and it's anything but a "ruff" welcome for these pets as an auction for recycled royal curtains helps rescue dogs find a home. we start in syria, where we start in syria, where the country's military the country's military has acknowledged that parts has acknowledged that parts of the city of aleppo of the city of aleppo have fallen to rebels have fallen to rebels and it's sustained dozens and it's sustained dozens of casualties in of casualties in large—scale clashes. large—scale clashes. this was the centre of aleppo of syria's this was the centre of aleppo in the early hours, in the early hours, after russian and syrian warplanes bombed after russian and syrian warplanes bombed islamist rebel positions islamist rebel positions there for the first there for the first time in eight years, time in eight years, in support of the syrian in support of the syrian government forces. government forces. the rebels, led by the islamist the rebels, led by the islamist hayat tahrir al—sham, hayat tahrir al—sham, or hts group, are reported or hts group, are reported to have to have taken control of the majority taken control of the majority

of syria's second—largest city after launching a surprise offensive four days ago. the syrian military says it's withdrawing from parts of aleppo to regroup ahead of the arrival of reinforcements. aleppo was the scene of one of the bloodiest sieges of syria's civil war, a conflict which first broke out in 2011.

so it was expected that government forces and russians to start some sort of defence. and that's what happened overnight with russian airstrikes against rebel, you know, forces. and this time in the city of aleppo. we're still not sure quite where exactly and if there are any damages. and what are the, you know, death toll after these airstrikes. but this is a sign that both the government and the russians have moved to push the rebels back. and we're still watching to see how this back and forth battle will unfold. and who's going to, you know, remain and control the power in aleppo, although we've seen also reports that, you know, the opposition who used suicide car bombs to advance towards the city of aleppo faced little resistance from government forces.

and there were some words for the army to pull out to have tactical withdrawal from different parts of the city as well. let's get more on this from ibrahim hamidi who is a syrianjournalist and co—founder of the syrian studies center in scotland. and co—founder of the syrian it and co—founder of the syrian has been several reas but it has been several reasons, but then you focus onto. one is that after the big defeat at hezbollah and iran faced in lebanon and syria, between israel and iran, lebanon and syria, between israeland iran, now lebanon and syria, between israel and iran, now the whole militias deployed in the western part of aleppo are weakened, and the armed groups, the islamist backed groups see this as an opportunity to make gains on the ground. i think they were surprised how fast they were surprised how fast

they were surprised how fast they were able to advance inside aleppo. and now as was said, the second—biggest city in the first time ever, it is out of control of the central damascus —based, syrian capital. now the armed groups backed by turkey have the second—largest city in syria. i understand you have been speaking to a lot of people in aleppo. how are they feeling about what is now happening? i spoke to some reporters on the ground in aleppo, it seems as of now that the leaders of the armed groups, the head of hts, gave clear instructions to the fighters not to harm any civilians, not to attack any properties, tojust civilians, not to attack any properties, to just try to control the city militarily. i think they are in a way

inspired by taliban experience inspired by taliban experience in afghanistan so they are trying to copy that model, trying to copy that model, trying to copy that model, trying to control the city and trying to control the city and trying to control the city and trying to let the locals control the city, but let's see what is going to happen next. as was said, the russians have started to do air strikes on aleppo, and the syrian government has well has done some strikes in aleppo. let me make it clear, the whole offensive, the whole case will have not been possible if russia intervened at the beginning quickly. it seems that russia, because the russian army has moved and faced the most advanced warplanes to ukraine, now they are not able to intervene straightaway, the last three or four days, just starting to intervene now after four days after the armed groups were

able to control the second—largest city in syria. i don't know if they can really push them out without making huge damage for this big city which there is about 5 million civilians in the city. here in the uk, senior doctors providing end—of—life care are urging ministers to "fix" palliative services, after mps voted in favour of legalising assisted dying for terminally ill people in england and wales. the association for palliative medicine wants the government to set up a commission to examine how to improve the care its members provide to patients. it is warning about the impact of a lack of funding and poor co—ordination of services. the department of health has been asked for comment. here's our health correspondent, catherine burns. after 4.5 hours of debate, it came down to this. the ayes to the right, 330. the noes to the left, 275. the ayes have it,

the ayes have it. | lock! outside parliament, campaigners were waiting anxiously for news and then forsome, celebrations. but also a bittersweet moment, with others wishing this had come in time for their loved ones. my dad took his own life because he could no longer endure the pain that he was in. um, you know, my whole family, the whole experience could have been different. we could have talked about it together. you know, we could have sat down and could have been calm. we could have been with my father at the end. and, i mean, ultimately, my sister wouldn't have had to have found him after he took his own life. this question has always been divisive, and some people are devastated. i think it has an impact on people who are vulnerable, who will very quickly go from having a right to die to having a duty to die. this bill would only be relevant to certain people. they'd have to be over 18, registered with a gp in england and wales and be expected to die within six months.

they must have the mental capacity to decide and clearly express their wishes. it's also worth highlighting who wouldn't be impacted — anyone under 18, people who are in pain but not with a terminal diagnosis, or who are not mentally capable of deciding this. this result might be historic, but it's not law yet and it might never get to that stage. the next step is a lot of scrutiny and dealing with unanswered questions, like how can doctors definitively say that someone only has six months left to live? how to protect vulnerable people who might feel pressurised into doing this. how much will it cost and how will it be funded? but really, at the heart of this is one key question — how can people have the best possible death? palliative care can help make people comfortable at the end of their lives. about 450,000 people across

the uk need it every year. they don't all get it, though. about 100,000 have to go without. some argue the government should be prioritising this. we would encourage them i to start a conversation, um, about putting this right, - about making making palliative care something we can be really proud of. - um, what concerns me is that now that this bill is passed, . there may be less impetus to do that _ and also, we know there i is a finite amount of money to be used for the nhs. but mps backing the bill think it's helping to focus attention on palliative care. of course, assisted dying is not a substitute for palliative care. it is not an either—or. we have some of the best palliative care in the world in this country and when it can meet the needs of terminally ill people, it is second to none. but surely when it cannot, the choice of an assisted death should be one component of a holistic approach to end—of—life care.

this conversation is far from over. even if the bill does become law, it would take two or three years for an assisted death in england or wales. catherine burns, bbc news. a memorial service is being held this morning for the former first minister of scotland alex salmond, following his death last month in north macedonia at the age of 69. 500 people were due to attend the invitation—only event at edinburgh's st giles cathedral. mr salmond's close friends and political allies duncan we have recently heard from reverend doctor george white in his opening words, he said, we gather not to beautify a seat but to remember a human being. let'sjust have a but to remember a human being. let's just have a listen into that service as it is taking place. that service as it is taking lace. ., ., �* 4' ., place. lord, we don't know where you're _ place. lord, we don't know where you're going -

place. lord, we don't know where you're going so - place. lord, we don't know where you're going so how| place. lord, we don't know- where you're going so how can we know the way? jesus answered, i am the way. and the truth. and the life. nobody comes to the father... we will be keeping _ comes to the father... we will be keeping an _ comes to the father... we will be keeping an eye _ comes to the father... we will be keeping an eye across - comes to the father... we will be keeping an eye across the l be keeping an eye across the service as we are expecting various political leaders and also family members to speak about his life. vote counting in ireland's general election has begun, after an exit poll put the three main parties virtually neck and neck. a final result isn't expected until the end of the weekend. let's speak to our chief presenter caitriona perry, who's in dublin for us. counting under way behind you. indeed, the votes have all been sorted into piles, ballot boxes open, the staff waiting to get those piles to start assigning them to each of the candidates running in each of the constituencies. this is a nervy part of the day the

politicians. waiting to see those first references assigned to the various candidates. there have been tallies of the votes which is an organised system between the parties where they are looking over their shoulders, where they are looking over theirshoulders, over where they are looking over their shoulders, over the shoulders of those counting the ballots and they look like being more or less in line with what we saw from the exit poll last night, about 5000 voters showing fine gael and sinn fein in and around on the same level of support, broadly in line with what opinion polls had been showing and indeed in line with the current situation, the outgoing parliament where those three parties have a couple of seats dividing each of them. we should expect to have the first seats filled in the early afternoon, then it could be late on sunday, perhaps early monday before all of the seats have failed, after that. then the difficult business of actually forming a government. no party is going to have an entire majority so we're looking at another coalition

government here as well. after the mai khoi —— make—up of that, that is where the horse trading will begin, the two parties were currently in government with the green party will need some support of smaller parties or independents to get to that majority position. sinn fein, for its part, has said it intends to try and make a government as well. with some of those left leaning smaller parties and independent candidates, and if that happens it would be the first time in the history of the state that sinn fein would be in power. before we get to that point, we have to get all of the seats filled, 174 seats in the parliament. we will have an idea of that injust a in the parliament. we will have an idea of that in just a few hours' time. an idea of that in 'ust a few hours' time._ now it's time for a look at today's sport with mike bushel. hello again. england's cricketers are on the verge of inflicting a rare defeat

on new zealand in christchurch, after the third day of the first test. the tourists had built a first—innings lead of 151, and then threatened to embarrass the new zealand batters, by reducing them to 64—3 before kane williamson launched a rescue act. but a crucial two wickets in three balls for chris woakes broke the resistance, and it means the hosts are just 4 runs ahead, with only 4 wickets left and so england should be chasing an easy target when they have their second innings. partnership tomorrow morning, if they can get into their work early, i think especially now the ball has got softer, it has shown here that the new ball is dangerous and once it does flatten out, you can put the ball is under some pressure —— bowlers under some pressure. build on the lead and give us something to bowl four on the last day. brighton fans are in dreamland, second in the premier league for now, after a draw on the south coast, with bottom club, southampton, who

were left seething, as they chased a precious first away win to give them some hope of escaping relegation. now southampton, who had lost every previous away game, had gone behind, but equalised in the second half through flynn downes. and then saints will feel they should have been travelling back along the south coast with all three points after seeing a goal ruled offside by both the on—pitch officials and var. it wasn't the goal—scorer, but adam armstrong to his left, who was off side and it was judged his movement affected the goalkeeper — it took over four minutes for var to decide and manager russell martin wasn't happy. days decisions that are made, if it is made in the heat of the moment, you can accept it much easier. when you have so much easier. when you have so much time and we have to wait on the side of the pitch for so long at the decision is still in my opinion hopefully anyone who understands the game and played it or watched it for a long time, the reason it is given is that the goalkeeper is affected, he's not, that a problem. the premier league action continues today, with arsenal away at west ham.

raheem sterling hasn't played much football since joining the gunners, but mikel arteta says you can expect that to change. i would like to see her more, to be fair, and this is down to me. he is trying his best, his application, commitment, has been exceptional. now it is time for me to give him more minutes. four other games in the premier league today. incoming leicester manager ruud van nistelrooy will be in the stands as he watches his new side, away at brentford. crystal palace take on newcastle. nottingham forest are up against ipswich and gary o'neil�*s wolves face his former club bournemouth. on to formula one, with the drivers title race now done and dusted, it is all about the team award now, and lando norris will be on pole for the sprint race this afternoon in qatar, as his mclaren team aim to win the constructors championship. mclaren are 24 points clear of ferrari in the table for that title. norris finished ahead of fellow briton george russell, with his mclaren team—mate oscar piastri third. world champion max verstappen will start sixth.

great qualifying today. especially to bounce back from paper were last time in vegas, a nice thing to do. happy, it was a decent lap, making many mistakes in my second. but we are coming here to get pole and we got that so job done for today. and that's all the sport for now. back to edinburgh away public memorial service for alex salmond is being held. we can hear 110w now from his niece, christina hendry. now from his niece, christina hend . . , hendry. he always said, he continued _ hendry. he always said, he continued to _ hendry. he always said, he continued to support - hendry. he always said, he i continued to support football throughout his life, we were recently reminded of the story were the night before his higher history exam, he travelled to wolverhampton to watch hearts in the second leg of their 1971 cup. he studied

on the bus and onlyjust made it back in time for the exam but he still managed to get an a. funnily enough, i do not recall hearing this story until i was well past the exam stage of my life. the household was also proudly scottish. anti—margaret remembers alec listening avidly to his grandpa telling tales of scottish history, particularly where it was political. there love for history and for scotland continued throughout his life. he went on to study economics at medieval history at st andrews university, he then began a job as an assistant economist with the department of agriculture and fisheries in edinburgh. he met moira and they were married in 1981. they had a wonderful 43 years of marriage. the titles of auntie moira and uncle alec, to all of

us. in 1985 uncle alec sought selection for the seat in north—east scotland, handy as his older sister margaret had married a farmerfrom his older sister margaret had married a farmer from alongsid, his younger sister was engaged to my father, and his brother was with the student nash listen edinburgh. uncle alec bought many elections and my sister and i have happy memories of children where he was the one asking us if we would go on the rides with him. he was the top man in scotland. always make time for his family. i sister was born