:00:00. > :00:08.Welcome to BBC News. I'm Alice Baxter.
:00:09. > :00:10.Our top stories: Reports from Afghanistan say Taliban
:00:11. > :00:15.fighters have almost complete control of the town of Sangin.
:00:16. > :00:17.In Iraq, government forces continue their
:00:18. > :00:25.offensive to try to drive Islamic State fighters out of Ramadi.
:00:26. > :00:29.Once Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky tells the BBC
:00:30. > :00:31.he may seek asylum in Britain as Moscow issues
:00:32. > :00:37.And an early Christmas present for Beatles fans as more than 200 songs
:00:38. > :01:04.are made available for worldwide streaming for the first time.
:01:05. > :01:07.In Afghanistan, Taliban fighters are reported to
:01:08. > :01:10.have taken control of most of the town of Sangin in Helmand province,
:01:11. > :01:18.There is also fierce fighting in other parts of the province.
:01:19. > :01:22.It's over a year since British troops pulled out of Helmand
:01:23. > :01:24.but some British servicemen have now returned as military advisors.
:01:25. > :01:38.As the Taliban announce victory in Sangin district,
:01:39. > :01:43.Afghan troops are desperately fighting to push them back, not just
:01:44. > :01:48.from the strategic town but other districts in Helmand province.
:01:49. > :01:52.It looked as if things could get better for the Afghan soldiers
:01:53. > :01:53.after supplies were airdropped and additional troops arrived.
:01:54. > :02:01.Some, however, are still willing to fight.
:02:02. > :02:03.TRANSLATION: We're ready to defend our country,
:02:04. > :02:11.And when we get the order, we will fight the enemy.
:02:12. > :02:16.Here in Kabul, the acting Afghan Defence Minister insists the
:02:17. > :02:21.army is still resisting and that the operation is still ongoing.
:02:22. > :02:27.What do you say to British families who have lost relatives in Sangin,
:02:28. > :02:31.in particular, who say the British military provided support, training,
:02:32. > :02:35.money, they've paid in blood, only for the Afghan army to fail?
:02:36. > :02:45.The British and other nations, they have contributed with
:02:46. > :02:47.their treasure and their blood and their contributions and sacrifice,
:02:48. > :02:49.that is always appreciated by the people of Afghanistan.
:02:50. > :02:54.But at the same time, in just one year we took over
:02:55. > :02:57.responsibility, we were thinly spread throughout the country.
:02:58. > :03:05.We tried our best to hold all those areas.
:03:06. > :03:07.The latest fighting in Helmand has exposed significant weaknesses both
:03:08. > :03:11.in the Afghan army and the government in
:03:12. > :03:14.maintaining a solid grip of security after the withdrawal of Nato forces.
:03:15. > :03:17.It is in that weakness that the Taliban found the chance to
:03:18. > :03:20.regroup and deal heavy blows to Afghan troops across the country.
:03:21. > :03:22.Each loss of a strategic position also means
:03:23. > :03:26.loss of Afghan lives and families getting caught in the violence.
:03:27. > :03:28.TRANSLATION: We fled home with the clothes on our backs.
:03:29. > :03:35.I went to the market and saw Taliban militants there.
:03:36. > :03:44.In a statement today, the Taliban condemned the British
:03:45. > :03:48.troops for returning to Helmand province to support Afghan forces.
:03:49. > :03:51.They said the British government has broken its promise to the people not
:03:52. > :03:59.More than 100 British troops were killed in Sangin alone and
:04:00. > :04:02.as the Taliban continue to tighten their hold on the districts of
:04:03. > :04:08.Helmand province, many will continue to ask why those lives were lost.
:04:09. > :04:10.Anthony H Cordesman, is a defence analyst at the Center
:04:11. > :04:12.for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.
:04:13. > :04:24.He says the situation in Helmand has been deteriorating for some time.
:04:25. > :04:34.Sangin is the district capital but you are never pacified Helmand
:04:35. > :04:41.Province. You had never controlled the necrotic output. You pushed the
:04:42. > :04:46.Taliban out of river valleys but not out of the area and over the last
:04:47. > :04:50.two years, before even the withdrawal of ISAF forces, you saw a
:04:51. > :04:56.return of the Taliban, use or serious problems in governance. You
:04:57. > :05:02.saw a police force which really isn't trained to fight against the
:05:03. > :05:07.Taliban. Often, it simply retreats back to its headquarters. And use of
:05:08. > :05:14.narcotics production go way up. This is not a sudden new trend. What it
:05:15. > :05:18.is is a province that is steadily being lost and you are beginning to
:05:19. > :05:22.move into the more visible areas, the district capitals, but it is a
:05:23. > :05:24.problem that has been steadily building up really for the last two
:05:25. > :05:27.years. In Iraq, security forces are
:05:28. > :05:30.trying to drive out Islamic State Officials say government troops
:05:31. > :05:34.and Sunni tribal fighters have taken control of several districts
:05:35. > :05:36.and are advancing towards Like Sangin in Afghanistan,
:05:37. > :05:39.Ramadi is seen as strategically important, largely because it's
:05:40. > :05:41.about 100km from Baghdad. Hannan Razek from the BBC's
:05:42. > :06:08.Arabic Service has this report. Street to street, this is how the
:06:09. > :06:10.fighting is going in Ramadi. The operation that aims to recapture the
:06:11. > :06:13.city centre from the so-called Islamic State fighters who has been
:06:14. > :06:18.there since May might take longer than thought. Iraqi officials said
:06:19. > :06:24.earlier that the operation would only take 72 hours but a military
:06:25. > :06:34.spokesman has sent out what that message to journalists, saying : the
:06:35. > :06:37.reason is that Islamic State fighters have set booby traps around
:06:38. > :06:46.the city centre to make it difficult for the troops to go in. But this is
:06:47. > :06:51.not the only fear. TRANSLATION: Ice as insurgents might disguise in
:06:52. > :06:57.civilian outfits and they might shave their beards. -- IS
:06:58. > :07:04.insurgents. The role of the fighting groups will be to identify those
:07:05. > :07:09.inside. TRANSLATION: All of the troops are pretty confident we will
:07:10. > :07:12.defeat IS. We will win the battle. We will take on insurgent pockets
:07:13. > :07:17.but with caution of civilian lives. It is only a matter of days and
:07:18. > :07:21.Ramadi will be liberated. Raising the Iraqi flag over the government
:07:22. > :07:26.complex is what these soldiers are aiming for. If they succeed, it will
:07:27. > :07:30.be the second biggest victory for the Iraqi government after
:07:31. > :07:32.recapturing Detroit. That it does not look like it will be an easy
:07:33. > :07:39.task. -- after recapturing Tikrit. In other news,
:07:40. > :07:41.four people have died after One died from stab wounds,
:07:42. > :07:46.the other was apparently shot dead Two Palestinians were shot by
:07:47. > :07:50.police trying to stop the attack. It's the latest in a series of such
:07:51. > :08:00.attacks in the past three months. Demonstrators protesting
:08:01. > :08:02.against the police shooting of a black man in the American city of
:08:03. > :08:06.Minneapolis last month have blocked They also forced shops
:08:07. > :08:09.in the country's biggest mall to close on one of the busiest shopping
:08:10. > :08:12.days in the year. A Judge on the Thai island of Koh
:08:13. > :08:16.Samui is set to deliver a verdict on Hannah Witheridge and David Miller
:08:17. > :08:20.died on the neighbouring island Two migrant workers from Myanmar,
:08:21. > :08:24.Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, They could face the death penalty
:08:25. > :08:35.if convicted. The former Russian oligarch
:08:36. > :08:38.Mikhail Khodorkovsky says he may He says an arrest warrant issued
:08:39. > :08:44.by a Russian court over the murder of a Siberian mayor in
:08:45. > :08:47.the 1990s is politically motivated. Once Russia's richest man
:08:48. > :08:50.and the boss of the Yukos oil company, Mr Khodorkovsky spent ten
:08:51. > :08:56.years in a Russian jail In an exclusive interview with
:08:57. > :09:01.the BBC, he told Richard Galpin it was clear that
:09:02. > :09:21.the Kremlin wants him silenced. TRANSLATION: This means that
:09:22. > :09:25.President Putin gave the investigators the order to do what
:09:26. > :09:30.they are doing now. President Putin has decided that I was behind the
:09:31. > :09:36.efforts of shareholders who were demanding $50 billion in
:09:37. > :09:40.compensation in Russia for plundering the company. It is also
:09:41. > :09:43.clear that Putin have decided it potential involvement in the 2016
:09:44. > :09:49.parliamentary elections is dangerous. Are you a threat to the
:09:50. > :09:57.Russian president? Is it your goal to overthrow Mr Putin? TRANSLATION:
:09:58. > :10:02.It seems that trying to change the regime in Moscow would be too
:10:03. > :10:05.optimistic but I'm convinced that in the next ten years the regime will
:10:06. > :10:10.change and I hope that my efforts will play an important role in that
:10:11. > :10:24.regard. Are you concerned for your own safety if you take this route?
:10:25. > :10:27.TRANSLATION: There is an impressive history in the deaths of Putin's
:10:28. > :10:31.opponents but I'm a man who spent ten years in prison. It would have
:10:32. > :10:37.been easy to kill me there. No problem at all. Today in London, I
:10:38. > :10:42.feel safe, of course, safer than at any time over the last ten years.
:10:43. > :10:44.So, how realistic is regime change, as Mr Khodorkovsky put it?
:10:45. > :10:47.Olga Ivshina of BBC Russian told us that there
:10:48. > :10:51.are signs of discontent, despite Mr Putin's massive popularity.
:10:52. > :11:03.Opinion polls show that is approval rate is growing. It used to be 86%
:11:04. > :11:08.and now it is close to 90%. On the other hand, we are seeing some
:11:09. > :11:11.protest rallies imagine. Truck drivers protested in opposition to
:11:12. > :11:16.the new taxation system. And as Mr Khodorkovsky has pointed out, it is
:11:17. > :11:22.quite sporadic. It was quite a surprise because truck drivers are
:11:23. > :11:28.on of those groups that support Putin the most. This shows that
:11:29. > :11:31.there is an underground movement, some ideas which seemed to have
:11:32. > :11:35.appeared from nowhere, which shows that there is tension within the
:11:36. > :11:39.society, especially when the economy is collapsing.
:11:40. > :11:41.Back in November, Indonesia bowed to international pressure
:11:42. > :11:43.and said it would temporarily stop executing prisoners.
:11:44. > :11:45.But the government of President Joko Widodo still wants to
:11:46. > :11:49.Now it's come up with a controversial plan to build
:11:50. > :12:58.TRANSLATION: My idea is that outside this jail there will be
:12:59. > :13:00.a moat filled with crocodiles. The next one filled with
:13:01. > :13:03.piranhas, and then after that, an area filled with tigers.
:13:04. > :13:06.This is how serious we are about dealing with inmates sentenced
:13:07. > :13:09.We have to do this because this is an extraordinary
:13:10. > :13:15.crime, so all efforts against it have to be extraordinary.
:13:16. > :13:18.We are also at the same time conserving these animals
:13:19. > :13:24.by creating a conservation area that happens to be around a jail.
:13:25. > :13:27.Senior members of the government as well as the public have
:13:28. > :13:30.Are you serious about implementing this?
:13:31. > :13:40.This is an idea we are working on on the orders of the president.
:13:41. > :13:43.A team made up from members of the National Drugs Board
:13:44. > :13:46.and the Human Rights Ministry are working on this and looking at
:13:47. > :13:52.Can this proposal of a crocodile jail - you also mentioned tigers -
:13:53. > :14:04.I have been swamped with donations of crocodiles from communities
:14:05. > :14:14.I am struggling to find a home for all of these crocodiles that
:14:15. > :14:25.We need to make sure this happens given the huge public response.
:14:26. > :14:29.Still to come: They're known as man's best friend but can dogs
:14:30. > :14:40.We saw this enormous tidal wave approaching the beach,
:14:41. > :14:49.and people started to run, and suddenly it was complete chaos.
:14:50. > :14:52.United States troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship
:14:53. > :14:55.The Pentagon said the operation had been 90% successful,
:14:56. > :14:57.but it's failed in its principal objective, to capture General
:14:58. > :15:00.Noreiga and take him to the United States to face drugs charges.
:15:01. > :15:02.The hammer and sickle was hastily taken away.
:15:03. > :15:05.The Russian flag was hoisted over what is now no longer the
:15:06. > :15:09.Soviet Union, but the Commonwealth of Independent States.
:15:10. > :15:12.Day broke slowly over Lockerbie, over the cockpit of the
:15:13. > :15:16.Pan-Am's Maid of the Seas, nose-down in the soft earth.
:15:17. > :15:19.You could see what happens when a plane eight storeys high, a football
:15:20. > :15:28.Christmas has returned to Albania after a communist ban lasting more
:15:29. > :15:33.Thousands went to midnight Mass in the town where there were
:15:34. > :15:42.The latest headlines: Fierce fighting in Afghanistan.
:15:43. > :15:45.Almost the entire town of Sangin has now fallen to the Taliban after
:15:46. > :15:48.And Iraqi forces are continuing their offensive
:15:49. > :16:08.on Ramadi to try to drive Islamic State fighters out of the city.
:16:09. > :16:11.During the course of 2015 we have spent a lot of time covering both
:16:12. > :16:15.the conflict in Syria and the refugee crisis it has sparked.
:16:16. > :16:17.As the world gets set to ring in a New Year,
:16:18. > :16:20.the situation on the ground in Syria is as desperate as ever.
:16:21. > :16:23.And many now question whether the most powerful global organizations
:16:24. > :16:26.are able to cope with the enormity of the world's trickiest problems.
:16:27. > :16:37.The BBC's Fergal Keane has this special report.
:16:38. > :16:43.The struggles of the present are rooted in the past. When greater
:16:44. > :16:48.powers decide the fate of far away millions. Here outside Paris have a
:16:49. > :16:56.signed the first of a series of treaties which would bring
:16:57. > :16:59.generations of conflict. In this room he defeated Ottoman Turks gave
:17:00. > :17:05.up an empire including Syria, Iraq and Palestine. -- that. As the
:17:06. > :17:10.victorious allies were busy carving up the Middle East, here they had
:17:11. > :17:14.already signed another treaty in a different part of the city to set up
:17:15. > :17:21.the world's first peacekeeping organisation, the League of Nations,
:17:22. > :17:26.former to the UN. Now as millions of Syrians flee their homeland, why has
:17:27. > :17:31.the international in the UN being incapable of ending the conflict?
:17:32. > :17:39.There is no value for the child, for a human being. No value at all.
:17:40. > :17:44.Where is the humanity? It was meant to be very different. Back in 1994
:17:45. > :17:52.the horrific images of the Rwanda genocide, along with Bosnia,
:17:53. > :17:56.prompted pledges to protect civilians. There are thoughts for
:17:57. > :18:00.the people who knew they would die and the terror they must have felt,
:18:01. > :18:06.and the savagery and hatred in the hearts of those two would kill them.
:18:07. > :18:11.After the shame of Rwanda interventions like Sierra Leone were
:18:12. > :18:16.welcomed -- who would kill them. In Beijing is in the Muslim world would
:18:17. > :18:22.change all of that. -- invasions. The region was destabilised. The UN
:18:23. > :18:27.deeply divided. When Syria descended into chaos there was no big power
:18:28. > :18:30.agreement to intervene. The west was fearful of integral bet. The
:18:31. > :18:38.Russians backed Assad and regional powers waged a proxy war. The sound
:18:39. > :18:42.of aid agency MSF is one of the most eminent thinkers on humanitarian
:18:43. > :18:46.affairs. We can't just say intervention is worth nothing
:18:47. > :18:52.because this is not entirely true -- the founder. In some cases it is
:18:53. > :18:56.worth something. But in most cases it produced more harm than good. And
:18:57. > :19:01.we all know what happened in Iraq in 2003. Or what happened in Libya
:19:02. > :19:09.after the French and British intervention in 2011. So then we
:19:10. > :19:13.left intervention as a political solution. President Assad, his
:19:14. > :19:18.enemies and supporters all have clear objectives, the West has been
:19:19. > :19:26.incoherent, inconsistent. A veteran UN peacemaker in Africa, Iraq,
:19:27. > :19:30.Northern Ireland, Marty condemns the behaviour of the Syria. It is a
:19:31. > :19:43.disgrace and I am ashamed that international community has allowed
:19:44. > :19:47.the Syrians to kill each other, it is criminal, I would say -- Martti
:19:48. > :19:51.Ahtisaari. But there are places where peace is winning. This is a
:19:52. > :19:56.celebration for Nobel Prize winners from Tunisia. Civil society groups
:19:57. > :20:01.refuse outside help and still brought opposing factions together,
:20:02. > :20:06.avoiding civil war. This woman, business leader, is one of the Nobel
:20:07. > :20:11.laureates. Many of the international community tried to help us or to get
:20:12. > :20:19.us to keep us together and we said no it is our affair. Maybe sometime
:20:20. > :20:29.we were absent, sometimes we were happy, but we have just one thing,
:20:30. > :20:32.to avoid war. The Syrian crisis presented the world with its
:20:33. > :20:35.greatest political and humanitarian challenge in decades. These newly
:20:36. > :20:39.arrived refugees in Stockholm are among millions paying the price of
:20:40. > :20:49.failure. Is a play and we pay. This game. But a bad game and a bloody
:20:50. > :21:00.game. Our children pay. If you see every day a lot of kids killed
:21:01. > :21:01.without any reasons... You find kids in pieces, without a head, without
:21:02. > :21:07.limbs, without arms. Why? Now, they're known as
:21:08. > :21:09."man's best friend" but can dogs Wel, scientists
:21:10. > :21:13.in Italy are claiming they can copy each other's facial expressions,
:21:14. > :21:15.and display basic empathy. We share our lives with them,
:21:16. > :21:23.but are they more This is a fragment of the hours
:21:24. > :21:27.of video filmed by researchers in Italy,
:21:28. > :21:29.who say there is clearly evidence that dogs mimic facial expressions
:21:30. > :21:31.and movements, mirrored behaviour Talk to any dog owner,
:21:32. > :21:39.and chances are they'll tell you for at least some of the time,
:21:40. > :21:43.their animal can read their mind. But can that same empathy
:21:44. > :21:55.really exist between dogs? She will smile if another dog is
:21:56. > :21:58.friendly and wagging its tail. It's crazy,
:21:59. > :22:00.but you have to know your dog. Since we first reported
:22:01. > :22:03.the findings, a growing pack of owners have been
:22:04. > :22:07.sending us their own evidence of dog empathy - shared emotion, or just
:22:08. > :22:10.a tendency to humanise our pets? We all behave that way towards
:22:11. > :22:13.our dogs. We can't help it, really,
:22:14. > :22:16.even though we try hard not to. Until now,
:22:17. > :22:17.the split-second copying of behaviour has only been identified
:22:18. > :22:20.in humans and some primates. The people who have studied canine
:22:21. > :22:31.science agree that dogs are incredible good readers
:22:32. > :22:32.of body language. They don't necessarily have to
:22:33. > :22:36.and may not be able to understand Centuries of domestication have
:22:37. > :22:39.taught dogs to read our emotions. When it comes to some daily
:22:40. > :22:42.pleasures, their communication In one sense it's an early Christmas
:22:43. > :23:03.present for Beatles fans because their music has just been
:23:04. > :23:06.made available for streaming More than two-hundred tracks went
:23:07. > :23:10.online here in the UK an hour ago. Songs from the original thirteen
:23:11. > :23:12.studio albums as well as other tracks have been licensed
:23:13. > :23:15.to nine streaming services. 1967, All You Need Is Love,
:23:16. > :23:39.broadcast live by what was then But 48 years on,
:23:40. > :23:42.there's a new technology growing All you need is
:23:43. > :23:46.a computer or smartphone. So
:23:47. > :23:50.if you want to listen to Yesterday, But not until now,
:23:51. > :24:12.the Beatles' Original. The decision to stream, though,
:24:13. > :24:19.hasn't been taken lightly. Big old acts like the Stones and
:24:20. > :24:22.Led Zeppelin, they keep For every Ed Sheeran,
:24:23. > :24:28.Calvin Harris or Taylor Swift, a lot of money goes into hearing about
:24:29. > :24:31.those artists and those artists Remember, the biggest selling album
:24:32. > :24:42.of the year of 2000 was The Beatles. And visit Abbey Road studios,
:24:43. > :24:45.and there's always a crowd So 50 years on after their heyday
:24:46. > :24:51.here at Abbey Road, The Beatles are still finding a new generation of
:24:52. > :24:55.fans, but are they buying the music? The problem is CDs brought a torrent
:24:56. > :25:21.of cash, streaming a dribble, If you're not there, even a song
:25:22. > :25:29.like Yesterday can be forgotten. So, streaming might not be lucrative
:25:30. > :25:50.but it will at least give them And don't forget you can get
:25:51. > :26:05.in touch with me and most