someone i'm kasia madera with bbc news. our top story: american president, donald trump, will begin his official state visit to the united kingdom in a few hours time. ahead of the trip, mr trump has waded into the rows over brexit and the race to be tory leader. there are expected to be some protests — but the foreign secretary insists he will be warmly welcomed. the indian air force has suspended its search operation to locate eight missing climbers due to poor weather conditions in the himalayan region. the rescue efforts will resume later on monday. and this video is trending on bbc.com: the italian transport minister has said the government is ready to ban large cruise ships from the giudecca canal in venice — after a ship lost control as it tried to dock. four people were slightly hurt in the incident. that's all. stay with bbc news.

now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur speaks to human rights activist, iyad el—baghdadi. welcome to hardtalk, i am stephen sackur. six months after the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi was murdered in the saudi consulate nsw, three of his associates received warnings that their lives could also be in danger. the source was the cio. one of those want iyad el—baghdadi, a long—time critic of arab authoritarian regimes is my gas today. he lives in political asylum in norway, using social media to challenge what he calls the arab tyra nts. challenge what he calls the arab tyrants. after the demise of the arab spring, is his a lost cause?

iyad el—baghdadi in oslo, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. you live in political asylum in oslo, of course no way deemed to be a very safe place to be and yet, just a few short weeks ago you were informed that there were serious threats to your safety. tell me who the warning came from and what did they suggest what happened to you? the warning came from the knowledge and intelligence who we called the

pst. they showed up at my doorstep and they took me to a meeting at a safe location. where they informed me that they were informed that they we re me that they were informed that they were given a tip that i was a target. it was later reported by the guardian that confirmed that partner agency is indeed the cia. he said they didn't describe the nature of they didn't describe the nature of the threat except to say that i had ci’oss the threat except to say that i had cross has on my back. without wishing to be too sensationalist about it, that sounds really, very serious. the threat itself was described as unspecified. but the seriousness of this is that, to me, as someone seriousness of this is that, to me, as someone who is receiving this news, is that i'm a non—us citizen who does not live in the united

states. and that was the question that rose to my mind. the cia passing a tip to the norwegians about someone who is not american and doesn't live in the united states, seems to me that it indicates a certain level of risk, certain level of threat. you say you are working on something, you knew from the get go that it was something very sensitive and potentially dangerous. so what is it? and are you continuing to work on it? i have been working with my tea m on it? i have been working with my team ona on it? i have been working with my team on a number of projects. i'm only clear to speak about some of these projects because there are other projects that continue to be deeply sensitive and deeply confidential. but i believe most sensitive of these and the one that's probably most public and is most likely to have been the direct cause, the direct piece of work that led to the threats is my work with the investigation team that put

together a report that went to federal authorities indicating that the saudis have festival conducted a campaign againstjeff bezos. the saudis have festival conducted a campaign against jeff bezos. you talked about this connection, it is a complex connection. but three mac owns the washington post. that was a newspaper where jamal khashoggi wrote his columns after the murder, the washington post was perhaps one of the strongest media organisations demanding a complete review of policy toward saudi arabia. the saudis, i dare say, were less than happy with the washington press coverage. sojeff bezos is connected to this whole story. it's your financing you today? he is not. our engagement with the investigation

tea m engagement with the investigation team did not involve any kind of compensation for our time or our work. it wasn't contractual. that said, i would simply add to your description of the situation here that i believe at the time of the murder, jeff bezos has found themselves in a quandary and a complex fire. this is a man who owned the washington post for which jamal khashoggi worked. he was also a man who had business ties and direct relationships with nbs. he had to be decided. we should remind everybody that when you say nbs, you mend the crown prince, mohammed bin salman. the defective lead of power in saudi arabia today. let's talk more about khashoggi. you are an associate of his. he constantly called the fundamental reform in saudi—— called the fundamental reform in saudi —— saudi arabia, you have done the same thing. your ira —— the arab

current manual and website and blogs are consistently targeting saudi arabia is one of the arab countries is most in need of an end to authoritarianism and repression. where you surprised when khashoggi was murdered and so that consulate building in istanbul? yes, i think eve ryo ne building in istanbul? yes, i think everyone was surprised to stop i don't think we expect the worst case scenario to be a murder. to be honest, when i heard the news, i thought the worst case scenario, thigh pursuit —— the absolute nightmare would be the rendition. kidnapping, taking him to saudi arabia and forcing him to read a statement on video saying, i returned home of my own will. we really never expected they would go this far. you have used your significant social media residents, twitter, there is forms of social media and blogging as well, to, in

the wake of the khashoggi matter, try and persuade people around the world to change their views of saudi arabia and crown prince mohammed bin salman in particular. would you accept that, here we are seven or eight months on and you have failed? well, it's an interesting question. the world, when it comes to nbs as a reformer, that image isjust gone. anyone today won't accept him as a liberal reformer. the only reason he continues to wield this power, he continues to wield this power, he continues to wield this power, he continues to be unaccountable, is because the administration in the world that is most capable of holding him to account continues to be his guest enabler and of course, imean to be his guest enabler and of course, i mean to personalities, to particular people, donald trump and more importantly kushner of the united states was not widely said

jarrod kushner is more important. i believe he is the key enabler here because he has a direct relationship with mohammed bin salman to stop i think he is the gatekeeper to trump in the end. he would like to be personal and pin it on them but isn't it the truth that in the united states, and indeed in london and other western capitals, there is and other western capitals, there is a recognition that fundamentally, saudi arabia remains a key strategic ally ina saudi arabia remains a key strategic ally in a very turbulent region. you hear that in london. i spoke on how to talk to the foreign secretary jeremy hunt about this the other day. he was also extremely careful in his comments about saudi arabia, precisely because of that important strategic relationship. absolutely. you are absolutely correct. this is

actually the quandary over here, saudi arabia is a very important country and it will continue to be a very important country. it is a very important economy, a very important population, very dynamic publishing. and this is why mohammed bin salman is that problematic. it is because he has dismantled this consultative monarchy and established an absolutist resume. he is in a situation where the world needs to continue to engage saudi arabia as you mention, it is an important country. but i think everyone now realises that mohammed bin salman himself is a problem. do they really feel it is strongly as you suggest? because if one looks at what has happened in recent months and yes we can talk about donald trump and partnership in similar words coming out of the uk government but also look at the corporate activity stops

are those big corporations that shied away from the so—called davos in the desert summit that the saudis we re in the desert summit that the saudis were hoping to be a big success last autumn, they've gone back to saudi arabia. the big entertainment conglomerate in the us amc is back building the cinemas in saudi, john flynn, the boss of hsbc bank, he went back to saudi arabia recently saying it is a privilege to be in saudi arabia. larry fink, the super investor from wall street. he sang the changes he sees in saudi arabia are the changes he sees in saudi arabia a re pretty the changes he sees in saudi arabia are pretty amazing. the corporate world as well as the geopolitical world as well as the geopolitical world is still in the in saudi arabia and still backing nbs. -- mohammed bin salman was a it goes back to them being an important country and being a society that need support. i wouldn't want the status quo or ordinary saudis

experience to deteriorate. he is using this very point, the fact that saudi arabia is an important economy, is an important country, is an important ally, to increase the risk of vertical and —— increased political and economic risk stop this is the quandary. it is posed to the world and people like me. to people like you, let's be honest. your message and its captured end your own website, the arab tyranny manual, your message is that, you call them tyrants, have to go but the world looks at what happened in 2011 and the arab spring, the arab uprising and the toppling of authoritarians, whether it be

various figures. they said the chaos that followed, ideas on, frankly many people don't believe that the tyra nts many people don't believe that the tyrants must go because what comes after them might be a whole lot worse. well, this is something, this isa worse. well, this is something, this is a question that i have been asked continuously since 2011. my go—to response is 2.2 m aquatic transitions elsewhere. democratic transitions elsewhere. democratic transitions take time and there —— they are messy matters. this is a 30 year project, 35 year project, a0 year project, 35 year project, a0 year project. we are 80s into it. if you ask question about europe, what did europe —— your possum back transition —— europe's transition look like? he will see countries in freefall. you're going to see terror groups and civil wars, you are going

to see proxy wars you are going to see authoritarian consolidation, refugee ways and you are also going to see popular resistance. let's not forget sudan and algeria now at this moment. what i submit to you is that this is what a democratic transition looks like and these dictators are really standing on the way of the future. dictatorship bring stability. you make an important wondered what i submit to you is that hundreds of thousands are dead in syria, half of the population is displaced, those statistics speak of people who cannot afford for your 30 year experiment, your 30 year gamble on something better to pay off. you don't think humanitarian costs have been so high, maybe it's better to stick with the top authoritarians receive a stop if we ask this question in 19aa, about hitler's germany. when all of these figures,

pamela people in concentration camps came up, imagine if they also, this is enough, let's stick with what we have also imagine that. well if you wa nt to have also imagine that. well if you want to use that metaphor, you have to believe that this is some sort of existential crisis for the arab world where you are equating mohammed bin salman and his authoritarianism with nazis. i would say to you, that if you look at mohammed bin salman and in the round, his commitment to change in saudi arabia, you do see that he is giving you rights to women could in the right to drive, his opening up the right to drive, his opening up the country, there is a different atmosphere, many visitors to saudi arabia comment on it. so to assume that you can compare that brand of authoritarianism with nutters and, as frankly highly questionable. well, nazism is always of course used as the extreme example over here. but let mejust used as the extreme example over here. but let me just say there are

extremists who persecute religious minorities and behead journalist, and there are other extremists. in this case those who torture women's rights activists and run apartheid regimes and dismembered journalist. imean, i regimes and dismembered journalist. i mean, i don't think we should a lwa ys i mean, i don't think we should always be imprisoned in this kind of false dichotomy between worse and worse. i think we can reject both. false dichotomy between worse and worse. i think we can reject bothlj understand worse. i think we can reject both.|j understand what you are saying, i am just thinking about where you sit. through no fault of your own, used to bea through no fault of your own, used to be a resident in the uae. you are forced out and you claimed and got political asylum in oslo. but it does mean you can fire off your extremely fiery web blog posts and twitter comments re— —— commentary, to the arab world, telling arabs that they should no longer accept, for example, the repression of the sissi regime in egypt. egypt is a very interesting example, because sissi, thanks to what many call a coup d'etat, has imposed a form of

military rule in egypt, but he has delivered economic growth. it will be nearly 60% this year. he has won billions of dollars in new investment, particularly from china, and he would argue that he has replaced the government, the muslim brotherhood government, that was taking egypt down the path of chaos. well, in the case of sisi particularly, i mean, i'vejust finished setting in the oslo freedom forum with a bunch of egyptian activists, and the fact is that, i mean, those figures really do not reflect the reality, the everyday reality, of egyptians. because even though gdp is increasing, and this is not only a problem in egypt, by the way, but in many countries in the way, but in many countries in the world, inequality is still rising. the resilience of society, the resilience of this regime, is really being eaten away by this... you know, by sisi's authoritarianism. but i would also add some context over here. of course, the point that you lead with is that it's easy for me to sound of

these things from exile. the fact is that the majority of... let me just tell you that, for example, listeners on our podcast, the majority, the top two cities, are riyadh and jeddai, the majority of people who consume our material are in the arab world. so what do you do, mrel—baghdadi? in the arab world. so what do you do, mr el—baghdadi? you say you are committed to build civil society, to create new institutions in the arab world, that will help on the road to freedom and democracy. but in practical terms, in this repressive environment that we are talking about, what can you actually do? yes, so this basically leads us back to our projects, and of course, because we are a small team, we are a small foundation, i mean, maybe the word foundation gives this impression of bigness, but truly we are funded by local organisations in norway, but also by our audience, so we don't have a lot of resources. so

we don't have a lot of resources. so we have to be very realistic about what we can achieve. and this is why we always look for, you know, projects or investigations or things to work on which have — which are, you know, very sensitive, very damaging to dictators, but also within our reach, within our capacity as a small team. can you give me some examples? well, a lot of these projects, as i mentioned, i've been instructed not to talk about because they are sensitive and because there might be a reason why iam under because there might be a reason why i am under threat. but one example, of course, is the bezos investigation, where we are helping the richest man in the world, a man who has been targeted by the saudi regime, by mbs himself, to put together a report which would go to the fbi and would actually lead to some kind of institutional action, because this is, as you can imagine, national security matter. there are

other projects like that, that we are working on, of course, and the majority of are things we cannot disclose. but it's just majority of are things we cannot disclose. but it'sjust i'm very mindful, because they lived in egypt in the 1990s, and even then, i'm mindful of the degree to which there was suspicion, perhaps fuelled by the state media, it has to be said, but suspicion of ngos, many of which received funding from outside the country, particularly the united states, but countries like norway as well. you know, you could think about the national democratic institute and other organisations, which were portrayed as somehow being, you know, tools and puppets of western influence. how do you avoid that! well, i mean, this is a question, of course, there is absolutely a question that we think about very deeply. because we don't wa nt to about very deeply. because we don't want to be integrated in this kind of think—tank kind of ecosystem. and this is why our— the backbone of our support continues to be our

audience, i mean, the people who consume our material and the people who donate to us, you know, online. this is the backbone of our support, this continues to be the main funding source that we have. i'm mindful that not just in funding source that we have. i'm mindful that notjust in the middle east, but around the world, we are ina east, but around the world, we are in a sense in an era of strongman rule. you know, one could look at the examples of china and russia and say that perhaps sisi or mbs are looking more to them for their political inspiration than they are to the democracies of western europe. do you believe that you can win this battle against strongman rule? i think the wind in our sails is history itself, let's say. i mean, isa is history itself, let's say. i mean, is a dearfriend says, history is in good hands. i think the fact is in good hands. i think the fact is that these dictators, since 201a, when we had this rise of a counterrevolution, an axis of arab counterrevolution, an axis of arab counterrevolution, we were really concerned that, you know, what are

they going to do at this point? because the arab spring represented a vision, it represented certain values, certain convictions, that people really went down to the street and died for. i mean, when people actually go down to the streets and take bullets, and then go down to the streets again and chance again for liberty and for dignity, these are convictions, these are no longer slogans. we thought, you know, now that they are backin thought, you know, now that they are back in control, they are going to actually work on presenting an alternative vision. and they have failed, they have not presented a vision, or whatever failed, they have not presented a vision, orwhatevervision failed, they have not presented a vision, or whatever vision they presented, really, or whatever social contract they put on the table, is really something which does not inspire the average arab citizens. this is why you see a continuation of the arab spring. you see it in sudan, you see it in algeria. so this is not over, the story is not over at all. interesting you say the story is not over. one running through theme

through this interview has been the importance of saudi arabia. are you seriously seem to be that you can imagine revolutionaries on the streets of riyadh and jeddah? you can imagine the monarchy being toppled in saudi arabia? and if you can, what do you think the places it? well, i mean, let me qualify that first. i think there is an arabic saying, and i'm going to say it in arabic and then loosely translated. it means the last remedy, the last cure, is cauterisation. it means... what this means to me is that revolution, popular uprising, is really the last remedy. in an ideal world, you don't wa nt to remedy. in an ideal world, you don't want to go there, you don't want to get there. it's really when all avenues of change have been closed in yourface avenues of change have been closed in your face that you actually go there. ideally, we would have a change, you know, a more controlled change. we would have actually, you know, serious reform, where the ruling elites in certain countries realise that this is not good even for us, this is not stable, this is not sustainable. that's what we would like to see happening, because, you know, let's face it, popular uprising is a very, very

dangerous gamble in the end, and you only go there when all other avenues are closed. and talking of danger, we must end, but i want to us personally, we talked about the perceived threat to you, i happen to know you have at least one child in school in norway, and that created some fuss when the warnings first hit you a few weeks ago. what would it take for you to feel that this fight you are in is no longer worth it? this is a really, really difficult question, stephen, because this is very personal. and you brought up my son, and... i want to raise a son who realises that dignity is worth our life. our dignity is worth our life. our dignity is worth our life. our dignity is worth our life, and this isa dignity is worth our life, and this is a message i sent him when i first arrived in 201a in oslo, in a speech i gave for the oslo freedom forum. our dignity, or we die trying. our liberty, or we die trying. and again, this is not a slogan, this is

alive's mission. not for me, i am only one person, i am only one voice here. there are thousands of people like me, even millions of people like me, even millions of people like me, even millions of people like me, he simply don't have this kind of platform and don't have this voice. and i have to channel that voice. and i have to channel that voice. iyad el-baghdadi, we have to leave it there, but i thank you very much indeed forjoining me on hardtalk. hello. sunday was a real mixed bag of weather right across the british isles. for some, it was rain and puddles.

elsewhere particularly in norfolk, 28.8 was recorded, making it the hottest day of the year so far and, as ever, our weather watchers were right on the spot. now, that weather front eventually dragged what was left of the rain into the near continent into scandinavia, leaving behind a big area of low pressure which will dominate scotland's weather for the next few days. many isobars on the chart as well so some gusty conditions there. that weather front will have had the effect of dragging heat away from the british isles and shovelling it into the continent. and our air will come from the atlantic, so a fresher feel to start the new day on monday. showers from the word go. gusty showers at that with the odd rumble of thunder in there, i don't doubt. that's going to be the case for northern and western parts of scotla nd and northern ireland. a dry enough day, but a speckling of afternoon showers running along the breeze from wales and the south—west up towards the midlands and east anglia. from monday into tuesday, as the low pressure centre drifts just a little

further north away from scotland, isobars open out, and we bring in a little secondary low pressure in towards the south—western approaches, spreading the threat of showery bursts of rain through the south—west of wales, western midlands, eventually to northern ireland, northern parts of england, central and southern parts of scotland. and it's only really the farther south—east and maybe the north of scotla nd where during the daylight hours can escape the heaviest of the rainfall. we will complete the journey of that weather front towards the north of scotland overnight from tuesday into wednesday. and then, if we've got the sums right, we will look down towards the near continent because it could be that some moist and muggy air drags the threat of heavy and thundery downpours into the south—eastern quarter of the british isles. elsewhere, it's a decent enough day, with showers in the south—west and still the run into that front, a bit of bother across northern scotland. in between, a pleasant enough day.

then through the evening and overnight again, as i say, some doubt about this but it could be that we drag meaningful rain through parts of the midlands up across eastern england. the bulk of it i think will be found out in the north sea, but there's just the chance it will come a little further west. it's a neat call, as you can see. thursday could be a wet day across the eastern half of the british isles to the best of the sunshine for northern ireland and perhaps the north of scotland.

i'm kasia madera in london. the headlines: coming ready or not — donald trump will begin his state visit to the uk in the next few hours. china defends its actions 30 years on from the tiananmen square crackdown — in a rare public acknowledgment of events. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore, also in the programme: hope is fading, the search for eight missing climbers in the himalayas has suspended due to bad weather. and a 13 story cruise ship crashes into mckee in venice reigniting calls for a ban.