in my great cairns. coming up in my great british debate, i'll be asking, should nigel farage take legal action against kemi badenoch after the conservative leader accused reform uk of faking its membership numbers? well, i've got to pull up on x asking you that very question. what do you think? cast your vote then. difficult conversations. i'll be speaking to former prisoner turned entrepreneur and author stephen gillan about his thoughts on whether we should send more prisoners to open prisons in a bid for reducing re—offending. and in my niggle, i'll give you my top five hypocrites of 2024. oh no no no. that's eco activists just stop oil. but who would be your number one? before we get started, let's get your latest news with sam francis. >> nana. thank you. and good afternoon to you. just coming up

to 3:02. while the top story today, vladimir putin has apologised to the president of azerbaijan. it was a tragic incident in russian airspace involving a plane that crashed involving a plane that crashed in kazakhstan on christmas day, sadly killing 38 people. it comes after reports emerged that the united states had intelligence that indicated russia had believed the flight was a drone and engaged its air defences. the aircraft is thought to have come under fire from russia as it tried to land, before being diverted across the caspian sea to kazakhstan, where it later crashed. nigel farage says that elon musk is an absolute hero figure to younger voters, and will help win over reform uk voters. in an interview with the telegraph. farage said the billionaire was a huge help connecting young people with the party. discussing rumours of a large donation to reform, he said the tech mogul would give a reasonably sized amount, but added that it would need to be legal and above board. it comes

after nigel farage has demanded an apology from kemi badenoch after a row over claims that reform uk faked its membership numbers. the conservative leader accused mr farage of fakery after reforms online member tally overtook the last known number of registered tory members. flights have been cancelled and delayed across the country today as heavy fog affects visibility at uk airports, forcing a number of airports, forcing a number of air traffic restrictions. some areas have seen thick patches, thick patches of fog reducing visibility down to just 100m, according to the met office. gatwick and manchester that's the second and third busiest airports in the country, are among those worst affected by the bad weather. earlier, independent travel correspondent simon calder told us that people need to check before they travel. >> we saw over 150 cancellations yesterday, 48 from gatwick to and from gatwick, 42 at london city airport, 40 at london

heathrow, plus some at manchester, luton and other airports. and on top of that, i'm afraid saturday hasn't begun brilliantly. british airways has cancelled 18 flights so far to and from heathrow, another four at gatwick. and there's cancellations also at london city. so if you are flying today, good luck. >> it's being reported that sir keir starmer has ordered britain's key watchdogs to remove barriers to growth in a bid to kick start the british economy. it's understood the prime minister has written to the uk's main watchdogs, asking them to come up with ideas for reform that could boost economic growth. he reportedly contacted the companies, including energy regulator ofgem and water regulator ofgem and water regulator ofwat, on christmas eve. a woman has been charged with murdering a father of six on christmas day in staffordshire. police were called to a report of a man in cardiac arrest at about 3:25

am. on wednesday. they said despite the best efforts of medical staff, he died a short time later. 33 year old kirsty careless has now been charged with murdering 31 year old louis price. gb news can confirm that 1300 migrants have now crossed the english channel since christmas day, as hundreds more crossed today. it comes as the home office confirmed 305 arrived yesterday in five small boats. more than 400 also made illegal crossings on boxing day and 451 on christmas day. that now takes the total number who have arrived in the uk this year to more than 336, rather than 5000 500,000, a 20% rise on last year's total. and us president elect donald trump has made a last minute plea to get the supreme court to delay an upcoming nationwide tiktok ban while he works on a political resolution. congress had passed

a law earlier this year banning the popular video sharing app on as of january the 19th, if it wasn't sold by its parent company in china, bytedance, by then. us officials and lawmakers had accused bytedance of being unked had accused bytedance of being linked to the chinese government, which the firm has strongly denied. those are the latest headlines for now. i'll be back with you for another roundup in around half an hour. now that it's over to nana for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com/alerts. >> good afternoon. welcome. it's just coming up to seven minutes after 3:00. if you've just tuned in, great. you've tuned in at the right time. i'm nana akua and we're live online, on digital radio and on your tv right here, right now. this is

gb news. we are britain's news channel. coming up my great british debate this hour. i'm asking should nigel farage take legal action against kemi badenoch after the conservative leader, kemi badenoch accused reform uk of faking its membership numbers? well, i've got a poll up on x asking you that very question. cast your vote now and then. also coming up, we'll be discussing the significant channel crossings, the milestone, which has revealed 150,000 of them, have crossed to the uk since records beganin crossed to the uk since records began in only 2018. so just six years, that is, including 1300 illegals who have arrived since christmas day. and in my royal roundup, i'll be discussing princess catherine following her cancer diagnosis after being given the diagnosis earlier this yeah given the diagnosis earlier this year. stay with me. we've got loads still to come as ever. send me your thoughts, post your comments gbnews.com/yoursay. so

gb news can exclusively reveal 1300 illegal migrants. i know some people are calling them. what are they calling them? some other name, not illegal migrants. it's undocumented or something like that. have crossed the channel since christmas day as hundreds more crossed today. now all of this follows a significant milestone announced by the home office that 150,000 have crossed the british channel since records beganin british channel since records began in 2018. and in response to the figures, shadow home secretary chris philip called it aninqu secretary chris philip called it an insult and said it's clear a new approach is needed now. the national crime agency said stopping channel migrants is not possible without a rwanda style scheme. well, well, who would have thought it? it was a terrible mistake for labour to cancel our deterrent before it ever even started. that's why crossings are up 20% since labour came in. so joining me now, director of the centre for migration and economic prosperity, thank you very much for joining me. right. so let's

forjoining me. right. so let's have a chat. let's. good. good to talk to you. speaking to stephen wolf. stephen wolf, talk to me. what is going on? what should they have scrapped rwanda. was that a mistake? >> i know you had a good christmas as well. >> i know i forget my own name from time to time. don't worry. when i wake up first thing in the morning. yeah. no, i mean, of course, scrapping rwanda was a terrible idea. and it. because it was the only real deterrent. and in you've raised the numbers of over 150,000 have crossed the channel by the small boats since 2018. and if you put that in context, that's like a city the size of portsmouth unitary authority or gateshead, for example, that ignores those that have come across in other ways, whether they've come on planes and also those who are still coming on the backs of lorries. less so, but that adds numbers and also include excludes those who've come here on visas and

overstayed. if you add those numbers up, you're getting a cleaning double that. so deterrence was a crucial element. rwanda was a major part of that. if it was allowed to get off the ground and now you have the body set up by the labour party admitting that you will not be able to stop the boats or indeed stop the criminals unless you have such a rwanda style deterrent. that's what i want to see from the labour party this year. i don't hold my breath that they'll have a deterrence policy, but everybody now informs them, including those in the european union, that they need something like that. so let's see if phelps and the team at the home office who are dealing with phelps and the te