this is bbc world news, the headlines. hong kong's opposition pro—democracy movement has made strong gains in the chinese territory's district council elections. voters turned out in record numbers to cast their ballots. leaked chinese government documents, seen by the bbc, have revealed that a network of high securityjails in western china are intended to brainwash hundreds of thousands of people from the mainly muslim uighur minority. beijing has always said the camps are for education and training — but the papers show that they exist to indoctrinate uighurs. britain's prime minister boris johnson has launched his conservative party's manifesto for next month's snap general election, promising to "get brexit done". mrjohnson is hoping for a majority after the previous parliament declined to pass his brexit deal

within his timetable. the american billionaire, michael bloomberg, has launched his bid to become the democratic candidate in next year's presidential election. at ten o'clock, clive myrie will be here with a full round up of the days news. first — russia faces a deadly epidemic of domestic violence. for years it has been hidden from view, but now a new generation of women are fighting back. lucy ash meets the families whose extraordinary stories have sparked a national debate and the politicians who are campaigning for changes in the law. it contains discussion of domestic violence which some viewers may find upsetting. russia can be a dangerous place for women. it has a deadly culture of domestic violence. across the country, hundreds of women are killed every year

by partners and relatives. but now, some russian women are fighting back, with a new wave of activism.

this year, russian society was rocked by a big court case. three sisters accused of murdering their father injuly 2018 were found to have been physically and sexually abused by him for years. krestina, angelina and maria confessed to attacking their sleeping father, mikhail khachaturyan, with a hunting knife and a hammer. they face up to 20 years in prison. mikhail khachaturyan‘s body was found in the third—floor landing of this block, where he lived with his daughters.

after a public outcry, the sisters have been released from prison and are leading relatively normal lives, with some restrictions while awaiting trial. i can't speak to the sisters while the case is being investigated, but i can talk to their mother. aurelia dunduk was herself a victim of constant abuse from her husband, mikhail, for many years. at first, she tried going to police, but that only made matters worse. eventually, he kicked her out.

this high—profile case has shone a powerful light on the scourge of domestic violence. hundreds of thousands have signed a petition calling for the sisters‘ release. activists at weekly pickets blame russia's legal system for turning a blind eye and forcing the teenagers to defend themselves. russia's most famous opposition punk band, pussy riot, performed at a concert fundraiser for the sisters.

this is a theatre performance which tells the story of the khachaturyan sisters, but the actors also tell the audience about their own experiences. domestic abuse is still relatively taboo here.

many believe the state shouldn't poke its nose into private, family business. but the khachaturyan case sparked a kind of russia me too movement. today, women battling the culture of domestic abuse have finally started to gain a voice. anna rivina has opened a walk—in help centre in moscow called no to violence, where women can get legal and psychological support. the centre is also raising awareness through slick social media campaigns, including this one, where famous russian men say it is uncool to hit women.

one of the main problems is why domestic violence still exists. it is the generations. there is connection with generations, and of course, if a young boy or girl grows up in a family where they see it, day by day, for them, it'sjust a normal thing. they just cannot understand why it's not ok. and for us, it's the main thing, is not only to protect or to prevent, but to explain that this is violence, this is not ok. i can say that there is a big

difference since then, 2015, when i started this work. now, it's much easier. now, it's more obvious for people that this problem exists, and now it's much more obvious for people that it's not about women. it's about human rights. and of course, a few years ago,, we had decriminalisation of domestic violence, as people's first time. anna rivina is referring to a controversial law passed in 2017 which scrapped prison sentences for first—time abusers. beatings which didn't require hospital treatment were classed as administrative offences, not crimes. some say this has led to an upsurge in violence. one of the biggest problems in tackling domestic violence is the lack of reliable statistics. police registered more than 13,000 assaults against wives

by husbands last year. but that figure only includes married women, and the true figure is likely to be much higher. 26—year—olds margarita gracheva, a mother—of—two, was initially a victim of so—called minor harm. her husband had hit her and threatened her with a knife. but, when she went to the police, they said the investigation would take 20 days. then they dropped the case. one month later, her husband took her into the woods and chopped off her hands. the doctors were able to save one of them, but not the other. a crowdfunding campaign paid for a prosthetic hand, and margarita has resolved to stay strong for her children.

margarita has just published a book about her recovery. she is now able to look after her children on her own, in her apartment, and is keen to go back to work. like the khachaturian case, margarita's story has become a media sensation. it has focused attention on the toxic masculinity, weak laws and official indifference which endanger millions of russian women.

russia doesn't have a national domestic violence law but inside the parliament, one woman is working hard to introduce one.

0ksana pushkina is the deputy head of the parliamentary committee for women and children. she was one of the very few mps to take a strong stance against the decriminalisation law in 2017. that takes some guts, because she is affiliated with the political party loyal to president vladimir putin, which passed the law.

in russia, tackling domestic abuse has never been a priority for lawmakers.

but this recent debate in the parliament is a sign that the government is beginning to take the problem more seriously. here, pushkina is pushing to introduce restraining orders to keep violent partners away from victims. she says the recent increase in russian domestic violence cases in the european court of human rights have embarrassed the government. but pushkina is facing a lot of opposition, and her critics jump to some odd conclusions.

earlier this year, an archpriest of the russian orthodox church told a radio station that women are more submissive and generally less intelligent than men. smart women, he said, are rare. those are the words of a man who heads the commission on the protection of women, children and families. and it's attitudes like these that help to explain why tackling domestic violence is still not very high up on the agenda in this country. that same archpriest has also stated that even the term ‘domestic violence‘ is linked to radical western feminism and is incompatible with russian family values. anton sorvachev is a family lawyer. twice divorced himself, he specialises in defending the interests of men in family

break—ups and he believes the status quo is in favour of women. he also has his own show on youtube with overtly misogynist views, and he is outraged by the idea of restraining orders. you think it is the woman that should leave the family home in the case of domestic violence?

but all too often, the police don‘t take the necessary action to protect the victims of domestic abuse. anna‘s 29—year—old daughter alyona verba was brutally murdered by her husband in this very apartment. he stabbed her 57 times and then left for work. in the morning, their 7—year—old son nikita went into his mother‘s bedroom and found her body.

although former police captain sergei gustyatnikov was convicted of murder, he hasn‘t been stripped of his parental rights. anna and her grandson can only hope for a change in russia‘s legal system.

the appalling cases in this film might have been prevented, if only the right measures been in place. russia desperately needs a domestic violence law, but those who are fighting for change have many tough battles ahead.

hello there. it was dull and misty for many of us on sunday, but at least mild, and for much of the week ahead we‘re going to keep in that milder air, but it comes with more cloud, and it comes with some rain at times. towards the end of the week, signs of change. the air, coming from a different position, should dry things out and turn things a bit colder. at the moment, though, we‘re seeing change coming in from the south—west. these weather fronts bringing with it some cloud, some outbreaks of rain, lifting the mist and fog as the breeze picks up, mind you, most of the rain across england and walese on and off. some rain for a while in northern ireland. not a huge amount of rain for scotland, and the best of the sunshine is likely to be in the far north of scotland. for many of us, another cloudy day, rain not far away, those temperatures in double figures, highs of 13 again, across southern parts of england and wales. 0ne weather system moves away, the next deep area of low pressure races in from the atlantic. this has got some

tropical air in it. remnants of tropical storm sebastien. that will bring some heavier rain on tuesday, it will also strengthen the winds through the english channel, with the strongest gusts likely to be for south wales and the south—west of england — and some quite choppy seas as well. that rain, then, heavier as it marches its way northwards up to northern ireland, eventually towards the central belt of scotland, and behind it we will see showers or longer spells of rain returning to england and wales, particularly wet at the moment towards the south—east of england in the afternoon, but really quite warm air, of course, given it has come from a long way south. once that area of low pressure arrives, it is going to stick around for quite some time, into wednesday, trundles its way towards the south—east of england. we have a weather front in the north east. that is going to be bringing more rain to the highlands and grampians, some stronger winds here as well. some unwelcome rain, i think, across the south pennines and near the centre of the low pressure, some heavier rain to clear away from the south—east of england. again, it is mild. those temperatures widely in double figures. now as we head towards thursday, signs of slow changes. the low pressure for a start is going to pull away and there isn‘t one coming in behind that, so it is starting to dry off a little bit.

we are changing the wind direction. this is the first sign of change, with a north to north—easterly brightening things up in scotland, pushing any remaining rain and drizzle down, away from northern ireland, into england and wales, where it is still mild in the south. it gets a bit colder across the north. so we‘re changing where our air is coming from. instead of those milder south—westerlies, a cooler north to north—easterly flow for the end of the week. and that means where the cloud breaks we will find some frost returning by friday morning, a bit of blue on the map there for the northern half of the uk, for many towns and cities still above freezing. we still have a bit of cloud and rain to clear away from south wales and southern england, but elsewhere, while it will be colder, it is going to be much brighter. sunshine returning to many parts of the country, and with light winds too. but those temperatures will be down to around five to eight degrees. that colder air struggles to reach the far south west of england. it may get a bit milder here, as we head into the weekend, because we have another area of low pressure arriving to bring some rain. the position of that low could change, the one following in the colder air

to the north, that position has changed, but it looks like we are staying in colder air as we head towards december. but there is rain coming in from the atlantic. that is likely to bring some milder air. how quickly, and it could be quicker than this, wait and see, but at the moment it looks like monday and tuesday we are still in the colder air.

tonight at ten, borisjohnson launches the conservative manifesto, saying next month‘s election is the most critical in modern memory. he‘s promising to put his brexit deal back before parliament by christmas, there‘ll be 50,000 more nurses, and no rises in income tax. let us go for sensible, moderate, but tax—cutting one—nation conservative government, and take this country forwards. thank you all very much. cheering plenty of promises but no big surprises, the prime minister publishes a manifesto he hopes will win him a majority. we‘ll be looking at the pledges and asking if they‘re affordable. also tonight: two major cinema chains pull the screening of a film