Radio presenter Johnnie Walker has died at the age of 79, two months after calling time on his 58-year career because of ill health.

DJ Bob Harris, who took over BBC Radio 2's Sounds of the 70s show after Walker's retirement, announced his former colleague's death live on the station on Tuesday.

Walker had pulmonary fibrosis, which is scarring of the lungs, a condition which makes breathing difficult.

He stepped down from presenting Sounds of the 70s and The Rock Show, also on Radio 2, at the end of October.

Walker had announced live on air earlier in October that he would be hanging up his microphone to retire.

He explained the reason he was retiring after reading out a letter from a listener whose dad had loved the show, but had passed away in 2022 due to pulmonary fibrosis.

"Now, that leads me to be making a very sad announcement," he said.

"The struggles I’ve had with doing the show and trying to sort of keep up a professional standard suitable for Radio 2 has been getting more and more difficult, hence my little jokes about Puffing Billy, so I’ve had to make the decision that I need to bring my career to an end."

Walker's last episode of The Rock Show aired on 25 October, and his final episode of Sounds of the 70s was broadcast on 27 October.

At the end of his final show, Walker said: "[It's] going to be very strange not to be on the wireless anymore. Also, by the same token, life will be slightly less of a strain really, trying to find the breath in order to do the programmes."

"Thank you for being with me all these years and take good care of yourself and those you love and may we walk into the future with our heads held high and happiness in our hearts. God bless you."

With Harris taking the helm for Sounds of the 70s, Shaun Keaveny took the reins for Walker's Rock Show.

Walker began his radio career in 1966 on Swinging Radio England, an offshore pirate station, before moving to Radio Caroline.

He joined BBC Radio 1 in 1969, and joined Radio 2 in 1997 where he remained until his retirement.

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

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Nine members of UK special forces could face prosecution over alleged war crimes linked to at least two separate incidents in Syria, according to Ministry of Defence (MoD) data seen by the BBC.

The data, which was originally obtained via a Freedom of Information request by The Times newspaper, shows that two cases are being reviewed by the Service Prosecuting Authority (Spa), the military equivalent of the Crown Prosecution Service.

One case involves one individual, while another involves eight individuals.

The MoD did not disclose details of the cases, or whether they involved singular or multiple incidents.

UK Special Forces have been deployed on operations against Islamic State (IS) in Syria during the past decade - but the MoD does not comment on operations or the whereabouts of special forces troops.

An MoD spokesperson said: "Our UK personnel are respected worldwide for the highest standards and action will be taken against anyone that fails to meet these standards, including dismissal from service, where appropriate.

"It would be inappropriate to comment further on ongoing investigations."

In March 2024, it emerged that five serving SAS soldiers were under investigation over an incident involving allegations of potential war crimes in Syria more than two years ago.

According to the Daily Mail, the incident related to an operation involving the killing of a suspected jihadist, whose body was found near to a primed bomb vest - but he was not wearing the vest when killed.

The SAS soldiers involved are alleged by superiors to have used excessive force and should have arrested the man instead of killing him, the Mail reported. The soldiers are said to have claimed he posed a threat and intended to carry out a suicide attack.

It is unclear if this earlier-reported case is the same as the one involving eight individuals.

In addition to the cases in Syria, the MoD data reveals that the Spa is also considering a case in relation to a special forces individual in Afghanistan. Again, details were not provided of this case.

A public inquiry is being held into the activities of the SAS during their time in Afghanistan.

The Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan - launched in the wake of reporting by the BBC and other media outlets - is investigating whether UK Special Forces killed civilians and unarmed people on night raids in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2013.

The style of play: 'He tried to be progressive, but it didn't work'

The players: 'He was popular, there was no loss of the dressing room'

The media: 'One of the most easy-going managers I've had to deal with'

The fans: Rooney was 'absolutely brilliant' with supporters

The reality: 'It's tricky keeping Plymouth in the Championship'

What next: 'He will think 'is this really for me?''

Police in New York City have named the woman who was set on fire and burned to death on a subway train in Brooklyn.

Authorities on Tuesday identified Debrina Kawam, 61, of New Jersey as the victim of the seemingly random 22 December attack that burned her body beyond recognition.

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of starting the blaze with a lighter while Ms Kawam was asleep. He allegedly fanned the flames with a shirt and then watched the fire grow from a bench outside the subway car.

Last week, a grand jury indicted Mr Zapeta, who claims to have no memory of the incident, on four counts of murder and one count of arson.

It took authorities more than a week to fully identify the body.

Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, said at a press conference early in the investigation that authorities had worked to collect DNA evidence and fingerprints from Ms Kawam's remains.

"It's a priority for me, for my office, for the police department to identify this woman, so we can notify her family," Mr Gonzalez said.

False and unverified information about her, including a fake AI-generated picture, circulated online as authorities worked.

There was also an outpouring of support, including a vigil held for the then-unidentified victim last week.

Police say that Ms Kawam was motionless, apparently asleep, on a stationary subway train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn early on 22 December when Mr Zapeta allegedly approached her with a lighter.

The pair never interacted, and police believe they did not know each other.

Video appears to show the suspect waving a shirt at her in an apparent effort to fan the flames, rather than douse them. He then exits the subway car and watches the blaze from a bench on the platform.

Jessica Tisch, New York police commissioner, said that the smell of smoke drew police officers and Metropolitian Transit Authority personnel to the fire where they extinguished the flames.

"Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car," Ms Tisch said.

Authorities declared Ms Kawam dead at the scene.

Ms Tisch described the incident as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being".

In a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, prosecutor Ari Rottenberg said Mr Zapeta told investigators that he had been drinking and did not remember the incident, but did identify himself in photos and surveillance video showing the fire being lit.

Mr Zapeta, who is originally from Guatemala, was deported from the US in 2018 and later re-entered the country illegally, immigration authorities said.

He is due back in court on 7 January, prosecutors said.

Arguably the modern era's biggest A-list couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were married for two years - but it has taken eight years since announcing their divorce to finally reach a deal. Why did it take four times as long as the marriage itself to settle?

One part of the answer is that the divorce is one strand in a set of bitter legal disputes, some of which still need to be resolved in what Jolie's lawyer has called "a long ongoing process".

We take a look back at how it all started and the legal wranglings the pair have been caught up in since they split in 2016.

Romance blossoms

The couple got together after meeting on the set of the film Mr & Mrs Smith, which was released in 2005.

"Because of the film, we ended up being brought together to do all these crazy things, and I think we found this strange friendship and partnership that kind of just suddenly happened," Jolie told Vogue in 2007.

She had already won a best supporting actress Oscar for 1999 movie Girl, Interrupted, but was better known for playing Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider films.

Pitt had starred in hit films including Twelve Monkeys, Fight Club and Ocean's 11.

Both had been married before - Pitt to Friends star Jennifer Aniston, and Jolie to actors Jonny Lee Miller (1996 to 2000) and Billy Bob Thornton (2000 to 2003).

Expanding family

Jolie and Pitt share six children together.

Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia in 2002 a few months after he was born. Pitt later adopted him after he and Jolie had begun their relationship.

In 2005, the pair adopted daughter Zahara from Ethiopia when she was a few months old.

The couple's first biological child, Shiloh, was born in Namibia in 2006. Earlier this year, it was reported that Shiloh had submitted a petition to a court to drop Pitt from her name.

Their son Pax was adopted at the age of three from Vietnam in 2007, and twins Knox and Vivienne were born in 2008.

Beginning of the end

The couple made their final red carpet appearance together in November 2015 for a film they both starred in, By the Sea. It was about an unhappily married couple, and was written and directed by Jolie.

The couple rarely discussed their relationship but when promoting the film, Jolie told The Telegraph: "Brad and I have our issues.

"We have fights and problems like any other couple. We have days when we drive each other absolutely mad and want space, but the problems in the movie aren't our specific problems."

The news that Jolie was filing for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences", came as a shock to many in September 2016.

Plane allegations and custody battle

It emerged that she filed for divorce a day after an incident on board a private plane.

Pitt was initially alleged to have hit son Maddox, then 15, on the flight from France to Los Angeles. The FBI and social workers examined the claims, but neither took any action. Pitt denied wrongdoing.

Then in 2022, legal papers from a separate dispute revealed that Jolie accused Pitt of drunkenly attacking her and two children during the flight.

At the time, a source close to the actor told the BBC that her claims were false.

Speaking to Vogue in 2020, Jolie said she left Pitt for the "wellbeing" of her family.

"It was the right decision," she said. "I continue to focus on their healing."

In an interview with GQ in 2017, Pitt spoke about his decision to quit drinking and smoking marijuana, saying the split had been a "huge generator for change".

Regarding the divorce, Pitt said he and Jolie had decided to abandon a path of "vitriolic hatred" and work together to sort out their issues, adding that they were committed to resolving matters amicably and privately.

Vineyard drama

Their attempts to reach agreements over the divorce and custody of their children appeared to be acrimonious and protracted.

In 2019, a judge declared that the couple were officially single, but that the divorce still needed to be finalised.

They reached a custody deal in 2018, but that appeared to fall apart. In 2021, Pitt was granted joint custody after a court battle, but the private judge who oversaw the case was later removed because he did not disclose his business relationships with Pitt's lawyers.

That raised the prospect of a fresh custody case, but nothing has been made public.

And while the divorce saga may now be drawing to a close, there is another legal battle still ongoing to do with a French vineyard.

Pitt and Jolie bought Chateau Miraval together in 2008 and got married in its small chapel in 2014.

But Jolie sold her share to a spirits manufacturer owned by a Russian oligarch, according to Pitt's lawsuit. He is suing his ex-wife for selling her stake in the estate, saying they agreed not to sell their shares without the permission of the other. Jolie has not publicly commented.

Why has divorce settlement taken so long?

The legal wrangles and family considerations added extra complications to the divorce, and celebrity lawyer Chris Melcher told BBC News the settlement had taken an unusually long time.

"This is much longer than any divorce we typically see, but they initially had fights over custody and then it revolved around this winery they own together, and that's been the focus of their fight over the last few years," he said.

Many celebrities want to divorce quickly and move on, he explained.

"A lot of these high-profile cases... we want to keep this quiet, it's damaging to [a celebrity's] brand and their work, so a lot of times in a case of this magnitude we can settle it within six months, a year at the very most.

"Eight years is really a sign of something more going on. It's an inability to let go and a desire to really harm the other."

Few details of the divorce proceedings have been revealed. Private judges are often hired in the US to mediate disputes between divorcing celebrities for privacy reasons.

Kate Daly, co-founder of online divorce company Amicable, told the BBC that such a case was very different from an average divorce.

"It's an industry... [they can afford] lots of expensive lawyers," she said. "Most people couldn't afford for it to take eight years. It's an industry and it's a bad example - we have to distance [normal] people from that kind of narrative."

Their children are now all aged between 16 and 23, and showbiz journalist Jeanne Wolf emphasised the emotional fallout.

"It's been a very emotional and complicated divorce settlement. It's taken a big toll on the children and the couple involved," she said.

"They have tried very hard not to let too many details known about what went on in that marriage."

Jolie's lawyer highlighted the passage of time in his statement on Monday. "This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago," he said.

"Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over."

Star Wars and River City actor Angus MacInnes has died at the age of 77.

The Canadian was best known for playing Y-wing fighter gold leader Jon "Dutch" Vander in Episode IV: A New Hope, but also had roles in Rogue One and Hollywood blockbusters including Hellboy and Captain Phillips.

He later appeared as Sonny Munro in River City, and Tostig in the History Channel series Vikings, but relocated to Edinburgh in the mid-1980s, where he established a successful pizza restaurant.

In a post on his official Facebook page, his family confirmed that he died "surrounded by friends and family" on 23 December.

In a statement, they said he was a "beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend."

Convention community

As Dutch, MacInnes portrayed a former Imperial pilot who had defected from the dark side to the Luke Skywalker-led rebellion when ordered to bomb part of his home planet.

He is one of the first to die during the initial assault on the Darth Vader's Death Star in the 1977 film, though he returned to the series in 2016 when archive footage was used in the franchise reboot.

His family said fans of the series had a "special place in his heart".

They wrote: "He loved meeting you at conventions, hearing your stories, and sharing in your passion for the saga.

"He was continually humbled, delighted, and honoured by the admiration and passion of the fans and convention community."

He also starred alongside Tom Hanks as one of the captured crew aboard the Maersk Alabama when it was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia in the 2013 film Captain Phillips.

He also played Council Judge Gerald Silver in the 1995 version of Judge Dredd, starring Sylvester Stallone, and Sgt Whiteman in the 2004 film Hellboy opposite Ron Perlman.

Away from the big screen, MacInnes opened Mamma's pizza in Edinburgh's Grassmarket during a hiatus from his acting career in 1985.

His family added: "Angus was more than an actor—he was a kind, thoughtful, and generous soul who brought warmth and humour into the lives of everyone who knew him.

"He will be deeply missed by his family, friends and fellow actors but also by his fans around the world - his family thank you all."

Radio presenter Johnnie Walker has died at the age of 79, two months after calling time on his 58-year career because of ill health.

DJ Bob Harris, who took over BBC Radio 2's Sounds of the 70s show after Walker's retirement, announced his former colleague's death live on the station on Tuesday.

Walker had pulmonary fibrosis, which is scarring of the lungs, a condition which makes breathing difficult.

He stepped down from presenting Sounds of the 70s and The Rock Show, also on Radio 2, at the end of October.

Walker had announced live on air earlier in October that he would be hanging up his microphone to retire.

He explained the reason he was retiring after reading out a letter from a listener whose dad had loved the show, but had passed away in 2022 due to pulmonary fibrosis.

"Now, that leads me to be making a very sad announcement," he said.

"The struggles I’ve had with doing the show and trying to sort of keep up a professional standard suitable for Radio 2 has been getting more and more difficult, hence my little jokes about Puffing Billy, so I’ve had to make the decision that I need to bring my career to an end."

Walker's last episode of The Rock Show aired on 25 October, and his final episode of Sounds of the 70s was broadcast on 27 October.

At the end of his final show, Walker said: "[It's] going to be very strange not to be on the wireless anymore. Also, by the same token, life will be slightly less of a strain really, trying to find the breath in order to do the programmes."

"Thank you for being with me all these years and take good care of yourself and those you love and may we walk into the future with our heads held high and happiness in our hearts. God bless you."

With Harris taking the helm for Sounds of the 70s, Shaun Keaveny took the reins for Walker's Rock Show.

Walker began his radio career in 1966 on Swinging Radio England, an offshore pirate station, before moving to Radio Caroline.

He joined BBC Radio 1 in 1969, and joined Radio 2 in 1997 where he remained until his retirement.

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

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

New Year's Eve events across the UK have been cancelled as the country braces for high winds, heavy rain and snow.

Most parts of the UK are covered by at least one Met Office weather warning until Wednesday.

Transport delays are "likely" as strong winds may reach speeds of up to 70mph in parts of England and Northern Ireland, forecasters warned.

Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh have already been cancelled over public safety concerns, as have fireworks displays in Blackpool, Newcastle, the Isle of Wight and Ripon in North Yorkshire.

Hogmanay organisers, Unique Assembly, have apologised to international tourists who travelled to Edinburgh for the street party and midnight fireworks display.

Scotland's Culture Secretary Angus Robertson said cancelling the festival was "undoubtedly" the correct decision.

"I'm truly sorry for everybody who has travelled but I think given the extent of the weather forecast - it's really, really bad in some parts of the country - it's not the right thing to proceed," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The fireworks display in Blackpool was cancelled because of the expected high winds. The town's other events will go ahead, including a projection show to mark the start of 2025.

A spokesperson for London's mayor said the capital's firework display would go ahead at midnight despite concerns over the weather.

Darryl Fleming, who runs the company in charge of the display, said his team was "looking forward to delivering a full show".

Celebrations in Manchester will also go ahead as planned, after its fireworks display was moved to the top of the city's central library.

Councillor Pat Karney, Manchester City Council's designated New Year spokesperson, said: "Mancunians know that when it's a bit cold and wet you have to wrap up warm, but we're looking forward to seeing everyone tonight.

"All you need is your dancing shoes, party spirit and your nearest and dearest. Grab hold of those and we can't wait to see you in St Peter's Square for the last party of 2024."

Some parts of the country may get to welcome the new year with nature's own fireworks display - the Northern Lights.

Its colourful auroras may be visible in Scotland, Northern Ireland and possibly northern England "depending on the cloud cover", the Met Office said.

The weather warnings in place across the UK include:

• On New Year's Eve, an amber warning for rain is in force in the Highlands and Moray until 17:00 GMT
• A yellow warning for snow and rain covers the Highlands and Moray until 04:00
• Parts of central and southern Scotland and northern England are covered by a yellow warning for wind from 07:00 until 23:00, with a separate wind warning covering much of Northern Ireland from 06:00 until 14:00
• A yellow warning for rain for much of Wales and north-west England is in force until 11:00 on Wednesday
• A yellow warning for snow is in place until midnight in Orkney and Shetland

In the Highlands, forecasters warned "blizzard conditions are possible", especially in the far northern regions of Sutherland and Caithness.

The Environment Agency (EA) issued a flood warning for the River Rothay at Grasmere, White Bridge and Stock Lane in the Lake District. It is the only flood warning in England.

The poor weather conditions were expected to cause travel disruption in parts of the country.

Transport for Wales and London North Eastern Railway warned some services could be delayed or cancelled at short-notice.

Northern Ireland's Translink advised passengers to check online before travelling.

A number of routes in Scotland have been impacted because of speed restrictions, including Inverness services to Perth and the Kyle of Lochalsh; Perth to Stirling; and Edinburgh to Inverness.

The EA warned those travelling or celebrating on New Year Eve to be "especially careful".

Stefan Laeger, the agency's flood duty manager, urged people to "stay away from swollen rivers and not to drive through floodwater as just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car".

Arguably the modern era's biggest A-list couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were married for two years - but it has taken eight years since announcing their divorce to finally reach a deal. Why did it take four times as long as the marriage itself to settle?

One part of the answer is that the divorce is one strand in a set of bitter legal disputes, some of which still need to be resolved in what Jolie's lawyer has called "a long ongoing process".

We take a look back at how it all started and the legal wranglings the pair have been caught up in since they split in 2016.

Romance blossoms

The couple got together after meeting on the set of the film Mr & Mrs Smith, which was released in 2005.

"Because of the film, we ended up being brought together to do all these crazy things, and I think we found this strange friendship and partnership that kind of just suddenly happened," Jolie told Vogue in 2007.

She had already won a best supporting actress Oscar for 1999 movie Girl, Interrupted, but was better known for playing Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider films.

Pitt had starred in hit films including Twelve Monkeys, Fight Club and Ocean's 11.

Both had been married before - Pitt to Friends star Jennifer Aniston, and Jolie to actors Jonny Lee Miller (1996 to 2000) and Billy Bob Thornton (2000 to 2003).

Expanding family

Jolie and Pitt share six children together.

Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia in 2002 a few months after he was born. Pitt later adopted him after he and Jolie had begun their relationship.

In 2005, the pair adopted daughter Zahara from Ethiopia when she was a few months old.

The couple's first biological child, Shiloh, was born in Namibia in 2006. Earlier this year, it was reported that Shiloh had submitted a petition to a court to drop Pitt from her name.

Their son Pax was adopted at the age of three from Vietnam in 2007, and twins Knox and Vivienne were born in 2008.

Beginning of the end

The couple made their final red carpet appearance together in November 2015 for a film they both starred in, By the Sea. It was about an unhappily married couple, and was written and directed by Jolie.

The couple rarely discussed their relationship but when promoting the film, Jolie told The Telegraph: "Brad and I have our issues.

"We have fights and problems like any other couple. We have days when we drive each other absolutely mad and want space, but the problems in the movie aren't our specific problems."

The news that Jolie was filing for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences", came as a shock to many in September 2016.

Plane allegations and custody battle

It emerged that she filed for divorce a day after an incident on board a private plane.

Pitt was initially alleged to have hit son Maddox, then 15, on the flight from France to Los Angeles. The FBI and social workers examined the claims, but neither took any action. Pitt denied wrongdoing.

Then in 2022, legal papers from a separate dispute revealed that Jolie accused Pitt of drunkenly attacking her and two children during the flight.

At the time, a source close to the actor told the BBC that her claims were false.

Speaking to Vogue in 2020, Jolie said she left Pitt for the "wellbeing" of her family.

"It was the right decision," she said. "I continue to focus on their healing."

In an interview with GQ in 2017, Pitt spoke about his decision to quit drinking and smoking marijuana, saying the split had been a "huge generator for change".

Regarding the divorce, Pitt said he and Jolie had decided to abandon a path of "vitriolic hatred" and work together to sort out their issues, adding that they were committed to resolving matters amicably and privately.

Vineyard drama

Their attempts to reach agreements over the divorce and custody of their children appeared to be acrimonious and protracted.

In 2019, a judge declared that the couple were officially single, but that the divorce still needed to be finalised.

They reached a custody deal in 2018, but that appeared to fall apart. In 2021, Pitt was granted joint custody after a court battle, but the private judge who oversaw the case was later removed because he did not disclose his business relationships with Pitt's lawyers.

That raised the prospect of a fresh custody case, but nothing has been made public.

And while the divorce saga may now be drawing to a close, there is another legal battle still ongoing to do with a French vineyard.

Pitt and Jolie bought Chateau Miraval together in 2008 and got married in its small chapel in 2014.

But Jolie sold her share to a spirits manufacturer owned by a Russian oligarch, according to Pitt's lawsuit. He is suing his ex-wife for selling her stake in the estate, saying they agreed not to sell their shares without the permission of the other. Jolie has not publicly commented.

Why has divorce settlement taken so long?

The legal wrangles and family considerations added extra complications to the divorce, and celebrity lawyer Chris Melcher told BBC News the settlement had taken an unusually long time.

"This is much longer than any divorce we typically see, but they initially had fights over custody and then it revolved around this winery they own together, and that's been the focus of their fight over the last few years," he said.

Many celebrities want to divorce quickly and move on, he explained.

"A lot of these high-profile cases... we want to keep this quiet, it's damaging to [a celebrity's] brand and their work, so a lot of times in a case of this magnitude we can settle it within six months, a year at the very most.

"Eight years is really a sign of something more going on. It's an inability to let go and a desire to really harm the other."

Few details of the divorce proceedings have been revealed. Private judges are often hired in the US to mediate disputes between divorcing celebrities for privacy reasons.

Kate Daly, co-founder of online divorce company Amicable, told the BBC that such a case was very different from an average divorce.

"It's an industry... [they can afford] lots of expensive lawyers," she said. "Most people couldn't afford for it to take eight years. It's an industry and it's a bad example - we have to distance [normal] people from that kind of narrative."

Their children are now all aged between 16 and 23, and showbiz journalist Jeanne Wolf emphasised the emotional fallout.

"It's been a very emotional and complicated divorce settlement. It's taken a big toll on the children and the couple involved," she said.

"They have tried very hard not to let too many details known about what went on in that marriage."

Jolie's lawyer highlighted the passage of time in his statement on Monday. "This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago," he said.

"Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over."

The UN Human Rights Office says Israeli attacks on and around hospitals have pushed Gaza's healthcare system to "the brink of total collapse" and raised serious concerns about war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A new report describes a pattern in which Israeli forces struck, besieged and forcibly evacuated hospitals, leading to patients dying or being killed.

It acknowledges Israel's allegations that hospitals have been used by Palestinian armed groups, but says the evidence is "vague".

The Israeli military has not commented. But it has previously said its forces comply with international law and takes measures to mitigate harm to civilians and minimize disruption to medical services.

It comes days after the last functioning hospital in besieged northern Gaza was raided by the Israeli military, which said it was being used as Hamas command centre.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 45,500 people have been killed and 108,300 injured in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

"As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Tuesday.

"The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times."

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said it documented at least 136 strikes on 27 of the 38 hospitals in Gaza and 12 other medical facilities during the period covered by the report, which was between October 2023 and June 2024.

Those strikes claimed "significant casualties among doctors, nurses, medics and other civilians" and caused "significant damage, if not complete destruction of civilian infrastructure", it added.

Medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit, or are not used to commit, outside their humanitarian function, acts harmful to the enemy. Even then, any attack must still comply with the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack.

The OHCHR said intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded were treated, intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, and intentionally launching disproportionate attacks were war crimes.

And under certain circumstances, the deliberate destruction of healthcare facilities may also amount to a form of collective punishment, which would also constitute a war crime.

According to the report, in most instances where Israel has attacked hospitals, Israel has alleged that the hospitals were being improperly used by Palestinian armed groups.

"However, insufficient information has so far been made available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information," the UN report says.

"If these allegations were verified, this would raise serious concerns that Palestinian armed groups were using the presence of civilians to intentionally shield themselves from attack, which would amount to a war crime."

Hamas and medical staff have denied that the hospitals have been used by armed groups.

The report also says that the impacts of Israeli military operations in and around hospitals have extended far beyond the physical structures.

"Many women are giving birth with no or minimal pre- and postnatal care, increasing the risk of preventable maternal and child mortality," it says.

"OHCHR has received reports that a number of newborns died because their mothers were unable to attend postnatal check-ups or reach medical facilities to give birth."

The report also says that people with trauma injuries were being prevented from receiving timely and possibly life-saving treatment, noting that the Gaza health ministry had reported an 80% decrease in the number of hospital beds and the killing of more than 500 medical professionals by the end of June.

"Many injured reportedly died while waiting to be hospitalized or treated. Even those who managed to receive critical treatment, including surgery, received it without proper bedding and facilities, and were often discharged prematurely due to a lack of space."

The OHCHR cites the Israeli government as saying in response to the report that the Israeli military had taken "extensive measures" to "mitigate civilian harm and minimize disruption to medical services".

These included enabling evacuation routes from hospitals, providing medical equipment, fuel and other aid to keep hospitals functioning, and establishing field hospitals, it said.

The Israeli government also asserted that Hamas had chosen to "to methodically abuse the protection of medical facilities", "embeds its tunnel system and infrastructure within the premises of medical facilities as a matter of strategy, and utilizes them as arms caches and accessible HQs for its operatives".

Türk called for independent investigations to be carried out into incidents documented in the report, and said it "must also be a priority for Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure and facilitate access to adequate healthcare for the Palestinian population".

Senior Labour MP Emily Thornberry and Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, are among a number of politicians named in the New Year Honours list.

Thornberry said she was "both honoured and surprised" to have been made a dame.

Khan said it was already the "honour of my life to serve the city I love" and that he was "truly humbled" to have been made a knight.

Conservatives Andy Street, the ex-West Midlands mayor, and Nick Gibb, the former long-serving schools minister, also received knighthoods.

Dame Emily told the Press Association: "My husband was knighted a few years ago and I never felt comfortable sharing his title, calling myself 'Lady Nugee', but Dame Emily is a name I'd be proud to go by."

She added: "I think of my grandmothers, neither of whom were even allowed to work as married women, and think how utterly delighted they'd be to see this."

Dame Emily has served as MP for Islington South since 2005 and is now chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. She was not included in Sir Keir Starmer's first Cabinet after Labour's general election victory.

She is now a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy congratulated Sir Sadiq, saying that he was proud that the UK was "a place where you can go from being the son of a bus driver", like the mayor, to being a knight of the realm.

Sir Sadiq worked as a human rights lawyer before entering Parliament as MP for Tooting in 2005. He became mayor of London in 2016 and has since won two further terms.

'A huge honour'

Sir Andy, who was elected as the West Midlands' first mayor in 2017, said he was only "the front man" for a project to make his position a success, and that his appointment as a knight was an "accolade for the people in the West Midlands".

Several former MPs also received honours in the annual list.

Former MP Ranil Jayawardena, who served as environment secretary during Liz Truss's brief time as prime minister, and former Conservative deputy chief whip Marcus Jones have both been made knights.

Former Labour MP Kate Hollern, who lost her Blackburn seat to Independent candidate Adnan Hussain in July, has been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Lord Mike Katz, the national chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement who was recently ennobled by Sir Keir, has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

A pre-flight inspection of a Jeju Air passenger plane hours before it crashed in South Korea, killing 179 people, found "no issues", the airline has said.

"Nothing abnormal was noted with the landing gear," the airline's CEO Kim Yi-bae told a news conference in Seoul, as investigations continue into why the wheels were not down when it performed an emergency landing.

The plane was travelling from Bangkok when it crash-landed at Muan International Airport on Sunday, bursting into flames and killing everyone onboard, save for two crew members, after skidding into a wall.

Investigators are still working to identify victims and establish what caused South Korea's deadliest ever air crash.

• What we know so far about the crash
• Could a bird strike have caused it?
• Why was there a wall near runway?
• Anger as families wait for victims' remains
• Video captures moments before crash
• Watch: At the scene of the investigation

Many question remain unanswered and investigators are looking at the role a bird strike of weather conditions may have played.

They are also focusing on why the Boeing 737-800 did not have its landing gear down when it hit the runway shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Hundreds of grieving relatives have been camping out at the airport in Muan, furious that they have not yet seen the bodies of their loved ones.

So far just a few of the victims' remains have been released to their families. On Tuesday, four were transported to funeral homes but most other families are still waiting for their loved ones to be identified.

Addressing questions over the company's safety procedures on Tuesday, Jeju Air's CEO Kim Yi-bae said the plane would not have been cleared for takeoff if the maintenance team had not signed off on its safety.

He said its pilots were trained to regulation standards, and the company had two full flight simulators.

"We have 12.9 maintenance workers per aeroplane, which has increased from 12 in 2019," he said.

"We have a strict maintenance checklist, it is not possible to miss things. If something was missed it would be a grave problem.

"As for whether the landing gear functioned properly, that is directly related to the accident investigation, and we are not in a position to know at this time."

Mr Kim said the airline would reduce its air traffic this winter by 10-15%, in order to be able to carry out more maintenance work on the planes, but said this was not an admission that the company was running too many planes.

He added that they would increase their monitoring of weather before and after flights.

Mr Kim also acknowledged that over the past five years, Jeju Air had paid the most fines and faced the most administrative action of any Korean airline – but said the company was consistently improving its safety record.

He said he was committed to strengthening the company's safety and maintenance procedures, adding: "We aim to repair your trust in us by strengthening our safety measures."

Mr Kim said the airline was preparing emergency compensation for the victims' families and were covering the cost of the funerals.

The money would be released soon, he said, before the insurance process is completed. He added that company employees are on site to provide psychological counselling to the families.

The 179 passengers on flight 7C2216 were aged between three and 78 years old, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, according to Yonhap news agency. Two Thai nationals are among the dead and the rest are believed to be South Korean, authorities have said.

Many relatives are frustrated with how long the process of identifying victims' bodies has taken, but officials say it is challenging because those on board were so severely burned in the fire after the crash.

One man the BBC spoke to at the airport said his nephew and his nephew's two sons had been on a celebratory trip to Thailand to mark the end of the college entrance exams. All three died on the flight.

"I can't believe the entire family has just disappeared," Maeng Gi-su, 78, told the BBC. "My heart aches so much."

The runway at Muan International Airport is to stay closed for another week while forensic teams collect more of the remains and debris.

Investigators began inspecting the plane's two black boxes - the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder - on Tuesday.

The second device is missing a critical connector, they say, which will make it more difficult to extract the data. This could prolong the search for answers as to why this plane was forced to land without its landing gear.

Officials also said they are examining regulations around a concrete barrier which the plane smashed into when it skidded beyond the end of the runway.

Syria's new leaders are reported to have given some foreign Islamist fighters senior official posts in the country's armed forces.

The army is being re-organised by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the Islamist group that is now effectively in charge of the country – following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

While there has been no confirmation of the move by the new leadership, it is likely to raise concerns inside and outside Syria over the role radicalised foreign militants could play in the country's future.

Several Syrian sources have deduced that out of almost 50 new military roles that have been announced, at least six have gone to foreigners.

Based on the names that have been published, they are said to include Chinese Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turkish national. All are said to have been given high-ranking positions as colonels or brigadier-generals.

The role of foreign fighters in various armed groups during the civil war is one that stirs strong feelings in Syria.

Thousands of fighters from many different countries joined the uprising against Assad as it became an all-out armed conflict when mass protests were met with violence by the security forces.

Some formed their own groups and others provided the core of the Islamic State group, which took control of large regions in the east of Syria.

Opponents of HTS had long accused it of being largely made up of foreign jihadists - a charge Assad supporters used to try to delegitimise the group as it mounted its final, decisive offensive against the regime.

But in the years that he ran the rebel enclave in Idlib, Ahmed al-Sharaa – the leader of HTS and now Syria – had been getting rid of some of those foreign fighters in a bid to bolster his group's credentials as a nationalist rather than overtly jihadist force.

Al-Sharaa's message since taking power has again and again stressed the vision of a unified Syrian state, in which all communities must be respected and have a stake.

• Syria's minorities seek security as country charts new future
• What now for Syria's £4.5bn illegal drug empire
• Syria's rebel leaders say they've broken with their jihadist past - can they be trusted?
• Watch: BBC speaks to Syrian rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa
• Jeremy Bowen: Syria's new ruler is politically astute - but can he keep his promises?
• From Syrian jihadist leader to rebel politician: How Abu Mohammed al-Jolani reinvented himself

For those who are concerned that his actions might not match his words, this apparent move to formalise the positions of some prominent foreign fighters may give them further pause for thought.

The appointments appear to have been made in order to reward those fighters – whether from Syria or elsewhere – who played a significant role in the final triumph over the regime.

For the same reason, some of the remaining foreign fighters – along with their families – now seem likely to be given Syrian citizenship.

The issue is just one of many that could complicate any successful transition to a new political and social framework in Syria.

The new authorities are putting a lot of weight on a National Dialogue Conference that is being prepared to bring together representatives from all sections of society – although no date has been set.

The hope is that the conference will set in motion the process to rebuild the institutions of the broken and divided country.

A woman who has helped tens of thousands of children after the death of her own daughter from cancer has been appointed an MBE.

Wendy Tarplee-Morris set up the Little Princess Trust in Hereford, which makes wigs for children undergoing cancer treatment.

It was set up in memory of her daughter Hannah, who died in in 2005, and now provides about 2,000 wigs every year to young people and donates millions of pounds to childhood cancer research.

Ms Tarplee-Morris said she was "proud" of her achievement and the number of young people that had been supported thanks to Hannah.

In the charity's first year, 36 real-hair wigs were bought commercially and provided to children.

But by 2021, workers had provided 12,000 free wigs and given more than £15m to research efforts.

It is now the largest wig charity in the world and has received hair donations from 125 different countries.

"I would hope she would be very proud of what has been achieved in her memory," Ms Tarplee-Morris said when asked what her daughter would think of her MBE.

"A huge amount of people were involved. I feel very proud of the support that we've recieved locally and the number of children that have been helped because of her."

She added she would accept the honour on behalf of all of Hannah's family and the families of those affected by childhood cancer.

"I think if we knew the scale we probably would have been frightened off," she said of the venture.

"When you're given the opportunity to do something to help others I think it would be very difficult not to."

Others across Herefordshire and Worcestershire being honoured include local businessman Graham Knowles, who has been appointed an MBE for services to heritage.

The 78-year-old, from Stourport-on-Severn, helped find a new home for the world-famous Stourbridge Glass Collection, spearheading a years-long campaign after councillors closed the previous Broadfield House Glass Museum.

Some 10,000 items are held at the new museum, which finally opened in 2022 after numerous setbacks.

Mick Donovan, pro vice chancellor of the University of Worcester, becomes an MBE for services to inclusion in sport and education.

He helped create the University of Worcester Arena, the first sports facility in the UK purpose-designed with wheelchair athletes in mind, and Worcester Wolves Basketball Club.

Redditch angler Mark Downes, who manages Team England, has also been appointed an MBE for services to angling.

Bromsgrove's Lauren Rowles, who at Paris 2024 became the first woman to win rowing gold at three Paralympic Games, becomes an OBE for services to rowing.

Other honours recipients from Herefordshire and Worcestershire include:

• Richard Quallington, from Worcester, the former executive director of Action with Communities in Rural England, is appointed OBE for services to rural communities
• Miranda Appleton, from Hereford, the principal of Hereford College of Arts, is appointed MBE for services to further education
• The Reverend Dr Ken Hopkins, from Hereford, the Chair of Trustees at Heart of Mercia Multi-Academy Trust, is appointed MBE for services to education
• Ben Rafiqi, from Bromsgrove, the founder of Let's Feed Brum and Tabor House, is appointed MBE for services to tackling homelessness and to the community in Birmingham and the West Midlands
• Gareth Ratcliffe, from Hereford, the deputy chair of Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, is appointed MBE for charitable services to Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)
• Karen Rogers, from Malvern, the chief executive of Herefordshire Care Homes Group, is appointed MBE for services to social care
• Elizabeth Davies, from Leominster, is awarded a BEM for services to the community in Kimbolton
• Tracy Hemming, from Evesham, the director of Freedom Day Centre, is awarded a BEM for for services to young people and adults with special educational needs and disabilities

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Olympic gold-medallist Dame Laura Kenny is Britain's most successful female athlete. She has two young boys but also had a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy, and has always wondered if the physical toll of elite sport had damaged her fertility. The BBC News Health team has investigated.

Dame Laura, 32, gave her body to cycling for more than a decade.

"Every training session I went in there to give 100%, every race I went in there to give 100%.

"I took it to the limit - if I wasn't sick after a race I'd be like, 'Did I try hard enough?'"

That absolute commitment was rewarded in the velodrome. Two golds at the London 2012 Olympics were followed by two more at Rio 2016.

She married fellow cycling phenomenon Jason Kenny later that year and the couple welcomed their first baby, Albie, in 2017. She then secured another gold and silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021).

But she miscarried in November 2021 and five months later had an ectopic pregnancy, in which the embryo implants outside of the womb, requiring emergency surgery.

"Everything was a shock - I went from being so in control of my body to being so out of control," she told Radio 4's Today programme.

Dame Laura had never really worried about her own fertility before. Conceiving Albie had been straightforward, and that pregnancy went smoothly.

But since first talking publicly about her baby losses, other athletes have told her they have been through the same thing.

It's left a nagging question – could elite sport have a damaging impact on the fertility of female athletes?

"Was my body just running on empty, and then it said, 'Well, hang on, there's no way we can do this?'" she says.

Miscarriage is common. About one in four pregnancies ends before 24 weeks and many occur at a very early stage. Most couples never find out why.

But are athletes at greater risk of any type of fertility problem?

Dr Emma O'Donnell, an exercise physiologist at Loughborough University, says the lifestyle of a professional athlete puts a unique strain on the human body.

Elite training burns a phenomenal number of calories and, as a result, athletes' bodies are often lean and muscular, containing very little body fat.

If they don't eat enough food to keep up with the calorie burn then issues with menstrual cycles, such as periods stopping for months or even years, are "very common", Dr O'Donnell says.

Nearly two-thirds of female athletes experience interrupted periods, particularly in endurance sports. There are comparably high rates of periods disappearing in competitors in sports like gymnastics, ballet and figure skating. This compares to only 2-5% of the general population.

Absent periods can be a sign that ovulation (or egg release) isn't happening.

How does that happen in the body?

"We're not 100% sure," says Dr O'Donnell, but the leading idea is that having a baby is so energy-intensive that the brain shuts off reproduction if it thinks there is insufficient spare energy.

It starts in the hypothalamus, a small structure in the centre of the brain that senses the nutritional state of the body.

Sitting just underneath the hypothalamus is the body's hormone factory - the pituitary gland.

Normally, the gland releases hormones that travel down to the womb and ovaries to control the monthly menstrual cycle and the release of an egg, which makes pregnancy possible.

But if the hypothalamus isn't happy, this process breaks down and ovulation doesn't happen.

"If you're not ovulating you can't have a baby. You can't conceive because there's no egg being released," says Dr O'Donnell.

The biggest factor in this seems to be the huge number of calories burned while training, which can leave athletes struggling to eat enough food to compensate.

This phenomenon is known as relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), and was first recognised by the International Olympic Committee in 2014.

But other factors are also likely to be involved, says Prof Geeta Nargund, a consultant at St George's Hospital and medical director of Create Fertility.

Fat in the body helps make the sex hormone oestrogen.

"If the sport is affecting body fat content, then quite clearly there's an effect on oestrogen levels," she says.

Psychological stress – potentially from the pressures of training and competing – can also disrupt the menstrual cycle.

"We do see this in women with high levels of anxiety," said Dr O'Donnell.

Disruption to periods and egg release is the most clearly recognised impact on a female athlete's fertility, but this should resolve once they retire from competition, she notes.

Ectopic and miscarriage

For those who do manage to conceive, things can still go wrong. After an egg is fertilised, it should implant into the lining of the womb. However, in an ectopic pregnancy the egg implants elsewhere, usually in the fallopian tubes that connect the ovaries to the womb.

Around 11,000 pregnancies a year in the UK are ectopic. It's not completely clear why they happen, although inflammation and scar tissue in the fallopian tubes can increase the risk.

"But in this case, I don't see a direct link between sports and an increased incidence of ectopic pregnancy," said Prof Nargund, who has treated athletes struggling with their fertility.

However, she said there was a potential link between too much intense exercise in the first three months of pregnancy and miscarriage – although far more research is needed to be certain.

She pointed to a large Danish study that followed more than 90,000 women and suggested the more intense exercise women did, the higher the risk. This was particularly for weight-bearing and high-impact exercises.

"If you end up in the Laura Kenny territory where you're an elite athlete, you're the very top of that," Prof Nargund said.

But she explained the findings needed to be taken "with caution" because the way the study was designed meant there could be other explanations that had not been considered.

Meanwhile, a very small study of 34 Norwegian athletes found no increased risk of fertility problems, including miscarriage.

"We need to do a lot more research when it comes to sports, exercise, hormone balance and reproduction," says Prof Nargund.

Athletes freezing their eggs

Lauren Nicholls played elite level netball for 10 years then had two children, before becoming coach of Super League champions Loughborough Lightning. She says the conversations current players have about fertility are different to the ones she had with her teammates.

"I know a few of the slightly older players - they've frozen eggs and made those decisions for their family for a later date," she says. "Because they're worried about their career."

Juggling being an elite athlete and starting a family has always been a tricky challenge. For women, their years of peak fertility overlap with the time they hit their physical peak.

Male athletes are also not immune to fertility issues. Burning more energy than you have coming in may affect testosterone levels, cause sperm abnormalities and even erectile dysfunction.

But for Dr Emma Pullen, a sports exercise researcher at Loughborough, the lack of definitive answers on the impact of elite sport is emblematic of how poorly female athletes have been researched, from fertility to injury risk.

She said research was "playing catch up" with the amount of attention on male sport.

"We're seeing the repercussions of that with growing professionalisation of women's sports and more female athletes than ever before," Dr Pullen adds.

Overall, Prof Nargund argues female athletes are likely to face more fertility challenges than other women.

"There seems to be a fertility problem because of [elite sport's] potential effect on ovulation, including potentially a higher risk of miscarriage," she says.

But a definitive answer on exactly how much elite-level exercise is too much is not clear. And that's enough for Dame Laura, for now.

"The conversation in itself I feel is really important because I want people to start talking," Laura says. "Honestly, I would love it if it was a lot more open."

The relationship between exercise and fertility affects all of us though, even if we're a long way from Olympic glory.

How does exercise affect everyone else's fertility?

Most men and women benefit from exercising and losing excess weight before trying to conceive – this is known to boost fertility.

Regular physical activity reduces stress, improves sleep and makes periods more regular in those with the hormonal condition polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

But amateur female athletes who train intensively can also end up running on empty and seeing their periods stop, or become irregular.

"Not to quite the same extent, but it's there," says Dr O'Donnell.

Making sure there's a balance between energy intake and energy output is "really important to ovulatory cycles" and the key to maintaining reproductive function, she adds.

"[Amateur athletes] are not aware of the fact of how many calories they really need to put in to meet that energy demand."

The victims of a £10m jewellery raid from a north London mansion have offered rewards totalling £1.5m to help catch the thief and recover their stolen items.

The items of jewellery, as well as £150,000 of designer handbags and £5,000 in cash were stolen from the house on exclusive Avenue Road, near Primrose Hill, on 7 December.

The homeowners, who have not been formally identified, are offering a first reward of £500,000 to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thief.

They are also offering 10% of the value of any recovered items of jewellery for information that leads to its retrieval, which could total as much as £1.5m, the Metropolitan Police confirmed.

The Met Police believes the house was targeted between 17:00 and 17:30 GMT by a man who climbed in through a second-floor window.

The suspect is described as white, aged in his late 20s to 30s, and is said to have worn a dark hoodie, cargo pants and grey baseball cap and had kept his face covered.

Among the items taken, totalling £10.4m, were distinctive pieces such as two De Beers butterfly diamond rings, pink sapphire earrings shaped like butterflies from Katherine Wang, and a gold, diamond and sapphire Van Cleef necklace.

Many of the missing items are unique in their design, and therefore easily identifiable, the Met Police said.

Avenue Road, where the raid took place, links the Swiss Cottage and Regent's Park areas and has some of the most expensive properties in London.

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Sila was less than three weeks old when her mother Nariman realised she wasn't moving.

"I woke up in the morning and told my husband that the baby hadn't stirred for a while. He uncovered her face and found her blue, biting her tongue, with blood coming out of her mouth," says Nariman al-Najmeh.

In their tent situated on the beach in southern Gaza, Nariman is sitting with her husband, Mahmoud Fasih, and their two young children - Rayan, who is four years old, and Nihad, who is two and a half.

The family say they have been displaced more than 10 times during the 14-month war.

"My husband is a fisherman, we're from the north and left without anything but we did it for our children," says Nariman in an interview with a freelance cameraman working with the BBC. Israel prevents international media from entering and freely working on the ground in Gaza.

"When I was pregnant, I used to think about how I was going to get clothes for the baby. I was really worried because my husband doesn't have work."

During her 20 days of life, Sila's home was the small and overcrowded campsite in the al-Mawasi "humanitarian area", where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from elsewhere in the territory have been ordered to move by the Israeli military.

The area suffers from poor infrastructure and sanitation, as well as flooding caused by both rain and waves from the Mediterranean Sea.

"The cold is bitter and harsh. All night, because of the cold, we huddle together, curling up next to each other," says Sila's father, Mahmoud.

"Our life is hell. It's hell because of the effects of the war, my family was martyred, and our situation is unbearable."

Despite telling civilians to head to the area, the Israeli military has struck al-Mawasi repeatedly during its campaign against Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.

Sila's death was not by bombardment - but still caused by the punishing conditions that the war is imposing upon civilians.

She is one of six newborns who have died from hypothermia within a two-week period in Gaza - where night-time temperatures have fallen to 7C (45F) - according to the local health authorities, who have also reported that many thousands of tents have been damaged by the weather.

Nariman says Sila was born at a British field hospital established in the Khan Younis area.

"After I gave birth... I started thinking about how I could secure her milk, nappies. Everything I got, I got with great difficulty."

"I never thought I would give birth living in a tent, in such cold and freezing conditions, with water dripping on us. Water would leak into the tent, pouring down on us. At times, we had to run to escape the water - for the baby's sake," says Nariman.

Still, Sila was born without complications.

"Her health was good, thank God, Suddenly, she started to be affected by the cold," says Nariman. "I noticed she was sneezing and seemed to get sick from the cold, but I never expected she would die because of it."

Sila was admitted last Wednesday to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where Dr Ahmad al-Farra, the director of its paediatric department, said she had suffered from "severe hypothermia, leading to the cessation of vital signs, cardiac arrest, and eventually death".

"[On the previous day] as well, two cases were brought in: one was a three-day-old baby and the other was less than a month old. Both cases involved severe hypothermia, resulting in death," says Dr Farra.

Babies have an underdeveloped mechanism for maintaining their own body temperature and may develop hypothermia easily in a cold environment. Premature babies are especially vulnerable, and Dr Farra says Gaza's medics have observed an increase in the number of premature births during the war.

Mothers are also suffering from malnutrition, leaving to them unable to breastfeed their babies sufficiently. There is also a scarcity of infant formula because of humanitarian aid deliveries being restricted, according to Dr Farra.

Then on Sunday, another, tragic case.

Outside al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza, a second local cameraman working with the BBC met Yehia al-Batran, who couldn't contain his anguish as he carried his dead baby son, Jumaa. Like Sila, he was also only 20 days old and was blue with cold.

"Touch him with your hand, he's frozen," said Yehia. "All eight of us, we don't have four blankets between us. What can I do? I see my children dying in front of me."

"These preventable deaths lay bare the desperate and deteriorating conditions facing families and children across Gaza," Unicef regional director Edouard Beigbeder said in a statement on Thursday.

"With temperatures expected to drop further in the coming days, it is tragically foreseeable that more children's lives will be lost to the inhumane conditions they are enduring."

Under the sound of Israeli drones flying ahead, Sila's father Mahmoud carried her lifeless body from Nasser hospital to a makeshift graveyard in Khan Younis. There, he dug a small grave in the sand.

After laying Sila to rest, Mahmoud comforted Nariman.

"Her siblings are sick, exhausted. We're all sick. Our chests hurt, and we have colds from the cold and rain," says Nariman. "If we don't die from the war, we're dying from the cold."

'Argyle will always hold a special place in my heart' - Rooney

Welsh ambulance service chiefs have urged the public to "drink sensibly" at New Year to help reduce demand on emergency services that suffered a 340-call backlog on Monday.

Jason Killens, chief executive of Welsh Ambulance Service, made the plea after the service declared a critical incident.

In addition, more than half of the trust's ambulance vehicles were waiting to handover patients outside hospitals.

Mr Killens asked the public to use the service "wisely" and only call during a "genuine emergency", adding it was prepared for the additional pressure and 999 calls.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Mr Killens said there were delays at urgent and emergency care departments which prevented ambulance staff handing over patients.

He said that one of the reasons for the pressure on the health system was down to winter viruses such as flu and Covid along with other factors.

"The pressure across the urgent and emergency care in the NHS is well documented. It's a challenge here in Wales as it is in the rest of the UK," he said.

Mr Killens said other factors had also contributed to the pressures placed on the system.

"It's caused by many factors some associated with patients that are medically fit for discharge being unable to get back in to the communities because of the pressure in adult social care," he said.

However, he added that while the pressure had continued overnight, the number of ambulances waiting were slightly less.

"As we go through this morning and we see the numbers of calls coming into us rising throughout the day as we normally would, we will see that similar situation of pressure arise today," he said.

He apologised to patients waiting "far to long" but said there were plans in place to manage the backlog of calls.

"We do have doctors, nurses and paramedics providing advice over the phone and managing less serious patients in a different way so we can respond to those much more sick patients as quickly as we can," he said.

Mr Killens also thanked the staff and volunteers for their work during the critical incident.

On Monday, the Welsh Ambulance Service described the situation as "very rare".

Speaking to Radio Wales Breakfast, he explained that declaring a critical incident "signals the the rest of the NHS that we've got a problem, we are under extreme pressure and we need help".

Dr Rowena Christmas, Chair of the Royal College of GPs in Wales said the situation was worrying and it had been ongoing for several years.

She said: "The amount of acute respiratory illnesses we are seeing at the moment is extraordinary."

A critical incident was also declared in December 2020, due to high demand, particularly in south east Wales.

But an extraordinary incident was declared in 2023 after an ambulance spent more than 28 hours outside a hospital.

Two women whose daughters were murdered by their ex-partners have said a "bereaved mother is not to be messed with" after receiving honours for their campaign to strengthen domestic violence laws.

Carole Gould and Julie Devey co-founded the group Killed Women after their daughters - Ellie Gould, 17, and Poppy Devey Waterhouse, 24 - were killed in their homes by men they had ended relationships with.

Another campaigner, Nick Gazzard, whose daughter Hollie, 20, was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend in 2014, was also recognised for his work around domestic violence and stalking. He said his daughter would be "looking down on us with that huge smile".

They were appointed OBE in the New Year Honours list.

The trio were among a number of people recognised in the list for working to protect women and girls.

Ms Gould and Ms Devey said it would help them to "continue to shine a light" on their campaign and keep domestic violence in the "spotlight".

They have jointly called for an increase in the starting tariff for murders in the home from 15 years to 25 years. In March 2021, Ms Gould successfully fought to change a law on sentencing for teenage killers - dubbed Ellie's law - so they could be given longer sentences.

Ellie Gould was stabbed to death at her home in Calne, Wiltshire in 2019 by Thomas Griffiths after she ended their relationship.

Because he was 17 at the time, Griffiths received a more lenient sentence than an adult defendant. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years and six months.

Poppy was murdered by Joe Atkinson in Leeds in 2018, after the end of their three-year relationship. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years and 310 days.

A joint statement from Ms Devey and Ms Gould said: "Getting this far has been really hard and emotionally draining and, of course, will not bring our darling daughters back, but as we learn more and more about the injustices, and more and more families reach out to us, we are fired up to continue our work. A bereaved mother is not to be messed with."

Nick Gazzard's daughter Hollie was stabbed to death in the Gloucester salon where she worked by her ex-boyfriend, shortly after she ended the relationship. He was jailed for life later that year.

Mr Gazzard, 60, has campaigned for victims of domestic abuse and stalking in the years since her death.

Reacting to his inclusion in the honours list, he said: "We didn't want her to be another statistic and our aim was to use her story to help others avoid what she went through.

"I'm sure she's looking down on us with that huge smile, and proud about what is being achieved in her name."

Others included on the list include:

• Nicole Alison Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales since 2019, has been appointed OBE
• Wendy Ansell, of the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, has been appointed OBE for services to survivors of harmful practices and to women seeking sanctuary
• Hawa Daboh Sesay, the executive director of the Hawa Trust Foundation, has been appointed CBE for her work with victims of female genital mutilation and other forms of abuse

Myleene Klass has been recognised in this year's New Year Honours for services to women's health, miscarriage awareness and to charity.

Speaking to the BBC, the musician and TV presenter said she was "utterly shocked and surprised" to be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

She added that she was "so proud" of how far she had come after suffering four miscarriages and that she was being recognised as a "figurehead to help other women who have experienced baby loss".

"When I think back to how all of this started, it all came from a very dark place, and I certainly didn't have it in mind to become a campaigner at the time.

"Anyone who has experienced baby loss will know how personal and difficult it is to vocalise this level of trauma."

The former Hear'Say singer, I'm a Celebrity.. Get Me Out of Here! star and mother-of-three has spoken openly about the psychological effects of baby loss on women and has spent years campaigning for government change regarding miscarriage care.

She has backed changes to the Women's Health Strategy in Parliament which ensures women will not have to suffer up to three miscarriages before receiving help.

"If you suffered three heart attacks you wouldn't only be offered support after the third one and so it shouldn't be the same with baby loss," she told the BBC.

Last year the Department of Health and Social Care announced a package of new measures to "boost the health and wellbeing of women and girls", including a pilot scheme that will see medical intervention for women after every miscarriage.

The Norfolk-born musician said she felt compelled to lobby parliament for changes because "decisions are being made sitting on those green leather chairs by people who don't even experience what many of the population go through".

'Shouldn't be taboo'

The Classic FM presenter fronted a Bafta-nominated documentary in 2021 entitled Myleene Klass: Miscarriage And Me.

She told the BBC that the first time she was able to vocalise what she had been through was when making the documentary.

"I wasn't even able to say the word miscarriage before because it was so fresh and it took me a long time to talk about my trauma."

The 46-year-old said it "never gets easier" talking about her baby loss and it feels like "ripping off the band aid every time" but it also keeps her "connected to what happened and the babies I lost".

She adds that she chose to include her husband and children in the documentary because "miscarriage affects the whole family".

"My kids thought they were getting a sibling so when you have a miscarriage you're not only mopping up your own sadness, but theirs too."

Part of the reason Klass made the documentary was because she was fed up with the subject being so taboo.

"No one wants to talk about dead babies so women are left to deal with issues of baby loss and fertility alone and that needs to change," she said.

Klass has also authored a number of books on parenting and family life, including 2022's They Don't Teach This At School and has been an ambassador for Save the Children for more than 10 years.

She said she opened the letter informing her that she had been appointed an MBE "in the kitchen with my children" and that it was a "very special moment".

"I feel proud knowing that I've used my platform not to stand by idly but to do something positive.

"A miscarriage is not a dark secret that women have to hide away and I won't stop campaigning until every woman and family has the support they need."

If you or someone you know has been affected by these issues, visit BBC Action Line for information and support.

An immigration row has erupted between Donald Trump's supporters over a long-standing US visa programme.

The feud is about H-1B visas, which allow US-based companies to bring in skilled workers from abroad into certain industries.

Some immigration hardliners say the scheme undercuts American workers - but proponents say the visas allow the US to attract the best expertise from around the world.

The president-elect has weighed in, saying he supports the programme - despite being critical of it in the past - and tech billionaire Elon Musk has also defended it, saying it attracts the "top ~0.1% of engineering talent".

Here's what the data tell us about who gets into the US on these visas.

How many people are approved each year?

The H-1B visas for skilled workers were introduced in 1990. They are typically granted for three years, but can be extended for up to six years.

Since 2004, the number of new H-1B visas issued has been capped at 85,000 per year - 20,000 of which are reserved for foreign students with master's degrees or higher from US universities.

However, that cap does not apply to some institutions such as universities, think tanks and other non-profit research groups, so more are often issued.

People can only apply for an H-1B visa if they have a job lined up with a US-based sponsor company or institution.

The US government also approves extensions for those already working in the country.

Just over 386,000 H-1B applications were approved in the 2023 fiscal year (October 2022-September 2023), the latest year we have full data for, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) figures.

That includes almost 119,000 new H-1B visas and about 267,000 extensions to existing visas.

The 2023 total is down from more than 474,000 in 2022.

There have been efforts to restrict the H-1B further programme in the past.

In 2017, then-president Trump signed an executive order that increased scrutiny of H-1B visa applications. The order sought to enhance fraud detection within the scheme.

Rejection rates hit an all-time high under the first Trump administration, reaching 24% in the 2018 fiscal year, compared with rejection rates of between 5-8% under the Obama administration and between 2-4% under President Biden.

However, the total number of approved applicants under the Biden administration has been similar to that under Trump's first.

In the three years that followed President Trump's executive order (2018-2020), about 1.1 million applications were approved, with about 343,000 of those being first-time applicants.

In the first three years of the Biden administration (2021-2023), about 1.2 million applications were approved, with almost 375,000 being new applicants.

Demand often exceeds the amount of visas granted - in most years there are thousands more applications filed than approved.

In cases in which more applications are received than visas are available, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) effectively runs the H-1B programme as a lottery - which detractors believe highlights a fundamental flaw in the system.

"Ultimately, if you're going to have a skilled worker programme for 'skilled' workers, you don't award these visas via a lottery," said Eric Ruark, the director of research at NumbersUSA, an organisation that advocates for tighter immigration controls.

"Obviously, that's not how you find the best and the brightest."

We don't have a full report on the 2024 numbers yet, but preliminary figures suggest applications have increased sharply.

The number of eligible registrations published by the USCIS showed 758,994 applications in the 2024 fiscal year, compared with 474,421 in 2023.

With Trump headed back to the White House in January, Mr Ruark said he believes that the resolution of the H-1B debate will ultimately be among the factors that defines his presidency.

"Is that second term going to be pro-American worker, or revert to the old establishment Republican position that immigration is designed to help employers at the expense of American workers?" he said.

"That's going to be a huge fight in the second term."

What industries and companies do they work in?

The vast majority of approved applicants work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Most are in computer-related occupations - 65% in the 2023 fiscal year.

This was followed by architecture, engineering and surveying - about 10% of people approved in 2023 worked in those sectors.

In terms of companies, Amazon was the top employer of people on H-1B visas in 2024, hiring more than 13,000 staff via the scheme.

Other familiar names like Google, Meta, and Apple feature high on the employer list - ranking 4th, 6th and 8th respectively.

Tesla, one of the companies owned by Elon Musk - who has backed the programme - ranked 22nd, employing more than 1,700 people on an H-1B visa.

California and Texas were the states with the most people working on an H-1B visa in 2024.

How much do they earn?

The median yearly income of people working in the US on an H-1B visa in 2023 was $118,000 (£94,046).

The median yearly income for people in computer and mathematical occupations across the US is about $113,000 - slightly less than those in similar sectors via the H-1B programme.

The median household income in the US is about $60,000 per year.

While opponents of the H-1B system often make the argument that H-1B holders undercut the salaries of American workers, some immigration lawyers and experts push back on that notion.

The vast majority of H-1B holders earn more than the "prevailing wage" for their occupation - a Department of Labor-determined figure that calculates the average wage paid to similarly employed workers in a particular part of the country.

Shev Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the BBC that, while prevailing wages "are not a full labour market test", they are indicative of the fact that H-1B visa holders aren't negatively affecting the rest of the workforce.

"Let's say you're a software engineer in Washington DC. You look at the going rate for software engineers in DC, and you have to certify that you're paying at least that amount," said Ms Dalal-Dheini, who also worked on H-1B issues while as an official at USCIS.

"You're not really undercutting wages that way."

Additionally, Ms Dalal-Dheini said that US firms must also pay significant fees to file H-1B petitions, often in addition to lawyer fees.

"Companies that end up sponsoring H-1B [recipients] are looking at costs of up to $5,000 to $10,000 in addition to what you would have to pay an American worker," she said.

"The bottom line is that if they could find an American worker that was qualified, most companies would probably choose to hire that American worker, because it would be a cost savings."

Where are people coming from?

The vast majority of those approved come from India.

The latest data showed around 72% of visas were issued to Indian nationals, followed by 12% to Chinese citizens.

About 1% came from the Philippines, Canada and South Korea respectively.

About 70% of those who enter the US on H-1B visas are men, with the average age of those approved being around 33.

Additional reporting by Becky Dale.

Jewellery worth more than £10m as well as designer handbags worth £150,000 have been stolen from a house in St John's Wood in London.

A white man aged in his late 20s to 30s had broken into a house in Avenue Road between 17:00 and 17:30 GMT on 7 December by climbing in through a second-floor window, the Metropolitan Police said.

He took the Hermes Crocodile Kelly handbags, £15,000 in cash as well as items of jewellery worth £10.4m that included unique pieces.

The homeowners have offered a £500,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.

Police added the suspect had worn a dark hoodie, cargo pants and grey baseball cap and had kept his face covered.

Among the items taken were distinctive pieces such as two De Beers butterfly diamond rings, pink sapphire earrings shaped like butterflies from Katherine Wang, and a gold, diamond and sapphire Van Cleef necklace.

Avenue Road links the Swiss Cottage and Regent's Park areas and has some of the most expensive properties in London.

Det Con Paulo Roberts said many of the missing items were unique in their design, and therefore easily identifiable.

He said: "This is a brazen offence, where the suspect has entered the property while armed with an unknown weapon and violated the sanctuary of the victims' home.

"We urge anyone who was in the area of Avenue Road, NW8, and saw anything suspicious to please come forward.

"Also, if you have seen this jewellery since, someone has offered to sell you it, or you have any further information, then please also contact the police or Crimestoppers anonymously."

A second reward of 10% of the value of any recovered items has been offered by the homeowners for information that leads to the retrieval of the stolen jewellery.

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Women may be at risk of missing out on opportunities at work as they are less likely to go into the office than men, the boss of the world's biggest building society has said.

Speaking to BBC R4's Today programme, Nationwide chief executive Debbie Crosbie said it was important for career growth to have a "physical presence" in the workplace.

Ms Crosbie brought an end to the organisation's "work anywhere" policy for its 13,000 non-branch staff last December, asking most full-time workers to come in twice a week instead.

She suggested that while flexible working can be useful for those with caring responsibilities, it is important for workers to see leaders in action.

Under its previous chief executive, Joe Garner, Nationwide had championed 100% remote working, citing research findings which suggested a "work from anywhere" policy had big benefits.

Some staff moved away from their bases, others had childcare built around their new arrangements.

However, Ms Crosbie said she believes in a more collaborative approach.

After an agreement with the union, a hybrid policy was introduced, with most full-time workers asked to come into the office at least one or two days a week.

The reversal was met with criticism from staff members who had made big changes during the course of the pandemic.

But one year on, Ms Crosbie told the BBC that she has observed a noticeable difference in office attendance.

"We find, certainly at Nationwide... that men are more likely to come into the office than women".

She added that observing and interacting with leaders is crucial for growth, noting the impact of having a female chief executive act as her mentor early in her career.

"Being seen and then seeing other leaders is a really important part of development," Ms Crosbie explained.

"I benefited enormously from watching some really excellent leaders and how they navigated challenging problems."

She also stressed the need for businesses to support female leaders and families with flexible childcare options.

She acknowledged the challenges faced by senior executives in managing long hours and childcare responsibilities, emphasising the role firms can play.

Previous research carried out by academics at Durham University and the University of Sheffield suggests that women are more likely to experience blurred boundaries between work and family life.

It found that women working remotely were more likely to value being present for their families, while men were less inclined to interrupt their work schedules to address family needs.

Its researchers suggested, however, that remote work can help employees with a better work-family balance if they are well supported.

"Businesses do have a role to play in that," Ms Crosbie said on Tuesday.

"We just need to be careful that we don't inadvertently prevent women from taking some of the opportunities by not being in the office when they feel it's beneficial both to their skills and to contribute to the business."

The Welsh Ambulance Trust has declared a critical incident because of increased demand across the 999 service and extensive hospital handover delays.

It said more than 340 calls were waiting to be answered across Wales at the time the critical incident was declared on Monday evening.

In addition, more than half of the Trust's ambulance vehicles were waiting to handover patients outside hospitals.

The service is urging the public to call 999 only for serious emergencies as some patients continue to wait many hours for an ambulance.

The Trust said it has taken additional measures to ensure it can continue to deliver a service to the public.

Head of Service at the Trust, Stephen Sheldon, said the public can help by only calling 999 in the event of a life-threatening emergency.

"That's a cardiac arrest, chest pain or breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness, choking, or catastrophic bleeding," Mr Sheldon added.

The service is advising the public to visit the NHS 111 Wales website for health advice or to consult a GP, pharmacist, and minor injuries unit.

Senior Labour MP Emily Thornberry and Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, are among a number of politicians named in the New Year Honours list.

Thornberry said she was "both honoured and surprised" to have been made a dame.

Khan said it was already the "honour of my life to serve the city I love" and that he was "truly humbled" to have been made a knight.

Conservatives Andy Street, the ex-West Midlands mayor, and Nick Gibb, the former long-serving schools minister, also received knighthoods.

Dame Emily told the Press Association: "My husband was knighted a few years ago and I never felt comfortable sharing his title, calling myself 'Lady Nugee', but Dame Emily is a name I'd be proud to go by."

She added: "I think of my grandmothers, neither of whom were even allowed to work as married women, and think how utterly delighted they'd be to see this."

Dame Emily has served as MP for Islington South since 2005 and is now chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. She was not included in Sir Keir Starmer's first Cabinet after Labour's general election victory.

She is now a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy congratulated Sir Sadiq, saying that he was proud that the UK was "a place where you can go from being the son of a bus driver", like the mayor, to being a knight of the realm.

Sir Sadiq worked as a human rights lawyer before entering Parliament as MP for Tooting in 2005. He became mayor of London in 2016 and has since won two further terms.

'A huge honour'

Sir Andy, who was elected as the West Midlands' first mayor in 2017, said he was only "the front man" for a project to make his position a success, and that his appointment as a knight was an "accolade for the people in the West Midlands".

Several former MPs also received honours in the annual list.

Former MP Ranil Jayawardena, who served as environment secretary during Liz Truss's brief time as prime minister, and former Conservative deputy chief whip Marcus Jones have both been made knights.

Former Labour MP Kate Hollern, who lost her Blackburn seat to Independent candidate Adnan Hussain in July, has been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Lord Mike Katz, the national chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement who was recently ennobled by Sir Keir, has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement after eight years, her lawyer has told media.

There was no immediate comment from Mr Pitt's attorney when they were approached for comment, the Associated Press reports.

The couple got married in 2014 and they have six children.

In 2021 a judge awarded joint custody of the children to both parents.

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In 2024 Sophie Ellis-Bextor played more shows than she ever has before – 110.

To put this into context, Taylor Swift's total for the year (albeit on a bigger scale) was 83.

The singer is clear as to the reason – the film Saltburn. Or more specifically, the scene in Emerald Fennell's black comedy about class and privilege, where Barry Keoghan dances triumphantly, and completely naked, through a country house, to her track Murder on the Dancefloor.

"It was over Christmas last year, we were at home, and just seeing the numbers going crazy for people interacting with the song on streaming and TikTok," she says, remembering when she first noticed something unusual was happening with a song that was more than 20 years old.

On 22 December 2023, Saltburn was released on Amazon Prime. By 5 January 2024, Murder on the Dancefloor was back in the top 10 and would spend five weeks at number two, only kept off the top spot by Noah Kahan's Stick Season.

"The year started with an old friend Murder on the Dancefloor taking me for another twirl," is how she sums it up.

"To be honest, at that time it was all quite abstract, and I think this year has been about turning it into an actuality."

US success

In 2024, at the age of 45, Ellis-Bextor had her debut hit single on the Billboard Top 100, made her live US TV debut as the musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and embarked on her first ever headlining tour of the States.

Murder on the Dancefloor was also her ticket to singing at the Bafta Film Awards, making a guest appearance during the DJ Peggy Gou's headlining set on the Park stage at Glastonbury, and even performing in front of King Charles at the Royal Variety Show.

"There is so much to reflect on. It's an extraordinary thing to get to my stage in my career and still be doing new things, new excitement. So, I really wanted to grab hold of that."

Her year is ending with another massive milestone, because on Tuesday night, TV audiences will see her 110th show of 2024, one she describes as a "career highlight".

Standing in London's Hammersmith Studios, beneath what a production manager says is the "biggest disco ball in the country", Sophie Ellis-Bextor is rehearsing for the BBC One New Year's Eve concert, broadcast either side of the midnight fireworks.

"This is the cherry on top," she enthuses about being chosen by BBC Studios to follow the likes of Robbie Williams, Alicia Keys and Craig David, who have performed this gig in the past.

Last year more than seven million people were watching as Rick Astley handed over to Big Ben.

Ellis-Bextor says that for the last two months, and whilst on tour supporting the Human League, she has been using down time to plan extensively for the show, with her husband and musical director, Richard Jones, who is also the bass player for The Feeling.

"New Year's Eve is such a big deal, and I don't take it lightly if people are choosing to spend it with us," she confides.

"So, I want to make sure we try and create the ultimate New Year's Eve party. I just want to give this last boost of escapist fun. I mean, look at how many disco balls we've got here. We've got them all. A monopoly."

Her biggest hits will all feature; Take Me Home, Music Gets the Best of Me and the track which famously beat Victoria Beckham to number one and will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025, Groovejet. ("It was an extraordinary time, but kind of silly.")

And 2025 will, of course, start with Murder on the Dancefloor, "but after a little bit of Auld Lang Syne," she clarifies.

To make the show even more special, Ellis-Bextor has enlisted some of her musical mates.

"I've got Jake Shears from Scissor Sisters," she confirms with relish.

"Their album came out not too long after my first album, so we used to do a lot of stuff together. We've had some nights out, but it's actually the first time we've sung together."

They will be duetting on two of Scissor Sisters' best-known tracks, including Take Your Mama, which will feature what Ellis-Bexter describes as "an epic guitar solo" by Emily Roberts, from the Brit-winning group The Last Dinner Party.

"I'm a massive fan of their band," she says, having covered their song Nothing Matters for the Radio One Live Lounge back in February.

Indeed, indie music is where Ellis-Bexter started out. She first made the charts in 1998 as lead singer of theaudience, a band who made up for their lack of capital letters and use of the space bar with a couple of rather catchy Smiths influenced post-Britpop top 40 hits.

Andy Gill in the Independent called their eponymous debut album "the final cherry on the Britpop cake".

She performed their single A Pessimist is Never Disappointed as an a capella encore on this year's US tour.

"I need a certain song"

Also on Tuesday evening's team sheet is her friend and fellow pop singer podcaster, Jessie Ware, for a stomp through the disco classic Yes Sir, I Can Boogie. ("I didn't even need to tell her to bring the sequins. She just brought it.")

I point out how popular this will be in Scotland, the song having become a Tartan Army anthem, and she laughs, remembering the first time she played it north of the border, before the link was explained to her.

"They went so nuts for it. I just thought they were massive Baccara fans," she laughs.

"Although I have to say, there has to be a bit of work done on the verses. Everybody knows all the words to the chorus, but when it gets to the verse it's 'mmmm mmmmm.'"

As for New Year's resolutions, Ellis-Bextor believes in making fun ones and managed to keep her 2024 pledge to "wear more kaftans".

For 2025 she has challenged herself to buy more disco balls: "I've only got one in my house and I think this is a great look," she says, gesturing towards the stage and the UK's supposed biggest disco ball.

I express my hope that the glitter ball is safely attached, because if it fell when she was under it, then the title of the song that changed her 2024 would become rather apt.

"When I die, they are going to make that joke no matter what," she laughs, before concluding, "The good news is I still love singing it. Imagine if I didn't."

Sophie Ellis-Bextor's New Year's Eve Disco, is on BBC1 from 23:30, except in Scotland, where the Hogmany coverage will feature musical guests Marti Pellow and the folk band Skipinnish.

Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement after eight years, her lawyer has told media.

There was no immediate comment from Mr Pitt's attorney when they were approached for comment, the Associated Press reports.

The couple got married in 2014 and they have six children.

In 2021 a judge awarded joint custody of the children to both parents.

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