hello, i'm carl nasman. welcome to the programme. the extent of the human rights abuses committed by the regime of syria's ex—president, bashar al—assad, is becoming clearer, nearly a week after he was overthrown. the bbc has visited a military base, bombed earlier this week by israel, which has revealed evidence of torture being carried out there. our middle east correspondent, lucy williamson, went to the base in damascus, and just to warn you her report contains details you may find distressing. the men who protected president assad have gone. the control room at mezzeh military air base scarred by the moment control slipped away, its abandoned assets now targets for israeli air strikes. israel has been systematically destroying the military equipment left by the assad regime, worried about who might end up using it.

russian—made aircraft, israeli bombs, militia backed by turkey, iran, the us — this was neverjust syria's war, and outside powers still have a stake here. assad's fall has meant unanswered questions about syria's future, but it's also left unanswered questions from the past. this airbase held a prison where detainees were reportedly tortured and raped by military intelligence. in one room, we were shown electric shock equipment for interrogations. the only thing more painful than finding your parent or child among the records here is not finding them at all. in the building next door, we found the mother of kurdish prisoner mahmoud hussein searching for his face among the photos on the floor.

"he was registered here, but we can't find him," she said. "may god burn assad's heart, the way he burned ours". "what are these documents?", this woman raged. "no—one is helping us. how can i find him among these prison files?" assad's regime was meticulous in documenting its brutality, but critical evidence here is being lost each day and the desperation of families is growing. in a cemetery outside damascus, we found khaled pulling out bags of bones from a shallow, unmarked grave, each one marked with a name and a prison number — two women and a man. khaled was looking for his brothers, taken by airforce intelligence 11 years ago.

translation: anyone who wasn't killed immediately was taken - to an area known as the driving school to be slaughtered. i expect this happened to my brothers. when i saw these bags, i thought my brothers might be inside them. syria is beginning a new chapter amid unfinished stories from its past. lucy williamson, bbc news, damascus. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, says washington has made "direct contact" with the hts rebels who now control syria — despite still designating them as terrorists. speaking injordan after a summit on syria's future, mr blinken said it was important for the us to communicate with the islamist group. america and our partners have an important stake in helping the syrian people chart this new path. we know that what happens inside of syria can have powerful consequences well beyond its borders, from mass displacement to terrorism, and we know that we can't underestimate

the challenges of this moment. medics in gaza say the latest israeli airstrikes have killed at least 22 palestinians. the idf and hamas say one of those killed was the mayor of deir al—balah in central gaza. medics say 13 others were killed there, including at least ten who'd gathered to receive aid. they also say at least seven people including a woman and her baby were killed in a school in gaza city. israel said hamas was using it as a base. the us broadcaster abc news will pay donald trump 15 million dollars to settle a defamation case after a tv host incorrectly said the president—elect had been found liable for rape. abc news will also pay $1 million towards trump's legal fees, and publish a statement expressing its regret for the statements by george stephanopoulos during a televised interview. in a statement, abc said, "we are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement". our north america correspondent rowan bridge has the details

of the settlement. this settlement relates to a particularly heated interview that george stephanopoulos did on his sunday morning show this week back in march with a republican congresswoman and during that interview george stephanopoulos repeatedly said that donald trump had been found liable for rape of ejean caroll back in the 19905 — she's a journalist. in fact, what the new yorkjury had found donald trump liable for was sexual abuse and that has a particular legal definition under new york law, and donald trump sued abc over that interview. what's now emerged is that the two sides have settled that suit and abc have agreed to pay donald trump $15 million which will go towards a presidential library. they're also going to cover his $1 million in legalfees and they're also going to publish a statement on their website expressing regret over the comments that george stephanopoulos made. now, that brings this civil suit to an end but donald trump

is also involved in a number of other ones. he is suing the legendary washington journalist bob woodward over the publication of one of his books involving donald trump, and donald trump himself is being sued by five gentlemen over comments he made about them in a presidential debate. france's interior minister has warned of a potentially heavy number of casualties after cyclone chido hit its overseas territory mayotte on saturday. mayotte sits in the indian ocean, about 500km east of mozambique and about 350km west of madagascar. people there say conditions are apocalyptic. trees have been uprooted, roofs blown away, and neighbourhoods devastated. every single makeshift home is said to have been destroyed. there have been at least two deaths but a higher toll is feared. heavy rain and winds of up to 220km/h hit the island on saturday.

five people have been shot dead in and around a migrant camp near dunkirk in northern france. a 22—year—old has handed himself into police. duncan kennedy explains. this 22—year—old man apparently went into a house and shot a 29—year—old man dead. he's then driven to a place called loon—plage migrant camp — which is halfway between dunkirk and calais — where he shot four more people. two migrants and two security officers. it's possible the migrants were kurdish. he's then driven further on, this time to a police station to hand himself in. french police say they found more weapons in the boot of his car but they're not yet saying what the motivation for the attacks were. french media are saying that the man is local, a frenchman who lives locally, but beyond that we don't know his identification and the french investigation into this is continuing. niger says 39 people have been killed in two attacks in recent days in the west of the country. the defence ministry described the attacks — which happened near the border with burkina faso — as barbaric, with children reported to be among the dead.

ten nigerien soldiers were killed in the same region wednesday, in what the country's army described as a terrorist attack. following the bbc�*s reporting of that incident, the ruling militaryjunta said it was banning bbc radio from broadcasting in nigerfor three months. it had already banned french broadcasters, under similar accusations. niger is one of three countries in africa's sahel region now under military rule — alongside burkina faso and mali. the trio have formed an alliance, the association of sahel states, opposing france's influence in the region while welcoming warmer relations with russia. the countries are due to withdraw from the regional union ecowas injanuary though this week senegal�*s president said he's making progress in negotiations to dissuade them from leaving the bloc. ambassador tibor nagy served as assistant secretary of state for african affairs under the last trump administration. we spoke a short time ago. thank you for your time. first of all, what do you make of the ruling junta's claims

here and its suspension not only the bbc but also several other french news outlets? yeah, it's not surprising because the regime in niamey is feeling very much under siege with what's going on on the battlefield. also the number of civilian casualties that they've had this year. so i'm not surprised at all because remember, we're dealing with soldiers, not with professional politicians. what do you think this says then about the state of media freedom in niger and maybe more broadly about the state of democracy there? well, nobody can pretend that democracy is alive and well in niger but you also have to remember the situations in the sahel. because the populations were extremely, extremely frustrated with what was going on so when these governments were overthrown you didn't have the people coming out on the street protesting against the coups, you had them coming out cheering the coups right on.

unfortunately i feel in many respects we in the west mishandled dealing with these regimes in the beginning and now unfortunately it's continuing to go downhill very quickly. in what way do you think that the west mishandled the situation there? well, when these soldiers come into power they were in many cases overthrowing governments which you have to question were they truly democratic or were they potemkin democracies? and the people were really, really ready for the change and the west, in interacting them, was basically shutting them out. in the united states when we call something a coup we're required to discontinue certain programmes. in my view — i've spent a long time in africa — when those kinds of things happen, it's a need for more engagement as opposed to isolation and ifear that we really did

make a mistake. now, you mentioned safety. niger's ruling government didn't cite a specific reason for the suspension of the bbc but it did happen to take place after there were reports of attack, potentially affiliated with the islamic state, that killed some 90 soldiers, nearly 50 civilians. how safe are the country is niger right now for people living there? it's not safe. a lot of the country is not safe. and, you know, it's, for us, we're talking about freedom of the press. we all very strongly support freedom of the press and for us it's a philosophical discussion. for you guys it's obviously also a business discussion. but for the nigerien government, they see this as an existential struggle and that's why i think that it was a very hot button issue because they're probably very concerned over the implications for morale of their troops

with those kind of reports. yeah, and as you kind of alluded to, this was a coup that really came in promising to curb these sorts of military attacks. if people living there were to give a report card for how that's been going after about a year or so, how well has it done? it would be a failure, unfortunately. i think this year if i remember, there were 1,500 civilians already killed due to terrorist activity and i think that's twice the number of all of last year. so, no, it's not going well, and there again, their reactions have been, i think they feel like they're in a corner, they've been striking out. they struck out at the french, they struck out at us, kicking us out of our two airbases and they're embracing people that we wish they were not embracing. again, i think that in those kinds of situations it's very important for us to be engaging more.

i think the united states is extremely fortunate to have an extremely able and confident us ambassador in niamey. i fear that if she had not been there then relations would even be worse with the united states. so if it's key to be reaching out more, you think, on behalf of the us government, how do you see that relationship then evolving potentially as donald trump takes office injanuary? i personally think it will be better. i think one of the things that you will see with the trump administration is we will drop the megaphone that we seem to have been carrying everywhere when we've gone to africa, to tell our african interlocutors everything that they're doing wrong. i think that that was one of the reasons we got kicked out of our two airbases in niger. and we just have to understand what the situation is on the ground and respond to it accordingly. tibor nagy, former us assistant secretary of state for african affairs, really

interesting stuff, thank you. thank you very much. south korea's acting president, han duck—soo, has assured us presidentjoe biden that seoul will carry out its foreign and security policies without disruption. he's filling the role after parliament voted to impeach his predecessor yoon suk yeol over a short—lived attempt to impose martial law 11 days ago. yoon says he will never give up describing the impeachment vote as a temporary pause in his presidency. early on saturday, crowds celebrated outside the national assembly as the impeachment motion passed. our correspondent, jean mckenzie, is in seoul and has this report — a warning that it contains flashing images. cheering. in a moment, a protest erupts into a street party, rejoicing the downfall of a president many have long despised. they'd accused him of being authoritarian, of eroding their democracy.

but no one could have guessed what he had planned. when mr yoon stole from the playbook of south korea's past military dictators, dispatching troops to storm the parliament, he committed his final unforgivable act. the biting temperatures would have been enough to force many indoors. but armed with glow sticks and hot packs, they descended here, for the 11th day in a row, young women leading the charge. "he said martial law was for the people, but not one of his policies has helped us". as the vote to impeach mr yoon got under way, a solemn warning from parliament's speaker. translation: the weight l of your ballot is heavy today. it carries the weight of history, the weight of democracy. enough mps heeded his words.

the motion passed by just four votes. cheering. the irony here tonight is that president yoon always said that he didn't care about being popular with people or with his party. he wanted to do things his own way, and he didn't mind who he upset. but people in south korea have shown him tonight that in a democracy, in their democracy, you cannot act alone, however much you might try. the dictator president yoon has now disappeared. so happy! today's verdict doesn't mean the president is gone for good — for now, he's suspended. the courts will have the final say. and tonight, mr yoon has said he's determined to fight on. this is the biggest test korea's young democracy has everfaced — and it's passed. people's persistence has paid

off — the politicians have listened and tonight, this is their victory. jean mckenzie, bbc news, seoul. georgia's disputed parliament has named mikhel kavelashvili to be the country's next president, sparking a public outcry and condemnation from pro—western officials. opposition parties that are boycotting parliament say the election of the georgian dream mp — a formerfootballer — is illegitimate. outgoing pro—western president, salome zoura—bishvili, called the election, "a tragedy", and has vowed to remain in office. this was the scene outside the parliament on saturday. there have been demonstrations against the georgian dream—led government for the last 17 days. the protests erupted in november, when georgia's government announced it was putting accession negotiations with the european union on hold until 2028. a majority of georgians support the country eventually joining the eu.

opposition parties say the election of kavelashvili undermines that goal and is a victory for russia. for more, i spoke to ian kelly, a former us ambassador to georgia. what more do we know about the new president mikheil kavelashvili and how he might approach this role? yes, well, thanks for having me. we actually do know quite a bit about him. as you mentioned, he is an ex— footballer. his politics really are at the fringe of georgian politics. he has really, i think, engaged in very anti—western rhetoric, very illiberal politics. that is a sign that georgian dream doesn't want to run with any political consensus with other political forces in georgia.

if this is mostly a ceremonial role, is that correct? yes, it is mostly a ceremonial role and it is symbolically very important. this person is the head of state, has some of the traditional powers like veto power, pardon power, the power to convene parliament and this is one of the complaints that the present president, salome zourabichvili, has had, that they convened the new parliament without her approval which is not for seeing in the law. is georgia approaching some sort of constitutional clash here? opposition announcing the movies illegitimate. there is a sitting president whose term is meant to end on december 29 and she said she is not stepping down so what you think is going to happen? december 20, i think,

is going to be crunch time. —— december 29. that is when, when the new president is supposed to be sworn in and become the next president. the opposition, the protesters, are claiming that he cannot have any legitimacy since the parliament was convened illegitimately and so i think that december 29 will be probably the most dangerous time in this period since the elections in october 26 because president zourabichvili said she is not going to step down so i think that is the consequences. and in the meantime these protests continue. we saw people out on the street tonight. you expect this move, new president, will that dampen the enthusiasm within georgia for these pro—eu demonstrations? you know, that is hard to say. i don't really expect it. it is really extraordinary, the level of energy on the part

of the protesters. and just how widespread they are, two. there are protests around the country. i do think the protesters, as you pointed out, the vast majority of georgians want to join the eu. i do think the protests will continue in this unilateral move of needing a new president and not having a complete parliament but could even energise it more. could be a crucial few days of the country in georgia. ian kelly, former ambassador to georgia, thank you for your time. thank you for having me. let's turn to some other news. one person has been seriously injured after a bus crashed into a railway bridge in glasgow. the roof of the bus was torn

off in the incident, which happened in the city centre. the alleged chinese spy who became friends with prince andrew is reported to have also met two former british prime ministers. the sunday times says the man was photographed with both david cameron and theresa may although there's no suggestion either knew the man personally. the billionaire founder of high street fashion chain mango has died in a cave accident. spanish media reports 71—year—old isak anic fell down a ravine while outside barcelona with his family. after weeks of tangos, salsas and foxtrots — we now know the winner of strictly come dancing. and a spoiler alert here for the result... the comedian chris mccausland has become the first blind winner of the show. thejudges praised his dancing, describing him as an inspiration. noor nanji was watching. it's time to announce your strictly come dancing champions. the moment history was made... chris and dianne!

and after weeks of tangos, salsas and foxtrots, chris mccausland and his dance partner dianne buswell finally got their hands on the coveted glitterball trophy. this is for her and it's for everyone out there that just thought... ..that got told they couldn't do something, that thought they couldn't do it. and itjust shows that with opportunity and support and just determination, just anything can happen. # a superstar...# chris was the bookies�* favourite and is strictly�*s first—ever blind winner. he and dianne performed three dances on the night, including one recreating their blackout dance moment, which went viral earlier in the season. but they faced stiff competition from the other finalists. the first top scores of the night went tojls singer jb gill and his partner lauren oakley for their viennese waltz. also in the mix was love islander tasha ghouri and her dance partner aljaz skorjanec, who danced their couple's choice

to what about us by pink. # i can feel my spirit rising...# last but not least, it was actress sarah hadland. she and partner vito coppola did an american smooth, scoring them 39 out of a0 despite a wardrobe malfunction. we have a wardrobe issue! this year's series came after a number of former contestants spoke up about their experiences on the show. the bbc apologised to amanda abbington and upheld some of her complaints against her dance partner giovanni pernice, but cleared him of the most serious claims. before the show began, the bbc introduced new duty—of—care measures, including putting chaperones in rehearsals. overall, this latest series has been largely scandal—free, and those behind it will be hoping that this draws a line under a difficult period in the show�*s 20—year history. tonight, though, it was all about the finalists, and in the end it came down to the public vote — and it was chris and dianne who had stolen the most hearts. noor nanji, bbc news.

a reminder you can get more on that story and all the day's headlines on the website — bbc.com/news. you can check our app bbc.com/news. you can check our app or follow us on social media. i'm here in washington. plenty more coming up at the top of this hour. so stay with us right here on bbc news. hello there. well, finally, some blue sky and some sunshine for many parts of england and wales through the day on saturday. and it was a beautiful end to the day — lots of red skies around, including here in gosport in hampshire, with our approaching weather front. but it's that weather front that's introducing a lot more cloud as we head through sunday so it's not such a nice day of weather. there'll be a brisk westerly wind, many places will stay dry and the air is going

to turn a lot milder. and that's because it's a warm front marked here, with the red circles gradually slipping southwards and eastwards for the rest of saturday night, introducing that milder feeling air, marked here in yellow, squeezing the blue, colder air well out of the way. we're staying in that milder air for the next few days. and here it is on sunday morning. a lot of clouds, some coastal, some hill fog around, gales across the northern isles. and it's breezy with that brisk westerly wind further south too. heavy rain pushing into northwest scotland, but elsewhere largely dry away from these northern and western coasts. the best of any breaks in the cloud will be to the east of high ground, so eastern scotland, northeast england, eastern wales should see at least some brighter spells. temperatures will be mild, 12 to 1a celsius and the best of any brightness. and it's just more of the same as we head through sunday night and into monday, the rain continues across northwest scotland. a few breaks in the cloud, perhaps further south with the strength of the breeze, but temperatures won't drop much below nine or ten celsius as we kick off the new working week. and if we just take a look at the pressure chart, then you can see that this rain is just set to continue

across northwest scotland. there is a met office yellow weather warning in place for heavy rain here. there could be some localised flooding because the rainfall totals will really start to rack up, particularly as we head through monday and into tuesday. and because of the snow melt, with that milder air, there could be some localised flooding, the rain gradually pushing across caithness and sutherland later on. a few more breaks in the cloud, i think further south on monday. it does stay breezy, but i think we'll stand the chance of seeing more sunshine across east anglia and parts of the east midlands in particular. as we head through monday and into tuesday we look out towards the southwest, it's turning really very wet and windy, with this deep area of low pressure starting to sweep through. the winds turn more southwesterly and it will be very blustery, unsettled as we head through the middle of the week, and then it all turns cooler with a northwesterly wind developing on thursday, so a drop in temperature again. bye— bye.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme.