fifisfiflfifig headlines for you from bbc news: north korea says it's considering a ballistic missile strike close to the us strategic military base on guam in the western pacific. earlier, president trump declared that any further threats from pyongyang would be met, as he put it, with fire, fury and power. kenya's opposition presidential candidate, raila odinga, has rejected early results which indicate a strong lead for his rival, the incumbent president uhuru kenyatta. the election commission says that with three—quarters of polling stations counted, mr kenyatta is on 55%. the american country music star glen campbell has died. he was 81. he was probably best known for hits including rhinestone cowboy and wichita lineman — a haunting song of love and longing. he also played on some of the biggest records of the 1960s, from frank sinatra to the beach boys. it has just it hasjust gone it has just gone past half past two in the morning. that means it is time for hardtalk.

welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. what is going on in poland? injuly, the badawi. what is going on in poland? in july, the european badawi. what is going on in poland? injuly, the european union began legal action against the polish government over proposed reforms, that critics say will politicise the legal system. it has threatened to withdraw funding and suspend voting rights in eu. my guess today is witold waszczykowski. it is poland turning away from liberal democracy? and what does this mean for its people and its place in europe and the world. —— my guest tiday. —— today. foreign minister witold

waszczykowski, and warsaw, welcome to hardtalk. your party won the elections but is now facing criticisms. what has gone wrong?” criticisms. what has gone wrong?|j don't criticisms. what has gone wrong?” don't think anything is wrong in poland. we are running the country for the last 21 months. we have very strong democratic mandates from our people in poland. and we are trying to modernise the country, develop the country, and of course to stay in the european union and in nato and implement all the decisions of these institutions, also here in poland. after the fall of the soviet union, poland was seen as a bastion of liberal democracy. we had the leader of the solidarity movement

who became president and want the noble peace prize. the world bank heaped praise on poland for making such a successful transition from communism to democracy. and now look, you are getting criticisms from abroad, and also internally, for being too authoritarian. we are still a democratic country, and we wa nt to still a democratic country, and we want to continue our mcreddie process. but we want democracy without objectives. i live long enough, so i got to live in a democracy with objectors. —— continue our democratic process. some people try to create other democracies, liberal democracies, and that exclude some ideas and concepts. we just want to stay on the democratic course and to be a democratic country without objectives. we continue the

transformation of the country. it is developing at a high speed right now, about li% growth per year. and all democratic institutions are preserved and kept by our institutions and our government and parliament. so those accusations about authoritarianism are wrong. parliament. so those accusations about authoritarianism are wrongm may, tens of thousands of people protested on the streets of warsaw at what they say are curbs on democracy. critics claim that you are introducing reforms in the judiciary which would compromise the independence of the courts, and give too much power to thejustice minister, who is also the prosecutor general. yes, you are right. tens of thousands of protesters were protesting on the streets. but for millions of polish people that did not protest, and our party and how

we govern, where supported by 30% of the population in poland. we have a clear mandate to transform and democratise the judicial system, which was left untouched for 28 yea rs, says which was left untouched for 28 years, says the communist times. so i think that this is a judgement of the opposition here in poland, who find it difficult to accept the verdict of the election which happened almost two years ago. —— since the communist. they using this as an excuse just to judge incorrectly ourjudgement. but can i put it to you that even the president, andrew dudayev, a former member of your party, once these proposals amended, because he says giving the justice proposals amended, because he says

giving thejustice minister the power to dismiss members of the judiciary is not democratic. so even the president is critical. -- 0ndrej duda. we accept that two vetoes, and this discussion goes back to the parliament. we will get together with parliamentarians to find a solution for this problem. but even the president, as you mentioned, he is critical about the contemporary situation of the judiciary system. we have two continue the transmission of the system. but maybe the better way. everything is going back to the parliament to find a better solution for the parliament, to the judiciary system in poland. you have angered the european union. the european commission has announced legal

action against the polish government. it is citing acute concern about the independence of the polish courts, which it says will be undermined. so what are you going to do about that? you have been invited for talks with the european commission. are you going to discuss and amended the proposals, watered down? what is going to happen? yes, we engage win a dialogue with commission. —— we engaged in a dialogue. we are patient, and patiently, we are trying to discuss and inform the commission about the process. the process is going on, as you mentioned, even with some legal action of the parliament having been stopped by the president. so there isa stopped by the president. so there is a cellino time for the commission to interfere in this situation. ——

so there is absolutely. i don't see any legal excuse for the commission to be engaged right now. we will exchange letters and opinions with people like mr tillmans, but i don't see reason for the commission to interfere in reforms and transformation of the system in poland. —— tillerman. transformation of the system in poland. -- tillerman. so the polish government will have talks with the european commission, but you say you will not listen to opinions or take advice at all. you will listen, but won't —— you will talk to me but won't —— you will talk to me but won't listen at all? i think that is wrongly evaluating our situation. —— talk to them. we engage in a dialogue. just a few days go, i sent

a letter to mr timmermans, and asked for additional clarification on his accusation against polish reforms. i keep reminding him and others that the process is not finished. it is ongoing. it back to the parliament. we don't see any reason why it the commission should interfere right now. you also being criticised other reforms that are seen as falling short of european union values. last year, there was a controversial law approved to allow poland to appoint the heads of tv and radio. poland has been accused of threatening, and european values. as you write an end and the threat as you rightly mentioned, this is public radio and television. this is owned by state

owned institutions. —— as you rightly mentioned. the situation is in european union countries, and we are not touching the private media, or interfering in private tv or radio or newspapers, but those media who belong to the state, of course they are ruled by the state owned institutions. this is a prerogative of the state to nominate the chiefs of the state to nominate the chiefs of these institutions. just like in other countries, in other member states of the european union. but they are not attracting the criticisms that you are now. i mean, for example, it is notjust the european union. the council of europe, which is not part of europe, the human rights commissioner, he is critical of poland placing is public service media under direct government control will stop so whatever you are doing, it is not

quite the same as other european union countries. —— humans rights commissioner. you go beyond by having this direct government control, ajer? i can only repeat what i said. i'm not the expert on this. i and the foreign minister. so i prefer to engage in the foreign policy of poland, which is also important for the european union and the future of the european union. but i can only repeat what i heard from the experts that we are repeating and copying the solutions which exist everywhere in many countries. —— i am the foreign minister. all right. one thing that you do look at is this issue of refugees. in june, you do look at is this issue of refugees. injune, the european commission again launched an eu law infringement procedure against poland because you are refusing to ta ke poland because you are refusing to take in refugees, as part of an eu wide quota system. why should poland be exempt from this? we disagree

with the commission about the mechanics of so—called relocation, because decisions are taken against the international treaties, the european treaties, against international and european law. it is euphemistic to save relocation, because in fact this is resettlement by force of people who do not want to be resettled to a country like poland. so we disagree with the commission. the second problem is that we already have a large number of migrants coming from the eastern pa rt of migrants coming from the eastern part of europe. only last year, we issued more than 1,200,000 visas for the ukrainians. the majority chose to stay in poland. there are also migrants. i don't know why they are coming from the middle east and north africa, why they are supposed to be better evaluated, that are

taking care of, by the institutions in europe than migrants coming from, also touched by war, ukraine. so we are the country which is open for migration, but we disagree with the mechanics of taking decisions about migrants and refugees. so basically, poland does not want to take any migrants and refugees from the middle east and africa, and the criticism there is that because poland is a very much in this country, with only 0.4% of your population made up of foreigners. over 90% are roman catholic. cedar one was a migrants. i will give you an example of what the deputy prime minister said last year. —— so not very many migrants. he said people

would be blown up. is that what people don't like about poland? these ideas exist in the polish population. more than 75% of polls do not want to accept this relegation by force of the migrants from north africa and the middle east. but we try to implement the decisions of the commission from september 2015, and many months ago, we sent our border guards to the camps in italy and greece, we sent also security officers. firstly try to identify some of these people. and of course, the majority of them it is very difficult to identify them. they do not have documents. this is a threat for the security of the country. of course, nobody from these migrants, these refugees, we prefer these migrants, these refugees, we p refer to these migrants, these refugees, we prefer to see migrants, had any inclination to emigrate to poland. so we cannot accept the situation.

this progress in the european union is decided by relocation by force people who do not want be relocated country like poland. —— relocated to a country. this is a sentiment that underscores what you have just said that make people unhappy about the comments that are coming from official poland, for example, the chairman of the ruling party, said in april last year why he did want refugees. these people bringing diseases, parasites, bacteria, they don't affect them, but affect us. is that kind of comment acceptable, to using? once again, i can only repeat that 7596 once again, i can only repeat that 75% of the polish population is accepting the policing of the

government, not to accept the decision of the eu to resettle by force people from africa and the middle east. we don't want to commit suicide as a politician and a government, to go against the public would do that. the accusation as spokesperson for the catholic bishops, who are urging poland to receive refugees, says that fears have been fuelled by some political parties. according to the never began an organisation which tracks racist attacks in poland, they say they have increased considerably in they have increased considerably in the last year and that there is a correlation between hate speech of the political class and those assaults. so, there is a link. i put it to you one more time, are you happy with the state of affairs? no,

of course we are not happy. we have discussed this issue and the problem of migrants during the visit last year of pope francis. he was visiting us, he gave a speech in kra kow visiting us, he gave a speech in krakow and he mentioned that there are many ways to support, help and assist refugees and migrants. he did not mention that poland was supposed to a cce pt not mention that poland was supposed to accept thousands of people from syria and the middle east. he had the chance to visit the vatican many times and discuss with the hierarchy that situation. we all understand that situation. we all understand that we at first supposed to start assisting people in the region of middle east, not africa. first we engage with the european to help find them peace, a peaceful solution for the war. that has been going on

already for seven years in syria. we are supposed to control the borders of the eu. how are we supposed to help them relocate in europe? both countries who have the ability to accept these migrants may accept them, those who want to emigrate to them, those who want to emigrate to the country are supposed to emigrate. we cannot accept in the 215t emigrate. we cannot accept in the 21st century, resettlement by force. once again, we are accepting millions of migrants coming from ukraine and other areas. poland is finding these people in poland. you made that point, thank you. all these things we have been discussing have drawn a lot of criticism from the eu poland. poland is that biggest recipient of eu funding. in 2015, you received 13.4 billion euros infunding. 2015, you received 13.4 billion euros in funding. you cannot afford

to fall out with the eu, can you? this funding, these structured funds and subsidies which are part of the agreement between member states, they are derived from the treaties. these funds have nothing to do with the behaviour of the country. it is compensation for the opening of the economic system, for the opening of the market, the investment, the deals with other economies, stronger economies of the western eu. is nothing to do with... it is not a reward for us for being liberal or a nte reward for us for being liberal or ante liberal. i reject this accusation that we are supposed to give up receiving these funds because we are not behaving correctly, according to some... who do you think is making... who is

making that accusation? i'll give you an example. the german vice chancellor says, those countries that do not share a german values should not count on german financial help. germany is the biggest contributor, by far, to the eu's funding. are you saying that poland is not that risk of a withdrawal of eu funding? we cannot combine the situation of migrants or european values to the economic operation, because structural funds, this values to the economic operation, because structuralfunds, this is values to the economic operation, because structural funds, this is a reward for the opening of the economy, for the weaker economy, for cooperation with a stronger economy of the western european economy. it has to do with the population, with the economy, but not with migrants. is not a reward for accepting migrants. another thing that is

creating some concern, injanuary of this year, the united states deployed troops on polish soil for the first time since the fall of the soviet union. germany in particular is concerned about nato exercises in poland and the baltics. and increasing tensions with russia. are you not concerned about worsening ties with moscow? we are concerned already, for at least three years, by the behaviour of russia. let me remind you that russia initiated a rebellion and have acted in regards to crimea. there are incidences on the baltic sea and the black sea. some years ago, russia initiated aggression against georgia. so,

reacting to this russian policing, nato decided to build a special unit to support the security of the eastern area of nato. last year in warsaw, nato decided to deploy extra troops. a somewhat tenuously decided, the united states decided to send a whole brigade. nato are correctly reacting to the acts of russia. nato is defending and deterring, but also trying to keep a dialogue with russia. we support this dialogue. i have to put to you... we sent deputy ministers to

moscow for dialogue. we then sent another deputy to moscow. we are reacting positively, but we do not have a positive ads from the other side. finally, are you enjoying being foreign minister of poland at this rather difficult time when you are getting all these criticisms we have been discussing on this hardtalk? i can repeat what i started in the beginning, which i did not finish is successfully because you prevented me to tell you, for the very first time, we have clearly defined our foreign goals and targets and policy. we have clearly defined our interest. this interest is to implement, using the membership of the eu and of nato. some of these interests do not

coincide with the others, the other members of this institution. we have a discussion, a live debate with this. this is a decision or an action of the commission, it is only action of the commission, it is only a smokescreen. there are real problems of security, energy, with the common market in europe after brexit. decisions about smart protection, which is suggested by some other western politicians. we prefer some other western politicians. we p refer to some other western politicians. we prefer to discuss, and i engage in discussion with my colleagues these issues. but not directly with that conversation. this is an excuse to deprive poland of our position and to wea ke n deprive poland of our position and to weaken our position in the future, and in the budget of the

european union possibly. i have to phrase the fact that this is not an easyjob, but so far, successful. foreign minister witold waszczykowski in warsaw, thank you very much for coming on hardtalk. thank you. well, ket me start with a very dramatic picture from tuesday. that's some rough weather. here's a big storm just off the coast of essex, and two waterspouts — the marine equivalent of a tornado. incredible. a thunderstorm picture here from the south end. some rough weather over the last 12 or 18 hours or so. this low pressure system is spinning around the uk.

mind, london missed the bad weather. scotland and northern ireland also had some sunshine. throughout wednesday morning, there will be further rain, particularly across lincolnshire, and parts in the midlands and into eastern wales and down into the south—west, as well. and also the possibility of some thunder and lightning in some areas as well. note how different the weather is in northern england and scotland. a fine start for the day there. lots of sunshine. starts on a positive note, then. so right from the word go, belfast, glasgow, aberdeen, edinburgh, sunshine to start — temperatures 13 or 14 degrees for the morning rush. bigger cloud across the north of england and wales.

this is where heavy rain will be, say from birmingham to northampton. maybe nudging into the home counties, and squeezing into the south—west, as well. at this stage, from bournemouth, brighton, into kent and sussex will probably stay dry. heavy rain or showers will get going through the course of the latter part of the morning into the afternoon. a little like tuesday, like yesterday. downpours will be slow—moving as well, raining for a while in many locations. say the home counties, east anglia, maybe london as well. this south—eastern portion of the country and the south—east will see some downpours. this is where the worst of the weather will be. looking further north will be fine. how are we doing compared to the rest of europe? a heatwave across some central and southern and eastern parts of europe, 37 celsius over there in rome. a bit too hot to me. i would rather the 18 in london. high pressure starts to build on thursday. we still have the tail end of that wet weather across east anglia and the south east. it may start of grey and wet for a time. a slow moving air of weather. that pushes away. high pressure builds and a window of fine weather develops on thursday. thursday the best day,

then friday and saturday the weather will be hit and miss, once again. a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: north korea threatens missile strikes near the us pacific airbase on guam after president trump issues this warning to pyongyang. they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. he has been very threatening beyond a normal state, and as i said they will be met with the fire and fury and, frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before. early results in kenya's election put president uhuru kenyatta in the lead — but the figures are rejected by his rival, raila odinga. dramatic scenes in the south african parliament. president zuma narrowly survives a vote of no confidence against him. and the american country music legend glen campbell has died at the age of 81.