this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: nato blames russia after the collapse of a cold war nuclear deal between the us and moscow. we do not want a new arms race. that is the reason why we will respond in a measured and defensive way. the head of brazil's government agency that monitors deforestation in the amazon, quits his job and calls president bolsonaro ‘a coward'. vast swathes of arctic siberia are ablaze after intense summer temperatures and high winds. we have a special report.

hello and welcome to bbc news. the united states has officially withdrawn from an arms control pact with russia that dates back to the cold war. the intermediate—range nuclear forces treaty was a landmark agreement at the time but now the us accusses russia of violating it — which moscow denies. the fear is that without the restrictions a new arms race could get underway. the bbc‘s diplomatic correspondent james landale has more. it was a crucial moment towards the ending of the cold war. the moment in 1987 when the leaders of the united states and soviet union signed the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty. they promised to destroy all their missiles with ranges between 300 miles and 3&00 miles.

eliminating at a stroke an entire class of nuclear weapons. the mobile ground—launched nuclear weapons were hard to detect and could strike anywhere in europe within minutes. but in recent years, russia has begun testing and deploying a new cruise missile which the us says breaches the inf treaty. so they have withdrawn from the agreement, much to the concern of the international community. the world will lose an invaluable brake on nuclear war and this will likely not reduce the threat produced by ballistic missiles. regardless of what transpires, the parties should avoid destabilising developments and urgently seek agreement on a new arms control. the us gave russia six months to comply with the treaty but moscow denied its new missile broke the rules and blames the us ending the agreement.

the risk now is that a new arms race between russia, china and the us is sparked. nato leaders promised to ensure that the alliance's defences remained credible. but said they would not mirror russia and deploy new land—based missiles. we do not want a new arms race. that is the reason why we will respond in a measured and defensive way. that is also the reason why we continue to work for arms control. non—proliferation and disarmament. three decades ago, the leader of the world superpowers acted to reduce the nuclear threat in europe. their treaty is now dead and yet another part of the international rules—based order has been consigned to history. a short while ago donald trump said that any new treaty to counter the build—up of nuclear missiles should include china as well as russia. i have discussed it with president vladimir putin and discussed it with china and i will tell you,

china was very excited about talking about it and so is russia. so i think we will have a deal at some point but the particular pact that you are talking about, expired as of today, they were not living up to their commitment and i said if they will not live up to their commitment then we, we always have to be in the lead. bonniejenkins served as the co—ordinator for threat reduction programs at the us state department. she gave the bbc her view of the us‘s withdrawal of the pact. it really is unfortunate. it was a treaty that we were able to destroy an entire class of weapons, over 2600 of these missiles were destroyed and it really was a stabilising force in that region. and now without the treaty, the question becomes what happens now?

the limits are no longer there. what does that mean in terms of countries wanting to exploit that opportunity now? will there be a new arms race because of it? without the treaty, russia may decide to continue. they were testing and now without a treaty they can go ahead and start developing more of these missiles. there is also concern about the united states and what it wants to do in terms of developing missiles of the same range. and, of course, it is not my particular concern right now but i know there is a concern about the fact that china is also developing missiles. i think that is one of the reasons why the us pulled out, not only because of concerns about what russia is doing but also concerns about china developing the missiles as well. i think this was a step towards trying to figure out what we do with russia as well is what we do with china. the head of the brazilian agency that monitors deforestation has resigned, amid tensions with the country's president. president bolsonaro accused the government space research agency

of smearing brazil's reputation abroad, by publishing data showing a dramatic increase in deforestation. mr bolsonaro says the data is inaccurate. the head of the agency — ricardo galvao — rejects the accusations and has labelled the president a coward. this was president bolsonaro speaking before the resignation. translation: if these figures were all true, the amazon would have been devastated three times over during the last 20 years. we must combat this. daniel gallas has more from sao paulo. part of his political support comes from groups that are the ones who want to exploit economically the amazon more. so mining groups and also the cattle ranchers and all these agricultural businesses. they are all part of his political support group, the people who helped him come to power. but there is also a strong

belief by the president, which comes also from the military advisers that there is a lot of wealth to be made in the amazon and that wealth belongs to the brazilian people. so that is sort of the thinking, that he is trying to put into his government and in every post that he had, all the ministries and everyone who holds a government job is sort of aligned with that thinking. many people are not shocked at mr bolsonaro and how he has been in this battle of words with the head of the brazil space institute, which is responsible for deforestation numbers in brazil. the president believes there is an international conspiracy from ngos, from foreign ngos who want to control the amazon and he says that the numbers that came out from the institute were actuallyjust part of this conspiracy and that the head

was part of the conspiracy and they had a very nasty battle of words. the head of inpe had hisjob protected so he could not be sacked but there was a meeting this morning and he will actually leave. in a way, this is a victory for the government of bolsonaro because he will now be able to appoint a new head for this institute which oversees deforestation numbers in brazil. there are no questions that the rates of deforestation are high and that they are starting again. there were a few years when deforestation was being successfully tackled by the government but now there is an upwards trend. even the government acknowledges that there is an upward trend. but they were surprised by the number released injune of an 80% increase which is quite dramatic. most scientists believe inpe‘s numbers and there were never

questions about it. and the head, ricardo galvao, the man who will leave his job, is a highly respected scientist as well. let's get some of the day's other news. the singer r kelly has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering and sex trafficking in new york. kelly was charged last month on five counts that included kidnapping, sexual exploitation of a child and forced labour, in relation to several women and minors. thousands of algerians have taken to the streets of the capital to continue anti—government protests — for the 24th consecutive friday. they are demanding the release of those arrested in previous demonstrations and the lifting of measures to try to block the protests, before accepting any dialogue with the authorities. german customs officials have discovered 4.5 tonnes of cocaine in a shipping container at the port of hamburg. it's the country's biggest—ever haul of the illegal drug, which has an estimated street value of a billion dollars.

a swedish judge has ordered that us rapper asap rocky be released from custody in sweden and allowed to leave the country while he awaits a verdict in his assault case. asap rocky — whose real name is rakim mayers — was detained onjuly the 3rd with two of his friends in connection with a street brawl. he was charged with assault causing actual bodily harm. maddy savage has been following the case from stockholm. there were loud cheers and a lot of clapping when the judge announced that decision, that asap rocky and the two other suspects on trial for an assault here in stockholm about a month ago would not have to spend another night in the detention centre a few blocks from here where they have been held ever since their arrest. it is not the case that there has been a verdict. we will find out whether they were found guilty or not guilty on august 14. but, certainly, a lot of happiness from those close to asap rocky.

his mother was crying in the public gallery and as he came tojoin his friends and family there were huge hugs all around. donald trump has reacted to the case as well, saying that asap rocky will soon be flying home to america. he said come home soon, asap rocky, a.s.a.p. it is still an active case, an assault case and the authorities here are taking it seriously. the judge going through different types of evidence that had been presented from both sides. the alleged victim's lawyer argues he was attacked by asap rocky and his crew outside a burger bar and that he was pushed to the ground and injured with a glass bottle. asap rocky's team argued that although he did push the alleged victim to the ground, no bottles were used. they argued he was acting in self defence, he felt scared of the alleged victim and his friend who they thought was on drugs and that was why he acted. during the trial, asap rocky's

team did a lot to talk about his celebrity status and about how has been attacked and robbed before and that as an explanation for his behaviour. the alleged victim did sustain some serious injuries and the judge will also be looking over documents from the hospital, photos and video footage that has been presented over this three day trial. russia's arctic north and far east are being ravaged by huge wildfires — with up to four million hectares ablaze, and vast areas engulfed by smoke. fires are common at this time of year, but record—breaking summer temperatures and strong winds have made this year's particularly bad. 0ur moscow correspondent steve rosenberg has travelled to the remote irkurtsk region of siberia, and he sent this report. for weeks now, siberia has been smouldering. vast swathes of forest shrouded in smoke and many ravaged by fire.

wildfires are common here, but not on this scale. in siberia, an area the size of belgium is burning. the kremlin has sent in the army, military planes doing what they can to extinguish the blaze. the fires are sparked by hot weather and dry thunderstorms. they're mainly in remote areas, but could the effects be more widespread? there's concern that carbon emissions from here may be melting ice in the arctic and speeding up global warming. so black carbon is black, small particles, which falls down on ice and turns them from the white to black, so the ice cannot reflect sun radiation and sun starts to heat the ice in the arctic and it melts faster.

and as if fire wasn't bad enough, there have been floods too. in this town, injune, a dam burst, following torrential rain, 23 people died. you now, the town has flooded again. from forest fires, to flooding, so far this has been a summer of health for people in siberia. —— of hell for people in siberia. and it's because of wild fires and the floods that a state of emergency has been declared in large parts of this region. victor's house is uninhabitable, but they make people tough in siberia. "russians are ready for any challenge," victor tells me, "we'll get by." picking up the pieces after a natural disaster. for russia, it's becoming second nature.

stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: capturing the perfect wildlife photo. the competition focusing on birds in their natural habitats. question was what do we want to save oui’ question was what do we want to save our people and japanese as well and win the waror our people and japanese as well and win the war or whether we want to ta ke win the war or whether we want to take a chance on being able to win the war by killing all our young men? the invasion began at two o'clock this morning. mr bush, like most other people was clearly caught by surprise. we call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all iraqi forces. 100 years old and still full of vigor, vitality and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen in british history has lived so long and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she has

achieved this landmark anniversary. this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the anglican community. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: nato has blamed russia for the breakdown of a cold war nuclear weapons treaty, after the united states pulled out. president trump says his choice to be the new director of nnational intelligence, john ratcliffe, has withdrawn his name from consideration. the president blamed the media for mr ratcliffe's decision, saying it had treated him very unfairly. democratic lawmakers and some former senior us intelligence officers said the bbc‘s chris buckler has more.

the big question is whether or not john ratcliffe did actually have the background and experience to do the job, and whether he was necessarily the right man for it. that comes down to the position itself — the director of national intelligence sometimes is put in a position where he can clash with the president, and certainly that was true with dan coats, who held the position until he stepped down. as far as mr trump was concerned, on certain occasions dan coats did not back the president on issues like russia and north korea, there were times that the director of national intelligence contradicted the president and perhaps adjusted a hard—line approach than that of the white house. john ratcliffe on the other hand was seen by many as being a trump loyalist, and actually he had really come to the president attention in recent weeks because of his grilling of the former special counsel robert mueller during that

congressional hearing in which he was quite aggressive against mr mueller, and mr trump felt he had done a good job, essentially of protecting the president. that led some people to be a little uncomfortable, that combined with the fact that some people felt he had padded his cv and suggested he has more experience as far as counterterrorism was concerned, finally led him to say he was not going to go ahead with this, because of some criticism that was emerging in the press. donald trump highlighting the role of the media in all this, criticising them for the way they treated him, but also talking about the fact that the media was kind of doing the vetting process in behalf of the white house? yeah, which is an unusual way to look at the media, certainly that is not the way it is supposed to work — but you got the impression that president trump sometimes thinks that i can throw out a name and the media can work out whether or not there are any skeletons in the cupboard or any reason to be worried. of course the people that actually do work out that whole confirmation process, and whether or not someone should go ahead and take up one of these key jobs is the group of congressmen

and senators inside the us congress. and actually what has happened here is a number of republicans as well as democrats were doubting whetherjohn ratcliffe was the right man for the job, and it could have been a tricky process for president trump to push ahead with this and try and get him the position, as a result he is now considering his other option, he is now suggesting the deputy director sue gordon could fill the job as an acting basis, and he is looking at other names to fill it on a permanent role. this is an importantjob, it is america's spy chief overseeing some 17 civilian and military intelligence agencies. many africans living on a tight budget have come up with a cost effective way to work out — without having to pay a gym membership. by building their own gyms. the so—called ‘backyard gyms‘ have become popular across africa. emeline nkozi has been to ghana to visit some of them.

concrete blocks and makeshift benches may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of bodybuilding. however, ghana's backyard gyms are gaining momentum, breeding a new pack of athletes, hungry to take their training to the next level. while their following may be relatively small, easy access and low cost has seen a growing demand for these makeshift muscle factories. 0ne gym that has seen some of ghana's most fame bodybuilders is conan gym, based in the eastern region of ghana in akropong. i started in the 80s, because i like exercise, and the gym, i go someplace and i saw how to do bench and dumbbells. these dumbbells, i used cement and gravel, i make plastic moulds and i put it inside to make these dumbbells. these gyms bring in a variety of individuals from all ages

with one goal in mind — to be the best version of themselves. i don't think age matters, for instance i can skip one hour non—stop. i want to get to be the oldest person ever to... these gyms come with their own challenges. some of the challenges about this type of gym is first you are limited when it comes to equipment — for instance it is difficult to train your calves in a gym like this, because you don't have any equipment for it, and the other challenge is the issue of safety, it requires you to be more careful, to be more intuitive, to what you are doing, because you can easily get hurt. backyard gyms have become a cost—effective way for bodybuilders and amateurs alike to keep fit, and there seems no sign of it slowing down. these will continue to keep ghanaians fit for years to come. how do you capture the perfect wildlife photo? for the past ten years, the audubon photo competition has celebrated the best of bird photography images that capture the beauty and quiet moments

of our feathered friends. sabine meyer, a judge for the competition, explains to the bbc what it takes to snap that magic shot. i think we had a large number of finalist images that really showed a very creative approach to bird photography, there were a lot of different angles, different points of view, it felt very, we felt very strongly amongst the judges that the photographers really tried to push, had tried to push the envelope in terms of how can we take a picture of a bird differently? instead of having, you know, a bird sitting on a branch with perfect lighting, perfect technique, which is a great picture, all these extra added elements created an invigorating

collection of images for us judges to look at. we had a lot of funjudging. and we felt refreshed, some of us have been judging this contest for a few years now, so this year we were really excited about the freshness of some of the approaches. the eagle with the rabbit, these pictures were really sort of perfect, decisive moment type of images, where everything coalesces into really this perfect picture. kathrin sweiboda spent many, many days tracking this picture, the moment had to be perfect, the temperature had to be perfect, it had to have the sunrise quality, this picture she shot is kind of the holy grail. the national audubon society has taken a stance on ethical bird

photography, we are promoting best practices in terms of how to take a great photo, and the basic ms there is, a picture is never worth harassing the bird. police in the us state of washington are used to stopping motorists — but they got the shock of their lives when they saw a plane racing down the road. when the light aircraft finally came to a halt, the officers had to knock on the window and have a word with the pilot. richard lister reports. is it a bird? no, it is a plane, caught in the police — can buzzing

no, it is a plane, caught in the police ——dashcam buzzing low over the morning commute. i thought from a far distant it was a remote control plane, as it continued going north got bigger and bigger and bigger, to the point of, ok, that is really close to the ground. i think he is trying to land on state route seven. trooper thompson immediately turned around, braced for what could have been a disaster. see him getting closer and closer to the ground, the wheels hit the ground, kind wobbles a bit, was able to hit the brakes and bring it to a stop. it was not a conventional landing, but no—one was hurt. the pilot even managed to stop at the red light. it may be the most bizarre traffic stop of trooper thomson's career. the pilot, david ackland, had been flying to work when he reported a fuel problem with his kr two aircraft. amazingly the incident rarely interrupted the flow of traffic. he did not even get a ticket. tomorrow, though, he will be driving. don't forget, you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones.

friday saw a respite from the rain for many parts, at whaley bridge dam. although the severe flood warning remains in force at whaley bridge dam. and we do have more rain in the forecast later in the weekend, and into the new week. however the day should start of the many dry, bright, a little bit of mist and fog inland now the lights are getting longer, and it could be murky for a time near the east coast before the sunshine gets to work and melts that cloud away. but notice as we go through the day there is a chance of some showers for northern ireland, primarily, but there could be the odd heavy, thundery one across the hills of scotland, and perhaps the odd shower across northern england, north wales, but largely dry

and fine in the south and east, it is worth stressing that many places will stay dry with spells of strong sunshine through the day today. so there is reallyjust an outside risk of an interruption from a shower to edgbaston, but nevertheless, that risk is real but for most of the time it should be dry and fine. but as time goes by through the coming evening, this low pressure advances on further east, there is an increasing risk we will start to pick up the cloud, drizzly rain and then, by the time we are heading towards morning, some heavy rain coming into northern ireland. ahead of that are pulling in a southerly wind, so that will increase the temperature and humidity, so it will be warmer, if anything, through the coming night, temperature is 15 degrees in the central belt of scotland. with that extra humidity comes the risk of some more significant rain on sunday. bands of slow—moving, heavy and thundery showers are forecast for scotland, for northern ireland for a time, northern england, north wales, really anywhere from the midlands and lincolnshire north, but again,

southern and eastern areas, largely fine and warm, warmer still, 26—27 on sunday. given the risk of further heavy downpours in those areas, already affected by flooding, the met office have issued that warning ahead of time. and actually it looks more unsettled than again in the next week, almost as if the weather is repeating, low pressure comes in and become slow—moving, and throws further spells of rain at us. on monday that clears up the way, some respite, heavy showers follow back into northern ireland, it will feel fresher on monday with that humid air clearing for a while, pick up more of a south—westerly wind for the start of the new week. again come tuesday, it looks as if they will be some rather large and heavy showers around with some hail and thunder in there as well. so it is one of those we need to keep our eye on, there is more on the website.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the united states has formally withdrawn from a key nuclear treaty with russia. earlier this year washington accused moscow of violating the agreement on intermediate range missile, an accusation russia denies. the fear is that without the restrictions a new arms race could get underway. the head of brazil's space research institute has lost his job in a row over the scale of deforestation in the amazon. the country's president, jair bolsonaro, accused the agency of falsifying data. the head of the agency — ricardo galvao — rejects the accusations and has labelled the president a coward. russia's arctic north and far east are being ravaged by huge wildfires — with up to four million hectares ablaze, and vast areas engulfed by smoke.