this is bbc news, i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: dozens of people are reported missing in a wave of deadly wildfires in the us state of oregon. many more evacuation orders have been put in place, including right here, such that now more than half a million people in this state have been told to leave their homes. bahrainjoins the united arab emirates in normalising relations with israel, a move which further erodes the arab world's boycott of the jewish state. shouting and chanting. protests in lesbos against conditions on the greek island with migrants demanding to be allowed to travel to mainland europe. coronavirus is back on the rise in the uk, with the r number, showing how many people each patient infects, above 1 for the first

time since march. hello and welcome. up to 500,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes in the american state of oregon as wildfires continue to spread across the country's west coast, with around 3,000 firefighters tackling nearly 100 blazes. the state governor kate brown has said that dozens of people are missing. the fires have killed at least four people in oregon and 11 in other west coast states. from portland, our north america correspondent aleem maqbool reports. the scale of these wildfires is staggering, and as they burn, more lives are being lost.

seven bodies were recovered from this community alone, after the flames were fought back. but around 100 major fires are now burning across the north—western united states. they are doing what they can, but erratic winds are hampering efforts and its threatening many communities in three different states. well, overnight, two of the biggest fires in oregon merged, and many more evacuation orders have been put in place, including right here, such that now, more than half a million people in this state have been told to leave their homes. those who fled medford, in oregon, told of having just minutes to grab what they could before their homes were completely engulfed and destroyed. in the last ten years, we see an average of 500,000 acres burned in an entire year. we've seen that nearly double in the past three days. we have never seen this

amount of uncontained fire across our state. the governor talked of this being the acute impact of climate change, and warned that, as unprecedented as these fires have been, to expect more of the same kind of devastation in the future. and there is still such a long way to go in the fight against this disaster, and fears of many more deaths to come. aleem maqbool, bbc news in sandy, 0regon. we can now speak to dana haynes, who's the managing editor of the portland tribune where he has been co—ordinating the newspaper's coverage of the wildfires. dayna, thank you for taking the time to talk to us here at the bbc. let me start by asking you, have you ever seen anything like this before? —— dana. we have not, this is very unusual. we have wildfires in the summer and smoke events in portland, auckland being one of

the most beautiful cities in the most beautiful cities in the united states but these kind of fires happening these fast, with these strong winds coming from the east and the dry spell, we have never seen this. these couple of days this quy this. these couple of days this guy has been the colour of an old bruce, some simply never comes out, we have not seen this in oregon. what has been the impact on the people of 0regon, tell me what has happened in the last few days. let me go back a bit and say portland has been suffering from the pandemic, the economic slowdown, they have been protests on the street for 104 straight days so this has been an unusual summer straight days so this has been an unusual summer well before this happened. we have not seen the fires that are right on our periphery, we have fires right up periphery, we have fires right up to our southeast edge, and if... we had a 58 kilometre mile stretch of fire right on the edge of our town, we have never seen that before. add to the fact that we have the worst area in the world today, our

area in the world today, our area is rated worse than mexico city, worse than lahore and worse than any city... in india. people are stressed out and you can feel it when you talk to folks, stress levels have really ratcheted up. looking forward to the next few days or so, do you get the feeling that things are going to improve, i know that firefighters have been working around the clock to try and control the fires, what other weather forecasts telling you about what will happen over the next few days? we have very good news, the weather has changed so that really dry easterly wind, we have much wetter westerly wind coming from the ocean right now, so by sunday we should, we might actually have some precipitation. we spoke to some firefighters who are working in one of oursuburban, firefighters who are working in one of our suburban, imagine a kentish county that is just in oui’ kentish county that is just in our periphery and they said the fires got within a couple of kilometres of towns but they

have stopped because the winds have stopped because the winds have stopped. we are looking at high -- have stopped. we are looking at high —— hire conditions. we had a high yesterday of 32 degrees and is now 15. the winds have turned around so quickly and we feel like they will actually be able to add all the fires starting this weekend. you are saying these fires are unprecedented, why do you think it is we are seeing this kind of fire happening this year? global warming, i think the governor is completely right, you can't say it is any kind of federal policy because the fires are burning on both privately and publicly held lands. i think you can say we have simply gotten drier winters and very dry summers here, and california is in the same situation, washington, same situation, washington, same situation. i don't see any way you can not say that global warming is playing a significant role in the ratcheting up of these fires. as the government said we have seen as the government said we have seenin as the government said we have

seen in three days what we normally get in three years. dana haynes, thank you very much indeed. always a pleasure. the kingdom of bahrain has become the latest arab gulf state to say it is normalising its relations with israel, less than a month after the united arab emirates said it was establishing ties. announcing the deal, president trump described it as "another historic breakthrough". the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, called it a "new era of peace." tom bateman reports from jerusalem. an american president hailing a peace deal in the middle east. the agreement makes bahrain only the fourth arab country to normalise ties with israel, a much—needed boon in the white house ahead of an election. i want to thank the leaders of israel and bahrain for their vision and courage to forge this historic agreement, their leadership is proving that the future can be filled with hope, and does not need to be

predetermined by conflicts of the past. a joint statement between israel and bahrain called their agreement "a historic breakthrough." it is likely to involve mutual embassies, direct flights and new security ties among countries that share a common adversary in iran. translation: i am moved to be able to tell you that this evening we are reaching another peace agreement with another arab country, bahrain. this agreement adds to the historic agreement with the united arab emirates. it is another significant moment for relations between israel and the arab world. last month the uae and the israelis agreed to forge diplomatic links. but it leaves the palestinians feeling sidelined. they condemned the latest agreement, calling it a dangerous betrayal. they believe the move by the gulf countries torpedoes a promise by arab states not to embrace israel until palestinian statehood is achieved.

the gulf countries believe their move could nudge forward an end to the israeli—palestinian conflict, but critics see more self—interest than peacemaking for the parties involved. joining me now isjon alterman, director of the middle east programme at the centre for strategic and international studies in washington. thanks so much forjoining us on bbc news. first of all, what is your take on what this means for the wider situation in the middle east? i'm not sure it changes the situation in the broader middle east much at all, bahrain's fear of iran ‘s long—standing, bahrain was not fighting with israel, this is an incremental step, the report suggests that arab states moving away from advancing the palestinian cause, i'm not sure it counts as any —— gets any closer to resolving the

israeli—palestinian conflict but it gets us further away from the war. it reinforces trends that we have known for some time and bahrain has been reaching out to the israelis for quite some time, i have been part of all the multilateral efforts of the arabs to engage the israelis in the past. where do you think this desire to move in this direction comes from, in terms of uae and bahrain?” direction comes from, in terms of uae and bahrain? i think that uae had a certain discrete set of problems, on the one hand they wanted some very advanced weaponry from the united states, they were looking to distance themselves from saudi arabia in the mind of certainly the american congress and some others, i think they will probably looking for some israeli technology and cooperation against both terrorism and the iranians. i would against both terrorism and the iranians. iwould imagine against both terrorism and the iranians. i would imagine the uae wish list, what they got in exchange, much easier than i imagine the bahrain one, maybe there are other kinds of reassurances. i think in many ways the bahrain move was

partly a gesture on behalf of the saudis, bahrain has sorta been a saudi wing man for quite some time, also perhaps a little bit of a trial. the saudis are very far away from doing anything but i think the amorite is did it without a big push back —— emirates did it without a big push back, bahrain had a much slimmer package and there are voices in saudi arabia that said go for it. on the surface, a huge dramatic victory for president trump. i would argue it is an unusual example of the trump administration actually doing diplomacy. the president's instinct for diplomacy as he has big summits with lots of expectations and he is going to talk to somebody and show he is a dealmaker, he hasn't got many deals, north korean and iran have not been very productive, i think this has been long effo rts i think this has been long efforts over many, many years to try and find common interest between friends of the us. this

is in many ways what diplomacy has been, what diplomacy can be, and frankly what the trump administration has been doing ina administration has been doing in a small number of circumstances rather than in many of the different conflicts surging around the middle east right now. and your analysis of what this could mean in terms of wider regional dialogue? what this could mean in terms of wider regional dialogue ?|j of wider regional dialogue?” don't think there is going to bea don't think there is going to be a rush for actual dialogue, we can talk about flights going back and forth, but even american dues of arab origin —— jewish americans of arab origin who find themselves subjected to embarrassing and humiliating security checks when leaving the country, we have to take it that this is a small step, it isa that this is a small step, it is a step towards normalisation, a step away from the old boycotts but this is being done very slowly because they will be other reasons for people to go back and forth. —— aren't going to be a lot of

reasons for people. thank you for talking to us and giving us your analysis. let's get some of the day's other news: at least 50 people are feared to have been killed in the democratic republic of congo when an artisanal gold mine collapsed near the eastern town of kamituga. the town's mayor said heavy rains caused landslides in three mining wells, trapping the miners. all fourformer us police officers charged in connection afghan government negotiators, seen here leaving kabul, have arrived in doha to take part in the first formal intra—afg han peace talks with the taliban which start on saturday. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, will also attend the negotiations. all fourformer us police officers charged in connection with the death of a black man, george floyd, in may have appeared in court in the city of minneapolis. derek chauvin, who faces the most serious accusations, was making his first in—person court appearance since he was charged with murder.

migrants on the greek island of lesbos have been protesting on the streets demanding the freedom to travel on to mainland europe. more than 10,000 people were left without shelter this week after europe's largest refugee camp was gutted by fire. protesters approached riot police cordoning off the road out of the moria camp. 400 unaccompanied children from the camp are to be taken in by eu countries. the european commission says the destroyed camp will be rebuilt, a plan strongly opposed by authorities on the island. 0ur correspondent bethany bell is on lesbos. many, many migrants are sleeping rough after the moria camp burnt down, they're camping out on the sides of roads, some of them sleeping in cemeteries or under the trees in olive groves. some aid workers have been supplying them with food and basic supplies,

but sanitary conditions are grim, there's little to no running water and it is very difficult for people to wash themselves. people here have been holding protests. migrants have been marching up and down, demanding freedom to move to other parts of europe, away from lesbos and away from greece. "freedom, not food," one person said. "we want to go somewhere else. we want europe to help us." the local greeks here also want the migrants to go somewhere else — they say lesbos has borne the brunt of europe's migrant crisis for too long, but at the moment, an agreement by the eu looks very difficult. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: airplane food for grounded customers — thai airways open a pop up restaurant for those who want a choice of chicken or beef

without taking to the skies. george w bush: freedom itself was attacked this morning, all 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, will 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. more than 500,000 people in the us state of oregon are fleeing deadly wildfires that are raging across the pacific northwest. at least ten people are reported to have died and dozens more are missing. bahrain says it is normalising relations with israel, in a move that further erodes the arab world's boycott of the jewish state. it's been 19 years since the september 11th attacks killed nearly 3000 people in what remains the deadliest attack on us soil since the second world war. memorials were held in rememberence of the victims throughout the country. 0ur north america correspondent

nick bryant has this report. 9/11, the day that separated the past and the future into the before and the after. this year in new york, the commemorations were loaded with extra meaning. in 2020, amidst a viral onslaught, this city became ground zero again. families of the victims wore masks, but on a day of such high emotion, it was hard to maintain a social distance. moments of remembrance at a time of mass mourning in america. thomas atwood. donald trump marked this solemn day in shanksville, pennsylvania, where united airlines flight 93 crashed into a field after passengers tried to overpower the hijackers. the heroes of flight 93 are an everlasting reminder that no matter the danger, no matter the threat, no matter the odds, america will always rise up, stand tall and fight back.

joe biden, the democrat seeking to replace donald trump as president, began his day by paying his respects to the 9/11 memorial in lower manhattan and suspending campaigning in the presidential race. he's presented himself as the empathy candidate, a father who's suffered enormous personal grief himself, who understands the bereavement of others. america came together in the face of a common enemy. be but that hasn't happened in response to covid—19. the pandemic has exposed the polarised state of this nation. right this anniversary is hard to detach from the looming

presidential election, and in the waters of lower manhattan, some supporters of donald trump made their presence felt. political no—go zones are a thing of the american past. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. congress in peru has been debating a proposal to open impeachment proceedings against president martin vizcarra — who's accused of misusing public funds. 0pposition leaders have accused the president of paying a large sum of money to a singer, richard swing, to deliver pro— government motivational talks while peruvians faced economic hardship from the coronavirus crisis. mr vizcarra has denied any wrongdoing. britain's coronavirus epidemic is once more on the rise. for the first time since march — the r numberfor coronavirus infections has risen above the crucial level of one, meaning the virus is now spreading again. that appears to be backed up by the latest daily figures for the last 24 hours which show the highest number

of new infections in almost 4 months. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh reports on the rising coronavirus levels. how do you ensure people have the freedom to socialise and spend money — as in london tonight — while keeping coronavirus in check? more and more evidence is showing the virus is on the rise, including a massive study by imperial college london, testing people at home. this monthly survey acts like an early warning system for the prevalence of coronavirus throughout england. 150,000 volunteers do home swab tests. now, the results for the end of august show there were 136 positive cases, sharply up on the previous month, but still lower than when the survey was first carried out in may. 65% of those who were positive had no symptoms on the day they were tested, which underlines the importance of social distancing.

across the uk, the r number is thought to be between 1.0 and 1.2, which means the epidemic is growing, but from a low base. it's thought the prevalence is doubling every seven to ten days. now, back pre—lockdown, r was somewhere about 3, and cases were doubling every three to four days, so we are in a much better position than back then. it behoves us all to heed the message because with the virus turning up and robustly turning up, with the r value robustly being above1 but the prevalence still quite low, it's a chance for us to nip this in the bud. take a few deep breaths now, the more relaxed you are the easier it is... most of those testing positive now are young but there are concerns about the virus spreading to the elderly and vulnerable. if we look at the number of patients with covid—19 in hospital across the uk,

that peaked at around 20,000 in mid—april, and then fell sharply for several months before levelling off. it's now above 800 patients and may be creeping up again. i am a lot less optimistic than i was even a few weeks ago. partly because of the very rapid and unexpectedly rapid increase in case numbers this last week, and also the reports of the difficulties that we are in actually providing enough testing facilities. so you need to go as high as possible. if you have any pain or resistance, stop there. those tracking the epidemic say the latest figures are a wake—up call, and a reminder that the threat from coronavirus has not gone away. fergus walsh, bbc news. with less of us flying because of coronavirus, are you missing airline food? 0ne airline thinks enough

of us are missing it, so its using its cuisine to try and generate revenue during the pandemic. paul hawkins explains. line food. it doesn't always had the reputation. but that isn't stopping thai airways. they are using it as a way to recoup lost income because of coronavirus, with this aviation themed restaurant in the company's themed restaurant in the compa ny‘s bangkok headquarters we re compa ny‘s bangkok headquarters were people who are actually missing our line food. translation: i have seen the news about the thai airways crisis. there are so many people getting affected including the chefs, cabin crew, even my sister who works for the airline. i'm also here to show my support. everything has been designed to make you think you are flying at 30,000 feet, with airline seats for customers and novelty tables. translation: all the tables are

made from parts of the a i rcraft‘s made from parts of the aircraft's engine that we clea n. aircraft's engine that we clean. we then painted them and installed glass on top to decorate first and business class sections of the restau ra nt. class sections of the restaurant. there is qr codes s0 restaurant. there is qr codes so you restaurant. there is qr codes so you can restaurant. there is qr codes so you can look up fascinating fa cts so you can look up fascinating facts about what they do. even the way went to the restaurant is like boarding in our craft. translation: i was so impressed from the moment i stepped on the ramp because i was greeted by the captain and the cabin crew at the entrance. the feeling is the same as boarding an actual flight. the only difference is, you are not going anywhere. translation: i am so going anywhere. translation: i am so happy. i believe the cabin crew love passengers and after we couldn't fly for 3— four months, we missed our uniform and atmosphere a lot so for us to be here today is such an extraordinary moment. luckily, the restaurant doesn't recreate our turbulence, a lack of legroom or that annoying snoring passenger. selling 2000

meals today, prove even the most bizarre business ideas can work in these unprecedented times. hawkins, bbc news. 0ne one word, yuck. what is it from me, goodbye. hello. the weekend is upon us and the weather is looking a bit mixed. it's something of a north—south split. across much of england and wales we've got a fairly decent weekend ahead. it's looking largely dry, pretty warm as well with some sunshine on offer. but for scotland and northern ireland, a different story. here, things will be turning increasingly windy, particularly through saturday, and there'll be some rain at times. heaviest for the north—west of scotland on sunday. but for the here and now, we've got this week weather front that's been slipping its way slowly south of the past 24 hours or so. but a more active weather front waiting out in the atlantic. that is what will bring the rain to the north—west. but for saturday morning, we just got a band of cloud on this weak weather front pushing south.

could be the odd spot of drizzle for southern england first thing, but that clears away. much of the uk looking dry with some long spells of sunshine, but there will be more of those blustery showers for scotland and northern ireland. for scotland and for northern ireland, more persistant rain arriving by the evening. with more persistant rain arriving by the evening. temperatures on saturday will move to about 13—21 degrees. as we move through saturday overnight, that's where we see that more persistent rain arriving across northern ireland and scotland too, really heavy around those hills in the west in particular. whereas further south, you should stay dry overnight. and for all of us, it is going to be mild. for most places, temperatures are in the low teens to start sunday morning. now, through the day on sunday, high pressure sits to the south keeping things settled, but we've got this weather front, this warm front which is going to be quite slow moving through the day. so on sunday, more heavy persistent rain which lead to some flooding and disruption across the northern highlands in particular, we've got a weather warning for that. elsewhere, a lot of dry weather. the best of the sunshine towards the south and east,

when temperatures will be up to about 24 degrees on sunday. that warming trend is going to continue into the working week too. moving on to monday, as that warm front pushes its way further north, it is pulling in this warmer airfrom spain and france. it is going to feel quite warm for many of us on monday with long spells of sunshine. could be more cloud and perhaps the odd shower along some northwestern part of the uk. most places are avoiding it. for the sunshine, those temperatures in the southeast, 29, possibly 30 degrees. many of us in the low to mid 20s on monday. stays warm to the middle part of the week, gradually turns a bit cooler and fresher as we head towards the end of the coming week. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: more than half a million people in the us state of oregon are fleeing deadly wildfires that are raging across the pacific northwest. at least ten people have died and dozens more have been reported as missing. bahrain says it is normalising its relations with israel, less than a month after the united arab emirates said it was establishing ties. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, called it a new era of peace. but the palestinian leadership slammed it as a "betrayal ofjerusalem and the palestinian cause". there have been protests by migrants stranded on the greek island of lesbos after europe's biggest refugee camp was gutted by fire on tuesday. they're protesting against the construction of a replacement camp and want to be allowed to travel on to mainland europe.