case of sunny spells and scattering of showers, less hot, but towards the end of the week, possibility of more significant rain right across the country. care. hello, this is bbc news. i'm sure lee. —— sean lee. the headlines: the prime minister warns conservative mps they are putting brexit at risk by arguing over her proposals for how the uk will leave the eu. if we are going to find something that was in britain's interest, that delivered on the referendum, and that was negotiable, we had to make what is a compromise, but is a positive in terms of the benefits that it gives us. the us president, donald trump, is playing golf again this morning. he will leave scotland later, and fly to helsinki for a summit with the russian president. the minister for small business, andrew griffiths, has resigned from the government after sending texts of a sexual nature to two female constituents. it's the world cup final this afternoon, with france the favourites to win against croatia in moscow later. and novak djokovic says he hasn't got "much to lose" when he faces kevin anderson on centre court later

for the wimbledon men's final. now we're headed for australia for a programme about the landmark uluru. it's time for 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 rock 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 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. 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 the 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 that 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're 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 culture and 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're not doing it. 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. voiceover: this is the goal: ayers rock looms up like a giant mound from ten miles away... by the 19505, 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 climb steepens 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's probably one of the reasons, but it's notjust australians — we get lots of europeans, and people

from asia particularly, 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'll 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 kind of uneasy about that, if 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... i suppose... pushed that aside, to... 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, 1,300 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 if they push for the climb to be closed 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. i was there that day, and there were tears in people's eyes. not just anangu, but from staff who

have been here for many, many years. everyone was just so excited that finally the decision had been heard. finally the decision had been made. why did it take so long, though? 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 tourism 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's 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've just 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. you know, it is important. i grew up on anangu land, in an area european settlers called new england, because with its cool climate and rolling hills, which reminded them of home.

where's the ham ? but my family on my father's side were amongst the first settlers to come from europe to south australia. what you think, rebecca? do you like forms? —— prawns. 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 named this rock after. it's something ifeel 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. 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. well, aboriginal people don't hold grudges. 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'll never see in sydney, black and white people should all come here and carry this bit of the spirit home. i mean, 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. do you think there's 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? the sharing of our shared australian history in order to heal and create a new,

more inclusive, modern narrative on this ancient land. hello there. it's another glorious summer's day out there for most of us. but not for all. let's take a look at where we have seen beautiful weather so far. glorious across devon, but it's indicative of much of england and wales. but further north and west, the clouds gathers, the rain has arrived in the highlands. this weather front continues to bring some wet weather across the western scotland and northern ireland today. it's going to introduce slightly fresher conditions, too. but ahead of it, high pressure is the dominant feature. it's hot, dry and sunny. some rain has been heavy at times,

and we will see it moving further east as it pushes out of northern ireland and into western scotland. we are not expecting too much across eastern scotland down into the borders, perhaps just clouding over as we go through the day. the rain arriving here in little later on. maybe a bit in north—west wales. but elsewhere, a light south—westerly breeze, the temperatures are set to soar. we are likely to see highs of 30 degrees plus in the south—east corner. a little bit fresher behind that front, 17—20 is our maximum. but if you are headed for centre court action this afternoon, it does look as though it's going to be a hot one. it could be the hottest men's final day for a couple of decades at least. and that means, as we go through the night, we still keep that warmth. although temperatures will fall away, they're not going to fall very far. the weather front pushes eastwards, by then, a weak affair, just a band of cloud and showery rain, behind it fresher conditions continue. that will be the story as we go into monday.

some sunshine around for western scotland and northern ireland in comparison to today. 0ur front will bring a few scattered possibly thundery showers as it bumps into that warm. but it's still hot and humid across much of eastern and south—eastern england. we are likely to see temperatures into the high 20s. the front will continue to push through. that will be welcome news if it is in too hot for you of late. not expecting that much in the wake of significant rain across central and southern areas, a good deal of fine weather sitting behind. light winds, still some sunny spells. temperatures high teens, perhaps low 20s of the next few days. this is bbc news. the headlines: the prime minister has revealed the advice she was given from us president donald trump about brexit. heat and soon the eu? not going to

negotiation, sue them. theresa may also warned conservative mps they are putting brexit at risk by arguing over her proposals for how the uk will leave the eu. if we're going to find something that was in britain's interest that delivered in the referendum and was negotiable we had to make what is a compromise, but is a positive in terms of the benefits that it gives us. the us president, donald trump, is playing golf again this morning — he will leave scotland later and fly to helsinki for a summit with the russian president.