a warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: it's official — russia used every major social media platform to spread propaganda and influence the 2016 election. we'll be hearing from those behind the research. the starving children of yemen — a special report from inside the country as pro—government forces suggest the ceasefire in hudaydah has been broken. back on the streets of budapest — protestors vent their anger against the fidesz government. this is live in beijing. president xi jingping addresses the nation as china marks a0 years of economic reforms. the truly staggering scale of russian interference in the 2016 us presidential election via social media has been revealed and two reports, prepared

for the us senate, have found meddling on a far wider scale than previously thought. with words, graphics and videos, russian operatives targeted tens of millions of american voters to spread propaganda and help elect donald trump. the campaign also actively discouraged african americans from voting. president trump and the russian leadership have always denied any interference. on facebook alone, 20 russian—sponsored pages with names such as being patriotic, heart of texas, and army ofjesus, had a big impact. the posts on these pages were shared about 31 million times and got more than 39 million likes. overall, these pages managed to reach 126 million people. earlier, i spoke to camille francois. she is senior researcher of graphika which prepared one of the reports for the senate intelligence committee. i asked her about the scale of the disinformation. the first thing that was surprising

to us is how long this operation was in effect. we looked at millions of data points between 2009 and 2018, we looked at an operation that lasted nine years. the question is how many platforms were used in the course of these operations, the accounts that were present on facebook, instagram and twitter. on google plus they have websites, they had paypal accounts, tumblr pages, reddit accounts, you name it. they also used american technology providers to host their e—mails. they used yahoo, they used microsoft, they used gmail, it is a very large operation in scale. camille, this is a huge bulk of research, how sure are you of these findings because you know there will be millions and millions of americans saying this is just sour grapes? we were very careful to describe exactly what we were able to observe in the data.

now, we are only dependent on the data that was provided to the committee by american social media platforms. so facebook, twitter and google gave data to the us select senate intelligence committee. they may be missing data in there, it might be the case that the operation is even bigger in scope, but i am confident that we are at least describing the operation that was conducted by the russians, yes. is your point that this is all untrue, all lies, exaggerations, or is it true information, statistics just cleverly targeted. there is nothing wrong with that, is there? well, it was a deception operation. the russians operated accounts that pretended to be news organisations, but they were not. they pretended to be activist organisations, they pretended to be american voters. sometimes they did talk about issues

and problems that were real problems, but it was a deceptive operation by nature. and coming from a hostile foreign power. what is the point, obviously to encourage some people particularly to vote, to discourage others and also to baffle people, confuse people? creating chaos seemed to have been one of the main points. what is interesting from the data is operations that tried to put people on the streets and tried to get this online activity to translate to offline events. in texas for instance, the troll farm organised two protests on the same day and both sides of the streets trying to rally two different groups that had very competing and incompatible views and trying to encourage violence in the streets of america. that was camille francois, senior researcher of graphika which prepared one of the reports for the senate intelligence committee. and in a few minutes we'll be

hearing from jonathon morgan, chief executive of new knowledge, whose company prepared the other report on russian disinformation for the us senate. let's get some of the day's other news: the polish president has reinstated a group of supreme courtjudges after being ordered to do so by the european court ofjustice. poland's government had dropped the retirement age from 70 to 65 as part of broader changes that were widely condemned as an attack on the rule of law. the saga in the uk's negotiations to leave the european union have ta ken another twist, as britain's opposition leader tabled a motion of no confidence in prime minister theresa may, though it's unlikely to happen. there could however be a vote of no confidence in the government. it came after mrs may announced that a vote on her brexit deal would now be held mid january. france is to start taxing internet giants like google and facebook from the new year, after after eu—wide efforts stalled. countries including the uk and france have accused firms of routing some profits through low—tax eu member states such as ireland and luxembourg.

big tech companies have argued they're complying with national and international tax laws. the family of a dying 2—year—old boy in california say his yemeni mother is being prevented from visiting him by the trump administration's travel ban on visitors from seven mainly muslim countries. the boy's father, who was born in california, brought him to the us, expecting his mother would laterjoin them. turning now to the conflict in yemen. pro—government forces in yemen say a ceasefire in the red sea port of hudaydah has been broken, minutes after it came into effect at midnight local time. houthi rebels and the saudi—backed government agreed to halt the fighting at united nations—sponsored talks in sweden last week. but a government official said there had been renewed fighting almost immediately to the east of hudaydah, which serves as a vital gateway for the delivery of humanitarian aid to millions of yemenis in danger of starving. cbs reporter liz palmer filed this report from a clinic where dozens of malnourished children

and their mothers are being treated. assam is two and so malnourished he weighs half of what he should. this nurse tries to feed him nutrition—packed paste, but he does not want it. why would he refuse food? 0h, he can't keep it down. yeah. assam's muscles are so wasted, she tells me, he can no longer walk. there are 25 malnourished children and their mothers in this clinic, but many more never make it to this small outpost of mercy in yemen's rugged north—west. this is dryland farming country, but venture off the main road and you will spot clusters of makeshift tents everywhere. at least 15,000 people have fled here after fighting and saudi air strikes destroyed their homes and their lives. the nurse introduced us

to people of this camp, who crowded around to show us their desperation. they are so short of food they're eating leaves. they are cooking leaves to eat them. yes, they say, even though it gives the children diarrhoea. and they want to know, why isn't more help coming? the fact is, aid agencies are trying to scale up, but they are facing huge obstacles. meanwhile, the need grows more acute everyday. the nurse told me i can offer my compassion, but they need a whole lot more than that. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, for bbc news, hajjar, yemen. protestors have once again taken to the streets of budapest for the 6th consecutive day against viktor 0rban‘s fidesz government. the latest focus is the headquarters of hungarian state television, which the demonstrators accuse of being a fidesz mouthpiece. nick thorpe has been amongst the crowd. what marks these protests apart

from other demonstrations against the fidesz government over the years is the simplicity of the main issue at stake. this is less about abstract issues like human rights and justice, and more about overtime, how many hours ordinary hungarians will have to work in the coming years and if and when they will ever be paid for their labours. it is also about emigration, because the reason that the government pushed through this new overtime law is the shortage of labour in hungary, so many young and skilled hungarians have gone abroad in search of better opportunities. it's also, from the shouts of the crowd here, it's also about corruption. the crowds here allege

that the government and those close to it are effectively stealing from the people. it's also about state television and government control of the media. main problem in one word is beaurocracy itself. that is the point where it is becoming everything. so that problem, what we have in this country. you know, when i was 18 it was in 1990, we decided something else at that time. we didn't want a system like this now. the government is clearly hoping that the people here on the streets over these days will go home for the christmas holidays and not come out again in the new year. nick thorpe, bbc news, budapest. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the south african runner beaten unconscious by white youths — a special report on a still divided rainbow nation. after eight months on the run,

saddam hussein has been tracked down and captured by american forces. saddam hussein is finished because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes, but they brought a formal end to 3.5 years of conflict, conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders, the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc world news.

the main story this hour: us senate reports conclude russia used every social media platform to help elect donald trump, reaching millions of voters. jonathon morgan is chief executive of new knowledge. his company prepared one of the reports on russian disinformation for the us senate. i pointed out that these reports show the scale of russian disinformation and the targetting of minority groups, particularly african americans. 0ne

one of the largest black matters pages was run by russian operatives. it discouraged the population from voting. the social media platform had been reluctant to acknowledge the suppression. but these tactics we re the suppression. but these tactics were prevalent and specifically targeting these minorities. were prevalent and specifically targeting these minoritiesm were prevalent and specifically targeting these minorities. it would concern people greatly that there was compromising material gathered from people who thought they were answering questions anonymously. from people who thought they were answering questions anonymouslym was almost like old—fashioned spite tactics. using people's in securities, targeting the emotional vulnerabilities to try to somehow compromise the people who were following those pages so they could

use it at a later date. 0ne strong example is a meme who believe they have a sex addiction, an embarrassing problem, and exploiting that emotional vulnerability. the real toll and consequences is yet to be seen. south africans have been celebrating national reconciliation day, a public holiday to encourage healing across the racial divide. but after more than two decades of freedom, there's growing evidence that racism is still embedded in the country. and in rural areas, violent attacks have undermined the idea of a rainbow nation. 0ur africa editor fergal keane, who reported on the end of apartheid, has travelled into the heartland for this special report. racism defined this country. it governed every aspect of life. and here on the platteland, the great swathes of farmland

in the heart of the nation, divisions were especially deep. but in a black—ruled south africa, you might think those hatreds had gone away. think again. i've come back to a country where old animosities are flaring across communities. this is potchefstroom, where a young black athlete was brutally attacked last february. tha bang mosiako runs for south africa, but he was hospitalised after a beating by white youths. they were hitting me until i was unconscious. and i woke up in hospital, not knowing what happened. what do you feel when you see groups of young white men now? i feel really scared. i can't even go to town alone. travel 300 kilometres to the north—east, and you learn that racist violence can still be lethal. xolisile ndzongana was driving along

this road in the town of middleburg one night lastjuly. he found his way blocked by a group of white men. cctv cameras captured their attack, a beating which killed the 26—year—old. xolisile's friend lawrence witnessed the violence. he's afraid and has asked us to protect his identity. they pull out my friend and beat him. when i tried to save him, it was too late. what were they saying? what words did they use? they used the k—word. black... kaffir, everything. oh, it was horrible. it was terrible. even now, i can't sleep peacefully. sometimes, i do dream about it. you see, in the outside world, we looked at south africa and we thought this was the rainbow nation, that all of this was going to go away. you were wrong. it's not a rainbow nation. out on the platteland farms,

whites complain of their fears, plans to take white—owned land without compensation, and attacks on white farms that have deepened their alienation. i could see david on his knees in front of me, and the one black guy just pulled the trigger. um... after that, life was just a blur. archival: and the flag which was the flag of the apartheid state is coming down in front of me... but what's caused the high hopes of liberation to evaporate? much of the wealth remains in white hands. corruption and misrule have undermined reform. and extreme voices, white and black, are deepening polarisation. it's almost as if the country has stood still, that 1994 didn't happen in the countryside. you know, there's a war that's been

happening between black and white. but there are enough white south africans who want to make it work, who don't want to be racist. so how do we collaborate and how do we isolate those who are racist? and we should also do the same with the blacks. but this country has an endless capacity to surprise, as we discovered black on the platteland. this man is a young black farmer fighting a bushfire that threatens his home. and bernadette has come to help. we need more firefighters! 0ne shouldn't read too much into a single encounter, but what i'm seeing here, black and white neighbours helping each other in this crisis, is a powerful symbol of what's still possible in south africa. thanks, bernadette, you've been awesome, thank you. thanks for the petrol! i'm out! you know, as farmers, we are so united.

we have to help each other when there's fire, theft, whatever. we need to be together. right now in this country, there's a great deal of animosity, racial animosity. do you see any animosity? see any? 0ther neighbours arrived, reflecting the truth that hasn't changed in 25 years — south africans need each other. fergal keane, bbc news, on the platteland. it's a0 years since the launch of economic reforms which transformed china from an isolated backwater to the world's second largest economy. president xijinping is holding a major speech to mark the anniversary. under deng xiaoping, the country's economy began to open up, with a series of landmark capitalist experiments that lifted much of china out of poverty and turned it into an economic powerhouse. let's speak to our beijing correspondent, stephen mcdonell. stephen, i know you speak mandarin,

you've been listening to the president's speech, actually the economy has had a rocky year. what's he been saying? well, as you might expect, this speech, it was 1.5 hours, going through the big picture achievements of china really since this reform and opening up started. when the cultural revolution finished, the country opened up and we've seen this remarkable economic growth. as you might expect, he was talking about high—speed trains and shipbuilding and the like, but also how many millions of people have been lifted out of poverty in this country and ended by saying that not only has this been a miracle frankly, but the rest of the world should expect more miracles to come from china. the message was this project isn't over yet, there's plenty more where that came from. talking of the rest of the world,

did he acknowledged the tensions with the united states at all and the impact of that? -- acknowledge. no, there was no mention of that but interestingly, i can just no, there was no mention of that but interestingly, i canjust picture those us trade negotiators are sitting at one point and listening he did talk about opening up the chinese economy, how it has to open up chinese economy, how it has to open up more. this is what is at the core of the trade dispute with the us. he says more opening up is going to come, who can achieve this? the party. you took this opportunity, rather than to speak specifically about how this economy might be more open, but how the communist party was basically the best thing that's ever happened to china, it's only the communist party which can achieve more opening up, and that members of the party need to be mortgage alone and were and made everybody, sort of, left anybody with no illusions that the party is

going to be the absolute core of economic management here. i guess that probably also means strong public sector companies still at the heart of the economy here but no indication really of more lifting of ta riffs indication really of more lifting of tariffs on certain areas or leading us companies come into china, for example, without partnering with chinese companies —— letting. not those on specifics, just big picture vision. stephen, that's what he actually said, you're used to reading between the lines on these occasions, any underlying messages you picked up that he didn't actually spell out?” think he was trying to say to people to things, all the people in the party, don't worry, those party loyalists, we're not going to be shifting from what they say here is socialism with chinese characteristics, but on the other hand trying to say to people overseas who want more access to the

chinese market, don't panic with the communist party at the heart of everything because the party can, after all, keep opening up the economy. look, we've done this for decades, why can't we keep doing this into the future? so something for everyone in that respect. he's trying to reassure people that this massive and important economy that's at the centre of everything really, number two economy in the world, still a firm hand on the rudder with the communist party in charge and him at the head of the communist party. stephen, thank you very much indeed. the german government has agreed to pay compensation to survivors of the kindertransport programme that brought predominately jewish children from nazi germany to safety in britain. those eligible will be given a one—off payment of about $2,800, as gail maclellan reports. archive: 200 boys and girls wave a greeting to england, land of the free. around 10,000 jewish children from germany, austria and occupied parts of czechoslovakia were brought to britain on kindertransport, the first arriving in britain on december the 2nd, 1938.

they were transported out of europe when it became clear after kristallnacht and other pogroms thatjews were no longer safe. parents, desperate to save their children's lives, began thinking of ways to get them out. british authorities agreed to allow unspecified numbers of children under the age of 17 to enter the country. younger children were placed with families, and those older than 16 were given help to find jobs. the transports were halted in 1940, a day the netherlands surrendered to the nazis. almost none of the children ever saw their families again. they might‘ve been saved, but most of their parents perished in nazi concentration camps. it's thought that there are about 1,000 survivors still alive today in their 80s or 90s. an organisation representing jewish victims of nazi persecution said the survivors will now receive a small measure ofjustice, but nothing would ever make up for what they lost. gail maclellan, bbc news. musicians in the german city

of dresden have performed a moving tribute to victims of the holocaust, playing on violins that belonged to jewish violinists, who died in auschwitz. as you may well know, in the nazi camps, some musicians were made to play to people as they were being led to the gas chambers. the instruments were restored by an israeli violin maker and played by a german orchestra, many of them hadn't been used in decades. more for you any time on the bbc website. thank you for watching.

hello there. we're looking at a spell of wet and windy weather today across the western side of the country. the heaviest rain and strongest winds are always across the western parts, that's close to this area of low pressure. weather fronts here, it's not one of those fronts that's going to come along in a dead straight line. there are pulses of energy running along the front and that brings uncertainty with the timings of our band of rain. nevertheless, if you're heading outside over the next few hours, the winds will be picking up and we'll see the rain getting into many western areas. in east, though, probably a dry start to the day but it is that bit cooler. the big pressure chart shows this area of low pressure quite nicely just to the north—west of the uk, with tightly—packed isobars telling you it is going to be windy. we've already seen there will be gales around across western parts. the winds could gust to 65mph across parts of wales and south—west england, particularly around the coasts and the hills. similarfigures to northern ireland. these areas also having some heavy rain, which could bring the risk of some localised surface water flooding issues. now, as i say, there's some

uncertainty with this band of rain that will slowly and erratically push its way eastwards. it could clear eastern scotland a bit more quickly, but with showers following, and although most of the day will be dry across east anglia and south—east england, i couldn't rule out an odd passing shower here. wherever you are, though, with the southerly winds blowing, it will be a mild day. temperatures between 10 and 12 celsius. through tuesday evening, the rain will finally arrive and slowly push its way eastwards across east anglia, south—east england, north—east england too, before clearing overnight. our low pressure's still there for the middle part of the week. weatherfronts wrapped around the centre of low pressure. what that means is we'll have a blustery day on wednesday with a mixture of sunshine and showers, but the showers will tend to merge to give some lengthier spells of rain at times across western and southern areas, leaving the best of any dry weather and sunshine to the north and east. it'll start to get a bit cooler across the north of the uk, but those temperatures getting close to normal for this time of year. still relatively mild in the south. for thursday, the low pressure still on the charts, but it's filling, so we won't see

such strong winds on thursday. the showers will be with us, mainly affecting the north—west of the country although a few will run through the english channel and clip into south—east england. sunny spells between the showers. temperatures close to normal in the north. still relatively mild further south. that's your latest weather. bye for now. this is bbc news, the headlines: reports released by the us senate say tens of millions of americans were exposed to a russian—backed propaganda campaign on social media during the 2016 presidential election. the studies say sites run by youtube, facebook and others were used to spread propaganda to help donald trump get elected. 0fficial sources in yemen suggest violence has continued to erupt sporadically in the port city of hudaydah, despite a planned ceasefire agreed last week between the government and its houthi rebel opponents. violent clashes have continued for several days the port is a key gateway for vital supplies of aid to the country's people. protestors have once again taken to the streets of budapest

for the 6th consecutive day against viktor 0rban‘s fidesz government. the latest focus is the headquarters of hungarian state television, which the demonstrators accuse of being a fidesz mouthpiece. the computer games industry is growing rapidly in south korea. over half the population play games. and when they're not playing, they're watching professional gamers