welcome to bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: first a war, now a pandemic. we report from inside yemen, as the country struggles to cope with tragedy upon tragedy. translation: the patients are our responsibility. they depend on us to live and we do want them to get better. it is so hard. reports emerge that the uk government is considering overturning part of the brexit withdrawal deal, jeopardising trade negotiations. hundreds of holidaymakers, trapped by raging wildfires in california, are airlifted to safety. and novak djokovic is kicked out of the us open after accidentally hitting a line—judge with a ball.

nearly six months on from the first covid cases in yemen, the bbc has become the first international broadcaster to reach the country to gauge the impact of the virus. yemen is divided between the houthi group based in the north and an internationally recognised government in the south. even amid the pandemic fighting between the two sides has continued. bbc arabic‘s special correspondent, nawal al—maghafi reports from sanaa in northern yemen. here in sanaa there is a sense of hopelessness. as we arrive, another victim of covid—19 is being buried. the people here are faced with the evidence of what this virus does. but this is a country already battling the world's biggest humanitarian crisis.

years of war and starvation have made people indifferent to the threat that is a deadly pandemic. we are the first international broadcaster to get to yemen since coronavirus arrived here. and this is what we have found. there is no social distancing, and no—one is taking any precautions. i go to a local market. the people tell me corona doesn't exist here. so i ask them if they've had flu symptoms recently. translation: i did. translation: me too. i couldn't smell or taste anything. but do they go to the hospital? translation: no way. people die in hospitals. they kill people in there. but for those in the covid wards, the pandemic is real and has taken its toll on an already broken health system. doctors in yemen have been working with no government salary for years. this is sanaa's main

coronavirus hospital. this doctor tells me because of the high mortality rates, they have been accused of killing the patients who come in. translation: the patients arrive here in the final stages because of the rumour that we give people sick with covid a mercy injection. the scars from working in these difficult conditions run deep. the patients are our responsibility. they depend on us to live. and we do want them to get better. it is so hard. rumours, panic and grief — they all take turns amid an information blackout. we go to a houthi ministry of health conference to find answers. our crew are the only ones wearing masks. until today, the authorities here have only announced four covid cases.

translation: thanks to god, we have been able to overcome it. we followed the plan, and the numbers decreased. i ask the houthi minister of health about fatalities. translation: of course, there are fatalities. how many, we will issue the numbers. we have our own strategy. we left with no answers. away from covid hospitals, it's easy to see why a pandemic can seem the least of problems. during our time here, fighting continued. so did airstrikes on civilian homes. that's not all. a saudi—led coalition blockade has caused a fuel crisis that has left food prices skyrocketing. driving towards sanaa we have seen hundreds of lorries queueing for petrol. these lorries are carrying food and aid supplies to be distributed across the north, and because of the blockade, barely any fuel is getting in. and this is the result.

hassan is eight years old. he's one of millions of children in yemen who are facing hunger. his doctor tells me that aid is getting so scarce lately that hassan and other children can't have their basic needs. it's another face of the unfolding catastrophe in yemen. the world remains consumed in fighting covid—i9, but for the people here, the pandemic is yet another deadly threat for them to survive. nawal al—maghafi, bbc news, sanaa. india has overtaken brazil as the nation with the second highest number of coronavirus infections. the country has confirmed over 4.2 million cases of covid—i9 and nearly 72,000 deaths. only the us has more cases. the indian government insisted the fatality rate is low for a population of 1.3 billion. there are reports that the british government

is planning new legislation that will override key parts of the brexit withdrawal agreement, risking the collapse of trade negotiations with brussels. the financial times says it's been told that the move could undermine the agreement on northern ireland that boris johnson signed last october to avoid a return to a hard border in the region. here's our political correspondent chris mason speaking earlier. i'm told that this is a sensible fallback option in case the ongoing negotiations break down, but this legislation will be introduced this week. now labour are saying tonight that this is yet another example of what they describe as the prime minister's fluid relationship with the truth. there is little doubt that this appears to be an explosive intervention, although government sources are insisting this is not intended to derail the talks. so how is the eu reacting? our europe editor katya adler is in brussels. if you have this international treaty, which was only recently

signed a few months ago, between the uk government and the eu now being undermined by uk domestic legislation, you can expect a very strong reaction, notjust here in brussels but in paris and berlin and elsewhere. we've heard time and again during the current trade negotiations, which we know anyway aren't going well, but we've heard from the eu's chief negotiator that implementing the withdrawal agreement, the northern ireland protocol, is a key trust issue between the eu and uk, and he said it's also key to having successful trade negotiations. this news isjust breaking tonight, but i've been speaking to sources here in brussels, and one key eu diplomat said to me it's notjust about trust, it's notjust about credibility, but if this uk legislation undermines the irish protocol, this could lead to the unravelling altogether of these trade negotiations. he called it "a self—defeating strategy" by the uk. and, of course, this comesjust on the eve of the eighth round of trade negotiations. the eu trade negotiators are about to pop onto the eurostar and join their uk counterparts in london this week.

this report will not help ease the atmosphere. katya adler. more than 200 people have been airlifted to safety in central california after a fast—moving wildfire threatened to cut off a popular campsite in the sierra national forest. nearly 15,000 firefighters are battling 23 separate blazes across the state, where some areas are experiencing record temperatures because of the current heat—wave conditions throughout the region. mark lobel reports. a national guard helicopter rescue for campers. about 20 people were hurt as fires trapped over 200 at a popular boating and fishing destination after california declared a state of emergency on friday. it was that day that this happened at the popular sierra national forest in what's being dubbed the creek fire. it spread across 36,000 acres, forcing evacuations and road closures. officials say the speed of the fire caught everyone off guard.

that fire grew so fast it trapped people at mammoth pool reservoir in the mountains. at some point during the day when they became trapped, they were doing what they could to rescue themselves and make themselves safe, some of which resulted in injuries including broken bones, lacerations, scrapes, bruises, those kinds of things. as of sunday morning, nearly 15,000 firefighters were battling 23 fires across the state, including this wildfire less than 100 kilometres from los angeles. it's a record heatwave with temperatures of up to 125 fahrenheit during what's meant to be a holiday weekend. the national guard says it's better placed than usual to respond because of its own coronavirus preparations, but... the difference this season is it's come earlier.

august is somewhat early in the typical california fire season to experience this dynamic fire behaviour, but it's the sheer number of fires burning throughout northern california concurrently and several of them large complexes also burning concurrently. that's what is making it historic and unusual. evacuation orders and warnings of power cuts are hardly what anyone wanted at this time of year but maybe vital as whether warnings of very possibly fatal temperatures resound. mark lobel, bbc news. rob mayeda is a meteorologist, reporter, and producerfor kntv in san jose, california. speaking to me a little earlier, he explained why soaring temperatures in the region were compounding the problem. at the moment outside it's about 43 celsius or 110 fahrenheit where i am here in east bay of the san francisco bay area. and at this hour, we've seen temperatures that are all time records for this month for this particular day. it's the hottest it's

been in nearly two years and at the same time we have major fires, as you mentioned, the creek fire burning into the central sierra to the north side of yosemite, you can see the map over my shoulder here, has a tremendous amount of smoke moving from that fire towards lake tahoe through the sierra. maybe not so much here in the bay area in san francisco but some of the largest fires we've seen develop in just the last three weeks. the statistics are remarkable. three of the state's top four wildfires have all occurred in history have all occurred in less than three weeks and 1.8 billion acres burnt. this is the equivalent of more than 1.5 times an average california fire season occurring injust 21 days. those are astonishing numbers. can the state cope? we are seeing requests going out to other states nearby, additional resources coming in, many from southern california until they had some major fires brake out as well. what has been especially challenging, what is also very

unusual about the fire season we're enduring is on august 16 and 17, we had literally 10,000 lightning strikes which started more than 500 lightning sparked fires. it's pretty unusual to see that many generated by an event like that, so while those fires were ongoing, then you had the most recent event develop, the creek fire which led to the evacuations around shaver lake, off to the north—east of fresno, and that fire's activity is really a snapshot of where california is this fire season. you are seeing expanding severe to moderate droughts in the region, locations that have been drought stressed by the shift in climate we've seen really over the last 20 years with droughts becoming more frequent. it sets the stage as we've entered into this new drought for some pretty explosive fire behaviour as we're seeing now across the sierra. how easy is it to predict whether fires will move to next? it's all dependent on the wind. that's an excellent question. this fire season has really taken off without the true fire season under way — it would typically happen

in september and october — we get more of these offshore winds, known in southern california as santa ana dry offshore wind. we have them too here in northern california. so we're still technically outside of that windows of those strong offshore winds, so things are so hot and dry right now, depending on what the wind direction is and these fires themselves so large, they create their own inflow, they create their own wind system, so it allows them to thrive and grow in these extra dry environments at speeds we really haven't seen before related to these fires. itjust so happens by tuesday and wednesday this week, both here and the bay area and southern california, it does look like we might see our first late summer offshore wind event which will make fighting all these fires more complicated in the region. rob mayeda there. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: no title for novak. the serbian tennis player is disqualified from the us open after accidentally hitting a linejudge.

george w bush: freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto township, as well as the whites in their rich suburbs. we say to you today in a loud and a clear voice "enough of blood and tears. enough!" translation: the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it's an exodus of up to 60,000 people caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free!

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: first a war, now the coronavirus pandemic — we report from inside yemen, as the country struggles to cope with tragedy upon tragedy. reports emerge that the uk government is considering overturning part of the brexit withdrawal deal, jeopardising trade negotiations. at least 250 protesters have been arrested across belarus, after tens of thousands of anti—government demonstrators took to the streets, for the fourth weekend in a row. they're calling for the resignation of president alexander lukashenko, following his disputed re—election last month. in the past week, the belarusian security forces have intensified efforts to detain or intimidate protesters. our correspondent, jonah fisher, spent the day among the crowds in the capital, minsk. for the fourth sunday in a row, the people of minsk defied their president.

crowd chanting riot police have been deployed on every street corner. razor wire used to block off squares and monuments. but the people here are no longer scared of alexander lu kashenko, or the balaclava—clad riot police who carry out his orders. four weeks on from the disputed election, there's no sign of belarus's demonstrations running out of steam. this is another huge protest, brought here, not just by that vote, but by the brutal, violent crackdown that followed. why have you come out here today? because my heart was broken when i saw all this violence in telegram and instagram. i felt i must do something. the violence this week has been particularly aimed at students.

groups have been seized from the streets, while out demonstrating. others, like 21—year—old prokhar, were detained on university premises. so the police dragged you out of here? yeah, yeah. prokhar‘s crime, singing a revolutionary song from the musical, les miserables. released from detention, he was at the demonstration today, philosophical about recent events. i can even say, lukashenko, thank you. because he made us united, and we are what we are now. as the numbers dwindled at the barricades this evening, the riot police had their revenge, beating and detaining dozens. the security forces are still with the president, but he has clearly lost the people. jonah fisher, bbc news, minsk. the white house has

dismissed allegations raised in a new book by president trump's former lawyer, calling them lies peddled for cash by a disgraced felon. michael cohen claims the man who employed him as a fixer for more than ten years was an ardent admirer of president putin, made racist comments about his predecessor, barack obama, and was guilty of the same crimes for which he, cohen, was jailed. a short time ago, i spoke to paul farhi, media reporter with the washington post. i asked him if we should be sceptical of cohen's account because he's been convicted of lying under oath. yes, i think so. his credibility is damaged by the fact that he was convicted of lying to congress. he had a tax evasion issue, and he's spending three years in prison. on the other hand, he was an intimate of president trump's long before he even ran for president. he has seen some things, he knows some things. you can take it with a grain of salt, but he's not a person who's an outsider — he's quite an insider. let's widen it out.

his book is part of an avalanche of recent books written by former members of the administration. it follows the atlantic article using unnamed sources. my questions to you, number one, have you read all these books? and, number two, do they paint the same picture of the trump white house? i must confess, james, that i haven't read all of these books. i've read parts of them and i'm certainly aware of their contents. these tell—all book are just about a shelf in the bookstore alone. you know, you go back to the beginnings of the trump administration, you had michael wolff's book, you had a very stable genius, written by reporters from the washington post, bob woodward is coming out with a book in a couple of weeks. there's a parade of these books. and just when you think you've heard it all, and that all the telling has been done, here comes another tell—all. this administration is a kind of unending source of scandal and, certainly, saleable stories for people who write books.

what kind of revelations or patterns stand out to you? well, the corruption and certainly the lying, if you take michael cohen's book on its own, some of these things that he is revealing, for instance, trump's friendliness with putin, admiration of putin, syncs up with things that we have been hearing for the last four years. the fact that michael cohen was certainly intimate with the pay—offs to stormy daniels has been reported outside of him reporting it — the wall streetjournal won a pulitzer prize for doing so. so these things have corroboration, they have certain credibility, because they were independently confirmed. so it's impossible for the white house to dismiss all of this as simply someone trying to sell a book. there is credibility from independent sources about some of these things. and put all together,

do any of the revelations have an impact on the president's standing? well, it depends on who you ask. the people who dislike the president certainly think it does. but what's been remarkable about trump is that his base has been unbelievably loyal throughout the administration, throughout scandal, throughout the coronavirus, impeachment, you name it. anywhere from 38—42% of the population in surveys say they are sticking with him and will vote for him. you can't win an election with 42% of the population, but it's certainly a very good base to start from. paul farhi there. typhoon haisen is battering the southern islands of japan with high winds and heavy rain. hundreds of thousands of homes are without power. there were mass evacuations from the region ahead of the storm, with the japanese weather agency warning of record rainfall, potential mudslides, and a risk of rivers flooding. the storm is forecast to pass across japan, before moving north along the korean peninsula. it's the second typhoon to hit the region within a week.

the sri lankan navy says the fire on a huge oil—tanker tennis and the men's number one seed, novak djokovic, has been disqualied from the us open. it follows an incident where he accidentally hit a line—judge with a ball. tim allman reports. a moment of madness and a bid for glory comes to an ignominious end. it was early days in novak djokovic's match against pablo carreno busta. he'd lost his serve in the first set and then this happened. look at the right of the screen. djokovic turns away and hits a ball, seemingly in frustration. now see it from this angle. the serbian player had inadvertently hit a line judge, apparently in the neck. he quickly went to see if she was ok as she clearly looked to be in some distress. out came the tournament officials, and djokovic pleaded his case. but rules are rules and the world number one eventually shook hands and left the court. i think that it was bad luck.

you know, you cannot do this. but, of course, i think that novak never, never wants to hit the line umpire. it is not the first time such an incident has occurred. britain's tim henman had to say sorry with flowers after hitting a ball girl at wimbledon in 1995. and canada's denis shapovalov forfeited a davis cup tie in 2017 when his ball hit the umpire in the eye. in a statement, novak djokovic said he was, "so sorry about what had happened, but was grateful the line judge was ok." he was red—hot favourite for this event, desperate for another grand slam. but after this unfortunate accident he will have to wait. tim allman, bbc news. the sri lankan navy says the fire on a huge oil—tanker off the east coas has

been extinguished greatly reducing fears of an environmental disaster. sri lankan and indian naval vessels have been battling for the past four days to douse the flames aboard the tanker which is carrying nearly a quarter of a million tonnes of crude oil to india. the annual regata storica has been held on the waterways of venice. despite the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of people turned out to watch the boats move through the grand canal. gail maclellan reports. had you been on the grand canal 600 years ago, you might have seen this. the boat is not nearly as great as the original the typical 16th century boat commemorate how the doug and his wife would have been conveyed along the high—ranking officials. venice is known for its masked balls but these masks tell a different story. translation: it is created by people seem careful so i would

say we feel rather safe and obviously the show is here and we are having a good time. crowds with inner than in previous years and visitors seem previous years and visitors seem to have he'd request for faces to be covered. some tourists so the advantages. does that heeded the request. translation: i chose this year because, unfortunately, because of covid, they would be fewer people and i could enjoy it more. the racing boat followed the patient, identified not by number by colour. —— pageant. one local thinking it is more sombre and less joyful though venice is always beautiful. and maybe all the boats and people will be back in 2021. gail maclellan, bbc news. more in our website. venice is

one thing but come and row on the river thames. hello there. on sunday, we had quite a bit of cloud that developed through the afternoon, notably across parts of eastern england, where we had showers, especially for yorkshire and also parts of lincolnshire, bringing us some rain here through the course of the afternoon. now, talking of rain, we've got more of that on the way right now, with rain already spreading into scotland and northern ireland. here, it's going to turn increasingly windy over the next few hours. but for many of us at least, temperatures holding up into double figures as we head into the first part of monday. now, the rain is all associated with this area of low pressure that's up near iceland. weather fronts pushing into high pressure and weakening as they reach towards the south—east. and that means, actually, we'll see rain across northern and western areas, where it's going to be quite windy. but through the day on monday, it will probably stay dry,

with sunshine across the south—east of england, turning increasingly hazy. so, this is how the charts look through monday. you can see the rain spreading from scotland and northern ireland, into the north of england, across wales. but after a sunny start elsewhere in england, yes, it will tend to cloud over, with the best of any sunshine through the afternoon hanging on across east anglia and south east england, where it will be relatively warm, with temperatures into the low 20s. brighter skies, eventually, late in the day, edging into the far north—west. now, for tuesday, we have another weather front crossing the uk. this one bringing a broad warm sector. and this wadge of warm air will be pushing right the way across the country, so it will start to feel a little bit more humid. mind you, it's also likely going to be quite cloudy, particularly across western areas, with the cloud thick enough for some patches of drizzle around some of our coasts and hills, particularly through the morning. a little bit of rain at times across the north—west as well, but where we do see some cloud breaks, and a bit of sunshine coming through, it certainly will feel on the warm side. and actually, for many of us, those temperatures will lift into the low 20s on tuesday. tuesday promises to be the warmest day of the week.

now, that warmer air is going to get shoved southwards as a cold front moves in. now, this boundary is the cold front. it's going to be bringing cloud across england and wales, with outbreaks of rain. again, the rain not really amounting to too much across south—east england. it is a weak front. but eventually, we'll get fresher air blowing into the northern half of the uk. sunshine, a few showers in the north—west. temperatures for most of us into the mid—to—high teens, so feeling pleasant in the sunshine. but across the south—east, before the front arrives, we'll still see temperatures running into the low 20s for wednesday afternoon. that's your latest weather.

this is bbc news —

the headlines: nearly six months on from covid cases starting to be reported in yemen — the bbc has become the first international broadcaster to reach there — and gauge the impact of the virus. yemen is divided between the houthi group based in the north, and an internationally recognised government in the south. there are reports that the british government is planning new legislation which could override elements of the brexit agreement signed last year with the european union relating to northern ireland. it's thought this might potentially derail the prospects of a last—minute trade deal between britain and the eu. tennis — and novak djokovic has been disqualified from the us open in new york after accidentally hitting a line judge with a ball. it happened in his fourth—round match. in a statement, the world number one said he was so sorry for what had happened. he now loses all prize money from the tournament. now on bbc news, it's time for dateline london.