this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: the us supreme court rules on donald trump's border wall — clearing the way to divert military funds to build it. the united states says it's reached an agreement with guatemala to help stem the flow of migrants reaching its southern border. the united nations accuses the world of turning its back on syria — after more than 100 people are killed injust ten days. air strikes kill and maim significant numbers of civilians several times a week and the response seems to be a collective shrug. and south african musician johnny clegg is remembered by family, friends and fans at a memorial service in johannesburg.

the us supreme court has cleared the way for the us president to build sections of his promised border wall with mexico, using pentagon funds. the supreme courtjustices narrowly voted to allow the trump administration to access $2.5 billion from the military budget to strengthen existing barriers in border states. president trump was quick to declare the ruling a ‘big victory‘ on twitter. chris buckler in washington has more. president trump has long promised this border wall. he went to rally after rally, even before he was elected president, and promised he would build a barrier between mexico and america to tackle the problem of illegal immigration and there has been

a long battle between president trump and his political opponents over how to fund that. inside congress, democrats have repeatedly blocked his attempts to get money specifically for the wall earlier this year he declared a national emergency, arguing that there was a crisis at america's southern border because of a number of people trying to claim a silent and because of illegal immigration, and he argued because of that national emergency, he should be allowed to redirect funds from other government departments. for example, the department of defence, in order to pay for the wall. a court had argued, and had decided that it was going to put in place an injunction because it felt at that stage, it wasn't appropriate for it to do it, and part of that is because congress in washington ultimately does have responsibility for the purse strings. it should have a say on these issues, they would argue, but the supreme court has now ruled

president trump can go ahead with his decision to spend this money build the wall and there is no doubt he regards that as a major victory. on twitter, he said it was a big win for border security. it is an important decision from the court but on another migration—related development, the us and guatemala have reached some sort of migration deal. can you tell us more? of course one of the big problems with the border as people coming from central america, and they are coming from countries like guatemala, el salvador and honduras. what guatemaala seems to have agreed to is the those people who are coming from honduras and el salvador who make their way through guatemala have to now seek protection first there in guatemala before they go to the us, essentially claiming asylum in that country before they reach the united states. now that is something that american officials have been pushing very hard forfor some time.

however, we don't know the specific details of this deal and actually, there are some suggestions that what is often called this "third country arrangement" is not mentioned in specific detail, it's certainly not called that in this agreement, that has been signed by the guatemalan government and the american administration. there is also another issue, which is that the guatemalan courts had said very clearly that as far as it was concerned, it needed the approval of congress and couldn't go ahead without that. currently, the congress in guatemala is on summer recess so there has not been a vote in favour of this deal and it's not entirely clear yet how the guatemalan government got around that problem. 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 usjoint 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. president trump has brushed away any concerns about north korea's latest short range missile tests. he's told reporters it didn't constitute a warning to the united states and that his relationship with kim jong—un was very good. the north korean leader called the two missile tests carried out on thursday a "solemn warning" to south korea over its plans to hold military drills with the us. the united nations‘ human rights chief michelle bachelet has criticised the ‘apparent indifference‘ of the international community towards the renewed fighting in syria. michelle bachelet said airstrikes by government forces and their allies have killed at least a hundred civilians in the last ten days. 26 of them were children.

the fighting has been taking place in idlib province, in the north—west of syria. it‘s one of the last opposition strongholds in the country after eight years of civil war. the fighting in idlb province affects an area that was supposed to be demilitarised, following a deal between turkey and russia in september 2018. however, heavy fighting in the province restarted at the end of april, when syrian government forces, supported by russia, launched airstrikes. after a week of airstrikes, government forces began their ground offensive in idlib. following the collapse of three ceasefire attempts, the syrian army began the second phase of its offensive, ten days ago. as imogen folks reports, despite denials by syria and russia, civilians, hospitals and businesses in idlib have been targeted. five—year—old rehan desperately trying to save her baby sister from an air strike. butjust hours later rehan 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 campaign ofairstrikes, 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 are 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 civilans several times a week and their response seems to be a collective shrug. with the security council paralysed by the persistent failure of its five permanent members to agree to use their power 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. kenan rahmani is an advocacy manager for the human rights group

the syria campaign. he described the situation on the ground in idlib, and calls on the international community to act to prevent air strikes on civilians. the people on the ground are absolutely terrified because there is nowhere that is safe right now for them. hospitals are being bombed, over 30 hospitals have been bombed in the last three months. a market was bombed yesterday. we have seen over 100 people killed in the last ten days and there is no area in idlib that is safe now. the horrible reality is that half of the 4 million person population in idlib has already been displaced once before and they will have nowhere left to go if idlib is completely destroyed by the assad regime and russia. hearing you describe the difficulties in idlib and we have seen pictures coming out of the area, do you feel like the world has

forgotten about the situation in syria? it certainly seems that the world has. syria is no longer a front page story but we are seeing the highest level of casualties we‘ve seen in many, many months and all we are getting statements from the united nations, statements from the united states and others in the west but there is no action to stop the assad regime warplanes from continuing to bomb hospitals, white helmets, busy markets and children. as we just saw in the clip, children are at the highest level of vulnerability to be killed by these indiscriminate strikes on civilians. we heard the human rights chief talk about a "paralysed" un security council. many countries seem reluctant to take on russia, who is embedded in syria.

what do you think can be done by the international community to help in some way? well, there is a precedent for action when the security council is at a deadlock. we saw this in kosovo and we‘ve seen other times throughout history. the reality is there should be no deadlock in the security council when there are atrocities and potential genocide taking place. what russia is doing is absolutely shameful and it is incumbent on the other members of the security council to find ways outside of the security council to force the assad regime and russia to stop bombing civilian areas. if nothing is done, if nothing changes, where is this going to end for people in idlib? in a matter ofjust three months, we‘ve seen over 350,000 people displaced from their homes. if this continues, we are going

to end up seeing up to 4 million people displaced, refugees, and these people have to seek refuge somewhere in the death tolls will be very high. the number of refugees that are fleeing to turkey, to europe, everywhere, will be very high and with the current situation it looks like it could be the worst humanitarian crisis in the war yet. there have been several earthquakes in the northern philippines, with initial reports indicating some damage. at least six people have been killed as a result of the tremors which struck north of the main island of luzon. the us geological survey has registered magnitudes of between 11.5 and 5.9. details are still coming in. the summer heatwave has broken records across the northern hemisphere, 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 can be seen from space. ramzan karmali reports. wildfires are ravaging the arctic. areas of northern siberia, northern scandinavia and greenland have been engulfed in flames. lightning often triggers fires in the region, but this year they are lasting longer. this fire at grouse creek in alaska has been burning since the 10th ofjuly. so far, over two million acres of forest land have been scorched in the state. the temperature was much higher than the average, and also things like the soil moisture and the amount of precipitation is much lower than the average. what this means is it‘s much drier, much warmer, so when there is an ignition, then the fires have been able to persist and spread quite quickly, and endure. arctic fires are common between may and october but higher temperatures,

blamed on climate change, have meant the fires this year have been more intense. global satellites are now tracking a swathe of new and ongoing wildfires within the arctic circle. smoke is affecting large areas, engulfing some places completely. cities in eastern russia have noted a significant fall in air quality, with many people seeking medical help. translation: smoke is a horror. you‘re choking and feel dizzy because the smell of the smoke is very strong. the fires are releasing copious volumes of carbon dioxide, which scientists say will make our planet even warmer. that means wildfires like these will become even more common. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: the tour de france is forced to stop after a hailstorm and a landslide in the mountains.

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.

this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: the us supreme court has cleared the way for the trump administration to use pentagon funds to build sections of the president‘s promised border wall with mexico. the united nations says airstrikes by the syrian government may be directly targetting civilians. it‘s accused the world of turning its back on their plight. three us university students have been suspended from their fraternity after posing with guns in front of a memorial honouring a murdered civil rights icon. the photo, obtainted by the mississippi centre the photo, obtainted by the mississippi center for investigative reporting and propublica, shows the three brandishing firearms by the bullet—ridden sign. the memorial honours 14—year—old emmett till, who was beaten to death when he was accused of whistling at a white woman in a rural town in 1955.

two men stood trialfor the murder, but were acquitted. a year later they admitted the crime, but couldn‘t be retried. emmett till‘s death galvanised the civil rights movement, as jerry mitchell of the mississippi center for investigative reporting told us, it is still significant today. well, it has a lot of significance. as you mentioned, it galvanised the civil rights movement and emmett till remains, and continues to grow, as an icon. he‘s very much been adopted and is part of, kind of, the black lives matter movement as well now. so it‘s very common in these protests to say you have a photo or sign of trayvon martin and emmett till alongside, so he‘s actually grown in stature, i guess you could say, as opposed to shrinking, unlike most people.

when you read about the emmett till case, it‘s such a horrific case, what happened to that boy. why would anyone pose in the way we‘ve seen these boys pose in front of that sign? well, obviously it‘s strictly speculation on our part as to what was their motive for it. if you take the best case scenario, it would be this was a prank, and they just stood in front of the signs with their guns and snapped a picture at night, rather than obviously during the day, when it would be without guns, you know. but more nefarious explanation would be that they shot the sign and took a photo of that after they shot it. it‘s not quite clear whether they shot the sign and the case is now being investigated, but does it raise a bigger issue that perhaps some communities in mississippi perhaps haven‘t quite come to terms

with the history of that state? well, if i‘m going to be honest, i would agree mississippi hasn‘t come to terms with it. i‘d also agree the united states in general hasn‘t come to terms with it. i think it‘s been a struggle, you know, throughout the united states, so yes, i think that‘s very true and i think it‘s a troubling photo. i know when it went online a lot of people commented and said they were very disturbed by what they saw, that these young people... for african—americans, this is like sacred ground. the place for emmett till, where his body was found. there very concerned about this image, and understandably so. jerry mitchell there. football news, and the wales forward gareth bale is set to leave

real madrid for a move to the chinese super league. sources in spain say the 30—year—old is close to leaving them after signing a three—year—deal with jiangsu suning. it‘s reported he will earn more than $1 million a week. 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. our 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 win of the race. about 20 kilometres before the end, at the ski resort of tignes, there was a hailstorm, and a snowstorm, and what that did is that 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, egan bernal, leading away at the front, behind him, geraint thomas, the defending champion, and cruciallyjulian alaphilippe, who was in the lead of the race until friday. now, race organisers decided to abandon the race at the top of the climb, just before they went into the resort of val d‘isere, that means that egan bernal was essentially declared the winner of the stage. he was two minutes ahead of the previous leader at the time, and has now taken the lead of the race with just one competitive stage remaining. it‘s almost unheard of to do an act like this, but mother nature, despite the heatwave that we‘ve had around most of europe over the last few days, has intervened. and that‘s caused this unprecedented action today. ben croucher with those details. he was one of south africa‘s most celebrated musicians. johnny clegg has been remembered at a memorial

service in johannesburg. he was known as the "white zulu", for his vocal criticism of the apartheid government. he died at the age of 66, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. our correspondent milton nkosi sent this report from the service. we are here at the memorial service for the legendary musician johnny clegg. hundreds of people came out today to pay their respects. he died last week and was buried the following day. but today people came here to say what they thought about him, and the legendary actor, john kani, delivered the eulogy. this is the man who broke all the barriers. the man who took on a culture, a man in his own embodiment was south africa, was an african. this is the man who,

through his music, through his art, an anthropologist — now i know why he wanted to study where we come from, because he wanted to understand where we‘re going. and then came the moment when johnny clegg‘s son jesse performed a song, and paid an emotional tribute to his late father. ultimately, it‘s impossible for me to sum up what my dad was to my mother, my brother and me. but writing this song together was a wonderful memory that we shared. and it gave us a chance to celebrate these most precious things. it‘s a memory that i will always carry with me. and i would like to sing this song for him now. # i‘ve been looking for something to lose, i‘ve been looking for something to prove...

# oh well, it‘s hard to find yourself... # i‘ve been looking for a brighter day, i‘ve been looking for the words to say # oh well, it‘s hard to even tell...# the people who came here today to attend this memorial service came from all walks of life. and this is what they told us about what johnny clegg meant to them. as they said, he‘s the son of south africa, you know, he‘s a legend and someone that‘s, i guess, always been a symbol of what we want for our country. he has always been that no barrier between colour, creed. i say rest in peace our brother,

he is still in our hearts, and as a south african, the whole world is saying, guys, sorry, the family, just paying their very big condolences to them. he means a lot to us, he is an epitome of what south africa should have been. johnny clegg remembered at that memorial service in johannesburg. much more coming up on bbc news. you can get all the top stories on our website, including the top stories this hour about the us supreme court giving president donald trump permission to use $2.5 billion worth of pentagon funds for a section of wall on the southern border. donald trump has tweeted that they big victory. you can reach me on twitter, i‘m @regedahmadbbc. for all of our breaking news,

@bbcbreaking on twitter as well. see you soon. hello. we‘ve made it to the end of what has been an extraordinary week of weather. initially it looked like we hadn‘t broken the uk‘s all—time temperature record, but in the last 2a hours some new information has come to light — a temperature reading from cambridge university botanic garden of 38.7 degrees on thursday afternoon. now, this still needs to be verified, it needs to be checked by the met office, that will happen in the coming days and weeks, but if that temperature stands, that will be a new uk record. but, and i‘m sure many people will welcome this, a very different feel this weekend. much cooler weather with some heavy rain in places. that rain could be enough to cause some disruption, because we have this slow—moving weather front draped across the british isles, bringing some rain across the eastern side of the uk during saturday morning. quite a muggy feel, some

mist and murk as well. those temperatures as we start the day between 14—17, not quite as warm i suppose as it has been on recent mornings. as we go through the day, this band of cloud and rain really making 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, perhaps enough to cause some localised flooding, certainly the chance of some travel disruption. to the north—east of scotland, northern ireland, wales and the south—west, either side of that system, it‘s likely to stay dry, with some spells of sunshine, and those temperatures 18—23. on saturday night the front will pivot and move westwards to some extent, but there‘s uncertainty about exactly how far west that front will get. it could well introduce some rain into northern ireland, but some uncertainty about that. and it is going to be a somewhat fresher night, by no means a chilly night, but 12—15, a little more comfortable for sleeping. so, during sunday, ourweatherfront

still wriggling around, still sitting in place. rain 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. but again, either side of the front, to the north—east and the south—west, we see a lot of dry weather, some spells of sunshine and those temperatures still in the 20s. as we go into monday, our old weather front still probably sitting across the northern half of the uk, so that will allow some showers to develop. and late in the day, an area of low pressure is likely to throw some rain towards the far south—west of england. elsewhere, some sunny spells, a little warmer down to the south but still nothing like it has been. an unsettled start then to next week. it settles down and warms up a bit towards the end of the week, but no return to the heat.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

the us supreme court has ruled that the trump administration can divert military funds to pay for the construction of the president‘s long—promised border wall with mexico. donald trump had tried to declare a national emergency to fund the wall after failing to persuade congress. he called the ruling a big success. the us and guatemala have signed a migration agreement, days after us president donald trump threatened the central american country with tariffs. under the deal, migrants from honduras and el salvador who pass through guatemala would be required to stop and seek asylum there first. the united nations has accused the world of turning its back on the war in syria. airstrikes there have killed more than 100 people in the last 10 days. the un says the syrian government may be directly targetting civilians. now on bbc news, our world.