this is bbc news. the headlines... villagers in morocco's atlas mountains are using their bare hands to dig out people, following friday's deadly quake. they've been working with rescuers to search for others who may be alive under the rubble. the death toll currently stands at more than 2,000. us presidentjoe biden visits vietnam to sign a new diplomatic partnership, almost 50 years after the end of the vietnam war. mr biden has met the communist party leader, and is due to have further talks on monday. the visit comes amid china's growing influence in the region. a top—ranking us military officer warns that ukraine's army has little more than 30 days left of fighting before the weather hinders its counter—offensive. general mark milley told the bbc that the ukrainian attack was going more slowly than hoped, but was progressing at a steady pace. you are watching bbc news.

it's very good to have your company. we start in morocco, where rescuers are scrambling to find survivors under the rubble after a huge earthquake on friday. the death toll has just been updated and it's risen to 2,122 people. there are also more than 2,000 injured. small rural communities remain cut off by rock falls and there are reports of entire villages flattened. 0ur correspondent, nick beake, has made it to a community in the atlas mountains and sent us this update. sniffer dogs have been brought in. they belong to spanish firefighters who are the first international rescue teams to arrive here. i'm talking in a really quiet voice because in a different part of this devastated village, they're listening out to see if there are any signs of life. but really, hope is fading extremely quickly. we've been told that 200 people used to live here. 90 are confirmed to have died.

lots more are missing and the remainder are in hospital. when you look at this, you realise you simply couldn't have walked away from this. many people had no chance, the way these buildings have been flattened. and if you look at the materials, these were not complex structures, and an earthquake of this magnitude meant that they simply came crumbling down. people we've spoken to here are saying they aren't getting the help they need from the moroccan government. they want more support. they want food and water. people are sleeping out in the open. and this is something that you see right across this vast, mountainous region. and let's focus on the tourist hub of marrakesh, which is around 72 kilometres or 45 miles from the epicentre. this was the moment the quake struck there, prompting people to sprint for the streets. the city has reported a lower death toll than other areas, but considerable damage to buildings.

thousands of moroccans spent a second night sleeping outside on the streets, fearing aftershocks. some have been describing their fears and sense of loss: translation: | returned - to my house and noticed many cracks in the walls. i cannot sleep there. i'm asking the authorities to help me and bring in an expert to assess whether it's possible for me to return to the house or not. look where all these people are sleeping. there's no help for us. 0ur houses have been cracked, others destroyed, like my daughter's house, which has collapsed. we are in a chaotic state. it's painful to enter the ancient- city and witness the collapsed homes and see people in great suffering. it's a painful experience when this happens to your brother or sister. i it's really painful. the moroccan army has cleared one of the main roads to the areas worst affected by friday's earthquake, allowing vital assistance

to reach people. rescue efforts are continuing and help from abroad is on the way too. spanish and qatari teams have been sent to join the rescue operations. earlier i spoke to david wightwick from uk—med, a british charity which is deploying a team of aid workers to morocco. i asked him when he made the decision to go. 0h, yesterday morning. and then it was a matter of getting people together, getting the right flights together, and making sure we've got the most appropriate team for the circumstances. as i understand it, you're due to arrive around 6:00am in the morning on monday. what's the immediate plan when your team land on the ground? yeah. so we've actually got one person arriving this afternoon and then another three tomorrow morning. and the sort of immediate task, because the focus right now will be on search and rescue, but

very rapidly that's going to move to provision of services for those people who are injured or in need or displaced. and we bring medical care in one way or another. now, i think your package earlier mentions the need up in the mountains, and that obviously is going to be one of the priority areas for our team, is to get up into those kind of areas and to see how we can bring health care, whether that's sort of mobile by vehicles or helicopters or something else, or whether we need to put in place a big field hospital. we have a couple of field hospitals which we can deploy. we deployed one to turkey, the turkey earthquake earlier this year. so, it's getting in to see what the situation is, but more to the point, how we can work best with the local ministry of health and the local communities, there is no point in usjust coming in and doing our thing. we need to work with them. yeah, i was going to ask you about that because obviously you can'tjust turn up in another country and start doing your own thing. in terms of the logistics,

how do you work with local officials but also other aid organisations already on the ground? yeah. so there's a united nations coordination body which brings together all of the international actors and we work very closely with them. we also work very closely with the british government and the embassy in country. and there is a process of negotiation, often, with the local ministry of health and the local hospitals on the ground and the local communities. because bringing in external actors, you know, a group of foreigners to provide medical care obviously needs to be done with some care. and it is negotiation and it is working alongside the local providers to make sure that we can bring what the population want and need. as we said earlier, the death toll in morocco has been upped to 2122, following freddy's week. —— friday's

quick. president biden has defended the united states' engagement in the pacific, against a background of rising chinese influence there. he said american actions were not about containing china, but about maintaining stability. president biden made those remarks in vietnam, where he's on a visit that aims counter the rising influence of china in southeast asia. hanoi and washington are expected to sign a new partnership agreement and upgrade their relationship. it comes less than 50 years after the vietnam war, which left millions of vietnamese and 58,000 us service people dead. from hanoi, our asia pacific correspondent, laura bicker reports. star-spangled banner plays. from wartime foes to firm friends. the united states is drawing china's neighbour closer. cheering. this new relationship excites vietnam's next generation. but even as they sing songs about appreciating what they have,

it's clear they want more. this country's young and talented workforce has attracted foreign business here instead of china. a lot of, like, korean and then japanese technology is pumping money into vietnam to develop, like, technology centres. and then they come to us. i can see in the future vietnam will become another like silicon valley for the us and for everyone to come here and work, and can't wait for it to happen. vietnam was once one of the world's poorest nations, but is now one of the fastest—growing economies in asia, and it wants to stay that way. this e—scooter start—up was built by a vietnamese entrepreneur who learned his craft in the us. because i want to realise my vietnamese dream. i was exposed to the american dream, but i think i have a stronger desire for my vietnamese dream. it's the right time. it's the right time, the right generation to make

the vietnamese dream come true. that drive to succeed is attractive to america. the deal being done will bring washington and hanoi closer than they've ever been before. it's all part of a us strategy to try to contain china. but while vietnam might be wary of its largest neighbour, it's certainly not going to walk away from beijing. vietnam will try to balance the two superpowers. this communist country with its own brand of capitalism will not want to pick a side. laura bicker, bbc news, hanoi. we can speak now to dr william figueroa, who is an assistant professor of history and theory of international relations at university of groningen in the netherlands. his research focuses on china's foreign relations. thank you very much for being with us. what, for you, was president baden�*s message to china? trier? us. what, for you, was president baden's message to china? very happy to be here. baden's message to china? very happy to be here- for— baden's message to china? very happy to be here. for me, _ baden's message to china? very happy to be here. for me, biden, _ baden's message to china? very happy to be here. for me, biden, if— baden's message to china? very happy to be here. for me, biden, if you - to be here. for me, biden, if you look at his words, he says it is

very much not about china, that they don't want this to be some sort of move seen as against china, but i think it is clear from the context that it does have something to do with china. it is about stability to a certain extent. china has been, over the last decade, more aggressive in the south china sea, in some of its territorial claims which has countries like vietnam a bit worried. it is also in the context of these heightened us — china tensions. they have fallen back to a more competitive attitude in the last four years. mostly initiated, i must say, by the united states. the us sees china as a increasingly... rival. ithink states. the us sees china as a increasingly... rival. i think it has fallen back into the older, cold war style... this means shoring up our alliances in the pacific, and

the significance and international system. hope that is necessary for china that's why i think that is the message for china, the united states is here in the pacific, it will take action that china may not like, but it is also not trying to directly confront china at this time. moves like this are _ confront china at this time. moves like this are often _ confront china at this time. moves like this are often about _ confront china at this time. moves| like this are often about countering the rise of china, but there is an argument that, hold on the second, this is china's back yard, vietnam is china's neighbour, not america. it is an american push for her germany in a region where it has no business? i germany in a region where it has no business? ~ , germany in a region where it has no business? ~' , ,., business? i think there is some truth to that _ business? i think there is some truth to that argument. - business? i think there is some truth to that argument. in - business? i think there is some truth to that argument. in a - business? i think there is some truth to that argument. in a lot| business? i think there is some i truth to that argument. in a lot of ways, it is not so much, i think we need to get not too overexcited about this like this. this isn't really a medium turn away from trying out for vietnam, or indeed to turn towards the united states. yes, it is the highest level that us and vietnam relations have been since the war, but vietnam is maintaining

its options open. they are bouncing against other relations. it is currently actively looking into concluding a clandestine deal to purchase weapons from russia, and of course its natural economic relationship with china is so strong that it relationship with china is so strong thatitis relationship with china is so strong that it is not going to be able to turn away from it completely. in that respect, we don't want to over exaggerate what the united states is doing here. as you said, vietnam is in china's back yard, it is not going to be able to, it is going to have to balance this relationship with china, and china is certainly going to take some umbrage with the united states for exactly the reason you said, it is doing it right next door. that is the reason why i think you see this sort of downplaying, this messaging from biden and other officials, that we are not asking vietnam to choose, we know that vietnam to choose, we know that vietnam is going to have to maintain relations with china, because they have this attitude of, well, we are

going to do what we want, and if it makes the other side unhappy, then we're going to also send signals that we are not to completely rock the boat. china has this attitude as well. ,, . ., , the boat. china has this attitude as well. ,, ., ., , ., , , , the boat. china has this attitude as well. ,, ., ., , .,, , , well. the us already has pretty good relations with _ well. the us already has pretty good relations with the _ well. the us already has pretty good relations with the regional— well. the us already has pretty good relations with the regional bloc - well. the us already has pretty good relations with the regional bloc the l relations with the regional bloc the association of southeast asian nations. how important is it for it to have this direct one—on—one relationship with vietnam, particularly where there is such difficult history? i particularly where there is such difficult history?— difficult history? i think it is important _ difficult history? i think it is important for _ difficult history? i think it is important for the _ difficult history? i think it is important for the us - difficult history? i think it is i important for the us strategy difficult history? i think it is - important for the us strategy of what the us sees its role as in the pacific. it sees a stabilising role, blocking chinese manoeuvres in the region, or potential chinese manoeuvres vis—a—vis taiwan, or some of its territorial claims in the waters of southeast asia, but then also the larger strategy of the united states, deterring and containing china even in its own back yard, in the region in which

they would be expected to reject a certain amount of power. i think that it certain amount of power. i think thatitis certain amount of power. i think that it is important for the united states to have this kind of network of alliances in order to maintain some influence in that region, in orderfor it to some influence in that region, in order for it to pursue that strategy, especially when it comes to things like finding alternatives to things like finding alternatives to china, as there is port mentioned there is a lot of potential in the future, because vietnam still needs a lot of development, but once it has developed, for vietnam to fulfil some of the rules china has filled in the international economic system and economic linkages. at the same time, there is also the kind of proactive messengers but the united states is taking, trying to block certain technologies. places like japan, where some of the chips are manufactured, it is important to be able to pursue the strategy is. i

don't know whether that is the smarter strategy they are pursuing, thatis smarter strategy they are pursuing, that is what they are interested in. thank you very much for sharing your insights. lets turn to the war in ukraine now, where there are little more than 30 days of fighting left, before the weather will hinder key of�*s counter—offensive. ——before the weather will hinder kyiv�*s counter—offensive. that's according to america's top—ranking us military officer. speaking to the bbc, general mark milley said colder conditions would make it much harder for ukraine to manoeuvre. it comes as kyiv was attacked by russian drones early on sunday, with debris falling in several districts. but ukrainian officials say no casualties have been reported. at least 10 explosions were heard in the capital, as air raid sirens sounded.

0ur correspondent in kyiv, paul adams, gave us his assessment of the general�*s analysis on the state of the fighting. the response from a spokesman at the foreign ministry yesterday was that there was nothing for the g20 to be proud about. and in fact, he reprinted the words of the g20 on the war in ukraine as if he was a teacher correcting a pupil's homework, scoring out the references to the war in ukraine, and replacing them with the phrase "the war against ukraine" and including the word aggression. because last year, last november, when the g20 addressed this subject, they included a reference to russian aggression that was conspicuously absent in the communique released in delhi yesterday. so as far as the ukrainians are concerned, it represents a bit of a step back from the kinds of comments the g20 was making last year. i don't think there was any great sense of surprise. i think there was always an expectation that india would try and find some middle ground between the western nations that are very keen on strong expressions of condemnation for russia and other members of the g20 who are a little less comfortable with that. it's worth pointing out, and this is something that carl bildt, the former swedish prime minister, mentioned yesterday,

that it does refer to the inadmissibility of countries altering international boundaries through the use of force, and the importance of sovereignty. and so it's a mixed package as far as ukraine is concerned, but certainly not as strong as they would have liked. studio: so, paul, bring us up to date on the counter—offensive there. how is it going for the ukrainians? well, mark milley, i think people will be scratching their heads a little bit around here because in the last couple of weeks they've talked about making progress on the battlefield. everyone is conscious that winter is coming. i don't think anyone here would say that it has 30 days or so left for a fighting season. they're determined to fight well into the late autumn

and into the winter. and there's no reason really why they shouldn't. certain forms of warfare become much, much harder. and so there will be challenges. but as far as ukraine is concerned, it is determined to keep pushing ahead. in the meantime, the cost of this war, in terms of the suffering experienced by people at the hands of the russian occupation forces, is something that is occupying the minds of a lot of people. we've heard repeatedly over the last year and a half of russia's use of torture in its war in ukraine. and someone who has been here for the past week looking into that is the un's special rapporteur on torture, dr alicejill edwards, and shejoins us now. dr edwards, you've been here for a week or so. we think we've heard everything

there is to hear perhaps about torture in the war in ukraine. what have you learned? look, i've been surprised at the scale and extent of the torture allegations that have come my way. i really think we're now talking about this being seen as russia's torture war. and what are we talking about in terms of scale and maybe also in terms of methods? look, the office of the prosecutor has opened 103,000 proceedings of all kinds of war crimes. he counts that 90% of detainees have suffered torture or other inhuman treatment, including rape and sexual violence. i know you've talked to some people, including women, who have experienced sexual violence in detention. what kind of stories did they have to tell you? look, i think the perhaps frustrating thing here is that there were some early cases of, and large numbers of testimonies of torture, sexual torture, and now it seems to have gone a bit quiet. i think it's under—reported. i think the government and the authorities should step

up their units and treatment facilities for women, which they're trying to do, but perhaps not at the scale that is required to respond to such extensive allegations. certainly men and women within the context of other torture were describing sexual forms of torture, such as electrodes being put on their genitals, threats of sexual violence, overhearing women crying and screaming from sexual torture in their estimations. so it's really become something that is hard to pin down. but i think more efforts need to be made so that women will feel safe to come forward. they, like anyone else, deservesjustice and appropriate rehabilitative treatment. and just to be clear, we are talking about the treatment not just of prisoners of war, but of civilians, too. yes. and the accounts of women is often being picked up in their homes. some are taken to detention facilities, of course.

but even in the homes, in this coercive environment in which is the occupation in the east, this is non—consensual activity. and i think that is really needed to be reminded. and just briefly, you've attempted to reach out to the russians to hear what they have to say to answer some of these charges. what have you heard back? i've had no replies to my batch, a serious batch of allegations that i sent injune. that i sent injune, that's now on the public record. i also reached out to the russian authorities to indicate that i'm here in ukraine and i will be checking up and verifying the status and treatment of their own soldiers. and i've had no information forthcoming. dr alicejill edwards, un special rapporteur on torture, many thanks forjoining us. but yeah, so that i think is a reminder, in case we needed it, that all the while, while our

attention is focused on the fighting in the south and the east and on the supply of western weaponry, there is an insidious ongoing issue here of the treatment of detainees in areas that, frankly, the international community does not have access to. paul adams in kyiv for us there. spain says one of its aid workers was killed when a missile hit the vehicle she was travelling in, in ukraine. the group road to relief, an ngo that helps evacuate civilians from the frontline, said that a canadian had also been killed in what it described as a "russian attack" on their vehicle driving toward bakhmut. a german and a swedish aid worker were badly injured and taken to hospital. earlier this year in january, earlier this year injanuary, two british nationals were killed as they tried to evacuate from the same region. more than 30,000 pilgrims have attended a beatification mass

for a polish catholic family executed by the nazis for hiding jews in their farmhouse during the second world war. the service took place in the southeastern village of markowa to beatinyozef and wiktoria ulma and their six young children. beatification is the first step towards sainthood. the ceremony has been widely publicised in poland with linked events, but some israeli media accuse warsaw of whitewashing the past after denying the collaboration of some poles with the nazis. the united nations office on drugs and crime has warned that the trafficking of the powerful synthetic drug, methamphetamine, is expanding rapidly in and around afghanistan, as the trade in heroin slows. the country used to produce more than 80% of the world's opium, until the taliban introduced a ban on the cultivation of opium poppies last year. bethany bell, our correspondent in vienna, where the agency is based, told us more about what it's been saying:

well, they say that the seizures of methamphetamine have hugely surged. back in 2017, about 2.5 tonnes were seized. in 2021, it was almost 30 tonnes of methamphetamine that was seized, and this is in afghanistan and also in neighbouring countries. and the head of the unodc says that it also seems to be continuing in 2022. radha wali, the head of the unodc, said that it did seem to suggest a shift in illicit drug markets away from the opium poppy, away from the heroin, and more this shift towards the synthetic drug methamphetamine. and she said that this was a matter that demanded the immediate attention of the world. let's bring you some pictures from

the floral design world cup. it is described as the olympics crossed with the chelsea flower show, the competition takes place every four years and was hosted in the uk for the first tine. more than 200,000 flowers stems were used, with an attendance reaching over 5,000 people. a huge flower sale took place right after the event to raise funds for a regional hospice. and in the end, germany's nicolas peters has come home with the title of world champion and the £15,000 £15,000 grand prize that comes with it. before we go, let's take a look at the world's only penny farthing race. thousands lined the streets of cheshire today to watch the race, which is only held every ten years. penny farthing enthusiasts came from as far as new zealand to compete in doing as many laps as they can in three hours. that's it for me for now. douce deck with us on bbc news. —— do stick with us on bbc news. —— do stick

with us. hello there. the storm clouds have been brewing. the storm clouds have been brewing today. we've had some intense downpours already. it'll be quite nasty on the road. so the met office do have warnings out for those thunderstorms which are likely to give some sudden flash flooding, frequent lightning. more details on the website. but as i say, there are some quite torrential downpours out there. no surprise really when you consider today has been the seventh consecutive day where temperatures have reached 30 degrees or above. that's a record for september here in the uk, and it's really quite unbearable for some. but behind this weather front in the north, there is relief on the way. behind it, much fresher airas we start to introduce winds down from the north and the west. but it's going to take probably until tuesday to clear the south, but it is going to eventually freshen up through the next few days. but for this evening, some fairly widespread thunderstorms, possibly even more further south to start with. and then our weather front, which has been more potent

in the north as well today, will start to push southwards. so there will be some unsettled weather around, some tricky driving conditions through this evening and overnight. and for most, again, it will be really quite uncomfortable and close for sleeping because the humidity remains high. so there's mist and fog around first thing in the morning, which will take a while to clear. then we'll see some brighter skies, butjust generally more cloud, i think, for england and wales tomorrow. 0ur weather front close by to northern ireland and southern scotland and northern england for much of the day, brighter skies with a few showers behind and fresher here across the north of scotland. but for most, again, the humidity is high and we'll still see temperatures into the mid to high twenties for the south and east. however, it's unlikely that we're going to see 30 degrees again. then through monday evening and overnight, that weatherfront may well pep up again. now, there'll be a few thunderstorms anyway developing during monday ahead of this weather system, combining with that further weather front slipping south. so, again, another humid night in southern areas, but in the north, much fresher in scotland, northern ireland, even a touch of ground frost potentially in the glens in the north this week. tuesday again sees that weather front pushing southwards. it will eventually reach more southern areas later in the day.

ahead of that, some brightness lifting the temperatures into the low twenties, but for most, it will be a more manageable day. the humidity gone, quite pleasant with the sunshine in the north, scotland, northern ireland much, much brighter. but you can see the outlook. the temperatures are a little lower. the humidity�*s gone, but it's a generally changeable, showery picture.

live from london, this is bbc news.

villagers in morocco's atlas mountains are using their bare hands to dig out people — following friday's deadly quake. the death toll rises to more than 2000. us presidentjoe biden visits vietnam to sign a new diplomatic partnership, amid china's growing influence in the region. we're not looking to hurt china, sincerely. we are all better off if china does well, if china does well by the international rules. and the g20 summit in delhi closes with world leaders formally adopting the joint declaration, as india passes on the presidency to brazil. hello, i'm tanya beckett. in morocco, the race is on to clear debris from roads up into the atlas mountains, the epicentre of the massive

earthquake, with the red cross warning that the first 48 hours