welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: us democrats condemn israel's decision to her two congresswomen from entering the country — a move encouraged by president trump. india's prime minister defends the decision to strip indian—administered kashmir of its special status but pakistan says three of its soldiers have been killed during fighting on the border. a rape victim in el salvador is re—tried for murder under the country's strict anti—abortion laws. she's already served three years in prison. and the incredible findings at missionjurassic. we'll take you to one of the biggest dinosaur graveyards in the world.

hello. in a very unusual move, israel has banned two us congresswomen from visiting the country. donald trump has claimed rashida taleeb and ilhan omar "hate israel and all jewish people". the two democrats have been strongly critical of israel's policy towards the palestinians — and of mrtrump. the israeli government says they've been denied entry because of their support for the international boycott movement, intended to influence israeli policy. our north america editor jon sopel reports. have two newly elected members of congress ever created the stir that ilhan omar and rashida tlaib have? they were the first two muslim women to be elected to the house. they're both on the left of the democratic party, neither is a fan of the israeli government, both are outspoken, and donald trump relishes going after them. omar has a history of launching vicious anti—semitic screeds.

all chant: send her back! her colleague, representative rashida tlaib... booing ..agreed with omar‘s characterisation of 9/11 and said that members of congress who support israel forgot what country they represent. and they haven't been shy in dishing it straight back to him. we have said this president is racist. we have condemned his racist remarks. i believe he is fascist. this is normal political knockabout, but this morning donald trump tweeted this: and, moments later, israel announced its ban on the two tweeted this: and, moments later, israel announced its ban on the two congresswomen‘s visit.

the government said it welcomes critics and criticism, but... translation: israeli law prohibits the entry into israel of those who call for and work to impose boycotts on israel. this is what the interior minister decided regarding these two congresswomen, and i agree with him. for donald trump, this isn't about who goes in and out of israel. it's about the next election, and he wants to personify the democratic party as these two women. he has vilified them as being anti—semitic, left—wing extremists, anti—american, and the more that democrats get behind them, the more he likes it. but what israel stands to get out of this is harder to fathom. the us president and israeli prime minister are tight, but this decision hasn't only alienated democrats. many republicans are critical too, and even aipac, the pro—israel lobbying group, has said it is wrong. john sopel, bbc news, washington. dr guy ziv is a professor of international relations at american university's school of

international service in washington. he's in arlington virginia. dr guy ziv, very good to talk to you. it is unusual what israel has done and very unusual for a president to urge and very unusual for a president to umea and very unusual for a president to urge a foreign country to deny entry to american citizens, especially members of congress. sure. israel had been willing to allow the congresswomen to enter the country and it was a policy reversal due to co nsta nt and it was a policy reversal due to constant pressure from president trump. and if you follow trump's series of tweets you can see what his strategy is fairly clearly. continue to target these congresswomen, paint them as anti— israel and anti—semitic and then portray them as the face of the democratic party. never mind the fa ct democratic party. never mind the fact that these two congresswomen who are part of the so—called squad

represent a small minority of the democratic party. i think anyone can see mr trump's motive here. this is dangerous for israel. it has always been israeli policy toutai support for israel to both main parties in the us. here mr netanyahu is allying himself squarely with the republicans against the democrats. sure. it is part of a continuing trend in the netanyahu error to turn israel into a partisan issue in the united states. israel has been a bypass on supported by both parties. —— era. during the last decade of netanyahu's —— era. during the last decade of neta nyahu's role —— era. during the last decade of netanyahu's role he has single—handedly cited with the republican party and president trump and undermined president obama and the democrats. it is also entirely possible, isn't it, that it will increase anger towards israel and

voiced the boycott movement —— voiced. it is a gift they otherwise would not have gotten. if they haven't been effective despite their effo rts haven't been effective despite their efforts over the years to muster up support, they have very little to show for it. and this is really a huge gift that netanyahu has given to them. it is really exhibit for those critics of israel who argue that israel is not a liberal democracy and it ——. we did this for domestic political purposes. just as trump is doing this for domestic political purposes. trump is appealing to the evangelical portion of his base, which he really needs in order to be re—elected next year, just as neta nyahu in order to be re—elected next year, just as netanyahu needs trump's support for his own re—elected next month. dr guy ziv, very interesting

talk to you. thank you very much. my pleasure. thanks. let's get some of the day's other news. the authorities in gibraltar have ordered the immediate release of an iranian oil tanker that was impounded last month by british marines and local police. the ship, grace 1, was suspected of carrying iranian oil to syria in defiance of european union sanctions. it's being freed after iran provided written assurances that the vessel wouldn't go to syria. the italian authorities have allowed five migrants, described as psychologically disturbed, to come ashore on the island of lampedusa from a rescue ship that's been caught up in a political row for two weeks. the spanish charity open arms said the other 142 remain on board, despite an offer by six european countries to take some in. data from weather monitoring stations across the globe has confirmed thatjuly was the earth's hottest month since records began. heat records were broken across the northern hemisphere, and not even the arctic was spared. hundreds of wildfires hit forests in the arctic circle including siberia, alaska, and greenland.

and they are vast. pakistan says three of its soldiers have been killed in an exchange of fire with indian forces along the line of control which divides the disputed territory of kashmir. two civilians are also reported to have been killed in the skirmishes. there's been heightened tension in the region since the indian prime minister, narendra modi, scrapped the autonomous status of the indian—administered part of kashmir earlier this month. the bbc‘s secunder kermani is in islamabad. there were conflicting reports about exactly what happened along the line of control. the pakistani military says that three of its soldiers and five indian soldiers were killed, while the indian army denies that it suffered any losses. now, clashes between the two sides in that region are not uncommon, but this comes at are not uncommon, but this comes at a particularly dangerous moment. last week, india strip the part of kashmir that it controls, that has been home to a long running insurgency, of its special

autonomous status. analysts believe this is part of a drive by the hindu nationalist government in india cracking down on a muslim majority province. and the move has infuriated the authorities here in pakistan, who believe that kashmiris should be given the option to vote for independence from india and become part of pakistan instead. the prime minister, imran khan, has called on the international community to intervene. tomorrow the united nations security council will hold a closed doors discussion about kashmir, but indian officials remain adamant that there are policies there are an internal matter. —— that their policies. well, here with analysis is sadanand dhume. he's a resident fellow at the american enterprise institute, and joins me from washington, dc. thank you very much for your time. the modi government says this has been a long—standing matter in our election manifesto and discovered has one a thumping majority. he says it will be better for kashmir, the

development aid will pour income of the people will be glad of it, eventually. if you listen to modi's independence day speech yesterday thatis independence day speech yesterday that is precisely the message is sending. i think ‘s primary audience seems to be the people of india. and what he is sending is the —— selling is the picture of kashmir where the issue of separatism is automatically resolved and where peace reigns and prosperity is brought in by large amounts of indian private investment. and what is wrong with that picture? well, there is nothing wrong with that picture as an ideal. think most who follow the region closely would be very doubtful about that coming true any time soon. you have to understand that the indian economy is not doing well in any case and this is a conflict zone. and we haven't heard from the kashmiris of course, in more than ten days. but when we do start hearing from them i suspect there will be a great deal of anger over

this move. as you say, it is already a conflict zone, these two nuclear armed countries have fought wars over kashmir already. the pakistani government seems to be saying that the rest of the world needs to wait in here. as i understand, when you talk to international diplomats, they say the diplomatic case for pakistan is quite weak and they may struggle to get international support. that could mean more terrorism, couldn't it? it could. but even on the terrorism card, which pakistan has used in the past by finding islamist groups that were at give in kashmir, pakistan has the threat of sanctions over its head. it is in the middle of an imf programme. i think the mood in the world towards islamist terrorism has changed dramatically after 2001 and after the mumbai attacks. pakistan would have to be careful about that. it is possible we will see more attacks in the coming months. how do you think this will play out,

ultimately? who knows about ultimately? who knows about ultimately? i think india has taken a very big gamble. debbie knows which way it will play out over the next five, ten, 15 years. and how it goes against conventional wisdom on how this should have been treated, which would be gradually and incrementally. modi has gone for a big, bold move. and many people in india seem convinced this will pay out. let us see what the future holds. sadanand dhume, thank you very much. thank you. in el salvador a retrial is under way of a rape victim who has been charged with murder under the country's strict anti—abortion laws. evelyn hernandez, who's 21, was attacked as a teenager by a gang member. she said she suffered a miscarriage, but prosecutors accused her of having an abortion after her child was found dead in a septic tank. she was sentenced to 30 years in prison. john mcmanus reports. ina in a country where abortion is illegal under any circumstances, this case has attracted widespread publicity. inside the court,

21—year—old evelyn hernandez, who was facing a retrial on aggravated homicide after she was accused of having an abortion. ms hernandez has already served three years in jail, but that conviction was quashed to the supreme court on the grounds that the original trial decision was made on insufficient evidence. translation: i have always told you that i am innocence. my goals are to keep studying. ando only asked the prosecution to think things through because i am really innocent. also to thejudge, i know because i am really innocent. also to the judge, i know that he will do justice. god willing, all will end well. am innocent. ms hernandez said she was raped by a gang member and suffered a stillbirth. one ngos as 11:7 suffered a stillbirth. one ngos as 147 women were sentenced to prison in similar cases over a 14 year period. like this woman, theodora vasquez, sentenced to 30 years in

prison when her baby was found dead after she went into labour alone. last year, her sentence was commuted. she had already served ten yea rs. commuted. she had already served ten years. legislators fail to vote on a plan last year to allow terminations in strict circumstances. the issue was one that remains highly emotive. john mcmanus, bbc news. much more to come on bbc news. including this. why hundreds of australian school children are mimicking the sounds of the nation's native birds. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control.

idi amin, uganda's brutalformer dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: us democrats condemn israel's decision to barr two congresswomen from entering the country, a move encouraged by president trump. india's prime minister defends

the decision to strip indian—administered kashmir of its special status, but pakistan says three of its soldiers have been killed during fighting on the border. one of the biggest sites for dinosaur bones anywhere in the world, is being excavated in the us state of wyoming. the dig, which has been dubbed ‘mission jurassic‘, has already unearthed more than a dozen fossils and footprints, and researchers think there may be more than 100 dinosaurs buried there. our science correspondent rebecca morrelle has the story. a hot, dusty landscape extending for miles. but emerging from this barren terrain, a dinosaur graveyard where the bones of some of the biggest creatures ever to roam the earth are being discovered. where does this fit on this mass? that slots straight in here. so, you found the pelvis? yeah, it's brilliant. that's amazing! the dig is called missionjurassic. what is fantastic about this site, there's multiple bones from at least a dozen individuals already poking out of the ground.

when you realise we have only really scratched a corner of this square mile, there is going to be dozens if not 100 plus dinosaurs lurking in the rocks of thejurassic here. this dinosaur drowned in a flash flood, and was then caught up ina logjam. the tree trunk it was crushed up against is still preserved millions of years later. these are just some of the amazing bones that are being discovered at this site. right here, you have an arm bone. next to it, a giant shoulder blade. and then you can just begin to see the backbone starting to emerge. and standing here, you really get a sense of the size of this creature. it's a type of sauropod which from nose to tail measured 30 metres long. and scientists think it might even be a species that's new to science. there are so many dinosaurs here.

excavating each bone is a painstaking process, so it takes people power. but how do you tell bone from rock? try licking it. 0k. quite sticky? yeah. because it's porous, and it's sucking onto your tongue. so that's... rock doesn't do that but bone does. the rocks are from thejurassic period 150 million years ago — a golden age when dinosaurs exploded in shape and size. dinosaurs are getting really, really, really big and there are loads of them. there are loads of different types and they are all walking around on these flood plains eating presumably huge forests, and that is a really good question actually — where were all these huge forests and how did they get enough food to eat? the dig is like going back in time. a meat—eating allosaurus has been found here and herds of plant—eating diplodocus also grazed on this landscape. before that, there was a vast inland sea. marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs were abundant in these waters.

this dinosaur dig is expected to last 20 years but the team says the efforts will be worth it to unlock the secrets of the jurassic past. rebecca morelle, bbc news, wyoming. it's being called the miracle over ramensk, after passengers and crew on board a russian airliner had a remarkable escape after their plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a birdstrike just outside moscow. there were 233 people on board the ural airlines flight when it came down in a belly flop in a cornfield. steve rosenberg has more. it's being hailed as a miracle. a passenger plane makes an emergency landing ina passenger plane makes an emergency landing in a cornfield. and everyone on board gets out alive. this was takeoff in moscow. see the birds? it's thought a flock of gulls got sucked into the engines of the ural airlines airbus. planes needed

to land fast. you can see smoke rising from near the wing. this was the moment of impact. terrifying for the passengers and crew, but at least they were down. 233 people had survived a dramatic emergency landing. we've just crashed, he says, we'vejust crashed, he says, but those pilots were amazing. full respect to them for getting us down. the kremlin today called the polyps of flight 178 heroes. there expected to receive state awards. the incident revived memories of another miraculous landing on new york's hudson river a decade ago. a usairways flight ditched after colliding with a flock of geese. but with these escapes from disaster,

perhaps miracle is the wrong word, it's the skill of the pilots that saves lives sloppy steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the australian bush is home to hundreds of species of native birds, all of which make a unique sound, and now they're being mimicked by a bunch of young students as part of a revived school competition from the 1950s. freya cole has the story. this is the bourn bird olympics. —— bournda burden on pics. don't mind, it's going to be loud —— bournda olympics. is one of the entries into a friendly competition that mimics the sounds of native birds —— it's one of. all right, no, that's not it!

these students live in the far south coast of new south wales in the bega valley, where the noble art of bird calling is being revived. what can you do? a magpie. all right, let's hear a magpie. it's a local tradition that dates back to the 1950s and 60s, but it's only recently been brought back to life. these men are former bird calling world champions and have their important job of calling world champions and have their importantjob of mentoring the next generation of. that was a familiar cackle of the kookaburra, followed by a fan tailed kouyate. the winner automatically becomes a local hero, but no matter the outcome, there are winners and the birds so too —— fan tailed kouyate.

doug reckord is the organiser of the competition and joins us from bournda national park education centre. why did you go back to it, it's a revival, isn't it? that's right, it's a wonderful story that this was a big thing in australia in the 19505. a big thing in australia in the 1950s. there was an organisation which encouraged students to love their herds and respect birds and this bird calling competition was statewide. it was a big thing, a big deal at the time and some of our local schools were very, very in that area and the great thing is, the older people now who are our judges were those school students of the past, and theyjust love seeing the past, and theyjust love seeing the circle of life, if you like, with the kids coming into do the bird calling. i suppose you relied on local media and localjournalists to spread the word, they were helpful to us in pulling together the pictures for this. vanessa

milton in the south—east for the abc is wonderful. she connected the dots before we got involved. she was talking to people at the merimbula museum, a local history organisation, and she did the initial story, which really gave this a lot of impetus, and she's covered our three bird olympic events and your recorders saw that video. it's just very engaging and the beautiful thing is the kids enjoy it and they show very little self—consciousness when they're doing it, and wejust love their reaction. and the kids who featured are generally really good at it, aren't they? you think it's more than a competition, does it have life lessons? there's a whole lot of stuff in there. where fortunate on the far south coast, mike, it's an absolute biodiversity hotspot with dutiful national park and a lot of these kids come from very small bush schools where there surrounded by

the bush. it's part of their life. we have issues like many other spots in the world with factors which may endanger some birds. we have endangered bird species. in looking at the science and technology behind the bird calls, we hope these stu d e nts the bird calls, we hope these students will play inactive role in helping to protect their habitats. thanks for talking to us. thanks, mike, enjoy the cricket! ouch! while we're sport... the australian tennis player, nick kyrgios, has been fined $113,000 after spectacularly losing his temper during a match in the us. kyrgios swore repeatedly at the umpire, calling him the worst ref ever and a tool, before walking off court and smashing two rackets against the floor. the australian went on to lose the cincinatti masters match against his russian opponent.

the sport's governing body says it's considering taking further action against kyrgios, who's well known for clashing with officials. that's it stop thanks for watching. —— that's it. thanks for watching. hello there, good morning. thursday was a much better day, but things are going downhill now and it's going to be quite a blustery few days ahead. we've got this cloud that's coming in from the atlantic, and that will push outbreaks of rain eastwards across the whole of the country. the main driving force, that area of low pressure that will sit to the north—west over the next few days. at the moment it's pushing these weather fronts ahead, thickening the cloud and bringing some rain from the west. this is how we start friday morning. a little on the cooler side in eastern england with a few breaks in the cloud, but the rain is coming in from the west and that could be heaviest over the hills of wales and south—west england, maybe 2—3 inches of rain and that could lead to localised flooding. this is the picture through the day, a dry start for eastern england and where we've got this rain coming from the west, heavy at times.

we should get sunshine in the afternoon in northern ireland and eventually across scotland. a few sharp showers around too. the winds picking up together with the rain, so fresh—to—strong winds, maybe locally gale force around western coasts. where we have the sunshine, 21 or 22 in scotland and northern ireland and under the cloud and rain in england and wales, 18 or 19 at best i suspect. so once the rain arrives at lunchtime for the cricket at lord's, it may be set in all day. that rain moves away from the south—east eventually overnight with clearer skies following. a lot of showers further north and these heavy and thundery especially in western scotland and 12—16 for the start of the weekend. a blustery start to the weekend. sunny spells and some showers. not too many showers for england and wales. good chance for eastern areas to stay dry. there'll be some more focused showers coming into northern ireland and particularly western parts of scotland, where temperatures will be a bit lower.

in the sunshine further east, we're back up to 22 or maybe 23 degrees. maybe a bit of rain in the south—east on saturday night in the returning weather front, but we still have the area of the low pressure to the north—west of the uk, so we can expect lots of showers for scotland and northern ireland. heavy and thundery, blustery winds too. the winds picking up for england and wales through the day, blowing in a few more showers, most of them will be out to the west. we have the fresh to strong westerly south—westerly winds continuing, and those temperatures will be disappointing if you're underneath those showers. in scotland and northern ireland, maybe 20 or 21 in eastern parts of england and wales. we start next week with more showers around, particularly in the west, but as the week goes on there is the possibility high pressure could make a welcome return, drying things off and it will feel a bit warmer too in the sunshine.

this is bbc news, the headlines: israel has barred two us congresswomen from entering the country, a move encouraged by president trump. rashida tlaib and ilhan omar are democrats, who've criticised policy towards the palestinians. the israeli government says they've been denied entry, because of their support for a boycott of the country. india's prime minister defends the decision to strip indian—administered kashmir of its special status. pakistan says three of its soldiers have been killed in fighting on the border. a rape victim in el salvador, is re—tried for murder, under the country's strict anti—abortion laws. she's already served three years in prison.