this is bbc news. i'm james menendez. our top stories: donald trump's controversial travel ban comes into force. strict visa rules now apply to people from six mainly muslim countries and all refugees. under siege in raqqa — the islamic state group is fighting for survival in syria as american—backed forces now surround the capital of its self—declared caliphate. germany's parliament prepares to legalise same—sex marriage after chancellor merkel drops her opposition to the idea. and i'm rachel horne. more trouble on the radar for ba as cabin crew prepare to strike just weeks after an it crash that stranded thousands. are cost cuts taking their toll on the airline's image? plus, from the sick man of asia to one of the region's fastest—growing economies — we report from the philippines 20 years on from the asian financial crisis. hello.

president trump's temporary ban on refugees and travellers from six mainly muslim countries has now come into effect. the us supreme court has allowed parts of it after a 5—month battle in the courts. the trump administration says the ban is necessary to stop terrorists from entering the country. many have argued that it's unconstitutional as it singles out muslims. these were the scenes at airports across the country when the original travel ban was imposed without warning in january. it was called unconstitutional, a ban on muslims. and, despite months of legal challenges, president trump once again has his travel ban — at least parts of it — in place after a victory at the supreme court. this has been one of the president's top issues.

he has talked consistently about how he believes the united states needs to do more to enhance our screening procedures, and to take a better look at people who will be coming into the united states, because the safety and security of americans comes first. from thursday, those travelling from six predominantly muslim countries could be barred from entering the united states for 90 days, and refugees for 120 days. on monday, the supreme court offered broad guidelines on who could be exempt from president trump's ban, saying visa applicants had to prove a bona fide relationship with a us person or entity. the trump administration has narrowly interpreted that to say that those with a parent or colleague qualify, so too anyone with a business or educational tie to the united states, but the relationship must be formal and documented, not made up to comply with the executive order. the extended family,

such as a grandparent, grandchild or aunt and uncle, will be denied visas. the ban also means refugees, even those working with a resettling agency, will face the same restrictions. civil rights and immigration activists have vowed lawsuits, saying it is arbitrary and discriminatory, and many rushed to the airports. the world is watching the united states of america and what they are saying is we thought that that was the country for opportunity and justice for all. but it does not seem that way. i mean, this administration is redefining what a family is. i was raised by my grandparents, so the idea of grandparents not being part of the family is very foreign to me. already, the state of hawaii has challenged the administration in court, arguing the federal government is violating the supreme court by excluding people with an extended family relationship to the united states.

let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. a 21—year—old woman has been detained at london's heathrow airport on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism. the woman, from north london, was arrested after arriving on a flight from istanbul. the metropolitan police have also conducted searches of two addresses in london, and say the arrest is syria—related. the governor of new york, andrew cuomo, has declared a state of emergency on the city's subway. he says its dismal performance is "wholly unacceptable". two days ago, a subway train derailed in northern manhattan, injuring dozens and raising concerns about public safety. the governor has announced an extra billion dollars to improve the subway. south africa's ruling anc party is holding a 6—day policy conference in johannesburg amidst continuing infighting and factionalism over its future leadership. being discussed will be land reform, health and education, but much of the talk will also

centre on the future of its leader, jacob zuma, with many of the delegates supporting his deputy cyril ramaphosa. 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 became its de facto capital. our correspondent gabriel gatehouse, who's north of raqqa, sent this report. the battle for raqqa is still farfrom won but already, they are looking to a future post—caliphate. here to meet local leaders in waiting, the us envoy. the american presence here has been growing, quietly. there is tremendous challenges ahead. look, the united states is committed to defeating daesh. that's why we're here. we're going to defeat daesh. and after that?

and we want to make sure whatever comes after daesh is stable. and, if you look at the record to date, we have now coalition—backed operations in iraq and syria, have cleared out about 60,000 square kilometres of territory. we've liberated over 4 million people. as the coalition advances into raqqa, families are fleeing. many end up in this camp. all lived under the harsh rule of the group that calls itself islamic state, not all against their will. 0ne corner of the camp is reserved for the wives and children of is fighters. nour left lebanon for raqqa two years ago to join her husband, ajihadi. when he was killed, she married a tunisian, and so she joined the ranks of a relatively privileged group — the wives of foreign fighters. there seems little sympathy here for the treatment of sex slaves at the hands of their captors. the caliphate may be weakened,

but its mentality persists. if and when raqqa falls, it will be thanks in large part to the american military and their allies, including britain. this is their main logistics hub — an airstrip cut discreetly into a hillside somewhere north of raqqa. from this base, they support their own forces, and arm the sdf, the coalition of arabs and kurds who are leading the assault on raqqa. well, all of this infrastructure has gone up in a really short space of time and it has coincided with rapid advances by the anti—is coalition. but the question is, what happens

when the caliphate falls? because, as we know from afghanistan and from iraq, it is always easier to get in than it is to get out. american troops in syria number in the hundreds. they won't say exactly how many. their special forces are involved in the fighting on the ground. their planes are bombing raqqa from the air. isis is certainly not defeated. when mosul is liberated or raqqa is liberated, there's a lot of hard work left to do. do you know where abu bakr al—baghdadi is? man, i was hoping you knew! if you know, please tell me, and we will kill him, forthright. at least once a month, we have someone claiming to kill baghdadi, and the latest one has been made by the russians. i wish them well. i hope that they did. i'll be happy to hear the news if they did. i suspect they did not.

for now, russia and the us share a common enemy. but once the islamic state is gone, two big powers will be left backing different sides in an unfinished war. the potential for confrontation is real. a fact—finding mission by the un chemical weapons watchdog, the 0pcw, has concluded that the banned nerve agent sarin was used in an attack in northern syria in april that killed dozens of people. the attack on khan sheikhoun in idlib province was the most deadly in syria in more than three years. it prompted the us to retaliate with a missile strike on the airbase that washington said had launched the gas attack. a un panel will now try to determine if the syrian government was responsible. rachel is here with all the business news.

iam i am worried about this. i am flying in one week. it is a 16 day strike, james. listen up! we start with more problems for british airways. thousands of passengers are learning that their flights have been cancelled because of an unprecedented 16—day strike by some cabin crew, which begins tomorrow, july 1st. on thursday, ba said most flights will operate as normal but it has cancelled a number of long—haul departures to and from heathrow. short—haul and flights from other uk airports are unaffected. so what's it all about? the unite union says cabin crew who have taken industrial action over pay in the past have been blacklisted — losing benefits like staff travel concessions and bonuses. ba estimates around 8% of its total cabin crew will walk out — that's about 11100 staff. to limit the damage, the airline is merging some heathrow operations. it is also talking to other carriers such as qatar airways, which owns one—fifth of its parent iag, about using their services. well, upsetting its customers again is the last thing ba needs after a major it crash last month stranded 75,000 passengers.

the financial cost, some $100 million, but the cost to ba's reputation is possibly much greater. we will speak to an expert in 20 minutes time. as we have been reporting all week, it's been 20 years since the financial crisis that swept through east asia and wreaked havoc on economies around the globe. for the last in our series, we are in the philippines. when the crisis hit in 1997, in economic terms, it was widely seen as the "sick man of asia." but the economy didn't suffer as much as its neighbours in the region, in part thanks to the millions of filipinos who work abroad and send money home. our own rico hizon has been back to his home city of manila to find out why the philippines is now one of the fastest growing economies in asia. watch it on world business report. and if you want to get involved, tell me what you would like to ask our aviation expert about the ba strike on twitter. i'm @rachelhornebbc. hong kong is officially marking 20 years since the end

of british colonial rule. the chinese president, xijinping, is visiting the territory for the first time since he became leader, in 2013. he inspected the people's liberation army barracks just a short while ago. he applauded the government for their handling of major political and legal issues. let's go live to hong kong. when we talk about political issues, i guess we are really talking about is moves towards independence for hong kong? absolutely. the president made those remarks at a meeting of top hong kong officials, he praised them for effectively curbing the independence movement. it is worth mentioning the independence movement is not a mass movement, it isn't mainstream. if you look at a series of political poles, public opinion polls, i

should say, you will see the younger people especially seem to be supporting this movement less than they had been just a year ago. supporting this movement less than they had beenjust a year ago. so let's support for the movement and of course the fact there is any movement of this kind at all in hong kong is something that worries the chinese leadership, it worries the chinese leadership, it worries the chinese president xijinping because he doesn't want to see any of this spread from hong kong to the other autonomous regions in mainland china itself. so he really addressed at elephant in the room quite early on in his trip. there were some small protest at the start of the trip, a number of people were detained. what happens to them? there has been a number of smaller scaled guerrilla type protests, since monday. they have been smaller protest, certainly the last major one happened at about 26 protesters occupied an area close

to the compound behind me where the president is staying on his two—day trip to hong kong. those activists have been detained overnight, they have been detained overnight, they have all since been released as of this morning. in a few hours, they will be giving a press conference about their experience in jail. just briefly, on the inspection of those people's liberation army troops earlier today, is that a provocative move in hong kong? it certainly is something that every chinese president who comes to hong kong seems to do, five years ago it happened as well. this time, the chinese president set up in an open air truck as you can see it was driven past 20 squads of pla soldiers, i can only imagine they chose 20 because it is the 20th anniversary of the handover. china watchers looking closely at the event to see if he would pay

anything about the pla in hong kong but he didn't say anything, the only thing he said was hello, comrades. thank you very much. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a potentially perilous swing on the fairway when an elk gives this swedish golfer a run for his money. china marked its first day of rule in hong kong with a series of spectacular celebrations. a huge firework display was held in the former colony. the chinese president, jiang zemin, said unification was the start of a new era for hong kong. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly that was cloned in a laboratory using a cell from another sheep. for the first time in 20 years, russian and american spacecraft have docked in orbit at the start of a new era of cooperation in space. challenger powered past

the bishop rock lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering a record that had stood for 3h years. and there was no hiding the sheer elation of richard branson and his crew. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: parts of president trump's ban on travellers from six mainly muslim countries have come into force, but legal wrangling continues. forces opposed to the islamic state group have made significant advances against strongholds in both syria and iraq. in syria, kurdish and arab troops have the city of raqqa completely surrounded. germany looks set to legalise same—sex marriage in a parliamentary vote this morning, making it one

of the last major western countries to approve full marital rights for gay couples. the bill is widely expected to pass after chancellor angela merkel dropped her long—term opposition to the reform. kathryn stancheshun reports. celebrating early as the end of a long fight draws near. the free vote on gay marriage is something many campaigners thought they'd never see, under chancellor angela merkel, but now it's happening. translation: with the sdp, the left, the greens, we have a majority in parliament, and there are several democrat representatives who say, we are standing on your side. in a surprise test earlier this week, the chancellor revised her opposition to same—sex marriage, saying instead that christian democrats should make a personal decision rather than

follow the party line. coalition partners the social democrats seized the opportunity, forcing today's historic vote before the recess. translation: it's good that a vote of conscience will finally be allowed, but angela merkel has blocked marriage equality for long enough. we are not obliged to thank them. as germany heads towards an election, it seems mrs merkel was left with little choice. two other opposition parties, the free democrats and the greens, also make this boat is a condition of any future power—sharing deal. translation: i am optimistic. on a personal note, we have personal note, we fought translation: i am optimistic. on a personal note, we fought for equality for decades, and i think it good if we take this step. germany has already announced several partnerships and there is thought to be broad support for this next step, which will bring the country into line with other european nations

like belgium, france, spain and most of the uk. register offices are getting ready for busy days and weeks ahead. south korean president moonjae—in is in washington for talks with president trump. the white house says they will discuss ways to further strengthen their alliance and deepen the friendship. and the leaders will of course be co—ordinating on north korea—related issues, as our correspondent steve evans reports from seoul. there is some anti—trump feeling here in south korea. this is a demonstration, a small demonstration, a small demonstration, outside the us embassy, and there are caricatures of president trump around here, and they show him eating missiles. those missiles in his mouth symbolise thaad. it's actually an anti—missile system installed by the us military here in south korea and which has had widespread opposition. whether a majority of south koreans oppose it is not clear that certainly there's

anti—trump feeling here. in washington, president moon has talked about forging strong personal ties with president trump. he wants a friendship, a personal relationship. president trump has talked about the strength of the alliance, but the basic question remains, what do you do about north korea? do you take military action, as president trump indicated he may eventually do, or do you keep talking, or start talking? eventually do, or do you keep talking, orstart talking? both those approaches are meeting no kind of response at the moment from kim jong—nam. he is dismissive of both approaches in public, and press as an towards the nuclear weapons and missiles that president trump says simply won't happen — he won't let them. the big, unresolved question is how. german football fans are looking forward to the weekend.

on friday, their under—21 stars will play in the final of the european championship, while on sunday their senior team will play in the final of the confederation cup. they reached that final with a 4—1 win over mexico in the russian city of sochi. wednesday's first semi—final had gone all the way to penalties, but this one was effectively over before it had really begun. leon goretzka drilled home from the edge of the penalty area to put the germans in front after only six minutes, and the schalke striker supplied another neat finish to make it 2—0 two minutes later. that goal also made him the tournament's top scorer, with three in total. the world champions then had to wait until early in the second half to stretch their lead. a tap—in from timo werner made it 3—0, and he now has two —— three in the competition. it was a long way back for mexico, but they pulled one back, and from a long way out. marco fabian with a stunning drive two minutes from time. any glimmer of hope was finally snuffed out when amin younes fired

in a fourth for the germans. the world champions are through to the final, and will face the south american champions, chile, on sunday in st petersburg. the 104th tour de france gets under way on saturday with the german city of dusseldorf staging "le grand depart". the defending champion, chris froome, is aiming for a fourth title. however, in australian ritchie porte, a former team sky colleague, he now has a new rival who's the man in form. i am as motivated as ever, given that i have so much to race for this time. this is a fourth tour de france, potentially a fourth tour de france title, that i am trying to get. and that is — i mean, it is massive. the challenge is even bigger this year. i feel as if the level of my rivals is even higher this year, on a difficult course, as well. so i am here with — yes, with all the motivation i have had before, if not even more. chris has obviously won three tours.

there is no reason he cannot win a fourth. he is a big favourite here. you know, i think he is going to be in a lot better form than he was in the lead—up. i think he knows how to take the pressure, obviously, but so does alberto, so does nairo, and a few other guys. the women's pga championship, the second major of the year, is under way at olympia fields near chicago, but thursday's first round was cut short by thunder and lightning. two south koreans share the lead on five under—par — amy yang, who still has one hole to play, and chella choi, who birdied four of her last six holes on her way to a 66. the defending champion, brooke henderson of canada, also made a strong start. she's two shots off the lead after shooting a 68. the shot of the day was this effort from the american nelly korda. that was at the 16th and she finished the day on two under—par. she's three shots off the lead.

now, golf may strike you as a fairly leisurely and sedate pastime. a pleasant stroll round a nice course, with perhaps a drink at the 19th hole afterwards. but for one golfer in sweden, his day out was a little more perilous, as tim allman reports. beware a hazard in the rough. this was the scene in southern sweden, a curious spectator wandering onto the fairway. at first, a golfer tries to shoot the animal away, but this is one determined elk. it is, for a few moments, distracted by his golf bag. unhappy with the choice of club, perhaps. but then the elk realises it is the player, not his equipment, that has piqued his interest, and decides, for reasons known only to the animal itself, to chase him around the trees. all this being filmed by an amused

friend on the other side of the fairway. the elk obviously deciding it might like a word with him, as well. so over they came, both of them at some speed. but by now the animal felt it had made its point, and wandered off. they say golf is a good walk spoiled. it is certainly true if elks have any say in the matter. i like the way he brings the elk over to his friend who was laughing in the background! don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter: stay with us. i'll be back with the headlines in a few minutes' time. then rachel will be here with world business report. don't go away. hi there.

june has been a pretty wacky weather month, with a number of records set. you'll remember last week it was hot and humid, last year temperatures got up to 45 degrees. for over a0 years, but this week it has been cloudy, cool and wet. now, we've had record rainfall across parts of eastern scotland. in edinburgh, 178 millimetres of rain has already fallen injune so far. that makes it the wettestjune on record and, yesterday, for a time roads were turned to rivers. now, looking at the forecast for today, low pressure is still with us, and we still have a lot of cloud left over with rain at the start of the day. there will be a few heavy bursts across western wales moving into devon and cornwall, along with gusty winds, but moving into eastern england, from the word go, ltd sunny spells breaking through the cloud and temperatures rising quickly.

heading northwards, quite murky, low cloud, fog patches and some rain, getting lighter as the day goes by. but those temperatures will struggle to rise much of the day goes by. we still see these northerly winds and the wind will continue to push cloud on to the hills with further bursts of rain. but overall, the rain gets a little bit lighter as the day goes by. temperatures just getting into the teens across north—east scotland. temperatures around aberdeen up to around 1a degrees, something like that. with brighter spells in england, could be enough to spark offa england, could be enough to spark off a few isolated showers across south—east england. friday evening, the area of rain sinks outwards, so turning down across the midlands, east anglia and south—east england, but at the same time the rain will ease off in scotland, a sign of things to come, at least for the first part of the weekend, because drier and brighter weather coming

oui’ drier and brighter weather coming our way. a ridge of high pressure, meaning a fine day for scotland and northern ireland, but a band of rain moving in through the afternoon. england and wales, cloud breaking up with sunny spells coming through, temperatures near average for the time of year. a lot of dry weather as well for most areas on sunday, but againa as well for most areas on sunday, but again a few showers across western scotland where it will remain pretty breezy. this is bbc world news. the headlines. parts of president trump's controversial ban on travellers from six mainly muslim countries have come into effect. on monday, the us supreme court partially upheld the ban, which also covers all refugees. forces opposed to the extremist group that calls itself islamic state 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 surrounded. germany's parliament will vote later on a bill to legalise same—sex marriage. the measure is likely to be approved after the german chancellor, angela merkel, changed her mind to allow a free vote.

the chinese president, xijinping, has praised the authorities in hong kong for curbing the territory's independence movement. mr xi made his remarks during a visit to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the city's handover from the uk