this is bbc news, the headlines: as fires continue to burn in the amazon rainforest — brazil's military chief says his government is in talks with four countries offering help: chile, israel, ecuador and the united states. the development comes just days after brazil's government rejected a previous offer of money from the g7 countries. the hong kong authorities have intensified their crackdown on dissent in the region. police conducted a wave of arrest, among those being detained were the prominent pro—democracy campaigners joshua wong and agnes chow. they've both been charged withjoining and inciting others to join an unlawful assembly. the co—founder and chief executive of twitter, jack dorsey, has had his own account hacked. a series of erratic and offensive remarks, including racial slurs, appeared on his twitter account for around 15 minutes and could be read by his more than 4 million followers.

now on bbc news: blind comedian chris mccausland hosts a comedy and storytelling show featuring funny and fascinating stories told by disabled people and those with mental health difficulties. this programme contains discussion of adult subjects and some strong language. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your host for tonight... chris mccausland! (applause). hello, ladies and

gentlemen! welcome to outs: storytelling live at the edinburgh friends! my name's chris mccausland. iam blind, friends! my name's chris mccausland. i am blind, that is what qualifies me to be here tonight. that's a question i get asked a lot — people asked me what you like being blind? is it like nothing? i imagine everything in he had. i live in a fa ntasy world, everything in he had. i live in a fantasy world, you know? and it's not a conscious thing, i don't try to conjure it up in me had, it's like a unconscious thing. i summon this imagination around me at all times. maybe i did used to be able to see in my brain tries to function visually, i try to picture it, but i'm wrong about everything. i'm wrong about everything all the time. the world in my head, i mean first of all, it is built on assumptions

and deductions based on what i can tell and hear and feel and then all the gaps are filled in with pure flights of abstract imagination. i'm wrong about everything. i'm wrong about what people look like old design. and you will do this yourselves to an extent. you know? you be at home, you'll have the radio one common summer will be talking on the radio ——, and someone will be on. and then you see a photograph of what they look like and you will be wrong, because people don't sound bold or hairy, do they? my wife said to me if you got your site back tomorrow what is the first thing you would want to see? i've because it's my daughter sophie. because it's notjust what she looks like that i'm missing out on, it's all the wonderful, interesting and amazing things that she's been doing and she does. it started with the crawling of the walking on the jumping started with the crawling of the walking on thejumping and dancing in the dressing up, the drawing, the smiles, all the smells, of course it sophie. my wife said good. and i

would be second, would i? isaid yeah, yeah, you can be second. and she said second? i said it depends. we counting mohammed salad in this? is doing things i can't imagine. every day of my life i was a good see “— every day of my life i was a good see ——i every day of my life i was a good see —— i could see my daughter, every week of my life i could wish i could see mohammed siler. she said i can't believe you love him more than me, isaid can't believe you love him more than me, i said no, can't believe you love him more than me, isaid no, i love you can't believe you love him more than me, i said no, i love you the same falls it's hard to keep up the innovations, the inventions, it's all getting more and more. there are still a few things you can't get, can't do where's wally, not wally,

not wally, not wally not wally. a bloke that looks like wally, but no, he's not wally. moving down to road two, not wally, not wally... wally! not wally, not wally... he was in the top left, just because you find him early doesn't mean you don't have to listen to the rest of the picture. we have a series of storytellers today who each have a disability or a mental health difficulty. some of these guys have never been on stage before. the theme this year is lost and found and we've let them interpret that however they want. the only criteria is that the stories are all true. so guys, is that the stories are all true. so guys, let me ask — are you ready for your first storyteller of the show?

yes! please welcome janine hammond! (applause) you're going to have to brace yourselves for this one. i've lost my nipples. it's really annoying because nipples are really great, aren't they? they feed your babies, their little leisure domes, and they warn you when you need to wear a coat. i and they warn you when you need to weara coat. i mean, and they warn you when you need to wear a coat. i mean, it's not all bad, is it? because the flashy bits of the breast are surely the best bit, aren't they? except i've lost those as well, i'm so careless —— flashy bits. i have got something going on here, those at the front might notice it, it's not my socks in my bra just to let you know, i haven't got prosthetic breasts or anything or implants, hold on for this one, i've got flaps. yeah, i've got flaps. now the reason i say that is i'm a next nurse and in the world

of medicine, we love abbreviations, we love acronyms, we love all that sort of things, we haven't got times to say the big words. so i've got tram fabs, to say the big words. so i've got tram fa bs, nothing to say the big words. so i've got tram fabs, nothing to do with trams. that would be weird, isn't it? they are tram, because they are for your transrectal abdominals are tram, because they are for your tra nsrectal abdominals muscle, are tram, because they are for your transrectal abdominals muscle, so you've got two, that's like your sixpack, i don't know if many of you have seen a sixpack, but anyway, it's part of your sixpack stop i've only got a four pack because two of my muscles are in my chest. weird, i know. and it basically takes two surgical teams to do the operation. soi surgical teams to do the operation. so i single—handedly drain the nhs of my local area. basically, the top tea m ta ke of my local area. basically, the top team take your breasts off and the cancer, that is the key bit, and then the other teams split you from hip to hip and take the whole front fla p hip to hip and take the whole front flap of your abdomen off. it's a lovely, gory operation and they

basically pull the muscles up with all the blood supply and nerve endings and then a just paid you out and make breasts. it's amazing. now, the first time i had breast cancer it was triple negative, but in those days it wasn't even called triple negative, they just days it wasn't even called triple negative, theyjust called it invasive cancer. so i was 32, my kids were little, ijust started a newjob, and kids were little, ijust started a new job, and of kids were little, ijust started a newjob, and of course life's like that, isn't it? fast forward 15 yea rs, that, isn't it? fast forward 15 years, and! that, isn't it? fast forward 15 years, and ifind myself in my local hospital, a different surgeon wards in this time, it's been 15 years. i bounce in and he goes well, it's back. and i thought, well, he's got a nice bedside manner, doesn't he? thanks, mate stop so i knew what i wa nted thanks, mate stop so i knew what i wanted him to do because i'd have 15 yea rs wanted him to do because i'd have 15 years to think about it. i said can you do the operation, bis, about, bossin you do the operation, bis, about, boss in one go —— all in one go? and he said yeah, i can do that. 12 yea rs he said yeah, i can do that. 12

years under anaesthetic i woke up andi years under anaesthetic i woke up and i tell you, that operation stings. so takes a long time to get over that and weird things happen to your body after this operation that they don't tell you about. so it feels like i've got a bowling ball in my stomach. it looks like i've got a bowling ball in my stomach but i've had scans and i definitely haven't got it. it's just crisps. . weird. this time i had a different chemo, we like a selection. i had fuc. it also left me like a blow to the sumo wrestler — i know, it's fun to say. does make bloated. —— bloated. i had to go to the pain clinic and i had a lot of medication, but they suggested why

don't we do mindfulness, and i thought oh, that will be good. i'll give that ago, that will but somehow, trying to meditate with ten other people in what was effectively a storeroom, itjust didn't work for me. so i said to the psychologist, this mindfulness doesn't work for me and she said oh, let's think of something else that might help. and i noticed that i like to make up stories, i've got a weird imagination, and i ended up darting to write stuff. and that was really nice, so i put a player not long ago andi nice, so i put a player not long ago and i have some stuff coming up in manchester, which is lovely... but, let's go back to my nipples because... i am let's go back to my nipples because... iam not let's go back to my nipples because... i am not happy about something here. isaid because... i am not happy about something here. i said to my surgeon, something here. i said to my surgeon, what about nipples? and he said oh, they're a faf. a faf?! that's what he said, they are a faf. you spent 12 hours slicing and dicing me like a block of choccy,

you put me together and then you say it's a faf? that's not right, is it? he said well, you know, i can do them but, you know. she said, janine, there's one thing you need to know. when you make nipples, they have to really stick out, when we make them, because they do shrink back. so you're always like, pointy? i was like oh, god, i can't be pointy! so was given some prosthetic nipples. they arejust pointy! so was given some prosthetic nipples. they are just stick on nipples. they are just stick on nipples. that's what they are. and i thought, you know what, i can't wear them. what if they came unstuck and worked there were up and i was talking to someone and they were all! you've got a nibble on your neck! it would be even worse if you we re neck! it would be even worse if you were single in the back on someone else! —— talking to someone else in the moved up to my neck. the only

time i've worn my nipples as i wore one nibble on the middle of my head andi one nibble on the middle of my head and i did my david bowie ziggy stardust in person to cheer myself up stardust in person to cheer myself up and they do it quite regularly, if i'm honest. —— nibble. so when i wrote this little play, there a method my madness, i thought i'm going to write for the first time about a female who has had my operation but she is ingle and has to reveal herself every time a relationship fails —— she is single, and she would have to start again, so that was awful but... in the middle of the place he has to stick the nipple on herforehead and does her best ziggy. now, most theatres don't stock prosthetic nipples, in fa ct don't stock prosthetic nipples, in fact they don't stock them at all. so my nipples gets applied for my

actresses to do this, which has meant a very exciting chapter in my life because i get e—mails now saying janine, please can i have your nipples? yeah, i like to open those e—mails on a pack train when i know someone is reading over my shoulder. i'lljust say, today, someone shoulder. i'lljust say, today, someone is coming to collect my nipples, no, i've got them with me, and they then taken to manchester so they can appear on another actress' had for another three day role, i'm kind of resentful. my nipples are appearing in theatres without me. they're having a life of their own. they're having a life of their own. they are, neglecting me. ithink they are going to get an agent and they are going to get an agent and they are going to get an agent and they are going to dump me, i really do. so, when i said to you i've lost my nipples, i have. i've lost them to cancer, and i've lost them to the fickle world of show business. thank you. (applause). well ladies and

gentlemen, janine hammond! iama i am a comedian, and my ability is so new it has liking issues. the attachments to my ears are called shoes. they do cost a fortune. they do pens like hell, but it is worth it, they make me feel amazing, and confident. the first time i noticed anything was wrong, i am on stage, what happened is, i am a performer andi what happened is, i am a performer and i am on stage, and i am being hilarious, absolutely bloody hilarious, absolutely bloody hilarious, but didn't have a clue why, right? iwas not hilarious, but didn't have a clue why, right? i was not intending to be. it turns out that when i was

talking to people in the audience i was repeating back completely the wrong thing, i would be like, hey sir, how did you meet your wife? you made or inner cuban trans club, did you? turns made or inner cuban trans club, did you ? turns out made or inner cuban trans club, did you? turns out he had met her in transit in cuba. my hearing had gone to my left ear and it was quite simple, and! to my left ear and it was quite simple, and i was told it wasjust the one ear, and you can adapt, it was fine, it was all cool, it is pretty easy with one hearing aid for moderate to medium hearing loss. two yea rs moderate to medium hearing loss. two years ago, i took on a commission, it was for a play to be written over four months. and during those four months my right ear hearing started to go, my right ear. the good air. and i went back to the emt and they told me that obviously the hearing is now going, it will be permanent, but i can't tell me how long i have got. they have no explanation of why the hearing is going stop i get

fitted for a new set of hearing aids. these hearing aids are horrendous, they are awful. they have wires sticking out of them, i look like an ood from doctor who. silence is deafening if i take them out. on the other hand if i put them m, out. on the other hand if i put them in, oh my god, when did the world so scary and loud and tinny? it is so loud and horrible. they told me they don't know how long i have got with my hearing. over the course of those four months my hearing went day by day by day, as i wrote my play. and iam now day by day, as i wrote my play. and i am now profoundly deaf. and it is horrendous, i am alone in my own head, right? and i can't hear anything. and people are starting to treat me like an idiot. basically they are starting to treat me like i was when i was an immigrant, when i came to this country. six years old i got earaches all the time, but they stop when i arrived here. and they stop when i arrived here. and they are treating me like that now. i had just come out of a gig, and

this guy comes over and started to have a conversation with us. and i think he must have come from my show, and judging by his smiling face, clearly love the show, oh, the ego of the performer. and the thing is, i think, ego of the performer. and the thing is, ithink, what ego of the performer. and the thing is, i think, what a lovely, sweet, friendly man? as a performance, i am a tad needy. so a man, right, who is smiling at me, literally has me at hello. my friend saw the guy, walking behind me from the street, not from the gig as i had assumed, she sees me walking behind me and she sees me walking behind me and she comes up and heard him say" look at you to, look at you too! why don't you go back to where you came from?". wow, there is one bonus out of all of this, which is that i don't actually have to hear racist bigot outside comedy clubs anymore. all i have to do is just turn my hearing aids off and smile at them.

thank you. (applause). ladies and gentlemen, shajila kershie! keep the enthusiasm going and welcome to the stage, thomas leads! —— leeds. enthusiasm going and welcome to the stage, thomas leads! -- leeds. my name is thomas and i am a writer, which is something i never thought i would be able to do. what i love about writing is that i can give my stories are beginning, middle and end. they make sense. they feel complete. unlike my own life story. surprise, i have a brain injury. i like to keep my brain on the inside... i survived a nasty road accident when i was 19, i was very lucky just to wake accident when i was 19, i was very luckyjust to wake up, i had broken my back, but though it was painful i could walk and talk, which was amazing. but a lot was missing. i was alive, but not the boy who had crossed the road that night. he was

gone. i had lost my childhood memories. nowadays, you might not know i have a disability. when i am having a good brain day, which is how i keep managing to make my way through life wondering what everyone is going on about. but other days it can be hard. the scar tissue a brain caused me to have seizures, and i can no longer recognise people. i struggle with noises and smells, and i get very tired. but it is not all bad, i have a very cool scar which my three—year—old love to poke. it has affected my long—term memory but my short—term memory is affected as well. my wife now that i have a catchphrase, when i have forgotten something, i often insist "i would think i would remember that". a p pa re ntly think i would remember that". apparently when i have set it on the morning that i am convinced that someone morning that i am convinced that someone else has eat my breakfast, even though i just someone else has eat my breakfast, even though ijust made it for myself. i say it on mornings when i have gone through half a bottle of

shower gel even though i am pretty sure i haven't even washed my face yet. and she is still laughing about the day i called her into the room with great excitement because our two—year—old had somehow dressed herself perfectly. my daughter was make little face" silly daddy, you just dressed me!". yeah, ithink make little face" silly daddy, you just dressed me!". yeah, i think i would remember that. i have come a long way since my accident, but i will take you back 16 years for those that my search to all those lost memories. there was 2003, there was a lot going on and so much to learn. i was learning so much about trying very hard to remember and it took me awhile to realise just how much had lost. it is the thing about amnesia, you don't really know how much you have forgotten until people start telling you the things you should know. and i kept telling them, i think i do remember that. i started my journey with them, i think i do remember that. i started myjourney with a lot of hope. —— i would remember that. started myjourney with a lot of hope. —— i would rememberthat. i was trying to catch up to everybody else who was born in the 80s and 90s in london, that something or someone

or someplace might unlock some of those memories. i went to all the places i have been to the child, all the parks and shops in my old schools, but nothing was coming back to me. i went to places we had been doing holiday, and travelled the tube and all the roots are used to ta ke tube and all the roots are used to take in my teens, still nothing. i went through all the pictures i had drawn letters i had written and went through every hilarious photograph of me in my adolescence and various phases and styles, and still nothing. and even in all the time i was being retrained as a fully a cce pta ble was being retrained as a fully acceptable british adult, nothing was ringing any bells. nothing, when i was schooled in the essential english custom of beginning and every —— beginning and ending every conversation with "sorry. nothing when learning thatjohn lennon and lenin where the same —— not the same

dozen. i knewjohn lennon was political but i had to wonder. my family was teaching me that as a fully grown british adult i didn't need to hunt people so much or cry so need to hunt people so much or cry so much or be quite so excited on christmas eve. my family have been so christmas eve. my family have been so supportive, and they tried everything to help me regain those early years. but as time was going on, the boy with my name in so many stories and in photographs remained another person in another world. —— hug people. the first few years it did not really bother me so much, or my siblings and friends were so young, and everything was about the present. but as our 20s ticked by things started to change. with our pa rents things started to change. with our parents pushing 70, suddenly childhood was everything, and soon i could not go a day without hearing "remember that summer", and "remember that summer", and "remember those holidays", and it started to feel very unfair. i had lost so much of our family life,

those early years that make us who we are. i'm going to stop, sorry... sorry. (applause). it is really weird that i am so forgetful today. i'm doing better than i thought i would. on the eve of my 30th birthday, and the decade of searching my brain drew to a close, i decided tojust searching my brain drew to a close, i decided to just try and accept that it was gone forever. i had a bright future ahead of me, about to marry the girl i loved, so i decided to focus on that and face the big 30 with optimism. we were planning a 19805 with optimism. we were planning a 1980s themed birthday party, because i was born in 1983, and i started to put together a playlist of suitably abysmal 80s music. i started going through all the tracks, it was late, i went to bed i put my headphones in and shut my eyes. i started going through the music, track by track. adding each song to the playlist. after ten yea rs

adding each song to the playlist. after ten years of radio i knew each track by heart, but then i pressed skip one more time, and that is when it happened. the most surreal moment of my life stop a song i had somehow not heard in all that time, "the whole of the moon" by the water boys began to play. song plays. and i was transported. suddenly i was sitting ona transported. suddenly i was sitting on a strange blue floor staring at a silver stereo, then suddenly i was in another place, and walking in bright sunshine holding a giant man does make hand behind the fence. and ina does make hand behind the fence. and in a flash i was in another curious place, and another, and another, until i suddenly saw some coloured last light and enormous christmas tree. near the tree, standing in the doorway, there was a woman. she was young, she was smiling, and she didn't have grey hair. she was my mum. andi didn't have grey hair. she was my mum. and i was a little boy. and it was real. i was finally there with

her at last. it's such a short moment and nothing much was said, but it is mine, and that changed everything for me. since then, a few more early memories have come back, not many, but at least now i can face the rest of my story with something of a beginning in my mind. it was that magical night that inspired me to start writing. i a lwa ys inspired me to start writing. i always leave blank pages in my books, not just because always leave blank pages in my books, notjust because i am lazy, but because the hero has epilepsy and a brain injury like me, and when he forgets a part of his life, it doesn't stop him being the hero on the next page. he is still in the adventure, he is not lost. i am still on my adventure, and i am now even more obsessed with all things 80s and 90s. my wife has very mixed feelings about this, tickly the music. but it is a new chapter and we are now making newcomer memories

with our little girls who now play in the same parks i am told i played in at their age. i am still going to have seizures and get frustrated with my dodgy memory, including today. but at least now i can put my thoughts down on paper and know they will still be there for me tomorrow. this has been amazing, sharing my story with all of you here at friend on the bbc, a truly unforgettable experience. next week when i have forgotten that... (laughs). please think of my wife as i am telling her "i thinki think of my wife as i am telling her "i think i would remember that." what an amazing story, make some noise for thomas leeds. (applause). make some noise for everyone you have seen today! you have seen janine hammond, shajila kershie, thomas leeds, thank you for being an amazing audience, good night, thank

you! (applause). friday was another very warm day across southern and eastern parts of the country, temperatures reaching around the mid 20s celsius, a different story further north thanks to low pressure, it was a lot more work to scotland and northern ireland. low pressure still dominating the story as we start weekend, is active when the front moving eastwards but slowly dying out through the course of the day. by out through the course of the day. by the time we reach saturday morning after all the rainfall across the north—west, through friday and friday night, we could be looking at up to 50 millimetres of rain in parts of northern ireland, 80 even 100 over the higher ground of south—west scotland. this will lead to some issues, standing water on the road and some minorflooding.

however conditions improve as we had through saturday that weather front moving south eastwards and intending to fizzle out. behind it, the skies bright with a few showers but the cold air will be setting you can see the low— mid teens celsius in the north and west, 20 to 2324 in the south—west. that is the last of the warmth as that weather front moves through during saturday evening, during saturday night it is a much colder, fresher night for all of us, clear skies, fair breeze for scotla nd clear skies, fair breeze for scotland and northern ireland, this will feed in some blustery showers. temperatures dipping down into single figures even in towns and cities. so into sunday, the first of september, the first day of the meteorological autumn, it will feel like we are opening the floodgates toa like we are opening the floodgates to a polar maritime flow, plenty of sunshine around, 20 of showers from the word go across scotland and northern ireland pushing into parts of northern england, the west of

wales, through the chatter and the midlands. tend to stay largely dry, what you will notice a the afternoon temperatures. 11—15 further north, 16-20 in temperatures. 11—15 further north, 16—20 in the south—east it will feel a lot cooler than it has of late. into monday, we see a ridge of high pressure building in from the south—west, although these weather fronts could bring more cloud, outbreaks of rain through northern ireland, definitely to northern and western scotland, rain for the northern and western isles too, but further south and east you are thanks to the high pressure, it should be generally dry and lighter winds, some sunny spells around and it will feel a touch warmer on monday, top ten bridges in the south—east around 22— 23 degrees.

this is bbc news. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: days after turning down money offered by the g7, brazil accepts foreign help to deal with the fires in the amazon. we report from inside the rainforest. even when the fires have been put out, this is what remains. the dense rainforest that once stood here is no more, and this has happened in more than 80,000 places across the amazon this year alone. hong kong police arrest protesters and pro—democracy lawmakers. the crackdown continues — with a demonstration planned later on saturday now banned. hackers briefly take over the account of twitter‘s chief executive — posting a string of offensive remarks