this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm 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. coronavirus in india pass 5 million. humanity at a crossroads,

he family of breonna taylor — killed by police in kentucky — agree a multi—million dollar settlement. and — humanity at a crossroads — the un's urgent warning on the decline of the natural world. 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. rashid khalidi is a professor of arab studies at columbia university. i know you are an —— were an advisor at the palestinian delegation

at the madrid and washington arab—israeli peace negotiations from 1991 to 1993. how would you advise the palestinians now? they were parties to the conflict between the palestinians and israelis. there are no negotiations today because there is no basis for a negotiation. there is no mediator that is trusted by both sides. i would advise the palestinians right now to put forward a very clear position in which they state what they want. i would advise them to unify their ranks. i would advise them to point out that these so—called peace agreements are between countries that were never at war, are not now at war, not really the main parties to the conflict. that is the palestinian people under occupation, colonised, and the israelis who are our and have been occupying for 50 odd yea rs, been occupying for 50 odd years, palestinian territory and who have been oppressing palestinians since 19118. what trump, netanyahu and the autocrats in the region are making this conflict harder to

resolve. there is something here for the palestinians, isn't there? a promise from israel that they will not annex more land. what do you make of that? they weren't going to annex anyway. the ian —— entirely negative reaction of joe biden, the europeans and the entirety of the world to the entirety of the world to the trump neta nyahu the entirety of the world to the trump netanyahu proposal of annexation meant it was dead in the water far before these arab states made their move. it was not in fact a concession at all. israel has been gradually absorbing the occupied territories since 1967 and this isa territories since 1967 and this is a process that is continuing. land theft continues. this load drive driving palestinians —— the slow drive continues. the

formal annexation had been put off in any case will stop it was a non— concession in return for a quite significant concession on behalf of the pa re concession on behalf of the pare knees and emma ratti ‘s which is to say you may continue oppressing the palestinians but we may have normal relation with you. —— bahraini is and emma ratti ‘s. —— emirates. one winner in this is israel. the palestinian factions have come together to talk for the first time in a long time. it is disgraceful this should have taken a situation as critical as this to get both of these bankrupt factions and the other political formations to get to this book point. it is absolutely essential that the palestinians unify their ranks and come forward with a position that is clear to the rest of the world. this is the basis on which we will

negotiate, we refuse the united states as immediate —— mediator, it is the most bias possible state possible. this is what we want and this is how we intend to achieve it. nobody knows those things because there is no such thing today as palestinian diplomacy. there is no such thing as palestinian public relations. those are things that have to be done on the basis of unity which the palestinians hopefully will be moving towards. maybe this is a step in that direction. professor, thank you very much. you're very welcome. india has now crossed an unfortunate milestone, recording more than five 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 the country'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—19 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 the health crisis is getting worse. imposing another lockdown to curb the spread of covid—19 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. the mexican president, andres manuel lopez obrador has the family of breonna taylor, killed by police in her own home in louisville, kentucky, have agreed a multimillion—dollar settlement with the city. the 26—year—old emergency medical technician was shot eight times in march by police who broke through herfront door in the middle of the night, during a mistaken drugs raid. mark lobel reports. herface remembered on magazines and murals

across america. beloved by her family with dreams of becoming a nurse, breonna taylor'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, police entered her apartment after midnight on a no—knock warrant 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, and 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 resembled a cover—up with no mention of how breonna's life was ended so abruptly. but after protests ravaged kentucky's largest city, a wrongful death lawsuit was

instigated by breonna's mother. city officials have now agreed to pay the family $12 million. i'm deeply, deeply sorry for breonna's death. while we await a decision from attorney—general daniel cameron on whether or not charges will be filed in this case, my administration is not waiting to move ahead with needed reforms to prevent a 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 inquiry by the state alongside an fbi enquiry into civil rights violations. but so far, no—one's been charged.

a significant as today is, it's only the beginning of getting full justice for breonna. we must not lose focus on what the real drive is, and with that being said, it's 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. mark lobel, bbc news. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: heading down into the debt. a free diving world record. 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 world news, the latest headlines:

history at the white house — as israel signs a peace deal with two arab countries. let's stay with that now. former british prime minister tony blair served as middle east peace envoy, and he attended today's signing. he denied that in arab israeli deal was being pursued at the expense of the palestinians. i have studied this now for the best pa rt have studied this now for the best part of 20 years. have studied this now for the best part of 20 yearslj have studied this now for the best part of 20 years. i was heavily involved as prime minister and involved afterwards as the envoy has spent years working on this relationship. you will not solve it unless two things happened, you need politics thatis happened, you need politics that is unified and in favour of this and need to bring the arab nation alongside the

palestinians in that peace effort. and so when people say, and there are people who say you should have nothing to do with israel until the palestinian issue is resolved, they say that strategy they have had a two now has not worked and it will not 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 that we need your support stop unified politics in favour of peace needs your support. that is a strategy that can succeed. if we carry on as we have been for the last century, we will have the last century, we will have the same results. humanity is at a crossroads and we have to take action now to make space for nature to recover. that from a reportjust published by the un convention on biological diversity. it sets out what it calls ‘urgent transitions' to try to slow the decline of the natural world. our science and environment correspondent victoria gill has this.

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. this 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. on wednesday afternoon japan's parliament will vote to approve yoshihide suga as the new prime minister. two days ago, mr suga, who's 71, was overwhelmingly elected as leader of the ruling liberal democratic party — replacing shinzo abe. there is some concern now that japan may return to the so—called "revolving door" politics of recent history, when it changed prime ministers almost every year. rupert wingfield hayes reports. yoshihide suga may be 71 years old. butjapan's new prime minister is, so he says, a man on a mission. "i want to break down bureaucratic division, vested interest

and blind adherence to precedent", he says. "i want to form a cabinet that will work hard for the people." mr suga is best known as prime minister shinzo abe's long serving and grim faced spokesman. a man with no hint of charisma but according to those who know him, a man with a ferocious work ethic. this is a man gets up at five o'clock in the morning, does 100 sit—ups and then reads all the newspapers and by 6.30 he is starting meetings with businesspeople, advisors, with outside economists. he absorbs like a sponge and wants to get things done for the country. he is not interested in any of the glitz or bling that comes with modern government. that is all well and good but the problem for the new prime minister is that his election was essentially a stitch—up by the party bosses in smoky back rooms. the japanese people have had no say in the matter. suga's rise to power has only happened because

shinzo abe stepped down unexpectedly. he will now need to prove himself and he may not get much time. much is being made of mr suga's humble background. the son of a farmer who worked in a factory to pay his way through college. mr suga is certainly nothing like most of japan's recent prime ministers who come from powerful political dynasties. but in the dirty world of japanese politics, his humble origins could be his undoing. because mr suga comes from a humble background he really does not have his own power base. he does not belong to any faction and he rose to power because he was mr abe's preferred choice and the party bosses rallied behind him in an emergency situation. shinzo abe's near eight year premiership has givenjapan a period of rare political stability. in the previous 30 years, japan had 19 different prime minister. something that

could now return. i think it is likely we will enter a period of more short—term prime ministers. we don't know if it is every ten months or two years, it would be beneficial if it was not every other year. for now, the world will have to get used to remembering the name yoshihide suga. free—diving is an extraordinary and potentially dangerous sport. it involves divers heading deep underwater, without any breathing apparatus. now a frenchman has just 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 to the family of breonna taylor. the 26—year—old emergency medical technician was shot 8 times by police who burst into her home in the middle of the night, during a mistaken drugs raid.