president trump says more us troops will be sent to afghanistan to fight the taliban the president says he's changed his mind — and that us troops are needed, to stamp out terrorism. we must ensure they have every weapon to apply swift, decisive and overwhelming force. our troops will fight to win, they will fight to win. we'll have the latest from washington. also this lunchtime... four men accused of belonging to the terrorist cell that carried out the barcelona attacks, appear in court in spain. rescue workers are searching for people trapped in collapsed buildings, after an earthquake hit the italian island of ischia, killing two people. a call to build a high—speed rail across the north of england — former chancellor george osborne says the government should spend more on the northern powerhouse. and chasing the eclipse —

the airline passengers who had a very special view of the first total eclipse across the us in nearly a century. and coming up in the sport on bbc news... wayne rooney insists his focus is on club not country, after he scores his 200th premier league goal in front of england coach gareth southgate. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. president trump has announced that more us troops will be be sent to afghanistan to fight the taliban. he said that a rapid exit from the country would create a vacuum for terrorists to fill. during the presidential campaign, donald trump said he wanted a speedy withdrawal from a conflict

that he described as a total disaster. but last night, he said he'd changed his mind. here's our north america correspondent, aleem maqbool. the man who always said he didn't want to intervene abroad, came to announce the intervention in afghanistan he's going to ratchet up. but said it was for the right reasons. we are a partner and a friend, but we will not dictate to the afghan people how to live or how to govern their own complex society. we are not nation—building again. we are killing terrorists. he announced the lifting of a cap on the number of us troops in afghanistan, and that there would be no time limit on them staying there. my original instinct was to pull out. and historically, i like the following my instincts. but all my life i've heard that decisions are much

different when you sit behind the desk in the oval office. a very different donald trump to the one who said this kind of thing right through the obama years. and that's the basis on which he campaigned as a presidential candidate — that he wouldn't spend american resources abroad, but here at home. he says he now realises that pulling out american troops from afghanistan could leave a vacuum for militants. our primary mission for coming into afghanistan after 9/11 was to kill terrorists. and i think he is going back to the original purpose, that the reason we came into afghanistan was because of what happened on 9/11 and the fact that afghanistan was being used as sanctuary and safe haven for terrorists.

the toughest words of his speech were directed at afg hanistan‘s neighbour, pakistan. we have been paying pakistan billions and billions of dollars, at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. but that will have to change. and that will change immediately. how the president expects pakistan to comply, and more broadly, how he expects the us will, in his words, fight to win in afghanistan, wasn't made entirely clear. the only thing that is certain is that there is still no end in sight for america's longest war. aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. let's go live now to washington and our correspondent, gary o'donoghue. what's gone on here — is this a u—turn? it's certainly a u—turn from the

president's rhetoric when he was a candidate, when he talked about afghanistan being a waste of money, by bringing the troops home etc. you heard in his analysis last night the reason why. once you get behind the desk in the oval office, things look different. he is now surrounded by xxx marine corps generals with serious afghan war fighting experience. and the one man, his chief strategist, who was against the involvement in afghanistan, steve bannon, he has been fired. you can see the confluence of events has come to this moment. it is short on detail. there are key differences from the obama era. the metrics are different. no specific number on troops, no specific number on when and where drawdown happens. and the one big difference you will see is that he has devolved a lot more power down to the pentagon.

president obama ford a lot of his wards from the white house. —— fought. i think donald trump has realised that the generals, particularly james matters, are probably best suited to do that. thank you, gary. our diplomatic correspondent, jonathan marcus, is here. short on detail, but what difference could this make on the ground? the situation on the ground is pretty dire for the afghan government. it barely controls about half of its own territory. it suffered a serious reversals on the battlefield. the crucial thing is bolstering those forces pretty much immediately, and then training particularly special forces who can take the battle to the taliban. what we are going to see, since it is essentially the generals‘ plan mr trump has adopted, is three things. significant numbers

of trainers and mentors going to afghanistan. about 3800 us personnel, small numbers of personnel, small numbers of personnel from other nato countries. this focus will be on training special forces, because they are the most capable of the afghan units under bearing the the preponderance of the fighting. i think we will probably see an increased role for us air power, certainly a more aggressive role. and i think we are likely to see a more aggressive action by the small number of american combat troops that remain in afghanistan on a parallel mission, which is a counter mission against is, al-qaeda etc. jonathan marcus. four men accused of belonging to a cell responsible for the terrorist attacks in and around barcelona last week, have appeared in court in madrid. it comes a day after the suspected final member of the gang — the 22—year—old driver of the van which ploughed into pedestrians on las ramblas — was shot dead by police.

our correspondent, tom burridge, is in barcelona. what has been happening today? spain‘s high court deals with terrorism cases of this magnitude. the four men will be given the opportunity to address the court today. if they do, they could be ci’oss today. if they do, they could be cross examined by a state prosecutor. mohamed houli chemlal he was injured on wednesday. it is thought police are considering whether that explosion caused the terror cell to change its mind, to terror cell to change its mind, to opt for a more rudimentary form of attack, using a van and a car the following morning, rather than a more sophisticated bomb attack. also in court, mohamed salah, thought to be the owner of the car used in the

cambrils attack. and the french interior minister has confirmed this morning that car was spotted speeding with at least four of the alleged attackers in it, towards the outskirts of paris the week before the attacks. two more men of north african descent, also in court. we should get more details about whether they have actually spoken today to address the court, and possibly about their alleged involvement in last week‘s attacks. tom, thank you. among the distressing stories that have emerged from the attacks in spain, there have been those of kindness and bravery as well. british tourist harry athwal has been called a hero, after he rushed to help a child on las ramblas, ignoring advice from the police to move to safety. adina campbell has been to meet him. we were in the restaurant. we had just eaten. i ordered the bill. i was waiting for the bill. that is when we saw the van. from where we

we re when we saw the van. from where we were sitting, you could see it. we saw about five seconds of it. what we saw was tragic. we heard screaming. as we turned and looked, the van was shooting down las ramblas. it was hitting people. people were flying everywhere. you could hear the thuds. the thing i remember was the noise. we were 50 yards away. the noise was so clear. it was horrible. when did you first see the boy you went on to help?m the middle of las ramblas was the body of a child. that automatically drove me to that child. i knew what i had to do. ijust raced to that child. many of us might have seen the picture of you crouching down beside the boy. what was going through your mind? beside the boy. what was going through your mind ?|j beside the boy. what was going through your mind? i was afraid for the boy at that point. when i looked at his injuries, they were severe. i was actually quite emotional as well, because i knew straightaway this boy was eight years old, the same age as my son. like i said, due to the injuries

i was quite upset. the first thing i tried to do was check his pulse, to see if he was alive. because of the nature of the injuries, i didn‘t want to move him. what made you stay there? that was somebody‘s child as well. he was a young boy. he was my son‘s age. that was somebody‘s child as well. at that point it doesn‘t matter, i wasn‘t going to move. the first police officer who came down was screaming at me, he was speaking spanish, i was screaming at him saying, get me an ambulance. he was gesturing to me, he said get out of the way, get out of the way. i could see the fear in him and the fear in me. he was trying to say they could be another car or van coming down. isaidi i said i wasn‘t going to move because i wasn‘t going to move this

child. people have called you a hero. i‘m not a hero. i‘m just a common man, the same as anybody else. these situations are occurring more and more often. we have to stand up and be counted. harry athwal. rescue workers are still trying to reach survivors, after a magnitude four earthquake hit the italian island of ischia. at least two people have been killed, and nearly a0 injured, after the tremor brought down several buildings. the island, off the coast of naples, has a population of about 50,000, and is also popular with tourists. richard lister has the latest. minutes after the earthquake, dazed survivors picked their way through a ruined house. around them, in a blizzard of dust, buried cars and rubble strewn streets. their neighbours are escaping, too. the

emergency services move in. it was terrible, she said. i was terrified. ischia was a trap. several buildings collapsed. under the wreckage, rescuers worked frantically to get to those buried. at this site, rescuers heard the faint sound of a baby crying. and after some careful digging, a minor miracle. the seven—month—old was tea rful miracle. the seven—month—old was tearful but safe. work continues at the house to reach his brothers. daylight revealed the extent of the damage. the earthquake struck as people were sitting down for the evening meal. some houses were almost untouched. others may have to be demolished. translation: the house is destroyed. we can‘t even get in. what should we do?

translation: i was really scared. it is the first time there has been such a strong quake. at least one of the dead was killed by falling masonry. it remained a threat as the emergency services brought in more resources to continue their search and rescue operation. translation: we have helped more than a thousand people leave ischia. we have set up a coordination centre. we are checking hotels to make sure they are safe. as the work continued, some good news. both of the baby‘s brothers we re news. both of the baby‘s brothers were found alive. his family survived. others are counting the cost of a terrifying night. richard lister, bbc news. divers searching for 10 missing us sailors off singapore, have found human remains in their damaged warship, according to a us admiral. the remains were in sealed compartments of the uss john s mccain, which was nearing port yesterday when it collided with a merchant tanker.

the impact tore a hole in its port side, and flooded a crew sleeping area. the former owner of bhs is to be prosecuted in connection with the collapse of its pension scheme. dominic chappell‘s company bought the retail chain forjust £1, shortly before it went into liquidation with a huge pensions deficit and the loss of 11,000 jobs. mr chappell is charged with failing to provide documents requested by the pensions regulator. the former conservative chancellor, george osborne, has called on the prime minister to commit to building a high speed rail line across the north of england. mr osborne, who spearheaded the northern powerhouse project while in government, has called for more money to be spent on public transport outside the capital. the government says it‘s investing billions of pounds across the north of england. our correspondent, dan whitworth, is at leeds railway station. an awful lot of people have signed a

petition calling for this sort of thing. yes, as you say, george osborne, not the first time we have heard from him on this northern para has initiative, when in government he helped launch, now he is no longer in government he is chair of the northern powerhouse partnership and he says if high—speed line from hull to liverpool were built with a priority being put on the electrification of the section between manchester and leeds it would transform the regional economy. also he puts the cost at an estimated £7 billion, but again the return on that investment according to mr osborne would be well worth it, an extra 7 million people would be brought inside a 90 minute journey of the north of england, three times as many businesses. interesting timing on the former chancellor‘s intervention, as you say, there is a large petition across the north of england, 70,000

people have signed it, demanding more money from national government or public transport projects here in the north of england. again, crucially, about the timing of the former chancellor‘s intervention, big meeting here tomorrow of regional mayors and civic leaders and essentially, their frustration reaching boiling point about what they see as the prioritisation of funding for big transport projects in london to the detriment of ulster in the uk. —— detriment to the rest of the uk. thank you. our political correspondent iain watson is in westminster. is the prime minister going to come under pressure? yes, she is, you know the london evening standard, and its editor george osborne uses the paper to dispensable —— unwelcome advice to the prime minister and one commentator suggesting he was making more mischief though he is taking a bit ofa mischief though he is taking a bit of a swipe at the prime minister,

his wife does have substance because he knows she will be said and down to d raft he knows she will be said and down to draft this speech to the conservative party conference and he suggests in that speech, she ought to relaunch her premiership of relaunching the northern powerhouse to show conservatives care about all parts of the country. if she does that he will take credit for getting extra investment, if she doesn‘t her shaky position might be shaken up a little bit further if you suggest she is in serious about rebalancing the economy. there will be labour politicians putting pressure on the prime minister tomorrow and if mps in other areas for example the east midlands and the south, south west and wales, for some real projects have been cancelled, they create a false as well, the prime minister could come under increasing pressure to loosen the purse strings on extra investment. thank you. the time is 18 minutes past one. our top story this lunchtime. president trump says more us troops

will be sent to afghanistan — to fight the taliban. and coming up — one step closer to world cup glory — england‘s women prepare for their rugby semi—final against france tonight. coming up in sport, antiracism group kick it and said the fa should conduct a comprehensive and independent review into claims of believing against the england boss mark samson, previously cleared of any wrongdoing. for the first time in nearly a century, a total solar eclipse has swept across the united states, from the pacific coast to the atlantic. millions of people watched as the moon passed in front of the sun, casting a shadow more than 60 miles wide. a handful of lucky passengers had a prime view of the spectacle from a boeing 737, which chased the shadow at 40,000 feet — our correspondentjames cook was among them. as the day dawned the chase was on.

the moon was after the sun and we were on the tail of both. from portland in the north—western state of oregon the flight dubbed solar one struck out over the pacific. by the time we arrived 800 miles from the shore, our satellite was eating a chunk out of our star. ten, nine, eight, seven... and as the moment of totality drew close time itself seemed to speed up. # the final countdown. ..# totality! it's such an incredibly breathtaking experience, like you cannot even describe it, words do not do it justice and neither do pictures or video or anything, it'sjust like incredible to witness. really, it is, it'sjust amazing. how was that? it was amazing. it was more beautiful

than i had ever anticipated, more beautiful than any picture i have seen, it was diverse in colour and density and it was just amazing, too short, really, just too short. jasmine shepherd and her brother joshua were the envy of their fellow americans having won a competition to see the eclipse 15 minutes before the waiting world. we are really in awe to be the first in the us to be able to witness this spectacular event. we are in awe and humbled and grateful, it was just a great experience and everyone on board is super excited, the countdown to totality was cool, we are very excited. god is good. that's all i can say. that was a truly breathtaking moment but that was over in a flash and the shadow is now racing towards the united states where millions more are watching and waiting. but only those on board could say they were the first to see this spectacle from a front row seat in the theatre of the heavens. james cook, bbc news,

above the pacific ocean. lucky them. ford has become the latest car company to offer customers an incentive to trade in an old vehicle for a new, less polluting one. the scrappage scheme will run for four months, and will offer 2,000 pounds off some new models. unlike similar schemes by bmw and mercedes, which apply only to diesel vehicles, ford says it will also accept petrol cars. our transport correspondent richard westcott has the details. millions of us still drive older, more polluting cars but what‘s the best way to get them off the road? ford has become the latest and biggest firm to offer a scrappage scheme, £2000 to crush your old car or van as long as you buy a new one. it wouldn‘t be an incentive to me. good for the people who want to do

it and have £2000 if they have an old car that isn‘t roadworthy, good for them. but it wouldn‘t be an incentive for me at all. good incentive, give you 2000 towards a new car and the side—effect edges of environmental benefit, why not? cleanerair, it environmental benefit, why not? cleaner air, it benefits everybody andl cleaner air, it benefits everybody and i get a new car. if you can afford it. ford claims it is about protecting the environment, not boosting sales. which have been falling for months. some people will look at the cynically and say, sales are down, you are only offering this pa rt are down, you are only offering this part four months, only £2000 scrappage scheme, this is about selling more cars, isn‘t it? scrappage scheme, this is about selling more cars, isn't it? it really is anything but a cynical marketing ploy, i can spend my money on much more efficient things to drive sales, this genuinely is about quality. ford sells more cars than any other company in britain, the fiesta is the most popular model, thatis fiesta is the most popular model, that is why it is significant they have come up with a scrappage

scheme. but it‘s only going to last four months initially, the company is talking about perhaps save you thousands dirty cars being scrapped and taken off the road, there are 19 million in total so could it really make a difference? the problem with a scrappage scheme that is aimed at air quality is that it really needs to be targeted at the vehicle driving around most in the areas where air quality is a problem. things like buses and trucks are particularly important, so our commercial vehicles to. after months of speculation about a possible government scrappage scheme for dirty vehicles, it‘s now the car—makers who are taking the initiative but not yet on a scale that could really make a difference. richard westcott, bbc news. exactly three months ago, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the end of an ariana grande concert in the manchester arena. 22 people were killed, and more than 50 were injured. since then, the nhs has been offering therapy to those who have suffered mental and physical trauma. one of those who died was 29 year old martyn hett. his mother figen murray has

been talking to graham satchell, his mother figen murray has been talking to graham satchell, about why she can never return to life as it was before the attack. the tears are never far away really. suddenly you catch yourself thinking, oh my gosh, martyn would have loved this. it‘s a shame he isn‘t there. we are in st annes square in the centre of manchester. it became the focus of remembrance where thousands of people left flowers. figan murray lost her son martyn hett in the manchester attack. she‘s been the therapist for more than 20 years, but she has decided she can no longer do herjob. i don‘t think with what happened to me that i‘ll ever be in a position to offer psychological support to anybody else because i think i‘m so damaged through this. figan is meeting 18—year—old caitlin. on the night of the attack caitlin was knocked off her feet by the force of the blast but escaped without physical injury.

she became withdrawn, started having nightmares and is now seeing a counsellor. it wasn't until a few weeks i would say after when it really hit me, the guilt got me. guilt. tell me a bit more about that. that we managed to walk out without a mark on us. obviously, with people who have lost their lives. you have nightmares and flashbacks? yes, all the time. i have nightmares, violent nightmares. obviously about people trying to blow, blow me up. she‘s obviously suffering from survivors guilt, a lot of martyn‘s friends had that as well and with the help of therapy, obviously, it‘s helping her to kind of normalise that feeling. this is the manchester resilience hub, an nhs organisation coordinating

mental—health services specifically for people caught up in attack. it‘s about 12 weeks now since the attack. is that sort of the time we are talking about when people may need to access help? we view the 12 week period post—incident as a significant milestone. if you are still exhibiting symptoms at the 12 week point they're probably not going to resolve without some form of help and intervention. the hub is helping more than 200 people access psychological support but wants everyone who needs help to come forward. figan hasn‘t had any counselling yet herself but has now decided she will get help. i will definitely access it, i know i need it because i am like so many other people, damaged to some extent. back in st annes square the sea of flowers left by well—wishers has all but gone. the memories, the pain of what happened will never go.

but with the right help, the hope is life will become easier for those left behind. graham satchell, bbc news, manchester. england‘s women continue the defence of their rugby world cup title tonight, as they face france in the semi—finals. head coach simon middleton has rotated his squad heavily throughout the pool stage of the tournament, but he says he‘s named his strongest team for this evening‘s game. our sports correspondent katherine downes reports from belfast. belfast, a city proud of its past but one which chooses not to dwell there. swap nation for team and england‘s women have chosen to follow the same philosophy. they‘re defending world champions, grand slam winners but no one knows england‘s weaknesses better than today‘s opponents. france have won two of the last four six nations titles and finished

third at the last world cup, they are england‘s toughest test yet. we know that every time we play france it will be one hell of a game, they are tough opposition, they have a lot of strength around the whole of the game, they are an all—round team, we know that, if we are to get the result we want, we will have to put in a performance that is an improvement from the games so far we have played in. england, the tournament‘s only fully professional side enjoyed straightforward wins so far over spain, italy and the usa, now two matches away from back—to—back world titles they have named their strongest squad yet. this is about putting the best 23 out that you feel are right for the job and if you feel it's the right 23 for the next one you will put them out again and if you don't we will make changes, simple as that. we don't even need to think about the next game until we get this one out of the way,

it will be huge, that's what we are focused on. england play their semifinal here at the home of ulster rugby at quarter to eight this evening, the other semifinal kicks off at five between the underdogs usa and the four time world champions new zealand. the final is expected to be between the black ferns and the red roses of england but having played some colourful rugby so far france will be hoping to keep a good splash of ‘bleu‘ in the mix too. katherine downes, bbc news, belfast. time for a look at the weather... here‘s darren bett. hello, some rain on the way for a belfast and the rugby. we should see some sunshine arriving across england and wales, a good day to be walking the dog in cornwall. you can see what i mean, grey and misty