:00:13. > :00:18.This is BBC World News Today was me, Zeinab Badawi. The special envoy to
:00:18. > :00:23.Syria, Kofi Annan, speaks publicly after his visit to Damascus and
:00:23. > :00:26.calls for unity from the United Nations. Mr Annan was briefing the
:00:26. > :00:33.Security Council following his talks with President Assad. He
:00:33. > :00:39.urged against any action that could escalate the conflict. Concern
:00:39. > :00:48.goads be on Syria itself because the crisis can have a serious
:00:48. > :00:53.impact for the whole region if it is not handled effectively. Flags
:00:53. > :00:58.fly at half-mast and church bells ring in Belgium on an official day
:00:58. > :01:02.of mourning for the bus crash victims. The Afghan President
:01:02. > :01:08.accuses the United States of not co-operating with the investigation
:01:08. > :01:12.into the killing of 16 Afghans by an American soldier. Also coming up
:01:12. > :01:15.in this programme, swapping Anglicanism for academia. After a
:01:15. > :01:20.decade as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams is
:01:20. > :01:26.stepping down at the end of the year to take up a post at Cambridge
:01:26. > :01:31.University. And the Little Master finally reaches that big milestone.
:01:31. > :01:41.Tendulkar hits his 100 international century amidst scenes
:01:41. > :01:47.
:01:47. > :01:51.Hello and welcome. The special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, has
:01:51. > :01:56.said the priority on Syria is to get humanitarian aid into the
:01:56. > :01:59.country. And you UN team is due to arrive in Syria this weekend to
:01:59. > :02:04.discuss practical steps for a monitoring mission in the country.
:02:04. > :02:07.He was speaking after breaking the United Nations Security Council and
:02:08. > :02:12.Mr Annan also said it was important to establish democracy in the
:02:12. > :02:16.country but he said Syria must be handled very carefully, since any
:02:16. > :02:20.miss steps would have a severe impact in the region. From
:02:21. > :02:24.neighbouring Lebanon, Jon Donnison has the support.
:02:24. > :02:29.In the northern city of Idlib, opposition protests early this
:02:29. > :02:33.morning. This, in a place where the government was believed to have
:02:33. > :02:38.regained full control. They are calling for immediate foreign
:02:38. > :02:45.military intervention. And in the capital, Damascus, more
:02:45. > :02:49.demonstrations. They chant, Assad is a God's enemy. We support the
:02:49. > :02:55.city of Idlib. They have made placards sake, we call on Russia
:02:55. > :02:59.and China to get Assad out of the intensive care room so that he can
:02:59. > :03:05.die in peace -- behind made placards. Later, after Friday
:03:06. > :03:10.prayers, the numbers grew. In this town video posted by opposition
:03:10. > :03:19.activists showed thousands of people marching and then apparently
:03:19. > :03:24.government troops opening fire. Meanwhile in New York Kofi Annan,
:03:24. > :03:32.the international envoy to Syria, briefed the UN Security Council on
:03:32. > :03:40.his progress in pursuing the peace plan. I discussed with the council
:03:40. > :03:48.proposals I made to the Syrian government that was aimed to number
:03:49. > :03:52.one, stop the violence, accelerate humanitarian assistance and
:03:52. > :04:00.establish credibility and confidence for the political
:04:00. > :04:07.process when it is initiated. I will be sending a team in this
:04:07. > :04:11.weekend to pursue the discussions and the proposals we left on the
:04:11. > :04:17.table and at the appropriate time, when I'd been sufficient progress
:04:17. > :04:20.has been made to, I shall be prepared to go back to the region.
:04:20. > :04:25.In my discussions... He spoke of getting strong support and despite
:04:25. > :04:29.differences of opinion from Russia and China he said he hoped the
:04:29. > :04:33.council would soon speak with one voice. He warned of a serious
:04:33. > :04:40.impact on the region if the crisis was not handled carefully. But he
:04:40. > :04:45.offered no immediate solutions. And on the ground there is no end to
:04:45. > :04:49.the violence in sight and political talks seem equally far off. Much of
:04:49. > :04:57.the Syrian army's focus this week has been on the southern town of
:04:57. > :05:00.Deraa. And opposition activists say these pictures show security forces
:05:00. > :05:06.opening fire on protesters in Syria's second city, Aleppo,
:05:06. > :05:12.yesterday. The UN will send a humanitarian mission to Syria over
:05:12. > :05:17.the weekend but it can only get fade-in if it is safe to do so. --
:05:17. > :05:22.it can only get aid in if it is safe to do so. To discuss this be
:05:22. > :05:26.joined by ambassador Nancy Toad -- Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, who
:05:26. > :05:30.served as the US representative to the United Nations under President
:05:30. > :05:36.Clinton. The Kofi Annan show, the only one in town, you reckon?
:05:36. > :05:40.Unfortunately I think he is on his own in terms of Russia and China
:05:40. > :05:43.but he does have the moral support of the United States. This is the
:05:43. > :05:48.most distinguished diplomat we could possibly cent, the most
:05:48. > :05:51.accomplished negotiator. If anyone Cup -- if anyone can pull a rabbit
:05:52. > :05:55.out of a hat it will be Kofi Annan. But I am afraid the conditions are
:05:55. > :06:01.not yet sufficient for the Syrians to agree to any real dialogue. More
:06:01. > :06:06.has to be on the table. You talk about the road blocks, from Russia
:06:06. > :06:10.and China, but there has been a softening in the Russian's position,
:06:10. > :06:17.saying we're not just historic allies of Syria all the time. Do
:06:17. > :06:21.you see room for manoeuvre? I don't see any real change in the
:06:21. > :06:24.Russians' actions. They are still equating the protesters to
:06:24. > :06:28.protesters, they are still sending arms to the Syrian government, the
:06:28. > :06:32.regime that has killed over 8,000 people. What is going on is the
:06:32. > :06:35.world is not ready to intervene seriously in this conflict. The
:06:35. > :06:39.Russians are successfully dividing the Security Council. It is up to
:06:39. > :06:44.the Arabs to step up to the plate and put troops on the ground to
:06:44. > :06:48.stop the killing. Qatar is talking about it, Turkey is talking about a
:06:48. > :06:51.buffer zone. It is the region that will bear the brunt of this and it
:06:51. > :06:55.is the region that needs to step up. I think the Arabs should move
:06:55. > :07:00.forward. That would give the tipping point to Kofi Annan to
:07:00. > :07:03.finally get this regime to recognise the game is up. When you
:07:03. > :07:08.have the French Foreign Minister saying that the arming of any of
:07:08. > :07:12.the factions in Syria would lead us of all war, do you think, don't you
:07:12. > :07:16.agree with that? The introduction of arms would create greater
:07:16. > :07:19.conflict not only in the country but the region? That is already
:07:19. > :07:23.happening. They are in a civil war and the region is arming the
:07:23. > :07:27.opposition. We don't know how much but it is happening and you have a
:07:27. > :07:31.civil war. This has been going on for a year. I don't know how much
:07:31. > :07:36.longer the international community can decide when it is ready to act,
:07:36. > :07:40.the time is now to act, give Kofi Annan the force to back the post of
:07:40. > :07:43.diplomacy. This regime is living in fantasy land. Look at the e-mails
:07:43. > :07:47.they are sending about shopping at the same time they are slaughtering
:07:47. > :07:51.8,000 of their peoples. Arming the opposition is a cop-out. It will
:07:51. > :07:56.not happen fast enough, we don't know who they are, there are bad
:07:56. > :08:01.consequences. This is a very tricky situation. Doing half measures will
:08:01. > :08:06.not stop it will only get worse, it is time to put the troops into the
:08:06. > :08:11.ground, protect the people and give Kofi Annan some quivers, some
:08:11. > :08:14.arrows in his quiver. It sounds briefly as though you were
:08:14. > :08:20.suggesting the path of diplomacy and to negotiations is a waste of
:08:20. > :08:24.time? Not at all but it does at times, I have said through the
:08:24. > :08:27.genocide in Rwanda, Srebrenica, Darfur, until the international
:08:27. > :08:31.community steps up to the plate it will not get a deal. What is
:08:31. > :08:35.happening here is Assad has basically been saying I am not
:08:35. > :08:40.going to negotiate, have any dialogue well there are terrorists
:08:40. > :08:44.operating. These are not terrorists, the opposition who want democracy.
:08:44. > :08:48.The international community and Arabs need to step-up, p to fund
:08:48. > :08:51.stand up to Assad. He will then back down and you have the
:08:51. > :08:55.conditions. Kofi Annan is doing everything he can, getting a
:08:55. > :09:00.ceasefire, getting monitors on the ground. If anyone can do it, he can,
:09:00. > :09:04.he is the best diplomat the world can offer but right now this regime
:09:04. > :09:07.is not negotiating. Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, sent to the
:09:07. > :09:10.joining us from Washington. Belgium has held a day of national
:09:10. > :09:15.mourning to remember the victims of the bus crash in Switzerland
:09:15. > :09:19.earlier this week. 28 people, most of them children, died when the bus
:09:19. > :09:24.taking them home from a skiing holiday hit the wall of the tunnel.
:09:24. > :09:28.Flags were flown at half mast and church bells rang as Belgium
:09:28. > :09:32.observed a minute's's silence for the victims. Chris Morris has the
:09:32. > :09:36.story. At 11 o'clock in the morning a
:09:36. > :09:40.minute's silence to remember those who died. At this school in
:09:40. > :09:46.Heverlee, to which seven children and two adults never returned,
:09:46. > :09:52.pupils gathered in the playground. Many of them too young to
:09:52. > :09:58.understand. Across the country flags were at half mast. In
:09:58. > :10:04.government buildings, in railway stations, even in local factories,
:10:04. > :10:09.people stopped for a moment of contemplation. From another school
:10:09. > :10:16.in Lommel near the Dutch border, 15 pupils died. All of them are only
:10:16. > :10:20.about 12 years old. They run no words for it, there is only silence.
:10:20. > :10:23.-- There are no words forehead. We can hope that parents and
:10:24. > :10:29.grandparents become better after some time but I think it will last
:10:29. > :10:33.20 years. In Heverlee balloons were released in that act of remembrance.
:10:33. > :10:37.And on the school gates a list of names of those who died, among them
:10:37. > :10:42.Sebastian Bowles, an 11-year-old boy was a British father and a
:10:42. > :10:46.Belgian mother. And still people are looking for answers. Why did
:10:46. > :10:50.the bus crash in Switzerland? So there is -- so far there is nothing
:10:50. > :10:54.to suggest the driver was suddenly taken ill. The investigation
:10:54. > :10:58.continues. More people will be leaving their own personal tributes
:10:58. > :11:02.here over the next few days and soon we will have a series of
:11:02. > :11:06.heartbreaking funerals. It is the loss of so many young children, who
:11:06. > :11:11.should have their whole lives ahead of them, which is making this
:11:11. > :11:19.tragedy so difficult to accept. And now those who died have been
:11:19. > :11:24.brought back home. Coffins emerging from military aircraft, one by one.
:11:24. > :11:34.Hard for everyone to take. A sombre ceremony as Belgium searches for
:11:34. > :11:34.
:11:34. > :11:38.some way to bring some comfort to the bereaved.
:11:38. > :11:42.A day of national mourning in Belgium. Now let's take a look at
:11:42. > :11:46.some of the other main news in brief. The United States has
:11:46. > :11:50.denounced the plan by North Korea to launch a long-range rocket to
:11:50. > :11:54.put a satellite in orbit. It said the move was a threat to regional
:11:54. > :11:58.security and was inconsistent with North Korea's recent agreement to
:11:58. > :12:02.suspend missile and nuclear tests in return for food aid. North Korea
:12:02. > :12:05.says the launch next month is part of its space programme to mark the
:12:05. > :12:10.centenary of its creation as a nation.
:12:10. > :12:14.In China, millions of microblog users, but his websites where
:12:14. > :12:17.people post their thoughts in just a few lines of text, are facing new
:12:17. > :12:21.rules from today. It is an attempt by the authorities to try to
:12:21. > :12:24.prevent the spread of what they call unfounded rumours. Users of
:12:24. > :12:29.the sites in the capital Beijing now have to register with their
:12:29. > :12:32.real identities in order to post online. A Turkish military
:12:32. > :12:37.helicopter has crashed into a house on the outskirts of the Afghan
:12:37. > :12:41.capital Kabul, killing 16 people. 12 of the dead were Turkish
:12:41. > :12:45.soldiers on board the aircraft. The other four where Afghan civilians.
:12:45. > :12:50.The Turkish government says it appears the helicopter crashed
:12:50. > :12:53.while trying to make an emergency landing.
:12:53. > :12:58.The President of Afghanistan had -- Hamid Karzai, has accused the
:12:58. > :13:02.United States of not co-operating with the investigation into the
:13:02. > :13:06.killing of 16 Afghan villagers by an American soldier last Sunday.
:13:06. > :13:10.The President was speaking after meeting victims'' relatives. Some
:13:10. > :13:14.of whom said that more than one killer was involved. The soldiers
:13:14. > :13:17.suspected of carrying out the attack was flown out of Afghanistan
:13:17. > :13:22.on Wednesday and is being transferred to a military prison in
:13:22. > :13:27.the United States -- soldier. Lyse Doucet has sent this report from
:13:27. > :13:30.Afghanistan. Tribal elders in villagers came
:13:30. > :13:34.from Kandahar in the south to talk to the President. Hamid Karzai
:13:34. > :13:42.called them to the Palace to help him understand what happened when
:13:42. > :13:47.16 Afghans were killed in the early hours of Sunday morning. The
:13:48. > :13:53.Afghans at this table spoke with anger and emotion. He describes how
:13:53. > :13:57.his love of people died in one house alone. -- Hull 11 people died.
:13:57. > :14:00.President Karzai listened and took notes. When he rose to Levi called
:14:00. > :14:04.out to question. Do you accept the official American
:14:04. > :14:11.Account but only one American soldier was involved in these
:14:11. > :14:16.killings? The story of the village elders is entirely different. They
:14:16. > :14:21.believe it is not possible for one person to do that. In his family,
:14:21. > :14:26.in four rooms, people were killed, children and women were killed, and
:14:26. > :14:34.they were all brought together in one room and put on fire. That one
:14:34. > :14:41.man cannot do. And the army chief has just reported, I don't know if
:14:42. > :14:44.you heard his report, that the after an investigation team did not
:14:44. > :14:48.receive the corporation that they expected from the United States.
:14:48. > :14:54.There for these are all questions that will be raising and raising
:14:54. > :14:59.very loudly and raising very clearly. What do you do next, sir?
:14:59. > :15:05.It is by all means the end of the rope. The end of the road? The end
:15:05. > :15:09.of the rope. Nobody can afford such luxuries any more, if you can call
:15:09. > :15:15.it a luxury. Does that mean your relationship with your United
:15:15. > :15:23.States is at the end of the road? This form of activity, this
:15:23. > :15:27.behaviour, cannot be tolerated. It is passed, past, passed the time.
:15:27. > :15:32.But you cannot fight the Taleban on your rain, with your own forces?
:15:32. > :15:36.That is a different question, right now we are addressing this issue
:15:36. > :15:42.and we will look it up in an extremely diligent and forceful way.
:15:42. > :15:47.Thank you. The US has been trying to contain the damage from this
:15:47. > :15:52.latest violence but the President's condemnation strains an already
:15:52. > :15:55.troubled relationship at a very The leader of the worldwide
:15:55. > :15:59.Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams, has announced that he is to resign
:15:59. > :16:02.at the end of the year. Dr Williams, who as Archbishop of Canterbury, is
:16:02. > :16:05.also the spiritual leader of the Church of England, has been in
:16:05. > :16:09.office for 10 years. He will take up an academic post as Master of
:16:09. > :16:19.Magdalene College, Cambridge University. Our religious affairs
:16:19. > :16:23.
:16:23. > :16:28.correspondent Robert Pigott has Even as he demanded to be let into
:16:28. > :16:32.Canterbury Cathedral for his enthronement, Rowan Williams was a
:16:32. > :16:38.reluctant leader of the Church. This is why the Christian will
:16:38. > :16:44.engage with passion in the world of society and politics. Out of a real
:16:44. > :16:51.hunger and thirst to see God's image, but destiny of human beings
:16:51. > :16:55.to become got's sons and daughters. Dr Williams said he wanted to
:16:55. > :16:59.capture the imagination of the public for Christianity. Let us
:16:59. > :17:04.greet our newly enthroned Archbishop with quake that mess.
:17:04. > :17:08.From the start, he had to contend that divisions in the Church of
:17:08. > :17:13.England and the worldwide Anglican Communion about homosexuality.
:17:13. > :17:18.is unfortunate that he came to the Archbishop at a time when the
:17:18. > :17:22.communion was being driven apart by issues of human sexuality. I think
:17:22. > :17:29.what he has tried to do is to hold the Church together, whatever his
:17:29. > :17:31.own personal views. The ordination of the Bishop of New Hampshire
:17:31. > :17:38.threatened the communion that disintegration, a crisis which Dr
:17:38. > :17:43.Williams has had to manage for a decade. He has had to deal with the
:17:43. > :17:50.tension. He is not only working in this country, with Western liberal
:17:50. > :17:54.people, but internationally as well. He has had to keep a communion --
:17:54. > :18:00.minion together of American liberals and African Conservatives.
:18:00. > :18:05.Anglicans reveal the charismatic archbishop, but many resent the
:18:05. > :18:11.Liberal the interpretation of the Bible the EC in the West. It was Dr
:18:11. > :18:16.Williams' it greatest achievement that he -- he held the community --
:18:16. > :18:21.the Communion together. It became clear he would not stay much longer.
:18:21. > :18:29.I did not particularly want to be President of the next conference, I
:18:29. > :18:34.have done that. The next one will be in 20 team. Between now and
:18:34. > :18:38.then,... I can understand why after a long time in that very important
:18:38. > :18:43.job, he wants to move on. I pay tribute to the service he has given
:18:43. > :18:47.to the country and the church. He leaves the Church still in grave
:18:47. > :18:50.danger of division. Anglicans know he will be very hard to replace.
:18:50. > :18:57.Joining us now to talk some more about this is Ruth Gledhill, the
:18:57. > :19:00.religious affairs correspondent from the Times newspaper. Ruth, is
:19:00. > :19:06.Dr Rowan Williams going to go down as one of the great Archbishops of
:19:06. > :19:14.Canterbury? I think he well, in history. But there will always be
:19:14. > :19:17.talk about the issues he has had to face. Issues unlike any other
:19:17. > :19:23.Archbishop in modern times. Because he has had to cope with
:19:23. > :19:27.unprecedented division and schisms in the church. Different parts of
:19:27. > :19:33.the Church in different parts of the world changed, according to
:19:33. > :19:38.their secular context. The Anglican Communion has many different
:19:38. > :19:43.promise since -- provinces. Some are Conservatives and others are
:19:44. > :19:47.very liberal. There has been very far from a meeting of minds, there
:19:47. > :19:51.have been fractures and splits and Rowan Williams has been trying to
:19:51. > :19:57.manage them as well as keep things together on the home front. It has
:19:57. > :20:00.been an almost impossible job. His successor will need to have for a
:20:00. > :20:07.constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros. Do you think he
:20:07. > :20:15.just got fed up managing all these divisions? In his statement, he's
:20:15. > :20:18.certainly indicated the degree of weariness. He talked about crisis
:20:18. > :20:22.management and how he found it rather enervating. But he also
:20:22. > :20:26.talked about the good things that have happened and the achievements
:20:26. > :20:32.he felt he had managed. Many achievements on the international
:20:32. > :20:36.front, is remarkable visit to Zimbabwe, the way he called Robert
:20:36. > :20:41.Mugabe to account. He has had a big effect in the Sudan and other parts
:20:41. > :20:46.of the world. For Christians are really suffering and other faiths
:20:46. > :20:52.are suffering due to war and poverty. He has had a strong impact
:20:52. > :20:58.in preaching the Christian gospel at a time of economic difficulties.
:20:58. > :21:05.He has been taking the Government to task over Iraq, for example.
:21:05. > :21:11.clearly, you have given us some long list. In terms of who will
:21:11. > :21:16.succeed him, Archbishop cent Gamu it -- John Sentamu of York, is the
:21:16. > :21:20.money going on him? He is the strong favourite. He has expressed
:21:20. > :21:25.some surprise that there should be the case but I took -- I think the
:21:25. > :21:29.public would love him. The Bishop of Bradford is also in the frame.
:21:30. > :21:33.He is very bright and very politically able. He would
:21:33. > :21:39.certainly be a man able perhaps to manage the Church politically and
:21:39. > :21:45.are more adept way than the very spiritually inclined Rowan Williams.
:21:45. > :21:52.There are other bishops such as Graham James, the Bishop of
:21:52. > :21:57.Worcester, so I think there are few people, there are quite a few
:21:57. > :22:00.potential candidates and it will be interesting, and interesting six
:22:00. > :22:04.months as the Church decides which one of these it wants to be the
:22:04. > :22:06.next Archbishop. Ruth, thank you so much.
:22:06. > :22:12.The Oscar-winning American actor George Clooney has been arrested
:22:12. > :22:15.following a protest outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington. He
:22:15. > :22:23.was among demonstrators protesting about a blockade that is preventing
:22:23. > :22:26.food and aid getting to more than a quarter of a million people. He was
:22:26. > :22:36.arrested for defying a police order to leave the grounds of the embassy,
:22:36. > :22:36.
:22:36. > :22:42.but has now been released. Paul Adams reports.
:22:42. > :22:47.Amid the sort of publicity few can muster, George Clooney pleading his
:22:47. > :22:52.case, standing outside the Sudanese mission with some simple the month.
:22:52. > :22:56.We need a humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Sudan before it
:22:56. > :23:01.becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Immediately.
:23:01. > :23:05.The second thing we are here to ask, it is very simple, is for the
:23:05. > :23:09.Government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent
:23:09. > :23:14.men, women and children. He has spent much of the week in
:23:14. > :23:21.Washington, including an appearance on Capitol Hill, arguing for action
:23:21. > :23:27.to stop Sudanese attacks. We found children filled with shrapnel. He
:23:27. > :23:34.is just back from the border region and a secret trip into the affected
:23:34. > :23:39.area. This club was shown to senators. George Clooney has
:23:39. > :23:46.political cloud and access, among the guests at the White is for once
:23:46. > :23:51.the's state banquet in order of David Cameron. You will be arrested.
:23:51. > :23:55.Today's outcome was never in doubt. George Clooney and his father and a
:23:55. > :24:05.dozen other activists, deliberately defying the police, knowing well
:24:05. > :24:06.
:24:06. > :24:11.what would follow. Mr Clooney shows no sign of giving up. The arrest
:24:11. > :24:15.and the least of George Clooney. -- and released.
:24:15. > :24:18.For more than a year now, India has been holding its breath, but today,
:24:18. > :24:20.Sachin Tendulkar allowed his nation a collective sigh of relief. The
:24:20. > :24:22.Indian batsman and the country's undisputed hero made his 100th
:24:22. > :24:26.international century against Bangladesh in Dhaka. It made him
:24:26. > :24:35.the first to do so and sparked scenes of jubilation at home as
:24:35. > :24:41.well as tributes from around the globe.
:24:42. > :24:46.The magic moment, surging to do car getting his century against
:24:46. > :24:53.Bangladesh. It has been a while coming. The immediate reaction was
:24:53. > :24:56.one of relief. Already, there is an outpouring of praise, acknowledging
:24:56. > :25:01.the monumental achievement. It is an amazing achievement, without
:25:01. > :25:06.precedent and very unlikely to be achieved again. It just shows a
:25:06. > :25:11.rare combination of amazing skill, huge application, a great drive and
:25:11. > :25:17.desire, but also being able to keep a calm head when there is huge
:25:17. > :25:21.expectation. For more than two decades, he has entertained cricket
:25:21. > :25:27.lovers around the world. But in India, where the game is religion,
:25:27. > :25:37.he is the undisputed God. For his fans, this latest record
:25:37. > :25:44.underscores his greatness. I cannot think that anything could be better.
:25:44. > :25:54.Finally, he did it. Everyone was relieved. It is a proud moment for
:25:54. > :25:56.
:25:56. > :26:00.the nation. It this adulation that has made him one of India's biggest
:26:00. > :26:04.stars, endorsing everything from beverages to banks. It has also
:26:04. > :26:11.made him one of the world's richest sportsman. At the age of 38, there
:26:11. > :26:19.are almost no Matins left for him to scale. He has got his 100th
:26:19. > :26:28.century. He does appear as if his glorious career is nearing its end.
:26:28. > :26:32.Until this moment, everyone will savour every moment.
:26:32. > :26:34.A reminder of our main news: The UN and Arab League envoy on
:26:34. > :26:39.Syria, Kofi Annan, says he is sending a delegation to Damascus
:26:39. > :26:42.next week to discuss setting up a new monitoring mission there. After
:26:42. > :26:45.a briefing the UN Security Council on his recent talks with President
:26:45. > :26:52.Assad, Mr Annan warned that the situation in Syria needed to be
:26:52. > :27:02.handled very carefully. That is all for now, from me and
:27:02. > :27:02.
:27:02. > :27:06.It will be a mixed bag in the UK this weekend, some frost in the
:27:06. > :27:11.North, some rain to come, we are seeing that moving southwards
:27:11. > :27:15.tonight following a scattering of showers. The rain is set to weaken
:27:15. > :27:21.as it crosses England and Wales but it will be five to 10 mm across
:27:21. > :27:25.southern and eastern areas. Behind that, the shores will follow. A
:27:25. > :27:29.cold and frosty start in the North. We will have this rain affecting
:27:29. > :27:33.southern and eastern parts of England. Behind it, heavy showers
:27:33. > :27:39.with a lot of cloud keeping things cool in the North East of England.
:27:39. > :27:44.That rain can be seen across parts of East Anglia. Some uncertainty
:27:44. > :27:48.still on its exact position. Stay tuned to the forecast if you have
:27:48. > :27:53.plans. These showers across the south-west of England and Wales
:27:53. > :28:00.could be accompanied by some gusty winds. The risk of hail and thunder,
:28:00. > :28:06.and over the hills, the risk of sleet and snow. For Northern
:28:06. > :28:09.Ireland, it looks brighter, some sunshine but also some showers or
:28:09. > :28:14.stop that wintry next in Scotland over the hills. Unsettled for the