Hello. In a major speech, indias Prime Minister has described his governments much criticised decision to revoke the special status of indian administered kashmir, after seven decades, as a major achievement. Narendra modi is giving a nationwide broadcast to mark indias Independence Day, his first since he won a massive election mandate. The disputed region has been in lockdown for more than a week, with internet and phones cut off, hundreds of people detained. Heres hundreds of people detained. A little of what he ha say heres a little of what he had to say about kashmir. Translation heres a little of what he had to say about kashmir. Translatiosz is our duty to fulfil the wishes and aspirations of the people ofjammu and kashmirand aspirations of the people ofjammu and kashmir and ladak. Aspirations of the people ofjammu and kashmirand ladak. Its our responsibility that their dreams are fulfilled and the 1. 3 billion people of india after work towards that. In order to achieve that goal, whatever obstacles came in the way we have tried to remove. The Prime Minister is still speaking. Rahul tandon is in delhi for us. You know theres area exceptionally well. People might wonder why this is so significant, pakistan and india are two Nuclear Power countries, they have fought two wars over kashmir and they almost fought another one. This matters. It does. What people are accepting, whatever your political viewpoint, we are entering a new era in kashmir and the Prime Minister has been speaking for more than an hour. Hes a powerful orator in hindi, he is wearing a white pyjama with a colourful turban and hes enjoying the occasion. Hes dedicated at least ten minutes to whats happened recently in indian administered kashmir, and that decision to remove article 370 which removes the autonomy that it has. Hes taken great pride in that decision. Hes basically said nobody else has been able to do it in 70 years and that weve done it. Hes also continuously stressing this idea of one india. That before an indian administered kashmir, the laws of india didnt work there and many people were oppressed and there was nepotism and corruption and now with this decision, once again theres a new future for indian administered kashmir. So i think its a reinforcement of mr modis leaf that this is a step that will improve the area, help to integrate it more into india and in the course of his speech he is once again playing to something thats very popular in this country, his of a strongman. A man who is able to do things no other Prime Minister in this country has been able to do. Rahul, it could have other impacts with pakistans Prime Minister calling the decision a strategic blunder and calling the decision a strategic blunderand imran khan calling the decision a strategic blunder and imran khan saying global powers would be responsible if another war breaks out. As i understand, pakistan might trouble with diplomatic help with a quite week diplomatic claim, and that could lead to more terrorism, could it . I think one of the most interesting aspects of this speech is what mr modi hasnt said stop hes not even referred to pakistan at all or the pakistani Prime Minister, imran khan. Hes been speaking for open an hour and that might change in the next 15 or 20 minutes as it continues. Theres a fear, and theres fear among the indian authorities about what might happen over the course of the next few weeks and thats why, mike, we have this lockdown in place and once again even heavier security in indian administered kashmir as the governor raises the indian flag shortly and huge security across the country. Theres a fear once the restrictions are lifted, and theyll to be at one some stage, we will see huge protests and india is worried what it says will be organised from across the board what it says will be organised from across the boa rd and we what it says will be organised from across the board and we could see an increase in militancy. Pakistan are marking a black day for kashmir in that country and this is a Self Determination movement and nothing to do with them. Rahul, thank you very much. 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. 0ur 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. 0r 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 this 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 wake me up, it wake 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. Lets keep you up to date with a quick round up of some of the other main 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 GroupHayat Tahrir Al sham. Six Police Officers have been shot in a drug raid in the north of philadelphia. Their injuries are not life threatening. Two other officers had to be rescued by a swat team. A male suspect had been exchanging fire with police and it is still what officials are calling an active situation. British politicians are in theory 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, orfinance 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 are, as he put it, in a terrible collaboration with the eu. 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 that, whatever mr Trumps National security advisor suggests, 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. Asian markets have opened sharply lower, following big falls in the United States where the countrys three main indexes closed down 3 . 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. The question here is a yield curve. So what is this yield curve and what does it mean for the economy . Lets head to rhinebeck, new york and speak with global macroeconomic analyst carl weinburg. Carl, thank you very much your time. I know have detailed expert knowledge on this subject under here theres stuff going on here that even you cant entirely explain, which would probably be a worry for the rest of us. Please give us a briefing. Yeah, well, the yield curve is a headline right now and yield curve is complicated for people not engaged in Financial Markets to understand but its the relationship between the Interest Rates bonds pay people for short term bonds compared to long term bonds, and normally in the simplest terms you get more money for long term bonds and less interest on short term bonds and thats reversed right now and its unusual and typically when it happens it signals ahead of time a downturn in the economy. Thats what happened today in the United States, bya happened today in the United States, by a little bit, im just looking at my live screen right now, it has balanced back to zero now, were on the cusp of the yield curve inversion which, as i said in the past, is often but not always related to a recession and thats the fear right now and markets think they could biarritz coming in the us. I must say the yield curve in britain is almost inverted and the yield curve in germany, where gdp contracted, it is not its a normal shape but not by very much and it is also on the cusp of inversion. A lot of trouble in a lot of places at the same time. How much trouble could we be in . On the face of it, theres lots of reasons why we should be nervous. And unpredictable us president with erratic trade policy, him attacking the us central bank, a trade war between the us and china, weak germany and china trade data and possibly brexit. Will people be factoring this in . They will be, and these are the intangible things we point to when we analyse things like investor sentiment, consumer sentiment, Business Sentiment and of course if firms are feeling good about the world they arent feeling good about the world they dont invest and if consumers arent feeling good they dont spend. Were looking at a shift in sentiment and thats affecting the Financial Markets. In terms of the economy, we are seeing simon tonio s industrial sector slowdowns or contractions in almost every major economy in the world, developed or not simultaneous. That scary because we dont have a good understanding of why thats happening. This is my fear thats scary. If i dont understand i cant promise you it wont continue and i cant promise its going to stop. Ijust dont know why this is happening. Inventories are high, i dont have an explanation for that either. Whale watching to learn about the world for the world to inform us about its intentions whale watching. But it looks like 2019 has been slow for growth, thats been baked into the numbers we are watching. It will be interesting to see if we get a recession or a gentle slowdown and then back to growth. Im watching as curious as you are. Too, thank you for your insights and for making them intelligible even to me for making them intelligible even to me carl weinburg. For making them intelligible even to me carl weinburg. Cheers. 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. Idi amin, ugandas brutalformer dictator, has died at the age of 80. Hes been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. 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 world news, the latest headlines in his Independence Day speech, indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has described the decision to revoke kashmirs autonomy as a major achievement of his government. 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. 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 againt the engineering giant, snc lavalin. The Prime Minister says he fully accepts the report but disagrees with some of the findings. Marco mendicino is a liberal member of parliament and also Canadian Parliamentary secretary to the minister of infrastructure and communities. Hes in toronto. Thank you very much for your time. I know we have been talking a lot about this. But your Prime Minister says mistakes were made. It is his responsibility to make sure they never happen again. What were those mistakes . They have not been identified. He began by thanking the ethics commission, which is an office he respects. He does accept the report and we will now move quickly to implement a series of recommendations that have been put forward by the former attorney general, which will start to carve out a protocol and a process whereby we are ensuring that the government has the opportunity to present all releva nt has the opportunity to present all relevant facts, including legitimate Public Policy considerations such as potential impact on the economy, on jobs, to the attorney general, when she is deciding whether or not to intervene with prosecution. What we re intervene with prosecution. What were the mistakes . Pa