we start in the middle east, where syria's president, bashar al—assad, says the united states is behind a rebel offensive that has reignited the country's civil war. he says washington and its allies want to redraw the map of the middle east. syria and its ally, russia, are bombarding rebel—held positions — this was the aftermath of a russian strike on a hospital in idlib. the syrian army says they've killed hundreds of advancing fighters, while rebel groups and independent observers say many of the dead are civilians. aleppo — syria's second city — was seized by rebel fighters in a surprise attack last week. here's our international editor, jeremy bowen. the syrian regime is striking back. in the last two days, the un humanitarian office says more than 50 air strikes hit idlib, the province that is the powerhouse of the rebels. the hospital in idlib city was among several healthcare facilities targeted. the un says at least 44 civilians have been killed in airstrikes.

air raids, body bags, civilians in another middle eastern country are grieving. a renewed syrian war will pour a lot more fuel on the fire that is consuming the middle east. it is the regime's response to the lightning offensive that swept up aleppo, including its ancient citadel. during years of war, the citadel was an impregnable regime fortress, but these men, from hts, took it almost without a fight. back injanuary 2017, i was in aleppo, in the days after the assad regime recaptured the east of the city from rebels who had held it since the war in aleppo started in 2012. there was massive destruction from russian and regime air strikes. this was all a huge

victory for the regime, but in the years that followed, the war gradually froze, but it never ended. once again, president bashar al—assad is beleaguered. he had an emergency meeting in damascus with the iranian foreign minister. assad's survival will depend again on his allies, who are worrying about their own futures. in aleppo, hts fighters are pulling down portraits of assad, the enemy. they are considered terrorists by his regime, and by the un, the us, the uk and the eu, because their roots are in al-qaeda. mina al lami follows jihadist media for bbc monitoring. she's seen hts changing its image, as syrians are mostly repelled by extremist religious rhetoric. in their messaging, they have been trying to portray themselves as more of nationalist rebel group, and basically trying to shake off theirjihadist past, and prove that they don't have any lasting links with al-qaeda, orjihadist groups, and that they are simply after a toppling of the government of bashar al—assad.

some food is getting through to civilians in aleppo, but this is another humanitarian crisis in the making. the people of this city live at one of the historic crossroads of the middle east, connected to all the region's political and sectarian fault lines. if the offensive leads to protracted fighting, it will be a major escalation in the middle east crisis. that is bad news for the whole region, and notjust the hungry and frightened people on aleppo�*s streets. let's get more on the situation on the ground in syria with razan saffour, a human rights activist who has friends and family residing in aleppo. shejoins me from istanbul. razan, thank you forjoining me

to talk about this. what are you hearing about the conditions in aleppo now the rebels have taken control of the city? rebels have taken control of the ci ? . ~ rebels have taken control of the ci ? ., ~ ,, rebels have taken control of the city?— rebels have taken control of the ci ? ., ~ ., ., the city? thank you for having me, the city? thank you for having me. steve- — the city? thank you for having me, steve. so, _ the city? thank you for having me, steve. so, there - the city? thank you for having me, steve. so, there are - the city? thank you for having i me, steve. so, there are mixed reports. there are people who are reporting better conditions at the moment. there are people who are saying there are basic amenities that when afforded to them suddenly being provided to them. i have an aunt who lives there and we have been speaking to her she has been telling us ever since the rebels took over, electricity has suddenly returned to the city. previously they were living with one to two hours or a maximum of two to three hours of electricity every single day since 2016, and now, for the last four days, they've been having electricity nonstop. there's been reports of water being cut off, but since yesterday that has been reported that it has come back, and people for the most part of those that i've spoken to, those that i've spoken to, those on ground, or even those

online, are saying there is generally a safe ifs —— a sense of safety. people are able to go out, people are able to speak their minds, and the one thing they fear the most is the retaliation from the assad regime and from russia. there has been bombardments taking place. we have had at least a0 to 50 people killed just yesterday due to russian and syrian air strikes, so for the most part people on the ground are feeling like there is a renewed sense of hope. people are feeling like there are basic amenities, and really people care for these basic amenities because it is allowing them to leave a dignified life. they are feeling like there is some hope for them to leave this dignified life. 0therwise, dignified life. otherwise, there is also the fears of the lack of safety from the airspace. lack of safety from the airspace-_ lack of safety from the airsace. . ., lack of safety from the airsace. . . . airspace. razan com you are talkin: airspace. razan com you are talking about _ airspace. razan com you are talking about the _ airspace. razan com you are talking about the feeling - airspace. razan com you are talking about the feeling of. talking about the feeling of hope that this has happened, so am i right in thinking, then, that they are welcoming of the rebels taking over control of

aleppo? rebels taking over control of ale . o? rebels taking over control of aleuo? ., ., rebels taking over control of ale 0? ., ., �* aleppo? so, again, i can't seak aleppo? so, again, i can't speakfor_ aleppo? so, again, i can't speak for everyone, - aleppo? so, again, i can't speak for everyone, and l aleppo? so, again, i can't. speak for everyone, and we aleppo? so, again, i can't- speak for everyone, and we have to also be very understanding that syrians are not a monolith, people have a lot of different views when it comes to this. i think more than being welcoming of the rebels, people are welcome of assad no longer being in control. this is more about assad not being in control than it being the rebel groups themselves. sorry, go on. rebel groups themselves. sorry, no on. ., , ., ., go on. no, i 'ust wanted to touch on — go on. no, ijust wanted to touch on assad, _ go on. no, ijust wanted to touch on assad, you - go on. no, ijust wanted to l touch on assad, you mention go on. no, ijust wanted to - touch on assad, you mention the fear of reprisals from assad, and that includes from russia as well, assad's allies, when they do counter, which we have already seen evidence of. is there a sense on the ground that this could be a return, then, to the fighting we have seen over the last ten years in syria? seen over the last ten years in s ria? syria? so the fighting never stepped- — syria? so the fighting never stepped- it _ syria? so the fighting never stopped. itjust _ syria? so the fighting never stopped. itjust stopped - syria? so the fighting never stopped. itjust stopped in l stopped. itjust stopped in aleppo but the fighting has been ongoing over the last eight years, we have between 30 to 200 people being killed every day still, but the bombardment was on the rural

parts of aleppo and the bob blackman was in live, which is where the rebels —— the bombardment was in idlib province. so that never really stopped. it isjust province. so that never really stopped. it is just that the fronts have been extended right now, and now there are more people at risk, because the regime and russian actually end “p regime and russian actually end up retaliating against the civilian population in order to force the rebel groups to succumb, knowing that there will be pressure from the inside from the civilians. thank you so much speaking to us, we appreciate your perspective on this. meanwhile, there have been signs of a break in the ceasefire between israel and lebanon. israel launched a wave of air strikes on southern lebanon on monday evening, hours after the lebanese militant group, hezbollah, fired two mortars at an israeli army post in an area occupied by israel. the attack was the first by hezbollah since a ceasefire went into effect, last week. the united states and france

have said that israel had violated the ceasefire, though israel denies this. in georgia, thousands of protestors are in the capital tblisi for a fifth night in a row. once again, there have been extensive clashes with police, with protesters throwing fireworks at officers who are shooting tear gas and water cannon. the demonstrators are furious about what they see as the government's increasing ties to russia, a country that currently occupies 20% of their land. last week, the prime minister said he'd put european union accession talks on hold, despite polls suggesting widespread support for membership, sparking this latest round of demonstrations. the president of georgia, salome zourabichvili, has been among those criticising the strong police response. she has been in a stand—off with the ruling georgia dream party, and is on the side of the protestors. she says last month's elections were rigged, the current parliament is illegitimate, and has vowed to stay in herjob, when her term ends in a couple of weeks. in an interview with the bbc

on monday evening, she called for more western support. we see russian propaganda, which we do not have to get in, russian propaganda, but everything has to be revolution, everything has to be prepared by the west. there is nothing of that kind. there is a very calm, very peaceful population that wants to have its voice heard, that it's will is to go towards europe and this has been the case for centuries for georgia. we will not accept that a foreign power deters it from its destiny, which is the european community. former georgian ambassador to the us, temuri yakobashvili, explains what the president was asking for, in practical terms. she is asking, in my opinion, for not only the verbal support

from the west, but concrete actions, and those actions can take several dimensions, one of them is obviously a sanction, sanction in those who rigged elections, on those who allowed such a massive violation on the streets of georgia of human rights, and besides sanctions, there are political measures that can also be applied, the rights of it, and the western countries know how to do it, including isolating the georgian so—called government and massive support to georgian opposition, political support, and any other support to the civil society of georgia that is standing on the streets now. when you see what has been unfolding over the last few nights, do you feel that things could turn violent? it is already violent, and i would say that we are

bond already a political crisis, it is already a crisis of governance, because those people who are on the streets are not there because of a specific political party or group or political parties. 0bviously, they are there as well, and they were also arrested, some leaders were arrested as well, but it is already a massive public outcry, not only in the capital of georgia, but we see these similar pictures coming from all major cities of georgia, and people who are taking actions are not only politically—motivated people, but they are regular people, even schoolchildren are on the street. can it get worse? it can always get worse, unfortunately, and, unfortunately also, i don't see a sign that those who are in the ruling position in georgia, that they understand that they are losing not only public support, not only the support from the western allies, but they are also losing support of their internal administrative resources, as well. we have seen a wave

of resigning letters from ambassadors, we have seen the massive protest letters coming from varieties of public offices, different ministries, different state agencies, and all of them are expressing their disappointment, and all of them are demanding to go back to the european path, and the reality is that the current so—called government already lost trust inside the country, as well as outside of the country. so the solution, the political solution, will be what the president of georgia has just declared, is snap elections and declaring the new government that will decide how to fix. to the us next. presidentjoe biden is facing sharp criticism from both sides of the aisle, after issuing an official pardon for his son,

hunter, who was facing almost certain prison time. injune, hunter biden was convicted of firearms offences, becoming the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime. in september, hunter pleaded guilty to tax violations. president biden previously said he wouldn't pardon his son, but, on sunday, he reversed that position, saying hunter had been unfairly targeted for political reasons. 0ur north america editor sarah smith reports. as the biden family gathered to celebrate thanksgiving this past weekend, hunter biden was there, right alongside his dad, and it was here the president decided to give his son the gift of a full and unconditional pardon, despite his previous promises not to do so. i'm extremely proud of my son, hunter. he has overcome an addiction. he has... he's one of the brightest, most decent men i know, and i am satisfied that i'm not going to do anything. i said i'd abide by thejury decision, and i will do that, and i will not pardon him. president biden wants americans to forgive that naked hypocrisy, which could spare

his son a prison sentence. at a children's event at the white house today, the first lady tried to be heard over the christmas songs, as she said, "of course i support a pardon for my son". the reaction, as swift as it is predictable — righteous indignation from biden�*s opponents. first came the decision, now the outrage. president biden pardons his son. he lied to us repeatedly, saying that he wouldn't pardon hunter. i figured he would, and it's unfortunate that, you know, when you expect the worst, you oftentimes get it, and he did pardon him, because hunter biden was the bag man for the biden crime family. hunter biden�*s offences include failing to pay tax in los angeles from 2016 to 2019, and lying on a gun purchase form, claiming he wasn't taking drugs, when he was an addict. injune this year, he was convicted of illegally purchasing and owning a gun. in september, he pleaded guilty to the tax offences in la. his pardon, though, covers any and everything he may have done

from the start of 201a until now. hunter biden has been extensively investigated by republicans in congress, looking for corruption and hoping to tie it to his father. with a pardon that predates his controversial business dealings, he'll now be protected from further prosecutions. and they have taken the light of my dad's love... ..the light of my dad's love for me, and presented it as darkness. joe biden says he believes hunter was the victim of politically—motivated prosecutions that would never have come to court if he wasn't the president's son. sound familiar? yes, it's the same argument donald trump uses about all the cases against him. 0n social media, he called hunter's pardon an abuse, a miscarriage ofjustice. joe biden says he hopes americans will understand why a father and a president would make this decision. well, it's easier to understand why a dad would do it than a politician who knows what the consequences could be.

around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. the un's new relief chief, tom fletcher, says the sudanese region of darfur is facing famine, and that people are being used as pawns in the conflict. human rights groups are describing recent ethnic—based massacres as possible genocide. fewjournalists have been able to visit darfur, which is mainly controlled by the paramilitary rapid support forces, since the war began. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet is travelling with the un team — her report begins in a refugee camp in chad on the border. a people dispossessed, and displaced — the people of darfur. this is an informal refugee camp in chad,

just across the border from sudan. the women wait to receive food for theirfamilies, praying someone will help. translation: we used to get food from our farms. - when the war began, we couldn't farm, and the animals ate our crops, so we were left with nothing. people who escaped the spectre of famine, the horror of war. translation: when we were fleeing, our young | brothers were killed. some were too young to walk. our elders, escaping with us, were killed. yes, within ourfamily, they killed my uncles, my aunties, all the men in ourfamily. translation: they kill| people, they rob people, they take their food, they take your belongings. they take everything. they don't know if their

husbands and fathers are alive or dead. in all my years of reporting, i've never seen a crowd as big as this. everyone we meet here says they come from el—geneina, just across the border, and everyone has a story of the horrors of this war — a story of a massacre, of a frenzy, of killing, of days so dark it's regarded as the worst atrocity in sudan's brutal civil war. then, there's a rush. word spreads — un food is being delivered. there's also not enough of it crossing this border into sudan. not enough attention to this crisis. this is daft for, the place which has seen all of the worst of the worst.

ethnic cleansing, starvation, rape. it happened here two decades ago, it's happening again, and getting worse. we're travelling to el—geneina, with the first high—level un team to enter darfur, across this land controlled by the paramilitary rsf, locked in battle with sudan's government. this is what the women fled — blackened houses, blasted shops. you can still taste the smoke. the rsf accused of terrorising non—arab communities. they deny it was their deed. i know that this situation is very, very hard, very tough. i know that sometimes you must feel that the world has forgotten you. more people pushed from place to place. they need everything but this war. translation: we've suffered so much. - when this war started, some people supported the army,

some supported the rsf, but we, the displaced, are neutral. what can you do to protect people? we've got to do much better. ultimately, it's about getting a peace process going, putting the international pressure on the parties. now, that's not easy, but we've got to be here. it's also about food, and delivering much more, to prevent famine from spreading, to prevent people from dying. lyse doucet, bbc news, darfur. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. vietnam property tycoon, truong my lan, will hear the verdict in her appeal against the death sentence later today. she was found guilty in april for masterminding the world's biggest bank fraud, amounting to a total biggest bank fraud, amounting to a total of $aa billion. she is asking to avoid the death penalty, if she can pay back 75% of what she took. australia's police have seized 2.3 tonnes of cocaine from a broken—down boat,

off the coast of queensland. the drugs had an estimated street value of $500 million us — making it the largest cocaine bust in australian history. the prime minister of guinea has called for calm, after dozens of people died during clashes at a football match in the country's second largest city, n'zerekore, on sunday. local media said police had used tear gas, after supporters of the visiting team threw stones towards the pitch in anger at the referee. the city's police station was set on fire. president—elect donald trump has nominated warren stephens for one of the most coveted and visible diplomatic posts — ambassador to the united kingdom. mr trump called warren — who founded the financial services firm, stephens inc — one of the most successful businessmen in the country. sir eltonjohn has been talking about the loss of his eyesight. the singer appeared at the premiere of the devil wears prada musical, for which he wrote the score, and said he couldn't see the stage, but "enjoyed "listening" to the production. charlotte gallagher has more.

sir eltonjohn, music and entertainment royalty. seen here meeting the king less than two weeks ago. he has retired from touring but hasn't retired from show business. this is his latest project. the devil wears prada, the musical. sir elton composed the music for the show, but at last night's opening gala, revealed he wasn't able to see the performance as he has lost his eyesight. i haven't been able to come to many of the previews because, as you know, i've lost my eyesight. so it's hard for me to see it, but i love to hear it. and boy, it sounded good tonight! last week, the 77—year—old spoke to an american broadcaster about his health problems. i unfortunately lost my eyesight in my right eye injuly, because i had an infection in the south of france.

and it's been four months now since i haven't been able to see. and my left eye is not the greatest, so there is hope and encouragement that it will be ok, but i'm kind of stuck at the moment, because i can do something like this, but going into the studio and recording, i don't know. sir eltonjohn says he has been floored by what has happened to him, adding he is proud of how he is coping. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. and before we go, its beginning to look a lot like christmas, on both sides of the atlantic. three, two, one... cheering it worked! — three, two, one... cheering it worked! chuckling - the downing street tree lighting took place overnight in london. uk prime minister sir keir starmer and his wife victoria werejoined by nhs health workers, military personnel and members of the police for the ceremony. and the decorations are also up at the white house, which include 83 christmas

trees, around 10,000 feet of ribbon, 28,000 ornaments and more than 165,000 lights. quite different than how it looked on downing street. we will leave you with these images. goodbye for now. hello, there. the rest of this week looks like one of two halves. we'll certainly have some quieter, colderweather for the next couple of days, with some decent spells of sunshine, could see some snow on the hills across the north through tuesday night, and then, as we push towards the end of the week, it turns milder, but very much wetter and windier, as deep areas of low pressure move in off the atlantic. so we're in this ridge of high pressure, though, for tuesday, and this wedge of colder air, as you can see on the airmass chart, so it will be a colder start for many for tuesday morning. very cold across scotland, perhaps down to —7, —8 celsius over the highlands and the grampians, and there will be some freezing fog patches around. some fog patches further south,

too, which may lift into low cloud, but for many, it'll be a dry and a sunny day, with light winds. but across south—west england, northern ireland, western scotland, we'll start to see a weather front pushing in, bringing outbreaks of rain and increasing breeze here, but for most, it stays dry through the day, but a cold one to come, temperatures struggling to get above freezing across scotland, to around four or five degrees in the south. but as that rain bumps into the cold air across scotland during tuesday evening, we could see a spell of fairly significant hill snow here, with some accumulations, and maybe some for northern england, the cumbrian fells, north wales, as we move through tuesday night. but as the weather front moves southwards and eastwards, it tends to fizzle out, so no more than a band of cloud, with a few showers across southern areas. but again, it's going to be another cold night to come, a touch of frost in there, and possibly some ice, too. so, wednesday, then, it should be a mostly dry day once again, thanks to a ridge of high pressure. so, plenty of sunshine around, one or two showers around coastalareas, but later in the day, we'll start to see the next weather front arriving across western areas. that will bring increasing cloud, breeze and also some rain, with temperatures lifting here,

but another chilly day to come, elsewhere. it's all change, though, beyond wednesday. thursday, friday, we'll start to see a deep area of low pressure spread across the country, bringing a spell of very wet and windy weather, with widespread gales, and another one hot on its heels. so we'll see wet, windy weather early on thursday push its way eastwards, a bit of sunshine, then the wind, the rain, the gales start to build up again, as another system pushes in from the southwest, but that'll be ushering in some milder air, with temperatures ranging from 10 to 1a or 15 degrees from north to south across the country. could see a spell of potentially very stormy weather friday night into saturday, this is certainly one to watch, and then for part two of the weekend, it'll turn colder but brighter once again. take care.

a usjudge once again rules that elon musk is not entitled to a record breaking pay package. and as playstation turns 30, we look back at the console that revolutionised gaming. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. in the us and a judge has ruled that tesla ceo elon musk is still not entitled to a record—breaking pay package. it comes after months of legal wrangling, with shareholders

approving the $56 billion compensation, and saying the ruling might lead musk to leave the electric vehicle company. the bbc�*s lilyjamali told me about the background of this case. this was a pay package worth $56 billion which, as you noted, it would have been the largest pay package everfor a ceo of a publicly traded company. this was awarded a couple of years ago and was contingent on elon musk, the head of tesla, meeting certain targets having to do with sales and revenue and the like. those billions of dollars were in stock options, so today they are worth quite a bit more than 56 billion, closer to about $100 billion and this ruling today from chancellor kathaleen mccormick reiterates her ruling from back at the start of the year injanuary, where she found this pay package is excessive and not only that, that the board of directors at tesla is not sufficiently independent to approve it, that the people on the board have personal and business relationships with musk. just to give you an example, his brother kimbal is on the board, james murdoch,

son of rupert murdoch, is also on the board.