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viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "bbc world news". >> this is bbc news america. a military exercis caused a possible exercise of reunification. >> china fired missiles across the taiwan strait and fell into ters and the exclusion zones of the north taiwan coast. the primary objective is obviously intimidation. >> the u.s. basketball star brittney griner is jailed for nine years for bringing canvas oil into russia. president biden calls the sentence unacceptable. the united states declares monkeypox an emergency.

if volcanic eruptionn iceland has become a unique tourist attraction. ♪ welcome to world news america. china has fired rockets, artillery and ballistic missiles into the waters around taiwan in response to the u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi. the defense ministry is warning the unprecedented military exercises are a threat to peace and it is accusing beijing of violating island sovereignty. the taiwan president is urging citizens to be on high alert. officials say beijing is working to reunify by choice. >> it began with this barrage of

rockets into the sky from the southeast coast of china. it is that they came down somewhere in the middle of the taiwan's weight. this is just a prelude for the inland, forces were preparing to launch bigger more capable ballistic missiles. in all, china is thought to have fired 11 into orders around taiwan. several also felt inside its exclusive economic zone. the chinese capital, sentiment is running high. >> i think ms. pelosi's visit is a good thing. it gives us an oortunity to surround taiwan and take taiwan by force earlier than expected. i think we should thank come at pelosi. >>his is exactly what we suspected might happened -- might happen. they fired missiles and fell and

the inclusion souls off of the north taiwan coast. the primary objective is obviously intimidation. this will bring destruction to the taiwan shippg industry, airline industry and fishing fleets. we found these glum fishermen fixing their nets. they say no fish means no income. this captain toby triedo put to sea only to be ordered back by the coast guard. we don't know where the inclusion zones are so we have no choice but to do with the coast guard tells u the taiwanese defense ministry has said it is an attempt to blockade the island. this retired navy caption -- captain said what they are doing is an elaborate performance. >> what china hasngaged in is psychological warfare. all of the missiles being fired and explosion is to show the domestic audience how tough

beijing needs to be while intimidating the people of taiwan. it is nevertheless an impressive the show and illustrates just how far china's litary has come. china's next step could be to fire a missile over the top of taiwan, something it has never attempted to do before. jane: a court in russia has sentence the u.s. basketball star britney greiner nine years in prison for snuggling drugs. cannabis oil was found in her luggage. in court she pleaded guilty to drugs charges but said she had not intended to break the law. she will also have to pay a fine of 1 million rubles, about $16,000. in a statement released shortly after the verdict, u.s. president joe biden said ms. griner sentence was unaccepble

and that his administration will pursue every possible avenue to bring her home. steve rosenberg is in moscow. the awesome is offering a prisoner swap. has there been any response from moscow? >> not specifically today, what we know that in recent days russia and america have been talking about this, because the united states has mentioned brittney griner asart of a possible prisoner swap but also paulelland, the former.s. marine, who is also in a russian prison, and some reports suggested that in return, the united states uld release the notorious russian arms trafficker, victor boot, who was sentenced for 25 years in an american prison a decade ago, that would be highly controversial, because victor

boot was allegedly one of the prolific arms dealers in the world, known as the merchant of death, remitted to have linked russian intelligence agencies although he denies that. this is the man a kremlin -- the kremlin has been wanting to get back for a long time. if authorities manage to bring him back, the criminal would view that as a huge win for moscow. jane: u.s. administration is calling this trial a sham. how does russia see it? ste: it is interesting. i was watching the news on russian television, channel one, it was buried at the end, story 17 out of 18 and there was very little information given about it, but basically if you follow the story and the russian state media, they present it simply as a criminal trial and talk about brittney griner is someone who

broke russian law and brought drs into the country and has been put on trial. they don't mention the possibility of a prisonerwap. jane: how much of this is the catalyst of the war in ukraine? how much of this is brinkmanship over the conflict there? steve: i think this predate events in ukraine. victor boot is someone the russians have been wanting to get out of an american jail for a very long time. the americans have been talking about trying to get paul welland out of a russian jail for quite some time. this has been going on a long while, and even though it relations between russia and the united states are at an all-time low over what is happening in ukraine at the moment, the two sides are talking or the u.s. secretary of state, antony

blinken, talked to the foreign minister and the two men might meet possibly in cambodia. contact has been made, and that is giving hope ceainly to the family of the basketball star, but there could be a prisoner swap that takes place. jane: do we know how either brittney griner or paul welland are being treated at the moment? steve: the information coming out suggests they are being treated ok. what we learned today was that brittney griner is certainly upset at the verdict. it won't comas too much of a surprise but certainly it was a shock to her, nine years sentence in a russian prison for bringing lesshan a gram of cannabis oil innovate cartridges. that has come as a shock.

jane: let's have a quick look at some of the day's other news. a rock in the grip of an heatwave, soaring past 50 degrees celsius in several cities, making them the hottest laces in the wld. it is so hot that some state employs have been given a day off. a four-day holiday has been declared as many people struggle without air-conditioning due to frequent power cuts. the lower house of parliament in australia has passed an ambitious climate change initiative committing them to a 43% cut in emissions by 2030 and that zero by the middle of the century, coming after austria has had extreme weather events includg flooding and wildfires. the bank has lowered interest rates have percent, the biggest

increase in 27 years. inflation expected to hit 13% and the u.k. economy is forecast to enter a recession in the final quarter of the year, and what will be the longest economic downturn since 2008. the biden administration has declared monkeypox a public heal emergency as the u.s. grapples with the largest number of infection of virus outside africa. the deck relation -- the declaration will allow them resources to fight it. joining me is dr. brown, mf emergency physician. how has monkeypox gone are being a rare disease in the u.s. to a national health emergency in just a matter of weeks? dr. brown: part of the reason for that is there just has not been a coordinated response and resources we have needed to contain this virus.

if you were to look back when the virus was first found in e united states at the end of may and moving into june, we didn't have adequate vaccines, communicatn, tools, resources to contain the virus. now we do have a vaccine, but the supply of those vaccines is quite low. it is not surprising that we would see this virus spread in a somewhat unmitigated fashion. jane: is this a case that lessons from the covid and team -- covid 19 pandemic haven't been learned? dr. brown: in my position i led the response from a large medical group and i sought the importance of the coordination of resources, communication across states, making sure we had enough vaccines and treatments and testing. that simply isn't he right now.

we only have just a little over one million vaccines allocated throughout the states. here in d.c., there are only 15,000 vaccines in a city of 750,000. that is just not enough to contain the virus. we have 50 different states with 50 different solutions plus d.c. trying to come up with the best way to protect its citizens and have to prevent the spread of the virus. with the public health emergency, i am hopeful we will have a more coordinated response and better resourcing. jane: how worried should people be about contracting this disease? dr. brown: right now the number of cases are low, there are 6000 cases her in the united states and clustered in cities with certain communities. this is a skin to skin contact disease and also a disease that has some respiratory spread component to it and can be spread through some linens.

i like to tell people that viruses do not discriminate, humans commit eight. we need to stay vigilant and watch for signs and symptoms and watch for the cases within our communities. here in d.c., it is certainly here here we had where the largest number of people with the virus per capita in t country. so i am making sure that all of my friends and colleagues know what are the signs and symptoms to watch for because it is certainly something people can get. jane: could you tell us what are the symptoms? what is so bad about monkeypox? dr. brown: most people will have a rash associated with the moeypox. some of the rashes can be small like a pimple or blister. it sometimes it can be all over the body. in 60% of people, they will have fever and flu like symptoms, body aches. what has been interesting about this string of monkeypox is that

not everyone has followed the exact same symptom pattern with having flu symptoms first and then a rash and then painful rash. some people just have a rash. the rash last anywhere from two toour weeks. it is really important for people to be on the lookout for rashes that may be odd, especially at they have fevers and body aches and if they know they have been in contact with someone who has been with -- who has had monkeypox. jane: dr. adam brown, thank you very much indeed for joining us. dr. brown will in thank you for having me -- dr. brown: thank you for having m jane: the town west of johannesburg remain volatile. one peon was killed. demonstrations began as eight women were raped while filming a

music video. this report was sent from johannesburg. >> we are in the area west of johannesburg where residents have been setting fire to homes that they believe belong to illegals. now they are trying to put out fires because the danger here is that the fire could spread to other homes in all these people around us could lose their belongings. just last week, eight women were gang raped allegedly by these illegal mino and that is why community members have no taken to the streets trying to drive out all of the undocumented african people who live here. there have been raids every day since the gang rapes occurred on thursday.

130 illegal minors have been arrested and they are facing charges of possession of explosives and illegal firearms but have not been charged for rape because dna analysis still needs to take place. please have said that as soon dna tests are concluded, some of the 130 men arrested could face rape urges as well. behind me is an old mine, and there are ventilation shafts and that is where illegal minors work from. the community has had enough. >> let them stop doing what they are doi, killing our people, raping them, comg into their houses and doing whatever they do. >> for them leaving, seeing an eye for an eye, that is going to

cause problems. let them go and there will be peace. >> there are worries that protests like this could spread to other parts of johannesburg, particularly in the east of johannesburg where illegal mining is evident. police have been doing all they can hear to disperse the crowds and clear of the streets, but it has not been easy. jane: the volatile situation there. in pakistan, at least 530 people been killed and thousands displaced after disastrous floods hit south of the country. we have the report from islamabad. >> these people say they have lost what little worldly belongings they have had, many left with no means to rebuild. flooding has brought death and instruction across pakistan and

the loss has been devastating. >> i am a widow. my house, property, cattle, furniture has been washed away. thwhole region has been washed away. nothing is left. >> all of the animals have been washed away. two houses have collapsed. we are poor and have no support. >> thousands of homes gone, flattened and some major roads washed away, taking it difficult for those trapped by floodwaters to get to safety. rth of the country, relief efforts being overseen. in a temporary shelter for the displaced, he told the women, some of them widowed by the floods, that the government would help them to rebuild their

lives. it is not clear how long that will take her along they will have to stay here. pakistani officials are in a race against the elements as more rain and thunderstorms are expected over the next couple of days. excessive flooding may become a recurring problem in pakistan, as the country is one of the most vulnerable to extreme weather. there are fears that the officials are not prepared r what is to come. jane: much of europe in the grip of another heatwave, and this time there are worries over intentional drought. the european commission has warned number stateso reuse treated urban wastewater to irrigate farmland. >> in the city of toulouse, it is such a low level, fishermen are able to wade out, the river

only covering their ankles purely some of weather and no rain has had an dramatic impact. >> we are seeing record levels of drought. that is to say we have never seen the ground as dry as it is at the moment. over the com days, not a lot of rain expected snow and in sight. >> according to meteorologist and the month of july, france only saw 9.7 millimeters of rainfall. that is 84% down on average levels from that month, making it the driest on record in more than 60 years. the environment minister said only 12% ofhe rainfall required fell in july. in this part of northern france, not far from dunkirk, what the shortages are not a problem, but even here, the river well below

its usual level. the local authorities have placed the area underage right crosses -- drought crisis alert. >> the effects of drought are a direct conseence of global warming which is only intensifying. we are hearing about it and seeing the physical effects on the ground, undoubtedly one of the effects of global warming which is accelerating and intensifying. >> a lack of consequences. this is a local farmer whose potato crop is in serious danger. >> if it doesn't rain between noand the 15th of august, 10 to 12 days, we can easily le up to 50% of our crop. >> it is not just france attention a drght. these and seven england running completely dry. water companies have imposed

bans on ctomers in several counties and london could be next. unless rain arrives soon, the impact of the attentional doubt will only becommore severe. jane: birds from every continent except antarctica found to be nesting our tangled in our rubbish. vogel -- photos were submitted and they were entangled in everything from fishing line to flip-flops and disposable facemasks making up a quarter of the waste. >> the grim but familiar sight in many urban waterways. how many different times of things are floating? >> i can see easily seven or eight different kinds of plastic just here. >> it is the wildlife that inhabits these waterways that are living in our rubbish.

ese images submitted by members of the public, collected by scientists, show the mobile extent of the problem. scientists as people to upload pictures of birds tangled in rubbish. >> we have 400 reports covering every continent except antarctica. so literally everywhere. and then covid happened and all of the sudden we had all of these submissions of face masks, surgical gloves. >> the ppe items, is that more of a problem that a plastic bag or bottle? >> the mask is not just one thing, you have the ear loops, the region piece of flexible plastic that fits over your nose . have a whole bch of ways that wildlife can seemingly interact. >> in some cases like this one,

some people have been able to help. >> well done. >> put this project shows the surge in pandemic related waste ending up in our environment. >> kind to say the systems we have can't cope and wildlife and wild spaces are nearing the consequences. jane: take a look at these extraordinary images from iceland. molten lava spewing from a volcanic creating a spectacle for tourists but worry for the international airport just nine miles away. as to the same volcano erupted for six months. the latest activity comes after days of small earthquakes in the area. you can find more of those extraordinary pictures on our website. to find out what we are working on, check outn social media.

they cute for watching "bbc wod news america." narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ narrator: you're watching pbs. ♪ da-da-da-duh-da-da-da♪ ♪ da-da-da-da-da-da ♪♪

♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, detained in russia. brittney griner sentenced to nine years in prison for bringing a small amount of cannabis oil into the country. what still could be done to bring her home. then, scenes of war. soldiers use american weapons in a critical effort to push back russian forces. >> my home is now under occupation. there are guys on the other front fighting for liberation. i am doing the same on my front, fighting for someone else's home.

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