this is bbc news. i'm samantha simmonds with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. syria agrees to open more border crossings to allow aid to areas affected by last week's devastating earthquakes. the death toll has now reached more than 37,000 with a warning that number will go much higher. the scenes are absolutely breathtaking, but it is also what we can't convey, it's the dust and the stench, the stench of deaths, so many bodies buried under the rubble. the us military says it's recovered electronic parts from the suspected chinese surveillance balloon it shot down earlier this month. another sex scandal in the catholic church — this time in portugal. an independent commision

documents thousands of victims. iam i am homosexual and iam homosexual and i know longer want to hide myself. and the czech starjakubjankto becomes the first international player in men's football to come out as gay. hello and welcome to the programme. syria's president, bashar al—assad, has told un officials he'll open two more border crossings so emergency aid can enterfrom neighbouring turkey after the devastating earthquake there last week. more than 37,000 people are known to have died and it's feared that up to five million may have been made homeless in syria alone. the situation is complicated

by the ongoing civil war, with parts of the country controlled by rebel fighters. 0ur correspondent laura bicker reports from antakya close to the syrian border. there is a moment of disbelief at seeing light. and then comes the smile. the joy of knowing he is free after 50 hours in crushing concrete. god is great, the crowd chants as they celebrate saving three—year—old karam in idlib last week. his father shielded him from the rubble but with so few rescuers on the ground in syria, both lay helpless as their mother and sister fell silent, and died next to them. translation: after a while my wife stopped talking. _ karam and i were still there. i was in a kneeling—down position, i was kneeling over karam and the rubble was up to my legs. it was all taking too long. the focus is now on keeping the living alive. survivors have little choice but to find whatever shelter they can within

the fallen buildings. translation: we now live on the streets. - we stay there and when we feel we are falling asleep, we get in the car that we covered. that's where we sleep. aid is being promised, but not fully delivered. after leaving turkey, the united nations aid chief martin griffiths toured aleppo in syria and said help is coming. but the un has to find new routes over the border if it is to meet the mounting needs of millions. this hospital in northern syria, filmed by bbc arabic, has had to carry out multiple amputations on children with very little equipment. more than 3.5 million syrians came to turkey to escape the horrors of war. in antakya, their hopes that this would be a safe home have been destroyed. and although this camp is getting some help from the uk charity,

refugees, key supplies are still short. after a decade of trying to lift themselves out of grinding poverty, these families are having to start again. "it is a daily struggle," she tells me. "if i'm working, we are eating. "if not, we're dependent on the charity of random people. "life has become expensive and the dignity of those "who have had to leave their homes has been affected. "our people have been decimated." as dusk brings freezing temperatures, these families can only hope that dawn will bring them the strength to build them their lives again. laura bicker, bbc news on the turkey syria border. dr karam shaar is a syria programme manager at the observatory of political and economic networks. he explained the significance of opening the extra two border passages for aid between turkey and syria. i think everyone deserves to receive aid and the this

development is important. however, it arrived very late and unfortunately, like the events surrounding what happened with aid delivery in syria, suggests that there the assad regime is trying to take political advantage of them and the people who deserve the aid the most will most probably not have all of it. so if you think of northwest syria, the part that's most vulnerable, that was most vulnerable before this earthquake, there were 4.3 million people besieged in there, bombed day and night by russia and the assad regime. 2.5 million of those were already living in tents. the vast majority live in poverty. these people didn't receive virtually any aid yet from individual states orfrom the united nations. while the assad regime,

which has an established well record of stealing much of the aid, had airplanes flocking into the country's airports from various corners of the world. the issue is this aid should be able to flow freely into northwest syria without the approval of the assad regime. it's not needed. in fact, this is according to the deputy secretary general of the united nations, the former deputy secretary general, who actually argues that no vote is needed and the approval is not is not necessary. now, what we are seeing is basically the assad regime blocking aid into other parts of the country or allowing it to flow only if it legitimizes his regime. an update now on a developing story we've been covering here on bbc news. three people have been shot dead in the grounds of michigan state university. shots were fired in two locations — near an academic building and an athletic stadium.

five other people were taken to hospital, some of them with life—threatening wounds. police say the suspect is still at large. the us military says it has recovered electronics parts from the suspected chinese surveillance balloon that it shot down earlier this month. officials believe they could be helpful in determining the precise purpose of the structure. beijing said it was a platform to monitor the weather. the search is continuing for wreckage from three other objects shot down last weekend that have so far not been identified. here's our north america correspondent peter bowes. quite make the salvage operation to retrieve the chinese air balloon shot last month. us official said it was being used by china to monitor sensitive military sites, but beijing insisted it was a weather platform that had blown

off course. investigators say a closer investigation of electronic devices attached to the balloon should reveal more about what it was doing. but there are no close to the identity of the three additional objects that were brought down in canada and alaska and michigan between last friday and sunday. they were much smaller, with one being described as having an octagonal shape with strings hanging off it. no, says the white house, it is not what you are thinking. i white house, it is not what you are thinking-— are thinking. i know there have been questions _ are thinking. i know there have been questions and _ are thinking. i know there have been questions and concerns . been questions and concerns about this but there is now, again no indication of aliens or extraterrestrials activity with these recent take—downs. i loved et, the movie, but i will leave it there.— leave it there. laughter from the white — leave it there. laughter from the white house _ leave it there. laughter from the white house press - leave it there. laughter from | the white house press corps, but why was it necessary to shoot the objects out of the sky? senior us government officials say they pose no danger to people on the ground, but they could have been a threat to civilian aircraft, and it is a chance they too

could have been spying on america. could have been spying on america-— could have been spying on america. ., ., ., america. even though we had no indications _ america. even though we had no indications that _ america. even though we had no indications that any _ america. even though we had no indications that any of _ america. even though we had no indications that any of these - indications that any of these three — indications that any of these three objects were surveilling, we couldn't rule that out, and so you — we couldn't rule that out, and so you want to on the side of safety— so you want to on the side of safety here in terms of testing our national security interests and the — our national security interests and the fact that these objects could — and the fact that these objects could have and likely dead at some — could have and likely dead at some point in their path transii— some point in their path transit over potential military sites — transit over potential military sites of— transit over potential military sites of ours or sensitive sites _ sites of ours or sensitive sites. ' . ., , sites of ours or sensitive sites. ' , sites of ours or sensitive sites. , , . sites. officials say since the chinese balloon _ sites. officials say since the chinese balloon was - sites. officials say since the | chinese balloon was brought down, they have been monitoring us airspace more closely and that may explain why objects have been spotted that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. this bizarre episode has further eroded what was already a contentious relationship between the us and china. washington says beijing has flown surveillance balloons over as many as a0 countries in five continents. china says us balloon flights have passed

through its airspace, but washington denies that. for now, the search continues for wreckage from the balloon and the three still unidentified objects while tensions with china showed no sign of cooling down. let's get some of the day's other news. police in new york have arrested a delivery driver accused of deliberately plowing into pedestrians. eight people were injured, two critically, after the truck mounted the pavement in the bay ridge area of brooklyn. the incident is not believed to be terror—related. iranian president ebrahim raisi has arrived in beijing for a state visit with his chinese counterpart, xijinping. joining iran's leader are several members of his cabinet, who are expected to sign agreements worth up to 20 billion dollars. the president of peru, dina boluarte, has announced that she is launching an assault on terrorism after seven members of the police force were killed in an ambush on saturday. the officers died in a mountainous area of southern peru where guerrillas

and criminal groups are known to work together in the production of cocaine. an independent commission looking into the sexual abuse of minors in the portuguese catholic church said it has documented over a,800 victims. it said this was only the tip of the iceberg. four years ago, pope francis promised to root out paedophilia within the church, when many sex abuse cases came to light around the world. the bbc�*s azaday moshiri reports. piano plays. solemn notes dedicated to the victims of abuse. they open a session detailing yet more trauma at the hands of the catholic church. the findings are both appalling and familiar. translation: it is an open - wound that hurts and shames us. we ask forgiveness from all the victims, those who courageously gave their testimony, who were in silence for so many

years, and those who still live with their pain in the depths of their hearts without sharing it with anyone. these letters and numbers represent the thousands of children sexually abused by members of the portuguese catholic church. the crimes span more than 70 years. the commission made several findings. it counted a,815 child victims of sexual abuse. more than 52% of the victims were male, and so contrary to other studies, there were a significant number of female victims. their abusers were 96% male, and 77% of them were priests at the time of the event. first listen to victims, continue to listen to victims because this will not be the end of it, we have now a certain number of those who have been listened to, who have answered the questionnaire, but this is not the end. 25 cases have now been passed to public prosecutors.

many others fell outside the statute of limitations. now, bishops from the portuguese catholic church will meet in march for an extraordinary session. there, they will discuss new measures to offer justice to past victims as well as prevent future abuses. until then, the church hopes victims can find some comfort in speaking out and finally being heard. azadeh moshiri, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, we'll have all the sport, including... the city is red — why liverpool are celebrating another victory in the merseyside derby. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order but the army defeated in the task

it was sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect for the morale of the people. i'm terrified of the reprecussions in the streets. one wonders who is next. explosions. as the airlift got under way there was no let—up in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent lower in the crater flow down to the sea to the east of the island, away for the time being. it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded the next generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they called it mir, the russian for peace. this is bbc news — the latest headlines. syria agrees to open

more border crossings — to allow aid to areas affected by last week's devastating earthquakes. the us military says it's recovered electronic parts from the suspected chinese surveillance balloon it shot down earlier this month. united nations officials say the relief effort following the earthquake in turkey is now being focused on caring for the homeless. 0ur chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, is close to the epicentre of the earthquake in southern turkey. 0nce just an ordinary street, until last monday. a:i7am, everything shook, the strongest earthquake in a century. smashing life as they knew it... ..into pieces. almost nothing left.

almost. here, waiting on garden chairs in front row seats, a street turned into a cemetery. their loved ones buried somewhere in this rubble. the scenes are absolutely breathtaking, but it's also what we can't convey. it's the dust and the stench, the stench of death, so many bodies buried under the rubble. translation: right now, | they are pulling a body out. it might be my brother, or it might be someone else. they are pulling the body out and we will identify it. fouad waits for the bodies of everyone in his family who lived here, a0 people in all. did you ever fear that you'd see a day like this?

one week on, the body bags keep coming out, each time killing a family's prayer their loved one was still alive. the un's top aid official praised this rescue effort. more than 100 countries sent help. but there is concern over what's yet to come. the greatest fear now is when that awful day comes when we learn how many people really died. the speculation, as you know, is frightening. and just to think that under those mountains of rubble there could be these many, many people who are now dead. so many are asking, "did so many have to die?"

turkey's president erdogan says they couldn't prepare for a calamity like this. but this woman insists her sister could have been saved. translation: only one politician came here - and showed his face. where are the rest? i've been here since the first day. i dug people out with my bare hands. builders are being blamed too. some structures collapsed and others didn't. translation: our faith says this life is a test. _ we believe there are lessons here for everyone. god willing, we will be stronger after this. one week on, the hope of finding anyone alive here has all but faded. and yet so many we meet not just hope, they believe their loved ones are still alive somewhere under this rubble. present erdogan is promising everyone

a new home within a year. that's optimistic. it is the memory of everyone and everything that was here that will live on in those who survived. now is a time to grieve. but as this rescue turns to relief, there will also be a reckoning for this wrecking of so many lives. lyse doucet, bbc news, kahramanmaras. buckingham palace has confirmed that camilla, the queen consort, has tested positive for coronavirus. officials say she will cancel all her public engagements for the rest of the week, but she's said to be in good spirits and resting. here's the latest sports news. hello there, i'm tulson tollett, and this is your sports news where we start with football, and liverpool's dutch signing cody gakpo has scored his first goal for the club in their 2—0

premier league win over everton at anfield, in an at times heated match. it was everton who almost took the lead whenjames tarkowski hit the post from a header, before mo salah scored from a blistering counter—attack. shortly after half time, gakpo, who joined from psv eindhoven last month, found the net. as the reds moved ninth, everton stay 18th in the table — one point from safety. it sounds like us, it looked like us and it's. ..it�*s not the best timing but if that's the moment now, then we take that and let's go from here. but we have we have to keep going, of course. very interesting and difficult games to play but i think with that tonight, everybody starts believing a little bit more again. an eight month investigation into the chaotic scenes at last year's champions league final between real madrid and liverpool in paris, has found that uefa should take primary responsibility for the failures that almost led to disaster.

the report is that dangerous overcrowding, ticketing issues and heavy handed policing around the stade de france was commissioned by uefa. at the time, the governing body blamed liverpool fans with fake tickets for the disorder. but a report says that is manifestly inaccurate and has exonerated the fans. they say it's remarkable that no one lost their life. liverpool say they are disappointed that the report was leaked to the media hours before it was officially released. this season's uefa champions league last 16 first round legs get under way later on tuesday, with italian champions ac milan hosting tottenham. while the home team have been struggling with form in serie a, tottenham have been somewhat inconsistent themselves and are coming off a a—i loss to leicester in the premier league. they've also lost the likes of world cup winning goalkeeper and captain hugo lloris to injury. the last seven days, we had four serious injuries. and for this reason, i think to stay together

is very important and to try in this type of situation to create the right spirit to help each other much more than before, to overcome this difficult period. good news for paris saint—germain, with both kylian mbappe and lionel messi training ahead of their first leg match with bayern munich in the french capital. both have been carrying injuries but will be available for the match against the germans. england's women cricketers made it successive wins at the t20 world cup in south africa after they picked up a four wicket victory over ireland. after winning the toss and electing to bat, ireland were dismissed for 105 with sophie ecclestone and sarah glenn both picking up three wickets each. alice capsey made a half century in response as her side chased down the total with a few hiccups along the way, but reached the target with 3a balls remaining. hosts south africa made it a first win as they eased to a 65 run

victory over new zealand, having elected to bat first after winning the toss. the proteas posted a score of 132—6 and the white ferns never got going in response, losing both openers, without scoring. next up, south africa take on tournament favourites australia. get all the latest sports news of course, at our website. but from me, tulson tollett and the rest of the team, that's your sport news for now. the czech footballer, jakubjankto, has become the first international player in the men's game to come out as gay. in a video posted on twitter, he said he no longer wanted to hide himself and hoped his coming out would encourage others. players from around the world have expressed their support. the bbc�*s tim allman has the story. hi, i'mjakubjankto. like everybody else, i have my strengths. i have my weaknesses. he's been playing professional football for nearly ten years. in that time, he suffered plenty of defeats,

he celebrated his share of victories. now, jakubjankto is taking on a whole new challenge off the pitch. i'm homosexual, and i no longer want to hide myself. the czech international, who plays for sparta prague, says he wants to encourage others. not easy in a sport where homophobia has long been an issue. but as soon as he made his announcement, other players gave him their backing. translation: i think - everyone is free and i have no problem with that. i have no prejudice. and all forms of discrimination, homophobia, racism need to be reduced in all areas. i think everyone should feel free and be able to do what they want to do. there's something personal that i need to share with everyone. i'm a footballer and i'm gay. jakub is not the only top flight footballer to come out. last 0ctober, josh cavallo,

who plays for the australian team adelaide united, did the same. one by one, these young men hope to change minds and change the game they love. they are amongst the first, but they're unlikely to be the last. tim altman, bbc news. a small asteroid has exploded after entering the earth's atmosphere above the english channel. the three—foot meteoroid, which was visible in southern england, wales and northern france shortly before 3am local time, created this stunning �*shooting star�* effect. known as an �*airburst�*, it's just the seventh time in history that an asteroid's impact has been predicted in advance. a reminder of our top story: syria's president, bashar al—assad, has told un officials he'll open two more border crossings — so emergency aid can enter from neighbouring turkey after the devastating

earthquake there last week. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ samanthatvnews. hello. a valentine's day of wardrobe dilemmas on the way for some of you. frosty in places, a foggy start, but by the afternoon spring—like warmth, 16, 17 degrees possible in northwest wales, well above the eight degree average for this stage in the month, but not quite as warm as our warmest valentine's day recorded in 1998. so why the warmth? well, we're on the western side of this massive area of high pressure, keeping things dry across much of europe. because we're on the western side, we've got a southerly wind developing. but before that really gets going, most notably in western areas where temperatures above freezing, elsewhere, a frosty start to the day, minus four, minus five in one or two spots, and some dense patches of fog, particularly across central, eastern, and southern parts of england and southeast wales. that fog could actually develop a bit through the morning rush hour, for some lingering

until we get to lunchtime. but a lot of sunshine to come for many. a bit more cloud in western wales, north west england, the odd splash of rain. always cloudier, though, western scotland, northern ireland, with more of a breeze here, again some rain or drizzle at times. still a lot of dry weather and bright weather but look at the temperatures, 13 degrees moray firth, 15, 16 north devon, up to 16 and 17 northwest wales. but it's across western areas, particularly northern ireland, scot, watch for the sunset in the evening. southerly winds ahead of this weather front will bring some saharan dust to the skies. as i said, northern ireland and western scotland could be treated to the best of the sunset. but it will be replaced by rain as we go through the night, rain spreading its way and dropping some of that dust onto the cars for the morning. it's not going to reach eastern areas so we'll stay clear here. still a chance of frost, but not as cold as the night we have at the moment. and that's because there'll be more of a breeze. not as much fog around, but a bright start, sunny start in eastern areas. western areas starts cloudy, outbreaks of rain, outbreaks of rain fizzle as it pushes eastwards across england

into the midlands, central southern england by the end of the afternoon. east anglia and the southeast will stay dry and clear into the evening. mild here, 13, 1a degrees, a little bit fresh elsewhere. but then as we go into thursday, a murky and actually wet start for many across england and wales, not seen that for a while. that rain, though, will clear through. still lots of cloud around, the odd bit of brightness — driest, brightest the further north you are. and again, temperatures still above where we should be for this stage in february. but there's more rain gathering to northern ireland later on and that's this area of low pressure which will bring rain across the north, but increasingly strong winds. so through thursday night into friday, one thing to watch out for is potentially strong to gale force winds for many. see you soon.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. getting back to work — as we await new uk jobs figures what more can be done to reduce unemployment? going for growth — is europe about to avoid a recession? the latest eu gdp figures are out today. japan is set to get a new central bank governor — who'll take over at a time of slowing economic growth? and keeping the key to your heart — why sharing passwords with your partner could have serious consequences.

it's a very busy day today for economic data