live from washington, this is bbc news. ukraine claims russian navy commanders have been killed by a missile strike in crimea. help is on the way: the first aid convoy has reached nagorno—karabakh since azerbaijan captured the disputed territory five days ago. and sudan's army chief tells the bbc he's ready for peace talks with rebel forces. hello, i'm nomia iqbal. we start with the war in ukraine. russian foreign minister sergey lavrov says the united states and ukraine's other allies are "directly at war" with moscow. lavrov also blamed the collapse

of the black sea grain deal on ukraine. he further criticised kyiv�*s peace plan as not "feasible" or "realistic". here's mr lavrov addressing the un general assembly on saturday. translation: the collective west has a calling card and iti has long been to reject the principle of equality and their total inability to reach an agreement. being used to looking down at the rest of the world, americans and europeans make all sorts of promises and they take on commitments inter alia, written ones and legally binding ones, and then, theyjust don't fulfil them. as president putin pointed out, the west is one that is truly an empire of lies. russia, like many countries, knows about this firsthand. the bbc spoke to phillips o'brien, professor of strategic studies at st andrews university. he said a lot was missing from mr lavrov�*s address. it was a speech that

you would say really comes from a point of view of weakness on ukraine that he couldn't even mention the ukraine war, that there was no discussion of russia's right to invade ukraine, of russia's annexation of ukraine — the parts of ukraine, so in that sense, it was really running away from the story of the moment, which is the fact that the russian army is in ukraine and fighting a huge war, so i think we have to say, you know, its expected but it's not a speech of strength. meanwhile, the speaker of the us house of representatives says he will include a $300 million aid package for ukraine in a wider military spending bill up for debate this week as congress seeks to avoid a us government shutdown. on friday, kevin mccarthy — the most powerful republican on capitol hill — said he would split the ukraine aid package away from the military funding bill in hopes of convincing ukraine sceptics in his party to keep the us military funded. less than 2a hours later, though, he has told reporters

from the website politico that doing so would not be feasible. the move leaves the aid package — which ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky pushed in a visit to congress this week — in limbo and it could make it harder for mr mccarthy to secure the votes necessary to keep the us government funded through the beginning of october. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, says he is "deeply concerned" for the safety of ethnic armenians in nagorno—karabakh, four days after azerbaijan took control over the long—disputed territory. the state department says mr blinken made the remarks in a conversation with armenia's prime minister, held in the past few hours. the region is internationally recognised as part of azerbaijan but its population is mostly ethnic armenians, who ruled it as a breakaway republic for three decades. earlier this week, an azerbaijani military operation routed the ethnic armenian separatists and azerbaijan has begun taking full control of the region. now, tens of thousands of armenians have sought refuge in the main city, stepanakert, many of them gathering at the airport.

they are coping with dwindling food, medicine and fuel supplies. the red cross has managed to deliver 70 tonnes of aid for the first time since hostilities ended. the organisation's spokesperson, jason straziuso, said the shipments contained basic staples like wheat. it's an indication of how dire the situation is — not enough food, not enough medical supplies. the convoy that we sent in today did drop off some medical supplies. it also dropped off body bags — not so pleasant to think about but an important aspect of this is a dignified management of the dead. earlier on saturday, azerbaijani forces showed off weapons captured from ethnic armenian forces. local officials said the terms of a ceasefire were now being implemented, including evacuating the wounded. but later, the truce was apparently violated with an azeri soldier wounded in an exchange of fire. in new york, azerbaijan's

foreign ministerjeyhun bayramov told the un general assembly that baku was determined to "reintegrate" karabakh armenians as equal citizens. but his armenian counterpart demanded the un establish a mission in the region to prevent further killings of ethnic armenians. the bbc�*s 0lga ivshina is one of the first journalists to have reached the region since this week's hostilities began. she filed this report. this is the first time journalists have been allowed in the karabakh since the start of recent possibilities. —— into karabakh since the start of recent possibilities. we're currently in susa, a key point in the area. it sits on the mountain which overlooks several strategic roads and towns. the conflict between azerbaijan and armenia has taken tens of thousands of lives. so, the question everyone is asking now is will this ceasefire hold 7 azerbaijan military has told us they're currently in control of khankendi — a city down

there which karabakh armenians call stepanakert and consider their capital, so it's very important. however, azerbaijan has provided no details, no evidence, and this is as close as we are allowed to go. the biggest question now is what happens to karabakh armenians who have lived here for several decades. an azeri official has just told me that they will only target armed rebels and they are ready to provide security guarantees for the civilians. we are currently conducting mine cleaning. we also established camps — temporary camps. in these camps, we can provide food, water, electricity and also heating for up to 1000 people in each camp. however, there is a lot of mistrust on both sides. destiny of these people is now the factor in azeri hands. 0lga ivshina, bbc news, karabakh. turning to sudan now. the head of the army claims

he's ready to talk peace with the rebel commander whom he is battling for control of the country. the brutal civil war has left more than 5,000 people dead, according to the un, with five million displaced. general abdel fattah al—burhan of the sudanese armed forces has told the bbc he's prepared, in principle, to sit down with mohamed hamdan dagalo, leader of the of the rebel rapid support forces. the two men have been fighting a brutal internal war since april, which the united nations says has left more 5000 people dead and more than 5 million displaced. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale spoke to him in new york, and began by asking him why neither side appeared willing to engage in peace talks. translation: we have the desire and will to end this war. _ we know the suffering of the sudanese people.

we know the atrocities committed against the sudanese people. we are ready to engage in negotiations whenever. but are you prepared to sit down and talk with the rsf leader, hemedti? if the leadership of this mutinous force has the desire to return to its senses and pull its troops out of the residential areas and return to its barracks, then we will sit with any of them. but, in principle, are you ready to sit down and talk with him? absolutely. whenever he commits to what we agreed injeddah, we will sit and resolve the problem. are you confident of victory? definitely. if you are so confident of victory, why have you relocated and moved to port sudan,

effectively giving up khartoum? in khartoum, the diplomatic missions and all government organs cannot carry out their duties as normal because it is a war zone. there are snipers and military operations taking place. your army is accused of killing civilians by the united nations, by ngos. why are the civilian casualties so high? why are your forces deliberately targeting civilians? this is not correct. there are fabrications of some stories by the rebel forces. they bomb civilians and film it as if it was the armed forces. we are professional forces. we work with precision and select our targets in areas where only the enemy is present. is the future of south sudan

a failed state like somalia or a divided state like libya? the sudan will remain united. the sudan, because of its zones, it will remain a state intact, not a failure state. shortly after speaking to general al—burhan, our diplomatic correspondent james landale sent us this assessment of the sudanese army leader's aims while he was attending the un general assembly in new york. general al—burhan is on a negligible diplomatic tour, trying to drum up some kind of international legitimacy, and that's why his language is incredibly positive. he says he is in favour of peace, he is willing to discuss a ceasefire, confident of victory. but language like this — very positive language — in past months has not led, at any stage, to a lessening in the fighting, so i don't think we should expect any kind of peace talks any time soon.

what i think the general really wants is more international engagement — and engagement that is more supportive of him. that's why he is denying, against all the evidence, that his forces are targeting civilians. the un says very explicitly that they are. but the problem is that the world is distracted by other issues at the moment — ukraine, global economic woes — and so, its focus is not on the fighting in sudan. if you talk to diplomats here at the united nations in new york and you ask them about sudan, they throw their hands up in some frustration. it is not a conflict that they are confident of influencing. but i think the big problem, the big risk, is that the fighting spells out over the borders of sudan and fuels regional instability and i think if that happens, then this war will then rise very fast up the international agenda. haiti's prime minister ariel henry has called for urgent

united nations action to bring stability to his country. he says the security situation has led to a new humanitarian crisis, displacing thousands of people. mr henry said kidnappings for ransom, arson, massacres, sexual violence, and people trafficking are all on the rise since violent gangs took control. he told the general assembly the security council must act to authorise an international force to help haiti's overstretched police and military subdue rampant armed gangs. the country's stability has deteriorated as its largest economic driver, agriculture production, slowed due to natural disasters like the devastating earthquake in 2010. those have led to illnesses, such as cholera, spreading on a mass scale. meanwhile, political corruption has made it nearly impossible for the prime minister to manage the chaos. the un says more than 2,000 people have been killed in haiti since the start of this year. while the biden administration said they will not be sending

troops to haiti, they will continue to offer financial and humanitarian support. us secretary of state antony blinken promised a further $65 million to help haiti's police, and he prompted the council to sanction the deployment. he said there was no time to lose. washington says 12 countries have pledged to join the force, which kenya is offering to lead. secretary blinken spoke of additional measures the us is taking to support haiti. today, we're taking steps to impose additional visa restrictions on current and former haitian officials who are enabling the violence. with that step, we've designated more than 50 individuals. in ghana, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the capital accra on saturday for a third day of anti—government protests linked to economic hardship. dozens have been arrested for defying a police order not to assemble. 0ur newsroom reporter daniel dadzie has more.

so these are the scenes on the streets leading up to the seat of ghana's government in the capital, accra. for three days the protestors have waved placards and nationalflags among others. they decry the high cost of living and the lack ofjobs as they march under the watchful eye of riot police. the 0ccupyjubilee house demonstration began as a hashtag on x, formerly known as twitter. on thursday, police picked up 49 of these protesters for violating the public order act and gathering unlawfully. since then, these policemen have barricaded the streets leading up to that very presidential residency but democracy hub gh, which organised the demonstration, has vowed to occupy that very premises. tell him!

we cannot afford a meal. this is very dangerous for the whole country. we have kids, age of 1a or 15, taking people's belongings just to survive. the government does not care. ghana's economy is facing its worst crisis in a generation with spiralling public debt. growth is forecast to hit 1.5% this year down from 3.1% in 2022. government has sealed a three—year $3 billion imf loan in may but critics say they have done too little to help those who are most in need in this protracted downturn. daniel dadzie, bbc news. for the past year, italy has had the most right—wing government since world war ii. now it's planning to criminalise people who travel abroad to have children via surrogacy, which is already

banned at home. while the majority of italians who seek surrogacy abroad are believed to be heterosexual, many same—sex parents fear the new law is targeting lgbt families, by making it harder for them to have children. a recent ipsos poll shows that 45% of italians oppose the idea of surrogacy, but 45% were also in favour of granting legal recognition for children born via surrogacy. 0ur correspondent sofia bettiza has this report. applause. since georgia meloni swept to power as italy's first female prime minister, lgbt families have felt under attack. a few months ago, the government ordered city councils to stop the registration of most children with same sex parents. this has left hundreds of children in legal limbo, like mauro and mauricio�*s twins. they were born in america through surrogacy —

when a woman carries a pregnancy for another couple. something happened and we have to go to the hospital. we legally, we cannot take decision for them. we should call a judge. under the eye of italian law we have no relationships whatsoever with these children now. the ideological battle of the governments actually is damaging the children. and now the italian government is planning to make surrogacy a universal crime. that means that couples who go abroad to countries where it is legal could face a 1 euro million fine and up to two years in jail. so what is a universal crime? it's a crime so serious that it's prosecuted even if committed abroad, but that is normally human trafficking, paedophilia or war crimes. it feels odd that surrogacy, which is legal in many countries, would fall

under this category. i asked the mp who designed the bill if this is an attack on the lgbt community. translation: absolutely false. most people who use surrogacy are heterosexual. this is a law that protects women from being exploited. we are not discriminating against children. this bill only targets the parents who commission a baby. we're on our way to meet two men who are expecting a baby through a surrogacy. they are really scared of what could happen to them and their baby. and so they've asked us not to reveal their identities. they might be forced to leave italy for a more

gay—friendly country. i'm afraid that our child won't have his parents because their parents are in jail. so do you feel like you are having to seek political asylum ? yes, i do. i'm feeling like we have to be... to be ready to escape as quick as possible. the lgbt community is fighting back. chanting. but the proposal to make surrogacy a universal crime is likely to become law, chipping away at the already fragile status of italy's same sex families. sofia bettiza, bbc news, italy. there's been another dog attack in england, believed to involve an xl american bully. a man was taken to hospital after being bitten on the arm at a park in south london. meanwhile, dog owners marched to protest government plans to ban the breed. barry caffrey reports.

this is pasley park, walworth. it was here where a man was attacked by a dog just after six o'clock yesterday evening. he is currently in hospital with serious injuries. a local resident told me the dog jumped over this fence of this dog exercise area and bit the arm of a man in his 40s. police say the owner of the dog, believed to be an xl bully, fled the park before they arrived. efforts are now being made to try and track down the owner. these people had mixed views about american bullys being in the park. i have fear when i see one of these dogs. i tend to walk on the other side of the street and it worries me for children and vulnerable people. if you have an xl bully you should have the dog muzzled all the time if it is out in public. kept on a lead and if you are

going to let it off it needs to be in a secure place. idon't think it is the dogs, i think it is the owners- because some owners train their dogs to be protectivel over them and when they say attack they attack but with i this dog here it is ok. this dog is not trained to bel an attack, he is trained to be friendly and good to everyone. a number of other recent attacks including in walsall where a man died, prompted the prime minister rishi sunak to say he had ordered urgent work to ban the animals. today, protesters gathered to march to parliament to voice their concerns about the government's plans to ban the breed. they say despite their fearsome appearance and build, the dogs make lovable household pets. personally, my dog is as soppy as anything. he is around my grandchildren. i have an autistic grandson and he is calming for him. literally sleeps beside him and it does him good.

i agree that they are dangerous. none of us here discriminate that. we're not saying they are not dangerous in the wrong hands there. my female is 53kg, of course she is dangerous in the wrong hands but she is trained and well mannered and well loved and fed correctly. the dog control coalition, a group including the rspca, battersea dogs home in the royal kennel club said banning specific breeds was not the solution, pointing to irresponsible breeding, rearing and ownership. barry caffrey, bbc news. this weekend, a capsule is expected to fall from space and land in the american state of utah. it contains rocks and dust from the surface of an asteroid called bennu, which could give important clues about how the earth was formed. scientists from nasa are eagerly awaiting the capsule's arrival

in the utah desert — where our science editor, rebecca morelle filed this report. the clock really is ticking for the team. they are gearing up for the dramatic conclusion of this 7—year long 0siris—rex mission. after travelling for billions of miles through our solar system, this capsule — which is carrying the precious fragments of asteroid bennu — will make its way through the atmosphere and all the way down to the ground here in utah. but that descent will be perilous. it will speed through the atmosphere at 27,000 miles an hour, experiencing temperatures of 3000 degrees celsius. it will need two parachutes to slow it down and offer, hopefully, a soft landing. the capsule has no tracking or gps on board so the team will have to use long—range telescopes and infrared cameras to try and find it as it comes through, so it will be a nerve wracking wait for them.

once they have the co—ordinates they will get into the helicopter and head out to the recovery site because the key thing is to get the capsule and its contents into a clean room as soon as possible. they do not want any contamination. the big question, i guess, is why go to all of this trouble? the first reason is a really good one. we want to find out about asteroid bennu because it tops the list of nasa's most hazardous space rocks. there is a one in 1750 chance of it hitting earth in the next 1000 years. small, but significant. so if you want to stop or prevent something like this from happening, it helps to know what the asteroid is made of. but bennu is not all bad. it can tell us about our origins because asteroids are perfectly preserved time capsules, relics left over from the formation of the early solar system. so there is an awful lot we can learn from them.

scientists are desperate to get their carefully gloved hands on this asteroid sample once the capsule is open. it will be a painstaking process, a few weeks long but they say the wait will be worth it. a sad day for us here in washington. dc�*s national zoo is preparing to say farewell to three of its most popular celebrities. giant pandas tian tian, mei xiang and xiao qiji will be feted at a nine—day panda palooza starting this saturday through 0ctober1st. the party will celebrate dc�*s famous furry residents before they return to china as part of the zoo's agreement with the china wildlife conservation. the departure will leave the us capital panda—less for the first time since 1999. the zoo has worked with china to house pandas since 1972. the giant pandas are expected to leave for china no later than december 7th but the exact

date is not being announced. hello. the weather in the north atlantic is becoming a lot more turbulent. thejet stream is increasing in strength and the weather will be turning more and more unsettled in the coming days, in fact, rest of the weekend. for some of us, it's going to be a real mixed bag with spells of wind and rain sweeping across the country. here's one such weather front that's sweeping across the uk right now. it's bringing outbreaks of rain almost anywhere. it won't be raining all the time. you can see sort of these distinct clumps of rain crossing the country, but with that also strengthening winds. and they are coming in from the southwest. actually, remnants of an old hurricane here. so temperatures early in the morning, 16 in plymouth, even about 1a or 15 there in the lowlands of scotland. and it is a large area of low

pressure ahead of it. the winds are coming in from the southwest. so a relatively warm direction. and these weather fronts will be brushing the uk all through the day on sunday. but it is not a coherent area of rain. in fact, pulses of rain sweeping across the country. could be wet for a time in the morning. then the sun will come out. then the winds will strengthen again. and then towards the second half of the afternoon, i think that's when we'll see the really heavy rain and gale force winds around western parts of the uk. but all the while, i think, in central and eastern parts of the uk it's not bad at all. warm by day and actually the evening is not looking bad at all either. but this is 7:00. look at that heavy rain sweeping across western parts of the uk. the wind roses there showing gusts of wind in some places, 50, 60, maybe even approaching 70 miles an hour around scottish coasts. and then that weather front sweeps across the uk monday and behind it i think it's going to be quite a strong west south—westerly wind. it'll bring showers to scotland, but elsewhere i think a pretty

decent day and quite warm highs, approaching 20 degrees widely across england, high teens there in scotland and northern ireland. and then midweek we're watching a particularly potentially particularly nasty low coming our way, could bring severe gales, perhaps even stormy conditions around some coasts. so i think the time when that's going to happen will be around about wednesday. so if you're travelling this week, especially middle parts of the week, keep track of the weather. i think we'll firm up the forecast sometime late sunday and into monday. bye— bye.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. reporters speak spanish. it was once the murder capital of the world. cries. for decades, rival gangs ruled the streets of el salvador through violence, extortion and fear. until now. for a year, the country's young, media—savvy president has declared war on the gangs...