welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: history at the white house as israel signs a peace deal with two arab countries. these agreements prove that the nations of the region are breaking free from the failed approaches of the past. today's signing sets history on new course. india's coronavirus infections reach 5 million. we have a special report. the family of breonna taylor, killed by us police, agree a multimillion—dollar settlement. and humanity at a crossroads: the un's urgent warning on nature's ongoing decline.

we start in washington, and a ceremony at the white house to mark the signing of a peace deal between israel, the united arab emirates and bahrain. president trump describe it as the "dawn of a new middle east." the gulf states are just the third and fourth arab countries to recognise israel. the palestinians have urged other arab states not to follow suit, while their conflict remains unresolved. our north america editor jon sopel has the story. since the founding of the state of israel in 1948, only two arab countries have made peace with israel. today at the white house, that number doubled as the uae and bahrain were brought together by donald trump to sign an agreement to normalise relations with the country. the signatures on the page took only a few seconds, but it had taken decades to get here. applause

and for donald trump, with one eye on the forthcoming presidential election and another on his place in history, this was a sweet moment, a significant foreign policy victory. we're here this afternoon to change the course of history. after decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new middle east thanks to the great courage of the leaders of these three countries, we take a major stride towards a future in which people of all faiths and backgrounds live together in peace and prosperity. for benjamin netanyahu, the israeli prime minister, whose political fortunes have gone through similar gyrations as donald trump's, this was a welcome relief from the domestic pressures of scandal and covid. to all of israel's friends in the middle east, those who are with us today and those who willjoin us tomorrow,

i say as—salamu alaykum — "peace unto thee." shalom! there's no cheering for the deal in the gaza strip and west bank, where many palestinians feel betrayed by these two gulf nations signing a deal with israel before any agreement is reached on the future of the palestinian people. and israel says rockets were fired onto their soil by militants in gaza. but no apology for making peace from the uae or the bahrainis today. the declaration supporting peace between the kingdom of bahrain and the state of israel is an historic step on the road to genuine and lasting peace, security and prosperity across the region, and for all who live there. there are still many questions about how these new relationships will develop. but the reality is that these gulf nations have already been dealing with israel through back channels for some time. this formalises a new relationship, though today's signing

is no less important for that. the most important words that donald trump spoke today were that more will follow. in other words, this isn't a one—off, more middle eastern countries could join, most notably, saudi arabia. people scoffed when donald trump talked about bringing peace to the middle east. it's not the deal of the century that he talked about at the start of his term, but it does look like a recasting of the middle east that few could have imagined. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. steven cook is an author and expert on us middle east policy. he gave us analysis. these are very important developments for the middle east. we have gone from two agreements, two countries that have normalised relations to four within a matter of weeks, and i think that it does expand the circle of peace and normal relations around the region.

there are likely other arab regions to follow. overall, it is a positive development, but it is not com pletely a nd totally 100% positive because it does not address the palestinian issue. we will return to that in a moment. you say that all eyes are now on saudi arabia. all eyes are on saudi arabia, but i don't think saudi arabia will be the next country to normalise relations. i think there are other candidates — oman, the neighbour of uae in the persian gulf. the sudanese deputy ambassador was in audience today during the signing, which was a signal that sudanese is moving closer to organisation. morocco has been mentioned. the issue with saudi arabia is that it maintains a very, very strong position in regard to palestinian statehood. after the most recent arab league meeting, to discuss the agreement between israel and the uae, the saudis made a point

of saying that they remain supportive of the establishment of a palestinian state. of course, i don't think that bahrain would have been able to make the agreement with the israelis had the saudis not at least implicitly given them the green light to do so. the unifying factor here ina way is a shared hostility towards iran. certainly. the uae, israel, bahrain, other countries including saudi arabia really do have a confluence of interest because of their concerns about the iranian challenge. that has been the basis of this move towards normalisation that has been going on for a number of years. essentially, what the emiratis and the bahrainis have done has made formal what is going on behind the scenes for the better part of the last three orfour years. although it now does bring these relationships out into the open, and they can now be further developed

in a variety of fields beyond just security and defence, but also, in terms of technology and business development and commercial relations. the reaction of tony blair a little later in the programme. india has now crossed an unfortunate milestone, recording 5 million cases of coronavirus. india is the second—worst hit country in the world behind the united states. and the pandemic has had severe knock—on effects on people suffering from other diseases and some of india's poorest citizens. the bbc‘s india correspondent yogita limaye reports. they weren't infected by covid, but they've suffered because of it. last month, ramesh kumar‘s two—year—old son died of nerve damage in his brain. the family was turned away three times by a public hospital. doctors told them they were overburdened because of the covid crisis.

"if it wasn't for coronavirus, my son could have been saved. "government doctors has told me to take him to a private "hospital, but i didn't have money for that", ramesh says. deaths like these are going unnoticed as covid—i9 numbers continue to stack up and bring india's already inadequate medical infrastructure to its knees. doctors at a public hospital in mumbai are now being allowed to isolate forjust one day between their duties in covid and other wards, which puts patients at risk. when a doctor is the source of infection, it is not good in terms of health systems. we are over—worked, we are over—stressed, we are working tirelessly, we don't have leave. many are questioning why restrictions continue to be eased, including reopening metro rail systems across the country even as a

health crisis is getting worse. imposing another lockdown to curb the spread of covid—i9 is an extremely difficult option because the closures we've seen over the past several months have already had a devastating impact on the lives of some of india's poorest citizens. praveen kumar‘s family has been stitching shoes for generations in the northern city of agra. during the stringent lockdown earlier this year, they once went hungry for four straight days. his mother, pushpa devi, says they've struggled for every morsel of food, and that she's never seen such days in her life. even with restrictions easing, there's only been a trickle of work. "i don't know how we will get by in the coming days. "if the situation remains like this, "we'll have no choice but to kill ourselves," praveen says.

over the past decade, india has managed to pull millions out of poverty. hard—fought achievements that are now at risk of coming undone. yogita limaye, bbc news, mumbai. let's get some of the day's other news. a spokeswoman for alexei navalny — the russian opposition leader — has said he will return to russia after he's recovered. he's being treated in germany after being poisoned while campaigning in russia. he's posted these photos on social media, saying for the first time he's been able to breathe on his own, off a ventilator, for a whole day. hurricane sally is heading towards the us‘s gulf coast. it's expected to produce extreme life—threatening flash flooding through wednesday along and just inland of the central gulf coast from the western florida panhandle to far southeastern mississippi. more than a fifth of us offshore oil production was shut ahead of landfall. health regulators in brazil

have authorised another 5,000 clinical tests by volu nterers for the astrazeneca covid—i9 vaccine. they will be involved in phase 3 trials, which test the vaccine‘s efficacy. meantime, phase 2 trials have resumed in brazil, britain, spain and other european countries following their suspension on august 6 after a volunteer suffered a serious side—effect. a multimillion dollar settle m e nt a multimillion dollar settlement with the city has been agreed for breonna taylor. the 26—year—old emergency technician was shot eight times in march by police who broke through herfront in march by police who broke through her front door in the middle of the night during a mistaken drug raid. herface remembered her face remembered on magazines and murals across america. beloved by herfamily with dreams of becoming a nurse, by one's with dreams of becoming a nurse, by one‘s name with dreams of becoming a nurse, by one's name has come to symbolise a national slogan

against police violence. the 26—year—old african—american was an emergency room technician. in march, please entered her apartment after midnight ona entered her apartment after midnight on a no knock warranty and shot her multiple times fatally. her boyfriend, a licensed gun owner, shot out at what he thought were burglars, but it was in fact a drugs raid. no drugs were found. the intended suspect was not at the house. the tragedy gained prominence following the death of george floyd in police custody two months later. the original police report was resenting a cover—up with no mention of how breonna taylor's life was ended so abruptly. but after protests ravaged kentucky puzzle largest city, a wrongful death lawsuit was instigated by breonna taylor's mother. city officials have now agreed to pay the family $12 million. officials have now agreed to pay the family $12 millionlj am deeply, deeply sorry for

breonna's death. while we await a decision from the attorney general daniel cameron on whether or not charges will be filed in this case, my administration is not waiting to move ahead needed reforms to prevent the tragedy like this from ever happening again. the dozen reforms announced include commanding officers to review and sign off all search warrants, an early warning system to identify officers with disciplinary problems, and two hours of community service a week encouraged for officers. there are two ongoing investigations into the white police officers involved. a criminal enquiry by the state alongside an fbi enquiry into civil rights violations. but so far, no—one has been charged. significant as today is, it is only the beginning of getting full justice for only the beginning of getting fulljustice for breonna. we must not lose focus on what the real drive is, and with that being said, it is time to move forward with the criminal

charges because she deserves that and much more. her beautiful spirit and personality is working through all of us on the ground, so please continue to say her name. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: picking up wi—fi from parking lots. so the poorest people are still attending classes during the pandemic. 30 hours after the earthquake that devastated mexico city, rescue teams still have no idea just how many people have died. there is people alive and there is people not alive. we just can help and give whatever we got. a state funeral has been held

for princess grace of monaco, at the church where she married prince rainier, 26 years ago. it looked as though they had come to fight a war. but their mission is to bring peace to east timor, and nowhere on earth needs it more badly. the government's case has been forcefully presented by monsieur badinter, the justice minister. he's campaigned vigorously for abolition, having once witnessed one of his clients being executed. elizabeth seton has spent much of her time at this grotto, and every year hundreds of pilgrimages are made here. now that she has become a saint, it is expected that this area will be inundated with tourists. the mayor and local businesses regard the anticipated boom as yet another blessing of saint elizabeth. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: history at the white house as israel signs a peace deal with two arab countries. former british prime

minister tony blair served as middle east peace envoy and he attended today's signing. he spoke to katty kay and james reynolds earlier. you're not sidelining the palestinians. look, you're not going to geta — i've studied this now for...best part of 20 years. i was heavily involved as prime minister, i was involved afterwards as the quartet envoy. i've spent the next five or six years working on the arab—israeli relationship. you're not going to solve it unless two things happen. you've got to get a palestinian politics that's unified and in favour of peace and you've what to bring the arab nations alongside the palestinians in that peace effort. and so when people say, and there are people of course on the palestinian side who say, no, you should have nothing to do with israel until the palestinians have resolved. they do say that. but the strategy they've had up

to now has not worked and it won't work in the future. the right strategy is to encourage the relationship between israel and the arab nations and then say to the arab nations, we need your support. a unified palestinian politics, in favour of peace, needs your support. that is a strategy that can succeed. if we carry on doing what we've been doing for the last half century, we'll carry on with the same result. humanity is at a crossroads and we have to take action now to make space for nature to recover — that's according to a report just published by the un, ‘convention on biological diversity‘. it sets out what it calls urgent transitions that could be implemented to slow nature's ongoing decline. our science and environment correspondent, victoria gill, has more.

time is running out, that is the latest from this report. it calls for urgent action to slow and to stop what it is calling nature ‘s accelerating decline. covid—19 has taught us clearly the relationship between human action and nature. so we need to change our production patterns, consumption patterns, human encroachment into the wildlife, into the forest. the picture this report paints is of an unsustainable relationship between humans and the natural world. one recent study calculated that nearly £400 billion is spent globally every year to subsidise activities that damage nature, like fossilfuel use, intensive agriculture and unsustainable fishing. some of those billions, the un says, need to be redirected now into turning the tide on biodiversity loss. we certainly have to invest in conserving the nature

that we still have, the wild places we still have, and also restoring those that we have lost. this will be essential to contribute to the climate agenda, as well as preventing the sixth mass extinction. this will mean that every country will need to make commitments to protect habitats, to produce food more sustainably and eat a more sustainable diet. that we will have to reduce pollution so that we and wildlife can have clean air and clean water, and we will have to make more space for greenery and nature, even in our most urban environments. there is a nature crisis, so we really need to think about how we can improve these areas and bring back nature to the city. we really need to connect people back to that nature as well, so people really value its function. in the years ahead, countries

will set out to repair the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. but without making space for nature as we rebuild, the un says we risk leaving a damaged planet forfuture generations. victoria gill, bbc news. it is that time of the year when children are returning to schools but, thanks to coronavirus, many across large parts of the us will not be back in the classroom and are taking their classes online instead. with online classes comes the need for internet access but many families in rural and low—income areas cannot afford wifi, and that can severly disrupt a student's ability to learn from home. the bbc‘s angelica casas sent this report from san antonio, texas. it is currently 825 and we have to get started. make sure you are muted and i need to go over announcements and if you have any questions, put it in the chat box. and, go! 22nd. this isa chat box. and, go! 22nd. this is a usual monday for this family. good luck! i have

driven out to a parking lot to access wi—fi from the school bus because they cannot afford internet at home. in the country it's a hassle and we are in an area where there are families on a low income cannot afford the internet to be able to do your assignments. they can bea to do your assignments. they can be a problem when school continues to be taught over the internet in the majority of the united states. it has been very difficult to deal with because it is an issue about educating students and on the flip side, making sure that they are safe and secure. this is like the southside independent school district has distributed la pto ps to district has distributed laptops to more than 80% of stu d e nts laptops to more than 80% of students and deployed more than a dozen of these wifi bosses into neighbourhoods. after the first three days, it was hard but when he got to know everybody it wasn't that embarrassing. you want me to help you with this? as a parent, trying to help your

kids do their schoolwork, you have to do what you have to do it if it means sitting by a school bus so the kids aren't dying of heat out here, that is what we have to do. i don't really like the cars go by but it makes the background sounds that interfere with the teacher when they are talking.|j that interfere with the teacher when they are talking. i have a key back here that has had to go to the bathroom for the last 30 minutes if not longer and i'd rather be at home or somewhere where we can be co mforta ble. somewhere where we can be comfortable. while the family adjust to the new reality, the classrooms where joseph adjust to the new reality, the classrooms wherejoseph and christina should be are empty. i would choosejoseph, do you have anything else you want to share with us? joseph loves perfect attendance, which i noticed that. he has shown up every single day, even through technological difficulties. joseph, i will come back to you, i know that we are

probably having technical difficulties but it's ok, we will move on. maybe seem crushed because it won't work for her either. i'm not happy right now because the internet is not working right now. it is right here by the bar.|j is not working right now. it is right here by the bar. i am equally getting frustrated with her because of the fact that i see my kids struggling. it is really hard. angelica casas, bbc news. free—diving is an extraordinary and potentially dangerous sport. it involves divers heading deep underwater, without any breathing apparatus. now a french man hasjust set a new world record for a type of free—diving — reaching a depth of more than a hundred metres. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. waiting is always the hardest part. arnaud jerald had come to greece for this world record attempt. the idyllic waters of

the mediterranean are as good a place as any to try and make a little history. he was a study in concentration before slipping into the water and then disappearing beneath the surface. the record attempt was on. jerald was competing in the bi—fins category, meaning he was wearing two flippers as opposed to one. guided by a cable he headed further and further into the depths. on board, his team monitored his progress as he dived ever deeper. then he reached his target, 112 metres. and began the return trip to the surface. remember, he had no oxygen tank. he was doing this on just a lungful of air. all in all he spent nearly 3.5 minutes underwater. then he had to wait a little longer, hoping the official would

confirm the record — only recently set — was now his. cheering. translation: yesterday, the day before my dive, i learned that the world record had been broken. it is not easy to put yourself in that position on the eve of a dive so i went through the day as if i was training. it was probably the most beautiful dive this summer. beautiful and breathtaking. quite literally. a malaysian man who recovered his missing phone says he discovered damning evidence of the identity of the thief. it appears the monkey thought the phone would make an interesting snack, but he apparently didn't find it very appetising. the culprit seems to have fired off a series of selfies, but, inevitably, got a little bored with the whole process.

the man found his phone when he rang the number and discovered the phone in the forest. hello. cooler weather on the way. that, of course, most noticeable where the past couple of days have been so hot and also along some north sea coast, eastern scotland, north—east england with more of an onshore breeze for a stunner of a tuesday. it will feel much cooler during wednesday. and the reason — we're losing high pressure that brought the warmth up from the south, replacing it with another area of high pressure, the flow of air around that coming from a cooler direction in the north—east into some of the north sea coasts during wednesday, and also, this weather front moving south with cloud and not a huge amount of rain. before that completes its journey south, rather warm start for many of us on wednesday morning and it will feel cooler by thursday morning. from that weather front, cloud and a few spots of light rain and drizzle, parts of scotland, northern england, maybe northern ireland pushing further south during the day, taking some cloud to the north

and east of wales, the midlands and east anglia later on. south of that, south wales and southern england seeing some sunshine, just a slight chance of a shower in south—east england. northern scotland with sunny spells and temperatures in the mid teens here, and for some on the north sea coasts. the further south you are, some warmth into the mid—20s, but that temperature still isn't as high as it has been in the past couple of days. now, overnight and into thursday, some areas of cloud, patches of mist and fog and maybe some low clouds and mistiness running down the north sea coasts to start the day. on thursday, there will be a cooler night. more of us seeing temperatures dipping down into single figures. now, on thursday, it is high pressure replacing high pressure, still a lot of settled weather around. still a good deal of sunshine, particularly into england and wales. sunny spells through the cloud across most of scotland and northern ireland, we could see some rain in the western isles and temperatures are much closer to average for the time of year. still a little bit above, though. quite a keen and noticeable easterly breeze blowing

across southern parts of the uk in particular. whilst many on friday hold onto the sunshine as the weather front moves into scotland and approaching northern ireland, some thicker cloud and you may see a bit of rain that does not appear to amount to very much. looking into the weekend, high pressure holding on for many of us, so an area of low pressure throwing up this weather front and maybe a few showers that way later on in the weekend. but for most over the weekend, it is looking dry, variable cloud and some sunny spells, and brisk easterly breeze to the south and a growing chance of picking up a shower, particularly into parts of england by sunday.

this is bbc news — the headlines: the united arab emirates and bahrain have signed diplomatic agreements with israel at the white house — at a ceremony overseen by president donald trump. the gulf states are only the third and fourth arab nations to recognise israel, but it's thought more may follow. the news has dismayed palestinians, whose conflicts with israel remain unresolved. the number of confirmed coronavirus infections in india has crossed five million — the second highest in the world after the us. in the past few days the virus has spread much faster than in any other country. daily infections passed 90,000 for the five days up to monday. the mayor of louisville, kentucky, has said the city

is to pay 12 million dollars to the family of breonna taylor. the 26—year—old emergency medical technician was shot eight times by police who burst into her home in the middle of the night, during a mistaken drugs raid. now on bbc news, panorama. tonight on panorama — the illegal sale of human organs. i found myself in a room with blood everywhere. the horrifying trade in human flesh. there literally asking that person, in different types of need. —— if it cuts of meat. we're on the trail of the organ traffickers. we need to be careful. we don't what he's capable of.