this is bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories... an air india plane with around 200 people on board skids off the runway at an airport in kerala. 17 die and dozens more are injured. searching for survivors in the wreckage of the beirut explosion, many are still missing. hundreds of thousands are made homeless. there's a massive clear—up going on. they've come from all over the country. the devastation here is enormous. as it's revealed texas has the third highest number of coronavirus cases in the united states, why the state's hispanic community suffers most. and strike action could be on the cards over british airways' plans to cut cabin crew, and their pay.

hello and welcome to bbc news. at least 16 people have died after an air india plane skidded off a runway during heavy rain, in the southern indian city of calicut. the aircraft with 191 people on board broke in two after falling 35 feet down a ravine. our correspondent yogita limaye has more. this plane was bringing home indians who had been stuck abroad amidst the covid pandemic. landing in the dark amidst heavy rainfall, on what many say is a challenging runway, the plane couldn't stop in time. both pilots are among those dead. that seems to have skidded off the runway and we have to remember that it's a table top runway. so it seems to have crossed that runway and fallen into a ditch sort of a place. and because of that impact, there seems to have been a breaking of the fuselage

into two and the aircraft, the front portion has been very badly mangled and damaged. locals were among the first to respond. the injured, taken to hospitals in taxis and private cars. families, searching for loved ones they've waited months for. many on board are believed to have been migrant workers who'd gone overseas to earn a living. the crash is yet another blow for a region that is grappling with landslides and the covid crisis. yogita limaye, bbc news, mumbai. jeff guzzetti is the former director of the air accident branch of the american federal aviation authority. jeff it is good to speak to you. what are your initial thoughts? good to be with you, james. well, it appears to be a

straight up runway excursion. these to happen from time to time especially in challenging weather situations. typically these types of acts occur due to problems with preparing for the approach and that the actual technique of landing in these types of conditions on a ru nway these types of conditions on a runway at this type. we have read recently that this was a so—called table top runway. can you swing to our viewers with a table top runway is and why that might be risky? a table term used in the united states but it is in india and other places. basically it means that at the end of the runway, there is nothing left except a cliff. and there are a few airports like that around the world. in the united states, there is a requirement to put what they call an e—mail system. you can still have a runway which ends with a cliff but there is a one

foot thick piece of concrete that slows the aeroplane down and sponsor. it is called the e—mass. if you don't have that on there, you have to be extreme and cautious and careful and plant the runway down on the first quarter of the runway. it's as extraordinarily dangerous and risky to have a runway on top ofa risky to have a runway on top of a cliff. well, you have to remember that this is a fairly large, long runway. 9300 feet. it could easily handle an aeroplane like the 737—800. as long as there is a reasonable length to the runway, a proficient pilot should not run off the end of the runway. the e—mass system is a safety feature but that does not mean that without it, the runway is

not capable of landing aeroplanes on it. talk us through some of the steps that your counterparts in india, investigators in india, will be going through at the moment to work out the cause of the crash. india has a fairly mature aircraft investigation bureau that is part of their ministry of civil aviation and they follow the international playbook of accident investigation, i k0'd, the international civil —— civil aviation authority. they will break into several disciplines looking at a flight recorder data, they will look at the structure of the aircraft to see why some people lived and why some people died. they will have an operations group which is an important group that will look into how the pilots were trained, how much rest did they catch. they'll will have a group that will set the aircraft systems to make sure the braking systems were

working properly, and they may form other groups like air traffic or weather as needed. does india have a reasonably good air safety record or airport safety record as well? they actually have a pretty good safety record. coincidentally, in their last fatal accident involved a 737 of the same model found by the same parent company on a table top runway in mangalore ten yea rs top runway in mangalore ten years ago. but since then there hasn't been any fatal accidents there. they are an up—and—coming country in terms of aviation, but they are in good stead with the united states. jeff guzzetti, thank you so much. you're welcome. the united nations is warning of a humanitarian disaster in lebanon, with widespread medicine and food shortages, after this week's explosion in the capital, beirut. 154 people are now known to have died in the blast and thousands more were injured. at least 300,000 people

have been made homeless. 0ur middle east correspondent, quentin sommerville has this report. singing the lebanese are used to taking matters into their own hands. singing their national anthem, they came from all over the country to clear up their capital. you've come all the way here to beirut? why? yes, for volunteering. to support all the people who are damaged and they are homeless right now. and meet the ladies of the tripoli cleaning squad, from just up the coast from beirut. they told me, "we remain united no matter how much "they try to separate us. "muslim, sunni, shia, druze, christian — "we're all one band." it seems like every second person in beirut is carrying either a shovel or a broom. there's a massive clear—up going on. they've come from all over the country. the devastation here is enormous, and these homes aren't going to be habitable for a very long time.

in some neighbourhoods, the devastation is almost total. no house has been spared. more than 300,000 people are now homeless. and the crisis is far from over. here, they're rushing to evacuate another home. there is a house up there. it's almost getting fallen. can you see the roof? yeah, so we're helping them to get out their stuff from the house before the building fall down. french firefighters are helping with the search. they're welcome, but there's frustration that the lebanese authorities aren't doing enough. there's blood everywhere... yeah. alan says his family are now homeless. he took us inside their apartment. his father was badly injured. his blood is everywhere. his dad will make it, but 12 of their neighbours died on this one street corner alone. in lebanon, nobody come check.

three days, this big catastrophe in lebanon, nobody can come and tell me, "this room, you cannot sit in this room." here, it's... i don't know. nobody care. and they're still finding survivors. mobile phone footage. in the last few hours, this girl was pulled from the rubble. inside the port, at ground zero, it's a scene of annihilation, though russian rescue teams are still looking for survivors, and french rescue workers too. one said, "we always hope of still finding people alive. "if there's still structures standing, "then there's still a chance." lebanon's president says a missile may have detonated the chemicals, which flattened this area, but he offered no supporting evidence. he's rejected calls for an international investigation. but in any case, leaving such a large store of chemicals

here in the heart of the city was deadly folly. quentin sommerville, bbc news, beirut. steven cook is senior fellow for middle east studies at the council on foreign relations, and he joins us from maryland. steven, some people are saying this could be lebanon's chernobyl moment, a catastrophe which exposes a failing system. how do you see it? it certainly seems that it is accelerating the disk government and perhaps the disk government and perhaps the regime in lebanon. the country has been rocked by protests since last fall. the cova crisis has only intensified an economic crisis and many lebanese have grown extraordinarily frustrated with the government and system itself. thus far, the government is holding, there

have been no resignations but certainly people are begging the international community when they do provide aid to lebanon to go around the government because this is a government because this is a government of corrupt warlords and officials that date back many, and officials that date back any, and officials that date back many, many, many years who have siphoned the country's wealth. you have written in an article that the ossified structure of lebanon puts up in a system where top posts were assigned to various six is part of the problem. lebanon's political class is not interested in providing... they are only interested in providing further on constituents which breeds corruption and intern breeds dysfunction and we see this on full display after this tragic explosion but we were seeing well before. the country last march default on its kept for

some more than half of the population is in poverty or outright destitute was that there is only a few hours of electricity a day. and now with the port basically shattered, lebanon which imports 80% of food, fuel, and medicine is left in terrible, terrible straights. most of the initial reports as we have seen in our own reporting was that the explosion was probably an industrial accident. why might the president then suggest that external forces might be to blame? while the president and the entire lebanese political class is under tremendous political pressure, it seems as if almost the entire country is in revolt against them and it is clearly an effort to shift blame and to relieve political pressure. alluding to a possible israeli attack is something which they are trying to turn the tide of politics in

lebanon but it strikes me that at least thus far, the lebanese people aren't buying it and they are continuing to focus their anger on the lebanese government for its dysfunction and that that has led to this catastrophe. steven cook, thank you so much. thank you, james. you are watching bbc news. the headlines. at least 17 people have died after an air india plane skids off the runway at an airport in kerala. the un is warning of a humanitarian crisis after tuesday's explosion in beirut, which killed 154 people. more now on that story. the fertiliser that caused the explosion at beirut‘s port is thought to have been seized from a ship called the rhosus back in 2013. the russian captain of that ship says it was impounded over unpaid port fees. boris prokoshev says his crew only entered beirut in order to collect additional cargo to help fund its journey onwards. 0ur moscow correspondent,

sarah rainsford, has been speaking to the captain. translation: it was ammonium nitrate, fertiliser. it's a dangerous cargo but not so dangerous that you can't transport it. it was in bags of one tonne each, 2,750 bags. translation: so, the ship sailed from batumi? translation: it came from batumi to turkey already loaded. then we went to pireas in greece, then beirut, and we were meant to go on to mozambique. translation: why did you go to beirut? what did you have to do there? translation: the owner was looking for an extra cargo as he didn't have any money and we'd have to pay for passage through the suez canal. so, he decided we should go to beirut. he found a cargo there. we reached beirut but the cargo was heavy so we couldn't load it. the hatches buckled. they were rusty and weak, so we couldn't take it — we refused. that's how the rhosus got stuck.

some of the crew flew home but the captain and three others had to stay on board with the volatile cargo. it took months of protests and eventually a court case to release them. translation: the beirut authorities wouldn't let us go because the owner didn't pay them. there was a fine for refusing the extra cargo and the port fees, so they impounded the ship and they left us four as hostages. translation: on the boat? translation: yes, and we were there ten months. translation: so, was the ownerjust mean with his money, do you think? translation: i don't know. it's unthinkable that someone would abandon his crew like that and not pay. these shipowners don't give a damn. they just want to rake in the money. eventually, we sold some of the ship's fuel and employed a lawyer with the money. after three months in court,

the lebanese let us go. translation: what condition was the cargo in when you left the ship? translation: it was all fine, in good condition. i locked all the compartments, put the padlocks on. i handed the keys to the immigration officer in the port — that's all. so, you think this was just an accident? translation: the authorities in beirut knew it was a dangerous cargo, that it shouldn't be in port. they should have paid the owner a couple of $100,000 just to take that ship away! just so they didn't have that headache in the port. i understand that they wanted to get the money but if they'd known there'd be an explosion like that, they wouldn't have done it. the cargo was dangerous, it could have blown at any moment.

that report by sarah rainsford. let's get some of the day's other news. the united states is placing sanctions on hong kong's chief executive, carrie lam, and 11 other officials, arguing they were responsible for suppressing democratic processes in the chinese territory. it follows an announcement last week from ms lam that september's elections would be delayed for a year because of the coronavirus, sparking claims she was undermining hong kong's politicalfreedoms. the main challenger to president alexander lukashenko in this sunday's election in belarus has accused the authorities of subverting the poll. svetla na tikhanovskaya said voters were tired, after 26 years of mr lukashenko's rule. earlier, thousands of people gathered at a rally in the capital, minsk, in support of the opposition candidate. us authorities say they've discovered a highly sophisticated, 400—metre long tunnel running beneath the border with mexico. it was found by arizona officials when a sink—hole appeared in the desert. images show a solid—looking construction with water lines, electrical wiring and railway

tracks running along the floor. officials believe it would have been used to smuggle drugs, people and weapons. canada will impose $2.7 billion worth of counter—tariffs on american aluminium products after president trump announced a 10% levy on canadian aluminium. the country's deputy prime minister, chrystia freeland, called the us decision "absurd". union leaders are threatening industrial action, after accusing british airways of naked greed, in forcing some cabin crew out of theirjobs. thousands of uk staff have received emails today telling them whether they're being made redundant, while most of those choosing to stay with ba will have to sign new contracts on lower pay. the airline says the changes are needed for its survival following the coronavirus pandemic. 0ur transport correspondent, tom burridge, has been speaking to some of those affected. ba is locked in a bitter battle with some of its staff, who now face a bleak new reality.

how this is going to affect my family personally. that's what's keeping me up at night, is to be able to provide for them. and i simply didn't want to end my career at british airways like this. this cabin crew member wanted to hide his face. he fears ba could take action against him, but he wants his story heard. myself and my wife, we both fly. it's going to affect us both. we're going to have to sell our home. even if he keeps hisjob, his overall pay will be halved. they forced me into a corner. it's been unfair, immoral and opportunistic, and itjust leaves with a really bad taste. he protested with colleagues — who hid theirfaces with photos of their bosses — earlier this week, their salaries cut or theirjobs gone. we're losing our livelihoods, we're losing our houses, we're losing everything. why? because they're just being greedy, greedy, greedy.

we've devoted our lives to british airways, and this is how they treat us. we are going to be on the lowest pay, the lowest terms and conditions if british airways get their way. and i say, "no way, ba." you're an absolute disgrace to treat people like this who have built the airline. so, what exactly does ba plan? two in five of the lowest—paid crew should get a small pay rise, but three in five will have their basic salary cut by 20%. crucially, they'll allowances too, meaning longer—serving members of staff would have their overall income cut by around 50%. in a statement, ba said it has to... ba needs to reset, it has to develop a new strategy because it's facing huge competition from the very low cost carriers that are emerging from this crisis with better

balance sheets and better financial situations. with much of its fleet parked up for months, the airline has lost record sums, but staff argue they helped the company make healthy profits before covid. now, strike action is on the cards. tom burridge, bbc news. the state of texas has the third highest number of coronavirus cases in the united states. more than half of those who've died come from the state's hispanic community. latinos are four times more likely to be hospitalised than other groups. the bbc‘s larry madowo reports from houston. after more than a month battling covid—19, 0ctavio calderra's back at work as a mechanic. like many other latino texans during the pandemic, he was hit hard by the virus. "i had sensations that i'd never felt before. "i had to completely isolate and take care of myself to not spread to my family," 0ctavio told me. like 0ctavio, most of the other workers here are hispanic. the risk of getting infected hangs in the air,

but if they don't work, they have no income. in thisjob, you can't work from home. blue—collar workers in texas have been especially hard—hit by the coronavirus. many of them work in places like this, a concrete plant. the work involves close contact with other people. there's pressure to show up for work that's available because there are fewer opportunities with the economic crisis. we don't have the same amount of hours that we normally have. they don't do the production that they're used to, so, you know, from 30 drivers, we're down to 15. the number of positive cases and deaths doubled in houston injuly compared to the previous four months. this community health centre that has been conducting tests for its predominantly latino patients has seen a positivity rate of 39%. our patients are part of the essential workforce, and so they are construction workers and they work in grocery stores and they are caregivers for other people. and that makes it extremely

challenging to be able to practice those safe mechanisms for social distancing and also to decrease the spread. the consequences of record coronavirus infections are both clinical and financial here. fearing a language barrier with immigrants from latin america, the houston health department is running a multilingual covid—19 campaign. the mayor says this outreach is critical. you have people within the community who may be undocumented and who are fearful and distrustful of government. and maybe waiting too late before seeking medical attention because they're scared and they're concerned. the mayor's better together campaign is trying to overcome those barriers with information. texas has the highest number of people without health insurance in the us, and 60% of them are hispanic. in a pandemic this prolonged, the worst—affected are also the least protected. larry madowo,

bbc news, houston. there were few countries less prepared for covid—19 than venezuela. it's economy was already on the verge of collapse — and the health care system was in a similar state. the government has struggled to contain the virus — and human rights groups say the authorities are going too far in enforcing a lockdown — as tim allman explains. lined up in rows, sitting in the heat of the daytime sun, these people are being punished. their crime? breaking the rules during a pandemic. there are claims others have been forced to carry out physical exercise and some have even been beaten. translation: this think the authorities are doing is not right. i leave my house to work and get work for the day and they won't let us work for some it is easy for the soldiers because they have food but how do we poor people do it? accurate figures are

ha rd to do it? accurate figures are hard to come by but so far the authorities have confirmed around 23,000 cases of covid—19 and more than 200 deaths. cu rfews have been and more than 200 deaths. curfews have been imposed and there are strict limits on people's movement. the opposition says the response is heavy—handed and, in the end, self—defeating. translation: if the police and judicial handing of the pandemic, there will be a higher rate of infections. the lower capacity for caring cases will be noticeable for said then the population will not only be afraid of the virus but also the police handling of the pandemic. president maduro has praised the military saying they are doing battle with covid—19. his critics say if this is a war, he is going too far to this is a war, he is going too farto win this is a war, he is going too far to win it. tim allman, bbc news. more on all our stories on our website. i am on twitterfor

some do stay with us. hello there. for the second friday in a row, some of us have experienced some extreme heat drifting up from the near continent. in fact, the first friday of august saw temperatures peaking at 36.4 degrees in central london, and the heat was pretty widespread across the midlands, central and southern england. widely seeing those temperatures in excess of 30 degrees. that said, not for all. in parts of north—west wales and the outer hebrides we saw temperatures only at around 16 or 17 degrees, and here there were some showery outbreaks of rain. so over the next few hours those temperatures will fall into single figures, by contrast in the south—east it's going to be a very uncomfortable night for getting a good night's sleep. we wake up on saturday morning, perhaps low to mid 20s. so that means plenty of sunshine around, albeit hazy for the weekend.

we keep the heat in the south—east for some very warm nights to come, much fresher in the far north—west. that's because we are under this influence of high pressure, but there is a weak weather front slicing across the high. now this is just a band of cloudy, really. maybe the odd spot of light drizzle, but it's the dividing line between the fresher air up into the north—west, and circulating around that high is a north—easterly breeze that will just make it feel a little more comfortable, perhaps, along those exposed east coasts. at the same time, after that warm and sultry start, the temperatures in the south are set to climb once again. so widely we are going to see mid to high 20s, possibly into the mid—30s once again. further north and west, that's where temperatures should be, really, for the time of year. 17 to 22 degrees. that weather front could spark a few showers through the night, but generally speaking it will be a quiet night, and a quiet start to sunday morning once again. again it's going to be another uncomfortable night down into the south with low 20s

to greet us first thing on sunday morning. we could see a few isolated showers here and there across eastern england on sunday, but generally this weekend it's with a dry story with some hazy sunshine coming through. again, that north—easterly breeze just peppering the feel of the temperatures, really, across the east coast. highest values on sunday afternoon are 32 degrees. now that heat is set to stay with us, and it could, as we go into next week, trigger off the risk of some sharp and thundery downpours. that's it, have a great weekend.

this is bbc news, the headlines at least 17 people have died after an air india plane skidded off a runway during heavy rain, in kerala. many of the injured have been taken to local hospitals. the aircraft with around 200 people on board broke in two afterfalling down a ravine, but didn't catch fire. the lebanese shia movement, hezbollah, has denied any link to tuesday's deadly blast at the beirut port. the united nations is warning of a humanitarian disaster, with widespread medicine and food shortages. 154 people are now known to have died in the blast and thousands more were injured. union leaders are threatening industrial action, after accusing british airways of naked greed, in forcing some cabin crew out of theirjobs. others will have to sign new contracts on lower pay. the airline says the changes are needed for its survival following the coronavirus pandemic.