tributes from around the world for kofi annan, the former un secretary—general who's died at the age of 80. he led the united nations for a decade and won the nobel peace prize for humanitarian work. parts of kerala in southern india are cut off as monsoon floods kill more than 300 people. italy mourns its dead at a state funeral after the motorway bridge collapse in genoa. and gone! and ben stokes returns for england as india fight to keep the series alive in the third test. good evening. tributes from around the world have been paid

to the former secretary—general of the united nations, kofi annan, who's died at the age of 80. theresa may described him as a "great leader and reformer of the un" while angela merkel said he was an "exceptional statesman." kofi annan led the organisation for ten years and won the nobel peace prize in 2001. the current secretary—general described him today as a "guiding force for good". james robbins looks back at his life. i, kofi annan. .. the softly spoken lifelong diplomat from ghana was sworn in to lead the united nations back in 1996. he was already a hugely respected figure, but this was an age of relative innocence — 9/11 was still five years away, the iraq war seven years in the future. congratulations, sir. kofi annan tried to prevent this — the invasion and toppling of saddam hussein by george bush and tony blair without the support of the un security council. kofi annan later called it illegal.

i think, as secretary—general, i did everything i could, conscious of what the results would be, you know, and being powerless to stop it. i mean, i did work with quite a lot of heads of states in their capitals, on the phone and elsewhere, working with the inspectors, but the die was cast, and nothing could stop it. kofi annan had much greater success in his home continent, africa, building global consensus behind the un millennium development goals, a huge initiative to reduce poverty and disease and increase education and opportunity. the young kofi annan had never lost contact with his roots in ghana, even when travelling and studying the world in his 20s and 30s. his work for africa on aids and un reform was rewarded with the nobel peace prize in 2001. i think he took the world into the modern age. i think he was the first leader

of the 215t century, and he tried to build an international community where countries would work together, cooperate freely, and tackle what he saw as the biggest problems — poverty, inequality, climate change and, of course, conflict. earlier in his career, as head of un peacekeeping, kofi annan was criticised for the world body's failure to halt the genocide in rwanda in the 1990s. last april, celebrating his 80th birthday, kofi annan told the bbc his style was to be patient, quiet and determined in the face of forceful, often far louder national leaders. leadership is not about the individual. when you have macho leaders who believe they have to shine, and it all has to be about them, forgetting that what is required is the welfare of society and the people they serve. tributes to kofi annan from every continent praise his humility, nobility and unshakeable commitment to work for peace in a more equal and sustainable world.

kofi annan, who's died at the age of 80. within the last hour, salih kharter, the man accused of driving a car at pedestrians and the police outside the houses of parliament, has been charged with attempted murder. 0ur political correspondent, leila nathoo, is here. what do we know? this is in connection with that incident in westminster on tuesday when a vehicle swerved into cyclists and pedestrians early in the morning before crashing into security barriers outside parliament. two people were taken to hospital with injuries and tonight the metropolitan police said that salih khater, a british citizen, has been charged with the attempted murder of both members of the public and police officers. police say that prosecutors are treating this as a terrorism case because of what they describe as the methodology, the

location and the alleged targeting of members of the public and police. he will appear at westminster magistrates‘ court on monday. many thanks. the indian government is stepping up efforts to rescue thousands of people stranded by heavy flooding in the southern state of kerala. the prime minister, narendra modi, has been seeing for himself some of the worst—hit areas, and is promising more military help in the relief effort. more than 320 people have died in kerala since the rainy season began in june, and more than 300,00 have been made homeless. 0ur correspondent, yogita limaye, reports. 0ne one of the state‘s 44 rivers. the carolyn deeb reached its banks one week ago. leaving homes and trees submerged. as the water started rising, people fled to safety. some have returned to see what they can salvage. —— kadalundi. we are nearly one kilometre from the river that

has flooded but even so the water levels of this high, you can see the house behind me and i am stepping on a slope, if i went further it would be even deeper. but at least people are able to reach to this point. beyond, there are many parts are simply inaccessible. and that means these are needed more than ever before. boats and people. to rescue those who are stranded. these are local fishermen those who are stranded. these are localfishermen doing those who are stranded. these are local fishermen doing whatever they can. but hundreds of government boats have also been deployed. those who have made it out by spending their nights in places like this. schools converted into relief camps. there are about 200 families here. this woman spent two days and nights on her neighbours‘ rooftop before help reach. she tells me they were afraid the house would collapse and they would be swept away. in

southern kerala, the prime minister, narendra modi, surveyed the devastation. he promised more manpower and equipment. troops have stepped up relief efforts. where it is not possible to rescue people, they are dropping food and supplies. the water flow is very fast and it is difficult to go towards the open areas. so they can at least now survive until the water recedes. with all of the rivers flooded in this small coastal state, that could ta ke this small coastal state, that could take a while, even if the rain stops. ruth attallah mike, bbc news, kerala. —— yogita limaye, bbc news, in kerala. thousands of people have attended a state funeral in italy for some of the victims of tuesday‘s motorway bridge collapse. the archbishop of genoa told mourners the tragedy had created a deep gash in the heart of the city. some families reportedly stayed away because of anger at the government. the number of dead has now risen to a3. from genoa, james reynolds reports.

the campi corniglianese amateur football team came to the state funeral to mourn their youngest squad member. 22—year—old marius djerri was on his way to work on tuesday when the bridge fell. translation: we are very sad for him and his family. he was one of us. we are bitter and angry. these thoughts charged much of this ceremony. translation: i have friends that lost their lives in that damn bridge. we have no words to describe the pain. this shouldn‘t have happened. italy‘s president, sergio mattarella, met the families of the dead. he has called the disaster and unacceptable tragedy. but some relatives, angered by the collapse, didn‘t want to hear from him or anyone else. they decided to hold private burials instead. families, politicians and members of the public

have come together here, but a single ceremony won‘t be enough to resolve the profound arguments over the collapse of the bridge. italy‘s interior minister, the populist matteo salvini, has promised that he‘ll find the names of those responsible for the disaster. "we will speak through our actions," he told us after the funeral. relief workers are now securing every part of the ruined bridge. the company which operated this structure has now expressed its deep sympathy for the victims. but it‘s stopped short of apologising for the collapse. the technical situation is so complex that it‘s up to the, i mean, justice to understand what happened and why and under which conditions. those investigations have now begun. it may take many months

before italians are given the answers they demand. james reynolds, bbc news, genoa. angela merkel has been holding talks with the russian president, vladimir putin, outside berlin. the two held wide ranging discussions on syria, iran and the controversial gas pipeline nord stream 2. earlier, mr putin attended the wedding of austria‘s foreign minister, who‘s faced criticism for inviting him. 0ur berlin correspondent, jenny hill, reports. the greeting cordial enough. vladimir putin is said to have a grudging respect for angela merkel. but the relationship‘s tense and she‘s got some big demands of the man who wields such influence over so many conflicts. translation: syria will be an important topic. most of all we have to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in and around idlib. we‘ve seen fighting decrease

elsewhere, but that doesn‘t mean we‘ve achieved peace. bearing flowers and controversy. the russian president‘s had a busy day. earlier, the wedding of the austrian foreign minister. her critics say the invitation undermined eu policy towards russia. he seemed keen to remind them that the eu needs him. translation: last year we marked the 50th anniversary of gas deliveries from the soviet union to western europe. in all these years, our country has reliably provided an uninterrupted energy supply. it‘s made and is making a significant contribution to the energy security of the entire european continent. even angela merkel admits she doesn‘t expect much from the talks, but insists it‘s vital to keep talking to russia. angela merkel and vladimir putin don‘t agree on much, but these are times of shifting alliances. in the age of donald trump,

they may discover common ground. jenny hill, bbc news, berlin. britain‘s new £3 billion aircraft carrier, hms queen elizabeth, has set sail from portsmouth for the east coast of america. there, jets will land on the deck for the first time. two f35 test planes are expected to carry out 500 landings and take—offs while she‘s at sea. with all the sport now, here‘s john watson at the bbc sport centre. cricketer ben stokes was back in the england side on the opening day of the third test at trent bridge, having been cleared of affray. india captain virat kohli produced one of the performances of the day, falling just short of his century as his side finished on 307—6. for stokes, it was a welcome return to cricket, following the media scrutiny he‘s faced this week, as patrick gearey reports. few cricketers will ever have a week like ben stokes has had. from the trial to the test

in four days, this was trent bridge‘s welcome back. if that was mixed, then so was his first bowling spell. the occasional edge and accidental barge all pretty innocuous. but england have another all—rounder — not stokes, but chris woakes who coaxed the first wicket. shikhar dhawan gone. next over he removed the other opener, kl rahul. england‘s man of the match in the last test had worked so hard for those two, he deserved a bonus. it came when cheteshwar pujara got greedy and ruined his lunch. three for england, three for woakes. but after the interval, look at the changing colour on screen — brighter, that tends to mean better for batting. virat kohli prospered for a session in the sun. he went to 50, and importantly for india, this time ajinkya rahane came with him. they put on 150 and looked so settled that the game hit a lull — attention can drift to the next page, not alastair cook‘s. that catch to dismiss ajinkya rahane was at more than 80 mph —

it looks tough enough in slow motion. still, virat kohli was set for a century until, on 97, adil rashid bowled him a cracker — guess who took the catch. yes, ben stokes. even on his quiet days, they are not that quiet! patrick gearey, bbc news. chelsea and arsenal met in premier league today — match of the day follows the news so if you dont want to know the scores, then look away now. maurizio sarri maintained his 100% start to life in the top tier of english football, eden hazard coming off the bench to set up marcos alonso‘s winning goal in a 3—2 victory. harry kane scored his first goal of the season as tottenham beat fulham 3—1 at wembley. celtic put a bad week behind them to reach the quarter finals of the scottish league cup. after successive defeats for the first time under manager brendan rodgers, they beat championship side partick thistle 3—1. triple european champion

dina asher—smith finished second in the women‘s 200m on her return to the track at today‘s diamond league meeting in birmingham. meanwhile, reece prescod ran the 11th fastest time by a british man in the men‘s 100m, american christian coleman pipping him in a photo finish. both sprinters clocking a time of 9.94 seconds. former heavyweight boxing champion tyson fury‘s moved a step closer to one of the division‘s most anticpated fights after victory in belfast tonight. he beat the italian flavia pennetta on points at windsor park and is now in line to face the wbc champion, the american deontay wilder, later this year. it was just his second fight back after almost three years away from the ring. also on the card, northern ireland‘s carl frampton takes on luke jackson later. great britain won ten more medals on the penultimate day at the para swimming european championships. you can read more about that over on the bbc sport website tonight, but for now, it‘s back to you, clive. that‘s it.

you can see more on all of today‘s stories on the bbc news channel. but from me and the team, have a very good night. hello, this is bbc news with lu kwesa burak. a former labour mp has been suspended by the party because of comments he reportedly made online about the jewish community. jim sheridan was the mp for paisley and renfrewshire north — until 2015. he allegedly said he‘d lost "respect and empathy" forjews amid the ongoing row over anti—semitism. derek crawshaw reports. for months, the labour party has been engulfed in anti—semitism row. jeremy corbyn has been accused of being anti—semitic by people both outside and inside his own party. now ex—mp jim sheridan, who lost a seat in the 2015 general election but is still a member of the party, has been suspended after remarks he allegedly made on social media. the bbc has attempted to contact

mr sheridan but he did not respond. the labour party has said it cannot comment on individual cases but told us that all complaints are fully investigated. a statement from the party said... derek crawshaw, reporting scotland. the former ukip leader nigel farage says he is returning to frontline politics. writing in the daily telegraph he says he‘s decided to return because of what he calls the "political class in westminster" determined to frustrate the 2016 referendum vote to leave the european union. he‘s taking part in a battle bus tour by the ‘leave means leave‘ group, which opposes the prime minister‘s chequers plan. an investigation‘s underway into claims a cadet was waterboarded at the sandhurst

military academy in berkshire. the sun newspaper is reporting that earlier this month, two trainee officers allegedly pinned down a fellow recruit and poured water over a cloth, covering his face. 0ur correspondent keith doyle has more. we do know that the ministry of defence has confirmed that an investigation is under way into the incident that happened at the royal military academy on august 7th. as you say, the sun reported that two officer cadets held down a recruit and poured water on a cloth covering his face to simulate drowning. that is an interrogation method that was used by the us military and banned just under ten years ago. a statement has come from the commander of sandhurst, brigadier bill wright. he said he was aware of the allegations. he said, "i have ordered an investigation by the royal military police. the army and i expect the highest standards of behaviour at sandhurst and anyone found to have fallen short is dealt with robustly including dismissal."

the number of children and young adults in england and wales with type 2 diabetes has risen by more than 40% injust four years, according to the royal college of paediatrics. council leaders described the increase as extremely worrying and called for a boost in public health funding. the department of health says its new childhood obesity plan will get children exercising more in schools and reduce their exposure to sugary and fatty foods. a new tax on plastics is expected to be introduced by the government in order to curb the use of non—recyclable plastic items such as drinking straws, single use cutlery and black food trays. it follows a record 162,000 responses to a government consultation on how to reduce waste and improve recycling. tom barton reports. how best to reduce the tonnes of plastic that end up in landfill... ..and the oceans every year?

that was the question posed by the treasury in a consultation earlier this year, and it received a record response. among the ideas being considered by ministers are new taxes. some of these could target the demand for disposable coffee cups and takeaway boxes, while others are likely to encourage manufacturers to change their products. we want to see if there are smart, intelligent incentives that we can create, to encourage the producers of plastic to take responsibility, when they‘re designing the materials that end up on supermarket shelves and ultimately in our own homes, to use recycled materials whenever possible. not to use those materials that are very difficult to recycle, such as black carbon plastic, and, of course, overall, to reduce the amount of plastic, and use other materials such as cardboard, paper and foil, wherever possible. ministers also say they want to encourage recycling for waste

that is currently incinerated. the final details of any proposals will be revealed as part of the budget, later this year. tom barton, bbc news. scientists around the world are trying to develop the technology to allow robots to pick soft fruit, as farmers warn of a widespread labour shortage to harvest their crops. 0ur science correspondent, richard westcott, has been to essex, to meet robotic experts as they trial their latest design. they have been making tiptree jam for more than 130 years, technology speeding up the process as the company grew. but there is one thing that hasn‘t changed in all that time. grab the stem and twist them round. and they're off, ready for the punnet. the company‘s workers pick a billion strawberries a year, and it is all still by hand. it is relatively straightforward. i will look after one of those

for you, thank you very much. you are very welcome. such beautiful berries. but it gets more complex, doesn‘t it? it does. looking at the strawberries, the human brain has half a second to make all these decisions. what is the level of ripeness, is it ready, the size of the berry, in which punnet is it put, and also the colour of the berries. humans are really good atjudging the fruit. when you twist it, you can see actually the white shoulder. 0ur hands are great at picking, too. robots, on the other hand, really struggle. so now, a global race is on to develop a robot that is as good at picking soft fruit as a human being. but it is much more complex than you would think. humans find it very effortless. but when you try and build a system which does the same thing, it‘s a complex integration of vision, touch, force, movement, and on top of it, the ability to learn. scientists at the university

of essex have teamed up with tiptree to try to solve the problem. robots are great when things are predictable, but nature doesn‘t do predictable. strawberries can be tucked away all over the plant. even changing light and weather can throw a computer. so lesson one is using colour to work out where the fruit is. ask a two—year—old to pick a berry, and if it‘s sunny, if the weather changes, if it starts raining, if the wind is blowing, he will effortlessly go and pick the berries. but making robots pick and place in changing environmental conditions is a very big challenge. some growers say fruit is already rotting in the fields because of a global shortage of people willing to do this kind of work. a recent study in scotland found they had 10% to 20% fewer pickers than they needed last year. are there issues getting labour every year, finding enough people, and training them up, and so on. is it difficult?

we have been ok so far, but yes, we are seeing the pool of labour is decreasing year—on—year. and it is a hard job, and that is the onlyjob, probably, left on the farm which has no mechanical help or nothing mechanised. teams across the world are working on fruit—picking robots, many in secret, because there is so much money at stake. in essex, they are designing a new robot hand, but they should be ready for testing in the fields by christmas. it‘s time for a look at the weather with lucy martin. this forecast of course spans two weekends, the first fairly humid with a good deal of cloud around and rain in the forecast as well. some brea ks rain in the forecast as well. some breaks in the cloud particularly from central and eastern areas. sunshine in limited supply. next

weekend as a bank holiday weekend for parts of england, wales and northern ireland. the past two have brought warm weather with the temperature above average, what does the august bank holiday have in store ? the august bank holiday have in store? you will have to wait and see. more than a minute. through sunday, outbreaks of rain spreading and from the west, and an area of low pressure, the remnants of tropical storm ernesto. there will be some outbreaks of rain to begin for central and southern scotland and parts of northern england and wales and the midlands, gradually working east through the day saw an improving story with dry conditions in the north—west and northern ireland and it looks like it will be driver south—east england as well but with elements of cloud. the temperature in the high teens and low 20s with a maximum of 23 celsius. sunday into monday, we see the area of low pressure clear to the area of low pressure clear to the east, we hold onto this weather

front, catching the far north of scotland, so for monday we start of the day with a good deal of cloud around. a messy picture on monday looking like some outbreaks of rain for northern and western areas but the best of any breaks in the clothe the best of any breaks in the clothe the further south and east you call. the temperature warmer in the south—east, a maximum of around 26. elsewhere, the temperature in the high teens and mid—20s. into tuesday, we have a brief ridge of high pressured and we say goodbye to the front that has been in the north of the country. not long before the next avr of rain starts to push into the north—west, so for tuesday, a good deal of dry weather around than some brighter intervals and the risk of one or two showers, later in the day, outbreaks of heavy rain pushing into the north—west and parts of northern ireland. the temperature on tuesday reaching a maximum of 25.

that cold front is significant not because it brings a good deal of rain but because of that move south and east it squishes the humid air to the south—east quarter so we see fresher conditions feeding in behind the cloud, becoming more confined to the cloud, becoming more confined to the far south and east, the odd spot of rain and drizzle. the temperature fresher behind that, around 15—22 the maximum, then in the south—east still feeling humid. towards the end of the week, picking up more of the north—westerly feed them that will bring the temperature down particularly in the north with the temperature dropping to around about average for the time of year, perhaps a touch below. high—pressure looking like it will dominate particularly in the south but with no pressure to the north, there‘s the potential for more unsettled weather, so as we move into next weekend, looking like there will be some unsettled weather for a time in

the north. some dry and fine weather particularly the further south you are and for bank holiday monday, it looks like the temperature will be closer to average, a bit of the relief for some.