a very warm welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: now they're going for a second summit. the white house announces surprise plans to invite vladimir putin to washington. president trump bats away accusations he's cosying up to russia. getting along with president putin, getting along with russia's a positive, not a negative. now, with that being said, if that doesn't work out, i'll be the worst enemy he's ever had! britain's new brexit secretary promises to intensify talks with brussels, but the european commission is now warning that no deal looks more likely than ever. a facebook furore, as mark zuckerberg says posts from holocaust deniers should be allowed. and it's been buried for 2000 years, but what's inside? an egyptian sarcophagus spills its secrets. hello.

russia's president, vladimir putin, is being invited to washington by donald trump in the autumn. that news seemed to come as a bombshell this evening to the us director of national intelligence, as american security services still struggle to find out what was agreed earlier this week in the us president's closed door meeting with president putin. the white house, still underfire for mr trump's bizarre performance at the press conference after the putin meeting, has now said it will not allow russia access to 11 americans it wanted to interrogate, including a former ambassador. here's that news being broken, in public to dan coats, mr trump's own appointee as us director of national intelligence. he was on stage at the aspen security forum, with msnbc‘s andrea mitchell. we have seen breaking news, the white house has announced on twitter that vladimir putin is coming to the white house in the four. say that ain? —— fall. vladimir putin coming to the white

house. yeah, yeah. 0k. that's going to be special. the white house is still underfire for to be special. the white house is still under fire for president trump's bizarre performance after the summit with president putin in helsinki. earlier, mr trump the summit with president putin in helsinki. earlier, mrtrump had the summit with president putin in helsinki. earlier, mr trump had said that was an interesting idea. in an interview with the american network, cnbc, mr trump rejected the idea that he has failed to stand up to president putin. look at the sanctions i've put on, look at the diplomats i threw out, look at all of the things that i've done. nobody else has done what i've done. 0bama didn't do it. 0bama was a total patsy for russia. look at the statement he made, when he thought the mics were turned were turned off, 0k? the stupid statement,

nobody cares about that. getting along with president putin, along with russia is a positive, not a negative. now with that being said, if that doesn't work out, i'll be the worst enemy he's ever had! 0ur correspondent in washington, chris buckler, says the invitation came quickly. it does seem bizarre and quite remarkable to some of donald trump's political opponents and also some within his own republican party that he is rolling out the red carpet to vladimir putin so soon after that helsinki summit, that frankly had a fallout that was pretty difficult for president trump. whenever he misspoke alongside vladimir putin, appearing to back his suggestion that russia hadn't interfered in the election back in 2016 against the word of his own intelligence services. now, of course, donald trump since rowed back on that and says he backs his intelligence services. but dan coats, who you saw, the director of national intelligence, he was

at the security forum being interviewed on stage when the news broke and he was specifically setting out what the intelligence agencies think. he was being very diplomatic but he was making very clear that their assessment is that russia interfered in the election with cyber attacks two years ago and that they remain a threat to american diplomacy, and that that is a concern with the mid—term congressional elections coming up in just a few months' time. so on one hand, we have these very harsh words from parts of president trump's administration, saying russia are a menacing government who are doing things that potentiallyjeopardise democracy, and on the other hand, you have president trump opening the door and saying come to the white house to see me. and yet, chris, with those mid—term elections in mind, you have to assume the president is being buoyed by the polls which suggest the american population as a whole might be unhappy with his russia policy, but his core supporters love by a large margin. and we've talked about this before.

the truth is there is a divide and little of what president trump does makes a difference to the polling because we have president trump's support base very firmly behind him, and that doesn't look like it is going to change. nonetheless, when you look at this on a wider brief, you have to take into account that russia themselves continue to be a threat to america and therefore if there is another situation where the intelligence agencies have to come out and say listen, potentially this is an attack, that could be a real problem for president trump but for the moment, he appears prepared notjust to weather this but to take his own tack, to lead his own way. as far as he is concerned, he has the right diplomatic approach and others, they can criticise on the sidelines but it is his call as president. let's get some of the day's other news. arab politicians in israel have reacted with fury to new legislation defining the country as a jewish state. they describe it as apartheid. the law, adopted after hours of heated debate, also says

advancing jewish settlement is a national interest and that the entirety ofjerusalem is the country's capital. it also puts hebrew above arabic as the official language. an international panel of experts has warned that progress in the fight against hiv and aids could stall because of what they call "dangerous complacency". the panel says the epidemic could re—emerge as a new generation of young people enter adolescence and adulthood, because there has been no increase in the funding of hiv prevention. president daniel 0rtega of nicaragua has accused roman catholic bishops of supporting a plot to overthrow him. the bishops' conference have been trying to mediate an end to months of violent unrest. mr 0rtega says their proposal for early elections showed they're in league with coup plotters. french prosecutors have opened an investigation into one of president macron‘s senior aides for allegedly assaulting a demonstrator. and dragging one away. video footage has emerged of a man wearing a policeman‘s helmet hitting a protester during may

day demonstrations. he's been identified as alexandre benalla, an assistant to president macron‘s chief of staff. here in the uk, the new brexit secretary has promised to intensify and energise negotiations with brussels. the uk's official departure date, next march, is fast approaching. but the european commission has now advised eu member states to step up preparations for a no deal brexit, anticipating that no formal deal may have been reached by the deadline. from brussels, our europe editor, katya adler. a new face in brussels, confronting the same old brexit challenges. michel barnier, the eu's by now rather dour chief negotiator, has been in on this process from the start. 0ur challenge will be to find common ground between the fundamental principles that define the eu and the uk positions. the smiling enthusiasm of the new brexit secretary came in stark contrast. i come out today to discuss

the detailed proposals that we've got in our white paper, that you'll have seen. and i'm looking forward to, with renewed energy, vigor and vim, heating up the negotiations, and making sure we're in the best position to get the best deal. is the government stable enough to make a deal with brussels? dominic raab's upbeat message doesn't quite match the political turmoil we've seen this week in westminster. the eu is not convinced by the new brexit secretary's calm, confident message. are you sure? we were really presented several positions, and great britain was facing even some resignings of ministers and of state secretaries. now, we have a new brexit secretary. which has got the eu thinking that the possibility of the uk crashing out of the club without a deal has become a lot more likely. but what exactly is this no deal brexit? all this brexit terminology, the political toings and froings,

it can make the brexit process seem very theoretical and far away from our everyday lives. which is why the european commission has come up with this — a stark warning about planes, trains and queues at borders, published just as britain's new brexit secretary arrives in town. it's a reminder to eu countries to do more contingency planning, in case, after more than a0 years of being intertwined, the uk and the eu now break apart without any practical agreement in place of how to work together after brexit. remember these kind of border queues when there've been holdups in calais in the past? well, expect the same or worse, says the european commission in its paper, if freight trucks, passenger vehicles and travellers themselves are subject to new, post—brexit checks between the uk and the eu. the eu paper has more warnings of potential disruptions for europeans, including airports,

if eu—uk aviation and passenger rights deals are no longer valid. businesses, too, could be affected if the uk is a key exporter or importer of goods, or in the financial services sector. and in security terms, with the uk being taken off eu intelligence sharing databases. a no deal brexit could have a big impact on northern ireland too. the prime minister arrived there this evening at the start of a two—day visit. first stop — a china factory, a perfect setting to make assurances about safeguarding the fragile peace process, while preventing the uk from breaking apart. disagreement over the irish border is possibly the biggest elephant in the room in eu—uk brexit talks, with the potential to shatter whatever other progress is made. mark zuckerberg has once again found himself at the centre of a row, because he said that posts

from holocaust deniers should be allowed on facebook. in an interview with technology website recode, facebook‘s ceo said that he did not believe such people should be removed from the site. they were not, he said, "intentionally" getting their facts wrong. dave lee — the bbc‘s north america tech reporter — says this issue is a signicant problem for mark zuckerberg. this was an interview with a well respected tech journalist here in silicon valley, a woman named kara swisher, and the intent of this interview was so that mark zuckerberg could go into the various messages and views he has on dealing with problems facing the site, which, as we know, this year have become a real issue for the network. instead, mark zuckerberg has managed to talk himself into another controversy, speaking about holocaust deniers on facebook, of which there are a significant amount. he said he found it deeply

offensive, but crucially, he said i don't think they are intentionally getting it wrong, and those words many have taken serious issue with, condemning that as a view and thinking holocaust deniers simply have no place on the network and that they should be covered by facebook‘s hate speech policy, which isn't allowed on the network. and so while mark zuckerberg, himselfjewish, says he finds the comments offensive, he doesn't think the policy should be to remove it. instead, he clarified later they will reduce the distribution, so not delete them, but make them harder to see. many people don't think that is enough and facebook once again this year is facing huge amounts of criticism. it does seem bizarre from a man who isjewish, clearly smart. seems naive and unthinking to suggest that holocaust deniers are not intentional or malicious, that they're just kind of mistaken. yes, and what this shows very strongly is that facebook is really

struggling right now to find out what its policies are. 0n the one hand, it says it is a place that is free to say what they please, to have free speech just like in wider discourse in the us, but on the other had it wants to draw some lines when it comes to comments that directly incite violence. —— hand. many people would say that while denying the holocaust might not call for violence directly, it still does naturally create a huge amount of anger and hatred towards certain groups. i think what facebook has found itself in is a real problem trying to define exactly what is bad content and what it wants to do about it. i think frankly it is notjust a debate that's going to affect facebook. other networks will think about this and what their policy should be. but right now, because it is the biggest, with 2 billion users worldwide, this is a problem that's very much at mark zuckerberg's desk. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: take it as read. books are back! how the great british reading revival is turning pages across the planet. coming down the ladder now. that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30 year history of concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia but now, a decade later, it's been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity and an increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim properly. thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime, as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter.

this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: donald trump has defended his relations with russia, and said he plans to invite vladimir putin to washington in the autumn. britain's new brexit secretary has promised to intensify talks with brussels, but the european commission is warning that no deal looks more likely than ever. let's get more on our main story this hour. earlier, jeffrey prescott, who served on the national security council and was a special assistant to president 0bama, told me why he thought plans for the next summit were overshadowed by the secrecy and lack of of transparency over the last meting in helsinki. i think it's a little early to talk about a new summit. we don't really know much

at all about what happened in the meeting thatjust concluded. what we have seen so far, and what we saw obviously in the press conference between president trump and president putin, was quite disturbing. both president trump siding with putin over american intelligence agencies when it comes to attacks on the american democracy, with the disturbing things from president trump after that meeting, in regards to possible agreements over interviewing a former us ambassador, which the white house has subsequently walked back, and also concerning reports about agreements that may have been reached in a very long one—on—one meeting where our secretary of state, as you said, the director of national intelligence and others don't seem to have any idea what happened in the meeting. and all we're getting in terms of reports on the meeting is coming from the russian side. it's quite unusual for a diplomatic endeavour with the stakes this high. that is for sure. russian diplomats seem to be celebrating military agreements they say were made behind those closed doors. and yet mr trump is right, isn't it, that getting along with russia

or north korea is better than fighting a war with them? well, there's no doubt that diplomacy is important in a relationship like the one with russia. those kinds of summit meetings can be important. they require preparation, and we have to be very clear—eyed about what we're trying to achieve. you know, i think there are a couple of dangers going into a meeting like this, and i think we've seen some evidence of them on the back end. one is the idea that a personal relationship is really going to make a difference. both countries are really, at the end of the day, and certainly president putin is, going to make decisions on what's in his interests. and it's very important for the united states to make sure does the same. a chummy relationship is not really going to get us very far. and the second idea is that there is some kind of grand bargain, that sitting one—on—one at a table, you're going to work out all the issues at once. i think we need to take each issue in turn, and be hard—nosed about it. and coming out of this meeting, we have president trump giving an interview where he questioned, in some ways, the foundational role

of nato in protecting the united states and protecting european security, and that is quite troubling. it's reported british police have identified, from cctv footage, several suspects responsible for the chemical attack on a former russian spy and his daughter. a woman, dawn sturgess, died after being poisoned by the novichok nerve agent, and her partner is still in hospital. police believe the incidents are linked. daniel sandford reports. in central salisbury this afternoon, troops in gas masks again, gathering possible evidence of the nerve agent attack. the focus on this occasion — a large plastic container, which was taken away for examination. it is now more than four months since sergei skripal and his daughter yulia fell ill, not long after leaving his home here in a quiet cul—de—sac, where they had become contaminated by a russian—made, military—grade nerve agent, a novichok, that had been smeared

or sprayed on his front door. the cnn network in the united states suggested today that detectives have used cctv and facial recognition software to isolate pictures of two suspects seen leaving britain soon after the attack, though it is not known if they are russian, and it is not clear they have been fully identified. counterterrorism detectives refused to discuss the reports, leaving only the russian ambassador to comment. unfortunately, we don't have official statements of the british side. i want to hear that from the scotland yard or from the foreign office. a lot of versions that we hear, you know, in the newspapers, they are not supported by the statements of the foreign office. the attack ended up taking dawn sturgess's life. she is thought to have been contaminated by a perfume bottle which somehow ended up in her partner's flat. the inquest into her death opened and adjourned at the local coroner's court today.

the coroner confirmed that police had recovered a bottle of liquid novichok. one of the last places dawn sturgess went before falling ill was the queen elizabeth gardens in salisbury, and that has been the focus of the police searches for the last two days. detectives now have a bottle of the possible chemical weapon, and may have images of two suspects to work with. this unique investigation appears to be edging gently forward. daniel sandford, bbc news, salisbury. the philippines has issued an expedition orderfor a missionary accusing her of political activism. and describing her as an undesirable

alien. she has long campaigned for the rights of students and workers. amid much speculation, archaeologists in egypt have unsealed a massive black sarcophagus, a huge coffin found at a construction site in alexandria. some have been wondering if it might reveal the body of alexander the great, or unleash a deadly curse. gail maclellan reports. tightly sealed and made of black granite, the sarcophagus's monumental dimensions sparked fevered speculation that it might contain the remains of alexander, the great leader who conquered much of the ancient world and died in 323 bc. 0ther rumours, not entirely serious, warned against opening it and releasing a deadly curse. in the end, neither was the case. when opened, it revealed three skeletons and a red liquid, which gave off pungent smell. egypt's antiquities ministry never believed it was the great man's restingplace. translation: it's not alexander. it's not royal.

here is the evidence. we denied it a few days ago, but we were sure, i was sure. here is the coffin lid. there are no hieroglyphics carvings. it's unfinished. how could this be a king? it might not be a royal sarcophagus, or full of pharaohs' gold, but it is still impressive. nearly three metres long and two metres high, it has lain unopened for more than 2,000 years. weighing more than 30 tons, it is the largest sarcophagus ever discovered in alexandria. the occupants will probably remain unknown. and, as to the whereabouts of the man who gave the city its name, that will continue to be a tantalising mystery. a celebrity brazilian plastic surgeon known as doctor bumbum has been arrested in rio de janeiro four days after one of his patients died.

doctor denis furtado has been on the run since sunday, when he took his patient lilian calixto to hospital when she developed complications from a bottom enlargment procedure. doctor furtado says the woman's death was a ‘fatal accident‘ and says he's performed thousands of such procedures in brazil, that have all been legal. it's not clear whether he's been charged. when was the last time you bought a book? if recently, you're not alone because book sales, at least in the uk, had a record—breaking year. according to the latest figures, income from sales went up 5% last year. danny savage has been finding out what's behind the rise. books are back, bucking the trend against life lived through a screen. 0ur story starts in a book shop in york. if you want a signed copy of this novel that would not be too much bother, in fact you'd be hard—pressed to find one that is not signed because this is the author shortlisted for the manbooker prize who sells books. i think people like the experience of holding a book and turning the pages and feeling the experience of going from the start of a book to the end of a book.

i think people love the smell of books. i think people love the way that they look. and i think there is something in finishing a book, putting it on your shelf, and be able to show your friends that book, which you cannot do if you are reading on an e—reader. sales for the uk reached £5.7 billion, a record—breaking year for the publishing industry. export income was also up 8%, at £31; billion. keeping the uk's place as the number one exporter of books in the world. i think we are just really good at producing desirable objects that are books. we've got some of the best writers in the world. we have some of the best illustrators in the world. the publishing industry really celebrates the beauty of books. then there is the old saying, neverjudge a book by its cover. that's a bit of an issue these days because part of the attraction of the british book market to foreign buyers is the vibrancy and variety of all the covers.

and it can be argued you are never too young to start. four—month—old martha was today being bought her first books for future reference. she's just starting to become really aware of colours and textures and things. i mean, kindles and electronic items, you don't really get that from them. books are a current business success story in britain. societies still has a big attachment to the printed word. danny savage, bbc news, york. that's it for now. thank you for watching, come again. hello there. we're set to see a little bit of a change to our weather for the next 2a hours,

some very useful rain moving in across northern and western areas. thursday, though, was another fine, dry day. quite warm, too, plenty of sunshine. we start to see the change taking place, though, across the north—west corner of the country. clouds thickening, outbreaks of rain pushing there into the highlands later on in the day. now, during the early hours of friday, that tangle of weather fronts will continue to move south—eastwards slowly across the country, bringing some rain, initially to parts of northern ireland and scotland, with some heavy bursts of rain, turning quite breezy as well. but early on on friday, it's going to be a dry one again for england and wales, bar the odd shower across the extreme south—east. a warm and muggy to start the day, too, but something a bit cooler and fresher in the north, with that cloud and rain. so this is the picture for friday, then. a lot more cloud across northern and western areas, with outbreaks of rain, some of it quite heavy. the rain will tend to become light and patchier as it pushes further southwards and eastwards.

so it will be a cooler day because of more cloud around, the rain, the breeze, temperatures in the mid—to—upper teens celsius. but across the south—east, it could be quite warm again, 2a—25 degrees. now, what we'll see through the afternoon across the south—east is also the risk of some thundery downpours. hit—and—miss showers, generally starting in a line from the wash down to hampshire, and then moving their way eastwards. if you catch one of these downpours, you really will know about it, and it could give rise to some disruption, perhaps some flash—flooding too. now, as we head on in towards saturday, we lose the showers across southern areas, and then actually across england and wales will have good spells of sunshine. a little bit of patchy cloud in the afternoon, and there'll also be a bit more sunshine across northern and western areas. so it'll feel that bit warmer, certainly across england and wales, 24—27 degrees. high—teens to low 20s further north. on sunday, again a fine—looking day for much england and wales, and more sunshine around, so it's going to be warmer, too. a bit more cloud further north, more of a breeze. thicker cloud could bring some outbreaks of rain to western parts of scotland, where it'll be cooler. but eastern scotland will do pretty well. we could be looking at 26—29 celsius in england and wales.

then, as we head on in towards next week we'll see this weather front, a new one, waxing and waning across the north—west corner of the country. further south and east, though, we'll be tapping into some very warm and humid air off the near continent, so it's likely we could see temperatures reaching the low 30s celsius in one or two places. so always a little bit cooler and cloudier further north and west, with some fierce heat and humidity further south and east. the latest headlines for you from bbc news: president trump is inviting vladimir putin to washington later this year, despite the continuing criticism of his summit with the russian leader in helsinki on monday. the us director of national intelligence dan coats, a personal appointee of mr trump's, was visibly taken by surprise on live tv when news of the invitation was broken to him. britain's new brexit secretary has promised to intensify talks with brussels as the official departure date — next march — approaches. but the european commission has now advised eu member states to step up preparations for no deal being reached before the deadline. mark zuckerberg has provoked

outrage by saying posts from holocaust deniers should be allowed on facebook. talking to the technology website recode, facebook‘s ceo said he didn't believe such people should be removed from the site. they were not, he said, "intentionally" getting their facts wrong. it's just about 3:30am. time now for panorama. tonight on panorama, we meet the families bringing up some of britain's most vulnerable children. when he was first born, they gave him 2a hours. no—one knew charlie was born, friends and other family, until a week later, because we just didn't know how to describe him and we wanted to be protective as well. alfie evans and charlie gard were severe cases, too ill to survive, but more babies with serious medical problems do now survive.

are we willing, though, to give them a decent quality of life? many families have said to me that they feel more and more they're