29/12/2016 BBC News

A ceasefire in Syria from midnight tonight,

it's been brokered by Russia and Turkey.

President Putin says the Syrian government and main opposition

groups have agreed to the basic terms, and to the start

After nearly six years of conflict, those behind the deal say it's

a window of opportunity that mustn't be wasted.

TRANSLATION: The first document is about

a ceasefire on the territory of the Syrian Arab republic.

The second document is a set of measures for monitoring

the ceasefire and the third document is a statement about readiness

Also today, a warning from GPs that patients in England could wait more

than a month for an appointment, because the system's

And, the actress Debbie Reynolds has died at the age of 84,

just a day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher.

Russia has announced a nationwide ceasefire in the Syrian conflict.

The deal has been brokered by Russia and by Turkey,

who've been on opposing sides in the conflict.

The Syrian government and main opposition groups have agreed

to a ceasefire from midnight local time tonight.

But some groups, including so-called Islamic State,

The announcement was made in Moscow from where our correspondent

For nearly six years, Syria has been torn apart by civil war.

A conflict that has left more than 400,000 people dead.

There have been peace initiatives before which brought no peace.

But today Russia announced a breakthrough.

In the Kremlin, Russia's defence Minister handed Vladimir Putin

a list of Syrian opposition groups which had signed up to a ceasefire

60,000 rebels, he said, would stop fighting.

This is how President Putin summarised the deal.

TRANSLATION: Three documents have been signed.

The first document between the Syrian government and the armed

opposition is about a ceasefire on the territory of

The second document is a set of measures

And the third document is a statement about readiness

to start peace talks on ending the Syrian conflict.

The Syrian government was persuaded by Russia to sign today's agreement.

It's with an assortment of seven Syrian rebel groups.

Turkey's role was crucial in convincing them.

Not part of the deal are so-called Islamic State,

or the main Kurdish rebel group who are fighting them, the YPG.

And there's confusion tonight over whether the agreement

covers a key rebel group, widely seen as linked to Al-Qaeda.

With John Kerry's diplomacy the US had been co-sponsor, with Russia,

But today the Kremlin has snubbed the Obama administration.

Moscow said it hoped America would join the new round of peace

Today the Free Syrian Army, a loose alliance of rebel

TRANSLATION: During the talks the Russian government guaranteed

to us that they will keep the Syrian regime forces and their

During these talks we have not met anyone from the Syrian regime.

Meanwhile the violence in Syria continues.

This amateur video purports to show the aftermath of an air strike today

Schoolchildren running, screaming, through the smoke and the chaos.

When it begins, can the ceasefire end this war?

You can understand why many Syrians have low expectations.

Our correspndent Steve Rosenberg is in Moscow and Laura Bicker

Steve, a point you made at the end of your report which is really to do

with how hopeful people in Russia are that this deal could stick, what

are your thoughts on that? This is potentially a diplomatic coup for

Russia and for Vladimir Putin. Just look at how things have turned

around for the Russian president. Over the last year he has been

criticised constantly by the West over Russia's military campaign in

Syria. Moscow has been accused of indiscriminate bombing, even war

crimes or complicity in war crimes. But today's sitting at his desk in

the Kremlin President Putin could project himself as the deal-maker,

the peacemaker in the Middle East with American nowhere to be seen.

And the deal actually bring peace? There's no guarantee of that because

this is a very complex conflict involving many regional players and

ending it will be very difficult indeed.

Given that it is being discussed as some sort of snub, what are your

thoughts on it and the response, there? The State Department says it

welcomes the ceasefire and hopes it will be respected by all parties.

But it did not elaborate as to why it played no role in these talks.

The problem for President Obama is he's got very little leveraging in

Syria. When he chose to back those cerium rebels he was so unwilling to

get bogged down in another war in the Middle East that he only offered

very limited support and their weapons were no match for those air

strikes from the Assad regime, backed by Russia. And diplomatically

turkey's role in this will raise quite a few eyebrows. They usually

choose to coordinate their strategy with the US alliance but on this

occasion they've chosen Russia as the main player. And if that

relationship continues it could further isolate the United States in

the Middle East. Laura, thanks very much, and Steve Rosenberg, in

Moscow. The Hollywood actress

Debbie Reynolds, who starred with Gene Kelly

in the musical Singin' Her death was announced a day

after the death of her daughter, Her son said the news had been too

much for her to bear, as our correspondent

David Sillito reports. # I'm singin' in the rain,

just singin' in the rain. Singin' In The Rain,

Debbie Reynolds was just 19. She'd not really danced

before this, but this I was supposed to be an innocent,

virginal little I think it was a tough deal

for poor Gene to be stuck It would have been far better

for him to have a great dancer. But I worked so hard that I think,

in the end when I look at that performance

of that little girl, # All I do is dream

of you the whole night through.# 64 years later, her death comes

just a day after losing She'd been planning her funeral

when she was taken ill. Her son Todd said the stress

was simply too much. Among the tributes,

Bette Midler, who said Dame Joan Collins said she was truly

heartbroken. You could make an album,

I could produce it. That mother-and-daughter

relationship, Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine gave us a taste

of the ups and downs in Indeed Debbie Reynolds wanted

to play the role but was told she wasn't

right for the part. You want me to do well,

just not better than you. What she was right for was

old school Hollywood The show always went on,

even when she was abandoned by her husband, Eddie Fisher,

for Elizabeth Taylor. My personal life is always

sort of like this. That little choo-choo train that

says, "I think I can, I think Luckily for me, God was good

and I have two wonderful children. And here she is, Carrie Fisher,

six years old, watching her The photographer said

she didn't move. 54 years later, Debbie

Reynolds final words: But if you want to

remember what made her The actress Debbie Reynolds who has

died at the age of 84. The head of the Royal College

of General Practitioners has warned that patients in England could be

forced to wait four weeks or longer, to see

their family doctor, Helen Stokes-Lampard says surgeries

are already over-stretched because of a shortage of GPs,

and years of under-investment. But the government says it's

investing an extra ?2.4 billion in family doctor services,

by 2020, as our health correspondent

Robert Pigott reports. Hello, Mrs Richardson?

Come on in, I'm Doctor Helen. Come on through,

come and have a seat. Doctor Helen Stokes-Lampard has been

struggling to make routine appointments within three to four

weeks at her surgery in Lichfield. Winter is increasing the demand

on health services already under GPs warned that their service

is stretched desperately thin and lengthening waiting times

could pose a serious Firstly, there just aren't

enough GPs out there, we don't have enough clinicians

in the workforce. But also we haven't got

enough nurses and other So the problem this winter

is as bad as it's ever been. GPs currently see more

than 1.3 million patients every day and there are now 60 million more

consultations every year The doctor is available

Wednesday 11th. Like other GPs, the doctors

at Central Surgery in Rugby have found themselves caring increasingly

for frail, elderly people and patients with complex,

long-term illnesses. It's helped add 16% to GPs' workload

in the last seven years. Experts estimate that family doctors

now provide 360 million appointments every year in England,

dwarfing the capacity of hospitals. There's a very small change

in what GPs are capable of doing. It could be capable of completely

overwhelming the A departments and outpatient departments

by increasing referrals. They are an absolutely key part

of the health system and unless we look after them,

the whole system could be GPs have told the Department

of Health that the NHS has been phenomenally successful both

in nipping disease in the bud and in keeping alive huge numbers

of people with chronic conditions But they warn this preventative care

could now be undermined with potentially serious and even

tragic consequences NHS England say GP services

are on track to receive an extra ?2.4 billion in real terms

investment by 2020. To build on this track record

of success and expand access to convenient appointments

throughout the week. The Royal College of GPs welcomed

the extra funding promised for England and Scotland but said

similar commitments have not yet been made in Wales

or Northern Ireland. Police in Cornwall are

investigating what they say are the unexplained

deaths of two men. The bodies were found

yesterday evening at a block One man was in his early thirties,

the other was in his 20s. A review of the youth justice system

has proposed that offenders who commit crimes before they're 18

years old should be given It's understood ministers are now

considering introducing legislation The review says naming child

offenders such as Jon Venables and Robert Thompson,

who murdered two-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool in 1993,

undermines attempts to Our home affairs correspondent

Tom Symonds is at the It is controversial, it is probably

a small number of cases that anyone who is prosecuted under the age of

18 generally goes to the youth court where there is a right to anonymity

until they are 18 but not further. This is likely to affect most of

those that go for serious cases to the Crown Court. We are talking

about child murderers. This recommendation would give a right to

anonymity for life and it would mean that, for example, the killers of

James Bulger, the child killer Mary Bell in 1968 and clinic, who to get

killed his teacher in 2014 but none of those would be named. Deciding

whether to go with this, the government looks at the needs of

open justice, our right to know who commits crimes, and way that up

against the needs and views of families of those killed, victims of

crime who may feel that they have no right to anonymity and sometimes get

all needed and unwarranted publicity as a result of being victims. --

unneeded. The authorities in Berlin say

they've released a Tunisian man, who was detained yesterday

on suspicion of being involved in last week's attack

on a Christmas market. The 40-year-old was

freed without charge. Investigators have also

revealed that the lorry involved in the attack

was slowed down by its automatic braking system,

probably saving many lives. Russian officials investigating

the crash of a plane in the Black Sea on Christmas Day

say there was no explosion on board. The Tu-154 came down shortly

after taking off from Sochi, The country's transport minister

said it had been established that the plane's equipment

wasn't working correctly. In three weeks' time,

Donald Trump will be sworn in as 45th president

of the United States in a ceremony on Capitol Hill before

moving in to White House. But in the seven weeks

since his election, Mr Trump has opted to stay

at his home in Trump Tower in New York, a city that

voted overwhelmingly As our correspondent

Nick Bryant explains, Trump Tower has become a magnet

for those who can't, or won't, It's hardly a season

of goodwill towards People coming out here

in the streets to oppose this woman-hating, racist,

disgusting fascist regime. In places, the carols have been

drowned out by anti-Trump chants. The buildings that bear his name

have become focal points of protest. Many New Yorkers hate having

Donald Trump in their midst. We know him better than

anybody in the country. It is despicable that

a New Yorker could be so egregiously against women,

people of colour, people When he comes from the most

beautiful melting pot of New York. It is a dagger in my heart,

to be honest, as a New Yorker. Protests large and small have become

almost a permanent feature of life in New York City since the election

of Donald Trump. And feelings are particularly

intense in Manhattan, his home, where nine out of ten voters

supported Hillary Clinton. Some New Yorkers have

registered their disapproval by campaigning to have his name

removed from their And here at this playground

in Brooklyn when pro-Trump graffiti appeared alongside Swastikas,

it was quickly transformed A rally shortly afterwards displayed

the deep community leaders here that A rally shortly afterwards displayed

the deep community unease here that reports of hate or bias crimes

in New York have increased I reject Donald Trump's

vision of America. New York city, I'm asking

you to do the same. The billionaire is synonymous

with this city, his name remains emblazoned on buildings,

even ice rinks. But this Christmas, the Big Apple

has something of a Gotham-city feel, with the President-elect cast

by many of his fellow New Yorkers Outside Trump Tower,

with just three weeks There's more throughout the evening

on the BBC News Channel,