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. the un's warning of a humanitarian disaster in lebanon. many are still missing. hundreds of thousands are made homeless. there is a massive clear up going on. they come from all over the country and the devastation here is enormous. strike action could be on the cards over british airways‘ plans to cut cabin crew, and their pay. and we hearfrom one of brazil's indigenous communities trying to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

at least 16 people have died after an air india plane skidded off a runway during heavy rain, in the southern indian city of kozhikode. 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 must remember 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. a former director of the air aviation branch. it appears to bea aviation branch. it appears to be a straight up runway excursion. these do happen from time to time especially in challenging weather situations. typically these types of

accidents occur due to problems with preparing for the approach and then the actual technique of landing in these types of conditions, on a runway of this type. we have read recently that this was a so—called ta bletop that this was a so—called tabletop runway. can you explain to our viewers what a ta bletop ru nway explain to our viewers what a tabletop runway is and why it may be risky. a tabletop runway is not a term used in the united states but it is in other places. basically it means that at the end of the ru nway 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 a system, you can still have a ru nway system, you can still have a runway that ends with a cliff but there is a one foot thick piece of concrete that slows the air plane down and stops it called the engineered materials arresting system. if you do not

have that on there, while then you really have to be extremely cautious and careful and plan the runway, the air plane down on the first quarter of the runway. extraordinarily dangerous and risky to have a ru nway dangerous and risky to have a runway on top of a cliff. you must remember that this was a fairly large runway, one. 9300 eight that could easily handle an air plane like the 737 — 800. so as long as there is a reasonable length to the runway, a proficient pilot should not run off the end of the runway. the pmas system is a safety feature but that does not mean without it the runway is not capable of landing aeroplanes. august through some of the steps that your cou nterpa rts 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 mature aircraft accident investigation bureau that as part of their ministry of civil aviation and they follow the international playbook of accident investigation. the international authority has an annex and they follow those standards and they will likely break up into several disciplines. 0ne disciplines. one group will examine the structure to see why some lived and some died, they will have an operations group, an important group that will look into how the pilots we re will look into how the pilots were trained, how much rest did they get, they will have a group that looks at all the aircraft systems to make sure the brakes were working properly and they may form other groups like air traffic or whether as needed. does india have a reasonably good

air india have a reasonably good a i r safety india have a reasonably good air safety record, and airport safety record 7 air safety record, and airport safety record? they have a pretty good safety record. coincidentally their last fatal accident involved a 737 of the same model loan by the same pa rent same model loan by the same parent company on a tabletop ru nway parent company on a tabletop runway in mangalore ten years ago. since then there has not been any fatal accidents. so they are an coming country in terms of aviation but they are in good stead with the united states. 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 political freedoms. the main challenger to president alexander lukashenko

in this sunday's election in belarus has accused the authorities of subverting the poll. svetla na ti kha novs kaya 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'. 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. despite the desperate situation in beirut, stories of heroism and survival are emerging. 0ur correspondent, carine torbey has been speaking to a nurse, who managed to rescue three newborn babies, after the explosion ripped through the city. this is normally a place ofjoy, but tuesday's explosion ripped through the neonatal intensive care unit. three premature babies were in their incubators. in the chaos, pamela, the only nurse on shift

who was unhurt, picked them up. a picture that spread across the world. the only thing i could think of was the safety of the babies i had in the unit. the first thing i had to do was to rescue the babies and just carry them and get away with them. i thought that i can never leave them. pamela walked for over 30 minutes before finding safety, holding them close to keep them warm amidst the havoc. i felt like the babies are very important to me, they were part of me. i had to keep them safe until they reached their destination. people were giving me their jackets so that i could cover the babies and take them back to safety. i felt like i was their mother in this timing. they needed me the most and i needed them most.

today, one of those three babies is with her mother again. translation: they gave us hope again. they revive our home again. there aren't many joyful pictures coming out from beirut nowadays, but this one does stand out. carine torbey, bbc news, beirut. in the last hour, president trump has confirmed us humanitarian support to lebanon in the aftermath of the deadly explosion in beirut. president trump also said he would take part in a video conference on sunday with france's president emmanuel macron and other international leaders and european institutions. he said he discussed the devastation with mr macron in the lebanese capital. mr trump has told his lebanese counterpart that three us aircraft are on their way bringing relief supplies and medics. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: counting the cost of coronavirus on england's tourism industry. the question was whether we want to save our people and japanese, as well and win the war, or whether we want to take a chance on being able to win the war by killing all our young men. the invasion began at two o'clock this morning. mr bush, like most other people, was clearly caught by surprise. we call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all the iraqi forces. 100 years old and still full of vigour, vitality and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen in british history has lived so long, and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she's achieved this landmark anniversary.

this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the anglican community. this is bbc news. the latest 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. as the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, the number of infections is reaching new heights. there are now more than 19.1 million cases worldwide. let's take a look at some of the key international developments. india has reported more than 62,000 new infections in the past 2a hours and with that it became only the third country to cross the two million mark. more than one million cases have been reported

across africa, although the true extent of the pandemic there is not known. more than 500,000 infections have already been confirmed in south africa alone. the country has good data and, compared with most of continent, a huge testing operation under way. in south america, brazil is about to surpass three million cases of the virus and this weekend is set to reach 100,000 deaths. the pandemic endangers indigenous communities and brazil's supreme court has ruled that president jair bolsonaro's government must adopt measures to stop the spread of the virus among tribes. let's get more on this with leonardo moura. he works with indigenous people for the socio—environmental institute, which is a brazilian ngo. leonardo, great to have you with us. how was the pandemic affecting indigenous communities? hello. so the indigenous group here in brazil, we have many

ethnicities, and many were recently contacted and they we re very recently contacted and they were very low numbers, some with hundreds, 200 people, the big most populous, 2000, 3000. so they have their culture tested by verbal ways. so the others are dying so it is very big for the culture —— elders. you talk about the elders dying. we know in recent days a chief died. explained to us how important he was. he was one of the main leaders of this reserve. this indigenous reserve. this indigenous reserve was one of the first indigenous lands that were made in brazil and he was one of the main leaders. of great

importance. what can indigenous communities do to protect themselves? so it's difficult. as they don't have appropriate policies. usually here in amazonia they live in isolated areas. sometimes if they need healthcare or if they need, i don't know, retirement, the retirement payment, they need to go to the city most of the time, so they are brought to the city by the policies, so it's difficult. so trying to support them to get the supplies they need and keep producing what they do from the gathering in the forest and giving to the community herbs and being supplied to not come

to the city. it's difficult to maintain them on their area. the supreme court has ordered president bolsonaro to take measures to help the indigenous community. will this make a difference? yeah, it's very important. there are many invasions going on. many invaders. some environmental criminals. they are taking the chance now in the pandemic time to do illegal mining. it is important to do the barriers and fight against the environmental crimes. so there is the fiscal as asian for long—term was not being very effect of, so there is a lot of pressure from international, the supreme court, to get it on again and have effective results. leonardo moura, thank

you so much. 0k, thank you. 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 their faces 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. all this week, bbc news has been looking at the impact of coronavirus on the tourism industry. for business owners in the south—west of england the lockdown has proved costly.

the trade body, visit cornwall, says fewer holidaymakers will mean a loss of 800 million this year, almost half the region's annual tourism turnover. here'sjon kay. cornwall was not designed for social distancing. even on a damp afternoon, the narrow streets of st ives are heaving. a bit crowded! a bit crowded, yeah! hiding in a doorway, holiday—makers ed and margaret. there's that many people coming backwards and forwards, you don't know where to go. does it frighten you? it does frighten me, yeah, because i've got heart problems. so, you know... did you think about staying away? well, if i do that i'd never be able to go on holiday. there are clear warnings and restrictions in place. but some locals want more. none of them are kind of wearing masks... michelle and stephen live here but they're not going into town.

she lost her retail job during lockdown... we want to get rid of it... ..so knows the importance of tourism to this region. but they feel some visitors are forgetting there's a pandemic. they're packed in like sardines. people are going to be catching the virus. it's going to spread. i personally think, if we carry on the way we are, we're going to have another lockdown. tourism officials say there are actually fewer holiday—makers in cornwall this summer than there were a year ago. but it feels busier because a lot of cornish people have decided to stay at home, so they're here as well. and a lot of attractions have had to shut, which means people are crammed into specific areas. thejudd family have been coming here from kent every summer for half a century. we kept ringing up and saying, can you get us in, can you get us in? they wanted to visit this year to support the local economy. but they are avoiding the busier areas to stay safe.

it's being selective and reasoning things through. you know, we don't need to go to st ives this year. we'll be back at easter anyway, so we'll go to st ives at easter — it'll still be there. a feeling of normality after a period of great uncertainty. for the family that run this holiday park — relief. they're as full as they can be and all the staff are back. our customers have all been very receptive to the measures we've put in place. everyone's been keeping to their own families and maintaining social distancing. and that's been really reassuring to see. it feels like the coronavirus isn't here any more. it feels like normal. it is a delicate balance for a county that, until now, has escaped the worst. jon kay, bbc news, cornwall. do let me know what if anything you are doing this summer.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @jamesbbcnews. 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 northwest 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 southeast 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 southeast for some very warm nights to come, much fresher in the far northwest.

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 northwest, 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 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. 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.