here in the uk, 2022 saw the highest number of excess deaths outside the covid pandemic in half a century. and france tries again to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. it s an unpopular reform that didn t go well last time it tried. we ll be live in paris. we start in ukraine. president volodymyr zelensky has said ukraine s army is facing an extremely difficult situation as fighting continues in the eastern donbas region. the focus is the salt mining town of soledar. the uk defence ministry says it s likely that russian forces including wagner group mercenaries now control most of the town. we ll be taking a look at why it s become central to this conflict. but first, here s president zelensky. translation: and what did russia want to win there? i everything is completely destroyed. there was almost no life left. thousands of their people are gone, the whole land in soledar is covered with the corpses of the invaders and scarred from the strikes. this is what madness loo
for something to be done about this year s pay settlement. not next year s necessarily. talk of a one off payment, maybe or next year s pay rise backdated. this could sour those relations, many think the other side of the coin looking ahead to future disputes and how a minimum level of service can be guaranteed. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is. russian forces are said to be close to taking the strategic ukrainian salt mining town of soledar, after weeks of intense fighting. let s talk about the golden globes now. this time yesterday we were talking about how the uk was part preparing for the first launch but did not go
fact, yesterday yesterday, the head of the group set on social media said it was only his wagon or troops who were involved in this operation and not regular russian soldiers. but what i think is significant is how they are suggesting, of course, bringing up the fact that not that long ago, president zelensky was in bakhmut and was as a fortress where ukrainian heroes were fighting at the front line. this is something that will be be sold to the russian domestic audience has a major setback for ukraine and a major victory for russia if russia does manage to make this advance. presumably this is a story that they would rather tell the neat new year s day attack where russia admits that well over 80 people died. , ., , admits that well over 80 people died. , . , , died. yes, that is exactly right. russian state died. yes, that is exactly right. russian state tv died. yes, that is exactly right. russian state tv doesn t - died. yes, that is exactly right. russian state tv doesn t l
europe had its hottest summer on record in 2022 in a year of climate extremes. welcome. we start in ukraine. president volodymyr zelensky has said ukraine s army is facing an extremely difficult situation as fighting continues in the eastern donbas region. the focus is the salt mining town of soledar. the uk defence ministry says it s likely that russian forces including wagner group mercenaries now control most of the town. we ll be taking a look at why it s become central to this conflict. but first here“s president zelensky. translation: and what did russia want to win there? i everything is completely destroyed. there was almost no life left. thousands of their people are gone, the whole land in soledar is covered with the corpses of the invaders and scarred from the strikes. this is what madness looks like. so why is soledar important?