The communist Party National congress. Theres been lots of reaction on social media to the unveiling of the countrys new leadership. More reaction from outside of the chinese mainland than inside it. A lot of it has focused on the make up of the committee. The gender balance is way off. This is Carrie Gracies the bbcs correspondent. Gender wasnt the only thing generating discussion their appearance did too. They are very similar, all in their 60s, wearing similar black suits and a range of coloured ties similar to each other and some jokes followed from that. Some say that the new look should have been something a bit more like this, but i think its unlikely i have been speaking to a member of the bbc monitoring staff who said that this is not a surprise. In the state media in the lead up to the announcement today, the names were more or less predicted. The official news agency, there were names mentioned that have been elected into the chinese congress, so when the announcement came out it wasnt entirely unpredicted but its generated quite a lot of excitement with independent media outside the mainland. A lot of people kaltenborn to the fact that a lot of these men we re to the fact that a lot of these men were in their 50s and 60s. They were all han chinese, the majority group, there are 50 of them. Most prized there. People also said, how come there. People also said, how come there are no women in the line up. There was the expectation that there might be one. To what degree can people on the mainland discuss the pros and cons of those who made their final pros and cons of those who made theirfinal standing pros and cons of those who made their final Standing Committee . There hasnt been much reaction as to the actual names because they we re to the actual names because they were predicted and also because an chinese social media there isnt really open dialogue for discussing politicians, unlike here with facebook or twitter. Politicians and seniorfigures have facebook or twitter. Politicians and senior figures have accounts and release statements but in china you dont have this at all. No politician has a wechat account on which they post messages and if you search about anybody other than xi jinping, you dont get any reaction, from your averagejoe, jinping, you dont get any reaction, from your average joe, talking jinping, you dont get any reaction, from your averagejoe, talking about what they think of the person. The senseis what they think of the person. The sense is that if you track for comments on people like this the sensors track for comments like this and make sure you cant discuss them and make sure you cant discuss them and there isnt a sense of dissent. Within the Chinese Media outside of the mainland, there are options to have discussions. They would have known that xijinping have discussions. They would have known that xi jinping was going to extend his power but have they been shocked by the extent to which it happened . Independent media, not really. I think there has been a certain kind of. A lot of excitement around the idea of xi jinpings thought, being elevated to the same level as mao zedong or deng xiaoping. He has been elevated to this position of authority meaning his name and his thoughts are going to be taught in schools. A lot of excitement around that. There have been these unconventional ways the communist party has tried to engage younger audiences, things like rap videos, trying to teach the messages of xijinping videos, trying to teach the messages of xi jinping through song, so that people can hear the achievements that hes made over the last five yea rs that hes made over the last five years and they find that they are stuck in their heads. Lets turn to a controversy connected to the rebuilding of puerto rico after hurricane maria. This is a government website detailed disrupted services. They include petrol, supermarkets and phone networks. The biggest problem though is power. Only 25 of puerto rico has it. Last week a 300 Million Contract to fix the power grid was awarded to a Company Based in the small town in montana called whitefish. Very close to the border with canada. You can easily find the website, it is called Whitefish Energy. Its gets more intriguing when you know that there wasnt a Competitive Bidding process, and that when the hurricane hit, it had two full time staff. Thats raised some eyebrows. As has this. The fact that this man, us interior secretary ryan zinke, lives in whitefish and knows the compa nys owner. For the record, zinke and the company have denied any strings were pulled. Nonetheless questions are being asked. Democratic congressman Raul Grijalva said Congress Needs to understand why the whitefish contract was awarded and whether other, more Cost Effective options were available. The puerto rico governor has reacted. For more on this, we enlisted the help of nicky woolette of montana public radio, and whos based in whitefish. Whitefish energy is a pretty Small Company Whitefish Energy is a pretty small com pa ny started two Whitefish Energy is a pretty Small Company started two years ago in north west montana. They made a splash a year ago when the chief executive said he wanted to build a manufacturing plant for transformers. The plant did not go through but the company has won a few contracts to do some power line rebuild and repair in arizona and washington state. Has it ever done anything on the scale of the work is being asked to do in puerto rico . Not to my knowledge but the company say that they are designed to scale up say that they are designed to scale up as needed and they also say they have a lot of experience working in mountainous terrain, which is important in puerto rico because there is a mountain chain running down the island, separating the Power Generation sites from the populated areas. So while some people are easing sceptical eyebrows, the company would say that it isa eyebrows, the company would say that it is a perfectly legitimate job for it is a perfectly legitimate job for it to pick up . Yeah they say that so far things are going well, they have 300 people are working already and they are getting ten, 20 more each day. They say that there is a lot of debris blocking access to the sites where they are working so is that of using traditional bucket trucks they are using helicopters to accept the areas there are to access the areas there are to access the areas they are working. Three quarters of the island remains without delicacy. This is being co ordinated from a relatively small office block in a small town in montana . No, they are on the ground in puerto rico and they have a travelling command centre based in san warne at the moment. What are people in your town making of the fa ct people in your town making of the fact that suddenly youre in the middle of a story getting Global Coverage . Right, a lot of people are excited that a Small Montana town is doing this big important work. A lot of people are sceptical. Whitefish montana is also the home of the secretary of the interior, ryan zinke, and people say that maybe some favours were appalled to get the contract. Secretary ryan zinke and the Whitefish Energy ceo say that they know each other, it is a small town but no favours were asked and they were not in contact about this contract. More information on the bbc website. We often talk about brazilian politics and it is a complicated affair. Back in august 2016, Dilma Rousseff became the first democratically elected female president in the world to be impeached and removed from office. Then, earlier this year, in march, the man who led the impeachment of ms rouseff, Eduardo Cunha the former speaker of the lower house of the Brazilian Congress was sentenced to 15 years injailfor corruption, Money Laundering and tax evasion. Moving on tojuly, and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da silva was found guilty of corruption and Money Laundering and was sentenced to almost 10 years in prison. He isnt serving it because he is still appealing. And onto today, and current president michael temer faces a vote in congress on whether he should stand trial having been charged with accepting bribes by the countrys chief prosecutor back in june. It isa it is a lot to take in. Katy watson is following this from sao paulo. Some people may be surprised that the president has stayed in office given what has happened over the last few months, let alone this week. Indeed, a lot of people in brazil are surprised, now that you mention the accepting bribes which was a few months ago, he got away with that and this is a separate charge, obstruction ofjustice and heading upa charge, obstruction ofjustice and heading up a criminal organisation, charges relating to a plea bargain testimony coming out earlier this year, talking to one of the bosses of one of the biggest meat packing businesses in the world. This is what it comes to. The vote has started, they have started discussing it and later we will find out whether they believe, the lower house of congress, that they should be taking him and putting him on trial in the Supreme Court. It looks like he may get away with it again. Tell me more about the accusation that he heads up a criminal investigation. Some people may be surprised to know that is a possibility for a man who is also the president. Indeed, this relates to his backer. In may, some testimony from the boss of a meat packing business, jdf, basically came out with revealing that hed encouraged hush money, evidence that he had perhaps couuded evidence that he had perhaps colluded with other members of the party, dealing with bribes, basically. This goes to the top, what is known as 0peration car wash, implicating some of the biggest names in brazilian politics and business. Really showing how corrupt politics has been here in brazil. Thats what this is relating to. But you know, the lower house of congress has to approve this and has to push this through to allow him to stand trial in the Supreme Court and it looks like he has allies. Theres a feeling that he only has a year to go before the president ial and keeping him in thejob will encourage political stability because the country has been in recession for more than three years and it is coming out of it. There area and it is coming out of it. There are a group of backers who are keeping him in thejob despite are a group of backers who are keeping him in the job despite the allegations reveal it will be better than him being removed. Thank you for joining than him being removed. Thank you forjoining us. Than him being removed. Thank you for joining us. Perhaps than him being removed. Thank you forjoining us. Perhaps you can update us tomorrow. A lot of attention on politics today, from kenya, to the us, to china and brazil. Now, the uk. The minister in charge of the uk leaving the European Union david davis caused a stir earlier today telling a committee of mps that parliament might not get a vote on any brexit deal until after the uk leaves the eu. Here is the clip at the centre of the story. Its no secret that the way the union makes its decision tends to be at the 11th minute, the 59th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day and thats precisely. Here. That was david davis but the Prime Minister was quick to respond. As the honourable gentleman knows, we are in negotiations with the European Union but im confident that the timetable in the lisbon treaty gives time until march, 2019, for negotiations and im confident because it is in the interests of both sides, notjust as parliament wa nts a both sides, notjust as parliament wants a vote on the deal but there will be ratification by other parliaments and we will be able to achieve agreement on the negotiation in time for this parliament to have a vote. Getting louder and louder in the commons. We can go to alex forsyth for some help on this. What does this mean . Its a pretty big deal to mps does this mean . Its a pretty big dealto mps in does this mean . Its a pretty big deal to mps in the commons that they get a vote on whatever theresa may comes back from brussels with and the government has promised them that so when david davis suggested that so when david davis suggested that the negotiations could go to the last minute, after the deadline of 2019, a lot of mps, especially labour once, asked what it would mean for their vote if they go to the deadline. There then had to be some clarification from the Prime Minister and david davis, the brexit secretary of state himself, saying they are confident they will get a deal done in time to bring a vote back to the houses of parliament, for mps to have their say. What is interesting about this is that it highlights the timescale these negotiations are under right now. In orderfor the Parliament Negotiations are under right now. In order for the parliament in the negotiations are under right now. In orderfor the parliament in the uk to have a vote and for the 27 other countries to sign off any deal, that deal must be done by this time next year, in about 12 months because the clock is ticking on the entire process of getting out of the eu by march 2019. David davis was saying that it may go down to the wire and what it shows is how tight these timescales of the talks are and how much they must get through in order to get the deal. Thank you for joining us. As theresa may was emphasising, all of the National Parliaments in the eu must sign off on the deal. A new push to de escalate tension between Iraqi Kurdistan and the iraqi government. These are pictures from the kirkuk province. That is a colleague from bbc arabic. This is part of a government push to retake disputed territory. And that was triggered by the Kurds Holding an independence referendum, to the fury of the central government. Well, look at this. Iraqi kurdistan is now calling for a ceasefire so both sides can start an open dialogue. Its also offering to freeze the yes vote for independence, although baghdad never recognised it anyway. This is the region in question in northern iraq. The disputed areas, around kirkuk, is outside of Iraqi Kurdistan which is autonomous. And this is of all of great interest to syria, turkey, armenia and iran. I asked Rasha Qandeel from bbc arabic on this latest development they are trying to put everything in perspective for baghdad but baghdad refused the freezing of the referendum results, it once it cancelled altogether. Its difficult because with the military escalation between both sides, in kirkuk and other places, there is a difficult situation for the United States firstly because it is an al ahli they are allies of everyone on the ground, the peshmerga, turkey under nato and iran under a deal that is shaky under donald trump. Is fighting already going on or are we talking about tension . It is tension, near the definition of the word, but it is very fragile. Reports from kirkuk and other areas, a mixture between the kurds, arabs and turkish that thousands of civilians are fleeing those areas, in case it comes to any kind of clashes between both sides. Especially as baghdad is refusing what the kurds are offering. Im sure youve seen the met00 hashtag thats being used by women sharing stories of sexual harrassment. It started being used heavily after the Harvey Weinstein scandal began. Today in strasburg, female members of the European Parliament held up metoo placards, and began to detail harassment that has happened in the parliament. Over 100 claims have been made. Adam fleming is there. This issue shot up the agenda of the European Parliament following the Global Campaign against Sexual Harassment. Me a too i have been sexually harassed, like millions of other people in the eu and i think its about time that we very clearly say that we should not be ashamed, but that the perpetrators should be ashamed. But the spotlight was shone on inappropriate behaviour in this building, by meps towards their staff. Has letta beat me to hashtag has brought a great range of Shocking Stories but also stories from this house, women being harassed in the left, these are things that should not exist in 2017, and what about the power relationship . If it is your boss doing it. Youve got to pay off your mortgage and feed your kids. It follows allegations made by parliamentary assistants like jan, who wrote a diary detailing incidents involving her and her colleagues, 47 of them. Incidents involving her and her colleagues, 47 of themlj incidents involving her and her colleagues, 47 of them. I once received an e mail is coming from a picture taken of myself without me knowing, obviously, iwas picture taken of myself without me knowing, obviously, i was working picture taken of myself without me knowing, obviously, iwas working in the Conference Room and the man took pictures and send them to me in the night. Allegations are handed by an internal committee made up of meps. Many people would like to see the appointment of external experts, but this has been rejected by the president who says that the solution is more president who says that the solution is more awareness president who says that the solution is more awareness and better training. Authorities say that there have been no complaints of Sexual Harassment by meps. There is a bbc programme on bbc radio called witness, looking at events in history through one person. We have a report tonight. During the 1944, German Occupation of hungary, david gur was part of an underground group producing tens of thousands of forged documents. Davids team saved jews from deportation, and almost certain death in the concentration camps. Hes been telling his story. Translation when the germans invaded hungary i changed my identification documents. I left the flat i was living in as a jewish person and started living a different identity as a gentile. A few days later i met with leaders of the underground Zionist Youth Movement who told me id bejoining a team to forge documents. I became pa rt a team to forge documents. I became part of the biggest rescue operation during the holocaust run byjewish people. I was 18 at the time. A month or two after the invasion, orders were sent to all hungarian provinces forjewish people to wear the yellow star of david and to be concentrated in ghettos. Anyjewish person arriving at a train station was arrested. They were the first to be deported. In our workshop we prepared all the documents in everyday life, to rent a flat, to prove your residency and later on, work permits. The most difficult sta m ps to work permits. The most difficult stamps to forge worthy hungarian governments because the emblem had so much detail. We had to be very accurate. I was always busy thinking about how to secure the safety of the workshop, how to provide documents to withstand inspection, how to keep my friends saved by providing them with the right documents. Ifelt providing them with the right documents. I felt responsible for life and death. For safety reasons we often had to change location, moving from place to place, around 50 times over a period of eight, nine months. On december the 21st, as the russians were at the gates of budapest, i was arrested with two of my workshop team. We were taken to the hungarian fascist Party Headquarters where we were interrogated. Later on, they stripped us naked to beat us up. One of us, miki, died in the early hours of the morning. I spent three days in the prison in the hands of the fascists until my friends managed to free us. The police fled because budapest was under siege, they wanted to save themselves. Only the civilian guards we re themselves. Only the civilian guards were left. We couldnt save all of the jewish people were left. We couldnt save all of thejewish people but at least through our work we saved as many as we could. Tens of thousands in budapest were saved thanks to the work of the underground. It is autumn, it is unsettled, no two days are the same and that has been the story this week. Look at southern england on tuesday. Yes, it was mild but cloudy and rather grey. Wednesday, the cloud broke up, we had sunshine and in london we sought 19 degrees, which is quite impressive for late in october. But things are going to change again and one of the reasons for the change is this weather front which will introduce more cloud and drizzly rain over northern england, north wales and certainly more cloud in england and wales. Further north and west, sunny spells and showers but a little bit more fresh year with 1013d. We little bit more fresh year with 10 13d. We may see 18 in the south west corner. The weather front is going to ease away and High Pressure will build, changing the weather story again. Things quietening down but also freshening up quietening down but also freshening up with the wind direction starting to change. A cold start on friday especially in sheltered areas, a light frost is not out of the question but some decent, dry, sunny weather. A quiet day on friday and yes it is going to feel more fresh but hopefully the sunshine compensating for that. More of a breeze in the far north. Highest value is likely on friday afternoon, 1015. Value is likely on friday afternoon, 10 15. Moving out of friday into saturday the wind is going to strengthen again, a quiet start to the weekend and perhaps a degree or so milder but not as warm as it has been, 11th 16. Changing into sunday. The reason the wind is changing direction again, High Pressure drifting to the south west allowing this low pressure to develop over scandinavia. Look how tight the isobars are and the wind direction from the nice, gales are likely, cold at any time of year but it will feel quite cold indeed on the exposed coast of scotland and running down through the north sea. That could be a shock to the system after what weve had this week. Mild are staying in the south west, it wont be as bad here but a bit of exposure on the coast and its going to feel quite cold, eight or 9 degrees but perhaps colder than that, 11th14 degrees but perhaps colder than that, 11th 14 further south. On sunday the wind will be light, maybe a touch of frost on monday morning but again monday could be quite a quiet day. Dry and mostly sunny, not too bad at all but the wind changing direction again, south westerly returning, introducing mild air but wetter conditions in the far north west. Back to all change. In the middle of the week the low pressure may drift across the uk, introducing the potential for something a bit milder, but also wetter. The load is not expected to hang around for long and towards the end of the week it may drift off into the neo con didnt into the near continent, potentially allowing High Pressure and bringing more northerly air, so it may turn pretty cold as we move into the 8 10 day period. Turning colder furby a field further afield, but how u nsettled, further afield, but how unsettled, how long is the High Pressure going to last, i will tell you tomorrow. With the Manufacturing Sector performing well. Philip hammond says a close look at the figures suggests the economy is showing resilience. Its outperformed market expectations, as the uk economy has done overall since the referendum last year. And what it shows is the underlying fundamental strength of this economy. Stronger growth and higher inflation mean the bank of england could raise Interest Rates as early as next week. Also tonight. Mixed messages from the government on whether parliament will get a vote on a brexit deal before britain leaves the European Union. In kenya, opposition supporters reject the decision,
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