critical pieces of information, that we have the shooter in custody. he is unharmed. no law enforcement fired any shots. the subject is being interviewed by a team of fbi agents and homicide detectives. there has been incredible cohesiveness and cooperation between brownshirts, the fbi, f dle and local law enforcement. we will a nswer local law enforcement. we will answer your questions at the end. at this point i will put the director of the airport on to tell you about what is going on at the airport then you will hear from the bureau and then i can come back and answer questions. thank you, sheriff. i am the director here at the fort lauderdale airport. when the incident occurred we responded. many of you know we have suspended operations at the airport for the time being and we are working with older law enforcement to address all the needs of the passengers inside the needs of the passengers inside the building and an aeroplanes right 110w. the building and an aeroplanes right now. they are all altered. we are not exactly sure when the airport will reopen. we will cooperate with all of the law enforcement people here, and all the other agencies, before we moved to reopen the airport. in the meantime, as the sheriff has indicated, we will take it step by step, methodically, going through the building, before we take any steps to reopen operations. we will keep everybody informed as best we can on social media and our website as to when that will occur and we will also set up a hotline for families and friends that may be looking for people they have not been able to reach and contact. we can also publish that in the relatively near future. again, on out relatively near future. again, on our website and through social media. that is all i have for now. good afternoon. i am the special agent in charge of the fbi's field office in miami. as the sheriff mentioned, the fbi is working very closely with the sheriff's offers supporting ongoing efforts here at the airport. we are working through all of the witness interviews as well as the suspect interview —— sheriff's office. the investigation is very early and we are going through a lot of preliminary information but at this point we are trying to actively support the sheriff office until we make a determination on the nature and most of the since then. there we have then three of the different agencies and representatives giving an update on the situation there at fort lauderdale airport. the building has been suspended —— the airport has been suspended —— the airport has been suspended, the building is checked to make sure everyone is out of harm's with. the next of kin of those who have died in the shooting incident are being advised of what has happened there today. now on bbc news it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk — i'm stephen sackur. after six years of terrible bloodshed, could 2017 dramatically shift the dynamic of the syria conflict? change is in the air. aleppo has fallen to the assad regime and a ceasefire deal brokered by russia and turkey is just about holding. moscow's dominant role in the diplomatic endgame is now undisputed with ankara playing a pivotal role as well. my guest is bassma kodmani of the negotiating team of the syrian opposition. is it time for the moderate rebels to accept their de facto defeat? bassma kodmani in paris, welcome to hardtalk. hello, stephen, thank you. it's a pleasure to have you on the programme. let me start with a question that comes directly from the new year. do you see 2017 bringing with it better prospects for an end to the conflict in syria then we have seen at any time in the previous, almost, six years? i do, carefully optimistic, but i do. i do hope and we are working towards making 2017 the end of the disaster of the tragedy and the beginning of a political transition. that is what we are hoping for and the coming weeks will tell us whether we are moving in that direction, but there is certainly a turning point and certainly something to build on at the moment with the new players that have asserted themselves, and i think there is space for diplomacy now if the signals coming out from moscow and from turkey as well as, very carefully, from tehran — if these signals are sincere then we have some hope for a political settlement, yes. i want to talk about those key players and their signals in a minute, butjust taking up your phrase about a turning point, would it be fair to say that the defeat of the anti—assad forces in aleppo was a fundamental turning point? certainly, the military confrontation has turned to the advantage of the assad regime. why? simply because it had the full and massive support of russian air force on one hand and pro—iranian militia, sectarian militias, on the ground as ground forces. very little was done by assad's forces — it was by one key regional power and one key international power so it was obvious the outcome was not going to be in favour of the opposition. but one needs to look back five years ago, 01’ even six years ago, when the uprising started. those who rose up against assad had no arms, no military means at all, so we are looking at a confrontation that is ending militarily but the ingredients for a conflict and the confrontation is still there. if we are going to build on the military balance of forces, i don't think we will go very far in either defeating terrorism in syria or in ending the conflict and having a satisfactory political transition. the people of syria and goodness knows that they have suffered so much, they have seen well over 300,000 of their people killed, they have seen 12 million and more displaced including 5 million who have left the country altogether. with that in mind, is this the right time for you in the so—called moderate anti—assad opposition who have been aligned with the united states and the saudis in particular, would it be the right time to acknowledge that you have lost out here? you wanted assad to go and those who have prevailed, the russians in particular and the iranians as well, they are the people who are insistent that assad need not and will not go? to be fair to the opposition, it has sought support from democratic countries, it has received very little support and obviously the assad regime has received massive support. russia has decided syria would be the place where it would signal its international power, stature and military might. we have seen it happen on our territory. it is not because we chose to align ourselves with this or that party. we as syrians are asking for dignity, rights, freedom and security, and the right to life today for every syrian, and for that to happen, we will be working with any country serious about organising and facilitating a political transition. we have tried it with assad himself directly for ten years, then the population rose against assad for six years. they did not receive any concession, none whatsoever. we look to all the powers in this world and if russia is serious about brokering a settlement in syria, it will find a partner among the moderate opposition, both military and political. these are people who the moderate political opposition these are people who... the moderate political opposition is very clear about. the state needs to remain. there has to be continuity of governance, we need to restore security to syria because we know the international community is worried about international terrorism coming out of syria. if i may, let me read between the lines of what you're saying a little bit. you acknowledge the russians are driving the process, no question about that. the americans with 0bama in his final days as president, with donald trump singing a very different tune, the americans aren't really in this game at the moment and as far as you're concerned, you are now ready, are you, to undertake the peace negotiations the russians want, to be, they say, hosted in astana, kazakhstan, with the turks and the iranians playing key roles with no sign of the americans? are you with your team in the high negotiations council of the opposition prepared to participate in that process? look, i believe if these talks were to take place in astana or geneva or any other place, if they are placed under the terms of reference, if the terms for the talks are clear, if they refer to un resolutions which russia has voted for, there is no problem in participating in such a process. russia is brokering a cessation of hostilities on the ground. if this holds, i think the parties will be ready to go, whether they are military or political. what we would like to see is certainly the new us administration step in and take some responsibility in brokering this political arrangement. we have russia telling us it is serious about political settlement. we have turkey playing a positive role, but so far we have not had a positive role from iran. let us admit that iran has been the key spoiler. sectarian militias on the ground are our key problem today in syria. they are fuelling jihadis on the opposition side. so what we need as a priority is a coalition of countries, and the trump administration should be part of that, to push out those sectarian militias who are poisoning the ground inside syria. i will push you on this a little bit. you can say what should happen and what you would like to happen, but let's deal with reality — what is happening. the us is not playing a role and the un, frankly, has been sidetracked as well. the russians are dominating the diplomacy right now, and i want a simple yes or no answer. are you prepared to go to peace talks that are brokered and in a sense controlled by russia? the russians, who don't see a reason to insist that assad be removed from power. are you prepared to undertake and participate in those talks under russian auspices? the russians are referring to the un resolutions. if that is clearly the case, there is no problem in participating. the opposition can go. what i'm saying here is the trump administration, the us congress, are clearly coming out against iranian behaviour across the middle east because it has really destabilised the region. and that is where i think we can expect the trump administration will play a role in pressuring iran to limit its presence across the region. it's iraq, it's syria, it's lebanon, it's yemen, it's everywhere in the region and we have a real problem there with the shia militias on the ground. we cannot get rid of sunni jihadis whether it is daesh, al nusra, all of these radical groups, if we have this poisonous presence of shia militias on the side of the regime. so this is where iran needs to come to terms with what needs to happen on the ground in order for syria to see a peaceful settlement. just on one point of detail, yesterday a coalition of 12 or so different anti—assad forces on the ground said they were going to reject any further diplomacy under the russian—asta na tent, if you like, because of what they described as systematic violations of the ceasefire agreement by assad forces on the ground in suburbs around damascus. if that your position as well or you prepared to say that the ceasefire is holding in a satisfactory way? unfortunately the ceasefire is not holding. these groups are the ones who signed with russia, and russia signed on behalf of the regime, an agreement for cessation of hostilities. the groups abided by the ceasefire and the syrian regime is notabiding. so what the groups are asking is for our russia to get the assad regime to behave, to comply, and enforce the cessation of hostilities. if it is credible, then a political negotiation can happen. so these groups are willing to go to astana — they signed, they said they were going, but now we see the other side is not respecting any of that. we need russia to put pressure needed, and it can do so, on iran and the syrian regime, if it was a political settlement. i personally believe that russia today has an interest in finding an exit strategy through a political settlement. i would expect it will do so. in an interview on and on. —— we have spoken a lot about the russians in this interview and i have never asked you directly... have you and other negotiators who have aimed your efforts mostly at the un track in geneva, have you reached out with key russian officials? through the united nations we have contacts with everyone involved in this crisis. with respect, i don't mean through the un track. the financial times reported last month that some moderate leaders had covert and secret talks with russian officials hosted by the turks in ankara. have you been involved in that? the turks have hosted talks with military groups and lots of political figures from the opposition have also been in touch directly with russia. some have gone to moscow and some have met them elsewhere. there are contacts, there are many messages passed on to the russians and they know exactly where the opposition stands and what it is willing to negotiate. really, the problem today is not so much russia and the opposition. they know each other, or they understand each other‘s position. we are willing to operate and negotiate under the political transition, as the un resolution says, fine, we can go to a negotiation on political transition... if i may say, we have talked before and you have always in the past said, you know what, it's quite simple, the removal of assad — no role for us that in the transition. that is a dealbreaker for us. we cannot sign anything or engage in any process that involves assad. it seems to me that you must be changing your mind. if you are prepared to talk to the russians, you say you believe in russia's good faith and believe in their desire to see the conflict ended, we know the russians don't feel that assad has to go so presumably, to have given ground on that, have you? look, can i say very simply, we read the international equation. here's the balance of forces on the ground, here is what russia is seeking to achieve, a political settlement, fine, along the lines of resolutions in the un, to talk about political transition. that is fine for us. what assad becomes is he behaves in these negotiations. what assad becomes is how he behaves in these negotiations. is he in a position to make concessions, to yield some of his prerogatives, a lot of his prerogatives, most of his prerogatives, any of his prerogatives, to a transition government? if that is the case then the discussion changes, but do you think the opposition... but he might be leading the transition. he cannot lead it. what? he obviously cannot lead it. he is not showing any indication other than destroying communities and starving people. we need to see some behaviour that is positive on the other side, then we will have a partner for peace. if we don't, i think russia will come to terms with the fact that it doesn't have a party on the other side and cannot ask the opposition to do much to work with assad if assad doesn't want to work with the opposition. so the equation is fairly easy, you know. we are not asking for assad to go away the day we enter negotiations. we are talking about negotiations in which there are give and take. we need prisoners out, we need women and children to be safe and to be released from prisons as well. we need the disappeared, to have news about them. we need to have the bombings stop and barrel bombs stopped being thrown at civilians. i'm sorry to repeat myself. i don't want to get stuck on this issue, but one last time, it does seem to me that you have given ground on the role of assad. you are now acknowledging to me that assad will be a key figure in the negotiations. he won'tjust be removed — it will be assad in many ways who is the figure deciding what he can give. look, the power of assad is very little. he has nuisance power, yes, but those who are negotiating, the decision—making power is in moscow and in tehran. unfortunately there is no syrian regime that can still decide on a yes or no. that is why we are talking to russia. we will be talking to the countries and the parties that support the assad regime, not so much the regime itself. we need to find some reasonable voices over there — we have not seen them so far, he has prevented them from rising, and if negotiations can bring those reasonable voices out and if we can talk to them and have them safely talk to us without being themselves punished for showing some reasonable behaviour, then we will have a negotiated process. otherwise i think russia will understand, iran is more difficult, but russia will understand that it doesn't have a helpful partner out there and needs to work differently with the opposition. everything we are talking about is couched in terms of moscow, putin, russia. let's reflect on how we got to where we are today. do you feel desperately let down, maybe even betrayed, by the 0bama administration? i think the 0bama administration has opted out. it should have played the role that was what a us role should be in this region. 0pting out of this region is abandoning certain responsibilities vis—a—vis syria, but also vis—a—vis the whole region — iraq, the gulf countries. we are in a region where the us was a key player. it cannotjust pull out as it did and in the case of syria, it is the syrian population, yes, that is paying the price. so, yes, we are disappointed. 0bama, he steered away from obviously any significant military action against assad. it looked possible for a while — he walked away from it. he talked, or at least hillary clinton talked for a while, about some sort of aerial intervention to establish safe havens. they walked very long, long way from that. they talked about training moderate forces on the ground. well, the training programme turned out to be pitiful. actually farcical. so when you look at all of those elements of what the administration talked about and didn't deliver, give me your final verdict as 0bama is about to leave office. well, i believe he should have thought of where security... how to restore security in syria, and today that is our concern. the 0bama administration has decided that there was no possibility to challenge russia. he certainly should have challenged russia at some point, and at those turning points he failed us, he certainly did. but what we are looking at today is whether we can bring back security to syria? back security to syria. because this is the concern of the international community. unfortunately, no one is thinking of assad. assad can sit there, they don't see the risk and they don't see the link between terrorism rising and assad staying in power. fine, but what we are saying today is if you want to bring an alternative to the horrible, criminal system that we have in syria, then we have to have a security plan for this country, and we need the cooperation of every country. we need the us, we need russia. your message to donald trump then, donald trump — the man who says vladimir putin is very smart, and who also says that when it comes to analysing the syria situation, his objective and his overriding concern is smashing the jihadists in so—called islamic state. it doesn't seem to be in getting rid of assad whatsoever. so your message to trump? the message to trump is get the foreign fighters out of syria. shia militias, pro—iranian — they are iraqis, they are afghanis, they are iranians, they are not syrians, and on the other side, there are jihadis who are foreigners and we want them out of the country. this is what the international community needs to help the reasonable syrians in order to achieve the coming weeks and months. that's when we can have the ground for a political settlement. we don't have much time left, and i just want you now to reflect on the six years that have brought us here. you have been actively involved with the opposition throughout pretty much that entire six—year period and here we are with russia in the ascendancy, with the americans opted out and with donald trump singing a tune that doesn't sound like it is going to suit you very well, and on the ground, the opposition forces, defeated in aleppo and on the defensive in those pockets of territory they still retain. is it time for you to quit, for the opposition to say, we tried, we failed, the country has been ruined, and the best thing now is to walk away and accept defeat because that is the only way we can save further life? you know, this is our country. we can't give up. giving up makes no sense. what we are looking to achieve... well, it makes sense if you are saving lives. well, no, it is not, because coming under assad's control tomorrow morning, if that is to happen, is also under shia militias. again, assad has no capacity to control the country no capacity to govern it. neither the legitimacy nor the capacity, the military capacity. he needs those foreign troops to be on the ground, so it is too late to imagine a scenario of assad returning and retaking control of the whole country. that is not going to happen because he cannot do it. even if russia wants him to do it, he cannot achieve it. i tell you what. .. quickly, what russia seems to want, as best as we can understand, it is that they want a much more federal system, assad to still be president, much more autonomy to the different regions of syria, which of course would then recognise the rights of all of the different ethnic groupings within the country, a looser system but one in which still has assad at its federal centre. could you imagine accepting that? i think the russians will themselves realise that that is not going to work with assad. we want decentralisation, we want a loose control from the centre, we want obviously a democratic, participative system, so we are not disagreeing here, and we are saving we need security and fighting terrorism. so we are on the side of the international community on this. is assad on the side of the international community? that is the real question to ask. is he willing to fight those jihadi groups because the shia groups are just as jihadi as the al nusra or daesh group, so that is what we need to achieve. is assad a partner in doing that? i don't believe he has shown any indication of that and this is where we believe the opposition is showing every sign that it is part of the solution and that with it builds security capacity and governance capacity for a future syria. yes or no — do you think we will be having this conversation again at the beginning of 2018, with syria still at war, or will it be over by then? i think war will be over by then. i think the parties are exhausted, and i do believe that in 2018, we will be talking about what we have reconstructed so far, and how we have brought legitimate governance to the different areas of syria. that is my belief and that is what we are fighting for. we will end on that positive note. bassma kodmani, thank you very much forjoining me from paris. good evening. the weather has been turning cloudier and milder throughout the course of the day. those themes stick around through the weekend, so no great changes with high pressure around. a cloudy evening, outbreaks of rain across parts of wales, central and southern england as well. that will drift away towards the south slowly overnight. further north, drier conditions. again clear spells but generally a lot of cloud. some mist and fog patches to start saturday morning. wherever you are with the mist and low cloud, murky grey start. things will brighten up particularly towards the north, some for scotland, northern ireland and northern england a few spells of sunshine but for the south it is looking fairly grey through the day. temperatures up to ten or 11 in the south, fresher at 8 degrees or so north. no on sunday largely, light wind around, some cloud, some light wind around, some cloud, some light wind in scotland —— rain in scotland but most of us looking dry. certainly looking milder, frost free and by sunday afternoon, temperatures are around seven to 11 degrees. this is bbc world news today broadcasting here and around the world. a shooting at fort lauderdale international airport in florida leaves five dead. eight others were wounded, the government is thought to have acted alone and police have ca ptu red to have acted alone and police have captured him. the subject is being interviewed by a team of fbi agents and homicide detectives. donald trump is briefs on alleged russian hacking by intelligence officials. he vows to set up a team to stop future hacks. michelle 0bama gives the final emotional speech as first lady, saying the role had been the greatest honour of her alive. thank you for everything you do for our kids and our country. being your first lady has been the greatest honour of my life, and i hope i have made you proud. ‘s