welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: making his mind up — president trump says vladimir putin is to blame for russia meddling in the us election. the thai cave boys finally go home, after telling the world's media what it felt like to be rescued. the tech giant google is fined a record sum by the european union — almost $5 billion — in relation to its android operating system. and from the arctic circle to the baltic sea — sweden calls for international help in its battle to contain more than forty wildfires. donald trump has said he holds vladimir putin personally responsible for russian interference in the 2016 us presidential election. his comment, in an interview

on american television, is the latest in a damage control exercise following the president's news conference with vladimir putin in helsinki. at that time, mr trump appeared to side with mr putin over claims of kremlin meddling in us elections. on tuesday, mr trump said he misspoke during monday's summit and today he told cbs news that no other us president has ever been tougher on russia. you say you agree with us intelligence that russia meddled in the election in 2016. yes, and i said that before. i have said that numerous times before, and i would say that that is true, yeah. but you haven't condemned putin specifically. do you hold him personally responsible? well, iwould, because he's in charge of the country, just like i would hold myself responsible for things that happen in this country. so certainly, as the leader of the country, you would have to hold him responsible, yes. i am very strong on the fact that we can't have meddling.

we can't have any of that. look, we're also living in a grown—up world. willa strong statement — you know, president obama supposedly made a strong statement. nobody heard it. what they did hear is the statement he made to putin's very close friend, and that statement was not acceptable. didn't get very much play, relatively speaking, but that said, it was not acceptable. but i let him know we can't have this. we're not going to have it, and that's the way it's going to be. mrtrump speaking on mr trump speaking on cbs. let's bring in our washington correspondent, chris buckler. it is still all over the place but the fact is he feels he has two said. a few days of big 's messages, confusion and clarification and again today we seek president trump coming out after the backlash,

standing beside vladimir putin and making those comments siding with him over his intelligence agencies. is that backtracking and taking this to the like and it is a discomfort within the republican party about the way he act did on that stage in helsinki. —— acted. he still talks about the good relationship with vladimir putin on twitter, how that is important and how he continues to reach out to russia while at the same time criticising them, saying they are involved in the election meddling but we have to look at the bigger picture but republicans want to look at what russia is involved in and they remain convinced that russia is continuing to threaten american democracy. to be fair, he slinks back at barack obama and in

september 2016, the obama administration when the congress lustre by partisan statement about russian meddling and were rebuffed by the republicans. you also have to remember that president trump is trying his best to stay that this was not his responsibility, that he was not his responsibility, that he was not his responsibility, that he was not the president in 2016 c cannot lay the blame at his dog at this feeds into the door. he denies and others have denied even the suggestion that they could have been collusion between his campaign and russia, again something strongly denied but fundamentally what he wa nts to denied but fundamentally what he wants to do is shoot down any suggestion that russia tried to help him and that is concerned because of special consul investigation is ongoing. it cannot get away from the fa ct ongoing. it cannot get away from the fact that intelligence agency

believed russia was involved. we have had a statement from the fbi director who says clearly that the assessment has not changed, his view has not changed which is that russia attempted to interfere in the election and continues malign operations to this day. the phrase put out trump the range syndrome could go back to bite him? —— deranged. he does talk in a bombastic way. he likes these catchphrases and what he is using with that suggestion is that he is attacking his critics and, fundamentally, you look at his piles and you see that america is divided. —— polls. nothing he does since the

changes as numbers are very much. —— seems. their story of survival captured the world's imagination, and now the 12 thai boys and their coach have been speaking for the first time about their cave rescue. at a news conference, the boys spoke about their ordeal, calling it a ‘moment of miracle" when the rescuers found them. calling it a "moment of miracle" when the rescuers found them. 0ur correspondentjonathan head was at the news conference and has this report. dom spent his 13th birthday in the cave, at the time unsure if he'd ever get out. but you'd hardly know it as he thanked the doctors and nurses on leaving hospital today, the very picture of health. this was him two weeks ago, smiling for his rescuers when the 12 boys and their coach were discovered after nine days without food. he and his team—mates made their first public appearance since their astonishing rescue. treating journalists to some nifty footwork before taking the stage to recount their experiences in the cave. they had gone to explore, just for an hour, they said, but found themselves cut off by fast rising water.

14—year—old adul, who speaks the best english among them, then described the moment when, after nine days, they heard the two british divers close by. translation: we were digging and we heard somebody talking, but we didn't think that it was real, so we stopped and listened. but, as it turned out, it happened, it was real. i was shocked. i thought they were thai officers, but when they got out of the water, i found that they were english. i did not know what to say to them, so ijust said hello. it was a miracle, it was a miracle. i was shocked. for all of them, the hardest thing in the cave was the hunger. this is the youngest, titan, who is 11 years old. translation: i tried not to think about food. but, because thinking about food... tried not to think about fried rice. they finished with a tribute to saman kunan, the thai diver who died

while trying to save them. watching at home was dom's family. his stepfather had not been able to see him in hospital. with just a few hours before he came home, it was hard keeping his emotions back. "i am just waiting to welcome him as soon as he gets here," he said. "we'll all be there. ijust want to hug him." well, it's been a very long wait this evening for dom's family, but we thinkjust a few more minutes to go before he comes home and for this very ordinary family, hopefully, an end to a very extraordinary story. and then he was there. the boy who had missed his 13th birthday, but with his miraculous escape had been given a second chance. it is not often you get an ending as happy as this. jonathan head, bbc news, northern thailand. the bbc‘s devina gupta joins

us live from chiang rai. what happens next? today is all about picking up the pieces for these boys, trying to come back to normal life. i am at the buddhist temple in their hometown and they are inside, in a blessing ceremony. they are trying to say thank you and gather blessings from the buddhist monks. they are also paying tribute to the diver from thailand who lost his life. what is important to see here is how the family has come together, the community has come together, the community has come together around them, to protect them and give them the support they need. also very importantly, the media has been asked to only film

the ceremony but not to approach the family, the boys and to protect their privacy and health and move on. there will be resting through the day and trying to observe what has happened around them in nearly a month and how the little town has shot into prominence and how their lives have changed for many of them. it is also a time of recounting their deal and sharing it with their family to lessen the burden. they will be going back to school very $0011. will be going back to school very soon. in the foreword to being professional footballers so it is high time they get back on the practice field. there are still some treats in store, they were offered a chance to go to the world cup final but other things are still planned? they have been offered the chance to visit manchester united team and thatis visit manchester united team and that is something they look really

forward to. we saw yesterday how they are enthusiastic football players. they have coped incredibly well. yesterday, at the press conference, they walked together as a team. very confident. right now they are sitting together as a team, with their coach and then it is a journey together, moving on. thank you so much. let's get some of the day's other news: turkey's state media say the government is lifting the state of emergency that was imposed following a failed coup attempt two years ago. under its terms, tens of thousands of people have been arrested and held without trial under the orders of president erdogan. thousands were dismissed from theirjobs. britain's former foreign secretary, boris johnson, has given a scathing resignation speech. he told the uk parliament, it's not too late to save brexit, but right now, a fog of self—doubt is descending over the process. mrjohnson also said the prime minister's current brexit plan would leave britain in a "miserable, permanent limbo."

he resigned last week in protest, saying he could no longer support theresa may's approach to brexit. the british pop star sir cliff richard has won his high court privacy battle against the bbc, and has been awarded an initial two hundred and seventy thousand dollars in damages. the court found the bbc‘s reporting of a police raid, in connection with an allegation of historical child sex abuse, infringed the star's privacy rights in a "serious and sensationalist way." sir cliff always denied the allegations and was never arrested or charged. he described the ruling as "wonderful news". the bbc says it's very sorry for the distress caused to sir cliff, but will look at appealing the decision. european financial authorities have fined google a record $5 billion over the use of its android operating system. the european commission says the company illegally used the technology to "cement its dominant position" in searches. google has denied any wrongdoing, and plans to appeal the ruling. our technology correspondent

rory cellan—jones reports. advert: if you believe in innovation from everyone, then welcome to android. it sees itself as a benevolent giant that just wants to help us communicate. the eu has a different view. google has engaged in illegal practices to cement its dominant market position in internet search. google's android operating system runs on three quarters of europe's mobile phones. it is free for phone makers, but the eu says that google applies conditions which promote its own interests at the expense of rivals. there are three complaints — that phone makers must preinstall google search in cut that phone makers must preinstall google search in chrome if they want to use the app store. they are paid to promote google search by installing it and not other search engines. and that they are effectively banned from creating alternative versions of android.

as a matter of principle we could ourselves look up another search engine, but only 1% of us who has a android phone says, "oh, i do something else." 99%, if the search is on your phone, this is what you use. the fact that google has so much control over what happens on so many phones not only gives it a lot of power, it gives it a lot of money, because it collect vast amounts of data that enables it to target advertising. the company says that ends up with a great deal for phone users. google must now pay a record fine and change its ways within 90 days if it is not to face bigger penalties. but it is appealing against the ruling. a spokesperson said... with the us and europe already locking horns over trade, the google ruling provides another source of conflict. i don't think trade negotiations are going to be helped by this measure.

the biggest losers, however, are going to be european users of smartphones and consumers, because google has already hinted at the prospect of changing its practices, maybe charging for some services it didn't charge for before. google and other american tech giants insist they are good for consumers. but the eu is determined to curb what it sees as their abuse of their dominance. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: up, up, and away. why you can now buy your very own jetpack, as long as you have deep pockets. the flamboyant italian fashion designer gianni versace has been shot dead in florida. the multimillionaire was gunned down outside his home in the exclusive south beach district of miami. emergency services across central europe are stepping up their efforts to contain the worst floods this century. nearly 100 people have been killed. broadway is traditionally called

the great white way by americans, but tonight it's completely blacked out. it's a timely reminder to all americans of the problems the energy crisis has brought to them. 200 years ago today, a huge parisian crowd stormed the bastille prison, the first act of the revolution which was to topple the french monarchy. today, hundreds of thousands thronged the champs—elysee for the traditional military parade. finally, fairy penguins have been staggering ashore and collapsing after gorging themselves on huge shoal of their favourite food, pilchards. some had eaten so much they could barely stand. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: donald trump says he holds vladimir putin personally responsible for russian interference in the 2016 us presidential election. the thai cave boys finally go home,

after telling the world's media what it felt like to be rescued. ajudge in washington dc has ordered that a russian woman must remain in prison until her trial. the justice department says she has ties to russian intelligence. it is alleged she tried to infiltrate gun rights organisations to influence american foreign policy. she denies those charges. we are joined from washington by rosalind helderman, who has been following this story for the washington post. why is this so significant, would you say? well, experts say that if true these allegations suggest the russian influence campaign in the united states is far larger and more sophisticated than many americans might have realised. ms butina

seemed to understand and the people who sent to the united states seem to understand a lot about american politics work, and the kind of organisations she would need to infiltrate and potentially influenced to affect american political life in this country. shias of course innocent until proven guilty, but you have to wonder why, given the seriousness of these allegations, she is not being investigated by robert mueller. yes, oui’ investigated by robert mueller. yes, our understanding is the investigation into ms butina actually predate the investigation of robert mueller. agents have acted in trailing her since august 20 16. we don't yet know why robert mueller didn't choose to sweep this up into his investigation. it may be that this is just his investigation. it may be that this isjust a his investigation. it may be that this is just a separate his investigation. it may be that this isjust a separate incident his investigation. it may be that this is just a separate incident of russia trying to affect the us political system. again, if these charges are true. gun rights organisations, the nra particularly,

has close ties to the trump administration. does this in any way impact the president? not at the moment. we do know of some incidents where this woman, ms butina, have interaction with donald trump, his son and people around him, and there do seem to be some us persons who helped her meet influential people. at present this is a strange and sort of ripped from a novel kind of situation, but not directly relevant to the president. and how far do you expect this to go, and what would happen to her if she is found guilty? you know, there was another russian charged under similar circumstances i think in 2013, and i think he served about a year in prison in the end, and then was deported back to russia. she would probably serve some time, but of course we have to get first through a trial, and she and her attorney out very strongly saying that she was merely a russian student

interested in meeting american political leaders. so do you and your team on the post filled this has wider implications, this prosecution? well, it certainly has wider implications for these conservative organisations that are going to need to have a look at their interactions with this woman, and whether she potentially fooled them into thinking she was in independent actor, wyatt was that she had such high level access. she was found in vip areas, restricted areas, met presidential candidates backstage at speaking events. she was really able to gain very high level access to american politics through her work with these organisations. thank you so much for giving us your time. thank you so much for having me. sweden has called for international help to fight more than a0 wildfires that have broken out across the country. specialist planes and helicopters are trying to control the fires after weeks of high temperatures and minimal rain, in a summer which has seen huge fires breaking out in countries across the globe.

andrew plant reports. wildfire sweeping across this forest in sweden, one of dozens being fought here. firefighters soaking ground that has seen no significant rain in several weeks. ground that has seen no significant rain in severalweeks. translation: over that, we made a line of water, and we stopped the fire so it can spread out. hopefully it won't spread out. hopefully it won't spread this way now. over the dry, sunbaked spread this way now. over the dry, sunba ked forests, two spread this way now. over the dry, sunbaked forests, two italian planes had flown north to help. each one is capable of dumping 6000 litres of water each time. still, sweden's fires are spreading. we have done ok the whole day, until the wind started, and then we lost some control there. i think it mayjump across the road over there. the record heat is causing blazes across some of the coldest countries on earth, this is a snapshot of sweden

on wednesday, 44 separate fires. norway, finland and russia are facing similar problems, even the arctic circle ablaze in the summer heat. it is notjust sweden. the uk has spent weeks battling a grassland fire. in the us, they raged across california earlier this year, and los angeles earlier this month. australia is also seeing some of its worst fires in years. in sweden, volu nteers worst fires in years. in sweden, volunteers are helping fight back the flames to try to stop more fire from spreading. translation: monday was very hard. it feels like we work in vain. all the time, fires, fires. at the end we had to retreat three kilometres because it became too dangerous. norwegian helicopters, as well, are flying repeat missions here, dropping buckets of water. one fire has caused the evacuation of

two nearby towns. with weather warnings issued across almost the entire country, the wildfires are raging in the summer heat and thriving in a drought that shows no sign of ending. in the pages of comics books, or on the silver screen, one of the staples of science fiction has been thejetpack, a personal, rocket—fuelled passport to the stars. well, the space—faring version is still a little beyond our reach. but a more modestjetpack is now available, and if you want, you can buy one yourself. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. it is 2018. shouldn't we all be flying to work in rocket suits by now? well, if richard browning has his way, we will be doing exactly that. this is a gravity industries series iii jet suit, which is now commercially available for the first time from a department store in london. essentially it is made of

five micro jet engines, london. essentially it is made of five microjet engines, gas turbines, two on each arm and one on the back. other than that you are charging some lithium batteries which are what start the engines, and that's it. other than that it is flying it sensibly and looking after it. it is not really... i could say rocket science. it is not cheap, either. one of these suits, custom—made, will set you back about £340,000. that is more than $440,000. you can't just £340,000. that is more than $440,000. you can'tjust walk out of the shop, strap yourself in and press ignition, either. there is a bit of work involved before you take off. so that involves the customer going to our flight training off. so that involves the customer going to ourflight training hangar and then spending three days in a series of progressive steps, even starting with a vr system, just to get familiar. a bit like... the analogy of riding a bike is not actually misplaced. the rocket suit can reach a maximum cover shoot of around 3500 metres with a top speed of 51 kilometres per hour. but, with a maximum flight time of three or

four minutes, you will be able to fly to work as long as work is too far away. —— isn't too far away. briefly, that may news again. donald trump has said he holds vladimir putin personally responsible for russian interference in the 2016 election in the us. he has told cbs he made clear to mr putin at their summit in helsinki russian meddling had to stop, as assertions about russia, in sharp contrast to the comments at that joint russia, in sharp contrast to the comments at thatjoint news conference in helsinki, when he declined to condemn russian activities and instead criticised us intelligence agencies for their unanimous assessment is that russia did interfere. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. hello there.

i think there's a little bit of something for everyone in this forecast, some rain and also some warm sunshine. but on wednesday it was a case of high pressure, and most places seeing some sunshine. also quite a bit of cloud around, too, but that did lead to some dramatic sunset photos sent in by our weather watchers. high pressure was the dominant force on wednesday, but we look to the north—west for a tangle of weather fronts which will bring some rain on friday. but first thing on thursday, it's going to be a dry one. variable cloud, some clear spells. quite a warm one to start the day for england and wales, but a few chilly spots across some rural parts of central northern scotland. but thursday promises to be another dry one, i think, for most. probably more sunshine around, across the board, than what we saw on wednesday. just a slim chance of a shower across north—east england and south—east scotland. and then late in the day, breeze and cloud pick up across this north—west corner, with those weather fronts. a little bit of rain here, as well. 15 to 23 degrees in the north, but as high as 28 or 29 celsius across the south—east,

so it's going to be warm here. now, this is the tangle of weather fronts which will bring some rain to northern and western parts of the uk. it will continue to move its way south—eastwards as friday wears on. so a lot more cloud across the northern half of the uk. some substantial rain in places, fairly heavy bursts at times. but as it moves southwards, it will tend to ease and become a little lighter and patchier. so it's going to be a little bit cooler across northern areas, 18 to 20 degrees. further south, though, another warm day, with temperatures reaching 28 to 29 degrees. and then, into friday evening, there is just a slim chance of seeing a thundery downpour move up from the near continent across the south—east of england in towards east anglia. they will be very few and far between, but if you catch one, you'll certainly know about it. that cold front then continues to sink southwards during the course of saturday, so it may linger on across southern areas for a while. so we could see a fair amount of cloud central, southern england and wales on saturday, the odd spot of light rain on it.

to the north, a little bit drier, variable cloud, some spells of sunshine. temperature—wise, again the high teens celsius, mostly, across northern ireland and scotland. cool and fresh across england and wales, 21 to 25 degrees. on sunday it's a warm day, central and southern areas with more sunshine. further north, a bit breezier and more cloud, with outbreaks of rain. that pressure across western scotland. for the south—east, though, again mid to high 20s celsius. so it's quite a mixed weekend, with variable amounts of cloud, with a little bit of rain, but also some spells of warmer sunshine. the latest headlines: damage limitation is still in full swing and after president trump's

bizarre comments at the summit with russian president vladimir putin. in an interview with cbs news, mr trump was asked if he held the russian leader personally responsible. the group of boys from thailand who spent two weeks trapped in a flooded cave have paid tribute to the team who found them, describing their rescue as "a miracle". and they honoured saman kunan — the former thai navy seal who died while taking part. the european commission has fined google a record $5 billion over the use of its android operating system. it says the company illegally used the technology to "cement its dominant position" in searches. google denies any wrongdoing. you up—to—date