this is bbc news. i'm nkem ifejika. our top stories: chanting: no trump, no kkk, no fascist usa! hundreds of thousands protest across the united states against president trump's hardline immigration policies. in india the rape and torture of a seven—year old girl sparks angry scenes on the streets. syrian forces shell opposition—held deraa as rebels refuse to surrender. game overfor messi and ronaldo — argentina out, portugal sent packing — the first day of the world cup knockouts. hello and welcome to bbc world news. from coast—to—coast, in major cities and small towns, hundreds of thousands of americans have come out to protest against president trump's immigration policies.

protestors have been calling for migrant families — split up at the us border — to be reunited. the rallies were organised before mr trump ordered an end to the widely criticised "zero tolerance" policy of separating children from their parents. but most of those 2,300 children are yet to be reunited with theirfamilies. chris buckler has been speaking to protestors in washington. chanting: no trump, no kkk, no fascist usa! a nation that was built on the back of immigration seems more than ever divided by the issue. chanting: vote them out! vote them out! no hate, no fear! across america, tens of thousands gathered, to protest at how people are treated when they arrive at this country's borders. from new york to san francisco, families marched together in support of otherfamilies. no kids should be put injail. in washington, on a stage that could be seen from the white house, children were among those sending

a message to president trump. you could imagine if someone took away our kids, you know, under the guise of giving them a bath. it's horrible, we want the families together, we want them to be together as soon as possible. and you know, we're here to make our voices heard. cheering. it was public anger that forced donald trump to change his policy of separating families however there is concern here that many parents have still not been reunited with their children. there's also a worry about what will come next — this suggestion that families could simply be held together. but president trump knows among his supporters there are many who want this border with mexico to remain secure. and he believes america couldn't cope with the huge numbers that want to make the country its home. i can't imagine being these people. i can't imagine not speaking the language. i can't imagine not having lawyers. i can't imagine not knowing what's going to happen to you. this day of action was planned

before the outcry over family separations but the white house knows the president's polarising policies will remain under close scrutiny. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. earlier i spoke to marissa lang, staff writer at the washington post, and i asked her what sort of people were on the rally. there were a number of people who came from around the washington area. there were just as many who came from various states across the country. we found a young man that had travelled from alabama alone on an ii—hour bus ride to be here today. there were a lot of families. a lot of parents came out with their children, grandparents, people who wanted to come and show support forthe immigrant families at the border. i talked to a gentleman who said he is a lifelong republican,

had never been out to a demonstration, and this was his first. that was the question i was going to ask you, if there were any newbies people who would not necessarily be against the republican agenda, or president trump's administration, who were in attendance. there were, yes. what does this say about the president's support? is this one of the ones where even his supporters are against him in large parts? i think it's a tricky question, the president has a base of people who are very much with him on this, who do support him, who think this is exactly the reaction that the country should be having to folks who are trying to cross the border. there are quite a few folks who are registered republicans, members of the president's party, who do not agree. there have been a few polls that show at the majority of americans think that these detentions are wrong and the country should move away from them. were there people who said, well, we should still secure our borders, or was this really on the other side of the argument? the protest today had three main points, the first was that they want the immediate return of the children separated from their parents.

the second is they wanted to stop family detentions, which the president's administration has said they will continue to do. they also wanted the president to move away from his zero tolerance immigration policy. stop the crackdowns and the criminalisation. there were other folks there who had a bit more of an aggressive personal agenda. people who were calling for the abolition of us immigration and customs enforcement, also known as ice. and there there were folks who said i believe we should have a secure border, but this is not how we should be treating people who are coming here seeking asylum. so it was a pretty wide array of opinions, but they all agreed on these few central points. what are the republicans are saying about this, at least president trump saying about this, is it the kind of thing that will affect the forthcoming elections, the mid—term elections? is this the kind of thing the president thinks i don't want this happening right now? i think it will be an issue in the upcoming election, it is interesting, the president tweeted while many of the rallies were happening across the country,

there were 750 in the united states today, he tweeted in the midst of that a message purporting his immigration policy and saying that we need to have a strong approach at the border, there needs to be aggressive methods in terms of addressing folks across illegally. i don't know it is changing his mind. that's certainly the hope. 0rganisers think if they keep the pressure on it might force his hand a bit to the place they want it to be. that is marissa lang, staff writer for the washington post. a seven—year—old girl who was raped and tortured in the indian state of madhya pradesh recently is now believed to be recovering from severe injuries. meanwhile, thousands have been out on the streets protesting against the incident. the bbc‘s nitin srivastava visits the town of mandsaur. prayers for someone they have never seen or met. these schoolgirls have been out on the streets demanding justice for a seven—year—old

who was brutally raped and stabbed. translation: this happened in our town today and can happen somewhere else tomorrow. such incidents have been on the rise. we want these monsters to be hanged. a sleepy town in central india struggles with shock. thousands have come out in support of the victim, who was taken from outside her school and tortured for hours. translation: her school cctv cameras were not working so we had to take footage from shopkeepers and social media platforms. we are now pushing for a speedy trial. such is the anger on the streets that even the legal community are taking the unusual step of refusing to defend the suspects. translation: this is a crime against humanity and we have decided that no one from our fraternity will defend the accused

in the courts. the accused are from the minority muslim community and there are worries regarding the communal backlash. but the muslim community has taken a stand too. if the men are found guilty, their families will suffer, too. translation: our community has declared that if the accused are convicted and get capital punishment, we would not even allow them to be buried in this town. even theirfamilies would be made to leave. there have been huge protests against the suspects and demands for capital punishment is growing. but the fact remains that such horrific incidents continue to haunt india again and again. talks aimed at stopping the fighting between government forces and rebels in southern syria have ended in failure.

the opposition forces were attempting to negotiate a ceasefire with the government's russian allies in order to stop a major offensive by syrian military forces in deraa province, which is near the border withjordan. but the rebels have reportedly rejected what they called a humiliating demand to surrender. bill hayton reports. daraa was one of the first cities to rise up against president assad seven years ago. since then it has been a battleground, and now it is being pounded into submission. from the air and the ground, russian jets and government soldiers are close to destroying the last major rebel stronghold in southern syria. around half the city is reported to be in government hands and another eight nearby towns fell to the regime on saturday, according to local reports. translation: we have successfully fulfilled our mission in the region. 0ur soldiers' health, ourfaith in victory and our commitment to the president enabled us to win this victory and defeat the terrorist groups in this rugged region. the current offensive has been

going on for almost two weeks. the rebels are caught between government forces and the border with jordan, but are refusing to surrender. a bitter battle is taking place around a military airbase. casualty figures are not known but one human rights group estimates that 100 civilians have been killed in daraa in the past week. the un estimates 160,000 people have been forced to flee. some are headed to a sliver of territory held by a rival rebel group, linked to islamic state. with the russian government forces and syrian government forces making steady progress, it seems like the end of rebel—controlled southern syria is not far away. let's get some of the day's other news. at least one person has been killed and around a dozen injured during a march in the nicaraguan capital, managua, in memory of the young protestors who died

over more than two months of anti—government protests. rights groups reported armed men shooting at marchers during the demonstration. thousands of people took part in the protest, most carrying nicaraguan flags, religious crosses and flowers in memory of the children and adolescents who were among more than 200 people who were killed over the last few months. the militant islamist group al—shabab has banned single—use plastic bags in areas under its control in somalia. according to media outlets affiliated with the group, the militants consider plastic bags a serious threat to the well—being of both humans and animals. al—shabab did not say how it would implement the ban but because of widespread fear of the group's use of violence, orders are usually followed. now to uganda, where hundreds of protesters have marched through the capital kampala, demanding police action over a spate of rapes, murders and kidnappings, targeting women. janey mitchell reports. chanting: stop the rapists! anger over the murder of more than a0 women in kampala since last year has boiled over into the streets with demands for justice for the victims, many of them young and mothers

and whose cases remain unsolved. what sort of society are we living in where 42 women are dead and we are asking what they were wearing, how many boyfriends they had? that is such a rape culture and victim—blaming mentality. among the marchers, ambassadors from the us and france, demanding improved security for staff who are afraid to go out. translation: this violence is intolerable. i am here, side by side with ugandan women, for better protection, because women are the backbone of society. critics say the police response has been inadequate, accusing the ugandan force of devoting too many of its resources against opponents of the country's long serving president, yoweri museveni. but for some marchers, the blame lies with ugandan society as a whole. in africa, it is the responsibility of the men to protect the women. and we men have failed to protect our wives. we have failed to protect our

mothers and we have failed to protect our daughters. the message to uganda's government is that women's lives matter, and they have had enough of living in fear. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: it's game over for argentina and portugal after losses on the first day of the world cup knockouts — messi and ronaldo among the heavyweights heading home. china marked its first day of rule in hong kong with a series of spectacular celebrations. a huge firework display was held in the former colony. the chinese president, jiang zemin, said unification was the start of a new era for hong kong. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal.

scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly, that was cloned in a laboratory using a cell from another sheep. for the first time in 20 years, russian and american spacecraft have docked in orbit, at the start of a new era of cooperation in space. challenger powered past the bishop rock lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering a record that had stood for 34 years. and there was no hiding the sheer elation of richard branson and his crew. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: from dc to la — hundreds of thousands of americans protest across the states against president trump's immigration policies. syrian forces shell opposition—held areas of darraa as rebels refuse

to surrender a spokesman for hungary's government has denied reports that it is one 01:14 eu states to have entered a migrant repatriation agreement with berlin. the deal would see the nations take back migrants who initially registered in their countries before travelling on to germany. german chancellor angela merkel has been facing a political crisis at home over her approach towards migrants. speaking at a ceremony marking the handover of the eu's rotating presidency from bulgaria, austria's chancellor sebastian kurz said its motto would be ‘a europe that protects'. mr kurz has put security and the fight against what he calls ‘illegal‘ migration among his top priorities. bethany bell has more from vienna. sebastian kurz has promised to make the fight against illegal migration a major priority for

austria's eu presidency. he's welcomed the deal that was reached earlier this week in brussels, but he says now it's a question of trying to implement that quickly. but there is still quite a bit of confusion about the details of this. eu leaders have agreed to set up asylum processing centres. it's not clear in which countries those will be or how quickly they can be brought into being. what sebastian kurz has said is that he wants to shift the focus from repatriating asylum seekers within eu countries to strengthening europe's outer borders, but there are still a great number of differences as to the best way of dealing with that, and germany in particular has tried to strike up agreements with 14 eu countries to repatriate some of those asylum seekers. this is a complex political problem for the eu, and there are a great many disagreements about it still. but it has to be said that while the problem is political, the number of migrants who are reaching europe at the moment has dropped significantly since the migrant

crisis of 2015—16. two major steel producers — thyssenkrupp of germany and india's tata steel — have agreed to merge, in the biggest such deal in europe for more than a decade. the new company will be the second largest steel manufacturer in the region, employing almost 50,000 people. the two firms have been in negotiations for more than a year. they had previously warned that about 4,000 jobs could go as a result of the merger. tomos morgan reports. jobs have been cut, pension terms reduced. but now it seems the steelworkers have some security. port talbot is home to almost half of tata's british workforce, and today's news is most welcome to scott barmsey, who, along with several family members, has worked in this steelworks all his adult life. morale has been really low over the last few years.

i think today has given us some sort of clear future and a bit of a weight off our shoulders. thyssenkrupp tata steel bv will be the second—biggest steel maker in europe. together, they will have a workforce of around a8,000. the 50—50 joint venture anticipates making cost savings of between £350 million up to £440 million a year. and due to the increased size of this new company, the annual sales will be about £13 billion. within the merger is a commitment to invest in extending the life of the blast furnace, a key part of steel production here in south wales. without this commitment, the rest of the uk operation suffers — something the unions have been battling for all along this process. what we need now is a period of stability. not worry about their jobs or security. just get on and make steel, which is what they are best at. the larger european giant better equipped to deal with the world market comes at a crucial time as the imminent threat of the recent us steel tariffs and its knock—on

effect looms over the industry. the governments say they will continue to work closely with new management teams and trade unions as this new company develops its business plan. there will be some voluntary redundancies as part of this merger, mostly in administrative roles. but there will be no compulsory redundancies for the steelworkers at port talbot and tata's other uk factories. some certainty, some security for now at least after what has been such a turbulence few years. tomas morgan, bbc news, port talbot. soldiers in thailand have been carrying out evacuation rehearsals as they continue to search for 12 missing boys inside a flooded cave. the fate of the boys, aged between 11 and 16, and their football coach, has gripped the nation since they went missing seven days ago in chiang rai province. the bbc‘s howard johnson has been spending some time behind the police cordon where

the children's families and rescue workers are waiting anxiously. the relatives of the missing 13 have been waiting inside this tented area now for a week. they have heard very little from search and rescue teams since their boys went missing inside the caves, which were flooded following heavy rain. in times like this, thai families come together to pray, eat together and comfort one another. 0ne mother we spoke to said it would be depressing to stay at home waiting for them. "staying together helps to give moral support," she said. but they are part of a wider thai community here, and central to the support effort is food. it is what really bonds the thai people. these meals here have been provided by the thai king. there are also hundreds of civilian volunteers helping out here. this morning i saw three cavers going off into the hills behind us to find routes into the caverns. this woman has come along to help with her translation skills.

why did you decide to come along and help? because i watched the news from the first day and i have my own children, two children at home, and i thought if they are in the cave, so i could not sleep or eat, so i come, maybe i can support and help here. what we have seen in the last few minutes is one of thailand's most prestigious monks arrive to give a ceremony for the relatives of the missing 13. you can see it going onjust behind me over here, and it demonstrates what happens when a vip arrives at the site — lots of media flock around to see what's going on, police blowing whistles. sometimes it can get a bit chaotic here. there are hundreds of search and rescue workers here waiting to be called into action the moment that the boys are found. but the conditions here are tough. there is mud everywhere. it is hot and humid, and when it rains, it is torrential. for now, all they can do is be

patient and wait for news on the teams inside the cave. the bbc‘s howard johnson, reporting from northern thailand there. a privately developed rocket has exploded and crashed to the ground seconds after liftoff injapan. hundreds of people were watching in shock as the rocket fell from the sky at a test site on hawkeyed 0. it was unmanned and there are no reports of industry —— injury. dramatic pictures there. football — and saturday saw two of the greatest players in the history of the game crash out of the world cup within a few hours of each other. argentina's lionel messi and portugal's cristiano ronaldo both lost in the first knock—out stage — as france and uruguay moved on to the quarter—finals. the bbc‘s tim allman watched the action. they have been, without doubt, the

players of their generation. arguably, it none of the best players of all time. but neither lea n players of all time. but neither lean or messy players of all time. but neither lean 01’ messy nor players of all time. but neither lean or messy nor cristiano ronaldo have ever won a world cup. and, now, barring something fairly extraordinary, it seems unlikely they ever will. it was lionel messi who departed first. argentina losing ina who departed first. argentina losing in a fantastic match against france. a penalty gave the french an early lead but a few minutes before half—time, argentina scored a screamer half—time, argentina scored a screamer to make it 1—1. after the break, mercado deflected shot and put argentina ahead. and that was as good as it got for the south americans. they were equalised just before the hour mark. and then france were sent through with

another goal and lionel messi was sent home. to the argentina fans it was a disappointment, but some still have hope. translation: this team has completed a cycle. it now needs to be renewed. ten players plus lionel messi. he has to continue. he has to get to the world cup. it is fundamental. i want him to leave the game with that golden trophy. translation: a team that never worked, never got going. that it was a great match that either side could have won. so, superstar number one had gone. how about superstar number two ? had gone. how about superstar number two? the second match, uruguay versus portugal took place in sochi and uruguay took the lead with a fantastic cross is met by a fantastic cross is met by a fantastic header ten minutes into the second half and it was 1—1. decade doing the honours. uruguay we re decade doing the honours. uruguay were not to be denied. another great

player heading home and the sense that an era is drawing to a close. for more on the world cup, head to the bbc sport website. you'll find team news, fixtures, match reports — all building up to the final onjuly 15. go to bbc.com/worldcup. a great white shark has been spotted near the spanish mediterranean island of majorca. this footage was captured by a wildlife conservation group. it's the first time such a shark has been seen in this area for over a0 years. the last confirmed sighting of such a fish in the balearic islands was by a fisherman in 1976. great whites can weigh up to two tons, grow to lengths of 20 foot and reach speeds of aokm per hour. stay safe in those waters. hello there.

june has been exceptionally dry for large parts of the uk. the heat has been far and wide. so too the sunshine. and for the first day ofjuly, many of us will see more of the same. but not quite everywhere, because we've got the chance of a few thundery downpours towards the far south—west. that's because here, we're going to be very close to this growing area of cloud that has sort of sprung into life over the past few hours. that high—based cloud is drifting towards the south—west of the uk. ahead of it, we're drawing in a slightly different wind direction, more south—easterly, but that's picking up more heat and more humidity blowing into the south. that humidity and that cloud triggering a few thundery downpours towards the far south—west and the channel islands for a while. at the same time, a very weak weather front brings cloud towards northern ireland. maybe a few spots of rain in the far north—west of scotland. but elsewhere, it will be dry and sunny. temperatures in the mid—20s, scotland and northern ireland, high 20s, perhaps 30 degrees or so across england and wales. well, let's focus on those showers, and we've got thunderstorm warnings

issued by the met office for the very first time for the south—west of england and south wales, but a few storms could arrive all the way towards sussex into surrey, maybe later on into the south midlands. don't take the position of those areas of rain as gospel because it is a developing situation, all developing around this very flabby area of low pressure that's bringing that cloud and the potential for some storms. but at the same time, we've got high pressure building in across the north. so on monday, most places are going to have a dry and sunny day once again. there will still be a few storms not far away from the far south—west through the english channel and towards the channel islands. but away from here, no sign of any rain. those temperatures still on the high side for this time of year, particularly high towards the south—east into the midlands. 30 degrees quite likely here. and for the first week ofjuly, not a great deal of change. more dry, sunny and quite hot weather for most. the highest temperatures will be in the south where there is still the chance of one or two thundery downpours, although that threat, that risk,

that chance is diminishing as the week goes on. because that high pressure is going to be building in across more of the uk, settling things down once again, and again on tuesday, it's sunny skies for most areas. but with the high pressure building in across the north, here, it's somewhat cooler and fresher, there's a bit more cloud for northern scotland for a while, but fewer showers through the english channel. as you can see, in the outlook for our capital forecast, it looks like it should stay dry, temperatures widely into the mid—to—high 20s. that's it from me. goodbye. this is bbc world news. the headlines: hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in protests across the united states against president trump's immigration policies. people took to the streets in cities as far and wide as washington, san francisco and atlanta,

calling for migrant families split up at the us border to be reunited. at least one person has been killed and around a dozen injured in the nicaraguan capital managua. armed men are reported to have shot at crowds of people who were marching in memory of young protesters who died during more than two months of anti—government protests. and in the world cup, it's game over for argentina and portugal after losses on the first day of the knockout stage in russia. lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo are among the heavyweights who'll be heading home. their sides lost to france and uruguay respectively. now on bbc news, dateline london.