welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: counting down to a key decision on climate change. is president trump about to pull out of the world's biggest agreement? one of the biggest debates of the uk election campaign, with fractious exchanges on immigration, security, and the future of public services. world leaders condemn the massive bomb attack in kabul. at least 90 are dead, 400 wounded. the afghan president calls it a crime against humanity. after being called a broken state and a breeding ground for extremism we have a special report from libya on what's been called "the forgotten war." for many, climate change is the most important issue facing the planet. president trump has

called it a chinese hoax, an american job—killer. one of his big election campaign promises was pulling the us out of the biggest international agreement ever drawn up to combat climate change. he's now said he'll give his decision on that in 16 hours time. china and the european union are preparing a joint statement in support of the paris accord. i asked the bbc‘s david willis, in washington, what looks likely to happen. he said that he is close to reaching a decision on whether to keep america part of the paris accord. there is deep division, we are told, in the white house on the part of those in favour of remaining in favour of this agreement and those who say that america should leave. among those, allegedly urging president trump to keep faith and keep membership is his daughter ivanka, who is an environmentalist, the heads of several big businesses, including some energy companies including exxon mobil and shell and the pope,

pope francis, of course, met with donald trump last week at the vatican. there are also those here who say that the paris accord threatens to tie american businesses up in bureaucratic red tape, and having pledged on the campaign trail to withdraw from the paris accord it does seem as though that is what president trump is about to do. despite the fact that only two nations, nicaragua and syria, are not part of this agreement and the fact that america is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to the production of greenhouse gas emissions. now this would deal, of course, a shattering blow to the legacy of barack obama but environmentalists are also concerned that it could lead to other countries, currently signatories to the paris accord, doing the same thing as the united states and also withdrawing or perhaps falling short of the agreement they made to cut greenhouse gas emissions. it does seem as though president trump is about to favour isolationism rather than cooperation

as far as confronting one of the biggest issues to confront our planet at the moment. one of those arguing for the us to stay is california governorjerry brown. he's going to china soon to discuss climate change. in sacramento, the bbc‘s james cook asked him how damaging withdrawal might be. california has a long history of dealing with pollution, smog and carbon problems that we face. so we will stay the course, we intensify our efforts, be it with electric or new energy. the whole radical shift to decarbonise the future. california is playing the lead in a leading role, china will not. paris was very much created because of xi and obama. obama has left the scene and president trump has gone awol and now it is up to xi

and california to work with other countries to do whatever we can to offset the negative pathway chosen by a president trump. do you see that as a global alliance? i do. and, look, king canute had ideas about stopping the movement of the tides. that did not work. even though he was a powerful sovereign. president trump can command science. he cannot command whether and he could not command the climate. the rest of the world is getting it. i don't think we are getting it enough. if, anything, our response at this point is feeble given the threat that climate change represents.

california will be on the field doing its role, playing an active role in promoting climate strategies. one of the biggest tv debates of the uk election campaign has just ta ken place, without britain's prime minister. theresa may said she'd rather be out meeting voters. jeremy corbyn, leader of the labour opposition, did take part, his decision only announced hours before. vicky young reports. with a week to go, this was a chance for all the parties to pitch their offer to voters, and that the last minutejeremy offer to voters, and that the last minute jeremy corbyn offer to voters, and that the last minutejeremy corbyn decided it was worth turning up for. theresa may was ridiculed for staying away and it was left to her home secretary to fend off the attacks on cuts to public services, including disability benefits.” public services, including disability benefits. i know there is no extra payment you don't want to add to, no tax you don't want to raise, but the fact is we have to

concentrate our resources on the people who need it most, and we have to stop thinking, as you do, that there is a magic money tree. to stop thinking, as you do, that there is a magic money treei to stop thinking, as you do, that there is a magic money tree. i was just say this, since amber rudd seem so just say this, since amber rudd seem so confident that this is a country at ease with itself, have you been toa at ease with itself, have you been to a food bank? have you seen people sleeping around our stations? applause . have you seen the levels of poverty... i would like to once your attack. because of your government's conscious decisions on benefits. attack. because of your government's conscious decisions on benefitslj conscious decisions on benefits.” have been to a food bank. for amber to say that this is a government which cares for the most vulnerable, i think that is downright insulting. tim farron was keen to make the liberal democrats case for staying on the single market after brexit.. fully costed manifesto, i tell you what, there is a long—term economic man underlying the whole of the liberal democrat manifesto, and that is, don't leave the european single market, and throw away £15 billion

every single year in revenue. while others clashed over immigration, ukip suggesting britain would struggle to cope with rising numbers. we have to get the pop elation under control because if we carry on the road that we are on, we will have a population of 80 million by the middle of this century. you just think what will happen. they will have to be a huge school building programme. there will have to be new hospitals, new motorways, a new rail network, new houses. we already have to build a house every seven minutes to keep up with the numbers of people coming to this country. i'm afraid that ukip keep using this issue. they want to whip up using this issue. they want to whip up people's hatred, division and fear, and that is why they talk about immigration. i think this debate shames and demeans us all. i don't think there is anybody in this room or anybody watching this debate, from cornwall to caithness, who does not understand the positive contribution that people have made to this land who have come from the re st of to this land who have come from the

rest of europe and the rest of the world, and demonising those people is totally unacceptable. this was a crowded field with seven parties all desperate to have their say, and as the party in government, it was not surprising that the conservatives came under sustained attack over their record. their response was to say that being in power requires difficult decisions. there were no clear winners in this debate, but there was plenty of passion. and that election, in case it has slipped your mind, is on eightjune. and you can get the very latest on this and all the stories we're following. just head to our website, bbc.com/news. the afghan president, ashraf ghani, has described a massive bomb attack in kabul‘s diplomatic quarter as a crime against humanity. at least 90 people, most of them civilians, died in the morning rush hour. four hundred were wounded. caroline hawley‘s report does contain distressing images. you could see from miles away the force of this explosion. a massive bomb at a busy kabul intersection, hitting commuters on their way to work, children on their way to school.

it was a bomb so powerful it shattered windows up to a mile away, leaving a trail of horrific destruction. one witness said it was like an earthquake. there were so many casualties, security vehicles had to double—up as ambulances. the afghan government said hospitals in the capital were in dire need of blood. translation: i was working in the office when a powerful blast happened. i collapsed under the desk and received injuries from shattered windows. most of the dead and injured were civilians, including many women and children. among those killed is mohammed nazir, who worked for the bbc as a driver. the bbc said he was a popular colleague, with a young family. the area where the bomb went off is supposed to be one of the most secure parts of the capital, walking distance from the presidential

oalace. the bbc‘s harun najafzade was at the scene soon after the attack. it was a water tanker or a lorry full of explosive that hit this strategic location, right in the heart of kabul. it's very close to the german embassy, indian embassy, french and british embassies. even in a country that's become painfully used to violence, the scale of this attack has been a shock. security in afghanistan has been deteriorating for some time. most of the country was under government control back in 2014, when nato ended its combat mission. since then, large swathes of territory have fallen to the taliban. most of helmand, where so many british soldiers lost their lives, is now in taliban hands. so is much of the province of kunduz and is has established a presence in nangarhar. the americans have over 8,000 troops in afghanistan.

uk has about 500, but us commanders are now asking for several thousand more. at one point we had 150,000 foreign military boots on the ground. that did not weaken or destroy the taliban. so a few thousand more today is not going to be a solution. yes, in the short—term, it is going to give some support and better training to the afghan government and afghan security forces, but the insurgency will still be there. afghan intelligence are blaming an affiliate to the taliban a network, the haqqani network, but no group has yet admitted to carrying out one of the worst attacks kabul has ever seen. caroline hawley, bbc news. a malaysia airlines jet had to return to melbourne, when a passenger tried to enter the cockpit shortly after take—off, saying he had a bomb. airport security apprehended the man, a sri lankan national, and the bomb turned out to be a battery. flight mh128 had been heading for kuala lumpur. in what is thought to be the world's

first posthumous gay wedding a french policeman killed in an attack way an islamist militant has been made to his partner. he was shot dead on the champs—elysee last april, before the first round of france's residential election. leben on has banned the new hollywood film wonder woman because its star is an israeli who served in her country's army. —— wonder woman. the lebanese interior ministry has decreed it should not shown. the banana still officially at war with israel. good to have you with us. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, why nasa is setting its sights on solar secrets with plans to fly a probe directly into the sun's fiery atmosphere. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletic events to aid famine relief in africa.

the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started forming at 7am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full—scale riot as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into the juventus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today. he was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 11,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has announced she's left the spice girls. ahhhhh! i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, the girl power. not geri, why? good to have you with us on bbc

news. the latest headlines this hour: president trump will announce whether he's pulling the us out of the paris climate agreement later on thursday. the uk witnesses one of the biggest debates of the election campaign — with fractious exchanges on immigration, security, and the future of public services. libya's descent into chaos since the fall of colonel gaddafi six years ago has created a broken state — and a breeding ground for extremism. it's been exploited by the militant group, the so—called islamic state, drawing in young men such as the manchester bomber, salman abedi. our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville has been talking to a former friend of abedi's, also from manchester, who travelled to libya to fight is. quentin's report contains flashing images and disturbing scenes. gunfire libya's been ripping itself apart for years. much ignored, it seemed far off, but we're more involved

in this fight than we ever realised. these home videos are from benghazi and one faction, the libyan national army. it's a foreign war, but this fighter is from manchester. the boys from moss side became libya's soldiers. mohamed el—sharif has taken up arms against islamists, including the so—called islamic state. he left manchester in 2011, and never went back. people at that time wanted to come to libya. i knew he could come to libya. just come. go book a ticket to tunisia. book a ticket to egypt. book a ticket to wherever and then just get a taxi into libya. once they know you're in libya they know you're living, that's it, nobody can topple you. it's your hometown, it's your city. this is home now, drugs

are widespread, dulling the monotony and the wounds of young fighters. in this madness, the islamic state is waiting for the right moment and the right recruit. make sure they don't go to that path, if you know what i mean. like, if you needed them to do what they do, there's people that are looking for young lads to blow themselves up. to do stuff like that. they're going to find them. they're going to convince them. they're going to make them do and do and do. yeah, that's salman there. that's salman right there. that's salman. he was once good friends with the manchester bomber, salman abedi, but they chose different sides in libya's war. they haven't seen each other in five years. the fighting changed both men. i've been in wars for over three years. i've seen so much blood. i wouldn't go blow myself up.

gunfire but life here is warped. mohamed was filmed proudly desecrating is corpses. you posted a video on instagram, tell me what happened? why did you shoot those bodies? it is wrong. it is, obviously. what can i say to you? i do regret it but, what can i say? they deserved to do die, too. they deserved to die, because they killed so many people. gunfire the journey to here from manchester was quick and it was easy. these two worlds overlap. mohmmed stayed in libya, but salman abedi brought the violence back home with him. libya's chaos won't be contained. quentin sommerville, bbc news, eastern libya. more of the menus for you now: main

news. “— more of the menus for you now: main news. —— main news. the chinese premier has been given a red—carpet welcome with military honours in berlin by the german chancellor. climate change and trade are expected to dominate their discussions. all this with german relations with the us under severe strain — partly over mr trump's stance on climate change. parliament in macedonia has endorsed a new government, ending the political deadlock since elections last december. it's headed by the pro—eu social democrat leader, zoran zaev. he is going into coalition with parties representing macedonia's ethnic albanian minority. a british surgeon who carried out a series of unnecessary breast operations has been jailed series of unnecessary breast operations has beenjailed for 15 yea rs. operations has beenjailed for 15 years. thejudge told ian paterson he had deliberately played on patients' worst fear, inventing or exaggerating their symptoms. sri

la nka exaggerating their symptoms. sri lanka is to speed up flood relief. heavy monsoon rains have now killed over 200 people. the storm hit sri la nka over 200 people. the storm hit sri lanka on friday, then turned into cyclone mora. sarah corker reports. these are the worst torrential rains to hit sri lanka in more than a0 yea rs. to hit sri lanka in more than a0 years. and more than five days since the first heavy downpours began, many areas are still severely flooded. heavy equipment has been brought in to clear roads and unblock wells. huge mudslides have wiped out entire villages, and 600,000 people are now living in temporary shelters. translation: until now, we have had no relief from the government. everything is given from the buddhist temple in the village. the authorities say more than 200 people have been killed, and 96 are still missing. foreign aid began arriving

at the colombo port with the latest shipment coming from pakistan. as you like as military has been deployed to help with the clear up. translation: what we have to do now is to speed up the provision of relief. —— sri lanka's. is to speed up the provision of relief. -- sri lanka's. the gunmen says many people would have survived if their homes had not been built on slopes. —— government. it plans to tighten construction laws. the immediate focus is now on the enormous cleanup operation. 16 countries are sending food and medicine supplies to the worst affected areas. sarah corker, bbc news. as more people play games online, new research suggested abuse and bullying is the rise. it is leading to a growing problem. according to a uk charity, one in two gamers say they've been bullied or received threats.

so what can be done to make sure young gamers feel safe? here's our technology correspondent, rory cellan—jones. for 16—year—old bailey, videogames area big for 16—year—old bailey, videogames are a big part of his life. he enjoys pitting his skills against other players online, but what he does not like is the abuse he sometimes gets while playing. he first experienced bullying in games when he was ten years old and it is not getting any better. if i am playing a game, and a score goal, i have literally been told to kill myself. if you have been voted school, you come home and play computer, and you get more abuse thrown at you. it will put you doing anything social. -- if you have been burnt. the survey found 57% had been exposed to hate speech. a7% received threats and a similar number had u nwa nted threats and a similar number had unwanted sexual contact. what has changed in the last decade is that more and more games are played online. that means young gamers are encountering anonymous people from around the world. that can be very positive, but it also leaves them open to any kind of danger that we

have seen elsewhere in the online world. the charity work with habbo hotel to look at children's express and it was disturbed by what it found. when we talk about bullying, we talk about cyber bullying on social media or traditional bullying off—line. we very seldom talk about it in game environments. as a result of this research, we have found that the majority of gamers have at some point experienced bullying. what is so shocking is that it is normalised behaviour. we had gamers telling us that this was just part of playing games online which is incredibly shocking, because it can have very real and devastating impacts upon those who are subjected to it. bailey says that he has now learnt to not let abuse get him. he wants games companies do more to watch over what happens online and to and to act to stop the bullies. rory

cellan—jones., bbc news. nasa has outlined plans to fly a probe directly into the sun's atmosphere. —— rory cellan—jones, bbc news. the aim of the mission, next year, is to determine what makes the sun so hot and how it affects life on earth. our science editor, david shukman has more details. a giant flare leaps from the turbulent surface of the sun. these latest images capture scenes of extraordinary violence, but there's a lot we don't know about how the sun works, and how it affects us. and the best way to find answers is to get as as possible. so next year nasa plans to launch a specially designed spacecraft, to fly right up to the sun and endure the extraordinary temperatures there. scientists can't wait. the solar probe is going to be the hottest fastest mission. i like to call it the coolest hottest mission under the sun. we are going to be moving at blistering temperatures, we are going to go right up into the corona. to give you an idea of how incredibly close this mission will go, the earth is 91 million miles from the sun.

by contrast, the tiny planet mercury is 21 million miles from it, but a new nasa spacecraft will fly to just a million miles from the sun. that is far closer than ever before. at the same time, the european space agency will also send a mission to the sun, and together with the nasa spacecraft it'll explore the stream of solar particles flowing our way. how does what we call the solar windfall, which is a constant stream of material radiating out from the sun at hundreds of kilometres a second, it is going to help us understand how the biggest explosions and eruptions in the solar system were formed. our sun has a very dynamic atmosphere, and to fully understand it, you need to get close. mercury, crossing in front of the sun. the nasa spacecraft will go much closer. one big puzzle is how the sun generates such powerful bursts of energy, and this matters because the giant flares can affect us by wrecking anything electronic.

the best way to understand these events, and to forecast them, is to get as close as you can. david shukman, bbc news. nairobi has been linked with bomb blast. trainees companies paid for this with chinese bank loans. it is the first part of a project right across the country. the first route was known as the lunatic line because it was so expensive, difficult to build, and some workers we re difficult to build, and some workers were in bylines. much more on that and any of the news on our website. —— eaten by lions. good morning.

london may not have been the sunniest place across the country yesterday, but it was the warmest with highs ofjust over 23 degrees. i expect over the next couple of days, the south—east will get warm, if not hot, as we drag warm air in from the near continent. this slow—moving weather front will bring a contrast to the far north and west. it will be a mild start for all, some mist around, especially close to the coast. that weather front is a slow—moving affair and will bring rain into northern ireland and scotland, lingering for much of the day. cloud, largely dry, and more in the way of sunshine across the extreme south. despite some afternoon cloud into the south—west part of wales, temperatures 18—22 degrees, reasonable. highs of 25 widely in the south—east corner, and stretching into the north of england. a different day for the north—west, in the lake district, isle of man, northern ireland and western scotland. here it stays cloudy and wet for much of the day with a scattering of showers into the far north—east as well. this conveyor belt of rain sitting

across the irish sea, affecting the western fringes of wales. to the south and east, it stays sticky overnight. a milder feel with widely mid teens across the country. it means that on friday, we gradually start to see change. a level of uncertainty as to how quickly that weather front moves eastwards. hopefully improving through scotland through the day. the front sitting on the spine of the country by mid—afternoon. it stays very warm, if not hot, in the south—east. 27 degrees, much fresher conditions beginning to follow behind. that is the general theme as we move into the weekend. significant thunderstorms are likely across the near continent

but the wind direction moves to a fresher westerly feel. a good deal of dry weather with a scattering of showers for the weekend, but look at the difference. 16—17 in the north—west, highs of 22 in the south—east corner. on sunday, a similar story. fresh with a scatter of showers and a touch of breeze. in case you don't have the message, this is the story for the weekend. a scattering of showers and a fresh feel for all. take care. this is bbc news. the headlines: china and the european union are preparing a joint statement in support of the paris climate change agreement. president trump, a well known climate change sceptic, is set to announce whether america will withdraw from the accord later on thursday. theresa may's political rivals have criticised her for not taking part in a televised, party leaders election debate. the conservatives were represented by home secretary amber rudd. the event was marked by fractious exchanges on immigration, security, and the future of public services.

world leaders have condemned the massive bomb attack in kabul. the afghan president, ashraf ghani, described it as a crime against humanity. at least 90 people, most of them civilians, died in the blast during the morning rush hour. over a00 others were injured. now it's time for hardtalk.