welcome to bbc news, i'm ben boulos. our top stories: the un issues a stark warning about the safety of thousands of civilians, in the afghan city of lashkar gar, as fierce fighting continues between the taliban and government forces. we see that access to care and healthcare is extremely difficult, and we really need to see the international humanitarian law being upholding in those circumstances. the sprinter from belarus, who refused to return home from the olympics, fearing for her own safety, has arrived in poland. the mexican government sues 15 large us gun firms, accusing them of failing to stop the illegal flow of weapons across the border.

protests across delhi, over the alleged gang rape, murder, and subsequent cremation of a nine—year—old girl from a dalit family, amid claims her case was ignored by the the legal system. and, millions more at risk of flooding, the new resarch which says the percentage of the population at risk from globalflooding has risen by almost a quarter since the start of the century. and day 13 at the olympics with medals up for grabs in men's hockey and women's football. the un says it's deeply concerned about the safety of tens of thousands of civilians in the afghan city of lashkar gah, the capital of helmand province. taliban militants and government forces are waging an intense battle for

control of the city. a un spokesman said there were reports of increased civilian casualties, and of homes and hospitals being destroyed. afghan and us airstrikes on taliban positions continued throughout wednesday. mark lobel reports. several provincial capitals under taliban attack — at least two reportedly breached, and security is forcing many afghan residents from their homes. we see a lot of schools are being destroyed, a lot of water plants, hospitals which are essential. we see that access to care and healthcare is extremely difficult. displaced in kandahar, these families were separated from loved ones in the chaos. kabul came under attack on tuesday night, first a car bomb targeting the defence minister, then deadly attackers roamed the streets. but these protesters say the taliban aren't welcome in the capital.

our message was more to our troops, to stand in solidarity with our soldiers who are fighting the war, not just for afghanistan but for the entire world, against terrorism. in step with the protesters, the afghan president branded the taliban "hypocrites" for attacking what he called "real muslims." he pledged to rapidly expand the number of afghan special forces fighting them. translation: there is no better opportunity to end the 43-year. war and bloodshed as foreigners have left the country. after all, it is only the efforts and swords of the afghans that keep this country together! despite the army's efforts, the taliban has already taken swathes of the country in the past few weeks.

the question is how easily they may be able to capture urban areas. there is a much wider middle—class established, the cities are much bigger and stronger within the political economy of the country, and women have really come into their own, but how much of these kinds of social and economic bulwarks will stop a kind of afghan — i mean taliban islamist takeover — and a reversion to the kind of maoist policies that they adopted last time round is hard to tell. this is a bad time. it will take more than people power to keep the taliban off the main streets, with many weeks of the country's seasonal fighting season yet to come. mark lobel, bbc news. the sprinter from belarus, krystina tsimanouskaya, who refused orders to fly home from the olympics early because she feared for her

safety has arrived in poland. she landed there on wednesday after being granted a humanitarian visa by the polish government. earlier the most prominent opposition leader left in belarus, maria kolesnikova, made a defiant appearance as she stood trial for trying to overthrow president lukashenko. from minsk, sarah rainsford reports. krystina tsimanouskaya left japan with her olympic dreams shattered, but her route to safety secured. the belarusian athlete says she just wants to run. her life was sports, not politics until a row with her coaches left her too scared to go home. but here inside belarus, state television has slammed her claims as cheap hype. "the only thing timanovskaya won in tokyo," this presenter says, "is a polish visa." on the streets of minsk, though, we did find sympathy for the sprinter who's fled because there is zero tolerance

of dissent here now. "we're all afraid," dmitri says. "me, too, sometimes, because the situation is unstable. " the danger is real. we pass the prison where opposition activists have been locked up since mass protests last year. but somehow maria kolesnikova is still smiling. the protest leader appeared in court today charged with plotting to seize power. she and a fellow activist are facing 12 years behind bars. maria's father brought her flowers. alexander hasn't been allowed to see his daughter for ten months, an extra punishment. and the woman who wanted to change belarus did this dance of defiance. for her dad, it was a chance to smile.

"it just shows how free she still is inside," he told me, "despite everything." sarah rainsford, bbc news, minsk. the mexican government is suing major us gun companies, accusing them of failing to stop the illegal flow of weapons across the border. thousands of murders in mexico have been linked to the trafficking of arms. mexican foreign minister, marcelo ebrard, says his country is seeking billions of dollars in compensation. what is the goal of this lawsuit? what what is the goal of this lawsuit? what is what is the goal of this lawsuit? what is mexico what is the goal of this lawsuit? what is mexico tryin- lawsuit? what is mexico trying to achieve? first, the defendant companies compensate the mexican government for the damages caused by the negligent practices. well earlier i spoke to the loan grillo, a journalist and author covering the violence in mexico and asked whether this law suit was anything more than symbolic.

i think it is, i think it's significant for two reasons. one is that — i mean, if you see a lot of changes in us industries over the years, a lot of it has — you know, like the tobacco industry, the pharmaceutical industry with opioids being described — a lot of the big chains have come from lawsuits. and this lawsuit by the mexican government coincides with other suits in the united states for things like the massacre at sandy hook and sueing the gun companies over that. so it could have an impact there. the second thing is that it really gets into the media and puts pressure on the us government to take this issue seriously of guns being trafficked through the united states to mexico, which is mind—boggling in the scale. i mean, we're talking about over the last decades estimates of more than 2 million firearms being trafficked from united states to one of the most violent conflicts in the world. even if this lawsuit is successful against the gun companies in the us, won't those who are doing the smuggling just find another way around it? shouldn't the focus be

on targeting the flow of arms and stopping that? well, if you see the way guns are trafficked in the united states, you see the biggest firearms retail market in the world by far. i mean, the us has more guns in civilian hands than the next 25 countries combined. from there, it moves onto a parallel blackmarket of guns flowing to gangsters and criminals inside the united states, to mexico and to more than 100 other countries. and it's very hard to actually stop the guns at the border because of the amount of commerce over the border. i mean, over half a trillion dollars of legal commerce between the united states and mexico every year — absolutely huge amount of people, so it's very hard to stop that. and it could be more effective trying to stop actually how guns are going to the cartels. and right now, basic law enforcement is not done. i mean, you have people doing things like buying 85 firearms in a single purchase —

they are going for gangsters. i mean, trucks with 175 firearms moving through the united states. so some quite extraordinary things happening in the way that these guns are being sold to the cartels inside the united states. and if the us doesn't toughen its laws on this front, what do you see the scenario coming from this, being for mexico? well, it's a continuation of what mexico has been living for the past 15 years, what i've been covering, which is basically like a low intensity armed conflict. i mean, quite extraordinary violence, 35,000 murders a year. you've cartels moving like major paramilitary groups, mass graves with more than 250 bodies, gunfights with 700 gummen against 250 soldiers. so've you've got this, basically, really high level of violence, alongside a society of people trying to make it and many people living a normal lives. i think we will see a continuation of this disruption unless there is real effort on both sides of the border to try and change

this circle of destruction. ioan grillo there. there's been a fourth day of protests in delhi, over the alleged gang rape, murder, and forced cremation of a nine—year—old girl. another factor is angering the protestors, the fact the girl was from a dalit family, a low status caste in india, which some claim is often ignored by the legal system. danjohnson sent this report. "we feel shame," they are chanting. there are hundreds of people protesting, calling forjustice for this family and protection for dalits across india. it's four days since the nine—year—old went missing after going to get water from a crematorium. we can't identify her family but her father told us when the hindu priest was confronted, he confessed to killing the girl. this neighbour explained what happened on sunday. translation: parents came here crying. -

after they told us their daughter had died, we asked what happened. they said the priest told him she was electrocuted. then we asked him, "did you take her to the hospital or the police?" they said, "no, the priest burned the body." "hang the culprits," this sign says. police are questioning the priest and three workers on suspicion of rape, child abuse and murder. it's a complicated, sensitive investigation and they've been accused of not taking it seriously to start with. the family belongs to the lowest group in india's follow other violent attacks and decades of aggression. the message is dalit lives matter. opposition congress party leader rahul gandhi has been to see the family and he described the girl as the daughter of the nation. delhi's chief minister has also paid a visit and promised swift justice, saying the death

penalty would be in order if the allegations are proven. this case has touched a nerve right across the country and the protests look likely to grow. danjohnson, bbc news, delhi. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: day 13 of the tokyo olympics, 27 gold medals are up for grabs including in mens hockey and womens football. the question was whether we wanted to save our people — and japanese as well — and win the war or whether we wanted to take a chance on being able to win the war by killing all our young men. the invasion began at two o'clock this morning. mr bush, like most other people, was clearly- caught by surprise. we call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all iraqi forces. 100 years old and still full

of vigour, vitality and enjoyment of life — no other king or queen in british history has lived so long, and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she has achieved this landmark anniversary. this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the anglican community. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the un has issued a stark warning about the safety of thousands of civilians, in the afghan city of lashkar gar — as fierce fighting continues between the taliban and government forces. the sprinterfrom belarus — who refused to return home from the olympics, fearing for her own safety —

has arrived in poland. a new study published in the world's leading science journal, nature, reveals the percentage of the global population at risk from flooding has risen by almost a quarter since the year 2000. colin doyle is the director of innovation at cloud to street a company which uses satellites and ai to track floods anywhere on earth — he is one of the study co—authors and joins me live from new york. what's behind this increase. is it that ovulation is a more concentrated in areas prone to flooding? concentrated in areas prone to floodin: ? ,., ., concentrated in areas prone to floodin: ? _, ., , ., concentrated in areas prone to floodinu? , ., ~ , flooding? good question. a bit of both. mostly _ flooding? good question. a bit of both. mostly we _ flooding? good question. a bit of both. mostly we were - flooding? good question. a bit. of both. mostly we were looking at that second point where places we know that it's bloodied frequently are and in many places, flooded quite frequently where we are seeing

large increases in population just in the last 15, 20 years. if this is what we've seen since 2000, is it a trajectory that, according to the modelling you've done, will continue, and more people will become at risk of suffering the effects of flooding? if we continue on current trends, and we use some projections for population and development going up to 2030, in accordance with this, it's going to in crease significantly if we don't start moving and developing in places outside of the risk zones, and again, these are places where we've observed lighting happening with satellites. colin, we have viewers watching all around the world here on this programme and ijust wonder whether and i just wonder whether particular and ijust wonder whether particular regions you've identified that are seeing an increase in the risk or they are seeing these kind of events happening more severely

recurrently. a lot of places around the world, and 90%, occurred in south southeast asia, and there is a lot of significant population increases. and what about deprived communities, communities that are less of? often what happens is, marginalise people help up —— end up in marginalise land. it's cheaper, there is no else for them to go, and what often happens is that people with these two sources and up getting a lot of the effects and loss from it. often it is concentrated in places where there is a lot of developed at that assets which is happening

around the world. the that assets which is happening around the world.— around the world. the report highlights — around the world. the report highlights the _ around the world. the report highlights the problem. - around the world. the report highlights the problem. a i highlights the problem. a governments do to try and create a solution.- governments do to try and create a solution. better flood ma -s create a solution. better flood maps and _ create a solution. better flood maps and district _ create a solution. better flood maps and district in, - create a solution. better flood maps and district in, and - create a solution. better flood maps and district in, and as i l maps and district in, and as i mentioned as well, the vulnerability aspect, providing sponsored managed retreats, or housing in places where these people that would otherwise end “p people that would otherwise end up in these places to go. thank you very much for that. commodore speaking to us from new york. day 13 of the tokyo olympics is getting under way. in the first medal of the day florian wellbrock of germany powered to gold in the men's 10km marathon swimming competition. wellbrock maintained the lead throughout the race, with competetors facing incredibly warm waters of 29 degrees celcius, the gold is germany's 9th at the 2020 olympiad.

i'm not sure i would quite fancy swimming in 29 degrees heated waters down below us in tokyo bay, where that marathon swim took place. that gold for florian wellbrock, such a dominant comfortable performance for him, he is the world champion and also added that open water marathon gold medal to his bronze in the 1500m in the pool but the temperatures and the heat are becoming a big talking point. we know there are issues as well at the women's golf potentially. they may have to shorten that. like the womens' football to be moved because it's about 35 degrees here, temperatures very high in the water this morning, and about 85% humidity, so that is something the athletes will have to be battling with over the next couple of days. however, there are still going to be 27 medals upfor grabs, gold medals

today, let's take a quick look at what else date 13 has in store for us, canada's damien warner will be on the track to see if he can maintain his lead in the men's decathlon. they will have some event in the morning, and evening, five in total today. the women's heptathlon is also going to be ongoing, and anouk fetter of the netherlands is the overnight leader is from the evidence. caterina thompson johnson who was the world champion had to pull out late last night after she got injured in the 200m. elsewhere, the hockey final for men will be played between australia and belgium. australia in the final, for the first time since they last one it in 200a. so they will be going to gold later.

because it is native to the japanese ryuku islands. so it is that this edition of these olympics and that will begin later. also skateboarding ongoing right now as well. we had the women's final yesterday and in a couple of hours time, the men's final in the park event. and one of the big talking points aside from the heat in these games has been how athletes have been very vocal and honest and upfront in their post race interviews, post—event interviews, about how they are dealing with the pressures of these games, different because a lot of them have spent the last 1.5 years in lockdown, trying to train in different ways, and they've been very honest about the struggles they have dealt in the lead—up to this. a little earlier i caught up with the australian olympic swimming legend ian thorpe who won five gold medals medals at the olympics, and he spoke to me about seeing a lot of athletes opening up about those emotions and their mental wellbeing. i think what it is, and what the powerful message that does come from some

of these very high—profile athletes around the world that have actually struggled with different mental illness or mental challenges — that they have faced in their careers — and how they overcome them. and i guess it removes that false set of perception — orfalse perception — that they're all athletes that are superheroes and they don't have vulnerability and they seem invincible but we all have our weaknesses as well, and for people to know that this can affect anyone in our communities, and that's why we need to get it right in the sport but in the broader community as well. the reaction to most people speaking out has been overwhelmingly supportive across social media, with people acknowledging it and supporting these athletes. do something has changed in terms of people realising this? i think we're starting to realise what level

of expectation we place on our athletes to perform well, and it varies from country to country, but there is an expectation of gold, and the question must be — at what cost? not only physically but now we're acknowledging it mentally as well. i look at naomi osaka, for example, or simone biles, who felt they had the weight of the nation stop thought originally, naomi osaka, when she refused to do interviews, we thought it was her not being ready for it but now she has shared how significant her struggle has been since the us open and even leading to tokyo, and the olympic games, we saw that she actually beat her childhood hero who then had to consult her on the dais because an official was being booed and then gave her the pep talk she needed, all within a few

minutes playing out throughout the world, and that is tough for anyone who is unprepared for it, really making a conscious effort to improve where we are at with what we're doing in mental health services for our athletes. do you think it would be different, i think back of sydney 2000, and you were one of those faces of the games, getting things are different now for people coming in under that intense spotlight? i think what we do now is instead of talking a really good game in sport and mental health and what we do to prepare athletes for it, we do the hard work. each individual athlete is going to have a different requirement and different needs going into an event like the olympic games. not realising the significance of the accomplishment of that particular time, yet others need to be coached through it and have the constant affirmations that they require to be able to deliver that performance when it counts most.

no doubt at least well—being and mental health will be one of the legacy conversations we are having about these games in the future. barack obama ba rack obama has barack obama has scaled back plans for a big birthday party due to rising covid infections nationwide. he had planned a major 60th birthday celebration this weekend faced criticism for throwing a massive bash at the delta variant is searching. the party on martha's vineyard will only include family and close friends. a reminder of our main story this sale, the un has issued a stark warning about the safety of thousands of civilians in the afghan city of civilians in the afghan city of lashkar gah. in couple, ten people have been killed in an attack at the home of the acting defence minister. you can reach me on most of the

team on twitter on social media, i'm on twitter @benmboulos. hello. our temperatures so far this week have topped out in the comfortable low 20s. in greece, a severe extreme heatwave is continuing. there are wildfires. temperatures by day have topped out at 47 degrees, and overnight — this is an overnight temperature on the island of crete — into the mid—30s. now, there is a bit of relief on the way towards the south—east of europe in the coming days as temperatures will come down a bit. ours are about to go down a bit, too. low pressure is coming into the uk. the heavy downpours, there have been a few so far this week, are about to become more widespread again. this is how we start off on thursday morning, already some showers affecting northern ireland and western scotland. it will turn much wetter through northern ireland in the morning, but across the western side of the uk, even though you may start dry, rain will move in through the day. that's going to extend eastwards to those areas

still having some sunny spells even into the first part of the afternoon. now, behind this main band of rain, brightening up in northern ireland, but here some slow—moving thundery downpours bring a risk of flooding and disruption into the afternoon and evening. and temperatures still across eastern parts rising thundery, too, they'll bring a risk of flooding and disruption. and temperatures still across eastern parts rising into the low 20s. all areas, though, seeing freshening winds gusting 30—110 mph. windiest around irish sea coasts, blowing in plenty of showers as we go on through thursday night into friday morning. some longer spells of rain in scotland, and temperatures as friday starts around the mid—teens. well, that low pressure right across us on friday, and there will be further heavy showers around through the central belt, southern scotland, northern ireland, northern

england, north wales, parts of the midlands. this is where there is a risk of some slow—moving, prolonged, even torrential downpours. thundery, too, they'll bring a risk of flooding and disruption. maybe not too many showers running across parts of southern england, but that could well change on saturday. another set of weather fronts coming our way from the south just pepping up the downpours across southernmost parts of the uk. there'll be some heavy and thundery downpours around. it is worth bearing in mind, though, there will also be some sunny spells, not wet all the time. there will be brighter, drier moments in between these downpours. by saturday, many places with temperatures back down into the teens. showery picture continuing on sunday and monday. by tuesday, that low pressure system is out of the way. it will turn drier for a time, though another low moves in later next week.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the un has issued a stark warning about the safety of thousands of civilians, in the afghan city of lashkar gar, as fierce fighting continues between the taliban and government forces. in kabul, eight people have been killed in an attack at the home of the acting defence minister. the sprinter from belarus who defied her country's attempt to send her home from the olympics, because she feared for her safety, has arrived in warsaw. krystsina tsimanouskaya has been given a humanitarian visa by the polish governmment. the mexican government is suing major 15 us gun companies, accusing them of failing to stop the illegal flow of weapons across the border. mexican officials are believed to be seeking in the region of $10 billion in compensation. the companies named in the lawsuit haven't yet responded.