anybody who says you have a child's, through crypto pregnancy, is a liar. you will be given another person's child. , l, be given another person's child. , . , be given another person's child. , . , , be given another person's child. , child. islam is bad is a lockdown, _ child. islam is bad is a lockdown, police -- i child. islam is bad is a - lockdown, police -- islamabad lockdown, police —— islamabad is in lockdown. a far—right, pro—russia candidate takes a surprise lead in the first round of romania's presidential election. and britain braces itself for more disruption from storm bert — after severe floods devastate parts of wales. iam i am live in one of the worst hit streets in pontypridd where residents have been clearing up, but they are angry about what they see as the lack of warnings they were given over the floods. hello, i'm lucy hockings, welcome to bbc news now. three hours of fast—moving

news, interviews and reaction. it's a fertility scam that's ruthless and cruel. women pay large sums for fake treatments which they're told will guarantee conception. they're then tricked into believing they're pregnant and going into labour — — before they're given drugs and sent home with a baby, which it's believed has been trafficked. the scam is happening in nigeria and has been uncovered by the bbc africa eye investigations team. we'll talk to the reporter yemisi adegoke in a moment, but first, here's her heartbreaking report. sirens. we're on a raid. these police say they're cracking down on brothels and child trafficking. the doors have padlocks on them. the police have been trying to kick them in, but they haven't been able to just yet. it's a really sort of maze of a house. lots of different rooms, lots of different compartments. the authorities say they're worried some of these brothels could be fuelling a lucrative fertility scam that's taking hold. it's called cryptic pregnancy.

the term is a recognised medical condition, but its use has been hijacked by sophisticated fraudsters in parts of nigeria, in a scam that preys on desperate couples struggling with fertility and supports an underground trade in newborn babies. the woman is convinced that if she visits a cryptic nurse or a doctor, she's going to get an injection, a tablet or a solution that she will drink. and after she goes home, she sleeps with her husband, she's going to get pregnant. my colleagues have spent months investigating this. the scammers convince women they're pregnant and only they can deliver the baby. incredibly, they claim the woman could be pregnant for years, while they wait for a rare and expensive drug to bring on the birth. your doctor will call you and say, "come and give birth today." bbc africa eye went undercover for over a year to expose one woman running the scam.

she's known as doctor ruth. for many of the people that come here, this is not their first time. some have given birth to their first and second child through us. her so—called treatment costs an initial us$200 and consists of either an injection or a powder. if you want to do a sex selection, you need to take an injection. a month later, doctor ruth tells our undercover reporter that she's pregnant. but an official pregnancy test confirms that this is not true. doctor ruth has not responded to the allegations we've put to her. many of the women who go through the scam end up with a child, and they insist they have given birth. some say they are given an injection and told to push. others say they wake up with a caesarian—like incision. but where are the children

really coming from? crypto pregnancy cannot exist without child trafficking. anybody that tells you you will have a child through crypto pregnancy is a liar. you are going to be given another person's child, a trafficked child. adobe, not her real name, was found pregnant and trapped in a facility running the scam. had she not been rescued, her baby would have ended up with another woman. i wouldn't have seen my baby. it would have broken my heart. until attitudes towards infertility change in nigeria, countless more children and women will continue to fall victim to scams like this. yemisi adegoke, bbc news, southeastern nigeria. that report was by yemisi adegoke, who nowjoins us live from abuja.

good to see you. i think a lot of people seeing the story for the first time will still be puzzled by it.— the first time will still be uzzledb it. ., , , ., puzzled by it. carry us to some basics? what makes _ puzzled by it. carry us to some basics? what makes these - puzzled by it. carry us to some - basics? what makes these women think they are pregnant and have delivered a baby? i think they are pregnant and have delivered a baby? i think it is really _ have delivered a baby? i think it is really important - have delivered a baby? i think it is really important to - it is really important to understand a lot of the women who fall for this scam have been trying to have children for many years. they are introduced to it by women who gone through this treatment and have successfully come out the other end with children. when the meat these doctors they are given medication that makes their bodies change, their stomachs well so they appeared to be pregnant. they are told not to go to traditional doctors, any medical testing. beyond that, there's a huge religious element to the scam, which is why it is successful. in nigeria, the type of christianity practice put heavy

emphasis on miracles. with that in mind, if miracles are possible, anything is possible, including things like this. whose babies are they given? this is the big question we were trying to find out through the course of this investigation. we suspected these were trafficked children, but the link was definitively made by the commission for women's affairs, who we see in the film. she told us these children are being sourced from baby factories, like the facility we saw in the film, where young, vulnerable women are forced to sell their children, or brothels, but these are trafficked children. how did you hear about the some for the first time a year ago? the first time i heard about it was in 2017, 2018, where a doctor on twitter was talking about the scam he heard about and it seemed outlandish to me. unbeknownst to me, my two colleagues in the film had been

doing that own digging and were able to infiltrate on what subgroups and facebook groups whether scams run rampage. through that research we could start digging. it’s through that research we could start digging-— start digging. it's an incredible _ start digging. it's an - incredible investigation, congratulations to you and the team. and, you can watch the full bbc africa eye investigation nigeria's miracle baby scammers on bbc iplayer if you're in the uk, or on the bbc africa youtube channel. tens of thousands of protesters are closing in on pakistan's capital islamabad as part of nationwide protests calling for the release of former prime minister imran khan. the march is in response to a "final" protest call made by khan to his supporters, where he also called on them to remain in the capital until the government addresses their demands. police clashed with the protesters using tear gas and reportedly arrested hundreds, on the march which began on sunday. 0ur correspondent in islamabad, farhat javed, has the latest on the unfolding situation.

it is another tense day in islam —— islamabad. it is to block whether supporters are trying to reach. their main convoy would reach the capital, but that won't be an easyjersey. they tried last night and faced a wall of campaigners, tear gas shelling of them were arrested by the police. imran khan's supporters are protesting in response to a final call demanding release of their leader. they are demanding to revise a recent constitutional amendment that deals with the appointment of seniorjudges as appointment of seniorjudges as a result of general election that happened earlier this year. today, the highways leading to the capital filled with rather determine

protesters. they are chanting slogans and supporters as the march passes the fields and highways. leaders say their supporters are coming from all over pakistan. the main convoy coming from the north—western province is massive. 1a kilometres long, according to leaders. the supporters spent the night in highways, carrying food items, blankets, and it is something unusual as well. they brought along joint industrial fans mounted on trucks to blow the tear gas. it is the first time we've seen anything like this in the protest. there is a large security presence in the capital, and especially a big number of women police officers. through the city this morning we pass by as many of those police officers, one with a two—year—old child and i asked why she had brought her child. she said there was nobody to take care of the baby

and she said she would take her child and run away if there is tear gas shelling. islamabad is on the edge, schools are closed, roads are blocked on people stuck at home watching and waiting to see what happens next, as the march inches closer. ~ ., closer. we will continue to brina closer. we will continue to bring you _ closer. we will continue to bring you up-to-date - closer. we will continue to bring you up-to-date on i closer. we will continue to i bring you up-to-date on what closer. we will continue to - bring you up-to-date on what is bring you up—to—date on what is happening in islamabad. with more than 99% of the votes counted in the first round of romania's presidential election, a far—right, pro—russia candidate has taken the lead. calin georgescu has harnessed tiktok to establish an unassailable lead of more than 300,000 votes. he has no political party, but has used his social media platform to galvanise support by calling for an end to aid for ukraine. he has also been sceptical on romania's nato membership. only a few dozen votes separate the next two candidates, prime minister marcel ciolacu, and the centre right liberal, elena lasconi. according to the latest count, ms lasconi is just 44 votes ahead of mr ciolacu.

they are competing for a place in the runoff, to challenge mr georgescu in the second round of voting in two weeks' time. 0ur central europe correspondent, nick thorpe who is in the west of neighbouring hungary — gave us his analysis of calin georgescu's surprise success at the polls. he's come from nowhere but he has experience. he's been recommended before as a potential prime minister, although he never got far. he talks about, his main message is restoring the dignity and giving romania voice. so when he was asked in an interview once, is he pro the eu or pro nato? is he pro—russia? he said no, he's pro romania. so not much actual content of what he's actually for or the details of how he would influence romania. romania is a presidential democracy. the president has a lot of control, a lot of power, a lot of influence, not as much as in france, for example. but also he can, for example, veto bills passed by parliament. and he can strongly influence the country's foreign policy.

so really an enormous surprise here. the big question now, i suppose, is who will face him in the runoff in two weeks' time, that race is still very close with votes still being counted. there are two candidates really in the who could potentially face mr georgescu in the runoff. michael collaku, who is the current prime minister of romania, a social democrat, albeit quite a right wing, quite a nationalist figure in his own right. and elena gasconi. she's a liberal, the candidate of the save romania union. she would be much more leftist or liberal kind of candidate, whichever of those gets through. i think the dilemma facing many of the millions of romanians who didn't vote for either is, which would effectively be the lesser evil. how to prevent mr georgescu winning. at the same time, mr georgescu seems likely to gather more votes

from another nationalist, george simeon, who came fourth in this election, but he also managed to get 1.2 million votes. and just in the immediate aftermath of this remarkable result, late last night, late sunday night, mr simeon urged his supporters to back mr georgescu in the second round. so it could be a very interesting result, isuppose. nick, it really demonstrates the increasing power of social media in elections, notjust here but in other parts of the world. that's right. what mr georgescu seems to have achieved, or one of the ways he's managed to publicise himself because he was basically unknown in romania just a few months ago. he has managed to, as it were, crack the algorithm so that anyone who searched for other his rivals names in this election, or even certain key words, immediately his name came up and that gave built up a kind of tsunami of support for him. 2.1 million votes already.

around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

at least 16 people have been killed in flash floods in indonesia. the country's national disaster agency said many more were missing after the floods and landslides swept across four districts of sumatra. indonesia has suffered a string of recent extreme weather events in its rainy season, which meterorologists say are made more likely by climate change. more than 140 flood warnings remain in place across england, wales and scotland in the aftermath of storm bert. there have also been yellow weather warnings in place in parts of scotland due to high winds. wales, the english west midlands, and parts of northern ireland have been worst affected. some areas received close to a month's worth of rain in just one weekend — with up to 190 millimetres falling over dartmoor,

and the brecon beacons in wales. these pictures were supplied by brecon mountain railway and show a landslide next to the track of the steam railway. these pictures, filmed in tenbury in worcestershire, show the flooded high street. west mercia police say they are actively investigating video on social media ahowing a tractor driving through flood water in tenbury yesterday. there is ongoing disruption to travel. great western railway is advising passengers not to travel on any of its routes today. it says services on all key routes have been suspended due to flooding and fallen trees. other routes are also affected — this was northampton station earlier, with the tracks between the platforms completely flooded. transport for wales says several services on its network are experiencing disruption today. 0ne one of the worst hit areas is in wales. one of the worst hit areas is in wales. live now to pontypridd and our correspondent

nicky schiller. it isa it is a slightly unsteady line but we can see you. how are things? but we can see you. how are thins? ~ ., . but we can see you. how are thins? , things? within the last couple of minutes. — things? within the last couple of minutes, the _ things? within the last couple of minutes, the rain _ things? within the last couple of minutes, the rain has - of minutes, the rain has started again in the town. behind me is a river which burst its banks over the weekend after their was around a month's amount of rain in 48 is, and the street was physically badly hit. you will be able to see the sandbags are up be able to see the sandbags are up outside the local church. we been talking to some of the residents who were flooded and they are angry at what they see as the lack of warning that they were given for this flooding. even the council in this area, the council leader was concerned they only had a low level of warning rather than what he felt should be the amber or red alert. the authorities say they will look into that, but their priority

over the weekend was to help the people who were here. but this area was hit by flooding in 2020, and the residents i've talked to said it would be a once in a 100 year event. but for years later we've had another flood for years later we've had anotherflood in for years later we've had another flood in the area and they are having to clear out their homes, and as you can see, the rain hasn't stopped. as you mention, it is still causing problems. there are still flood alerts and warnings in force across the country, both in wales and england and scotland, and indeed transport badly hit. gwr, which runs the trains from london into south wales and down to the south—west of england, are saying basically do not trouble today because even if they can put on some services, and they can't at the moment, they may have to stop them because there

could be more rain like this leading to more flooding. many --eole leading to more flooding. many people choosing _ leading to more flooding. many people choosing to _ leading to more flooding. many people choosing to stay—at—home today? people choosing to stay-at-home toda ? . people choosing to stay-at-home toda? , , ., , today? yes, absolutely, that is the advice- _ today? yes, absolutely, that is the advice. it _ today? yes, absolutely, that is the advice. it isn't _ today? yes, absolutely, that is the advice. it isn'tjust - today? yes, absolutely, that is the advice. it isn't just wales i the advice. it isn'tjust wales that has been hit, i go down from london this morning and our other areas in and around gloucestershire and bristol that have had some flooding. the advice is really is unless you have to go out in weather like this, then don't. the residents here are having to come out to try and clear the rubbish out of their homes which has been affected by the floodwater. irate which has been affected by the floodwater.— which has been affected by the floodwater. we will be with you throughout _ floodwater. we will be with you throughout the _ floodwater. we will be with you throughout the day. _ floodwater. we will be with you throughout the day. thank - floodwater. we will be with you throughout the day. thank you | throughout the day. thank you for joining throughout the day. thank you forjoining us from pontypridd. young backpackers in laos have spoken of their fears after six tourists died from suspected methanol poisoning in the town of vang vieng. three of them, including briton simone white, died last week. the laos government has now

confirmed that three others, an american man and two danish women, who died the previous week — were all staying at the same hostel. 0ur asia correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes has been to vang vieng to meet tourists, from where he sent this report. it is late afternoon and the river is bustling with tourists and watercraft. for many young backpackers, the preferred form of transport is tubes. here you can get a sense of why so many young travellers are drawn here. beautiful river, surrounded by stunning mountains. you can go kayaking, hot—air ballooning, paragliding. it's an incredibly relaxed place with very few rules. each year hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists come here. their deaths — along

with three others — from methanol poisoning, have sent a shockwave through the backpacking scene here. young women, in particular, like these from hertfordshire who've just arrived from neighbouring vietnam. in vietnam, you know, you get free drinks, particularly if you're playing games in the evening, and we've just never thought about it. you just presume that what they're giving you is safe. so, like, we've had free shots. we've had buckets before. but moving on, i think we're just not going to take the risk at all. no, it's not worth it. it's definitely not worth it. 0bviously, before this happened, you wouldn't think about it. but now it has, like, it's really impacted how we view drinking culture, going forwards. this is the guest house where all of the victims had stayed. an american man was found dead in his room here, and two danish women who also died were found unconscious on the same day. as night falls, the young travellers would normally be heading out to party. this is a weekend night in peak tourist season, and you get a real sense here ofjust how much these poisonings, or news of them,

is hurting business here, because so many of the places i've walked past here tonight are pretty empty. and we also understand police have told bars that they have to close at midnight, instead of going on to how they used to be, 3am. not everyone is deterred. we met ned from somerset and his friend, jack, both recent university graduates. it seems like everyone's - still here having a good time. but there's definitelyj like a mood in the air that people are being a lot more cautious. and everyone's all saying | the same thing, which is, you know, don't drink the spirits. _ i've been here for, like, a week now. the people here are absolutely lovely. they are some of the nicest people i've spoken to. there's never a purpose of them out to get you. nevertheless, six people died here, and parents with children out on the backpacker trail are now frantically messaging them, telling them not to come here. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in vang vieng.

we've been hearing from the australian prime minister who has said he will bring the bodies home. mr; has said he will bring the bodies home. ~ , ., bodies home. my government continues _ bodies home. my government continues to _ bodies home. my government continues to support - bodies home. my government continues to support the - continues to support the families, just as we will continue our investigations. 0ur officials are working closely with the families to bring them closely