And we celebrate a0 years of christmas classic, the snowman, and its iconic soundtrack, Walking In The Air. Good morning. Its Christmas Eve. Our top story. Around 250 Million People in the us and canada are under Severe Weather warnings, as an unprecedented winter storm sweeps across North America. From alaska to texas, bone chilling temperatures, blizzards and icy winds have caused widespread disruption and left more than a million homes and businesses without power. At least 12 deaths have been linked to the conditions. Tom brada reports. Once ina once in a generation whether out of the worst possible time. Ice, wind, rain and extreme cold are Wreaking Havocin Rain and extreme cold are wreaking havoc in the build up to christmas. Trees have been ripped from the ground and power lines have been knocked out across the country. From maine to texas, more than i Million People are without electricity. People are very frustrated because we pay our bills. All day it has been going in and ou
this was the moment he arrived at the prime minister s residence in rome, where he was greeted by italian president sergio mattarella. shortly after this, he met the italian prime minister, giorgia meloni. she s been one of ukraine s more vocal backers, although polls suggest that italian people overall are opposed to sending ukraine more weapons, as are some of her coalition partners. more now from the bbc s sofia bettiza in rome. more than 1000 security officers have been deployed in rome today. this is the first time the president zelensky visits italy since russia invaded ukraine last year. he has had a meeting with his counterpart, the italian president. they had a private meeting that lasted for about 25 minutes and some of the things that they discussed were economic sanctions against russia, the kidnapping of ukrainian children, the need to step up the fight against pro kremlin fake news and ukrainejoining the european union. after the meeting, president zelensky said
ahead of an audience with pope francis. trumpets play this was the moment he arrived at the prime minister s residence in rome. later he ll be meeting the italian prime minister giorgia meloni, and also travel to the vatican. a huge security operation has been launched, with over 1,000 police deployed and a no fly zone over rome. president zelensky is then due to travel to germany, and in the past few hours we ve heard that germany has pledged nearly $3 billion of military to ukraine. that s the biggest aid package from italy yet. that s the biggest aid package from germany yet. but back to italy first. let s cross to the newsroom now and talk to our europe regional editor correspondent paul moss. why has zelensky travel to rome? he s trying to shore up political support and military aid for his country but it s an interesting case. 0n the one hand the prime minister, meloni, has been very vocal with their support of ukraine. but on the other hand you have to look at who else
in the commonwealth, and all over the globe, bringing you the regalia, processions and ancient rituals. we ll have all that and more, including the crowning moment itself later today at westminster abbey. these are pictures from inside the venue and how it will look for the grand ceremony. you can see the ornate chairs taking centre stage there, on top of the mediaeval mosaic floor of the church. crowds have been camping out ahead of the big day. they were treated to a surprise visit by king charles, the prince and the princess of wales. charles went to one side of the mall while william and kate went to the other. many continued to camp out despite the london rain, to save a spot on the procession route. let s go live now to bbc correspondent louisa pilbeam at the mall in london. we thought at 2am that a lot of people would be sleeping and getting rest but there seems to be a lot happening around you. yeah, it s sort of a party atmosphere, but a little bit muted because some