world championship, as he pips lewis hamilton. 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? 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 90. at least 80 of them were in kentucky. a search for survivors is underway 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, this 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. 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. i just want to say that the american red cross is very it's quite shocking when you first get into town. also shock — it was still dark the first couple of hours before the sun came up and you really got the impact of how devastating and powerful this tornado was. when i'm looking _ powerful this tornado was. when i'm looking at — powerful this tornado was. when i'm looking at it, _ powerful this tornado was. when i'm looking at it, i— powerful this tornado was. when i'm looking at it, i see _ powerful this tornado was. when i'm looking at it, i see a - powerful this tornado was. when i'm looking at it, i see a lot - i'm looking at it, i see a lot of timber. is that the problem? i mean, was it half a case of what the buildings were made of that meant they were so vulnerable?— that meant they were so vulnerable? ., ., ., , vulnerable? the governor was asked that _ vulnerable? the governor was asked that today. _ vulnerable? the governor was asked that today. we're - asked that today. we're expecting these winds to be beyond 200 miles per hour. he said that perhaps no structure would even survive. and i would point out that many large, study brick buildings were levelled as well.— study brick buildings were levelled as well. right. so we understand. _ levelled as well. right. so we understand, you _ levelled as well. right. so we understand, you know, - levelled as well. right. so we understand, you know, the i levelled as well. right. so we i understand, you know, the force of this thing. you were out there, you've been speaking to a lot of people, you've taken a lot of pictures as well. we've got some of your work here, which we'll play as we carry on talking to you. i wonder what sort of — we are talking to survivors here. i mean, how did they get through this? i’zre they get through this? i've soken they get through this? i've spoken to _ they get through this? i've spoken to many _ they get through this? i�*e: 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. even so, when their homes collapsed and their roofs were blown off, somehow they survived. a number of people where the 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 crushed. in fact, i couldn't see any visible injuries on her, even though her entire house was gone, was reduced to rubble. yeah. we know that they are, in many ways, the lucky ones, aren't they? there are still plenty of people who are missing. i imagine a lot of that search effort is off for the moment, at least, with darkness. what is the latest? there is a curfew right now for mayfield — dusk till dawn. as far as the plant, as the candle—making facility — efforts, i imagine, are going on around the clock. i've spent most of my time in the residential areas, most of my time in the residentialareas, but most of 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 on, unfortunately, the number of deceased in that building collapse. deceased in that building collapse-— deceased in that building colla se. ., ., ., collapse. yeah. you mentioned the candle _ collapse. yeah. you mentioned the candle factory _ collapse. yeah. you mentioned the candle factory there. - collapse. yeah. you mentioned the candle factory there. i - the candle factory there. i understand that they're —— that there are up to 110 workers per shift there. we already know that it shift there. we already know thatitis shift there. we already know that it is almost the epicentre of the worst—affected area, isn't it? i suppose it's probably, very sadly, true to say that there will be worse news to come?— say that there will be worse news to come? the governor alluded to — news to come? the governor alluded to that. _ news to come? the governor alluded to that. he _ news to come? the governor alluded to that. he said - news to come? the governor| alluded to that. he said today in an afternoon press conference that, you know, 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 math, 110 perhaps were in the building at the time, and about 40 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 since. so we've gone more than 2a hours since someone was pulled out alive from that plant collapse. johnathan gregg had his photos from spectrum news there. i should add, we've heard in the last moment that the american president, joe biden, has declared a major disaster in kentucky, and the significance of that, in particular, is that it does mean additional federal resources can come their way. we're just getting that on reuters via an administration official. i 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 co—operation and strengthening economic and commercial ties. the south african president, cyril ramaphosa, has tested positive for covid—19, though his symptoms are said 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 company's reputation. 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 0micron 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 3 to level a. queueing round the block for their booster — you will see a lot more of this in the coming days. from tomorrow the over 30s in england and scotland will be able to book their booster, and the over 18s from later in the week. good evening. over the past year... addressing the nation tonight the prime minister said the country was facing an emergency in its battle against 0micron. there is a tidal wave of 0micron coming and i'm afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need. that a wave of 0micron through a population that was not boosted would risk a level of hospitalisation that could overwhelm our nhs and lead, sadly, to very many deaths. so, we must act now. the original target was to offer a booster to all over 18s by the end of january. that has now been brought forward to the end of the month. it will require 1 million jabs in arms a day — double what is being achieved now. this huge push on boosters comes at a price, record waiting lists are set to get even longer. it will mean some other appointments will need to be postponed until the new year. but if we don't do this now, the wave of 0micron could be so big that cancellations and disruptions, like the loss of cancer appointments, would be even greater next year. up to 200,000 0micron cases daily are thought possible by the end of december, four times the current level. but although a few 0micron infected patients are now in hospital, it is unclear how severe the variant is. we have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and i think ourjob is to highlight that this is a big wave, it is coming straight at us. if we see even half the severity that we saw with delta, then we are facing a very large number of hospitalisations and potential deaths. the uk's covid alert level has been raised to four out of five, meaning pressure on the nhs is widespread, but it is not yet at risk of being overwhelmed. labour has backed the plan to speed up vaccination. so the battle lines against 0micron are drawn. the race between the vaccine and the virus will be at a faster pace than anything we have seen so far. 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 world 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 0micron 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 assesses 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'. i've been speaking to dr evelyn farkas, the former deputy assistant secretary of defence for russia, ukraine and eurasia, for her assessment on the situation. i think right now what we have is the case russian aggression — yet again — on the border with ukraine and i think it is really fitting that the g7 stands up united — you know, 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. you know, a gauntlet needs to be thrown down, deterrence needs to be real. the g7 is talking about massive consequences. what might they be? ., . . , . be? economic, military and olitical be? economic, military and political and _ be? economic, military and political and economic- be? economic, military and political and economic of i political and economic of course function thing could include removing russia from the swift interbank lending system, it could include of course sanctioning many more of the oligarchs around britain, some sectoral sanctions perhaps and then on the military front what i mean by that is bolstering deterrence inside nato on russia's periphery deal before proliferation deal and helping ukraine, georgia and all of these countries that are threatened right now by russia to deter russia —— around putin. to deter russia -- around putin. , ., , , putin. sorry to interrupt but that is one _ putin. sorry to interrupt but that is one of _ putin. sorry to interrupt but that is one of the _ putin. sorry to interrupt but that is one of the concerns. that is one of the concerns that is one of the concerns that ukraine has, possibly because of germany, it's not necessarily that clear, there is a resistance to providing them with military where —— military wherewithal to look after themselves.— military wherewithal to look after themselves. david, her but is not — after themselves. david, her but is not the _ after themselves. david, her but is not the case _ after themselves. david, her but is not the case because l after themselves. david, her i but is not the case because one thing i learned, and i was in the pentagon in 201a when marcia —— russia was fighting in ukraine, and all through 2015, is an international community we learned russia needs to be told in advance of the consequences are in order to limit or reduce the likelihood that they will continue with their aggression because we did find that if we smelled out consequences in advance, it was more effective than retroactively, after the fight, you know, punishing them. , . , the volcanic eruption on la palma has now become the longest on the spanish island since records began more than 500 years ago. the cumbre vieja volcano has now been active for 85 days after bursting back into life in mid september. new drone footage shows lava continuing to flow from vents. more than 2,500 buildings on the island have been damaged or destroyed, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes on the island, part of the canaries archipelago. a story for you now from the racing world, where the formula 1 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 2a—year—old beat britain's lewis hamilton on the last lap to win his first title, denying hamilton a record eighth championship. the final result had been challenged by hamilton's mercedes team, but the result was upheld. mercedes say they intend to appeal. jamie chadwick won this year's formula w title and is also a development driverfor the williams formula 1 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 a spectacle as it was. normally we go to abu dhabi — and i've been in years gone past — the championships already been decided three races from now so to have it actually go down to the wire was — well, the last lap — was, yeah, great to watch. there was confusion on that last lap and it 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 know, 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. it really was an amazing finish. 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 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 on telly, 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. this is this year's. now, this is the first of this year's cards. 0k. 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. yeah, not that easy! let me bring you up to date because in the last few minutes joe bring you up to date because in the last few minutesjoe biden has declared that a major disaster exists in kentucky where we know that at least 80 people have been killed by the tornadoes there. he has ordered federal aid to be distributed as well. so that is the very latest news coming from the united states. you're watching bbc news. thanks for being with us. 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 mid—west of the united states. president biden has declared a national disaster. borisjohnson has announced plans to accelerate britain's coronavirus booster programme, due to the rapidly spreading 0micron 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 condeming 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 emphasied their commitment to ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. now on bbc news, hardtalk.