American Airlines has resumed flights after suspending its services for around an hour on Tuesday due to a technical issue that impacted the systems needed to release its planes.

The nationwide halt was cancelled just before 13:00 GMT, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The disruption came during one of the busiest travel days of the year as passengers made journeys on Christmas Eve.

In a statement, the airline said a "vendor technology issue" had caused the issue and it was "all hands on deck" to minimise further disruption.

"We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience this morning," the airline said.

"It's all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible."

Flights are still showing delays as the airline recovers from the nationwide issue, but real-time tracking website Flightradar24 shows planes taking off again at a number of major US travel hubs.

Passengers reported on social media being stuck on the tarmac or at gates as flights were impacted by the outage for around an hour.

In a video posted on X by a CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a gate agent announced a flight to Philadelphia was going to start boarding.

"The system is slowly coming back," the agent announced from a gate.

In July, American Airlines, among other major operators, grounded flights across the US due to communication issues caused by a global IT crash.

That failure - which also affected banks and emergency services - was caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.

Protests have broken out in Syria over the burning of a Christmas tree near the city of Hama.

A video posted on social media showed masked gunmen setting fire to the tree on display in the main square of the Suqaylabiyah, a Christian-majority town in central Syria.

The main Islamist faction which led the uprising that toppled President Bashar al-Assad said the men responsible for the arson were foreign fighters and had been detained and that the tree would be swiftly repaired.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across the country, demanding the new Islamist rulers protect religious minorities.

In the Bab Touma neighbourhood of Damascus, protesters carried a cross and Syrian flags, chanting "we will sacrifice our souls for our cross".

"If we're not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don't belong here anymore," a demonstrator named Georges told AFP news agency.

Syria is home to many ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis, the last of whom make up a majority of the Muslim population.

Just over two weeks ago, Bashar al-Assad's presidency fell to rebel forces, ending the Assad family's more than 50-year-rule.

How the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group will govern Syria remains to be seen. The group has a jihadist past, which it has distanced itself from, and an Islamist present.

As fighters marched to Damascus earlier this month, its leaders spoke about building a Syria for all Syrians.

Representatives have also said that the rights and freedoms of religious and ethnic minorities would be protected.

HTS remains designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, US, EU and UK, though there are signs that a diplomatic shift may be underway.

On Friday, the US has scrapped a $10m (£7.9m) bounty on the head of HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, following meetings between senior diplomats and representatives from the group.

The US is continuing its military presence in Syria - it said it conducted airstrike in the northern city of Deir Ezzor that killed two ISIS operatives.

The presence of foreign fighters, Islamic extremists like ISIS or even regime supporters who have interest in causing insecurity and attacking minorities to shake the country's stability are the big challenge that the new Islamic leadership will face.

Some Morrisons customers have still not had their Christmas orders after the supermarket experienced what it called "systems issues" on Monday.

One customer told the BBC she was waiting for about £200 worth of groceries, another said he was struggling to get answers from the firm.

It follows chaotic scenes at what is the UK's fifth biggest supermarket on 23 December - the biggest grocery shopping day of the year - which saw deliveries cancelled and promotional discounts not applied.

Morrisons has apologised and insisted deliveries are back to normal but it has yet to reveal the cause of the problems despite repeated requests from the BBC.

'In limbo'

One Morrisons customer in Worcestershire, who did not want to be named, pays for a delivery pass which gives her priority access to busy slots such as at Christmas.

An hour before her delivery slot on Monday evening, she received a text message saying the delivery had been delayed.

On Tuesday morning, she still had not heard anything from Morrisons and had not got the delivery.

"I have no idea if my order is coming or not," she tells BBC News. "So I'm kind of at a real loss."

The customer had an order worth about £200, and had saved vouchers over the year to take it down to £100.

She says the lack of communication has left her "in limbo."

"I could go [out] today and spend £200 and then come home and Morrison's turn up with £200-worth of shopping," she adds.

"The complete lack of communication is the biggest thing, because you can't form a plan B, and you can't plan when it's Christmas Eve."

Problems started early on Monday morning, when customers who had ordered for Christmas started receiving emails saying their deliveries would be delayed or cancelled.

Then, when shops opened, in-store customers found their vouchers were not being accepted at the tills.

In response, Morrisons applied a 10% discount for members of their More Card loyalty scheme and applied other discounts for non-More Card holders.

"Today the Morrisons store experience is back to normal, but all More Card customers will still get 10% off their whole shop instore throughout the day," the supermarket told BBC News on Tuesday morning.

It added: "Click and Collect and Home Deliveries are working as normal. We are determined not to let a single customer down this Christmas."

Another Morrisons customer, Matthew Welch in Northumberland, had his delivery cancelled yesterday morning.

He said the manager he spoke to when he phoned up was "less than helpful."

Matthew told BBC News: "The manager had said that he needed to wait until the problem was fixed and then he would come back to me, which he did not."

He added: "I have since discovered that another four people in the village where I live have also had their Christmas deliveries canceled yesterday as well."

The BBC spoke to two other people in Northumberland who had deliveries cancelled yesterday.

Morrisons insists these cancellations were separate to the main "systems issues" it had, but would not go into more detail.

Mr Welch ended up buying his groceries locally, but has not had any information regarding his Morrisons order.

"Especially with Christmas slots, you're booking them six to eight weeks in advance, and there's really no excuse to cancel on the day the delivery is due," he says.

"I'll be swapping to another supermarket, but I won't use Morrisons again for anything," he adds.

'Will not be forgotten'

Consumer expert Kate Hardcastle says the supermarket chain needs to be honest and transparent with its customers.

"It's something that will be not very quickly forgotten into the new year," she told the BBC.

"I think it's about trying to lean in, doing as much as they can, being very honest about it," she adds.

She says that the way supermarkets use loyalty schemes have changed in recent years, from offering points to offering discounts for members.

"If we're going to see retailers implement these systems where you can only access a certain price through the schemes, then you absolutely have to make sure they're watertight," she says.

"Our grocery stores, they are built on legacy IT systems which can really get impacted at sensitive times of year... it's about trying to understand into the new year how they can really work with their loyal customers to make up for this."

Four rioters have been given short jail terms for violence against football fans visiting Amsterdam for a Europa League match between Ajax and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Sefa Ö, 32, was handed the longest sentence of six months in jail by Amsterdam district court, while another man was given 10 weeks and two others a month's detention each. A fifth defendant was given a community service order under the Netherlands' juvenile law.

The judge said a prison sentence for the four was appropriate given the seriousness of the actions and the context in which they took place.

The riots broke out in several areas of the Dutch capital in early November and led to international condemnation.

The five defendants sentenced on Tuesday were the first to be tried for hit-and-run attacks that erupted in the early hours of 8 November, after incidents that took place over two days.

The court said that there was a lot of video evidence showing Maccabi fans facing extreme violence, and also pointed to footage of supporters pulling down Palestinian flags as well as chanting slogans against Arabs. Taxis were also vandalised by the fans.

The court chairman added that there had already been unrest in the Netherlands because of the war in Gaza.

While the court took "the context" of the events into account, it said there had been "no justification for calling for and using physical violence against Israeli supporters".

• Amsterdam violence exposes tensions in society and spills over to politics
• New arrests made in Amsterdam over violence after football match

Sefa Ö was found to have given a karate-type kick to one victim, causing him to fall against a moving tram, as well as taking part in several other attacks.

The trial saw video footage appeared to show him kicking and hitting victims on Dam Square, Damrak and Zoutsteeg, and prosecutors said he had played a leading role in violence that had nothing to do with football.

Rachid O, 26, who was given 10 weeks in jail, was found to have taken part in a WhatsApp chat group called Buurthuis2, on which he referred to intended victims as "cowardly" Jews who he would never again get the chance to attack.

More than 900 people were in the group and thee court said the chat had been used to pass on information to "commit violence against people of Jewish descent and/or supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv".

Umutcan A, 24, was also found to have kicked one of the victims several times while taking part in an attack with other men and then kicked another fan on the ground. CCTV footage had shown him attacking several Maccabi fans, as well as grabbing one fan by the throat and seizing his football scarf.

He had written in messaging groups about a "Jew hunt" but told the trial he did not harbour hatred towards Jews.

Karanveer S, 26, had already been convicted of assault in 2022 and the court noted that did not deter him from taking part in last month's attacks.

The youngest of the five, Lucas D, 19, was found to have used violence against a police officer and taken part in a separate Snapchat group calling for violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

The five all have two weeks in which to appeal.

The court said he had an illegal, high-explosive "cobra" firework in his possession at the time of his arrest. Prosecutors had called for Lucas D to be given a jail term.

Chief prosecutor René de Beukelaer had earlier rejected suggestions that the attacks had amounted to terrorism, because he said it was not the aim of the group to instill fear in the people they were targeting.

However, he did say there were instances of antisemitism exchanged on a messaging group.

"I can well understand that the Jewish community in Amsterdam was left afraid because of this violence, but that's different from saying that was the goal of the suspects," he told Amsterdam's AT5 TV channel earlier this month.

An investigation has been launched after a passenger's hand became trapped in the closing doors of an Elizabeth line train as it was leaving London's Ealing Broadway station.

The incident, which happened shortly after midnight on 24 November, saw the passenger having to run alongside the train before they were freed by a member of staff who was working on the platform.

The driver was alerted to what was happening by other rail users, and the train stopped after moving approximately 17m (56 ft). The passenger reportedly suffered minor injuries.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said it would look into what happened. Transport for London has been approached for comment.

Among the issues the RAIB said it would consider are the actions of those involved and the arrangements in place to manage and control the risks associated with passengers getting on and off Elizabeth line trains.

In June 2023 the RAIB investigated after two people were dragged along London Underground platforms by trains when their coats got stuck in the train doors.

The incidents happened at Archway and Chalk Farm stations on the Northern line.

The passenger at Archway was seriously injured after being dragged along the platform for about 2m (6.5ft) when their coat became trapped in the doors of a northbound Northern line train.

In its report into the incidents the RAIB recommended that London Underground should look at reducing the risk of a passenger becoming trapped and dragged along by a departing train.

This could include technology that can detect when thin objects, such as fingers, straps or clothing, become trapped in train doors, and detect when something is being dragged along by the departing train.

It said Tube bosses should consider modifying door seals to make it easier for small, trapped objects, such as clothing and straps to be pulled free from closed doors.

The board also said London Underground should review the current minimum automatic train dwell times to determine if passengers have sufficient time to safely get on or off trains.

Elizabeth line injuries

Concerns have previously been raised about passenger safety on the Elizabeth line at Ealing Broadway due to the gap between the platform and the train.

In July the mayor of London apologised to several Elizabeth line passengers who were seriously injured using trains at the station and said work was being done to make sure the high gap would be fixed.

Three passengers told BBC London they had been hurt using the service at Ealing Broadway station because the gap between the platform and trains is too big.

Sadiq Khan said he was "shocked" to see reports on BBC London of those injured, adding: "I'm really sorry. You should not be injured going about your daily business."

At the time TfL and Network Rail both said they were "sorry" some passengers had sustained injuries and safety was their "priority".

The £18.8bn Elizabeth line opened in May 2022 and links Reading and Essex via central London.

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The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) has dementia and late onset Alzheimer's disease, his legal team has said in a court document filed in New York.

Lawyers for Mike Jeffries have requested a hearing to determine whether he is mentally fit to stand trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

The 80-year-old was arrested alongside his partner in October and charged with running an international sex trafficking and prostitution business. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

A so-called competency hearing has been scheduled for June next year.

Mr Jeffries, who ran US clothing brand A&F for two decades, is accused of running a sex trafficking and prostitution business from at least 2008-15.

US prosecutors allege that he used his wealth, power and status "to traffic men for his own sexual pleasure", and for the pleasure of his British partner Matthew Smith, 61.

They said the couple, alongside a middleman James Jacobson, 71, used force, fraud and coercion to make vulnerable, aspiring models engage in violent and exploitative sex acts.

All three men have pleaded not guilty to the charges and been released on bond.

The FBI began investigating last year after the BBC revealed claims Mr Jeffries and Mr Smith had sexually exploited men at events they hosted around the world.

The BBC investigation, published in October 2023, found the pair were at the centre of a sophisticated operation involving a middleman scouting young men for sex.

In the same month, Brian Bieber, Mr Jeffries' lawyer, said his client was examined several times by a neuropsychologist who later concluded diagnostic impressions that he was suffering from two types of dementia and probable late onset Alzheimer's disease.

In the court filing, Mr Bieber added that during an initial meeting last year the former fashion boss "did not even come close to resembling a master's degree-educated individual, who was just nine years earlier the chief executive officer of a publicly traded company".

As a result, Mr Bieber questioned the ability of Mr Jeffries to "rationally assist" with the possible factual and legal defences to the allegations he was facing, according to the document.

The filing comes after Mr Jeffries' legal team sought a competency hearing, which will now be held over two days on 16 and 17 June 2025.

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.

Mr Jeffries stepped down as CEO and chairman of A&F in 2014, and left with a $25m (£19.9m) retirement package.

Alongside the criminal case, A&F, Mr Jeffries and his partner have been defending a civil lawsuit accusing the retailer of having funded a sex trafficking operation.

Earlier this month, Mr Jeffries sued A&F after it refused to pay his criminal defence costs, arguing the brand had agreed to indemnify him for all claims arising out of his position.

From the moment Justin Baldoni announced in 2019 that he was adapting the best-selling book It Ends With Us into a film, there was a widespread frenzy.

There are few books in recent years that have become as big a cultural phenomenon as Colleen Hoover's novel - it has sold 20m copies and became an internet sensation on TikTok with more than one billion tags on the app.

When Blake Lively, who rose to fame in the 2000s playing Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl, was cast as the main character, fans became even more excited, describing her as the perfect choice to play Lily Bloom, a young woman who grew up witnessing domestic abuse and winds up in the same position years later.

Lily, a florist in Boston, navigates a complicated love triangle between her charming but abusive boyfriend Ryle Kincaid - played by Jane the Virgin's Justin Baldoni - and her compassionate first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar).

Released at the beginning of August, the film became a box office success bringing in more than $350m (£280m) globally.

But despite its financial success, everything wasn't running so smoothly behind the scenes. Rumours of a feud between Baldoni and Lively began swirling before the film was even released.

Last week, Lively filed a legal complaint against her co-star, accusing him of sexual harassment and starting a smear campaign against her, something Baldoni strongly denies. Here is the story so far:

It Ends With Us press tour

For a film about domestic abuse, the press tour for It Ends With Us was probably not what you would have expected. There were pink carpets, flowers galore and the promotion of Lively's new haircare brand and her husband's gin company.

Instead of advocacy on the red carpet, Lively highlighted fashion and florals.

At the London premiere, press were told to keep questions "fun and light-hearted" with one event organiser telling me to "steer away from questions on domestic abuse".

One of her remarks made at the New York premiere - "you are so much more than just a survivor or just a victim" - sparked backlash on social media.

Domestic abuse survivor Ashley Paige criticised Ms Lively's language and told the BBC that her own trauma "shaped my identity".

Lively was also criticised for her comments in another clumsy promotional tour video where she said: "Grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to see it."

Ms Paige accused Lively of promoting the film like it's "the sequel to Barbie".

Justin Baldoni's absence

Alongside the press tour being described as "tone-deaf", people started asking questions about why the Lively and Baldoni weren't photographed on the red carpet together at the film's New York premiere on 6 August.

The pair also did no interviews together during the press tour and at the London premiere, which Baldoni didn't attend, I was warned by Lively's team to not "ask any questions about Justin".

Internet sleuths also spotted that cast members including Lively and author Hoover did not follow Baldoni on social media.

Neither Lively or Baldoni addressed rumours of a feud during the press tour and the only reference to each other was Baldoni telling Today that his co-star was a "dynamic creative".

"She had her hands in every part of this production, and everything she touched made [it] better," he said about the 37-year-old.

Mixed critic reviews

While the film was a box office success, it received mixed reviews from critics with some saying it romanticised domestic abuse.

There was a two-star review from The Telegraph's Tim Robey, who called it a "queasy drama" that "repackages domestic violence as slick romance".

He suggested the film "splices abuse and glossy courtship in the big city to deeply dubious effects".

The movie also sparked a debate on TikTok, with some saying that it's not clear from the trailer that this story is about an abusive relationship and rather it appears to be telling a love story.

Based on this misconception, some people said they found the film traumatic as they didn't know it contained scenes of domestic abuse.

'Smear campaign'

During the film's press tour, Baldoni hired a crisis manager, Melissa Nathan, whose previous clients include Johnny Depp and Drake.

Shortly after the press tour, Lively faced a barrage of criticism on social media relating to her comments on that tour as well as from old interviews.

One of the interviews to resurface was one shared by a Norwegian journalist, Kjersti Flaa, who posted a video on YouTube of her interviewing Lively in 2016. It was titled "The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job."

Actor Brandon Sklenar, who plays Atlas in the film, defended Lively and said in a post on Instagram that people had been "vilifying" the women involved in the film online.

He said it was "disheartening to see the amount of negativity being projected" and that someone close to him who had experienced a relationship similar to Lily's had credited the film with "saving her life".

Legal complaint

Four months after the film's launch, Lively filed a legal complaint against Mr Baldoni in which she accused him of sexual harassment.

The complaint also listed Wayfarer Studios, Mr Baldoni's production company which produced It Ends With Us, as a defendant.

The legal filing accuses Mr Baldoni and Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath of "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour". Some other female cast and crew had also spoken up about their conduct, the filing alleges.

It also alleges that Ms Lively, Mr Baldoni and other people involved in the development of the film attended a meeting in January to address "the hostile work environment" on set. Her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, attended the meeting alongside her, according to the complaint.

At the meeting, attendees agreed to a list of demands, including Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath making "no more descriptions of their own genitalia", requiring an intimacy coordinator on set at all times when Ms Lively was in scenes with Mr Baldoni and no "friends" of the producers and directors being on set during scenes when Ms Lively was in a state of nudity.

The list of demands also implied that Mr Baldoni had asked Ms Lively's trainer how much she weighed and alleged that Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath had spoken about their "pornography addiction" to Ms Lively.

Plan to 'destroy' reputation

In the filing, Ms Lively also alleges that Mr Baldoni and his team attacked her public image after the meeting.

She accuses him of orchestrating a plan to "destroy" her reputation in the press and online, including hiring a crisis manager who led a "sophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan" against her and used a "digital army" to post social media content that seemed authentic.

"To safeguard against the risk of Ms Lively ever revealing the truth about Mr Baldoni, the Baldon-Wayfarer team created, planted, amplified, and boosted content designed to eviscerate Mr Baldoni's credibility," Ms Lively's team wrote in the filing.

In the filing, Ms Lively says that this had led to "substantial harm" that affected "all aspects" of her life.

Mr Baldoni's legal team told the BBC the allegations are "categorically false" and said they hired a crisis manager because Ms Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

Responding to the legal complaint, Mr Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said on Saturday: "It is shameful that Ms Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives."

Mr Freedman accused Ms Lively of making numerous demands and threats, including "threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film", which would end up "ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met".

Support for Lively

Hollywood stars including America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel have publicly backed Lively after she filed her complaint.

Ferrera, Tamblyn and Bledel, who starred with Lively in 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, issued a joint statement on Instagram, on Sunday saying they "stand with her in solidarity".

"Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set, and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice," they wrote.

Colleen Hoover, the author of It Ends With Us, also showed her support, describing Ms Lively as "honest, kind, supportive and patient".

Additional reporting by Grace Dean.

Some Morrisons customers have still not had their Christmas orders after the supermarket experienced what it called "systems issues" on Monday.

One customer told the BBC she was waiting for about £200 worth of groceries, another said he was struggling to get answers from the firm.

It follows chaotic scenes at what is the UK's fifth biggest supermarket on 23 December - the biggest grocery shopping day of the year - which saw deliveries cancelled and promotional discounts not applied.

Morrisons has apologised and insisted deliveries are back to normal but it has yet to reveal the cause of the problems despite repeated requests from the BBC.

'In limbo'

One Morrisons customer in Worcestershire, who did not want to be named, pays for a delivery pass which gives her priority access to busy slots such as at Christmas.

An hour before her delivery slot on Monday evening, she received a text message saying the delivery had been delayed.

On Tuesday morning, she still had not heard anything from Morrisons and had not got the delivery.

"I have no idea if my order is coming or not," she tells BBC News. "So I'm kind of at a real loss."

The customer had an order worth about £200, and had saved vouchers over the year to take it down to £100.

She says the lack of communication has left her "in limbo."

"I could go [out] today and spend £200 and then come home and Morrison's turn up with £200-worth of shopping," she adds.

"The complete lack of communication is the biggest thing, because you can't form a plan B, and you can't plan when it's Christmas Eve."

Problems started early on Monday morning, when customers who had ordered for Christmas started receiving emails saying their deliveries would be delayed or cancelled.

Then, when shops opened, in-store customers found their vouchers were not being accepted at the tills.

In response, Morrisons applied a 10% discount for members of their More Card loyalty scheme and applied other discounts for non-More Card holders.

"Today the Morrisons store experience is back to normal, but all More Card customers will still get 10% off their whole shop instore throughout the day," the supermarket told BBC News on Tuesday morning.

It added: "Click and Collect and Home Deliveries are working as normal. We are determined not to let a single customer down this Christmas."

Another Morrisons customer, Matthew Welch in Northumberland, had his delivery cancelled yesterday morning.

He said the manager he spoke to when he phoned up was "less than helpful."

Matthew told BBC News: "The manager had said that he needed to wait until the problem was fixed and then he would come back to me, which he did not."

He added: "I have since discovered that another four people in the village where I live have also had their Christmas deliveries canceled yesterday as well."

The BBC spoke to two other people in Northumberland who had deliveries cancelled yesterday.

Morrisons insists these cancellations were separate to the main "systems issues" it had, but would not go into more detail.

Mr Welch ended up buying his groceries locally, but has not had any information regarding his Morrisons order.

"Especially with Christmas slots, you're booking them six to eight weeks in advance, and there's really no excuse to cancel on the day the delivery is due," he says.

"I'll be swapping to another supermarket, but I won't use Morrisons again for anything," he adds.

'Will not be forgotten'

Consumer expert Kate Hardcastle says the supermarket chain needs to be honest and transparent with its customers.

"It's something that will be not very quickly forgotten into the new year," she told the BBC.

"I think it's about trying to lean in, doing as much as they can, being very honest about it," she adds.

She says that the way supermarkets use loyalty schemes have changed in recent years, from offering points to offering discounts for members.

"If we're going to see retailers implement these systems where you can only access a certain price through the schemes, then you absolutely have to make sure they're watertight," she says.

"Our grocery stores, they are built on legacy IT systems which can really get impacted at sensitive times of year... it's about trying to understand into the new year how they can really work with their loyal customers to make up for this."

A woman accused of murdering her five-year-old son has appeared in crown court for the first time.

Claire Button, 35, of Windstar Drive in South Ockendon, Essex, is charged with the murder of Lincoln Button, who was found dead on 15 December.

Ms Button appeared by video link from HMP Peterborough during a hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court and only spoke to confirm her name.

She was remanded into custody until a plea hearing at Basildon Crown Court on 20 January.

During the hearing she was not asked to enter a plea and no application for bail was made.

Essex Police said it worked with paramedics to try and save Lincoln Button's life.

The force initially responded to reports of serious concerns for the welfare of a child and a woman at an address in Windstar Drive.

It said a woman was taken to hospital for treatment and her condition improved.

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There is a festive chill at Sandringham on Christmas Day morning - especially when you find yourself standing outside St Mary Magdalene Church at 5am, as I often have in my years as a royal correspondent.

Last year I watched as King Charles and Queen Camilla led the royal party to church on Christmas Day, followed by the Prince and Princess of Wales, holding the hands of their children as they spoke to the crowds.

The Princess kept a firm grip on playful Prince Louis while they were given Christmas cards and presents, along with dozens of flowers.

I could never have predicted that this was the last time we would see her in person for more than six months. I was expecting to head to Italy with the couple on a royal tour, but she wouldn't join the Royal Family on another official engagement until Trooping the Colour in June.

On 16 January, the Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital for major abdominal surgery. At the end of March, she went public with her cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy.

For her husband, it was the start of a year that he would go on to call "the hardest of his life".

It throws up memories of Queen Elizabeth's own "sombre year" of 1992 when there were multiple marriage breakdowns within the family and a major fire. At the time she described it with the now infamous phrase, "annus horribilis".

In 2024, Prince William faced not only his wife's ill health, but the King's cancer diagnosis too, and always there in the background was the apparently unresolved conflict with his brother Prince Harry.

But it was also a year in which certain aspects of Prince William's approach were cemented - family came first, the school run was prioritised. For the Prince of Wales, this time of turbulence appears to have reinforced what matters to him most.

Along the way, however, it has also become evident what kind of senior royal William wants to be. We've seen more of his apprenticeship as a global statesman, especially during the 80th anniversary of D-Day on a stage alongside world leaders - but the William way has also left some questioning certain choices he has made.

The toll on William and Catherine

On 27 February, the Prince of Wales was due to give a reading at the thanksgiving service for the late King Constantine of Greece at St George's Chapel in Windsor. The illustrious guest list included European royalty.

Around an hour before the service was due to begin, however, Kensington Palace announced that the Prince would be unable to attend due to a "personal matter". There were reassuring words from the Prince's team that there was "nothing to panic about" but it was highly unusual.

Around this time, the Princess was given the news that cancerous cells had been discovered in post-operative tests.

Over the next three weeks, the couple told the children what was happening and had time to deal with their questions privately before going public.

"I think what was remarkable was just how hard it was for the Prince of Wales at the start of the year," says a friend of the Prince. "His wife had gone in for major surgery and it became worse than expected. Then there was, 'How do I tell my three children that Mummy is ill?'"

All of this was happening against the backdrop of the King's own cancer treatment, which he made public on 5 February.

"At a time when he was trying to protect his wife and children, he had that terrible thought that that if his father dies then everything changes," says the friend.

Several people who know the Prince personally or have worked with him this year told me that the spotlight on what was wrong with his wife took its toll on both William and Catherine.

"He was having to operate against the backdrop of the entire world questioning what was happening to his wife," one friend told me.

With his father largely out of action for several weeks and the Princess away from public duty, the royal diary was looking stretched. Prince William was adamant that public duty would have to wait until the situation at home was more settled.

It offered a hint of Prince William's way of doing things. Yes, he understood that his was a life where duty and service are expected. But for him, a man who had experienced immense loss at a young age, his wife and children were most important of all.

Support from the Middletons

There were two other important factors at home that helped the Prince of Wales support his wife and children – his in-laws, the Middletons; and living in Windsor.

When the Princess made her public announcement about her diagnosis, the message was posted on royal social media accounts, and one of the first people to publicly respond was her brother James.

Alongside a childhood holiday photo of himself and his sister, he wrote: "Over the years, we have climbed many mountains together. As a family, we will climb this one with you too."

Together with his sister Pippa and parents Carole and Michael, the family became key to keeping life as normal as possible for the royal children. People living locally reported seeing Carole Middleton, who lives 30 miles away in Bucklebury, Berkshire, regularly driving in and out of Windsor Castle.

And when the Princess's surgery prevented her from driving, it was her mother who often drove her daughter to school to collect the three children.

The decision to move from Kensington Palace to Windsor Castle in 2022 also proved timely.

"Windsor has been a sanctuary. It has provided the protection and privacy the family needed this year," said a friend.

The family live in Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroom house within the Castle grounds that is secluded enough to give the family freedom that Kensington Palace, which is located in central London, could not.

Snatched photos show the Prince of Wales using an electric scooter to get around the grounds. When on royal duty, he would occasionally reveal a snippet about life at home, such as his continued devotion to Aston Villa FC, or a favoured film or TV series – earlier this year he enjoyed action film The Fall Guy and more recently he and the Princess watched spy thriller series Black Doves on Netflix.

He has also taken his children to football matches at local clubs and both he and the Princess have continued to be part of school life at Lambrook, the private school in Berkshire that their children attend. During her treatment, the Princess was still able to be on the sidelines during sports days.

From Prince Harry to Uncle Andrew

All of this appears to have pushed other personal issues right down the Prince's agenda.

The rancour between William and Harry is said to remain. Harry has visited the UK over the past 12 months but is not believed to have met his brother. They are thought to have not spoken to one another in around two years.

There have been new controversies around Prince Andrew in recent months too, including revelations about his links to Chinese businessman Yang Tengbo, who was barred from the UK after concerns about national security risks. Prince Andrew has said that he had ceased contact with Mr Yang.

But the prince did not attend the Royal Family's traditional pre-Christmas lunch.

Such matters will have been dealt with by the King but, as heir to the throne, William's voice in family matters is increasingly significant.

Robert Hardman, journalist and author of Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, says the relationship between Charles and his eldest son "has reached a new level of understanding".

"We still have a tendency to look at William as the kid, the apprentice, the understudy," he says. "But he's now been a front rank royal for 10 years. He's been around the block more than many current heads of State."

The hazards of speaking out

Unusually, much of what the Prince has said about his year has come directly from him rather than via formal statements or briefings.

During his visit to South Africa in November for the Earthshot Prize, the Prince's environmental project, he spoke about his passion for the cause but also about the struggles of 2024.

"From a family point of view, it's been brutal," he told the group of us who had travelled to Cape Town. For someone who has been guarded in the past, his language was surprisingly frank.

His demeanour was open and positive too, clearly energised by Earthshot and being back in Africa, but he a gave a glimpse into how he conflicted he was when he viewed his role as Prince of Wales.

"It's a tricky one," he said. "Do I like more responsibility? No. Do I like the freedom that I can build something like Earthshot, then yes."

What struck me the most after spending almost a week in Cape Town was how he framed his outlook on the modern monarchy, saying he wanted to do the job with a "smaller R in Royal".

"I'm trying to do it differently," he admitted, "and I'm trying to do it for my generation."

What he meant was not doing things in the same way as his father and grandmother.

Charles and William "are different characters", observes Robert Hardman. "The King is more intellectually curious, and spiritually and theologically engaged. These areas aren't of deep interest to William.

"The tone of their communication is different. The King remains fairly traditional. William has his own way of doing things."

Some have questioned the William way. One critic, Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, argues against the Prince's decision to focus his efforts on the issue of homelessness.

"[It is] crass and hypocritical of William to get involved in it, given the excessive wealth we gift him," he argues.

However, Mr Hardman disputes the notion that William's involvement in projects like this are inappropriate. "I think William is currently a more conventional Prince of Wales than his father was at this age. Prince Charles was a more radical heir to the throne.

"The creation of the Prince's Trust sounded alarm bells at Buckingham Palace and Downing Street. William isn't ringing alarm bells."

The William way

Prince William has far fewer patronages than his father. The King currently has 669 – many maintained from his 70 years as heir to the throne. Prince William's slimline, more focused approach leaves him with around 30.

It is a deliberate strategy: fewer projects but higher impact in the hope of bringing about social change. Those who have worked closely with him this year praise this approach.

"His contribution is unbelievable," said Hannah Jones, the CEO of the Earthshot Prize. "He has set the vision."

But that bold action comes with more risk.

Last month, I travelled to Newport in South Wales with the Prince to meet those working on his homelessness project in the city. It was 10 months since his wife's cancer diagnosis, her chemotherapy was complete and William seemed to me to be less burdened by life.

He was in listening mode, and spoke to dozens of people. In some of the conversations, it struck me how many ventured into the political.

The Prince told the project team to think differently, to be disruptors and challenge the way things had always been done.

"We drive in a very non-political lane," a royal source told me. "We use our platform to convene and shine the spotlight on a societal issue and that remains unchanged. We are feeling bullish about what we can achieve even in really hard circumstances."

The statesman Prince

In the years ahead William will no doubt face further challenges around his role. In this current age of social media, for example, deference and respect for monarchy isn't the mood in the room.

But it is clear from his public work that he doesn't view his future as one filled with plaque unveilings and handshaking.

"I have to be seen to be believed," is a quote attributed to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. For her grandson, the approach is more: "I have to be seen to be making a difference."

Through 2024, he has ticked off meetings with many world leaders from the Emperor of Japan to the President of South Africa rounded off by the US president-elect, cementing his role on the global stage, promoting the UK with a touch of soft diplomacy.

Next November, the COP climate summit is being held in Brazil and the Prince is "looking forward to playing a role there". An Earthshot Prize in Brazil may be a possibility too.

Ultimately, the development of Prince William as family man-meets-global statesman is ongoing - and he's looking increasingly comfortable juggling both roles.

Top picture credit: Getty Images

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Two NHS hospital trusts in London are using AI technology to see if they can spot type 2 diabetes in patients up to a decade in advance of the condition occuring.

Imperial College and Chelsea and Westminster hospital NHS foundation trusts have started training the AI system - called Aire-DM - that checks patients' ECG heart traces for subtle early warning signs that are tricky for doctors to otherwise detect.

Clinical trials are planned for 2025 to see if it works as well as is hoped.

Early work suggests they system can spot risk about 70% of the time.

Giving the AI extra details about other background risk factors, such as the patients age, sex and whether they already have high blood pressure and or are overweight, can improve the predictive power, says lead researcher Dr Fu Siong Ng.

He told BBC News: "It is already quite good just with the ECG data, but it is even better when you add in those."

An ECG (electrocardiogram) records and can reveal problems with the electrical activity of the heart, including the rate and rhythm.

Dr Fu says the ECG changes that the system detects are too varied and subtle for even highly skilled doctors to interpret with the naked eye.

"It's not as simple as saying it's this or that bit of the ECG. It's looking at a combination of subtle things."

As part of the trial up to 1,000 patients at both hospitals will have ECG scans read by the AI system to see if it helps detect and predict disease.

It's not something that will be offered to routinely yet, although the experts hope it could be rolled out more widely on the NHS. That could take five years or more, says Dr Fu.

The British Heart Foundation, which is funding the work, says detecting people at risk of diabetes could ultimately save lives.

Having uncontrolled type 2 diabetes can lead to heart attacks and strokes, for example.

Maintaing a healthy weight and eating a healthy diet and exercising can help protect against complications.

Professor Bryan Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This exciting research uses powerful artificial intelligence to analyse ECGs, revealing how AI can spot things that cannot usually be observed in routinely collected health data. This kind of insight could be a gamechanger in predicting future risk of developing type 2 diabetes, years before the condition begins.

"Type 2 diabetes is a rapidly growing health challenge that increases the risk of developing heart disease, however with the right support it is possible for people to reduce their risk of developing the condition. We look forward to seeing how this technology could be incorporated into clinical practice."

What is type 2 diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes is a common condition where the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood becomes too high.

It happens if the body cannot make enough of, or cannot correctly use, a hormone called insulin, which controls blood sugar.

Some cases are linked to being overweight.

That is because fat can build up in and around the pancreas - the organ that makes insulin.

Type 1 diabetes, meanwhile, is an autoimmune disease.

"We have appalling roads, no street lights, no fibre broadband, no mobile phone signal, no gas, no mains water, no mains sewerage and no mains electricity."

Sam Wood is one of the 48 people living in the remote Upper Coquet valley in Northumberland, in farms and cottages dotted along a single track road winding into the Cheviot Hills, straddling the border between England and Scotland.

She has campaigned for a decade to get mains power to an off-grid community she describes as "on the edge of society".

But with a connection to mains electricity coming, this is the last Christmas the community will have to celebrate with the threat of a blackout hanging over them.

The noisy diesel generators that power their homes cost up to £10,000 a year to run, and can break down at any moment, including on Christmas Day.

"We never know when it might happen, we can go months with no problems then the generator can stop working three times in a week," Sam says.

"My husband Daniel has to go out in the dark to try and sort it and if he can't, well, I get the candles out."

There are very few people in the country who are able to repair and service them.

For now, the community relies on Claude Schiavetta, who travels from his home in Dunkeld in Scotland.

"Sometimes when I arrive, families have been without power for a week or two," he says. "So they're usually very pleased to see me."

He may no longer be needed in the valley, but Claude doesn't begrudge the residents.

"I'll miss them all when they get power, but it's about time," he says. "Nobody should be without mains electricity in this country in this day and age."

The valley missed out on the electrification programmes of the 20th Century because the farms were too remote, and for many years the community was told a connection would be too expensive.

But when the Home Office decided it needed to supply mains electricity to three emergency telecommunication masts in the valley, an opportunity arose to connect many of the properties too.

The project is being funded by the Home Office and Ministry of Defence (MoD) which owns the land.

The valley is within the Northumberland National Park and its planning authority initially wanted all the lines buried.

A compromise was agreed, which will see 7.5 miles (12km) carried by poles and three miles (4.7km) run underground.

Northern Powergrid site team manager Matthew Brown says their aim is to have "the least impact possible".

"We did so many surveys, on the trees, on great crested newts, on the birds of prey and we have an on site archaeologist to make sure we don't damage anything we come across."

"I grew up in this area, we want to preserve it for future generations," he adds.

Scott Anderson's family has been at Linshiels for generations and although he still farms there, he and his family live in a house further down the valley which has mains electricity.

Shona Anderson says there were many reasons why they moved out, but the reliance on a noisy, dirty generator was definitely one of them.

"It would break down and sometimes we'd be without power for weeks or even months, she says, adding: "We have had times when we went away for the weekend just to have power.

"It's great to think next Christmas we should be back in here, the kids are older now but we've had some amazing times here, they've got good memories of the place."

Not everybody in the valley is getting mains electricity.

Sheep farmer Megan Byatt's home is too remote to get a reliable connection.

"It's a bit of a running joke that we're not getting it, but I don't begrudge my neighbours," she says.

"I'm hoping we'll get some renewables so at least we'll get something out of it."

Upper Coquetdale is a community of fewer than 50 people, some living many miles apart, but the valley Christmas party is well attended and all the talk this year is of the new cable.

"There's still that little doubt," Shona says, "but it's so nice to see the poles as you drive up the valley and you think to yourself, yes, this could actually happen."

Sam agrees: "This is a community where we look out for each other.

"If someone's in trouble, we all help, and that's happened many times.

"Mains electricity won't change that, the valley will always be a very special place."

Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.

Protests have broken out in Syria over the burning of a Christmas tree near the city of Hama.

A video posted on social media showed masked gunmen setting fire to the tree on display in the main square of the Suqaylabiyah, a Christian-majority town in central Syria.

The main Islamist faction which led the uprising that toppled President Bashar al-Assad said the men responsible for the arson were foreign fighters and had been detained and that the tree would be swiftly repaired.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across the country, demanding the new Islamist rulers protect religious minorities.

In the Bab Touma neighbourhood of Damascus, protesters carried a cross and Syrian flags, chanting "we will sacrifice our souls for our cross".

"If we're not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don't belong here anymore," a demonstrator named Georges told AFP news agency.

Syria is home to many ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis, the last of whom make up a majority of the Muslim population.

Just over two weeks ago, Bashar al-Assad's presidency fell to rebel forces, ending the Assad family's more than 50-year-rule.

How the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group will govern Syria remains to be seen. The group has a jihadist past, which it has distanced itself from, and an Islamist present.

As fighters marched to Damascus earlier this month, its leaders spoke about building a Syria for all Syrians.

Representatives have also said that the rights and freedoms of religious and ethnic minorities would be protected.

HTS remains designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, US, EU and UK, though there are signs that a diplomatic shift may be underway.

On Friday, the US has scrapped a $10m (£7.9m) bounty on the head of HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, following meetings between senior diplomats and representatives from the group.

The US is continuing its military presence in Syria - it said it conducted airstrike in the northern city of Deir Ezzor that killed two ISIS operatives.

The presence of foreign fighters, Islamic extremists like ISIS or even regime supporters who have interest in causing insecurity and attacking minorities to shake the country's stability are the big challenge that the new Islamic leadership will face.

A consultation has been launched on the phasing-out of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

The government says this will "restore clarity" for vehicle manufacturers and the charging industry.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander wants industry views from automotive and charging experts on how to deliver Labour's manifesto commitment to restore the 2030 deadline.

It had been extended to 2035 under the previous Conservative government.

The measure comes amid a row between the government and the industry over the phasing out of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

Last month, Ford said the UK government's mandate to produce and sell more electric vehicles (EVs) "just doesn't work" without demand.

Lisa Brankin, Ford UK's chair and managing director, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on that occasion: "The one thing that we really need is government-backed incentives to urgently boost the uptake of electric vehicles."

The transport secretary said the automotive industry had been "stifled by a lack of certainty and direction" over the last few years.

"This government will change that," she added.

The consultation proposes updates to the Zero Emission Vehicle (Zev) mandate, which sets out the percentage of new zero emission cars and vans that manufacturers will be required to sell each year up to 2030.

More than two-thirds of car manufacturers in the UK, including Stellantis, have committed to transitioning fully to electric cars by that year.

However, firms have also announced thousands of job cuts, partly because of EV targets.

The Department for Transport said the consultation would "restore clarity for vehicle manufacturers and the charging industry" so they "have the confidence to invest in the UK in the long term and drive growth in the UK automotive industry".

The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank said the UK would meet its targets because the mandate took into account credits earned from selling lower-emission hybrid petrol and diesel vehicles, as well as sales of vehicles that were fully electric.

The 22% required to be achieved by each manufacturer is due to be reached as an average across the industry, according to the think tank.

Last month, EVs made up one in four cars sold in the UK, Ms Alexander said, with drivers "already embracing EVs faster than ever".

"Today's measures will help us capitalise on the clean energy transition to support thousands of jobs, make the UK a clean energy superpower, and rebuild Britain," she added.

The government said the consultation would also be part of a "wider push" to make it easier and cheaper to charge electric cars.

There are now more than 72,000 public charging points in the UK, with another 100,000 planned by local authorities across England.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of automotive industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the automotive industry welcomed the government's "review of both the end of sale date for cars powered solely by petrol or diesel, and possible changes to the flexibilities around the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate".

"These are both critical issues for an industry that is facing significant challenges globally as it tries to decarbonise ahead of natural market demand," he added.

"With the 2025 market looking under even greater pressure, it is imperative we get an urgent resolution, with a clear intent to adapt the regulation to support delivery, backed by bold incentives to stimulate demand," Mr Hawes said.

A Russian cargo ship, Ursa Major, has sunk in the Mediterranean between Spain and Algeria after an explosion in the engine room, Russia's foreign ministry has confirmed.

It said 14 members of the crew were rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena but two others were missing.

Ursa Major left port in St Petersburg 12 days ago, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

The ship's owner said it was on its way to Vladivostok in Russia's Far East carrying two cranes for the port weighing 380 tonnes apiece, although the destination could not be confirmed independently.

Ursa Major was in the same area of the Med as another sanctioned Russian ship, Sparta, when it ran into trouble and the two ships had been spotted heading through the English Channel last week, reportedly under escort.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) reported that the Sparta was heading to Russia's naval base on the Syrian coast at Tartous to move military equipment out of Syria after the downfall of Bashar al-Assad.

A Kremlin official said on Monday that Russia was in contact with Syria's new rulers on the future of its two military facilities. at both diplomatic and military level.

Ursa Major's owner Oboronlogistika has been heavily involved in transporting cargo to Tartous, although Sparta's reported destination on Tuesday was Port Said in Egypt.

On Monday, the HUR reported that the Sparta had broken down off Portugal, but the problem had been fixed. Ursa Major was also known as Sparta III, so it was not clear which ship it was referring to.

It is not known what caused the explosion on Ursa Major as it passed between Oran in Algeria and the Spanish town of Aguilas. However, unverified video showed the ship listing badly on Monday.

It was built in 2009 and placed under sanction after Russia's full-scale invasion in Ukraine in 2022 because of the ship owner's role in delivering cargo to the Russian military.

Oboronlogistika said the cargo ship, which it described as the flagship of its fleet, was carrying 45-tonne hatch covers for icebreakers, as well as the large cranes for the port in Vladivostok.

Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine is the birthplace of one of the world's favourite carols.

But there are few signs of Christmas in the city this year. Just a dusting of snow on deserted streets and skeletal buildings - and the constant sound of heavy shelling.

Pokrovsk is Russia's next target. Its troops are now less than two miles (three kilometres) from the city centre.

And it's not just buildings and homes that are being destroyed. Ukraine accuses Russia of trying to erase its cultural identity too – including its associations with that well-known carol.

Most of Pokrovsk's population has already fled. The gas supply's been turned off and many homes are without electricity and water. Those who remain, like 59-year-old Ihor, only break cover to find the bare essentials. He says it's like living on a powder keg – you never know when or where the next shell will land.

Oksana, 43, says she's too frightened to leave her home, but goes out during a lull in the shelling to find wood and coal to keep warm.

She tells me she hopes Ukraine's armed forces can hold on to the city, but she thinks that's unlikely. Pokrovsk, she says, will probably fall.

The city has already prepared for the worst. The statue of its famous composer, Mykola Leontovych, has already been removed. The music school that bore his name now lies boarded up and empty.

Leontovych may not be well known in the West. But the tune he composed is familiar around the world - with its chime-like vocals. It's thought that Leontovych wrote the early scores of the composition, based on a Ukrainian folk chant, while he was living and working in Pokrovsk between 1904 and 1908.

In Ukraine it's known as Shchedryk. To most of the world it became known as the Carol of the Bells, after American composer Peter Wilhousky wrote English lyrics for the song. The tune's use in the Hollywood film Home Alone helped boost its popularity.

Viktoria Ametova calls it "a masterpiece - the signature song of Pokrovsk". She too was until recently teaching music in the city, in the school that bore Leontovych's name.

She's now moved to the relative safety of Dnipro. It's where many of Pokrovsk's former residents are still trying to keep the memories of their former home alive.

Beneath a salvaged portrait of Leontovych, Viktoria watches as 13-year-old Anna Hasych strikes the familiar chords of the carol on a piano.

The Hasych family fled Pokrovsk this summer. But they're determined not to forget the place they still call home. Anna's mother, Yulia, says she's glad to see her daughters practising Shchedryk. "We won't forget the history of our town," she says.

For Anna, the tune brings back memories. "When I played it at home it seemed happy. It reminded me of winter and Christmas," she says. "Now it's more of a sad song to me because it reminds me of home, and I really want to go back."

But for one Ukrainian military band, Shchedryk has become a song to inspire resistance. They're even playing it in the trenches – using weapons as improvised instruments.

They may be musicians, but their commander reminds me that they're soldiers first. All have spent time on the front line. Colonel Bohdan Zadorozhnyy, the head of the band and its conductor, says the song helps lifts soldiers spirits. "Those beats and rhythms cheer up the guys on the front line and inspire them to fight," he says.

22-year-old Roman uses a rocket launcher casing, filled with rice, to shake vigorously in time with the music. Shchedryk, he says, is the "pride of our country, it's freedom, it's in our souls, I get goosebumps from this song".

Colonel Zadorozhnyy says Shchedryk shows that Ukraine is a civilised nation, now at war, fighting for its identity.

Pokrovsk may well fall into Russian hands. But its people are doing all they can to preserve their culture and identity.

The director of Pokrovsk's History Museum, Angelina Rozhkova, has already salvaged and transferred most of its prized possessions to safety – including artefacts from Leontovych's life in Pokrovsk.

Russia, she says, doesn't just want to take Ukraine's territory – "It wants to destroy our culture and everything precious to us".

Angelina says the people of Pokrovsk understand they may never go back, "but our heart and souls do not accept that". Hence they're doing everything they can to preserve the past. The new motto is "keeping and saving, equals winning".

It's hard to say you're winning when your city's being destroyed. But its people, like Leontovych's music, are displaying extraordinary resilience.

Leontovych's life came to an abrupt end in 1921 when he was shot by a Soviet agent. His composition had become a symbol for the fight for Ukraine's independence. It still is.

Additional reporting by Hanna Chornous and Anastasiia Levchenko

A women's solidarity honour that was recently awarded to Justin Baldoni has been rescinded after the actor was accused by his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively of sexual harassment and mounting a campaign to "destroy" her reputation.

Baldoni was honoured by Vital Voices, a global non-profit organisation that focuses on empowering women, with the award earlier this month.

The organisation announced Monday evening that it rescinded the award after the legal complaint filed by Lively alleged "abhorrent conduct" by the actor, his studio and a crisis public relations team that it said was "contrary to the values" held by the non-profit.

Baldoni's legal team have told the BBC that the allegations are "categorically false" and said they hired a crisis manager because Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

In the romantic drama, Lively plays a woman who finds herself in a relationship with a charming but abusive boyfriend, played by Baldoni.

The Voices of Solidarity Award was given to Baldoni on 9 December during an awards ceremony in New York, Vital Voices said in a statement. The award was presented by comedian Hasan Minhaj and celebrates "remarkable men who have shown courage and compassion in advocating on behalf of women and girls".

He posted about the award on his Instagram page, saying he was "deeply honoured and humbled" and noting the continued work to needed to be done to help future generations of men.

"My hope is that we can teach our boys, while they are still young, that vulnerability is strength, sensitivity is a super power, and empathy makes them powerful," he says in the post.

In a statement on Monday, Vital Voices explained it had revoked the award and notified Baldoni of the decision.

Less than two weeks after the awards ceremony, Lively, who is best known for her role on the TV show Gossip Girl, filed a legal complaint accusing Baldoni and his team of attacking her public image. She says in the complaint the attacks followed a meeting to address "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour" by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.

According to the filing to the California Civil Rights Department, a list of 30 demands relating to the pair's alleged misconduct was made at the meeting to ensure they could continue to produce the film. The list included requests such as no more mention of Baldoni's "pornography addiction", no descriptions of genitalia and no addition of intimate scenes that weren't approved by her when she read the script.

Lively also accused Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of leading a "multi-tiered plan" to wreck her reputation in the media and online, including hiring a crisis manager who led a "sophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan" against her and used a "digital army" to post social media content that seemed authentic.

Responding to the legal complaint, Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement on Saturday that the accusations were "categorically false".

Freedman accused Lively of making numerous demands and threats, including "threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film", which would end up "ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met".

He alleged that Lively's claims were "intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media".

"It can't carry on after this," explains James Corden. "It just can't."

Standing outside his mobile dressing room in a car park on the outskirts of Cardiff, the co-creator of Gavin & Stacey is explaining why the sitcom is ending after 17 years.

"Look, obviously there's lots we can't talk about. But Christmas Day, will be the last time that we ever see all these characters get together."

He insists that it is "not up for debate" and the show which he also co-writes and stars in as Smithy, will not be, to use the show's distinctive parlance, occurring again.

"There are some things happening in this special which really, really tell us that has to be it. We can't see a way how it could go on. So that's the reason to end it now."

From 21:00 on Christmas Day around the country, this much-loved show, will be wrapped up amongst the wrapping paper.

It is just after 8am on a grey October morning. BBC News has been invited to spend a day watching one of the final ever filming days of Gavin & Stacey for a half-hour iPlayer special.

Our first stop is the make-up truck, where Ruth Jones, Nessa in the show, is having a Welsh dragon tattoo applied to her arm.

"The girls are always in before the boys," she laughs.

"James Corden is in for five or six minutes at most. I'm in for an hour and a quarter. But the results speak for themselves," she chortles, "And he misses out on the really, really dirty, disgusting gossip."

One mirror along, Joanna Page is being turned into Stacey, although hearing her chat to the crew, she is pretty much Stacey to start with.

Her subjects for that morning's session include Christmas decorations, a change in the weather ("a great topic") and ear piercings ("at the end of filming I'm going to get another to mark that the whole thing is done").

James Corden arrives to use the beard clippers and perhaps inadvertently gives away one of the more telling little nuggets of detail about the show, when he explains his stubble must stay that length: "Because it's only set over four days."

Rob Brydon, already wearing Uncle Bryn's finest brown party clothes, is ruthlessly teased when he arrives. The cast are heading out for a team curry that evening and it has been decided that he should pay, having managed to host a corporate event and squeeze in a voiceover gig around yesterday's filming.

He pulls a that-won't-be-happening face, before saying his major concern is when the dinner will finish, due to the early starts on set.

Soon he has the whole room laughing with his impression of Ronnie Corbett having his make-up done.

They are clearly a cast who love spending time with one another, even this early in the morning.

Jones has headed back to her trailer. When I walk past five minutes later, she is standing in the doorway holding a plate, which she tilts towards me: "See we do eat omelettes on this show," she laughs, "Although this one was not made by Gwen."

After a short minibus ride to the commuter village of Dinas Powys, the cast arrive at a very familiar detached house, in totally the wrong part of the country.

For 17 years, this is where scenes at Pam and Mick's have been filmed, with the Vale of Glamorgan, doubling up for Essex.

Tents have been erected on the outside of the garage, to provide room for all the equipment and monitors.

We watch as a party scene involving limbo dancing, is filmed from every angle, as Bryn downs shots and Nessa gives Smithy a lesson in how to eat the Greek yogurt dish, tzatziki. ("Don't use the cracker. Use the bread.")

What is not clear, is how this follows on from the proposal cliff-hanger at the end of 2019 Christmas special, which was watched by 18.5 million people, more than a quarter of the UK population.

"Well, I can tell you is it isn't set at Christmas," shares James Corden, who explains having already set one Christmas Day special in Barry and one in Essex, it was felt that concept had been done.

"I can tell you it's set after that moment. There's no time jump, we're not going back in time," he adds.

Perched between monitors and directors' chairs, Jones explains one major change: "It's 90 minutes. And all of the characters have got their own little story in there, which is lovely. Because if you are fond of a show, you love all the characters.

"It's a bit like, I used to love the Wombles when I was little and I would love any story about any of the Wombles."

However, Corden refutes the idea that the length now means it is a film. "I don't want to say it's a film because I think that brings expectations of scale and that I'm not sure our show could ever reach."

Sitting on a sofa that has survived from the first series, actress Alison Steadman is loving being back in Pam's domain, but says she is "really, really dreading" the final day of filming.

"It's been such fun over the last 17 years," she says. "People love it and stop me all the time to talk about it. I love Pam. She's so crackers."

She too is confident that all is going to end well, describing the finale as having "storylines that'll go in a direction that people aren't anticipating."

At this point the house's actual musical doorbell rings out, and we both laugh at the very Pam-ness of it all.

Her onscreen husband Larry Lamb has spent much of the scene that is being filmed, standing behind Mick's bar pouring shots, while wearing shorts.

He believes the show's continued popularity is to do with the way: "Everybody in it represents an element of the life of contemporary Britain.

"Everybody's in there. And if they're not, somebody they know, and love is in there in that form."

For Mathew Horne, having played Gavin for 17 years is throwing up all sorts of existential questions: "I'm putting to one side all my neuroses about that and to the ageing process."

"It's incredible because it is part of people's upbringing, you know. And we were all in their homes as they were growing up, and now they're adults and out in the world, and it's extraordinary how much the show means to people. So yeah, it's a lifetime for me, but it's a lifetime for so many other people."

At the end of the street, a crowd of about 50 fans have gathered to watch the last week of filming, including Lisa Lacking who has travelled down from Cheshire.

Through the fan community she has become friends with Brenda Kenyon, who owns the house which is used on screen as Stacey's family home. And during this she is sleeping in the room used for Stacey's bedroom.

Her hopes for the last episode are simple: "There's got to be wedding."

Rob Brydon is adamant that fans will be satisfied: "It's a lovely ending to the show. There are definitely surprises. Things that we as the cast went, 'What!'"

He also reveals that he cried whilst reading the script to his wife: "She thinks the ending is terrific."

'Chicken bhuna, lamb bhuna, prawn bhuna'

Back inside, the cast are becoming nostalgic. Corden points out the exact spot in the kitchen where Smithy made his curry order, before gesturing towards the stairs where Pam and Mick once appeared in matching kimonos, revealing that one crucial piece of the show will take place there.

With the 2019 Christmas special having been set in Wales, Joanna Page has not been in Pam and Mick's for 15 years, so is bamboozled by the lay out of the house ("I don't remember this mezzanine walkway") but is making the most of every day.

"Knowing that this finally is the last one, sort of makes you savour everything just all the more.

"These moments that we get together are so special because they're not going to happen again, in these circumstances, in these costumes, all of us together."

Of all the cast, she has made off with the most souvenirs, ranging from, "an ornamental cat type thing that might be a fish" from Stacey's house to almost the whole of the outfit she's wearing ("these boots are pretty fab, this is a haul").

What will not be occuring

Jones is hugging a cup of tea, waiting to be called for a scene where she will be dancing to Abba, and thinking about how close they are to the end, but how pleased they all are that it is on their terms.

"This is a full stop," she says ruefully.

"I think we are very lucky to get to choose to end it, rather than to be told, 'Sorry, we don't want anymore.' I think it's lovely to be able to say a very healthy farewell to it.

Before we go, I ask James Corden, how he would like the show to be remembered.

He takes his time to really think about this and then talks at length about what he believes to be the show's DNA, including "all the stuff that makes life good, which is friends, family and love".

The conclusion to his thesis is: "I hope it's remembered as a show that can make people feel good, that can bring comfort and a sense of warmth and history. That would be lovely if people spoke about it like that."

Now he is waiting to see how the finale is received.

"If we can land the plane safely and just give it over to everybody else on Christmas Day, I don't know, what a trip man, what an absolute trip it's all been."

Gavin & Stacey: The Making of the Finale, a 26-minute documentary, is available on the iPlayer now. The finale itself is broadcast at 21:00 GMT on Christmas Day on BBC One.

Russian scientists have unveiled the remains of a 50,000-year-old baby mammoth found in thawing permafrost in the remote Yakutia region of Siberia during the summer.

They say "Yana" - who has been named after the river basin where she was discovered - is the world's best-preserved mammoth carcass.

Weighing in at over 100kg (15st 10lb), and measuring 120cm (4ft) tall and 200cm long, Yana is estimated to have been only about one-year-old when she died.

Before this find, only six similar discoveries had been found in the world - five in Russia and one in Canada.

Yana was found in the Batagaika crater, the world's largest permafrost (ground that is permanently frozen) crater, by people living nearby.

The residents "were in the right place at the right time", the head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory said.

"They saw that the mammoth had almost completely thawed out" and decided to build a make-shift stretcher to lift the mammoth to the surface, said Maxim Cherpasov.

"As a rule, the part that thaws out first, especially the trunk, is often eaten by modern predators or birds," he told the Reuters news agency.

But "even though the forelimbs have already been eaten, the head is remarkably well preserved", he added.

A researcher at the museum, Gavril Novgorodov, told Reuters the mammoth "probably got trapped" in a swamp, and was "thus preserved for several tens of thousands of years".

Yana is being studied at the North-Eastern Federal University in the region's capital Yakutsk.

Scientists are now conducting tests to confirm when it died.

It is not the only pre-historic discovery to have been found in Russia's vast permafrost in recent years - as long-frozen ground starts to thaw because of climate change.

Just last month, scientists in the same region showed off the remains of a partial, mummified body of a sabre-tooth cat, thought to be just under 32,000-years-old.

And earlier this year the remains of a 44,000-year-old wolf were also uncovered.

One of the founders of the Medellin drug cartel has returned to Colombia after serving more than 20 years in jail in the US for drug trafficking.

Fabio Ochoa Vasquez, now 67 years old, was deported by the US government and landed in Bogota on Monday a free man.

Ochoa was one of the founding members of the notorious cartel and had been a senior lieutenant to infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The Medellin cartel dominated the cocaine trade and waged a violent campaign against the Colombian state before Escobar was killed in 1993.

On his arrival in Bogota, immigration officials ran Ochoa's fingerprints through their database, the country's immigration agency said.

Confirming that he is not wanted by Colombian authorities, it said that Ochoa was freed "to be reunited with his family".

Amid a sea of reporters in the airport terminal, Ochoa was greeted by his relatives and hugged his daughter.

In 2001, Ochoa was flown to the US after being arrested in Colombia in 1999 along with about 30 other alleged traffickers.

He had already served a jail sentence in Colombia in the early 90s for his role as one of bosses of the Medellin cartel. Along with his brothers, he was the first major trafficker to surrender under a programme that protected cartel members from extradition to the US if they pleaded guilty to minor offences in Colombia.

Ochoa and his brothers were released from prison in 1996, but Ochoa was arrested once again during the so-called Millennium operation over his involvement in the cocaine smuggling business in the US in the late 1990s.

In 2003, Ochoa was sentenced to more than 30 years in a US court for his involvement in the cartel that brought an average of 30 tonnes of cocaine into the US each month between 1997 and 1999.

During the 1980s, he was one of the top operators in Escobar's Medellin ring, a supplier in its prime of 80% of the US cocaine market.

The defunct Medellin cartel, along with the Cali cartel, was one of the most powerful and feared drug networks of the 1980s.

Its violent campaigns of bombings and assassinations led to extraditions of drugs suspects between Colombia and the US to be suspended, before being resumed in 1997.

A Nasa spacecraft is attempting to make history with the closest ever approach to the Sun.

The Parker Solar Probe is plunging into our star's outer atmosphere, enduring brutal temperatures and extreme radiation.

It's out of communication for several days during this burning hot fly-by and scientists will be waiting for a signal, expected on 27 December, to see if it has survived.

The hope is the probe could help us to better understand how the Sun works.

Dr Nicola Fox, head of science at Nasa, told BBC News: "For centuries, people have studied the Sun, but you don't experience the atmosphere of a place until you actually go visit it.

"And so we can't really experience the atmosphere of our star unless we fly through it."

Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018, heading to the centre of our Solar System.

It has already swept past the Sun 21 times, getting ever nearer, but the Christmas Eve visit is record-breaking.

At its closest approach, the probe is 3.8 million miles (6.2 million km) from our star's surface.

This might not sound that close, but Nasa's Nicola Fox puts it into perspective: "We are 93 million miles away from the Sun, so if I put the Sun and the Earth one metre apart, Parker Solar Probe is four centimetres from the Sun - so that's close."

The probe will have to endure temperatures of 1,400C and radiation that could frazzle the onboard electronics.

It's protected by a 11.5cm (4.5 inches) thick carbon-composite shield but the spacecraft's tactic is to get in and out fast.

In fact, it will be moving faster than any human made object, hurtling at 430,000mph - the equivalent of flying from London to New York in less than 30 seconds.

So why go to all this effort to "touch" the Sun?

Scientists hope that as the spacecraft passes through our star's outer atmosphere - its corona - it will solve a long standing mystery.

"The corona is really, really hot, and we have no idea why," explains Dr Jenifer MIllard, an astronomer at Fifth Star Labs.

"The surface of the Sun is about 6,000C or so, but the corona, this tenuous outer atmosphere that you can see during solar eclipses, reaches millions of degrees - and that is further away from the Sun. So how is that atmosphere getting hotter?"

The mission should also help scientists to better understand solar wind - the constant stream of charged particles bursting out from the corona.

When these particles interact with the Earth's magnetic field the sky lights up with dazzling auroras.

But this so called space weather can cause problems too, knocking out power-grids, electronics and communication systems.

"Understanding the Sun, its activity, space weather, the solar wind, is so important to our everyday lives on Earth," says Dr Millard.

Nasa scientists face an anxious wait over Christmas while the spacecraft is out of touch with Earth.

Nicola Fox says that as soon as a signal is beamed back home, the team will text her a green heart to let her know the probe is OK.

She admits she's nervous about the audacious attempt, but she has faith in the probe.

"I will worry about the spacecraft. But we really have designed it to withstand all of these brutal, brutal conditions. It's a tough, tough little spacecraft."

There is a festive chill at Sandringham on Christmas Day morning - especially when you find yourself standing outside St Mary Magdalene Church at 5am, as I often have in my years as a royal correspondent.

Last year I watched as King Charles and Queen Camilla led the royal party to church on Christmas Day, followed by the Prince and Princess of Wales, holding the hands of their children as they spoke to the crowds.

The Princess kept a firm grip on playful Prince Louis while they were given Christmas cards and presents, along with dozens of flowers.

I could never have predicted that this was the last time we would see her in person for more than six months. I was expecting to head to Italy with the couple on a royal tour, but she wouldn't join the Royal Family on another official engagement until Trooping the Colour in June.

On 16 January, the Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital for major abdominal surgery. At the end of March, she went public with her cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy.

For her husband, it was the start of a year that he would go on to call "the hardest of his life".

It throws up memories of Queen Elizabeth's own "sombre year" of 1992 when there were multiple marriage breakdowns within the family and a major fire. At the time she described it with the now infamous phrase, "annus horribilis".

In 2024, Prince William faced not only his wife's ill health, but the King's cancer diagnosis too, and always there in the background was the apparently unresolved conflict with his brother Prince Harry.

But it was also a year in which certain aspects of Prince William's approach were cemented - family came first, the school run was prioritised. For the Prince of Wales, this time of turbulence appears to have reinforced what matters to him most.

Along the way, however, it has also become evident what kind of senior royal William wants to be. We've seen more of his apprenticeship as a global statesman, especially during the 80th anniversary of D-Day on a stage alongside world leaders - but the William way has also left some questioning certain choices he has made.

The toll on William and Catherine

On 27 February, the Prince of Wales was due to give a reading at the thanksgiving service for the late King Constantine of Greece at St George's Chapel in Windsor. The illustrious guest list included European royalty.

Around an hour before the service was due to begin, however, Kensington Palace announced that the Prince would be unable to attend due to a "personal matter". There were reassuring words from the Prince's team that there was "nothing to panic about" but it was highly unusual.

Around this time, the Princess was given the news that cancerous cells had been discovered in post-operative tests.

Over the next three weeks, the couple told the children what was happening and had time to deal with their questions privately before going public.

"I think what was remarkable was just how hard it was for the Prince of Wales at the start of the year," says a friend of the Prince. "His wife had gone in for major surgery and it became worse than expected. Then there was, 'How do I tell my three children that Mummy is ill?'"

All of this was happening against the backdrop of the King's own cancer treatment, which he made public on 5 February.

"At a time when he was trying to protect his wife and children, he had that terrible thought that that if his father dies then everything changes," says the friend.

Several people who know the Prince personally or have worked with him this year told me that the spotlight on what was wrong with his wife took its toll on both William and Catherine.

"He was having to operate against the backdrop of the entire world questioning what was happening to his wife," one friend told me.

With his father largely out of action for several weeks and the Princess away from public duty, the royal diary was looking stretched. Prince William was adamant that public duty would have to wait until the situation at home was more settled.

It offered a hint of Prince William's way of doing things. Yes, he understood that his was a life where duty and service are expected. But for him, a man who had experienced immense loss at a young age, his wife and children were most important of all.

Support from the Middletons

There were two other important factors at home that helped the Prince of Wales support his wife and children – his in-laws, the Middletons; and living in Windsor.

When the Princess made her public announcement about her diagnosis, the message was posted on royal social media accounts, and one of the first people to publicly respond was her brother James.

Alongside a childhood holiday photo of himself and his sister, he wrote: "Over the years, we have climbed many mountains together. As a family, we will climb this one with you too."

Together with his sister Pippa and parents Carole and Michael, the family became key to keeping life as normal as possible for the royal children. People living locally reported seeing Carole Middleton, who lives 30 miles away in Bucklebury, Berkshire, regularly driving in and out of Windsor Castle.

And when the Princess's surgery prevented her from driving, it was her mother who often drove her daughter to school to collect the three children.

The decision to move from Kensington Palace to Windsor Castle in 2022 also proved timely.

"Windsor has been a sanctuary. It has provided the protection and privacy the family needed this year," said a friend.

The family live in Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroom house within the Castle grounds that is secluded enough to give the family freedom that Kensington Palace, which is located in central London, could not.

Snatched photos show the Prince of Wales using an electric scooter to get around the grounds. When on royal duty, he would occasionally reveal a snippet about life at home, such as his continued devotion to Aston Villa FC, or a favoured film or TV series – earlier this year he enjoyed action film The Fall Guy and more recently he and the Princess watched spy thriller series Black Doves on Netflix.

He has also taken his children to football matches at local clubs and both he and the Princess have continued to be part of school life at Lambrook, the private school in Berkshire that their children attend. During her treatment, the Princess was still able to be on the sidelines during sports days.

From Prince Harry to Uncle Andrew

All of this appears to have pushed other personal issues right down the Prince's agenda.

The rancour between William and Harry is said to remain. Harry has visited the UK over the past 12 months but is not believed to have met his brother. They are thought to have not spoken to one another in around two years.

There have been new controversies around Prince Andrew in recent months too, including revelations about his links to Chinese businessman Yang Tengbo, who was barred from the UK after concerns about national security risks. Prince Andrew has said that he had ceased contact with Mr Yang.

But the prince did not attend the Royal Family's traditional pre-Christmas lunch.

Such matters will have been dealt with by the King but, as heir to the throne, William's voice in family matters is increasingly significant.

Robert Hardman, journalist and author of Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, says the relationship between Charles and his eldest son "has reached a new level of understanding".

"We still have a tendency to look at William as the kid, the apprentice, the understudy," he says. "But he's now been a front rank royal for 10 years. He's been around the block more than many current heads of State."

The hazards of speaking out

Unusually, much of what the Prince has said about his year has come directly from him rather than via formal statements or briefings.

During his visit to South Africa in November for the Earthshot Prize, the Prince's environmental project, he spoke about his passion for the cause but also about the struggles of 2024.

"From a family point of view, it's been brutal," he told the group of us who had travelled to Cape Town. For someone who has been guarded in the past, his language was surprisingly frank.

His demeanour was open and positive too, clearly energised by Earthshot and being back in Africa, but he a gave a glimpse into how he conflicted he was when he viewed his role as Prince of Wales.

"It's a tricky one," he said. "Do I like more responsibility? No. Do I like the freedom that I can build something like Earthshot, then yes."

What struck me the most after spending almost a week in Cape Town was how he framed his outlook on the modern monarchy, saying he wanted to do the job with a "smaller R in Royal".

"I'm trying to do it differently," he admitted, "and I'm trying to do it for my generation."

What he meant was not doing things in the same way as his father and grandmother.

Charles and William "are different characters", observes Robert Hardman. "The King is more intellectually curious, and spiritually and theologically engaged. These areas aren't of deep interest to William.

"The tone of their communication is different. The King remains fairly traditional. William has his own way of doing things."

Some have questioned the William way. One critic, Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, argues against the Prince's decision to focus his efforts on the issue of homelessness.

"[It is] crass and hypocritical of William to get involved in it, given the excessive wealth we gift him," he argues.

However, Mr Hardman disputes the notion that William's involvement in projects like this are inappropriate. "I think William is currently a more conventional Prince of Wales than his father was at this age. Prince Charles was a more radical heir to the throne.

"The creation of the Prince's Trust sounded alarm bells at Buckingham Palace and Downing Street. William isn't ringing alarm bells."

The William way

Prince William has far fewer patronages than his father. The King currently has 669 – many maintained from his 70 years as heir to the throne. Prince William's slimline, more focused approach leaves him with around 30.

It is a deliberate strategy: fewer projects but higher impact in the hope of bringing about social change. Those who have worked closely with him this year praise this approach.

"His contribution is unbelievable," said Hannah Jones, the CEO of the Earthshot Prize. "He has set the vision."

But that bold action comes with more risk.

Last month, I travelled to Newport in South Wales with the Prince to meet those working on his homelessness project in the city. It was 10 months since his wife's cancer diagnosis, her chemotherapy was complete and William seemed to me to be less burdened by life.

He was in listening mode, and spoke to dozens of people. In some of the conversations, it struck me how many ventured into the political.

The Prince told the project team to think differently, to be disruptors and challenge the way things had always been done.

"We drive in a very non-political lane," a royal source told me. "We use our platform to convene and shine the spotlight on a societal issue and that remains unchanged. We are feeling bullish about what we can achieve even in really hard circumstances."

The statesman Prince

In the years ahead William will no doubt face further challenges around his role. In this current age of social media, for example, deference and respect for monarchy isn't the mood in the room.

But it is clear from his public work that he doesn't view his future as one filled with plaque unveilings and handshaking.

"I have to be seen to be believed," is a quote attributed to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. For her grandson, the approach is more: "I have to be seen to be making a difference."

Through 2024, he has ticked off meetings with many world leaders from the Emperor of Japan to the President of South Africa rounded off by the US president-elect, cementing his role on the global stage, promoting the UK with a touch of soft diplomacy.

Next November, the COP climate summit is being held in Brazil and the Prince is "looking forward to playing a role there". An Earthshot Prize in Brazil may be a possibility too.

Ultimately, the development of Prince William as family man-meets-global statesman is ongoing - and he's looking increasingly comfortable juggling both roles.

Top picture credit: Getty Images

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Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine is the birthplace of one of the world's favourite carols.

But there are few signs of Christmas in the city this year. Just a dusting of snow on deserted streets and skeletal buildings - and the constant sound of heavy shelling.

Pokrovsk is Russia's next target. Its troops are now less than two miles (three kilometres) from the city centre.

And it's not just buildings and homes that are being destroyed. Ukraine accuses Russia of trying to erase its cultural identity too – including its associations with that well-known carol.

Most of Pokrovsk's population has already fled. The gas supply's been turned off and many homes are without electricity and water. Those who remain, like 59-year-old Ihor, only break cover to find the bare essentials. He says it's like living on a powder keg – you never know when or where the next shell will land.

Oksana, 43, says she's too frightened to leave her home, but goes out during a lull in the shelling to find wood and coal to keep warm.

She tells me she hopes Ukraine's armed forces can hold on to the city, but she thinks that's unlikely. Pokrovsk, she says, will probably fall.

The city has already prepared for the worst. The statue of its famous composer, Mykola Leontovych, has already been removed. The music school that bore his name now lies boarded up and empty.

Leontovych may not be well known in the West. But the tune he composed is familiar around the world - with its chime-like vocals. It's thought that Leontovych wrote the early scores of the composition, based on a Ukrainian folk chant, while he was living and working in Pokrovsk between 1904 and 1908.

In Ukraine it's known as Shchedryk. To most of the world it became known as the Carol of the Bells, after American composer Peter Wilhousky wrote English lyrics for the song. The tune's use in the Hollywood film Home Alone helped boost its popularity.

Viktoria Ametova calls it "a masterpiece - the signature song of Pokrovsk". She too was until recently teaching music in the city, in the school that bore Leontovych's name.

She's now moved to the relative safety of Dnipro. It's where many of Pokrovsk's former residents are still trying to keep the memories of their former home alive.

Beneath a salvaged portrait of Leontovych, Viktoria watches as 13-year-old Anna Hasych strikes the familiar chords of the carol on a piano.

The Hasych family fled Pokrovsk this summer. But they're determined not to forget the place they still call home. Anna's mother, Yulia, says she's glad to see her daughters practising Shchedryk. "We won't forget the history of our town," she says.

For Anna, the tune brings back memories. "When I played it at home it seemed happy. It reminded me of winter and Christmas," she says. "Now it's more of a sad song to me because it reminds me of home, and I really want to go back."

But for one Ukrainian military band, Shchedryk has become a song to inspire resistance. They're even playing it in the trenches – using weapons as improvised instruments.

They may be musicians, but their commander reminds me that they're soldiers first. All have spent time on the front line. Colonel Bohdan Zadorozhnyy, the head of the band and its conductor, says the song helps lifts soldiers spirits. "Those beats and rhythms cheer up the guys on the front line and inspire them to fight," he says.

22-year-old Roman uses a rocket launcher casing, filled with rice, to shake vigorously in time with the music. Shchedryk, he says, is the "pride of our country, it's freedom, it's in our souls, I get goosebumps from this song".

Colonel Zadorozhnyy says Shchedryk shows that Ukraine is a civilised nation, now at war, fighting for its identity.

Pokrovsk may well fall into Russian hands. But its people are doing all they can to preserve their culture and identity.

The director of Pokrovsk's History Museum, Angelina Rozhkova, has already salvaged and transferred most of its prized possessions to safety – including artefacts from Leontovych's life in Pokrovsk.

Russia, she says, doesn't just want to take Ukraine's territory – "It wants to destroy our culture and everything precious to us".

Angelina says the people of Pokrovsk understand they may never go back, "but our heart and souls do not accept that". Hence they're doing everything they can to preserve the past. The new motto is "keeping and saving, equals winning".

It's hard to say you're winning when your city's being destroyed. But its people, like Leontovych's music, are displaying extraordinary resilience.

Leontovych's life came to an abrupt end in 1921 when he was shot by a Soviet agent. His composition had become a symbol for the fight for Ukraine's independence. It still is.

Additional reporting by Hanna Chornous and Anastasiia Levchenko

Will 2025 mesmerise too?

Did better tech help?

Your striking photos

A consultation has been launched on the phasing-out of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

The government says this will "restore clarity" for vehicle manufacturers and the charging industry.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander wants industry views from automotive and charging experts on how to deliver Labour's manifesto commitment to restore the 2030 deadline.

It had been extended to 2035 under the previous Conservative government.

The measure comes amid a row between the government and the industry over the phasing out of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

Last month, Ford said the UK government's mandate to produce and sell more electric vehicles (EVs) "just doesn't work" without demand.

Lisa Brankin, Ford UK's chair and managing director, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on that occasion: "The one thing that we really need is government-backed incentives to urgently boost the uptake of electric vehicles."

The transport secretary said the automotive industry had been "stifled by a lack of certainty and direction" over the last few years.

"This government will change that," she added.

The consultation proposes updates to the Zero Emission Vehicle (Zev) mandate, which sets out the percentage of new zero emission cars and vans that manufacturers will be required to sell each year up to 2030.

More than two-thirds of car manufacturers in the UK, including Stellantis, have committed to transitioning fully to electric cars by that year.

However, firms have also announced thousands of job cuts, partly because of EV targets.

The Department for Transport said the consultation would "restore clarity for vehicle manufacturers and the charging industry" so they "have the confidence to invest in the UK in the long term and drive growth in the UK automotive industry".

The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank said the UK would meet its targets because the mandate took into account credits earned from selling lower-emission hybrid petrol and diesel vehicles, as well as sales of vehicles that were fully electric.

The 22% required to be achieved by each manufacturer is due to be reached as an average across the industry, according to the think tank.

Last month, EVs made up one in four cars sold in the UK, Ms Alexander said, with drivers "already embracing EVs faster than ever".

"Today's measures will help us capitalise on the clean energy transition to support thousands of jobs, make the UK a clean energy superpower, and rebuild Britain," she added.

The government said the consultation would also be part of a "wider push" to make it easier and cheaper to charge electric cars.

There are now more than 72,000 public charging points in the UK, with another 100,000 planned by local authorities across England.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of automotive industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the automotive industry welcomed the government's "review of both the end of sale date for cars powered solely by petrol or diesel, and possible changes to the flexibilities around the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate".

"These are both critical issues for an industry that is facing significant challenges globally as it tries to decarbonise ahead of natural market demand," he added.

"With the 2025 market looking under even greater pressure, it is imperative we get an urgent resolution, with a clear intent to adapt the regulation to support delivery, backed by bold incentives to stimulate demand," Mr Hawes said.

The House Ethics Committee report on Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz released on Monday revealed fresh details about the former congressman's alleged behaviour, at least one new accusation and insights into the panel's investigation.

From at least 2017 to 2020, the committee concluded that the former Florida congressman regularly paid women for "engaging in sexual activity", had sex with a 17-year-old girl, used or possessed illegal drugs, accepted gifts beyond House limits and helped a woman obtain a passport, according to the report.

Gaetz, who resigned from the US House of Representatives in November - days before the report was scheduled to be made public and after Trump announced him as his pick for US attorney general - denied the committee's findings and has accused it of conducting an unfair investigation.

Here are four parts of the much-anticipated report that stand out.

A winding money trail

House investigators said Gaetz paid more than $90,000 (£71,843) to women for sex and drugs, but created a complicated web of transactions that were hard to trace, according to the report.

"The committee was unable to determine the full extent to which Representative Gaetz's payments to women were compensation for engaging in sexual activity with him," the report found.

He allegedly used his friend Joel Greenberg, currently serving 11 years in prison for crimes he said he committed with Gaetz, as a frequent go-between and logged onto Greenberg's account on SeekingArrangement.com, which bills itself as a "luxury dating site", to interact with young women.

Gaetz also paid women directly, sometimes through platforms such as Venmo, according to the report. But the committee said he often used another person's PayPal account or an account linked to an email address with a fake name.

He also obscured payments, the panel wrote. In one example, he gave a college student a cheque made out to "cash" with "tuition reimbursement" in the memo line. The woman said she received it after a group encounter, which "could potentially be a form of coercion because I really needed the money".

Gaetz has posted on social media that he gave money to women he was involved with as gifts, not payments. The committee found that two women, aged 27 and 25, did not consider their relationships transactional.

Another woman who was considered his girlfriend invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked if she was given money for sex or drugs, or to pay others.

The committee attempted to prove Gaetz frequently paid for sex through a text message that described his inability to pay at one point.

His then-girlfriend said in the message that he and Greenberg were "a little limited in their cash flow" and asked a group of women "if it can be more of a customer appreciation week".

A few months later, according to the committee, she wrote: "Btw Matt also mentioned he is going to be a bit generous cause of the 'customer appreciation' thing last time."

Sex, drugs, and a passport application

The committee also said Gaetz bought illegal drugs or reimbursed people for them.

It gives examples of his alleged cocaine and ecstasy/MDMA use, but focused on what appeared to be a heavy marijuana habit. He allegedly asked women to bring marijuana cartridges to meetings and events, and created the fake-name email account to buy marijuana.

A trip he took to the Bahamas "was paid for by an associate of Representative Gaetz with connections to the medical marijuana industry, who allegedly also paid for female escorts to accompany them", according to the report.

One woman felt the use of drugs and alcohol at parties had impaired her ability "to really know what was going on or fully consent".

"Indeed, nearly every woman that the committee spoke with could not remember the details of at least one or more of the events they attended with Representative Gaetz and attributed that to drug or alcohol consumption," the report said.

His then-girlfriend, who was 21 when they met and "was paid tens of thousands of dollars" during their two-year relationship", often participated in encounters with women and acted as an intermediary, according to the report.

A woman told the committee she was 17 at the time she had sex with Gaetz twice at a party in 2017 - at least once in front of other people - while under the influence of ecstasy. The woman, who had just completed her junior year in high school, then received $400 from him.

She also told the panel she did not tell Gaetz she was a minor and the committee did not find any evidence that the former congressman knew she was underage.

In 2021, Greenberg pleaded guilty to sex trafficking the girl.

Gaetz also allegedly directed his chief of staff to expedite a passport application for a woman he was sleeping with, whom he said was a voter in his district. He also allegedly gave her $1,000.

Gaetz violated House rules that bar using his position for special favours, according to the committee, which wrote: "The woman was not his constituent, and the case was not handled in the same manner as similar passport assistance cases".

Accusations of obstruction

The committee dedicated a great deal of the report to detailing how Gaetz allegedly obstructed its investigation, including failing to produce evidence he said would "exonerate" him.

The report concluded he "continuously sought to deflect, deter, or mislead the Committee in order to prevent his actions from being exposed".

Gaetz, who has accused the committee of being "weaponised" against him and leaking information to the press, alleged the panel was working on behalf of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, according to the report. Last year he helped lead an effort to oust then-Speaker McCarthy from his role.

While Gaetz claimed he had "voluntarily produced tens of thousands of records," he gave the committee "only a couple hundred records, more than 90% of which was either irrelevant or publicly available," the report found.

One sore point was a trip to the Bahamas, where the committee said he withheld information. Ultimately it concluded he violated rules on gifts because the trip was too high in value.

The committee also cited the Justice Department's probe into the allegations against Gaetz as a reason for delays.

Some witnesses asked the committee to use statements they had given to the department, but it refused to share them because they had not issued charges and because it said it could deter future witnesses in other cases from coming forward.

Committee chairman dissents

The report ends with a single-page statement from Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest "on behalf of dissenting committee members" who are not named.

Those members do not challenge the committee's findings, but disagree with releasing the report after Gaetz resigned from the House, which has not happened since 2006, they write.

It "breaks from the Committee's long-standing practice, opens the Committee to undue criticism, and will be viewed by some as an attempt to weaponise the Committee's process".

NHS website information on drinking while breastfeeding saw the highest increase in visits at Christmas last year, new figures show.

Among the most visited pages on Christmas and Boxing Day in 2023 were advice coughs, colds and chest infections.

But some people also wanted to know about drinking and breastfeeding, alcohol poisoning and rabies, NHS England said.

Page views on burns and scalds and how to treat them also increased.

Booze and breastfeeding

In terms of health conditions, the most commonly viewed page after Covid-19 was for the winter vomiting norovirus with 19,170 visits over the 48-hour festive period in 2023.

Some 17,398 other visits - around one every 10 seconds - were for chest infections, while pages on diarrhoea and vomiting had 11,789 views.

Overall views on pages of the NHS website relating to breastfeeding and drinking alcohol were lower, but increased by 146% - from 1,028 to 2,526 - compared to the week before Christmas.

Alcohol can pass into your breastmilk and then into your baby when you feed them, the NHS advises.

An occasional drink is unlikely to harm your baby, especially if you wait at least two hours after having a drink before feeding, it adds, but warns: "Regularly drinking above the recommended limits can be harmful for you and your baby."

Burns and bites

There was also a 60% rise in people seeking information on alcohol poisoning during the festive period compared to a normal 48 hours, with hits up from 1,268 to 2,008.

And visits to pages about animal and human bites increased by a third to 1,494 from 1,128.

Hits on NHS pages about rabies increased by 123% to 1,564 over Christmas compared to 700 a week earlier.

Page views on burns and scalds and how to treat them increased by 50% compared to the week before Christmas to 2,748 from 1,782.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England's medical director, said accidents and injuries can happen and that the NHS website and the NHS App are available around the clock to provide help and information.

"So if you do burn yourself putting the roast potatoes in the oven, or you pick up a winter virus and want some support to manage the symptoms, the NHS website is the best place to find useful advice on what to do."

He said NHS staff would be working hard throughout the festive season to provide care for those most in need.

Anyone in need of emergency help should contact 999, or 111 for less urgent health needs.

A suspect has been arrested in New York over the death of a woman who was set on fire on a subway train in Brooklyn.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the incident on Sunday as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being".

She said the woman was sleeping on a stationary F train to Brooklyn when she was approached by the suspect who used a lighter to ignite her clothing.

The victim died at the scene, she said, adding that the suspect had been taken into custody after he was detained on another subway train.

Police said the woman, who has not been named, was sleeping in a subway carriage at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn at about 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when a man approached her.

There was no interaction before the attack, police said, adding that they did not believe the two people knew each other.

The man got off the train as police officers on patrol in the station rushed to the fire.

"What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames," Ms Tisch said.

Police are still working to identify the victim and the motive for the attack.

Dafydd Bayliss's Monday morning blues cleared instantly when he found out he had won either a BMW M3 or £18,000 in an online competition.

The 31-year-old had been taking part in prize draws with Level Up Giveaways for three years, but this was his first win.

A first-time buyer close to completing his house purchase, he opted for the cash with a view to using it for a new kitchen and bathroom.

"I was over the moon," he said.

But his joy was short-lived. The HGV driver should have received his money in the days afterwards. Three months on, he's not been paid a penny.

The company's responses to his requests for payment have dried up too.

Mr Bayliss is one of several people the BBC has spoken to who say they have been left in the dark by Level Up Giveaways.

The competitions company, from Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire, has seemingly stopped paying out prizes totalling tens of thousands of pounds.

The BBC has tried to contact Level Up Giveaways to ask about the complaints of Mr Bayliss and others, but has been unable to get a response.

The firm's website, which offered prize draw competitions including sports cars, luxury watches and even gold, stopped working about 10 days before Christmas.

The firm also offered a free entry system where would-be winners could post an entry to an address in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Mr Bayliss, from Blackwood, South Wales, bought five 99p online entries for a draw on 15 September.

He said he spoke to Level Up Giveaways' director Anton Hall, 35, over the phone the day after his win.

He remembered Mr Hall being "happy I took the cash" and confirming the money would be in his bank account within two to three days.

But nothing arrived.

Mr Bayliss sent numerous messages in the weeks that followed and received the occasional explanation from Mr Hall, but has not received payment.

"I have kind of given up," said Mr Bayliss.

"It was the first time I'd won and it was typical that he stopped paying everyone.

"I have just gone numb to it. I have probably got a 5% chance of getting the money."

Mr Bayliss said he had not heard from Mr Hall since 1 November, when he told him his bank accounts were "on hold".

Mr Bayliss' mum Tina reported Level Up Giveaways to Trading Standards and Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Mrs Bayliss said she believed her son's case was "just the tip of the iceberg".

"He's taking your money and not paying up - it's like having the rug pulled out from your feet.

"I just feel really aggrieved someone is allowed to do that."

'It's disgusting'

Insurance broker Scott Boyle, from Wakefield, won £1,200 in a Level Up Giveaways competition in May, to be paid to him over 12 months.

He received five months' worth of payments, but they stopped in October.

Although the company was usually "really responsive", he has not heard from them since October, despite sending numerous messages.

"It's disgusting," he said.

"A lot of people have won huge amounts of money. If I won that sort of money I would be absolutely devastated."

Meanwhile, Manchester-based Phill Harkins has been waiting for a 20g gold bar he won in a Level Up Giveaways prize draw since 18 October.

"Something needs to be done about it because you can't treat people like this," he said.

Mark McCorry, a restaurant manager from Belfast, won £600 cash in a draw on 9 October.

The 36-year-old father-of-one had previously met people who had won cars in Mr Hall's competitions, leading him to believe the business owner to be "trustworthy".

He said the experience with Level Up Giveaways had left him "gutted".

A spokesperson for Trading Standards West Yorkshire told the BBC they had received seven complaints about Level Up Giveaways relating to prize draws, including unpaid winnings, since 2022.

The spokesperson said due to "limited resources" the company was not being investigated.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said they were not allowed to comment on inquiries relating to named individuals.

'Smoke and mirrors'

According to Companies House, Level Up Giveaways was set up in March 2019.

Its social media pages boast of creating more than 5,000 winners and awarding £5m in prizes.

Previously happy customers have left stories of winning life-changing sums on the review website Trustpilot but some recent reviews are less glowing

In a video update posted on social media on 6 December, Mr Hall said he "had to take time out".

"I was just absolutely drained with personal life and issues that are going on with the business," he continued.

Mr Hall said he was "still trying to fix Level Up Giveaways" and added: "I do intend to come back to doing draws in the near future."

"I'm just going to stay in my lane with the smaller prizes. I tried to run wild with extravagant competitions. I'm just not in a position to be able to do that.

Mr Hall apologised for a "lack of communication", but did not say if, or when, people might receive their prizes.

Despite promising to contact those chasing him "as soon as possible" in his most recent update, none of the people the BBC has spoken to have heard from Mr Hall.

"He hasn't said what's actually going on, it's more just like smoke and mirrors," said Mr Bayliss.

Asked if he had a message for Mr Hall, Mr Boyle said: "Pay what people are owed and have paid to win in good faith."

If you have been affected by Level Up Giveaways, you can email your experiences to steve.jones06@bbc.co.uk.

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