you are watching bbc news. more than 300 people are known to have been killed by the latest devastating earthquake to hit haiti. nearly 2,000 others were injured in the 7.2 magnitude tremor. david willis reports. one of the poorest countries in the world has been dealt another devastating blow. and the people of haiti are once again dealing with the aftermath of a massive earthquake. this one centred on the country's south—western peninsula, a less populated area than the capital port—au—prince, which was

flattened by an earthquake 11 years ago, but stronger and closer to the surface. more than 200,000 people died in the 2010 earthquake and haiti's prime minister ariel henry said numerous lives have been lost in today's disaster. translation: the government decided this morning to declare | a state of emergency for one month following this disaster. we call on the population to show solidarity with each other. let's avoid panic in the face of this earthquake. us scientists are predicting the death toll could run into thousands and president biden has already promised us aid. haiti's chief seismologist predicted the last big earthquake but admits this one took everyone by surprise. translation: for a few years, we have been carrying out - seismic monitoring in each department with monthly reports of earthshaking.

the southern department was less at risk among the ten geographic departments so to me it is a surprise and it shows that earthquakes are totally unpredictable. 0nly last month, haiti was plunged into a political crisis following the murder of its former presidentjovenel moise. riven by poverty and gang violence and now suffering the effects of another massive earthquake, it is also in the path of a tropical storm that is due to hit the region early next week. david willis, bbc news, los angeles. president biden has defended his decision to withdraw troops from afghanistan — saying he couldn'tjustify an endless american presence in the middle of another country's civil conflict. the taliban have continued to seize yet more territory. secunder kermani reports. this is the very centre of kabul. thousands who have fled fighting across the north now live in these miserable

conditions. this family escaped the violence, but say they still don't feel safe. translation: we're thirsty. we're hungry. we have no home. 0ther makeshift camps are even bigger. but this, in the heart of the city, shows how quickly the country is unravelling. we don't want to go back to the era where our sisters and our education sector and the development sector was so shattered, we don't want to go back to that. today, fighting erupted around mazar—e—sharif. it was one of the last major cities still under government control and had been a bastion of anti—taliban resistance. by this evening, security forces were fleeing to the border with uzbekistan as the insurgents took it over.

once in kandahar, their spiritual home, the taliban cemented their position with a flag—hoisting ceremony. finally addressing the nation this morning, president ghani didn't comment on rumours he may resign. instead, simply promising to re—mobilise beleaguered forces. for now, for many people here in kabul, life is continuing more or less as normal but the taliban are getting closer and closer to the city and there is increasing concern that a fierce and protracted battle for control of kabul could be imminent. the speed of the taliban's advance has led to the us and uk together deploying more than 5,500 troops to afghanistan to repatriate their citizens and many of their embassy staff. many afghan cities are now being handed over to the taliban, following local deals with the security forces.

that may be the only way to avoid even more suffering in kabul, too, but would mean an end to life here as residents know it. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. you can get much more on those news stories on the bbc news website. more now on our top story — a short while ago i spoke to monique clesca, a haitian writer and human rights advocate based in port au prince. i asked her what the mood was on the ground. the picture is quiet. however, i think we are devastated by what is going on, particularly in the south and for several reasons. first of all, we are heartbroken by the tragedy, the deaths, a lot of

infrastructure is damaged. but there is also another issue. whatever assistance will come will go to the gang territories, it is almost like the gangs have to give you safe passage, and it is also due to the lack of good governance that we are in this situation. so the massive insecurity will make things much more difficult to bring assistance to the ones who need it most. and i think that is a big issue. you mention these parts are difficult to access, the ones badly affected, but there is also a track record in haiti of issues when it comes to international aid, reputation for international aid coming into haiti. who do the people trust more to help resolve the problems that you have now? it certainly is not the international community.

i think the last few years have shown the international community have backed a dictator, the international community has really not backed the people of haiti and i think that has to change. and i think one of the lessons learned from the earthquake, the assistance that was given from the earthquake in 2010, is that the assistance was done, anybody could come and you do whatever you want it, you provide it whatever you wanted and i think that was bad because it did not build capacity and it did not help the way it should have. the international community left and left us, so i think this time what must be done is the international community must absolutely work through the civil society and it is a must. this is what the population trust. they do not trust the government.

the government has been under siege for about three years. we have had massive protests against the government, the government that has killed, massacred, etc, we do not trust the government. we trust civil society, there is a network of civil protection that also is set up. there are consultation tables where you have political and civil society in the different departments and i think aid can flow through them and could flow through civil society organisations and i think that is what must be done and not the international community telling us this is what you need, this is what you need. we do not want that. we want dignified assistance, we want assistance that follows what we wish and what we need under our terms.

the red cross in lebanon says at least twenty people have been killed and several others injured in a fuel tanker explosion in the akkar region, in the north of the country. the incident happened near the syrian border. a dozen ambulances and emergency services are at the scene. a number of people are missing. it is not yet clear what caused the explosion but lebanon has been suffering from an acute fuel shortage. here in the uk, an investigation is underway into a police decision to return a shotgun and a firearms licence to a man who went on to commit the country's worst mass shooting in a decade. 22—year—old jake davison�*s victims included his mother, a three—year—old girl and her father. davison also injured two other people before turning the gun on himself. jon kay reports. 200 miles from westminster, the home secretary came to plymouth to pay her respects. five people were shot dead by the gunman. the first was his mother, maxine davison. then there was lee martyn and his three—year—old

daughter, sophie. 66—year—old kate shepherd, from cornwall, a talented artist. and stephen washington, who was 59 and killed while walking his dogs. it's tragic beyond words, really, really tragic. priti patel promised to support the community, with specialist help for anyone left traumatised. she wouldn't comment on news that the gunman, jake davison, had his firearms licence returned to him last month, even though he posted hate—filled rants online. home secretary, should davison have had a gun? you say you want to reassure people here, a lot of people have questions about gun control. my brain can't process it, physically can't process that information i was given. chris says his family is reeling. not only was his auntie maxine shot dead, but it was her

son that killed her. chris never met his cousin jake davison and doesn't understand what has gone so catastrophically wrong. it's impossible, you can't plan for this, you can't see the next day or the day after or the day after, you just literally take each day as it comes. but ijust know that, as a family, they will come together, be there for each other and try to understand this horrendous thing that's happened. and also the other four innocent people that had no part in this. i'm sorry to everybody going through this, it must be the worst thing in the world and i can't even imagine to understand. among those grieving are the family of three—year—old sophie martyn and her father lee, apparently shot at random as they walked home together. they were definitely a pair, little one running around and, you know, eating all the ice creams. 0nly last month, sam wright was watching the euros with them at the anchorage pub. you know, hejust absolutely doted on her, she was an amazing little girl and he was a great dad.

she hasn't even started her life, she is so little and it's just, yeah, it's terrible. silence this afternoon at plymouth argyle's match. concerts have been cancelled. 48 hours on, this city has so many questions. as the community grieves, detectives investigate. here at the scene where the shootings began on thursday night and at 12 other locations around this area. and it's notjust members of the public who witnessed these attacks that are being offered counselling — so, too, are members of the police force. jon kay, bbc news, plymouth. so questions remain over why the attacker was given back a gun. here's our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. there are two issues here, first of all why was he able to get a shotgun certificate

in the first place, he was a young man, he didn't really need to have a shotgun at home in the city and particularly after there were concerns about his mental health which there seemed to have been for many years. but then, when his certificate was taken away after an allegation of assault against a teenager in september, the shotgun and the certificate were taken away in december but then returned injuly and in those months, he was posting all kinds of messages and videos on the internet expressing hatred for his mum, expressing an interest in the incel culture, this culture where young men resent not being able to have sex and also, showed a clear obsession with gun culture so now the independent office for police conduct are investigating and ultimately it will be a matter for the inquests. australia's most populous state, new south wales, has awoken to a statewide lockdown, with the premier warning of difficult months ahead. more than a0 people have died

in this current outbreak with tighter restrictions coming into play including increased fines for covid breaches. the state—wide lockdown will be in place for at least a week and is an extension of stay at home measures which have been in place in greater sydney for the past seven weeks. 0ur news reporter, tanya dendrinosjoins me now. in the last couple of hours we have had some good news about vaccines in australia?— vaccines in australia? scott morrison — vaccines in australia? scott morrison the _ vaccines in australia? scott morrison the prime - vaccines in australia? scott| morrison the prime minister announcing i million doses of pfizer vaccine have been secured from poland and they will start arriving in australia at local time this evening, vaccine supply has been an issue in australia, that roll—out is far behind the rest of the developed world, currently around only a quarter of australians have been vaccinated and that is a big part of the reason why they are struggling with current outbreaks. as we have seen in other parts of the world, the delta variant is running rampant and they are struggling

to get on top of it and not burden the health system, currently the case in sydney with this lockdown we are seeing. the good news for them, have of the doses from poland going directly into the hardest—hit outbreak areas. in hardest—hit outbreak areas. in terms of tighter restrictions in new south wales, what are they and what are they hoping to achieve?— they and what are they hoping to achieve? greater sydney has been in lockdown _ to achieve? greater sydney has been in lockdown for _ to achieve? greater sydney has been in lockdown for seven - been in lockdown for seven weeks already, stay measures in place there. this is an extension of that across to the local government areas in the remainder of the state. essentially, not everybody is following the rules, there are still people doing the wrong thing, still too much movement and the virus is there for continuing to spread. they hope by tightening restrictions and increasing penalties, they might be able to get on top of the spread. some of the new measures include restricting in greater sydney the ten kilometre radius down to five kilometres, people only allowed to leave their homes to shop and exercise within that radius. they have also

increased fines, $5,000 for people caught breaching self isolation rules or for lying to a contact tracer. $3000 fine for breaching the two—person outdoor exercise limitation and now regional areas of the state also seen hospitality venues, restaurants and the like being shut down. just recently we heard from the premier in the last hour, she has been talking about the need for people to take responsibility for their actions. and then everybody has actions. and then everybody has a role to play in this. essentially, she says stay—at—home, this is a choice that you need to stay put and get vaccinated.— this is bbc news, the headlines... at least 304 people have died in a powerful earthquake in haiti — the prime minister has issued a month—long state of emergency. the last major city in northern afghanistan — mazar—e—sharif — falls to the taliban, as president biden defends his decision to pull out us troops. let's get more on that story.

michael kugelman is the senior associate for south asia at the wilson center. and hejoins me now. thank you for taking the time to join us. joe biden said he inherited this withdrawal date from his predecessor, could he, should he have made changes to it to delay the us withdrawal? well, ideall he delay the us withdrawal? well, ideally he would _ delay the us withdrawal? well, ideally he would have _ delay the us withdrawal? well, ideally he would have been - delay the us withdrawal? in ideally he would have been able to negotiate some type of peace deal or some type of ceasefire before he had called for the withdrawal. but that was not going to happen. the taliban had insisted for quite some time that all us troops had to leave and then after us troops left, that is when it would be ready to discuss other issues. the other thing to consider here is even if president biden had decided to delay the withdrawal, and there would have been good reason to do that, he would have eventually had to withdraw, this is someone opposed to a long—term military presence in

afghanistan, for a very long time and so if he had kept troops in the country, he essentially would have been prolonging the inevitable. which certainly would have brought some relief to afghanistan and the afghan people but any type of extension, any decision to keep troops in afghanistan, beyond the withdrawal deadline, it would not have lasted very long so he would have been in this very difficult spot, no matter what. ~ , ., very difficult spot, no matter what. ~ , , , ., what. were you surprised at the seed of what. were you surprised at the speed of the _ what. were you surprised at the speed of the taliban _ what. were you surprised at the speed of the taliban advance i speed of the taliban advance over the last couple of weeks? i was surprised, i think everyone was surprised, including the taliban but in retrospect, maybe we should not be. because for many years, the taliban had been laying the ground, making the preparations for these offences we have seen in recent days. they have been gaining footholds, influence, taking over many districts around the country including those close to cities that put them in the position to lodge them in the position to lodge the offences that they have in recent days. the taliban for quite a few years, have been amassing huge amounts of

weaponry, most of it seized from the afghan forces and they had been diversifying sources of financing, wealthy insurgent leaders became richer, the taliban has been strong for quite some time, controlling territory for quite some time and was galvanised by president biden �*s decision to withdraw, that gave them strength, inspiration and it drew on other militants, foreign fighters, who added to this offensive and helped the taliban so certainly it is surprising, the speed with which it happened but it is not sudden, and in retrospect, i guess we should not be surprised, the speed with which it has taken so much territory in so little time really is remarkable for all the wrong reasons. ~ . ~ ., , ., reasons. what can afghanistan 's reasons. what can afghanistan "s neighbours _ reasons. what can afghanistan 's neighbours as _ reasons. what can afghanistan 's neighbours as well - reasons. what can afghanistan 's neighbours as well as - reasons. what can afghanistan 's neighbours as well as other| �*s neighbours as well as other countries like russia and china due to intervene or potentially try to keep afghanistan as stable as possible in the future? ~ ~ , future? well, i think there is little that — future? well, i think there is little that other _ future? well, i think there is little that other countries - future? well, i think there is| little that other countries can do at this point. i think

ideally the region on the whole we develop some type of consensus, some type of vision, for a way forward and a peace process and that could be presented to the taliban but at this point, bordering countries need to prepare for the prospect of long—term destabilisation, instability, they need to anticipate refugee flows, increased drug trade and cross—border militancy, that type of thing so it really is a very unsettling moment but i do think the russians, chinese, everyone will try to be in continuing regional diplomacy to do whatever is necessary, somehow, to get this intra— afghan dialogue going again. but given what has happened during the last few days and hours, the taliban could well seize power very soon which would mean all of these talks about negotiations, the intra— afghan dialogue could be gone, the government is collapsing, military has seemingly lost the will to fight. and at this

point, it does not look like there is much standing in the way of the taliban being able to take power by force, or take power through negotiation, that would come with the taliban in a great position of strength which would essentially lead the government to surrender to the government to surrender to the taliban. very, very troubling times, for sure. michael, thank you forjoining us. some clinically vulnerable children in england are struggling to access a covid vaccine nearly four weeks after they were added to the rollout. our health correspondent katharine da costa reports. let's leave her a chicken. that's right, you clever girl! lovely! and what a lovely smile as well! you're so good at these. well done... 15—year—old veronica rospigliosi enjoying an online therapy session at home in south—west london during lockdown in february. veronica has severe neuro disabilities. last month, i2—to—15—year—old children who are at high risk from covid like her were advised to have a vaccine,

as well as those living with someone with a weakened immune system. but nearly four weeks on, and with the start of a new school term in sight, dozens of families like hers are still desperate for information about when they'll get one. i think the urgency of the vaccine roll—out for our children has been completely forgotten. it's not good enough. if something's announced on the 19th ofjuly, having to wait until the end of august for a vaccination, i mean, it's too late. immunity isn't going to have time to have kicked in, in a meaningful way. doctors say they're still waiting for search guidelines to help them identify from patient records which children are eligible. i can understand that parents and children are anxious about this, because they'd want to ensure they get at least one vaccine before the school year starts in a few weeks' time in england. however, we've not yet received guidance on how the programme will be implemented for doctors. that includes gps like myself, but also, paediatric doctors are still awaiting guidance

from the nhs about how this programme will be implemented. but nhs england say they have provided guidance on how to proceed. in a statement, they said... "gp—led vaccination centres are already contacting children and their parents, with thousands vaccinated in a matter of days following the necessary safety checks and training. local services are on track to offer a vaccine to eligible i2—to—15—year—olds by the start of the school year, as originally planned." eligible children in the other uk nations are also being invited in for a jab. the nhs in scotland said nearly a quarter of i2—to—15—year—olds there had received a first dose. katherine da costa, bbc news. people have been flocking to seaside resorts on the east coast of england after the grafitti artist, banksy, confirmed he was behind a series of holiday—themed works. one of the pieces has become such hot property that the new owner has had to move it to a secret location.

jenny kirk has more. is it or isn't it? the question on everyone's lips for the last week has been answered. i absolutely love it. i think it's wonderful it's come this way to lowestoft. i think it's the best thing that's happened to this town in years, to be honest. for some, this is vandalism, to others, it's art. and instead of removing it, the local council says they are beyond excited, it's a real boost for great yarmouth and lowestoft. everybody that's seen these pieces has smiled, everybody has had pleasure from what he's put out there and that's a wonderful thing to be able to do. hundreds of thousands of people can go and see the artwork and it will make them smile. this is how the elusive artist whose work sells for millions ended the speculation. by posting online

his spraycation. but there is less good news for king's lynn, banksy�*s reimagining of a prominent statue with an ice cream cone has already been removed. at merrivale model village, they've had substantial offers for their banksy. but they are not selling. the public unfortunately weren't respecting it, they were trying to climb over, get up close with and we were fearful it was going to get damaged so we had to move it off site and with the news last night, the insurance company insisted we put it in a secure facility. how now to protect and capitalise on his work, a nice problem to have. special to know that banksy actually was here! jenny kirk, bbc news. much more on all those stories on the bbc news website. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ rich preston

i will be back with all the headlines in a couple of moments. from me and the team for the moment, goodbye. hello. it is turning into a very mixed but not particularly dramatic weekend of weather. saturday brought a bit of sunshine, a bit of rain for some. it's a similar mix as we head into sunday. a couple of frontal systems, this curl of a weather front here bringing rain for parts of northern ireland, england and wales at times. this front pushing into northern scotland promises some pretty hefty showers. and in between, some zones of drier, brighter weather. some patchy rain likely to push across east anglia and the south—east through sunday morning, but then brighter skies follow, at least for a time. more cloud for wales and the south—west, spots of rain here. some rain for a time in northern england, but northern ireland should brighten up with some sunshine. quite a lot of dry weather for southern and central parts of scotland, but northern scotland will see some showers. and it will feel decidedly cool here, highest temperatures across parts of eastern england up to 23 degrees. so, we will see areas of cloud and some showery rain

continuing through sunday evening, but most places turn dry into the early hours of monday. notice quite a lot of cloud out west by this stage, and overnight temperatures generally between ten and ia degrees. so, as we start monday, we have low pressure to the north—east of us, high pressure attempting to build from the west. we are essentially trapped between the two, and that brings a north—westerly wind across the uk, not a particularly warm north—westerly wind, i have to say, and one that will also introduce quite a lot of cloud, especially across western areas. that cloud bringing in some showery rain at times. the best of the sunshine across eastern scotland, down across the eastern side of england, but temperatures will struggle. 16 to 20, maybe 21 degrees in the south of england, that's the very best we can expect. and then as we get on into tuesday, again, we can expect lots of cloud, some showery rain here and there. we've still got that north—westerly wind, so temperatures are going to be a little disappointing for this

point in mid—august. a high of 17 perhaps in aberdeen, 19 in cardiff, 20 there in london. and as we head through the middle part of the week, we keep that north—westerly flow across the uk and we keep that feed of cloud. now, it is not going to be cloudy all the time, that cloud will break to give some sunny spells, but generally speaking, if you expect lots of cloud, you won't go too far wrong. temperatures will struggle, though, high teens or low 20s.

this is bbc news. the headlines: at least 304 people have died in a powerful earthquake in haiti. the prime minister says there is extensive damage and has declared a month—long state of emergency. haiti is still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake, which killed 200,000 people and affected the economy. the last major city in northern afghanistan — mazar—e—sharif — has fallen to the taliban, who have been advancing at speed as us—led forces withdraw. fighters are edging closer to the capital kabul. us president biden has been defending his decision to pull out us troops from the country. tributes have been paid to the plymouth shooting victims — as questions are asked of police about why a shotgun licence was returned to the man who killed five people.

the decision is being examined by the independent