this is bbc news. i'm kasia madera. 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? theresa may's rivals criticise her for missing a televised election debate, one that was marked by fractious exchanges on immigration and the future of britain's 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. and i'm ben bland. challenging america first. the european union and china are hoping to forge even closer ties at a summit in brussels today. the aim, to counter president trump's stand on trade and climate change. another day, another political crisis in brazil. this one very unfortunate, as the country is expected to announce a return to growth for the first time since 2014. we have a report from the capital brasilia. 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 later on thursday. china and the european union are preparing a joint statement in support of the paris accord. david willis reports from washington. the trump white house is said to be deeply divided on the issue of global warming. the president's daughter favours america remaining pa rt daughter favours america remaining part of the paris accord. as does

the g7, whose leaders, including angela merkel, took time out last week in sicily to lobby donald trump on the issue. even pope francis rallied to the defence of the accord when he welcomed the president to the vatican. we are going to cancel the vatican. we are going to cancel the paris climate agreement. after making that pledge, the president seems intending to stick to it. environmentalists say it would be a shattering blow to the most comprehensive agreement on global warming ever reached. he will announced his verdict in the rose garden of the white house. 0pponents fear it could prompt other members of the accord to wonder whether they should withdraw as well. america produces more in the way of greenhouse gases than any other country on the planet, apart from china. but donald trump is keeping faith with fossil fuels in the hope

of creating jobs. he says that by holding true to its pledge to put america first, he is said to be favouring isolationism of cooperation in terms of facing one of the biggest challenges on the planet. 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 0bama. 0bama 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. that was the california governor speaking. that was the california governor theresa may will say today that brexit offers britain the chance to be stronger, fairer and more prosperous. with just a week to go before polling day, she'll say a brighter future can only be delivered by getting brexit right. mrs may has been criticised for refusing to take part in the bbc‘s televised debate last night. the conservatives were represented by amber rudd. with a week to go, this was a chance for all the parties to pitch their offer to voters, and at 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. i know there is no extra payment you don't want to add to, no tax you don't want to rise, 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's a magic money tree. i would just say this, since amber rudd seem so confident that this is a country 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 answer your attack... ...because of your government's conscious decisions on benefits? i 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 democrat case for staying in the single market after brexit. a fully—costed manifesto, i tell you what, there

is a long—term economic plan 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. there 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 people's hatred, division and fear, and that's 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 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. we will have more on the election later in this bulletin. and you can get the latest on this and all of oui’ get the latest on this and all of our stories on get the latest on this and all of oui’ stories on oui’ get the latest on this and all of our stories on our website. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. ten philippine soldiers have been accidentally killed in a government air strike against islamist

militants in the southern city of malawi. they have been battling to reta ke malawi. they have been battling to retake the city which has been occupied by forces linked to the so—called islamic state group. a malaysia airlines passengerjet 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 passenger, a sri lankan national, and the bomb turned out to be a battery. flight mhi28 had been heading for kuala lumpur. the macedonia parliament 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. the death of 90 people in a massive bomb attack in kabul has been described as a crime against humanity by the afghan president,

ashraf ghani. the un secretary general has also which injured more than 400 others. a bbc driver, mohammed nazir, is among the dead. 0n the line from kabul is the bbc‘s mahfouz zubaide. we still don't know who is responsible for this? no, but the afg ha n responsible for this? no, but the afghan intelligence service has issued a statement last night. they have said that the attack was supported by pakistani insurgents. that is what they are claiming, in terms of the explosion itself, it was absolutely massive, caused by 150 kilograms of explosives? yes, it was huge. it was full of explosives, and as you mentioned, the explosive

was enormous. i and as you mentioned, the explosive was enormous. i was and as you mentioned, the explosive was enormous. i was at about seven kilometres away from where the blast was. we heard the blast. this morning when i came into the office, the taxi drivers and shopkeepers we re the taxi drivers and shopkeepers were talking with each other, saying, everybody said it was that big that they thought it was behind their house, or close to their house, a few kilometres away. it was a huge explosion. thank you very much for bringing us up to date. taking a pause with the regular news and heading out to the business news. “— and heading out to the business news. —— now. ben is here with all the business news. the eu and china will attempt

to deepen ties at a summit today, amid rising worry about the direction taken by us president donald trump on trade and climate change. chinese premier li keqiang will meet eu president donald tusk and european commission head jean—claude juncker with hopes of coming up with an answer to donald trump's "america first" challenge. trade in goods between the eu and china is worth well over 1.5 billion euros a day. the eu is china's biggest trading partner, while china is the eu's second largest trading partner — after the united states. but the eu is worried about industrial overcapacity in china — most notably in the steel sector. for example, in april this year the european commission increased anti—dumping duties on imports of hot—rolled flat steel products from china by up to 36% — much to beijing's anger. china invested four times as much

in the eu last year as european companies did in china. president donald trump is reportedly close to announcing that the us is to pull out of the 2015 paris climate deal. but it's thought that china's premier and the heads of the european union's main institutions are to deliver a strong statement in support of the deal. brazil may be about to announce the end of the country's worst recession in history. later today, it is expected to report that its economy grew for the first three months of the year — it'll be the first quarter of growth since the end of 2014. but just as the country seems to be turning a corner, another political crisis has kicked off that could halt the recovery

in its tracks. in world business report we'll have a special report from the capital, brasilia. and that's it for now. stay with us. we have lots more still to come. we will meet the illustrator who spent a quarter of a century imagining the fa ntasy worlds a quarter of a century imagining the fantasy worlds portrayed in the ‘lord of the rings' and ‘the hobbit.‘ in the ‘lord of the rings' and ‘the 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 4,500 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? welcome to bbc news. let's bring you up welcome to bbc news. let's bring you up to date with our latest headlines. president trump will announce whether he's pulling the us out of the paris climate agreement, later on thursday. and theresa may's rivals criticise her for missing a televised election debate — one that was marked by fractious exchanges on immigration and the future of britain's public services. well let's stay with that story, and from the start, the british prime minster, theresa may, has been framing the general election as the "brexit election". in cornwall, in the south—west of the country,

people voted overwhelmingly to leave the eu. so what effect has last year's referendum been having on voters' decisions in the general election? ros atkins went along to bbc radio cornwall to find out more. so welcome to bbc radio cornwall. this is laurent reid and i'm joined by ross atkins. hopefully he will help out today. -- radio. i am looking to understand why people voted for brexit, and how they will voted for brexit, and how they will vote in the general election. voted for brexit, and how they will vote in the general electionlj voted for brexit, and how they will vote in the general election. i have no faith in the labour party. i really don't. and because they undermined my vote in brexit, because they make me feel like what i had to say and why a voted the way ivoted... i i had to say and why a voted the way i voted... i obviously had lost my mind. good afternoon, jill. for many years, i was a member of ukip. i

really feel that they have done theirjob, now, really feel that they have done their job, now, and really feel that they have done theirjob, now, and nigel farage has resigned. susan, good afternoon. hello. you are talking to ros atkins. this will be the first time in over40 atkins. this will be the first time in over 40 years that i voted conservative, because i think theresa may is the one that is going to do it for us. lorraine, good afternoon. nice to hear from you, lorraine. what they have done to our fishermen is disgraceful. we have no quota for certain fish, and we are looking at famished vessels fishing for our fish. i have been a tory supporter all my life, and i have now turned completely against them. i don't trust them at all. i think we we re i don't trust them at all. i think we were all misled. both sides. and we were all misled. both sides. and we all remember the bus with the millions of pounds that were going to go into the nhs. where are those millions of pounds? they are not there. i will vote for theresa may and the conservatives because whenever this country has had its back against the wall, whether it

was the last war, it has been a conservative. last time it was winston churchill. thank you to all of our listeners. we are scratched the surface. shall we do it again? we will do it again. —— we only scratch the surface. —— scratched. ross atkins there. sri lanka says it will speed up flood relief as the death toll from heavy monsoon rains has risen above two hundred people. after hitting sri lanka on friday, the powerful storm turned into cyclone mora and moved on to parts of bangladesh, india and myanmar. sarah corker reports. these are the worst torrential rains to hit sri lanka in 14 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 got 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. and sri lanka's military has been deployed to help with the clear up. translation: what we have to do now is speed up the provision of relief. we have accepted that, and from today, that is what we will be doing. the government says many people would have survived if their homes had not been built on slopes. it's pledged to tighten construction laws. but 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. now, let's look at the sports news. tennis, and the defending french open champion novak djokovic and nine time winner rafael nadal eased into the last 32 at roland garros on wednesday. while women's defending champion, garbine muguruza, survived a second—round scare. austin halewood rounds up the best of the action from day four in paris. world number two, at novak djokovic, is looking to become the first man in the open era to win each grand slam twice. and if his second round match was anything to go by, it would be great to bat against him. can ignore was the last frenchman to win at roland garros, in 1983. place a semifinalist, jo—wilfried tsonga has carried the hopes of the present crowd, but despite his best efforts, he could not come from behind to

beat renzo 0livia. —— yannick noah. jo—wilfried tsonga leaving paris in the second round, and possibly the french hopes for another year. it is safe to say that nine—time champion rafa nadal looks back to his best on clay. he needed less than 30 minutes to ta ke clay. he needed less than 30 minutes to take the first set against robin haase. he went on to win in under two hours as his quest for a second title continues. the tournament could have been all overfor garbine muguruza, but you can never count champions out. relief for the fourth seed as she lives to fight another day. meanwhile, petracca bit of has come to an end in the second round. she has been entered for five months after a career threatening knife attack. she was beaten by bethanie mattek—sands. austin halewood, bbc news. the illustrator alan lee has spent

a quarter of a century imaginingjrr tolkien's fantasy world middle earth. he's worked on the book and the film franchises of the lord of the rings and the hobbit. he spoke to the bbc about his career and his work on the latest posthumous release edited by tolkien's son christopher — it's called the tale of beren and luthien. i first read tolkien when i was about 17. and they just loved i first read tolkien when i was about 17. and theyjust loved it. what he greeted actually seems to live outside of the books themselves. —— created. he has given us themselves. —— created. he has given usa themselves. —— created. he has given us a playground that we can explore ourselves. my my name is alan lee. i am a book illustrator and occasional film

designer. i illustrated lord of the rings and the hobbit, and designed the movie productions for the lord of the rings. and now the tale of beren and luthien. the story of beren and luthien. the story of beren and luthien is part of tolkien's vast compendium of myths, and it tells the story of the creation of middle earth. it is a story that fascinated him. he could see any number of ways of treating it. and he tried them all. the book that we finally have is tolkien's interpretation, it using debt of blood tolkien's worse. —— jrr. —— christopher tolkien's interpretation. when edith died, he had the name luthien inscribed on

her greystone. 80 years later, he died, and they in scribed beren on his grave. —— grave stone. so a lot of the stories start with a pencil drawing, and then i switched to watercolour. this will probably take at least two weeks, maybe more. this isa at least two weeks, maybe more. this is a painting of the prince of cats, that has imprisoned beren. luthien has gone into his flat and is about to rescue her. —— into his lair. it has been an immense privilege for me to be to explore the world created by tolkien in such detail. i do feel very responsible for how it is presented. i try not to impose my

vision to strongly, leaving it to the imagination. —— too. yes, and what an imagination. and for more on the latest tolkien release and some never before seen manuscripts from the creator of middle earth please go to the website — bbc.com/news. here we have a snappy ending. with temperatures reaching 30 degrees in florida, you might be tempted to go for a florida, you might be tempted to go fora dip to florida, you might be tempted to go for a dip to call down. until, that is, you see something like this. this is a seven foot long alligator. it was removed from the family swimming pool, and it seems to be going slightly quietly at first, and thenit going slightly quietly at first, and then it does the death roll are used to kill prey. the unwelcome guest was eventually removed. i'm harmed. you're watching bbc world news. goodbye. good morning.

we had a fair amount of cloud in the south—east corner, but it was the warmest place yesterday across the country. a pupil pitcher in kings langley to the north of london. 23 degrees the hi there. the south—east will see the warmest weather over the next couple of days. but there isa the next couple of days. but there is a slight change further to the north and west. —— high. a weather front is set to arrive. for all of us, it will be a mild start. some coastal mist as well. that is worth bearing in mind. some will linger in the far south—east. but it is a different story for northern ireland and western scotland are attributable to yesterday. there will be more rain in the forecast and that is going to linger for much of the day. —— after a beautiful day yesterday. a fair weather cloud, but on the whole not too bad. highs of 22 degrees. 24 or 25 degrees not out of the question in the london area.

and i suspect more sunshine around and we saw during wednesday. but that weather front sits across the irish sea, affecting northern ireland, western scotland, the isle of man. it will stay wet and grey bear and temperatures will be subdued. maybe the mid—teens. running through the night, that weather front is not moving far very fast. it is like a conveyor belt pushing through the irish sea. a mild and muggy start to friday morning. in the south—east on friday, it will be a very hot day. 0ur weather front moves somewhat erratically eastwards and there is still level of uncertainty as to how quickly it will clear from scotland. sitting through this of the country by the end of the day. but we keep the heat in the south—east corner. in fact, we could see highs of 26— 27 degrees. pressure weather conditions behind temperature is a little more subdued. 16 or 90 degrees. a significant cluster of thunderstorms could move into the

near continent for the start of the weakened. pressure as does to dominate across the uk. so a noticeable difference for all on saturday. some sunny spells and scattered showers around, but the temperatures will be 16— 17 in the far north—west. maybe the highest values of 22 in the south—east. this is the weekend forecast. decent for some. sunny spells. scattered showers. pressure for all. this is bbc world news, the headlines. china and the european union are preparing a joint statement in support of the paris climate change agreement. president trump 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, election debate. the event was marked by heated exchanges on, immigration, security, and the future of britain's public services. world leaders have condemned the massive bomb attack in kabul. the afghan president described it

as a crime against humanity. at least 90 people, most of them civilians, died in the blast.