this is bbc world news. the headlines... there's been dramatic scenes in the us city of charlottesville after an organiser of saturday's far—right rally was heckled and forced away from the microphone by opposition protesters as he tried to give a news conference. the us top military chief arrives for talks in south korea as tensions between the united states and north korea intensify. meanwhile, the director of the cia, mike pompeo, says there's no imminent threat of a north korean nuclear attack on the united states. the kenyan opposition leader, raila odinga, has urged supporters not to go to work on monday. it comes despite calls for him to respect the results of last week's disputed presidential election, which was won by uhuru kenyatta. in nepal, the number of people who have been killed in floods and landslides has risen to at least 49. at 10pm mishal husain will be here with a full

round—up of the day's news. first — our world. china calls it the project of the century. as the west steps back from global leadership, this is china stepping forward — remaking the map of the global economy. with no other country offering a big idea right now, this is the most ambitious bid to shape our century. translation: i'm under a lot of pressure. a massive roll—out of infrastructure built by china. to drive trade across more than 60 countries. translation: it's like a promised land. china's president claims it's a win—win for all. translation: we will not resort to

outdated geopolitical manoeuvring. critics say the only winner will be china. translation: the chinese have done nothing. i'm setting out on a 7,000—mile journey to meet the people of the new silk road, and to understand how it will change their lives and our world. they call them the ships of the desert. for centuries, the camel trains of the silk road dominated trade between china and the west. now, china wants to build a new silk road. china's belt and road vision is so vast, it may be decades before we can tell whether it's a worthy successor to the ancient silk road.

but what we can say is that, with no other country offering a big idea right now, this is the most ambitious bid to shape our century. it's not camels this time. these containers full of chinese goods are going by train. china's grand plan is to build roads, rails, container ports, all the way across asia and into europe. it's hoping to wrap more than 60 countries in its embrace. now, that is a massive new sphere of influence. yiwu is the starting point

for the train to europe, famous as the town that makes christmas, and probably many of the things in your home. oh, my gosh. that's quite a weird feeling. china ones sold silk, tea, ceramics, along the ancient silk route. now, it sells absolutely everything, and people come from all over the world to buy their goods here. i'll tell you — 7,200. 0k. nigel‘s been exporting from here for 12 years. he loves the thrill of the deal. can you doi.75? come on, for an old friend. now he's keen to bring good back the other way. ok, so you got this one... but red tape can make importing

to china a nightmare. nigel, you don't import from europe back into china, do you? no. now, why is that? what makes importing to this market hard? the government can change the law at any time. for example, i was ready to import a container of wine last year — had it all ready, but i didn't push the button on it because i was worried that they might change the law once it's on the water. it's a very grey area at the moment. a potential market of nearly 1.4 billion people, and the chinese government controls access. the emperors once claimed to rule all under heaven. with the united states no longer leading on trade, president xi has seized his chance, with a vision for land and sea routes wrapping the globe. translation: we will not resort to outdated geopolitical manoeuvring.

instead, we hope to achieve a new model of win—win cooperation. applause critics say it makes little sense to move 50 containers by rail when you can shift thousands by sea on a single ship. but it's often a mistake to underestimate chinese ambition. beijing's invested huge political and financial capital in its new silk route, and this train is an important symbol of the biggest development plan in the world right now. nearly half of the journey from china to europe lies inside china.

a lot of ground to cover, and the wealth gap between east and west a challenge as immense as the terrain. china's new silk road needs to solve china's problems — this china out here, notjust the one i've left behind in yiwu. the silk road was once unimaginably remote to most chinese. not anymore. in less than a decade, china's built twice as much high—speed rail as the rest of the world combined, and pushed it out to the far west. using the lure of the silk road to draw the biggest tourist

force in the world. china hopes its new silk road, laden with tourists, can bring wealth to the west. xinjiang is home to the uighur ethnic minority. they're mostly muslim, culturally closer to central asia, and outnumbered in their homeland. the region has witnessed a vicious cycle, bitterness over marginalisation driving bomb and knife attacks by uighurs, and met by overwhelming force

and religious repression. china is investing here — more than $250 million to build this theatre alone. and, the more china invests, the more it has to protect. but this silk road show works hard to spin a story of ethnic harmony. behind her stage make—up, buhalima is a uighur. 0nce, xinjiang was known for music and dance, and she's sad her homeland's now more famous for violence. translation: tourists i've met told me they heard xinjiang was unsafe, that they couldn't be sure to get

out unharmed if they came here. some people did some bad things, and it's affected us all. the theatre employs 100 uighurs, and china hopes the new silk road will give more a stake in the system. the ancient story has moments of danger, and china's grand new narrative is still fraught with peril. deliver on the spin of opportunities for all, or forever scan the crowd for the enemy within. applause. a cathedral in almaty. kazakhstan — a strategic stop on china's new silk road,

but traditionally russia's backyard. many kazakhs grow up speaking russian at school, watching russian tv, even supporting a russian football team. and none of that seems to have changed, but so much else has changed with the coming of china. dosym satpayev is a political analyst. he sees the nations of central asia as billiard balls in a game between the big players, russia and china. china, i believe, will be likely some threat for our independence. why? because, for china, kazakhstan is not an equal partner. for china, kazakhstan only is like as one of players in the big china geopolitical game. the heart of the new silk road is infrastructure.

with the chinese economy slowing back home, state construction companies are put to work abroad. this engineer delivering a state—of—the—art urban railway. translation: china's advanced technologies bring in convenience and more comfort and safety for travellers in kazakhstan. if this project goes well, it will serve as a model for others. translation: but he tells me most of the jobs here will go to chinese workers, and the loan to build this railway was tied to a chinese design, china using its money and its muscle to achieve its own ends. nearly two thirds of kazakhstan‘s economy is oil and gas,

an increasing share in chinese hands. this was once russia's backyard, but china's now contesting that. kazakhstan is rich in energy and minerals, and it's a vital transit route — stretching all the way from the chinese border to europe. so while kazakhs may still speak russian, a lot of oil in their tanks now belongs to china. but locals here say they see little benefit. in the village of kenkiyak a kindergarten has become a hostel for chinese workers. ardak kubasheva was once a teacher here. now she fears for their future. translation: the chinese have done nothing. there is a huge oil industry here but no jobs or facilities for young people.

we want to live decently, so that we won't be ashamed of our village. she and others here complain of pollution and jobs going to outsiders. government intimidation makes many kazakhs cautious on camera, but privately several accuse chinese companies of using bribes to cut corners. china says its presence abroad is a win—win — a win for china and a win for the people in its path. but that's not the experience here. they say their oil wealth is going elsewhere, and that win—win means china wins once, and then china wins again. some kazakhs will benefit from china's plans — more on the city skyline, a commuter railway, some

highways, some pipelines — but building big and fast in a developing country, that often means corruption and crushing debt. poland has looked west since the end of the soviet bloc, but eastern europe is becoming a key piece in china's strategicjigsaw. it's already started mopping up assets, and hopes the new silk road will bind them together. stalowa wola, built 80 years ago to make steel and things that can be made from steel, like military tanks and bulldozers. in those days nearly everyone here worked for the polish state, but who's providing the jobs now? this diggerfactory

was near financial collapse when chinese state firm liugong rescued it and 1200 workers. the average salary for the assembly line workers, it's around 3800 per month. right. but he tells me this is a business, not a charity. he arrived as a manager six years ago, and he's still trying to modernise the place. their factory in china takes just seven minutes to make a machine which takes four and a half days to build here. he is a long way from home. it's like a bachelor's life! a little bit, yeah. like in the army. so your parents are keen for you to get married

so that they can have grandchildren. i mean, either trying to help you find somebody? they really did. they tried to introduce potential girlfriends for me. could you search for someone online who actually wanted to live in poland, who even wanted to live in stalowa wola, poland? in the mind of chinese girls they don't have any idea about stalowa wola! it's notjust a wife he needs. at work the company's been struggling for orders. he needs the massive building projects on china's new silk road to boost demand for diggers and keep his workers injobs. we haven't seen a mass of orders yet. so no real difference to the bottom line yet? thanks to the one belt 0ne road initiative i think the customers, they really have the need for the machines, but not yet. belt and road is the official name

for china's new silk road. it's got an official name because it's a government project. state construction companies, state banks — not private traders or investors. critics say this could be digging the world into a big hole. this is a plan by the state agencies, and it's going to be implemented by state agencies, so my worry is that it's going to end up with a huge amount of bad loans. with dozens of countries involved, it could be very very dangerous. where some see risks, others see opportunities. china has a growing appetite for milk from where the grass is greener. wieslaw inherited this land from his father, and he'll pass it on to his son.

they want to expand the farm and the business. he says china could be part of their future. translation: china is a very big and interesting market for us, and we want to try it. it's like a promised land. we are daring to think of doing new things now. but will china be happy to just purchase the product? in some of poland's neighbours, it's buying farmland and setting up its own fast dairy herds. say i'm a chinese investor and i come and knock on your door and i say, "i've got a lot of money — i want to buy your farm. you can just sit and take it easy." translation: no, thanks. i wouldn't sell it to anybody. it is my father and grandfather's land and i want to have my touch on this farm. i don't want to sell it and have only money. it's a long way from this milking parlour to the breakfast table in beijing. europe complains of

chinese import barriers. it sells only half as much to china as china sells here. and europe worries that beijing's learned the art of divide and rule, to force a path through europe for its new silk road. shall we have jam first or clotted cream first? what's the right answer? there's no right or wrong. lessons in the british tradition of afternoon tea from a chinese citizen. the lovely sweet jam. .. tingting plans to take her pitch from an essex tearoom to china. a communist state perhaps, but one with a healthy appetite for the rituals of the british ruling class. herjam is with berries straight from the tiptree farm.

china's consumers getting choosy about food quality. a huge market but hard to stand out. i think we're still at the beginning of thejourney. we are starting small by introducing new things, and a few things... i mean, the chinese are a curious country, 01’ cui’ious consumers — they always surprise us. i have never seen so much jam! it is, a world ofjam. so these are all bound for china? mm. but china's a long way away, and shipping by sea can take two months. no wonder the uk currently sells more to the tiny republic of ireland. tingting hopes the new train service will help. once a symbol of british empire and engineering, now it's china's great age of the railways, carrying uk hopes for post—brexit markets. from one end of the new silk road back to its start. three weeks later and those british goods from the train are on display

at a chinese trade fair. no one but me showing an interest. it's a local stir—fry which captures the crowd. so how are other european exporters doing? there's certainly a lot of curiosity about the european products in there, but i didn't overhear any huge deals being done. i think there's still a long way to go. the ancient silk road was driven by private traders from many countries. the new version is chinese state money and muscle.

china has the most ambitious plan for our century. if it succeeds, it will make china superpower again, even mightier perhaps than the empires of old. but if it fails, it'll leave a legacy of bad blood which poisons china's future, and taints even the grandeur of the past. low. after the weather this weekend on the sunshine and you're probably thinking the weather has turned the corner. i wish i could say it will settle down. i can show you the sunshine we had on sunday. this was in derbyshire. lovely blue skies. warm in the sunshine. much better across keswick. warmer conditions across keswick. warmer conditions across much of road in england. in

the week ahead there will be some sunshine around that times this week that there will be heavy showers and longer spells of rain in the latter pa rt longer spells of rain in the latter part of the week. a little cooler with stronger winds. the rain is holding off until monday dustup we have this coming in from the atla ntic have this coming in from the atlantic reckoning the cloud as we head into monday. 0utbreaks atlantic reckoning the cloud as we head into monday. outbreaks of rain. living across scotland, heavy bursts and some patchy rain and showers across northern ireland, western england and wales. further east across the midlands and eastern england it might be dried. some hazy sunshine. quite a warm start of the week in the south—east. mid—20s. that gets its act together to the end of the afternoon and evening. heavy in this south—west of wales. it will put its way to the midlands, northern england and southern and it has gotten. some sorry bresson is the tipping. prior in northern ireland and was his garden. temperatures 13 or 1a. the worst

rain just temperatures 13 or 1a. the worst rainjust about temperatures 13 or 1a. the worst rain just about clearing by tuesday. leaving behind some showers. possibly some heavy once not far from the south—east corner where there is still somewhat unsharp showers burdened with. the driest weather for wales and the south—west of england. those choice will fade away quickly during the evening as we get this high—pressure but that gets squeezed out by a big area of the pressure coming all the way across the atlantic from the north—east of the united states. it makes slow progress into northern ireland, wales and the south—west. cloud thickening and rain probably during the afternoon. it might be dried further north and east. cloudy and hazy sunshine. the rain starts to move on overnight and will see a fund of rain pushing into northern and eastern areas and then generally out of the way for thursday. leaving behind sunshine and showers on thursday. some could be heavy and possibly thundery. gusty winds especially towards the south—west as

temperatures a little bit lower probably by then. low pressure still around. sitting centred to the north—west of the uk. notjust as they begin to friday as well. beginning to arrive to northern ireland. bands of showers, one area of rain clearing away from the north—east. showers following and those temperatures as low as 16 or 17 across western parts. heading into the weekend we have still got the area of low pressure but it is shrinking and pulling away something started dry off. another big blow coming in from the atlantic and a bit of tropical air in that. the jet strea m bit of tropical air in that. the jet stream is diving to the south. for a while it might just stream is diving to the south. for a while it mightjust bend northwards across the uk allowing us dry weather for the second half of the weekend but beyond then the outlook is still unsettled. 0ften weekend but beyond then the outlook is still unsettled. often on the cool side as well. most of the rain looks like it may well be across the northern half of the uk. some uncertainty across the model is perhaps a bit drier and maybe a

little warmer towards the south of stitching for more changes in the days ahead. you this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 10pm: president trump is accused of being too soft on the far—right, after violence at at a rally in virginia left one person dead and many more injured. the white house defends the president response to the attack, saying his condemnation had been of all extremists, including white supremacists. here, the chancellor and the international trade secretary, say the government will seek a transition period to help businesses adjust after brexit. good evening and welcome to bbc news.

the white house has defended president trump's response