welcome to bbc news. our top stories: the united states and the taliban are due to hold their first face—to—face talks since the us withdrawal from afghanistan. cracking from afghanistan. down on safe havens. a widespread cracking down on safe havens. a widespread international welcome as more than 130 nations agreed to radically change the international tax system. president biden urges american companies to fire workers who have not been vaccinated against coronavirus, but there is a lot of opposition. the nobel peace prize is awarded to two journalists for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression — maria ressa of the philippines and russia's dmitry muratov. trust is what holds us together to be able to solve the complex problems our world is facing today.

welcome to the programme. the state department says the meeting between the us and taliban will take place in qatar on saturday and sunday. tamim iqbal reports from washington. yes, that's right, the us state department has emphasised this is not about giving the taliban legitimacy by meeting them. i'm sure there will be many critics of the government that will try and argue otherwise. but the state department is very specific in saying this is a continuation of the conversations they've already been having with the taliban, mainly things that serve the us national interest so this is about trying to get safe passage for the thousands of american citizens that are still

in afghanistan as well as their afghan allies, and also making sure that the country does not turn into a hotbed of terrorism. the only time that they do mention the word government in the statement is when they say that they will press the taliban to form an inclusive government. the taliban has not recognised women in its leadership at all, so that is something the us wants to discuss with the taliban, and as i say, the us state department is very, very clear in saying this is not about granting recognition. they say in the statement this is not about conferring legitimacy. taliban have said they are not the same group that they were when they were in power all of those years ago, that they are now more inclusive, but the us has repeatedly said that they will judge the taliban on its deeds, not its words. also we've been hearing today about this bombing in kunduz and it's got about 50 people have been killed and the taliban when they took over said they would be able to keep so—called islamic state in check, didn't they?

they said safety was a key concern for them. that's right, and it's something that the us will be pressing them on as well. this delegation that's going over, we've not got any confirmation of who will be a part of that delegation but we are expecting it to include members of the state department as well as members of the intelligence community. it's a really politically tricky position for america because you get two sorts of argument here in the us. those who say the taliban is a repressive group, you cannot trust them, but even meeting them is strengthening them. and on the other hand you have this other political argument that says if america wants to have any kind of influence in afghanistan in the region then it would be wise to talk to the taliban, especially considering that a lot of countries that the us considers rivals such as russia and china have been eyeing up the taliban as their new friends.

nomia iqbal there for us in washington. the announcement of the talks comes as many as 50 people may have been killed in a suicide bombing in northern afghanistan at a mosque used by the minority shia community. the group calling itself islamic state is behind the attacks. the group that the attack happened in kunduz during friday prayers when it would have been packed with worshippers. officials say many would have been injured. secunder kermani reports. fear and panic once again in afghanistan. injured victims of the blast are rushed to hospital. translation: there were so many people who were injured. _ hardly anyone was not hurt. most of those who were sitting there were killed. it's terrible. the local branch of the islamic state group, is—k, said it had targeted members of the shia minority. is—k is much less powerful than their rivals, the taliban, but has a history of devastating attacks in afghanistan.

in august, more than 150 people were killed at a bombing outside kabul airport. in recent weeks, is has also launched dozens of smaller attacks targeting taliban fighters in eastern afghanistan. this latest bombing, in the north of the country — apparently carried out by a member of the uyghur ethnic group — suggests is�*s influence is expanding. translation: they are i the enemies of our nation. people were just beginning to experience peace and now this has happened. all our security forces are working on the investigation. we will find the culprits and then they will be dealt with according to sharia law. the taliban say they are bringing stability. but is is a growing concern for afghans and the wider region. secunder kermani, bbc news.

it is the most significant overhaul of the international tax system in a generation. after negotiations in paris headed by the 0ecd, an agreement was finally announced to provide a minimum rate of corporation tax. president biden says it will even the playing field around the world. here is how it will work. the minimum rate will be set at 15% — lower than the global average but higher than, for example, ireland's12.5% rate. 136 countries have signed up. 0nly kenya and nigeria, pakistan and sri lanka have refused. the organisation for economic co—operation and development, which brokered the deal, says countries will collect around $150 billion a year extra in tax revenues. i've been speaking to daniel bunn at the tax foundation about the significance of this deal. this is a deal, as you mentioned, for a generation

or even multiple generations. it's been about 100 years since this sort of agreement has been met and get there is still a lot of road to run as far as implementing the deal, seeing whether countries actually follow through on their commitments and, of course, the impact on businesses and the global economy. the concern is, i suppose, that a lot of people have been voicing, that the big companies that are being targeted in this — the googles and the facebooks — they've found ways to get around things in the past and they may well be able to get around this? that's one of the concerns. now, this deal is targeted certainly at the largest companies and in some of the methods that have been used in the past to shift profits. there are some carveouts for payroll and tangible assets so where companies are doing real substance, there will not be as much of a new tax burden from this. but generally, the tax — taxes are aimed at the larger companies and those that are more able to shift profits and it will increase the tax burden that they face. i mentioned ireland in the introductionjust there — they have used their 12.5% to bring jobs over to ireland, haven't they?

do you think that they will see jobs disappearing as a result of this change to 15%? that's a good question. it depends on the stickiness of that investment. some companies have moved to ireland and built factories or built lots of office spaces and planned to be there for a long time. ireland is going to be complying with this deal by applying the 15% rate to multinationals, but it still wants to be supportive of local irish companies and is going to maintain the 12.5% rate for purely domestic irish companies or companies small enough to be out of scope of the deal. now, ireland will be losing about 2 billion euros from this deal because of a reallocation of taxable profits so it is something where they are taking on the cost but bringing into something where they think they can still be attractive for multinational investment. what would you say to the claims that it will be mainly richer companies

who will benefit from this and the poorer countries will see their tax incomes decrease? those claims are largely true. a lot of the companies that are in scope are already headquartered in larger, relatively rich countries. so those countries are going to be claiming a larger share of the profits that those companies are earning and developing countries are not going to be claiming as much. a lot of developing countries would have liked to see a large reallocation but apparently, that was not in the cards for this political agreement. daniel bunn from the tax foundation. donald trump has been accused of trying to hide nearly $4 million of payments from foreign governments at his washington, dc hotel during his years in power. the house oversight committee released the findings, saying they raised troubling questions about the trompe international hotel. the committee also said

the former president racked up more than $70 million in losses during his time in office while claiming huge losses in public. eric lipton is an investigative reporter for the eric lipton is an investigative reporterfor the new eric lipton is an investigative reporter for the new york reporterfor the new york times. reporter for the new york times. what is your take reporterfor the new york times. what is your take on this? i times. what is your take on this? ~' , ., , ., this? i think there is a bit of truth to what _ this? i think there is a bit of truth to what was _ this? i think there is a bit of truth to what was said - this? i think there is a bit of truth to what was said by i this? i think there is a bit of| truth to what was said by the house oversight committee, but there is also a bit of a distortion. i think the bottom line is the trump hotel lost money for most of the years that donald trump was president, but there is a little bit of an apples and oranges comparison but made that that they made by suggesting he misstated his profits, because the numbers they were citing were actually gross revenues, and the numbers that came out today were net profits. those are two different types of numbers. the bottom line is that the hotel lost money while donald trump was president, even though he was president, even though he was getting all his business from foreign government officials who are coming to the trump hotel and staying there to try to impress president trump will be there and be close to where his name is. so

it was always full and hub of activity, was it? well, the lobby was filled with, it was quite bizarre that quite a bazaar of trump supporters. political candidates, christian conservatives, rudy giuliani and his entourage. you walked around the lobby and it was sort of like a star wars scene of people that supported donald trump, and there was a great deal of money being spent on it lobby every day. when you look at the documents that were released, you can see that they were making approximately $25 million a year at the bar and at the restaurant there, almost as much as they were making on hotel rooms. they were making a lot more from liquor sales than most hotels make relative to their room rentals. again, the business in the lobby was a bit of a distortion because they were not selling as many hotel rooms as you would expect for such a prominent hotel, you know, between the white house and l. , ., ., ., and l. the trump organisation has called _ and l. the trump organisation has called this _

and l. the trump organisation has called this report - has called this report misleading and false. they have also talked a bit about it not including the depreciation of value of the property and that sort of thing. what else has the trump family said? what the trump family said? what the are the trump family said? what they are saying, _ the trump family said? what they are saying, i _ the trump family said? what they are saying, i think - the trump family said? what they are saying, i think that. they are saying, i think that they are saying, i think that they had a valid point, the way that it was presented by the house oversight committee was distorted. it suggested that president trump was misleading the public by claiming the massive profits when in fact the hotel had big losses, and again, they are comparing two different sets of numbers, and what president trump was putting out every year was gross revenue numbers, and those gross revenue numbers appear to have been accurate, but what he was not putting out was net revenues or profits and losses. under profits and losses. under profits and losses show that they lost money. so, you know, ithink the trump folks have some valid reason to criticise what the house oversight committee put

out, but still, the numbers show this isn't a well performing hotel. and it is not surprising the trump family is now trying to sell it, because a big chain could make a lot more money at that hotel and now trump's brown heard that place more than it helped it, is what i think these numbers show. —— trump's brand. find is what i think these numbers show. -- trump's brand. and it isn't a great — show. -- trump's brand. and it isn't a great location. _ show. -- trump's brand. and it isn't a great location. eric- isn't a great location. eric lipton, for talking to us. thank you. lipton, for talking to us. thank vom— thank you. france has threatened _ thank you. france has threatened to - thank you. france has threatened to reduce l threatened to reduce electricity supplies to the british crown dependency of jazzy over fresh tensions of post—brexit fishing rights. it's europe minister said that france had applied for hundred 50 licenses for its fishermen to access british waters but was only granted half that number. lucy williamson reports from paris. questioned about the row over british fishing licenses on a morning news programme, france's euro minister clement beaune said reducing electricity to jersey was no idle threat. "we're not talking about cutting power to each resident," he said. "but reducing the delivery of electricity to the island is possible."

resentment has been piling up on this side of the channel over covid vaccines, post—brexit border checks for northern ireland, and a secret british—american submarine deal in the pacific. fishing rights have been a source of tension for years but brexit has sharpened divisions with european fishermen asked to prove their connections to uk waters. some small french boats say they are not equipped to provide that proof. france has accused britain of not living up to its own post—brexit agreement. next week, eu ministers will meet in luxembourg to discuss their response as politicians on both sides of the channel point to the waters that separate britain and france. lucy williamson,

bbc news, paris. it france and germany public foreign ministers issued a joint statement about the polish ruling and said we remind poland that membership of the european union goes hand—in—hand with the complete and unconditional adherence to common values and rules. is incumbent on each ruler and therefore poland to respect these rules and values. this is not simply a moral commitment, it is also a legal commitment. you're watching bbc news, the headlines. the united states and the taliban are due to hold theirfirst and the taliban are due to hold their first face—to—face talks since the us withdrawal from afghanistan. widespread international welcome as more than 130 nations agreed to on

safe havens and radically change the international tax system. two change the international tax system. twojournalists change the international tax system. two journalists maria ressa from the philippines and dmitry muratov from russia has been awarded this week —— this year's nobel peace prize recognised for the freedom of right to freedom of expression. independent and fact waste journalism served to protect against the power of lies. earlier i spoke to the director of the stellar centre for investigative journalism at columbia university about what drives maria ressa. truly maria has been under intense pressure over the last five years since duterte has been in power, she has been trolled, threatened with death and rape, she and rappler have had close to a dozen lawsuits. she has tremendous strength of character, she has also largely been locked up in the pandemic, but allowed to travel, just last week the government

refused to let her travel to greece, her mother was ill and she wanted to come to the us to visit her and she hasn't really been allowed. it is a lot of tremendous pressure, and she has shown courage, equanimity and grace through all of that. he my question then is, what keeps her going under such difficult circumstances, do you think? what motivates her? i think she is a firm believer of the role of the press as watchdog, the tagline that rappler uses is "hold the line", and this is what she is doing, she will hold the line for as long as it takes. she's a firm believer in the right of an independent press and a watchdog of the press. and what do you think about maybe the concerned that something like the nobel peace prize being awarded to her might actually endanger her

more, might make her more of a target? at this point i think duterte is a wounded tiger, his polarity is going down, he is still popular but his popularity is going down, his government has been under attack for its very inept response to the covid pandemic, there have been corruption charges against people very close to him as well, and so this actually comes at a good time, when the president is on the defensive, he is weak, he is up for, his term ends next year and the election is going to be coming soon, so i think this helps her, this helps filipino journalists in general and it helps press freedom in the philippines. do you think it will a big —— be a big deal for her, will she be very happy with this? we are all very happy for her, i am sure she is thrilled. brazil has become just a second

country in the world after the us to record 600,000 deaths from covid—19. protesters against how the government has dealt with the pandemic staged this demonstration in rio's copacabana beach, with 600 white handkerchiefs to remember the dead. deaths from coronavirus have been falling in brazil that recently. more than 70% of people there have received at least one vaccine dose. america's also taking tough action against coronavirus. president biden is urging companies in the us to fire workers who have not been vaccinated. latest official figures show only 56% of americans have been vaccinated. mr biden says he will soon bring in rules requiring all healthcare workers to have the jab. he wants individual states to do the same for teachers. but there has been opposition as a north america correspondent aleem —— makbool found in new england.

chanting: freedom overfear! freedom over fear! it is, they say, about freedom, an individual�*s right to choose if they get vaccinated, even if they are a nurse. one of the new battle grounds over covid in the us is the requirement in some hospitals that all their staff have had the jab. but some, they say, would rather lose theirjob. leah cushman�*s notjust a nurse but a state politician. my beliefs are religious. i believe that my creator endowed me with an immune system that protects me, and if i get sick, that's an act of god. what, you've never been vaccinated against anything? i have before i was saved by the lord, yes. with that logic, you wouldn't take any medicines. that's not true, no. i wouldn't take one that affects the immune system this way. of course, even vaccinated staff have the potential to pass on the virus to patients, but hospital managers say unvaccinated health care workers getting sick also puts more strain on resources and suspect for some there are

biggerforces at play. it's notjust covid, there are other vaccines that employees are required to have. mmr is an example, hepatitis. so again, this is a highly electrified issue, if you will, and we all recognise that. and politicised. to say it's not political would be disingenuous. chanting: save our teachers! and the controversy swept up another profession too, with school staff being threatened with sacking if they don't get vaccinated, including in new york city. in connecticut, teacher kahseim 0utlaw refused the vaccine and testing and has already lost his job. i do not use any kind of synthetic ingredients in my life, whether that be for medicinal purposes, supplementation, food and fuel. so the idea of becoming inoculated is something that goes directly against the way that i live my life and have lived for the last

decade or more. but what is the harm in getting tested every week? so, when we talk about harm, i view it as an unnecessary medical procedure. kahseim had covid so says his natural immunity should suffice. but that's not enough for a government are ramping up pressure on the unvaccinated. aleem maqbool, bbc news. aid workers say at least five people have been shot dead at a migrant detention centre in tripoli. the un says overcrowding had led to chaos at the site before the shooting started. in recent days the libyan authorities have arrested more than 5000 migrants and refugees in raids across the capital. now, when new york's metropolitan opera reopened after an 18 month shutdown, he decided to make a grand and historicjester. —— gesture. the first performance by a black composer in the company's 138 years.

the grand 0pera the grand opera has returned and it is no longer tethered to the past. with the production fire shut up in my bones, the first work by a black composer is gracing the met stage. how does it feel to make history? it hasn't really hit me yet because i am still in the mode of like wanting to make it better. you know? and i know people said it is a cliche but i get so nervous when i'm here at the performances. cheering and applause. _ at the performances. cheering and applause. that _ at the performances. cheering and applause. that drive - at the performances. cheering and applause. that drive for | and applause. that drive for perfection paid off. on opening night the entirely black cast received a standing ovation for seven minutes, while the production is a universal coming—of—age story that delves into the topic of child abuse, it is tied to the black experience in the deep south.

during the first rehearsal, you spoke to all the black opera singers and you told them to get back in touch with themselves.— get back in touch with themselves. ., , themselves. one of the things i told them _ themselves. one of the things i told them was, _ themselves. one of the things i told them was, i _ themselves. one of the things i told them was, i want - themselves. one of the things i told them was, i want you - themselves. one of the things i told them was, i want you to i told them was, i want you to bring everything that you grew up bring everything that you grew up doing, bring all of your background to this piece because it needs it. it deserves it. we need everything, we need the sites, the smells, the sounds and the articulations. you know, from the vocalist. an, man, —— and, man. when she started to sing peculiar grace, there wasn't a dry eye in the room, and that was in rehearsal. i thought she what she did was so beautiful because she didn't abandon her operatic core. but she paid homage to her religious background. and i think it is the combination of the two really created something

unique. really created something uniuue. ., ., unique. throughout the performance _ unique. throughout the performance weaves i unique. throughout the i performance weaves together different art forms. at one point when charles attends a historical black college, a step routine pounds the stage. these people come out with sweaters and things and they know what is about to go down and people recognise that they are seeing their culture on stage at the met. when we did my first opera, champion, in new 0rleans, there was a guy who came up to me who is in his mid— 70s and shook my hand after the show, african—american guy, and he says if this is opera i will come. ~ , , ., ~ come. with this show, the met has reapened _ come. with this show, the met has reopened with _ come. with this show, the met has reopened with a _ come. with this show, the met has reopened with a bold i has reopened with a bold statement. terence blanchette hopes he will not simply be token but a turnkey that would lead to more diversity on stage.

if you want to get in touch with me you can i am on twitter at lucy grey. thanks for watching. hello again. friday was another very mild day across the whole of the uk, even those places where it stayed cloudy throughout. however, there were some places where the sunshine popped out. northern england was one of the sunnier places. it was also one of the warmest places in the uk. the day's highest temperature — ryhill in west yorkshire, 22 degrees celsius. that's eight degrees celsius higher than the october average, so it was very, very warm indeed. now looking at this satellite picture, you can see those areas that had the clearest skies. we've seen some clearing skies across east anglia and south—east england behind this cold front because what we're seeing at the moment is cooler and fresher air starting to spread in from the near continent. and that's significant because as humidity levels drop, the clouds will increasingly break up, and that's happening right now across east anglia and the south—east. meanwhile, for northern

england, wales, south—west england, southern and eastern scotland, still a lot of low cloud around, a few spots of drizzle, bit of mist and fog for some. and then there's this band of rain that's really pepping up at the moment. some heavy rain for northern ireland, western scotland bringing a risk of some localised surface water flooding. now, the rain will tend to turn a little lighter and patchier through saturday, and the weather front will finally, after a couple of days, start to move away into parts of the north of england and the north of wales. midlands, east anglia, southern counties of england should be much more in the way of sunny spells compared with recent days, and temperature still pretty high for october, 18—19 degrees. the second half of the weekend sees that cold front across northern areas pushing southwards. it's a weakening feature, so there won't be much rain left on it by the time it reaches east anglia and south—east england, but there could be an odd patch. for most of the uk on sunday, it's another dry day with plenty of sunshine around. however, there will be a fair few blustery showers

across the far north and west of scotland. temperatures easing somewhat across northern areas, but still very warm for the south of england and wales. monday, well, it looks like we'll see another band of rain push its way into scotland, turning increasingly heavy, some fairly gusty winds with this as well. temperatures will be coming down further across northern scotland, just around 11—12 degrees for some here. but for northern ireland, england and wales, still above average, but those temperatures are getting a little bit closer to the seasonal norms. 14 degrees, for example, is about right in london. and eventually we should get down there on tuesday. a lot of dry weather for many into next week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the united states and the taliban will hold their first in—person talks since the us withdrawal from afghanistan. the us delegation will meet senior taliban representatives on saturday and sunday in the qatari capital doha. the us has remained in contact with the taliban since they seized kabul in august as us troops pulled out. the announcement of the talks comes after as many as 50 people are feared to have been killed in a suicide bombing in northern afghanistan at a mosque used by the minority shia community. the group calling itself islamic state says it was behind the attack. the biggest overhaul of the international corporate tax system in decades has received widespread welcome internationally. it is hoped that within two years, the largest multinationals will pay a minimum tax rate of 15%. some of the big technology companies which will be affected, facebook, amazon and google, by the agreement.