welcome to bbc news. i'm monika plaha. our top stories: hope and despair in turkey and syria as the painstaking search for survivors after the earthquakes continues. on the second and the third day after the earthquake, they were finding a lot of people. they're hardly finding anyone now — almost no—one now. more than 23,000 people are dead and millions are in desperate need of aid. we visit a hospital overwhelmed by the quakes. this is one of the hospitals still standing, but all they know about some of the children that are brought in is which pile of rubble they were pulled from. also on the programme,

us fighterjets shoot down an unidentified object over alaska. the pentagon says president biden gave the order to "seek and destroy". the object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. us northern command is beginning recovery operations now. and could the party be over for visitors to amsterdam? we'll explain why the city is clamping down on its reputation for sex, drink and drugs. and harry potter comes to the world of video games. but will the hogwarts legacy be tarnished by protests against the author's views on transgender issues?

welcome to the programme. fears are growing for the hundreds of thousands of people in turkey and syria in need after monday's devastating earthquakes. some are living in makeshift shelters and cars in freezing conditions, and there are warnings that aid is not reaching areas fast enough. more than 23,000 people are now known to have died. 0ur correspondent quentin somerville —— sommerville has been to antakya, a city which has seen some of the worst devastation in all of the country. he's been with rescue teams who have been working round the clock, but who now fear that time is running out to find people alive under the rubble. in the darkest hours, a single light shines brightest. in antakya's hour of need, this man... speaks turkish ..erdal baris yildirim has emerged as a saviour. he'll climb where others won't dare, deep inside the ruins of this shattered city — anything to save a life.

it's been hours since anyone was found here, but still, they work late into the night. an amateur mountaineer and professional writer, erdal has taken command here. someone or something is moving inside the building, but they can't reach them. they've tried looking in from the front. no success. they put a camera probe in. now, they're going round the back of the building to see if they can find any sign of life. the floors are sandwiched tight. it's a treacherous space, but erdal�*s crew try to find a way inside. others have rallied to his courage — his team is now 100—strong. they've already saved dozens of people. so much risk, so much risk. but so much people wait us. how do you feel about what's happened to your country? armageddon.

the bitter light of morning lays bare the earthquake's ruin. anta kya is destroyed. and down in amongst it, erdal and his men are still working. in the past five days, he's managed only a few hours�* sleep. erdalfound two of narula's children. and even though it's been many days, narula can't believe his wife and other child aren't still alive. the building isjust across the street, but his wife and child can't be reached, even by erdal�*s team. translation: erdaltore himself apart for my two children, - went to places no—one would go. he saved my two children. erdal thought that there was someone still alive up here — a relative said that they could hear something. there's no—one. but there is the overpowering

smell of dead bodies. erdal, we left you five, six hours ago. did you find anyone else last night? no, no. translation: we couldn't find anyone, only a dog. i its owner was dead. so, what happens now? i don't know. since families are sensitive, they insist people are still alive under the rubble, so we keep trying to work in places where we don't find any corpses. tonight, the search goes on and still shining a light into the darkness is erdal baris yilirim. quentin sommerville, bbc news, antakya. state media in syria say the government has agreed to allow international aid organisations to deliver emergency supplies to rebel—held parts of the country

affected by the earthquake. getting access to the quake zone in syria is difficult, but the bbc has language services right around the world, and our arabic team, based in the country, has some of the first international journalists in aleppo. their access is controlled by the syrian government. assaf abboud sent us this report in arabic. we've translated his words. translation: we are now- in the al-shaar neighbourhood, one of the areas damaged by the earthquake. aleppo is the closest city to the epicentre of the earthquake. until now, around 400 people have died in the city of aleppo. hundreds of injured remain in the rubble. in this area, rescue efforts are being supported by government forces in the search for the injured. they are also working

on demolishing damaged buildings out of fear they might collapse at a later stage. around 60 buildings have collapsed, but there are around 400 others that are so damaged and at risk of collapse at any moment. reports say some 55,000 people have lost their homes. and they are now spread across different shelters in the city. the death toll has surpassed 4,000 people in both government and rebel—held areas and over 7,000 people are injured or unaccounted for. in other news now. the us military says it shot down an unidentified object drifting over alaska nearly a week after a chinese surveillance balloon was destroyed as it travelled through american air space. the white house said the object had posed a threat to civilian flights, but it said its purpose and origin are unknown. the national security council

spokesmanjohn kirby couldn't confirm whether this second object was also of chinese origin. we're calling this an object because that's the best description we have right now. we do not know who owns it. whether it's state—owned or corporate—owned or privately owned, we just don't know. our north america correspondent peter bowes told us more about the incident. this remains a mystery and what's very unusual is that the white house and the pentagon should hold news conferences reallyjust within a few hours after this object being shot down, but news conferences with actually very little to share. it's clearly an attempt to be transparent about what happened and explain the reasoning that this object, about the size of a small car, was flying — if you want to say it was flying, it was floating — it was moving relatively slowly

it seems at about 40,000 feet — that's about 12,000 metres, which is about the same altitude as civilian aircraft — and that was the reason given — that it posed a danger to those aircraft, that's why it was brought down. but it leaves so many, as you suggest, wider questions about what was it? what was it doing there? who put it up into the sky? who owns it? is it a foreign government? is it corporate? is it privately owned? we still don't know those answers. and what's happening now is an attempt, now that the debris has fallen into the frozen waters around alaska, and they will be, over the next few hours and days, trying to retrieve the debris to try to answer some of those questions. and last saturday, we know that the us shot down that chinese balloon. president biden came under a lot of political criticism, didn't he, that he didn't really act fast enough? so, what has been the reaction to his response

this time around? well, the reaction is that, really, he acted as fast as he could, it seems, and that perhaps that was as a result of some of the political criticism that he faced last week. now, the reasoning given last week was that the balloon was hovering over land and potentially, there was a danger if it was shot down — as it eventually was over the sea — but if it was shot down over land, it could've posed a danger to people back on earth. now, it seems in this case, it was brought down in an area clearly that was deemed to be safe and also, we understand that the fighter pilots involved made sure that this was an unmanned object. so then, people are reacting, i think, suggesting that the speedy response that we've had that comes with relatively little information may be a political move to show at least that the white house and president biden is taking this very seriously. peter bowes. let's get some of

the day's other news. russia launched over 50 missiles into ukraine on friday with at least 17 hitting the city of zaporizhzhia. local officials say it was the heaviest attack since the start of the invasion. several regions have issued alerts about incoming russian drones. the fbi has recovered one additional document with classified markings from the home of the former us vice—president mike pence in the state of indiana. the search was described as consensual. he was not at home, but a member of his legal team was present. sports ministers from 35 countries have been holding an online meeting to discuss whether athletes from russia and belarus should participate in next year's olympic games. the international olympic committee wants them to be allowed to compete in paris as neutrals. ukraine has threatened to lead a boycott.

three people have been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder in the north of england. merseyside police say there were clashes outside a hotel housing asylum seekers. police say a protest and counter—protest in knowsley were initially peaceful, but missiles were later thrown and a police van was damaged. our reporter nick garnett was at the scene. right, so at around 10:00 this evening, a protest that had been planned for about four days went rather out of control. the protest was because there have been complaints about people in the hotel harassing local children and a group that has been named in various places as a right—wing political group came down to protest outside the hotel. there's about 100 rooms in this hotel

and it's being used as a hotel for people seeking asylum in great britain for a few months now. so, when they came down and were protesting outside, another group came up and there was a confrontation between the two. at that point, there were some police officers here, but not very many, and a petrol bomb or some ignition was thrown at this petrol — at this police van behind us — we'll go over and have a look at it — and it's been completely burnt out. you can see the amount of damage. now, the fire service has been down to make sure it's all safe, but you can see the level of damage that's been done to it. there's also on the ground, there's huge amounts of rocks and stones that've been thrown at police officers who were here in full riot gear. after a few hours and a lot more police officers coming in in police vans, they managed to regain control and they dispersed, and now, we've got a scene where it's fairly calm, but we understand

about half a dozen people have been arrested. they reacted very quickly and police officers from across the merseyside region here in the north—west of england were moved in fairly quickly. they've now dispersed. at one point, the motorways — the main motorway sections, were all closed off. that's now been reopened and a lot of the police have gone home and tensions in the area have dropped completely and things are back on an even keel here but still, it's going to take some time to clear it up. this is bbc news. our main headline: hope and despair in turkey and syria as the painstaking search for survivors after the earth quakes continues. let's stay with that story. all those now left homeless are having to contend with freezing conditions and little food and water, with many living in tents. but, there are causes forjoy, like ten—day—old yagiz here, being pulled from the rubble. but what happens

to those children rescued with no parents or relatives? tom bateman has been given access to a hospital in the turkish city of adana, that's treating many of the youngest survivors. they are too young to know how much they have lost. the earth broke homes and fractured families, now it has taken away their names. she wants to sleep, says the doctor. medicines ease the pain wrought by the wreckage and she is nurtured by strangers, comforted. but no one knows where her parents are, a baby with a future but no identity. translation: we know where she was found - and how she got here, but we are trying to find her address, the search is continuing. all they know about some of the children that

are brought in is which pile of rubble they were pulled from and that is all the information and they have to then work from there. the problem is that so many kids are coming in from all over the region. this is one of the hospitals are still standing. others in this part of turkey have been flattened. this hospital has treated hundreds of children since the quake. these patients have been identified. do you know who this little girl is? but more arrived without names, like this little girl. we have agreed not to show their faces to protect their privacy. "she is 5 or 6," says the doctor, "with multiple broken bones. "we are trying to identify her." does she know her own name? "she can only make eye contact and gestures. "she is in shock," says this doctor.

the wounded keep coming, shocked and exhausted. and here everyone is a survivor, patients and medics alike. this doctor sheltered in this hospital and lost relatives to the quake. how are you coping in that situation? "i am good, i am trying to be good, "because they really need us," she says, "but i say thank god i still have my children. "i can't think of a bigger pain for a mother than "losing a child." and children without parents keep waiting for them to turn up. some have been reunited. but the rest remain the earthquake's anonymous children. tom bateman, bbc news, adana in southern turkey.

us presidentjoe biden is meeting brazil's oresident lula da silva in the white house. they're expected to discuss protecting democracy as well as ways of saving the amazon rainforest. the two leaders are likely to find common ground. but they disagree on russia's invasion of ukraine. a little earlier i spoke to our reporter sofia bettiza, who's been following the story. this is the first time that the two leaders meet since lula de silva was elected president of brazil a few months ago. as you mentioned, monika, the amazon was a big topic of discussion. it is the biggest tropical rainforest in the world but under lula's predecessor, jair bolsonaro, deforestation went up by 75%. so now lula is promising to aim for zero deforestation. and of course, joe biden has made fighting climate change one of his biggest priorities. now, a short while ago, lula, from washington, spoke about the need to protect

the amazon at all costs. translation: i talked about the need for rich countries to take responsibility and to finance countries like brazil which have forests. in south america, beyond brazil, you have ecuador, colombia, peru, venezuela, a number of countries that have to look after the amazon. they are likely to find common ground on climate change. is there anything that they wouldn't necessarily agree about? they do not really agree on how to handle russia's invasion of ukraine. biden has rallied behind ukraine, he's provided aid, weapons, all sort of support, whereas brazil, on the other hand, has stayed on the sidelines, sending mixed political messages and pushing for peace talks instead. but ultimately, these are two presidents that actually have a lot in common. you are right so whenjoe biden defeated donald trump in 2020,

a mob of trump supporters stormed congress and when lula de silva defeated right—wing bolsonaro, something very similar happened there. a mob of bolsonaro supporters stormed several government buildings. the two presidents are likely to convey a similar message. is that the two biggest countries in the americas have successfully seen off a threat to their democracy and are ready to work together to fight climate change. the british director hugh hudson best known for the film, chariots of fire, has died after a short illness. he was 86. chariots of fire theme music plays. he began his career making tv adverts in the 1960s but his big screen directing debut, chariots of fire, won four oscars, including best picture. it kick started a renaissance in the british film industry

in the 1980s. hugh hudson who's died, at the age of 86 the city of amsterdam is dealing with the problem of having too many tourists, coming for perhaps the wrong reasons. people have been allowed to buy and smoke cannabis there for many years and the city also has a large sex worker industry. but new laws are being brought in, to curtail those activities. following pressure from local residents. our correspondent in the netherlands anna holligan reports. this is the latest measure in a long—running effort to try to clean up amsterdam's raunchy reputation. the dutch have a liberal approach to soft drugs and a toleration policy that means coffee shops like this one can sell cannabis under strict conditions. one of those conditions is that coffee shops must not cause a nuisance, and the government has ordered them to stop

attracting foreign drug users. from spring, smoking weed on the streets of the red light district will be outlawed. this man has a wall full of famous friends who visited. amsterdam has a very liberal image, a city where the people can be free and they can smoke cannabis, so that's not going to change overnight. many of his clientele come for more than just the cannabis. the flowers, the canals, there's tulips now, the cherry blossoms, just the people are so friendly. all of it. millions of tourists are drawn to the dutch capital every year. renowned for its relaxed rules, the red light district is also a residential area, and many residents have become increasingly irritated. you will be able to get the people who only come here to get drugs. you can stop. you get more people who have

been visiting the coffee shop, or sometimes our door is quite often open when it's nice weather and you just smell, because the smell comes in the house. so then you think, 0k, tourists again. so because they, yeah, they smoke everywhere, they don't look at anything because they... yeah, and that's also a thing that you think, 0k, sorry, do it somewhere else. and from mid—may they'll have to. the council wants to revamp amsterdam's image and they'll be launching a campaign encouraging drug tourists to steer clear. anna holligan, bbc news. first there were the books, then the films and now the videogame — hogwarts legacy, set in the harry potter universe. but although it's one of the most anticipated titles of the year, it is being boycotted by some who want to take a stand against the authorjk rowling's public comments on policies relating to transgender people. our gaming correspondent

steffan powell has more. it's surprising, given the level of interest in this world of wizards, witches and wands over the years, that a fully fledged, big—budget gaming adaptation has taken this long to be made. but after years of being on the wish list of many a harry potter fan, it's finally here... take this. find them. ..giving players the opportunity to zoom around on a broomstick, learn to cast spells and explore the famous castle, fighting and dodging adversaries along the way. we leave our legacy in your hands. interest is high, records have been broken in the lead—up to release, with 1.3 million people at one point watching early previews being played online. but not everyone's happy, arguing that supporting the game is backing jk rowling's public statements about the trans community. they say those views are transphobic and have caused harm to trans people.

playing the game, they say, legitimises them. this goes beyond just jk rowling making money. by buying the game, you're sending a clear message that you see this new game takes priority over the lives of trans people. jk rowling has previously said that she supports trans rights, but she doesn't believe transgender people should have access to single—sex spaces. a lot to absorb on your first day... the development team behind the game say that the creator of the wizarding world was not involved in making it, and today, people are looking forward to playing. for me, it was really hard to not be excited. this is a world and a universe that i grew up just falling in love with. it was my escape. i do think that this whole controversy has kind of overshadowed what is an amazing experience. the title has received positive reviews for its gameplay and is expected to be one of the biggest sellers of 2023. steffan powell, bbc news.

you are watching bbc news. thank you very much forjoining me. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @monikaplaha hello. well, it certainly doesn't look like you'll need your umbrella this weekend, but then again, it's not going to be all that sunny. in fact, often cloudy, both on saturday and sunday. but i am confident a few sunny spells will develop during the course of the day. but take a look at that shield of cloud spreading off the atlantic right across the uk. this is also quite mild air, which is riding around an area of high pressure that has established itself across a large chunk of europe. but around this high we've got that wind blowing and it's pushing in the milder atmosphere towards us. so this air mass, mild air mass will be in place across the uk through the course of the weekend and into the week ahead.

no frost first thing in the morning on saturday. in fact, farfrom it. temperatures typically around about five, six, seven degrees celsius, perhaps even higher than that in one or two spots. but the cloud will be thick, in fact, really overcast in some areas first thing. but then the clouds will break. i suspect the best sunny spells will be to the east of scotland, the east of the pennines. but in one or two other areas, the sun will poke through the clouds as well. 13 degrees, so actually relatively mild even for the time of the year. the high pressure is still with us on sunday, although it is shifting a little bit towards more central parts of europe. but the weather isn't going to be changing an awful lot. however, the breaks in the cloud may appear in different places on sunday, and that's actually really difficult to forecast. it does look as though it's also going to be just a shade cooler, not that you'll notice — around about ten or 11 degrees celsius. now that high pressure will continue to drift a little bit further towards the east into monday. that does mean it opens the gates to low pressure and also weather fronts,

but they will be kept at bay even on monday. and the weather isn't expected to change — again around nine, 10 to 12 degrees celsius. as we head towards tuesday and wednesday, with that high pressure continuing to shift further east, these weather fronts will eventually win and arrive. and we think that around wednesday, wednesday night into thursday, that rain will arrive. so until around about tuesday, possibly wednesday for some of us, the weather's looking dry. but after that, the second half of the week is looking cloudy with rain at times. enjoy the bright weather. bye—bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: aid agencies says there is a mixture of hope and despair in turkey and syria as the painstaking search for survivors continues after monday's earthquakes. more than 23,000 people are known to have died while thousands of people are living in make—shift shelters. us military fighter jets acting on a command from president biden have shot down an unidentified object off the northern coast of alaska. a white house spokesman said the target was the size of a small car, and posed a threat to civilian aviation. three people have been arrested

on suspicion of violent disorder after police in merseyside, north—west england,