hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 2pm: a historic handshake, as donald trump says ties with russia have "never been worse". he tells president putin, "we need to get along". i think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship. i hope so. i've been saying it, and i'm sure you've heard over the years, and as i campaigned, that getting along with russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. theresa may comes under intense pressure to change her brexit plan — as another tory mp quits the government — and a second says the cabinet is so divided there should be a second referendum we have to recognise that parliament's reached an impasse and find a way through anyway. that's why i think you have to take the decision out of the hands of deadlocked politicians and put it back into the hands of the british people. new figures show the number of eu citizens leaving the uk last year is the highest on record. coming up on afternoon live: all the sport. tim? indeed, our french neighbours expect

their world cup winning team home this afternoon, also news on ronaldo‘s transfer to juventus and this afternoon, also news on ronaldo‘s transfer tojuventus and a date and opponent for anthony joshua's next fight in september. thanks, tim. and darren has all the weather. the heat should be easing, more fresh air coming the heat should be easing, more fresh aircoming our the heat should be easing, more fresh air coming our way bringing sunshine and showers but a lot of places. the dry, the forecaster friday has changed, it looks like we we re friday has changed, it looks like we were going to get some rain but it looks less likely now, i will explain why later on. also coming up... an underground world cup tribute, as southgate tube station is branded gareth southgate station for 48 hours. hello, everyone. this is afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy.

donald trump and vladimir putin have held face—to—face talks in the finnish capital, helsinki, in their first—ever summit. the meeting happened after president trump said in a tweet that ties with russia had "never been worse", and he blamed the "stupidity" of us politicians for that. he now says that america and russia will develop an "extraordinary relationship". but the body language was awkward, and there's some concern at what donald trump might agree to with no one to advise him at his side. our washington correspondent, gary o'donoghue, reports. donald trump has been shaping up for this summit ever since he became leader. at times, he's flattered the russian leader, but he's also overseen the introduction of sanctions on senior russian figures, and hisjustice department has just indicted 12 members of military intelligence over allegations they interfered in the 2016 general election. these two men have a lot to talk about. helsinki, and the final stop on a european odyssey that's seen the president stride right into the centre of the uk's brexit debate, and upend relations

with his nato allies. by way of warm—up to the main event, donald trump took breakfast with the finnish president. we had a fantastic meeting a few days ago. some of you were there. it was a very successful meeting. i think nato has never been more together. people are now agreeing to pay, and we were having a lot of problems with a lot of people not paying, as the president will tell you. in response to a shouted question about president putin, mr trump was heard to say, "we'll do just fine". this is not the first time the two leaders have met. but this time around, the stakes are high. and all eyes will be on what, if any, chemistry the two presidents will conjure up. in the meantime, expectations have been downplayed. there's a huge sense of mutual suspicion, and a huge range of issues on which they disagree. we have not been getting along very well for the last number of years. not too long, it's getting close to two years, but i think

we will end up having an extraordinary relationship. i hope so. i've been saying it, and i'm sure you've heard it over the years, and as i campaigned, that getting along with russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. on twitter, the president appeared somewhat to undermine his own position. he said... a reference to the investigation into possible russian collusion with his election campaign. america's nato allies are also deeply concerned about what president trump might agree to with vladimir putin, particularly as the russian president is hostile to nato‘s expansion, and angered by troop deployments on russia's borders. russia has for a very long time, and vladimir putin especially, has thought that they are not treated as an equal in international diplomacy, and especially not been treated as an equal by the united states.

and now, donald trump, by giving this meeting to vladimir putin, actually handed him already the first goal in the game. both leaders have already excited the anger of protesters, even before they arrived. everyone conscious that these two men can have a significant impact on global stability. the signs at the beginning of that meeting weren't all that great. the body language was pretty cool. they now go into a i.5—hour meeting just with their translators, face—to—face, to thrash out their differences. a lot depends on it — a lot of global stability, the real world order depends on them getting on. we will see what happens later on, but a lot of people are waiting to see whether these two men can come up with some kind of formula so that russia and america can start talking again. well, our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, has been following the ups and downs of the president's relationship with russia.

she sent us this update from helskinki. to get a perspective on what could be discussed inside that meeting room in the presidential palace in helsinki, we can go to washington and join in ambassador daniel fried, who used to be the coordinator for russian sanctions policy at the us state department. welcome to bbc news, ambassador fried. thank you. what's your first reaction to president trump saying, in the end, "we could have an extraordinary relationship", the words he gave to president putin? well, even given president trump's habit of exaggeration, that's a bit rich. the problem of our current relations with russia, the reason they're so bad, is not because of years of american foolishness, as the president tweeted,

but because of russian aggression. it's a good thing to try to get along with the russians, but it's a bad thing to pay for that better relationship by giving away our values or our interests in exchange for nothing. now, i don't know why president trump wanted to go in this meeting appearing to be a supplicant. but with a weak statement like he made about years of american foolishness causing a bad relationship with russia, he puts himself in a weaker position. he painted himself into a corner. i can only hope that this afternoon when they come out of the meetings, president trump will take a different, more realistic tone. but let's give him the benefit of the doubt. an american and a russian president, as you know, haven't sat down like this for eight years. that is a bit too long, given that they are arguably two of the world is most powerful leaders and major players. sure. there's nothing wrong with talking to the russians. president macron does, chancellor merkel has met with putin, that's not a bad

thing at all. but it's a bad thing to oversell what you can achieve simply by talking to putin. it's not good to oversell it, especially to yourself. president bush tried to reach out to putin, president obama tried to reach out to putin, both presidents failed. that doesn't mean it wasn't worth a try, but you can't expect too much. and we must... we all must be realistic about why the relationship with russia is bad, and it's bad because russia is an aggressive power. it wants to weaken the west in principle. it doesn't like democracy in principle, and it's committed aggression against its neighbours, and frankly aggression against individual western countries, like the uk, and france in its elections, america in its elections, against spain during the catalonia referendum. this is not america's fault. this is a result of russia's aggressive stance in the world. we will have more from helsinki

throughout the afternoon. we'll bring you coverage of that press conference between donald trump and vladimir putin later here on afternoon live. a senior tory backbencher, justine greening, has called for a second eu referendum. the former education secretary says the government's present brexit negotiation strategy is "the worst of both worlds" and that voters should be allowed to decide between it — staying in the eu — or a clean break from europe with no deal. the call came as another another ministerial aide resigned over the issue. our chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in westminster. teresa made‘s the difficulties pile—up, and a difficult board later. this is another of what we thought was going to be a crunch moment when people are getting ready to get legislation in place, it's becoming much more than that. it's becoming much more than that. it's

becoming a battle about the kind of brexit we have and of course the chequers agreement which at the moment does not have the backing of many people at all. those who are pro—brexit think the prime minister has given away too much and are trying to use the legislation going through here later tonight to really tough her resolve, too hard on her stands before it goes to the eu. the latest indications are the government may give way on some of that, thinking they can, it won't make too much difference but it really does just knock all this confrontation further ahead to the autumn. as jonathan confrontation further ahead to the autumn. asjonathan blake reports. climbing aboard at the start of what could be another turbulent week. theresa may at an airshow this morning, seeing aeroplanes built partly in britain, but reliant on easy access to europe. an example, she says, of why her brexit plan is the right one, as she made the case again for a compromise that's struggling to get off the ground. the frictionless free trade of goods, an independent trade policy, the avoidance of a hard border between northern ireland and ireland,

and between northern ireland and great britain — these are conditions we seek. to do anything else risks the integrity of the united kingdon, reneges on the belfast agreement, and simply will not deliver for britain as a global trading nation. but touring the tv studios this morning, one former cabinet minister calling the prime minister's plan a "fudge", and saying the public should vote again. i think parliament's reached an impasse. i think the prime minister's deal is in practice unworkable, it's the worst of all worlds, so i think we need to go back to the british people and give them the three clear choices really that we have on the table, which is either a soft brexit — the prime minister's deal, a hard brexit — a clean break, that i think most leavers were actually voting for, or, of course, staying in the european union. justine greening is not the first to call for another referendum. there's plenty who support a public vote on the final brexit deal. but it's hard to find many mps, whether they campaigned leave or remain, who willjoin the ha rd—sell for eu

referendum take two. there's a lot of disagreement in that building behind us right now. but that isn't an excuse to hold referendums every time that happens. you know, we've had our instructions, and it's up to us to do what parliament is supposed to do, which is debate it, to work it through, to narrow down the areas of disagreement and to do whatever's necessary. to start going back now simply because the eu always tries to bully countries into submission when they get a referendum result they don't like i'm afraid is going to stick in the craw of the british people. it will further erode trust in elected politicians, who don't do what they say. this would be a recipe for disaster. what next, then, for the prime minister's plan? are you running for leader, mrjohnson? so far, boris johnson is keeping quiet, but his next move could be important. does the other cabinet minister who resigned over it think the prime minister can push on? of course! she's a good prime minister. the fact we have a difference of opinion doesn't change that. another day, another attack on the

prime minister's brexit compromise. this call for a second referendum won't get far in government, but there are signs that the prime minister is willing to give some ground to those mps who want to cut ties with the eu and accept their changes to legislation going through parliament this week. jonathan blake, bbc news, westminster. at the moment and doesn't seem to be overwhelming support for the idea of another referendum, those on the pro—brexit side say that would be typical of how the eu operates, it asks the country a question as it did with denmark and ireland and if it does not like the answer it keeps going back until it gets the right one. iam not going back until it gets the right one. i am not sure there is any appetite in the country. justine greening's decision and reason to say she is in favour is because she says there is parliamentary deadlock here and i think up to a certain point there is. people are against the chequers agreement but it's not

entirely clear what there is a majority for in the house of commons. if you look at labour they are against chequers because they don't think it goes far enough, you don't think it goes far enough, you don't have any power, you are close but cannot make any decisions, but if you are on the brexit side you just think there should be a much more clean break and we are far too close. that's the tight rope theresa may is walking, trying to please both sides where is at the moment she is not pleasing either. amidst all this navel—gazing the ultimate decision will lie with the eu, they will say whether they want to do this or not and some say president trump had a point, perhaps we could just sue them? chuckles yes i don't think theresa may thinks thatis yes i don't think theresa may thinks that is the best idea, she is currently still going down the route of going into a negotiation. we have to see what she thinks about all that but i just to see what she thinks about all that but ijust think ultimately theresa may has to try and persuade

people, get them on board. but as ever she is caught between the two sides. the interesting thing will be whether labourjoin sides. the interesting thing will be whether labour join forces sides. the interesting thing will be whether labourjoin forces with the government at any point and that would give her a majority. at the moment there is no suggestion they are willing to do that but it may welcome to that point. i'm joined by priti patel to discuss this further, this idea of a second referendum, with parliament in deadlock, made its not a bad idea? it's not a good idea at all, we've already had one referendum and we stood on a manifesto last year, labour did as well, in terms of delivering brexit. we need to be clear about a lot of things, the second referendum would also require an act of parliament which quite frankly in light of the current circumstances would not get through and on top of that you have to decide the question, the technicalities involved, but also the funding, these are issues which have not been evolved from the last

referendum so it's not the way forward. the way forward is to get on, get parliament and the government to focus on delivering brexit in a way that party is committed to in the manifest as last year and also committed to in the manifest as last yearand also in committed to in the manifest as last year and also in which the prime minister had outlined previously. year and also in which the prime minister had outlined previouslym when it comes to the chequers deal you don't think it delivers on the referendum promise, you won the prime minister to toughen her line? that is the debate we are having today and the amendments have been tabled the legislation which will be discussed. it is clear that chequers and the white paper published last week simply do not restate what the prime minister had committed, something like ten days ago in the house of commons when she herself said we would be taking back control of our laws and our money and borders. the white paper and the details of the white paper are very far removed from that. we will have the debates today in parliament,

scrutinising legislation which is the job of parliamentarians, and making the case that we need the government to rethink and revisit some of the outlines which have been put forward both in chequers in white paper to ensure we are delivering an independent trade policy in the way we campaigned and said we would. putting forward a bright and prosperous vision for britain post—brexit and our ability to have self—determination around the world and say no to the european union when it comes to money and that we are genuinely going to take control of our borders so we have an independent border policy. but there will have to be a compromise if parliament is to agree less. you have one vision of brexit but others have one vision of brexit but others have a different vision. doesn't have a different vision. doesn't have to be a compromise that is what the prime minister is trying to do? in any negotiation, anyone who has worked in any negotiation, yes we need to compromise and make relevant

changes. this is not now a case of having many visions of brexit, we've done that, we had that discussion. the referendum was one stage, the election lastjune the referendum was one stage, the election last june was another, we have had several speeches from lancaster house to mansion house. the prime minister herself has outlined the case for brexit and the vision for brexit. we are effectively and to the amendments i will be speaking to today, reminding the government of exactly what the vision was that the government has put forward when it comes to delivering a vision for brexit for britain. do you think the government will accept your amendment? we are going to debate and i don't want to speculate, but we are doing the right thing, scrutinising legislation and putting forward key points about parity, one of the causes i will be moving as we do not wa nt causes i will be moving as we do not want to become a tax collector, we wa nt want to become a tax collector, we want an equal relationship, not a relationship where we are doing something for them and getting nothing back, that is negotiation.

thank you. another heated debate set for this afternoon with those votes coming about 9pm tonight. thank you. you're watching afternoon live. these are our headlines: a historic handshake, as donald trump says ties with russia have "never been worse". he tells president putin, "we need to get along". theresa may comes under intense pressure to change her brexit plan as another tory mp quits the government, and a second says the cabinet is so divided there should be a second referendum. new figures show the number of eu citizens leaving the uk last year is the highest on record. and in sport these were the scenes last night as france await the arrival of their world cup winning tea m arrival of their world cup winning team this afternoon in paris. he costs almost £100 million but cristiano ronaldo is in italy to com plete cristiano ronaldo is in italy to complete his move to champion juventus. and anthony joshua

complete his move to champion juventus. and anthonyjoshua will be backin juventus. and anthonyjoshua will be back in action on september 22 at wembley stadium, the world heavyweight champion fighting alexander povetkin of russia. more on all of thatjust alexander povetkin of russia. more on all of that just after alexander povetkin of russia. more on all of thatjust after 2:30pm. a record number of eu citizens emigrated from the uk last year, with over 139,000 leaving the country in 2017. it means net migration from eu countries is now at its lowest level since 2013. but figures released today also showed that net migration from countries outside the eu rose to its highest level since 2010. caroline davies has more. packing up years of their lives. it's not been easy for paolo and costanza to decide to leave the uk. it's taken us two years to take this decision. well, i wanted to leave the day after the referendum really! i was in tears. and i said, "don't worry, they are going to find a way to get a deal," but actually after almost two years, i start to worry as well.

they are just one family who have decided to leave britain's shores. the number of eu citizens to emigrate from here last year was the highest level ever on record — 139,000. but the number of people coming to the uk from the eu is still more than the number leaving. net migration from the eu was 101,000 last year. from outside the eu, it was 227,000. it's not as simple as adding those two together to find the total, but overall net migration is 282,000. today's figures show there's still more people coming to the uk than leaving it. that figure has remained relatively stable, but it is still far above the level the government has set itself of tens of thousands. what i think is really important is that we look to the future. we know migration is broadly stable but we have brought in a raft

of policies over the last eight years which will enable us going forward to make sure that migration is headed in the right direction, and we have taken back control of our own borders. for some, the uncertainty has been too much. paolo and costanza leave for italy in two weeks but for others inside and outside the eu, the uk is still a place they want to call home. caroline davies, bbc news. a peninsula in the far north of scotland is to become the uk's first spaceport. the site in sutherland will be used to launch rockets vertically — to put satellites into orbit. 0ur science correspondent, victoria gill, has more. blasting off soon from our shores. in as little as three years, rockets like this will be launched from a remote stretch of land on the north coast of scotland. the a'mhoine peninsular in sutherland has been chosen by the uk space agency as the best place from which to launch rockets

that will put commercial satellites into orbit. the uk space agency will contribute £2.5 million towards a development that british engineers say will be a genuine boost for the country. it will save cost for example in having to export satellites to other countries to launch them. it will make it easier logistically for launching from our own shores, say from the north coast of scotland or somewhere. and, you know, that will take cost out of the satellite programme so it may enable more spacecraft to be built and launched. and while rockets blast off vertically from scotland, another type of spaceport could be developed at the opposite end of the uk. newquay airport could host what's called a horizontal launch site. at the farnborough airshow today, cornwall council signed an agreement with richard branson‘s virgin 0rbit. this means the company's adapted passenger jet could eventually take off from newquay and climb to altitude over the ocean

to release its rocket and put a satellite into orbit. the commercial space sector is growing, partly because the satellite technology is shrinking. it's now possible to fit a great deal of communications, gps and weather monitoring capability inside a relatively small box, and smaller satellites can be lifted by smaller rockets. a development that's made these new modest spaceports a possibility. so two coastal sites could boldly take the country another step into the commercial space age. victoria gill, bbc news. 0ur science correspondent, jonathan amos, is at the farnborough airshow, where details of the spaceport have been revealed. jonathan, how likely is it? they have been talking about this for about a decade simon. finally they are starting to get going. and there is money on the table now for the

highlands and islands enterprise and some of the actors, some of the operators to get on and do the job. money has been announced for lockheed martin, they need no introduction certainly here, they area big introduction certainly here, they are a big aerospace player and if they say they can launch rockets from scotland then you have to believe them to some extent. when it comes to building satellites were pretty good at that aren't we? not just any old satellite, we are particularly good at making the types of satellite which fit on small rockets. the uk has led the revolution in these miniature satellites. if you go to glasgow and people not realise this, the turnout 80 satellites a year, so we really are at the forefront. the difficulty is finding a ride to orbit for these satellites, it's very constrained and the idea, let's put the rockets

here in the united kingdom and let's send them up where we build them. here in the united kingdom and let's send them up where we build themm feels pretty exciting to those outside of that circle, is their excitement where you are? outside of that circle, is their excitement where you are ?|j outside of that circle, is their excitement where you are? i think so. excitement where you are? i think so. what you have to adjust your thinking about is we are used to see an enormous rockets going up from the kennedy space centre or french guyana,, we are talking about a much smaller scale, rockets that are perhaps no more than 15—20 metres tall doing something very particular and low—key. that doesn't make it any and low—key. that doesn't make it a ny less and low—key. that doesn't make it any less exciting, there will still be big rockets and very big satellites, it's just we can do something very niche and do very well. thank you jonathan. what would you like to send to outer space? here is darren burnett with the weather. that will be the jet

stream? weather. that will be the jet stream ? yes. weather. that will be the jet stream? yes. your colleagues said today would be a bit cooler but there's not much of that? not here but some places are and all of us will be tomorrow. you are moving it to another day? we have got enough problems. friday there was much excitement, a little bit of excitement, a little bit of excitement over the rain was going to sweep down across the uk. and now the forecast has changed. i will explain why and as you say quite rightly, i will give you that, the jet stream. this was the previous forecast for friday. it's an evolving situation. just like the news. this was the previous forecast. the jet stream, news. this was the previous forecast. thejet stream, the main arm of the jets scream towards iceland where it has been all summer and then it was diving down across

the uk so you get an amplification, this trough forming and that would lead to an area of low pressure moving down across the whole of the uk bringing with outbreaks of rain. asa uk bringing with outbreaks of rain. as a result of low pressure across the uk you had high pressure dominating the weather for so long, more eye towards atlantic, that was the previous forecast. know the position has changed and the strength of the jet stream has changed, it's not diving down across the uk. it's not moving at all. it isn't. you've got a weakness which isn't. you've got a weakness which is odd year, this smiley face, that is odd year, this smiley face, that is where you'll find an area of low pressure, that is a cut of low which is divorced from the main strength because high pressure is building in more quickly and cutting off the net of the jet stream leaving the rain, what there is of it well down towards france. instead there is high pressure building more quickly

and that weakens the jet and stops it heading across the whole of the uk. even this morning the forecast, the lake district was going to get rain so it's strange that dramatically? as you go into thursday you will see rain coming into here, friday and make it as far as there. that's it. but it could change of course! yes, sit on that fence! yeses are finely balanced situations, it depends how high things move, that the present thinking. there is more agreement amongst computer models for this scenario. so let's get your best guess for the next couple days? thanks very much, the weather will change over the next couple of days as fresh air moves down, sunny spells, maybe the odd shower but not guaranteed to get any rain. so far the cooler and fresher air across

western scotland and northern ireland but we will see sunshine replaced by more showers. still hot and humid and there is more sunshine across the south—east of the uk into the midlands. contrast either side, thatis the midlands. contrast either side, that is moving slowly, east across the uk, on the weather front we are seeing outbreaks of rain. it's not a straight forward, coherent band of rain, it'sa straight forward, coherent band of rain, it's a bit ragged, it's been wet across west wales which is moving into the north—west of england and replacing the rain in the north—east but it's the temperature contrast either side with the brand which is giving us the rain and different. 0utbreaks with the brand which is giving us the rain and different. outbreaks of rain across this line, the contrast in the temperatures, 30 degrees in the humidity towards the south—east, one or two showers popping off in east anglia perhaps in the lincolnshire. the rain breaks up some heavy bursts heading towards north—west england, the rain moving away and it should be brightening up across much of scotland, fresher air

arriving in eastern areas as cloud brea ks arriving in eastern areas as cloud breaks up. some showers for northern ireland and textures around about 20, 20 ireland and textures around about 20,201 ireland and textures around about 20, 201 degrees. the showers should fade away. this band of cloud, you're not guaranteed to get the rain, especially in the south—east, it might still be dry. the rain pushes into the north sea, clearer skies, fresher air wafting our way, but the heat reduced last of all in the south—east of england. it should feel more fresh by the morning, will not feel as hot humid, many places starting on sunday, the cloud spreads out, there can deliver scattering of showers, then across the northern part of the uk, the south—east looking like it's going to be dry, this is where you'll see the highest temperatures, 25 quite pleasant, not the 30 of the day and it will be fresher elsewhere as well, those dangers about 19 in scotla nd well, those dangers about 19 in scotland and northern ireland. we've got high pressure roughly in charge in the middle part of the week, this

weather system i was talking about earlier on the low pressure threatening to bring rain across the whole of the uk, it looks less likely to happen, it stops north—west of scotland, showers on wednesday, sunny spells and if anything for england and wales for thursday just gets warmer anything for england and wales for thursdayjust gets warmer once again. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. donald trump and vladimir putin have been meeting in the finnish capital, helsinki for the first us—russia summit in eight years. theresa may comes under pressure to change her brexit plan, as another ministerial aide quits the government, and a senior tory mp says the cabinet is so divided there should be a second referendum. net migration from the eu to the uk has fallen to its lowest level in nearly five years. an estimated 101,000 more eu citizens arrived in the uk than left in 2017. a peninsula in the far north of scotland is to become the uk's first spaceport which could see launches in the next three years.

sport now on afternoon live with tim hague... and france are celebrating their second world cup win in 20 years. france are due in paris this afternoon to celebrate their second world cup win — after beating croatia 11—2 in a great world cup final in moscow. these were the scenes in paris last night and you can expect them to be repeated when didier deschamps and his players arrive. it will be an open top bus parade, around a million people on the champs—elysees last night. remember, deschamps is only the third man in history to win a world cup as a player and a manager. kylian mbappe was a big reason for the french success. he scored the fourth in the win in moscow yesterday, and the 19—year—old already been singled out as the likely successor to lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo as a superstar of the game. england are already back

from the world cup, and there's been plenty of praise about the developent of young players by gareth southgate. but ahead of this week's european under—19 championships in finland, there's criticism of uefa. that's because england will be without 10 of their best players because the tournament is outside of the window when clubs are required to release their players. the likes of man city's phil foden won't be playing as a result. the fa's technical director dan ashworth says something needs to change. clu bs clubs have got preseason friendlies and fixtures to fulfil. i have to say, there are some players in that system who are genuine contenders for first—team places. something similar happened with trent alexander—arnold last summer, getting in and playing in the liverpool first—team, and in the champions league final. those experiences are fantastic and it has developed trent as a player. we have a great relationship with the clubs. the tournament is put at a really u nfortu nate the tournament is put at a really unfortunate time of year for all of us. consequently, ithink

unfortunate time of year for all of us. consequently, i think the other countries... i know the other countries... i know the other countries are in the same position. cristiano ronaldo has been having his medical in turin today before completing his move tojuventus. he's met fans and signed shirts this morning, before the all—importa nt tests with the doctors. ronaldo's moving from real madrid for around £99 million. pure pocket money for you, simon!” wish. speaking of that sort of money, we have details of anthony joshua's next fight. plenty of zeros on the end of any discussion about anthonyjoshua. world heavyweight champion anthonyjoshua has announced his next bout, he will fight russia's alexander povetkin on september 22nd at wembley stadium. he was last in action in march when he beatjoseph he was last in action in march when he beat joseph parker. joshua will defends all his belts against the wba's mandatory challenger. it's the first time the briton will have fought at wembley since his famous victory over wladimir klitschko in april 2017. joshhua says that "povetkin

is a serious challenge and only a fool would underestimate what he brings to the table." the world cup's over, as is wimbledon, but fear not — the open championship is but a few days away, and britain's tommy fleetwood says he won't let his ranking affect his concentration. fleetwood's ranked tenth in the world after a good couple of years, and it looking to win his first major title at carnoustie. i don't feel any different about being up there in the world rankings. it is what it is, but it's nice to have that expectation and shows you are doing something right. hopefully there's more to come. but as long as we keep improving, that's all that matters. generally it doesn't matter where you are in the world com doesn't matter where you are in the worldcom you still have to hit the golf shots when it comes to it and that's all that matters. i'm not as calm as i look, i think will stop i am naturally quite a calm person, surrounded by friends. i like what i do. at the end of the day, playing good or bad, it is what it is. but i

put all the work in, and that's what you do it for, just take it from there. the open championship beginning on thursday live across the bbc. serena williams has returned to the world's top 30 after reaching the wimbledon final. she was beaten by angelique kerber, but the men's champion, novak djokovic, says he doubted if he'd ever win another grand slam title, after taking his 13th grand slam title yesterday. he's struggled with injury and form in the last couple of years, but comfortably beat kevin anderson yesterday. i had the surgery and was absent from the tour for i had the surgery and was absent from the tourfor six i had the surgery and was absent from the tour for six months, i had the surgery and was absent from the tourfor six months, and faced for the first time this kind of severe injury. i didn't really know what is expected off me. i had many moments of doubt and didn't really know if i could come back to the level to compete. this was my first grand slam final after a couple of years. there's no better place in the world to really make a comeback. the four time winner at wimbledon, novak djokovic. that's all the sport for now.

more now on the summit between donald trump and vladimir putin in finland. in the last few minutes, the meeting between the two leaders has finished. earlier, president trump said relations between the united states and russia were at a low but he was hopeful for new opportunities. most importantly, we have a lot of good things to talk about. we have things to talk about. we have discussions on everything from trade, to military, to missiles, to nuclear, to china. we'll be talking a little bit about china, our mutual friend president xi. reporter asks question in russian. i think we have great opportunities together as two countries that, frankly, we have not been getting along very well for the last number of years.

i've been here not too long, getting close to two years, but i think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship. i hope so. i've been saying, and i'm sure you have heard over the years, and as i campaigned, that getting along with russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. translates into russian. i really think the world wants to see us get along. we are the two great nuclear powers, we have 90% of the nuclear, and that's not a good thing, it's a bad thing. i think we can hopefully do something about that, because it's not a positive force, it's a negative force. so we'll be talking about that, among other things.

translated into russian. with that, the world awaits, and i look forward to our personal discussion, which i think begins now, and then we will meet our whole team. you have a quite few representatives and we all have questions and we'll hopefully come up with answers. it's great to be with you. let's speak to the conservative mp, bob seely, who sits on the commons foreign affairs select committee. he's in our westminster studio. you saw the two of them shaking hands. have things just got better

or worse? it's great, if the americans get on with russia it's a win—win, but not at the cost of our own interests. that's the problem. there could be a lot going well for the russians but not a lot the americans will gain from this meeting. in the past you have called for a much more robust approach towards the russian regime. do you think that donald trump will try and ease relations to the point where perhaps the situation in ukraine, a place you know very well, but is he prepared to let certain things go? it depends what those things are. donald trump does not control sanctions, they are put in place by congress. talking to people on capitol hill, there seem to be at least two policies the americans have towards russia. the administration's policy is pretty sensible, and then there is donald trump, who for some reason seems compromised by his relationship with putin. maybe he's worried of what the russians have on him, or it

seems likely the russians aggressively meddled in the 2016th elections. we had several officers from russia indicted in a new york court last friday as part of the robert mueller enquiry into the relationship between trump and the russia during the election. it is difficult to say, food is one listen to? trump, or congress and the administration? when it comes to these helsinki meetings, do you listen to the man with 18 months experience, or the man with 18 years experience? i think putin is a very clever operator and the russians are already winning because despite having an economy the the size of spain's they are presenting themselves as a superpower, which they are not. putin is a test with this great power status, he wants to be seen as one of the great superpower leaders, along with the united states and china. the reality is very different. the russians are

a nuclear superpower, and they are a great power in terms of energy, but in terms of anything else, they are not. should donald trump be raising salisbury? yes, and he should raise ukraine and georgia and the manipulation that got him elected as president. he should be raising the fa ct president. he should be raising the fact greece kicked out two russian diplomats just yesterday for trying to do some political stirring in macedonia. there's lots of things trump should be raising. lots of issues trump should raise with putin. whether he does so not, i don't know. what do you make of the body language we have seen so far?” think donald trump, for whatever reason, is keen to get on with vladimir putin. putin has rehearsed this sort of meeting for years, i think trump thinks he's a great deal maker, but i'm not so sure on the evidence i have seen, i'm afraid. very briefly, a bit stronger than that. i have read the stuff you have written about how we should treat

the putin regime. you are holding back, i sense at the moment. not at all, i'm very russia friendly, but i'm very sceptical about the kremlin regime and we need to understand what they are trying to do. they are very open about being in political wa rfa re very open about being in political warfare with the west, trying to undermine nato and the european union. that is no secret. until they get treated as equals by the united states, not really, but we can flatter people if it's for a better purpose. or whether this is part of the russians trying to lift sanctions while alnwick sing bits of other people's countries and whilst starting wars against other people and engaging in political warfare with the west, i don't know. i suspect putin wants trump, and putin perhaps thinks trump will try to lift sanctions. he will not be able to come and i think congress will be unwilling to listen. but having a friend in the white house, for whatever reason, i think is a very useful thing for president vladimir putin and he is playing trump

incredibly well. thank you for joining us. buddhist monks have held a ceremony outside the flooded cave complex in thailand to honour a diver who died during the operation to rescue 12 boys and their football coach trapped inside. a clean—up operation is underway in the area following the rescue mission. howard johnson reports. a blessing drum signalled the start of the ceremony. in northern thailand, a drum is used to bless warriors and summon people to important events. today, prestigious monks and dignitaries gathered to send blessings to the spirit of saman kunan, the former thai navy seal diver who died during the operation to save the trapped football team. there were offerings, too — pig heads, a symbol of wealth and prosperity. ajahn robert is a british buddhist monk who lives in the thai capital, bangkok. he came to take part in the ceremony. we don't believe that the journey‘s ended just because his body has died.

his karma, everything, just goes on and on, and we will pray for his good health, good luck in his next life, which has already started. over the last few days, thousands of volunteers have streamed into the area around the cave to clean up behind the rescue operation. this is the closest we've been able to get to the entrance of the tham luang cave complex in weeks, and what we can see now behind us is a security fence has been set up to stop anyone from getting in. there's also a security detail here, and what we've heard is that the authorities say it will take six months to clear the cave complex. there's a lot of equipment that was used during the rescue operation. today's ceremony was a chance for many to offer their own blessings to spirits and deities they believe guard these caves. one lady told us she had visited the cave before the rescue operation. she'd asked the spirits to keep the football team safe, and today she returned to show them her gratitude. howard johnson, bbc news, chiang rai province.

a british man involved in the rescue mission says he is considering suing the tesla car founder elon musk. in a now deleted tweet, the entrpreneur described vern unsworth, a cave diver who lives in thailand, as "pedo guy". mr unsworth had ridiculed mr musk‘s offer of a mini—submarine to help with the rescue. a historic handshake ahead of a summit meeting between donald trump and vladimir putin — that's just ended in the last few minutes. donald trump says it was a good start. theresa may comes under intense pressure to change her brexit plan, as another tory mp quits the government, and a second says the cabinet is so divided there should be a second referendum. new figures show the number of eu citizens leaving the uk last year is the highest on record.

here's your business headlines on afternoon live. blue skies ahead — theresa may promises huge investment for the aerospace industry, just a few weeks after airbus threatened to reduce its uk presence because of brexit disruption. more trouble for debenhams as their shares tumble after weekend reports of a cash crunch. the retailer denies the reports and says it's cash position is healthy, but investors are not convinced. and airbnb receives a warning from the european commission over its pricing policy. the home—sharing firm is told it needs to be clearer on its total costs, after it recieved consumer after it received consumer complaints over hidden additional charges. netflix is reporting its financial results. it's huge. they have taken

over from disney as the largest broadcast company. it has inspired other traditional broadcast to create their own content, notjust in us english but in other languages. they have a very good korean drama doing well in southeast asia and they have just entered india and they will produce local content in lots of different languages. and that's a direct threat to bollywood? it is. they will get a piece of that pie. you suspect getting subscriber numbers up suspect getting subscriber numbers up in india will not be hard. even if they get just a up in india will not be hard. even if they getjust a small percentage. and in terms of budget they are expanding and investment isn't hard to find. they are doing pretty well at the moment. joining me now from new york is our north american business correspondent paul blake. financial results out later. what can we expect? we expect them to announce second—quarter results after closing bell here in new york.

it's now the most valuable media company in the us, bigger than disney. in terms of emmy award nominations it has surpassed hbo, which usually has that title. we expect them to keep up this momentum by spending $800 million in content for their streaming service. what we expect this afternoon, the headlines, $4 billion of revenue. what people here will be looking for are the number of net subscriptions, the people signing up. they have 125 million subscribers just now, and we expect them to add 1 million in the second quarter of 2018 and we expect them to announce that this afternoon. we expect them to announce 5 million new subscribers from outside the us around the world. that's the figure investors will be looking at. what competition is netflix face in terms of subscribers question at amazon prime is doing well in asia, launching its local language content. is that key

to their growth? that's why investors here a re to their growth? that's why investors here are so focused on this figure of the net subscriptions. traditionally netflix has been a mail order dvd rental company, that's how it started, but it has now become synonymous with streaming entertainment. it's at the top of the hegemonic of that. it's what people think of. it has recently faced competition from amazon prime and youtube, and facebook is also try to enter the market space. we know disney is interested in that, and so is apple. they sell stuff on itunes, but perhaps even original apple content. that's why investors will be so focused on this, and focused on what netflix's strategy will be outside the us. in particular, india. the ceo of netflix has said that's a huge market for them and one may wa nt to huge market for them and one may want to into. he says the next hundred million subscribers he hopes come from india and they have started to produce indian language content started to produce indian language co nte nt for started to produce indian language content for that market. it's a

strategy they will take elsewhere around the world. interesting how they have become the norm. let's have a look at the markets. the footsie had a troubling day, about a percentage of the index. one interesting share price is debenhams, losing more than 5% today over concerns over insurance of its suppliers. some insurers threatening to pull the plug on suppliers to debenhams over its cash position. it sparked great excitement when it was discovered — now a tudor shipwreck found on mudflats in kent has been given special protection by the department for digital, culture, media and sport. the wreck was found at tankerton beach near whitstable last year by members of a local history and archaeology group. robin gibson reports. each low tide gives them a window. some are experts from top centres of archaeology, but alongside them, volunteers whose imaginations have been fired to work in mud and silt.

i think i must have been a hippopotamus in my past life! i could spend days in this stuff now. what's been revealed are the timbers of a tudor seagoing cargo ship and evidence of those who may have sailed her. so, this is what we think is a shoe. it looks like part of the sole of a shoe. leather, probably quite fragile. lifting it up and popping it in the bag. standing on a time traveller, a ship which knew this coastline in the 1500s. i'm standing towards the stern of the ship, but my muddy feet are on the keel. stretched out over here, the boards which lined the inside of the hold where the cargo was carried. stretching all the way towards the bow. for centuries, it's been little more than an imprint in the mud off tankerton. scientific analysis has now dated the timbers to the mid—1500s, the era of the mary rose.

we know it's oceangoing because we found a galley on board, and the galley would be the cooking area. a cooking area wouldn't be on board a local ship, so it had to be oceangoing. as an historic wreck, the ship has now been given legal protection, so this dig has had to gain official permission. the diggers will continue to reveal her story in a battle between the tides, before the ship returns to her muddy grave. robin gibson, bbc south east today, tankerton. london underground has shown its appreciation for the england football manager, gareth southgate, by rebranding southgate tube station in enfield in his honour. the newly christened gareth southgate station will keep the new signs up until tomorrow night. the three lions boss guided england to their best world cup finish in 28 years — and today, commuters told us it was a fitting display of thanks. we should all be proud. he did a good job. if fantastic, really good. i'm proud of them. fourth place, nobody

expected to be fourth place. i think it should stay for ever. it's good, i think he should be rewarded. done well, yeah. it's good. he is the weather with darren bett. hello there. as expected, we are going to find some changes in our weather over the next few days. for a start, cooler and fresher air is going to be filtering down from the north—west across all areas, and that will be followed by some sunny spells and maybe the chance of one or two showers as well. the cooler, fresh air has arrived already in western scotland and here in northern ireland, where we are seeing some sunshine and perhaps the risk of one or two showers. we have sunnier skies on the whole across east anglia and the south—east, but here it is still hot and quite humid out there as well. we have a weather front on the scene that's bringing the change. it's moving its way very slowly eastwards. ahead of it, the hot and humid air. behind it, cooler and fresher air. on the weather front itself we have this band of thicker cloud which is bringing with it some

pockets of rain and drizzle. could be heavy, could be thundery as well. even ahead of that, in the heat and humidity that's building across east anglia and the south—east, there could be one or two sharp showers, mainly towards east anglia and around lincolnshire. there's our main weather front shown by the band, cloud and the pockets of rain. it's been quite wet across northern ireland, a bit more rain to come here. a few showers coming into northern ireland but drying off in scotland and improving conditions across the eastern side of the country as that rain and thicker cloud tends to move away. as we run through this evening and overnight, we will see that showery rain working its way eastwards. there may not be very much at all, though, in the south—east of england, and as it moves through we usher in the cooler and fresh air. broken cloud and clear spells overnight. generally dry and a more comfortable night for sleeping, especially across northern and western areas of the uk. by the morning, it will be cooler and fresher, even in the south—east and east anglia, and here it may well be a dry day on tuesday. some sunny spells around. after a sunny start we will see some infill of the cloud and it could produce a scattering

of showers, mainly across the northern half of the uk. very hit and miss. they should be light as well. temperatures will not be as high as today. looking at around 19 in scotland and northern ireland and a high of 25 or so rather than the 30 or 31 in the south—east of england. high pressure in charge on the whole around the middle part of the week. the weather front moving down from the north—west and at one stage it looked like we would all get some rain by the end of the week. now it looks like it will fizzle out across scotland. what we will find, across england and wales in particular, it stays dry with some sunshine and may well start to get a bit warmer again in the week. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 3pm: a historic handshake — president trump describes his two hour face—to—face meeting with russia's vladimir putin, as a "very good start". theresa may's brexit plan comes under pressure — as one more tory mp quits the government — and a senior backbencher calls for a second referendum. new figures show the number of eu

citizens leaving the uk last year is the highest on record. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — tim? the french are expecting their world cup winning team home this afternoon in paris, we will also have news of ronaldo's transfer to juventus and exactly who anthonyjoshua will fight at wembley in september. darren has all the weather. hot favour some parts of the country but turning fresh across other areas, still not guaranteed rain, the forecast has changed for the end of the week and i'll explain later on why that has happened. thanks darren. also coming up an underground world cup tribute —

it's the gareth southgate tube station. hello everyone — this is afternoon live. "a very good start" — that's how donald trump has described the two hours' of talks he's had with russian president vladimir putin in finland's capital helsinki today. before the meeting, he'd said his expections were low, and that us—russian relations had "never been worse". our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet is in helsinki. welcome to helsinki, the venue for an historic summit between the american president and the russian leader. president trump began the meeting by saying i really think the world wants us to get along. president putin sitting behind with

a stern look said there were a lot of issues that needed paying attention to. so the men sat down together, they were supposed to meet for 90 minutes but it went on longer than expected. some two hours ten minutes. they have now gone into a wider meeting, joined with aids, their chief advisers, on all the issues they are meeting to discuss. it's important in the eyes of the leaders that this meeting is happening at all. we will analyse the prospects for a successful summit ina the prospects for a successful summit in a moment but first we have this report from our correspondent gary o'donoghue. helsinki, and the final stop on a european odyssey that's seen the president stride right into the centre of the uk's brexit debate, and upend relations with his nato allies. by way of warm—up to the main event, donald trump took breakfast with the finnish president. we had a fantastic meeting a few days ago. some of you were there. it was a very successful meeting. i think nato has never been more together.

people are now agreeing to pay, and we were having a lot of problems with a lot of people not paying, as the president will tell you. in response to a shouted question about president putin, mr trump was heard to say, "we'll do just fine". this is not the first time the two leaders have met. but this time around, the stakes are high. and all eyes will be on what, if any, chemistry the two presidents will conjure up. in the meantime, expectations have been downplayed. there's a huge sense of mutual suspicion, and a huge range of issues on which they disagree. we have not been getting along very well for the last number of years. not too long, it's getting close to two years, but i think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship. i hope so. i've been saying it, and i'm sure you've heard it over the years, and as i campaigned, that getting along with russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. on twitter, the president appeared somewhat to undermine his own position. he said... a reference to the investigation

into possible russian collusion with his election campaign. america's nato allies are also deeply concerned about what president trump might agree to with vladimir putin, particularly as the russian president is hostile to nato's expansion, and angered by troop deployments on russia's borders. russia has for a very long time, and vladimir putin especially, has thought that they are not treated as an equal in international diplomacy, and especially not been treated as an equal by the united states. and now, donald trump, by giving this meeting to vladimir putin, actually handed him already the first goal in the game. both leaders have already excited the anger of protesters, even before they arrived. everyone conscious that these two men can have a significant impact on global stability.

what good will come of this first informal summit between the two presidents? a lot is on the agenda. foran presidents? a lot is on the agenda. for an assessment which cross to brussels and join a former finish prime minister and foreign minister and now the vice president of the european investment bank, welcome to bbc news. thank you. i think part of you would like to be in helsinki today where your country has been given the honour yet again the east meets west american and russian leaders meeting on your soil. to a

certain extent especially given it is plus 30 degrees and blue skies in helsinki, it would be a great place to be. i think it's important these two leaders meet, i have always said it's better to talk than not talk andl it's better to talk than not talk and i see finland very much as providing the ground, the premises of the meeting and in that sense i think it's a good moment for finland as well. interestingly, in the past during the cold war it was often said finland, helsinki, was the venue of choice because of its geographic location on the baltic sea close to russia but also because of its neutrality but now you have clearly nailed your colours to the european flag, you're a proud member of the eu, a privileged member of nato so in a sense you've taken aside, very much the side of the west in the east west negotiations and that might influence your approach to the summit? yeah,

definitely. i guess, approach to the summit? yeah, definitely. iguess, in approach to the summit? yeah, definitely. i guess, in the aftermath of the world cup we could see finland chose its football team in the early 19905 and 5ee finland chose it5 football team in the early 19905 and we are not a neutral country. we give a neutral ground but we are not a neutral country. we are very close to nato. i think all this talk about finland being the neutral country, for the meeting taking place there, no, i think itju5t because finland is pretty good at organi5ing meetings and were quite hospitable people. and of course conveniently i think of vladimir putin the world cup final wa5 of vladimir putin the world cup final was yesterday so it was a 5hort final was yesterday so it was a short flight for him. i have to say there has been a very welcoming atmosphere here in helsinki. as you listen to president trump, talking, first of criticising the fact

russian—american relations have been so terrible, he blames it on american foreign policy, he also mentions again how the united states is paying for nato and european partners are not paying enough, what is your reaction to comments like that? i think there's a clear pattern here and i see this as a connoi55eur international relations, if you look at trump arriving to bru55el5 on the nato 5ummit, he used some rather an diplomatic language on germany and on his nato allie5. then after that he embraced them and 5aid look, nato i5 then after that he embraced them and 5aid look, nato is doing great. it wa5 5aid look, nato is doing great. it was a good meeting. he did the same thing when he went to the united kingdom, the evening of the dinner at blenheim palace there was an interview 5cathing about brexit and theresa may, the next day he comes

out with a completely different message and you will probably see the same pattern in this meeting as well. in other words downplaying, almost in5ulting well. in other words downplaying, almost insulting to begin with and then embracing afterwards. that is perhaps the new normal when it comes to american foreign policy as defined by president donald trump. whatever you think of his brand of disruptive diplomacy he has a point, the world would like to see russia and the united states getting on better, talking to each other because they are entangled in many of the world's worst crises. definitely. that'5 of the world's worst crises. definitely. that's why i started by 5aying definitely. that's why i started by saying it is better to talk than not to talk. the question is who talks with who? i personally believe in multilaterali5m. i do not particularly fancy big 5tate5 deciding over the heads of other 5tate5. deciding over the heads of other states. we have in5titution5 deciding over the heads of other states. we have institutions such as the un, 5uch states. we have institutions such as the un, such as the wto and nato and

the un, such as the wto and nato and the eu to treat these types of i55ue5 the eu to treat these types of issues will stop but if the two can find a connection that is what are putin and donald trump, it'5 probably a good thing. but there are so many issues, the illegal annexation of the crimean principal, i55ue5 annexation of the crimean principal, issues of armament and syria. if they can find a common: that is good but i would predict, and this is dangerous because a press conference i5 dangerous because a press conference is about to start, but i would predict that this should probably have been more a social meeting, a get—together to know each other, real confidence, and probably we will not see major results coming out of this meeting at least that is toa certain out of this meeting at least that is to a certain extent what i hope because results have to be grounded ina larger

because results have to be grounded in a larger international forum. thank you very much forjoining us, thatis thank you very much forjoining us, that is one assessment of what we've gleaned from those opening remarks by president trump and president putin. the two go under unexpected, trump listing all of the issues on the agenda including china, ukraine, nuclear arms. it was noted by the american press that he did not mention that there have been 12 new indictments of a federal grand jury of 12 russian actors into accusations of meddling in the elections in the united states. well that issue have been discussed, we will soon find out. we're waiting for a press conference. wider talks are now taking place here in

helsinki, it's a good day to talk but we are waiting to see what good have come out of it. back to london for now. we will show you where we are waiting for this historic news conference. this is where the two presidents will be addressing the world's media. no formal agenda to this meeting but the russian embassy in washington said on twitter what it thinks the topics will be, ukraine will be discussed, syria, and the crimean peninsula as well as terrorism. donald trump mentioned none of these in his own remarks. lots of questions for the two leaders, their meeting is over but not much action as soon as the room sta rts not much action as soon as the room starts to fill up we will take it back. the government has accepted all four changes put forward

by pro—leave conservative mps to a crucial piece of brexit legislation — the customs bill, which is being debated in the house of commons today. the move comes as theresa may faces more pressure over her preferred brexit deal — one more mp has resigned as a ministerial aide, and the former education secretary justine greening, has called for a second eu referendum. she said the government's current strategy was "the worst of both worlds" and that voters should be allowed to decide between it — staying in the eu — or a clean breakfrom europe with no deal. our political correspondent, jonathan blake has this report. climbing aboard at the start of what could be another turbulent week. theresa may at an airshow this morning, seeing aeroplanes built partly in britain, but reliant on easy access to europe. an example, she says, of why her brexit plan is the right one, as she made the case again for a compromise that's struggling to get off the ground. the frictionless free trade of goods, an independent trade policy, the avoidance of a hard border between northern ireland and ireland, and between northern ireland and great britain — these are conditions we seek. to do anything else risks the integrity of the united kingdon, reneges on the belfast agreement,

and simply will not deliver for britain as a global trading nation. but touring the tv studios this morning, one former cabinet minister calling the prime minister's plan a "fudge", and saying the public should vote again. i think parliament's reached an impasse. i think the prime minister's deal is in practice unworkable, it's the worst of all worlds, so i think we need to go back to the british people and give them the three clear choices really that we have on the table, which is either a soft brexit — the prime minister's deal, a hard brexit — a clean break, that i think most leavers were actually voting for, or, of course, staying in the european union. justine greening is not the first to call for another referendum. there's plenty who support a public vote on the final brexit deal. but it's hard to find many mps, whether they campaigned leave or remain, who willjoin the ha rd—sell for eu referendum take two. there's a lot of disagreement in that building behind us right now. but that isn't an excuse to hold

referendums every time that happens. you know, we've had our instructions, and it's up to us to do what parliament is supposed to do, which is debate it, to work it through, to narrow down the areas of disagreement and to do whatever's necessary. to start going back now simply because the eu always tries to bully countries into submission when they get a referendum result they don't like i'm afraid is going to stick in the craw of the british people. it will further erode trust in elected politicians, who don't do what they say. this would be a recipe for disaster. what next, then, for the prime minister's plan? are you running for leader, mrjohnson? so far, boris johnson is keeping quiet, but his next move could be important. does the other cabinet minister who resigned over it think the prime minister can push on? of course! she's a good prime minister. the fact we have a difference of opinion doesn't change that. another day, another attack on the prime minister's brexit compromise. this call for a second referendum won't get far in government, but there are signs that the prime minister is willing

to give some ground to those mps who want to cut ties with the eu and accept their changes to legislation going through parliament this week. jonathan blake, bbc news, westminster. our chief political correspondent vicki young is in westminste. iam i am keeping an eye on twitter, ten minutes ago it looked like the government was going to bend to all four amendments but now there is confusion? we have been told they will accept all four amendments put forward by the pro—brexit supporters. three of them are government policy so there's not too much of a problem, ruling out a border in the irish sea, we know thatis border in the irish sea, we know that is not what theresa may once so maybe that's not too much of a problem. the second one would be we would have to commit to have a separate vat system to the eu, temperamentally customs union, remedy legislation, an act of

parliament, again not much of a bother. but one put forward by priti patel who we spoke to in the last hour says we will not collect other countries vat unless there is a reciprocal arrangement. that part of negotiation. it would be tricky for the government to accept that our understanding as of ten minutes ago was that they are willing to accept that which would of course take away any confrontation today. i think what the government was particularly worried about, not that these pro—brexit supporters would win these arguments because they do not have the numbers, the problem comes in the final stage of this customs bill, the third reading, there is a vote on that again and labour are opposing it. labour plus conservative rebels would be enough to defeat the bill so that would be problematic. here we can see a kind of tightrope theresa may is trying to walk, coming for the compromise but endangering that nobody likes what she puts forward. in the end that the proposal she will take to

brussels. the fear of the brexit supporters is that the eu will watch it down even further and it will be com pletely u na cce pta ble to it down even further and it will be completely unacceptable to them. at the moment we have a lot of idea of what parliament is against, what the different sections and parliament are against but it's not entirely clear what, if anything, there is a majority for and that is the dilemma theresa may finds herself in. at what point does this become a rather humiliating moment? that is hard to say. some would say already she's gone through a lot, people throwing things in herface. she went to chequers and got this agreement and thenit chequers and got this agreement and then it unravelled within two days. since then of course we have had these very low level but nonetheless resignations coming day after day, people who are parliamentary private secretaries on the lowest rung of the ladder but still voicing their disquiet about all this. the

question people are asking is can she get to the summer recess, is there going to be anyone who's going to challenge her leadership. if she did we she be able to see them off? i think the thing in herfavour would look and say even if you change the leader, if borisjohnson decided now is my moment and i'm giving it a go, decided now is my moment and i'm giving ita go, how decided now is my moment and i'm giving it a go, how could she bring forward his vision of brexit, what he wants, and get it through parliament? it's not clear he would be able to do so. they do seem to be slightly trapped and of course it is worth remembering today, the technical side of things, those negotiations with brussels are going on. dominic raab is due to meet michel barnier later this week, that's still going on. we have to see what the eu say. brussels has not said much so far which is being seenin not said much so far which is being seen in government quarters as a positive thing, that they have not thrown it out already. but there is no doubt people expect them to want us no doubt people expect them to want us to compromise more. thank you.

you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: a historic handshake — president trump describes his two hour meeting with russia's vladimir putin, as a "very good start" as theresa may's brexit plan comes under more pressure — the government agrees to changes put forward by pro—leave tory mps. new figures show the number of eu citizens leaving the uk last year is the highest on record. and in sport, they are on their way, the victorious french team will arrive in paris this afternoon in the next half an hour or so with the world cup trophy ahead of an open top bus parade in the capital. we've known it happening but today cristiano ronaldo's move tojuventus from real madrid will be confirmed, he will cost around £100 million. and another of sports moneymakers, anthonyjoshua will and another of sports moneymakers, anthony joshua will be and another of sports moneymakers, anthonyjoshua will be back in action on september 22 at wembley stadium, he's going to be fighting alexander povetkin of russia. more

on all of that after 3:30pm. a record number of eu citizens emigrated from the uk last year — with over 139,000 leaving the country in 2017. it means net migration from eu countries is now at its lowest level since 2013. but figures released today also showed that net migration from countries outside the eu rose to its highest level since 2010. caroline davies has more. packing up years of their lives. it's not been easy for paolo and costanza to decide to leave the uk. it's taken us two years to take this decision. well, i wanted to leave the day after the referendum really! i was in tears. and i said, "don't worry, they are going to find a way to get a deal," but actually after almost two years, i start to worry as well. they are just one family who have decided to leave britain's shores. the number of eu citizens to emigrate from here last year was the highest level ever

on record —139,000. but the number of people coming to the uk from the eu is still more than the number leaving. net migration from the eu was 101,000 last year. from outside the eu, it was 227,000. it's not as simple as adding those two together to find the total, but overall net migration is 282,000. today's figures show there's still more people coming to the uk than leaving it. that figure has remained relatively stable, but it is still far above the level the government has set itself of tens of thousands. what i think is really important is that we look to the future. we know migration is broadly stable but we have brought in a raft of policies over the last eight years which will enable us going forward to make sure that migration is headed in the right direction, and we have taken back control of our own borders. for some, the uncertainty has been too much.

paolo and costanza leave for italy in two weeks but for others inside and outside the eu, the uk is still a place they want to call home. caroline davies, bbc news. the defence secretary gavin williamson has promised that the uk will remain a leader in the aerospace sector. he made the claim at the farnborough international airshow, where he was unveiling the government's new combat air strategy. he said the government would invest £2 billion over the next seven years to develop a new model of fighterjet called tempest. our defence correspondent jonathan beale was there. this is the moment the british aerospace industry has been waiting for. what they hope will be a commitment to develop the next generation of fighterjet in the uk. and with a promise from the government of an investment of £2 billion. this is a commitment for the future. we've got to be planning not just for next year, but we've got to be planning ten,

15, 20 years in the future. so manyjobs and prosperity, but most importantly, making sure the royal air force has the right capabilities. this is stilljust a concept of what it might look like. it might be manned or unmanned, with hard—to—detect stealth technology that could be fitted with laser—direct energy weapons. but no—one knows yet how much it could cost. developing new fighter jets isn't cheap. this, the new us—designed f—35, is already america's most expensive defence project ever. each cost more than £100 million. the mod says it'll eventually buy 138. but it will struggle to find the cash. so is it really feasible for the uk to embark on designing another jet for the future? in the long run, £2 billion is not going to give the raf or the uk a new combat air system

in the 2030 time frame. what that does is it buys the government into the development phase, and £2 billion until 2025 will be enough to get a foot in the door, but to actually field a combat aircraft that looks something like the fast jets we imagined today in the 2030 timeframe, they will have to spend a lot more than £2 billion. with the defence budget already under strain, it's still not clear how britain will be able to afford it, and it will almost certainly need other partner nations to develop this next generation of fighterjets. it is an ambitious strategy, but it's a long way from getting off the ground. jonathan beale, bbc news, at the farnborough airshow. a peninsula in the far north of scotland is to become the uk's first spaceport. the site in sutherland will be used to launch rockets vertically — to put satellites into orbit. our science correspondent victoria gill has more. blasting off soon from our shores. in as little as three years,

rockets like this will be launched from a remote stretch of land on the north coast of scotland. the a'mhoine peninsular in sutherland has been chosen by the uk space agency as the best place from which to launch rockets that will put commercial satellites into orbit. the uk space agency will contribute £2.5 million towards a development that british engineers say will be a genuine boost for the country. it will save cost for example in having to export satellites to other countries to launch them. it will make it easier logistically for launching from our own shores, say from the north coast of scotland or somewhere. and, you know, that will take cost out of the satellite programme so it may enable more spacecraft to be built and launched. and while rockets blast off vertically from scotland, another type of spaceport could be developed at the opposite end of the uk. newquay airport could host what's called a horizontal launch site.

at the farnborough airshow today, cornwall council signed an agreement with richard branson's virgin orbit. this means the company's adapted passenger jet could eventually take off from newquay and climb to altitude over the ocean to release its rocket and put a satellite into orbit. the commercial space sector is growing, partly because the satellite technology is shrinking. it's now possible to fit a great deal of communications, gps and weather monitoring capability inside a relatively small box, and smaller satellites can be lifted by smaller rockets. a development that's made these new modest spaceports a possibility. so two coastal sites could boldly take the country another step into the commercial space age. victoria gill, bbc news. our science correspondent jonathan amos sent this update, finally they are starting to get going and there is money on the table now for the highlands and

islands enterprise, and some of the actors, some of the operators to get on and do the job. money actors, some of the operators to get on and do thejob. money has been announced for lockheed martin, they need no introduction certainly at this is sure, they are a big aerospace player and if they say they launch rockets from scotland you have to believe them. when it comes to building satellite we're pretty good at that aren't we? not just any old satellite, we are particularly good at making the types of satellite which fit on small rockets. the uk has led the revolution in these miniature satellites. if you go to glasgow, people will not realise this, they turn out 80 satellites year, so we are at the forefront. the difficulty is finding a right to audit —— a right to orbit for these satellites. the idea the uk space agency has is let's put the rockets here in the uk

and send them up. these things happen! let's, we are keeping an eye on the room where president trump and putin will be given their news conference, also the house of commons theresa may will update mps the house of commons theresa may will update mp5 on the talks with nato, a lot going on. but let's get the weather. cooler and fresh air coming behind a band of becker cloud continuing to bring outbreaks of rain and still around northern england, still a lot of heat and unity and temperatures not far off 30 and a few places. this band of rain will push its way, sharp showers perhaps things hit and miss, generally dry and the south—east of england, wetter weather moving out into the north sea, cooler air coming down,

temperatures dropping in the south—east with a more comfortable night for sweeping across many parts of the country. tomorrow might start to dry and sunny but we will tend to find the cloud filling in and thick enough to give us a scattering of showers mainly across the northern half of the uk but hit and miss and the showers will be on the right side as well. cooler and fresher across the board, still 25 degrees in the south—east, 19 in the northwest. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. donald trump has described his first summit with the russian president, vladimir putin, as "a very good start." number ten has said there's no possibility of a second eu referendum, despite the former education minister, justine greening, calling for one. net migration from the eu to the uk has fallen to its lowest level in nearly five years. an estimated 101,000 more eu citizens arrived in the uk than left in 2017. a peninsula in the far north of scotland is to become the uk's first spaceport which could see

launches in the next three years. sport now on afternoon live with tim hague. not sure the french players will have had too much sleep but they're already on their way home after their world cup triumph. the whole country celebrating their second world cup win today. after beating croatia 4—2 in yesterday's final. the manager didier deschamps, and his players are on their way home right now. this was them a little earlier about to board their flight to paris. and one of their best players in russia, stopped to express just what it means to him. translation: it is true when you are in the final it's hard to imagine you can actually take the cup home. the final turned out very well for us, with all the excitement in the build—up. we really wanted everyone to be proud of the france national

team, and we made it, so we managed to bring happiness to everyone. and we have some breaking news, so back to simon in the studio. we can go to the house of commons where theresa may is updating mps go to the house of commons where theresa may is updating mp5 on last week's nato summit. as the uk plays a leading role in the security of the whole continent, so it is right to even burden sharing across the alliance and other allies step up to contribute more to our shared defence. this summit included an additional session in response to the challenge posed by president trump on exactly this point. non—us allies are already doing more with their spending increasing by $41 billion in 2017 alone and by a total of $87 billion since the wales defence investment pledge was adopted in 2014. these are the largest increases in non—us spending ina largest increases in non—us spending in a quarter of a century and over the decades to 2024 we are expecting this spending to increase by hundreds of billions. but nato

allies must go further in increasing their defence spending and capability. during the summit leaders agreed that all were committed to fairer burden sharing and they had a shared sense of urgency to do more and that is all our interests. turning to specific threats, there was an extensive discussion on russia, the appalling news of a nerve agent in salisbury is another example of russia's growing disregard for the global norms and laws that keep us all safe. and it's a further example of a well—established pattern of behaviour to undermine western democracies and damage our interests around the world. in recent years we have seen russia stepped up its arms sales to iran, shielding the syrian regime's barbaric use of chemical weapons, launching cyber attacks that have caused economic damage and spreading malicious and fake news stories on an industrial scale. our long—term objective remains a them constructive mission with russia, so it's right we keep on engaging as individual nations and as part of

the nato alliance so i welcome the meeting between trump and putin in helsinki today. i agreed with donald trump in discussions last week that we must engage from a position of unity and strength. this means being clear and unwavering about where russia needs to change its behaviour, and as long as russia persists in its efforts to undermine our interests and values, we must continue to deter and counter them, and that's exactly what we will do. in its context, in a separate discussion in the summit, the alliance also reaffirmed the unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of georgia and ukraine, and we continue to support both georgia and ukraine in their aspirations forfull georgia and ukraine in their aspirations for full membership of the alliance. the alliance also extended an invitation to the government of skopje. this builds on the western balkans summit in london

earlier in the week to increase the prosperity and prospects of the region. we werejoined by president ghani who provided an update to the afghanistan situation. we are united in supporting his efforts on peace, but the situation remains challenging, compounded further by daesh fighters who fled iraq and syria. the defence secretary announced to the house last week a further uplift of 440 uk troops for the uk led kabul security force. and additionalfinancial the uk led kabul security force. and additional financial support for this statement of the afghan national security forces until 2024. asi national security forces until 2024. as i president trump at the summit, our commitment to afghanistan began as nato's on the use of article

five, acting in support of the united states following the attack on new york's world trade center. and our uplift will also enable the us personnel to increase counterterrorism activity across afghanistan. the summit also agreed to extend defence capacity building to extend defence capacity building to tunisia, jordan and iraq. the uk's ‘s contribution will play a vital role in strengthening security institutions and promoting stability in the long—term in iraq. facing today because ‘s challenges is not enough. in the uk our modernising defence programme, will insure our capabilities remain as potent at meeting the facts of tomorrow as they are in keeping us today. nato must also adapt to meet these challenges. this means delivering the reforms agreed at the wales and warsaw summits, politically, militarily and institutionally. at this summit allies agreed a stronger nato command structure including two new headquarters and the uk is

committing 100 new posts to that structure, taking commitments to more than 100,000 uk personnel. there is the nato readiness initiative to be in place by 2030, 30 recognised battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 vessels ready to be used in 30 days or less. the uk will play its full part in delivering this. we also agreed further work to help counter cyber and hybrid threats by enhancing the capabilities of the alliance to respond quickly and effectively to those new challenges. this includes a new cyber operations centre and new support teams that will be unable to assist allies who want help, either by preparing to respond or responding to an attack. again, the uk is at the forefront of these efforts. for example, we were the first country to offer national defensive cyber capabilities to the alliance and we have also committed to host the nato cyber capability pledge conference in 2019. the uk is

unconditionally committed to maintaining europe's security, that's why have proposed a new bold security partnership between uk and eu for after we leave. in a world where the threats to europe's security often emanate from beyond its borders, and where we face an array of profound challenges to the entire rules —based international order, the strength and endurance of our transatlantic alliance is vital in protecting shared security and projecting our shared values. that's why a strong, united and modern nato remains the cornerstone of our security and why our commitment to it is ironclad. as we have done across generations, we will stand shoulder to shoulder with our closest allies to defend the rules —based order and the liberal values of democracy, human rights and justice that define our way of life, andi justice that define our way of life, and i commend this statement to the house. jeremy corbyn. thank you, mr

speaker. i thank the prime minister foran speaker. i thank the prime minister for an advance copy of this statement. at the heart of any military alliance is the aim that rogue players can't derail established governments. i wonder if the prime minister has reflected on that as she deals with the present threat from the honourable member for north east somerset. protecting the british people will always be our first priority. from the british people will always be ourfirst priority. from climate change chaos, cyber attacks, acts of terrorism, perpetual conflicts in the most fragile parts of the world, it's the duty of government to ensure the approach addresses the drivers these security challenges. as one of the richest countries in the world, a member of nato, and of the world, a member of nato, and of the un security council, we have a real responsibility to ensure our policy provides both real security for our country and does not view in security beyond our borders. last

week's nato summit was an opportunity for the alliance to reset its approach to some of these challenges. yet once again, another global gathering has been dominated by the erratic statements of president trump. so did the us president asked the prime minister and other nato leaders two double uk defence spending to 4%? did the president outlined how threats to our security had doubled over the last week? is this something the government is seriously considering? in 2014, nato countries agreed to meet the 2% target by 2024. does that remain the case? labour is committed to spend the agreed target of 2%. further, does she agree that president trump, in saying that germany is a captive of russia? under no circumstances can our policies be outsourced to the whims of washington. we all await the outcome of the helsinki meeting

between president's trump and putin. will she condemn his intervention on his preferred choice as successor as prime minister of this country question at that seek to destabilise and undermine democracy and national independence, whoever they are, including but not only russia, must be held fully accountable under international law and collective engagement. as well as those who use chemical weapons as a form of war, whether on the streets of salisbury or the cities of syria, it is deplorable and must not and will not be tolerated. the nato chief is right to say, as he did recently, our dialogue with russia is not easy, but the more difficult they are, the more we need dialogue. but democratic regression among nato governments makes this approach more difficult. nato prides itself as

being the guarantors of freedom and security of the world. so must be held to a higher standard. the rise of authoritarianism and the suppression of basic human rights in many countries should be of great concern. the brussels declaration highlighted how arms control, and i quote, "should continue to make an essential contribution to achieving the alliance's security objectives." what steps is she taking to drive forward the effort on this, and does she agree that uk arms sales to countries with poor human rights records undermines their citizens freedom and security and will she therefore finally suspend arms sales to saudi arabia while bombs rain down on the people of yemen? on europe, its vital parliament fully understands what the government is proposing for its future defence

partnership with the eu after brexit. and on yet another fundamental issue, the government's white paper is lacking. no substance on uk— eu cooperation and diplomatic collaboration, intelligence sharing or defence and security policy. while the aspiration to strengthen ties with the eu and nato on issues of cyber security is welcomed, the white paper offers little clarity on how this might be delivered. does the prime minister accept that her chaotic approach to brexit negotiations risk future security and defence cooperation with the european union? the bomb first and talk later approach to security has clearly failed, leaving a trail of destruction abroad, and leaving us less safe at home. nato talks of wanting to work closer with the united nations, but that means treating the united nations with respect and ending the double standards. in libya, sudan and south

sudan, this government is the responsible pen holder on the un security council, yet has failed to deliver long—term political settlements. hopefully the new foreign secretary can succeed where his predecessor failed or didn't make sufficient effort to try to succeed. the government's deployment of additional troops in afghanistan to support the government in kabul mac, can the prime minister be clear that these troops are there in a training capacity only and that there will be no mission creep? our security is collective, and cannot be achieved at the expense of others. mr speaker, aggressive military intervention, destabilising democratic institutions, tearing up hard—won international agreements and disregarding human rights and international law are a new threat. governments on this track must change course. labour in government

will deepen our commitment to un peacekeeping, and work with allies who strive for peace, diplomacy and real security for all people. that is how we will deliver real security ina changing is how we will deliver real security in a changing world. the prime minister. be right honourable gentleman raises a number of issues. he talks about the intervention president trump made at the nato summitand he president trump made at the nato summit and he has made a difference. we share his view that we want to see allies all stepping up to meet the commitments they gave at the summit here in wales in 2014 to spend 2% of gdp on defence, and 20% of that on equipment. it's something we meet and a limited number of nato members meet, including the united states. his making this point about burden sharing has made a difference. as i said in my statement, in the last year, we have

seen an extra $41 billion added to defence budgets across the nato allies, and there was a real sense at this summit following the discussion that he initiated that we would see people notjust stepping up would see people notjust stepping up in terms of going to meet their 296, up in terms of going to meet their 2%, but seeing there was an increased urgency in doing this. he asked me about germany and its relationship with russia. can i say to the right honourable gentleman, germany was one of the many countries around the world, that stood shoulder to shoulder with the united kingdom after the salisbury attack, that did expel russian intelligence officers and at the very firm view in relation to russia. he talks about arms exports. we have, as he knows, one of the strongest arms exports regimes in the world, and all decisions are taking very carefully against the background of that. he talks about the future in terms of our relationship with the european union, and we will have a fully

independent defence and foreign policy, but will work with european union allies where it is right to do so. as we will continue to be working within nato. he talks about how we ensure we have security around the world. nato has been the backbone of europe's security for the years in which it has been in place. we continue to support nato. it sounds as if the right honourable gentleman has changed his mind on nato in terms of the statement he has given, because it wasn't long ago he said about nato, i would rather we were not in it. and then he said, why don't we turn it around, close down nato. well, we are not going to close down nato and the uk will continue to contribute to nato as the backbone of european security and the backbone of wider security and the backbone of wider security around the world. mr iain duncan smith. can i congratulate my right honourable friend the prime minister on what i think for her was a successful nato summit. may i also

return her to the point of the germans and the issue of energy. i wonder if she could let us know in this house exactly what discussions and conversations were taking place with the germans concerning the nordstrom to pipeline, that will have a strategic effect to diminish the likelihood of ukraine and others being able to support themselves in the future if they insist on going ahead unilaterally with this pipeline. can i say to my right honourable friend, he has raised an important issue. this is a subject that has been discussed on a number of occasions around european council table, and will continue to be discussed. we recognise the concerns raised in relation to the nord strea m raised in relation to the nord stream and how it will have an impact on ukraine. we will continue

to talk with germany and other european allies on this issue around the european council table. i would say to my right honourable friend that there is a growing recognition of this being an issue that needs to be addressed and a growing recognition of the concerns raised. ian blackford. can i thank the prime minister for ian blackford. can i thank the prime ministerfor advance ian blackford. can i thank the prime minister for advance sight of her statement. i would like to begin by citing the thousands of scots who protested in peace over the weekend, and the offices of police scotland who did such an excellentjob working around the clock. last week we witnessed the extraordinary scenes at the nato summit with the president of the united states flying to brussels to lecture nato allies on their commitments to defence. embarrassing, shambolic scenes from a us president who takes a childish approach to foreign security policy. rather than working with allies to tackle common security threats. what is more

embarrassing is, after this treatment we witnessed the prime minister roll out the carpet to the president as he visited the uk, the president as he visited the uk, the president he went on to publicly criticise the prime minister's brexit plans after advising the prime minister to sue the european union. you couldn't make it up. can the prime minister tell the house whether she intends to use the president's advice, and does his advice not give her a real sense of reality on just how shambolic any trade deal with the us trump administration would be. i will advise the prime minister, instead of seeking advice from the president of seeking advice from the president of the united states on brexit, she should seek it directly from the devolved governments who are directly impacted by her brexit chaos. we are today witnessing historic scenes as the us and russian presidents meet in helsinki. there are high stakes in this summit. china, nuclear weapons, syria and the ukraine, us election hacking, all central. ithank

syria and the ukraine, us election hacking, all central. i thank the prime ministerfor her hacking, all central. i thank the prime minister for her remarks on ukraine, and we should make sure we stand for the independence of that nation. can the prime minister tell the house what discussions she had with president trump on operations in syria at the nato summit last week? i say to the right honourable gentleman, first of all on ukraine, we continue to support the ukraine. asi we continue to support the ukraine. as i said in my statement, we continue to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the ukraine and georgia. we are supporting the government of ukraine ina number of supporting the government of ukraine in a number of ways and we also recognise there needs to be reform in ukraine. we want to see the minsk agreements fully put in place. that is one of the reasons we have been supporting within the european union and the continued imposition of sanctions first introduced in response to the action that hirscher took in crimea. he talks about president trump and his approach to

the nato summit. —— the action that russia took in crimea. president trump has focused the eyes of those around the table on the question of the 2% commitment. $41 billion of extra investment in defence has been seen across the allies over the last year. the united states itself has increased its defence input into europe over the last year or so, in capability turns and also in financial terms. he talks about the importance of working with devolved governments and we continue to work with them on a whole range of issues including the european issue he refers to. i would hope the government in scotland would be willing to work with us on these issues because we will deliver something that is in the interests of the whole uk. there is considerable interest that is to be anticipated. two points to the house, first there is a statement to follow in which there may well be considerable interest, and secondly we have a substantial debate on the

remaining stages of the taxation cross—border trade bill. necessitating brevity in this session from back and front benches alike. and the nonparticipation of people who arrived after the prime minister had delivered her statement. sir michael fallon. the opening of accession talks with the government in skopje is to be welcomed. will the prime minister also confirmed that future membership of the alliance is open, irrespective of the views of russia to any other country that meets the membership criteria, including other countries in the western balkans?” am very happy to give my right honourable friend that confirmation. we look forward to seeing others aspire to the membership of the nato alliance. what is important is they meet the criteria for membership. it was pleasing at this nato summit, montenegrin was sitting around a

table having already become a member of the nato alliance. we were pleased to extend that invitation to skopje, and others can follow if they meet the criteria. hilary benn. the prime minister rightly said in her statement that the united kingdom is unconditionally committed to europe's security. but over the weekend president trump described the european union as a folk and the german foreign minister said that europe can no longer completely rely on the white house. —— described the european union as a foe. does the prime minister share that assessment and if not why not? when everybody left the nato summit that took place last week, what was felt was that not only people had stepped up and recognise the importance of burden sharing, but there was indeed a unity around the table, and the importance of us all working together in the future of europe's security. as i indicated and reminded president trump, the one—time nato has used article five

has been in response to an attack on the united states. john whittingdale. can i welcome the support for the ukraine and the recognition of the potential threat of nord stream two. will he confirm there is no question of any nato member country recognising the illegal annexation of the crimean peninsula by the russian federation? we are very clear, as i think everybody is... studio: we will pull away from the house of commons to go to helsinki where we are awaiting a news co nfe re nce to helsinki where we are awaiting a news conference with us president donald trump and vladimir putin after their talks. they will be speaking to the media. live pictures of the presidential palace in helsinki where we are waiting for the us president donald trump and his russian counterpart vladimir putin to arrive. come out

into that press conference and stop they met earlier today for what has been described as an historic summit that took place for around 90 minutes. my colleague christian fraser was saying that this was a meeting that had no agenda. it was a freewheeling session. we can go back live now to christian fraser. that press co nfe re nce live now to christian fraser. that press conference is about to begin. it really will be the first time that we will be able to hear what was on the agenda when the two leaders met. very much so. it was the white house that requested the one on one with only translators present. it's very unorthodox, no draft communique ahead of this meeting. no prescribed agenda. i think that is what concerns president trump's on the side. they saw what happened in singapore in his meeting with kim

jong—un. he came out shortly after declaring that he was ending military exercises on the korean peninsular. —— president trump's on. it was news to the south koreans and the pentagon. i dare say that defence secretary general kelly doesn't want any surprises like that in the course of the next hour. there are areas where they could possibly find agreement quite quickly. the new start treaty, the nuclear accord that president obama signed in 2011 is one possible area, that could be extended up to five yea rs, that could be extended up to five years, and it would go a long way to minimising a nuclear arms race. it gives the two sides inspections in each other‘s country. there is data sharing. if they were to agree to that it would be an easy win. if there were concessions in terms of crimea and sanctions and america are

withdrawing from syria unilaterally, i think that would be seen in not a good light by many republicans back at home. it's interesting the silence we have had from republican leaders, notjust over the way he went into this meeting, but generally over the way he has turned the tables in europe and that nato in recent days. very little from the republican side. the only criticism we have heard is from minority leaders of the committees on the hill who asked him not to go into this may one on one basis with the president. christian fraser, thank you for the latest from helsinki. we are waiting for that press conference to begin. i can hand over to my colleague matthew, who will bring us all the latest here on bbc world news. let's stay with his life pictures, the scene very much set, i don't think we are away from the start of thisjoint news

think we are away from the start of this joint news conference, christian watching events and has been for the last few hours. christian, we wait to hear the formal statements and then it will be intriguing the sorts of questions the presidents are asked, most notably about the allegations of russian meddling in the american elections, it'll be fascinating to hear from the two leaders, in terms of the optics, what have you made of it? much of the same from donald trump, the same swagger we saw on the way into the meeting with kim jong—unin the way into the meeting with kim jong—un in singapore, donald trump backing himself as a deal—maker, that transactional way he does business. wanting to get the measure of the russian president. as i was saying, the danger with that is that other american leaders have tried that before and failed. george w. bush notably said, i looked into his

eyes and i saw into his soul and he got very little out of five putin. he is an ace at this, the russian president. he knows how to negotiate and how to speak warmly to people, to tell them the things they want to hear but then to play his own agenda and extract exactly what he wants from the meeting. i think there is a concern in the republican side listening to commentators today, criticism from the democrat side, but concern within the republicans that he's gone into this ill—prepared, that that he's gone into this ill—prepa red, that he that he's gone into this ill—prepared, that he might give away something strategically without much in return. but above all the president resetting the relationship without a change of behaviour from the russian side. this is for vladimir putin he win what ever comes out of the meeting because whether it is crimea or syria or the downing of a malaysian airlines

plane over ukraine, whether it is salisbury, he's had to give nothing in return for a high—profile meeting on the back of all the criticisms that have been in the past week of nato and the eu. christian, i was reading a russian analyst a couple of hours ago saying success for putin, even to have this conference, whatever comes out of it. what represents our success do you think for donald trump? i think you'll kill it as a success whatever comes about because he's said throughout the campaign and in recent weeks that it the campaign and in recent weeks thatitis the campaign and in recent weeks that it is much better to top two people than to let the relationship fester and not get anything out of it. if he can build a relationship with vladimir putin he will hail that as a success and i think that isa that as a success and i think that is a good thing for the world, it's good that he's talking to kim

jong—un. but the problem is he's not getting anything out of these relationships at the moment. he's telling us there is a relationship to build good things out of but at the moment we've not seen any sort of example, certainly not from the north korean negotiations, that he's getting results. i was saying, when he came out of the meeting in singapore he told the pentagon and the south koreans they were stopping military exercises and that was a surprise to both sides. if he does that today you will hear howling of dismay from congressmen on the hill that he has done that without getting anything in return. christian, we will wait to see in terms of the content and anything concrete in terms of those announcements from the two leaders. what else are you keeping your eye on? crimea, a lot of focus on that,

asi on? crimea, a lot of focus on that, as i mentioned, the stuff around russian meddling in the american elections but you also have a huge issue of syria. what's the best donald trump can push vladimir putin in terms of the relationship on syria? the be all and end all for donald trump and the recently pulled out of the iran nuclear agreement as he wants to isolate iran and force them out of syria. he want to get his way on that. but he said before he wants to pull american troops out of syria as soon as he can, there are around 2000 american troops in syria in the northern part of the country facing the remnants of so—called islamic state. but there has been a big push by the assad regime into the south—west of the country. it remains to be seen what

sort of agreement they can come to on the role of iran. interestingly benjamin netanyahu on the role of iran. interestingly benjamin neta nyahu the on the role of iran. interestingly benjamin netanyahu the israeli prime minister was in the russian capital just the other day, the third time he's visited since the spring. what he's visited since the spring. what he wants out of it is iran to be kept 50 miles back from the border. so that's there is not a coming together between the iranian and israeli forces. in terms of what leveraged the american president has in syria i think it is widely acknowledged... christian i'm going to cut across you because as you talk inside the palace as we wait for the news conference some sort of protest, some sort of disturbance with somebody with a piece of paper he was waving being surrounded and now being ushered out of the roman,

a flurry of activity. i am sure in the next few moments we will learn more of the details about what the protest was. you can see that person being led away, still shouting to the cameras. pretty speedily, i would say that about 60 seconds since we saw the man now being ushered out of the room. we were talking christian about the russian denials about meddling in the american elections and we will see what donald trump says about that, and what he's said to vladimir putin on that issue. but there are those also urging donald trump to push the russians on the use of novichok, in the uk. you have had furious denials from the russians over that and yet donald trump expelled 60 or so russian intelligence officials from the us. that interesting in terms of

how the americans have reacted on those different issues and those different sets of denials. yeah, i think there's been disconnected generally in the way the administration has approached russia and the way donald approaches vladimir putin. if you look back, since 2017 something like 200 russian targets have been sanctioned, they supplied defensive lethal weapons to ukrainian forces in theirfight lethal weapons to ukrainian forces in their fight against russian backed forces in ukraine. they closed down the russian consulate in san francisco and expelled 60 diplomats as you say after the novichok incident. and they have taken a generally tough line within nato on russia. so when president putin says no one has taken a tougher line on russia than me, to all intents and purposes he's right. but what baffles people is the lack

of criticism of the man who he's driving all this and that is vladimir putin. he seems low for some reason and nobody understands why, to criticise the russian president and that's what sets him at odds even within those closest to him in his administration, the likes ofjohn bolton or mike pompeo who was instrumental within the cia in uncovering what the russians have done during the 2016 election. i think that will be the general focus of the press conference coming up, what sort of relationship is there between the men and is there any criticism whatsoever of the russian president from his american counterpart. let's bring in doctor michael carpenter, doctor carpenter, good to have you with us, the one thing which strikes me when we watch this press conference is we will get an account of what happened from

both men but will we ever get a proper readout of what was discussed? no, we will not and that's the big mystery, why has president trump decided to exclude secretary mike pompeo, john bolton and his chief of staffjohn kelly from the meeting? what is he going to discuss with vladimir putin he wants to discuss one—on—one without any of his key staff present and without the american public ever being able to know? that is the key question we will never know the answer to. when you look back, ronald reagan called russia the evil empire and he began the discussions with gorbachev from the position of strength, this times it's the other way around. precisely, normally a summit between two presidents at this level is conducted with months of very careful preparation and some level of what we call in government

deliverables, something leaders can point to that they have achieved and is concrete and they can sell to the public as the outcome of the meeting but that's always done in advance, it is precooked. in this case there are no deliverables. russia has not agreed to release any particle prisoners for example. thank you, we will cut across you because the two men are at the podium. translation: negotiations with the presidents of the united states mr donald trump where held in an open and candid atmosphere. they were very successful and useful. we considered current situation and prospects of the russia— us relationship. the key questions on

the agenda. everyone agrees that our relations going through a difficult phase. and there are no objective reasons to justify this strained relationships. the cold war ended and the era of ideological confrontation is in the past. today both russia and the us are facing com pletely both russia and the us are facing completely different challenges. dangerous this balance in international relations, regional crisis. international criminality. economic problems. ecological problems. and risks. and we can manage all of those by, through

joint effort. today's negotiations reflected our mutual desire to improve the situation. to set the first steps for improving our relations and for coming back to the previous levels of international understanding. as the largest nuclear powers. we bear particular responsibility for international safety. and we believe it is important to reinstate strategic level dialogues on all levels. as largest nuclear powers we are responsible for international security. we believe it is an

important to start the dialogue for strategic stability and nonproliferation of arms. and we have passed an number of specific proposals to president trump on this matter. we believe it's necessary to continue ourjoint work on all areas of the military corporation and handling the situation in relation to the ballistic protection programme. and also placing armaments in space. we would like to continue our cooperation in the area

of fighting international terrorism andi of fighting international terrorism and i would like to point out our special services are working quite successfully and our most recent successfully and our most recent successful example is our cooperation with american experts within the framework of the world cup which ended yesterday and also it is important to move to a systematic cooperation in the area of international security. it is an portent to note that our positions are not identical in many areas but we do have many overhanging interests. we also discussed regional crisis. we talked about syria. in relation to syria...

resolving the situation in syria. could become an example of how international conflicts can be removed and settled. and we could cooperate in the area of removing humanitarian crisis in the area. we have all the necessary agreements in order to continue our cooperation on settling the conflict in syria. speaks russian. translation: the separation of

forces, separation of forces of israel and syria, this will bring peace to golan heights. and bring a more peaceful relationship... speaks russian. translation: resolution 338 we are glad the korean peninsula issue is starting to resolve. two great

extent it was possible thanks to personal engagement of president trump who opted for dialogue instead of confrontation. we also mentioned are concerned about the withdrawal of the united states from the gc poa, our us counterparts are aware. let me remind you that thanks to the iranian nuclear dear all, iran became the most controlled country in the world, it submitted to the control and effectively ensures the exclusively peaceful nature of iranian nuclear programme and strengthens the nonproliferation regime. while we discussed the internal ukrainian crisis we paid special attention to the implementation of minsk agreements by kiev. the united states could be more decisive in nudging the ukrainian leadership and encouraging

it to work actively and less. we paid more intention to economic ties and corporations, cleared that both countries, business for both countries, business for both countries are interested in us. american delegation was one of the largest delegations in the st petersburg economic forum. it featured over 500 representatives from american businesses. we agreed to create a high—level working group that would bring together captains of russian and american business. after a ll of russian and american business. after all entrepreneurs and businessmen know better how to articulate this successful business cooperation, let them think and make their proposals and suggestions in this regard. once again, president trump woodmac mentioned the issue of the so—called interference of russia

andi the so—called interference of russia and i had to reiterate things i said several times, that the russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere in internal american affairs including the election process. any specific material if such things arise we are ready to analyse together, for insta nce we ready to analyse together, for instance we can analyse them through thejoint working instance we can analyse them through the joint working group on cyber security, the establishment of which we discussed in a previous context. clearly it is past time we restore our cooperation in the cultural area, and the humanitarian area. i think you know recently we hosted the american, salmon delegation and now it is portrayed as almost a

historic event but it should have been just business as usual and in this regard we mentioned the proposal to the president we had to think about practicalities of our cooperation but also the underlying logic of the rationale and we have two engage experts on bilateral relationship who no history and background of our relationship. the idea is to create an expert counsel that would include political scientists, prominence diplomats and military experts from both countries who would look for points of contact between both countries, that would look for ways to put the relationship on each object array of growth. in general we are glad with the outcome of our first full—scale meeting because previously we had only talked briefly on international forums. we had a good conversation andi forums. we had a good conversation

and i hope we stuck to understand each other better and i am grateful to donald for it. clearly there are some challenges left, we were not able to clear all the backlog but i think we made the first important step in this direction and in conclusion i want to point out that this atmosphere of co—operation is something we are especially grateful for two orfinish hosts something we are especially grateful for two or finish hosts will we had direct open productive dialogue and it went very well. before i begin i want to thank the president of finland for graciously hosting today's summit. we were seeing how lovely it was and what a greatjob they did. seeing how lovely it was and what a great job they did. i want to congratulate russia and president putin for having done such an excellent job putin for having done such an excellentjob in putin for having done such an excellent job in hosting putin for having done such an

excellentjob in hosting the world cup. it was one of the best ever. and your team also did very well. it was a greatjob. i am here today to continue the proud tradition of bold american diplomacy from the earliest days of our republic american leaders understood diplomacy and engagement is preferable to conflict and hostility. a productive dialogue is not only good for the united states and good for russia but it is good for the world. the disagreements between our countries are well— known and disagreements between our countries are well—known and president putin andl are well—known and president putin and i discussed them at length today. but if we are going to solve many of the problems facing our world then we are going to have to find ways to cooperate in pursuit of shared interest. too often in both re ce nt pa st shared interest. too often in both recent past and long ago we have

seen the consequences when diplomacy is left on the table. we have also seen the benefits of cooperation. in the last century our nations fought alongside one another in the second world war. even during the tensions of the cold war when the world looked much different than it does today, the united states and russia we re today, the united states and russia were able to maintain a strong dialogue. our relationship has never been worse than it is now. however that changed. as of about four hours ago. i really believe that. nothing would be easier politically than to refuse to meet, to refuse to engage, but that would not accomplish anything. as president i cannot make decisions on foreign policy in a futile effort to appease partisan critics or the media are democrats

who want to do nothing but resist and obstruct. constructive dialogue between the united states and russia fords the opportunity to open new pathways towards peace and stability and our world. pathways towards peace and stability and ourworld. i pathways towards peace and stability and our world. i would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk piece of pursuit of politics. as president i will always put what is best for america and what is best for the american people. during today's meeting i addressed directly with president putin the issue of russian interference in our elections. i felt this was a message best delivered in person. i spent a great deal of time talking about it. and president putin may very well want to address it. and very strongly, because he feels very strongly about

it and has an interesting idea. we also discussed one of the most critical challenges facing humanity, nuclear proliferation. i provided an update on my meeting last month with chairman kim on the denuclearisation of north korea and after today i am very sure president putin and russia wa nt very very sure president putin and russia want very much to end that problem. going to work with us and i appreciate that commitment. the president and i also discussed at the scourge of radical islamic terrorism, both russia and the united states has suffered horrific terrorist attacks and we have agreed to maintain open communication between our security agencies to protect our citizens from this global menace. last year we told russia about the planned attack in st petersburg and they were able to stop it cold. they found them, they

stop it cold. they found them, they stop them, there was no doubt about it. i appreciated the phone call from president putin afterwards to thank me. i also emphasised the importance of placing pressure on iran to halt its nuclear ambitions and to stop its campaign of violence throughout the area. throughout the middle east. as we discussed at length the crisis in syria is a complex one. cooperation between our countries has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. i also made clear the united states will not allow iran to benefit from our successful campaign against ice -- isis, our successful campaign against ice —— isis, we havejust about eradicated isis in the area. we also agreed representatives from our national security council '5 will

meet to follow up on all of the issues we addressed today and to continue the progress we have started right here in helsinki. today's meeting is only the beginning of a longer process. but we have ta ken beginning of a longer process. but we have taken the first steps towards a brighter future and one with a strong dialogue and a lot of thought. our expectations are grounded in realism but our hopes are grounded in americans desire for friendship, cooperation and peace. i think i can speak on the heart of russia when i say that also. president putin i want to thank you again forjoining me for these important discussions and for advancing open dialogue between russia and the united states. our meeting carries a long tradition of diplomacy between russia, the united states, for the greater good of all. this was a very constructive day,

this is a very constructive few hours we spent together. it is in the interests of both of our countries to continue our conversation and we have agreed to do so. i'm sure we will be meeting again in the future, often. and hopefully we will solve every one of the problems we've discussed today. again, president putin, thank you very much. speaks russian. speaks russian. translation: chance to ask two

questions each, first the russian journalist, please give your affiliation. good afternoon, i have affiliation. good afternoon, i have a question to president trump, during your recent european tour you have mentioned the fermentation of a north stream to gas pipeline makes europe a hostage of russia and you suggested you could free europe from this by supplying american, this cold winter actually showed the current model, the current mechanism of supply of fuel to europe is quite viable will stop at the same time as far as viable will stop at the same time as farasi viable will stop at the same time as far as i know the usa had to buy russian gas for boston. i have a question, the implementation of your idea has a political tinge to it or is ita idea has a political tinge to it or is it a practical one? because there

will be a gap formed in the supply and demand mechanism and it's the consuming countries who will fall into this gap. the second question before the meeting with president putin you called him an adverse survey, a rival and yet you expressed hope you will be able to bring this russian ship to new level, did you manage do this? i called him a competitor, and a good competitor he is. i think the word competitor is a compliment. i think that we won't be competing when you talk about the pipeline. i'm not sure necessarily it's in the best interests of germany or not, but that was a decision they made. we will be competing. as you know the united states is now, or soon will be, but i think it is right now, the largest in the oil and gas

world, so we will be selling liquid natural gas, and we will be competing for the pipeline. natural gas, and we will be competing forthe pipeline. i natural gas, and we will be competing for the pipeline. i wish them luck. i discussed with angela merkel in pretty strong tones, but i also know where they are all coming from. and they have a very close source. so we will see how that all works out. but we have lots of sources now, and the united states is much different than it was a numberof is much different than it was a number of years ago where we were not able to extract what we can extract today. so today we are numberone in the extract today. so today we are number one in the world at that, and i think we will be out there competing very strongly. thank you very much. translation: ifi made throw in, we talked, mr president, on this subject, and we are aware of the stance of president trump. i think we as a major oil and gas

power, and the united states is a major oil and gas power as well, we can work together on regulation of international markets. because neither of us is interested in the plummeting of prices, and consumers will suffer as well, and consumers in the united states will suffer as well. shale gas production will suffer. because beyond a certain price bracket, it's no longer possible to produce gas. but nor are we interested in driving prices up, because it will drain juices from all other sectors of the economy, ship building etc. so we have space for cooperation here. on nord stream two, mr president voiced his concerns about the possibility of the disappearance of transit through the disappearance of transit through the ukraine, and i reassured mr

president that russia stands ready to maintain this transit and moreover we stand ready to extend this transit contract this is about to expire next year, if the dispute between the economic entities, the dispute will be settled in the stockholm arbitration court. the first question tojeff stockholm arbitration court. the first question to jeff basin from reuters. thank you. mr president, retweeted this morning that its us foolishness, stupidity and the robert mueller probe that is responsible for the decline of us relations with russia. do you hold russia at all accountable for anything in particular, and if so, what would you consider them responsible for? yes, i do. i hold both countries responsible. i think the united states has been foolish. i think we have all been foolish. we should have had this dialogue a long

time ago. a long time frankly before i got to office. i think we all to blame. i think the states now has stepped forward along with russia and we are getting together, and we have a chance to do some great things, whether it's nuclear proliferation, in terms of stopping, we have to do that, and that's probably the most important thing we can be working on. but i do feel that we have both made some mistakes. i think the probe that we have both made some mistakes. ithink the probe is that we have both made some mistakes. i think the probe is a disaster for our country. i think it has kept us apart. it has kept us separated. there was no collusion at all. everybody knows it. people are being brought out to the fore, and so far that i know, virtually none of it related to the campaign, and they will have to try really hard to find somebody related to the campaign. it was a clean campaign. i beat hillary clinton easily, and frankly, we beat her, and i'm not

even saying from the standpoint, we won that race. it's a shame there can even be a little bit of a cloud over it. people know that, they understand it, but the main thing, and we discussed this also, zero collusion. and it has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two large st impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world. we have 90% of nuclear power between the two countries. it's ridiculous, it's ridiculous, what's going on with the probe. president putin, if i could follow up as well... why should americans, and why should president trump believe your statement that russia did not intervene in the 2016 election giving evidence given by us intelligence agencies and would you consider indicting the 12 diplomats extradited by the us government? the whole concept of that came perhaps a little bit before, but it came out

asa little bit before, but it came out as a reason why the democrats lost an election, which, frankly, they should have been able to win, because the electoral college is much more advantageous for democrats, as you know, that is to republicans. we won the electoral couege republicans. we won the electoral college by a lot, 306—223, i believe. and that was a well fought battle. we did a greatjob. and frankly, i am going to let the president speak to the second part of your question. butjust president speak to the second part of your question. but just to say it one time again, and i say it all the time, there was no collusion. i didn't know the president. there was no body to collude with. whenever you hear this 12, 14, no body to collude with. whenever you hearthi512,14, it's no body to collude with. whenever you hear this 12, 14, it's stuff that has nothing to do... and frankly they admit these are not people involved in the campaign. but to the average reader, they are

saying, maybe that does add, even the people involved, some perhaps told miss stories, and in one case the fbi said there was no lie. there was no lie. somebody else said there was. we ran a brilliant campaign, and that's why i am president. translation: as to who is to be believed, and who is not to be believed, and who is not to be believed, you can trust no one. where did you get this idea that president trump trusts me or i trust him? he defends the interests of the united states of america, and i defend the interests of the russian federation. we do have interests that are common. we are looking for points of contact. there are issues where our postures diverged, and we are looking for ways to reconcile our differences, how to make our effort more meaningful. we should

not proceed from the immediate political interests that guide certain political powers in our countries. we should be guided by fa cts . countries. we should be guided by facts. could you name a single fact that would definitively prove the collusion? this is utter nonsense. just like the president recently mentioned. yes, the public at large in the united states had a certain perceived opinion of the candidates during the campaign, but there is nothing truly extraordinary about that, that's usual. president trump, when he was a candidate, he mentioned the need to restore the russian and west relationship, and it's clear that certain part of american society felt sympathetic about it, and different people could expect their sympathy in different ways. —— express their sympathy. isn't it natural to be sympathetic

towards a person who is willing to restore the relationship with our country, who wants to work with us. we heard accusations of a concorde company. as far as i know, this company. as far as i know, this company hired american lawyers, and the accusations don't have a fighting chance in the american courts. so there is no evidence when it comes to the actual facts. so we have to be guided by facts and not by rumours. let's get back the issue of these 12 alleged intelligence officers of russia. i don't know the full extent of the situation, but president trump mentioned this issue, and i will look into it. so far, ican issue, and i will look into it. so far, i can say the following. off the top of my head. we have an existing agreement between the united states of america and the russian federation, a treaty that dates back to 1999, the mutual

assistance on criminal cases. this treaty is in full effect and works quite efficiently. on average, we initiate about 100—150 criminal cases upon requests from foreign states. for instance, last year, there was one extradition case, upon a request sent by the united states. so this treaty has specifically good procedures. we can offer that the appropriate commission, headed by special attorney robert mueller, he can use this treaty is a soft foundation and sent a formal, official request to us, so that we will interrogate, hold in questioning, all these individuals who he believes are privy to some

crimes. and our enforcement, are perfectly able to do this questioning and send the appropriate materials to the united states. moreover, we can meet you halfway, we can make another step. we can actually permit official representatives of the united states, including the members of this very commission, headed by mr robert mueller, we can let them into the country and they will be present at this questioning. but in this case, there is another condition, this kind of effort should be a neutral one. then we would expect that the americans would reciprocate, and they would question officials, including the offices of law enforcement and intelligence services of the united states, who we believe have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of russia. and we have to request the

presence of our law enforcement. for instance, we can bring up mr browder in this particular case. business associates of mr browder have earned over $1.5 billion in russia. they never paid any taxes, neither in russia or the united states. and yet the money escaped the country, transferred to the united states. they sent huge amounts of money, 400 million, as a contribution to the campaign of hillary clinton. that's their personal case. it might have been legal, the contribution itself, but the way the money was earned was illegal. so we have a solid reason to believe that some intelligence officers, accompanied and guided these transactions. so we have an interest of questioning them. that could be a first step, and we can also extend it. options abound. they

can all be found in an appropriate legal framework. did can all be found in an appropriate legalframework. did you can all be found in an appropriate legal framework. did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? translation: yes, i did. because he talked about bringing the us and russia relationship back to normal. i think there can be three questions from the russian pool. russia today, you have the floor. translation: thank you so much. good evening to everyone. russia today tv channel. i will speak in english... mr president, can you go into the details of possibly any specific arrangements for the us to work together with russia in assyria, if any of these kind of arrangements

we re any of these kind of arrangements were made today or discussed? speaks russian... my question to president putin in russian. we brought at the issue of football several times. to use football language, mike pompeo mentioned that when we talk about the syrian operation, the ball is in the syrian operation, the ball is in the syrian operation, the ball is in the syrian court. in the russian court. is it true, and how would you use this fact? i guess i will answer the first part of the question. we have worked with israel long and ha rd have worked with israel long and hard for many years, many decades. i think never has any one country been closer than we are. president putin is also helping israel. we both spoke with benjamin netanyahu, and they would like to do certain things with respect to syria, having to do

with respect to syria, having to do with the safety of israel. so in that respect we absolutely would like to work in order to help israel, and israel will be working with us, so both countries would work jointly. with us, so both countries would workjointly. i think when you look at all of the progress that's been made in certain sections, with the eradication of isis, about 98%, 99% there, and other things that have taken there, and other things that have ta ken place that there, and other things that have taken place that we have done, and frankly russia has helped us with in certain respects. but i think working with israel is a great thing, and creating safety for israel is something that both president putin and i would like to see very much. one little thing i might add to that is the helping of people. helping of people. because you have such horrible... if you see, andl you have such horrible... if you see, and i have seen reports, i have seen pictures, i have seenjust about everything. if we can do

something to help the people of syria get back into some form of shelter, on a humanitarian basis, and that's what the word was, really, a humanitarian basis, i think both of us would be very interested in doing that. and we are. we are doing that. but for now, no specific agreements, for instance, between the militaries? well, our militaries do get along. in fact our militaries have probably got along better than our political leaders for years. but our military leaders for years. but our military leaders get along very well and they coordinate in syria and other places. thank you. translation: we did mention this, yes. we mentioned the humanitarian track of this issue. yesterday i discussed this with the french president, emmanuel macron, and we reached an agreement that together with european countries, including france, we will step up this effort will stop on our

behalf, we provide military cargo aircraft to deliver humanitarian cargo. i brought the issue today with president trump. i think there are plenty of things to look into. the crucial thing here is that a huge amount of refugees are in turkey, lebanon and jordan, in the states that border, are adjacent to syria. if we help them, migratory pressure on european states will drop, will be decreased manyfold. and i believe it's crucialfrom any point of view, from humanitarian point of view, from humanitarian point of view, from humanitarian point of view, from the point of view of helping people, helping refugees, and in general, iagree, i concur with president trump, our militaries cooperates quite successfully together. they do get along, and i hope they will give to do so. we will keep working with

russia, turkey and iran, and they informed president trump about that. but we do stand ready to link these efforts, the so—called small group of states, so that the process will bea of states, so that the process will be a broader one, a multidimensional one, and we will be able to maximise ourfighting one, and we will be able to maximise our fighting chance for ultimate success in the issue of syria. and speaking about having the ball in our court speaking about having the ball in ourcourt in speaking about having the ball in our court in syria, president trump has just mentioned that we have successfully concluded the world football cup. speaking of the football, actually, mr president, i will give this ball to you. and now the ball is in your court. all the

more glad the united states will host the world cup in 2026. thank you. we do host it and we hope we will do as good a job. that will go to my son. final question from the united states. jonathan from the ap. thank you. a question for each president. president trump, you first. just now, president putin denied having anything to do with election interference in 2016. every intelligence agency has concluded that russia did. my first question for you is, who do you believe? my second question is, would you now, with the whole world watching, tell president putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you warn him to never do it again? let

me just say we have two thoughts, groups that are wondering why the fbi never took the server. why haven't they take on the server? why was the fbi told to leave the office of the democratic national committee? i have been wondering that, asking it for months and months, to eating it out and calling it out on social media. where is the server? i want to know where is the server? i want to know where is the server and what is the server saying? ? server and what is the server saying?? —— server and what is the server saying? ? —— tweeting server and what is the server saying?? —— tweeting it out. dan coats and several others came to me and said they thought it was russia. i have president putin whojust said, it's not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be, but i really do want to see the server. but i have confidence in both parties. i really believe this will probably go on for a while, but i can't believe it can go on without finding out what

happened to the server. what happened to the server. what happened to the servers of the pakistani gentleman that worked on the dnc? where are the servers? they are missing. what happened to them. what happened to hillary clinton's 33,000 e—mails, gone, just gone. i think in russia they wouldn't be gone so easily. i think it's a disgrace that we can't get hillary clinton's 33,000 e—mails. i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. what he did was an incredible offer, he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. i think that's an incredible offer, 0k? thank you. translation: iwould that's an incredible offer, 0k? thank you. translation: i would like to add something to this. after all, i was to add something to this. after all, iwas an to add something to this. after all, i was an intelligence officer myself. and i do know how... just a

second. i do know how dossiers are made up. i believe russia is a democratic state. and i hope you are not denying this right to your own country. you're not denying the states' democracy. do you believe the united states is a democracy? and if so, if it is a democratic state, then the final conclusion in this kind of a dispute can only be delivered by a trial, by the court. not by the executive, not by law enforcement. for instance, the concord company that was brought up. it has been accused of interference. but this company does not constitute the russian state. it does not represent the russian state. i have brought several examples before. you

have a lot of individuals in the united states. take george soares, for instance, with multi—million capitals, but it does not make him, his posture, the posture of the united states. it doesn't. it's the same case. there is the issue of trying the case in the court. and the final say is for the court to deliver. we are now talking about private individuals, not particular states. and as far as the most recent allegation is concerned about the russian intelligence officers, we do have intergovernmental treaties. please do send us the request. we will analyse it properly and send a formal response. as i said, we can extend this cooperation, but we should do it on a reciprocal basis, because we would

wa nt a reciprocal basis, because we would want our russian counterparts to provide us access to the persons of interest for us. who we could believe have something to do with intelligence services. let's discuss the specific issues and not use the russia and us relationship as loose change for this internal political struggle. a question for president putin. two questions for you, sir. can you tell me what president trump may have indicated to you about officially recognising crimea as pa rt officially recognising crimea as part of russia? and secondly, does the russian government have any compromising material on president trump or his family? laughter translation: president trump, the posture of president trump on crimea is well known. he stands firmly by

it, he continues to maintain that it was illegal to annex it. our viewpoint is different. we held a referendum in strict compliance with the un charter and international legislation. for us, this issue, we put paid to this issue. now to the compromising material. yeah, i did hear these rumours that we allegedly collected compromising material on mrtrump when he collected compromising material on mr trump when he visited moscow. distinguished colleague, let me tell you this. when president trump was in moscow back then, i didn't even know he was in moscow. i treated president trump with utmost respect. at back then, when he was a private individual, a businessman, nobody informed me that he was in moscow. let's ta ke informed me that he was in moscow. let's take the saint petersburg economic forum, for instance. there we re economic forum, for instance. there were more than 500 american businessmen, high—ranking ones, and

i don't remember the last games of each and every one of them. do you think we try to collect tom pernice in material on each and every one of them? —— the last names. it's difficult to imagine an utter nonsense on a bigger scale and this. don't think about these accusations any more again. i have to say, if they had it, it would have been out long ago. if anybody watched the testifying over the last couple of days, i was in brussels watching it, it was a disgrace to the fbi. it was a disgrace to our country, and you would say it was a total witchhunt. thank you very much, everybody. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. studio: there we are, president putin and president trump leaving the podium after a long day together. more than 90 minutes, meeting one on one, and then meeting

with their two teams. a lot coming out of that press conference and some real interesting detail, particularly when it comes to robert mueller‘s investigation in the united states. let's go through some of the things that president trump had to say about it. he said, i would rather take the political risk, first of all talking to president putin. we have seen in the past through the cold war period the benefits of cooperation. i did raise with him the russian interference in our elections and we spent a lot of time talking about it. he feels very strongly about it, he said, and maybe he will want to do something about it. he went on to talk about president putin as a good competitor, he said it was a complement, rather than someone he might consider an anniversary. when he was asked in the press conference, do you hold russia accountable for what went on in the 2016 elections, he said, i hold both countries responsible. we have both

been foolish and we both to blame andi been foolish and we both to blame and i feel both sides been foolish and we both to blame and ifeel both sides made mistakes. and then he returned, as he has done many times, to referring to there being no collusion. it's worth referring to as an aside that so far robert mueller‘s investigation has indicted five americans, one dutch, 26 russian nationals, three russian businesses, and of those, five have pleaded guilty so far, of those indicted, five have pleaded guilty. his former campaign director paul ma nafort his former campaign director paul manafort is currently awaiting trial. from president putin, he said right at the outset that he had been asked by president trump about the interference in the 2016 election, that there were concerns from the american side. he said, we have never interfered in us internal affairs, and any specific material that the american side has, we can analyse together. it's much like the

russian position over the alleged novichok poisoning in salisbury and alleged involvement of the russian side, that they want to be part of the investigation. it'll be interesting to hear the from the american side later in the day. but the idea that the american side will hand over some of their intelligence and provide people for the russian side to interview, i don't think thatis side to interview, i don't think that is likely to happen. there is of course within the administration, no trust, a lack of trust, on the two sides. he talked about dan coats, this is president trump's national intelligence director, his chief intelligence officer. he was asked what he made of the comments from dan coats this week that the red lights were flashing on the dashboard and they had real concerns the russians might interfere in the mid—term elections and future elections. he said, dan coats thinks it is russia. i don't see any reason

why it would be. he then returns to theissue why it would be. he then returns to the issue of hillary clinton's server, which he has done many times before, talking about the fbi investigation into hillary clinton's 33,000 e—mails. president putin saying several times that there is a treaty between the two sides that could ensure they send material to the russian side and hold a joint investigation. and that the only way to get to the bottom of what happened in 2016 was to come to a verdict through the courts. plenty of other things discussed