Welcome to the programme. Starting with the big developing story a growing number of Ethnic Armenian refugees have been leaving Nagorno Karabakh after azerbaijans seizure of this disputed region last week. Roads leading towards the Armenian Border are jammed with traffic, and armenians say they fear persecution and ethnic cleansing. Armenia says about 6,650 people have crossed the border so far. Our reporter Natasha Zotova is on the ground, and sent in this update. We are in this village right on the border between armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. We can see the refugees coming through the border to armenia. Here in this tent, they are being registered. People are fleeing with their belongings because they are afraid theyjust dont believe they can be safe in Nagorno Karabakh under azerbaijan role. Some people told me they dont expect to get home ever, azerbaijan is promising not to target civilians and to respect the rights of Ethnic Armenians living in the region. The problem is, lack of trust. Armenia de bod armenians do not believe they can be safe under azerbaijan rule, thats why they are fleeing with all their possessions. Nagorno karabakh is recognised internationally as part of azerbaijan, but has been controlled by Ethnic Armenians for three decades. The territory is at the heart of one of the worlds longest running conflicts. Our europe correspondent nick beake has been working with our bbc verify team and has the latest. Were talking about one of the worlds longest running conflicts. Its not often in the headlines, but now, once again, attention is on Nagorno Karabakh, with warnings there could be ethnic cleansing. In other words, forcing out an ethnic group from an area. Now, have a look at this video from the past 2a hours. The people you can see here are the ones who have already left nagorno kara bakh. Thousands have done this already. And the people you see here are Ethnic Armenians who have been living in the region. These pictures are from armenian television. Now, to understand why this is happening, lets just step back and try and get our bearings, because were talking about the South Caucasus basically where Eastern Europe meets asia. Specifically the area between the black sea and the caspian sea. Here, armenia. Its a country which is predominantly christian. Azerbaijan, mainly muslim. Theyre both parts of what used to be the soviet union. And if we zoom in, you can see the territory were talking about, Nagorno Karabakh. Its recognised internationally as being part of azerbaijan, but large areas of it have been controlled by Ethnic Armenians for three decades, and 120,000 Ethnic Armenians call it home. Now, what has happened in the past week was that azerbaijan launched a Military Offensive in response to what it called provocations and quickly made gains. The operation, though, was condemned by the european union. The internet has been heavily restricted in Nagorno Karabakh. But i want to show you one of the few videos that has emerged around the main city, stepa na kert. Now you can see its not exactly close up, but there is smoke in the distance. Now, after this was taken, a peace deal was announced in which Ethnic Armenian forces would be disbanded and disarmed. But have a look at this image here. This is something that weve been taking a look at at bbc verify. And this is, again, actually within the city of stepanakert. And you can see the big plume of thick smoke. This was from yesterday, even though a peace deal is supposed to be in place and we verified this looking at the outline of the mountains and also the shape and the colour of some of the buildings in the city itself. Now, i want to show you this video here, because this is something that was taken showing people on the streets. You can see the traffic leaving Nagorno Karabakh. This was actually filmed by the peacekeepers in the region. Theyre not from the united nations, theyre from russia. And basically Nagorno Karabakh, the people there have been told that they will be safe. That is the promise from azerbaijan. But armenian leaders are saying that they fear there will be ethnic cleansing. Now, we talk about peacekeepers, but actually its the responsibility, some would say, of lots of people within the International Community to protect the human rights and the lives of thousands of armenians, people who a week ago were living in their homes and now theyre set to be uprooted. And there is a pressing concern about what may happen next. Earlier, i spoke to carey cavanaugh, the former Us Ambassador and special negotiator for eurasian conflicts under the clinton and bush administrations. I asked him what could be done to help de escalate the crisis. Well, i think what we see right now is a real humanitarian crisis that requires Emergency Assistance for the people on the ground, and then a structured process to help people who choose to remain in azerbaijan and to help settle those who were leaving for armenia. And as viewers just saw, there is a significant number already on the road for armenia. A significant number have already arrived. I spoke to people in the region last night, and the prediction coming out of there and again, this is from individuals is that almost everyone will leave, that theres not enough confidence that they will be safe and protected given the inaction of russian peacekeepers during the fighting and given the 30 plus years of conflict with either byjune and this fighting last week. With azerbaijan. They find it hard to be comfortable thinking you could stay and not suffer reprisals or punishment. In your opinion, ambassador, what kind of International Support do you feel needs to be introduced at this stage . Well, i think theres a big problem on the ground with transparency, and this has always been an issue in this region. Already, weve seen disinformation. Weve seen reports of human rights abuses, war crimes. The challenge there, theres no independent press to help observe that, report on that. Whether its true or not, we need sort of eyes on the ground. And the other part is catastrophe of this dwarfs the ability of most countries to provide for the people in need. And i think we need to see a greater engagement of the International Community, both international institutions, un specialised agencies, but non Governmental Organisations as well, who can play a very valuable role here. The photos of refugees huge number of children. Unicef is expert at helping deal with that. But there are no un people in the conflict area right now able to provide such assistance. We have been Tracking Developments on a story very closely on the bbc. In the uk, the metropolitan police have launched an investigation into allegations of Sexual Offences following the recent claims against Russell Brand. They are already looking into a possible offence back in 2003. These new claims are also historic. The comedian and actor has denied all the allegations against him which include rape and sexual assault. Heres our media editor, katie razzall. I believe this is about freedom. I believe this about democracy. Back streaming on the Video Sharing Platform Rumble where he has 1. 6 million followers and Russell Brand was on the attack. We are going to be talking about the state and the legacy medias war on free speech and in particular how that has affected me this week. Less than half an hour before his shows streamed, the metropolitan police announced its central Specialist Command Team are investigating a number of allegations of non recent Sexual Offences committed in london and elsewhere in the uk. The senior investigating officer said. The Police Statement didnt name Russell Brand, but it did refer to this investigation by channel 4, the times and the sunday times, and made public two weekends ago. Four women made the original claims of rape and sexual assault, which they alleged took place in the us and the uk. The day before the programme was broadcast, the comedian and presenter strongly denied any wrongdoing. I dont mind them using my books and my stand up to talk about my promiscuous consensual contact in the past. What i seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations. The fallout financially has been swift. Content creators earn money from streaming services when they attract advertising. Youtube has barred brand from monetising his Video Content since the allegations surfaced. Rumble prides itself on standing up to cancel culture. Its accused the Uk Parliament of a deeply inappropriate command after the chair of the media and Sport Committee wrote to its ceo asking if his site was going to follow youtube and suspend brands ability to earn money from his content. Since the story broke, the number of people following Russell Brand on social media and subscribing to his channels has increased by several hundred thousand. Katie razzall, bbc news. The philippines says its removed a floating barrier deployed by china to prevent Fishing Boats entering a disputed area of the South China Sea. This video released by the Philippine Coast guard shows a man wearing a mask, snorkel and fins using a knife to sever a rope attached to white buoys. The coast guard say the barrier posed a hazard to navigation and hinders the fishing and livelihood of Filipino Fisherfolk at the area. China claims more than 90 of the South China Sea and seized the shoal in 2012. Later on tuesday, Economic Ministry officials from japan, china and south korea will meet in seoul to resume an annualforum that started 15 years ago. The forum was initially focused on trade and commerce, but the backdrop is far more geopolitical now, especially in the wake of deeper ties betweenjapan, south korea and the us. Daniel russell is a former Assistant Secretary Of State for east asia and Pacific Under president 0bama he told me why this meeting matters. It is valuable for each of the three because they have a tremendously important economic relationship as well as because they are cheap to gel neighbours in a very difficult neighbourhood, but clearly the chinese needed more than the japanese and the koreans at this particular moment. There is some irony there because it was the japanese who walked away from the trilateral format backin away from the trilateral format back in 2019 when they got angry at the south koreans over the deployment of a defensive system to protect against north korea. President xijinping does not attend these trilateral talks, normally it is, it has historically never been the chinese president , its always been the Prime Minister who in china is nominally in charge of the economy, so at the heart, this is about the economic relationship among the three, but as you pointed out, its really driven now by geopolitics. Really driven now by geopolitics. Given china because geopolitics. Given china because my geopolitics. Given china because my current geopolitics. Given china because my current economic situation, what in your opinion will be Pitching Cuz Standing as it into these conversations . Beijings standing. Your right to point out that it is in large part of the economic slump in china that is compelling beijing to Reach Out To Seoul and tokyo, to try to pick up work that they left off backin pick up work that they left off back in 2019 and hammering out some kind of comprehensive trilateral free trade agreement. That seems pretty ambitious now, this meeting is taking place at the Deputy Minister level, thats where a lot of the hard work typically gets done so it remains to be seen if they will get an agreement on the agenda that would clear the way for a trilateral among the leaders. A Second Powerfulforce is the camp david summit, where the us, japan and korea got together at the leaders level and took their collective and their respective relationships to the next level. That makes beijing nervous and it undoubtedly calculates that it needs to try to respond to that without Reached Tokyo and seoul. A third big driver is technology. Japan and korea have aligned much more closely with the United States and with europe in seeking to protect their own technology and to restrict chinas access to cutting edge technology. So these are important priorities for china. These are important priorities for china for china. Very briefly, that handshake for china. Very briefly, that handshake at for china. Very briefly, that handshake at camp for china. Very briefly, that handshake at camp david, | for china. Very briefly, that handshake at camp david, how is the west going to be seen these developments . The west going to be seen these developments . Korea and japan, like virtually developments . Korea and japan, like virtually every developments . Korea and japan, like virtually every Country Developments . Korea and japan, like virtually every country on like virtually every country on the planet, won the best of both worlds. They want the benefits that come from alignment with the United States in the west but they also want access to chinas markets. So it is no surprise that china finds interest in the korean and the japanese common, particularly in the economic front, but there is no real sense of risk, certainly in washington, given the high level of trust towards both japan and south korea. President biden has confirmed that the United States will establish diplomatic relations and recognise the independence of the cook islands and niue. Though self governing, the two small pacific nations are part of a Free Association with new zealand, which currently conducts most diplomatic relations for the islands. Around the world and across the uk. This is bbc news. Bringing you different stories from across the uk. From across the uk. Here in swindon. From across the uk. Here in swindon, the from across the uk. Here in swindon, the council from across the uk. Here in swindon, the council and i from across the uk. Here in swindon, the council and police are trying swindon, the council and police are trying a new way of intervening early with teenagers identified by Social Services teenagers identified by Social Services. At the Public Leisure Centres services. At the Public Leisure Centres like here at this one in west centres like here at this one in west swindon, they are giving in west swindon, they are giving out gym memberships. So giving out gym memberships. Sc we giving out gym memberships. So we identified the real challenge we identified the real challenge for we identified the real challenge for some. 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