welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: the final phase of the battle for raqqa, the last stronghold of so—called islamic state in syria. we have an exclusive report. this is the centre of raqqa, the very heart, if you like, of the islamic state. naim roundabout is about a few hundred metres away from here. locals call it the circle of hell. saudi arabia is set to lift the ban on women driving. but is the country really on the road to equality? a blow for president trump — voters in alabama choose a hardline christian conservative to contest the state's vacant senate seat for the republicans. a0 years after his death, south africa honours the anti—apartheid activist, steve biko. hello.

first for you, an exclusive report on the final stages of the battle for the syrian city of raqqa, last major stronghold of the extremist group the so—called islamic state. the current offensive by arab and kurdish fighters, with american and british support, started in june. then, is controlled most of raqqa. now, only a few hundred militants hold the centre of the city. the bbc is the only broadcaster to gain access to it. our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville and cameraman darren conway sent this. you may find some of the images distressing. this is a war of annihilation, says the united states. raqqa is the battleground, and the victim. these are western coalition bombs, targeting the fighters

of the so—called islamic state. more than 5,000 hit raqqa last month alone. an entire city has become a no—man‘s—land. mile after mile, there is no life, no people. for years, is terrorised and controlled these streets. now, hundreds of those who called raqqa home have been killed by coalition bombs meant to free them. the us—led mission disputes the figure, and says that this is the most precise bombing campaign in history. they may be young, and their army new, but the men of the kurdish—led syrian democratic forces are winning. is promised a new empire would grow here. instead, the corpses of its fighters fill the gutters. first mosul, now raqqa —

the caliphate is already dead. nearby, another corpse rots, likely caused by a drone strike. the threat here is from snipers. a pause too long, or a misstep, and this female fighter would have lost her head. instead, the shot hits the wall to the right. the danger lies around corners, and in raqqa's shadows. is rarely come out and attack. they hide and wait. there are is fighters hiding near a mosque. the kurds throw everything they have at the gunmen. is return fire. all this to take just half a mile of road. gunfire. when all else fails, an air strike on the is position.

it might have done the trick. we wait for the all—clear. the instructions are simple. run that way, and be quick. but, as i get to the end of the street, it is clear the sniper is still there. he fires at us, but misses. the shots ricochet off the wall by the camera. oh, it hit right there! the deeper into the city, the greater the danger. it is an improvised war. here, arab fighters have salvaged an is armoured car. like a prehistoric beast, it rumbles through a ruined landscape. commander abu abdo knows that snipers only need a tiny window of opportunity.

even in captured ground, there is always the risk that is will appear from behind. they have dug tunnels all over the city. the steel flanks of the armoured shield us through yet another sniper alley. there is a sniperjust around that corner, just at the end of the street. we have to be very careful here. this is the centre of raqqa, the very heart, if you like, of the islamic state. naim roundabout is about a few hundred metres away from here. locals call it the circle of hell. for these fighters, it is critical territory to retake. but it is much more than that, because it is there that their friends were beheaded, and there they were crucified.

when they take that territory, they say, they will cleanse raqqa of the islamic state. but, before the cleansing, more blood has to be spilt. one of the fighters has been shot. is control the rooftops and our men are pinned down. there are almost in panic. they are desperate. their commrade is just out of reach. again an air strike is called in, and this time it works. finally, they can get to him. he is rushed to a field hospital, but he doesn't survive. his name was nadim abdul aziz, he was 21 years old. the fighters are exhausted, they've had too many days end like this.

translation: we keep going. we will sacrifice our blood for our people inside, because they're having a tough time, a really tough time. yesterday daesh attacked us, with their men dressed as women, and there were big numbers, like 100. we thought they were civilians, and they also had children with them. and suddenly, the civilians and children went to the side of the road, and then they started to fire at us. in the six days we were inside raqqa, we didn't see a single civilian. thousands, though, are still trapped in is areas. raqqa, for them, is an iron—clad death trap. they would have to go through all of this to escape. it is not clear who is friend orfoe. raqqa was the islamic state's syrian capital. now, it is a city fit for no—one. gunfire. quentin sommerville, bbc news, raqqa. and don't forget you can get much

more detail about the battle for raqqa on the bbc website. you will also find more from quentin, including a 360—degree guide to the city. that is at bbc.com/news. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: the mexican emergency services say they will continue searching for another three days looking for possible survivors after last week's earthquake. more than a0 people are still missing, but hopes are fading of finding anyone else alive. 331 people were killed in the 7.1 magnitude earthquake. the french president, emmanuel macron, has set out an ambitious plan for reforming the european union, saying that in its current form it was too weak, slow and inefficient. he called for a european military intervention force and a common budget. mr macron also proposed halving the number of eu commissioners. chaotic scenes to show you from uganda's parliament now, as mps debated the contentious

removal of the presidential age gap. punches were thrown, and chairs, too, after it was claimed one mp had taken a gun into the chamber. the age limit is controversial because the current president is 73 years old, and the limit for re—election is capped at 75. women in saudi arabia will soon be allowed to drive for the first time. it is the only country in the world where women are banned from driving. the king has declared the law will be change from nextjune. rights groups have been campaigning about the issue for years, with some women having been imprisoned for defying the rule. for over 25 years, women have campaigned for the right to drive in saudi arabia. some have been imprisoned for daring to get behind the wheel. this decision ends the conservative islamic kingdom's status as the only country in the world where it is forbidden.the shock announcement was made at the un in new york on tuesday. a royal decree has been issued in saudi arabia, giving women the right to drive.

this is a historic day for saudi society, for men and women. saudi arabia has some of the world's tightest restrictions on women and is known for its gender segregation rules. this decree, which risks riling religious conservatives, is part saudi arabia's reform drive, aimed at improving its global reputation. the us state department described it as a positive sign. we are happy to hear that. give saudi women are now able to drive, certainly here in the united states we would certainly welcome that. i think it is a great step in the right direction for the country.

just this weekend women were allowed into a concert, previously a male only arena, at a national day celebrations. saudis are generally conservative by nature, not only traditionalist but also conservative in terms of the role of women, so i think this is going to be a little bit of a shock to a lot of saudis. but i think they also realise that it was something that was long overdue. the changes set to come into effect byjune the 24th and is expected to have big implications for the saudi and women's ability to work. alabama voters have elected conservative roy moore as the republican nominee to fill a us senate seat, dealing a blow to president donald trump and other party leaders who had argued that rival luther strange was a better bet to advance their priorities in washington. strange was appointed to the us senate earlier this year to fill the seat vacated byjeff sessions,

whom trump picked to be his attorney general. 0ur correspondent in washington, david willis, has been following the vote. and roy moore is a right—wing, firebrand, evangelical conservative. he is a man who has branded homosexuality evil. he has condemned same—sex marriage. he lost hisjob on he lost his job on the alabama supreme court for refusing to remove a statue that he put in place in his courthouse of the ten commandments. he isa courthouse of the ten commandments. he is a sort of antiestablishment candidate that you would have thought mr would support. not so, he went for the establishment candidate luther strange. and it was of course he who was dealt a convincing defeat. mr strange very much seen as pa rt defeat. mr strange very much seen as part of the establishment. and the very fa ct part of the establishment. and the

very fact that voters in alabama have stated this —— favoured this right—wing candidate speaks volumes about donald trump's ability to harness his base to vote for the sort of candidate that he would like them to vote for. but it also raises questions about the future of the republican party in washington, given that there is clearly an appetite for a more right—wing candidate, certainly on the part of voters in some parts of this country. thanks to you for being with us. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: bypassing brain damage. a pioneering implant restores consciousness to one patient for the first time in 15 years. ben johnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. all the athletes should be clean going into the games. i'm just happy that justice is served. it is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police. all the taliban positions along

here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. it's no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world. and so the british government has no option but to continue this action, and even after any adverse judgement in australia. concorde had crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. good to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headlines: the battle for the syrian city of raqqa — the last major stronghold of so—called islamic state — is entering its final phase.

just a few hundred is fighters are holding the centre of the city. the king of saudi arabia has issued an order allowing women to drive for the first time. from next year. puerto rico's governor has appealed for federal help, warning the island is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster after hurricane maria. most of its 3.4 million people are still without power, while clean water and medicine are also scarce. president trump will travel to the island next week amid growing criticism of his response to the destruction. earlier the president defended his administration. we have had tremendous reviews from government officials, as we have in texas, louisiana, and florida, great governors — and this morning the governor made incredible statements about how well we're doing. it's a disaster a disaster.

the grid was in bad shape before the storm, and puerto rico didn't get hit by one arcane, but to —— but two. journalist rick jervis has just returned from puerto rico after spending the last ten days there, i asked him whether or not help was getting to those in need of it. it was pretty bad. there is still widespread destruction, there is a looming humanitarian crisis happening. it was really bad immediately after the storm but now things are growing worse because people are running out of supplies, running out of food. there is still no water. gas is extremely scarce. every inch of that island has been impacted by this so it is a widespread humanitarian crisis and it is growing. looking at what they have been saying, those 3.4 million people, they seem to say to the president, really, we are us citizens, you know. correct. there are people

trying to remind other people about that, that these are american citizens, this is a us territory and it should be dealt with as swiftly as disasters back in texas and florida were. there were questions about whether it is, or not, being dealt with in the same manner. the governor has been quite explicit. i know he said we are in the midst of a disaster but is it possible the president will get a rough ride? it depends. one thing about his personal reaction to it and he has been delayed in talking about puerto rico and visiting puerto rico but there are fellow assets there on the island. fema are out there, they have been out there since the storm arrived. they are reacting. the question is is it enough? do we need a larger response to that crisis?

apart from talking about the size of the island's debt, the president has spoken about how far away it is and how we may be difficult to get a bed that it is getting through? it is. the fortunate part is that there were many federal assets there for hurricane irma already and had gotten their to help the island recover from hurricane irma. some of the surrounding islands as well such as stjohn and st thomas. the assets were there, they stayed in place. as soon as hurricane maria passed they basically mobilised immediately. that was fortunate, that they were there already, and have been mobilising for the past five or six days. this month marks the 40th

anniversary of the death of black consciousness leader steve biko. he was arrested in 1976 at the height of demonstrations and protests in south africa. he died a year later at the age of 30, beaten to death by police. of the six people accused of killing him at the time, two are still alive today. steve biko's son — nkosinathi biko — has been speaking to the bbc, remembering his father's beliefs and reflecting on his relevance in today's south africa. we believe that in our country, there are desperate people. and those people will have the same studies before the law. steve biko was, is, one of the founders of our democracy and south africa. he represents a political stream known as the black consciousness movement. he is someone that taught us to develop a sense of self, particularly the oppressed people in

south africa. steve biko and his fellow leaders in the black consciousness movement recognised the role of the pan african congress and the african national congress as pa rt and the african national congress as part of the vanguard movement in south africa. in fact, he died returning from a trip to initiate unity talks between those two, and a couple of other organisations. the museum was established in 2012, as a gift from the south african public. it was not primarily through the public purse, so the museum part of it is designed to teach particularly young set up against about the movement. the fact it was primarily funded through the public purse. —— it was primarily funded through the

public purse. in the last part of his life, he was under house arrest. he could not meet with more than one person in time. even at the early age when he died, we had to have a sense of there being good and bad out there in the world, and we saw a player before us, with the regular arrests of steve biko — he was arrested 29 times, actually. but also neighbours in our community, many of whom did not make it back. the steve biko garden of remembrance, where he is buried, also contains a lot of people who contributed to what he became. i think steve biko was somebody who embodied the philosophy that he espoused. he lived black

consciousness. he came from an ordinary background and he, at the age of 30, made a contribution that we still remember in this country and the world, a0 years on. in france, a man who'd been in a vegetative state for 15 years has begun to show signs of consciousness, thanks to an experimental therapy. the pioneering treatment involved implanting a nerve stimulator in his chest. within a month he was able to respond to simple instructions, turn his head and even follow an object with his eyes. researchers believe the results are potentially very exciting, but need more work. fergus walsh reports. for 15 years, the patient in france had been completely unaware of the world around him following a car accident and severe brain injury, until a medical team in lyon restored some consciousness. they did it by stimulating the vagus nerve which connects the brain to other organs. surgeons implanted a nerve stimulator in the man's chest and this was linked by wire

to the vagus nerve in the neck and then an electrical pulse was introduced. after treatment, the team report that the patient could follow an object with his eyes and slowly turn his head when asked, though he remains largely paralysed and unable to talk. now, the image on the right shows three months after stimulation there is more activity in the key brain areas there than before the implant was inserted. and this is a before and after reading of electrical activity in the brain. again, on the right, the warmer colours here show greater connections at the back of the brain. this team in birmingham measure the brain activity of healthy volunteers... so we're just putting some gel into the electrodes. ..and in patients with severe brain injuries. they say the french research is intriguing.

i think this is a very exciting result. we have to be very cautious in the way that we interpret it, as it is only data from one patient, but i think it highlights the potential for future therapies for disorders of consciousness. what we need is a large group of patients with this stimulations so that we can work out exactly how it's working. cathy rentzenbrink‘s brother matty spent eight years in a vegetative state. he died after a judge agreed with the family that his feeding tube should be withdrawn. she says this research may raise false hopes. the debate will be muddied because everybody reading the headlines will say, "oh, doctors have woken someone up," whereas actually, to say that someone's been in a vegetative state and now minimally conscious is... well, a lot people thinking being minimally conscious is worse. this research raises ethical issues about the long—term care

of vegetative patients. last week, a judge in london ruled that legal permission is no longer required to withdraw feeding tubes when doctors and relatives agree. a decision that is likely to be challenged. fergus walsh, bbc news. just finally, if anyone likes to tweet, and struggles to get it all into one post, twitter is considering an end to the 1a0 character limit. it's currently running a trial with a small number of people, who've been allowed longer tweets. twitter is talking of allowing up to 280 characters per tweet. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @bbcmikeembley. and there is more news all the time on the bbc website. thank you for watching. good morning.

yet again, if you had some sunshine yesterday you probably had some warmth, and in fact in the london area we saw highs of 22 degrees, with some sunny spells, as you can see from this weather watches from twickenham. but things are set to change. this low pressure is moving in, bringing wet and windy weather by the end of the day for many of us. we start off with the west—east divide across the country. a bit of patchy mist and fog slowly lifting away, but the wind will strengthen and cloud and rain gathers. some of it quite heavy in northern ireland by the middle of the afternoon. the best of the weather is likely to stay into the south—east corner and we could have temperatures again into the low 20s. by the end of the afternoon across the south—west of england and parts of wales we'll start to see some rain arriving. east wales, though, you might get

a bit of brightness. 17—18 degrees. the heaviest rain into northern ireland where it will feel dismal. not a bad end to the afternoon in much of northern england and eastern scotland. cloud thickening up, the winds strengthening across western fringes of scotland. so that weather front sweeps its way eastwards through the evening and overnight and in actual fact it's moving at quite a pace. there will be some rain, some of it heavy, for all of us at some point through the night, clearing away in all but eastern fringes towards dawn. with clearer skies and lighter winds we could see some patchy mist and fog forming. more favoured spots for it to linger perhaps through south—west england and wales first thing. but again the further west on thursday you'll see the best of the sunshine. after a cloudy and damp start there is a slow improvement through eastern fringes, but we might keep a bit of cloud across east anglia and the south—east. the highest values, 1a—20 degrees. now, as we move out of thursday and into friday, things are set to change.

that's partly because of what's happening across north america, with a cold plunge of air coming out of canada, mixing with very warm, moist air in the caribbean, and that's going to strengthen the jet, which will in turn deflect these areas of low pressure across the uk. a spell of wet and windy weather moving into friday is likely, that wull sweep steadily eastwards, behind it a better clearance — brighter weather to come. 1a—19 degrees the high. this pattern continues into the weekend. saturday could be a day of sunshine and showers before another significant area of low pressure brings wet and windy weather for sunday. this is bbc news. the headlines: the battle for the syrian city of raqqa, last major stronghold of the extremists who call themselves islamic state, is entering its final phase. the current offensive by arab and kurdish fighters, with american and british support, started in june. just a few hundred is fighters are left now holding the centre of the city. king salman of saudi arabia has issued a decree allowing women to drive for the first time. the order is due to come into force next june,

following years of campaigning. saudi arabia has been the only country in the world that does not permit women to drive. president trump has been dealt a major blow after his choice to contest a vacant senate seat for the republicans in alabama lost the primary runoff vote. luther strange was beaten by roy moore, a hard—line christian conservative, and ally of former white house chief strategist steve bannon. now on bbc news, it is hardtalk.