ina coup. a patchwork of resistance groups and ethnic armies now have full control over more than 40% and the rest is mostly contested. for over a year, bbc eye has been following one of the rebel units 7 and reveals that spies in the military are helping the resistance. rebecca henschke reports. this pro—democracy rebel unit is preparing to attack. their leader has received intelligence from a spy inside the military — the enemy camp. translation: we've been told about their capabilities, - where their reinforcements will come from and which route they will use to withdraw. our strategy is to mentally pressure the enemy day and night.

they keep up the pressure for nine days. the final strike is made at night using a drone. the next day, daeva surveys the damage. translation: we started with nothing and _ now look at our success. a bbc data investigation reveals that while the military still control the major cities, they now only have full control of less than a quarter of myanmar�*s territory. a patchwork of resistance groups and ethnic armies now fully control over a0%. spies within the military ranks are helping the pro—democracy uprising achieve what

was once unthinkable. translation: through them, we know the enemy's - positions, movements, strands and plans. we prepare our military operations using that. these spies are known as watermelons — green on the outside, appearing to be loyal to the military, but inside, red, working for the resistance. we've gained exclusive access to the opposition�*s watermelon unit. one of their agents says they're getting new spies every week. translation: our watermelons come from all ranks _ of the military. they include senior officers. we have very senior watermelons. if caught, they would likely be killed. this is a voice note from one of their front—line watermelons.

translation: it's no longer an army - - it's a force that is terrorising our people. i've witnessed military intelligence killing innocent people. i'm angry. my anger is bigger than my fear. the military is aggressively trying to reclaim lost ground, carrying out a wave of deadly airstrikes. they did not respond to our request for an interview. rebecca henschke, bbc news. we hope to speak to rebecca a little bit later on in the day. migrants from vietnam now make up the fourth largest group of people crossing the channel in small boats to come to the uk, with many finding work illegally in places like nail bars. despite a national crackdown, including raids on suspected businesses, many manage to evade being detected by authorities. our reporter divya talwar has more. mid—morning, south wales. immigration enforcement teams are visiting workplaces

where they suspect people are working illegally. you were working when i came in, you were working on this lady's feet? on the basis of what you're telling me at the moment i'm arresting you. can you explain to her that i'm arresting her? so there was a woman working in the shop. she was wearing a pink tracksuit. she saw the the officers and she ran out the back of the shop. and i think the officers have gone, you can see one of them running to try and track her down at the back. have you got some identification on yourself? 0h, in my house. 0k. yeah, at the lights by the train station at the moment. are you in position? the government says it's ramped up visits on premises like nail bars, barber shops and restaurants, arresting over 2,000 people sincejuly. if an employer hires an illegal worker now, they can get fined £45,000 for, you know, for every illegal worker. and if they offend again subsequently, it could be £60,000. it sends a message out that, you know, that you shouldn't be coming here to work illegally. you know, people still do and we'll keep going out

and trying to catch them. despite a national crackdown, we found many are still working underground and hiding from authorities. the number of people arriving in the uk by small boats exceeds 30,000 this year, with vietnamese nationals being one of the largest groups making the perilous journey. i met this young vietnamese man who paid thousands to smugglers to come to the uk, and has been working under the radar since. we've agreed to hide his identity in return for finding out more about his criminal activity. when he first arrived, he worked in a cannabis farm. i was not allowed to leave. staying in that house, i always felt scared, scared of being robbed, scared of being caught by the police. after he was robbed, he moved to working in nail bars, trying to pay off smuggling debts. but he says there's stiff competition forjobs and work's dried up because he doesn't have the right skills.

there are so many people arriving in the uk recently, it has become much harder. can you understand why people listening to your story may not be very sympathetic? you came to the uk illegally, carried out dangerous and criminal work while you were here. people can think what they want. i want to tell the truth to those wanting to take a similar route as mine. please do not come here to work illegally. she currently has no permission to work in the uk. as immigration raids take place nationally, we find many businesses are on high alert. posts on vietnamese facebook groups warn businesses about the raids. others offer services to keep a lookout for officers, and there are still hundreds of posts from people here illegally looking for nail barjobs. posing as a vietnamese skilled nail technician in the uk without a visa, a team member called a dozen nail bars to see if they'd give her a job. i got thejob.

this shop, she asked me when they can come. so she wasn't deterred that you didn't have papers. within an hour, she'd been offered work at two nail bars. clearly, the risk of huge fines isn't a deterrent to some employers in need of cheap, skilled workers. for those working underground, life in the uk is very different from what the smugglers promised them. this man's been sofa surfing around the country for the last few months with just a few belongings. i am in a difficult situation. jobless, no place to stay. he now plans on returning home to vietnam, while many others are continuing to make the opposite journey. divya talwar, bbc news. divya joins me now. extensive investigation there. what else did you find? the home office _

what else did you find? the home office said _ what else did you find? tue: home office said that what else did you find? tte: home office said that it is cracking down on illegal working, it has ramped up the number of raids on businesses, it has ramped up the number of arrests and we were actually given exclusive access to some of those recent raids targeting nail bars and convenience stores. despite the big crackdown, we have found that many businesses are actually on high alert, they have been tipped off about the raids on facebook groups, posts like, there are officers in the area, leave immediately. we even found people offer lookout services for shops and we saw hundreds of people openly posting saying we are in the country illegally, we are looking for work in nail bars. we mention in the report, we used an undercover reporter who posed as a vietnamese skilled nail technician and she called a dozen nail bars to see if any of them would offer her any work. and within an hour she had been given to job offers. those employers seemed more concerned about her being able to pass a skills test than they were about her having the right

papers to work here. we were about her having the right papers to work here.— papers to work here. we saw in our papers to work here. we saw in your report _ papers to work here. we saw in your report you _ papers to work here. we saw in your report you talked - papers to work here. we saw in your report you talked to - your report you talked to people working within the shadow economy. what else did they tell you? we shadow economy. what else did they tell you?— they tell you? we have spoken to a number— they tell you? we have spoken to a number of— they tell you? we have spoken to a number of people - they tell you? we have spoken to a number of people who - they tell you? we have spoken. to a number of people who have entered the country illegally working underground, hiding from authorities. what they tell us is there is more competition than ever, as more and more people are entering the country illegally, competition for those low—paid jobsis competition for those low—paid jobs is stiff. you heard in the report we spoke to this one young vietnamese man who had arrived on a small boat a couple of years ago. when we met him he was carrying a small bag with all his belongings in it because he had been sofa surfing. previously he had found jobs in cannabis farms and nail bars but that had dried up now and he wanted to return to vietnam. but as he is one of the few that want to go back, we know that so many more are entering the country with the help of these smuggling gangs who promised them a better life here. find gangs who promised them a better life here. and obviously ille . al better life here. and obviously illegal migration _ better life here. and obviously illegal migration is _ better life here. and obviously illegal migration is such - better life here. and obviously illegal migration is such a - better life here. and obviously illegal migration is such a key| illegal migration is such a key political issue for all governments. just in terms of the home office, what are they trying to do to try to tackle

illegal working? the trying to do to try to tackle illegal working?— illegalworking? the home secretary _ illegalworking? the home secretary says _ illegalworking? the home secretary says they - illegalworking? the home secretary says they have . illegalworking? the home - secretary says they have really ramped up their enforcement effort. they say that between july and october they have made more than 3000 visits to businesses suspected of hiring illegal workers. they also say that any business is caught out face of these hefty fines of £45,000 per worker. face of these hefty fines of £45,000 perworker. but face of these hefty fines of £45,000 per worker. but when we were out and about on those raids, what we found was that as the officers walked into nail bars people working there would quickly whip off their masks, hide at the back of the store, pretend like they were not working, employers would deny having hide them, so clearly they are on high alert and undeterred by the government enforcement efforts so itjust shows you the huge challenge that the home office faces to really clampdown on illegal working.— illegal working. certainly does. dillier_ illegal working. certainly does. dillier tell - illegal working. certainly does. dillier tell why, i illegal working. certainly i does. dillier tell why, thank you does. dilliertellwhy, thank you for bringing this to our attention. much more on our website and if your tower�*s article is there. we will now

take a short break. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

welcome back. nigeria's president, bola tinubu, has ordered investigations into a crush at a school funfair in which 35 children are now known to have died. the stampede happened in the south—west city of ibadan where thousands of children gathered at the venue. several others were injured and taken to hospital. authorities have arrested eight people, including the main sponsor and organiser of the event. president tinubu has expressed his condolences to the parents who have lost their children. the bbc�*s nkechi ogbonna is at the scene of the crush, and sent us this update. this is the islamic high school in basorun, where about 35 children were killed in wednesday's stampede. what we have seen here is the venue of the event, a football field that has been deserted.

what is left here are broken chairs, children's sandals litter the entire environment, and exercise books as well. what we do know is that authorities say the investigation is ongoing. the organisers of the event have also been arrested and are currently in police custody, you know, providing details of the event. what we do know as well is some of the children are in hospitals, about five hospitals in the neighbourhood receiving treatment, while some of the children actually came from outskirts of ibadan town to come have fun. they were promised games and lots of food and other activities in the spirit of christmas. and so it's really a deserted school environment, which was actually not in session before wednesday's carnival. nkechi ogbonna, bbc news,

ibadan. let's turn to the united states. luigi mangione, the man accused of gunning down the head of us�*s biggest health insurance company, has made his first court appearance in new york amid intense security. the 26—year—old charged faced a federal court in manhattan, charged with the murder of health care ceo brian thompson. mangione did not enter a plea and will be kept in custody until his next court appearance. our north america correspondent nada tawfik says new york authorities went out of their way to show mangione to the media. there was such a dramatic parade of luigi mangione in front of the cameras as he was handed back to new york. it's something that i've quite frankly, not seen in the past. of course, he is a special kind of defendant given the circumstances of the alleged crime. but he was flown to new york, taken off of the helicopter and flanked by heavily armed

law enforcement from several agencies, followed by new york's mayor, eric adams, the police chief, the chief of detectives, and then brought straight to that federal courthouse. and i can tell you that outside the federal courthouse, there were several people that supported him holding up signs, one of them that said, "health over wealth." so he remains a folk hero to some, but for prosecutors in new york, they have branded him a terrorist. there were details about the notebook that he had carried, some of the entries he had made a month and a half before he allegedly killed brian thompson, talking about how he wanted to whack a ceo from one of the big insurance companies, that it would be a perfect target to send a message. what happens now is that he did not enter a plea in this arraignment, where he was formally read the charges against him, so they he will have to come back into court in mid—january. we'll then get further details about how a trial,

what a schedule like that would look like, and if he will try to seek bail. nada tawfik reporting. in france, president emmanuel macron is continuing his visit to the french territory of mayotte in the indian ocean to see the damage caused by a devastating storm. mr macron told reporters he was staying on for a second day out of respect to those affected by cyclone chido. boos the french leader was booed and jeered by a crowd who voiced frustration at the pace of the official response. some of them chanted, "resign!" mr macron promised that more aid was on its way to mayotte. thousands of people are still unaccounted for as a result of the storm. many homes have been flattened and emergency workers have yet to reach the worst—hit areas. in the uk, local councils in england are being told how much they'll receive of nearly £i.6 billion of funding set aside to fix potholes. the conservatives accused the government of not being on the side of motorists,

while the transport secretary has promised that people will "start to see an improvement" on the roads. our political correspondent harry farley reports. a burning anger caused by potholes — something many of us can relate to. in the budget, the chancellor promised a £500 million increase in the money to improve roads in england. that's on top of the £1 billion the previous government announced. now we find out how much each area will get. over 372 million for the east midlands and west midlands. 327 million for the north west, north east and yorkshire and humber. 322 million for the south east and london. 300 million for the south west and 244 million for the east of england. a lot of people are going to be driving home for christmas this weekend, many roads are a bit like an obstacle course with potholes and roadworks, and so it's really critical that we get on and change people's experience of the roads and give people some hope that, this time next year when they're going home for christmas, the roads will be

in a better state. but such is the scale of the problem, the backlog in repairs could cost more than £16 billion, and a quarter of the extra money will be held back until councils show they are getting on with the job. we will keep pressing for the fact that, you know, you've allocated the local authorities a particular sum of money. let's have it, let's get on and give us that assurance and certainty that we can start investing. because we can't keep continuing patching. the rac said the potholes are the number—one issue facing motorists. i don't think there's any question that 1.6 billion will put all our roads right, but it's a question of fixing the dangerous potholes and then starting to starting to do the preventative maintenance that will keep them in good order going forward. long—term, we'd like to see our roads brought back up to a fit—for—purpose state.

this, we believe, is the first step in doing that. why does your government need a reset already? - keir starmer wants his government's new focus to be on things impacting daily life, and potholes is one example of the concrete difference he hopes to make. harry farley, bbc news, in westminster. the transport secretary heidi alexander talked to the bbc breakfast earlier today. she explained the details of the government proposal to fix the problem of potholes on uk roads. so, today, we are announcing the allocations to local councils of £i.6 billion for them to be able to use that money to fix potholes and spend on wider highways maintenance work. that's an increase of £500 million from what the previous conservative government spent. that money was announced by rachel reeves, our chancellor, in the budget, and represents a 50% increase on what was spent last year. this money is the 7 million potholes. heidi alexander is speaking to

bbc breakfast. this is the live shot we have been monitoring in kyiv, the capital of ukraine, where we believe one person, at least one person has been killed following a russian missile attack on kyiv. we are just keeping an eye on that on bbc news. any more updates on that situation in ukraine we will bring that to you. here in the uk, some people in hampshire will be waking up to running waterfor the first time since wednesday, as engineers have been working through the night to fix an ongoing issue. our reporter, jon cuthilljoins us from a leisure centre in eastleigh where people have been collecting bottled water. how are they getting on there? what a difference a day makes. we have got the water, we have a lorry loads of water here in eastleigh. we have a whole team of people in orange who have been standing by to load, but

there is just a single car at there is just a single car at the moment. yesterday the cars were queueing around the block but we found out from southern water that as of 2am, all 58,000 customers who had been affected over the last 72 hours were back on line. that is a big sigh of relief from the customers who had been putting up customers who had been putting up with no water. they had been putting up with the fact that schools had been shot and also local facilities affected by it. this all stems from a problematic local water supply works. southern water say they have been investing in that local supply works but on tuesday night, late tuesday night they tried to bring a bit of kit back online and there was an issue with the water quality. they couldn't let that water leave the treatment works so they shut it down whilst they dealt with it. now of course, there are a lot of

unhappy people because not least because of that timing, this is the week when the price review came out, southern water over the next five years will be asking for a 53% increase in what customers are paying. indeed southern water are going to be the first water company to be the first water company to go up in front of mps to talk about disruption to service like this. but a welcome sigh of relief. water is back on. they are saying there may be a bit of discolouration in that water, there may be a few air locks in there may be a few air locks in the pipes and systems as they refill. but the headline is supply is back and look, it is just the odd car now as opposed to the hundreds and hundreds of cars we have been seen queueing around the block yesterday. you are certainly _ around the block yesterday. you are certainly right, what a difference a day makes. while you were reporting and talking to people there, they must have been really stressed because we are nowjust the week before christmas. are nowjust the week before christmas-— are nowjust the week before christmas. yeah, absolutely,

but 'ust christmas. yeah, absolutely, butjust imagine _ christmas. yeah, absolutely, but just imagine if _ christmas. yeah, absolutely, but just imagine if this - christmas. yeah, absolutely, but just imagine if this had i butjust imagine if this had happened next week. on christmas day. thankfully it hasn't. i think what it has done, though, is made a lot of people realise how much water they need in their daily lives. people telling me that they couldn't believe how much water they were getting through. i think what people are also doing is questioning, you know, why, is there another outage of our water? southern water had another similar problem a year ago with the same water supply works. back then it was to do with too much silt. there was big flooding in the area, too much silt in the river meaning they couldn't send the water to people's homes. but this is the second outage in 13 months for southern water in this particular part of hampshire and beyond. and people are a little bit fed up with it. but the main thing is it's overfor now. people are still coming to

pick up the odd bit of water. they don't have problems with their water supply. they don't have problems with theirwatersupply. i they don't have problems with their water supply. i think there is reassurance that they have water in their household. certainly is. but you can understand why they would be disappointed and fed up. jon cuthill, good to see you at that leisure centre in eastleigh where people no longer need to collect that bottled water. thank you. let's get some celebrity news. the world famous madame tussauds in london has unveiled what it says it one of its most technically ambitious displays to date. can you guess who it is? oh, my god, take a look at that. it's, of course, sir eltonjohn — defying gravity, performing a mid—air keyboard handstand on a bejewelled baby grand piano. the tourist attraction says the figure — portraying the star at wembley stadium apparently back in 1975 —

is wearing a replica of the blue jumpsuit he wore for the gig. the piano is covered in 24,000 rhinestones. elton is on display alongside beyonce and freddie mercury. extraordinary! and now let's stick with the celebrity theme. last night was the final night of sir paul mccartney's tour and he had a treat for his fans. he welcomed his former beatles bandmate sir ringo starr to the stage, while playing to a packed crowd at london's o2 arena. # sergeant pepper's lonely hearts club band... # this is a throwback moment on bbc news, isn't it? the pair performed their hit sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band.

the beatles' drummer said he'd had a great night as he said goodbye to fans. what a great way to end the show. don't go away, i'm back in a few minutes' time. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello. a band of rain is pushing its way eastwards across the uk today. the rain associated with an area of low pressure and this cloud on the satellite picture. it's not the only low, though, in the north atlantic. further west, we've got a more powerful system developing just here, and that's going to be bringing somevery strong winds to parts of the uk this weekend, potentially disrupting some of your christmas travel plans. now, we started off with rain today across scotland and northern ireland, but the afternoon here looking a lot brighter, sunshine and blustery showers as our rain band works its way eastwards across england and wales. temperatures around eight to ten degrees and it will be quite windy. gusts reaching around 40mph—odd for the western side of scotland. that rain clears through overnight but then clear spells for a time. the next area of rain works in later in the night, accompanied by some really quite strong winds. and it's on saturday that we'll see this next area of low pressure

really flex its muscles, bringing some particularly windy weather to north—western areas of the uk, and especially parts of north—west scotland, where for parts of the hebrides, the orkney islands, parts of highland, we'll likely see gusts of wind reaching around 70mph to 80mph, maybe even a bit stronger than this. winds this strong will cause some transport disruption and could bring down some trees as well. and elsewhere across the north west of the uk, the winds strong enough to cause one or two issues as well. weather—wise, elsewhere we see a band of rain clearing southeastwards on saturday, followed by sunshine and blustery showers. the showers most frequent across the northwest of the uk, and it will be cold enough for some hail and a bit of wintriness over some of the highest mountains as well. heading into sunday, the same area of low pressure is still on our weather charts. it's going to be another windy day. if anything, the winds a little bit more widespread. gusts of around 50mph to 60mph, but still 70 for parts of western scotland. again strong enough to bring some localised disruption in terms of the fact that we could see some tree branches being brought down. still a blustery day with plenty of showers

around, with hail and some sleet mixed in with those showers and temperatures six or seven celsius. it will be a colder feeling day, especially when you factor in those winds. once that windy zone of weather is out of the way, though, next week it turns very mild in the run—up to christmas, with temperatures often well into double figures.

live from london, this is bbc news. american diplomats are in damascus for talks with members of hts, the group now in charge of syria, which the us still designates as terrorists. a us government shutdown looms, as 38 republicans are among lawmakers who've rejected a spending bill backed by donald trump. the french president praises gisele pelicot for her courage after her ex husband and 50 other men are sentenced in france's largest ever rape trial. labour grandee lord mandelson is expected to be named as the uk's next ambassador to the us.

welcome. an american delegation has arrived at a venue in damascus for the first, formal diplomatic talks in syria in more than a decade. the diplomats will meet representives of the group which is effectively in charge of the country after overthrowing president assad. these pictures show what's thought to be their convoy, outside a hotel in damascus which is often used by diplomatic visitors to syria. washington still designates hts as a terrorist group. but delegations from the un and countries including the uk, france and germany have already been in damascus to meet the new leaders. the united states has set conditions before it will consider delisting the group. our middle east correspondent lina sinjab has more on this. it is very significant, not only for the leadership that is in charge of syria now but also for the country and the people inside

the country because it's