hello, i'm nuala mcgovern. and this is outside source. the head of afghanistan's army has been sacked, as the taliban continue to make rapid gains across the country. the bbc has gained rare access to local taliban commanders and fighters in recently captured areas. how can you justify all this fighting when it is causing the deaths of thousands of ordinary afghans, thousands of ordinary muslims? translation: ~ ., muslims? translation: ., , translation: will, of course, when there is fighting. _ translation: will, of course, when there is fighting, people _ translation: will, of course, when there is fighting, people die. - translation: will, of course, when there is fighting, people die. we - there is fighting, people die. we are doing our best to not harm civilians. fleeing the fighting —

thousands have arrived in afghanistan's capital kabul in the past few days, where they face an uncertain future. people have been coming in from different parts of the country, as more and more provincial capitals, more and more cities are being taken over by the taliban. also in the programme: the latest on the huge wildfires affecting greece and other countries. on the greek island of evia, crews from britain, france and the czech republic have joined efforts to try to stop more fires breaking out. and the bbc uncovers evidence of suspected war crimes carried out in libya by russian mercenaries. we have an exclusive report on their activities. several developments in afghanistan. first, the government is replacing its army chief as the taliban continues their rapid advance. events on the ground are fast—moving. nine provincial capitals are now in the hands of the militants, and efforts are under way to boost morale among those fighting for the afghan government.

this is the afghan president ashraf ghani in mazar—i—sharif city. we will show him in a couple of moments. he met local leaders and former warlords to rally support among pro—government fighters. all working for the government actions. the city is important. it's a major economic centre close to the borders with uzbekistan and tajikistan. and its fall would mark the complete collapse of government control over the north. here's our south asia regional editor, anbarasan ethirajan. that's a major city. if that falls, that will be a significant blow for the afghan government. and usually, the northern part of afghanistan was seen as a traditional anti—taliban region, where they can form an alliance to drive the taliban away, but now the taliban seem to be focusing exactly on that region. and one of the cities they captured

was pul—i—khumri overnight, just about 200 km north of kabul. but ashraf ghani's visit was immediately overshadowed by events in nearby kunduz. these pictures are said to show government soldiers leaving after surrendering to militants. and heavy fighting is now under way in the southern city of kandahar. the taliban's advance is shocking. militants, emboldened by the withdrawal of us troops, have taken more territory in afghanistan in the past two months than at any time since they were ousted from power in 2001. according to an eu official, militants now control 65% of afghanistan. our afghanistan correspondent secunder kermani has been given rare access to newly captured taliban territory and has sent us this report filmed by fred scott. new territory... ..new weapons, all captured in this

unprecedented taliban advance. caught in the middle, afghan families right across the country. how can you justify all this fighting, when it's causing the deaths of thousands of ordinary afghans, thousands of ordinary muslims? you're the ones who started the fighting here, though. shortly after the interview ends, the sound of helicopters. the taliban are still vulnerable to government air strikes. this is balkh, a town with ancient roots — thought to be the birthplace of one of islam's best—known

mystic poets, rumi. now it's under taliban control. we came through here a little earlier this year. back then, it was still under government control. now it's one of around 200 district centres taken by the taliban. schools are open here, though in other taliban areas, girls are reportedly prevented from attending. the market is still busy. women have apparently been allowed to come here without male companions, if they need to. but elsewhere, taliban commanders have reportedly banned them. this man is a local taliban leader. despite what i have been told, he insists they haven't made the burqa compulsory. you said that women have to wear the burqa? that's right, isn't it?

what happens if someone doesn't want to wear it? i heard that members of the taliban here caught one man listening to music and, to punish him, made him walk without any shoes on until he fainted, as punishment. the next day, a young woman was killed close by — allegedly for wearing immodest clothing. the taliban denied involvement. they seem to want to play down their more hardline views internationally but, at times, are in tune with some conservative afghans.

many here praise improved security. accompanied by taliban fighters at all times, it's hard to know what residents really think. having already captured many rural areas and some border crossings, the taliban are now pushing in on afghan cities. half an hour's drive away in mazar—i—sharif, the government are still in control. there's a greater sense of personal freedom here that it's hard to imagine the taliban accepting. on the steps of the government's old courthouse in balkh, the taliban's legal system is in force. thejudge here says he's never ordered serious corporal punishment and that there's a system of appeal courts, but he defends stoning adulterers and cutting the hands of thieves. many people here in afghanistan

and around the world would be horrified. the taliban are capturing new territory on an almost daily basis. they're still facing fierce resistance, but they've vowed to install what they term an islamic government. if that doesn't come through the stalled peace process, they say, it will come through more violence. secunder kermani, bbc news, balkh. as the taliban continues to gain ground, the us presidentjoe biden has been defending the withdrawal of us troops from afghanistan. this was tuesday. we spent over $1 trillion over 20 years. we trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 afghan forces.

and afghan leaders have to come together. we lost thousands... ..lost to death and injury thousands of american personnel. they've got to fight for themselves. the focus is on kabul. unnamed officials have told the washington post that the capital could fall to militants in 90 days. that's been dismissed by the afghan government. a senior adviser to the president told the bbc... "it's about the people," he added. and here's ali latifi, a journalist based in kabul, on his predictions. you know, for days, we've been getting messages from the taliban and their supporters either claiming to have taken an entire city or that they have gotten very close to the city. now, they have gotten close to the city and they have surrounded it, as they have kandahar

and lashkar gah and herat. but what we've seen is that so far, they have been unable to take an entire major city. and kabul is, of course, the most prized possession of them all. it's going to be the most difficult to take out of any city in the country. so, i think that it's still a little premature to say, like, you know, "in 30 days or 90 days, this is going to happen to kabul." and if you look at it, you know, the taliban control most of the provinces around kabul. they control several of the districts within kabul. or have a presence within the province of kabul, but i just feel like it will take a lot of logistical effort and manpower to take over a big city, especially one as big as kabul. the violence has resulted in an acute humanitarian crisis — tens of thousands displaced without access to from kabul, yogita limaye — with cameraman sanjay ganguly — reports. desperation on a scale not seen in decades.

thousands have arrived in kabul... ..in the past few days. people who had homes and jobs, who led dignified lives... ..forced to leave everything behind. angry that they have been left on their own — no government, no humanitarian agencies. she says only the poor go to the battlefield, while politicians watch. we have seen this camp grow by the hour. people have been coming in from different parts

of the country, as more and more provincial capitals, more and more cities are being taken over by the taliban. many of those we have met here have run once, twice, multiple times, and now they have come here to afghanistan's capital, kabul. from here, they say, there's nowhere else to go. to get here, they've survived dangerous journeys, past taliban checkpoints and active front lines. this woman says they moved from one place to another for three days before they got to kabul. she has four children — the youngest is two. many have seen their loved ones being killed. they've had to leave their dead

behind to save their own lives. this man's parents died in the violence. many here have fled from kunduz in north afghanistan, which fell to the taliban on sunday. today in kabul, we bumped into these men, who we'd met four weeks ago in kunduz. then, the city was a refuge for tens of thousands of people who had fled fighting in villages. now, we learned that in recent days, mortar shells landed in these camps.

we don't know what happened to the people we'd met there. most of the north of the country has been taken over by the taliban now. those who have escaped to kabul are staring at uncertainty. fears that the capital, too, could fall within weeks. yogita limaye, bbc news, kabul. according to the un, more than 1,000 civilians have been killed in the past month. shukria barakzai is an afghan politician and women's rights advocate in kabul. these are her concerns. i think right now, things are going to be out of control, and it's all the fear that has been poisoning the minds and the brains of the afghan people because the way we are losing the territory and the way the taliban are controlling and acting brutally, i think that's a very red signal for the entire globe. and the other foreign fighters that

are standing shoulder to shoulder with the taliban in their fighting, this is also not a great message. and taliban wants to bring back in power, and that's after all effort made by the united states in the entire 20 years almost. and the negotiation between the taliban and the us and the doha agreement was to just give the message for peace to people of afghanistan. but unfortunately, as a result and as an outcome of that, we are today facing death penalties and brutal, keeping women again out of schools and jobs and everything. so it's very hard to see how the country now in afghanistan is moving back 20 years ago, when the taliban was ruling. this has not been acceptable for afghans because we were aiming that afghanistan was moving forward with all those lives, treasures and money in afghanistan, and outside of aghanistan was spent for democracy in afghanistan.

so, right now, we feel... we women in afghanistan, we feel we have been betrayed by ourforeign partners badly. in the past couple of hours, the white house press secretary, jen psaki, has addressed concerns afghan forces are ill—equipped to push back the taliban advance. we will continue to provide close air support, making sure that air force functions are operable. we will continue to resupply their forces with food and equipment, pay all their salaries. so, our larger point here is, ultimately, the afghan national security defence forces have the equipment, numbers and training to fight back. they have what they need. what they need to determine is if they have the political will to fight back and if they have the ability to unite as leaders to fight back, and that's really where it stands at this point. and let's hearfrom gary o'donoghue on how this is playing out in the us. well, i think much as you see on any other outlets around the world, there is concern of course about the speed with which the afghan

army appears to be melting away in these provincial capitals, concern about the extent to which all the money and effort that was spent has seemed to come to naught in some ways. but i don't think there's any appetite, certainly among the american public, for any extension of their mission there. and it's quite extraordinary when you think that the afghan army, the afghan security services, has an air force, albeit trained and supported by the us, but has an air force. the taliban don't have an air force. typically, air superiority would give you a significant advantage in a conflict like this, but it doesn't seem to be going in that direction. and we hearfrom central command, which is the part of the us military that oversees that part of the world, that around 95% of the pull—out has already taken place of us military personnel, and there's discussion of course in the media here about whether or not the embassy and staff around the embassy ought to be pulled out even quicker.

let's turn to europe now. initially they have registered the hottest temperature ever on the continent. a reading near syracuse on the island of sicily registered 48.8 celsius earlier, but this needs to be verified. the record is 48 degrees set in athens post up italy is in the middle of a brutal heat wave nicknamed lucifer and is fuelling the wildfires that you see incessantly, where the presenter matt taylor is with me from that is room for some this really is at the moment some of these numbers coming into us, talk us through this —— weather presenter. into us, talk us through this -- weather presenter.— into us, talk us through this -- weather presenter. certainly has been an exceptional— weather presenter. certainly has been an exceptional summer - weather presenter. certainly has been an exceptional summer in l been an exceptional summer in europe, particularly across the mediterranean. last week we saw that heat, and in the past few days it is in north africa where the heat is building. record breaking temperatures enough

—— in algeria. as you mentioned, 48.8 celsius— it has been confirmed by the local weather authority in sicily, but it has to go through this long process no official verification and if it does so, if it is confirmed, it will be to the current standing record across europe for the highest temperature by some margin. and it is notjust done there yet, because once we have seen the heat in italy, that he is good to push westwards, and this weekend, parts of iberia, particulate central and southern spain, could see record—breaking heat, which apertures 47, maybe 48 degrees at. heat, which apertures 47, maybe 48 decrees at. ., �*, heat, which apertures 47, maybe 48 decrees at. . �*, degrees at. that's quite something for matt, degrees at. that's quite something for matt. is — degrees at. that's quite something for matt, is there _ degrees at. that's quite something for matt, is there any _ degrees at. that's quite something for matt, is there any relief - degrees at. that's quite something for matt, is there any relief in - for matt, is there any relief in sight? we have seen those pictures from greece and what people are having to go through. the problem with greece _ having to go through. the problem with greece and _ having to go through. the problem with greece and turkey, _ having to go through. the problem with greece and turkey, with - having to go through. the problem with greece and turkey, with a - having to go through. the problem i with greece and turkey, with a doubt as rain. there is not that any forecast. temperatures there about close to rummel, and italy, they will slowly moderate over the next

couple of days, but there still a long way to go yet through summer, and seeing temperatures this already, it does give great concern of which areas will be hit next. find of which areas will be hit next. and with this, it — of which areas will be hit next. and with this, it is _ of which areas will be hit next. and with this, it is a _ of which areas will be hit next. and with this, it is a patter i feel we have seen over this summer, but is it exceptional? it is have seen over this summer, but is it exceptional?— it exceptional? it is beyond exceptional, _ it exceptional? it is beyond exceptional, to _ it exceptional? it is beyond exceptional, to be - it exceptional? it is beyond exceptional, to be honest. | it exceptional? it is beyond i exceptional, to be honest. we it exceptional? it is beyond - exceptional, to be honest. we are beating records right across the northern hemisphere on a regular basis over the past few months. we saw that extreme heat across north america. there is more heat building in the same areas over the next couple of days as well. all this plays into the warnings that have been issued by climate scientists were sometimes, that heat waves will become more severe, more frequent and last longer as our planet continues to warm.— and last longer as our planet continues to warm. matt, thank you so much. bringing _ continues to warm. matt, thank you so much. bringing us _ continues to warm. matt, thank you so much. bringing us that— continues to warm. matt, thank you so much. bringing us that news - continues to warm. matt, thank you so much. bringing us that news out| so much. bringing us that news out of sicily, as they possibly register the highest temperature on the continent. matt they're also talking about that region, north africa. northern algeria is also battling wildfires which have killed at least 65 people,

many of them soldiers who were sent in to tackle the blazes. the worst—hit area has been the forested mountains of the kabylia region. an intense heatwave and high winds have led to their rapid spread, but officials believe arsonists may be responsible for some of the fires. and let's turn to greece. for nine straight days, thousands of greek firefighters have struggled to contain the raging flames that have destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares of land. the fires have been fanned by the country's most severe heatwave in decades. in the south, fires overnight forced many villages to evacuate. and now crews from britain, france and the czech republic have joined the efforts to try to tackle the flames. our europe correspondent bethany bell reports. chainsaw whirs cutting away anything that can burn. these british firefighters have come to greece to help stop the catastrophic wildfires. as you can see behind us,

just trying to open this road and help with the fallen tree, just to get access to the community and the houses up here. olive groves have gone up in flames. what matters now is to stop new blazes from spreading, so the team is making fire breaks between the burnt areas and the trees which survived. the fire swept through here last night and some of the trees are still smouldering. the team is trying to draw a line in the sand between the green and the black, to prevent any more flare ups. it's hard work and it's punishingly hot. we lend the team our drone to give them an idea of the lay of the land. the extent of the destruction is huge. 27 years in the fire service, i've never seen a scale like this. i've seen flooding on this scale in europe but not... not wild land fires. so it's immense, the land is burned right across. another fire sparks in the undergrowth.

the team's greek liaison officer rushes to put it out. a firefighting helicopter carrying water flies past the house where this couple live. their family has lost 700 olive trees. translation: others | have lost more than us. my main worry is about the environment. the trees that have been burned are more than 50 years old. the situation is volatile. when we drove down this road this morning, there was no smoke. now there's fire. with the wind rising, there are fears this will be a long and difficult night. bethany bell, bbc news, in the peloponnese. huge wildfires are also affecting russia this summer. and although fires aren't unusual at this time of year, it's the severity of the blazes in siberia that are attracting attention.

over the weekend, the us space agency nasa said wildfire smoke is travelling to the north pole, calling it a first in history. you can see the scale of the smoke in this satellite image, taken by nasa on the 6th of august — it shows smoke from hundreds of forest fires covering most of the country. and this is the impact. hundreds of miles away, the city of yekaterinburg is shrouded in a thick blanket of smog. and it's a similar story in other cities across russia — this is irkutsk. and these are the latest images we are now getting. many of the wildfire areas are difficult to access for firefighters and for media. on tuesday, president putin ordered russia's emergency ministry to increase the number of firefighters and equipment tackling the blazes. let's hear from anastasia ammosova, who runs the forest fires project, supporting and providing information for local communities in russia's far—eastern yakutia region.

at this moment, in our republic, we have a really difficult situation with forest fires. and millions of hectares already are burning, but in this year, the fire is really close to population areas. and villages also start to suffer from that. a lot of numbers of houses, tractors, cars — they're all burned down. it's like an apocalypse. and many residents of villages there emigrated right now. and if we talk about the... such a strong smoke outside the window that i can't see the building which stands near. the government tried to do a lot of work here, and emergency service also tried to prepare their equipment, but there aren't really a lot of equipment and people. that's why a lot of

things will happen here. devastating images. thanks for watching outside source. hello there. the weather story for many over recent days has been a bit wishy—washy, and that's the theme as we head into the weekend. that said, there has been some lovely sunshine and some warmth today. take a look at brixham, devon earlier on. but the vast majority saw quite a lot of cloud into the afternoon and some rain, some of it quite heavy pushing its way through scotland and north west england. brightening up, though, into the afternoon for northern ireland. so, you can see across taynuilt in argyll and bute, there's quite a lot of cloud around and at times some heavy, showery rain. that weather front continues to trundle its way south and east, but it will weaken off. so, really as we go through the night, a band of cloud, the odd spot or two of rain, and with some of the clear skies further north and west, temperatures may well dip

into single figures here. it'll be a mild start in the south, but this weather front is going to be a little bit of a nuisance. it's going to meander its way further north as we go through the day. it's this low pressure that's the key story as we go through the course of thursday. it's going to bring some blustery winds on exposed coasts, gusts of 40 mph, and some sharp showers moving their way through northern ireland, western scotland and eventually into north west england. our weather front sits across, let's say, dorset up towards yorkshire. anywhere south and east of that will see the best of the sunshine and potentially the best of the warmth with 24 degrees, 75 fahrenheit. friday, we've still got that low up into the north. it'll build fewer showers as we go through the day, particularly to the north—west of the great glen. so, a better chance of seeing some drier weather through much of eastern scotland and northern ireland. highs further south of 22. that's 72 fahrenheit. that wishy—washy theme is going to continue into the weekend. still got that low slowly drifting off into scandinavia. another weather front potentially will bring some outbreaks of rain, but the position of this rain

is going to be subject to question. so, you'll need to keep abreast of the forecast for saturday. it may welljust be that little bit further north or south. at the moment, current thinking are is it goes through the north of wales into northern england. south of that, it stays dry and sunny. north of that, a few scattered showers and a little bit cooler. as we go into sunday and monday, the weather story may well quieten down, but the wind direction changes to more of a north—westerly. so, it willjust feel a little bit fresher despite the sunshine. take care.

hello, i'm nuala mcgovern. this is outside source. the head of afghanistan's army has been sacked as the taliban continue to make rapid gains across the country. the bbc has gained rare access to local taliban commanders and fighters in recently captured areas. how can you justify all this fighting when it is causing the deaths of thousands of ordinary afghans, thousands of ordinary muslims? translation: well, i of course, when there's fighting, people will die. we're doing our best to not harm civilians. fleeing the fighting — thousands have arrived

in afghanistan's capital kabul in the past few days, where they face an uncertain future. people have been coming in from different parts - of the country as more and more provincial capitals, _ more and more cities are being taken over by the taliban. - also in the programme, the latest on the huge wildfires affecting greece and other countries. on the greek island of evia, crews from britain, france and the czech republic have joined efforts to try to stop more fires breaking out. and the bbc uncovers evidence of suspected war crimes carried out in libya by russian mercenaries. we have an exclusive report on their activities. a new bbc investigation has exposed the scale of russian mercenary involvement in libya. the country has been in turmoil since 2011, when a popular uprising saw colonel gaddafi removed from power after more than four decades. his toppling led to a power vacuum, with no authority in full control. since 2014, control

of the country has been split in two — east and west. the yellow here belongs to the transitional government, and the red is controlled by forces loyal to a rebel general, khalifa haftar. both sides have had international backers, and there are many other factions in the country and even more armed militias. bbc arabic and bbc russia have spent months researching the role of mercenaries from russia's wagner group and have been able exclusively to identify russian fighters supporting one side of the war. the investigation has also uncovered evidence of suspected war crimes committed by these units there. bbc arabic�*s nader ibrahim reports. caught in a civil war for over a decade, libya was already a deadly conflict. but recently, it's become even more complex. we had heard reports of russian

mercenaries fighting against the un—backed government. and now we've got unique evidence of their involvement. the bbc has obtained a tablet that a fighter left behind. it belonged to wagner, a shadowy russian mercenary group. so, i've gone through the tablet. it's amazing the amount of information i've managed to find on it. in front of me here, i've got raw data of what wagner have been doing in libya. clearly, this tablet was not meant to end up in our hands. from what we have seen, we can confirm that wagner has been operating in libya for over two years. we set out to investigate further. this is ain zara, ten kilometres away from the centre of the libyan capital, tripoli. haithim fought these heavily armed russian fighters for nine weeks. translation: they are mercenaries. they only care about making money. this is what they do. it's theirjob. they kill people. they commit crimes for money. they are a criminal organisation.

in international law, mercenaries are already unlawful combatants. but we have found evidence suggesting that wagner may have committed war crimes. i met one man who says he witnessed his family being killed by the mercenaries in september 2019. they were all civilians. our eyewitness didn't want to be identified, but he told us that he caught a glimpse of one of the killers. translation: around 6am, they lined us in this room . and i was the last one on the side. one of them took his weapon. when he started shooting, i fell on my side and pretended to be dead. we can name him as vladimir andonov. he operates in the wagner group

under his code name wercher donboss. here is a picture from his social media account. it simply says, "plan number one, find and kill everyone". andonov�*s service record with wagner highlights the group's involvement in some of the world's biggest conflicts. in syria and ukraine, where he's accused of killing prisoners of war in 2014. wagner mercenaries almost never talk to the media, but two former members agreed to talk to us anonymously. translation: there are no clear rules. i there are no documents regulating relations with the local population. j translation: if a workforce is - needed to dig trenches, for example,

or to do some kind of labour, then the prisoner has a value as a slave. if that's not required, then the result is obvious. no—one wants an extra mouth to feed. the links between wagner and the kremlin reach to the very top. the man who is reported to run the group has been seen with president vladimir putin. there's currently a un ceasefire in libya. one of the conditions was that all mercenaries should leave the country, but our evidence shows that wagner is still in libya, in violation of the un deal. nader ibrahim, bbc news, libya. i'm joined now by samuel ramani from oxford university. he's researching the role of the wagner group in africa. it's a fascinating report and must be no doubt fascinating research you are doing but i suppose some might be wondering why are they there? why are they in libya or other parts of africa as you are researching? i think we do separate from the personal interests of the head of

the wagner group and the interests of the russian state. the head of the group is cruising around the world for international clients risk consulting practices, political interference processes and private security company. so these adventures in libya and sudan and central africa are business ventures for hand that also complement his mining and energy interests. for the russian state, the wagner group carries out tasks at the kremlin posit behest and also consolidates russian influence over vital mining and oil infrastructure, and libya is value for its location as a passageway to both mediterranean and sub—saharan africa. let’s passageway to both mediterranean and sub-saharan africa.— sub-saharan africa. let's take a look at libya — sub-saharan africa. let's take a look at libya for _ sub-saharan africa. let's take a look at libya for a _ sub-saharan africa. let's take a look at libya for a moment. - sub-saharan africa. let's take a look at libya for a moment. we | sub-saharan africa. let's take a - look at libya for a moment. we were kind of going through some of the history they're talking about the power vacuum left by colonel gadhafi and also italy i suppose really used to have a role in kind of being the connection with africa. is it for russia to be more of a global player

if there were in the links between the government and mercenaries which has not been proven? so the government and mercenaries which has not been proven?— has not been proven? so the links within the government _ has not been proven? so the links within the government and - has not been proven? so the links within the government and the . within the government and the mercenaries indeed have not been proven but the wagner group does have relations with the main intelligence directorate in russia as well as the russian minister of defence. and the head of the group and food and have a relationship. so i think the activities are related partially to russian objectives and i think russia is really capitalising on the governance back in because he trip administration and an alley by demonstration have not paid much attention to the crisis in libya over the past five years. and the european union response has been dissonant with france supporting one side and the european consensus largely opposed and supporting aaa. so russia capitalising net vacuum of western involvement to get involved, and they are aiming to seize the five major oil ports and also creating a branch naval base in benghazi and to brooke and hoping to use standing in the mediterranean power albany by

placing libya to disrupt freedom of navigation and also to use migration as a bargaining chip in europe. so it's about strategic and coercive objectives that are in play. in it's about strategic and coercive objectives that are in play. in the re ort, objectives that are in play. in the report. as _ objectives that are in play. in the report. as you — objectives that are in play. in the report. as you may _ objectives that are in play. in the report, as you may have - objectives that are in play. in the report, as you may have heard, i objectives that are in play. in the - report, as you may have heard, there is evidence of war crimes carried out by russian mercenaries. do you see any prosecutions in the future for those crimes?— for those crimes? there certainly are a lot of _ for those crimes? there certainly are a lot of crimes _ for those crimes? there certainly are a lot of crimes can _ for those crimes? there certainly are a lot of crimes can be - are a lot of crimes can be prosecuted for, for as a political of landmines is clearly in violation of landmines is clearly in violation of international convention and there is also an ongoing investigation into the use of chemical weapons by the wagner group as well. in late 2019 in early 2020, there were reports coming from the turkish side that fighters are coming back with burns resembling nerve gas. but the problem is those allegations at least in the chemical weapon side have not made it to the united nations and they do not feel they had a threshold of evidence and with regards to landmines, there is more evidence and the possibility of prosecution but it would have to go

through not the un because russia is a member of the security council and also got to the international criminal court because they have withdrawn from the organisation. the many mounting evidence that the chances of real decisive prosecution is still rather slim.— is still rather slim. interesting stuff. samuel, _ is still rather slim. interesting stuff. samuel, thank - is still rather slim. interesting stuff. samuel, thank you - is still rather slim. interesting stuff. samuel, thank you so . is still rather slim. interesting - stuff. samuel, thank you so much. and for more, there's an in—depth article on this story on our website, as well as a longer documentary available on iplayer if you're in the uk. outside the uk, it's showing on bbc world news on the 21st and 22nd of august. a court in china has found a canadian businessman, michael spavor, guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. this is mr spavor. he was detained in 2018 along with fellow canadian, former diplomat michael kovrig, on charges canada says are a diplomatic response following the arrest of an huawei

executive, meng wanzhou, in 2018. mr spavor has been sentence to 11 years in prison and deportation, though, according to the canadian foreign minister, it is unclear whether mr spavor will be deported before his sentence is complete. in a message relayed through the embassy, mr spavor said... here's the reaction to the sentencing from canada's ambassador to china. we condemn in the strongest possible terms this decision rendered after a legal process that lacks both fairness and transparency. our thoughts are with michael and his family during this difficult time. we've maintained from the beginning that michael spavor and michael kovrig are being detained arbitrarily, and we will continue to call for their immediate release. and we will continue to work

tirelessly to secure their freedom. canada claims that these charges against these two men are trumped up in retaliation for the arrest of this huawei executive in canada. meng wanzhou is the chief financial officer of telecom giant and the daughter of huawei's founder. she was arrested in a vancouver airport in december 2018. the us alleges ms meng misled the bank hsbc over the true nature of huawei's relationship with a company called skycom. this put the bank at risk of violating sanctions against iran. she has been fighting extradition to the us since her arrest, and the hearings are in their final stages. now, there's been a lot of support for the canadians. this photo is of 50 diplomats from 25 countries gathered in solidarity at the canadian embassy in beijing. the german foreign minister expressed his support for mr spavor, saying...

..during his trial. the european union also hit out at the verdict, accusing china of failing to guarantee spavor a "fair trial and due process". and the us secretary of state, antony blinken, said in a statement... canada agrees. robin brant explains. now, canada insists, though, that despite all of this that these charges are trumped up. it believes this is a bit of political theatre. it believes that michael spavor and another canadian man, michael kovrig, are the victims simply of hostage diplomacy. they were detained in the final weeks of december 2018, just after the chinese telecoms executive meng wanzhou was herself detained in canada at the behest of american authorities who want to talk to her about fraud charges.

she is facing extradition there. her proceedings there are due to come to a head very soon. and canada says it is no coincidence that as that moment approaches, michael spavor has learned his fate today and michael kovrig, another canadian citizen incarcerated in this country, is due to learn his fate soon as well. stay with us on outside source. still to come, lionel messi talks about his hopes and dreams after arriving at paris saint—germain. a group of migrating elephants in china is finally heading back home to the animals' natural habitat. china is finally heading back home the bbc�*s azadeh moshiri reports. china is finally heading back home caught on cctv. it's the moment so many have and hoping for. the moment a now famous troupe of travelling elephants became homeward bound.

after months of captivating the world with theirjourney, these elephants from china's yunnan province are back in their natural habitat. a year—and—a—half ago, the asian elephants left a natural reserve almost a year—and—a—half ago, and no—one knows why. but since then, they've travelled an incredible 500 kilometres. like a gang from west side story, they've claimed the streets as their own and the crops as theirs to eat. and despite relaxing in some lavish mud baths, they've still gotten on each other�*s nerves at times. translation: we can grow crops next year if they're eaten, _ but we'll never have the elephants again if they die. but they may not realise how much help they've had along the way. more than 25,000 officers have been tracing the wild asian elephants,

which are an endangered species, with only 300 of them in china. residents were evacuated, drones were deployed to follow their every move. obstructions were placed and bait carefully positioned to make sure they followed the right path. translation: our staff members used excavators to make gentle slopes - on both sides of the river so that they could pass through. the elephants successfully crossed the river after walking back and forth for several hours. all that work paid off. the elephants are safely on their way home, and after all that touring, the band certainly deserve some well—earned rest. azadeh moshiri, bbc news. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is — the taliban's offensive in afghanistan shows no sign of slowing, with nine provincial capitals now in the hands of the militants.

research by the bbc�*s persian service has found that coronavirus has killed over 200,000 people in iran, more than double the officialfigure. the analysis is based on the number who've died beyond what would normally have been expected over the past 19 months. the us government has won the latest round in its challenge against the ruling not to extradite julian assange from the uk. injanuary, a court in london ruled he could not be extradited, but today a judge has ruled the us government can be given more grounds to appeal that decision. here in the uk, teaching unions are warning against any major overhaul of the a—level exam system after a second year of teacher—assessed results showed another rise in the number of students getting the top grades. but with the a—level exposing differences between different parts of england, between private and state schools, there is a debate about how to ensure next year's exams are fairfor all. here's our education editor branwen jeffreys.

at leeds, students were getting their first look around campus, tours for those starting this autumn. leeds isn't offering places in clearing and with lots of students with good grades, they're asking some in business and law to wait a year. we're going to make them an offer to defer to next year, with an incentive of a cash payment of about £10,000 and our fee for their halls of residence in the first year being paid by the university if they choose to make the choice to defer. we're not putting pressure on anybody to make that choice. it's an entirely free choice. leeds is also offering to take extra medical students after other universities were over—full. universities are working to make sure that students land in the right place this year. but the a—level results have thrown up a wider debate

about what will happen when we go back to exams, how grades can be managed to make sure that students from every kind of background have a decent chance. labour says children in the north missed on average an extra week in class last year. in the north east, more families needed help from free school meals. a—level results rose least in this part of england. there are worries about the long—term impact of the pandemic. the lack of access to it, space to work, the impact of covid in terms of their attendance rates throughout the year, which has been horrendous. i think going forward, we very much need a proper education recovery plan. isabella was looking round leeds with herfamily. she's starting here this autumn. her younger sister, francesca, will face gcse exams next summer. it matters to me that like everyone gets the grades that they really-

achieve, and i feel- like with teacher—assessed grades, people have got - the true grades they deserve. how do you feel about doing exams next year? i think, like, the content should be reduced. like, i think the government should consider reducing the content cos we have missed a lot of year 9 and year 10. there will always be that... not cloud, but that label, won't there? that actually those were the children of the pandemic years or whatever. but they shouldn't be viewed any differently. most students do get their first choice, and there's still a chance to find places across the uk in clearing. branwenjeffreys, bbc news, leeds. a british man has been arrested in germany on suspicion of spying for russia. the man, named only as david s, worked at the british embassy in berlin and is accused of passing documents to russian intelligence in exchange for cash. our correspondent gordon corera has this report. a berlin spy case involving british secret and russian spies.

german prosecutors allege that a man who worked here at the british embassy in berlin passed on official documents in exchange for money. he's alleged to have been working for the russian intelligence service. their embassy is located not far away in berlin. the man, who worked as a security guard, was arrested yesterday in potsdam, south—west of berlin, and his apartment and office were searched today. translation: we take extremely seriously the indications _ that the detainee's secret service activity was done on behalf of the russian intelligence service, because spying on a close ally on german soil is absolutely unacceptable, and we stand in full solidarity with our british friends. so, what do we know about the suspect? he's been named simply as david s, his second name withheld under german privacy laws. he's a 57—year—old briton. he was employed locally by the embassy as a contractor, so not as a diplomat.

and it's alleged he was working with the russians since at least november of last year. the arrest came after what i understand was an intelligence—led operation run jointly by german and british authorities, including the security service m15 here and metropolitan police. once they felt they had enough evidence, a germanjudge issued an arrest warrant. cold war berlin was the espionage capital of the world. the glienicke bridge in the city was known as the bridge of spies because of the exchanges that took place here. spying has changed since then — secrets are often stolen remotely over cyberspace — but that does not mean that old—fashioned human spying has gone away. in this latest case, the british contractor has now appeared in a closed court hearing, with more details expected to emerge of the allegations against him in the coming days. gordon corera, bbc news.

lionel messi, perhaps the greatest footballer of this generation, has said he's extremely happy to be a paris saint—germain player and hopes to continue winning titles. the argentine striker signed a two—year deal with psg after his dramatic departure from barcelona at the weekend. our sports correspondent laura scott has this report from paris. their life was in barcelona. now it's in paris. it's a move no—one, including the messi family, saw coming this time a week ago. behind the smiles, how's it been for the man at the centre of one of the biggest football transfers in history? translation: it was hard to sleep. it was hard to rest. these past days, i was anxious about the uncertainty, and the change for the family was complicated until we could get things going and make progress on the agreement with paris. from there, it was about thinking ahead — a new chapter, a new experience that will be really

nice for my family — so now i'm looking forward for it to start. it helps that he's joining an already formidable psg squad, among them his former barcelona team—mate neymar and world cup winner kylian mbappe. manager mauricio pochettino, a fellow argentinian, will know that with the addition of messi, the club has fewer excuses if they don't win the champions league, the prize the club owners and fans so badly crave. there's a lot of people wondering how you can afford to have such an amazing squad and stick within ffp. can you tell us, please? we follow the financial fair play regulation from day one that we started. if you see that we're signing leo, that means that we could have the capacity to sign him. messi has the world's attention on him today. what the fans want to know is when he'll make his first appearance for his new club, and when he does, the focus will be on whether he can translate the success and the trophies he achieved with barcelona to his new home here

at the parc des princes. already, the fans are treating him like a club legend, many rushing to the shop to have his name on their backs. for me, it's the best player in the world. i i always said that when he played for barca, and i watched - every game of him. so, yeah, for me, it's the biggest player in the world. _ translation: it's a crazy moment. it's incredible. it's a childhood dream. he's the best player in the whole world. the best, messi! what a difference a few days and a lucrative new contract makes. enjoying a kickabout with his children on this, his new lawn, messi already looks to be making himself at home. laura scott, bbc news, paris. the warmest of welcomes therefore mr massey in paris. you've been watching outside source and the bbc. thank you very much for your company. stay with us.

hello there. the weather story for many over recent days has been a bit wishy—washy, and that's the theme as we head into the weekend. that said, there has been some lovely sunshine and some warmth today. take a look at brixham, devon earlier on. but the vast majority saw quite a lot of cloud into the afternoon and some rain, some of it quite heavy pushing its way through scotland and north west england. brightening up, though, into the afternoon for northern ireland. so, you can see across taynuilt in argyll and bute, there's quite a lot of cloud around and at times some heavy, showery rain. that weather front continues to trundle its way south and east, but it will weaken off. so, really as we go through the night, a band of cloud, the odd spot or two of rain, and with some of the clear skies further north and west, temperatures may well dip

into single figures here. it'll be a mild start in the south, but this weather front is going to be a little bit of a nuisance. it's going to meander its way further north as we go through the day. it's this low pressure that's the key story as we go through the course of thursday. it's going to bring some blustery winds on exposed coasts, gusts of 40 mph, and some sharp showers moving their way through northern ireland, western scotland and eventually into north west england. our weather front sits across, let's say, dorset up towards yorkshire. anywhere south and east of that will see the best of the sunshine and potentially the best of the warmth with 24 degrees, 75 fahrenheit. friday, we've still got that low up into the north. it'll build fewer showers as we go through the day, particularly to the north—west of the great glen. so, a better chance of seeing some drier weather through much of eastern scotland and northern ireland. highs further south of 22. that's 72 fahrenheit. that wishy—washy theme is going to continue into the weekend. still got that low slowly drifting off into scandinavia. another weather front potentially will bring some outbreaks of rain, but the position of this rain

is going to be subject to question. so, you'll need to keep abreast of the forecast for saturday. it may welljust be that little bit further north or south. at the moment, current thinking are is it goes through the north of wales into northern england. south of that, it stays dry and sunny. north of that, a few scattered showers and a little bit cooler. as we go into sunday and monday, the weather story may well quieten down, but the wind direction changes to more of a north—westerly. so, it willjust feel a little bit fresher despite the sunshine. take care.

this is bbc news, i'm reeta chakrabarti, the headlines: as taliban fighters rapidly advance in afghanistan and a humanitarian crisis unfolds, the bbc has rare access to areas under the group's control. civilians are paying the price — more than a thousand have been killed in recent months and many are fleeing their homes as the militants gain ground. many of those we make here have run once, twice, multiple times and now they have come here to the capital. from here, they say there is nowhere else to go. in other news, calls

for the reform of a levels