the netherlands over new coronavirus lockdown restrictions. hundreds of people have lit fires and pelted the police with rocks and fireworks in the hague. the protests mirror friday night's violence in rotterdam. tens of thousands of protesters have been demonstrating in the austrian capital, vienna, about an impending lockdown and plans to make vaccination mandatory. it comes as the world health organisation says its worried about the rise in covid—19 cases in europe. it's once again the continent's leading cause of death. the us secretary of state has described russia's actions as "unusual" and its rhetoric as worrying amid a build up of russian military activity on its border with ukraine. kyiv fears that russia may be preparing an attack. anthony blinken says european allies share the us concerns.

now on bbc news, it's time for the firing line, which features the nominees and the winners of the rory peck awards for 2021. and a warning 7 this programme includes images and testimony that you may find distressing. chanting say his name! dante wright! what's his name? dante wright! chanting you have to put yourself in difficult and dangerous situations. chanting. and when most people would run away, you head towards trouble. footage from remote and hostile places can be our only window into events that are shaping our world. these are some of the most powerful images of the year,

all shot by freelance video journalists. sounds like you worked out that you had to do this to keep going. yeah. each year, we step behind the camera to speak to the men and women who capture and bring us some of the most important news stories of our times, often under extremely difficult circumstances and great personal strain. these freelance video journalists are honoured by the rory peck awards, named after a british freelancer who was killed in moscow covering the october coup in 1993. his memory lives on through the rory peck trust, which works with support freelance journalists and their families worldwide. first up, the rory peck award for news, for films that capture the immediacy of a story.

chanting. say his name! dante wright! what's his name? dante wright! shortly before the trial of derek chauvin, the police officer accused of killing the unarmed black man george floyd, katie g nelson and ed ou were assigned by the new york times to cover protests in minnesota. how is it unlawful? it's not unlawful! you're unlawful! the demonstrators were calling for police accountability for dante wright, another unarmed black man who was shot and killed by a brooklyn center police officer during a routine traffic stop. people were really angry that this kept happening across our state and across our nation, and so they gathered in front of the police station, first with signs and with songs and chanting, and then later in the evenings, things got more challenging, more violent. the police would come out

and shoot tear gas into crowds, the crowds would sometimes throw items across the fences towards the police officers, and there was this tit—for—tat going on between the two for the days following dante wright's death. nelson spent one evening with ebony mcmillan and her children as the mood turned violent outside their apartment. there were children there, trying to live a normal life, but unable to do so. they kept the children in a bedroom away from a lot of the yelling and the protests. there was a lot of concern about rubber bullets going into the windows and hitting a child. so both ed and i realised that this was a really unique story to tell and a really nuanced way to understand violence in america. the judges said this was a very original and creative piece ofjournalism on a breaking news story. the filmmakers skilfully

brought the exterior into the interior scenes, and the result was a unique piece of reporting. when i'm with my children and i'm just thinking about what's going on around us, i kind of feel like, was it selfish for me to bring them into the world that we're living? is this what they have to look forward to? on february! this year, myanmar�*s military seized power, ousting the civilian government and arresting its leader, aung san suu kyi. the footage, shot by this burmese freelance journalist who wishes to remain anonymous, showed images of soldiers blocking the streets of the capital, naypyidaw. his footage was amongst one of the first international reports confirming a coup was under way. we asked the freelancer about his experience of making this film.

he told us... translation: filming was very difficult and the protesters - were sprayed with water cannons to disperse them. our cameras were wet. there was also tear gas, and many of the protesters were running with their eyes closed. i managed to overcome all these obstacles to reach out to ordinary people to reveal the truth. during this early stage of the coup, security forces did not allowjournalists to film or upload their media. the freelancer told us... translation: as a journalist, i really wanted to film - what was happening. there is a need for freedom of the press in myanmar. nowadays, we are not allowed to report as we were before, but i can't give up. international communities know about the situation in myanmar under the militaryjunta, and we asjournalists want to tell the full story. the judges said these were historically important

pictures of the early days of the coup in myanmar. the filmmaker took huge personal risks to report on what was happening. winner of the news awards, solan kolli, was part of the afp team, the first independent media to reach ethiopia's northern tigray region, after the national government launched a major military operation against dissident regional authorities. the government cracked down on foreign media, especially ethiopian journalists working for foreign outlets. as the media were kept away from the fighting during the conflict, there was no coverage of the actual war. instead, kolli documented the aftermath, filming mass graves and interviewing victims, survivors and witnesses.

and after the war, i saw many funerals in which they were firing rounds of bullets into the air and women crying out loud at the top of their lungs. i saw a lot of dead bodies scattered around, and also, we visited a mass grave where these dead bodies were buried, and it was a devastating experience. kolli's footage included the haunting story of a 23—year—old man who was attacked by his tigrayan neighbours. the assailants decapitated his friend with a machete.

a distraught woman described how herfamily had been celebrating with guests when troops dragged the men outside and shot them. the stories that i was hearing from the survivors were horrific and difficult to process. they were telling us how they were being raped, how their loved ones were killed and how their property was looted. that was very extremely disturbing. thejudges said this was a powerful and sober approach to what was happening in tigray. it was bold and brave with understated interviews, which put this very hard—to—reach conflict in the spotlight.

next, the rory peck awards for news features, for films that look beyond the immediacy of the news story. mount everest is the ultimate mountaineering challenge for climbers from around the globe. but for those helping them scale the world's highest peak, it can be deadly work. sherpa men die in disproportionate numbers, leaving behind widows who struggle to survive. this intimate film by rojita adhikari and sreya banerjee finds out how the sherpa widows are defying tradition to become bread winners and to conquer the world's highest mountain. she knows the pain and suffering that everest can inflict. her husband died in a climbing accident in 2007. after years of financial

struggles, she's decided to follow in his footsteps. mountaineering is very much still a male domain. generations of sherpa men have been climbing and leading expeditions and have become world renowned in theirfield, but women have rarely been encouraged to take up this activity. in fact, women stay at home to take care of their homes, their children while the men are away, and as for widows, it's doubly difficult because on the one hand there's the stigma of their situation, and on the other hand, they have added responsibilities. but a new generation of women is trying to change that. i would like to think that our film will bring about some change in the community,

but in reality, i think it won't be immediate, it'll be something gradual, and it'll be the women themselves driving this change, and because they are the ones who want a different future for themselves. the judges said, "we've seen many films about everest, "the people who've conquered it and those who've died on it, "but we've never seen a film about the sherpa widows. "this film tells their stories compellingly with mount everest "and the himalayas as their backdrop." after the military coup in myanmar in february this year, some pro—democracy activists headed to the remote jungle regions to seek support from armed ethnic organisations, which had been waging their own on—off war

with the country's military leaders for decades. freelancers tuja kareng, hkun li and edward win gained occlusive access to a military training camp. over three weeks, they filmed interviews and recorded the events, which tell the powerful story of the young peoples' personal motivations and the high stakes of their journey to the borderlands. it is a very difficult journey to come here, but they are dedicated,

they are committed to do some effective movement to change the situation in burma. indigenous freelancer win travelled into an air strike zone to document the most intense assault that had ever happened in his lifetime. they have to leave their home, have to stay in an unsafe base with great fear. i saw that many kids are afraid, they are worried that air planes are coming and will attack them again. they cannot go to school because their school was destroyed. the judges said this film documents an astonishing alliance between student protesters in myanmar and battle—hardened rebel fighters deep in the jungle.

a wholly new view of myanmar�*s struggle that suggests the fight is far from over and there may be surprises ahead. the suppression of the uyghur people doesn't stop at china's border. mohammed umer is a uyghur activist who operates an underground railroad in pakistan, smuggling persecuted muslims into other countries. his work is becoming more difficult as china invests billions of dollars into the china—pakistan economic corridor, or cpec, a series of infrastructure projects that connect the two countries. winner of the news features award, brent huffman, spent over four years and made

five separate trips to produce this exclusive report on the underground railroad run by mohammed umer. so, i first met umer back in 2015, and umer is — or at that time was a schoolteacher, he was running a nonprofit sort of covering uyghur language in uyghur culture, and then seeing, you know, the tragedy happening to the uyghur people within china, he was incredibly motivated to do something, to help. so he began what's essentially this underground railroad where he's smuggling threatened uyghurs out of china, bringing them into pakistan and then trying to find a safe location that they can emigrate to. for all the promises of cpec to transform pakistan's economy, some groups see these developments as a threat and have mounted a violent campaign of resistance,

including the balochistan liberation army, whose commander spoke exclusively to huffman. china dismisses these claims and has accused the bla of being a terrorist organisation. as these cpec projects develop, the situation for uyghurs gets worse and worse, and the way china sees it is that they want to silence the uyghur community, they want to sort of clamp down so that they are essentially not causing problems for the cpec projects. the judges said this was a brilliantly structured and told film, solid journalism with a beating heart, the clearest telling of a complex story, which is inspiring,

but also heartbreaking. and finally, the sony impact award for current affairs for films that really examine and issue and have an impact. this entry is the unique work of three freelance eritreans who risked their lives to film inside a prison and to smuggle the footage outside. they wanted the world to witness the truth about the oppressive government of their country in a plea for greater understanding and, ultimately, help. we cannot reveal the freelancers' names for their own security, but evan williams, the director of the film, spoke to us on their behalf. this film really began with one simple question — why is it so many eritreans, particularly young eritreans,

risk their lives crossing the deserts and the oceans to try and reach sanctuary in europe and particularly the united kingdom? and the more we researched this, the more we discovered that the people were fleeing because of a system of mandatory national service where, when you turn 18, you go into the military, you're then designated a job by the government. many of these positions are in the army, and you're there pretty much for the rest of your working life without any choice at all. those who try and flee their position or try and flee the country to escape this are thenjailed, and many of them are tortured and beaten for information about who helped them get out. there is no free press or freedom of speech in eritrea, and criticising the government can lead to lengthy jail terms. there is no constitution or independentjudiciary. secretly filming inside a prison can lead to

torture and execution. we work with a small team of eritreans who develop a way to get into the prisons, we develop cameras to take into prisons and then we worked with them very closely to train them up and to get the verifiable information and the video that we required. it took courage, it took commitment, it took stamina, it took an extraordinary amount of professionalism on their part, and this is really an eritrean film about eritrea. they wanted to get this information out. the judges said the bravery of these freelancers is what rory peck is all about. the degree of difficulty of the film is like walking a high wire, with some beautifully shot sequences and undercover filming challenges. this year—long investigation

by njeri mwangi and judith kanaitha for bbc africa eye uncovered damning evidence of a thriving underground network and stolen children in kenya. this secretive and highly lucrative trade preys on the country's most vulnerable, stealing children from homeless women and even from the maternity ward of a major government hospital in the heart of nairobi. the women in the streets are very desperate, and for many reasons, poverty being one of them. they're told, they're convinced that they can make some money, so they sell their children. it's also a desperate situation for them because they can't take care of those children, and somebody is giving them a sort of way out for them to consider. sadly, it's taking advantage of the situation. mwangi and kanaitha cultivated a network of whistleblowers in order to infiltrate

and secretly record several active child trafficking networks that targeted kenya's poorest women. the film sent shockwaves throughout the country, and kenyan police ordered a full investigation into hospitals, as well as children's homes in nairobi. since the story was aired, the cases have reduced, we now get, like, one or two cases per week, and previous, we used to get, like, four to five cases in a week. but now, we can say we are a bit happy because the cases have reduced to a very low number. the judges said this was a brave, impactful, relevant film with an incredibly important story to tell. to produce such a complex

investigation with a local team undercover is an extraordinary feat. finding people who can operate in this environment, running such risks, takes years. winner of the sony impact award, joshua baker's film tells the extraordinary story of one family's journey from a small town in america to the heart of isis in syria. are you happy for me to start? filmed over four years, baker investigated the story of sam sally. after arriving in syria, sam's husband became an isis sniper, and her young son matthew was forced to take part in an infamous propaganda video.

by the will of allah, we will have victory. so get ready for the fighting hasjust begun. it was moussa and his brother that were forcing the kids to do this. crazy intense video of this american kid with his yazidi friends. this would be a great propaganda. sam claimed that moussa had tricked her into going to syria and that she had no knowledge of her husband's interest in extreme ideology. sam is a complex person. she can be both the manipulator and the manipulated, and you often never really know where you stand with sam. and as a journalist, she's a real challenge to tell the story of, because she is an unreliable narrator. she is also not the sort of stereotypical person you expect to end up with isis. this is somebody from middle america who has no history of extremist views, yet she ends up at the heart of the isis caliphate, so she's a real enigma. shortly after the propaganda video was filmed, moussa was killed in a suspected drone

strike, and sam paid people smugglers to get herself and her children out of isis territory. now safely back in the us and living with his father, matthew opened up to baker about the propaganda video. did you want to do it? no, ijust wanted to go on with my life. chucklesjust wanted to get back home, do my thing. it sounds like you worked out that you had to do this to...to keep going. yeah. so, matthew is an extremely smart kid. he's one of the most emotionally intelligent people i've ever met, and he found himself in a situation where he was being forced to do these things. he was being deprived of food. he was genuinely at risk if he didn't do what he was being forced to do. isis had taken this boy's identity. they'd forced him to do these things, they'd put him out into the world, and one of the reasons his father, his family and he actually wanted to speak

to us was sort of to reclaim that narrative, to say, "hold on, this isn't something i did by choice. "i had no choice." thejudges said this film was well shot, structured and researched, and an extraordinary piece of work to get on air. the commitment to the story and investment in the journalism was remarkable. as an issue, it's of huge relevance to society as we try to understand why someone from a western country would join isis, and the sociology behind it. and what would you want people to understand about what you lived through? that you can pull through. that's really it. like, no matter how bad the situation is, you always get through it. that's it from this year's edition of the firing line, an extraordinary year

where the global pandemic continued to impact all of our lives. nevertheless, freelance journalists still brought us important stories from around the world for the 2021 rory peck awards. goodbye. hello. it may have turned colder but along with that change, the skies in many areas on sunday will be a good deal bluer. in fact, that change took place on saturday in scotland once the colder air has moved on through and that has not spread south right towards the uk. along with the sunshine, there's a chance of catching a shower and across eastern areas of the uk. this cold front is moving away and there will be behind the colder air, along with the clearer skies across the uk but that

colder air has arrived. now, it will feel very different from everything we've had so far this autumn, but it is not at all unusual for the time of year. there will be a touch of frost and parts of scotland in northern england as the day begins and as i said earlier, plenty of sunshine around. with a scattering of showers in northern scotland, wintry on hills, a few earlier on in northeast england becoming more widespread across the eastern side of england as we go on through the day. one or two heavier ones in there as well. whereas southwest scotland, northern ireland, wales, the western side of england, bar an isolated shower, it will be dry and sunny. there's a brisk breeze adding a chilly to average speeds around the coast of northern scotland, north sea coast, a0 mph gusts and temperatures for the most part in single figures, just 10—11 around some of the coast of wales and southwest england. we'll keep a few showers in the east overnight and into monday. and cloud increasing in northern scotland a few outbreaks of rain, with the cloud here, temperatures moving in with the wind along the north sea coast where as elsewhere, there will be a more widespread frost

as monday begins. monday for england and wales will deliver quite a bit of sunshine, some cloud increasing in northern england with the chance of showers towards the north sea coast and parts of southeast england. notice cloudier skies for northern ireland and scotland and some patchy rain for northern scotland with that, the temperatures are edging up again, a few degrees. temperatures actually rally for a few days in the week ahead before it later in the week, we have another push of cold air spreading its way southwards. and likely to be a touch colder than the air we find ourselves in at the moment. quite a lot of dry weather around this week, just a few showers here and there in the showers as the colder air moves in by friday will be wintry in places.

this is bbc news. i'm ben boulos. our top stories: a second night of violence in the netherlands as new coronavirus restrictions draw protesters onto the streets in the hague. the world health organisation says it is very worried about the number of cases in europe, as the virus once again becomes the continent's biggest killer. success today does not mean success tomorrow because no country is an island. the missing tennis player peng shuai. new videos chinese media says were filmed this weekend fail to allay the fears of the international community. bad news for hong kong's wild boars — attacks on the public prompt authorities to launch a cull of the creatures in urban areas.