with vladimir putin on monday. he told journalists he does accept the american intelligence community's conclusion that russia meddled in the 2016 us elections which brought him to power. he said he misspoke at the meeting in helsinki. there's been renewed conflict in several towns in nicaragua after security forces took down barriers put up by anti—government protesters. eyewitnesses said the security forces were blocking roads and preventing cars from leaving. the united nations office on human rights has accused the nicaraguan government of serious rights violations. astronomers say they've discovered 12 new moons around jupiter, taking its total number to 79, more than any other planet in our solar system. the new moons were first spotted in 2017 but it has taken a year for their orbits to be confirmed. wine is due to collide with another. —— one is due to collide with another. the number of puffins has been plummeting globally but an island off the west wales coast is bucking the trend.

an international project is now looking at why the seabirds are doing so well on skomer. researchers are using tiny gps trackers to monitor their every move. similar work will be carried out in countries where puffins are not faring so well and the findings will be compared. sian lloyd has been to skomer to find out more. a thriving puffin population. skomer island is renowned for its wide range of sea birds, but the number of puffins breeding here is attracting international interest. they have been in decline in other parts of the uk and europe for decades, so much so that the species is now endangered. here, scientists have found it's a different picture. the population on skomer island has almost quadrupled in the last 30 years or so. that's great news for puffins in wales, and we're hoping to find out more about why those population changes are taking place, so that we can understand what might happen further into the future and maybe to help puffins more widely. and to do that, researchers are exploring their feeding patterns.

it's really new, no—one‘s ever tracked the movements of puffins before in these places where i'm going to go. this tracking device is small enough to fix on to a puffin's back, and already the team has found that these tiny sea birds travel more than 90 miles a day to bring food back to the nest. we're not only locking at where they're going, but with complex analytical technique we can also identify their behaviour, so we can say, ok, in this place they're feeding, in this place they're resting or flying, and so the feeding place are the key ones here that we ere interested in. the team will carry out the same work in norway and iceland, where there are concerns about the poor survival rates of chicks, and where the number of puffins is in serious decline. there are no such concerns on skomer, where the chicks are being monitored daily. and a record of their weight is kept. 295 grams. they are also collecting samples that could show whether, in common with other

wildlife, puffins are being affected by plastics. the findings from that part of the research won't be known for some time, but the work being carried out here could have a huge impact in helping scientists understand the threat these sea birds face. sian lloyd, bbc news, schemer. it's just after liz30am, which means it's time now for hardtalk. come to hardtalk. european politicians have a long cherished habit of taking the summer off. this summer habit of taking the summer off. this summer it may be different. the eu is the devil by problems that simply won't go away. from brexit to immigration to an increasingly vexed relationship with the drum administration —— bedevilled. my guest today, elmar brok, is the

longest serving member of the european parliament and a close ally of chancellor angela merkel. germany is the eu's most powerful economy, but is its political clout on the wane? elmar brok, welcome to hardtalk, and thank you forjoining me from washington, dc, where i know you are having talks with cou nterpa rts you are having talks with counterparts in the united states. i do want to focus very quickly, though, on wrecks it. how close to britain crashing out of the european

union without any kind of deal do you think we are? —— brexit. union without any kind of deal do you think we are? —— brexitlj union without any kind of deal do you think we are? -- brexit. i think since the chequers paper we see a possibility to come to an agreement. this is not exactly what we can't agree to but we have now, after waiting one and a half years for it, a proposal by the british government, which is one of the basis for the negotiations, and hopefully we can achieve preliminary results on that in order to get to the withdrawal agreement through when the transitional period time and then negotiate finally our in detail. well, i looked at reaction from brussels to theresa may's white paper proposals. michel barnier has kept very quiet. he. he says he is analysing those 98 pages. another senior commissioner says it is not a question of whether we say no to these proposals, it is when and how we do it. that doesn't sound very

positive, does it? i think we do it. that doesn't sound very positive, does it? ithink that is the wrong position. we are very convinced that we should find a solution. for sure, our conditions must be met, interest must be met. we have clarified this position already in spring last year and britain knows it and hopefully we have the basis to do that. most of the withdrawal agreement is negotiated, agreed. we have to find a clear position with a backstop for ireland which is the clear condition for the withdrawal agreement and this chequers proposal is more or less a free—trade agreement with certain conditions and i think that can be negotiated, then finally britain as a third country. can be negotiated, then finally britain as a third countrylj can be negotiated, then finally britain as a third country. i am fascinated, elmar brok, you find this so constructive. all we have heard from the eu... it is my nature. good. it is better to be an

optimist than a pessimist. all we have are from the eu since negotiations began was the simple message, "britain cannot and will not be allowed to cherry—picking bass parts —— cherry pick the best pa rt bass parts —— cherry pick the best part is being a member of the year without the responsibilities of being part of the eu." surely what mrs may has put forward in essence is somewhat more sophisticated as a form of cherry—picking. is somewhat more sophisticated as a form of cherry-picking. that is true. therefore we have to negotiate a lot of details in that paper. but it is clear that britain house to fulfil the standards and went it fits the eu standards it can have market access. and at the same time mrs may has said that she wants to give the house of commons rights to change the standards, that we see it is the same at the moment. britain is the same at the moment. britain

is part of the eu and go in different directions. and we have a problem with the future. how to deal with that must be clarified. and some other things. one intriguing point of detail, if you would, for me. that is, mrs may had two meetings with your chancellor merkel in the run—up to the release of this white paper set of proposals. indeed, some people are saying that mrs merkel was given a heads up, and indication of what was in the british plan, before the british cabinet or indeed the british parliament. you know mrs merkel very well. is that true? i cannot say that this is true for sure. i think mrs may will have had discussions with others, with mrs merkel, junker and others, to get what is possible and others, to get what is possible and what is not possible. mrs merkel will stick to the negotiation line of the european union agreed by 27

nations and the european parliament and commission and therefore mrs may will understand the negotiations in future, where it might be easier to find an agreement. i don't want to sound cynical but if you look at the broad outline of mrs may's plan, she was to maintain frictionless, free trade in goods, playing by the eu rulebook as she says. but she doesn't expect the same, for example, from services, including financial services. i can't imagine an arrangement more likely to please you lot in germany. it means your car manufacturers for example continue unfettered trade exports to the very big market in the uk, while your financial services sector in frankfurt can expect to pick up a great deal of business from the city of london because there is no deal

on services. it strikes me that this isa on services. it strikes me that this is a deal that germany might as well have written itself. financial services are mostly not in free trade agreements. also with canada, not. therefore it is wise to make the differentiation. there will be negotiation about the financial services in a certain way. but it must be clear that this is a way for goods and agricultural goods, for free trade agreements which is very far reaching. but it is clearly said that if the standards will go in different directions, it will be less market access. that is very clear. and we have to see that is the difference. at the moment we have both the same standards. when we negotiate a free—trade agreement, as we have done just now. i think it will be signed today with japan. then we have different standards and try to bring them together. then we have different standards and try to bring them togetherlj then we have different standards and try to bring them together. i just

wonder whether you and colleagues of yours in other european capitals and indeedin yours in other european capitals and indeed in brussels itself, do you all look closely at the political soap opera unfolding in the uk? for example yesterday, as we speak right now, yesterday a group of hardline brexiteers in the uk actually got some amendments through which make the made proposals somewhat tougher for the eu to accept in terms of tariff collection for example —— may. so whether you like mrs may's proposals or not, it is clear that a very strong element in her own conservative party hates these proposals and will do anything to destroy them. are you watching that carefully a nd destroy them. are you watching that carefully and worrying about it?|j look with concern to that, because brexiteers do not want to have any solution which will have the most harm to the uk because their market is much smaller than the eu market. and this tax collection system that

we have also to collect the taxes for britain looks a little bit peculiar to me and i think therefore, especially in the customs question, we will have tough negotiations how we can come to such a solution, which is very much needed, because, to avoid the hard border between the two islands, i think that is very much in the british interest to avoid such hard bought at which would have negative impacts on peace between the islands. how frightened are you in the political sense of a crash out hide brexit? it would be difficult for germany and for the eu as a whole, wouldn't it? yes, very much but not so much for britain. that is why we don't understand what the brexiteers want to do. it is an ideologue point of view of politics

with dreams of the past. look, that is also part of the questions before. it will be, if there is different rules, then we have tariffs, we have no free market access. and many companies have invested in the united kingdom. european and american, asian companies, because britain is the gate to the european market. the point of discussing the hard brexit is to define whether you really think, when the british talk of pursuing the hard brexit option, and preparing for it, whether you think they are bluffing. for example, the new brexit secretary dominic raab said just the other day, look, i wa nt to said just the other day, look, i want to go to brussels and negotiate in the spirit of friendship. but if the bloc, the eu bloc, does not reciprocate in similar spirit, then

the uk will be ready to leave without a deal and preparations will be made. do you think he is serious oi’ be made. do you think he is serious or is he bluffing? i think these people are serious, they have to explain that britain will have bad, will have a bad result out of that much worse than us. 75% of the eu exports go to the uk. 44% of british exports go to the uk. 44% of british exports go to the uk. 44% of british exports go to the eu. we have to see that companies from abroad will not invest a ny that companies from abroad will not invest any money in the european market, britain is losing the gate function through the european union. there will be less toyota, less american companies, also bmw and others taken away. jaguar already has said that. it would be a disastrous development for the united kingdom. brexit is bad for both of us. but it is worse for the uk. let's try to make the damage as

low as possible, that should be the duty of these negotiations. a final point on brexit and then i want to move on to important matters. this final point is quite simple. there are people in the uk today he'll look at the parliamentary arithmetic in westminster and say there is no pathway, no democratic pathway through parliament to get any form of brexit through, whether it is hard, soft or indeed no brexit. the political situation here is in stalemate. in those circumstances, some are saying stalemate. in those circumstances, some are saying we stalemate. in those circumstances, some are saying we should actually appeal to the eu to suspend the article 50 deadline. is it possible, do you think, from europe's point of view that article 50 and the deadline could be suspended? looked to be two years have reason, to put pressure on the. if there is the possibility of transition agreement until 2020, which means to

have the negotiations finalised. what is needed is the withdrawal agreement, a positive visitor that would be to ratify the european parliament and we can have another two years to negotiate the details of the future relationship. i do not understand it. there are people who have the impression from the very beginning of brexit that they are looking to their personal careers in the tory party. you sound rather disgusted with british politics right now. let's say it is my lack of intellect and understanding in detail what is going on. it is an important question for a nation like the uk, you see that there is no real direction, no majority for the direction. therefore we stick to the

prime minister. i have a feeling she has understood the issues and destructive find a solution, that she can manage in the different sequences of the negotiation to find a majority in the government and in parliament and to rely on that. if that does not work then we have hard brexit. we are talking after the most extraordinary visit of president trump to nato and then to the uk and finally that meeting in helsinki with v putin. has his disrupted diplomacy finally shaken europe, andi disrupted diplomacy finally shaken europe, and i have to say germany, out of a deep sense of complacency about the state of transatlantic relations? we are very nervous about that i was here watching and i must say that a majority of members of congress senators from both parties are very convinced to stick to the transatlantic relationship. it is donald trump was that policy, not a

policy of the country and congress. the problem is, donald trump is commander—in—chief and president of the united states. that is true. therefore wish to keep the damage down the. the us is a democracy, thatis down the. the us is a democracy, that is different to china and russia, but we see at the same time that he uses every ally like a vessel, he does not take them seriously, he does not take them as partners. therefore, mr trump is helpful to bring the european union closer together and now you have trade agreements with japan and others coming soon to prepare for the situation. ok. are used word complacency and that is because donald trump delivered some pretty harsh home truths, not least to germany, i will quote you some of his words about germany. as far as i am concerned, he said, germany is a

captive of russia. is getting so much of its energy from russia and we are supposed to protect germany when they get their energy from russia? explain that to me, it cannot be explained. donald trump is actually exposing a hypocrisy in germany today, isn't he? no. first of all, i do not know after the helsinki cavite who is captain of v putin, donald trump or germany. it isa putin, donald trump or germany. it is a 70% of our energy, it is 35% of our gas imports of. hang on, when nordstream, which is driven by the russians, when that comes on stream you will be very reliant on russian gas, let's not forget one of your former chancellors is a chairman of the board. germany has racked itself into a relationship with russia at the same time it is expecting america to offer the security umbrella while germany refuses to

pay for it. that is just umbrella while germany refuses to pay for it. that isjust wrong. eight or 9% of german gas relies on russia. it will stay that way. i am personally against nordstream too. but this argument is more selling the gas to europe and we have two see also that germany is bringing the european union together, this gas is not only for germany, it is partly to pretend, the netherlands, france, please do not or germany in it and we will do business with whom we want. you can swap statistics with me about donald trump's a ccu ra cy with me about donald trump's accuracy and i agree with you, but he was getting at a basic truth. you in germany to ba —— today, you tell me, what percentage of your gdp today are you spending on defence? remind me. germany has not yet

achieved the 2% goal. give me remind me. germany has not yet achieved the 296 goal. give me a figure. if you would, give me a figure. if you would, give me a figure. we are on the way to 1.596. you are not even close! you are not even close to 1.5%. you are closer toi.2%. even close to 1.5%. you are closer to 1.296. we have another security definition. what we do in africa, 60% of the vote is given by the eu member states, 70% of the humanitarian aid is given by the eu, security is different. it is part of security. but we are talking about the future of nato and germany is complacent. when angela merkel, after this message from donald trump, she said yes we will tell dell might talk in germany about wrapping up our defence spending quickly. shuai shut down by her

coalition partners, who said no way. one of them said "angela merkel cannot allow herself to be exposed by donald trump's rearmament mania". are you prepared to spend a lot more on defence quickly or not? we spent more, in two years we have increased the defence budget considerably and will continue until 2024 this way. but we need to see the other questions, tanks, which means more for security. will come closer to the 2% but we have to see over our own responsibilities and we have to see that we stick with the alliance, that we fulfil our conditions and most of all, synergy effects is the new defence, to get the synergy effects. let me touch up on one

other issue which is important in germany and around the world, the response to mass migration. again, this is the donald trump we did not long ago. you are a very close ally of angela merkel, i wonder how you felt when you read this. "the people of germany are turning against their leadership as migration rocks the tenuous coalition, crime is way up, we know that is not true, but he went on "big mistake in allowing people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture". what did you think when you read that tweet? i must say that that is just stupid. we have taken half as many refugees as turkey has done. we have now 95% less migrants than in autumn 2015, incredible success story of how to keep the numbers down. what we are doing at the

moment northern africa is to decrease it, to help these countries to go forward. that is, go to the root causes of migration. here, trump wanted to decrease the money for africa. again, if you don't mind me saying so. donald trump in his own way, no one can accuse him of worrying about accuracy, in his own particular way he is picking at a scab that is painful for germany because you're a coalition is again divided on migration policy. forced to save offer clearly still feels very to save offer clearly still feels very raw to save offer clearly still feels very raw about angela merkel‘s decision to open the door in 2015 and if you look at opinion polls, right now the party that is making most ground towards the october elections is the far right afd, you have real problems in germany and i am not hearing that angela merkel

has a solution to this. first of all, his problems are in bavaria, angela merkel won the real action last year. we have to see that she has a majority in this party. this battle, the same as in the financial questions about armament, increasing ouramount of questions about armament, increasing our amount of money for that, i think she will go forward and is in a strong position. she is working on the route causes. she and jean—claude yuko —— jean—claude juncker are responsible for turkey ‘s policies, every attack by the in a ccu ra cy ‘s policies, every attack by the in accuracy and the style of donald trump will strengthen angela merkel. last question, is it time for germany to fundamentally reassess geostrategic alliances? is this the end for all of those assumptions

about the relationship between germany, europe and the united states ? germany, europe and the united states? no, not at all. ithink germany, europe and the united states? no, not at all. i think this situation will strengthen our belief to continue to build a european union. we want to have a constructive solution with britain to keep them incorporating interest. you are not addressing that donald trumpjust you are not addressing that donald trump just a day or two ago described the european union as a foe when it came to trade. we know that when he talks to theresa may or emmanuel macron, the courage of them to leave the eu. i come back to the basic question, is there a real crisis in relations between the united states and europe? there is a crisis not because of us but because of mrtrump. but crisis not because of us but because of mr trump. but we will not stop to work closely with the united states because he does not alone represent the united states. it is clear that

we need to meet our interest in defence, we need to work faster on our own trade agreements as we have done with japan and other countries and this means that new alliances in trade matters and so on in order to be fit for the future, but please try to keep the collective security agreements of nato so long it is as possible, despite now feeling that there is no total could ability in that any more. elmar brok, we have to end it there. thanks for being on hardtalk. thank you very much. a few lucky gardens got rain on

monday and tuesday. wednesday is looking like being a largely dry ones to be once again we will see a few showers across northern and southern scotland and maybe a few more across the west but the vast majority is bright, a bit warmer as well, 26 in the south—east. thursday, another largely dry day by the odd shower, starting to see cloud and breezed across western scotla nd cloud and breezed across western scotland and northern ireland as this weather system slowly encroaches in. a little bit more fresh across the north, the deep orange building into england and wales and it will be a very warm one again the. the mid to upper 20s celsius. this weather front will bring maybe some substantial rain into north—west parts of the uk, but generally a weakening feature as it moves its way southwards through the

course of friday. this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: after three weeks underground and another week in hospital, the 12 boys trapped in the thai cave are to be allowed to go home. theresa may's brexit strategy survives another close vote, but she faces a day of questions and plotting among her own mps. and today is the centenary of nelson mandela's 100th birth. a hero to millions, but some young people in south africa are increasingly critical. decision day for google in europe — the us tech giant could be in for a record fine over allegations its android operating system gives it an unfair commercial advantage. and airbus says it's not giving up on it's troubled super—jumbo,