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and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc world news". ♪ laura: i laura trevelyan -- i'm laura trevelyan here wita special dish and of quote world news america -- have "world news america here the uted nations today mr. biden accused president putin of making irresponsible nuclear threats and lived a firm review of the russian war against ukraine. >> put claims he had to act because russia was threatened. but no one threatened russia and no one other than russia sought conflict. laura: meanwhile, president putin announces plans to call up

300,000 reservists to help his military campaign in ukraine. the new york attorney general files a civil suit against donald trump and three of his children, accusing themf fraud. the former president condemns the lawsuit as a witch hunt. we look at the fall from grace of the former president honduras, accused of drawing running and weapons smuggling. -- drug running and weapons smuggling. welcome to "bbc world news america." vladimir putin isn't coming but his impact is being felt. his mobilization of reserve forces and the kremlin moved to annex parts of ukraine are being seen here as an escalation of the seven-month-old conflict. in a televised address wednesday he accuse the west of occupying ukraine and engaging in nuclear

blackmail before threatening to use nuclear weapons. here at the united nations today president biden countered by saying russia violated the u.n. charter with its invasion and accused mr. coogan of making irresponsible new your threats. >> nuclear war cannot be won. and must never be fought. the five permanent members of the security council just reaffirmed that commitment in january. today we have seen disturbing trends. russia shunned the nonproliferation ideals embraced by every other nation at the 10th npt review conference. today as i said, they are making irresponsible nuclear threats to use nuclear weapons. laura: president biden speaking there. as for the plan from russia, he have plans to call 300,000

civilians into service. the first such action since world war ii. they have been losing ground in eastern europe rain is the ukrainian troops recapture some areas. we have the report from moscow. >> under pressure in ukraine, the russian president has chosen the path most familiar to him. escalation. [speaking russian] >> to defend our motherland, sovereignty, territorial integrity, the security of the people and on liberating territories it is necessary to support the proposal of the defense ministry and the chief of general sta will announce a partial mobilization of military reservists. >> seven months after invading ukraine, the kremlin is calling up 300,000 reservists to support what they still call a special

military operation. from the russian commander-in-cef, this threat to the west. [speaking russian >> our country has different weapons of destruction, too. in some ways they are more modern than those of nato. if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will defend russia and our people by of course using all means at our disposal. i am not loving. >> so, why the threat and why now? in a few days the krein will try to annex a whole swath of territory including saber rattling in a message from ukraine to the west. don't attack, don't try to take those areas back. as news of mobilization spreads, reports of flights out of russia

selling out fast amid concern that men of fighting age would soon not be allowed to leave the country. "i'm worried this is just the start," sergei tells me. but margarita says "if our leaders demand this, we must do our duty. i trust putin 100%. -- 100% later the president at his defense minister. they decided on mobilization because they are short of troops. so short, this mercenary chief has been recruiting inmates to fight in ukraine, promising them their freedom if they serve six months with his group and survive. she went to visit her husband in prison. she was told that her husband,

convicted murderer, wasn't there. i said -- what do you mean not here? he's been here for 13 years and suddenly he's gone? they told me they had no more information. a few days lat he called me from a ukrainian number. i know for sure that my husband is in ukraine. even if he agreed to go there, he was sent illegally. sending convicts into combat is against the law. >> now the kremlin will be sending reservists ukraine. in moscow tonight, a protest against mobilization. hundreds will be detained across the country. not everyone in russia is willing to stay silent about vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine and his r with the west. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow.

laura: nato's eastward expansion and the ukrainian desire to join the alliance are two of the things that so aggravated president putin and our factors behind his invasion. for more on where this seven-month-old conflict is going, i spoke to the secretary-general here at the united nations. secretary-general, president putin is mobilizing reserve forces in russia. the kremlin is annexing territories in ukraine. is this an escalation of the war? >> yes and it demonstrates that the war is not going according to putin's plan and will lead to more suffering, more life lost, ukrainian lives and also russian lives. we will connue our broad support to ukraine. laura: what are the implications of russia annexing territory in

ukraine? can they then say that any attack on those territories by ukraine is an attack on russia itself? >> you have to be prepared for them saying that is acceptable to do, making it absolutely clear that this sham vote has no legitimacy. to change the nature of the war, it's a war of aggression by russia against the people of the nation in europe in ukraine. laura: is it possible that russia is trying to expand the sphere of the conflict in trying to draw ukraine in or even attack a nato member? >> nato is not bonded to the conflict. we don't have troops on the ground or bonding to the airspace. what we do have is support for ukraine to defend themselves in

their right for self-defense. everyone should understand they have a right to defend themselves when they are under attack. laura: president boudin is making veiled threats again about nuclear weapons. do you think you might actually use them because the war isn't going his way? >> he knows that use of nuclear weapons will have unprecedented consequences. a nuclear war cannot be won and should never before. we have communicated that clearly to russia. laura: so much has changed since you and i were last year talking. finland and sweden have joined nato. is this what president boudin didn't want -- president putin didn't want? >> he underestimated the strength of ukraine, he

underestimated the unity of western powers to support ukraine and underestimated the structural changes caused by the brutal invasion. he wanted less nato on his rders and he's getting more nato with more forces in the alliance and then two new members, fin land and sweden. laura: presiden zelensky is going to make a appl late today, asking i'm sure for more weapons. will nato provide him with the tanks and long-range missiles that he wants or is that provoking russia? >> since 2014 nato allies have provided unprecedented support ukrai as well as advanced systems. tanks, armored vehicles. we are in constant dialogue with ukraine on their specific

capabilities. laura: do you think ukraine can win this war? >> yes. we have seen the courage of the armed forces, their political leadership, the people, and the willingness and unity from nato partners to provide support and continue to do that. laura: how worried are you at this moment as a harsh ukrainian witter threatens? >> it's coming not just for ukraine but to the rest of europe with high energy prices. but we need to understand that the alternative not to support ukraine, we would have to pay an even higher price. the lesson learned for putin will be that the use of brute

military force is something that pays off. he can achieve his goal and then we will be more vulnerable. that will be dangerous for us. this is about ukraine but also our own security. laura: the nato secretary-general there who cannot quite see has yet how the war will end. other ns now, street protests in iran over the death of a woman in custody spreading to towns and cities. her family sayshat she was attacked after being arrested by the morality police. they claim she died of natural causes. protests against her dea have also been held here at the united nations, new york, nada, and turkey. the u.s. central bank raising interest rates to its highest level in 14 years as it tries to rein in soaring prices in the world's largest economy. the federal reserve hiked its benchmark rate to a range of

three to 3.25%. now to matters concerning former president donald trump. the attorney general new york state has filed a civiluit against him in three of his children, accusing him of fraud. he supposedly lied to lenders about the value of assets held by the trump organization, the family business. mr. trump has denied any wrongdoing. netta, what exactly has mr. trump said to have done to the value of his tower and other marquee properties and why? >> well, laura, the new york state attorney general says that between 2011 and 2021, the trump organization and he himself lied, making at least 200 misleading statements latently trying to mislead to get those assets overvalued for favorable

bank loans and better insurance coverage. i will give you one of the many examples listed in this 200 page civil complaint right behind me in trump tower where he holds a triplex apartment. he was putting the square footage of the apartment down as 30,000 square feet when in reality it is just under 11,000, allowing him to appraise the apartment at $327 million. the attorney general says no apartment in new york has ever sold for that much and she listed many other examples, from his estate and mar-a-lago to his golf courses. she said that this was not just a mischaracterization in good faith. she called it fraudulent activity. laura: the state attorney general of new york cannot actually file charges herself. will the lawsuit lead to federal

charges? what will happen now? >> yeah, laura, we have seen president trump throughout this three year investigation calling it time and again a witchhunt. remember, he tried to block her subpoenas and sue to have the investigation itself block. he eventually lost those battles in the courts and had to sit for a court-ordered deposition in wet she fled to invoke his fifth amendment 400 times. here we are, it will be a long legal battle for him and the attorney general does feel it will warrant criminal charges. that will be up to the department of justice. the u.s. attorney for the southern district here says they have received to the referral and haven't commented further but it will certainly be on the back of mr. trump's mind. if he is not able to succeed in this civil lawsuit, look at what the attorney general wants to

see happen. once him and his kids block from doing business in new york, the trump organization acquiring real estate in new york for five years, and for them to pay back $250 million in which she says they benefited. laura: thank you. turning now to accusations of corruption against the former president of honduras. he's due to appear in court here in new york before the end of the month. the first stage of his trial for drug smuggling and weapons charges it's a spectacular fall from grace for a former ally of washington used a running eight narco state and accepting huge bribes from a drug lord. our central america correspondent boards from honduras. >> on patrol with the anti-drug police, tons of cocaine is smuggled through these rugged hillsides each year. also hidden deep in the jungle is the raw material of its production.

there has been a rise in cocoa plantations in honduras, particularly under the disgraced ex-president. this, a destroyed cocaine laboratory on the corner of a coca plantation, a species that isn't even endemic to central america. plenty of critics would say that this is his real legacy 200. in office mr. hernandez enjoyed the full support of washington, especially from the trump administration. now the u.s. aims to jail its former ally, saying he took $1 million from the drug lord and chapo horse man and read -- let a so-called narco state. human rights activists called it a narco dictatorship. >> it was a dictatorship disguised as this -- democracy. we lost to the rule of law. we didn't have a state of rights

or laws but had a state of unlawfulness that worked very well for them to replug -- repress the population that didn't agree with the dictatorship. >> given the widespread impunity , many thought president hernandez would never face trial. yet in january he was arrested and extradited to the s. on drug smuggling a weapons charges. since then he has had one staunch defender, is like. the first lady. in an exclusive interview she dismissed the allegations against him as a fabrication. >> it's based on the testimony of many involved in organized crime, people with obvious self interests. working against the man that brought down their criminal empires. second, shortening their jail times. >> most people in hundreds hope that his trial will stop others

from organized crime from going into public office that they know that if he is convicted, the drug trafficking won't end with his fall from grace. will grant, bbc news, honduras. laura: xi jinping will not be coming to the u.s. this week. -- u.n. this week but he is going to usher in his historic third term in office under the considerable pressure within the economy. there zero covid policy is a big part of this. stricker -- strict measures remain in place. our china correspondent has a report starting on the out spurts -- outskirts of beijing. >> it's one of their biggest draw cards for domestic and international tourism. but zero covid is crippling the industry.

>> ladies and gentlemen, please pay attention. >> traveling to this city or anywhere in the country means risking becoming stranded from cases suddenly emerging in your phone app health code changing color. >> on arrival we have to scan the new local health code and then do our pcr test before we can even leave the staon. >> and sites once packed with travelers, sparsely covered now with local tourists. at times, empty. >> so far these are the best preserved. >> no word from the specialist international tour guide. -- no work for this special international tour guide. >> this is my lowest point. you know, as a man, i can't do anything. >> their muslim quarter dates back to the tongue dynasty.

these days you can see near empty restaurants and businesses closed because of a lack of customers. this shopkeeper says she's barely holding on. >> i just started my business and paid two years rent the day before the pandemic closed us. >> chinese hospitals are not swapped with -- swamped with patients, but the policies are crushing the economy and isolating the country. if the government has a way out, it's not revealing it, leaving a huge question mark over how this could end. stephen mcdonald, bbc news. laura: before we go, let's return to the top story and put the events in the united nation -- at the united nations into perspective. for that we are joined by our

chief international correspondent. president biden here today, was he really trying to rally the world behind his cause of supporting ukraine against russia? >> as always in a war you have to try to control the situation on the ground but also the narrative and we know that the united states and other western powers have been concerned that their narrative that the world must stand as one against the invasion of ukraine is not working. not working in africa, not working across large swaths of asia where they want to play both sides, keep the relationship with russia but also keep the relationship with america. president biden spoke to people through the u.n. charter, a charter he says they all signed up to. making it absolutely clear that invading another country is in his word and extreme violation. laura: presiden zelensky has addressed through video link.

we have seen the russian foreign minister, he walked -- walked right past us. we shouted questions but he didn't reply. do you think there will be political theater tomorrow at the security council? >> as you know, diploma -- diplomacy is about symbols and substance. as you know, there was an overwhelming vote that presiden zelensky should be allowed to speak and it was a victory for the united states and united nations. sergey lavrov knows the value of symbols. he will certainly hold his own security council meeting on ukraine. he wouldot have wanted his seat to be empty and he will we are certain back away again from the accusations of belligerency, violations and abuses that will be leveled against him and i think what it will show us is

what the u.n. secretary general has condemned as the colossal global dysfunction. the world's top table is gridlocked on the war of our time. laura: your reporting on the diplomacy here in new york, from ukraine, what's the sense you get from the people about how the war is ever going to end? >> it may be without end. it's difficult to see a way forward. presiden zelensky is talking about preconditions for peace. everyone talks peace and wages war. laura: thank you so much for joining us. so, an extremely eventful day here at the united nations. really dominated by president putin seeking moscow. everything russia does reverberating here through the united nations. president biden actually

accusing russia of violating the u.n. charter. thank you so much for watching this special edition of "bbc world news america" from the narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narror: you're watching pbs. ♪ da-da-da-duh-da-da-da♪ ♪ da-da-da-da-da-da ♪♪

judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight. pres. biden: we will stand in solidarity against russia's agression, period. judy: the world stage. president biden calls on global leaders to counter russia's invasion of ukraine as vladimir putin drafts 300,000 more soldiers for the war effort. then, fighting inflation. the federal reserve again raises interest rates to combat rising prices, and central banks around the world follow suit. and come about aftermath. in the wake of hurricane fiona, puerto rico begins the long recovery process while much of the island is still left in the dark and without running water.