say the granny hammers and. say hello to digital id cards. in fact, you might now need one just to go to the pub on my panel tonight. it's the daily express columnist, carole malone. we've got journalist benjamin butterworth and broadcaster esther krakue . oh, broadcaster esther krakue. oh, and here is new york city this christmas. yeah, here's paris this christmas. oh, lovely. and here is sadiq khan's london flipping heck . honestly, what flipping heck. honestly, what a shambles that is. what a shambles. get ready britain. here we go . here we go. i think it might be time for syrian refugees to go back home next. >> good evening. it's just gone. 9:00. these are your headlines from the gb newsroom. the prime

minister has said britain and its allies must be intensely focused on the transition to a new regime in syria, amid fears of a resurgence of islamic state. it comes as the uk has paused all syrian asylum claims. it follows france, germany and austria saying they would pause decisions on asylum requests from syrian citizens until the political situation in the middle eastern country became clearer. speaking today, the home secretary , yvette cooper, home secretary, yvette cooper, confirmed the uk would be assessing the situation. >> know that the situation in syria is moving extremely fast after the fall of the assad regime. we have seen some people returning to syria, but we also have a very fast moving situation that we need to closely monitor. and that is why, like germany, like france, and like other countries , we and like other countries, we have paused asylum decisions on cases from syria. while the home

office reviews and monitors the current situation . current situation. >> in other news, us media is reporting that a man is being questioned in connection with the fatal shooting of a us healthcare ceo in what's being believed to be a targeted assassination. 26 year old luigi mangione is being detained over the fatal shooting of united healthcare chief executive brian thompson, speaking today in new york city, the new york city police commissioner jessica tisch gave an update on the situation . former us marine situation. former us marine daniel pennie has been acquitted of a homicide charge for putting a homeless man in a fatal chokehold, a case that sparked weeks of protests and reignited debates over race. after five days, jurors declared mr pennie not guilty in the death of 30 year old jordan nealy on a new york city train on the 1st of may 2023. according to

witnesses, nealy's behaviour was erratic and insanely threatening when nealy allegedly shouted i'm going to kill you, pennie put him in a choke hold to restrain him in a choke hold to restrain him and protect passengers. the chokehold lasted for six minutes and resulted in nealy being rushed to hospital and then declared dead . and jay—z has declared dead. and jay—z has dismissed allegations that he raped a 13 year old girl alongside sean diddy combs in the year 2000 as a blackmail attempt . the lawsuit, filed in attempt. the lawsuit, filed in new york, claims the pair drugged and assaulted the accuser after the mtv video music awards, while a female celebrity watched . in celebrity watched. in a statement, jay—z called the allegations heinous and accused the claimant's lawyer of exploiting the case for financial gain. the accuser is seeking damages, while combs, who faces separate charges, remains in custody. jay—z said his only heartbreak is for his family as they face public scrutiny over the claims . those scrutiny over the claims. those are the latest gb news

headlines. now it's back to patrick for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com/alerts . gbnews.com/alerts. >> it's time to ramp up the repatriation. let's get those flights to damascus loaded up and on the runway. now, there are roughly 30 to 40,000 syrian refugees in the uk. well, they can go back home now, can't they? assad has fallen. the regime they fled from has gone. and many syrians seem rather happy about that. in fact, they are out on the streets partying . are out on the streets partying. for the first. so apparently

that was a part of manchester. here's trafalgar square in london , aukus and ali harbi ali. london, aukus and ali harbi ali. >> lala lala lala lala lala. >> lala lala lala lala lala. >> lovely stuff. and we're already seeing syrians in turkey and lebanon getting their cars and lebanon getting their cars and head back to their homeland . and head back to their homeland. surely anyone who was granted asylum or refugee status here, on the grounds that they had to flee the conflict in syria, can now go home, especially those on benefits. germany allowed around 1.2 million syrians in. they're now suspending asylum claims. so is france and austria. in fact, austria is actually starting a program to deport people back to syria right away. and germany is

already offering chartered flights. now , some irish syrian flights. now, some irish syrian refugees can't wait to go home. >> we can come back to our homes now. family is waiting for us to come back, pay a visit , pay a come back, pay a visit, pay a visit or, you know, go there and stay there. >> how has our government handled this situation though? well, they've ballsed it up, haven't they? our home secretary decided to pause decisions on syrian asylum cases. good. good. but nobody told the foreign secretary, david lammy, who was in the house of commons, taking urgent questions. this is what he had to say when he was asked by richard tice if we were actually suspending asylum claims. >> i have to say that that has not been put to me in the last few hours. the issue that's been put to me is the humanitarian needin put to me is the humanitarian need in country, the humanitarian support for neighbours. and i think the consensus of this house and the

significant funds that we have supported syria with should reassure people of our content to support people on the ground in the region . in the region. >> right, okay. so it's really good to see that our home office and our foreign office is communicating so well, isn't it? what we have done is give £11 million just today to the new syrian leader, who happens to be an islamist with ties to al—qaeda. well, it doesn't seem to bother the people celebrating on the streets of britain, though, does it? so to the syrian asylum seekers and refugees in britain. hey , look, refugees in britain. hey, look, thanks for the memories. thank you. but your home country urgently needs doctors and engineers. now , perhaps it's engineers. now, perhaps it's time for you to head back home. let's get thoughts of my brilliant panel this evening. we've got journalist and broadcaster esther krakue. we've got political commentator benjamin butterworth, and we also are joined by the daily express columnist carole malone. carole , what do you make of this carole, what do you make of this then? should we be starting to repatriate some people who we

have granted asylum and refugees? >> absolutely, yes. >> absolutely, yes. >> you know, i think it's a natural reaction for people to want to go home. you know, i'm married to a bosnian. and when the war, as soon as the war was oven the war, as soon as the war was over, there, people wanted to go back immediately, even though there was no infrastructure, there was no infrastructure, there was no power, there was no water. people want to go back to their homeland, but the ones that don't , i'm afraid they will that don't, i'm afraid they will probably have to go back. they got into this country on the bafis got into this country on the basis that they were fleeing war and persecution . and if that no and persecution. and if that no longer exists. yes, of course they should go back. i find it astonishing that our foreign secretary, david lammy , didn't secretary, david lammy, didn't know that we were. i mean, it's comical, isn't it? he's as thick as mince, this bloke. >> seriously? >> seriously? >> well, but he. but he. well, it doesn't matter if he's here to defend himself. doesn't like the fact. the fact he does not know. you know that there have been paused . now, you mentioned been paused. now, you mentioned germany before. germany has a scheme now where people are giving syrians particularly were giving syrians particularly were giving temporary visas, which is which is a good idea. now you can't stop laughing at the thickest mince thing, can you ? thickest mince thing, can you? you can't get the vision out of

your head, can you? or are you just laughing at me generally? >> no no no no , it's all good. >> no no no no, it's all good. i'm glad you drew more attention to it. but anyway. >> okay, okay. >> okay, okay. >> so you think. you think the best thing. >> i'm sorry. our foreign secretary. i'll take back the comment. our our foreign secretary should know whether whether application asylums have been paused anyway. yeah, okay. i'm done. good stuff. >> strong start. well, so, benjamin, do you think surely anyone out there celebrating, waving this new syrian flag out on their on the streets would be fantastic. assad's gone. all right, then you can go back home now. now? >> well, i think most of them want. well, many of them want to go home. so, you know, there's only about 30,000 of them here. and actually, if you look at the stats, a third of the syrians in the uk have left since 2019. you know, once the uk have left