it covered. including not got it covered. including people like charlie elford... what constituents does he serve? cans. —— kent... there are only one and a half cutters available. it is one converted naval patrol ship. possibly another could be made available. but it might cost 20,000 or 25,000 a day. it is really a very inadequate response to what is immediate crisis. these things have been going on along immediate crisis. these things have been going on a longtime and we have lots of experience in working with allies in the mediterranean, where the problem is huge compared with this. i am completely amazed at the lack of preparedness.” with this. i am completely amazed at the lack of preparedness. i am sure he will have to come back from south

africa. if i was his adviser... all you need is one picture in the sun... the independent. this has been the worry. i begin with the great concern when donald trump decided by tweet. he told absolutely nobody he was pulling up the american troops. they are very significant. they are based in a place, where there are roughly three forces converging to fight it out. the turks are trying to get them because they want to hit very hard at the kurds, who went off so much in the fight against isis. the americans are retreating. the kurds, rather surprisingly, had asked

bashar al—assad's regime to come help them. this is not the only battle that is building up the moment. this is looking bad and it has crept up over the headlines of the christmas period, the regime backed by the russians and iranians about to take out the last big pockets of antigovernment resistance in idlib? anything like 2 million or more refugees. it's astonishing so little of this has got into the headlines up to now. the syria crisis has been such a headache, hasn't it, for western powers after iraq? for trump, this will play quite well for his base, though. a lot of support domestically. you will be say, there is no financial return, no strategic return, let's get out. and here, david cameron. lost the vote. there were no air strikes... what you have got now is,

this is why, short term gain, i absolutely agree with you. the chump base. syria is of no strategic interest to the us —— the chump base. but are they not gearing up which could lead to a whole war with iran? who is the most powerful ally running the show for assad in syria? it is not russia, it is iran. it has treated a new version of hezbollah, syrian hezbollah, and a shi'ite base. undergoing an enormous campaign of ethnic cleansing. by this sudden move, pulling out and saying it is all over, we are not interested in syria, they have handed such an advantage to the group that we are supposed to see as

the great achieved economy in the region, iran. it is so complicated. —— the great perceived threat. region, iran. it is so complicated. -- the great perceived threat. you also just -- the great perceived threat. you alsojust mentioned israel, because that has not been brought up there, their involvement, has it? if you read the online israeli press. very good, very quick. there have been some quite serious attacks, numbers, dozens, over the past two weeks on—site in and around damascus. not necessarily getting at the regime but getting asked bases prepared by iran. what has been so astonishing about this christmas period his there are big stories going on which will have big impacts. yemen, another. they have not made the headlines at all. let's move on to the times. cocaine, heroin and cannabis admissions on the up.

quadrupled over the last decade. startling figures. as for an explanation as to why this is happening, they quote cressida dick, police commissioner. many see it as a victimless crime. sajid javid said previously... it's all about the supply chain. astonishing and very surprising. yes, and you're supposed to give up that sort of thing is your order. well, people don't get all that quickly now. people are doing into the mid—seventies! 0ne thing i am surprised about... but you here and your lucid. the other thing is pharma drugs. 0pioids. it's a huge problem. iam surprised thing is pharma drugs. 0pioids. it's a huge problem. i am surprised that the not come into the picture. i

know it well. you're absolutely right. my generation, baby boomers, they do things a victimless crime. right. my generation, baby boomers, they do things a victimless crimei suspect talking about cocaine, heroin and cannabis, a new subscription network... this is what makes the hunt for europe now, and the gains that were involved, organised crime across the mediterranean committee are not going to... it is notjust cannabis, isjust cocaine going to... it is notjust cannabis, is just cocaine —— going to... it is notjust cannabis, isjust cocaine —— it is notjust cocaine... and if you see the prison sentences for people who have peddled fake drugs, it is suspended sentences. people see it as... it is occupational hazard, a risk worth taking. let us go back to the telegraph, story at the bottom.

lawyers who drop fake gagging orders should face inquiry. this isjust phillips who think there needs to be some investigation, nondisclosure agreement drawn up to keep alleged victims quiet. jazz phillips is raising it with the regulation authority because she is suggesting the green question which he has raised, eight phones, some of them quite prestigious, have been involved in this —— eight firms. i think that she will get a lot of support from within the legal profession about this. judges do not like not disclose agreements. as they do not like the majority of them, things like super injunctions. they think it's an anomaly, a bending of the norm was to i think it's one we are... you're closer to

westminster than i it's one we are... you're closer to westminsterthan i am, it's one we are... you're closer to westminster than i am, giles... the role of lawyers coming under the spotlight. and the a's, also who they represent. —— ndas. lawyers usually say... now, actually, you need to investigate more you represent. lawyers have always hid behind the taxi principle. it's also interesting here, the principle of n das interesting here, the principle of ndas almost seem worthless. you see people turning them up. stormy daniels signed in accra with trump. —— signed a nda. daniels signed in accra with trump. -- signed a nda. are they going to

sue stormy daniels for breach of contract? i think the dam breached broke, burst, whatever expression you want. with the harvey weinstein thing. people said enough is enough, and people don't go along with it. they don't like fat cats hiding behind the law. giles, again, absolutely right. the climate for the oligarchs has changed hugely. hot, dirty monday, london and the place that it was once. let's finish with a picture of 20, who as the times told us, envisioned... —— twiggy. she has been named a game. i was trying to explain recently the importance of twiggy as a sort of cultural icon to my iii—year—old, who of course has grown up with many supermodels in her cultural

upbringing. ijust supermodels in her cultural upbringing. i just checked supermodels in her cultural upbringing. ijust checked to her how different twiggy was, and you immediately rumoured what her real name is. congratulations, dame twiggy. 0r name is. congratulations, dame twiggy. or is it going to be dame lesley hornby. i do remember! she ke pt lesley hornby. i do remember! she kept a good image, managed herself superbly and she involved and when she came back... are we allowed to do product placement? with the m&s christmas. everyone in my age group, poor old soul, cheered. she wasjust the same. she is sharp, articulate, clever. she is a very good egg. she has kept that image through and through. for the moment, thank you. that's it for the papers this hour. don't forget you can see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website.

seven days a week at bbc.co.uk/papers. and if you miss the programme any evening, you can watch it later on bbc iplayer. but don't dive through thatjust yet. giles and robert will be back with another look at the front pages at 11:30pm. coming up next, the weather. good evening. a lovely day for most of us. lots of clout around but never the less, some beautiful sunset pictures sent in. the cloud will thicken up and there will be a spot of drizzle and poor visibility along south—west facing coasts. we have wetter weather moving its way through scotland, accompanied by a brisk wind as well. that rain will nudge into the north of england by the early hours of saturday morning. the rain is moving through at quite a pace, often to the north sea, but the gusts of wind will be

certainly an issue first thing. we are still under the influence of this area of high pressure and circulating around that high in a clockwise direction, we have the wind direction coming up from the south. it is a mild feel to the story for the next few days. despite the cloud around, it will be a relatively mild one. windy first thing for much of scotland, with gusts of winds in excess of 40—50 mph. those winds will ease down quickly as the rain clears through. and into the afternoon, it will be a breezy affair, a brighter affair, and the cloud thick enough to give some drizzle and maybe some south—westerly poor visibility with some mist along the coast here. top temperatures around 9—13 degrees. that's pretty good, really, for this time of year. as we move out of saturday into sunday, we see some early, clear skies but not for long before we get more wet weather pushing in, this time fringing the north of northern ireland, pushing into scotland and northern england for a time.

again, a fair amount of cloud, those temperatures on the mild side to start the second half of the weekend. sunday will see early morning rain. that will clear away through the northern isles and far north of scotland. then behind it, quiet conditions and the quiet theme continues for most. even with the cloud around, it will be a reasonably pleasant story and temperatures into double digits, way above where they should be for this time of year. as we move out of sunday into monday, that is new year's eve and we will still be under the influence of this high pressure. this rather cloudy high and not much in the way of breaks and decent spells of sunshine. the weather fronts stay well up to the north, which bodes well if you have outdoor plans on new year's eve. it is going to be cloudy but largely dry for all of us. this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00: michael palin and twiggy are among the stars recognised in the new year's honours list , others include the author

philip pullman and many so—called ordinary heroes. the rising number of migrants trying to cross the english channel is declared a ‘major incident‘ by the home secretary. a tourist bus is hit by a roadside bomb near the giza pyramids in egypt killing three people. following an explosion in leicester in february, three men are found guilty of murdering five people. music retailer hmv is being put into administration — as customers turn to online and streaming services. and at 11:30 we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers — political commentator, giles kenningham and the defence editor of the evening standard, robert fox — stay with us for that.