this is bbc world news today. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories. taken to safety — israel evacuates hundreds of syria's white helmets civil defence volunteers and their families to jordan after an international request. at least 1a people killed in a suicide bomb attack in kabul airport just minutes after the vice president returned to the country. gunmen have killed 11 taxi drivers after opening fire in a violent ambush in south africa. locked in his body for over a decade — but unable to say a word — we'll tell you the incredible story of how martin pistorius found a way out. hello and welcome to world news today. israel has intervened to help

members of the volunteer civil defence force known as the white helmets escape an offensive by government forces. some 422 volu nteers government forces. some 422 volunteers and rescuers and their families were evacuated overnight. it is understood the number would be higher but others were hemmed in by fighters from the islamic state group. they were evacuated through the occupied golan heights and are now safe in jordan the occupied golan heights and are now safe injordan along with their families. they requested is real's help over concerns the volunteers could be detained by free syrian army. rescuing the rescuers. syrian civil defence volunteers and their families evacuated intojordan and safety. these pictures filmed by the israeli army sure their trips escorting the white helmets, escaping the assad regime and

russian forces. is real's prime minister said it was an urgent international operation. the lives of these people who have saved lives we re of these people who have saved lives were in danger run by authorised the transfer via israel to other countries as an important humanitarian gesture. they will be resettled in britain, canada and germany. in the hell of the syrian war of the white helmets have often been first on the scene, administering first aid when hospitals have been bombed. nominated for the nobel peace prize, the volunteers say they have saved over 115,000 lives. 260 have been killed, some targeted by a second air strike as they moved in. president assad calls them jihadist is. the syrian government and russian forces surround opposition areas, civilians and fighters have been bussed to the north, but the

regime refused to let the white helmetsjoin them. as regime refused to let the white helmets join them. as assad's forces close in on southwest syria, resista nce close in on southwest syria, resistance is crumbling, and the medical lifeline of the white helmets has been cut. i spoke to caroline anning 7 save the children's syria advocacy manager in amman. i asked her why white helmets had to be rescued this way. what we are seeing is a really rapid escalation that has happened across southern syria, as your correspondent was mentioning. the really heavy violence over the last month, rapid changes of control across front lines, and the white helmets, they felt that now it was time to try to pull them out, but this is a significant number of people, of humanitarians who have played a critical role in helping provide civil defence, killing people from the wreckage, etc, but a

huge number of humanitarians who are left including our partners and other international ngos could have been delivering aid throughout this conflict in southern syria and across the country, who also need to be protected and unable to continue their work. aid workers that are left, do they also need to be rescued? how left, do they also need to be rescued 7 how can left, do they also need to be rescued? how can they stay safe and still support the syrian people? supporting the syrian people is a vital part of that and so many of oui’ vital part of that and so many of our partners and staff will stay, despite incredible risks, and have been working despite incredible risks. i don't know whether it is a sustainable solution to try to evacuate everybody who is left, to help the children and families and civilians left behind. 0ur help the children and families and civilians left behind. our partners are running schools in camps and conflict zones and basement shelters with heavy air strikes. they are

taking aid across conflict lines, and their presence is vital and what is really important is that the international community all work together and we can all agree that syrian children deserve the chance to go to school and have enough to eat and have medical care wherever they are, so what we need to do is find ways to enable humanitarians and detect them doing that work. humanitarian workers need to stay there and support the local population, but it is not inconceivable another rescue like this could lead to happen again. do you think they should do more to help people who need to leave the country? the number of people who are country? the number of people who a re left country? the number of people who are left on that border, it is not very clear, but we know that are huge number of civilians and what they have called across the board, whether the border with jordan they have called across the board, whether the border withjordan and israel, any countries, evacuation of children as necessary, but also what we are calling for is aid to be

allowed in, so what we have seen over the last few weeks is huge numbers of people, something like 160,000 or more, fleeing their homes in southern syria because of the fighting. the temperature upwards of 40 fighting. the temperature upwards of a0 celsius, very little shelter or food and water, and it is really urgent we are able to get help to those people, so in addition to any evacuation, that would be a real ask, to get humanitarian aid to that population. the brexit secretary dominic raab, says he's confident a deal to leave the european union can be reached by mid october — which is the deadline set by the other 27 member states. but he says it's right for the government to step up preparations over the summer, for the possibility that no agreement is reached. here's our political correspondent chris mason. laughter. it sounded like they all agreed, but at the cabinet meeting last week, some around the table were still unsure about the prime

minister's plan for brexit. that's according to the new brexit secretary. but, he's sounding confident a deal can be done with brussels. i'm striving every sinew with our department, with michel barnier, who i think is a man who wants to do a deal with us, tremendous pressures on his side to get the best deal. but we've got to, i think it's the only responsible thing to do, to be prepared if those negotiations, the energy, the ambition and the pragmatism that we have shown are not reciprocated. with the energy that we are going to bring to these negotiations, the ambition and the pragmatism, we get a deal done in october. labour leaderjeremy corbyn has spent the day at a festival. he is scathing about what he sees as government dithering. it is two and a bit years since the referendum, surely they should be in a better position to know what kind of arrangements we should have in the future. i get the feeling that the tail is

wagging the dog in the tory party. those that want no deal seem to be ruling the roost, and they are pushing for that. no deal would be a very, very bad situation. if the arguments about the uk and the eu sound just a tad familiar... this man was furious with conservative eurosceptics a quarter of a century ago, and he still is. if we crash out without a deal, the people who have the least are going to be hurt most. it would be a terrible betrayal of the interests of everyday people, who really are not political. sirjohn cited a government forecast suggesting the north—east of england, which endorsed brexit, would take the biggest economic hit in the uk if there is no deal struck with the eu. he also said another referendum would be morallyjustified. so, do people in middlesbrough agree? probably reconsider another referendum due to the fact that they might not want to leave, because quite a lot ofjobs would be lost. i think basically what we should

do is get no agreement on brexit and just walk away. a new referendum just means that there is an opportunity for it to go back to how it was, and i think we could do with change. much to the goverment‘s relief, mps finish here for summer on tuesday. but then the prime minister and her senior team will fan out around europe, trying to sell her vision of brexit. chris mason, bbc news, westminster. at least 1a people have been killed and more than 60 injured in a blast outside kabul international airport. islamic state have claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near the airport's main entrance. the attack coincided with the arrival of afghan vice president abdul rashid dostum. the vice president has returned to the country following a year of self imposed exile in turkey, after he faced a raft of accusations including allegedly torturing and abusing a political rival. the so—called islamic state says it is behind the attack. a witness has been describing what he saw. an ordinary person came along, he

looked normal, just like me. he was wearing black clothes. he talked to the police and i thought he was a suicide bomber and suddenly an explosion happened. the general was unharmed in the attack and went on to receive a red—carpet welcome and was met by of cheering supporters. he denies the raft of accusations against them including allegations of human rights abuses. the return was negotiated by the president. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the fbi has released its own documents which show that the bureau believes a former trump adviser was conspiring with russia. carter page, who advised donald trump on foreign affairs during his election campaign, was put under fbi surveillance. he denies being a russian agent. mr trump called the documents part of a scam. police in los angeles have arrested a suspect after he held a0 people hostage inside a supermarket for three hours.

the gunman barricaded himself inside the store after crashing his car and exchanging fire with officers. a woman was shot dead inside the shop before he surrendered. the former french presidential security aide, alexandre benalla, has been formally placed under judicial investigation, after he was caught on camera beating up a protester in may. mr benalla was sacked on friday, but the affair has sparked uproar, with president macron accused of failing to act quickly enough. gunmen in south africa have shot dead 11 taxi drivers who were on their way back to johannesburg after attending the funeral of a colleague. the gunmen ambushed them and using automatic rifles, peppered the vehicle with bullets. earlier, i spoke to south african journalist ayanda mhlongo about what the motivation could be behind the attack. there can be a horrific incident taking place here in south africa and the province, and of course the police have said

that they do not know what the motive of this heinous act is. it is believed to be linked to ongoing turf war that in that city ofjohannesburg, between the ivory park association and they have had quite a long battle between themselves and other rival associations over routes. and that has generally been what has been the reason behind the taxi violence across south africa, way back to the 1980s. where the taxi started operating in south africa, every single province in this country, we've seen that the reasoning behind it has always been a battle over routes, a rather lucrative industry in south africa and they carry about 60% of commuters and over

1a million people in south africa, use the taxi as a means of transport, and so is a multibillion—dollar industry, there's been a number of concerns of course that it has been an industry that has been unregulated for many years, and as result now, we are seeing hundreds of people entering into the taxi industry and it's major competition and there's not enough space space for all of them, stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: locked in his body i ,he , he could see and hear everything but nobody knew he was conscious. the remarkable tale of how martin pistorius found a way out. this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines. israel evacuates hundreds of syria's white helmets civil defence volunteers and their families to jordan. at least 1a people killed in a

suicide bomb attack at kabul airport just minutes after the vice president returned to the country. a woman involved in a tourist boat accident on a lake in the united states has recounted the moment she lost nine of her family members. 17 people died when boat sank in table rock lake in the us state of missouri. tia coleman managed to escape the sinking vessel. however nine of her family members including her husband and three children drowned. they were told by the captain they wouldn't need lifejackets. here's some of what she had to say. he said something about life jackets. he said above you are the life jackets, three sizes. he said,

i'm going to show you where they are but you don't need them so no need to worry, so we didn't grab them. if i was able to get a life jacket, i could have saved my babies. because they could have at least floated up to the top and somebody could have grabbed them. and i wasn't able to do that. her harrowing account of that boat accident. at least 19 people have died in vietnam in floods caused by typhoon rains which struck central and northern parts of the country. the waters have also damaged thousands of homes and destroyed crops. aaron safir reports. a violent force of nature that vietnam knows only too well. these waters were unleashed by typhoon, the third tropical storm — son tinh — to hit the country this year. it made landfall on wednesday evening, damaging infrastructure and crops through thanh hoa and nghe an provinces. yen bai, like many other areas of the country, continues to suffer floods and landslides in the storm's wake. nationwide, around a,000 houses have

been damaged and thousands of hectares of crops have been destroyed. these waters have come quickly, but it will take much longer to repair the damage. marc edwards has all the sport. it was a faultless final round from francesco molinari as the italian held off a host of star names to claim the open championship. his round of 69 saw him finish on eight under par. he started the final day three shots adrift of the overnight leaders but maintained composure as they all dropped shots. francesco molinari finish two ahead of the pack to become the first italian to wina pack to become the first italian to win a major. tiger woods looked like his old self, even sitting atop the leaderboard, before falling away. a

good result none the less. leaderboard, before falling away. a good result none the lesslj leaderboard, before falling away. a good result none the less. i need to try and keep it in perspective because at the beginning of the year if you had said they would be playing the open championship i thought i would be lucky to do that. we're good friends and you have to put things in perspective, she has just had a baby, and keeping things in perspective, and the same thing with me. it will sting for a little bit here, but given where i was to where i am now, blessed. lewis hamilton is back on top of the f1 drivers championship after a sensational victory in an extraordinary rain hit german grand prix. he had begun the race on pole position and led for the best part of 52 laps meaning hamilton, who had started and 1ath, powered into the

lead and held on in changing weather conditions. it gets a 70 point lead in the championship but for sebastian vettel was a case of what could have been. i am disappointed, obviously, quite a spectacular way to end the race but up to that point everything was fine. a small mistake but a big impact on the race result. danish raced debutant nielsen added a second consecutive victory after winning stage 15 of the tour de france on sunday. team sky's geraint thomas maintained his race lead over team—mate and compatriot chris froome, not quite the perfect day for the team. a disqualification from the race for hitting another rider. in cricket, south africa have been set an unlikely target of a92 when the second test against sri

la nka when the second test against sri lanka on day three. they need to win to avoid a 2—0 series defeat. sure anka declared on 275—5 in their second innings. in reply, south africa crumbled yet again. hashim amla bawled for just africa crumbled yet again. hashim amla bawled forjust six. things continue to get worse late on as captain faf du plessis fell four seven. south africa need another 351. world cup fever continues in london with the second day of the women's hockey world cup were italy have beaten china 3—0. a brilliant first—half strike from one of ten argentinian born players in the italian squad. 0ne argentinian born players in the italian squad. one of italy's greatest wins. the last world campaign came all the way back in

1976. that's all the sport for now. thank you. until the age of 12 martin pistorius had an unremarkable childhood but then he fell ill with whats' known as locked—in syndrome. for over a decade he could see and hear everything around him but no—one knew he was conscious. eventually a carer spotted ‘life' in his eyes — setting him on the road to a remarkable recovery. this is his amazing story. i was trapped inside my body for more than a decade. doctors said i was unaware that i could see and hear everything. asa as a child growing up, i was perhaps a little quieter than most but happy. healthy and always busy with something. shortly after my 12th birthday i

became ill. i came home from school with what seemed to be like a cold. within months, i was an empty shell of the vibrant little boy i once was. being unable to communicate was the worst, most terrifying feeling ever. i was utterly powerless. i kept my mind busy by escaping into my imagination, living in my mind was the only i was able to cope and distract myself from my daily reality. i often wished i could tell people i was in pain or reassure my mum that she was a good mother and to simply tell people that i loved them. she recommended i go for an

assessment to see if there was an alternative way for me to communicate. my family were overjoyed when after the assessment it became clear that i was still in there and had the potential to communicate. i found readjusting to life really difficult. it was absolutely wonderful, but also scary and very daunting. there was so much i didn't know. in april we found out we were having a baby. we were both very surprised, perhaps a little shocked, and very excited. i think the most difficult thing about fatherhood for me will be finding effective ways to communicate with the baby. i have experienced extreme

loneliness, but it taught me to be comfortable with my own company. i think it is easy to take communicating for granted. everyone says actions are more powerful than words, but i wonder, communication is one of our most powerful tools. is it not our words that lead to action? the remarkable story there of his experience of locked in syndrome. just enough time before we go. the tv show supergirl will become the first series to feature a transgender superhero. here she is: activist and actor nicole maines, who is herself transgender will play the role of nia nal in the upcoming fourth season of supergirl.

speaking to variety magazine, nicole maines said she wanted fans to take away an understanding of trans people saying: "we can be anybody we can be superheroes — because in many ways we are." just time to bring you these pictures from hawaii. where strong winds have been pushing the white plumes from the kilawaya volcano inland, as streams of lava continue to flow into the sea. the volcano, which began erupting 11 weeks ago, has destroyed more than 700 homes so far, according to the hawaii county civil defence. much more coming up. the heatwave continues and if anything the temperature is going to rise even further this week, but not that everybody. the delay

high—temperature, as far as the speaker is concerned, will be concentrated across south—east and eastern parts of the country. one of the other reasons we are not getting an awful lot of rainfall with these weather fronts that you can just about see, streaks of cloud, are very wea k about see, streaks of cloud, are very weak and keep failing to reach us. very weak and keep failing to reach us. cooler they are out in the atla ntic us. cooler they are out in the atlantic ready to tuck into north—western parts, but ultimately across southern and eastern areas, the heat will wind from the south, and this pattern is likely to be with us across the whole week. starting with the evening and into tonight, in the north—west of the country we have these very weak weather fronts that are moving in, ringing a little bit of rainfall to western scotland and northern ireland. the warmth is coming in from the south. 20 celsius the overnight low, and very warm in belfast, 17 the starting temperature on monday. here are the weather fronts and you can see above my head

this is the fresh air trying to tuck m, this is the fresh air trying to tuck in, but the winds and much of the country, certainly england and wales, is in that heat. scotland and northern ireland in the fresh atla ntic northern ireland in the fresh atlantic here, but still very warm and aberdeen, the temperature could get up to 2a. these weather fronts don't make much progress and stall around about here and this is the pattern on tuesday. you can see one weather front frontier and another year, and they are very weak. it is the cooler air which is trying to come in with those weather fronts again on tuesday, but the heatjust keeps winning, so much of england and wales in that hot air, but particularly hot across the east, south east parts of the netherlands, and the temperature on tuesday in some spots could get up to 32 or 33, compared to the much fresher conditions in belfast and glasgow, ireland 20, and look at that. looks

like we will keep the 30s until the end of the week and perhaps falling offa end of the week and perhaps falling off a little bit into the weekend. this is bbc world news, the headlines: israel has evacuated hundreds of syria's white helmets civil defence volunteers and their families to jordan. the operation was the result of international cooperation. they'd been trapped by a government offensive in a southern syrian border area. at least 1a people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack near kabul airport, just minutes after the vice president arrived in the country. abdul rashid dostum had returned to afghanistan following a year of self imposed exile in turkey. 11 taxi drivers have been killed in south africa after gunmen ambushed them using automatic rifles. the victims were on their way back tojohannesburg in a minibus after attending the funeral of a colleague. a survivor who lost nine members of her family in the tourist boat tragedy in missouri, has said passengers were told not to bother with life jackets. 17 people died when the boat sank in stormy weather on thursday.