this is bbc news — a very warm welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the world. 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. 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. thousands of people are spending a third night sleeping out in the open on the after their migrant camp burned down — we report from the remains of the camp on the greek island of lesbos. homes, livelihoods gone in an instant. it's like a bomb has hit this entire area.

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. andy greenberg is the author of sandworm: a new era of cyberwar and the hunt for the kremlin‘s most dangerous hackers and has spent years studying russia's hacking offensives. i asked him why experts are saying the russian hacking attacks are the most concerning of the three. well, you know, ithink that it's — the reason for that is kind of the nature of the hackers from these different countries. china and iran have very capable hackers, especially china, but russia is distinguished by fact that it is willing to do disruptive things that no other country is willing to do with its hackers. so in 2016, russia did not merely spy on, you know,

these political campaigns in the united states. they stole their e—mails and, you know, 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, of the — of russia's playbook, again, that they are willing to do these kind of extremely disruptive activities. not merely intelligence—gathering espionage, they are trying to disrupt and interfere with the 2020 election, most likely. we talked about these attacks on from people and groups and individuals. anything impact on actual government infrastructure to do with the election? we're not really unclear on that — i mean, microsoft did not mention that — but there are, you know, 200 organisations mentioned here. and also, you know, we don't know — this is actually in some ways just the kind of warning sign that, as we expected, russia's military intelligence agency, specifically the gru, is seeking to interfere in the 2020 election. now, it may be that they are just seeking to do a kind of,

you know — maybe it'sjust espionage, maybe it's a hack and leak operation like 2016, where when they spilled e—mails online, or it could be — as you are, i think, implying — that they are targeting election infrastructure as well, and we don't know the answer to that question yet. rio tinto‘s chief executive jean—sebastienjacques 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. 0ur correspondent in sydney, shaimaa khalil has more details. this goes back essentially to the destruction of two of the most significant aboriginal and archaeological sites in western australia. the rock shelters of the juukan gorge shelters, they include evidence of human occupation dating back 116,000 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 against the wishes of the traditional land owners who said they were shocked that this has gone ahead. for example, artefacts that were found in those areas, for example, a marsupial bone that goes back 28,000 years that was sharpened into a tool, a 4,000 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 a rtefa cts 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've done.

they first claimed that they were legally able to do so but then they issued an apology to the area's traditional people about what had happened and now this latest — the latest development is that the chief executive is going to now leave hisjob. he's going to stay either until march 31 or until he is replaced, whichever comes first. shaimaa khalil, our correspondent in sydney. and correspondent in sydney. there is more on that stc on and there is more on that story on the bbc news website. 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, then another wiped out any remaining tents on wednesday. 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.

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. security sources injordan say there have been a series of large explosions at an army base in the city of zarqa — near the capital amman. initial reports say the blasts took place at an ammunition depot. ajordanian security official said two people were killed and another three injured. it is unclear what caused the blasts. portugal has been added to england's coronavirus quarantine list. anybody arriving in england from portugal, excluding the azores and madeira, after 4am uk time on saturday will need to self—isolate for 1h days. hungary, french polynesia and reunion are now on the list as well. 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: ten dead and hundreds injured in anti—police riots in the colombian capital, bogota. 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 world news, the latest headlines: microsoft says it's thwarted a series of cyberattacks from china, russia and iran, targeting the us presidential election in november. thousand of migrants are spending another night without adequate shelter after two fires destroyed their refugee camp on the greek island of lesbos.

to more alleged police brutality, this time, in the colombian capital bogota, which has seen a second night of violent protests. 10 people have died during clashes between police and protesters after the death of a man on wednesday, who was pinned to the ground and repeatedly tasered by police. a warning that this report by paul hawkins contains images from the start that you may find distressing. 46—year—old javier 0rdonez begs police officers to stop catering him. the father of two arrested for allegedly breaking social distancing rules. he later died in hospital. translation: the police have said it was a police procedure but it really wasn't. he was killed by police officers and the only thing we want is justice. we want to say we also condemn any violent act but it was precisely a violent act that took the life of our

brother—in—law and we do not ca re brother—in—law and we do not care for violent acts, we already have a lawyer and we wa nt to already have a lawyer and we want to be on the side for law and justice party behad. the family say the law student was tasered 12 times by police, he stopped him when he went out to buy more alcohol. the reaction to his death was violent. hundreds of people gathered outside the police station where he was held, buses with satellite, cars vandalised, officers attacked. translation: they are hurting us translation: they are hurting us with a gas and stun guns, we are humans like them. they have families, so do we, respect our lives, we are columbia. hundreds of people have been injured during the demonstrations, some of them with gunshot wounds. this year alone, there have been 137 complaints of police brutality in bogota although civilian deaths involving the police are rare. translation: our condolences and solidarity go to the family

of javier 0rdonez. we recognise the families human loss. i want to make a call for calm and serenity but at the same time for trust and the independent institutions of the rule of law. but despite extend hundred extra police in the capital, the protests continued on thursday night and have a ready spread to other cities, even though the two police officers involved in the incident have been suspended. the merrick bogota has condemned police brutality and two separate investigations have been launched by the government in the prosecutor ‘s office. the anger is raw and it will not go away anytime soon. —— mayor. 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 a hundred

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. 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 get this devastating, so we left a lot behind. we ended up losing more than we thought we would've. among the dead in neighbouring washington state is a 1—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. oh, my god! california's governor says 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 protests by athletes 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 underway, 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 on their helmets. i've been speaking to sports lawyer anthony tall. 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 injail 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 among whites in america as well. 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. 0ur arts edito, will gompertz, looks back at her life. diana rigg as the incredibly stylish, unsha keably cool,

thoroughly independent emma peel in the 1960s hit spy—fi series the avengers. she wasn't one to stand for any nonsense, on—screen all of. so, when she discovered she was being paid less than the cameraman on the show, she decided to have a word. i don'tjoin generally the main body of feminism, but i have always said that i thought equal pay gets you a long way to be treated equally by a man. mrand mrsjames bond! from agent peel to 007‘s mrs, the only woman to make an honest man out of bond. dame diana rigg was, at heart, a classical actor who trained at rada and learned her craft at the royal shakespeare company, working alongside the likes of laurence olivier, albert finney and vanessa redgrave.

i know she was fabulous in the avengers and very sexy and all those necessary things, which came to her easily, but the point is she was a brilliant actress and she was fun. will i be interfering with his majesty's obligations? i sincerely hope so! friends spoke of her courage, her feistiness and her wicked sense of humour. will you love me when i'm old and ugly? well, of course i do! i can't wait to be old and gentle and retrospective. and utterly past it. no, george, darling, you telephoned me. diana rigg won a bafta for her performance in the bbc‘s mother love and a tony award for her title role in medea. in 2013, she appeared in an episode of doctor who alongside her daughter,

the actress rachael stirling, with dame diana playing a very bad mother. a new generation discovered her in game of thrones as the sharp—tongued matriarch lady 0lenna tyrell. you are a dragon, be a dragon. she continued to work into her 80s and can currently be seen starring in the popular remake of all creatures great and small. dame diana rigg put her success down to working hard, taking chances and a willingness to improvise. it is worth mentioning she was also one of the most gifted, intelligent and charismatic actors to ever grace both stage and screen. dame diana rigg, who's died at the age of 82. a brazilian daredevil has improved her own record for a wave written by a woman, riding a 73.5feet

wave written by a woman, riding a 73.5 feet wave and she was towed into the big wave competition. her ride was also the biggest wave written by any surfer in the past year. ——ridden. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ rich preston. 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 starting 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 45mph 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 elsewhere 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.

now on bbc news: hardtalk — stephen sackur