also in the programme. president zelensky addresses the european parliament saying ukraine is fighting to protect europe s way of life president zelensky pleas for. we start with the devastation following monday s earthquakes in turkey and syria, where mass graves are being dug, as the death toll climbs rapidly. nearly 20,000 are known to have lost their lives. rescuers are continuing desperate attempts to find and free survivors, four days after the quakes hit. the world health organization has warned there could be a secondary disaster with survivors living on the streets with very little food and water and in freezing temperatures. our middle east correspondent anna foster is in gaziantep the epicentre of the biggest earthquake to hit the region on monday. this heavy machinery is starting to arrive mainly in the big cities like this one, it has to be said, when you think about the rural villages, towns that are as badly affected, it is so much harder to get the equip
Spoke about the issues at stake with the president of the un generalassembly, dennis francis. Thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news, president. This is obviously a very busy week at the General Assembly, but also special summits on the sdgs, global finance, Un Security Council is meeting as well, High Level Health meetings, but leaders of some of the most powerful countries have chosen not to attend france, the uk, india, china, russia. Do you consider that a snob . No, i dont. I dont at all. Of course, we hoped that the house would be full, but we appreciate that leaders may have other pressing matters that require their attention, and i am sure the views and perspectives of those countries not led by Heads Of State and or government will be expressed and represented by their heads of delegation. But if you have only one of the five permanent members sending their leader here, does that raise legitimacy issues about the un . No, it doesnt, because the permanent members have a
Our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, sent this report from doha. The first steps to freedom. Finally, leaving iran. Two hours later, touching down in doha. Imagine the emotion inside this plane. Opening the door on a new life, five former prisoners. Relief and joy palpable as they embraced american and qatari officials. The success of months of indirect talks here between arch enemies, iran and america. These are three of the freed prisoners. Two others did not want their identity revealed. 67 year old, morad tahbaz, arrested five years ago, in a crackdown on environmental activists. 58 year old, emad shargi, a businessman arrested in 2020, also on charges of spying. And 51 year old Siamak Namazi, who spent the longest in tehran s notorious evin prison. He issued this statement today. We spoke to one of his relatives who also spent time in evin prison. It is a joyful day but knowing Siamak Namazi and his strong personality and his values, im sure that he will try to come
extraordinary. many survivors have sought shelter in makeshift camps. at this one in idlib, volunteers and aid workers have set up large tents where mostly women and children can sleep. but with temperatures dropping to minus 5 and a lack of heating and food, the situation remains dire. translation: when the earthquake hit we thought the house became unfit - and unsafe to stay in so we went to stay at a mosque and that we were transferred here. cannot sleep because of the cold and the conditions are very bad. there are many children here and we need heating and supplies. last night we could not sleep because it was so cold. as we ve been reporting, getting aid into north western syria is proving to be a major problem and it s politics standing in the way. the area affected by the quake is controlled by multiple groups. the syrian government adminsters the purple section, orange is the hands of syrian rebels, the red parts in the north are controlled by the turkish military and affili