this is bbc world news. the latest headlines... a group of most contractors were forced to run from a landslide as a powerful earthquake hit the indonesian island of lombok. robert mugabe says he would not be voting for his replacement, emerson managua, who forced him out of office. a palestinian teenager who was filmed slapping an israeli soldier in the west bank has been freed after seven months injail. geraint thomas has won the tour de france in paris, the first welshman to win it, riding for team sky. at 10pm clive myrie will have a full

round—up of the day's news but first, it's time for our world. it was a murder that sent shock waves around the world. a prominent russian journalist has been shot dead. arkady babchenko was an outspoken critic of president vladimir putin. but a day later, he was back from the dead. tonight, for the first time, the inside story of the fake murder. translation: they put pigs blood in my mouth and then when i was shot, i fell to my knees and coughed to make the blood splatter. babchenko's wife tells her side of the story... translation: you just can't believe it. you don't want to believe it. ..and we track down the hit man. it's a tale worthy of a spy thriller, but in an age of fake news, was the truth

the real casualty? i'm jonah fisher. for the last few weeks i've been on the trail of an extraordinary murder mystery. it happened here in kiev, the capital of ukraine. and at the heart of it is one man. babchenko is a russianjournalist. he fled moscow last year after receiving death threats and got a job with a ukrainian tv station. he's an outspoken critic of vladimir putin. translation: he's a usurper, a little dictator who lives

completely in his own world. he wants to be like napoleon, collecting together all russian lands. but ukraine, which sees itself as being at war with russia, can be a dangerous place for putin's opponents. in the last two years, several dissident russian journalists and politicians have been killed in kiev. exactly who was behind the murders remains unclear. our story begins earlier this year. was arkady babchenko about to become the next target? very nice to meet you.

welcome. how are you doing? i'm glad to see you. i'm happy to see you too. crazy times. yeah. tsymbaliuk tells me how in april this year he met an old contact, an arms manufacturer called borys herman. tsymbaliuk claims herman was looking to arrange the murder of arkady babchenko on behalf of a wealthy client. and when he told you that he wanted you to kill babchenko,

what did you say? and did you plan to go through with it? tsymbaliuk agreed to carry out herman's request, but at the same time tipped off the sbu, ukraine's intelligence service. they suspected russia could be behind it, and decided to stage the killing of the journalist. the sbu's boss is vasyl hrytsak. why was the decision taken to fake arkady babchenko's murder? translation: because we were told

that there were several units in ukraine, and that this assassination is a test run for others. only by staging this crime could we get the list of targets. we had to know more about who was involved in preparing and commissioning this terrible crime. what was the price for killing babchenko? did you discuss how the murder would be carried out? it was time to let arkady babchenko know that there was a price on his head. sbu agents told him of their audacious plot.

they wanted to stage his murder to flush out those who'd ordered the killing. translation: my first thought was not to trust them, that maybe it's a set—up. ijust wanted to grab my family and flee somewhere like australia or antarctica, where they can't find us. but then it became clear to me, why should we run? here are people who came to kill and we have a chance to stop them. we need to do this. why should we do nothing? now arkady babchenko had to let his wife olga in on the plan. translation: my first reaction was not shock but fear. that awful fear when you realise this is not a movie or tv. this is really all happening right now to your family in your house and you just can't believe it.

you don't want to believe it. translation: according to the story we'd agreed beforehand, i came back from the grocery store. i opened the door and at that moment i was supposedly shot in the back. when i was shot, i fell to my knees. sbu agents had arranged a make—up artist to help stage the murder scene. translation: when i was lying on the floor, the make—up artist put pigs blood inside the bullet holes. my lips were smeared. they poured the blood into my mouth. they poured it underneath me. fake assassin oleksiy tsymbaliuk and i retrace his steps from that night. translation: after the killer left,

i waited a little while, then i called an ambulance. siren sounds. translation: i explained the situation, that i'd come out of the bathroom and found my husband in a pool of blood. translation: the police arrived quickly, after about five minutes. the first officers were aware of the special operation, but they also brought with them lots of other policeman who didn't know. my wife told them i'm a russian journalist and they all said, "oh, here we go again." paramedics were also soon on the scene. they'd been briefed on the fake murder plot and were ready to play along. translation: they started to treat me because there were other people there who could see us through the window. we drove for a while and then,

as planned, i began to die. now the fake murder plot moved into its next phase, starting with a message to arkady babchenko's old friend and boss, tvjournalist, aider muzhdabaev. translation: we knew if we told aider first, translation: i took a car and immediately began to look for him in hospitals, as his wife told me he was wounded and had to be taken away. on the way i got the tragic news from police that he'd died in an ambulance, so i went straight to his apartment. it's a huge loss forjournalism.

because he was one of the few individuals who wrote the real truth about russia, and that's why he was killed. translation: aider arrived first. it hurts to remember how he wept like a child whose mother had just been killed in front of him. i've never seen a man cry so much before. he just howled. and how did that make you feel? because of course you knew that it was all fake? to watch those close to you suffering is unbearable. translation: we arrived at the morgue.

throughout all this i had to act like i was a murdered man because there were journalists waiting outside. the strangest two to three hours of my life was when i was sitting in the morgue, wrapped in a sheet like gandhi, smoking and watching tv news about what a wonderful guy i was and next door, a pathologist was sawing a skull, performing an autopsy. what were you thinking about while... ..arkady was at the morgue? translation: i envied him, because he didn't have to talk to anyone. i thought he was probably in a peaceful place at this point...

..and i was stuck.... ..in this agony. that night the sbu leaked this picture of the fake murder scene onto social media. news of babchenko's death was about to go global. it came just weeks after russia was blamed by the british government for poisoning the skripals in salisbury. russia was now being accused of involvement in the plot to kill babchenko. we're starting to hear accusations of our country being involved in this crime, as it was presented by ukrainian officials. within a couple of hours we were trying to plan how we can present the truth. because we are accused

of doing all evil on earth. meanwhile in kiev, sbu agents had the middleman, borys herman, under surveillance, hoping it would provide conclusive proof that russia had ordered the killing. translation: yes, we had a plan to wait for longer to allow things to develop. the next day, borys herman was supposed to pay off tsymbaliuk for the completed job, but there was lots of noise around the case. all the media was talking about it. at that point we found herman had bought a ticket to leave ukraine, so we had to take some steps. sbu agents swooped on an unsuspecting borys herman. 20 hours after the murder,

the sbu called what seemed a routine press conference. no—one expected this. cheering and applause. babchenko was back. they scream with delight. watching on, his colleagues at the news channel atr, who'd been reporting his death all day. translation: when i saw him, i felt a huge sense of relief that he was alive. iran outside and just lay on the grass for over an hour, looking at the sky. it felt very good. translation: first, i'd like to apologise

for what all of you had to experience, for what you had to go through. i've buried friends and colleagues many times and i know the sickening feeling. newsrooms across the world backtracked fast. the russian journalist reported the russianjournalist reported to have been killed in ukraine is actually alive and well. but the questions soon mounted. why had a self—styled truth teller agreed to pay the starring role in a fake news story? translation: when they tell you someone has paid to have you killed, do you say, "no, i refuse help "because it will violate the ethical

standards ofjournalism"? if you do that people will be murdered because this network will not be exposed. "go on, then, but i won't be part of it." so, will we ever know the full truth about who wanted to kill babchenko? the sbu say that when they arrested borys herman, they found a hit list which he'd been sent from russia, but they have yet to produce clear evidence of a link to russia's security services. translation: the role of the russian security services in preparing the assassination of a russian citizen and journalist, babchenko, will be proved by us in court, i am sure of that. russia crossed a red line a while ago. russia is using illegal methods. russia is trying to kill its opponents on foreign soil to intimidate those opponents who are still in russia. this is ridiculous. this is absolutely absurd. russia as a state has nothing with arkady babchenko.

he's a free man in a free world. he can do whatever he wants and actually, before that case, nobody even... i mean, in the international community, on a high level, nobody has no idea who is arkady babchenko. honestly. journalists clamour. if there is a russian link, as ukraine claims, it leads through the only man who has so far been arrested, the middleman. this is a court hearing for borys herman, the man allegedly at the centre of this plot. it's a chance for him to put his case and try and explain his role in this bizarre episode. borys herman admits plotting, both with the fake assassin and a contact in russia, but his defence is that he too was playing a role and was also

working with ukraine's sbu. mr herman, why should we believe that you didn't want to kill arkady babchenko? mr herman, what this ultimately boils down to is, are you working as an agent for russia? mr herman's story has changed several times and despite repeated requests from the bbc, he's been unable to back up his claim that he was working with the sbu. so what are we to make of this extraordinary tale where nothing is quite as it seems? translation: we definitely believe the operation is a success.

even if you just save the life of arkady babchenko, it is a success. thanks to this operation, we've also got a list of 47 potential targets, journalists, activists past and present, citizens of the russian federation. why should i believe what you're telling me now? i went out there and i reported what your organisation told us that night. it turned out to be lies. now you're speaking to me again. is this the truth this time? this murder was being prepared for real. real money was being paid. other units were working for real and the list of 47 potential victims is real. so the ends ultimately have justified the means? definitely. but in the context of the propaganda

war with russia, could this end up being a massive own goal? did they realise what they did? because nobody will trust ukrainians and the ukrainian government any more in any sort of future cases. the show over, its leading players are now trying to move on. what's next for you after this, oleksiy? what's your future hold? translation: of course i'm worried. i do not feel safe. at the moment, yes, we are in a safe place but eventually it will be

necessary to go out into the wider world and what will happen then? we don't know. translation: i do not control my destiny any more. everything has gone down the drain. life is once again broken and still you dare ask me why i criticise putin so much? that's why i don't like them. why the hell do they have to come here and kill people? the world is in the grip of an information war. a battle of facts against fakes, truth versus fiction, with trust a priceless commodity. babchenko survived, but the work of those fighting for the truth has become that much harder. the heatwave came to a fairly abrupt

end over the weekend, some places more sought more rain than they had seen more sought more rain than they had seen old summer, but after a fresh start there will be showers in the week ahead but temperatures will recover, the cormorant warmer especially in the south and east. on monday we still have that brisk

breeze, some showery outbreaks of rain, the south—east starting off with showery rain but gradually brightening up, rain working north—east across wales, the midlands in two parts of yorkshire, and for northern ireland and scotla nd and for northern ireland and scotland a day of sunny spells and showers, heaviest in scotland, temperatures a touch up on sunday, with the brisk south—westerly breeze. overnight monday into tuesday, a good deal of clear skies across scotland and northern ireland, still one word to showers for western scotland, cloudier skies further south and outbreaks of brinkman temperatures falling to an overnight low of 16 celsius. on tuesday our next weather front is waiting to bring more cloud across northern ireland and scotland and showery rain into the west. generally are fine and bright start

for england, scotland and wales, perhaps one or two showers in parts of the west but turning cloudier across scotland and northern ireland, temperatures fairly similar to monday, a maximum of 25 celsius. on wednesday, the next feature moves in from the west, a bit of uncertainty around the timing of that, high pressure in the southeast will keep things strike and it's here will see the best sunshine, i generally find start for scotland, england and wales, looks like it will be largely dry, cloudier skies we re will be largely dry, cloudier skies were some rain pushing into northern ireland and western parts of scotland. temperatures in the south—east creeping up about. we still have that north— west, south — east split, the best sunshine to be

found in the south and eased, rain to be found in northern ireland, pushing into wales, temperatures hottest in the south—east, a touch up hottest in the south—east, a touch up on wednesday. elsewhere temperatures in the high teens to mid—20s. i generally find start to friday, some patchy cloud around, one or two friday, some patchy cloud around, one oi’ two showers friday, some patchy cloud around, one or two showers for the eastern pa rt one or two showers for the eastern part of scotland and northern parts, one or two in the south and east but temperatures on the rise in the southeast. we will keep hold of those warmer temperatures, hot in the southeast as we move into the weekend and the start of next week, some sunshine, locally hot in the southeast with highs around 29th celsius, perhaps locally 30 degrees, but always a chance of seeing some

rain the further north you are. tonight at ten, cycling has a new superstar. geraint thomas has won the tour de france. he retained the yellowjersey going into the final stage to become the first welshman to ever take the title. it's mental whenever anyone says it, i'vejust got to pinch myself, it's going to take a while to sink in. we'll be live in paris and report on how the victory, went down in wales. also tonight... in america, devastating wildfires burn a million acres of land across 14 states. five people have died. robert mugabe intervenes in the zimbabwean elections, saying he won't vote for the man from his own party, who ousted him as president. we report from stockton on tees on the growing crisis of lower income families, living shorter lives, than the rich. and lewis hamilton extends his lead at the top of formula