with afghanistan, saying a hasty us withdrawal would leave a vacuum for terrorists to fill. his original instinct was to pull forces out but he now wanted to avoid the mistakes made in iraq, where he said the gains made had slipped away. the us navy is to pause operations worldwide to reassess safety measures for its fleet after one of its destroyers collided with a tanker near singapore. ten sailors are missing. the chief of naval operations, admiraljohn richardson, said there was no indication the collision was intentional. four men accused of being part of a terror cell which killed 15 people in spain last week are due to appear later this morning at the spanish high court in madrid. police in catalonia say they've shot dead younes abouyaaqoub, the driver of the van which killed 13 people in barcelona. now on bbc news it's time for the travel show. india, 70 years after independence.

this emerging world power of more than a billion people is still changing. i'm on a journey to two extremes of this vast subcontinent. crystal, ha rd crystals. white salt. can probably taste it. i began in gujarat, in the far west. this is genuinely incredible, i'm in heaven. pretty crowded. this week, i've travelled 2000 miles over to the north—east. i'm on the banks of the mighty river brahmaputra, and about to go to a very spiritual place. it's one of india's lesser—known regions. we're really high up, and just to my right, the border with bangladesh. a part of the country which prides itself on its traditions.

he makes it look so easy. it's incredibly difficult. but it's also looking forward and embracing progress. so now, i'm on my way to go and see assam's very own eco—warrior. it is going to be an incredible adventure. india's north—east, a collection of eight states, almost cut off from the rest of this vast country, but for a tiny strip of land. at partition, a large swathe of this region was sectioned off, to become east pakistan, which later became bangladesh, leaving the indian area landlocked. it's geographically and culturally out on a limb. this is frontier country, little—known to tourists and other indians alike.

they call it the land of cloud, that's because of the severe monsoon season. hilly, remote, the area so crisp and fresh, and the view, simply spectacular. it's this cool climate that made the state of meghalaya and its capital, shillong, that made it a popular retreat for the british during the colonial era. they dubbed it the scotland of the east. it's pretty crowded! what about the city today? there's only one way to find out. i take a bus into the city centre.

so it's a modern industrial town these days, shillong. whoa, feel it! i think those breaks may need a bit of work. so tell me, what do you think about shillong. this is your home city. what do you think about this place? the culture here is so different. you see the people here. more than half of the population of meghalaya belong to the khasi

tribe, and here at the british—built polo ground, a traditional british sport is thriving, but it sure ain't polo. every afternoon, hundreds of people gather from all around to take part in a really interesting daily ritual. this is called teer, derived from the hindi word for arrow. they target is mounted and 50 archers have just two minutes to hit it as many times as possible. the significance of the sport dates back to the early 1800, when khasi warriors defended their homeland not with guns and swords but with bows and arrows.

i'm aiming forthe target, obviously. the small one. why is it going to the ground like that? spectators get involved by taking bets on the number of arrows that hit the target. crucially, it's only the last two numbers of the total score that matter. they are all added up, and the last two digit will be the result. 690, five arrows. 695, arrows.

meghalaya became one of the few states to legalise gambling in 1982. people here are very superstitious. they'll dream about their dead family. a dog, a cat. and they'll try to make it into numbers. so i have 200 rupees of my hard earned money here. i want to go and gamble, can you show me how to do it? let's go to one of these counters. i want to gamble on a lucky number. two digit, lucky number. i'm going to go for... 39. and i'm going to put 100 rupees on 39. and on my other bet i'm going to bet on... 77, can you fix it so i win? laughter

that depends upon your fortune. i had a dream last night, i had a dream... that a strange dog walked past me, and that dog had the number 39 on it, is that the kind of dreams people have? wish me luck. it's a tense moment as the numbers are counted... 310, 320... and my dream turns out to be... a shaggy dog story. 77 was my number, 97 is the result. still, two of my lucky numbers, nine and seven. next, i head out the city to the region's famed khasi hills and villages. incredible to think that despite landscapes like this,

the north—east is one of the least visited areas of india. but things are slowly changing. we've been travelling out of shillong into the countryside towards the bangladesh border for about two hours, it has been pretty bumpy and rough roads until suddenly, we have reached this bit and it is beautifully smooth road, would not look out of place in a major town. we are heading towards a village which has a really interesting reputation. the khasi hills are the only place in the world that you will find bridges grown from the roots of the indian rubber tree, or ficus elastica. this bridge was meant for the villagers to cross over

the river when they go back to their daily life. during that time there was no partition, no bangladesh, no pakistan, so we had that link. during monsoon, the khasi hills are hit by record—breaking downpours, more than 20 feet of rain in a month. these are some of the wettest places on the planet. but people here have found an ingenious way to harness nature in order to prevent the village being cut off by floods. just tell me what they're doing right now. now they are tying the bamboo to cross on both sides of the river, so that the roots of this tree will be woven along here. bamboo acts as a scaffolding, which helps connect routes from trees growing on opposite river banks. this is skilled and occasionally dangerous work. thanks to continuous repairs,

bridges like this have stood firm for generations. and will probably remain for many more to come. so we leave meghalaya and head to assam. passing through some of the 25,000 tea plantations that have made this region world—famous. we're on our way tojorhat, a few hundreds kilometres from india's border with china, and thejumping off point for the next adventure. i'm on the banks of the mighty river brahmaputra and about to go to a very spiritual place, the island of majuli, one of the biggest river islands in the world. now there's 150,000 people on that

island, and only six ferries a day, each one is really crammed. just looking at the list of prices for all the different categories: passengers, 15 rupees, that's ok, that's reasonable. then you go down, pass the vehicles, animals have today, buffalo has to pay a5. bull, cow, 30. and then the poor elephant has to fork out 907 rupees! perhaps fortunately, none of these creatures were travelling with us today. and incredibly, after a few last—minute panics, we are set to go. i climb onto the corrugated aluminium roof tojoin men who do this trip day in, day out. starting in tibet, the brahmaputra river is nearly 2000 miles long,

second only to the amazon, in the volume of water that rushes through it. interesting game of cards going on here, i think they are playing whist. i'd like tojoin in. but it may be a private game. high stakes. we arrive at majuli and it is turmoil again trying to get off the boat. to avoid the queue, there is a sneaky way out, which basically involves climbing onto another boat and going down the steps that way. you know what, i think i'm going to take that one. well, he we are, on land, doesn't look quite as spiritual

as i imagined, but if you look away into the distance, it's just one big flat land of desert. but let's see. the island is home to 22 monasteries, or satras, initially established in the 16th century by the assamese guru, sankardeva. boys are instructive from a very young age in the religion that he preached, vaishnavism, an offshoot of hinduism. the monks are celibate and according to their beliefs they worship only one god, follow a vegetarian diet, and reject the caste system. and here, the doctrine includes

this special art form. this form of classical dance is now recognised by the authorities as a genre in its own right. many of these monks have performed around the world. that was amazing. thank you very much indeed. i know you spend a lifetime learning the skills of this, but can i have a go, can i try? arms through here...? very good.

thank you so much. one, two, three, four. there are 64 positions in this classical dance and i'm having trouble with the first two. it's very difficult. one, two, three... without the grace, as well. no grace whatsoever. he makes it look so easy. and it's incredibly difficult. i'm going to leave it to the experts. sometimes you have to give up and let them carry on. an exquisite performance.

but there's one problem, one very big problem, and that is, that this island may simply not exist in just a few decades time. hard to believe at the moment but there is a genuine worry that majuli will be submerged and destroyed within 20 years. in the last 70 years it has shrunk in size by two thirds. and a majority of the original 65 monasteries have gone. every monsoon, the brahmaputra river swells, eroding the terrain around it. bit by bit, land is disappearing.

but there is hope. so now, i'm on my way, in a tractor, to go and see a man whose life ‘s mission has been to tackle the flooding that has afflicted this island. he is jadav payeng, basically assam's very own eco—warrior. sadly, these areas that get completely deluged, when the monsoon hits, there is some water there, we have to cross... for the last 36 years, he has taken on an extraordinary challenge, to save this land from vanishing. and so, his lifelong calling began.

jadav is known today as the forest man of india. he began planting trees so the roots would bind the soil, soak up excess water, and prevent the land from being eroded by flooding. from a barren landscape, he has created a forest the size of new york's central park. and he feels this will be more effective in saving nearby majuli then following government flood prevention schemes.

so we are now going to do the ritual that every guest that comes here is asked to do, which is to plant a tree. what kind of tree is this? i'm going to put this in here... it's good. he has spoken at environmental summits all around the world, and his roll call of guests is equally international. i do know that everyone who plants a tree, when it grows,

they put a plaque down with their name on it, and i'm going to have that privilege, fantastic, thank you. and so to my final day in assam, and a different kind of ritualistic celebration of nature. if there's one repairing theme throughout my trip in the north—east, it's the sense of community, everywhere, really, and there's nothing better to illustrate that than this... a local village going down to the river, to celebrate harvest. this community was started

in 1939 by a young woman who came from the mountains in search of food. i believe she found that this place was better for her because it is coated in water, and civilisation needs water, she brought friends and family here, followed by a brother. the entire family of her own clan... all from that one woman? really, fascinating, wow. this is a much—loved annual celebration and people of all ages gathered to mark in, using fishing methods that have been passed down the generations. then you pull it towards you... pull the stick... and look! you can't see this!

it's full of fish, it full of fish. this is today's catch... wow! that is pretty good. and this, you will cook, now? excellent. so my trek across india from border to border is almost over, and it's been a realjourney of discovery for me off the beaten track. this isn't india "on tap", instant gratification, which some people are accustomed to, but the rewards, if you make the effort, are immense. asnake?! can they bite? yeah, it does. it bites. is it poisonous? no, not much.

not much?! laughter can i get out now? hello. it looks as though many areas are going to start off with a mild but murky start to the new day on tuesday. the weather front that's introduced this fare is just lurking there across the top half of scotland, still producing the odd bit and piece of rain. following on behind, a lot of low cloud. if you are in the high ground of the pennines, for example, you could have some conditions that will not be great, so take it easy first thing. it will take a time for the day to really get going. but we get some heat, pop some of that cloud, so i think the sunshine will break through the cloud and the temperatures will respond. i need to put into the mix this little feature ganging the showers togetherfor a time in northern ireland and the far south—west of scotland. some heavy downpours, there. dribs and drabs to be head across the north of scotland. the odd isolated but heavy shower

there across parts of the north—east of england, coming down towards the sort of top end of the pennines, and then further south of that, a lot of fine, dry weather to be had after that dull start. still quite a bit of cloud around for some. i've shown widely 22, 23, 2a, but with sunshine in the right place, we could well be looking at 26 or 27 degrees, and we haven't been there so far this august. the humid air is ahead of this cold front. during wednesday, that front will work from west to east, bringing fresher conditions from the atlantic. but that is going to take some time. there the band of cloud, and that is all it will be, in the south. ahead of it, that's where we boost the temperatures. the top end of that weather front will be quite active. so it's one of those days, or certainly one of those mornings, for the greater part of scotland. the rain becoming increasingly confined to northern isles as we move into the afternoon. widely into the teens across the western side of the british isles, with the last of the heat holding

on in the south—east and east anglia. and then come thursday, pretty much we're all in this fresher run of atlantic air will come in moving from west to east. that area of low pressure will still be close to ireland. that pushes the front back and across northern ireland, so that is not a shower there, but persistent rain, and will be in the north part of scotland. elsewhere, a pretty reasonable day. temperatures coming back to the seasonal norm. but with a bit of sunshine, it will feel pleasant at about 21 or 22 at best. friday, similar sort of fare. still got the low pressure out there, still throwing the chance of some pretty hefty showers across the northern half of britain. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: donald trump spells out his new policy for afghanistan. no nation—building but no let—up in the battle against the taliban. we must ensure they have every weapon to apply swift,

decisive and overwhelming force. 0ur troops will fight to win. we will fight to win. the us navy temporarily suspends operations worldwide after one of its destroyers collides with a tanker near singapore. spanish police say they've shot dead younes abouyaaqoub, the main suspect in the barcelona terror attack. and lights out. millions look to the skies to witness a rare event, the total eclipse of the sun.