hello, i'm kylie pentelow. we start in syria, where fighting has erupted in aleppo for the first time since rebel forces were forced out of the city by government troops in 2016. the army says dozens of its soldiers have been killed or injured in clashes and there are reports that rebels now control the majority of the city. this was the centre of aleppo in the early hours, after russian and syrian warplanes intervened in support of government forces overnight, bombing islamist rebel positions, who launched a surprise offensive four days ago. the syrian military says its troops have been withdrawn

from aleppo temporarily "to prepare a counteroffensive". a reminder of the recent history of aleppo — the city was the scene of one of the bloodiest sieges of syria's civil war, which first broke out in 2011. this week's offensive is the largest against the syrian government in years. let's hearfrom one rebel fighter who made it into the heart of the city. translation: after hard worki and patience from the fighters, the city of aleppo has been completely liberated, thank god, and by god's will we will reach horns and damascus too. our middle east correspondent lina sinjab gave us more details about the russian airstrikes. well, this offensive started on wednesday by the rebeljihadist rebels sweeping through several towns and cities, including reaching most parts of aleppo. 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.

so how significant is this latest offensive by rebel forces, considering, as we were saying, it's the largest against the syrian government in years? it is indeed. and it comes at a time where, you know, the regime is busy with reshuffling situation internally, especially after there was a big blow to its allies, both hezbollah and iran, in syria and in lebanon because of israeli attacks. and while russia is also busy with ukraine, but we've seen immediately that the russians have, you know, moved to try and, you know, stop this offensive or try to defend the city of aleppo. we've seen also words coming out from the russians calling on the government to act quickly to defend it. but also there are questions about, you know, who is behind this offensive, in supporting the rebels to take this offensive at this time. many raised the question whether turkey has interest in,

you know, giving a green light for the rebels that they back to act at this time and also to try and push, you know, the millions of refugees that they have in turkey back into syria. so there are lots of questions here at stake, and only the days to come will unfold, to understand what are the real reasons and who's going to be the one who maintains control over the city of aleppo. let's speak to dastan jasim who, is an associate fellow at the german institute for global and area studies researching the kurdish conflicts in syria and iran. dastan, why is this happening now? there happening now? are several reasons. as said there are several reasons. as said before, russia is weak right now, the syrian regime is also weak, reportedly assad is not in the country but right

now in moscow. also we have a lot of, no clarity about what the us interests in the region will be with a second tramp presidency. these are all factors which are weakening the situation —— second trump. we also have a situation where turkey has tried to broker something with assad and the last month and it hasn't worked out, assad was not doing or accepting the conditions that turkey were setting out. this is also a revenge. the other thing it is directed to turkish domestic policy and politics towards the kurdish people. there are great neighbourhoods in aleppo which are by majority kurdish population, these are also the only areas of aleppo that are right now resisting against this attack of islamist forces. this is also a way of began clearing the table regarding the kurdish question and turkey, iraq and syria.

this advance shocked a lot of people, what do you think will happen next? this is a very dangerous situation because we do not only have forces of the syrian opposition, which in 2024 is an outdated term. we have islamist groups like hts and others that are known for their human rights abuses, and we also have hts that had before been in competition with turkey but our work with them. all elements working with isis. we have seen footage in the last 24 hours of all of these forces letting our prisoners from presence in aleppo, some on top of the civilian casualties of the last 48 hours, we also have a massive out flux of prisoners, also many of them related to isis crimes. a situation where a lot of minorities living in

aleppo are living in fear, the armenian community has called upon their people to stay—at—home and hide themselves, as well as the assyrian community and kurdish community. it is a dire situation, very dangerous, that we see right now.— i want to take you to scotland where a public memorial service is taking place in the former first minister alex salmond. let's just listen to what is happening at the moment.

singing hymn that is the him be thou my vision, at the memorialfor alex salmond in edinburgh. we will have more from our correspondent coming up who has been watching that service take place. —— alec salmond. 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! 0utside 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 of course, assisted dying is not a substitute for palliative care. for palliative care. it is not an either—or. it is not an either—or. we have some of the best we have some of the best palliative care in the world palliative care in the world

in this country and when it can in this country and when it can meet the needs of meet the needs of terminally ill people, terminally ill people, it is second to none. it is second to none. but surely when it cannot, but surely when it cannot, the choice of an assisted death the choice of an assisted death should be one component should be one component of a holistic approach of a holistic approach to end—of—life care. to end—of—life care. this conversation this conversation is far from over. is far from over. even if the bill does become even if the bill does become law, it would take two or three law, it would take two or three years for an assisted death years for an assisted death in england or wales. in england or wales. catherine burns, bbc news. catherine burns, bbc news. end—of—life care. with more on this is our medical editor fergus walsh. there is universal agreement there is universal agreement that palliative care needs that palliative care needs improvement, and i think mps improvement, and i think mps on both sides wanted to ensure on both sides wanted to ensure that palliative care that palliative care is improved so that is improved so that there's not a situation there's not a situation in a few years from now in a few years from now where it's easier to get where it's easier to get an assisted an assisted death than it is to death than it is to get a hospice bed, get a hospice bed,

or it is to get good or it is to get good end—of—life care. and we've heard those calls for day—to—day palliative care to be improved. worth pointing out that the majority of end of life care doctors, palliative care doctors are opposed to assisted dying. but generally there's a concern that palliative care is patchy. where it's good, it's very, very good. but even with the very best palliative care, there's always also an acceptance that it can't always prevent suffering. and that's really one of the key reasons why the bill went through yesterday because mps as a whole accepted that. so since that bill went through, what

the drugs themselves. now, in oregon, on which this is based, the drug is prescribed and then the person keeps it at home. a doctor doesn't have to be there. same in australia. the the patient keeps it at home in a locked box. and then they can die at a time of their choosing. here a doctor will have to be present. bring the drug with them, and they'll have to remain nearby until the person dies. 0ur political correspondent harry farley joined me in the studio a little earlier to dig into the details of the bill. so what we're looking at is many more stages of the parliamentary process before this could become law. and it is still a "could" because there are many more votes,

both in the house of commons and in the house of lords, before this might become law. and i've spoken to several mps who voted in favour of the bill yesterday, in favour of the bill at the first stage yesterday, who say they voted for it at that first stage in order to give it more time to be scrutinised properly, and that they will be making up their minds whether to continue to support it later down the line. so it is not, we should sort of, i suppose, caveat it and say there are many more parliamentary stages to go. what happens immediately next is a committee of mps will form. kim leadbeater, the labour mp who brought this bill, will appoint that committee. but it will reflect the full range of mps opinions but it will reflect the full range of mps' opinions that we heard yesterday. and it's worth pausing to reflect on what was quite an extraordinary day. mps, freed from any sort of tribal or party loyalties, speaking very passionately. we had very emotional speeches on both sides of the argument, so that committee of mps, reflecting that full range of opinion, will form. they will go through the bill, line by line. this is the bill here.

they will go through each line of this bill and scrutinise it very carefully. and then they will suggest amendments, changes, possibly those amendments, as well as the bill as a whole, will then come back to the house of commons. they will, possibly, they might approve some changes, send it off to the house of lords. peers there also get a chance to suggest some changes before it comes back to the commons. so this process will last many months and it is not definite that this bill that mps approved yesterday at its first stage will be the same if eventually it could, might, possibly become law several months down the line. 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. chief presenter caitriona perry is in dublin for us. the votes have all been sorted into piles, the ballot boxes are open and the count staff behind me are just waiting to get those piles of votes again, to start

assigning them to each of the candidates running in each of the constituencies here. this is a nervy part of the day for politicians, waiting to see those first preferences assigned to the various candidates. there have been tallies of the votes, which is an organised system between the parties where they're looking over the shoulders of those counting these ballots, and they look like being more or less in line with what we saw from the exit poll last night. that poll of about 5,000 voters showing fianna fail, fine gael and sinn fein in and around on the same level of support. that's broadly in line with what opinion polls had been showing, and indeed is in line with the current situation of the outgoing parliament, where those three parties just have a couple of seats dividing each of them. we should expect to have the first seats filled in the early afternoon here and then it could be late on sunday, perhaps even early monday before all of the seats are filled. 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 as to the makeup to that, though, that's when the real horse trading will begin. whether it's fianna fail and fine gael, the two parties who are currently in government with the green party, they'll need some support of some smaller parties or some 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. if that happens, of course, it would be the first time in the history of the state that sinn fein would be in power. but before we get to that point, we have to get all of the seats filled, the 174 seats in the parliament here in ireland, and we'll have an idea of that in just a few hours' time. georgian police have used water cannon and tear gas

on demonstrators who turned out in their thousands near the parliament building in tbilisi for a second night running. police say 107 people have been arrested. georgia's pro—western president, salome zurabishvili — who's at loggerheads with the ruling party — said in a televised address that the "resistance movement" had begun and she stood by it. the protests were sparked by the georgian dream party's decision to put off accession talks with the european union until 2028. earlier i spoke to our correspondent rayhan demytrie in georgia. i began by asking her if we should expect more protests in the coming days. it's highly likely because that is the trend in georgia. when police use force, people come in larger numbers. and we've seen a larger protest last night than the previous night. it turned violent when police used started using water cannons. and protesters are saying that there are chemicals that perhaps are somehow mixed with the water.

and i was at the protest rally. it was very difficult to breathe. they used water cannons, tear gas, and this crackdown turned really brutal in the early hours of this morning, because the protest went on till 6am. and now there's more and more evidence emerging of police brutality, specifically in targeting individual protesters and beating and kicking them, and in some instances kicking them unconscious. more than 100 people were arrested, and one lawyer told the local media that there are no places in detention facilities in the capital, tbilisi. now, there have also been protests in other cities of georgia, namely in the second largest city, black sea coastal town of batumi, and some arrests were made there as well. so georgians are really, really angry at their government for making this u—turn on europe. they believe that the government is trying to appease russia by by

turning its back on europe. the prime minister announced on thursday that the current accession talks with the european union will be put on hold until 2028, and the government says that their argument for this is what they described as blackmail from the european union, and also a cascade of insults, as the prime minister said, that is coming from the european politicians and european bureaucrats. so that is their reasoning, why they decided to put this process on hold. but the country's opposition and the pro—western president, they described what is happening now in georgia as a constitutional coup because it's written in the country's constitution, european integration is written in the country's constitution. givi gigitashvili is

a research associate at the atlantic council's digital forensic research lab. i asked him whether he thinks the government's actions represent what most georgians want. no, because 97% of people are in favour of integration so the decision that georgian government made runs against the will of the majority, and it was also mentioned that they openly violated the constitution because article 70 -- 78 constitution because article 70 —— 78 says authorities should take all means in order to advance integration into the european union. so this is against the constitution and against the constitution and against the constitution and against the will of georgian people. against the will of georgian --eole. ., , , ., people. you study online disinformation _ people. you study online disinformation and - people. you study online. disinformation and foreign interference strategies. what

has the talk been that you have seen and the direction that those, that online media sites might be pushing people towards?— might be pushing people towards? ~ . u, towards? well, what i can definitely _ towards? well, what i can definitely say _ towards? well, what i can definitely say is _ towards? well, what i can definitely say is that - definitely say is that currently this movement is completely at the grassroots movement and a spontaneous protest, not organised by anyone. some of course pro—government actors and social media are trying to discredit protest, especially civic activists and pro—democracy activists are the primary targets of online assets of the georgian government, as well as targeted by georgian police, and it definitely this mood of protest is unprecedented in georgia right now, which is also possible to see in online media, and simply at their is a narrative warfare going on, both sides trying to enable a

public opinion and probably one objective is that they want to exhaust georgian proactive, try to make georgians believe that by going to the streets and protesting but not bring positive results for them. —— will not. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. we've seen a real change in the weather type over the past 24 hours or so. it was cold and frosty earlier in the week, but we've got much milder air that's been moving in, and that's the way it looks through much of the weekend. we keep that mild theme, often a lot of cloud around, some outbreaks of rain, especially so tomorrow because this area of low pressure is approaching from the west. at the moment, though, we're between weather systems, one of them pushing off towards the east here, and that means the winds are going to be coming

in from the south. so that's bringing this mild air right across the map through the course of the weekend. quite a lot of cloud out there for much of today. best of any sunshine to the north and east of high ground. so northern scotland, eastern england, could be some sunshine for merseyside, north wales, northern ireland as well. 0dd spot of drizzle around some coasts and hills in the west where it's also going to be pretty windy. top temperatures between about 12 to 15 for most of us, so several degrees above average for the time of year, and then moving into the evening hours, we've still got those brisk southerly winds. we're going to see some rain moving in across northern ireland this evening, then into the west of scotland. and overnight tonight this band of rain will track further eastwards across parts of northern england, wales, down towards central southern england as well. so a damp start to sunday with this rain around, but clearer skies already start to move in from the west. won't be a cold night again. frost—free. 9 to 12 degrees to start your sunday morning. very mild. sunday's weather dominated by this weather front, which is pushing from west to east. it's going to be slow—moving. it's bumping into high pressure across the near continent, so it won't move through particularly quickly — where you do see that rain for parts of eastern england, it will linger longest for

east anglia in the southeast, but for the rest of the uk, a return to some sunnier skies but still some blustery showers working in, could be the odd sharp one, especially towards the west. top temperatures 14, possibly 15 degrees once again. but then things are going to change a little bit sunday night, because a change in wind direction means a colder air mass will move in for monday, at least across scotland and northern ireland too. and then that colder airjust slowly filtering further south. it won't last too long, though, because the middle of the week onwards will see a return to this conveyor belt of low pressure systems moving in from the atlantic, bringing something milder and more unsettled. you can see that with the outlook — for our capital cities, things turn a little bit colder through monday, into tuesday as well, then milder again for the rest of the week, and things are going to remain pretty unsettled. bye— bye.

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this is bbc news, the headlines... russian and syrian jets have bombed islamist rebels, after they seized most of syria's second city aleppo. it comes after the insurgents continued their surprise four—day offensive, syria's military has acknowledged dozens of casualties among its forces. palliative care campaigners in the uk have called on ministers to improve funding for end of life care, after a vote in the commons in favour of legalising assisted dying in england and wales.

counting is under way in ireland's general election, with an exit poll suggesting a tight race between the three main parties. the cost of living, the housing crisis, and immigration are reported to have been among issues weighing on voters. more protests last night in georgia: thousands took to the streets to demonstrate against the ruling party's decision to suspend eu membership talks. more now on our top story here — mps voting in favour of a bill to legalise assisted dying in england and wales. it's a landmark moment, but the argument is far from over. there will be months of debate and scrutiny — and the bill will need approval from both the house of commons and the house of lords before it becomes law. tim muffet has been speaking to two high—profile campaigners — on either side of the issue.

chanting: assisted dying now!