and a close encounter with the king of the arctic — we visit the polar bears struggling to cope in a warming world. because a the un 5 special envoy to syria has warned that unless the country gets urgent support it could be plunged back into conflict. geir pedersen, called for "free and fair elections" in syria and urged humanitarian assistance to the country more than a week after the downfall of president assad. there are a few challenges. one is that the conflict isn't over yet. yes, there is stability in damascus, but there are challenges in some areas, and of course, one of the biggest challenges is the

situation in the north—east. we need immediate humanitarian assistance but we also need to make sure that syria can be rebuilt, that we can see economic recovery, and that we can hopefully see the beginning, where we start the process to end sanctions. of course, it is the importance of making sure that we have a political transition that will be credible, inclusive and includes the broadest range of the syrian society the international organisation for migration says the country is not yet stable enough for the large—scale return of refugees. the agency says about a 100,000 people have already returned. the head of the un's international 0rganisation for migration, amy pope, joins me now. thank you for coming on the programme. mi; thank you for coming on the programme-— thank you for coming on the i programme._ you programme. my pleasure. you have recently _ programme. my pleasure. you have recently been _ programme. my pleasure. you have recently been in - programme. my pleasure. you. have recently been in damascus speaking to political leaders there. what did you pick up? we

icked there. what did you pick up? - picked up that the caretaker government is serious about trying to create a more stable situation in syria, but that the task ahead of them is monumental. they do not have a lot of experience governing such a complex situation. much of the country are still devastated by the war that has gone on for years. and the country itself still faces some fairly significant humanitarian needs that must be met if it is going to recover effectively. if you add on top of that movement of people, lots of people within the country and coming back potentially into syria, what kind of consequences could that have? our concern is that if there is 0ur concern is that if there is a large—scale movement of people back into the country at a time when basic infrastructure is missing in parts of the country, frankly, it will put a lot of pressure on a very fragile system. it also risks increasing the

regional instability, it risks further movements, further displacements of people. it risks conflict between communities. so we are hoping the international community and our partners around the world will take seriously the need to provide humanitarian support and begin the rebuilding effort for the country before there are large movements of people back there. are large movements of people back there-— are large movements of people back there. what does it mean? we will come — back there. what does it mean? we will come to _ back there. what does it mean? we will come to the _ back there. what does it mean? we will come to the situation i we will come to the situation on the ground in different parts of syria in a moment, but given what you just said there, what implications does that have the governments of countries in the region but also across europe, and lots of areas that are receiving applications of asylum, applications of asylum, applications potentially historical and current from people from syria. many have caused those processes. is your message to those governments to continue to process them and accept people from syria or not? ., ., ' not? there are two different ieces not? there are two different pieces here- _ not? there are two different pieces here. the _ not? there are two different pieces here. the first - not? there are two different pieces here. the first is - not? there are two different pieces here. the first is for. pieces here. the first is for people who are now currently coming to a country on seeking asylum, and there it is really,

asylum, and there it is really, as our colleagues at unhcr would share with us, it is important people have a case—by—case consideration to determine whether or not they have a need for asylum at this moment in time. the situation on the ground is very volatile, it is not clear it is safe for everyone to go back so that decision still needs to be made based on individual circumstances. there is a different matter in terms of the people who are already living and working, or who have had refugee status around the world, and certainly the issue therefore many countries, is it time for those people, those syrians, to go back home? the answer to that question is, not quite yet. there may be individuals who can go home because of where they are going, it may be more stable. but in terms of a large scale return of syrians, the situation on the ground there remains really unsuitable for large numbers of people to go home. . ., large numbers of people to go home. ., ~ i. ., large numbers of people to go home. ., ~ ., . ., , home. thank you for clarifying that. home. thank you for clarifying that- let's _ home. thank you for clarifying that. let's move _ home. thank you for clarifying that. let's move to _ home. thank you for clarifying that. let's move to the - that. let's move to the situation on the ground in syria. can you give us an idea

of the numbers of people who are internally displaced in syria? the numbers of people who have potentially left and therefore a potential figure of people who could be returning? there are over 5 million people who have been displaced inside the country. around 2 million of those people are inside camps, so in very, very fragile circumstances. another 3 million or so have been displaced parts of the country. likewise we know there are millions of people who have left the country over the years and they are now living in the surrounding countries, jordan and turkey and here in lebanon where i am calling from. as well as in europe. the numbers of people are well over 10 million who could be returning to their place of origin. even in recent days we have seen the movement of additional people. so as communities have experienced fighting, as infrastructure has been destroyed, people have moved in search of safety. even in the last week or so we have seen around 200,000 people, some people may or going back home to where they came from, to do

an assessment of whether it is safe to go and live there and bring theirfamilies safe to go and live there and bring their families back. safe to go and live there and bring theirfamilies back. what bring their families back. what kind of support, _ bring their families back. what kind of support, given - bring their families back. what kind of support, given those kind of support, given those kind of support, given those kind of numbers, what kind of support are you suggesting is needed now? it support are you suggesting is needed now?— support are you suggesting is needed now? it is going to be very significant. _ needed now? it is going to be very significant. even - needed now? it is going to be very significant. even before i very significant. even before the possibility of a return to the possibility of a return to the un had assessed across the board that it would be about $4 billion to provide humanitarian support to communities already living in syria. we are talking about the return of potentially millions more and their needs are significantly greater. there are two sides to this, the basic life—saving humanitarian support, things like shelter, food, hygiene kits, water, that people need just to survive. then there is the next level, it's about how do we enable people to actually become self—reliant? how do we enable them to find a job, contribute to the rebuilding of the economy? these things need to go hand in hand, providing humanitarian support is just

not going to be sufficient to allow people to go home and stay home. allow people to go home and stay home-— allow people to go home and stay home. allow people to go home and sta home. �* , ., ~ stay home. amy pope, thank you for coming _ stay home. amy pope, thank you for coming on _ stay home. amy pope, thank you for coming on the _ stay home. amy pope, thank you for coming on the programme - stay home. amy pope, thank you | for coming on the programme and for coming on the programme and for talking us through those complex ideas. to moscow, where authorties investigating the killing of russian general igor kirillov say they've arrested a 29—year—old suspect. kirillov and his assistant were blown—up as they left an apartment bloc— just a few kilometres from the kremlin in the early hours of tuesday. a warning, some viewers may find the pictures we're about to show you upsetting. the explosives were attached to a scooter parked on the street. moscow says the arrested man is an uzbek, who confessed to having been promised $100,000 to kill the general, and then travel to a european union country. ukrainian security sources have said they planned the attack, insisting the general was a legitimate target because he was responsible for russia's use of chemical weapons on the battlefield.

vitaliy shevchenko is bbc monitoring's russia editor — he gave this update about the latest developments. what we know is basically these two statements, one issued by the russian federal security service, the fsb, and also the official investigations committee, they are saying that a man, an uzbek men, aged 29, has been arrested on suspicion of killing general igor kirillov yesterday. and the russian security services issued a video of a man, apparently this uzbek citizen, basically confessing to what he did. he's shown handcuffed and saying what those two security agencies said. he is saying that he, several months ago, he bought a scooter, then later he received parts for the bomb, which he assembled and attached to the scooter. then he parked it outside general kirillov�*s house.

and also he apparently rented a car, also parked it outside the house, placed a camera inside the car, which was basically livestreaming from the site. now, importantly, the russian security services and this man are saying that he was acting in the interests of the ukrainian security services, he had been recruited by the ukrainian security services, allegedly, and was livestreaming from outside general kirillov�*s house to his ukrainian handlers, apparently, based in the ukrainian city of dnipro. so yesterday morning when they saw general kirillov and his aide emerge from the house, the uzbek man pressed the button and the bomb went off, killing the general. now, he also speaks

about why he did it. he said he had been promised $100,000 and a place of residence in the eu. now, whether any of that is true is of course another matter, but it's really important that the russian security services are basically saying that ukrainian agents had been able to organise an assassination of a key russian generaljust miles outside of the kremlin. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

in the middle east, there are hopes that a ceasefire and hostage release deal could soon be reached between israel and hamas in gaza. us officials in washington said there was "cautious optimism", after intensive efforts to advance negotiations before president biden

leaves the white house. the talks — to end fighting in gaza and secure the release of israeli hostages — have been taking place in egypt and qatar and are said to be within reach. all previous attempts have collapsed. let's speak to gershon baskin, middle east director of the international communities 0rganization and a former israeli hostage negotiator. thank you for coming on the programme. what is your sense of the noises we are hearing right now?— right now? there is a lot of noise, right now? there is a lot of noise. a — right now? there is a lot of noise, a lot _ right now? there is a lot of noise, a lot of _ right now? there is a lot of noise, a lot of spinning, i right now? there is a lot of noise, a lot of spinning, a l right now? there is a lot of l noise, a lot of spinning, a lot of optimism, hopefully, but we have been here before and we have been here before and we have been here before and we have been disappointed because of the difficulties of reaching agreement. the gaps are still quite wide between israel and hamas. and there is an enormous amount of pressure being put on both parties to reach an agreement now. and with cooperation, very strange cooperation, very strange cooperation between the outgoing biden administration and the incoming trump

administration. so even there, there seems to be progress globally but i'm not sure that israel and hamas can reach an agreement. abs, israel and hamas can reach an agreement-— israel and hamas can reach an aareement. ., ., ,. , ., agreement. a note of scepticism around the _ agreement. a note of scepticism around the optimism. _ agreement. a note of scepticism around the optimism. you - agreement. a note of scepticism around the optimism. you sent l around the optimism. you sent the gaps there remain white. do we have any idea about what exactly the detail of these gaps are?— exactly the detail of these gaps are? exactly the detail of these a-asare? ,, gaps are? the basic issues are hamas's demanding _ gaps are? the basic issues are hamas's demanding an - gaps are? the basic issues are hamas's demanding an end i gaps are? the basic issues are hamas's demanding an end to| gaps are? the basic issues are . hamas's demanding an end to the war even if they agree that in the first six weeks of a ceasefire there will not be an end to the war, they are demanding obligations and guarantees that israel will withdraw from gaza in the second or third phase of a ceasefire. so far there has been no israeli agreement to that. in fact the israeli prime minister and israeli defence minister and israeli defence minister have said israel will remain a military presence in gaza for a long time to come. that is unacceptable to hamas. the second issue is the release of palestinian prisoners from israeli prisoners and is where hundreds are serving life sentences for killing israelis. those are the prisoners that

hamas is most interested in freeing and israel doesn't want to free them so those are difficult issues to deal with. i think the biggest issue is the permanent ceasefire and israeli withdrawal from gaza. given those significant gaps in your eyes, what do you think is behind the latest briefing or noise, as you put it, because a sense of a tactical move to move to try to say, let's give it one last boost, let's try and create a sense of momentum? is it as simple as that? i think the powers that be in the united states, together with the help of mediators like qatar and egypt, have identified the reality that israel has had significant military victories. the agreement for a ceasefire with lebanon between israel and hezbollah, the fall of the assad regime where both russia and iran didn't come to the aid of bashar al—assad. and the fact hamas is decimated in gaza, they all point to the

hope that hamas might back down on some of its demands. it doesn't seem that israel is backing down on any of its conditions. hamas said yesterday they are willing to put forward an agreement as long as there are no new israeli conditions. we don't really know what that means. we will have to wait this out and see if there is an agreement. from my perspective, the big fault of what is being negotiated is it doesn't put fault of what is bei