this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: three americans released by north korea are on their way home. they'll be met by president trump within hours. a large explosion and spewing lava at hawaii's kilauea volcano. 2,000 residents have been evacuated. authorities warn more eruptions are likely. from retirement to a remarkable comeback. mahathir mohamad is back as malaysia's prime minister, aged 92. media wars. could comcast swoop in and break up the $52 billion deal between fox and disney? in business briefing will be getting an expert view on the race to win the audiences in the media world. a warm welcome to the programme,

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business, and sport. also in the programme, the war on plastic. a school in the uk's started treating bringing plastic bottles into school as antisocial behaviour and punishing those responsible. is this a step too far or necessary to save the planet? join in the conversation #bbcthebriefing. let us begin. the three americans released by north korea have thanked president trump and his secretary of state, mike pompeo, for securing their release. they are flying now to andrews airforce base outside washington, where they'll be met within hours by the president. according to the white house, they've been freed as a gesture

of goodwill ahead of the planned summit between mr trump and kim jung—un. chris buckler reports. after many months are being held prisoner in north korea, tony kim and kim hak—song will soon be reunited with their families. like kim dong—chul they were accused of crimes against the state. they're released as part of an astonishing change between the relationship with north korea and the united states. president trump considers as a gesture of goodwill ahead of his plan summit with kim jong—un. gesture of goodwill ahead of his plan summit with kim jong-un. nobody thought this would happen. and i appreciate kim jong—un doing this and allowing them to go. we picked a time, we have picked a place for the

meeting, or some ice, time, we have picked a place for the meeting, orsome ice, as time, we have picked a place for the meeting, or some ice, as delayed call it, and i think it will be very successful —— summit. but who knows what is going to happen? these contrasted starkly with the return of otto warmbier eight a year ago. the american student was sentenced to years of hard labour for stealing a propaganda poster in north korea. he was sent back to north america with unexplained brain injuries and died days later. in a statement, the newly released american santa donald trump and the united states government for working to bring them home. —— american thing. it paves the way for the meeting between mr kim and president. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, went to pyongyang to personally oversee the release and discuss the summit. kim jong—un told them it could be the first step towards a positive situation on the korean peninsula. the body lang which might be good,

but there are difficult discussions ahead. —— body language. i will be talking to chris buchler, life in washington. the us geological survey has reported a large explosion on hawaii's kilauea volcano, which began erupting several days ago. the development could mean large amounts of ash and rocks are soon thrown from the crater. lebo diseko has the latest. hot angry looking lava boiling over three what looked like open gashes in the ground. the liquid rock and gas from hawaii's kilauea volcano wreaking destruction as it flows. that has engulfed buildings and destroyed anything else in its path. thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes and it is not clear when they'll be able to go

back. the lava flows that have destroyed the homes are down on the flank of the volcano. as for those folks, i think it is going to take a while before the activity stops, which it happened, by the way, it is still going on this afternoon. but onceit still going on this afternoon. but once it to stop it'll take a while before the authorities decide it to stop it'll take a while before the authorities decided to pay for them to come back. kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is said to be in a constant state of eruption. but it is the scale of the explosive activity since last week that has devastated so since last week that has devastated so many. the cracks in the ground, known as fishes, and toxic gases in the air rightjust some of the other risk is that people now had to face. hawaii's governor wants president trump to declare the area a disaster zone. and there are warnings that wednesday's large explosion may mark the start of more violent eruptions on their way that could spray rocks

for males and cover nearby towns in ash and dust for weeks to come. —— for miles. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. the israeli military says about 20 rockets have been fired from syria at its positions in the golan heights. it said some of the rockets were intercepted and there were no casualties. israel blamed iranian revolutionary guard forces in syria. syrian state media said israel fired missiles in retaliation, and some were shot down. after a first day of negotiations, argentina's finance minister has said that he'll request a stand—by loan from the international monetary fund. argentina's line is that it will only use the funds, estimated at $30 billion, in the case of necessity. the second semi—final of the eurovision song contest takes place tonight in lisbon. more countries willjoin those chosen on tuesday it

to compete in saturday's grand final. let us talk about the us's decision to pull out of the agreement. iran has re—emerged as a major oil exporter since sanctions were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. last month it was producing some 2.6 million barrels per day. could that be coming to an end. we have cornelia meyer with us. she's also a former executive at oil giant bp and has worked extensively in the middle east. the price of oil going up and up. on

my way into date the taxi driver said to me that the price of petrol is very high now. give us your take on this situation with iran and what it means for oil markets. at this point it is mainly psychological because the oil are still going into the markets. but the markets are getting tight. you may render in december 2016 0pec and ten non— 0pec companies took a large amount of oil out of the market to get rid of this enormous overhang, the price would not move, it fell and fell and fell, and was unsustainably low. they did that and now they have cleared the overhang. at the same time, venezuela is falling off a cliff, literally, in terms of how much it can produce. at the same time there isa can produce. at the same time there is a question about libya and nigeria because they have the road in domestic issues —— their own. now if iran will export less, they

exported 2.5 million barrels, if they export less then the situation gets really tight. all right. we shall discuss and unpack further later. thank you for now. cornelia meyer will be with us with the news briefing later. for now let us talk about malaysia. he told his supporters their real task was onlyjust beginning. 0ur south—east asia correspondent, jonathan head, joins me now from the capital kuala lumpur. it is quite an outcome. i understand there is a two day holiday ahead for

eve ryo ne there is a two day holiday ahead for everyone in malaysia to celebrate. give us the background of this, why retired f”; one ” fig one in] minister, najib razak, one in whether the dollars are particular, whether the dollars are being siphoned off, that forced him out of retirement. many people will point out their work no shortage of scandals when doctor harty was in power. he was able to tie together the allegations of corruption against the prime minister with the feeling that because of living is going up too much. in the cities, a real hunger going up too much. in the cities, a re his unger going up too much. in the cities, a re his age, ' 92, effective 2 across " ' " i ; ; and was effective are putting across that message, your living standards, his stealing, as he put it. there is some question about what has happened. malaysia has never had a

tra nsfer of happened. malaysia has never had a transfer of power in its nightly news of independence. constitutionally, the party which has the majority constitutionally, the party which has the maji the government. -i...u x-._ 95; geek—6&6; 1.17}, egggle butesays in gig viéwggnéégg has a does not coalition entity. e ‘government is. i ‘ government is. i think there new government is. i think there will be q and before we ‘ the and whether or will be 92—year—old indeed it will be 92—year—old mahathir mohamad becomes back into power, the veteran who dominated the country for so long. thank you very much, jonathan head, in kuala lumpur. stay with us on the briefing. also on the programme: exclusive access to harry and megan's wedding. meet the newlyweds who share names with the royal couple. i, nelson rolihlahla mandela, do hereby swear to be faithful

to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterrand. but the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now, the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in underfour minutes. memories of victory, as the ve celebrations reach their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. you're watching the briefing.

0ur headlines: there's been a large explosion and more spewing lava at hawaii's kilauea volcano — 2,000 residents have been evacuated — authorities warn more eruptions are likely. three americans released by north korea are on their way home. they'll be met by president trump when they arrive at the andrew's air force base, outside washington. let's stay with that now 0ur correspondent stephen mcdonell is in seoul. chris buckler, our correspondent based in washington. chris, we will begin with you. as we mentioned, these three americans will be landing, returning to the us injust a few hours time. yes. and a presidential welcome awaits them, as you mention. donald trump has been

given a lot of credit, indeed, from the three released detainees as well, in really pushing pyongyang and kimjong—un well, in really pushing pyongyang and kim jong—un for their release. what is very clear is that he wants to be there to see them and he will ta ke to be there to see them and he will take a great deal of credit for what has been a really important moment. if you take a look at what has happened with these particular prisoners, they have been released and they seem to be in good health. the white house making clear that they were able to get on the plane themselves without any assistance. that is so starkly different from what happened a year ago with 0tto warmbier, who arrived back in america and died a short time later from brain injuries that he seemed to have suffered in north korea. you have that very different arrival and this will be something president trump will celebrate. it marks a real attempt to push towards this summit. it removes an obstacle in its wake by having people of

american citizenship, detained in north korea, and allows that summit now to take place. it is very clear, when you take a look at the conversations that have been had between mike pompeo and kimjong—un that he was notjust in north korea to ensure that those individuals we re to ensure that those individuals were released, he was also there to ensure that more details could be given and more details could stephen mcdonell is in south korea, in seoul, this is being watched closely where you are and president moon wa nts to where you are and president moon wants to see south koreans return who are detained in north korea? it's being watched very closely here as you could imagine. people are really counting on the goodwill that that return of those detainees has created. just yesterday there was a a mood in south korea that with the us pulling

out of the iran nuclear deal, some sort of irreparable damage was made to this process that could eventually lead to north korea giving up its nuclear weapons. after all, this is what this is all about. is interesting, we heard mention of the upcoming talks between donald trump and kimjong—un —— it's interesting. the us secretary of state was there in pyongyang to finalise these arrangements. donald trump has ruled out the demilitarised zone, meaning singapore seems to be firming up as the favourite location for that, and we'll be waiting for an announcement from probably donald trump i guess as to where this location is going to be. you wonder if he will use the arrival of these detainees to speak about it or whether he will let that be handled and then in the coming days or two announced the details of the summit. thank you both, stephen mcdonell in seoul, and chris buckler

in washington for the latest on that story. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, coming up in your thursday sport briefing: the players championship gets undewrway in florida, juventus win the coppa italia and tyson fury showes what a difference a bit of training can make as he comes closer to a return to the boxing ring. of all the events on the pga tour, there aren't many which have the prestige and the purse of the players championship. the world's best golfers will be teeing off at sawgrass in the next few hours. two—time winner tiger woods will be there playing alongside rickie fowler and phil mickelson, and it will be the first time woods and mickelson have played together here in 17 years. it's fun for me. to have an opportunity to play with phil for the first two days. we don't really

do this very often unfortunately. the only time i can remember was the pga and us open in 2008, otherwise it doesn't really happen. for me to be able to play against a person i've gone against two decades, it's a lot of fun. for the first time in his career kyle edmund will walk out on court knowing he'll be a top 20 player when the world rankings are updated next week. the british number one faces david goffin at the madrid masters less than 2a hours after one of the biggest wins of his career. after his 3—set win over novak djokovic he said it's time to try and beat these guys. he may be 57 seconds off the lead, but thursday is chris froome's chance to reduce his defecit in the giro d'italia. the tour de france champion has struggled so far, but the climb up mount etna on stage 5 could be an opportunity to get back in the race. australian rohan dennis retains the overall lead by one second from defending champion tom dumoulin. in case you missed it,

juventus have made it a fourth successive coppa italia title with a 4—0 win over milan at the stadio 0limpico in rome. three goals in eight minutes after half time, including a double to medhi benatia, sealed the win for massimiliano allegri's side. the club known as the old lady can still achieve the league and cup double for the fourth year in a row with a draw this weekend at the same venue against roma. tulsen tollett with the sports stories. from oceans choked by discarded carrier bags to the war being waged on drinking straws, we've spoken a lot in recent months about the problem of waste plastic. but it's a conversation the germans have been having for decades. which is probably why their recycling rates are among the best in europe. 0ur berlin correspondent, jenny hill, has been finding out why they are so far ahead. vave a reputation for recycling and they're proud of it. it really

wouldn't do to mix paper and plastic. even so, it's sometimes ha rd to plastic. even so, it's sometimes hard to know what waste goes where. translation: when i bump into someone i try to be friendly and give them good advice. my aim is to tell people this could be fun. i don't tzipi wag the moral finger. germans have been separating their rubbish since the late 1990s. what was originally enforced by law now a national habit. 0ne was originally enforced by law now a national habit. one of the first things you notice as a foreigner living in germany is just how ingrained the recycling habit really is here. take your plastic bottles, it's very popular for your water, your juice it's very popular for your water, yourjuice and this kind of bottle and for every bottle you buy you pay and for every bottle you buy you pay a deposit, 15 cents in the case of this kind of bottle. when you're done with it you bring it back to the shop or supermarket, in this

case they've got a rather high—tech machine, you pop the bottles in, they go off to be sterilised and reused as d—rings bottles, and then you simply press your button, take a receipt, i'll take this back to the till now, get my money back and that is just how it's done here. rubbish is just how it's done here. rubbish is also big business. at this plant, plastic is chopped up, noted down and turned into pellets and profits. there's a fair chance your kitchen floor mop is made from these. even so, at least a third of this waste can't be recycled. we can't dispense of plastics, we can't replace plastics by other material. we need them so we have to do something about the end of life solution, and that's what we're working on. so you don't see an end to plastics?|j don't see an end to plastics?” don't see an end to plastics?” don't see an end to plastics?” don't see an end to plastics, certainly not. here, they beg to differ. at this berlin shop, plastic

and packaging are forgotten. germans may recycle a lot but they produce more waste than almost any other european country. translation: more waste than almost any other european country. translatiosz more waste than almost any other european country. translation: ifi could, i would try to convince eve ryo ne could, i would try to convince everyone not to use any plastic. everything starts small, like vegetarian or vegan stuff, it starts small and everybody laughs about the people, they do it, and now it's very big. now it has an affect. at the factory, in just 20 minutes, the waste is processed. shipments leave, more rubbish arrives. in the age of plastic, one country delivering an albeit imperfect solution to a global problem. jenny hill, bbc news, berlin. in the uk a college in brighton, not a primary school by any means, but pupils who bring in plastic bottles

to school could be punished in the same way as if they are not caught smoking, that's a story in the newspapers today. we asked you for your view of the idea of punishment in schools, a step too far? donald has got in touch to say i think i would be more concerned if pupils we re would be more concerned if pupils were bringing glass bottles to school. good point, donald, practical implications. shirley says, i think punishing is a step too far, educating the children so they are aware of the harm of plastic. keep them coming. let us know your thoughts using #bbcthebriefing. now, you're cordially invited to the wedding of harry and megan. ok, this is not the royal couple. this harry and megan from nottingham in england just had a free luxury wedding in london after winning a competition for couples with the same names as the prince and his fiancee. i was probably a little bit nervous just because i would want everything to go to plan. i'm really excited for harry to see

my dress. we're the other harry and meghan. what makes me laugh the most is when meghan has passed so that she's right about something. honestly, that is so far from the truth because i am actually always write! there's an observatory near where i used to live with my mum and so we we nt used to live with my mum and so we went there and that's when harry asked me out. i actually don't remember that but that's what happened. yes he does! you're actually walking through the woods of memories. there's a small woods of memories. there's a small woods near our house, we live in teva now, and i thought it would be a nice idea to have small slate plaques with key dates on. the first time we met, when we got into a relationship, when we opened our

business together. first of all she thought we were going to a spa date for five years. when he said we were going to a spa was crying together. i knew it was going to be easy if she was crying at that! applause thoughtful. generous. allowed. annoying. -- loud. we are loving it! congratulations to harry and meghan. business briefing is next. i'll see you soon. hello. 0nce any early rain clears easternmost parts of england

as thursday begins, what follows will be a lot of fine, dry weather. it will take a bit of time to clear eastern most counties in the morning and behind that, mainly breezy but bright weather, broken cloud and sunny spells though you may catch a shower. not everyone will but the greater chance of catching a shower will be in scotland, northern ireland, northern england and maybe a stray one into northern wales as well. here are the early temperatures, at double figures where we've had the cloud and rain overnight in eastern england but mid single figures in most spots, a bit ofa single figures in most spots, a bit of a chill in the air but plenty of sunshine in eastern england to start the day. eventually that rain will pull away by the end of the morning in eastern most counties. a few showers in eastern scotland, catch one and it could be heavy, maybe some thunder, some may be in northern ireland, northern england and wales, but most prices will stay dry, even though some cloud will

build and temperatures, mid—to—low teens for many, a few degrees cooler in south—east england compared with wednesday. as we just take a look at things going into the evening, a few showers peppering north—eastern parts of scotland but as you can see, for most places, even some of the cloud that's built up will be disappearing to leave a fine and sunny end to the day. but, under clear skies, that means and even chillier night going into friday morning, low single figures in some spots. this area of high pressure won't last too long, another weather system coming in from the atlantic on friday but it's going to drag its heels, it's in no hurry to push on through the uk. in western areas, even though the wind will freshen, remaining dry and the rain with a strong southerly wind will head into northern ireland, west of scotland and parts of wales and south—west england. all sports ahead of that, by the end of the afternoon, will be dry, temperatures for many in the mid—to—low teens. the weather system wa nts to mid—to—low teens. the weather system wants to move across into friday

night and saturday, on saturday lingering in northern scotland and a few showers in eastern england but for many there's a lot of dry weather around with further showers heading into parts of south—west england, wales and maybe northern ireland and one of these could be heavy with a rumble of under. if anything, sunday looks a little bit cooler still. bye—bye. this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. media wars. could comcast swoop in and break up the $52 billion deal between fox and disney? plus, an expensive day's shopping for wal—mart, as it makes a $16 billion push into india, buying control of online retailer flipkart. and on the markets, wall street surges — as crude hits its highest in more than three years — energy stocks are the big winners thanks to president trump abandoning the iran nuclear deal.