for re—election in 2020. speaking to his friend and journalist, piers morgan, he said he didn't believe any democrat could beat him. thousands of people in scotland have staged protests against his visit as he played golf at his resort in ayrshire. the 12 boys and their football coach who were rescued from a cave complex in thailand are to leave hospital on thursday, to be reunited with theirfamilies. the father of one of the boys has told the bbc the team had feared for their lives and that he was looking forward to hugging his son. the former sinn fein president, gerry adams, has appealed for those who carried out an attack on his home in west belfast to meet him. it follows several nights of rioting in londonderry. which police have blamed on dissident republicans. in the 400 items have been recovered

by police in the ongoing investigation over the couple affected by novichok. scotland yard says it does not know where the bottle that poison pen came from and cannot guarantee there is none of the substance left. now on bbc news, reclaiming the rock. it's considered one of the great natural wonders of the world. and is a deeply sacred place for australia's indigenous anangu people. one of the oldest civilisations on earth. this means everything to anangu. uluru, also known as ayers rock, a sandstone monolith in the heart of northern territory‘s red centre, dates back more than 500 million years.

tourists from all over the world visit the site every year. for decades, there's been a bitter row over the controversial practice of climbing the rock. have you guys heard that the aboriginal people don't want people to climb? yes, i do. and i understand that. but i'm going to do it anyway. there are signs here at the base of the climb clearly saying, "please don't climb". "it's against traditional law". translated into six languages, but still every day we've been here there has been a steady stream of climbers. indigenous communities have long campaigned for the behaviour which they considered deeply offensive to end. now, the time for talking is over. from november next year, the climb will close. i'm here in the spiritual heart of australia where i was born to find out why it's taken so long and how the anangu people feel from november next year,

the climb will close. i'm here in the spiritual heart of australia where i was born to find out why it's taken so long and how the anangu people feel about the multi—million dollar tourism operation that's been built around their sacred site. uluru is steeped in ancient stories about the creation time. the anangu people believe that in the beginning, the world was unformed and featureless. from this void, ancestral being submerged and travelled across the land, creating all living species. uluru is the physical evidence of feats performed during the creation period. they have walked this land for over 50,000 years.

the anangu believe they are the direct descendants of the ancestral beings that created uluru and are responsible for the protection of these ancestral lands. pamela taylor is one of the rock's traditional owners, a painter and holder of the sacred stories enshrined in it. the rock has a lot of stories, some of them i can't tell you, they are too sacred. what would happen? i would be in trouble! individual stories passed down orally as precious

inheritance to families. some shared with outsiders like me in the hope that they will understand their significance. but it is breezy along this weather front here where you see pamela's family holds the story of lungkata, a greedy and dishonest blue—tongue lizard ancestral being who came to uluru from the north and stole meat from an emu and went back up to his cave. the foundation of anangu life and society is known as tjukurpa, a huge word that encompasses many things. it's religion and culture, but it's also law, with clear punishments for breaking it,

explains auntie alison, another western desert elder. and through that process of listening to your elders, hearing the stories, do you get a sense of what is right and what is wrong? these creation stories of the anangu's spiritual compass.

they say the caves, marks and rock formations all live and breathe with them. senior traditional owner sammy wilson's family holds the story of kuniya, the python woman at uluru. sammy tells me that she fought liru, the poisonous snake here at uluru, and signs of their ferocious battle are all around this water hole. for ii—year—old tilly, going to uluru and into the caves where there are rock art tens of thousands of years old, is a deeply spiritual experience. i feel like my nana was right beside me, and my grandpa, my great great grandpa. i felt sad because it was a very long time ago. when he passed, when he did that painting. is that place a very special place for you?

yeah, because we are not really allowed to go in the rock because we will get sick and on that rock, when you step on the rock, you will get sick because you are stepping on your dreaming. stepping on the dreaming is what hundreds of thousands of tourists around the world have done. including princess diana and prince charles, when they visited. the indigenous owners have asked us not to show footage of the climb, which is why we are not doing it. they climbed up with their hard shoes on. scraping the rock. it wasn't supposed to be like that. when the first known white australian explorers came to the area in 1873, they named the rock ayers rock, after the premier of south australia, henry ayers. ayers arrived in australia with his wife ann potts from england

in 1840, he gained wealth and power through mining before entering politics. over the next three decades in parliament, he exercised significant influence over the shaping of modern australia. this is the goal: ayers rock looms up like a giant mound from ten miles away... by the 1950s, increasing numbers of nonindigenous australians were flocking to ayers rock. the radio mast goes up to confound the spirits of the primitive men who made the rock for an ages the focal point of the ceremony. and the anangu people were displaced. they might not look it but they are nearly civilised. then to climb the rock itself, no easy task as the climbs steepen to an angle of 60 degrees. the surface is flaky and treacherous. the big climb became the white

australian's sacred duty. it's almost like a rite of passage. they have heard from their parents and often their parents' parents that you have to come out here and climb. australians like to conquer things and i think that is probably one of the reasons, but it's notjust australians, we get lots of europeans and people from asia that do want to climb. many of the climbers i meet at the base of the rock have come to do it before it closes. it's always been my dream and ifinally made it. yeah, i like to do challenges. i will see how far we get in the morning. have you guys heard that the aboriginal people don't want people to climb? yes, i do. and i understand that but going to do it anyway. yeah. because this will be the last chance, because it closes off next year and next year i will be too old. so you don't feel at all uneasy

about that, they say this is like a sacred site for them, like climbing notre dame or a sacred church? i hadn't thought of that aspect of it. no, me neither. i think we need to work with them and understand their culture and things like that. in years to come, they might change their minds and say all right, let's open it again. or they might open it for a certain period of a time each year or something like that. i came here with some girlfriends specifically to climb it before they closed it, we just wanted to get the full experience of uluru. and you know why the climb is closing, don't you? that the anangu people don't like it, they feel like it's trampling on one of their sacred sites, did you not feel at all bad doing it? idid. i did, and after climbing it, i'm glad that i climbed it and had the opportunity to climb it

but i respect is why they don't want people to climb it. it's very sacred and very important to them. so when you were climbing, you didn't feel at all bad? idid. there were parts of me that did. but the experience of wanting to get the full experience of a rock, i suppose... pushed that aside, too... i don't know, get the overall experience of it. it wasn't until 1985 that the anangu people, after being recognised as traditional owners, were presented with the freehold title deeds for the uluru national park area. an event known as the hand back. 2000 invited guests were there to enjoy a happy occasion,

and it was. just before sunset, they handed over the title to uluru national park, 1300 square kilometres of land including ayers rock and mount 0lga. in 2011, the indigenous land council bought the ayers rock resort with a promise to employ and train aboriginal people for jobs in the tourism sector. as well as being blown away by the natural beauty of this area, equally impressive is the tourism machine that's been built around it, buses bringing in hundreds of people each day into this very isolated area, 300,000 visiting each year. bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars into the australian economy. the threat of losing the tourist dollar and the push to close was enormous pressure for the indigenous owners. and talk they did, in an historic vote, the board of 12 people including eight anangu elders decided to shut the climb down last year. and talk they did, in an historic

vote, the board of 12 people including eight anangu elders decided to shut the climb down last year. i was there that day, there were tears in people's eyes. notjust anangu, but from staff who have been here for many years. everyone was so excited that finally the decision had been heard. why did it take so long? well, anangu are very mindful, particularly for tourism, that there are many people who do want to climb uluru and that's why you have the lead time of two years for the decision to be implemented. they have done things the right way, there's been lots of consultation and the ministry is fully supportive of the decision. sammy wilson has set up his own tourism company to try

and get some of those visitors to see the land through their eyes. he is referring to the 35 people who have died attempting to climb uluru. we actually say to people, it's the equivalent of you clambering over notre dame. once you explain it that way, people are horrified and they realise, but if you say it's culturally significant and it's really important to traditional owners, that doesn't resonate. when we explain what you have done is sacrilege, they are taken aback and they understand. later in the day, pamela, who was planning to climb uluru in the morning, catches up with me at a different part of the rock

and she's very keen to talk again. my true reason for climbing is my ego, because i'vejust turned 70, i've got two replacement knees and i want to see if i could challenge myself to get as far as i can. and you've been thinking about that since we saw you last? i have been thinking about it since i saw you. and yes. it's the ego? it's the ego, definitely. almost 200 years since the british invasion, australia remains the only commonwealth country to have never signed a treaty with its indigenous people. last year, around 300 indigenous leaders came together at uluru, demanding real legal and political recognition and power, as the first nation people of australia. it is important to us. it is important. governments and people should respect and recognise that. we are the first people of the land. i work for my black government,

they are the teachers. we have doctors and lawyers and anthropologists and nurses. everything in our system. i grew up on anangu land in an area european settlers called new england, because of its cool climate and rolling hills which reminded them of home. where is the ham? but my family on my father's side were amongst the first settlers to come from europe to south australia. while i was working on this story, i realised i had a much closer connection to uluru, or ayers rock, then i had realised. with the arrogance of invaders

and the ignorance of outsiders, they gave the rock the name ayers rock after my great, great, great uncle, henry ayers, who was the senior politician in australia at the time. a connection i have only recently realised, and i'm not sure how i feel about it. i spent the day thinking about this connection. after years living away from australia, this trip has made me realise how dislocated nonindigenous australians are to the stories of the land we live in. i tell sammy that henry ayers is my great, great, great, great uncle. the person that, the first white person to come here they named this rock after. something i feel a little uncomfortable about.

i want to say sorry for the disrespectful way and brutal way that families like mine treated aboriginal people in the past. his reaction surprises me. he's excited because he says his great, great grandfather met explorer william goss. what did they talk about? do you think it was weird that they came up with that name, ayers rock, that they wanted to call it something different? sorry about that. later that afternoon, i tell alison. aboriginal people don't hold grudges. what was past is past. from the beginning. but now we are looking

at going forward. and teaching nonindigenous people to respect that, and develop that understanding and that trust about what happened rather than living in the past. so, they are all about coming together, interacting, showing each other. i speak five languages. english is my fifth. with alison's language skills, she works as a bridge between the elders, the government and the tourism operators. today, is dancing in a welcome ceremony for visitors here for a cultural festival. on stage is tilly, with her all—female

schoolgirls drumming group. it's an event that showcases indigenous culture from across australia, for a mixed audience. renowned australian indigenous country music singer troy cassar—daley is a regular performer. what it does is bring people from the outside and helps immerse them in some cultural things they will never see in sydney, black and white people should all come here and carry this bit of the spirit home. touch your foot over there near uluru and take a bit of that feeling with you, it's not hard to feel it, it's a great place. and then as night falls, a new way of stories being told is revealed. indigenous australian fashion brands using material with the paintings that tell the ancient stories of the creation time. led by australia's leading indigenous model.

indigenous art work is on canvas and things like that but it's really great that now it's being put into fashion, it also has lots of meaning behind it, there is a story behind it, it's notjust a normal dress you would buy in a shop. it's special. elder auntie alison who helped organise this festival says she wants to see more of this kind of tourism at uluru. a sharing of stories rather than conquering the rock. i want the world to see, i want australia to see the culture is alive and well here today. do you think there is enough of this kind of talking? no, i would like to see more about this kind of talking. when the parks close, there will be opportunities to sit down and talk more. when the climb closes, you mean?

yeah, because there will be time for elders to teach. the sharing of our shared australian history in order to heal and create a new, more inclusive, modern narrative on this ancient land. hello. for much of the uk the weekend got off to a fine, warm to hot start with long, sunny spells. england and wales are going to hold on to more of the same during sunday, whereas for scotland and northern ireland, more clouds and some rain coming in. already on saturday this weather system showed itself in highland scotland with cloudy skies and patchy rain.

sunday, it's on the move across more of scotland and northern ireland, taking some occasional rain and making it cooler than it was on saturday. high pressure holding on in england and wales, and this is where the sunshine and the very warm to hot weather will prevail for another day. this is how sunday is shaping up. very slowly, some patchy rain easing through northern ireland and scotland. i don't think much at all in eastern scotland until late in the day. for england and wales, some cloud is going to build, long sunny spells into the afternoon, and every bit as warm or hot as it was on saturday. a little cooler in scotland and northern ireland. still some spots, helped by a few sunny spells into the low 20s. for much of england and wales, we are talking mid 20s, high 20s in some spots in northern england. maybe even low 30s across the hotspots in south—east england. so it is going to be a hot one at wimbledon for the men's final. could be the hottest since 1984. we expect fewer sunny skies compared to saturday. as we go through sunday evening and night, this weather system, it's taking its time but it will eventually move a bit further south and take a few showery downpours

towards wales and western parts of england. as monday begins it is going to be a little cooler on sunday night in scotland and northern ireland, after a rather sultry saturday night. so this is how monday is looking. this weather system slowly moving south—east. the potential for some heavy downpours. keep your expectations in check. some spots will end up with nothing, but others could get a useful downpour. the odd showers in scotland and northern ireland. still some heat around for east anglia, the east midlands, south—east england. near 30 in the hotspots, there could be an isolated shower. as this weather system finally completes its journey east across the uk, by tuesday we are into cooler and fresh air. it's not going to be cold. temperatures will still be in the high teens and low to mid—20s. it is not going to be as hot as it

has been and not quite sunny. we will have a few days midweek where apart from the odd shower there will still be lots of dry weather around, some pleasant sunny spells, before potentially a wetter weather system comes in. that's your forecast. hello. this is bbc news. i'm nkem ifejika. our top stories: president trump's collision course with protestors. more demonstrations on day three of his uk visit. he's praised the queen, describing her as an "incredible" woman, and said he "fully intends" to run for re—election in 2020. after israel's biggest attack against hamas militants in gaza for four years, hamas say a ceasefire's now been agreed. set to leave hospital at last, we speak to the father of one of the 12 boys rescued from a flooded thai cave. and a huge iceberg threatens a village in western greenland.

officials say further splits could cause a tsunami.