this is bbc news. the headlines at 3pm. the us defence secretary warns china over its deployment of missiles in disputed areas of the south china sea. despite china's claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion. president trump's summit with north korea is back on — confirmation comes after kim jong—un‘s envoy delivers a large letter to donald trump. visa says its services are now operating at full capacity — after customers across europe were left unable to make payments. spain's new prime minister has been sworn in, after leading the coalition which forced mariano rajoy out of office yesterday. also in the next hour — the latest on the recent disruption on the railways. the industry pledges to get its services in the north back on track as soon as possible. the bbc learns that police have reopened an investigation into one of the central figures

in the jeremy thorpe scandal of the 1970s. and at 330 the bbc‘s gary o'donoghue tests a pair of glasses which provide sighted help for blind people. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the united states has accused china of ‘intimidating' its neighbours by continuing a military build—up in the south china sea. james mattis, the defense secretary, said china was using its military might to coerce other countries in the region to accept its ownership of the disputed waters. he was speaking at a security summit in singapore. president trump is due to meet with north korea's kimjong—un there in 10 days time. from singapore, karishma vas—wami has sent this report. the us is here to stay in asia,

that's the message us defense secretary james mattis had for his asian counterparts in singapore today. but he also warned of china's increasing influence. china's militarisation of artificial features in the south china sea includes the deployment of anti—ship missiles, surface to air missiles, electronicjammers and the landing of bomber aircraft at woody island. despite their claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion. china says it owns all of the south china sea, a lucrative and strategic shipping zone, even though six other countries lay claim to it. it's been building military installations in the area, and critics say beijing has silenced condemnation of its actions, either by paying off its asian allies or by bullying them,

allegations china denies. translation: it is within china's sovereignty to deploy troops and weapons on islands and reefs in the south china sea. it is allowed by international law. anyone making carping comments on this is trying to interfere in china's internal affairs. it's not worthy of refuting. but while the us is keen to assert its leadership in asia, president trump's america first policies are sometimes incompatible with those goals. in singapore, security is being stepped up, because in just ten days' time this city plays host to the summit of the century. the meeting between president trump and north korea's leader kim jong—un. the us has said it is committed to denuclearisation, and that pulling us troops out of this region isn't on the table. america is positioning itself as a force to be reckoned with in asia,

and the superpower its asian allies should stick to. karishma vaswami, bbc news, singapore. america says it will not discuss removing thousands of us troops from the korean peninsula — at its summit with north korea. the meeting, which has been confirmed to happen in singapore on june 12th, is expected to focus on the denuclearisation of the peninsula. more from hywell griffith in seoul. the news that the summit is back on again has been welcomed here in seoul. a spokesman for the south korean government saying they await that moment on the 12th of june with excitement. they will also have been reading between the lines in terms of what donald trump said in the white house, particularly the idea that this will become a process and not everything will be done on a deal in singapore. and, vitally, he seemed to shy away from the issue of denuclearisation and what exactly that would mean, suggesting maybe that the gap between the us‘s demand for clear,

irreversible, verifiable denuclearisation is still some way away from what north korea wants as stage by stage. they will, however, have taken heart from the idea that a peace treaty could be part of the summit, an end officially to the war between north and south. the stalemate has lasted 65 years. meanwhile, here in the korean peninsula, south has been talking to north. they have had their own talks about cooperation in the future, about economic ties. one other piece of good news that has come to seoul are the words from america's defence secretary. now, he is in a defence summit in singapore already and he said that there will be no move to pull us troops out of this region as a result of the singapore summit. the security of the region, which at the moment depends on the us, is maintained, for the medium term at least, and obviously that prospect of a longer term peace is now hanging before us all with the summit on the 12th ofjune.

the united states has vetoed a un security council resolution calling for protection for palestinians in gaza and the west bank, following the deaths of more than 100 people during recent violent protests. the us ambassador to the un, nikki haley, said it was because the resolution failed to mention hamas — which israel views as a terrorist organisation. britain abstained in the vote. visa's payment system is now operating at "full ca pacity" — following widespread disruption to card payments across the uk and europe yesterday. the company says the problems were down to a ‘hardware failure‘ and has apologised to customers. payments processed through visa's systems account for one third of all uk spending. john mcmanus reports. visa says its high—tech payment system can handle 65,000 transactions per second, but on friday that boast

fell flat as cardholders in the uk and across europe found their plastic simply wouldn't work. the problem began in the afternoon, appearing to largely affect electronic payments rather than cash machine withdrawals. many shoppers took to social media to complain, with the company forced to apologise. these people in droitwich said it wasn't just customers who were caught out. you can tell the staff are on tenterhooks, the manager'sjumping and down. he's being a bit firm with his staff because it's territory they're not used to being in, i think. there was a couple in front of us, and we hear that all the cashpoints there... all the cards were down, and apparently it was all over the world. so i was, like, panicking. i've just gone on to barclays bank and drew some money out. payment processing through visa systems accounts for £1 of every £3 of all uk spending, that adds up to a lot of unhappy customers. by friday night, the company said their cards were now largely working at normal

levels and that the "issue was the result of a hardware failure. as a nation, we're using cards more than ever. that's why friday's events left so many of us frustrated. but experts say it would be wise to have some back—up payment optionsjust in case, that's cash to you and me. the consumer group which has warned people to be wary of any phone calls or e—mails about the visa problems. they mayjust be fraudsters trying to use the event to gain your personal details. john mcmanus, bbc news. with me is guy anker, managing editor of moneysavingexpert. com. what struck you the most about this service disruption as it has been described? the scale of it. although

the europe, we were grasping at each other in the office, we had not seen such a big outage, but luckily it only lasted a few hours —— we were gasping. anyone going out tonight, check your wallet, if you have a mastercard, and cash, make sure you have those with you. what does it say to you when you see things like this happen to such a huge financial institution? alarm bells? absolutely. unfortunately this is the latest incident for uk banking customers, reasoning tsb —— recently tsb had major problems, still ongoing, in fact, tsb had major problems, still ongoing, infact, and tsb had major problems, still ongoing, in fact, and we have seen other banks suffer outages, sometimes a few hours and sometimes a few weeks, rbs was hit, for example. it makes you wonder, that

they have back—up systems? example. it makes you wonder, that they have back-up systems? who knows. sure this will come out in the wash in the next days and weeks, both tsb and visa, but it is so important that technology works in this day and age because we rely on it. many people don't take cash, it is easy to pay with your phone and co nta ctless is easy to pay with your phone and contactless cards, it is so important that technology works. we're not in a crisis situation where people are worried the ship is sinking but we do need these organisations to live better. —— do better. is there an issue with banking technology? 0r better. is there an issue with banking technology? or the companies who got it up and running, now it is just held together with sticking plasters? difficult to know exactly, you need a technical software expert to give that answer, but i remember a few years ago when de rbs had a few problems and people put that down to not investing its technology

—— when rsp. —— when rbs. we don't know what has happened with bird—macro, of course what they all seem to be slightly different insta nces seem to be slightly different instances —— we don't know what has happened with visa, of course. these banking systems need to be better. how is easy to get compensation if you are a customer or a company, small business? for customers, it might be people buying petrol, people buying drinks, having problems, but there will be people who are out of pocket. let's say you could not get a train because the ticket machine was not working and people had to stay in a hotel. people have had to switch to more alternative cards, as well. there is no president for this but if you are a customer, contact your bank when the dust has settled, keep your

receipts and ask for compensation. it is not the fault of the bank but they may sort something out behind they may sort something out behind the scenes with visa. what paying options do people have? i no longer have a cheque book. two companies still accept cheques? ash do. i do have a mastercard. people say get the second card, but there is the temptation to debt. what are the options for people? you have listed a lot of them, and i know what you mean about cheques, i can't think of the last time i used one myself stop the last time i used one myself stop the dog that sacking cards and often people may have a credit card and debit card —— you talk about second cards. if you have a second card option, although visa says everything is sorted, and it does appear to everything is sorted, and it does appearto be, everything is sorted, and it does appear to be, but if you do have a secondary cards always have them with you, but that is the general will anyway. today is a reminder ——

general rule. your card to get rejected for any number of reasons it might be the fault of mastercard 01’ it might be the fault of mastercard or visa, maybe the chip and pin is not working. the cash you? i do think i do, no. part of the cashless society. —— i don't think i do, no. laughter thanks forjoining us. the headlines on bbc news: the us defence secretary warns china over its deployment of missiles in disputed areas of the south china sea. president trump's summit with north korea is back on — confirmation comes after kim jong—un‘s envoy delivers a large letter to donald trump. visa says its services are now operating at full capacity — after customers across europe were left unable to make payments. and in sport...kyle edmund is out of the french open.

the british number 0ne went down in 5 sets to the italian fabio fognini in the third round. he was the last british player in the main singles draw. play has started at headingley on the second day of the second test, the morning session was lost to rain. they have just lostjoe they have just lost joe root. it's nearly halftime in the challenge cup quarter—final between warrington and wigan, wolves lead 8—0. i'll be back in the next hour when we should have some england team news ahead of their friendly against nigeria at wembley. the rail industry has pledged to get train services in the north of england back on track as quickly as possible, following days of disruption. northern has announced it will be running an emergency timetable until the end ofjuly, with 165 services scrapped. peter marshall has been speaking to passengers in the lake district.

replacement buses have been doing brisk service at the start of the lakes line, 0xenholme station near kendall, because trains are few and far between. it's a bit hard for us, being a bit disabled. a long journey ahead of us, we can do without the extra hour that it's cost us. the majority of services between 0xenholme and windermere were cancelled yesterday. for passengers like nick hay, trying to get home to liverpool after a family break in windermere, it's frustrating. i think it's absolutely scandalous. you can see there people here with prams, dogs, we're not getting all the help. anybody here? nowhere. and this could go on for weeks on this line in particular? i believe so, yes. i think it's scandalous, something needs to be done about it. businesses in the lake district rely on visitors coming back time and time again. anything which affects that, like a poor rail connection, is worrying. if people aren't having the type of quality visitor experience that they deserve, then that's going to be the legacy.

that's what they're going to remember. not the fantastic scenery, not the great visitor attractions, all let down by something outside our control. tourism leaders fear poor rail services could do long—term damage to the lake district's reputation around the world. to be let down at that very first point of contact with the county, to come out of that station and to not be able to have that smooth onward journey is just unacceptable. and now there's confirmation from northern that for an initial two—week period from monday, all lake line services are to be removed and replaced with a bus service, as it struggles to cope with timetable changes and driver shortages. those who rely on the rail link have another suggestion. i would like to see this line taken out of the northern franchise and operated by a prudent operator. whether that's initially the government as they're doing on the east coast mainline.

northern has apologised for the disruption and says it's doing all it can to improve the situation quickly. peter marshall, bbc news, 0xenholme. a 43—year—old man has been charged in connection with the attempted murder of two police officers. constables kenny mckenzie and laura sayers were stabbed as they attended a routine visit at a house in greenock yesterday. they're due to be discharged from hospital today. google is reported to be pulling out of a contract to do artificial intelligence work for the us defense department — following opposition within the technology giant's own workforce. some employees resigned and thousands of others signed a protest petition saying it was the first step towards using artificial intelligence for lethal purposes. google's work is said to have involved helping the military identify people from drone footage. the new prime minister of spain, pedro sanchez, has officially been sworn into office today by king felipe in madrid. the ceremony comes less than 2a hours after his predecessor, mariano rajoy, was forced

out of office. gavin lee has been following events in madrid. the new spanish prime minister pedro sanchez has brought about a political first in the past 2a hours, engineering a motion of no—confidence against mariano rajoy, the man who seemed unshakeable, even a week ago. the fact he survived as the people's party prime minister, attempts for his resignation, people calling for it, a no—confidence motionjust a year ago, and he got enough, pedro sanchez, enough people behind him to support that motion. what happened today? a short while ago, there was a brief formal ceremony, the swearing—in process at the royal palace on the outskirts of madrid. the victor stood side by side with the ousted former prime minister in that formal passing over of the role. and another political first, while pedro sanchez swore an oath on the constitution,

he asked for the bible and crucifix not to be present. he is an atheist prime minister. the first that spain has had in its history. he has spoken about the importance of not having religion in education. he will announce his government in the next few days. there are six other parties who have made demands on the prime minister, saying they have supported his motion and they want something in return, including catalan and basque nationalists. it has been dubbed the frankenstein coalition by critics. he wants to rule for two years and bring in certain changes, keeping to the budget, but there are questions about how long this government will last. five people have now died in an e coli outbreak in the us. a total of 197 cases across 35 states have been reported in the largest us outbreak since 2006. the contaminated food is believed to be romaine lettuce — but an investigation is still ongoing as to its source. earlier we spoke to

andrew skinner, fellow of the society of food hygiene & technology. the investigation has been going on for around two months and there are still uncertainties in terms of the causes of it. we will come back to that in a moment. let's not forget this is a very nasty bacteria. whilst there are many types of e coli, this one, it produces a very nasty toxin and once ingested it can have some fairly serious effects on the person. it's notjust diarrhoea but stomach cramps and it can result in very watery diarrhoea and it can result in blood in the diarrhoea. in very extreme cases it can result in kidney failure so this is pretty nasty. they need to get back to the source and the cause so they can be absolutely certain they have eliminated it and also they can take action to make sure it doesn't happen again.

the bbc has learned that an investigation into the attempted murder of norman scott is to be re—opened — as police concede they may have wrongly concluded that andrew newton — a hitman allegedly hired to kill him — was dead. scott was an ex—lover of former liberal party leader, jeremy thorpe, at a time when homosexuality was illegal. the story has been bought to life in the bbc one drama, a very english scandal, which concludes tomorrow evening. jon donnison reports. jeremy thorpe, charming, ambitious and powerful, was at the heart of one of the biggest political scandals of the 20th century. in an old bailey trial, the married liberal party leader was accused but acquitted of masterminding a plot to kill his former lover, norman scott. he was the love of my life.

don't be ridiculous. a current bbc drama starring hugh grant as thorpe has renewed interest in the case. safe journey, peter, and i wish you a happy life. and then i wish norman scott to be killed. but what is fiction and what is fact? this weekend a new bbc documentary will make fresh revelations. it's based on a panorama film made at the time of the trial in 1979, which has never been broadcast until now. it couldn't be shown because we had evidence ofjeremy thorpe's guilt. and, of course, he was found not guilty. so the documentary couldn't be shown, and furthermore i was ordered to destroy it by the director—general of the bbc. i declined that offer. i kept it as a tape, i converted it to disc. my dog tried to eat the disc but i still managed to save it, and that's what's running tomorrow night. the documentary will look at the role of andrew newton, portrayed here in the bbc drama. he's the man who has admitted

shooting norman scott's dog, before his gun jammed as he tried to shoot scott. newton said he was paid to do it. in 2015 gwent police began looking into the case again, after fresh claims that newton could prove there was a cover—up. but officers stopped when they concluded newton was dead. now, gwent police have told the bbc andrew newton might still be alive, and are trying to trace him. norman scott, now in his late 70s, has welcomed the news. i don't think anybody has tried hard enough to look for him. i really don't. there must be people who knew him, and there would surely be a record of him dying. surely. jeremy thorpe died four years ago, but the case continues to fascinate, and the intrigue and the hunt for the truth continues. jon donnison, bbc news. the jeremy thorpe scandal is on bbc four this sunday at 10pm. the german state of

bavaria has introduced a controversial new law, which requires all public buildings to display a christian cross in their foyer. the man at the centre of the law — regional premier markus soeder — says the crucifix is at the heart of bavaria. but critics have slammed him for politicising a religious symbol to woo far—right, anti—islamists. tiffany wertheimer‘s report contains flash photography. this will be a common sight in bavaria from now on. as of friday morning, nearly all government buildings in the south—eastern german state must display a crucifix. as the law came into effect, its mastermind, premier markus soder, wasn't even in bavaria. he was at the vatican enjoying a private audience with the pope.

soder says the cross is at the heart of bavaria's identity. but the new law has left germans divided. translation: i think it's a good thing, because it's a part of our tradition, and i'm a religious person. i don't need to hang one on the wall. sometimes i even feel a bit uneasy about the cross. but i am of the opinion that everyone should be able to decide for themselves. markus soder is the leader of bavaria's conservative christian social union. it's the sister party of angela merkel‘s christian democratic union. with state elections looming, critics say the crucifix law is designed to claw back votes from germany's afd party, whose supporters are typically right—wing and anti—islamic. translation: it's a move by the election campaign. the afd talks a lot about christian values, and i think markus soder had to do something before the regional

election next october in order to win at all costs. bell rings. 0utrage at the law has come from far and wide, including the head of the german bishops' conference, who said the move was never discussed with him and he doesn't support it. soder‘s also been mocked. the state premier of neighbouring baden—wurttemberg compared this photo of him to a vampire film. in an effort to wind back the critical lashings, the bavarian government said while it is compulsory for buildings like police stations, courts and government offices, it's merely a recommendation for schools, museums and theatres. tiffany wertheimer, bbc news. it's the sport in which the passenger gets a rough ride. sidecar—cross will change all you thought you knew about motorbike sidecars. the british championship continues this month and mike bushell has been to hampshire, to meet the team for whom this

unique style of racing is a family affair. it is not a typical way for a dad to spend time with his daughter at the weekend but this bone crunching sport will shake up much of what you thought that you knew about sidecars which were originally popular as cheap alternatives to the motorcar. it's brilliant. where else can you spend an entire day with your teenage daughter and really enjoy yourselves? off the track dad is in charge but on the track i'm in charge. we shout at each other occasionally. she sometimes tells me because i'm going too fast or hit a bump too hard but it works really well. this could not be more different than the traditional image of a sidecar. it's sidecar cross and the passengers are not just there for the ride.

in sidecar cross the passenger is in the most precarious position, throwing their weight around on the back. brian and his daughter spent years watching until clarissa suggested forming a team. the first time we took it out for a run and started it up we drove into a tree within ten seconds! did you think he's mad to do it? kind of. we did have a few scares, especially at the start with all the noise and the others with you, but it's great. it's notjust beginners who come a cropper, there is often carnage around every corner. it's painful. you spend a whole race behind someone and your face can become numb because of the stones hitting you, you can have a fat lip, bleeding gums, and i thoroughly enjoy that! not exactly what i want to hear before my first lap as a passenger! it's all about transferring your weight. you have to switch over suddenly and take a seat like that. what do you need to

be a good passenger? more fitness and strength. i'm not massively strong in my arms but you've got to be pretty agile and fast moving. this is where i've got to do the work and lean over as brian turns the corner, over onto my bottom side and transfer the weight through the mud. back to the middle. by the end ofjust one lap, my arms felt locked in position, my knees like jelly. do you want yourjob back? it's all yours! i can see what you do now, congratulations. the cult comedy father ted is set to return as a musical. its co—creator graham linehan said the show is almost written — and will be the ‘real final episode' of the sitcom. father ted ran on channel 4 from 1995 to 1998 for 3 series.

footage has emerged of the moment a plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a busy street. a student pilot dodged power lines and traffic to bring the cessna down safely. local media in los angeles said the pilot was the only person on board at the time. the plane was reportedly heading towardsjohn wayne airport, in santa ana — when it began to experience engine troubles. luckily there are no reports of injuries or damage. now time for the weather with darren bett. it is going to be a lovely sunny end to the