welcome to bbc news. i'm ben boulos. our top stories: trapped among blasts and street battles — the fight to drive the taliban from afghan cities sparks fears of a humanitarian crisis. translation: we feel very bad. we can hear the gunfire and just now a bullet hit the truck of a tank. we completely evacuated this area. we have nothing left and we do not know where to go. washington calls on tehran to resume nuclear talks, after iran's newly—inaugurated president, supports diplomatic efforts to end the deadlock. wildfires threaten large parts of greece, as strengthening winds fuel more than 150 blazes. dozens of towns and villages have been evacuated. one of the world's great footballers, lionel messi, is leaving barcelona,

after more than 20 years. and on day m of the olympics, the start of the women's gold medal, football match is put back to avoid tokyo's extreme mid—day heat. there has been fierce fighting in the southern afghan city of lashkar gah. dozens of taliban insurgents are reported to have been killed in a battle for control of the city. afghan forces, backed by us air strikes, are fighting on several fronts. this map shows you some of the key areas of the fighting in kandahar, herat as well as lashkar gah. this is the situation earlier on thursday in herat, with taliban fighters reportedly moving freely in much of the city.

here are the thoughts of some of the residents: translation: the situation is tough. | our houses have all been destroyed. people have all fled. there are eight or nine taliban on the roof of our house. if the security force hit there, everything will be destroyed. then where should we go? translation: we feel very bad. our house is in the in the basin area. right now, the taliban came into the area from another place. we can hear the gunfire, and just now a bullet hit the truck of a tank. we completely evacuated this area. we have nothing left, and we do not know where to go. helmand province was under the control of british forces, after a us led coalition invaded in 2001, in response to the september 11th terror attacks. in march 2012, corporaljake hartley was one of six british servicemen killed in helmand, when a bomb detonated

beneath their armoured vehicle. at the time it was the biggest single loss of life suffered by the british military, in the campaign. in the last weekjake's mother, nathalie, has been watching events unfold in afghanistan, and she's been speaking to our special correspondent, ed thomas. i light my candles and i'd touch that picture. i'd say good morning, good night. i'll talk to him, it's like he's here. holding on. memories of corporal jake hartley. i have jake's old iphone and wallet with money and items and cinema tickets. i've got his best clothes, and i polish his buckle. and i still have his shoes in t�*shoe rack. they're just little comforts. it might seem crazy to some people, but... yeah. it's nearly ten years since jake was killed in afghanistan. losing jake has caused so much pain. so much pain.

he was 20 years old. i've not wanted to be here. i have attempted, i have. it's... it's like i'vejust wanted to go to him. and ijust want the pain and... ..everything to just go away. after two decades of conflict, this is lashkar gar now — with the taliban taking afghanistan to the brink of civil war. gunfire. i don't think we should go back or have any involvement whatsoever. we've done what we can and it's cost a lot of lives — too many. it makes me angry. yeah, it makes me angry. he gave his life for queen and country and for us to be safe. we're all seeing the taliban

pushing across the country, across helmand, where jake was. and how difficult is it to see those images? it's just a waste. it's just... it does feel like a waste. but i think that... ..there's no comeback. there's nothing we can do. corporaljake hartley was one of a57 british military deaths in afghanistan. jake paid the ultimate sacrifice, but so do the families. you know, we have definitely been forgotten about. jake's last letter, the first line states, "hello, family. please don't cry, mum. "i am not here now. "i'm in a better place." if you could say one more thing to him? i love you so much.

and i'd have to finish with... my little nut brownie. nathalie bouzigues, speaking to ed thomas. the us has urged iran to resume nuclear talks after the newly—inaugurated president, ebrahim raisi, indicated he'd support diplomatic efforts to end the deadlock. at his swearing in ceremony in tehran, mr raisi said he'd back any diplomatic plan to end us sanctions, which were imposed over iran's nuclear activities. he said that the effort to force his country to abandon the research had failed. i asked barbara slavin, director of the future of iran initiative and a non resident seniorfellow at the atlantic council what the west can expect from this new leader. not very much, i'm afraid. he will continue, i believe the diplomatic efforts that were started under rouhani. this is a decision by the iranian government

to try to get sanctions lifted but raisi is not interested in improving relations with the west or with the united states. i think he going to be much more focused on solidifying iran's relationship with china, russia and perhaps some of the neighbouring states. we should also remember that he is not in charge of iran's foreign policy. he is taking direction from the supreme leader of the country. indeed, he was hand—picked by the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei so i think we can hope perhaps for a return to negotiations and a resumption to the 2015 nuclear deal but not much else. it is interesting, you point out where the power really lies. i have heard it described as the supreme leader having power without accountability, the president having accountability without power. is that a fair summation of the position he finds himself in? i am not sure about the accountability. no—one is expecting very much from ebrahim raisi.

he has not managerial or executive experience. this is the first office he has been elected to, and indeed, he was selected for it. he had really no opposition. so i think the decision—making really does rest with the supreme leader and with the security forces, with the arabian revolutionary guard corp. what do you think this means for the people of iran? as you say, if he is that inexperienced, not only is he dealing with the talks over the nuclear deal and the sanctions, iran's economy is battered, it is one of the worst hit countries in the region by the pandemic — can he do anything to try and deal with that multitude of problems? getting sanctions relief would certainly help, but that is not the only solution. there is a great deal of corruption and smuggling and ifind it hard to believe, despite his promises, that he is rally going to be able to crack down that he is really going

to be able to crack down because they are very powerful people and institutions which are monopolising iran's hard currency. i think people are fed up, i think they are depressed, and are rather cynical about this new president. let's get some of the day's other news: apple says it will help combat child sexual abuse, by introducing a system to scan for images of exploitation on iphones used in the us. apple said that if a pattern of uploading child abuse material was detected, it would alert law enforcement officials. security researchers warn it could lead to surveillance of millions of people's personal devices. the us government is planning to change emission control regulations for new vehicles to boost fuel efficiency by a fifth. legislation introduced during the trump presidency had eased controls. president biden has also signed an executive order setting a national goal that zero—emission vehicles should make up at least half of all new car and truck sales by the end of the decade.

the uk government has defended changes to the traffic light travel system, as an airline has scheduled extra flights to return british people from mexico. the country has just been moved to the red list, meaning those returning to the uk, will have to quarantine in a designated hotel, at their own expense. the greek prime minister, kyriakos mitsotaki, has said many people face a menacing night, as firefighters try to contain wildfires across the country. he warned that the worst was yet to come with strong westerly winds expected to fan flames on friday. in one of the worst blazes firefighters have spent two days battling to save the historic birthplace of the olympic games. our reporter mark lobel has been monitoring the situation. these fires have spread extensively. we do not have any reports of serious injuries or

loss of life but livelihoods are at stake with hundred and 50 fires at least throughout greece. 6000 hectares of land destroyed in three days. last year 10,000 hectares were destroyed. it really centres on three areas, one around athens, where temperatures at 30 degrees centigrade and the prime minister has said there is a menacing time ahead because fires that were dying out have had a new lease of life breathed into them by westerly winds and they are concerned about that. 100 kilometres east of athens, to the island of evia, the second biggest island next to crete, a monastery was surrounded by fire and because of low visibility it has been difficult to put out fires. an at ancient olympia, that has

really considered firefighters. firefighters fighting for two nights to save that site where the olympic flame is lit every two years before the olympics and there is great concern. in and there is great concern. in terms of the effort to evacuate people, how is that going? the prime minister _ people, how is that going? tue: prime minister went people, how is that going? tte: prime minister went on national tv on thursday to urge people, if they are asked to evacuate, to avoid all travel, he reminded them when there was a cyclone that hit greece into thousand 20, there was compensation if your home or crops were destroyed, 5000 euros per business and house, but people are reluctant to leave evia, in the west they are reluctant to live, because there is a lack of resources stop they want to save their homes. �* , , ., homes. and the premise that reference _ homes. and the premise that reference climate _ homes. and the premise that

reference climate change? i homes. and the premise that| reference climate change? he said reference climate change? he: said climate change is a reality in the country now. of course, climate change increases the risk of hot dry weather and by increasing the temperature and frequency of drought, it can cause more wildfires. some would say he is shifting the blame, local politicians were denouncing him for a lack of resources, but he is insisting the predominant is too great an action is needed on climate change to stop these wildfires of the future. mark labelle there. _ wildfires of the future. mark labelle there. elsewhere, . wildfires of the future. markj labelle there. elsewhere, in california, more than 50 homes have been destroyed. more than 2600 actors were destroyed. —— had is. people were cause to evacuate. california's five largest wildfires in history of all occurred in the three season, but in more than 2.5

million acres and destroy 3700 structures. still to come... how japan's ethnic still to come... howjapan�*s ethnic population has a role in society. 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: there's been fierce fighting in the afghan cities of lashkar gah and herat — as the struggle to drive back the taliban, sparks fears of a humanitarian crisis. washington calls on tehran to resume nuclear talks — after iran's newly—inaugurated president, supports diplomatic efforts to end the deadlock. the footballer lionel messi will leave barcelona after the club announced it was unable to offer him a new contract which satisfied both sides.

barcelona has been stuggling financially, and has to reduce its budget in line with spanish league rules. it means messi, seen by many as the world's best player, canjoin another club for free if they can satisfy his wage demands. there may not be finality here. now, i could be wrong and i have been wrong before but my interpretation is, this is barcelona negotiating. they're not negotiating with lionel messi. they've made it clear they have agreed to have agreed terms with lionel messi. the problem is the rules governing la liga, the spanish competition, trying to prevent clubs from overspending. what it seems to me that barcelona are doing is issuing a warning to spanish football. remember, there is an offer on the table

from a private equity fund who want a 10% stake in la liga. think two or three years ago. think two or three years ago, real madrid, and barcelona. la liga has already lost one, can la liga afford to lose lionel messi as well? from my point of view, i think barcelona can make a pretty convincing case that it is in the interest of barcelona and spanish football as a whole to retain the services of the man who could be the greatest player, some would argue the greatest player in the history of the world, is it time to giv e him the key to the door?

surely it is not time to show him the door. to the olympics, david thomas of poland won the gold medal in the walking. he powered through the walking. he powered through the heat in sapporo, finishing ahead. our correspondent has been looking at the effects of the heat. they were really battling the heat and that early morning race, the 50 kilometres. they started at 5:30am local time in order to try and give the athletes as much respite as they could. and you could see it as they were making their way through the laps they were taking on, lots of water, hydration, they had isis carbs they were wearing on the next, they were wearing on the next, they were wearing on the next, they were changing, but it was they were changing, but it was the polish athlete who went on to win gold. he took control of that race in the second half and was able to power on that

victory. the heat is a big talking point of the moment. the women's football final between canada and hayne has been shifted from early morning here in tokyo to this evening to try and econom accommodate the athletes. one person perhaps a little bit happy that they are no longer the competing joins us now because we can talk to new zealand gold medal winner in the rub rugby sevens ruby tui who joins us on the programme now. you are back in christchurch, you are quarantining. are you finding it all, are you spending your time looking at that gold medal? ~ . v , time looking at that gold medal? ., �*, ,__ medal? what's up. watching the to 0 medal? what's up. watching the tokyo heat _ medal? what's up. watching the tokyo heat is _ medal? what's up. watching the tokyo heat is going _ medal? what's up. watching the tokyo heat is going to _ medal? what's up. watching the tokyo heat is going to be - medal? what's up. watching the tokyo heat is going to be quite l tokyo heat is going to be quite the flashback because it's about two celsius here in christchurch, it's reading breezing, but a gold medal, doesn't matter the temperature, doesn't matter the temperature, does it? �* . , ' doesn't matter the temperature, does it? ., , , ., does it? brilliant stuff. how did ou does it? brilliant stuff. how did you find _ does it? brilliant stuff. how did you find competing - does it? brilliant stuff. how did you find competing in i does it? brilliant stuff. how. did you find competing in the heat? it's a big topic the last

couple of days. to heat? it's a big topic the last couple of days.— heat? it's a big topic the last couple of days. to be honest, especially _ couple of days. to be honest, especially in _ couple of days. to be honest, especially in context, - couple of days. to be honest, especially in context, it's - especially in context, it's quite nice. i've played in snow and freezing conditions and it's so hard to warm up when it's so hard to warm up when it's really hot, this is a suite as, you don't need to muck around too long warming up but i'm watching the walking, hay, and it looks pretty intense, i've never walked that far was so long and that hot, cheers to them.— far was so long and that hot, cheers to them. that was about four hours. _ cheers to them. that was about four hours, slightly _ cheers to them. that was about four hours, slightly different - four hours, slightly different in rugby sevens for you guys but you do have those short sharp bursts you have to deal with. ruby, you won gold. i know that you spoke about winning silver in rio five years ago and using that as a motivation. just tell us how you feel now that you've managed to win the gold medal and you had a little bit of time to reflect on it. t and you had a little bit of time to reflect on it. i feel a bit like it, — time to reflect on it. i feel a bit like it, i'm _ time to reflect on it. i feel a bit like it, i'm talking - time to reflect on it. i feel a bit like it, i'm talking about| bit like it, i'm talking about the gold too much i need to be humble but i love it, i want to keep talking about it. the gold

feels incredible. i can still taste the silver medal, i looked at the silver medal every single day, i took it with me to the olympics to remind me why we have sacrificed all that we have while we're here because it gets hard to know, ten years chasing this golden dream, and now we got it, and i get to sleep with a gold medal every night, it's got its own side of the bed so i am just over the moon, so grateful. president biden has announced that hong kong residents who are currently in the united states will be granted a temporary safe haven. they'll be allowed to stay for eighteen months and find work. in a statement, the american president said china had continued what he called an "assault" on hong kong's autonomy and had undermined its remaining freedoms. he warned that his administration would not "stand idly by" as china "broke its promises. white house press secretary jen psaki explained the motivation behind the decision. in reaction to the steps taken

by the prc to crackdown on human rights and quite frankly to make it a place where hong kong's autonomy and the freedoms of the people of hong are undermined. two weeks ago, japan opened the tokyo olympics with a ceremony which featured two mixed race japanese athletes in very high—profile roles — nba basketball star rui hachi—mura, and tennis champion naomi osaka. in the days since there has been intense debate over whether this could be a watershed moment in the way japan views its growing multi—ethnic population. from tokyo rupert wingfield—hayes reports. it was the crowning moment of the opening ceremony and a big surprise — two of japan's most famous mixed—race athletes given the honour of leading the team and lighting the cauldron. but in the two weeks since, naomi osaka in particular has been targeted with online abuse, with some questioning whether she is really japanese.

it's something ariana miyamoto knows as well. back in 2016, she also caused shock here, becoming the first mixed—race women to be crowned miss universe japan. watching the olympic opening ceremony, ariana says she was pretty sceptical. translation: i don't know why they were chosen. - it seems like it was to get good publicity. japan has a lot of mixed—race celebrities and sports stars. biracial people are often held up as being more beautiful, even more intelligent. but ariana says within that, there is still a hierarchy. translation: half-white people are greatly celebrated _ injapan, but when it comes to half—black people, it's different. when i was working as a model, i was told that a lot of japanese wouldn't want the clothes that i wear since my skin colour is very different. so they wouldn't allow me to model their outfits.

i kind of look at japan as a... baye mcneil is a writer who has lived in japan for 17 years. he says naomi osaka lighting the olympic cauldron will not change the fact that most japanese still think this is a mono—ethnic society. so, first thing japan would need to do is disperse with that rumour, with that fallacy that they're a homogenous country. it's a misconception, and the fact that they haven't been correcting it is feeding this negativity, the response to naomi osaka and rui hachimura and all these people, because most japanese people don't understand this basic fact, that their country is not homogenous. biracial people are not the only ones who face exclusion and discrimination injapan. in the southern okinawan islands, there are nearly 1.5 million ryukyuan people who are not even recognised as an official minority despite having their own culture and language. in the far north, there are the ainu

people, and then injapan�*s big cities, like here, there is the group that perhaps faces the greatest hostility, and those are ethnic koreans. they never mentioned ethnic korean in the opening ceremony, so where we are... where are we, i mean? kiho's korean grandparents were brought here over 80 years ago. he has never known another home. but that fact means little to japan's many right—wing nationalists. mostly, they say, ok, you are utilising japan, so you guys are taking all the resources from japanese people, so you should go home. it doesn't matter, like, which passport you are, for them, the origin is very important. those who yearn for a more inclusive japan look at the opening ceremony and wonder whether it really was a sign this country is changing or a pretence, an attempt to make japan look

more open than it really is. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. this is bbc news, thanks for watching. hello. lots of talk about heavy showers in this forecast, but it is important to point out it won't be raining all the time. there will be some drier, sunnier moments, too, but, yes, some areas on friday will be dealing with heavy, even intense thundery downpours, particularly across northern parts of the uk. whereas further south, there'll still be some heavy showers to contend with, but they'll tend to move through more quickly. more in the way of sunshine, more of the day dry compared with to the north, because to the southern flank of this area of low pressure which has come in, the winds are strongest, so the showers move through more quickly. but if you're close to the centre of this area of low pressure —

that's really across scotland, northern ireland, northern england, north wales, too — the showers just hang around for longer, the rain totals mount and these intense downpours could well cause some flooding and some disruption in some spots. parts of eastern scotland will be dealing with more persistent rain here. again, rain totals mounting with a risk of flooding. still some sunny spells in between the heavy showers, but with the stronger winds across south wales and southern england — these are average speeds, maybe gusting 40—115 mph — the showers will tend to move through more quickly. and there may be some places that avoid them altogether, and more in the way of sunshine to end the day here as well. up to around 22 in east anglia. most places not getting that high. you can see the swirl of winds and the circulation of the showers around this area of low pressure continuing, then, on through friday night and into saturday morning. temperatures holding up into the mid to low teens. nothing really changes on saturday. for the bulk of the uk, there'll be some sunshine around at times, but there'll be heavy, thundery showers. looks like, though, there is a greater chance of picking up some heavy and thundery showers across southern areas compared with friday. and as for temperatures, well, some spots just creeping into the low 20s, though many won't. and then on sunday, well, the area

of low pressure's still here. it looks to be centred close to scotland. this is where there could well be the most prolonged thundery downpours, but you can see they're flaring up elsewhere across the uk. but it may well be towards south wales and southern england that we're back to a picture of fewer showers and more in the way of sunny spells. this area of low pressure looks to finally get out of the way by tuesday to allow us a couple of fine days before another area of low pressure comes in later next week.

this is bbc news, the headlines: there's been fierce fighting in the southern afghan city of lashkar gah, as the fight to drive back the taliban sparks fears of a humanitarian crisis. government forces claim to have pushed back a further taliban offensive on the north—west city of herat. washington has called on tehran to resume nuclear talks, after iran's newly—inaugurated president, ebrahim raisi, declared his support for diplomatic efforts to end the deadlock. efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear accord, ground to a halt following months of discussions in vienna. wildfires are threatening large parts of greece, as strengthening winds fuel more than 150 blazes. so far dozens of towns and villages have been evacuated. the greek prime minister, has said many people are facing what he called a menacing stage.

now on bbc news, living with arina, nina is experiencing