welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: the imf promises new support for argentina, and crisis talks, as the economy slumps to a new low. russia rows back on controversial pension reforms. public pressure forces vladimir putin to think again. air canada suffers a massive data breach. thousands of customers‘ personal details are thought compromised. the president, the prayer meeting, and the plea for support. are american evangelical christians the key to november's mid—term elections? and reasons to be cheerful. why goats prefer people with happy faces. argentina's government, facing a growing economic crisis, has asked for the early release of

a $50 billion international bailout. in a televised address, the president said quicker access to funds from the international monetary fund would restore market confidence. the head of the imf has said its economists will act swiftly, but it's a tough call for argentinians — many have bad memories of past imf interventions in earlier crises. lebo diseko reports. this is an announcement that argentina's president probably didn't want to make, explaining that he was asking for the early release of a $50 billion imf loan. translation: i want to announce that we have agreed with the imf to advance all of the necessary funds to guarantee compliance with next year's financial programme. last week there were new expressions, highlighting a lack of confidence in the markets, especially concerning our capacity to obtain funding for 2019. argentina's economy

has been struggling. the peso has lost more than 40% of its value against the us dollar this year. attempts to control spiralling inflation have led to the highest interest rates in the world. it's not the only emerging market to suffer currency devaluation recently, but its situation is a particular worry. if president macri thought his announcement would help steady the markets, initial reactions suggest he was wrong. the peso dropped at a record low against dollar and there are concerns the country can't pay back its heavy borrowing. translation: macri's message wasn't strong enough. maybe the markets would have been waiting for a much bigger signal and simply advancing the imf funds that were already involved in calculating everything doesn't change the situation. there were protests when mr macri asked the imf for help back in may, many argentinians hate the organisation, blaming it

for the 2001 economic collapse. for a president who came to power promising to revive the economy, this is a difficult position to be in. yet, in a country that has seen economic crises almost every decade in recent times, the fear is that things are about to get much worse. lebo diseko, bbc news. you can find much argentina's growing economic crisis, including analysis from our business reporters and correspondents, on our website — bbc.com/news. you can also download the news app. let's get some of the day's other news. the most senior white house lawyer, don mcgahn, is to step down. president trump made the announcement in a tweet, apparently surprising mr mcgahn himself. it was reported earlier this month that he had cooperated extensively with the mueller investigation into possible collusion between the trump campaign team and russia. two people have been killed in clashes in the south african

township of soweto. some foreign—owned shops have been looted. police believe the clashes started when residents accused a somali shop owner of shooting a teenager he said had tried to break into his shop. the violence has spread to other areas. canadian and us trade negotiators are hoping they can reach a deal by friday, in principle, on a new version of the north american free trade agreement. the canadian foreign minister, who's in washington, said officials might have to meet through the night. the target date has been set by president trump — earlier this week he declared success in talks with mexico. the former first minister of scotland, alex salmond, has resigned from the scottish national party. mr salmond faces sexual harassment allegations — which he strongly denies. a lifelong campaigner for scottish independence from britain, he resigned as first ministerfour years ago after losing a referendum on the issue. the russian president, vladimir putin, has backed down

on unpopular plans to make women wait until they're 63 to get the state pension. the retirement age will now rise gradually from 55 to 60. for men, it's still a jump from 60 to 65. but mr putin said he had to take action to reduce the burden on the country's welfare system. steve rosenberg reports from moscow. vladimir putin rarely does this. a half—hour television address to the nation. it was an attempt to convince the russian people to accept that pension reform is unavoidable. translation: it is really impossible to postpone any longer. it could lead to serious consequences for the economy and the social sphere and, most negatively, affect the destinies of millions of people. in recent weeks government proposals to raise the retirement age for men

from 60 to 65 and for women from 55 to 63 have sparked protests across russia. and dented the president's popularity. in his tv address putin argued that an ageing population makes change unavoidable. but he's softened some aspects of the reform. translation: we have a special caring attitude to women in our country. we understand that they not only work at their jobs but the whole household is usually reliant on them. the retirement age for women should not be increased more than for men. i believe it necessary to decrease the retirement age for women suggested by the draft law from eight to five years. until today vladimir putin had distanced himself from pension reform. it was the russian government that announced the reform, it has been the russian parliament that has been debating it.

well, after vladimir putin's half hour address to the nation, president putin has become the face of what has been an unpopular reform and it will be interesting to see how that affects his popularity in the weeks ahead. that will depend on whether the kremlin leader in his address to the nation has done enough to persuade russians to accept a painful reform. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. air canada's app has suffered a data breach resulting in the suspected loss of thousands of its customers' personal details. the company said it had "detected unusual login behaviour with its mobile app between aug 22—24" and has warned that users who entered their passport details into the product may have had that data stolen. daniel tobok is a cyber security specialist. iasked him if air canada had suffered such breaches in the past. so, of course air canada, like any

other major airline in the world, is a direct target by cyber criminals. they have been some problems in the past with air canada, but this is basically the latest and most public this year. we're talking 20,000 users directly affected, but is it 1.7 million customers have been locked out? is roughly an estimate of1.7 or1.8 million locked out? is roughly an estimate of 1.7 or 1.8 million customers who have been locked out of beer. currently air canada's statement is that only 20,000 are affected, there are still not a direct perimeters to provide evidence for that. there could be more. i think of the next couple of days or evidence will surface. what about the wider implications of this, the us security services could be pretty unhappy about it, couldn't they? absolutely. the unfortunate part with this particular app is that it has the first and, last name, phone

number, e—mail, it also doubles into some sensitive details such as passport number, nexus number, date of birth, nationality, and other confidential private information associated to an individual. so i know the us security commissions are not very happy that some information has been breached that affects travellers into the us. and yet again we have a big corporation without two state password access. is that the chief reason it is so vulnerable? -- stage. it is a great way to minimise any risks of any unauthorised access into zombie's account. unfortunately, this does not have the two factor, as you mentioned. that makes zombie's account. daniel tobok there. the body of the former us presidential candidate john mccain has been brought to the capitol in arizona, the state he represented in the us senate. among those paying tribute at a short ceremony was his wife, cindy.

the vietnam veteran's body will lie there in state before travelling onwards to washington. earlier, i spoke to long—time family friend sharon harper about mr mccain's life and legacy on what would have been his 82nd birthday. we are all gathered here together this evening to pay tribute to senatorjohn mccain on his birthday. we didn't think the birthday would be like it is today, but here we are, family and friends together, to pay our respects to our hero. and the connections between your family and the mccain family are long and close, aren't they? the harper and mccain families are best friends. we have raised our children together, we have spent holidays and travelling together, we are side—by—side on a ranch in the northern part of arizona and have loved the opportunity to be so close. i am particularly thrilled about my family, my children, having senator mccain, such an inspiration to all of them.

how will you remember him? i wonder... many of us know he had long—term physical injuries from his time in the military and under torture as an pow, was it evident, day by day was he in pain, restricted in his movements, did it factor into his personality? he never ever complained. as a matter of fact, we used to tease about 7am in the morning it is a forced march up the mountain, out of bed ready to go, he had them leading the way. he loves life. he was inspirational, whether it was for the world or the nation or our state or, in our case, ourfamilies, he was the same person, excited, out in front, moving forward. it is right, he couldn't lift his arm to comb his hair, he had a hard time walking — never complained about it, just marched on.

mind over matter. i know your family were involved in all his campaigns. you know the politics of all this. we arejust we are just living that for a moment to ta ke we are just living that for a moment to take you to the pictures from arizona. this is the scene right now where senator mccain's body is lying in state at the capitol rotunda. there will be a church service in phoenix on thursday and then his body will be flown to washington, dc. then the funeral on saturday at the washington national cathedral. it will be buried at the us naval cabinet —— academy on sunday. the british mother imprisoned in iran has been admitted to a medical clinic in herjail, after reportedly suffering panic attacks. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was temporarily released a few days ago to see her daughter, but returned to prison on sunday. she's serving a five—year

sentence for spying — a charge she denies. britain is to build a cyber centre in kenya to help police stop child abuse images being shared online and help efforts to identify potential victims. the announcement is being made by theresa may in nairobi, on the final stage of her african tour. earlier, the uk and nigeria signed their first security and defence agreement, which they say will help defeat boko haram and islamic state militants in west africa. german chancellor angela merkel has just arrived in senegal to kick off three days of talks on trade, where she'll also be visiting ghana and nigeria. mrs merkel has placed a strong focus on african diplomacy in recent years, and has called on african countries to do their bit in stemming the flow of migrants to europe — an issue over which she faces criticism at home. stay with us on bbc news, still to come:

the pioneering farming project consulting a stretch of welsh coast back to mediaeval times. he's the first african—american to win the presidential nomination of a major party, and he accepts exactly 45 years ago to the day that martin luther king declared "i have a dream." as darkness falls tonight, an unfamiliar light will appear in the south—eastern sky. an orange glowing disk that is brighter than anything save the moon — our neighbouring planet mars. there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation. it'll take months and billions of dollars to repair what katrina achieved injust hours. three weeks is the longest the great

clock has been off duty in 117 years, so it was with great satisfaction that clock maker, john vernon, swung the pendulum to set the clock going again. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the imf has pledged to step up support for argentina and speed up crisis talks, after the country's economy slumped to a new low. russia rows back on controversial pension reforms. public pressure forces vladimir putin to think again. in a closed door meeting with evangelical leaders president trump warned that if republicans lose control of congress in the midterm elections, democrats will overturn everything the gop has accomplished quickly and violently.

that message was delivered to a group which has stood by the president through a number of stories about pawn stars and playboy models. the bbc‘s martin bashir takes a closer look at their support. at over seven feet tall, this former basketball pro is now a prominent player in washington. he leads a bible study in the white house. so i like to influence the leaders of the institutions of state. ralph drollinger is one of 82% of white evangelicals who voted for donald trump. in return, he has granted them a weekly gathering at the heart of american power. who attends? the vice president? yes. the vice president, the secretary of state, the attorney general, the head of nasa, which is just across the street here, just started coming. for many christians, voting for donald trump provoked a crisis of conscience. family values voters invited to support a thrice—married

businessman who was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault. i have to administer to people lot of grease, a lot of rope and hope they are going to grow from things that are definitely biblically sinful. and i have those hopes for the president. but as president, donald trump is accused of pathological lying, paying off a porn star and encouraging a draconian immigration policy, with hundreds of parents separated from their children. hallelujah! greenleaf christian centre, a black evangelical church in north carolina. the reverend doctor william barber says many christians have dumped their principles in return for access to power. the leadership of evangelicalism, people like franklin gray and others, say that god put donald trump in the white house.

do you agree with that? they can say anything. the slave master said god ordained slavery. it wasn't true. they said god ordained segregation. it wasn't true. the greatest critique of donald trump is not his personal vices. what is his worst is his political vices, his political agenda. members of his congregation agree. i think he is disgraceful, the way he is treating people of colour. his ideas don't match up with any of what the bible is saying. ralph drollinger says donald trump just needs time to grow. any person that is young in christ is going to issues with their demeanour outwardly, measurably, especially if your whole life is on camera. but peter werner, who worked for three republican presidents, says donald trump is less

a christian and more a hypocrite. i think the damage trump is doing to christianity and damaging christians who are trump supporters are doing, is catastrophic. i have a very harsh indictment of the people who stood by him, who wore his sword and shield. the christians? the christians. with some now questioning their support, donald trump planted seeds of fear during a dinner with evangelical leaders at the white house on monday, warning that if they don't vote republican at the mid—term elections in november, then there will be civil unrest, even violence. martin bashir, bbc news, washington. it's one of wales's most popular tourist spots, but the agricultural landscape at rhossili, on the gower peninsula has been undergoing a transformation.

land managed by the national trust is being returned to how it would have been farmed in medieval times, as sian lloyd reports. returning this landscape to how it would have looked centuries ago. strips of small fields are the last remnants of an ancient style of farming that has all but disappeared. modern farming methods have favoured larger parcels of land. on this headland alone, more than three and a half miles of field boundaries were removed over time. but now they are putting them back. teams of volunteers have been working on this land known as the vile. they have returned six large fields to 17 smaller parcels of land. all the old fencing has just become embedded into the bank, so we want to take it out. and the guys are putting in new straining posts every 50 metres. so we are coming out about a metre, just to make the bank area wider, so it is a wider wildlife corridor.

the transformation has been dramatic. this tired looking, over—grazed field, is now a sea of yellow. a first crop of sunflowers and they've proved a huge hit with visitors who flock to the rhossili on the gower peninsula as an area of outstanding natural beauty. these are almost ready to harvest for birdseed. i think we are trying to demonstrate the model, where nature—friendly farming can work and you can make a profit on the back of that and, hopefully, that model can be shared more widely and maybe go towards creating policy that will instruct governments on how those incentives can be passed onto farmers. they have chosen to grow crops that are attractive to pollinators, like bumblebees. what we have is flower—rich hay meadows, alongside flower—rich crops and a network of boundaries that allow wildlife to move freely around the vile in a protected way.

like a wildlife superhighway, if you like. the ambition here has been to improve the condition of farmland to benefit nature and wildlife. the extent to which environmentally friendly practices like this feature in future agricultural policy post—brexit is being discussed. sian lloyd, bbc news, rhossili. have you ever stood in front of a goat and wondered why it was staring at you? well maybe the goat was looking at yourface, trying to work out your mood. because new research suggests that, in fact, goats are quite perceptive. able to read the emotions on a human face. and invariably they will be drawn to smiley happy faces, rather than gruff, grumpy sullen faces. aren't we all! amanda akass has this report. they may be gruff by name, but it turns out they don't really like those who are gruff by nature. goats at the buttercup sanctuary have been involved in an experiment, showing they much prefer happy human faces.

angry people can butt out. founder bob birch is not surprised. goats love people who are happy. i think it rubs off on them if they have got people coming and visiting them and also staff and volunteers that are happy all the time. i think it creates a happy atmosphere for them and that is good. previous research has shown dogs and horses are very good at differentiating human expressions from photographs. the researchers from queen mary university of london wanted to see if goats could manage it too. so they tested the reaction of 20 goats to photos showing people looking happy and angry. theyjust had to walk across the enclosure and investigate the photographs on the opposite side. we found that the goats were far more likely to walk towards the photographs with the happy face. the overall aim of our research is to raise awareness of how perceptive dog species are. the researchers hope

their findings will improve animal welfare standards. people visiting the sanctuary today were generally quite convinced. i would definitely say they can tell whether you are happy or not because when i first came here i seemed a bit worried with the amount of goats and they could tell. they are really friendly because when i came in, as soon as i came in, they all come towards you and they let you stroke them and that. i haven't noticed them see if i am really happy. but i would say the more you talk to them and the more likely you say hello and stuff, i'd say that they could probably see that you are interested in talking to them. it's just an emotion. you can probably tell how someone is feeling by the way they are acting so i don't see why goats would not be able to tell it. so if something has got your goat, don't try and get down with the kids. fabulous stuff. and finally, chefs in mexico have crafted a 70—metre long "torta"

sandwich to set a new record for the longest sandwich ever prepared in latin america. and if you're wondering just how fierce the competition for that title is — it's the fifteenth year running that mexico have set the record. the average torta sandwich is bigger than your run—of—the mill lunch item and this one involved thousands of pieces of bread and more than 60 other ingredients. i like to you, we wanted to show you this also. incredible pictures capturing the moment a fireball, believed to be a meteor, lit up the sky near perth in western australia on tuesday. this amazing footage of the spectacle was caught by several dashboard cameras and also on cctv. scientists say it was a chunk of asteroid coming through the atmosphere, an event which only occurs a couple of times a year. much more on all the news on the bbc website. thank you for watching. good morning.

there's a lot of fine weather to be had across the british isles today. most of us will start the day sunny and although a little bit of cloud will develop as the hours go by, we will remain fine. a few showers possible, though, in the west. one thing to note, though, when you are heading out the door is that it will be quite a cool start, thanks to the clear skies overnight. some of the scottish glens, the north—east of england, where you see the pale green there behind me, could be just three or four degrees at the day gets under way. but the sunshine will get to work quickly and that will help temperatures to recover. a bit of cloud bubbling up through the day, turning the sunshine hazy, giving the odd light shower in the west. but, eventually, temperatures peaking in the high teens to the north of the uk and in the low 20s further south. 0vernight thursday into friday, again, much of the cloud thinning, breaking, clearing away, allowing the temperatures to fall, again, we could be looking at rural lows of two or four degrees, these are the temperatures of course in towns and cities. into friday and straightaway at change in the way it looks

behind me as we have got a more organised of cloud to the west, it will bring some rain in with it, most of it will run into the continent, into france, could pick up a few showers for the south—west. 0verall friday, hazy sunshine, a fine day, temperatures similar to today — high teens in the north, low 20s in the south. there's that weather front come friday night on into saturday. it drifts away to the north of the british isles, bringing some rain briefly into scotland and northern ireland, quite a weakening feature, though, by the start of the weekend. so this is the way saturday is shaping up: quite cloudy in the north and west, any rain, though, likely to be drizzly and patchy, mostly perhaps confined to the higher ground. southern and eastern areas getting the best of the sunshine and temperatures creeping up further in that sunshine. 23, maybe even 2a degrees possible. for sunday, a similar story: to the north and west, thicker cloud, perhaps on sunday a greater chance of rain on sunday

for scotland and northern ireland, but southern and eastern areas, still with the best of the sunshine, and still getting the top temperatures. and, if anything, come monday, we mayjust have a last dance with summer, if you like. notice the map behind me, still temperatures in the high teens to the north, this hot spot here though across east anglia and the south—east may even takes us up to the promise of about 27 celsius somewhere across the south—east of england. that high, though, i think, likely to be short lived, temperatures tapering off again as we move further into the week ahead. this is bbc news. the headlines: argentina's government facing a growing economic crisis has asked for the release of a $50 billion international bailout. the government said quicker access to funds from the international monetary fund will restore market confidence. it is a tough call for argentinians, many have bad memories of past imf intervention in past

crises. the white house's top lawyer, don mcgahn, is to quit following his cooperation with the probe into alleged russian election meddling. president trott the announcement in a tweet. —— president trump. it's reported that he was planning to leave in the autumn, but was surprised his departure was made public in a tweet by president trump. air canada app has suffered a data breach resulting in the suspected loss of thousands of its customers' personal details. the company said it had detected unusual login behaviour with its mobile app and warned users who entered their passport details that data may have been stolen.