this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm martine croxall and these are the latest headlines... aid agencies call for better access to the earthquake disaster zones from turkey to syria, as the number of people killed in both countries rises to more than 2a,000. the stunning thing, really, is that the border is just there. but it is as if... ..all help, all aid ends at that border. the united nations estimates the earthquakes may have left nearly 5.5 million people homeless in syria. the government there says it will allow aid to be delivered to rebel—held parts of the country. despite the odds, people are still being pulled out alive from under the rubble in both countries, more than 120 hours after the first earthquake struck.

surviving the earthquake, that's the first hurdle. what will their lives be like in the coming months and years, as a result of the destruction we see here today? this is the scene live in southern turkey as rescuers continue their pain—staking search for survivors. we'll bring you all the latest developments from our correspondents who are there. in other news, us fighterjets shoot down an unidentified aircraft over alaska after president biden gave the order to "seek and destroy". troops are trying to salvage the wreckage. in washington, president lula of brazil is seeking joe biden�*s backing for a new global forum to fight climate change. #0n # on the shays longe... # celebrating uk music — indie band, wet leg and singer harry styles lead

the way with four nominations each for tonight's brit awards. hello and welcome to bbc news. the number of people known to have died in monday's earthquakes in turkey and syria has risen to more than 2a,000. the un aid chief martin griffiths, who is due to visit the epicentre today, has described it as the "worst event in a hundred years in this region". millions are thought to be homeless, and rescuers are increasingly focusing on those requiring food and shelter. our correspondent, quentin sommerville, is in harem in the north—west idlib province of syria — a country already torn apart by war and where rescue efforts are severely restricted by a lack of resources needed to move debris and find survivors. he's just sent us this update. the earthquake was untroubled by

borders, but the relief effort is an entirely different story. this is the town of harem in syria and you can see the destruction behind me. they lost about 700 houses here. if i turn around, you can see that there is some heavy machinery here, but i would say that in the... in the few hours i have been in syria, i have hardly seen any of that. in five minutes in turkey, i have seen far more than i have seen in the entire time here. as you can see, people are... people are just looking around in the ruins. we passed some tense earlier, where people have taken shelter. they have also taken shelter at a local mosque. in rebel held syria, where i am now, there has been about 2300 deaths. the stunning thing, really, is that the border is just there. but it is as if... all help, all aid

ends at that border. when we crossed, there were some tankers bringing in fuel for this heavy machinery, but actually there were more people leaving, more injured syrians, more people with, carrying corpses than there was aid going in. we are seeing now in this town and in others in the region, they are saying now it is too late, it is too late for aid. they have stopped the recovery efforts, they are not finding any more bodies, no more rescue is going on. quentin sommerville reporting. let's bring you some live pictures now from southern turkey, where we can see the rescue operation is underway. it isa it is a monumental task, isn't it, that they are facing? but we can see that they are facing? but we can see that there is some heavy lifting and earth moving equipment in situ. but they have to be painstaking about these efforts to try to find people who may still be alive under the rubble. experts say that after 72 hours, the chance of finding

survivors drops enormously, but they have still been people brought alive, thankfully, after 120 hours since those first earthquake struck. listening equipment essential, of course, heat—seeking equipment essential to find those people who may still be clinging on. late on friday night in the devastated turkish city of kahramanmaras, british and german rescuers found and pulled to safety a 15—year—old girl. and here we have footage of another rescue earlier in the day, of a woman pulled from the rubble in antakya. rescue crews in turkey and syria are refusing to give up hope of finding people alive, but say their survival chances plummet after the first 72 hours because of the effects of dehydration and cold. let's go to the city of gaziantep now, where a massive search and rescue operation is underway. it's here — in south—eastern turkey, located about 33 it's here — in south—eastern kilometres or around 20 miles from the epicentre of the earthquake. it's also the place where un aid

chief martin griffiths is visiting today. nick beake sent us this update from there. this time last weekend, this community would have been bustling. families out having a coffee, kids running around. look at it now. the heavy machinery has been working for hours now, sifting huge amounts of debris, rubble, because this used to be a residential block. we don't know how many people died here when the earthquake struck, but still, people who live nearby and relatives have been coming here, staring in disbelief at what has happened. yet, as we hear more debris rain down, yet in another part of this city, overnight a pregnant woman was brought to safety. we don't know her condition, we don't know the condition of her unborn child. we are told the woman had a six—year—old daughter who did survive and these sorts of miracles

are still happening five days after the earthquake. in another city, about two hours from here, there was a joint german and uk rescue attempt and they managed to bring a 15—year—old girl to safety, but these sorts of stories are few and far between now and the focus is shifting onto how the many people who survived the initial quakes survive in the coming days and weeks ahead. the united nations is warning that across the border in syria, for example, more than 5 million people are now homeless, some 800,000 people are in urgent need of a hot meal if they are to survive, and across this region there are grave concerns about food and water and shelter for people. in this particular part of turkey there is also anger as well as the grief. we have been meeting people who are saying buildings such as this shouldn't have come down.

yes, they were very big earthquakes, but they should have been built to withstand this sort of tremor. and a woman we spoke to yesterday told us that earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do, and that's a reference to the fact that here in turkey, construction companies can sometimes pay for an exemption so they don't have to follow all the normal rules and regulations. so there is this fusion of anger and grief, and of course so many people who survived this dreadful disaster now face a very perilous fight to continue living in the days and weeks and months ahead. that was nick beake reporting from gaziantep. but we were saying at the beginning of the programme that un aid chief martin griffiths is visiting southern turkey today and these are the pictures ofjust one of the many risky operations that are still in that part of the country. he has said that this is the worst event in 100 years in this

region of southern turkey and north—western syria. he was speaking during a news briefing the turkish province of kahramanmaras. mr griffiths applauded turkish response to the disaster, saying it was extraordinary, which no doubt will be music to the ears of president erdogan because there have been criticisms of the way that his authorities have responded and he did admit at a press conference yesterday that he wished that things had happened faster. but the un aid chief, martin griffiths, has been speaking to the media and he said that he hoped syrian aid would go to both government and opposition held areas, but that things in this regard were not yet clear. however, the syrian government and president al—asad has said that aid will be allowed through into rebel held areas. getting it there are very difficult after all those years of civil war, the infrastructure is very poor, if it exists at all and

there has only been one border crossing for quite some time. tom bateman is in adana in southern turkey for us and sent this report. this is one of the tower blocks that we have revisited several times now that came down in the initial quake and... i mean, you get a sense of how much work is involved in that they have been working day and night in this pile of rubble... still quite a lot to clear. and this building housed, we think, at least 100 people. we are told they think there are still at least 20 bodies under the rubble there and what has happened in a city like adana is that it is not just people that had to be evacuated when the quake initially struck, but afterwards because many buildings around are now unsafe and this has become something of a city of the displaced. and all people find they can do is wait and watch in vigil. we have just been chatting to some of the family and friends here. these people were their neighbours, one man here lived in this building, happened not to be here at the time,

but these are their family and their friends and they sit and wait day and night for news. we are told that one man who was a good friend of the people here, who was a carpenter, who lived in this building, tragically his body was removed last night. these are the moments of grief that people are experiencing, notjust by the day, but by the hour and by the minute here, and still they wait for more news. and at the same time, many of them don't have homes to live in. there are some camps here in adana, but the facilities still are very basic and it is freezing at night, so this remains a very severe humanitarian crisis, notjust in adana, but across this region. tom bateman reporting. also on the ground is our reporter, mehrdad farahmand, with those that have been evacuated in the city of adiyaman in south—eastern turkey. in the middle of this crisis,

children are still playing in the park as they used to before the earthquake, but this time there is a difference. the park is now their home. they live here in those tents. and for their parents, there is another difference. they have been forced to live in camps for the second time in their lives. they are syrian refugees. translation: i gathered the kids in the middle of the room - and covered them with my body as the ceiling and walls collapsed onto us. we were trapped in a very small space, but my son managed to dig a hole. we started shouting and crying for help. then people came and pulled the kids out one by one. i was the last one to be pulled out. god gave us a second life. praise be to him. today is an exceptionally sunny day.

a slightly better day for those who have lost their homes. this is a remote and cold part of turkey. the earthquake and the snowstorm came almost at the same time. the volunteers who have come from all over turkey to help have been through a very long and difficultjourney. translation: i was among one of the first responders _ to reach here after a great deal of difficulty. the roads were completelyjammed. as the people poured out of the town, ambulances were struggling to get into the town. translation: it took us 20 hours to reach here because some - of the roads were destroyed and tunnels had collapsed. there was also a snowstorm, but we took the risk to get here with so many difficulties. almost 1,000 buildings have been completely destroyed in adiyaman. more than 3,000 dead bodies have

been taken out of debris so far. help has reached adiyaman very late. aid workers blame the weather and the remoteness of the area. others, particularly in the social media, blame the government. mehrdad farahmand, bbc, adiyaman. dr sarah schiffling is deputy director at the humlog institute, an organisation that aims to look into the logistics of humanitarian work. dr sarah schiffling, thank you very much forjoining us. this might sound like a naive question in some ways, but what are the greatest challenges aid workers face in situations like this?— challenges aid workers face in situations like this? logistics are a hue situations like this? logistics are a huge challenge _ situations like this? logistics are a huge challenge in _ situations like this? logistics are a huge challenge in the - situations like this? logistics are | a huge challenge in the situation. obviously with the earthquake we have a lot of destroyed infrastructure, but also looking at what has happened particularly in the syrian part for many years now,

infrastructure might not have been there in the first place. then of course we have the weather on top of that. we have just heard of the snowstorm at same time as the earthquake, that delays logistics. but also there are a lot of logistics that does need to happen, there are people fleeing the area, people trying to get into the area to help and also all the supplies that are being moved as well, so there is a huge logistical operation here and a lot of money that is spent in humanitarian operations is in the logistics somewhere, so this is a massive part of this. in addition to that, going into syria we are faced with restrictive access to the area, from the government —controlled part, to the not government controlled parts, but is very difficult and then we have already heard is one border crossing from turkey into syria that obviously creates a huge bottleneck for many of the supplies that need to get into the area.— for many of the supplies that need to get into the area. what needs to be borne in — to get into the area. what needs to be borne in mind, _ to get into the area. what needs to be borne in mind, when _ to get into the area. what needs to be borne in mind, when it - to get into the area. what needs to be borne in mind, when it mean . to get into the area. what needs to - be borne in mind, when it mean comes to coordinating the volunteers, who might mean well, but might not be experienced in delivering this sort

of aid? experienced in delivering this sort ofaid? making experienced in delivering this sort of aid? making sure resources might be in place?— be in place? absolutely, it is a hue be in place? absolutely, it is a huge coordination _ be in place? absolutely, it is a huge coordination exercise - be in place? absolutely, it is a| huge coordination exercise and be in place? absolutely, it is a - huge coordination exercise and with the resources we have obviously got large organisations with huge stores of tens of food items that are being distributed, but many private individuals and small organisations are also really eager to help and what we are seeing in some places is that goods are maybe not distributed as well as they could be because blankets and item that is very much needed pile—up in one area, whereas they don't reach other parts, so this is a coordination function which the un is stepping up to try and help direct aid in the right areas to meet the needs that are underground, the needs that will not be uniform everywhere. some needs can be met locally, while others really need the impact from outside, from other parts of turkey and the whole world, so core dating that is a huge challenge and it is not made easier, in a way, by the changing situation constantly when each shift quickly as people decide that they

cannot stay here and need to move on, so it is very, very complex. you mentioned — on, so it is very, very complex. you mentioned the _ on, so it is very, very complex. you mentioned the united nations. how do they tend to organise these efforts? so there is a cluster system of the united nations, which has been operated for many years now, humanitarian emergencies, that you are looking at different areas that always pop up again in these sorts of situations, you have got a logistics cluster, you have a education cluster, a wash cluster, which is hygiene, water and sanitation, so you have all these big parts that are coordinated and then organisations are trying to tie in and help each other out, who has got transport to go to a particular area? who has got more tend to go to this area? so trying to support each other to help in the overall effort because everyone there trying to help is there to reach the people and do the most good they can in the face of really overwhelming need. there has been criticism of the response by the national and local

turkish authorities. how warranted is that, as far as you can tell at the momentit is of course there are difficult to say that, as we are in the initial stages of difficult to say that, as we are in the initial stage- difficult to say that, as we are in the initial stages of the response. you'll often _ the initial stages of the response. you'll often hear _ the initial stages of the response. you'll often hear criticism - the initial stages of the response. you'll often hear criticism of - the initial stages of the response. you'll often hear criticism of that l you'll often hear criticism of that and i think it is a very emotional thing, obviously people have lost loved ones, they have lost their livelihoods and homes and all this, so obviously they do want aid and wanted very quickly and it is very frustrating and heartbreaking to see that people are dying under the rubble that maybe could have gotten out if there had been more aid at this particular location. so there will always be criticism in a disaster of this scale because not everybody gets reach at the same time with the same amount of suppliers or staff to help them. so thatis suppliers or staff to help them. so that is always an issue. there is obviously the question of preparedness as well, so notjust the initial response, but how prepared was the government, where the government agencies for this? we have only heard about buildings collapsing that really shouldn't

have, but it is also a question of help with pre—positioning supplies, so if you know there is a dangerous area, can you have supplies already in that region quick to be deployed? so there are things governments can do to prepare for these situations, but of course you can't forecast everything. you might be able to forecast this region is earthquake prone, but you cannot forecast this building is going to collapse this bridge is going to collapse and we cannot access that road any more, so it is very difficult to make a judgment on preparedness. dr sarah schiffling from the humlog institute, thank you for your time. pro—government rallies with millions of iranians are taking place in tehran and other cities to mark the 44th anniversary of the islamic revolution in 1979. the annual commemoration of the revolution that turned iran

into a theocratic state is always a show of strength by the country's leaders. tens of thousands of iranians are taking part across the country — chanting slogans and waving banners that as usual condemn the us and israel. celebrations in the capital began on saturday morning. residents of the australian pacific territory of norfolk island have been urged to take shelter, as cyclone gabrielle threatens to bring destructive winds and heavy rain. the storm is also expected to trigger heavy rains in new zealand's north island. forecasters say high tides and very heavy surf could cause local damage and coastal erosion. the us military says it has shot down an unidentified object flying at high altitude over alaska. the craft appeared nearly a week after a chinese surveillance balloon was brought down as it travelled through american airspace. here'sjohn kirby — spokesman for the white house national security council. we are calling this an object because that is the best description we have right now. we do not know who owns it, whether it is state owned or corporate owned or privately owned. we just don't know. john kirby there.

we've also heard from our north america correspondent, nomia iqbal, she gave us this update. the details so far on this are vague, but the white house spokesman, john kirby, said that this unidentified object was flying at an altitude that was lower than the chinese spy balloon and therefore it posed a risk to commercial aircraft, which is what they were worried about. it was spotted about 24—hours ago, but they shot it down at around about 1.30 eastern time on friday. mr kirby emphasised that it was the president, president biden, who ordered for it to be shot down. this was after a fighterjet approached the object and assessed that it was unmanned. they will now assess the debris to find out exactly what this object was. mr kirby said that the president ordered for the shootdown out of an abundance of caution, but there is a lot of political pressure on him, following the chinese spy balloon. republicans have criticised him for not acting more quickly, saying he is weak on china. he was also heckled at his state of the union address about it. mr kirby said that the president has no regrets about how he handled

the chinese spy balloon. the brit awards — celebrating uk music — are taking place on saturday for the first time since they began in 1977. harry styles and the indie band, wet leg, lead the way with four nominations each. but there has been controversy about the all—male shortlist for british artist of the year. our music correspondent, mark savage, has been speaking to some of the nominees. and the winner is... the winner is... the brit awards, the biggest night of the year for uk music. adele! i want to thank everybody, everyone over there, i love you all. sam fender. by now, we are used to seeing pop's guest stars lifting trophies but for a brand new act... shut up! you're joking! ..finding out you've been nominated can be life—changing. # keep on running through these red flags.# this year's nominees include lizzo,

the 1975, beyonce and mimi webb, who's up for best new artist. oh, i couldn't believe it. i was so inspired when, like, dupa lipa won best new artist and i remember watching it and saying to my mum, "i'm gonna do that. "i'm gonna get that nomination and i'm going to go one day," so just to kind of have that full—circle moment and, yeah, it's just — it's quite emotional, you know? and you broke the news quite sneakily to your mum? i've got something to tell you. you all right? i've just — i've just been nominated as the best new artist at the brit awards. sorry? say that again. the best new artist at the brit awards — i've been nominated. oh, my god! oh, my god — i've got goose bumps! oh, come here! she didn't expect it and she was just shocked and, like, even now, every day, i get phone calls about it. like, she's like, "oh," like, she's just so excited and i think she just can't believe it as well. hey, how are you guys doing? you all right? comedian mo gilligan is hosting the awards for a second time. he says it's hard not to get caught up in the excitement. the thing is, the brits, _ you never know what's gonna happen but you're also seeing people win the biggest award of their life -

in real—time as well, and i getl to feel like i was a part of that. cheering and applause. i'm also seeing my friends - like little simz win and pick up an award and, you know, take her mum onstage. i is that a problem, though? if you've got a favourite, like little simz... oh, man! ..and adele beats her, how do you paper over that? yeah. i guess i am impartial, but at the same time, | you want your friends to win, innit? chuckles. # as it was...# harry styles is the big favourite this year. he's up for four prizes and is widely expected to win album of the year. # on the chaise longue, on the chaise longue # on the chaise longue, all day long # on the chaise longue.# indie band wet leg are also up forfour awards including best group... # when we pull up you know it's a shutdown.# ..and blackpink have made history as the first ever korean girl band to receive a brit nomination for best international group. but there's concern over the lack of female nominees elsewhere. a year after the awards combined

the best male and female awards, not a single woman is up for best artist. the rock band nova twins, who are nominated for best group, say the industry makes it harder for women to succeed. you dream big when you're young because anything — anything's possible. but the reality is when you get into it, it's not as easy. we had to navigate slightly differently, you know, being women, being people of colour, doing rock music. and it was like, "you need to be in hip—hop". so that's what we've got confronted with a lot at the beginning, so we had to navigate very differently. i think the message isjust follow your gut. follow your gut. don't listen to the noise of everything. quote georgia. clears throat. if you take the short road, it will draw blood, but if you take the long road, it will draw sweat. you can see the results of that blood and sweat, and maybe a few tears, too, when the brit awards kick off at 8:30pm tonight. mark savage, bbc news.

of course, the rescue operations continue in southern turkey and north—western syria and in the next hour we will be speaking to someone from the international red cross. they are working there on the ground. this is bbc news. plenty of cloud around and not much sun this weekend, but it will be a mild fema. quite a contrast tojust a couple of mornings ago in didcot in oxfordshire, where temperatures fell as low as minus seven celsius and there was a hard frost. take a look at oxfordshire this morning, what a difference! beautiful start, despite the cloudy skies, quite quiet out there. still under this influence of high pressure at the moment, but the subtle change in wind direction has brought this marked change to the feel of the weather. they have this milder air source driving and quite a lot of cloud off the atlantic, so a grey and cloudy start and the cloud thick enoughin and cloudy start and the cloud thick enough in one or two spots perhaps for a touch of drizzle, but some

breaks in the cloud, maybe across positive scotland, and east england through the latter stages of the afternoon and temperatures were not bad for this time of year, peaking at 13 or 1a degrees in the sunshine continues in parts of aberdeenshire. overnight here may well keep the clear skies, temperatures falling away, but elsewhere a blanket of cloud keeps things frost 3 again, but that does mean another great start to our sunday morning. there will be some differences on sunday, may be the wind is just starting to pick up a little, a blustery afternoon, so that means for northern ireland, west facing coasts of wales and south of england a greater chance of seeing more sunshine. centraland greater chance of seeing more sunshine. central and eastern england, may be cloudy grey skies once again, but figures in double figures widely across the country. as we move on to monday, not much change, drifting a bit further east, more of a southerly wind and potential with that breezy story to

see the cloud breaking up just a touch, may be central and eastern england again sunshine amounts fairly limited. but it will be highs of around 9—12 , so again a mild story continues. if you are starting to get desperate for rain, gardeners and growers out there, there is a weather front starting to push in, but it is going to move somewhat erratically in from the west, so pay potential tuesday to wednesday of seeing some outbreaks of rain and then from wednesday onwards a bit more unsettled and the rain turns showery, but it will be mild for all. take care.

this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall, and these are the headlines... aid agencies call for better access to the earthquake disaster zones from turkey to syria as the number of people killed in both countries rises to nearly 25,000. the united nations estimates the earthquakes may have left nearly 5.5 million people homeless in syria. the government there says it will allow aid to be delivered to rebel—held parts of the country. despite the odds, people are still being pulled out alive from under the rubble in both countries, more than 120 hours after the first earthquake struck. us fighterjets shoot down an unidentified aircraft over alaska after president biden gave the order to seek and destroy. troops are trying to salvage the wreckage. in washington — president lula of brazil is seeking joe biden's backing for a new global forum, to fight climate change.