this is bbc world news, the headlines. a long—awaited report from us special counsel robert mueller into russian meddling in the us election has committed the president did not commit a crime but has stopped short of exonerating him. a cruise ship that was stranded off the coast of norway with hundreds of people on board has now docked safely at a nearby port. the viking sky was hit by a huge storm on saturday. british prime minister theresa may has held crisis talks with senior ministers and brexiteers in an effort to breathe life into her twice defeated divorce deal after reports her cabin was planning to topple her.

at 10pm mishal husain will be here with a full round—up of the day's news, first, our world. australia is suffering the hottest summer on record. water is often scarce but growing demand and high temperatures linked to climate change have created the country's worst ever water shortage. in australia's iconic outback, an environmental disaster is unfolding. when you threaten my family, and threaten my future, and you threaten the world's future of feeding our nation and other nations around the world, then you can't get more personal than that. the darling river, a main artery of australia's murray—darling basin, is drying up. some blame climate change. others, the growth of industrial—scale cotton farming. whatever the cause, the result is sparking outrage on social media. look at these iconic fish of

australia being treated like this. youse have to be bloody disgusted with yourself, you politicians and cotton grower manipulators. these lakes should never be drained. with national elections is due in may, a recent royal commission report containing revelations of government bungling, corporate greed and corruption has thrust the issue to the forefront of australian political debate. with politicians ducking for cover, the worst environmental catastrophe in australia's history looms large. the empty rivers are threatening not only the nation's food security but more than 40,000 years of subsistence living by its native people. it's a man—made drought we're living in now. we just won't suffer it. and it's notjust black people, it's everyone. white people, and all. and it's got to stop.

10 years ago, after the worst drought in living memory, i travelled to australia's outback to investigate a water crisis that was described then as exceptional. a decade later, i returned to find communities on the edge of disaster, facing the possibility that the water crisis is permanent. this landscape is at the heart of the battle over australia's scarce water supply. a nation which likes to call itself the lucky country is endowed with a fabulous wealth of natural resources. but when it comes to one of the essentials of life, the country is in deep trouble. water has never been plentiful here but growing demand,

mainly from farming, and higher temperatures linked to climate change, have collided to create the country's worst ever water crisis. the murray—darling basin drains more than a million square kilometres of south—eastern australia. a network of tributaries flow into the darling river which crosses the region to join the murray river, australia's longest at more than 2,500km. the darling river also feeds the menindee lakes. australia's most important agricultural region relies on these rivers and lakes but after the hottest summer on record, most of the darling river has run dry and the lakes are virtually empty. for millennia, the menindee lakes system has been a flourishing

ecosystem on the driest continent on earth and a vital lifeline for the outback. but that has all changed. just a few years ago, these lakes were almost 90% full but after a decision by the new south wales state government to decommission the lakes for water storage, they were drained dry, and this is the result. as australia's drought has worsened, and with nothing in reserve, the darling river is now reduced to a few stretches of stagnating water. in december and january, at the peak of summer, a series of massive so—called fish kills, when more than a million fish died, left the country reeling. this is nothing to do with drought. this is a man—made disaster

brought to you by the new south wales government and the federal government, and the murray—darling basin authority. this is the result of draining the menindee lakes twice in four years, and killing the system. these are just two of the many. this is the most disgusting thing i've ever seen in my life. in nearby menindee, population 550, residents are being forced to rely on bottled water and watch the local wildlife disappear. with each new fish kill, local fishermen graeme mccrabb has witnessed the devastation. there was just fish all the way down here in clumps and it was pretty well connected for 30 kilometres of river, just dead fish. you saw the pictures of the little boneys all in pools but they were just scattered everywhere like confetti here through this section of the river. we had a stinking hot week, probably seven or eight days over a5, a couple of days close to50

and we dropped to about 20 degrees overnight that night, and it's hard to say, really. it's still emotional now for a lot of people, i suggest, probably two or three weeks on. with entire species of native fish under threat, government fisheries staff mounted a desperate last—minute rescue bid. but there was little left to salvage. with the water level continuing to drop, graeme travels the few remaining stretches looking for fish in distress in water made toxic by algae. i'm angry that we haven't got any bargaining in place, that irrigation has got to come first and then they will look to see if they will embargo the water coming down the river. surely there should be an embargo on the water to get a connection of the barwon river all the way through the darling to the murray. that should be first and then visi it if there is enough waterfor irrigation. i can't believe anyone can sit

there and say an embargo isn't in place at this stage. devastating now when you realise it's the nursery of the golden perch and silver perch for the whole murray—darling basin. 80% of the golden perch come from here. this is a nursery, they are recruited here and it's just been smashed by these fish kills and no help and no real political desire to take the environment into account with any decisions and any policies going forward. in 2009, i first travelled along the darling and murray rivers. already in crisis, the murray river no longer made it to the sea. the mouth of the river in south australia had run dry, setting off alarm bells across the country. a $7 billion project, the murray—darling basin plan was drawn up with the hope it would help manage the scarce water resources for everyone. 10 years on, the plan

appears to have failed. both the state and federal governments have been eager to label this crisis as a natural ecological event that's been exacerbated by the big drought. there is growing evidence that systematic mismanagement and the uncontrollable theft of water resources has played a huge role in this outback river disaster. in 2018, the south australian state government ordered a royal commission report into the effectiveness of the murray—darling basin plan. the federal government refused to give evidence and prevented its agricultural officials from appearing before the enquiry. the report was published in february, just weeks after the death of an estimated million fish. it found that gross maladministration and negligence at both state and federal levels

along with unlawful activity have undermined the integrity of australia's greatest river system. 100km upstream from menindee, in the town of wilcannia, the darling river has long ago run dry. more than a century ago, this town was one of australia's busiest inland ports, with hundreds of paddle steamers plying the river laden with produce from the land. more than 60% of the town's residents are aboriginal, most of them from the barkindji tribe, known as the people of the river. a long time ago, before i was born,

my mum was a young girl, my grandmother cut a canoe out of there, see? out of this. out of this here, she took the bark away, and that's how big the canoe was. with his family history etched along the banks of the darling, badger bates, a barkindji elder, shares his people's intimate connection with the river. see, even animals are dying. and one of our concerns is the mussel shells, see, the old mussels. they're just dying. it proves that the water sharing plan is not worth the piece of paper it's written on and they're just a bunch of liars that wrote the plan because look what they've given us. they made the mess, they clean it, and they fix it. you can drink it.

it is a little bit brackish but it is good water. although the barkindji people have native title to their lands, their rights do not extend to the river water, which his people call the "baka". in 2015 they gave us native title, recognition that we are barkindji people and we say what is the good in giving us native title and taking our water. the river is our mother, it owns us, we do not own the river. according to aboriginal legend, the river was created by a dreamtime serpent, which scoured the land, joining up the waterholes. for the barkindji people the imminent death of a river they consider their mother is a catastrophe that is difficult to comprehend. we're just all suffering.

and it is notjust black people, it's everyone. white people and all. it's gotta stop. under the government's murray darling plan, public money is spent buying back water from farmers but the last release of so—called bought—back water was almost a year ago. with billions of dollars allocated to fund the water buyback scheme, questions are now being asked about how the money is being spent. this march, a peer—reviewed study produced by australia's national university found the federal government had grossly exaggerated the amount of water that had been bought back and returned to the environment. in fact, it found that less than 10% of the water the government claimed was being returned ever reached the river.

it is said that modern australia was built on the sheep's back. 150 kilometres downstream from badger bate's home, sheep farming is on the verge of collapse. at tolarno station, farmer rob mcbride is seeing his family's future evaporating before him as the water crisis worsens. it seems big corporates and big industries are killing the murray darling basin and we are just one of the many who have been absolutely devastated by what they are doing. we are borrowing the country from our kids, we are, and it's being destroyed. for rob's son, james, the stakes are high. i am going to find as much as i can so that i do have a future on here. because i was born and brought up on this place. i love it. i know every inch of it. and i love every part of it.

i love the country, i love being able to ride down along the river and see beautiful big gum trees, and healthy sheep, kangaroos and wildlife everywhere. but we can't have that if things keep going the way they are going. for more than a decade, state governments have developed a complex system of water trading, with most water going to the highest bidders, leaving less for the environment. it is a system which many believe has encouraged corruption. we need the federal government to step in here because you need a broader scope of the whole thing. each state is only looking at itself, when you need to look at the big picture, so that you can spread the water across all the states equally, rather than one state pulling in all of the water and being like, "oh, we're good, we don't need to worry about the other states." because they do not worry about the other states, they worry about themselves. g'day everyone, kate mcbride from tolarno station... james's sister, kate, has taken the battle on line. communities and people along the river need to be put before

opportunistic crops like cotton. we need people to get on to their politicians right now and encourage them to place embargoes in new south wales. she has been travelling the length of the dying darling river, to document the devastation. we need to remember that 2019 is of the year where our vote will count. unfortunately, climate change in australia right now seems to get largely avoided by a number of the parties. i think it is set to become a larger issue. right now, it is not highly enough put on the radar, but it is inevitable that our climate is changing. right now in australia, we've got flooding in queensland, we've got massive drought over almost 100% of new south wales and tasmania is on fire. with the rivers running dry, the focus has turned to the upper reaches to the north, where massive irrigated farms are mostly growing cotton, a famously thirsty crop. it is heartbreaking to see that this water should be

going down the darling. it is the controversial practice of floodplain harvesting, where rain water is diverted from streams and rivers and stored, which has come under the spot light. in particular in the state of queensland, where it is almost completely unregulated. 0n the new south wales-queensland border, the town of goondiwindi is thriving. this is cotton country and the wealth the industry creates is clear to see, but scratch the surface and it is clear that water, and lots of it, underpins that success. i have travelled to the giant floodplains of southern queensland to meet a cotton farmer turned whistleblower, who decided to speak out after he says his livelihood and that of his neighbours was nearly destroyed

by industrial—scale cotton farming. oh, yeah, i really put myself out there. i've fronted lobby groups, i've fronted neighbours, i've fronted friends. you know, that is where i went to first. i believe that my problem, letting the river run, could have just been dealt internally but that... i received no help. no—one bothered to lift a finger. this is the macintyre river. it's new south wales on one side, queensland here. so we're in queensland. we're in queensland here. those trees there are new south wales. and the point is the river is very small. the river has to flood out over this country, and i want it to be protected. this water is being intercepted. so when it comes out over this floodplain — it has to — it is just being intercepted, called flood water and taken. but the longer you hold it, the more you can take. so that's what's happened to my family, it'sjust been held on us, our crops are all destroyed

and the water does not continue into the river so for us to survive as farmers we just want the river to run. my neighbour can't get stock and domestic water. we're on a big river here that's running full steam within three kays, he can't get water. and they have been there for four generations. for years, as chris toiled with so—called dry—land cotton crops that rely purely on rainfall, he says a huge industrial—scale cotton farm was diverting water from the macintyre river into a network of channels and dams. you just can't turn communities off. you have to look after people, you've got to look after the environment and extraction should always come last. over the last ten years, as hundreds of kilometres of giant levies and channels were built, chris took his concerns to the authorities and other cotton growers,

but he was ignored and ostracised. my moral compass won't let me stop. i have been called a crusader, i am on a crusade trying to fix the problem with a neighbour, but it is so much bigger than that. cotton is a franchise. it is like owning a mcdonald's. every crop is a prescription. add water and you can roll out huge acres, that is the difference. welcome, kate. applause. with public awareness of the crisis gaining traction, the mcbride family have decided to take their fight to save the darling river to australia's largest city, sydney. i get texts from people sometimes saying i speak with too much emotion but when you see your homeland dying, it is absolutely

heartbreaking. these people, they need to come out and see a million dead fish in front of their doorstep and speak to the people that living off these bottled waters that have seen the river decline their entire life. because i have and i'm only 20. i have a great connection to the land just as many barkindji people have an even greater one, and that includes the river that sustains it. and so for me i do speak with emotion because it's my home. with state and national governments failing to provide answers, events like these are raising awareness in the cities of the crisis in the bush. we don't have to have the guts to stand up to politicians, to say that we've had enough. why you're not listening to first nation people? i'm emotional, just like my sister over here. she belongs to the land. she has connection to the land and she cries when she speaks and i cry when i speak.

0ur connection goes through our blood, through our hearts. it is where we stamp our feet. 0ur feet are part of the earth. g'day, everyone, lam dave, from cotton australia... with big irrigators now firmly under the spotlight, industry body, cotton australia, is keen to deflect blame. i do welcome the comments that people actually understand it is not about the crop that grows, it is about the water. i think that's good. unfortunately sometimes some of the rhetoric is very much aimed at our growers and that is very disappointed because these are hard—working farmers just like all our rural producers and they have been demonised. i spent a day in the box of the south australian royal commission. we're not afraid to get out there and tell the story. i acknowledge it is a natural disaster out there on the darling, but we do need to work towards solutions and that is what we're really looking at. the one thing i would say is,

coming up to the questions, is that we are fully supportive of the recovery of the water. as australia's water wars rage, there are calls to establish a federal royal commission. right now, demands for an immediate suspension of water trading and an embargo on further irrigation across the eastern states of australia grow louder. this one means a lot to us, as barkindji people. 0ur river, our culture, our life. without a river, there is no life. if they could help us get our water back, cause the water means a lot to us black people and i do not think we are going to have the same life like our dad did, drinking out of the river, because it is all dirty now, not clear.

hello. many have had decent sunshine over the weekend, but also showers in the north of the uk. in the week ahead, mostly dry, some spells of sunshine and it set to get milder. by sunshine and it set to get milder. by the end of the week for some of us we by the end of the week for some of us we could see temperatures as high as 18 degrees by the time we get to friday and the end of the week. we'd better start about start of the week. a chilly start for many on monday, patchy frost in the countryside, but a glorious start as well, plenty of morning sunshine. in the afternoon there is a trend for the afternoon there is a trend for the weather to ten cloudier, we'll

have these chilly northerly winds knocking the edge off the temperatures around some of our eastern coasts in scotland and england. 10 degrees in norwich, 13 for london and cardiff, not quite as warm as it was on sunday but not feeling bad in the sunshine out of the breeze. through monday night we are going to keep the clear skies, so temperatures again falling away pretty sharply stop its going to be another cold night, cold enough for some patches of frost to develop in the coldest areas where we keep the clearer skies longest. that takes us on into tuesday's weather forecast and we still have our area of high pressure, maintaining the dry weather for the majority of the uk. however, we do have this week atla ntic however, we do have this week atlantic front just brushing however, we do have this week atlantic frontjust brushing the however, we do have this week atlantic front just brushing the far north of scotland and that will continue to bring something thick cloud here with the threat of a bit of rain at times for the western isles, highlands and also across the northern isles of scotland. away from that after a sunny start there's a tendency for the weather to turn a bit cloudy but still a lot of fine and dry weather around on

tuesday. temperatures between 13 in aberdeen around 111—15 across southern england and wales. more of the same really for the middle part of the week. we've got the area of high pressure with this. we've got weather fronts pestering the far north of scotland bringing the thick cloud and the risk of a bit of rain at times but those temperatures are beginning to edge upwards a bit across england and wales with highs of around 15 in hull and london. towards the end of the week is the area of high pressure moves close to southern england we get more of a feed coming in from the continent and that's going to tend to increase the temperatures across england and wales, whereas further north of scotla nd wales, whereas further north of scotland and northern ireland the winds are more influenced by the weather from the atlantic so there will be little overall change in temperatures here, so 13 for aberdeen, 13 for belfast, we are up to 17 degrees for south—east england through thursday afternoon. we end the week like this, high pressure in charge but it is showing signs of slipping away allowing this cold front to moving off the atlantic and

that fred brings thick cloud with across scotland and northern ireland with more general outbreaks of rain. as the front pushes southwards and eastwards it's likely that we can significantly so probably not much rain left on it as it edges towards northern england and for the south in the sunshine we could see temperatures rise further, highs of up temperatures rise further, highs of up to 18 celsius but getting a bit cooler for scotland and northern ireland. into the weekend we do see some cool air pushing southwards across the uk so temperatures dropping a little bit but there will be dry weather around and some sunshine. into the following week, well, the big question is whether this area of high pressure moves away. if it does, how quickly that process happens. if the high does eventually leave we could be looking at low pressure into the week beyond, with a risk of rain and some fairly brisk winds as well but there isa fairly brisk winds as well but there is a lot of uncertainty. that is your weather.