellow warnings for wind and rain. a spokesperson for unique assembly said...

of course people are disappointed, but understand. no! we were allowed to go to the castle because of the wind. yeah. oh, my gosh! this is what i came for, this weather, i love it. it was a little bit - blustery for the torches, so i understood that. we kind of came here for the party, so... organisers of other events, like the stonehaven fireballs in aberdeenshire, plan to still go ahead. the fireballs are going ahead as planned. the only issue would be for the spectators to come and stand for a couple of hours beforehand. already today, the north of the country has been deluged with rain. this is what part of the highland main railway line was up against. and there is an amber warning for rain in place for parts of the area tomorrow.

the worst of the weather is due to have passed through scotland by new year's day, but there are yellow warnings for wind and rain for the south of england. catriona renton, bbc news, edinburgh. a state funeral is to be held for former us presdientjimmy carter on the 9th of january. he died yesterday at the age of 100. he served one term as president from 1977 to 1981 — and was later awarded the nobel peace prize. in washington dc, the nation's capital, flags are flying at half mast. while a makeshift memorial has been set up at the carter presidential center in his home state of georgia. world leaders have been paying tribute to him —

among them, king charles who said he felt "great sadness" at president carter's passing. tom bateman reports. joining me now is gina kay abercrombie—winstanley, an american diplomat who served as us ambassador to malta from 2012 to 2016. she met former presidentjimmy carter in gaza while both were serving as election observers for the first general elections in the palestinian territories. hello, welcome to the programme. first off, i would like to get your reaction to this announcement on the carter centre timeline, saying that in recognition of president carter's long and distinguished service to the nation, congress has extended the invitation of

lying in state in the rotunda in washington, dc. is this normal protocol in the united states? well, it is an extraordinary honour, it is something that does not happen often by any means. just for those who are at the top of their american admiration in their service to the country and of course president carter's position he extraordinaire humanitarian and certainly as time has extended from his presidency, we have all had the opportunity to benefit both internationally and domestically. from his great work as a humanitarian, so this seems like a really perfect way to further honour him and i'm really glad to hear it. , .,

him and i'm really glad to hear it. i. i. it. so you met him in your days as a diplomat. _ it. so you met him in your days as a diplomat, tell _ it. so you met him in your days as a diplomat, tell us - it. so you met him in your days as a diplomat, tell us about. as a diplomat, tell us about that. , ., , ., as a diplomat, tell us about that. , ., ., , that. yes, well, i was a fairly ounu that. yes, well, i was a fairly young diplomat _ that. yes, well, i was a fairly young diplomat serving - that. yes, well, i was a fairly young diplomat serving in . that. yes, well, i was a fairly| young diplomat serving in the gaza strip, my portfolio, the political affairs, gaza strip, my portfolio, the politicalaffairs, i gaza strip, my portfolio, the political affairs, i got there just after and was able to observe the preparations for elections, and because it was such a momentous occasion for palestinians to have a voice in their future to choose their leader and a democratic process, the entire world had its eye on palestinians and the embassy asked me to set up election observers to give us diplomats an opportunity to do thejob of observing diplomats an opportunity to do the job of observing the elections to determine whether they were free and fair this is something that the carter centre specialised in. along

with their other election observers but the carter centre specialised in this, as we circumnavigated the gaza strip from jib all the, down to guerra bella, all of these names that we have been hearing about for the last year plus as they have undergone strikes from the israeli government. these are places where palestinians were ready to take important steps towards peace the carter team in the embassy team interacted, have the opportunity to engage with president carter what she was seen with the team was seeing, discussing the access to the balance, what it was like, so it was an amazing day. you are a woman _ it was an amazing day. you are

a woman of— it was an amazing day. you are a woman of colour _ it was an amazing day. you are a woman of colour and - it was an amazing day. you are a woman of colour and we - it was an amazing day. you are| a woman of colour and we have heard a lot about whatjimmy carter did to contribute to fighting racism. we know us history, he's from the south, he was also very outspoken when it comes to apartheid in south africa. what did jimmy carter's contribution to fighting racism mean to african—americans? well, he was seen as a valuable, invaluable partner. his voice particularly with regard to south africa and even some of his more quiet efforts within the united states was intimately acquainted with overt racism that african americans often dealt with in the south. there are things coming to light now with his

insistence that there be inclusive hiring processes with regard to the white house, to the national security council where i had the privilege of working with former president clinton, where president carter said there will be minority hiring for the white house, even as the usual hiring process that did not include a vision of inclusion from state departments from other gate back government agencies. he pushed back hard on this end this information certainly has come out over the years and he has the deepest and broadest respect for african—americans respect for african—america ns because he respect for african—americans because he didn't have to take those views. it was easier to go along and he stood up and he spoke out. so absolutely and of course i also have the privilege of being the first diversity and inclusion officer for the department of state, so

the efforts that he made are those that are continued and championed by many after he passed on from government service. . ., . ., service. he walked the talk, didn't he? — service. he walked the talk, didn't he? gina, _ service. he walked the talk, didn't he? gina, thank- service. he walked the talk, didn't he? gina, thank you | service. he walked the talk, i didn't he? gina, thank you very much for that. my didn't he? gina, thank you very much for that.— much for that. my privilege, thank you- _ just want to bring you some breaking news we're following out of the us. the us government has said a state sponsored actor in china has hacked the treasury department, gaining access to staff workstations. a spokesperson said unclassified documents were also compromised in the attack earlier this month. the treasury said it had worked with the fbi and other agencies to determine the impact of the breach. it said there was no evidence the chinese hackers still had access to treasury information. we'll have more on this as it develops.

around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

now it's time for a look at today's sport with gavin. hello from the bbc sport centre. let's bring you up to speed with the football, on monday night, in the premier league. three big games to bring you. we're into the second half at old trafford, where alexandrer isak has scored in his sixth consecutive game. newcastle are 2—0 ahead, against manchester united — isak had them ahead after just four minutes. joelinton scored the second — it could be another miserable night, for ruben amorim. two games kicked off earlier. aston villa, 2—1 brighton. morgan rogers has them ahead now. and a shock on the cards, as ipswich lead chelsea, now 2—0. former chelsea player 0mari hutchinson with their second. ac milan have appointed sergio conceicao as their new manager, with the serie a side

confirming the news in a statement in the last couple of hours. this comes after they sacked head coach paulo fonseca after just six months in charge. milan were held to a frustrating 1—all draw with roma on sunday, a result that left them eighth in the serie a table. conceicao has signed an 18 month deal with the italian club. a few years back, there was little love lost between novak djokovic and the australian nick kyrgios, but the two have formed a friendship recently and have now teamed up to play doubles in the brisbane international. 2a time major winner djokovic and the 2022 wimbledon runner—up joined forces to defeat austria's alexander erler and germany's andreas mies. they even shared a chest bump and a warm embrace on match point! kyrgios was back on a competitive court for the first time in 18 months, following a wrist ligament injury. djokovic preparing for the australian open next month, with the help of the recently retired andy murray. being on of the net is actually great for a change because, you know, he has been one

of my greatest rivals and, you know, it was strange in a way for me to share all of these insights about how i feel on the court, sharing some of the secrets of what i'm going through, what i'm thinking about, how he sees my game. with somebody that has always been one of the top rivals. bad news for wales as their captain dewi lake has been ruled out of at least the first part of the six nations after undergoing bicep surgery. 0spreys head coach markjones said the hooker could be out for up to 12 weeks, going beyond the last game of the tournament against england— adding to wales head coach warren gatland's problems in the position. there was a thrilling conclusion to the fourth test between australia and india in melbourne — australia winning by 184 runs to take a 2—1 lead in the series. india were set a target of 340 in 92 overs — a sensational bowling performance in the evening session saw australia take the final seven wickets

forjust 3a runs as india were bowled out for 155 in the final hour. this was in front of a record attendance for a test match in australia — with over 373,000 spectators at the mcg over the five days. when you take all that into account, it's probably the best test match i've been in, in terms of the 80,000 in the first few days. the crowd, it was huge. i felt like it swing a lot as well. you know, it neverfelt like it was so far ahead of the game that it was a certain win so, overall, it's one of those great wins. and that's all the sport for now. you can keep up—to—date with on the —— with all the ongoing premier league action. manchester united still losing 2- 02 manchester united still losing 2— 02 newcastle. that is all the support for us for now. gavin, thank you.

dominique pelicot, the ex—husband of gisele pelicot, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for orchestrating and committing mass rapes against his wife while she was drugged, has decided not to appeal his sentence his lawyer has confirmed. at least 17 other men found guilty alongside him have said they will appeal. india has launched a rocket to carry out its first space— docking mission. the indian—made rocket blasted off from a site north of chennai, carrying two small spacecraft which will test the docking manoeuvre. space docking is crucial for manned travel to the moon, or supporting a space station. delhi hopes to become only the fourth country with such technology, after russia, the united states and china. prime minister narendra modi has previously announced plans to send a person to the moon by 2040. now it's pretty much a once in a lifetime event,

as the chance to glimpse the star known as t bor cor with the naked eye happensjust once every 80 years. the boost to its brightness comes from going "nova", releasing a huge burst of energy built up over the previous eight decades. astronomers now believe this rare celestial event may be imminent. earlier i spoke to jane clarke, vice—chair at cardiff astronomical society. the forecast of these things is like forecasting the weather on steroids, because, you know, around the earth, we've got all these wonderful weather satellites and things and loads and loads of data. this thing is 30,000 light—years away. we've got none of out there. 0k, we've got none of out there. ok, now this is a dead star, basically. so how is it... well, it is a parent star, almost. it is a pair of stars. most stars are double stars,

the sun is unusual in that regard. these double stars, one as you say is a dead star, there's no nuclear reactions going on, this is called a white wall. the amount of gravity of the white wall is beyond belief. it's like a million times as strong as our gravity, so it is hot as well, so if you were to stand on the surface, it is a toss—up whether you would get crushed by the gravity or fried first. the other star is a red giant, which is huge. it is thousands of times bigger than the sun. the surface gravity is quite weak, so it grabs material off of it which falls in. it then gets kind of glob done by this ultra strong gravity and crushed and eventually there is enough of it and it is so crushed that the nuclear reactions start. it's like having, i mean, it is the size of the earth. so it's like having your worst outside nightmare going on outside the

surface, the size of the earth. where it will burn brightly for a week. , , before we go, the number one men's chess player has said he will return to the world rapid and blitz chess championships in new york after a governing body agreed to relax the dress code, norwegian walked out on friday when he was told he couldn't wear jeans. friday when he was told he couldn't wearjeans. this is bbc news. do stay with us. more coming up shortly. hello there. the weather turning increasingly unsettled as we step into the new year. if you have plans on new year's eve, keep listening to this forecast because it's going to be dominated by this area of low pressure, particularly across the far north of the country. it's bringing increasingly wet and windy weather across scotland in particular. there will be some snow,

as well, to the far north and east. the met office has issued an amberwarning for the intensity of the rain from inverness down to fort william, so there's potential of some localised flooding and some travel disruption on what is a very busy day. so heavy rain moving its way south out of scotland, but a rash of showers tucking in behind the rain will tend to sit across northern england and north wales by the middle part of the afternoon. that means central and south—eastern england windy to end the day, but largely fine and dry. the rain across wales, across northern england, and then to the north and west of that, it's a case of sunny spells and scattered showers to close out the day. still double digits here, but in the far north of scotland, already in the cold air, just a couple of degrees above freezing for the northern isles. so as we move out of new year's eve into new year's day, we'll have this conveyer belt of moisture pushing in from the west. that means a day of relentless heavy rain sinking its way across central and southern england, and it will linger throughout the afternoon.

windy with it, as well. behind, sunny spells and scattered showers. here, the wind direction swinging round to a northerly. some of those showers could be wintry in nature, with the strongest of the gusts perhaps with the heaviest of the rain, gusts in excess of 55—60 mph. here, it will stay still relatively mild, but the colder air starting to dig in across scotland. and once that rain clears through, well, we see that arctic air taking over right across the country, a strong northerly wind as well. that means clear skies by day, but also through the night. hard frost to greet us first thing on thursday morning. plenty of clear skies continue, so there will be some sunshine. but because of the direction of that wind, it means that any showers could be a little wintry in nature as well. so, thursday and friday, we see more in the way of sunshine, but it'll be cold with it. somewhat milder, but a little more unsettled from sunday onwards.

this is bbc news, the headlines. the us government says a state—sponsored actor in china hacked the us treasury department earlier in december, gaining access to staff workstations and some unclassified documents. relatives of those killed in sunday's plane crash in south korea demand answers from the government as the anxious wait continues, for the recovery of their loved ones. russia and ukraine carry out one of the largest prisoner—of—war exchanges, since the onset of the full—scale invasion of ukraine. and edinburgh's world—renowned hogmanay new year's eve celebrations are cancelled due to extreme weather forecast in the scottish capital. now on bbc news, where the polar bears wait.

0n the edge of the canadian arctic, a community lives alongside the largest land predator on earth. they call it the polar bear capital of the world. but it's so much more interesting than that. a place that's been defined by remoteness, beauty and danger. there's a bear there! it's crossing the road. we heard crackers going off, and now the polar bear alert team are moving around, so we're going to get back in the car. the bear was up on this deck here. it was testing the door. we don't want him going back to town. this place, its people and its polar bears now face an uncertain future. the longer they're on shore, the longer they're fasting

and the longer they might need to start looking for