and, a bit of intel for you. the uk's intelligence and cyber agency, releases its cryptic christmas card puzzle for kids. how hard can it be? we shall find out. hello and welcome to the programme. the number of people killed by the tornadoes that swept through the midwest of the united states is now known to number more than ninety. at least eighty of them were in kentucky. a search for survivors is under way across six states, with emergency crews combing through a vast amount of debris. the small town of mayfield was hardest hit. our correspondent, nomia iqbal, has the latest, from there. there were more than 30 tornadoes but one hurtled down a single track of more than 200 miles. it is thought to be the longest path ever taken by a tornado in us history. it flattened many homes, whilst leaving others untouched. in an instant, the small town of mayfield has been almost entirely wiped out. flattened homes are now buried in their own debris, toys and shoes are scattered amongst the twisted metal, and shredded trees by a swarm of tornadoes that no—one had prepared for. deeneen is looking for her cousin, who lives downtown. everybody�*s cell phone is down and so i get up early and i'm just so nervous, i couldn't sleep. and just to really see — �*cause i couldn't get through to her yesterday — and i drive a school bus and everything over there is destroyed. it is just heartbreaking. this is one of the main churches that residents here in mayfield attended. it is about 100 years old and people here tell me it only took around ten seconds for the tornado to blow through and destroy so much of it. some people actually took cover in here on the night that the storms came. nearby churches have opened up their doors to give shelter to those who survived. jerry and his father managed to escape. his mother, who is in a nursing home, is unaware of what has happened. my mother still doesn't know the house has gone and we're not going to tell her. why not? it would break her heart to let her know that the dream house that she designed has gone. an operation is still under way at a candle factory in mayfield. more than 100 workers were on the night shift when the tornado tore through. a0 people managed to make it out. in the state of illinois, an amazon factory is looking for its missing employees. the amazon founder, jeff bezos, pledged to offer support. the governor here in kentucky says this is the deadliest tornado event the state has ever had. president biden has signed a federal emergency disaster declaration to help this state and others ravaged by the storms. nomia iqbal, bbc news, kentucky. they are just extraordinary images, aren't they? jonathon gregg is the senior multimedia journalist for spectrum news, he's been on the ground in mayfield for the last two days interviewing survivors and volunteers, he's been telling me what he saw. it is quite shocking once you get on the ground. certainly that first night. also shocking because when you get in the town it was still dark, a couple of hours until the sun rises where you really got the full scope of how devastating and powerful this tornado was. when i look at it, i see a lot of timber. is that the problem? was it half a case of what the buildings were made of that meant they were so vulnerable? the governor asked that today and we are expecting these winds to be beyond 200 mph. he said that perhaps no structure would even survive and i would point out that many large sturdy brick buildings were levelled as well. right so we understand the force of this thing. you were out there, you have been speaking to a lot of people, you taken a lot of pictures as well. we have got some of your work which we will play as we carry on talking to you. we are talking to survivors here. i mean, how did they get through this? i have spoken to many people in mayfield and several who do not have a basement, a sublevel in their home, and they survived miraculously. most of them in hallways, internal hallways, away from windows and even so, when their homes collapsed and their roofs were blown off, somehow they survived. a number of people where homes had collapsed onto them. in fact, a woman who just happened to be in the right place. a little nook, a little pocket was created from the falling walls and she was not a crushed. in fact i couldn't see any visible injuries on her, even though her entire house was gone, was reduced rubble. we know that they are in many ways the lucky ones. there are still plenty of people who are missing. i imagine a lot of that search if it is off for the moment with darkness. what is the latest? there is a curfew right now for mayfield, dusk to dawn, as far as the candlemaking facility plant, efforts i imagine are going on around the clock. i spent most my time in the residential areas but there is still a lot to be taken from that wreckage and we are still waiting for hard numbers, unfortunately, the number of deceased in that building collapse. you mentioned the candle factory there. i understand there are up to 110 workers per shift there, we already know it is almost the epicentre of the worst affected area and i suppose it is probably very sadly true to say that there will be worse new to come? —— worse news to come? the governor alluded to that. he said today in an afternoon press conference that the best case scenario would be perhaps 50 fatalities from that building collapse and that was the best case scenario, but of course when you do the maths, 110 perhaps were in the building at the time and about a0 or so — a few more — were able to get out. there has been in the last 36 hours or more than a day, only one person that was pulled from that wreckage, so we have gone more than 2a hours since someone was pulled out alive from that plant collapse. jonathon gregg from spectrum news there. you can find comprehensive coverage of the rescue efforts, across those six us states on our website, including the latest from our correspondent on the ground in kentucky. head to bbc.com/news, or download the bbc news app. let's get some of the day's other news. naftali bennett has arrived in the united arab emirates on the first—ever official visit by an israeli prime minister. it comes after the two countries established diplomatic ties last year. mr bennett is due to meet the crown prince of abu dhabi, sheik mohammed bin zayed on monday. they're expected to discuss ways of boosting cooperation to be mild. earlier on sunday, mr ramaphosa delivered a eulogy at a memorial service for fw de klerk, the last leader of south africa's white minority government. the 69—year—old president, who's fully vaccinated, is now self—isolating in cape town. the chinese e—commerce giant, alibaba, has sacked a woman who accused her boss and a client of sexually assaulting her. the dismissal letter said she'd spread falsehoods and damaged the compa ny�*s reputation. the woman went public with her allegations because she said alibaba had failed to take action. one of mexico's most revered singers, vicente fernandez, has died at the age of 81. vicente fernandez was known as the king of mexico's traditional ranchera music and had a career spanning more than five decades. his songs became an essential part of mexican culture. he'd spent four months in hospital, following a fall at his ranch. let's turn now to the uk, where there's to be a rapid acceleration of the booster programme, with prime minister borisjohnson warning of a "tidal wave" of infections from the new omicron variant. he said that thousands of extra volunteers and military planners would be brought in to increase vaccination numbers. that could amount to 18 million jabs injust 19 days. the announcement came as the uk's covid alert level was increased from level three to level four. although the alert level has been raised it won't result in more restrictions. the prime minister emphasized the gravity of omicron variant. i'm afraid we are now facing an emergency in our battle with the new variant, omicron, and we must urgently reinforce our wall of vaccine protection to keep our friends and loved ones safe. earlier today, the uk's four chief medical officers raised the covid alert to four — its second highest level — because of the evidence that omicron is doubling here in the uk every 2—3 days and we know from bitter experience how these exponential curves develop. no—one should be in any doubt, there is a tidal wave of omicron coming and i am afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need. but the good news is that our scientists are confident that with a third dose, a booster dose, we can all bring our level of protection back up. borisjohnson. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the uk's intelligence and cyber agency, releases its cryptic christmas card puzzle for kids. we'll find out how hard it really is. saddam hussein is finished because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes, but they brought a formal end to 3.5 years of conflict — conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of foreign leaders, the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border- was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off - from the outside world in order to prevent the details - of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life — the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history, as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: a desperate search for survivors is under way in six us states devastated by powerful tornadoes. the number of dead is approaching 100. borisjohnson has warned that a "tidal wave" of omicron is coming. he's urged people to get a booster before the new year. the g7 leading economic powers have warned of massive consequences for russia if it engages in further military aggression towards ukraine. in a statement at the end of a two—day meeting in the english city of liverpool, foreign ministers described their commitment to ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity as unwavering. us intelligence assess that russia could be planning a multi—front offensive on ukraine as early as next year, involving up to 175,000 troops. the kremlin denies these plans, saying the west is gripped by �*russophobia'. let's bring in dr evelyn farkas, she's the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia. shejoins us now from chappaqua in the state of new york. thanks very much forjoining us. russophobia? would you buy that in any extent? h0. us. russophobia? would you buy that in any extent?— that in any extent? no, i think riaht that in any extent? no, i think right now _ that in any extent? no, i think right now what _ that in any extent? no, i think right now what we _ that in any extent? no, i think right now what we have - that in any extent? no, i think right now what we have is - that in any extent? no, i think right now what we have is the | right now what we have is the case russian aggression again on the border with ukraine and i think it is really fitting that the g7 stands up united, north america, europe, and asia in the form ofjapan and says that what you are doing right now vladimir putin is a challenge to the international order that we established after world war ii. it is a threat to our economies, it is a threat to our political system and frankly if we don't, if the g7 didn't do this, it would be significant. a gauntlet needs to be thrown down, deterrence needs to be real. what might be the consequences be? . ., ., . ., what might be the consequences be? ., .. be? economic and political. it could include _ be? economic and political. it could include removing - be? economic and political. it| could include removing russia from the swift interbank lennox system. it could include sanctioning many more of the oligarchs around newton. some sectoral sanctions, perhaps. then on the military front, what i mean by that is really bolstering deterrence inside nato on russia's periphery, if you will. and then obviously helping ukraine, georgia and all of these countries that are right now by russia due to toe russia. , ., , i. russia. sorry to interrupt you but that is — russia. sorry to interrupt you but that is one _ russia. sorry to interrupt you but that is one of _ russia. sorry to interrupt you but that is one of the - russia. sorry to interrupt you | but that is one of the concerns that ukraine has, isn't it. that possibly because of germany, it is not necessarily that clear, there is a resistance to providing them with all to look —— military to look after themselves. with all to look -- military to look after themselves.- with all to look -- military to look after themselves. when i was in the _ look after themselves. when i was in the pentagon _ look after themselves. when i was in the pentagon in - look after themselves. when i was in the pentagon in 2014 l was in the pentagon in 2014 when russia invaded and all the way through 2015 when they were still fighting in ukraine, the one thing we learned as an international community is that russia needs to be told in advance what the consequences are in order to limit or reduce the likelihood that they will continue with their aggression. as we did find if we spell back consequences in advance it was more effective than retroactively after—the—fact, punishing them. retroactively after-the-fact, punishing them.— retroactively after-the-fact, punishing them. what about this --ieline punishing them. what about this pipeline that _ punishing them. what about this pipeline that would _ punishing them. what about this pipeline that would actually - pipeline that would actually leave ukraine in the lurch in any case in terms of the direction of gas coming from russia. do you think that could be put on hold, do you think it would be stopped —— could be stopped? i would be stopped -- could be sto ed? ~ would be stopped -- could be stepped?— stopped? i think it could be stepped- — stopped? i think it could be stepped- if— stopped? i think it could be stopped. if russia - stopped? i think it could be stopped. if russia takes - stopped. if russia takes another military move against ukraine, and i have to be careful of my language because they are fighting in ukraine right now. crimea. but if they continue with this and they launch even a small—scale invasion, i would launch even a small—scale invasion, iwould be launch even a small—scale invasion, i would be shocked of the german government didn't say ok we're done with that deal. it is notjust economic, it is also political. economic ramifications are worse for ukraine on the upside benefit for germany, frankly, because it is the second pipeline of its kind. ~ ,,., , it is the second pipeline of its kind. ~ , , ., ., its kind. absolutely. can i ask ou its kind. absolutely. can i ask you fairly _ its kind. absolutely. can i ask you fairly briefly, _ its kind. absolutely. can i ask you fairly briefly, if— its kind. absolutely. can i ask you fairly briefly, if i - its kind. absolutely. can i ask you fairly briefly, if i may, - you fairly briefly, if i may, but the issue around awareness of what russia is doing. there seems to have been a slow pickup from some european countries initially. maybe that has changed now but when do you think russia might even consider making a move? {line consider making a move? one thin i consider making a move? one thing i want — consider making a move? one thing i want to _ consider making a move? one thing i want to say _ consider making a move? one thing i want to say is - consider making a move? que: thing i want to say is that things have changed since 2014 certainly. i do feel that europe as a whole understands much better today the threat posed by russia but it is very difficult because we, you know, the united states, are european, canadian, japanese, other allies, we don't want to get involved in a military conflict, and vladimir putin does not care. he will go forward. i'm worried specifically to the answer to your question about christmas, december 25, your question about christmas, december25, not your question about christmas, december 25, not because it is christmas but it is the anniversary of the fall of the soviet union, and what latimer putin would like to do more than anything else is to recreate that soviet union. not necessarily in name, but he wants russian influence over that whole space and territory and political and economic world that used to be the soviet union.— world that used to be the soviet union. ., , ., soviet union. that is not even two weeks — soviet union. that is not even two weeks away. _ soviet union. that is not even two weeks away. we - soviet union. that is not even two weeks away. we will- soviet union. that is not even two weeks away. we will see | soviet union. that is not even - two weeks away. we will see how this pan out. thank you very much indeed for that.- much indeed for that. thank ou. now a story for you from the racing world. the formula one world championship has gone dutch. max verstappen has been confirmed as the new f1 world champion, after a thrilling and controversial end to the final race of the season in abu dhabi. the 24—year—old beat britain's lewis hamilton on the last lap to win his first title, denying hamilton a record 8th championship. the final result had been challenged by hamilton's mercedes team, but the result was upheld. mercedes say they intend to appeal. the win makes max verstappen the first—ever dutchman to become a formula 1 world champion. jamie chadwick won this year's formula w title and is also a development driver for the williams formula one team , she gave her reaction to the race. it was eventful! yeah, i mean, as a self—professed lewis fan, obviously, in the end, not the result i wanted to see. but at the same time, i think, yeah, everything fans want to see with the spectacle as it was. normally we go to abu dhabi — and i've been in years past — the championships already been decided three races from now so to have it actually go down to the wire — well, the last lap — was great to watch. there was confusion on that last lap and i felt like the decision was rushed to bring the safety car in and, as a result, max was left with this advantage of the new tyres, which he was able to get from pitting and obviously won the world championship — which, in my opinion, although it was great for the spectacle, shouldn't have happened. but that said, you know, both were so deserving throughout the year that i think you'll still look back at it in a positive light as a championship. the job that max and red bull have done this year has been remarkable. i think to challenge a team like mercedes like they have has been, you know, a huge thing for the sport to see. but at the same time, i think it takes away nothing from what lewis did today and, you know, he, as a young driver, looking up to someone is everything that you want to aspire to be — so classy and so professional, and that's how you win world championships. and unfortunately, today, it didn't come off, but i don't think anyone can take away the season he's had. gchq, the uk's intelligence and security organisation, is challenging young people to discover their inner intelligence officer. it's all part of a recruitment drive as agencies worldwide look to modernise. well this year, what's their secret weapon? it's their christmas card. earlier i wasjoined by our reporter mark lobel and i asked him what this was all about. we wanted to get a bit tinsel on set, because it is christmas. now, i was going to wear it but because of another this government quiz under the spotlight at the moment in which someone is wearing tinsel, we thought best for rudolph to wear it, so huge thanks to our world service colleagues. rudolph apparently is four years old and wearing that tinsel beautifully, i think you'd agree. he carries it off, doesn't he? and it's also about gchq - this intelligence gathering agency that's meant to keep the uk safe against crime, terror and hostile states. so how challenging is this? well, they're meant — the whole point of this is to recruit young people between 11 and 18 from — using the science, technology, engineering and maths—focused quiz. did you ever, by the way, consider this as a career? um... chuckles. wasn't expecting that question! but funnily enough, when i was at university, i was vetted. right. so there we are. so you were vetted at university — that's a bbc exclusive. and i did notjoin it — that tells you something. right, now, they are broadening it out, they're modernising, so you could be a non—binary bond now, can't you, these days? mi6's head appears, doesn't he, to explain why they use green ink. so the whole thing is changing. and what they are trying to do here is find out if adults are as clever as 11—year—olds, too — they have opened it up to all ages. can you see where i am leading with this? u nfortu nately. yeah, yeah. so what i thought i would do is, for your starterfor 10, david, before we get to this year's cards, we'd start with last year's cards. so look at the board. it's a simple one to start with. you look at the letters. there's six letters in a sequence. you've just got to tell me the next letter in the sequence. 0h, isee. gfedcb. a. right! good start! bing! can i go now? you've got one. no, no. now, the next one, let's go straight on to the next one, and here it is. namwon. um... oh, no, haven't got that. come on, david. verstappen could finish a lap a shorter time than this. uh... let me give you a clue — walking in the air... 0h, snowman, so... s — oh, it's backwards, isn't it? s. perfect! 0k, you're doing very well. now, this was also on the quiz last year, without a clue — which is impossible to work out without a clue, so i'm going to have to tell you it's got do with animals and the chinese zodiac. 0h, crikey! um, year of the what then? yeah. so do you know what they are? goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat. and... what would this — or 2021 would have been? oh, oh... 0x — you're quite right. yeah. 0x, and it's tiger next year. and if we quickly look at the next one before we get to this year's, the 12 days of christmas. the carol. what's that — you've got to start at the top there? clue here — "reading initials spell these messages' answer. simple." reading — what reading initials? read the initials is the clue. reading initials? what initials? the initials of perhaps the words? of what word? of the words on the screen? i think people are screaming at the television. i don't even know what i'm looking at! if you just read those initials? which initials? maybe start with clue. what's the initials to do with clue? 0h, do you mean c h r i... yes, yes! 0h, christmas. christmas! brilliant! and as the final one — we're gonna run out of time on this one — look at this venn diagram. this could do it for everybody. you could win this competition. tell us what the question mark represents? which word the question mark represents? it's gonna be almost impossible in the time. premier league teams. can you spell one of them out? 0h... oh, no, this is beyond me. look at the one beginning with l in the circle on the right hand side. mark, you're being extremely helpful but — leeds. look at that full circle... leeds. leeds unite — leeds. you said it! the question mark, the word thatjust came out of your lips. united — u. started and you finished, well done. united is the missing word. newcastle and manchester were the other two words. full details on the website — gchq.gov.uk. there are really difficult — those were the easy ones. i was going to say, if we do exactly that in the next hour, took mejust as took me just as long a second time around. one of hong kong's most popular mass sporting events, the annual swim across victoria harbour, has gone ahead. it was suspended for two years in succession because of pro—democracy protests and then a pandemic lockdown. because of covid, entry numbers were restricted to about half of the usual three thousand competitors — all of whom were fully vaccinated. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbcdavideades. hello there. it was noticeably mild today right across the country, but particularly so for england and wales. now, we look to the north—west through this evening and overnight. this deep area of low pressure — small system but very vigorous, passing to the north—west of the uk — will bring a spell of gales to northern ireland and in towards scotland as well. stormy conditions for the hebrides and the northern isles, perhaps severe gales for a time, some blustery showers. it will turn a bit drier here by the end of the night but for england and wales, it'll stay cloudy with outbreaks of rain, certainly through wales and into the midlands. mild in the south — double figure values here. a little bit cooler further north. and that's how things look into monday. we hold on to the cloud for large parts of england and wales. we'll continue with this persistent rain as well for parts of wales, the midlands, into northern england. some areas pretty wet all day. brightest weather will be across scotland and northern ireland. a few blustery showers, wintry on the hills, it will be milder, though, across the south. single figures across the north. that weather front for england and wales clears away into tuesday. high pressure begins to build in here. it stays unsettled over the northern half of the country — lots of isobars and weather fronts. so windy for scotland and northern ireland and some rain, particularly for the north and the west of scotland. england and wales, though, closer to that area of high pressure, should be largely dry. some cloud around but also some good spells of sunshine. those temperatures will be around orjust a little above the seasonal norm. so as we head out of tuesday into wednesday, we continue with that area of high pressure across the south of the country so here, settled with light winds. still quite windy across the northern half of the country with further outbreaks of rain, thanks to that weather front. so, some wet weather northern ireland, certainly for northern and western scotland, maybe a little bit of brightness at times. it stays windy here. lighter winds in the south. again, variable cloud, some good spells of sunshine. those temperatures perhaps a little bit higher again — double figure values for most — and i've also got to emphasise nights will be much milder as well — frost—free for most of us. then beyond wednesday, we see this area of high pressure we think start to really take its force across the uk and that'll push the weather fronts away from the north and it'll be sitting on top of the by friday and into the following weekend, so it means winds will turn very light. so, there's a chance it turns really grey and gloomy by the end of the week. turning a bit colder as well as we head on into the new weekend and we will see some problems with mist and fog. this is bbc news. the headlines: more than 90 people are now known to have been killed by the devastating tornadoes that have swept through the midwest of the united states. at least 80 of the deaths were in kentucky. the national guard has been deployed to look for survivors. borisjohnson has announced plans to accelerate britain's coronavirus booster programme due to the rapidly spreading omicron variant. all adults in england will be offered a booster by the end of the month, rather than by the end of january. mrjohnson acknowledged that some other health services would have to be delayed. the foreign ministers at the g7 conference in liverpool have issued a statement condemning russia's build—up of troops on the ukrainian border. the group warned russia would face massive consequences in response to any further military aggression — and emphasised their commitment to ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.