hello. this is the briefing. i'm ben bland. our top story: coming home at last. the remains of soldiers killed in the korean war are being returned to the united states. a deadline passes for the us government to try and reunite families separated by donald trump's zero tolerance policy. thousands protest in poland — angry at the government's latest moves to reform thejudicial process. look to the skies. why the latest total eclipse of the moon will be the longest of this century. coming up the business briefing — closing in on a trillion dollar valuation. amazon sales surge again — and so does the wealth of the boss — already far and away the richest person on the planet. also coming up in business — political economy. are strong us growth figures a triumph fortrump, or a bubble about to burst? a warm welcome to the programme —

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and we're talking about summer jobs for teenagers. one newspaper in the uk reports on the fall in numbers taking holiday work and says it leaves them unprepared for the workplace. so i want to know, what was your summer job? what skills did it give you? and do you think teenagers should be working during the school holidays or not? just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. the white house says north korea has transferred the remains of soldiers killed in the korean war to the united states. but it's not been confirmed how many. the remains were flown

from the a military wonsan base in the north, to the osan airbase, near seoul. from where our correspondent laura bicker now reports. the remains of what is thought to be around 50 soldiers have now been returned to us soil here at the osan airbase in south korea. there were brought out in small caskets onto ca i’s brought out in small caskets onto cars and there were a number, thousands of soldiers, here at the airbase who stood in silence and saluted as the remains were taken out a. they will now be tested to see if they are indeed the remains —— remains of us soldiers. there are still 5000 unaccounted for in north korea, some of the remains have been returned over the years on the has been a lull since the peace process has not exactly gone smoothing. all of this takes place of the 55th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that would not have

bypassed north korea. this is a major concession and a pledge from kim jong—un to donald trump at that summit in singapore. it may be now that pyongyang is looking for concessions of its own from washington. they want the peace process moved forward, but the fundamental problem remains, north korea still has nuclear missiles and nuclear material. a deadline has passed for the us government to reunite families separated at its southern border by donald trump's much—criticised zero tolerance policy. civil rights campaigners are concerned some children have not yet been matched with their parents — and actually may never be reunited. under president trump's policy, aimed at discouraging immigration, more than 2,500 children have been separated from their families and detained. according to the latest figures filed in court by the government, 1,800 have been brought back to their families. but in the phrase used by government lawyers, more than 700 are not "eligible" for reunification — in many cases because their parents have already been deported from the us. aleem maqbool has been talking to some of the migrant familes on the border. yessica has had to wait in what has

been the worst time of her life. earlier this year, us immigration officials took away her six—year—old son, not telling her where they were sending him. evenjoking, she says, that they were giving him up for adoption. the last time we saw her, yessica had been desperately trying to find out anything she could about her son's whereabouts. finally, weeks later, the agony is over. "i'm the happiest woman in the world," she says, "having this little one with me." and across the us, there has been a flurry of reunions with immigrant parents and their children after a court gave the trump

administration a deadline. but this is certainly not the happy ending for many migrants. the us has already deported hundreds of parents without their children, and we know it currently views many more to be ineligible for reunification, and we ourselves have just spoken on the phone with a mother inside this detention facility who was one of many immigrant parents who are still waiting to hear as to when they'll see their child again. maritza came from honduras with her 11—year—old daughter, from whom she was separated. she's seen no sign they will be reunited. translation: in here, you feel forgotten because you are locked in four walls. we spend our days waiting for good news, but nothing comes. iam not a bad person. my only mistake is coming here illegally. for maritza, coming across the border in the window during which donald trump suddenly decided to implement a much tougher stance has been a disaster.

but others celebrated that change, including many whose job it is to catch illegal immigrants. the idea of adding a consequence to an unlawful act paid dividends. even if it meant separating families? if you are shopping with the child at walmart and you're shoplifting, you get arrested. is that child going to go with you to countyjail? no, you'll be separated, because you as an individual who violated the law need to be prosecuted. but some parents have paid the very high price of being deported without their sons and daughters. lawyers have been shocked by government tactics used to get parents to sign away the right to reunification. deportation officers are going into people's barracks

and cafeterias, and some people truly feel they are being forced to sign this without the presence of an attorney, and now they are not ever going to have a chance to reunify with her child. this is changing the course of a child and a parent's life forever. in what has been a choatic process, it is clear yessica realises how lucky she is to be back with her son. if i could do it all again, she says, i would never have come over here with him. it is the worst thing to happen to other, to be separated from her child. she now hopes for a better future in the us where the immigration case is being considered. but hundreds of parents who wanted the same thing for their families are still living through agony. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in el paso, texas. thousands of people have protested in cities across poland against the government's latest moves to reform thejudicial process. president duda signed into law a new measure making it easier for the government to appoint a new head of the supreme court. andrew plant reports. protesters gathered outside poland's

presidential palace, rallying here against a series of changes to laws that many feel could damage the country's democracy. translation:|j protested country's democracy. translationzlj protested on the street in the 1980s when poland had martial law. i've fought for democracy and free quartz. today, everything is crumbling right for our eyes. —— right for. —— right before. power was earlier, the president andrzej duda signed into parliament new laws, many of them believe it threatens not only the independent courts, but its democracy as a whole. we are notjust here for ourselves, but also to show the rest of the world that poland is a country to democracy is important. the new law is one of a string of

proposed reforms proving deeply unpopular, the european union has questioned the changes, saying they could undermine the independence of poland'sjudiciary could undermine the independence of poland's judiciary and so be could undermine the independence of poland'sjudiciary and so be in breach of the country's obligations under eu law. poland has until early august to respond, many of its people are already making their feelings clear. let's turn to our top business story — amazon. from online bookstore to retail, media and data giant — its march towards becoming a trillion dollar company continues, after another huge quarter of earnings. amazon made revenues of $53 billion in the three months tojune — 2.5 billion of that was profit, a record for the company. all this has continued to boost the wealth of founderjeff bezos — with a net worth of $150 billion, far and away the richest person

on the planet. nina trentmann from the wall street journaljoins me now. it is interesting. this cap is a week of mixed results for big technology companies, what is it that amazon is doing right that for example, facebook hasn't done so well? of course, amazon hasn't had a big data scandal recently, so that helps. in facebook‘s case we have seen the negative impact of the cambridge analytica scandal that happened earlier this year and we do have concerns about user privacy, amazon, so far, although they are handling a lot of user data has managed to evade that problem and thatis managed to evade that problem and that is because their business is slightly different. what was interesting was the growth in the cloud compute in services that amazon now offers, which people wouldn't normally associate it with a. if you asked people what does and is on provide, people would say

online buying and selling. an interesting point. it shows that amazon has been able to jump interesting point. it shows that amazon has been able tojump into categories where people didn't necessarily think that they would be there. the cloud computing market is now dominated by amazon and only after that you have google and snp. amazon has been quite successful in responding into new our areas, or like cloud, but also areas like food delivery, pharmacies and drug delivery, pharmacies and drug delivery and has also been able to increase its affordability quite a bit, by example, it increasing prices at amazon prime. is interesting. -- it is. thank you for your thoughts, will we will check in with your little later. —— you a little later. stay with us on the briefing. still to come: it's like beatlemania all over again. sir paul mccartney makes a surprise appearance in his home town.

the us space agency, nasa, has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk. the last foot patrol in south armagh. once an everyday part of the soldier's lot — drudgery and danger — now no more after four decades. if one is on one's own in a private house, not doing harm to anyone, i don't really see why these people should wander in and say you are doing something wrong. six rare white lion cubs on the prowl at worcestershire park, and already they have been met with a roar they are lovely, yeah. really sweet. yeah, they were cute. you're watching the briefing.

our headlines: coming home at last. the remains of soldiers killed in the korean war are being returned to the united states. a deadline passes for the us government to try and reunite families separated by donald trump's zero—tolerance policy. on monday, zimbabwe will hold a general election, and for the first time in 38 years former president robert mugabe will not be standing. emmerson mnangagwa, mugabe's former deputy, is the ruling party zanu—pf‘s presidential candidate. can the man who overthrew robert mugabe in november last year, in what is being called a soft coup, overcome decades of economic decline and isolation? shingai nyoka joins us live from harare. a lot of candidates and parties.

presumably emmerson mnangagwa is a front runner. who else is touted as a strong contender? well, absolutely, emmerson mnangagwa as the ruling party candidate, according to opinion polls, is in the lead, and the opposition, nelson chamisa, who took over from morgan chang rai, behind by about 3%, in a closely contested election between the two, even though there are 21 other candidates running. those are seen as other candidates running. those are seen as the two front runners. and in terms of the choice offered to voters, what are the issues that are dominating the campaign, and what's on offerfrom the main dominating the campaign, and what's on offer from the main candidates? well, the main issue is around the

economy. zimba bwe's economies well, the main issue is around the economy. zimbabwe's economies has beenin economy. zimbabwe's economies has been in decline for the last 20 yea rs been in decline for the last 20 years underformer been in decline for the last 20 years under former president robert mugabe. the unemployment rate is one of the highest in the world, about 90% of zimbabweans are not formally employed. when i was coming to work this morning there were people waiting in the bank queues waiting for the banks to open so they could get their cash out. so really it is no secret that this country has stagnated for the last 20 years. the political parties are speaking the same message. they are offering jobs, they are also offering, zanu—pf in particular is offering to re—engage the international community. this country has been isolated under president robert mugabe and that has meant foreign investment has dried up. this is a country desperately in need of that money. about $10 billion us is

required to overhaul the infrastructure, to improve social services. the opposition has also said that they want to transform this economy. they want to end corruption. so essentially it is the same message that both of the political parties are putting out. 0k, political parties are putting out. ok, thank you very much. later, there will be longest total lunar eclipse of the century, as the moon passes through the shadow of the earth for one hour and 43 minutes. this coincides with the closest approach of mars in 15 years, making the planet glow bright red where skies are clear. our science correspondent victoria gill explains. ourfamiliar our familiar satellite is heading into our own planet's shadow. tonight the moon will be turned a dusky red as the earth passes between it and the sun. this particular lunar eclipse or blood

moon as it's known will be the longest this century. the luna eclipse happens when the moon passes into the shadow of the earth so it's directly in line with the sun, earth and the moon and it's actually passing right through the centre of the earth's shadow, where the earth's shadow is at its widest and lasts longest, almost as long as a luna eclipse could be. and at the same time al zmapp celestial neighbour mars will reach the nearest point to earth possible in its own journey around the sun. when they are at their nearest point to each other it is known as a close approach of mars. the minimum distance is 54.6 million kilometres but that significantly improves our view of the red planet. so, clouds permitting, there could be a celestial show tonight with a bright red planet in the same sky as a blood red moon. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. coming up, stage 19 of the tour de

france sends the riders into the mountains as geraint thomas looks to hold on. the halfway point of the formula 1 season. and alex ferguson thanks those who helped to save his life earlier this year. it will be a long day in the saddle for geraint thomas, the team sky rider has a big test in the tour de france as the race test in the tour de france as the ra ce ta kes test in the tour de france as the race takes its final trip into the mountains. he has tightened his grip on the yellow jersey with two minutes over dutchman tom dumoulin. chris froome is third overall. it is the last big showdown in the mountains and it could be one of the most exciting so far. and one race away from the mid—season break for formula 1. who will be top of the class ? formula 1. who will be top of the class? lewis hamilton leads with a 17 point lead over sebastian vettel.

hamilton's teammate vallteri bottas is thinking what might have been after finishing second is thinking what might have been afterfinishing second in is thinking what might have been after finishing second in germany. it was not meant to be. there were different things happening in the race. when sebastian vettel went off at the time i was leading the race. yes, in that situation, with the state of my tyres, with the rain, i had no opportunity and i stopped, so i lost the lead. yes, that is life. we have seen that happen earlier in the season and i don't think i am the season and i don't think i am the only one. in case you missed it arsenal's season ended with defeat in the europa league and it was a sense of deja vu in that match in singapore. this header put the spaniards in the lead just before half—time. both teams had a youthful

feel around them. and the 17—year—old daniel smith impressed with this equaliser. the game went to penalties and athletico keeper was the star, making three says, then scoring the winner. —— saves. when alex ferguson had a brain haemorrhage, the fans of mass —— manchester united feared the worst. on thursday he sent out a message to well—wishers. on thursday he sent out a message to well-wishers. it made me feel so humble, along with messages from all over the world, wishing me the best, and the good wishes resonate very strongly with me. so, thank you for that support you've given me. and, lastly, i'll be back later in the season to watch the team. in the meantime, all the best tojose season to watch the team. in the meantime, all the best to jose and the players. thank you very much.

the moment a youngster got the better of the world's most expensive footballer has gone viral on social media. it might have been a friendly fibre team —— five aside competition, but don't neymar that. keep him on his feet. that isjust cheeky. oh, yes! he didn't like that, neymar has won it straight back. oh, free kick. referee did not like that at all. a little grin. it is almost like watching a kid to play with his big brother. you can get the latest news on the website. from me and the team, that is your friday sport briefing. music legend sir paul mccartney turned back time on thursday with a surprise concert at one of rock ‘n' roll‘s most famous venues. he appeared at the cavern, the liverpool club where the beatles first made their name. the bbc‘s tim allman has more. in liverpool, queueing up to see

one of the fab four. a chance, perhaps, to get back to where we once belonged. this concert hadn't even been announced until a few hours earlier, but no—one wanted to miss out. it's a dream, isn't it? my dream is to go back in time to the ‘60s and see the beatles at the cavern and this is the closest i am ever going to get. i am so excited. he is a legend, isn't it? the beatles are synonymous with music all around the world aren't they, and it is the chance to see a legend up close. it's amazing. of course, this cavern club is not quite the real deal. the original was demolished in the 1970s. but this rebuilt venue has the same feel and the same cramped charm. liverpool! cheering the cavern! # the magical mystery tour... macca turning back time with nearly

30 songs in his set. a few more recent numbers, but plenty of classic hits. # the magical mystery tour # all these years ago when we came here and played, you know... we didn't know if we would ever have a future, but we did ok. laughter so, you know, coming back here with these guys and all our crew and stuff, it's pretty amazing for me. cheering pretty amazing for all those who came to watch. as one of the fans said, it was like beatlemania all over again. and a reminder of the main news, the

remainders of soldiers killed in the korean war returned to the united states and president trump on twitter has welcomed the news, saying the remains of american servicemen will seem be leaving north korea and heading to the us. after so many years, this will be a great moment for so many families. he continues, thank you to kim jong—un. and, before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. it's a bizarre tale — a zoo in egypt has denied painting black stripes on a donkey to make it look like a zebra after a photo of the animal appeared online. student mahmoud sarhan put the images on facebook after visiting the zoo in cairo. aside from its small size and pointy ears, there were also black smudges on the animal's face. not surprisingly, the pictures quickly went viral. and a reminder, the talking point

today, won the uk newspaper reports on the falling number of teenagers taking somejobs on the falling number of teenagers taking some jobs and on the falling number of teenagers taking somejobs and i have been asking what your summer job taking somejobs and i have been asking what your summerjob was. laura says at 15 i was selling kitchens from a call centre in the evenings and working in a fruit and vegetable shop on the weekends, which enabled me to do the things i wa nted which enabled me to do the things i wanted to do during the summer. ian williams in london says i was working at a wine merchant, it was a fabulousjob. i working at a wine merchant, it was a fabulous job. i bet. working at a wine merchant, it was a fabulousjob. i bet. and in cyprus i a lwa ys fabulousjob. i bet. and in cyprus i always had a paper round or babysitting to supplement the little my parents could give me in pocket money. thank you very much for all of your tweets. keep them coming in. get in touch. i will be back with more. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. for most places i think the heatwave has reached its peak.

but what a peak it was. temperatures during thursday got up above 35 degrees at wisley in surrey. 35 on the nose in central london. and then as we go into the weekend we will be left with something cooler and fresher with rain at times. the with rain at times. fresh air lines behind the atla ntic the fresh air lines behind the atlantic frontal systems, this cloud here, showing where we develop thunderstorms on thursday evening. some of it will continue to rumble through the first part of friday and look at the temperatures to start the day. 16 in belfast, 20 in london. there will be showers and storms across eastern areas on friday morning. then a decent chance of things will dry out and brighten up of things will dry out and brighten upfora time. of things will dry out and brighten up for a time. at worst, thick cloud moving into northern ireland, west of scotland, wales and the south—west with the odd splash of

rain here. eastern areas still quite hot, 32- 33 rain here. eastern areas still quite hot, 32— 33 in norwich. things turn lescott from the west. there will be a scattering of severe thunderstorms we suspect —— less hot from the west. we push those through into saturday with further band of rain chasing behind. the big change will be that we switched the wind around to west or south—westerly, and that will introduce cool and fresh air. the wind will be quite brisk on saturday. quite a change from what we have been used to recently. band of rain or showers drift northward and eastwards and those temperatures well down, 18— 25 degrees and then well down, 18— 25 degrees and then we get onto sunday, looks like we will bring another clump of what weather across the country, moving northwards and eastwards. —— wet weather crossed the country. and the wind by this stage will be very noticeable indeed, particularly strong in western and south—western areas. some sunny strong in western and south—western areas. some sunny spells coming into

the west. look at these temperatures. on the low side compared to what we've had. 19 degrees in glasgow, 20 in plymouth, 22 in london, and we stick with the fresher feel for the start of the coming week. some sunny spells around. it does look quite late in the week things will warm up again. this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. closing in on a trillion dollar valuation: amazon sales surge again, and so does the wealth of the boss — already far and away the richest person on the planet. plus political economy: are strong us growth figures a triumph for trump or a bubble about to burst? and on the markets asian shares struggling to gain any ground after a mixed session on wall street. that 20% slump in facebook shares weighing on the us market despite the deal to avert a trans—atlantic trade war.