this is bbc news. the headlines: china's president xijinping meets his south african counterpart for talks ahead of the brics summit injohannesburg. presidentjoe biden pledges long—term government support for hawaii after touring the wildfire damage in maui. claims of corruption are levelled in ukraine against army officials running recruitment. more now on the summit getting under way injohannesburg. in the last half—an—hour we have seen south africa's president ramaphosa presenting the chinese leader with gifts at the opening session. the brics group of nations consists of brazil, russia, india and south africa.

there's a surge of interest from more than 20 countries injoining the bloc and china's leader, xijinping, is particularly keen on welcoming new members. analysts say brics could emerge as a challenger to western dominance in world affairs. xijinping hasjust said that his country and south africa stand at what they call a new historical starting point. this meeting is taking place in pretoria. let's go to johannesburg. leandro prazeres from bbc brazil is there for us.

what is brazil hoping to get out of this summit?— this summit? what brazilian officials have _ this summit? what brazilian officials have told _ this summit? what brazilian officials have told me - this summit? what brazilian officials have told me is - this summit? what brazilian officials have told me is that this summit? what brazilian - officials have told me is that our rapid expansion of the block, brazil won some parameters set as to how this new membership should be happening. one of the parameters that brazil wants to see on the table is that the new members should compromise, they should be in favour of the united nations security council. it of the united nations security council. , ., y ., , of the united nations security council. , ., ., council. it started off as an economic _ council. it started off as an economic grouping - council. it started off as an economic grouping but - council. it started off as an economic grouping but it . council. it started off as an economic grouping but it is increasingly becoming more geopolitical. how are brazilian saying this group of nations? brazil traditionally _ saying this group of nations? brazil traditionally tried _ saying this group of nations? brazil traditionally tried to _ saying this group of nations? brazil traditionally tried to have _ saying this group of nations? i512 l traditionally tried to have good relations with china and with other

countries, such as the united states and countries in europe, what brazilian officials have told me is that brazil is trying to get a balance between the geopolitical implications of the rapid expansion of the block. implications of the rapid expansion of the block-— of the block. what is the view of mm: of the block. what is the view of young people _ of the block. what is the view of young people in _ of the block. what is the view of young people in brazil— of the block. what is the view of young people in brazil about- of the block. what is the view of young people in brazil about the of the block. what is the view of - young people in brazil about the war in ukraine and russia's involvement, given that russia is a brics country? given that russia is a brics count ? ., , ., given that russia is a brics count ? . , ., , given that russia is a brics count ? ., , ., , , country? that is a very interesting cuestion. country? that is a very interesting question- the _ country? that is a very interesting question. the war _ country? that is a very interesting question. the war in _ country? that is a very interesting question. the war in ukraine - country? that is a very interesting question. the war in ukraine is . country? that is a very interesting l question. the war in ukraine is very far away from brazil, it doesn't seem to me that it is a major topic among young brazilians at the moment. the young people are more interested in the economic implications, for example the rapid expansion of the block.

well, what does india make of what's going on? let's ask harsh pant, professor of international relations with the india institute at king's college. what does india and mahendra modi think of the possible expansion of these other countries wanting to join? i these other countries wanting to “oin? ~ ~ ., ., these other countries wanting to 'oin? ~' a, . a, ., , these other countries wanting to “oin? ~ ., , , join? i think mahendra moody is in s nc with join? i think mahendra moody is in sync with the _ join? i think mahendra moody is in sync with the brazilian _ sync with the brazilian understanding that first brics as a platform straight to and delineate standards and principles on which new members can be brought in because otherwise it becomes a very unwieldy organisation and perhaps dominated by china's desire to make brics an anti—west platform. that is a real worry here in new delhi that the chinese and russians together are morphing for geo— economic platform to something that is anti—west, something which india,

new delhi and mahendra moody would be very uncomfortable with. [30 new delhi and mahendra moody would be very uncomfortable with.— be very uncomfortable with. do you feel it is moving _ be very uncomfortable with. do you feel it is moving on _ be very uncomfortable with. do you feel it is moving on from _ be very uncomfortable with. do youj feel it is moving on from economics and trade into something more political with that overt anti—western agenda? political with that overt anti-western agenda? yes, it all started off _ anti-western agenda? yes, it all started off when _ anti-western agenda? yes, it all started off when jim _ anti-western agenda? yes, it all started off when jim o'neill - anti-western agenda? yes, it all. started off when jim o'neill coined started off whenjim o'neill coined this term called brics. this was the idea that these were emerging economies that wanted a greater share in decision—making when it came to a global economic frameworks, global economic order and that was the approach from his originalfive and that was the approach from his original five countries for a very long time. what has happened in the last few years in particular as relations between china and the west have deteriorated, and russia and the west is on a war footing, there is the synchronisation between the chinese and russian approaches and

the desire to make it an overtly political organisation, it is something that is causing consternation in new delhi but also in brazil and to a certain extent in south africa. these are countries that don't want to take sides in this so—called emerging cold war. faced with the fact that china is the big economic player in this grouping, in the world, in fact, therefore has that platform in order to push their agenda, how are relations at the moment between delhi and beijing? bier? relations at the moment between delhi and beijing?— relations at the moment between delhi and beijing? delhi and bei'ing? very poor because ofthe delhi and bei'ing? very poor because of the prices — delhi and beijing? very poor because of the prices that _ delhi and beijing? very poor because of the prices that happened - delhi and beijing? very poor because of the prices that happened in - delhi and beijing? very poor because of the prices that happened in 2020 i of the prices that happened in 2020 and has yet to be resolved. that is what makes this platform very interesting because it is a platform thatis interesting because it is a platform that is designed with the indians and chinese can sit together and talk about global issues, but increasingly when you look at the global agendas they are differing

and moving in opposite directions and moving in opposite directions and that is causing strain in the relationship between china and india, but also in brics. this particular summit will be very interesting to observe as to how indians navigate this very delicate balancing act where they have to manage their ties with the global south, with brazil and south africa, but also with china and russia who are seemingly on a warpath the west. it'll be very interesting to see what happens over the next few days. thank you forjoining us. brics represents 40% of the world population, different levels of growth, economies, and different of course. defence officials in ukraine have described claims of corruption within the country's army recruitment system as "shameful and unacceptable".

it comes after president volodymyr zelensky recently sacked every regional recruitment head. officials were accused of taking bribes. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse reports. "it's ok to be scared." this is the latest messaging campaign from ukraine's military. it wants people to give their details so they can be called on if needed. but what if they don't want to? translation: the system is very outdated. _ yehor — not his real name — is one of them. he's not happy with how the army finds its soldiers. translation: it's like soviet times. recruiters using these methods now is unacceptable. mobilisation is why most men under 60 can't leave ukraine. here, drafting officers raid an arcade in the kyiv region.

they hand out notices ordering them to sign up. russia's invasion means ukraine is constantly trying to replace soldiers. but with tens of thousands killed and even more injured or exhausted, the demand is not being met with just volunteers. but there are big questions over how it calls men up — with officials being accused of intimidation, and helping some escape the country for cash. there are exemptions, including poor health — but not forjust not wanting to fight. yehor watched his father suffer with mental—health issues after serving in afghanistan with the soviet army. translation: each | situation is individual. the fact it's written in the constitution that all male citizens must fight is, in my opinion, not in line with today's values. thousands of men try to avoid the draft — either through tip—offs or leaving the country illegally — unless they�* re caught.

"good evening. where are you going?" said this border guard. ukrainian defence officials are usually easier to engage with. this is clearly a sensitive subject. we've been refused interviews, access with drafting officers. so we're going to go to them. at the unveiling of the defence ministry's latest information campaign, an admission of problems which need fixing. i understand that people will be afraid of fighting on the front line, but i put it to you that they're also afraid of a recruitment system that's been accused of corruption, of not always following the law. do you understand why people don't trust the system? translation: corruptionj in the recruitment centres is unacceptable and shameful. but we should not forget that, behind all that outrage — which is completely fair — there are two components

of our victory. weapons and people. and the mobilisation process is what provides that. in an abandoned kyiv summer camp, civilians are trained in combat. the guns and grenades might be pretend... explosion. ..but there is a hope people like anton will volunteer for the real thing. are you scared about that idea in any way? of course, of course. every person, and i'm scared. i'm scared to hell. there is no chance i will be sitting here in kyiv if the situation is worse. the ukraine of today is fighting for its tomorrow. a country united by wanting to survive... ..but also grappling with the fact that the battlefield is not for everyone. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv.

japan says it will start releasing treated radioactive water from the fukushima nuclear power plant into the pacific ocean on thursday. the decision, which was approved by the un nuclear watchdog last month, has been widely criticised byjapan�*s neighbours. hong kong's government is banning somejapanese seafood imports in response to the discharge. japan has maintained that the process is safe — an assertion backed by the international atomic energy agency. it says the gradual release over the coming years will have a negligible radiological impact. hong kong's court of final appeal has issued a ruling affirming tougher minimum prison terms for offences against the national security law. it was imposed on the territory by beijing three years ago. judges said the sentencing provisions of the national security law superceded local customary laws dating from hong kong's time under british control. the ruling is likely to affect dozens of pro—democracy figures standing trial

or appealing jail terms. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. i can't sit still for five minutes and in some ways that is probably hurt me over the years. i was feeling breathless, i kept getting arm pains, i had a few angina attacks. i ended up going to the hospital and they came back and said we really can do much with your stents, you will have to go on the list for a bypass. two or three days later the consultant phoned me and said do you want to try this new procedure that lasers them open. they put a pipe up there with a

laser, obviously minute later, that goes into your artery and it lasers the plaque and a goes to nothing. i thank them so much because they have given me my life back. you're live with bbc news. researchers say using mri scans to screen men for prostate cancer could reduce deaths "significantly". prostate cancer is the most common cancerfound in men and is highly treatable if caught early, but in the uk 12,000 men die every year. the uk's death rate is twice as high as the us, spain or italy. mri scans have been found to be more effective than the current blood tests, which can be unreliable. it's hoped thousands of lives could be saved. our medical editor, fergus walsh, has been finding out more. paul rothwell�*s prostate cancer was caught early and successfully treated. it was diagnosed here at london's university college hospital when he took part in a trial

using mri scans. the 62—year—old's cancer would have been missed if he'd only had the standard psa blood test, which came back as normal. if ijust had the blood test, i would be carrying on life as normal, walking around unaware that there was some sort of ticking time bomb inside me of a cancer slowly growing. so by the time i then did find out, presumably it would have been much harder to treat, and much more dangerous to me. so you feel fortunate? yeah, very fortunate. i'm, you know, thrilled that i was diagnosed so early. we don't see any sign of cancer recurrence there... paul was among 300 men aged 50 to 75 who took part in the trial led by university college london. of the 25 men whose aggressive cancers were picked up via mri, over half — like paul — had negative blood tests. we think these are really significant results. what we see is that a short ten—minute mri scan used as a screening test can selectively

pick up significant cancers in a much more effective way than the psa blood test alone. that'll help us to diagnose the important cancers early, when they're curable. the prostate is a walnut—sized gland which sits below the bladder. it's the uk's most common male cancer, with 52,000 new diagnoses every year. this is what men over 50 can request from their doctor — a blood test for the protein psa. high levels can indicate cancer, so it's a useful test, but unreliable as it's not always accurate. thank you. black men have a one—in—four risk of getting prostate cancer — double that of white men — but are less likely to come forward for testing. after he developed prostate cancer, errol mckellar started offering men

discounts on their mot if they got themselves checked out. and he now runs a charity to raise awareness of the disease. when prostate cancer turns up at your front door, it doesn't care, right, whether you're black, whether you're white. it doesn't care about your wealth. it doesn't care about you. what it will do if you ignore it, it will kill you. 0k, paul. nice and still. larger trials will be needed to confirm the value of mri scans before a national screening programme for prostate cancer could be set up — which may take up to a decade. fergus walsh, bbc news. the us president, joe biden, has visited the hawaiian island of maui and offered government support following the deadly wildfires there. nearly two weeks after the disaster which has killed at least 114 people, he's named a federal response co—ordinator and says the island's critical infrastructure

will be made more resilient. live now to cbs news correspondent danya bacchus, who is in maui. 850 people unaccounted for. that is a staggering number. how is the search and recovery process going? right now three quarters of the five mile disaster area has been searched and officials say it could be weeks before they are able to finish the rest. more than 400 search and rescue agents with cadaver dogs are now going through that rubble. we are told they are going through the larger building now, like apartment complexes, but because of the temperature of the fire, because of how severe the fire has been, they say those buildings are just completely reduced to ash and that is making it extremely difficult to

search. the governor says he fears that most of the remains, some of the remains, may never be recovered. president biden has been criticised for his response by some to these wildfires and the fact that it's taken him a while to get there. how was he received when he was —— when he arrived? it was he received when he was -- when he arrived?— he arrived? it depends on who you ask. for he arrived? it depends on who you ask- for the _ he arrived? it depends on who you ask. for the most _ he arrived? it depends on who you ask. for the most part _ he arrived? it depends on who you ask. for the most part it _ he arrived? it depends on who you ask. for the most part it was - ask. for the most part it was welcomed today. many community members had the chance to meet with him because he met with hundreds of survivors and families impacted. elders of the community were able to voice their concerns to him. that was pleasing for some people. of course there are some others who criticised his lack of response, or the time to in him getting here. many people know, hearing the president say he is vowing to support the people of lahaina, help them rebuild, to make sure there are

is action behind the words. he them rebuild, to make sure there are is action behind the words.— is action behind the words. he made this oint is action behind the words. he made this point that _ is action behind the words. he made this point that local _ is action behind the words. he made this point that local voices _ is action behind the words. he made this point that local voices would - this point that local voices would be listened to. has that been a concern in maui, that some hawaiian traditions would not be respected. when it comes to the rebuilding of some of these areas, that local custom would be taken into account? it has been a majorfear, what custom would be taken into account? it has been a major fear, what they are really fearing here is that developers will come in and take the lands. they are fearful of a land grab. we heard from residents saying give us time to grieve before you even start talking about the rebuilding process, because they want to be a part of it, to be able to set up the table and let community members, government officials, developers know exactly what it is that they would like to see in their community because they

say that lahaina is not for sale. over the last few months, the saudi pro league, also known as the spl, has shaken the global football industry by signing a host of high profile football players from european leagues for record salaries. last week, brazilian star player neymar became the latest prominent name to join the saudi league. saudi clubs have collectively spent over $650 million during the summer transfer window to attract foreign players. here's our middle east business correspondent sameer hashmi, who travelled to riyadh to find out more. a rapturous welcome for neymar at his new club, al hilal. a volley of fireworks was followed by a drone show projecting the brazilian player's face in the sky as the star footballer was unveiled in front of thousands of ecstatic supporters. al hilal is one of asia's most successful clubs, but for many fans, neymar�*s arrival marks the beginning of a new era. it means a lot for us. neymar is a megastar player,

a brazilian leader, and he will bring a lot of fans to al hilal. translation: we are so happy that stars like cristiano and neymar are playing here in saudi. we hope that the saudi league will become as good as the other leagues in europe. the ambitious project to make saudi arabia a football powerhouse started with the arrival of cristiano ronaldo at al nassr last year. this was followed by another record deal when karim benzema moved to al—ittihad from real madrid injune. since then, there has been an influx of foreign players. a couple of months ago the top four saudi clubs were bought over by the pif, which is the country's sovereign wealth fund. what it has done is, it has enabled clubs like al hilal to offer eye—watering salaries to attract some of the biggest names in global football. sports is one of the main pillars

of the country's vision 2030 economic diversification programme, which aims to reduce saudi arabia's reliance on oil revenues by building new industries and attracting foreign companies. in line with that objective, the saudi pro league plans to continue spending big to sign more international players. we have a commitment to support this for however long it takes. however, the responsibility that we have is that that commitment is to also take that commercialisation element of the strategy and start increasing that so that we can be responsible for our own financial growth in the future and not to be wholly dependent on the government. saudi arabia's aim is to elevate the spl in the world's top ten in terms of revenues by 2030. it's still early to judge whether these bold investments will pay off in the long run, but the strategy has demonstrated the gulf state's ambition of becoming a major international football hub.

aston villa have become the latest premier league club to sign the muslim athlete charter to help meet the religious and cultural needs of its staff and players. the club is now among dozens from five different sports to join. the charter contains ten points which includes making provisions for players and staff to pray in appropriate places and be allowed to fast in ramadan. can you spot what's odd about the newest baby giraffe that's recently been born at a zoo in tennessee in the us? this adorable calf was born on 31st july and, as you can tell, she hasn't got any spots. she is yet to be named and experts at bright's zoo believe she is the only spotless giraffe alive on the planet. the video shows her playing with her mum and, despite her unusual look, zoo staff say she's "thriving". stay with us here on bbc news.

hello. the weather hasn't been too bad across most of the uk so far today with lengthy spells of sunshine. but some of us have had to use our umbrellas too. there are a few showers lurking around some western and north—western areas. here's the big picture across the north atlantic and europe. look at that pattern in the jet stream moving northwards around greenland, then southwards and then right over us. and with the warm air or hot air to the south, with this pattern, it means that all the heat has been deflected to more central and eastern parts of europe. so an intense heatwave across some parts of europe through the middle part of the week, in excess of 40 degrees across spain, france and italy. but here in the uk, we'rejust feeling the effects of that warmth, particularly in the south and the south—east. here's the recent satellite picture. a few showers there. and this is the jet stream i've got here.

that's the wind at 30,000 feet streaking the clouds along. temperatures today, pleasant, 20 degrees in belfast, around 21 in newcastle, similarfor liverpool and then in norwich in london around the mid 20s. and then the forecast for this evening, a lot of fine weather around, a few scattered showers there across parts of southern scotland, maybe the lake district. and then we have this little weak weather system sweeping in just to the south of ireland, moving into wales. so perhaps some rain here early in the morning and the temperatures a little on the fresh side in aberdeen, eight degrees, but for most of us, around 12 to 14. so more cloud for a time in the morning i think for wales and parts of central england. but then it looks as though the clouds should break up. there'll be some sunshine around and actually tomorrow overall a similar day, the temperatures will be similar around 19 or 20 in the north, typically the mid 20s across the south. low pressure, be it a weak one, is in charge of the weather on thursday.

the winds aren't going to be particularly strong with this weak area of low pressure, but there is a fair amount of cloud spinning around across western and north western scotland. so some showers here, could be a few showers elsewhere as well. and that warmth is starting to contract to the extreme east and the south—east there. so 25, whereas in glasgow there we're talking about 17. but i think in the days ahead the temperatures will pretty, pretty much stabilise in the north of the country. so about 18 for edinburgh and belfast, but in london it will cool off from 25 into the low 20s. that's it for me. bye— bye.

today at one: new hope in the battle against prostate cancer, as a study suggests a short mri scan could be used to screen patients. the ten—minute scans have proved more accurate at diagnosing cancer than blood tests. a short, ten—minute mri scan, used as a screening test, can selectively pick up significant cancers in a much more effective way. also on the programme, a developing story this lunchtime. a rescue operation is under way as eight people — including six children — are trapped in a cable car dangling above a ravine in pakistan. the number of people dying from drug abuse in scotland has fallen to its lowest level in five years.