welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: facebook apologises as its platforms suffer their biggest ever outage. they say service on the social network, on whatsapp, and instagram is resuming but full access may take some time. a donor to britain's governing party involved in a russian corruption scandal. the latest allegation to come out of the pandora papers. we report from haiti, where busloads of migrants supported by the us find themselves back in a country they haven't lived in in years. translation: what hurts i is the treatment we received. inhuman. most of all, the chains on our feet. we're not slaves. migration is a right, not a crime. lights, cameras,

industrial action. tv and film crews across the us vote to go on strike for the first time in the industry's history, in a move that would halt almost all production. hello and welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. first, facebook says an outage that took down its social media site as well as instagram and whatsapp is slowly returning to normal. facebook has apologised for what it called networking issues. the company was forced to send a message to its millions of users on twitter. the ceo of facebook, marks orocobre, issued this statement, saying things are slowly coming back to normal and thanking users for their patients. shows in the company closed down almost 5% in new

york. i asked chris wysopal from veracode what went wrong. it does seem that there was a catastrophic network failure. that all the different facebook properties, instagram, even oculus, and whatsapp used, it was a catastrophic failure that basically took down and made it seem like none of their networks existed within facebook and outside of facebook and the real problem, and i think this is why it took so long to repair, was facebook was totally dependent to do anything because of their dependency on the network. so things like just communicating between employees or even opening the data centre doors with an electronic budget to get in to repair things, all of that failed because of the dependency on the network. this dependency on this

network, is this something that all big companies or big tech platforms just have to be that dependent and so if it goes wrong it goes wrong, or is there a kind of more systemic failure here, that they should have been able to silo this, separate out this? i think facebook was pretty unique with its dependency on their network here. it's just because of the size and the scale, it is almost like they are operating, you know, their own mini internet. but there were no, it seems there were no backup systems, no easy way for people to communicate or override the failure and so theyjust had to basically physically go to different places, have keys to unlock doors, as opposed to use the traditional ways they did it. so they had to fall back on, you know, physical means of going into the data centre and physically touching the router. that is something they don't normally have to do

takes some time. is this something expose like you have been waiting to happen as an inevitability of the way the system has been set up or has it taken you by surprise? oh, we have been talking for a while about these kind of systemic failures and cascading failures. this is something that cyber security people think of all the time. we had the colonial pipeline incident in the united states and the cascading failure was like people could not get gasoline for a computer problem. this is something we studied and see if we are over dependent on a particular system, can we have a fallback so that we can quickly, quickly recover. you know, i could imagine you could design a system that would have allowed them to recover in minutes, but it was just a system that wasn't a thought of that way and i bet they will be redesigning this in the future. chris wysopal there.

the outage isn't the only reason facebook is in the news. a bad week could be about to get a lot worse. on tuesday a whistleblower, used to work for the company, will tell us politicians at a senate hearing that facebook was my own research showed how much harm is a social media platforms were causing. with me is courtney bembridge. just tell us who is this whistleblower and what are we expecting to hear? . . , . ., 4' ., hear? frances haugen work to the company _ hear? frances haugen work to the company until— hear? frances haugen work to the company until earlier - hear? frances haugen work to the company until earlier thisl the company until earlier this year and she has accused facebook of prioritising profits over the public and over—claiming down on misinformation and hate speech. now, she has also talked about the impact of mental health, particularly young people and young girls. she says facebook had done its own research into the impact that a platform like instagram had on young girls and you how damaging it was in terms of body image and didn't do anything about it. so she has a range of claims against the company and she has spoken to 60 minutes on cbs and we can hear a little more of that.

facebook has realised that if they— facebook has realised that if they change the algorithm to be safer— they change the algorithm to be safer people will spend less time — safer people will spend less time on _ safer people will spend less time on the site, they will click— time on the site, they will click on_ time on the site, they will click on less ads, they will make _ click on less ads, they will make less money.- make less money. that is because _ make less money. that is because of— make less money. that is because of the _ make less money. that is because of the algorithm | make less money. that is - because of the algorithm which, of course, shows you things it thinks you want to see. what she is saying is it is designed to show things that evoke anger and other emotions, which means that things like misinformation and hate speech throw. facebook has responded and said these claims are misleading and in a statement, we can bring that up, this is what it said. the company very much saying it is trying to address this. we company very much saying it is trying to address this.- trying to address this. we will hear, obviously, _ trying to address this. we will hear, obviously, we _ trying to address this. we will hear, obviously, we wait - trying to address this. we will hear, obviously, we wait to i hear, obviously, we wait to hear, obviously, we wait to hear what happens in front of the senate, that is focused about what happens, regulations and the us, clearly this is a company with users right around the world. ~ ,,., , , the world. absolutely. it is hard to imagine _ the world. absolutely. it is hard to imagine how- the world. absolutely. it is hard to imagine how many| the world. absolutely. it is - hard to imagine how many apps may until they go down alinta to facebook. there are two point a billion users

worldwide. this is a huge firm. in terms of the amount of content that all of those users generate, critics say that theseis generate, critics say that these is never going to be able to properly police that information and all of the content that is put out there. so this is certainly a huge issue. this us senate hearing will shine a light on it, but many critics say it doesn't go anywhere near enough in terms of addressing the impact that facebook has. we of addressing the impact that facebook has.— of addressing the impact that facebook has. we will see what ha--ens facebook has. we will see what happens in _ facebook has. we will see what happens in those _ facebook has. we will see what happens in those hearings. - happens in those hearings. thank you. facebook, instagram, whatsapp, may have been down but our own bbc news website is still available stop log onto the website or of course the 3pp the website or of course the app and keep right up—to—date with exactly what did go wrong with exactly what did go wrong with those social media sites. let's get some of the day's other news now. president biden has accused the republicans, who are blocking his plans to try to raise the us government's debt ceiling, of acting recklessly and dangerously. america's borrowings have reached $28.4 trillion and unless congress agrees to an increase

within about a fortnight many parts of the government will have to shut down. officials in california say the oil slick washing up along the coast is spreading to more beaches. booms and barriers have been put in place in seven locations to try to stop the crude oil from reaching shore. this leak is spreading after a pipeline leaked south of los angeles, spilling almost 600,000 litres. a court in australia has been told that the founder of the hillsong church will plead not guilty to concealing information about child sexual abuse. brian houston did not appear in hearing in sydney on tuesday, but his lawyer indicated that he would deny the charge. the case has been adjourned until 23 november. a secretive russian whose businesses have backed 3a members of parliament from the uk's ruling conservative party has been involved in a russian corruption scandal. that's according to an investigation by the bbc�*s

panorama programme. the leaked documents show that the former oil executive victor fedotov has secretly benefited from the alleged $4 billion fraud. his lawyers have told the bbc there is no evidence whatsoever that mr fedotov behaved improperly. the revelations come from the pandora papers, a leak of 12 million offshore documents. richard bilton has the story. these are the beaches of eastney. a russian businessman has big plans for them. france is 100 miles across the channel. later this month, the uk government will decide whether or not to approve an ambitious plan to link the two with an underwater energy and communication cable. the billion pound scheme would be built by aquind, a company owned by viktor fedotov. it is controversial because his businesses have given the conservatives £740,000 including donations to sa tory mps.

the reason this matters is that aquind wants to lay a power cable under the channel. you have to ask yourself, why in those circumstances, aquind feels it needs to go to such elaborate efforts and spend such money and so much time to get access to the conservative party. working with the international consortium of investigative journalists and the guardian, panorama has found out how the man behind the plan made a fortune. archive: the total length - of our pipelines is over 68,000 kilometres... documents show how mr fedotov and two managers of transneft, the russian state oil pipeline firm, secretly owned company that was awarded transneft contracts. it was previously alleged in russia that the company was paid huge sums for work that was never done. now, the files show how profits from the transneft contracts

were pushed through offshore companies to secretive trusts controlled by mr fedotov and the two other men. it looks like they siphoned off more than $100 million from transneft. if people are able to construct a scheme whereby they can extract, for doing nothing, $100 million plus, out of government funds, then the real loser are the men, women and children who rely on the government to give them education, health, roads, social services. lawyers for aquind and mr fedotov says there was no evidence that funds were embezzled from transneft. mr fedotov denies any allegations of wrongdoing, and he never had any interest in british politics and has operated in an open and transparent manner. some of the money from the alleged fraud ended up in the uk, helping to

pay for mr fedotov�*s impressive country house. it also funded his company aquind and his donations to the conservative party. the prime minister today defended the vetting process. i see that story today but all i can say on that one is that all these donations are vetted in the normal way, in accordance with rules that were actually set up under the labour government, so we vet them the whole time. a conservative party spokesman says fundraising is a legitimate part of the democratic process and government policy is in no way influenced by donations. richard bilton, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a real—life star trek. william shatner, who played captain kirk, is to travel into space at the age of 90.

this was a celebration by people who were relishing their freedom. they believe everything's going to be different from now on. they think their country will be respected in the world once more, as it used to be before slobodan milosevic took power. the dalai lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibet, has won this year's nobel peace prize. as the parade was reaching its climax, two grenades i exploded and a group of- soldiersjumped from a military truck taking part in the paradel and ran towards the president, firing from kalashnikov automatic rifles. - after 437 years, the skeletal ribs of henry viii�*s tragic warship emerged. but even as divers worked to buoy her up, the mary rose went through another heart—stopping drama. i want to be the people's governor. i want to represent everybody. i believe in the people of california.

this is bbc news. the headlines: facebook apologises as its platform suffers their biggest ever outage. they say a service on the social network, and on whatsapp and instagram, is refuming but full access may take some time. us lawmakers will hear evidence from a facebook whistleblower who claims the company covered up research into its harm into mental health. the us has started flying hundreds of migrants from haiti back to the caribbean, after they'd illegally crossed into texas, via mexico. they have been housed in a makeshift camp in the border city of del rio. there has been a surge in haitians trying to flee political instability and natural disasters in their country, hoping for asylum in the us. now they have been returned home. our south america correspondent will grant has the story.

many haven't set foot on haitian soil in almost a decade. now they are being sent back in their droves. every day, plane—loads of haitian deportees arrive in port—au prince airport, returned from the border camps in texas. exhausted and disappointed, most own nothing in haiti but the clothes on their back. daniella and her family spent four months in chile. their son was born there. now, thrust back into a country on the brink of collapse. the family was never given a chance to apply for asylum by us officials, who reportedly told the deportees they were being flown to florida. translation: what hurts isn't being deported. - i knew from the start there were two options — being let in or being deported. what hurts is the treatment we received. inhumane. most of all, the chains on our feet. we are not slaves. migration is a right,

not a crime. there is some immediate aid for the disorientated deportees but haiti can ill—afford thousands more desperately people arriving, hour after hour. as we are talking, there is another bus right behind you. there is the sort of constant return, then? yes, as i say, this is a record day. we expect flights all day coming in, untill this evening. the situation in haiti is critical. there are at least three humanitarian crises at the same time. there was an earthquake six weeks ago, there are people displaced by gang violence. these deportations began at the us—mexico border but there are many more thousands of haitian migrants stuck around the region, bottlenecked in colombia, panama, centralamerica. a truly continent—wide crisis landing back on haiti's shores. like most of the child deportees, this family's children are foreign nationals,

born in brazil and seeing haiti for the first time. on arrival, they had nowhere to go and are staying at a friend's home, in a gang—controlled part of town. "what now?" he asks. "we have nothing, we will have to travel again. "the children aren't even haitians, they are brazilians. "when they asked me, �*what is happening, daddy?�* "i have to say, �*we have not got anything here,�* "life is very tough." theirs is the story of so many migrants from this complex and troubled nation. they went through hell to reach the us, and now find themselves back where they started, with no savings or prospects in the one place they did everything to leave. will grant, bbc news, port—au—prince. time 1's premier says the island needs to be on high alert in response to what he

called china's over the top military activity and violation of peace. nearly 150 chinese warplanes flew into taiwan a defence zone. beijing claims it as part of its territory and has blamed rising tensions on the presence of the us ships. drama in hollywood, where the industry's offscreen workers have voted to strike if their union cannot reach agreement with producers on a new contract. this would be the first nationwide industry strike, in the union's 128—year history, and it would halt nearly all film and tv production in america. rebecca rhine has been helping the union with their negotiations and told us what it is they hope to achieve. we are really asking for working conditions that most workers take for granted. we are asking for meal breaks during the day, we are asking for weekends, we are asking for rest periods between shifts. we are looking for liveable wage

for some of the lowest paid crafts, we are looking for sustainable benefits as we all learned during the pandemic, health benefits are essential, and a pension to allow people to retire with dignity. and we are asking that what was once called "new media" now be treated like traditional media, and they're very profitable companies that produce that, pay industry—standard wages to our members for that work. just to be clear do you mean streaming, the big streaming services here? you say they aren't giving the right terms and conditions? they were given some accommodations when the business was young and we all wanted it to grow together, but i don't think there can be any question that the business is now mature and companies like apple, amazon and disney certainly don't need a break to produce their product. this idea of going on strike,

surely this is hugely damaging just coming out of the pandemic as well? nobody is looking to go on strike but when 98% of your members step forward and say, "we care enough about these issues to take a strike authorisation vote," what you have is a moment in time that the pandemic led to, which is people understand that health and safety are vital and that these producers can in fact, when they want to, create a culture that keeps people healthy and safe, because they did it during the pandemic when our members risked their lives to go back to work early. how confident are you that the strike could be avoided? what i am confident in is that if the employers come back to the table, they take our priorities seriously, they do what negotiations are intended to do — which is to solve real problems that impact real workers —

that we can find an agreement that we can recommend and our members can rectify. and our members can ratify. our thaks to rebecca rhine there. the space company set up by the american tech billionaire, jeff bezos, has confirmed it will send into space the actor who played captain kirk in the cult tv show, startrack. william shatner, who is 90 years old, will fly aboard blue origin's next crude rocket on october 12. i know what you are thinking. hasn't he already been? well, no, james t kirk may have explored strange new world for more than 50 years by the main replacing has remained firmly on the earth, until now. william shatner will, if everything goes to plan, soon be boldly going where no

knowledge in erin canadian actor has ever gone before. —— 90—year—old. he said... and this will be his uss enterprise, blue origin new shepherd rocket which had its first successful flight in july. it will become the oldest person ever to fly into space, which must raise at least some concerns. which must raise at least some concern— which must raise at least some concerns. �* ' i: ., concerns. being 90, getting out of better in _ concerns. being 90, getting out of better in the _ concerns. being 90, getting out of better in the morning - concerns. being 90, getting out of better in the morning is - concerns. being 90, getting out of better in the morning is a - of better in the morning is a bit of a concern. that is a dangerous thing to do, going up in a rocket. his dangerous thing to do, going up in a rocket-— in a rocket. his will be a ten minute voyage _ in a rocket. his will be a ten minute voyage rather- in a rocket. his will be a ten minute voyage rather than l in a rocket. his will be a tenj minute voyage rather than a five year vision. it is not quite the final frontier but it is pretty close.

to someone who has enjoyed wild winds, stomps and an injured ankle. he has completed his challenge, a total of 199 mountains, 500 miles since the beginning of his run and says instant mash, noodles and chocolate bars have kept in going. he has blamed every mountain and a few streams as well. at the end, only one question remains, why do it? i the end, only one question remains, why do it?- remains, why do it? i love exploring _ remains, why do it? i love exploring wales. - remains, why do it? i love exploring wales. i - remains, why do it? i love exploring wales. i feel- remains, why do it? i love exploring wales. i feel i l remains, why do it? i love i exploring wales. i feel i need to explore every nook and cranny because i think we have such a beautiful country and i want to see every single bit of it. i saw a bbc article about two guys who walked through

taking every single mountain and as soon as i saw that squiggly line going from south to north wales i thought i have to north wales i thought i have to do that. he to north wales i thought i have to do that-— to do that. he travelled light and on his — to do that. he travelled light and on his own _ to do that. he travelled light and on his own but - to do that. he travelled light and on his own but stayed i and on his own but stayed social by posting online so people could track his process. he set off from swansea back in september the 10th on a 500 mile route that wound its way into it wales, climbing 100,000 feet high taking on the peaks of snowdonia and working his way down 23 days on foot to the finish line. he was raising money for mental health charities. having bought the entire coast of wales a few years ago, it is a place he feels at home though he was still exposed to the elements. being worried about him the entire time and fielding messages from his mum when she got concern that he had a gps tracker. i had not realised initially he was switching it

on every night. a bit of panic at those points. aha, on every night. a bit of panic at those points.— at those points. a relief that every summit _ at those points. a relief that every summit was _ at those points. a relief that every summit was scaled - at those points. a relief that l every summit was scaled and at those points. a relief that - every summit was scaled and he can output his feet up. time to relax and start planning the next adventure. i want to show you these live pictures, the volcanic eruption into the spanish island of la palma. great distractions sent it started. the stash destruction. the spanish prime minister has pledged over 200 million euros in aid to help rebuild the area. before i go, let's show you these pictures of anders, why not. three celebrating the birthday. —— pandas. fruit was on the menu

but bamboo seemed the treat of choice. you can reach me on twitter. this is bbc news, bye—bye. after a couple of days of sunshine and showers we are now seeing an area of low pressure moving in from the south—west that is mainly affecting england and wales. that is bringing with it some heavy rain and it is also strengthening the winds too. we start with some heavy rain across east anglia and the south—east but it will soon move away. but for northern england, it will be wet through much of the day. the rain continues to push into the south—east of scotland. for wales, the midlands and southern england it may brighten up, there may be sunshine but also showers. around the area of low pressure we have strong winds, particularly where it is wet, and it will make it feel cold. some of the wet weather could push into the north—east of scotland later, but we are missing the worst of the weather across western scotland and northern ireland with no more than one or two showers and some sunshine. the area of low pressure bringing the wet windy weather

is slowly going to move away during wednesday, and the next system will be pushing in from the atlantic. we started with wind easing on for eastern england. the winds will ease, cloud and showers move away, sunshine comes out for many but then we look to the west. it will be clouding, then rain pusing in through northern ireland. clearing through the day, than in the afternoon rain will push in mainly for northern ireland. ahead of that, it should be a little bit warmer. temperatures of 16 or 17 degrees. there's warmer weather on the way later in the week. the weather front parking off scotland and northern ireland, high pressure into the south—east of the uk, so drawing drawing in a south—westerly wind all the way from the tropics. that's going to bring some higher temperatures, probably bring a lot of cloud, mind you, on thursday, and rain and drizzle at times across scotland and northern ireland. some dampness here and there across western england and wales with brighter skies further east. even with a lot of cloud, temperatures could reach 19

degrees in belfast and newcastle. could make 20 or so across other parts of england and wales. we still have that weather front hanging around a bit across northern parts of the uk. the position of the rain keeps chopping and changing, there's still the threat of rain for northern ireland, perhaps first thing in northern england as the rain moves northward into southern and central scotland. these areas not quite as warm, but with lighter winds and more sunshine breaking through across england and wales, it will be very mild, temperatures of 20 and 21 celsius.

this is bbc news. the headlines: facebook has apologised to users of its social network, as well as its services whatsapp and instagram, after they suffered a six—hour outage. the company says access is now being restored but it will take some time for it to get to 100%. the cause has not been 100% disclosed. taiwan has called on beijing to stop what it says are irresponsible actions after 56 chinese warplanes entered its wood fence zone on monday. the largest ever reported incursion. china, which sees taiwan a breakaway province, blames the us for increasing tensions. the crew on hollywood films and tv shows have voted to strike if their union can't reach an agreement with producers on a new contract in what would be the first nation—wide walkout in the history.