i'm geeta guru—murthy in london. also coming up... romania and bulgaria are set to become full members of europe's schengen free—travel area. south korea's president vows to fight to the end, as members of his party plan to vote on whether to impeach him this saturday. it's the death that shocked the nation — the chidren�*s commissioner for england says the murder of sara sharif by her father and step—mother shows "profound weaknesses" in the child protection system. you join us here in damascus. day four has begun for the new order in syria. these are truly momentous times and syrians are still reeling by the

extraordinary developments of the last two days. the new interim authorities are trying to put in place the structures that can make good on their promises to all syrians to establish security and calm right across the country. in their latest announcement is their latest announcement is the new authorities say they will now shut down the notorious prisons where tens of thousands were killed and tortured. there have been heartbreaking scenes as thousands of families have rushed to these notorious sites to now find their loved ones, including the saydnaya prison, described by amnesty international as a slaughterhouse, where hundreds did come out alive, and where families are still searching believing that their loved ones or their remains must still be inside. in another move, as the authorities have also said, they will dissolve the security forces that were maintained by

president bashar aside and put new ones in their place. they have also reassured the international community they will find a way to control and contain the chemical weapons site that has been welcomed by many western governments, including the united states. there have been other moves too on the diplomatic front, in a statement coming out in the last hour the new interim authority has welcomed moves by the arab governments who already had missions here in damascus, to open them again. also the italian embassy, which had only opened its embassy here in november, believing european nations should start working more closely with president assad's government, only to find there is a totally new order in place. the new authorities have also welcomed, they said, a very firm assurance by other arab states, including qatar, that they will open a mission here, in,

including turkey, which has close ties with the rebels. in a statements they say this is a positive stance, we are hopeful we can establish positive relations with all the nations that respect the will of the people, the sovereignty of the syrian state and the unity of its territory. while many syrians continue to celebrate, we can still hear the sounds of gunfire in the streets raised in celebration. we still see people in the main squares exclaiming theirjoy, that as they see it they are at last free, able to breathe freely for the first time in their lives. these dramatic developments began in the north of syria, in the second city of aleppo where the dominant islamist group hayat tahrir al—sham surged into the city and started to establish an administration there. joining me now is my colleague hugo bachega, who's in aleppo, syria's second largest city.

what are your first what are yourfirst impressions, what are your first impressions, you havejust impressions, you have just arrived impressions, you havejust arrived in the city. fix, impressions, you have “ust arrived in the city.�* arrived in the city. a lot of eo - le arrived in the city. a lot of peeple are _ arrived in the city. a lot of people are paying - arrived in the city. a lot of. people are paying attention arrived in the city. a lot of- people are paying attention to what has happened here in aleppo because this was the first major city captured by the rebels in that astonishing offensive earlier this month. i came to aleppo for the first time when i was a student 16 years ago. i remember there were posters and billboards with the face of bashar al—assad in public squares, on the streets and government buildings. here in central aleppo those posters have been either destroyed or removed so people really want to forget the memories they have of five decades of the assad regime in this country. yesterday the streets were busy, the main square here in central aleppo was bustling with people, people coming to us to talk about how happy they were, they felt they were free for the

first time in their lives, that they were very hopeful for the future. again, as you are saying, there has been a focus of the new administration on trying to dismantle the security network that had been in place under the assad regime. there were billboards here in aleppo telling people that freeing the detainees is a mission. so this is a message that will resonate with people not only here in aleppo but across the country. this is a network that was known for detaining people, torturing people injails, killing people in jails, killing detainees. people injails, killing detainees. a lot of people welcoming these decisions that have been announced so far but again, questions remain, concerns remain about what exactly is going to happen next to this country.— to this country. because aleppo. _ to this country. because aleppo. like _ to this country. because aleppo, like so - to this country. because aleppo, like so many i to this country. because i aleppo, like so many other parts of syria, known for the diversity of their communities. there is a very strong

christian community in aleppo and they will be watching anxiously to see whether their lives they expect to be able to lives they expect to be able to live will actually be possible. exactly. one of the first message is the new authorities had when they entered and seized aleppo was to tell minorities of this city that they would be safe, they would be protected, that there wouldn't be any kind of persecution of minorities. but we are starting to hear opposition voices across the country, which is obviously a very diverse country, saying there hasn't been any kind of inclusion of different voices, of different sects in the formation of this transitional government, orat least formation of this transitional government, or at least in the way this first phase of the new administration is being conducted. but at the same time this moment, when the government has been toppled, it has meant that many families have started to return to

aleppo. this was obviously the site of intense fighting between government forces and opposition forces in the early stages of the war. there was the siege of aleppo, four years of intense fighting between forces loyal to bashar al—assad and rebel groups here in aleppo. many families had to flee aleppo when the government recaptured rebel —controlled parts of the city. i met a family yesterday who said they came back to aleppo for the first time after ten years and they said they couldn't really believe that bashar al—assad had fallen, so it is obviously a historic moment for the country but it's about those personal stories of families and people who are now being allowed to go back to their homes and are very hopeful for the future. homes and are very hopeful for the future-—

the future. with turkey, are the future. with turkey, are the borders _ the future. with turkey, are the borders open? - the future. with turkey, are the borders open? some . the future. with turkey, are - the borders open? some families are coming back, but turkey wants to keep tight control over the traffic there. exactly. president erdogan has announced a new crossing will be reopened. a lot of people believe the offensive by the rebels would not have been possible without the blessing of president erdogan. 6 million people had to flee syria and become refugees because of the war here. more than 3 million of them are in turkey. for a very long time turkey had put pressure on president assad to try to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict here to allow the return of some of those refugees. so i think there will be perhaps a push, some incentives for refugees who are now in turkey to return to syria. i was on the other

side of the border in southern turkey and saw the first queues of people trying to cross into syria. people were saying they were very happy to see the fall of the regime, they were very happy with the opportunity to come back home uncertain about the future and a lot of people are saying they will wait to see what will happen next with syria, with the situation here, before they make the decision to finally come back.— to finally come back. hugo bachega, _ to finally come back. hugo bachega, no _ to finally come back. hugo bachega, no doubt - to finally come back. hugo bachega, no doubt we - to finally come back. hugo bachega, no doubt we will| to finally come back. hugo - bachega, no doubt we will speak to you again. very good to get your assessment about the situation. what is situation with refugees? turkey has more than 3 million syrian refugees and has given them a home during the worst years of fighting here in syria, but millions of syrians are scattered around the world. many of them are coming back. we will take a break now but in a moment we will speak to the head of the white helmets, the

civil defence forces, who now find themselves with new responsibilities and tasks here in syria as a new order takes place. you are watching bbc world in the united kingdom and around the world. studio: lyse doucet, live in damascus, thank you. with hugo bachega in aleppo and our teams across syria. we will be back with them at the top of the next hour. a report has revealed that a85 children died or were seriously injured by suspected abuse or neglect in england in the year to the end of march. in the previous 12 months, the number stood at 538. the findings by the child safeguarding practice review panel have been released a day after the authorities were accused of failing to prevent the murder of ten—year—old sara sharif at herfamily home in woking in surrey. yesterday her father, urfan, and stepmother, beinash batool, were found guilty of her murder. a warning, you might find some of the details in helena wilkinson's report upsetting.

singing. sara sharif, in her happy place, singing and playing the guitar. she was kind and caring, confident and chatty. but in august last year, she was murdered after months of brutal violence. after a trial at the old bailey, herfather, urfan sharif, and her stepmother, beinash batool, were found guilty of her murder. after sara died, they abandoned her body at the family's surrey home and fled to pakistan. it was from there where sara's father called the police. your daughter has died? i killed my daughter. it was that call which led police to the family home, where, upstairs, in a bunk bed, covered in a blanket, they found sara's body. her father had left this note. it said, "it's me, urfan sharif, who killed my

daughter by beating." after a month on the run in pakistan, sara's father, stepmother and her uncle, faisal malik, returned to the uk and were arrested. they all gave no—comment interviews to police. who did that to sarah? no comment. do you love sarah? no comment. did you care about her at all? no comment. a postmortem examination revealed that sara had around 100 injuries, including broken bones, bruising, burns and bite marks. during searches, police found this cricket bat with sara's blood on it, and this white metal pole, which sara's father hit her with as she lay dying. during the trial, urfan sharif dramatically changed his evidence in the witness box. he ended up admitting to beating his daughter repeatedly and with force over a number of weeks.

the murder of a child is absolutely shocking, but the horrific nature of the abuse sara suffered during her short life has made this case particularly disturbing. today, justice for sara has been served. sara's mother, olga sharif, paid tribute to her daughter, saying that sara's smile could brighten up the darkest room. helena wilkinson, bbc news. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

keith we can show you live pictures coming in from seoul in south korea, with the south korean president defending his position of announcing marshall law for a short time last week.

in a televised address, yoon suk—yeol defiantly declared he would fight to the end. translation: we must prevent the forces and criminal groups i that have led to the paralysis of government administration, and disorder of the national constitution from taking over the state administration and threatening the future of the republic of korea no matter what. i will fight to the end. we heard from people in seoul, who gave their reaction to the president's address. translation: ithought it was utter nonsense. . the president has already taken actions against democracy, and while the public strongly opposes this nationwide, he ignores this, blames the opposition party and even involves other people. i think this is unacceptable and it's close to a dictatorship that demolishes the foundations of our democracy. translation: | think - the president did a good job with his speech today, and the impeachment just shouldn't happen. i heard martial law troops left the national assembly after only two hours,

so the martial law declaration was merely an expression of the authority of the president. the democratic party, which is currently holding the country back, is the real issue. the leader of mr yoon�*s party has urged members to back opposition attempts to impeach the president. our correspondent jean mackenzie has the latest from seoul. this was a long and rambling speech, but it was a defiant one. the president was