this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: the french president calls for a de—escalation of trade tensions — at an informal dinner ahead of sunday's g7 talks. brazil's armed forces begin a major operation to fight fires in the amazon. more than 40,000 troops are to be deployed across six states. it's a huge task for the troops who are supposedly reaching this region. this is a global crisis. because these are considered the lungs of these are considered the lungs of the world. prince andrew defends his former friendship with the disgraced sex offenderjeffrey epstein. the prince says he saw epstein once or twice a yearfor over a decade, but didn't

see or suspect criminal behaviour. and violence in hong kong — as police target pro—democracy protestors with tear gas and rubber bullets. world leaders will hold their first full day of talks on sunday at the g7 summit in biarritz. the french president said he'll do everything he can to get leaders to tackle the world's problems — including the fires in the amazon. emmanuel macron said he'd try to convince the g7 that tensions, especially over trade, were bad for everyone. john mcmanus reports. every picture tells a story, a p pa re ntly every picture tells a story, apparently so what narrative is unfolding here? as the g7 leaders

have dinner. the issues which divide them to be hard to swallow but finding a consensus could be fulfilling. it was all smiles early on saturday when the g7 host welcomed his guest in a carefully staged, manage performance. 0nly welcomed his guest in a carefully staged, manage performance. only the steadiness was donald tusk. 0utgoing leaders of the european council and still working on europeans —— fritz departure from the eu. one thing i could —— will not co—operate on is no deal. and i still hope that feministjohnson would not like to go down in history as mr no deal. the uk premises is a responsibility lies with mr tusk. reports suggest that the uk may not pay its full visual bill and £39 billion if you doesn't get a deal. first though, mr johnson will hold a —— bilateral

meeting with donald trump, izzard brexit supported by the don't ci to own everything. including trade was. iam very own everything. including trade was. i am very worried about the way it's going, the growth of protection, ta riffs going, the growth of protection, tariffs at the scene and being in free trading nation, it's good for the world. the two allies or metal brea kfast. the world. the two allies or metal breakfast. 0n the world. the two allies or metal breakfast. on their menu, what my going to a uk, us trade deal. the chinese trade dispute and irradiance actions. so far so good, the weather is fantastic, the gas so great, eve ryo ne is fantastic, the gas so great, everyone is getting along. the us and france are divided over imposing attacks on companies like facebook. to trump has threatened to retaliate on french wines. deserted beaches, empty surf. with tutors left, the leaders have the space, can they find the political way forward? daniel lippman is the co—author

of politico playbook & a reporter for politico. hejoins me now for more. to give us more analysis, good to see you. let's talk about the china trade war to". justin trump want anything out of the g7 i was he just playing to a domestic audience? he thinks he can handle his trade war with china just fine. but it doesn't seem to be going very well given that he sat a couple of years ago that he sat a couple of years ago that trade was easy to win. and then of course, a few weeks ago he told the campaign rally that he never said that they were easy to it. so it's kind of a reversal. and with all that you tariffs from both sides and the stock market tumbling yesterday in new york, he is going to find more pressure on himself to actually make a deal if his economic advisers think the us could tilt under recession that would deftly hurt his real action prospect. the other issue be hearing a lot about

of course is climate change in the amazon fires. donald trump is fairly isolated on his views of climate change. can the rest of the g7, the g6, with him at all on that issue? it's good to be very hard because this is a president who has said that climate change is a hoax and it took awhile him to actually even say anything about the amazon fires. but with even the brazilian government saying they're going to send in the military, the us promising to help in any response, i think the world leaders will be trying to come together, because it is very uncontroversial to, let's try to save distract let's try to save the amazon, even if you don't ignore —— acknowledge climate change the resident drum. everyone is looking towards the meeting between donald trump and boris johnson, towards the meeting between donald trump and borisjohnson, this is his first meeting with since becoming prime minister. to going to want to

help boris johnson prime minister. to going to want to help borisjohnson out on brexit, any concessions they?” help borisjohnson out on brexit, any concessions they? i think is going to voice reassurance and boris johnson ‘s leadership. it'll be interesting to if prime minister johnson says anything to trump to persuade him to support a world order based on free trade like we we re order based on free trade like we were listening to that sound but for. but i think trump well kind of say that brexit will happen under forests, and that he has full faith injohnson to actually get that done. boris is a much better politician than theresa may who trump had a group —— accused of being very weak and boris and john have long gotten along. it will help matters given that it's very good to have a strong relationship between the us and the uk. just briefly overall, we've seen donald trump at odds with other g7 leaders in the

past, where do you think the sonnet is going to end up? with jump and make saying he won't demand communicate, expectations are pretty low —— with emmanuel macron. the most we can expect is a nice photo opportunities and mice were on platitudes basically this is going to be something that trump has to smile his way through because all the world leaders are concerned that his trade was going to tilt the well—to—do recession. —— trade wars. thank you so much for your time. thank you so much for your time. thank you. and you can find more about the g7 summit on our website. just go to bbc.com/news. brazilian troops have begun a major operation aimed at putting

out a record number of fires in the amazon rainforest. the government has promised to relax its strict austerity policies and release extra funds for the emergency. official figures show more than 78,000 forest fires have been recorded in brazil so far this year, most of them in the amazon region. camilla mota is there and sent this report. this is what remains after the fire ran its course. large swathes of rainforest cleared to the ground. the wildlife dead or fled. parts of the world's biggest tropical forest reduced to charred remains. and every day for the last few weeks, new fires start and die. across brazil there have been more than 76,000 so far this year. the highest in nine years. under pressure from international leaders, brazil's president has said the army will help stop the blazes. mr bolsonaro has sent in the military to help out the fires after coming under pressure from the international community, saying he wanted to protect the amazon.

military staff could be deployed to nine different states. they are already acting in rondonia. we are setting up bases to fight fires and enforceable. one day after bolsonaro said he would send in army troops to help put out the fires, local government here in the state of rondonia, one of the most affected by the blazes, has launched a special operation combining different forces including army troops, firefighters and an elite group from the environment protection agency. the chief of operations told us the aim is to have the fire under control in the next few days. for some, this is not enough. at the weekend, many hundreds turned out to demonstrate in major brazilian cities and outside brazilian embassies all over the world.

they say the government was slow to act and the president's rhetoric encourages farmers to burn down the forest, to clear land for agriculture. but the governor cast doubt on this. translation: we've always had places and they've always been intense. but this time there are bigger repercussions. i've seen parliament —— farm is putting out fires to something odd is going on. something other than what is supposed to be happening. fires in the amazon rainforest are nothing new during summer. but the scale and the speed with which they are spreading has alarmed brazil and the rest of the world.

more now on the fires in the amazon, 0liver stuenkel is professor of international relations at the getulio vargas foundation in sao paulo. he says at the moment — brazil's president is keen to give the impression, he's not concerned about criticism from the international community. i think the situation to the brazilian president is about much more than just climate change or deforestation. the president who does not believe in climate change has made very clear that he considers the issue to be an internal issue, that the amazon belongs to brazil, and that this is seen by him as an attempt to weaken the brazil's sovereignty, to question brazil's control over the amazon and while some hope that international pressure may moderate the president's stance, it also does create a rally around the effect on the president, who's populist who likes to engage in controversy, in confrontation, also enjoys this moment were international pressure

seems to support his views that the international community seeks to weaken brazil, seeks to keep reserve from developing so i think it remains uncertain to what extent threats by the eu, for example, the threat to not ratify the recently signed trade agreement, will actually help the situation because so far at least the president has been very clear that he does not seek to moderate his stance, does not plan to moderate his terms in response to international pressure. we talk about the president, being very supportive of brazilian farmers and agriculture, he wants to expand in that area. if the international community brings in sensations or pulls out of that huge trade deal you are talking about, or that actually hurt farmers, effectively his base in the country? absolutely. so i think we see now the integration of two blocks

emerging to explain this internal political dynamic at first, the ideologues of climate change, the military, which is hearing concern about international engagement in the president has authoritarian tendencies, it questions the role of ngos, it is critical of them receiving foreign money, the one side, the other is interestingly enough agribusiness aligned in civil society, indigenous populations, who are now starting to be concerned. agribusiness in particular, of course, would be hurt if we ended up having boycotts so this might be perhaps the only thing as you rightly point out, this is part of bolsonaro's base. many of the fires are suspected to have been started by farmers who are less concerned about international consequences. there is a big farming companies are concerned about brazil's reputation.

that does not apply to the small—scale farmers who are seen as some of the responsible people who have started the fires. let's get some of the day's other news. north korea's state media has released images of its leader kim jong—un personally overseeing saturday's test of a very large multiple rocket launcher. mr kim said his country must step up the development of new strategic and tactical weapons. he said that young scientists who developed new missiles were a precious treasure. israel has launched airstrikes on targetsjust outside the syrian capital, damascus. the israeli military says it targeted iranian forces inside syria, which were preparing to launch killer drones at israel. unidentified gunmen have reportedly fired on a tourist bus injordan near the ancient city of petra. ajordanian news agency said the bus was not carrying any passengers at the time and there were no injuries.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: brazil begins a major operation to fight fires in the amazon. more than forty thousand troops are to be deployed across six states. he's the first african—american to win the presidential nomination of a major party and he accepts exactly 45 years to the day that martin luther king declared, "i have a dream." as darkness falls tonight, an unfamiliar light will appear in the south—eastern sky. an orange glowing disc that's brighter than anything, save the moon — our neighbouring planet, mars. horn toots there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation. it will take months,

and billions of dollars, to repair what katrina achieved injust hours. three weeks is the longest the great clock has been off duty in 117 years so it was with great satisfaction that clockmakerjohn vernon swung the pendulum to set the clock going again. big ben bongs this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: emmanuel macron has called for a de—escalation of trade tensions — at an informal dinner ahead of tomorrow's g7 talks. brazil's armed forces have begin a major operation to fight fires in the amazon following an international outcry. let's stay with that story now. 0ur correspondent, will grant, is in the amazonian state of rondonia and he flew over the fires with greenpeace,

as they mapped the extent of the damage. from this vantage point, you get a sense of the scale of the disaster facing this region of the amazon. hectare facing this region of the amazon. hecta re after facing this region of the amazon. hectare after hectare of pristine forest just hectare after hectare of pristine forestjust going up in smoke. it must be thousands of hectares already and it is a huge task for the troops who are supposedly reaching this region and going to try and tackle the problem. sent by presidentjair bolsonaro. try and tackle the problem. sent by president jair bolsonaro. this try and tackle the problem. sent by presidentjair bolsonaro. this is the reason for the protests taking place in the large cities in brazil

in sao paulo in brasilia, in rio. it has caused the international outcry. this is a global crisis because these are considered the lungs of these are considered the lungs of the world. and just on a human level and an emotional level almost, it is extremely upsetting, extremely disturbing to see this kind of devastation unfolding in front of you. now, the forest has already been cut back for timber and is much weakened so when the fires are starting, they take very easily, particularly given this dry weather. but the activists say the problem is this is just the but the activists say the problem is this isjust the beginning of the season of dry weather and things are going to get a lot, a lot worse before they improve. so far, shia bolsonaro has blamed the media. he has sacked the head of brazil's national speech —— space research programme which is in charge of tracking the deforestation data. the

activists say that he and his policies and his disregard for the environment, his disregard for the amazon, is really to blame. but it is undoubtedly one of the more shocking sites i have seen in latin america. queen elizabeth's second son, prince andrew, has released a statement about his friendship with the disgraced financier jeffrey epstein. it's the first time he has spoken directly about his links since epstein took his own life in a new york prison cell earlier this month. prince andrew said "at no stage" did he "see or suspect" any criminal behaviour. epstein had been awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges when he killed himself. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. what was prince andrew doing at the home of a convicted paedophile in new york in 2010, peering out through the door as young women came and went?

the questions about andrew's friendship withjeffrey epstein have shown no sign of abating — and so, from the prince today, a statement in which he says he is eager to clarify the facts. he states... the prince goes on... andrew does acknowledge that it was, in his words, "a mistake and an error" to see epstein after his release from prison. this photograph of them together was taken in 2010. andrew expresses regret that what he knew of epstein was not, as he puts it, "the real person". and yet epstein's behaviour was a matter of public record. two years earlier, in 2008, he had been prosecuted for procuring

an underage girl for prostitution. he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. but andrew was one of his friends, emerged, when this photo was published. it had been taken at one of epstein's parties in 2001. it showed andrew with a then—17—year—old girl — virginia roberts. andrew has always emphatically denied any impropriety. in today's statement, the queen's second son expresses tremendous sympathy for all those affected by the actions and behaviour of his former friend, jeffrey epstein. an employee at the british consulate in hong kong who was detained in mainland china has been released. china says simon cheng was detained for visiting a prostitute. but his supporters have dismissed that claim and suggested his case was linked to the political crisis in hong kong, which erupted again on saturday, with the worst violence in more than a week. 0ur china correspondent

john sudworth is there. hong kong's protesters have become battle hardened with the crisis well into a third month. what began as opposition to a proposed extradition law is now a full—scale pro—democracy movement, fuelled by fears that the city's freedoms are being eroded under chinese rule. just before the barricades went up, news came that a staff member at the uk consulate in hong kong had been released from custody in mainland china. but the claim that simon cheng was detained for paying a prostitute has been met with disbelief. they faked the picture. they photoshopped the picture which he was with a so—called prostitute just to detain him for 15 days. some suspect a political motive.

protests are the biggest challenge to communist part rule in decades and china has been accusing the uk of meddling. hong kong's political stand—off descends once again into violence as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, pushing the protesters away down the street. it continued late into the night with the protesters already planning further battles in the days ahead. around 40,000 people have turned out in the german city of dresden for a rally against far right extremism, ahead of state elections in saxony next weekend. 0rganisers said the response far exceeded their expectations. catherine karelli reports. a colourful march and rally in dresden but with a serious message. the state of saxony has seen a rise in anti—immigrant feeling ever since angela merkel allowed tens of thousands of refugees to enter the country in 2015.

resentment at that decision and poor economic prospects has spurred support for the alternative for germany party. if the afd does well here next week it could break the coalition between chancellor merkel‘s party and the social democrats. a similar outcome could occur in brandenburg. but the adf‘s political opponents believe it is racist. i think it is very important that we understand ourselves as a country which is indivisible and takes its strength from diversity. translation: for us, it is important to show a one week ahead of regional elections, that many people in this country stand against far right ideology and want to show that we fight for an open society. not everybody agrees, however. adf‘s march against

immigration and specifically islam took place in dresden four years ago. and the adf leaders reject the charge of racism, saying it is time other parties talk to them. after this week's election, they may have to. a spacecraft carrying the first russian robot to be sent into space has failed in its attempt to dock at the international space station. the spacecraft was unable to lock onto its target, but another attempt will be made on monday. it's hoped robots will eventually be able to carry out complex tasks in space, like spacewalks. the world's oldest panda in captivity has turned 37. she was treated with a cake made at a birthday party at the zoo in south—west china. there she is. according to the zoo, shen hsing whose name means star is 110 years old in human age.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @regedahmadbbc. hello there. the weather we had on saturday really sets the tone for the rest of the weekend. so good news if you like sunshine and you like heat. it was a beautiful day for the beach on cornwall on saturday. i think there will be more beach weather in places. and the temperatures on saturday afternoon got very close to 31 degrees just to the west of london. 29 there for aberystwyth, making it the warmest august bank weekend on record for wales. but notice, northern scotland, it was a little bit cooler because of some extra cloud. you can see that rope of cloud on the satellite picture. it brought some rain across the far north west of the uk. that now clearing away northwards. but you can see some of this cloud also has been filtering in over recent hours into wales and the south—west. so these western areas will generally see some patches of cloud as we go through the day on sunday. further east, one or two mist patches early on. they should tend to clear and then we are going to see

a lot of sunshine. more sunshine then we had during saturday across the north of scotland. although shetland could see some extra cloud rolling its way through the afternoon. as far as the temperatures go, well, 28 in glasgow, 32, possibly 32 and parts of the south—east. and it's going to feel increasingly humid as well. ans, actually, as we go through sunday night into the early hours of monday, that humidity could well cause some areas of mist and low cloud and fog to form in western areas. could be some quite poor visibility, actually, in parts of the west as we go into the first part of monday. further east, some clear spells and just the odd mist patch. and those temperatures 111—15 as we start the day. so through monday there will again be plenty of dry weather and some spells of sunshine. but remember, that early mist in the west, some of which could take a little while to clear. we'll see this frontal system getting quite close to northern ireland and western scotland. maybe some rain into the western isles and some of the western fringes

could see the odd showers. turning cooler in the west by this stage. but still the high 20s or low 30s across parts of eastern england. things though will be changing as we head into the coming week. through monday night into tuesday, could see some showers on this little weather front here pushing eastwards, then a more meaningful front starts to make some progress into the west. that'll start to thicken up the cloud into parts of northern ireland, western scotland, could see some splashes of rain here. the chance for the odd shower to break out elsewhere. if you do see a showers during tuesday could be heavy, could be thundery. but still the potential for some really warm weather, especially across eastern areas. however, wherever you are across the uk things will cool off as we head deeper into the week. there will be some outbreaks of rain around at times as well, particularly across the north and west.

this is bbc news, the headlines: emmanuel macron has called for a de—escalation of trade tensions — at an informal dinner ahead of sunday's g7 talks. leaders will also try to resolve differences over climate change and brexit. the european council president donald tusk says it may be the last chance to restore harmony among leading industrial nations. brazil's armed forces have begin a major operation to fight fires in the amazon — following an international outcry. more than 40,000 troops are to be deployed across six states. european leaders had criticised president jair bolsonaro's stance on the environment and threatened to impose commercial sanctions. police have used tear gas and rubber bullets to try and disperse anti—government protesters in hong kong. officers are also said to have charged at demonstrators with batons outside a police station. it's the 12th consecutive weekend of protests.