military now only has full control of less than a quarter of the territory, nearly four years after seizing power 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 daeva 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 air strikes. they did not respond to our request for an interview. rebecca henschke, bbc news. and rebecca is with me now. this was an extensive investigation, over a year's worth of data. what else did you find?— you find? yes, we looked at villaue you find? yes, we looked at village groups. _ you find? yes, we looked at village groups, so _ you find? yes, we looked at village groups, so this - you find? yes, we looked at village groups, so this is - you find? yes, we looked at. village groups, so this is very detailed data in 14,000 villages across myanmar. local researchers on the ground were trying to work out who is actually in control in myanmar four years after the myanmar military seized power in a coup. we were looking at who is controlling public services,

things like schools and health care, as well as how freely the military can work. we have been seeing news reports that the myanmar military has been pushed back, that they are losing significant territory, but this is really the first time that we have a very clear, detailed picture that the myanmar military now has only control over less than a quarter of the country. and then a patchwork of resistance groups and ethnic armies now control more than a0%. groups and ethnic armies now control more than 4096.- groups and ethnic armies now control more than 4096. what is our control more than 4096. what is your understanding _ control more than 4096. what is your understanding of— control more than 4096. what is your understanding of why - control more than 4096. what is your understanding of why they| your understanding of why they are losing so much control. we heard somebody there in your report saying they have been terrorising the people. that's ri . ht, terrorising the people. that's right. the _ terrorising the people. that's right, the myanmar - terrorising the people. that's right, the myanmar military l terrorising the people. that's. right, the myanmar military he really had lost all support along the myanmar people, as the un special rapporteur for human rights told me. there is no group or no unit supporting the myanmar military now. they are increasingly isolated. you saw in our report that that also include soldiers within their own ranks. so soldiers no

longer a bill to stand or follow orders to rape, burned villages, kill civilians, and they are becoming spies, secretly feeding information to the pro—democracy resistance. so we are seeing that the military itself is crumbling from within. and also what is happening is different groups are coming together with the common goal of overthrowing the myanmar military. so this includes ethnic groups near the borders with china, india, bangladesh, who have established armies fighting the myanmar military for decades for greater autonomy. they have teamed up with this pro—democracy civilian militia groups in the centre of the country, former strongholds for the military, and that unity they have, this temporary unity of overthrowing the military is what is really turning this civil war.— what is really turning this civilwar. ,, n civil war. do you reckon there is a possibility _ civil war. do you reckon there is a possibility that _ civil war. do you reckon there is a possibility that the - is a possibility that the military regime could be overthrown then? it military regime could be overthrown then?- overthrown then? it is extremely _ overthrown then? it is extremely weak, - overthrown then? it is| extremely weak, when overthrown then? it is - extremely weak, when we

overthrown then? it 3 extremely weak, when we look at those elements. but the word of caution is that as it becomes under attack, caution is that as it becomes underattack, its caution is that as it becomes under attack, its brutality increases. we are seeing out air strikes in civilian areas in territory they have lost. what the myanmar military has that the resistance doesn't is a very powerful air force. so that's being supplied, or they are buying it from places like russia and china. so in the area they have the upper hand and they are using it brutally. they also, when we look at that data, what they still control, although it is small in terms of the territory, it is key areas. so it is the major cities, yangon, the capital, they control the population, they control the population, the key infrastructure and they have the powerful weapons so it is far from over.— is far from over. grim reality for that resistance. - is far from over. grim reality for that resistance. rebecca| for that resistance. rebecca henschke, thank you very much for that report. much more on rebecca's report on our website as well.

let's turn away from myanmar. 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 yet, 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. 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. 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.

he now plans on returning home to vietnam, while many others are continuing to make the opposite journey. divya talwar, bbc news. local councils in england are being told how much they'll receive of nearly £1.6 billion of funding set aside to fix potholes. the conservatives accused the government of not being on the side of motorists, whilst 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. let's speak to mark morrell. better known as mr pothole. a pothole campaigner and expert on roads maintenance. we have this £16 billion backlog in road maintenance and

£1.6 billion to help start fixing what we are seeing on the roads, big issues when it comes to potholes. is that enoughin comes to potholes. is that enough in your understanding? no, it is appalling, really, because they don't grasp the size of the problem on our network. repairing potholes is wasting taxpayers' money, hundreds of millions of pounds repairing potholes in roads that are past their sell by date. unless you resurface our roads it will not improve. the government really need to invest £3 billion index linked year on year every year into a national resurfacing programme. otherwise, in 15 years' time, 51% of our roads will be structurally unsound. to put the size of the £500 million potholed fund that is included in that £1.6 billion, a six, to bring their carriageways up to a good standard, is £1 billion

alone —— essex. transport for london, dfl, have a £1 billion backlog, kent has over £600 million backlog. when you start looking at what they are saying they will do and make an impact, then it is not going to do anything at all. and in fact, the tories and the previous government invested £1.78 billion in the year 2020-2021 £1.78 billion in the year 2020—2021 including their 500 million pothole fund. a year later the roads deteriorated by £2.2 billion. lots of big figures, lots of big numbers but it is all smoke and mirrors and i've got no faith in politicians of any colour doing anything about our roads. ok. anything about our roads. ok, would you _ anything about our roads. ok, would you suggest _ anything about our roads. ok, would you suggest local councils, ratherthan would you suggest local councils, rather than go down the so rod stewart way with this and actually start fixing your own potholes, but would your own potholes, but would you suggest these local councils, the amount of budget that they get from this road maintenance budget, they should be using it on just assessing those roads that really need and are just completely retire making them rather than going

for more potholes in more roads? —— retire making. for more potholes in more roads? -- retire making. they will be forced _ roads? -- retire making. they will be forced to _ roads? -- retire making. they will be forced to do _ roads? -- retire making. they will be forced to do partial- will be forced to do partial repairs for safety reasons but a longer term investment is what is needed but to be fair to them they haven't got the funds, because of the cash—strapped situation that councils are in, if you are using the example of 2006, councils were spending £4 billion maintaining our roads. they are now liable, central government money, because of all the other cost problems they have got in terms of social care and the like, so unless government grasp it, but there was an economic study that said that badly maintained roads was costing the uk economy £14.4 billion a year, so investing an extra £3 billion index linked going forward makes economic sense. invest to save. you could halve that within ten years and eradicated over a 20 year period. we need long—term investment, not short—term. understood malouda and clear,

mark morrell, aka mr pothole, thank you. —— understood, loud and clear. lord peter mandelson will be formally confirmed as the uk's next ambassador to the united states today — the first time a politician has been appointed to the role for almost half a century. keir starmer is about to announce that lord mandelson, a former labour minister and european commissionerfor trade, has been given the role. he will take over as donald trump begins his second term as president. he was considered to be one of the frontrunners for the position. let's speak to former ambassador to the us — sir kim darroch. hejoins us now. you were ambassador from 2016 to 2019, during trump administration. you will have direct experience of what it feels like during those early morning tweet storms from the president elect, this time around, what is your advice to lord mandelson?- is your advice to lord mandelson? first of all, i thinkthis _

mandelson? first of all, i think this is _ mandelson? first of all, i think this is a _ mandelson? first of all, i think this is a good - think this is a good appointment. i think of all the names that have been around, i don't know how many of them were genuinely candidates, peter mandelson is the right man at this moment to take the job on. he was clearly keen on doing it, and that's obviously a good starting point. he is a trade expert having been a eu commissionerfor trade trade expert having been a eu commissioner for trade and that's an important thing when donald trump has, i have to say, some rather bad ideas on imposing tariffs on all us imports, and i think he has the skills to be able to explain to not just skills to be able to explain to notjust president—elect, but also elon musk that the uk is not the tyrannical state that elon musk has accused us of being so who is the right man at the right time. the being so who is the right man at the right time.— at the right time. the right amount- — at the right time. the right amount. he _ at the right time. the right amount. he is— at the right time. the right amount. he is andy - at the right time. the right| amount. he is andy brexit, at the right time. the right. amount. he is andy brexit, so it goes against that isolationist viewpoint that the us is inclined to go in that direction under donald trump. he also supports more

cooperation with china and donald trump is very adamant that china is an enemy rather than some country that they can work with, not least when they talk about, when donald trump talks about the increase in tariffs against china. its, talks about the increase in tariffs against china.- talks about the increase in tariffs against china. a lot of us are andy _ tariffs against china. a lot of us are andy brexit _ tariffs against china. a lot of us are andy brexit and - tariffs against china. a lot of| us are andy brexit and brexit has happened and it's the reality and peter mandelson will be representing the uk as we are now outside the european union, so i don't think brexit will be a big discussion point —— andy brexit. on china, i think donald trump's views are a little more, get it thanjust hostility. he is hostile to china's trade policies, it's unfair trade practices, its theft of intellectual property, but he also stresses often the importance of us having a good relationship with president xi. i don't think donald trump wants turbulence with china. he is tough but he wants a stable relationship, as do we. so we

will see where we get to on china, there is a lot to play for. ,, ., china, there is a lot to play for, ,, ., , china, there is a lot to play for. ,, ., , ., for. should we be reading anything _ for. should we be reading anything into _ for. should we be reading anything into the - for. should we be reading anything into the fact - for. should we be readingj anything into the fact that for. should we be reading - anything into the fact that the trump administration, the incoming trump administration, was told about the name of lord mandelson before it would be announced? are we suggesting potentially that they gave the go—ahead to this? do they have that much sway? go-ahead to this? do they have that much sway?— that much sway? there is a formal process _ that much sway? there is a formal process under - that much sway? there is a formal process under which that much sway? there is a - formal process under which you have to get what is called agren want when you want to send an ambassador to any country so we will have had to have submitted his name to us authorities to just check it would be agreed, but it would be unprecedented with any country other than russia to reject any name so that is a sort of formality. —— agrement. i think the trump administration were like the fact that they are getting a nationally known politician

with huge experience who has the personal relationship with the personal relationship with the prime minister that means he can pick up the phone to the prime minister whenever he needs to. so i think they were like the idea of peter mandelson as the british ambassador.— mandelson as the british ambassador. ~ ., , ., ambassador. would they not an uabl ambassador. would they not arguably have _ ambassador. would they not arguably have liked - ambassador. would they not arguably have liked the - ambassador. would they not arguably have liked the idea| ambassador. would they not l arguably have liked the idea of nigel farage as the uk ambassador to the us more? they will know nigel _ ambassador to the us more? they will know nigel farage _ ambassador to the us more? tie: will know nigel farage comes from a difficult don knight different political party from the prime minister and was never a candidate. nigel has his own relationship with the president which will continue, and that's the reality but it will be peter mandelson who speaks for the british government. 50 speaks for the british government.- speaks for the british covernment. government. so kim darroch, thank you _ government. so kim darroch, thank you very _ government. so kim darroch, thank you very much - government. so kim darroch, thank you very much for - government. so kim darroch, i thank you very much for talking to us on bbc news. once we get the confirmation, we will bring it to you. sarah king derek who was former ambassador to the us. —— sir kim darroch. some people in hampshire will be waking up to running water for the first time since wednesday, as engineers

have been working through the night to fix an ongoing issue. our reporter, jon cuthill, joined me earlier from a leisure centre in eastleigh where people have been collecting bottled water. well, what a difference a day makes. look, we have got the water, we have lorry loads of water here in eastleigh. we have a whole team of people in orange who have been standing by to load boots, but there isjust 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 online. that is a big sigh of relief from the customers who have been putting up with no water. they have been putting up with the fact that schools have 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 when 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, not least because of that timing, this was 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 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 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. our thanks to jon cuthill and our thanks tojon cuthill and a sense of relief no doubt in hampshire. in the united states, luigi mangione, the man accused of shooting dead the head of america's biggest health insurance company has made his first court appearance in new york charged with murder. he was flown into the city amid intense security from pennsylvania — where he was arrested 11 days ago. nowjust time to tell you... finally this half hour the world famous madame tussauds in london has unveiled what it says it one of its most technically ambitious displays to date. just have a look at this. 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 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. look at that little touch up. we all need it now and again! i think i am wearing the same colour as him. 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 some very 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 south—eastwards 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 rate trial. labour grandee lord mandelson is expected to be named as the uk's next ambassador to the us.

an american delegation has arrived 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. 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 says it's an important first step towards international recognition. 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 sending serious messages