Iran says it's had no direct contact with the new Islamist leaders of Syria, its one-time close ally. The US, in contrast, sent its top regional diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf, to meet the de-facto leader in Damascus, Ahmed al-Sharaa; we hear how the meeting went.

Also in the programme: Nissan and Honda announce merger plans which would create the world's third-largest car-maker; and we hear from the Mexican women celebrated and damned for helping migrants trying to reach the United States.

(IMAGE: A delegation of US diplomats, including US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf (C, in green), leaves a hotel in Damascus, Syria 20 December 2024 / CREDIT: Hasan Belal/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Syria's new ruler says he wants all weapons and armed factions to come under state control - and that includes the Syrian Kurds.

And the Ugandan athlete who's just run from Cape Town to London.

The German ambassador to the UK talks to Newshour about the "anger, sorrow, grief" that his country is experiencing following the attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg that killed at least five people and seriously injured dozens - so what warnings did the authorities receive?

Also today: health and civil defence officials in Gaza say a wave of Israeli attacks across the Strip has killed at least twenty-eight people; and the Ugandan-born athlete Deo Kato has arrived in London, having run from Cape Town.

(Photo: People mourn in front of Magdeburg Cathedral following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 22 December 2024. Credit: FILIP SINGER/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock )

As relatives and officials gather for a memorial service for the victims of the deadly attack on a Christmas market in eastern Germany, we ask what’s known about the Saudi man who has been arrested and what might have motivated him.

Also on the programme: why the US is sanctioning Pakistan's long range missiles; and the ultra-orthodox Jewish sect in Guatemala that has just been raided by the authorities for mistreating women and children.

(Photo: Memorial service after attack at Magdeburg's Christmas market, Germany Credit: FILIP SINGER/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

The suspect is a doctor from Saudi Arabia, living in Germany since 2006. We hear from a local member of the state parliament and a counter-extremism expert in Berlin. Also on the programme: Both houses of the US Congress have voted in favour of a short-term spending bill to avert a government shutdown; and the wonders of swimming mice, dwarf squirrels, and blob-headed fish.

(Picture: Tino Chrupalla, co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party visits the site of the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg, Germany. Credit: Reuters/Christian Mang)

US Congress races to avoid government shutdown after bipartisan spending agreement was derailed following interventions by President-elect Donald Trump and his efficiency czar, Elon Musk.

Also in the programme: A high level US delegation holds talks with Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Shara’a; At least two dead and 68 injured after a car drove into a crowd at German Christmas market; and 27 new species discovered in Peru, including an amphibious mouse.

(Photo: Mike Johnson, Republican Speaker of the House, talking to journalists. Credit: EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

What is happening now in Syria “is paving the way” for the Islamic State group to re-emerge. That’s according to a leading Kurdish commander who played a key role in defeating the group in Syria in 2019. General Mazloum Abdi told the BBC that IS activity has “increased significantly” and the danger of a resurgence has doubled. Our senior international correspondent Orla Guerin was given rare access to the largest IS jail - in the city of Al Hasakah.

Also in the programme: A BBC investigation has found that the embattled military rulers of Myanmar control less than a quarter of the country; Malaysia has authorised a new attempt to find the wreckage of MH-370 - the flight that disappeared ten years ago; and the group of singers, with an average age of 92, which has broken the Guinness World Record for the world's oldest choir.

(Photo: The BBC was granted rare access to the largest prison for IS detainees - Al Sina - which holds some 5,000 men. Credit: BBC/Matthew Goddard)

The French prime minister Francois Bayrou has praised the courage of Gisèle Pelicot, following a mass rape trial in which her ex-husband and fifty other defendants were found guilty. Dominique Pelicot was jailed for twenty years for organising the repeated drugging and rape of his former wife by dozens of strangers over a decade.

Also in the programme, President Macron of France in Mayotte vows to rebuild the cyclone hit territory; and we hear from Angelina Jollie who plays the diva, Maria Callas.

(Photo: Gisele Pelicot with her grandson, after the end of the trial in Avignon. Credit: Shutterstock)

Gisèle Pelicot thanks supporters after 'difficult ordeal' of rape trial as ex-husband jailed for 20 years. All fifty of other defendants were also convicted, with sentences of between 3and 15 years in jail.

Also on the programme, the new de facto leader of Syria has told the BBC that the country is too exhausted by war to be a threat to other nations; and, the creator of the Chat GPT artificial intelligence service has set up a WhatsApp account so that its users can get answers to questions using the messaging app.

(Photo: Verdict against 51 defendants of mass rape trial in Avignon, France - 02 Dec 2024. GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Ukraine says it was behind the killing of a senior Russian general, Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, who died in scooter blast in Moscow..

The head of Russia's Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Unit was at the entrance to a residential block when a device hidden in an electric scooter went off. On Monday, Lt Gen Kirillov was charged in Kyiv for the use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine; he had already been sanctioned by the UK. We'll find out more about the killing and its likely impact.

Also in the programme: A French member of parliament tells us the island of Mayotte has, after Saturday's cyclone, been "deleted from the map"; and we'll get a sense of Syria's revolution from two big cities outside the capital.

Ukraine says it was behind the killing of a senior Russian general, Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, who died in scooter blast in Moscow..

The head of Russia's Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Unit was at the entrance to a residential block when a device hidden in an electric scooter went off.

On Monday, Lt Gen Kirillov was charged in Kyiv for the use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine; he had already been sanctioned by the UK. We'll find out more about the killing and its impact.

Also in the programme: A French member of parliament tells us the island of Mayotte has, after Saturday's cyclone, been "deleted from the map"; and we'll get a sense of Syria's revolution from two big cities outside the capital.

(Photo shows Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov attending a press conference in Moscow, Russia in a still image from video released on 5 November 2024. Credit: Russian Defence Ministry handout via REUTERS)