i'm nick thorpe on the romania— hungary border, on the day romanians and bulgarians finally get full membership in the eu, in the schengen zone. syria's new authorities say their notorious prisons where thousands were tortured and killed will be shut down. these are the live pictures from seoul where the south korean president promises to fight to the end, defending his short lived imposition of martial law last week. over 1500 firefighters continue to battle a wildfire in california spreading through the coastal town of malibu. i'm geeta guru—murthy in london. in the last hour the european union has made a decision on

romania and bulgaria. they have been confirmed as full members of europe's schengen travel zone. the countries partly joined schengen in march, after an agreement with austria, which had initially opposed theirjoining on the grounds they needed to do more to prevent illegal immigration. the deal has been years in the making. romania and bulgaria joined the european union in 2007 and have been trying to enter schengen for more than 10 years. their full entry to the zone would leave ireland and cyprus as the only eu countries outside it. there are currently 29 countries in the schengen area, which allows 400 million people to move freely between them. for more on this, let's speak to our correspondent nick thorpe — he's in nadlac on the romania—hungary border. tell us about the significance of today. inaudible i am sorry, we don't seem to

have the sound. we will get that audio back and go back to nick thorpe on the romania hungary border as soon as we can. we might be able to play you a bit of what we heard from nick thorpe in the previous hour. let's listen to that. behind me, this is normally very busy, people waiting for hours, especially in the summer months, but even today in december there has been a long line of people waiting. sometimes the trucks sounding their horns in impatience. that doesn't seem to make any impact, of course. it is a huge physical, people will save hours of their lives waiting at these borders, but also psychologically for romania and bulgaria it means they finally feel they are full members of the eu, they have finally been welcomed into the club, even though they joined welcomed into the club, even though theyjoined in 2007. what did they have to do to block the vetoes?—

what did they have to do to block the vetoes? yeah, this has been _ block the vetoes? yeah, this has been a — block the vetoes? yeah, this has been a long _ block the vetoes? yeah, this has been a long negotiation. j has been a long negotiation. they felt often that austria and the netherlands in particular were being unfair. the argument from austria was that last year 70,000 people entered austria illegally having crossed countries like bulgaria, romania and hungary on the way. what's happened this year is those numbers are down to only 4000 from the same period, so basically romania and bulgaria have been saying, on the one hand they have strengthened the border between bulgaria and turkey. they have also been carrying out more raids inside the countries, trying to intercept gangs smuggling people across these borders. they say they have been pretty successful, so they have been working very hard in coordination with eu bodies, with different police forces, to try to crack down on illegal migration and clearly they feel now they have convinced the austrians, that vito has gone

and now the vote has gone through. and now the vote has gone through-— and now the vote has gone throu~h. , , , ~ through. this comes this week, as we see _ through. this comes this week, as we see another _ through. this comes this week, as we see another huge - through. this comes this week, as we see another huge change j as we see another huge change in the middle east region. turkey obviously a key route for people who have come into europe in the past. what is the sense of predictions we are getting in terms of movements of people now bulgaria and romania will be fully part of the schengen area?- romania will be fully part of the schengen area? before these dramatic events _ the schengen area? before these dramatic events in _ the schengen area? before these dramatic events in syria, - the schengen area? before these dramatic events in syria, i - dramatic events in syria, i think the turkish government had put increasing pressure on syrians to go back to syria even before these political changes. at that time syrians who felt they couldn't go home, it was unsafe to go to syria, might have been trying to reach europe, so we were expecting here in the balkans and eastern europe an increase of people. but hopefully people will now be able to return to syria and that new wave of illegal migration will not happen. hick migration will not happen. nick

thore. the new islamist authorities in syria say they plan to close the notorious prisons run by the ousted president, bashar al—assad, and dissolve his security forces. they've also said they're working with international organisations to secure possible chemical weapons sites, a move which has been welcomed by the united states. earlier rebel fighters broke into the tomb of the former president, hafez al—assad, bashar�*s father, in the family's hometown in northwestern syria. images showed a coffin and parts of the mausoleum on fire. large crowds formed in a suburb of the capital damascus, for what they believed would be a public execution of one of the former president's henchmen. our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, is in damascus and middle east correspondent, hugo bachega, is in syria's second city aleppo, which was captured by rebels in the early

years of the civil war, and was retaken by syrian government forces backed by russia in 2016 after a gruelling siege. it fell into the hands of hts rebels last week. theyjoined us earlier for more from the region. 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 announcements 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 try to 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 al assad 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 and 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, as well as 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 impressions, you havejust 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 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. because 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 the lives they expect to be able to live will actually be possible. exactly. one of the first messages 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, 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. 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. that will be near the city of k. that will be near the city of latakia.

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 to come back home, but a lot of people are still 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. hugo, no doubt we will speak to you again. very good to get your assessment about the situation. what is the 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. as a new order takes shape. lyse doucet in damascus and hugo bachega in damascus joining us in the last hour. us secretary of state antony blinken has landed injordan, a tour he hasjust blinken has landed injordan, a tour he has just initiated after huge changes in syria. of course, he doesn't have long in office as joe course, he doesn't have long in office asjoe biden�*s administration ends at the end of january. administration ends at the end ofjanuary. but it administration ends at the end of january. but it is still so much influx in the region, he has been there on so many

visits because of the israel, gaza, hezbollah conflicts, and now he is injordan to discuss what is going on for hopes for an inclusive process to discuss with those injordan and meet with those injordan and meet with king abdullah and the foreign minister. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

a report has revealed 485 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 authorities were accused of failing to prevent the murder of ten—year—old sara sharif at herfamily

the murder of ten—year—old sara sharif at her family home the murder of ten—year—old sara sharif at herfamily home in woking in surrey will stop yesterday her father urfan sharif and stepmother beinash batool were found guilty of her murder. a warning that you might find some of the details in this report from helena wilkinson 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 sara? no comment. do you love sara? 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. the president of south korea has been defending his imposition of martial law last week. the move has resulted in impeachment proceedings being raised against him, but in a tv address, yoon suk—yeol says he will continue to fight them. 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 islamic state group says it is behind the suicide bombing that killed aghanistan�*s refugee minister. khalil haqqani was blown up as he left his office in kabul on wednesday. he is the most senior member of the taliban government to die in an attack since the gorup took power three years ago. with me is the bbc�*s yama bariz, for more on this. what do we know about this and why this attack happened? is what do we know about this and why this attack happened? i5 i( why this attack happened? is k has been trying _ why this attack happened? is k has been trying to _ why this attack happened? i5 if; has been trying to target taliban leaders from the beginning. even before the taliban came to power there had been clashes in areas in the eastern part of afghanistan which was under isk at the

time, and they managed to take care is back from them. and in the north of the country, the taliban managed to drive isk out of areas in the north as well. so it has been a kind of power struggle between the taliban and the is k right from the beginning. now the taliban is packed in power, isk say they are not the right people or the right muslims, as they have their own interpretation. it has been going on, this was through one of the major blows that the is managed to give to the taliban because khalil haqqani was a prominent figure among afghanis and was among one of the high ranking officials in the taliban, a cabinet minister, and he was the person who had been highly active in the war against nato

and the american government had declared him a terrorist. they also had a 5 million reward on his head. also had a 5 million reward on his head-— his head. the funeral will be takin: his head. the funeral will be taking place _ his head. the funeral will be taking place today. - his head. the funeral will be taking place today. as - his head. the funeral will be taking place today. as we i his head. the funeral will be l taking place today. as we are speaking. _ taking place today. as we are speaking. the _ taking place today. as we are speaking, the funeral - taking place today. as we are speaking, the funeral is - taking place today. as we are | speaking, the funeral is taking place, all major taliban figures are there, cabinet ministers and prominent figures are there. as we spoke to our sources in eastern afghanistan, the heartland, the funeral is taking place there. quite strict security is in place. the haqqani network has been a key group in the story off afghanistan for years. people will be alarmed to hear that is seem to have had a successful strike here. the major seem to have had a successful strike here. the majo- strike here. the ma'or thing is it challenges h strike here. the ma'or thing is it challenges the _ strike here. the major thing is it challenges the narrative - it challenges the narrative taliban have about security in afghanistan. the taliban has

always boasted about security, they are saying they managed to secure the country, they are in charge, they are governing now, so the problem is that there used to be at the time of nato forces in afghanistan, where war was going on everywhere in the country, it is not there any more, so that narrative is being challenged. the taliban are saying that while this incident can happen everywhere, bombings in the western countries as well, so that's something that will challenge that narrative as well. fascinating to see what is happening there in afghanistan for that we will be back in a few minutes. hello again. it has been a cold start to the day today. especially so where we've

had the clearer skies. temperatures in parts of scotland have fallen well below freezing. but elsewhere they have been above freezing, and that's because of the amount of cloud that we currently have. it will be a cloudy day generally for most, and also a cold one, the exception being across parts of north—east scotland where we'll see the lion's share of any sunshine. high pressure is in charge of our weather. it's drifting a little bit further east and that will allow the progress of this weather front to come into the north—west a bit later. so the cloud thick enough to produce and light rain or drizzle, especially through parts of eastern england and also the midlands. we could see some brighter breaks develop in the west through the day but as i mentioned, the lion's share of the sunshine will be in north—east scotland. cloud building out towards the north—west, heralding the arrival of the weather front, and these white circles represent the strength of the sustained wind, so really we're looking at light breezes. temperatures today, 1 in glasgow, to 10 in norwich, but not as cold in the north—west because we've got more cloud coming in compared to recent days. now through this evening and overnight, a weatherfront approaches, there will be showers ahead of the rain coming in. a lot of cloud, still thick enough for some patchy

light rain or drizzle. and a few brighter breaks. so where we've got the clearer skies, this is where we are looking at temperatures falling away to about —2 in aberdeen, 6 in london, 5 in stornoway. as we go through friday, this weather front does make good inroads to the north—west. the high pressure pushes a bit further away. hardly an isobar on the chart so again we are looking at light breezes. a lot of cloud on friday, still thick enough here and there for the odd spot of drizzle, but there will be some breaks in the cloud. however, you can see the advancement of that weather front coming in, bringing rain across northern and north—western scotland, eventually to north—western parts of northern ireland. as a result, stornoway seeing 8 degrees, as is lerwick. 6 in newcastle, 9 in plymouth. overnight friday into saturday, the weather front sinks south as a weak feature taking its cloud and patchy light rain with it. behind it there will be a lot of dry weather a fair bit of sunshine, just the odd shower which could be wintry on the tops of the mountains

in the highlands, and these are our temperatures — 4 in glasgow to a high of 8 in london.

this is bbc news. the headlines: syria's new authorities say those notorious prisons where thousands were tortured and killed will be shut down.

the nhs has warned of a �*tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals', as number of flu patients in hospital in england increased by 70% in a week. energy firms could be forced to offer customers tariffs which don't include standing charges. the government says it will make change to the planning system, that could force councils in england to build on green belt land. hello, thanks for staying with us. just to bring you one piece of news coming into us on the trial of sara sharif. the prime minister sir keir starmer has said questions need to be answered over the case of a ten—year—old sara sharif who was murdered by herfather and stepmother, describing the details as shocking. the little girl's father and stepmother were found guilty yesterday after that court case and a very distressing case with all