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Amazon fires 'an international crisis', says Macron

As leaders of some of the world's most advanced economies meet in the fashionable Basque resort of Biarritz, the host of the G7 summit is urging them to turn their attention to the other side of the world. French President Emmanuel Macron has placed the wildfires raging in the Amazon at the top of the agenda. "Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rainforest - the lungs which produces 20% of our planet's oxygen - is on fire. It is an international crisis," he tweeted.

It hasn't gone down well with his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, who said the comments smacked of "a misplaced colonialist mindset" and accused Mr Macron of exploiting the issue for political gain. It's fair to say Mr Bolsonaro, a far-right climate change sceptic, is feeling the heat. Despite vowing in January, during his first foreign trip as leader, to grow the economy while protecting the environment, the Brazilian Amazon has seen a record number of fires in 2019. Our graphics show the extent of the problem. The resultant smoke caused a blackout 2,700km (1,677 miles) away in the city of Sao Paolo on Monday, prompting people to pray for the future of the rainforest.

Edinburgh Fringe female performers 'sexually harassed'

Convincing people to attend your show out of 3,500 on offer at Edinburgh Festival's Fringe is difficult enough. But increasing numbers of women are being groped or subjected to lewd comments while promoting their acts, according to actors' union Equity. One performer, Lizzie, tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme a man "moved his hand, quite forcefully, up my skirt", Another, Fi, says she feels under pressure to "laugh off" bottom-pinching. Although police say no incidents have been reported, Equity's president, Maureen Beattie, says a sort of "hysteria" at the Fringe releases an "underbelly of bad behaviour".

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Could your face be your passport?

Wish you could arrive home from a foreign holiday and not be brought back to earth with a bump by the sight of queues at passport control? That's exactly what the UK Home Office has in mind. It is considering using a system that combines facial recognition cameras and a secure mobile phone app to identify passengers as they walk through a "biometric corridor". Watch what happened when the BBC sent a reporter to try it out.

Meanwhile, on the roads and rails...

The bank holiday brings the usual warnings of delays on major roads and reduced services on the UK's railways. At least the weather forecast looks promising... provided you don't end up baking in motorway congestion. Find out the problem areas to avoid in our round-up of bank holiday travel.

How to escape a strange house when you're blind

By Reece Finnegan, for BBC Ouch

Being lost is pretty integral to being a blind person. You name it, clubs, Tube stations - I've probably been lost there. On this occasion, it was my new boss's house after a night out and I needed to find my way home. Waking up in a strange house when you can't see is scary and disorientating. You literally have no idea what's around the next corner.

I got out of bed and found a door - an en suite bathroom. Ideal. I needed the toilet and where better to plan an escape strategy. After sitting on the loo for a couple of minutes I heard an unfamiliar woman's voice. Reece, it's Jay's mum. Jay told me you were staying, I was just wondering if you need anything?"

Read the full article

What the papers say

Boris Johnson's meeting with Emmanuel Macron leads several front pages. The French president's description of the Brexit backstop - the part of the withdrawal agreement the UK prime minister is trying to drop - as "indispensible" is recorded by the i under the headline: "Johnson encounters French resistance." The Metro, however, reports a more optimistic interpretation, summing up Mr Macron's view as: "C'est possible!" Tabloids, meanwhile, focus on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge taking a £73-a-head budget flight from Norwich to Aberdeen. The Sun says Prince William has given a "flying lesson" to his brother, Harry, over his family's reported use of private jets.

Daily digest

Daily medicine Four-in-one pill prevents third of heart problems

Hospital food Bake Off judge Prue Leith joins improvement review

Stranded overseas Critically ill British citizen 'stuck in Oman'

Weekly quiz How closely have you been following the news?

If you see one thing today

'I stabbed someone to get into a white supremacy gang'

If you listen to one thing today

The Reunion: York Minster fire

If you read one thing today

A North Korean defector's 'death by indifference'

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Lookahead

11:00 A minute's silence will be observed in tribute to PC Andrew Harper at Thames Valley Police Training Centre in Oxfordshire, close to where PC Harper was killed a week ago in Sulhamstead, Berkshire.

16:00 Gates open for the first of Ed Sheeran's four homecoming gigs at Chantry Park, Ipswich, which round off his record-breaking 260-date Divide world tour.

On this day

1985 The head of West Germany's counter-intelligence, Hans-Joachim Tiedge, defects to the east, where authorities reveal his information had led to the arrest of nearly 170 agents in the space of 18 months.

From elsewhere

The murky life and death of Robert Maxwell - and how it shaped his daughter Ghislaine (Guardian)

Amid the Brexit fog, foreign buyers are snapping up British firms on the cheap (Telegraph)

Macron's masterplan for Trump, the universe and everything (Politico)

In soccer's equal pay suit, a May 2020 trial is 'good overall,' says Alex Morgan (NPR)