this is bbc news. the headlines at eight. donald trump defends his son's meeting with a russian lawyer, during the presidential campaign. i think from a practical stand point, most people would have taken that meeting. it's call opposition research. the brexit secretary urges all mps to "work together" as the government publishes the repeal bill — but it faces opposition from other parties. an american doctor tells the high court there's a chance terminally ill charlie gard could benefit from experimental treatment in the us. in other news. there's disappointment for british fans at wimbledon. johanna konta fails to become the first british woman finalist at wimbledon for a0 years as she loses her semi final match against venus williams. and it's goodbye to dippy and hello to hope, the blue whale, at the natural history museum.

good evening and welcome to bbc news. the french president, emmanuel macron, has welcomed donald trump to paris at the start of a two—day visit. the two men have discussed, greater military cooperation against the so—called islamic state. president trump also hinted that his stance towards the paris climate accord may be softening. six weeks ago he said america would pull out of the deal. tonight, on a state visit to france, he said that "something could happen". mr trump is under pressure at home to explain exactly what relationship his campaign had with russia during the run—up to the presidential election. but shortly before he faced questions on that, he paid tribute to his host, mr macron, and the bonds between france and america.

the friendship between our two nations and ourselves i might add, is unbreakable. our occasional disagreements are nothing compared to the bonds of culture, destiny and liberty, that unite us. so strongly unite us also. as long as we have pride in who we are, where we have come from, how we got here and what we have achieved as free and democratic nations, then there is nothing we cannot accomplish together. nothing we cannot accomplish together. despite the warm words, mr trump's trip came at a difficult time for relations between the two countries, after the us president pulled out of the paris climate accords. but speaking at the news conference earlier, he hinted that the decision to do so might not have been final. yes, i mean something could happen with respect to the paris accord, we will see what happens, but we will

talk about that over the coming period of time. and if it happen, that will be wonderful, and if it doesn't, that will be ok too, but we will see what happen, but we did discuss many things today including the ceasefire in syria and we discussed the ukraine, a lot of different topic, we briefly hit on the paris accord and we will see what happens, 0k. but it's notjust pressure from the international community that mr trump has been facing, he's in paris while a storm rages in washington over his son's admission that he met a russian lawyer during the presidential campaign, in a bid to uncover information about hillary clinton. he downplayed the allegations against him and his campaign. as far as my son is concerned, my son is a wonderful young man, he took a meeting with a russian lawyer. not a government lawyer, but

a russian lawyer. it was a short meeting, it was a meeting that went very very quickly, very fast, two other people in the room, one of them left almost immediately and the other was not really focussed on the meeting. i do think this, i think from a practical stand point, most people would have taken that meeting. people would have taken that meeting. let's speak to our washington correspondent gary o'donoghue. gary more questions about the russia connection, how embarrassing they have surfaced at this time? well, it has been embarrassing for where are we now, thursday, since it started to, that the details of the e—mail chain involves donald trumpjune your is that righted emerges last saturday, so where are we now? five days later and it is still front—page, these things, they become unsustainable if they are on the front—pages every day, what you are getting a robust edefence of his son by the president. he said

something similar yesterday saying other people would have taken the meeting as well, trying to distance themselves from it being a russian government person that donald trump jr met, doing those things but the pressure will continue because donald trump jr has pressure will continue because donald trumer has been asked to appear before one of those congressional committees that are looking into the business of russia and the general election, we don't know whether he will. it could happen as early as next week, if he deck leans it there is a possibility he could get subpoenaed to do it any way. as far as the trip to paris is concerned, many way. as far as the trip to paris is concerned , many are way. as far as the trip to paris is concerned, many are saying it is loaded with symbolism and emphasis being put on the historic ties between the two countries. yes, they a lwa ys between the two countries. yes, they always do that. america and france, of course, you think of the statue of course, you think of the statue of liberty, that great presence, present from france to the new country, the united states, siding against britain when america went through its revolution. the oldest

ally, etc, etc, the sort of shared, shared sort of i suppose devotion to republicanism in that sense, the sense of being a republic, that has been there from the start. i am not surprised at that. there were bridges to build, we know the first meeting didn't get off to a good start, with that rather odd hand sean dyche that —— shake that took place when they first met. france was opposed to the iraq war in the early 2000, that meant diplomatic relations were pretty bad between america and france for some year, they used to have some pretty choice epithets for french people here during those times and none of the warm words that the president is getting on the eve of bastille day, the french will celebrate that tomorrow. thank you. gary in washington. later we will get the perspective from paris. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered

in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 this evening in the papers — our guestsjoining me tonight are michael booker, deputy editor of the daily express and jack blanchard, political editor at the daily mirror. the government has published its long awaited plans to pave the way for eu law to be transferred into british law. the government's called for all parties to work together to make it a success. but already labour is calling for significant changes, and the liberal democrats are warning they will make life "hell" for the government. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg has this report — a warning that it contains some flashing images. has nothing changed? still doing the handshakes, rolling out the red carpet for royalty, spanish, this time. still embarking on the task of taking us out of the european union. no, everything has changed. for the first time today, the prime minister explaining her shock at the election. ifelt, um, i suppose, devastated, because, as i say, i knew the campaign wasn't going

perfectly, but still, the messages i was getting from people i was speaking to, but also, the comments we were getting back from a lot of people, that were being passed on to me, were that we were going to get a better result than we did. devastated enough to shed a tear? well... yes, a little tear. yes. at that moment? yes, at that moment, yes. and then you have to brush yourself down. you have a responsibility, you are a human being, you have been through that experience. but i was there as leader of the party and prime minister. i had a responsibility then as we went through the night to determine what we were going to do the next morning. presentation of bill. it won't get any easier... today, the bill that will legally take us out of the european union arrived in parliament. broadly, the withdrawal bill cuts and pastes thousands of eu laws that govern so much right now

into british law. as we leave, they won't apply. but with theresa may's shaky grip, mps will inevitably try to make big changes. i think there is a big understanding now amongst ministers, across—the—board, that there will need to be a bit of compromise, there will need to be inevitable changes. you think ministers have understood that but perhaps not yet theresa may. i think we will wait and see. the withdrawal bill is such a huge undertaking, it also gives ministers the power to change or strike out swathes of regulation without guaranteeing mps a say. this bill as it stands though would give ministers like you sweeping powers to change, get rid of bits and pieces of regulation that you don't like, without mps having a guaranteed vote and full debate. these are hardly massive changes, these are technical changes to make the law work. and it's up to the house of commons,

if a statutory instrument is placed front of the house of commons, the house of commons decides whether it debates it and votes on it. but they are not guaranteed vote unless today you want to give them a guarantee... ? that is in the call of the house of commons, what it chooses to vote on and so on. it is notjust a ministerial signature, it is a statutory instrument, which can be debated and voted upon. morning all. labour is making its own way, asking for its own meetings in brussels, trying to get the eu's negotiator onside. a football shirt! man u? barnier, you are now playing for arsenal! although it may take more than an arsenal shirt to do that, but there is no way, as it stands, that labour will back the bill. we will make sure there is full parliamentary scrutiny, that has to be key to it, we have a parliament where the government does not have a majority and the country has voted in two ways,

on leave and remain, obviously the majority voted to leave, we respect that. but they did not vote to lose jobs, they did not vote to have parliament ridden roughshod over. nor will the scottish government: nicola sturgeon with her own kodak nor will the scottish government. nicola sturgeon with her own kodak moment in brussels today. the scottish parliament cannot technically veto the plan, but it can refuse consent. as the bill stands now, in good conscience i could not recommend to the scottish parliament that it gives legislative consent. it takes powers away and undermines the very foundations of the devolution settlement that the parliament is built on. as whitehall begins this enormous process, ministers are all too well aware that there will be conflict ahead. the question, how they balance, compromise and hang onto their credibility. and what ends up on the statute books does notjust sit on the shelf, but shapes how ministers govern, how we live our lives. to get more on this story we can

cross to our westminster studio and speak to ian blackford, the leader of the snp westminster group. thank you very much forjoining us. how supportive were the snp be of this bill in westminster? it is not so this bill in westminster? it is not so much a great repeal bill it is is a power grab. it is outrageous what the government is doing, because they are interfering in powers that should lie with the devolved administration and edinburgh in cardiff and belfast, we have heard a lot from the prime minister, about wanting to reach a compromise with other party, yet, here we have a government that hasn't even met with the devolved administration over the course of last few mondays, we have been calling for this since february. given we have responsibility for areas such as agricultural and fishery, we now know there is a real threat to competence in those area, that may

include interfering with the scotla nd include interfering with the scotland act from 1997, that established the parliament. so this is outrageous, we are willing to work with the government, but it has to be on the basis of respecting the devolved institution in edinburgh and cardiff and belfast. there is a joint statement tonight from nicola stuj and the first minister in wales, it is clear we have a government in london that is riding rough shod over the interests of the democratic electoral institution in the united kingdom. what would it ta ke the united kingdom. what would it take for the snp to support the government? if you got more devolved powers would that buy your vote? we are willing to enter into negotiations but we are asking for thejoint ministerial negotiations but we are asking for the joint ministerial committee to meet as amph of urge urgency, we can't have a situation where our powers are going to be dragged back to westminster. westminster has the ability to change legislation, powers that the scottish parliament doesn't have. that is an absolute

democratic outrage, i think the prime minister has to think carefully about where she is. i think there was a clear message that was delivered to all of news the election campaign, this is the parliament of minority, i think the people expect us to work together, but we need to have a willingness people expect us to work together, but we nl government willingness people expect us to work together, but we nl government they igness people expect us to work together, but we nl government they are is with the uk government, but are, with the uk government, but it has . be done on the basis of has to be done on the basis of mutual respect. you have made no secret of the fact you think the single market is very important to scotland's economy what is your ultimate aim, to stop brexit entirely? no, we have always accepted that the united kingdom has voted to come out of eu, we acknowledge that, but we have asked the prime minister and the government to recognise our position, that the people of scotla nd position, that the people of scotland voted to remain and the responsibility that the government has in edinburgh is to protect the interests of the people in scotland. it is in particular the economic aspect, the threat to jobs and

prosperity there is from coming out of the single market, we need to get to the situation we can be represented in the talks but we can only do that if there is a willingness of the united kingdom government to talk to us, she has to respect the interest of all the devolved particle. and there is an expression of that desire to work together that we have with the government in cardiff. a long way to go government in cardiff. a long way to 9° 90, government in cardiff. a long way to go go, i am sure you will agree. let us return to paris where donald trump has been talking to emmanuel macron. they will be dining in the eiffel tower not far behind you david. no, they should have started already, the second floor there for already, the second floor there for a slap up dinner of sorts with the first lady and president, with a

chance to bondtor, create this personal atmosphere which has been message by and large of these two days to create a thriving relationship for two people, who let bus honest, they are both new on the block, in terms of world leader, they will have several years to work together. and recognise what each of them brings to the sort of global order of thing, but it has been a melange of subject matter they have been able to chew on, trying to find out what the story is is not that clear, there are so many. with me is james mcauley the paris correspondent for the washington post. thank you forjoining u huge amount of interest at home, on the russian allegation, which were addressed to allegation, which were addressed to a certain extent by donald trump, but what is the story for you? so, exactly as you say, i think on the back of all of our minds and every journalist's mind in the room at the press c0 nfe re nce was

journalist's mind in the room at the press conference was the political news from the us, us another question that is very important is the emerging relationship between these two new president who come from outside the political mainstream in their representative countries. when you look at donald trump and emmanuel macron on the stage together, what is immediately apparent are the vast differences in their character, personas and ideas, that was driven home today. the sort of very formal professorial way that president macron spoke and the decidedly informally, joking in a sense, manner that president trump took and the issue of the climate, the paris climate agreement. that was extraordinary, because it seems the monsieur macron said we agree to disagree, we understand there are electoral promises to be kept, so we sort of accept it, what was donald

trump trying to say to you think?m the moment, the middle of this merging friendship as he tried to cast it. it. he seemed to suggest there was a compromise potentially. we have no information about what that means. how do you read that, as a newspaper which is recognised as sceptical of donald trump, ho to you read those comments?” sceptical of donald trump, ho to you read those comments? i think you just, you have to sort of keep it in perspective and wait for the facts to emerge, as they do. we will see. i think another thing that is interesting to consider, despite these extremely notable differences between the two leaders, there are, as you mentioned notjust areas of common ground but certain similarities in the personaings they have taken as new presidents. here

in france despite his very calculated —— calculated public image, president trump could only envy it. you know, the party that dominates in the french parliament bears his initials. it is very, macron, he gives sport reliefs in versailles, he has been called the sun president in play. wouldn't donald trump love that exactly. i will have to cut you short. thank you for your perception on that. so they are up there no, now, tucking into a lovely dinner, a very big day tomorrow, bastille day, 100 days since america landed on french soil. so plenty of symbolism 0rr here. thank you. with me now is the daily telegraph journalist, anne—elisabeth moutet.

who gets the most out of this visit? it's a mutual add mir strange society. —— admiration society. both benefit. trump benefit because he has so much trouble in internal politics but he has been in europe now, he scored #lie6ly and also in which he was applauded and made a fairly important political speech. he was at the g20 where the message is mixed. then paris he is received in great splendour, he will attended the parade and then he will see what is the strongest military in the european union, and one of the strongest argue mys in nato with america and britain. the two of them we re very america and britain. the two of them were very careful never to impinge on the other‘s prerogatives, it was a strange love at first because they

are so different. less discomforting compared with that first handshake on theirfirst meeting. compared with that first handshake on their first meeting. ? compared with that first handshake on theirfirst meeting. ? it compared with that first handshake on their first meeting. ? it was that macron commented it after ward and it was strange, because you play that kind of game, but the journalists ask you about it you say a platitude. tonight we had a lot of platitudes but there was a huge gift if accurate and that was this mention that things might be changed in the climate change agreement, because it is known that in hamburg, at the g20. president trump dealt with mrs merkel in very poor way, they don't like one another. he doesn't like her, she said after their meeting she kept on harpling on something that was a done deal, the fact he now is talking about changing a few things, if anything happens, cosmetic, it will be seen asa

happens, cosmetic, it will be seen as a major diplomatic victory for macron. it couldn't be a diplomatic thing to say in the sip where it was put together. i don't know, but he has said we are not talking about this, we are out. he said it may rewritten. it is more than diplomatic, diplomatic in it may be affected by effects on paper. what is the primary goal for emmanuel macron with this visit? he has donald trump there. the city is in a good mood. what will france get out of it, bear in mind the diplomatic reasons were awful. what was interesting was that donald trump said something that made all the learned commenters laugh. he said not many people know france has been our ally. that is interesting. france and america have never been at war. france supported america in the independence war. the declaration of independence signed

by at least three citizens of france, they were given citizenship of france. trump voter don't know this. if you remember iraq that is when the americanses were talking about the french as cheese eating surrender monkey, and in terms of emmanuel macron this morning, angela merkel was in paris, mr strum is in paris, donald trump is in versailles. he is building up france to be the centre of the new europe without britain. how could anyone forget about the cheese eaters. now the sport. johanna konta has lost her wimbledon semi final against venus williams. konta was hoping to become the first british woman to reach a wimbledon finalfor the first time in a0 years. adam wild was watching the action.

all smiles forjohanna konta, relaxed. hard to believe she was about to play the biggest match of her life. still the atmosphere on the training ground is rather different from that of centre court. met with a growing tide of hope and the glare of expectation but also by venus williams, one of the best the modern game has seen. that is a pressure she is learning to thrive. matching the five times champion game for game. but as so many opponents have found in the past when williams is playing like this, one can only stay with herfor so long. the like this, one can only stay with her for so long. the oldest semifinalist for nearly a quarter of a century still with a power that can keep her above the rest. the break did eventually come, and with it it the first set for william, metropolitan police with a moment of silence on court. for the british number one it would be a long way back from here, konta would

need all that support and encouragement. there was plenty to cheer but now her brilliance only coming in flash, that is all williams would allow. when faced with serves like this. it was all konta could do tojust with serves like this. it was all konta could do to just get out of the way. even for the most optimistic hope getting hard to find. a flawless display by williams an very few can live with that. konta couldn't. there it is this time. the arms aloft. it is venus williams who is back in the wimbledon final after so many year, so wimbledon over for the great british hope. her mark left on this tournament but the smiles now all williams. the credit has to go to venus and the way she was able to play today. today. i did too much wrong, she just dictated the match from the beginning to the very end, so i had very few chances to get a good foot

hold in the match. again, when i did have those chance, she did very well to ta ke have those chance, she did very well to take them away from me. i thought the crowd was very nice to me actually. you know, they could have been even more boisterous, i thought the crowd was so fair, they love jo. she gave it her all. she handled it well, my experience helped a lot. and venus will play garbine muguruza in saturday's women's final. she beat rybarikova today, to take her place in a second wimbledon final in three years. chris froome has lost the yellow jersey after stage two. aru now leads him by six seconds. after easing their way through 200 kilometres, both riders came off the road and were lucky not to be seriously injured. the real drama

saved for the end, frenchman bardet leading the stage victory. froome a full 20 seconds behind the italian aru who takes thejersey. manchester city are close to a £50 million deal for kyle walker. he is expected to have a medical and complete that move tomorrow. walker who joined totte n ha m move tomorrow. walker who joined tottenham in 2009 won'tjoin up with spurs for their pretraining season and is off to city. on monday he will start their tour of usa and look at this wayne rooney scoring on his return to action for everton in a friendly in tanzania. he rejoined the club he left in 2004 on a free transfer, not too dissimilar to that 30 yard goal on his everton debut against arsenal 15 years ago. that is all the sport for now. and the weather now with tomasz.

the weather wasn't so bad today for most, a lot of dry weather round, just a few spots of rain tonight across mainly the northern half of the uk. and this is the weather front that is moving into northern ireland and scotland. just a couple of lumpy clouds and showers there, further south. so the damp weather only temporary in the north. you can see moving through yorkshire through the early hours of the morning. in the early hours of the morning. in the south it stays dry. last night in some rural spots in the north it dropped down three degrees. not tonight. tomorrow alfine day. a couple of light showers here and there, but a dry day for most. temperatures in the low 20s, in the south, so that is average, 19 there for newcastle and there is rain heading to areas on friday. saturday, an overcast day on many

western and northern area, there will be rain round, drier weather further south—east. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines. donald trump meets in french counterpart in paris, and hints he may reconsider pulling out of the paris climate accord. he also defends his son's meeting with a russian lawyer during the presidential campaign, saying anyone would have taken the meeting. the brexit secretary urges all mps to "work together" as the government publishes the repeal bill, but it faces opposition from other parties.

an american doctor says he may travel to the uk next week after telling the high court there's a chance terminally—ill charlie gard could benefit from experimental treatment. there it is this time. disappointment for british fans asjohanna konta fails to become the first british woman finalist at wimbledon for 40 years. more now on the story that the government has finally published its long—awaited plans to pave the way for eu law to be transferred into british law. it's being described as one of the largest legal projects ever undertaken in the uk. the government's called for all parties to work together to make it a success. but already labour is calling for significant changes, and the liberal democrats are warning they will make life "hell" for the government. the bill will take an estimated 12,000 eu laws and copy them into uk law on the day that the uk leaves the european union.

the government will then have powers to amend laws as it sees fit. earlier, our political editor laura kuenssberg interviewed the brexit secretary david davis. she asked him how much he was going to have to compromise on key parts of the bill to get it through parliament. when i introduced the white paper on this bill, one of the things i said to the house was, we have, as far as we can possibly do, put every right that exists in european law into this, except those that will be taken out by direct legislation. i said to my opposite number kier starmer and the whole of the house, "if we have missed one, tell me and i will put it in," because i am one of those who likes to stand up for rights. we have already said this, even before the election. this is not like article 50, this may get amendments here and there, but substantively what it does,

you would think most people who wanted to remain would approve, because it takes european law and puts it into british law. how much will you have to budge on? i don't know. nobody came back to me about a right i had missed. in terms of the bill, once it goes through, how much change do you think there will be? i don't know of any at the moment. we have spent some months devising this bill. it is technically quite complicated, but i don't see any of it which needs amendment. but we have time in the house, we have two days to debate it in the second reading, and there will be time on the floor of the house in which the house will be able to decide, and the house will have its arguments, and we will listen to the arguments.

if we agree, we go along with it, if not, we challenge it, that is how parliament works. labour says it will not support the bill in its current form and is demanding concessions in six areas, including the incorporation of the european charter of fundamental rights into british law. labour leaderjeremy corbyn presented the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier an arsenal football shirt today. mr corbyn and his team were in brussels to discuss the process of leaving the eu. shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer set out labour's objections to the repeal bill. there is no problem with the idea of protecting the rights of citizens in the uk, there is a problem in the way the government intends to do it. it wants sweeping powers to make late changes by delegated legislation, which come late in the negotiations and are likely to be the most controversial. they have no mechanism for making sure that the

rights that are being entrenched keep up with european standards, and on the question of devolved administrations they have the presumption the wrong way round, it should be that powers are dissolved —— devolved, not hoarded in whitehall. if the government cannot get this bill through, does that count as the equivalent of a confidence vote on the government, and the government collapses? we said, these are our concerns, we don't get second reading until at least september, so you can address those concerns. that is the first question, the ball is in their court, they know what the concerns are and we expect them to deal with them, and they have the time to deal with them. has david davis reached out to you at all about the process or the bill? i have called on the government to reflect on the general election and reset it approached, to change the tone, to be more clear about the benefits of the single

market and customs union, and constructive in how it involves parliament. we have not yet seen that change. let's cross to our political correspondent leila nathoo in westminster. the liberal democrats say they will make life hell for the government, what do they mean? this is the first real opportunity for the opposition parties to have their say, to try to make their mark on the process and how brexit will end up looking. we had labour supporting the article 50 bill, that was triggering the formal process of leaving the eu, now we have the opposition parties lining up have the opposition parties lining up to say, we will make changes to this bill. the bill allows the government to take back all of those eu laws into british law decide then which bits to keep, which bits to tinker with and which bits to throw out, so this is the liberal democrats' chants, labour's, the

snp's chance to have their say and try to get their version of brexit onto the statute book instead of the government's. in the house of lords the government has got its work cut out, because the liberal democrats have got a lot more peers there than they will ever have in the house of commons, potentially. absolutely, it has to clear both houses, and the government has its work cut out even in the house of commons, because of its slender majority with the support of the dup, it would only ta ke support of the dup, it would only take a handful of conservative rebels to derail this bill fundamentally, and we know that labour say they cannot support it in its current state, the liberal democrats say they will make life hell. we are seeing signs of disagreement on the conservative backbenches on things like the european nuclear agency, a lot of conservatives say we should not leave that, so we are starting to

see where the dividing lines will be opening up, and there is a language coming from the government, they are prepared to compromise, david davis talking about the point at which they will be prepared to budge, but there is a sense the government needs to work together with the opposition parties across parliament, because they do not have the numbers to be confident they can get the bill through without any amendments. an american doctor says a child therapy could give a chance of meaningful improvement to the addition of the terminally ill baby charlie gard. his parents returned to court today for the latest stage of their legal battle to keep him alive. thejudge is considering whether to ask the specialist to come to the uk to assess his condition. they call themselves charlie's army,

some of the half a million people who have signed a petition calling for him to be allowed abroad for experimental treatment. his parents reject evidence from his doctors that their son has irreversible brain damage. we love him more than life itself. if he is still fighting, then we are still fighting. charlie is terminally ill, cannot move or breathe unaided, four courts have ruled he should be allowed to die. the key evidence today came via video link from the american doctor offering to treat him. he said he now had a better understanding of the benefits of nuclear psychotherapy, of nine patients treated so far, none of whom have the same genetic mutation as charlie, five now spend less time each day on a ventilator, and one of them could breathe completely unaided. he said this led him to

conclude there was at least a 10% chance of meaningful improvement for charlie. high five! this six—year—old has a muscle wasting condition and is one of those treated in the us with nucleoside therapy, a powder which is added to food. we were able to give him the medication, and he started to get stronger. they gave us hope. i did not care if he was the first human to try this medication, because they told us he would die. at one point charlie's parents walked out of court after thejudge charlie's parents walked out of court after the judge said he agreed their son has no quality of life. his mother said, he is not suffering or in pain. great 0rmond street said, charlie is a beautiful, tiny baby... the final decision of the court is

aimed to be in charlie's best interest, a balance of the risks and benefits. it is not black and white, but it will be a summation of all of the possible benefits and risks and what that could do for charlie not what that could do for charlie not what it does for anybody else. he remains in intensive care at great 0rmond street hospital. his future unresolved as the legal arguments drag on. china's most dominant dissident and political prisoner has died of cancer at the age of 61. he was serving an 11 year jail term cancer at the age of 61. he was serving an 11 yearjail term for subversion. the nobel committee says china bears a heavy responsibility for his death. the chinese artist i

weigh weight explained why he was so important. he is my age. the first generation after chairman mao who the chance to learn from the west, to accept the ideology, and to understand his human rights. through the 1980s he has been an open defender of those values. 0ne of the interviews, the lectures he gave, and after 1989, during the students' protest, he has been an active leader. and later, after he

came out ofjail, he still acted as a very strong defender of human rights and freedom of speech. not so many people are so clearly and bravely and rationally talk about those values. thank you forjoining us. commiserations, our sadness for you, a great deal of sorrow has been expressed amongst the international community for his death. how widely reported has it been in china? in

china it is not reported by official media at all, exceptjust one piece of news on the official website of the hospital, to announce his death. iam the hospital, to announce his death. i am heartbroken. this is heartbreaking news to me and to many members of china's human rights community. when we first learned he had liver cancer about two weeks ago, we began an effort, trying to get him out of china to come to freedom, to receive medical treatment, and more importantly for him to die as a free man and with dignity. but it is too sad that our best effort was not good enough to

do so. this is a great shame on us. the shame is primarily on the chinese government. we should ask, what kind of government would not allow liu xiaobo a peaceful man, to die asa allow liu xiaobo a peaceful man, to die as a free man? what kind of a government would not allow him even in the last moment to be together with his wife, his beloved ones, --'s with his wife, his beloved ones, ——'s the regime is morally bankrupt. when we talk about engagement with china, nowadays there is a lot of talk about engaging china, so yes, we should engage with china, but we

should engage china comprehensively. we cannot just should engage china comprehensively. we cannotjust overlook this brutal face of this regime. we should not just look the other way when such a tragedy takes place. it is a morally bankrupt regime. we must have a clear moral orientation. what responsibility does the international community have to try to make that engagement more meaningful, to bring about the change you want to see inside china? human rights, that is the integral pa rt human rights, that is the integral part of the engagement with china. china is a big country, with rising economic and political power. it is