welcome to bbc news. the american secretary of state has said that america would work to bring economic prosperity to north korea if north korea what to do nuclearised. the us secretary of state and his south korean counterpart have been discussing their hopes for historic talks with north korea, due to take place next month. 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. ——future. 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 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 also a prisoner of war 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. 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. 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, 190 kilometres 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 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. for more information on today's top story, go to our website bbc.com/news where you can read more about how these events unfolded. the government has made a significant change to the grenfell

fire inquiry, by agreeing to campaigners‘ demands for a more diverse panel. theresa may said she would appoint two new panel members to sit alongside and advise the chairman, sir martin moore—bick. the inquiry is due to begin hearing evidence in the next few weeks. tom symonds reports. right from the start, the inquiry chairman was under pressure. now if i can't satisfy you because you have some perception about me as a person, that's up to you. some said sir martin moore—bick, a cambridge educated retired judge, had the wrong background to tackle the social failings they see at the heart of this tragedy. the prime minister can't afford to alienate the grenfell campaigners. they'd forced a commons debate on the issue for monday. today, she acted. writing to sir martin, she said: that's the group which now

represents many of those whose lives have been devastated by the fire. it's been gruelling to have to get to this point but we're here and we need to look forward now. it's a first step. i mean it is positive that we now have this panel and that we'll now be able to get to the bottom of everything that happened in the run—up and during that awful night. sir martin will now have two experts alongside him, but only when the second phase of the inquiry starts, considering the wider social issues behind grenfell, next year. the culture of the institutions that were supposed to listen to the concerns of the community. why did this happen? these are all the things that need to be uncovered in the public

inquiry and hopefully people to be held accountable, and for the inquiry to make recommendations so this never happens again. it's nearly a year since this, and the anger in the streets around here has not gone away. finding two people with the expertise to dig deep into what happened will not be easy, two people the community can support. it's the prime minister who has the final decision, but there are no names yet. answers and justice — the two unyielding demands. the inquiry must provide the answers. the massive ongoing police investigation, thejustice. the irish government says every effort will be made to get to the truth behind the cervical smear test scandal in which 200 patients were wrongly diagnosed and i7

scandal in which 200 patients were wrongly diagnosed and 17 patients subsequently died. the head of ireland's health service resigned after it became clear that the government had outsourced to a private company. stories like emma mhic mhathuna's have moved and appalled people in ireland. she was given the all—clear from cervical cancer five years ago but the result of her smear test was wrong. she was only diagnosed with the disease in 2016. now she's terminally ill. the cancer is throughout my body and i've been told to, while i have energy, to get things in place for my children. it hasn't hit me that i'm dying whichwas carrying out tests!

with the distressing extent of the problems becoming more clear, the head of the health service, tony o'brien, has resigned today. the dublin government has held an emergency cabinet meeting. the taoiseach apologised to emma mhic mhathuna. certainly no words that i can say that can give her comfort at this time. she's 37 years old, roughly my age. could be my sister, could be one of my friends, has young children, could be my nephews. pass! emma says that for the sake of herfive children, she wants to leave a legacy to ensure no—one else will die needlessly. when you're a parent, there's nothing that you won't do for your children,

so that's why i'm going to keep soldiering on as long as i have here. the very personal sense of devastation which families like hers are feeling have generated a very public mood of anger. patients and politicians are asking how such catastrophic mistakes could have been made in the cancer screening programme. the government has offered special support for people affected, including counselling and paying for drugs, but the women here facing deaths which could've been avoided say they want more answers and accountability. grammar schools in england will be given the chance to bid for funding from a £50 million pot to create new school places, if they can show they're helping disadvantaged pupils. the government is pressing ahead with an expansion programme for selective schools which has proved controversial.

teaching unions have criticised it as a misuse of spending when school budgets are stretched. our political correspondent alex forsyth reports. this grammar school in south—east london is in demand. there is a waiting list to get in. these pupils are some of those who passed the test and secured their place. i cried, i was so happy. really relieved, because it is hard work across the whole year, everyone you know your ages doing it. when you getting it is quite a nice feeling. the head here knows grammar schools are controversial but says the idea of selecting children based on their ability does not have to be exclusive. are they in a grammar school because they are privileged? no, i think that perception that we are full of white middle—class children is wrong, and grammar school have been doing a phenomenal amount of work in accessing disadvantaged students and creating opportunities for them. schools like this could now get funding to extra places if they take more disadvantaged pupils. it is part of a wider shakeup.

the government has abandoned the plan to allow some schools to admit more pupils based on religion, but councils can bring new faith schools. this is about ensuring there is enough good school places to satisfy demand as the population grows and moves to make sure we have good choice for parents around the country. but at the school gates is expanding grammar schools that is causing most talk. a lot of children today do struggle, and they need 1—to—1 extra money, anywhere across the curriculum would be helpful. £50 million is a good start but it is not enough. the government could put more money into it, which means they could help more children. but critics including the labour party say school budgets under huge pressure, this is the wrong priority. grammar schools are not at anything extra for pupils, it takes some children that have been given tuition, who already have an advantage over other children,

and leaves everybody else left hind. so unfortunately the government have shown they are ideological driven to help the selective few. because there is opposition to selective education, the conservatives had to ditch what had been a key election promise, to lift the ban on new grammar schools altogether. they were worried they could not get the idea through parliament, so this is a slimmed down version. the money for grammar school expansion was already in the pipeline. it might fund a few thousand new places, but it is not the sweeping education reforms the government had hoped. but whatever the political arguments, the pupils here know how they describe their school. i would say diversity. inclusive. i would say challenging. in a good way? yeah. i would say enjoyable, i really enjoy it. the american secretary of state,

mike pompeo, has indicated north korea could get financial help if it gives up nuclear weapons. that is oui’ gives up nuclear weapons. that is our main headline. and john mccain's daughter has criticised the white house aide whojoked daughter has criticised the white house aide who joked about the health of the critically ill us senator. iraqis go to the polls in just a couple of hours time in the first election since the government declared victory over the so—called islamic state. these are live pictures from the city of mosul, just waking up. the last parliamentary elections took place in 2014 and since then the country has been transformed by several events. the bbc‘s rami ruhayem assess how these major events have reshaped the country's political, and electoral landscape. in june 2014, isis fighters took over mosul, iraq's second—largest city. as they advanced across much of northern and central iraq, the iraqi army fled without a fight.

the prime minister, nouri al—maliki, came under intense external and internal pressure to step aside. in his place came haider al—abadi, a little known politician from the same party, the islamic dawa party. today, each of the two men heads a separate coalition and the party that's held the position of prime minister since 2005 is split for the first time. after the invasion, the world's most influential shia authority based here in najaf in southern iraq called on iraqis to volunteer to fend off the isis attack, which was threatening baghdad and even the south. a new paramilitary force took shape, known as the popular mobilisation units, or pmus. it was formed partly of pre—existing shia factions as well as large number of volunteers

who were influenced by the call of arms. form the pa ramilitaries, a new political force 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 contesting the elections, including the one borne of the pmus. just as isis was losing its grip and iraq recapturing its territory, the country's autonomous kurdish region held an independence referendum. the vast majority of voters backed independence but their euphoria quickly turned sour. federal iraqi forces and the kurdish peshmerga, which were both fighting isis, clashed with each other. the kurdish forces were beaten back and the federal government recaptured the disputed territories. in the wake of the defeat, the two parties that had been in power for 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. rami ruhayem, bbc news. countries around the world are trying to find ways to combat the environmental harm caused by plastics. in kenya they introduced strict laws eight months ago, penalising the production, use or sale of plastic bags. violators can face fines of almost $40,000 or be jailed for up to four years, and inspectors patrol the streets daily. virginia langeberg reports. on the streets of nairobi this is 110w on the streets of nairobi this is now a daily site. inspectors on the hunt against plastic. at one point they chased us away with knives. now they chased us away with knives. now they are good friends of ours, now

we are friends. other than this, compliance is good. any grace period is now well and truly over. in recent months ten butchers from one meat market were arrested after piles of rustic were found, and the hardline approach is seeing results. we need to be out there to check what is happening. compliance is at almost 80%. but there is a lot to be done. we expect it will take two yea rs done. we expect it will take two years to be really plastic free. here, the inspectors enter a factory. the company allegedly found in clear breach. this is banned in can you, totally. band. —— banned. the ones we are taking to court today are the ones we are finding with plastic bags. we will take you to court. the manager was arrested. eight months on from the harsh laws

being introduced, the problem is still highly visible across the east african nation. but the fix was never going to happen overnight. it was estimated at one point that ca nyo ns was estimated at one point that canyons used about 24 million plastic bags per month. the situation has improved. there are fewer plastic tags. this field is to be covered with plastic tags. now it isa be covered with plastic tags. now it is a lot cleaner. —— plastic bags. the message seems to be filtering through to the supermarkets, where linen bags are now normal. it is like drugs now. it is like being found with cocaine, it is actually illegal to have this in kenya. 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? and best of luck to the bournemouth

symphony orchestra. a family has had a narrow escape after getting out of their car at a safari park in the netherlands. 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. no—one was injured after the family managed to get back to their car. if managed to get back to their car. something had h you if something had happened to them you would have to say, hey, 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. trends for the forthcoming week — certainly starting off mainly dry, sunny spells, and the first couple of days could really turn really quite warm. take care. bye— bye. this is bbc news — the headlines. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has said that if north korea agreed to denuclearise and took bold action, america would work to help bring prosperity to the country. mr pompeo said he had asked the north korean leader kimjong—un