welcome to bbc news — i'm rich preston. our top stories: microsoft says it's thwarted a series of cyberattacks from china, russia and iran, targeting the us presidential election in november. thousands of migrants are spending a third night sleeping out in the open on the greek island of lesbos. homes, livelihoods gone in an insta nt. homes, livelihoods gone in an instant. it's like a bomb has hit this entire area. the boss of one of the world's biggest mining companies, rio tinto, has resigned over the destruction of a sacred aboriginal site in western australia. at least seven people are dead after a hundred wildfires rip through the us west coast so are you mr bond?

a legend on stage — a siren on screen, tributes to the actress dame diana rigg. hackers linked to russia, china and iran are targeting people and organisations involved in the upcoming us presidential election, including the campaigns of both donald trump and joe biden. that's according to a report from the technology giant microsoft. the report suggests that strontium, the russian—based group also known as ‘fancy bear‘ — which is thought to be responsible for the hacking of the 2016 democratic campaign — has recently attacked more than 200 organizations. meanwhile, a chinese—based group known as zirconium has attacked high—profile individuals associated with the election, including people linked tojoe biden‘s presidential campaign. and finally, a group operating out of iran known as phosphorus is reported by microsoft to be continuing its attacks on the personal accounts

of people associated with donald trump's presidential campaign. here's our correspondent nomia iqbal. it's a really strong warning from microsoft this evening, emphasising that hackers are targeting the team of both joe biden and donald trump ahead of the us election. as you mentioned there, three countries were named. coming up top was russia and this group fancy bear, which was named in the official report into hacking in 2016 here in the us when hillary clinton's presidential run was hugely undermined, thousands of e—mails were leaked. this time around, this group is accused of going after hundreds of organisations, either directly or indirectly linked to the us elections. so we're talking about campaign advisors, policymakers and so forth. iran and china are also named. microsoft did say that

most of the attacks were unsuccessful and no voting systems were targeted but they do expect this to intensify nearer to november three. in terms of the countries mentioned there, none of them have actually officially commented yet but previously they have been accused of cyber—espionage and they have denied that. let's bring you some breaking news. is to leave the firm after a scandal in australia. in may, the world's biggest iron ore miner destroyed the sacred aboriginal sites in pilbara, western australia. they were among the oldest historic sites in australia. let's get more from our correspondent in sydney, shaimaa khalil. what is the back story here? well, this goes back

essentially to the destruction of two of the most significant aboriginal and archaeological sites in western australia. the rock shelters in the gorge shelters include evidence of human occupation dating back 46,000 human occupation dating back 16,000 years. and there, the expansion of one of rio tinto‘s iron ore mines happened on that site, blasting the site and destroying it essentially. and this went again the wishes of the traditional land owners who said they were shocked that this has gone ahead. for example, this has gone ahead. for exa m ple, a rtefa cts this has gone ahead. for example, artefacts that were found in those areas, for example marsupial bones that goes back 28,000 years which we re goes back 28,000 years which were sharpened into a tool for a 4000 year old belt, braided into human hair. the dna of which goes back to the original people of the land. these are the kinds of market two

a rtefa cts a nd the kinds of market two artefacts and archaeological evidence that was found in that site. it was considered to be one of the most important archaeological sites and it was destroyed. there has been a lot of back and forth between investors, between aboriginal groups and government leaders and rio tinto‘s leadership about what happened, about the legality of what they have done. they first claimed that they were legally able to do so but then they issued an apology to the area's original people about what had happened and now this latest, the latest development is that the chief executive is going to now leave hisjob. he is going to stay over until march 31 or until he is replaced, whichever comes first. shaimaa khalil, our correspondent in sydney, thank you forjoining us. thousands of people are spending a third night sleeping out in the open, on the greek island of lesbos after a fire destroyed their makeshift camp. a blaze engulfed the moria migrant camp on tuesday night,

then another wiped out any remaining tents on wednesday. authorities are investigating whether the fires at the camp, which is the largest in europe, were started deliberately. the bbc‘s mark lowen sent this report from the moria camp. in this scorched wasteland of mangled memories was taqi mohammedi's home. temporary, overcrowded, but it was all he had. and then the inferno took hold. bad moment, very, very bad moment. the emotion is too much as he leads the way to where his shack stood. and this is all that's left. the ruptured remains of family life. every breakfast, water, hot, and tea. when the fire hit, taqi ran here frantically looking for his wife and son. he found them safe up on the mountain. next fire, maybe i burn, maybe my wife burn, my kids burn. maybe.

the fire on tuesday night tore through moria, destroying europe's largest migrant camp — suspected arson after the authorities tried to isolate those with coronavirus. two days on, it still smoulders, fanned by winds. the fires still aren't out. every few hours, another one starts. the thick, acrid smoke filling the air, it's burning my eyes at the moment. and just imagine this spreading out across this entire area, destroying the lives of almost 13,000 people. homes, livelihoods, gone in an instant. it's like a bomb has hit this entire area. how quickly the flames leap, a frenzy to get another blaze under control. the camp, four times over capacity, has emptied. but they have nowhere to go, streaming out

into lesbos island, now under a state of emergency. migrants bedding down wherever they can. sheltering in the shadow of a police truck, a group from congo. the policemen inside look the other way, as europe has, too, for years, while moria's despair mounted. "we left our country, congo, to find safety," arienne tells me, "but it's the opposite, we are in danger here. the fire took everything, including my documents for my asylum interview. the only things we saved where our lives." the welcome has faded here, greece angry at being left by europe to shoulder the migration burden and now facing another crisis. translation: we want them to leave, go out of the country as they want. we sympathise with them but we are bringing up our children here. it is us or them, we cannot coexist. this is taqi's new refuge, as europe decides what to do with them. here, at least, fire is

comfort, where little else is. mark lowen, bbc news, lesbos. let's get some of the day's other news. president trump has said his secretary of state, mike pompeo, will attend the long—delayed afghan peace negotiations taking place in qatar on saturday. mr trump's statement followed an afghan taliban announcement that it was ready to take part in the talks. the militant group agreed to participate after afghan government officials sent a final group of six taliban prisoners to qatar. a large fire has broken out in the port area of the lebanese capital, beirut, in a warehouse where food aid is stored. the blaze is very close to the scene of last month's massive explosion which devastated the heart of the city. the european union has issued an ultimatum over brexit, telling the uk it must withdraw its plans for a law to override key parts of the brexit divorce deal, or trade talks could collapse. the blunt warning came after talks on thursday in london. here's our political editor, laura kuenssberg. after months of comings and goings, could the moment to get a decent long—term deal

with the eu almost be gone? the bloc hates the government's latest plan to rewrite some of the treaty that was signed and sealed with brussels last year. i came here to express serious concerns that the european union has over the proposed bill. that will be the nature of our discussions today. good morning, it's a lovely day. ministers want the power to change parts of the law agreed with brussels last year over what happens in northern ireland. but they've even admitted the plan breaches international law and that appalled the eu — coming to london for an explanation. far from making peace, the talks ended with anger and threat. the eu demanded the uk withdraw these measures from the draft bill in the shortest time possible, and in any case by the end of the month, saying the withdrawal agreement contains a number of mechanisms and legal remedies, which the eu will not be shy in using. in other words, if you don't

budge, you'll hear from our lawyers. yet forget about the uk side backing down. ministers are sticking to their claim their action is fully justified. vice president sefcovic also requested that the uk withdraw its internal market legislation. i explained to the vice president that we could not and would not do that and instead, i stressed the vital importance of reaching agreement through the joint committee on these important questions. so until the stand—off is resolved, talks about the trade deal that matters so much are at risk. is there a way... good afternoon. brussel‘s chief negotiator was in town today too, but the chances of progress are plummeting. of course this has been a long old process but the signals are bad and the atmosphere is tense. the eu riled by what they see as the uk's provocation this week. it's notjust the eu that has a big problem with the government's proposals. they would have to pass the green and the red

benches of parliament. listen to the house of lords today — can you imagine the plan getting through? the rule of law is not pick and mix. this stinking hypocrisy chokes our country's reputation and destroys our government's ability to lead at home and make agreements abroad. even a former tory leader, a brexiteer, has serious fears. how can we reproach russia or china or iran when their conduct falls below internationally accepted standards when we are showing such scant regard for our treaty obligations? some tory mps share some of the eu's concerns, but the chance of the government backing down right now seems zero. trust and confidence are and will be key. and confidence he calls for? that's in short supply. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. stay with us on bbc

news, still to come: and from bond to game of thrones — in a career spanning more than 60 years, tributes to dame diana rigg who's died at the age of 82. 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. our top story: microsoft says it's thwarted a series of cyberattacks from china, russia and iran, targeting the us presidential election in november. let's get more on this now. i'm joined now by andy greenberg, senior writer at wired magazine — and the author of sandworm: a new era of cyberwar and the hunt for the kremlin‘s most dangerous hackers. q. 0. indeed forjoining us. have microsoft given specific

details about what they have found —— thank you indeed. details about what they have found -- thank you indeed. they have not given much evidence for it but microsoft has invisible —— incredible invisibility across the internet and windows and the accou nts internet and windows and the accounts they control and what they say has happened is one group of russian hackers known asa bt group of russian hackers known as a bt 28 who have since, but this time last year tried to break into about organisations and accounts but most importantly many of those organisations are political campaigns, political consultancies, legal parties, all sorts of organisations that sort of adjacent or touching the us election this year. mention several countries, russian, china and iran, why is russian, china and iran, why is russia the one to be most concerned about, in your opinion? i think the reason for thatis opinion? i think the reason for that is kind of the nature of the hikers from these different countries. china and iran have capable hackers, especially china, russia is distinguished by fa ct china, russia is distinguished by fact it is willing to do disruptive things that no other country is willing to do with

its hackers so in 2016, russia did not nearly spy on these political campaigns in the united states, they stole their e—mails and leaked them onto the internet in this incredibly chaotic chaos— inducing wave for the 2016 election and we have to expect, or at least be wary, but russia's playbook again that they are willing to do these kind of extremely disruptive activities, not really intelligence gathering espionage, they are planning to interrupt and interfere with the 2020 election, most likely. we spoke about these attacks in people —— from people on groups and infrastructure, anything to do with the infrastructure of the election? we are unclear on that, microsoft did not mention it, but 200 organisations mentioned here and also, we don't know this is actually in just the kind of warning sign that as we expected, russia's military intelligence agency

particularly the g argue is seeking to interfere in the 2020 election. —— gru. maybe they are just 2020 election. —— gru. maybe they arejust doing 2020 election. —— gru. maybe they are just doing espionage and a hack and lead operation like 2016 or over when they spill e—mails online or perhaps as you are implying they are targeting infrastructure as well and we don't know the a nswer to well and we don't know the answer to that question yet. andy greenberg, thank you for joining us. the west coast of the united states is witnessing some of the most devastating wildfire damage the region has ever seen. flames have been driven by extreme winds and high temperatures. at least seven people have died. 0verall, nearly 100 fires have been burning through the western states over the past few days. they stretch from portland in oregon to los angeles in california, some 1,300 kilometres away. from la, our correspondent david willis now reports. across the american west, historic wildfires are devouring everything in their path.

unnaturally hot weather, combined with bone dry conditions and warm winds have created a meteorological perfect storm, leaving firefighters inundated. record high temperatures this last weekend led to this series of fires on the outskirts of los angeles and they have already burnt more than 20,000 acres of land, despite the best efforts of hundreds of firefighters. and throughout california and all the way up the pacific coast, dozens of fires just like these are currently burning out of control. the fires have turned day into night and the skies around san francisco's iconic golden gate bridge into the same colour as the structure itself. in oregon, entire towns have been destroyed, and the state's governor is warning the death toll there could be higher than from any previous fires on record. everything is gone. we tried to take as much

as we could, but we didn't think it would be this devastating, so we left a lot behind. we ended up losing more than we thought we would. among the dead in neighbouring washington state is a one—year—old, uriel hyland. his parents became caught in a vicious inferno. this is all that remains of their car. i was out in tacoma and headed back home and i sawjust a little bit of black smoke... this man was on his way home when he saw his neighbour's home ablaze. 0h, oh, my god! governors in california say the fires are a tangible sign of the effects of global warning. with no hint of rain in the forecast, he is calling for outside help in fighting them. david willis, bbc news, los angeles. the political divide over athlete protests has been long—standing, deepening since nfl quarterback colin kaepernick first took a knee during the playing of the us national anthem in 2016. as the nfl gets under way, it's using its resources

to promote socialjustice and condemn racism in america, including the choice for players to display the name of a victim or one of four pre—approved phrases from the league to display on their helmets. sports lawyer anthony tall joined me a short time ago to discuss the importance of the move. because the nfl as a league is over 80% african—american and a lot of the guys on these teams, that play for these teams, are the great talent that make the nfl one of the top sports leagues in the history of the world, and a lot of the guys who play on these teams come from that environment where they could have been shot, they have family members shot that are by police, where there is police abuse all the time, and they have family members who are locked up in jail because we have such a complex prison system here in america. so with that being the case, the nfl,

basically it is smart business to let these athletes to express their opinion and i do think it will move the needle a little bit in regard to public opinion. —— to public opinion among whites in america as well. i wanted to ask you about that public opinion, because there has been political divide over whether or not athletes should take part in these protests and make theirfeelings known. what is the current temperature like on that front? well, it's pretty — the temperature here in america is pretty inflamed. there is a lot going on in regard to race relations. there are there a re protests there are protests almost every night. however, athletes since the beginning of their existence in america have always protested, going all the way back to jackjohnson, one of the great african american champions in 1909. all the way through to muhammed ali. so when kaepernick took a knee, he spread the revolution tributes have been paid to the actor dame diana rigg,

who's died at the age of 82. she had been suffering from cancer. she was best known for her roles as the feisty emma peel in the avengers and as james bond's wife in on her majesty's secret service in a career spanning more than 60 years. joining me live from newjersey is alan sepinwall, chief television critic for rolling stone magazine. thank you very much for taking the time to be with us. as we mentioned, her character in the avengers is one that she is probably most remembered by. what was it that made that character so special? emma peel was basically a superhero before there were many superheroes on television. she was an amateur who fell into espionage and she knew martial a rts espionage and she knew martial arts and more fabulous clothing and had scorching chemistry who played —— with the character who played her partner. she came in and replaced honour blackman who was already beloved for having played

inaudible and an unenviable task and no—one ever talked about cathy gale, they talk about cathy gale, they talk about emma peel because that is how unbelievably charismatic and how real and exciting and sexy diana rigg was in that part. you mentioned her clothing because it was not just her acting that stuck in peoples minds she really was a style icon, wasn't she? she was, they started putting her in these leather catsuit and they quickly realised she had her own look and they put her in this oat couture one jumpsuits and cut suits and mod clothing, things that they thought they could not be shown on television, they did because it looked incredible on her, and if you think back to the most stylish categories in the long history of television on either side of the pond, she has to be up or at the very top of it in terms of her fashion.

her career, as i mentioned, spanning more than 60 years and she was renowned for being a phenomenally hard—working actress. she was. she had trained at the royal academy and had worked in the royal shakespeare company. she was a classically trained shakespearean actor is most famous roles are in these really high concept action things like the adventures and james bond or even at the end of her career the game of thrones and she brought such believability to it. because of the training, because she took it all seriously. you would talk to her off—camera, she would make it all sounds ridiculous but you would never know that to watch her. she was fantastic. away from the screen, how did this young woman who was propelled into the limelight just to woman who was propelled into the limelightjust to this life of fame the limelightjust to this life offame and the limelightjust to this life of fame and fortune? well, it was a little bit strange for her, i only encountered her a couple of times in person but she always had a very wry sense of humour about it. she would

tell jokes about of humour about it. she would telljokes about how ridiculous she felt wearing some of the outfits and how she took the job because she got to do reading backstage and things like that so she seemed very sort of down—to—earth, even as she was, you know, at the height of fame for much of the 60s. alan sepinwall, chief television critic for rolling stone magazine, thank you for joining us. a brazilian daredevil has improved her own world record for the biggest wave surfed by a woman. riding a 73.5 foot wave at portugal's nazare point. take a look at these pictures! maya gabeira was towed byjet—ski into her winning wave during a world surf league big wave competition. her ride was also the biggest wave ridden by any surfer in the past year. thank you forjoining me. you can keep up to date with all of those stories on our website and on the bbc news app.

you can reach me on twitter. i'm @rich preston. we would love to hear from you. hello. some warmer weather on the way for many of us to end the weekend, but also some heavy rain over the weekend in parts of scotland. and in fact, during thursday, the rain clouds were gathering and for scotland and northern ireland for friday morning, some wet and windy weather on the way as this area of low pressure drives the weather front south across the uk. this is how it looks as we start the day. this is where the rain will be sitting first thing in the morning. for much of the uk, the day starts dry. temperatures at their lowest with the clear spells in the east and south—east of england. some rural spots, around five or six degrees. so through friday morning, the wet weather will push south across scotland and northern ireland. some of the rain quite heavy but by the afternoon, it's brightening up. there'll be a few blustery

showers with the sunshine into northern and western scotland. the rain reaching into northern england at this stage, most substantial to the west of the pennines and into north wales. now, it's a blustery day wherever you are, but particularly through northern england, northern ireland and scotland. these are average speeds, some gusts around 40 mph or so. south of our rain band, it's mainly dry. parts of eastern england seeing a few hazy, sunny spells. this is where we'll see the high temperatures 20, maybe 21 degrees. for friday evening and night, a fairly narrow band of rain makes further slow progress south through wales and england. behind it, some clear spells and further blustery showers into parts of northern ireland, northern and western scotland. a cooler night in eastern scotland, a milder night across much of england as the area of cloud on this weatherfront, not much rain, makes further slow progress southwards. it is still around on saturday morning, still capable of producing a few showers or a few spots of rain. so don't be surprised if you encounter this.

still a few showers in northern ireland, towards northern and western scotland, still quite blustery here. but many places having a dry saturday with broken cloud and sunny spells. temperatures for the most part into the mid to high teens. this area of rain will push in towards northern ireland and scotland as we go through saturday night. but particularly in scotland, saturday into sunday and especially in the hills of the west, it is looking very wet. some spots may end up with over 100mm of rain, bringing a risk of flooding. whereas wlsewhere on sunday, a surge of sunshine and warmth coming from the south which will continue into monday. that's your forecast. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: microsoft says it has detected and thwarted a series of cyberattacks from china, russia and iran, which have targeted november's us presidential election. amongst those responsible are the group accused of hacking the 2016 us presidential election. all three countries have previously denied allegations of cyber—espionage. rio tinto's ceo is stepping down over the mining giant's destruction of historically significant aboriginal rockshelters. jean—sebastien jacques, the chief executive of rio tinto, will step down by the end of march after failing to contain the fallout from the destruction of the ancient aboriginal site in western australia. thousands of migrants are spending a third night sleeping out in the open, on the greek island of lesbos after a fire destroyed their makeshift camp. authorities are investigating whether tuesday night's fires were started deliberately after covid—19 tests led to the isolation of 35 refugees.