Nervously to find out if theyve won. Well bring you the announcement of the winner live here on bbc news in the next hour. Raqqa has fallen. The Islamic State group has been driven from its de fa cto group has been driven from its de facto capital. This is in the north of syria and four months after the kurdish led, us backed Syrian Democratic forces began their offensive. It has now declared that the city has been completely liberated, with Ongoing Operations to comb and cleanse districts from the remnants of is. Raqqa was the first major city to be captured by is in 2014. It became the headquarters of what it calls its caliphate. This map shows in more detail the territory that Islamic State had at the beginning of 2015. All of this area marked in pink in syria and in iraq was controlled. Millions of people were under is rule. But this dark red area is what is controls now. I should tell you the us military is more cautious about raqqa. It says 90 of raqqa has been reta ken. About raqqa. It says 90 of raqqa has been retaken. But theres no question about the inevitability of victory. Heres the us statement earlier. Across the board in the combined joint operations area, in iraq and in syria, we estimate the number of enemy forces that still remain to be about 6,500 enemy forces, isis forces. Specifically in raqqa, with the number of those that have recently surrendered, we estimate there to be perhaps about 100 isis fighters that could remain in raqqa. An estimated 300,000 civilians fled raqqa when the offensive began in june. Civilians fled raqqa when the offensive began injune. These people must wait to return home, if they have homes to return to. Because large parts of the city have been xrom hencively destroyed comprehensively destroyed. The cbs correspondent Holly Williams is there. This is in the very heart of raqqa. It used to be an ordinary round about, but then isis began using it to carry out public executions. They posted the evidence of those killings on the internet. This circle was reta ken killings on the internet. This circle was retaken by these us backed Syrian Forces last night. Yesterday we witnessed them celebrating on the streets of rackament they were in a vic raqqa. They were in a victorious mood after a four month long battle. It could take months until raqqa has been cleared of all the explosives laid by isis. Then they will somehow have to find a way to rebuild this shattered city, reallyjust the skeleton shattered city, reallyjust the s keleto n of shattered city, reallyjust the skeleton of a city at this point. There is barely a building that has been left unscathed. Some of them have been pulverised by artillery and by fighting. Others have been flattened by us air strikes. Nearly all of the residents, in fact, probably all of the residents have 110w probably all of the residents have now fled the city and many are in refugee camps. It is a terrible irony that in order to retake raqqa theyve had to destroy the city. Lets hear from some of those trapped in raqqa under is control. Translation they shot at my family, but allah is stronger than them. Translation it was a horror. I tried to leave twice but couldnt. They were shooting at me. They said, youre escaping towards the infidels. Defeating is in raqqa was complex and so is its future. Thats because the kurds, who have driven is out, have a delicate relationship with the citys majority arab population. It was arab and kurdish fighters who did ajig it was arab and kurdish fighters who did a jig celebrating the Islamic State retreat. They fought in sandals and the most basic of weapons. They had a killer advantage, Coalition Air power. That helped drive is out, but it also emptied the city of quarter of a million people. Hundreds of civilians may have died in the western bombardment. The final victory here was delivered not in a gun battle, but in a bus ride. Here is fighters are seen leaving one of their last holdouts, the national hospital. They were guaranteed safe passage as part of a peace deal. Whats left of raqqa can barely be called a city and still, dangers remain. The Islamic States foreign fighters here van ished. Remain. The Islamic States foreign fighters here vanished. Some may be hiding in these ruins, their leadership have already fled. The Islamic State group may have abandoned their capital, but they havent abandoned their cause. So the fight against is goes on. Lets move from raqqa to Northern Iraq to kirkuk. Yesterday Iraqi Government forces retook that city from Kurdish Forces. Today they have taken from Kurdish Forces. Today they have ta ke n two from Kurdish Forces. Today they have ta ken two of from Kurdish Forces. Today they have taken two of the biggest oil fields today. Back in 2014 kirkuk was ca ptu red today. Back in 2014 kirkuk was captured by is. Then is was driven out by kurdish peshmerga. As you can see in this map, the city is surrounded by oil fields. See in this map, the city is surrounded by oilfields. Theyre marked in green here. Its also worth noting its outside the semiautonomous iraqi kurd stan marked in bright purple. The kurds still claim it. The reason this has escalated now is because three weeks ago, iraqi kurd staun held an independence referendum. The Iraqi Government, not inaccurately, saw this as an effort to split the country. The iraqi Prime Minister said that referendum has finished, its become a thing of the past. It is one of the primary reasons were seeing this playing out this week. This gets more complicated because america has worked with Kurdish Forces and with the Iraqi Government. It hasnt said much in the last 48 hours beyond saying it hopes tension will dissipate. But Senatorjohn Mccain has had plenty to say. He has added, im especially concerned by media reports that Iranian Forces are backing the assault. The us provided equipment and training to the government to fight isis and to secure itself against external threats not to attack elements of one of its own regional governments. Earlier, ispoke one of its own regional governments. Earlier, i spoke to the bbcs jonathan governments. Earlier, i spoke to the bbcsjonathan marcus, our diplomatic and defence correspondent. Here he is on those claims that iran was involved in the offensive to retake kirkuk. This is one of the supreme ironies that the iraqi one of the supreme ironies that the ira i overnments one of the supreme ironies that the Iraqi Governments two main allies, if you want to call them that, are on the one hand, the United States and on the other, iran. There are concerns that militia units, paramilitary units linked with iran have been engaged in the operations towards kirkuk. We also believe that Senior Iranian revolutionary guard commander has been involved there as well. One has to say, theres been a lot less fighting there than might have at first appeared. Very little in fact according to the americans, that they say, was a mistake. What seems to have happened is that the Kurdish Forces have been very divided, essentially into two groups. One of those groups seemed happy to go along with handing over positions to the iraqi forces. So, as yet, there hasnt been a set to, but of course, the spark potentially is always there. As you rightly saw in that map, which was very important and showed it very well, what happened when the kurds ousted so called Islamic State is that they went beyond the boundaries of their semiautonomous area, so i suppose the Iraqi Government would say that its simply trying to reassert the status quo before is took over. Of course, the crucial thing is whether it rei nstates course, the crucial thing is whether it reinstates the various arrangements that had been made at the time to govern the very diverse city of kirkuk and its wider area. One thingi city of kirkuk and its wider area. One thing i didnt mention then is that the americans are also working with the kurds in syria, which makes this all the more complicated for them to take sides in iraq. The problem here, ithink them to take sides in iraq. The problem here, i think were seeing the absence of a more serious regional strategy for the americans coming to light now. Up to now, the americans chief aim has been to defeat so called is. Theyve tried to find allies in the region who can assist them in thatjob. By far and away their most effective allies have been Kurdish Forces. Now the problem is that, as weve seen already in iraq, theres the potential rivalry there. In syria, theres a slightly different rivalry developing, their Kurdish Forces, backed by the us, have been equally successful in defeating so called is. But they now are coming more and more into contact potentially with Syrian Government forces, with again militias like hezbollah, who are close to iran. So there are again fears that there could be tensions there. Inafew there. In a few minutes, well see a vigil held for a leading journalist in malta who was murdered yesterday. Her son is calling malta a mafia state. The governor of the bank of england has indicated that a rise in Interest Rates may be needed over the coming months as policy makers look to tackle surging inflation, caused by the weak pound. Inflation, as measured by the consume er Consumer Prices index, rose to 3 last month, driven up by increases in transport and food prices. It means in transport and food prices. It m ea ns state in transport and food prices. It means state pensions are set to rise bya minimum means state pensions are set to rise by a minimum of 3 next year, but for the working population and people on benefits, it will put more pressure on already stretched household incomes. Having made progress over the course of the last 14 months, having created almost, the economy havent created almost, the economy havent created almost, the economy havent created almost 400,000 jobs, you know the figures, in terms of overall employment having used up spare capacity, having seen some evidence of building domestic, early evidence of building domestic, early evidence of building domestic pressures , evidence of building domestic pressures, thejudgment evidence of building domestic pressures, the judgment of the majority of the committee is that some rise in Interest Rates in coming months may be appropriate, in order to have that sustainability. Outside source live from the bbc. Our lead story comes from syria. After a four month battle, a us backed Alliance Says its driven the Islamic State group out of raqqa. We pick up on the main stories from the world service. First of all, taliban attacks in two eastern provinces of afghanistan have left at least 71 people dead. Security forces were among those who died. Demonstrators have clashed with ukrainian riot police and blocked the main road outside parliament. The protesters are calling for reforms, including the establishment of an Anticorruption Court and the end of immunity for mps. Britains Domestic Intelligence service says the country is facing the highest rate of terror attacks in 30 years. 3,000 extremists are currently being investigated. You can read that in the most read list on the bbc news website. Now, i want to return to a shocking story that we covered yesterday, the maltese journalist died in a car bomb on monday. She was well known for investigating corruption. If you go to our website now, youll find many examples of her writing. Here she is talking about malta in 2016. I think at the moment, yes, i have to say, it is a very corrupt country. Unfortunately, a lot of work that was done over the past 30 yea rs work that was done over the past 30 years to bring malta up to scratch, asa years to bring malta up to scratch, as a new member state, with all the regulation required and build up a very good representation in financial services, has now been almost completely eliminated. She put the spotlight on politicians. One of those was the maltese Prime Minister. He was forced to call an early election this year because of allegations she made about him and his wife. He has condemned the killing, calling it as a spiteful attack on a citizen and on freedom of expression. He said, i will not rest until justice of expression. He said, i will not rest untiljustice is done. Her son matthew, also a journalist, and who saw the aftermath of the car bomb, has said, my mother was assassinated because she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it. Its of little comfort for the Prime Minister to say that he will not rest until the perpetrators are found when he heads a government that encourages that same impunity. Next, this is harry cooper, of politico europe, who interviewed her on several occasions. To understand daphnes role in maul tease politics, you have to understand how tribal the politics are in malta. She was very much regarded as helping the nationalist party because a lot of what she was talking about was directed at the ruling labour party. That said, in the past few weeks, her reporting was very much directed at the recently located nationalist leader. So really her reporting was focussed on the establishment, rather than any one party. The authorities have declined to comment on the motive for this attack. We know more broadly that Reporters Without Borders ranked malta at 47 in the world for press freedom. It says politicians do not hesitate to bring law suits in response to vexatious revelations and it highlights that the bank account was frozen at the economy ministers behest. Well a researcher at freedom house, an organisation that assesses media freedom, this is her response to this murder. This is a problem that we see not just this murder. This is a problem that we see notjust in malta. This is a problem, the negativity in the encouragement to see the press as an enemy and not an ally. We see this everywhere, from central asia to poland, to the United States itself. We cannot emphasise, we cannot overemphasise the danger in this. When this comes from the top, this sets a new norm in the treatment of journalists. This encourages similar rhetoric and similar actions and makes it clear that the press, instead of being a public ally and a public watchdog, whose interest is to basically serve us is something to basically serve us is something to be regarded with suspicion. The political hostility as well as a number of rove strictive laws, including criminal defamation laws are the main reason that malta receives such rankings. Beyond condemning the attack and encouraging police to investigate it fully, it is important for the politicians in malta to realise this isa politicians in malta to realise this is a systemic problem. Its notjust in the legislation. Its notjust in the physical danger, its about the culture and treatment of the media that they themselves set the standard for. Inafew standard for. In a few hours the biggest political eventin in a few hours the biggest political event in china for five years begins. Its the communist Party Congress in beijing. We know that more than 2,000 delegates will gather in the great hall of the people and those delegates represent millions of Party Members and their most important task will be to choose a small group of people wholl lead the party and the country as well for the next five yea rs. Country as well for the next five years. You wont be surprised to hear that everythings going to be done behind closed doors. Not that chinas making any apologies. We spotted this article published by the state news agency. It attacks western democracy and praising the harmony of the chinese system. This is the analyst william lam on what we can expect from the congress. This is the most momentous one for the past 40 years. We are witnessing what chinese intellectuals called the coronation of xiping for life. We are witnessing a stunning regression in chinese politics and the reinstatement of cultural revolution style values and norms, such as a huge personality cult around the top leader. One person decision making, authoritarianism and above all, the partys much tighter and enhanced control over almost all aspects of chinese life, including the internet, intellectuals, colleges, as well as business enterprises. Lets find out about big news for bombardier. Airbus is taking a majority stake in its c series jets. Now the whole idea here is to build thisjet in america. Now the whole idea here is to build this jet in america. Thats significant because a row weve covered several times to do with us import tax. Lets go to new york for help with this. The idea is to get around that import tax. Exactly. So bombardier has teamed up with airbus. Airbus now owns a majority sta ke airbus. Airbus now owns a majority stake in the c series planes. Thats the planes that have cause aid lot of consternation between canada and the United States. And because airbus has a presence in the United States, in alabama, these c series planes can be built in the us, therefore circumventing the rules put in place by the us commerce department, penalising bombardier and the c series planes by imposing and the c series planes by imposing a 300 tax. Its ok, is it, for two major rivals to team up in this way . Well, its interesting because bombardier really wanted to dominate this small kind of planes. Airbus has a this small kind of planes. Airbus hasa similar this small kind of planes. Airbus has a similar kind of plane that it was really touting as a good version for this mid sized, like 150 seats. So what i think will be interesting to watch is just how the two actually interact. I know you sent us actually interact. I know you sent usa actually interact. I know you sent us a message actually interact. I know you sent us a message saying, lets talk about nastia as well. Nafta as well. Weve seen another round of talks just well. Weve seen another round of talksjust end. It well. Weve seen another round of talks just end. It seems really significant that mexico and canada are saying that the United States are saying that the United States are putting in clauses into this agreement that they just cannot agreement that they just cannot agree to. So some of the language that was being used by canada and mexico with regards to the United States has been really pretty pointed. It just shows states has been really pretty pointed. Itjust shows that states has been really pretty pointed. It just shows that these negotiations are really difficult and theyve come to a pretty hard stop at the moment. Thank you very much. Lets turn to barcelona. Thousands of Pro Independence catalans are calling for the release of two Civil Society leaders. These two men were detained by the spanish authorities on monday. The crowds have been chanted, were all yordies, the first name of both men. They are being held on sedition charges. Singing these protesters have come out here in barcelona to call for the Immediate Release of two Pro Independence campaigners. Those campaigners have been remanded in custody by spains high court. Theyre accused of sedition, but to these Pro Independence campaigners, those two men are Political Prisoners. I wanted to show you this sign here. Tree dom for Political Prisoners freedom for Political Prisoners, the sinuses in catalan. You can see some of what these campaigners want. Another sign here, i barely need to translate it, independence. People have come out here to show on which side of the divide they stand. Its pretty clear, this man has got the flag of an independent catalonia. It is worth saying that not every person in catalonia wants independence. This is a divided society. But tonight, Pro Independence campaigners have come out and theyve filled the centre of this, their main city. They now face an ultimatum from the government in madrid. On thursday morning, the Central Government says that unless the authorities here revoke or renounce a declaration of independence, make it clear that they havent declared independence, they havent declared independence, the Central Government may suspend self rule in this region, taking these people and everyone else in catalonia into uncharted territory. Weve a short edition of outside source today. We finish with this report from australia. Drone technology is being used to track sharks and keep people safe. A shadow in the sea or something more sinister . From the beach its ha rd to more sinister . From the beach its hard to tell. From the skies a drone has a clearer view. It feeds into deep learning software, which, its claimed, has a 92 success rate in spotting sharks. As well as less threatening species. Every time it sees a dolphin, whale or a swimmer in distress, it learns their shape. Launched along the beaches of new south wales, the drones can patrol for 40 minutes. Daniel was one of the first to train as a life saver pilot. I cant physically run out and graba pilot. I cant physically run out and grab a board and paddle out and save someone. But sitting on the beach, we have eyes in the sky and were just another layer of protection really. The drones dont only observe, they can react too, dropping an inflatable device to help people in the sea. They wont replace the use of controversial shark nets however. Some claim they do more harm than good. Last year, around australia, there were 17 unprovoked shark attacks. The number isnt that high, compared to how many people actually go in these waters. But it leaves a national preoccupation with the question of how to share the beaches between the human beings and the sea life. When this great while washes onto the shore recently, it was welcomed and christianed fluffy. Not only wants to get so close, even if the chances ofan to get so close, even if the chances of an attack are minimal. Its a human fear of being attacked by a wild animal. But the risk to people that are entering the water, its still rates so low on the scale, as opposed to all other threats of going about your daily life, in traffic and cars and bee stings and all those statistics. And for regulars in these waters, its all pa rt regulars in these waters, its all part of the experience. Regulars in these waters, its all part of the experiencelj regulars in these waters, its all part of the experience. I was actually swimming here once, at the back, i was six months pregnant and there was a shark alarm. I did freak out a bit if im going to die, i prefer to be taken by a shark than have a stroke and end up in a nursing home. The drones wont be on every beach, every day. But they should give everyone a better understanding of whats down below. This is finishing the short edition of outside source. In a few minutes we will go to the booker prize ceremony live. Reminder of our lead story the Islamic State group has lost its de facto capital raqqa in the north of syria. And on thursday, im live from brussels at the latest European Union summit. See you then, bye bye. Good evening. After a turbulent, fast moving start to the week, weather wise, weve now slowed the pace down a little bit. Certainly for a couple of days, that was how it looked in dumbarton through the day. Slowly but surely, clouds invaded across a good part of the south west of england. You can see on the satellite picture the way this lump of cloud works its way into southern areas. As the cloud continues to spread, quite slowly northwards through the night, we will see increasingly murky conditions across the far south. Some outbreaks of rain trundling northwards as well. Perhaps the odd heavy burst through the midlands towards east anglia. Also quite a lot of cloud across central and southern scotland. Some zones of clear weather northern ireland, northern england, fog here. Far northern england, fog here. Far north of scotland as well. Where the skies remain clear, it will be a chilly start to wednesday. Some brightness for the far north of scotland, more cloud for the likes of edinburgh and glasgow. Slightly milder start as a result. A few fog patches early on for northern ireland. But things brightening up quickly and a fine start across northern england. Again, on the cool side. Eight or nine degrees at 8am. A lot of cloud, though, through east anglia into the midlands, the southern half of wales, southern england as well. Quite misty and murky for some hills and coasts and outbreaks of rain. These various zones outbreaks of rain. These various zones of weather, this cloudy zone in the south, this brighter zone further north, will only very, very slowly edge northwards as we go through the day. Northern scotland probably holding on to the best of the sunshine all day long. Winds not particularly strong. And temperatures around 11 to 17 degrees. But increasingly humid feel across the south. Thursday then sta rts across the south. Thursday then starts off with a lot of cloud. Some outbreaks of showery rain in eastern areas. Wetter weather pushing in from the west later on. The winds starting to strengthen. Could see gales in some exposed spots later in the day. Those temperatures around 13 to 18 degrees. Friday well push that area of rain through. The strong winds as well. Then things will brighten up for a time. But lurking down to the south west is potentially our next troublesome area of weather. Were going to step things upa area of weather. Were going to step things up a gear again as we go into the weekend. This potentially deep area of low pressure sliding into southern areas, a lot of uncertainty about the details at this stage, but there is the risk of severe gales. Hello and welcome to the splendid surroundings of guildhall here in the heart of the city of london, where, in the next hour, we will find out who has won one of the worlds most famous, and most important, literary prizes the man booker. Past winners have included sir salmon rushdie, dame Hilary Mantel and kazuo ishiguro, who earlier this month was awarded the nobel prize for literature. Otherwinners, including julian barnes, Howard Jacobson and ben okri, are here tonight. Its been quite a journey to get to this point