jeremy bowen, bbc news, aleppo.bal politics of the past in northern ireland after its power—sharing executive collapsed, triggering new elections to the assembly in march. it's all over a controversial energy scheme which could cost the taxpayer £500,000,000, but it's caused a deep riff between the two main partners in the executive, sinn fein and the unionist dup. gavin hewitt reports from stormont on what it means for the northern ireland peace process. the 10 years, power has been shared in northern ireland. it was one of the foundation stones of peace. today, that power—sharing government collapsed. i propose that a draft order in council be brought forward shortly to set an election date of thursday, 2nd march. no—one should underestimate the challenge faced to the political institutions here in northern ireland and what is at stake. the trigger for the breakdown was a row over a controversial green energy scheme drawn up by unionist minister, arlene foster. but the bitter arguments over the scheme exposed grow

jeremy bowen, bbc news, aleppo. katty: people are returning to their homes in east aleppo, but it is hard to believe they will be able to get over with a have seen or lost soon. let's go to gambia where a state of emergency has been declared. president yahya jammeh is refusing to accept the results of an election where he was defeated. , issuccessor, adama barrow set to be inaugurated tomorrow. our correspondent reports from the gambian capital. >> is not good news. we are evacuating everyone back home. reporter: leading intro's, not as they anticipated, thousands of european tourists are being flown back home on special flights. some have been here for only a couple of days, which explains their reaction. moment it is the unnecessary, but i understand. >> to me it is stupid. this will be over in 24 to 48 hours. reporter: they're not the only ones leaving. thousands of gambians are streaming out. likeyear it looks intervention is imminent. troops are massing on the border , a nigerian air force is on the worship isn

well we can talk now to our middle east editor, jeremy bowen, who is in aleppo. captured by the regime, life is really very hard. no running water, no mains power and a massive amount of devastation. what you see behind me isa devastation. what you see behind me is a tiny fraction of what has happened in this city. you can drive a couple of miles in one direction of east aleppo and everything is destroyed, a couple of miles in the other direction and everything is destroyed. it is really that bad. i have been to lots of war is over the yea rs have been to lots of war is over the years and the only place i have seen that rivals this in terms of sheer destruction is grozny in chechnya in the former soviet union in the mid—90s when the russian army absolutely hammered it. east aleppo was absolutely pulverised. jeremy bowen with the latest from aleppo. time for a look at the weather. here‘s phil avery. an awful lot of cloud. if you were with those yesterday we were looking at this sort of satellite picture. there are variations on the scene. i wa nt to there are varia

jeremy bowen, bbc news, aleppo.h our middle east correspondent, jeremy bowen. thousands of british holiday—makers are being flown home from the gambia after a state of emergency was declared. the foreign office is advising people to avoid all but essential travel to the country because of a risk of unrest. president yayha jammeh is refusing to accept the result of last month's presidential elections in which he was defeated. his elected successor adama barrow is due to be inaugurated tomorrow. senegal has said its military forces will enforce the handover, if necessary. our correspondent umaru fofana reports from the gambian capital banjul. leaving in droves. not as they came, not as they had anticipated. thousands of european tourists, mostly from the uk, being flown back home on special flights. some had been here for only a couple of days, which explains their reaction. asking us to leave is unnecessary. i think, at the moment. but i understand that we need to do it. to me, it feels stupid because this will all b

jeremy bowen, bbc news, aleppo.d states. it marks the end of barack obama's eight years in the oval office. this week our correspondentjon kay is travelling along highway a5 — gauging the country's mood. today, he's in chicago, illinois, where barack obama began his political career, and where people have been reflecting on the legacy he leaves behind. right through the middle of donald trump's america. to get a sense of the country he is taking over. but our next stop is not trump territory. chicago. i could do with some breakfast. this is barack obama's favourite diner. he lived round the corner before he was president and he still comes back. what does he eat. he likes the brea kfast. he is humble, he is strong. taihitia is an obama fan. as a nurse, she likes the changes he made to health care, giving poorer people better access. she worries donald trump will overturn the reforms, hitting the most vulnerable. they will not have access to doctors, they will have to come through emergency services. many of them wil

jeremy bowen, bbc news, aleppo. troops are massing on the border of the gambia, ready to force the president to accept electrical —— electoral defeat and step down. peter penar is a researcher at michigan state university with an interest in post—election disputes in west africa. it does not look good, does it, that a president who took power in a coup and has ruled for 22 years is refusing to accept the democratic result of an election. how do you think this is going to play out? that is a good question. right now the situation is very tense between ya hya the situation is very tense between yahya jammeh on the one hand, and the international community on the other. yahya jammeh has been given several opportunities as a sort of exit strategy in this period of time, including exile in a number of western countries —— west african countries, such as nigeria. today i also have the idea of exile in morocco floated. all of these options have been turned down by ya hya options have been turned down by yahya jammeh. the p

outside of the uk, it's world news america next, with a special report from inside aleppo from jeremy bowenry is brexit with huw edwards. we will also hear from davos and strasbourg. now, a story we covered a couple of weeks ago, the first freight train to travel directly to the uk from china has arrived here in london. the chinese government is calling it the new silk route. andy moore has more on this story. the train began itsjourney at a giant container depot in china. 34 carriages were loaded with goods, such as clothes, bags and other household items. china has been operating trains to 14 european capitals from this depot for many years. now, london has been added to the list. depot for many years. now, london has been added to the list. because of different rail gauges along the way, the containers have to be offloaded and reloaded several times, but china sees this as a new version of the silk route. in all, the train, carrying £4 million worth of goods, passes through eight countries on its journey of more than 7,500 miles. the uk is china's seventh—biggest trading market, so the b

jeremy bowen, bbc news, aleppo. in florida when she was only eight hours old has defended her alleged kidnapper. lexis manigo, who'd been named kamiyah mobley at birth, was tracked down after a tip—off. she says the woman she believed was her mother raised her "with good morals, respect and love". she raised me with good morals, respect. she made a big impact on my life. i could go to her about anything. i could tell there was love. it hurt me more that she was in handcuffs. like some animal. i don't... in handcuffs. like some animal. i don't. .. that's not in handcuffs. like some animal. i don't... that's not her. i've never seen her in cuffs, never. so that moment there was so surreal for me. i understand what she did was wrong, but i don't feel like... just look at my life itself, you know? understand it was one mistake, but it wasn't all bad. everything that came out of it was not bad. i'm fine. i'm managing. i have another family. that is more love. for the people that have missing kids, this gives them hope, s

jeremy bowen, bbc news, aleppo.idemic strikes. they named the diseases they‘re targeting. what was will be the next global epidemic, a virus we already know about, ora new one? the ebola outbreak in west africa exposed how utterly unprepared the world is for new epidemics. more than 11,000 people died, partly because there were no vaccines to protect them. the research charity the wellcome trust is part of a new coalition urging people to look at a new epidemic being even more deadly, especially if it is airborne. we are lucky that the world has reacted so well. but this could happen again. this puts the world in a very vulnerable place. scientists have identified three obscure viruses they want to fast track vaccines for. nipah virus, spread to humans from from fruit bats. it can cause swelling of the brain and is mainly common in bangladesh. lassa fever is common in west africa. the last is middle east respiratory syndrome. it‘s believed to be spread by camels. it‘s killed more than 650 people, mostly here in saud

our middle east editor is in aleppo and we will play you the latest report from jeremy bowen on the destruction he has seen there. vladimir putin has made his first comments on unverified allegations that russia has compromising information on donald trump. the uk is going to leave the eu's single market. and you can argue that had become politically inevitable. many people supported brexit because of concerns about immigration. theresa may was never likely to ignore that. and the eu's most seniorfigures have consistently said no membership of the single market without freedom of movement. they were never likely to compromise. for all the talk of soft brexit it was hard to see what that meant in practical terms. none the less, this speech is a moment a huge significance. not just for its headline announcement — but other policy details too — and it tone. here are some of the key moments. we do not seek to adopt a model already enjoyed by other countries. we do not seek to hold onto bits of membership as we leave. no. the united kingdom is leaving the european union and myjob is to get the right