welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america on pbs and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: the us secretary of state suggests that pyongyang could be in for a financial boost if it gives up nuclear weapons. if kim jong—un chooses the right path, there is a future brimming with prosperity and north korea. the north korean people. a white house official‘s comment aboutjohn mccain's health sets off a firestorm. the senator's daughter questions the political climate where that king of talk is accepted. also in the programme. heading to the proms — the first professional ensemble to be led by disabled musicians mike pompeo said he was confident that washington and pyongyang had

a shared understanding of the meetings objectives. and he held out the incentive of economic assistance — that's if the north, did get rid of its nuclear weapons. rajini vaidya nathan reports. another step towards the historic summit between america and north korea. as us secretary of state mike pompeo welcomed his south korean counterpart to washington. both countries have a shared goal of what they want from pyongyang. if north korea takes bold action to quickly be nuclearised the us it prepared to work with north korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our south korean friends. it has been a whirlwind week for mr pompeo. on monday night he flew to north korea where he met kim jong—un. he returned on thursday with three americans who had been

detained by pyongyang. his boss president trump was there to welcome the freed prisoners back to american soil. for a president whose style of diplomacy isn't to everyone‘s case, it has been quite a turnaround. the north korean leader once the pariah now the recipient of praise. kim jong—un did a great service to himself, to his country, by doing this. and remember, it has only been eight months since he described him as "little rocket man". speaking to a crowd in indiana the president was full of optimism for the summit. i will be meeting with kimjong—un to pursue a feature of peace and security for the world for the whole world. applause. the two men will come face—to—face in a months time in singapore. and for president trump the stakes could not be higher. one question that could be crucial to the success of the talks is just what exactly

do both sides mean — when they talk of denuclearisation? michael crowley is senior foreign affairs correspondent at politico. that is the key question. it is still an open question and mike pompeo was asked a question to that effect today. i don't feel that he gave a totally clear answer about what the north koreans are saying. it is possible that the north koreans believe for instance that denuclearisation is a process that you might start at this summit with president trump, or soon thereafter, as opposed to what some hardliners, people like the new national security adviserjohn bolton might say which, for them, it would mean dismantle all the nuclear weapons, ship all the nuclear material out of the country, smash up the infrastructure with hammers if you have to. basically scrub north korea free, clean of nuclear weapons material and production capability. there is a big gap between those two definitions. and we are going to find out soon whether it can be bridged. michael crowley on

the korea diplomacy. britain's prime minister, theresa may and president trump have agreed on the need for talks about the impact on european firms of any new us sanctions against iran. britain, along with france and germany, is worried that european companies operating in iran will be punished by the us, after washington's decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal. in a phone call, mrs may and the american president agreed on the need for talks on the issue. he's one of america's heroes — a us senator and former presidential candidate who was tortured in vietnam. john mccain also has brain cancer another reason you might think to treat him with the greatest respect. now though a white house official has shocked washington by allegedly saying his vote didn't matter because quote — "he's dying anyway". that brought this response from john mccain's daughter. and whatever you want to say,

in this kind of environment, the thing that surprises me most is, i was talking about this with you, joy, i don't understand what kind of environment you are working in where that would be acceptable and then you could come to work the next day and still have a job and that is all i have to say. our north america reporter anthony zurcher has more from washington. what we know is that it was kelly sadler who reportedly said this. she is a white house aide, came over to the trump white house from a local washington conservative newspaper. she was responding to the criticism ofjohn mccain blocking gina haspel, the cia nominee, said, "it does not matter, he's going to die anyway." this was a closed—door meeting but i think it is reflective of the atmosphere in this white house that word of her remarks leaked to multiple media outlets

and were confirmed by multiple media outlets. when cindy mccain — sorry — meghan mccain talks about the environment here in this white house, you have to remember that donald trump himself in the campaign in 2015, early in his campaign, criticised john mccain in very personal terms and said he was not a war hero, he was only a war hero because he became a vietnamese prisoner of war and he prefers his heroes, or likes his heroes, not to be captured. the idea this was an attitude that comes down from the top, from the president. the president and john mccain have sparred repeatedly in the past few years, most recently with the cia head story but also you'll remember john mccain voted against donald trump's healthcare repeal bill last year. there's a lot of bad blood

and i think a lot of this is spilling out now in the last days ofjohn mccain, releasing a memoir criticising donald trump, speaking out vociferously from arizona, where he is recuperating from brain surgery and i think you are just seeing this reaching a crescendo. antony zurcher there. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the iaea says the chief inspector for the un's nuclear watchdog has resigned. no reason was given for the sudden departure, which comes days after president trump took the us out of the iran nuclear deal. under the deal, the iaea conducts inspections in iran to verify compliance. officials in gaza say israeli troops have shot and killed a palestinian protester on the territory's border with israel. at least 170 others are said to have been injured during another day of demonstrations along the boundary fence. there have been protests every friday for several weeks. the united nations‘ human rights office has asked nicaragua to let it investigate the deaths of dozens of students in protests against the government of president daniel ortega. tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of managua. they want an outside investigation into the students‘ deaths and, for president ortega to step down. the main hospital in bikoro —

in the north—west of the democratic republic of congo has received a new suspected case of ebola. so far 18 people are thought to have died and the world health organisation says it's "preparing for the worst—case scenario." kenyan authorities say the dam that burst on a commercial farm this week, killing at least 45 people, had been illegally built. the dam collapsed on wednesday night after heavy rain near the town of solai, 190km from the capital, nairobi. dozens of houses were destroyed and many people are still missing. ann soy reports. the recovery effort is a slow process. up until now, they were collecting bodies that were on the surface and that is done, so now they are having to dig deeper into the mud into pools of water like this one to make sure that no bodies are left behind.

they have collected several bodies today and those are then taken to the mortuaries. we're told that families will be viewing the bodies and identifying their kin. and only when this effort is complete will they really know how many people were swept away, how many people lost their lives. this is how it all started. imagine a lake with millions of cubic metres of water, all of it released in an instant. that is what happened here on wednesday night. it came down here with such force, it created a path for itself. this looks like a river bed now but it was once occupied and you can see how high the water close to the roof of these houses that managed to withstand the pressure and it cleared everything in its path, like here,

this is a foundation of a building that stood here before the tragedy. the people who are trapped were washed downhill, and this went on for kilometres and kilometres. the search and rescue effort has been going on in that direction. these streams of water started flowing in the morning, sending the villagers here, who are recovering from shock and grief, into more panic. but they have been reassured now that this is deliberate, to keep them safe. a team of engineers has been sent to the farm where we are told a number of dams are located, next to the one that burst on wednesday night and they have been releasing water through the day to make sure that the pressure on those dams is eased. rains are ongoing and therefore,

they expect that the dams will be collecting more water and therefore, it is very important for them to release some of the water downstream. anne soy, at the scene of the dam collapse in kenya. iraqis go to the polls on saturday in the first election since the government declared victory over so—called islamic state. the last parliamentary elections took place in 2014 and since then, the country has been transformed by several events. three of them stand out: the invasion of mosul by is militants, a clerical call to arms from the south to fend off the attack, and an independence referendum by the kurdish region. the bbc‘s rami ruhayem assess how these major events have reshaped the country's political, and electoral landscape. injune in june 2014, isis injune 2014, isis fighters took over mosul, iraq's second—largest city. as they advanced to quash much of northern and central rock, the iraqi army fled without a fight. the prime minister came under intense external and internal pressure to step aside. in his place came haider

al-abadi. step aside. in his place came haider al—abadi. today, each of the two men isa al—abadi. today, each of the two men is a separate coalition. it is now split first time. after the invasion, the world's most of fish —— influential shia authority based here in najaf vended off the attack, threatening the south. but force took shape. known as the popular mobilisation units, or pmus, it was formed of shia factions and large number of volunteers who are influenced by the call of arms. call to arms. it falls came to be and is

110w to arms. it falls came to be and is now one of the main alliances contesting the elections. the religious authorities in najaf however maintain their distance from all coalitions contracting —— contesting the elections, including the ones born on the pmus. just as isis was losing its grip and recapturing territory —— iraqi troops were recapturing territory, the vast majority of voters backed independence but there euphoria quickly turned sour. iraqi forces and the kurdish pesch murdo, clashed with each other. the kurdish forces — — forces with each other. the kurdish forces —— forces were beaten back in the government captured disputed territories. in the wake of the defeat, the two parties that had beenin defeat, the two parties that had been in powerfor almost three decades traded bitter accusations. today, they contest national elections separately as smaller opposition parties try to break their hold on kurdish politics in iraq. across the country, the

largest coalitions have fractured and new forces have entered the fray. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, the women calling the shots: we visit a squat on the outskirts of sao paulo where they're trying to create a feminist community. the pope was shot, the pope will live — that's the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon, that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism had come to be vatican. the man they call the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked a woman just sentenced to six years in jail. the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out effort to help the victims of a powerful earthquake, the worst to hit the country for 30 years.

the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion garry kasparov. it's the first time a machine has defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. god bless america! this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the us secretary of state mike pompeo has indicated north korea could get financial help, if it gives up nuclear weapons. john mccain's daughter has criticised the white house aide who joked about the health of the critically ill us senator. for many years, anwar ibrahim was cast as the villain of malaysian politics. a former deputy prime minister, he was twice put on trial and jailed, although he always maintained his innocence. but in a remarkable reversal of political fortune malaysia's newly elected prime minister, mahathir mohamad, has promised him a full pardon and dangled

the prospect that he could take over as prime minister in a couple of years. from kuala lumpur, jonathan head reports. this was the moment mahathir mohamad completed the most unlikely of political comebacks, sworn in as prime minister at the age of 92, 15 years after he last held the post. watching from his hospital room, anwar ibrahim, his one—time protege, then rival and now political ally. this morning, dr mahathir let everyone know on his twitter account that he was getting straight down to work but there was one order of business more important than the rest, something he said he had discussed with the king at his inauguration, getting mr anwar released from prison. it is going to be a full pardon which first means that he will not only be pardoned, he should be released immediately when he is pardon. after that, he will be free to participate fully in politics.

this is the next essential stage in an extraordinary personal drama between the two men who began as partners in power, broke up into acrimonious rivalry and have been brought back together again as allies in this unexpectedly successful bid to unseat the ruling party that they once led. back in the 1990s, when dr mahathir dominated malaysian politics, anwar ibrahim was his deputy and chosen successor but they fell out over the handling of the asian financial crisis. mr anwar was sacked and then arrested. at one point, he showed a black eye that suggested a beating, sparking angry protests against the mahathir government, the start of a reform movement which now, against the odds, finds itself in government. mr anwar was released

from prison after five years and started his campaign to defeat the ruling party, despite an electoral system weighted heavily against him. dr mahathir continued to condemn him, as in this bbc interview five years ago, after mr anwar had beenjailed again. it was a spectacular corruption scandal surrounding prime minister najib razak, says dr mahathir, that forced him to switch sides and join his old rivals. the sight of this elder statesman campaigning in the rain at the side of the opposition has ignited a wave of hopeful nostalgia in malaysians for the days when these two men presided over one of asia's economic success stories. but two decades later, can they repeat that success and put their past battles behind them 7 brazil has the dubious distinction of being one of the world's most unequal countries, and nowhere is this more evident than the nation's largest city, sao paulo. with a population of nearly 20 million people, it's estimated

nearly a million are without homes. women are particularly vulnerable to this housing shortage, but one squatters area on the outskirts of the city has tried to address that by creating a feminist community. our south america correspondent katy watson reports. there is nothing like free candy floss to concentrate the mind, especially if you are three or four. these kids live in occupation hope, a squatter ‘s community on the outside —— outskirts of sao paulo. there is no running water or sewage. treats like this do not happen every day so they are worth queueing up for, even in the heat. when this got started five years ago 150 families came here. there are now more than 500 families here. it has grown in the same way as many other squats across the city, but has a massive

housing shortage. it feels very different. there are men, women and children living here, but it is the women who call the shots. mara runs a bar. showers one of dozens of small business owners who are female in this community. she used to struggle to pay her rent and provide for herfamily struggle to pay her rent and provide for her family but now the bar gives their own income, and also enables her to spend more time with her three kids at home. translation: this is not just three kids at home. translation: this is notjust about the three kids at home. translation: this is not just about the fight for housing. it is about equal rights. 90% of the disc is it —— the decisions here are made by women. we have a women's association and lu mley have a women's association and lu m ley ta ke have a women's association and lu mley ta ke pa rt have a women's association and lumley take part in protests it is women who organise it. we don't want to be better than men, we want to be equal, and have equal rights. the recent murder of mariano franco, a councillor in rio dejaneiro, hit a chord with people here. josephine is one of the older residents, and also a member of the women's association.

things have changed in her lifetime, she says, but there is still so much more to do. translation: most of the time women don't have any rights. now we can only say something. we can now we can only say something. we ca n ex press now we can only say something. we can express ourselves. brazil is somewhere where if you say the truth 01’ somewhere where if you say the truth or defend a cause you can be killed. we can't give up. we have to be 18. one for raw, all for one. and that includes men. everyone has to play a positive role in the squat. there is zero tolerance when it comes to domestic violence. if it happens, the community discusses the consequences and the perpetrator is kicked out. while not all men identify as feminists, they are supporters. translation: the rule of the women here is strong but it needs to be stronger. lots of men tried to diminish the role of women, but they aren't entitled to this or that. there needs to be equality. and it is a lesson for the younger

generation to. they call it occupation hope for a reason. it is the opportunity for a different future. she is female, as they say. —— the future is female, as they say. earlier this year the bournemouth symphony orchestra in england formed what is believed to be the first professional ensemble led by disabled musicians. now they are set to premier at the summer concert series in london known as the proms. the ensemble is conducted by james rose, who has cerebral palsy. our arts editor will gompertz went to meet him. three, four. orchestra plays rachmaninoff‘s vocalise. james rose conducts the bournemouth symphony orchestra resound ensemble. music continues. they are rehearsing rachmaninoff's vocalise for their prom at the royal albert hall on the 27th of august. he's come a long way pretty quickly

since he took up his specially designed baton six years ago. is it liberating for you? let's talk about your conducting. it seems to me there's four parts you bring to the party. you use the baton, you use your eyes, you use your left hand and you use your body. is that what you've been taught, to sort of bring all of those elements together to communicate with your orchestra? how far do you think

you can take this? can you imagine one day conducting the last night of the proms? best of luck to them at the proms. now, a family has had a narrow escape after getting out of their car at escape after getting out of their carata escape after getting out of their car at a safari park in the netherlands. watch this. the group, including a woman carrying a child, defied signs warning visitors to the park not to get out of their vehicles. the incident happened on monday, but staff at the park only became aware after this footage emerged on the internet. levity was injured, after the family managed to get back to their car. if something

had happened, perhaps they would have called it natural selection. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @nkem|fejika. hello once again. after a bright enough start, friday rather disappointingly certainly went downhill across central and eastern parts of the british isles. bright start and then the cloud filled in, not only across birmingham, the shield was quite extensive. but as things moved from west to east, some in the west popped out in something a bit brighter to finish off the day. you can see it very well on the big picture. this whole raft of cloud gradually crept its way further east, allowing northern ireland, the western fringes of wales, down into the south—west of england to pop out into something a bit brighter. this is how we start saturday. the remnants of that banner of cloud still there to be had across the northern and eastern parts of scotland. should just about be clear of the east coast but that is not the last you'll have seen of it

because there could be another little ripple on it, just bringing rain back in to some eastern parts to finish off your afternoon. temperatures nothing to write home about, really. not bad for the time of year. pretty much par for the course. a scattering of showers out towards the west, perhaps, one or two flirting with the channel islands, the isles of scilly, coming up through devon and cornwall, maybe one or two getting to northern ireland but generally speaking, the western side of the british isles faring nicely indeed. that rain becoming more intense through the early part of the evening onto the wee small hours of sunday as it continues its journey up the eastern side of the british isles. now, just how far west it comes is still open to some debate. underneath the cloud, you will not have the coldest of nights but it could be a cool start to sunday. a bright one for some of you across northern and western parts of the british isles

but don't be surprised if, come sunday morning, some of this rain is a good deal further towards the west. if you've got a plan for sunday, you'd better keep up to date with the forecast as it develops. i think generally speaking, that whole plume of cloud and rain moves a bit further north and east, allowing somewhat drier conditions eventually to break out across the south—eastern quarter. but again, sunday, rather like saturday, i think we see the very best of the weather rather out towards the west. come monday, i think you will notice across the south—eastern quarter more generally of the british isles, is that the wind will have picked up. a big area of low pressure over the near continent keeping it breezy, but you will notice on the bigger scale again quite a lot of dry weather around, quite a bit of sunshine away from this north—western quarter where you will fill in that cloud as the day goes on. this is bbc news. the headlines: the us secretary of state mike pompeo has indicated north korea could get financial aid, if it gives up nuclear weapons. he made the comments after meeting with his south korean counterpart.

mr pompeo said he had asked the north korean leader kimjong—un to commit to a robust international verification programme. the british prime minister theresa may has spoken over the phone to president trump about the impact on european companies of the revival of us sanctions on iran. britain, along with france and germany, is concerned that european companies operating in iran will be punished by the us. the daughter of senatorjohn mccain has lambasted a white house aide who joked that his opposition to president trump's choice for cia director didn't matter because "he's dying anyway". mr mccain is battling terminal brain cancer. meghan mccain said she was surprised kelly sadler still had a job. now on bbc news.