this is bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: gunfire. fierce fighting in afghanistan — three cities are battling the taliban. with the taliban emboldened, peace talks stalled, everyone�*s worried that in the coming weeks, the violence is going to get even worse. day nine of the tokyo olympics is under way. later, we'll discover who'll claim usain bolt�*s crown. and as the uk's latest satellite goes into orbit, can it maintain its position as a world leader in space tech?

hello and welcome to bbc news. afghanistan is seeing the heaviest fighting yet between government forces and the taliban. the militants are trying to seize three major cities in the south and west of the country. they've made rapid gains in less populated parts since it was announced almost all foreign troops withdraw by september. taliban fighters have now entered parts of herat, kandahar, and lashkar gah — the capital of helmand province, once the home to british troops in the country. the fate of these key cities could be crucial amid fears of a humanitarian crisis, and there are concerns about how long government forces will be able to hold out. this update from our correspondent in kabul, secunder kermani. well, this is now the most serious fighting we've seen since this latest taliban offensive began. the militants had already captured vast swathes of rural territory, now they're trying to take their first city and earlier this evening, they made their way to the very centre of lashkar gah before being pushed back by afghan special forces.

in the past few hours, a number of air strikes have been launched against taliban positions there, too. but fighting has been taking place elsewhere as well, around the western city of herat and kandahar in the south. caught in the middle of this, of course, ordinary afghan families. tens of thousands of people have had to flee their homes over the last few weeks. and the international military mission here is going to formally come to an end by september. with the taliban emboldened, peace talks stalled, everyone�*s worried that in the coming weeks, the violence is going to get even worse. husain haqqani is former ambassador of pakistan to the united states, now with the hudson institute. i asked him how he assesses the gains made by the taliban. well, they prove three things. first, that there was no peace process, it was an illusion, and the taliban are not amenable to peace. they basically thought that an american withdrawal meant

that they had won and theyjust wanted to establish their emirate all over again. second, that the taliban are notjust a small insurgent force, they are a force that is capable of fighting like a conventional army, which basically means somebody is behind them and is supporting them and showing them the way to behave like a conventional army. and thirdly, that the afghan military has been left without air power by the sudden withdrawal of the western forces. all through the 20 years that the americans and the brits and everybody else were there, they all did not build a strong enough afghan air force and made the afghan air force totally dependent on contractors who have now been withdrawn. the taliban have also killed afghan pilots while off duty in a very methodical manner to make sure there is no air power on the side of the government.

so if anybody wants the taliban to not take over afghanistan by force, they have to abandon the so—called peace process and actually get round to supporting the afghan military. a couple of points you made there — the taliban are not a small fighting force and that they struggle to cope without international — the afghan government forces struggle to cope without international support. can they hold back the taliban? i think that the afghan people will not accept the taliban easily. there will be resistance. what we are headed towards is civil war. the assumption that the taliban, just by being invited to the ritz—carlton in doha, will agree to ending war has proven wrong. if i was one of the negotiators of that agreement, i would by now have resigned out of shame. but i think that the afghan people will eventually resist. the taliban are not going to have it as easy as they seem to be having right now. even if they establish control in parts of the country,

the people will definitely resist them over the long term. so what we will have is a prolonged ceasefire — a prolonged civil war instead of a ceasefire. there were always concerns about what would happen when international forces withdrew from the country. lashkar gah is almost a case in point — once home to british troops, they left and the taliban made advances on the area. does the international community bear some responsibility for almost enabling this? absolutely. the two governments in washington, dc and london both actually are responsible for this. they withdrew very suddenly. they did not give the afghan government the respect that should be given to an ally. the withdrawal should have been negotiated with the ally, not with the attacker or with the insurgent. instead, a deal was signed with the insurgents on the assumption that they will, quote, unquote, reduce peace, which was an absurd term invented

by diplomats who have no respect for human life in afghanistan, obviously, because what does reduction in peace — reduction in war mean, or reduction in conflict mean? reduction in violence would be, what? we will kill 20 people instead of 40? that was a very absurd notion. so the peace deal that was signed, the very — a peace deal in which the taliban had virtually no obligations and the americans made a commitment to withdraw, the signers of that deal definitely bear the responsibility for the terrorism that awaits the afghan people as the taliban march on. husain haqqani speaking to me earlier. turning to the olympics now, and we've now reached day nine of the games. here's the medal table as it stands at the moment. china is on top with 21 gold

medals, followed in second place by the united states and host nation japan in third, with both nations currently on 17 golds. we'll talk about the sport itself in a moment and what we can expect in the coming hours but first, mariko oi is in tokyo for us. thank you, well, the number of new covid—i9 cases here in tokyo surpassed 4000 for the very first time yesterday, which is quite concerning because usually we expect these numbers to be quite low over the weekend because of the number of test that can be carried out. but even more alarming is the proportion of those tests coming back positive, hitting almost 20%, according to the tokyo government. across japan as well, we saw yet another record, way above 12,000. i have to say that is not the top news headline on this newspaper. this is the article about those numbers, while the silver medal won by the team

judo is getting a lot more prominence. meanwhile, all of the sport newspapers are very excited about japan's men's football team getting closer to winning a medal. as we heard, these new infection numbers, we also learned that two athletes from georgia have been stripped of their 0lympic accreditation because they broke the rules and went out sightseeing. they have gone home now. i guess the organising committee have to take a very tough approach because they are aware of the public sentiment being quite negative towards the games. i don't think anyone here blamed those foreign athletes or officials for this surge that we are seeing in the city but at the same time, the very fact that these games are taking place in this city, it's sending the wrong message there is no sense of urgency for people to stay at home, even though the state of emergency has been declared the japanese capital for the past few weeks. aside from the pandemic, another issue has been this intense heat. we heard from novak djokovic of tennis,

complaining about it, so earlier i spoke to professor 0llie jay who has worked earlier i spoke to professor 0lliejay who has worked with various sporting organisations, including the australian open. what is the impact of this heat on elite athletes? so the human body is always striving to maintain am internal body temperature of around about 37 degrees celsius, and we have around about a three celsius buffer away from getting levels of heat stress that can be quite dangerous to the average person. but these athletes are very well prepared for these types of conditions so their conditioning will really help them be quite resilient to these particular conditions. with that said, we might see heat—related reductions in performance — for particularly for long endurance activities — and we also might see instances of heat illness occurring in some athletes. you talked about those athletes training to get used to this kind of heat. what kind of things do they do in preparation? well, most athletes will expose themselves to the conditions that they're going to be playing in in advance

of a particular tournament, so i would imagine that most of the competitors in tokyo, for example, would have sought places to train for at least a couple of weeks in advance of coming to the games in an area that is hot and humid and then that would induce the physiological adaptations that will help them better cope with extreme heat. sojust to give you a quick idea of what those adaptations are, you'd have a lower resting body core temperature so you have a bit more of a buffer before you get to those really dangerous levels of core temperature, there's an increase in the blood volume, so that lowers the amount of strain on the heart for a given exercise intensity, and also it increases the maximum amount that an athlete can sweat as well, so those types of adaptations will really put them in pretty good shape in advance of these particular conditions, which are quite harsh. that was professor 0llie jay from the sydney school of health sciences speaking to me a little earlier. i can tell

you, this heat is really brutal, just standing here, it's really hot, so i can't imagine what kind of conditions those athletes are having to play in. it must be really difficult for them. mariko oi in to 0 difficult for them. mariko oi in tokyo for— difficult for them. mariko oi in tokyo for us _ difficult for them. mariko oi in tokyo for us there. - with me is our reporter, tanya dendrinos. in the last few minutes, another gold for team gb? an another gold for team gb? in incredible run in the bmx freestyle by charlotte worthington. the tricks on display there, they make me busyjust display there, they make me busy just watching those flips rich. i don't know how she manages to pull it off she has claimed gold and for anyone watching i would highly encourage them to check out the highlights of the men's final is about to get under way for the event as well. tanya, it's the final day of action in the pool. it certainly is, we have had some phenomenal swims in the 50 metres freestyle event, was there any doubt in us superstar caleb dressel? i think not. he posted a wonderful swim in the 50 metre freestyle final ——

caeleb. just outside of world record pace, he claimed an olympic record with a time of 0lympic record with a time of 21 - 07 0lympic record with a time of 21 — 07 and also an olympic world record, an olympic record, rather, i'm getting all tongue—tied! in the women's 50 metres, freestyle. emma mckeon, 23.81, making herthe metres, freestyle. emma mckeon, 23.81, making her the most successful australian 0lympian in history. an incredible feat. six medals so far in tokyo, three gold, three bronze and she mayjust add another to the collection in the four x 100 medley relay which is going to take place injust a medley relay which is going to take place in just a few minutes' time. it take place in just a few minutes' time. it really is incredible. _ we've also got that all—important men's 100m sprint. yes, the blue ribbon event of the olympic games. week two, the olympic games. week two, the athletics, what more could you ask for? usain bolt will not be there, the first time since 2004. who will bring the drama and excitement? they are ready and raring to go and we will see who will win in the

semifinals to make it to the final a little bit later on. as far as the contenders, canada's andre de grasse finished third in rio and is hoping to claim the win and meanwhile usa's trayvon bromell, usain bolt has tipped him as the favourite and i think they are big shoes to fill. ., ., . ~ , ., , fill. for now, thank you very much. this is bbc news. the headlines: heavy fighting is taking place in the centre of the strategically important southern afghan city of lashkar gah. at the tokyo olympics, the us swimmer caeleb dressel has won the men's 50 metres freestyle. it's his fourth gold medal of the games. the women's event was won by emma mckeon of australia — her third gold. in the next hour, new zealand's prime ministerjacinda ardern will make a formal apology for police raids which disproportionately targeted pacific communities in the 1970s. the so—called �*dawn raids�* were carried out to find, convict and deport people

from the pacific islands suspected of overstaying their visas, but never those from the uk or the us. dr karanina sumeo is the equal employment 0pportunities commissioner for the new zealand human rights commission, and herself a samoan—new zealander. she joins us now from auckland town hall, where this apology event is taking place shortly. thank you very much for making the time for us. ring us up to speed, what with these dawn raids back in the 1970s? —— bring. raids back in the 1970s? -- brina. . ~' raids back in the 1970s? -- brina. . ~ ., . bring. thank you for having me on. they essentially _ bring. thank you for having me on. they essentially involved i on. they essentially involved police doorknocking on families unannounced, on the doors unannounced, on the doors unannounced, often at night, often accompanied by dogs, searching for people that they are assuming to be over stayers and it happened all around the country, my family also received those door knocks. it was terrifying for our people and it had a severe impact on

people's confidence, on the dignity and basic human rights were violated by the state. todayis were violated by the state. today is a very important day. it is one step forward into doing things right and starting again. doing things right and starting aaain. ., doing things right and starting aiain. ., ., doing things right and starting aaain. ., ., ,. again. you say today is an important _ again. you say today is an important day. _ again. you say today is an important day. how- again. you say today is an - important day. how significant is this apology from jacinda ardern? ~ ,,., , , .. ardern? absolutely significant. as i said from _ ardern? absolutely significant. as i said from human - ardern? absolutely significant. as i said from human rights - as i said from human rights perspective, the state violated fundamental human of pacific people. pacific people came to contribute to the economy, they were invited to come here, just as today we are inviting people from overseas to come to new zealand to contribute and build our economy. they were treated without dignity and frankly, they weren't treated in the way that we would treated in a humane way so the restoration of dignity is really important, you know. a huge number of pacific children are now mixed ethnicity, this is their home,

but we have to make right what mistakes of the past. for them to be able to hold their head high and know that they belong here, this is really, really important. here, this is really, really important-— here, this is really, really imortant. ,, . important. this is important but it's also _ important. this is important but it's also just _ important. this is important but it's also just one - important. this is important| but it's also just one apology for just one but it's also just one apology forjust one event. doesn't go far enough? i think what the community is hoping today is beyond words, it is easy to say sorry. �*i of it is easy to say sorry. 1 of the things _ it is easy to say sorry. 1 of the things i _ it is easy to say sorry. 1 of the things i have - it is easy to say sorry. 1 of the things i have had - it is easy to say sorry. i rrf the things i have had the community it is easy to say sorry. i rrf the things i have had the community call it is easy to say sorry. i rrf the things i have had the community call out it is easy to say sorry. i rrf the things i have had the community call out for it is easy to say sorry. i rrf the things i have had the community call out for is it is easy to say sorry. i rrf the things i have had the community call out for is an amnesty for pacific people who are over stayers, they are working here, they have contributed here, and they would like the government to consider providing an amnesty. i think, equal employment opportunities and human rights commissioner, i would like to look the government to look beyond the pacific communities, i look at other migrant communities, people who have contributed to our economy, we have a huge need for their skills, let us do right by them also, i'd invest in them and do right by them. dr

also, i'd invest in them and do right by them-— right by them. dr karanina sumeo. — right by them. dr karanina sumeo, thank _ right by them. dr karanina sumeo, thank you - right by them. dr karanina sumeo, thank you for - right by them. dr karanina. sumeo, thank you for being right by them. dr karanina - sumeo, thank you for being with us i appreciate it. let's get some of the day's other news. clothing factories in bangladesh are due to re—open on sunday following a government decision to allow export factories to operate despite a surge in the pandemic. the country is under a strict lockdown until thursday — but the new order has sparked fears of another wave of the virus. bangladesh has so far reported 1.2 million cases with more than 20,000 deaths. here in the uk, the equality and human rights commission has warned employers that rules requiring workers to be fully vaccinated must not be disproportionate or discriminatory. in the us, walt disney has become the latest company, after facebook and google, to tell employees they'll have to have been vaccinated before returning to work. some businesses in the uk are following suit. millions of americans who rent their homes face possible eviction because a federal moratorium banning the practice ends today.

the us house of representatives failed to renew the eviction ban on friday. it was introduced last year to prevent homelessness increasing during the pandemic, as huge job losses left people unable to pay their rent. the census bureau says that many millions of renters are behind with payments, and about half fear eviction in the coming weeks. rachel seigel is economics reporter for the washington post. there are so many people who have not been able to catch up on the rental payments at this point in the economic recovery, and what they are fearing is that starting on monday, that the moratorium itself ends today, but practically speaking on monday there are so many people who are fearing eviction notices that will basically force them from their homes. this is a protection that had been in place since last year, but there are many people who are saying that given the continued amount of need, the lack of rental assistance that has been able to reach tenants and landlords

as well as rising delta variant cases, the agency is still so severe, even as the eviction moratorium was allowed to expire today. it was only on thursday that the white house essentially said they were not going to press for further eviction moratoriums on their own, and really kicked the can to congress which was totally unprepared to pass a new bill before this weekend, so what we have been really struggling with and what renters and landlords have been struggling with, is this is not news, this has been going on since the beginning of the pandemic, and yet when the deadline actually arrived there was no plan to basically meet people in need. there are landlords, especially small landlords who have not been able to collect rent, who rely on rent for their own income, and are supposed to be made whole by the billion dollars that congress approved, but it's unclear what will happen starting monday in the weeks and months that followed. there has been focused on trying to do work that slow tracks eviction cases, trying to intervene so the process of being somewhat evicted in court is slowed down, but i think

it is an enormously open question about what follows from here. us military forces have boarded an israeli—operated oil tanker after two crew members — a british national and a romanian citizen — were killed in a reported drone strike. the us navy said experts boarded the tanker to "ensure there is no additional danger to the crew" — and say they're prepared to support an investigation into the attack. israel has accused iran of being behind the attack, which occured off 0man�*s coast in the arabian sea on thursday. iran has not yet responded to the allegations, but it's being considered a serious escalation in tensions in the region. 0ur correspondent in jerusalem, tom bateman, gave us this analysis. the foreign minister yair lapid, who has quite firmly put this at the feet of the iranians and said that he had spoken to the uk foreign secretary, dominic raab, about this because one of the two people

killed on board was a british security guard on the ship. the other was a senior member of the crew, a romanian national. now, mr lapid said that he expected the need for what he described as a "severe response" following that attack. that was in a phone call to that uk official, to mr raab on friday night, and in terms of the details we have now about this attack, as you say, us navy fifth fleet explosive experts have been on board and the maritime security industry is saying that they understand this to be a drone attack by a so—called attack drone. now, these are explosive—laden drones that are flown by remote control into objects, and it's believed this was flown directly into the bridge of this ship and that's when the fatalities occurred. so, there is an investigation going on. the ship is continuing north past muscat at the moment under its own power,

officials say, but it is under us naval escort, but what this does is to really ramp up tensions into what is often seen as a shadow war between the iranians and the israelis across parts of the middle east. but this, in terms of what happens at sea, as far as those confrontations are concerned, marks a serious escalation. heavenly uk the prime minister �*s wife is a she's pregnant. would be the couples 2nd child together, she also announced she had a miscarriage at the start of the year. she said i feel incredibly left to be rendered again, but i always feel like a bag of no.- feel like a bag of no. cover johnson — feel like a bag of no. cover johnson is _ feel like a bag of no. cover johnson is posted - feel like a bag of no. cover johnson is posted on - feel like a bag of no. cover- johnson is posted on instagram that she is expecting around christmas, herand that she is expecting around christmas, her and boris johnson were married in may and that fairly small and secret ceremony in westminster

cathedral. now they are expecting their 2nd child in a downing street around christmas time. it is pretty rare for prime minister to have children in office, i think that has only been 4 in the last hundred and 50 years or so, so it is quite a rare thing. end this post that carriejohnson has post that carrie johnson has put onto her instagram post that carriejohnson has put onto her instagram page, she has also revealed that she had a miscarriage at the start of this year. i want to read you a particular point. which has put up, saying ifeel incredibly blessed to be pregnant again, but they also felt like a bag of nerves, fertility issues can be very hard for people, particularly when platforms like instagram you can look like everything is only ever going well. to say i found it a real comfort to hear from people who have also experienced loss, and in some very small way, assuming this

might help others also. happy news for the prime minister and his wife, but also some sadness in that post as well. missus johnson is saying that she hopes that by showing their own exclusive help other. the uk telecommunications industry hopes a satellite that has gone into orbit will help maintain its global leadership in the sector. a quarter of the world's big telecoms spacecraft are manufactured in britain, and a new platform — called quantum — is billed as the market's next—generation product. quantum was launched on a rocket from french guiana. here's our science correspondentjonathan amos. another rocket climbs skyward to bolster a sector that europe, and the uk in particular, has come to dominate — the business of telecommunications satellites. there are hundreds of these spacecraft overhead, bouncing tv, phone calls, broadband and other data services around the planet. but the new satellite going into orbit, called quantum, represents a big step forward in technology.

while traditional telecom spacecraft are configured before launch to do very specific tasks, quantum has been built for flexibility. it is the sector's first fully reprogrammable spacecraft. it's able to rapidly change the coverage, bandwidth, powerand frequency of its signals. one of its uses will be for disaster response, providing emergency communications to the teams that are sent in to help people in places hit by catastrophic floods or earthquakes. quantum's manufacturers in the uk, that's airbus and surrey satellite technology ltd, will incorporate the prototype's technology into their future spacecraft, hoping to maintain their world—leading status in what has become a highly competitive field. jonathan amos, bbc news.

added that is all from us for the time being, you can get more from us on the bbc news website. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ rich preston. hello. between the showers on saturday, we reached 23 celsius in suffolk. we had nine hours of sunshine in parts of cornwall. that is often the case when we have sunny spells and showers. the north york moors saw about 17 mm of rain from the showers during saturday as well and they haven't altogether died out through the night because we've got the complication of a weather front. what it is is cooler in the north. temperatures into a single figures in rural parts of scotland and northern ireland. that's because we're behind this cold weather front. as i say, that's complicating our sunny spells and scattered showers scenario because we've actually got rather more cloud to start across parts of northern england, showers following on that brisk wind into the north and east of scotland but fewer showers further west across scotland, very few showers for northern ireland generally speaking and further west, but they will break out both on our weather front

and further south. it looks like the most potent showers during the day on sunday are likely across southern and eastern parts of the uk, slow—moving with hail and thunder and lightning. once again torrential downpours, we need to keep an eye on those. and temperatures generally will be a degree or so down on those of saturday because of that northerly breeze although a fairly light breeze in southern areas, as i say. and those showers will rumble on and through this evening and for a start tonight, but then they do fade away. we lose that weather front away from southern and eastern areas and it'll be a fresher night for all, i think. we'll notice that difference by the time we get to monday morning. but some brightness and sunshine and a relatively quiet start to the week. 0ur weather front�*s not too far away in the south, so that's going to provide the focal point again for a few showers and perhaps developing over the cumbrian mountains and up into snowdonia in wales, one or two not far away from northern ireland, and western scotland should be fine and dry but still cool in the north and east with that gentle northerly drift which gets cut off by our slight ridge of high pressure for a time late

monday into tuesday. but then, we're looking at the atlantic influence coming in from midweek on which is going to be difficult to pinpoint the detail at this stage. so, don't take this as read but it does look more unsettled again as we go through the midweek and beyond period. that, as you can see, illustrated here on our weather charts with more showers and longer spells of rain appearing, and even some showers to start the week as i say in southern areas and across wales in particular. so, yes, fewer showers, a little bit quieter to start the week, still quite cool and it stays cool with more wind and rain later.

this is bbc news, the headlines: fighting is raging around three major cities in afghanistan as the taliban try to seize them from government forces. militants have made rapid gains since it was announced almost all foreign troops would leave by september. thousands of people have been fleeing their homes to escape the violence. the un food agency says several trucks carrying emergency aid to tigray in northern ethiopia have reached the regional capital mek�*ele. they were part of a convoy that got stuck for several weeks. around five million people in the region rely on emergency assistance, with 400,000 living in famine conditions. on day eight of the tokyo 0lympics it was a clean sweep forjamaica in the women's 100 metres final, with elaine thompson—herah taking the title. it's her second successive olympic gold in the event. and belinda bencic became the first swiss woman to win an olympic tennis gold medal.