this is bbc news, the headlines... members of the united nations have agreed the basis of an international legally—binding deal to protect the world's oceans. delegates had been in continuous negotitions for almost two days before finalising a biodiversity treaty for high seas that lie outside national boundaries. the russian army and wagner mercenaries are putting increasing pressure on ukrainian soldiers to withdraw from the eastern city of bakhmut. the city's deputy mayor has said thousands of civilians are living in shelters without access to electricity or water, as the fierce street fighting continues. china's annual parliamentary session, the national people's congress, is under way in beijing's great hall. trade, diplomacy, and the environment will all be

discussed during nine days of meetings. the chinese leader xi jinping is due to be confirmed as president for a third term. now on bbc news, our world: inside the illegal puppy trade. chloe, would we like to be in a video about how much i love you? and you, bambi? dogs have never been more popular. in the uk, we bought 3.2 million pets during lockdown. in europe, puppies are now a multibillion euro industry. but where are all these puppies coming from? for the first time, our world unveils a criminal underworld of puppy traders trafficking dogs across europe.

they came here to resell those dogs in england. those englishmen, they also dealt in drugs. the criminals are breeding dogs in unlicensed puppy mills in hungary. these dogs suffer abuse and neglect. the dogs are sold into a vast pet trade network in western europe that handles 8 million puppies a year. many are illegally passed off as the offspring of a much—loved family pet. hungary has emerged as a dog breeding power in europe. in the last two years, it's legally exported over 70,000 puppies within the eu.

a huge network of puppy farms grew up here after the collapse of the soviet union. the system changed. the state farms and co—operative farms were privatised. so, people stopped working with cows, stopped working with swine and the italian tradesmen came into hungary and saw a big business, and they started to build up a network of puppy producers here in hungary, and then the people, step—by—step, realised that they can make money on dogs instead of keeping swine and rabbits, and they put these animals in the place of the swine and poultry and rabbit. the industry is controlled by the government through licensing and farms are expected to conform to animal welfare standards but anyone can register online to be a breeder without any initial checks.

this is puspokladany. this town ofjust 16,000 people has 154 registered breeders. the nebih is the government agency charged with carrying out random checks of hungary's nearly 3,000 breeders. our world has joined them today on one of their inspections lead by chief vet dr attila boncz. but this breeder has passed the inspection. the vet in charge says they don't have anything to report to us. but some audio between nebih inspectors, captured minutes earlier, reveals some findings.

they conclude this farm follows the regulations and remains legal. nebih says they had a private exchange of opinions, and their views should not be linked to the authority's findings. puppy farming is good business. a buyer in western europe will pay a minimum of 1000 euros per puppy — the average monthly wage in hungary. this has attracted criminals who breed dogs in terrible conditions. these dogs were found in sojtor, in hungary. they were locked in the dark,

lying on their own faeces, and carcasses of other dead dogs. these illegal breeding sites are known as puppy mills. illegal breeders cram in as many dogs as possible to produce litter after litter of puppies. these puppies ultimately find their way into legal markets. in hungary, most of the operations against puppy mills are initiated by charities. edina nemedi was one of the animal rescuers involved in closing down the puppy mill in sojtor. edina now cares for some dogs she's rescued from the puppy mills across hungary.

the recent discoveries of the farm's conditions has led to international pressure for hungary to tighten their laws. convicted puppy mill owners now face jail. in puspokladany, the nebih have had a tipoff about an illegal puppy mill. there's a bad smell coming from the insides and nobody is looking after the dogs. after several hours of waiting, the owner turns up.

in 2020, pupsliu was one of the main exporters of hungarian puppies, sending nearly 4,000 dogs to belgium, a huge puppy market in europe. after the inspection, the nebih has found more than ten dogs with ear, skin, and eye infections. hungarian law states that if conditions lead to long—term health damage or death then the site is defined as a puppy mill. the nebih decides that that's not the case in this instance and they will only impose a fine and inspect again in the near future. but the decision is contentious. this is a qualified case. if you don't treat an ear infection, then it goes down and down and down, and that is animal cruelty.

our world contacted pupsliu but they did not respond. the booming puppy trade in hungary is attracting traders from all over europe. some of them come to markets looking for a cheap deal. once they collect enough puppies for a shipment, they send them off legally to their clients. edina has come to kecskemet market, looking for puppy sellers. edina's concerned that puppies bred with low welfare standards are making their way into the legal international market. this registered breeder has nine dachshund puppies left and he's sold all the females to an austrian trader.

he's charging 100 euros a puppy. edina is going to buy one to check its credentials. hey, aw. to sell puppies legally, they must be at least eight weeks old, fully vaccinated, microchipped and registered by a vet on a national database. but a few simple checks reveal the truth. it's likely this puppy has not been vaccinated. in order to travel legally outside the country, puppies need a pet passport

with valid vaccinations and these can only be issued by a vet. corrupt vets sell pet passports to puppy mills owners without vaccinating or even seeing the puppies. this puppy is lucky. edina will give him up for adoption to a good home. those puppies left might face a gruelling journey to markets in the west where they can be sold for anything up to 3,000 euros each. the most lucrative markets are in belgium and the uk, a journey of over 1,000 miles. thousands of puppies are smuggled through borders hidden in vehicles. most pass through germany on their route west. german police mount regular patrols looking for puppy smugglers.

in 2021, they seized nearly 2,000 puppies being smuggled across the country. in the same year, the uk saw a 260% increase in puppy smuggling. in response, it's proposed to ban the import of dogs under six months old. but that would not always deter the smugglers. this car and van travelling in convoy were stopped by german police. inside they found eight adult dachshunds split between the two vehicles. the dogs were being transported from hungary to the uk in terrible conditions. the shipment was also bigger than it initially looked. four of the dogs were heavily pregnant. at the shelter, they gave birth to 21 puppies which would have been worth about £42,000

on the british market. the trafficker had pet passports for some of the dogs, stating they were his pets. but the evidence shows that he had most likely sourced them from a puppy mill. the dachshunds were being transported by a man called peter hovorka. after the dogs were seized, he was released without charge. a couple of days later, he was caught again, this time at the british border, where he had more dogs seized. dog trafficking can carryjail sentences, but traffickers are very rarely prosecuted. our world contacted peter hovorka but he did not respond.

once the puppies are out of hungary, illegal traders have to create a story around the puppies to sell them. once the puppies are out of hungary, illegal traders have to create a story around the puppies to sell them. a team of government vets have been working with four paws, the country's biggest animal charity, to try to crack down on this illegal trade. criminal gangs are now moving into the puppy trade so the vets have asked that we mask their identity. the team is finding an increase in the number

of online ads linked to the illegal puppy trade. it's not really difficult to find suspicious ads online. this ad just says "boxer puppies" — they are asking 1,200 euros per puppy. and i got this picture of the father. i checked the picture with google lens and found this picture here. it's a stolen picture. this can't be the father dog. this is a fake account set up to look like the puppy was from a family home. selling a small number of puppies born from your own pets is perfectly legal, but in order to sell large numbers of puppies, you need to be registered as a commercial breeder and have regular inspections and pay taxes on the sales. selling through social media and online auction sites allows illegal traders to set up multiple accounts.

many of these claim to be selling puppies born from family pets. this seller has been linked to a network that's sold many puppies. the investigatorfrom four paws is trying to arrange a test purchase to confirm the evidence. this is a risky operation. one of the team goes ahead with a hidden camera, posing as a buyer. only once they are inside the flat and can see the puppy will the investigators and police confront the seller.

with the puppy located, the rest of the team and the police close in on the flat.

the seller is unable to prove where he got the puppy from so it is seized. the vets suspect the puppy has been smuggled into the country. legally imported puppies need a pet passport and proof of vaccination. this puppy has neither so it will have to go into quarantine.

given the seller's record, it is likely this puppy was one of many that were smuggled from hungary. this shelter is part of a network near cologne that takes in puppies seized from the illegal dog trade. in the last few weeks, they have taken in 69 puppies that were trafficked from hungary. all of the puppies here were being transported to belgium. belgium is one of the main markets for puppies bred in hungary and other eastern european countries. every year belgium legally imports 19,000 puppies from eastern europe. thousands of puppies arrived at wholesale pet shops like this, where clients can order

through click and collect. in belgium it is legal to sell puppies in pet shops but it is illegal to source them from puppy mills. this vet visited some wholesale puppy traders where she spotted illnesses commonly found in puppy mills. the director is showing her footage filmed at one of the traders she visited.

our world has tracked down an ex—worker from this wholesale pet shop who has agreed to talk to us. there were dogs dying every day. you had days when you had to pick up ten in a day. the workload is very heavy, with only two employees we didn't have enough staff for all of those dogs. drinking nipples were also installed. dogs then have to push on those with their noses and then they get water but not all dogs understand that or some dogs, like chihuahuas, are too small to get to them so they didn't drink.

anyone can buy as many puppies as they want here, no questions asked. british gangs have bought puppies here looking to cash in on this lucrative trade. translation: they came here to resell those dogs in england. - those englishmen, they also dealt in drugs. they bought about 20 dogs when they visited. they showed me the car and i saw that it was already full of dogs. theyjust threw ours in there. i once saw a picture of their boss, he lived in a mega huge house with three or four bentleys in the driveway. they really do have plenty of money. anthony godfroid has won civil cases against belgium shops selling sick puppies from puppy mills. they lose a lot of money because of me. because every case costs them 4,000—5,000 euros, more 01’ less. but i don't cost them enough money, because they make millions and, 0k, there are seven

conventions per year, maybe it's 40,000 euro, that is not a real problem for them. jail sentences for illegally trading in dogs are extremely rare and require investigations into criminal networks across borders that few authorities are prepared to tackle. these dogs have all been rescued from illegal breeders and traffickers. but thousands are trapped in puppy mills which produce tens of thousands of puppies that are now flooding the market. there aren't enough credible breeders to meet the huge demand for puppies so for now the most effective way of fighting against the illegal puppy trade is to do thorough research where the puppy comes from.

hello there. the weather story is on the change. a significant cold snap will arrive over the next few days, right across the country. we are confident, within that, it is going to feel much colder, and there will be some snow showers. the question mark, though, still is the extent of the snowfall and how long this cold snap is going to last for. i'll explain that in a little bit more detail coming up. but the high pressure that's been with us is starting to lose its grip, and that's allowing this arctic air to push down slowly but surely across the country. you'll start to notice the difference in the feel of the weather from the latter

stages of monday. so, for sunday, still quite a lot of grey, gloomy weather conditions. quiet, showers across west and east coast, and maybe a rash of more persistent showers in the far north—east, but temperatures still between six and nine celsius. as we move out of sunday into monday, this weather front will start to drag that colder air down from the north, and that is when we are likely to see more in the way of snow showers developing. weather warnings are in force for scotland and north—east england as those showers could cause some issues with some ice on untreated roads as well. ahead of that weather front is a band of cloud and showery rain. here, still in the milder air, but in the far north, just a maximum of two to four celsius. that weather front continues to sink its way steadily south, through monday night into tuesday morning, and then the showers of snow become potentially more widespread. a cold start to tuesday morning, so there will be some icy stretches on the roads. there will be frost,

and we should see some snow accumulations across northern scotland and anywhere across the east coast of england. on tuesday, our weather front sinks its way south. sunny spells, scattered showers. showers most frequent to the north and east, but your thermometers may say four or five celsius. factor in the strength and the direction of the wind, it is going to feel much colder. temperatures around freezing or below, and that will be a shock to the system. the change potentially comes through the middle part of the week. the cold air is sitting in place, but all the time, we have got weather fronts trying to push in from the atlantic, bringing milder air with it, and so this is the uncertainty. on wednesday, at the moment, it looks potentially like we will see more in the way of cloud, maybe some showery rain down to the south for a time. we still keep that colder, crisper, potentially sunnier weather across much of scotland, northern england and northern ireland. still the risk of a few scattered showers in the far north. as we move out of wednesday into thursday, computer models

at the moment want to push these weather fronts gradually north, and on the leading edge of that, they bump into the colder air, that's where we could see the potential for further disruptive snow across wales, into the midlands and into the north of england. don't take the position of the snow at the moment too literal. you will need to keep an eye on that. it may well change as we go through the next few days. but there could potentially be some snow which could have an impact, and then gradually turning back to rain as the milder air kicks in. so once we are rid of that weatherfront, we have this milder westerly direction, so it looks likely that it could stay unsettled, but there is a potential of just that little bit less cold. so, snow showers will be replaced by showers of rain as we move further ahead. obviously, a lot of uncertainty. if you have got outdoor plans or travel, do keep abreast of the forecast.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories... a un summit has reached a legally binding agreement on an environmental treaty for protecting high seas biodiversity. china's annual parliamentary session, the national people's congress, is under way in the great hall. trade, diplomacy and the environment will all be discussed during nine days of meetings. fighting in the streets of bakhmut as russian forces continue their attempt to capture the ukrainian city. the united nations and iran reach an agreement that would allow further inspections of tehran�*s nuclear programme.

and prince harry describes writing his memoir