has sacked the catalan leader, carles puigdemont, his cabinet and the director—general of police after catalonia formally declared independence from spain. mr rajoy has announced elections in the autonomous region for december the 21st. residents in the large parts of libya's capital have been left without running water for more than a week. a southern rebel group has cut off supplies to try to force a rival faction to release their imprisoned leader. many people have been forced to drill their own wells to survive. an italian man who's hiv—positive has been jailed for 2h years after being found guilty of intentionally infecting 30 women through unprotected sex. valentino talluto seduced young women he met through internet dating sites. in ukraine, more than 30,000 children with disabilities are living in state—run institutions. a few are orphans,

but most have families, yet they spend much of their lives in children's homes, some in shockingly bad conditions. nikki fox reports for our world. ukraine, independent from the soviet union since 1991. in communist times having a disability would more than likely mean you would spend your entire life in an institution. that still happens today. more children live in state care in ukraine than anywhere else in europe. a third have a disability. you can't really say how bad they are until you see them, until you are there, because these are dark places. them, until you are there, because these are dark placesi them, until you are there, because these are dark places. i nikki fox and i'm here to find out what life is like for the thousands of disabled people who live in institutions just like this one. disabled people who live in institutionsjust like this one. i'm very embarrassed. 750 institutions. it isa very embarrassed. 750 institutions. it is a huge number. legally parents

can leave their child in a state—run institution and it encouraged. but some families choose instead to fight to keep their children. now the government wants all institutions closed, at what will happen to those whose only know this kind of life? hidden away in the ukrainian countryside, where the nearest town is 60 kilometres away. this is where 86 disabled men and boys live. i've been given access to this government run institutions,

are placed so many don't see. there's little routine and many of those living here aren't clean. there's just not enough staff here to look after everyone. abuse and self harm happens in places like these. so green paint is used to help staff keep track of injuries. for most of this is all they've ever known. in this tiny room i meet yuri. he's 15 years old. even though he's had a family, he has lived in this orphanage since he was four. there are just 12 orphans here. this orphanage since he was four. there arejust 12 orphans here. the rest have families. loved ones they rarely see. how long have the kids 01’ rarely see. how long have the kids or adults being here? the nurse tells me that this man has been here for 20 years. she says he is 32. even at this age they are still seen

as children. the man who runs this place was keen for me to see how they work with the boys. these are really lovely. thank you. i was also shown as singing lesson with volunteers. i'm told its a way of improving communication, but activities are sporadic. another room paints a very different picture. this is the reality for so many disabled people who live in institutions. there are some people who will see the film and think this is not the right situation for anyone to live in. emotions are everywhere when you are

inside. it really hits you. it really hits you. one minute i was incredibly sad, the next minute i was being halved by someone and i was being halved by someone and i was smiling and so it's nothing like i'd ever experienced before —— being hugged. across ukraine there are more than 100,000 children in institutions. it estimated around 90% have families like andre. his mother tatiana was told an orphanage was the best place for him because he has cerebral palsy. did you feel like you were forced to make that decision, to have to give andre a way? but the reality was very different. pining for his mother, andre became

seriously ill. instead of taking him to hospital, staff at the institution just left him in a to hospital, staff at the institutionjust left him in a broom to die. —— room. how does that make you feel? tatiana lives in a remote village with no support or services her son needs. because of this she felt she had no choice but to give him up. closer to the capital, i meet a

group of parents who have built up their own services. larissa? nikki. a small centre providing essential care. offering families to support they need to keep their children at home. as i'm shown around, i meet young people with some of the most complex needs. oh, hello! they learn ways of communicating and there are plenty of full list —— fully trained staff on hand to look after each child. not only does sasha come to this centre to help her son developed, it also gives her a break. can you imagine what your life would be like if he wasn't able to come here? when sasha gave birth to her son,

she was told to leave him in an orphanage and have a healthy child. despite such pressure, she refused to give him up, but it's taken its toll. it gets tiring, doesn't it? this place can only do so much. sashais this place can only do so much. sasha is still battling against the widely held belief that here

disabled children are not able to live a normal life. but there is some hope. ukraine is changing and there is now the political will to make sure children are no longer spend hidden away from society —— childhood is no longer. this man has a difficult task. i want to have this as a national programme... he is heading up the government's radical reforms to close all institutions, eradicating a system that has been in place for nearly a century. i'm very embarrassed because 750 institutions around ukraine and it's a huge number. more than 100,000 children live in institutions. more of them have families, but because these families can't give enough support, they gave their children to these institutions. they've never seen a

city, they've never seen a train, they've never seen a market. every day nothing happens. that's why it is about hope. it's about hope. they have no hope. the change in the law will help give these children and theirfamilies more will help give these children and their families more rights. time for reform and reform for children with disabilities means we will support the family, we will give an opportunity to stay at home and to have enough services to live a normal life. one thing that has already changed, a new law that means all schools in ukraine must teach disabled students. iam i am almost ukrainian! in a secondary school in kiev, this is one of a small number of disabled due to its can now take part in

lessons with other children and she loves it. —— he loves it. the main challenge for him is getting to his classes. the school has tried to be more accessible, she has tried to be more accessible, she has to rely on his dad to get him around. how much do you love school? give mea around. how much do you love school? give me a smile. there it is. so many families here don't have that support. they don't have any support, so you have a child, your child has a disability, is got to get your head around that and venue got to find out, how am i going to look after my child? and part of thatis look after my child? and part of that is education, because with that there's social interaction and all those wonderful things that we probably all take for granted. so for the families, no one is going to wa nt for the families, no one is going to want their kids to miss out on that. no one is really going to want their kids to go on an institution. while

i've been in ukraine i spent time at an orphanage or than three hours' drive from the capital, kiev. now i've been given access to another state—run institution that is much closer. it's a home for girls and women up closer. it's a home for girls and women up to the age of 32. and it feels very different. in every room there are activities going on, from dancing to selling. everyone here is engaged. —— sewing. these young people have a range of different disabilities and even though the majority have parents, this is their home. under the government's new reforms, institutions like this one will close. there is strong resista nce will close. there is strong resistance from many who run them. do you accept that there are other

institutions, very different from your one, institutions, very different from yourone, and institutions, very different from your one, and the conditions are, your one, and the conditions are, you know, the conditions are a lot worse? do you think it is located to child could be in an institution for the whole of their life? —— do you think it isa whole of their life? —— do you think it is a cave not all of the residents agree with her. bachar is 20 years old, she came here when she was 12. she spends her time reforming and

reciting pruitti with a four performing and reciting poetry which is able to do here, but dasha the best place to be her life. —— does not want this place to be her life. would you like to live one day if you could? would you like to live one day if you could ? the would you like to live one day if you could? the lady who runs the place is pretty adamant that she doesn't think institutions should be closed. she said something that we've all been thinking, you know, it is going to happen to these kids, these kids that have got various disabilities, some very complex. it's all well to good to say let's close these places but what is there? what will be their life after? talking about reforming institutional care systems, people are asking me what about the children with severe disabilities? you will never do something for them? people can't imagine that in them? people can't imagine that in the other countries, these children can be living a normal life. and they will be in small group homes,

do develop alternative care for these children. there are no easy a nswe i’s. these children. there are no easy answers. many disabled children and adults will need some kind of residential care. but this will take time and money. i visited to make very different orphanages at their hundreds across ukraine with many thousands of disabled children. so there is no rehabilitation? the neglect many experiencing care was highlighted in a report by the charity disability rights international, published in 2015. they visited dozens of institutions and documented how bad some of these places are. the result of research done that institutions, for the disabled child, stunt not only their physical growth but their psychological growth and we knew where there you can easily see that.

you see a baby will not integrate with the world unless the world into rucks with the baby. and i think it is bad not only for people who are in the orphanages but also for the staff members. they all get tangled in the system that strips a lot of human traits from both sides. you cannot really say how bad they are until you see them, and surely with there, because these are dark places. i think sometimes it is, as a person or even before as a prison or even worse than a prison. andre was left in one of those dark places to die. he was lucky he was rescued by volu nteers to die. he was lucky he was rescued by volunteers who forced their way into his room. now his story is one of hundreds. —— group. natasha is one of the nurses who helped him recover in hospital. she is now his foster mother. you have such a

lovely relationship with him, it is quite wonderful. he seems like a different boy with you now. are you proud of the progress he's made? natasha is desperate to keep andriy. but his future is still uncertain. take andriy who we met, he is with a foster fa m ily take andriy who we met, he is with a foster family but they are looking for international adoption for him. is that concern you, the fact that there are no services, there may not bea there are no services, there may not be a solid family for him that he will have to be adopted abroad? we wa nt to will have to be adopted abroad? we want to have ukrainian family but we understand it is very hard to find.

not because we have no, not in loving families but we have a lack of services. it's why maybe he would be better for of services. it's why maybe he would be betterfor him of services. it's why maybe he would be better for him to find of services. it's why maybe he would be betterfor him to find an international family. be betterfor him to find an internationalfamily. as be betterfor him to find an international family. as for me, yeah, it's not good feelings. we need support. i'm talking with an international agency and its different government, different countries, about support for ukraine. because no one country, poland, bulgaria, romania, they didn't do this themselves. with thousands of disabled children and young people in need, finding a loving family is not an easy task. it was one of those who dreamt of a different life. in desperation and with a bit of government help from nikolai, he used social media to

find an adoptive family. and the video went viral. eventually after a life spent hidden away in institution, the 23—year—old got what he wanted. she in ukraine, i've met parents who have fought to keep their children out of institutions. alexander and his life have an apartment on the third floor with no lift, they have adapted their life in order to raise their son. sasha is now setting up her own centre. she wants to help other disabled children. and andriy is finally getting the love he need. for now. but i've also met children and

adults who have no one. day is still that acceptance that if you have a child that has a disability it is fine to go into an institution so while the government will be putting forward plans, including education, small residential places for this up they've —— disabled people, it will ta ke they've —— disabled people, it will take time but it isn'tjust that, it is also changing attitudes, society has to change. it cannot be just bought that this disabled child will go into an institution and that is except did. and the people we met stick with me, they stick in my head, because no matter how many plans are made, and how much change happens, most people are never going to see anything other than those four walls or different reactions of those walls, but will be their life. go for different variations. —— that will be their life. hello.

the weekend's looking quite chilly and blustery, particularly across northern britain. it's not going to be windy all through the weekend but saturday especially blustery across scotland and northern england, around the pennines, where we'll be touching gale force at times. and on top of that we've got a lot of cloud heading our way, certainly not looking sunny across the north. the best of the sunshine is expected further south. in the short term we've got clearer skies across southern areas where we have the high pressure. you can see quite a few isobars already there across scotland so the winds are strengthening. these are the temperatures first thing on saturday, pretty much the same right across the country, but the night, the following night, will be colder. so saturday dawns on a bright note across many southern and central as well as eastern areas but through the course of the morning into the afternoon, the clouds will be thickening, the winds will be strengthening, there will be some spots of rain around as well. i think the strongest gusts of wind

will probably be around the pennines towards the east of the pennines too, gusts approaching 40—50, maybe even more, right over the tops of the pennines. further south, the winds won't be anywhere near as strong and we'll have some sunshine around. so actually if you live across southern parts of the uk, and this is lunchtime, the weather isn't looking bad at all. so there will be some fine weather around on saturday, itjust won't be everywhere. many western and northern areas will be shrouded with cloud and this is where it'll feel coolest, although the temperatures still not too bad, averaging around 1a degrees across the uk. the winds will probably peaked later in the afternoon. it will still remain windy through the course of saturday night and then there will be a change in the wind direction. look at that, the winds will tend to ease across the uk, so sunday won't be anywhere near as windy and there's more sunshine on the way. just a few sprinkles, a few showers there across the north—east of scotland, maybe down into east anglia, but on balance, a lovely day. cooler, temperatures only into single figures across scotland and northern england. pretty stormy on sunday across many

western and central parts of europe, a huge area of low pressure sending strong cold winds from the north. we're underneath the high pressure so big contrast between the east and the west. the winds will fall light sunday night into monday. the skies will clear and we're in for a chilly one. the temperatures in towns and cities monday morning will probably be around three degrees across the northern half of the uk, a little bit less cold in the south. but certainly outside of town, cold enough for a touch of frost. it's expected to be the coldest night of the autumn so far, so sunday night into monday. and then by tuesday the temperatures should start recovering again. this is bbc news. i'm gavin grey. our top stories: si, si, si. spain imposes direct rule on catalonia, hours after its politicians vote for independence. the prime minister, mariano rajoy, sacks the catalan leader, his cabinet and chief of police, vowing to restore the rule of law.

translation: this independence is very sad. it causes anguish. that is what all catalans who are not for independence felt today. but catalan separatists remain defiant, saying the independence vote means they no longer fall under spanishjurisdiction. also on the programme: