tv BBC News BBC News September 23, 2022 4:00am-4:30am BST
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this is bbc news. i'm tim willcox. our top stories: fleeing the draft: the russians leaving the country to avoid being sent translation: when i refused to take the call-up papers, - an official said, "suit yourself, but you'll be sent "to prison for ten years". back in ukrainian hands, but still under russian attack: in preparations for the first ever terrorist attack on the island. of a woman detained by the �*morality police'. her father says they lied
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about how she died. to the hospital earlier and they said the ambulance's key was lost for 20 minutes and they couldn't find it. can you believe this? many russian citizens are trying to flee their country to escape the military mobilisation announced by vladimir putin. tickets for direct flights between russia and serbia have sold out and there are long queues on other border crossings. president putin's order to mobilise 300,000 russian reservists to fight in ukraine led to protests on wednesday, at which more than 1,000 people were reportedly arrested. 0ur russia editor steve
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rosenberg reports from moscow. called up by the kremlin, they set off for ukraine. russian reservists now part of vladimir putin's war. there were scenes like these across russia. a sense of shock at the first mobilisation here since world war ii, and apprehension at what lies ahead. child cries. "daddy," cries a child, as another group departs. but there was anger, too, outside a recruitment office. the protester says, world war ii was a real war, but this one is just politics. protesting in russia can be dangerous. mikhail was detained at an anti—mobilisation protest in moscow. he says that down at
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the station, police tried to give him call—up papers. translation: when i refused to take the call-up papers, - an official said, "suit yourself, but you'll be sent "to prison for ten years". she said it was against the law to refuse the draft. the public�*s being told the motherland is in danger. the message from the russian authorities to the russian people is "we had to call up the reservists. "the west is trying to destroy us. "nato is waging a war against us. "this is a fight for russia's future." but some russians have now concluded that for them, there is no future here. at russia's border with georgia, the queue of cars was unusually long as some russian men of fighting age tried to leave the country. i heard some speeches... viktor has decided to leave russia because of the call—up. �*viktor�* is not his real name — he's asked us to hide his
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identity. there is a choice — for example, you go and you kill innocent people, or you go to jail. i decided i don't want to make this choice. i'm better to live my life somehow, i don't know, from abroad. up until now, many russians have tried to block out what's happening in ukraine and get on with their lives. the call—up of hundreds of thousands of reservists has changed that. reality is starting to hit home. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. earlier, i spoke to evelyn farkas, executive director of the mccain institute and a former pentagon official responsible for russia. i think this mobilisation, it's more of a public relations and terror — i won't say stunt, but move, as opposed to a real military move at this point because i am unclear how quickly they can actually mobilise 300,000 people who are supposedly all
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reservists and equip them because we do not know whether the russians have the equipment, and of course make sure they are trained and they can be sent to the front and not become immediate cannon fodderfor the ukrainians. so i think the call—up is, in part, a test to see how the russian public reacts. clearly, they are not reacting well to it, but the demonstrations are not as large as they might be otherwise, so perhaps this is a way for the russian government to gradually try to acclimate the russian people to the idea of a total war with ukraine. crosstalk. so even if it is just a test, many of the people are being called are in the far east of russia — almost on the border with china — but in terms of the protest from the people on the ground, who is more dangerous for president putin, them, or the ultranationalist pro—war above him? good question.
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well first, so, in regard to the part of your question about the geography, all along, putin has been targeting people in the eastern parts of russia — dagestan, chechnya, ethnic minorities. he has actually isolated — or insulated, rather — the citizens of moscow and st petersburg from the war. somewhere, as couple of months ago somewhere i read that 11 casualties total between st petersburg and moscow. so, he is deliberately picking the parts of the country that he is targeting for the — you know, pressing people into service one way or another. the territories that they had seized since february 2a,
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and then putin added onto that his nuclear sabre—rattling. a clear statement aimed at national side of the statement and, of course, the call—up had the opposite effect when it comes to the russian people, as we have seen. but it remains to be seen whether the kremlin can manage it. clearly, they decided to take the risk because they had to do something about the nationalists and the people, indeed, living in donetsk and luhansk who were starting to panic about whether the russian government would stick with them. and yet, the prisoner swap, extraordinary in terms of who the russians have given back to ukraine — i mean, albeit via turkey in some places. i mean, the leader of the azov brigade, the people who held out in mariupol, that will not please the nationalists either, will it? no, and in fact, we have reports of them being upset. now, this was done with nationalist leadership agreeing to the swap because they wanted their people back as well and also, they are loyal to president putin, so the political leadership there, they're saying
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that they supported this because president putin clearly wanted viktor medvedchuk back — and this is an individual who is a ukrainian, pro—russian to the extreme politician, was somebody who, i believe ukrainian intelligence has indicated if not western, the russians were holding as a potential replacement for the government, for president zelensky, and so he was very important to putin because putin is an old veteran spy and you do not leave your spies behind. it is shocking, frankly — or surprising, i would say — that this swap included so many individuals — first of all, in number and then, as you said, from the azov brigade and others we may not have expected the russians to swap — several foreigners as well who had been captured in the donetsk area.
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yes, and i think viktor medvedchuk, president putin's godfather to his child or something so there is a family connection there as well. yes, but as i've tweeted, i want somebody to count up how many godchildren vladimir putin has because i think it is a way of showing loyalty. evelyn farkas speaking to me earlier. russia's conduct in ukraine has been strongly condemned at a special meeting of the un security council. the american secretary of state antony blinken said president putin had shown contempt for international law and the world must not let him get away with it. his comments came as the ukrainian military continues to make gains in the east of the country. 0ur senior international correspondent 0rla guerin reports now from the newly liberated city of kupiansk. this is kupiansk. ukraine calls it liberated territory. during our visit with an army escort, it doesn't sound that way. explosions in distance.
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every few minutes, more shelling. explosions. and it is soon very clear that war isn't far away. loud explosions. come on, come on, come on! well, we've just had to run and take cover in the building. there's been what sounded like heavy incoming fire. it's pretty clear that the russians are continuing to target kupiansk, even though they've been pushed out. dangerous. understood, understood. they want us away from the glass. a few minutes ago, we heard there's a russian helicopter doing some shelling and it was nearby us, so we need to go to save your life and going from there.
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is this happening a lot in kupiansk — a lot of attacks? yes, yes — every day, kupiansk under russian shelling and russian artillery. quickly, quickly. now, ukrainian forces are back, looking for signs of life. they are few and far between. the russians brought destruction here, but some don't have a bad word to say about their former occupiers. "they treated people normally," 0leksandr tells me. "there was no torture — nothing like that. "for us, it was no different with them or without them. "they were here. "but it feels like they weren't. "they came and then, they left." explosions.
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he says most here stand with ukraine. either way, they're now caught in the middle... explosions. ..with shelling back and forth. i ask lylia how she copes. "i do nothing," she says. "i stay home and pray that nothing hits the house." explosions. ukraine's victory in this city is messy and incomplete. will be back. you are watching bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. a brazilian study based on satellite observations of the amazon rainforest indicates a significant increase in carbon dioxide emissions from the region. scientists say they more
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than doubled in 2019 and 2020, compared with the average of the previous eight years. the study connects the increase to the fall—off in law enforcement in the same period. presidentjair bolsonaro has been accused of allowing the destruction of the amazon. the israeli prime minister yair lapid has called for a two—state solution to the palestinian—israeli conflict in a speech at the un general assembly. mr lapid said that an agreement with the palestinians based on two states for two people was the right thing for israel's security, its economy and the future of its children. but he said that any deal would be conditional on a peaceful palestinian state that was no threat to israel. in italy, the three leaders of a right—wing alliance that's predicted to win sunday's general election have addressed their final big rally of the campaign. giorgia meloni of the far—right brothers of italy party promised to protect italy's borders and restore the nation's freedom and pride.
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polls indicate she's best—placed to become prime minister. she hopes to lead a coalition with matteo salvini's far—right league party, and forza italia of the former prime minister, silvio berlusconi. police in iceland say they've arrested four people in connection with what they believe to have been preparations for the first ever terrorist attack on the island. 0fficers said the motives of the four people were as yet unknown. emily brown reports. iceland, considered to be one of the most peaceful places in the world. a country where violence is rare — until now. in an unprecedented operation, four men have been arrested after investigation into an alleged terrorist plot. up to 50 police officers took part in this huge operation.
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it saw semiautomatic weapons, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition, seized. it is said to be the first time an investigation of this type has been launched in iceland, which has a population ofjust 375,000. local media reports officers were exploring potential links to nordic far—right groups and that the police were the central target. translation: we have conducted larger operations but not _ like this one — and this is a factor. of course, we have looked at the fact that various things have been happening in europe, including the nature of terrorist acts. the four icelanders, who were arrested in a suburb of reykjavik, are said to be in their 20s. two have been remanded in custody. it is still unclear what their motive was, and police say more people could be brought in for questioning. for now, investigations continue into the biggest operation of its type this small nation has seen. emily brown, bbc news.
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stay with us on bbc news. still to come — hollywood facelift: we'll tell you why this iconic sign is getting a fresh lick of paint. benjohnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. all the athletes should be clean, going into the games. i'm just happy that justice is served. it is a simple fact that, - this morning, these people were in their homes. tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian _ soldiers and police. all the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. it's no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world,
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concorde have crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: protests in iran have now spread to more than 80 cities and towns on the sixth day of unrest triggered by the death of a young woman after she was arrested by the country's morality police. 23 people are reported to have been killed so far, but according to our correspondent that
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figure could be higher. rana rahimpour has this report. women across iran are setting their hijabs on fire. they are tired of being beaten up by the morality police for not observing strict islamic dress code. cheering and applause. their anger was sparked by the death of this woman, mahsa amini. she wasjust 22. she was arrested by the morality police in tehran earlier this month. they said she wasn't wearing the mandatory hijab properly. they say she died of a heart condition, but eyewitnesses say she was beaten up in the police van. her father told me she was a healthy young woman with no medical condition. translation: i still cannot believe she's dead. - i don't want to believe she's not alive. iranian state media are saying she had health conditions
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before, but that's a lie. the medical report was full of lies. the government has cut the internet in much of the country, so it's hard to get accurate information at the moment. but last time they did this, three years ago, they killed hundreds of people. with thousands of people protesting across the country, there are fears that far more might be killed this time. cheering and applause. protests are quickly spreading across the country and they are no longer just about clothing — it's about regime change. now, men, next to women, are standing together, chanting "death to the dictator". but for iran, change comes slowly. the iranian president, who is at the un, insists that hijab is a personal choice. but even in new york, he demanded that the world—renowned broadcaster christiane amanpour wears a headscarffor an interview. this was refused. but the same refusal
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in iran is costing lives. rana rahimpour, bbc news. so how much of a threat to the regime are these protests? here's assal rad, the executive director of the national iranian american council. in terms of a threat, what we have seen as a pattern unfortunately is that these protests are subdued using violence, using deadly force. in november of 2019 which is the last time, the pre—covid time which is important to point out because covid played a role in multiple protest movements around the world coming to a close because things were shut down and people had to quarantine but in 2019 when we saw protests in iran, we saw internet shutdowns like we are seeing right now, deadly force being used and at least hundreds of people, amnesty international puts the number at 324, there are numbers that contest that going up to 1,500 people, so you have the use of deadly
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force, the use of shutting down the internet, subduing these protests and so if that is precedent, then it doesn't necessarily pose a challenge in terms of the rule of those that are in power in the short term but of course long—term what it shows and what these repeated protests have shown is that iranians also will not be silenced and will not be subdued in the long—term and they will continue to fight for their rights. how big a presence is the morality police on the streets of all towns and cities surrounding iran, and do they work hand—in—hand with the revolutionary guard, which is usually used to suppress these sort of events? the morality police have been around for decades. they tried to enforce certain rules, especially rules related to women's attire but different administrations, different presidential administrations will have different levels of enforcement, so one of the concerns with the raisi
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administration when it was coming in, is that this is an ultra—conservative hardline administration, they have shown that they are increasing restrictions, the crackdown on dissent across the spectrum of iranian society, we saw that with arrests of artists and filmmakers like the one just a few months ago so the increased restrictions and enforcement of draconian rules on mandatory and compulsory hijab is another layer of the expanded restrictions we are seeing under this administration giving a green light to the morality police to act with more force. but this and the demonstrations now combined with the economic problems the country is going through, also an ailing spiritual leader, just looking at the combination of all of these factors now, itjust takes me back to this sense that a change is coming or the regime is blindsided by events now?
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it is understandable to create parallels between now and things that we saw in 2019 and 2009, going back all the way to the revolution, of course but the circumstances are not quite the same and so i am hesitant to make predictions. what we can say is there's definitely many factors playing into pressures on the iranian state and those pressures, how they deal with those pressure is a question that we have to see unfold. external pressures that create economic issues within the country are also another factor to include in that but what we know as a fact is that this government will use whatever force is necessary to maintain its own survival and does not regard the life of its citizens but what we have also seen on the flipside from the iranian side, from the iranian people is that they will continue to resist. it's one of the most iconic symbols in the world,
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and soon it will celebrate its centenary. the hollywood sign has been a hallmark of glamour and glitz since the early 1920s, and the trust that looks after it is making sure it looks its best before its big birthday, as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. in this city, of all cities, the occasional facelift is practically mandatory. they repaint the hollywood sign every ten years or so but this time it's a little bit different. a very special day is on the horizon, the sign�*s centenary and that requires some very special effort. people don't realise that when you are standing at the sign, each letter�*s 45 feet high, the length of each letter but they are also about 10—15 feet off the ground. not all the letters but on average. so some of these guys are up 50 to 60 feet up in the air. when it first went up in 1923,
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the sign said hollywoodland. it was an advertisement for a nearby property development. eventually it lost four letters but gained a place as the symbol of a city associated with movie stars and sex appeal. painting a ginormous sign, more than 100 metres line from h to d is no easy task but no—one here is complaining. i told my whole family, i'm pretty sure i'm going to be on tv and i'm pretty excited and speechless, honestly. that they gave me this opportunity to work in this crazy hollywood sign, it's amazing. this particular hollywood makeover is expected to last until the middle of november, just in time for the birthday celebrations next year. and just so you know, apparently the w is the hardest letter to paint. tim allman, bbc news.
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and on that note, from me and the team, goodbye. hello there, we had a real mixture of weather around on thursday. it was pleasantly warm across south—eastern areas. temperatures in hampshire and cambridgeshire reached 21 celsius, 70 fahrenheit. temperatures are going to be dropping over the next few days. it looks like it's going to turn particularly cold at night—time. we have the cooler air moving down from the north—west, it follows this band of cloud here that brought a lot of rain into cumbria. that rain is now sliding its way down towards the south—east
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and east anglia where we start the day with some rain. elsewhere, further north, clearer skies means it's going to be a much colder start here, particularly in eastern scotland and north east england where we will start with some sunshine. it looks like it's going to be quite a cloudy day across east anglia and the south—east, some rain from time to time. it should cheer up in the midlands and much of england and wales away from the south—east will be dry with some sunshine, scattering of showers come in on the north—westerly breeze to scotland and northern ireland. and temperatures may struggle to around 15 to 16 degrees. still sitting at 18 or 19 though with that cloudy damp weather towards the south east on that weather front there, which is only very slowly moving away. around this area of high pressure, we're going to drawn down that northerly breeze bringing in that cooler air and may be bringing
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in a scattering of showers this time on saturday for central and eastern parts of england. further west likely to be drier and it should be a dry day with some decent amount of sunshine for scotland and northern ireland. still the threat of a little rain in the far south—east of england but should be moving away and typical temperatures will be around 16 degrees or so on saturday afternoon. saturday night though could be quite cold around this area of high pressure. we've got that chilly air, never really establishes itself because this is going to be quite a feature of the weather as we head through the latter part of the weekend and into the start of next week. a lot of dry weather to come on sunday but with that approaching deep low in scotland and northern ireland, the winds will be picking up and in the northwest we'll see some outbreaks of rain, sunny spells elsewhere, mind you. still on the cool side after quite a cold start, the temperatures around 15 or 16 degrees. i showed you that deep area of low pressure on the weather front that's going to be sliding southwards overnight and on monday it'll bring a spell of rain. but following on from that, we'll find the winds turning to distinctly a chilly direction and a much stronger northerly wind will drop
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this is bbc news. the headlines: queues have sprung up along russia's border as men attempt to leave the country to avoid a military call—up for the war in ukraine. president putin announced a partial military mobilisation on wednesday. 300,000 russian reservists have been called up. protests have led to more than 1,000 people reportedly arrested. police in iceland say they've arrested four people in connection with what they believe to have been preparations for the first ever terrorist attack on the island.
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