from serving in the us military. he tweeted that transgender individuals risked burdening the military with "large medical bills and disruption". campaigners for transgender rights say his decision is "shocking and ignorant". more than 10,000 people in the south of france have been forced from their homes and campsites to escape rapidly spreading wildfires. over 6,000 firefighters are battling the fires over 6,000 firefighters are battling the fires which have been raging for three days. and this story is trending on bbc.com... the uk government has outlined plans to tackle air pollution, which include a ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040. but environmental and health campaigners have criticised the move, saying it doesn't go far enough. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk

with me, zeinab badawi. few issues are as controversial as abortion when it comes to addressing women's rights. pro—life campaigners believe that women's right to control their fertility does not extend to abortion on demand. injanuary, president trump blocked us federal funding for organisations that provide or promote abortions. one such organisation is the ippf, the international planned parenthood federation, which will lose millions of dollars as a result. my guest is its ethiopian—born director—general, tewedros melesse. does he believe that the ippf‘s support of abortion mean it is right that it should forfeit us government funding? tewedros melesse, welcome to hardtalk.

thank you, zeinab. what does the loss of us funding mean to you? well you know, i take it from two parts. one is that the us has been the greatest contributor to developmental assistance. now, today, the trump is cutting by 17% to 18% all development assistance. and when it comes to sexual productive health and rights, the cut is specific, which is saying that you cannot take our money and with your own money or somebody else money, you cannot conduct abortion. but what does it mean in practice? what is it — is there anything that you are doing now that you won't be able to do as a result of the loss of us funding? and i think the figures are —

your annual budget is about $175 million and the us funding amounts to about $35 million a year. what the issue is, we have never used — in the the previous administrations, we have not used us funding to talk about abortion, or perform abortions. never. because that was a caluse of the us funding. what this administration is telling us, even if it is not with our money, if it is with somebody else money, whatever the conditions, you cannot refer a client for abortion, you cannot advocate for abortion legalisation, you can't do any of that somebody else‘s money. but hasn't that been the case in the past with presidents? ronald reagan introduced in 1984 the mexico city policy, whereby us federalfunding could not be given to any organisation which promotes or provides abortion. yeah. that has been the case. the difference now here is that it is extending to hiv aids related activities, and to the zika virus,

now which is coming. for when we lose... how does it affect the zika virus work that you do? well, they have, you know, the promotion of condom legalisation, talking about, if it's necessary, the health of the mother, or the child is going to be affected, you have to talk about abortion. if the woman wants, you have to be able to refer. so it is going to affect your work on hiv, for example? it is not going to affect the ones that are contractual, it is on course, now. but when it ends, what does it mean? it means losing 100 million over the next three years. when you calculate, although the programme is saying is save lives, it is going to be affecting 4.8 million pregnancies — unwanted pregnancies — and 1.7 million abortions. mary stokes, the family planning organisation, says that as a result of this — trump's policy, that there are going to be 22,000 maternal deaths in his first term.

you don't really have any idea of what the outcome would be in terms of figures like that. they're just startling, aren't they? you just want to make people sit up. you don't really know. we know it. we have lived it. i will give you some examples. a girl in uganda, she was 16. she become pregnant by a relative. she was raped, forced. and she couldn't tell her family. she couldn't go to a doctor. what happened ? she took, or you know, herbal medicine, and she died. her mother didn't know because she did not tell her. and these are the kinds of matters of mortality, in some of the countries you can take. like in mali, it goes to over 500 — 500,000. those are the the kind of maternal deaths in those — in countries where abortions is illegal.

there are more than those in which is legally. than backstreet abortions that result in harm to the female‘s health? of course. exactly. but the fact is, of course, that you see this is an imperative that you continue to do the work that you do. but do you not think that there is such a thing as a pro—life lobby, and donald trump is part of that, and he stood for office as a pro—life candidate, and that he is entitled to that opinion? and infact, injanuary, his vice president, mike pence, when he attended a pro—life rally, said "life is winning again in america." i mean, they — they have their views. they are entitled to them. yes, yes, yes, i respect their views, but the thing is you cannot impose your view on somebody else. the sense of democracy, in a country that says it's a place of democracy and an example of democracy, cannot impose

a different view on somebody else. but you cannot impose your view on a president who has part of the decision to make on how the his taxpayers‘ money is used? well, you know what? i never agreed. i never agreed that this group is pro—life. in fact, it is us who is pro—life. because we care about the life of a woman. we care about the life of a girl. you know, those who are between ten and 16. there are over 124 million who are not in school because of early marriage, sexual abuse, or uninformed decision to have a baby. all this is we care about the life of a woman. but it's notjust that, is it tewedros melesse, with all respect? because you are encroaching on ideological territory. you've met stiff opposition, for example, from the catholic church in peru, in latin america. i'll give you just one example of the criticisms that are made.

carlos samaniego, director of latin america's population research institute, has looked at groups that you back in these — in latin america — and he says that these groups are using the funding to lobby politicians and change public opinion. you're lobbying, you're advocacy groups, you're notjust involved in providing healthcare. you know, there is a difference between the lobbying and the advocacy. what we do is we work not as — we call ourselves "locally owned, globally connected." in peru, it's not our office in new york which is going there. or we don't go from london. it's the peruvians. it's the peruvian association. but they're affiliated with the ippf, the international planned parenthood federation... yes. ..of which you are the director—general... oh, yes. so these are groups acting with your blessing. yes, we are connected.

but the thing, you know, zeinab, a woman's movement, is — its prerogative is — it started in europe, america, india, africa, everywhere — to tell me today it is the west that is bringing something else, it is really very arrogant. i didn't say the west. not you! but the way it is presented is a foreign ideology... no, i didn't say that, and i should make it clear the ippf has about, what, 170 countries as members, and you are — you work in partnership with the united nations. you are a very bona fide organisation. yeah, but the question is, are these doing it to fight for the right of a woman to make a choice, to be informed of what is the consequence of having unwanted pregnancy, knowing that she can use contraception? is it a crime to legislate that a woman, taking into account her personal condition, her social condition, has a free choice? but there are people that

have a different opinion... yes. ..from you, and therefore all i'm saying is you may disagree with them, but do you respect their point of views and say, "0k, president trump, i understand why you have taken this decision. we will either find a different way of doing what we want to do, but we respect your decision"? do you respect people who have a different point of view to you? you know, you can respect, but you can disagree. and we have to fight to show there is a reason. so you'll still lobby people like... are you still lobbying people like president trump? are you lobbying? i don't say lobby. advocacy. advocacy and showing. you know, what is amazing, zeinab, is, in the united states, abortion is legal. why should this administration say "no, it can't be legal in ethiopia, or in peru, or in chile"? keep your democratic institutions, respect our decision.

democracy — the basic essence of democracy is to respect one another. so is your american chapter, then, trying to change the mind of the trump administration? trying to change, getting the alliance correctly, and getting as many people to back them as they can. because this is a fight. you know? in the fighting, there is not nicety, unfortunately, be we will respect the laws of the countries. it's notjust abortions that you have issues with. because i mean, you work to promote women's sexual and reproductive rights. you also campaign against things like early marriage, for instance, which is very common in your native ethiopia. you know, the effects of the fgm, female genital mutilation, and so on... but in trying to tackle all these problems, you are trying to challenge very deeply embedded religious and social conventions.

it is very, very hard to do that. believe me, it is not as hard as it is. because the communities, they know. for example, in pakistan, we are working with religious groups. they are the ones who are teaching them what the rights of a woman is. how imposs — how challenging it is for an early marriage. it doesn't mean there is no opposition. but there are religious leaders from the christian side, also. from the catholic church. i visited a monastery, of which is run by nuns. in pakistan, you're talking about? still? no. you've have moved from pakistan, yes. in pakistan, the islamic scholars they are teaching how to respect each other, how to respect a woman's life. in... so your point is you are getting some religious leaders on your side... oh yeah. ..to say, look, early marriage, not good. right.

so it is not as difficult as people make out. it is the politicians who are complicating the thing and trying to gain support — they are using all the political. in america, people believe in, you know, their own religion. but the american constitution respect the right of the individual and the right of the woman. but nevertheless, you do meet challenges along the way. in africa, for instance, a woman seeking contraception is seen as promiscuous, and not accepting the will of god, if she's married and having as many children as she may be possible — as she may be able to have. i prefer to look at these positive side. there are challenges. look, in southern africa, and eastern africa, the contrast of the prevalence rate is over 25%. the more you go to the southern, this gets to 50% or 60%. this was not the case 20 years ago. to achieve the mdgs, that is the reduction of the... the millennium development goals... ..the millennium development goal... many african countries have committed their resources. during the recent family planning summit, many african government —

the ugandan government, the tanzanian government, the ethiopian government, they have committed — the nigerian government — they have committed themselves to making family planning services available. is it enough? no. because worldwide, there are something like 200 million women who don't have access to contraceptives. yes, exactly. but the commitment is is there. the commitment is there by the government. there are challenges. there is the issue of accessibility, the information, the affordability, the consistency of supplies, the training of people, the choices of individuals... so you have a positive attitude? oh, yeah. is your attitude so positive that it takes you to conflict areas where you also champion women's rights, but you find yourself in an uncomfortable position. for example, in syria, you've been working with government forces to help women with their sexual reproductive health rights. and yet we hear about the rape cases in syrian government prisons that take place. so are you not collaborating with a government, a regime, that is actually responsible

for the degradation and abuse and exploitation of women? we are not partnering with the government. what we are saying is... but you are operating in government—held areas. yes, and even outside we are working for those displaced in jordan, those in lebanon, for the syrian refugees. but in areas of conflict. you say you want to help women in crisis, including in conflict, so you are working in government—held areas in syria. including those areas controlled by the opposition. you mean so—called islamic state? the red cross agree, the red cross, red crescent, agree with any government, what it is doing, but operating in a country which is in conflict to make services available, including for women who are raped, to give them counselling and therapy. you mean in areas held by so—called islamic state? i don't know what the islamic state controlled area, but rebel groups,

let's call them that way. they might be... they might be. ..islamic state. so you have no problem with working with so—called islamic state when we know they have been selling women, yazidi women, as sexual slaves and so on? we are not endorsing the group. what we are saying is those displaced women, girls and young boys, they need education. the torment they go through. how do you operate in practice, though, in such areas? in areas that might be controlled by is or by the syrian government? the difference between us and other organisations is... we don't fly from london. they are there. the community there. and those people, they operate within the context of their country. we are not interested in providing and supporting emergency or disaster situations, but we are forced to act in such a situation. we are providing for over 3 million people, you know, just until 2016 — i mean the displaced populations.

i want to look at another controversial area where the ippf has worked. you worked with a chinese family planning association, right through beijing's one child policy. you yourself in fact visited china in 2013 and met the prime minister li keqiang. yes. did that not make you feel uncomfortable, though? no. a country that's got a one child policy, forced abortion? we state clearly our position. when we met the prime minister of china, we put clearly what we call vision 2020, which puts very clearly the choice of the individual and the woman is very important and sexual productiveness has to be of free choice. he endorsed that and he said, you will move on forward. immediately after that we'll set the two child policy. that was changed in 2015. yes. we made it in 2013. you made a statement welcoming it.

exactly. what we are saying is we are not working with all the governments that we agree entirely. we engage with them, we make our positions very clear, our associations, even the fact that choice, individual rights, they are written on a placard in the clinics, that we provide services to immigrant populations in china. but women in china have no choice. you say, look, i went in 2013, i met the prime minister, i said you shouldn't have this one child policy, it changed in 2015, that's fine. but you know what your predecessor, as director—general, jill greer, did and what she said in 2009, in china. this is what she called china's one child policy. "it's very conducive to china's development in various aspects, including in the realm of health—care services." that's not a statement which is wise to make, is it, really?

well, you know, the thing is, the chinese government has come up with that position. we have expressed that we don't agree. but she sounds like she's endorsing it. well, she is putting rather the contextual situation of the country. you know? but, for us, the choice of the woman getting the appropriate information... 0ur engagement with them has made a transformation, a change. we have contributed to change. is it enough? is it adequate? no, we have a long way to go, even in countries where the whole democracy there... like in dublin, northern ireland. but you are cooperating or in partnership in a way with china, even though you say you don't agree with what they say and what they're doing with their one child policy. this is what a women's group called women's rights without frontiers has

said. it's an international organisation. this is a view. while posturing as a champion of choice, the ippf has in fact been working hand—in—hand with the population control programme in china almost since its inception. forced abortion is not a choice. we have never agreed... i will never agree with forced abortion. that's very clear. but, do we engage with governments with whom you disagree? yes, we do. do we agree with 160 countries around the globe? no. there are areas where we don't agree. but do we protest and go and pack and go? it's not like we are going from london. it's the local... no, i understand, it's the local family planning association. exactly, and we engage with them. but forced abortions are still operating... it is not the association which is doing. no, no, i know, but, in china, forced abortion under the two—child policy is still in existence because there is a two child policy now.

well, do you want us to go to exile? no. we fight in the country where we stay. we don't go to exile because we disagree with the government. we engage with them, we lobby parliamentarians, we advocate, we explain to the health providers, we engage with the government officials, the minister of public health, the national population commission. for government, the national population commission and the minister of health have merged together. there is a change. what we forget is, even in the west, some of the countries in the ‘70s women were not allowed to vote. in the western countries! in switzerland, when did they start voting? the ‘70s, yeah. yes. so, why don't you give the space, give the engage? so are you engaging with the chinese authorities now and saying, look, you have moved from a one—child policy to a two—child policy, but actually that still involves a large degree of forced abortions, so would you stop that? because, i mean, there is still going to be...

in 2016 the us state department said they were 23 million abortions in china, and we don't know how many of those were forced or not. so still a huge number going on under the new policy. you know, quite interesting is 37 countries where abortion is illegal, 37,000 for those aged between 15 and 44 is happening, in countries where it's illegal. even in countries where it is illegal, even those which are illegal, there are a lot of abortions taking place. is it the provider's error, is it misinformation? or is it a constraint imposed on the woman? that has to be investigated and checked out. but because we have a certain attitude about china, we can'tjust make, you know, a generalised declaration. is there any government he would work with? no, because...

except if they impose their view on us and tell us, you can't speak about this. then that's a problem. you have this passionate commitment to women's sexual reproductive health rights and yet obviously you are man. why this passion and interest? the first thing is before i became, sort of, conscious about these issues, i used to observe my grandmother, whojust had one daughter and my grandfather's family were really terribly upset. she gets only one child and she gets only a girl? it was like a revolt. she was almost sent to a mini exile within that from the rural area. and my mother was almost forced to be given for a marriage when she was 13.

i grandmother took away and she said, "i've not give to those. she wanted to get somebody while going to school. i don't know how, and she identified my father, a teacher. she gave my mother for a wedding when she was 16. i observed what my mother has lived through, having seven children. when i was in school i was observing girls disappearing suddenly. because they were pregnant. because they can't be with their family, they can't be in school until they delivered, they give away, or they throw away the baby and come back. that was a very tough situation. then i came to europe and realised what it means and that is the commitment, both personal and the passion. i like literature and poetry, so that makes me passionate, and a woman gives life. tewodros melesse, thank you very

much for coming on hardtalk. thank you. some downpour dodging to be done during the day ahead and in fact through the rest of this week. a mixed weather picture, some spells of sunshine, showers as well, with showers heavy, blown along on a blustery wind at times. low pressure in charge of the scene. the isobars fairly tightly packed. that shows that we will have strong wind and a few showers around as well.

showers initially most widespread across northern ireland and western scotland and then develop more widely across the country. some heavy with rumbles of thunder mixed in and some fairly blustery wind as well. after a cloudy start in southern areas things will brighten up a little bit. by the afternoon, although there will be heavy showers around with gusty wind there will also be some decent spells of sunshine between those downpours. 19 degrees in london, 17 in hull. some hefty showers stretching up across north—east england into scotland as well. across 0rkney and shetland that is the place to be if you want reliably dry weather. not many showers here at all and plenty of sunshine through the afternoon. northern ireland, sunshine and showers. similar story across wales, 18 degrees in cardiff and down across the of england.

yes, sunshine and showers once again. as we head on through thursday night into the early hours of friday we still have our way of low pressure up to the north—west. some showers continuing. fewer showers further south, clear spells as well and overnight temperatures of 11— 15 degrees. as we head on into friday, an area of low pressure still with us. and then there is this feature down here to the south. this will bring persistent rain later in the day. initially spells of sunshine, showers as well, they will favour a while until they are replaced by a lump of rain pushing its way in from the west. most of the wet weather will move its way through fairly quickly during friday night and into the early part of saturday. once that clears away then, you guessed it, we are left with a mixture of sunshine and showers. still our area of low pressure close by, the temperature around around 16—23 degrees. for sunday wherever you are across the country

you can expect downpours. the far north of scotland and shetland likely to stay dry. where the showers pop up there could be heavy with hail and thunder, feeling cool in a blustery wet. the headlines: anger as president trump reimposes a ban on transgender people in the us military. as the us president uses twitter to attack his attorney general again, the new white house communications boss defends the tough tactics. 0ne one of the things i cannot stand about this town is the backstabbing that goes on here. where i grew up in the neighbourhood i am from, we are front stabber is. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: wildfires continue to tear through parts of southern france. thousands flee their homes to escape the flames. is it the end of the road for petrol and diesel cars?

britain joins moves around the world to phase them out completely.