hello. welcome to bbc news. i'm ben boulos. these are our top stories. go, 0, these are our top stories. go, no, no! flash floods kill at least 70 people in western europe. thousands across germany, the netherlands, and belgium have been forced to leave their homes with more heavy rain on the way. lebanon's prime minister designate gives up on trying to form a government. there are protests on the streets as the country's crisis deepens. the united nations has warned hunger and fighting has made afghanistan one of the worst crises in the world. we are in the city, but in recent weeks this has become a frontline. the spaces that people can run two for safety

are shrinking every day here. and as japan struggles to host tokyo 2020, we have a special report on the small towns trying to keep the olympics excitement burning. hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the sheer scale of the flooding disaster that has hit western germany and parts of belgian and the netherlands is only now becoming clear. at least so many people are believed to have died and many others have lost their homes. the german chancellor, angela merkel, called it a catastrophe and link to the events in the region to climate change. our europe correspondentjenny hill reports from one of the worst hit areas

in western germany. well, the report from jenny hill we will bring you later. in the meantime, we want to turn to analysis about the causes of those flash flooding's, because the sheer ferocity of the downpours has left many in germany, including the government, blaming climate change. the question is is this still connected to another that happened in london earlier this week. darren britza explains. it is all linked to the weather picture. it stopped in the same place, across western parts of germany. there was three months worth of rain injust21i germany. there was three months worth of rain in just 2a hours. hardly surprising we have had these devastating floods. it is linked to the jet stream, the pattern we had, very undulating jet stream. we're left with slow—moving cut of area pressure across germany was just developed the rain and kept going. that area of low

pressure also tapped into some temperature contrast we saw across europe, drawing into really warm and muggy air from the mediterranean. now to the climate question, simple physics says that warmer air is going to hold more moisture, hence more rain and we are more likely to find more extreme rainfall events. interestingly, the climate scientist are also studying the impact of climate change on the jet stream does just does make it more undulating? does it slowly weather down and allow these extreme events to develop, which links us back notjust to the rain we have seen in western europe, but to the heat wave we have had in the north—west, in north—western parts of the united states and canada. �* �* . �* , parts of the united states and canada. �* �* . �*, canada. bbc weather's darren bent there — canada. bbc weather's darren bent there on _ canada. bbc weather's darren bent there on the _ canada. bbc weather's darren bent there on the possible - bent there on the possible links to climate change from the weather we have seen in western europe. let us look at the effects it is having. here is the report from jenny hill. there was, many here told us, no warning. homes destroyed, lives lost, in a matter of minutes.

the water ripped up the roads, tossed cars aside like toys. we met margaretta just as she arrived back in the village of schuld. she and herfamily fled last night. "at the very last minute," she says, "a fireman got us out." the family are safe, though her son was injured. he's in hospital. margaretta points out what once was her neighbours' house, but says she doesn't know what happened to them. as to her own property, half the house has gone, her daughter tells us. it's been a devastating 2a hours for west germany, but for belgium and the netherlands, too. rooftop rescues, people dragged to safety — the water, a deadly torrent, destroying houses and engulfing neighbourhoods. smashing homes,

like matchboxes. almost 60 people have died in west germany alone, others are still missing. armin laschet, who may succeed angela merkel as germany's next chancellor, said there was no doubt this was the result of climate change. translation: we will be | confronted with such events again and again, and this means that we need more speed in climate protection measures — european, nationwide, worldwide. in schuld, they're still in shock. michal and his friend had just finished refurbishing their pub. they were supposed to open on saturday. translation: it's i unreal, unbelievable. i still can't take on what i'm seeing here. unbelievable. better news for their neighbour's dog, whom they managed to pull to safety, just in time last night. it's hard to imagine that just yesterday this

was a quiet village street. what's worrying people now is that there's more rain forecast this evening. what will happen, they are asking, when the water levels rise again? for now, homeless and fearful, they mourn their dead and wait, anxiously. jenny hill, bbc news, schuld. as we heard, germany's chancellor angela merkel has called the floods in a her country a disaster. she has been in washington, meeting president biden in her farewell visit to the white house before she leaves office later this year. since coming to power in 2005 she has met and worked with four us presidents. i have been speaking to geoffrey rasco, president of the institute for canterbury german studies at the gene todt inns university.

president biden, in the press availability today made the remark that friend sometimes disagree and i think that is the way that the united states and germany are trying to characterise their relationship now. it is a productive forward—looking partnership without agreement on every single area but i think climate is emerging as one where the biden administration views are much more closely aligned with those of the german government, that has been the case certainly under the trump administration. we often talk and hear about the special relationship between the us and the united kingdom but given germany's key role as one of the leading nations in the european union, how important is that relationship? is there an equivalent special relationship between the us and germany? it's a bit different from the relationship with the uk but i would argue that germany is the most important country in europe when it comes to the agenda that the biden administration has begun to lay out in its first six months in office, and i think you see as well with the issuance of a formal statement which they are calling the washington declaration, that germany and the united states go to great lengths to emphasise the shared

values and the shared principles on which they will try to approach some of the most thorny problems that they face worldwide, whether that is trade and the role of china or issues that relate to democratisation and populism. and they do have some common challenges that they share, notably russian influence and aggression, and the way they handle china. how important has that been in the way that angela merkel has worked with different us presidents on those challenges? well, there was a famously frosty relationship between president trump and chancellor merkel, but even despite that friction, there was an effort, certainly by the chancellor, to promote constructive cooperation wherever possible. if we look at issues that relate to russia, there have been some persistent disagreements, a lot of them centre around

the nord stream 2 pipeline which also came up today and an issue that still hasn't been fully resolved, but if we look at china, i think what you see is the german view of china as a competitor and as a challenger, coming closer to that in washington, it is really bipartisan view in washington, i would add. that was jeffrey rathke from the johns that was jeffrey rathke from thejohns hopkins university the johns hopkins university speaking thejohns hopkins university speaking to me a short time ago. the lebanese politician saad hariri has given up on his efforts to form a government, nine months after he was designated prime minister. he said it was clear he would not be able to reach agreement with

the president after the two men held a brief meeting. tim allman has the details. for far too long now this is how politics in lebanon tend to play out. crowds clashing with security forces in beirut. a country without proper government, deep in recession, and descending further into chaos. there was

who paid a price when there was problems with sunni and shi'ite. i'm a believer in dialogue. shi'ite. i'm a believer in dialogue-— dialogue. the president criticised _ dialogue. the president criticised mr _ dialogue. the president criticised mr hariri - dialogue. the president. criticised mr hariri saying dialogue. the president - criticised mr hariri saying he wasn't prepared to discuss changes of any kind and he will now consult with parliament. more talks, more uncertainty. there is every chance the protests will continue as well. tim allman, bbc news. you are watching bbc news. more to come will stop including this, we hearfrom will stop including this, we hear from survivors of canada's

former residential schools, where the remains of thousands of indigenous children were found buried in the grounds. after months of talks and missed deadlines, a deal has been struck to keep greece within the euro zone. the immediate prospect of greece going bust in the worst crisis to hit the euro zone has been averted. emergency services across central europe are stepping up their efforts to contain the worst floods this century. nearly 100 people have been killed. broadway is traditionally called the great white way by americans, but tonight, it's completely blacked out. it's a timely reminder to all americans of the problems that the energy crisis has brought to them. leaders meet in paris for a summit on pollution, inflation and third world debt. this morning, theyjoined the revolution celebrations for a show of military might on the champs—elysees. wildlife officials in australia have been coping with a penguin problem. fairy penguins have been staggering ashore and collapsing after gorging themselves on their favourite food, pilchards. some had eaten so much,

they could barely stand. flash floods kill at least 70 people in western europe. thousands across germany, the netherlands and belgium have been forced to leave their homes. more to leave their homes. heavy rain is on the way to more heavy rain is on the way to the the un has told the bbc that the situation unfolding in afghanistan is a humanitarian catastrophe. there's been sharp, spike in violence across the country between the taliban and afghan government forces, that's followed the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country. the bbc travelled to the strategically important kunduz province, in northern afghanistan. all of it, except the provincial capital, also called kunduz, has fallen to the taliban.

yogita limaye reports from there — with the production team of sanjay ganguly and mafouz zubaide. decades of suffering that's now become even more brutal. in kunduz city, besieged by the taliban, tens of thousands of afghans who have fled a surge in violence. running from bullets and bombs. caught between insurgents and government forces. scared, hungry and homeless .. in 45—degree heat. people rushed to us .. to tell us their stories. it's nearly impossible to count how many they have lost. this woman said six of herfamily were killed a few weeks ago,

including her husband and four sons. war is devastating people across the country, as the taliban gain more territory every day and foreign forces leave. this woman's husband and three children were killed when a mortar hit their home. he is malnourished, she said. her other son barely speaks. he has shrapnel injuries and struggles to walk. they are among hundreds here who have had to run for their lives more than once.

this woman fled from her rural district to this area of kunduz city. that, too, got bombed. all of her three sons were killed. we went to the area where she fled from. we saw signs of battle and evidence that a part of the city is no longer under the control of the soldiers. this is the position of the afghan government forces and then, just across the bridge, on the other side there, is territory controlled by the taliban. we are in the city of kunduz,

but in recent weeks, this has become a front line. the spaces that people can run to for safety are shrinking every day here. the critical care unit of the kunduz hospital was full of the war wounded. many simply aren't able to get here. abdul was caught up in an explosion when he went to get fodder for his family's goats. 14 years old, he's lost a hand and has serious injuries to his abdomen and leg. this patient�*s condition is really, really poor. six—year—old maryam has a bullet lodged in her spine. hit as she and her family ran into their home to hide when a gun battle broke out. so, the bullet is still lodged inside the spine? yeah. she will survive, the doctor told me, but she won't be able to walk. even the hospital was hit by mortars a few days ago, he told me.

more than half of afghanistan's people need immediate aid tojust survive. many here feel abandoned by the government and departing foreign troops. outside the camp, anotherfamily arrived. there was no space for them. even the fragile safety of a basic tent is hard to find. it has been nearly two months since an indigenous population in the canadian province of columbia announced they had

found the buried remains of hundreds of children on the grounds of a former residential school. the report investigating the school says the former pupils, some as young as six years old recall being woken in the night to prepare graves. i think canadians have not been listening to residential school survivors who have been telling us for years that, in fact, the death toll of residential schools was much higher than public perceptions. the truth and reconciliation commission, royal commission that recently issued its final report in 2015, it did expose just the death toll that these schools had wrought and asked for, it was not part of its mandate to really investigate undocumented death but it asked for that and we are really

seeing individualfirst nations and other indigenous groups take matters into their own hands and with this ground penetrating radar are uncovering graves and looking at the places where survivors told them, these were where students were buried. the residential school system was a dangerous place to live, for many children. not only was it a system that provided very substandard education and children were exposed to tremendous abuse, physical, sexual abuse, but remember when the trc, the truth and reconciliation commission was issuing its final report in 2015 and an info graphic was run based on data and it said that your odds of dying in the second world war if you were serving in the military, if you were a canadian

in the military was one in 26. and if you were a child attending an indigenous residential school your odds of dying was one in 25. so canadians have known about this but really, have not... i think the physical evidence of varied children in unmarked graves has really struck a chord and finally some people are waking up to. is it possible to assess, now how much of an impact those residential schools had in terms of eroding and trying to mask the culture that these indigenous children and families had at the time? indigenous peoples have been telling us for some time that the impact has been enormous. not only on those survivors and, up to a couple of decades ago, the numbers were

circulated, 80,000 living survivors but the intergenerational trauma that was wrought on their individual families which amplified the impact of loss of language, loss of culture, not to mention the individual trauma of living through abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse and not getting a good education on top of all that. certainly the indian residential school system with just over a week to go before the olympics is due to open, tokyo is back under a covid state of emergency. but in some small towns there is still excitement — especially among those acting as the adopted home for foreign 0lympics teams. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes has been to murayama in northern japan as they prepare to welcome the bulgarian rhythmic gymnastics team.

not many japanese kids are lucky enough to have a former international gymnast as their teacher, and not just any gymnast. antoaneta vitale was once a world—class rhythmic gymnast competing for bulgaria. but for the last two years, she's been teaching here in the mountains of northern japan. for me, was really like a dream come true to experience to come here to a place i already love and to work with gymnastics. that was my childhood. i was growing up in gymnastics, so this is my passion. five years ago, murayama invited the bulgarian women's gymnastics team to make this place their 0lympic hometown. but that was before covid. he speaks his own language. this hotel manager shows me the route the bulgarian team

the bulgarian team will now have to take to get back to their rooms. ok, so there's a screen here, can't go any further. at every stage, the team members will have to be kept separate from other guests. news that two ugandan athletes tested positive for covid after arriving injapan has added to his worries. translation: when i heard about ugandan team, - i was a bit concerned. if we have an athlete infect after they arrive, the infection could spread around the team. that is what i am most worried about. murayama is really an exemplar of what the whole 0lympic spirit is supposed to be about. but because of covid, the tremendous enthusiasm here is tempered with anxiety, and that's because places like this in ruraljapan have lots and lots of old people, and so far, almost

no covid infections. that's not going to stop keiko komaru. she is the founder of murayama's bulgarian gymnastics support club. she says she thinks of the team as her adoptive granddaughters, and she can't wait to see them compete. translation: | know | there's a lot of criticism because of covid, but i really wanted to be in tokyo to see them perform. their families and friends can't come, so that's why i wanted to be there to make sure the girls know we are all behind them. the majority of japanese may still be very sceptical about the games taking place, but here in murayama, there is real excitement as they await the arrival of their bulgarian granddaughters. she chants. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in yamagata, northern japan. you can reach me and the team

on social media. this is bbc news. thank you for watching. hello there. 0ur sunshine that we see believe it or not is linked to the extreme weather we've seen across other parts of europe. it's linked by the jet stream. this is the pattern that we've seen. a very undulating jet stream. it means slow moving weather. we've had low pressure bringing the rain across europe. that low pressure will move eastwards. eventually taking the rain away from germany. high pressure will bid in across the uk, bringing dry weather. with the sunshine we had on thursday, temperatures in northern ireland reached 26 degrees, making it the warmest day of the year so far. it's going to be a warm start across belfast, temperatures at 16 degrees. we start with cloud across east anglia, but it will break up

more readily. it's going to feel warmer. sunshine across england and wales. some patchy cloud developing. there will be spells of sunshine for northern ireland, but across western scotland, more of a breeze and more cloud. sunnier skies and warmer weather for eastern parts of scotland and across england and wales, 26—27 degrees. it'll be a warmer day for the eastern side of england. high pressure in charge in the weekend. around the top of the area of high pressure, winds are coming in from the atlantic. stronger winds of scotland again on saturday, and that will drag in more cloud and a little more drizzle. the cloud in northern ireland will tend to break up and will get sunshine coming in across other parts of scotland. lots of sunshine and light winds across england and wales. temperatures continuing to climb up to around 27 or 28 degrees. temperatures in scotland and northern ireland probably not changing too much at this stage. as we head into that second half of the weekend, we'll see more cloud coming down across scotland and northern ireland,

perhaps into northern england. a change of air mass which will drop the temperatures. lots of sunshine for the southern half of the uk. temperatures here could reach 29 or 30 degrees. you can see those lower temperatures as you head further north. as we head into the beginning next week, maybe one or two showers. but on the whole, a lot of dry weather once again. but that cooler air in the north will be pushing its way further south.

this is bbc news. the headlines: record rainfall in parts of europe's caused deadly flash floods, claiming at least 70 lives, most of them in germany. thousands of people across the west of the country and in the netherlands and belgium have had to leave their homes, more heavy rain is on the way. lebanese politicial saad hariri's given up on trying to form a government, saying it is clear he will not reach an agreement with the country's president. his supporters clashed with government forces on the streets as —— saying it was clear thejew would not come to an agreement. —— the two. the un has issued a stark warning about the return of the taliban in afghanistan, as nato troops prepare for their final withdrawal. it describes the unfolding situation as a man—made �*humanitarian catastrophe' and one of the worst crises in the world.

now on bbc news — highlights of the week's proceedings in parliament.