World News

  US President Donald Trump has defended supporters of his for their alleged roles in recent deadly street clashes. He suggested a teen accused of killing two in Wisconsin last week and Trump fans involved in clashes in Oregon on Saturday were acting in self-defence. Mr Trump pointed out his Democratic White House challenger, Joe Biden, has not specifically disavowed far-left activists accused of civil disorder. Mr Biden is leading in opinion polls ahead of November's election.

                             I would always see people surfing and I'd say to myself: 'But where are the girls who surf says the 25-year-old. I thought: 'Why don't I go surfing, represent my country, represent Africa, represent Senegal, as a black girl                            Reuters photojournalist Zohra Bensemra has documented Sambe's training and her coaching of other girls and women.                         I always think to myself, when I wake up in the morning:'Khadjou, youve got something to do, you represent something everywhere in the world, you must go straight to the point, don't give up. Whatever people say, don't listen go forward - so that everybody can get up and believe they can surf

                    The US has now surpassed six million cases of Covid-19 - almost a quarter of the world's total, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University. It said the country added one million new infections in less than a month. More than 183,000 people have now died. In the UK, France and Spain, the infection rate dropped compared with Sunday's figures - but the tallies may be readjusted later on. It comes as children across Europe prepare to return to schools this week. The total number of confirmed cases globally has now surpassed 25 million, with more than 846,000 Covid-19 related deaths. The true number of cases is likely to be significantly higher, because many people who have had the infection but did not show symptoms have not been tested. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the emergency authorisation of vaccines requires a great deal of seriousness and reflection. The UN body's chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, said

                  Florence Parly gave no further details but sources told French media the officer was stationed with Nato and based in Italy.The lieutenant-colonel was suspected of passing sensitive information to Russian intelligence, Europe 1 reports.He has been remanded in custody in Paris, the radio station said.Ms Parly told Europe 1 it was France that had instigated the legal proceedings in the case and it was now in the hands of prosecutors.We have taken all the protective measures that were necessary, she said.A judicial source told Agence France-Presse the officer had been remanded and was being investigated over intelligence with a foreign power that undermines the fundamental interests of the nation. Europe 1 said the officer involved had distant family roots in Russia and spoke the language fluently.It said he worked at a command centre near Naples.The officer was arrested 10 days ago as he prepared to return to Italy from holiday in France, it said.  

                          Police in Berlin have arrested 300 demonstrators during protests against Germany's coronavirus restrictions. Some 38,000 people took to the streets in the city for mostly peaceful demonstrations.Later hundreds of protesters, many from the far right, tried to storm the Reichstag, the home of Germany's federal parliament.A number of people were arrested and German politicians condemned the attack as "shameful" and unacceptable.Some of those involved had insignia from the far-right Reichsbürger (Reich Citizens) movement. Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: "Nazi symbols as well as Reichsbürger and Imperial German flags have no place in the German Bundestag.Earlier some 200 people were arrested at one rally, which the authorities blamed on right-wing agitators who were said to have thrown stones and bottles.Rallies protesting against coronavirus restrictions took place in other European cities with some demonstrators calling the virus a hoax

                      If we are talking percentages then Manchester City are very much in the driving seat to be Lionel Messi's next club. Paris St-Germain have been in touch with Messi's dad, his agent, again about the possibility of signing the Barcelona captain, who  submitted a transfer request on Tuesday. And, perhaps most intriguingly of all, Juventus are now looking at the hugely unlikely scenario of organising some very daring financial deals and sponsorships that could see Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing together for the first time. What a mouth-watering prospect that would be. But it is also close to impossibl At the end of a week of countless headlines and rumours, there are two things we now definitely know above anything else, namely that Messi very much wants to leave Barcelona and Barcelona would very much like him to stay.That is the simple analysis of what promises to become an even more complicated scenario than it already is.And the reason for that is tha

                Preserving the Amazon rainforest is of global importance in the fight against climate change, but it is under threat from forest fires, mostly started to clear land for agriculture. Early numbers from this year's fire season show an increase, leading to concern from scientists. President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil recently said that claims the Amazon "is going up in flames" were not true, despite statistics published by his own government showing the spread of fires. So what does the data show about what's happening this year? Is the forest in Brazil burning Brazil is a huge country with many different environments, including grassland, wetland and rainforest. Some 60% of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil, and it plays a vital role in absorbing harmful CO2 that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. So there's particular concern about the damage that fires might, The total number of fires in Brazil's Amazon until July this year is high -

                          Security was stepped up the last time Frans Hals's painting Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer was stolen from a small museum in the Dutch town of Leerdam. But it was not enough to stop art thieves forcing open the back door and making off with it for a third time.One of the Old Masters of the Dutch Golden Age, Frans Hals painted the work in 1626.Art detective Arthur Brand said he believed it was stolen to order.It's very difficult to secure small museums as it costs too much money. If they want to have your stuff, they'll get in," he told the BBC.Two Laughing Boys was first stolen in 1988 along with a Jacob van Ruisdael work. Both paintings were recovered three years later. The same paintings were taken again from the Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden museum in 2011 and found six months on.Frans Hals specialist Anna Tummers said at the time the painting was a wonderful example of his loose painting style... it was very playful, daring and lo

         Just two months after Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment, his actress girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty has found herself at the centre of a vicious hate campaign led by some of India's most high-profile journalists and social media trolls. Rajput was a rising star in India's popular Hindi film industry, and his death shocked India. His body was discovered in his bedroom on 14 June. Mumbai police said the 34-year-old appeared to have taken his own life, and reports in the press suggested that the actor had been dealing with mental health issues. But within days, the attention generated by his death had shifted to Chakraborty. She has become the subject of gossip and innuendo and misogynistic abuse. Every little detail of her life and relationship have been laid bare and debated in public. Conservative television hosts have described her as a "manipulative" woman who performed black magic and drove Sushant to suicide. On so

                   After a summer of tension, unrest, and protests over police brutality against African Americans in the US, some 50,000 demonstrators gathered in Washington to demand racial justice. Formally called the Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks - a reference to George Floyd, who was killed in police custody in May after a policeman knelt on his neck for several minutes - speakers urged attendees to vote for change. The 2020 March fell on the 57th anniversary of the 1963 civil rights March on Washington, an iconic event in American history, credited with spurring the passage of the Civil Rights Act outlawing segregation the following year.Yolanda Renee King, the granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr was among Friday's speakers.                    The event was organised by civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharp ton and the eldest son of Martin Luther King Jr Martin Luther King III.

                  Gatwick airport says passenger numbers fell by 14.7 million, or two-thirds, in the first half of the year as air travel collapsed amid the pandemic.   The airport, which annouced jobs also posted a £344m loss as sales fell across its business.Despite signs of recovery, Gatwick said it expected air traffic and passenger numbers to remain under pressure.It also warned passenger levels would take between four and five years to recover to pre-Covid levels.The West Sussex airport has been hard-hit by the pandemic. Virgin Atlantic has said it will cease operating at Gatwick, while British Airways has shifted its short-haul flights to Heathrow and is cutting hundreds of ground staff jobs at the airport.The number of travellers at Gatwick dropped by 66% to 7.5 million during the six months to June.Gatwick said this was "due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the effects of which began to be felt during February, increasing significantly in March and causing a near-complete drop i

                The US retail giant Walmart has said it will team up with Microsoft to make a bid for the US operations of TikTok . Walmart told the BBC it thought a deal with the Chinese video-sharing app would help it expand its operations.TikTok has been given 90 days to sell its US arm to an American firm or face a ban in the country. Donald Trump has alleged it shares its user data with Beijing - claims it denies.Earlier on Thursday the firm's boss resigned ahead of the impending ban. Confirming that the company was pursuing a deal, a Walmart spokesperson told the BBC: "We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of US TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of US government regulators. Microsoft, which confirmed at the beginning of August that it was in talks with TikTok, told the BBC it had nothing to share at this time. With Walmart, which owns UK supermarket chain Asda, it will now go up against other prospective bid

             Far from the cliché of a grey-suited quiet man of numbers, South Africa's Finance Minister Tito Mboweni appears to relish stirring up trouble on Twitter both at home and abroad. His most recent tweets to his more than 870,000 followers criticising the president of neighbouring Zambia earned him the wrath of many in that country, and a chastisement from his own President, Cyril Ramaphosa.But the well-respected economist is affectionately known on Twitter in South Africa as Uncle Tito for his more domestic concerns . While the 61-year-old tweets about a number of issues, his posts on what he is making for dinner are what gets most reaction from ordinary South Africans. But he is, let's say, not as talented in the kitchen as he is with numbers.His dishes are simple and hearty and the man loves his chillies and garlic, oodles of either usually have pride of place on the plate - much to the shock of those with sensitive palates.One of his most notorious tweets showed

                       This year's rescheduled Tour de France starts in Nice on Saturday and finishes in Paris on Sunday, 20 September . The riders will tackle a particularly tough course, with plenty of unique touches, as they race 3,470km around France. Britain’s Adam Yates is targeting stage wins over general classification in his fifth Tour and has given BBC Sport his insight into each of the stages. This page will be updated throughout the Tour with the winner and brief report after each stage has been completed. Saturday, 29 August - stage one: Nice - Nice, 156km           There is a prediction for some rain, which could make things tricky, but the crucial climbs are probably too far from the finish so I expect it to come down to a bunch sprint to decide the stage winner and first yellow jersey. Sunday, 30 August ,stage two Nice - Nice186km  

                      A polar bear has killed a man in Norway's Arctic Spitsbergen island, local officials say. The attack occurred at a campsite near Longyearbyen, the main town of the island in the Svalbard archipelago. The bear was then shot and found dead at the local airport. Experts say polar bears' hunting grounds have diminished as the Arctic ice sheet melts because of climate change, forcing them into populated areas as they try to find food. The man, identified as 38-year-old Dutch citizen Johan Jacobus Knotted, was attacked in his tent before dawn on Friday and died shortly afterwards of his injuries. Svalbard officials say there were seven people on the site at the time and they are being looked after by health services. Campsite owner Michelle van Dijk said the man who died had been in his second season as manager; "He had done the right training and knew how everything worked there," she told Dutch public broadcaster NOS.There had been a warning on Thu

                                 Apple has terminated Epic Games's account from its App Store amid a legal battle over in-app payments on the Fortnite game . Apple had already removed Fortnite from the store after the game offered a discount on its virtual currency for purchases made outside of the app, from which Apple receives a 30% cut.Epic says the fee is unfair.The company sued Apple earlier this year after it took down the hugely popular Fortnite from its App Store.We are disappointed that we have had to terminate the Epic Games account on the App Store, Apple said in a statement.We have worked with the team at Epic Games for many years on their launches and releases. The court recommended that Epic comply with the App Store guidelines while their case moves forward, guidelines they've followed for the past decade until they created this situation. Epic has refused. The suspension means Epic can no longer make apps for the iPhone or iPad. Epic is yet to comment on the m

               France has recorded its biggest daily rise in coronavirus infections since March, as President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of another nationwide lockdown. A further 7,379 cases were confirmed on Friday, bringing the country's total to 267,077.It was the largest daily spike since 31 March, when 7,578 cases were tallied at the peak of the first wave. France was seeing an "exponential" rise in cases, the health ministry said. The ministry said Friday's rise follows daily increases of 6,111 on Thursday and 5,429 on Wednesday. Despite the sharp rise, hospital numbers and daily deaths were relatively stable, as young people less vulnerable to the disease make up most of the new infections, the ministry said. Another 20 people were confirmed to have died with Covid-19 on Friday, bringing France's overall death toll to 30,596. Shortly before Friday's figures were released, Mr. Macron said a second national lockdown could not be ruled out if

              US actor Chadwick Boseman, best known for playing Black Panther in the hit Marvel superhero franchise, has died of cancer, his family say. The 43-year-old died at home in Los Angeles with his family by his side.Boseman had not spoken publicly about his diagnosis. A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,his family said in the statement . From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and several more all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. It was the honor of his career to bring King T'Challa to life in Black Panther Bozeman first came to prominence playing real-life figures - baseball great Jackie Robinson in 2013's 42, and musician James Brown in 2014's Get on Up. However, it will be as the titular Black Panther in the blockbuster 2018 film he will be best remembered.Boseman stars as the ruler of Wakanda, a fictiona

                  Pakistan is seeing the worst rainfall since records began 89 years ago. The annual monsoon rain is particularly bad this year and the city of Karachi is largely underwater,Roads have turned to rivers, houses have been destroyed and people had to flee to shelters.