in the last weekend of campaigning ahead of tuesday's mid—term elections president trump focused on economic growth and his hard—line stance on immigration. democrat leaders have warned the character of america was at stake. polls suggest the democrats may win control of the house of representatives. iran's supreme leader has attacked the united states after its decision to reimpose economic sanctions against iran. the trump administration will reinstate all us sanctions which were removed under the 2015 nuclear deal on monday. ireland's prime minister has warned that britain's planned departure from the european union has undermined the long—standing peace deal that ended decades of violence in northern ireland. negotiations between the eu and the uk have stalled over the irish border issue. now on bbc news, some of the world's most important news stories in 2018 have been brought

to us by freelance journalists, often working in difficult and dangerous places. the rory peck awards recognise their work — and our presenter yalda hakim has been finding out more about this year's nominees. you may find some of the scenes in the firing line upsetting. the white race is under a full assault. we got hit by a car! some of the most powerful images of this year. often filmed in difficult and dangerous places. but who are the people who bring as these pictures? why do they do it? how do they do it? and what impact does it have on them personally? each year, we step behind the camera and speak to the men and women

who bring some of the most important stories about time. often under extremely difficult circumstances and under great personal strain. these freelance radio journalists are honoured by the rory peck awards, named after a british freelancer who was killed in moscow covering the october coup in 1993. his memory lives on with the rory peck trust, which now supports freelance journalists and their families worldwide. this year the films chosen by thejudges reflect the troubled world we live in. racism, war, and the refugee crisis, which made headlines in 2018, are all part of the final entries. first up, the rory peck award for news, for films that capture the immediacy of the story. since last year, hundreds

of thousands of rohingya muslims have poured into bangladesh, fleeing persecution and violence in the northern rakhine province of myanmar. this has become one of the world's worst refugee crises. freelancer al—emrun garjon from bangladesh has been covering the plight of the rohingya muslims for many years. it is our duty to keep a keen eye on the incidents taking place around us. i understood the problem and empathise with the suffering. i feel that the only way i could help was to capture what i knew and saw. garjon‘s footage captured the displaced men, women and children risking their lives crossing the sea and muddy rivers to safety.

exhausted and uncertain of what lay ahead, they carried whatever they could on their backs. but some did make it. this woman said the monks killed her husband and her younger son went missing as they crossed the border. garjon found it difficult not to get emotional whilst filming the harrowing scenes. i have seen many deaths, blood and fire in the line of duty. but i really have not witnessed anything on this scale before. i was struggling to hold back my tears and hold my camera still. the only thing that kept my focus was that i can only help these people if i can film. the judges said "you think you know everything about a story — you know what caused the rohingya exodus —

but what is striking about this piece was the individual moments." "the attention to detail is incredible." the rohingya muslims are still in crisis. it is not over yet. from the beginning, they demanded citizenship, security, and citizenship in myanmar. i think the world needs to act. syrian freelancer humam husari lived under the siege in ghouta for five yea rs, documenting the tragic toll on the ordinary citizens caught between the rebels and government forces. during the height of the conflict, humam filmed a video diary of the conditions in an underground shelter. there has been a nearby shelling.

this is why we had to go underground into the tunnel. i witnessed so many tragic stories of people trapped in the random bombardment and siege. i actually lived the fear with them under shelling and i starved with them. explosion. humam's footage the plight of the families, often through the stories of the children. one of the most heartbreaking stories was that of three—month—old karim. karim's mother was in the local market trying to get through for her children. karim was with her, in her arms, when an air strike targeted the people there. karim was badly injured and his mother was killed. i was in the field hospital and i met with the doctor who treated karim's injury. the doctor was crying out of sympathy. thejudges said

"despite the chaos around him, humam managed to meet characters he revisited in later pieces... it is difficult to do, especially in this circumstances. in doing so, it put a human face to the conflict." i will always run to the people that i lived with in ghouta. i feel that i have an obligation to give back to them in the future and see how life treats them. how will they continue their lives with all the tragedies they have been through? injuly 2017, a spanish ngo whose main mission is to rescue refugees from the mediterranean sea faced the most dramatic and complicated rescue operation they ever been involved in.

winner of the news award, mikel konate, was with the rescuers in rough seas 50 miles north of a libyan city. they received a call that there was a vessel in need of help with over 160 migrants from africa on board. mikel and the rescuers were confronted with a desperate scene. one of the things which shocked me the most was the conditions of the woman when we started to take them from the boat. most of them were naked, or nearly naked. they have clear evidence of violence. some of them, they were raped in libya, and some were of them were in shock. i will never forget the faces of these women. it became evident that the floor was covered in bodies.

five men and eight women, two of them pregnant. when the rescuers start to take the survivors of the raft and the bodies start to appear, then we realise the situation is worse than we imagine. we stepped on the bodies to reach a boat. one of these bodies are the mother of four kids that we rescued just before. it gift, domino, divine and destiny. four kids from nigeria. overall, the rescue took ten hours to complete and despite this harrowing experience, mikel view he had to keep filming. i also think myjob will remain forfuture generations. they will look back and see what we allowed to happen. in the central mediterranean.

the judges thought that this entry "really stood out as mikel‘s footage was never mechanical — this was one snapshot in time yet it revealed so much more about the migrant crisis in the mediterranean." ten hours, told injust ten minutes. next, the rory peck awards for news features, for films that look beyond the immediacy of the news. in august 2017, hundreds of far—right protesters descended on charlottesville, virginia, to voice their anger against the removal of the statue of a pro—slavery civil war leader. it described as one of the largest white supremacist events in recent us history.

hundreds of counter—demonstrators were out in force to face them. orlando gausman teamed up with zach coble to cover this story. shot over 72 hours, theirfootage captured the escalating violence. —— orlando de guzman. we really wanted the audience to feel what it was like to stare at hate in the face, to have a completely unflinching look at what it is like to feel this unleashed hatred that has been stirred up by our very own president. as the violent clashes spiralled out of control, a car driven by one of the neo—nazis ploughed into the crowds, killing one person and injuring several others. we told city council we don't want them here. they let them come. we told the police we did not want them here. they let them come. the judges thought this was "top tierjournalism, covering a story

of great magnitude." and for orlando himself, his coverage of the events throughout that weekend has had a deepening disturbing effect. the other weekend, i was watching spike lee's film blackkklansman. what i didn't realise was that the film ends with my footage in cha rlottesville. and looking at that span of racial history in the united states from the civil rights movement to last year. and watching my footage at the end of that film, i felt like somebody had thrown a spear right into my chest. i felt despondent by this problem here in the united states which i don't think we will really be able to get rid of. javier manzano‘s film captured

the last days of the fight against islamic state in iraq. they were abetted with several units of the iraqi military in their efforts to root out is from the northern city of mosul. so this is as far forward as they have been so far. thousands of civilians were still trapped in the city under siege. traumatised by their ordeal, they ran towards the government positions scattered around the city. women and children screaming and begging for a way out of a desperate situation. despite the huge risks, they captured at all. the chaos as the civilians fled their homes, and the confusion of the soldiers locked in close combat. filmed under constant fire, and in intense heat, javier and his team

followed what was happening around them, revealing the true turmoil of war. forjavier, what stood out most in covering this conflict was the level of violence inflicted on the civilians by the islamic state fighters. they would explode themselves among civilians, or when civilians were trying to flee to government—controlled parts of the city, typically running for their lives from islamic state sniper fire, it was very, very brutal to witness somebody doing that to their — you know, to allegedly their own muslim brothers and sisters. the judges thought "even though this was front—line filming, javier still managed to show some of the real human moments." let's not forget that civilians were under siege

by the islamic state militants, and at the same time starving, suffering from malnutrition, thirst, no access to medicine for over a year and a half. we as journalists always had a ticket out, we could leave whenever we wanted, they did not have that luxury, so that is who we should remember at the end of the day. the long—standing civil war in the nuba mountains of sudan has claimed many lives. here journalists are regularly imprisoned for reporting the violence and human rights abuses. news of the atrocities in the nuba mountains rarely reach sudan's capital khartoum. winner of the news features award, roopa gogineni's unique film takes a very different approach to telling the story of war and human suffering. winner of the news features award, roopa gogineni's

unique film takes a very different approach to telling the story of war and human suffering. rather than using footage of violence and bloodshed, roopa used humour to sell this important story. she met the team behind bisha tv, a satirical puppet show. the writers, a mix ofjournalists and members of a drama group use comedy to expose and mock the authoritarian rule of the sudanese president omar al—bashir and his government. i am always drawn to humour, i think it is a really good way to create empathy, especially in places where you are used to seeing a lot of imagery of violence and war, and it can be really hard to relate to people in places like that. so i wanted to use the comedy that the bisha show was so good at creating to draw audiences who were not familiar with the conflict into this place. roopa filmed the puppet show under

the threat of daily aerial bombardments, but this did not deter her. i was taking cues from people around me who were really experienced in dealing with the aerial bombardments, they knew how to protect themselves, they seemed very confident and calm despite the fact that there were bombs dropping. people have learned to cope. they have coffee and then they run into a foxhole and then they continue having coffee. it is just sort of constant weird interruption. thejudges were particularly impressed with this entry, as it showed true originality through the use of grassroots media. and finally, the sony impact award

for current affairs, for longform films that examine a single issue. during the war in yemen, the youngest and most vulnerable have been paying a terrible price. besides food and medical shortages, a deadly cholera outbreak has taken its toll. the un says this is the world's largest humanitarian crisis with 7 million people facing famine and disease. mohammed al—mekhlafi's film documents the catastrope unfolding in his own country. while the scale of this tragedy has been reported by media across the world, mohammed

and reporter nawal al maghafi remain one of the very few teams to have reported from both rebel—held north and the government—held south. muhamed filmed inside the al thawra general hospital where he witnessed heartbreaking scenes of severely ill and dying children. one of them was three—year—old alaa. the judges said the pictures that mohammed filmed "..were so powerful. "it's a story of urgency that people need to know about." rampant inflation has brought venezuelans to seek

desperate measures. the country is on the brink of collapse. the economic crisis has caused severe food shortages across the country. rather than reporting on the widely documented caracas and the colombian—venezuelan border, alexander houghton‘s film covers the smuggling trade. there were so many areas in venezuela that there was a complete blackout, so one particular spot was the gulf of paria, which is only a six boatjourney away from trinidad & tobago. local news in trinidad & tobago spoke of a fleet of fishermen seeking to buy basic food staples. but no one was really reporting on what was really going on on the venezuelan side, so that is what we wanted to do. through a local fixer, alexander and his team metjhan, a fisherman desperate for food and medical supplies for his daughter and diabetic father.

the family had expected the government to help, but nothing had arrived for months. despite the dangers, jhan decided to join the smuggling trade. just beforejhan could board the boat, he had to abandon the trip in fear of the local mafia working with the national guard. alexander and his team were first pull out of the town, fearing arrest by the intelligence services who have a history of detaining journalists for covering stories which the government deem "counter—revolutionary. " alexander hopes that his film has highlighted the plight of the poor and forgotten venezuela ns. i was trying to show how in the face of such misery,

there is still so much resilience. so i hope those who view the documentary, people particularly in trinidad & tobago who are seeing these fishermen coming over to trinidad, begin to feel for these people and notjust see them as refugees, as bandits, but see them as real people who are trying to provide the most basic food items for their families. the judges praised alexander's camera work and thought this was a "unique choice of story." in ourfinalfilm, and the winner in the current affairs category, deeyah khan comes face—to—face with some of america's most influential neo—nazi leaders. freelancers deeyah and her colleague darin prindle spent several days with activists including jeff schoep, leader of america's largest neo—nazi organisation. we feel that the white race in general, western

civilisation in general is under a full assault. i know what neo—nazis think and how they view somebody like me, but i wanted to understand why they believe the things that they believe, and if it was possible for me to find their humanity, and if it would be possible to them to recognise my humanity. the 14 words is "we must secure the existence of our race and a future for white children..." deeyah: and 88? hh. which stands for? heil hitler. this is our pr director, brian culpepper. good to meet you, i'm deeyah.. ma'am. having spent several days

with brian culpepper, another member of the national socialist movement, deeyah questioned him about his extreme views. what i would be doing, deeyah, is ensuring the preservation of our race, my race and my nation. if that is what it comes down to, and that is the only way forward, i would have to make sure sure that everyone who was ordered to do so would have to leave. including me. including you. i do not want to walk in all judgemental and self—righteous, and just have it out and shout at them, and then pat myself on the back feeling as if "yeah, i really challenged them." i want to have a real conversation, i wanted to listen and i wanted to see if i could get them to a place where they might be able to listen. the judges praised deeyah's unbreakable personality and her extraordinary interview technique in what must have been

emotionally very difficult circumstances. they felt although the topic had been covered extensively, deeyah got under the skin of every one of the characters in a way that no—one has done before. wow. hello, brian? two months after the interview with deeyah, brian culpepper resigned from the national socialist movement. now that you have left, do you think you would give me a different answer to that question? so today, brian culpepper would not deport me? and why not? that's it for this year's edition of the firing line, a year in which the rise of racism around the world, civil war and the human cost of the refugee crisis all featured in the winning entries

of the 2018 rory peck awards. goodbye. hello there. the weekend so far has brought a real mix of weather. dry for some, wet for others. for a few, very wet indeed. this is the satellite picture. we pick up the story through the first part of the morning. you can see this band of clouds coming into lincolnshire, the midlands and parts of the west country. that really just sits in place all day long. to the south—east of that, some sunshine tour east anglia and the south—east, and the northern england, northern ireland scotland, quite a lot of sunshine, than we had on saturday. the odd shower in the far north—west but the winds will

still be quite gusty, and a mild day wherever you are. it is sunday evening, this ranks at the push into the western side of the uk. some of this will be on the heavy side but for central and eastern areas it stays dry with some clear spells, the odd mr patch, and temperatures not dropping far. 7— ten. into the start of the new week it remains mild. quite windy on tuesday. further east, it stays largely dry. hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: the rhetoric heats up ahead of next week's midterm elections. president trump says the american economy is the best its ever been. president trump says the american economy is the best it's ever been. a blistering attack on donald trump from iran's supreme leader, as the us prepares to re—impose sanctions on the country. eight children have been injured and a major incident declared after an inflatable slide collapsed at a fairground. and a minute's silence as leicester city play their first game since the death of the club's owner last saturday.