the latest headlines: south africa's governing anc is preparing to pick a new party leader to replace president jacob zuma. there have been allegations of widespread bribery and warnings that the party could split over the election, as the country faces mounting economic challenges. austria's conservative party has agreed to form a coalition with the anti—immigration freedom party, which would make austria the only western european country with the far—right in government. the two party leaders will hold talks with austria's president on saturday about forming a new administration. wildfires in california are continuing to burn out of control, scorching an area larger than new york city and paris combined. one firefighter has been killed battling the blaze. ajudge has called for an inquiry after a university student was cleared of rape because police failed to disclose evidence which could have

proven his innocence. 22—year—old liam allan spent two years on bail, before his trial at croydon crown court was halted, when it was revealed his accuser had sent him thousands of text messages. he's been speaking exclusively to clive coleman. the day after the case against him was dropped, liam allan is coming to terms with the end of a two—year nightmare. i was relieved for notjust myself, but everyone that's been with me every step of the way, and everyone it's impacted. it wasjust a huge, huge relief. you sort of get your life back. you don't realise that you've lost parts of your life, until you actually have it completely done. the trial may be over, but the strain it caused remains vivid. i'll be honest, i did start to suffer from panic attacks, a couple of weeks before court, which is why i said it was probably my worst time. because you just — where it has to be internal, where you have to have your own reaction, panic attacks

are an internal reaction that you can't help yourself. but it is to be expected, you can't not go through this and not panic and not fear, and remain strong through the whole thing. it could bring the strongest person in the world to their knees. liam went on trial charged with six rapes and six sexual assaults. his lawyers were repeatedly refused access to his alleged victim's phone records. they were finally handed over at the start of the trial. 40,000 phone messages included details which clearly suggested he was innocent. his trial at croydon crown court collapsed yesterday. she said she didn't like sex with him. text messages to say she loves sex with him. there were rape fantasies, there was sex in the open air. this was a 12—count indictment. if the defence hadn't got that, that man would have been convicted, that man would have got 12 years, that man would have had his life trashed, and on a sexual offences register forever. it is a fundamental principle of our system that the prosecution

must hand over any evidence that it holds that could help the person on trial. lawyers tell me that liam allan's experience is farfrom a one—off, and that there is a widespread problem. the metropolitan police are carrying out an urgent assessment of the case. but, for liam, sorry just won't do it. an apologyjust doesn't feel like enough. like, the length of time that i faced, the fact that the person remains anonymous, and i am everywhere, and got dragged through hell for the last two years, apology doesn't even slightly cut it, at all. liam's case adds to mounting concerns that the system for ensuring that those on trial receive all of the evidence that could help their defence is failing far too often. clive coleman, bbc news. now on bbc news it's time for the travel show. coming up on this week's show, we

travelled to georgia to pay a visit toa travelled to georgia to pay a visit to a town that is the birthplace of one of the 20th century's most controversial figures. one of the 20th century's most controversialfigures. we meet an artist in dubai creating a unique fusion of traditional arabic or graffiti and street style graffiti. i always try to bring a message of peace and tolerance and try to bring people together. we are all connected and calligraphy is to connected and calligraphy is to connect people. and i discovered that santa makes it look easy when i hop on a sleigh for an early slice of christmas. let's go! but first, this week we are going to

georgia. with its black sea coastline, forested landscape and world—famous coastline, forested landscape and world —famous wine, it's coastline, forested landscape and world—famous wine, it's not hard to see why tourism is booming in the once the soviet state. but one city there is attracting tourists for a very different reason. in many ways gori is an unremarkable post—soviet town. tourists do calm and in their

tens of thousands every year and today that includes me. in 1939, my great—grandfather, a polish official, was arrested as the soviets invaded under the leadership ofjosef stalin. like so many other people from poland, my great—grandfather was sent to oppose labourcamp and died, great—grandfather was sent to oppose labour camp and died, leaving my family to flee, eventually reaching the uk. today, in gori, a flower bed lies ina the uk. today, in gori, a flower bed lies in a place where a statue to the city's most famous someone's powered. but some locals wanted put back up. so i came here, to the former hometown of stalin, where he remained such an important but quantum of —— controversialfigure. for many in the former soviet union,

stalin was a great leader. 0ver his 30 year rule he brought victory against the nazis and respect on international stage. but he also oversaw the starvation, imprisonment, execution and ethnic persecution of millions of people across the ussr. at this guesthouse, stalin is good

for business. but for many here stalin represents far more than potential profit. he is still an icon. 100,000 visitors came to the stalin museum last year. you can see here furniture from stalin's first office. given my family history, i have mixed feelings when i walk around the museum. for me it is an

interpretation of style and —— stalin's life which feels too positive. apparently the guides in the museum to tell the groups about stalin's victims, this room is dedicated to his victory in world war two and there's a similar room in the museum —— and there isn't a similar room talking about his oppression and mass famines. by the museum officials maintain that they are faring their representation of how many suffered under stalin. this is supposed to be museum, but in this room it feels more like a shrine. it's actually quite reminiscent of the lenin museum in

the red square. in 2008 a long—running dispute with neighbouring russia over the south is building the war. gori suffered russian bombardment. following the war, the pro western georgian government began removing soviet symbols from public spaces. in 2010 the statue of stalin was removed from outside the government building, at many other locals are proud of stalin and is nostalgic for the old days and they want the statue put a cup. —— back up. for some of the younger generation, however, stalin should be consigned to history, not lauded. i'd heard that a local taxi driver knew where the stalin statue had been dumped, facing the elements in a scrapyard next to a military base. he agreed to take me. in many ways, georgia has yet to

decide for itself how to remember stalin. although he statue remained hidden away, the museum which seemingly venerates him is actively promoted as a tourist destination. but while the nature of stalin's future in the city remains unclear, what does seems certain is that for better or worse he will continue to bring travellers to gori for some time to come. stay with us because coming up... we meet the man making his artistic mark on dubai. and i take a magical reindeer safari through finnish lapland. if you are watching our special show

from dubai a few weeks ago, you might remember we featured an artist who is based there. he has displayed his unique form of art all over the world. so rajan has been back to ask him about his travels and where he gets his inspiration from. calligraffiti is the art of beautifying script and it is an art that has been mastered by a master calligrapher. i am that has been mastered by a master calligrapher. iam not that has been mastered by a master calligrapher. i am not a calligrapher. i am not a calligrapher because i did not learn from a master. i was born and raised in france and i had this kind of idea. this is how i started to learn

to write arabic. i was looking for a teacher who could teach me arabic calligraphy but i could not find anyone. so i started twisting the letters or extending them and creating my own style. and that style is el seed's mix of arabic graffiti, bright colours and street style lettering dubbed calligraffiti. and he believes his work is the most powerful on the street, bringing his message of tolerance to streets around the world from new york to south africa. i always try to bring a message of peace and tolerance and bring people together. we all connect and this is what i am trying to do with arabic calligraphy, to connect people. i

was lucky enough to experience this. all the projects my team and i have done around the world we have seen people and created relationship and links with people. today, this is his biggest project. and immense peace of work painted on 50 walls in an area of cairo where a marginalised and poor community of coptic christians collect and sort the city's rubbish. it took over one month to complete and gives a different perspective to an area many locals feared or ignored. when you go to a place to create art. but then you realise that art is a pretext to create a human experience. we went to cairo and the people welcomed us like we were

family. i saw those people living in the garbage. that they live from the garbage. they taught us how to be tolera nt garbage. they taught us how to be tolerant and the human because it is not the easiest way to live. could we go through how you approach your calligraffiti? the only rule i have is from right to left. and then i play with the words and the letters. so let's write your name. this is the letter r, this is the alif. in arabic there is no capital. but what idoisi arabic there is no capital. but what i do is i consider every letter as a capital so i separate this level. so

in this one in calligraphy you can do it like this. this is the letter are. and now the alif like that. and then this letter takes this shape here and then this is the letter n. this is typography, this is calligraphy. and someone who is arabic can read that? yes. they can decipher that. arabic calligraphy is what made me realise that identity is not unique. i am french, tunisian and arabic calligraphy made me except my french call it a mecca identity. i could not do what i do today if i were not french. if i had learnt arabic from a young age i

would not have this freedom to do what i do with it. —— arabic calligraphy made me accept my french identity. finnish lapland is as close as it gets to wear winter wonderland. 0ver close as it gets to wear winter wonderland. over half a million people come here each year in search of father christmas and his reindeer. you can not see you have truly experienced the delights of lapland until you have been on a reindeer safari. and that is what i'm about to do. i have been told that if i am good, i may be able to ride my own sleigh with my own reindeer. before ido sleigh with my own reindeer. before i do that, i need to learn how to use one of these. eric is my instructor today. is there anything

specific i should know? instructor today. is there anything specifici should know? do you have a tip? just be careful. move slowly, not quickly. how do we start? take a seat. who is your number one reindeer? this guy is 11 years old. he knows his place. he knows where he is going? that's what i need. how are you? for my lesson, eric takes me on are you? for my lesson, eric takes meona are you? for my lesson, eric takes me on a ride. , my days! like many herdsmen here in lapland, eric supplements is income with tourism. he takes small groups of tourists into the forest on a reindeer safari. this is a proper winter

wonderland. it is so beautiful out here. everywhere you look at is just a postcard. it is getting close... 0h, he shook me off. he does not like me. he is staying away. there are more reindeer in lapland than people. around 200,000 of these animals and most of them roam free. some of them, like these ones, i tamed and specially trained for the reindeer safaris. —— are tamed. reindeer of a powerful and that is why i am not allowed to use them on my own yet. they would run off and i would be unable to control them. eric is guiding us at the front and controlling the sleigh. it shows you

how hardy these people are. eric tells me that if i am lucky, i may see some wolves 01’ tells me that if i am lucky, i may see some wolves or brown bears roaming around. so far, it isjust me and the reindeer. were travelled around 20 minutes into the woods and come to a clearing. eric will start a fire. we will drink something nice, chill out and he would teach me to use one of the slave. i have had a taste of the power of the reindeer and i'm a little worried. do you get more people coming around christmas time? yes. it is one of the seasons. it is a high week, christmas week. they want to spend their christmas holiday in a winter world. today, reindeer sleigh safaris in tourist like me a taste of what life used to be like here

before ca rs of what life used to be like here before cars and snowmobile. finally it is my turn to have a go. if you wa nt to it is my turn to have a go. if you want to go you just say go. as simple as that? go! reindeer, go! he is not listening to me. go, reindeer! daewoo! he is not obedient, this reindeer. eric said he has given me the safe one because he has given me the safe one because he does not want me to have any problems. i think he has given me the slow rain —— reindeer. what is going on?! you will be left behind! you will be billy no mates! eric! he is not going anywhere! at the next roundabout, take a right. in 200

yards, make a left. i can't say i didn't try but this reindeer is just not interested. maybe we will try the next one. 0k. not interested. maybe we will try the next one. ok. we would trade the next one. for a set of, eric gives mea next one. for a set of, eric gives me a last few tips. bullet and he will stop in an emergency. so this is my emergency brake? we're going! look at this. controlling this powerful beast. 0h look at this. controlling this powerful beast. oh my god, he is picking up speed. go, go! this is so spectacular. my first—ever sleigh ride. i don't know how much this

sleigh weighs. it is probably around half a ton, maybe a little less, but that reindeer is pulling it as well as myself so easily. such a powerful beast. let's go, son, let's go! it still may not be the fastest of rides but it seems to be the smoothest and most magical way to enjoy this landscape. it feels quite christmasy. very christmasy. that is it for this week. join us next week when... that is it for this week. join us next week when. .. i that is it for this week. join us next week when... i take a look back at some of my personal highlights from this year's travel show including my trip to ghana where i met some other country's cheekiest residence. they are not shy. look at

him here. so that its next week. if you want to see what we're doing on the road between now and then, signup to our social media feed. the details should be on your screen right now. but for now from me and the travel show team here in finnish lapland, farewell. it is going to be quite chilly first thing on saturday, certainly a good frost around. but the weather will turn milder over the next couple of days. in fact, by the time we get to sunday, i suspect double—figure temperatures across the south of the uk.

at the moment there is a dip in thejetstream. that's when cold air comes in from the north. here, we start to see a south—westerly flow of air, which will push the weather front and cloud in our direction and this area of milder air will be in place across the uk by the time we get to sunday. but saturday is still going to be quite a cold day across most of the uk. and the cold snap is still not quite over. in fact, look at this. we're still getting weather watcher pictures with nice, snowy scenes across the uk, mostly across the hills now. so first thing on saturday morning, a widespread frost across the country. these are the city temperatures. outside, in rural areas, it will be much colder. even as low as —6. saturday morning start off on a beautiful, crisp note, through plymouth and bournemouth, all the way to brighton and dover. the midlands also nice and sunny, but crisp temperatures around. —1 in nottingham.

freezing across most of yorkshire and into scotland as well. we start to see slightly milder air at this stage getting into parts of northern ireland. 0n the whole, a nice start to the day, but there will be a change on the way later in the morning on saturday. in fact, clouds will be increasing and it might turn cloudy across wales and maybe around merseyside, into the west midlands and the south—west. here, at times, it could rain. the best of the sunshine in the east and the south—east and the far southern counties. then the change happens to that milder weather through the course of saturday night into sunday. the weather fronts comes off the atlantic, we develop a south—westerly wind. so that milder air will arrive through the early hours of sunday and for many of us sunday is going to be at least starting off on a cloudy, damp note, if not wet note in many areas. quite breezy too for a time. we could even see gale force winds across the far north. look at the temperatures — back up to double figures, even in scotland. the extreme still hanging onto around six degrees. that damp weather will last right through the course of sunday but by the time we get to monday it looks like things will be drying out.

a little bit of a dip in the temperature. so into next week, it looks like the weather will dry out but it's still going to stay relatively on the mild side. hello, this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. feeling the christmas pressure. emergency services face their busiest weekend of the year. extra ambulance crews, control room staff, and thousands of volunteers are tackling the surge in demand. good morning, it is saturday 16 december. also this morning: a country at a crossroads. the ruling party in south africa prepares to pick a new leader, amid allegations of bribery, infighting and corruption. more than 400 square miles of california has now been burned by wildfires. more than 8,000 people are fighting the blaze. in sport: whacked around the waca.