imogen foulkes broke the story for us imogen foulkes broke the story for us this morning. it only broke within the last half—hour. as we've been reporting — former united nations secretary general kofi annan dies aged 80 — the un's first black african to hold the position. he served two terms at the un. more heavy rain is forecast in southern india, where monsoons have caused the area's worst floods in a century. a state funeral is under way for some of the victims of the genoa bridge collapse. a state funeral for some of the victims of tuesday's bridge disaster in genoa is under way, led by italian president sergio mattarella. some families are reportedly staying away from the ceremony because of anger at the government. they blamed the authorities for the tragedy earlier this week. this morning firefighters found the bodies of a couple and their nine—year—old daughter who had been trapped under the wreckage. this brings the total of those who died to 41 after the collapse of the motorway bridge, with several still not accounted for. 0ur correspondent james reynolds has b

imogen foulkes reports from berne. the vintage junker 52, dating from 1939, was on a two—day excursion flight from locarno in the south up to zurich in the north. it was full, 17 passengers and three crew making the most of the clear summer weatherfor a flight across the alps. but somewhere above the 3,000—metre piz segnas mountain, something went wrong. today, crash investigators revealed their preliminary findings. translation: based on the situation at the crash site, we can say that the aircraft smashed into the ground almost vertically at relatively high speed. the exact cause is still to be investigated. what we can rule out at this point is there wasn't any collision with another aircraft, nor with an obstacle

imogen foulkes, bbc news, geneva.mogen foulkes has been speaking to radhika coomaraswamee, who is a member of the un investigation team, and asked her first what led to the decision to name names. well, because there was overwhelming evidence of crimes being committed. and what struck us was the kind of effective control that they had over the military operations. not only in the rakhine, but also in otherstates. but also in other states. so that's the word that guided us, but effective control. in myanmar, there are so many actors, players, ethnic groups. so we wanted make sure that people understood who we felt for the greatest responsibility. and that's why we named people, to make it very clear that we feel it is a high command that was responsible for a lot of these violations, in terms of command responsibility. we think that the state councillor, aung san suu kyi, has a tremendous moral authority and also a position on the government to use her presence to try and prevent or condemn, or in some way, i think, st

imogen foulkes, bbc news, geneva.now to our south east asia correspondent, jonathan head, who's in thailand. a very critical report from the un. where do we go from here? as image and said, the recommendation of the fact—finding tea m recommendation of the fact—finding team is that the security council should take myanmar to the international criminal court. myanmar is not a security to the rome statute so it does not have automatic jurisdiction, rome statute so it does not have automaticjurisdiction, the security council will have to recommend that but among the five permanent members of the security council, china is likely to block that so those wanting an investigation will have to pursue alternative methods of bringing these generals to justice which is likely to take the form of some kind of independent mechanism and possibly a tribunal. it has been donein and possibly a tribunal. it has been done in the case of syria. they may well do it for me and ma. there's no doubt the incredibly damning language of this re

imogen foulkes, bbc news, berne.the latest on the extreme weather conditions affecting many parts of the world. president trump has declared a major emergency in california as wildfires continue to burn out of control. a seventh person has now been killed and more families are being ordered to leave their homes. by declaring a major disaster the white house opens up access to relief funds. temperatures close to record levels in portugal and spain are posing a serious challenge to firefighters still trying to bring a number of blazes under control. in southern portugal, aircraft have been dropping water to douse forest fires, as temperatures hover above a0 degrees celsius. firefighters from the two countries have been worked jointly to contain fires near their shared border. the australian government has announced more aid for farmers as parts of the country suffer the worst dry spell in living memory. the prime minister, malcolm turnbull, says it's important to respond to what he calls "exceptional" circumstances. th

imogen foulkes talking to me from switzerland about the death of kofi annan.s aged 80 — the un's first black african to hold the position. more heavy rain is forecast in southern india, where monsoons have caused the area's worst floods in a century. and a state funeral is underway for some of the victims of the genoa bridge collapse. the royal military academy at sandhurst has said it will deal "robustly" with anyone found to have fallen short of the highest standards of behaviour — after allegations that a cadet was waterboarded. the sun newspaper is reporting that two trainee officers pinned down a fellow recruit and poured water over a cloth covering his face. the incident, earlier this month, is being investigated by the military police. a former labour mp has been suspended from the party over comments apparently made online about the jewish community. jim sheridan — a former paisley and renfrewshire north mp — is said to have posted a comment on social media in which he spoke of his loss of "respect and empathy" for the community. labour hasn't commente

imogen foulkes there in burned reflecting on it kofi annan, who has died at the age of 80.s being mounted in the southern indian state of kerala, where unusually heavy monsoon rains have caused what officials are describing as the worst flooding in a century. more than 320 people have died in kerala since the rainy season began in june. more than 300,000 have been made homeless. yogita limaye is in kerala. she sent this report. there are over a0 rivers in kerala and every one of them has breached their banks. when there's no way out, people are being rescued by helicopter. the state has been hit with over a third more rainfall than usual and the effects have been devastating. more rain is forecast for the rest of the day. translation: it has been raining heavily, since yesterday. it's not slowing down and that's why people are scared. they're scared that the water will enter their homes again. torrential rains have also caused other disasters, like here behind me. the mud up there became loose because of continuous rainfall and slipped all the way down onto this, which used

imogen foulkes, bbc news, berne.wildfires under control, as the southern european heatwave continues. temperatures have climbed to 46 degrees celsius, approaching the all—time european record. fire warnings have been issued across the iberian peninsula, as chi chi izundu reports. portugal — the latest country battling wildfire. some 700 firefighters are still tried to stop flames taking further hold of a eucalyptus forest near the town of monchique in the algarve. water—dropping aircraft have been assisting them as well as over 100 fire trucks. already, more than 1,000 hectares of land has been destroyed and one village has been forced to evacuate. how far were the flames? it was about 500 metres from our kitchen. the terrain is difficult to access and conditions have been tough. high winds, dry land and record temperatures. this weekend, seeing more than 45 degrees. it's so hot, people are opting to stay in. but it's not just portugal suffering. a continent—wide heatwave in recent weeks has seen deaths in spain, dro

one of the best images doing the rounds —— imaging folks —— imogen foulkes, thank you.i annan is when he appeared on sesame street and was attempting to reconcile differences between two of the characters there! a massive relief operation is under way in southern india to help hundreds of thousands left homeless by the worst floods in the area in 100 years. the south western state of kerala has been most severely hit. at least 171 people have died there in the last ten days. katy austin reports. rain comes to kerala every year. not like this. people are walking miles to safety through what officials say are the worst floods for a century. translation: after 36 years, it is the first time that such flooding is happening here. it is a disaster for the whole population. a third more rainfall than usual has fallen this season, with devastating effects. boats and helicopters are being used to rescue people, including this pregnant woman. hundreds of thousands are now homeless and living in 1,500 emergency relief camps, waiting and hoping while volunteers cook for them. men,

from geneva, our correspondent, imogen foulkes. systematic campaign of murder, torture, rape and against myanmar‘s rohingya muslims, extermination. patterns of violence which have been going on in myanmarfor decades and for which the un investigators say the country's top military leaders bear clear responsibility. this report contains details of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. now, it's highly unusualfor un investigators to publicly name those they believe responsible. this time, they say the evidence is overwhelming. six generals are named in the report. a longer list of names has been stored at the un for further investigation. the team interviewed over 800 victims and witnesses and heard accounts of gang rape, of children killed in front of their parents, and of entire villages burned to the ground. they showed me their scars. they showed me where it happened to them. i could just see from their bodies and others, these people were deeply, deeply wounded. you know, it's not only about justice for victims. it's

imogen foulkes, bbc news, geneva.pher sidoti is a member of the un's independent international fact—finding mission on myanmar, and joins us by webcam from geneva. thank you for being with us. this is an important moment in the year—long effort to establish what exactly happened in myanmar. how difficult and disturbing did you find the evidence that young covered? difficult and disturbing. what has happened in myanmar is on our parallel with the worst kinds of crimes under international law that can be encountered. the findings we have produced today reflect the gravity of the situation and the seriousness, the brutality of what occurred. the difficulties you had, presumably, were getting access. there will be some who will say a lot of the evidence by nature has had to be second—hand, how would you respond to that? it was not second—hand. we had no access to myanmar but there are literally hundreds of thousands of people who have been victims of human rights violations in myanmar who are no longer there. that's one o

imogen foulkes, bbc news, berne.fter police in staffordshire found a body this weekend. the family have also asked for their privacy to be respected. the midwife went missing just over a week ago. three men are in custody, one on suspicion of murder. police in london have launched a murder investigation after a man in his 20s was stabbed to death in kingston—upon—thames last night. the man was found in cambridge gardens and was pronounced dead at the scene. officers are in the process of informing the man's family. no arrests have been made. thousands of homes and businesses in east nottinghamshire are without water this evening because of a burst main pipe in the village of epperstone. severn trent has sent tankers to deliver supplies to those affected, and has been taking bottled water to vulnerable customers. navtej johal has the details. another scorching summer's day, and severn trent has been feeling the heat. these people have been without water since the early hours and have come to bingham leisure centre to

imogen foulkes, bbc news, bern.d right—wing opponents and colombia for what he says was an assassination attempt using drones carrying explosives. jeremy corbyn apologises on social media over anti—semitism in the labour party. his deputy warned labour could disappear into a "vortex of eternal shame" if it wasn't resolved. adults in england will automatically become organ donors unless they opt out, under plans unveiled today. the us first lady melania trump has expressed her support for the basketball star lebronjames, hours after her husband made insulting remarks about him on twitter. the player had said in an interview that mr trump was "divisive" and had "emboldened racists". 0ur washington correspondent chris buckler has more. lebron james is without any doubt one of the biggest stars in american sports. when he recently signed for the la lakers, it made the headlines, but he's found himself in the news again because of his criticism of donald trump. on cnn, he accused the president of using sport to split the

imogen foulkes spoke to him in geneva.eeply reg retta ble, in her case, i think what was deeply regrettable, and this has come out in the report by the fact—finding mission, is that she was in a position to do something. at the very least she could have kept quiet. there was no need for to be the spokesperson of the burmese military. she didn't have to say this was an iceberg of misinformation, a fabrication, she could have stayed quiet or, even better, resigned. she could have said, look, you know, iam prepared to be the nominal leader of the country, or prepare to be the sort of de facto leader, but not under these conditions. while you were in office, what kept you awake most at night, and now that you are living, what you will miss about it? the greatest pressure on me and my staff, my extraordinary staff, and people don't believe this, it is really not from the member states. you know, you can withstand the pressure of governments, they can call you all sorts of, you know, use all sorts of expletives, and in my case t

our correspondent imogen foulkes is in berne for us now.irst about how the news has emerged today. it came out first thing this morning, as unfortunately happens nowadays, on social media, and those of us who work at the un, it was confirmed to us by the two organisations that kofi annan was working up until his death, the kofi annan foundation, and a group of elderly statesmen and women dedicated to peace promotion and focusing on humanitarian issues, and a p pa re ntly focusing on humanitarian issues, and apparently they said after a short illness, with his wife and children by his side, and here in switzerland, particularly geneva, the whole of the un's humanitarian organisations, that is real grief. he supported the work of those organisations and never lost his awareness how many people on the planet are caught up in conflict, affected by climate change, caught up affected by climate change, caught up in grinding poverty, and he persistently drew attention to those issues. and that work meant that switzerland had been home for him on a

imogen foulkes, bbc news, geneva. one year ago. the latest figures from the society of motor manufacturers and traders show that the number of cars being built for the uk market injuly was particularly poor — having fallen 35%. the trade body said model changes, seasonal adjustments and preparation for stricter new emissions standards were responsible. the 0scar—winning british actress vanessa redgrave has been honoured with a lifetime—achievement award at the prestigious venice film festival. she was handed a golden lioness in recognition of her contribution to cinema. during her 60 years in film, vanessa redgrave has won one 0scar and been nominated for another six. and at the age of 81, she has already appeared in three films this year. the presentation was made at a ceremony ahead of the festival's opening film, first man — about the run—up neil armstrong's mission to the moon. it's been called a "scourge on the environment" — but what can be done about the plastic waste that's making its way into britain's waterw

humanitarian but also a conscience keeper of international peace and security". 0ur correspondent imogen foulkese told me how news of mr annan‘s death was released. well, it came out first thing this morning. just, unfortunately, as sometimes happens nowadays, on social media. and then those of us who work at the un in geneva, it was confirmed to us by the two organisations that kofi annan was still working for up to his death, the kofi annan foundation and the elders, a group of elderly statesmen and women, dedicated to peace promotion and focusing on humanitarian issues. and apparently, as you said, after a short illness, with his wife and children by his side, and i would say, here in switzerland, particularly in geneva, the whole of the un's humanitarian organisations, there is real grief. he really supported the work of those organisations, never lost his awareness of how many people on the planet are caught up in conflict affected by climate change, caught up simply just in grinding poverty. and he consistently drew attention to those issues. and that work meant that switzerland had been h

imogen foulkes, bbc news, geneva.ude new plans to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags instead of single—use plastics. researchers are suggesting that the daily commute could be treated as part of the working day, because so many people check their emails on the way to and from the office. they say the growing availability of internet access has effectively extended the working day with extra unpaid hours. they say that employers could rethink what they count as "working hours." prince harry has joked about playing his ancestor king george iii, during a visit to london‘s west end. the duke and duchess of sussex attended a special performance of ‘hamilton‘ at the victoria palace theatre, to raise money for the duke‘s hiv charity, sentebale. and the duke didn‘t pass up the opportunity to break into song, as tom burridge reports. they arrived to watch a hip—hop musical which mocks the british monarchy. hamilton is about one of america‘s founding fathers, alexander hamilton, and features the then british king, george i

here's imogen foulkes.ent views about how to achieve it. it's suggested relaxing sanctions iran. that's the opposite of what they said they want. got a rep of sanctions and jumbled and said they want to exert maximum pressure. for other people long—term peace negotiation watchers is another disappointment and that's the fact that when president trump and president putin met in helsinki mother things apparently at the top of the agenda was nuclear arms reduction. president trump said he was committed to substantial reductions. we had thought maybe john bolton and nikolai would announce the restart of the so—called talks. it stalled for use in russia and america on getting rid of at least some of the world's nuclear arsenal. john bolton said today no date had been set and positions need to be clarified. they said at the own position on this. quite a lot of work still to be done. no date for these two security advisers to meet again. nonetheless, people are saying it's a success. one official told me after the

imogen foulkes spoke to him in geneva. parts of her report contain flash photography.too much for the un human rights commissioner. for over a year he has tried to persuade aung san suu kyi, a woman he once deeply admired, to distance herself from her generals. in a final interview before leaving office he bitterly criticised her stands. at the very least she could have kept quiet. there was no need for her to be the spokesperson of the burnley ‘s military. she didn't have to say this is a fabrication, she could've stayed quiet or even better resigned harsh words for a woman once venerated around the world as a pro—democracy leader and nobel prizewinner, but human rights groups believe the criticism is justified. aung san suu kyi may now go down in history not as a champion of peaceful resistance but as a woman who failed to react in the face of unspeakable human rights violations. what can be done about the plastic waste that's making its way into britain's waterways? one enterprising environmental charity has turned more than a tonne of plastic waste, collected from

let‘s go now to our un correspondent imogen foulkes in switzerland — she‘s been looking at this briefinged, no measures in place to prevent sexual violence and the kind of fighting you saw there in catherine‘s report. the point is, the people, when they arrive, they are supposed to be here for a few weeks, and then they are supposed to be moved and have their requests for asylu m be moved and have their requests for asylum assessed. if they are genuine refugees, as the un refugee agency says thousands of these people on the islands are, then they should be allowed to stay in safety on the mainland, not on islands that have no infrastructure to support them. or if theirclaim no infrastructure to support them. or if their claim is rejected, then they should be returned from whence they should be returned from whence they came. but not left in this squalor and limbo, which the un rather diplomatically says the greek government, despite eu funding, is having difficulty facing the challenge of dealing with this. that is kind of, as i said, diplomatic speakfor saying, is kind of, as i said, di