this is bbc world news. i'm david willis. our top stories: in the us, six children are among the 16 people killed in kentucky's flash flooding. officials warn the death toll could double. washington's mayor calls for help from the national guard as a protest sees thousands of migrants bussed into the us capital. spain and brazil have reported what are thought to be the first monkeypox—related deaths outside of africa. pope francis visits canada's indigenous communities to apologise for the abuse many suffered at schools run by the catholic church. and saying sorry, again.

will smith takes to social media to apologise to chris rock for that oscar slap. hello and welcome to bbc news. dozens of deaths have been reported as unprecedented flash floods hit many parts of the world. in iran, officials say that more than 50 people have died in landslides, while seven people have lost their lives in the united arab emirates. meanwhile, president biden has declared a major disaster in the united states, after 16 people died in kentucky. lea na hosea reports. floodwaters from days of torrential rain have inundated hundreds of homes

and wiped out entire towns in eastern kentucky. bridges have been washed away and roads submerged, sending some residents scrambling to their rooftops. her little room completely crushed. i'm so sorry. it's ok. there's no words. - it'sjust hard to imagine. there's nothing really that you can do but, i you know, we're just| glad that we got out. but, worst of all, the floods have taken people's lives, including those of children, four of whom from the same family. search—and—rescue teams in helicopters and boats are still looking for survivors. i have received notice that they've located the bodies of those four children. means we've got at least six dead children, and that's hard. there's still a lot of people out there, still a lot

of people unaccounted for. we're gonna do our best to find them all. according to some scientists, what we're seeing is the new normal with climate change. here in the united states, kentucky is experiencing severe floods. earlier this week, it was st louis. but climate change, as temperatures rise, the air can hold more moisture and so, when it rains, it rains really heavily. we get these heavy, heavy downpours. and in the case of a place like iran, they've actually been experiencing extended drought. and when you get these heavy rains in a very short time, falling on very dry, barren land, that can trigger floods, mudslides, flash flooding that comes up very quickly and people get caught up in it. rescue efforts are under way in iran, where there's been flooding in numerous provinces. the red crescent says casualties have been the highest in the tehran province. meanwhile, in the nearby united arab emirates,

emergency teams have rescued more than 800 people following flash floods caused by the worst rains in nearly 80 years. —— in 30 years. temperatures are one degree celsius over pre—industrial levels, but the frequency and intensity of floods is already increasing. leana hosea, bbc news. to the united states now. the mayor of washington, dc has called for the deployment of the national guard to deal with thousands of migrants who have been bussed into the us capital. muriel bowser has described the situation as a humanitarian crisis, after some 4,800 migrants arrived in the city. republican governors in the border states of texas and arizona are said to have organised the trip in protest against the biden administration's migration policy. it comes as migration across the us—mexico border has surged to record levels.

well, earlier, ispoke to robin swanson and asked what she made of the move by the governors of texas and arizona. this is a giant publicity stunt at taxpayer expense, largely led by governor greg abbott, who is accustomed to having these kinds of political stunts and having taxpayers pay for them. the last time he pulled one like this, he stopped trucks coming in from mexico with food on them and $150 million worth of food spoiled and, according to the dallas morning news, $477 million of economic activity was lost every day in texas. so, these kinds of political stunts are not without consequence and he is playing political games with human beings. ultimately, though, isn't this a reflection of the lack of progress on the part of the biden administration when it comes to immigration reform? there's a lot of work

that needs to be done with immigration reform but it is not on governor greg abbott to take that into his hands. in fact, it's unconstitutional. it's for the federal government to run our immigration process and what he is doing, by deporting thousands of people, is illegal, so that's something, i think, needs to be addressed in court. do you think that immigration is likely to become an issue going into the midterm elections? after all, there's a lot of other matters that are weighing on the minds of voters — not least, of course, inflation? yeah, i think it depends on where you live. inflation is impacting everywhere and, frankly, when greg abbott stopped goods from coming from mexico, he drove up inflation astronomically in texas for a while, so that's going to continue to be an issue in the upcoming election and i think choice is going to be a big issue

in the upcoming election as well, so this is one of them, it clearly needs to be addressed, but we're a nation of immigrants and these kinds of cruel policies are unacceptable. ultimately, though, joe biden tinkered with some immigration policies but then reverted them in many cases to those that were in place under the trump administration. doesn't this suggest a lack of direction as far as the administration is concerned on immigration policy? there is a lot of work still to be done but, again, we need to have a reasonable system. we need to treat people humanely and we need to get people documented quickly in this country, and sending them all around on buses is not the way to do it. staying with the us migrant crisis. when 53 migrants died inside an overheated truck in texas last month, it was called the deadliest human—smuggling tragedy

in american history. most of the victims were from poor rural communities in mexico and central america, hoping to find a better life in the united states. 0ne family from veracruz in mexico lost three cousins. 0ur correspondent, will grant, went to their village as the victims�* remains were returned. it was a tragic homecoming. when three cousins set off from their village of san marcos atexquilapan last month, they were full of hope for a future in the us. now their bodies are back with their grieving family and the entire town was there to receive them. brothers jair and yovani and their cousin, misael, were among the youngest victims in the abandoned, airless trailer in san antonio

in which a staggering 53 people died. a heartbreaking end to a journey north which most here have either done or considered doing at some point. by their mother insists they knew the dangers ahead of them. translation: we all knew i the risk but there are so many young people like them who make it over, even little girls. that motivated them to try. they asked themselves, "why not us?" even i was confident that they would be fine. the village the three boys set off from couldn't be more different to the place they were trying to reach — the modern, bustling city of austin in texas. this is rural, mountainous mexico, with all the economic struggle and lack of opportunities that that entails. but such is the prospect of steady work in the us that more and more mexicans are attempting the same fateful journey as the three cousins, especially now the cost of living is rising so fast. san marcos atexquilapan is like one long assembly line for shoes and boots.

besides agriculture, shoemaking and small, family—run workshops is the mainstay of the local economy. it's poorly—paid informal work which the three young men did before deciding to leave. the older generation fears for the town's future. "if things here carry on as they are, we will end up "a ghost town," says reitred shoemakerjuan valencia. he hasn't heard from his son, who is migrating north, in eight days. "you do worry about it after what happened," he adds. for now, the three cousins�* terrible fate may deter others from leaving. but probably not for long, as the everyday hardships here will soon outweigh the risks again. and even one victim's father thinks young people in san marcos shouldn't necessarily be put off from trying. translation: they should

chase their dreams. - only god knows our fates. it's not the same tragedy for everyone. each person has their own destiny. they should fight — fight for their dreams. only god knows how they will end. the return of the boys, albeit in the worst circumstances, brings a little comfort to the family. but three sets of hopes and dreams suffocated along with 50 others in a truck far from home, such tragedies are unlikely to end as long as the lure of the north endures. will grant, bbc news, san marcos atexquilapan. the misery of the human trafficking situation in mexico. spain and brazil have announced their first deaths from monkeypox — the first known fatalities outside the african continent. spain is one of the worst—hit countries — around a quarter of the roughly 20,000 global infections were diagnosed

there. i've been speaking to professor ann rimoin. she's an american infectious disease epidemiologist whose research focuses on emerging infectious diseases, particularly those that are crossing species from animal to humans. monkeypox is a serious disease. while it may not carry the same kind of fatality rates that we think about with other viruses, this one can be very serious, and particularly in immunocompromised individuals. the deaths that you were speaking of were, in fact, in people who had issues with their immune system and so, monkeypox was definitely a contributor here, but it was because they were already immunocompromised. there are various challenges, though, here, aren't there — not least vaccine supply and, i suppose, disease fatigue, if i can put it that way, following all the covid precautions? absolutely.

there is a lot of fatigue, as you mentioned it, i think a very beleaguered health system nationally here in the united states, globally as well, from covid—i9, and we have not yet been able to invest globally in better disease surveillance, better global response to infectious diseases, and we're going to continue to see these kinds of emerging threats that will, in fact, tax health systems unless we can start doing better globally. now, the head of the world health organization has called on homosexual men to cut back on the number of sexual partners that they have, but this is not a disease that is reserved for the homosexual community, by any means, is it? this is absolutely not a virus that is specific to any group. i've been working on monkeypox for two decades in the democratic republic of the congo, where it spreads normally from animals to humans and then we see

human—to—human transmission, but not very long chains of sustained human—to—human transmission. this new kind of transmission really has to do with the fact that you see a lot of very close contact. and when it gets into a social and sexual network where there are a lot of contacts, it certainly does facilitate spread, makes it easier to spread, but it could spread to any individual that is in close contact with someone who has monkeypox and/or materials, towels, sheets, clothing, other contaminated objects that might contain monkeypox. professor ann rimoin there. you are watching bbc news. a reminder of our headlines: in the us, six children are among the 16 people killed in kentucky's flash flooding. officials warn the death toll could double. washington's mayor calls for help from the national guard as a protest sees thousands of migrants bussed into the us capital. pope francis has visited the vast arctic territory

of northern canada, after apologising for the abuse of indigenous communities by the catholic church. a report by canada's truth and reconciliation commission in 2015 found that many pupils suffered abuse and neglect in indigenous residential schools, many run by the catholic church. our religion editor, aleem maqbool, has been travelling with the pope and sent this update. pope francis is ending his week—long trip to canada here in the capital of the arctic region of nunuvut, and he has been meeting people today, some of them survivors of catholic assimilation schools here, and this entire visit has been focused on one thing, which is acknowledging and apologising for the actions of many within the catholic church in oppressing indigenous people here,

and in his own words, "in cultural destruction." of course, many indigenous people have been very happy that he's come here after years of campaigning for him to do so, and they are glad that he's raised awareness of the issues they still face today after generations of trauma. others, though, would have liked to have heard him apologise not just for the actions of some individuals within the church, but for the institution itself. they would've also liked to have heard about how there would be specifics on compensation or on investment from the church in indigenous people, a return, for example, as well of some sacred artefacts from the vatican, and, crucially, that there would be some accountability for those who perpetrated abuse. those things haven't happened on this trip, but the vatican says those are all things going on from here that are under discussion.

a lawsuit involving the wives of two former england football players has ended with wayne rooney's wife, coleen, being cleared of committing libel. ajudge found ms rooney's claim, that rebekka vardy had leaked stories about her to the press, to be true. colin paterson reports. two footballers' wives, both with huge social media followings and brands in their own right. rebekah vardy, married to leicester city striker jamie vardy, and coleen rooney, wife of england's all—time top goal—scorer, wayne rooney. they went head—to—head in a libel trial at the high court. today's judgement could not have gone much worse for rebekah vardy, her evidence described by the judge as "not credible, and on occasions, "manifestly inconsistent, evasive or implausible." it's a disaster for rebekah vardy. you know, her brand, her career in the sense of, you know, being a personality, has been completely ruined because she's effectively been found

to be a liar by a high courtjudge, which is going to be hanging around her neck for the rest of her life. the case all centred on detective work coleen rooney conducted in october 2019. which ended with her accusing vardy, online, of leaking private stories about her to the sun. rebekah vardy said that this accusation had caused untold damage to her reputation and she was left with no option but to sue coleen rooney for libel. but in court, things began to go wrong for mrs vardy. coleen rooney's legal team accused her of being evasive and of changing her story. today, the judge said that rebekah vardy had actively engaged time and time again in the process of selling stories about coleen rooney to the sun via her agent, caroline watt — seen here on the left. the judge said that it was likely both of them had destroyed crucial evidence, including caroline watt�*s phone being dropped into the north sea. when rebekah vardy

was giving her evidence at the high court, i was sitting about five feet away and saw as she repeatedly broke down, and when she was accused of lying under oath, she put her head in her hands and sobbed. she looked like she was thinking, "why have i brought this to the high court?" and with today's judgement, she will be seriously regretting doing so. crucially, coleen rooney's original post, with the accusation, was ruled to have been substantially true. in a statement, coleen rooney said... coleen rooney has struck a major victory, a major, major home run here. and it makes her look, in a sense, a certain amount of statesperson over this. she understands the game. vardy doesn't. this afternoon, rebekah vardy said that she was disappointed and devastated by thejudge's finding.

she also asked for an end to what she called the vile abuse against her family. abuse the judge condemned. rebekah vardy hoped this case would restore her reputation, that reputation has now fallen further. colin paterson, bbc news, the high court. the actor will smith has posted a video on social media, apologising for hitting chris rock at this year's oscars ceremony. the hollywood star admitted he felt deeply remorseful about the incident. the bbc�*s tim allman has more. it was the slap heard around the world. best actor nominee will smith physically attacking oscar award presenter chris rock after a joke he had made about his wife. smith has already apologised in writing. now, he is saying sorry on camera. i have reached out to chris and the message that came back is that he is not ready to talk and when he is, he will reach out.

chris, i apologise to you. my behaviour was unacceptable. the fallout from the incident has been dramatic. although will smith went on to win the best actor oscar that evening, he was subsequently banned from the ceremony for ten years and he resigned from the academy. some have speculated the reason he reacted the way he did was due to the frosty response from his wife jada pinkett smith. any truth in that, will? no. it is like... you know, i made a choice on my own from my own experiences, from my history with chris. jada had nothing to do with it. the actor says he is human and he made a mistake and he hopes to be friends with the world again.

whether chris rock will want to be friends with him is yet to be seen. tim allman, bbc news. australia leads the medal table after the opening day of the commonwealth games in birmingham, with eight golds. the hosts, england, claimed two golds, but will be hoping for more luck on saturday, afterfinishing second in five events. chetan pathak has more. it has been an eventful first day of action here in birmingham and in london where the track—side got under way. more on that in a moment. the first medals were won, though, in the sprint triathlon, the men's race was first to go, and the expected tussle between new zealand's hayden wilde and england's alex yee, he did not disappoint, wilde had a 16 second lead over alex yee at one point but the englishman fought back to take gold. it would have been a tighter finish but for a 10 second penalty for the new zealander. in the women's race, meanwhile, bermuda's flora duffy, the olympic reigning champion once again proved too strong for the competition. she took gold, ahead of

england's georgia taylor brown and beth potterfrom scotland. so, then, to the cycling where it was a good day for australia, as they won three gold medals. they won the man's team sprint and women's 4,000 metres team pursuit whilejessica gallagher won the women's tandem v sprint. new zealand took two gold medals, while scotland's neil fachie took the men's tandem time trial, his fifth commonwealth games title. other highlights, well, in the pool, we saw an astonishing performance from 15—year—old summer mcintosh, as she emphatically took gold in the women's 400 metres individual medley, winning by eight seconds in a new games record. and australia's ariarne titmus, 21 years old, again showing her class, a 21—year—old, as i repeat, olympic champion, she set a new commonwealth best as she narrowly beat compatriot mollie o'callaghan in the women's 200 metre freestyle final. on saturday, meanwhile, there are 23 gold medals up for grabs. we will see the men's and women's marathons which will come to a finish right behind me in the centre of birmingham, and the women's and men's

t53, t54 marathons. there is weightlifting, too, and more cycling in the women's and men's individual pursuit. and finally a lottery prize worth more than $1.2 billion ——and finally a good news story of mili, the puppy who journeyed across the atlantic in a container, and survived for a total of 40 days without food and water. gail maclellan reports. this is mili, short for milagro — miracle in spanish. her ordeal clearly far behind her, she is happy, healthy, and even has a job. she arrived in panama after a 20—dayjourney across the atlantic in a sealed container, which was then stored outside in the sun for a further 20 days before it was opened and she was discovered. translation: one of the areas of the container was corroded i and there was a small hole. we assumed that she, with her tiny paw, opened a little hole where she could draw in rainwater.

that's the only way she could've survived. during her stay at the quarantine unit, she got to know the sniffer dogs and customs officials decided to try her out. herjob in the agricultural canine unit is to examine luggage that has arrived at the airport and to sniff out fresh fruit and vegetables which are being brought in to the country illegally. the trainer says mili meets the four basic characteristics for dogs in the unit — friendly, docile, playful and with a good appetite. there is no doubt she fits the bill. translation: i consider her a heroine. _ a little animal that spent 40 days in a container without water, without food — she must have really fought for her life. they call her mili la espana lita — the miracle dog from spain. what an incredible journey good

luck to her. thanks to you for joining us here on bbc news. hello there. it really is a bit of a mixture for us this weekend. some cloud, even some rain, but also, some warm spells of sunshine. and we ended the week on a warmer note, with more sunshine around, temperatures in southern parts of england reached 28 degrees. wasn't quite as warm as that in birmingham. and for the commonwealth games this weekend, there'll still be a lot of cloud around. may get some rain actually sunday and later on monday, as well. all that rain will be coming in from the atlantic. this ribbon of cloud here is going to be staggering down across the uk — it's already brought some rain across northern ireland into scotland, some patchy rain maybe for a while across northern england and north wales. but we start off quite warm, actually, for much of the country on saturday morning. but for the northern half of the uk, this is where we've got

the thickest of the cloud, and we're seeing most of the rain. through the morning, though, it should become drier and brighter in northern ireland and scotland, some sunny spells in the afternoon. still some rain for england and wales — most of it will be across northern parts of england and north wales. further south, it's generally dry, and there'll be some sunshine as well. another warm day to come through much of the midlands, particularly in the south—east and east anglia, temperatures 26, 27 degrees. could make a warm 22 or 23 in eastern scotland with some sunshine in the afternoon. but there is a lot of cloud heading our way from the atlantic overnight, continuing into sunday, perhaps bringing some more rain. that's more likely across england and wales, although it could prove to be rather hit and miss. and with that damper weather moving southwards, it'll dry off with more sunshine across north wales, northern england. may stay dry all day in scotland and northern ireland, slightly cooler and fresher here. but, again, little or no rain, really, ithink, across the far south of england, and it should be quite warm at wembley for the women's euro final. a lot of cloud here — hopefully we've got something to cheer about

by the end of the day. heading into the beginning of next week, though, we've got some more weather fronts heading our way from the atlantic, and that potentially is going to bring some more rain. having said that, many places will start dry on monday, and there'll be some sunshine around too. but the cloud is going to be thickening up from the west — that's going to bring with it some rain. at the moment, mostly across northern ireland, wales, moving over the irish sea later in the day to the north—west of england, and into the south—west of scotland. still dry, though, towards the south—east, and temperatures here again into the mid—20s.

this is bbc news. the headlines: ukraine has asked the united nations and the red cross to investigate the missile strike that's killed more than 50 prisoners of war who were being held by russia in the donetsk region. both sides are blaming each other for the attack. the mayor of washington, dc has called for help from the national guard to deal with almost 5,000 migrants who have been bussed into the us capital. their trip is said to have been organised by republican governors in protest against the biden administration's immigration policy. spain and brazil have reported what are thought to be the first monkeypox—related deaths outside of africa.

spain's one of the worst hit countries — around a quarter