the us broadcaster abc news will pay donald trump $15 million to settle a defamation case. hello, i'm carl nasman. the extent of the human rights abuses committed by the regime of syria's ex—president, basharal—assad, is becoming clearer, nearly a week after he was overthrown. nearly a week 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. 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 zourabichili

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. let's talk about the result now with katie tutberidze, an investigative journalist based in tbilisi. great to have you on the programme. what is the reaction and what are you hearing on the ground, including those pro—eu demonstrators about the new president?— president? thank you for “oininu president? thank you for joining us _ president? thank you for joining us den _ president? thank you for joining us den georgia i president? thank you for i joining us den georgia bell. georgia is one of the smallest

countries in the eastern europe and it definitely, the georgian people are going through a dramatic process and a high political crisis. today when i was covering the protest across the parliament building, all of them, thousands of people, were talking about that mikheil kavelashvili has no political background and he has no higher education. in 2015, she was able to run for the presidency of georgia and now he became president and he was just one candidate for presidency he was nominated by the georgian dream for his loyalty and declared it officially that he was loyal to

the georgian dream and to mikheil kavelashvili the royal governor of the party. when i was talking with them and my colleagues from the western media, all of them said... we do not need a president without diploma and the major problem is people do not like him. he has a friendly relationship with the media and oppositional parties and the non—government organisations and human rights defenders. , ., organisations and human rights defenders-_ defenders. given what you are sa in: , defenders. given what you are saying. do _ defenders. given what you are saying. do we _ defenders. given what you are saying, do we have _ defenders. given what you are saying, do we have a - defenders. given what you are saying, do we have a sense i defenders. given what you are saying, do we have a sense of| saying, do we have a sense of how we may approach the role? do we have a sense of how he has acted before any governmental sense? what governmental sense? sory? what sort of president _ governmental sense? sory? what sort of president you _ governmental sense? sory? what sort of president you think - governmental sense? cr what sort of president you think you may be? how will he approach this new role? he

may be? how will he approach this new role?— this new role? he has a quite complicated _ this new role? he has a quite complicated relationship - this new role? he has a quite complicated relationship with human rights, homophobic and unfriendly. and he is anti— liberal and he was one of the authors of a very controversial russian law, the law about, inspired by the russian federation and in 2023, the georgian people they were protesting the law. in 2024, in april and may, the protest, thousands of protesting this law. and he is one of the authors of the law, one of the most controversial laws in history of george r. we only have about _ history of george r. we only have about one _ history of george r. we only have about one minute - history of george r. we only have about one minute left | history of george r. we only i have about one minute left but —— of georgia. we know that the

current president, salome zourabichili, says she wants to stay in the post and she does not want to leave. what happens in december when she is meant to leave and make way for the new president? could there be a clash? , , ~ clash? definitely. ithink we will see governmental - clash? definitely. ithink we will see governmental clash j clash? definitely. i think we - will see governmental clash and the aim of salome zourabichili this to organise new fear elections and the same demand as what the protesters have, which is to release all of the political prisoners detained during the last three weeks, and there are more than 400. many of them are talking about the torture, and the threats of rape. me and my colleagues have interviewed some of them and all of them are talking about it the public defenders office

of georgia also put that in their report.— of georgia also put that in their reort. ., ~' ,, . their report. thank you so much for speaking _ their report. thank you so much for speaking with _ their report. thank you so much for speaking with us. _ their report. thank you so much for speaking with us. i - their report. thank you so much for speaking with us. i know- their report. thank you so much for speaking with us. i know it l for speaking with us. i know it is very early there in georgia bell. thank you very much. 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've been at least two deaths but a higher toll is feared. heavy rain and winds of up to 220 kilometres an hour hit the island on saturday. the us broadcaster abc news will pay donald trump $15 million 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. 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. 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. politicians in new york and newjersey are asking for a briefing from federal agencies over a number of drone sightings. the senators call the drones a potential safety risk.

the white house says there is no evidence of any threat to the public. barbara starr is a senior fellow at usc�*s annenberg center and a longtime pentagon correspondent. i asked her what we know and what authorities are doing. given your experience and contacts at the pentagon, do you have any sense about what these suspected drones are and who might be operating them? well, you know, the military is taking also a very close look at this because along the east coast in that sort of newjersey region there is a good deal of restricted airspace because military activity and secure us government activity so there's a lot of interest on all parts of the government in trying to figure out what exactly all of this is. so where are we? officially, the white house is saying that they absolutely don't know what is going on. they don't believe there's a threat, they don't believe there's any foreign adversaries sending drones up over the united states,

but they don't know what it is. they do have a number of technical assets, they say, analysing all of this. people are, however, getting very distressed about it because they say, and they're filing reports, that they're seeing multiple drones every night in some locations and that it's been going on for week. the newjersey senator andy kim, he posted on social media today, he thinks it could be manned aircraft or small aircraft to an extent, but in new york, an airfield, a small airport north of new york, had to shut down last night because of drone activity so, you know, the idea is to figure out what it is, but i think there's also now, carl, a deeper issue at play here. many politicians, many elected officials — state, local, federal, want to see the government

have more authorities to deal with this, to bring the drones down if they are a threat, if that becomes necessary, and to have more authority to try to figure out what's going on. that seems to be one thing that they all agree on, but they don't agree on exactly what's happening right now. yeah, they don't really seem to agree. we're seeing more and more frustration and anger from these local politicians and senators whereas we're kind of getting a �*don't worry�* message from the federal government. is it strange to you to see these two sides really not on the same page when it comes to how to deal with a potential threat or something that really is scaring a lot of people? i think one of the biggest sensitivities here, and how to say this in a sensitive manner, is the concern that people are genuinely, honestly, seeing something up there and filing reports on it, but what they're seeing, again, could be small piloted aircraft, could be helicopters, could be flares. we have multiple reports coming at the same time from various spots on the ground where many people are looking up in the sky and reporting

that they see something. nobody is saying, nobody�*s indicating this is mass hysteria — that has not come up — but they're saying that they need to figure out what's happening. the question is at what point does this really move off dead centre? this is where we've been for several weeks now, of the federal government saying, "look, there's really no problem, we're analysing the data we're getting, we're looking at it all." state and local governments being very concerned. the new york governor today saying this has all gone far enough. they want more information, they want to know what does the federal government know. could this be some kind

of classified government programme? what do they know and what does the federal government really think�*s going on? and barbara, i'm sure you will remember that balloon which ended up being a suspected chinese spy balloon which traversed the country a couple of years ago. do you think that there's some hangover from that, some frustration there, that it didn't feel like the biden administration was sharing enough information quickly enough, it wasn't acting quickly enough — eventually it did go over some sensitive sites potentially and then was shot down at the very end of its journey over the entire country? i mean, was anything learned from that experience here? well, i think what was learned is that the military, the intelligence community, the fbi which is involved in looking at all of this, state, federal and local government, all probably need to have better technology,

more rapid response, try and understand what's going on when these phenomena occur up in the skies and be able to deal with it and i think at the end of the day, that's the real risk here. next time, let's just say it's a drone but it flies over restricted airspace, is their authority to bring it down? let's say it flies over new york city and it's headed for a populated area and it may crash. is there authority to deal with all of these situations? because i think the one thing we know is there's an awful lot flying up there in the sky and it's not all aircraft, it's not all things that can be tracked on flight data software, websites. crosstalk. clearly we're seeing so much stuff up there. these things are very complex issues and people want answers and right now they feel they're not getting them. yeah, people want answers and still no answers. thank you barbara starr for coming on and trying to find some for us, we appreciate it. the shortlist for the academy awards will be announced on tuesday and one film vying to be included is india's official pick for the best international feature film category.

indian music. lost ladies is a satire, with a young man bringing the wrong bride home. meanwhile, his wife ends up lost, having to fend for herself. sadia khan sat down with bollywood superstar aamir khan who co—produced the film to discuss his hopes for an oscar. the film is about women empowerment but there's a strong male character, main character, in the film too. so as a man, why was it important to back a film looking at the fight against the patriarchy? here is a film that not only is it a great script which bops really well, but it's also talking about such an important issue. women all over the world have been subjected to a lot of challenges in their lives. all over the world, notjust in india, i think it's all over the world that women have a raw deal in life. it doesn't feel nice.

so i felt that this was a story which really brings that out really well, in such a nice way, which is why i wanted to produce it and i was very keen that kiran direct this film. india's never won the best international feature film at the oscars. closest we would say india's got to was your own film lagaan. there was mother india, what, 50 years ago. mother india, yes, yes, yeah. and the most recent example, though, i guess, would be lagaan. lagaan, yeah. why do think indian films haven't been able to cut through the global stage in terms of award recognition despite having audiences all over the world? when you're looking at the foreign—language category, it's probably the toughest category at the oscars. it's tougher than best film,

its tougher than, you know, because you're competing with the best film from each country. india has made really great films over the years. occasionally it's a matter of the right film not getting sent, or the best film not getting sent, but otherwise we have to understand that the films that you're competing against, you're not competing against five or six films, you're competing against almost 80 or 90 films which are the best in the world. each country's best film has been sent. and i feel that a film that is well—made doesn't — it travels. good films like lagaan travelled. what would it mean to you to win the oscar for india? i would be really happy, it would create tremendous opportunity for the film to be seen by a lot more people because when a film wins an oscar or an academy award then people across the world want to see what it's like so it opens a huge window of opportunity for a larger audience for yourfilm. and then, more important that that, ithink, indians are so film crazy and we've been dying to win the academy award for an indian film which hasn't happened till now, so the country will go ballistic, willjust go mad if we win, so just for the people of our country

and just for our country i'd be really happy if we win the award. you can watch the full interview here on the bbc news channel or on iplayer if you're in the uk. stay with us 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 cloud, 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 higher ground, so eastern scotland, north east england, eastern wales should see at least some brighter spells. temperatures will be mild — 12 to 14 degrees celsius — in 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 degrees 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 south—west. 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.

so, this is the velodrome? this is it. this is where i spent 20 years of my life. i this week, alasdair�*s talking wheels with cycling legend sir chris hoy. we're watching how wind is helping wheelchair racers. i think building the chair around you and your needs is incredibly important. and we whip up a chat with the new voice and face of indiana jones. the thing that is universal is that there is, somewhere in all of us, an adventurer.

so, this is the velodrome?