this is bbc news. i'm victoria valentine with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. thousands of syrian refugees arrive at the turkish border, as they try to cross back into their home country after last week's earthquakes. the scottish national party begins the task of choosing a new leader — after nicola sturgeon steps down as first minister. there is no obvious person who has the charisma of nicola sturgeon and alex salmond who might be able to do the job and to push support for independence up. but that's the task that will face them. an italian court acquits the former prime minister, silvio berlusconi, of bribing witnesses to lie about his "bunga bunga" — sex parties.

# i can rub and scrub this house # till it's shining just like a dime...# coffee 7 and tributes for the hollywood film star and model raquel welsh, who's died at the age of 82. thousands of refugees who fled the war in syria to cross into turkey have arrived at the border hoping to go back to their home country after last week's earthquakes. turkey has said it will allow them to leave for up to six months. the combined death toll in turkey and syria has climbed to more than 41,000, and millions are in need of humanitarian aid. the bbc�*s laura bicker has been to antakya close to the turkish border, where desparate syrian families continue to arrive.

the last time these syrian families crossed this border, it was with dreams of a better life. their homeland has been ripped apart by a civil war. their new life in turkey lies in ruins after the earthquake. so once again, they are on the move, carrying whatever they have left. reem has lived in antakya for nine years. her children were born there, but she believes hostility towards syrians in her host country is worse since the quake. translation: we've lost our house. - we try to find another place to stay. but they kept chasing us away, asking us to return to syria. should i stay in the street with my children? where should we go? the turkish government has said syrians can come back within two months. but many ask, what do they have to come back to? this is a broken city, full of loss and fallen concrete. it's no longer a home.

those who choose to stay have nowhere else to go. ahmed knows there's little here for him and his family, but he's nothing left in syria. he's stuck. translation: | think | about the children a lot, about their situation and what will happen to them. when it's dark, their night turns into terror. ifearfor them more than i do myself. it is rare, but survivors are still being found. 74—year—old shamil was found alive 226 hours after the earthquake struck. earlier today, three people were rescued from within this rubble. two were children. and tonight, they believe there are signs of life in that building and they are continuing to work away, which shows that even amid the amount of human despair we've seen in the last ten days, there's still sign of light. laura bicker, bbc news in antakya.

the race to succeed nicola sturgeon as first minister of scotland has begun after her surprise decision to stand down after eight years. her party, the snp's national executive committee will meet today to draw up a timetable for the leadership race. alexandra mckenzie reports. scotland's first female and longest serving first minister nicola sturgeon, is now preparing to step aside. giving absolutely everything of yourself to this job is the only way to do it. the country deserves nothing less. but in truth, that can only be done by anyone for so long. for me, it is now in danger of becoming too long. bye bye, nicola. across scotland and the political parties, people were quick to react to the surprise resignation. well, let me first start by paying.

tribute to nicola sturgeon. for her long standing public service, and i wish her well in the future. - obviously, nicolai and i didn't agree on everything, - but in the short time that we did work together, - i was pleased that we were able to announce two freeports in. scotland — that'sjoint working between the uk governmentl and the scottish government. those freeports . are going to attract investment and create jobs in scotland, which is great| and i look forward tol working with whoever the new first ministeri is to continue working constructively to deliver i for the people of scotland. i first met nicola sturgeon when i was 12 years old because she was standing in an election against my father and there's been lots of disagreements, lots of arguments, lots of back and forth. but one thing you can't doubt is this has someone that is an able politician, someone who has been in politics for 20 years, and that level of service is, of course, worthy of respect and thanks. alex salmond was once a close friend and mentor. now he's a political opponent. i'm not certain this is going

to be a bad thing at all. i mean, there's talent within the snp. i think the key litmus test is going to be whether the next leader sees the opportunity to redefine the strategy for independence, to broaden the base of the independence campaign, and starts articulating the fundamental case for scottish self—determination. i am not going to say who my preference will be to succeed me. but many are asking that question. one possibility is the deputy first minister, john swinney, who has done thejob before, or angus robertson, the former snp westminster leader and now constitution secretary. the finance secretary, kate forbes, who is currently on maternity leave, the health secretary humza yousaf or the mpjoanna cherry, a critic of nicola sturgeon�*s leadership. nicola sturgeon wanted a referendum this october. when it was blocked

by the supreme court, she announced a special conference due in march to discuss the way forward. now a way forward with a new leader. there is no obvious person who has the charisma of nicola sturgeon and alex salmond who might be able to do the job and to push support for independence up. but that's the task that will face them. and the risk undoubtedly is that the party can't find somebody who can provide it with the kind of leadership that both mr salmond and ms sturgeon have provided it with, can't unite it on the independence strategy, can't appeal to the public, and therefore, as a result, the independence movement goes backwards. nicola sturgeon said she's confident her successor will deliver independence and said this is the final phase of that journey. alexandra mckenzie, bbc news. the war in ukraine has, unsurprisingly, seen little to no diplomacy between kyiv and moscow. one area of cooperation has been around prisoner of war exchanges. more than 1,700 ukrainian men and women have reportedly made

it home through them so far. the bbc has been given rare access to one facility where captured russian soldiers are held in the west of the country. kyiv says most of the prisoners will be swapped, but some will be held on suspicion of possible war crimes. 0ur ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has sent this report. under the watchful eye of ancient ukrainian rulers and guards. march these russian prisoners of war. both sides had been accused of abusing captured soldiers in the past. so these are the belongings of some prisoners of war who arrived last week. now, it's unlikely they're going to speak freely. but what this is is an insight into ukraine's information war, as well as a look at how prisoners of war are used as currency.

now, kyiv wants to show us these men, who they insist are being treated fairly. they're using this workshop to take shelter from russian missiles. some hide theirfaces to further protect their identities. ukraine needs these soldiers to trade for their own. we're under supervision, but the guards don't interfere. this prisoner tells us he surrendered near the eastern town of solidar last month. several say they just want to go home. some here are just days off the battlefield, a mixture of conscripts, soldiers and mercenaries. many are pale, their eyes glazed over. sometimes history has echoes. this gritty fortress once held soviet and then german inmates in the second world war. everyone here appears to know the drill. air raid alerts seem to be the only

breaks from a monotonous routine. the bite of the cold is followed by the relief of lunch. today it's corn soup and barley and meat before a choreographed finish. thank you for lunch, they say, in ukrainian. this might look like free time, but the guards have the remote. the pick of the day, a documentary on ukrainian history. but not everyone will speak the language. more or less, i'm starting to understand ukrainian. these programmes are educational. this looks more like a re—education. these inmates are waiting to make a phone call home.

the conversations are recorded. where are you? asks his mum. i'm in captivity. i can't say more. with the bloody ukrainians, she asks. enough, mum, he replies. the most important thing is that i'm alive and healthy. this economy of prisoner exchanges has grown, which means they're more valuable to both sides regardless of whether they return to the fight. james waterhouse, bbc news, western ukraine. a court in italy has acquitted the former prime minister, silvio berlusconi, of bribing witnesses to lie about his notorious "bunga bunga" parties. the billionaire politician, who is 86, was accused of paying people to provide false testimony in a previous trial where he was charged

with paying for sex with a 17—year—old moroccan dancer. mr berlusconi had denied wrongdoing. 0ur reporter sofia bettiza has been following the story. shejoins me in the studio now. what can you tell us of the outcome of this trial? this verdict was the culmination of a legal battle that lasted 11 years and made headlines around the world. it all started in 2010 when silvio berlusconi, who was then prime minister of italy, was charged with paying to have sex with an underage girl. she was a 17—year—old dancer, who was known by her stage name, repeat the heart stealer. after that.

now, after that happened, judges believe that berlusconi paid off 2a people, mainly young women, so that they would lie in earlier trials about so—called bunga bunga parties. prosecutors described them as sex parties that women were paid to attend. now, one of the women who were accused of lying was ruby herself, and she was in court today when the verdict came in. i need time to process this greatjoy. this is an enormous liberation. many people know nothing about my life at the moment. speaking to berlusconi is not top of my priorities. the first person i'll speak to is my mum. and today berlusconi was acquitted. just why is that? well, judges said that there just wasn't enough evidence. but, you know, this is really significant in italy. this scandal contributed to the downfall of silvio berlusconi as prime minister in 2011. his reputation abroad was destroyed.

but this whole time he's denied any wrongdoing and insisted that bunga bunga parties were just elegant dinners. so he feels vindicated. and a few hours ago, in a tweet, berlusconi said, i've finally been acquitted after more than 11 years of suffering, of political damage and of having my name dragged through the mud. so what's next for mr berlusconi? well, you know, he has been dominant in italian public life for decades as a media tycoon, as a football club owner. and he was prime minister three times. so, you know, he is 86 years old, but he's still in politics and he's made political comebacks before. at the moment, actually, he's the leader of a centre right party that is playing a key role in italy's in italy's coalition government. so now that his name has been cleared, berlusconi is likely to continue playing a very important role in italian

politics and society. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: hollywood pays tribute to raquel welsh, the model and actor who has died at the age of 82. 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 low in the crater flow down to the sea to the east of the island, away from the town 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 — russian for peace. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: thousands of syrian refugees arrive at the turkish border, as they try to cross back into their home country after last week's earthquakes. the scottish national party begins the task of choosing a new leader, after nicola sturgeon steps down as first minister. tributes have been paid to the hollywood movie star raquel welch, who became an international sex symbol in the 1960s,

who's died aged 82. she won a golden globe award for her performance in the three musketeers film and is often credited with breaking the mould for modern day action heroines. david sillito looks back at her life. raquel welch did not expect anyone to remember what she thought was just a "silly dinosaur movie". but one million years bc, with its giant malevolent turtles, poor grasp of evolution, and prehistoric bikinis, turned raquel welch into a star of teenage bedrooms across the world. "in one fell swoop, everything about the real me was," she said, "swept away." # you make me feel so young...#. it was pretty clear how she was being marketed. coffee ? in bedazzled, she was given the role of lilian lust. strong, black and sweet. in public, she played the role. two mountainous spoons full!

but she said she had little control over her career. # now, listen here, boy! # i used to be a square...#. she was bornjo raquel tejada, the daughter of a bolivian engineer, and her heart really lay in song and dance — light—hearted, old—school glamour. a lot of people want to be great artists. i don't know that i'm capable of being that, but i hope i entertain a few people, you know? the producer behind many of her projects was the man she married in 1967 — film producer patrick curtis. it would be fair to say she was better known than many of her films. never again will i let you go into such terrible danger. but she did win a golden globe for the three musketeers. # i can rub and scrub this house # till it's shining just like a dime...#. and on stage and television, she did get a chance to show off her song and dance skills. # you got the shake and i got the shimmy...#.

raquel welch had set out wanting to be ginger rogers and ended up being defined by a doe—skin bikini. that was david sillito on the life of raquel welch, who's died at the age of 82. we can now speak to the entertainment journalist kj matthews. she joins us from los angeles. it was sort of hard to imagine a time when raquel welch might have been a bit more reticent about who she was, where she came from and watches did for. yes, she certainly grew up in a different time. she is really your quintessential sexy bombshell and many people credit her for changing the stereotype of what a bombshell could be in hollywood, because before her it was really marilyn monroe and everyone thought you had to be blonde to

be considered sexy. she broke that mould and lived to be 82, which is quite surprising. willie had been working well into her 70s, late 70s, even until a decade ago. she looked remarkable. she really changed the landscape. 0ne remarkable. she really changed the landscape. one of the things i really love about her is how she really embraced her heritage and her roots towards the end of her career, i think. but that wasn't always the case. initially, she really did hide her bolivian identity. absolutely. in fact, hide her bolivian identity. absolutely. infact, back hide her bolivian identity. absolutely. in fact, back in 2000, she was asked if she had any regrets and she said her biggest regret is that she didn't really kind of embrace her heritage. she busy changed her heritage. she busy changed her last name to her first husband. that was not her original last name and she shied away from it. she said she didn't really say that she was hispanic or she did have a father who was bolivian, but she didn't embrace it the way that she did in her laterfilms and she really said it was because she felt as though it

would stereotype her and her father didn't even speak spanish. he didn't want to speak spanish here in america so she wanted to make your she had opportunities and didn't want people to only stereotype as some sort of sexy latina actress that couldn't do more than that. she wanted to mixture she could break out of that mould and that is the reason why she kind of denied her heritage early on in her career. i her heritage early on in her career. , ., ., her heritage early on in her career. , ., . , career. i tell you what stood out for me _ career. i tell you what stood out for me there _ career. i tell you what stood out for me there in - career. i tell you what stood out for me there in that - career. i tell you what stood l out for me there in that piece was him saying that raquel welch herself didn't feel that she had control over her own career. however, it is hard to imagine someone with sort of greater sex symbol status who was able at the time to point blank refused to do nude scenes. that is interesting. she was able to draw that line for the studios and the directors.— for the studios and the directors. �* , , ., ., directors. because she made a lot of money — directors. because she made a lot of money for _ directors. because she made a lot of money for them - directors. because she made a lot of money for them and - directors. because she made a lot of money for them and she | lot of money for them and she really was such a big star that they wanted to have her. it was better to have her in your film than not, so they were willing to make those demands but remember she was on so many

sexy lists from time magazine and she didn't even appear nude in playboy and that is very rare, so she still was very sexy even though she didn't appear nude in films or in magazines. she still kind of portrayed that sexy bombshell brunette image that they were trying to put out there post marilyn monroe. b5 trying to put out there post marilyn monroe.— trying to put out there post marilyn monroe. trying to put out there post maril nmonroe. ~ , , marilyn monroe. as you say, she in some ways — marilyn monroe. as you say, she in some ways broke _ marilyn monroe. as you say, she in some ways broke the - marilyn monroe. as you say, she in some ways broke the mould . in some ways broke the mould but in other ways, she created another one. how does the industry regard to? because ever since that bikini and was first and that film, there has been a problem with stereotyping women in roles? it is very interesting. back in 2012, she was doing a television interview and she said so many people do stereotype as just being a dumb, beautifulwoman stereotype as just being a dumb, beautiful woman that is just gorgeous to look at but doesn't have much going on

outside of that, and he said it is not that, it is just that hollywood particularly stereotypes women who look like her. it is not that she doesn't have anything intelligent to say or to bring to the table, it is just that which opens her mouth, people don't want to hear what she has to say. they would ratherjust look at her in a pretty picture or up on the big screen. she went on to even have a business. she has a very successful week line. a lot of people don't know that, but she sells wigs. people wanted to look like her. even in her 70s, she was striking —looking, stunning, and many women wanted to have that kind of sexiness as they aged gracefully in hollywood. yes, . uite gracefully in hollywood. yes, uuite a gracefully in hollywood. yes, quite a savvy _ gracefully in hollywood. yes, quite a savvy businesswoman as well. thank you so much for your time and well. thank you so much for yourtime and your well. thank you so much for your time and your insight. time now for the latest sports news.

hello. i'm hugh ferris. the premier league has new leaders. manchester city won the battle between first and second three one at arsenal to replace them at the top of the table. a position that the defending champions haven't been in since august city have wiped away an eight point deficit in a little under a month, partly thanks to arsenal dropping points in their last three matches now. and there were mistakes won, allowing kevin de bruyne to give city the lead. after bukayo saka equalised with a penalty, the wayside took control in the second half. first jack grealish and then erling haaland with his 26th premier league goal of the season, giving the champions the win their top on goal difference. but arsenal do have a game in hand.

yeah, two sides. the first half arsenal was much better than us. we were not good enough. intense. maybe because i changed something and it didn't work. in the second half, we were more aggressive. we're much, much better. and we did it. a stunning solo goal from karim adeyemi gave borussia dortmund a 1—0 win over chelsea in the first leg of their champions league last 16 tie in germany. the forward picked the ball up inside his own half to score the only goal. in a meeting of two former winners of the competition, chelsea had a number of chances of their own, but the nearest they got to scoring wasjoao felix hitting the crossbar. the second leg is at stamford bridge in three weeks' time. we've used many actions and many clips from ourformer games to see. this is what they tried to do. this is what they like to do. and this is what we've done. this season were very well and so we had a to do list and know and things that we are not allowed to do. and this is what we show the players and this is what we showed the team and today it went well in terms of the results. but performance wise, we, we know that we need to improve for the for the second leg. benfica have the most commanding lead of all the teams who have featured in the first

week of the last 16 ties. they won 2—0 at club brugge through a joao mario penalty, and then a late second from david neres. british cash owner expecting to release record results. the use. hello. the last few days have been pretty settled with high pressure in charge, but things are about to change and thursday is going to be an overcast day across most of the uk. drizzle if not rain, really very murky conditions to start with. and then towards the end of the week, it could actually turn very wild across some northern parts of the uk. we'll get to that. here's the satellite picture. here's all of that cloud moving off the atlantic. it's a small weather system that will be moving across the uk during the course of thursday and there are more weather systems out in the atlantic coming our way. so, early in the morning, we have thick cloud across many parts of england, wales and northern ireland. outbreaks of rain, drizzle, hill fog too, mild with that — 5 to 7 celsius.

but across the north of scotland, we will have had clear skies, so perhaps a touch of frost. so really very murky, grey, overcast, whatever you want to call it, first thing in the morning. later in the day, it does look as though most of that rain should peter out, at least across england and wales, and we'll see one or two bright or sunny spells — with a bit of luck, one or two decent sunny spells. 13 or 1a celsius in the south, a little bit cooler in the north. now, on to friday — nasty low pressure will be sweeping across scotland. that is going to bring severe gales. exactly where the worst of the winds will be, still a little uncertain, but it does look as though it's northern scotland that will get the worst of the winds, but not only northern scotland, it's also going to get very windy through the lowlands and particularly to the northeast of england, so the east of the pennines — in fact, the apps are already indicating gusts of over 70 miles an hour, for example, in newcastle. so, these winds will cause problems, disruption, possibly blow some trees down as well. so, really keep track of the forecast.

the details may change, but it does look as though it's the northern half of the uk that will be very blustery and quite possibly stormy for a time. later on friday, the winds will die down and then in the south, actually, it shouldn't be too bad. breezy, yes, but we're not going to get the gales, and it will stay mild — up to around 1a celsius. now, here's a daisy chain of weather systems as we go through the weekend. so, more cloud pushing our way. i don't think it's going to be raining particularly heavily, but i think there will be a lot of cloud during the course of saturday and sunday, but one or two glimmers of brightness, too, and on the mild side. bye— bye.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. bumper profits expected from british gas owner centrica today, reigniting the calls for windfall taxes. we take a look at the organisations providing humanitarian aid following the devastating earthquakes in turkey and syria. can the tourism industry be more prepared for unexpected, but costly, events like the covid pandemic and natural disasters? we'll take you to jamaica to talk with the country's tourism minister.