this is bbc news. my name is mike embley. our top stories: the un is accused of failing to do more to protect myanmar‘s rohingya muslims. atrocities and abuse have sent 500,000 fleeing across the board. rya nair and the row over compensation — under an avalanche of criticism over cancelled flights, the airline now faces a friday deadline. german police hunt for a man suspected of poisoning jars of baby food in order to blackmail supermarkets. and all america's presidents in one place. a new exhibition takes us up close and personal with the men who've shaped us history. hello. the united nations is being accused of a series of failures in the lead—up to the

violence in myanmar. the un secretary—general has described the crisis there as the world's fast—developing refugee emergency and a human rights nightmare. more than half a million rohingyas have now fled to bangladesh. around 90% of the population of myanmar is buddhist. but a million rohingya muslims, who are denied citizenship, live in rakhine state. the latest violence broke out in august, when rohingya militants launched attacks on security forces. the bbc‘sjonah fisher has seen internal un documents, outlining concerns about the way the conflict and the crisis have been handled. in the months since rohingya muslims first began fleeing into bangladesh, the united nations has been at the forefront of the response. delivering aid and making robust statements, condemning the burmese authorities. the situation remains, or seems, a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

but could, and should, the un have done more before the killing and burning started? really disturbing to think that some of this could possibly have been prevented. caroline vandenebeele is a lawyer and aid worker, and between 2013 and 2015, she ran the office of the top united nations official in myanmar. this is her, renata dessallien, a canadian. it was a stressful time. miss vandenebeele says her boss was so afraid of upsetting the burmese government that any suggestion that they stand up for the rohingya's human rights was off—limits. even in internal meetings. well, you could do it but it had consequences. and it had negative consequences. it had consequences that you were maybe no longer be invited to meetings, or it had consequences that your travel authorisations were not cleared. an atmosphere was created that

talking about these issues was simply not on. miss vandenebeele says she repeatedly warned her boss about the possibility of rohingya ethnic cleansing but she was labelled an alarmist and a trouble maker and frozen out of herjob. the un acted the way it did, in very simple terms, because it was, um, preferring to keep its good relations with the government over protecting the rohingyas. her comments have been confirmed, off the record, by other senior un staff. thomas quintana is more used to speaking out — this is him when he was, for six years, the un's special rapporteur, for human rights in myanmar. both muslim and buddhist... he told me via skype from argentina, that miss dessallien tried to stop him covering rohingya issues when he visited, and asked him not to go to northern rakhine state. that's why and yhere was no more answer in this respect. it was just a stance, erm, trying to not to bring troubles with the authorities, basically.

the un is aware that it does have a problem. this report commissioned by the un, two years ago, and leaked to the bbc, says the un focus too heavily on the oversimplified hope that development investment itself will reduce tensions. a memo prepared earlier this year for the new secretary general, called the un in myanmar "glaringly dysfunctional". could the united nations have stopped this burmese army offensive? the answer is almost certainly "no". but things just might have been different if there had been a coherent strategy over the last fe years, demanding that the rohingyas basic rights be respected and making aid to other communities conditional on the rohingyas being treated better. after those damaging internal reports, the un announced,

injune, that miss dessallien would leave herjob. but myanmar seems to quite like her and has blocked her replacement, so she's still here. translation: she is fair and she is not biassed, so whoever is biassed towards the rohingya won't like her. miss dessallien declined to be interviewed for this piece but in a statement her office said... ..and stressed that she had the backing of the un secretary general. in the last month, half a million rohingya have fled myanmar into bangladesh. their tales of atrocities and abuse, a reminder of the warnings that went unheard. hard to say which action would have been able to prevent this, but what i know for sure is that the way it was done was never going to be never going to prevent it.

why not? the way it was done simply was ignoring the issue. jonah fischer, bbc news, yangon. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the spanish government has defended its decision to send thousands of extra police to catalonia to try and stop an independence referendum this weekend. catalonia's devolved government has called on schools across the region to open, so they can be used as polling stations on sunday. the government in madrid says the vote is unconstitutional. the extremist group that calls itself islamic state has released an audio recording of what it says is its leader, abu bakr al—baghdadi. there've been several claims that he'd been killed. the recording includes references to recent events, including the tension between north korea and the united states. president trump has defended his administration's response to the hurricanes in the us territory of puerto rico, insisting first responders are doing a greatjob. he's been under pressure to lift shipping restrictions,

to help get supplies to the island, and has now done so. nearly 3.5 million people are struggling with fuel, water and medical shortages eight days after hurricane maria. the uk's aviation regulator has told the low—cost carrier ryanair it has less than 2a hours to sort out compensation for hundreds of thousands of passengers hit by mass flight cancellations. the dublin—based airline has been told it must make clear to customers they are entitled to be re—routed using another carrier. here's richard westcott. it is europe's biggest and busiest airline. but ryanair has been made to look a little small today. accused of persistently misleading nearly three quarters of a million customers, the uk regulator has now threatened them with legal action. we want them to make it crystal clear that every single passenger,

what they are entitled to in terms of rerouting expenses and compensation where applicable. we do not think that is a big task, the law is specific. there is no disputing the law. it is just about the willingness of rya nair. the regulator says that airlines are meant to rebook passengers on rival carriers if they cannot replace the cancelled flight. but listen to ryanair‘s ceo last week. we will not pay for flights on other airlines. it is not part of entitlement, we cannot afford the high fares of our competitors. there are many confused customers contacting the bbc. matthew, in an online chat with the airline, told them the they are obligated to reroute him. ryanair replied no, they are not. duncan says "they refused to book me on another flight, except for the next rya nair one on wednesday, " which was three days later. kevin says nowhere did they say

they could rebook the flight sith another airline. the caa has written to ryanair again tonight, setting out a series of deadlines and by five pm tomorrow they must put more information on the website about how people can reroute flights and claim back expenses. they have been told to then e—mail passengers about their rights by the end of next week. it is rare for you to go public like this. you must be angry. we are furious. we do not understand why this needs to drag on for weeks and why at the end of this process, customers still can be unclear about they are entitled to when ryanair cancelled hundreds of thousands of journeys. if the caa takes further action, it could land the airline with a multimillion pound lawsut. rya nair say it will comply with the regulator and has issued instructions to call centre staff yesterday. 3a winter routes were suspended, including five in scotland. i have serious concerns

about the decisions taken by ryanair that will cause disruption to many passengers travelling to and from scotland and london and to other destinations across europe. and passengers were concerned as well. we have to hire a minibus to go to newcastle. and then try to get a flight to barcelona. it isjust... yeah, ryanair. i shouldn't have booked with them. there is a global shortage of pilots right now. plenty of rivals are recruiting. ryanair did not have enough crews to cover the holidays. after cancelling 20,000 flights out of the blue, it is promising no more problems ahead. china has announced new measures to

increase pressure on pyongyang. north korean companies operating in china will have to close down by the end of the year. these moves are welcomed by the american government, which believes chinese policy is now shifting. let's get more on that and speak to the political adviser, political analyst on north—east asian and american policy. stephen, how effective the using this new sanctions will be? do you think they will ever be implemented? it is likely that they will be implemented. we do have some time before january to see how that goes. however, it is unlikely that they will be very harsh. at the same time, these sanctions are adhered to by china. both russia and china are doing other things to soften the blow. it isn't really in china's interest to help the us and un too

much. it says it doesn't want north korea to collapse. and it wants to see america off the peninsular altogether. you are right about its interests. it doesn't really see the endgame if north korea is squeezed as hard as it can be squeezed. i don't agree that the north koreans are primarily interested in kicking the us off the peninsular. it was quite clear in the 90s when they made the best deal they ever had that what they really want is an end to animosity with the us and their access to security and economic growth and political settlement. so it is that bargain from the 1990s that really would have to be returned to by the us and the un for this to go forward. do you think that's a possibility and could the un and south korea do more to make that possible? i do think that the

un and south korea could do that. this is largely because the us on the one hand has really lost now the institutional, political and intellectual capability to manage and run new negotiations with north korea. it simply isn't there. the us is involved in several systemic problems right now and even if it we re problems right now and even if it were to get back to talks that people talk about, there's virtually no likelihood this would be comprehensive, that they would be in visioning and end state that the north koreans could possibly agree to. so that agreement back in the 19905 to. so that agreement back in the 1990s is the one to look to. the south koreans have just elected a new president. they are the most flexible and capable actor right now in this arena. but so far the president has decided to come up and support the us, so it falls to the

un, what the un does now will be very important in the next couple of months. very interesting. thank you very much. stay with us if you can on bbc news. much more to come, including this. a close—up look at every us president. in all russia's turmoil, it has never come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people have feared for so long is playing out its final act here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world. but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. israel's right—winger ariel sharon visited the religious compound and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites, an idea that's unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division,

germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the un has been accused of a series of failures in the lead—up to the crisis in myanmar. half a million rohingya muslims have left the country in the last month. less tha n less than 2a hours given to brian and to sort out cancellations to many passengers. a researcher at

deakin university at deakin university australia. it is pretty grim from the rohingya's point of view. it is desperately sad. we are seeing strong words from the security council. from antonio guterres. but this highlights the problem in terms of the un's long—term strategy with myanmar. words have not worked. what is going to to encourage myanmar to change attitudes towards the rohingya is going to be actions, not words. what kind of actions? i think at this stage, getting rid of military cooperation with myanmar‘s military must be a given. secondly, something you could broadly characterise as aid and trade. we need to make sure, as an international community, that the billions of dollars that have been spent in myanmar, and that continue to be spent today,

that needs to be made contingent upon the rohingya's rights being guaranteed. suggesting that myanmar‘s government should change genocidal policies towards the rohingya as a guarantee for continued international aid funding, i don't think that is setting the bar unreasonably high. the next step if that is unsuccessful should be a consideration of whether or not the international community should considered trading with myanmar to be acceptable. myanmar is showing itself to be a pariah state. it is out of step with international standards and should be treated as such. police are hunting an extortionist threatening to poison food in jars.

german officers have recovered a small amount of baby food contaminated with a liquid used in antifreeze. german police want to question this man, thought to be in his 50s. cctv footage shows him with an empty basket wandering around a drugstore, in the city of friedrichshafen, near lake konsta nz. he is suspected of poisoning jars of baby food, in an attempt to extort millions of euros from supermarkets. translation: this is an extraordinary case of blackmail and we have to consider that we are chasing a very ruthless criminal who is risking very serious damage to people's health. several supermarkets received an email threatening to poison food throughout europe unless an 11.7 million euros ransom was paid. the email said 5jars of baby foos had been poisoned, as proof the threat was serious. the jars were found to contain ethylene glycol, an odourless toxic liquid used to make antifreeze.

authorities in south—west germany sais there is no need to panic — no cases of poisoning have been reported so far but shoppers should check products for signs of tampering. translation: correctly packaged food in glass jars usually have a cover which is curved due to the vacuum inside and you hear a clacking sound when you open it. this footage has been made public so that german police can, if necessary, rule this man out of their enquiries. 220 officers are working on the case and the authorities say they are taking the threat very seriously. sarah corker, bbc news. an updated exhibition at telling of

the country's story through the us presidents. few individuals have defined america's history as much as the nation's 45 presidents, but this is no hallowed hall of veneration. these portraits are intimate encounters with men who were deeply human and mired in contradiction. they are very important to our identity as americans, to consider those contacts and to understand the president is not as these glorified men, but as individuals who had flaws and defects of character like everybody else. that context is provided in various ways throughout the gallery. this is the andrewjackson page, offering additional information and images, including a caricature of jackson as a shakespearean villain. the museum doesn't shy away from controversy. here we learn that jackson's famous iron will was recognised as the genocide and removal of native americans.

the indian removal act, signed by jackson in 1830, makes the seventh president hard to comes to terms with. the exhibition highlights the debate through art and artefacts. this is an indian peace medal created during jackson's administration for a gift for indian americans during treaty negotiations. because jackson removed so many native americans from their land, it is a hollow gift. that's why it's here, we wanted to tell that side of the story. 0ther portraits display different aspects of humanity. we see the portrait of grover cleveland, a surprisingly happy richard nixon and an ephemeraljohn f kennedy, one of only two portraits by women in the show. we also discover that the often overlooked

number 11, was arguably the most influential president, securing land that turned america into a pacific nation. the centrepiece remains the famous lansdowne portrait of george washington. fittingly, it stands at the entrance, inviting us to explore the presidency and perhaps gain a better understanding of the current white house occupant. i think context is everything. the more we learn about all 44 presidents, the more we are prepared tojudge the present. and there's more to come. the gallery has commissioned a portrait of barack 0bama and it will soon hang here. so, watch this space. a new film is giving a fresh spin to

the western genre. it's from south africa and aims to showcase its film talent. we spoke with the writer and producer. it is a modern day south african western. it is the story of a smalltown told through a group of quys a smalltown told through a group of guys we first meet as kids and then as adults fighting for the freedom of their immunity over 20 years. we did not want this to be gimmicky,

in that it is south africa, there are horses, guns, we wanted it to be true of the things of the west and the route of the west and what you learn is the social and political undertone. it is the perfect lens to look at where we are as a country. i think there is a tendency in south africa to play hollywood at its own game rather than being boldly south african. plus, there was always going to be local language, local castes, we a re going to be local language, local castes, we are going to put our antiheroes and he rose in. if you grew up and loved westerns, you will love this film and it will resonate ata love this film and it will resonate at a deeper level. a three—year rolled has been

anointed the goddess of kathmandu. she will now live in a temple palace until she reaches puberty. she will only be allowed to leave the temple only be allowed to leave the temple on special occasions and be separated from her parents. an investigation by the bbc has raised serious questions about how the un has handled the rohingya crisis. the head of the un in myanmar has denied the claim. that is our major story. thank you for watching.

hi there. over the last few days, we've been carefully tracking the progress of hurricane maria, which wrecked dominica and puerto rico. lots of weather in the atlantic. a big area of low pressure and a powerfuljetstream over that, a big swell of cloud that looks like a massive ear pushing a band of rain eastwards over the uk over the next 12 hours or so. we will see some rain as we start friday, our main weather front across west scotland and western england and wales. ahead of that, patches of light rain, drizzle and foggy conditions over the hills of southern england, particularly salisbury plains and the downs. a mild start to the morning, temperatures 16—17 degrees even at eight o'clock in the morning. rain beginning to clear away from western england and wales, some sunshine coming out. the rain could be heavy for a time across north—west england. wet weather with us for some, and a soggy commute to work. most places have the chance of seeing some morning sunshine. through the day, brisk winds pushing rain eastwards across the country. eventually clearing away from east anglia, lincolnshire and yorkshire as well. some blustery showers into northern ireland and western scotland, some quite heavy.

starting to feel a good deal cooler across the north—west. temperatures 111—15 degrees. potentially reaching as high as 20 degrees, some sunshine across eastern england. further clumps of showers coming in across north—western uk, wind staying up overnight. wetter skies across central and eastern england. where those winds fall, it could turn quite chilly. temperatures potentially getting down into single figures in the countryside. the weekend, a mixed bag. a reasonable start, but turning wet and windy during the second half of the weekend. starting off with the forecast for saturday. for most of us, a decent start with some sunshine. quite windy across north—western areas. not entirely dry everywhere, one or two showers mostly

across the western side. 1a degrees the top temperature in glasgow, 18 in london. those temperatures coming down a little bit. as for maria, it could bring heavy rain to southern parts of england on monday. quite a bit of uncertainty. getting mixed up in that weather system on sunday, in any case, bringing wet and windy weather to the uk. gales, even severe gales across the coast across the southwest of the country. blustery showers feeling cool once again across the south—west. so, saturday the better of the two days the weekend. this is bbc news. the un secretary general has described the crisis in myanmar as the world's fastest developing refugee agency and a human rights nightmare. after million rohingya muslims have fled across the border to bangladesh. the uk's aviation regulator has told the low—cost carrier ryanair it has less than 2a hours to sort out compensation for hundreds of thousands of passengers hit

by mass flight cancellations. the dublin—based airline has been told it must make clear to customers they are entitled to be re—routed using another carrier. police in germany are hunting an extortionist who threatened to plant poisoned foodstuffs in supermarkets in the south of the country and elsewhere in europe unless retailers paid millions of dollars. officers in the city of konstanz have recovered a small amount of baby food contaminated with a liquid used in anti—freeze. the works of beatrix potter have broughtjoy to millions of fans of all ages across the world for well over a century.