this is bbc world news today. i'm ben bland. our top stories: mission to the sun — the spacecraft heading off on a six million kilometrejourney to reveal the secrets of the solar atmosphere. washington braces itself for a rally by hardline nationalists and white supremacists, a year after the racially charged violence in charlottesville, virginia. heavy rain and flooding across china — in one city, a dramatic rescue as a sinkhole opens up in the middle of the road in their opening game of the premier league season, champions manchester city beat arsenal 2—nil. hello and welcome to world news today. a spacecraft launched by nasa from cape canaveral in florida has begun a long journey towards the sun and an orbit that will get it closer to the surface of the star

than any previous mission. the parker solar probe is about the size of a car and protected by a special heat shield which will allow it to function in searing temperatures. our science correspondent pallab ghosh has this report. three, two, one, zero — lift off. into the night, and on its way to touch the sun. a daring mission to shed light on the mysteries of our closest star, the sun. nasa's parker solar probe will get closer to the sun than any spacecraft before it, actually dipping into the sun's atmosphere. trajectory looking good, right down the middle... the probe was named after the 91—year—old solar physicist eugene parker, who was at the launch. all i'm going to say is, wow, here we go, we're in for some learning over the next several years. it'll travel at 120 miles each second, faster than any other probe.

even so, it will take three months to reach the sun, passing venus on the way. the spacecraft will spend seven years looping around the sun, and it'll get hot — 1300 degrees celsius. we have a wonderful heat shield that we keep oriented between us and the sun, and so it keeps everything in the main body of the spacecraft nice and cool and kind of creates the shadow. and it has a white coating on it that was specially designed for parker solar probe. very much like you'd prefer to be in a white car on a hot day instead of a black car on a hot day. the probe will study the sun's atmosphere, which can be seen from earth during a total eclipse. shimmering and beautiful from so far away, violent and tumultuous close—up. this is a real picture from a previous mission. the parker probe will look even closer. it's really important that we study the sun because it affects our lives

on earth in so many ways, so there's a lot we don't understand about the sun, for example the sun's atmosphere is far hotter than its surface, which is the opposite of the case from the earth. and we don't really understand why, and parker solar probe will help us understand those things for the first time. the northern lights are caused by particles spat out by the solar atmosphere. these same particles can disrupt power grids and communications. by studying the sun, scientists hope to be able to predict these events and learn more about a star on which all life on earth depends. pallab ghosh, bbc news. for more on this we're joined from cape canaveral by spaceflight reporter robin seemangal. we hold their about the aims of the mission. i wondered what the practical uses of what they find out could be back here on earth. lots of it is about protecting ourselves from these solar flares, solar

energy that the sun emits. the sun is very dangerous to humans. the more we understand about it the more we are able to protect ourselves on daily basis. when you look at the different spatial missions that have gone before it, where does this one set in terms of the importance and excitement around it? —— different space missions. when eugene parker first theorised the existence of solar wind, it was laughed at by his peers. in 1962, a spacecraft detected them. it's been this long journey since then, since 1962. parker wrote the paper in 1958. it's been this half—century long journey of discovery to this mission to understand this phenomenon more. when we saw that launch happen, what was that telling us in terms of the technology that has been developed and how long it's taken to get to this point? the spatial missions can

last anywhere up to a decade in development, but i was there last night and the delta four heavy rocket is one of the most powerful vehicles of any kind on earth. it is powered by 2.1 million of thrust and it's exactly the vehicle needed to launch this extraordinary mission so far away. i suppose there are vast sums of money that have gone into this. what is the biggest risk in terms of getting this satellite to the place it needs to be, so close to the sun? just about every component of this mission is risky. as always, the launch is the most nerve—racking part, getting that vehicle away from earth's gravity. that's always the most challenging thing but when you think about years down the line and those first few milestones for this spacecraft,

getting even near the sun is an extraordinarily difficult thing. as you mentioned in the report, the heat shielding is so important to keep the temperature at room temperature in the spacecraft. that's a very difficult thing. tell us that's a very difficult thing. tell us about the route it will take to get as close to the sun as it needs to be. it's going to make seven orbits near the planet venus. there's no camera, per se, on the spacecraft that there is some imaging equipment that will help us hopefully spot these particles and help us learn more about them. 0ver the next i believe seven years, this spacecraft is going to be journeying through that long orbit around the sun. technically in the sun, in the sun's corona. thank you very much. at least 39 civilians — including 12 children — have been killed in an explosion that brought down a building in the mainly rebel—held syrian province of idlib. it's not known what caused the blast, but the building is reported to have contained

a store of munitions belonging to an arms trafficker. most of the people in the building are believed to have been syrians displaced from other areas of the country. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... for the third night in a row tens of thousands of romanians are protesting in the capital bucharest, accusing the government of corruption and abuse of power. many of the demonstrators, work in other eu countries but are currently back in romania on holiday. they are particularly angry at the government's decision to sack an anti—corru ption prosecutor. northern ireland's top police officer has vowed to do all he can, to bring those responsible for the 0magh bombing tojustice. chief constanble george hamilton's remarks came at a memorial service to mark 20 years since 29 people were killed in the single worst atrocity of the northern ireland conflict. a 12—year—old boy has been confirmed as the only survivor from a plane crash that left eight people dead in a moutainous region in eastern indonesia.

the aircraft lost contact with control tower shortly before it plunged into the jungle in papua province. an army statement said the boy was conscious, but gave no other details. after days of heavy rain across much of the the country, eastern china is now bracing itself for the arrival of tropical storm yagi. meanwhile india has stepped up relief efforts after exceptionally heavy monsoon rains flooded large areas of the southern state of kerala. simeon paterson has more. translation: a hillside collapses outside beijing. incredibly, no casualties were reported, after the landslide which followed heavy rains. transport links more cut and

large areas waterlogged as far south as guangdong province where this car was rescued from a sinkhole that opened up during flooding. for parts of the country, there is much more to come. after drenching the philippines, forcing evacuations and some unexpected changes to this couple's wedding day, typhoon yagi is set to hit china's east coast. it's due to make landfall east of shanghai. local media reports that more than 100 people have been evacuated. —— 135,000 people. authorities evacuated. ——135,000 people. authorities have warned residents to stay indoors. india has also been hit by exceptional monsoons, with corolla state on high alert after flooding killed dozens of people and forced dozens more to flee from their homes. state authorities were forced to work on the floodgates of overflowing reservoirs. translation:

we have faced destruction like never before in our state. the situation is so bad we had to open all 22 damn shelters at once, which has never happened before. relief efforts in india are being stepped up as waters recede. while back in china, ships are ordered back to port and residents brace themselves for another tropical storm. in the us, demonstrations have begun to mark one year since violent protests in charlottesville, virginia. hundreds of anti—racism demonstrators have taken to the streets of washington dc. to voice their opposition to a planned gathering of far—right supporters and white supremacists. so far protests have been peaceful, with a strong police presence on the streets as demonstrators continue to gather. joining me now live from washington dc.

is our correspondent chris buckler. iimaginea i imagine a bit of concern in advance to this but so far things seem to have been passing off peacefully? there is a huge police presence here. if you look behind me towards the white house you can see there are police lined up there but also a huge number of protesters they are dealing with. notjust that far right protest which will take place later but if we go through the crowd here, you can probably see there are a number of antifascist campaigners here who are wearing masks and obviously that is giving something of a sinister presence. another thing the police have to watch at this time. there are a small number but there are also a huge number of protesters out specifically to protest against this march taking place. you get a real sense here that there are people prepared to say this one—year

anniversary of what happened at cha rlottesville is in anniversary of what happened at charlottesville is in no way celebrated by those white nationalists. their march is they say a protest for white civil rights, it is however happening exactly rights, it is however happening exa ctly o ne rights, it is however happening exactly one year after heather haier was killed in charlottesville. white nationalists carried torches in the street and chanted anti—semitic and racist slogans, then there was trouble when a car was driven into a crowd and one woman, heather heyer, one of the counter protesters was killed. that is why we have so much tension and concern on the streets today. you talk to the police and they are very clear they will not accept anybody causing any trouble, they have put in a huge amount of security. behind the group behind me, there are trucks blocking the roads there. that is just one of many roads surrounding the white house that have been blocked as a result to try to ensure there was no trouble here today. the big concern

is that potentially there could be some kind of tension between the tee groups. at the moment they are keeping them very much a part and we should say in terms of the nationalists there were only expected to be about 400 of those, dwarfed by those leading bees counter protests. as a result, the police believe they can keep this calm, yet the emergency level has been raised. nobody is allowed to carry guns on the streets, normally you can if you have a carry permit, in this case carry permits are not allowed. no weapons on the streets. police urge people to be calm as the evening proceeds. thanks, chris. this is bbc world news today. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: is this peruvian city the most polluted on earth? residents say mining is poisoning their children. the government disagrees. this is bbc world news today, i'm ben bland.

the latest headlines: the us space agency, nasa, has successfully launched a mission to send a spacecraf closer to the sun than ever before to send a spacecraft closer to the sun than ever before. washington braces itself for a rally by hardline nationalists and white supremacists, a year after the racially charged violence in charlottesville, virginia. 12 people, including two children, have been injured in a shooting in the city of manchester here in the uk. it happened during a street party, which was celebrating a local carnival. police are treating the shooting as an attempted murder — megan paterson reports. thousands of people enjoy manchester's caribbean carnival every year. yesterday was no exception. but after the event finished, at a large party a few streets away, shots were heard. officers arrived on the scene at 2:30am this morning. some were armed.

nine people, including two children, suffered pellet—type wounds. —— ten people were admitted to hospital immediately. two other people have been seen for minor injuries. you heard pop, then a couple of seconds later, pop, pop. it scared everybody, everyone has hysterical because it was a big crowd, it could have hit anybody. 0fficers believe this was an isolated incident that likely involve a shot gun. injuries were serious but not life—threatening. discharging a firearm in a crowded place like that, we could be investigating here in murder enquiry as opposed to an attempted murder

investigation. this area has changed dramatically over the last 30 years. guns and violence were once commonplace. this incident has caused anger and frustration for the community leaders who have worked ha rd to community leaders who have worked hard to change this area's reputation. i will continue to spread the good word about this community that situations like this don't help. an attempted murder investigation continues in moss side this evening. the community is eager as the police to understand what happened here. and to find whoever is responsible. the peruvian government has declared three state of health emergencies in the districts of pasco, central peru, to treat people suffering from metal poisoning, which locals says is caused by nearby mining. children and pregnant women have been suffering headaches, nose—bleeds and more serious illnesses after dangerous levels of lead, arsenic, aluminium and manganese were found in soil and water. across peru, many communities living near mines have been protesting

about metal poisoning. you can read more about that story if you go to our website... bbcnews.com where the residents tell us more about why they're convinced the soil is harming their children. tulson has all the sport. hello and thanks for joining us on sport today. manchester city have got their premier league title defence off to a winning start with a 2—0 victory at arsenal in what was a miserable start for gunners' new boss, unai emery. city are regarded as strong favourites to be the first team to win back—to—back premier league titles since 2009. they won in north london thanks to goals from raheem sterling and bernardo silva. neither team was at full strength, but pep guardiola's side looked pretty comfortable throughout, although arsenal have a few questions to answer under their new boss. in general we make an excellent

performance. lots of players with a lack of conditions in terms of physicality, but of course we are more than tee seasons together and we know more unless what we have to do, we were so aggressive in the middle, in back, so we made a good performance in general. meanwhile, the team expected to run manchester city closest this season also started with a victory and a comfortable one too. liverpool's 4—0 win over west ham was the biggest of the opening weekend. after his 44 goals last season, mo salah took less than 20 minutes to get his first of this campaign. liverpool started with two of their new signings but it was another familiar face that scored the next two goals, sadio mane. daniel sturridge got the fourth immediately after coming on as a substitute, to leavejurgen klopp's side top of the league on goal difference. we played as good as possible today. we played as good as possible today. we had a really good pre—season in the premier league season so that

was the plan. we were not finished, for a lot of players we still had to have breast for the season. it was good. not surprisingly good, but of course, it was better than i could have expected. there was one other game in the premier league on sunday, with southampton and burnley playing out a goaless draw on the south coast. it's also the first weekend of the french league season, with defending champions paris saint—germain kicking off their campaign at home to caen, with neymar first on the scoresheet. it's one of three fixtures on sunday. that one currently 2—0 in the second half. earlier lyon who were third last season beat amiens 2—0 and strasbourg were also 2—0 winners against bordeaux. brooks koepka is in a realfight to claim his second major of the year, and third overall as he heads towards the end of the us pga championship in missouri. the american bogeyed consecutive holes, having at one point been three strokes up, butjustin thomas, the defending champion, then bogeyed the 9th to drop back. tiger woods, a 14—time major winner

who won his last back in 2008, has also threatened with a packed leaderboard at present. england have gone 2—0 up in the test series with india after a comprehensive victory in the second match at lord's. the home side declared on day four with a first innings lead of 289, and that proved more than enough on another rain—interrupted day. india struggled again in the conditions, and were bowled out for 130 in their second innings, giving england victory by an innings and 159 runs. with a fortnight until the us 0pen gets under way, defending champion sloane stephens is on the verge of losing the canadian 0pen final to world number one simona halep. —— in the past few minutes, he has lost the final. romanian halep took the opening set in a tie break when stephens looked set to clinch it, but the american struck back to claim the second, before falling

away in the final set. just a reminder that it was the final night of european athletics championships action in berlin, with great britain claiming gold in the 4x100m in both the women's and then the men's. you can keep across everything that happened on the website and throughout the evening on the bbc news channel. thank you. and finally some pictures to show you from las vegas, where the weather has been performing its own show in the so—called city of lights. it may look amazing, but this thunderstorm has caused chaos across southern nevada. it moved in through the east with wind speeds as high as 114 kilometres an hour and has left tens of thousands of homes across the state without power. the national weather service has also warned of flash floods and dust storms. a reminder of our top story... a spacecraft launched by nasa from cape canaveral in florida has begun a long journey towards the sun and an orbit that will get it closer to the surface of the star than any previous mission.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ ben m bland. whilst many of us saw some sunshine yesterday, today has been a different story. cloudy, breezy, outbreaks of rain. this is the picture in lincolnshire earlier on. there have been spells of sunshine, parts of wales, south—west england and northern ireland but the lion's share across shetland and 0rkney because they have been to the north of these fronts which continue their very slow progress is to woods overnight. but the spells of rain and some locally heavy and thundery showers pushing eastwards through wales and into england. behind them,

a few clever spells developing across parts of wales, south—west england and northern ireland. could catch a peak of the perseid media shower. that rain will continue to fall the northern scotland, not a cold night though. temperatures between ten and 15. here is our area of low pressure to start monday morning, lingering across the eastern coast of scotland and england, still generating some showers. maybe spells of rain and the rumble of thunder. slowly easing away, for a day of sunny spells and scattered showers which could be heavy and thundery if you catch one. different scotland, lots of cloud with rain working north but tending is allowed. the best sunshine across shetland. temperatures 15, 16 or 19. 20 then northern ireland and 20 to 23 for england and wales. central and southern parts to the best of the sunshine on tuesday, further

north and west more cloud. showers likely to northern ireland. maybe for northern england as well. where you have to showers a noticeable breeze, temperatures up to 1819. 25 01’ breeze, temperatures up to 1819. 25 or 26 breeze, temperatures up to 1819. 25 or26 in the breeze, temperatures up to 1819. 25 or 26 in the sunshine across sunshine across south—east england. tuesday into wednesday, we still have that implements off the atla ntic have that implements off the atlantic and still this front lingering, bringing further showers and spells of rain in northern ireland, scotland and northern england. quite cool and breezy with a chance of showers through wednesday and thursday, dryer and one further south and east but eventually something fresher arriving to thursday and into friday. for much of this week, windy at times, some showers and long spells of rain but warmest and driest in the south—east. this is bbc world news. the headlines: nasa has successfully launched a $1.5 billion

mission to send a satellite closer to the sun than ever before. expected to reach speeds of 690,000 kilometers per hour, the parker solar probe will become the fastest ever man—made object. demonstrations have begun in washington to mark one year since violent protests in charlottesville, virginia. anti—racism demonstrators have taken to voice their opposition to a planned gathering of far—right supporters and white supremacists. at least 39 civilians — including 12 children — have been killed in an explosion that brought down a building in the mainly rebel—held syrian province of idlib. most of the victims are believed to have been syrians displaced from other areas.