i'm phillipa thomas here at the bbc‘s headquarters in london.pecial edition of the programme, we're looking at some of the best reports of this year from our network of correspondents from around the world. coming up: stand—off in the skies above the south china sea. rupert wingfield—hayes flies over one of the most contested areas in the world, incurring the wrath of the chinese. you can't make no mistakes. it will cost you your life. ian pannell reports from barack obama's former hometown and finds gun crime is out of control. and battle of the sexes. the bbc went to extraordinary lengths this year to get a rare glimpse of china's determined expansion in the south china sea, one of the most contested areas anywhere in the world. beijing is building huge artificial islands on the spratly island chain, which the americans and others insist are illegal. the area is difficult to get to, but rupert wingfield—hayes flew in a small civilian aircraft into china's self—declared security zone 200 kilometres off the coast of the philippines. this is what

i'm phillipa thomas here at the bbc‘s headquarters in london.this special edition of the programme, we're looking at some of the best reports of this year from our network of correspondents from around the world. coming up: stand—off in the skies above the south china sea. rupert wingfield—hayes flies over one of the most contested areas in the world, incurring the wrath of the chinese. our captain is saying that we're a civilian aircraft, not a military aircraft, it didn't make any difference whatsoever, theyjust repeated the threat to leave the area over and over again. tiny victims of yemen's forgotten war. nawal al—maghafi finds starving children in desperate need of aid. he just had fever and diarrhoea and because they didn't have his medicine he passed away. we've just arrived in what is called the prong zone. under fire on ukraine's frontline. tom burridge and his team meet one of the conflict‘s most volatile hotspots where the fragile ceasefire has collapsed. you can't make no mistakes, it cost you your life, literally. ian pannell repor

from me, phillipa thomas, goodbye for now.ther that many saw over the festive period, things are turning colder and much quieter too. here's the scene in highland scotland on monday, some snow over higher ground. some sunshine to see out boxing day too across the isle of wight. high pressure is dominating the weather for everyone as we head through the day on tuesday. the isobars fairly widely spaced for the most part, much less windy than in recent days. frost and fog patches around especially in parts of england and wales, further north, more cloud and breeze around. looking around the country at 9am, across the bulk of england and wales, a fine start to the day. pretty chilly, the coldest night we have seen in a little while, some frost around and a few mist and fog patches. further north across northern england and northern ireland, more cloud and again a chilly start to the day, some isolated showers in the far north—west of scotland, perhaps some rain for a time towards the northern isles but that should clear then looki

from me, phillipa thomas, goodbye for now.r the festive period, things are turning colder and much quieter too. here's the scene in highland scotland on monday, some snow over higher ground. some sunshine to see out boxing day too across the isle of wight. high pressure is dominating the weather for everyone as we head through the day on tuesday. the isobars fairly widely spaced for the most part, much less windy than in recent days. frost and fog patches around especially in parts of england and wales, further north, more cloud and breeze around. looking around the country at 9am, across the bulk of england and wales, a fine start to the day. pretty chilly, the coldest night we have seen in a little while, some frost around and a few mist and fog patches. further north across northern england and northern ireland, more cloud and again a chilly start to the day, some isolated showers in the far north—west of scotland, perhaps some rain for a time towards the northern isles but that should clear then looking dry across—the—boar

from me, phillipa thomas, goodbye for now.son. it has been a quiet winter season so far. there is barbara with cloud working into the uk. the strongest winds are in the scottish islands. reports of power supply problems here. transport disruptions as well. into the atlantic our next storm system is forming, this is connor, strong winds to the north of scotland especially on boxing day. the weather watchers had their work cut out enjoying strong winds, being driven out into the bay in lerwick by the strong winds. that is how we start the day. showers and snow in scotland mainly above 200 metres, perhaps 100 metres at times. this is mainly in the hills where we will see that. because of that, we will have icy conditions on some of the roads first thing. england and wales, a lot of dry weather to start the day. a few isolated showers working into north—west england and across wales as well first thing. the further south and east you are the better chance you have of starting the day on a dry note with a fair bit of sunshine. but

from me, phillipa thomas, goodbye for now. hello there. us christmas day 2016 was very mild, almost record—breaking and that's because of the south—westerly winds across the country, ahead of our next named storm — storm conor. there's an amber warning in force from the met office for the day haead. storm force winds are in the forecast for the north and north—east of scotland, the northern isles and, for a time, the western isles as well, so they're really going to cause some issues. 0bviously dangerous conditions out to sea and we've had reports of dangerously high waves, so those will be affecting some coastal areas. it's not as if it won't be windy through the remainer of the night, severe gales around the coasts, gales inland and some wintry weather. those snow showers have been coming in thick and fast and they will be even falling at lower levels across the north of scotland. so it could be a bit wintry, with as few centimetres of snow building up by morning, by daybreak and, of course, as a consequence, a little icy. coldest for al

i'm phillipa thomas here at the bbc‘s headquarters in london.e, we're looking at some of the best reports of this year from our network of correspondents from around the world. coming up: stand—off in the skies above the south china sea. rupert wingfield—hayes flies over one of the most contested areas in the world, incurring the wrath of the chinese. ian pannell reports from barack 0bama's former hometown and finds gun crime is out of control. the bbc went to extraordinary lengths this year to get a rare glimpse of china's determined expansion in the south china sea, one of the most contested areas anywhere in the world. beijing is building huge artificial islands on the spratly island chain, which the americans and others insist are illegal. the area is difficult to get to, but rupert wingfield—hayes flew in a small civilian aircraft into china's self—declared security zone 200 kilometres off the coast of the philippines. this is what he found. it's just before dawn on the philippine island of palawan. even at this hour it's hot, but there's n

i‘m phillipa thomas here at the bbc‘s headquarters in london.

from me, phillipa thomas, goodbye for now. the first part will be quite as cold but that is the leasth of england before golby get in first up in the morning. quite so much in the south—west or more in the way we view to keep things mixed up but anywhere from central to east wales right through to the middle east staying in the south—east and then into the vale of york it could be quite a slow commute. for the rest of england and scotland are looking more libraries to keep things mixed overnight. chilly in a couple of spots but milder especially across the northern and western isles, close to a weather front here. some brightness in the mix for north of england west wales. but elsewhere it will stay quite cloudy and if you happen to keep fog for any length of time during the course of the day it may well be that your visibility really does suffer for a good while and your temperature may never get better than zero or one or two degrees. if the fog should lift it will could be back with a vengeance on thursday because that will be similar with more away a cloud again and rain getting i

i'm phillipa thomas.ter is on an historic visit to hawaii where's he's paid his respect at a us military cemetery. it's 75 years since the bombing of pearl harbor which drew america into the second world war. there've been tributes from fans and fellow artists alike for george michael following his death at the age of 53. his partner says he will never stop missing him. russia has observed a day of mourning after a military plane crashed on sunday, killing all 92 people on board. at the crash site in the black sea, a0 ships and more than 3,000 people are involved in the search operation. one of the main objectives is to find the aircraft's black box flight recorder, which is likely to contain information about the cause. steve rosenberg reports from moscow. across russia, they prayed for the dead, for the 92 victims of yesterday's plane crash. there was a special service today in every orthodox church in russia. this is a day of national mourning. this may be the last picture ever taken of the tupolev154.

i'm phillipa thomas here at the bbc‘s headquarters in london.ur network of correspondents from around the world. coming up: stand—off in the skies above the south china sea. rupert wingfield—hayes flies over one of the most contested areas in the world, incurring the wrath of the chinese. we have a report on barack obama's former hometown where gun crime is out of control. and how scientists are using animals to grow human organs. the bbc went to extraordinary lengths this year to get a rare glimpse of china's determined expansion in the south china sea, one of the most contested areas anywhere in the world. beijing is building huge artificial islands on the spratly island chain, which the americans and others insist are illegal. the area is difficult to get to, but rupert wingfield—hayes flew in a small civilian aircraft into china's self—declared security zone 200 kilometres off the coast of the philippines. this is what he found. it's just before dawn on the philippine island of palawan. even at this hour it's hot, but there's no sign here of