. doctors in britain today former russians by said that he is improving rapidly and is no longer in the critical condition. sergei skripal and his daughter were poisoned by at nerve agent a month ago. facebook says it is tightening up ago. facebook says it is tightening up procedures for people wanting to place issue —based adverts. more comprehensive id will now be required as well as a physical mailing address. brazil's top court has rejected a request by the compatriot‘s former president to remain free while he appeals against a conviction. a deadline for handing him over has now passed. medical sources in gaza say six people have been killed and dozens wounded. during more palestinian protest on the border with israel, the israeli army said it opened fire on people who marched. that is it for me at ten o'clock, client will be here with a full round up of the news but

first of all it is time for witness. hello and welcome to witness with me razia iqbal. i'm here at the british library to guide you through another five extraordinary moments from the recent past. we will need to people who lived in the same unique peace community in israel. the de—mining expert who accompanied princess diana on her walk across an angolan minefield and the choir founded to help heal the divisions caused by the bosnian war in the 1990s. but first, after the collapse of the soviet union rapid market reforms in

russia in early 1992 led to widespread hardship. indre was russia's economy minister responsible for implementing with shock therapy. he told witness why he's proud of what he achieved. after the collapse of the ussr, russia had no state apparatus, none at all. there was no army, no customs, no central bank, no national currency, etc etc. . for thousands of bureaucrats in moscow's centralised and history of the future looks uncertain. already they're not sure who they work for, russia or a soviet union that has been declared dead. all foreign loans were frozen and we had no reserves. the country is entering a

twilight zone between old and the new. what comes next could easily be the chaos and anarchy of which mr gorbachev repeatedly warned. on some days of the total foreign reserves of our once mighty power were $25 million. million, while ourforeign debt was $118 billion. we had a real threat of hunger in large cities where most food supplies were important for —— imported from abroad. across the road from my moscow home we had a large shop. on the day of my ministerial appointment, i went in after work to buy something to eat. the shop was com pletely buy something to eat. the shop was completely bare, no bread, no meat,

no sausages, no nothing. what were our options? to wait until the economy grinds to a halt or to remove the old communist price controls. yeltsin was ready to do it, so we did it. the long haul toward a free—market economy began injanuary with toward a free—market economy began in january with the lifting of state been told prices which immediately rocketed sky—high, this in turn fuelled more inflation. overthe year it amounted to more than 2000%. of course the transition was tough, but that is normal. these boys do a brisk trade as big mac vectors. for a small commission they will take your order and jump a small commission they will take yourorderandjump the a small commission they will take

your order and jump the line for you at mcdonald's, earning themselves in one day as much as their parents earnin one day as much as their parents earn ina one day as much as their parents earn in a month. yes, indeed. people went out and started to trade. it gave many a job, it allowed them, let's be frank, to keep body and soul together, and it also allowed the market to develop. it was a messy start to private enterprise bassoon streets were full of stalls and small shops, mostly in imported goods at exorbitant prices. as soon as the gay people economic freedom they began to trade in consumer goods, the cold food, drink and close, all of that on their own initiative without central planning or command. people talk about the horrible 90s, about our mistakes and abuses, but i did away with consumer

shortages in this country. adrei nechaev in moscow. and next, during her lifetime, mother teresa became famous as the catholic nun who dedicated her life to caring for the destitute and dying in the slums of call caught up. she founded the missionaries of charity to look after a babies and to help the poorest of the poor. this woman was a volunteer as a young girl. it was known as one of the poorest cities in the world. you would see people who were lying in a pool of their bomb it, there x screens, until the clothes, covered in lice. ——

excretions. so to go and take them home and clean them, it's took a lot of kindness to do the kind of work that they did. mother teresa and her sisters of charity live in one of the poorest slums, in addition to the poorest slums, in addition to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the sisters ta ke chastity and obedience, the sisters take one of dedication to the service of the poorest of the poor. mother teresa's home was a five—minute walk from where i lived, and we saw her every morning on the way to school. we had a nun who came and said if you like you can come and said if you like you can come and help. it was quite overwhelming. they have rows and rows of little babies. we went and spent a morning helping

to give the babies about. it was nice to hold a bottle and feed a baby and the children needed affection a lot, so the babies liked being cuddled. my my sister went around with mother teresa's nines and they used to regularly visit washington in it and pick up the bees from abortion buckets and pails. —— and pick up live babies from abortion buckets. we once thought abb thrown into a garbage dump. i found the very authoritarian way in which the order was run not something that i would ever be able to agree with. i remember thinking that the nuns

lived such an austere life. she said you should suffer from cracked —— suffer for christ and offer your suffering to god and i could not bear that because i thought we should try to fight poverty and that people don't have to suffer so much on earth. i saw mother teresa again many, many yea rs i saw mother teresa again many, many years later. she was that much older, a bit more wrinkled. my mother asked mother teresa to bless her grandchildren and my mother said to her my daughter used to come and volunteer and then she said very arrogantly, i felt at the time, that oh, yes, you used to do these things when you were little, now what do you do? what do you do now? over 40 years and never doubted this and i

have done the right thing because of the will of god, it was his choice. rebuilding sarajevo after the bosnian war in the 1990s was a huge task. for centuries, people of different at that the bees and religions had lived side by side, that's different ethnicities and religions, but said that after such a bitter civil war what to bring them back together again? one catholic franciscan monk had an idea, a multi—faith choir to unite people through music. sarajevo was destroyed. people were exhausted. sarajevo for me is a crossroad city. a meeting point of different religions. the past 24 hours have

been the worst ever it would seem, though considering what people have been through here it is very difficult to make comparisons. all your help —— people experiencing terrible suffering. that is something that touches me deeply. i lived it. so on easter i needed to sing in the church but there were no singers, so we started this idea of an interreligious choir. we started to sing jewish songs, it was very easy. then islamic songs, very difficult because there was a war between these two groups. people

couldn't sing the songs of their enemies because they physically felt disgust against such music. after two or three month the same people said this is beautiful. they said this is the power of music, it clea nses this is the power of music, it cleanses people. with the promise in the beginning when leasing in our church the first time, there were people who could not accept it. —— when we sang in our church. a muslim spiritual song, islam is a very strong religion, but they are so tender invoice and in music. jewish people are chosen people, and they

feel so, and therefore they music is full of play, they dance in front of that. but for others, god, jesus christ is only resurrected, jesus is living high in heaven and when we sing the song we are angels. and then comes catholicism. catholic feel that heaven is here on earth, in nature, in the forest, especially in human beings. week created a name with powerful symbolism and it is not a latin word isa symbolism and it is not a latin word is a combined word. bridget among souls. —— a bridge among souls. we

must help people to get rid of this fixation on the past to look in front of them, to hope. speaking to witness from the choir‘s uk tour with the wolf institute david wooding interfaith dialogue. the —— wolf institute promoting interfaith dialogue. you can watch us and catch up dialogue. you can watch us and catch up with our phones along with more than a thousand radio programmes in our online archive. go to the website. in 1997 the world's most famous woman, diana, princess of wales called for an international ban on landmines. she was visiting angola where she caught global attention by walking through a live minefield. our witness, attention by walking through a live minefield. ourwitness, paul attention by walking through a live minefield. our witness, paul who then worked for a land right ——

landmine charity accompanied her on that iconic walk. when she arrived, she was very nervous. she landed in one of the most shot up parts of the world. it was dangerous and there's this man basically saying you need to listen to me. i'm going to give you a safety briefing. these are the things that have been killing a lot of the children. and if you don't listen to all i say, you could get killed or seriously injured. which is probably not the best opening line to a princess. the princess got straight down to business, publicly endorsing the red cross campaign for a worldwide ban on landmines. it is my sincere hope that by working together in the next few days we shall focus world attention on this vital, but until now largely neglected issue. myjob was to be the programme managerfor a british charity that specialised in clearing landmines and the other detritus of war. this was probably the most famous woman in the world, so for me it was going to be an opportunity to

highlight and show off the amazing work we did. i had absolutely no idea what was coming in terms of the amount of media that came off planes. i was expecting a fewjournalists. i think there was something like 90 following her around. she treaded her way along a safe corridor cleared by british de—mining teams in the former rebel stronghold. as you can see they have been working away here and they've excavated out and they've uncovered a mine. the actualfive, ten minutes we were in the minefield my mind wasjust in overdrive trying to make sure that, you know, wasn't going to be the most famous man in the world the next day for blowing up the princess of wales. the princess says the row over her support for the red cross campaign to ban anti—personnel mines is a distraction that wasn't needed. the government minister at home has said you are a loose cannon by supporting this campaign.

do you have any reaction to that? i'm only trying to highlight a problem that's going on all around the world. that's all. she was caught out quite badly by that question. she was very upset, and i think she was really caught off guard by how political it became. my impression was she was genuinely there because she was wanting to make a difference, using her celebrity to highlight a problem. the red cross is working to help the casualties still claimed each day. by the an estimated 15 million unexploded landmines that litter the country. princess diana really did engage and you could see from her facial expressions and some of the questions that she was very moved by what she was seeing. she was very engaged on the issue. within the treatment do you cope with the psychological side as well? she was a mother, and when she saw children who had been blown to pieces and were missing their limbs... it moved her, and you could

see that it moved her. i think that diana's involvement in the support of the treaty banning landmines led to a huge increase in public awareness of the problem of mines. and then ultimately with her death six months later, made it very hard for the british government and a number of other governments not to ratify the treaty. you know, you say a picture paints a thousand words. for her to be wearing the body armour and walking through the minefield, that image has been an iconic image of the 20th century. he went on to work for the halo trust in afghanistan, cambodia and kosovo and set up halo usa. and

finally to the middle ages —— middle east were group of israeli dues and palestinians established a unique piece community. the first of its kind stop our witnesses are two of the early pioneers —— israelijewish people. this is a remarkable picture. 210—year—olds who are at school. they are friends. what is remarkable is that she is eric and tom is a jewish boy. remarkable is that she is eric and tom is ajewish boy. they remarkable is that she is eric and tom is a jewish boy. they are the product of a place called oasis of peace. the community was formed by four families. one palestinian family and three jewish, islamic jewish families. we wanted to try to live in an alternative way. jewish people and palestinians together in equality in one piece of land. people and palestinians together in equality in one piece of landlj people and palestinians together in equality in one piece of land. i am in israelijewish equality in one piece of land. i am in israeli jewish woman and they came to live here in 1979. ,

palestinian arab. i'm a resident here. it was a very small, tiny community with no trees, no running water, no connection to electricity, but we had a big dream. here, we found hope and you wanted to start a life with people who are enlightened, who are accepting of who we are. when we came there were some questions about are you fooling yourself? are you going to be in some kind of utopian society where it is not really realistic? i said maybe, but, you know, we hope it is going to teach others that it's actually possible because this is why we are here. although only 15

families lived here all 7000 teenagers have passed through attending its peace workshops. some had never met a member of the opposite community until they came here. it's really powerful to see a moment of change. israeli people realise that what they thought before is not the reality. and we learned a lot. this is how we started the school for peace. the different events that took place outside the village like the war in gaza, initiated a lot of talk and to discussions and debates. my youngest daughter, her opinion on the issue of army service for the jewish israelis because here it is compulsory service. you cannot really say no. she said i expect all the people who come to be part of this community, part of this project here. not to serve in the army, but

i know this is something, these are easy words to say on our part, and i know it's extremely difficult for the other side. my kids went to the army, but not to be combat soldiers because they did not want to fight to be soldiers. when i see the children playing together, laughing together, crawling together, it feels good. the majority of the kids that are studying here, they're not —— they are not our kids, they are from outside. their parents want them to have our kind of education. this exposure to the other side at an early age. they chose the effectiveness of this community. an early age. they chose the effectiveness of this communitym isa effectiveness of this communitym is a working model of almost 40 yea rs is a working model of almost 40 years that we are here, and it can

work. now home to more than 60 jewish and palestinian families. that is all from this edition of witness here at the british library. we will be back here next month to bring you more extraordinary moments of history and the remarkable people who witness them. but for now, from me and the rest of the witness team, goodbye. let's see what the weather has in store over the next few days. most

of us in the last couple of days have managed to catch a bit of sunshine. friday was the mildest day of the year so far, 17 degrees in london. this weekend is looking bright, mild but there will be rain at times. this low pressure just up to the southwest of the uk and its weather front we would trace it back in the canaries across portugal —— portugal, the vea biscay and uk with the plan of how pockets of rain and they are heading in our direction and all of this is driven by this dip in thejet stream and all of this is driven by this dip in the jet stream which rather nicely fits this whole pretty pattern of clouds on the satellite image. also thisjet pattern of clouds on the satellite image. also this jet stream is pushing very mild airfrom image. also this jet stream is pushing very mild air from the south across france and germany except it is actually around 20 degrees or so. we are feeling the very edge of that one of the east anglia and the southeast with the temperature is once again in the mid or high teens. the forecast saturday, that lump of rain moving out of the southwest through parts of wales, the midlands into the northern england to but for most of the time across the uk is

going to be dry. where it is cloudy and dampfora going to be dry. where it is cloudy and damp for a time temperatures will be a little surprised at 11 degrees but quite possibly getting up degrees but quite possibly getting up to 17 celsius in east anglia and the southeast. saturday evening not much change on the weather front, still a bit of damp weather in the far north of the country, clearing out into the north sea and to the south it looks mostly dry apart from the odd shower here and there. the weather map for sunday, a weather front crossing the country but not one coherent area of rain by any means. quite difficult to forecast exactly where all these little areas of rain will go in sunday could be toward the west, toward the east but the thinking is that central southern england, finland and the north perhaps would catch a bit of rainfall and again it is that far southeastern corner that will have temperatures around 15, maybe 16 and those deep oranges in germany will be in excess of 20 degrees. the weather forecast for monday and that warmth is across much of europe. we are on the very edge of it and in fa ct are on the very edge of it and in fact scotland, northern ireland and

northern england are in the cool air of the atlantic. a bit of rain for a time perhaps across western areas again, tricky to forecast, maybe showers getting into the south as well but with the wind coming out of the south or the southeast temperatures will be around 15 in london, pressure in the north. the weather forecast tuesday and noticed the direction of the wind coming from the south and across the north sea. that is not necessarily good news for the north sea coast because after a very chilly and to the winter and the cold war of billy burke water in the north sea any water can't pass any wind coming off will make it feel cold along the coast and if you get the ring on top of that will not be very pleasant at all. single figures anywhere from aberdeen toward lincolnshire but him and where the sun comes out should be in the mid teens. similar weather on wednesday, easterly moving across the cold north sea giving some bra kes the cold north sea giving some brakes on the coast but demand where the sun comes out 16 and again pockets of rain here and there. this is all of the warmth across europe

during the course of thursday, friday and indeed into saturday as well so we're just on the edge of that mild air. let's summarise all of this. this coming week there will be some rain at times, but very tricky to forecast. it will be often bright, particularly across western areas and where the sun comes out is going to feel very mild. that is it for me. bye—bye. tonight at ten, the former russian spy poisoned in salisbury is no longer critically ill. sergei skripal has been in hospital since the beginning of march, after a nerve agent attack. he's responding well to treatment, improving rapidly, and is no longer in a critical condition. so what could mr skripal‘s recovery mean for the criminal investigation? also on the programme... the met police commissioner offers reassurance to londoners, following the recent string of murders. we haven't lost control of the streets. i can understand why some people are very worried at the moment, particularly in some

areas of london. police say the pensioner richard osborn—brooks won't be charged or face any further action, after an intruder was fatally stabbed at his home. worth his weight in gold — gareth evans wins for wales at the commonwealth games.