Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 19 Dec 2016

1. Evacuations continue from Aleppo

Evacuations on buses supplied by the Assad regime are continuing from eastern Aleppo this morning, after they were halted at the weekend, with some of the buses set alight. Some 350 people are believed to have left the city heading for other rebel-held enclaves yesterday. Many thousands more are still trapped in the damaged city.

Syria 'planning a new chemical attack', US claims

2. Russian ambassador shot dead in Turkey

Russia's ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, has been shot dead at an art gallery in Ankara. His killer, believed to be an off-duty Turkish policeman, opened fire at point blank range. The assassination is believed to be connected to Russia's involvement in the Syrian war. Video showed the killer shouting "Allahu Akbar" and "don't forget Aleppo". Turkish police said he had been "neutralised".

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3. China: Trump has no idea how to run US

State-controlled media in China has concluded that Donald Trump has "no sense of how to lead a superpower". The comment comes after Trump sent yet more incendiary tweets about China. The communist party-run Global Times said: "Trump is not behaving as a president who will become master of the White House in a month".

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4. Zsa Zsa Gabor dies at age of 99

Actor and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor has died at the age of 99, her husband Frederic von Anhalt has confirmed. Born in Hungary in 1917, Gabor was a beauty queen who became a star in the golden age of Hollywood. Married at least nine times, she once said: "I am a marvellous housekeeper: every time I leave a man, I keep his house."

Five things you didn't know about Zsa Zsa Gabor

5. The FA fined £35,000 by Fifa over poppies

The FA has been fined £35,000 by Fifa for its use of a "political symbol" at the World Cup qualifier at home to Scotland on 11 November, Remembrance Day, when there were pre-match ceremonies at Wembley and the players wore armbands with poppies on them. The Scottish FA has been fined just under £16,000 for displaying poppies on its armbands.

6. UK accused of "dumping" aid into trust funds

The government has been accused of "dumping" billions of pounds into World Bank trust funds in order to meet spending targets, with much of the money going unspent for years. The UK's Department for International Development has reportedly paid £9bn into 219 different funds over the past five years. The UK is committed to spending 0.7% of GDP on aid.

UK accused of 'dumping' billions from foreign aid budget

7. Prime Minister says strikes show 'contempt'

Downing Street has attacked strikers for showing "contempt" to the public at the start of a week of industrial action, which will affect the Post Office, Southern Rail and British Airways. Prime Minister Theresa May called for all parties to sit around a table and settle their disputes rather than causing "completely unacceptable" problems for the public.

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8. Andy Murray wins BBC award again

Andy Murray has won the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. He is now the only sportsperson to have won the honour three times, after a year in which he took Olympic gold, won Wimbledon for the second time and became tennis world number one. Accepting the trophy, he said his wife, Kim, had voted for someone else.

Andy Murray wins SPOTY with twice as many votes as Brownlee

9. Star Wars opens with £233m weekend

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the latest film in the sci-fi movie franchise, has taken £233m in cinemas around the world on its opening weekend. The film stars British actors Riz Ahmed and Felicity Jones, the latter best known as Emma Grundy in BBC Radio 4's The Archers. The film is the first stand-alone spin-off from Star Wars.

10. Briefing: What does the fall of Aleppo mean for Syria?

The battle for Aleppo is over. Russian officials have declared mission accomplished in their joint action with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the former rebel stronghold, while civilians and opposition fighters are being evacuated into the surrounding countryside under military escort. However, victory will be a far from simple affair, warn experts.

Syria 'planning a new chemical attack', US claims

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