hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: new dangers for western forces in iraq — drones carrying explosives. we've a special report on the game—changing new threat. a massive, smart, global sting — the fbi masterminds the arrest of hundreds of alleged criminals after monitoring their communications. exploring the hitherto unknown depths of the pacific. we'll be talking to the divers about their daring mission. and we meet china's new social media superstars, taking it all in their stride.

hello, thanks for joining hello, thanks forjoining us here on bbc news. armed forces from the us and other western nations are facing a new threat in iraq. on two occasions, american airbases have come under attack from iranian—made drones fitted with explosives. it follows earlier rocket attacks on western forces but commanders say the drones are a game—changer in terms of threat. iran denies involvement but its proxies in iraq — the shia militia — have been growing in strength. our middle east correspondent, quentin sommerville, has been to north—eastern syria and iraq, and he sent this report. american troops have grown used to being in iraq. still watchful, they move between here and syria, almost as if the border didn't exist. they came to help fight the islamic state group.

thatjob�*s almost done, but another war is taking place here, mostly in the shadows. we're not the only people operating in this part of the world. the louisiana national guard have been operating here in north—eastern syria for about as long asjoe biden has been president. the number of americans here and in iraq keeps shrinking. there's about 2,500 of them now. their mission here, their enemy, is the islamic state group, but that's far from the greatest danger americans face here. us air bases have been targeted twice in recent months by iranian—made, military—grade drones. this is the aftermath of a drone strike which destroyed a cia warehouse in erbil.

chanting and in baghdad, iran's proxies are running rampant. here they are cutting off the city's diplomatic green zone after one of their leaders was arrested. inside, the united states remains mostly silent. it's focused instead on its nuclear negotiations and is fearful of giving fuel to hardliners in iran's elections. from the us, there has been no military response yet to recent attacks. beyond this fortress, a terror campaign is underway. if you're western forces, you're fighting the islamic state group, you can be here in the centre of baghdad and you can be relatively safe, but the situation outside these walls is far more grim. and the people out there and all across iraq don't have the luxury of that protection. chanting young iraqis took to the streets to protest,

among other things, foreign interference in their country. and they have been slaughtered. almost 700 have been cut down. they blame pro—iranian militia. and they chant, "who killed me?" please, have a seat. ali mohammed wants to know who it was that shot dead his brother, amjed.

across the middle east, iran and the united states continue to face off, but the victims in this shadow war are rarely americans, nor iranians. they are, once again, the people of iraq. quentin sommerville, bbc news, baghdad.

well, there is no hiding the fbi's sense of achievement. it's talking of a massive worldwide takedown of criminal syndicates. now, with the active participation of europol and forces in australia, lithuania, sweden and the netherlands, gangs were tricked into using a secure device and app, which had actually been developed by agents, who then monitored tens of millions of messages about drug dealing, money laundering and planned murders. our security correspondent gordon corera has the story. a shipment of tuna cans coming from ecuador into europe with more than 600kg of cocaine hidden inside, all discovered by law enforcement. more cocaine wrapped up with a batman label, a picture of it sent on a phone that criminals thought was secure, but which was really a trap. that trap was sprung today...

sirens and gunshots ..as law enforcement around the world made their move, with a wave of arrests against multiple organised crime groups. criminals believe that using a system called anom secured their communications. the problem was that the person behind it was an undercover informant for the fbi. they started by giving 50 devices to criminals in australia, people like this man, hakan ayik, now on the run, who in turn recommended it to others, unwittingly helping the authorities. so, how did it all work? the system was run by the fbi and australian federal police, who were able to access communications between 10,000 devices. 20 million messages were intercepted from more than 90 countries. details about drug deals, money laundering and planned murders were accessed. it was effectively a wiretap on the criminal underworld around the globe. the biggest users of the device were in germany, spain, the netherlands, serbia and australia. there are some investigations in the uk, although the device was not widely used here.

the amount of intelligence that we received was staggering. from seizing drugs, guns and millions of dollars in multiple currencies, to addressing more than 150 threats to life. in australia, there've been more than 200 arrests. police say the information even helped thwart a machine—gun attack in a cafe. and in europe today, there was more evidence of the operation�*s success. for nine months, we have been receiving intelligence to build criminal cases, and we have also had information that has helped us to prevent more than ten planned murders within sweden. this operation has dealt a serious blow to organised crime, not only because of those arrested, but because those still at large will not be sure who or what they can trust. gordon corera, bbc news.

well, i spoke further to fbi special agent in charge, suzanne turner, whose san diego field office led the investigation named 0peration trojan shield. i began by asking how difficult it was to run the operation without being discovered. yes. we would have liked to keep the operation on for as long as possible, but with the amount, the magnitude and scope and amount of transnational crime organisations utilising this for drugs, guns and violent crime, we worked with international partners to take it down. but we did have to work to keep it as encrypted it and as closed as possible. how easy was it to create anom, and to get the help to do it in terms of getting out all the right people, if i can call them that?

yes, so, this was an evolution from phantom secure, which my office here in san diego did and we dismantled in 2018. we had an app that was in development which we utilised to set up the platform, and we worked with the australian federal police, who had the technical capability to help us decrypt those messages. then we set up a platform and worked with international partners worldwide, and had international agreements where we reviewed those messages and disseminated them to actual intelligence. phantom secure was the app of choice, which you managed to pull down, which give you the opportunity to create the new platform. i mean, the scale is staggering. but i guess, to a certain extent, it also means this operation is done, and do you go back to square one? no, not at all. i think this is just the beginning.

i think what we have shown criminals worldwide, one, we work together across the globe with all of our international partners, and we have shown we are able to infiltrate current companies and establish our own company. we have left the criminals wondering which company we will infiltrate next, and which company they might be using that is actually run by the government. it was a five—year programme in all, from its original inception. five years is a very long time in the criminal world, isn't it? and an awful lot of crime must have taken place during the build—up of your own networks, of getting the information, of getting all of the access to people you have then pulled in? where there are moments where you felt you should have gone sooner? no. the five years incorporated the phantom secure, which we dismantled, like i said, in 2018, and then we opened up and started our actual platform, anom, in october of 2019.

so, no. we reviewed all of these messages and if there were any immediate threats to life, we got those to the appropriate countries so they could mitigate threats, as you heard, and that has happened across multiple countries across the globe. so we were not concerned. we worked well with partner agencies to be able to action the intelligence and arrest the individuals and we arrested more than 300 before the actual takedown, so we were able to make an impact on going during the five years. i don't want to bring this too much down to persons and the impact, but when you saw some of the material coming back to you, you know, photos of consignments of the tuna, for example, the tuna tins, you knew exactly what you are looking for. there must have been an element of glee within the team ? well, yes, ithink that the — how brazen they were showed that they believed it was a secure communication. there was no hiding their conversations, there were no codes.

so we knew whether shipments were going and who was meeting them. so, yes, it was a great eye into all those criminal organisations that believed their communications were secure. i mean, i've got all the figures in front of me, i'm not going to run through them all in terms of the tonnes of cocaine and marijuana, the number of firearms, everything that has been pulled together, huge amounts of money as well. i guess there is also the reality that that is sort of a drop in the bucket of this organised criminal world we live in? yes, it sort of feels that way but i think the impact across the globe has kept many citizens safe, has made an impact in multiple countries and shows that we're going to work together and continue to work together and continue to work together and continue to work together to the criminal organisations. let's get some of the day's other news. the israeli government has given permission for a march byjewish nationalists through jerusalem's muslim quarter,

but has postponed it until next week. on monday, organisers cancelled the event after police rejected their route amid concerns that it could trigger further violence with palestinians. south africa's health minister, zweli mkhize, has been placed on special leave pending a corruption probe. he faces allegations that two of his close aides embezzled more than $6 million from public coronavirus funds. the minister, whose handling of the pandemic has been praised, denies any wrongdoing. now, a number of leading websites were taken offline for a short time on tuesday, and so far, no official explanation as to why. those affected included amazon, for example, the uk government website and media sites like the new york times and the guardian. issues had been reported early by the cloud computing provider fastly, on which a lot of these major websites depend.

doug madory is director of internet analysis at kentik, which monitors networks for large telecom companies and hejoins us from new hampshire. it's a very good to see you. thank you forjoining us. is there a ready explanation here? it's not skullduggery, what is it? no, ido it's not skullduggery, what is it? no, i do not think anyone believes there was any cyberattack or anything that looks like it was caused by an internal software update that went awry and ended up taking down a lot of the services of cbm. ., ,., , ., , cbm. there are some big names cau~ht u- cbm. there are some big names caught up in _ cbm. there are some big names caught up in this. _ cbm. there are some big names caught up in this. can _ cbm. there are some big names caught up in this. can you - caught up in this. can you explain the way in which the system works now, because it might be a surprise to some that so many organisations have sort of gone down like dominoes here? ~ .,,

sort of gone down like dominoes here? ~ , .,, sort of gone down like dominoes here? , , here? most people will be familiar with _ here? most people will be familiar with the - here? most people will be familiar with the company | here? most people will be - familiar with the company they get their service from, the mobile provider or the isp that provides a service to their house or office. but in the internet ecosystem, the things that make the internetwork, an important part of that are the content delivery network, cbms, their specialised global networks that serve up all of the files into your phone when you use the internet. in the course of the day you are interacting with these things constantly, even if you are not using your phone and it may not be in name, it is certainly familiar within the internet industry, it may be familiar with your viewers, it is a company that many people are interacting with throughout the day. you don't know anything about it normally because it works fine. but one of these big cdns go wrong, we will notice it. big cdns go wrong, we will notice it— big cdns go wrong, we will notice it-— notice it. they seemed to notice it. they seemed to notice quite _ notice it. they seemed to notice quite quickly. - notice it. they seemed to notice quite quickly. you| notice it. they seemed to - notice quite quickly. you would look at this _ notice quite quickly. you would look at this as _ notice quite quickly. you would look at this as a _ notice quite quickly. you would look at this as a glass - notice quite quickly. you would look at this as a glass half- look at this as a glass half full type of scenario. it is a

very important cdn to the global internet, lots of famous properties are certified. so when they have an outage they go down. this company was very quick to rectify the outage. within an hour it was restored. and we don't see a lot of cdns go down, it is not that common that it happens. this could have been worse.— that it happens. this could have been worse. let's hope it sta s have been worse. let's hope it stays that _ have been worse. let's hope it stays that way. _ have been worse. let's hope it stays that way. thank - have been worse. let's hope it stays that way. thank you - have been worse. let's hope it stays that way. thank you very much indeed. doug madory, the director of internet analysis at khanthac. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: after they packed their trunks and headed off, now china's herd of wandering elephants take a well earned nap.

the day the british liberated the falklands. and by tonight, british troops had begun the task of disarming the enemy. in the heart of the west german capital, this was gorby—mania at its height. the crowd packed to see the man who, for them, has raised great hopes for an end to the division of europe. it happened as the queen moved towards horse guards parade for the start of trooping the colour. gunshots the queen looks worried but recovers quickly. as long as they'll - pay to go and see me, i'll get out there and kick 'em down the hills. - what does it feel like to be the first man to cross the channel by your own power? it feels pretty neat. it feel marvellous, really.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: iran denies its behind the latest threat for western forces in iraq — drones carrying explosives. if you find it extraordinary that 90% of the surface of mars has already been mapped, how more amazing is it that only 5% of the earth's oceans have had the same treatment? well, world 0ceans day is one opportunity to grow awareness about what lies beneath the seas, from new creatures to potential medical discoveries and, of course, the risks faced by climate change. institute's rv valkor. they have been live streaming this expedition around the phoenix islands. just buffering a bit for us there. this is two

kilometres below the surface. and what we have been seeing over the course of the past couple of hours is almost like a shopping trolley on its way, picking up fascinating microbes and plants and a bit of fish life as well. all courtesy of the underwater robot called sebastian. there we are. you can see exactly what it is doing as it fights ever so gently into some of the plantlife there. and then harnesses it and popped it in a trolley. we may get to see that. dr randi rotjan is the lead scientist of this expedition to the equatorial pacific. she is there on board schmidt institute's rv valkor. thank you forjoining us. tell me this sort of things you are actually trying to pick up your. actually trying to pick up our. . ~' actually trying to pick up our. . ~ , ., actually trying to pick up our. . ~ i. actually trying to pick up our. . ~ . ., your. thank you so much for

havin: your. thank you so much for having me- _ your. thank you so much for having me. and _ your. thank you so much for having me. and happy - your. thank you so much for having me. and happy world oceans day. we are actually picking up coral, they look plantlife but they're actually animals. these animals are ancient. some of most ancient creatures on our planet and here they are happily living at the bottom of the sea. we are busy sampling corals and sponges visually play taking samples and calibrated images and physical samples. we will work them up on the lab on the ship and work with them on our —— with our own hands. ship and work with them on our -- with our own hands.- -- with our own hands. these are creatures, _ -- with our own hands. these are creatures, i— -- with our own hands. these are creatures, i presume - -- with our own hands. thesel are creatures, i presume some of which you have never seen before. , . ., ., . before. these particular once no-one has _ before. these particular once no-one has seen _ before. these particular once no-one has seen before. - before. these particular once - no-one has seen before. nobody no—one has seen before. nobody has ever explored — ever — there was not even a map forest until a few hours ago when we mapped it. what you are seeing live right now is the first time any human on our planet has looked at ease. and, yes, we usually do find new species or new range expansions, but

these particular animals are completely new to what we have seen. this has never been seen before. ,, ,, �* before. crosstalk. makes _ before. crosstalk. makes it _ before. crosstalk. makes it that - before. crosstalk. makes it that much l before. crosstalk. - makes it that much more exciting, really. it is a little bit pot—luck because it is a live stream so we can't know quite what we are going to get. but we will make the most of it. what does that tell you and what shall we be learning about the potential, because if we have only mapped 5% of the ocean, the bed, the scope is huge, isn't it?— huge, isn't it? the scope is absolutely _ huge, isn't it? the scope is absolutely enormous. - huge, isn't it? the scope is absolutely enormous. if. huge, isn't it? the scope is| absolutely enormous. if you tune into the live stream now, you will see how beautiful it is, the beautiful scene where in right now, a forest of sponges and corals, it is a spot, one of 100,000— 150,000 seamounts the world over, one that does not belong to any country the world over, we have

landed on this one, to several miles long, we are on one teeny stretch of it, on this one bit of seafloor we are in this forest of animals, some of which are easily hundreds of years old and some of them thousands.— years old and some of them thousands. ., , ., , , thousands. your enthusiasm is infectious- _ thousands. your enthusiasm is infectious. very _ thousands. your enthusiasm is infectious. very briefly, - thousands. your enthusiasm is infectious. very briefly, you i infectious. very briefly, you are working with a philanthropic organisation. how much more do you feel that the world's governments and international bodies should be doing? international bodies should be doinu ? ., international bodies should be doinu? ., ~ ., ., , international bodies should be doinu? ., ~ ., ., doing? you know, that is a tou~h doing? you know, that is a tough and _ doing? you know, that is a tough and interesting - doing? you know, that is a tough and interesting and l doing? you know, that is a i tough and interesting and real question and i'm so glad you have asked it. i think it is everybody�*s responsibility to be stewards of this planet. we have seven points 6 billion people and growing, which is more humans than this planet has ever had. we are not the only ones that share it. if we want these organisms to persist in the future we have to protect them, not only for their sake but for hours. thank ou ve their sake but for hours. thank you very much _ their sake but for hours. thank you very much indeed. - their sake but for hours. thank you very much indeed. dr - their sake but for hours. thank| you very much indeed. dr randi rofian you very much indeed. dr randi rotjanjoining us there you very much indeed. dr randi rotjan joining us there from the pacific, live, as we see things that no—one has ever seen before.

here at bbc news we've been keeping you updated on the progress of a herd of wild elephants who've been moving through southern china. they've now reached the outskirts of kunming, a city of more than eight million people. their journey has fascinated the entire country and made them social media superstars, as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. if you just walked more than 500 kilometres, you might fancy a bit of a lie down too. spread out like some giantjigsaw puzzle, the elephants of yunnan province take a more than deserved rest, well, most of them. why are they doing this? no—one knows but week after week, month after month, they have marched relentlessly onwards, with the occasional spot of help from the local authorities. translation: our staff members use excavators to make gentle - slopes on both sides of the river so that they can pass through. the elephants successfully crossed the river, after walking back and forth for several hours.

as is the way these days, the whole thing has become big news on social media. hashtags, fan art and memes abound. but a herd of wild elephant, each one potentially weighing up to 4 metric tonnes, and the citizens of southern china are not necessarily a good mix. in china now, most of the country, people are getting back to normal so there are no covid—19 restrictions in place so people are moving round freely and there have been cases in the past where elephants could actually kill somebody. hundreds of local officials have been assigned to protect the public to keep the elephants away from population centres. the ultimate goal, encourage the animals to pack up their trumps, metaphorically speaking, and head back home. tim allman, bbc news. after a good bath, obviously. very familiar with elephants. less familiar with these creatures. let's go back to the

bottom of the sea. the pacific ocean, close to the kiribati 0cean, close to the kiribati islands, a marine protected area on world oceans day. this is bbc news. hello there. for many of us, the temperatures are going to continue to build as we move through this week. both by day and it is going to feel warmer and muggier at night as well, as we start to import some very warm and humid tropical air right across the uk. but further north and west, we will continue to be played by low pressure and some weather fronts, so thicker cloud with some patchy rain at times. so for today, we've got higher pressure to the south, low pressure out from the atlantic, pushing these weather fronts into the north and the west, which will bring thicker cloud at times for scotland, northern ireland, western parts of england and wales. anywhere here could see the odd spot of rain, and some of the rain could be quite heavy for a time across northern ireland and scotland. turning a little bit lighter into the afternoon. some brightness for the northeast of scotland, where it will be warm. but by far, central, southern and eastern england, which will see the sunniest of skies, will see the highest

temperatures — 25 or 26 degrees. but even further west, with the cloud, it's going to feel warm and muggy. and as we head through wednesday night, tropical moist, humid air spreads right across the uk. so it's going to be a pretty muggy night for all areas. lows not falling below 1a to 16 degrees for many of us. now, as we head on into thursday, we've still got low pressure to the northwest. more isobars on the chart, you'll notice. so it is going to be a windier day for scotland, northern ireland, and it's here where we'll have most of the rain. the western isles and the northern isles could be quite wet. further south, more cloud around generally, even into england and wales. but again, the best of the sunshine will be towards the eastern side of england. a breezier day for all. windierfurther north. those are the mean wind speeds, gusts will be higher than that. and it's going to be another warm and humid day but because there's a bit more cloud around, i think highs of 22 or 2a degrees. now, on into friday, similar picture again, could see quite a bit a cloud around here and there. a little bit of drizzliness across the western hills, where it will be quite misty. best of the sunshine to the east of high ground, and another warm and humid day to come, particularly for england and wales — 25 or 26 degrees.

something a little bit fresher for a time across scotland, you will notice — 15 to 18 or 19 degrees. but as this area of high pressure builds back in for the weekend, it pushes the area of low pressure and these weather fronts back out into the atlantic. so it looks like things are going to turn more settled again for the weekend, with increasing amounts of sunshine, so temperatures will respond, and it's going to turn very warm or even hot in places, as temperatures across central and southern england could be close to 30 celsius.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the us military and troops from other western nations are facing a new threat in iraq. american airbases have come under attack from iranian—made drones fitted with explosives. commanders say the drones are a game changer. iran denies involvement. hundreds of suspected criminals have been arrested in a global sting operation organised by the fbi. gangs used what they thought was a secure messaging app, developed by the authorities, who were able to monitor messages about drug dealing, and planned murders. a number of leading websites were taken offline for a short time on tuesday, and so far there's no official explanation as to why. those affected included amazon and the uk government website. issues had been reported early by the cloud computing provider fastly. and those are the headlines.

around 3% of adults have a stammer, and one