this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 2pm: president trump has criticised china on twitter, saying it's doing nothing to halt north korea's weapons programme after pyongyang test—fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile in a month. the australian prime minister says counter—terror police have foiled an attempt to blow—up a plane. four people have been arrested in raids across sydney. the threat of terrorism is very real and stop the disruption operation, the efforts overnight have been very effective but there was more work to do. the international trade secretary liam fox has said the government would not be keeping faith with the eu referendum result if it allowed the free movement of people to continue after brexit. a record number of criminals have had their sentences increased after victims and members of the public asked for them to be reviewed. events will take place this evening to mark the centenary of the battle of passchendaele in belgium.

half a million allied and german soldiers were killed or wounded in the three and a half month campaign. i will report live from ypres where events i will report live from ypres where eve nts get i will report live from ypres where events get under way this evening attended by the duke and duchess of cambridge and the prime minister. in half an hour — witness brings you five more extraordinary moments of the recent past, including the man who brought soviet ballet star rudolf nureyev to the west. president trump says china isn't doing enough to halt the weapons programme of its ally, north korea. he made the comments

on twitter after pyongyang test—fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile in a month. from seoul, our correspondent karen allen sent this report. us bombers dominated the sky as tensions mount over the korean peninsula, escorted by fighter jets, as part of a drill, it was seen as a direct response to north korean aggression. and the us president is blaming china for letting it get there far. taking to twitter he said: but china also condemned friday's second intercontinental missile test.

this powerful rocket flew faster and further than the one before. experts believe north korea's nuclear and missile capability is growing stronger by the day. and so it seems is kimjong—un‘s hunger to be heard. north korea's young leader. the north korean side is sending a message to the united states. the missiles are aiming at the united states and so we are going to talk to you, not to korea. more joint military exercises, a sign that force is not being ruled out, but pressure is mounting for a diplomatic solution. a pre—emptive strike could destabilise the entire region, but how long is washington prepared to wait? here in seoul, south korea depends on the americans for security. but the presence of tens of thousands of us forces here feeds into north korea's propaganda

it is under threat, justifying its nuclear ambition. with the military on high alert, the korean peninsula feels more dangerous than just a week ago. avoiding a confrontation is now key. karen allen spoke more about what china can actually do to halt the north korean weapons programme. it does have influence, it has traded influence and that is what donald trump was alluding to but its influence may be limited. there has a lwa ys influence may be limited. there has always been sanctions against china, its imports of coal from always been sanctions against china, its imports of coalfrom north korea which were funding the nuclear programme, those stopped after a un security resolution and there are other areas it is able to cut down on and we could expect to see a more, new un sanction later this

week that it is notjust china. there was also russia, it still has to recognise this was an intercontinental ballistic missile, a trigger point for russia to be pushed on sanctions so it is not quite as simple as president trump has indicated. after all, there has been decades of mistrust in this pa rt been decades of mistrust in this part of the world. security has been tightened at airports around australia after the authorities said they'd disrupted a plot to blow up a plane. four people have been arrested in what the australian prime minister, malcolm turnbull, described as a "majorjoint counter—terrorism operation". a suspect is taken into custody in the surry hills neighbourhood of sydney, one of four people arrested in raids across the city by heavily armed police and members of australia's domestic spy agency. investigators say they have information that the plot to blow up an aircraft involved the use of an improvised device. as roads were sealed off

and properties searched, it has been reported the operation was not planned but a rapid response to a tip—off. the prime minister, malcolm turnbull, says the authorities have foiled what appears to be an elaborate conspiracy. i can report last night that there has been a majorjoint counterterrorism operation to disrupt a terrorist plot to bring down an aeroplane. the operation is continuing. a woman who said her son and husband were among those arrested in sydney has denied they had any ties to extremism, but senior police commanders say the raids were part of an alleged islamic—inspired plot. additional security measures have been put in place at domestic and international airports around the country. australia's national terror threat level remains at probable, which means the intelligence agencies believe that groups or individuals have the intent and capability to carry

out an attack. since 2014, 70 people have been charged as a result of more than 30 counterterrorism raids across the country. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. police in germany say an attack on a nightclub — in which one person was killed and three others were seriously injured — is not thought to be related to terrorism. a gunman opened fire at the venue in the town of konstanz on the swiss border. he's been identified as a 34—year—old iraqi citizen who had been living in germany for some time. he died after being shot by police. a 27—year—old man has been arrested after being accused of raping a 14—year—old girl. british transport

police are looking for second man. the international trade secretary liam fox says unregulated free movement of people between the uk and the european union after brexit would "not keep faith" with the result of the eu referendum. with me is our political correspondent, emma vardy. emma, does this chime with what other ministers have been saying? what we are seeing is exactly how immigration rules will change and at what pace that will happen is still being worked out. the government says it has been clear when brexit happens in march 2019, freedom of movement balls will cease to apply but that doesn't mean we will wake up but that doesn't mean we will wake up the morning after and eu nationals will not be up to come to britain any more. it will be much more a phased approach with immigration controls changing gradually. the chancellor has said it will take some time before

immigration controls with the eu are fully implemented but whatever hearing in the sunday times today is comments from the international trade secretary where he says if there seem to be a continuation of freedom of movement after brexit that this would not have, would not keep the faith of the referendum result. some brexiteer is see a slower change of immigration rules as not getting back control of the borders as fast as they might have liked but in reality what we are hearing is cabinet ministers are broadly agreed on the fact that does need to be a pragmatic approach to transitional arrangements but on what this might look like seems to be where some divisions are emerging. it is the first sign of a definite policy because philip hammond says there is a broad a cce pta nce hammond says there is a broad acceptance of this idea of a transitional phase, are we heading towards a policy here? we are some

way off an agreed policy, do not forget the uk hasn't even started negotiating these transitional arrangements with eu yet so we have all to come to get 27 countries to agree. amber rudd has laid out plans for some of these changes to immigration rules after brexit whereby you citizens will still be up whereby you citizens will still be up to come to britain but will go to a documentation at registration process but there is a gap between brexit when we leave the eu and actually the way immigration rules will change, what will come in the middle, what the transitional period will look like is being thrashed out leading to speculation in some political grounds. a record number of criminals have had their sentences increased under a scheme which allows members of the public to ask for them to be reviewed. last year 1111 criminals in england and wales had their sentences increased. the government says it wants to extend the scheme to include a number of terror related charges. aisling mcveigh reports.

sarah sands stabbed a man to death in november 2014. she was convicted of manslaughter and given a 3.5—yearjail sentence. her neighbour, michael, was a convicted paedophile and sands, a mother of five, claims she lost control, stabbing him eight times. but it was in january last year that the punishment was considered to be unduly lenient. judges at the court of appeal ruled that because sands took a knife to his flat she must have intended to cause serious harm and her sentence was doubled to 7.5 years. 1111 criminals have had their sentences increased in the last year, according to the attorney general‘s office. the unduly lenient sentence scheme allows the public to query penalties for serious offences and more people are doing just that. requests are up 17% on the previous year. sex offences make up the highest number of cases where sentences were increased and 1a sex offenders

who had originally escaped prison are now serving time behind bars. from next month, the scheme will be widened to include an extra 19 terror—related offences. the attorney general says in the vast majority of cases, judges do get it right. the number of sentences that are increased represent a tiny proportion of the 80,000 cases heard every single year. voting has begun in venezuela for a controversial plan to create a new parliament.the new constituent assembly would override the existing, opposition—led congress in what critics are calling a power grab by president nicolas maduro. the opposition parties in the oil—rich nation are boycotting the vote. there was a lot of tension

surrounding this vote, was a? yes, there really was. the past few days have been very chaotic in caracas, barricades set up on street corners by local labourers and opposition led areas. street protests are a daily part of life here, notjust in caracas but across venezuela and clashes with the authorities are inevitable as a result. this morning as voting gets under way, we have seen the president vote early, it was still that tonight and by the time he took to the polls and cast his ballot, one of the first to do so. his ballot, one of the first to do so. he said, to set an example but the whole thing is extremely controversial with the opposition boycotted the entire event because it is unconstitutional and the legal process. i understand the opposition controls the national assembly. will they accept the vote if it doesn't

go their way? no, they won't. but boycotting it entirely they are essentially handing the win to the president or ready. so can they do not recognise this but it is not just the opposition here in venezuela, neighbouring colombia, the president there says he will not recognise the result because he called the entire election spurious. there is a sense in parts of latin america this is a power grab, an effort to concentrate power in the presidents hands and the fear is the national assembly or the new national assembly set up by nicolas mahut euro would convert itself into a cuban star rubber—stamp organisation. he says it is vital for the peace and unity of venezuelan that this goes ahead but we wait to see what the turnout will be. there was a vote a couple of

weeks ago led by the opposition, looking at the pictures on the side of the screen, what has turned up in like and what is the risk of violence hasn't been under control? yeah, the turnout is still quite early in venezuela so people do start voting from quite early but we have not seen the huge queues we used to seejim hugo chavez's time. the risk of violence is very real. 0pposition have called for people to ta ke to 0pposition have called for people to take to streets on one highway that i’u ns take to streets on one highway that runs through caracas, the idea of young stonethrowing protesters on that highway taking on the riot police with water cannon and tear gas and rubber bullets, all of the ingredients are in place u nfortu nately for real confrontation. if it doesn't unfold today, it is unlikely it is never far away in this current fee

environment. president trump has criticised china on twitter saying it is doing nothing to hold north korea's weapons programme after pyongyang test fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile ina intercontinental ballistic missile in a month. the australian pro minister says counterterror police have foiled an attempt to blow up a plane, four people have been arrested in raids across sydney. the international trade secretary liam fox has said the government would not be keeping faith with eu referendum result if it allowed the free movement of people to continue after brexit. it claimed the lives of around 2115 thousand allied troops , over approximately 100 days of heavy fighting , to achieve an advance of less than five miles. the battle of passchendaele became infamous not only for the scale of casualties,

but also for the mud that filled the trenches. this weekend events are being held in belgium to mark the battle's centenary. 0ur correspondent ben brown is in ypres to watch those commemorations and joins us now... ypres will be the focal point for this commemorative events that get under way this evening attended by the duke and duchess of cambridge. ypres was the city that british troops and commonwealth troops marched through on their way to the front line, the battle of passion day 100 years ago which got under way onjuly day 100 years ago which got under way on july the 1917. day 100 years ago which got under way onjuly the 1917. the mud was the worst rainfall for 30 years and it turned the battlefield into a quagmire, a morass of liquid mud and some of the soldiers drowned in the mud. even now, 100 years later,

unexploded ordnance, shells are being discovered and detonated by explosives officers. robert hall has this report. drie, twee, een. this is a corner of europe where first world war shells explode every working day. the belgian bomb disposal teams based in the village of poelkapelle deal with at least 200 tonnes of unexploded munitions each year. you may think that after 100 years, this iron harvest would be reducing. it's simply not true. during the first world war, along the western front, 1.5 billion shells were fired and, of those, one in three failed to explode. that left 500 million

still in the ground. a few miles from poelkapelle, another call. one third of the munitions that the team recover contain chemicals such as mustard gas. the firstjob is to clean them up, and not always that gently, to get a rough idea of how dangerous they might be. the next step is an x—ray. you can see now the bottle. this the chemical. cyanide or arsenic. around is explosive. even after 100 years, lives are at risk here. the chemical shells are eventually destroyed in a sealed chamber. conventional explosives follow a separate path. shells, bombs, grenades and bullets forced to the surface of local farmland by frost action and ploughing. how much explosive is in these shells, in one crate, do you think? always around 50 kilos of high explosives.

more than 50 kilos, even deeply buried, would risk damage to buildings. and so this meticulous operation rolls on. a legacy of a distant war that will provide these lethal reminders well into another century. you join us live in the centre of ypres. i have with me chris hudson, whose great uncle james nelson was killed in the battle and your daughter and also joined by charlotte who is a historian with the imperial war museum. why did you wa nt to the imperial war museum. why did you want to come for this centenary anniversary of the battle? because

james was my closest relative i know of who died, my mother was very close to him and my mother died last november and i wanted to come as a mark of respect to my mother as well as to james. this is james. 26 when he died. he probably was entered in 1915 and he died on the 5th of august 19 17. katie, do you have any idea how he died? he died in a battle in the south—east of ypres and the daily died his battalion we re and the daily died his battalion were not going over the top so we understand he died either by a sniper or shallow or perhaps it was one of the ones that went over the top to retrieve the bodies of his falle n top to retrieve the bodies of his fallen comrades. why did you think it was important to come? for me, as

my mum said, my gran passed away re ce ntly my mum said, my gran passed away recently set meant a lot to pay respect to my ground but when you go to the cemeteries and see the numbers that fell not shown this battle but the whole duration of the war it is important to pay respects and to rememberso war it is important to pay respects and to remember so many people gave their lives to allow us to be here and live our lives as we do today. charlotte, it is almost impossible to think this is such a pretty town, tidy and orderly but it was ruins 100 years ago after the first world warand 100 years ago after the first world war and this battle, three months in advance of only five miles and horrendous casualties, half a million casualties on both sides. that's right. this was such a huge event, it affected many families across britain, thousands of people every day would have been killed, wounded or gone missing and it is

something you can still feel the effects of today and that is why we are all here to remember those people from 100 years ago. and conditions, this wasn't any battle, the mud we talked about was absolute horrendous, men drowning in the mud. yes, then had to walk across ducksch boards which are wooden platforms to avoid sinking the mud but if you fell off you could quite easily be drowned in it and there are stories of men who were knee deep or waist deepin of men who were knee deep or waist deep in mud trying to get through. and even at the time it was a controversial battle, the prime minister lloyd george was a relu cta nt minister lloyd george was a reluctant supporter of the offensive. yes, douglas haig pushed for this battle, he said we needed to break out of the ypres and get as far as the belgian coast to stop the submarines from attacking british ships and so he overruled lloyd george but throughout the course of the battle there was debate as to what to do next. we talk about the first world war as the war to end

all wars, it wasn't. why's it so important 100 years on to this battle ? important 100 years on to this battle? it is so important because so many families and individuals we re so many families and individuals were involved, you can read the accou nts were involved, you can read the a ccou nts of were involved, you can read the accounts of the imperial war museum andersen stories and it brings home the human impact of the war. katie, you have come here, made the journey, is it important notjust the us descendants but for people to remember what happened? absolutely. idid remember what happened? absolutely. i did gcse history and a—level history and it is something that the national curriculum, this is what we should be teaching the children of today so they can appreciate what sacrifices were made so we can live our lives. it is something that is really important for school trips to come to places like this to see the cemeteries and the menin gate and appreciate the number of lives that we re appreciate the number of lives that were lost. it is so hard for us to

imagine the suffering that the troops were going through. absolutely, the war diaries give the accounts they arrived in battle would at the beginning of august and there was no trenches dug so they had to work in muddy conditions scraping a trenches and conditions we re scraping a trenches and conditions were horrendous and we are here today on a lovely blue sky day in august as though we have had a few rain showers if you visited any of the fields around the area they are not quagmire is and it is hard to believe the august weather and the summer believe the august weather and the summer weather believe the august weather and the summerweather in believe the august weather and the summer weather in 1917 could be so cruel. charlotte, the fact thousands of descendants are coming here and remembering is really important and it shows the memory of what happened is still alive. it is really important that the younger generations in particular learn about the past, we find out about individuals, ordinary peoplejust like us who are caught in this extraordinary battle and so having

people here today to share their family stories is an important legacy. 0k, thank you very much. and you can see live coverage of the commemorations to mark the centenary of the battle of passchendaele from flanders in belgium — tonight at 7pm on bbc 2 more than 20,000 people had to be evacuated from a dance music festival in spain after fire tore through the main stage. the organisers of the tomorrowland unite event in barcelona say a technical malfunction started the fire. no—one was hurt. tim allman reports. this was not the sort of spectacle that thousands who had come here had been expecting. this stage at this dance music festival in barcelona lit up by a giant fire. initially some took photos, perhaps they thought it was part of the show.

but if these were pyrotechnics, they appeared to have gone badly wrong. very soon, the audience was cleared. thousands quickly moved to safety. there are no reports that anyone was injured. people ran towards the exit. there was no panic but many people were inside the festival at this hour. the firefighters took 30 minutes or so to put the fire out and the police also took time to get all the people off the stage. tomorrowland unite is a multi—venue festival held in eight different countries including spain. the location there was barcelona, the concert taking place in can zam park in the north of the city. explore further and all you'll find

now is a message saying the stage caught fire due to a technical malfunction and the authorities were continued their investigation. an unfortunate end to what should have been a great night. but with no apparent death or injury, things could have been so much worse. the scottish government has called for scotch to be defined in uk law in order to protect whisky exports after brexit. holyrood is concerned that any future trade deal with the united states might allow american firms to brand their whiskies as scotch. under eu rules of origin, any spirit described as scotch whiskey must be aged for three years and matured in scotland. but the scottish government says the us negotiators during the recent trade talks with the eu had wanted this definition to be relaxed to accommodate its whiskey makers.

so now holyrood wants the eu definition of scotch to be incorporated into uk law after brexit. that is because whiskey making supports 20,000 jobs and is worth £4 billion to scotland. we have to make absolutely certain that any deal done with the us protects scottish jobs. if that deal does not protect the definition of whiskey as a spirit matured for three years or more, it weakens that definition and we will lose scottish jobs in the whiskey industry. 10,000 jobs depend on it, another 10,000 in the supply chain. so we tell liam fox, don't tangle with the scottish whiskey industry, protect it. don't sell it away. a spokesperson for the department of international trade which co—ordinates future deals says that scotch is a uk export success story and will support the industry so it continues to thrive and prosper post brexit. whiskey may be the water of life but it might also give london and edinburgh a headache — in trade terms at least.

now the weather. spring showers, but not spring? it's not summer, it's a bit of everything, all over. all over the place, the weather. we are never going to satisfy everybody today with the forecast because it is so changeable. i just want to point out one area to give you an example. central parts of cornwall and devon, the way the showers are moving, any town or city within this line is getting shower after shower, after shower. it really is an awful day. some of those in the south—east and eastern areas haven't had many showers at all. 0verall, looking across the uk, there was a lot of them around and the risk of catching a downpour is pretty high. we had thunder and lightning as well and events have been affected, notjust by showers but by heavy rain that