colours of mr bolsonaro's campaign. a colours of mr bolsonaro‘s campaign. a lot of mr bolsonaro supporters, also benjamin netanyahu, and many latin american leaders. madeira road from venezuela isn't invited, the cuban leader, too. this far right president is clear that the left is not welcome here. despite that, there are celebrations starting. you can hear the music behind me. people are gathering, waiting for the ceremony. what is the mr bolsonaro presidency going to look like, will be as controversial as his has suggested? well, his campaign was full of rhetoric, sexist, homophobic, racist rhetoric that got many people nervous about what that would mean for his presidency, whether he would rule for all of brazil. whether he will turn that dunwoody comes into power, he said he would be willing for all of brazil, but a lot of people are nervous about what the next four

yea rs nervous about what the next four years will mean for the people here, especially minority groups. the financial markets are happy, they think the economy will be in better hands with mr bolsonaro, but socially in terms of progress, what that means for was ill is something a lot of people are nervous about here. one of the singers with the american 70s band ‘dr hook', ray sawyer, has died at the age of 81. he was known for his trademark hat and eyepatch, which he wore after losing his right eye in a road accident. the group's hits included ‘sylvia's mother‘ and ‘when you're in love with a beautiful woman.‘ it is just after half past one. let's look at the weather. chris fawkes is in the newsroom. hgppy fawkes is in the newsroom. happy new year. happy new year to

you as well. the weather over the next few days, the first few days of 2019, looking much brighter with some sunshine. the sunniest weather is in northern england and southern scotla nd is in northern england and southern scotland today. showers in the north—east. cloud in southern counties of england. that is associated with their week weather front. the vast majority will have a fine dry afternoon. down gorgie temperatures. it will feel a little bit cooler than in recent days. that trend will continue. through the night we will keep cloud on the north sea coasts and that should keep it frost free. a sharp frost develops further west. temperatures in the countryside getting down to minus six degrees. there would be plenty of sunshine around on wednesday. the cloud and the north sea coast could bring some isolated showers to lincolnshire and norfolk, but for most it is a fine and dry

day but feeling cooler. that is your weather. hello, this is bbc news with anita mcveigh. the headlines: police say they're treating the stabbing of three people at victoria station in manchester last night, as a terror investigation. nasa scientists wait to find out whether their space probe, new horizons, has successfully flown past ultima thule — the most distant object ever explored. billions of people around the world have welcomed the start of the new year. 2019 was ushered in with spectacular fireworks displays and concerts across the uk. now on bbc news it's time for witness, and a special edition looking back at some of most compelling stories of 2018 — from the great niece of the tsar reflecting on the russian revolution, to the doctor who saved bulgaria's dancing bears. hello and welcome to witness,

with me, razia iqbal. i'm here at the british library with five extraordinary moments in history, told to us by people who were there. in this special edition, we present five stories from 2018. we will hear about how a us warship shot down an iranian airliner in 1988. the tragedy that wiped out the australian town of wittenoom. the man who rescued the dancing bears of bulgaria. and chairman mao attempts to bring healthcare to the masses with barefoot doctors. but first, we head back 100 years

to 1918 when the russian tsar, nicholas ii, and his entire family were murdered by russian revolutionaries. in 1998, after the fall of communism, their remains were unearthed and they were reburied in st petersburg. princess 0lga romanoff, the great—niece of the tsar, tells the story. following the priests and the nobles, tsar nicholas of imperial russia, with his wife and children. one day, all to find death in a bullet swept cellar. my grandmother was tsar nicholas ii's sister, and my father was tsar nicholas ii's eldest nephew. he called him "uncle nicky". nicholas adored him and he travelled a lot with the tsarina and with the tsar, and was very close with the girls. they used to have cycle

races and pony races up and down the palaces. the russian territories are vast and they were incredibly powerful. also, nicholas was the head of the church. already, there was bolshevik movements, and the russian royal family were not as powerful as they were say in 1900. 0n march15, 1917, tsar nicholas ii, supreme ruler of all the russias, was forced to abdicate in the face of political and economic pressure, that lead in the end to total revolution. nicholas and his family were taken to tobolsk, where they were held, and from tobolsk, they went to ekaterinburg, which is where they were eventually murdered. i think that the bolsheviks feared that if he was on the throne,

he might have more influence than they would like him to have. his memory is honoured here, but during his lifetime, the tsar was accused of being both weak and inconsistent, stubbornly clinging to power. but the romanoffs are credited with dignity in the months leading to their execution. the children, their brother, along with the emperor, nicholas himself, were all shot. after the fall of the soviet union, we heard on the grapevine that the bodies of nicholas and his family had been discovered in a swamp outside of ekaterinburg, and there was a movement that they would get a decent burial in st petersburg, with the rest of the family. in 98, injuly, one of my sons

and myself went st petersburg for the first time for the funeral of nicholas ii, and between 52 and 56 romanoffs. as the cortege approaches, it slows down, in keeping with the russian tradition in which the coffins of the dead are driven past the place that was their last home on earth. we followed the cortege all the way from the airport to peter and paul fortress, and what struck me, amazingly, there were so many people in the street, and all of them were sliding across and crying... the queen had very kindly sent officers from the scots. the honour guard including a royal piperfrom the royal scots dragoon guards, tsar nicholas was their commander—in—chief. it was a very long service, they all laid out in front

of the altar and it all felt very emotional. it had a feel of holiness and sanctity. it was, you know, it wasjust nice to have them safely buried. princess 0lga romanoff on burying her great uncle, the last tsar of russia. in 1988, an american warship, the uss vincennes, shot down an iranian airliner, killing all 290 people on board. at the time, rudy pahoyo was a navy combat cameraman, and happened to be on board the vincennes that fateful day. it was a tragedy, to shoot down an airliner. one of those things you just — i am still in disbelief that it could have happened.

the mood in the gulf was very tense, iran and iraq were in the middle of a war at the time and the us navy was protecting the oil tankers that came out of kuwait, to make sure the flow of oil kept coming to the united states, and the iranians were harassing those ships. the speedboats that the iranians were using, they would round—robin the ships while they were shooting and try to catch fire. so ourjob was just kind of like a police force, if you will. the team i was with was my crew, i am videotaping the whole time. and i caught a ride with the uss vincennes cruiser, it is a billion—dollar boat, state—of—the—art at the time. as we were sailing back, we got into a battle with iranian speedboats. during the gunboat battle,

we were thinking that they are going to come at us with whatever they have now, that would have been the air force. the year before, in 1987, the uss stark got hit by a missile, that was launched by iraq, we always had in mind remember the stark, remember the stark. and about five minutes went by and they said there was a target that had left bandar abbas, the iranian airfield, and the military airport and the civilian airport is the same place, so the aircraft, when it took off, was identified as air hostile. they thought it was iranian air force but the plane, in reality, was flight 655, it was an airliner, an airbus. five times a week, there is a scheduled service

across the bandar strait to dubai. they travel a flight path... but here the crew is, waiting for another target to come at them when the aircraft takes off. and i believe that one of the lieutenants, i went up and asked him and i said "what are we doing?" he said "you are going to see some missile action." and i went to the specialist who was watching the scope and he is watching the missiles, because you can track them off the radar, and then he sees it hit the target. but they found out like 15, 20 minutes later, that it was an airliner. an iranian airbus is presumed crashed.

please look for survivors or aircraft wreckage. and so that is when it was like what? airliner missing? we didn't shoot an airliner, we shot a tomcat, i thought. there was a lot of soul—searching, disbelief. that's not supposed to happen, that's not what we're here to do. 290 civilians passed away on flight 655, and of those 290, 66 were children. i felt so bad for the families that lost their loved ones, and sometimes you are part of history and you love it, sometimes you're part of history and you hate it. this is just one of those things where you just wish it didn't happen, but i was there. rudy pahoyo remembering the iranian airliner tragedy. our next story takes us to the balkans. in 1988, bulgaria banned the centuries old form of local entertainment, where captive,

chained bears were forced to dance to music. following the ban, the retired and often traumatised bears needed a place to go and one man, dr amir khalil, came to their rescue. in 1998, it was clear from the announcement that the brown bear needed to be protected. for me, it was a huge challenge. in the heart of the bulgarian capital sofia's commercial and political centre, a tradition from mediaeval times. a 1a—month—old brown bear. she is muzzled and chained by rings through her nose and upper lip to her master. the dancing bear was a cultural problem in bulgaria. for hundreds of years, a tradition. the bear is trained, they take the bear cub and work them on a metal hotplate,

very hot, like fire. they smear the sole of the leg of the bear with vaseline and then they start to play with small instruments and music and they put the bear up on the fire, on this hotplate and the bear starts to move his leg up and down because it's burning him. and they do this procedure many times and for the bear, when they hear this music, they start to move their leg and this is how they have the dancing bear. the bear is also alcoholic. they have one hobby. so that they are working many hours, the bear has to drink also alcohol, like its owner. so we tried to work with the public and make a lot of publicity about the situation and soon enough, aftera month, a lot of hotel owners in sofia on the seaside, they refused the owner of the bear to come to dance in front of his hotel. this bear was born in captivity

and don't have the chance to learn how to survive in the wild so we can't let them to the wild. it was very clear there needs to be a sanctuary. for me, it was a huge challenge. like really, how to get the first bears and convince and prove that this project is possible? this is a retirement house for older dancing bears. the first time, when i have the chance to bring the bears here, to the dancing bear park, first i was very excited. we have to wait all the night outside till the morning coming so i have to dart the bear to remove the chain and bring the bear inside the enclosure. to be honest, i was very scared because i don't know how the bear will react. they will wake up, they are chained, what will they do? he is a wild animal still

and i was scared and think the bear also scared so when he woke up, i will never forget this moment. he stands up, he was looking that he was afraid to walk, even to walk, he was afraid to step in front because he was just chained and his smell, he just smiled. there is no chain, no owner, just food. he is free. in bulgaria, there is no more dancing bear. the last dancing bear in bulgaria was rescued in september 2007. it is a tradition from the middle ages. it no more exists and it will never come back again. dr amil khalil on rescuing dancing bears. remember, you can watch with us every month on the bbc news channel or you can catch up on all our films along with more than 1,000 radio programmes in the online archive.

just go to:. our next story is about an australian tragedy. the town of wittenoom in western australia grew around an asbestos mine in the 1940s but at the time, few people knew that asbestos was lethal and could cause lung cancer. bronwyn duke lived in wittenoom as a child and is one of the few members of her family that is still alive. people were warned but they didn't take it seriously until people started to die. i lost both parents, both grandparents, my brother, three uncles, about four cousins that i can think of and that's just the immediate family in my world. i was born in 1958 in the far north of western australia,

in the pilbara, the little town of wittenoom. the blue asbestos mine was the genesis of the town. asbestos is a naturalfibre that is encased in rocks. they would extract the asbestos out of the mine and the mill would package it ready for shipment, and it was sent to all places around the world. voiceover: fire-resisting, sound insulating fabric known as asbestos is a piece of rock. the practical uses of asbestos are very numerous. at least 18,000 articles are made of it. ranging for packing the steam engines and friction services to bulk heads for aeroplanes. there were a lot of immigrants that came to australia after the second world war. a lot of them were looking forjobs and there were jobs to be had in wittenoom. my

my dad was one of them. he was a jack of all trades. he took the guys by bus from town to the mine every day. my mum and her sisters all met their husbands up there. it had all of the elements of a normal country town — they used to have race days and there would be balls and all sorts of social activities that everyone was involved in. but my parents weren't aware of the dangers at all. i don't think a lot of people in the town were aware of the dangers. asbestos fibres get into the lungs and those fibres can cause asbestosis, or mesothelioma. it encases the lung in cancer and prevents it from breathing. in wittenoom, the asbestos wasn't confined to the mine. asbestos was used in gardens, on driveways, on the roads. it was literally everywhere. and if you went out to play, as all small children do, you were playing in asbestos.

one of the flying doctors flew into town and said, as soon as he got there he said, we had to close this, this has to stop. the mine was very profitable, so it was decided that wasn't the case. it was 1966 before they actually closed the mine. but people had started to die. we left when my dad got sick. we now know in actual fact he had asbestosis at that time. it's almost like having an asthma attack where you can't breathe and you're fighting to catch your breath. my mum and my brother died from mesothelioma. it is an extremely harrowing disease to see someone dying from mesothelioma. there's just hundreds of people from wittenoom that i know of, who have gone with mesothelioma or asbestosis. none of my family in that photo is alive, they're all gone,

every one of them. there is no compensation for taking away your parents or your family. there is no justice in that at all. nothing. money doesn't bring them back. money doesn't compensate for their death or what you miss. bronwyn duke on the wittenoom asbestos mine in australia. now in 1968, chairman mao launched a scheme to improve healthcare in rural china by giving thousands of people basic medical training and sending them out to work in villages. they were known as the barefoot doctors. gordon liu was one of them. i became a barefoot doctor after i graduated from high school simply because i was one of the most educated young persons. i had no training, no experience or knowledge in medicine whatsoever.

voiceover: chairman mao says the sick must be healed and has caused a real shake—up in china's health services. voiceover: every commune, they say, now has hospitals and clinics providing medical attention where there was none before. perhaps the most striking development has been the training of a vast corps of a barefoot doctors. they have their farm work to do as well, and their training is limited but even if you can teach people simple hygiene, it saves countless lives. we provided very basic services to our villages, mostly for the common cold conditions, infections, diarrhoea, things like that. barefoot doctor simply described that sometimes we had to take shoes off to work in farmland. we were not always barefoot. i do have shoes! i started as a barefoot doctor to not only treat the people but also treat animals.

there was one case i still remember. one of my relatives, she had a teeth problem, she had to go to the county hospital and she returned to the village and it was very painful. she said, "my little brother, can you do something for me?" i said, "i will give it a try." i went back to the chinese medicine books i had, i read the relevant chapters for dental care and i said, "can we try this?" after three or four days, the problem was gone. that news was out to the whole village. this little kid can do something much better than the county hospital, so i was very,

very proud of it. big epidemics have been largely checked. this doctor said, rather smugly, i thought, "the only venereal disease cases we get in china now are those that come over the border from hong kong. in china, we stamped it out." certainly, cholera and smallpox claim fewer victims than in the old days. i think most people in china and many people in other countries perceived the barefoot doctor system very highly. my view is somewhat different from that. back in the ‘60s, ‘70s, the result of the cultural revolution, the chinese higher education system was shut down, but if i could choose between going to the countryside for three years or going to college, mostly i would have chosen college but given that was the only choice

available to me but yes, there was something positive there. gordon liu, one of china's barefoot doctors. that is all from witness this month at the british library. we will be back next month with more first—hand accounts of extraordinary moments in history but now, from me and the rest of the witness team, goodbye. hello. 2018 finished on a cloudy but mild

note for much of the country. since we are turning to the new year, the weather is brightening up. more sunshine in the next few days courtesy of this week cold front moving its way south. cooler air follows. more sunshine. the satellite picture shows quite a mix of weather around the uk for the rest of this afternoon. showers in north—east scotland. a good slice of sunshine per northern scotland and northern england. the cloud in the southis northern england. the cloud in the south is courtesy of the week cold front. it is not out of the question you could squeeze out an odd spot of rain. the vast majority will have a dry day. in the sunny moments that is where the colder air is. temperatures between five and 7 degrees in the sunshine. to take us through tuesday evening and overnight, we will keep these brisk northerly winds. cloud in northern and eastern coastal districts. there

will probably avoid a frost. it will be cold. a widespread frost setting in. in the countryside, —5 four parts of north—west england and wales, —6 in the countryside in scotland. certainly a cold under frosty start on wednesday. most of us frosty start on wednesday. most of us should have a dry day with plenty of sunshine. exceptions around the northern and eastern areas. thick enough to bring isolated showers. perhaps some from lincolnshire and norfolk. the majority will have a fine dry and cool day. the area of high pressure will stay with us. we will get cold arctic air emptying out across eastern europe bringing some show, even out across eastern europe bringing some snow, even to low levels in greece, would you believe it, and the next few days. that is a story to look out for. no such exciting weather for us. high—pressure going nowhere fast. thursday is another cold one. fog patches in the

morning. in the sunshine, temperatures still below par. however, there is a trend towards the end of the week, through the weekend, that the weather will turn a little bit cloudier. with that there could be some fog patches around, particularly through the weekend in the north—west of the uk. as the cloud rolls into the weekend, temperatures will be lifting to close to normal for this time of the year. milder in the next few days. this is bbc news. the headlines at 2pm. 0n terror investigation is launched after three people, including a police officer was stabbed at manchester station. my thoughts are still very much at those who are being treated at hospital for the serious injuries. three, two, one.

nasa scientists wait to find out whether there is space probe has successfully flown past the most distant object ever explored. we set a record. never before has a spacecraft explored anything so far away. the archbishop of canterbury calls for an end to the "divisions of recent years" in his new year sermon.