hello. this is bbc news. i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. rescuers workers in turkey and syria continue searching for the thousands still trapped by the earthquakes that have killed over 15,000 people. turkey's president erdogan admits mistakes were made in the initial response as the extent of the devastation becomes ever clearer. the ever clearer. rescuers say they will come back the rescuers say they will come back tomorrow and the next day. they will return to size like this for as long as it takes to return loved ones to their relatives. —— sites.

ukraine's president zelensky is due to attend a summit of eu leaders in brusels. he's expeced to push for greater military assistance. this comes a day after he visited the uk and france. and a study of killer whales reveals that raising sons is a far more exhausting experience for their mothers. the support they provide carries a significant cost. they are less likely to have future kyles. to put it another way, when mothers have a son, they are more likely to stop reproduction. —— calves. fix, they are more likely to stop reproduction. -- calves. a very warm welcome. _ more than 15,000 people are now known to have died after monday's earthquakes in turkey and syria and aid agencies are concerned there may be a second wave of deaths. there's been criticism of the turkish government's response, but president erdogan

says it wasn't possible to be prepared for disasters on this scale. 0ur middle east correspondent, anna foster, who was among the first journalists to reach the epicentre zone, sent this report from the turkish city of kahramanmaras. the devastating power of the earth, seen from the air. swathes of the city lie in ruins, buildings, homes, lives have been destroyed. in many cities, the search now is not for survivors, cities, the search now is not forsurvivors, it cities, the search now is not for survivors, it is only for the dead. when the rubble shows a sign, the digging stops. behind this blanket, an arm reveals a body. slowly, carefully, it is uncovered. and then at the moment of realisation. screams.

a father lost. screams. the goodbye is painful and public. and here in maras, ambulances are now hearses. siren wails they have spent the whole day here searching for bodies, and the light is starting to fade now, but the rescuers say they will come back tomorrow and the next day. they will return to sites like this for as long as it takes to return loved ones to their relatives.

they're rare, now, but there are still moments of hope. a little girl, healthy and alive, after three days buried. the rescuers celebrate. she says her siblings are down there, too. today, president erdogan came to visit those who've lost everything. but there is growing anger that help is coming too slowly and that is not enough of it. he says it is impossible to prepare for disasters on this scale. translation: we have some problems with places - like airports in the beginning. we had problems on the roads, but it is better today and it will be even better tomorrow. bodies now fill this sports hall. more are arriving all the time.

among them, yunus�* fiance. they were just weeks away from getting married. translation: | was| planning to dress her in a wedding dress, but now i will dress her in a funeral shroud. i am like the walking dead, i am the living dead. i lost my feelings. each of these bundles marks a future cut short, a family separated. every hour, the death toll rises, and even now, it is impossible to know how many lives this quake has claimed. anna foster, bbc news, maras. the situation in northern syria was desperate even before the earthquake struck — the region is home to millions of refugees displaced by years of civil war. the group of volunteers known as the white helmets are leading the rescue efforts, as our international editor, jeremy bowen, reports. something to celebrate at last in a place without much good news. a family of six was rescued alive from

the rubble in idlib, the last part of syria still controlled by rebels. the rescuers, a group called the white helmets that the uk helps to fund, are experts. they've been digging out survivors of the assad regime's air strikes for much of syria's long war. the geological faults that brought down these buildings cut right across the front lines and zones of influence that have devastated syria since 2011. this is aleppo, syria's biggest city, back in regime hands since the rebels here were defeated in 2016. now syria has a huge natural disaster on the back of the man—made catastrophe that broke the country. in aleppo hospital, every bed has its own tragedy. only three members of this man's family survived when their home collapsed. 13 of them were killed.

"they were", he says, "my father, my mother, my brother, his wife, and their four children." "and the wife and two kids of the brother who was rescued with me also died." faced with such disaster, the un, which already helps care for millions of syrians, appealed for some national solidarity. we are hoping that everybody puts the interest of the people first. we keep the politics aside, we move — they authorities, all authorities, move away from the issue, from the politics, and put the interest of the people first. in damascus, the capital, citizens are rallying around, giving blood. so far, grassroots relief efforts seem to be the best hope. but it's not clear whether aid collected or delivered in damascus will make it across the front line into rebel—held idlib province. back in aleppo, russian troops,

whose intervention salvaged the rule of the assad family, are helping the syrian red crescent, alongside algerian rescue workers. the damascus regime says its allies, also including iran, are flying in aid. allies and who controls what won't matter much to families who are homeless or nervous about sleeping in damaged buildings. an earthquake tests any nation's resilience. war has taught a generation of syrians that they have to fend for themselves. allahu akbar! in idlib province, the white helmets rescued another child, a boy called karam. people do their best. broader aid efforts, let alone rebuilding, will need a miracle to overcome the blight, hatred, and distrust of a generation of war. jeremy bowen, bbc news.

well, british humanitarian charities will launch an appeal later today to raise funds for people affected by the earthquakes. the disasters emergency committee is co—ordinating a joint response by 1a charities. the government says it will match the first £5 million from the public. doctor mohammed al abrash is working at the central hospital in idlib, syria which is sponsored by the syrian american medical society. he's in idlib now. tell us what the situation is like in your hospital. what is your experience since the earthquakes?— what is your experience since the earthquakes? thank you for talkin: to the earthquakes? thank you for talking to us — the earthquakes? thank you for talking to us about _ the earthquakes? thank you for talking to us about this - talking to us about this earthquake. actually, this earthquake, it was terrible for us, and our equipment and our medical staff cannot cope with the huge number of injured people. actually, the first

day, all the medical staff working in the north—west of syria is working hardly 2a hours over 2a hours. our hospital is full of injured patients and our icu cannot cope with this huge number. 0ur ventilators is not enough. especially the electricity is cut off and we are losing generators. the operations room cannot cope with this big number, especially for the surgeons, orthopaedic surgeon, thoracic surgeon. the situation is really hard on the first and second day especially. and also for the people still under the rubble. and they are, some of them, and especially one or two kids are coming alive. and the

temperature is —3. the chance of saving other lives became less and less. nobody is helping us with the war. until now, we received no help from the war. it is also from the regime side. but wait for ad lib. area government nobody came, nobody give us any aid until now? —— idlib. people don't have homes. now the buildings have collapsed and they will fall down at any time and it will go inside. so the situation is very bad. no food, no water, no heating. really, we need help from the world. you should look at us.- you should look at us. yes, it sounds absolutely _ you should look at us. yes, it sounds absolutely desperate. j sounds absolutely desperate. and i assume you and your staff are exhausted at this point. but in terms of the people

coming who need help, what sort of injuries are you dealing with? what kind of medical situations are you presented with? , ., ., with? yes, we have now, especially _ with? yes, we have now, especially after _ with? yes, we have now, especially after this - with? yes, we have now, | especially after this falling down of the buildings, it is to the head and lumbar vertebra. most of them have lesions on their limbs. we have crush injury to the limbs. this is a big situation in medicine, the crush injuries will give the renal environment and they need renal environment and they need renal dialysis. and we don't have enough machines for this dialysis. in all the area, we only have ten doctors only working in kidney department. and actually, for a neurosurgeon, also, they have a shortage of instruments. the

doctors, they don't have fixations, all finished because of the huge number of people. we have till last night 2000 dead and more than 3500 injured. at a hospital will not cope with this huge number. we need help. we need instruments. we need drugs. we need analgesia. we need anaesthesia drugs. we need ventilators. we need more beds. rarely, ifi will talk for one hour, i will not give the good impression about the situation.— not give the good impression about the situation. where do ou about the situation. where do you hepe that _ about the situation. where do you hope that that _ about the situation. where do you hope that that help - about the situation. where do you hope that that help will i you hope that that help will come from? where is it most likely to come from? i know that you are sponsored by the syrian american medical society, which has been working in syria for many, many years. i know that they are pushing

for international aid, aren't they? are you hopeful they will see some success?— they? are you hopeful they will see some success? yes, sams is workin: see some success? yes, sams is working really — see some success? yes, sams is working really well _ see some success? yes, sams is working really well and _ see some success? yes, sams is working really well and sams - working really well and sams alone cannot treat this huge number. we need help from all the world, notjust british or europe or america. anyone who can help, we are ready to receive from him this help. we need the experienced doctors to come and help us and give us their knowledge and experience how to deal with this injuries. 0k, dr mohammed al abrash, thank you for speaking to us from the centre of hospital in idlib, syria. as we have mentioned a responses taking place in the uk in terms of be able to give and donate. that is happening. there is more detail on their website as well. but now, let's bring you the day's other news.

the fire brigades union in the uk has postponed plans to strike after getting a new pay offer, saying it will now ballot members. the organisation had been calling for a significant shift from employers following a huge vote for industrial action over a 5% pay offer. it always maintained that it wanted to resolve the dispute without a strike. north korea has showcased its most powerful long—range missiles during a night time parade to mark the seventy fifth anniversary of the founding of the country's army. the display was attended by the north korean leader, kimjong—un, and his daughter. disney is cutting seven thousand more jobs worldwide in a restructuring plan. it said the cuts were aimed at helping its struggling streaming division, disney+, which has been losing money in the face of strong competition from rivals like netflix. some twitter users were unable to tweet on wednesday after the website experienced technical problems. account holders received a message saying "you are over the daily limit for sending tweets." downdetector reported the glitch atjust before 22:00

gmt but it appears part of the outage was soon fixed, with many users reporting they could tweet. us officials say that at least four previous spy balloons have drifted over american sites that were of interest to china. the latest was shot down by us fighterjets on saturday, sparking an angry reaction from beijing which insisted it was for civilian usage. president biden has been speaking to pbs about relations with china. china knows exactly what the deal is with us stop loose so china today is saying they feel smeared, that you smeared them and their leader in your remarks last night. have relations _ remarks last night. have relations now _ remarks last night. have relations now between i remarks last night. have i relations now between the remarks last night. have - relations now between the us and china taken a big hit? no. no. stay with us on bbc news. still to come:

a study of killer whales reveals raising sons is a far more exhausting experience for their mothers. there's mr mandela, mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader, ayatollah khomeini, has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book_ which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti. have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president - ba by doc duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them.

there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning, elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the earthquakes in turkey and syria have killed more than 15,000 people, it's feared thousands more are still trapped. ukraine's president zelensky is expected to attend a summit of eu leaders later today in brussels, where he is likely to push for greater military assistance. this comes a day after he visited the uk and france. 0ur reporter sofia bettiza joins me in the studio now. he is ona he is on a bit ofa he is on a bit of a whistlestop tour, tell us more about the

day ahead?— day ahead? since russia's invasion — day ahead? since russia's invasion of _ day ahead? since russia's invasion of ukraine - day ahead? since russia's i invasion of ukraine president zelensky very rarely leaves his country so this is quite a big day and as you mentioned he is expected to attend a european council meeting in russell's which would include all 27 eu leaders and he also probably is going to have some bilateral meetings on the sidelines. so what is top of his agenda for discussion? a, what is top of his agenda for discussion?— discussion? a ukrainian official close _ discussion? a ukrainian official close to - discussion? a ukrainian l official close to president zelensky put it quite clearly. he said my president travels to get result, the main result as weapons. a european council meeting normally is not a place where a leader would show up and ask for weapons, but of course this is a unique situation and president zelensky is worried about a major offensive from russia in the spring. and a few weeks ago, several european countries did promise to send german made tanks to ukraine so zelensky is

probably going to push to speed up probably going to push to speed up that delivery process and like he did in france in the uk yesterday he is also likely to make the case for long—range missiles, ammunition and fighterjet which he says he needs to win the war. {lita fighterjet which he says he needs to win the war. ok, so that is very — needs to win the war. ok, so that is very much _ needs to win the war. ok, so that is very much on - needs to win the war. ok, so that is very much on his - needs to win the war. ok, so | that is very much on his mind and what he will be requesting. also on the side of all of this, a side issue, ukraine joining the european union at some point, what is being said about that?— some point, what is being said about that? you are right and i think that _ about that? you are right and i think that would _ about that? you are right and i think that would be _ about that? you are right and i think that would be a - about that? you are right and i think that would be a big - about that? you are right and i think that would be a big topic| think that would be a big topic for discussion today. ukraine is being very open about wanting tojoin the eu but is being very open about wanting to join the eu but that is not that straightforward. joining the eu can take a long time stop me if you take croatia for example which is the latest country to join the block that took about ten years so there will be countries today that will say there should be no shortcuts, no special treatment for ukraine but overall, eu leaders will want to somehow demonstrate that they stand united with ukraine and they are likely to

do that by endorsing a ten point peace plan put forward by zelensky which includes a restoration of ukrainian borders and a special tribunal for the prosecution of russian wall crimes.— wall crimes. now let's bring ou all wall crimes. now let's bring you all the _ wall crimes. now let's bring you all the sports _ wall crimes. now let's bring you all the sports news. - real madrid are through to a record for club cup final after a pump to bill victory over the egyptian side. a second was added just after the break as real madrid opened up a two nil lead, one pulled back by a penalty, but the european champions added to my guns in stoppage time from roderigo and sergio at a bus seeding a further — one when. they will face saudi arabia on saturday's

final. in the english premier league manchester united missed the chance to move level on points with second—place manchester city as they were held to a 2—to draw by leeds united who were playing their huge first game since the head coach was sacked. a goal in the first minute and an own goal in the second half, but the host salvaged a point with a second—half goals from marcus rushford, his 12th in 1a games and jayden sancho with his first since september. the two sides meet again in leeds on sunday. sides meet again in leeds on sunda . ~ , ., sunday. mixed feelings. ithink both ways _ sunday. mixed feelings. ithink both ways you _ sunday. mixed feelings. ithink both ways you can _ sunday. mixed feelings. ithink both ways you can say - sunday. mixed feelings. ithink both ways you can say we - sunday. mixed feelings. ithink both ways you can say we win l sunday. mixed feelings. ithinkj both ways you can say we win a point, when you are in a derby two nil down it is really difficult to get back in that is what we did so compliments for the team but on the other hand, if you start a derby like we did, that is unacceptable and you have to be ready to go into the fight and we were not ready for the battle. aha,

ready for the battle. a ukrainian tennis star elina svitolina say athletes from russia and belarus should be banned from competing in next year's 0lympics banned from competing in next year's olympics in paris and. to world number 31 and olympic bronze medal in the tokyo games in 2021 and say her fellow athletes need to be united in their stance.— athletes need to be united in their stance. ., ., their stance. our men and women are at the — their stance. our men and women are at the front _ their stance. our men and women are at the front line _ their stance. our men and women are at the front line right - their stance. our men and women are at the front line right now- are at the front line right now fighting russian soldiers and dying for our country and for our freedom as well and i am very firm with my decision that boycotting this is the right way to do that. ijust boycotting this is the right way to do that. i just want that all ukraine athletes are united together in this decision.— united together in this decision. . ,, , . decision. that is pretty much all the but — decision. that is pretty much all the but for _ decision. that is pretty much all the but for now, - decision. that is pretty much all the but for now, don't - all the but for now, don't forget you can get all the latest sports news at our website including the latest from the opening date of the first cricket test between india and australia. all the details on the website.

a decades—long study of killer whales off the north pacific coast has revealed that raising sons is an exhausting experience for mothers, leaving them much less likely to produce future offspring. the research suggests they are a lifelong burden on their orca mothers. here's our science correspondent victoria gill. the closest of bonds stop in killer whale family life offsprings stay by their mothers side for years. but sons are particularly dependent on mum, remaining with her well into adulthood. mothers even feed their much larger adult sons fish. feed their much larger adult sons fish-— sons fish. really interesting 'ust how sons fish. really interesting just how important - sons fish. really interesting just how important that - sons fish. really interesting | just how important that bond is. ~ , , ., ., ., is. we visited this area of the north pacific _ is. we visited this area of the north pacific coast _ is. we visited this area of the north pacific coast with - is. we visited this area of the j north pacific coast with these researchers five years ago and discovered what decades of studying the killer whales here had revealed. following generations of orchids show the scientist how vital alder killer whale mothers and grandmothers are to their proud but this new research has shown

that close family bonds come at a cost to females. she supports that adult son throughout their life, the support they provide carries a significant cost, they are less likely to have future calves after they have had a son, so put another way, when mothers have a son, they are more likely to stop reproduction. the scientists think that mothers invest so much energy in their male offspring because the biggest, oldest males tend to father most of the new calves in a killer whale group that as well as an insight into the complex close—knit lives of these intelligent marine mammals the findings could help to protect them. this population, the southern residents is at risk of extinction from pollution and overfishing of the salmon they rely on. understanding how much it costs to care for the next generation of orchids is an insight into what these magnificent mammals need in order to survive.

now, we have so much more to come including more detail on the news from disney, 7000 jobs going there. we will fill you in, i will see you in a moment. hello there. there was a hard frost across england and wales, but plenty of sunshine on wednesday here. but we had gale—force gusts of winds and rain further north. this is how we closed out the afternoon in highland. and that weather front that was responsible for this continues to sink its way steadily south and east. no significant rain by the time it pushes south—east as it bumps into this area of high pressure, so a band of cloud, light drizzle from east anglia down to cornwall, slowly clearing towards the channel. behind it, some sunshine coming through. a brisker north—westerly wind will continue to feed in showers, particularly north—west of the great glen and winds still gusting 40—50mph at times, so a noticeable strong westerly wind. temperatures around

7—9 degrees, one or two places if we are lucky just seeing 10 celsius as a high, 50 fahrenheit. now, as we close out thursday into the early hours of friday, we'll start to see a contrast. more cloud pushing in to the far north, some showery outbreaks of rain here, but milder, temperatures holding up above freezing. with clearer skies, temperatures falling just below freezing once again across england and wales so we can't rule out frost and fog again for friday. but higher pressure dominates for england and wales, still a bit more of a breeze up into the far north—west and this westerly feed of air will continue to be a story, so it will be a slightly milder feel generally across the country. we're likely to see temperatures into double digits. that weather front toppling across the high will bring outbreaks of showery rain into scotland. more cloud, high cloud across northern england and wales as well, highs generally of 9—13 degrees. now, as we move into the weekend, that milder air will continue to be the story. the high pressure really just sitting across europe and clinging onto central and southern england with weather fronts toppling across that high. so that means we'll always run the risk of more cloud and outbreaks of rain with a stronger wind across the far north and west. there'll be quite a lot

of cloud generally on saturday, but it will be largely fine and dry for england and wales, and a little bit milder. 9—13 degrees the high. similar story as well as we go to sunday — watch out for that early morning mist and fog once again.

hello again. you're watching bbc news. time for the top business stories. drama at disney — 7000 jobs to go as the entertainment giant cuts costs and streaming customers fall for the first time. certainly fall for the first time. for a family friendly company, certainly for a family friendly company, it is always tough to see those sorts of cuts. at the same time, looking across the industry, disney is not alone. also coming up, ai fail — a $100 billion wiped off the value of google's parent company after its new chatbot gets its facts wrong. plus, tough at the top — is toyota getting overtaken in the race to an electric future? and all that glitters is not gold — record sales for pandora as jewelry shoppers look for affordable luxury.