i'm steve lai. the headlines: jamaica has been declared a disaster zone as hurricane beryl brings devastating winds, rains, and storm surges to the island. the white house insists president biden will stay in the race despite mounting questions about whether he should continue. the president is clear eyed and he is staying in the race. i don't have anything else beyond that. he is staying in the race. that is what the president has promised to do. and a 51,000—year—old rock painting is discovered in indonesia, thought to be the oldest cave art in the world. welcome to bbc news. it's 8am in singapore and 7pm injamaica, where hurricane beryl has hit, with winds recorded

of nearly isomph. the vast category four storm has left a trail of devastation as it barrels its way through the caribbean. on one island, union, 90% of homes have been destroyed or damaged. jamaica's prime minister has urged residents to follow evacuation orders and warned of the potential damages. during the passage of the hurricane there may be loss of electricity and water. the emergency services will seek to restore power and water as quickly as possible. however, citizens should not seek to remove downed poles or powerlines or disturb water mains. please use emergency numbers given to report damage to public utilities and do not take unnecessary risks. the category four storm already tore through the caribbean islands with winds reaching

140mph, or nearly 240km/h, destroying homes, businesses and fishing boats. at least seven people have died in beryl�*s path though grenada, venezuela and st vincent and thousands are now homeless. the prime minister of st vincent and the grenadines, ralph gonsalves, says they are sending food and water to the effected islands. we are in the phase now of humanitarian relief and we are using our own resources and with our own organisational systems, we have a pretty good disaster management system which is stretched tremendously because you can prepare but when you are struck with a category 5 hurricane, when you have hundred and 40— 150 miles plus, you know, nothing can quite prepare you for it and grab —— quite prepare you for it and grab "140 miles. earlier, our news

correspondent nick davis sent us this report from the jamaican capital, kingston. waiting for a hurricane is a slow build, but when it arrives the wind, the rain issue destructive of these baltl storms is something nobody wants to go through. rain has flooded roads and damage critical infrastructure as windsor bridge in hundred 50 mph door into the island, but it is people's homes that have taken the brunt of the damage. the parameters explained the gravity of the situation facing his nation. gravity of the situation facing his nation-— gravity of the situation facing his nation. jamaica must take this hurricane _ his nation. jamaica must take this hurricane seriously. - his nation. jamaica must take this hurricane seriously. i - his nation. jamaica must take this hurricane seriously. i am| this hurricane seriously. i am now declaring the whole of jamaica to be a disaster area. people injamaica have been watching its deadly and destructive progress across the region over the last few days and today was their turn to face a storm that is now on record as the earliest ever category 5 hurricane that's formed in the caribbean. these events normally occur later in the season when the oceans are warmer, but this year beryl has been moving over waters two —

three centigrade higher than normal. scientists are linking the two climate change. we are caettin the two climate change. we are getting reports _ the two climate change. we are getting reports already, - the two climate change. we are getting reports already, social. getting reports already, social media is honestly very active at the moment with people who are doing emergency services, sending videos of areas which have already been inundated. the area near the airport has pretty much been — there are big rocks, big boulders was used as coastal protection. what is already going over that. so, technically, kingston harbour is already part of the caribbean sea. en harbour is already part of the caribbean sea.— caribbean sea. en his bite throu~h caribbean sea. en his bite through the _ caribbean sea. en his bite through the kerobyan, - caribbean sea. en his bite i through the kerobyan, beryl caribbean sea. en his bite - through the kerobyan, beryl is already left a trail of destruction. this is the island of union, where 90% of the homes have either been destroyed or seriously damaged. a similar story can be told on many other places in the stompers matt wrack. there are reports of several deaths in the death bowl may rise. after the death bowl may rise. after the assessment is a media, preparations will be made in the cayman islands and then mexico and also on this storm is deliberate. nick davies, bbc news, kingston, jamaica. andra garner is a meteorologist

and climate scientist at rowan university. she told me it's important to see hurricane beryl as a climate story more than yet another weather incident. i think with hurricane beryl the thing to think about it is it's really a climate story, perhaps more than a weather story. we are seeing this hurricane, you know, as was mentioned, sending all kinds of records being the earliest category 4 and then category 5 so we have seen for this time of year and that's only possible because of those warm ocean waters that human activity has contributed to. is this a sign that this year is going to be particularly bad for hurricanes in the atlantic? i think it's certainly a warning sign for us, for this year potentially future years. dizzy in particular, you know, weaver those very warm ocean waters for quite some time now, we know we are transitioning to a la nina event in the pacific which is actually more favourable for hurricanes in the atlantic and all of those things have contributed to a lot of different groups organising this to be a very

busy hurricane season. and i think seeing beryl and seeing beryl form so early in the be so strong kind of confirms that thatis so strong kind of confirms that that is what we are likely looking at.— that is what we are likely looking at. that is what we are likely lookin: at. �* ., ., looking at. and from here do ou looking at. and from here do you think _ looking at. and from here do you think beryl— looking at. and from here do you think beryl will— looking at. and from here do you think beryl will gain - looking at. and from here do you think beryl will gain in i you think beryl will gain in strength, perhaps, orwill it start to dissipate as it covers more distance overland? so we know that _ more distance overland? so we know that beryl _ more distance overland? so we know that beryl right _ more distance overland? so we know that beryl right now - more distance overland? so we know that beryl right now has l know that beryl right now has been encountering some windshear, which tends to kind of tear hurricanes apart. so thatis, of tear hurricanes apart. so that is, you know, it has weakened to a category for, which are still very dangerous, very strong hurricane. i think is against overland it does lose that fuel source of the warm ocean waters to some extent, so it may weaken some, but certainly all the coastlines in its path should be aware and paying attention to any warnings that come out. is there anything that can be done to mitigate all, you know, to mitigate a hurricane such as this, to call it a climate sort

of dust as the impact of climate as being a big part in this, it makes it difficult to think how these can be sort of stopped. think how these can be sort of sto ed. ., ~' ., think how these can be sort of sto ed. ., ~ ., ., stopped. yeah, i think one of the key things _ stopped. yeah, i think one of the key things from - stopped. yeah, i think one of the key things from that - the key things from that viewpoint is we really do need to be limiting our emissions as a global community and working towards net zero because we do have the technology to enable us to do that and it's only by doing it that that we're to change the storyline, perhaps limit additional warming, change the storyline, perhaps limit additionalwarming, limit how much worse these impacts might become. bud how much worse these impacts might become.— might become. and you think enou:h might become. and you think enough people _ might become. and you think enough people and _ might become. and you think enough people and political. enough people and political power connecting the dots between climate change and emissions that we are producing around the globe? i emissions that we are producing around the globe?— around the globe? i think that that's probably _ around the globe? i think that that's probably our _ around the globe? i think that that's probably our biggest. that's probably our biggest hurdle to really limiting those future emissions is the political will to do so. again, we have the technology to do it, so getting that political will is another challenge and

it's something that, you know, as a climate scientists i can just hope that, you know, those that have the power to make those decisions are really willing to listen to the sites. —— science. another big story we've been watching — the us presidential race. president biden has been meeting democratic party governors as he attempts to shore up support. this, in the face of further calls for him to withdraw from the us presidential election. a second democratic congressman, raul grijalva, has urged him to step aside, in the wake of last week's poor showing in the televised debate with donald trump. just a few hours ago, he has insisted he's not pulling out of the race for the us presidency. and in a phone call to democratic campaign staff, he's reported to have told them that no—one would push him out. on wednesday the white house denied a report in the new york times that biden has told a key ally he is weighing up whether to continue in the race. biden's spokeswoman, karine jean—pierre, told reporters the president is "moving forward" with his re—election campaign. the president is clear eyed and

he is staying in the race. i don't have anything else beyond that. he is staying in the race. that is what the president has promised to do, thatis president has promised to do, that is what he wants to continue to work on the successes that he's had, his record, his unprecedented record, his unprecedented record, and that is what the president is focused on, continuing to deliver for the american people and he looks forward to doing that. our north america editor sarah smith is in washington and sent us this report. it is a measure of the panic inside the democratic party that the president is taking part in these meetings to reassure allies. on a call to his campaign staff, he said, "let me say "this as clearly as possible, i am the democratic nominee, "no—one is pushing me out, i am not leaving," that was his, but the pressure is ramping up. there are now two elected democrats in congress who have openly said that he should stand aside, and there are dozens more ready to come out and say that publicly if over the next few days he cannot reassure people

he is up to the job. there is polling that suggests nearly three quarters of american voters think he is not fit to be president, and there is another significant development happening. there are really senior party figures who have not come out and said they wantjoe biden to stand aside, but they are openly talking about what should happen if he does. and what they believe should happen is that the party should coalesce around a vice president kamala harris as their candidate, not have a messy nomination battle for who should fight the presidential election for the democrats, so you can see, the party is clearly preparing for the possibility thatjoe biden might not be their candidate in november. for more on the pressure biden is under here is peter hamby. american political journalist and host of the good luck america podcast on snapchat. he explained why the next week or so would be crucial to president biden's election campaign. the next week or so is going

to be decisive here. president biden, if he steps aside, is not going to step aside tomorrow on the fourth of july here in the united states. he's still going to take the weekend. there are three things that i believe the white house and the biden campaign are looking at. one of those, maybe the most important, is public polling and private polling. we've seen new york times come out with a poll today showing biden losing by six points to trump. that lead for trump has widened since the debate. similar poll came out today from the wall streetjournal. i obtained for puck news, where i also write, uh, a internal poll, uh, some data from the firm open labs, which works with biden superpac. they work with the democratic national committee. they're polling internally, uh, shows biden losing two or three points in all of the critical battleground states. and that's what's most important. if the biden campaign starts to see slippage in places like pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, arizona, uh, they're going to start to worry. and then the other two things that are related to that are democratic panic in congress, are members of congress in his own party.

are more than just two going to come out and say, "biden should not be our nominee" if they see more, uh, high quality polling come out over the next few days? and then there's another big test, the last big hurdle, i think, for biden over the next week. he has a big sit down interview on friday here with abc news and george stephanopoulos, their senior political anchor. that's going to be a very tough interview for biden. and he's had two or three public appearances here since the debate. they've been fine. um, but, you know, he doesn't look, uh, you know, any better than he did necessarily in the debate. he had one big rally in north carolina the night after the debate. he looked energetic. there was a big crowd, but he's going to get some tough questions about his health and his age in that interview. and if democratic lawmakers out there think this isn't going well, i think they'll start to speak up probably more into next week. if he doesn't pull out, though, what is he happening in the lead up and in november? i mean, i've talked to many members of the democratic national committee about this, and some of the delegates who would go to chicago.

they're holding firm so far. a few of them are saying biden should step aside. and just to make make clearfor your audience, this is a group of a few thousand party activists who are going to go to the convention in chicago and have a series of roll call votes and nominatejoe biden as their nominee, just as the republicans are going to do with donald trump. they're waiting to see whatjoe biden does. ifjoe biden doesn't drop out of the race, most of these are pretty establishment leaning folks. they're going to stick with him. but they did say that what biden needs to do is really, it's very difficult, butjust keep putting points on the board. he has to show energy. he has to do more events, more campaign events than just a few times a week.

a poll found that 40% of democrats want him to step aside. so my discussions in the professional class, their thought is biden himself is not that popular, this has to be all hands on deck rallying effect. you have to get top democrats from the centre, governance, the most famous people in the country, influences who can be popular on snapchat and tiktok and instagrammer, it has to be a full democratic party ever to really carryjoe biden over the finish line because there are serious doubts that he can match donald trump. remember, the biggest thing to remember, but campaigners defending joe biden right now by saying the polls have only moved one or two points, but, remember, he was already losing to donald trump in this race, so he is coming from a deficit, the whole is deeper, he has a lot of work to do to get out of it and he has to put himself out there in front of the media and in front of voters to sort of recover some of the stature that he has lost over the last week. ., _ and for more, you can head over

to our website, bbc.com. there's this analysis piece from our correspondents on the ground there. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. the number of people killed in a crush at a religious gathering in the northern indian state of uttar pradesh has risen to 121, making it one of the deadliest such disasters in more than a decade. the incident happened as a crowd of thousands of people were trying to leave a hindu prayer meeting in the northern district of hathras. the police chief said action would be taken against anyone found to be responsible for the crush. most of those killed were women. our south asia editor anbarasan ethirajan is in aligarh in uttar pradesh with the latest. iam now i am now here in uttar pradesh where this huge meetings of the

self—styled guru was held. behind me is the place where the guerreiro was addressing tens of thousands of his supporters and they were all sitting along this open ground. and police now they say they have launched an investigation into how this incident happened. as the guru was leaving, people were following him, mostly women were trying to get his blessings and they crossed the road where there is a drain and that's where people believe the cross really happened, more than a hundred people have been killed and more than 200 injured and they are all in various hospitals around this place now. the questions are being asked how come people were allowed to have such a huge gathering without going through a safety audit, even though permission was taken for this particular meeting it was given only for 80,000 people and some suspect there could be three times the amount they had already approved. and also what kind of

mechanisms they had, whether they had any emergency health systems to back up, to help people in case of any accidents like this one. so there are lots of questions and that is why the government here says they are going to have a proper investigation and will come out with a report in the next 2a hours. in the last few hours, russian president vladimir putin and china's xi jinping have held talks in kazakhstan for a meeting of the shanghai cooperation organisation, pitching themselves as a force for global stability to counter western influence. the eurasian security club includes russia, china in 2001 and has since expanded to include central asia nations, as well as india, iran and pakistan. belarus is attending the summit for the first time as a full member of the sco — while india's prime minister, narendra modi, decided not to attend.

earlier, we spoke to bates gill who — a senior fellow at the national bureau of asian research. he told me what he made of presidents putin and xi's increasingly close relationship. this is yet another meeting between these two leaders, president xi has met war with president xi has met war with president putin than any leader so far, it is the second time this year they have met. this is a deepening relationship between the two. it get to see a cooperation meeting. we will be seeing a lot of highflying rhetoric especially from russia and how it represents a sort of alternative or new vision for eurasian solidarity and, pointedly, in a kind of counterbalance to the united states and the west.- counterbalance to the united states and the west. they have described themselves - states and the west. they have described themselves as - states and the west. they have j described themselves as having a friendship without limits. will russia be concerned about russell's greater influence in the region considering it is

moscow's backyard?- moscow's backyard? well, apparently _ moscow's backyard? well, apparently not. _ moscow's backyard? well, apparently not. china - moscow's backyard? well, apparently not. china hasl moscow's backyard? well, - apparently not. china has made some significant inroads in the central asian region, notjust central asian region, not just through central asian region, notjust through its trade and belt and road initiative, there have been investments, but increasingly political and security terms. last year, for the first time, the china central asia summit was held, now china has established a secretariat for the mechanism, this is interesting because it allows china to engage directly with the central asian states in a form that does not include russia. that said, russia remains by and large the most important security play in the region still, so china has to tread somewhat carefully. thea;r tread somewhat carefully. they do have a new _ tread somewhat carefully. they do have a new member, - tread somewhat carefully. they do have a new member, belarus is now a full member, what you make of that news?— make of that news? well, overall i — make of that news? well, overall i don't _ make of that news? well, overall i don't think - make of that news? well, overall i don't think it - make of that news? well, l overall i don't think it spells much benefit for the organisation for a couple of reasons. one, it's only going

to reinforce in the west, in europe, in the united states, and among like—minded countries that this organisation is being put together in a way to have countries that are mostly, mostly many of the key players are adverse areas of the united states, iran, belarus, russia, china, etc. but also this further delivers the organisation. this began as an organisation. this began as an organisation focused on central asia with the addition of india, pakistan, iran and belarus is clearly not going to be about central asia primarily and is going to come i think, dasaolu the effectiveness of the organisation. so my take on it is this is probably not a great decision but i'm sure there are internal political reasons for it going forward. that was bates gill from the national bureau of asian research. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. police in australia are searching for a missing child who was reportedly attacked by a crocodile, while swimming in a creek in australia's northern

territory. the 12—year—old was last seen around dusk on tuesday, swimming near a remote town about 360km southwest of darwin. the northern territory is home to an estimated 100,000 saltwater crocodiles, more than anywhere else in the world, but attacks are uncommon. japan's supreme court has ruled that thousands of people sterilised against their will can claim compensation. about 16,000 people, including those with mental illnesses, were forcibly sterilised under a eugenics law that was only scrapped in 1996. 8,000 more are thought to have been pressured into being sterilised. the supreme court has now decided that japan's 20—year statute of limitations does not apply in these cases. scientists believe they have found the oldest example of representational art in a cave on the indonesian island of sulawesi. the researchers say the wall painting of a pig and three human—like figures is more than 51,000 years old.

they believe it's the oldest example of figurative cave art in the world. pallab ghosh has the story. nestled among the lush mountains of the indonesian island of sulawesi are caves that contain the earliest rock art ever discovered. inside is a faded painting that transforms our ideas of when human creativity first emerged. and here it is. the darkened arch is a pig. and if you look closely at this enhanced picture, you can see three human—like figures, one in front and two either side. it was painted at least 51,000 years ago. it's older than anything else we've got at the moment from the rest of the world, and it raises questions about whether this art was developed specially in that region, orwhetherthis is part of a wider pattern that we don't yet have the data

on, to show that it was something that was much more widespread. as homo sapiens spread around the world, did they take this kind of art with them? cave paintings have been found all across the world. the big question is whether the ability to produce art first emerged in africa, where modern humans evolved, and spread when our species left the continent? or did it emerge independently in different places later, as there became a social need for recorded communication? pallab ghosh, bbc news. a nine—year—old chess prodigy is set to make history as the youngest person ever to represent england internationally in any sport. bodhana sivanandan, from london, willjoin the england women's team at the chess olympiad in hungary later this year. she is almost 15 years younger than the next—youngest teammate. the manager of the england chess team says the schoolgirl is the most remarkable prodigy british chess has ever seen.

in tennis, britain's emma raducanu and sonay kartal are both through to the third round of wimbledon. raducanu beat eleeza mertens in two sets, while kartal defeated clara burel from france in 3 sets. in the men's draw the defending champion carlos alcaraz knocked out aleksandar vukic in 3 sets. alcaraz said he expected a tough match against his next opponent, frances tiafoe from the us. in tennis, britain's emma raducanu and sonay kartal are both through to the third round of wimbledon. raducanu beat eleeza mertens in two sets, while kartal defeated clara burel from france in 3 sets. in the men's draw the defending champion carlos alcaraz knocked out aleksandar vukic in 3 sets. alcaraz said he expected a tough match against his next opponent, frances tiafoe from the us. before we go, a new study found that hippos can become briefly airborne when trotting. researchers say that when moving fast, the feet of the creatures leave the ground for less than a second. by contrast, while elephants can walk and run, they never leave the ground with all four feet. the britain's royal veterinary college made the findings, suggesting hippos are able to push the limits of what giant land animals can do. that's all for now — stay with bbc news.

hello there. there'll be winners and losers when it comes to the weather forecast on thursday. for the far north and west, we will continue to see a rash of showers. it could be quite windy with it, as well. sunny spells elsewhere. the winds really quite a feature right across the country, but the strongest of the winds closest to this area of low pressure, driving in a rash of showers, maybe longer spells of rain at times. but elsewhere, particularly where we had quite a lot of cloud and it was drizzly from time to time on wednesday, will be a better story. more in the way of sunshine coming through. so, by the afternoon, expect this story. we will see these showers, and, as i say, some of them heavy, the brighter yellows and greens denoting that. and with the strength of the wind as well, well, those temperatures really struggling, 11—15 degrees. a few showers into northern ireland, not quite as many, and a few showers across northern england. but generally across england and wales, there'll be more in the way of sunshine, particularly across southeast england. temperatures peaking at 21 degrees, so that means forwimbledon, it will be a better day. we'll have some sunny spells coming through. by friday, though, once again

a change of fortunes, rain could have a part to play for the outer courts as we go through the day. and the reason being this frontal system that's going to slide in through the latter stages of thursday into friday, bringing more in the way of cloud and showery rain across south—west england during the early hours of friday morning, pushing towards sw19 for the early morning rush hour. but, generally speaking, those temperatures will hold up into double digits to start the day on friday. as we move into friday, then, there will be a good deal of dry, sunny weather really from the m4 corridor south. that's where we'll see the rain. a little more cloud, but generally across england and wales, a good slice of sunshine. a few isolated showers into northwest scotland, but generally those temperatures — not much change — ranging from 14—21 degrees if we're lucky. into the weekend, the unsettled theme is set to continue. very changeable, the weather story, at the moment. a ridge of high pressure to start saturday, but there'll be more wet weather moving in on sunday. so, for england and wales, perhaps saturday the best day, but elsewhere, we'll see showers of longer spells of rain set to continue and those temperatures disappointing forjuly.

weak economic data in the us boosts hopes of a sooner—than—later interest rate cut, sending wall street to new highs. china looks to central asia to boost diplomatic and economic ties, amid a frosty relationship with the west. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. another record day on wall street with the s&p 500 and the take heavy nasdaq hitting a new record high. the rally comes after weaker economic data boosted hopes for interest rate cuts as the bbc�*s north america business correspondent michelle fleury explains. wall street's record—breaking rally, what drove it, investors digested several reports pointing to a slowing economy. hiring by private employers were higher injune,