The 5 week suspension of the British Parliament before breaks it has told judges in London that the Prime Minister Barak's transom had stood constitutional principle on its head in the 1st of 2 appeals of the Supreme Court David panic said Mr Johnson had prorogue parliament to avoid it frustrating his policy of leaving the European Union next month with or without a deal the links of the priority ation is relevant because the exceptional links of the procreation in this case is strong evidence that the Prime Minister's motive was to silence fall for that period because he sees tolerant as an obstacle to the further roots of his political aims or panic is trying to overturn a lower court ruling that the suspension wasn't a legal matter church leaders in Zimbabwe have written to President Emerson and to denounce what they call the did Terry orating human rights situation in the country they want him to condemn a spate of abductions the latest to go missing is a union leader who had organized a doctor's strike Will Ross has more details the letter from a wide range of Zimbabwean church leaders including Catholic Bishops refers to at least 20 recent abductions and says it's deeply worrying that there's not been a single arrest they want a president Emerson and Jaguar to publicly condemn the abductions and incidents of torture in a move which is likely to anger the political elite the church leaders refer to divisions within the security sector which they say have got worse since Robert Mugabe was ousted nearly 2 years ago the letter also says the population is getting restive due to the worsening economic situation and warns that this is all a recipe for a national crisis the former head of Ukraine's central bank has told the B.B.C. That she fears for her life after arsonists burned down one of her properties in Ukraine that area gone the river who lives in London says she's been the victim of a campaign of harassment since overseeing the nationalization 3 years ago of the country's largest commercial bank. Well news from the B.B.C. The Slovakian prime minister Pellegrini has arrived a vote of confidence brought in connection with the murder of an investigative journalist the UN could sack Mr Pellegrini had refused to sack a junior minister accused of being in contact with a businessman charged with the killing the conservative populist leader Igor matter which accused Mr Pellegrini of serving the maffia not justice the former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet has denied any link with the Brazilian construction company which is alleged to have made a large donation to her 2013 election campaign was Bachelet who's currently the United Nations human rights chief said she had never had links with the US A former executive of the company said it had donated $143000.00 to the campaign which she won Indonesia is stepping up its response to thousands of forest fires that are sending thick smoke across the region Indonesia's president broke or we don't know has ordered action against individuals and companies who start fires on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra nearly 200 people have already been arrested most of the fires are started to clear land for plantations Here's our correspondent Rebecca Henschke The hospitals say they're struggling to cope with the amount of people coming in with breathing problems skin problems irritations particularly affecting young children schools have been closed and the government is trying to set up areas where women with young babies can be in some way safe from this yellow small That's just all around you when you enter into these fire areas I mean the worst fires in 2 decades were in 2015 and reports say it led to the deaths of $100000.00 people at that time and we're reaching those kind of levels again this year the England cricket star Ben Stokes is strongly criticised the British tabloid newspaper for publishing a front page story about the murder of his half brother and half sister 3 decades ago in a tweet he accused the Son of what he called low and despicable behavior disc ised as journalism. B.B.C. News. And welcome to News Hour from the B.B.C. World Service coming to you live from London I'm James Kamar Sami in a moment we have a special report on the scale of the violence in Afghanistan on another bloody day in that country but also reflect on another statistic 54 hours 10 minutes to swim the English Channel 4 times in a row nonstop we'll hear about a remarkable athlete's unusual motivation you had cancer last year most people who were completely fit wouldn't even contemplate doing something like this so why were you doing it. Well I wanted to meet the queen. But more from Sarah Thomas later also the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fights for his political survival in the country's 2nd general election in less than 6 months and why a drug that's normally used to treat men with enlarged prostates could help to slow the progress of Parkinson's disease We begin though in Afghanistan with the recent breakdown of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban has made the prospects for ending the 18 year war there seem even more remote than ever and the latest sign of how fragile the security situation is at least 26 people were killed today in a suicide attack at an election rally for President Ashraf Ghani in power on province just north of Kabul a separate explosion in the capital killed more than 20 people both attacks have been claimed by the Taliban Well today we're going to pull back from these individual atrocities and bring you a fuller picture of the state of the conflict in Afghanistan because in the final weeks of the peace negotiations the B.B.C. Tracked every conflict related death in the country Our data suggest that the war is even deadlier than previously thought and is affecting almost every part of the country for more about the research I've been speaking to news now is least he said in Kabul Yes you join me in a city which was in lockdown yet again today because there was a suicide bombing somewhere in the city I think all of our listeners know that Afghanistan is very much a country plunged in by then sent you may remember that you know nearly 2 decades ago after the attacks of $911.00 Afghanistan never left your headlines and now it only flickers in when there's a major attack in Saudi there's all too many of them but when our B.B.C. Teams across the country for a whole month recorded the casualty figures that never reach the headlines we found that not a day goes by without a doubt Afghans dying somewhere mainly civilians and not a day goes by with with without grief an extraordinarily that if you look at the civilian casualty figures for August. They are more than Syria and Yemen combined so for closer sense of what this feels like on the ground I was in the western side of the country to an area that the Afghan security forces reach and the recaptured from the Taliban. I'm not going to shoot you you. Know you're here. We're heading out of the U.S. City of Herat 10 were traveling with the police chief here General Mark Milley he's certain difficult and dangerous provinces across Afghanistan that's what we're going to see General as we head up his convoy got about 6 armored Humvees with us more ahead of us to protect us. But that have a lot of the we are going to the west of Herat city well into me the Taliban as a lot of activities we had to hide them include in the area so Joe let's go. General Saab hollow important was the military victory here last month. Of this that out there you go the reason is the important is that this is is connecting poor districts to the capital of hit and also the highway is very important that the businessman's are doing their business from the site which as you know war is terrible that civilians who often pay the price and in this war they suffered from both government fire and Taliban fire and is there anything you can do to minimize that a lot of. Noise. Of the Taliban the thought of that and. But really to defend people so I won them to stop the fighting and come to peace with them government the figures that we collected in August say that more civilians across Afghanistan are dying from the government fire than from the Taliban fire. My you get paid member going to vote that is it for me to reject this because it will be up to you in the last few weeks that they are the ones who cause a lot of casualties the big attacks. But we haven't had an easy we didn't get it from him. We arrive now in the village of Ahmedabad it's a cluster of mud to do with their traditional rounded roofs and it's always a crowd is forming but here comes the village elder with his pure white church been his greybeard and wizened face is wearing a long copper colored tunic and. He'll know what's been happening here then you're surely drunk. We had very bad situation here the Taliban was here and every other day there was fighting going on so both sides the police and the Taliban got casualties even on the CROSSFIRE some children and women of us got injured. At one time we decided to leave this area because both sides were firing that as the government and also the Taliban but we didn't have then the other place to go and we lost our people and you worry the war is going to get worse or could the situation become more peaceful for your village are going to close on our no no if we have a good police we might have a good security if we don't we might not. We come inside this small my dwelling it seems to be shopped is grapes in a box and tomatoes and I made a bag sitting on the the mud floor on his haunches speeling sweet melon What was it like here during the fighting jungle several Would all of them on kind of when the fighting intense for we don't know who is firing at US one side of a woman the other side was the Taliban but now security is going do you fear there's going to be fighting again they're not ready we always have this fear that there will be fighting again when do you think this war is going to end legal. What you God knows but if the Taliban and the government sit with each other and solve the problem and bring peace otherwise God knows when we will have a peace but you think there can be peace with the Taliban or they're going to full of a hope that everybody got tired of war we won T. And I hope that you have peace when the. Time to go now the general said strategic is to be out here and on the main road people gathering so we're getting off quickly back to the original catch up. One village in one province of this country that's just a snapshot but when you add it all up Afghanistan now has the terrible distinction of being the deadliest conflict in the world that's what we found out when we matched our data with other organizations who've been tracking this conflict month in and month out we constantly ask the Taliban why they're targeting civilians they say they don't they're targeting foreign forces they say Well I sat down with the top security advisor the National Security Advisor for the Afghan government. And I asked him about our findings that it was the pro-government forces causing more casualties now than the Taliban we don't take any civilian casualties lightly we investigate every time something like that happens and there is a claim there are reports on my desk right now we were looking and reading the reports about every investigation that has happened since then and where are we feel that something has been done the perpetrators would be brought to justice now that's not for the Taliban they're using civilians as a shield they're intimidating villagers entering their homes using them and firing from their homes there must be a responsibility taken by the Taliban for what they're doing to the Afghan people they are responsible for the civilian casualties that they inflict but the day this is a very this is I want to share equal blame you've set up an accountability office here about 6 months ago in your own office where the results Afghans are asking where are the results the papers are piling up on the desk behind you well there is a process but Afghans are saying where is the trust our and our director of national security resigned over it we're not taking this lightly. How many attacks of the Taliban inflicted I'm telling you in the last 45 days the Taliban and inflicted 1500 civilian casualties and over to you I promise that I know you cannot live here are responsible for this your and your security forces and our data the United Nations date in the 1st quarter all say the same thing when you attack your causing civilian casualties and we are taking responsibility for wherever that has happened and why is it changing it is changing but it hasn't changed from the 1st 48 you know and as far as I view you are looking at the past quarter and you are telling me what is happening then we are 3000000 every day of this if your seed is from August this is a live conflict that has not ended the last 45 days 49 compared to 1500 it's a huge difference they cannot be even compared and even when they comes to those $49.00 Karat is their largely inflicted in areas where the Taliban have used civilian homes in areas as bases for their attacks on the Afghan people that was the national security adviser of Afghanistan Liza still on the line for us from Kabul live conflict as he said ladies and I guess today's latest explosions just underline that fact where on earth are we now after the breakdown of these negotiations with the prospects for any kind of improvement in the security in the peace situation in Afghanistan. Well that's certainly is the question that all Afghans are asking now the United States and the Afghan Taliban after nearly a year of negotiations in the Gulf state of Qatar had been a threshold of an agreement in the words of the U.S. Envoy. But then all of a sudden President Trump treated in a series of angry tweets he was canceling these negotiations canceling what was extraordinary read Revelation that he would have a sub a summit at his presidential retreat in Camp David at which he invited the Taliban leaders and the Afghan president to attend so now he says the process is dead and he's hitting the Taliban harder than ever I've been hearing from some Afghan officials today that they do not think the process is dead they're still working on trying to get the 2nd channel of talks working they're called in talks or not official but it's a way for Afghans on all sides Taleban members of civil society different groups here in Afghanistan to get together and talk and there is a hope that the the United States and the Taliban will get back to the table as well we've just done an interview with the chief negotiator of the Taliban that will be on on new incoming editions but they also want to resume talks but who knows what president wants to do now so that there is still a possibility that all that long period of groundwork will not go to waste. That is such a big question Jamie I've asked that repeatedly because the that deal was initial by the American negotiators and the Taliban negotiators in Doha So the Taliban say they were surprised when suddenly President Trump simply said that the whole thing was dead so do they simply now scrap it and start from scratch the Afghan government was quietly relieved in fact it made it clear they didn't like the deal their cut out entirely the Taliban of course refused to talk to the Afghan government but they felt that the American were giving too much away in terms of a phased withdrawal of their troops for not enough of a commitment from the Taliban that they need but much greater commitments and most of all they need to see proof that the negotiators and Taliban if the roasters in Doha control the Taliban commanders in the field and can call for a cease fire so that this Afghan suffering can come to an end and that was news Lee's Doucet speaking to me from the Afghan capital Kabul You're listening to the B.B.C. World Service this is news out coming to live from London with James Kim our summer . Coming up in the program we'll hear about the forest fires that have covered much of Indonesia in smoke and I got money to buy something you don't mean that in their lives but it's so dark during the day we have to have the lights on in the house it feels like night during the day in the morning we are living in a cloud of yellow small it's really horrible our headlines at this hour 2 suicide attacks in Afghanistan one of them at an election rally attended by President Ashraf Ghani have killed nearly 50 people the British government has been accused of standing constitutional principle on its head at the start of a Supreme Court hearing on whether the suspension of parliament in the right to Bret's it was legal or not in a few seconds time and Zimbabwe's church leaders have complained to President Manning ghagra about the failure of the oath or at least to respond to a spate of abductions of government critics. You're listening to the B.B.C. World Service this is NEWS HOUR coming to life from our studios in central London with James Kim our Sami one of the unexpected side effects of the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union is it comes to 2 tional law the suddenly become interesting here today 11 judges at the U.K. Supreme Court have begun hearing 2 appeals which could have a profound impact on the way that the British government is able to operate whatever happens with the breaks that process the cases relate to the reason given by Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the current 5 week per a geisha nor suspension of Parliament not long before the U.K. Is due to leave the E.U. On October the 31st opening the hearing the president of the Supreme Court lady Hale explained the limits of the judgement that the court will eventually reach it is important to emphasize that we are not concerned with the wider political issues which form the context for this legal issue. As will be apparent when we hear the legal arguments the determination of this legal is you will not determine when and how the United Kingdom leaves the European Union so what cases are being heard Rob Watson is our political correspondent it's one case really and it's exploring this notion that Mr Johnson acted unlawfully in suspending parliament because in doing so he was essentially just trying to block parliament from doing what it's supposed to be doing it saw from duty which was to scrutinise the work of the government and in other words that he was trying to avoid her distress as it was putting court of void disruption to his policy and that in the process he had misled the queen and indeed the whole country because he had said the reason for suspending Parliament was to work on a new program of government so the moment what have we been hearing what details have been coming out well I guess there are 2 things which it which is striking one is that that central argument for the lawyers against the government that essential A that is that every government every government the power that it has it must be exercised for a proper unlawful purpose and that try to get the politicians out of your hair is clearly not a lawful and proper purpose as they would argue I guess the other striking thing that came out was this reference to the fact that Mr Johnson Boris Johnson the prime minister had notably failed to provide a sworn statement about his motives for suspending parliament which are the lawyer acting against the government so that was all rather suspicious and it's a question I suppose we've posed many times over the last few years but Rob just let our listeners know just how unusual this is this notion of the Supreme Court still a fairly young institution of course here in the U.K. Getting involved in such a deeply political case while that is part of what the argument is about I mean as as the m