responsible for undermining the election process and he has also proved the expulsion of 35 russian diplomats from the united states. three weeks before donald trump is sworn in as president, mr obamas said that all americans should be alarmed by russia's actions. russia said it would order adequate reply. as our correspondent reports. russia stands accused of trying to help donald trump become president. moscow had been warned but now it is being punished for interfering in us elections. the top intelligence agencies believe a cyber attack on the e—mails of hillary clinton's closest aides was orchestrated by the highest levels of russian government. but mr trump has always questioned the evidence. if you don't catch them in the act of hacking you never will. you don't know if it is russia or china. it could be somebody sitting on a bed someplace. but the cia and the fbi both agree. the hackers, they say, were russian, and president obama says americans should be alarmed. he has ordered 35 diplomats to be expelled, believed to have close links to russian intelligence. they have 72 hours to leave the us and he is closing, two russian compounds. white house officials said that russia had to pay a price for what they described as an extraordinary attack on us democratic systems. president obama warned that further action is to come at a time of his choosing. russia described the closing of its us compounds as the death throes of political corpses and warned it will hit back. the cost of expelling russian diplomats is going to lead to a reduction or expulsion also of us diplomats from russia. it is not clear how this kind of cost is going to be one in which the united states has a clear advantage. president obama has dealt his strongest response yet to russian hacking on us soil. but he only has weeks left in office and many are now wondering what his successor will do. let's find out exactly what president—elect donald trump is hoping to do. a north american editor has the very latest from washington. i just editor has the very latest from washington. ijust had an e-mail from the trump transition team with a statement from then on what president obama has decided and he has said it is time for our country to move on to bigger and better things. nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, i will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation. now that, if you like, is a holding statement from donald trump. because if you cast your mind back to two weeks ago when it emerged that intelligence services had come to the view that russian hacking had sought to undermine the us election, donald trump's people said it is all stock are nonsense. his people said, remember what they said about saddam hussein having weapons of mass destruction? they could not have been more dismissive. now we have had a statement from donald trump saying that he will listen to what the intelligence services have to say. i think what we have had from barack obama today, you have a sliding scale of response if you are the us president and you are upset with a foreign country. you can give them a metaphorical slap on the wrist or you can for something much further. i think barack obama something much further. i think ba rack obama has something much further. i think barack obama has chosen something much further, such is his anger at the idea that a foreign nation would dare to intervene in another country's sovereign election. and i think it is a warning to russia and a warning to other countries who may be thinking about cyber espionage on a scale like an election. i think there is real fury a scale like an election. i think there is realfury in a scale like an election. i think there is real fury in the white house at what happened and that is why we are seeing the response that we have. the democratic senator any clu b we have. the democratic senator any club she is with the republican senatorsjohn mccain club she is with the republican senators john mccain on club she is with the republican senatorsjohn mccain on a three—day tour of the baltics georgia and ukraine, talking about cyber crime. they said it was time for moscow to understand that enough is enough before heading off to kiev. she gave her reaction fromy near about the sanctions that the united states is imposing. i think that this is a very strong initial start. i think we will have hearings in congress and we finally have a public report that declassify some of the information. i am that declassify some of the information. iam in that declassify some of the information. i am in lithuania are right now with senatorjohn and senator lindsey graham and we are here to stand up for our allies in eastern europe and nato and also to make a point that this is about one political party. i am a democrat, they are both republicans, one of them was a candidate for president. we see this as not about one candidate a i—party but is about an assault on democracy. this is something that is notjust about american democracy it is about all democracies. such as elections in germany and france. for the us to roll over and let this happen with no response would be a mistake. you have a president—elect, soon to be inaugurated who wants to work closely with president putin. he could, donald trump could reverse this. he could but first of all what president obama did was amended in order to make it easierfor any president to go after any foreign entity that tries to influence an american election. that is an important thing to note. secondly if he ordered the reverse of a sanction that he would we going in the face of 17 us intelligence agencies who are united in a finding that the russian tried to influence the american election. and also against the us congress where you have strong bipartisan support for going after russian aggression. if it will slide with vladimir putin over the intelligence community in congress, i don't think he will do that. the russians have described this as the death throes of political corpses. the outgoing obama administration lashing out. would you agree with that? not at all. firstly president obama has hit all high popularity right now. secondly you have the fa ct right now. secondly you have the fact thatjohn mccain and will lindsey graham are here with me because they believe this is not about one party. marco rubio himself said that next time it could be a republican. this is about something much bigger than an election, this is about democracy and there are a number of republicans who will support the sanctions or want to do more. but is donald trump, as he says, wants to work closer with president putin. if he does reverse this then what happens?” president putin. if he does reverse this then what happens? i think congress will act. we will start out with hearings. senator mccain chairs a committee and he has emphatically stated that there will be investigations for the intelligence committee and i think there will be bipartisan support for moving forward with the sanctions. of course it is not necessary with the sanctions that president obama put forth today, only if the president—elect reverse them. i would not be surprised to see congress go further. russia has consistently denied the allegations and vladimir putin's spokesman has now promised adequate reply. to the sanctions. the russian embassy in the uk has offered this take on twitter that you can see. they described the us actions of cold war deja vu and say they would be glad to see the end of the hapless obama administration. they have added a picture of a lender for good measure. many more details on our website. just go to the bbc .com website. just go to the bbc .com website. we have up—to—the—minute information and reaction from russia and the us on discontinuing developing story. all of [email protected] slash news. another big story today, a ceasefire agreed by the syrian government and rebel factions is in effect with early reports saying that gunfire has died down. the deal was brokered by russia and turkey with the backing of other countries including you run but not the united states. the parties have indicated that they will be willing to start peace talks. it has been described as fragile. what we know the deal includes is that the ceasefire comes into force at midnight local time and has been agreed to buy 13 armed factions. a halt to airstrikes and shelling. it excludes an islamic state and ypg. it is unclear whether it includes arcade is syrian branch. the ceasefire includes the rebel held eastern area near damascus which had been a sticking point. turkey and russia, who support opposing sides are to act as guarantors. that announcement was made in moscow from where our correspondent reports. for nearly six years, syria has been torn apart by civil war. a country reduced to ruins. a conflict that has left more than 400,000 people dead. there have been peace initiatives before which brought no peace. but today russia announced a breakthrough. in the kremlin, russia's defence minister handed vladimir putin a list of syrian opposition groups which had signed up to a ceasefire with president assad. 60,000 rebels, he said, would stop fighting. this is the moment that russia has been waiting for, the president said. he added there was also an agreement to begin peace talks. the syrian government was persuaded by russia. it's with an assortment of seven syrian rebel groups. turkey's role was crucial in convincing them. not part of the deal are so—called islamic state, or the main kurdish rebel group who are fighting them, the ypg. excluded as well, an armed faction known previously as al nusra which has been linked to al qaeda. the us has welcomed the ceasefire john kerry's meetings seemingly coming to nothing. moscow said it hoped america would join the new round of peace talks when donald trump takes over. at the kremlin today vladimir putin portrayed himself as a dealmaker, a peacemaker in the middle east. after nearly six years of war, bringing peace to syria will not be easy. a spokesman for the free syrian army, an alliance of rebel factions, admitted they had no direct contact with syrian authorities. but, he said, moscow had promised to keep syrian government forces under control. ahead of the ceasefire, a reminder of the hell syria has become. a video purports to show the aftermath of an air strike today in the suburbs of damascus. schoolchildren running and screaming through the smoke and the chaos. this is a country desperate for peace. and returned there is a senior fellow at the washington institute where he focuses on syria. he explain some of the confusion about who is and included in the agreement. at the moment the seven groups who were announced by moscow, one of them is a seller first group and one of the largest backed by turkey and the gulf states, there is a disagreement over whether it is included or not. until this time they have not signed it, they claim. this is normal, however in the syrian negotiation process as different parties pressure groups on the ground on the government to get to the table. they want to wait and see who will show up and went. what happens with the president of syria? can he be involved in the negotiations? his government certainly will be. this agreement is something closer than the process that the west has been sponsoring, something closer to the iranian li—point plan that starts with the ceasefire and then they talk about peace talks to get to some sort of national unity government going. that means the president stays, at least for now. a different process in the transition that was once envisioned a few years ago. we see that the ypg is not involved in this agreement. what this mean for the kurdish people? it means a couple of things. one is that a large swathes of syrian territory is outside the process. this agreement only deals with the west assyria anyway. the other issue is that, of course, the kurds are backed by the united states which is away from the table here. the usr twice removed and they wa nt to here. the usr twice removed and they want to see a donald trump will put his, put the united states back into this and backed the process or ever will stand back and watch it happen. you surprise, however, that this is turkish russian led instigation than one coming from washington and russia? no. washington retreated from its position in syria sometime ago and was unable to come up with the results it soared earlier this year concerning the targeting of terrorists. so here we are. and here we are indeed. what is the impact will this agreement have? potentially it could bring important players to the table but they do need to agree on something. perhaps they will agree to say that neither one can retake all of syrian territory and they will calm things down for the moment. that could be good news for syrians on the ground who have been suffering from war. there is here on bbc. what's more still to come. division and confusion over this road in a small french town after the local lead decides to rename it in honour of brexit. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got underway with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow, in holland, we're gonna use money we picked up in belgium today, then we'll be in france, and again it'll be the same money. it has just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed in his 0xfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. just good? no, fantastic. that's better. the latest headlines: washington says it is expelling thirty—five russian diplomats in response to accusations that they tried to subvert the us presidential election. a russian backed ceasefire between the syrian government and opposition fighter has come into effect in the last hour. tributes continue to pour in for the hollywood actress debbie reynolds who died a day after the death of her daughter, carrie fisher. these are pictures from los angeles where people have been paying their respects and leaving flowers at her star on the hollywood walk of fame. debbie reynolds — who was 84 — shot to fame in the 1950's after starring in the musical singin' in the rain. david sillito looks back at her life. # i'm singin' in the rain, just singin' in the rain... singin' in the rain. debbie reynolds was just 19. she'd not really danced before this, but this performance made her a star. i was supposed to be an innocent, virginal little girl and certainly, i was that. but i think it was a tough deal for poor gene to be stuck with me, who had never danced. it would have been far better for him to have a great dancer. but i worked so hard that i think, in the end when i look at that performance of that little girl, i think i did a good job. # all i do is dream of you the whole night through.# 64 years later, her death comes just a day after losing her daughter, carrie fisher. she'd been planning herfuneral when she was taken ill. her son todd said the stress was simply too much. among the tributes, bette midler, who said it was hard to comprehend. dame joan collins said she was truly heartbroken. you could make an album, i could produce it. that mother—and—daughter relationship, meryl streep and shirley maclaine gave us a taste of the ups and downs in postcards from the edge. but it was far from the full story. indeed, debbie reynolds wanted to play the role, but was told she wasn't right for the part. you want me to do well, just not better than you. what she was right for was old school hollywood song and dance. the show always went on, even when she was abandoned by her husband, eddie fisher, for elizabeth taylor. my personal life is always sort of like this. that little choo—choo train that says, "i think i can, i think i can, i think i can." i seem to marry very poorly. i have no taste in men. luckily for me, god was good and i have two wonderful children. and here she is, carrie fisher, six years old, watching her mother on stage. the photographer said she didn't move. 5a years later, debbie reynolds' final words: "i want to be with carrie." but if you want to remember what made her special, remember her like this. the actress debbie reynolds who has died at the age of 84, the day after her daughter, carrie fisher. plans to remove venezuela's largest bank note from circulation have been further delayed. president nicolas maduro said the 100—boliviar note would remain legal tender until january the 20th so that everyone can "spend their new year's in calm". it follows violent protests after mr maduro tried to pull the currency from circulation before replacements had arrived. china's latest dizzying feat of engineering is now in use. the world's highest bridge has opened to traffic. it's the beipanjiang bridge on the border of yunnan and guizhou provinces. let's take a closer look. unless of course you don't like heights. the community in a southern french town is divided over a decision to name one of its roads "brexit street". the mayor of beaucaire says it's in tribute to the british vote to leave the european union. but critics point out that the previously unnamed road is a cul—de—sac and doesn't go anywhere, as janey mitchell reports. not the most glamorous of locations on an industrial estate providing access to the community rubbish dump. it is also a circular road, leading nowhere. the mayor of beaucaire, a member of the far right national front party says it is especially fitting that the road to be krish and rue du brexit, needs avenue robert schumer. —— christened. the mayor of the new european union. it's a homage to the news and history. history is not the year 1500 1600, its written daily. return made history in 2016 with brexit and we wanted to pay tribute. some on social media and the town itself are rubbishing gesture and anger system. translation: there are famous names. there are no need to use in which names will. france is at france, the uk is the uk. they could have named the street alyssa but the why not? brexit? this is nonsense. —— elizabeth ii. the man is right to stand beside them. i think they made a good chance. —— choice. stand beside them. i think they made a good chance. -- choice. the party leader marine le pen has promised a rs around and if she is elected president in may. ——a referendum. well in 2016 we saw many attempts at the mannequin challenge — the latest viral craze to sweep the web. but it may be that the best attempt was kept till last. these pictures have come from european space agency astronaut, thomas pesquet. he shared a video of the entire crew aboard the international space station participating. pesquet tweeted that he had taken the mannequin challenge to new heights. lots more are now website. i'm @kasiamadera on twitter. you can also find us on facebook. there is potential for a strong fog patches. don't drop your guard. especially parts of south anglia daesh east anglia and south—east england. it is a different story in northern scotland. a weather system hanging throughout the day. the rain is on and off. actually, to the east of that, parts of north—east scotland, we we re that, parts of north—east scotland, we were the sunshine. this is the picture at a teia, plenty of cloud around and in the west of a west facing towns. —— picture at eight a.m.. where we have fog and particularly the south—east of england, temperatures close to freezing. some of those starting with a frost as well. if you stay misty and murky, the temperature will be down into single figures. there will see a bit of brightness in north—east wales, north—east england and eastern parts of scotland. in the north of scotland throughout the day, you have the rain and wind. double—figure temperatures for glasgow and just five celsius in norwich. as you take it through friday night, we will be struck by the fact this weather system is still hanging around the same parts of northern scotland. as we look further south, we keep plenty of cloud. it will be damp and drizzly at times in the west. the west facing coasts and hills. still a few fog patches but not as much as we have full friday morning. that is starting to ease our way from being a major feature of our weather. as well. as new year's eve begins, this is how it looks for the final day of 2016. finally, this weather system gets a move on, taking the rain southwards through scotland and northern ireland. the good news is, if you are out and about celebrating the arrival of 2017, it should be pushing away from it although it introduces colder air and wintry showers behind it. the start 17, the further north you are, it will be showers at the rest of england, mild. that won't last long. the rain clears its way south on new year's day and all of us will find ourselves in cold air. you're watching bbc news. let's bring you up—to—date with the main headlines. washington says it is expelling 35 russian diplomats in response to accusations that russian hackers tried to subvert the american presidential election. the us also referenced alleged harassment of diplomats in moscow. they ceasefire in syria has come into effect in the last few hours. president putin said that the warring parties had declared their readiness to start peace talks but described the agreement is reached as fragile. several of the main rebel factions have backed the deal but some groups are excluded. tributes are being paid to the hollywood actress debbie reynolds who died atjust one day after the death of her daughter carrie fisher. debbie reynolds was 84 and best known for starring with gene kelly in the musical singin' in the rain. those are the headlines. now in a change to the scheduled hardtalk programme, here is a chance to see again the remarkable interview the actress debbie reynolds, who died earlier this