hello and welcome to bbc news. the pharmaceutical company bayer says its monsanto weedkillers are safe. this follows a court ruling ordering them to pay nearly $290 million in damages to a man who became terminally ill after using them. dewaynejohnson, a school groundsman, alleges his cancer was caused by the ingredient glyphosate. 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, a lot of 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 ruled notjust that roundup causes cancer but that monsanto knew and decided not to put a warning on the label. mrjohnson‘s lawyer laid out the case in dramatic terms. that is a choice that reflects reckless disregard for human health. it is a choice that monsanto made and today is their 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. but among farmers and scientists, there's this agreement, monsanto and its german owner bayer say glyphosate is vital for agriculture. the us firm denies bullying researchers and colluding with regulators, insisting the chemical is 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. 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. 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 about100,000, 150,000 and maybe we had 50 instigators. what happens is, those instigators taint the whole crowd, for example, they were throwing bricks at police who felt they had to respond. indeed, and typically the response you would expect from a task force 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. jason the american space agency nasa has delayed the much—anticipated launch of a space probe to study the sun's outer atmosphere. here's the moment we heard about the decision. the parker solar probe was due to launch from cape canaveral in florida — but it was postponed when an alarm went offjust minutes before the closure of the launch window. it has been rescheduled for sunday. the mission will see the probe fly within about six million kilometres of the sun — closer than any other spacecraft in history.

stay with us here on bbc news, still to come — we look back on the life of british author and nobel prize winner vs naipaul who's died at the age of 85. police investigating the death of a seven—year—old boy in a fire in south london have arrested two men. the body ofjoel urhie was found at his home in deptford on tuesday. his mother and sister managed to escape from the house. simon jones has more. the police have described the fire as horrific, saying it has shattered the lives of the family. 7—year—old joel urhie was found dead by firefighters in the early hours of tuesday morning. he had dreamt of becoming a firefighter himself when he became older. his sister and his mother were in the house at the time the fire broke out. they managed to escape byjumping from a first—floor window. we understand his mother is still being treated in hospital. police have been examining cctv and going through the house, and today they have arrested two men

aged 21 and 29 on suspicion of murder, and suspicion of attempted murder and arson with intent to endanger life. they are being questioned in south london. joel's sister sarah has paid tribute to him on social media. she says she simply cannot understand what has happened. events are being held in charlottesville virginia to mark the one year anniversary of deadly clashes in the us, spaked 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. 0livia crellin reports. good night, white pride. that is the message the members of this antifascist group carried through cha rlottesville is antifascist group carried through charlottesville is thousands gathered to remember those who lost their lives. marching over messages of love and peace chalked over the streets, protesters made their way

to the place where is suspected white supremacist drove car into a crowd one year white supremacist drove car into a ci’owd one year ago, white supremacist drove car into a crowd one year ago, killing 32—year—old antiracist activist heather heyer. this quite college city never expected to see this. —— quiet. have heyer‘s mother attended a memorial service dedicated to her daughter and two other that is. —— secretary. letters together. we remembered those who lost their lives. —— heather heyer. —— let us pray together. heather heyer. the te na nt

pray together. heather heyer. the tenant h j pray together. heather heyer. the tenant hj collen. and trooper bourke m m bates. last you's clashes began after a protest at the remember —— removal of a statue honouring the member of army. antifascist protesters showed up in defiance and violence followed. at the time, president trump faced intense criticism for condemning the violence on both sides. this time, he struck a very different note. he tweeted. .. with both antifascist and nationalist groups planning rallies

for sunday in front of the white house, the passing of time they have done little to resolve the deeply divisive issue. for now, the city of cha rlottesville divisive issue. for now, the city of charlottesville takes a moment to mourn those laid to rest. s 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 kilometres 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—is 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 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 nobel—prizewinning 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, and the booker prize—winner in a free state. he was awarded the nobel prize for literature in 2001, for what the judging panel called, "works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories." earlier, i spoke tojudy raymond, editor in chief of daily newspaper, trinidad and tobago newsday. she interviewed vs naipaul many times. 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 wrote and said about postcolonial africa and africans, all of those were deeply resented. monsanto and its parent company bayer insist that the world's best—selling weedkiller is safe despite monsanto being ordered to pay out hundreds of million pounds in damages to a man who claims it gave him cancer. let's stay with that story. earlier i spoke tojeffrey smith. he is a consumer activist and monsanto critic. i asked him if he was happy with the verdict. oh, yes, we've been celebrating. in fact, notjust the verdict, but the jury trial itself forced monsanto to release millions of documents where it became very clear that they knew for decades of the link between roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, and cancer. and they have been denying it, and pointing to studies which show that it's safe.

but the documents which have been made public show that they ghost—wrote those studies, and then paid scientists to put their name on it. so they had rigged the research, they had covered up the evidence, and they continued to do so. but fortunately the jury heard the truth, and awarded a groundskeeper $289 million after using roundup and getting non—hodgkin's lymphoma. i'm just having a look at what the us environmental protection agency, the epa, says. it insists it is safe when used correctly. the european food safety authority also says glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer in humans. and these are authorities which have the task of keeping their citizens safe, and yet they're saying it doesn't cause cancer. the world health organization's top cancer committee determined in 2015 that glyphosate causes — is a probable human carcinogen, and definitely causes cancer to animals. also, where it is sprayed in high concentrations, there's an increase

of cancer in the population. now, from the documents that were made public, we realise that monsanto had a lapdog in the epa working on its behalf, named jess rowland. and his name came up, and he had a deposition in the court, and it turns out that he was working on behalf of monsanto to suppress research, successfully, and he was in charge of the committee at the epa that determined that glyphosate was not carcinogenic. however, we also have a letter from a former colleague ofjess rowland, sending him a note saying i'm dying of cancer, and i want to make sure i've done what is right, and i want to tell you that glyphosate, by virtue of the research, is certainly a cause of cancer, and you shouldn't be working on behalf of the companies instead of working on behalf of the public. so we have glaring evidence of collusion, as well as covering up the evidence, from the side of the epa, at the very least. just because the epa isn't here to defend itself, i imagine that they would say different, jeffrey. but, i mean, monsanto themself are still saying the jury got it wrong — they certainly are sympathetic to mrjohnson‘s predicament, but that the jury got it wrong. you know, i was there

for the closing arguments, and the plaintiff's lawyer put out really clear evidence showing the relationship between the various aspects of the science and non—hodgkin's lymphoma, and how monsanto systematically hid that evidence. then monsanto's attorney came up in a very dramatic way, and evidently apparently cut the legs off of every one of those arguments by showing quotes to the opposite. and then the plaintiff's attorney had 35 minutes to turn it around, and in every case he showed that monsanto had cherry—picked phrases within quotes, where if you look at the entire document, it's exactly the

opposite conclusion. this was there, the jury saw it — that the very basis and foundation of monsa nto's claims of safety turned out not to be true. i debated one of monsanto's toxicologists on national television in the united states, and she said she backs it up 100%. when you look at the documents made public from the lawsuit, it turns out she says we can't say that roundup doesn't cause cancer, and she also ghost—wrote a study and hid the evidence of glyphosate causing miscarriages. so we have plenty of evidence from the inside that's very different from what they say on the outside. 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 contains the insecticide inside the fibres, and it leaches it out slowly over time. so you can wash this net 20 times, but it still has the insecticide on it, 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 really 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 with a new net, it works better than the old net. so we've got something which is a potential game—changer, and 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 hopes for more talks between the two 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. in 1988, a huge wave of popular demonstrations gripped myanmar, then known as burma, against the ruling military dictatorship. but the protests were violently suppressed, and over the course of the year, thousands of people were killed in what became known as the burmese uprising. it was at that time,

that aung san suu kyi, emerged as a national icon. the bbc‘s witness programme has been speaking to ma thida, who was then, a young doctor in yangon. archive: the main cause of the rioting is burma's economic crisis. the demonstrations are led by students demanding economic reforms and a return to democracy. at that time, i was in my final year of medical school. it was like the whole country is in the mood of the protests. today, there have been more clashes with troops in the suburbs of rangoon. several times, troops have opened fire on the crowds... the way the government took action against this was very violent, very militant. some students have been killed. one of my friends was shot. the medical professionals, they were taking the lead, and then the rangoon general hospital became the central place

for the protests. it was a very big rally inside the rangoon general hospital, and the truck arrived, and the government army shotjust randomly into the hospital. we tried to help some injured people. i never treated a gunshot wound patient in the past. it was shocking to treat gunshot—wound—injured people. so, so many patients at the same time, it's a little bit difficult to handle. archive: at rangoon general hospital, aung san suu kyi addressed tens of thousands of people who had gathered. at that time, aung san suu kyi was not well known by the international community. a woman who, for the last 20 years, has lived in england. her father was assassinated when aung san suu kyi was just two.

she'd returned quietly to burma in april, after years away. that was the very emotional moment. her speech was really groundbreaking, i think, her commitment and her vision for our country. with the army on the streets, there is a mood of fear in rangoon tonight. the situation after the crackdown in september was even worse than the situation before the protests. it does seem most of the army is backing the coup. i have no choice. i already believe in the revolution, i couldn't stop anymore.

i expected one day i might be arrested. well, i was arrested in 1993. it was a couple of days just before my 27th birthday, and i was a little bit excited to be in prison, because i really wanted to write my own prison memoir one day. i spent five years, six months in prison, in solitary confinement throughout the prison term. after i was released, i went back to the hospital. then, a quite unforgettable moment — aung san suu kyi, a free woman, walking to meet her people. we're all having such a high expectation to aung san suu kyi. i want to run for president, and i'm quite frank about it. if we go back 20 years ago, the situation was — really was bad. the current situation

is still not yet enough, so we're still hoping. let's get the latest weather now. outbreaks of rain overnight will continue to push north and east through sunday. clearing for northern ireland, so we might have sunny spells here. they slow down of rain making its way north through central and northern scotland, our backs of rain continuing to push eastwards a cross backs of rain continuing to push eastwards across england and wales, replaced by sunny spells and also if you have been thundery showers. in the sunshine, temperatures getting between 19 and two into one celsius. cloud and train slowly working north, clearer skies for orkney and shetland eventually replaced by more cloud and outbreaks of rain overnight. further south, had cloud and outbreaks of rain overnight. furthersouth, had been thundery showers, and another warm

and muggy night with lows between 12 and muggy night with lows between 12 and 16 celsius. monday, heavy showers still going across many eastern parts of the uk is this area of low pressure lingers. i did come spells of sunshine for many on monday. it looks like we could see heavy thundery showers along the eastern side of the uk. elsewhere on monday and tuesday, spells of sunshine and feeling warmer. buy. hello and welcome to bbc news. the pharmaceutical company 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. 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 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.