the us first lady, melanie trump, has called for republicans and democrats to work together to change the country's immigration policy. she made the comments amid controversy over president trump's zero—tolerance approach towards illegal immigrants. the conservative candidate ivan duque has won colombia's presidential election, having campaigned to overhaul the 2016 peace agreement with farc rebels. mr duque wants to introduce tougher punishments for war crimes committed by the farc. electoral officials said he polled more than 54% of the vote. at the football world cup in russia, the defending champions, germany, have made a disastrous start to their bid to retain the title. another of the favourites to win the tournament, brazil, have also had a disappointing start, with a 1—1 draw against switzerland. now on bbc news it's time for dateline london. hello and a warm welcome

to dateline london. i'm jane hill. this week, we discuss a turbulent week in westminster around the brexit negotiations, consider how much was achieved at the us—north korea summit and we'll discuss the potentially desperate humanitarian situation in yemen. my guests this week are dr vincent magombe, from africa inform international, the north american writer and broadcaster jeffrey kofman, the british political commentator and columnist steve richards, and the french algerian journalist nabila ramdani. welcome to you all. at westminster, it's been

a particularly turbulent week around all things brexit. there was surprise in some quarters that the government avoided defeat on an amendment put forward by the upper house, the lords, about giving parliament a meaningful vote on any brexit deal. one of theresa may's junior ministers resigned, hours before the vote. earlier in the week, her secretary of state for exiting the eu had decided not to. so much remains uncertain, but one thing we do know is that the white paper won't now be published in time for the european council summit, later this month. steve, it is hard to know where to begin after a week like we hand, if it is possible to summarise, where on earth are we, after this week? no further forward in terms of the ending of this brexit. it's like a netflix box set, when no one knows the ending, including all the main players. this week illustrated why that's the case. theresa may is a fragile prime minister, negotiating the terms of what britain will propose to the european union, with a divided cabinet.

she has a hung parliament, a divided parliamentary party. this is going to happen again and again. you mentioned the vote on a meaningful vote, when the brexit deal is put to the house of commons. that was surreal. because the vote will be meaningful, i can exclusively reveal! laughter in other words, if she is defeated on the deal, which is possible, the idea she stands up and says, "thank you very much for defeating me, we now just to leave without a deal" is a fantasy. she will have no authority to do anything. maybe she'll win the vote, that is meaningful because it means britain will be leaving. this is a multilayered game where anything, frankly, could happen. and i think it is a game, what's happening here and we saw it this

week, the hardline brexiteers are hoping to run out the clock. they are gaining her and her weakness. and the majority in parliament who are soft brexiteers or remainers and hoping, that now that we are within months, not even a year... nine months. all of the clarity we kept being promised is as cloudy as ever. david davis and borisjohnson and the other hardliners are really hoping that if they can just keep kicking this down, the deadline will approach, "no, we don't have a deal! out we are" and we don't have a say. but to what end? what happens to trade? the commons vote was ultimately about... edmund theresa may was able

to persuade all but two of our mps to back her brexit. vulnerable figure with a bitterly divided conservative party. i would suspect she spent most of last week, trying to convince david davis not to resign. similarly, would—be rebels such as dominic grieve would have been encouraged to toe the line. yes, the government scraped through, without a defeat, but not without a price. there were climb—downs by the government on amendments that it was hard to know in many ways who exactly had won. but the division within the conservative party also reflects a very divided society, two years on from the brexit vote. and the kind of antagonistic arguments we are seen within the conservative party. i am an african and ugandan in london watching and i am enjoying watching this tragicomedy.

it's like the british people are just walking towards the cliff, not knowing where they're going. what amazes me is how... you know, you taught us democracy and all those types of things. parliament represent the people. it amazes me how the prime minister and cabinet have to fight to take away the power of parliament, for fear that it's not going to do what they want. anyway, i think the difference between what happens here and what happens in a country like uganda is that whatever the scenario later on that emerges, britain will still survive because of the institutions that you have and so one. take for example uganda, if we were in such a situation where you don't have institutions, you don't have democracy, presidents do what they want, killing people all over the it would end a very, very tragically. what i say it is a tragicomedy, in britain, you will end up in the front. i don't want to scare people but i think scotland might go away one day and ireland

might go away one day. because of brexit. but little england will survive. it will try to assume its imperial role later on. later on. try to save the commonwealth... that is in edition of dateline london for a few years down the road. scottish mps leaving prime minister's questions. the first minister of scotland, nicola sturgeon, is trying to use brexit too few will be argued again for independence and a second referendum. a majority of scottish people voted to stay in the eu. there is no evidence yet that there is any more renewed momentum towards that. the voting polls does not suggest a big shift yet. but she is obviously hoping... and i think she is sceptical stunts in parliament

but she would have authorised this one in westminster. they are trying to dramatise it any possible way they can westminster against scotland. you know, "how dare westminster behave this way and treat scotland with such contempt?" that is a framing which might, might at some point renewed interest ina second referendum on independence. that's one of the many, many wild cards flying around. what i don't think will happen is a no deal. because theresa may is convinced that would be a catastrophe, as an example. there is no majority in the house of commons for it. precisely. so even if she loses on her deal, parliament won't allow there to be known deal. they will be a constitutional crisis in these circumstances. but i think, one way or another, there will be a scramble to extend the deadline of this article 50 and try to sort it out. yeah.

i would put money... it is very dangerous to do anything in this world. but go on, do it anyway! but there will be no no deal, something will happen. it is possible that we may look at a scenario where, really... the way the prime minister is going at the moment, she is is a brexiteer one day and the next day and remainer, the government may have to fall and we end up in a new election. but we have a divided opposition as well! that's right. that brings up the deafening silence of the labour party. and you know, you talk about the strength of the institutions, the parliament depends on a vigorous and vocal, loyal opposition. and jeremy corbyn's indifference, at best, to brexit, leaves his party with no clear vision and no clear alternative. and — and with all the vulnerabilities of theresa may, any other labour leader would have been able, i think, to have toppled her.

but people are so afraid of him, within her party, as well, that this is allowed to perpetuate itself. that is why i would call the whole situation a slow motion crisis. because it seems to be going on indefinitely, with no obvious solution in sight. but i do agree with steve, the scenario ofa no deal prospect is highly unlikely. but isn't there a deep irony, though, in the brexiteers who are obsessed with taking back control, you know, having this sneering attitude towards the scottish issues — and you might think they might have a bit more sympathy towards the scottish national party, but instead, they keep baiting them. and i think that's quite unhealthy for the entire debate. they would say it's about sovereignty, but let's take one final thought. and again, it's crystal ball time, steve, another vote in the commons

this week. theresa may having to corral the troops to chequers, taking the inner cabinet to chequers, the country retreat to debate this. there is a lot happening in the next few weeks. yes. i know people have been saying this for the last two years, but this really is the beginning of the end sequence. each week is going to contain all kinds of dramas. and this coming week, as you say, there will be another vote on the meaningful vote. it is like something out of monty python's flying circus for the viewers who can remember — a wacky comedy. keep up at the back! it is a comedy! you are right. the cabinet at too divided to publish the white paper on brexit before the summit. it will resolve nothing. then they will agree on their "position" because it is not clear what that means yet. presumably, the white paper will be published but that will be

difficult. there are more difficult votes in july. and then the most difficult bit of all begins, which is the negotiation between the uk and the rest of the european union. yes. this is just trying to clarify britain's position. yes. this is what we forget: there are many, many other countries involved, that is what we forget. this is a very mean thing to do to you, but a quick, final thought about the leader herself, the prime minister herself. how many times have we all sat around this table saying, she is vulnerable, she is vulnerable? your thoughts at the end of a difficult week? of this process. but it cannot be definite. because of the fragilities we have been talking about. but a replaced leader changes nothing of the things that we have been talking about — ie the context. she's so lucky that this brexit... if there wasn't brexit, i think she would have gone, not the scandals and all of these things.

if it wasn't brexit — i think she is happy it is brexit but... i have a feeling... i wouldn't describe her as happy! but we take your point! plenty more, to discuss next week, isuspect, given the timeline steve has outlined. a very busy week. president trump declared, this week, that the nuclear issue with north korea is "largely solved". that is a quote. he met kimjong—un in singapore, where the two leaders signed a document which committed the communist state to de—nuclearisation of the korean peninsula. analysts, though, pointed out there's no reference to "verification" in the pledge, the us president later saying: "that's because he only had been there one day and the two men had agreed it all". donald trump went on to take south korea, and his own armed forces, by surprise, by saying that the us‘s regular joint military manoeuvres with the south would stop. they're very expensive, apparently. which is what an awful lot of goods may be about to become, because on friday, he announced that

25% tariffs would be slapped on $50 billion worth of chinese products from july. we heard the word historic so many times this week, i have outlined some of the negatives, but the very fact that it took place, that's a positive? a source of optimism? easy for those who don't like trump to bash him. and easy for those who love him to revere him. you are right, let's give him credit for doing one thing. 70 years of stalemate, old—style politics and diplomacy got us nowhere with the koreas. he has made headway. whether or not his bold statements that it is now on a settled issue or to that, we will see. he is covered in that way. if six months from now he said, i tried, i got us further, i looked him in the eye, he said

we could trust him but we can't. i don't think he's going to pay a price for that. what's more worrisome is that he's really shown his true colours in the last couple of weeks. for those of us who are sceptical, to say the least, of his values and his should trajectory of american values, projection, rather. we have seen that this is a man who would much rather be in the company of dictators and demagogues rather than democrats. if there was any doubt, we saw on fox newsjust yesterday when he stood up in front of the white house and said, i have to paraphrase, i don't have the precise words but he essentially said that kim jong—un's people listen to him, i wish my people listened to like that. and then he said to cnn, no, no, that wasjust being sarcastic, "i wasjoking," and i think we have all been caught in those moments. the week before, with

the g7 and his slagging of the european leaders and justin trudeau in canada, he just doesn't want namby— pamby politics. he is a response to that. it is very interesting. that phrase of yours, he is somebody who wants to dine and perhaps get into bed with dictators. as africans, we are completely at a loss to understand what trump's approach to africa is, what the policy is. we see him dining and going into bed with dictators. i come from uganda. we have a brutal dictator. his only value is to america, he takes out troops to somalia to take out islamists and so on. but he is brutal. no democracy. our people are dying. 30 years and he's just change the constitution, taking away the 75 age limit. he is a terrible dictator. trump, he is continuing to give him arms and so on. i would like to ask you see him going to north korea. that's nothing to me.

it is total nonsense. but what is his approach to different world matters like africa? i think he freelances this, you give him too much credit, there is no approach! it is seat of the pants diplomacy in the most powerful office of the world. i would certainly qualify your optimism, though. i think the summit was certainly successful as a media jamboree. it had the feel of a reality tv spectacular. that is how trust likes it. kim jong—un's appearances in front of the foreign media are rare in deed, he would have been quite happy to exchange smiles. there wasn't quite a bromance even though trump was in his element. but he loves those big pr exercises, which ultimately come to unchallenging and simplistic. his view of the world is in terms of deals. no doubt, he would have his eyes on the nobel peace prize for getting together with his worst enemy

and cooking up yet another deal. with a very simple objective being world peace. his supporters would say that if kim jong—un follows through on the document he signed and if we start seeing some evidence of denuclearisation, that is something that previous leaders have not managed. that is where the problem lies because theyjointly signed documents. it is supposed to be dismantling of north korean peninsula, nuclear, getting rid of all nuclear weapons, including potential american weapons. far from a pledge of what america wanted and what trump's advisers wanted, full dismantlement. ultimately, america didn't get that. i think he does deserve some credit

for recognising what, i gather, i'm no expert on north korea, were early indications of some willingness to move on some issues. not, i'm sure, denuclearisation. but a willingness to engage. i read that the, sort of, early overtures came more from north korea. it reminds me, you remember the early 1990s when the british government sensed there were changes in the ira and theyjust slept on it. credit for that. it is fascinating. you could make a play or a film out of the last few days. that meeting with the g7. yes. his disdain for these weak kneed leaders of democracy. angela merkel struggling

with her coalition, it might implode at any moment. theresa may might be gone this week. and he just find it irritating. he didn't even want to be there. and he prefers dictators, because you can do the deal. these people are going to be around for 30 years possibly. thejuxtaposition... sorry. the unstated story is who actually should take, you know, the respect and value of doing this? it is more to do with south korea, the president of south korea came to power. remember they had the conflict with america when he said i want to talk to the north. he campaigned on that. he won elections on that and he has followed through. yes. i would think that it is more to do with korean people, whether it's north korea or south korea, they want to come together. trump is this houdini just stealing the glory. he is shining when i don't think he needs the credit. i would disagree.

more self—conscious presidents... he threatened to nuke the entire country, trump, in some speech or other. now he is in negotiations with a leader who he personally insulted, i can't remember. he would argue that is his gamesmanship and that is there were other factors. it sometimes creates space for him to leap in when opportunities arise. jeffrey, a quick thought on the trade war, a phrase used again a lot this week, the trade tariffs he talked about with china, they are not due to come in untiljuly. we won't see any movement because there are plenty of analysts telling him it is a bad idea. it is. he is talking about adding tariffs to the eu and canada on cars at 25%. he sees his role as putting up walls around the us.

why are we importing cars? we make great cars in america. sending conductors from china, we don't need them. but the problem is, as you say, it is a very simplistic worldview. in an interconnected global economy, though semiconductors are part of a supply chain that feeds american industry. drs there in semiconductors. even his own administration people are saying, this isn't really viable. china immediately responded with counter tariffs. i don't think it's a trade war yet but it certainly sets the stage for one. the question is, with steel tariffs innit in the eu and canada, is he wrapping it up so that we have a trade war? steel in the us. only 12% of the economy goes into trade. americans consume 70... 88% of what they produce. they are quite insulated. apart from this supply chain issue from trade. that will return in weeks to come. in yemen, the biggest battle so far in the country's civil war has been

continuing for control of the vital port of houdayda, which is the entry point for about three quarters of all aid for the country. more than 22 million people need humanitarian assistance, with more than eight million people at risk of starvation. the united nations failed to find a diplomatic path to head off the assault, one element of a three—year conflict between a saudi—led coalition and iranian—aligned houthi rebels. nabila, just over a three—year war that has gone under—reported, what is your take on the situation there now? this latest, vital battle for the port. the saudi led forces are calling the attack on houdayda a golden victory. but it threatens what already a catastrophe catastrophic war. daschle what is already a catastrophic war. it is a horrendous conflict. it started more

than three years ago. yemen was already the poorest arab nation. it is now the world's worst humanitarian disaster. it could become far, far worse. the un reiterated that this week. houdayda is a crucial port for those defending it, notjust those but for military reasons. goods such as water, food, and medicine enter the country through the port.

effectively, are the essentials are being distributed to 18 million yemenis, two thirds of the population. if the port is destroyed, which seems very possible, all these essentials wouldn't be able to go through. all the humanitarian aid. but even now, two thirds of the 29 million yemeni population suffers from food insecurity. with 50,000 children who died of hunger and related illnesses last year alone. i million people in yemen have cholera. the fall of houdayda could threaten mass starvation and the threat of even more disease. one of the worst aspects of this is that the west knows very little about what is going on with these devastating starvation figures. and the intricacies about an increase untangled conflict. i don't think the west knows little, they know. they see it, the reports are just too many. uganda, nobody talks about our tragedy. yemen is in the news every day. people have reported extensively about this. is what this shows is the hypocrisy of western politics. i'm sorry to say. i always believed in virtues of democracy from the west and so on. but if the west was not supporting saudi arabia in the way it's doing and blinding its eyes to the tragedy

that is happening in places like yemen, we would have a very different situation. but if the west is motivated to sell arms, in spite of, for example, human rights violations in saudi arabia itself. apart from what the saudi led coalition is doing in yemen. there is a real need for a rethink on global politics in terms of, you know, what do we do to stop these things? it is all driven by these interests, to sell arms, to make money, in spite of people dying. it's exacerbated and i think you're entirely right, but it is exacerbated by the fact that this is a proxy war between iran, saudi arabia and we know what america things of iran. we know trump enjoys banquets with the saudis

and being lavished in palaces. the moral leadership and the voice in europe is silent on this. theresa may is too busy covering her brexit... agenda. you're right, saudi has a blank cheque on this. the antipathy toward iran fuels saudi arabia's power in this. we must, regrettably, leave it there. partly speaks to our point but we will discuss this again. thank you, good to see you. thanks for watching. do join us again, next week, same time, same place. goodbye. well, let's see what the weather's

got in store for the working week, and summer is set to return to southern parts of the uk. in fact, temperatures will be on the high 20s by mid—week. in the north, however, it is going to be quite a bit cooler and we are expecting some rain from time to time. in the short term, still a bit of cloud in the early hours across still a bit of cloud in the early houi’s across eastern still a bit of cloud in the early hours across eastern parts of the country, but i think certainly by dawn the sun is out across many western and northern parts of the uk. early morning temperatures will be typically around 12, 13 or 1a degrees. and then through the morning the atlantic winds will once again dragons and cloud, in particular the western areas, and at times there will be a little bit of light rain or drizzle. eastern areas should just about hang the sunshine for most of the day. a very warm day in the south—east, in the mid—20s. not bad also across yorkshire. as we go through tuesday and wednesday the warmth comes in from the south but ta kes a warmth comes in from the south but takes a bit of a detour and never quite reaches northern ireland in scotland. so here it will remain on the cool side, with some light rain. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america

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