this is bbc world news today. our top stories... the united nations says the syrian government may be directly ta rgetting civilians — after 100 die in airstrikes in 10 days. the world is accused of turning its back. air strikes kill a significant number of civilians every time a week and the response seems to be a collective shrug. wildfires in the arctic circle. they're at "unprecedented" levels according to scientists — because of climate change. a british computer hacker who helped stop a cyber attack against the uk health service avoids a jail sentence in the us, on malicious hacking charges. and... racing is stopped in the tour de france — after a freak hailstorm and landslide in the alps.

hello and welcome to world news today. we begin in syria — where, according to the united nations, air strikes by the government's armed forces and its allies have killed at least a hundred people in the last ten days. 26 of them were children. the un's human rights chief, michelle bachelet, has accused the international community of treating the violence with, as she puts it, apparent indifference. the fighting has been taking place in idlib provice, in the north west of syria, which is one of the last strongholds of the rebel groups which rose up against president bashir. imogen foulkes reports. five—year—old, trying to desperately save her baby sister from an air strike. hours later, maria jett —— died from injuries. this is the last area of the serious deliverable

hands, also tell him to millions of civilians. united nations has warned for months that a battle here would come at a huge cost to civilian life. the area is supposed to be a de—escalation zone. but in recent weeks, syrian forces had stepped up their operations. 103 people killed in the last ten days alone, a quarter of them were children. this latest relentless ca m pa ig n quarter of them were children. this latest relentless campaign of air strikes by the government and its allies has continued to hit medical facilities, schools, and other civilian infrastructures such as market and bakeries. these are civilian objects and it seems highly unlikely given the persistent pattern of such attacks that they are doing it by accident. intentional attacks against civilians are work crimes. and those who have ordered them are carried out are criminally responsible for their actions. syria and its ally russia both denied deliberately

targeting civilians, nevertheless, men women and children are dying and be air strikes, men women and children are dying and be airstrikes, and men women and children are dying and be air strikes, and to the un frustration, there is little sign of international concern. these air strikes kill and maim significant number of civilian several times a week, and the response to be a collective shrug. with the security council paralysed by the persistent failure of its five prominent members to agree to use that power, and influence to stop the fighting and influence to stop the fighting and killing once and for all. many of the people in —— fled from aleppo and already endured one brutal struggle for control of the city, and now what could be the last decisive battle before syria returns entirely to the president control, they have nowhere to go. the british prime minister has been responding to accusations from the irish foreign minster that he is deliberately deciding to set the uk on "a collision course" with ireland and the european union.

borisjohnson said that under no circumstances did the uk want to introduce checks on the irish border post—brexit. here's our political correspondent nick eardley. i think battle lines are drawn in what will come next for brexit coming at boris johnson what will come next for brexit coming at borisjohnson absolutely adamant he's not going to accept any field that includes the backstop saying the withdrawal agreement and negotiations by theresa may painstakingly over two years ago, his dad and not coming back. but on the other side you have a european union who can students —— consistently said the agreement is closed, at backstop has to stay and they would not renegotiate any deal about it, and it's all leading up to about it, and it's all leading up to a potential in a few weeks' time, potential massive road between the uk and european union on this. and be frustration on irish side was clear earlier we heard from the prime minister. he seems to have made a deliberate decision to set

written on a collision quest of the eu, and ireland in relation to the brexit negotiations. and i think only he can answer questions as to why he is doing that but it's been made very clear, from the leaders, that the approach the british prime ministers seems to now be taking is not going to be the basis of an agreement. that was the island foreign minister speaking earlier. what was his response like to that? not changing his mind, he popped the leadership campaign here on that ticket at getting the uk added the eu, no matter what at the end of 0ctober, eu, no matter what at the end of october, and he said on the steps —— steps of downing street and yesterday as well, it's a sticking point and he will not move away from it. here's what he said on a trip to

the west midlands. i want to say to oui’ the west midlands. i want to say to our irish friends and what i have said repeatedly is under no circumstances, will the uk be instituting any kind of checks at the frontier in northern ireland, christ that we did not want that. but the uk will be coming out of the eu on october 31 and after we come out, of course they will be all sorts of discussions to be had with oui’ sorts of discussions to be had with our irish friends about how to ensure we have continued frictionless trade. so the question remains how do you solve this impasse. 0ne remains how do you solve this impasse. one thing that looks increasingly at the face of it is the uk leaves the eu without a deal, but the problem for borisjohnson as parliament behind me would do everything he can to try to stop that happening. so he could end up with another empath here, which is leading many to speculate this will end up in a general election in the uk, boris johnson today end up in a general election in the uk, borisjohnson today said he would absolutely not, one by the

3ist would absolutely not, one by the 31st of october. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... the red crescent organisation in libya says its rescue workers have recovered the bodies of 62 migrants, thought to have died in a shipwreck en route to europe. more than 100 people are feared to have drowned after an overloaded boat sank on thursday off the coast near the port city of khoms it's the worst sinking so far this year in the mediterranean. the chairman of the us joint chiefs of staff has expressed optimism about efforts to bring the long—running conflict in afghanistan to an end. generaljoseph dunford says the us envoy is in talks with the taliban in doha. but the taliban have refused to negotiate directly with the afghan government and have continued to launch attacks. the palestinian president mahmoud abbas says he is now beginning steps to end all agreements with israel. his announcement followed israel's demolition of a dozen palestinian residential buildings earlier this week. the world's biggest economy is slowing down, growing less

than previously thought last year. new figures show the us growth for 2018 missed president trump's target of 3%. they also show that growth has slowed this year, with poor performances in foreign trade and business investment — as the us continues its trade war with china. the us central bank — the fed — is due to make its interest rate decision next week. we can speak to michelle fleury in new york. so a slowdown for the us economy, but not as bad as was feared.q i think when you talk to most wall street economists are coming out with a forecast of growth of 1.8%, for the second quarter. what we got instead was 2.1% said there was a degree of free choice and that it's better than expected, much of that was down to the strength of the american consumer. if you sort of look deeper into the numbers though, you started to see where the strains on the

economy are coming from. when it does has been talked about a great deal, that's obviously the trade friction of the us being engaged in trade disputes at numerous countries from china to europe, all of that starting to have an impact it appears on american companies invested a lot less in the last quarter, also it was taking a toll on american exports, a factor of christ the dollar. it paints a picture of an economy doing modestly 0k picture of an economy doing modestly ok but not as strong perhaps as people would like to see and it's beenin people would like to see and it's been in the past. it seems donald trump may be involved in another trade dispute, this time with france, you probably remember the bromance about them and the handshakes that went on for long, seems like a long time ago now. yes you can forget that handshake, but at the moment the bromance between the teal appears to have cooled. this all goes to france's plans or

new law that was signed that effectively places at 3% tax on french revenue onset of the american tech giant companies companies like facebook and google at the al a certain amount in france, digital revenue it will be taxed at 3%, the white house previously expressed its displeasure and wants delilah sign, you suddenly saw 2a hours later, a tweet from donald trump know that's, basically threatening retaliatory measures implying french wine could be the one to face future levies and saying that he has always preferred american line of her french wine. could this develop into something like that trade where we see which i know i do think it's mainly rhetoric? i think he's clearly upset and a returns to the theme he is sort of talked a lot about, and bats this idea that america is unfairly treated in global trade. where this has some teeth is that when france

made clear its intentions, the saudi administration and then an investigation under an mechanism here in the united states that lets you look at whether or not it's being unfairly treated in terms of trade. that concludes that the companies were discriminated against, then the us could impose tariffs, so we would do well to take the tweet seriously but the question is what's the timeline and is it tied the probe and does he know it's in your conclusion are not. that's unclear at this point. thank you very much for that. the summer heatwave has broken records across the world, and not even the arctic has escaped the dramatic rise in tempratures. there have been hundreds of wildfires within forests in the arctic circle, including siberia, alaska and greenland. plumes of smoke from the fires can be seen from space. we asked mark parrington, from the european centre for medium—range weather forecasts, to explain just what is happening. it's an area where we are seeing

buyers through the siberian heartache and i'll ask and so, what we are seeing is a number of fires that are burning in those regions as well, and this is quite a lot higher than what we had a scene in the arctic circle excel. in that dataset that we hopped which is currently now a 17 year dataset. so you can see looking at the satellite imagery, that is very p population centres particularly in siberia, the fires and alaska had been occurring much closer to inhabited areas, such as north and west i think that the city of fairbanks, so they had much more air quality impacts. i believe the ones in siberia are more remote, sapphire is releasing a whole —— the vegetation buyers are releasing polluta nts vegetation buyers are releasing pollutants and burning carbon and c02 as well as particulates, and other more air quality related

species. and if c02 is an indicator, at least at the admissions we an estimate —— estimate are and how strong the buyers are burning. some of that see a potentially be taken by the biosphere, but a concern is that if there are peat soils burning underneath the vegetation, that's carbon that's been deposited over tens of thousands of years, once that's released into the atmosphere, that's released into the atmosphere, that's near a reversible process. mark speaking earlier. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come... the fortnite world cup gets under way — with teenage gamers competing for the $3 million prize.

this is bbc world news today. our main headline...

the united nations says air strikes by the syrian government may be directly targetting civilians. it's accused the world of turning its back on their plight. hong kong's airport became the scene of the latest anti—extradition demonstrations on friday, with protestors occupying the arrivals hall. thousands of people — including airport and airline staff — spent all day in the building. the demonstrations started as a rejection of plans to allow extradition of criminal suspects to face trial on the chinese mainland — but for some protestors, it's now widened into calls for more independence for the territory from beijing. stephen mcdonell has been at the protest. this is the scene confronting those who arrived at hong kong airport. the arrivals hall is occupied by airline staff, especially those from the industry unions the baggage handlers and the like are here to

support the democracy movement they say, but also to criticise the violence last weekend. when the triad gangs and targeted activists on their way home. when you look around, you see signs condemning the triad gangs, but also the police. they say it at the police too long to arrive, when groups of armed men we re to arrive, when groups of armed men were assaulting people at the train station. they want an inquiry to find out why that is, because some here are actually accusing police at with those triad gang members, at least some of the opposites. now, and this is especially urgent, because tomorrow there is to be an unauthorised march returning to the same location where those classes happened. so you can imagine pro democracy, activists, potentially triads and also riot police in the

next. there is a lot at the air we could see yet another escalation in be violence here in hong kong. a british computer hacker has been sentenced to time served in the us after he pleaded guilty to two charges of making malicious software. he could have faced up to ten years in prison — but is being allowed to return to the uk. 25—year—ol mark hutchins made a name for himself in 2017 as somewhat of a hero here in the uk when he helped stop the biggest—ever cyber attack on the country's national health service. with the background, here's chris buckler. marcus hutchins was once celebrated asa marcus hutchins was once celebrated as a hiker hero, he was able to stop as a hiker hero, he was able to stop a cyber attack that infected thousands of the people and the computers on the gloves. businesses, and the uk national health service we re and the uk national health service were among victims who found they we re were among victims who found they were locked out of their networks until they paid a ransom. that hutchins was able to find a flaw in the code. i checked the message

board, they were about 17 reports of different nhs sort of organisations being hit. and i met at point where i decided my holidays ever have to look into this. it made him a celebrity. two years ago, he travelled to las vegas to attend a death calm, the biggest hacking conference. i did try to lead the city, he was arrested by fbi offices who had evidence of his own involvement and cyber crimes years before. marcus hutchins would later —— later admit to being behind malicious —— malicious software allow people to login information and financial data from online banking sites. along with an accomplice, he soloed that malware online and was used to target banks and the customers and several countries. he went on to plead guilty to two offences. time for the

latest sports with the band. thank you very much, ireland suffered a humiliating into the price has magic against england, for gas 38 at lloyd's to lose by 143 runs, it was going so well after they bowed and went out for 85 on opening morning, but chris and stuart ripped through the irish to avoid at biggest a bstra ct the irish to avoid at biggest abstract ever seen and cricket, gel has a story. england managed to bring to this day of this test match is the intensity, sense of purpose, which they themselves locked in the press two days, it's difficult to raise your game and be mentally fresh after so much cricket has happened in december. but the ashes are next week, everyone knows that and it is natural that served some kind of preparation for that, stewart will field that about his game had been taking wickets today and barry boler or friendly conditions, that was a point gel routine back to at the close of

play, will these conditions, payable for that favourable will be replicated? therefore, for that favourable will be replicated ? therefore, is for that favourable will be replicated? therefore, is it really a meaningful time of preparation, but i guess time as ever will have, when will they get it stays like this an opportunity like this, 182 winds —— runs, crushing sense of missed opportunity letting with them tonight but they must remember what they did early in the test, they got them to the position today of hope. i thought that it wasn't a fair not even close to a fair contest between bat and ball. got the whole game, i thought they appeared to get easier and better to bat and we worked at our best by any stretch, we managed to well in periods but i thought we are put under pressure for a really good bowling from ireland and they exploited the conditions in periods but i thought we are put under

pressure for a really good bowling from ireland and they exploited the conditions and the press morning particularly extremely well, but we found a way to win the game. egan looks to be the next writer and youngest writer of climbed into an tour de france. he leaves the race as one competitive stage remaining after dramatic day in the apps on friday, that's i hail snail and landslides to suspend the racing for the final climb of the day, ben has more. it tour de france 2019 didn't have enough drama already, unbelievable scenes today at stage 19, avalanche caused by heavy hail blocked the road for the writer is on the dissent from the highest point at this year's to her, that meant officials were left with no choice but to abandon the race, and that means there is a big change at the top. julian the man in the yellow jersey no longer the top. julian the man in the yellowjersey no longer has that honour it, it was taken away from him by the 22—year—old colombian.

now egan leads the tour. the welshman derek thomas down to third, dramatic scenes like i say in the race today have to be cut short with writers left confused and frustrated because things couldn't come to a need to conclusion. tomorrow, the race starts here and albert stella, the final stage in the alps before we move on to the very last stage in paris and tour de france still throws up more questions than a nswe rs. throws up more questions than answers. this is how the general comment —— classification looks with mind —— one meaningful stage, egan has a 48 second lead, neglecting that she is likely to defend the second spot. gary thomas 28 seconds further back, and the annual buckman also eyeing a place on the podium in paris. saturday stage, it's been shortened to 59 km and only the

large final climb due to concerns over the latter. before we go update from practise for the german grand prix where ferrari was quickest i had, that's all you sport for now. some of the world's best video gamers are taking centre—stage in new york for the fortnite world cup — and whoever winds will pocke more than $3 million. launched in 2017, fortnite is an apocalyptic survival game with a massive following — more than 250 million users worldwide — many of them under the age of 16. 0ur cyber reporter, joe tidy is at the event. it's the biggest gathering ever for the biggest game ever. the inaugural fortnite world cup whittled down 40 million wannabes to less than 200 finalists. now it's time for the cream of the crop to fight for the titles. some of the favourites are british, including kyle jackson, known online as mongrel. it's a lot more serious than people think. it's not just playing

a game for fun. you have to play for consecutive months a lot, every day. you don'tjust get here through chance. another contender is 15—year—old benjy fish from middlesex. him and his team—mate have both qualified as a duo and individually, meaning they're guaranteed $100,000 each before a single shot is fired. i think it'll be a bit different when i'm on the stage, because i've never been on a huge stage like that before. i've only ever played in my bedroom. but right now, i'm really confident. benjy and his parents bet big on this sport. his mum and manager, anne, decided to home—school him so he could concentrate on fortnite. certainly, when the potential of the world cup came up, we knew he was going to be competing with guys that were going to be practising for 10 or 12 hours a day, so i wanted to give him the best opportunity. it's a sell—out here at the arthur ashe stadium, with tens of thousands of fans expected over the weekend and potentially millions more online. it's also a big moment in the maker of fortnite's history, as they can finally say they're a big

player in e—sports. according to analysts, the global e—sports market will exceed the billion dollar revenue mark this year. almost all the finalists are boys under the age of 16, but some celebrities playing over the weekend include 13—year—old rising star ewok, who's made waves as the first major streamer who is deaf. fortnite's rise to this point has not been without controversy. prince harry once called for it to be banned for being too addictive. but for these players, it's already changed their lives — and with the prizes on offer here, some are dreaming of even bigger things. joe tidy, bbc news, new york. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of my team on twitter. you can also go to our website for more information. thank you very much for watching, stay tuned.

hello. the heatwave is over for all of us now, but new data has become available, shelling during the peak showing during the peak of the heatwave on thursday, temperatures reached 38.7 celsius. now this is a provisional recording, but if it gets confirmed by the met office the next few weeks, it'll be the uk highest temperature ever. either way you look at it though, they heatwave though, they heatwave it was unprecedented with new records set in germany, belgium, netherlands and luxembourg. looking at our weather through the rest of tonight, we are going to say heavy rain developing and it becomes expensive across scotland england, affecting wales as well,

northern ireland should have a dry nightl clear spells. temperature is down on recent nights, 14—17d every night love. a little bit warm for sleeping, but more comfortable compared to nights we endured over the last few days. this weekend's weather then, dominated by the same particularly slow—moving. in itself is likely to cause problems with localised flooding possibilities, start off on saturday with heavy rain around stretching across scotland and england as well on this kind of diagonal. within this, the rains come with heavy breasts so the amount within this, the rains come with heavy bursts so the amount we get varies from place to place, but sam could see persistent and heavy rain. scotland shares up as the day goes by and for the north, decent day the best of dry weather and sunshine probably for northern ireland and southern parts of wales sunshine and temperatures reaching low 20s. same whether front that different day, here on sunday slipping into northern ireland wet weather on the way for central and southern england. perhaps brighter for scotland,

with a mixture of sunshine and showers, but still across england and the far side of wales, namely dry, best of the weekend weather is likely to be. the weekend, totals will be a mounting app. 40—60 mm in places, that's getting on for months with the rain, could see even more than that with the hills. threat of localised lighting issues building up in places to the weekend, and limited disruption out and about as well. into next week, quite a lot of unsettled weather initially but it becomes dry sunny and warm later the week.

this is bbc world news, the headlines... the united nations says airstrikes by the syrian government may be directly targetting civilians. one hundred people have been killed in the past 10 days. the un has accused the world of turning its back on their plight. scientists have described wildfires in the arctic circle as "unprecendented" in size. they say summer fires triggered by lightning have been worsened by temperatures that are higher than average — because of climate change. the british hacker—turned security expert marcus hutchins has been sentenced to ‘time served' in the united states for writing malicious software. hutchins rose to prominence in the uk two years ago for stopping a cyber attack against the national health service. racing has been stopped in the tour de france after a freak hailstorm and landslide in the alps. frenchman julian ala—phillipe had

just lost the yellow jersey