this is bbc news. i'm gareth barlow. our top stories: knocking on door. eyewitnesses say armed soldiers are going door to door in occupied parts of ukraine to collect votes for so—called "referendums" onjoining russia. storm fiona strikes canada's atlantic coastline. torrential rain and winds of up to 160km/h cause extensive flooding and mudslides. increasingly violent protests are happening in iran for an eighth day. and italy ushers in polling, that could be led by a female prime minister and a far right leader.

reports from ukraine say armed soldiers have been going door to door in occupied parts of the country to collect votes for self—styled referendums on joining russia. russian state media says door—to—door voting is necessary for security reasons. these are the four areas where voting is being held. they include occupied parts of luhansk and donetsk in the east, and zaporizhzhia and kherson, in the south and cover around 15% of ukraine's territory. the so—called referendums have been widely condemned. president biden described them as a sham and a false pretext to try to illegally annex parts of ukraine. our correspondent, james waterhouse. reports from kyiv. russia's version of their so—called referendums — a free and fair democratic process where ukrainians in kherson decide whether they want tojoin russia.

but, on the same spot today in the city centre, it's deserted. ukrainian officials have posted footage like this. apparently, ballots being taken door—to—door with the support of armed men. on this unverified cctv clip, a man is asked what apartment he's from. "i don't live here." "are you sure?" "yes," he says. he carries on down without looking over his shoulder. we've spoken to several people under russian occupation... outgoing dialling tone. hello. hi, bleep. ..including natalia — not her real name. nice to hear you, too. a producer has voiced her words. what are yourfriends and family thinking about this? do they want to go and vote?

translation: all of my friends are against the referendum - because we're sure that the referendum will be rigged. we don't understand why we should answer the question that is written on the ballots. we don't want to be part of russia. driven by losses on the battlefield and growing criticisms back home, the kremlin wants to legitimise its presence in ukraine while threatening an escalation if ukraine keeps pushing back. this isn't about democracy. it's a move straight out of the russian playbook. the result will be what russia needs it to be, and ukraine is calling on the world to see right through it. james waterhouse, bbc news, in kyiv. one kherson resident has been telling the bbc about the situation there. he says it is tense and he's afraid to go outside. i saw some reports, or saw information on various channels and the social media that russian soldiers are working and knocking on the doors.

they are already working in the kherson, but quite plenty reports coming from the villages as well, and the reports are varying from village to village. some of them, they are not so rude but in some villages, if people refuse to vote, they are threatened that they have to leave their homes within 2a hours, otherwise they will face bitter consequences. nobody has knocked at my door and i will not explain how, but i made everything possible so nobody will reach my door. so, i plan to continue staying here but my plans may change at any moment. at any moment — everything depends on the situation. everything is changing every day. human rights groups say more than 700 people have been arrested at anti—war demonstrations across russia since reservists were called up to fight in ukraine.

this video footage has emerged which appears to show a fight in the russian city of omsk between men drafted to the army and local police. the footage appears to show russian police trying to force the men onto buses, according to the reuters news agency journalist who shared the video. president putin has announced a call—up of around 300,000 russians who have done compulsory military service. the video, which has been attributed to the omsk civil association, has not been verified by the bbc. well, for the past five days, russian civilians have queued for hours to cross the border into neighbouring countries, and avoid the military call—up to fight in ukraine. long queues of cars have formed at a number of crossings. many are scared russia might close its borders, such as crossings into georgia, kazakhstan, finland and mongolia, although the kremlin says reports of an exodus are exaggerated. the bbc has been speaking to one russian driver, who wished to remain anonymous, as he queued to get into georgia.

iama i am a musician. i am a guitar player. i want to take all of my this case, i took my car and went to the border of georgia and russia. i guess there will be around ten or 15 hours in future at the border. i have two kilometres to go to the border and it is stuck. i have some food and water with me in my car. there is a toilet. as we know, all people at the border now, they came across it. so it is not a problem, for now. many people herejust it. so it is not a problem, for now. many people here just do not want to go to war. i guess it is the main reason that we

are here. we don't speak about the war in this queue. we speak about the border. i can see numbers, original numbers, we can see almost any of our region numbers in the cars. i guess nobody can make a full view of ukraine, at least from outside, from our country. our people do not know correct information and about the situation in ukraine. also, what i can say about people that i have been speaking with, they are simple people. they do not want to go to war. as me, i do not want to fight. i would know many people from ukraine. it is my friends, it is my part family. i do not want to fight, of course. there are reports from

several cities in iran of more clashes between anti—government protesters and the police, including in the capital, tehran. police say they've arrested more than 700 protesters at anti—government demonstrations and officials say 35 people have been killed. this follows the death of 22—year—old mahsa amini who was detained for allegedly breaking rules on wearing the hijab and died in hospital on friday, after spending three days in a coma. well i'm joined now by hadi nili from bbc persian to discuss this further. what are the protests like currently? what level of control is there in iran. below you can see the protests are still going on in the cities including the capital, tehran. and this is the full show of force by the iranian regime and the security apparatus. we have seen that on video taken by citizens, and sent to me at the busy purchaser. it sent to me at the busy purchaser.— sent to me at the busy urchaser. , ., , ., . , purchaser. it shows forces shooting _ purchaser. it shows forces shooting directly - purchaser. it shows forces shooting directly at - purchaser. it shows forces

shooting directly at the i purchaser. it shows forces . shooting directly at the crowd and in some instances, beating protesters with their hands. in very fatal ways and despite all of these there is very limited access or no access to internet at night time, as an effort to curb protests by the government. we can still see the protests are going on in tehran and other cities, towns and cities we can say. and there are still chance against there are still chance against the top leader himself, ali khamenei, which is quite extraordinary because you are not allowed to call him by his only name, you have to call him by his official name, supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei, but people a chanting and asking for his death. we can see that there _ asking for his death. we can see that there are _

asking for his death. we can | see that there are significant numbers and criticism against the ayatollah. is there any support for this protests? they are seeing _ support for this protests? they are seeing support _ support for this protests? they are seeing support from - support for this protests? tie: are seeing support from some prominent figures, culturaland prominent figures, cultural and also some prominent figures, culturaland also some soccer players, football players, celebrities, we can say, that are voicing support for the protests or at least are calling for some dialogue between the people and government, which could be seen as something not much near all not much consent, given the way the protesters are being shot at. one of the most significant and prominent figures who voiced support for the protests was the two time oscar award winner filmmaker and was the two time oscar award winnerfilmmaker and he posted on instagram a two minute clip

calling for solidarity calling for solidarity for intellectuals across the world. i invite all artists, intellectuals, from all around the world, from all countries, anyone — the world, from all countries, anyone who believes that human dignity— anyone who believes that human dignity and freedom to stand in solidarity— dignity and freedom to stand in solidarity with the powerful and brave women and men iran. this is their responsibility, human responsibility. what's the difference between these protests and the ones we saw in 2019? how does this compare? we can see a more _ how does this compare? we can see a more diverse _ how does this compare? we can see a more diverse tomographyl see a more diverse tomography in these protest, more of a presence of women up in the front. there are videos of women going on top of the police cars and chanting against the regime, against the leader, against the police. this is not something we have

seenin this is not something we have seen in iran that much. we can seen in iran that much. we can see the presence of teenagers or very young people who are not necessarily organised or identifying themselves with specific leaders, or ideologies, but they are basically mostly calling for more room and freedoms to have that the islamic government in iran usually denies, or at least does not validate. we can see the example of mahsa amini, the 22—year—old woman he died under custody after being detained for not adhering to the strict dress code, the hijab, is an example to these young iranians, calling for more freedoms and they are voicing their opposition that this cannot happen under this

regime. this cannot happen under this reaime. ., ~ ,, this cannot happen under this reaime. ., ~ i. this cannot happen under this reaime. ., ~ . ., regime. thank you so much for our regime. thank you so much for your comments. _ more than half a million people in eastern canada are without power as the region continues to be battered by a huge storm. these pictures show the town of channel port aux basques. storm fiona brought winds of nearly i60km/h, tearing down powerlines and trees. authorities have issued severe weather warnings and the prime minister, justin trudeau, has promised to send help to the affected regions. hurricane fiona is currently having a terrible impact across atlantic canada and eastern quebec. we're seeing devastating images coming out of port aux basques. pei has experienced storm damage like they've never seen. cape breton is being hit hard, too, as is quebec. there've been evacuation orders issued. hundreds of thousands of people are without power. there are reports of roads washed out and homes destroyed. we've all seen the images.

this is a very powerful and dangerous storm. a little earlier i spoke to dave harvey from the newfoundland and labrador salvation army and he gave me this update on port aux basques, which was one of the worst hit areas. at the moment, the wind has subsided somewhat. it's still raining. there is still quite a breeze that's happening here. probably anywhere from 80 to 100 kilometres per hour, so it's not as bad as it was last night and earlier this morning. the storm surge has settled back so it makes it a lot easier to see what's going on. we're just looking at these images, dave, of the impact of the storm. what is the impact on the ground with regards to damage there? right now it's still being assessed because it is still very early into the situation. just walking by and looking at it there, there is a lot of debris.

there are a lot of houses that have been washed out, a number of stages and stores that are close to the waterfront that have been destroyed, and a lot of personal property has been lost, so right now it is hard to navigate to see what the extent of what it actually is, but i'm sure that in the next day or two we will have the opportunity to do that. from your perspective for the salvation army, what are you doing on the ground at the moment, what is situation for you guys? we opened up our warming centre this morning. folks could come and have a breakfast and dinner, and then obviously lunch or supper later this evening. we have a couple of folks staying at our facility and we are basically now set up in a high school here, which is basically now the new shelter centre, and we'll be providing the meals for the folks in the next days that lie ahead. when we think of hurricanes we think of the caribbean

or the eastern seaboard of the us, not canada and newfoundland, have we seen this before? what is the sense of scale here? according to the conversations we have had with the folks who have been in this community for a long time, most of a lot of them for all of their lives, between 70 and 80 years a lot of them, they have not seen anything like this before. the wind is not a big issue here. it's always, you know, during the winter months particularly we have 80—120—140 winds, but we don't have storm surges, and this is the first time that this has ever happened that a lot of folks can recall. they never expected this to be like it was. it was kind of like, "it's a lot of wind that's coming, we're used to that, we can handle it." but we got a real surprise this morning.

voting has begun in italy's general election where polls suggest the country will get its first—ever female prime minister, and its first—right wing leader since muscolini, in giorgia meloni. here's our rome correspondent mark lowen with this guide to the election. there are some things italians agree on and other things they don't, politics being one of them. it was sparked injuly when the minister mario draghi lost the support of his coalition partners. he had stabilised this country during the endemic in the war in ukraine. georgia maloney�*s far—right brothers of italy has led the polls. if you want tax cuts, a naval blockade of libya to stop migrant boats and her party has neofascist roots but she vehemently reject the label. she is in coalition with the ultranationalist league and the ultra nationalist league and

the ultranationalist league and the ex— prime minister, known as much for his sex parties as his centre—right politics. fighting them is this candidate, pro— civil rights but failed to form a broad centre—left coalition. he fell out with the once antiestablishment 5—star movement that came top last time but has planted stop its hoping it's a social welfare policies will save it now. so how will it affect the war in ukraine? mario draghi has been a big supporter of kyiv and while georgia moloney backs that partners have had close ties with vladimir putin and sylvie he has even suggested dropping sanctions on moscow due to the energy crisis. so this election matters, both here with italy perhaps about to elect its first woman prime minister and first far—right leader since mussolini and abroad with implications for a relationship with europe. but this country has had almost 70

governments since the second world war so we mightjust be back here again next year. let's get some of the day's other news. north korea has fired a single, short—range ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast. the missile reached an estimated maximum altitude of 50 kilometres, before falling outside of japanese territorial waters. it's the first such test sincejune and comes after a us aircraft carrier arrived in south korea to take part in joint naval exercises. the us government has criticised as catastrophic the reintroduction in arizona, of a nineteenth century law which bans almost all abortions. the white house press secretary said the decision had set back women in the state, by more than a hundred years. the international recording artist, �*bad bunny', has released a new music video from his latest album. the clip isn'tjust a video to accompany his hit reggae—ton track. it's also a viral documentary about the issues facing the artist's native puerto rico. released just hours before hurricane fiona struck, it's already racked

up millions of views. ben derico has the story. # puerto rico, esta bien, cabron...# this is bad bunny, one of the world's most popular musicians. on spotify alone, he has over 44 billion streams. he's just released his latest music video for his song el apagon, but it's not your usual video clip. kacho lopez is the video's director. it was an idea, it was a bad bunny idea. they called and said, "how do we turn a music video "into a documentary?" not your usual ask, but he and his team found a way. after three minutes of music, the video transitions into a 20—minute repor about some of the island's most pressing issues, like blackouts, corruption and american influence. you know, it's kind of like a trojan horse in that it uses bad bunny's popularity and his platform to get

people that were not looking for a documentary about these issues and having them just come to have fun, come to get entertained by the music, and, all of a sudden, wait, what is he talking about? the documentary is fronted by bianca graulau, a journalist in puerto rico who has gained followers on platforms like tiktok and instagram for her investigative reporting. as the documentary says, "aqui vive gente", people live here. this is notjust your playground, this is notjust a tourism destination, there are people who have been living here for generations and they're struggling to have a good life. it's been five years since hurricane maria decimated infrastructure across puerto rico. since then, blackouts have become common and, to make things worse, since hurricane fiona passed through, thousands are still without power. so, i think it's that balance that shows the real puerto rico — a place that's beautiful, a place that's rich and amazing,

but also a place that has problems. the video has over six million views and it's given an amazing platform to a documentary that wouldn't usually get anywhere near as many. but will viewers keep watching when bad bunny isn't asking them to? puerto rico and the world will have wait to find out. ben derico, bbc news, san francisco. now for a remarkable tale of perseverance and success — all for a good cause. for many, completing a swim across the english channel is no mean feat, and definitely something worth bragging about. exactly two weeks ago, li ling yung—hryniewiecki did just that. i was very lucky to have the very experienced channel boat pilots to bring me across, so i didn't really have to worry about the navigation too much, although the tides do pursue north—east to south—west. as far as i was concerned when i was swimming

i wasjust swimming in a straight line. in terms of the jellyfish and the cold, they were the biggest nemeses i had, really, but i was very lucky on this day. i have met manyjellyfish in hong kong but it was virtually on that day i just saw a small one, just one, way better than what i was expecting. for the cold it was also a very warm year but i have been training for the last several years for this, so it went smoothly for me. how exactly do you train for something like this and how much does it prepare you for the reality of 12 hours, nearly 13 and the water? i spent the last five years when i was living in london and then moving over to hong kong. i was swimming without a wetsuit, so in a swimsuit through summer in london and also through the winter in the sea in hong kong, and i was doing ice bath as well, so it was possible to train for that. swimming up to 45 kilometres

per week and at the few months leading up to the english channel swim. so i felt that prepared me relatively well. we have seen this image of you after the swim signing the wall in the pub there, and reaching up and putting your name and time up. what is it like when you finish? we have that image therefore our viewers. what is it like, that swim? you spent so many years preparing, so many hours in the water, what is the ending like? it was a huge sense of relief because i had been waiting, you know, a lot of the preparation and mental difficulty is actually in the lead up to the swim. i was waiting for the wind to die down and i wasn't sure if i was going to actually be able to swim the sea, so starting the swim i was just so relieved. the last part of the swim was also very tough, the last one and a half hours because of the tides, and i think i wasjust so,

so relieved when i stepped onto the french sand and i was relieved to do that, i had prepared for it. like you said in your introduction you didn't do this to get into the record books, this is being done for charity? yes, that's right, the swim was done in support forfundraising for splash foundation. they are hong kong charity. i have been volunteering there as a swim coach for the last two and a half or three years. splash provides completely free learn—to—swim lessons for communities like foreign domestic helpers in hong kong, kids with special needs and kids from low income communities. it has been a really rewarding experience. splash is actually launching today the first class in singapore forforeign domestic helpers, so the funds raised will go towards launching the programme here. what a remarkable story and you can see plenty more details on all our stories on our website.

you can also find me on twitter. hello. it's set to get colder for all of us over the next few days, although that said, lowest temperatures likely to be sunday morning. with light winds, we could see a touch of frost in some rural parts to begin the day, a few mist and fog patches, too. they will quickly clear and for most, a chilly start to sunday, but a lovely, sunny one. isolated shower, too, over norfolk and suffolk, the channel islands, and as cloud builds in the north and west through the days, a few showers will crop up. most, though, will be dry. the exception as the winds strengthen will be the north—west of scotland — a band of heavy rain quickly sweeping across these areas by the end of the afternoon. temperatures for all down on what we've seen through recent days, aided and abetted by that strengthening wind. those winds will go north—westerly as we go into sunday evening. that band of rain through the evening, scotland,

northern ireland, pushes through quite quickly, then clear skies and showers, and then that rain spreads its way southwards across much of england and wales, too, into monday morning. now, it's actually going to be very cold on monday morning, but it probably won't feel as chillyjust because of the strength of the wind, and that wind will be a key feature because, as we go into monday and indeed tuesday, it's coming down from the north and north—west, feeding with it the air that's come all the way from the arctic. you've got to remember it's september, so in the sunnier moments, it probably won't feel too bad out there. but when you're in the showers — and there should be plenty around on monday — it will feel distinctly chilly. those showers spreading southwards and eastwards across the country quite rapidly, so ever—changing skies. early rain on the south coast clears to allow a sunnier day, but around the coasts, it's where we'll see some of the strongest of the winds, gusting 40, maybe 50 mph, and that will make it feel colder than these temperatures suggest. just note on the thermometers, only around nine degrees in aberdeen — it will feel even colder than that. a chilly day to come on tuesday as well. a slight shift in wind direction means some eastern areas of england will have a much brighter day. showers in the north and the west,

maybe some longer spells of rain sliding through ireland, clipping south—west wales and in towards cornwall. temperatures here maybe up to around 15—16 degrees, but only around 10—14 degrees for many on tuesday. a chilly night will follow, rain towards that south—west corner will clear and winds will fall lighter for wednesday and thursday as the area of low pressure gradually pulls away. but it's still going to be on the chilly side — temperatures only in the teens and there will be some further rain at times, too, before the winds strengthen later on friday. see you later.