this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: a catastrophe on a scale never seen before — pakistan's foreign minister assesses the flooding that's swept across the country. mission to the moon — america prepares to test—launch a rocket, heralding a new era of space exploration. more palestinians face eviction — with their homes destroyed by israel's army — the un says it could amount to a war crime. and tributes to roland mesnier, the veteran white house pastry chef who served five us presidents.

more than a thousand people have now died in pakistan where floods have been described by the country's foreign minister as a catastrophe. bilawal butto zardari told the bbc the disaster was on a scale he has never seen before. pakistan's government has issued a fresh appeal for more international aid. heavy rains have caused flooding sincejune, overwhelming rivers. around one—sixth of the population are said to have been affected — with millions left homeless. officials in the southern province of sindh are warning that more floods and landslides are likely there, as waters come downstream. our correspondent pumza fihlani has the latest. local aid agencies in pakistan say they are doing what they can, but there simply aren't enough resources for everyone. as seen here — within minutes, the food runs out... ..and the team is forced to leave quickly.

the picture is the same around the country. translation: we left our homes in a hurry and couldn't gather- all our supplies to cook. some days we are able to eat, other days we have nothing. there is heavy flooding across sindh province, where thousands of mud homes have sunk underwater. roads have been flushed away. we have more than 3,000 kilometres of roads that have been washed away. bridges, 160 plus bridges have been destroyed as well so it is really, really, really a very, very bad situation here. remote communities have been left isolated, making it difficult for aid workers to reach them. this is not a river. these are flooded waters that have come in from weeks and weeks of rain. the boat that we're on at the moment usually works as a fishing boat, but it's become a lifeline for people in these sorts of remote villages. fishermen every day spend their time not fishing, but coming out

to look for people. we come across a family surrounded by water. they tell us they will not move. "we've suffered great loss, but we cannot leave," she tells me. "everything we are left with is here and we cannot leave it behind". the full scale of the devastation will be felt for months, authorities have said. it is a catastrophe on a scale that i have never seen before, and we have experienced floods and monsoons of historic proportions before, but this has really engulfed us all. for now, with rivers continuing to overflow, and flash floods in some parts of the country, officials are worried the worst is still coming. pumza fihlani, bbc news, sindh. the floods in pakistan have devastated communities the length of the country.

from sindh in the south to the mountains in the northern province of haber paktunkwa, where dramatic pictures of a rescue emerged. towards the bottom of the screen, here there's a boy stranded in the middle of what was usually a stream but had become a raging river. an army helicopter managed to reach him, dipping to within feet of the rocks so that the child could climb on board. the helicopter had been assessing the extent of the floods near pattan in the north of the country when it was diverted to fly the boy to safety. our correspondent farhatjaved has reached one village in khyber pakhtunkwa province where people are waiting for help. this grim face tells the tale of the horrors mohammed farid has been through in the last 48 hours. he has just lost a young daughter, a piece of his heart, he tells us. a flash flood in the river kunhar washed her away and her dead body was found

later in the evening. translation: she told me, "daddy, i'm going to collectl leaves for my goat." then i went looking for her after a while. there was a lot of water. she went to the bank of the river and a gush of water followed and took her away. kaghan valley is a popular tourist destination in the north of pakistan. but three days ago, a heavy downpour of rain triggered flash flooding, devastating the area. before it reached farid's daughter, the inundations had already claimed at least 1a lives. this bridge was collapsed by the same flood. now the village on the other side is completely cut off for two days now. it will take some time to rebuild it, but people are worried. they are waiting for help and assistance to reach them. i am told that there was a small market here

which was also swept away by these roaring waters. translation: they need rations and they need road link. - rations which was kept in the shops has been swept away in the flood. people are sitting there, waiting for divine help. incessant rains and flooding have wreaked havoc across large areas of pakistan. millions of people have been affected and more than 700,000 homes destroyed. and the death toll continues to rise. translation: we had only one shop and three families to feed | on its income, where my brother and i were working. everything was lost within seven minutes when the flood hit us. whoever comes here come forfun, make photos and goes back. rescue teams are struggling to reach villages and towns cut off by the damage, and pakistan's government has appealed to the international community to assist in coping

with the calamity. so how severe is the situation on the ground? let's now hear from chris kaye, the country director for pakistan at the world food programme. more than a thousand killed, hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed but this is likely to get so much worse? unfortunately, it is and i really appreciate the bbc for getting that footage and getting that footage and getting your reporters to really bring into people's i'm just how serious the situation is, how devastating the floods are. it is truly heartbreaking and extremely concerning, what we are seeing, and certainly the world the rest of the united nations system is doing all it can to mobilise funding that are necessary to help the

government with the response. you are working with the government closely on the emergency response, what do they need most?— emergency response, what do they need most? that has built u . they need most? that has built u- over they need most? that has built up over years _ they need most? that has built up over years of _ they need most? that has built up over years of capacity - up over years of capacity building, especially after the devastating floods in 2010, the government does have an capability and capacity, it is strapped for resources, the biggest challenge we have right now is shelter, and we desperately keen to get hold of tents in order to accommodate those people who have been forced out of their homes. what forced out of their homes. what other main _ forced out of their homes. what other main issues _ forced out of their homes. what other main issues you _ forced out of their homes. what other main issues you facing - forced out of their homes. what other main issues you facing in terms of reaching cut—off communities? it terms of reaching cut-off communities?— terms of reaching cut-off communities? , , ., communities? it is exactly that roblem, communities? it is exactly that problem. it _ communities? it is exactly that problem. it is _ communities? it is exactly that problem, it is access, - communities? it is exactly that problem, it is access, access . problem, it is access, access because bridges have been washed away, roads have been washed away, roads have been washed away, roads have been washed away, and we have got villages who are camping out on impact roads, which we ourselves are struggling to

access, so there is a major, major problem. we definitely need and we are building a logistics capability to support the government in understanding how we can get the relief supplies to those people in need. ., ., , ., need. some of the images we are lookin: at need. some of the images we are looking at are _ need. some of the images we are looking at are extraordinary - looking at are extraordinary and devastating, heavy ever faced disaster like this unfolding now, before? personally, i have made a career in working for the united nations and responding to emergencies like this, the last enormous one was the cyclone, typing that hit the philippines, i have some unfortunate experience in working in this type of situation.— working in this type of situation. what should international _ situation. what should - international communities be doing to help? the fundamental issue for us _ doing to help? the fundamental issue for us is _ doing to help? the fundamental issue for us is that _ doing to help? the fundamental issue for us is that we _ doing to help? the fundamental issue for us is that we are - issue for us is that we are voluntarily funded and we do require the generosity of donor governments the public at large to support the work that we do in these situations and i know

very well how difficult it is at this time, everybody is cash—strapped, energy prices are up, inflation is up and all the countries, and we know there is a huge amount of people all over the world but the photographs this morning you have shown demonstrate how great the situation is pakistan, and we do urge the listening public to be generous and urge the government and any other governments to support an appeal which is going out tomorrow, will be launched by the secretary general, for $161 million. . ~' , ., the secretary general, for $161 million. . ~' the secretary general, for $161 million. ., ~ . ., million. thank you so much for brinuain million. thank you so much for bringing us _ million. thank you so much for bringing us those _ million. thank you so much for bringing us those details - million. thank you so much for bringing us those details on . bringing us those details on what looks to be a devastating time for people in pakistan. let's get some of the day's other news. austria says it's now backing an eu—wide cap on electricity prices, as they continue to rise in line with soaring gas prices. austria is heavily dependent on russian gas, but most of its electricity comes from renewables. austrian chancellor karl

nehammer says the eu must not allow president putin to determine its electricity price every day. dutch police say the number of people killed when a truck veered off the road and rolled into a village barbecue has risen to six. seven others are being treated in hospital. the incident happened on saturday south of rotterdam. police say the 46—year—old spanish driver was suspected of causing the accident, and was not under the influence of alcohol. brazil's right—wing president, jair bolosonaro, is one of six candidates taking part in an election debate. among his opponents, his biggest rival, the former leftist leader louis inacio lula da silva. opinion polls suggest mr lula is leading the race with 47% of the vote compared with mr bolosonaro, who would have around 30%. nasa is preparing to launch its new rocket for its first mission to the moon in 50 years. it's due to lift off on monday afternoon from the kennedy space center. it's the first of the artemis mission — and this flight

will be uncrewed to test if the technology works. if it's successful, it will pave the way for human beings to return to the moon. our science editor rebecca morelle reports from cape canaveral in florida. it's almost time. standing on launch pad 39b — the same one used by the apollo missions — the most powerful rocket nasa has ever built is ready for lift—off. the rocket is simply enormous, and it's only when you're standing here that you realise get a sense of its size. and this is the last chance we'll see it up close. the launch pad is closing and fuelling is about to begin, because in just a few hours' time, this will be blasting off. the first step in our return to the moon for 50 years. we talk about moonshots as things that humans can do when we put our differences aside and we focus on the mission and do great things together. well, now we are going to have our own moonshot, right? and so this is our generation.

like, we get to now say we did it. if we do this successfully monday, we have sent something like that, a human—rated spacecraft to the moon. for its maiden lunch, the rockets will push a capsule, called orion, into deep space, where it will go into orbit around the moon before it returns to earth. no astronauts will be on board this time — this is a test flight. with such new technology, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. we have done so much testing on this rocket. we've been through integrated testing, we've tested everything from the smallest material to every system. we have done everything we can do on the ground to eliminate the risk. from here, it'sjust a matter of testing it in—flight, and that's what we are excited about doing monday. so much is riding on this. the next step is to get astronauts on board. nasa's ultimate plan is to land the first woman and the first person of colour on the lunar surface. along the causeways around cape canaveral, people

are getting ready to watch the launch, setting up early to bag the best spot. hundreds of thousands are expected in the area. i'm really excited, because it's one of the biggest rocket launches in 50 years. it's the largest so far that's going to be going up, and it will be extremely loud. i've been watching this stuff ever since, well, i i watched the space landing in '69. - so we live pretty close to where it will be launching, so we'll probablyjust climb up on our roof and watch it from there. the weather might have other ideas, though. above the launch pad, the storms keep on coming. nasa will need a break in the clouds to get this rocket off the ground. rebecca morelle, bbc news, at the kennedy space center, florida. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we look back on the life and career of top pastry chef roland mesnier, who served five us presidents, and who's died aged 78.

she received the nobel peace prize for her work with the poor and the dying in the indian slums. the head of the catholic church said mother teresa was a wonderful example of how to help people in need. we have to identify the bodies then arrange the coffins and take them back home. parents are waiting and wives are waiting, so... hostages appeared, - some carried, some running, trying to escape _ the nightmare behind them. britain lost a princess today. described by all to whom she reached out as irreplaceable, an early morning car crash in a paris underpass ended a life with more than its share of pain and courage, warmth and compassion.

this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: pakistan's foreign minister says flooding is a catastrophe on a scale never seen before with millions now in desperate need of shelter. nasa is counting down to the lift—off of its most powerful moon rocket ever, 50 years after the last apollo mission. more than 1,000 palestinians could soon be evicted from their homes in the south of the occupied west bank by israel's army. in may, the israeli high court sanctioned plans to expel them to make way for israeli military train in an area known as masafer yatta. un experts have warned israel that if it goes ahead with the mass eviction it could amount to a war crime. our middle east correspondent yolande knell has been to masafer yatta. you see now, they are demolishing houses. it takes just seconds and

a palestinian house is gone. a family is homeless. israel says they built here illegally. abu mohammed had pleaded with the israeli soldiers and police to stop. the family that was living in this house, abu mohammed's relatives, they don't even know that the house has been demolished because they were away at a wedding. no—one's been able to call them and get in touch. the routine is all too familiar in this part of the west bank under full israeli control. it's virtually impossible for palestinians to get a building permit here, so most people build without them. come, come, come. we realise today's demolitions aren't yet over, so we've raced up to the top of this hill, really breathless, because the roads have been closed off, and you can see here it's animal pens that are being demolished. there's a big flock of sheep just over there. arguing. there are scuffles with

anti—demolition activists, who are threatened with arrest. everything is going be confiscated so that the shepherds can't easily rebuild. and just look at how many security forces there are up here, keeping us all back. but such losses aren't the only problem in masafer yatta — jewish settlements are expanding here. they're seen as illegal under international law, but israel disagrees. for basil, it's a double standard. these settlers come here, steal our land, there's palestinians digging on it and build their homes. i mean, the state supports them doing that and providing the infrastructure for the settlers on my land, but the same state and the same government is, like, approaching us from here by demolishing our homes, schools and water well, and roads. the israeli army doesn't agree to an interview but has a large presence in masafer yatta. this sign up here is telling us we are about to enter into a firing area and israeli military zone. it says, "danger."

"entrance is forbidden." i see more demolitions along the road. israel's supreme court recently ruled that this army training area was legal. hundreds of palestinians now face eviction. this is where a family lives. i'm off to meet one couple who insist they won't move. they live in a cave created by na'aman's grandfather before his birth. "if the army sees the solar panels, they will remove them," he tells me. they live under tight israeli restrictions. and suheir, who's days away from giving birth, is afraid. what does the future for you? "what future?", she says. "we're living in fear. "we have no future, nothing." if israel's mass eviction goes

ahead, it will be one of the biggest in the west bank in decades. the international community's warned against it but for those trying to stay here, that is little help. yolande knell, bbc news, masafer yatta. roland mesnier, the famous white house pastry chef, has died at the age of 78. the french—born confectioner spent 27 years serving five us presidents. he told us tv presenter jeff weeks one of his stories about working for the family of former president jimmy carter. mrs carter had brought with herfrom georgia a recipe of a cheese ring that asked us to have it on every buffet, every time. that was the signature carter dish. and the recipe, you had to use the stinkier cheese that you could find and mix them together, put some anchovy with it and all sort of different things.

and then, you made a ring — build it like a ring inside of a mould, and then you unmoulded it. and in the middle, you put strawberryjam. now, the funniest thing, mrs carter always checked if this thing was on the table. it was! but nobody ever touched it. nobody ever ate it? chuckles. what we did, we would just put it back into the freezer and bring it back out every buffet. i think the same cheese ring lasted four years. laughs. and if you would go to the white house today, you may still find one somewhere in the freezer! earlier, i spoke tojeff weeks, who did that interview with roland mesnier about a decade ago on his show conversations with jeff weeks on wsre pbs, and asked him what he was like. what a wonderful human being. he was a great storyteller, obviously, as you just saw in that clip, and a wonderful sense of humour — and i might add, what you see in that clip, that was what he was really like in person. he was just a fun guy, you know, one of those folks who's magnetic and fun to be around, and you could just imagine how all of the

presidents and the presidents' families would absolutely love him. he wasjust an engaging gentleman. so sorry to hear of his passing. and obviously, he worked with so many presidents, he has so many anecdotes like that. can you just describe how he got his big break initially — i think rosalynn carter played quite a big part? yeah, mrs carter played a huge part in it. chef mesnier was working at a very exquisite resort — or exclusive resort, i guess i should say — in virginia, in hot springs, virginia — i believe it was a homestead resort — and many of people in the carter administration would visit that resort from time to time and so, word got around that mrs carter was looking for a pastry chef. so, at some point, they invited chef mesnier down for a tour of the white house. and to hear him tell the story, it was just overwhelming because here's a kid from france, from a small town in france — i believe he said the population was like 140 folks or something — and here he is at the white

house of the united states of america, and itjust so happens that on that particular day that prime minister margaret thatcher was also giving a press conference or there was something going on in the white house gardens and so, he had an opportunity to see her as well, so, he was just absolutely overwhelmed and amazed at how far he had come. and anyway, to make a long story short here, he eventually got an opportunity to sit down and speak with mrs carter and she kind of talked about what it was that she was looking for, and one of the things that he told her he would do is that he would make the desserts and the pastries very healthy because she was — obviously was and still is — a beautiful woman and very fit — and so, he was kind of playing off of that idea. and he also kind ofjoked during the interview, he goes, "and i was pretty cute back in those days too! and he said he thought that helped as well. and so anyway, theyjust established a wonderful rapport.

however, at the end of the interview, mrs carter said, "well, this is the guy that i want" and apparently, one of her aides came in and said, "well, mrs carter, "we have a problem. "he is not a united states citizen." and i'm not sure if it's still the case but apparently at that particular time, in order to work in the white house, you had to be a us citizen. she said, "never mind. "i want him. "hire him. "i'll take care of that." and he goes on to tell the story about kind of how a couple of days or weeks later, how a mysterious black limousine showed up and whisked him around various parts of washington, dc, and all of a sudden, he was an american citizen. we saw a picture of hillary clinton just then — bill clinton, i think, had a penchant for fast food. describe some of his other food habits, because i think mr mesnier told you a few things about that? oh, yeah, he absolutely did. if you see president clinton around today, he's very trim, very fit, but back in the day when he was in the office, he clearly enjoyed eating and was probably a little heavier than what he was now. and apparently, he had some allergies for different types

of ingredients that would go into various pastries and desserts, and so, chef mesnier would try to keep those away from him. but occasionally, president clinton would just say, "man, i'm going to be a bad boy," as chef mesnier put it, and would have to have a piece of that chocolate cake that he so enjoyed. and chef mesnier went on to say that he could always tell — and these are his words — when president clinton was being a �*bad boy�* because he could kind of see around his eyes, they would be puffy, and he said "even "still to this day, i can tell when president clinton "was being a bad boy" as far as the kind of desserts that he was eating. the unmistakable sounds and sights of the notting hill carnival have returned to the streets of west london for the first time in three years following the pandemic. it's europe's largest carnival and as many as two million people are expected to attend the two—day festival and it kicked off with children's day.

that's just about from me for now. more news on our website. from me and the rest of the team, thank you for watching. please stay tuned. hello. the bank holiday weekend continues for most parts of the uk, and the dry weather continues for most as well, but there will be some contrast in our weather fortunes through monday. the warmest and sunniest weather will be found in the south and the west, where you have some shelter from a keen north—easterly breeze, blowing around this area of high pressure centred to the north of us. along the northern and eastern coasts where you're exposed to that breeze, well, there will be a lot of cloud, even some showers through the morning. also a bit of showery rain first thing around some of these irish sea coasts. much of that will tend to ease. now, through the day, we'll keep quite a lot of cloud across northern and eastern areas. more sunshine across western scotland, northern ireland, parts of wales, the south—west of england. there will be some showers around as well, blown along on this brisk breeze, but many places will avoid the showers and stay dry.

as far as temperatures go, though, some north sea coasts only getting to 1a or 15 degrees. compare that with a possible 25 in parts of north cornwall and north devon. now, as we go through monday night, we will continue to see some areas of cloud across northern and eastern parts, giving a little bit of patchy rain here and there. clear spells further south and west. it does remain fairly breezy so, for most, that should hold the temperatures up. nine degrees there for aberdeen, but 13 for cardiff and for plymouth. now, as we go through this week, we are going to see more dry weather. it may turn just a little bit warmer for some of us around the middle part of the week. there is the chance of rain later but some uncertainty about exactly who will see that. so, through tuesday — again, a lot of dry weather. a fair amount of cloud, particularly up towards the north—east. one or two showers further west — that's where we'll see the best of the sunshine. still quite breezy across eastern and southern areas. that breeze quite brisk, actually, through some english channel coasts.

2a degrees for cardiff. further north in glasgow, a high of 18. now, as we look deeper into the week, our area of high pressure looks set to retreat northwards. we're watching one frontal system pushing in from the west and a showery low trying to drift up from the south. some uncertainty about exactly how this will play out, but it does look like there is the increasing chance of rain as we head towards the end of the week and into the weekend but i suspect there will be places that don't see very much and stay predominantly dry.

this is bbc news. the headlines: more than a thousand people have now died in pakistan where floods have been described by the country's foreign minister as a catastrophe. bilawal butto zardari told the bbc the disaster was on a scale he has never seen before. pakistan's government has issued a fresh appeal for more international aid. nasa is preparing to launch its new rocket for its first mission to the moon in 50 years. it's the first of the artemis mission — an uncrewed test flight to see if the technology works. it could pave the way for human beings to return to the moon. roland mesnier, the veteran white house pastry chef, has died at the age of 78. the french—born confectioner spent 27 years serving five us presidents. he built his reputation in large hotels across the world

before he was hired by first lady, rosalynn carter, in 1979.