Biden pardons his son Hunter

Hello. US President Joe Biden has issued an official pardon for his son Hunter, who was facing sentencing for two criminal cases. Anthony Zurcher looks at what Biden's decision tells us about the changing nature of presidential pardons. After rebel fighters in Syria captured Aleppo, Jeremy Bowen explains what reignited the country's civil war. My colleagues at BBC World Service investigate how "Italian" tomato products could be linked to forced labour in China's Xinjiang region. And finally, the tale of a Georgian woman's hunt for her birth father, and their unlikely social media connection.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Presidential pardon shows change of heart

Hunter Biden became first child of a sitting president to be a convicted of a crime in June. Credit: Reuters

US President Joe Biden's pardon for his son Hunter wipes his convictions in two federal cases. Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to tax charges in September, and was found guilty of being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun in June. Biden had repeatedly ruled out the possibility of a pardon - that was the White House's position as recently as 7 November. But on Sunday evening, Biden called the cases against his son "a miscarriage of justice". Presidential pardons are common for outgoing presidents - this is Biden's 26th one - in the months before they leave the White House. Donald Trump issued 143 pardons during his first term as president, most of which came in his last months in office.

Syrian rebels advance after taking Aleppo

Rebel fighters have swept into Syria's second-largest city Aleppo, prompting air strikes from Russian forces allied with President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The surprise offensive led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham marks the most significant fighting in Syria's civil war in recent years. The reignited conflict, writes international correspondent Jeremy Bowen, is the latest fallout from the turmoil that has gripped the Middle East since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October last year.

WORLD HEADLINES

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Disputed origin of 'Italian' tomato products

China began a programme of mass detentions in the north-western region of Xinjiang in 2017. Credit: Getty Images

Testing commissioned by the BBC World Service shows several “Italian” tomato purees, most of them own-brands sold in UK and German retailers, appear to contain tomatoes grown and picked in China using forced labour. All the supermarkets whose products we tested dispute these findings.

And finally...

Through her work as a journalist, Tamuna Museridze has reunited hundreds of families affected by a baby trafficking scandal in Georgia. Yet she couldn’t solve the mystery of her own origins and wondered if she too had been stolen as a child. Finally, a breakthrough this summer reconnected her to her birth father.