hello and welcome to bbc news. i am maryam moshiri. up to half a million 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 3000 firefighters tackling nearly a hundred blazes. the state governor, kate brown has said that dozens of people are missing. the fires have killed at least 4 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. 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. 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. the with murder. debt spiked worldwide protests the debt spiked worldwide protests against racism and calls for police reforms across the united states. you can find out more about all these stories on our website. just go to bbc.com/news or download the bbc news app. britain's coronavirus epidemic is once more on the rise. for the first time since march, the r number for 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 2a 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 3—4 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. spain was among the european countries intially hardest hit by the covid pandemic. the country brought in strict lockdown measures, and for a while they seemed to be working. cases dropped and life began to return to normal.

but, as in many other countries, recent weeks have seen a resurgence of new infections. guy hedgecoe reports from madrid on the measures being taken. for 7—year—old julia, this is a big day. a national lockdown followed by the long summer holiday have meant she is going to school for the first time in six months. 0ver eight million spanish children are going back to the classroom this month. they want to come back to school because they miss their friends, their teachers, so it's a nice moment for them. the return to school is being staggered according to age groups, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus. it's just one of many new measures. children aged six and over must now wear face masks here at sagrada familia primary and in all schools across spain.

i think what's going to happen is we're going to open the schools this week and probably start closing, opening, closing, opening, so it's going to be like an intermittance model. this second wave of the virus is affecting younger people more than the first wave. although infections have been rising steadily, the death rate has remained relatively low and hospitalisation rates are still well below the levels of march and april. the response to the recent resurgence of coronavirus in spain has been for local authorities to reintroduce restrictions in those areas that have been affected. for example, here in madrid just a few days ago, the local government announced new limits on social contact in public spaces,

such as bars and restaurants. my worry is that we reach autumn and winter, and then our behaviour change. we go more indoors, we meet with friends, family, we go to pubs, restaurants indoors, and this is a perfect place for virus transmission. after a tragic spring and a difficult summer, spain is desperately hoping for something like a normal autumn. guy hedgecoe, bbc news, madrid. the british prime minister borisjohnson has told his conservative mps to back his plan, to override part of the brexit withdrawal agreement with the eu, saying it's necessary to protect the integrity of the uk. the government's decision to introduce legislation it's already admitted will breach international law, has provoked angerfrom some in his party, and a stinging response from brussels which threatening legal action. here's our chief political correspondent, vicki young. i am not quite sure it was the meeting that many of them were hoping for, notjust because it was a remote meeting with a dodgy internet signal, they were not allowed to ask any questions.

they were looking for a sign of compromise — they simply can't believe that the government is prepared to break international law, but that is not what they got from the prime minister. he dug his heels in, no compromise and no backing down on this. he says that the eu is misinterpreting what was agreed in that brexit deal and he said it would lead to the breakup of the united kingdom, he is referring to the different trade laws between northern ireland and the rest of the uk. you know, i am not sure we should be too surprised that the government is forging ahead with this, there is plenty of evidence that they actually relish the unpredictable. remember last year there was a brexit stalemate, they suspended parliament, despite the howls of protest. now they are caught up in this very, very long chess game, more negotiations with the eu and today, this week they have done the equivalent of really tipping up the entire table. i think even they can't be sure where the pieces were land. 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 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. let's have more on our main story this hours, the wildfires in the west of the us. we can now speak to rob mayeda who's a meteorologist at kntv in sanjose from where hejoins us now. thank you so much for taking the time tojoin thank you so much for taking the time to join us. talk me through what the conditions are like right now. right now, we are seeing the after—effect of are seeing the after—effect of a strong offshore wind pattern, as we heard earlier in the broadcast the evacuations and the big impact across 0regon we are seeing across much of the us west coast from northern california, oregon off to

western washington, this tremendous fires which came to life with the strong, gusty offshore winds working in about two days ago. another those wins have back off a little bit what we are seeing now is some all—time record air pollution levels, for instance in the bay area, san francisco and san jose, the red and purple you see how, very unhealthy air levels which we have seen a record run now of 25 days in a i’ow record run now of 25 days in a row of unhealthy air quality around the bay, something we haven't seen before in the same time in the last three weeks there in california we've seen at least 2.6 million acres burned by these fires, that is almost1 million more than the previous record in 2018. and we all saw those airy pictures of san francisco with a very deep red skies, what causes that to happen? it was the amount of smoke, particularly the amount of pollution that was in the sky, it helps to scatter out some of the blue colours, the shorter wavelength colours, and allows the yellows and the

oranges to pass through and it was very airy, over the last couple of days with all those very red skies and that a lot of that elution started to descend down, so while that was very dramatic, the air quality at that point wasn't all that bad. was actually today when the skies turned grey, a lot of that suspended ash started to fall down to close to sea level and that is when we thought air quality levels roughly twice as high as what normally triggers an airalertfor high as what normally triggers an air alert for the bay area. these are all—time record levels for smoke pollution over now almost our fourth week in california. and of course the annualfire california. and of course the annual fire season is annual, that's what happens. this one, though, is a lot worse than before, why do you think that is? is part of the trend that you may have also heard on the news, governor gavin newsom was mentioning that this was perhaps the sign of a trend we have seen in california since 2000, one that does include, as we have seen, more frequency of drought. this map you see behind me goes back to 2000,

about 70% of the time down here in california we are experiencing some moderate to severe drought and this year we left winter with an expanding drought, so what that typically does is it hits the fast board button on ourfire does is it hits the fast board button on our fire season, instead of seeing the conditions that we are used to sing at the end of this month 0ctober, they are presenting themselves in june 0ctober, they are presenting themselves injune and 0ctober, they are presenting themselves in june and july 0ctober, they are presenting themselves injune and july so we have had a fire season that is off to a fast start, will likely last longer and we know within the next 6— eight weeks when a strong offshore wind season picks up usually the worst of all phases arrive in 0ctober so some challenging weeks here on the west coast. 0k, rob, thank you very much indeed for talking to us. 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. four hundred 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. that was bethany bell. femenist icon, shere hite, has died at the age of 77. best known for her book, ‘the hite report: a nationwide study of female sexuality‘, hite is credited with starting a sexual revolution for women. the book which was based on the experiences of more than 3,000 women, challenged societal and freudian assumptions about sex and has sold 48 million copies since it was published in 1976. professor jane kamensky is director of the schlesinger library on the history of women in america at harvard university's

radcliffe institute for advanced study. thank you so much forjoining us thank you so much forjoining us here on bbc news professor. mr by asking you, i have to admit, before i came into work today, i hadn't heard much about shere hite. the viewers watching this wondering who she was and why she was so important to the feminist movement, can you tell us? sure, shere hite was someone you would have heard of if you're watching news in 1976. the hite report published that year was a publishing sensation. she claimed to have inaugurated a sexual revolution for women but in fact she published in the middle of a sexual revolution asking for av sexual revolution asking for as familiar question about what do women want. i think for the first time in a mass scale, asking women themselves to respond to that question and their answers were riveting and

exciting, surprising, even if they won't governing the best social or scientific standards. i think she had the attention of the world during the peak of herfame from of the world during the peak of her fame from the of the world during the peak of herfame from the mid— 70s of the world during the peak of her fame from the mid— 70s to the early eighties. she had a lot of attention but she also had a lot of criticism as well, didn't she? why was that? she was in many ways a qualitative researcher pricing as a quantitative researcher. the survey was the instrument of choice for knowledge in her day and she sent out 100,000 58 question surveys and got more than 3500 responses back. she tabulated the responses and said a lot about her method. and in fact what she was doing was a sort of mass version of consciousness—raising, of listening to people tell their stories. in some ways, she was more of a folklorist and a social scientist. she also got

tremendous pushback from men's magazines, most famously playboy because she said that man went that important to women's sexual pleasure. that is what her female respondents had told her. what do you think her legacy has been in terms of what she has done for the feminist movement? for women's ideas about sexuality and female sexuality? so, she is remembered for being a leisure activist and one of the first. at this hinge moments between the head of the early sexual revolution, the feminist reaction against the sexual revolution, and then at the beginning of what we would now call a third wave sex positive feminist. in fact, call a third wave sex positive feminist. infact, i call a third wave sex positive feminist. in fact, i think she is miss remembered. she comes down as she reads the responses

in this survey, very equivocal about the sexual revolution and in fact, dubious about the extent to which modern americans and others she surveyed had put sex at the centre of their lives. she called it almost an opioid of the masses in the late 20th century. she is remembered as a pleasure activist but i think she is quite equivocal in the place of sex in a world increasingly suffused with that. do you think the kind of research she was carrying out then has a place now in society ora then has a place now in society or a wee way past that? the slazenger library which i direct holds all of that original evidence, almost 200 file boxes worth of correspondence and surveys and tabulations. as a repository of ordinary women telling stories about their private selves at mid century, it is enormously valuable, even if they are not correctly sampled to represent

the whole of the american population. so, ithink the whole of the american population. so, i think people are going to be doing research in that data, listening to those stories for generations to come. 0k, professorjane kaminski, it's been an absolute pleasure to talk to you. thank you for taking the time. thank you. here, as coronavirus infections begin to rise again, there's an increased focus on how to ensure that schools can remain open across the uk. now, two big new research projects have received funding, to investigate how the virus might be transmitted in schools. 0ur education editor, bra nwen jeffreys has more details. at the school front door, the first reminder of coronavirus, the risk their education will be disrupted again. but these pupils in bristol could help change that. taking a saliva test for the virus once a month, so cases without symptoms are spotted. if you do know that you have

it, then you can stay at home for, like, two weeks and make sure that you've fully recovered. at such a critical time, learning obviously our gcses, so keeping school open for our year right now is probably the best thing that can happen. the benefits are of testing like, you know you can take precautions, you can quickly isolate, and help others stay safe. for the first time since march, all pupils are back. cases are rising in towns and cities across england. understanding any links is now urgent. we know remarkably little about transmission between children, because there's been so little testing in schools. and without that knowledge, a winter of disruption lies ahead, because so many of them may get the virus and not show any symptoms. this is the scientist hoping

to find some answers. her team will test 4,000 pupils and 1,000 staff. here we are with a project that we have co—created with schools. at the moment, schools often don't know who has or has had the virus. we need to get — increase our knowledge, in terms of the rate of infection in this age group, but also work with schools to be able to embed good health behaviours. the solution isn't solely in testing, it's in how testing is incorporated with other measures. already, some schools have been disrupted. for this head teacher, rapid test results mean keeping her school open. i love seeing children in school, and i love hearing them. i love hearing them learning, and so what i want is all the tools i can have to keep that going. i don't want to have to close the school, and i really don't want to have to ask children to learn

from home again. research in schools across bristol will help everyone by mapping infections in one city. branwen jeffreys, bbc news, bristol. with fewer people flying because of coronavirus, many are missing the inflight experience, but does this also include airline food? 0ne carrier thinks so, and has gone to great lengths to offer passengers the same a taste of the skies. paul hawkins explains. airline food. it hasn't always had the best reputation, but that isn't stopping thai airways. they're using it as a way to recoup lost income because of coronavirus, with this aviation—themed restau ra nt in the company's bangkok headquarters for people who are actually missing airline 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 aircraft's engine that we cleaned. we then painted them and we installed glass on top to decorate first and business class sections of the restaurant. there's qr codes on the parts so you can look up fascinating facts about what they do. even the way you enter 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're not going anywhere. translation: i'm so happy. i believe the cabin crew love passengers and after we couldn't

fly for 3—4 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 air turbulence, a lack of leg room or that annoying snoring passenger. but it is selling 2,000 meals a day, proof that even the most bizarre business ideas can work in these unprecedented times. paul hawkins, bbc news. it is sunny, airline food is the one thing i don't miss about flying. let's have a look at the weather with sarah keith—lucas. hello. the weekend is upon us and the weather's 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 weak weather front that's been slipping its way slowly south of the past 2a 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 for northern ireland, 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 could 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 2k 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 north—western 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 things turn a bit cooler and fresher as we head towards the end of the coming week. bye— bye.