welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: tight security in washington, as anti—fascist demonstrators outnumber a handful of white supremacists who held a brief rally near the white house. grief and anger in yemen ahead of the funerals of children killed in a saudi air strike. the un calls for an independent investigation. turkey draws up a plan of action to stabilise its currency. the lira has been spiralling downwards for a week after a disagreement with the us. on its way to the sun. nasa's space probe begins its ambitious, seven—year journey to reveal more about the solar atmosphere than ever before. police in washington have been out in force as white supremacists

and far—right supporters held a rally across the street from the white house. organisers had said up to 400 people would attend, but farfewer did. they were outnumbered by cou nter— protestors. the event was staged for the first anniversary of racially charged violence at charlottesville in virginia. our washington correspondent chris buckler has more. the streets here in washington, dc have been filled today with counter—protesters. some of them with their face masked, as you can see, many of them wearing black. they are antifascist campaigners protesting the demonstration by a far—right group that calls itself unite the right. now, they said they were involved in what they call a white civil rights protest, but the reality is many people are deeply offended by that. not least because this white nationalist event was held exactly a year after a woman

was killed in charlottesville, after demonstrations there in which men held torches, in which they chanted anti—semitic and racist slogans. but they have gone ahead with their own protest, just behind the security barriers close to the white house behind me. at the same time, though, it turned out to be an incredibly small group. somewhere in the region of 20 or 30 people actually turned up. they had hoped for somewhere in the region of 400. 0n the other hand, you can tell that the number of cou nter— protesters actually dwa rfed the number that have turned up from that white nationalist group. there have been a few moments of tension, and certainly a huge amount of security. you can probably see here that these trolleys at one stage were some of the things that were used to try and block the way of the police from removing those white nationalists, to get them out away from the white house and get them away from all of these protesters. but it has been a relatively safe

day, and it has been relatively well handled by the police, although it has meant that roads have been blocked off throughout washington for a lot of the day. will sommer is a reporter at news website the daily beast. he also writes commentary on conservative media. he has been covering the protests from washington. was the turnout as you had expected, or were you surprised to see so few? it was actually a bit smaller than we expected. i think a lot of people thought maybe 100 or 200 white nationalist protesters would show up. in the end it was maybe a little less tha n up. in the end it was maybe a little less than two dozen. so much so that when they sneaked out of the protest at the end they were able to fit in one 01’ at the end they were able to fit in one or two fans, so really very few people. have you been able to look at reaction on conservative media? yes, it, a lot more mainstream conservative sources, they are saying these are not people who represent, you know, the trunk movement or whatever. that is their

argument. they claimed the media is making, and the democratic party, is blowing the start of proportion —— trump movement. but wouldn't you understand where they are coming from? if you look at where these protests were last year compared to now, it almost seems as if it was much ado about nothing, that they we re much ado about nothing, that they were blowing things out of proportion. well, certainly this yea r‘s proportion. well, certainly this year's much got more attention than previous whites as the premises rallies have. last year, of course, heather heyer was killed last year, so heather heyer was killed last year, so people... it was going to be interesting to see how many people turned out on the alt—right side, and from the residents of dc, the counter protesters. 0bviously and from the residents of dc, the counter protesters. obviously a very dismal turnout on the alt—right side. but i wonder if conservative media is pleased that the way... when i say conservative media, mainstream conservative media, is

pleased that the low turnout, because they don't want to be associated with the far right, do they? no, they don't, and in fact it also benefits them to have images of violent antifascist protesters. not a huge amount of violence that we saw today, but nevertheless there are some scenes of police kind of giving surrounded. someone was sort of shooting fireworks over the police heads, and you can kind of ta ke police heads, and you can kind of take these moments and play them on fox news, for example. without kind of asking you to play it soothsayer here, which is exactly what i am going to do, what happens next? does the movement die away? does it kind of go elsewhere and coalesce in another form? yes, you know, i think it is going to be the latter. i think the alt—right, the kind of more explicit white supremacists, have realised that this is not a moment to appear in public, at this point. and every time they do, especially after charlottesville, when thousands of people show up, they are going to get their pictures

taken, they are going to lose their jobs, stuff like that. so i think over the next couple of years we are going to see them sort of retreat to their online spaces. and u nfortu nately, their online spaces. and unfortunately, as we have seen, that isa unfortunately, as we have seen, that is a very viable option for them, especially in terms of recruiting sort of disaffected young man. thank you very much. the families of 29 children killed in an airstrike on a bus in yemen are preparing to bury their dead, as the un calls for an independent investigation into the attack by the saudi—led coalition. since 2015, unicef says nearly 2,400 children have been killed, and today 11 million are in need of humanitarian aid. 0ur correspondent caroline hawley‘s report contains distressing images from the start. man sobs this is the moment a father identifies his son among the dead. and this is a boy crying out for his father and mother, one of the survivors

of thursday's air strike. "thank god i'm alive," says the harfaz ali, "but some of my friends and my teacher died." husain says they'd stopped to buy water when they were attacked. the un children's fund called the attack unconscionable, a low point in yemen's brutal war. it says its calls for humanitarian law to be respected, for children to be protected, have been met with utter disregard. the saudi—led coalition, which buys arms from britain and the us, has defended the air strike. saudi arabia says it was a legitimate military action, targeting houthi leaders involved in recruiting children to fight. it says it will investigate. the un security council says a credible investigation is needed into what happened here. a houthi—affiliated television station said the children had been visiting a cemetery to see the graves of other houthis killed

in yemen's war. these pictures were filmed by one of the victims of the attack. zaid tayeb lost three children in the air strike. ahamed, yousef and ali are already being commemorated as martyrs to the houthi cause. translation: they were very happy. even from the night before, they were all very excited, preparing for the trip. they wanted to take their smartphones with them to take photos. they were so excited, they couldn't get to sleep. here is where they'll now be laid to rest, children calmly digging graves for children. in yemen, death has become part of the fabric of life. but, amid the horror of yemen's conflict, this attack stands out. the un hopes it could be a turning point, a catalyst to end the war. caroline hawley, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news:

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 is not known what caused the blast, but the building is reported to have contained a store of munitions. most of the people in the building are believed to have been syrians displaced from other areas of the country. around 15,000 people have held a demonstration in the romanian capital, bucharest, protesting against official corruption. for the third night running, the crowd gathered outside official buildings, demanding the resignation of the left—wing government. they have been angered by the recent dismissal of the country's chief anti—corru ption prosecutor and the decriminalisation of several fraud offences. a remembrance service has been held to mark the 20th anniversary of the omagh bombing in northern ireland. 29 people were killed when a car bomb exploded in the town centre, planted by the dissident republican group the real ira, several months after the signing of the good friday agreement. the event was the last official annual commemoration of the attack. turkey's finance minister, berat albayrak, says his country has

drafted an action plan to deal with the sharp fall in the national currency, the lira. in an interview with the hurriyet newspaper, mr albayrak said the plan would ease the currency‘s volatility. it comes as markets prepare to open on monday following a week which saw the lira spiralling downwards, in an ongoing row with the us. lebo diseko reports. turkey's president stood defiant on sunday, telling supporters the fall of his country's currency was a political plot against turkey. as the event continued, he repeated a less—than—thinly—veiled threat to a nato ally, the united states. translation: our response to those who wage a trade war against the whole world, and include our country in that —

we'll be heading towards new markets and new alliances. despite the tough talk, the lira has continued to weaken. it has fallen 40% so far this year against the us dollar, and as us president donald trump doubled steel and aluminium tariffs last week, the lira dropped almost 20% in a day. relations have been strained since the attempt to overthrow mr erdogan in 2016. and this is the man at the centre of this latest spat the two countries. turkey is holding the american pastor andrew brunson over suspected links to that failed coup, and the us wants him back. on this, president erdogan remains stead fast. they said, release the pastor, and gave until last wednesday at 6:00pm. if we did not release him, they said they would sanction us. for ordinary turkish people, the ongoing row has contributed to rising prices and savings that are worth even less. many small businesses are at risk,

and there are fears the currency woes could turn into a full—blown economic crisis. the finance minister says a plan has been prepared for banks as well as small to medium—sized businesses. berat albayrak says he will share it on monday. turks can only hope it will be enough to calm the markets and give the lira a much—needed boost. lebo diseko, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: astronomers are predicting exceptional meteor showers, as they coincide with a new moon. we will find out the best time and place to view them. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former

dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later, when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: tight security in the us capital, as anti—fascist demonstrators outnumber a handful of white supremacists who held a brief rally. grief and anger in yemen,

ahead of the funerals of children killed in a saudi air strike. the un calls for an independent investigation. fighting continued on sunday in the afghan city of ghazni where the taliban attacked a police headquarters and government buildings. 17 years on from the us—led invasion of afghanistan, british troops who are part of an increased uk military presence have been arriving in the capital kabul. the plan is to support afghan troops and diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. our defence correspondent jonathan beale reports from afghanistan. back to the dust and heat of helmand, this the place where hundreds of british troops were killed, and which nearly fell to the taliban when they departed. four years ago, the british left for good, but the americans soon returned, albeit in smaller numbers. now they are on their own, patrolling what was the sprawling british base of camp bastion. it was necessary for us to come back

in here a couple of years ago. if that had not happened, i would imagine that helmand would be pretty solidly under the control of the taliban right now. at night, us marines fire illumination rounds to deter any attack, as well as lethal long—range artillery rockets to target enemy positions. by day, they oversee the training of the afghan army, and these soldiers need all the help they can get. their unit has already suffered heavy losses. the corps right now is sitting at about 30%. 30% of what it should be? yes, that's right. that's a worry, isn't it? it is, but there's a time, time in recruiting. constant advising and the senior leadership will improve the situation. we joined the afghan army out

on patrol on the main highway through helmand, this the road regularly targeted by taliban roadside bombs. but our escorts seem more interested in their entertainment along the way. music plays they still don't always look or sound like a professional army. the afghan army is now leading the fight. but they are well below strength, suffering high rates of attrition, whether through casualties or desertions, and they are still only just able to secure central helmand, where most of the population live. britain may have turned its back on helmand, but it does have a presence here in the capital, kabul. on the ground, british soldiers have been tasked with transporting international advisers safely round the city. it is this mission,

dubbed armoured uber, that has been boosted by another 440 uk troops. it's still america that is doing the heavy lifting, but it's talking, not fighting, that will change the course of this war. nobody‘s talking about fighting their way to victory anymore. victory now is a political settlement, and that is more than ever on the cards. but there's still no peace process, and for these afghan soldiers, there is still no end in sight to 17 long years of war. jonathan beale, bbc news, kabul. it's a fantastic weekend for star gazers as we're being treated to a brilliant meteor show. it happens every year around this time, and is famous for being brighter than any other meteor shower. earlier, i spoke to keith cowing, editor of nasa watch.com. i asked him where we could see the metor shower.

i'm not going to see it here because it is raining but anyone in the northern hemisphere can look towards the north—east, look for a group of stars like a big w, cassiopeia. look down a little bit and if you have been outside long enough and your eyes have adapted, you should see 60 or 70 bright shooting stars coming from that region, called perseus, hence perseid. and what causes this particular meteor shower? there are about a dozen or so bright ones like this every year and usually it is because at some point in the past a comet, this one named swift—tuttle goes around the sun every 120—something years, but it leaves a debris path of ice and rock and the earth passes through it once a year.

and when it does, these grains of dirt and ice hit the earth's atmosphere and at that speed they become bright lights that burn up. do you remember the very first one you ever saw? i was a kid, yes. my wife is normally the one who goes out and says look at that. she is lucky that way. the funny thing is that if you have a dark enough sky and have been outside long enough and you practise you can see a shooting star, meteorite or satellite every night. did the first one you saw have an impact on you in your subsequent career? i was already a space nut when i saw it but it was a bright one and i have seen some others as well. of course, when you hold a meteorite in your hand it is even cooler. 0h! what is that like?! it's like holding a piece of the moon in your hand. you know where it comes from. it is just a rock but on the other hand it came from somewhere else in the solar system. that is cool. that is what you see.

you see bits of a visitor from somewhere else in the solar system burning up in the sky and occasionally they will survive their fiery trail through the atmosphere and hit the ground and then we call them meteorites. is there any way an ordinary person like myself could identify one of these on the ground? if it has just landed, it is hot, so don't touch it. they're usually dark because they have been burnt and so forth, but they are far more common than people realise. there is very little ones. there are a group of people now who have learned how to go onto the roof of a house and use magnets and find little tiny meteorites that have fallen on the roof of their house. we get tons and tons of this falling on the earth every day. we don't see during the day but when you get a cluster of dust and ice like this put together in one spot it is hard not to notice. the shanghai region has been battered by a tropical storm. it's the third one of the season to hit the shanghai area and will bring more heavy rain. already, major rainfall in different parts of china and southeast asia has left a trail of destruction.

simeon paterson reports. a hillside collapses outside beijing. incredibly, no casualties were reported in the massive landslide, which followed heavy rains across china. transport links were cut and large areas waterlogged as far south as guangdong province, where this car was rescued from a sinkhole that open up in the flooding. for parts of the country there is much more to come. after drenching the philippines, causing flash—floods and causing thousands to evacuate, tropical storm yagi is set to hit the east coast of china. it is due to make landfall south of shanghai. local media report more than 135,000 people have been evacuated, and authorities have warned residents to stay indoors. india, too, has been hit by exceptional monsoon rains, and is on high alert, after flooding killed dozens

of people and forced tens of thousands more from their homes. state authorities were forced to open the floodgates of overflowing reservoirs. translation: we have faced destruction like never before in our state. the situation is so bad that we had to open all 22 dam shutters 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 of the province brace themselves for another tropical storm. 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 sun's surface

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. 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. vehicle trajectory looking good, right down the middle of the range track. 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 will 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 will get hot — 1,300 degrees celsius. we have a wonderful heat shield that we keep oriented between us and the sun, and so it keeps everything on the main body of the spacecraft nice and cool. it kind of creates a 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 on 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. and you can reach me on twitter. thank you very much for watching. goodbye. hello, it's been a fairly unsettled weekend.

outbreaks of rain have given way to some heavy and in places thundery showers, which will continue to work their way eastwards through the early hours of monday morning. all down to this area of low pressure, which, come first thing monday morning, is still lingering along eastern coasts of england and scotland, still generating some showers. and, for most, it is a day of a few sunny spells and a scattering of showers. and, if you catch one of those, they could still be heavy and thundery. let's look at 4:00pm in the afternoon in a little bit more detail. a fair amount of sunshine across much of england and wales, more than we saw on sunday. but notice these blobs of blue and green, just giving an indication there will still be some showers pushing their way from west to east, maybe a rumble of thunder or a flash of lightning. some breaks in the cloud to give some bright and sunny spells. a few breaks in the cloud for murray and aberdeenshire, but generally for much of scotland, a lot of cloud, some outbreaks of rain, which will gradually ease through the day. once again, the best of the sunshine will be for shetland. temperatures for scotland on monday, 15—19 celsius. 20 for northern ireland, and 20—24 for england and wales

in the best of the sunshine. we'll still keep a few showers going through monday evening and overnight into tuesday, particularly for eastern counties of england. still keeping that zone of cloud across much of scotland, extending its way northwards into orkney and shetland. some showery rain arriving into northern ireland through the early hours of tuesday morning. it won't be a cold night, lows between 11 and 15 celsius. starting to feel quite warm and muggy again across south—eastern parts of england. and it's a real north—west, south—east split as we go into tuesday, north—western areas closer to these fronts bringing some outbreaks of rain. south and east, close to the area of high pressure, so keeping things dry and settled, with a good deal of sunshine across central, eastern and southern england. but starting to see a more noticeable breeze developing across northern ireland, scotland, northern england, some outbreaks of showery rain working their way eastwards on tuesday. so a cooler feel in this zone of cloud and rain, high teens, compared to 24, 25, maybe even 26 for east anglia and south—east england. a similar sort of day on wednesday,

except the rain is a little bit more persistent, and the winds will be quite strong, particularly gusty for western coasts. further south and east, again dry, plenty of sunshine, and still feeling very warm. not for much longer, though, because on thursday that band of rain will slip its way south and eastwards, and slowly introduce some fresher conditions across england and wales. so we're all in the fresher conditions on friday, with a mixture of sunshine and showers. so, to sum up the week, it'll be windy at times, there'll be some showers or longer spells of rain, warmest and driest in the south and east. bye— bye. this is bbc news. the headlines: there has been tight security in washington, as a small number of far—right supporters held a rally near the white house. organisers had said up to 400 people would attend, but farfewer did so. they were outnumbered by a large crowd of anti—nationalist p rotesto rs. the un security council has called for a credible and transparent inquiry into the killing of dozens

of children in an air strike in yemen. the attack on thursday hit a school bus in an area held by houthi rebels. houthi officials say as many as 40 children died. turkey has pledged it will take action to calm the financial markets, after its currency plunged to a new record low in asian trading. the lira has lost 20% of its value against the us dollar in the past week, after a trade diagreement with washington. now on bbc news, hardtalk.