this is newsday on the bbc. glad you could join us. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: the united states urges china to respect freedom and civil liberties in hong kong while president xi meets the people there. should they lay any blame at britain's door? i think they feel that we let down their parents‘ generation, and they worry that we will let them down as well. visiting to mark the 20th anniversary of reunification, president xi has praised hong kong officials for effectively curbing the independence movement there. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: the vatican's treasurer, the third highest member of the catholic church, is going back to australia to face sex abuse charges. and there's just one day to go before donald trump's travel ban begins. people from six muslim majority countries will be affected. it's 7am in singapore

and midnight in london. and we start in hong kong, which is marking 20 years since the end of british colonial rule. the chinese president, xijinping, is visiting the territory under tightened security. that security is there to curtail any pro—democracy protests. our china editor carrie gracie has been meeting some of those who were born in the year of the handover. hong kong's patriots greet their president and first lady. flags, but no umbrellas allowed, because umbrellas are the symbol of protest here. he said he'd come to support hong kong. protesters chant that's not how democracy activists see it,

occupying a monument that china presented to hong kong for the handover. one student insisted on herfreedom to protest as she was arrested. hours earlier, she had illustrated her feelings about the chinese communist state. a hong kong flag in mourning. a veteran protester at 20. but she's no longer optimistic about what protest can achieve. another hong konger, born in the year of the handover. coffee shop barista and freestyle footballer

lai cunyin busks to make ends meet. in one of the world's most unaffordable cities, he resents the people from mainland china who he says are pricing him out. to find a 20—year—old who's celebrating this week, it's best to look for a mainlander. sunny tan is a student here, but she grew up in china and from an early age was taught to be proud of her country. free liu xiaobo! some celebrate, and others mourn.

this vigil, calling for the release of a political dissident, would be impossible anywhere else in china. only hong kong has the freedom to protest, which is what makes it so special, but what also makes it a thorn in china's side. carrie gracie, bbc news, hong kong. and we'll be hearing from chris patten, the last british governor of hong kong, a little later in the programme. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. cardinal george pell, one of the most senior figures in the roman catholic church, says sex offence charges brought against him in australia are false. the cardinal told reporters that he had undergone a relentless character assassination, and was looking forward to having his day in court. and we'll have more on this story later in the programme. the family of the murdered russian opposition activist boris nemtsov have said the case remains unsolved

after a jury found five chechen men guilty of carrying out his contract killing two years ago. police are hunting a former chechen officer who promised them $250,000. mr nemtsov‘s family called it a fiasco that the mastermind remained at large. china is reported to have refused requests to allow the nobel peace prize winner, liu xiaobo, to go abroad for medical treatment. the 61—year—old, who's serving an 11—year prison sentence for subversion, is suffering from terminal liver cancer. he's currently in hospital in the city of shenyang in north—eastern china. forces opposed to the islamic state group have made significant advances against strongholds in both syria and iraq. in syria, kurdish and arab troops supported by the us have the city of raqqa completely surrounded. raqqa was captured by is militants over three years ago. and in mosul in iraq,

government troops have retaken the famous al—noori mosque, a victory the prime minister says marks a turning point in the battle against islamic state militants. haider al—abadi declared the end of a state of falsehood in iraq. the al—nuri mosque was blown up by the militants last week as iraqi forces closed in. let's return now to president xi's visit to hong kong. 0ur correspondent there is juliana liu. shejoins me now. the youth movement in hong kong has been the driving force behind many of the protests. and mr xi has to address this issue. good morning. according to the south china morning post newspaper, he has

praised the administration of the current chief executive for its adverts —— efforts to curb independence, but according to the official chinese newsagents either comments were more about praising the administration for safeguarding local sovereignty, or chinese sovereignty and security. so that has been inferred to mean the independence movement in hong kong. i think independence movement in hong kong. ithinki independence movement in hong kong. i think i should say that that movement has never been a mainstream movement has never been a mainstream movement in the city, and in fact, according to a series of opinion polls, young people especially seem to have less support for the independence movement than they had even a year ago. but certainly this is something the chinese government is something the chinese government is quite worried about. they wouldn't want to see these kinds of sentiment saw movement like this really slow or infect some of its

other special or administrative territories, so this is definitely something the chinese government is extremely concerned about, and that was widely seen as the pretext under which two pro—independence lawmakers we re which two pro—independence lawmakers were ousted from their seats last year. and there's also some concern from the americans, urging the chinese to respect civil liberties in hong kong. what has been the reaction from beijing? that's right. this is a statement from the us state department that came out a short while ago urging the chinese government to ensure hong kong continues to enjoy civil liberties, including the freedom of the press. there's been no official reaction from the chinese government so reaction from the chinese government so far that it tends to react with very terse statements, saying essentially the us should really be minding its own business. in terms of civil liberties in hong kong, hong kong is guaranteed freedom of

expression under the one country, two systems framework, but certainly in recent years local media especially has been saying the chinese government has been interfering, sometimes directly, with their work, and sometimes it's commercial pressures, they say, that have limited their freedoms. thank you for the update. chris patten was the last governor of hong kong and he's published a book called first confession sharing his personal thoughts on his time there and what lies ahead for the region. my colleague babita sharma asked him if 20 years later the people of hong kong feel let down by britain. i think they do. i think they feel that we let down their parents‘ generation, and they are worried that we will let them down as well, and so am i. it's one reason why i've spoken out in the way i have. we have obligations to people in hong kong. they are obligations

which are included in the treaty between britain and china, which the chinese pretend doesn't involve us. of course it involves us, and we should be standing up for people's writes in hong kong, and for the system which has made hong kong so special. you saw the scenes unfold in 2014. two questions. what was your reaction to that, and do you think the calls for independence the younger generation is asking for is the right one? what i thought about those demonstrations in 2014 was, i guess, what most people bought, that they were not manufactured from outside. this was spontaneous within hong kong, and was the most polite, peaceful, with one or two very odd exceptions, sometimes involving, i suspect, triads — they were the most polite and civilised demonstrations imaginable. and it's crazy that china has behaved in a way that treats them as enemies, and which

turns them off the very notion of being more closely related to the mainland. the one thing that they didn't know and i think it's always a problem with big demonstrations, they didn't realise the point at which they won, and it would probably have been sensible to stand back and ensure that all the pressure was on the other side, was on the government, because they had w011 on the government, because they had won the moral high ground. then what? you win the moral high ground, and where did you go with that? it's easier to put the pressure on the government to have a proper and serious dialogue with you, and one of the things that was interesting about the recent selection, not election, the chief executive, was the most popular candidate, twice as popular as the guy who won, was the quy popular as the guy who won, was the guy who at the time suggested they should have been a dialogue with the students. the one who said absolutely no is the one who won, which i guess it's pretty sad. where i've disagreed with the students,

andi i've disagreed with the students, and i went to speak to 600,700,800 of them in hong kong university when i went to hong kong in november, is in allowing the campaign for democracy to morph into a campaign for independence. i think it dilutes support for democracy. it's not going to happen. it plays into the hands of the hardliners in beijing. what's the alternative then, if it's not a call for independence? the alternative is to give the people in hong kong a greater say over their own way of life. i feel hong kong is still a very special place but what's most important is the way the hong kong people have behaved and shown their commitment to pluralism, democracy, and the rule of law, and i think that's what will keep hong kong special. let's turn to the states because, after months of court battles, part of donald trump's travel ban is finally coming into effect in just under an hour's time.

on monday, the supreme court partially upheld his executive order, restricting travel from six mainly muslim countries. the bbc‘s nada tawfik is monitoring this from new york. through the supreme court, they said the ban could partially come into effect. they said those with bona fides relations to the united states would be exempt, so we saw the trump administration last night putting those guidelines in place on who they consider to have a bona fides relationship. they said those with close family ties, such as a daughter or a child 50 knots, shattering a record that had stood for 34 years. and there was no hiding the sheer elation of richard branson and his crew. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. i'm kasia madera in london.

our top stories: the united states urges beijing to respect freedom and civil liberties in hong kong. president xi is on a visit there to mark two decades since it rejoined china. and donald trump's travel ban will take effect within the next hour after the supreme court allowed parts of it go ahead. people from six muslim majority countries will be affected. despite protests against the lynchings, another muslim man in india has been killed by a mob of people on suspicion he was carrying beef in his car. prime minister narendra modi had condemned killings by cow vigilantes just hours earlier. that story's on bbc world service radio. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world the china daily reports on beijing's plans to boost it's use of artificial intelligence in the coming years. the government aims to take a lead in this cutting edge technology. they're planning to release a new national strategy designed to last until 2030.

the new york times reports on a trove of artworks looted by the nazis that could soon be going on display. over a thousand works were discovered nearly four years ago at the home of a german art hoarder. 250 of them will be exhibited in november. and finally the front page of the straits times has a story about one very lucky taxi driverfrom singapore. loo chee soon had a narrow escape after a large tree fell on his taxi when it was stopped at a red light. he escaped unharmed but said he had been stunned by the accident. i would say more than stunned. now rico once again donald trump's tweets have caused a twitter storm.

president trump has drawn criticism after insulting the host of a us tv show on twitter. he described mika brzezinski as "bleeding badly from a facelift" during a visit to his florida golf resort at new year, and referred to her as "low iq crazy mika." the tv presenter had recently criticised trump on her breakfast show. the white house was unapologetic — saying that "when the president gets attacked he's going to hit back." however senior republicans, including the house speaker, paul ryan, were quick to condemn the remarks. let's return now to the charges that have been brought against cardinal george pell. he's a very senior catholic cleric — who's vehemently denied any wrongdoing after being charged with sex offences in his native australia. cardinal pell gave evidence via video link to an australian royal commission into abuse last year. we will be speaking to a spokeswoman

from abuse survivors. i began by asking what she would like to see done. i would like to see the churches and charities and every state government that was responsible for children in orphanages and children's homes etc to tell the truth, to face up, to make reparations and to opt into the national redress scheme that the federal government have implemented. but it is on an opt in option and this is ridiculous that, you know, the people who abuse in yet the choice to opt in. this should be... it should be a no—brainer, you know? they should be on their knees and begging for forgiveness, contributing to the national redress

today. you have helped support survivors of abuse. how hard is it for them? how difficult is it to come forward and talk about their experiences? many of the children, who are now elderly now, the oldest person i have supported was a 93—year—old woman who was sexually used in a catholic orphanage. many people had previously gone to the police to tell their abuse stories and they were not believed. the good nuns would not do that. the salvation army would not do that to children. a catholic priest wouldn't do that, public servants, christian brothers, they wouldn't do that. children like ours. we were second—class citizens and children in orphanages, you know, wejust did not have any rights stop and so we we re not have any rights stop and so we were not believed by the police, we we re were not believed by the police, we were not believed by the police, we were not believed by anybody that we tried to tell. so people have hidden

pain and trauma at the bottom of their heightand... pain and trauma at the bottom of their height and... the royal commission, you know, thejustice and the other commissioners, they worked so hard to get our trust and they did get our trust. i have supported hundreds of people to go to the royal commission but it was extremely hard because children like us, we extremely hard because children like us, we were. . . extremely hard because children like us, we were... the throwaway children of australia. and so we did not have a lot of trust in the authorities ourselves and, so, you know... but once we gained trust in the commissioners, the word spread and hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people, really, have come forward. many people have died never telling their story to anybody. it is a sad note on which

to leave this but thank you so much for sharing what you are doing and the campaigning you are doing. in the last hour, south korean president moonjae—in has arrived at the white house for talks with president trump. it's expected that they'll discuss ways to further strengthen their alliance, and of course co—ordinate their approach in defusing tensions with north korea. 0ur correspondent in seoul is steve evans. hejoins me now. what common ground to the two leaders have on how to approach north korea, given at the fact that they are nods over the back at odds over the missile system. their common ground is that they are both threatened by north korea. north korea has said it wants to turn both washington and seoul into a sea of flames. they have that common ground. what they do not have is common ground about how to do that. president moonjae—in, new in the job, he wants dialogue with north

korea. it is not quite clear what president trump wants. he has spoken about speaking to the north korean president, at other times he has told about military action. 0ne development, a recent development is that the us is now threatening sanctions against a chinese institution. the tactic has been to lea n institution. the tactic has been to lean on china, pressure china, asked china to put serious pressure on pyongyang. donald trump has indicated that he is losing a little bit of patience with that approach. prompting the question, what then follows ? prompting the question, what then follows? do we then revert to the old policy of sanctions in the hope that kim jong—un changes his old policy of sanctions in the hope that kimjong—un changes his mind? 0rdo we that kimjong—un changes his mind? or do we revert to a completely new policy, basically, ofan

or do we revert to a completely new policy, basically, of an attack on north korea? and, briefly, what about bilateral trade? donald trump is not a big supporter of the current free—trade agreement. is not a big supporter of the current free-trade agreement. he has indicated that he does not want it to go ahead. there is a big trade deficit with the us. south korea sells far more stuff to the us than the other way around. the president of south korea is indicating that they may have a look at restrictive practices but many people in korea will say, well people purchase korean cars because they are good. so at loggerheads in some of the issues. thank you so much for the update. you have been watching you say on the bbc.. —— you have been watching newsday. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. it's been 20 years since a financial crisis swept across asia. i'll be going back to my hometown manila, to see how the philippines

has managed to cope with the crisis and turn its economy around. before we go, summer means... a celebration of odd—shaped fruit in parts of asia, so take a look at these ones. square watermelons being unloaded at a warehouse injapan. they were first developed 45 years ago to fit neatly inside the fridge. but the fruits weren't very sweet, so they have become rather ornamental. final customers can pay hundreds of dollars for these design fruits. june has been crazy weather wise with a number of records centre. the highest in temperature recorded since 1976 but this week it has been cloudy, cool and wait. we have had record rainfall across parts of eastern scotland. in edinburgh, 178 millimetres of rain has fallen so far injune millimetres of rain has fallen so far in june which millimetres of rain has fallen so far injune which makes it the

wettest ju ne far injune which makes it the wettest june on record far injune which makes it the wettestjune on record and, yesterday, for a time roads became rivers. looking at the forecast for today, low pressure still with us and we still have a lot of cloud left over with rain at the start of the day but at least it is mild with temperatures 12 to 14 degrees. we will still have rain left over across parts of western wales in south—west england has lost the wind so south—west england has lost the wind so the rain heavy over the will hills for a while. moving eastwards, brea ks hills for a while. moving eastwards, breaks in the cloud coming in. three eastern areas of scotland expects hill fog with low cloud. further outbreaks of rain as well but the rain will not be as heavy as it was yesterday. a relatively mild start to the day. temperatures will struggle to rise much of the day goes by. we still feeding northerly wind and the wind will continue to push cloud on to the hills with further burst of rain. 0verall push cloud on to the hills with further burst of rain. overall the rain comes later as the day goes by. that could be a few isolated showers

moving into south—east england but, equally, sunny spells breaking through the cloud. still cool across the north and the west but we do see bright spots across parts of england, temperatures could reach as high as 23 towards south—east england. 0vernight, and a weather front, and a band of rain sinks southwards taking rain with it. at the same time, the rain eases across scotland. here the weather becomes a little bit dry overnight. that is because we got a ridge of high—pressure moving in overnight across the north—west of the uk before spreading in across england and wales as move on into saturday. it means, all in all, for this weekend weather prospects are a look dry and will be brighter. most of us will see spells of sunshine. that could be some rain left over for the night—time across with extreme south—east of england. then comes the sunshine. in the afternoon, thick cloud into scotland and northern ireland with a band of rain pushing in here. we freshens as well. she stay relatively cool. quite warm across south—east of england with high is 224. sunday

again most of us will have a dry day with sunny spells. a few showers across north—western similar temperatures. that is a weather. i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story. hong kong prepares to mark 20 years since the territory was handed back to china by britain. president xijinping is on his first official visit to hong kong. the united states urges china to respect freedom and civil liberties there. donald trump's travel ban will take effect shorly time after the supreme court allowed parts of it go ahead. people from six muslim majority countries will be affected. and this story is trending on twitter in india. despite protests against the lynchings, another muslim man has been killed by a mob of people in india on suspicion he was carrying beef in his car. prime minister narendra modi had condemned killings by cow vigilantes just hours earlier. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news,

it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk.