a trail of death and destruction across taiwan and the philippines. the north of ethiopia is facing a humanitarian crisis, driven by drought, crop failure and the aftermath of a brutal war. hours ahead of the olympic opening ceremony in paris, the french railway company sncf says it's been hit by a series of "malicious acts" aimed at paralysing its high speed network. it said these included arson attacks to damage company facilities on lines connecting the capital with the west, north and east of the country. sncf said many train routes would have to be cancelled and that the situation would last at least all weekend. it urged passengers to postpone their trips and stay away from train stations. eurostar, which operates services to france from london, is also warning its passengers that their journeys

will be disrupted, with several trains cancelled. let's speak to katie gornall, our sports correspondent who's in paris. huge transport issues with what we understand 800,000 people affected. it is causing chaos at railway stations with hundreds of hundreds of thousands of passengers affected. eurostar trains being cancelled and delayed after that attack which organisers say was clearly coordinated, arson attacks on junction box is connected to rail lines. it's hard not to see a link to the olympic games with the opening ceremonyjust hours away. but this will cause chaos for fans travelling to the olympic games and subsequently trying to get around the city once they are here. we heard from the organisers, paris 2024, in a statement they have said they have taken note of the incidents affecting the atman north

and east lines of the sncf rail network will stop we are working closely with our partner, the rail operator sncf, to assess the situation. but there is bound to be concerned because there is a huge security operation under way anyway here in paris particularly focused around the river seine and that six kilometre stretch of the river that will play host to the opening ceremony, an opening ceremony like no other, the first to take place outside of the stadium. it was already going to be an incredibly difficult event to police and secure. 45,000 security personnel are on the streets of paris guarding that border. there is almost like a ring of steel around the river right now with miles of metal fencing, checkpoints, police are checking qr codes to allow people to move around. so this will i think put authorities on alert but it's not something that they will not be prepared for. last year we had president macron talking about the

opening ceremony and the security difficulty is that it might entail. he said that they have contingency plans in place, plans a, b and c should they need them. there is no indication that is the case just yet. paris 2024 are monitoring the situation and they will be hoping this event, the opening ceremony, can flow freely when it gets under way in a few hours�* time. as i say, an unprecedented opening ceremony, hundreds of boats are set to sail down the river seine carrying 10,000 athletes. there will be officials, dignitaries from around the world watching, as well as 300,000 spectators on the river seine itself. a massive security operation, and they willjust hope everything still flows smoothly and can still go to plan. we everything still flows smoothly and can still go to plan.— everything still flows smoothly and can still go to plan. we are keeping an e e on can still go to plan. we are keeping an eye on what _ can still go to plan. we are keeping an eye on what is _ can still go to plan. we are keeping an eye on what is happening - can still go to plan. we are keeping an eye on what is happening in - can still go to plan. we are keeping an eye on what is happening in one| an eye on what is happening in one railway station, there has been a news conference by an official there so we will get the lines from that and bring it to our viewers with an update on the disruption being

caused. let�*s talk about the games, a huge opening ceremony with 10,000 athletes from all over the world therefore these games. tell us about what the biggest sports in the competition are likely to be. {131 competition are likely to be. of course, there the traditional sports that always first come to mind when you think of an olympic games. you think about the athletics and those icons that have competed in the past, the likes of usain bolt, for example, from a british point of view, people like mo farah, jessica ennis—hill, kelly holmes from the athens 0lympics ennis—hill, kelly holmes from the athens olympics in 2004. those are some of the sports that create those iconic british sporting moments that wejust don�*t forget. iconic british sporting moments that we just don�*t forget. there will be a huge amount of anticipation for the athletics, for the swimming as well wear from a british the athletics, for the swimming as well wearfrom a british point the athletics, for the swimming as well wear from a british point of view they are hoping to build on the eight medals that they won in tokyo three years ago. the ambitions around adam peaty in the pool, can

he win a third straight gold medal in the 100 metres breast stroke? can a rising star matt richards deliver in the freestyle event? athletics, swimming, rowing, there will be a lot of focus on those events. there will also be a lot of discussion around some of these more emerging sports, sports that have been added to the programme like breaking, breakdancing as many people know it has, a new 0lympic breakdancing as many people know it has, a new olympic sport that has been added to the calendar for these paris 2024 games. a lot of people will be seeing that for the first time in getting to grips with it. it's time in getting to grips with it. it�*s one of the events taking place in the plas taylor concord, an urban park that has been created in the shadow of the famous land mark, where we will see events like skateboarding and bmx freestyle. the ioc are trying to broaden out the games and appeal to younger audiences and fans while still

having those huge sports and events we associate with the olympic games. katie gornall, thank you very much. the polish parliament is due to vote later on proposals to decriminalise the use of firearms by security forces in self—defence. the government says the change is needed to protect poland�*s border with belarus from increasingly aggressive gangs of migrants. a soldier died last month after he was stabbed by migrants trying to cross the border. warsaw accuses belarus of encouraging migrants to enter poland illegally to destabilise the european union. let�*s speak to our correspondent adam easton, who�*s in warsaw. tell us more about these proposed changes. tell us more about these proposed chances. ~ , .,, tell us more about these proposed chances. ~ , ., ., , changes. well, the bill has already been approved _ changes. well, the bill has already been approved by _ changes. well, the bill has already been approved by the _ changes. well, the bill has already been approved by the lower - changes. well, the bill has already been approved by the lower house | changes. well, the bill has already i been approved by the lower house of parliament, and it has also been approved by the upper house but they have proposed some amendments. they will be a final vote on it this afternoon and then it�*s expected to

be approved and it will go to the president for signing into law. what the bill proposes is changing the law so that in certain circumstances police, border guards, military police, border guards, military police, can fire their weapons in self—defence and will be exempt from criminal liability for doing so. so that�*s the controversial part because many human rights groups, including europe�*s largest, the council of europe, has said that in this case it will disincentivise officers to use their firearms in a proportionate manner, and you could lead to a case where a migrant, a man, woman or child, being shot and killed, and there wouldn�*t be an appropriate investigation into that. the government says this is necessary, these changes, because, as you mentioned, some of the

migrants are becoming increasingly violent, throwing stones, throwing sticks at border guards. and as you mentioned last month, tragically a 21—year—old soldier died after he was stabbed at the border trying to prevent a gang of aggressive migrants trying to cross illegally. so this is why the government is doing it and so this is why the government is doing itand it so this is why the government is doing it and it has public support. there is an opinion poll in one of the papers today is saying 86% of people here support officers using their firearms if they are used to repel aggressive migrants. so many people thought the new government, the coalition, pro—eu government led by prime minister donald tusk would take a more humanitarian approach to the migrant crisis that has been going on for about three years, but it seems he is taking just as tough a line as the previous and much criticised right—wing government and has also introduced an exclusion

zone already along part of the border which is making it more difficult for ngos to exercise public scrutiny over what�*s happening at the border. so ngos are extremely concerned about these changes and have asked officials here, including the head of the parliament, to basically reject these proposed legislative changes, but it doesn�*t look as though their concerns will be heeded by the mps today. concerns will be heeded by the mps toda . �* . concerns will be heeded by the mps toda .�* . ., concerns will be heeded by the mps toda . �* . ., ., ~ concerns will be heeded by the mps toda . ~ ., .,, ., ., ~ i., let�*s return to the story about the man who was kicked and stamped on by a police officer at manchester airport. the bbc verify team have been looking closely at the images and what they tell us. here�*s richard irvine brown. we�*ve been analysing footage shared on social media showing the incident where a police officer appears to kick and stamp on a man�*s head at manchester airport on tuesday evening. in total we have verified five videos, and here is what we can say about them and about what happened. the incident took place in a multistorey car park at terminal 2 of manchester airport.

we know this because we see a passenger pick—up point in the background of one of the videos and have matched it through publicly available imagery on google and through the uber app. we�*ve not been able to find footage that shows what led up to the incident, but the first video we have shows a man laying on the ground who appears to have been tasered. an officer then kicks and stamps on the man�*s head before kneeling on him. what follows is a chaotic series of events. in the video, police tell people to stand back. another officer appears to pepper spray witnesses who are filming the incident. now, take note of the man sitting on the yellow benches in the background. the same officer who kicked the man wearing blue, approaches him, points a taser at him and tells him to get on the ground. the officer then stamps on his thigh before hitting him in the back of the head with the taser. we have two video angles of this incident and we can see he is restrained further and eventually handcuffed. in this second video officers continue to tell witnesses to stand back. leave it, leave it, leave it!

we also see this blonde officer pushing an elderly woman who is with the detained men. she then leads another female officer, who earlier used pepper spray, away from the fray and calls for help. we can�*t tell why, but one of the officers is holding a hand to her head. now there is an unknown gap in time before the next video. it shows a subsequent altercation between three men and three police officers, one of whom pulls out a taser. the officer with the taser points and says, "this one, lock up." one man is pepper sprayed. we also have two other angles of this incident. after two of these three men are led away, police return to speak to the third man in red about a missing phone. they searched his pockets and then instruct him to leave the area. these videos have led to protests and petitions against the police�*s handling of the incident. manchester police said they were called to break up a fight before these videos were filmed and officers had been punched to the ground. they also said they understand the deep concerns that have been raised about the use of force and an investigation continues. 0ne officer has been suspended. south korea�*s central bank believes north korea�*s economy last

year grew by its fastest rate since 2016, helped by trade with china and russia. it says the economy expanded byjust over 3% following three years of contraction, mostly caused by border controls brought in to keep out covid. food shortages dramatically increased during the pandemic. north korea doesn�*t issue its own economic figures, but the numbers from the seoul bank are considered reliable. the us authorities say two mexican drug lords arrested when their small plane landed in texas on thursday led one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organisations in the world one of the men is ismael "el mayo" zambada, the leader of the notorious sinaloa cartel. the other isjoaquin guzman lopez, the son ofjoaquin "el chapo" guzman — who is already serving a life sentence. the wall streetjournal reports they were tricked into boarding the plane by a high—ranking sinaloa member in a us sting operation. in a video statement, the us attorney general, merrick garland, said the arrests

showed the authorities were determined to crack down on the sinaloa cartel. el mayo and guzman lopezjoin a growing list of sinaloa cartel leaders and associates who thejustice department is holding accountable in the united states. this includes the cartel�*s other co—founder, el chapo, another of el chapo�*s sons and alleged cartel leader, 0vidio guzman lopez, and the cartel�*s alleged lead sicario or assassin, known as el nini. fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced. thejustice department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

chinese authorities say they�*ve evacuated almost 300,000 people as typhoon gaemi makes its way across the east of the country. the storm made landfall on the mainland on thursday after severely affecting taiwan and the philippines. public transport, offices, schools and markets have been shut in some cities in china�*s fujian province. 0ur china correspondent stephen mcdonell gave us this update from beijing. it�*s already caused a major path of destruction on the way to the chinese mainland, when it hit taiwan, hit the philippines. to give you an idea of the power of this storm, major commercial ships have been sunk, including an oil tanker off the coast of manila. they are still searching for missing crew. some of those sadly are presumed dead. now, the good news is that after the storm hit mainland china it�*s been downgraded. however, hundreds of thousands of people have been moved to safer areas.

transport services are still down in south—eastern china, including trains, including planes. and the concerns are that this storm, albeit a downgraded one, is going to still push heavy rain into the middle of china and the north. the reason people are worried about this is that a typhoon just like this last year caused flooding in the north of the country and as far away as the north—east of china, a famous rice crop was completely destroyed following the rains that caused flooding after a typhoon. and so while it may have been downgraded, while the winds may have eased off a bit, still a lot of people are worried that this is not over. cctv, fines and even music have all been used to try to put an end to anti—social behaviour, but now one town is hoping a new approach could make a difference. the council in grimsby says

the installation of loud speakers broadcasting warnings could deter people from breaking the rules. 0ur reporter crispin rolfe has been to find out more. anti—social behaviour in so many of our public places, and so many attempts to combat it, from cctv cameras to public space protection orders, and even classical music played at railway stations. but now, in grimsby, there�*s this — a tannoy making this announcement every 15 minutes. tannoy: for everyone's safety, cycling is not allowed _ in grimsby town centre. there is a £100 fine for those caught. please respect others and enjoy your visit here today. madam, can i ask you what you make of that announcement? yes, i agree. because us old people like me are walking

about and the cyclists come behind you and you don�*t know they�*re there and it�*s dangerous. do you think that will make a difference? i don�*t know about that! and it seems others are unsure, too, about whether the tannoy will work, including those who had it installed. is this going to do it? i�*m hoping so. let�*s wait and see. you�*re only hoping? i�*m confident but, of course, i can�*t be responsible for people�*s actions. businesses also hope that this extra measure can change the culture on grimsby�*s high street, but they�*re not convinced. i hope it makes a difference. working inside, you can really see lots of people coming past really quickly on bikes, electric scooters, and it is a huge concern with all the children and the elderly people that constantly are walking down here. excuse me, sir, should you be doing that? the law—abiding people will probably take some notice of it, but the idiots that ride up and down on the bikes and things like that just won�*t, because they ignore the people that

try and stop them riding up and down anyway. i think it will help. i think it will help out quite a bit. how bad is the problem? quite bad. i just think they�*ll still keep coming down anyway, do as they want. of course, council officers and the police often monitor this area, but today a suggestion from the council that humberside police could do more. you say the police are on board with this but you would like them to respond more often to your officers — that implies they�*re not. i would like to see a more physical presence of the police here in our major shopping areas. despite that, humberside police say they are committed to playing their part, but they recognise that there is still more to do. not least on high streets like grimsby�*s. crispin rolfe, bbc news. we can return to our top story, the huge transport disruption in paris ahead of the opening ceremony there

later today. this is the scene outside the gare du nor after a series of fires hit french high—speed rail lines. sncf said it was a massive attack aimed at paralysing network. huge delay and disruption for 800,000 customers impacted. stay with us and follow our live page on the bbc news and at four all the latest on this story. you�*re watching bbc news. assisted dying campaigners say they�*re optimistic a change in the law could come soon as a private members bill on the issue has its first reading in the house of lords later. it�*s the latest in a long line of attempts to give terminally ill people the right to end their lives in england and wales. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh reports. this is an issue which provokes passionate debate. this demonstration was in 2015, on the day mps voted overwhelmingly to reject a bill to allow assisted

dying in england and wales. a lot has changed here in the past nine years, not least in the commons. there are 335 first—time mps at westminster. and, crucially, the new prime minister, sir keir starmer, has given his support for a change in the law, although mps will get a free vote on what is a matter of conscience. so what will they vote on? the bill would allow mentally competent, terminally ill adults, with less than six months to live, the right to an assisted death via a lethal dose of drugs, which must be self—administered. this would need to be approved by two doctors, and there�*d be external scrutiny from a high courtjudge. the private members bill is being introduced by lord falconer, who told me he believes parliament is finally ready to change the law. this bill is so important because it brings compassion to the end

of life, it allows people to avoid pain, it gives them the comfort of knowing that they can end their final suffering at a time of their choosing, it allows them to have a good death, which is denied to so many people at the moment. but opponents say changing the law would send a message to the vulnerable, elderly and disabled that their lives are worth less than others. the reality is many disabled people don�*t feel part of society, they feel excluded. actually, their life is very difficult. and, you know, the assumption by many is that disabled people have nothing to offer society, we�*re a drain on society, and we�*re better off dead. and if that�*s what you hear around you, then it will be very easy to see how disabled people could convince those making the decisions that this is a free choice. it�*s notjust here at westminster

that this contentious issue is being debated. at holyrood in scotland, a private members bill to allow assisted dying was introduced earlier this year. an assisted dying bill has nearly completed all its stages at the isle of man�*s parliament, and could get royal assent next year. jersey is also planning to change the law. more and more jurisdictions have legalised assisted dying in recent years, such as new zealand, australia, canada, portugal and spain. this is a crucial issue for society, so expect more powerful argument when this bill gets its second reading and is debated here in the autumn. fergus walsh, bbc news, westminster. it�*s hoped a new virtual reality project could help revolutionise the way firefighters train on thejob. the equipment will see recruits put through their paces in realistic scenarios without the need for exposure to fire or smoke.

0ur reporter ross pollard has been to find out more. it really is unbelievable that i can do this in virtual reality because this is exactly what i would be doing at a real fire scene. a new age of training fire fighters. this virtual reality kit allows new recruits to experience different scenarios. i think they're finding it exciting. it's different. we're not saying that this is the only way that they would train. it's definitely about blending technology like this with that practical training. put this on first, 0k. and talking of new recruits... so we�*re going to connect the heat vest and here it goes, 0k. we�*re going to put the water on. so you�*ve got the haptic feedback. oh, yeah, so right now it is actually physically pulling me back. so you�*ve got to sort of do a... yeah. put your left foot a good two foot in front of your right. i need to turn around. oh, there we go, so there�*s the fire at the petrol station.

which is the biggest risk now? so the fuel, there might be an explosion now. so you go to the fuel, that�*s your big risk. we need to embrace change. some people think, no, it doesn�*t work, they need to get out onto the ground and experience it for real. i kind of believe it�*s that blended approach. we bring the virtual world and the real world together, so we get the best of both worlds. i�*m in this fairly plain teaching room at the moment, but i can put this headset on and step inside a virtual reality kitchen to see what caused the fire there. we're going to take some evidential photos inside this environment. touch it with the blue and then pull the trigger and then lift it up towards your face. as well as fighting fires, trainees can then investigate how the fire started. this bit shows the fire coming down a little bit. this is a scenario that you can't really experience very well in the real world without being in a lot of danger. yeah, yeah. but in vr we can put you in these scenarios over and over again. besides being educational, it�*s really good fun. smile on his face. but i think fireman sam has no worry of me replacing him anytime soon.

ross pollard, bbc news. now it�*s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. hello there. thursday brought with it quite a humid feel and a lot of cloud across the country. at times it was thick enough for some heavy rain. some poor visibility across the channel isles and some choppy seas, so not a day for being by the seaside. but as we move into next week, high pressure is going to build. that will quieten things down considerably, with some sunny spells around and certainly warming up, particularly down to the south. but for friday, we are still under this influence of low pressure. still the wind direction coming from the west, so not the warmest of sources, and that�*s going to drive in a few scattered showers, chiefly to the far north—west to begin with, but as we go through the day, anywhere along the west will see those showers drifting further inland. perhaps across east anglia and south—east england, staying fine and dry, but still those temperatures are disappointing for this stage injuly. a scattering of showers into wales.

20 degrees the high here. more frequent showers into northern ireland and southern scotland, and some of these possibly heavy. so, temperatures again a little bit more subdued, looking at highs of 15—19 degrees. so, that is how we close out friday afternoon. friday evening into the early hours of saturday sees the isobars open up, the winds fall light. clear skies for a time, but we have got this little weak weather front enhancing more showers out to the west. but it means low single figures to greet us first thing for the start of our weekend. a quiet start for many, particularly in sheltered eastern areas, but once again, we�*ll continue to see a few showers breaking out from the west. and these will move through the irish sea into wales, across north—west england and into scotland by the afternoon. again, to the east of the pennines, we are likely to see the best of the drier, sunnier weather, but those temperatures are still not particularly exciting for this time of year. once again ranging from 15—23 celsius, the high.

but after saturday, an area of high pressure will start to build in from the west. as we go into next week, that�*s going to quieten things down considerably. weather fronts will try to topple in across the high but all in all it looks quite decent with that south—westerly flow allowing those temperatures to climb potentially into the high 20s. and for many of us, it�*s going to be a good deal of dry, settled sunny weather to look forward to for at least a few days.

live from london. this is bbc news. hours before the opening ceremony, france�*s high—speed rail network has been sabotaged in a major co—ordinated attack on several key lines into paris, leaving 800,000 passengers affected. it comes despite tight security in the capital itself where hundreds of thousands of people are due to watch a spectacular ceremony with athletes carried on boats along the river seine. former us president barack 0bama

is due to endorse kamala harris in the race for the white house. the uk health secretary says the health and social care regulator in england is not fit for purpose. the leader of mexico�*s sinaloa cartel — one of the worlds�*s most powerful drug lords, is arrested in texas. hello. after years of planning and a full century after the french capital last hosted the games, final preparations are under way for today�*s opening ceremony of the summer olympics in paris. but this morning those preparations have been disrupted by what officials are calling a major sabotage attack on france�*s high—speed rail network. this is the scene there live this morning. the french state railway company, sncf, says its lines have been hit by arson attacks in a co—ordinated attempt to paralyse the network.

fires were started at three points on tgv lines running west,