$68“ assad family. this is the seen live in the _ assad family. this is the seen live in the grand _ assad family. this is the seen live in the grand mosque - assad family. this is the seen live in the grand mosque of i live in the grand mosque of damascus in umayyad mosque where people have gathered for friday prayers on this momentous day. i am martine croxall. the other main story is this our... —— stories this our... the uk economy shrank for the second month in a row in october after official figures showed a 0.1% drop and the french president emmanuel macron is expected to name a new prime minister today, after the collapse welcome to damascus. you join here at our position overlooking the main square in damascus. let me step aside and

you can see the crowds hour by hour growing ever larger. this is where people of the city rushed last sunday when damascus fell to the rebels which rushed into the city and president bashar al—assad was reported to have been on a plane for the russian capital. this is where we are expecting even greater crowds here today. it has been called victory day right across syria, syrians gather to celebrate the end of more than 50 year—long rule of the assad family, including bashar who succeeded his father in the year 2000. this is when syrians want to celebrate the opening of a new chapter as a new interim government puts in place with every day that passes the elements of a new governance, interim government, constitution dissolved, syrian forces also to be dissolved, as well as the constitution and

parliament for three months. todayis parliament for three months. today is a day to think about syria going forward and to mark the passing of the dark chapter of the past. look at the scene now live from the grand mosque of damascus, the umayyad mosque where friday prayers are taking place, another gathering point in the mosque here in damascus and in mosques across the country. this is a country of a multiplicity of muslim sects and christian sects and they will want to show they are hoping this will now be a syria for all. hoping this will now be a syria forall. in hoping this will now be a syria for all. in the last few hours the military commander of the main group hay?at tahrir al—sham which is dominating the new interim government, a proscribed terrorist organisation, but it has been given a welcome for its reassuring messages being sent to syrians, to the region and far beyond. in his message, the leader of hts, al—julani, now

using his own name, he had this message to syrians about today. translation: | would - like to congratulate the great syrian people for the victory, for the blessed revolution. i would like to invite them to public squares to express theirjoy, but without gunfire and terrorising the people. and then let's move onwards towards building this country back. as we have said since the beginning, we shall be victorious. god willing. there will certainly celebrate gunfire in the square last sunday and across the country, we hear it every day. see what the like down the square. we can now speak to my colleague lina sinjab. she is in the heart of the square. describe what is happening around you. yes, it is 'ust happening around you. yes, it isiust the _ happening around you. yes, it is just the start _ happening around you. yes, it is just the start of _ happening around you. yes, it isjust the start of a _ happening around you. yes, it is just the start of a big - happening around you. yes, it isjust the start of a big day. l is just the start of a big day. rhian is. crowds started gathering while the prayer is about to finish and more and more people will conclude this

square, but already there is a sense of celebration and joy, it feels like a big party, to my left they have put up a speaker with music and the music is chanting, raise your head above, you are a free syrian, and playing lots of other revolutionary songs. here they were reading poetry, a sense of celebration. lots of people, families, children coming with revolutionary flags. we can say it is just like corner after corner, more and more people coming. i have here one lady who is joining and more people coming. i have here one lady who isjoining us to tell us about her experience and she lives in damascus but she is from the birth of the uprising, as it is called, from da'aa. i uprising, as it is called, from da'aa. . .,

uprising, as it is called, from da'aa-_ howi uprising, as it is called, from i da'aa._ how do da'aa. i am from da'aa. how do ou feel da'aa. i am from da'aa. how do you feel today _ da'aa. i am from da'aa. how do you feel today about _ da'aa. i am from da'aa. how do you feel today about this? - da'aa. i am from da'aa. how do you feel today about this? i - da'aa. i am from da'aa. how do you feel today about this? i am | you feel today about this? i am so happy- _ you feel today about this? i am so happy- words— you feel today about this? i am so happy. words cannot - you feel today about this? i am so happy. words cannot express my feelings. today we're here celebrating a new syria, celebrating a new syria, celebrating the growth of syria _ celebrating the growth of s ria. �* , ., celebrating the growth of s ria. �* ., syria. are you worried about the future? _ syria. are you worried about the future? are _ syria. are you worried about the future? are you - syria. are you worried about the future? are you worried | the future? are you worried things may not go the way you want? �* . . , , things may not go the way you want? �* . ., , , ., want? actually, it is not the time. it want? actually, it is not the time- it is — want? actually, it is not the time. it is the _ want? actually, it is not the time. it is the time - want? actually, it is not the time. it is the time where l want? actually, it is not the | time. it is the time where all syrians— time. it is the time where all syrians come back together hand to and _ syrians come back together hand to and where we can grow our country— to and where we can grow our country with all syrians. i do not think_ country with all syrians. i do not think there is anything to be afraid _ not think there is anything to be afraid of.— be afraid of. thank you very much. today _ be afraid of. thank you very much. today we _ be afraid of. thank you very much. today we are - be afraid of. thank you very i much. today we are expecting more and more people to gather, there is a strong momentum across the country of celebration. everywhere you look, everyone is raising the victory sign, they call it victory sign, they call it victory day, where they want to remember it and celebrate the toppling of the assad regime. people do not want to ruin the

moment with worries, they want to play it minute by minute. but of course many of the civil society are also engaged in preparing themselves but they say tomorrow... today is celebration so let's celebrate. she was also in the square last sunday for the first celebration, and she will be reporting from there all of today, lina, and the crowds will grow larger and no doubt louder as well. today is a day to celebrate, tomorrow is a data work. for many syrians it is impossible to put back the dark chapter of the past until they know what happened to their ones. the red cross said they have in the last 13 years registered 35,000 cases of people missing, those who disappeared into the notorious prisons of the assad regime,

and they have been searching the hospitals, the morgues, the prisons, for loved ones, for evidence of their loved ones. jeremy bowen, international editor, has this report, and i should warn you some of the details are distressing. they have to find the missing and identify the dead before they can build a new syria. 35 more bodies of men killed in prison have arrived and the mortuary at mustahed hospital is full. the only way to find a missing son, father or brother is to look for yourself. translation: it is painful. at the same time, we have hope. even if we find him between the bodies, anything, as long as he is not missing. we want to find something of him. we want to know what happened to him. we need an end to this. the examination room is full of bodies too. if they can't be identified easily, the medics take tissue samples, building up evidence

for dna tests and future prosecutions. have you managed to find out how these men died? sometimes, because of fractures, the bodies are not in a good shape to say the exact reasons, but they have suffered from fractures. so, they have been beaten? yes, we think so. i came here yesterday. this was very difficult for me. what future... we hope that it will be better, but this is really hard. the presidential palace, built high on a crag above damascus, where it can be seen across the city, embodies the arrogance of the assads who broke syria to try to save their regime. it might not be possible to put this fractured country back together.

in 2015, i met bashar al—assad at guest palace in the presidential compound. his successors need to act fast to undo the legacy of the war he chose to fight. the same corridor is now a patch of quiet in a country full of weapons, anger, poverty and calls for vengeance, with dozens of armed groups who want their own slice of the syria assad left in pieces. he was extravagantly polite, in quite an old—fashioned way. you'd come into the room, he would leap up off the sofa, then on the way out, he would say, "after you", they would hold back the door and walk out first. he didn't seem to be a guy who would be at home in a torture centre, but he certainly seemed to be a guy who would be very happy giving the orders to get people tortured and killed. on a wall outside mujtahid

hospital in damascus are photos of dead men. it is hard to see the person they knew in a gallery of smashed and decomposing faces. the families of the missing get as close as they can. often all they have are the names and places where they were last seen. mahmoud, deir ez—zur. sabar, yarmouk camp, 2012. ahmed, raqqa, 2013. ali, damascus, 2013. 50 years of the assads, 50 years of incarceration, of disappearances, of executions. 50 years of cruelty to the families, the prisoners, to the syrian people. these people want information, they want a body to bury,

and they want a reckoning. "my husband, ibrahim," she is saying, "taken in deir ez—zur in 2012." everyone had a photo, a name and a date. the regime drilled so much pain into syrians that some here are terrified that assad could even return. a new syria needs to deliver lives without fear. jeremy bowen, bbc news, damascus. the dark past syrians very much want to print behind them and look towards a much brighter future —— put behind them. today they will express their i°y today they will express their joy and i hope. we have to say for people who have lived in a half century of repressive rule, many are still finding it hard to emerge from this dark shadow, some people still afraid to speak their fears, and of course those who worked closely with the old regime, many have fled, many wondering

about their own fate. today is about their own fate. today is a day where there will be people in the square behind me and squares across the country and squares across the country and this is the scene now in the old city of damascus, just outside the main entrance to the grand mosque of damascus, umayyad mosque. friday prayers are taking place there. just past one o'clock in the afternoon, you can see how packedit afternoon, you can see how packed it is, people wanting to be present, many of them carrying flags of the syrian opposition, the black and green, three red stars. all of them carrying hopes and dreams that the country they have long longed for, so many have paid such a huge price for, can now be realised. shops, courtyards, restaurants, they will hope tourists and people will come back to syria now, that complex web of sanctions on this country, one of the most sanctioned in the world, can be

lifted, so people will become free to invest here and engage with syrians to help in building a new syria. we will be live from damascus and beyond throughout the day for special coverage of what has been described as victory day in syria. stay with us. but for now, back to you in london. lyse doucet, thank you very much, incredible story coming out of syria. as she said, much more in hours ahead. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

judges in the hague have rejected a request to ban the dutch government from exporting weapons to israel. the case was brought by ten pro—palestinian ngos who cited citing high civilian casualties in israel's war in the gaza strip. lawyers for the dutch state said that it was not up to a judge to dictate foreign policy.

let's speak to our correspondent anna holligan who has been following thejudgement. tell us about the background. the palestinian ngos brought the case under the genocide convention, 19118 convention, which obliges all countries all over the world to prevent and punish any acts of genocide. they have lost their case in its entirety. i have been digesting the judgment which has come down from the district court in the hague in the last 15 minutes. four main points. first and foremost, the court said it is up to the government itself, the state in principle to assess policy. and only in limited cases should courts, judges, intervene. secondly, there are already measures in place to ensure the netherlands is not supporting violations of international law. it goes into more detail here. the court finds there is no reason to impose a total ban on the

export of military and dual use goods. the state has an obligation under international law to assess on a case—by—case basis and essentially the court found that is already happening. the mechanism is three, are already in place an application for export has regularly been refused. on the basis of the checks and balances already in place from the dutch government. and number four, the dutch government. and numberfour, israel has the dutch government. and number four, israel has a the dutch government. and numberfour, israel has a right to protect itself. the court said the state cannot be obliged to announce a full embargo on the export of military goods. israel has the right to protect its own territory so there is every reason to distinguish between the supply of military goods which can be used in attacks on the palestinian people and goods which can be used exclusively for the defence of israel's own territory. that is the kind of breakdown of the lengthyjudgment from the lengthy judgment from the district lengthyjudgment from the district court in the hague.

also a request to ban trading with israeli settlements, that was also dismissed?- with israeli settlements, that was also dismissed? exactly. we are increasingly _ was also dismissed? exactly. we are increasingly seeing, - are increasingly seeing, especially in connection with the conflict in gaza, organisations and countries bringing cases under international and domestic law international and domestic law in this case to try to bring about change and put pressure on israel's allies especially to reduce or stop their support entirely. in this case, it goes on, they asked for a ban on trade with companies in the occupied territories, the court said that it has not become plausible the current policy is manifestly unlawful. the state pursues, the dutch state, a policy of discouragement aimed at informing companies about the illegal status of occupied territories and helping them to

ensure they do not inadvertently become involved inadvertently become involved in human rights violations in the occupied territories. there are already measures in place, the court says, at eu level and beyond to ensure potential violations are not supported by the dutch government. so, this is a blow to the ten palestinian ngos and one of the reasons why it was brought to the dutch courts as opposed to the dutch courts as opposed to the courts elsewhere in countries that perhaps do most to support israel in military terms is because the dutch courts support these kinds of lawsuits which deal with matters of international law. for the moment, thank you, anna holligan with the latest from the hague. the uk economy shrank for the second month in a row in october after official figures showed a 0.1% drop. the economy had been expected to return to growth following a fall during september. however, the office for national statistics said that activity had stalled or declined, with pubs,

restaurants and retail among sectors reporting weak months. the chancellor, rachel reeves, said the figure was disappointing. the numbers on gdp are disappointing but it is not possible to turn around more than a decade of poor economic growth and stagnant living standards in just a few months. but you will see from the plans we've announced, whether it is the energy reforms we have published today, reforms to build 1.5 million homes we published yesterday, pensions reforms, creation of a national wealth fund, this government are getting on with the job in improving economic growth and driving up living standards. for people watching this, when can we expect to get back to growth? growth is the number—one mission of this government, economic growth that results in families feeling better off with more money in their pockets and we are driving that economic growth and we hope

the numbers will start to improve because of the policies we are pursuing in the months ahead. rachel reeves, chancellor of the exchequer. our correspondent ben boulos has more. the economy shrank by 0.1% in october. now, that doesn't sound like much, but it had been expected to grow. and even the chancellor admits this figure was disappointing. the figures suggest a lot of that was down to a drop in people going out to spend in the shops and people not going out to eat and drink in pubs, bars and restaurants as much, perhaps due to the wet weather, and also a degree of uncertainty ahead of the budget, with people holding back on their spending, businesses and shoppers perhaps waiting until they knew what was going to be revealed in the chancellor's tax and spending plans. remember, this figure, gdp, tells us how much economic activity is going on in the uk — how much we are making, growing, building, buying and selling. if there is more of that going on, it generally means people are better off, it means there's more money going round, morejobs available, easier to get a pay

rise and so on. and there was some of that over the summer. in the three months from july to september, the economy grew, albeit very slightly, by 0.1%. but a shrinking economy, which is what we saw in october, tends to mean the opposite — less money around, fewerjobs, harder to get a pay rise. and in october, all sections, all parts of the economy failed to grow. there was no increase in activity in services like retail and leisure. meanwhile, production, manufacturing and construction — so, house—building, for example — all declined. the government has made it a priority to get the economy growing and the chancellor has said in response to these figures, "we have put in place policies to deliver "long—term economic growth." president emmanuel macron is expected to name a new prime minister today, following the collapse of his government last week. mr macron is under pressure to select a leader who can satisfy the demands of a broad

coalition and pass a budget for next year. france has been in political turmoil since the president called a snap parliamentary election injuly. charlotte minvielle, a french parliamentary candidate for the new popular front and co—chair of the french green party. she told us who she would like to see appointed as the new french prime minister. well, we need someone from the left, from the nouveau front populaire, this new popular front alliance, because when you look at the result of this snap election that the president decided to call, the biggest number of mps comes from this left coalition. so, it would be the democratic thing to do to respect the will of the people and nominate someone that comes from this political camp and to be able to implement some of the social, environmental policies french people are really after. one of the leading names in this race is the centrist francois bayrou. how likely is it your party would join a government with him as prime minister? it is completely unlikely

that our party would join a coalition government because, as you said, he is from the centre right and we have seen what the policies have been, the methods also that this government has employed of using the 49.3 article of the constitution which basically means forcefully putting through the budget, which was an austerity budget, and there is no chance that a government that is led by francois bayrou will be able to implement the policies that we are after. we could look at seeing the methods they would employ to not using the 49.3 article and have these parliamentary discussions, butjoining a government with the centre—right is not on the cards for the left, it is not the respect of the democracy. just to explain, article 49.3 allows a government to force through legislation. but wouldn't this be an opportunity for your party and others to the left

to negotiate with the incoming prime minister and say, "look, if you want us to support you, "this is what we need to see"? you could have the prime minister of mr macron's choosing, but you could have influence. i think there could be discussions about non—censorship which basically is not voting no confidence of this government and that would be if there is a strong commitment on a certain number of propositions. for example, the green party has laid out 11 propositions, including, for example, not putting in place the pension reform, increasing the minimum wage, having a strong environmental programme and a plan. if they were to say, "ok, we are committing to these 11 "propositions, also committing on a method of not putting "in place measures through parliament forcefully, " it could open up discussion. but it is very unlikely they will decide to go that way unfortunately. we have seen the brutality with which they have not respected the vote

of the people and the french president again and again... he could choose to lean more to the left and he has chosen over the past few years to lean more and more towards the right and that is what we are seeing again today. charlotte, french parliamentary candidate for the new popular front, speaking to us earlier. let us take you quickly to south korea, the scene outside the national assembly and seoul where people have gathered again as a second impeachment motion against president yoon has formally been submitted. he survived the first attempt last week you will recall after a short lived effort on his part to introduce martial law. hello. at long last, we will see the return of sunshine more widely through tomorrow. a few brighter breaks around today, but if you have got them, you are one of the lucky few because for most it's that grey, looming cloud overhead once again,

fairly damp day as well with rain or drizzle here and there. things will change, though, in the next 24 hours, from this weather front. through the rest of today, that is going to start bringing a bit more rain to the northern isles, the western isles, also across the highlands. but you'll notice just to the north—west of it, sunshine will come through. so you mayjust get a glimpse of the sunset before it disappears in the western isles. elsewhere, though, we stick with plenty of cloud, something a little bit wetter towards the south—west at times as well through this afternoon. but as i said, one or two breaks possible. another cool day with temperatures in single figures. into tonight, that weather front starts to push its way southwards. you can see, clearing skies, wintry showers over the very tops of the scottish mountains. an area from north wales, northern england, northwards, the temperature chart shows some blues, indicating there could be some frost, even a bit of ice around for tomorrow morning. in the south, though, not as cold, but it will still be a chilly start and if you are waking up to grey and gloomy conditions first thing, stay with it, because this is the weather front which will push away that cloud during the first part

of tomorrow morning. so brightening skies across the south, turning drierfor a time. there will be a few showers in the west, through the morning especially. but for the west of scotland, northern ireland, make the most of the morning sunshine because through the afternoon the cloud returns here and we will see some outbreaks of rain, especially in the western highlands. another cool day, though, by and large, but the offset is a bit more sunshine, it will probably actually feel a bit more pleasant than it has done so far this week. then as we go through into saturday night, actually temperatures rise through the night for all of us. south—westerly winds will be pushing in, making it a much milder day for everyone into sunday. but the cloud will return as a consequence of that, unfortunately — milder weather at this time of year usually means cloudy conditions. but it won't be the gloom we've had of recent days. too much breeze for that. and there will be some breaks in the cloud, so there will be some brightness at times, but it's in western scotland where the cloud will bring some outbreaks of rain on and off throughout the day and they will mount up as we go into next week. but here is the big change. temperatures for all, double figures, if not the low teens, so it will feel much milder, even though there will be more of a breeze.

and we will continue with the milder theme into next week. breezy at times, there will be outbreaks of rain coming and going, too, with the odd brighter spell in between. see you soon.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the new islamist leadership in syria has urged people to take to the streets after friday prayers to celebrate the end of half a century of rule by the assad family.

police chiefs warn the uk home secretaryjobs could be at risk if they don't get the funding to cover higher staff costs. two people have been rushed to hospital after a fairground ride in birmingham city centre malfunctioned last night. a double win for a chess prodigy, winning the world chess championship and being the youngest ever to do so. a chinese businessman described as a "close confidante" of the duke of york has lost his appeal against a decision to bar him from entering the uk on national security grounds. let's speak to our correspondent charlotte gallagher who's in windsor. what's the background to this? we don't know the identity of this man. he is only known as h6. as you said, he is a chinese businessman who developed a close working relationship with prince andrew. he was invited to his 60th birthday in 2020 and was active to advise, essentially,

prince