this is bbc world news today. i'm kasia madera. our top stories: a fragile ceasefire in libya holds as rival militias terrorize the country. we have a special report from libya where civilians are desperate for change. british airways could face a fine of hundreds of millions of dollars for the huge data breach affecting thousands of customers. as the un meets to discuss the fate of syria's last rebel stronghold, inside idlib itself, thousands protest calling on neighbouring countries to intervene. and clearing our oceans of plastic, we hear about the first attempt to get into the pacific to dredge for rubbish. hello, and welcome to world news today. after more than a week of fierce fighting between rival factions in libya, which forced thousands

to leave their homes, a fragile ceasefire brokered by the un appears to be holding. seven years ago, rebel groups, backed by a military coalition which included britain, toppled the dictator muammar gaddafi. since then, there has been political and military chaos. one result has been a huge surge in african migrants using the country as a route to europe. the latest violence between rival militias erupted around the capital tripoli. the bbc has the only international news team there. clive myrie sent this report. we are entering a nervous city. only now after a week of fighting and three ceasefires do we think it's safe to enter tripoli. on this same road seven days ago fighters from armed groups based outside the capital breached city walls. but rival factions inside tripoli were

ready for the fight. the battle has left scores dead including civilians, and forced thousands to flee their homes. darkness provided no respite. the battles are over for now but the scars linger. at his family compound, ali doted on two grandchildren who are now dead. translation: the rocket or missile landed right where they were playing. there was blood everywhere, on the ground, over the trees. when you see the body of your grandchild in pieces... my daughter had to see it too. i am very, very sad.

why are we still fighting? why? one boy was 1a and the other 15. they were buried one week ago today. are, the result of the messy end of gaddafi's rule. the armed groups who helped topple him covered up the country, leaving no one in overall control and and the militias within the capital are being accused of siphoning off funds and ruining the economy. those groups outside the capital now say that they had to intervene. there is a united nations backed government in tripoli but it is accused of allowing the armed factions in the capital to act with impunity.

with so many militias and fighting groups seemingly running the country, libya is a failed state. and seizing on that failure have been the people smugglers. the fighting of recent days has ensnared many of the thousands of migrants trying to use libya as a gateway to europe across the mediterranean. these people had to break out of a detention centre when the fighting got too close. this man says there was gunfire at night and five people were hit, that's why we escaped, but even as we ran another man was shot. libyans are tired of the men with guns having all the influence. and hopes for nationwide elections by the end of the year are now in ruins. once again, an attempt to stitch together this fractured nation has come to nothing. clive myrie, bbc news, tripoli. british airways could be fined

as much as $650 million for a huge data breach which has affected tens of thousands of people. hackers managed to access details of 380,000 bookings made with the airline over a two week period. here's our business correspondent emma simpson. in the ba website i have got six cards, so it was really annoying trying to find a way of contacting british airways to see if all of my cards have been compromised. like many thousands of other ba customers, george's bank details have been hacked and he's had a confusing day working out what he should do. i do not think i have to cancel all of my credit cards, but i do not know. i am in the process of doing that, and it is going to take a long time because each card takes at least 25 minutes to get through the system. so, what do we know

about this data breach? well, it affected customers who made bookings or changed one through the british airways website, ora ba app, from 11pm on august 21 up until 9:1i5pm on wednesday evening. 380,000 cards are affected. british airways says the hackers stole names, addresses, e—mail addresses and payment information. that included the card number, expiry date and critically the three—digit security code on the back. i am not letting you see my three—digit number because it is a bit like giving you the keys to my safe. now, with an online transaction, this number should not be stored. ba says they were not. so, how did hackers get hold of them? emily is a cyber security expert. what could have happened? one theory is that a supplier to ba actually got compromised in the first place. so, when you are booking a flight on the website, you may not realise that there

are lots of third—party software used within those web pages. doing things like processing card information. it could be that they were targeted because they were a little weaker on security and were then used to extract the data. ba says it is sorry, promising compensation for any customers who may end up out of pocket. this was a very sophisticated criminal attack on ba.com. for the more than 20 years that it has been operating, we have never had a breach of this type. bae could be given a fine. but regulators may not impose such a sky—high penalty. in brazil, the man widely tipped to be the country's next president is recovering in hospital after being stabbed

at a campaign rally. jair bolsonaro was attacked while he was moving among a crowd in the south—eastern state. he's a controversial candidate, even by brazilian standards, as katy watson reports. within moments, supporters surrounded a suspect. he was later arrested. a chaos ensued, the politician was rushed to hospital. after several hours of surgery, mr bolsonaro remained undeterred, speaking to his supporters on social media. his son who has been with him throughout spoke of his relief. translation: here for more colour, he is better, he is recovering really well. the doctor said that if

he wasn't in such good shape, he would likely be dead because he lost about two litres of blood. had he arrived five minutes later, the haemorrhage would properly have called cardiac arrest and he probably would be dead. bolsonaro has now been moved to a hospital in sao paulo where he has expected to remain for at least a week. this may impact his campaign, it may even strengthened it. nicknamed brazil's trump, he has been notorious for his racist, homophobic comments. he has won millions of supporters. they are rallying around the injured candidate. he has polarised opinion here in brazil but even his biggest political foes condemn his attack. transition mag this cannot happen. a democratic country which respects itself that wants to be democratic cannot allow the stabbing of any presidential candidate. today, the

politics did not stop. the mood, though, was a little different. it is independence day here in brazil with elections round the corner. people are out campaigning. one of bolsonaro's biggest rival is expected to turn up today but all of the main presidential candidates have cancelled their events out of respect for the politician. next month's presidential elections in brazil are the most uncertain in decades. what is certain, though, is that this image and the fear of more political violence will mark this turbulent campaign till the very end. tens of thousands of people in the syrian province of idlib have taken to the streets demanding international intervention to protect them from a government offensive. syrian government forces are massing on its borders, backed by iran and russia, whose planes have continued to bomb rebel positions. at a summit in tehran, both countries said the fight against terrorism had to be continued , despite fears of a humanitarian catastrophe. meanwhile, at the united nations in new york, the security council met earlier to discuss the situation.

nada tawfik was watching. what we have seen so far is really every member of the council really sounding the alarm and really stressing that these are civilians who are at risk. so the uk ambassador to the un, karen pierce, for example, said there are more babies than terrorists in a idlib, and she said that the international community would hold those to account who commit war crimes. and she laid out a number of names of military commanders that she said the uk knows is in the area, basically saying we know who you are and you will be punished if you carry out any war crimes in idlib. but certainly the un special envoy had a very clear message, he says that the un is ready to help with evacuations, to create a safe humanitarian corridor and he really placed

the responsibility on the process. so russia, turkey, and iran who are safeguarding idlib as a de—escalation zone because, of course, half of the people there have come from places like eastern ghouta and aleppo to seek safety there and he said simply there is no idlib after idlib. anti—government protesters have reportedly stormed the iranian consulate in the southern iraqi city of basra following a fifth day of growing unrest. iraq's politicians are currently wrangling over forming a government after an inconclusive election. during friday prayers, the most respected shia cleric in iraq, ayatollah ali sistani, blamed the crisis on political leaders and called for a new government. the iraqi parliament will hold an emergency session on saturday to address the crisis. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: alistair cook hits 71

on his final test appearance, but england stuggle on day one of the final test against india. we will have a full sport update. the difficult decision we reach together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it is an exodus of up to 60,000 people caused by an uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is bbc world news today. i'm kasia madera.

the latest headlines: a fragile ceasefire in libya holds as rival militias terrorize the country. and british airways could face a fine of hundreds of millions of dollars — for the huge data breach affecting thousands of customer. in the united states, politicians are gearing up for election season. in the past couple of hours, president trump spoke at a fundraising event in fargo, north dakota. he's there campaigning for a republican candidate standing for the senate. later he's going on to south dakota for a fundraiser for a candidate whose standing for governor there. voters in both states backed president trump in the presidential election in 2016. meanwhile, the former president, barack obama, has also been on the stump today. in a speech to students in illinois, he accused donald trump of capitalising on fear and anger. gary o'donoghue is in washington for us.

hejoins us live. he joins us live. after hejoins us live. after remaining relatively quiet and out of sight since leaving office, barack obama is back and he is skating at his successoi’. is back and he is skating at his successor. yes, he is back and as you say he has been out of the limelight for some time. he is writing a book and setting up post—presentation foundation of his. he has done a couple of public things but not very much. democrats have been frustrated about that. he is there not so secret weapon, if you like. today was the first big appearance for the mid—term ahead of the mid—term elections at the beginning of november. some scathing criticisms of the administration on areas from foreign policy, accuse the president of cosying up to vat appear putin and this divisiveness that torque has created within the country. not least on racial issues. it shouldn't be democratic

or republican to say we don't target certain groups of people based on what they look like or how they pray. we are americans, we are supposed to stand up to bullies. applause. not follow them. we are supposed to stand up to discrimination. and we are sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to nazi sympathisers. applause. how hard can that be saying that nazis are bad. laughter barack obama ba rack obama not barack obama not mincing his words there. he is referring to torque's failure to condemn the far right protesters in charlottesville. that is right. last june protesters in charlottesville. that is right. lastjune you will

remember the rival marches in cha rlottesville in remember the rival marches in charlottesville in virginia. one person was actually killed. white supremacists on the one side and antifascist campaigners on the other side. he said there were good people on both sides and that angered a lot of people. at the time and continues to do so. also, you have got an appealfrom the to do so. also, you have got an appeal from the former president not justjoe criticised appeal from the former president not just joe criticised the appeal from the former president not justjoe criticised the other side but within that speech today there was a very clear message but within that speech today there was a very clear message to democrats that the way to win was to get out and vote, particularly young people, but more importantly to do what he did which was to build coalitions across racial lines, across socioeconomic lines, across geographical lines. not to take a play out of donald trump's book by dividing people, but to gain back power would be to build coalitions in order to oust him and his party that way. as always, thank you very

much. now, let's get all of the sports news. lots going on in the cricket. hello. it's been a bitter sweet day for alistair cooke in the last test between england and india. it's the former captain's final game for his country and although he played some of his best cricket reaching a half century at the oval, it was india's bolwers who had the best of the first day, taking 7 england wickets for 198 runs at the close of play. joe wilson reports. for about two thirds of this day of test cricket, it was all about alistair cooke. he walked out to a guard of honour. the indian players either side of him, applauding, and then a warmer handshake. that all seemed very appropriate and genuine and much respect for alistair cooke across world cricket. then cook settled down for a typical innings, painstaking, methodical, patient. there was a time after lunch when scoring almost stopped. cooke got a

71 before he was dismissed. and the groa ns 71 before he was dismissed. and the groans around the ground, i have never heard anything quite like that atan never heard anything quite like that at an english test match. india, i am sure, that that was a reward for their good bowling and the lack of luck throughout the day. malan ali survived so many played and mrs as he made 50 before he was dismissed. was gone, england were at sea. another port innings from burstow, another dock for him, another for joe root. it will be down to butler and rashid to take england to a innings total. the view from the english supporters making their way home may well be missing alistair cooke already. the newly formed uefa nations league continues tonight with italy taking—on poland... italy of course missed—out on the world cup for the first time since 1958, but are hoping to return to form under new coach roberto mancini... they are losing at the moment. as

our turkey. and the match between the smallest teams, multi losing to the smallest teams, multi losing to the faroe the smallest teams, multi losing to the fa roe islands. on saturday in new york — serena williams will be hoping to equal margaret court's record of 2a grand slam singles titles when she takes on naomi osaka in the final of the us open. but before that, in the men's semi—finals, rafa nadal is hoping to edge a step closer to roger federer‘s grand slam record. looking ahead to the action is our tennis correspondent russell fuller. we have come inside to grand central terminal because there is a threat of rain in the air in new york. temperatures have plummeted, humidity remains high but the players will be delighted to know that there is a possibility with rain in the air that the semifinals will be played under a roof. conditions will be much more bearable than they were in the first 12 days of the event. novak djokovic remains a favourite in his semifinal. and even though djokovic

seems to have struggled in these conditions, he has only dropped two sets in the early stages of this us open. as for the first semifinal between na dial and dell potter, one question is how warm the dial recover. the answer is probably very well. he beat him in an astonishing match. del potro is now playing without pain. that is all that is both an hour. thank you. every year millions of tonnes of plastic waste flow into the sea around the world. now, for the first time, there's going to be an attempt to get into the middle

of the pacific ocean to try to clean it. our science editor david shukman explains. in san francisco, final construction of a massive project with an incredibly bold ambition. to try to clear the ocean of plastic waste. this animation shows how the huge structure is meant to collect millions of pieces of plastic to make it easier to get rid of. sites like this have shocked people around the world. and images of the damage to wildlife have inspired this effort to clean up. if we don't do it now, the plastic will break down into smaller pieces. the smaller it is, the more harmful, and harder it is to extract. there is a sense of urgency. there is plastic waste in every ocean around the world, and this is a first attempt to clean it up. it will take place in a rotating current, what's called the great

garbage patch which is bigger than britain and france combined. so how will it work? a giant tube, 600 metres long, will float on the surface, shaped like a horse shoe. it will drift with the currents and wind. it will move faster than all the bits of plastic in the water so it should gather them together into a small area. under water, a kind of barrier will hang three metres down to trap plastic below the surface. the design should mean that any fish pass under it. once the plastic has been drawn into a dense mass, it will be collected by ships and taken away to be recycled. no—one can be sure if the huge system will work. some experts worry it could harm marine life. the major problem is there are creatures that float in the ocean and can't move out of the way. they will be trapped

and unable to move. plankton is the bottom of the food chain, so you don't want to be taking it out of our oceans. that is clearly from the teeth of a fish. there is no other explanation. one of the scientists said because the plastic is being eaten by fish, it is entering the food chain, and must be removed. it has been there for years. we find plastic from the 19705 and 19805, then we also find languages on these bits of plastic, so we'll find chinese, japanese, english, and we can find out where things may have come from. the plan is to start with one collection device and eventually deploy 60 of them. all the time, more plastic is pouring down rivers into the oceans. on its own, the clean—up operation will never be enough. as always, lots more on our website.

don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of my team. goodbye for now. hello, it is mainly dry out there now. that will change as we go through the night. cloud is increasing into northern ireland, wales and western areas of england and patchy rain moves in also. north—east scotland seeing an area of rain moving out into the main man. that does leave the eastern side of the uk with the clearer skies so some dipping down into single figures. work the cloud is,

double figures start to saturday. southernmost counties may not see much rain at all. in fact, some sunny spells. early rain clearing for northern ireland. and in scotla nd for northern ireland. and in scotland just an odd shower left behind. quite breezy through our cloudy, wet zone in england and wales. temperatures in the mid to high teens. it will turn warmer on sunday. that is it from me. but first he honoured bbc news, the first he honoured bbc news, the first of two programmes from the edinburgh festival fringe. about comedians and storytellers who are disabled or have mental health difficulties. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your host

for tonight, lost voice guy. hello ladies and gentlemen, are you all very well? yes. welcome to the bbbc ouch: storytelling live. tonight you'll be hearing stories from disabled people and people with mental health difficulties on the subject of going out. some of the people here have never performed live before. so, be nice. i am lost voice guy, and i'm your host for the evening. it's great to be here, i'm not sure who booked me as the host for the show, but they should be sacked. because it's myjob to interact

with the audience and obviously i'm rubbish at that. so, please don't heckle me or we'll be here all night. but, you seem like a nice audience, so i might as well try anyway. you look nice and friendly, what is your name? yes, you. the one i'm pointing directly at with my finger. sonia. are you sure you're name isn't boris? because that is a name i have stored in here. ok, boris. and are you having a nice time in this generic town or city? iam. well, that's either very good and i'm pleased, or very bad and i'm sorry. and what do you do for a living, boris?

i work in sales. once again, that is not what i have got stored on here. so, let's just pretend that you said you were a stripper. and i'll see you after the show. i hope i get a discount. because i am disabled though. people often ask me why i want to put myself in a position where everyone can stare and laugh at me. the truth is that, it happens to me every day anyway. at least this way there is a scheduled time and place for it. of course. i do it because i want to be famous as well. i think everyone does it really. i started off in a disabled steps tribute band. we were called ramps. that was a bit of an uphill struggle. laughter.

anyway, i think it's time to get the night started. are you ready to welcome your first act? yes! you can do better than that. i said, are you ready to welcome your first act?