this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm maryam moshiri. 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. the first peace talks between the taliban and the afghan government are due to begin, but can they really end decades of conflict? bahrainjoins the united arab emirates in normalising relations with israel, a move which further erodes the arab world's boycott of the jewish state. protests in lesbos against conditions on the greek island, with migrants demanding to be allowed to travel to mainland europe.

and airplane food for grounded customers — and millennial ‘s take the court. austria's dominic thiem will face alexander zverev on sunday's a us open final, where one of them will become the first male major singles champion to be born in the 19905. 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 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 it's 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, oregon. well, a little earlier i spoke to rob mayeda, who's a meteorologist at kntv in sanjose. i asked him to explain the weather conditions

which are affecting the west coast of america. right now, we are seeing the after—effects of a strong offshore wind pattern, as we heard earlier in the broadcast the evacuations and the big impact across oregon, we are seeing across much of the us west coast from northern california, oregon off to western washington, these tremendous fires which came to life with the strong, gusty offshore winds were really kicking in about two days ago. now that those winds have back off a little bit what we are seeing now are some all—time record air pollution levels, for instance here in the bay area, san francisco and sanjose, the red and purple you see here, very unhealthy air levels which we have seen a record run now of 25 days in a row of unhealthy air quality around the bay, something we haven't seen before, at the same time in the last three weeks here 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 eerie pictures of san francisco with very deep red skies, what causes that to happen? it was the amount of smoke, particulate matter pollution that was in the sky, it helps to scatter out some of the blue colours, the shorter wavelength colours, it allows the yellows and the oranges to pass through and it was very eerie, over the last couple of days we saw those very red skies and then a lot of that smoke pollution started to descend down, so while that was very dramatic, the air quality at that point wasn't all that bad. it was actually today when the skies turned grey, a lot of that suspended ash started to fall down to closer to sea level and that is when we saw air quality levels roughly twice as high as what normally triggers an air alert for the bay area. these are all—time record levels for smoke pollution over now almost now our fourth week in california. and rob, 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?

it's part of the trend that you may have also heard on the news, governor gavin newsom was mentioning that this was perhaps a sign of a trend we have seen in california since 2000, a trend 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 type of moderate to severe drought and this year we left winter with an expanding drought, so what that typically does for us is it hits the fast forward button on our fire season, instead of seeing the conditions that we are used to seeing at the end of this month or october, 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—8 weeks when our strong offshore wind season picks up, usually the worst of our fire seasons arrive in october so some challenging weeks here on the west coast. the first formal peace talks between afghan officials

and the taliban are set to begin in qatar tomorrow. us secretary of state mike pompeo will be amongst those attending — and called it a "historic opportunity" to end decades of conflict. the talks follow the signing of an agreement between the taliban and the united states earlier this year. secunder kermani reports now on some of the challenges ahead. the start of a journey that it is hoped will eventually lead to peace in afghanistan. officials leaving couple for doha for theirfirst officials leaving couple for doha for their first formal talks with the taliban. —— kabulfor doha. talks with the taliban. —— kabul for doha. the negotiations follow the signing ofa negotiations follow the signing of a deal between the us and the taliban in february. that didn't stop the fighting on the ground, but did set out a provisional timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces, and paved the way for these talks between the insurgents and afghan officials. after

months of wrangling over a prisoner exchange plan, the negotiations will finally begin on saturday. the two sides will be discussing a ceasefire and trying to reach a political reconciliation. this is a campaign suggesting red lines shouldn't be sacrificed in the process. afg ha ns shouldn't be sacrificed in the process. afghans are tired of complex, but also worried any settle m e nt complex, but also worried any settlement could mean the rolling back of fragile progress on issues such as women's rights. translation: the taliban have to accept the reality of today's afghanistan. if they don't accept it, i don't think these peace talks will have a real result. and instead, the situation could become even worse. our rights we re become even worse. our rights were taken away by the taliban during theirfive were taken away by the taliban during their five years in power. we were not treated as human beings. before the

taliban we had a good life, and we fought for our rights. people should remember that history. the taliban ruled over most of afghanistan from the mid—19 90s until they were overthrown by us. —led mid—19 90s until they were overthrown by u.s.—led invasion in 2001. they governed using a brutal interpretation of sharia law. the group says it has changed, but it is not clear how by how much. i met one of the chief negotiators last year and tried to pin him down on exactly what form of future government they want to see. would it be an islamic emirates, as they previously established? emirates, as they previously established ? will you emirates, as they previously established? will you accept democracy? i cannot say no, because there are many types of government which was tested in afghanistan. the views are different. so some people, they wa nt different. so some people, they want emirates system, some people, they want a presidentialform of government, some people want a parliamentary system. but what

will be agreed by the majority. and how do you find out? how do you find out what the majority wa nts ? you find out what the majority wants? that will be discussed, that will be discussed. with this form of government comes discussion, so we will see. the talks could last many months, but with an election looming, president trump has made clear he wants us troops back home as soon as possible. that leaves some worried it is patellar bond that has the upper hand. —— the taliban. 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 peace 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. tom bateman, bbc news, jerusalem. stay with us on bbc news. 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. 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. our correspondent bethany bell is on lesbos. many, many migrants are sleeping and living 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. let's get some of the day's other news. police in the colombian capital bogota have clashed with protesters for a third

night, following the death of a man in police custody. a video released on social media showed javier ordonez being repeatedly tasered by police during a street arrest, pleading for the officers to stop. the father of two later died in hospital. at least 13 have died and more than 400 wounded in the two previous nights of protests. congress in peru has been debating a proposal to open impeachment proceedings against president martin vizcarra, who's accused of misusing public funds. opposition leaders accuse the president of paying a large sum of money to a singer to deliver pro—government motivational talks while peruvians faced economic hardship. mr vizcarra has denied any wrongdoing. the renowned indian politician and activist swami agnivesh has died in delhi. the 80—year—old was best known for his decades—long campaign against bonded labour, where people are forced to work in virtual slavery to pay off debts.

usually dressed in the orange robes and turban of a hindu ascetic, he campaigned for religious harmony in india. feminist 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. i asked professor jane kamensky, director of the schlesinger library on the history of women in america at harvard university, about her legacy. shere hite is someone you would have heard of if you were 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 into the middle of a sexual revolution, asking freud's familiar question, as you said, what do women want? but i think for the first time at a mass scale, asking women themselves to respond to that question — and their answers were riveting and surprising, even if they weren't gathered in the best social scientific standards. so i think she had the attention of the world during the peak of her fame from the mid ‘70s to the early ‘80s. 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 passing 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 3,500 responses back. and she tabulated the responses and said a lot about her method. but in fact, what she was doing was a sort of mass version of consciousness—raising, of listening to people tell their stories. so in some ways, she was more of a folklorist than a social scientist. she also got tremendous pushback from men's magazines, most famously playboy, because she said that men weren't that important to women's sexual pleasure — that that's 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's remembered for being a pleasure activist, and one of the first at this hinge moment

between the hedonism 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, i think she's misremembered. 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 calls it almost an opiate of the masses in the late 20th century. so she's remembered as a pleasure activist but i think she is really quite equivocal about the place of sex in a world increasingly suffused with it. do you think the kind of research that she was carrying out then has a place now in today's society, or are we way past that?

so the schlesinger library, which i direct, holds all of that original evidence — almost 200 file boxes worth of correspondence and surveys, tabulations — and as a repository of ordinary women telling stories about their private selves at mid century, it's enormously valuable, even if they're not correctly sampled to represent 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. professor jane kamensky speaking to me about the legacy of the feminist icon shere hite. spain was among the european countries initially 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 that she is going to school for the first time in six months. over 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 then probably start closing, opening, closing, opening, so it's going to be like an intermittence 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. with fewer people flying because of coronavirus, many are missing the in—flight experience, but does this also include airline food? one 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 restaurant 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 an aircraft. 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. a reminder of our top story. 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 have died and dozens more have been reported as missing. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @bbcmaryam. thank you so much for your

company. goodbye. 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 for 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 here that's been slipping its way slowly south over 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've just got this 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 persistent rain arriving by the evening. temperatures on saturday somewhere between about 13—21 degrees. as we move through saturday evening and 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 in force for that. but elsewhere, a lot of dry weather. the best of the sunshine towards the south and east, where temperatures will be up to about 2k degrees on sunday. that warming trend is going to continue into the new working week, too.

moving on into monday now, as that warm front pushes its way gradually further north, it is pulling in this warmer airfrom spain and france. so it is going to feel quite warm for many of us certainly on monday with long spells of sunshine. could be a bit more cloud and perhaps the odd shower along some northern and western part of the uk. most places are avoiding it, though. and in the sunshine, those temperatures in the south—east, 29, possibly 30 degrees, many of us in the low to the 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.

this is bbc news. the 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 have died and dozens more have been reported as missing. the first formal peace talks between the taliban and an afghan government delegation are due to begin in the gulf state of qatar. the talks come at a critical time, with the united states considering a further reduction of its presence in the country. 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." now on bbc news, this week the travel show looks back