that shamima begum who left london aged 15 to join the islamic state group was smuggled into syria by an intelligence agent working for canada. thousands of royal mail workers stage a second day of strike action in a row over pay disrupting deliveries of packages and letters. full speed ahead for the world s largest operating offshore wind farm. hornsea two, off the yorkshire coast, will power more than one million homes. than one million homes. defending champion emma raducanu is out of the us open losing in the first round to france s alize cornet. the last leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev, has died, aged 91, following a long illness. mr gorbachev was crucial to ending the cold war. he was one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. world leaders have been paying tribute. president biden described him as a man of remarkable vision. the un chief antonio guterres said he changed the course of history . our moscow editor, steve ro
the government are talking about pushing through a third package of measures. the other message is that the german economy minister has said that gas prices should start falling in germany because of those tanks. it means that berlin no has to no longer take the highest price. this three day shutdown of this major pipeline is not seen as a surprise in germany. since february, the german government has lost any illusions around russia. they don t believe anything that comes out of the kremlin, they believe it s a political weapon and that is why germany has been frantically, since debris, looking for other sources and it looks like that s starting to workjust in time for the winter. throughout the day we looking back on the life of gorbachev. when he
the ussr was looking more like a cemetery than a superpower. but in 1985, gorbachev became leader and launched perestroika reforms to reinvigorate the soviet union. at home, there were western style walkabouts. abroad, he charmed an iron lady and a us president. together, gorbachev and reagan slashed their nuclear arsenals. with a reformer in the kremlin, eastern europe saw a chance to break free from moscow. when the berlin wall fell, crucially gorbachev refused to intervene to prop up the iron curtain.
but when history is written he will be one of the authors of fantastic change for the better. well, earlier, the former us secretary of state henry kissinger spoke to the bbc and he gave this assessment of mr gorbachev s legacy. mr gorbachev performed great services. but he was not able to implement all of it and he was, in part, destroyed by developing ideas which russian society was not yet fully ready. but and in the end, the russian people
after the collapse of the soviet union, ordinary russians faced hardship in the 1990s, hyper inflation. many of them blamed him for letting go of the grip of power and weakening their country. that set the same for vladimir putin to arrive to power and shape himself into the leader he is today. today, into the leader he is today. today, in russia, in kremlin circles, they were openly dismissive of gorbachev. vladimir putin has apparently refer to him as naive and even an idiot for letting go of the superpower. if you went out on the streets of moscow today, people would be muted in their views. they would not want to speak ill of someone who has just died but i don t think they would be