this is bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: giorgia meloni is to become italy's next prime minister — its first far—right leader since the second world war. donald trump is summoned to testify before the attack on the us capitol. holiday as speculation grows that he'lljoin the race to succeed liz truss as british prime minister. we have a special report on the growing anger inside russia that men with no military experience are being called up to fight on the front line. translation: when mobilisation was being discussed, _ i agreed with my family that,

if such a situation arose, i would refuse, even if they sent me to prison. in central mexico, emergency services tackle a huge blaze triggered by a fuel tanker crashing into a railway overpass. screams. and the japanese cartoon characters being recreated for the stage by the royal shakespeare company, breaking box office records in the process. welcome to our viewers on pbs in the united states and around the world. the leader of the far—right brothers of italy party giorgia meloni has been invited by the country's president to form a government after winning elections last month. she will be italy's first ever female pm and her cabinet will be sworn in on saturday. tom brada has this report.

delivered to the presidential palace in a classic italian car. giorgia meloni has now formally accepted the job of forming italy's next government and, in doing so, she will preside over the country's most right—wing administration since the second world war. translation: we agreed about the need to give - the country a new government as soon as possible because we have many urgent issues to tackle at both national and international level. league party, led by matteo salvini, as well as forza italia, led by former prime minister silvio berlusconi, and there are concerns about how they will legislate on a range of social issues from abortion to lgbt rights.

what might change is what happens on the domestic kind of level, especially for what concerns issues such as migration and also the rights of minority groups. ms meloni's ascent is a remarkable moment for italy, one of the founding members of the eu and the bloc�*s third—largest economy. but when it comes to foreign policy, some feel her far—right credentials are somewhat overstated. meloni made it very clear that italy is with the eu in nature and has also strongly rejected pro—putin and pro—russia positions. on russia, there is one coalition partner long used to hogging the limelight who is causing ms meloni a painful headache. 86—year—old silvio berlusconi has been at the centre a furious row over two leaked recordings. in them, he blamed ukraine for starting the current war

and claimed president putin considers him number one among his five best friends. for now, ms meloni and her allies are putting on a united front. she won power partly thanks to ambitious pledges to rebuild italy's economy and bring down energy costs but to achieve those goals, she'll first to keep the peace in her own political ranks. tom brada, bbc news. for more on this, i'm joined now by the bbc�*s stefano fasano. just remind us how did we get to this point? it just remind us how did we get to this point?— to this point? it was not easy at all for _ to this point? it was not easy at all for giorgia _ to this point? it was not easy at all for giorgia meloni - to this point? it was not easy at all for giorgia meloni to i at all for giorgia meloni to form the government, even if her coalition got more than 44% of votes in the elections last month. most of the problems came actually from silvio berlusconi, the former pm, his party forza italia. he wanted

to get more ministries in the government at the start and thenit government at the start and then it came out allegedly that he had some contact with vladimir putin, who apparently sent him 20 boxes of vodka and a very sweet letter, according to bella stoney. this created some tensions, especially considering that giorgia meloni has always been pro— ukraine and strongly in favour of the western position of italy in the western light.- western position of italy in the western light. there has been lots — the western light. there has been lots of _ the western light. there has been lots of attention - the western light. there has been lots of attention on - the western light. there has i been lots of attention on what is happening in italy, especially from the european neighbours. especially from the european neighbours-_ especially from the european neiuhbours. . ., ., ., neighbours. what international repercussions _ neighbours. what international repercussions here? _ neighbours. what international repercussions here? it's - repercussions here? it's interesting because brothers of italy is the biggest party in the coalition and is a member of the ep p, the european popular party, the same party where the president of the european coalition —— parliament ursula von der leyen comes from. i have also

received $90 billion from the eu as part of the resilience plan and ms meloni has always said she is in favour of supporting ukraine against russia so it is not likely we will see a change in that direction but it is likely we will see a change more likely in the internal policy side. some senators, some from forza italia, have proposed a law to change for instance the foetus legal status and making it more complicated for women to get an abortion if the law is approved and giorgia meloni herself has said in a couple of occasions of being against the lgbt lobby, whatever that means, and being against gender theory so thatis being against gender theory so that is where we are at the moment. that is where we are at the moment-— that is where we are at the moment. ,, ., ., . ~' , ., the us house committee investigating last year's attack on the capitol building in washington, dc has ordered former president donald trump to testify under oath. the committee says its evidence shows mr trump played a central

role in an orchestrated effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports. the capitol building under siege. january six last year, when supported —— supporters of donald trump tried to stop congress certifying joe biden�*s victory in the 2020 election. according to the house committee, the former president was in the thick of orchestrating what happened and acted illegally to obstruct the peaceful transition of power. now, its members want to hear directly from mr trump and see any relevant documents in his possession. he has until november 4 to provide them, and then appear in person to answer questions on or about the 14th of next month. the former president's lawyers say they would respond as appropriate to what they called "this unprecedented action".

donald trump could decide to go along with the request, appeal it in court or refusing to comply, just like his former strategist, steve bannon — found guilty of contempt of congress and now sentenced to four months injail for his refusal to do as the committee asked. he is going to appeal. i have got a great legal team, there will be multiple areas of appeal but, as that sign says right there, can we have the vote sign? on november eight... ..on november eight... man yells. regime and, quite frankly, quite frankly that nancy pelosi and the entire committee, and we know which way that is going. if the mid—term elections on november eight do go against the democrats with the republicans taking control of the house of

representatives, the committee investigating the attack on congress will be disbanded. time is not on their side and donald trump could try to run out the clock through protracted legal action to avoid having to testify. peter bowes, bbc news. in a few days' time, the uk will have a new prime minister following the resignation of liz truss on thursday. penny mordaunt, the leader of the house of commons, is the first conservative mp to say she wants the job. no other mp has yet declared an interest in being a candidate, but both borisjohnson and the former chancellor rishi sunak have had nominations from other mps. sources have told the bbc that rishi sunak has received the backing of 100 mps to become conservative leader. mrjohnson left office just over six weeks ago, forced out after a series of crises and scandals. whoever becomes the next conservative leader also becomes the next british prime minister. but opposition parties are calling for a general election. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake has the latest details on who might be might be standing.

the rishi sunak campaign are claiming to have the support of 100 conservative mps. that's a very important number because the bar has been set very high for people to formally enter this contest. they will need 100 nominations from conservative mps to get on the ballot in the first place. although rishi sunak, who, of course, finished behind liz truss in the race to replace borisjohnson, has not formally declared his candidacy. it seems to be a case of when, not if, he decides to. and he seems to be the frontrunner among conservative mps. borisjohnson, the other big name who resigned as prime ministerjust a few months ago, is now being talked up by his supporters to make a possible comeback. we can report tonight that he has boarded a flight back to london from the dominican republic, where he was on holiday with his family. he's due back in london tomorrow morning, and we are

told by his supporters that he is up for it. whether he will end up standing and entering the contest, we wait to find out. and then, there is penny mordaunt, the leader of the house of commons. she has held other cabinet jobs as well. but she is the only one to publicly declare her candidacy, tweeting earlier on today that she wanted to unite the party and deliver on their pledges to the electorate and win the next general election. an iranian climber who apologised for competing abroad without a headscarf was forced to make the apology, a source has told bbc persian. elnaz rekabi broke iran's strict dress code at the contest in south korea, but later said her headscarf had fallen off "inadvertently". but according to the bbc�*s source, authorities had threatened to take her family's property if she did not make that statement. rana rahimpour, from bbc persian, gave me more details. a source has told us that elnaz rekabi was threatened,

that her family property — that was worth over $350,000 — would have been taken away. she had to sign a cheque before going to seoulfor the competition and she had been given — she was forced to give power of attorney to iranian officials to make sure that she was going to return to the country. so, we've always suspected that she was under a lot of pressure but in the recent hours, she's posted a piece of poetry on her social media and she has thanked people for their support, and in the last line, she says that "the road ahead is going to have obstacles, "which can't be overcome without your support," which means that she probably senses that road ahead is not going to be very easy. meanwhile, on a separate matter, protests are continuing in iran following the death several weeks ago of mahsa amini? they are. so, yesterday was exactly five weeks since the death of mahsa amini, a 22—year—old

iranian kurdish woman, and the pictures that you are seeing are from the city of zahedan, south—east of iran, where many people went on a protest after friday prayer and they were chanting, "death to the dictator". so, we are now looking at five weeks of anti—government protests in the country. an association of teachers union has called for a two—day strike starting from today, the truck driver association has also called for a strike. we know that in many cities at night—time, people go on their rooftops and their balconies, and they're chanting, "death to the dictator" and, more importantly, many iranians are now rushing to berlin to hold what is expected to be a large anti—government protest — thousands of people are planning to head there and we are expecting probably one of the largest anti—iranian government protests in europe to be held later today. there's growing anger in russia over the forced mobilisation of men to fight in the war in ukraine. president putin had said

the call—up was a temporary measure, but the kremlin refuses to say when it will end. as russian forces struggle to hold territory in ukraine, men with no military experience are being sent to the frontline to fight, and often to die. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg reports. this is the picture the kremlin is trying to paint — putin the strongman, the caring commander—in—chief, and russians lining up to do their patriotic duty, mobilised to fight in ukraine. these alleged recruits are well—equipped, but these aren't. for weeks now, mobilised russians have been complaining of a lack of resources and training. these men say they've been given old guns and no helmets or body armour. mobilisation has sparked deep

alarm in russian society. this human rights group is giving advice on what to do if your loved ones are sent to the front line. as you can see, it's packed. the kremlin says that more than 200,000 reservists have been called up to fight. with mobilisation, what is happening in ukraine has suddenly become very real for the russian public. now, the kremlin wants russians to believe that those people who've been drafted into the army are being sent off to defend the motherland. but not everyone here believes that. man speaks russian. the voice belongs to mikhail ashichev. 500 miles from moscow, he told the local military draft office he wasn't going to fight because there was no threat to russia. mikhail insists that if russia truly needed defending, he would rush to volunteer. he considers himself a patriot but he doesn't believe in this war. he won't fight ukraine.

translation: when mobilisation was being discussed, _ i agreed with my family that if such a situation arose, i would refuse, even if they sent me to prison. if i had to, i would choose prison. the state will consider me a criminal if i don't go to fight in this war but i won't be a criminal from the point of view of humanity or myself. after his refusal to fight, mikhail has received some abuse on russian social media but what is interesting is that he's had plenty of support, too, for his decision to take a moral stand. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. police in islamabad used

teargas to disperse imran khan supporters who took to the streets on friday to protest against his disqualification from public office on charges of corrupt practices. mr khan has flatly denied any wrongdoing. wendy urquhart reports. within minutes of the election commission? announcement, the streets of islamabad were heaving with imran khan supporters. when they started burning tires and rubbish, setting fires to bushes and throwing rocks into the road, the police retaliated with tear gas. the protesters are furious at imran khan being banned from public office for allegedly public effice fer allegedly" ~~ , , , ,. selling gifts worth illegally selling gifts worth more than $60,000, which he received from foreign leaders and dignitaries during his time in office. . ., ., , , in office. imran khan has been disqualified — in office. imran khan has been disqualified for _ in office. imran khan has been disqualified for the _ in office. imran khan has been disqualified for the time - disqualified for the time being, now it is up to him to

find ., mm m— has yet to be confirmed but under pakistani �*found guilty of �* aged—guilt off �* aged—guilt of public corruption or misuse of public office can be disqualified for “p office can be disqualified for up to five years. the former pakistani prime minister denies the charges and vowed to challenge them in court. translation: i will fight these fees for all my life. for me this is not politics butjihad. this is the mafia that is sitting in power, of which the election commissioner is also a part. i will fight them as long as i live. part. i will fight them as long asilive. a' , ., part. i will fight them as long as i live. w , ., part. i will fight them as long asilive. , ., , as i live. pakistan has been do ued as i live. pakistan has been dogged by _ as i live. pakistan has been dogged by political - as i live. pakistan has been dogged by political and - dogged by political and economic uncertainty since imran khan was kicked out of office earlier this year. his removal sparked nationwide demonstrations and this latest twist is unlikely to dent his popularity or calm the tension in islamabad.

let's get some of the day's other news. the un security council has voted to impose sanctions on armed gangs that have caused widespread disruption in haiti in recent months. the council singled out the island's most powerful gang leader, jimmy cherizier, who's known as �*barbeque.’ canada has banned new handgun sales in the country's strongest gun control regulation for a0 years. the new measures took effect on friday, and stop people from buying, selling or transferring handguns within canada, and prevents them from bringing newly bought handguns into the country. at least 150 people have been killed during two days of ethnic clashes over land disputes in sudan's southern blue nile state. sudan has seen political unrest and an economic crisis since a military coup last year. blue nile is one of the 18 states in the republic of sudan, and the region is home to around a0 different ethnic groups. our senior africa correspondent anne soy has more on this story.

fighting first broke out last week and then on wednesday and thursday this week it escalated at least 150 people died. the un says as many as 170 but they haven't verified those figures. it has been very difficult for them to get to that area, and aid agencies have been calling for urgent and unimpeded access to the affected area. at the core of the problem is a dispute over land. these are communities that have lived alongside of each other for a very long time but some are herders, others are farmers and therefore there have been conflicts over the use of resources. and the whole of africa is in a prolonged drought, and that just exacerbates the situation. from wednesday on we have been told that hundreds of people

fled from cities and they have been going to neighbouring states and intense gunfire. houses are also set ablaze — one hospital in the area said that they had at least 80 people injured. an oil tanker driver has been arrested in mexico after his vehicle collided with a train. the incident happened in aguascalientes, some three hours north—east of guadalajara in the north of the country. gail maclellan reports. billows of black smoke on the horizon, the first inkling that something horrific had happened in the city of aguascalientes. the situation on the ground was probably much worse than they had even imagined. an oil tanker had smashed into a train, causing a massive explosion and a scorching ball of fire was snaking down the railway line, engulfing everything in its path. the emergency services were deployed quickly, but the blaze was so ferocious the only thing they could do was evacuate those living locally as fast as

possible. more than 100 homes gutted, and were completely gutted, and hundreds of families left homeless. �* ,, �* homeless. translation: the firefighters — homeless. translation: the firefighters arrived _ homeless. translation: the firefighters arrived very - firefighters arrived very quickly and they were able to evacuate around 300 homes. but at least 120 of them were damaged. at least 120 of them were damaged-— at least 120 of them were damaued. . _ damaged. those affected by the fire are being — damaged. those affected by the fire are being put— damaged. those affected by the fire are being put up— damaged. those affected by the fire are being put up in - damaged. those affected by the fire are being put up in local- fire are being put up in local the shelter been set to cater for the remains cars and ie remains cars and buildings remains cars and buildings allmains of cars and buildings all around them a grim reminder of their lucky escape. no—one was injured, and driver 7 driver walked 77 7 driver walked away tanker driver walked away virtually unscathed. but he has arrested amid claims been arrested amid claims that the accident happened because he was trying to cross the tracks before the oncoming train arrived, but didn't make it in time. it's one of japan's greatest cultural exports — the oscar—winning studio ghibli's distinctive animated

feature films have fans across the globe. now, its animated movie my neighbour totoro has been adapted by the royal shakespeare company for the stage. our culture editor katie razzall has this report. it's just an old house. there is no sign of totoro in our sneak preview of this show. the rsc is keeping the mysterious creature, befriended by two children, underwraps. the only puppets on the stage right now are the so—called soot sprites. working with puppets is so much fun. they're so funny and they're so cheeky, a lot of them, and they really do have a life of their own. you're talking about them like they're real people. both: yeah, they are! screams. _ my neighbour totoro has never been staged before but, for more than 30 years, this hand—drawn animation has been one of the most—loved films to have come out of japan's equivalent of disney, the renowned studio ghibli. growls: to-to-ro!

with legions of global fans, there's a lot riding on the new show, not least how to replicate the magical furry totoro. this is our backstage puppet workshop, where we're... puppet designer basil twist, who devised the dementors in the harry potter films, isn't giving much away. so, you're showing me chickens. i want to see totoro. right, well, you'll see chickens for now. we're still keeping totoro under wraps, so that people can find the surprise of him when they come see the show. there are clues from los angeles, where basil created the totoro puppet and others with the company behind the muppets, jim henson, in a real east meets west collaboration. i would keep in touch with the japanese as i went, and they're very specific about totoro's eyes need to — the distance between his eyes and the shape of his head and how that works, because once you come into a three—dimensional world, it's very different than a 2—d world. my neighbour totoro theme plays. what's not different is the music and the man behind it, the celebrated japanese composer who persuaded

the studio to allow this adaptation, showcasing japanese heritage for a new audience. we have our own music, own culture, so this is very important for me. to show the world? yes. you saw the production last night. yes. what did you think? great show, spectacular. so, there is a daunting aspect of bringing something totally new and the adaptation of it being new on the stage. to be bringing this treasure ofjapanese culture - to the stage, yeah, it's been one of the privileges - of my life. we all love the film. i mean, most of us grew up with it. please, get well soon. but will this magical fantasy cast a spell on theatre audiences, as it has on screen? katie razzall, bbc news. that's all from us for now, much more on the bbc news

website, oryou much more on the bbc news website, or you can download the bbc news app. from all of us here in london, thank you for your company and we will see you next time. hello there. friday brought heavy rain forsome, and in areas where we are desperate for it. the heaviest of the rain moving up through dorset across the midlands and, in fact, there was over an inch of rainfall in parts of oxfordshire throughout the day, so some pretty muddy fields starting to develop now. however, eastern england, lots of blue sky and sunshine and temperatures peaked at 20 degrees. it was a beautiful opportunity for getting out and enjoying some of the gorgeous autumn colour that we have. the start of the weekend quite promising with this little bump of high pressure but the second half of the weekend sees this low developing, moving in and bringing further outbreaks of rain. once again, the winds will become a feature but we keep the wind direction from a southerly, so that milder flow stays with us.

those temperatures are widely going to sit in the mid to high teens over the next few days. so on saturday, we'll have some outbreaks of showery rain through northern ireland, pushing out of northern england into southern scotland and weakening just a touch. at the same time, we'll start to see showers, some of them heavy and thundery, gathering into the south—west. but sandwiched in between the two, that's where the best of the sunshine is likely to be, and temperatures again peaking at 18—19 degrees with that sunshine. it'll feel very pleasant. into sunday — here's that low, then, starting to bring some heavy, thundery downpours up across the country. a spell of wet weather through the morning which will pretty much start to grind to a halt across central scotland into the afternoon. brightening up with sharper showers behind and still pretty warm with it, so a day of contrasts, i suspect, once again into sunday afternoon. now, as we move into the beginning of the week, that frontal system will start to push through the far north of scotland but we're still going to keep the threat of further fronts moving in from the west as we go through the week ahead. so on monday, we've got some wet weather clearing scotland. sunny spells and scattered

showers behind. still the risk that some of those showers could be thundery, chiefly out to the west. the best of the drier weather once again remains for eastern england. and again, we're going to see those temperatures into the high teens — above where they should be for this time of year. and that's going to be the trend as we go through the week ahead. it stays relatively mild but we've got more showers to come towards the end of the working week. that's it. whatever you're doing, have a lovely weekend.

this is bbc news. the headlines: italy's far right leader georgia meloni has accepted an offer from the country's president to form a new government after winning last month's election. she's due to be formally sworn in, as leader of the country's most right—wing administration since world war ii. the former us president donald trump has been summoned to testify before the congressional committee investigating the january 6th riot at the us capitol. the committee says it has evidence that mr trump played a central role in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. borisjohnson is heading back to london from a caribbean holiday as speculation grows that he willjoin the race to succeed liz truss as british prime minister. an increasing number

of conservatives say they want to see mrjohnson secure a second period at number 10 downing street.