the un tells the taliban to reverse its decision on banning afghan women working for humanitarian agencies after five major organisations suspend their work in afghanistan. hello, and welcome to bbc news. at least 50 people are now known to have died due to the severe arctic freeze that continues to affect the us and canada. one of the worst hit areas is the city of buffalo in new york state, where the governor called the storm an epic, once in a lifetime event . emily unia has the latest. the arctic storm pummelling the us and canada caused christmas chaos for millions. thousands of flights were cancelled, and roads and railways were close to impassible, preventing people from reaching friends and family. emergency services battled treacherous conditions to carry out rescues. fatalities have been confirmed across the us. one of the worst hit areas was new york state, especially in buffalo and hamburg in erie county. snow blanketed streets, and driving was banned. more than
heatwave and drought in parts of the uk for autumnal conditions, which are already being seen in england a month ahead of time. also coming up in half an hour, it s talking business. the momentum behind women s sport is at fever pitch after england win the european football cup but is the money finally flowing in to level the playing field with men? good afternoon. train passengers are facing a further day of disruption after thousands of rail workers started another 24 hour walk out in a dispute over pay and conditions. across the country, only around 20% of services are running. the government say the strikes could be ended if the unions put the pay deals on offer to their members. this report from our correspondent, helena wilkinson. a now familiar sight for rail passengers across the rest of the country half empty stations, weekend plans and services severely disrupted. we had to leave early from home due to the strike action. obviously it will take a lot of time to g
we are determined to get a square deal for our people and that is exactly what we will achieve, and the public seem to be right behind us in that campaign. tribal warriors in south africa proclaim a new king of the zulus after a year long family feud. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. security forces are still fighting islamist militants who took over a hotel in the somali capital modagishu more than 2a hours ago. at least 20 people are said to have been killed. sporadic gunfire and loud explosions could be heard into saturday afternoon at the hayat hotel, but details remain difficult to verify. a security official says al shabab militants are still holed up with hostages. anxious relatives gathered outside the hotel, which witnesses say has been partly destroyed. the hotel is popular with politicians and government officials, some of whom are said to be still trapped inside. bbc monitoring s beverly 0chieng has been following the story from
Elsewhere, israel has been continuing to carry out out aerial bombing of gaza. Its nowjust over two weeks since the hamas attacks inside israel, in which iii hundred people were killed. The Health Ministry in gaza says about 4,700 people there, mainly civilians, have been killed in the israeli air strikes. The Israel Defence forces have confirmed the death of a soldier. Idf spokesperson, rear admiral daniel hagari, says an israeli soldier was killed by an anti tank missile on sunday, during a raid in gaza. Three other soldiers were injured. The israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met soldiers at the israel lebanon border. He reiterated his support for the troops in their fight against the iranian backed hezbollah, which, like hamas, is considered a Terrorist Organization by the uk, us and others. And had a strong warning for the group. The push to find a diplomatic solution to the israel gaza war continues. In the last hour the white house has confirmed that joe biden has aga