it is raqqa's dirty secret. huge rescue effort is underway — after the devastating iran—iraq earthquake. 400 people are dead and thousands more injured. ala bama's republican candidate for the senate faces more calls from the top levels of his party to step aside as a 5th woman accuses him of sexual misconduct. he says it's "fake news". and from breaking bad to breaking news. we get into character with bryan cra nston. hello. an exclusive report this hour on the secret deal that ended the 3—year occupation of the syrian city of raqqa by the extremist group, the so—called islamic state. that deal allowed several hundred is fighters to escape, along with their weapons and ammunition, and theirfamilies. it saved lives and brought peace to the city — but there may still be a price to pay. our middle east correspondent, quentin sommerville, has the story. even at peace, with the so—called islamic state gone, raqqa is still deadly dangerous. few of its roads have been cleared. the fighting stopped here a month ago, bu

it's raqqa's dirty secret.ce of the earthquake that struck iraq and iran, killing over 350 people. the british woman imprisoned in iran. the foreign secretary apologises for mishandling her case and increasing her distress. and the ten million tonnes of food we throw away every year — that experts say is mostly good enough to eat. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news: 1958 was the last time italy failed to make it to the world cup. can sweden prevent them from reaching russia next year? good evening. in a political climbdown, the government has offered mps the opportunity to debate the final brexit agreement line by line — and potentially vote to amend it. but the brexit secretary, david davis, couldn't guarantee the bill will happen before brexit day, in march 2019, and warned that if mps use the bill to vote against the deal — whatever it is — britain will simply leave the eu without an agreement. it appears to have been a move to appease tory rebels, ahead of a key brexit debate tomorrow. but it's infuriat

it's raqqa's dirty secret. the western coalition get together and agree a deal that not only allowed is to escape from raqqa, but also allowed its fiercest fighters to roam far and wide from the confines of this city? they left the city lonely, empty and in ruins. the hunt begins here in raqqa, but would take us across northern syria and beyond. the deal started with a media blackout. the islamic state's escape was not to be televised. but, thanks to amateur footage, we see this was a convoy and a deal too large to hide. the world was told only a few dozen local fighters were being let go. no foreigners and not weapons. but the trucks were crammed full of fighters, some wearing suicide belts. all were heavily armed. after days of searching, we picked up the trail at a truck stop on the outskirts of tabqa. here we discovered the drivers, all civilians, who drove is to freedom. they'd been hired by the kurdish—led syrian democratic forces. it was the longest journey of their lines. —— it was the longest journey o

it's raqqa's dirty secret.rds, arabs and the western coalition get together and agree a deal that not only allowed is to escape from raqqa, but also allowed its fiercest fighters to roam far and wide from the confines of this city? they left the city lonely, empty and in ruins. the hunt begins here in raqqa, but would take us across northern syria and beyond. the deal started with a media blackout. the islamic state's escape was not to be televised. but, thanks to amateur footage, we see this was a convoy and a deal too large to hide. the world was told only a few dozen local fighters were being let go. no foreigners and not weapons. but the trucks were crammed full of fighters, some wearing suicide belts. all were heavily armed. after days of searching, we picked up the trail at a truck stop on the outskirts of tabqa. here we discovered the drivers, all civilians, who drove is to freedom. they'd been hired by the kurdish—led syrian democratic forces. it was the longest journey of their lives. their trucks were

raqqa, though, rained under the terrorists' control. i.s.lanned to make it th capital of theiruture caphate. but in june, troops from the northern kurdish territories began liberating the city, gradually putting an end to the terror, arbitrary executions and repression. hundreds of thousandofof peopl norththersyria haha been foed to flee. the fight to liberate raqqa could be over soon -- partly as a result of u.s.s. mitary support ---- but it's been let devastatated. reporter: you could say this man actually got off lightly. he survived a booby trap left behind by retreating i.s. troops. german trauma surgeon michael wilk treats the wounded. he's set up an operating room in a kitchen in an apartment building close to the front. michael: this was clearly caused by an exploding mine. the man was hit by m many smal pieces of shrapnel in the lower body, and has seseveral larger wounds on his shouldlder and he. but if you consider that he set off a mine, he's actually doing well. reporter: afteter receiving fit aid, the wounded man is evacuated.

it is raqqa's dirty secret. jane: more than 400 people have been killed and thousands injured in a huge earthquake at the border between iran and iraq. and "breaking bad" star bryan cranston on how there could be a way back for harvey weinstein and kevin spacey in hollywood. ne: welcome to our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. when a u.s.-backed alliance of syrian fighters liberated raqqa last month, it ended three years of rule by so-called islamic state, but a special investigation by the bbc has uncovered details of a secret deal that let hundreds of i.s. fighters and their families escape. they were allowed to leave the city in exchange for hostages. some of those who left included islamic state's most notorious criminals. the bbc's middle east correspondent quentin sommerville has this exclusive report. quentin: even at peace with the so-called islamic state gone, raqqa is deadly dangerous. few of its roads have been cleared. the fighting stopped a month ago, but there are still

decided not to let this operation in raqqa go forward and it basically set the u.s. military back several months. >> you are referring to a reporting earlier in the year that he was a key decision-maker about the timing of essentially the final assault on raqqa and delayed it. >> because he did not want the turkish government, didn't want the kurds involved in this, you know, whom expedition there the turkish government really doesn't like our kurdish forces that have been effective fighting isis. they essentially would take raqqa and take the lands that would give them a strangle the hold the turks are incredibly skeptical of. >> even though the turkish government doesn't have the wherewithal all to do it themselves there you got, so many questions about who exactly michael flynn was working for and at what moment. if any part of this story ends up being true, we will learn about it. it is absolutely explosive. >> why was it that donald trump said to james comey, you got to drop this investigation?

reports of the liberation of raqqa and sydney,.he minister update the senate on the progress being made against sydney? the minister for defense, senator kaine. >> thank you. thank you senator mackenzie for her question. australia welcomes the reports that syrian democratic versus, with the support of the international coalition, has retaken raqqa in syria. while the majority of the city has been liberated, there are pockets of different resistance remaining and areas of the city still remain unsafe for civilians to return home. this is important progress. the actions have been appalling. the use oppression and retaliate to rule their territories. when local forces came to 5 -- daeshfight daesh, indiscriminately used improvised explosive devices around the city. victory in raqqa will worldwide.aesh battles.e been tough many syrians have lost their lives fighting terrorists during these operations. the syrian democratic forces are also to be commended for their determination, and we acknowledge their losses also. after this fighting

. >>> then first mosul fell and then raqqa. what is an islamic state without a state? >>> but first, here's my take. donald trump graded his asia trip this week, not surprisingly, he thought it was a tremendous success. our great country is respected again in asia, he tweeted. all recent polling data from the region suggests the opposite. a core focus of trump's trip was japan and south korea, for example. only 17% of south koreans and 24% of japanese expressed confidence in him. that is down from 88% and 78% who expressed confidence in president obama during his second term. trump's rhetoric of self-interest and america first was seen by others as a sign of retreat, in contrast to xi jinping's more outlooking agenda. however president trump's policies face a new challenge now, that could further disrupt the middle east. trump has given the green light to an extraordinary set of circumstances in saudi arabia that can only be described as a revolution from above. many acknowledge the need for reforms, but differ in how to stabilize the middle east. mohammad bin salman h

families, were escorted out of raqqa and taken elsewhere. there were foreign fighters in the group and they fought to take their ammunition with them. a western coalition kernel -- colonel says, we did not want anybody to leave, but they left the decision of the local forces who brokered the deal. the local forces did this, they accepted for them to be taken out in exchange for the end of the fighting there. the russian defense minister is picking up a story similar to this, saying u.s. forces have been helping the fighters escape. except the u.s. media has debunked the claim. in the washington post, they show that the images, that the russian government provided as proof the u.s. was held in the jihadists escape is actually from a 2015 videogame. anchor: in any case, russia and the role in the u.s. elections was one of the main issues the

they have been pushed out of their strongholds in mosul and raqqa. so if it was i.s., and that is still an if, it may be an attempt by them to show supporters around the world that we are still here and still in business and still able to inflict a terrible toll on our enemies. kasia: you talk about i.s. this region has seen a lot of violence in recent years. tell us about the other groups operating in here. orla: well, there have been several operating in the sinai peninsula in recent years, and it is worth pointing out that this trouble did not begin in the last year or so. from 2011, from the time of the egyptian revolution, when security broke down in sinai, there were various militant groups operating. there were al qaeda affiliates operating. there was an uptick in the violence after 2013 when the elected islamist president mohammed morsi was removed by the military -- by president sisi, in fact, when he was chief of staff of the army. that followed days of huge protests against the muslim brotherhood. he was ousted, and since then, there has b

because raqqa is set very symbolic for the french. latest from raqqa that a certain number of the terrorist attacks against franz. were actually initiated. well that's exactly why let me ask the question again. but the politically and rocka impressed a lot of people but how can we say. or can we say that we didn't isis. the fight against isis is not over and it is not of that because isis. is already beginning to redeploy ex activities and to change. into an underground terrorist organization. we know that we are far from over with the fight against terrorism and the fight against isis might change in shape. but it wants change as far as of the violin sarah activities that they do a concerned. france continues to be inherently invested in the coalition. in syria and in iraq. any of the nine months. both fronts as well because of bilateral cooperation is also giving support to in the shape of training the iraqi army and that's very important. it it does not mean that we need to be watchful about jihad the transfers to libya or other co

top story: the bbc uncovers details of a secret deal that let hundreds of is fighters escape from raqqa when it fell to us—backed forces last month. hundreds of so—called islamic state fighters and their families escaped in exchange for hostages. some of those who left included is's most notorious criminals. president trump wraps up his foreign tour in the philippines, boasting of his great relationship with rodrigo duterte and leaving open how much human rights were discussed. and this video is trending on bbc.com: the moment these children got a lucky escape in norway. a lorry head straight for them, but thankfully the quick—witted driver braked just in time. nobody was hurt. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. there are no tanks on the streets of riyadh, but make no mistake, what has just happened in saudi arabia represents a revolution of sorts. king salman and his son, crown prince mohammed, have launched a purge of princes and ministers and potential rivals, which is part of a grand plan to entrench their powe

of is fighters escape from raqqa when it fell to us—backed forces last month.undreds of so—called islamic state fighters and their families escaped in exchange for hostages. some of those who left included is's most notorious criminals. president trump wraps up his foreign tour in the philippines — boasting of his great relationship with rodrigo duterte and leaving open how much human rights were discussed. and this video is trending on bbc.com. the moment these children got a lucky escape in norway. a lorry head straight for them — but thankfully the quick—witted driver braked just in time. nobody was hurt. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk. the government says mps will be given a take—it—or leave—it vote on the final brexit deal before the uk leaves the eu. resident ron heads back home to the us from asia with billions of dollars‘ worth of contracts for american companies but could he sealed a deal with china? —— president trump. and the numbers don‘t like, wearable technology telling sports coach is how hard the

when it fell to us- syrian city of raqqa when it fell to us— backed forces.ghters have gone somewhere. there is a threat to neighbouring countries. what assessment has the government done in terms of the threat to neighbouring countries and particularly countries that are fighting daesh and what assessment has the minister made on fighters on our ability to hold the kernel —— these criminals to account? the withdrawal from the city happened under the gaze of the coalition. britain was said not to have been involved in the agreement with the aim had been to minimise civilian casualties. we are continuing to work with the coalition, 73 countries including several neighbouring countries, to ensure that those are seeking to leave. but they are held accountable. and that those foreign fighters seek to return to the uk, that there is due process. that they are held to account for their crimes abroad. the government should honour the controversial promise on the side of the birch leave campaign bus, saying millions of pounds would be available for the health service

it is raqqa's dirty secret.stating iran—iraq earthquake. 400 people are dead and thousands more injured. ala bama's republican candidate for the senate faces more calls from the top levels of his party to step aside as a 5th woman accuses him of sexual misconduct. he says it's "fake news". and from breaking bad to breaking news.

it is raqqa's dirty secret.eople are dead and thousands more injured. ala bama's republican candidate for the senate faces more calls from the top levels of his party to step aside as a fifth woman accuses him of sexual misconduct. he says it's "fake news". and from breaking bad to breaking news. we get into character with bryan cra nston.

. >>> then first mosul fell, then raqqa. what is the so-called islamic state without a state? is radical islam dying out? i will talk to salman rushdi about that and his new novel. >>> first, here's my take. donald trump graded his asia trip this week. not surprisingly, he thought it was a tremendous success. our great country is respected again in asia, he tweeted. all recent polling data from the region suggests the opposite. a core focus of trump's trip was japan and south korea, for example. only 17% of south koreans and 24% of japanese express confidence in him. that is down from 88% and 78%, who expressed confidence in president obama during his second term. trump's rhetoric of self interest in america first was seen by asians as a sign of retreat in contrast to chinese president xi jinping's more open, outward looking and ambitious agenda. however, trump's foreign policy faces a new challenge now that could further disrupt the middle east. already the most unstable part of the world. trump has given the green light to an extraordinary series of moves in saudi arabia tha

it's raqqa's dirty secret. a50 people are dead and thousands more injured. ala bama's republican candidate for the senate faces more calls from the top levels of his party to step aside as a fifth woman accuses him of sexual misconduct. he says it's "fake news". and from breaking bad to breaking news. we get into character with bryan cra nston.

for severayears, t iraqi city of mosusul and raqqa a in a were in the hands of the so-called islamictate.

he was in raqqa and he was in hiding, trying to get out, as everyone else was, and we knew that.ng that isis was after him and that if they catch on, they will kill him because they have already imprisoned him several times, he basically said goodbye, itiuiti times, he basically said goodbye, mum and dad, this won't end well, but thank you for believing in me. the next thing we heard was, three weeks later he had escaped, and we have not had a detailed conversation about it, but somehow with a people smuggler he got out and he was picked up with a group of refugees from raqqa. he has now been charged? that happened in the last week. what are the penalties? i presume the penalty for being a member of isis is death, i've no idea. the legal syste m is death, i've no idea. the legal system is a self—declared autonomous zone and the legal system is being worked out. we have no idea. we have a clip of your son speaking from the jail. supposedly we will go to the kurdish territories for a bit and then continued to turkey and then as sooi'i then continued to turkey and then as 50011 as w

it was hidden when he purposely decided not to let this operation in raqqa go forward and it basically set the u.s. military back several months. >> you are referring to a reporting earlier in the year that he was a key decision-maker about the timing of essentially the final assault on raqqa and delayed it. >> because he did not want the turkish government, didn't want the kurds involved in this, you know, whole expedition. >> well, the turkish government really doesn't like the armed forces effective in fighting isis. they essentially would take raqqa and take the lands that would give them a strangle the hold the turks are incredibly skeptical of. >> even though the turkish government doesn't have the wherewithal to do it themselves there you got, so many questions about who exactly michael flynn was working for and at what moment. if any part of this story ends up being true, we will learn about it. it is absolutely explosive. >> why was it that donald trump said to james comey, you got to drop this investigation? that's the big question. >> about michael flynn. that's a great poin

arm the ypg, equivalent to the pkk, a terrorist organisation, and once it had achieved its end in raqqad the —— in the medium to long—term but they kept reiterating that this was a tactical short—term decision we have to make, but in the long—term we want to work with our ally turkey. so i think we've reached that point now where decisions have to be made, where we go on from here, and i think this is what this phone call was all about. the presidency... turkey is suggesting that the us will no longer supply weapons to the kurdish why p&g, who turkey as a are a terrorist organisation —— ypg. what is not that clear cut. it seems the white house is saying it will adjust military support to partners. it isn't as black and white as you suggest. they say pending adjustments, but they have said to us adjustments, but they have said to us in all the meetings that this is about raqqa. this is about defeating daesh in syria and iraq and beyond that there is no intention to go on with what they call a partnership. we have constantly said that you can't fight another terrorist organisation with an

-ld coalition to end the fighting in raqqa. bbc investigation found abouot 250 0 militants left in octobebr alalong with 3500 memembers of r familieses and their weapons. some of the e fighters headed to other parts of syria controlled by the so-called islamic state, others went to turkey. in wisconsin, a 14-year-old native american teenager was shot dead last week by a deputy in the ashland county sheriff's department. jason pero was a member of the bad river band of lake superior tribe of chippewa indians. the shooting occurred after police received a 911 call about a man walking down the street with a knife. investigators now believe the 14-year-old was the one who had made the 911 call. pero's grandfather criticized the police for using lethal force. alan pero said -- "he got murdered out in front of the house here. he's a boy. there's warning shots. there's tasers. there's pepper spray. you don't go right on a 14-year-old kid and go for the kill zone." football player colin kaepernick has been named citizen of the year by

we enabled the destruction of isil in mows up and raqqa.is not something that happened overnight. good things, chris, in american security happen over periods of time. this is a campaign that began two years ago and that basically continued. and i give great credit to my successor jim mattis. i have none for 20 years. and jim dunford, joint chiefs of staff, for continuing that campaign. it has progressed pretty much the way we envisioned it two years ago. it was necessary to destroy the fact and the idea that there can be anis lambic state based on that ideology. >> it's not just about beating them there. >> no. but this did take away the base from which they were plotting in mows up and raqqa every day to kill americans. and with respect to inspired attacks of the kind of a loser orphan attic on the internet getting all jazzed up about this idea of the islamic state, you can't is stop that entirely. that is mostly a law enforcement and intelligence matter. but by destroying so visibly the islamic state, it is hard for anybody however delud

drafting, in the race car sense of the word, drafting on american combat power raqqa and the euphrateser valley to expand the area of control that i would think would be a rump syria, making that much larger than i ever imagined it would be, and then allowing the iranians to create a land bridge to allow them to move between tehran and beirut uninterrupted. >> you're saying in effect that russian forces, syrian forces, iranian forces who are working together, they are fighting together there, are using american air power to their advantage? >> what they are doing is taking advantage of the defeat that we are imposing on isis, raqqa, the euphrates river valley. i don't think we are according fire and movement here. >> not coordination, but taking advantage, right? >> at the strategic level, they're taking advantage of that. and, frankly, jim, that's because somewhat from the obama administration, certainly in the trump administration, we have been laser focused, we are there to defeat isis and only to defeat isis. and you haven't seen an american talk in any serious way of what a post-i

islamic state — the bbc uncovers a secret deal that let thousands of is fighters leave the city of raqqa -it deal that no one wants to talk about —itis deal that no one wants to talk about — it is raqqa ‘s dirty secret. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. also in the programme: could asian leaders finally be making progress on the disputed south china sea ? we'll have the latest from their summit in manila. and when news anchors go crazy — we talk to breaking bad star bryan cranston about his 1970s television satire. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday.

was in raqqa in hiding.d they catch me because they are hunting me, isis was hunting him, he said they would kill him immediately, because he had already been imprisoned several times, so he basically said goodbye, mum and dad, this will not in doubt well, but thank you for believing in me. the next thing we heard was three weeks later he had escaped, and from what he told us, and we have not had a detailed conversation about it yet, but somehow with people smuggler he got out and was picked up with a group of refugees from raqqa. and he has been charged since then? only in the last week, yes. what other penalties? i assume the penalty is death they are, i have no idea. but their legal system, it is a self—declared autonomous zone, so system, it is a self—declared autonomous zone, so i think the whole legal code is still being worked out. we have no idea. we have a clip of your son speaking from the jail, from june. let's just show our viewers that. we willjust go to the territories for a bit and then contin

it's a good thing that raqqa fell last week, i don't think that would have fallen, if it hadn't been for changes in the rules of engagement and to the delegation of command and control, to our military officers not putting it in the hands of white house staffers. but we can't just assume that that fight is over. islamic state still declares territory in eastern and southern syria, which is vital to iran and the assad regime and hezbollah having that land bridge built and it's our paramount interest that we stop that from happening, again working with our partners in the region. ref ant. >>> >> one of the earlier panels talked about in state. when you look at the map now, is it really understood that syria does not go back together, that iraq does not look like it did a decade ago? >> it's hard to see syria being reunited in unitary government under assad regime in damascus. given what the assad regime with iran and russia have done over the last six years, i'm not sure we should say it's in our interest either. in iraq, we have a lot more influence, we have troops on the ground, we h

we do expect it now that raqqa has fallen the capital of the so-called caliphate, that isis will seekinspire more people to demonstrate that it retains its legality. >> while there has yet to be a claim of responsible, members have already started using yesterday's deadly attack in its propaganda. >> this all comes as prup is set to leave on his asia trip t. administration confirms he will not visit the dmz between north and south korea. all sitting presidents with the exception of george h.w. bush visited this site. yesterday they told reporters, quote, it's become a cliche, he will skip the east asia summit in the philippines and instead head home early. yesterday, administration official clarified saying he will attends the night before adding quote the president has to come to work. we can't have him away from walk forever. reuters is reporting that u.s. special representative for north korea policy has been in contact with the u.n. mix using what is known as the new york channel. at the beginning of trump's presidency, heun's orders were limited. now he has a broader mandate. he

a bbc investigation reveals a deal to allow so—called is fighters to escape the syrian city of raqqa.sands injured following a powerful earthquake in iran. a huge rescue operation is under way. and coming up on newsnight, on august 30 this year and massacre occurred in a village in myanmar, our team has been looking at what happened that day. testimony makes ita happened that day. testimony makes it a disturbing but important film.

now, it is obviously only in 11 days since trump declared victory in raqqa, and there are implicationshere are implications about that, the timing is interesting. more on that story later. let's have a look 110w that story later. let's have a look now at other stories in the news. brexit is in the news every day. the independent says that labour will force a vote to release 58 secret studies on brexit was make economic damage. we have a study on the economic damage daily, and a p pa re ntly economic damage daily, and apparently there are 58 secret ones? do tell! exactly my reaction. it is not like we are short of studies telling us what is going on. one of the things is that people didn't like to go into the in—depth detail about what was going to happen to every industry, and when this came up every industry, and when this came up during the course of the referendum, people said, we've had enough of experts. that became the catchphrase. i wonder what on earth is in these secret studies, given that most of us, and even the experts, do not know what is going to be happening. we are all

here is a family video of other russians living under isis in raqqa, in syria. state if theirfathers died. now, their fathers are mostly dead, but isis has fallen, and desperate grandparents back in russia have no idea what has happened to the women and children. grandmothers like her have asked me to find out anything i can. and finally, i do get a clue. i've just heard that a kidnapped yezidi girl has been reunited with her relatives. she was rescued from one of hundreds of foreign isis families detained by the iraqi authorities after the group's defeat. were some of the lost russian muslim children there with her? were there a lot of other children in the prison? i showed madiya the photos i'd been sent by russian grandmothers. were any of these children with her in the detention camp, where there were so many foreign families? oh, really? madiya has said she didn't know the girl's name but i recognise her too — she's the daughter of one of the women who sent desperate messages as they tried to flee isis. later, i discover that herfamily has survived and will

they had wrested control of the provincial capital raqqa in northern syria. the city of one million people became their capital. six months later, isis burst into public consciousness when they crossed the border back into iraq... (gunfire) ...and seized iraq's second- largest city, mosul. (explosions) sunni residents welcomed them. (cheering) >> smith: u.s. officials were blindsided. >> the fall of mosul was something that we had not anticipated, and the suddenness with which that fall occurred was something that was a shock. >> allahu akbar! >> they seized everything from small arms to light-armored vehicles to anti-aircraft weapons. when terrorists of this kind get their hands on weapons, it was a huge concern to us. i don't think we truly understood the depth of the problem until the fall of mosul. >> smith: for all the contingency planning that you routinely do here at the pentagon, were there plans for how to react to the fall of mosul to isis? >> well, no, there were not, because of course... so look, there were several things that surprised us about i

for severayears, t iraqi city of mosusul and raqqa a in a were in thhands of the so-cald islamic state

raqqa, if you remember, was the so-called capital of the so-called cal fatality.ally it is important that that caliphate doesn't exist anymore. however, former defense secretary was saying to me yesterday, unless you pursue and make up for the post military defeat, in other words, you've got to have a political and economic end to this. it is not just whack-a-mole and sit back and hope they don't come back again. that's what's happened in the past. how to neutralize the threat of terrorism is not just military, although the military plays a huge and significant role. >> it is not just geographical. it is ideological. as we know, that battle continues. in terms of how other world leaders sigh president trump, let's not just take his word for it. do you have a sense of whether or not other world leaders do respect president trump or how they feel about the u.s. at the moment. >> i think it's really hard to personalize this. i peripheral to look at it as the rest of the world engaged with the united states. because that is what's important. i think in the eight month