BBC News

The broadcast began with US President Donald Trump using his authority to waive key sanctions against Russia under a law passed last month, citing US national interests. The restrictions, including sanctions on Russian leaders such as President Putin and government-controlled entities, had been due to come into force on Sunday, and the waivers would remain until further notice. A correspondent said the law was meant to punish Russia, especially its energy sector, for invading Ukraine, and that Trump had put it on hold as his view of President Zelensky soured; Trump described Zelensky as an obstacle to peace and suggested he should no longer be president of Ukraine. The White House did not explain how the move served US national interests. The programme also reported that new White House Press Secretary Katie Zachariah had been sacked five days after taking up the post, after a 14-minute first briefing, scrutiny over her legal credentials and her saying she had passed the bar exam in China, which the report said was not possible; she later told Fox News she had taken but not passed the bar. An analyst said the dismissal was a distraction Trump did not need and that the sanctions move fitted a pattern of Trump viewing Putin as more correct than Zelensky. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said an oil tanker carrying over two million barrels of crude exploded after striking a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, accusing the vessel of using an unauthorised route and turning off positioning and radar systems. In Mexico, three men were each sentenced to more than 158 years in prison for the 2024 murders of three foreign tourists, including Australian brothers and an American friend, on a surfing trip in Baja California.

In Oregon, police said a 16-year-old gunman who killed three students and a teacher in a special needs classroom at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend had previously attended the school and shot through locked doors. Five people died including the suspect, and a father who heard gunfire at his daughter's school confronted the teenage gunman and shot him dead before police arrived, according to the report. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed at the end of a two-day EU summit attended by President Zelensky that Europe would not abandon Ukraine, while Trump earlier called Ukraine's decision to resume strikes on Russian oil refineries a disgrace. The broadcast said Ukraine had regained more than 100 square miles of occupied land in the east, ending a major Russian advance, and reported on Operation Vivaldi near the front line in Donetsk, where Ukrainian forces described gains, drone threats, Starlink dependence and concern that US support and Starshield access had been restricted. Italy's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told the BBC the US was completely wrong to restrict Ukraine's ability to defend itself, saying that weakening Ukraine gave Putin an advantage and that Europe and NATO were preparing for the possibility that Russia's threat could go beyond Ukraine.

Dozens of settlers attacked Palestinians and set fire to cars and olive groves in the occupied West Bank, with the UN reporting nearly 200 settler attacks in two weeks during the olive harvest, a major source of revenue. In Abu Fala, around a dozen people were reported injured, farmers fled and cars burned, and a Washington Post journalist was caught and attacked; Israel's prime minister said the facts remained unclear and were under investigation. In the UK, Royal Mail said it was ready to deliver successfully over Christmas despite claims it was losing 400 staff a week, with the Communication Workers Union saying staff were unhappy with a new delivery system; Royal Mail said performance was improving but admitted it was still missing delivery targets. Brazil's government reported that Amazon deforestation had fallen by nearly 42% in the past year, the fifth consecutive annual fall, shortly before the presidential election runoff between incumbent President Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. The Vatican released the first photos of Pope Leo XIV since his lung surgery and cancer diagnosis, showing him celebrating Mass from hospital.