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 tv 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 kunan, 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. now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur speaks

to riyad mansour, palestinian ambassador to the un. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. there have been three costly spasms of violent conflict between israel and hamas in gaza over the last 11 years, and in the past week, a fourth seemed dangerously close. the ceasefire holds, the preconditions for more bloodshed are all too evident —— even if the ceasefire holds. the trump administration claiming a new us peace plan is in the offing. but no one is holding their breath. my but no one is holding their breath. my guest is riyad mansour. is there any prospect of change in the grim status quo? ambassador riyad mansour,

at un headquarter in new york, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. let me begin with a very grim figure. it now seems 140 palestinians, at least, have been killed by israeli forces during protests that began in march along the gaza israel border. is it not time now for senior palestinians such as yourself to make a clear call to all palestinians in gaza to stop those protests, in the interest of saving life? well, i think you have a

situation where it is in the interests of saving lives that israel should stop killing palestinian civilians and injuring more than 15,000 since march 30. and the international community is on the international community is on the side of this kind of articulation, because when we went to the security council seeking protection for the civilian population from the israeli attacks and aggression against our civilian population, the great majority of members of the security council endorsed the draft resolution, which was denied by casting one single veto. and then we went to the general assembly, and we have a resolution that was adopted by 120 countries versus eight, calling for providing international protection for the civilian population in the occupied palestinian territory. in the secretary general was asked to submita the secretary general was asked to submit a report with recommendations and suggestions, to provide

protection for the civilian population, the palestinian civilian population, the palestinian civilian population, including international protection mechanisms. and he has until the 13th of next month to submit that report. we are engaging his teams with ideas, and suggestions, to fulfil such demand for providing protection for the civilian population under the israeli occupation. i understand that, ambassador, there are clearly the dramatic process is under way, and there is no doubt that human rights groups and governments as well have issued of condemnation of the way israel's forwarders have had — — forces the way israel's forwarders have had —— forces have handled this on the border. it is myjob to examine is rarely strategy and policy but it is also myjob to ask you, quite clearly, as i have done once already, is it not time for palestinian officials to tell all of

those who gather at the border, including those who go with molotov cocktails and those who go with the kite and the balloons which carry those firebombs over the fence and on to the israeli farmland, is it not time for you to call a halt to all of that? i think that, when you have people living in that huge prison in the gaza strip, 2 million of them, for a long period of time, there is a tremendous amount of poverty, a dire situation, and frustration. so when the civilian population decided, from the 30th of march, to peacefully protest against that miserable, disgusting situation, why is it that, you know, that somebody to suggest for the palestinian civilian population to stop, you know, their civilian activities, peaceful activities, against this occupation? to lift the blockade, and to allow the palestinian civilians to enjoy in

the gaza strip, to enjoy... but in a way, my question, ambassador, isn't so way, my question, ambassador, isn't so much political or about process. it is just about humanity. whatever the situation in terms of israel's open fire policy on that border, you know and hamas leaders in gaza know that, if people go down to that border, particularly as they go with an intent to throw molotov cocktails 01’ an intent to throw molotov cocktails or fly an intent to throw molotov cocktails orfly their an intent to throw molotov cocktails or fly their kites, they are going to be targeted. and in the interests of saving life, is it not time for this the end? i think that it is in the interest of saving lives to do the interest of saving lives to do the following. 0ne, the interest of saving lives to do the following. one, for the israeli armed forces not to be trigger—happy, to aim at civilians and to shoot them. secondly, if international presence, to get closer to the borders, a un international presence or red cross teams, i think that that would lead to savings civilian lives. it is the

right of not only the civilian palestinian population, but all civilian populations in any corner of the globe, have the right to peacefully protest against certain issues that are influencing them in a very negative way. that is also including the palestinian civilian population in the occupied territory, including in the gaza strip. ambassador, things have escalated in the last week or so, as you know. last weekend we saw roughly 200 rockets and mortars fired toward israeli territory from positions inside gaza. 0ne fired toward israeli territory from positions inside gaza. one is rarely town was hit. in return, the israelis use their warplanes to bomb targets across gaza. what is your message to those inside gaza who resume the rocket and mortar fire?

well, first of all, i am not so sure that this cycle of violence was initiated by the palestinian side. i think it was initiated by the israeli aircraft and their bombardment by their robert artillery, in which a number of children were killed, at least four, and more than 65 have been injured, through this violence from the israeli side. and i believe that, you know, maybe one or two from the israeli side that were injured in this cycle of violence. from our position, that we declare very repeatedly, we are against the killing of innocent civilians from any side, and under any conditions. that is why we believe that, if there is an international presence in that area, under the banner of united nations, that will provide protection for our people, and will put an end to anyjustification from

the israeli side to unleash its massive military and armed fire against the civilian population. as i say, you know as well as i do that, on this programme we challenge and test vigorously israeli officials for what they do. but i do wa nt to officials for what they do. but i do want to focus with you on what is happening inside the palestinian community. one more question about hamas. 0bviously community. one more question about hamas. obviously you represent palestinian authority as the ambassador at united nations. hamas, not the palestinian authority, is in control in gaza, and the leader of hamas in gaza, i think he is styled the prime minister now, he said the continued protest, we will ultimately take down the border and we will tear out their hearts from their bodies. of course, he is talking about israelis, is citizens. what is your view of language like that? first of all, you know, i am

the representative of the state of palestine at united nations. and i represent not only the palestinian national authority. i represent all palestinians in the occupied territory and outside the occupied territory. so you represent them. tell me what your message to them is. i represent all of the palestinian people, including those in the gaza strip, here at united nations. with regard to the statement that you referred to, i did not read it. iam statement that you referred to, i did not read it. i am a statement that you referred to, i did not read it. iam a man statement that you referred to, i did not read it. i am a man of peace. i work under international law. i promote and uphold international law at united nations, in defending the interests of the palestinian people. i do not advocate war. a stand against aggression, against all people, including the palestinian people who live under the israeli occupation, including in the gaza strip.

live under the israeli occupation, including in the gaza stripm live under the israeli occupation, including in the gaza strip. it is not so much a question of what you advocate, it is what you are prepared to unilaterally, categorically and clearly condemn. will you condemn those words that i quoted to you? i condemn all words that harm civilian populations, whomever they are emanating from and whomever they are emanating from and whomever they are directed against. you earlier referred to gaza as a present. you talked about the desperate conditions, humanitarian conditions that people live in. pretty much 2 million people inside the gaza strip. in that circumstance, why is it that, over recent months, the palestinian authority has been imposing its own financial punishments and sanctions on the people of gaza?|j financial punishments and sanctions on the people of gaza? i would not use, you know, these words that you are using. wejust had a session of the palestine national council, and iama the palestine national council, and i am a member of that council, and i was a member of the drafting committee. we drafted the

resolutions which were adopted unanimously in addressing the issues regarding how people in the gaza strip, including sending the salaries of the employees of the palestinian national authority, and all the steps that were received by approval. well, maybe it slipped your mind, but you know in recent months, after the failure, it seems, of the last reconciliation deal between hamas and fatah, what we have seen as mahmoud abbas, the president of the palestinian authority, impose different punishments on gaza including halting shipments of medicine, cutting payments for gaza's electricity, all sorts of ways in which the people of gaza are suffering not at the hands of israel 01’ even suffering not at the hands of israel or even egypt, which closes its border crossing with gaza, but at the hands of fellow palestinians.” don't think this is accurate, but if

you are saying that there is much more that can be done to help our people in gaza, that is true, and the palestinian government, including president mahmoud abbas, is trying with many parties, including the egyptians and united nations, and other parties, to alleviate the situation, the difficult situation, of our people in the gaza strip. i mean, you say you represent all palestinians. have you represent all palestinians. have you seen the various protests and demonstrations by palestinians against the policy of the palestinian authority inside gaza? have you also heard another senior palestinian, i am sure a man you know well, who has called the pa government corrupt and fascist for punishing the palestinians of gaza. he says i can understand the hardships facing the palestinians. i cannot understand that the palestinian leadership is imposing additional burdens on the people of gaza. well, i wouldn't use quotations from the individual that you referred to. he used to be representing the palestinian

national authority in the gaza strip. if he is referring to his conduct at that time, then i would ta ke conduct at that time, then i would take note of that, but he cannot speak with authority or respect about the behaviour of the palestinian national authority and the leadership of the palestinian people, whether in the gaza strip or other parts of the occupied palestinian territories. just one more point on gaza, then i want to move to a bigger picture. but, you know, we saw at the end of last year lots of effort and noise and words aimed at reconciliation. i think there has been six different reconciliation efforts to bring palestinian unity, to end the division between gaza and the west bank, between hamas and fatah and the pa. none of it has worked, and right now inside gaza it is still hamas that holds the weaponry, the guns, the rockets. how long can that continue, and do you have any solution to this division, this crippling division inside the palestinian community? it isa

it is a top priority for palestinians to have reconciliation and to unify our political system and to unify our political system and the geography of the land of the state of palestine. we are grateful that many who are helping us in this endeavour, especially our brothers in egypt and it is in the interest of all palestinians to have reconciliation happening today before tomorrow and i sincerely hope that we can succeed in this fight because it is in the interest of all palestinians to have unity and accomplished reconciliation. ambassador, frankly, you can set that any time in the past decade. there is no new dynamic of change, no new ideas... my understanding,

according to some statements from palestinian officials and the visits of high—level delegation from hamas to egypt is there a new proposals suggested by our egyptian brothers andi suggested by our egyptian brothers and i understand some perhaps new developments will be revealed and announced perhaps in the next few days or the next few weeks. in the meantime, as you talk of new developments, there is another developments, there is another development which may come to fruition and that is at the grand plan, the deal of the century that donald trump and his team say they are going to put on the table to solve the israel — palestine conflict, jared kushner, his son—in—law, no visit to the middle east, he did not see any palestinians, he said this, the palestinians, he said this, the palestinian leadership is scared

that we will release our peace plan and the palestinian people will actually like it. are you scared? no, we're not. he said this from one side of his mouth and on the other side of his mouth and on the other side of his mouth, he would say to arab leaders to please deliver the palestinians to us, let them in gauge with whatever they have —— engage. he is on one hand talking tough and on the other hand he is begging the asked to engage with him. for us, ifjerusalem is off the table, the refugees are off the table, the refugees are off the table, and those concerned about our people, they cut off $300 million from the budget so how could you be helping the people in the gaza strip by depriving them of this large sum of money that helps 1.2 million palestine refugees on the gaza

strip. they do not refer much to the occupied police in an territory. what is left on the table to talk about? the interesting question is, given that the list of reasons why it is impossible to talk to the americans given their positions, why aren't the saudis, the old state leadership, the egyptians and jordanians happy to talk to the americans and appeared to be involved in figuring out how a peace plan might work out? it seems you are dangerously isolated. we are not isolated. they are engaging them for their own reasons. but let mejust tell you, we have made an initiative in the security council in february which was in essence endorsed by our palestine national council in which we are saying we want to open a meaningful doorfor the

we are saying we want to open a meaningful door for the political process by convening an international conference to include all relevant parties, including the americans, the europeans, the russians, the chinese and others. we are russians, the chinese and others. we a re interested russians, the chinese and others. we are interested in opening doors for peace and we believe, since the americans do not qualify any more, they disqualified themselves from being honest brokers, we want to create a process. we want to sit with this idea of convening an international conference to open doors for peace in the middle east. you are venturing diplomat, he spent a decade representing palestine at the un but with the greatest of respect to diplomacy and the europeans and japanese others, frankly, there will be no meaningful diplomatic process without the americans and, given that donald trump has made it clear that he intends to run for a second term, we

may be facing another years of donald trump. are you seriously saying that as long as donald trump is in the white house, and you will not in any way engage with the americans? i was saying we will engage with them in a collective process through an international process. we realise that they are an important force but we do not want them to be the only party supervising the negotiations between us supervising the negotiations between us and the israelis. as it happened in annapolis, the security council legislated a decision to call for an international conference to be convened in moscow and we sincerely hope that the russians or the french for that matter to call for an international conference to involve everyone, including the americans, so that we can open doors of the peace. let me also refer to whether

we are isolated or not. if you look at the behaviour ofjerusalem in the security council and general assembly, and with regard to protection, in the security council and the general assembly, who was isolated? was at the palestinian people and their representatives all make the americans and the israelis? at the voting is very telling about who is isolated and who is not. again, that may be a diplomatic point of the palestinian people on the ground would consider but in the meantime they have to leave their daily lives and it is interesting to look at opinion polls and seeing the dissatisfaction within the palestinian leader, with mahmoud abbas palestinian authority is rife. more than 60% of palestinians, according to reputable polls, think that mahmoud abbas should resign with immediate effect. he is of

course bradley hill as well but the problem is that there is no obvious successor. when a palestinians going to get serious about developing a new generation of leadership? lemmy to say two things. one, you cannot blame the palestinian people for their frustration. we tried blame the palestinian people for theirfrustration. we tried peaceful negotiation process for more than 20 yea rs negotiation process for more than 20 years after the oslo agreement and instead of putting an end to this occupation and enjoy independent of on the ground moved from that to worst so one cannot but understand this frustration and the negative feeling among the palestinian people... but this is notjust about blaming external circumstances. a former senior police union official said we have failed, failed to achieve peace and failed to achieve an independent economy for the

palestinian people. there is a real sense that a generation of leaders, andi sense that a generation of leaders, and i have to say you are of that generation, have failed. he is a pa rt generation, have failed. he is a part of that generation, including myself, and it is true that in all complicated situations it is not only a one—way street, not only an external factor and also we assume our share of responsibility in that consideration and because of that, we decided in our palestine national council to his associate ourselves from the occupation —— is associate. and that part did not lead us to the end of occupation meaning that acknowledging we did not succeed in following that path in putting an end to occupation. we are not running away from our responsibility, we are not blaming everything on outside conditions, we

are also we know our part of our responsibility... we are almost out of time, a simple question or you, mahmoud abbas has been really quite ill. his 82 years old and it is not clear how much longer he can go on or the palestinian people want him to go on. why is it there is no obvious successor? the palestinian people are very resilient and we have so many creative individuals and leaders. in the past, when chairmen are fat, who was so huge in our struggle, when he passed away it was not complicated by the palestinian people to agree. —— arafat. if after the long life of our president mahmoud abbas we face the situation of selecting another

leader i confident the percy people will be able to select an appropriate leader the leaders of the ongoing stage. we have to end there. ambassador riyadh mansour thank you forjoining me on hardtalk. thank you for receiving me. 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. 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. this is the briefing, i'm sally bundock. our top story: 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 a country, you would have to hold him responsible, yes. from the arctic circle to the baltic sea, sweden calls for international help as it battles to contain at least 40 wildfires. some of the boys saved from a flooded cave in thailand take part in a religious ceremony, praying for their rescuers. coming up in the business briefing: preparing for the worst.