this is bbc news. our top stories: 100 days of the taliban — and afghanistan's humanitarian misery deepens by the day. we have a special report. the 50 million barrel gamble — joe biden releases huge reserves of us oil as he seeks to bring down soaring energy and gasoline prices. so today, i'm announcing that the largest ever release from the us strategic petroleum reserve to help provide a supply we need as we recover from this pandemic. the man accused of driving a car into a christmas parade in wisconsin — killing six — appears in court to face murder charges. and a one—yearjourney covering seven million miles. nasa launches a spacecraft on a test mission to save

the earth and destroy itself. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we begin in afghanistan where it's been 100 days since the taliban seized power. the united nations has warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe, with over half the population at risk of going hungry this winter. it has been calling for urgent support since august, when the taliban took over. the un now says its appeal for $600 million has reached its target — and that the funds will now be directed at helping the 11 million most deprived people in the country. the bbc�*s yalda hakim is in kabul. she's been speaking to afghans about their lives now under taliban rule.

it's early morning here in dasht—e—barchi, which is a predominantly shia hazara community. the majority of the people standing here are labourers. they're waiting to see if there is any work for them today. the taliban took over a country that was very much reliant on international aid. when the taps were turned off, the economy virtually collapsed. nafisa tells me she's desperate.

security is one of the biggest concerns for the community here. it was just six months ago that a major attack was launched on the sayed al—shuhada school, a girls�* school. and the islamic state—khorasan, or is—k, claimed responsibility. almost 100 girls

lost their lives. one of the bombs went off just behind me. another over there. and then a third went off over there. it was designed to kill as many girls as possible. that attack happened under the old regime, but is-k has continued to target afghanistan's shia community. mahommad's two daughters were caught up in that attack. he thought he had lost them. the taliban have promised security for all afghans, but many here say they still don't feel safe. as we try and interview the head teacher, the boys make it very clear

they're allowed back. but across this country, most teenage girls are not. since the taliban took over, they've been told to wait at home until there's a nationwide policy. millions of girls across this country are waiting to hear from them. even before the taliban came to power, there was a humanitarian crisis in this country. drought, aid cuts and the economic collapse have turned crisis into catastrophe.

we've just come to the indira gandhi children's hospital where there are many cases of children suffering from acute malnutrition. gulnara is three. so weak, she can barely open her eyes. marwa is nearly one. it's not just patients suffering. healthca re staff haven't been paid for months. every single person i'm speaking to has the same story. they can't pay for their ticket to come here,

they can't pay for theirfood here. and she was just saying that some day they may have to admit her here as a malnutrition patient herself, because she doesn't know where she's going to get her next meal from. the us is to release 50 million barrels of oil from its reserves in an attempt to bring down soaring energy and in particular, gasoline prices. the move is being taken in parallel with other major oil—consuming nations, including china, india, japan, south korea and the uk. making the announcement, president biden described it as a move to benefit what he called average consumers. while our combined action will not solve the problem of high gas prices overnight, it will make a difference. it will take time, but, before long, you should see the price of gas drop where you fill up your tank.

and in the longer term, we will reduce our reliance on oil as we shift to clean energy. but right now, i will do what needs to be done to reduce the price you pay at the pump. that is the message from the president. david goldwyn was assistant energy secretary under bill clinton and also served as the us state department's special envoy for international energy affairs from 2009 to 2011. i asked him what the value of this oil release will be. i think, as the president said in his statement, it's too early to tell the impact of this. this is really all about what happens injanuary. this oil won't hit the market until mid—december, 0pec is now deciding what it wants to do forjanuary delivery, and it's a question of where do you think demand will be and how big of a surplus will there be? so i think what was really significant about this is you have all the major consuming nations doing some contribution to a stock release to signal to 0pec+ the customers are unhappy, the consuming nations have power and that 0pec have been bad managers during this crisis by not easing up when the

market really needed more oil. but at the same time, as you say, the major consuming nations are doing that and the major producers, by and large, 0pec, are not. so will they give, do you think? i think that they will. the question for 0pec — right now they believe that come january, the first quarter, that there will be a 1.8 million barrel a day surplus and they are worried about prices dropping precipitously, eia and the others think it will be more like 600,000 barrel a day surplus, so prices are going down, and 0pec is afraid they're going to go down a lot, we think it's a little bit, and the biden administration, along with other consumers, are saying "we're going to a little preventative maintenance here, we're going to take care of ourselves with little self—help and we're going to put this oil on the market to make sure that prices go down." right. i think when 0pec makes a decision it will be about where it thinks demand will go. i think instead of 400,000 barrels a day of tapering, they may go to three, but i think they'll promise to revisit it again

injanuary to make sure they haven't misjudged. right. it's a famously touchy area, gas prices in the us, they have risen pretty sharply over the course of the last year. and that builds into inflation. joe biden under a lot of pressure, popular pressure for being responsible or perceived to be responsible for the inflationary state of the us economy. this isjust a populist move, really, isn't it? i don't think it's a populist move. the reality is gasoline prices are important to americans consumers and a penny increase in the price of gasoline costs $1 billion, $1 increases $100 billion, it's a serious at went for gdp growth. so it's important. if 0pec were good market managers they would have prevented this headwind for global growth, notjust the united states, by putting a little bit more oil on the market, but if they're not going to do it, you know, then administration and other countries are going to. so it's notjust about politics, it's pocketbook, and is december and christmas is coming and, you know, people are, the economy is starting to recover, wages are starting to come up, and inflation is a concern.

so it's important to do something about gasoline and it is important to let 0pec know that consumers still have power also. david goldwyn there. a man accused of ramming a car into a christmas parade in the us state of wisconsin has appeared in court to face charges of intentional homicide. darrell brooks is to be charged with six deaths after another victim — a child — died. nearly 50 people were also injured in the attack in waukesha. police say mr brooks deliberately targeted the crowd. 0ur correspondent barbara plett usher was at the court. the judge read out the five counts of intentional homicide and he said that each one of them carried a penalty of life in prison. and during the proceedings the prosecutor said now they knew a sixth person had died, a child, and so the prosecution was planning to bring another charge of intentional homicide by the end of the week.

she also read out a lengthy criminal record for darrell brooks, this included violent conduct like strangulation, suffocation, sexual assault, domestic battery. she said that he had tried to run over a woman earlier in the month, the mother of his child. she also said he had a long history of flight and ofjumping bail. he is wanted on an arrest warrant in nevada, in fact. so she recommended that the bail be set at $5 million. during the proceedings darrell brooks sat nearly bent double, his face down, and thejudge considered the bail, he said he would accept the $5 million bail, he said it was extraordinarily high, but this was an extraordinarily serious case with an extraordinary history of mr brooks. he said to mr brooks, "look, i don't know what the motive was, whether it was panic or whether it was intentional, but clearly you don't do well under pressure and you don't

respond to common sense." he also made some remarks about the case and said that this was a shocking case, he'd never seen anything like it in his life, he said that the state had a very strong case and they have set the next hearing forjanuary. staying in the us and a court in charlottesville, virginia's ordered 17 white nationalist leaders and organizations to pay more than $26 million in damages over the violence that erupted during the deadly 2017 unite the right rally in charlottesville. one woman died when a far—right member drove into cou nter— protesters. at least 19 others were injured. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: harnessing world news, still to come: solar powerfrom space. harnessing solar power from space. could this be the breakthrough to combating climate change?

president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world — the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number ten to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot air balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash." cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 1960s — it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis.

this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: after more than one hundred days of taliban rule in afghanistan the country is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster. president biden announces the largest ever release of us oil reserves as he seeks to bring down soaring energy and gasoline prices. north macedonia and bulgaria are in national mourning here in the uk the government has admitted for the first time the parliament and the public have been misled for more than 30 years about a british airways flight that landed in kuwait in 1990 as the iraqi invasion there was under way. 350 passengers and crew were on board and many were taken hostage for months. fix, board and many were taken hostage for months. a security correspondent _ hostage for months. a security correspondent has _ hostage for months. a security correspondent has more. - hostage for months. a security | correspondent has more. today we got an apology because it emerged that successive governments for 30 years had misled parliament and the

public about ba 149. ba 149 took off from london on august one 1990 heading for asia but with a stopover in kuwait and it was that night that iraq invaded kuwait. the plane was unable to take off and passengers and crew were taken hostage and in some cases brutally mistreated over a period of months. what emerged today in newly declassified files is that there was a warning that while the plane was in the air the british ambassador in kuwait told the foreign office that some kind of invasion was under way and that message was distributed around widely but not passed a british airways. that emerged after previous denials that such a warning may have taken place. passengers and crew i spoke to today remain unhappy. they believe there is another mystery. they think undercover intelligence operatives were placed in that flight to get into kuwait to carry out surveillance and they believe they saw them get off the

flight and then, effectively disappear. today the foreign office and the government are sticking to their long—standing denials that there were any exploitation of this flight and so the controversy and the mystery over ba 149 may well still continue despite the apology today. still continue despite the apology today-— still continue despite the apology today. that is our security correspondent. i apology today. that is our security correspondent. a | apology today. that is our i security correspondent. a lot of other news from around the world. north macedonia and bulgaria are in national mourning as they remember the victims of a bus crash on a bulgarian motorway. at least 46 passengers were killed when the vehicle crashed and went up in flames. they'd been travelling through bulgaria on their return to north macedonia after a weekend trip to istanbul. investigators are looking at the possibility of human error. ajury —— jury the possibility of human error. ajury ——jury in the possibility of human error. ajury —— jury in georgia has been deliberating for six hours in the case of free white men charged with a black man.

dashmacjarred —— ajury in the us state of georgia has been deliberating for six hours in the case of three white men charged with the murder of a black man last year. the defendants are accused of shooting ahmaud arbery while he was outjogging in the city of brunswick. they have pleaded not guilty. the jury will resume their deliberations on wednesday. ajury in ohio has found that three retail pharmacy chains helped fuel an opioid epidemic in two of the state's counties. the court in cleveland concluded that cvs, walgreens and walmart had behaved recklessly by oversupplying addictive painkillers. it's the first trial which the companies have faced over the opioid crisis. damages will be determined by a judge next year, though the pharmacies have said they will appeal. every week at this time we take a look at climate change — bringing you stories with big implications for our planet's future in climate critical. and today we're focussing on solar power — but not the stuff we are used to getting. how about solar panels gathering 10,20,30 — even 40 times more energy than our modern conventional panels here on earth? it's a space—based energy

concept — which uses giant reflectors in orbit around our planet to take in the sun's rays. it points to potentially unlimited electricity, with no carbon footprint. more energy from the sun hits earth in one year than the total ever provided by fossil fuels and nuclear power. so — is this the future or pie in the sky? well — dr sam adlen is the co—chair of the uk's space energy initiative and head of innovation at the satellite applications catapult — which aims to capture 10% of the global space market by 2030, and he explained to me how it would work. for a country like the uk if you put your solar panels into space versus having them on the ground you get 13 times more energy and that drives the economics of a space—based solar power solution. there are no clouds and nothing in the way, that is half the battle. and there is no night. so 24 hours and around the clock and huge energy resource. you have

to drip. i would assume that thatis to drip. i would assume that that is the challenge that you are confronted with. that that is the challenge that you are confronted with.- are confronted with. that is ri . ht. are confronted with. that is right- and _ are confronted with. that is right. and so _ are confronted with. that is right. and so the _ are confronted with. that is right. and so the solution l are confronted with. that is| right. and so the solution is to launch satellites with large solar arrays that capture the sun's energy and been that down—to—earth by microwave and because there are a couple of very important features, one, because it is so high up and sees the sun all the time and you get continuous baseload energy which is important for the future function of the grid and then from a cost perspective the cost of electricity to consumer is expected to be comparable with that of terrestrial solar into a still wind and much much less than other baseload technology like nuclear or gas with carbon capture. 50 like nuclear or gas with carbon ca ture. ., like nuclear or gas with carbon cature. ., ., ~ , like nuclear or gas with carbon cature. ., .,~ , ., capture. so that takes into account the _ capture. so that takes into account the cost _ capture. so that takes into account the cost of - capture. so that takes into account the cost of getting something up in space. it will not be cheap and we appreciate that. but give me an idea about these reflectors, the panels. how big are they?— these reflectors, the panels. how big are they? they are big

structures- _ how big are they? they are big structures. 1.7 _ how big are they? they are big structures. 1.7 kilometres - structures. 1.7 kilometres across which is an incredible engineering feat. the important thing about space... i? thing about space... 1.7 kilometres! _ thing about space... 1.7 kilometres! exactly, - thing about space... 1.7| kilometres! exactly, but thing about space... 1.7 - kilometres! exactly, but the sins is kilometres! exactly, but the signs is understood - kilometres! exactly, but the signs is understood and - kilometres! exactly, but thej signs is understood and that kilometres! exactly, but the i signs is understood and that is important compared to other potential energy solutions like nuclear fusion. potential energy solutions like nuclearfusion. it will potential energy solutions like nuclear fusion. it will be an incredible engineering project for uk industry and it is lined up for uk industry and it is lined up ready to go. it for uk industry and it is lined uo ready to go— up ready to go. it is not the only industry _ up ready to go. it is not the only industry lined - up ready to go. it is not the only industry lined up - up ready to go. it is not the only industry lined up and l up ready to go. it is not the i only industry lined up and sort of ready to go. there is a bit of ready to go. there is a bit of a race, perhaps, of ready to go. there is a bit ofa race, perhaps, going on there with the chinese, presumably the americans and russians are all interested? it is very much an international endeavour. so big programmes in the united states and in china, the united states and in china, the japanese are doing a lot on wireless power grids and the opportunity for collaboration is huge. there has been an arena where global

collaboration overcame some of the geopolitical tensions on the geopolitical tensions on the ground and there is a huge chance for a partnership here. we've just been through the summit in glasgow and a huge amount of discussion about how we deal with the here and now and that leaves two big questions. 0ne, and that leaves two big questions. one, and i did not hear about this, in the course of the discussions which went on for two weeks. where is this in terms of being realised and when might we see something like this? i when might we see something like this? ~' , ., , ., like this? i think the glasgow summit was _ like this? i think the glasgow summit was a _ like this? i think the glasgow summit was a huge - like this? i think the glasgow summit was a huge success i like this? i think the glasgow. summit was a huge success with a lot of ambition but the dialogue around future energy sources was limited and frankly net zero is an illusion unless we can completely rethink some of our energy sources. 10 billion people on the planet by 2050 all using much more electricity. the fantastic growth in electric vehicles, for example. it is the story of our century, isn't it?-

for example. it is the story of our century, isn't it? and that is doctor— our century, isn't it? and that is doctor sam _ our century, isn't it? and that is doctor sam adler— our century, isn't it? and that is doctor sam adler and - our century, isn't it? and that is doctor sam adler and we i our century, isn't it? and that. is doctor sam adler and we will stay in space. moving from harnessing energy to destroying asteroids and spacecraft. nasser is about to fire a spacecraft that huge lump of rock in space just to see if it will tip in another direction. the aim is to develop technology to stop any dangerous asteroid of the future smashing into earth. until now, it's been the stuff of hollywood blockbusters like armageddon. an asteroid heading for earth and a mission to stop it. but science fiction is becoming science fact. for the first time, nasa is sending up a spacecraft to knock an asteroid off course. this one is not a danger to the earth, but the dart mission as a trial of technology for the future. normally when we are talking about a mission to go to space, we are going to explore some new world, but in this case we are literally going to crash a spaceship into an asteroid and change the direction and speed at which it moves through space, and we are doing that to basically test the technique to

save the planet if there was ever a killer asteroid coming towards earth. nasa is targeting a small asteroid called dimorphos, which is orbiting around a larger space rock. the spacecraft travelling at around 13,000 miles an hour will fly into the small asteroid leaving an impact crater up to 20 metres wide. but this should also give the rock a kick, which will speed up its orbit, and this can be monitored from the earth to see if it has worked. 0nboard is also a mini satellite that will film the crash. even a small nudge can make a big difference to an asteroid's path, and that could be vital. a 160—metre—wide rock like dimorphos could devastate populated areas, but smaller ones are a problem too. anything bigger than the 20 metre asteroid that broke up over russia in 2013 and injured hundreds of people are a concern. even the smaller objects can cause quite a lot of damage. a 25—metre asteroid, they will be really hard

to spot with telescopes, so we are always pushing the technology and the science we can do and then we will try to detect where every single object is so we know what is coming in the future. the spacecraft will take nearly a year to travel the 7 million miles to its destination. no—one has ever tried anything like this before, but it could be the best chance of defending our planet if an asteroid is ever on a disastrous collision course. rebecca morrelle, bbc news. 0ne one year before it will happen but where are we? two hours before launch and we will keep across that. that is the vandenberg space force base in california. now the manuscript for the general —— generalfear of relativity sold at an auction house for $13 million. albert einstein co— offered the document and it is one ofjust

two surviving documents showing how einstein arrived at what was of course one of the greatest scientific discoveries. and that is bbc world news. thank you for watching. hello there. later this week, not only is there potential for some more disruptive weather heading our way, but something much colder, as well. wednesday starts off on a chilly note with a bit of frost in places, but some mist and dense fog patches possible across parts of england and wales — the winds have been lightest through the night. a bit more of a breeze through scotland and northern ireland to get under way, and some wet weather for the morning rush hour — this weather front here, a cold front, will bring the first run of colder air further and further southwards as we go through the next 24 hours. in the southern half of the country, a bit of a chill, temperatures not rising much — we still have light winds and a relatively quiet day, lots of mist and fog around. the morning rain, though, across scotland and northern ireland is replaced by sunshine and scattered showers, some heavy with hail, turning wintry in the far north of scotland, particularly on the hills. but turning wetter later on, northwest england, north

and west wales as that cold front slowly makes its way southwards and eastwards. a little bit of patchy rain and drizzle to the south and east, we'll see some wetter conditions here through wednesday night. at the same time, very windy through wednesday night into thursday, and the far north of scotland seeing gusts of wind 50—60 mph — and that'll bring colder air, a very cold thursday morning commute, but a bright, crisp one for many — really good visibility, sunshine for the most part. some showers around the western and eastern coasts, but most of the showers will be in the north of scotland, where snow could even come down to sea level later, and an added wind—chill to go with what will be a cool day. and then things turn much more disturbed — through thursday into friday, particularly friday night and saturday, this area of low pressure transferring its way southwards. cold air wrapped around it, which means a greater chance of things turning to snow for some, but it's the winds which could be the key feature. even on friday, the winds really starting to pick up — outbreaks of rain initially pushing southwards and eastwards, but the showers that follow in its wake will turn increasingly wintry — over the hills for many, but even to lower levels in the northern half

of scotland, and it will be a cold day. but through friday night into saturday, as our low pressure transfers its way southwards, we could see gales, if not severe gales develop along that weather system, working its way south and, as i said, there could be a bit of snow mixed in, too. and that will take us into saturday, as well. now those strong winds could be a problem in some parts, we could see damaging gusts of wind, some travel disruption around to take us into the weekend. even if you don't see those damaging winds — widespread gales and, as i said, that risk of rain and snow, too. see you soon.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: the us is to release 50 million barrels of oil from its reserves in an attempt to bring down soaring energy prices, particularly that of gasoline. the move is being taken in parallel with other major oil—consuming nations, including china, india, japan, south korea, and the uk. a man accused of ramming a car into a christmas parade in the us state of wisconsin has appeared in court to face charges of intentional homicide. darrell brooks is charged with six deaths after another victim, a child, died. nearly 50 people were also injured in the attack in waukesha. north macedonia and bulgaria have declared days of mourning to remember victims of a bus crash on a bulgarian motorway yesterday. at least 45 people, mostly tourists, were killed when the coach crashed in flames in western bulgaria. the cause of the crash is still unclear. now on bbc news it's hardtalk with stephen sackur.