this is bbc news. our top stories: tributes to mikhail gorbachev — the last leader of the soviet union, who's died aged 91 — remembered as a man of courage. he helped to end the cold war, he's being praised the world over, but wasn't as successful with radical reforms back home — where many blame him for the collapse of the soviet union. pakistan is facing a monsoon on steroids — so says the un as they launch an emergency appeal to help deal with the the worst flooding in the country's history. had the floods not come, they would have something to take to market, a way of looking after themselves. and yet now, they have to sit on the side of the road and wait for food to be delivered. and the oldest and one of the most important international film festivals

opens in venice later today but are what are the films exciting the critics this year? welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. mikhail gorbachev, the last leader of the soviet union, has died at the age of 91. he made it his mission to push for perestroika — political and economic reforms to kickstart the russian economy — and set the goal for glasnost — more openness and transparency in the policies of the state and judicial system. he oversaw enormous changes, namely the break—up of the soviet union in 1991, and the end of the cold war. president macron said he was a man of peace. russian president vladimir putin, who had a sharply

divergent view of how things should be done, has expressed his �*deep sympathies�*. our russia editor steve rosenberg looks back at an historic life. he was the kind of russian leader the world had never seen. mikhail gorbachev smiled, he was relaxed. in the west, he acquired almost pop—star status for helping to end the cold war. but at home, it was a different story. born in the days of dictator josef stalin, gorbachev became a committed communist, rising fast through the ranks of the soviet communist party to the ruling politburo. gorbachev stood out — he was young, energetic, unlike his colleagues. as kremlin old—timers died in quick succession, the ussr was looking more like a cemetery than a superpower. but in 1985, gorbachev became

leader and launched perestroika — reforms to reinvigorate the soviet union. at home, there were western—style walkabouts. abroad, he charmed an iron lady and a us president. together, gorbachev and reagan slashed their nuclear arsenals. with a reformer in the kremlin, eastern europe saw a chance to break free from moscow. in 1989 the berlin wall came crashing down. crucially gorbachev refused to intervene to prop up the iron curtain.

it was mikael gorbachev who be came the terminator of the 20th century, who ended the cold war, who ended domination of the soviet union over central and eastern europe. he dismantled this domination in the most peaceful and willing way. he let them go. by now, his own country was breaking apart amid ethnic conflicts and economic chaos. gorbachev was losing control. in august 1991, communist hardliners staged a coup. it collapsed — but soon after, so did the soviet union. president gorbachev resigned and the ussr was consigned to history. many russians still blame gorbachev for letting a superpower slip away.

many of the changes mikal gorbachev tried to make haven't lasted. democratic freedoms have been rolled back in russia and the arms race is back, and geopolitical confrontation. gorbachev will be remembered for at least having tried to end the rivalry between east and west. but i will remember him for this. after one interview, he invited me to play his piano while he sang the favourite songs of his late wife. it was a surreal but special moment that showed the warm, human side of the russian leader who'd struck a chord with millions around the world. mikhail gorbachev, who has died at the age of 91. in the last few hours, world leaders have been paying their respects to mr gorbachev. us presidentjoe biden said

mr gorbachev was a man of remarkable vision and had the courage to risk his entire career to achieve a different future. borisjohnson, uk prime minister, said he always admired the courage and integrity gorbachev showed in bringing the cold war to a peaceful conclusion. antonio guterres, the un secretary general praised mikhail gorbachev as a one—of—a kind statesman who changed the course of history. he said the world has lost a towering global leader. and ursula von der leyen, president of the european commission, remembered him as a trusted and respected leader — one who opened the way for a free europe. she said his legacy is one we will not forget. i'm joined now by maria snegovaya, postdoctoral fellow at georgetown university. shejoins us from washington dc. maria, was gorbachev a leader who lost a country or the man who lost a country or the man who gave millions of their

freedom?— who gave millions of their freedom? ,, ., , , freedom? russian society is hi . hl freedom? russian society is highly divided _ freedom? russian society is highly divided on _ freedom? russian society is highly divided on this - freedom? russian society is highly divided on this topic. | highly divided on this topic. people who viewed the soviet union as the greatest achievement in russia's history, the great power able to compete with the us, think of him as a traitor or a western dupe and a weak man who lost control but there of us who think of it as the state with a questionable legacy, imprisoning russian people and other people, they think of him as a liberator, albeit one who did not really expect the consequences of his reform to be so radical but nonetheless a person who created a unique period of freedoms in russia. he created a lot and president putin has turned president

gorbachev�*s playbook on its head. that present popularity of putin that we have seen in polling suggested it might harm gorbachev�*s legacy that putin is pushing in a different direction and is quite popular. remember putin said in his early days the collapse of the soviet union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century which reflects the views he tried to impose on russian society and its very symbolic but gorbachev�*s death comes at this moment when russia due to this unjust war in ukraine is turning away from its pro—western orientation and essentially rejoins its historical autocratic track. we have been — historical autocratic track. we have been trying to find out what gorbachev�*s we would have been on the ukraine work and

there is one uncomfortable fact in that gorbachev supported the 2014 annexation of crimea. gorbachev is very much a product of his times, a soviet man and ultimately a statist evenif man and ultimately a statist even if he contribute to dismantling the state so in many ways he was conforming to what seem to be the main geopolitical view in russia so i'm afraid to imagine what he could have publicly said about this war. it's possible he would not openly oppose it but to be honest i think we understand that russia would be better off if gorbachev rather than putin was on top of the country today. i than putin was on top of the country today.— than putin was on top of the country today. i should say the nobel peace _ country today. i should say the nobel peace prize _ country today. i should say the nobel peace prize winner- country today. i should say the nobel peace prize winner did l nobel peace prize winner did warn of the dire consequences if tensions were not reduced around the time of the crimea annexations. thank you for your

insights. let's get some of the day's other news. eight european union countries bordering the baltic sea have agreed to a seven—fold increase in the production of off—shore wind energy by 2030. the european commission president ursula von der leyen said wind power would help them break free from a dependency on russian fossil fuels. president biden has said he is determined to ban assault weapons in the us. delivering remarks in pennsylvania on his saferamerica plan, mr biden criticised republican lawmakers who oppose his plans to fund law enforcement and cut gun violence. a massive clean—up is under way in edinburgh, after a 12—day strike by trash collectors came to an end on tuesday morning. the city's council said it could take a week to collect the backlog of waste. two thirds of scottish councils have been affected by strikes, with more walk—outs scheduled for next week. to the flooding in pakistan now, and the united nations has launched an emergency appeal to help victims of what the un

secretary general called a �*monsoon on steroids�*. pakistan�*s government says the floods are the worst in the nation�*s history. in a moment we�*ll get the latest from pumza fihlani in the southern city of sukkur but first secunder kermani reports from the north—western town of nowsherah. along one of pakistan�*s busiest motorways, a makeshift camp. poor families forced from their homes, floodwater submerging everything they own. "i�*m in so much pain, i can�*t even express". says this woman. "we�*ve even lost our honour. where else can we go?" wading through the suburbs of the northern city of nowshera, families trying to reach their homes. "we haven�*t been able to get to our house. just look at the road," says this woman. "how can we get there? no—one is helping us."

this man, a chef, hasjust returned to his home. will you be able to buy these things again, rebuild this house? "no," he says, "i�*mjust asking god to help us get enough food for now. "we�*ve got nothing left. "we couldn�*t save anything, just our children�*s lives. "look at all of this." livelihoods have been lost and billions of pounds of damage done to the country�*s infrastructure. wejoin a rescue boat transporting engineers, repairing an electricity line serving 200,000 people. floods happen during the monsoon here every year, but not like this. pakistan is responsible only for a tiny proportion of global emissions, but it�*s people here who are paying the price for climate change. at a press briefing, the prime minister denied

allegations his government had initially been slow to act, appealing for more international help. we will certainly learn from our experience, but i think the global community should stand by us today. it is a yawning gap between our requirements and what we are receiving till this point in time. as the water begins to recede from here, the scale of the challenge of rebuilding is becoming clearer, both for ordinary families and for the country, with an economy already in a dire state. this is a disaster whose impact will be felt for years to come. secunder kermani, bbc news, nowshera. everywhere you look, there is still water. down below, a food crisis is brewing in pakistan. kilometres of connecting roads

have been washed away by heavy floods. 0n motorways the truck queues are so long they disappear into the horizon. but they are needed. when the aid does arrive, the need is so great, people fight for it. and it�*s not only people that have been hit by the floods. the government says 80% of livestock has been killed. for those who depend on agriculture, the threat of starvation. translation: the food has been expensive since the flood - started, and i have to sell four of them just to buy food for the rest. it was a hard decision, but i need to keep them alive. if i don�*t, i won�*t survive. it�*s not only animal feed that has gone up — food prices, too. it is unaffordable

for many people. across the road from the buffaloes, we meet this cotton farmer. a family of 15 live in this tent. their crops were all lost to water. "we were farmers back home, and now everything is gone," she tells me. "we don�*t even have food for the children. "some days, they sleep hungry. life is difficult," she says. many of the people here are farmers. they work every day for long hours, taking care of their land. it�*s something they take great pride in. but when the floods came, it took that away from them. the people that you see behind me were cotton farmers, and they also farmed maize. they told me that, had the floods not come, they would have something to take to the market and would have a way to look after themselves. now they have to sit on the side of the road and wait for food to be delivered. on this dirt road to nowhere, the people can go for days without eating.

when a food truck comes, there is another scramble. for many of these families, aid is their last hope, but there�*s not enough food for the displaced, and there are fears that millions will go hungry. pumza fihlani, bbc news, sindh. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: iraq�*s influential cleric moqtada al—sadr asks his followers to call off their protests. the head of the catholic church said mother teresa was a wonderful example of how to help people in need. we wonderful example of how to help people in need. we have to

take the coffins _ help people in need. we have to take the coffins back _ help people in need. we have to take the coffins back home. - take the coffins back home. hostages appeared, some carried, some running, trying to escape the nightmare behind them. britain lost a princess today, described by all to whom she reached out as irreplaceable. an early morning car crash ended a life with more than its share of pain and courage, warmth and compassion. this is bbc world news. our main headline: the last leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev, has died at the age of 91 — along with president reagan he helped bring

an end to the cold war. earlier i spoke to the pulitzer prize—winning author william taubman who wrote gorbachev, his life and times. he said gorbachev was �*too decent a person for the country he was running.�* i interviewed him eight or nine times, i forget exactly how many, i also talked to him on several other occasions. my wife is a russian professor. he arranged for us to visit his village where he was born, and stavropol, the southern city where he climbed the ladder of the communist party. what was he like? he was a charming man. an attractive man. an informal, relaxed person. with a sense of humour. we were not asked by him to provide questions in advance. he didn�*t need an interpreter, he trusted us to understand him.

he was a thoroughly decent man, as a person, and that may have been his undoing as a political leader. he was too decent for the country he was trying to govern. was his character suited to running the soviet union or was that his undoing? he could be very tough. he succeeded in getting a lot of the communist party hardliners to agree to give up their power, or so it seemed, until they moved against him in the coup of august 1991. so he was canny. but in his own way, he was naive and utopian. he dreamed of turning a country that had never known democracy into a democracy. and i think by the time he died, he realised he had moved too fast and russia might take, i know he believed this,

he wrote it, russia might take the entire 21st century to end up in some kind of democracy. i guess you had a ringside seat to what developed later in his life, so tell us how he came to these realisations? well, he came to them by experiencing the break—up of his project. he was forced from power at the end of 1991, on the one hand by the hardliners of the communist party, and on the other by the radical democrats, who wanted to go much faster than he did. i remember conversations where he talked about how it wasn�*t clear whether he had moved too fast or too slowly. 0r

or maybe just right. i think toward the end, we came back to that subject and he said he had moved too fast. too fast for a country that wasn�*t ready for everything he wanted to offer it. iraq�*s president, barham saleh, has addressed the nation after nearly 24 hours of violence that�*s left dozens dead and hundreds injured in the capital baghdad. mr saleh said that he thought early elections could help resolve the high political tensions. iraq has had no functioning government since inconclusive elections last october. caroline hawley reports. in the centre of baghdad, a second day of deadly violence. here, a rocket—propelled grenade being fired. the worst fighting iraq has seen in years. the country�*s political crisis erupted into street battles on monday. supporters of the powerful cleric moqtada al—sadr, who gained the most seats in elections last year, against rival shia factions backed by neighbouring iran.

both groups have been vying for power and resources. these are moqtada al—sadr�*s supporters on monday after they�*d stormed into the republican palace inside iraq�*s well—protected green zone — briefly enjoying this unaccustomed luxury before, on tuesday, he apologised and announced he wanted them out. translation: | had hoped . for peaceful protests with pure hearts, hearts filled with love for their country, not ones that resort to gunfire. this saddens the revolution, as this revolution now resembles violence and killing. it is no longer a revolution. and so, his loyal followers obeyed — leaving the green zone as he�*d demanded, stood down — calm restored and a clear—up under way. but there are questions now about what both neighbouring iran and its allies and moqtada al—sadr will do next. sadr, for all his machinations, is really more of a nationalist, certainly,

than he is iranian—influenced. the divisions and rivalry that led to this bloodshed have not been resolved, and the president has now warned that iraq isn�*t out of crisis yet. translation: the current situation is no longer - acceptable and cannot continue. holding new early elections i in accordance with the national consensus represents an exit from this crisis instead - of political confrontation. it guarantees political and social stability . and responds to the aspirations of the iraqi people. _ but as long as the political stalemate goes on, iraqis will fear a new wave of violence when most people in the countryjust want security and peace. caroline hawley, bbc news. a change of tune now. the venice film festival returns, and this year organisers have dropped

all covid—19 restrictions. after years of strict rules and travel chaos, stars are flocking to the international festival for its 11—day run. the bbc�*s azadeh moshiri has more. often called the city of masks, venice is making them optional for its annual film festival — meaning its stars can shine bright, and be greeted with all the charm italy has to offer. i�*m so happy that we are back to normal, that you cannot imagine. yeah. the film festival is the only international one to have carried on during the pandemic, and this year�*s entries are filled with young talent — with the festival billing them as the cinema of tomorrow. when i come out of my dressing room, i'm normajeane. it�*s interesting that venice this year has sort of picked a number of films with really appealing and — let�*s be honest — sexy young talents, maybe as an attempt to draw in some of these younger audiences and give them an alternative to, you know,

the next marvel movie. despite the festival�*s stunning backdrop, there are ripples of tension beneath the surface. its leadership has always prioritised theatrical releases — even making it a requirement for entries. but they�*re facing the reality that audiences are turning on the telly to stream, rather than walking into film theatres. but for the next 11 days, they�*ll put all that aside — after all, the show must go on. azadeh moshiri, bbc news. before we go, a shock in the world of tennis, as the current us open champion emma raducanu is out of this year�*s event at the first round stage. the teenager was beaten in straight sets by alize cornet. she also loses the huge number of points she gained when winning the title as a qualifer in 2021. you can reach me on twitter —

i�*m @marklobel thanks for watching. goodbye. hello there. i�*m sure many people have been making the most of this generally dry weather with some sunshine — we had a lot of sunshine actually around on tuesday, and we�*ve got more of the same for today. we start, though, with temperatures on the whole in double figures early on wednesday morning. but it�*ll be a bit colder, i think in the northeast of scotland, could be down to 3—4 celsius here. now many places will start wednesday dry and sunny, but there�*s cloud coming in off the north sea to bring a few showers into the far north of england, and with the cloud bubbling up in eastern england, there could be the odd light shower here. but on the whole, it�*ll be dry for england and wales. quite windy in the south, especially through the english channel. not as windy for scotland and northern ireland, a sunnier day than it was on tuesday — but temperatures not changing very much, so again, we�*re likely to make 24 in southern parts of england and south wales. now high pressure extends

all the way down from the arctic circle, and that�*s keeping it generally fine and dry. the fly in the ointment on thursday is that area of low pressure and weather fronts that threatens to bring some heavier showers, notjust for the channel islands, but now perhaps into the far southwest of england. 0therwise, some lengthy spells of sunshine, some patchy cloud bubbling up here and there, probably not quite as windy for southern areas. it may be a bit warmer widely, temperatures into the low—to—mid—20s on thursday. so, we�*ve got a couple more days of this quiet, largely dry weather with some sunshine, but by the end of the week and into the weekend, things may look a little different — we�*ve got some rain in the forecast. and that�*s because pressure will be falling — we�*ve got this low pressure heading up towards the english channel weather fronts sliding in from the atlantic, and the two sort of bumping into each other and combining. so, we�*ll find some patchy rain coming into the northwest of the uk. these showers, though, moving up from the south, from the english channel, look a little more widespread. some of them could be heavy and possibly thundery. there�*ll still be some sunshine away from those showers,

and those temperatures peaking again at the mid—20s. now, we started the week with high pressure, we�*ll end the week with low pressure — and that low pressure will be dominant into the weekend, as well. central and to the west of the uk, a couple of weather fronts on the scene. no doubt those will come to rest in a slightly different place, but you�*ve got this idea of a couple of bands of wet weather that could be heavy and thundery. some sunshine either side of that and a bit of warmth still, but some stronger winds will keep most of the rain away from scotland. 20 celsius here, 24 in the southeast.

this is bbc news — the headlines... mikhail gorbachev, the last leader of the soviet union, who brought the cold war to a peaceful end, has died aged 91. world leaders have been paying tribute — a kremlin spokesman said president putin had expressed his deepest condolences, and borisjohnson said that he always admired mr gorbachev�*s "courage and integrity". pakistan is facing "a monsoon on steroids", the un�*s secretary general has warned, after floods submerged a third of the country. antonio guterres urged the world to come to pakistan�*s aid as he launched an emergency appeal to help the tens of millions affected in the disaster. and the defending women�*s us open champion emma raducanu has been knocked out of this years tournament in the first round. the teenager lost in straight sets to alice cornet.

it�*s the first time in her career the 19—year—old has lost