our top story: rescuers in thailand are stepping up their efforts to get the trapped boys out of a flooded cave before the weather closes thousands of litres of water have been pumped out of the caves, bringing the flood levels down. but the window of opportunity for any rescue is not expected to last long, as more rain is expected on sunday. police investigating the latest novichok poisoning case in britain say the victims probably picked up something used in the attack on sergei skripalfour months ago. charlie rowley and dawn sturgess are critically ill in hospital since saturday. and this story is trending on bbc.com: there's concern about these wild banana trees in madagascar, which are on the brink of extinction. scientists say the plants need to be saved, as they may hold the secret to keeping other bananas safe from disease in the future. but there are only five mature trees left in the wild. that's all. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur goes tojerusalem

to interview mayor nir barkat. welcome to hardtalk. this ancient city has arguably stirred up more passion, argument and hostility than any other. israel claims it as its undivided capital, a claim which runs counter to international law and much world opinion, but it has been boosted by the decision of donald trump to move the decision of donald trump to move the us embassy here. well, my guest todayis the us embassy here. well, my guest today is jerusalem's the us embassy here. well, my guest today isjerusalem's mayor, nir barkat. can israel conclusively when the struggle forjerusalem? nir

barkat, welcome to hardtalk. welcome tojerusalem. barkat, welcome to hardtalk. welcome to jerusalem. thank you. you're coming to this end of your second term and you say it is time to look backin term and you say it is time to look back ina term and you say it is time to look back in a way. what do you think you have achieved in your pretty much decade in charge ofjerusalem? have achieved in your pretty much decade in charge of jerusalem? well, i was fortunate to leave jerusalem in the last decade. jerusalem is now ina very in the last decade. jerusalem is now in a very positive momentum. tourism is up, high—tech sector, one of the top 35 cities in the world. we were never counted as a high—tech city. the city is quiet, one of the safest in the world so i believe i leave it ina in the world so i believe i leave it in a positive momentum. i received it and it was not positive to say the least. i believe in every practical parameter you check out if

the city is doing well it is common practice that the city is doing very well. well, that is, i may say, a very positive spin but that city is also one of the most divided in the world and if one looks at it from the point of view of arab citizens it isa the point of view of arab citizens it is a city which is consistently failing its people. well, i totally disagree with you. the reality is if you look at our arab population they are doing far better than anywhere in the region, syria, gaza, the arab residents ofjerusalem are part of the city and they have the same quality of health services, they are pa rt quality of health services, they are part of thejob quality of health services, they are part of the job and the economy, their education system is doing much better, so in any practical parameter of the arab residents of jerusalem are doing far better than in the past and far better than any arab in the area. this is a two tier city where arabs are second—class citizens. you talk about the achievements of your ten years and you have a tech sector like never

before. you are building a financial sector. you've got your new trams, massive new hotels. there is a lot to see injerusalem that is new that has come under your watch at very little of that has filtered through to prosperity for your arab citizens. if you look at the jerusalem institute for policy research numbers they show that the poverty rate for arab citizens, residence of your city has actually gone up during your term. well, first of all, when it rains, it rains on anyone. according to you it is not raining forjerusalem but it is not raining forjerusalem but it is raining for them. that is not true. the number of arabsjoining the labour force has dramatically climb. you see more of the arab population becoming part of the economy. in the past, they didn't even try to apply for a job. our unemployment in all sectors is less than 4% many that everyone who wants a job than 4% many that everyone who wants ajob can and than 4% many that everyone who wants a job can and get a job. the next point is that the quality of life

vis a vis if you look at the service they get in the hospitals, they are like everyone else. and by the way poverty is not just like everyone else. and by the way poverty is notjust the arab population we have it in the orthodox population. the challenge is not only for the arabs. 7596 poverty rate for the arab citizens. it is the same for the ultraorthodox jewish population as well and my role as the mayor is to do three things and that is what i have been doing, job creation so people can join the labour force, focus on education and the number of arab residents that choose anderlect by option the better is readily education system and half the population wants to join our education and get people out of poverty. it is the same system between jews and poverty. it is the same system betweenjews and arabs and we are fighting poverty all over and doing a good job of it. you've had ten yea rs a good job of it. you've had ten years in charge of this city. can you explain to me why the arab population of the city lacks that

least 2500 classrooms and onlyjust over half of all arab residents are actually connected to the water grid? can you explain that? yes, very well. first of all it is 4000 classrooms missing in jerusalem. 2000 for the arab population and 2000 for the arab population and 2000 for thejewish population. 2000 for the arab population and 2000 for the jewish population. 2500 for the arab population and let's remember that they are 38% of your city population, not 50%. so it is a scandalous figure and you have been in charge for ten years. what i am doing is i have taken a loan and we are building and we are catching up with that situation. the city i received had a lot of neglect in terms of classrooms not only for the arab population. the reality is, you see that it is all over the city. and if anything, see that it is all over the city. and ifanything, i see that it is all over the city. and if anything, i have pushed a button and we are developing

dramatically hundreds of classrooms every year. and we are catching up with neglect and year after year we are opening up schools in east jerusalem. and if anything i am proud that we admit the challenge and we are dealing with it. i took accountability and responsibility and we are developing the city for the benefit of all children. here is a fascinating thing said by the president of your country, reuven rivlin, injune,june president of your country, reuven rivlin, injune, june one, 2018, he said this, we have been saying for 50 yea rs said this, we have been saying for 50 years thatjerusalem is united, but we do not behave as if it is united. well, i'd agree with some of what he said, which is there is a lot to do, that is why i left all my business career and focused on improving the city ofjerusalem and iam happy improving the city ofjerusalem and i am happy to tell you that in my term, in the ten years i have been met, we have dramatically change that momentum. it was a negative momentum. the gaps were growing. now they are shrinking. so if you look

at the trends in the city i am very proud of the fact that i changed the trend and now we are dealing with the reality and we are doing a good job relative to where we were. and there is still a lot of work to do. let me ask you a simple question, how good is your arabic?” let me ask you a simple question, how good is your arabic? i don't speak arabic but i know how to speak to my arab population very well. you don't speak arabic. so 330,000 of your residents are arab but you have made no effort in ten years to speak arabic. i speak to them on a daily basis. i serve them in a daily basis. i serve them in a daily basis. can you see life from their point of view, really? you think you can? of course. so how would you feel if you were an arab citizen of this city and you looked at the building laws and you looked at the way in which construction works in this city. and you see that the vast majority of building permits given are given tojewish builders for jewish residences. let me quote you ajewish, not

jewish residences. let me quote you a jewish, not an arab palestinian, but a jewish ngo who studied this, they say 8% of building permits for housing units into rizal and have gone to palestinian neighbourhoods. 8%. 40% of this city is arab. gone to palestinian neighbourhoods. 896. 4096 of this city is arab. in my ten yea rs 896. 4096 of this city is arab. in my ten years as mayor that is totally nonsense. in the past, if you couldn't prove that you owned a piece of land, it you wouldn't get approval. we have created all kinds of structures to enable giving people permits. so we had lots of challenges to overcome for the benefit of enabling more building. and we've done that. that is total nonsense. how and we've done that. that is total nonsense. how many and we've done that. that is total nonsense. how many houses have been demolished under your watch, palestinian houses, injerusalem? demolished under your watch, palestinian houses, in jerusalem?” think, if i remember correctly, there was about 200. hundreds, yes. 200 per year. half in the west side, half in the east side. i take extra care. when i look at how to help my arab residents, to improve their

quality of life, we want to make sure that there is enough places for building green parks and we want to make sure there is enough space for schools and kindergartens and we wa nt to schools and kindergartens and we want to make sure they build property and by the way it is in the interest of the arab population. and they come to me, the majority of the time, and they say, this building is hurting our quality of life, help us improve our quality of life. more than 2500 palestinians have been left homeless because of house demolitions and at the very same time they have seen that more than 2500 jewish settlers have moved into palestinian neighbourhoods of jerusalem. does that seem right to you? i don't know how you make that equation. whenjews you? i don't know how you make that equation. when jews by you? i don't know how you make that equation. whenjews by apartments legally they can live anywhere they wa nt legally they can live anywhere they want in the world —— buy. legally they can live anywhere they want in the world -- buy. oftentimes it is not done legally and you know that if we go back to the famous cases in one of the arab east communities in the city we see that houses are built byjews without

permits and it is only after the event that the buildings are legalised. you have been asked even by the american government to stop this happen and you have failed to do so. in jerusalem you have to build, everywhere in the world, by the way, you have to build legally. if you don't build legally and i will help everyone to build legally, 196 will help everyone to build legally, 1% of the buildings have a permit, 196. 1% of the buildings have a permit, 1%. 99% of them do not have a permit. what i did i changed the zoning code so that 97% would have a permit. you are taking to make things that have nothing to do with each other. i amjust things that have nothing to do with each other. i am just trying to get to grips with the notion ofjustice. justice. there is one law injera salon, you have to build according to the law. on the other hand jews, muslims and christians can buy anywhere they want in the world. so if jews anywhere they want in the world. so ifjews buy an apartment in the east side or the website or the city or injordan side or the website or the city or in jordan or syria they side or the website or the city or injordan or syria they are allowed to anywhere they want. let's talk about want other element ofjustice,

is it just to about want other element ofjustice, is itjust to you that there are tens of thousands of citizens of jerusalem in places like the refugee camp within the municipality of jerusalem, which gets virtually no services whatsoever from your municipality because they happen to be on the other side of the wall, the security fence, call it what you will, that now runs through jerusalem. they are on the other side and they do not get the services are the residents get. is that just, is it fair? services are the residents get. is thatjust, is it fair? they get the services when they enter the fence, like any otherjerusalem... bear with me. they are inside the municipality. you have put them on the other side of a great big wall. let me finish my sentence. the challenge is security. when the people cleaning the streets are getting stoned, eventually it is challenging to serve the residents. i wish we could take offence. challenging to serve the residents. i wish we could take offencem makes a mockery. it is one place

which makes a mockery of your claim thatjerusalem is the eternal undivided capital of israel. it makes a mockery of it. these people arejerusalem —ites. makes a mockery of it. these people are jerusalem -ites. they get all of the services. they get all the services. we have demonstrated and proved if we did not have the security challenge we would serve them as much as we serve all the other residents, so how come we serve the other residents as much as we can? because everywhere we can, we can? because everywhere we can, we will. it is exactly the opposite. have you ever heard of a jewish refugee? no, because thejews take ca re of refugee? no, because thejews take care of all the refugees in the world. we take of them. why is it that only palestinians, refugees, are in israel, in the land of israel? why are they called refugees? why does the arab world thaker of them? refugees? why does the arab world tha ker of them ? there refugees? why does the arab world thaker of them? there is no accountability on the palestinian side. and we will do everything we can to help our arab palestinians.

let me quote you an israeli lawyer daniel seed and who said the only place where jerusalem daniel seed and who said the only place wherejerusalem is "the undivided capital of israel is in the fertile imagination of ideologues such as netanyahu and nir barkat and nowhere else is a mess so disconnected from and in denial about the realities of the flesh and blood city over which he purports to preside". he is an extreme leftie andi preside". he is an extreme leftie and i beg to differ. he is a respected lawyer and human rights campaigner, that's what he is.” understand and it has nothing to do with what i do every day, the way i certain i arab residents. last month we had run done. 1.2 million muslims came to temple mount to pray and they went back home quietly in one of the safest and most quiet times we ever had —— ramadan. and they all said thank you, mayor, the police, for helping us and improving our quality of life. he does not report

that. interesting you say that a new couch everything in terms of security because you made an interesting speak to some likud supporters couple of years ago when you talked about your philosophy of coexistence and you said "i have requested quotas and curfews across jerusalem, we have put 30 closures in place. if you walk around the entrance and exit of the palestinian areas today you will see concrete blocks. this philosophy creates our level of coexistence". what kind of coexistence is that? there was a time... let me explain to you why. there is incitement and riots all over the city for no reason, riots for no reason, the riots and incitements because israel wa nts to riots and incitements because israel wants to change the status quo which is nonsense. we had a peak of violence, when jews is nonsense. we had a peak of violence, whenjews were killed in the city ofjerusalem by violence. i said, hang on there, that will not happen and the peak of violence, we

set to our arab residents, you cannot, when there is a risk of jewish lives, i will protectjewish lives. and when the arab residents, local leadership took responsibility over the riots, the kids and it stopped, we immediately put that back into the safe so for 2.5 years, there is no blocks. it's a very clear message to arab residents we wa nt to clear message to arab residents we want to live together, we are living together but don't start threatening or unfortunately killing jews for no reason. do you think you might come to regret donald trump's decision, which you and prime minister netanyahu which you and prime minister neta nyahu and have which you and prime minister netanyahu and have greeted with such joy, netanyahu and have greeted with such joy, his decision to move the us embassy to jerusalem? do you joy, his decision to move the us embassy tojerusalem? do you think that may backfire on israel one day? one of the most important moves made by an american president. that simple recognition, anywhere you put a shovel in the ground in the city, you find jewish roots, 2000, 3000

yea rs. you find jewish roots, 2000, 3000 years. jerusalem was never claimed as the capital of any other people but the jews for 3000 years so the recognition that jerusalem is but the jews for 3000 years so the recognition thatjerusalem is the capital of the jewish people recognition thatjerusalem is the capital of thejewish people is such a simple thing and that recognition is so important, notjust for us. we don't need that recognition. the bible recognises that. the fact the leader of the free world did it is very, very simple move, i believe, ifanything... very, very simple move, i believe, if anything... do you want to tie israel to donald trump so very closely, to his values and his agenda? look at what has happened since. we have got very few nations who decided they will do the same thing and move their embassy to jerusalem but the massive majority of nations are simply not following suit. emmanuel macron, the president of france... i thought you were going to say something else. he said, our philosophy remains the same, recognising two states,

jerusalem will be the capital of two sides with common frontiers recognised according to international laws and rules.” thought you were going to say something else. what did you think? that you were amazed how quiet the city is, since that recognition the city is, since that recognition the city is, since that recognition the city is flourishing and developing. i believe the arab residents respect the fact that it will stay or of a united city. we have seen a lot of violence elsewhere. not in jerusalem, not in... gaza. it's not connected to the city. on the day the embassy was opened injerusalem we saw them more than —— we saw more than 50 palestinians shot. it's not contested incher roos alarm and the arab and —— the arab residents understand it's for their benefit as well. i thought you were going to say that nowhere in the world is split city has ever functioned but wow, indeed the city is now working as the common denominator for people that respect each other in the middle east. it doesn't exist

anywhere in the middle east. you can't change facts on the ground. there are still possibly more than 330,000 arabs living in the city you don't get to vote in israeli elections, who are, if it is looked at from the outside, not treated in the same way as thejewish citizens of this city. you can't change that reality is a hell you talk about one city, united, completely united, from the outside it is still fundamentally divided city. on the inside, you understand they have a right to vote for the municipality like green card holders everywhere and haven't ever of kabul right to become an israeli citizen if they wa nt become an israeli citizen if they want to. —— have an ear of —— having a bookable right. less than several thousand have sought that right and many have been rejected. that is not true. it is under my responsibility andi true. it is under my responsibility

and i will help them pursue their right. before we end, i do want to cast forward, you are leaving the mayoralty after two terms and made it clear you now want a national political career, you are going to run for knesset for the look at party. do you see this injerusalem, what you've done, as a springboard national office? it's an honour to ta ke national office? it's an honour to take my experience as a combat soldier and as an entrepreneur in the hi—tech sector and in ten years serving my city as mayor, its moment to ta ke serving my city as mayor, its moment to take those skills and serve my country. benjamin netanyahu is facing two different sets of investigations involving allegations of briars, sweetheart deals with newspaper owners, its extraordinary com “— newspaper owners, its extraordinary com —— it's extraordinarily complex. he might be charged an indicted, his chart —— white also facing charges. many inside the look at party deal that neta nyahu's time many inside the look at party deal that netanyahu's time is coming to

an end. he is doing a phenomenaljob leading the country. a lot of my success is due to his support and the backup i got as mayor of jerusalem. i will stand to the site and help them manage the country in the next terms until he decides to leave. have you seen the polls, jerusalem poll, 59% of people said the criminal investigations of prime minister netanyahu were damaging his ability to run the country and security crisis and asked whether he was corrupt, 48% of respondents said yes. this is our noise, don't listen to such noise levels. there are police investigation is continuing. police can investigate, i have no problem with police investigations. i will continue supporting him when i become a parliament member. he

believed israel can and will make deep compromises for peace, compromises that will have to includejerusalem? compromises that will have to include jerusalem? the answer is, a bad deal is worse than no deal. if positioned by a bad deal, israel will say no. any prime minister will say no. the people of israel will say no. the people of israel will say no. the people of israel will say no. a good deal like we did with egypt and jordan, israel demonstrated. you believe in a 2- state solution. no. you don't? i don't think so. i do believe in giving arab residents injudah and scenario civil autonomy and working ona scenario civil autonomy and working on a mutual economy and that in —— and that israeli defence should be all overjudah and some aria. we have seen times when the arab residents upon us and unfortunately, some time... your vision coming off ten yea rs some time... your vision coming off

ten years of running jerusalem is of a permanent occupation? are you going to annex the west bank, do you believe in annexation of giving the palestinian people who live in the west ba n k palestinian people who live in the west bank what you call autonomy rights but no right to vote in israeli elections? we are one of the first places in the world with a special unique arrangements and many places in the world have it. to quote, israelis, including former prime minister ‘s olmert and barak, that sounds like an apartheid solution. they are not in power and they don't know how to present israeli public opinion and i do think the arab residents should have autonomy. we do need to manage their civil life is much as we don't need to manage jewish life. south africa

under the under the apartheid system is, they were called bantustans. israel is exactly the opposite of any kind of apartheid. there is no separation in anything. we go to the same hospitals, everything is open. people coming from south africa, i am married to an excess south african, they left when people talked about —— they laugh when people talk about apartheid in israel. it is an open system, the only real democracy in the middle east and the reality is, it is challenged land and in other places in the world where land is challenged by third parties and others, you have to look and create a special arrangement and a special arrangement that enables the arab residents to have their autonomy. actually we proposed to improve the mutual economy and unfortunately because of the past experience, not given an army and make sure the israel defence force always has the ability to ensure security. we don't

know what's going to happen to prime minister netanyahu know what's going to happen to prime minister neta nyahu but know what's going to happen to prime minister netanyahu but are you now throwing your hat into the ring to be his successor? no, it's not on the table. right now i'm going to stand and help on the site. i'm going to complete this november, ten yea rs, very going to complete this november, ten years, very intensive role in the city ofjerusalem years, very intensive role in the city of jerusalem and years, very intensive role in the city ofjerusalem and i would be happy to serve to his right. whatever happens, we will talk about it in due time but right now, it's not on the table. near nir barkat, we have to end there that thank you very much for being on hardtalk. pleasure. thank you, steve. well, i'm sure you will know what i'm going to say, we're in for a hot and sunny day, no changes to our weather. in fact, the weekend is looking

particularly hot across england, temperatures expected to rise. i will say, though, there is a chance of one or two storms across south—eastern parts of the country on friday, or at least a big downpours. we had that on thursday, tunbridge wells with some flash flooding. there's a lot of clear whether across the country now, no widespread cloud rain or anything like that but the heat is so intense that it has been sparking off some showers. this is a picture from thursday from east sussex where we had some downpours and we could see further downpours around sussex in kent and maybe even greater london a bit later on friday afternoon. in the short—term, early hours of friday look fairly quiet across the uk, no rain out there. temperatures on the muggy side, 17, the starting temperature in london. 13 in newcastle. a bit fresher in rural parts of scotland. as we head through friday morning, into the afternoon, it's basically sunny. a bit of fair weather cloud developing so it may not be clear blue skies but sunny

enough and those temperatures will peak at around 30 degrees in london. we had 30 on thursday, we will get that probably on friday. to the north of that, comfortably warm. the low to mid—20s and those showers around kent and sussex in the day. through the weekend, familiar pattern. weather systems away to the north of us, there could be a frontjust about sneaking into wester, north—western parts of scotland later on in the weekend, probably sunday, but still a while away. here's saturday, lots of clear weather around in the morning, lots of sunshine in the afternoon. temperatures will be skyrocketing across the south, posibly up to 30 or 31. 30 is not of question in the midlands too and in the north of the country, northern ireland and also scotland, temperatures up into the mid—20s as well. come sunday, the heat continues to build across many parts of the uk. notice the cold front, a weak cold front, it means a bit

of cloud, some spots of rain, you see the yellow colours so a lot fresher for our friends in the outer hebrides and the western isles, maybe around 16, cool north atlantic air but the heat is very much present across many parts of england and wales. so, hot sunday on the way and beyond that, guess what? there's little change. the heatwave continues throughout much of next week with temperatures expected to remain on the high side. welcome to newsday. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: racing against the rain — rescuers step up their efforts to get the trapped boys out of a flooded cave in thailand before the weather closes in. moving towards a trade war? a wide range of chinese exports will be hit by donald trump's 25% tariffs from today. i'm nuala mcgovern in london. also in the programme: police investigating the latest novichok poisoning case in britain say the victims probably picked up something used in the attack

on sergei skripal four months ago. it is completely unacceptable for our people to be either deliberate or accidental targets, or for our streets, parks, towns to be dumping grounds for poison.