hello, i'm karin giannone, this is outside source. china's xi jinping has been speaking to the communist party congress. he says the chinese model of growth is working, and mapped out how the country will be modernised by 2050. but he's also tightening his grip on power. we'll analyse the bold claims being made in beijing. it is time for us to take centre stage in the world and make a greater contribution to mankind. more doubt is cast over kenya's presidential election re—run. it's supposed to happen next week, but a senior electoral commissioner has fled the country, saying she fears for her life last night we started the show with news that the islamic state group has been driven from the syrian city of raqqa. now the united nations says it's ready to go in and help those who survived. we have a report from inside the city. and we'll be live in washington where the us president in the middle of a row about what he did, or did not say to the widow of an american soldier. welcome to outside source.

it's the first day of the biggest event in the chinese political calendar — the communist party congress. it's only held once every five years and it determines who will lead the party in the future — and sets out the country's direction. president xi will undoubtedly stay in the top job — he's been accruing more and more power over the past few years. in an epic three—hour speech, he unveiled a vision for a new era where china takes centre stage in the world. from beijing, our china editor carrie gracie reports. like no other party conference, nearly 90 million members, more than 2000 of them here. and they are all tight—lipped on the way in.

the first time i came to one of these was 25 years ago, and the striking thing is that the choreography just does striking thing is that the choreographyjust does not change. china has changed, it now has more billionaires than the united states, but the ruling party is making the point that whatever roles happens, its political rituals go on and on. china a global power which affects us china a global power which affects us all, but with politics as secretive as north korea. there are rumours of a rift between the men at the top, but on stage there is only one voice. translation: the banner of sosa listen and chinese characteristics is flying high for all to see... the banner of socialism. the euro will see china moving closer to the central stage. socialism with chinese characteristics mean so solution

which allows for private enterprise and brings economic growth. —— means socialism which allows for private enterprise. he is determined he will not be swept away by communists and the soviet bloc. translation: no stone has been left unturned, no tolerance shown. a firm message against corruption. behind the rhetoric of this speech isa behind the rhetoric of this speech is a clear mission statement, that only a disciplined and united party under his firm leadership can survive. he has already disciplined nearly 1.5 million people. no wonder they follow his every word. xijingping has follow his every word. xi jingping has set out his goals. modernise the economy, clean up pollution and build a mighty army. it isa pollution and build a mighty army. it is a strategic vision notjust for five years, he it is a strategic vision notjust forfive years, he is it is a strategic vision notjust for five years, he is looking ahead 30 years. it is the party's vision, insiders only. that's speech lasted almost three and a half hours. which has made delegates late for lunch. hunger and

some is £55, we re i iiéfgji we! for - it i 532; we! for china, it sends the message that for china, for the development of china, for the future of china, the communist party and the people are full of confidence. it is almost 30 years since a peaceful democracy protest right here in tiananmen square was crushed by the army. today china is far more rich and far stronger. but its all—powerful leader is more determined than ever not to give his people a say. carrie gracie, bbc news, beijing. so xi jinping's influence over chinese politics and policy over the coming years looks pretty certain. i spoke earlier about what this means to vincent ni from the bbc‘s chinese service, and to celia hatton, the bbc‘s asia pacific regional editor. so far we have seen this

all—important so far we have seen this all—importa nt party congress so far we have seen this all—important party congress open, we have seen all the ceremony that goes around it, all of the delegates going into beijing's great hall of the people, and importantly we have seen xijingping the people, and importantly we have seen xi jingping give the people, and importantly we have seen xijingping give his huge speech, his very lengthy speech, which was notable almost because it was so which was notable almost because it was so long. he forced more than 2000 people to watch and listen to him for more than three hours, which is important. at this point, though, the party congress will go a bit quiet because all of those delegates will basically disappear behind closed doors. we will get some snippets of news throughout the week but we are watching for what will happen next week when the party c0 ng ress closes , happen next week when the party congress closes, we will be looking for some key points. is xijingping, will his name be put into the party constitution? we will be looking for the all—importa nt constitution? we will be looking for the all—important make—up of the top group of people who lead china, how many people will be on the new

standing committee, how many will change, if they follow the rules, if xijingping follows change, if they follow the rules, if xi jingping follows the unwritten party rules, five people should emerge, new people should emerge and go on to the committee, but maybe he will keep some of his cronies, maybe he will not allow so many people on. maybe the size of the committee will shrink. we are watching for who will be on the committee, it might give us be on the committee, it might give us clues as to what will happen five yea rs us clues as to what will happen five years down the road from now when we expect xijingping years down the road from now when we expect xi jingping himself to retire and step back a bit. vincent, how intensely is this being watched and what are they looking for? about everybody in china is watching the speak each, three and a half hours, sitting in front of their television sets looking for their television sets looking for the clues of the direction of travel of the country in the next five yea rs. of the country in the next five years. but i think there are a few big themes to watch for four international observers, the biggest

being what china will do internationally. xijingping, being what china will do internationally. xi jingping, the president, declared that china will bea president, declared that china will be a global power with the confidence and the centrestage international affairs. this is one thing that we will look for. another thing, international investors will be looking for what kind of economic reform the government and the party is going to deliver in the next five yea rs. is going to deliver in the next five years. but for ordinary chinese people, they are probably looking for clues, housing prices, how they will find a good job and how they will find a good job and how they will easily travel around the world and have a basically better life. karin: celia, the phenomenon of seeing one man karin: celia, the phenomenon of seeing one man very karin: celia, the phenomenon of seeing one man very much becoming more and more of a focus in chinese politics? that has been a change. for the past few decades, really, china has been a dictatorship, but ruled over by the communist party. now we are seeing a change where the party is becoming ruled by one man. in the

past five years he has been able to dismantle the past system and rebuild it so he is at the top, at the pinnacle. many people are getting worried, seeing this could be changing into the dictatorship of one person, not a party dictatorship. let's look at kenya, where there's supposed to be a re—run of the presidential election next week. but it's looking less likely. in august this man, president uhuru kenyatta, was announced the winner of the elections. just under a month later though the supreme nullified the result and ordered a re—run. and last week, this man, the opposition leader raila odinga pulled out of the vote. and now the kenyan electoral commission is warning it can't guarantee that the poll will be credible. under such conditions it is difficult to guarantee a free, fair and credible election. we have had critical changes, free, fair and

critical changes, free, fair and critical elections will be compromised. the commissioner went on to say that his attempts to reform the organisation have been blocked. and he urged political leaders to stop interfering in the process. the atmosphere is so tense that a senior member of the electoral commission has fled to the us because of death threats. she spoke to the bbc from new york. you know, i have been agonising for months now about my role at the commission, and my effectiveness at the commission and my safety, actually, and security. and i reached a decision after visiting four counties across the country and seeing my staff, i realise we're in a ditch —— difficult situation, preparing one election. it's a complicated situation — we've asked the bbc‘s anne soy in nairobi to answer the question: what next? here she is. the next few days will be very important and critical in this country, tough decisions must be made and concessions have to be made from all sides of the political divide. the current statement is

worrying many people. business is at a standstill, investors are holding back, even small businesses are suffering because of the political uncertainty, and if talks are not held then the uncertainty will continue and affect everybody in the country. the electoral commission has already met that call to political leaders to go for talks twice before they have been disappointed. the political leaders at this point in time are the two leaders, raila odinga du le kenyatta, the people kenyans are watching to see what they will do if the statement continues that pretends trouble for the country. —— raila odinga and uhuru kenyatta. stay with us on outside source. still to come... stranded for days — the thousands of rohingya muslims fleeing myanmar. we report from the border with bangladesh. mps have tonight supported a labour call for a pause in the roll—out of the government's new combined benefit, universal credit by 299 votes to zero. it's a symbolic victory for labour.

conservative mps abstained and the vote is not binding on the government, as eleanor garnier reports. this is a bit of a symbolic victory for labour, the party is now calling on ministers to get back into the house of commons and respond to what they call their victory. we had a pretty charged debate throughout the day. universal credit has been pretty controversial from the start, with accusations of delays, technical issues and now, of course, people being put onto this new system a re people being put onto this new system are facing, or some of them, facing difficulties and delays into getting smothers payments. theresa may, with her very thin majority, has been subject to threats, if you like, from tory mps who do not think universal credit is working properly. this is outside source live

from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is... president xijinping has hailed a new era for china, telling the communist party congress that it is time for the nation to take centre stage in world affairs. other stories from around the bbc... portugal's interior minister has resigned after dozens of people died in a massive outbreak of forest fires. wildfires have been raging across northern and central parts of the country since sunday, killing at least 41 people. in june, 64 people died in forest fires. that is from the bbc world service. iraqi forces have taken control of further areas previously held by kurdish forces in northern iraq. officials said positions retaken from kurdish peshmerga fighters included the mosul dam. baghdad and the kurds have been disputing territory following the latter‘s referendum on independence. this is one of the most watched videos online — a crash in indiana at a sporting event. one driver rammed his car into

another, ending up on top of it. the other driver was enraged by that — and jumped out of his vehicle, walked around to confront his rival, and began to punch him. the united nations says it's ready to go into raqqa. the city was a stronghold of the islamic state group for three years — but yesterday us—backed forces said they'd retaken it. the challenge isn't over yet. the un says that the 300,000 people who fled the city and are living in nearby camps are in desperate need of help. and the city's infrastructure has been devastated. you can see from these pictures just how much destruction has taken place since 2014, when is took the city. here's raqqa's stadium, for example. another problem is the complicated territorial situation. here it is. the green is the syrian army. the black is where the islamic

state group still hold pockets of territory. this yellow is the us—backed forces — kurdish, christian syriac and arab forces — together they're known as the syrian democratic forces, or sdf. they've said they'll keep fighting is near the border. feras kilani is with the sdf — he sent this report. this is what is left of the so—called islamic state capital. in the centre of the city, the militants‘ black flags have been torn down and replaced. their dream of building an empire is over. translation: can we now see that raqqa is completely free of islamic state ? raqqa is completely free of islamic state? translation: almost 99%. translation: are any areas under is control? not inside. it has taken the

fighters form agreements to declare victory. the fighting has damaged almost every building in the city. hundreds of homes have been destroyed. the stadium was the hub of is intelligence operations in raqqa. the syrian democratic forces expected a huge battle to take it, but they took it unopposed. they gave some is fighters and their families safe passage out of the city. the bbc witnessed hundreds of is members leaving raqqa under the cover of darkness. these experienced militants will survive to fight another day. is may have fled the city, but injuries continue. hundreds of wines and explosives litter the streets. the city has been left broken, and the population. the militants might have been defeated in raqqa, but the

fight against is continues. donald trump has denied he told the wife of a us soldier killed in action that her husband knew what he signed up for. this is one of his tweets. "democrat congresswoman totally fabricated what i said to the wife of a soldier who died in action. sad!" frederica wilson made the allegation — after listening in, to part of a group phone call between the president and the soldier‘s family. this is what she said. sarcastically he said, "but you know he must have known what he signed up for?" and i‘m like, "how could you say that to a grieving widow? i couldn‘t believe... and he said it more than once. so i said this man has no feelings for anyone. this is a young woman with child. in the last few hours donald trump was asked by reporters about the controversy. this was his response. reporter: mr president, what did you

say to that widow? i didn't say what that congresswoman said, didn‘t say it at all. she knows it and she now is not saying it. i did not say what she said, and i would like her to make the statement again, because i did not say what she said. i had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman. did not say what the congresswoman said. most people are not too surprised to hear that. reporter: what did you say? let her make the statement again, you will find out. this is sergeant la david johnson — he was amongst four us soldiers killed in niger by islamist militants last month. his wife is pregnant with their third child. let‘s go to anthony zurcher in washington. it is hard to imagine a more sensitive issue but the white

house is pushing back hard on this. the past administrations have handled the sort of things, interactions between the president and families of grieving servicemembers. but if donald trump is criticise, he pushes back hard. the congresswoman said he mishandled the conversation, saying she heard a mishandling the conversation, being callous, donald trump is not backing down. we saw him spar with the family members of the servicemen killed in iraq, a business... muslim service person killed in iraq. he has a track record. he says that congresswoman wilson was going to change her story but she is sticking with it so far, she says she heard donald trump say this was part of what the soldier signed up for. is not only is donald trump defending himself on this, he has gone on the attack saying that

previous presidents like president obama did not call the families of dead soldiers? we have to remember that this is the third day of this story and it all started during donald trump usman press conference on monday, an impromptu press conference, when he was asked why these us soldiers who were in niger we re these us soldiers who were in niger were killed. he responded by saying he would contact the families and responded by saying past presidents had not. it provoked outrage among members of barack obama‘s administration, who said he had contacted families in the past. yesterday donald trump cited his own chief of staff, john kelly, telling reporters to usjohn kerry if he was contacted when his son was killed in combat in iraq, the administration said he had not been, although he went to the white house for a luncheon for veterans families of vetera ns luncheon for veterans families of veterans killed in action. the big picture here is donald trump

continues to keep the story moving along, continues to push back against the allegations, which in effect makes a story which does not look particularly good, no matter how he handles it, into an ongoing running event and does not show any sign of dissipating. it is politically dangerous, particularly in america where the military is so respected, to be seen to perhaps offend members of a dead soldier ‘s family? to perhaps offend members of a dead soldier 's family? i think the two big problems for donald trump are one but it cuts against his strength, trump campaigned on support of the military, support and vetera ns‘ support of the military, support and veterans‘ affairs, health benefits to wounded soldiers, and it cuts into one of his weaknesses, the perception that he sometimes lacks compassion, sometimes doesn‘t have the human touch as a politician, and the human touch as a politician, and the allegations are he was being an empathetic and callous in this interaction. the fact that the story continues to have legs donald trump

is feeding into it is not helping him whatsoever. the response that probably have served him best was to be that this was a private conversation with family members, he tries to reach out to as many as he can but he wa nts to out to as many as he can but he wants to leave it at that, but that is not the way that trump has operated as a candidate for president, when criticised he returns fire, that is built into his dna. thank you, anthony zurcher in washington. can you be president of the world‘s biggest economy and an international business owner at the same time? donald trump is. but a lawsuit brought by citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington is challeging that in a new york courtroom today. samira hussain is in new york. the case involves constitutional provisions which have rarely been litigated in the centuries since they were included in the constitution. but the case

implicates concerns about corruption of american officials by foreign and domestic officials that are as vital today as they were in the 17805. now, let‘s talk to samira hu55ain. let‘5 now, let‘s talk to samira hu55ain. let‘s hear more about the case and whether it gives i5 let‘s hear more about the case and whether it gives is a clear an5wer about whether there is a conflict of interest. really, what this case is looking at, as you rightly pointed out, what i5 at, as you rightly pointed out, what is being tested is whether you can be both president of the united states and an international busine55man. what the people who have brought this case against the president have argued i5 have brought this case against the president have argued is that you can‘t do both, because as an international business menu automatically entered doing business with international partie5, automatically entered doing business with international parties, and that in fact constitutes an emolument, which is really getting some form of payment5 which is really getting some form of payments from an international entity. the framers of the constitution really wanted to avoid any potential where any holder of

office, be it the president or someone office, be it the president or someone in congress, could be skewed to think of the interests of anyone else other than the united states. how much attention has it attracted now it has got under way? this is the first of three really big cases that are going up against, really trying to take president trump to task in regards to the constitution and his involvement with his businesses. this particular case, i guess, is furthest along in this process. what was argued on wednesday, today, is really whether or not this case have standing, if it has merit. within the next 30 to 60 days, the judge will rule whether they should hear this case or throw it out completely. if they hear the case, it could have some really big locations for the president. thank you, samira hussain, with the

from new york. let‘s show you a tweet from the bbc security correspondent frank gardner, who says that the eu security commission in brussels tells me more about the eu‘s automation to internet companies to do more to take down extremist content. —— ultimatum to internet companies. you can read the full statement on the european commission website. the headline was that there will be 100 million euros, or $117 million, to help towns and cities protect themselves from attacks. another measure was how the eu wants to help members tackle the growing problem of so—called home—grown terrorists. frank gardner spoke to the eu security commissioner. we have a list of about 8000 potential foreign terrorist fighters that have been highlighted by european member states, which is held by europol and circulated

amongst all of the eu member states‘ authorities to keep a watch for them. vulnerable individuals, often vulnerable young men, are enticed into violence by the propaganda and radicalising material but daesh in particular spend a lot of time broadcasting across the internet. working with the internet companies, we are trying to get better at spotting and taking down the material and we said we have got until the end of this year to show as they are making the necessary efforts. if not, we reserve the right european level to pursue legislation next year. the eu security commissioner talking to frank gardner. i will be back with my site in a few minutes, with the latest in the rohingya crisis. your next uk forecast in half an

hour, but at this time we look at some of the main weather stories elsewhere in the world, starting in north america, especially the north—west of the usa, where a major weather changes taking place courtesy of this area of low pressure. it is bringing in heavy rain, mountain snow and strong winds. most importantly, the rain is moving further south into california. you will have heard about the horrible wildfires there, there is rain in the forecast over the next few days as that moves further south, and lower temperatures as well. looking at things for thursday, not just the usa but into british columbia, rain, snow, a messy mix, windy and cooler. the most significant feature of the system is how far south it‘ll take some of the rainfall. it is california, it will not last forever, things look different again by weekend. look at this area of cloud to the east of the philippines, it is a typhoon developing and it will get stronger

as it moves northwards across the next few days. becoming on the forecast at the moment a super typhoon. there was a lot of uncertainty about its northern track and the potential impact onjapan late in the weekend, we will keep you updated. it is over water for now and not a threat to land. to the west of art, drier weather, plenty of dry and sunny weather in hong kong at the moment. this is an area of low pressure which has been over water, the bay of bengal, it will bring some heavy rain as it moves inland through eastern parts of india, as you can see on the forecast for thursday. bright colours on the picture indicate the intensity of the rainfall. sunspots could end up with more than 100 millimetres, may be closer to 200, bringing the risk of flooding in this part of india. as we look at things closer to home in europe we have also had a major

weather change in iberia. a system has brought downpours through, you will have had wildfires in spain, particularly the deadly ones in portugal. there has been some relief, parts of portugal could see more rain to come over the next couple of days. for thursday, storms affecting north—east spain and southern france, to the east of that there is a lot of dry weather across europe and into scandinavia, although it is chilly here. a band of wet weather edging in to western parts of the british isles to thursday. concerns about how much rain there will be in northern ireland, it could turn much wetter through the day as well to parts of south—west england at the south and west of wales. it looks like worse for some at the weekend, another deep area of low pressure heads towards the uk. more about that and the weather for the week ahead coming up in half an hour. hello, i‘m karin giannone, this is outside source. china‘s xi jinping has been speaking to the communist party congress. he says it is time for the nation to

ta ke ce ntre he says it is time for the nation to take centre stage in world affairs. stranded for days, the thousands of rohingya muslims fleeing, we report from the border with bangladesh. we look back on the 2002 moscow theatre siege and here one woman‘s account of the events of that night. two days after the killing of malta‘s most famous investigative journalist and a car bomb attack, the country‘s prime minister says her death is a nightmare. and every day, outside source features bbc journalists working in over 30 languages. your questions are always welcome.