in his first major foreign policy speech, president biden has said it is necessary to engage with american adversaries diplomatically, pointing to an extension of a nuclear arms control treaty with russia. he also said he would step up his efforts to end the war in yemen. the us state department has called for serious consequences for china after a bbc investigation revealed harrowing accounts of uighur women injab revealed harrowing accounts of uighurwomen injab —— revealed harrowing accounts of uighur women injab —— chinese camps. uighur women in “ab -- chinese cams. ,, ., , ., camps. the us house of representatives - camps. the us house of representatives has - camps. the us house of l representatives has voted camps. the us house of - representatives has voted to publish the republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene after she promoted baseless conspiracy theories and showed support for violence after that against democrats. 11 republicans enjoying —— joined the entire democratic caucus in an effort to expel herfrom two caucus in an effort to expel

her from two committees. the prime minister is being urged to block plans for a new coalmine whitehaven in cumbria. dozens of environmental groups have written to him and saying they are mystified that the government has not intervened even though it is due to host a climate in glasgow this year. downing street insists the government is a world leader and will not reverse the decision. newsreel: and beneath this land lie more than 200 million tons of coal... it's more than half a century since the last deep coal mine opened in the uk. the plan is to burrow under the irish sea to access a vast deposit of high—quality coal. the local mayor is delighted. i think the project is absolutely fantastic. you know, it'll bring huge amounts ofjobs and prosperity into the area. it's been broadly welcomed right across copeland. i've never known a project that's carried so much public support. the coal produced here won't be used to generate

power, but to make steel, he says, and means less will need to be imported in future. but the decision comes as britain prepares to host a crucial international climate conference here in glasgow in november. if it goes ahead as planned, it will be the biggest gathering of world leaders in uk history. that's why all these environmental organisations wrote to the prime minister today. his father aso oppposes it. the conservative environmental network, a group of 100 tory it's a massive mistake in public relations, that's for sure. how can we ask other countries to bring in their climate change reduction programmes when we are now reopening the whole coal argument here in britain? the government defends the decision to allow the mine to open,

saying the uk is cutting emissions faster than any other country. and it's true — when it comes to decarbonisation, britain is a world leader. our coal consumption has fallen 90% in just the last five years. only four power stations still burn the stuff, and look what that has done to britain's carbon emissions. now, some european countries are doing pretty well, too, but in most big economies, look at this. emissions are still rising. critics say opening a new coal mine here threatens to undermine not only the uk's green reputation, but also its ability to demand other countries make ambitious carbon cuts. now, if that makes it less likely that the big climate conference in glasgow leads to meaningful action on climate change, it will have consequences for us all. justin rowlatt, bbc news now on bbc news, our world follows two syrian doctors brought face—to—face with life and death.

even before coronavirus, 2020 got off to a deadly start in the syrian province of idlib. but life continued for the millions of syrians trapped in the territory. as doctors, mohammed al—sharif and zeina hallak worked on the frontline of the humanitarian crisis. as coronavirus sweeps across the devastated region, where a third of the population live in refugee camps, the couple have to make a choice — to care for their patients or protect their growing family. with their third child expected just as the outbreak reaches its peak, it is a choice that will force the family apart... ..and for longer than any of them expected. coughs.

mohammed and his family of four live in idlib, this mohammed and his family of four live in idlib, a province in the north—west

corner of syria. explosion. sirens wail. it is the only territory still held by anti—government rebels and the start of 2020 saw some of the bloodiest violence as president bashar al—assad tried to regain control. hospitals were bombed, hundreds of civilians killed and a million people forced from their homes. as doctors, both mohammed and his wife zeina were on the front lines of the crisis. a ceasefire is announced at the start of march.

six days later, the world health organization declared coronavirus a global pandemic. mohammed is appointed head of the coronavirus response team and, with zeina's help, starts preparing the refugee camps for a possible outbreak. with a third of idlib�*s population living in these cramped conditions, with little access to clean water, mohammed fears the virus could spread quickly.

surrounded by government forces and with little movement in and out of the territory, idlib manages to avoid an early outbreak. but another test result has come back positive.

but coronavirus does eventually come to idlib — in earlyjuly, when zeina

is six months pregnant — and the first identified case is a doctor from the hospital where she works. her test results come back negative. but with the outbreak spreading among hospital staff, she is becoming anxious about the health of her baby. within weeks, mohammed's fears have come true — the virus has spread

to idlib�*s refugee camps, where a million people live in close proximity. with few health facilities, mohammed is sent to assess any suspected cases. officially, he has found 33 positive cases in the camps, but mohammed knows that most of them are going undetected. and with the syrian currency in free—fall following the introduction of new us sanctions injune, even those who want to take the virus seriously can barely afford to do so.

explosion. especially as the ceasefire between the syrian government,

its russian allies, and turkish—backed rebels is starting to fall apart. explosion. zeina and mohammed decide that it's too dangerous for them to have their baby in idlib. but trapped within the besieged territory, their only other option is to give birth in neighbouring turkey — a country that closed its border with syria in 2015. as a doctor, zeina is allowed in, but the children cannot go with her. zeina makes a risky decision —

to leave idlib with her children via an unofficial route. mohammed stays behind to work on the coronavirus response. it's october, and the number of positive cases in north—west syria has risen tenfold over the last month.

mohammed managed to reach zeina in turkey on the day she gave birth.

but now she's out of the hospital, mohammed has to return to idlib, leaving the family in turkey.

explosion. mohammed has been separated from the family for one week. during that time, dozens of people have been killed in a series of air strikes, including four children.

he's on his way to one of idlib�*s dedicated coronavirus hospitals. it's working at full capacity, and patients are being turned away. the hospitals are also running low on oxygen.

to make matters worse, nearly 1,500 doctors and nurses have tested positive for the virus — 30% of the medical workforce in idlib.

three weeks after giving birth, zeina is trying to get back into syria to look after mohammed. but having entered turkey via an unofficial route, she is repeatedly turned away from the border.

but even with his symptoms, mohammed must continue to work. there are only 70 ventilators across the whole of idlib, and growing competition among the hospitals.

after four attempts, zeina and the children finally make it across the border, but it's not the homecoming mohammed was hoping for.

after ten days in quarantine, mohammed takes another covid test. it's negative.

it's the 1st of december, and one month since mohammed held his youngest child, aleen.

hello. cold and snow on the way. for now for many of us, it's just yet more rain with an ongoing risk of flooding. but as you know, in northern scotland, the snow has arrived. heavy snow, at that, where the met office has an amber warning in force throughout friday. still snowing here, and even into the weekend within that amber zone — so significant disruption as a result, as those snow totals mount. now all the wet weather, snow or rain, is from this area of low pressure only very slowly moving away over the weekend. as it does so, rain turns to snow as an increasingly strong and bitterly cold easterly wind sets in across the uk. and as that continues into next week, we will continue to see some snow coming in, particularly but not exclusively to eastern parts of the uk. this is how we start off on friday morning — most of us are above freezing.

most of us seeing rain rather than snow, but the snow very much still there across northern scotland. wet, too, in northern ireland, especially to the eastern parts of northeast england — both areas with the risk of flooding from the persistent rain. showers moving into wales, southwest england, the west midlands as we go through the afternoon. east midlands, east anglia, southeast england, and parts of northern england away from that rain towards the far northeast. drier and brighterfor a time, a few sunny spells, and still that big range of temperatures from north to south across the uk. now the overall pattern doesn't change very much as we go through friday night into saturday morning. still the showers or bands of rain circulating around an area of low pressure, and still very wet for some of us in northeast england, along the east coast of scotland with that snow further inland, and especially into the hills — still snowing, perhaps for some of us, even into the start of the weekend. for all this weekend, it turns much colder and that snow becomes more widespread. plenty of cloud around on saturday, showers or spells of rain especially in the east with the wind starting to pick

up, as well. i think deeper on into saturday, more of that rain turning into snow in northern england initially on the hills. looks to be a drier day though in northern ireland. overnight and into sunday, the cold air really starts to dig in. rain turning to snow across eastern parts, could be a prolonged spell of snow across parts of east anglia and southeast england, then further snow showers in the east — some may push further west. regardless, though, for all of us, it is much colder by then. syria has risen tenfold over the last month.

welcome to bbc news — i'm rich preston — our top stories: president biden promises that america will reengage with the world and step up efforts to end the world in yemen. —— and the war in yemen. i have asked my middle east team to ensure our support for the united nations led initiative to impose a ceasefire, open humanitarian channels and restore long dormant peace talks. the us and britain vowed to take action after a bbc investigation revealed harrowing accounts of uighur women in chinese camps being tortured and raped. the us congresswoman marjorie taylor greene is stripped of her high—profile posts following several controversial remarks. and we visit the uk street

where having a baby is becoming something of a