this is bbc news. i'm samantha simmonds and these are the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world... voting is under way in italy's general election with opinion polls suggesting victory for the far right which would usher in the country's most right—wing government since world war two. these are live pictures of rome as people vote in an election triggered by party infighting that brought down prime minister mario draghi's broad national unity government injuly. in the uk, the labour party pledges to boost the economy and create jobs through investment in green energy with plans of making the electricity network carbon—free by 2030. there are reports of further violence between anti—government protesters and police in iran as 35 people are killed and hundreds more are arrested following the death

of a young woman in police custody. thousands queue at the georgian border to leave russia as president zelensky accuses vladimir putin of sending russian conscripts to their death in ukraine by forcing them to fight in the war. a british man freed after being held by russian—backed forces in ukraine describes how he was stabbed by a russian officer and thought he was going to die in captivity. and...from a dead rat to an exploding martini glass... the bbc gets rare access into the cia's secret museum where thousands of exhibits and artefacts mark the agency's 75—year history. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. voting is under way in italy's general election. polling stations

opened two hours ago. opinion polls taken during the campain suggest the country will get its first—ever female prime minister, and its first far right leader since mussolini, in giorgia meloni. a win for her party would be expected to see the return of silvio berlusconi and matteo salvini to government, two men who've had ties to russia's president putin. our rome correspondent, mark lowen, reports: there are some things that italians agree on — they've got the best coffee and food — and many they don't. politics is one of them, and it's at the fore today in a crunch election. it was sparked injuly when the prime minister mario draghi lost the support of his coalition partners. so—called super mario had stabilised this politically volatile country amidst the covid pandemic and war in ukraine. giorgia meloni's far—right brothers of italy has led the polls. she wants tax cuts, a naval blockade

of libya to stop migrant boats, and is hard—line on lgbt rights. her party has neo—fascist roots but she vehemently rejects the label. she is in coalition with the ultranationalist league of matteo salvini and the ex—prime minister silvio berlusconi, known as much for his bunga bunga sex parties as his centre—right politics. fighting them is enrico letta, pro—europe and pro—civil rights, but he failed to form a broad centre—left coalition. he fell out with the once anti—establishment five star movement that came top last time, but has plummeted. it's hoping its social welfare policies will save it now. so, how will the poll affect the war in ukraine? mario draghi has been a big supporter of kyiv and while giorgia meloni backs that, her coalition partners have had close ties with vladimir putin, and salvini 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 its 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 cross live to our europe correspondentjessica parker who's in verona in northern italy. what are people they are saying to you about their concerns going into this election?— this election? there's quite a lot of wide-ranging _ this election? there's quite a lot of wide-ranging concerns - this election? there's quite a lot of wide-ranging concerns when i this election? there's quite a lot i of wide-ranging concerns when you of wide—ranging concerns when you talk to people. law and comes up as one that people want to see, governments take control of that. immigration as well, concerns about immigration comes up a lot. tax, a number of people i've spoken to fuel taxes are too high and it interesting the two main coalitions, they left in the right have both been promising a level of tax cuts,

and of course the energy crisis, across europe at the moment, not just in italy although it was very reliant on russian gas, households and businesses are struggling with energy costs and governments are under colossal pressure to alleviate that. that is coming up as a topic here. one of the most striking things being in the area in and around verona is that there is a lot of apathy, not many people seem particularly excited for the election, ratherthey particularly excited for the election, rather they seem pretty weary. the british labour party has set out plans to make the uk the first major world economy to generate all of its electricity without using fossil fuels. today is the first full day of the party's conference and leader sir keir starmer will argue that their plan would cut energy bills, help tackle the climate crisis and create hundreds of thousands of jobs. 0ur political correspondent ione wells reports from liverpool

afairer, greenerfuture. that's the message labour want to sell here in liverpool. but what does that look like in practice? the party says if it was in power, it would make the uk's electricity system carbon—free by 2030, five years earlier than what the government has pledged. applause. the labour leader will announce they'd achieve this by quadrupling our supply of offshore wind, tripling solar power and doubling onshore wind. and also expanding nuclear, hydrogen and tidal power. the government has also announced its intention to ramp up nuclear and renewable energy, but sources close to the labour leader think they can put clear blue water between them and the tories by putting green energyjobs front and centre of their plans to grow the economy. the conservatives have said they'll do this by cutting taxes,

but they'll also ramp up uk oil and gas production by ending the ban on fracking. # my city, my people, my heart! that's the big pitch from the labour leadership, but others here are pushing for other policies too. striking workers here at liverpool docks are among those up and down the country calling for their pay to go up in line with inflation. that's not currently labour policy, nor are labour shadow ministers meant to appear on picket lines like this. today, delegates here will vote on whether to put this policy to a vote among members here. it's something the left of the party, like allies of the former leader jeremy corbyn, support. keir starmer! keir starmer, though, will be keen to argue his party is emerging from its own internal divisions, and instead is drawing a clear dividing line between labour and the tories on the economy. ione wells, bbc news, liverpool. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake in in liverpool for the labour party conference. it was an unusual start to the

labour party conference here this morning, when a rendition of the national anthem was sung and sought keir starmer took to the platform in the main conference hall here to pay tribute to her majesty the queen, and in doing that he said her record of service and duty to the united kingdom echoed labour values and called on those in the hall to turn up called on those in the hall to turn up their collars and face the storm evoking the spirit of duty and of service that her majesty queen elizabeth said was show into the country. the decision to sing the national anthem to openly replacement conference was not universally popular, not something everybody here thought necessarily was a good idea or was needed, but one verse was sung after a minute's silence, which was observed in the hall without incident a short time ago.

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sympathise necessarily with that sort of positioning of the party and that sort of decision to sing the national anthem don't have the influence they perhaps once dead, but now the conference will move onto the business of the day when it state ska? sissésfsrhtis {3:73—ng * s. second state $59? iffsésfsrhhs issflf�*; s. seco nd a nd government. labour dividing particularly on tax, particularly on tax, particule this in tax, part asked sin would the top iffiiiiiiz 2? xx... 2:2: laura �*this aura

are earning hundreds of thousands of pounds is the right choice when our economy is struggling the way it is, working people are struggling in the way they are and our public services are struggling, so it is the wrong choice. would you go further? we would reverse the decision they have made on friday, be absolutely clear about that. the effect of that decision was, if you are earning £1 million, you have got £55,000 in tax cuts as a result of that decision on friday. that is more than enough to employ a nurse. i don't think many people watching this programme will say that that is fair and that is the way to grow our country. it is hugely risky and hugely

divisive, and i would reverse it. some are seeing it as a gift, but it is a challenge also fought sir keir starmer and the labour party to come forward perhaps more quickly than they might have done with policies and positions to set themselves apart from the stress and her government, who of course have changed direction from her predecessor quite starkly. he also talks about pressure from some in the party that we will see over the next couple of days to throw the labour party's weight mine workers going out on strike, backed by trade unions, public sector workers over pay, and also to back pay writers for public sector workers in line with inflation. he stopped short of doing that and said in defence of his position that senior labour figures should not be out on the picket line and striking workers and the best thing he could do in support of them was to get labour into power. we have also heard from the chancellor defending going into more detail about the thinking behind those sweeping tax cuts he unveiled in the house of commons on

friday and in particular the reaction from the markets and the fall in the value of a pound in the immediate aftermath. 0ur viewers will have seen very dramatically what happened in response to your statement on friday directly. what happens if the pound continues to slide like that? you know as chancellor _ of the exchequer i don't comment on market movements. what i'm focused on is growing - the economy and making sure that britain is an attractive place to invest, and so that it is l a competitive global arena, . and we have to show that this country is open for business . and that we're driving growth, and that's what my friday statement was all about — tacky in liverpool sir keir starmer said this morning there is feeling within the labour party —— back the bill, saying there is a feeling they could win and well win the next

election. but not sounding complacent, saying they will have to fight for every vote. we will save that echoed by delegates and others here in the purple is echoed by delegates and others here in the policy converse days into the next few days and to see what sort of a reception sir keir starmer gets. the focus today on a big announcement around to cut carbon out of electricity production in the uk by 2030, relying solely on nuclear and renewable energy by then. sir keir starmer called that an ambition this morning. the keynote speech today, the main attraction in the hall is angela rayner, the deputy leader of labour who will get to her feet in around ten minutes. there are reports from several cities in iran of more clashes between anti—government protestors 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. claudia redmond reports. cheering and applause. protesters push back and overwhelm a fire engine that was being used to disperse demonstrations in this town north of tehran. siren wails. it's one of many protests that have ignited in dozens of cities across iran following the death of a young woman in police custody. in another town, protesters are defacing the image of the supreme leader ali khamenei from the walls of the university. yelling. in the capital, demonstrators lit fires, reportedly to act as a barrier against the security forces and to alleviate the effects of tear gas. dozens of protesters have been

killed, and this woman told us what happened to her husband at one demonstration. translation: we went out to protest for our rights and this _ i hope iran becomes free. the protests were triggered by the death in custody of a young iranian kurdish woman, mahsa amini, who'd been detained for not wearing the hijab properly. the police say she suffered from sudden heart failure, but they had reportedly beaten her. herfather says she had no prior health problems. earlier, it was reported that areas of the majority kurdish city oshnavieh, near the border with iraq, had been taken over by demonstrators. authorities say they have regained control of the town.

they accuse kurdish separatists of stirring up unrest in iran and say they have launched a cross—border artillery attack on militant bases in the kurdish region of northern iraq. iran has rarely seen widespread protest like this over a civil rights issue, but what started as a movement against mandatory hijabs and for equality between the sexes has escalated to calls for regime change, and women are leading the way. claudia redmond, bbc news. ukraine's president volodomyr zelensky has accused russia's vladimir putin of sending conscripts to their death in ukraine. he made the comment as huge queues were building up at russia's borders, created by people trying to leave the country to avoid being called up to fight. there are fears that russia might close its border crossings into georgia, kazakhstan, finland and mongolia, although the kremlin says reports of an exodus are exaggerated.

a british man freed this week after being held by russian—backed forces in ukraine has said he was treated worse than a dog and thought he could be killed in captivity. speaking to the sun on sunday, aiden aslin, who's now back in the uk, described how he was stabbed by a russian officer. he was one of five britons freed as part of a prisoner exchange between russia and ukraine. simon jones has more. we are now out of the danger zone... the fight that took aiden aslin to his freedom after months in captivity, where he said he was treated worse than a dog. in my cell, it was a two—man cell, but there it was for four people, because we had to sleep on the same bed, on a mat that was infested with lice. we had to sing the russian national anthem every morning, and if you didn't sing it, you'd get punished, you'd be beaten or they would punish you some way or another. aiden aslin moved to ukraine four years ago and had joined

the ukrainian armed forces. if you're watching this it means we have surrendered. but his unit was forced to surrender in april. he was held with other prisoners by russian—backed separatists. in donetsk, he said an interrogation by a russian officer almost cost him his life. he got down on his knees, he was smoking a cigarette, and he was like, "do you know who i am?" i was like, "no." he said, "i'm your death," basically, in russian. i saw myself, i'd been stabbed, so i knew there was a very high possibility i was about to be killed. now freed in a deal brokered by saudi arabia between russia and ukraine, aiden aslin says he's amazed to be back home and among people who don't want to hurt him. simon jones, bbc news. the military has been deployed to canada's nova scotia province after tropical storm fiona battered the coastline. hundreds of thousands of people across five provinces have been left without power and officials have warned of severe damage

to critical infrastructure. leana hosea has this report. tropical storm fiona has battered eastern canada, leaving devastation in its wake. houses were washed into the sea, and hundreds of thousands of people are left without power as winds up to 100 mph bring down power lines. emergency teams are already working to clear the roads of the huge amount of debris and fallen trees left in its wake. two women were reportedly swept into the ocean in newfoundland. port aux basques on the south—west tip of newfoundland bore the brunt of the storm. the mayor declared a state of emergency and evacuated parts of the town that were flooded.

prime minister trudeau has pledged federal help to affected communities. as we see the images of houses falling into the sea, the waves destroying property and buildings, ourfirst thought needs to be for people, to make sure that people are staying safe. buildings and even communities can be rebuilt, but we have to make sure that we are keeping everyone safe. storm fiona has already swept through parts of the caribbean, to a post—tropical cyclone, but as prime minister trudeau admits, infrastructure will need to be rebuilt to withstand ever more frequent extreme weather as we see these maybe once—in—a—century storms start to hit every few years. leana hosea, bbc news.

america's spy agency — the cia — has many secrets to keep — but to mark its 75th anniversary it has unusually opened up — a little — about its past, inviting a select few to visit its normally undercover museum. our security correspondent gordon corera was the only international broadcaster to be let in. here's what he saw. one of the most secret organisations in the world offers a rare glimpse inside its operations. to mark its 75th anniversary, the cia opened the doors to its in—house museum. closed to the public, we were among a select few given access. inside this most unusual of museums are exhibits and artifacts marking

the cia's history and its operations right from its foundation soon after world war ii through the cold war and right up to the present day. among the 600 artefacts on display are a dead rat in which messages were hidden, a pigeon with a spy camera attached, and even an exploding martini glass. welcome to the cia... but as the museum's director showed me on a tour, there are also details of more high—profile operations. and how was this model then used by the agency? this model is used to. brief top policymakers, including the president. on display is a scale model of the compound where it was suspected al qaeda leader osama bin laden was hiding in 2011. the level of detail gave president obama the confidence to approve the mission to go after bin laden, who was killed in the raid. so over here we have our newest artefact in the collection. - the most recent exhibit

is another model, this time of the compound in kabul, afghanistan, where bin laden�*s successor, ayman al—zawahiri, was killed thisjuly. some failures, like plots in cuba and iraq's missing weapons of mass destruction do get a mention, although other controversies like over torture are downplayed or absent. the intended audience are primarily cia staff. this museum is notjust - a museum for history's sake. this is an operational museum. we are taking cia officers exploring our history, both good and bad. - we make sure that our officers understand their history- so that they can do a betterjob in the future. _ the story begins... amongst the more bizarre stories are how the cia worked with an eccentric billionaire to come up with a cover story so that a ship could secretly try and recover a wrecked soviet submarine. and injuly of 1974, i the gigantic claw goes to the bottom of the ocean, -

scoops up that submarine and starts bringing it to the surface. that story may now be public, but there are others, officials say, still too classified even for this secret museum. gordon corera, bbc news, cia headquarters. let's cross live to liverpool because the deputy leader of the labour party will shortly make a speech at the labour party conference. jonathan blake is our political correspondent. welcome back. what are we expecting to hear from welcome back. what are we expecting to hearfrom her? welcome back. what are we expecting to hear from her?— to hear from her? angela rayner is the main attraction _ to hear from her? angela rayner is the main attraction in _ to hear from her? angela rayner is the main attraction in the - the main attraction in the conference hall today as you see here in liverpool and she is going to talk about procurement, government contracts to private companies, which she says has seen over the last few years, as a result under the conservative government something of a procurement racket at the expense of british people, and

this will tap into a sense that the conservative government are looking after their own, conservative government are looking aftertheir own, not conservative government are looking after their own, not doing things fairly and properly and handing contracts to companies with links to those in government without proper oversight. i'm sure she will talk to about broader themes, perhaps talking about public sector wages, perhaps talking about tax cuts announced by the government last week and what labour would do in response and perhaps talking about the strikes that are under way at the strikes that are under way at the moment and the pressure on the labour leadership to throw their weight behind those workers out on the picket lines. the conference actually got under way about an hour orso actually got under way about an hour or so ago. unusually with the singing of the national anthem, which are keir starmer announced a few days ago would have been at the start of conference, a minute's silence in memory of the late queen elizabeth ii. it is unusual, not something you would expect to see at the start of a labour party conference, not everyone was

entirely happy with the decision, but reverse of the national anthem was sung, a minutes silence observed without any incidents and that is being seen by those close to the labour leader as the marking of the new year, if you like, and the can be done at the labour party conference without those in the party who don't agree with the monarchy and who don't necessarily think that is an appropriate way to store conference causing any upset or disrupting in any way says something about where the party is now, because that sentiment, if you like something labour can comfortably position itself with while there are some in the party of pay perhaps a minority who think of it as overly nationalistic and unnecessary and we arejeremy corbyn a couple of days ago describing the decision to sing the national anthem is very odd, but it was a little bit strange to observe commentary simply because it was so unusual at the start of the labour party conference

sponsored your sample a tribute to the late queen anne likens her record of that service is monarch to the labour party's core values, but as you say, the focus will very shortly in the hobby on the deputy leader of the labour party, angela rayner, i will top out there but the awarding of government contracts to private companies, will say small and medium—sized businesses should take priority over big multinational companies, and here she is. i think she still is— companies, and here she is. i think she still is a — companies, and here she is. i think she still is a couple _ companies, and here she is. i think she still is a couple of— companies, and here she is. i think she still is a couple of minutes - she still is a couple of minutes away, slightly delayed. i was interested to hear andy burnham, the mayor of manchester city on an interview earlier today that he says an election could be a year or two away and i guess right now that is really the focus, and pretty labour party, all eyes on the prize. sir keir party, all eyes on the prize. 5 " keir starmer sending very upbeat and optimistic this morning when he was speaking to laura kunz berg on bbc

one from here in liverpool, saying it was a feeling within the party it would win the next general election, saying the party are coming to labour for answers, saying the party are coming to labourfor answers, the big labour for answers, the big challenges labourfor answers, the big challenges the country faces. no doubt those around and feeling upbeat and optimistic about their prospects but challenge them to put forward their policies to voters as we now get closer to that next general election, particularly to set themselves apart from the conservative government, and that is what labour will do over the next few days, we are told, here in liverpool, set out more of their plans, more of the policy to voters, if you choose is when the next election comes, this is what we will do, we heard him say that in response to the income tax changes the government has put in place, labour would reinstate that top rate of income tax for the highest earners, and it would leave in place the reduction in income tax for lowest earners, the basic rate. you wouldn't normally expect an

opposition leader to talk about tax policy this far out from the general election but feeling that the government having done what it would do, having announced what it would do, having announced what it would do, the questions would just keep coming for labour, well what would you do in response miss it was better to clear up the issue now. not everyone agrees, she mentioned andy burnham, the elected mayor of greater manchester earlier today talking about reversing the basic rate cut in income tax. that is not the way the party leadership is going as confirmed by sir keir starmer this morning, clearing up that issue. what he hasn't said is how labour would pay for it, of course, because to you cut the basic rate of income tax you lose many billions of pounds in income from tax revenue for the government, and thatis tax revenue for the government, and that is a shortfall that needs to be made up elsewhere. this government is happy to borrow, will labour do the same? those are detailed questions that will come circular summer's way between now in the next election i'm sure.