Syria celebrates a year since the fall of Assad

Loading player...
Syria celebrates a year since the fall of Assad, and an end to a brutal fifty-year dictatorship. But what sort of rule and what sort of future does Syria face?

Also in the programme: Ukraine's President Zelensky pleads for Europe and the US to remain to united over ending the war with Russia – we hear from former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt; how China's trade surplus hit a trillion dollars; and the blind football fan who says that, thanks to a virtual reality headset, he can for the first time literally watch a game.

(IMAGE: People gather during a parade marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Idlib, Syria, 08 December 2025 / CREDIT: BILAL AL-HAMMOUD/EPA/Shutterstock (16051801r))
8 Dec 5PM English United Kingdom News

Other recent episodes

Flood risk for the people of Gaza

According to the UN's humanitarian affairs agency, more than 800,000 displaced Gazans could be affected by flooding, as a winter storm surges along the coast. Most of them are living in tents. Also in the programme: we meet the man who smuggled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado out of Venezuela;…
12 Dec 10AM 49 min

Could Maria Corina Machado's influence wane now she's out of Venezuela?

The Trump administration is ramping up its efforts to derail the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which he has accused of turning Venezuela into a "drug-running regime". The leader of the country's opposition, Maria Corina Machado, travelled to Norway in secret to collect her Nobel Peace Prize. We ask if…
11 Dec 5PM 47 min

The US seizes a tanker off the coast of Venezuela

President Trump has said the US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela - an operation reported to have been led by the US Coastguard. The seizure is certain to increase tensions between the United States and Venezuela, which is already being threatened by the deployment of…
10 Dec 5PM 47 min

Sperm with cancer-causing gene used to conceive almost 200 children

A sperm donor who unknowingly harboured a genetic mutation that dramatically raises the risk of cancer has fathered at least 197 children across Europe, a major investigation has revealed. Also on the programme, 5alf a million people have been forced from their homes in Thailand and Cambodia as their deadly…
10 Dec 10AM 47 min