welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm arunoday mukharji. let's get you the headlines. thousands of ethnic armenians flee nagorno—karabakh after azerbaijan seized the disputed region last week. the metropolitan police say they have received "a number of allegations of sexual assault" following news reports about russell brand. the comedian has strongly denied the accusations. and the show must go on — us screenwriters reach a tentative deal with studio bosses which could end a five—month strike. live from our studio in singapore... this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to the programme.

starting with the big developing story — a growing number of ethnic armenian refugees have been leaving nagorno—karabakh after azerbaijan's seizure of this disputed region last week. roads leading towards the armenian border are jammed with traffic, and armenians say they fear persecution and ethnic cleansing. armenia says about 6,650 people have crossed the border so far. the territory is at the heart of one of the world's longest—running conflicts. nagorno—karabakh is recognised internationally as part of azerbaijan, but has been controlled by ethnic armenians for three decades. in the past few hours, local media are reporting that more than 200 people have been injured after a blast at a petrol station in the region. they're citing karabakh's ombudsman, but we haven't been able to verify that yet. our europe correspondent nick beake has been working with our bbc verify team and has the latest.

we're talking about one of the world's longest running conflicts. it's not often in the headlines, but now, once again, attention is on nagorno—karabakh, with warnings there could be ethnic cleansing. in other words, forcing out an ethnic group from an area. now, have a look at this video from the past 2a hours. the people you can see here are the ones who have already left nagorno—kara bakh. thousands have done this already. and the people you see here are ethnic armenians who have been living in the region. these pictures are from armenian television. now, to understand why this is happening, let's just step back and try and get our bearings, because we're talking about the south caucasus — basically where eastern europe meets asia. specifically the area between the black sea and the caspian sea. here, armenia. it's a country which is predominantly christian. azerbaijan, mainly muslim. they're both parts of what used to be the soviet union.

and if we zoom in, you can see the territory we're talking about, nagorno—karabakh. it's recognised internationally as being part of azerbaijan, but large areas of it have been controlled by ethnic armenians for three decades, and 120,000 ethnic armenians call it home. now, what has happened in the past week was that azerbaijan launched a military offensive in response to what it called provocations and quickly made gains. the operation, though, was condemned by the european union. the internet has been heavily restricted in nagorno—karabakh. but i want to show you one of the few videos that has emerged around the main city, stepa na kert. now you can see it's not exactly close up, but there is smoke in the distance. now, after this was taken, a peace deal was announced in which ethnic armenian forces would be disbanded and disarmed. but have a look at this image here. this is something that we've been taking a look

at at bbc verify. and this is, again, actually within the city of stepanakert. and you can see the big plume of thick smoke. this was from yesterday, even though a peace deal is supposed to be in place and we verified this looking at the outline of the mountains and also the shape and the colour of some of the buildings in the city itself. now, i want to show you this video here, because this is something that was taken showing people on the streets. you can see the traffic leaving nagorno—karabakh. this was actually filmed by the peacekeepers in the region. they're not from the united nations, they're from russia. and basically nagorno—karabakh, the people there have been told that they will be safe. that is the promise from azerbaijan. but armenian leaders are saying that they fear there will be ethnic cleansing. now, we talk about peacekeepers, but actually it's the responsibility, some would say, of lots of people within the international community to protect the human rights and the lives of thousands of armenians, people who a week ago were living in their homes and now they're set to be uprooted.

and there is a pressing concern about what may happen next. earlier, i spoke to carey cavanaugh, the former us ambassador and special negotiator for eurasian conflicts under the clinton and bush administrations. i asked him what could be done to help de—escalate the crisis. well, i think what we see right now is a real humanitarian crisis that requires emergency assistance for the people on the ground, and then a structured process to help people who choose to remain in azerbaijan and to help settle those who were leaving for armenia. and as viewers just saw, there is a significant number already on the road for armenia. a significant number have already arrived. i spoke to people in the region last night, and the prediction

coming out of there — and again, this is from individuals — is that almost everyone will leave, that there's not enough confidence that they will be safe and protected given the inaction of russian peacekeepers during the fighting. during the fighting and given the 30 plus years of conflict with either byjune and this fighting last week. they find it hard to be comfortable thinking you could stay and not suffer reprisals or punishment. in your opinion, ambassador, what kind of international support do you feel needs to be introduced at this stage? well, i think there's a big problem on the ground with transparency, and this has always been an issue in this region. already, we've seen disinformation. we've seen reports of human rights abuses, war crimes. the challenge there, there's no independent press to help observe that, report on that. whether it's true or not, we need sort of eyes on the ground.

and the other part is catastrophe of this dwarfs the ability of most countries to provide for the people in need. and i think we need to see a greater engagement of the international community, both international institutions, un specialised agencies, but non—governmental organisations as well, who can play a very valuable role here. the photos of refugees, a huge number of children. the photos of refugees — huge number of children. unicef is expert at helping deal with that. but there are no un people in the conflict area right now able to provide such assistance. in the uk, the metropolitan police have launched an investigation into allegations of sexual offences following the recent claims against russell brand. they are already looking into a possible offence back in 2003. these new claims are also historic. the comedian and actor has denied all the allegations against him which include rape and sexual assault. here's our media editor,

katie razzall. i believe this is about freedom. i believe this about democracy. back streaming on the video sharing platform rumble where he has 1.6 million followers and russell brand four was on the attack. we are going to be talking about the state and the legacy media's war on free speech and in particular how that has affected me this week. less than half an hour before his shows streamed, the metropolitan police announced its central specialist command team are investigating a number of allegations of non—recent sexual offences committed in london and elsewhere in the uk. the senior investigating officer said... the police statement didn't name russell brand, but it did refer to this

investigation by channel 4, the times and the sunday times, and made public two weekends ago. four women made the original claims of rape and sexual assault, which they alleged took place in the us and the uk. the day before the programme was broadcast, the comedian and presenter strongly denied any wrongdoing. i don't mind them using my books and my stand—up to talk about my promiscuous consensual contact in the past, what i seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations. the fallout financially has been swift. content creators earn money from streaming services when they attacked advertising. youtube has barred brand from monetising his video content since the allegations surfaced. rumble prides itself on standing up to cancel culture. it's accused the uk parliament of a deeply inappropriate command after the chair of the media and sport committee wrote

to its ceo asking if his site was going to follow youtube and suspend brand's ability to earn money from his content. since the story broke, the number of people following russell brand on social media and subscribing to his channels has increased by several hundred thousand. katie razzall, bbc news. ukraine's special forces say 3a russian officers were killed in a missile strike on the navy�*s headquarters in occupied crimea on friday. they say the commander of the black sea fleet was among those who died, although they are yet to produce evidence to support their claims. russia said at the time that only one serviceman was missing. 0ur correspondentjames waterhouse is in kyiv. we have seen a lot of russian missiles land in ukrainian cities that moscow can't control. so, the sight of a western supplied missile landing in the heart of sevastopol in occupied crimea, well, that's against the grain, let's put it like that. now, we have tried to get in touch with the special forces spokesman. he didn't mention admiral viktor sokolov by name, the commander of the black sea fleet,

nor did he provide any evidence with the claims we are hearing today. so, we don't yet know for sure that kiev�*s claim of 3a senior officers losing their lives in that attack, whether that's true or not. now, there is a chance ukraine acted on intelligence and took out a sizeable chunk of russia's command structure. but i think there are two more obvious reasons as to why we are seeing ukraine carry out more targeted strikes inside crimea. they directly help ukraine's continued counter—offensive further north, where the gains are far more marginal and less obvious. and secondly, should ukraine liberate crimea, as it wants to do, and should ukrainian troops enter crimea — it's a big if — then there will be an element of having to win hearts and minds in a peninsula that has been occupied for almost nine... well, more than nine years. to the other story we've been tracking. india continues to emphatically deny allegations by canada that it

had a hand in the murder of a canadian sikh injune. but indian media outlets are now reporting that delhi does want to put renewed pressure on some foreign sikh activists — naming seven britons among 19 people whose indian properties are set to be confiscated. it comes at a time when some british sikhs are concerned about a mischaracterisation of their community. here's our religion editor aleem maqbool. whenjustin trudeau accused india of involvement in the murder of this canadian sikh, he might have hoped for unequivocal public support from canada's friends. a lot of your allies have been silent on this. i wonder what your reaction to that is... but that hasn't come — even from the uk. leaving prime minister trudeau a lonely figure, and british sikhs upset. some already felt they had reason to feel aggrieved. take the case of jagtar singh johalfrom dumbarton.

he's a well—known sikh rights activist, and in 2017 went to india to get married. but there, he was bundled into a car and has been in prison ever since. he says he's been tortured and is frequently marched to court, accused of extremist offences which he denies, though he's yet to be tried. there have been six years of protests. the un working group publically called for mrjohal�*s immediate release, but the british government has yet to do the same. jagtar�*s brother says he's impressed by canada's stance. the canadian prime minister stood up for his citizen, heard about what has happened to one of his citizens, and on his own he has went into parliament, spoke to the opposition and said what he did. i don't see rishi sunak doing that. —— and as a result.

the prime minister has said he wants jagtarjohal�*s case resolved as quickly as possible. but narendra modi's administration has long—demanded britain do more to counter a resurgent movement of sikhs in the uk supporting a breakaway homeland — one they want to call khalistan. the uk government's formerfaith engagement advisor agrees. it was major finding in a report he published earlier this year. i think the british - government have been — for many, many years — naive in not addressingl the pro—khalistan extremistsl and sikh extremists that have been hiding in plain sight in the uk. - british sikh groups across the spectrum expressed outrage for what they see as activism is being characterised as extremism. they feel that somehow the government is kowtowing to delhi. but this is undoubtedly a difficult tightrope to walk

for the uk, for whom india is such an important strategic partner, particularly on security and trade. aleem maqbool, bbc news, at the foreign office. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. former nurse lucy letby will face a retrial on an outstanding allegation that she attempted to murder a baby girl. she was given a life sentence last month for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the countess of chester hospital. her legal team has lodged an application to appeal against those convictions. the nhs in england has passed a grim milestone with more than a million hospital appointments cancelled because of strikes. the industrial action began in december and last week saw the first strike by junior doctors and consultants at the same time. some say the true scale of the disruption is likely to be higher.

gatwick airport will cancel around 82 departures over the coming week because of high levels of sickness, including covid, among air traffic control staff. the largest number of cancellations is expected on friday, with 33 departures affected. easyjet passengers will be the most impacted, with british airways and ryanair also cancelling flights. you're live with bbc news. let's get you news that we're also tracking. the philippines says it's removed a floating barrier deployed by china to prevent fishing boats entering a disputed area of the south china sea. this video released by the philippine coast guard shows a man wearing a mask, snorkel and fins using a knife to sever a rope attached to white buoys. the coast guard say the barrier posed a hazard to navigation and hinders the fishing and livelihood of filipino fisherfolk at the area. china claims more than 90% of the south china sea and seized the shoal in 2012.

the scottish actor, david mccallum — with a film and television carreer spanning 60 years — has died at the age of 90 in new york. he starred in "the great escape" and appeared more recently as a forensic examiner in the hit us crime drama, "ncis". david sillito takes a look back at his life. it's involved in maintaining political and legal order anywhere... for a certain generation, david mccallum was and always will be the man from uncle. i and always will be the man from uncle. ., ., ., ., uncle. i go and i do whatever i am told t0- — uncle. i go and i do whatever i am told to. quiet, _ am told to. quiet, enigmatic, aood am told to. quiet, enigmatic, good looking- _ am told to. quiet, enigmatic, good looking. were _ am told to. quiet, enigmatic, good looking. were enough i am told to. quiet, enigmatic, l good looking. were enough for the hundreds _ good looking. were enough for the hundreds of— good looking. were enough for the hundreds of teenage - good looking. were enough for the hundreds of teenage fans | the hundreds of teenage fans who found david irresistible. the fan worship was rather

overwhelming for an actor who was himself quiet, thoughtful and serious.— was himself quiet, thoughtful and serious. the background i had made _ and serious. the background i had made me _ and serious. the background i had made me very _ and serious. the background i had made me very reticent, i had made me very reticent, very... you're not... you don't show emotion. it's a very inhibiting thing. if) show emotion. it's a very inhibiting thing.— inhibiting thing. 50 years later, inhibiting thing. 50 years later. he _ inhibiting thing. 50 years later, he is _ inhibiting thing. 50 years later, he is once - inhibiting thing. 50 years later, he is once again i inhibiting thing. 50 years i later, he is once again back inhibiting thing. 50 years - later, he is once again back in prime time as doctor donald duck emert rod in and say ncis. if you wanted someone who looked as though they could solve fiendishly complicated mysteries, he was your man. and he loved doing the research to make it look convincing. clocks will develop — make it look convincing. clocks will develop over _ make it look convincing. clocks will develop over a _ make it look convincing. clocks will develop over a period - make it look convincing. clocks will develop over a period of i will develop over a period of minutes or hours. his will develop over a period of minutes or hours.— minutes or hours. his first taste of — minutes or hours. his first taste of big-screen - minutes or hours. his first | taste of big-screen success minutes or hours. his first - taste of big-screen success had taste of big—screen success had been the great escape, beginning back in the �*aos in

radio plays. a child of musicians, he was born in glasgow and his family moved to london. he left for america because he felt britain was becoming worryingly left wing. however, it didn't stop him returning to work here. not to be done, what we've had to. �* , , ~ to. and then, sapphire and steel. take _ to. and then, sapphire and steel. take it _ to. and then, sapphire and steel. take it downstairs. l to. and then, sapphire and - steel. take it downstairs. burn it. however, it wasn't a patch on the man from uncle. david mccallum — he wrote, he composed music and he knew a great deal about forensic science. but above all, he was in the cold war the west's favourite russian agent. the longest strike

to affect hollywood in decades could be ending — a development welcomed today by us presidentjoe biden. a tentative deal has been struck, between studio bosses and the union representing screenwriters. writers have been on strike since early may. the 15,000 members still have to vote to ratify the deal. 0ur correspondent nada tawfik is in new york where many of the us entertainment networks are based. i mean, you'll have late shows like the one behind me at cbs that will return. it will provide a bit of normality for american viewers on television, but they will still be seeing reruns of those scripted series that relies on actors. films that have been on pause will continue to do on pause will continue to do, so until there is a resolution with the screen actors guild. now, keep in mind, they went on strike injuly, joining the writers — the first time the two have done so since the 1960s. and in all of that time, the studios haven't engaged in negotiations with the screen actors guild. so, there's now hope that given

the resolution, the tentative deal with the writers, that could help speed things along. and there's a lot of pressure because unless that is done soon, it could put into jeopardy next year's box office season. now, certainly for the screen actors, it's similar concerns as the writers, but they are also asking for a 2% share of profits for the cast of popular shows. this is been dominating headlines for a while. we're joined now from los angeles by katie kilkenny, labour and media reporter for the hollywood reporter. thank you very much forjoining us. 146 days of stalemate. what finally got this agreement on the table?— the table? we're still trying to net the table? we're still trying to get details, _ the table? we're still trying to get details, and - the table? we're still trying i to get details, and negotiators are not speaking until tomorrow when they release the details. but we do know towards the very

end of this past weekend, ai continued to be a really difficult sticking point for both sides. the writers guild of america was trying to get some real regulations on eai, trying not to have ai trained on the strips. so, we'll have to wait and stay tuned for what happened there.— to wait and stay tuned for what happened there. katie, what are ou happened there. katie, what are you picking _ happened there. katie, what are you picking up — happened there. katie, what are you picking up on _ happened there. katie, what are you picking up on since - happened there. katie, what are you picking up on since this i you picking up on since this agreement?— you picking up on since this aureement? ., ., , , agreement? relief and optimism. there's been _ agreement? relief and optimism. there's been a — agreement? relief and optimism. there's been a lot _ agreement? relief and optimism. there's been a lot of _ agreement? relief and optimism. there's been a lot of optimism i there's been a lot of optimism and positivity ever since this past week, when the studios' ceos got involved directly, because that came after a month of the site is not meeting. they were bickering about who's inside it was. so, there's so much optimism today. we don't know the nitty—gritty details of the deal yet and there certainly can be some debate

once those come through. but today, is happiness and celebration.— today, is happiness and celebration. ., celebration. the moment we still are waiting _ celebration. the moment we still are waiting to _ celebration. the moment we still are waiting to hear- celebration. the moment we still are waiting to hear on i still are waiting to hear on what was really in the fine print, but are you poking up other pieces from this conversation on negotiations? was at the studio or the guild? what kind of give—and—take was there? i what kind of give-and-take was there? ~ , there? i think there is give-and-take - there? i think there is give-and-take on i there? i think there is | give-and-take on both there? i think there is - give-and-take on both sides. give—and—take on both sides. studio services were saying that they had done some give—and—take on issues give—and—ta ke on issues including give—and—take on issues including ai, including a minimum tb eight writer rooms sizes. no one expected the studios to move on, so that was a big update. in terms of success, which will likely require some sort of measure of transparency, which those services have been loath to give. it will be really interesting to see what the writers guild got in those details. . , ., ., ~

details. katie, 'ust looking ahead, actors i details. katie, just looking ahead, actors are - details. katie, just looking ahead, actors are still i details. katie, just looking ahead, actors are still on i ahead, actors are still on strike. will the writers tip the scales in their favour as well? it the scales in their favour as well? . . , the scales in their favour as well? . ., , well? it certainly could. there were several _ well? it certainly could. there were several issues _ well? it certainly could. there were several issues including | were several issues including ai, including a virile compensation —— overall. the fact that the writers guild moved on several of those items could certainly help grease the wheels for the actors. but the actors also have some very specific issues of their own, such as virtual auditions, something that why writers don't really have to worry about. i think this will help, but the actors, it's a massive union full of plenty of different people, so they're going to have to take some time for their own negotiation. katie, i'm sure you've been tracking this story closely. 146 days, just take us through the highlights of what we've seenin the highlights of what we've seen in the past few months. well, the writers guild of surprise everyone with this shut strategy. they decided

they could pick at productions and therefore get other union folks who don't want to cross the picket line to observe their picket lines and stop productions altogether. we saw that happening on a number of productions. as well as writer producers saying they want to work on their production side because a lot of it is writing. we saw things like stranger things shut down productions while those producers decided not to work. the actors came out and joined the writers, and that completely shut down production in hollywood. and then, we'vejust production in hollywood. and then, we've just had so many different picket lines and dramas. and the writers attempted to stop them down upright thanks very much. thank ou ve upright thanks very much. thank you very much — upright thanks very much. thank you very much for _ upright thanks very much. thank you very much for helping i upright thanks very much. thank you very much for helping us i you very much for helping us understand the situation. do stay with bbc news.

hello there. we've got a bit of rain on the way today, but also should see some spells of sunshine developing. and at the moment, the rain is edging into northern ireland, where it's turning quite heavy. we've got southerly winds feeding in, so it's a mild start to tuesday with temperatures holding up into double figures. and that rain in northern ireland will soon spread to scotland, see a bit of wet weather as well for a time across northern england and north wales. across central and eastern england, a few showers will develop through the day, it'll turn quite cloudy for a time as well. but it is a day where we'll all see some sunshine at some points during the day, and those temperatures continue to run above average for the time of year, about 16—23 degrees. then we've got storm agnes on the way for the middle part of the week, bringing some potentially disruptive weather. now, at the moment, agnes is this lump of cloud in the mid—atlantic — it's got 30 mile an hour winds on it, it is a very weak area of low pressure. however, it's going to pass

underneath a very strong atlanticjet stream blowing at 140 mph, and that will deepen this low pressure rapidly. pressure falls by over 24 millibars in 24 hours. it's an example of a weather bomb. now, thankfully, the peak intensity of this low pressure will be well away from our shores. and actually, as the low pressure moves away from the jet stream, it's going to start to weaken. as that weakening takes place, well, that's what will determine exactly how strong the winds get. now, i think through the irish sea coasts, it's here where we'll see the strongest gusts of wind, could get gusts of wind around 70 or even 80 mph, potentially damaging and certainly disruptive gusts of wind. inland, yes, you could see 50, 60—odd mile an hour gusts across parts of south—west england, across wales, across northern england and northern ireland. but it's the coast and the hills where we could see those much stronger gusts of wind, reaching 70 or even 80 mph. now, it will stay quite windy into thursday. agnes, or what's left of it,

will be heading out into the norwegian sea. we'll be left with lots of showers across western areas, with more general rain pushing back into northern ireland. it will stay quite blustery, temperatures around 14—21 degrees celsius. now, beyond that, i think friday and saturday looking 0k — there'll be a few showers across the northwest, but a fair amount of dry weather. however, rain looks set to return from sunday and into the early part of next week as well. that's it for now.

joe biden is set to join car industry workers at the picket lines in michigan. we look into what's at stake for the us president. plus — nissan's chief executive tells the bbc the car maker is accelerating plans toward electrification, even as the uk takes its foot off the pedal. hello and welcome to asia business report with me arunoay mukharji. we begin in the us with the strike affecting the auto industry because the us president joe biden is expected tojoin workers on the picket line in michigan later today. the industrial unrest has highlighted a clash between the president's support for unions and his push for clean energy. 0ur north america business correspondent ? michelle fleury has the latest from new york.

the fight between america's biggest