a very warm welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: making his mind up. president trump now says vladimir putin is to blame for russia meddling in the us election. well, iwould, because he's in charge of the country, just like i consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. so certainly, as the leader of the country, you would have to hold him responsible, yes. the thai cave boys finally go home, after telling the world's media how it felt to be rescued. google is fined a record sum by the european union — almost $5 billion — over its android operating system. hello. donald trump has now said he holds vladimir putin personally responsible for russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. that comment — in an interview on the us tv network cbs — is the latest piece of damage

control in the wake of the president's news conference with vladimir putin in helsinki, when mr trump seemed to put russia's denials above the unanimous conclusion of his own us intelligence agencies. he's since said he misspoke, and today suggested 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've 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 consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. so certainly, as the leader of the country, you would have to hold him responsible, yes. what did you say to him?

look, 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 grownup 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. it 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. earlier i spoke to our correspondent in washington, chris buckler. yeah, it's a few days of mixed messages, confusion and clarification and, yet again, what we see today is that president trump is coming out after that backlash, after standing beside vladimir putin and making those comments that he sided with the russian president over his intelligence agencies. and then having to backtrack on that, he is trying to take this tougher line and that certainly reflects the discomfort

that there is within his republican party about the way he acted on that stage in helsinki. yes, he has walked back those comments, but on twitter still, he talks about the good relationship he has with vladimir putin, how that is important and how he is continuing to reach out to russia, while at the same time criticising them and saying that yes, 0k, they were involved in election meddling but we have to look at the bigger picture here. republicans don't always want to look at the bigger picture, they want to look at what russia is involved in, and they remain convinced that russia is continuing to threaten american democracy. and to be fair, of course, that mud that he tries to sling back at barack obama in that interview, in september 2016, we know the obama administration went to congress to ask for a bipartisan statement about russian meddling and were rebuffed by the republicans. —— on. yeah, and i think what you've also got to remember here is that president

trump is trying his best to say that this wasn't his responsibility. he was a candidate in 2016, he was not the president, so you cannot lay the blame at his door but, of course, all of this feeds into the narrative which he is deeply concerned about, that russia's interference may have led to him getting to the presidency. now, that's something that he denies, that others have denied as well, or even these suggestions that there could have been collusion between his campaign and russia, again something that is strongly denied, but fundamentally what he wants to do is to shoot down any suggestion that russia tried to help him and that's a concern because the special counsel investigation is ongoing. at the same time tohugh, he cannot get away from the fact that intelligence agencies believed russia was responsible for that meddling, and in fact, we have had a statement within the last few

hours from the fbi director christopher wray who says very clearly that "the intelligence community's assessment has not changed, my view has not changed which is that russia attempted to interfere in the past election and continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day." and very quickly, chris. this phrase that the president has put out there — which he seems to like quite a lot — "trump derangement syndrome" — that could come back to bite him, couldn't it? it could. i mean, the thing is that you have got to remember with donald trump, he is somebody who talks in a bombastic way. he's somebody who likes to get these phrases, these catchphrases out therem and fundamentally what he's using with that suggestion of trump derangement syndrome is he's attacking his critics, and fundamentally, you look at his polls and you see that america is divided by those who support trump and who are against trump and fundamentally, nothing he does seems to change those numbers very much. a little later, it will be talking to the former campaign manager for

republican president richard reagan in the 1980s. 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, they called it a "moment of miracle" when the rescuers found them. 0ur correspondentjonathan head was at the news conference. 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'd gone to explore, just for an hour, they said, but found themselves cut off by fast rising water. 14—year—old adun, who speaks

the best english among them, then describes 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 didn't 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's 11 years old. translation: i tried not to think about food. but, because thinking about food, it... i tried not to think about fried rice. they finished with a tribute to saman gunan, the thai diver who died while trying to save them. watching at home was dom's family.

his stepfather hadn't been able to see him in hospital. with just a few hours before he came home, it was hard keeping his emotions back. "i'm 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'd missed his 13th birthday, but with his miraculous escape had been given a second chance. it's not often you get an ending as happy as this. jonathan head, bbc news, northern thailand. i spoke to devina gupta

live from chiang rai. well, today is all about ticking up the pieces for these boys, who are trying to come back to their normal life. i am in a trying to come back to their normal life. iam in a buddhist trying to come back to their normal life. i am in a buddhist temple in their hometown here and these boys are inside a blessing ceremony. what they are trying to do is to say thank you and gather dressings of the buddhist monks here. they are also paying tribute to the thai diver who lost his life to rescue them. this is a very elaborate ceremony, that has been on for the last 60 minutes, but what is important to see here is how the families have come together, how the community has come together around them to protect them and give them them to protect them and give them the support that they need. also very importantly, the media has been

asked the only film the ceremony but not to approach these families, not to approach these boys and to protect their privacy and help them move on. from here, the boys will be resting throughout the day and try to absorb what has happened around them in the last really a month, and how their own lives have changed. in many of them, it is also a time when they will be recounting their ordeal and sharing it with their family to lessen their burden. of course, they will be going back to school very $0011 will be going back to school very soon and as it said in a news conference, they look forward to being professional footballers. conference, they look forward to being professionalfootballers. so it is back to practising on those football field. we talk about them getting back to normal life, there are still some treats in store. i know there was talk of them going to the world cup final, could not take health reasons. there is still talk of other things being planned. absolutely. they have been invited to visit the manchester united team, and that is something they really

look forward to. they are really enthusiastic players. i must add to this that these boys have coped really incredibly well. yesterday, there was a press conference, they worked together as a team, cheering and waving to the press cameras. also, right now they are sitting together as a team with their coach and for them, it is a journey together from here on when they move ahead to fulfil their dreams. let's get some more of the day's news for you. turkey's state media say the government is lifting the state of emergency imposed after the failed coup two years ago. tens of thousands have been arrested and held without trial on the orders of president erdogan. thousands have been 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, he said, a fog of self doubt is descending over the process. he also claimed the prime minister's current brexit plan would leave britain in a "miserable, permanent limbo."

he resigned last week, 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 $270,000. —— 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. this from our tech correspondent, rory cellan—jones. 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's 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 chrome if they want to use the app store. they're paid to promote google search by installing it and not other search engines. and that they're 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 "0h, i'll do something else." 99% of us, if the search app 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 collects vast amounts of data which enables it to target advertising. but 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's not to face bigger penalties, but it's 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 that 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. is much more to come for you on bbc news, including this column up, up and away. we were promised jet packs, you can buy your very own as long as you have deep. —— 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 world 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.

joining me now live from new york is ren brewster, who is a supporter of the president. how does all of this looked to an old reagan handed 7 how does all of this looked to an old reagan handed? too many people, that helsinki press conference, what the president said and the way he held himself, it looked like a man deferring to his boss and the washington post described it as a us president openly colluding with russia. what did it look like do you? —— to use. —— to you. it looked like donald trump in public, he is a much more strong negotiator behind closed doors at. no matter what he said, the media in the us would havejumped all over him matter what he said, how nice or

how angry or confrontational he would have been with vladimir putin. see you did have any sense that he is losing control of the situation? that his base is weakening in his support? not at all. i have it from inside sources that donations were at yesterday. what happens in the us, we support donald trump through social media and also through donations. he has 63— 64 million strong base of supporters and they are basically the rock of gibraltar. do you and the people who you hang out with, do do you and the people who you hang outwith, do you think all of the intelligence agencies are wrong when they say there was russian interference and that interference is still going on? were they wrong in iraq? think that is overblown as far as all the intelligence agencies. i don't believe what they are saying with that. —— i think. you don't believe any of the

intelligence agencies?” you don't believe any of the intelligence agencies? i shouldn't say any. but the media has a habit of coming up with these large numbers, 17 sources or 23 different anonymous sources. we have to see exactly who said what. i did like how vladimir putin brought up how hillary clinton got a $400 million donation from russia, but the media does not seem to want to cover that story or at least the media in the united states. we have done our best to cover all of the stories of. when you talk about the special counsel investigation, what are you thinking? he has indicted 32 people, four of them former donald trump advisors, a former national security adviser, but foreign policy adviser pleading guilty to making false state m e nts pleading guilty to making false statements about the contact with russians. his former campaign managerfaces russians. his former campaign manager faces five colony charges. if these were clinton people or

0bama people, you wouldn't be saying there is nothing here worth looking at. the media wouldn't even be covering it if it was clinton or 0bama people. when rosenstein came up 0bama people. when rosenstein came up with the 12 people that they filed charges againstjust a couple of days ago, when the democrats and the liberal media saw that americans did not even care about the 12 russians that they said they are going to arrest, when they didn't ca re going to arrest, when they didn't care about it they panicked and had to find something. if you notice, every weekday always seem to find something on this president and they try to run with it and whenever the public doesn't agree with it or doesn't listen to it, they go back to their business, they try to find something else. if it is not stormy daniels, it is russia, it is vote counting in the election, it is one thing after another with this media. is getting old in the united states. people are seen to it and that is

why they are in a panic about this. if you watch the negotiations between vladimir putin and donald trump, what was the problem with it? that is how we always talk and we have diplomacy in public. much more to talk about, i would like to do that another time. we have to leave it there for the moment. thank you very much. nicene on, i cheered for england in the world cup, i will let you know. sweden has called for international help to fight more than 40 wildfires that have broken out across the country. specialist planes and helicopters are trying to control the flames. weeks of high temperatures and minimal rain, haveseen 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. translation: over there, we made a line of water, and we stopped the fire so it can't spread out. hopefully it won't 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. translation: 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, 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, too, are flying repeat missions here, dropping buckets of water. 0ne 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 the jet pack. a personal — rocket—fuelled — passport to the stars. well — the space—faring version is still a little beyond our reach — but a more modestjet pack is now available —

and if you want — you can buy one yourself. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. it's 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's made of five micro jet engines, gas turbines, two on each arm and one on the back. other than that you're charging some lithium batteries, which are what start the engines, and that's it. other than that, it's flying it sensibly and looking after it. it's 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'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 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 altitude of around 3,500 metres, with a top speed of 51 km/h. but, with a maximum flight time of three or four minutes, you will be able to fly to work, as long as work isn't too far away. so much excitement today outside our work for that. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. thank you for watching. 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 or 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. a bit cooler and freser as well across england and wales, 21 to 25 degrees. on sunday it's a warmer 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, a little bit of rain, but also some spells of warm sunshine. the latest headlines: damage limitation still in full swing after president trump's bizarre press conference with the russian leader in helsinki. mr trump has said again that he really does accept the conclusion of us intelligence agencies that russia interfered in the 2016 us election, and now says he holds vladimir putin personally responsible. he was speaking to cbs news. 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 gunan — the former thai navy seal who died preparing their escape route.

the european commission has fined google a record $5 billion over the use of its android operating system. the commission says the tech giant illegally used the technology to "cement its dominant position" in searches. google plans to appeal. —— and denies any wrongdoing.