Russia launched a "massive" attack on several Ukrainian cities overnight on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, a day after he warned of strikes over the Christmas period.

At least three people were killed, according to Ukrainian officials, including a four-year-old child, while energy infrastructure was also targeted, leaving several regions without power.

Russia launched more than 600 drones and 30 missiles, according to Ukraine.

Zelensky said "people simply want to be with their families, at home, and safe" in the run-up to Christmas, and said the strikes sent "an extremely clear signal about Russia's priorities" despite ongoing peace talks.

He added: "Putin still cannot accept that he must stop killing. And that means that the world is not putting enough pressure on Russia."

Zelensky had previously warned it was in the Kremlin's "nature" to "carry out massive attacks" during the festive period.

Confirming a child's death in the central Zhytomyr region, local official Vitaly Bunechko said: "She was taken to hospital, doctors fought for her life but could not save her in the end." Five others were injured in the strike, he added.

Meanwhile, a 76-year-old woman was killed and three people injured when a house in the Kyiv region was struck, according to Ukraine's state emergencies service.

An attack in Khmelnytskyy, western Ukraine, killed a 72-year-old, regional administration head Serhiy Tyurin said.

Polish fighter jets were scrambled in response to missiles and drones targeting west Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry said it had targeted energy facilities and other transport infrastructure, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Meanwhile, Ukraine reportedly struck a petrochemical plant in Stravropol, southern Russia.

Videos shared by Russian media channels online showed large flames rising from the direction of the plant.

The region's governor, Vladimir Vladimirov, said a Ukrainian drone hit the plant and sparked a fire. No casualties were reported and residential buildings were left undamaged.

With temperatures expected to fall to as low as -7C on Wednesday, Ukraine's energy operator warned of emergency power shutdowns "in all regions" and urged people to use energy "sparingly".

Acting energy minister Artem Nekrasov said it was the ninth large attack on Ukraine's energy system this year, and that supply in the Rivne, Ternopil and Khmelnytsky regions has been "almost completely" lost.

Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko told the BBC World Service that some areas could be without power "for days".

The main focus of Russian attacks in recent days has been the southern port city of Odesa, which comes after Vladimir Putin threatened to sever Ukraine's access to the Black Sea.

The Russian president made the threat in retaliation for Ukrainian drone attacks on tankers belonging to Russia's "shadow fleet", vessels used to move good including oil which are under Western sanctions.

The Tuesday morning attack punctured a period of relative calm in the capital Kyiv, where it has been weeks since Shahed drones have been spotted flying low overhead.

In the Ukrainian capital, many suspect the most recent attack is linked to Monday's killing of a top Russian general after a car bomb exploded in Moscow.

Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov - the head of the armed forces' operational training department - died in the blast, which Russia has blamed on Ukraine. Kyiv has not commented.

It also comes after the latest round of US-led diplomatic talks in Miami, where envoys from Washington and Kyiv have been drafting detailed proposals to end the war.

According to Zelensky, the US had proposed a Christmas truce but Russia rejected the idea.

Zelensky said he received a progress report on the talks on Tuesday morning, and that "several draft documents have now been prepared", including a basic framework to end the war, future security guarantees for Ukraine, and on the country's post-war recovery.

Putin was also due to be briefed by his envoy Kirill Dmitriev on Tuesday on the latest discussions with Washington.

Donald Trump has said the US will keep or sell the crude oil contained on tankers it has seized off the coast of Venezuela, as well as the vessels themselves.

The US president's comments came as Washington continues to pressure the South American country's leader Nicolas Maduro to stand down.

Speaking to reporters in Florida on Monday, Trump said of the oil "we're going to keep it", adding: "Maybe we will sell it, maybe we will keep it. Maybe we'll use it in the Strategic Reserves. We're keeping the ships also."

The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of using oil revenues to fund drug-related crime, while Caracas has condemned the seizures as "piracy."

The US military has seized two oil tankers this month, including one on Saturday.

Trump issued his latest warning as the US Coast Guard continued to pursue a third oil tanker, which authorities described as part of a Venezuelan "dark fleet" used to evade US sanctions.

"It's moving along, and we'll end up getting it," Trump said.

Separately on Monday, the US military said it carried out a strike on what it said was a suspected trafficking vessel in international waters in the eastern Pacific. US Southern Command said one person was killed.

When asked whether the goal of the seizures was to force Maduro from power, Trump responded: "Well, I think it probably would... That's up to him what he wants to do. I think it'd be smart for him to do that. But again, we're gonna find out."

The US has been building up its military presence in the Pacific and Caribbean Seas and has carried out deadly strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling boats, killing around 100 people.

It has provided no public evidence that these vessels were carrying drugs and the military has come under increasing scrutiny from Congress over the strikes.

Speaking on Monday, Trump repeated that the US intends to strike targets on land too.

He said: "We'll be starting the same programme on land. If they want to come by land, they're going to end up having a big problem. They're going to get blown to pieces, because we don't want our people poisoned."

Speaking on state television, Maduro responded to Trump by saying: "He would be better off in his own country dealing with economic and social issues and the world would be better off if he focused on his own country's affairs."

Since returning to office in January, Trump has doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro's capture, accused him of being "one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world".

The Trump administration has designated Maduro's government as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO), and last week ordered a "blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela.

As the Venezuelan government relies heavily on oil exports to finance public spending, the latest measures have sparked outrage among officials in Caracas.

At Venezuela's request, the UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency session on Tuesday to discuss what the government has described as "ongoing US aggression".

Israel's parliament has extended an order allowing the government to shut down foreign broadcasters operating in the country.

The legislation, passed by 22 votes to 10, expands temporary powers introduced during the Gaza war to shutter outlets seen as a threat to national security.

It allows the government for the next two years to cease operations of a foreign outlet even in peace time and without the need for a court order.

Originally dubbed the "Al Jazeera Law", the powers were used to shut down the Qatari-owned channel's offices and block its broadcasts in May 2024.

Israel accused Al Jazeera - which has been a strong critic of Israel's military campaign in Gaza - of anti-Israel bias and of supporting Hamas in its coverage.

Al Jazeera denied the accusations and condemned Israel's actions, calling it a "criminal act" and an attack on press freedom.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said last year that the temporary order violated "freedom of expression, the right to information and freedom of the press, and blocks citizens and residents from receiving a variety of information that does not fit the Israeli narrative or is not broadcast on Israeli media channels".

The legislation extending the order was passed hours after the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to shut down Army Radio, or Galei Tzahal (GLZ), a state-funded station that is operated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) but is editorially independent.

Under the plan proposed by Defence Minister Israel Katz, the station will cease operations by 1 March 2026.

Katz argued that Army Radio, which employs both active duty soldiers and civilians, "no longer serves as a mouthpiece and ear for soldiers and broadcasts political and divisive content that is not in line with IDF values".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the cabinet meeting that a station broadcasting under the authority of the military was highly unusual.

"I think it exists in North Korea and maybe a few other countries, and we probably don't want to be counted among them," he said.

The Union of Journalists and Journalists' Organisations said they would petition the High Court of Justice against the decision, calling it "a severe and unlawful infringement on freedom of expression and freedom of the press".

The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) think tank said shutting Army Radio constituted a serious violation of freedom of expression and effectively wiped out half of Israel's independent public radio news broadcasts.

"The decision to shut down a public media organisation is not an isolated move. It is part of a broader and worrying pattern of ongoing harm to Israeli democracy," it warned.

A former councillor has appeared in court accused of a string of sexual offences against his ex-wife over a 13-year period.

Philip Young, 49, is charged with 56 offences, including multiple counts of rape and administering a substance with intent to stupefy his former spouse Joanne Young.

Mr Young, formerly of Swindon but now living in Enfield, spoke only to confirm his name and address at Swindon Magistrates' Court.

A total of six men have been charged with offences against Ms Young, 48, who has waived her legal right to anonymity.

Mr Young was remanded into custody earlier and is next due to appear at Swindon Crown Court for a hearing on 23 January.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Attorney General Pam Bondi took to X over the weekend with a bold statement: "President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in American history."

Her post was about efforts to release documents concerning the attempted assassination of Trump last July.

But the folks commenting in the replies had a completely different investigation in mind – the one into Jeffrey Epstein.

And they weren't buying it.

"Liar," snapped several people – along with many much harsher insults. One conservative YouTuber who mixes blistering tirades with Bitcoin promotions wrote: "I will vote for whatever President ... campaigns on arresting Pam Bondi over the cover up of the Epstein Files."

After folding into his coalition many non-traditional voters from the more fringe corners of the internet, Trump and members of his administration now find themselves coming face to face with the conspiratorial thinking they have stoked.

"This is the greatest cover-up by a president and for a president in history," said one member of a Facebook group devoted to sleuthing about the case. "Epstein is the story and don't let up."

At issue isn't so much the previously unreleased pictures of people like Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and legendary news anchor Walter Cronkite in Epstein's company – which is not an indicator of any wrongdoing – but the sea of blacked-out redactions in the files themselves.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump suggested that he would support the release of investigation files. In February, Bondi said they were "sitting on my desk right now to review".

But after so much time and anticipation, Friday's release landed with a whimper.

Joe Uscinski, an associate professor of political science at the University of Miami who studies conspiracy theories and conspiratorial thinking, says Trump's coalition is now more about scepticism and antagonism towards institutions - and less about traditional Republican Party goals.

Many in the movement, he says, believe that huge numbers of children are being used for sex trafficking, beliefs that are bolstered by Epstein's very real crimes as well as conspiracy theories like QAnon.

"People don't necessarily want documents released - they want documents released which tell them that what they believe is true."

The potential for political trouble is not lost on Trump's inner circle. In a Vanity Fair article published prior to the document release, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles described the people compelled to vote for Trump because of his promises on Epstein as "Joe Rogan listeners" – in other words, younger men who aren't traditionally into politics.

Wiles has called the story a "hit piece". But she has not disputed specific quotes, including her assertion that Trump has not yet solidified a lasting Republican majority.

"The people that are inordinately interested in Epstein are the new members of the Trump coalition, the people that I think about all the time – because I want to make sure that they are not [only] Trump voters, they're Republican voters," she told the magazine.

Polls and experts back up the chief of staff's concerns about the tenuous nature of Trump's coalition.

A survey released in early December by the right-wing Manhattan Institute think tank labelled nearly a third of Trump's supporters "New Entrant Republicans" – people who voted for the party for the first time in 2024. And the poll found that just over half of that category would "definitely" support a Republican in the 2026 mid-term elections.

"These voters are drawn to Trump but are not reliably attached to the Republican Party," the institute concluded.

• Trump's chief of staff disputes Vanity Fair story
• Image in Epstein files that features Trump reinstated after backlash
• Who and what are in the Epstein files?

The possible fragility of the Trump coalition is playing out on several different levels.

One crucial group is a collection of social media stars and podcasters who stand mostly outside traditional Republican circles but have clout and influence online.

They were instrumental in keeping social media attention on the Epstein story long after the convicted sex offender's death.

A group of influencers – including "Libs of TikTok" creator Chaya Raichik, conspiracy theorist and Turning Point USA activist Jack Posobiec, and elections organiser Scott Presler – were even invited to an event at the Department of Justice (DoJ) and given binders, which Bondi described as a "first phase" of Epstein document releases.

Little if anything new was in the binders, which caused a backlash. Outrage swelled further in July after the DoJ released a memo saying that there was no Epstein "client list" and rejecting conspiracy theories about his death in prison.

Yet following the most recent release, many of these same conservative influencers have been curiously silent.

Laura Loomer, a popular Maga social media influencer who has helped spread Epstein conspiracies online, claimed that they exonerated Trump from any wrongdoing.

"Maybe now the media will stop obsessing over these files," wrote Loomer, who has mentioned Epstein at least 200 times on X this year alone.

Others - including several who were at the DoJ binder event - have not mentioned the document release at all, positively or negatively.

Their silence has been noted by other right-wing and far-right commentators, sparking online Maga infighting. And the row over the Epstein case is just one controversy currently roiling the movement, with arguments over free speech, anti-Semitism and Charlie Kirk's legacy bursting out into the open at an annual conference put on by Turning Point USA this week.

Jared Holt, senior researcher at Open Measures, a company that analyses online extremism, says the debate over the Epstein files is just one controversy contributing to the challenges facing the Maga movement.

"At the beginning of the year, Maga was a triumphant intimidating cultural force, now the train is falling off the tracks and there's no clear sign that it will be stabalising or rebounding anytime soon," he says.

"It seems like the die-hard Trump base has atrophied over the course of the year," Holt says, but notes that it's too soon to tell if the recent heavily redacted document drop will have any significant impact on the sorts of "Joe Rogan listeners" Wiles is concerned about.

Prominent voices in Congress have been less shy than the influencer class about criticising the justice department. Soon-to-be-ex-Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene lambasted the release, calling it "NOT MAGA".

Thomas Massie, the Republican member of the House of Representatives from Kentucky who spearheaded legislation leading to the document release, spent the weekend lambasting the justice department online and on US weekend talk shows.

He accused Bondi and officials of being in violation of the law requiring the release of the files, and has joined forces with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna to push for greater transparency.

Massie has suggested that they could move to charge Bondi with "inherent contempt" for ignoring a congressional order - a move which could force further document disclosures.

Regardless of whether or not that happens, there may be further revelations in the next few days. Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, has promised hundreds of thousands more documents before the end of the year.

Maybe there was a memo sent round the royal households of Europe, but many of this year's Christmas cards seem to have similar images of showing their families holding on to each other tenderly.

Touching, linking arms, holding hands, hugging, they're all sending messages about how close they are to each other.

It's like royal superglue has been applied, connecting them in these Christmas portraits. This is the era of the relatable royals.

The Prince and Princess of Wales have been leading the way, with a Christmas card showing a relaxed, informal family group cosying up to each other in the Norfolk countryside.

As with last year's card, they're continuing in a style that is far away from a stiff, formal portrait, showing a young family having fun together on a spring day, full of affection, dressed in jeans and jumpers.

Prince William has talked about making changes in his approach to the monarchy.

And this is projecting an image that they're like any other family, with eye-lines not looking down on the viewer, literally down to earth, sitting on the grass.

Compare that to this 1969 Christmas card, which shows the royals laughing, smiling and gathered around a boat. Presumably this was meant to feel relaxed and modern.

But they're fairly stiffly dressed, they're all standing apart and it looks like they've just been presented a prize on a game show.

Back to 2025 and King Charles and Queen Camilla are arm in arm in their Christmas card - a show of unity in what's been a busy year.

The picture is a mix of the friendly and the formal, taken on the first day of the state visit to Italy, when the couple were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary.

The Queen is wearing a lily of the valley brooch, a symbol of enduring love.

That trip was in April, which accounts for the spring backdrop for this Christmas card. The setting is Villa Wolkonsky in Rome, the elegant residence of the UK's ambassador to Italy.

Prince Harry and Meghan are holding hands in their Christmas card - or in fact, a "Happy Holiday Season" card.

Unlike others they've got the season right, with some festive snow captured in a picture from the Invictus Game in Canada in February.

They look like a fashionable couple, smiling optimistically from behind their sunglasses. It's got a sense of movement.

Although the framing of the message isn't so intimate: "On behalf of the Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex."

This portrait of the Belgian royal family shows them as though on the way to some grand event. Or at least waiting at a very upmarket bus stop.

They've gone for a more polished look - suits, ties, long dresses - but also with a bit of greenery. The picture was presumably taken when it was warmer, outside their residence at the Palace of Laeken.

It's a multilingual country and the greeting inside - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - is in French, German, Flemish and English.

The Spanish royals have combined a range of styles with their Christmas card.

It's projecting a casual, approachable, family image, as if catching them accidentally on a walk in the countryside. No more ties or tiaras for these modern royals.

But at the same time, it has all the dynastic shape of a traditional court painting. A monarch and his family are looking out at us. It's Velasquez in jeans.

The setting, a place which won an award for the best village in the Asturias region, sends a message about supporting Spain's small communities and their traditional heritage.

King Felipe is 6ft 6in (1.97m) tall, so presumably the family group had to be arranged so that he didn't tower over them. For Spaniards, it's a case of very long to reign over us.

Monaco's royal Christmas card is much grander, with a big fire, oil painting, formal clothes, and a sense of regal order.

There's also a sighting of the Alan Partridge-style smart casual look.

Bonus points though for actually showing a bit of Christmas, with a tree and the log fire, unlike many of the other cards which are basically just people sending out pictures of themselves.

Another extra detail is the tiny dog smuggled into the picture, beside Charlene, Princess of Monaco. She's a former Olympic swimmer and so not shy about making a splash.

The Luxembourg royals, the Grand Duke Guillaume and the Grand Duchess Stephanie, have covered all the angles for a 2025 card.

It's got the touchy-feely, we're-not-uptight family atmosphere, full of playful laughs and children clambering over their parents.

It's also got a proper tree with decorations, there's a Rudolf reindeer toy and they've put some thought into all the splashes of red.

It might look a bit chaotic - but it's Christmassy.

But there was no contest for this year's winner. Juan Carlos, who abdicated as Spanish king in 2014, hit by scandals, now living in Abu Dhabi, sent an irresistible royal Christmas card.

Five small dogs in front of an artificial tree, looking regal in a kind of classic royal portrait line up. But it's more bark than Bach.

What does it mean? The light is glinting on the dogs' baubles. They look up with crumpled, hopeful faces. It's Christmas and that's a time for paws for thought.

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Police leaders are set to recommend scrapping non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) in a review to be published next month.

College of Policing chair Lord Herbert told the BBC a "sensible" new approach, focused only on the most serious incidents, would "re-balance the system" for the social media age.

NCHIs are alleged acts motivated by hostility or prejudice towards people with certain characteristics, such as race or gender, but which do not meet the bar for a criminal offence.

Current Home Office guidance says they are recorded to collect data on "hate incidents that could escalate into more serious harm", but critics say they divert police resources and restrict freedom of speech.

Though they are not crimes, NCHIs stay on police records and can come up in background checks.

Police guidance on the recording of NCHIs was first published in 2005, following recommendations by an inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence - the London teenager who was stabbed to death in a racist attack in 1993.

But Lord Herbert said "an explosion of social media" in the years since they were introduced has meant police had been drawn into monitoring "mere disputes" online.

Officers do not want to be "policing tweets", he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He added that recent headlines about NCHIs were "awkward and very damaging" for the police.

"It was quite clear that the whole regime needed looking at, that there was a perception that the police were being drawn into matters that they shouldn't have been," he added.

The home secretary will have the final decision on whether to adopt the recommendations outlined by the College of Policy and National Police Chiefs' Council in their review next month.

The Home Office told the BBC "a consistent, common-sense approach" that protected the "fundamental right to free speech" was needed, but added it would not pre-empt the findings of the review.

Details of the new proposals were first reported by the Telegraph. Lord Herbert told the newspaper that "only the most serious category of what will be treated as anti-social behaviour will be recorded".

Last year, the paper reported that 43 police forces in England and Wales had recorded more than 133,000 NCHIs since 2014.

In October, the Metropolitan Police said it would no longer investigate NCHIs to allow officers to "focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations".

It came after the policing watchdog said forces should stop recording them.

In April, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called for NCHIs to be scrapped in most cases, arguing they "wasted police time chasing ideology and grievance instead of justice".

Fake adverts for weight loss drugs by a company pretending to be health and beauty retailer Boots have been removed from TikTok after the firm complained.

The adverts for prescription-only weight loss drugs appeared to show smiling healthcare professionals from the British retailer - but in reality they were made with AI.

It is illegal to advertise prescription-only weight loss drugs to the public.

A spokesperson for Boots told the BBC the firm was "aware" of the videos and had complained to TikTok, which said it had removed the videos.

A TikTok spokesperson said it did not allow "harmful or misleading AI-generated ads" on its platform.

But the BBC found while the videos were removed, the account - seemingly located in Hong Kong - was not.

It was able to re-upload the exact same videos despite the originals being removed.

TikTok was again notified of this, and the user was subsequently deleted.

Weight-loss jabs have been available on the NHS in England since the end of June, but they are not available over-the-counter and patients must meet strict criteria in order to be eligible for a prescription.

Before the fake Boots account was removed, its videos linked to a website where weight loss drugs could be bought.

It featured testimonies from customers and doctors which were either made with AI or taken from other websites.

The TikTok videos showed what appeared to be health workers drinking from a vial of blue liquid.

This would then appear to jump forward several months, with the workers apparently having lost a drastic amount of weight.

"AI now makes it trivially easy to generate a convincing series of videos or images showing an apparent change in a plausibly real generic health professional, or to impersonate specific health professionals wholesale," AI expert Sam Gregory told the BBC.

"The underlying question is how quickly and comprehensively platforms act when they detect - or are notified of - scams that clearly breach their terms of service.

"Major brands like Boots will get prioritised over an individual business owner who's been targeted."

'Serious risks' to health

Other videos uploaded by the same account on TikTok seemed to have used content originally posted by real people, showcasing their weight-loss journey, but repurposed and used without permission.

All of the videos used similar branding and names to that of the official Boots account on TikTok - using the handle "@BootsOfficial".

Boots said it only runs adverts on social media through its actual account @BootsUK.

The website also included warnings from the MHRA, the UK's governmental body that ensures medicines and medical devices are safe, about purchasing counterfeit products.

A spokesperson for the body told the BBC weight loss medicines "should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy against a prescription issued by a healthcare professional".

"Taking these medicines sourced in any other way carries serious risks to your health with no guarantees about what they contain," they said.

TikTok said it would continue to "strengthen" its detection methods for AI-generated content and it does not allow "the depiction, promotion, or trade of controlled substances".

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"How much did Santa's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

The joke is met by groans that echo through a warehouse in Lambeth, London.

We're at a joke-testing session with Talking Tables, a London company that makes supplies for gatherings. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's founder and chief executive, Clare Harris grins, almost apologetically at the gag. But the joke has made the cut and will feature in future crackers.

"You measure the joke by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans around the table," Ms Harris says.

The key to a good Christmas cracker joke is not the same as a good gag per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the shared laughter of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, children and potentially the neighbours or friends who've joined this year.

"You want the joke to be something that brings the eight-year-old together with the 80-year-old," Ms Harris says.

Joke selection takes place on the upper level of the warehouse, where a handful of staff from across the company gather to pitch and assess the latest jokes they have come up with.

The jokes being worked through today will be the last few to make it into crackers for 2026.

The firm works at least a year in advance of the next batch of crackers.

"What do monkeys sing at Christmas?" asks Ms Harris. "Jungle bells, jungle bells."

On this occasion, there are more emphatic "noes" than groans, and Ms Harris accepts defeat this time around. It won't be found in a cracker next year.

"We have a database," she says. "But each year we make sure we bring our favourites from when we've used them at home."

Cracker joke material comes from a variety of sources including the internet, word of mouth and the company's own joke books.

Asked whether they've yet succumbed to the lure of artificial intelligence, Ms Harris responds with a firm denial.

She says the aim of the session is to work out what their favourites were and which delivered the greatest emotional reaction.

"Does it do what we want around the Christmas table?" she asks.

Chloe Lloyd, from the sales team, pitches a joke she has heard earlier that day.

"What does the moon do when it needs a haircut?," she asks. 'Eclipse it!"

That's an instant hit, the group says.

Gathering to enjoy shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts say, it is likely to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with people around the Christmas table  you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal play vocalisation," says Prof Sophie Scott, the director of University College London's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Shared laughter, she says, helps make and maintain social connections between people.

Researchers have found the lack of such interactions can seriously damage mental and physical health.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced levels of endorphin uptake," says Prof Scott.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a truly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a silly joke with a Christmas cracker," Prof Scott says. "You are actually doing a lot of the really important work of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with those you love."

And it is not just humans that laugh.

Laughing, says Prof Scott, is an invitation to play and build social bonds. Rats and a number of other mammals do it too.

But what is actually happening inside the brain when we hear a joke?

An awful lot happens in response to humour, it turns out.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scanner which shows which parts of the brain are working harder, Prof Scott and her team has been able to map the areas that receive more blood.

Testing involves scanning the brains of healthy participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a neutral "crunchy" noise, or pre-recorded laughter, and to then examine which parts of the brain are working hardest.

"In the scanner we got a really interesting pattern of activation," says Prof Scott.

A joke activates not just the parts of the brain responsible for hearing and interpreting speech, but also brain areas involved in both planning and initiating movement and those involved in vision and memory.

Put all of this together, says Prof Scott, and people hearing a joke have a complex set of neural responses that underpin the laughter we hear - they not only listen to and understand the joke, but prime the motor functions needed to prepare to laugh, and have their response influenced by images from memory.

Researchers discovered that when a funny word is paired with laughter there is a greater response in the brain than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the brain that you would use to move your face into a smile or a laugh," Prof Scott says.

It means people are not just responding to funny words or jokes, they are responding to the laughter that accompanies them.

Laughter, says Prof Scott, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter found around a Christmas table?

"You laugh more when you know people," says Prof Scott, "and you laugh more when you like them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, the feel-good factor is more likely to be caused not by the joke itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The joke is the terrible Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

Will we ever discover the perfect joke?

Probably not, but that has not stopped experts from trying to.

In 2001 Prof Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, in Hatfield, set up LaughLab, the scientific search for the world's funniest joke.

More than 40,000 jokes later, with ratings lodged on those jokes by 350,000 people around the world, Prof Wiseman has a better idea than most as to what works and what does not.

The perfect Christmas cracker joke needs to be short, he says.

"But they also need to be poor jokes, jokes that make us groan," Prof Wiseman adds.

The more "terrible" the joke, he says the better.

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker jokes is that none of us find them funny.

"That's a shared experience around the table and I think it's lovely."

The Archbishop of Wales has said that some parishioners have chosen to leave the Church in Wales in protest over her sexuality and gender.

The Most Reverend Cherry Vann, who is also Bishop of Monmouth, became both the UK's first female Archbishop as well as the first openly gay Archbishop in the world, in July.

Speaking ahead of delivering her first Christmas message as Archbishop, she said she had been hurt by attacks over her sexuality, but added those with different opinions should not be forbidden from expressing their views.

It follows the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Gafcon) describing her appointment as "another painful nail in the coffin of Anglican orthodoxy".

Speaking to BBC Wales, the Archbishop said: "There are still patches all over the place where people continue to struggle with women in leadership and I have to respect that.

"The Church in Wales is working hard to welcome LGBT+ people, but also I respect that there are people in the Church in Wales who find that really difficult.

"Some, sadly, have felt the need to leave and I take that very seriously".

Archbishop Vann was elected by her fellow bishops with a two-thirds majority, following the retirement of her predecessor, Andrew John, in the summer.

He retired after issues with safeguarding, excessive drinking and church members overstepping sexual boundaries came to light at Bangor Cathedral.

Archbishop Vann said the vast majority of people had been supportive about her election, but added others had been "quite hostile".

"It can be very hurtful", she said.

"It's hard to hear some of the things that people say, but I think it's important that there is the space for them to say that.

"I don't want people to feel shut down or silenced just because I hold a different view.

"But it does nevertheless hurt because it feels like an attack on who I am and who God has made me to be.

"We have to find a way as a Church to respect one another's views and find a commonality in our faith in Christ, despite our differences".

Archbishop Vann said that despite the widespread interest in her election because of her sex and gender, they were not the most important things to her.

"Other people find it fascinating", she said.

"I had a lot of people contact me rejoicing at my election and saying how much hope and strength they get from the fact that there is now a woman in the role – and a civilly partnered woman at that.

"I've had the opposite as well. That's just life".

In her Christmas message, the Archbishop said she had chosen a passage from the Gospel of John about finding light in the darkness, a popular choice at carol services.

"It's really about how the coming of Jesus into the world is the light in the darkness – and there's plenty of darkness around in the world at the moment", she said.

"Our message as Christians is that Jesus comes into all that difficulty and despair and brings the light of hope and love and joy, because of who he is".

After a turbulent year for the Church in Wales, Archbishop Vann said she was very conscious of her responsibility to fix the issues that led to her predecessor's departure.

Asked whether her time as Archbishop should be judged against her ability to change the culture within the Church, she said it presented a significant challenge.

"I think there is a big cultural issue in the Church", she said.

"Anybody who has tried to change the culture in an organisation will tell you it takes a long time.

"This is a big thing and I guess that there will still be work to do when I retire.

"(We need) to take a greater care for those who have been damaged by the Church, of which sadly there are many.

"But I am hopeful that we are already making changes.

"There are many people who are determined to make a difference and ensure that the Church is a place where, when things go wrong, they are dealt with properly".