hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. it's been described as the new high—speed railway that will form the backbone of britain's transport network. but there are now questions over the future of the h52 project which had planned to connect london, the midlands and the north of england. the uk government says it would be "crazy" not to review the project given soaring costs due to the war in ukraine and a rise in inflation. defence secretary, and former transport minister grant shapps told the bbc the government would need to make "serious decisions" on how affordable it is. the hs2 project was originally due to link london with manchester and leeds, via birmingham. there is speculation that the link between birmingham and manchester may be under threat as costs have increased significantly. the line to leeds has already been scrapped. with more, here's our political correspondent, jessica parker. hsz hs2 is this enormous rail project, and they actually already scrapped a bit of the leg of the line that would run up to leeds in the north of england, in yorkshire, and now there is also lots of speculation building that the government will potentially cut part of the project that would run to manchester, and major city in the uk. this has led to business leaders, some politicians really covering delete my calling on the government not to axe the project, saying it is vital to the uk economy. the government being tight—lipped about exactly what they are going to do. downing street has repeatedly refused to explicitly say what it will do on this front, but we understand our meeting and the decision may come this week. of course, it was something that was put to the defence secretary, a senior minister in the government, grant chaps. fin in the government, grant chaps. on hsz, in the government, grant chaps. q�*i hsz, we do have to respond to the hs2, we do have to respond to the budgets. we've been hit notjust by coronavirus but by the war in ukraine, and any responsible government looks at that and says, does this still stuck up about the country requires in terms of where it is spending its resources and the sequencing of that expenditure stops iron it does not look good, then. the mood music is not particularly upbeat on terms of whether this project will go ahead. the main opposition party in the uk, labour, have been accused of sending mixed messages about exactly what they would do in government. of course, labour has been leading the conservatives in the polls ahead of a likely general election in the uk next year. he was what the shadow chief secretary to the treasury, darrenjones, had to say. we chief secretary to the treasury, darren jones, had to say. we are sunportive _ darren jones, had to say. we are sunportive of _ darren jones, had to say. we are supportive of h52 _ darren jones, had to say. we are supportive of h52 being - darren jones, had to say. we are supportive of h52 being built, . darren jones, had to say. we are | supportive of h52 being built, but supportive of hs2 being built, but we are responding to rumour and leak. this is an important infrastructure project. what i say on your show matters because we hope to be in government next year. we are not going to make decisions about national infrastructure projects that involve tens of billions of pounds without all of the information being available. i mentioned a general election likely next year, and i think that is how we have to see things, all the important context, at least, as we head into party conference season. all the main parties are having their autumn conferences. this weekend, it is the turn of the lib dems, who are hoping to revive their fortunes. they have seen recent successes in by—elections, but they have also been largely flatlining in the polls. the leader of the lib dems, ed davey, was on the bbc this morning, and he was presented with research that suggested lots of people don't really know what the party stands for. he said they are making the case, lots of campaigns and policies on things like housing and policies on things like housing and the cost of living. it’s and policies on things like housing and the cost of living.— and the cost of living. it's about helinu and the cost of living. it's about helping peeple _ and the cost of living. it's about helping people with _ and the cost of living. it's about helping people with the - and the cost of living. it's about helping people with the cost - and the cost of living. it's about helping people with the cost of| helping people with the cost of living. they are with mortgages and rent, and they need a party that's going to help them. on the environment, we led the campaign against awful sewage dumping, so we are getting our idea is over. is there work to do?— are getting our idea is over. is there work to do? ., ., ., , , there work to do? you are absolutely riuht. you there work to do? you are absolutely right- you are — there work to do? you are absolutely right. you are delete _ there work to do? you are absolutely right. you are delete might - there work to do? you are absolutely right. you are delete might have - right. you are delete might have been _ right. you are delete might have been leader for three years and they have no_ been leader for three years and they have no clue about you.— been leader for three years and they have no clue about you. where people have no clue about you. where people have heard our — have no clue about you. where people have heard our message, _ have no clue about you. where people have heard our message, particularlyl have heard our message, particularly in conserved heartlands, people have switched to us. four in conserved heartlands, people have switched to us.— switched to us. four years ago, in 2019 as we _ switched to us. four years ago, in 2019 as we headed _ switched to us. four years ago, in 2019 as we headed into _ switched to us. four years ago, in 2019 as we headed into the - switched to us. four years ago, in i 2019 as we headed into the general election, the lib dems were very much the stop brexit party. they didn't manage to stop brexit and the uk did leave the eu. at the moment, the lib dems leader is saying that rejoining is off the table for the time being. the lib dems still want the uk to be at the heart of europe, and he wants to rebuild that relationship, but there are people in his party who want to see them be bolder about their plans for the eu and a long intention —— long—term intention to get the uk back into the block. more on that on the bbc website, including the significance of the h52 including the significance of the hs2 rail link. next this hour, let's turn to one of the world's longest running conflicts which has been in the headlines this week. nagorno—karabakh is a territory which lies in mountainous south caucasus region of eastern europe and asia — between the black sea and the caspian sea. recognised internationally as part of azerbaijan, large areas of it have been controlled by ethnic armenians for three decades. this week, after azerbaijan launched a military offensive in nagorno—karabakh, a ceasefire was declared. the agreement said karabakh�*s military forces would be completely disarmed and disbanded. now there are concerns over the fate of ethnic armenians living in the area who say that for they've not been getting aid to their area. love now to go from the russian delete might bbc russian service. you've just returned from nagorno—karabakh, what are the latest developments on the ground? we came back from the place that is considered the capital of karabakh. this morning was the first time journalists were allowed into karabakh since the start of september hostilities. i need to note that this trip was heavily controlled by the azeri side, they say for security reasons. we could not choose places where to stop and whom to talk to. azeris have proudly showed us a large display of tanks, apcs, heavy weaponry and other ammunition which was laid down by armenian karabakhs in the past 48 hours, and clearly as a azerbaijan tries to show itself is a victim of this conflict and to underline that their actions are only in response to what they call provocations by karabakh armenians, whom they call separatists. that is their point of view. they are not talking about what is exactly happening in stepa na kert, what is exactly happening in stepanakert, the bigger city of karabakh, which karabakh armenians consider the capital. we could see it from above but we were not allowed anywhere close, and azeri authorities have not provided any details of what they are doing around that city and details of people who are stuck within stepa na kert. people who are stuck within stepanakert._ people who are stuck within steanakert. ~ ., , . people who are stuck within steanakert. ~ . , . ,, stepanakert. what picture were you able to net stepanakert. what picture were you able to get about _ stepanakert. what picture were you able to get about the _ stepanakert. what picture were you able to get about the situation - stepanakert. what picture were you able to get about the situation the i able to get about the situation the ground, given that, as you say, your access was limited? we ground, given that, as you say, your access was limited?— access was limited? we could see second back _ access was limited? we could see second back from _ access was limited? we could see second back from above, - access was limited? we could see second back from above, and - access was limited? we could see - second back from above, and through the lenses, we could see empty streets. also, as the sun was setting, we could see there was no electricity in stepanakert, so it went pitch dark, which was a stark contrast with the brightly lit streets where we were driven to. we can communicate with people in stepanakert via messages. they say the situation is critical, thousands of people are currently there, some have to sleep in the streets under open skies, others are cramped into the camp organised by russian peacekeepers near the airport. everyone there is very worried about their future. everyone there is very worried about theirfuture. azerbaijan has their future. azerbaijan has promised theirfuture. azerbaijan has promised that they can guarantee security of civilian population, they won't prosecute the civilian population, but they will target armed rebels, they say. they also say they are delayed —— ready to deliver aid and provide other camps for refugees, but the level of mistrust is huge because of the decades of this conflict and both sides are accusing each other of massive war crimes. so karabakh armenians distrust the promises. at the moment, it is really hard to predict what is going to happen. despite all the promises and diplomatic statements, everyone understands that the future of these people is now in azeri hands. you said ou people is now in azeri hands. you said you have _ people is now in azeri hands. you said you have been able to contact some karabakh armenians by whatsapp, for example. we are hearing different stories about how much aid is reaching them, given that this latvian corridor, the main route for aid to reach the area, has been closed or blockaded, according to karabakh armenians for many months now. what are you hearing from them about how much aid is getting to them? ., ., ~ ., , , ., them? from what we know yesterday, a red cross humanitarian _ them? from what we know yesterday, a red cross humanitarian convoy - them? from what we know yesterday, a red cross humanitarian convoy was - red cross humanitarian convoy was able to reach stepanakert. also russian peacekeepers are distributing help, but it's unclear what amount of help they have. the azeri side said they have sent two humanitarian convoys to the area, however karabakh armenians refused to accept that help, and that is where russian peacekeepers stepped in to be some kind of mediators. at the moment the amount of help which is getting through despite all the troubles is not enough to meet the needs of the thousands of people stopped there, especially bearing in mind that it is a humanitarian crisis. even if the food is coming in, there is no electricity, a total lack of water, of medical supplies, and hundreds of those trapped are women and very young children. alga. women and very young children. olga, thank ou women and very young children. olga, thank you very — women and very young children. olga, thank you very much _ women and very young children. olga, thank you very much for _ women and very young children. olga, thank you very much for bringing us up thank you very much for bringing us up to date following your visit is one of the few journalists to up to date following your visit is one of the fewjournalists to have visited karabakh this week. earlier the bbc spoke with jason straziuso, spokesperson for the international committee of the red cross. he brought us up to speed on the humanitarian work they are doing in the area. the last couple of days, we sent in several convoys, 70 tonnes of humanitarian goods. that was mostly wheat flour, but also yeast and some sunflower oil. obviously, the supplies can be used to make bread and other bakery items. that's an indication of how dire the situation is. not enough food, not enough medical supplies. that convoy that we sent in today did drop off some medical supplies but it also dropped off body bags. not so pleasant to think about, but an important aspect of this is dignified management of the dead. so it's a well rounded humanitarian effort from our teams the last couple of days. so over the last 72 hours, let's say, there has been an increase in humanitarian access. i think the sides understand that we are a neutral organisation, that we don't take sides. this helps facilitate the activity, the work that we carry out. we have close contact with both sides and we wouldn't be able to move through without permission and we don't seek to move through without permission. so those open channels of communication are in place all the time and allow us to carry out these these trips. one of our approaches is to work with other nations that might be allied or partners with the governments involved here and remind the governments involved that they do have a humanitarian duty, that medical supplies must be allowed through, the food must be allowed through, and that anyone who's wounded or sick must be allowed to receive medical care. so those kind of conversations do take place with other nations that might be involved in this region. if you want to know more about the background to that on going conflict, go to the bbc website. a second ship with ukrainian wheat reached turkey, despite russia's withdrawal from the un—backed grain deal. the bulk carrier — laden with more than 17,000 tonnes of wheat — left the port city of chornomorsk in ukraine on friday, bound for egypt. it comes as ukraine is testing a new sea route, avoiding international waters — and using those controlled by nato members bulgaria and romania. a first ship with 3,000 tonnes of wheat has safely arrived to istanbul last week. dr hanna shelest is from the transatlantic defense and security programme at the center for european policy analysis. earlier, she told me that the recent shipment could be a signal that ukrainian grain exports may be possible without russia's cooperation. we know that in addition to these two ships, there are three other ships currently coming to ukraine. we are expecting them today or tomorrow. but at the same time, that is a clear demonstration, that it is only... how do i say? that is the exception to the rule. that cannot be a stable rule. nobody is guaranteed security on the ship. and even that most of the route is happening not in neutral waters, but in the nato member states terrotorial waters of bulgaria and romania. but then for several hours ships are coming into ukrainian territorial waters. and they need to be stationed at ukrainian ports. and here, the russian federation is continuing to object and launch attacks against these ports. that is part of the decision but clear demonstration that russia cannot control the black sea and cannot put their rule for the voyages on commercial fleets. are we likely to see more ships on this route carrying more grain? i assume that we will see not only grain, but maybe even other goods. if you remember the first two ships before these grain ships, they were stocked with metallurgical material. that had been in odesa port since february 2022. for more than a year they've have been waiting for permission to leave the port. however, ship owners and insurance companies already passed to the east and it was secured. more would be willing to use this route. we also need to accompany it with the additional security guaranteed for this ship, probably with the defence of the nato countries or with controls of the ships over there, to guarantee the russian federation will not be provoking the commercial fleet for the freedom of medication. ——of navigation. and just briefly, this all comes as ukraine is targeting the home of russia's black sea fleet. what are your thoughts on how that fits into the picture? the russian black sea fleet is stationed in the occupied crimea. it is the city of the russian navy glory. the key story... definitely there are myths about the city. one of the myths is that crimea is that not that much protected. and maybe not that much defended as russians stated before. for years we heard it was the second most protected city in the russian federation after moscow. the reality is that it is not. that will allow ukraine to push russian soldiers out from the black sea coast from those operations they have been conducting against ukrainian sure. russian foreign minister sergey lavrov says — the united states and kyiv�*s other allies are, quote, "directly at war" with moscow. speaking at the un general assembly on saturday, lavrov also blamed the collapse of the black sea grain deal on ukraine. he further criticised kyiv�*s peace plan as not "feasible" or "realistic". translation: the collective west has i a calling card and it has long been i to reject the principle of equality and their total inability to reach agreement. being used to looking down at the rest of the world, americans and europeans make all sorts of commitments, written ones and legally binding ones. and then theyjust don't fulfil them. as president putin pointed out, the west is truly an empire of lies. russia, like many countries, knows about this first—hand. a prominent uyghur academic has been reportedlyjailed for life by china for "endangering state security". 57—year—old professor rahile dawut is an expert on uyghur folklore and traditions and had been teaching at xinjiang university college of humanities before her arrest. she lost her appeal last month. china denies allegations of crimes against humanity towards the uyghur population located in north west china. a short time ago we spoke to rushan abbas, the founder and executive director of the campaign for uyghurs organisation. she is an activist whose group was nominated for the nobel uyghurs organisation. she is an activist whose group was nominated for the nobel uyghurs organisation. she is an activist whose group was nominated for the nobel peace prize last year. she is an intellectually recognised intellectual and an expert in uyghur traditional culture and folklore, and she has written many publications, and also given lectures worldwide on different platforms and stages. and she is highly respected among the diaspora community for being one of the prominent scholars in uyghur academia. extremely upset, because she is sentenced to life in a secret trial by so—called splitism charges and endangering the government national security, or whatever the terms they use, to justify its crackdown on the uyghurs. the chinese communist party regards any academic study of our culture as a threat. it's demonstrated by this imposition of a life sentence. her only crime is being a uyghur and being a uyghur anthropologist. her story intensively illustrates beijing's ruthless elimination of the uyghur culture, so this modern genocide represents hundreds of thousands of uyghur scholars, writers, professors, university presidents and doctors and philanthropists. in 2018, just six days after my first public speech at the washington think tank, my own sister was unjustly detained by the regime as a retaliation for my exercise of free speech as a us citizen. this month we just mark the fifth year anniversary of her detention. we don't know anything about her condition, we have not been given any proof of life. the chinese regime has maintained silence regarding her situation. their media outlet attacked me and accuse me of stealing other people's photos and claiming my missing sister and lying about her detention. and two years later, the chinese foreign ministry, in late 2020, confirmed her wrongful imprisonment, and that based on all the ridiculous fabricated charges, they sentenced hartley. my sister is a retired medical doctor and she has no political history. she isjust a mother and grandmother who continues to suffer in prison today. britain's home secretary suella braverman is to visit the us and talk about what she says are "the unsustainable pressures" created by illegal migration this week. whilst in washington, she'll meet with the homeland security secretary and attorney general for talks on migration and national security. braverman has faced criticisms in the uk for her policies, which include sending asylum seekers to rwanda. almost 45,000 people were detected arriving by small boats in the 12 months tojune, a 26% year—on—year rise. later today a capsule is expected to return from space and land in the american state of utah. the osiris—rex capsule contains rocks and dust from the surface of an asteroid called bennu, which scientists say could give important clues about how the earth was formed. earlier i spoke to dr charley lineweaver, from the research school of astronomy and astrophysics at the australian national university — i asked him how excited he was about this mission. well, a lot of things can go wrong, so we are on the edge of our seats hoping that... i mean, the last time the genesis mission, the parachute did not work and the thing collapsed. to get science out of it was very hard, but i think nasa has fixed that problem and the parachute will come out and then the normal parachutes and it will land nicely and not smash itself to pieces in the utah desert. i very am excited because the best thing about this, it's a carbonaceous asteroid, and that means it is a primitive one and that means it will tell us a lot about the origin of the solar system, that's the name of the game. i can tell you're excited and you're making me feel excited. but tell me exactly what we will learn from this. you said the origins of the solar system, a huge claim, but what exactly can we find out from those samples? if we knew exactly it wouldn't be called research, would it? good point! what are you hoping to do, what kind of tests? now, you may remember 1969, i don't know if you were alive then, but in 1969 the murchison meteorite was a carbonaceous chondrite. it was all type of organic materials and amino acids, and we've been analysing this thing for 50 years. but meteorites, these are rocks kind of like asteroids, that have come through the earth's atmosphere. and when something comes through the earth's atmosphere, it cooks. and if you're a cook and you know something about cooking, when you put dough into an oven the chemistry changes. and so by putting the surface of bennu into a capsule with a heat shield, that keeps it from cooking, so we can see the uncooked dough from the surface of this carbonaceous asteroid. and that is something, that's why it's so important, because it'll be unadulterated and in some sense pristine. whether it will be from the very beginning of the solar system, 4.55 billion years ago, or maybe 100 million years later, we're not quite sure. but when it lands the rocks can be analysed in extreme, good detail, and then we can get the dates the best we can. so, dating is one thing, the mineralogy is another. also, this is an asteroid that crosses the earth's orbit. it's called a near—earth asteroid, and so these are the types of asteroid we're trying to protect the earth from. the more we know about them, the mineralogy, the reflectivity, the albedo, the more we can predict where they're going to be in 50 or 100 years, and that will help us diverge them, budge them a little bit to keep them from hitting the earth. that's planetary protection, so this mission also contributes to planetary protection. we will be across that story all day on bbc news. do stay with us. hello. the week ahead looks unsettled, with heavy rain and gayle force winds at times. so far today, we have seen some showery outbreaks of rain. it is fairly fragmented, as you can see from the earlier rainfall, but low pressure is still driving the weather story at the moment. plenty of isobars on the chart, so plenty of wet weather to come for the remainder of the afternoon, but not for all of us. central and southern england and wales will see the car break—up and sunshine come through. heavy rain moves steadily north by the end of the afternoon, sitting across the scottish borders and northern ireland in particular. with the sunshine, temperatures topping out at 21 celsius. the early evening will see another heavier pulse of rain pushing in from the south—west, across wales, into the lake district, and into western scotland. weather warnings in force here. gusts of wind accompanying the heaviest bursts of rain, on exposed coasts 50—60 mph, pretty miserable conditions to close out sunday. the frontal system will ease away, but showers continue into the far north—west, with plenty of clout and the wind coming from the south—west, a mild night with loads of 12—15 c. tomorrow, the winds will ease, still blustery but not as strong. a few scattered showers, particularly through scotland, and temperatures will respond, perhaps peaking at 22 celsius, 72 fahrenheit, way above where we should have them at this time of year. more rain to come in the forecast on tuesday. western areas will bear the brunt of this rain. the potentialfor some localised flooding as we go through the week ahead. the rain will tend to focus across much of scotland and north—west england. central and southern england and wales, dry and still pleasantly warm. as we move through the middle part of the week, we not only see yet more wet weather but also the risk of some severe gales. we will need to keep an eye on the position of low pressure. it might be that little bit further north or south, but one thing is for certain — the middle of the week looks pretty unsettled, with heavy rain and strong winds. better by friday. this is bbc news, the headlines. questions surround the future of the uk's high—speed hs2 rail line. speaking to the bbc, senior cabinet minister grant shapps says it would be "crazy" not to review the project — amid rising costs and inflation. it's understood a decision on the future of the link between birmingham and manchester will be made this week. the fate of ethnic armenians in disputed nagorno—karabakh is hanging in the balance as their leaders say most will likely leave their historic homeland now controlled by azerbaijan. armenia has urged an international mission to monitor the rights of civilians in the enclave. and nasa awaits the return of a space capsule carrying dust samples from what's been described as the most dangerous rock in the solar system. scientists hope the samples could reveal new information about the formation of the planets.