welcome to bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: heavy fighting continues as turkey presses ahead with its military operation against kurdish fighters in northeast syria. torrential rain and tornado—like winds claim at least four lives injapan in what could be the country's worst storm for 60 years. hello and welcome to bbc news. there have been fierce clashes between turkish troops and kurdish forces in northeastern syria. since hostilities began

on wednesday, nearly 50 civilians are thought to have died on both sides of the frontier, and more than 100,000 people have fled their homes. much of the latest fighting has been in the border area near ras al ain. the turkish military have entered the strategically important town, but they're facing stiff resistance from the kurdish—led, syrian democratic forces. 0ur correspondent 0rla guerin is on the turkish side of the border. her report contains flashing images. the front line in a conflict that is spreading fast. turning northern syria into a battleground. alarming washington and europe. the smoke is rising from the key town of ras al—ain. and inside the town, this pro—turkish fighter says "we've just arrived".

and give thanks to god. then ducks to avoid incoming fire. but kurdish forces can't offer much resistance. ras al—ain has all but fallen and other towns are expected to follow. the turks and their allies are stamping their authority here. and syrian kurdish forces are looking very much alone, urging the us allies to keep their side of the bargain after the kurds died in their thousands fighting islamic state. translation: our allies guaranteed us protection but they abandoned us without warning and decided unjustly to withdraw their troops from the turkish border. we call on our allies to fulfil their moral obligations. us forces aren't far away but they're holding fire

as the kurds take heavy casualties. this footage, filmed exclusively for the bbc, shows american troops standing by at the edge of turkey's planned safe zone. even leading republicans accusing president trump of a shameful betrayal. and turkey's offensive is inflicting an agonising human cost. this motherfled ras al—ain, carrying her sick daughter. she says the girl has had no food for the past four days and is barely alive. "what is this? " she cries. "erdogan, look at this." and in the kurdish stronghold of qamishli, mass funerals today forfour dead. two fighters and two civilians.

syria's kurds say they have given their blood to fight is for the world. but there is no help for them in their hour of need. 0rla guerrin. typhoon hagibis has brought record rainfall, flooding and high winds to parts of central and eastern japan. at least four people have been killed and millions of others were advised to leave their homes. from tokyo, rupert wingfield—hayes reports. this is the hii river, near mount fuji. usually it is a clear mountain stream. today, it was turned into a raging, boiling torrent. across central japan, typhoon hagibis has dumped record amounts of rain. 0n the southern side of tokyo, the tama river is now close to bursting point. tens of thousands of people who live along its banks have been ordered to leave their homes. the big dangerfrom these

sorts of events is water. water is the thing that can do real damage, both if this river burst its banks, if it causes landslides in the mountains or, of course, when it reaches the sea. as night fell over tokyo, the eye of the storm approached, bringing winds gusting to over 140 kilometres per hour. this is the centre of shibuya, one of the busiest places normally in tokyo on a saturday night. i don't think i have ever seen it as deserted as it is tonight. in fact, the whole of tokyo is incredibly deserted. the centre of the storm has now passed to the north of the city and it does not appear to have brought the really destructive winds that were first feared. that is good news for everybody — including, of course, rugby fans. today, japan's rugby team had to wade their way onto a sodden field for some last—minute practice. saturday's big match between england

and france had to be cancelled. but there is hope that japan will be able to take on scotland on sunday in a match that will decide which team goes through to the knockout stage of the rugby world cup. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. let's get some of the day's other news. the wife of an american diplomat, who left the uk despite being a suspect in a fatal crash, is "devastated" by the incident, according to her lawyer. the suspect, 42—year—old anne sacoolas, says that she would like to meet the victims‘ parents. 19—year—old harry dunn died when his motorbike crashed into a car being driven from a us military base in england. ina in a statement she said she was devastated by the tragic accident. the president of ecuador has ordered the military to take over responsibility for security in the country's capital, quito, in an attempt to end days of violent protests against austerity measures. in a tv address, lenin moreno said the army would enforce a curfew

and take all measures necessary to re—establish order. the armed forces say movement across the country will be restricted for 2h hours. a british government source says the uk is still a long way from agreeing a final brexit deal with brussels, and talks in the coming days remain critical. intense technical discussions with the eu have been taking place this weekend ahead of the european council meeting next thursday. at least one person has died in a fast—moving wildfire north of los angeles. it's being fuelled by gusty winds, warm temperatures and low humidity. around 25, 000 households have been evacuated, while electricity supplies have been cut to hundreds of thousands of homes to prevent sparks from power lines setting off more fires. thousands of people have marched through the streets of hong kong to protest against an emergency law

banning the wearing of masks. the government introduced the measure in an effort to deter pro—democracy activists. many protests in recent weeks have descended into violence, but saturday's demonstration was largely peaceful. rescue crews are trying to reach two workers trapped in the wreckage of a building under construction in new orleans. at least one person died and 18 others were injured when part of the new hard rock hotel collapsed. shaun hassett reports. get to the back... this is the moment when the upper floors of a building in downtown new orleans gave way. still under construction, it was set to be a new hard rock hotel, now it is a disaster site. there was lots of noise. we saw workers up there. i mean, it was crazy. ijust can't even imagine

what it was going on up there. it sounded like — we thought it was gunfire but it wasn't gunfire, it was a building collapsing. construction workers ran for their lives, as the buildingcrumbled around them. some escaped injury by a matter of metres. this man was on the 18th floor at the time. i turn around and i see one guy lose his balance and he kind of fell on the concrete and things werejust... smoke started coming from everywhere so i could not really see where, you know, the problem started at, but the concrete started falling. emergency crews were on the scene quickly, rescuing people from the rubble, then clearing the area around the building. a second part of the building fell off about an hour after the initial collapse. authorities say the remaining part of the building is structurally u nsta ble and a further collapse as possible. they are also worried that a crane could come crashing down. obviously, this is very serious.

and especially when you see the crane lifting away from the building. we know it is no longer secured to the building, and some of the building that collapsed is actually placing a load on the crane, pushing it back away from the collapsed site. it is not clear at this stage what triggered the collapse. shaun hassett, bbc news. as we've heard, president trump's decision to pull us forces out of north—eastern syria has opened the way for turkey to launch an attack on kurdish fighters across the border. now — in global questions — we ask if turkey is bidding to become the powerhouse of the region?

this week, turkey has launched an assault on territory held by kurdish that forces, key allies of the united states in the region after president trump announced washington was withdrawing its troops from northern syria, effectively giving turkey a green light for its offensive. president erdogan says the aim is to prevent the creation ofa the aim is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor on the border. jackie plan is to create a safe zone, creative kurdish militias that will how's syrian refugees. global questions travel to istanbul to discuss turkey ‘s role as a regional power. hello, iam in istanbul recording this edition of global questions on turkey's role as a regional power. you work at, i have

to say a broadly pro—government think tank in istanbul, you are an assistant professor of political science. what do you think? what right does turkey have to create a new order? for turkey, the kind of perceive a very hard security threat originating from northern syria, and we can then as examples of militants crossing the border, sometimes sending bombers inside turkey and this is the offshoot of the pkk which was recorded as such in the official american and many are some western documents and they said designated terrorist organisation, not only by turkey but turkey ‘s western allies and of course is a legitimate interest for turkey ‘s national security considerations. you mentioned the pkk which is the kurdish militant group which is also seen as an kurdish militant group which is also seen as an organisation supporting terror by the united states and european union. professor, you are

someone european union. professor, you are someone who has had a long career in the opposition chp party, it's the main opposition group here in turkey. in parliament. not in municipalities. nationally, nationwide, that is betterfor you. but on this question of foreign affairs, do you see i the ruling party? that they have the right to create a new order because it is a terror threat. what is happening on the border with syria ? terror threat. what is happening on the border with syria? i'm not sure they have the right to intervene to national security but the thing is, why do we have that problem? and how the problem is going to be sorted. i do believe that we are going to intervene in the country where there is already a regime, and that is in damascus. and we know that. without any concerns or collaboration, with the damascus resume whether you like it or not, and intervention will not

be long—standing. so, i do believe that turkey should have the right naturally for its national security to get rid of the terrorist organisation which is built up in northern syria. but that should be done with international consent and it is getting some international consent. it's making a pact with damascus? is that what you're saying? they are already there, aren't they? and it's part of syria. but a lot of people would find that quite hard to stomach. you can't intervene in the country without getting the consent of another country. i do believe that turkey should have the right. see that a lot of major countries to see that turkey has a right to intervene. but for the success of the national unity of syria, we should collaborate with all the counterparts in the region. sir peter, you are a very distinguished

former dipjosh back peter, you are a very distinguished former dip josh back british diplomat, you have served as an ambassador, here, in washington and paris. this is something that the president of turkey has been wanting to do for awhile because he has been very worried that the group that the americans have been backing south of the border in northern syria is closely affiliated with the terrorist group here inside syria. 0n the point about the conversation that he had the president drop on sunday night was it looked as though the president was saying, go ahead. and the president changed his mind with a rather different message when a lot of people in washington sir, hang on, this kurdish group has been a very important ally of the united states in dealing with the terrorist. were not entirely clear what the politics of it are, i think it's probably important for the president, how to me to say this. which president are you talking about? the president of turkey. but something that looks like a win, and

achievements delivering what he has promised to the turkish people and of course what he wants to do is find space in northern syria were some of the three and a half million refugees currently living in turkey can go back to. you're an independent journalist can go back to. you're an independentjournalist broadcaster here, you also do work with an opinion pollster? it is very recent so opinion pollster? it is very recent so there is no full study yet. but generally, public opinion rallied behind the government and the military wants there is talk of a military wants there is talk of a military intervention. it has been the case in the afrin operation, the 0live the case in the afrin operation, the olive branch operation, so to say. so far there has not been any contradictory data in this regard. but at the same time, the turkish public clearly wants to stay away from syria, they want to disengage from syria, they want to disengage from syria. they regard the sicilian that the syrian refugee problem is a very important issue. they think turkey has had lots of negative impact from the syrian policy

pursued so far. all right, let's go to our first pursued so far. all right, let's go to ourfirst question pursued so far. all right, let's go to our first question here. pursued so far. all right, let's go to ourfirst question here. it pursued so far. all right, let's go to our first question here. it is from humeda elith karatash. hello. my question is, even though most countries accept that turkey is powerful in the region, why do these solutions that turkey offers often get ignored? like what they are proposing about syria? hussein, i think that is one for you. actually, i think that no other external force in syria has a solution. if you ask me about, what is the end goal for american involvement in eastern syria, northern syria, i have no answer. if you ask the same thing for russia, i don't know. but if you ask for turkey, turkey has very clear and goals. which it plans to carry out in syria. and one of them is territorial integrity of syria.

so syria should be an intact country. it should not lose its territorial integrity. number two, turkey also plans as an end goal to clean its borders from terrorist organisations, what that might be isis or al-qaeda affiliated groups, or the pkk. number three, isis or al-qaeda affiliated groups, orthe pkk. numberthree, turkey's third and goal in syria is to provide some conditions for the safe return of syrian refugees in turkey back to their homeland. and those refugees, yes, there are millions of arabs inside them, but also there are 200,000 syrian cards waiting for are 200,000 syrian cards waiting for a safe return back to their countries. —— syrian kurds. a safe return back to their countries. -- syrian kurds. we will talk about refugees a little later. do you agree, broadly speaking, with what hussein said? and that is really, in essence, what the ruling ak party is saying. i think the question is a wonderful question, because she has asked, she asked if

turkey is so powerful, why don't other countries listen to turkey? and accept turkey's solution? is turkey's solution implausible, or is it is not strong enough? well, in this region, a lot of countries are trying to have a major role. we know russia is there, we know iran is there, whena russia is there, we know iran is there, when a partly there and we know the us is there. these countries are powerful countries. —— we know china is partly there and we know the us is there. these countries have plans for syria, which is not in line with turkey's aspirations. what do you think that plan is? i do agree that turkey's aspiration for syria is territorial integrity, and for that country to bea integrity, and for that country to be a democratic country, and that turkey's national security is not

threatened. just very quickly tell us, what is the plan that you say the us has for syria? well, i mean, what is the us doing in northern syria? what is turkey doing in northern syria? there is a terrorist organisation which is affiliated to the pkk. the leader of pyd is... that is the syrian kurdish party, which is affiliated with the pkk, which is affiliated with the pkk, which is a turkish kurdish party, but the american say we worried about terror, just why are in syria. 0k. about terror, just why are in syria. ok. so peter westmore got, what is your response to that question? two points. first of all, i do think that turkey does manage to get its view point across. we have had a lot of meetings between, for example, the president of iran, the president of russia and the president of turkey, coming together to try to find a political solution to the problems there. we have also seen regular telephone communications between, for example, the president of the united states and the president of turkey. so turkey is a

player and i don't think turkey should feel it is somehow not being listened to. the second point is just to say that it is difficult. this is why we are having these conversations at the moment. syria needs a political solution which ends the slaughter and finds a solution for that country which ensures solution for that country which e nsu res every solution for that country which ensures every ethnic group in that country has got a contribution it can make politically, socially, ethnically, culturally, to the future of syria, and is not going to be downtrodden by one minority or indeed one majority. turkey can play an important part in that because it isa an important part in that because it is a contiguous neighbouring country, but it is difficult. if it wasn't difficult we wouldn't be having this ghastly slaughter inside syria which has gone on for the last six years. the question was, turkey offers solutions. what solutions do you think turkey offers, and whose side would it be on? the us, russia, iran? i don't think it is about taking sides. as i said, syria has a complicated problem which needs a solution which all the international community are going to have to do support and which ensures the viability of syria in the future is

there, and all the groups that make up there, and all the groups that make up syrian society have a stake in its future. i see the main point, this concept of belongingness has a residence in turkish society. when we look at opinion polls we see that the turkish people feel that they are being neglected by the world in general. they do not see any friends, neither the united states nor russia nor eran —— iran. the european union, for that matter. they think nobody is on their side. but when we take the truth with what is happening on the ground, now, almighty trump is accepting the turkish solution, so to say, in a way. so turkey is getting what it wants, what ankara wants. it was also like that in the olive branch operation, the former military operation. so when it wants to

conduct a military operation, turkey is able to do so. you bring up president trump, that takes us to oui’ president trump, that takes us to our next question, from niddah nour bastuk. my question is, what is your vision about turkey — us relations, considering the current events on syria, and the last two weeks of donald trump? so peter, you have been ambassador both in ankara and washington, so you have inside into both country's thinking. —— sir peter. very topical question. we have had conflicting messages, to put it mildly, over the few days. first of all there was a big surprise, i think, first of all there was a big surprise, ithink, after telephone conversation between president trump and president erdogan, which appeared to be the american saying, we are pulling back from northern syria and we are expecting turkey to get involved in some military operation, creating a buffer zone in

northern syria, which alarmed a lot of people because it looked like it was going to be at the expense of the kurdish militias which america has been supporting and which have been leading the fight against the terrorists of daesh. 0ne been leading the fight against the terrorists of daesh. one day or so later, president trump, aftera big backlash from people in america saying, you cannot abandon our kurdish allies like this, suddenly says, well, of course i will react very harshly if turkey does anything which i regard as off—limits, whatever that means. so i think conflicting messages, but what i think the gist of it is, is that turkey and the us are once again talking about the future of syria, that america has understood that turkey has legitimate security interests on its southern border, it does need to deal with its concerns about a potential terrorist threat, because after all, the ypg, the syrian militia in northern syria, is very closely allied with the domestic terrorist group, the pkk, inside turkey. and therefore this is a legitimate concern. but that it

needs to be managed with great care. we cannot, for example, have 60 or 70,000 prisoners from daesh suddenly all released and able to restart the terrorist activity which has been stopped, because many of them were taken prisoner. so it is a complex problem. but the good thing, i would say, is that turkey and the united states are in close dialogue about the way forward. and president trump has said in one of his tweets, i promise to take america out of these endless wars, and so he really wants to wash his hands of the whole thing and he has castigated the europeans, hasn't he, and other western powers for not taking some of the so—called islamic state prisoners. professor, what is your response to this question? well, thinking about what trump said, two wrong things about trump. it seems that, yes, there is an agreement going between the us and turkey about this turkish intervention in northern syria. what he said, the turks are at war with

the codes for a number of centuries, which is quite wrong, because turkey has the largest kurdish population in this region. if you are talking about kurds, kurds are mostly populated and turkey. so that is completely wrong, and we're not worrying amongst ourselves, we are of this country. and secondly, he said that he could retaliate against the turkish economy if president erdogan does something wrong, which is not very diplomatic at all. if the turkish economy were devastated it would not be good for the world economy and for europe, and we are allies, in nato. you know he said, i will decimate the turkish economy... yes, he did. if anything will decimate the turkish economy... yes, he did. ifanything happens will decimate the turkish economy... yes, he did. if anything happens to the 50 or special american troops in that zone, specifically.” the 50 or special american troops in that zone, specifically. i hope nothing goes wrong... but you didn't

like the threat? 0ne nothing goes wrong... but you didn't like the threat? one minute you're saying america and turkey see eye to eye, and he has given turkey the green light to do what they like, then you say is issuing these threats. it is not black and white. we do not like that sometimes we say this is wrong, sometimes we say that is right. so the agreement between the us and turkey for the future of syria is good but whatever he says is not correct. and we were hurt by that. by the statements. hussein, where you hurt by donald trump's tweets ? where you hurt by donald trump's tweets? it is impossible not to feel hurt from those tweets, in terms of economic devastation part. but if you ask me why we see such conflicting remarks from the american president, i think he is going through hard days. it is not just because of this impeachment process, but also if you examine the reactions to trump's most recent tweets about turkey, his supporters,

nikki haley, his other party members, like mitt romney, there was a great backlash from his own party, not even counting the democrats. so after such a reaction, i think he has to revise himself, because i think on this matter... i would just say, he faced a backlash because lots of people in america said, look, the americans are yet again deserting the kurds and we have had kurdish groups saying this is a matter of great regret. by the way, i would repeat the same objection to this, syrian kurds remarks. it is the pkk. they have a name. when we talk about isis, we are not calling them arabs. they have a name, isis. when you are talking about al-qaeda, you don't call them muslims. the pkk have a name, and some of them are kurds, some of them are foreign fighters. let's not forget, turkey has a lot more kurdish fighters fighting alongside turkey. both turkish citizens and syrian kurds. inside the free syrian army, and

inside the turkish military forces. but that isjust inside the turkish military forces. but that is just a note inside the turkish military forces. but that isjust a note on inside the turkish military forces. but that is just a note on this. going back to trump's remarks, and i could say that many things about trump, but on this matter he is right. the establishment in the dc circles, they have nothing but endless wars, in afghanistan and iraq. it did no good to the local population in those places. and if you ask them, what is the end goal in syria? you ask them, what is the end goal in syria ? what you ask them, what is the end goal in syria? what is the strategy? what happens after defeating daesh? they have no answer. we have on social media comment on this question, turkey conducting operations in syria? this commentator‘s decision was that president erdogan was doing the right thing and taking the terrorists out of syria. there is a question from the floor on this kurdish situation. your question, please? some experts in the western world use the phrase kurds when they mean pkk or ipgstf. but isn't it the same thing as calling poker around

nigerians, or calling isis arabs? 0r is the term being used consciously to make some pressure on turkey? doctor hussein you said that turkey has no problem with kurds for that question there is saying, you are saying everybody is the same. there is this fake verses in the western media outlets not about you but others. they are saying that there is turkey on the one side and there are other kurds on the other side. which is a totally false verse actually because if you look at the situation there are 200,000 syrian kurds. right now living in turkey, and some of them escaped from the peabody. they monopolised political power in northern syria, they got rid of many dissidents and those people sought shelter in turkey was even the body does make the founding person of the people idea, his own brother lives in turkey. he ran away from the pid