this is the briefing, i'm victoria fritz. our top story: president trump hits back at accusations of amorality and reckless decision—making. he says the attack by an unnamed senior aide is gutless and phony. the leaders of the two koreas agree to hold a three—day summit in pyongyang later this month. russia is in the spotlight over the novichok nerve agent attack, as britain takes its case to the un security council. in business: the $200 billion question — will president trump follow through on his threat of a massive escalation in the trade war with china? decision time looms. also coming up in the business briefing: after another grilling before congress over foreign political interference, could the likes of twitter and facebook soon be facing tougher regulation? a warm welcome to the programme,

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. tell us what you think of the stories we are covering today. just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. a senior member of donald trump's own administration has attacked the president in a new york times article and suggested white house workers are resisting him. the anonymous author said mr trump is facing a test unlike any experienced by a modern american leader. president trump responded saying the editorial was gutless. our washington correspondent chris buckler reports. each day seems to bring new claims

about what is happening behind the doors of this white house, and the unconventional president in charge here. the new york times says it was a senior official in donald trump's own administration who wrote its damning opinion piece, although the author insisted on remaining anonymous. they claim the president's leadership style is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective, that many are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his own agenda, and his worst inclinations, and that the root of the problem is the president's amorality. and god bless you, and thank you, mr president. mr trump was meeting a group of sheriffs when he was forced to a nswer sheriffs when he was forced to answer questions about keeping control, in what has been painted as a lawless white house. if the failing new york times has an anonymous editorial, can you believe

it? anonymous, meaning gutless. i gutless editorial. we are doing a greatjob. a poll numbers are through the roof. our poll numbers are great. and guess what. nobody is going to come close to beating me in 2020, because of what we've done. but fear, a new book written by bob woodward, behind the watergate scandal, is making several allegations that many are claiming to protect america from its president. the anonymous official quoted in the new york times ex presses quoted in the new york times expresses concern about mr trump's preference for leaders like president kim and vladimir putin over traditional allies, and claims that the president resisted attempts to ta ke that the president resisted attempts to take action against russia after the poisoning of former spy in the uk. ina the poisoning of former spy in the uk. in a furious statement, the white house press secretary, sarah sanders, said that the official who wrote the article, this coward should do the right thing and resign. but the new york times said it was proud to publish the piece,

which had insisted gave the public a real insight into the workings of the trump administration, from someone in a position to know. south korea's president, moonjae—in, will meet north korean leader, kim jong—un, in pyongyang for three days later this month. the summit will be the first time in more than a decade that a south korean leader has visited the north korean capital. we can cross live now to our correspondent in seoul, laura bicker. laura, is this a reason for optimism? it is a reason for optimism? it is a reason for optimism between certainly north and south korea. a three—day visit, it is quite a long visit, and a long time for president moon and kim jong—un to talk about the issues between the two countries. there is a bit ofa between the two countries. there is a bit of a problem for president noon to try to work out, and that is the impasse that exists between north korea and the united states.

and that is because of the timing and what both countries want. north korea wants an end of war declaration. remember, the korean war ended in 1953 in an armistice, not a peace treaty, and since kim jong—un took to the global stage in january, the one thing he has been after, the one thing his father and his grandfather never achieved, was a peace treaty, and end of war declaration, and it is something that south korea wants as well. the us, however, is unwilling to give it until north korea hands over its nuclear weapons, or at least the list, some kind of itinerary, of what it has and where they are. and thatis what it has and where they are. and that is one of the problems that we have now. the timing of both events, and how they go about it. so that is why there is an impasse. president moon will have three days to try to broker a deal between north korea, before he flies, then, to new york for the united nations general assembly. so this will be quite a pivotal month here on the korean

peninsula. a pivotal month. i mean, how like the deed and give is that we will see some breakthrough on this impasse that you were talking about? well, president moon has done it before. it certainly seems that kim jong—un is willing to do something and want some kind of achievement here, on the 70th year of north korea's founding. he has a p pa re ntly of north korea's founding. he has apparently reiterated his will to dig nuclearised to the south koreans, he says he is willing to work with the trump administration —— denuclearise. he says he still trust the trump administration and president trump in particular and he is willing to do it while president trump is still in office, so within the next two years. so it seems that north korea is pushing for some kind ofa north korea is pushing for some kind of a deal. it isjust north korea is pushing for some kind of a deal. it is just a north korea is pushing for some kind of a deal. it isjust a matter of what they are willing to get in return. also, they are taking off the table the us troops based here in south korea, which has always been a bit of a sticking point. 0ne of the problems with declaring an end to the war is what do we do with

the troops based here in south korea? and it seems that kim jong—un is willing to make that kind of concession, i.e., those troops are on the table. the un security council convenes in an emergency session later today to hear british accusations that two men suspected of carrying out the nerve agent attack in salisbury in march were officers from russian military intelligence. the british prime minister said the attack on the former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia was almost certainly approved at a senior level of the russian state. lucinda adam reports. we now know the faces of the two russian men accused of the poisonings. it is understood british policemen are their true identities, but cctv shows them arriving in the uk under the names alexander petrov and ruslan boshirov. they are seen

travelling to salisbury, where it is believed they used this fake perfume bottle to deploy the novichok nerve agent, which would later killed dawn sturgis and agent, which would later killed dawn stu rgis and contaminate agent, which would later killed dawn sturgis and contaminate her partner, charlie rowley. the prime ministers had months of investigation show this was not a rogue operation. the manner offices of russia's military intelligence service, the gru. the actions of the gru are a threat to all our allies and to all our citizens, and on the basis of what we have learnt in the salisbury investigation, and what we know about this organisation more broadly, we must now step up our collective efforts, specifically against the gru. moscow said the two suspects me nothing to them, and accused written of manipulating information. this the response on the facebook page of their foreign ministry. the woman on the right, maria, is there head of communications. —— maria zakharova.

to reveal so much detail of the investigation so publicly is designed to increase diplomatic pressure on russia. the uk wants more european sanctions, at must struggle to convince eu allies. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news: several people have been injured in a landslide after a strong earthquake struck japan's northern island of hokkaido. at least ten people have been taken to hospital, and others are believed to be trapped in the town of atsumi. the local electricity company said it shut all its plants after the quake, cutting power to almost three million people. at least 20 people have been killed in two separate explosions at a sports club in the afghan capital, kabul. four people were killed in a suicide bombing. a second, larger blast killed at least 16 people as emergency services and journalists arrived at the scene. top executives from facebook and twitter have acknowledged

that they were too slow to act against fake accounts and disinformation attacks aimed at sowing political discord. the twitter chief, jack dorsey, told a us senate hearing that free and open exchanges had become weaponised. the trade war between the world's two biggest economies is having far—reaching effects around the globe, and it could be about to get a lot worse. president trump is considering a massive escalation in his dispute with china over what he sees as their unfair trade practices. he has threatened to tax a further $200 billion worth of chinese goods, on top of the existing $50 billion. us businesses and individuals have until the end of today to submit their views. 0liver cornock, editor—in—chief of oxford business group, joins me now. what do you make of all of this? is

it sort of an escalation in the war of words, or do you think you will really follow through on this? well, he certainly in the mentored the first round. this consultation, of course, is ongoing. it finishes today. it will be very interesting today. it will be very interesting to see what the general public make of this, because the simple fact is, victoria, a lot of people question whether these trade was will have the desired effect. —— trade wars. it wants to address the trade imbalance in what the us buys and sells. the simple fact is america imports an awful lot more than china imports an awful lot more than china imports from america so it is a fairly unequal balance. businesses are saying they are going to have to cutjobs if the price of imports goes up on products, whereas the imports into china we read about false beards and yachts, not exactly mass consumer items. so the question is really what impact this will have

an american businesses and the american market, and it is really out there as to whether it will work. do you think the american people really understand the numbers around that and the skewing of the trade balance between the two countries? i very much doubt it. we have done a very bad job in the world of talking up why trade is a good thing and why we are all impacted when trade goes wrong. 0k, 0liver, we are going to leave out there. i know you are coming back to ta ke there. i know you are coming back to take us through the rest of the papers a little bit later on. i will see soon. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a daughter enslaved by the extremist group the so—called islamic state is freed, but thousands more yazidis are missing or dead. we report from northern iraq on a community in crisis. freedom itself was attacked this morning and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down

and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes the spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto township, as well as the whites in their rich suburbs. we say to you today, in a loud and a clear voice, enough of blood and tears. enough! the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it is an exodus of up to 60,000 people, caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! you are watching the briefing.

0ur headlines: south korea has confirmed president moonjae—in will meet north korean leader kimjong—un for a summit in pyongyang in two weeks' time. president trump has hit back at accusations of amorality and reckless decision—making. he says the attack by an unnamed senior aide is gutless and phony. let's get more on one of our main stories. the uk's accusation that two russian miltiary intelligence officers carried out the nerve agent attack in salisbury. so how is this whole new spat between london and moscow going down in russia? the bbc‘s yaroslava kiryukhina is in our moscow bureau. what does the russian media make of all this? actually, russian media and russian officials have taken a

dismissive line when commenting on the accusations of the two suspects identified as russian. a dismissive line, but it is running very high up in all of the british press today, they cannot exactly ignore it. so what is the response? they can't ignore it. they are ridiculing it and calling it a cold war thriller and calling it a cold war thriller and dish vocation, as they used to in the past. —— provocation. —— ricky should provocation. —— british provocation. i think we are having slight problems with your skype line today. we will try and work on it and get back to you if we can. for the moment, we will leave it there. thousands of yazidis are still missing, four years after so called islamic state attacked them in their ancestral home in northern iraq. the un has called the crimes against the minority group genocide. an international aid effort,

backed by a bombing campaign, saved the majority of the population, who sought safety on nearby mount sinjar. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet has been there, and has this report. sinjar mountain, sacred land of the yazidis, these slopes still haunted by the terror of islamic state in this northern corner of iraq. four years on, clothes still litter the mountainside, discarded in panic by a people on the run, desperate to escape. now, in the foothills, a chilling silence. a date seared in every yazidi's memory. is fighters no longer hold this land, but still hold a people hostage. thousands of men, women and children are still missing.

but, for this family, some relief. a daughter enslaved by is in syria is freed after four long years. her family paid tens of thousands of dollars to get her and her children back. the day after she returns, we visit her at home. and she feared she would never be able to escape that living hell. translation: when i was in captivity, isis lied to me. they said yazidi women would never be free, and that our families would kill us if we tried to come home. so i was scared to come back. i was scared my family would kill me, and i was so surprised at the welcome i got. who can begin to imagine what women

like her have been through, at the hands of so—called islamic state. daily beatings, brutalisation, and there are said to be 3,000 more yazidi women and children still missing, still captured by islamic state. from sinjar, we made the shortjourney to kocho, the yazidi village is tried to wipe off the map. now, it is a monument to a massacre. more than 1,000 people rounded up — men and old women shot dead, young women sold into slavery. the sense of loss here is overwhelming. this man mourns his brother, buried alive at the back of this schoolyard.

inside, a memorial to the dead and the missing. he shows his grandsons the photos — their father, uncles, aunts, favourite cousins, all gone. upstairs, traces of horror. mattresses scattered across the floor, abandoned uniforms. the aching silence of a generation lost. at the edge of kocho, mass graves, just three soldiers standing guard. killing fields darken the yazidi heartland, bones exposed by the wind. people are desperate for these graves to be exhumed. translation: this is where isis killed my people. these bones are evidence

of a massacre. they bear witness to what happened here. we want these crimes to be investigated. the un calls this a genocide, but four years on, little has been done. after so much loss, the yazidi people are now losing hope. lyse doucet, bbc news, sinjar. here's our briefing on some of the key events happening later. starting shortly in bangkok, the prime minister of thailand will host a thank you party for those who helped rescue the 12 young footballers and their coach from a cave, back injuly. thousands of people will attend but the british rescuers are not expected to be among them. a few hours later, a court in south sudan is due to deliver a verdict on the case of 11 soliders accused of gang—raping foreign humanitarian workers and killing

a localjournalist at a hotel in the capital, juba, two years ago. and finally in houston this evening, the nasa astronaut anne mcclain, along with her crewmates will discuss their upcoming mission to the international space station. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, coming up in your thursday sport briefing: world champions france head to munich to take on germany, as the uefa nations league gets under way. the nfl season kicks off with superbowl winners philadelaphia eagles playing the atlanta falcons. and serena williams continues her bid to win a 24th grand slam title, when she heads out in the us open quarterfinals in new york. we start in munich, where ahead of their match against les bleus, germany are desperate to put their world cup disappointment behind them.

the start of the brand new uefa nations league has thrown up a wonderful clash, a meeting of the previous and current world champions. the pressure is on for joachim loew against france, after his side's disastrous tournament in russia. he needs to prove that he's still the right man to lead germany. for nfl fans, the drought is over! the new season starts on thursday, with super bowl champions the philadelphia eagles taking on the atlanta falcons. much of the talk in the locker room will undoubedtly be about this man, colin kaepernick. the quarterback who protested against racial injustice is the face of a new nike advertising campaign. it's fair to say the choice has divided opinion in america. serena williams says it's a brave move by the sportswear giant. the huge company back to —— having a huge company back him at four, it could be a controversial reason for this company but they are not afraid andi this company but they are not afraid and i feel like there was a really powerful statement to a lot of other companies. serena giving her opinion there on the latest twist

in the colin kaepernick story. later she's back on court at arthur ashe stadium to face latvia's anastasija sevastova in the us open semi—finals. a year after giving birth to her daughter she's now one win away from a 9th singles final at flushing meadows. staying with the us open and in case you missed it, japanese number 20 seed naomi 0saka became the first japanese woman to reach the last four of a grand slam since kimiko date 22 years ago, as she eased past ukraine's lesia tsurenko winning 6—1 6—1 in new york on wednesday. it was a good day forjapan because kei nishikori is through to the semi—finals of the men's singles. it will the number 21 seed beat maric cilic in five sets to reach the last four of a grand slam for the first time since 2014. that was the year cilic beat him in the final.

experience counts for a lot, at least that's what thomas bjorn's hoping. the europe captain has given wildcards to players with plenty of ryder cup pedigree. england's ian poulter is one of them. he's not had the greatest of seasons, but he has helped europe win the event four times. paul casey, henrik stenson and sergio garcia have also been given the nod to face the americans in 3 weeks time. i have been working hard. ifeel like my game is coming along, obviously played quite nicely in greensborough couple weeks back. now iam greensborough couple weeks back. now i am trying to be as ready as i can be to help the european team win that cap back, that is the goal and that cap back, that is the goal and thatis that cap back, that is the goal and that is what we want. —— cup. i mentioned the nfl earlier, the most popular sport in america takes centre stage once again with the beginning of the new season. superbowl champions the philadelphia eagles posted this image on instagram, along with the caption "hungry for more". head coach doug pederson says quarterback nick foles will start their game against the atlanta falcons later. you can get all the latest sports news at our website, that's bbc.com/sport. but from me and the rest

of the team that is your thursday sport briefing. before we go, the beautiful game with a beautiful view. this football freestyler has ta ken with a beautiful view. this football freestyler has taken it to whole new level. he was filmed doing tricks while suspended from a crane above 0slo in norway. he hopes to impress others and inspire people to take up the footballing game. there you go. hopefully they won't be doing anything silly like that, but absolutely amazing pictures. anyway, stay with us here on bbc news. so much more to come. hello there. we are ending this week

on some a lot more unsettled than how we sucks —— started it because we are replacing high pressure with an area of low pressure. today it is looking fine to start off with, what the sunshine around, it will feel cooler than it has the last few days, likely to see rain into the afternoon. first thing it will be a dry one, cloud and temperatures in double figures, single figure values and a clear skies. high pressure to the south—west of the country. a developing area of low pressure to the north—east and that is allowing a run of northwest winds across the country, hence why it feels cooler. plenty of sunshine around, one or two showers and those get going across the northern half of the country and this feature sliding out of the republic of ireland pushes across the irish sea into wales, south—west england and midlands as the afternoon wears on stretches across into the afternoon. we could see some sunshine across to the far

south—east, 20 or 21 celsius, but otherwise cloudier and outbreaks of rain and temperatures in the high teens celsius. the far north of england, northern ireland and scotla nd england, northern ireland and scotland with scattered showers here. is going to feel cool as well across many northern areas as we head on into friday. we start to see this developing area of low pressure, we are thinking the heaviest of the rain should remain offshore, but at times on friday we will see this weather fronts pushing into eastern scotland, maybe north—east england for a while, another ripple of rain into northern scotland, this could be quite heavy, even thundery. further south and west, the better chance of staying dry away from the error of low pressure. northwest wind, it will feels cool despite the sunshine, 15— 19 degrees. into friday, and area of low pressure spirals away into the north sea, still grazing the north—east with showers and then look to the south—west on another

feature moving out of the atlantic into wales and south—west england and this will bring wet weather to friday night and we think for much of saturday for england and wales. so of the weekend, it looks like saturday will be the wettest day foremost, quite, quite breezy, sunday at this moment in this current time is looking likely to be the driest day of the week and. —— weekend. this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. the $200 billion question — will president trump follow through on his threat of a massive escalation in the trade war with china? decision time looms. plus, anti social media — under fire from congress over foreign political interference, could the likes of twitter and facebook soon be facing tougher regulation? and on the markets... asian shares falling with investor

confidence shaken. those fears over the possible escalation in the trade walk between the us and china.