i'm katie silver. the head of the rebel group which now controls large parts of syria has told the bbc the country is exhausted by war, and poses no threat. the un estimates 100,000 refugees have already returned to the country. ahmed al—sharaa said western sanctions had to be lifted for more syrians to come back. in one of his first television interviews since his forces toppled president assad two weeks ago, ahmed al—sharaa also called for the west to stop designating his group, hayat tahrir al—sham or hts, as a terrorist organisation. hts, which split from al-qaeda in 2016, says it is no longer a jihadist or extremist group. he says they do not target civilians, and consider themselves victims of the assad regime. welcome to newsday. i'm katie silver. the head of the rebel group which now controls large parts of syria has told the bbc the country is exhausted by war, and poses no threat. the un estimates 100,000 refugees have already returned to the country. ahmed al—sharaa said western sanctions ha

i'm katie silver. it's ”pm in washington, dc, where the clock is ticking, as lawmakers scramble to avoid a government shutdown just days before christmas. a first attempt to pass a federal spending bill failed. despite donald trump backing the bill, 38 republicans broke rank and voted against it — it failed to reach the required two thirds majority. now we are waiting to see if a second vote, which would require a simple 50% majority, will happen, and if it does — will it receive enough support to pass? here's speaker of the house mikejohnson speaking after the first vote. the same democrats berated republicans and said it was irresponsible to hold the debt limit, the debt ceiling, hostage. what changed? it is i think really irresponsible for us to risk a shutdown over theseissues us to risk a shutdown over these issues on things that they have already agreed upon. i think you need to be asking them questions about that. we will regroup and we will come up will regroup and we will come up with another

i'm katie silver. ukraine says it is responsible for a bomb attack that killed a senior russian general in moscow. lieutenant general egor kirellov was leaving his home in southeastern moscow on tuesday when he and his aide were killed by explosives planted in an electric scooter. bbc verify has been looking at the images from the scene. an ied — or an improvised explosive device — was used in the attack. the incident comes just a day after ukraine reportedly charged mr kirillov in absentia of coordinating the use of banned chemical weapons on ukrainian forces on the frontlines. the kremlin denied those allegations. russia's investigative committee says it has opened a criminal investigation into the murder. the kremlin called the bombing an attack of terror and is vowing revenge. our russia editor steve rosenberg has the latest report from moscow. being filmed from a car opposite, a russian general and his assistant. here, what appears to be a scooter — we will come back to that. what followed was a g

i'm katie silver. america could be heading towards a government shutdown just days before christmas, after the first attempt to pass a federal spending bill was heavily defeated in congress. despite donald trump backing the bill, 38 republicans broke rank and voted against it. it failed to reach the required two—thirds majority. now we are waiting to see if a second vote on friday which would requirejust a simple majority, will happen, and if it does — will it receive enough support to pass with such a slim republican majority? here's speaker of the house mikejohnson speaking after the first vote. it is, i think, really irresponsible for us to risk on theseissues irresponsible for us to risk on these issues that they are already agreed upon. i think you need to be asking them the questions about that. crosstalk. we will regroup and come out with another solution so stay tuned. the stakes here are high. if a bill can't be voted through congress by midnight on friday, government departments will start ru

i'm katie silver.untry is exhausted by war, and poses no threat. the un estimates 100,000 refugees have already returned to the country. ahmed al—sharaa said western sanctions had to be lifted for more syrians to come back. in one of his first television interviews since his forces toppled president assad two weeks ago, ahmed al—sharaa also called for the west to stop designating his group, hayat tahrir al—sham or hts, as a terrorist organisation. hts, which split from al-qaeda in 2016, says it is no longer a jihadist or extremist group. he says they do not target civilians, and consider themselves victims of the assad regime.

i'm katie silver.

i'm katie silver.re christmas. a first attempt to pass a federal spending bill failed. despite donald trump backing the bill, 38 republicans broke rank and voted against it — it failed to reach the required two thirds majority. now we are waiting to see if a second vote, which would require a simple 50% majority, will happen, and if it does — will it receive enough support to pass? here's speaker of the house mikejohnson speaking after the first vote. the same democrats berated republicans and said it was irresponsible to hold the debt limit, the debt ceiling, hostage. what changed? it is i think really irresponsible for us to risk a shutdown over theseissues us to risk a shutdown over these issues on things that they have already agreed upon. i think you need to be asking them questions about that. we will regroup and we will come

katie silver is there. this is not the news china wanted, is it? that's right and a lot worse — wanted, is it? that's right and a lot worse than _ wanted, is it? that's right and a lot worse than economists l a lot worse than economists forecast, many predicting a 0.5%jump at the forecast, many predicting a 0.5% jump at the good news forecast, many predicting a 0.5%jump at the good news is china's food prices with the main driver, specifically low so temperatures in november with the highest we have seen since the early 1960s, helping with food production as well as transportation, sending food costs down by almost 3%. if you take that impact of food and fuel, what you are left with is core inflation and that was up on the month prior. we also got that reading on the amount of money received by the producers of goods and services, the producer price index, falling by less than the previous month, so still deflation, more than two years of deflation, but less deflation so a bit of a mixed bag. what this suggests is maybe some of those stimulus measu

i'm katie silver.ime of the year for the online retailer. the industrial action is happening in key cities like new york, atlanta and san francisco — in what the teamsters union is calling the largest ever strike against amazon. for more on how this could impact holiday shopping let's hear from the bbc�*s ritika gupta. thousands of amazon workers walked off the job at seven facilities on thursday morning to protest against what they say is unfair treatment over pay and working conditions. this comes after the company refused to negotiate with the union over a labour contract. workers in cities including new york, atlanta and san francisco took part in what the teamsters union called the largest ever strike against the firm, with demonstrations at hundreds of warehouses across the country. yet amazon, one of the largest us employers, said its services would not be disrupted during the crucial holiday shopping period. it also said that they don't directly employ the teamsters' members on strike. the reta

welcome to newsday, i'm katie silver. bill was heavily defeated in congress. despite donald trump backing the bill, 38 republicans broke rank and voted against it. it failed to reach the required two—thirds majority. now we are waiting to see if a second vote on friday which would requirejust a simple majority, will happen, and if it does — will it receive enough support to pass with such a slim republican majority? here's speaker of the house mikejohnson speaking after the first vote. it is, i think, really irresponsible for us to risk on theseissues irresponsible for us to risk on these issues that they are already agreed upon. i think you need to be asking them the questions about that. crosstalk. we will regroup and come out with another solution so stay tuned.

i'm katie silver.imates 100,000 refugees have already returned to the country. ahmed al—sharaa said western sanctions had to be lifted for more syrians to come back. in one of his first television interviews since his forces toppled president assad two weeks ago, ahmed al—sharaa also called for the west to stop designating his group, hayat tahrir al—sham or hts, as a terrorist organisation. hts, which split from al-qaeda in 2016, says it is no longer a jihadist or extremist group. he says they do not target civilians, and consider themselves victims of the assad regime. our international editor, jeremy bowen,

katie ledecky of the usa becomes the only woman to win the same race in. four straight olympic. games. unbelievable. who has got this? great britain. silver medallist.harging the line. wouldn't come for matt hudson—smith. great britain, the silver medalfor. katarina johnson—thompson as an olympic silver medal to her considerable collection. what a performance for brighton beach. | goals for keely. goals for great britain. gold for being brilliant. she is so pretty. so pretty. au revoir, paris and merci. merci beaucoup. we'll go for a lie down. well finished for the olympics, but not for paris. just over a fortnight later, the city threw open its doors once more for the paralympics. more success for britain's established stars like hannah cockroft and the extraordinary sarah storey. you didn't doubt her, did you? her 18th and 19th golds at the age of 46. alfie hewett, along with gordon reid finally got his gold. whilst the future too looks bright. five medals for teenager poppy maskell and for alice tai and a medal. two for the youngest member of the team, 13 year old iona winnifrith, with a silver in the pool. iona winifred, great britain's paralymp