then residents of discuss the issue. then residents of the little town complained that their local hospital was facing closure. put in ordered the local governorjudy on the case. and then afamily governorjudy on the case. and then a family asked president putin to rewrite government roles and relations about mortgages. the president agreed, just like that. the kremlin would say that this is democracy in action. the critics maintain that shows the product of an inefficient political system in the bud and builds, system with weak institutions where so often nothing gets done. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the businessman and nightclub owner peter stringfellow has died at the age of 77. the yorkshireman, who is best known for establishing the world famous gentlemen‘s club in london, was suffering from cancer. time for a look at the headlines

here now on bbc news. house of fraser announces its to close more than half of its stores with a loss of 6,000 jobs. the government says its proposed temporary customs arrangement for the irish border after brexit should not continue beyond december 2021. ahead of his historic summit with north korea, president trump says he will consider inviting kim jong—un to america — if the meeting goes well. now it's time for meet the author. the persistence of the civil war in american culture is remarkable, but maybe not surprising. kevin powers is the latest writer to take a story of slavery from days of conflict in the 18605 and pick up its threads in virginia 90 years later, when an old man tries to chase his origins. a shout in the ruins is his second book. his first, the yellow birds, set against the background of the iraq war, having been a much admired novel from the pen of a former soldier.

in this one, his theme is america's long struggle with race. welcome. you were born late in the 20th century, but any reader coming to this book will be made aware again of how close the civil war is, even to americans of your age. absolutely, and particularly if you grew up where i did in richmond, virginia or points south. capital of the confederacy. indeed, yeah. its presence is still quite immediately felt. of course, the landmarks and battlefields are right around the area, and so you can really walk these grounds in a way that you can't if you're from other parts of the state. so for you to spin a story that stretches from the 19505

through the lens of an old man and his memories and the mystery of his, you know, his early years, back to the civil war is a perfectly natural thing. it's not a stretch. well, you know, it presented challenges, certainly, but the idea was to demonstrate just how close it is in time. it's only passed out of living memory, as you say, in the 19505. this character, george seldom, represents that kind of passing out of living memory. and so for me, it felt perfectly natural to explore, you know, the way that the legacy of that period is still very present today. and in the form of racial attitudes, really, because what we're talking about here, the guts of the story — the civil war part of the story, because it moves back and forth — is based on a plantation.

right. and the principal character is someone who has to live under that. absolutely. and, you know, the story is basically about how people who have been so fundamental to the character of virginia, who have contributed in essential ways to the culture of the place where i'm from, have been not afforded the same kind of opportunities or recognition as full members of that society. a shout in the ruins is the title, of course. just describe the ruins. well, it's really... i guess in a larger sense, thematically, the title refers to the opportunity that wasn't fully realised after the american civil war. it was the moment in american history where we — and by we, i mean americans and also southerners — were going to determine whether we were going to be the kind of country we said we were. and that opportunity was there,

and i think remains. but certainly, it wasn't fully realised at that time. for me, the tragedy in many ways is that the cleansing — if you want to call it that — was incomplete. and very soon after the end of the war, reconstruction, the period immediately afterwards, didn't do all of the work that i think it could have. well, and that was the period in which the south, southerners, felt that they were being humiliated and that the seeds of resentment which would last for a century and more were planted. absolutely. and all the revisionism and the lost cause retelling of the story of the american south began in the ashes of the war, in reconstruction. so let's talk about the old man who goes back in his memory and tries to find out how he came to be who he was. right.

it's a classic storyteller's trick. i don't mean that pejoratively. no, no, i understand, yeah. and it works because we want to know too. and that's the idea. ifigure if i could create a character who was in some ways after the same thing as the reader would be, then that would allow the reader to make these discoveries along with him. particularly this man, i think, is quintessentially virginian. what do you mean by that? well, the strands that he... i won't give it away, but who he comes from... yeah, we don't want to spoil that for readers. but the kind of different lineages that he has... so he represents all that's good about virginia and, you know, if you want to take it larger about america as well, but also all the pain and suffering has been involved in the evolution of the country too. yes, and the uncertainties about origin, which is such an american preoccupation.

i guess that's true. i was talking to somebody not long ago. and ijust had to say we're all mutts. we don't really know where we come from. and i think one of the dangers of that, you know, you can fixate on certain kinds of identities, whether it be an obsession with the south and — i'll put this in quotes — "the glories of the confederate past". and that's something that people are still trying to shake off today. as a writer, you had enormous success with the yellow birds. and this came from your own experience in the military. and you wrote with a kind of searing pen about the experience, what it does to people, and really what it's like, what it feels like, what it smells like. it's quite a shift to go to this. i mean, you really are saying, "right now, i believe i can tackle the kinds of big subjects that a novelist is obliged to tackle."

but did you sense that this was quite a step? i knew it presented different challenges. 0bviou5ly, the yellow birds is fundamentallyjust one person's story and this takes on several people's story and several time periods, so i had to try to accurately capture different, very different perspectives. and use a different narrative technique. absolutely, and, you know, allow. in a way, the story to present the drama. not unadorned but with less intensity, in a way, because, you know, you don't want... particularly the scenes of certain kinds of violence, violence against enslaved people, i didn't want to get into something... you could see the danger of becoming too, you know, too crude about it. sure, and i didn't want to

sensationalize it, but, you know,... in the same way that my service in the military was a pressing experience to explore, my upbringing in virginia and in the south was pressing and felt immediate in much the same way. do you enjoy the writing business? you were a soldier for a period. i mean, you've always been interested in literature and so on. absolutely. but now, you've taken a very different path. i enjoy the writing very much. it feels satisfying and worthwhile, and ifeel like it allows me to make discoveries about my own way of thinking in the world and my own beliefs. you know, and onejust hopes that you can connect with readers who will have some of the same questions. that's very meaningful to me, and that feels like a useful way to spend one's time. and what of the old man in the ‘505 who finally discovers the truth

about his real story? what do you want the reader to feel about him? i think he reaches a point of acceptance, where the past... you know, for him, it's slightly different because he's at the end of his life. but in a way, i think it can represent that we don't always have to be defined by our past. by making new choices in the future, we can become new people. and notjust new people as individuals, but also a new people. and so, i hope people will come away from this story with at least a thread of hope, to recognise that despite all the pain and suffering that's characterised much of virginia's history — really, let's be honest, the planet's history — that there's always the opportunity to do something different tomorrow. kevin powers, author

of a shout in the ruins. thank you very much. thank you, i appreciate it. good evening. it's been a warm day for all, even with the cloud across southern areas. of course, it's that warmth has triggered a few sharp showers. you can see the cluster of cloud in scotland and northern ireland, as well as a weak weather front across the south, which is going to continue to bring the risk of a few showers edging north through the night. whilst those thundery showers are further north, scotland will tend to be drab, with no cloud overnight tonight, to scotland, wherer it will as cold. although a little chilly, six or 7 degrees, and might you feel a contrast to further south. and once again, tomorrow, almost a repeat performance. a lot of cloud, but this time, the threat of showers is pushing a little further north into northern england and parts of the midlands, wales and the southwest. probably fewer in

the south and east, but still a risk with that sunshine for the north of showers in the afternoon which could spark another storm. similar story as a move into the weekend, would very be showers around, some sunshine as well, temperatures into the low 205 for many of us. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is 0ut5ide source. donald trump's hosting the japanese prime minister ahead of the summit with north korea, talking up the benefits of striking a deal. the denuclearization of the korean peninsula will usher in a new era of prosperity, security and peace for all koreans, north and south, and for people everywhere. between now and the north korea summit, mr trump will be at the g7 gathering in canada, where he'll meet some allies who are decidedly underwhelmed by his trade tariffs. we'll report from quebec.

as the search for survivors ends in guatemala, the authorities are being asked why didn't they order an evacuation before the volcano erupted ? and the bbc‘s clare marshall has been with scientists in antarctica