yollande knell, bbc news, beirut. iraqi authorities in the city of basra have lifted a curfew.vernment demonstrations there all week, and 12 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces. thousands of people were hospitalised after drinking polluted water, and residents are angry about water and electricity shortages, corruption and unemployment. as the country prepares to go to the polls, sweden's prime minister has warned about the dangers of extremism and fascism. opinions polls suggest that the country's anti—immigrant party, sweden democrats, could become the second biggest in parliament. our correspondent, jenny hill, is in the swedish capital, stockholm. well, this is certainly the most significant collections of sweden in decades. the sweden democrats, the anti— migrant nationalists, anti—eu party looks set to take at least a fifth of the vote and that represents a serious challenge to this country's political establishment. prime minister is clearly concerned, even he is warning about what he describes as dark forces mobilising within the country. sweden,

yollande knell, bbc news, beirut. some breaking tennis news for you now.ork, naomi osaka has beaten serena williams to become the first japanese player to win a grand slam singles title. it was a dramatic match. (read on) our tennis correspondent russell fuller was watching everything in new york and can tell us more. we knew that it was going to be dramatic but this got rather intense, didn't it? nobody could have anticipated this. naomi osaka is the first japanese player, male oi’ is the first japanese player, male orfemale, to win is the first japanese player, male or female, to win a grand is the first japanese player, male orfemale, to win a grand slam singles title and has done so at the age ofjust 20 by beating serena williams who has won 23 grand slam titles in her career. a staggering performance but unfortunately for naomi osaka it will be a —— overshadowed by what happened in the second set when serena williams was warned, given a code violation warning, for receiving coaching from the stands by the umpire carlos hamas, and she was very upset ab

yollande knell, bbc news, beirut.ntally fell onto a tube track moments before a train arrived have escaped unhurt after they moved into a pit under the track. police said the woman was pushing a buggy along a platform at baker street station in london when she veered too close to the edge and fell. charlotte gallagher reports. emergency services swarmed around baker street station last night. people who saw what happened were screaming and running away in tears. suddenly, alarms started going off, and all the members of staff were running around the place, yelling. i was on the escalators going down to the platform when a number of staff was running down the escalators, yelling at people to get out. it was on this platform where the family had their miraculous escape. distracted by the arrivals board, the mother fell off the platform, along with her child in a buggy. her partnerjumped down to help, and the three managed to crawl into into the shallow pit under the rails. the whole point about the pits, which the peopl

our middle east correspondent, yollande knell, reports. today in the idlib countryside.ale offensive here hasn't yet started, but these were powerful blasts. syrian government helicopters dropping barrels packed with explosives. and after each strike, the white helmets civil defence rushing in, searching for survivors. with the fate of idlib hanging in the balance, its residents are taking to the streets. desperately calling for international intervention to prevent a deadly government offensive in this rebel—held area. but president assad, surveying territory already recaptured by his forces, now looks on course to win back all of syria, supported by russia and iran. his troops amassing on the borders of idlib and insist they'll drive out the islamist militants they see as terrorists. and although rebel fighters are preparing for battle, they look set to be massively outgunned. some residents fled idlib early on in the war. as refugees here in lebanon, they can see the hills that lead to home, and they worry about family left behind. translation: they're telling us it's

yollande knell, bbc news, beirut. let's get some of the day's other news. iraqi city of basra. there've been anti—government demonstrations there all week, and i2 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces. thousands of people were hospitalised after drinking polluted water, and residents are angry about water and electricity shortages, corruption and unemployment. colombia's president ivan duque says the leader of the disbanded rebel group, united guerillas of the pacific, has been killed. state television paraded two bodies which they said were those of hector david segura palacios and his sister. they died in a shoot—out with security forces near the city of tumaco. the group had refused to demobilise under a peace deal. north korea's leader kimjong un has been marking the seventieth anniversary of the nation's founding with a visit to the mausoleum housing his predecessors. state television showed mr kim surrounded by officials as he paid his respects to his grandfather and father. several photographs have also been released of his meet

yollande knell, bbc news, beirut. to vote in a general election, sweden's prime minister has warned about the dangers of extremism and fascism. opinions polls suggest that the country's anti—immigrant party, sweden democrats, could become the second biggest in parliament. our correspondent, jenny hill, is in the swedish capital, stockholm. well, this is certainly the most significant collections well, this is certainly the most significant election for sweden in decades. the sweden democrats, the anti— migrant nationalists, anti—eu party looks set to take at least a fifth of the vote and that represents a serious challenge to this country's political establishment. prime minister is clearly concerned, even he is warning about what he describes as dark forces mobilising within the country. sweden, in the last few years, took in more people seeking asylum per head of population than any other european country and the sweden democrats have made political gain out of the crisis, focusing on what they say is migrant relate

yollande knell, bbc news, beirut.arch, believed that two men from moscow had tried to assassinate him five years earlier. nikolai glushkov was found dead at his home in south west london, a week after the former spy, sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, were poisoned in salisbury. now the police have re—opened their investigation into an incident in 2013, as richard lister reports. the murder mystery of nikolai glushkov, a prominent critic of vladimir putin, hasjust become a little murkier. his body was found at his home in south—west london in march, a week after the skripals were poisoned in salisbury. mr glushkov appeared to have been strangled, but now it has emerged that one of bristol's grandest hotels may have been the setting for an attempt on his life five years earlier, when two russian men plied him with champagne. keith carr was the paramedic who treated him. nikolai had been lying on the floor and he had carpet burns and he appeared like someone who normally who had an epileptic fit. the russian told h

yollande knell, bbc news, beirut.o stop nuisance calls from personal injury and claim management firms. you'll now need to opt in to allow companies to contact you. businesses that don't comply could face a fine of £500,000. manuela saragosa has the details. for many of us, cold calls are a daily torment. hello? the financial conduct authority says some 2.7 billion nuisance calls, texts and e—mails were made over the past year. that works out to be about 50 calls, texts and e—mails sent to every single adult in the country. many are made by companies offering to settle personal injury claims, or to claim back ppi — payment protection insurance. but, from now on, these companies will have to check first that the recipient has explicitly agreed to receive those calls and messages. companies that don't could face a fine of up to £500,000, and people are encouraged to report them to the ico — the information commissioner's office. some companies will see the new change in law and i think they will desist from the activity

our middle east correspondent yollande knell reports. today in the idlib countryside.asn't yet started, but these were powerful blasts. amazingly, those nearby survived. activists say the bombing rebel bombings intensified. —— activists say the bombings intensified. syrian government helicopters dropping barrels packed with explosives. and after each strike, the white helmets civil defence rushing in, searching for survivors. with the fate of idlib hanging in the balance, its residents are taking to the streets. desperately calling for international intervention to prevent a deadly government offensive in this rebel held area. many syrians opposed to the regime fled to this province from other parts of the country, swelling its population to 3 million. and the un warned that any battle here would be horrific and bloody. though these rebel fighters are defiant, they look set to be massively outgunned. some are lined with turkey but in a confusing mix of shifting alliances, much of the province is under the control of jihadist formally linked to al-qaeda. some residents

if syrian forces use chemical weapons in an assault on idlib. 0ur middle east correspondent, yollande knellthe balance, its residents are taking to the streets, desperately calling for international intervention to prevent a deadly government offensive in this rebel—held area. this man demands that the un special envoy on syria and his colleagues stop any bloodshed. they must protect people from air strikes. civilians are being targeted, he says. the un security council did meet yesterday to discuss idlib. there were fresh warnings that any battle for this province would be horrific and bloody. it's feared that tens of thousands of syrians could be caught up in a humanitarian catastrophe. but when russia and the assad regime say they want to counter terrorism, they actually mean they want to bomb schools, hospitals and homes. they want to punish the civilians who had the courage to rise up against assad. but earlier at talks in tehran, russia and iran, key allies of the syrian government, ignored turkish calls for a truce, insisting that islamist militant groups must be dealt with. and as i

our middle east correspondent yollande knell reports. today in the idlib countryside. full—scale offensive here hasn't yet started, but these were powerful blasts. syrian government helicopters dropping barrels packed with explosives. and after each strike, the white helmets civil defence rushing in, searching for survivors. with the fate of idlib hanging in the balance, its residents are taking to the streets. desperately calling for international intervention to prevent a deadly government offensive in this rebel held area. but president assad, surveying territory already recaptured by his forces, now looks on course to win back all of syria, supported by russia and iran. his troops amassing on the borders of idlib, and insist they will drive out the islamist militants they see as terrorists. and although rebel fighters are preparing for battle, they look set to be massively outgunned. some residents fled idlib early on in the war, as refugees here in lebanon, they can see the hip —— held that lead to home, and they worry about family lead to home, and they worry abo