is bbc news. the latest headlines: angela merkel is set for a fourth term as german chancellor after parliamentary elections, but her party's support dropped dramatically. the right—wing alternative for germany will win seats in the federal parliament for the first time. the centre—left social democrats had their worst result since 1933. the row between president trump and some high—profile sportsmen and women has grown. more than 100 american footballers protested during the playing of the national anthem at games on sunday. what began last year as a protest against racism escalated after the president's criticism. the regional government of iraqi kurdistan is going ahead with a referendum on independence later on monday despite international opposition. the move has been opposed by the iraqi government. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn, has resisted calls from some in the party, to pledge to keep britain in the european single market, after brexit.

with their annual conference beginning in brighton today, 30 labour mps were among those who signed a letter, urging the party to pledge to stay in. but mr corbyn told the bbc, that a future labour government's ability to protectjobs could be hampered by single market membership. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. more a victory party than a conference. the song, and thousands upon thousands of members, dedicated to him. he's the winner here, even though labour did not win the election. its third conference lucky forjeremy corbyn. at last, safe and secure in his seat. the steam is rising, not falling. and the movement is stronger than ever. labour is a party of the people, it's a party of activists, it's a party of the community.

but many in that community came to brighten, too, to tell him something else. they want labour to change its mind about leaving the eu. even to stop it happening altogether. jeremy corbyn should come out and say, "i was wrong. let's do something about this." no brexit at all is my views. i want to form and anti—brexit bagpipe pipe band. with a foe of the left making an unusual protest. and many members and mp5 want to push the leader to commit to stay in the single market, the huge european free—trade area for good. it's a no. the important thing is to have a european market, half of all our trade is with europe. would also say that we need to look very carefully at the terms of any trade relationship, because at the moment, we are part of the single market, obviously. that has within it restrictions

on state aid and state spending. in what has been described as a stitch up, members who wanted debates on tricky brexit issues were out organised and outvoted by momentum, but corbyn backing campaign group. nothing contentious will be discussed. i'm a bit gutted. all our debate on brexit didn't make it through the priorities. one senior ally of mr corbyn told me some of his critics use europe as an excuse to attack him. yet some left—wingers are dismayed, too. i would like to see how that position was come to. because this is the quintessential issue of our generation. to not be discussing the elephant in the room, the issue of brexit, physical market, the freedom of movement, is wrong. and i think it's a mistake and we should be discussing it. the labour leader will be surrounded

by fans and supporters this week, still delighted by the party's progress in the election. but that won't completely mask the tensions over europe with some mps saying the lack of debate is absurd. adoration from the crowds does not mean, even this week, thatjeremy corbyn can forever avoid awkward conversations. now on bbc news, it's time for witness on china. hello and welcome to a special edition of witness, with me,

rebecca jones. i'm here at the british library to guide you through five moments in chinese history that helped shape the country. we'll meet an archaeologist who's worked on the terracotta army site for decades. a man who took part in the student protests at tiananmen square, and a former red guard. but our first witness is sidney rittenberg. he visited china as a gi during world war ii and stayed on. he joined the communist party. and during china's civil war, he got to know the revolutionary leader, chairman mao. he was so idolised. and it was so impossible to criticise him. he finally convinced himself that china needed an emperor figure. i think mao before coming to power and after coming to power were two quite different personalities.

but he was enormously courteous. he was disarming. he could make you forget that you were in the presence of someone from history. he was a large man and he had great personal dignity and was very easy to talk to. yunnan was the nerve centre of the entire communist movement. it was so rare in those days to have an american that spoke chinese. i was fascinated by the work they were doing. and i decided to stay and act as an english—language person for their radio programme. it was an atmosphere... ..of great determination.

i would say even of great pride and joy to be there, to be part of that movement, which people felt was building a new china. there was one american movie every week. i used to go interpret. and mao's favourite films by far where laurel and hardy, but they loved that. he laughs when mao laughed, he laughed like a baby laughs. like every muscle in his face was laughing. from brow to chin. i would go to the party headquarters and play chinese gin rummy cards. they would all tease each other and cuff each other around and be very warm, but not with mao. he would sit there and nobody would tease him or cuff him around. i never felt that he was a friend.

maybe i felt that because i could argue with him on occasion. chairman mao always had a ruthless streak. i think chairman mao never intended that people should die in the great famine in the great leap forward. but he didn't really make it stop. i think the official estimates in china run around 30 million. who starved to death. it was a disaster. i was suddenly arrested and held in solitary confinement for six years. in prison. the first year in total darkness. when i heard in the prison that chairman mao had died,

i thought this was the most terrible blow that the world revolution could suffer. but i didn't shed a single tear. you know, i think mao was an extremely difficult character to analyse. he could do and did do good things for china that nobody else could have done. he also did horrible things for china that nobody else could have done. sidney stayed in china until 1980 when he returned to the us. in the 1960s, chairman mao wanted to root out opposition to his leadership and read the country of any semblance of old chinese culture and history. at the forefront of the so—called cultural revolution where the red guards, fanatical supporters. this man was a member

of the red guards. i was in middle school when a cultural revolution started. the biggest nation on earth, china, is in turmoil. is china's ageing leader lost control? —— losing. has he gone mad? driven, perhaps, to megalomania by the hysterical adoration of the teenage red guard? of course ijoined, it is glorious to join. mao had decided to mobilise young people as the driving force of the vast campaign to cure lies the colonies. there was to be a new revolution.

a cultural revolution. a revolution in people's thinking. inspired by mao, the red guards went wild in their enthusiasm to keep the revolution alive. they worship him as a reader and followed his instruction without question. they consider long hair and western—style clothes un—communist. after reports of rapes, beating up and even murder, the red guard seem to have gone too far. their leaders have told them to cool off. a man who has forged a new life himself and his family in the us.

for decades, communist china's relationship with the us was difficult, to put it mildly. but things started to change in 1972 with president richard nixon's visit to meet chairman mao. the former diplomat winston lord was part of the delegation that travelled to china. today, president nixon is visiting china. he is the first american statesman to have set foot on chinese soil since chairman mao came to power. many of us were a little those appointed in the arrival arrangements. —— disappointed. this was a huge political event and we naively thought there would be big crowds. in fact, there were just a few people, but then we recognised again that this was in keeping with the realistic fact that we had been enemies for 22 years and you couldn't turn the page immediately. and so these two great countries,

the most powerful knees and on earth, visit the most populous nation on earth. i was special assistant to henry kissinger the national security adviser and i was in charge of orchestrating and putting together the briefing books for the president for his trip to china. my first impressions of beijing was that it was very bleak and depressing. it was early drought. everyone is dressed the same. very few cars, most the bicycles. we arrived at the guesthouse and two our surprise, the announced that chairman mao would like to see president nixon right away. this was mao acting like a traditional chinese emperor, not giving you any warning when you were going to be summoned to his presence. i have worked for many presidents. including several close up. president nixon was by far the most well versed and strategic in international relations. he was extraordinary.

whatever his flaws, one has to grant him that. as a person, he was quite shy. he was always somewhat ill at ease in engaging in banter or smalltalk. both sides had clear reasons for trying to reopen communications after 22 years of mutual enmity and indeed fighting each other in korea. when you meet someone of historic significance, you have to figure out whether you are impressed with the personality because you know he's important, or whether you would be impressed if you didn't know who he was. kissinger and i agreed that even if we went to a cocktail party and mao was there and we didn't know him, he would have exuded some power and attraction. this was not to glorify him. he was a monster in many ways. the meeting itself puzzled us at first. it was only about one hour with translation. we immediately recognise the significance of this.

the chairman was declaring visit a success from the very beginning. at the conclusion of the meeting, the chinese came in with photographs of all of us at the meeting. nixon and kissinger looted each other and then told mao that mr lord is never at this meeting, please cut him out of all the photos, because i was sitting next to kissinger. it was already humility ten for the secretary of state not to be at the meeting will be national security adviser was. but to have in addition to that some idiot in his early 30s also sitting ina meeting... it's worth coming 16,000 miles tossed to stand here and see it. the well. join me in reading glasses to chairman mao and to the friendship of the chinese and american people. we were in the middle are the geopolitical earthquake. it was a combination of nerves of steel working on this, but also the sense that we were frankly in the midst

of making history. winston lord, remembering a key moment in us chinese relations. remember, you can watch witness every month on the bbc news channel, or you can catch up on or ourfilms along with more than 1000 radio programmes in our online archives. just go to our website. now to one of the greatest finds of the 20th century. in the spring of 1974, local farmers in china accidentally uncovered the site of the vast terracotta army. our next witness is an archaeologist who has dedicated her career to the remarkable lives of these figures. it is a vast pottery army slowly being unearthed from the tomb where it has lain for more than 2000 years. at one time... i've worked at the site for many years. she still works at the side of the terracotta army in xian. finally in 1919, chinese authorities crashed a popular movement for democracy in beijing.

among those protesting was 18—year—old student. tiananmen square is a square design to fit at least a couple of million people and that square was bumper—to—bumper full. you could feel at that time that something was going on. you could see millions of ordinary citizens of beijing blocking army lorries from coming in. 10,000 chinese troops have tried to seize control of the centre of peking tonight. but their attempt to sweep away the student demonstrators that have been camped in tiananmen square appeals to have failed. their demands for democracy, a free press and an end to corruption. it was the last year of my high school studies. classmate of mine and me

and five others, we said, forget it, we're going. the central television started to broadcast this ominous message repeatedly for quite a few hours. "0h, citizens, please return to your homes, the army and the security forces are coming in to clear the city centre. if you disobey this order, you will be responsible for all the consequences". most decided to stay where they were. and then things started to unravel. you just heard banging. you start to hear those sounds. and then you start to see people bleeding, being carried to various hospitals around you. people crying and shouting. i felt numb. it was beyond anybody‘s

comprehension. you focus your mind, you are trying to get a place of safety. maybe it's home, maybe someone else. for a moment, it could be just behind a dumpster, behind a rubbish bin or somewhere. you just wanted to go. i eventually got home. of course my mum was worried sick and she locked the doors and my brother and i were still scared and we said we should find a kitchen knife or something and go out and do something. she said "you guys, don't be stupid. you cannot affect any change at this time. nothing". nemane road east of the square at 1023 this morning, there was a sudden and deadly volley from the troops. i remember sitting on the sofa

in the living room, just hearing all this chaos going on around you. the second day, well you still hear sporadic firing and nobody dared to venture too far away, you sort of poke your head out. first alleyway and then on to the secondary roads and then trying to see what ever is going on. the first site was littered slippers, burned out army trucks and i even saw two armoured personnel carriers burnt out from the inside. tangled bicycles definitely driven over by heavy vehicles. i felt an utter sense of desperation and utter despair. i didn't feel there was a future. i felt ijust need to go. my father at that time was in canada. he was able to apply for a family reunion visa for my mother, my brother and i. i was one of the few fortunate ones. at that very moment. that's all from the special

edition of witness here at the british library. don't forget that we will be back at the end of the month for another five extraordinary moment in history. for now, for me and the rest of the witness team, goodbye. hi there. we've got a weather front trying to push east today, but as it does so, it will push into high pressure from scandinavia and europe. it means the front will be we slow—moving. cloudy start to england and scotland,

patchy rain around in the morning. for northern ireland, fog may greet you. it could be dense and slow to clear. through the afternoon, the weather front weakening. much of the rain dying away. starting to see some holes in the cloud for southeast anglia. whether brightening up. the best of the sunshine across western uk and northern ireland once we lose that early—morning fog which could take a little while. 0n early—morning fog which could take a little while. on tuesday, the weather front straight across the country across scotland, england and wales. we, not much rain left on it. increasing amounts of sunshine coming through. warm for the time of the year, temperatures between 16— 21 celsius. and that's you weather. — your. welcome to bbc news,

broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: it looks like a fourth term in office for angela merkel, but her party is punished by german voters. translation: let's not beat about the bush. of course we'd hoped for a better result. but let's not forget we've just had a very challenging four years. for the first time, the right—wing nationalist afd wins seats in parliament — it becomes germany's third party. elsewhere, defying donald trump: american football players kneel in protest against racism and police violence.

in a few hours kurds in iraq will vote on independence, despite warnings of regional chaos. also in the programme, a warning from bali: this volcano