welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: chemical giant monsanto insists its products are safe after a court orders it to payout nearly $300 million to a man who claims its weedkiller caused his cancer. romanians rally against the government for a second day, the protests pass peacefully after friday's violence. british author and nobel prize winner vs naipaul has died at the age of 85. and we meet the scientists behind a new type of mosquito net that could save thousands from malaria. the pharmaceutical company bayer says its monsanto weedkillers are safe. this follows a court ruling ordering them to pay nearly 290 million dollars in damages to a man

who became terminally ill after using them. dewaynejohnson, a school groundsman, alleges his cancer was caused by glyphosate in the herbicides. here's our north america correspondent james cook. for dewayne johnson, the verdict was bittersweet, to say the least. at 46 years old, he is dying of cancer, caused — the jury found — by monsa nto‘s weedkillers. thousands more americans claim they too were sickened by the herbicides and their key ingredient, glyphosate. since the beginning of this case, i've received a lot of support, thank you, and a lot of prayers and everything, just getting energy from a lot of people that i don't even know, you know. i'm glad to be here to help with this situation, after i learned about roundup and glyphosate and everything, i'm glad to be here to be able to help but the cause is way

bigger than me. the jury found that roundup presented a substantial danger to users. monsanto had acted with malice or oppression and the company had been negligent in failing to put a cancer label on the product. that is a choice that reflects reckless disregard for human health. it is a choice that monsanto made and today is the day of reckoning. every single cancer risk that has been found had this moment. every single one. where the science finally caught up, where they couldn't bury it any more. the agricultural giant strongly disagrees. it says farmers around the world rely on glyphosate and it says it will appeal, claiming its products are vital, effective and safe. it is the most widely used herbicide in the world. it's the most widely studied herbicide in the world. there are over 800 scientific, medical, peer reviewed published studies that demonstrate glyphosate is safe and does not cause cancer.

and yet world health organization scientists say glyphosate is probably carcinogenic, while the us and the eu continue to approve its use. this case by no means ends the controversy about the most heavily used herbicide in history. james cook, bbc news, los angeles. carey gillam is a journalist and author who has won an award for her book on monsanto and roundup. she is in bendigo australia, which is just north of melbourne. i suppose you see this as a triumph. the verdict is a vindication for scientists around the world who have spent years documenting the harms associated with this chemical and people like me, journalists and others who have worked to bring

certain facts to live, certain risks that monsanto has tried to hide, it's a vindication that there are risks that have been hidden. but if you look at what the european commission has said, if you look at what the agencies in the united states have said, they said that as far as they can tell, those weedkillers are safe to use. right, and what we've seen is really remarkable because the litigation, thousands of pages, 10 million pages of m o nsa nto thousands of pages, 10 million pages of monsanto internal documents have come to light, and those that have been unsealed, it really eliminates what has gone on and we know that oui’ what has gone on and we know that our regulators in the united states and europe have relied really heavily on monsanto and others in the chemical industry to tell them what the science is and what the science means. independent

scientists, those in the world health organization and others in academic universities around the world, have banned different findings, a whole array of harms associated with this chemical. so how do you explain what the authorities in the us and the eu are doing because surely they would not wa nt to doing because surely they would not want to put their citizens at risk? they definitely wouldn't. the system is set up to align industry studies, long—term toxicology studies, and those historically have been provided mostly by industry, mostly by companies that sell them. in europe, your regulators are looking to overhaul and change that, in part because the evidence that has come out has shown that monsanto has often manipulated scientific literature, ghostwritten pieces of articles, really trying to suppress evidence of harm, propaganda through

the manipulation of science. m o nsa nto the manipulation of science. monsanto says there have been several studies done showing that it it's used properly, there is not a risk and they say they will appeal against this decision, as you would expect. again, there have been decades of independent epidemiology, and those are put up against ince —— put up against studies and the jury decided the weight of evidence was against monsanto. thank you for joining us. tens of thousands of romanians have ta ken to the streets of bucharest, for a second night running to protest against the government, accusing it of corruption and abuse of power. many of the demonstrators returned from across europe to voice their opposition. they are particularly angry at the government's sacking of an anti—corruption prosecutor. on friday police used batons, tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds. vlad macelaru is protester

and a un youth delegate, who's in bucharest. these protests have built up over the past months since the current government is trying to weaken the justice system and the rule of law in general so overall, we have protests against a corrupt government. would you say that trying to enter a government building isjustified under the circumstances? no, i wouldn't say so definitely, i don't think that was the intent of the protesters, so most of them were peaceful, i'm talking about 100,000, 150,000 and maybe we had i'm talking about100,000, 150,000 and maybe we had 50 instigators. what happens is, those instigators taint the whole crowd, they were throwing bricks at police who felt they had to respond. indeed, and typically the response you would expect would be to isolate

the instigators and neutralise them but instead the task force decided to abuse everyone who was protesting peacefully, kids and women and elders and so on, so i don't think that was the right response. this government was democratically elected, wasn't it? so why do you want it to resign? basically, as i mentioned before, they decriminalised low—level corruption offences to their advantage and they are working on weakening the justice system and pretty much ignoring the economy and the well—being of the country in general. but why not wait for new elections instead of what would be an unstable situation? indeed, people are tense. we have protests, major protests since february last year and people just don't feel represented. they want the immediate resignation of the current government as well as the resignation of liviu dragnea, the de facto ruler of the country, and the ruler of the ruling party, the social democrats. do you think there is a an element

of a feeling of people who have come back from across europe, who are probably living very good lives, coming back and dictating to people in romania how they should live their lives? well, 20% of the population of romania is living abroad people want to come back and live a peaceful life and be together with theirfamilies, many romanians living abroad, and people coming from europe, across europe, the states as well, they would like to have a country functioning in a proper way, less corruption in romania and a peaceful way to live their lives. young activist vlad macelaru, speaking to me earlier from bucharest. police are patrolling charlottesville in the united states where events are being held to mark the anniversary of deadly

clashes sparked by a white supremacist rally. earlier, president trump tweeted that last year's violence between far—right demonstrators and their opponents resulted in senseless death and division. the nobel prize—winning writer vs naipaul has died aged 85. raised in trinidad, he studied at oxford and worked for the bbc before becoming a prolific author. his best—known works include a house for mr biswas, the mystic masseur, a bend in the river and the booker prize—winning in a free state. he won the nobel prize for literature in 2001, for, as the award panel put it, "works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories". he died at his home in london. judy raymond has interviewed vs naipaul many times, she is the editor in chief of daily newspaper, trinidad and tobago newsday and joined me earlier. he had a very ambivalent

relationship with trinidad. there were some things that he obviously loved about it or which were embedded in him from birth. and conversely, there were also things he couldn't bear. he wrote about waking up in oxford, having left the gas fire on in his room, so it got very hot, and having nightmares that he was back in trinidad again. but on the other hand, he came home to trinidad regularly, as long as he was physically able to, he had family here, and he would slip in and out quietly, very often, so it's a kind of love—hate relationship on his side and on the other side, so trinidadians admired his life and were pleased and proud he had done so well internationally and represented the country but also resented some of the things he wrote about it and the fact that in his later years, he was being referred to as a british writer born in trinidad when a lot

of the subject matter, certainty of his early work, was drawn from things that happened or could have happened or the kind of things that happened in trinidad so they felt he owed trinidad a debt that he did not always acknowledge to the extent that he ought to have. just tell us a bit about his literary legacy and what his writing meant to not just trinidad but the wider world. well, his early books about trinidad were received with a lot of affection and humour. miguel street, for instance, which is somwehere between a novel and a collection of linked short stories. a lot of his stories is based on the period when his family lived in an area of port—of—spain called woodbrook. it was based on the idea of something he

heard while living there. the novel, the suffrage of elvira, for instance, was about the first elections held in this country after universal adult suffrage. the house of mr biswas is very, very autobiographical. people like those books, they loved those books, a lot of what he wrote about trinidad resonated with them. but as i said, they resented some of the more critical writing about the lack of civilisation, the fact that people didn't read, that wherever you went, there was loud music playing, there whether it was a party or not, there had to be loud music. all of those things. painting trinidad as backward and so on, some of the things he said about postcolonial africa and africa, all he wrote and said about postcolonial africa and africans, all of those were deeply resented. judy raymond of the trinidad tobago newsday newspaper there.

turkey will look for new friends and allies unless washington stops its unilateralism and disrespect — that is the warning from the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan. his comments follow president trump's doubling of tariffs on metal imports from turkey — a move which helped drive the turkish currency, the lira, to record lows on friday. joe lynam reports. crowds were out in force in northern turkey today in support of their president in this escalating and very public row between two nato allies. this dispute could destabilise the middle east and global markets and today president erdogan did nothing to calm the situation. he told supporters that the economy was not in a crisis nor going bankrupt and the fluctuations in the foreign exchange rate were missiles in an economic war waged against turkey. although president erdogan may be standing firm, his currency, the turkish lira was collapsing. it is down 40% so far this year against the us dollar — yesterday alone and it fell by 14%. that could push up prices rapidly

for turkish consumers, interest rates might soar and restrictions could be placed on turks withdrawing their own money. this row seems to have come out of nowhere. turkey has held an american pastor, andrew brunson, for two years over suspected but unproven links to the failed coup in 2016. america applied sanctions on senior turkish ministers last week and when turkey refused to release the pastor, president trump doubled us tariffs on turkish steel and aluminium yesterday, in a tweet. while the collapse of the lira spells danger for the turkish economy, british tourists could see the cost of their holiday plunge. turkey has become a popular location since the pound weakened in 2016. joe lynam, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: can a football match between north and south korean workers help score peace off the pitch? the big crowds became

bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later,

when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the chemical giant monsanto has insisted that the world's bestselling weedkiller is safe, despite the verdict of an american court that it caused a man's cancer. us authorities are trying to establish why an airline worker stole an empty passenger plane. the 76—seater aircraft belonging to alaska airlines' sister carrier horizon air took off from the seattle tacoma airport and flew over seattle. after flying erratically, the plane crashed in ketron islands, some 80 km south of the airport. the local sheriff's department said it appeared the man was suicidal. andy moore reports. what the hell?

the stolen plane was filmed by shocked witnesses flying low over the islands of puget sound. oh, my god. what is happening right now? ok, but why has it gotjets? it was pursued by at least two f—15 military jets. the authorities said those aircraft escorted the plane out of harm's way but were not instrumental in bringing it down. what the hell is this guy doing? whilst he was performing aerobatic manoeuvres, the 29—year—old man at the controls was talking to air traffic control. the man piloting the plane said he would perform a last barrel roll and then call it a night. he crashed into a sparsely populated island, causing this fire. there was the loud boom, and i looked at her and said, "what, did they drop a bomb over there?" and that really must have been it. 0ur information now is that there was only one person on the plane, and that was the person flying the plane. there is no indication that this person who was flying the plane was trying to damage anything or attack anything.

that man said himself he was not a qualified pilot, but he had enough knowledge to take a plane and fly it for some time, before bringing his journey to an end. andy moore, bbc news. the afghan government has confirmed reports of a second day of fighting between taliban militants and government forces in the south—eastern city of ghazni. officials said the city is back under government control, but that the taliban militants are still fighting in outlying areas. 0ur south asia editor jill mcgivering reports. bonds and shells exploding on the outskirts of ghazni. 0nce bonds and shells exploding on the outskirts of ghazni. once again, not just the countryside by the provincial capital is under attack by taliban militants, and it is an important one. ghazni is a strategic date way, linking the capital, kabul, and the south. the afghan government was keen to reassure the public that it is far from lost.

translation: our armed forces have re—established control of the city of ghazni. fighting is still going on in the outskirts. we are also sending more troops to the area. the fighting has closed the main highway, leaving many stranded and afraid. it has revealed tensions, as well, between kabul and provincial politicians, who raised the issue in parliament. translation: ghazni's situation is very worrying. we are very concerned for our people there. we are urging our government to deploy more forces in order to fully secure the province. hopes have been raised of another ceasefire next week, like the one injune. but the taliban, already a strong force in ghazni, seem determined to do as much damage before then as they can. scientists working to stop the spread of malaria have developed a new net which could save more than a million lives. treated with insecticides, they reduce the life span

of mosquitoes carrying the disease. a trial of the nets has already reduced the number of children catching malaria in west africa. megan paterson reports. after two decades of decline, malaria rates in some parts of sub—saharan africa are rising. mosquitoes have become resistant to existing insecticides. that is where this new net, treated with different chemicals, will help. it looks just like an ordinary net, but it's robust, and most importantly it contains the insecticide inside the fibres, and it leeches it out slowly over time. so you can wash this net 20 times, but it still has insecticide on it. it's still protective, it can still protect people against mosquitoes. so this is a very sophisticated piece of equipment. it doesn't look it, but it is. and for you, that will cost about $2 a net, so it's very cheap. the bed nets have already been tested in burkina faso,

where they reduced clinical malaria cases by 12% in a group of 2,000 children. we're comparing the old net with a new net with two active ingredients in, and what we show is that the new net works better than the old net. so we've got something which is a potential game—changer. it at least gives us a step forward for malaria control. the latest figures from the world health organization found 216 million people were infected with malaria. the biggest number of victims — children underfive. the scientists hope these new nets will stop increase of the disease and help in its eradication. workers from north and south korea have played each other in a football match in seoul. the game, aimed to cement ties between their peoples, follows a meeting of their political leaders in april. and the game was good—natured, as rhodri davies reports. a simple game of football. but it has been a while since these neighbours, from north and south korea, went for a kickabout.

here in seoul, workers from the north, in red, played counterparts from the south, fulfilling on their three—day trip perhaps every amateur football player's dream — to play in a world cup stadium. the message all around it — "red unification", and the friendly game is part of an objective to improve korean civilian exchanges, born from the leaders' summit in april. and, while political tensions persist, here there was only sporting goodwill. translation: i hope there will be more events like this, even if they are not organised by the government, but rather by civilian groups. i hope we will soon achieve independent unification, so that the south and the north can be together. as you can see, i came here to cheer them on. tens of thousands of spectators gave similar messages. this sign reads, "we are one."

and, after six decades of separation, the neighbours were close enough to touch. translation: being able to shake the players' hands here, so close up, really gave me the impression that they are so far away, and so close at the same time. and the symbolism of two sides technically still at war, holding hands, with banners raised of a unified peninsula, and opposing delegates sitting together, will raise more hopes for more talks between the countries. this as both sides' officials plan to meet next week, to discuss a possible summit in the autumn, and one suspects the leaders were looking on here. officials stressed that this match wouldn't have a victor, and although north korea's team did

win 3—1, perhaps a feeling of togetherness came out on top. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @nkem|fejika. hello. it stays fairly changeable over the next few days, and as a general rule of thumb, if you saw some sunshine on saturday, like here in north yorkshire, there's a good chance you'll see a bit of rain around on sunday. and it's all connected to this area of low pressure to the west of the uk, which through the early hours of sunday will continue to push fronts and outbreaks of rain eastwards through northern ireland, england, wales, into southern parts of scotland. clearing fairly early on on sunday morning from northern ireland, so after some initial rain here, turning brighter, some spells of sunshine. outbreaks of rain continuing to work their way eastwards through england and wales,

replaced by sunny spells, but also some sharp and maybe thundery showers, and the rain becoming slow—moving on itsjourney northwards through scotland. so here we are at a:00pm on sunday afternoon, and we've still got some outbreaks of rain across southern england, sunny spells following on behind. but yes, still the potential for some showers, which could be heavy and thundery. just one or two showers for northern ireland and the far north of england, but here the best of the sunshine, and mainly dry in the afternoon. meanwhile across scotland, although it will be turning drier through dumfries and galloway and the borders. further outbreaks of rain for central and northern scotland. far north into orkney and shetland mainly dry and the best of the sunshine here. quite breezy for the western isles, and a noticeable wind as well for south—west england. elsewhere, a gentle to moderate breeze. in the sunshine, we'll see temperatures getting up to between 19 and 21 celsius but they may struggle around 15 or 16 celsius across central and northern parts of scotland, where that rain is somewhat stubborn to go. but, through sunday evening, slowly we'll see that rain just pushing its way northwards

across scotland, with some late spells of sunshine for southern areas of scotland. meanwhile, across england and wales, watch out for further heavy and maybe thundery showers, just slowly clearing their way eastwards. and through the early hours of monday morning, still some showers around, and another fairly mild if not warm and muggy night, with lows between 12 and 16 celsius. so, on monday, we still have our area of low pressure clearing the eastern side of the uk. so that means we're still going to see some showers really anywhere from the east coast of scotland down through north—east england, east anglia and south—east england through monday morning. again, still heavy and thundery. as they clear eastwards, behind it, across much of england and wales and northern ireland, we'll see some spells of sunshine. but it looks like scotland will always keep a little bit more cloud, and maybe some showers for the western isles. 16—18 here on monday, getting up to 2a celsius across central and south—east england in the best of the sunshine. so, looking ahead to tuesday and wednesday, always the chance that we could see some showers, some longer spells of rain across scotland and northern ireland.

meanwhile, for much of england and wales, drier, brighter and feeling warmer. bye— bye. this is bbc news. the headlines — there's been a second day of anti—government rallies across romania, with around 40,000 people estimated to have gathered in the capital bucharest alone. noisy crowds demanded the government step down over alleged corruption and abuse of power. the protests passed peacefully compared to friday when up to 100,000 people took to the streets resulting in clashes between police and protesters. hunbdreds of people needed medical attention. the pharmaceutical giant bayer says its monsanto weedkillers are safe, after a us court ordered it to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to a man who claimed his terminal cancer was caused by the ingredient glyphosate the british author and nobel prize winner vs naipaul, has died. he was 85. born to an indian family in trinidad, he worked for the bbc before becoming a prolific author. now on bbc news, dateline london.