this is bbc news. the headlines: the us senate has approved a landmark bill to fight climate change. the $430 billion bill will fund a range of measures to steer the us economy away from fossil fuels, with initiatives to boost electric car ownership and the use of solar energy. colombia's new left—wing president, gustavo petro, has called for a fresh international strategy to deal with global drug traffickin. with global drug trafficking. in his inaugural speech, mr petro said that the current policy had led to the deaths of at least a million people across latin america. president biden has welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire agreement between israel and the palestinian militant

group, islamichhad. mr biden called on both sides to observe the truce, brokered by egypt, which ended three days of hostilities, in which 44 palestinians were killed. now on bbc news, faarea masud investigates how the demand for shrimp is destroying land that women have farmed for centuries in bangladesh. along the coastline is riverbeds of rural bangladesh, thousands of fields where rice was once bangladesh, thousands of fields where rice was once grown have been converted into intensive shrimp farms, catering to a multibillion—dollar global industry. since the explosion of the industry in the 1980s when the world's appetite for this luxury food grew, there have been increasing allegations of violence and land grabbing by criminal gangs.

i've come to bangladesh to hear first—hand about the hidden abuses in the industry, and the detrimental effect of saltwater shrimp farms on these women's health and livelihoods. poor people are being exploited by the rich and powerful and poverty is not being eradicated. these shrimp are so expensive, and poor people can't even dream of buying them. it's taken me years to gain exclusive access to the working conditions of this remote, often secretive community. now these women farmers are fighting back to protect their rights.

frozen shrimp exports are worth about $500 million to the bangladeshi economy. after garments, seafood is the country's biggest export. most of it's sold to europe. baby shrimp are caught from rivers and waterways and hatcheries, and then brought to these shrimp farms where they're cultivated to full size. most of these shrimp farms are along the coastal beds

and riverbeds of bangladesh, where there is a plentiful supply of water. but environmentalists and local communities are telling me that fish farms leave the area weak and vulnerable. the land can no longer withstand the effect of cyclones and typhoons which bangladesh experiences regularly. as we travelled to the south—west coast, the effects of saltwater toxicity on the farms was clear. we are surrounded by cracked and grey coastline, which we actually saw using aerial cameras, stretched for miles. local wildlife had disappeared. the landscape is gutted and divided into rough rectangles known as polders, low—lying tracts of land surrounded by embankments. many of the people farming in this area in the polders live below the poverty line.

i began myjourney in polder 23, when there are currently ongoing problems. here, the land is barren and muddy. well, this lady has just told me that because of problems of saltwater exposure, she has actually had to have surgery. in fact, many of the women here have said they had all kinds of related problems to be exposure to salt. many of the women say they have complained to local shrimp farm owners and the local authorities about the health issues they are experiencing, but they say their complaints aren't being listened to.

these coastal areas are overseen by local union councils. the chairman of one such council told me that these days, violence in these shrimp times is not on the same scale as a few decades ago,

and that any complaints are dealt with through a more collaborative system. over in polder 29, i heard about the history of intensive shrimp farming, which included allegations of violent conduct by men with guns. since many shrimp farm bosses live in the cities, far away from the remote coastal areas, they would send local agents or local contacts to maintain the affairs of the shrimp farms. their methods, say local witnesses, got out of hand. during prolonged campaigns local farmers said these men would intimidate them into converting their rice land into intensive shrimp farms.

i heard similar stories in some of the other areas i visited. and when did this happen?

the police didn't respond to our request for comment on the weapons involved in the shrimp industry, but khushi kabirfrom the non—governmental organisation called nijera kori, or "do it yourselves," told me about the history of guns in the industry. they used to be armed. now they are less armed. they were very violent before, because they had gotten away with it in the past, so they thought they could get away with it, but because of all the noises we were making at all the levels, arms, etc has gone down considerably.

now what they use is manipulation. iasked people, especially at the village level, you know you are risking your life, you know you are going to get killed 7 and yet you resist. and they said, we have nothing else to lose. they had to fight a lot, so did we, but the fact that we don't give up, and i always say that you only lose when you give up, i think that is what empowers the people in the area to feel that they can live their life the way they wish to. and they don't have to be intimidated by goons, thugs or people who are in power. slowly a resistance began against the encroaching intensive shrimp farms. the revolutionary spark originated in polder 22, where we travel to next. amidst the grey, infertile shrimp land, it remains a shining victorious

patch of green. it was here in 1990 where a localfarmer was brutally shot dead. her name was karunamoi sardar. she had little formal education, but she had heard from neighbouring communities about the detrimental effect that saltwater from shrimp farms had on poor communities like hers. this memorial behind me was erected to commemorate her and the beginning of the women farmer's movement to protect their rights. i have come here to speak to her family about her legacy.

what legacy has she left for women?

sometimes the women are negatively referred to as "water bandits". i asked him what his responses to rumours that his mother and herfollowers were also violent. the bangladeshi government department, the ministry of fisheries, responded and said any

complaint of harassment or violation of labour laws reported in shrimp industries are dealt with together with local administration. it added that it welcomed more detail on people we spoke with in order to resolve any cases. the slow progress in reducing violence in the shrimp industry has led to grassroots do—it—yourself collectives. kripa goldar led one of the key struggles. these days, she and her colleagues go from village to village re—enacting theirfight in short theatrical plays. they each play themselves. it is a way of directly educating their community who often cannot read or have no access to media.

in an effort to see where the money to fund this industry is coming from, i tried to trace the global shrimp supply chain. i go to a fish depot where all of the small shrimp

farmers sell their shrimp to factories and then they are sold on to export to foreign countries. but it was impossible to trace where all the shrimp here were coming from. it was an informal bazaar. piles of shrimp poured from unmarked baskets for brokers to sell on to the highest bidder. shrimp were brought in on carts with no license plates, crates full of shrimp had travelled along unmarked roads through off—map villages and a few impromptu ponds. several species of shrimp were often piled onto the same mat and after a chaotic verbal bidding process a buyer could walk off without showing any papers. consider that it is from depots like this that most of the world receives its bangladeshi shrimp. it is a very murky supply chain to verify in any meaningful way.

and there is sometimes a problem with drinking water supply in those areas as a result of the saltwater proliferating in the area. what solutions would you propose to improve that condition for the farms?

whilst bangladeshi shrimp exporters like shyamul push for growth in the industry, the country's law is also at work. environmental lawyer rizwana hassan has been fighting cases around saltwater shrimp farms for years. a substantial amount of agricultural land owned by the poor farmers are being forcibly grabbed by shrimp cultivators, but for the government it is export earning, but it is actually earning by a few. totally damaging the traditional livelihood earning of millions. the shrimp are so expensive that poor people cannot even dream of buying them and meeting their protein intake demand.

saltwater shrimp farms have many female workers and they have complained to me about things like skin issues and ongoing health issues. what has been your experience of having to handle those cases or those issues? the local people protesting against the undue interest of the outsiders, undue interest which are protected by local lawmakers and national level policymakers. local people come into conflict with these outsiders and one way of suppressing people is to kill them or to threaten them with tactics so that they do not really open their mouth anymore and they do not get organised any further. and when you see that your land is underwater and you have no chance of getting it back, you are forced to work in the shrimp industry. bangladeshi's department of fisheries said in a statement that more than 250,000 rural

families are dependent on shrimp farming for their livelihoods. it is said that most of the people employed in shrimp cultivation in bangladesh are marginalised people who live in coastal areas and are victims of climate change, sea level rise, saline water intrusion and loss of livelihood. it added that for a decade or more these people have been maintaining high global standards and that the government conducts awareness activities, training, formation of trade unions and that it supports arbitration processes based on labour rules and social compliances. but not all of bangladesh's shrimp farms are problematic, of course. successful efforts to conserve the nearby mangrove forest have led to akash's shrimp farms having healthier water for both shrimp and farmer.

the collective strength of these women has led to some victories against an encroaching multibillion—dollar industry. the women of polder 22 enjoy rich harvests of vegetables, rice and fruit.

women sing hello there.

it is going to be heating up again over the week ahead, no sign of any rain falling where it is needed most of all. hosepipe bans in place across some parts of southern england. it has been particularly dry in hampshire, there has been no rain sincei hampshire, there has been no rain since ijuly and only 0.4 millimetres in the centre of london. where has all the rain gone? it has been tumbling down across the north—west of scotland in the highlands, it has been very wet here, we have had as much as ten inches of rain falling sincei had as much as ten inches of rain falling since ijuly and thatis rain falling since ijuly and that is about twice the amount of rain we would expect at this time of the year. if we look through the next five days, if there is any rain, and it won't be much, it is concentrated on the north—west corner of scotland, otherwise it will be fine and dry. 0n scotland, otherwise it will be fine and dry. on monday we have a weather front bringing rain to the highlands and islands, most of it will be late, elsewhere dry, nothing more than fair weather cloud developing, and many places blue skies. light winds cool around the coast with sea breezes, but the heat is

building inland, close to 30 degrees in the south—east of england. in london, temperatures may not fall any lower than 60 degrees overnight, there are much warmer nights to come through the rest of the week. and also some hotter days, because temperatures will continue to rise through the week ahead, we will see here weather conditions developing across england and wales. if we look at the next couple of days, you can see how that here will through wednesday, thursday, into friday where temperatures across southern england could be hitting 36 degrees once again. and it is a familiar story, one we have seen over the past weeks and perhaps months, high pressure keeping a dry and the heat building underneath that high pressure, that weather front there very weak in the north—west will even get pushed away on tuesday so we have more sunshine arriving, and scotland, a sunny day on tuesday and across england and wales, the winds will be light and temperatures continuing to rise, mid—20s across eastern scotland, but

near 30 degrees in birmingham and also carter. we are going to find images rising in scotland and northern ireland, we're looking at the mid—20s, a little higher than that. while thatis little higher than that. while that is very warm we have high temperatures to come across england and wales in that strong sunshine and light winds, temperatures will be getting over 30 degrees in quite a few places by thursday. and, certainly, into friday as well. we still have high pressure sitting close to the uk on friday, a noticeable change in the south of perhaps, there will be a stronger wind coming in, that is any easter or south—easterly wind, but that will dragon all the heat from continental europe. so we have a lot of dry weather again. it's dry, sunny, and away from southern areas the winds will be light and the heat is will there, 26 degrees in the central part of scotland, and well over 30 degrees from many parts of england and wales. so very hot. it is heating up then over the weekend, heatwave conditions developing in england and wales and no sign of any rain. what

about from the weekend onwards? because in the outlook things start to change a bit. you will find high pressure moving away, prezza will be falling, that will mean more cloud, it may mean some showers is beginning to arrive as well. it's a long way off, but signs of some changes. 0ver way off, but signs of some changes. over the most part, it will be dry, you can see her temperatures just slowly it away. we will find themselves coming, they will be heavy in places, but not necessarily guaranteed.

welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: the us senate backsjoe biden�*s bill to fight climate change, channeling hundreds of billions of dollars towards ambitious clean energy goals. the world will be a better place for my grandchildren because of what we did today and that makes me feel very, very good. the first left—wing president in colombian history is sworn into office, calling for a fresh international strategy to deal with global drug trafficking. a ceasefire comes into effect between israel and the palestinian militant group, islamichhad, but there are already reports of continued fighting. the fight for life in afghanistan — one year since the taliban takeover, we see how the country's maternity services are at breaking point.