slovakia's prime minister robert fico is in a critical condition after being shot several times when a gunman opened fire at point blank range. a physical attack on the premise that is personable and attack on a person but also an attack on a person but also an attack on a person but also an attack on democracy. and after weeks of negotiations, joe biden and donald trump finally agree to go head—to—head in two presidential debates. singapore has a new prime minister to navigate through a riskier, more conflict—ridden world. we'll look at the challenges that lie ahead.

welcome to the programme. we begin in beijing, where russia's president vladimir putin has just landed. he's set to meet his chinese counterpart xijinping later. it's mr putin's second trip to china in just over six months, perhaps underlining the importance to moscow of the relationship after the unprecedented sanctions it's facing as a result of the war in ukraine. nonetheless, the chinese government seems to be looking forward to the summit. china and russia regarding cover as comprehensive, critical and cooperative partners in the era and relationships have continued to develop healthily with leaders of the two countries maintaining close contacts. let's assess how close that relationship is. mr putin's trip to beijing is his first outside of russia since he was sworn in for a new six year term as president last week. the two leaders have met on a fairly frequent basis in the last few years and seem to get on quite well. in 2019 mr xi went to russia

on a state visit, referring to mr putin as "a best friend" after talks at the kremlin. in 2022, mr putin was in china for the winter olympic opening ceremony. in a joint statement the two leaders said their partnership had "no limits". just a few days later, russia began its invasion of ukraine. china has never openly condemned the war. the fighting has led to the international criminal court issuing a warrant for mr putin's arrest. but he was still able to travel unhindered to china again in 2023, meeting mr xi again, who he described as "an old friend". furthermore, let's bring in our china correspondent in beijing, stephen mcdonell. great to see you. what are the two leaders hope to achieve on the visit? they've both got different goals in a way but they

intersect with a number and essentially they are using one another to create a baulk against the worst which enables them essentially to defend the worst excesses of their own regimes, of what they've been accused of doing themselves, because you've got vladimir putin an increasingly isolated on the world stage, his country faces sanctions following the invasion of ukraine, then you got xijinping. vladimir putin is essentially doing his dirty work in no way, eating into nato resources, causing chaos and tension in europe, especially in the east, and so you've got to see how they are using one another to achieve those goals, but this visit thatis those goals, but this visit that is expected to be heavy on symbolism really and pretty light on specific new agreements and to get an idea of the symbolism you just have to see the arrival in the early hours of this morning, beijing

time, full military honours when he arrived, the motorcycles that led him and the fleet of cars away from the red carpet arrival. and that will be shown of course our news here and promoting this visit. giving it more warmth, making people pay more attention to it and it'll be seen as a way to promote this pose no limits partnership that china and russia have —— oomph. stephen mcdonell invasion, many thanks for bringing us up to speed on vladimir putin's visit. our other top story today, officials from the slovak government say its prime minister robert fico is expected to survive after he was shot in an assassination attempt. he was attacked as he spoke to crowds in the street after attending a meeting. from slovakia, bethany bell reports. this was the moment a european leader was shot... gunshots ..as he greeted members

of the public in front of a local community centre. robert fico was shot in the stomach and in the arm. his security team half dragged, half carried him to his car. a few metres away, amidst the chaos, security officials push a man to the ground. the suspect is believed to be in his 70s. witnesses say he shot at the prime minister several times. translation: i heard three shots. _ it was quick, one by one, like if you throw firecrackers on the ground. i saw a scratch on the prime minister's head and then he fell next to the barrier. it's a nightmare. the 59—year—old was flown by helicopter to hospital, where he had emergency surgery. officials said his condition was critical. a few hours later, a sombre

president addressed the nation. translation: i am shocked, we are all shocked by - the terrible and vicious attack on prime minister robert fico. a physical attack on the prime minister is, first of all, an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy. hateful rhetoric, which we can see in society leads, to hateful actions. please stop it. robert fico, seen here before the attack, is regarded as a divisive figure — a populist who's accused of being authoritarian and too close to russia. the attack has been widely condemned by all sides in slovakia. translation: the attack on the prime minister - is terrible — uncivilised and brutal, pure evil. i this should provoke just one reaction —i unite all society against evil, hate and violence. _

the suspect is now in police custody, the authorities are searching for a motive. bethany bell, bbc news, bratislava. speaking to bbc news hour, deputy prime minister tomas taraba discussed prime minister fico's condition, and explains the political context behind the shooting. i was very shocked and tried to contact surroundings to find out how serious is his condition unfortunately as far as i know the operation went well and i guess that. at the moment the operation should be that he is not in a life—threatening situation. in slovakia we won two elections, presidential one in october and we had parliamentary elections, so our government has pretty stabilised strong support of

public but his presence in slovakia, we think the opposition uses false narratives often and international politics about our government, they speak of false narratives that we want to leave the european union, that we want to join the cooperation with russia and i don't want these false narratives and of course people from the other side who post on the elections are sometimes believe these narratives, and they can become a little bit, let's say, upset.— they can become a little bit, let's say, upset. that story is developing — let's say, upset. that story is developing fast _ let's say, upset. that story is developing fast and - let's say, upset. that story is developing fast and we - let's say, upset. that story is developing fast and we will. developing fast and we will renew the news as and when we get it. to the us now and joe biden and donald trump have finally agreed to hold two presidential debates as they fight each other to become the next president in the white house. the first will take place on 27june. the second in september. the vote, of course,

is on the first tuesday in november. president biden gave this confirmation on the social media website x. donald trump lost two debates in 2020, now he's acting like he wants to do it again. since then he hasn't shown up to debate me. make my day, pal. i'll even do it twice. pick the dates, donald. i hear you are free on wednesdays. "i hear you are free on wednesdays" — that of course is a jibe at mr trump's expense as it's currently the only weekday when he doesn't have to attend his hush money trial in new york. so mr trump was free to respond and he didn't waste much time. he posted this message on his truth social website, saying that "crooked joe biden is the worst debater "i have ever faced." trump added that he wants a very large venue for excitement purposes and said biden is supposedly afraid of crowds. and he signs off, "let's get ready to rumble." earlier, my colleague catitriona perry spoke to the co—chair of the commission on presidential debates frank fahrenkopf. she asked if the two parties

informed him in advance that they were making their own plans. this is not the first time any 33 years or however long it's been that the commission has existed and put out all the debate starting in 1998 when candidates have wanted to change things or do it their own way or make suggestions that they weren't going to debate with the commissioner, the debate was something else -- 1988. lo the debate was something else —— 1988. lo and behold they came back for the debate so this was a shocker today for everybody, there was no news anywhere that this was going to happen. we normally don't have contact with the candidates until after their conventions when they become officially nominees of the parties that are on the balance in every state. this was an interesting thing particularly because at that time on the first debate is scheduled, i think 27june, only about seven states will have completed their ballot questions of who will appear on

their ballot, so we'll have to see what happens. marigold, we are all volunteers on the commission, we are not ourjob was to be the new group in between to make sure the debates would happen and we have been successful for all those years, at times there been other things happen but they always come back to us. if they always come back to us. if they can do it and get it on, so the american people get a chance to review the two candidates, where they are the issues, god bless trump and we will go away but we've got to hang, we will be there to see what happens if it happens, it happens and if it doesn't, the commission will go forward as far plans are to go forward with our debates which will go to a lot more people. we use the white house press and that's where the feed comes from, it goes all over the world, it's on every platform, when the social media, i don't know what it's going to be, at this point in time cnn says that other networks are not going to be able to have what

they do in the first debate, abc said they would share what the debate happens so we have to wait to see what happens, it's a long way until the start of things, and the commission will hopefully still be there and be able to put them up. to no and be able to put them up. to go back over and expand on a couple of things you've said, to clarify, neither the rnc nor dnc no campaign informs you that they'd made this plan to debates themselves, correct? that's correct. we had nothing to do with the rnc. i will use to do with the rnc. i will use to be the chair under president reagan but the rnc and dnc have nothing to do with the commission, never have we have never dealt with the parties, we only deal with those individuals who have been nominated by their convention. by nominated by their convention. by the republican and democratic party and that normally when we first have contact with them, discuss what is going to happen with the debates and so forth so it was not surprising that we haven't heard from them, as of this morning. since these announcements were made. we

would normally hear until after the democrats go and i think the democrats go and i think the third week of august, the republicans for the third week injuly, so it's not unusual but i would have liked a call to say heads up but that didn't happen. i5 to say heads up but that didn't ha en. , , , ., happen. is this benefit from the two campaigns - happen. is this benefit from the two campaigns to - the two campaigns to essentially controlled environments to their own advantage, do you think? another point apart the time they've changed is a move to have no audience there. think back to the debates in earlier years, there was no audience, but it's become a tradition now. ~ ., ., . , but it's become a tradition now. ., ., .,�*, now. with out audiences it's different. — now. with out audiences it's different, people _ now. with out audiences it's different, people mixed - now. with out audiences it's different, people mixed up. now. with out audiences it's - different, people mixed up with a primary debates where we have nothing to do with, our commission does not, the general election debates are different, you don't have people clapping and moving into another things, and interrupting. your tickets as if you do you'll be removed by secret service. that's not a good argument. i think what happened here is you set it correctly, they both are trying

to get leveraged against each other and they may be successful, they may not, one have to sit around the table, i wish i could be a fly on the water see how they discuss and who is going to sit were, what there is going to be with regard to questions, how long each will be able to answer the questions and so forth. those are things that the reason the commission was created back in 1987 was to have neutral people making the decisions, that's the commission, so we will see if they are able to do it, it's gonna be a long shot in my view. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. ukraine's president zelensky has cancelled foreign trips, as a russian offensive in northeast ukraine gains ground. ukraine has pulled back troops from some areas in the border region and thousands of people have been evacuated from the area. but today it said it had repelled a russian

attack in the border town of vovcha nsk. james waterhouse reports. not your usual traffic jam in russia's belgorod region, as a rocket launcher pulls over to pourfire into neighbouring ukraine, causing panic across the border. "what do you need to take? "let's move quicker, let's go," says this police officer. the russians are using new tactics here — constant ground assaults and relentless air strikes, although not all bombs go off. now ukrainian troops are withdrawing from some positions near the border. for the first time in 18 months, this war is no longer a grinding stalemate. russia has momentum, and that is fuelling a sense of diplomatic urgency

here in kyiv. a two—day visit by america's secretary of state antony blinken ended with tributes to ukraine's war dead and another $2 billion to arm those still fighting. we're rushing ammunition, armoured vehicles, missiles, air defences, rushing them to get to the front lines, to protect soldiers, to protect civilians. and on air defences, as dmytro said, this is, of course, a top priority. in moscow with his new defence minister, a confident sounding vladimir putin announced more funding for a war he thinks he's winning. translation: all enemy - counterattacks were repelled. our troops are improving in all positions, in all directions, every day. and here are the consequences — kherson in the south, like so many cities and towns across ukraine, is becoming increasingly uninhabitable. nowhere is immune to moscow's desire to conquer its neighbour. james waterhouse,

bbc news, kyiv. officials say the situation in areas of afghanistan hardest hit by flash floods remains critical, as the search for bodies continues. at least 315 people have been killed. caroline davies sent this report. this used to be a village. little trace of lives swept away... ..only the debris. sticky mud, heated — hardening. salvaging what's left is tough. translation: we haven't got even a glass left - for a cup of tea. there is nothing. this is one of the worst hit villages, and people are still trying to excavate their homes, trying to salvage what they can from the rubble. everywhere you look, there are uprooted trees, there are bits of building and the destruction is just in every direction. over here, more people, more homes, more buildings destroyed, more belongings,

and people here who still don't have a home to stay in tonight. flash floods tore through villages in north—east afghanistan, sweeping away everything in their path. here, a miraculous rescue — dragged alive from muddy waters. many were not. abdul�*s family's three homes stood here for 20 years. he returned to find nothing but this wall. 10 out of 18 of his family were killed, swept away. translation: we were searching for family - members in knee—deep mud. so we took off our shoes and continued searching. eventually, we found the bodies miles away from here. these stark valleys have seen flooding before, but no—one we spoke to head seen anything like this in their lifetime. on the broken road, women walk

between bereaved families... ..offering graveside prayers. they will make more than one stop today. the grieving is not over. caroline davies, bbc news, baghlan. singapore has a new prime minister. lawrence wong was sworn in, replacing lee hsien loong, who'd been in office for two decades. mr lee will, however, remain in the cabinet with an advisory role. with more, here's my colleague in singapore nick marsh. this was a once in a generation event for singapore, and the pomp and circumstance of the occasion did well to match that. the man who lawrence wong is replacing is lee hsien loong, who has been in the job for 20 years. his father before him was the legendary lee kuan yew, the founding father of singapore.

so just having a leader of the country whose surname isn't lee is actually a bit of a novelty. kind of like a new era for singapore. but it's not as if singapore will wake up to a drastically different country. it is singapore after all. everything is carefully choreographed and lawrence wong was hand—picked two years ago by the people's action party as a solid, smart, competent, safe pair of hands. a man for continuity. having said that, in his speech, lawrence wong pointed out he is the first leader to have been born after singaporean independence. he said he would lead in his own way, befitting of a new generation. but the challenges he faces are broadly the same. he will have to keep navigating the tricky us—china relationship in the way singapore has traditionally done so well. and at home, he will have to call an election by the end of next year. there is no question of his party

losing, they never do, but it will be interesting to see how his popularity matches up with his more, let's say, illustrious and long—serving predecessors. sir eltonjohn and his husband have one of the greatest private collections of photographs in the world. now an exhibition of some of those images will open at london's v&a museum this weekend. with more, here's our culture editor katie razzall. # i'll write a symphony just for you and me...# 300 photographs, many on show for the first time. # i'll paint a masterpiece...#. sir eltonjohn started collecting after he got sober in the �*90s, and with his husband david furnish, now has one of the world's great collections. i'm so proud of what we've collected, because we both love photography so much. itjust hits so many emotional moments for both of us. the nan goldin especially, i bought that because i

thought, that's my life, my old life, on the wall. the addictions and the people we lost to aids. yeah. there's a lot of pain and grief on these walls. 9/11, political riots, assassinations. civil rights. what makes you want to collect that pain? because in pain sometimes, there's a lot of beauty, unfortunately, and i'm drawn to that. that's why the show is called fragile beauty. # seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind...#. we are sitting surrounded by some very beautiful people. but of course, there's sadness here as well. we've got marilyn, chet baker. and i'm looking at miss piggy. so there's something for everyone! marilyn monroe, chet baker, they clearly suffered for their art. do you think you suffered for your art? well, i did in a way, but it was self—inflicted. the pain i suffered was because of addiction, and alcoholism and unhappiness. but music saved me and it always has done. the couple have 2,000 photographs from 9/11. it's the first time they've

exhibited any of them. it's too raw for people who lived through that, but it's good to see some of them. there's only about four of them out. but there is little record of the man himself in the show. there arejust two photographs of eltonjohn — one of his hands, and this more playful image. completely spontaneously, he picked the plastic eggs up and put them under his glasses, and that to me says more about elton's personality, and sense of humour and irreverence than anything, and that's what i love about photography. it is extraordinary that i collect photographs, because i don't like being photographed. i find it really painful. # hold me closer, tiny dancer...#. many will find pain, but also joy in this extraordinary collection — a chronicle of our times. katie razzall, bbc news. some dog news now — and a miniature poodle named sage has won best in show at the prestigious westminster dog show in america. sage beat more than 2,500 dogs. sage's handler is kaz

hosaka from delaware. he said this year's show would be his last. when the judge's decision was announced to the crowd of several thousand onlookers in the stadium it was clear to see how much the win meant. that's all the time we have here on newsday. stay with bbc news for the latest business headlines with business today. hello, there. looking at thursday's weather, we've got some, i think wet weather on the way to parts of england and wales with some thundery rain at times. on wednesday, here's

the day of sunny spells and passing showers. some of those showers, mind you, were very heavy, for example, here in hebden bridge. but looking at the satellite picture, you can see a stripe of cloud just here, that's a weather front that stretches all the way into europe. there's our fronts. but bumping into that front, we've got this trough here, this line of very intense showers. you might get the sense that these areas of rain are merging together. well, i think that's exactly what's going on. and they will tend to run towards england over the coming hours. so weather wise, over the next few hours, not so much of an issue. we'll have some low cloud effects, some of our north sea coast, a few mist and fog patches here and occasional spots of rain or drizzle. drier weather elsewhere with temperatures around ten or 11 degrees quite widely. the problems with the forecast come tomorrow. i think there is a risk of seeing more widespread rain initially across eastern areas of england through thursday morning before moving across the midlands and on it's

and on into parts of wales and the west country as we head into the afternoon. so the details are going to be quite difficult to come by but expect the chance of seeing some heavy thundery rain at times across parts of england and wales. further northwards for northern ireland sunshine through the morning and a dry morning. the afternoon, yeah, you could see a storm or two breaking out. most of scotland, in contrast to all of that will be dry, although there will be some mist and low cloud across eastern areas and spots of drizzle through the morning, the afternoon, the best of the sunshine into the northwest and that's where we'll see temperatures at their highest, probably reaching around 23 degrees or so. heading into friday the weather pattern is still rather unsettled, but hopefully a bit more straightforward. it should be a day of sunshine and showers through the afternoon for england and wales. some of those turning heavy and thundery. the drier weather will be further north again for scotland and for northern ireland, where most places will keep spells of sunshine and temperatures well into the low 20s. that's going to feel pleasant with light winds for the weekend weather picture, we're still at low pressure close to the south of the uk, a ridge of high pressure trying to build

in from the north—west. and so it's again scotland and northern ireland that will have the dry ice weather through the weekend. england and wales, meanwhile, will have the chance of seeing a few more showers to come. bye for now.

wall street rallies as prices

in the us show signs of cooling down. despite the high cost of living, travelers are breaking boundaries in 2024 and searching for new adventures across asia. hello and welcome to business today. i'm suranjana tewari. we begin in the us where the latest data shows inflation has fallen slightly. consumer prices rose 3.4 percent in the 12 months to april. that figure was down from 3.5% in the previous month. as we can see here, the news sent us markets to record highs as investors count on the federal reserve cutting interest rates. our business correspondent erin delmore reports. a banner day on wall street with all three major indexes closing at record highs. that's right — the dow, the s&p 500

and the nasdaq all hit their highest levels ever.