welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: torn apart by the islamic state group, the yazidi families of iraq rebuilding their lives after the fall of is — we have a special report. islamic state group is on the run now, but the pain and the suffering that they've caused has been amplified with tens of thousands of families here in iraq, and in syria too, and that's going to take generations to recover from. america's opioid epidemic — now a major drug company goes on trial in a landmark court case accused of ‘cynical brainwashing'. european leaders meet to thrash out who gets the top eu jobs, and already there's disagreement.

‘we‘re not a dumping ground' — malaysia will send thousands of tons of imported plastic waste back to the countries of origin. and we meet the adrenaline junkies zooming across paris. since the fall of the extremist group, the so—called islamic state, in syria, hundreds of its prisoners have been freed. many are yazidis, a religious minority who were captured and enslaved when is swept through their homeland in sinjar in northern iraq, in 2014. is tried to wipe them out. now, those who survived are trying to rebuild their lives, and reunite broken families. our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville reports from iraq.

five years without play, five years of cruelty, five years a slave. ii—year—old nashaat is now free from the islamic state group's torment. translation: they would buy us children, no matter what the age, and make us servants, and buy women of any age and make them wives. they treated their children nicely, like a piece of gold, but they kicked us out at night to sleep in the garden or the sheepfold. i don't know why they would buy us, if they didn't want to look after us. is brought ruin to his town of sinjar, in iraq. not farfrom here, they murdered the men, and then they took the women and children, sold into a life of servitude. most thought they'd never see sinjar again. many did not. terror that is brought here to the yazidi people was genocide, says

the united nations. for his last years in syria, forced to convert to islam, he was alone with monsters. his father had escaped, but his mother, sister and brothers were sold to is fighters and their families. nashaat‘s family was traded half a dozen times. four years ago, nashaat‘s mother's freedom was bought. for fawzia, here in the pink, it was a bittersweet moment. nashaat and his sisterjolene were still trapped in syria with is. granted asylum in germany, she had no peace while her children were missing. translation: our kids were crying. each hour, is would come and take the young women and the children from their mothers. we were forced to live in disgrace and humiliation. they treated us like sheep. they told me, "a man has bought you." i said, "i'd rather be killed

than go with that man." then in march this year, nashaat‘s sister, 9—year—old jolene, was found. safely in iraq, she tries to forget about the last five years of work, cruelty and forced prayer. she speaks rarely now. but this is all in the past. now, nashaat and jolene wait at an airport in iraq. their mum is flying in from germany. so much has stood in the way of this embrace. weeping. under the same roof for the first time in years, the family can

finally sleep without fear. we all know the islamic state group's crimes on the battlefield, but this is where it's really felt. they tried to destroy this family. they tried to wipe out the entire yazidi people. but they didn't, they failed. islamic state group is on the run now, but the pain and the suffering that they've caused has been amplified with tens of thousands of families here in iraq, and in syria too, and that's going to take generations to recover from. but countless other yazidi families will never be reunited. the yazidis were a people that their country and the west failed to protect. despite this, nashaat‘s family endured, and that in itself is another victory against the islamic state group. quentin sommerville, bbc news, northern iraq. don't forget you can find more

on the demise of the so—called islamic state group and find out what happens next for the jihadist groups still active. just go to bbc.com/news. or you can also download the bbc news app. the legal battle over who's responsible for america's opioid crisis has begun in an oklahoma court. the drug maker, johnson &johnson, is accused of carrying out marketing campaigns that deceptively promoted the benefits of opioids to treat chronic rather than short—term pain and underplayed the potentialfor addiction. let's get more from our north america correspondent, peter bowes. well, yes, this isjust one of many, many cases pending. up to 2000 of the cases could come to court later this year. this is being seen as a landmark case, potentially a benchmark case as well. johnson &

johnson accused of essentially deceiving people about the potential to give nature of these drugs, going back many, many years of flooding the market and not being upfront about the addictive nature of these drugs that are causing so many problems — approximately 130 americans die every day and the numbers have increased sixfold. numbers dying sixfold since 1999 and the state of oklahoma says it has caused a tremendous amount of money and that is why it's taking the company to court. peter, a benchmark case, a landmark because of the impact it would have on many other cases. johnson &johnson impact it would have on many other cases. johnson & johnson involved impact it would have on many other cases. johnson &johnson involved in another serious case as well? yes. there have been a number of judgements against the company regarding its talcum powder products that many women say has resulted in

them getting cancer. now the company has denied responsibility in that, but there have beenjudgements against them and litigation in those cases continues. so taken together, this simply adds to the company's legal woes. peter, thank you very much for that. let's get some of the day's other news. senior un officials have warned that a humanitarian catastrophe is developing in north—west syria, where millions of people are threatened by fierce fighting. they are urging the security council to protect civilians in the region. the us supreme court has agreed to compromise on whether indiana's strict abortion law should be reinstated. the justices chose not to rule on part of the law which would prohibit all abortions carried out on the basis of foetal characteristics such as gender, race and disability. an elderly man has died in ohio, when a tornado picked up a vehicle and smashed it into his house. many more people have been injured, and severe storms and tornados have left millions in the

region without power. in ohio, the damage was so severe that snow ploughs were used to clear away debris. raids by kosovan police in the serb—dominated north of the region have sharply raised tensions, and european union officials are urging kosovo and serbia to show maximum restraint. several people were injured and at least 20 arrested in what kosovan authorities describe as "an operation against organised crime." malaysia has ordered several thousand tonnes of imported plastic waste to be sent back to the countries it came from, including the uk. the government in kuala lumpur says much of the refuse was imported illegally and it won't allow the country to be used as an international dumping ground. 0ur south east asia correspondent, jonathan head, reports. importing ways from europe, the us andjapan importing ways from europe, the us and japan has long been a profitable business in asia. environmental

regulations looser and a workforce willing to tackle the hazardous job of processing it makes as a cheaper place to send it. that is now coming to an end. responding to growing public complaints, the malaysian environment minister took reporters to the country's main port and showed them nine containers filled with mixed plastic and electronic waste. she ordered them sent back to their countries of origin. malaysians, like any other developing country, country's, have a right to clean out, sustainable resources and a clean environment to live in, just like citizens of a developed nation. the philippines government has also demanded that canada take back 69 containers of rubbers which have been writing in filipino ports for several years. tyla n says filipino ports for several years. tylan says it will ban all imports of plastic and e—waste within the next two years. as there is building on indonesia to follow suit. all

these countries have experienced a dramatic increase in waste imports since china banned them last year. much of the waste is wrongly labelled, and paul law enforcement means it is often disposed of u nsafely. means it is often disposed of unsafely. jonathan head reporting there. eight years after the meltdown at the fukushima nuclear plant injapan, people are finally being allowed to return to their homes. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletic events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started forming at 7:00am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full—scale riot, as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into the juve ntus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control.

the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today. he was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 11,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri haliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has announced she has left the spice girls. i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, the girl power. not geri. why? this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the bbc meets the yazidi families of iraq, torn apart by the islamic state group, who are now rebuilding their lives after the fall of the jihadists. a major drugs company goes on trial in a landmark us court case

about the opioid epidemic. it's killed nearly a thousand americans every week. there's a top—level scrap developing in the european union — a polite but intense disagreement over new appointments to the eu's seniorjobs. the two big powers in europe, the germans and the french, have very different views over who should become president of the european commission. and reaching consensus is likely to be more difficult, because the recent elections have left the eu so fragmented. gareth barlow reports. france and germany have long been the political power houses in europe, and though the traditional parties lost their majority is following last week was my collections, it seems angela merkel and emmanuel macron still want to exert their influence. at a meeting of eu leaders in brussels, mrs merkel was pushing for one of her allies to be the next president of the eu commission. emmanuel macron has his own preferences for the next eu leaders. generation mark the key for me is that people in the most

sensitive positions to share our project should be the most charismatic, creative and competent, that's all. i don't have any other criteria —— translation: the key for me. a time when europe is increasingly divided, the leader is keen to find unity. as parties on the far right and far left also gain ground. the presidents of the european council, donald tusk says despite division, brexit had brought people together. i have no doubt that one of the reasons why people of the continent voted for pro— european majority is also brexit. as european see what that means in the practice, they also draw conclusions. brexit has been a vaccine against anti—eu propaganda and fake news. the eu has committed balancing gender, geography and political affiliation when it feels its top jobs.

geography and political affiliation when it feels its topjobs. the geography and political affiliation when it feels its top jobs. the 28 leaders will need to find balance amongst themselves if they want to secure the future of europe as they have known it. gareth barlow, abc news. the release of two reuters journalists in myanmar this month has been widely welcomed, but democracy campaigners are now warning of an increasing attack on freedom of speech. one group claims around 50 journalists have been charged since aung san suu kyi's government took office in 2016, with dozens of other activists arrested after taking part in peaceful protests and artistic performances. our correspondent, nick beake reports from yangon. this is a comedy act that could have landed you in jail during this is a comedy act that could have landed you injail during the time of the military dictatorship. this is a performance at the expense of the powers that be, but those who thought officials would see the the funny side

were mistaken. when generals watched it on facebook, they had the performers arrested for painting the armed forces in a bad light. this morning, this woman is going to court accompanied by her mother and sister. they have no idea if she will be coming home tonight. this situation is very bad, we didn't make violence, and we just went to the streets and performed in front of the people and it really shows what other people are feeling, but we didn't dare speak out, so this is our freedom of speech. do you regret that you have been charged? not at all. the case held up as myanmar‘s most high—profile attack on freedom of speech was that of two journalists who were jailed as the exposed a massacre of rohingya muslims by the military. they may now be free but many others are being hauled before the courts, including this woman, who alongside six friends has just been charged with defaming the military.

this became a regular sight during five decades of military dictatorship, but now, under a civilian government, there are growing numbers ofjournalists, activists, and artists being prosecuted. democracy activists are trying to sound the alarm. translation: this case was brought by the army, so are the other cases. the civilian government cannot stop them. but they are not doing anything to try to stop them so the freedom of speech is getting worse. the government of nobel peace prize—winner aung san suu kyi has insisted it will deliver legal reform but has so far failed to do so, and the army, out of government but still in control, is trying to jail more and more citizens. the filmmaker who called

for the generals to get out of politics, the farmer who told aung san suu kyi at a public meeting that the military had grabbed his land, the newspaper editor who published reports of the latest fighting in the western rakhine state. back at this court house, this woman is taken to prison to await trial. her mother will not see her tonight. "is she really a criminal?", she asks. "how can they treat her like this? "they didn't even give me a chance to hold her." the traditional burmese performers, who now face four years behind bars for expressing how the country feels. myanmar‘s leaders of tomorrow, prisoners of today. taliban forces have said they must

leave the country for any deal to be reached. it marks 100 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between pakistan and afghanistan. the ex—wife of amazon founder jeff bezos has promised to give half her fortune to charity. mackenzie bezos is estimated to be worth almost 37 billion dollars and divorced mr bezos earlier this year. she joins billionaires such as investor warren buffett and microsoft founder bill gates in committing to the so called giving pledge. the wife of a jailed azerbaijani banker has become the first person in britain to have property confiscated under new legal powers after she spent more than $20 million in harrods. the national crime agency believes her husband stole their money from a state bank he once ran. nepalese authorities have retrieved ten tonnes of rubbish from mount everest, as this year's climbing season comes to an end. global warming means that glaciers are melting and revealing waste including plastic bottles,

empty cans and discarded climbing gear. as a grim reminder of the dangers facing mountaineers, four bodies have also been recovered from the slopes. eight years after the meltdown at the fukushima nuclear plant injapan, people are finally being allowed to return to their homes. they were evacuated when a huge tsunami struck the area. just under half the land in the small town of okuma has been cleaned up. so, are people actually now taking the chance to go home? rupert wingfield hayes sent this report from there. oops, i pulled the whole lot out. salad fresh from the fields of fu kushima. speaks japanese. i am eating their salad without asking.

after eight years as a nuclear refugee, this 70—year—old man is back in his fields. this is very interesting, this man has come back here, planted his crops. this is basically for his own consumption and to experiment, to see what grows here, whether it's safe after it's grown. he says they have taken the top five centimetres of soil, it's been removed from his fields and from his garden here, and he said consequently it is not nearly as good as it used to be. on a nearby field, in giant letters, the japanese words "we came back". they were planted by this 80—year—old man. translation: i have been back many times, so i am not worried about radiation at all. only a tiny part of okuma has been reopened, the rest remaining completely off—limits.

as we have driven down into okuma town proper, the old town, the atmosphere completely changed. you can see the gates, abandoned buildings, nothing has been touched here for eight years. the centre of the town is four kilometres from the nuclear reactors of fu kushima. before the disaster, 11,000 people lived here. you can see by the door post here, the name of the man who took us on patrol this morning. this is his house. he couldn't come with us because he is busy, but he can't come back here, and this is how it has been for the last eight years or more, because this is considered a high radiation zone still. this is a hotspot, and you can see it is because water has gathered here, and the water tends to, when it washes down from the hills, it tends to bring a lot of radiation with it.

you can see just this local area he has a particularly high reading. this is the first time i have been back here in the exclusion zone around the powerplant in about 3.5 years, but it doesn't get any less strange. radiation levels, we have taken measurements, they are much higher than outside the exclusion zone, around ten to 15 times higher. whether the levels here are a danger to human health is open to debate. some scientists say you could quite safely live here without much damage to your health. others say that can't be determined. whatever the truth about that, this place is now pretty much abandoned for the foreseeable future. there are no plans to clean it up, no plans for people to move back here. it's being called a once in a lifetime journey. on the 130th birthday of the eiffel tower, members of the public have been offered a hair—raising trip.

as gail maclellan reports, it's not for the faint—hearted. the eiffel tower, paris's 324 metre tall wrought iron landmark. your first thought is probably not to hurl yourself off it. tourists gawp in amazement. from today untiljune the second, those lucky enough to have wa nted the second, those lucky enough to have wanted a ticket in an online ballot will climb to the second level of the monument, 115 metres, and spend a terrifying 60 seconds flying across paris to end up at the other end. it's huge, i didn't know when i woke up this morning i didn't know it was going to be this big. the temporary zip line celebrating

the french open, coincides with the 75th anniversary of the eiffel tower. translation: the feeling of smoother than it would seem, the start is incredible because it feels like we're going to fall but it is actually very smooth. and it is huge, the length is huge. it great. 7 million people climb up the iron lady every year, but only 260 of them will get to fly back down. this is a snowboarder practising on the sand dunes in a country known for warm, tropical weather. it is central vietnam. vietnam has no ski slopes and most people here have never seen snow. but a handful of athletes are pioneering a push to promote winter sports despite lack of funding promote winter sports despite lack offunding or promote winter sports despite lack of funding or places to train. thanks to that, it will field its

first team to compete injapan, but sadly no medals. hello. it looks like being a very warm start to the weekend across some parts of the uk, but right now we are in a spell of cooler weather, there has been a bit of rain, there's another chance of rain on the way during wednesday. an atlantic weather system pushes outbreaks of rain eastwards is the day goes on. here it comes. ahead of that, with clearing skies, it'll be a fairly chilly start to wednesday with a of dry weather around, and a few showers rushing through the northern isles. single figures for most, and cold enough across parts of northern england, especially in scotland. in the coldest spots, a touch of frost. already that weather system coming in, outbreaks of rain feeding towards western england, into wales, northern ireland, and on towards southern scotland. feeding further east during the day, early sunshine

across eastern england, cloud building, maybe a shower, not a huge amount of rain arriving until late afternoon or into the evening. in northern scotland, it will have the lion's share of the sunshine. notice the wind switching direction, the breeze moving from a northerly more to a southerly, and that will bring in some warmer air, but on wednesday nowhere is particularly warm. heavy showers in the northern isles, and single figures for some of us. on the south—westerly breeze, some warmer air drawing in from the south—west, more humid on wednesday night into thursday morning. plenty of cloud and outbreaks of rain. chilly in northern scotland, and elsewhere temperatures starting the day on thursday into double figures, mild and muggy start to the day. we will draw in ever warmer air, particularly in parts of england and wales, on through the rest of the week into the start of the weekend. weather fronts never

far away from scotland, northern ireland, north—west england and north wales at times, and on thursday plenty of cloud around, it feels humid, some patchy rain. some cloud breaking through central and eastern areas of england, and this is where we will get to see some warm and sunny spells coming in. the temperatures peaking in the upper 20s in some areas. cloud and outbreaks of rain in scotland and northern ireland, but that will hold temperatures down. for some it will be into the midteens. the weather system will move south at some point, uncertainty over the timing, but at the moment it looks like the warmth of england and will peak on saturday, then it will turn cooler and feel less humid by sunday.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the bbc has been speaking to many of the yazidi families of iraq, trying to rebuild their lives, after the fall of the so—called islamic state group. since the extremists were defeated in syria, hundreds of yazidis who'd been captured and enslaved are now free and reuniting with their broken families. a landmark trial, linked to the opioid epidemic that is killing nearly a thousand americans each week has begun in oklahoma. state authorities are suing the pharmaceutical giant, johnson &johnson, accusing it of deceit in the way it marketed highly addictive painkillers. the company denies any wrongdoing. there is disagreement developing between france and germany over who should be the new president of the european commission. following last week's elections, germany is keen on one of its nationals securing the role, following the shift in the parliament's political balance —