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. and we'll hear from this exhausted—looking man here — he's just become the first person to kayak solo across the tasman sea. live from our studios in singapore and london,

this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 8am in singapore, 1am in london and 7am in chiang rai, in northern thailand, where the authorities are in a race against time to rescue 12 boys and their football coach, who've been trapped in a flooded cave for almost two weeks. the children were found on a rocky ledge around 4 kilometres from the mouth of the cave on monday. the rescuers face many challenges. some parts of the cave are too narrow and more heavy rain is forecast. the boys are being taught the basics of diving — some need to learn how to swim — but it's feared that option could be too risky. our south east asia correspondent jonathan head is there. how long will they stay down there? the boys are now getting care

and food, but the thai authorities are still debating whether to risk bringing them out quickly or waiting, possibly for months. dozens of volunteers are helping the navy divers. this is an exhausting and sometimes dangerous operation. this television actor is one of them. "water is the main obstacle," he says. "if we can get the water level down, the boys can be brought out." but while a massive pumping effort is reducing it in the first section of caves, it's having less effect deeper in, where the boys are trapped. so, the thai army has been taking equipment to the other end of the mountains to try and lower the water table here, close to their location.

they have a number of ideas they want to try. but their first effort has been to divert the streams which feed the underground pools. we followed them up, alongside pipes that had been laid just in the past few days. this creek has completely dried up. a week ago it was filled with water. so you can see that this project, with all these pipes, is definitely having an impact. higher up, we were shown in newly built dam. work like this is now going on all over these mountains. no—one is sure yet how much they can bring down the water that is blocking the boys‘ escape, or whether they'll win the battle against the imminent monsoon rain. they just know that they have to try. jonathan head, bbc news, tham luang caves, northern thailand. sophie long joins us now from tham luang nang non

cave in thailand. what is the latest you are hearing? it has always been a race against time and now it is a race against the weather. heavy rain is forecast on sunday and at the moment they are going out of their way to reduce water levels in the caves so hopefully they can get the boys out the way they came in. efforts to drain off the water, huge amounts have been pumped out, hundreds of thousands of litres every hour, they are changing the conditions in the cave. last night you can see the ca bles cave. last night you can see the cables up there and the gas canisters behind them, they put ca bles canisters behind them, they put cables into pump air into the chamber. they also have more people in. you have navy seals with them and medics trying to make sure that the boys stay healthy. that is another concern. notjust the boys stay healthy. that is

another concern. not just their physical health, their mental health vale worried about. there are effo rts vale worried about. there are efforts ongoing for the past couple of days to try to get fibre—optic cable so they can hopefully contact theirfamily, maybe cable so they can hopefully contact their family, maybe even see them. the aim is to have a video line so they can see their families. some of them very young, just 11 years old, and they have been in for nearly two weeks. cold, dark, wet, nearly two weeks. cold, dark, wet, nearly two weeks without seeing friends or family. the concern is to monitor their health and make sure that if an opportunity over the next couple of days should arrive that they will be strong enough to make their way out of the cave. just briefly, is the authorities giving you a specific timeline? we know that the rain is expected to come on sunday. do you think they will attempt it for that? they are not giving any specific details. we asked yesterday if they think it is possible that a rescue attempt will be made today and he said i cannot confirm that. what we can tell you is that the rain is forecast on sunday. they are

very eager to try to get the boys out before then. have you heard in jonathan‘s report, if it is unable to do that, it is possible they will be stuck in the cave for many months to come with the beginning of the monsoon season now. if to come with the beginning of the monsoon season now. if they see the opportunity to get the boys out before sunday's brains come then they will be very keen to take it. they said if there is a 90% possibility to get them out safely then they would go for that. the governor of the province running the operations told us they wouldn't necessarily bring the team out at once. if they felt that some of the boys were strong enough given the conditions in the cave than they would get them out as soon as they could. so at the moment it is a case of monitoring closely the conditions in the cave. the health conditions of the boys, and of course also the weather. that is key. thank you so much for that update. such a compelling story and the clock is ticking, as you have told us. sophie long, speaking to us from the caves. let's bring you some breaking news.

reports from japanese media that the founder of a cult has been executed. he was the mastermind behind the 1995 sarin gas attack on the tokyo subway. we will bring you more on that as soon as we get it. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. when president trump and xijinping met in november, they were all smiles and handshakes. but a lot can change in a matter of months and the trade war between the us and china is about to step up. in the next few hours, the us starts imposing tariffs of 25% on $34 billion worth of chinese exports, including industrial machinery, and medical devices. china has hit back with tariffs on american agricultural produce. so are the worlds two largest economies on the brink of a fully—fledged trade war? here's our china correspondentjohn sudworth. here is just one of the products on the us tariff list.

12,000 of these chinese—built machines have been shipped to america this year. a trade that is about to be flattened. translation: an extra 25% tax, of course, affects us very much. it will reduce our potential profits. is cf moto stealing american jobs? if you take a look at our factory, you will realise we have got where we are on our own strength, and by respecting international rules. but such individual protests are now in vain. china's incredible economic success, donald trump argues, has been built on bending the rules. in particular, the large—scale theft of us intellectual property. tariffs, he hopes, will force china

to change its behaviour. china hopes its matching tariffs on us imports will force america to back off. if it's not yet a fully fledged trade war, then it's the beginnings of one. mr trump is threatening a massive escalation, moving beyond the relatively obscure products on the current list to almost everything china produces. for decades, successive us presidents have, whatever the difficulties and differences, seen trade with china as a good thing. not any more. donald trump is doing precisely what he said he would on the campaign trail — taking the fight to factories like this one, where falling orders may very quickly translate into lost jobs. the world's two largest economies are careering into the unknown. there's little sign of meaningful dialogue and no one seems ready to put on the brakes. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. also making news today:

at least one person has died and dozens more are missing after a boat capsized off the coast of the thai resort town, phuket. the boat was carrying nearly 100 mostly chinese tourists when high winds and large waves caused the boat to overturn. the embattled head of the us environmental protection agency, scott pruitt, has resigned. he's been mired in scandals surrounding his spending, ethics and management while in government. donald trump took to twitter to announce he'd accepted the resignation, saying, "scott has done an outstanding job, and i will always be thankful to him". there's been action and upsets at wimbledon today, with kyle edmund booking a meeting centre court against three—time champion novak djokovic. meanwhile, defending champion garbine muguruza is out after a loss to alison van uytvanck. there's more excitement on the way on friday, roger federer taking on germany's jan—lennard struff in the men's singles,

while both venus and serena williams will compete in the third round. and facebook has been forced to apologise after it censored parts of the us declaration of independence. a local paper in texas posted excerpts of the document in the run up to independence day. but facebook‘s algorithms deemed found some parts, including a reference to "merciless indian savages" to be hate speech. facebook‘s now allowing the images to be reposted. let's get more on the trade war between the us and china now. joining me from the port of singapore is our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani. karishma, you are at one of the

world's busiest ports here in the country, so naturally this trade tension between the us and china, they are having global implications, aren't they? yes, they have worried many businesses around the region that i have been speaking to. as you are saying i am standing across the water from the singapore port. lots of activity on a typical day. every year something like 100,000 ships come through the port carrying containers of cargo all over the world. and of course that is the worry. that this us— china trade war, the beginnings of a trade war, asjohn sutton were for saying in his piece, will have a cascading effect on the rest of the world and certainly out in asia —— jon sudworth. remember, the products taxed by america, chinese goods, a lot of them have components from countries out in asia. they are then sent to china, assembled and then they make their way to the us. what

does that do? basically if you stop seeing the same amount of demand for these goods because of higher ta riffs these goods because of higher tariffs in the united states, that has an effect and the future economist warwick on jobs and in factories all over the region and that will have a corresponding effect on economic growth in one of the most dynamic areas in the world. and briefly, karishma, you talked about the global implications and we are all feeling it. what about the two actors at the centre of all of this, china and the us? well, when you look at the targeted lists from either side, it really does show you the sort of political play and the agenda behind what appears to be a trade war. the united states is targeting technology products from china because it believes that china has unfairly what it says stolen intellectual property from the united states. and so it really

wa nts to united states. and so it really wants to hit at the key sector in china. correspondingly, beijing has made the point by targeting the agricultural sector as well as the auto sector in the united states. those are key areas and key campaign vote ba n ks those are key areas and key campaign vote banks for president trump. the worry is this tit—for—tat and both sides might not be able to wind down the hostilities they have been facing with one another. all right. karishma, our asia business correspondent at the port of singapore, thank you. here in britain, the government has accused russia of treating the country as "dumping ground for poison" after a second incident involving a nerve agent. two people from the town of amesbury in the south of england are critically ill. police say they handled a "contaminated item" — they fell ill on saturday just 8 miles from where the former russian spy, sergei skripal, and his daughter were poisoned in march. moscow has denied being involved in either of the incidents. june kelly reports. this is dawn sturgess in a store in salisbury last friday, seen on cctv buying drinks.

2a hours later she was in intensive care. she and charlie rowley fell ill within hours of each other and both remain critical in hospital. like all their family members, charlie rowley‘s brother is just hoping for some positive news. he is my younger brother. i love him to bits. i don't want anything to happen to him. and yet, it has. how would you deal with it? you know? it's heartbreaking. the couple became contaminated when they handled the poison, according to scotland yard, which is heading this investigation. counterterrorism officers are working with the local wiltshire force and four months on from the skripal poisoning, police here are trying to reassure the public. our top priority now and always will be the safety of everybody across our communities. to that end, people in amesbury

and salisbury will see a significant increase in the amount of police officers and resources that we have here available. charlie rowley was at this church social event on saturday in the hours before he collapsed. he looked a bit out of sorts, you could sense something was not right. one would have assumed it it was possibly alcohol, we don't know for sure. this footage shows him being taken into salisbury district hospital. dawn sturgess had already been admitted — as a friend who didn't want to appear on screen — described. dawn is a happy, caring, loving person. she looks after everyone, really. i could sit here and talk and dawn and charlie are the ones in hospital and potentially fighting for their lives. in wiltshire, a number of locations where it is believed the couple were before they collapsed are now cordoned off. they fell ill hours apart at charlie's flat in muggleton road in amesbury.

also closed is a baptist centre nearby and a local branch of boots the chemist. in salisbury eight miles away, a hostel, john baker house, where dawn sturgess lived, has now been closed. so too have the queen elizabeth gardens in the city. the gardens are close to the malting shopping centre and a bench where sergei and yulia skripal were found collapsed in march. the skripal home is also nearby. the medical team who nursed sergei and yulia skripal are now fighting to save these new victims. this is an expanding police investigation and the biggest questions are where and how were this couple poisoned? you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the first man to kayak solo from australia to new zealand tells us how he did it. 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 the record that had stood for 34 years. and there was no hiding the sheer elation of richard branson and his crew.

welcome back to newsday on the bbc. our top stories: rescuers in thailand are stepping up their efforts to get the trapped boys out of a flooded cave in before the weather closes in. 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. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the china daily has a warning for washington, as those new us tarriffs on chinese goods take effect. the ministry of commerce said america was "opening fire on the entire world". they also vowed fight back by targetting us products. the new york times says art lovers

in the big apple could be in for some disapointment. that's because america's largest performing arts complex is struggling. the lincoln center's hall of fame has been postponed — and its summer festival scrapped. and the front page of the japan times shows the nation's sporting heroes getting a warm welcome home. this was the scene when the samurai blue's got back from the world cup. hundreds of joyous football fans were on hand to greet them. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? yes, lets take a look at what's trending right now. pick of the bunch seems to be the wild bananas of madagascar. apparently they're on the brink of extinction with just five mature trees left in the wild! scientists say the plant may hold the secret to keeping bananas safe for the future.

so people on the island nation are keeping their eyes peeled. the us secretary of state is heading back to north korea again, as the diplomatic dance over the country's nuclear programme continues. but mike pompeo is under pressure to speed things up. he's expected to hold private talks with kim jong—un, and he'll likely be pressing the north korean leader to keep to the agreements made in singapore. the latest trip comes amid accusations that the regime is backsliding on its commitment to denuclearisation. joining me now from seoul with more details is the bbc‘s mariko 0i. window this is the third round of talks that might want is having with the north koreans are. is on the agenda? —— what is. the north koreans are. is on the agenda? -- what is. there is a lot of pressure on mike pompeo, who is expected to land in pyongyang in under three hours a. he is under pressure to get more than just words

from kim jong—un to give pressure to get more than just words from kimjong—un to give up his nuclear weapons. as you mentioned, last week we heard on us intelligence officers that they have evidence that north korea continues to build the infrastructure for its nuclear and missile programmes after saying at the singapore summit last month that he is committed to denuclearisation. as we reported, the declaration at the singapore summit was so vague that it might not violate anything that mr kim committed to. at it adds to speculation as to whether he is really see a common genuine when he says he is committed to denuclearisation and in peace talks as well, the south korean and north korea are still at war and north korea are still at war and north korea and us are technically still war because they only agreed to a truce after the korean war 55 years ago. the us is also appearing to be changing its tone more all softening

its tone, after the singapore summit. they said that they wouldn't accept anything other than complete verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation. but ahead of mike pompeo's visit they said that final, fully verified nuclearisation is good enough. somewhat toning down to make mr kim slightly more co mforta ble make mr kim slightly more comfortable about the commitment to. a new zealand man has become the first to kayak solo from australia to new zealand. it took scott donaldson two months to make the 3,000 kilometre journey across the tasman sea, paddling 16 hours a day, sleeping inside the kayak, wearing a seat belt in case it capsized. 0n the way he had to deal both sharks and six metre waves, here he is speaking to the bbc after returning to land. there was one particular shark that was very interested in my rudder and we had a discussion for about half an hour, a0 minutes, he came in, went away very agitated, probably a bit lonely like me. nothing fragile out there

lasts very long at all. the solo attachments got pounded. there is tons of water that smashed over that boat in the rough weather. you've got the whole range out there. you saw some amazing stuff and it was anywhere from a millpond, that didn't happen very often, to over six metres, i didn't measure it and some of the solar panels gave way. about four solar panels that got hammered off, basically. just wanted to take those down from affecting the rest of the solar but the integrity of the boat, it's carbon fibre, its top grade, top—quality and really, and a coffin, it's about that size so it's just a case of practice, you get to spend one night in there and cope and then two nights and so on so there was a lot of mental skills going on to learn

how to cope with all of that. there was an amazing crowd, a few thousand there, the beach was full which was pretty nice because it was a pretty cold miserable night so it great was to see everybody and a little bit of sensory overload for a while. what an extraordinary journey what an extraordinaryjourney he must have had. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. we'll be looking at child's play. social media is a playground for the young, but understanding privacy controls is often beyond many adults. we try to simplify the rules by getting advice from some teenagers. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. 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 at some point 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. i'm nuala mcgovern with bbc world news. 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 in. 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. and that is all your headlines from bbc world news. theresa may says her cabinet has "a great