the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, says washington plans to start withdrawing troops from afghanistan before next year's american presidential election. the comments came a day after the official start of the afghan presidential election campaign. two us service members were killed in the country on monday. more than 50 prisoners have been killed in fighting between rival gang factions at a jail in northern brazil. sixteen of the victims were decapitated after inmates invaded a building occupied by rivals. brazil has the world's third—largest prison population and gruesome violence is rife in the overcrowded facilities. in his first public comments since he was rushed to hospital from prison on sunday, the russian opposition leader, alexei navalny, has said he does not preclude the possibility he had suffered an allergic reaction. however, his doctor said it was definitely a toxic reaction to a chemical.

a man had to be rescued from a beach in norfolk after his leg became wedged between rocks while the tide was in. he was stuck for nearly three hours, at one point submerged up three hours, at one point submerged up to his neck. our correspondent reports. the moment the emergency services rescued a man who was trapped between the rocks on the north norfolk coast. the tide was in, and they worked quickly to keep his head above the water. sheringham's lifeguard was the first on the scene. the patient had his foot wedged down in between the rock and the structure here. when i arrived on scene, he was getting hammered by pretty severe tidal waves, and so i basically came in with a rescue tube to wedge it between him and the rock, and then sheltered him with my body when waves were impacting. the man and his family were on these steps here

when a wave came over. he stepped in front of his children to protect them, and he was knocked onto the boulders that are right here below us, where he got his foot caught. after more than three hours in the water, fire crews had to use brute force to free him. so when we pulled up, the tide was probably at its highest. you couldn't break nothing. there's been reports, but you couldn't break nothing, because it's granite, it's too hard. we did consider it, but the best way was, we got lucky. the tide went out, we got lucky. the man was treated for minor injuries in hospital. some of his family, who i spoke to earlier, said they wanted to thank everybody that was involved in the rescue. robbie west, bbc news, sheringham. now on bbc news, the travel show. coming up on this week's programme, we're in new york with the guardian angels as they mark a0 years of keeping the city's subway safe. there used to be so much graffiti in the trains you couldn't even see out the window. and actually always fights and stabbings and shootings and gang activity, the violence

was off the hook. our global guru has some top tips for road tripping in europe. plus, we're behind the scenes at the world's largest open—air gallery in central spain. you don't realise until you get this close to it, the actual size and scale of what they're painting, it's enormous. hello and welcome to the travel show with me, christa larwood, and this week we are kicking off by heading to new york city. every year over 30 million people visit from all across the world. but back in the late 19705 the city

had a notorious crime record, and wasn't quite so welcoming to overseas visitors. but 30 years ago the volunteer group the guardian angels tried to do something about it, and they're still going strong today. in the late 70s the subways were, it was just an attack on your senses. the smell of urine, defecation, there would be graffiti everywhere, broken windows. the gangs would patrol up and down the trains and they would control certain lines, and you would never see a cop. the guardian angels started, in fact, right here in the bronx. i was a night manager of mickey d's, mcdonald's, and ijust decided to organise my closing crew to ride this very same train,

it used to be called the mugger‘s express, the number 4 train. this was a baptism of fire, this was the epicentre of criminal and gang activity in the late 70s. whereas the subways have improved immeasurably from what it was like when we first started. now there are pervs out there and they flash themselves to women. so we have a perv—busters unit, comprised of women, led by women who prioritise that, because what we want to do is empower women to fight back. perv— busters, it's catchy, it gets people to stop and notice and it makes sense. sexual assaults on the subway are on the rise, and they're very daring. they want to be on social media, they want to be out there, it is really nuts. so usually out on patrol you go after one or two pervs a night. we have two different events going on simultaneously. we get a lot of photos

and calls us sent to us, we obviously have to make sure that they are legitimate, and that is when we put out the flyer and we go out to the location of, you know, said incident and take it from there. we're gonna get off at 190th... it is not taken seriously so much because they know our great state of new york is not enforcing sexual crimes, they know they are not going to get charged seriously, they're back and forth, it's a revolving door. the first significant moment was when i was five years old and my sister was eight. we were with our mom, coming up the subway stairs at 183rd, by the old carvell there. we were on either side of our mom and my mom was in the middle, and we were coming up the stairs,

halfway up these stairs right here was where a guy passed us, he grabbed my mother's purse and pulled her back down the stairs. i can still remember, me and my sister were screaming, and we were scared because something really bad happened to my mother, and even to this day itjust gets to me. that's all i remember, screaming, and my mother, thankfully, she was not seriously injured, but something like that, if it affects me to this day, i can imagine how what they think is simple crime as far as groping or flashing, that is with your life. on any given day we have roughly half a million people riding the subways. we want to make sure commuters are getting to and from safely, keeping anything from happening, obviously, preventing crime as well as sexual assaults that are happening on the rise, we are looking up for everything. if we're there and we see it, we stop it.

now what you see a lot of, that you didn't see before, emotionally disturbed people, homeless people, oftentimes the trains are not clean, so aesthetically it's bad and it's not good for the emotionally disturbed or the homeless. but i would still accept what exists now compared to what used to be, there used to be so much graffiti in the trains you couldn't even see out the window. and actually always fights and stabbings and shootings, and gang activity. the violence was off the hook. it's a big difference but we have to keep it that way, we can'tjust assume it's going to stay that way. what's up, man? what's up? we are worried about you. what's up? nothing much.

are you cops? no, we are making sure everybody is ok. hey you, big guy, you gonna stop me, huh? who are you staring and glaring at, huh? are you hiding behind women... sir, be mindful of what's going on. hey! sir, calm down or we will put handcuffs on you. i want my lawyer, i will sue you! i will sue you! that's fine. where's 5—0, i need a cop! so the two of you, i will get into yourfaces. over the last a0 years as a leader of the guardian angels and very active out on patrol, there have been a number of occasions where i put myself in harm ‘s way. sit down, sit down, take it easy. you ain't no damn cops! and in the beginning of the group, it was extraordinarily dangerous before we were recognised by the police, we had six guardian angels shot and killed on the line of duty, three dozen injured, many of them

still going through therapy for the injuries that they suffered long ago. now we have gone through three generations of guardian angels, some of whom have gone on to become police officers themselves. so the reception is positive, even though we remain independent and autonomous. so the purpose of putting up the flyers, sometimes people don't want to take them, so we put them up as a public awareness thing, so they can at least view it and almost always they will take screenshots. as long as they get seen and talked about, and people pass alon gthe information, that is our main focus, and we are relentless, we'll keep at it. for the last four years, we have been seeing a lot more uprising in sexual crimes. we usually pass these out. it is an information flyer because we do a patrol called perv—busters, in regard to a lot of the perverts on the train, and we usually pass these up the car

because not everyone wants to call the police. so we field the information, we put out flyers and we pass on the information to pd if necessary. we try to do our best. when we are in the guardian angel uniform it's a big deal, we get noticed a lot because the red stands out to begin with, and we definitely want people to see us, so if something is going on, it's for them to look at us, and feel a sense of safety. they have always told us that over the years, when they see us they feel safe. ijust want to give a shout out to this man, what he has done for new york city. i am exuberant about the potential and the possibilities of the guardian angels in the future, notjust the here and now.

i believe in self—help and i believe that one woman, one man can make a difference, and i think we have proven that over a0 yea rs. well, do stay with us on the travel show because coming up... there you go. like that? ..pauljoins the artists making a splash in central spain. it's quite addictive. i know, right? so don't go away. hello again, it's high summer here in europe which means that many of you are planning road trips around the continent. and unfortunately in the case of one viewer, picking up speeding tickets.

but first, french railways has tested a remote—controlled drone train that could lead to driverless passenger services. the train successfully travelled four kilometres through the suburbs of paris. it has been called a fundamental step towards the train of tomorrow. back here in the present, mario biocca from montreal in canada says: a rental car can be very helpful in ireland and scotland where the traffic is relatively light and public transport is sparse. but the costs of taking a rental car across the irish sea which divides those countries can be very high. so — rent one car in ireland, return it, then take a ferry or fly across to scotland. there's lots of choice. rent another vehicle, but drop it

back and make your inter—city travel in england by rail. relatively fast, and with a bit of advance planning, extremely good value. sue wilson was travelling north—west of paris, at what she thought was the legal speed limit of 80 kilometres an hour. but she says: to help out with this, i've sought some specialist knowledge. are it's true, over the last ten years, cooperation between administrations in europe are much better than they used to be, and wherever you come from, if you have a fine in france, they will fine you in your home country. and the second reason is speed camera technology has improved. automatic cameras have average speed checks all over france and these days they are implementing a new generation of speed cameras which also detect the safety belts,

the phone behind the wheels, the safety distance between vehicles and also if you drive too fast when it's raining or when you are supposed to drive ten kilometres per an hour less. nardipad instagrams from the netherlands about a trip that she and her boyfriend are planning in the south of england. we'll probably fly to london and are thinking of going south—west. we might stop in a couple of places like stonehenge. is there anywhere else you can recommend? the great west way is a newly created route which is being described as england's route 66. it leads west from london and takes in some splendid locations including windsor, stately homes in the thames valley in the county of wiltshire and ends in bath and then bristol. diversions north to the cotswolds and south to stonehenge are easy. the route even has its own website, greatwestway. co. uk, with details, attractions and accommodation.

from the western end, you can make a magnificentjourney along the north coast of devon and cornwall, visiting the ruined castle at tintagel steeped in legend. you could follow the a30 road to its natural conclusion that lands end but i think coastal towns such as st ives and fowey are more rewarding. wherever you are heading, i'm here to help. send in your questions and i will do my very best to bring you the answers. from me, simon calder, the global guru, bye for now and see you next time. to finish off this week, we are heading to spain and to ciudad real, south of madrid. it's part of a region which is part of known as "empty spain" because so many people have moved away to bigger cities and towns to search of work. but now there's a big new public art project seeking to draw these people back and bond together

the communities they left behind. made famous by cervantes' literary descriptions of don quixote‘s travels through la mancha, much of the landscape remains unbuilt on. with rural towns and villages dotted throughout, along with these iconic windmills. but now, this is happened. artists have been transforming the landscape helped by locals with learning difficulties — and the results are spectacular. these giant warehouses were built to hold grain. so far, seven silos across the ciudad real province have been painted, and i'm travelling

to porzuna to help out with another. it's not hard to find. you don't realise until you get this close to it, the actual size and scale of what they are painting, it's enormous. the artist, nychos, has been flown in with his team from the us, with just a week to paint the whole silo. at the base, i am starting with the basics. i haven't painted anything since i was a kid, and that was colouring books — and i wasn't really any good at staying in the lines then either. i am more dick van dyke than vincent van gogh, to be honest. these volunteers are from laborvalia, a local organisation to help people with different abilities feel part of the community. this major project called "i am titanes" was their idea.

and with this project, have you noticed a benefit and a change in the volunteers and the people you are working with? this part of the country is known as "empty spain", with rural towns like these slowly losing people to the bigger cities and failing to attract new visitors. 0nly10% of the population live across 70% of the land.

that's barely ia inhabitants per square kilometre. nychos is a world—renowned urban artist who along with nine others, is bringing life back to these buildings and the communities around them. i'm very impressed by yourfilling job. we just put the drawing on top and me and eric are going to help you guys doing that. there you go. it looks like it's my turn. do you think you can get a gradient? a gradient? 0k. let's give it a go. you kind of spray upwards. there we go. like that? wow. oh, well. i can't teach you anything! it's quite addictive. i know right, since you know now that you were born to spray? for me it was, i painted my first piece and ijust never stopped.

in terms of this kind of project and working with the people you've got here, have you ever done anything like this before. not to that extent, i have to say, i didn't expect that they were that into it and had such a huge understanding. i'm so happy because i feel like we should integrate art way more in everyone‘s lives. i feel like in so many ways, people think, 0k, art is only for the rich and you have to go to the museum to see some art, but everyone can do it. i believe that everyone is, inside somewhere, an artist. it's hoped that the work of these international artists will attract their fans and others to the region. and on hand to show you around... nice to meet you. ..are the volunteers who helped paint them. this one is here, where we are now. bothjuan carlos and stephanie have learning difficulties, but with some coaxing, they were able to help me understand

the paintings, having been a part of their creation themselves. it's hoped that with time, more volunteers will get involved, to improve their confidence and social skills. the project was funded by the government of the region, and the plan is that the silos will leave a legacy beyond just being painted buildings. this one by the artist okuda is being used to hold a film festival. co—ordinating this project across almost 20,000 square kilometres are ink and movement, responsible for bringing these big—name artists together. but these artworks aren't universally popular across the region. with public art, you don't have to go and find out, it finds you.

you can like it or maybe you can dislike it but anyway, i think even though some people might not like it, it takes us to debate about something. it can be as simple as "i don't like the colours" or "i don't like the shape of this figure." but at least we are debating about art. the last two silos are due to be completed by the end of october, but running and cycling routes around the whole project are already in place. what struck me in my time here, being around these silos and these artworks, is the power they have. they get people talking — and perhaps more importantly, they bring communities together and they give people a voice. we live in an instagram generation, and if people are hoping to get young people out of the cities and into more rural areas like this one, you need to do something big. and ultimately, you don't get much more social media friendly than something like this.

paul getting in touch with his inner artist there in spain, in what looks like a truly amazing project. well, that's all we've got time for on this week's show. but coming up next week: we're focusing on the uk. archer, ready. draw. hold. release. and i'll be in northern ireland finding out how people, travellers, and even some four legged friends are experiencing new opportunities thanks to a global television phenomenon. it's amazing as we are walking through here, how many people are wearing the big capes from game of thrones, because game of thrones was filmed here. so many people would not have seen it if it weren't for this series. join us then, but also sign up for our social media feeds where you can join us on the road and share your travel stories with the rest of the world. until next time, from me,

christa larwood, and the rest of the travel show team, it's goodbye. hi there. the heatwave of last week seems like a distant memory now, but i just want to draw your attention to that provisional 38.7 degrees celsius that was recorded at cambridge university botanic gardens. the met office actually confirmed this temperature on monday as being genuine, so this now stands as the new top temperature ever recorded in the uk. now, the next few days are going to feel more like autumn than summer because of this area of low pressure. pretty deep feature for the time of year, bringing strong winds and plenty of heavy showers.

in fact, some of the showers are likely to be torrential in places, with the risk of some localised flooding. and those winds very gusty, especially across england and wales. now, this morning, those strong winds and heavy showers will be affecting the south—west of england, south wales, continuing to move northwards and eastwards as the day wears on. you can see the bright colours indicating torrential downpours affecting wales, england's south—west and the midlands and parts of northern england too. those winds gusting to 50mph along the south coast. 30—a0mph in other areas. so these in their own right could cause some disruption, and maybe even bring some branches down, as the trees, of course, are in full leaf. temperature—wise, not that great really, certainly cooler than monday, with temperatures reaching 19 to maybe 22 or 23 degrees. best of the sunshine across the northern and eastern areas, but as we head on into tuesday evening and overnight the showers will continue to move northwards and eastwards and again, some of them will be heavy in places and still windy in southern areas. but not a particularly cold night, but drawing up some warm air

from the near continent. that area of low pressure pushing on towards the eastern side of the country. still quite windy, but not maybe as windy as we're expecting to see today. the focus of the showers will shift northwards, affecting parts of scotland, into northern england, perhaps in towards the east of england and maybe the east midlands as well. whereas for northern ireland, i think wales, down into the south—west, southern england, probably a better and a drier day here, maybe a little bit warmer, 22 or 23 degrees, but cooler further north where those showers are. that low pressure system then moves out into the north sea on thursday, still affecting the eastern side of the country, and the winds will be lighter as well, so where the showers turn up, and i think again across parts of scotland and northern and eastern england, then they will be slower moving, some areas seeing a bit of rain in a short period of time. again, the best of the dry weather across the southern and western areas with lighter winds temperatures will be a little higher, maybe the mid—20 celsius. still high teens in the north. it promises to dry up a little bit as high pressure begins to build in for friday and the start of the weekend, and it will feel

a little bit warmer as well.

some specialist knowledge.

this is bbc news. welcome if you are watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: as the afghan presidential election gets underway, the trump administration announces it will start withdrawing american troops before the us election next year. at least 50 prisoners are killed in fighting between rival gangs in a brazilian jail. two children are among the dead in the california festival shooting. police say swift action prevented many more killings. 350 million trees — that is what officials say ethiopians have planted in a single day, to help