10/09/2016 BBC Weekend News

Russia and America agree a deal to try to bring an end

Today saw more shelling around the northern city of Aleppo,

but a ceasefire is due to begin on Monday.

We'll be live in Damascus, asking whether the deal

Also tonight: The Trade Secretary prompts a furious reaction

from business leaders after saying Britain is fat and lazy, and failing

And the golds keep coming as Hannah Cockcroft wins

again and breaks her own Paralympic record.

And after four years, the rivalry resumes

in the Scottish Premier League, with the Old Firm derby

Russia and the Unites States are preparing for a "cessation

of hostilities" in Syria which could see humanitarian aid

The agreement between Moscow and Washington will also mean

coordinated air strikes against Islamist militants.

But while state-run media in Syria says the government has approved

a deal, all previous attempts to end the violence have failed

Here's our Diplomatic Correspondent James Landale.

The hours before a ceasefire can often be deadly.

Today in eastern Aleppo, government sources sought

to consolidate their position in a city left devastated

by conflict, a city where tomorrow night, these guns could fall silent.

And that's because of an agreement announced by the Americans

and Russians overnight in Geneva, an agreement that they hope

If this arrangement holds, then we will see a significant

We will see humanitarian aid deliveries go forward in Aleppo

Under the deal, a nationwide ceasefire would begin

Humanitarian aid would be allowed into besieged areas.

The Syrian air force would stop attacking opposition groups

in designated areas, and if that happens,

then Russia and the United States would for the first time

take joint military action against Islamic State

Today, some 25 people were said to have died in an air

strike on the rebel-held town of Idlib.

This deal will work only if the Russians succeed

in getting their allies to end this kind of bombing.

TRANSLATION: The Syrian government has been informed by us

about these arrangements, and it is ready to fulfil them.

It supports the initiative we agreed with the United States,

so we will do everything which depends on us,

but it is understandable that not everything depends on us.

Much also depends on the US-backed opposition groups.

Some Free Syrian Army commanders doubted

They and others will now have to distance themselves from

allied forces linked to Al-Qaeda, and that's a big ask.

The key to bringing about a disentanglement

between the moderate groups and the extremists is to force

Assad to stop bombing and to force it away from besieging cities

This is not the first ceasefire agreed in Syria,

but the last one in February fell apart within weeks.

do not always survive the reality on the ground.

Our Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen is in Damascus.

Should we all be a little sceptical about this latest deal holding after

so many false dawns in the past? And yes, of course. But also, it's a

question of how you define success. I was talking to a guy from the UN

tonight and he said, if next week fewer people die, that is a form of

success. If supplies can get to places which are desperately in need

of them, that is a form of success. It is immensely complicated, and the

war here is also immensely complicated. So if this does work,

it will only work is the first step in a series of steps. What could go

wrong? A lot, as you have been hearing. To make this work, a lot of

things have to go right at the same time. That is what will be so

difficult. Particularly, trying to disentangle the different rebel

groups is going to be an immensely obligated task, which the Americans

have been trying and failing to do for a long time already. So loads of

problems. And it is an irredeemably dark situation, but the only chink

of light. Jeremy Bowen, in Damascus. The International Trade Secretary

Liam Fox has drawn heavy criticism for saying Britain has grown "too

fat and lazy" to fully Addressing a Conservative free

market event, he said some business executives would rather play golf

on Friday afternoons The comments have been

described by one boss Here's our Political

Correspondent Alex Forsyth. Two months ago, he was given

the job of promoting UK a Brexit backer now in charge

of negotiating trade deals. But at a Conservative drinks

reception in Parliament, Liam Fox was recorded

by a newspaper saying this. This country is not the free trading

nation that it once was. We have become too lazy and too fat

on our successes He said businesses should consider

exporting goods as a duty. Companies who could be contributing

to our national prosperity, but choose not to because it might

be too difficult or too time-consuming or that they can't

play golf on a Friday afternoon, we've got to be saying to them,

if you want a share in the prosperity of our country,

you have a duty to contribute Himself no stranger to the golf

course, Dr Fox's swing at UK business

raised important points for some, His comments about British business

leaders sloping off to the golf

course on a Friday afternoon are unhelpful and quite

frankly, they are untrue. British business leaders work hard

in developing the businesses In his speech, Liam Fox did say

he had never felt more confident or optimistic about

the country's future. In a statement today,

a spokesman said Mr Fox, whose new Department

of International Trade is based here, was committed to supporting UK

business so that they could take advantage of the opportunities

offered by Brexit. Nonetheless, his comments,

although meant for Tory colleagues, sent a, for some, unwelcome message

to the world from a man whose The Democratic presidential

candidate Hillary Clinton says she regrets comments made at a rally

last night about Donald She said half of them were

deplorable people who were racist, Our North America Correspondent Gary

O'Donoghue is in Washington. Donald Trump has got into serious

trouble for some of his language on the campaign trail. Now Mrs Clinton

is in hot water? Yes, Hillary Clinton did not mince her words,

saying that half of Donald Trump supporters would fit into the basket

of deplorables. If there is one rule of politics, you can say what you

like about your opponents, but don't insult the voters. If the polls are

to be believed, she may have insulted upwards of 25 million

people. Donald Trump seized on it, saying she would be harmed at the

polls as a result. She has partly retracted what she said, saying she

apologised for using the word half. Will it harm her? Her own supporters

will agree. Donald Trump's supporters would never have backed

her anyway. What about the undecideds? Will they feel this is

not quite presidential? Gary O'Donoghue, in Washington.

Great Britain's Paralympians have added more medals on day

three in Rio after taking seven golds yesterday.

Andy Lewis took gold in the inaugural triathlon -

and within the last hour, Hannah Cockroft broke her own

Paralympic record to again take gold in her 100 metre final.

Overnight, Ellie Robinson raced to victory in the pool,

and Jonnie Peacock also became a double Paralympic champion.

Here's our Sports Correspondent Andy Swiss.

An estimated 160,000 descended on the Paralympic Park.

According to organisers, that's more than any single

But for British fans, the early interest

On Copacabana beach, the Games' first ever triathlon, and

When he was a teenager, Lewis had his lower leg amputated

Today, emphatically, unforgettably,

To be here in Rio, to compete on Copacabana Beach,

first time ever in history for para-triathlon to be

in the Paralympics, and then to walk away with that?

It still hasn't probably sunk in yet, but I'm absolutely

amazed that it's happened, and even to me!

There was also told in the athletics. Hannah Cockroft retained

her 100 metres crown in commanding style. Another blistering display

from Cockcroft, and it was a British one-two, with carrier Dunagan taking

silver. Four hours ago, Kadeena Cox won a medal in the athletic site.

Tonight, she charged to victory in the velodrome, setting a new record

in the time trial. Two medals across two Sportscene two days, an

extraordinary achievement. The Jonnie Peacock, it was a day to

reflect on the night before. He told me this when was even sweeter than

London 2012. London was almost pressure free for me, because it was

my first Games. I was only 19 years old. I had the excuse to fall back

on if anything did go wrong. This one was always going to be a lot

harder. There was more pressure, but luckily, I managed to pull through

in the end. But the Paralympics isn't just about the winners. This

is Egypt's Ibrahim Amadou, the only man to play table tennis with his

toes and his teeth. Although he lost, he said competing here was a

dream come true. I want to tell everyone, he added, that nothing is

impossible. What an incredible talent he is, and

what an incredible performance from Britain's Kadeena Cox, the first

Briton to win two medals in two sports at the same Paralympics 28

years, an extraordinary achievement. Dame Sarah Storey finished fourth in

that race. It is not the strongest event, but even so, another good day

for Britain, still second in the medals table, and they will be

hoping for plenty more to come. Andy Swiss, in Rio.

After four years, the rivalry has resumed in the Scottish Premier

The Old Firm derby today at Parkhead saw Moussa Dembele on his home

debut grab a hat trick, as Celtic won 5-1.

they came in their colourful thousands

to witness the latest chapter in an age-old rivalry.

As the teams emerged to a familiar deafening din,

a familiar face was missing for Celtic, top goalscorer

Thankfully for them, the man who replaced him

Moussa Dembele with this first on the half-hour.

His second was a fine finish and already,

Just before the break, Joe Garner gave them hope.

Just after the hour, Scott Sinclair killed it off.

High-fives from the Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers,

Deadly Dembele delivered a fourth to seal a hat-trick.

Four was a hammering, five humiliating.

The Rangers boss Mark Warburton said afterwards,

there's no major gulf of between the sides.

And like I say, we kept pressing right to the very end.

We scored five, could have had one or two more.

And defensively, we never really had any problems.

So an outstanding team performance and result.

Well, Celtic were the favourites and they didn't

It was an emphatic victory in the end.

The three points and the bragging rights belong to the green

Chris McLaughlin, BBC News, Celtic Park.

A new initiative targeting gangs who've been raiding historic

buildings has been launched across the UK.

Codenamed Operation Crucible, its focus is the illegal trade

in lead and copper, threatening hundreds

They are among our most valuable and most vulnerable treasures -

prey to those who can cause irreparable damage

to a thousand years of history in just a few minutes.

In late July, we found out that the north aisle

This church in the tiny village of Beeby

It effectively damages over 1000 years' worth

They are so important and they are buildings that

belong to everybody - it's not private property,

it is there for everybody, and the damage is untold.

With police forces increasingly overstretched, the challenge

is to find new partnerships which can help take on the thieves.

Good morning, British Transport Police...

In Birmingham, one new partnership has already been established.

English Heritage expert Nick Molineux has joined

an operation targeting scrap metal dealers across the Midlands.

Quite quickly, we've seen some roof lead sheeting...

We will now go in and check the records to see what date it

arrived in, who's brought that in, what the vehicle is -

and see if that will now tally up with any other

Dealers must now keep those detailed records.

Nick is here to help spot anything out of the ordinary.

It's particularly valuable to me to find out how rigorous

they are about looking for all this material,

and then I can feed that information back into the system

when I go back and talk, particularly to churches,

about the whole problem of lead theft.

In Hertfordshire, another Historic England team are seeing

how it should be done - Aalchemy Metals are going far

I believe the scrap metal industry as a whole could take a far

higher moral ground, in particular when it

They really need to be asking questions.

Recent crime reports suggest that as the price of lead rises,

A fresh approach has never been more urgently needed.

From me and the team, have a very good night.

Today has been a tale of two halves, weather-wise. The rain and the cloud

rather stubborn across the eastern side of the country, the