a city rises from the ruins, from the dark. you can feel a new energy in this city of horns as syrians finally come home. it's my first time, yes. i have some flashbacks about that. this doctor

left a decade ago when families, then fighters, were forced out by this ferocious bombardment, by an agonising siege. do you think it's this? i think it's, yes. i now remember everything. that is our operation room over here. what kind of an operations room was it? did you have many medicines? no, not a lot of medicines. yes, yes, yes. the patient you see come from there. they come down the stairs. come down the stairs. this is the flag he hit. doctors. he hit president bashar al—assad's forces. yes, he hit political more than fighter. now it's time to build syria for everyone, but not who killed us and have blood on his arm. for that we don't forgive.

we don't forgive. it's impossible for us. in 2014, we reported on the end of the old city siege. a thousand starving civilians rescued in a temporary truce, including a little girl named baraa. we've stayed in touch from afar since then. nice to see you! translation: they were the hardest times. even now, when i think back, i wonder how did we survive? it was a nightmare and it ended, thank god. but their suffering didn't stop there. theirfather farhan raised his daughters on his own. their mother was killed when a rocket slammed into their kitchen. all of them have been striving for a betterfuture. the starving girl we met is now studying food science at university. i never thought that i'd find a job here

in the days of the regime, i always thought that i'd go to europe to work. but now there's a chance to live here with dignity. we want a civilian government, not even an islamic one. we want to live together, to coexist. we want whoever the president is to pack up and leave at the end of their term. we don't want another president for life, someone they build statues of. they insist we must visit their place of refuge in the siege — the jesuit monastery which opened its doors. a nativity scene now. the new syrian pastor finds christmas hope in their story. this is what is about the grotto wherejesus and the holy family, they find a refuge. and this now comes to something very beautiful, a very beautiful story, the story of farhan and his family. it's the story of homs —

the city they called the capital of the revolution. now a crucible for syria's new start. lyse doucet, bbc news, homs. the un security council is discussing syria right now. these are the pictures. they have said that concrete movement on an inclusive political transition here will be key in making sure the country gets the economic support it needs. there is a clear international willingness to engage and talk about support and a smooth end to sanctions and a full reconstruction project. you are watching bbc news. police in the us state of wisconsin have identified the attacker in a school shooting as a 15 year—old girl. a teacher and a student were killed — and six students were injured. the attacker was found dead at the scene. only 3% of mass shootings in the us have been carried out by women or girls. the police chief in the city

of madison said the alarm was raised by a pupil who was just seven or eight years—old. here's our north america correspondent, david willis. mass shootings are sadly no rarity in this country which, of course, enshrines the right to bear arms in its constitution. but shootings carried out by females are extremely rare. and 15—year—old natalie rupnow, who went by the name samantha, was a student at the small, privately run christian school in madison, wisconsin. about three hours into the school day, officials say, she opened fire in the classroom, killing a teacher and one of her fellow students before turning the gun on herself. officials say that she died on the way to hospital. police are attempting

to determine a motive for the attack. they say that the girl's parents are cooperating with their inquiries, and they've also revealed that the first call to the emergency services, warning them of the bloodshed that was unfolding at this school came from a pupil in what's known as the second grade. that's pupils between the ages ofjust seven and eight years old. now, two other students are said to be in a critical condition in hospital tonight with potentially life—threatening injuries. president biden has called the incident shocking and unconscionable, and has called for tougher gun control laws to be passed by congress. but previous such calls, of course, have gone nowhere, thanks largely to the influence of the very powerful lobby group, the nra, the national rifle association. so among the many unanswered questions tonight, what prompted a 15—year—old girl to open fire

on her classmates? and how was somebody who was not legally old enough to own a weapon, able to get access to a gun and bring it to the classroom? retailers say shoplifting has got so out of control that they re having to tackle thieves themselves. with shoplifting at a record high in england, according to the home office, one shopkeeper says he's had to carry out more than 50 citizens arrests over the last two years, as charlotte cox reports. she's looking at some tarot cards there. shopkeeper martin gaunt has invested thousands on security cameras to help tackle shoplifting. but he also relies on other methods. oh, don't hit him. no, don't! get that on. this is martin after carrying out a citizen's arrest. and it gets heated. we know that using citizen's arrests works because we have

seen a drop in the number of repeat offenders that we see. they will prefer to go somewhere else where they won't be troubled. he's carried out around 50. you can't touch us. no, you are detained. i've walked away before with bruised ribs and felt it for a few weeks. can you call security, please? tell them he is resisting arrest. the police will very rarely, if ever, attend. so, if you make a civil arrest, you should get police attendance. a tactic other shopowners rely on. louis phelps says in a year he's lost about £20,000 to burglaries and shoplifting. he has gone out looking for his stolen stock before, finding it in second—hand shops. one owner helped him catch the alleged thief. we lay in wait at the store for him to return with his id. we more or less performed a citizen's arrest. we called the police and within about 20 minutes they turned up. and, yeah, we kind ofjust held him there and waited for the police to collect him. shoplifting costs almost £2 billion a year, according to the british retail

consortium. home office figures show fewer than 20% of recorded shoplifting offences resulted in a charge or summons in the year to march 202a. but some argue citizen's arrests are too risky. ultimately, you know, the job of catching criminals, of arresting criminals, is one for the police. i think what's important is that people never put themselves into harm's way, ultimately. the national police chiefs�* council recommends that only trained security guards detain offenders. devon and cornwall police says it prioritises attendance where violence is involved or a shoplifter is detained. meanwhile, martin hopes that government actions, such as making it a criminal offence to assault a shop worker, will mean he's no longer seen as a soft target. yeah, ifeel desperate and ifeel like giving up. but if i give up the fight, eventually i'd probably have to give up the business as well. we will have more on all of the top stories injust we will have more on all of the top stories in just a moment. now we have the weather

forecast. hello. it's been a very mild day and it is going to be a very mild night, but it's also going to be a wet and a windy night in places thanks to this curl of cloud, this area of low pressure, which is going to be passing across the north—west of the uk. and notice the white lines, the isobars, squeezing together. that shows that we are going to see some pretty brisk winds, the strongest winds through the evening found around some of these western coasts — gusts of 50mph or more could well cause some disruption. we will also see outbreaks of rain pushing northwards and eastwards through the night. a lot of cloud, but really it's going to be turning increasingly mild. so temperatures by the start of tomorrow morning up around 12,13 or 14 degrees in quite a few places. so a very mild start to wednesday, a wet start across northern ireland, scotland and northern england, where we will also have some really strong winds over the tops of the pennines, gusts of around 60mph. that could cause some travel problems. across the northern half of the country,

the rain will clear to a mix of sunshine and showers. further south, rain will arrive through the afternoon across the south—west of england and wales. it stays mild in the south, but it does turn colder further north. now, through wednesday night, this weather system runs its way eastwards, and behind that, we all get into this flow of winds from the north or the north—west. so that will bring a very different feel for thursday, a much colderfeel, but it is going to be a brighter day. there should be a fair bit of sunshine around. some showers pushing into these northern and western parts exposed to the wind. some of those showers will be wintry up over high ground. single—digit temperatures, around 5—9 degrees. when we factor in the strength of the wind, it will feel colder than that. and then another change as we head through friday. after a fairly cold and potentially frosty start, we'll see this frontal system pushing in from the west. that will bring some outbreaks of rain, and it will start to bring some milder air in across western parts —

10 degrees there for belfast, for cardiff, 11 degrees in plymouth. in plymouth on friday afternoon. and then into the weekend, another weather system, this one tied in with a potentially very deep area of low pressure that is set to bring widely some very windy weather. the strongest winds on saturday up towards the north and the west of the uk. windy everywhere on sunday and turning colder through the weekend.

live from london, this is bbc news. a crime of "almost inconceivable" cruelty — a judge sentences the father and stepmother of murdered 10—year—old sara sharif to decades behind bars. i'm to decades behind bars. martine croxall, live at the i'm martine croxall, live at the old bailey. thejudge said

that sara had been battered again and again and suffered a campaign of torture. after months of deadlock, reports that israel and hamas could be moving closer to a gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. ukrainian security sources say they were behind a remotely controlled bomb attack that's killed a top russian general. the killing of a general here in moscow, that is a wake—up call and a sign that this war is very real and very to home. chaos and panic in vanuatu, as a major earthquake strikes the pacific island nation, leaving toppled buildings and landslides in its wake. and how art is notjust uplifting — a new report says it can be good for your mental and physical health.

hello and welcome to bbc news. a judge at the old bailey in london has sentenced the father and stepmother of 10—year—old sara sharif to life in prison for her murder. the judge described the crimes as being "of almost