president xi marking the 20th anniversary of hong kong's handover to china. not a market — there it is! the south china morning post reports that during his visit, president xi praised officials for effectively curbing independence advocacy. he talked about how they handled political issues there. the new york times has this story too. it's a feature looking at how two decades ago a modern and prosperous hong kong was a model of what china might one day become. it says that hope is now fading. the caliphate has fallen: that's the headline from the independent looking at the battle in mosul against the so—called islamic state. the us—led coalition says a victory there is now imminent. mumbai's business standard looks at the introduction of a goods and services tax in india. it reports that finance minister arunjaitley has met a handful of top business bosses, urging them against increasing prices. in the guardian, the brexodus of banks. ireland's capital, dublin,

claims more than a dozen london—based banks plan to move part of their operations there because of brexit. and britain arguably does quite well in the parliamentary pomp and circumstance stakes. well, it's finally loosening up — just a little bit. male members of parliament will no longer have to wear ties. that's in the times. not in this studio, not this morning! with us is kulveer ranger, director of digital public services for atos. good morning, good to see you. we shall talk about that story a little later, but let's start with china, and the presidency visiting hong kong for the first time, and all the talk really is about independence, and we are told it's just a small minority that are actively campaigning for independence for the territory, but a big concern for china. it is, especially the way it's being reported, because there's an interesting story but also the

new york times on this — president xi doing this two—day visit. we all remember chris patten, the last governor, leaving. there was a huge sense of disappointment from a british perspective but this optimism for what it would mean for china, as china would develop, the one country, two systems kind of rhetoric. we all wondered, how would that dominance of china and its political regime play out in that independence, that fiscal prosperity, that was hong kong? it doesn't seem to have been working for hong kong. there's been growing angen for hong kong. there's been growing anger, division, and outright rebellion, which we haven't seen reports of over the years, and president xi is coming in and basically congratulated the previous regime and the new regime that's coming in today on how well they've

sort of bush sat down. that doesn't really seem to be the answer —— sort of pushed that down. that doesn't really seem to be the answer in that free enterprise kind of model hong kong was meant to be. the question being asked is, is hong kong going backwards, rather than being a beacon for china and how it can progress? is it being sucked back into the, shall we say, less democratic system of the rest of china? is the new york times article about how that is holding china that? paralysed, doom, uk in terms of the way business sees hong kong as well — these things are being commented on in where hong kong is 20 years on after it's gone back into chinese rule. i think there are two ways of looking at this because china is itself on a journey. it has developed and embraced other things. but there was always going to be

that tension between hong kong and china. what i think is happening now is the way the ruling governing party of hong kong is aligning itself more with chinese politics and rhetoric, and i think that's what worries a lot of people in hong kong. some would say it doesn't have any choice. it's quite interesting when it talks about 20 years ago it was this shining beacon of hope for china. now it's got the affordable housing crisis, troubled education system, and worries that a lot of other — other chinese cities have the bullet trains that hong kong is way behind. i remember when the new ncr was built, and london helped to build it, one of the best metro systems in the world. but yesterday president xi was asked two questions. didn't a nswer xi was asked two questions. didn't answer one of them. that's the way politics is run over there. onto the

independent, the caliphate has fallen, the headline. very striking photos. as you say, an evocative picture on the front of the independent, and also covered in more depth in the arab news, where they've got an interview with a syrian american analyst around, what does this mean? it's quite a totemic moment where the mosque in mosul, also being taken back, although it is the ruins of it, having been destroyed by daesh, and, is this a milestone, a landmark moment? the question is being asked — the end of daesh? the answer has to be known. this is not a time for any kind of celebration or anybody saying this isa celebration or anybody saying this is a milestone victory. the analyst says, quite rightly, that this organisation has morphed, and it's

trying to become an underground, global movement, if it hasn't already. we all appreciate this. we only have to look at the way terrorist attacks are, if not organised, then inspired by the rhetoric that this organisation seeks to put out all over the world. so it may have moved from that physical entity that was looking to have that geographical ownership to that narrative that is inspiring the kinds of horrible things we are seeing all over the world. i'm really interested in this tax reform! why don't you do it? tax—free form in india. until now their whereabouts 29 different areas, and if you put a truck full of goods at one end of the country and drove through all 29, that would be a roundabout route, but you pay tax in each bit you went through, which seems quite difficult and open to corruption, and the idea is now there will be one tax, part of this reform of the system will stop we

saw it with rupees being taken away before christmas. you've made me do my homework this morning! i've had to bone up on this particular issue. yes, the standardisation of taxation. the meeting with the finance minister and a lot of big companies in india. the message back from those businesses doesn't seem to be they are worried about the tax coming in. maybe they are welcoming it for the reasons you mention. but actually it's the implementation that the problem. also it's part of that the problem. also it's part of that agenda that prime minister modi, a very populist prime minister, the one who's come from one of everybody out there, to rule the country, and in fact he is announcing this to big fanfare tonight. he's got big indian bollywood stars and industrialists with him — it's very much the fa nfa re with him — it's very much the fanfare about him saying, this is about standardisation, but it's for the benefit of the people. so it's all points in the right way, but the

devil is in the implementation, especially across a complex geography like india. i think we are going to have to watch and see just how well this actually lands, and how well this actually lands, and how effectively it actually works, because the promise is great, but it's going to be the result that's going to matter. getting rid of the cash didn't work out so well. it was pretty chaotic. we haven't a huge amount of time but one question for you. this story about the banks planning to move to dublin, or part of their operations. is this the slow death of london?” of their operations. is this the slow death of london? i can't see it. there's been numerous conversations. in the buildup to the referendum, we all heard the cases for and against the city. post a referendum, i think this is all geopolitical positioning of businesses about where they see the best development for them, not specifically through the brexit land. —— brexit lens. when i speak

to businesses, yes, brexit is on the agenda, but not top. they are looking at the global landscape and move accordingly and there are many factors at play. i know the irish in dublin are trying, rightly so, to say, there's brexit over there, come over here. but i think there are many more things that decides these things. and parliament dropping the tie as dress code? yes or no? it's a disgrace! but i was talking to james, this issue about technology. people get very confused — is it fashionable, no tie, tie or t—shirt? i always go tie. bowtie! that's all from us. have a great day. 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, temperatures up to 35 degrees,

the highest temperature recorded 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. but at least it is mild, with temperatures 12 to 11! degrees first thing in the morning. we will still have rain left over across parts of western wales. south—west england still with some fairly gusty wind here, so the rain heavy over the hills for a time. but moving further eastwards, breaks in the cloud coming in. so there will be some glimmers of sunshine first thing in the morning. through the peaks, pennines, eastern areas of scotland, expect hill fog with low cloud. there will be further outbreaks of rain as well, but the rain won't be quite as heavy as it was yesterday. it will be a relatively mild start to the day, 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. yes, there could be a few isolated showers moving into south—east england, but equally, some sunny spells breaking through the cloud. still cool across the north and the west but we do see bright spells across parts of england, temperatures could reach as high as 23 towards south—east england. and then overnight our weather front, our band of rain, sinks southwards, taking the rain with it. at the same time, the rain eases across scotland. so here, the weather becomes a little bit dry overnight, and 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 we move on into saturday. it means, all in all, for this weekend, that the weather prospects are a little bit drier and a little bit brighter. most of us will see spells of sunshine. that said, there could be a little bit of rain left over for the night—time across with extreme south—east

of england, clearing away. then comes the sunshine. in the afternoon, thick cloud into scotland and northern ireland with a band of rain pushing in here. the winds freshening, as well. should stay relatively cool, 15 to 17 degrees for the north—west. quite warm across south—east of england, with highs up to 24. for sunday again most of us will have a dry day with sunny spells. a few showers across north—west, and similar kinds of temperatures. 16 to about 22. that is your weather. hello, this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. new questions over the grenfell tower disaster, as pressure gi’ows on kensington council. last night the first full council meeting, since the fire, ended in chaos, after a row over whetherjournalists could attend.

this morning it emerges that the cladding, originally due to be used on the tower, was downgraded in order to save money. good morning, it's friday 30thjune. also this morning: the parents of io—month—old charlie gard — who lost their legal battle to take him to america for experimental treatment — say his life support will be switched off today.