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 to jack dorsey's 4

million followers. and regional elections take place in germany. the far—right afd party are expected to perform well at the polls. hello and welcome to bbc news. 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. more than 80,000 fires have broken out in the vast rainforest so far this year. sophie long reports from para state, deep in the amazon. this was once lush rainforest, but now sparse land, a result of deforestation

in the years gone by. but this year there has been a massive surge in the number of fires set to clear the trees and the landscape along the bau road that takes us deep into the jungle bears the scars of the blazes that are now threatening a whole way of life. in the bau indigenous village they are preparing for a naming ceremony for the latest addition to this tight—knit, traditional community. but as they prepare to celebrate new life, the village chief tells me the threat to his people is increasing with every day of jair bolsonaro's presidency. translation: if the president continues with his policies, he will diminish indigenous lands so that he can confine us and exterminate us. that is what will happen. next year, the burning will be even bigger, but we will be here fighting, resisting. we are prepared to die fighting for our land because we are warriors that are not afraid of the brazilian government.

as the fires continue to burn, the smoke continues to rise from the forest. in novo progresso there is a heavy haze all around. it is smothering the city and it's choking its children. carla te silva's three—year—old daughter has pneumonia. she is convinced she contracted it because of the smoke. she says if she doesn't get the right treatment, she could die. translation: the lives of our children are being jeopardised by people that don't have any sense. they're doing harm to other people, they're just thinking about themselves. it is something i don't have words for. they do the damage and we are the ones who suffer, the children and their mothers. i asked the nurse on duty if children's lives are being put at risk. yes, she tells me, not just the children, it's dangerous for everyone. translation: this is a huge problem. if things keep going like this, unfortunately the consequences

will be even worse than the ones we are already witnessing. even though it is not happening inside of our own homes, we are all living in this place. everybody here wants the smoke to go away. even when the fires have been put out, this is what remains — scorched earth, charred skeletons of trees. the dense rain forest that once stood here is no more, the species that lived in it are gone. all that remains is the flat, black land of deforestation and this has happened in more than 80,000 places across the amazon this year alone. sophie long, bbc news, novo progresso in the amazon. there've been a series of arrests of prominent pro—democracy activists and politicians in hong kong in a sign the authorities are taking an increasingly tough line. they have banned more street

protests, planned for saturday. demonstrators first took to the streets three months ago, demanding the authorities withdraw plans to allow people to be extradited to face trial in mainland china. since then, huge numbers have joined the protests, also calling for free elections. and for charges to be dropped against protesters. from hong kong, john sudworth reports and there are some flashing images from the start. past the waiting press pack, two of the best—known figures in hong kong's pro—democracy movement were swept into court. hundreds have already been detained in this summer of fury, as fears over chinese rule have led to increasingly violent clashes. but, with prominent members of the city's parliament also picked up, these latest high—profile arrests are being seen as much more political, a point made on the steps of the court after a successful bail hearing.

the level of media interest here speaks for itself. far from de—escalating the crisis, the arrest of this young man and others is only likely to fuel concern about the erosion of hong kong's freedoms and legal protections. we are strongly aware of how president xijinping and the beijing government are the ones who back and endorse hong kong police to conduct such mass arrests and prosecution. we hong kong people won't give up and won't be scared by these injustices. today, the police insisted that they are just following the law, threatening further arrests for anyone joining unauthorised protests this weekend. and here's another warning — more video of chinese paramilitary forces conducting anti—riot drills, although some pro—beijing voices say intervention is farfrom imminent.

few protesters appear troubled by threats. the tougher the authorities, the more enraged they become. john sudworth, bbc news, hong kong. president trump has said trade talks between the us and china are still scheduled to take place in september, even as new tariffs on chinese goods come into effect on sunday. he also said that his economic pressure is forcing beijing to take a more moderate line in hong kong. i think if it weren't for the trade swords, hong kong would be in a much bigger trouble, i think it would have been much more violent. i really believe china wants to make a deal and they know it puts us in a very bad position if there is not a humane way of handling the problems that singled us over that them know that singled us over that them know that look, handle it in a humane fashion. the twitter account of the company's

chief executive, jack dorsey, appears to have been hacked. a series of erratic and offensive remarks appeared on mr dorsey's account, which has more than four million followers. the bbc‘s tech reporter dave lee explains what happened. well, a flurry of messages started appearing for around 15 minutes onjack dorsey's account, racist messages and some very, very offensive remarks. it took that long for twitter to regain control of that account and start deleting those posts. in the last 30 minutes or so, they've said that it doesn't appear that the site itself has been compromised and they are still speculating as to how access could have been obtained to jack's account. now, one of the interesting aspects of this is that of course jack dorsey is a high—profile member of a service that has extremely high—profile people on it, such as president trump. and if the chief executive

of twitter is unable to protect his own account, then that's raising many questions about the vulnerability of other accounts on twitter that could be at risk. but for now, twitter seem fairly confident they've got this current issue under control. is it embarrassing for him personally? because he has talked in the past about the security steps that customers need to take with their applications? yes. twitter‘s constantly telling its users to make sure it has protection in place to stop people gaining access to their accounts. but, you know, this may have been the result of a breach of a third—party app, something called cloudhopper, which may have been a way for these attackers to gain access without having to hack the twitter service itself. that's still being investigated. twitter won't speculate yet on what the cause of the hack may be. the group claiming responsibility for what happened is a group calling themselves the chuckling squad.

they've been responsible, it seems, for various high—profile hacks of twitter accounts over the past year, mainly focusing on famous youtube personalities. this is of course the highest profile account they've managed to gain access to. and it's causing a lot of concern, not just within twitter as a company, but for everyone who uses the service. are there any steps that ordinary people, you and i, that use twitter, can take to increase our security? well i think for most people that aren't famous names, there are simple steps you can take. not using the same password on different services that you may use, and also in the case of twitter, offering something known as two—factor authentication. that is where someone is trying to access your account, you will get a text message to your own phone that checks that it is you trying to do that rather than somebody else. that is a simple step you can take to make sure if someone is trying

to get in, they should find it much, much more difficult as a result. dave lee in san francisco for us. let's get some of the day's other news. the bbc‘s found evidence of a war crime committed during a recent air strike in northern syria that killed 39 people. an investigation found the air strike by a plane tracked from a russian airbase hit a street market in the town of maarat al—numan. the same target was hit twice within 30 minutes. the second strike deliberately targeting civilians helping the injured in the first, which is illegal under international law. russia has denied any involvement. the colombian government says nine dissident farc guerrilas have been killed in a military operation in the south of the country, a day after one of the former farc leaders, ivan marquez said he was taking up arms again. the military operation comes amid concerns about the resilience of a peace deal signed three years ago. the long—term outlook for the great barrier reef has been downgraded from "poor" to "very poor" by the australian government agency that manages the world's

largest coral system. a new report says rising sea temperatures, caused by global warming, have caused two major events of coral bleaching. fertilisers and pesticides getting in the water have also had an impact. a trial date forjanuary 2021 has been set for five men, including khalid shaikh mohammed, the alleged architect of the september 11th attacks in the united states. the trial will take place in a military courtroom in guantanamo bay, cuba. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, in los angeles, said the date had been a long time coming.

khalid shaikh mohammed was captured by the united states in pakistan in 2003 and transferred to the guantanamo bay detention camp three years later. he and his alleged accomplices were initially charged under president george w bush's administration, but their trial was delayed when president 0bama attempted to move the case to a civilian court in new york city. the plan was abandoned when it prompted a public outcry. thatin that in part accounts for much of the delay. how frustrating would that have been for the families of

those killed in the attack? clearly would have been very frustrating. honest 3000 people died as a result of the four planes being hijacked, two into the world trade center, one into the pentagon in washington and a fourth into a field in pennsylvania. it was clearly a momentous day in history of the united states and those families of those people who were killed, as you imply, just waiting for a day when at least they could perhaps feel that some justice was served. it has been a very long time coming. peter bowes in los angeles. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: two british prime ministers — old and new — battle it out as sirjohn major takes borisjohnson to court over a no—deal brexit. she received a nobel peace prize for her work with the poor and the dying in india's slums. the head of the catholic church said mother teresa was "a wonderful example of how to help

people in need." we have to identify the bodies, then arrange the coffins and take them back home. parents are waiting and wives are waiting. hostages appeared, some carried, some running, trying to escape the nightmare behind them. britain lost a princess today, described by all to whom she reached out as irreplaceable. an early morning car crash in a paris underpass ended a life with more than its share of pain and courage, warmth and compassion.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: days after turning down money offered by the g7 brazil accepts foreign help to deal with the fires in the amazon. hong kong police arrest protesters and pro—democracy lawmakers. the crackdown continues with a demonstration planned later on saturday now banned. president bolsonaro's approach to fighting the fires in the amazon is not his only policy under scrutiny. he has made little secret of his uncompromising stance on crime, saying this month that criminals will "die in the streets like cockroaches". statistics suggest that drug seizures are up and homicides down. but campaign groups say a consequence has been people dying at the hands of the police. notjust in the crossfire but they say in direct attacks. hugo bachega reports from rio. shouting. another desperate mother in rio, another body lying on the ground.

the blame again falls on thepolice. jean rodrigo was a popular jujitsu coach. he was arriving at the project where he gave free classes to youngsters when he was killed by a shot to the head. translation: you think a lot of things. was it because he was black, was at the entrance to a favela? he was a law—abiding citizen. so why did they shoot him? this is alemao, where jean rodrigo died in may. it's one of rio's largest favelas. places like this are home to a million people. most are law—abiding but there are also ruthless criminals. as we go up the hill deep into the favela we are constantly reminded of who seems to control almost every aspect of daily life here. the graffiti on the wall and the initials of one of brazil's largest drug gangs.

the authorities who came to power injanuary have promised to be tough on crime, but it has proven to be a bloodbath. so far this year more than 1000 people have been killed in police operations like this one in april. some were shot in the head, others in the chest, allegedly even after having surrendered. for many, clear signs of unlawful executions. what we can see is the public authorities giving the wrong message, they are allowing this kind of violent approach. rio's governor wilson witzel posted this video on his twitter feed of him posing in a police helicopter during an operation. the governor has dismissed the criticism, saying his approach has led to a drop in violent crime. he has a ally in the far right presidentjair bolsonaro, who supports the sentiment of an old brazilian saying: "a good criminal is a dead criminal." critics say the operations are often badly planned and unnecessarily put lives at risk, but officials say the criminals are the ones

behind the violence. translation: when the police entered a favelas, they go to protect the innocent residents who live under the rule of traffickers, and when we enter, we are attacked. police say officers were chasing armoured suspects whenjean rodrigo was shot, but a student who was with him told his family he does not think the killing was an accident. translation: i don't know why the police shot at us thinking we were criminals. they fired under the car, towards where we were. what did the police tell you? nothing? nothing. a former conservative prime minister has said he willjoin the legal fight to prevent his successor boris johnson from suspending parliament. mrjohnson says those mps trying to block a no—deal brexit undermine his chances of negotiating with the eu. vicki young reports.

all: save our democracy... when it comes to brexit, feelings run high. while many in the country welcomed the announcement that parliament won't sit for five weeks, thousands took to the streets in protest. the government insists mps still have plenty of time to express their views. critics say borisjohnson is behaving like a tinpot dictator. when you became prime minister you talked about uniting the country, but now you're talking about forcing through a no—deal brexit, something that you know democratically elected parliament does not agree with. you're being deliberately divisive, aren't you? we want to do a deal, i've talked over the last few days to lots of leaders around the eu. and everybody can see the rough shape of what needs to be done. it's going to take work, it's going to take a lot of energy for us to get there and the best way to do that is if our friends and partners over the channel don't think that brexit can be somehow blocked by parliament.

the weird thing is... but they're trying to block no deal, they're not trying to block brexit, they're trying to block a no—deal brexit. ..the weird thing is that the more the parliamentarians try to block the no—deal brexit, the more likely it is that we'll end up in that situation. but now this former conservative prime minister says he will challenge mrjohnson in court. sirjohn major knows all about tory fights over europe, they plagued his time in office. today he offered to help campaigners make their case that the government is breaking the law. that's one battle, the other will be fought in parliament. they'll have less time, but opposition parties and some tories will try to change the law to force the government to delay brexit again. to succeed, mps from several parties will need to work together, so are they confident? i'm always hopeful and i don't want to make predictions.

all i know is that what we are trying to do is the right thing to do and i believe a majority of mps recognise that a no—deal exit is very damaging to our economy. meanwhile, ministers have promised to step up the tempo on talks with the eu, but ireland's deputy prime minister isn't sounding optimistic. at the moment, nothing credible has come from the british government in the context of an alternative to the backstop. you know, if that changes, great. and for the latest developments on this story almost 30 years after the collapse of the berlin wall, there are still significant political differences between germany's old east and west. the far right party afd is popular in the former east, and in two regional elections there this weekend it could emerge as the strongest party. 0ur berlin correspondentjenny hill went to goerlitz in saxony to find out why. angela merkel promised them

stability, strength. here in germany's old east, they don't believe her anymore. the far right has made itself at home in what was conservative country. afd promises security, and it deals in fear. translation: i am sick to the back teeth of foreigners taking over our fatherland. i don't like having muslims in my country. translation: there isn't much wrong here, but we see it on television. we don't want conditions like they have in west germany where police don't dare go into certain places. we don't want that here. loved by tourists, famed for its architecture. 30 years ago, goerlitz was behind the iron curtain. the town has been rebuilt, the country reunited. still, some here feel they have been left behind.

translation: afd isn't just a problem here, it is a general problem in the east. there are a number of reasons. many people here experienced radical change in 1989, and now we face big changes again with digitalisation and the end of coal production here. many are afraid of these changes. there is a fragility about germany's big old political parties. centre—left and centre—right failing to reach voters like heiko, who was a young man when the berlin wall came down. translation: they have cheated people for years. they made promises before elections but the only thing that always improved were their salaries. i wonder where all the money for foreigners is coming from. you could put it into schools or old people's homes, but that doesn't happen. this all feels very tranquil, but behind the beautiful facades there is real division here.

and angela merkel will be watching closely. a strong afd performance could put more pressure on her government, but it is about more than that. what's happening here represents a nationwide struggle to define what modern germany's values really are. grilling for victory, mrs merkel‘s eastern conservatives. speaks in german. but when we asked the regional prime minister how he plans to defeat afd, he seems reluctant to engage. most germans, afd remains an unpalatable choice, but it is fast becoming an established part of this country's politics. actress valerie harper, who co—starred on the mary tyler moore show, has died at the age of 80. the actress won four emmy awards playing budding feminist rhoda morgenstern

who battled her insecurities with humour and sarcasm on the mary tyler moore show. you're watching bbc world news. 0nce once again we saw 25 degrees ago across the south—east of england, plenty of sunshine around, further north and west a lot more cloud with outbreaks of rain, the last 2a hours have been very wet across scotland and northern ireland, next to the slow pressure and is active weather front which is slowly pushing its way southwards and eastwards all the while, as we had through saturday. a very wet start on the north and west, temperatures the most dry a further east, ranging from 12—15. through saturday this weather front will be slowly slipping its way eastwards like i mentioned, but it will be a dying feature, by the time it reaches the eastern side of the country there will be betty anything on it. from friday through to

saturday, a lot of rainfall are followed across northern ireland and scotland, 20—50 millimetres over the high ground of northern ireland, and 50-80 high ground of northern ireland, and 50—80 across the south—west of scotland, particularly dumfries and galloway. minorflooding will scotland, particularly dumfries and galloway. minor flooding will be an issue first thing on saturday, that front continues to journey eastwards, barely anything honoured by the time it reaches the south—east, behind its guys brighten up, few showers around, those temperatures will be falling away. the mid teens celsius at best for north england and wales, 20— 2324 across the south—east. that is the last of the warmth because as that cold front moves through, it will allow cooler air to spread to all areas. clear skies during saturday night, they will be a few showers packing into northern and western areas, easily blustery as the wind pickup, notice the temperatures into single digits, particularly out of town. even in town — maximum the towns and cities further north. you can see we are into the cold air sunday, sunday is the first of september, and the first day of

meteorological autumn, it will certainly feel like that, you may wa ke certainly feel like that, you may wake up on sunday and it will feel very chilly. lots of sunshine around and showers will get going across scotland, northern ireland into north—west england, perhaps western wales, some could be heavy with a rumble of thunder mixed in, and it will feel quite chilly when the showers turn up, 12—15 in the north, 16-20 in showers turn up, 12—15 in the north, 16—20 in the south. as we head into monday, high—pressure wants to build in from the south—west, that will settle things down but you will notice this weather front pushing into the northern half of scotland, that will bring more cloud to the north and west of scotland, perhaps outbreaks of rain for the northern and western isles, perhaps a few spots of rain for northern ireland, the further south and east you are because of the high—pressure, the winds will be lighter and we should see some sunshine around, so temperatures up a notch on monday, particular across the south—east.

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 campaignerjoshua 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 remark including racial slurs appeared on his twitter account for around 15 minutes and could be read by his more than 4 million followers.