the sacked leader of catalonia has given a defiant response to its takeover by the spanish government — calling this for democratic resistance. the spanish government said it would welcome the participation of carles puigdemont in new elections — but said he could still be prosecuted. there's continuing gunfire inside a hotel in somalia's capital, mogadishu, which has been attacked by the islamist group, al—shabaab. at least fourteen people were killed in two bomb blasts outside the building, with many more injured. all crew members on british royal navy submarines are to undergo drugs tests. it comes after nine sailors were sacked for using cocaine on board the nuclear—armed hms vigilant. earlier this month, the submarine‘s captain was relieved of his command after an alleged "inappropriate relationship" with a member of his crew. now on bbc news, it's - is

that some viewers may find upsetting but our - programme pays tribute but our next programme pays tribute to the skill and bravery of journalists. extraordinary scenes from some of the most remarkable events of the year. captured, often at great risk, and after much endeavour. who are the journalists who bring us these films? and what motivates them to tell such stories? some of the most striking news

footage we see on screen doesn't come from mainstream media and staff reporters. come from mainstream media and their staff reporters. there is a collection ofjournalists who operate independently working in places few are willing to visit to bring us some of the most important stories of our time. these freelancers are honoured by the rory peck award named after the freelance cameraman who was killed in moscow covering the october coup in 1993. his memory lives on through the trust which works on behalf of freelance camera crews. this year's films have been dominated by the war in syria and the grinding and costly campaign

against the so—called islamic state. they've also featured conflict in washington and on the streets of la paz. first, the sony impact award for current affairs, for films that really dig into an issue. the film—maker patrick wells spent months on a painstaking cleansing in iraq, working with a producer and actor, he spent a year winning the trust of whistle—blowers, to shed light on the actions of shia militia. suspected of widespread abuses of sunni iraqis. iraq is so difficult to report from, so much suspicion of the media, the amount of time it takes to infiltrate a extremely hostile group who may be guilty of war

crimes was incredibly difficult. patrick researches and directs and produces brilliantly, the judges said, his film was incredibly impressive. it has got quite chaotic they are accusing him of being an isis fighter and we don't know where they have taken him. the most galling scene was when we found the women sitting in this town. 615 men and boys vanished from the town. the women were in a refugee camp which was very inaccessible, when we arrived, this enormous mob

of women came to us, and all of them crying. it was the first time the story became about these women, and i thought, how has this not been a story, this huge crime had happened and had received so little coverage. people with disabilities are some of the most marginalised in bolivia. but now they are fighting for their rights. darren forshaw and violetta tracked

the group of disability rights campaigners on a 300 kilometre trek where they staged a protest in the capital. this is a very dangerous moment and i think we have to protect our freedom of expression in bolivia. dan and violeta were singled out for police attention. my colleague, daniel forshaw,

fernando and andrea, they have all been assaulted by police, dan was beaten by police. the judges said the story felt so fresh, highlighting an issue none of us even knew existed. compelling documentary film—making at its best. the protest lasted six months but ultimately ended when two campaigners were run over by a car and the leaders threatened with long prison sentences. aleppo, 2016. opposition fighters holding the east

of the city are losing their grip as syrian forces and their allies close in. four young journalists record their final days in the city in a remarkable story that has won the impact award for current affairs. together they dodge snipers, suffered daily bombardment, and the terror of living under siege. now, scattered around the middle east, they explain the origins of the film. the group also demonstrated ingenuity and resilience

and dignity, in the face of extraordinary challenges. as the end neared, the group documented the painful transfer of civilians and fighters from rebel areas. thejudges said this

is the most intimate, gripping and moving work of these last days in aleppo. it's like a love story to their city. goodbye aleppo, winner of the impact award.

next, the news feature category, for more in—depth films. every president in american history has disliked the press coverage that he got, but what is unusual is none before this has declared war in the first week. he needs an enemy. ollie lambert‘s film follows a week in washington at the beginning of donald trump's presidency. we always have an adversarial relationship and sometimes that is healthy and natural, but this is beyond adversarial. ollie paints a portrait of the press corps which covers the us president and how they respond to donald trump tearing up the rule book. it was perfectly clear

walking into that briefing, that the whole battle was being waged in this tiny little bit of real estate in one corner of the white house and i set up camp for as long as i could and tried to get under the skin of the journalists who were on the front line of that war for the truth, really. the judges said ollie gives a totally different vantage point we are going to get a call soon. wow. the russia crisis is threatening to engulf the white house, at the last minute, sean spicer‘s daily briefing is cancelled and donald trump announces his first solo press conference as president of the united states. to actually see it play out, where very professional, thoughtful truth telling journalists were being mercilessly attacked for trying to do theirjob and try to tell the truth, that felt like a very serious issue and i wanted people to really feel,

notjust understand, but really feel how serious that was. quiet, quiet. i don't have to do that, i don't have to tell you what i'm going to do in north korea. eventually you will get tired of asking that question. we keep doing ourjob. no one became a reporter to be loved. if he wants to go after us, that's his decision. i'm not sure that's a smart long—term decision for building support in the country. the next finalist is a shocking expose of the torture of innocent iraqis. award—winning photojournalist ali arkady was embedded with an

elite iraqi army unit. he was planning on making a film celebrating their exploits on the battlefield, but he discovered a much darker side to their story. they ignore a crying mother and her children. you are scaring the children, she says, they take the husband outside and begin to beat him. claiming he and his wife once helped isis. and it gets worse. the very next day, the camera was present when the unit prepared to torture this man, a sheep herder whose teenage sons were suspected of working for isis. as a senior officer gives the directions, when i tell you to kick, he says, you let him go. they closed the curtains and would not allow ali arkady

they closed the curtains but allow ali arkady to continue filming the ugly scene. at first ali arkady felt conflicted and he admits he obeyed commands by the unit's officers to strike detainees. but the more he saw, he realised he had to tell a different story. i did not have any option, to try to stop this violence, but i thought, in another way, i can, i try in the future to stop what these forces are doing for the civilians. and if i can get more evidence, approval, that i can show, maybe we can stop what they did. now in hiding following death threats to his family, he says his film has already produced results. the judges described his film as truly ground—breaking journalism.

"ali couldn't challenge what he saw," they said, "all he could do was shoot the material and get it back." the winner of the news features award was olivier sarbil‘s film. the erstwhile children of saddam's iraq, now in the battle to save

iraq. he lived alongside a unit of the iraqi special forces for five weeks as they pushed into isis territory. thejudges praised its raw emotion and authentic life, bringing us incredible footage and intimate insights into the real life in the city. to get the footage, olivier first had to win the trust of the soldiers he was with. for two weeks, ijust sit, sleep, eat, with those guys, you know? and try to get their trust, try to get some understanding, to a point where i would be invisible, and the camera would be invisible, also. as a former french soldier, olivier had combat experience. but as a freelancer, who was on his own, with no support network. i had no—one with me. i did not have a fixer. i did not have a translator. the commander of the unit spoke a bit of english but most of the men spoke arabic.

but day after day, they learnt to know me and we managed to build trust between us, and they wanted me to stay with them. but he also had to trust them with his own life. i knew they were well—trained. i would not have been in bed with, maybe, the regular army. i knew those guys were good, well equipped, and i trust them. he was keen to show another side to life on the front line. i wanted to be a bit more intimate with those guys. i want to have a chance to know them better — the people, to know them better. i was very surprised to see how much they were confident with me and then how much they would let me film them in any kind of circumstances. but danger and death are never far away. the battle for mosul,

winner of the news feature award. and finally, the news category, awarded for films that capture the immediacy of a story. the attack happens shortly after dawn. the conflict in syria has set new standards in the horrors of war. the makers of this film recorded scenes that are deeply disturbing, be warned, this footage of a chemical weapon attack is upsetting. adam was one of the first to arrive, but was himself knocked unconscious by the gas. one of the survivors describes

the moment the gas hit him. translation: i fell down and couldn't feel a thing. the ground, and then i fainted, it was as if i was hitting myself, i had no control. i couldn't see anything with my eyes. the victims are moved to a nearby hospital where fadi continues to film, as danger still lurks. suddenly there is panic as news comes in of more fighter jets heading that way. a localjournalist is in the middle of delivering a report. the scenes were so shocking that at first

he froze. the judges said "this work is chronicling a war crime, to be unflinching and keep your head in a situation most were treated peacefully on the floor as distraught relatives look on powerless to help. news award finalist chernov was another freelancer who spent

time in mosul with the iraqi specialforces. this was an urban warfare, fought one street at a time. a former aid worker and award—winning photographer, he has covered other conflicts, in ukraine, syria, and iraq. working alone without the local language, he is aware of the risks this kind ofjournalism involves. you try to understand how far you can go, and how far you need to go to show what is really going on, it is a constant search and balance between the safety and what you need to do. everyone who goes to war, i think they realise that danger is imminent, and there is no way you can escape danger, when showing the reality of war. thejudges praised his camerawork. "all of mstyslav‘s images are captured

so clearly and cleanly." "sharp as a pen, he has a real photographer's eye." every sequence is a vignette and shot after shot gives the complete story without narration. it think it always feels like a paradox to me. every cameraman tries to make their shots as beautiful as possible. but to show the reality of war, the brutality of everything that is going on, it contradicts our wish to make the shot beautiful. so that is a struggle. that is where the gets cameraman stuck. how to show the reality of war, but also make the shot appealing, because when you make the shot appealing the viewer starts accepting the war and that is the contrary of what we are trying to do. tender words for a child

that can't find its own. the winner of the news award is about life in the last functioning hospital in aleppo. it was shot by waad al kateab, a marketing student at aleppo university, before she picked up a camera to become a journalist. fatima is the only adult left of three families whose apartment block was obliterated by a russian or syrian bomb. she comes across a neighbour, a teenage boy named mahmoud,

who used to live upstairs. the baby boy he is holding is his little brother, ishamel muhammed, one month old. his face is the only restful thing in this bedlam. but this is the sleep of the dead. ishmael was suffocated in the ruins. currently in hiding, we are unable to show pictures of waad. i felt a lot of events and details inside aleppo. —— filmed. the most interesting thing for me was the hospital, and when i turned the camera on i was just focusing on showing the ward, the suffering and what is happening inside aleppo. maybe the ward will show the al—assad crimes of the regime against the civilians there. i couldn't forget anything happened from the first moment until the end.

a nurse leads in a brother and sister. they go from room to room. we don't know their names and they don't know yet if they are orphans. the judges said in waad's work, you are in the midst of the event, and she uses techniques which reach out and move people." "not one shot is fired, but waad shows us the terror of war." brother and sister are still waiting for news of their mother. exhausted beyond words, by a life beyond description. inside aleppo: the last hospital, winner of the news award. that's it for this year's edition of the firing line, a year in which the human cost

of the war in syria and the bitter battle against against islamic state militants in iraq defined the rory peck awards. hello there. good morning. gusty westerly winds are being replaced by a northerly wind overnight and into sunday, our air coming down from the arctic. much colder air spilling our way, but the promise of more sunshine. there are skies across northern parts of the uk dropping temperatures. further south, more cloud and maybe a little light rain or drizzle around south wales and southern england first thing. this should clear away last of all from the far south—west later in the morning, then some good spells of

sunshine. a few showers running down those north sea coasts, where the wind will be strongest and it will feel quite a bit colder in the north—east of england and north—east scotland, compared with yesterday. not so bad towards the south—west, where the winds are lighter and there is sunshine. but a frosty start on monday morning, particularly in the countryside. it will gradually turn milder into next week, this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones, our top stories: thousands call for spanish unity at a mass rally in madrid. but catalonia's sacked leader vows to resist direct rule. a gun battle has taken place inside a mogadishu hotel between somali security forces and al—shabaab militants after two bomb blasts outside leave more than a dozen dead. carles puigdemont, has made a televised address calling

for peaceful resistance to madrid imposing direct rule on the region. spain's government has dissolved the regional parliament and installed a new police chief