we report from the philippines, where tensions with beijing are rising over territory in the south china sea. the uk has a new defence secretary — we'll ask how grant shapps will approach relations with china. it sounds like a cock and bull story — we'll hear about the man pulled over for driving with a real—life bull in the passenger seat. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we begin in the south african city ofjohannesburg, where 12 children are among

more than 70 people now known to have died after a fire in a tower block. it's thought a locked gate prevented people from escaping the flames. our correspondent shinghai nyoka is injohannesburg and has been witnessing the aftermath. the sound of screaming piercing the night in the heart of africa's richest city. "fire! fire!" they shout from a burning building home to hundreds of people. officials say many residents were trapped inside by a gate, blocked by the bodies of those who had already died. i was watching out of the window, all of the building was on fire, so i decided myself tojump first. ijumped down, my wife throw for me the baby, i catch him. i tell her to tie a bed sheet. she tied a bed sheet and came down it. i catch him.

relief and shock etched on the faces of those who managed to escape, but the rows of body bags are a grim reminder of those who didn't. many who lived inside this building were migrants from across the continent. the residents here were living in overcrowded conditions without consistent electricity or water. authorities say it resembled an informal settlement with shack—like partitions of cardboard boxes and sheets that likely fed the fire. now that the flames have been extinguished, the realisation that not everyone is coming out has set in. translation: i couldn't get into the second floor- because the fire was so bad. someone found my five—year—old and rescued him but i lost my two—year—old. i don't know what to do, i don't know where to go. the flames were so intense that people inside have been said to be burnt beyond recognition.

i have got about 23 years in the service, i have never come across something like this in my whole life. we sympathise with the people who have lost their lives, the residents who have lost their lives here, but we must do something about it as a city, working together to make sure we prevent incidents like this one. this evening, a visit by the south african president. support for him evident even among those grieving. the ministers and the mses and the province and the city are working now full out to make sure that those who need assistance from accommodation to trauma counselling to hospitalisation are being looked after. while the cause of the fire is still unknown, authorities are promising a thorough investigation as loved ones in mourning demand answers about one of the worst fires in south africa's history. shingai nyoka, bbc news, johannesburg.

there's new evidence of tension around long—standing territorial disputes in the south china sea. officials in the philippines have told the bbc they will stand firm, despite a chinese ship using water cannon against filipino coastguards who approached a contested reef. china has long claimed much of the area within the red line you can see here for itself, going against the lines you can see in blue, marking the internationally recognised waters of countries in the region, 200 nautical miles out from their coastlines. our asia pacific correspondent laura bicker sent this report from the island of palawan in the philippines. on the edge of this filipino paradise, survival depends on the sea. if you don't fish, you don't eat. they are used to battling wind and tide, but this country is also in a stand—off with beijing over

who owns which part of the south china sea. this crew used to fish near contested waters. from the age of 14, the deputy captain spent months on those shoals but not any more. translation: we might not return there, ma'am. - we are now scared. we're scared of china. we were harassed and even asked to leave. the fishermen have been asked tojoin a militia to help defend filipino territory. but life is already bathed in saltwater and sweat while steering boats made of simple bamboo. they have no wish to take on a global superpower. translation: you feel guarded. how can we feed our families? i what we need is to fish, that's our goal, out in the sea. the chinese might fire their water cannons. we just have a wooden boat.

we're really afraid of going back there. this is what the fishermen are afraid of. the chinese fired their water cannons at the filipino coastguard earlier this month. these are philippine waters according to un law. resolved to keep hold of their reefs, manila deliberately ran aground a rusting world war ii ship on what is known as ayungin shoal. but recent monthly efforts to supply troops on board with food and water have become increasingly tense. china argues that it is doing what is necessary to protect its sovereignty, its claims over the south china sea. the problem is that beijing's tactics and beijing's actions are pushing american allies in this region closer together, against what they see as aggression. in a show of solidarity, australia held its first

large—scale joint exercises with the philippines last week. they practised retaking an enemy—controlled island. and in manila bay, japanese and us navy warships sit side by side, ready forjoint drills. allied support has emboldened the philippines to speak out. really it is a david versus goliath issue, butjust like david, we will continue to pound and double down on the need to protect the resources which are important for the future of the philippines. the outcome of this dispute could have a profound impact here. where once their future was determined by ocean currents, now it may depend on the resolve of world leaders. laura bicker, bbc news, palawan. i'm joined now by collin koh, senior fellow at the institute of defence and strategic studies at nanyang technological university in singapore.

thank you forjoining us this morning. the us says chinese aggression in the south china sea must be challenged. do you agree? yes, certainly. this is about order concerning the united nations convention, the law of the sea, that gives coastal states their rights and duties and freedoms to those waters. in this case for the philippines, it also concerns sovereign rights. it's what we call and exclusive economic zone, without interference from other partners. figs zone, without interference from other partners-_ other partners. as laura mentioned _ other partners. as laura mentioned in _ other partners. as laura mentioned in her- other partners. as laura | mentioned in her report, other partners. as laura - mentioned in her report, japan mentioned in her report, japan and australia have been holding military drills in the region alongside the philippines this week. beijing won't like these activities, will they? sorry,

could you repeat? - activities, will they? sorry, could you repeat? japan i activities, will they? sorry, l could you repeat? japan and australia — could you repeat? japan and australia have _ could you repeat? japan and australia have been - could you repeat? japan and australia have been holding| australia have been holding military drills alongside the philippines this week, but beijing will not like these activities.— activities. yes, correct. these activities _ activities. yes, correct. these activities have _ activities. yes, correct. these activities have been _ activities. yes, correct. these activities have been ongoing. | activities have been ongoing. even before the south china sea flare—ups. these activities have been going on. the only difference, there has been intensification of these joint exercises in recent years. but by and large, those activities have been relatively safe and professional, in terms of interactions with rival maritime forces or rival military forces. so we wouldn't expect anything different in these exercises. i expect anything different in these exercises.— expect anything different in these exercises. i want to ask ou these exercises. i want to ask you about _ these exercises. i want to ask you about the _ these exercises. i want to ask you about the new— these exercises. i want to ask you about the new map - these exercises. i want to ask you about the new map china| you about the new map china released. its 2023 standardised map, which india and the philippines have rejected. can you explain to us the

significance of these maps, and what china is trying to achieve?— what china is trying to achieve? , , achieve? yes, definitely. thinking _ achieve? yes, definitely. thinking about _ achieve? yes, definitely. thinking about potential| thinking about potential aggressors, strategies short of armed conflict. the grey zone techniques... it means trying to make the legal dimensions, with your interests, without resorting to armed conflict. in this case for china, looking at the use of maps... inaudible. so, to be honest, this map recently released... inaudible. the countries around the region are used to the routine, the release of maps... the significance here is in light of the recent tensions in the

south china sea, you have to juxtapose it with the domestic problems china is facing now. some will argue this is a way for china to distract attention from its domestic problems. thank you so much forjoining us this morning. thank you. donald trump has pleaded not guilty in his georgia election fraud case. he's waived the right to appear in court next week to officially answer charges. the former us president is among 19 people charged with conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election results in the us state. our north america correspondent peter bowes has the latest. let's take his decision not to appear in court in person. that is entirely within his right in the state of georgia. different states in this country have different laws in terms of people appearing in court for their arraignment, as it's known, when the charges are read and the defendant has an opportunity to plead

either guilty or not guilty — he has pleaded not guilty. as you say, we expected that. and what it does do is spur everyone concerned, to be blunt about it, the spectacle, the circus like atmosphere of another court appearance by donald trump. so his plea has been entered as part of court papers, which he's signed through his lawyers, acknowledging that he understood his right to appear in court if he wanted to. now, his attempt to separate his case from the others, he is, as you say, one of 19. that seems to be a tactic to prolong everything, a political tactic to push this down the road, as we've seen already with some of the other cases that the former president is involved in, he wants to use delay after delay. it seems to allow him presumably time to fight the election. if he is selected as a republican candidate, next year will be a busy, very busy year anyway,

attempting to get back into the white house. that's what he wants to focus on and put his legal woes at some point down the road. meanwhile, a leader of the far right proud boys has been sentenced to 17 years in prison, which is one of the longest sentences yet handed out over that us capitol riot. how significant is this sentencing? well, this is very significant. joe biggs was one of many scores of people have been charged and some have been convicted and sentenced. this is indeed one of the heftiest sentences so far and clearly sends a message from at least this court that there is a no—nonsense approach. the sentence could actually have been a little bit higher than was imposed by the judge, but it certainly shows that those who are convicted can, in some cases, expect to go to jail for a very long time. and this is a legal process that is playing out up and down the country. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

let's look at some other stories making news. a police officer driving a van who followed two teenagers before they both died in an e—bike crash is being investigated for dangerous driving. 16—year—old kyrees sullivan and harvey evans, who was 15, died after the bike they were riding crashed in ely, cardiff in may. the deaths led to riots which saw 15 officers injured and dozens of people arrested. the former conservative mp antoinette sandbach has asked to be removed from an academic�*s research that connects her to a slave—owning ancestor. malik al nasir named ms sandbach as a descendant of samuel sandbach, a liverpool merchant who had a stake in plantations in the west indies, in a 2021 video. she argues there's no public interest in identifying her. a last—minute deal to save the collapsed retailer wilko has fallen through.

hundreds ofjob losses are expected to follow. the discount chain went into administration earlier this month, although for now its stores remain open. you're live with bbc news. dozens of women may have been groomed into online sex work by a group fronted by the controversial social media influencer andrew tate. the bbc has uncovered messages linked to his secretive all—male organisation called the war room. it teaches its members, for a fee, how to exploit potential victims by emotionally manipulating and socially isolating them. andrew tate has separately been charged with rape and human trafficking in romania and is due to face trial. he denies all of the allegations. matt shay has this exclusive report. the war room is kind of like the illuminati. with brotherhood and people you can trust, capable people, that is what the war room is.

andrew tate's so—called war room cost more than £6,000 per year, he describes it as a self improvement, professional network. in reality, it teaches members through a so—called phd course on how to groom women into sex work. our documentary has been given exclusive access to 12,000 pages of encrypted messages sent by hundreds of members. the messages identify at least 45 potential victims around the world, with the true number likely much higher. a young woman from buenos aires says she was groomed by a war room member. he wanted me to get his name tattooed. she says things even turned violent. drastic level violence and submission, i never thought i'd be involved with. another woman told me a similar story. he wanted me to tattoo his name on me. although they live thousands of miles apart, their stories

indicate that their alleged groomers were following the same tactics. if i wasn't doing well, things would become violent. a night i went over there and as soon as i walked in the door, he pushed me to my knees and smacked me hard across the face. andrew tate is the public face of the society. but our investigation has found an american man who calls himself iggy appears to be the true leader. in documents and messages seen by the bbc, he appears to encourage the members to remove the women's support systems, take all or most of the money they earn, and create, in his words, female sexual slavery. i also spoke to eli, who said he spent two years at the organisation as head of sales and marketing, but has now left to speak out against it. he basically said, let's not kid ourselves, this is a cult. who is in charge?

of the war room? iggy is at the top. i put these allegations to him at his home in los angeles. iggy, are you training people how to enslave women in the war room? do you run the war room? we have seen evidence you are training men how to enslave women, do you care to comment? he did not respond but wrote on social media after... "i say nothing, now they will never know who the real mastermind of the war room is." andrew tate has managed to appeal to the insecurities of millions of young men. our investigation suggests his fame is being used to sell a method of abuse to men around the world. a statement issued by his press officer said the bbc findings represent another brazen attempt to present one—sided, unverified allegations against him. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. gabon has been suspended as a member of the african union

following wednesday's coup in the central african nation. the new military leadership says the transitional leader general brice oligui nguema will be sworn in as president on monday. he was carried through the streets of the capital libreville by his troops earlier. president biden says he will visit florida on friday as officials there assess the damage from hurricane idalia. the storm system hit parts of the us gulf coast as a category 3 hurricane, before being downgraded to a tropical storm. governor ron desantis said the storm was far less destructive than had been feared, but property losses of over $9 billion have been predicted. the fifa president gianni infantino has spoken about the aftermath of the women's world cup final for the first time, saying spanish association chief luis rubiales' kiss on the mouth of star jenni hermoso "should never have happened".

infantino said the behaviour of spanish federation boss had "spoiled" the occasion. the spanish federation has called on mr rubiales to resign over the incident. the uk prime minister rishi sunak has reshuffled his cabinet for what could be the last time before the next general election. long—serving defence secretary ben wallace has been replaced by energy secretary grant shapps. this is his fifth cabinet role in 12 months. our political editor chris mason reports. the wheels of politics are turning with a bit of zip again. before mps return next week, downing street has a spot of housekeeping to attend to, finding a new defence secretary. enter then grant shapps — the government's utility man has another newjob. it is his fifth — yes, fifth — cabinetjob in a year. this, then, the first of many

uniformed companions for grant shapps, as he left downing street and headed for the ministry of defence. what is your first priority? first of all, i will get my feet in the door and pay tribute to my predecessor, i think. he is talking about this man, ben wallace, the former soldier turned defence secretary, who had done thejob forfour years under three prime ministers. in his resignation letter he wrote: "i genuinely believe that over the next decade the world will get more insecure and more unstable." he also said: "we must not return to the days where defence was viewed as a discretionary spend by government and savings were achieved by hollowing out." this was a safety first reshuffle, limited in scale.

i spoke earlier tojing—han tsung, professor of china and international studies at lancaster university. he reflected on how the new appointment might after uk—china relations. i think it depends on what kind ofjob you are doing. _ if you are more hawkish about china, because after all looking into national security part... i think we should be realistic about his position about china. you still have the kind of confrontation, the war in ukraine, and people pushing him to focus more on security, so he might see a lot of things around security. uk—china relations... i think in some small area there is hope,

grant is using tiktok, and closer to rishi sunak... which means he might be looking into the wider picture beyond defence, and trying to factor in more about economic trade benefits with china. i think beijing will be very cool about it. not being excited, that it will not fundamentally change the current direction of uk china relations. speaking of the uk china relations, we had secretary cleverly visiting beijing this week. some senior conservatives have been critical, saying it is an approach of appeasement, while mr cleverly said the engagement isn't helpful. what is your view on this? i think diplomacy is all about dialogue. whether you like it or not, china is a core trading partnerfor the uk. second—largest world economy.

you really have to talk to china, otherwise you are not you are not going to tackle the major global issues. climate change, economic stability, a lot of other issues. so you really need dialogue. you could say what america, france, germany are doing, with this dialogue with china... so i think engagement is very important especially with china. police in nor—fork in nebraska pulled over a carfor having a huge bull standing in its passenger seat. the car had half of its roof cut off to fit the animal in. the man driving the car was given a warning by police, and was ordered to take the bull back home. no—one was injured. andrew pfeifer — who actually found the bull in the car and filmed the footage you saw on screen — says it was quite the sight to behold. i hopped in the car and i drove

west for a solid 10, 15 minutes, watching the cars pass by — nothing, nothing. and sure enough, i kind of see this little black speck in the distance get closer and closer, and i'm like, that is a full—grown bull. and eventually i pulled a u—turn, pulled up beside him. and he wanted nothing to do with me, i could tell already. but i knew it wouldn't be long before he got pulled over, and that's exactly what happened. what a story to end. thank you so much for watching. good morning. well, with the change of month, once again, we're likely to see a change of weather fortunes. high pressure is going to build as we head into the weekend and for the first week of september. yes, we'll see some early morning mist and fog first thing. but on the whole, for most of us, it will be dry, sunny and increasingly warm. ahead of that, though, we've still got to get rid of this messy looking weather front that's going to produce some low cloud and some drizzle

first thing in the morning, particularly through northern ireland. scottish borders down into the north of england. now to the north of that, clear skies and a chilly start, but sunny start for scotland. to the south of that, a cloudy start, but the cloud will thin and break and a few scattered showers break out. one or two of those could be quite hefty. top temperatures generally between 17 and 22 celsius. now, as we move into the weekend, we are likely to see that frontal system easing away and the high pressure starts to build from the west. we could start off with a little bit of patchy low cloud, mist and fog across central and eastern england. clearer skies further north here, single figures to start off our saturday. so that mist will take its time to clear away. but on the whole, it's all about high pressure. a weak weather front will bring some breezier and wetter conditions to the north, but with lighter winds first thing in the morning, it could start off a little bit murky and disappointing. it won't be long, though, before we see some sunshine

breaking through and the warmth starts to build. so as we go into saturday, yes, a grey start for some more sunshine further north and west. this weather front trying to push in, but really not making too much of an impression for the first half of the weekend. as we go through the afternoon, there'll be some decent sunny spells and temperatures will start to climb, 23 or 2a degrees. that's into the mid 70s fahrenheit. now, as we move out of saturday into sunday, there's that weather front bringing some breezier conditions and rain to the far northwest. but on the whole, sunday will be a dry day with plenty of sunshine coming through, and a degree or so warmer by the middle part of the afternoon. mid—twenties quite possible across central and southern parts of england. warmer still as we go through the week ahead. in fact, some places could see temperatures as into the high 20s by the middle part of the week. take care.

the battle over chips heats up as export control begin for one of europe's biggest tech companies. one avatar gets major recording contract and raises challenges for the

community. welcome raises challenges for the community. welcome to raises challenges for the community. welcome to asia business report with me mariko oi. let's begin with the global global chip or because semiconductor chip maker asm l has confirmed reports it had received licenses from the government to export some of it is advanced tools to china until the end of the year. export controls are due to begin today after the netherlands have followed pressure from the united states to curb the sale of advanced computer chip technology. hardware technology says that means current are good until the end of 2023. it’s means current are good until the end of 2023.— the end of 2023. it's widely exoected — the end of 2023. it's widely expected that _ the end of 2023. it's widely expected that in _ the end of 2023. it's widely expected that in 2024 - the end of 2023. it's widely| expected that in 2024 these licenses will not be renewed. what that means is that asm l which is a 90% market share in the space is not going to sell these machines next year in

china. ., ., , these machines next year in china. . ~ , .,