Hello to you. Scientists have discovered particles of plastic falling in snow in the arctic, highlighting the scale of plastic pollution. A region so many of us think of as pristine is contaminated with microscopic particles, carried on the wind from thousands of miles away. Our environment analyst Roger Harrabin travelled to the Arctic Circle as the Research Teams were working. Heres his special report. The arctic, a place of pristine beauty. Smothered with snow, clean and pure. Or, thats how it appears. But its an illusion. Arctic snow is tainted with microplastics and rubber particles and clothing fibres. Given the amount of pollution in the atmosphere, its perhaps hardly surprising that were finding microplastics in snow. But we have such a strong belief in the essential purity of this stuff that some people will find this news rather shocking. Dr Melanie Bergmann led the research. First stage involves a bit of low technology. A dessert spoon and a flask. I think were not treating our planet very thoughtfully. Basically, we produce all these packaging materials, we cover everything in polymer based varnish, we use a lot of rubber, which we also find in our aerial samples, snow samples, and dont even think about it what is happening to this in the environment. But few people live here. Where on earth do the pollutants come from 7 we know that most of what we are analysing up there and measuring are long range transported pollution coming from the continent, coming from asia, coming from all over the world. And some of these chemicals have properties that are a threat to the ecosystem for living animals. Scientists have found that air and sea currents drive pollutants north. Last year, we broke the news that Arctic Sea Ice had more microplastics than anywhere in the ocean because floating particles get bonded into the ice as it freezes. We found plastic pollution on the arctic beaches. Some of this debris had drifted for thousands of miles. Tourists still trek here to experience what appears to be wilderness, creating their own pollution on the way. How do locals feel about plastic in snow . Im here to show pure and clean snow, and dogs and the arctic nature and thats what i hope to do for the rest of my life. And if it continues this way i will not be able to. It woke me up, it woke my company up that we have to do something. So its not good news but we must not give up. Up here you look around you every day and you see or hear something that you think is the pristine arctic, as its called, and its not any more, and we see it every day and its really, really sad. Heres the truth there is nowhere on the planet to escape pollution from us. However hard you run. Roger harrabin, bbc news, in the norwegian arctic. Asian markets have opened sharply lower after a volatile day of trading in the United States where all three of the countrys indexes closed 3 down on fears of a looming economic recession. It was the worst trading day of the year for us stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell by more than 800 points amid a key signalfrom the us bond market that the worlds biggest economy could be headed for a recession. Lets cross over to singapore and to rico hizon with the latest on how asian markets are faring. Tell us more, rico. Looking at the asian stock markets in mid morning trade, theyre currently slumping to more than two month lows, tracking what happened on wall street, as you mentioned, overnight, due to this inverted us bond yield curve that sent flashing warnings to investors about rising recession risks. The nikkei 225 is right now down by 1. 9 , and the all ordinaries index losing about 1. 9 , 1. 9 , and the all ordinaries index losing about1. 9 , mike. But 1. 9 , and the all ordinaries index losing about 1. 9 , mike. But not as bad as the snp, the dow and the nasdaq, which fell by 3 overnight. Currently you have the major Industry Sectors from technology to manufacturing to telecommunications all falling across the board manufacturing to telecommunications all falling across the boa rd here manufacturing to telecommunications all falling across the board here in asia. We can expect this negative sentiment to continue among asian investors for the remaining trading day. Rico, i know this is a big question, but broadly speaking, why is this happening . If you take a look whats basically happening, its all about the United States falling into a recession. The reason for this fall is because of the key us indicator called the yield curve, mike. Forthe the key us indicator called the yield curve, mike. For the First Time Since 2007, we are seeing it inverted and an inverted yield curve is the difference in the yields tween the ten year treasury and the two year treasury. You would usually get compensated more to wait longer to get your money back, so the ten year bond yield should be higher than that of the two year bond yield. And in inverted bond yield curve correctly predicted all the us recessions that occurred in the 20th and 21st century. Quite a reliable recession warning if you like. It also doesnt help that germany and china on wednesday also reported wea ker china on wednesday also reported weaker than expected economic data. Of course you have the imf, the world bank and the Asian Developing Bank also warning earlier this year that we could see a slowdown in the Global Economy with the ongoing and protracted us china trade war Asian Development bank. This is basically one of the main ca ta lysts this is basically one of the main catalysts for this Global Economic slowdown. Rico, many thanks indeed. Lets get some of the days other news. A plane shot down in the northern syrian province of idlib on wednesday did belong to the military, according to syrian state television. The syrian 0bservatory for human rights, a Monitoring Group based in the uk, says the pilot of the russian made plane has been captured by the Extremist Group Hayat Tahrir Al sham. Six Police Officers have been shot in a drug raid in the north of philadelphia. Their injuries are not life threatening. Local reports say a male suspect had been exchanging fire with police and it is still what officials are calling an active situation. Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has set sail from britain heading to a un summit in new york. The 16 year old swede refuses to fly because of the Carbon Emissions caused by air travel. She is travelling on a zero emissions yacht with her father and a filmmaker to document the journey. British politicians may be on their summer break, but that hasnt stopped tensions simmering over brexit. Britain is due to leave the European Union on october the 31st. The former chancellor, finance minister, Philip Hammond has accused the Prime Ministers advisers of trying to wreck the chances of a new deal with the eu. But the Prime Minister says opponents of brexit were, as he put it, in a terrible collaboration with the eu. 0ur correspondent ben wright reports. From power to protest and a fierce attack on number 10. Three weeks ago, Philip Hammond was chancellor theresa mays money man, number two in the government. Now hes turned his fire on the new Prime Ministers willingness to leave the eu with no deal at all. Leaving the eu without a deal would bejust as much a betrayal of the referendum result as not leaving at all. The british people were offered a proposition that we could leave the European Union while having a close relationship. They were told it would be the easiest deal ever done. All hear, hear. Philip hammond was in a government that secured a brexit deal with the eu but failed to get it through parliament. The fallback plan to prevent a hard border in ireland is the most contentious part of that deal. Borisjohnson believes the so called backstop ties the uks hands and has told the eu it must be scrapped. Pivoting to say the backstop has to go in its entirety, a huge chunk of the Withdrawal Agreement just scrapped, is effectively a wrecking tactic. The people behind this know that that means there will be no deal. People like this man, dominic cummings. Are you making demands the eu cant accept . The former director of vote leave and now borisjohnsons top aide in number 10. Downing street has ramped up plans to leave with no deal at the end of october if the eu doesnt back down. Answering questions from people on facebook earlier, borisjohnson accused mps who think they can block brexit, of a terrible collaboration with the eu and mrjohnsons allies say the governments no deal threat is essential. Were speaking to people all the time, we want to get a deal, thats always been our position. But as a responsible government, we have to prepare for the eventuality of no deal, of course we have to do that. With several tory mps like Philip Hammond ready to work with opposition parties to try and block a no deal brexit, a ferocious fight in parliament is coming. But, with the brexit date written into law, mps may struggle to thwart a government intent on leaving the eu without an agreement. The rules of parliament will be tested and the speakers role will be crucial. John bercow says hell fight with every bone in his body to stop the government bypassing parliament. March on our way. The tory partys civil war over brexit has erupted again, with former cabinet allies deeply divided on how to leave the eu. Ben wright, bbc news, westminster. But theres been another important intervention on brexit. The speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi, has insisted there is no chance that a trade agreement with britain will be passed by congress if brexit undermines the good friday agreement, which brought an end to years of bloodshed in Northern Ireland. 0ur north america editorjon sopel is on capitol hill in washington. I think this is usually significant. Look, the United States is the biggest single country britain does braid with an Free Trade Agreement after brexit s vital. John bolton, Donald Trumps National Security adviser, has been in the uk for the last couple of days saying a Us Administration will support a no deal brexit and will fast track a free trade deal. The problem is, he doesnt make the decisions on that, the decisions are made here in congress and the leader of the house of commons and super, the democratic leader of the house, says if there is no irish backstop that prevents the reintroduction of a hard border theres no chance of a hard deal. By by saying that, shes taken a very big ice cold bucket of water and poured it over a lot of whatjohn bolton said when he was in london earlier this week. John s poor for us earlier this week. John s poor for us in washington, dc. Jon snow paul. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come an Italian Court says a migrant rescue ship can dock in the countrys ports, but the right wing interior minister says hell still block it. The big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. As the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. Two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. It began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal. This is bbc news. The latest headlines a Scientific Study has revealed high levels of tiny particles of plastic contaminating the arctic, previously seen as one of the last Pristine Environments in the world. Asian stock markets have opened sharply lower, following big falls in the United States on warnings of an approaching recession there. Canadas Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, broke ethics rules by trying to influence a Corporate Legal case according to the parliamentary ethics commissioner. A scathing report has found he circumvented, undermined, and discredited the director of Public Prosecutions in a case against the engineering giant, snc lavalin. The Prime Minister says he fully accepts the report but disagrees with some of the findings. tx sot asa as a full responsibility. The buck stops with the Prime Minister. And they assume responsibility for everything that happened in my office. This is important because they truly feel that what happened over the past year shouldnt have happened. Truly feel. We have a system in which we need to make improvements. There are many lessons the need to be learned on this, which is why we will be moving forward with the recommendations on how to both advocate for the Public Interest and defend the integrity and the independence of ourjudicial and the independence of ourjudicial and rustic tutorial processes. Prosecutorial. Katie simpson is a Senior Reporter with cbc news. Shes in ottawa. I know you have done a lot of work on this. The Prime Minister has said he doesnt believe he did anything wrong in this matter. This is a mistake was made. He wants to make sure it doesnt happen again. It doesnt say what the mistake was. No. And he was asked if he would apologise to those involved and he said he was certainly not going to stand there and apologise for what happened. This went back to about one year ago when there was a large Engineering Firm based in quebec, Justin Trudeaus own province, it did not want to go to trial to deal with bravery accusations because if you are in canada you cannot bid on contracts. They wanted a deferred prosecution agreement or an agreement to avoid criminal prosecution and there could be up to 9000 jobs lost and move the headquarters to the united kingdom. That is when the Prime Ministers Office Sought to influence the attorney and the director of Public Prosecutions to intervene and grant this company a deferred prosecution agreement. The Prime Minister said he did nothing wrong, he was trying to protect jobs, the he did nothing wrong, he was trying to protectjobs, the attorney general, however, said he inappropriately influenced and it was he said, she said. The independent report came out today said thatJustin Trudeau not only did it, but he found that what happened in the Prime Ministers office was troubling and it was a flag ra nt office was troubling and it was a flagrant attempt to influence the judicial system. How significant would you say this is, how damaging is it if the Prime Minister is not apologising, not resigning, is that the thing where deputy heads will roll . Heres the thing, canada is ten weeks out from an election. This is expected to be a close contest between Justin Trudeau is expected to be a close contest betweenJustin Trudeau and the leader of the conservatives, andrew powell, the opposition could not have asked for a bigger gift to land on their lap ten weeks from an election. Earlier in the scandal of the scandal really immersed in february this year, Justin Trudeaus most Senior Advisor resigned amid this. It resulted in the loss of the privy council. Some were kicked out of cabinet. There has been turmoil asa of cabinet. There has been turmoil as a result of this. In the immediate aftermath of this very damning report by the ethics commissioner, Justin Trudeau is standing by his inner circle right now. No one is getting thrown under the bus, at least not right now. No one has been kicked off his re election team. Justin trudeau will try to push past this and hope ten weeks is enough distance for the canadians not to vote for him. Katie simpson, thank you very much. Pakistans Prime Minister has declared that global powers will be responsible if war breaks out with india over disputed kashmir. In a speech wednesday, imran khan described delhis decision to revoke the special status of indian administered kashmir as a strategic blunder. Translation i keep sending this message to the international community. To those organisations who are meant to stop wars, whose job is to protect the weak from the strong, the united nations. Its not our trial, its the united nations. You, the united nations, will you stand by your 11 Security Council resolutions on kashmir . If the powerful oppress the weak, can the un do nothing . Does the un only work when the powerful wanted to . More on that to come. They have put two wars on kashmir. Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be making a speech to mark the countrys Independence Day in the next hour well bring you that when we get it. It is almost certain to mention kashmir. Italys interior minister, matteo salvini, says hell challenge a legal ruling that allows a migrant ship to enter italian waters. The Spanish Charity open arms said its vessel was heading for the island of lampedusa. There are nearly 150 migrants on board. The bbcs tim allman has more. For nearly two weeks they have been at sea. Dozens upon dozens of desperate people, men, women, and children. This ship, unable to enter port until now. Translation we have overturned the decree which banned us from entering italian waters under the threat of confiscating our boat. We can now enter italian waters without fear of being fined or having our boat confiscated. What was stopping them was an order signed by this man, interior minister matteo salvini, he has taken a hard line over illegal immigration, insisting tough measures were necessary to protect public order. In a tweet, he said he would file a legal challenge against this latest ruling and he was prepared to sign a new provision to stop other ships entering italian waters. Some people have already been evacuated from the open arms vessel. A family was taken off on tuesday when their baby had respiratory problems. Concerns over the health of those remaining was one of the reasons cited in its ruling by the original court. Another vessel, ocean making them is also at sea, still picking up migrants, still trying to cross the mediterranean, and there is a sense of urgency, the uns Refugee Agency wanting european governments to intervene, warning that storms are coming viking. Tim allman, bbc news. An interim report from air accident investigators says the footballer Emiliano Sala had been exposed to harmful levels of Carbon Monoxide before a fatal plane crash over the channel injanuary. Its also believed the pilot, david ibbotson, was exposed to the gas, too, potentially reducing his ability to fly the aircraft. The footballer was en route from france to cardiff, when the plane crashed. Our correspondent wyre davies has the story. Emiliano salas death in such tragic circumstances at just 29 years old shocked football. The argentine forward had just signed for cardiff city and was on his way tojoin his new team in the welsh capital. While city were wooing sala, he was flown between cardiff and nantes in privatejets. But the last flight after hed signed was in this single engined turboprop at night an poor weather. Shortly after take off, in a message to friends, he seemed concerned, even frightened. Im up here in a plane that feels like its about to fall apart, says the player. If in an hour and a half you havent heard from me i dont know if theyll send anyone to find me. Dad, im scared, were his last words. Less than an hour later, the plane crashed into the channel killing the footballer and his pilot. Shortly after his sons death, salas father told me he couldnt understand why hed been flown in such small plane. The body of the pilot, david ibbotson, was neverfound. But without the proper qualifications, his competence to fly in such conditions at night has since been questioned. But there may have been other factors. Its now been revealed by the air Accidents Investigation branch that there were higher levels of Carbon Monoxide in salas bloodstream and probably that of his pilot as well. Its a gas that can cause dizziness and severe drowsiness. If youre using the cabin heater, you should be aware that if theres a leak in the exhaust, Carbon Monoxide can get in, and other toxins too. So, you should be aware that thats the case but theres no Warning System to tell you that you must act. The planes wreckage is still on the sea bed, thus far seen as too expensive and too difficult to salvage. Future air safety rests on knowing as much as possible about this issue. So, emilianos family call on the air accident Investigation Branch of the ministry of transport to salvage the wreckage of the plane as soon as possible. There are still so many questions about Emiliano Salas death. The latest revelations only adding to the intrigue about one of footballs saddest stories. Wyre davies, bbc news. A reminder of our top story researchers have shown the extent to which tiny particles of plastic are invading seemingly Pristine Environments. A study conducted in the arctic and in the swiss and german alps has shown that a litre of melted snow can contain several tens of thousands of micro plastic particles. Scientists say the particles were washed out of the atmosphere by snow, raising questions about how much humans are breathing them in. Until now, research has focused on how we ingest micro plastics through contaminated food. That is it for now. Much more on the bbc website. Thanks for watching. Hello. For many of you, wednesday was a bit of a washout, to say the least. Thursday, however, looking much, much better. The bulk of you will spend if not all but certainly most of the day dry and a lot brighter and feeling a little bit warmer as well. We are sort of between weather systems on thursday, this weather system which brought the rain on wednesday, some heavy showers through the night anto thursday morning, more persistent rain around shetland, this is the next weather system for friday so in between those two, weve got a fair bit of cloud to begin with. Nowhere near as chilly for the thursday morning commute as it was on the wednesday morning commute but a few showers here and there, scotland, parts of Northern Ireland Northern England and north wales, more persistent rain in shetland with showers pushing the way eastwards and largely fade in intensity and number as they go, leaving most places under mostly sunny skies during thursday afternoon and with a lot more sunshine around, slightly lighter winds, of course it will feel warmer than it did on wednesday and that sunshine of course, a bit stronger as well this time of year. We finish the day with sunshine hazy across Northern Ireland, could be a bit of evening rain here but through the night, cloud and rain and wind start to push in from the north and west. Parts of the midlands, Eastern England will stay dry with some clearer skies and the coolest conditions down into single figures once again, but the temperatures here but mostly in the teens as we start friday morning but as you can see, its going to be a day for the umbrella but also to really have a tight grip on it because this area of low pressure also brings with it strong winds. Its out at the atlantic at the moment but it pushes this weather front on its forward edge, bringing rain to most parts of the day on friday, scotland, Northern Ireland, Northern England and wales, the wettest part will be likely be during the morning as rain spreads its way southwards and eastwards and after a bright start in the south east corner, it will turn here wetter into the afternoon, and more persistent rain across southern counties of south wales through the afternoon with scotland and Northern Ireland seeing more sunshine but across the board it will be a blustery day with winds topping out around gale force around many coasts and hills. That same area of low pressure will be with us into the start of the weekend, keeping things like friday a little on the cool side. We have winds coming down from the north atlantic around it and they will continue to feed their way in, feeding showers. The more persistent rain linked to this weather front will be just about clearing for saturday morning. Early risers across the south east may be still on the wet side but sunshine will come out for a time before that weather front inches northwards once again, turning the sunshine hazy across the south and turning things wetter in the channel islands. Vast majority, though, saturday, the story of sunshine and showers. Showers more frequent around scotland, Northern Ireland, Northern England and some of those happy with hail and thunder. Stays cool as it will do on sunday with the chance of some more persistent rain, close to the south coast. Most will stick with that sunshine and showers theme and quite a windy one this weekend too. This is bbc news, the headlines a study showed a litre of melted snow could contain tens of thousands of plastic particles, carried on the wind from thousands of miles away. Global stock markets have fallen amid growing fears about recession. Markets in asia opened sharply lower, hours after the main us stock markets closed 3 down on the day. The falls follow data from the us, germany and china suggesting Economic Growth is slowing down. Canadas ca nadas parliamentary ethics commissioner has found Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau tried to influence his former attorney general to settle a criminal case against a general to settle a criminal case againsta giant general to settle a criminal case against a giant engineering company. Mr trudeau says he takes full responsibility but cant apologise for standing responsibility but cant apologise forstanding up responsibility but cant apologise for standing up for canadian jobs
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