welcome to newsday. the headlines: china's best—known political prisoner, liu xiaobo has died of cancer at the age of 61. the nobel committee has spoken out, saying china bears are heavy responsibility for his premature death, despite these pictures,. fellow activist pay tribute. chinese society certainly lost a brave human rights defender. also in the programme, donald trump visits france and hinted he could change his position on the paris climate change agreement. any legal immigrant caught up in the grenfell tower fire says she lost everything and the authorities turned her away. they do not recognise me. i am not a

big them. —— victim. they do not recognise me. i am not a big them. -- victim. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. good morning. it is midnight in london, 7am in singapore and beijing, but one of china's most prominent political dissidents, liu xiaobo, has died of cancer a month after being moved from prison to hospital. he had been serving an 11 year sentence. he wanted the noble peace prize in 2010 from his pursuit of democracy in china. leaders said

the government in beijing bore a heavily responsibility. liu xiaobo in happier times. and liu xiaobo last week. reunited with his wife only at the end and still under the watchful eye of the state. two foreign dog as were allowed to visit his bedside. the pictures released abroad to support the government ‘s claim that it had done what it could. —— doctors. along with videos. he was denied his dying wish to leave china. we have been through these kind of cases, one after another, but they still come as a big shock not only because i know him but also because he has been such a symbol for china's human

rights or democratic movement. liu xiaobo's cause was set in 1989 at the tiananmen square protest. he tried to secure students safe passage out. before the army moved in to kill unknown numbers. many gave up but he stood firm. in an out ofjail gave up but he stood firm. in an out of jail for gave up but he stood firm. in an out ofjailfor demanding gave up but he stood firm. in an out ofjail for demanding political freedoms. translation: is a survivor of the tiananmen square democracy movement, ifeel i have a duty to uphold justice for those who died in that event. in 2010, he won the nobel peace prize but he was back in prison for subversion. an empty chair became a bad expression on chinese internet. his once

irrepressible wife was placed under house arrest where she fell victim to depression. it was only two weeks ago the world learned of liu xiaobo's illness. hong kong, the one place in china citizens could call the his release. chinese censorship is formidable and few here know of liu xiaobo's life, his death or is nobel peace prize. many chinese see the 1—party state is an unavoidable pa rt the 1—party state is an unavoidable part of light and under the stronghold of the president xi jingping, it has become even more dangerous to challenge that. liu xiaobo once were, if you want to enter hell, do not complain of the dark. he felt no ill will towards his jailers, he said he committed no crime but had no complaints. carrie gracie on the life of liu

xiaobo. joining us from washington and friend of liu xiaobo and a fellow dissident. can you tell us if you have been in touch with him all his family in recent days and what we re his family in recent days and what were their last days like? we have had some contact with family members a few days ago but we have lost that contact in the past three days. now we are tying very hard to resume that contact —— trying but chinese authorities have tightened control, not allowing family members to contact the outside world. the focus 110w contact the outside world. the focus now is turning to his wife who also has been subject to restrictions.

are you worried about her fate? we are very worried about her fate. we all know that she has never been formally charged of any crime. but, asa formally charged of any crime. but, as a matter of fact, she has been under house arrest ever since liu xiaobo was announced to have been awarded the nobel peace prize in the thousand and ten. she has suffered at the hands of the regime. with this tragic death, we worry so much about her. now our focus and effort will be on her. we will try to get her out of china to come to freedom as soon as we can. ever since we

have heard the ad news that liu xiaobo had liver cancer, about two weeks ago, we tried to make our best effort to get the couple out of china and the them to receive medical treatment. and more importantly the him to die as a free man, to die dignity... we heard from another chinese dissident, the artist i wei wei, he said his death was the death of hope. do you agree this is the death of hope, the level of protests that can be made? liu xiaobo's death was not the death of hope. he now becomes a saint. he chose to shoulder the political responsibility, the moral responsibility, the moral responsibility in the late 80s and

early 90s. many people trying to leave china, he shouldered this responsibility, continued to fight until his death so now he becomes a spirit that will be with us every moment. this spirit will become a uniting force, will bring us together to continue his legacy, ca rryfo rwa rd together to continue his legacy, carryforward his torch so i will never think that his death will mean the death of hope and, as i said, history will never die. actually, we will work together to realise his dream very soon in china. thank you so much forjoining us. we will be getting the latest from beijing shortly. some of the other new stories: president trump is on a

two—day visit to paris where he met is french counterpart emmanuel macron. it comes amid tension although it you would not think so from these amicable pictures. the us is pulling out of the paris climate accord. speaking alongside in manual backrub he hinted he could change his position. —— emmanuel macron. the french president said it was important to focus on their shared values. translation: on translation: 0n climate we know how positions. i respect president trump's decision and work on implementing his campaign promises. at the same time, we will make sure step—by—step we fulfil the agreement. 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 happens

that will be wonderful and if it does not, that will be ok to what we will see what happens. we did discuss many things today, including the ceasefire in syria, we discussed ukraine and a lot of different topics and we briefly hit on the paris accord and we will see what happens. the uk government says it has taken a major step in withdrawing the country from the european union publishing legislation to convert thousands of european laws and regulations in the british laws to make short life continues as normally as possible once separation occurs. it is wanted to convert 45 yea rs of occurs. it is wanted to convert 45 years of legislation. a moscow military court has sentenced a chechen leader or 20 years. he is a

former member of an elite military unit under the command of chechen strongman. sentences ranging from 11 -19 strongman. sentences ranging from 11 — 19 years have been handed out. the charges against president amount will be now put against all congress. —— temper. nasa has released the closest ever images of jupiter is giant red spot. they were gathered on thejuno mission. it is thought to be a huge storm which has been raging for hundreds of years. it is hoped this will help understand what is behind this legendary landmark. there is nothing worse than a back

seat driver. the acrobatic team of the airforce here but behind seat driver. the acrobatic team of the air force here but behind them, their american counterparts, the thunder boards, their american counterparts, the thunder boa rds, to their american counterparts, the thunder boards, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the united states air force survey have been invited to perform at the royal international air show this coming weekend. the american pilots are checking out the moves of the red arrows. incredibly close quarters as you can see. let's return to our top story and that is the death of liu xiaobo. joining me now is kerry brown, a professor. welcome to the programme. you are in singapore to be speaking at a china —based forum later on today. do you expect his

death will dominate conversations? it isa death will dominate conversations? it is a business focused for and we will be talking about china's politics and influence in the world and this is having a big impact. the issue of liu xiaobo, unlike previous dissidents, he did not take exile, he spent most of the last 20 years in prison. the fact that he has died effectively in prison, although he was left out in the last weeks in hospital, it is not an easy thing to deal with the fact that he died in these circumstances, as a prisoner and as someone rightly pointed out, the last time this happened it was in the 1930s in germany. his death comes at a time when china has become a bigger voice on the global

stage. does his death means that voice diminishes the work that china has done? if you knew nothing about china, nothing about the kind of issues that china braces, you look at this and said why is the world ‘s second—biggest economy, an enormously powerful player, has treated an individual who is crime was six articles he put online with 1000 readers? wide is this extraordinarily strong organisation expand so much political capital on the case of just expand so much political capital on the case ofjust one man? you would conclude the rat fragility is and we are says there are cause most countries would not behave like this. censorship is also part of it.

how might china react to the international condemnation that is already coming in? in terms of free trade agreement and climate change it has positive messages coming through more and more. this happened after the g20 which of the president attended. it diminishes that and an does so much of what china has been doing. thank you so much for coming in and talking to us. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we'll get the view from beijing about how the death of liu xiaobo is being seen in the country he wanted to change. also coming up: we will tell you about what happened when this

elephant got into very deep water off the coast of sri lanka. the flamboyant italian fashion designer gianni versace has been shot dead in florida. the multimillionaire was gunned down in his home in the exclusive south beach district of miami. emergency services in central europe have stepped up efforts to contain the worst floods this century. nearly 100 people have been killed. broadway is traditionally called the great white way by americans but tonight it is completely blacked out. it's a timely reminder of all americans about the problems the energy crisis has brought them. 200 years ago today a huge parisian crowd stormed the bastille prison, the first act of the revolution which was to topple the french monarchy. today hundreds of thousands thronged the champs—elysees for the traditional military parade. finally, fairy penguins have been staggering ashore and collapsing after gorging themselves on a huge shoal of their favourite food, pilchards. some had eaten so much they could barely stand. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: the nobel committee says china bears a heavy responsibility for the death of the peace prize winner, the jailed chinese dissident liu xiaobo. donald trump has hinted he might reconsider his position on the climate change agreement, after meeting france's president macron in paris. and these pictures of a couple having a bit of a mishap as they practised their traditional first dance for their wedding is proving popular on bbc.com. andy and sharon price hoped to recreate a lift move from the film dirty dancing, only to run straight into each other, and both end up unconscious.

they didn't suffer any serious harm, but they say they're now downgrading their plans to a simple slow dance when their big day comes around. let's return to the death of liu xiaobo. interesting to hear that few people knew about liu xiaobo because of china's strict laws about the amount of... the lack of information about its. absolutely. the chinese government hasn't even said anything about the death of this country's nobel peace prize winner and that's because it is straight out of the communist pa rty‘s playbook because it is straight out of the communist party's playbook on him. they would consider that their treatment of liu xiaobo, especially now that he is dead, is frankly mission accomplished. they've shut

down conversation about him in china. if you walk into the street and ask anybody, unless they are a tap in —— cuts in person, who he is. 0n certain issues the government puts its voice and on others they stop it altogether. even now broadcasts, everything we've reported on bbc world news, mentioning liu xiaobo since his death, has gone to black. whoever sits in the centre offers. feed and the bbc screens go to black all over china, as they would be now as i'm speaking. this comes as the chinese government faces a storm of international criticism over its handling of the death of this nobel peace prize winner, especially because for years people have been calling for him to be released. they are doing nothing —— for doing nothing more than writing a pro—democracy document. liu xiaobo

was the definition of human courage and dignity, a poet and intellectual who strove for a better future for his country. a man who despite all he suffered continues to espouse the politics of peace. he was and will continue to be an inspiration and an example for all human rights defenders. that was the united nations high commission are the human rights saying that publicly and, frankly, it looks pretty bad for the chinese government today. thank you very much. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. very much in line with what was just said, no mention of liu xiaobo's death on the front of the china daily. it does instead report on what it calls a drastic drop in imports from north korea, as customs officials strictly abide by un resolutions on the country.

the gulf news shows members of the afghanistan robotics team going to pick up their us visas. they were told donald trump personally intervened after they were denied the documents by new us laws. and over in the uk, the front page of the daily mail laments johanna konta being knocked out of wimbledon. it says her hopes of being the first british female winner in forty years were dashed by "genius" venus williams. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? these pictures of an elephant in sri lanka are trending after it had a miraculous escape after it was swept out to sea. it was spotted by the sri lankan navy as it struggled to stay afloat. it seemed to be using its trunk as a snorkel to breathe. divers and wildlife officials launched a 12—hour rescue operation and managed to gently tow the elephant back to more shallow waters. it's just over a month

since the fire that swept through a tower block in west london, killing at least 80 people. last week the british government announced a 12 month amnesty for illegal immigrants who'd been living inside grenfell tower. investigators believe 350 people were living at the address. but the number of those not registered as residents is unknown. one of them has now come forward. she's from the philippines and has been speaking exclusively to the bbc‘s asian network's rickin majithia. we may never know how many illegal immigrants lived in grenfell tower, how many died and how many survived. at one of them has come forward. she spoke to me today. she agreed to speak to us on the condition that we don't show herface. speak to us on the condition that we don't show her face. what support has few received since the night of the fire? investigators believe that around

350 people were living inside the tower. but that residents were not registered and it isn't known how many were in the same situation and whether they are among those who perished that night. why? last week, the home office granted a 12 month deportation amnesty for survivors like her, but with a young son in the uk and family to support in the philippines she still fears about the future. herfriend and

her friend and her daughter herfriend and her daughter both managed to escape from the 21st floor and have since been discharged from hospital. but the ordeal has deeply affected her. how have you coped with the trauma of surviving something as horrific as the g re nfell tower something as horrific as the grenfell tower fire? you have been watching newsday.

stay with us. coming up, how to shop for talent. we will be following the online shopping network rakuten, which has scored a four—year sponsorship deal with barcelona football club. and we'll leave you with a big change at the famous natural history museum right here in london. visitors are going to be greeted by a new sight from friday. a 25 metre long skeleton of a blue whale, the biggest creature inhabiting the earth, has been suspended from the ceiling in the entrance hall. if you've been to dismiss will know it replaces the museum of the previous dinosaur. with the weekend fast approaching

pleased to make this the last forecast you will see. we will have some weather fronts around. it won't be as hot as it has been in spain. 0n be as hot as it has been in spain. on thursday we had record—breaking heat. friday looks just as on thursday we had record—breaking heat. friday looksjust as hot. although then the temperatures may ease the little, and it will be sustained. the day ahead looks mainly dry and will feel quite warm. sunshine as well. a weather front has made its way southwards at eastwood overnight. pending the visit laos but there is initially heavy rain on it. although that means it will be another comfortable night, not as chilly to start this morning as it was yesterday morning. there could still be the odd light passing shower around. you can see those in the northern isles, for example. feeling a little bit fresher here. quite cool in the glens of scotland. good spells of sunshine. with lighter winds the temperatures will respond through the day. still quite a breeze. still

the day. still quite a breeze. still the odd passing shower in the south, with quite a bit of cloud first thing. it may well be that compared with yesterday we saw the best of the sunshine through the afternoon as the weather system clears out of the way. we get the brisk north—westerly coming down behind it. it feels fresher and we have good spells of sunshine coming through most of mainland uk at a later when we have the next weather fronts knocking on the door of northern ireland and western scotland. feeling warmer for some northern ireland and western scotland. feeling warmerfor some in the north, especially compared to yesterday, and it looks set fair for wimbledon. a lot of cloud initially first thing. it is the men's semi—final day and we should get a mostly dry day. very unlucky to get a passing shower year. through the evening and overnight we can see the first pulse of rain coming in. the steady south—westerly keeps throwing these further wriggles on a weather front, further enhancing the rain across the north and west into saturday. with the influence of high pressure in the south we won't have much rain but more cloud and an

increasingly humid feel on saturday. many areas have quite a bit of rain initially and it keeps going in western areas of scotland and northern ireland. elsewhere, brighter skies into the afternoon. feeling warm in the brightness. through saturday evening and overnight the weather fight moves southwards and as it does it fizzles out. that means more cloud. to the south we could have really warm sunshine breaking through and a brighter day to the north as well, with the odd passing blustery showers. again, quite a bit of cloud. goodbye. i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story: the nobel committee says china bears a heavy responsibility for the death of the peace prize winner, liu xiaobo. the dissident died in hospital in china from cancer, after being transferred from prison. a number of western governments have expressed their support, and are calling on the chinese authorities to allow his family to move around freely. donald trump has hinted he might change his position on the climate change treaty. he's withdrawn the us from the agreement

but said after meeting france's president macron in paris that "something could happen". and this video is trending on bbc.com it's an elephant, which was swept out to sea off the coast of sri lanka and then rescued by the navy. it was lucky to be spotted by a boat out on a routine patrol — it took the sailors six hours to help the animal back to shore, safe and sound. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news.