this is bbc world news today. i'm tanya beckett. our top stories... president trump says there's ‘no rush' to finalise a trade agreement with china after the us more than doubles some tariffs on chinese imports. the italian navy says it has rescued 36 migrants off the coast of libya, but off the coast of tunisa, a migrant boat has capsized killing at least 65 people. british scientists unveil what they say are radical new plans to tackle climate change. and faster internet and a fascination with football — how childen in africa are being drawn into online betting.

hello and welcome to world news today. talks between chinese and us officials, aimed at resolving a trade dispute between world's most powerful economies, have ended for the day. the us treasury secretary steven mnuchin described the talks as "constructive". china's top trade negotiator liu was seen shaking hands with mr mnuchin before driving off. it comes just hours after the united states more than doubled tariffs on many chinese products. our north ameria editor jon sopel reports. a bell can signify celebration, but it also can ring out a warning and today it felt like the latter after donald trump imposed much higher tariffs on chinese goods coming into the us. and fired out a warning to the world's second biggest economy that he is digging in for the long haul. he tweeted. .. talks with china continue

in a very congenial manner. there is absolutely no need to rush as tariffs are now being paid to the united states by china of 25% on $250 billion worth of goods and products. president trump said yesterday that he'd received another good letterfrom president xi. he has a strong relationship. we believe a deal is possible. what president trump has made clear is we think we are in a very strong position either way. the chinese are in washington in the hope of concluding a deal. their lead negotiator said increasing tariffs hurts everyone. translation: i came here with sincerity in these special circumstances, to engage in rational and candid exchanges with the us side. of course china believes raising tariffs in the current situation is not a solution to the problem. it will be harmful to china, the united states, and to the whole world. donald trump has often been accused of being too trigger—happy when it comes to tariffs, too keen to start a trade war.

but on this, significantly, the democrats are behind him, they are urging him to remain tough. when it comes to trade and china, there is a feeling here that they have been allowed to get away with too much for too long. until a few days ago, all the mood music was positive. president xi would come to the us and sign a deal. the two sides were close to an agreement but last weekend, the president accused beijing of ratting on a deal to open up their market to us goods. in the middle of this are us farmers whose products have been hit by retaliatory tariffs and they are desperate for a trade deal as soon as possible. we have almost waited almost too long, so the only thing that is really going to help us is if he makes a deal and china comes in and they guarantee to buy x amount of bushels. and us consumers, who are now going to find a range of imports costing way more in the shops. and if this carries on, it will be the global economy that will suffer. jon sopel, bbc news, washington.

our reporter zhaoyin feng explained what's at stake here for china. well, for china, definitely, it's a very export—oriented economy, so for the new tariffs in place, it's likely that 0—2—0.3% of china's gdp growth would be wiped out, if the tariffs stayed for long time. the us is also preparing paperwork for a new patch of tariffs, and that would be even more detrimental for the chinese economy. is there a little bit of negotiation tactic, here, as well? we know that president trump's negotiation tactics are very well documented, again, the art of the deal, but in china, obviously, they have tactics too. is it possible that they are prepared to walk away from the table, at this point, knowing that in the end, president trump is likely to want them back? well, for the past few days, we can see that china is playing carrots and sticks,

at the same time. china has threatened to retaliate if the us increases tariffs. so far, china has announced that it will take necessary counter measures, but did not specify what kind of counter measures. so it is likely to be more than tariffs. it could mean increasing the inspection time for us goods, but at the same time, china has made it very clear that it is hopeful for a win—win outcome, and it appeals to the us to meet china in the midway. the un say at least 65 migrants have drowned when their boat capsized off the coast of tunisia. state media there said 16 people were rescued by fishermen in waters around 70 kilometres from the city of sfax. our middle east analyst alan johnston has more. another really major

disaster in the waters of the mediterranean, as you say, dozens of migrants dying as they attempt to reach europe's shores. this unfolding in waters about a0 miles off that tunisian coastal city of sfax, and localfishermen mounting some sort of local effort, and managing to pull some 16 survivors out of the water, but many more missing. the un workers tell us that they believe that at least 50 drowned, but tunisian officials talking in terms of at least 70. and we know that this boat was carrying people from sub—saharan africa. we are not sure exactly which countries, but we know that they left from the area around the city of zuwara, down on the libyan coast, an area where we often hear of migrants boarding boats and setting out for europe. and particularly exacerbated now because of the state of conflict in libya? libya is an extraordinarily difficult place for the migrants

as they funnel through north africa on their way, hoping to reach places like malta and italy, france and so on. but it is particularly a difficult place right now. there is fighting for more than a month around the capital, tripoli, with the libyan war lord mounting a really major assault. so life is tough in that corner of libya, for libyans, and migrants are very much more vulnerable. we hear they are routinely enduring the most appalling conditions in libya, we hear of something akin to slave markets on occasion. people being forced into slave labour, migrants being a head kidnapped, held for ransom, there relatives back in the countries of sub—saharan africa being forced to come up with money to get them freed, and so on. given all that is happening, the conditions in tripoli,

the fighting in tripoli, you can imagine the desire of many migrants to make that final step in that journey, and get aboard boats and trying to get to europe. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... kimjong un has called for north korea to be on a ‘full combat posture‘ after the us seized a cargo ship accused of illegal coal shipments. the north korea leader has called for another missile launch, after testing what appears to be an advanced missile system on thursday. the french president emmanual macron is meeting with facebook‘s mark zuckerberg, it comes just hours after a report commissioned by mr macron, looking at facebook and other social media sites, found that self—regulation is limited and unenforceable. the report also recommended allowing authorities to police how tech companies deal with hate speech. 0nline sports betting in africa is worth billions of pounds every year. the boom is being encouraged by faster internet, cheaper

phones and an obsession with the english premier league. but there are fears that children are being sucked into a cycle of betting, debt and poverty. in kenya, one government minister has called it "a curse on youth". angus crawford reports. it's match day in the kenyan premier league and look, there's harry kane, advertising a sports betting company. local team afc leopards is sponsored by a betting company, too. in fact, the whole league is. it's big business here. especially betting on the english premier league. and it's notjust adults, but, increasingly, children too. meet francis. he's only 15 and he bets every day. when you start betting, you don't feel like you can stop it. he and his friends dream of getting rich. some have even used their school fees. when they lose, they don't have school fees, you see.

so they can't go to school? yes. and adverts for betting are everywhere. whether you're playing or watching there's something for everyone at betin. nothing wrong with that, but it seems age restrictions just aren't working here. this is today's newspaper. it's quite clear the government here thinks that the entire industry is actually a curse on kenyan youth. english football and the big betting firms fuelling a gambling boom in africa. they are profit—making, they are making money and probably 30% is from children. jennifer kaberi's a child psychologist who sees vulnerable children pushed deeper into poverty. they have been swallowed by this animal that came here and people didn't realise it was an animal. it is notjust kenyan companies using the english premier league to promote their brands. we have also found british betting companies trying to grab a slice of the african market, and children are gambling with them, too.

0n the other side of africa, almost 3000 miles away, abidjan, capital of the ivory coast. here, we meet eric. 15 when he started betting, using adults to place his bet on the british site bet365. even the internet cafe is named after the company and there are plenty of children here, too. it's a picture repeated across the city — children openly betting. and when we travelled to the ivory coast, we found the most popular site was bet365. you've just got to take the money and run. it's one of the biggest betting companies in the world —

chief executive denise coates reported to be worth at least £5 billion. bet365 says all accounts have to pass full age verification and must not be used to benefit a third party. it insists, "if an account holder placed bets for a child, appropriate action would be taken." a betting boom but with children too often the losers — an uglier side to the beautiful game. angus crawford, bbc news, nairobi. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come... the un says almost 900 children have been released by a pro—government militia in nigeria — fighting boko haram rebels in the north of the country. i.

i, nelson mandela... i do hereby say that the faithful in the republic of south africa... after six years of construction delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president. the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now the pope visits symbolizes their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first male to run a mile in under four minutes. memories of victory as the celebration reached their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future for peace and freedom.

this is bbc world news today. i'm tanya beckett. the latest headlines: the us treasury secretary has described negotiations with china to try to resolve the two countries' trade war as constructive. the un says almost 900 children have been released by a pro—government militia — fighting boko haram rebels in northern nigeria. scientists at the university of cambridge, have unveiled plans for a uk research centre to develop new ways to repair the earth's climate. the initiative is the first of its kind in the world and could lead to dramatic reductions in carbon emissions. 0ur science correspondent, pallab ghosh reports. a scorched earth, where people are poorer and have less food because of severe droughts. there'll be more flooding and all the coral has gone. that's what we are headed for, unless we do more to cut emissions of carbon dioxide.

scientists at cambridge university fear that reducing co2 emissions on its own won't be enough. the man who's led efforts at the heart of government to combat climate change for 20 years is helping to set up a new research centre to develop ways of repairing the damage that's already been done. we are looking for processes that are scalable, by which i mean processes that can take out billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases each year. with trillions of tonnes of ice gone from both the earth's poles, the new centre will look at ways of refreezing them. one idea is to have boats spray sea water into the clouds above the ice, to reflect sunlight away from them. another is to develop forests of artificial trees to absorb carbon dioxide — just like real forests, only better. and some think releasing shiny discs into space might act

as a planetary parasol, reflecting sunlight and cooling the earth. the scientists here believe the earth's climate can be repaired but they say new solutions need to be found and implemented within the next ten years, otherwise it may be too late. pallab ghosh, bbc news, cambridge. we can speak now to tim kruger, senior fellow at the geo—engineering programme at the university of oxford, who's involved in exploring techniques to combat climate change. do these techniques, seem familiar to you? are they effective? welcome to you? are they effective? welcome to the programme also. we don't know if they are effectively a force that we need to understand. there are a range of those that could work but we need to understand whether they can work notjust technically but also socially as well. what is the first thing you are trying to attack? temperature or carbon? we are attack? temperature or carbon? we a re interested attack? temperature or carbon? we

are interested in both of them. carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the temperature to rise, and there are a range of techniques about reflecting sunlight back into space, some of them were mentioned there... i think we are having slight difficulties with the line there. just asking about some of the techniques and we heard how reflecting the sunlight back into space, the effects which would be to keep temperature down could be effective. perhaps we will get him back later in the programme. the un says almost 900 child soldiers have been released by a pro—government militia which is fighting boko haram rebels in northern nigeria. the un children's agency, unicef, says the released children had been used in combatant and non—combata nt roles. it says the move fulfilled a commitment signed in 2017 by the civilian joint task force in the north—eastern city of maiduguri to end the recruitment and use of children.

the bbc‘s ishaq khalid in abuja, told me more about them. basically, these children, according to unicef, are aged 13—18, and they have been with the vigilante group in north—eastern nigeria, the group is helping the nigerian military fight boko haram since 2013. so far, you know, the children have been handed over to unicef. they have been involved in the combatant and noncombatant roles. more than 100 of them are girls. so, now, unicef and the civilian joint task force, and are putting their heads together to ensure that these children get back to their communities, to return to their normal lives. could you tell us the circumstances under which these children were released? well, it's a situation where the boko haram insurgency was escalated very rapidly in north—eastern nigeria, in 2013, and the military

was unable to contain it. so communities decided to defend themselves, and these vigilante groups were setup. it was a dicey decision for many young people, and teenagers. to eitherjoin his vigilante groups, or to be viewed as sympathetic with boko haram. so many of them decided tojoin these vigilante groups. this release, is the second batch, these children are the second batch in october last year. in october, last year, more than 800 adults were released. but basically, they have been involved in a conflict, and unicef is dealing with a lot of violence, death and killings, and that has really affected them physically and emotionally, and the un agency as saying that children should not be involved in any way in conflict, either competent or roles. lizzie greenwood hughes

has all the sport. thank you. hello, we're going to start with the english premier league which will be decided on sunday. it's been one of the closest in history as manchester city and liverpool have gone toe to toe for months... patrick gearey looks at an epic season that's finally coming to a close. heart beats. how much more is there left? how much more can anyone say? the wild week in the champions league gives way to a final stay off in the premier league. both liverpool and man city know that if they blink, they will miss it. the odds are longer for liverpool who must beat wolves and hope that manchester city slip up against brighton. but the last time they were written off against barcelona, they produced a performance for the ages. that result created a kinetic energy which liverpool may be able to use on sunday. the group of players we have here is so special.

if i have to find a very short description for the group i would say it would be pain. that is how they got through the season. there was always pain. it was always hard and difficult. wolves have bitten them before knocking them out of the fa cup, a performance typical of their season where they have been at their best against the top sides. they will lie in wait at anfield in case liverpool dwell on past glory. it is a challenge because lots of matches nobody speaks about. it is all about how unbelievably we played. but this weekend we play wolves and we know that. they have a good spirit, good match plan. it isjust good.

in fact, in premier league terms, the most significant moment of the week came on monday when vincent kompany smashed the winning goal against leicester. it might seem a fading memory but it means manchester city have their fate in their own hands. win against brighton and they are champions again. we are in this position because we won a lot of games, 13 in a row. we have to win two more. one more in the premier league. that is what we have to do. we are relaxed, training good, smiling a lot. the key to the date may be how well brighton play. they are safe from relegation but drew with arsenal last week and proved in the fa cup semifinal against manchester city that they can be difficult. it has become always thinking and doing what you have to do. you have to become crazy for it to happen in the last five or ten minutes but before that you need a plan and follow the plan. that is what we have done all season. the last time the premier league

was decided on the final day of the season, sergio aguero snatched it for city in the last seconds. that seems under until this week. formula one has moved—on to spain this weekend. and today's practise was dominated by mercedes again. championship leader — valterri bottas was just quicker than his team mate lewis hamilton. bottas is a point ahead in the drivers‘ standings after four races. mercedes performance in barcelona will have worried ferrari whose drivers are still yet to win a grand prix this season and charles leclerc could only manage third quickest ahead of sebastian vettel. tennis and simona halep is still on course to re—take the world number one spot. she's through to the final in madrid after beating belinda bencic. she'll play either kiki bertens or sloane stephens in the final and if she wins, halep will take top spot. that's all the sport for now.

lizzie, thank you. let's return to new plans to tackle climate change. we can speak now to tim kruger, senior fellow at the geo—engineering programme at the university of oxford. welcome back. we talked briefly about boats reflecting likes to keep temperatures down, what about artificial forest? how temperatures down, what about artificialforest? how do temperatures down, what about artificial forest? how do they work? these are machines that scrub c02 out of the atmosphere, trees from the c02 as they grow but only so much land you can use, trees can be pa rt much land you can use, trees can be part of the solution but not the whole solution. their ideas for industrial machines that can do the same thing at a larger scale. very briefly, just how effective can any of these measures be in stopping reversing climate change? of these measures be in stopping reversing climate change ?m of these measures be in stopping reversing climate change? it is difficult to say at this point, people need to develop the technology, and develop the policy that would properly regulate and incentivize these techniques. we certainly need them, but we don't know if they can work. it is a bit

like we need a care for a disease but we haven't discovered it yet. we need to put the research and. —— a cure for it is a. who might be interested in funding that? cure for it is a. who might be interested in funding that7m should be governments, but ultimately, the principal of the polluter pays should be held, and the people who cossu pollution should pay for cleaning up the mess they make. but government certainly has a role of the early stages. but you are finding give research is moving a little bit intent on what is happening in cambridge? everybody coming to similar solutions?” is happening in cambridge? everybody coming to similar solutions? i think it is to early stages, there is quite a lot of work going on both at 0xford, glad to see cambridge is doing this as well, but there are many places around the world that are looking at a range of different techniques to see if they can work not just technically but also socially as well. and they would need to be distributed? yes. there is no one solution. that potentially together. we must leave it there. thank you. don't forget you can get

in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcta nyabeckett. thank you forjoining us. goodbye. still a few showers around from earlier. we had storms in the last few hours. it will be drier but there will be some showers around on saturday. not too many, hopefully. this is the forecast through the night so a lot of clear weather and some showers around across eastern counties, lincolnshire and east anglia. there will be a touch of grass frost around northern areas outside of town and chilly in the south, only five degrees in cardiff first thing. tomorrow starts sunny in many areas and then the clouds will bubble up and then we expect showers from north—eastern england and parts of yorkshire and down towards the midlands. but not as many compared to what we had today. 17 the high in cardiff.

the temperatures will gradually rise through the course of the weekend and next week we could see temperatures in the high teens widely across the uk.

now on bbc news. what are the areas in which britain's coastal towns are thriving, or just surviving? bbc look east's susie fowler—watt presents a series of special reports from great yarmouth.

hello, i'm susie fowler—watt in great yarmouth for a look at coastal britain. over the next half hour, we will be looking at some of the particular problems that coastal communities like great yarmouth face, and some of the creative solutions that are making an impact. but first, let's talk to our great yarmouth reporter, andrew turner. andrew, what do you think are the main issues facing the town? i think one of the biggest problems is the amount of spending money in great yarmouth. there is a lot of people here on low incomes, either low—paid or low skill jobs, or otherwise on universal credit and others benefits, which limits the amount of spending money they have. and although the borough council has done a lot of work with re—generations — they've got a master plan

for the town centre, they want to increase trade on the seafront, and tourism as well, working with the private businesses here. but until there's more spending money, than that limits the growth potential for the businesses. and i think that's one of the priorities that needs to be tackled. increase the spending money to raise the gain of great yarmouth, then start bringing more spending money in from the hinterlands and norwich and the wider community where people will come from, either a day trip or a few days away. because these problems are faced by coastal communities around britain, aren't they? in their heyday, they were booming. so what is actually the answer? where is that extra money going to come from? i think the first thing to look at is actually the golden days of the 1960s will probably never come back in the way that they were here. but of course, it's a matter of how you use creativity to get your way out of it. now there's a number of different things going on — they're trying to push for cultural tourism here to celebrate great yarmouth‘s history in the mediaeval period,