this is bbc news. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: pressure on the white house. the special representative to ukraine, kurt volker, has resigned after being named in a whistleblower report. and in congress, the us secretary of state mike pompeo is given a week to hand over documents relating to ukraine, as the democrats step up the trump impeachment investigation. nigerian police rescue nearly 500 men and boys from what's being described as a house of torture. and walking in his mother's footsteps. prince harry visits a landmine clearance site in angola made famous by princess diana.

hello and welcome. in breaking news this hour, there are reports that the us president's special representative for ukraine, kurt volker, has resigned. it's after he was named in the whistleblower complaint at the centre of impeachment proceedings into donald trump. meanwhile — those impeachment proceedings appear to be gathering pace in the us as democrats say they're hoping to hold hearings into president trump, as early as next week. the subpoenas are already flying — secretary of state mike pompeo has been ordered to hand over documents concerning contact with the ukrainian government by next friday. president trump has lashed out at the inquiry saying it's a "witch—hunt. " our north america editor jon sopel looks at the day's events in washington.

we will bring you those details. we will be speaking to our correspondence shortly about that. now we get the background and everything that has been happening. we have also been hearing about mike pompeo, he has been subpoenaed by those impeachment investigations. there's support, there's defiance, but also there's anger. in a twitter feuds like this morning he took aim at the democratic house chair of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff, the person who will play a key role in impeachment hearings. the inspector general found that serious allegation of misconduct by the president credible. donald trump said of him... and then the whistle—blower who revealed details

of the president's conversation with his ukrainian counterpart volodymyr zelensky. sounding more and more like the so—called whistle—blower isn't a whistle—blower at all. but everything in the whistle—blower‘s letter has been proved true. the call did take place. president trump did ask his ukrainian counterpart to investigate his democratic party rivaljoe biden. and the white house today confirmed the transcript of the call was moved to a more secure server. but when president trump asks ukraine to investigate corruption, the democrats want to impeach him... but now in a slick counter blast, the trump campaign is firing back. they lost the election, now they want to steal this one. don't let them. i'm donald trump and i approved this... but the speaker of the house is unmoved. she says she was left with no other choice but impeachment following all of this. ..but this is about national security. this is about the national security of our country, and the president of the united states being disloyal

to his own oath of office, jeopardising our national security, and jeopardising the integrity of our elections. and the woman donald trump beat in 2016 has also made a rare intervention to pile in. he has turned american diplomacy into a cheap extortion racket. he has denigrated and — let's be honest — stabbed in the back of the career foreign service officers who serve bravely and selflessly no matter the politics of the administration that they are working under. the white house line on the whistle—blower is that it's all second—hand information and inaccurate. it's anything but. so far everything he's said has turned out to be true. republican lawmakers can say they don't really care and donald trump is free to do whatever he likes, much harder, though, to say there's nothing here. john sopel, bbc news, washington.

just repeat the breaking news, the special representative for ukraine, kurt volker, has resigned, that is according to reports after he was named ina according to reports after he was named in a whistleblower complaint. we will keep across that story and will be speaking to our correspondence about the very latest lead in that programme —— later in the programme. here in the uk it's been announced that the independent office for police conduct will assess whether the prime minister boris johnson potentially committed the criminal offence of misconduct in public office — during his time as mayor of london. the allegations are that borisjohnson maintained a friendship with the american businesswoman and former model jennifer accuri and, as a result of that friendship, allowed ms arcuri to participate in trade missions and receive sponsorship monies in circumstances when she and her companies could not have expected otherwise to receive those benefits. the police watchdog will now consider if it is necessary for the matter to be investigated. downing street has released a statement saying "everything was done with propriety and in the normal way". our uk affairs correspondent daniel sandford has more.

the basis of the allegations is that, while he was mayor of london, borisjohnson‘s friend, jennifer accuri, received £11,500 in sponsorship for events organised by one of her companies, which came from organisations linked to the mayor's office. and also went on three overseas trips with borisjohnson which, originally, she'd been turned down for. now, the greater london authority monitoring officer has been looking at these allegations this week and so have we, in fact, and noticed that people who went on the trips with jennifer accuri felt that she seemed a bit out of place, as her companies didn't seem as substantial as those of the other people that were on the trips, and certainly we know that borisjohnson‘s office intervene to make sure that she went on one of the trips and the greater london authority monitoring officer has now decided to call in the police watchdog, the iopc, to assess whether boris johnson, the prime minister, should be investigated for the criminal offence of misconduct ion public office. the iopc are involved because when he was mayor of london, borisjohnson was in charge

of london's metropolitan police. borisjohnson has vigorously denied these allegations, saying to the bbc last night that people are barking up the wrong tree. his office insists that he's always acted with propriety. and he says very proud of his time as mayor of london. police in nigeria have freed some 500 people, many of them young children, from a building where they have been allegedly chained, tortured and sexually abused. to protect their privacy we have decided to conceal the identities of the victims in this report from mayenijones in lagos. captives in chains, boys, teenagers, and grown men held in a so—called islamic school and unable to leave. look, they put chains on me,

with all the level of my exposure. one look at my own age, i have responsibilities on my head. but they denied me access to a lot of things. police received a tip—off from relatives of children held here that suggested this place was not what it seemed. i say, "ok, take this loaf of bread and take it to them." so when we go back home now, we had a family meeting, so we said, "ok, the only thing that shall report this issue to the police station." that is exactly what we did. the police said this was no educational institution. we discovered that we have, today, and five graduates. civil servants i hear. most of them are ten. ten! as far as i'm concerned, this is modern—day slavery. millions of students are in islamic schools across nigeria. parents in this deprived region often have to leave their children in religious boarding schools. these institutions have been dogged with allegations of abuse. earlier this year, the government said it planned to ban them. but wouldn't say when. as the victims are treated

and reunited with their families, this latest incident may be a reminder of the need for reform. mayenijones, bbc news in lagos. more than nine million people are expected to cast their ballots in afghanistan's presidential election on saturday, in a poll which has been overshadowed by violent attacks — claimed by the taliban — which have left many dead in recent weeks. there are at least 16 candidates, all of them men, including former warlords, ex—spies and members of the country's former communist government. the two main contenders are ashraf ghani, the current president, and abdullah abdullah, who was made chief executive after negotiations in 2014. we'll have full coverage of the vote, here on bbc world news.

i'm joined by murid partaw, the former afghan national representative to us central command — now at the school of global studies at the university of south florida. thank you so much for your time. first of all, given those levels of violence we are seeing, how possible is it that these elections will be fairand is it that these elections will be fair and free of fraud?” is it that these elections will be fair and free of fraud? i think this election is going to be different compared to the one in 2014, because the afghan security forces are in a better state than five years before. and, more importantly, the afghan election commission, the independent election commission, has also promised to conduct these elections ina promised to conduct these elections in a free and fair way. so i think that despite the taliban announcement that they are going to

disrupt the process, for the most pa rt disrupt the process, for the most part the security forces and the afg ha n part the security forces and the afghan election commission will be able to provide a safe environment for afg ha ns to able to provide a safe environment for afghans to cast their vote. but surely with as levels of violence, as you say, the taliban wants to disrupt the elections, surely we're not going to the voter turnout that you would need to have a kind of convincing result? there are approximately 9.5 million afghan voters registered right now, according to the afghan independent election. i think that the turnout, as you pointed out, will probably be as you pointed out, will probably be a little bit low given the level of violence that has been happening across the country. nevertheless, the elections will be happening around the country and the places

that these votes will be cast will be, for the most part, secured by the afghan security forces because the afghan security forces because the afghan security forces because the afghan security forces recently announced they have deployed close to 70,000 forces in charge of the election security. as you say, there's been a lot of concern about fraud in the past. we saw those allegations in 2014, 2018, what provisions have the government put in place so that doesn't happen ain? in place so that doesn't happen again? there are some good provisions that have taken place by the afghan election committee. 0ne is the biometric system that they have in place in this polling stations, that they will undergo with those votes that have been biometric clear approved. so that's

a good provision in place. and, secondly, there are some other good managements in place, such as observers from the candidates, especially from the two main contenders, abdullah abdullah and ashraf ghani, to observe these polling stations in order to prevent fraud in these polling stations. and in addition there are some international observers to, listing kabul and other major cities... murid partaw, i'm so sorry. we are out of time. thank you very much. murid partaw, former afghan representative to us central command. a huge crackdown by egypt's security forces has prevented mass protests from taking place in the capital cairo. there were online calls for demonstrations against alleged corruption by president abdel—fattah

al sisi and the military — instead it was the leader's supporters who staged rallies in his defence. protests broke out last week and since then human rights groups say nearly 2,000 people have been arrested. sally nabil is our correspondent in cairo. it has been a quiet day in cairo so far, although there were calls for huge anti—government protests. but it seems that the people are too scared to take to the streets, like they did briefly last week. security presence has been beefed up all around the city. cars are not allowed into tahrir square, only pedestrians. we've seen security personnel stopping passers—by, checking their mobile phones and looking for their id cards. 0nly small—scale protests have taken place in a couple of cities in the south of the city and one neighbourhood in cairo. 0n the other hand, thousands have taken part in pro—sisi gatherings in eastern cairo. the president himself has downplayed the significance of the protests that called on him to step down, making it clear egypt is strong and there is nothing to worry about. it's a nervous time, and many are waiting to see what will happen

in the coming hours. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: 22 years on, prince harry retraces his mother's footsteps, walking through a partially cleared angolan minefield. in all russia's turmoil it has never quite come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many have feared for so long is playing out its final active. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world. but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church.

this man, israel's right winger, ariel sharon, visited the religious compound, and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites. an idea that's unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the united states' special representative to ukraine — kurt volker — has resigned. it comes after a whistleblower claimed donald trump put pressure on ukraine, to investigate joe biden, the democratic frontrunner in the race for the white house.

so let's stay with our main story. for more i'm joined by our correspondent david willis in los angeles. can you tell us more about these reports that kurt volker has resigned? we are told that kurt volker resigned after with his boss, mike pompeo at the state department. he was one of five people who were scheduled to give evidence over the course of the next two weeks, to these committees, these democrat led committees, and are investigating and doing this impeachment enquiry into the conduct of the president donald trump. also amongst that five was marie yovanovitch, the former us ambassador to the ukraine, somebody who was sacked after falling out and having disagreements with the policy, over policy with president trump. where kurt volker‘s departure

will leave his testimony to congress remains to be seen, but there is certainly somebody who either thought they would want to question —— i would have thought they would wa nt to —— i would have thought they would want to question very closely, a since he is alleged to have brokered these meetings with president trump is my personal lawyer rudolph giuliani and members of the ukraine government. i'm sure we will hear more about kurt volker in the coming hours and days, but of course events are happening thick and fast, mike pompeo has been subpoenaed as part of this investigation? yes he has, and that is in regard to documents correspondence, e—mails and so on, about contacts between members of his staff and members of the government of the ukraine. mike pompeo has defied two previous deadlines to produce those documents, he now has one week in which to do so. david, these

impeachment proceedings, how popular are they within the country, is there a lot of support, not much? traditionally there has been very little public support for impeachment, embers of the public tend to prefer their politicians to focus on more mundane but relevant topics, the economy, cost of things, healthcare and so on. but there was a poll released today which showed an increase in the number of people interested in impeachment proceedings against donald trump. and i think there is a feeling, certainly amongst the democrats and the democratic leadership in the case of nancy pelosi, that this is a this telephone conversation with the suggestion of a quid pro quo attached to it between donald trump and the president of ukraine, is something that people in america can

understand, and perhaps can get behind as far as these very controversial proceedings are concerned. and it looks as though things could move quite quickly, the chairman of the intelligence committee, adam schiff, said today that he wanted to move on this and get articles of impeachment prepared if possible, by thanksgiving, and thatis if possible, by thanksgiving, and that is at the end of november. so the subpoena issued and delivered to mike pompeo may just the subpoena issued and delivered to mike pompeo mayjust be the first of many in the next couple of months. that is a very quick turnaround and i'm sure it is not the last we hear of it, thank you so much for that, and we will keep across the breaking news, that the special representative to the uk, kurt volker, for the us, has resigned, we will get across that for you here on bbc news. the climate change protests known as the fridays for future have been continuing around the world — with the organisers of this march in montreal saying half

a million people took part. they were joined by the swedish teenager who inspired the movement, greta thunberg. it was perhaps the biggest gathering, but many took place in other cities: these pictures are from new zealand where tens of thousands of school children and university students took part in protests across the country. 0rganisers say that 40,000 people got involved. these schoolchildren also made their point about the climate in abuja in nigeria. and there was also a gathering in the hage in the netherlands. and there was also a gathering in the hague in the netherlands. 0ur correspondent anna holligan was there. what do we want? crowd: climate justice! some schools here in the hague have actually cancelled classes and brought the pupils out to protest instead, building climate consciousness into the real life curriculum. too many people, there is no oxygen there. this is the only chance we have. so we need to take our chance and make the world better. of course the netherlands has a lot to

be conscious of, with almost a third of the country lying below sea level. they are super aware of those rising tides. this country of course has a reputation — clean, green living, cycling, windmills, renewable energy. but actually its record has a lot to be desired. children here in the netherlands have the highest instances of asthma caused by pollution anywhere in europe, and they are struggling to reach those targets of reducing emissions by 49% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. so the message here in the hague is clear, and it is reverberating again all over the world today. we are here, this not good what the world is doing, and now we hope that's the, um, the rechter, we do for the world, and we're doing for

the world, that's better. these are the superheroes of the future. their relationship with the environment today will determine what it looks like in the future. more than 20 years ago, diana, princess of wales, walked through a minefield in angola to highlight the threat posed by landmines — you may remember this famous footage. on friday, her son prince harry, retraced her steps, returning to the spot, to see how much has changed, and what still needs to be done to combat the problem. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell sent us this report. minefields. .. a massive problem in angola, and an issue with a particular resonance for harry — in memory of his mother's efforts to make the world do something to deal with them. harry was taken into one of the minefields being cleared by britain's halo trust. he saw the painstaking work of the mine clearance teams, combing the ground metre by metre. explosion.

he detonated a mine which had been found a few days ago. and then on to huambo, angola's second city. it was here 22 years ago that diana, princess of wales, was filmed walking along a safe corridor through a minefield. it brought the whole issue to the world's attention and led eventually to an international ban. today the spot which had once been a minefield is an anonymous street, but a place for a proud son to visit and to reflect on what his mother had achieved. to walk in her footsteps is clearly quite emotionalfor me, but i think as much as she did then, there is still so much to do, but without question, if she hadn't campaigned the way that she did 22 years ago, this could arguably still be a minefield, so i'm incredibly proud of what she's been able to do. fully 17 years after the end

of angola's civil war, people are still suffering life—changing injuries. harry visited and officially named the princess diana orthopaedic centre where the victims of landmines are treated and are fitted with prosthetic limbs. 22 years after diana died, and there are still more than 1,000 minefields here in angola. harry's message, expressed today — let's finish thejob. nicholas witchell, bbc news, huambo. before we go, let's remind you of our breaking news this hour, that us resident donald trump's special representative for ukraine, kurt volker, has resigned. he was one of the people named in a whistleblower complaint, talking about kurt volker trying to contain the damage from effo rts trying to contain the damage from efforts by donald trump's lawyer, rudy giuliani, to press ukraine to

investigate democrats, and that whistleblower report is at the centre of those impeachment enquiries that are now taking place. they were thus on bbc news for the latest. —— stay with us. hello there. if you are out across the northern half of the uk in the next few hours, and you have clear skies, you may be treated to the northern lights. but it has been a very turbulent end to the week, and it is going to be a rather wet and windy weekend for many of us, and there is growing concern with this next deep area of low pressure now developing, that more rain on already saturated ground, with river levels high, will result in further flooding. as well as that we have some strong winds around this low pressure system coinciding with high tides, because of the new moon, the full moon, so there could be coastal flooding too. a band of rain moves across northern ireland, northern england, southern scotland, any mist and fog to the north will clear away, showery rain across northern areas does tend to ease, the showery rain further south eases away,

so a day of sunny spells and showers, probably not as heavy showers today as we saw yesterday, but nevertheless, they are still around, still wet. it should feel pleasant enough with light winds and sunshine, but as the day progresses, the afternoon progresses we are in for a big change, there's more tropical air tied in with this area of low pressure, so there will be widespread, heavy intense rain, some thundery rain in there as well, and strong to gale force winds blowing in that rain and coinciding with high tides, we could have coastal inundation. so really wet and windy through the night as we move into sunday. and that rain is really slow to clear, could be scotland and northern ireland escape the worst of the rain, and as the day goes on we change our wind direction and pick up a colder north—north—westerly, but that will have a sting in its tail, you can see for england and wales, which has more rain re—entering around the area of low pressure. so temperature really academic on sunday but feeling colder in the north, later in the day as winds switch direction they may have a sting in the tail, we would have strong to gale force winds crossing into wales and later

england and down the north sea coast, but potentially corresponding or tying in with high tides here, so we will concern ourselves with some coastal flooding here as well late on sunday. lots to keep our eye on, it looks really unsettled through the weekend, heavy rain, gales, there are warnings out from the met office, there on the website, and those high tides as well. further afield we are expecting rain for the rugby which continues into the weekend, japan—ireland on saturday, potentially having some heavy downpours around here, and for australia—wales, i would not like to rule out downpours either. it is much cooler, though, as we go into the new week back home, as you can see, and it remains unsettled, perhaps a respite in the middle of the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the united states's special representative to ukraine, kurt volker, has resigned. it comes after a whistle—blower claimed donald trump put pressure on ukraine's president to investigate joe biden, the democratic frontrunner in the race for the white house. it's been claimed that kurt volker helped mr trump's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, arrange meetings in ukraine — even though mr giuliani had no official role in the us government at the time. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has been ordered by the house of representatives to hand over documents to an impeachment inquiry looking into the donald trump's dealings with the ukraine government. mr pompeo will have a week to comply with the subpoena. nigerian police say they've rescued nearly 500 people from a building in the northern city of kaduna where they were being detained. those held were all men and boys, and said they'd been tortured and sexually abused. and, 22 years on, walking in his mother's footsteps. prince harry has visited a partially—cleared minefield in angola. the duke of sussex described the visit as "quite emotional".