that is according to the afp news agency.t have verify details on any of this at the moment, lots of speculation on social media, where indeed, there is footage of the moments this incident unfolded. we are not going to show it because it has not been verified and is also extremely distressing. you see a car driving at speed into a group of people at this christmas market. you can understand this figure of possibly being quoted of 60 to 80 people possibly being injured. you see a huge emergency presence there, police on the streets, ambulances, emergency crews. this will be a huge logistical operation for those hoping to assist those injured. i witnesses telling broadcasters that the car and drove straight into the crowd. they said in the direction of the town hall. police, local government spokespersons not immediately available to comment because they have to deal with the unfolding situation. just in the past few minutes, the afp news agency citing the regional interior minister saying they assume this to be an attack. the

damascus, according to the afp news agency-— damascus, according to the afp newsauen . . ., ., news agencymmed al-jolani has presided _ news agency. mohammed al-jolani has presided over _ news agency. mohammed al-jolani has presided over a _ news agency. mohammed al-jolani has presided over a disciplined - has presided over a disciplined fighting force which has moved through syria at lightning speed to take the capital, damascus, and he has arrived there and the capital. that is just coming into us. the israeli defence minister, israeli defence minister, israel katz said the israel defense force has deployed forces in the buffer zone to ensure the security of israeli communities in the golan heights. our correspondent in jerusalem said there had not been a huge amount of commentary from the israeli government yet, but we are hearing now from the defence minister, israel katz saying that israeli forces have been deployed to that buffer zone with syria, the golan heights, to protect israeli communities there. paul conroy, was the sunday times photographer working in syria with marie colvin

these are reports from the afp news agency. a stabbing has taken place in a school in croatia. been injured in this stabbing attack at a school and afp are saying that our understanding is that afp are reporting that a child has, sadly, been killed in this stabbing. this is a developing story and we are just going to keep an eye on this. literally just a few lines coming from croatia there that a child has been killed in a stabbing in croatia. we will keep you up—to—date. we are just going to take a quick pause, around the world and across the uk, you are watching bbc news. welcome back to bbc news. still in the uk, as tomorrow's deadline to qualify for winter fuel payments looms, there are calls for the cut—off to be extended, over fears that many will be made to wait for their money. age uk has warned tens of thousands of pensioners are unlikely to receive the payment before the end of the year, because of a growing backlog of claims. 0ur correspondent aruna iyengar has more. since 1997, the winter fuel allowance has been a lifeline for many pensioners. but after the governme

so, the afp says 60 to 80 injured. that is a remarkably high number. >> yes it is and it is something we have not really seen, we have not seen such a mask casualty event since the end of the pandemic. there were several big mass casualty events in a timeframe from 2015 through 2018 when isis was at the height of their potential to spread the terror in european countries like germany and also france. so, if a number of 60 to 80 confirm that, that would be something we have not seen in years. if you look at the live picture now from magdeburg, you can see a long line of market stands, imagine if that was full of people, there was definitely a crowd of 100 plus people. >> if not many more. one of the stories over here is regarding the state of political affairs in germany. you can help us to understand better, the chancellor was called a confidence vote in parliament, they lost and there will be election in a few weeks, six months earlier than what it would have normally been and also, news today that elon musk is going

news agencies reuters and afp say residents in damascus have told them they have heard gunfire in theity. the syrian army says it is boosting its military deployment there, and president bashar al—assad's government says reports the army had withdrawn from areas around the city are untrue. opposition forces have been rapidly moving south towards damascus from aleppo and from the key strategic crossroads of homs. the head of the rebel advance has said his forces have taken full control of homs in the last few hours. other opposition factions are converging on the capital from the south, having taken control of daraa province. there have been signs the government's control over damascus is slipping. this footage from the suburbs shows protesters toppling a statue of assad's late father, who founded the ruling dynasty. a few hours ago our security correspondent frank gardner filed this report. they think they've won already. these are syrian rebels in the south of the country, in daraa, part of a pincer movement that is closing in on the capital, damascus. more celebrations today in the

news agencies reuters and afp say residents in damascus have told them they have heard gunfire in theng its military deployment there, and president bashar al—assad's government says reports the army had withdrawn from areas around

the news agency afp quotes a war monitor and rebels as saying druze militias are just ten kilometreshern gates of the capital damascus after snatching the southern province of daraa from government control. the speed at which the armed opposition is advancing across the country has astonished everyone, with the syrian army, loyal to president assad, simply falling away. the civil war began in 2011, but the rebels outside homs, now known as hts, with links to al-qaeda, were forced into retreat five years later. now they're back, and injust ten days have taken the whole of syria's second largest city of aleppo. another major city, hama, fell, and now their sights are on homs — syria's third city. fighting is intense, with the syrian military carrying out air strikes to push the rebels back. uk will monitor said that those air strikes near the city of homs have killed 21 civilians. his lightning loss of territory, is due to his backers, including russia, iran and hezbollah, currently fighting in other conflicts. with me is our middle east correspondent sebastian usher. several lines in

. >> ok, afp. third row. >> thank you very much, secretary general stoltenberg. just wanted to come back to something you said in your introduction, you said russia is now supporting north korea's missile and nuclear programs, which i think before you were always warning and the g7 was warning about potential support. so, has this intelligencesment changed that russia is now providing nuclear support to north korea? and how can you give us any details on that? and then on the hybrid strategy you are potentially working on for the hague, he has said to have agreed to come up with proactive measures. once again, there is the perception that nato is acting too slowly, too cautiously, and punching below its weight on trying to deter russia from doing what it's doing. how can you assure people living in europe that nato is doing something now to stop russian actions? >> your first question, of course i will not go into intelligence information that we have. more generally, we should not be naive. there is every reason to make this statement, that nuclear technology, a

the afp reports syrian kurdish factions, which control large parts of northeastern syria weren't amongader, ahmed al—sharaa, said the government would take control of all weapons in the country. he said that also applied to the main kurdish—led faction, the sdf. those forces have continued to fight other rebel groups backed by turkiye. on tuesday, us secretary of defense, lloyd austin, held talks with his turkish counterpart, yashar guler, about the situation in syria. in a statement, the us department of defense said, "secretary austin emphasized that close and continuous "coordination is crucial to maintaining the ongoing "success of the d—isis mission." the secretary and minister guler also discussed the importance of setting the conditions to enable a more secure and stable syria. on tuesday, officials deployed heavy security around christian churches in damascus, as the capital marks its first christmas under new leadership. bells toll armed fighters and civil defense teams surrounded the lady of damascus church, where worshippers are gathering for services. it comes after islamis

that is coming in to us from the afp news agency, it comes after interfax, the russian state agency,n. sir keir starmer has written to the uk�*s major regulators asking them to submit proposals for reforms that could boost economic growth. the prime minister wants each watchdog to come up with a series of ideas by mid—january. these could include removing regulations and other potential barriers to growth. labour is under pressure after downgraded figures revealed the uk economy flatlined between july and september, earlier this week. a 49—year—old man has appeared in court in high wycombe charged with two counts of murder after two women died following a suspected stabbing in milton keynes on christmas day. jazwell brown is accused of killing joanne pearson and teohna grant and is also charged with the attempted murders of another man and a teenage boy. he�*s also charged with possessing a knife in a public place and causing unnecessary suffering to a staffordshire bull terrier. he�*s been remanded in custody and will next appear at luton crown court on tuesday. the state funeral of

the afp news agency is reporting that 39 people are dead in attacks near niger's border with burkina ten nigerian soldiers were killed in the same region wednesday in what the country's army described as a terrorist attack. —— nigerien. following the bbc�*s reporting of that incident, the ruling militaryjunta said it was banning bbc radio from broadcasting in niger for three months. it had already banned french broadcasters, under similar accusations. niger is one of three countries in africa's sahel region now under military rule — alongside burkina faso and mali. the trio have formed an alliance, the association of sahel states, opposing france's influence in the region while welcoming warmer relations with russia. the countries are due to withdraw from the regional union ecowas injanuary, though this week senegal�*s president said he's making progress in negotiations to dissuade them from leaving the bloc. ambassador tibor nagy served as assistant secretary of state for african affairs under the last trump administration. we spoke a short time ago. thank you for your time. first o

please help me welcome one of the great friends of afp of liberty of this conservative movement vivek ramaswamy. [applause] >> thank you it's an honor to be here i want to recognize the amendment at afpa for putting this on. i chose to be here for a reason. for delivering the speech that we're about to today i think this will be -- quite possibly the most consequential speech about exactly how we will get this job done of shutting down the administrative state but the reason i wanted to do it and wanted to recognize many of the people in the audience today is that, you have been at the bleeding edge of this fight. this is not an individual sport. this is a team sport. there will be no political messiah on the white house to save us if we're going to be saved it is because we save ourselves. and i think that that is the mentality that i respect most about this institute and brook i would like to recognize brook rollins for outstanding leadership let's give her a round of applause as well for leading this great institute. so thank you, brook. i appreciate that. [applause] i want to kick

but these are pictures obtained by the news agency afp, which the bbc has verified, of a bust of thesident's father hafez al—asad being toppled in president's square in the damascus neighbourhood of jaramana. meanwhile, the group of rebels are advancing on the capital after snatching the southern province of daraa from government control. these latest pictures show rebels driving in a seized military vehicle in the region of daraa. news agency reuters says other rebels from hts have advanced from the north and are inside the city of homs with the syrian army, loyal to president assad, simply falling away. the civil war began in 2011, but the rebels outside homs were forced into retreat five years later. now, in just ten days, rebels have taken the whole of syria's second—largest city of aleppo. another major city, hama, fell to hts, and now they are on the edge of homs, syria's third city. but fighting there is reported to be intense. a uk—based war monitor says regime air strikes have killed 21 civilians. with more on this, our correspondent hugo bachega is in antakia, on the turkis

we are getting this from the afp news agency saying that iran has released the noble piece laurier whoi on medical grounds. we will bring more information to you as we receive it. anti—government forces in syria say they've captured one of the largest military bases on the edge of the city of hama. the bbc has not been able to verify these pictures, which we are told are from halfaya in hama province, which show intense fighting. syria's defence ministry said syrian and russian warplanes were bombarding the rebels. one week on from the surprise rebel offensive in syria, bbc verify�*s merlyn thomas has been tracking the advance, and the response from government aligned forces. it's been one week since rebel forces launched their largest offensive against the syrian government in years. here is the government response in idlib, a rebel stronghold where syria and its ally russia have carried out air strikes. the bbc verify has been tracking the advance of rebel forces from the west of syria by analysing footage on social media. they appear to have captured a large area of land across the

. —— afp. scenes from damascus one week since the fall of bashar al—assad.not have the right to stay in the uk have been returned to their home countries since the election according to the government. but new figures are expected to reveal more than 35,000 people have arrived in britain in small boats this year — a number the home secretary says is far too high. she's been speaking to laura kuenssberg this morning. let's get more on this with our political correspondent damian grammaticas. yvette cooper has been speaking to the bbc about this today. yes, and this is a priority issue, as in many countries, for the government. what she has been saying is that although these numbers, about 35,000 this year, yes, it is a bit of an increase on last year, where it was around 30,000, yes, and 30,000 last year, higher in the previous year, higher in the previous year than any of these, 45,000. she says this is a priority, a complex issue, but the government, she said, is not going to resort to gimmicks, this is what she told laura kuenssberg. we have made clear tha

but in pictures obtained by the news agency afp, which the bbc has verified, protesters can be seen topplinghe president's father hafez al—asad in president's square in the damascus neighbourhood ofjaramana, about ten kilometres from the centre. the rebel group advanced rapidly on the capital after snatching the southern province of daraa from government control. these latest pictures show rebels driving in a seized military vehicle in the region of daraa. news agency reuters says other rebels from hts have advanced from the north and are inside the third city of homs with the syrian army, loyal to president assad, simply falling away. the news agency reports around 2,000 syrian troops, many wounded, have crossed the border into iraq and sought refuge. with more on this, our correspondent hugo bachega is in antakia, on the turkish—syria border. yeah, i think the speed with which this offensive by rebels has been advancing in syria has caught everybody by surprise, has stunned everybody, because now we are watching what's happening in homs, which is the third—largest city. and this is a cruci

the afp reporting that the cyber attack happened earlier this month. and unclassified documents were reportedly accessed remotely. the cdc revealing that the first severe case of bird flu in the united states has a quote concerning mutation. samples taken from the infected patient indicate the virus could spread more easily among humans. national correspondent jeff paul is here with the latest. hey, jeff. >> it seems at the moment, bird flu is causing mild illnesses in folks who get it. the majority who have been infected work on poultry and dairy farms. a severe case is somewhat alarming. the virus is showing signs of mutation. the centers for disease control says the louisiana patient was hospitalized in critical condition after coming into contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard. they are older than 65 and have underlying health and medical problems. the mutated strain found in the patient is concerning. the risk to the general public for an outbreak is unchanged and remains low. scientists confirmed a total of 66 cases of bird flu in humans

really afp. >> we are beating this into the ground.into the ground dan temperature tiny co-host of the meeting and former adviser mary katharine ham. outkick contributor. they were lying to us, the press they weren't mistaken they knew how bad biden was. they weren't always behind closed doors. they have sources and contacts: why were they so brazen in lying? >> they wanted -- they wanted to win. they wanted to cling to power? i mean, their stories that came out of the 2020 campaign. feels like ages ago. during covid when biden was home in the basement. they really safeguarded his nights and weekends because he was getting tired. moment that staff saw and, you know, if you think about it, even when he got in the white house, and they were securing leak it always biden was behind the scenes busy. but he never used the bully pulpit. he wasn't out giving press conferences and things of that nature. and so, you know, the party decided to roll the dice and rally behind him even though after his re-election even though they knew well that he

that's according to the afp newest agency.don't have verified details on any of us at the moment. a lot of speculation on social media where there is footage of the moments of this in incident. we won't show it to viewers because it is not verified and extremely distressing but you can see a car driving at speed into a group of people at this christmas market, at which case you can understand this figure of being quoted are probably 60 to 80 people being injured. we can see huge emergency presence there, police on the street, ambulances, emergency crews, this will be a huge logistical operation for the teams there who are trying to help those people who have been injured. we have had reports on the reuters news agency eyewitnesses turning on broadcasts that the car drove straight into the crowd in direction of the town hall police local government spokespeople not immediately available to comment because obviously they have to deal with the unfolding situation here. just to reiterate the afp news agency citing the interior min

i'lljust quote to you what the afp news agency has said, "a car crashed into the crowd at the christmas causing multiple casualties." another immediate reported dead and injured, local police said on x, extensive police operations currently taking place, local rescue service said that an incident involving a car had left several people injured, that's according to the afp news agency. so reports coming in all the time about what exactly has happened there. but the reuters agency is saying at least one person killed at the christmas market in magdeburg, according to the broadcaster mdr. clearly there'll be a lot of concern amongst people in that town and across germany as to exactly has happened, what has been the motivation for this, if it was some kind of attack, politically inspired attack, or whether perhaps conceivably was some sort of accident involving a vehicle. wejust some sort of accident involving a vehicle. we just don't know yet, very early days to try and work out exactly what happened. there are reports that the driver has been arrested. but again, if the driver has been a

they are also reports by the afp news agency that 60-80 reports by the afp news agency that 60—80 peopleured in what regional authorities are treating now as authorities are treating now as a suspected attack. and just in the past — a suspected attack. and just in the past few moments as he reported, the reuters news agency— reported, the reuters news agency have quoted german police — agency have quoted german police say they suspect an explosive device was found in the vehicle after this incident. we also understand that— incident. we also understand that a — incident. we also understand that a person, one person, the driver— that a person, one person, the driver of— that a person, one person, the driver of this vehicle, has been _ driver of this vehicle, has been arrested but we don't know if anybody — been arrested but we don't know if anybody else was involved or if anybody else was involved or if police — if anybody else was involved or if police are hunting for anybody else. the german chancellor in the past half an hour— chancellor in the past half an hour or— chancellor in the p

the afp developing. it is a very very - dangerous moment. news agency said that essentially the national assembly has been closed off. people are not being allowed to go in or out of the national assembly. an army general has declared that all political activity has to stop. that is what the news agency in south korea is saying. the opposition leader of the democratic party has already said that south korea is moving to a moment when soldiers will be in charge of the government. soldiers with tanks, guns and knives. that is the kind of situation that appears to be developing in south korea. but we're still an early stage in all this at the moment. so we can't say for certain what will happen. you teach janet — certain what will happen. you teach janet midway _ certain what will happen. you teach janet midway through that answer, but it is worth explaining to viewers who are tuning in what we think martial law actually means when it is declared. what does it actually mean? ., ., , mean? one of the main things that political— mean? one of the

afp news agency cooperating that a saudi man has been arrested after the attack in magdeburg.there, the state premier. so we are going in some biographical details of the person presumably in that car saying a saudi man has been arrested after the magdeburg attack. christian is with me. not a great deal of biographical details about the individual here, butjust remind us what we heard about this person are there any conclusions that can be drawn from nap? 50 conclusions that can be drawn from nap?— conclusions that can be drawn from nap? so what we know is that this is _ from nap? so what we know is that this is a _ from nap? so what we know is that this is a 50-year-old - that this is a 50—year—old saudi citizen. this particular person has arrived in germany in 2006 so he has worked in germany since 2006 as a doctor. he had indefinite leave to remain, so he has a permanent right to continue working in germany and as a result of that, there was no reason to suspect he would have been expeued suspect he would have been expelled from germany or anything like that at any particul

let me bring you an important breaking line on the story, the afp news agency is reporting that southtil it is lifted by the president. i'll repeat that because that is really important given what has happened in the last hour or so, the military in south korea saying they will maintain martial law until it is lifted by the president himself. with me is, su—min hwang, the former head of the bbc�*s korean service. the role of the military here is key and very critical, if they comply with martial law and have a harsh crackdown, there will 1546 00:12:54,608 -->