let's speak to gary o'donoghue. why have the americans change their mind? they're getting a stark message from commanders on the ground. general nicholson saying earlier this year effectively there is a stalemate in afghanistan between the afghan forces and the taliban. that he needed several thousand more troops to train, advise and assist the 350,000 strong afghan army, to push the taliban back. it has about one third of the country, controlling directly, or has significant influence. battles over the northern city, taken influence. battles over the northern city, ta ken back influence. battles over the northern city, taken back and forward. reports of controlling a highway in the north—east of the country, a very significant rate. the americans believe if few extra thousand will make a difference. also asking nato to send a few extra thousand as well. of course, may not be soon enough for the fighting season, in full flow at the moment. we are expecting some sort of deal towards the end of the month, when nato meeting in brussels on the 25th.|j wa nt t

gary o'donoghue is in washington and talked me through the options available to the us. the options are limited. there is a carrier group off the coast that the vice president standing high ball and the north koreans across the demilitarised zone, a lot of rhetoric coming out of donald trump. there is a lot of noise and show of force, but what can they actually do? if they strike north korea, the most likely outcome is that those artillery batteries embedded in the hills and mountains north of the borderjust 30 miles hills and mountains north of the border just 30 miles from hills and mountains north of the borderjust 30 miles from seoul could hit 10 million people, cause enormous devastation. that doesn't seem like a good outcome. what they are hoping for, what they are relying on, is a change of heart by china, a new attitude in beijing thatis china, a new attitude in beijing that is prepared to put real economic and political pressure on the north koreans. china is the only country that north korea listens to, if it listens to anyone. a lot has been made about the tur

gary o'donoghue of the bbc in washington reported on the options president trump faces. the options are, from total withdrawal of american forces, some it of them in afghanistan, bring them all home, adding another a000 or so to traditional at the afghan army, that's taken some heavy losses in the fight against the taliban. possibly using private contractors to do some of that so that some of the american troops can come home. soa the american troops can come home. so a variety of options on the table, i think the most likely one is an additional introduction of troops, which of course donald trump said should happen before he became a candidate, before he became president. that he would not be the only president to change mind on this, president obama did the same kind of reversal and this is america's all, ros, 16 years and counting. whether you are watching in the uk or elsewhere you will see that address from president trump on the bbc. to south asia, where flooding is causing humanitarian crisis. it is estimated that over 750 people have already died and india, bang

the bbc‘s gary o'donoghue was in the press briefing andi o'donoghue was in the press briefing and i spoke to him earlier. that have been a few arrests. the guy who ran alpha bay which have been a few arrests. the guy who ran alphabay which was shut down on the 5th ofjuly, he was a canadian living in thailand, and he was arrested, but it seems that he committed suicide a week later while in custody in thailand. there is a bit of a mystery there. the other people in terms of hansa, some arrests were made in the netherlands and germany as well in relation to the european side of it. there is some discussion about alphabay and some discussion about alphabay and some people who work for that in the us getting arrested. i think they are particularly focusing on finding the service, and they have done that, and closing them down and closing down this trade, because of course, jeff sessions was very explicit about this, he said americans have died as a result of buying opioids like heroin and artificial opioids on this alphabay website. he named some names. it is a big dealfor them, particularly

here is gary o'donoghue in washington. i don't think he will lose sleep over this in particular. it is not taking aim at him personally. it's very careful in its wording about the us administration and identifying and investigating, exception. i am sure they would agree with pretty much every word of that, but it is an indication of the international concern about the way things are going here in america and the ongoing issue around charlottesville. and the ongoing issue around cha rlottesville. and you the ongoing issue around charlottesville. and you are right about this day in, day out vacillation, if you like. you cannot tell what kind of donald trump you're going to get. we saw it last week over charlottesville you're going to get. we saw it last week over cha rlottesville on you're going to get. we saw it last week over charlottesville on the monday, when we had that very carefully orchestrated speech, where he condemned the kkk and specifically called them out, etc. and then tuesday, completely going off piste and reigniting the whole issue all over again. he's doing his b

let's bring in the bbc‘s gary o'donoghue live in philadelphia. gary, give us the context of the speech that donald trump is about to make. what you have got gathered here in philadelphia is all the senior members of the republican party inside congress, the house of representatives and the senate, all here to listen to donald trump's legislative agenda, how he plans to handle things like health care reform, what his plans are for the tax code, and of course he will be coming here to ask them for money for that mexican wall. they know that they will have to stump up money upfront to start to build that wall. they have agreed to do that, they think it could be up to $15 billion, a lot of estimates say it could be more than that, no real clear plan apart from some generalisations from republicans here orfrom the generalisations from republicans here or from the president about how the american taxpayer is going to get their cash back, and what we know is the mexicans are insisting they will not pay for that wall. and gary, just quickly runners throu