this is bbc news. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: the united nations accuses the world of turning its back on syria — after more than a hundred people are killed injust ten days. air strikes kill and maim this is bbc news. the headlines: significant numbers of civilians the united nations has accused several times a week and the the world of turning its back response seems to be a collect of on the war in syria. airstrikes there have killed struggle. more than 100 people in the last ten days. the un says the syrian government may be directly targetting —— collective shrug. civilians. the united states says it's reached an agreement with guatemala to help stem the flow of migrants reaching its southern border. walking free — the british man who helped stop a cyber attack—against the national health service — only to stand trial the us and guatemala have signed for hacking in the usa. a migration agreement, hundreds of wildfires are burning days after us president donald trump in the arctic circle — threatened the central american country with tariffs. it's unprecedented, say scientists. under the deal, migrants climate change is driving from honduras and el salvador temperatures higher. who pass through guatemala would be six decades of the

special relationship. but how will it develop, required to stop and seek asylum there first. migrants who failed to do so would then be ineligible for asylum in the us. under mrjohnson and mr trump? scientists have described wildfires he's a good guy. he's a friend of in the arctic circle as "unprecedented" in size. mine. they think we're going to have great relationship. and boris is they say a large number going to be a great prime minister. of summerfires have been triggered by lightning. wildfires are ravaging the arctic, with areas of northern siberia, northern scandinavia, alaska and greenland engulfed in flames. borisjohnson says his plan hello and welcome to bbc world news. to recruit 20,000 new police we begin in syria, where, according to the united nations, airstrikes 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 "appa rent indifference". the fighting has been taking place in idlib province, in the north—west of syria, which is one of the last strongholds of the rebel groups which rose up against president assad. imogen foulkes reports.

this five—year—old desperately trying to save her baby sister from an airstrike. but trying to save her baby sister from an air strike. butjust hours later she herself died from her injuries. idlib is the last area of syria still in rebel hands. it is also home to millions of civilians. the 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 has stepped up their operations. 103 people have been killed in the last ten days alone. a quarter of them children. this latest relentless ca m pa ig n quarter of them children. this latest relentless campaign of air strikes, by the government and its allies, has continued to hit medical facilities, schools, and other civilian infrastructure such as markets and bakeries. these are

civilian objects and it seems highly unlikely, given the persistent pattern of such attacks, that they are being hit by accident. intentional attacks against civilians war crimes. and those who have ordered them or carried them out of criminally responsible for their actions. syria and its ally russia both deny deliberately targeting civilians, nevertheless, men, women, children are dying in the air strikes and, to the un's frustration, there's little sign of international concern. those air strikes kill and maim significant numbers of several times a week and their response seems to be a collective shrug. with the security council paralysed by the persistent failure of his five permanent members to agree to use their power and influence to stop the fighting and influence to stop the fighting and killing once and for all. many of the people in idlib fled there from aleppo. they have already

endured one brutal struggle for control of a city, now, in what could be the last decisive battle before syria returns entirely to president assad's control, they have nowhere to go. imogen foulkes, bbc news, geneva. president trump has announced that the us and guatemala have signed a so—called safe third country agreement to limit asylum claims to the us. it came just days after mr trump threatened to impose tariffs on the central american country if it didnt‘ agree to the deal. this here's what president trump had to say about guatemala. looks, we have been dealing for many yea rs, looks, we have been dealing for many years, i will say, looks, we have been dealing for many years, iwill say, with looks, we have been dealing for many years, i will say, with guatemala and with other countries. and we are now at a point where we are, we just get along. and they're doing what we've asked them to do and i think it's going to be a great thing for guatemala. they don't want these problems either. so were able to get this done and we get it done fairly

quickly. joining me now from washington is our correspondent chris buckler. kris commons we have any more details about how this agreement will work in practice —— chris, do we have? the waiter supposed to work is that those coming from honduras or el salvador, going through guatemala on their way to reach the us border, will have to claim for protection, claim for asylum there in guatemala before they go through mexico and reach america's border. now, that is something designed to try to ease the real problems and the surge of migrants who have been arriving and trying to claim refuge at the border between mexico and the united states. but, at the same time, of course, there are also people coming from guatemala to make their way through mexico to go to their way through mexico to go to the us as well. and actually these problems exist in central american countries which are causing people to flee some of those problems that have to tackled in the long—term president trump is saying that this

isa president trump is saying that this is a very good deal. but there is a question about it and it is this. guatemala's also suggested that any sort of a deal like this would need congressional approval. basically the country's congress would have to vote in favour of it. it is currently on its summer recess. so that vote hasn't taken place. and what we are not clear on is exactly how the guatemalan government have managed to get around that. and, certainly, in the statement they we re certainly, in the statement they were pretty vague about the specifics of how this steel would work. it sounds like they were under a lot of pressure from washington to agree to something. there is no doubt about that whatsoever. if you ta ke doubt about that whatsoever. if you take a look at president trump, in recent weeks he has really been putting pressure on guatemala, suggesting there could be tarus put on some of their products that are imported into the us. and, of course it has a struggling economy and that could be damaging to its economy —— tariffs. there was a suggestion they could be issued fines further the

number of people arriving from guatemala. the truth is, this was kind of a carrot and stick approach from president trump. 0ne kind of a carrot and stick approach from president trump. one where he is saying this new deal will also make it easier for people from guatemala to come and take farm jobs in the united states. there is a feeling on many ranches that that kind of worker, that kind of support is very, very much needed. at the same time, there was this threat that they would take some kind of economic sanctions against guatemala, effectively putting in place tariffs, which would have real problems for the country. as they say, these problems have not been sorted with this deal. the truth is, there are still problems in the central american countries, like poverty, like corruption, like violence, but forcing people to flee and ultimately that means there are likely to be many migrants who still come to the us border. chris, thank you. chris buckley in washington. a british hacker who pleaded guilty to making malicious software has

been released from custody in the us, after a court sentenced him to the time he had already served. mark hutchins could have faced up to ten years in prison. but he's now expected to return to the uk, where he became famous for helping to stop the biggest—ever cyber attack on britain's national health service. gary 0'donoghue was in milwaukee for the court hearing and sent this report. after two years on bail, marcus hutchins is now free. i'm glad it is over. it was really full round in gratitude to a judge who was full of praise for hutchins's talents. they wa nt to praise for hutchins's talents. they want to thank everyone who supported me and the judge for his incredible leniency. -- i want to thank the two yea rs leniency. -- i want to thank the two years ago leniency. -- i want to thank the two yea rs ago marcus leniency. -- i want to thank the two years ago marcus hutchins was a hero. he had been credited with stopping the biggest ever cyber—attack to ever hit the national health service. the ra nsomwa re national health service. the ransomware exploit the weaknesses in computer systems, locking up data and demanding money for it back. the

malware hit around one third of nhs trusts in england, leading to appointments and operations been cancelled. in fact, appointments and operations been cancelled. infact, links appointments and operations been cancelled. in fact, links north korea, it hit tens of thousands of computers in dozens of countries right around the world. and it was marcus hutchins who discovered a kill switch which stopped the virus from spreading. he talks about it in an interview at the time. i'd checked the message board. there we re checked the message board. there were maybe 16, 17 reports of different nhs organisations being hit. and that was at the point where i'd decided by holidays over i've got to look into this. but while attending a hackers‘ conference in las vegas shortly afterwards, marcus hutchins was arrested by the fbi as he waited for his late home. in a case unrelated to wannacry, the us said hutchins had previously written and sold computer code known as chronicles which enabled criminals to steal online banking details.

hutchins could have gone to jail for ten years, but the judge said that the consequences of what he had done pales in comparison to the foresight he had shown in stopping the wannacry virus. astonishingly, the judge even raise the idea of a pardon, something only in the gift of the president. gary 0‘donoghue, bbc news, milwaukee. let‘s get some of the day‘s other news. thousands of pro—democracy protesters have been holding a sit—in at hong kong international airport. the protest was against the police‘s slow response to last weekend‘s attacks — allegedly by triad gangs — on demonstrators and passers—by. the chairman of the us joint chiefs of staff has expressed optimism president trump is threatening to impose tariffs on imports from france. he tweeted he will shortly announce "substantial reciprocal action" after france imposed a new digital tax on us tech giants like google and facebook. mr trump also accused the french president emmanuel macron of acting foolishly.

also in the us today, official figures which suggest the rate of growth of the world‘s biggest economy is slowing down. we asked our business correspondent in new york, michelle fleury, to put the numbers into context. if you talk to most wall street economists they were coming out with forecasts low growth of 1.8% at an annualised rate for the second quarter. what we got instead was to .1%, so there was a degree of rejoicing that this was better than expected and much of that was down to the strength of the american consumer. if you looked deeper into the numbers, though, you started to see where the strains on the economy are coming from. one of those that has been talked about a great deal, but is obviously trade friction the us engaged in trade disputes with numerous countries, from china to europe, all of that is starting to have an impact, it appears, on american companies that invested a

lot less in the last quarter. it also it was taking a toll on american exports, one of which has been the strong dollar. so it means the spectre of an economy that is doing modestly 0k the spectre of an economy that is doing modestly ok but not as strong as perhaps people would like to see and it has been in the bus —— paints the picture. 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. cheering. the us space agency, nasa, has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk. the last foot patrol in south armagh. once an everyday part of the soldiers' lot,

drudgery and danger, now no more after almost four decades. if one is on one's own, in a private house, not doing any harm to anyone, i don't really see why people should wander in and say, you're doing something wrong. six rare white lion cubs are on the prowl at worcestershire park and, already, they have been met with a roar of approval from visitors. they're lovely, yeah. really sweet. yeah, they were cute. welcome back. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the united nations says airstrikes by the syrian government may be directly targeting civilians. it‘s accused the world of turning its back on their plight.

andrew bridge man has walked free on hacking charges —— and a british man. the current northern hemisphere heatwave has broken records across the world, and even the arctic is enduring a dramatic rise in temperatures. there have been hundreds of wildfires within forests in the arctic circle, including these ones in alaska and canada‘s northern yukon territory. you can see the flames and smoke from space. parts of siberia and greenland are also affected. this satellite image shows parts of northern russia covered in smoke. alison york, an expert in fire ecology for the state of alaska, has more. fire is a normal part of the ecosystem, and even into the tundra ecosystem, and even into the tundra ecosystem, yes. this is not, not at all unprecedented, this is within normal limits, but the increase in

fire activity that we have seen over the last ten years or so is consistent with a relationship with climate warming. one of our guests earlier said that it was, the wave of global wildfires is unprecedented, would you agree with that assessment? i would not say that assessment? i would not say that what we are seeing in alaska in 2019 is unprecedented, as of this morning‘s situation report we had about 2.2 million acres burnt in alaska, and that is on the high side, it is above normal, but it is not anywhere close to the record seasons of 2004, 2005 and 2015. from all the modelling work you do, what should we expect in the coming decades, more of this? yes, absolutely. all the modelling work that has been done looking out climate warming and fire activity in high northern latitudes suggest that

will be an increase in fire activity in some locations, quite substantial. how quickly will the environment recover after the fires? that very much depends on the severity of the fire, how deeply abandoned into the ground, essentially, and so in some locations you get very rapid recovery, in other locations, for insta nce recovery, in other locations, for instance in 2007 fire, our organisation has been doing lots of monitoring, the fire burned very deeply into the tundra in those sites and we are getting completely different vegetation coming in there. we are just looking at actions of the smoke and we saw some satellite images of just actions of the smoke and we saw some satellite images ofjust how far that smoke is spreading, what does that smoke is spreading, what does that do to our quality? the air quality in alaska this year has really ta ke n quality in alaska this year has really ta ken a quality in alaska this year has really taken a hit, we have had widespread impact to essentially

every population centre in the state. there is a lot of fire around and there has been smoke, our quality alerts off and on, depending on the direction of the wind. in anchorage and fairbanks several times this summer. the uk and the us have had what‘s described as a ‘special relationship‘ for six decades. but it recently came under strain when secret memos from britain‘s ambassador in washington were leaked — painting the trump administration as chaotic. but with boris johnson now in downing street, will it improve? this is what mr trump had to say. boris and i just spoke, boris and ijust spoke, i congratulated him, he will do a greatjob.

congratulated him and he is all set to go. we were working already on a trade agreement. i think it will be a very substantial trade agreement. we can do, with uk, we can do three — four times, we were actually impeded by their relationship with the european union. we were very much impeded on trade. and i think we can do 3—4, five times. we don‘t do the kind of trade we could do the relationship between the two men will be watched closely on both sides of the atlantic. 0ur north america correspondent nick bryant has been looking at what might be in store. file: during his visit, the prime minister and mr consulted... the special relationship often turns on personal relationships between washington and westminster. churchill and roosevelt formed a close wartime alliance. reagan and thatcher were like ideological newlyweds. the chemistry already seems good between this

billionaire populist and the old etonian populist. here meeting at the united nations in new york, the city where both men were born. in donald trump, borisjohnson has a transatlantic fan. i think we are going to have a great relationship and boris is going to be a great prime minister. i predict he will be a great prime minister, he has what it takes, they have needed him for a long time. barack 0bama and gordon brown were not especially close and although he became barbecue buddies with david cameron, he regarded angela merkel as the key european leader. donald trump‘s relationship with theresa may started with a gentle tap on the hand but ended with repeated kicks in the teeth. ever since churchill coined the phrase, the special relationship has meant far more to the british than the americans. that‘s espeially true now. as the uk tries to exit the european union it is more diplomatically isolated and it desperately needs a trade deal with the united states.

that partly explains the early offer of a state visit to london. but this america—first president prides himself on his negotiating skills and knows he has by far the upper hand. a mature, wise and responsible us president would look at britain in this crisis, and give them a helping hand. i worry this unscrupulous, mercurial, unpredictable president in the white house could even try to take advantage of britain in a moment of weakness and that would not honour the special relationship. the man donald trump one suggested the man should be uk‘s ambassador to washington, nigel farage, says he is a more faithfulfriend. we need to press the reset button, he will go for a good deal, as will be. it is remarkable, we have disappointed trump over and over again, he is instinctively pro— british.

he wants us to have a much better relationship than we currently have. borisjohnson needs to win over nancy pelosi, who has warned congress will not ratify a new trade deal if brexitjeopardises the good friday agreement. she visited the irish border earlier this year to hammer home that point. donald trump seems untroubled that boris johnson once said he betrayed "stupefying ignorance" about crime in london, but can the new prime minister repair a special relationship that risks becoming servile? some sports news now — and there was confusion at the world‘s biggest cycling race, the tour de france, when the organisers stopped the racing part of the way through the stage. the reason was a huge hail storm in the alps, which had made the mountain roads too dangerous to ride. 0ur sports correspondent ben croucher has the details. stage 19 taking place on friday, one of the big last couple of days in the alps crucially for the main contenders, one of the last opportunities to go for the winner of the race. about 20 kilometres

before the end, there was a hailstorm, and a snowstorm, and what that did is it flooded the roads, and caused a landslide, blocking it so organisers were forced into the incredible decision of actually abandoning the race. it caused confusion amongst many of the riders within the race, about what was going on exactly. leading is the man you can see, bernal, at the front, behind him, thomas, and crucially julian alaphilippe, who was in the lead until friday. 0rganisers stop to abandon the race at the top of the climb, before they went into the resort, that means that bernal was declared the winner of the stage. he is now taken the lead of the race with just one competitive stage remaining. it is almost unheard of to do and act like this, but mother

nature, despite the heat wave we have had around most of europe over the last few days, had intervened and that has caused this unprecedented action today. the computer game fortnite — which allows players to battle with and against each other online — is staging the biggest the esports tournament ever seen. up for grabs in new york is a $3 million first prize. and, as our cyber reporter joe tidy reports — there‘s every chance it will be won by a teenager. 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 consecutive months, a lot every day. you don‘tjust get here from chance.

another contender is 15—year—old benji fish from middlesex. him and his team—mate have both qualified as a duo and individually, meaning they are guaranteed $100,000 each before a single shot is fired. i think it will 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. benji and his parents bet big on the sport. his mum and manager ann 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—12 hours a day. so i wanted to give him the best opportunity. it‘s a sellout 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 are a big player in esports.

according to analysts, the global esports market will exceed the $1 billion 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, whose made waves is the first major streamer who is deaf. fortnite‘s rise to this point hasn‘t 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. but get a reminder of our top story. the united nations as abstract by the syrian government may be directly targeting civilians. it has accused the world of turning its back on their plight. there is plenty more on our website, and you can find plenty more on our website, and you canfind me plenty more on our website, and you can find me on twitter. for now,

thank you for watching and see you again soon. we have made it to the end of what has been an extraordinary week of weather. initially it looks like we had not broken the uk‘s all—time temperature record, and the last 24 hours some information has come to light, temperature reading from cambridge university botanic garden of 38.7 degrees on thursday afternoon, this still needs to be verified, it means to be checked by the met office, that will happen in the met office, that will happen in the coming days and weeks, but if that temperature stands, that will bea that temperature stands, that will be a new uk record. but, and i am sure many people will welcome this, a very different feel this weekend, much cooler weather with some heavy rain in place, that rain could be enough to cause some disruption,

because we have the slow—moving weather front draped across the british isles, bringing some rain across the eastern side of the uk, on saturday morning, some missed ten as well, these temperatures as we start the day between 14—17, not quite as warm as it has been on recent warnings. as we go through the day this band of cloud and rain really taking very little progress, wet weather across the south—east into east anglia, the midlands, parts of northern england and up into scotland, the rain heavy and persistent, and after cause localised flooding, certainly the chance and travel disruption. do not eat in scotland, northern ireland, wales and the south—west of england, either side of that system, it will likely slay dry, temperatures 18—23. 0n likely slay dry, temperatures 18—23. on saturday night at the front will pivot and move westwards to some extent, there is uncertainty about exactly how far west that front will get, it could introduce some rain into northern ireland, but some uncertainty about that, and it is going to be a somewhat fresh night,

by no means chilly but 12—15, a little more comfortable for sleeping. during sunday our weather front still wiggling around, ranked perhaps into northern ireland, some hanging around south—west scotland and some rain dangling down into northern england, the midlands, a few showers in the south—east. again either side of the front of the north—east in the south—west, we see a lot of dry weather, some spells of sunshine and the temperature is still in the 20s. as we go into monday, aral weather front still probably sitting across the northern half of the uk, that will allow some showers to develop and later an area of low pressure is likely to throw some rain towards the far south—west of england. elsewhere some sunny spells, women down to the south but still nothing like it has been, and u nsettled still nothing like it has been, and unsettled start then the next week, it settles down and warms up towards the end of the week, but no return 00:28:49,885 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 to the heat.