this is bbc world news, the headlines: china's leader, xijinping, has said the new strain of coronavirus is accelerating its spread, putting the country in a "grave situation". as part of the efforts, all domestic and overseas group tours will be suspended. lawyers representing donald trump have begun their defence in his impeachment trial, saying the president has done nothing wrong. they said the democrats in the senate had not shown that he abused his power. the trial will continue on monday. the turkish president, recep tayyip erdogan, has gone to eastern turkey where rescue workers are searching for survivors of friday's earthquake. the number of confirmed dead now stands at 29. a five month shutdown of mobile internet services has been partially lifted in indian administered kashmir, following a ruling in the indian supreme court ruling.

it's the longest outage in any democracy. critics complain that internet access is still very limited. at ten o'clock, rachel will be here with a full roundup of the days news. first, it's time for our world and a rising star of syrian democratic politics, 34—year—old hevrin khalaf, was brutally murdered in the kurdish—governed north east of the country. this film contains footage some viewers may find distressing. hevrin khalaf was a rising star in kurdish—controlled northern syria. a region where the kurds had been the key ally of the us in the fight against so—called islamic state. then, last october, it all changed. the worst mistake that the united states has ever made, in my opinion, was going into the middle east.

we are bringing ourfolks back home. days later, the turkish military invaded and jihadi militias spread across the region. hevrin was murdered. why was hevrin killed? i'm yalda hakim, and i've come to northern syria to investigate. north—east syria, an apparent oasis of stability and hope, recovering after eight years

of civil war and trauma that have cost hundreds of thousands of lives. hevrin was part of a movement to rebuild syria as a democracy.

0k. aged 3a, hevrin had become the leader of the newly launched future syria party. created to play a key role in spreading democracy. bringing together communities ravaged by terror and war. reaching out to arabs in territory run predominantly by syrian kurds. travelling across huge areas recently liberated from so—called islamic state, hevrin spread a message of empowerment and hope.

do you wish you had encouraged her to stay away from these issues? the chance to build a democracy had been won through a hard and costly victory over is. from 2016, the mainly kurdish sdf had been the us coalition‘s key ally in defeating the so—called caliphate. us forces guaranteed security while the turkish military was unhappy with the increasing power of the kurds in the region. but then it all changed. the worst mistake that the united states has ever made, in my opinion, was going into the middle east. it is a quagmire. we are close to $8 trillion, and we are bringing ourfolks back home.

just days after president trump's surprise announcement, the us force of 1000 troops are pulled out. while turkey amassed its forces for an imminent assault. the aim, to remove kurdish military forces on its southern border. forces that president recep tayyip erdogan called terrorists.

ferhad remadan had just started working as a driver for hevrin. at 22, he had recently come back from fighting is. what did you think when president trump announced that the americans would no longer be supporting the kurds? on october 9th, the turkish military started their assault. civilians fled border towns and the wounded started to fill the hospitals. and it wasn't just turkish regular forces. groups of mostly jihadi fighters,

bitter enemies of the kurds, and calling themselves the syrian national army, were being backed by the turkish government to do the fighting on the ground. they were advancing deep into northern syria. these were one such group, arabs from syria who were now controlled by the kurds. their cameraman was posting updates as they wept. early in the morning of october 12, hevrin and ferhad were driving along the m4 highway, a key road controlled by the kurds,

running just 30 kilometres just parallel to the turkish border. the situation was changing fast. ahrar al—sharqiya had set up a roadblock on the m4 highway and were detaining people.

ahrar al—sharqiya had shot up their car as they were trying to drive through the road block. ferhad was killed. later that morning, the militants withdrew. they left an armoured car and hevrin

khalaf‘s body metres away. i have come to a group of volunteers that have been documenting abuse and war crimes since the days of is. they have been investigating hevrin and ferhad's murders. mizgin hasan is leading

the investigation. in the video, you can just make out a woman's voice. she is saying "raissa hizib," arabic for a leader of the party. this is the last time that anyone heard hevrin‘s voice. it must have been difficult for you to read the report in detail because you knew hevrin.

it's like they... they shot her in a frenzy, completely. it's just difficult to look at this image of a young woman and her whole torso, the upper part of her torso, her face is blown off. parts of her scalp. it really is a horrific, horrific image.

mizgin and i are driving west on the ma, the highway on which hevrin and ferhad were killed. and is this road considered safe? mizgin is taking me to meet other victims of the advance by the turkish military.

do we know how many people are in this camp now? there are 4000 kurds and arabs in this camp. most made theirjourney from towns close to the turkish border. many on the same day that hevrin and ferhad were killed. and you have had family members who have been killed? do you think you'll be able to go home? many families aren't returning home

because of the jihadi militias like ahrar al—sharqiya now occupying their towns. but some have tried and most want to keep their identities hidden. when you went back to your village, what happened? and the militants who were inside your village, what were they doing and saying to the people? do you think you'll ever be able to go back home?

i wanted to find out more about these jihadi groups backed by turkey, and who was responsible for hevrin and ferhad's deaths. some people have been gathering information about the backgrounds of these militants who are now fighting for turkey and say they've got disturbing evidence about the paths of these individuals. i have come to a news agency — journalists here have been investigating the backgrounds of some 70 fighters involved in the invasion. al nusra is the main

al-qaeda group in syria. it has been accused of torture, child abduction, and summary execution. but it is notjust al nusra fighters. in your list of 70, you also have someone there who is believed to have been involved in the killing of hevrin. can you tell is a bit more about how you got that information? the journalists believe that the group is led by this man. it seems thatjust two years ago, they do of this group that killed hevrin and ferhad remadan had been part of is or daesh. now fighting with turkey, a member of nato. how do you know that he was part of daesh.

he was part of daesh? is controlled much of north—eastern syria. with a rule of terror for three young years. —— three long yea rs. three young years. —— three long years. killing opponents and enforcing the strictest form of islam. the syrian capital was seen as countless crimes.

this is the notorious black stadium, under is, it was routinely used for educations —— executions and torture. in 2019, as a leader of her party, hevrin hosted a celebration. ferhad remadan was there as well. just a few weeks later, they were both killed. but the victory over isa by a majority kurdish force also sowed seeds of resentment among the

population in the traditional arab lands where is had ruled. hevrin‘s party sought to defuse this resentment, by reaching out to the arab population. it wasn'tjust hevrin‘s party, that was what washington was trying to do as well, and they were keen to find allies. i have come to meet hevrin‘s colleagues. arabs, and christians together.

do you think one of the consequences of the american withdrawal was hevrin black death? —— kevin's deaths? you are a colleague of hevrin, how will you remember her?

how are you feeling?

she sings. the first half of this weekend has brought more of the cloudy gloomy weather we have become used to recently but things are about to change. this haze of grey, that is

the sheet of low cloud that has been with us, but this bright white cloud here is something a little bit more lively, it is a frontal system which will be pushing eastwards during sunday bringing rain, but it is a cold front, behind it will introduce colder but clear air. there is a fighting chance of seeing more sunshine. here comes our weather front during sunday pushing eastwards, very heavy bursts of rain, arriving in eastern england later in the day. we will see more in the rain —— way of sunshine, showers are wintry over fairly modest winter. an increasingly cold one, temperatures falling as a day goes on, big across parts of northern ireland and scotland. that rain will move across east anglia and the south—east and further north we turn our attention to this band of showers pushing from the west, this could give some snow, even to fairly low levels in some parts of northern ireland, northern england and scotland. it is not like it snow

everywhere but where does the med could cause disruption for the monday morning commute, particularly coupled with icy stretches on untreated services. bear that in mind early on on monday, monday is essentially a day of sunny spells and showers, more persistent rain along the south coast, in the along the windy —— english channel. as we move out of monday and tuesday, but low pressure very much in charge, just the north of the uk feeling a brisk westerly wind across our shores, the wind bringing plenty of showers, some of them heavy, some of them wintry, over the high ground, even down parts of wales over the hills we will see snow makes a name. asa hills we will see snow makes a name. as a more persistent rain could approach the south later on. we are looking at highs of in between day, actually largely dry, we are between

weather systems, there should be spells of sunshine. we are likely to see rain across the far north of scotland, still windy here, the temperatures will be showing signs of creeping up a little bit at nine 01’ of creeping up a little bit at nine or ten degrees in the south, further north, six or 7 degrees. thursday, here comes another frontal system pushing in from the south—west and also from the south—west we start to bring ina also from the south—west we start to bring in a return of some fairly mild air. 0n bring in a return of some fairly mild air. on thursday, we will see outbreaks of rain pushing north eastwards, something quite a following afterwards but the detail still and certain. there is to 1912 degrees. next weekend, thejet stream, the winds high up in the lsa, the jet stream stream, the winds high up in the lsa, thejet stream is stream, the winds high up in the lsa, the jet stream is likely to be steering weather systems in our direction so it will still —— stay u nsettled direction so it will still —— stay unsettled but notice this dip in the jet stream here later in the weekend, that could allow us to tap into really very mild air indeed for the time of year but there is little uncertainty as to how much progress

that will make across the uk. certainly, through next weekend, it will be mild, but potentially for some, very mild. also quite u nsettled some, very mild. also quite unsettled with outbreaks of rain sometimes maladroit of the weather likely to be found down towards the south. that is all for me, goodbye for now.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the death toll from the coronavirus rises to 41 — with authorities in china struggling to contain the outbreak, as millions travel for the lunar new year. benita mehra, a newly—appointed member of the grenfell tower inquiry panel, resigns after being linked to the charitable arm of the firm which supplied the tower block's cladding. donald trump's lawyers have begun their defence of the president in his impeachment trial in the senate — they say he's done nothing wrong. the search for survivors continues after a powerful earthquake hit turkey — at least 22 people have been killed and more than 1,200 injured. and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers martin lipton and lucy beresford at 10:30.