18/12/2016 BBC Weekend News

Syrian state television says buses have entered the rebel-held enclave

in eastern Aleppo to enable the evacuation of thousands

of people said to be living in desperate conditions.

This follows reports of a deal having been

agreed between the rebels and pro-Government forces.

More buses assembled on the outskirts of eastern Aleppo this

morning amid signs this on/off evacuation would continue.

Red Cross vehicles could also be seen waiting to go into the city.

The Syrian state news agency said they would supervise the operation

to bring civilians out of rebel areas.

But that hasn't been officially confirmed.

Smoke over the city underlined how tense this process has become,

Caught in the middle are tens of thousands of people

in the besieged eastern part of the city.

In the past week, they've been told to prepare to leave,

gathered at assembly points and then forced to return home

Fewer than 10,000 people are thought to have gone so far,

just a fraction of the total still trapped here.

One reason for the delay has been the status of two Shia villages

The Syrian Government says people from Foua and Kefraya must be

allowed to leave as part of the process.

Across Europe, thousands have demanded western nations play a more

They want to ensure the protection of the evacuees and those

The UN will consider those issues today but whether Russia will accept

But in Government-held western Aleppo where many back President

Assad, there is relief their city is no longer on the frontline.

TRANSLATION: We hope the ceasefire will pass without any problems.

We hope all the gunmen will leave and go back to where they came from.

they displaceed all the people and destroyed all of Aleppo.

The evacuation buses have now been seen moving into eastern Aleppo

to continue the operation but this is still a complex and dangerous

process which has failed before and could fail again.

The International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, has said he will tell

the Cabinet in private whether or not the UK should stay

inside the European Customs Union after Brexit.

He head he was instinctively a free trader and would have his say in

Cabinet. British businesses approach the end

of the year with large elements of doubt hanging over future customs

arrangements, such as whether a future trade deal would bring more.

The international Trade Secretary left open the possibility we could

remain a part of the EU customs union. We need to look at all the

options. Are you keen to stay inside the customs union? The reason I ask

that and I want to put this in a non-confrontational way, if we do,

we can't do international trade deals of the kind your department

was was set up to create and in a sense there is no point in Liam Fox.

There would be limitations on what we could do in terms of tariff

setting. The customs union includes all 28 EU nations but also Turkey,

Monaco, San Marino and Andorra. All can trade Frielly with each other

but must impose the same tariffs on nations from outside the customs

union. They are barred from doing bilateral trade deals with other

countries. Now only a back-seat driver to Cabinet discussions former

Chancellor George Osborne was asked what type of trade deal there should

be. We should do this on the basis a of a hard-headed assessment of what

is in our national and economic interest. So yes it's true that the

grass may be greener outside of those arrangements, and we may be

able to conduct new free trade deals with Australia and the United States

and so on, but that shouldn't come at a price of giving up the existing

free trade arrangements we have with Germany and France. And do you think

we can keep those? Well, that's where I would be starting from. You

can't say we are a beacon of free trade in the world and you achieve a

huge act of protectionism, the biggest in British history. So

despite hearing from one of the Brexit big hitters today we are no

closer to knowing what kind of trade deal is likely to be on the table or

even what options are off it. A suicide bomber has killed at least

40 soldiers in the southern The Islamic State group says it

carried out the attack, which targeted a crowd of soldiers

as they were queueing up to receive their salaries

near a military base. It's the latest in a string

of such attacks targeting A week ago, Islamic State militants

killed 50 troops in Aden, of the internationally recognised

Government of Yemen. Palestinian officials say Israeli

soldiers have shot dead an Arab teenager during a confrontation

in the West Bank. Hundreds of people have

attended his funeral Palestinian officials say

the shooting took place and were confronted by youths

throwing stones. The Israeli military says security

forces were responding The Government says it plans to make

all civil servants and holders of public office swear an oath

to uphold British values. The Communities Secretary,

Sajid Javid, says he wants people to set an example by embracing

concepts of tolerance, But Labour says that making people

swear an oath to British values would make "no difference" to the

problems of radicalisation What's the background to this In

there are two words at the heart of this issue and they are community

and cohesion. A Government commissioned report came out and it

was highly critical of the situation on community cohesion. He said there

were some communities living in isolated bubbles of ethnic

segregation. Amongst many other recommendations it suggested there

should interest oaths of allegiance for new migrants and those in

leadership positions in civil life, public life. They should vow to

uphold values of tolerance and freedom of speech. What the

Communities Secretary appears to have done is fully embrace those two

recommendations but go further on the second. He wants to go beyond

leaders in civil life and have school governors, local councillors

and, potentially, lead that on to extend it to staff in places like

the NHS and even the BBC. Angus, thank you.

A group of MPs says the Government must not use the introduction

of new mayors across England next year to shirk its responsibility

The Public Accounts Committee says the Government needs

to make clear who is spending taxpayers' money and where

responsibility lies after the mayors are elected.

Ministers say the new roles in seven areas of England will help

communities take control of decision making.

Thick fog is affecting many parts of the UK,

leading to travel disruption for a second day.

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning,

with southern England and South Wales expected to be affected

Similar conditions on Saturday led to some flight cancellations

The 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year will be announced tonight.

Viewers can vote for 16 contenders who've been shortlisted

Last year's winner, the Wimbledon and Olympic

tennis champion Andy Murray, is in the running again.

The ceremony takes place in Birmingham

and our sports news correspondent, Andy Swiss is there.

Final rehearsals are about to get under way here in Birmingham. We are

expecting around 12,000 people here tonight to celebrate what has really

been a bumper year for British sport. Normally there are just 12

names on the short-list. This year there are 16. They are in off bet

cal order Nicola Adams, Gareth Bale, Alistair Brownlee, Kadeena Cox,

Jason and Laura Kenny, Andy Murray, Nick Skelton, Dame Sarah Storey,

Jamie Vardy, Max Whitlock and Danny Willett. It is some list to choose

from. The winner will be decided by a public vote. You can vote by phone

or you can vote online. Details will be given out during tonight's show.

Plenty of other awards too. There is the team of the year award, the

coach of the year. There'll be a special lifetime achievement award

for the American swimmer Michael Phelps. It gets under way at 6.40pm,

live on BBC One. Andy, thank you. You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel. The next news on BBC

One is at 5.15pm. Good afternoon. Fog was a problem

across the southern half of England