helena humphries here, welcome to the programme. world leaders have started arriving in new york for the annual united nations general assembly — which kicks off on monday. this year's summit takes place against the backdrop of russia's war in ukraine — and amid growing tensions between the us and china. despite that, leaders of four of the five countries that hold permanent seats on the un security council are expected to skip the event — including russian president putin and china's president xi who also missed a recent gathering of the 620 in india, as well as two surprising no—shows — uk prime minister rishi sunak and french president emmanuel macron — who cited scheduling conflicts for missing this week's summit. in spite of those notable absences, the un says that it wants to get global leaders back on track with targets,

like ending extreme poverty and tacking climate change. —— tackling. and presidents and prime ministers will take the opportunity to seize the global spotlight, including us presidentjoe biden who arrived on sunday evening in new york. earlier i spoke to michael bociurkiw, global affairs analyst and non—resident senior fellow at the atlantic council, about what we can expect from the week ahead. let's touch on who's not going to be there. first —— french president emmanuel macron, british prime minister rishi sunak, xi jinping, vladimir putin, indian prime ministerand jinping, vladimir putin, indian prime minister and arranger modi, among others. it is quite a list. what do you make of those absences? yes, it is quite a list indeed. well, the un secretary general played it down and says this isn't a show for vanity fair. whoever comes, he will engage with them. but i'm finding world leaders are using more and more of that

excuse, that they are very busy, so they are show up at certain summits. in the case of rishi sunak, if reporting is to be believed, he's not only very busy but afraid to be called out at a un climate summit for not performing well enough on the environmental front. french president emmanuel macron who we all know loves to be in the spotlight at the same time asjustin trudeau, has the king coming to visit and as well as the pope. as for china, i didn't expect them to show up. xijinping is facing difficulties at home and doesn't like these summits, he's focusing more on brics and finally vladimir putin afraid to get arrested and doesn't like to take part in these western backed gatherings. so a situation in which five out of the five permanent members of the security council, only the us is sending its leader. ijust wonder there in new york, is there talk about the united

nations�* effectiveness in responding to global crises at a time when, let's face it, they are myriad. right. well first of all these absences will give more of a spotlight for biden. i'm sorry, iforgot to say that an important show will be that resident zelensky of the ukraine will be arguing for more resizes to fight the war. that meant resources. —— resources. and from the african continent the united nations, i heard a lot of that at the brics summit in south africa recently and in fact the secretary general has promised to fight for a seat to africa. they're casting a much, much bigger shadow in the world's stage. their resources, their growing populations, they absolutely deserve a seat at the table and one more thing, i'm a former spokesperson for unicef, i worked for their organisation in many places around the world.

there is a widespread feeling that the un is becoming less effective, doesn't have the backbone. in the old days when there were egregious acts committed by say the myanmar generals or coup leaders in africa they would be called out by the un. that is happening less and less unfortunately. let's talk a little bit about africa than —— then, because you were just pointing to that discussion about africa potentially having a seat at the un security council. do you think that's something that will come up this weekend new york? when i sat there at the brics summit in south africa, dozens of african leaders spoke for a long time and all of them said that they would like to see this happen. the other thing that could bring them is more clout, not only to help for example authorise emergency un deployments to end conflicts but also development aid. a lot of them are complaining, helena, that they don't

have the resources, even though they're paying the price big—time, for climate action. they want the developing countries to do more. they will be very loud at the different fora these coming two weeks. they will be raising their voice and they're also going to be reminding people, i think, that if they're not given the proper seat, for example, at the un security council, they will go it alone and they're getting the resources to do that in terms of minerals in the ground that can help alleviate climate change. these so—called green minerals. but also their growing populations is going to give them a much bigger shadow on the world stage. well on that point, this particular general assembly would also be a moment to measure progress when it comes to sustainable development goals. i believe that happens around every four years. how is it looking on that front? not very good. whether you use the data

to reach that conclusion or as i travelled the world, seeing the lack of progress, for example, access to clean water. poverty alleviation. climate change, classrooms — we're about halfway through the sdg period and only about 15% of those indicators are on track. a lot of the countries where indicators have been reversed for example under nutrition, a lot reversed for example under nutrition, a lot of them happen to be in africa. and a lot of the progress in fairness was set back by the pandemic and also by the global economic crisis. so i don't know whether much progress will be made because these are, afterall, commitments. they're not binding. and also we have to remember that a lot of cases, leaders of countries have to go back to their national parliaments to get approval, they have to twist the arms of regional and local leaders to get things done so it's a very collocated process. but of course i think we're all on the same page

that we hope that many of these indicators actually do reach their goal by 2030. michael bociurkiw there in new york. great to have your analysis, as ever, thank you. thank you very much. a woman who claims the comedian, russell brand, raped her, has been giving more details of the alleged attack. in an interview with the sunday times newspaper, she describes how the star asked for her forgiveness — and says she was scared of the implications for herself and herfamily, if she went to the police. the woman is one of four making allegations of sexual assault against the comedian, when he worked at channel 4, the bbc and in hollywood. russell brand denies all the allegations, and says his sexual relationships, were consensual. here's david sillito. russell brand, comedian, actor, political commentator accused of multiple sexual assaults and the rape of a woman that the programme dispatches called nadia. he's grabbing at my,

my underwear, pulling it to the side. i'm telling him to get off me, he won't get off. i was distraught, trying to get out of the house with him being so much taller than me, like, holding me up against the wall. further details have now been published about nadia reporting the incident to a rape crisis centre and also a series of text messages that the investigators say russell brand sent to nadia. the exchange begins with him saying, "i'm sorry, i will make this up to you". and then he goes on to ask, "will you everforgive me?" it was just as these allegations first began to emerged that he arrived for a performance in london. on stage he was met by fans with cheers and a standing ovation. he has these days, millions of followers on social media... this is anti—establishment anti—authoritarian. .. where he has cast himself as a voice of dissent against mainstream media. but the catalogue of accusations and concerns about his behaviour stretch

over his many years in mainstream tv and radio, and the foreign secretary says it raises wider questions about the entertainment industry. i think there are some real challenges where you have these very, very acute differentials in power. whether that be in the entertainment industry, whether that be in politics and we see this in the commercial world as well. and i think we have to be particularly careful when we listen to the voices of the people who are relatively powerless. only been locked up for four days and yet already... russell brand made his name on channel 4's big brother. dispatches featured claims that staff helped pick out girls for him from the audience. it felt like we were essentially taking lambs into slaughter. channel 4 says it has no evidence that any of the alleged incidents were brought to its attention at the time. oh, no, this is andrew sachs�* answer phone? and the bbc, which parted company with russell brand after a scandal over offensive voice mail messages,

has also said it's making urgent inquiries. meanwhile, russell brand has issued a statement in vehemently denying all the allegations. i was very, very promiscuous. now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships i had were absolutely always consensual. i was always transparent about that then. and to see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that i absolutely deny, makes me question, is there another agenda at play? however, in 2020, a woman the programme called alice who said a relationship had begun when she was 16 and that she'd been assaulted by brand, contacted his agent. i phoned the offices and i asked to speak to his agent. they say they now believe that they were misled by brands denials. and as his tour continues, many others are facing questions about what they were told

and what did they do? the area of sea—ice surrounding antarctica is well below any level previously recorded in the winter — that's according to satellite data. this image shows the typical amount of sea ice at this time of year, specifically on the 14th of september. the yellow dotted line is the median for arctic ice, but the photo shows that the actual extent is much less. and as we head into summer in the southern hemisphere, much of that existing ice will continue to melt. this year's record—warm oceans are likely a contributing factor, and experts worry warm water will not freeze. 0ur climate editor justin rowlatt has been following the story. isolated at the end of the earth and surrounded by strong ocean currents, antarctica has its own weather system. indeed, until a few years ago, sea ice cover was growing, prompting scientists to hope the continent was resistant

to the effects of climate change. that hope is now fading. this graph shows the area of ice around antarctica each year. look how it shrinks to almost nothing in the antarctic summer and then grows back in the winter. let's add in the ice cover this year. that's the blue line. and you can see the continent has seen all time record lows in summer and now in winter, too. here's another way of looking at it. this shows how much ice there was around antarctica a couple of days ago, on the 14th of september this year. compare that with this. the dotted yellow line shows the average sea ice area on the same date over the last few decades. this year's ice cover is about 1.5 million square kilometres smaller than average. that is an area almost five times the size of the british isles. so what we've seen is just really mind blowing. we're way below anything that we've

seen in our satellite record going back to 1979. it's just outside of any reasonable normal or norms that we've seen. so, what's causing this? scientists who study antarctica say lots of factors are likely to be involved, including the fact that this year saw the highest global sea surface temperature ever recorded. they fear if the trend of shrinking ice cover continues, it will have far—reaching effects. sea ice is super important because it acts like a mirror reflecting incoming solar energy, and that keeps the antarctic climate, but also the whole globe�*s climate relatively cool. it also impacts ocean currents and weather patterns. so if we lose sea ice, that can have really significant local, regional and global consequences. dr gilbert says antarctica acts like a refrigerator for earth. but lose the reflective sea ice and much more of the sun's

energy is going to be absorbed by the darker ocean, driving up temperatures. the worry is the refrigerator could end up acting more like a radiator. justin rowlatt, bbc news. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. british opposition leader, keir starmer, has promised he'll try to re—write britain's brexit deal with the european union, if his labour party wins the next general election. mr starmer said he would make closer relations with the eu a priority, to bolster britain's economic growth. but he's ruled out re—joining the customs union, the single market or the eu itself. over 15,000 protesters in new york city kicked off "climate week", ahead of the start of the un general assembly this week. they are calling for world leaders to end the use of fossilfuel, and drive action to combat climate

change. sunday's demonstration is a part of 500 planned protests across the globe. co—founder of rolling stone magazine, jann wenner, has been removed from the rock and roll hall of fame�*s board of directors, after controversial comments he made about female and black musicians, in a new york times interview, promoting his new book. wenner apologised for his remarks, through his publisher, little, brown and company. you're live with bbc news. in the us, more people than ever are dying from fenta nyl overdoses, as a fourth wave of the opioid epidemic sweeps the country. in 2022, deaths due to drug overdoses hit a new record, killing more than 100,000 people in the us, according to data from the centers for disease control and prevention. of those deaths, more than two—thirds were tied to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin. the drug is illegally

manufactured and sold by criminal gangs. most of the illegal fentanyl found in the us is trafficked from mexico, using chemicals sourced from china, according to the drug enforcement administration, or dea. earlier, i spoke with prof carl latkin, vice chair of the department of health, behaviour, and society atjohns hopkins university in baltimore. prof latkin, thank you for joining us to talk more about this issue. we have had some extremely worrying numbers out this week, when it comes to the scale of the fentanyl crisis here in the united states. just talk to us about the size of the challenge at hand. the fentanyl crisis is really horrific, in terms of numbers. there are over 100,000 individuals dying each year. that's over 300 individuals a day dying from overdoses, and almost all of those are front and all related in the us.

so it's a massive problem. it's only gotten worse in the last decade. the last two years, it has plateaued, but at such a horrific rate you wouldn't consider a plateau anything to see in a positive light. absolutely. some shocking numbers that you're giving us there. just talk to us about why this drug is so dangerous. well, it's dangerous for several reasons. some is the physiologic aspects of it, in that it is exceedingly potent, 50 times more potent than heroin, 100 times more potent than morphine, meaning that 1/50th of that amount, you can overdose, compared to the same amount of heroin. so what happens is the drug users get drugs that are cut with other substances, and they never know how much

fentanyl is in it, so one batch may have a little, and the next batch may have enough that any dose is going to cause an overdose, and potentially a fatal overdose. so there's that aspect of it, there is also that drug use is so stigmatised, people tend to hide their use, so if they do overdose, they cannot be revived with naloxone in a timely manner, and it is also in the us, most people who are dependent on opioids aren't in effective drug treatments, so i would say those are some of the major issues why you have this phenomenal rate. so, from what you're saying, there is also the risk here that, in terms of drug shortages of pharmaceutical drugs can also potentially push people to go to the illicit market, and then risk encountering fentanyl when it is cut into another drug? correct, yes, so people become drug—dependent, and once you are dependent on an opiate, the withdrawal symptoms are just so horrific that you will do a lot of things to get that drug, or to stave off the withdrawal symptoms, and if you can't

legally get your drug to prevent withdrawal, then you are going to go to the illicit drugs, and now there are a lot of counterfeit drugs that contain fentanyl, so people used to try to safely get things like 0xycontin on the street, but now a lot of these supposed 0xycontin are really counterfeit that contains fentanyl, so it is very difficult to get a drug that you know the dose, and with fentanyl, because of its potency, not knowing the dose can easily be fatal. look, professor, i know it's a huge question that i'm asking you, but what needs to happen to get a handle on this, and do you think the biden administration is doing enough about it?

well, yeah, i think it is one of these where it has to be multipronged, there is no silver bullet, but there is a lot that can be done. first of all, there needs to be more access to the drug treatment, because most people who are drug—dependent are not on known effective drug treatments, like methadone and diamorphine. so those things are not available. the question of biden, most drug treatments is through states, so that with the federal government, there are some limitations of what they can do. naloxone needs to be much more available, programmes need to be made to reduce the stigma of drug use, there needs to be places where people can inject safely, that is sanctioned drug places where people use drugs, so that if somebody overdoses, other people can quickly treat them with naloxone, and that one is a federal law that needs to be addressed. and finally, what about stemming the supply? do you think more needs to be

done to crack down on that? well, i would say that, yes, and that a lot of the precursors, almost all the precursors for fentanyl are made in china, and then shipped to mexico and other places for making fentanyl, so clearly trying to cut down on that is a viable strategy. however, historically, supply—side interdiction has not necessarily been very effective, and it may have unforeseen consequences, like clamping down on heroin may lead to fentanyl, so i think that's part of it, but i think it needs to be done veryjudiciously and not with a heavy hand, or you may get, you know, whole narco terrorists and groups, because of the profits to be made, due to illicit drugs. if the prices go up, then there is huge incentive for criminal elements to engage in selling drugs, so i think it has to be done in a way that doesn't motivate that type of behaviour. prof carl latkin, thank you so much for your insights

on this important issue. you're quite welcome. more than a week on from morocco�*s deadly earthquake, a group of villages in the high atlas mountains — one of the worst—hit regions — has still only received limited the bbc�*s ethar shalaby sent this update from the mountains. in this village, one of the very hard to reach villages

here in the province of shower, north—east of the epicentre of the earthquake, i am in a completely destroyed house of rashid, who will tell us how was it on the night of the earthquake. he is telling me that he was sitting, having dinner with his mother in the kitchen, what used to be a kitchen, what used to be a kitchen here, and then suddenly the house crashed on top of them. he actually managed to quickly save his mother and get her out of the kitchen. however, she is having a severe fractures in her leg at the moment. so he's going to show me around the house at the moment. this was his bedroom, he says. it's completely full of rubble, as we can see, and he said that they tried their best to get as much belongings as they could, and as we can see, still some of their belongings are still there, thatis belongings are still there, that is the slippers of his own mother, and as we can see now, these are the family pictures, thatis

these are the family pictures, that is his mothers picture, showing me his grandfather's picture and his father's pictures as well. this was his mother's bedroom, and it's completely destroyed. and she used to sleep there. that was the sight of the bad, whether that was actually located. rashid is saying that his mother is currently receiving treatment, after staying in a field hospitalfor some treatment, after staying in a field hospital for some two days, but still she is recovering from a very severe leg fracture. ukraine claims it's recaptured another village during its offensive in the east of the country. the small village of klishchiivka has now been cleared of occupying russian forces. it's just a couple of miles from bakhmut, the city captured by russian forces in may after a long battle. since then, ukraine says it has been re—taking land surrounding bakhmut, including andriivka, which it claims to have ta ken on saturday. russia has denied ukraine's claims.

now before we go — a pigeon spotted in a northern english town has ruffled a few feathers amongst surprised locals. the pink pigeon has been seen accepting food from locals in bury. it's unclear whether the mystery bird has been dyed, fallen into something or is just naturally pink. stay with us here on bbc news. iam i am helena iam helena humphrey i am helena humphrey in washington, thanks for your company. i'll be back with your latest headlines at the top of the hour. see you then. hello. it is shaping up to be a very unsettled and autumnal week of weather, with some strong winds and some heavy rain, and talking of heavy rain, on sunday, parts of south west england had localised flash flooding, because of some really intense downpours and thunderstorms that drifted up from the south. you can see the shower clouds there on our earlier satellite picture. we've also got a couple of different frontal systems pushing in from the west, so, whichever way you slice it, quite a wet start to monday for many of us. still some hefty showers

across parts of eastern england, first thing. then here comes our band of rain, some particularly wet weather across parts of scotland. behind our rain bands, we see a mixture of sunny spells and showers. some of those could be on the heavy side, and also behind our rain band, a cooler, fresherfeel. so, temperatures north to south, 13 to 20 degrees. so, cool and fresh, as we head into monday night, some clear spells, still some showers, and then here comes our next weather system, a zone of cloud and outbreaks of heavy rain across northern ireland, south—west scotland, north—west england, parts of wales, turning very mild down towards the south west, rather chilly across north—eastern parts of scotland. so here comes our next frontal system for tuesday that is going to bring some heavy bursts of rain, particularly wet, i think, over high ground in south—west scotland, north—west england and parts of wales. to the south of that, some patchy rain and a fair amount of cloud. but it is going to be windy, particularly for england, wales, northern ireland. inland spots could see gusts of 50 mph. around some of the coasts, the winds could be a little bit stronger than that.

temperature—wise, well, we could get to 20 or 21 degrees, if the cloud breaks at all down towards the south of england and south wales. tuesday night into wednesday, we see all these white lines, all these isobars on the chart. that shows us that it is going to be windy still, windy on wednesday, particularly just ahead of this band of cloud and rain, this cold front, which will be pushing its way southwards and eastwards through the day. to the north and west of that, well, we see a mix of sunny spells and showers returning — temperatures of 1a to 22 degrees. for the end of the week, it does stay very unsettled — showers or longer spells of rain, and it will often be windy, particularly in the northwest of the uk as we head into next weekend.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. modern life — the school run, work calls, inflation. remember your lines. scientists are carrying out pioneering... sorry, that whole thing.

ok, the whole thing. the whole thing. 0k. 0ur brain never evolved for any of this, and yet here we are getting on with it, as best as we can. and it's all thanks to our brain's incredible capacity to adapt, to learn, to grow. i'm on a journey to understand the miraculous plasticity of the human brain. the brain will even change its structure. the core, the architecture of the brain can change. this is neuroplasticity. 0nce thought to be limited to youth, we now know it's a constant force in shaping who we are... your minds can change the very substrate of its own operations. ..helping us to learn... adaptability is one of the most remarkable aspects of humanl intelligence, and i think. plasticity is the mechanism behind it. ..and to heal... well, neuroplasticity actually is at the core of neurorehabilitation. ..an active field of study that's helping us to understand how we became us. as things move forward, we're going to see more

and more how much our motor ability actually is tied