# nothing compares # nothing compares to you #. the point at which i start crying is on the lines. all the flowers that you planted, mama, in the backyard all died when you went away. ..because as a young child, i had spent time living in the garden, only being allowed to enter the house to wash the floor every day. # these are dangerous days. # say what you feel. ..# fight the enemy! people say it derailed my career, but i think it rerailed my career because i didn t want to be a pop star. # so happy christmas # i love you, baby # i can see. it s true i m out of it most of the time, but i can write songs when i m out of it. in fact, it s easier for me. # ..singing galway bay. # and the bells are ringing out for christmas day. je t aime #je t aime, oui, je t aime. the vatican and the bbc banned it just because of the heavy breathing without realising the beauty of serge s text, which was i love you, nor do i. # oui, je t aime # moi non plus. wouldn t it be wonderful if t
susan caruana waited six long years for this message from her grandson, alex batty. their first direct contact since he failed to return from a holiday in spain with his mother and grandfather. now back in the uk, alex and his grandma have been speaking to the sun newspaper, describing the last time they spoke over the phone in 2017 from a beach in spain. i said to him, you are coming home on saturday, aren t you? and then i heard in the background his mother telling him to put down the phone. all the phones had been switched off, all communications were cut. and ifelt so betrayed. and i was absolutely devastated. alex spent the next few years living a nomadic lifestyle in france and spain with his mother and grandfather. during the whole six years, susan told the sun, i never knew if they were dead or alive. with no school or formal education, alex said he resorted to books. i used to read harry potter, gosh, i ve probably read it about 20 times in complete order. i used
this is bbc news. the headlines: israeli air strikes pound the south and north of gaza. us defence secretary lloyd austin says the us has spoken to israel about making the war in gaza are more surgical. so we will continue to stand up for israel s right to defend itself and we will also continue to urge for the protection of civilians during the conflict, and to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into gaza. en verify, we look at how the war is impacting en verify, we look at how the war is impacting this trade route for oil in the impacting this trade route for oil in the red impacting this trade route for oil in the red sea. and the bbc understands the democratic unionist party has ruled out any deal to restore power sharing in northern ireland before christmas. time for a look at the business news now with tadhg. we are also talking about the potential looming crisis in world oil shipping. the oil giant bp has supended all shipments of oil through the red sea afte
let s ta ke let s take you to those live pictures from tel aviv where we expect to hear from lloyd austin, the us defence secretary, who is on a visit to israel. he s been holding talks there, and we are being told that the news conference will get under way any time soon. so we are going to keep that box up there so we can go to the news conference whenever it comes in. the united states is becoming increasingly isolated in its strong support for israel s military campaign. on sunday, britain, germany and france called for work towards a sustainable ceasefire . this is a live shot, looking across at gaza. we have seen images like this of smoke across the skyline through the day. hamas officials say that 110 palestinians were killed in israeli airstrikes onjabalia the biggest refugee camp in gaza on sunday. israel has issued no direct response but say it s been targeting terrorist infrastructure. on the programme today we ll get more on conditions in gaza and the diplo