welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: president trump deploys hundreds more federal officers to american cities, expanding his crackdown on what he calls "spiralling violent crime." my vision for america's cities could not be more different from the lawlessness being pushed by the extreme radical left. even though the us is recording more than a thousand coronavirus deaths a day, the president also insists schools must get back to normal. tensions between the world's biggest powers escalate as the us orders china to close its consulate in houston. million of people are displaced by torrential monsoon rains in india, nepal and bangladesh.

hello. president trump is sending federal agents to chicago and other american cities, to fight what he says is violent crime spiralling out of control. there's already considerable dispute and unease about the federal law enforcement officials deployed to portland to confront protesters there. the president is acting against the wishes of local leaders, who say he's provoking a constitutional crisis. here's how the president and his attorney general explained the move. there has been a radical movement to defund, dismantle, and dissolve our police departments. we've just started this process, and frankly, we have no choice but to get involved. we have initiated this programme, operation legend, to step up the activity of our task forces, our anti—crime task forces in the hard—hit cities by committing more

federal agents. rachel vanlandingham is a professor of law at southwestern law school and shejoins us now from los angeles. thank you very much for your time, professor. first of all, when we talk about federal agents, what actually do we mean here? well, it depends on the situation, and it appears in portland they were federal agents from the department of security, specifically customs and border patrol. but it looks like what with this happening with chicago, they primarily fbi agents and some other dhs agents as well. is it unprecedented to send agents in like this, when local officials not only are not requesting them, but specifically do not wa nt them, but specifically do not want them? yes. one local officials such as the mayor, doesn't want them and hasn't requested them. with the

insurrection are, president eisenhower used it to enforce desegregation or against the wishes of the local governor, but that is not the case here. they do want to distinguish between what happened in portland and chicago, because they are different scenarios. in one of your clips right before this, you said the mayor is did not want federal law enforcement today, just recently within the last hour, mary lightfoot from chicago said she does welcome federal help to deal with spiralling gang violence and the horrible murder rate in chicago, if those federal law enforcement officials followed the regular modus operandi and worked in conjunction with local law enforcement. so there are areas where there is an update in local violent crime and help is needed and has been requested. but there are other cities, such as portland, where the protests were mostly over the way they were pleased was that it seems unlikely —— were

pleased, and it seems unlikely more enforcement would help that? it is a troubling device a p pa re ntly that? it is a troubling device apparently used by a president trying to divide and conquer, trying to divide and conquer, trying to divide and conquer, trying to paint a very divisive picture of radical anarchy across north america, which is simply not true. chicago has been different. there has been escalating gang violence, and the mayor is admitting she needs federal help. but that federal help needs to be done according to standard procedures and in conjunction with local law enforcement, or the problems will get worse. professor, he wouldn't be the first candidate wanting to position himself as the law and order candidate. is what the president and his attorney general doing, actually legal? it depends on what you're looking up. if he is sending in these undercover, rather

unidentifiable camouflaged paramilitary teams that are not trained in proper law enforcement techniques, as he did in portland, catching and releasing, so to speak, but arresting individuals not on probable cause, but arresting protesters and releasing them without bringing them before a magistrate is intimidation and bullying and is unlawful. professor, thank you very much. thank you. at his latest coronavirus briefing in the last few hours, donald trump reiterated that he wants schools in the united states to reopen, adding that he would be comfortable with his son, barron, and grandchildren attending them. as the figures continue to spike in southern and western states, the president urged young people to avoid packed bars and to take other steps to limit the spread of the virus. here's our north america editor, jon sopel. dance music after months of lockdown, it's perhaps not surprising they are partying like it's 2019. but in florida, night—time curfews have had to be reintroduced because coronavirus is ripping through the state.

last week, there were more new cases in this one state per day than there were in the whole of the european union. and the health system is buckling. it's the same story in texas. in the past couple of weeks, hospitals have been overwhelmed by the rising number of new cases and it's taking a toll on those on the front line. we are trying our best to keep everybody healthy and alive. and when it's out of our hands, it's out of our control, we sometimes feel helpless. how do you deal with that? we cry. we talk to each other. we embrace each other and try to be the best that we can. as cases in the us have soared, so donald trump's poll ratings have slumped, and, belatedly, he's extolling the virtues of mask wearing. and last night he gave a sombre briefing about the state of play.

it will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better. something i don't like saying about things, but that's the way it is. it's the way... it's what we have. you look over the world, it's all over the world. but much of the rest of the world would argue with this assessment. let's look at daily new cases in germany, italy and the uk and compare those to the us. germany eased its lockdown in late april, followed by italy in early may and the uk in mid—june. what they have in common is all three countries were well below a recommended benchmark of fewer than four daily new cases per 100,000 residents. the us saw a slight decline in case numbers but wasn't even close to that benchmark when the first states let their lockdown expire on april 30th. nor by may 15th, when half of americans lived in states which had eased restrictions. and by may 31st, 47 states — representing 90% of the population — had lifted lockdowns.

one area where the president has claimed huge success is over testing. but testing's only effective if it's matched by contact tracing. and many americans are waiting so long for their results that it makes contact tracing virtually impossible. jon sopel, our north american editor there. let's get some of the day's other news. brazil has registered a record number of new coronavirus cases, more than 67,000 in the past 2a hours. the health ministry says almost 1,300 deaths were reported in that period. brazil has the second—worst outbreak after the united states, with more than 2,200,000 infections. indigenous groups are increasingly among the worst affected. the united nations is warning that millions of people in yemen, already ravaged by war, disease, floods and locusts, do not have enough to eat. a report by two un agencies says the number facing acute food insecurity in parts of yemen will rise to more

than 3 million by the end of this year. floods triggered by torrential monsoon rains have displaced millions of people in india, nepal and bangladesh and caused widespread damage. the floods, described as the worst in the area in years, have killed over three hundred people in the past few weeks. officials have been monitoring the giant three gorges dam, intending to ease flooding. road tanker has exploded in southern nigeria, killing 20 people. it happened at a major intersection, linking the states of edo and dalton was the people were trying to skip petrol from the tanker when it crashed. reports from afghanistan say air strikes in eastern province of herat have killed 45 people, including civilians and taliban. local officials say at least eight civilians were among the dead in the attack afghan forces in the area. the government is now conducting an investigation into allegations of civilian casualties. floods triggered by

torrential monsoon rains have displaced millions of people in india, nepal and bangladesh and caused widespread damage. the floods, described as the worst in the area in years, have killed over 300 people in the past few weeks. forecasters are warning of more rains in some parts of the region, already battling to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus. anbarasan ethirajan reports. nothing can stand in the way of the mighty brahmaputra — the river has burst its banks in several places in the north—eastern indian state of assam. the result — vast areas are submerged and millions have been affected. floods are an annual event here, but this year, the impact has been devastating. living conditions are basic and the people have lost most of their belongings. translation: the situation is very bad here. everything has been damaged. our houses have been ruined, the cattle are dying and we are facing difficulty getting food. tens of thousands of people have been moved to safety. the challenge is to provide them with essentials, as many roads have been

cut off by the floods. the region is already travelling with the coronavirus, both the displaced and rescuers are at risk. we are facing the dual challenge of covid and floods at this time, and we have to take all the precautions. let us not forget that india personnel also to protect ourselves before they protect others, and in the process, some of them may have been infected. many have reluctantly come to these shelters — fearing for the safety of their household items and cattle. the floods have also inundated vast areas of the world—famous kaziranga nature reserve — home to the world's largest population of one horned rhinos. as their habitats are submerged the animals rush to higher grounds. at least nine rhinos have died so far — along with hundreds of deer and buffalo. further downstream in

neighbouring bangladesh, officials say almost one—third of the country is underwater. the heavy rains have swollen both the brahmaputra and the ganges. some say these are the worst floods in a decade, and they are praying for respite. in nepal, landslides have caused havoc in the mountainous regions. more than 120 people have been killed in landslides alone in recent weeks and dozens are still missing. all this happening when the economies of the region have been crippled by the coronavirus lockdowns — adding to the despair of millions of people in this region. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a rare public appearance for the duke of edinburgh, as he gives up one of his military titles after almost 70 years.

nasa: can see you coming down the ladder now. it's one small step for man... one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—year history of concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia. but now, a decade later, it's been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity and an increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim properly. seven, six, five, four... thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: president trump says sends federal agents to chicago and other cities to tackle what he calls spiralling violent crime. in the latest escalation of diplomatic tensions, the trump administration has ordered china to close its consulate in houston. the state department says it's acting to protect intellectual property and private information. firefighters were called after reports of documents being burned in the courtyard, but it seems they were not allowed in. this is the explanation the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, gave for closing the consulate. we are setting out clear expectations for how the chinese communist party is going to behave, and when they don't, we're going to take actions that protect the american people, protect our security, our national security and also protect our economy and jobs. that is the actions that

you are seeing taken by president trump, we will continue to engage with those. that's the official american line. here's the reaction from the chinese foreign ministry. translation: china strongly condemns this outrageous and unjustified move to sabotage china—us relations. china urges the us to immediately withdraw its wrong decision or china will definitely take a proper and necessary response. rush doshi is director of the china strategy initiative at the washington think tank, the brookings institution. he says so many questions concerning the us governments decision remain unanswered. it's a pleasure to be with you and the events today are a considerable surprise. there was no indication that was coming, nobody really expected it to happen. the trump administration has been pretty clear that the consulate was closed because it was involved in intelligence gathering efforts in the oil and medical

industries, and as you mentioned, efforts to target private information of us individuals but we don't have a lot of information on specifically what the consulate was doing and why the trump administration took this step now. i think there are at least two things that are pretty clear and the first is that china is almost certainly going to retaliate. it is likely that they will close a us consulate in china, possibly even a higher—value us consulate so that they can respond more asymmetrically. the second is that this closure is really a symptom of a broader us—china deterioration. history is rhyming in a very interesting way right now. a0 years ago, houston was at the centre of a bright new chapter in us—china relations. china's leader at the time, in 1979, deng xiaoping, came to the city and while in texas he put on a ten gallon cowboy hat and endeared himself to the american people. at that point houston marked the opening a new chapter in us—china relations, right now it looks like it is marking a closure of that chapter. and i think this is reallyjust the latest event in a downward spiral in bilateral ties and things are likely going to continue to deteriorate. yes, i was going to ask you, how significant you think this was and how much is diplomatic posturing. how bad do you think

this could get? i think this is just the latest in a long list of manoeuvres that both countries have undertaken that are driving the relationship to new lows, but i think it's worth noting that this downward spiral is really nothing new. in many ways it has been going on for the last few years and there are really maybe two broad reasons for it. the first one, i'd say, is that the gap between the us and china with respect to power is shrinking. china is now two—thirds of the us economy by some metrics, by other metrics it has a larger economy. china has been modernising its military, it is catching up technologically, it has this world—spanning belt and road. it's basically a superpower rival. and then there's the second factor which is equally important and that is that the ideological gap is growing between the us and china. china is clearly becoming more authoritarian and that's unsettling to the united states and the broader west. that is also causing relations to deteriorate and on top of all that, you throw covid—19, that's the accelera nt, on deteriorating ties, so things are likely going to get much worse. this is only one of many ways in which they are going to get worse. we will see probably additional steps taken in technology, and other areas in

the months to come. and if they get seriously worse between these two huge economies, there will be knock—on effects, won't there? for industry, third parties and the wider world? that's absolutely right. this isn'tjust a matter of tension, what we are witnessing is really something more, and aside from covid—19, the us—china divorce that is happening now, you could say it's the biggest geopolitical event in many ways since 9/11, maybe even since the end of the cold war, and the reason i say that is precisely what you just mentioned, it is going to reshape everything. the competition is going to be in technology, supply chains, finance, over who has the best system. it's going to affect universities, students, it's going to affect most facets of globalisation. we are really witnessing the dawn of a paradigm that is emerging day by day and for the united states and for china, managing this competition while securing their own interests, that is going to be the task of the next several years. rush doshi.

it was around this time five years ago that a tv celebrity raised laughs around the world when he announced he wanted to run for the white house. fast forward to now and musician kanye west fancies his chances of taking over from president donald trump. a chaotic campaign rally at the weekend in which the 43 year—old tackled issues such as race relations, gun ownership and abortion drew some criticism in the media. it's prompted his wife kim kardashian to urge compassion for the star as she revealed he suffers from bi—polar disorder. she says the family can do nothing legally to help. josef sorett is professor of religion and african american studies at columbia university. what should we make of kanye west's candidacy? i think that isa west's candidacy? i think that is a great question. to be honest, talking about kanye west at this particular moment feels like a distraction of

assaults. whether it is in the context of the presidential contest between donald trump and joe biden or in thinking about the political landscape stop we think of the death of civil right leaders in recent days, the sustain protests in response to the killing ofjohn floyd and several others. we think the president threatening pulling in federal agents to intervene in everything from what looks like gang violence to organise uprising and protests. and here we are finding ourselves talking about kanye finding ourselves talking about ka nye west's finding ourselves talking about kanye west's presidential bid and it is a storyline which feels like we're peering into personal challenges as you noted in your lead in, a marital dispute. still, there is so much that relates to larger questions of religion, politics and music and this particular moment that kanye

west's long history, now two decade history as producer and artist and now as a celebrity is easter and potential candidate, there is still so much that is interesting. there was a conspiracy theory. that he is being encouraged to from for the presidency from the trunk campaign to take black votes from joe biden. a lot of kanye votes from joe biden. a lot of ka nye west supporters votes from joe biden. a lot of kanye west supporters are in fa ct kanye west supporters are in fact bite and it is an odd way to do it to go on stage and dish harriet tubman to start with. it is centralto dish harriet tubman to start with. it is central to american politics to organise a black electoral vote that ka nye west did not get anything valid and that being said, his efforts to negotiate on one hand the

evangelical basis that he has increasingly moved to which is not exclusively but largely white, and his relationship to donald trump, although he has now tried to distance herself from him. we see this part of kanye from him. we see this part of ka nye west from him. we see this part of kanye west then we see the legacy of his home in chicago, a large black base, a base from which barack obama lodged his candidacy. there is the black evangelicalism and his ties to the history of black music and cultural expression. thinking through these two trajectories in public, it adds a very confusing for him and it does not help explain the motives as it goes from and haste oracle rant, an issue on the anti—abortion programme, it is not quite clear what to make of kanye

not quite clear what to make of ka nye west's not quite clear what to make of kanye west's developing that form as well as his motivation where in fact he has a longer track record even when not put up track record even when not put up by track record even when not put up by others of coveting and be quite successful at drawing controversy as quite successful at drawing c0 ntrove i’sy as a quite successful at drawing controversy as a capitalist strategy for concrete the market. i think we get all of that fair and certainly, as it relates to the family, there is a way as he has moved into middle aged and his music shifts to sunday service, and he has himself become a father, one might see even in the messiness a sort of younger man trying to make sense of what it meant for him to be a father to young children. it does not come up young children. it does not come up as a young children. it does not come up as a coherent young children. it does not come up as a coherent message but we can see him sorting through a host of personal and political issues in this particular space. a lot to impact. we may well be talking to you again. thank you very

much indeed. queen elizaberth‘s husband duke of edinburgh has made a rare public appearance, to officially relinquish a military role he's held for almost 70 years. prince philip is 99. he's handed over the title of colonel in chief of the rifles, to the duchess of cornwall. our royal correspondent, jonny dymond, reports. fanfare. no more parades. for nearly seven decades, he has led the rifles and the regiments that came before it. now, it was time to say farewell. but first, a thank you from the assistant commandant general. all ranks, all riflemen, whether serving or retired, would like to thank you for 67 years of continuous service. fair winds and following seas, he was wished. that made an old sailor smile. the duke has never much liked ceremony, but has always had time for the enlisted men of his regiments. today, a last chat with

those saying goodbye. more than 80 miles away, the baton was passed on — a new colonel—in—chief, the duchess of cornwall. camilla's father fought and was decorated in the desert rats, which became part of the rifles. now, she will be their honorary leader. the duke's retirement from public life was in 2017. then, he said his farewells to the royal marines. hip, hip, hurray! he has had some brushes with ill—health since then but was at his granddaughter beatrice's wedding last week. today, standing almost as ramrod straight as the men of his regiment, he gave one more goodbye. jonny dymond, bbc news. more news for you national and international on the website and also on the twitter feed.

thank you so much for watching. hello there. cloud is thickening up once again from the atlantic. it's set to bring in more rain mainly for the middle third of the uk. some areas stayed cloudy and damp throughout the day on wednesday and, as a result, it was quite cool, as well. we had a temperature of 26 celsius in london, but the sunniest weather was in bournemouth with almost 1a hours of sunshine — probably not as much sunshine though for thursday. it will be quite a cloudy start to the day with temperatures around 12—14 celsius. and we start with some outbreaks of rain mainly across northern ireland, southern scotland, northern england, and wales. that'll be quite heavy for a while, gradually turning lighter and more patchy through the day. we get some sunshine more widely across scotland and northern ireland towards the southeast. perhaps even into the midlands, it may stay dry, but there'll be more clouds around so it won't be quite as warm —

still 23—24 celsius. we are looking at some showers to come into the southwest of england, still damp into wales, more rain across northern england, so quite a cool day here — although the far north of england improving later on. we'll have some sunshine in the afternoon across northern ireland and more widely in scotland, so a warmer day here at 19—20 celsius. but still some rather sharp showers in the northeast up towards the northern isles. those will tend to ease off a bit during the evening, this light and patchy rain by this stage heading down towards the midlands, eventually later on in the night towards the southeast of england. the weather front bringing that will be very weak and, as we move into friday, we are in between two wet weather systems — transient system of high pressure before that weather front increases the cloud and rain in from the atlantic. but many places will have a dry day on friday. could be a fair bit of cloud, particularly across southern parts of england and south wales, the odd shower here with 1—2 showers further north, perhaps into north east england and scotland. then we get later on into the day some rain pushing

in from the west across northern ireland. ahead of that, 20 celsius through the central belt of scotland, and we're back up to 25 celsius in the southeast of england. as we head into the weekend, we're dominated by low—pressure sitting close to the north of the uk. that weather front will tend to move through, taking some heavy rain away and it's showers following on behind. it certainly looks like saturday will be the wetter day, and those showers could be heavy and thundery. a much drier day on sunday for eastern parts of england, with the bulk of the showers in the north and west of the uk.

the latest headlines from bbc news: president trump is sending hundreds of federal law enforcement officers to fight what he calls rising violent crime in american cities. he said he had no choice but to act, following anti—racism protests. 200 federal agents have already been deployed to kansas city, a similar number will be sent to chicago. china has reacted angrily to the us ordering the closure of its consulate in houston. beijing has theatened to retaliate saying it was a political provocation that would jeopardise relations. the americans said china was using the consulate as a centre for its spying operations in the us. brazil has registered a record number of new coronavirus cases, more than 67,000 in the past 2a hours. the health ministry says almost 1,300 deaths were reported in that period. the country has the world's

worst outbreak, after the