this is bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: the bbc has first—hand evidence that women in china's so—called re—education camps have been systematically raped and tortured translation: they did whatever evil their mind could think of. - and they didn't spare any part of my body. the leading russian opposition activist alexei navalny is jailed for two—and—a—half years. he says it's just an attempt to scare people away from challenging president putin. latest research suggests a single dose of the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine lowers the rate of coronavirus transmission. the world's richest man, jeff bezos, is to step down as chief executive of amazon, the e—commerce giant that he founded in his garage nearly 30 years ago.

and captain sir tom moore, the war veteran who raised tens of millions for charity during the first lockdown, has died at the age of 100. hello. women in china's so—called re—education camps have been systematically raped and tortured, according to first hand accounts obtained by the bbc. it's estimated at least a million men and women have been detained in the camps. china claims they are simply centres to de—radicalise uighurs and other muslim minorities. 0ur correspondent matthew hill has spoken to several former workers from the camps and detainees. you may find some of what they have to say distressing. tursanay ziyawudun is reliving a story she can barely bring herself to tell. she was held one of xinjiang's

so—called re—education camps. these satellite images show the site were she says she was held, sharing a cell with 13 other women with a bucket for a toilet. and she's haunted by one image — masked men coming down a camp corridor, like this one, after midnight. translation: they were three men. not one, but three. they did whatever evil their mind could think of and they didn't spare any part of my body, biting it to the extent that it was disgusting to look at. they didn't just rape. they were barbaric. they had bitten all over my body. the us have granted her safe refuge after investigating her claims.

she's waived her right to anonymity and now feels free to speak about the full extent of the abuse she says she suffered. translation: they had an electric baton. - i didn't know what it was. it was pushed into my private parts and i was tormented with electric shocks. it's estimated over1 million uighurs and other muslims are held in the camps. these never—before—broadcast pictures were filmed secretly in a camp under construction and published by a magazine on religious liberty. we've interviewed a former guard and seen his chinese police documents. he is the first ever to come forward and the risk of him speaking to the bbc is so great we have reconstructed the interview with an actor. those who were taken inside were locked in a cell which held 8—16 inmates. there were cameras watching them all the time, and there

were books about xi jinping. they had to study the book and memorise them in chinese. if they failed, the punishment was severe. many former camp inmates flee to istanbul. some talk of having to choose between punishment or being complicit in its crimes. translation: | worked six| months as a cleaning worker for the women. han chinese men would pay money to have their pick of the pretty, young inmates. this was the first time ghulzira has told anyone the full extent of what she says she was forced to do. myjob is to remove their clothes completely and then handcuff them on their beds so they cannot move. we can't say if the rape is approved by the camp commanders or even

by those more senior. but the accounts of the many women i've spoken to include gang rape in public and are similar in brutality. the uighur rights group that helped tursanay get to america say theirfull stories don't emerge until later. �*s survivors of the camps have told of horrific tortures. very often sexual abuse, however, is told in less detail. it's traumatic to remember and women are often afraid of bringing shame to their own family members. the chinese government said in a statement that the xinjiang camps "offered vocational and educational training to tackle extremism and terrorism". it did not address directly the accusations of rape and torture, but it added, "the chinese government attaches great importance to women's rights. lies and absurd accusations, including mass detention, do not hold water."

translation: it is very obvious their goal is to destroy - everyone, and everyone knows it. these women are done. much of the testimony of the women i've spoken to like tursanay is too disturbing to broadcast. but it's important, they say, the world knows what's happened to them. matthew hill, bbc news. more than a thousand demonstrators have been arrested in russia as they protested the jailing of the leading opposition activist alexei navalny. he's expected to spend at least two and a half years in prison, discounting the time he spent under house arrest. he says the case against him is just a way to frighten millions of people away from opposing president putin. steve rosenberg reports from moscow. for years, the russian authorities claimed alexei navalny was no threat to them, that he was a nobody. but outside court, they were taking no chances.

inside, mr navalny was locked in a glass cage. he'd been accused of a parole violation in a case he insists is politically—motivated. a heart sign to his wife, yulia, who was there with him in court. when the verdict came he put on a brave face, but the kremlin�*s most vocal critic had been sent to prison for 2.5 years. up until today, the russian authorities avoided sending alexei navalny to prison, forfear of making him a political martyr. but the calculation has changed. to the kremlin, mr navalny is now seen as a bigger threat at liberty than behind bars. shouting. that's because in russia he has become the face of protest, a catalyst for political change. shouting.

mr navalny�*s arrest had brought people onto the streets across the country. shouting. now his prison sentence has sparked international condemnation. we reiterate our call for the russian government to immediately, unconditionally release mr navalny as well as the hundreds of other russian citizens wrongfully detained in recent weeks for exercising their rights. message not received. this is moscow tonight, police are out in force and determined to stop any sign of protest in support of mr navalny. shouting. "alexei, we're with you," he just has time to say. the authorities will be hoping that with alexei navalny in prison, the protests will lose steam. and if they don't, well, those in power here are in no mood for compromise.

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. let's get some of the day's other news. the us state department has officially assessed the military takeover in myanmar as a coup and so it will review its foreign assistance to the country. myanmar�*s leader aung san suu kyi was detained on monday. many people in the biggest city, yangon, have banged pots and pans in coordinated protest. talks to rebuild italy's coalition government have collapsed, and the president, sergio matterella, is trying to set up a new administration. he's summoned the former governor of the european central bank, mario draghi, for talks on wednesday, probably about leading the new government. two fbi agents have been shot dead and three others wounded as they tried to search an apartment in florida. they were trying to seize a computer and other evidence in a child pornography case. the suspect later barricaded himself in his home for several hours before killing himself. they're the first fbi agents

killed on duty since 2008. a new study from oxford university suggests the coronavirus vaccine it developed with astrazeneca not only protects from severe disease, but also reduces transmission of the virus significantly. researchers found the jab provided good protection even when there was a gap of 12 weeks between the first and second doses. the study backs up the british government's controversial decision to leave a bigger gap, delaying second jabs so more people can be given their first, so more people have at least some level of protection, sooner. i asked dr anne rimoin, who is professor of epidemiology at the ucla fielding school of public health, whether she felt this research was significant. this is really great news. there are several pieces of good news here, but the idea that this vaccine, first of all has good efficacy, only after one dose is terrific.

but this is all still preliminary data, and we still need to really understand it in a randomised controlled trial where you have groups evenly distributed, to truly get a sense of what is happening here, but all in all, fantastic news, some really good news here. cutting transmission, if i understand it right, reduces the time the vaccine has to develop mutations or variants? absolutely. and that's one of the things we are very concerned about right now. of course if you get more vaccines in arms right now, you're going to prevent this virus from having more opportunity to spread. if it doesn't have as much opportunity to spread, it will not be able to replicate, and if it is not replicating, we're not going to see that result could result in variants like we are seeing now in the uk, and everywhere. ijust had a call to go and have the astrazeneca

vaccine much earlier than i expected, i am in my mid—60s. would you say this is a vindication of the government here's decision to delay that second jab so more people can get their first, to get more people some protection, at least, sooner? i think there is great science to support the idea to be able to stretch out the use of vaccine so that more people can get it, so we can have more immunity in place, i think it's really important to be able to consider all options, and you have to get creative here. the problem is of course that we don't have an enough to really understand how long you need to space this out but these preliminary results are really fantastic, they really do support it, and i'm really looking forward to seeing more jabs in more arms, to get transmission down as fast as possible. there seem to be several senior medics backing you up on that up.

what more data do you need to see? one of the things about this particularstudy, it's still in review, we have not seen all the data yet, it's all in preprint, but i believe that there is some question about the, about how they did their dosing study, and if the groups were evenly distributed, if there were potentially more young people in the single dose versus the two dose, so i think there is still some work to be done to work it out, but these preliminary data are very promising, they do support it, and immunologically it does make sense that you could stretch out the timing between doses. this is not the first virus that this particular stretching out of doses would work. we have seen this with influenza, ebola, stretching out two doses does actually confer even better immunity immunity than closer together. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: tributes for captain sir tom moore, who has died

at the age 100. he'll be remembered for raising tens of millions of pounds for the uk's national health service. this is the moment that millions in iran had been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of ayatollah khomeini on iranian soil. south africa's white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid. and the anc leader, nelson mandela, is to be set free unconditionally. three, two, one. a countdown - to a critical moment. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 - of its engines at once. and apart from its power, it's this recycling of the rocket, l slashing the cost of a launch, l that makes this a breakthrough in the business| of space travel. two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. one of them called it

"a piece of cake". thousands of people have given the yachtswoman ellen macarthur a spectacular homecoming in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed the world record for sailing solo around the world non—stop. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: the bbc has evidence that women in china's so—called re—education camps have been systematically raped and tortured. a russian court has sentenced alexei navaly, the kremlin�*s most high profile opponent, to two and half years in jail. jeff bezos is to stand down from his role as chief executive of the internet giant, amazon, the internet giant he created about 30 years ago in his garage. he's not severing his ties with amazon — it's said he'll work on other projects. the news came after the company reported huge profits

for the last three months of 2020. sarah miller, executive director of the american economic liberties project explains the timing of the announcement. it seems like he is going into a position where he can have tremendous power and levirate numbers on in the future if he so chooses. i think this won't change anything to do with amazon's corporate strategy which is about leveraging market power and taking advantage of developing economies around the world. i don't think it is very surprising and certainly i don't think it bodes any major changes when it comes to what we can expect from amazon in the future. we can expect from amazon in the future-— we can expect from amazon in the future. sarah, what is your readin: the future. sarah, what is your reading than — the future. sarah, what is your reading than on _ the future. sarah, what is your reading than on why _ the future. sarah, what is your reading than on why he - the future. sarah, what is your reading than on why he has - the future. sarah, what is your l reading than on why he has done this now? i reading than on why he has done this now? . . reading than on why he has done this now? ., ., . ., , reading than on why he has done this now? ., ., _, , ., this now? i have a couple of guesses- — i think one thing to note

and i'm sure your viewers are aware of is that amazon is under increasing legal and regulatory scrutiny at the moment in the us. for the first time, which we hope will be successful. i think as attitudes are changing here in washington and they will be more scrutiny on amazon as a corporation, its practices in the marketplace towards competitors and the way it treats its workers, better for somebody else to be in the hot seat. not thatjeff bezos can't be called to testify or engage with policy makers in other ways but he really doesn't like to serve that role. you might remember last summer he was called to testify in front of congress and he resisted strongly, trying to send subordinates and tried to wriggle out of it, and was really quite petulant before being forced to do so. part of that is to shift those responsibilities to somebody else and try to protect his reputation, which is increasingly, i would say, problematic.

just briefly, if you could, he says he's going to concentrate on his space project in the washington post. what we expect from his greater focus on those. i from his greater focus on those. ~ ., from his greater focus on those. ~' ., ., ~' , those. i think to make things perhaps- _ those. i think to make things perhaps- to _ those. i think to make things perhaps. to suggest - those. i think to make things perhaps. to suggest that - those. i think to make things perhaps. to suggest that he | those. i think to make things. perhaps. to suggest that he is focusing more on the washington post at a time when he is under significantly increased regulatory public scrutiny, i find that a little chilling to be honest. i think in his attempts to associate himself with space and innovation and the, kind of, great american dream, ithink the, kind of, great american dream, i think that is an extension of his work to try to protect his reputation from the damage it has incurred, particularly over the last year is 20,000 of his workers have contracted covert. — covid. there are many ways to measure economic success joe biden has announced a plan

to reignite migrant families that were separated during mr trump's separation strategy. there are many ways to measure economic success but almost all of them entail showing some form of growth, whether that's growth in profits, or growth in businesses or how much is produced. but what if that growth comes at the expense of the natural world? a landmark report that's just been published — the dasgupta review — calls for a new way of calculating economic success, taking the value of nature into account. and it warns, if we don't, there is what it calls an "extreme risk" of "catastrophic breakdown". here's our chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt. here is the problem: amazon, the company, is worth about $1.6 trillion but the amazon rainforest, the greatest ecosystem on earth, is worth virtually nothing. until, that is, you cut it down, sell it for wood,

and farm the land. the dasgupta review is an attempt to address this fundamental contradiction and, says britain's greatest naturalist: should help avoid the disasters that currently threaten the future of life on this planet. we depend on the natural world for food, shelter, clean air and water but how do we incorporate its value into the economic system? but we need to protect whole ecosystems. this very weighty report argues that we need to redefine the idea of prosperity itself. how can a society regard itself as prosperous if it destroys all of this — the wonderful diversity of the natural world? the report recommends ditching gdp for a measure that reflects

the true value of nature. meanwhile, taxes and subsidies should, it says, be directed to protect ecosystems and, today, politicians from all parties welcomed it. what the report is saying essentially is that we keep treating nature as if it was some sort of limitless resource that we can plunder, destroying both nature and, in turn, destroying ourselves. make no mistake — what is being proposed represents a fundamental attempt to transform the way our economies work. change will not happen immediately. the hope is the review will prompt a global discussion about what really is precious, at a time when we are encroaching on the natural as never before. justin rowlatt, bbc news. captain sir tom moore — the british world war two veteran who raised almost $50 million dollars for health service workers during the first lockdown —

has died at the age of 100, after testing positive for covid—19. the queen, who knighted him injuly, has offered her condolences to the family, and the prime minister, borisjohnson, called him a national inspiration. david sillito reports. he's a 99—year—old war vet. he's a one—man fundraising machine. thanks, captain tom! captain sir tom moore. the word �*inspirational�* is rather an understatement. that's the way i think i've always looked at it, tomorrow will be a good day. what began as a little family challenge, to do 100 laps of his garden, became a fundraising juggernaut. on new year's eve, the face of 2020 was captain tom. he was born in keighley in 1920, and served in burma during the war. after that, he'd run a business and the closest he had ever come to fame... and appearing this christmas on... ..was an appearance

on blankety blank. tom, have you got family or anyone who'd you'd rather not be watching this? yes, two girls, coming up 16 and coming up 1a. but everything changed when his family set up a fundraising page for captain tom. the hope was to raise £1,000 for nhs charities to support the nurses and doctors during the pandemic, butjust over a week later the total had passed £1 million. and by the time he celebrated his 100th birthday, the total had topped £30 million. # walk on through the wind...# he also had a number one single. # walk on through the rain...# captain tom had become known the world over. he received 140,000 birthday cards. he was made an honorary colonel. he received a knighthood. and the raf staged a birthday fly—past.

i'm absolutely delighted with all the people like you who have come to wish me a many happy birthday. it has been an extraordinary 10 months. the final entry on his wish list was an end of year trip to barbados. and then, earlier this week, it was announced that he had pneumonia and had tested positive for the coronavirus. leading the tributes today, a statement from buckingham palace. the queen said: in downing street, the union flags were at half—mast. captain sir tom moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word. in the dark days of the second world war, he fought forfreedom and in the face of this country's deepest post—war crisis, he united us all. captain tom described it as a fairy tale, but during some dark months,

it was his good cheer that became a little source ofjoy for millions. i never ever anticipated ever in my life anything like this. it really is amazing. i must say to everyone, thank you very much to everyone wherever you are. # you'll never walk alone.# david sillito on captain sir tom moore, who's died at age 100. a life lived indeed. spacex has launched another of its starship prototype and once again failed to pull off the landing. these starship sr9 blew up on its final descent is

tried to right itself before the ground. last month the sr8 endedin the ground. last month the sr8 ended in a similar impact, without exploding just before reaching the ground. its engineers have vowed to press on. thank you for watching. hello there. tuesday brought us some very heavy snow across parts of scotland, but more especially in northern england. and that caused significant transport disruption — at one stage, the a62 was completely shut, along with the snake pass. and that's the main road link between manchester and sheffield. the boundary between the mild air we have in the south and the cold air in the north is heading into scotland. and it's here where the risk of snow will stay really through the rest of this week. heavy snow across the high ground with significant accumulations. there is still the scope of transport disruption — but the risk of disruption will increase towards the end of the week. why do i say that? because at lower elevations over the next few days, temperatures will be dropping by a couple of degrees celsius, tipping the balance from rain more to snowfall at lower levels — hence the risk of disruption is more likely

to increase later in the week. right now across the central lowlands, we've got rain, a bit of sleet coming through as well. the snow mainly confined to the high ground here, also across the very high ground and across the far north of england, too. delving into this zone, as we go through wednesday, we will continue to see that rain, a bit of sleet at times across the central belt, so probably nothing in the way of snow settling. if you go into the hills, yes, above 100 metres elevation, you're more likely to see snow, settling snow above 200 metres elevation, 10—20 cm over the next 48 hours. elsewhere, we've got some bright skies in the west, but heavy rain across southern england — very heavy at times in the london area, and it'll turn wet as well throughout much of east anglia. mild in the south, but obviously where we've got the snow falling, particularly in the hills, temperatures struggling to get much above freezing at all in scotland. through wednesday night, we'll continue to see that mucky mixture, really, in scotland. there might be a bit more in the way of snow starting to come down to some slightly lower levels across the north of the country, as those temperatures just start to edge downwards just a little bit — might be enough to tip

the balance, perhaps a little bit of snow across the high ground of northern england, as well. for thursday, again, as the air gets colder, we've got a tendency to see a bit more snow getting down to some of those lower levels. in the south, we've got some rain, a few brighter spells for wales and the midlands, still mild in the south, still cold into scotland. and then beyond that, as we look at the forecast through friday and into the weekend beyond, there is a tendency for the weather to turn colder, and we may see it some snowfall more widely into next week. that's your latest weather.

this is bbc news. the headlines: women in china's so—called re—education camps have been systematically raped and tortured, according to firsthand accounts obtained by the bbc. it's estimated at least a million men and women have been detained in the camps. china claims they are simply centres to de—radicalise uighurs and other muslim minorities. the leading russian opposition activist, alexei navalny, has beenjailed for more than 2.5 years. he returned to moscow from germany last month, after treatment for a near—fatal nerve agent attack in siberia. his supporters have called for more protests. russian authorities detained another 1,200 on tuesday. amazon founderjeff bezos is to step down as chief executive of the e—commerce giant he started in his garage nearly 30 years ago. he'll become executive chairman — a move, he says, will give him time and energy to focus on his space project and the paper he owns, the washington post.