against rohingya refugees fleeing a military crackdown in myanmar. doctors in bangladesh say that many of the women and children who have crossed over the border from myanmar have been sexually assaulted and abused by soldiers. separatist leaders in the spanish region of catalonia insist that polls will open in the coming hours for an independence referendum banned by the central government. spanish police are working to block the vote but catalonia's vice president said ballot boxes would be available at polling stations. the situation in puerto rico is still dire after the devastation caused by two hurricanes. there's also deepening political tension over the us relief effort. in a series of tweets, president trump promised his support, but tried to blame local officials, democrats, and the media for the poor situation. british double agent kim philby spent three decades passing british and american secrets to the kgb until he was discovered as a soviet spy in 1963. he was condemned as a traitor

in britain but regarded as a hero in the then ussr. now, an exhibition celebrating his life as a kgb agent has opened in moscow. our moscow correspondent sarah rainsford has been to see it. to his own country, kim philby is a traitor but in russia, this new exhibition hailed him as a hero. his life story as a soviet spy is on display here, along with a glimpse of his home life. his widow was at the opening, greeted by the head of russia's external intelligence agency. it is the successor to the kgb that kim philby served for three decades. translation: kim philby is a legendary man, an outstanding spy, a man who did much for the victory over fascism in the second world war and contributed to the fight for peace, justice, and freedom. and this is what philby is honoured for here — handing over a huge number

of classified documents from british and american intelligence. some, including one describing an attack on hitler's life, are revealed here for the first time. it is over half a century since he was exposed and escaped to moscow... if there was a third man, were you, in fact, the third man? no, i was not. ..even longer since this virtuoso performance where the committed communist denied he was a soviet mole. he fooled everyone. his story is being revived and retold here, just as modern russia and the west are locked what many call a new cold war. he should not be regarded as a traitor, because he never betrayed anyone. he never betrayed. he was acting along with his beliefs. the double agent retained those beliefs until the very end. in one document here, he hopes to see the red flag flying over the buckingham palace and white house. instead, three years

after his death in moscow, the ussr fell apart. now on bbc news, our world. a handful of raw sapphires. beautiful and valuable. but they also pose a threat to this, the indri lemur, one of the rarest animals on earth. poor people in their thousands have invaded the animal's home, seeking their fortune in the remote forests of madagascar. are you rich? no, not yet. not yet? laughs. not yet rich! they mine the land, but for little reward. very hard, the life here.

in the rush for sapphires, there's a price to be paid. less than a year ago in eastern madagascar, there was a chance discovery of sapphires, sparking a gem rush. tens of thousands of people flocked to the area. and we are now following the route they carved out. when the road ends, we walk. about one hour in, six to go, and i'm carrying half the weight these guys are.

but in these hills, there are hidden dangers. disease, bandits. and everyjourney to the mine has its risks. time to visit the vatomasina — sacred stones. an offering to ancestors ensures safe passage and good fortune. after this, the going gets tougher. a once—narrow forest path churned to mud by thousands of feet. as we walk, the trees close in on us. lemurs calling. and then we hear them. lemurs calling. indri, right above us.

lemurs calling. the mining trail leads directly through their territory. lemurs calling. naturally timid, we have to go to a national park to get this close. the indris live on the fourth—biggest island on the planet, 500km off the coast of east africa. the wildlife is spectacular and rare. many species live here and only here. it is a privilege to see them in their natural habitat, but for how much longer? this has taken more than nine hours of walking, but we are finally here. we are right at the centre of what is the latest sapphire rush, the biggest sapphire rush, for at least 20 years, and still they come, men, women and children.

building homes of wood and plastic, creating a makeshift town in the heart of the forest. there are shops, and bars... ..but no hospital, school, or police station. no—one wants to be here long. but they will stay as long as it takes to get lucky. and the bluer the sapphires, the more money they're worth.

these are poor men working hard, hoping to get rich. tens of thousands of people have moved here to clear the land and dig for gemstones. this was once virgin rainforest. but now, look. mine shafts and spoil heaps scar the landscape. there are thousands of men right across this valley working all day, every day, down these pits, digging out hundreds of bags of sand, and all of them are looking for something no bigger than the size of my fingernail. and this is what they are after.

a handful of stones. it took bruno and his team many days to dig them out. he comes from the other side of the island, more than ioookm away. he has invested all his money on this. every morning, the work takes him down into the dark. the pit is deep. none of these men are locals.

they have travelled from all over the island because there isn't any work at home. so they come here, hoping to find a sapphire that makes their fortune. this one took days to find, but is worth only about $200, split between a team of four. what does it feel like when you find a sapphire? but it's always a gamble. stephane has been here for months and has nothing to show for it. university educated, now he works these pits to support his family. the future, i don't know.

do you want to be here? for this moment. i am here. but when i don't have money to live here, maybe i will go back to my home. do you have family, children, a wife? yeah, i have a wife, one daughter, and three sons. yeah. and you come all the way here to help them? yeah, that's why i came here. what do you want for them, your children? i want them to have a good life. it is not greed which drives men here, but poverty. madagascar is one of the poorest countries on earth.

80% of the population lives on less than $1 a day. there are fewjobs for men like these. keen eyes sieve and search, a promise of wealth in every handful. have you found any sapphires? many, but not very good. so are you rich? no, not yet, not yet rich. but the wealth they seek comes at a cost. the mines eat away at the forest. the villages that spring up pollute the water, and threaten the habitat of the indri lemur. lemurs calling.

can you hear that? that's the sound of indris singing. they are on that side of the valley and are singing to the indris on this side. they are critically endangered and they only live in a very small area of madagascar. they cannot survive in captivity. so when they're gone from here, they're gone for good. we travelled to mitsinjo, a conservation project where the indri are able to thrive. the biggest of all the lemurs, they spend most of their lives in the trees, eating and sleeping in the branches. they produce few young, only breeding every two or three years. this is extraordinary.

these indris come down from the forest canopy. they live in small family groups. this is a group of five — two adults and three juveniles. they eat nothing but leaves and seeds. they need a bigger range, a large territory to live in. so, as the forests are cut around them, they have to retreat to smaller and smaller areas. but when those forests are gone, they will die out. in this park, our guide is one of the world's most foremost authorities on lemurs. he's horrified by what we show him. you can see the scale. and make no mistake, this is all illegal. on paper, the land is protected. but the authorities seem unwilling or unable to stop it. here in madagascar, there are fortunes to be won or lost. the miners who dig up sapphires

sell them on to dealers. they call this man ‘the president'. he holds court, waiting for the sapphires to be brought to him so he can inspect them and offer a price. notice the torch — every dealer needs one — and the rings — you'd have thought business was good. but far from it. but getting a good price for sapphires means keeping them safe first. this man stores them in his mouth because, he says, he has no pockets.

translation: it's calm here but beneath the surface, there's fear too. he said they need security because when you walk from the city, from town to here, there are some people who attack you. bandits? yeah, bandit. is he scared? yes, yes, we are afraid of that. sapphires are sold in england, in france, for rings... yeah. ..necklaces. uh-huh. do you think those rich people understand your life here? i think they, yeah, they understand the life here but they don't care, maybe. when i talk about the government, the government in madagascar, you know, they don't care about us. deep in the forest, a day's walk from the nearest road, the authorities can seem remote, indifferent, and powerless. vibrant, polluted, and poor —

antananarivo, madagascar‘s capital city. from here, the country's elite monitor the sapphire rush with great interest. the sapphire trade is a sensitive issue here. the government really doesn't like to talk about it, and somejournalists have been arrested for trying to expose the nepotism and corruption at its heart. the authorities claim they are trying to regulate the industry. but still, the illegal mining goes on. in recent months, ministers have talked of reform, to tighten the law and control small—scale mining. but ngos working in conservation say what really stops effective policing is a lack of money. officials on the ground can't even buy fuel for their vehicles.

these are in national parks, often, where it's happening. the authorities seem powerless. yes. u nfortu nately, most of the sapphires, gems, even gold rushes that we've had have been in protected areas, sometimes national parks. and it's all illegal, of course, but then, there is very little capacity to enforce legislation generally in madagascar — especially in very, also remote areas, because you have, i mean, they are usually remote areas so it's even more difficult to enforce the law in this case. do you think the government wants to enforce the law?

i wouldn't dismiss also that there is maybe a lack of willingness to act. which means gems from illegal mines continue to flow to the capital and on into backstreet workshops. here, skilled hands and sharp eyes work to unlock the value of the gems. stones will go through several pairs of hands before they reach the capital antananarivo and a place like this, where they're cut and polished for export. a stone sold by a miner for £25 will be sold by a dealer like this for £250, and when it is in the us or in bangkok or in dubai, will go for more than £5,000. shaolin is happy to show this stock. the mining may be against the law but the trade isn't. this is his favourite, sold in the us for more than $2 million. some sapphires are mined legally in madagascar but how can a buyer know? the truth is, they probably cannot. most big dealers come from sri lanka or thailand. in shaolin's view, they buy up malagash sapphires to pass off as their own.

but now, there are calls for greater transparency, demands that each gem be traceable to the mine it came from — a worldwide agreement to reform the trade. but now, there are calls for greater transparency, demands that each gem be traceable to the mine it came from — a worldwide agreement to reform the trade. there could be some kind of international regulations

on the trustability of gems. so that, at the retailer's side, you can know where this came from and how it was produced, whether it was in a sustainable way. so you would call for some kind of international accord, rather like that which regulates the trade in diamonds? yes, yes — and we have started this discussion with the malagasy authorities. it has just started, so i think that with also international support and pressure, this discussion could move forward more quickly. how urgent is that need? that would be urgent because we are not protected from the next rush. it can happen anytime, anywhere in madagascar. and so, it would be urgent to act, it would also help us in the future. that sounds like a good

place to start. but for jonah ratsimbazafy, the lemur expert, real change can't wait. we're almost out of time. there are valuable gems beneath this red soil. unique wildlife in the trees above. the question for the people of madagascar is how do they profit from one without destroying the other? and for those who buy sapphires,

it's impossible to know the real origin, or the true cost of the gems they wear. hello again. it's typical autumn fare over the next few days. the start of a new month, wind, sunshine and rain. these weather systems tracking rain in from the atlantic, deepening low pressure strengthening winds as well. quite a contrast in temperatures. clear skies in scotland, not far from freezing this morning. much milder weather with rain and drizzle further south, low cloud as well. rain on the way for the great scottish run after a chilly start. temperatures lifting

but winds picking up as well. heavy rain across western scotland as the rain moves in and east across the country through the morning, some rain will drizzle at times in england and wales. a glimmer of sunshine, the best in the afternoon across northern ireland. improving across some other western areas later in the day. quite a muggy field across england and wales. a windy day across the uk. winds picking up in wembley for the nfl. drizzly rain at times. you can see the saints vs dolphins game on bbc two later on today. this rain finally clearing away in the evening across eastern parts of england. skies clearing away from showers in the north—west. seeing the weather changing. warmer, tropical, muggy air giving way to a north—westerly winds overnight and into monday. pulling in something a bit colder. this is the former hurricane maria,

sliding through the english channel. a big impact on monday because of the low pressure to the north. winds even stronger by monday morning. 50 mph for rush—hour on monday. 60 mph quite possible across some western and northern parts of scotland. accompanied by a lot of showers as well, quite nasty weather for a while. further south, wind is not as strong. not much rain, a decent day for the south—east. chilly in the wind, temperatures a bit lower on monday. seeing rain clipping the far south—west of england in the afternoon. this is what is left of hurricane maria. rain running through much of england, through the channel, gone by monday. we still have north—westerly winds. by this stage, not as strong, thankfully. some sunshine around, probably not as many showers. quite a chill in the air, 13—14 fairly typical. high pressure on the scene in the week, but not likely to hang around. getting squeezed out by this low pressure, bringing wind and rain

back to the north—west. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's tom donkin. our top stories: horrific stories emerge of sexual violence and brutality against rohingya women and children who've fled the military crackdown in myanmar. we have a special report from a refugee camp in bangladesh. the catalan government insists sunday's vote on independence will go ahead. but the authorities in spain say it's illegal and have launched raids to prevent the poll. puerto rico is still struggling in the wake of two hurricanes, while american relief efforts are becoming tangled in political disputes. and in austria, a controversial new law banning face veils like the burqa or niqab comes into effect.