hello, i'm tom donkin, welcome to bbc news. here's our top stories: fears for up to 150,000 civilians trapped in the last part of mosul under islamic state control. iraq says the remaining is fighters will be defeated within days. this is the old city area. it's the heart of the battle, and if you look around here you get a real sense of how fierce the fighting has been. the desperate search for survivors after a massive landslide in china's sichuan province. more than 100 people are missing. the united nations fears for the safety of up to 150,000 civilians trapped in the last enclave of mosul. it's still held by the so—called islamic state, but the iraqi army is closing in. the country's prime minister says mosul will be liberated within days. 0ur correspondent 0rla guerin reports from the front line

in mosul‘s old city. she's with cameraman nicholas hameon and producer firle davies. and a warning, their report contains some distressing images. a journey to the front line. 0ur windscreen, a reminder of the dangers ahead. 0ur escort from iraqi's elite counterterrorism force. snaking forwards towards an enemy that's still inflicting casualties. like this wounded soldier, being rushed away as we arrived. and families fleeing too on foot. escaping hunger and fear, and a beloved city robbed of life. no food, no water. mosul is dead. this is the old city area.

it's really the heart of the battle. and when you look around here you get a real sense of how fierce the fighting has been. the damage is immense in every direction. the narrow streets, a tight squeeze as troops close in on the last pockets of is resistance. we were told the militants were just 300 metres away. some on the receiving end of an iraqi missile strike. our history is here, says this major, and we have to get it back. we have been fighting house—to—house and room to room against snipers and foreign fighters, including chechens. nearby, troops relax within sight of the bodies of is militants. they lie where they fell,

in the streets they ruled with terror. the extremists are now facing defeat here, but it has taken three years to get this far. and immense damage has been done to the fabric of mosul and the unity of iraq. 0rla guerin, bbc news, in the old city of mosul. more than 100 people are still missing after a massive landslide engulfed a village in china's sichuan province. at least 60 homes in maoxian were buried in mud and debris when the side of a mountain collapsed following days of heavy rain. 15 bodies have been pulled from the rubble so far, as well as three survivors. andy beatt reports. rescuers in china have been working through the night in a well co—ordinated but increasingly desperate search for survivors. more than 2,000 police, soldiers and civilians are involved in the operation, sifting

through mud and rubble, a task made more difficult by the darkness. earlier, the impact of the landslide was plain to see. an entire village buried under tons of rock. the disaster triggered, it's thought, by recent heavy downpours. also blocking roads and rivers. hospitals are standing by to receive survivors but so far, there have been few. this month—old baby and its parents, lucky to be alive. translation: at around 5am, the baby started crying so i changed the nappies and then i heard a loud noise. i went to the front door but was hit by wind and water and stones came flying that pinned me down to the ground. my wife and i slowly got up, held the baby and escaped. the emergency response has been swift in an area used to deadly landslides and earthquakes. 0nce roads were cleared, heavy digging equipment could be brought in.

but it's also been a case of using much more basic methods. sometimes even bare hands, to try to clear the debris. teams on the grounds are being aided by life detection equipment and sniffer dogs and helicopters deployed to bring in people and provisions. it's the biggest disaster to hit the area since a devastating earthquake in 2008 that left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing. local officials say that quake had weakened the mountain, making landslides more likely. president xi jinping has called for rescuers to spare no effort in their search but as time passes and with more heavy rain forecast, prospects are increasingly bleak. andy beatt, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the french president emmanuel macron wants the world to sign up to a new environmental

agreement that would make a clean and healthy environment a human right. speaking in paris, he unveiled a draft for a legally—binding treaty, which supporters hope will be adopted by the united nations. it follows president trump's decision to take america out of the paris climate change deal. a cyber attack on the uk houses of parliament has targeted the e—mail accounts of some mps and members of the house of lords. authorities say unauthorised attempts had been made to access some accounts. just over a month ago, 48 of england's hospital trusts were hit by a similar attack. ajudge in guatemala has charged five more people over the deaths of 41 teenage girls in the fire at a government—run shelter in march. the five, who include two police officers and three government officials, are facing various charges, including manslaughter, child abuse and negligence. they were arrested earlier this month. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: some very important pandas get

the red carpet treatment as they arrive in berlin to start a new life at the city zoo. 3a high—rise buildings in england have failed fire safety tests on their exterior cladding according to the government. the buildings are the first to undergo urgent checks following the grenfell tower disaster. a further 600 buildings are due to undergo the tests, with local authorities working to identify the buildings at risk. duncan kennedy reports. in the subdued streets of west london today, one more silent, reflective assembly of mourners and neighbours. as these people paused, elsewhere, the now relentless checking of hundreds of tower blocks was continuing. the government asked councils to send in samples of cladding from buildings they were most concerned about, but it's become clear tonight that only 3a tests

on cladding have so far been carried out, involving 17 councils, and that every one had failed. the councils include manchester, camden, plymouth, hounslow, barnet and brent, with many saying the government must help pay for any changes they make, like sprinklers. retrofitting of sprinklers should be one of our responses here. and when your chief fire officer of your region tells you that, clearly as a leader of a city you've got to start listening to that, so we started to look at the figures, and it comes out at around about £31 million. as well as the cladding, the fire authorities are having to examine exposed pipes, cable ducts, escape routes, dry rises and fire doors. it's a huge undertaking, and it's notjust residential blocks. inspections are also taking place in scores of nhs buildings, like hull royal infirmary. so is the government saying it will pay for every safety defect that's found 7 if they need financial support,

and not all of them will need it, but if they need it, we will work with them to make sure they have the resources they need to do this necessary work, absolutely. that will not be put at risk. at glastonbury today, the music also gave way to talk of safety in tower blocks, with jeremy corbyn demanding the government, in his words, get a grip. the prime minister needs to come to parliament again and describe what is going on, and it needs an emergency approach by government, including the use of cobra if necessary. it's important there are resources together now. back at the scene of the disaster, there was no dwindling of the numbers coming to absorb the scale of the horror and pay their respects. and what all this means is that, in the ten days since grenfell, the lives of literally thousands and thousands of people have been affected, and with more testing of cladding, fire doors, pipes and other

buildings still to come, those numbers will almost certainly increase. tonight, as the government called for more cladding samples to be submitted, it seems even now no—one knows just how big the consequences of grenfell will be. duncan kennedy, bbc news. hundreds of people who were evacuated from four tower blocks in camden in north london on friday are spending a second night away from home. some spoke of panic and confusion as they were ordered to leave the chalcots estate when the council decided it was too risky to stay. 0ur correspondent, richard lister, has spent the day with residents. the chalcots estate tower blocks seemed to offer a safe home to thousands of people for many years, until last night. why was we all ordered to be evacuated at 8:30pm at night? tempers were running high today, the leader of camden council took the brunt of the frustration

from people evacuated overnight. i'm being told they can't rehouse me because i've got a dog. a hotel place was found for this woman, and her dog, but there are thousands of others, people and pets, facing weeks of uncertainty. the four blocks affected have cladding similar to that of grenfell tower but the residents were told other issues like gas pipes made the buildings unsafe. 0ur gas pipes are hidden behind this old metal doorway so we can't have access to them, so i'm not sure what the issue really is. fire exits, they all seem in place, the doors are there. but that's one of the other issues 01’ reasons we were given for making us evacuate. peter bertram, who is 94, had to leave the flat he has had for almost 50 years. i felt sorry for people who are a lot worse than me, especially with children. they've just got to carry on. but there are at least 80 flats where residents are refusing to leave.

i really cried last night. the council officials came to the door, banging on the door, "get out, get out," but the chap round the hallway said, "no, she's not going, she's getting on for 80. she can't go anywhere, she's got a cat." this has been a stressful process and many residents are asking why they had to leave in the middle of the night. the council said the fire service gave them no choice. they said there was nothing they could do to guarantee resident safety that night. and in that situation, you know, given the circumstances we're in, i thought we had to act swiftly. work is under way to fix the faults but it will take weeks to complete. the residents of this tower block feel themselves to be in limbo, unsure ofjust how dangerous this building is and how long they might be excluded from their homes. and as they're finding out, there are thousands of people across the country facing exactly the same questions. for some in camden, another night

on air beds in the leisure centre. most have accepted they won't be home for a while but the council is warning those who refuse to leave, they may have to force them out for their own safety. richard lister, bbc news. the un says it fears for up to 150,000 civilians trapped in the last part of mosul under islamic state control. iraq says the remaining is fighters will be defeated within days. the desperate search for survivors — after a massive landslide in china's sichuan province. more than 100 people are missing. the united nations says the number of suspected cholera is cases in yemen has passed 200,000. they say the country is now facing the worst cholera outbreak on the planet. the two un agencies say they are doing everything they can to stop yemen's cholera

outbreak from accelerating. they are tracking the spread of the disease and have deployed rapid response teams to go from house to house, telling people how to protect themselves by cleaning and storing drinking water, but they are facing impossible circumstances. it's a highly infectious disease but at the same time, this is the not the first time we have faced cases of cholera in yemen. it is endemic in yemen but the fact we have reached such a high number. we are talking about half of the 200,000 people you mentioned are children. a quarter of the fatalities are children, so children are seriously impacted by this outbreak and it is important and crucial that we get to them with the help and assistance they need so we can beat back this disease. two years of civil war have destroyed health services and sanitation systems. severe food shortages have led to widespread malnutrition, making yemenis, especially children, even more vulnerable to disease. more than 1,300 people have already died of cholera. steve jackson reporting

there and for more information on the ongoing war in yemen and the humanitarian crisis there head to the bbc news website, or you can download the bbc news app. the united arab emirates has warned qatar that it will be cut off by its neighbours if it does not accept their demands. it's been three weeks now since the gulf diplomatic crisis erupted and a leaked list of thirteen demands from saudi arabia and its allies doesn't seem to offer much hope of a resolution. qatar has already dismissed the demands as an attack on its sovereignty. uae‘s foreign minister, anwar gargash made the announcement earlier. the alternative is not escalation, the alternative is parting of ways, because it's very difficult for us to maintain a collective grouping with one of the partners in this collective grouping through this platform or, you know... is actively promoting

what is an extremist and terrorist agenda. how arab affairs editor says that this diplomatic is much more serious than previous disputes. the starting point, ina than previous disputes. the starting point, in a sense, was so extreme, teas start immediately by cutting ties by putting that kind of pressure on qatar meant that there was little wiggle room. they have severed ties, severed transport links. they did that immediately, so they pushed as hard as they could write at the very start. these demands are clearly pushing hard again and so the game plan looks like it is to push qatar as forcefully as possible into a corner, to try to get them to

submit, to some extent, perhaps not to wall demands that enough for it to wall demands that enough for it to satisfy for now the saudis, particularly, that they will no longer be leading their international strategy in such an independent way. all that the uae foreign minister offered there really was essentially what is the situation at the moment, the severing of links will become permanent which means be gold corporation council will lose a member will update is destabilising for the region and if it becomes permanent, the pressure on qatar at the moment has been able to deal with, it will become very difficult. in albania, voting gets under way on sunday for the parliamentary elections. the country is hoping for a peaceful and fair election, unlike previous years which have seen voter fraud and violence. more than 300 international election monitors will be on hand to keep an eye on proceedings. nimesh thaker reports. it's the ninth national vote since communism collapsed in 1990. there are two main parties in contention.

prime minister edi rama's socialist party is tipped to have a slight advantage over the lulzim basha's centre—right democratic party. both have been campaigning on the economy and, while albania was put forward to join the european union, there are many problems to resolve before that can happen. huge rallies have been held by voters eager for change. translation: to those who never stopped crying to misery and have wanted to hear it, i say to them there are today 117,000 more companies in albania than there were four years ago. back in 2009, the then opposition leader edi rama complained of voting fraud and albanians took to the streets for months of violence. the centre—right accepted defeat in 2013 but parliament has been largely paralysed ever since. the centre—right leader, lulzim basha, is an admirer of donald trump, and his party had

threatened to boycott the election up until a month ago. translation: with my economic plan, with the blessing of angela merkel, and with the support of donald trump, we are going to lower taxes and vat. with my economic plan, and this new republic that we will put in place, we will strengthen the economy and create a secure future for all albanians. for many, though, there are ongoing concerns about corruption. albania is one of the poorest countries in europe. 2.9 million people live in the country but almost 1.2 million citizens live abroad. translation: many young people want to leave the country. me too, because we have to find work, and it is very difficult to find work here. there are a large number of students who've finished their studies but there are not a lot ofjob offers. i expect from these elections to be

fair and to be quiet. after 27 years, we deserve to have at least one election that's fair and quiet, and let's hope that albania after that will change the face, and we will have more possibilities tojoin, or to progress, let's say, in eu integration process. in its most recent report on the country, the eu said that corruption remained prevalent, with low conviction rates for organised crime. there are also concerns about the drug trade. both sides say they want to improve the judiciary and many in the country hope that a fair and peaceful election will be a turning point. in berlin, to start their new life in the city's zoo. they are the latest envoys sent from china, something which is now known as "panda diplomacy".

like otherjet—setting black and white bears before them, they are set to become a big hit, as andrew bryson reports. meng meng andjiaoqing got acquainted at a breeding centre in china before becoming the latest envoys sent off to win foreign hearts. as arrivals go, it was tightly coreographed. a special lufthansa plane touched down in berlin with the precious cargo and a tonne of bamboo. clearly groggy after the 12—hour flight from chengdu, the pandas were mostly placid during the welcome ceremony. the chinese ambassador to berlin, on the left, provoking the only drama. the male panda giving the diplomat a lesson in the dangers of getting too close. translation: panda bears are sacred in china. panda bears are also ambassadors of friendliness and solidarity. i hope mengmeng and jiaoqing feel at home here in berlin, that you fall in love with them,

and that soon we see the fruits of their love. germanyjoins a select list of only about a dozen countries which china sees as important enough to receive pandas. the zoo gave daily updates in the lead up to their arrival, helping to stoke the panda mania that tends to accompany them. translation: they eatjust bamboo. they're black and white. they have the fuzziest ears you can imagine. and fortunately they are very humble and don't know they are the stars — that's the best part. this pair will have a week to acclimatise before being unveiled by chancellor merkel and chinese president xi jinping ahead of the g20 summit in germany. the two countries have found common cause recently on issues such as climate change and free trade, where they agree with each other, not the us. whether the pairing of these two pandas will prove equally fruitful only time will tell.

let's ta ke let's take a look at some of the front pages. the observer leads with fire safety in schools are saying that proposals to relax standards are to be dropped by ministers. prince harry dominates the front page of the mail on sunday saying he considered quitting his royal role but stayed on for the queen. the sunday telegraph highlights blackmail fears after mps hit by a cyber attack which is also the main story on the sunday times reports that there was anger at the time it took for the incident to be revealed. the express leads with an image ofjeremy corbyn saying he ignored armed forces day invitations to appear at glastonbury. staying with the last story, thousands of people have been celebrating armed forces day in liverpool.

prince edward and the prime minister were among those paying tribute to veterans and serving members of the forces, as andy gill reports. fire! a two gun salute marks the official start of national armed forces day in liverpool. fire! across the city, the parade of serving land, sea and air military personnel began its journey past thousands of supporters. i thought it was absolutely marvellous, the turnout to support the troops is what they need. absolutely excellent. so proud of our serving forces. the veterans were amazing and the cadets. they are out of our sight but they should never be out of mind and it is very important that we continue to thank them. some of the loudest cheers came when the veterans of world war two and other conflicts joined the parade. the earl of wessex

and the prime minister among those taking the salute. the veterans appreciated the public support. it was an honour to walk through a city like that, you know, everyone clapping you. it was amazing. it was brilliant. what we have been through and for everyone to turn out, ijust think it's amazing. the honour they give you. fabulous. there's a lot of things in this world that we have forgotten about. and we shouldn't forget about them. the reception we got from liverpool was brilliant because as soon as we started off, the people that were around us started clapping and they were clapping all the way until we finished. a battle of britain memorial flight was another highlight. to ta ke to take us through the weather, here isj. hello there, good morning.

things are pretty much back to normal across the uk. we've got low pressure in charge of the weather. we've got that curl of cloud to the north of the uk. that is that centre of the area of low pressure and the closer you are to it the stronger the winds are and the heavier the showers are. so there are some showers to be had in scotland overnight. quite blustery and by the end of the night we will see an area of rain moving into western england and wales. 13, 1a, 15 in southern parts of the uk, ten or 11 in the north. quite a lot of isobars in the charts for sunday as our area of low pressure drifts towards scandinavia. the winds coming down from the north or north—west around that area of low pressure. never a particularly warm direction for us. it's still quite blustery into the morning across scotland. some showers for the north and west in particular. some eastern areas will get off to a decent start, bright and breezy, as it will be in northern ireland and much of northern england, too. however, from manchester across towards hull, an area of cloud and a little bit of of rain first thing. there will be some wet weather

for wales and the midlands. east anglia and the south—east starting largely dry if rather cloudy and breezy but relatively warm, 17 degrees in a few places. further west, we are likely to see some rain and some of that may affect glastonbury for the morning. through the day, it's a north—south split, with the southern half of the uk fairly cloudy with some rain. certainly not a washout but some wet weather in the wales, the midlands and east anglia by the afternoon with a fair bit of cloud either side of that. further north, sunny spells, scattered showers, 15 degrees in glasgow, 22 or 23 in the london area. of course it's the last day of glastonbury already. a little bit of rain early on but that should clear away and it gradually dries up, brightens up into the afternoon and evening. 17 or 18 degrees but also that noticeable breeze, and a breeze, too, at queen's club for the finals, but it should be fine and dry, if on the cloudy side. by monday, a lot of dry weather for the eastern side of the uk, some sunshine and warmth for the south—east. an area of rain pushing its way into the north and west. question marks about the timing of this so keep an area

on the forecast but at the moment it looks like heavy rain across northern england, southern scotland, monday night into tuesday, and tuesday looks quite wet for the western side of the uk, the north as well. that bit drier the further east you go. quite warm as well. but under that rain it's not going to feel all that great. it's looking fairly unsettled on tuesday, and i think for much of this coming week, it will be quite unsettled with spells of rain which could be heavy at times, and to go with that there will be a noticeable breeze and not much sunshine in the forecast. this is bbc news, the headlines: the united nations says it fears for up to 150,000 civilians trapped in the last part of mosul under islamic state control. iraqi forces say the remaining is fighters will be defeated within days. the country's prime minister says the city will be liberated within a week. rescuers in china have been using bulldozers and diggers, to try to find survivors of the huge landslide in sichuan province. more than 100 people are missing, and at least 60 homes

were covered by mud and debris after days of heavy rain triggered the collapse of a mountainside. 3a high—rise buildings around england have failed fire—safety tests. the blocks in 17 local authority areas were the first to undergo urgent checks. it's believed the type of cladding used on the grenfell block, caused the blaze to spread rapidly. hundreds of properties are still to be assessed. now on bbc news it's time for dateline london.