welcome to newsday. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: iran says it had nothing to do with the attacks on two oil tankers. but the united states thinks otherwise. it is the assessment of the united states government that the islamic republic of iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the gulf of omagh today. after a controversial and difficult two years in the white house — press secretary sarah sanders confirms she's quitting at the end of the month. i'm samantha simmonds in london. also in the programme. calm descends on hong kong as government offices in the financial district stay shut

following the worst violence in the city for decades. a photo exhibition by the wife of one of china's most famous dissidents, gives a rare insight into her life. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 7am in singapore, midnight in london and 3am in the gulf of oman, where two oil tankers were hit by explosions on thursday. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has accused iran of carrying out the attacks. a us navy destroyer is now heading to the scene. tehran has denied having anything to do with the incidents. here's our chief international correspondent lyse doucet. this morning in the gulf, a first oil tanker set ablaze, ignited by an explosion.

crew members on this norwegian vessel were rescued by a passing cargo ship. these scenes filmed by iran's navy. an hour later, another tanker, japanese owned, also hit by an explosion. it's still not clear what caused these latest attacks in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. today in washington, unequivocal condemnation of iran. these unprovoked attacks present a clear threat to international peace and security, a blatant assault on the freedom of navigation and an unacceptable campaign of escalating tension by iran. the attacks took place close to the strategic strait of hormuz, vital to world trade, where tensions have been mounting for months between regional rivals. on one side there are arab states including key us allies in the gulf. on the other side is iran.

at its narrowest point, the strait of hormuz is just 21 miles wide, and there are two lanes for tankers to pass in opposite directions. a fifth of the world's oil exports, almost 19 million barrels a day, passes through. so attacks on tankers can threaten oil supplies, drive up prices and fuel the tensions many worry could tumble towards war. this was meant to be a week of diplomacy. japan's prime minister, shinzo abe, is in tehran, hoping to help ease tensions, only to see them escalate. today he met iran's top leader, ayatollah khamenei. iran calls the timing of these attacks are suspicious, and reject any responsibility. iran is also blamed for this. an attack yesterday on an airport in saudi arabia, 26 injured. yemen's houthi rebels, aligned to iran, say this was their work. two weeks ago, king salman called arab and muslim leaders to mecca,

islam's holiest site, urging them to condemn iran. saudi officials told me then they don't want a war, but some sources spoke of a proportionate response. so what's next? last month the us moved an aircraft carrier and bombers to the gulf. president trump says he wants to talk to iran. they won't, not while he imposes crippling economic sanctions. everyone says they don't want a war, but everyone is on edge. lyse doucet, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. us president donald trump has announced that white house press secretary sarah sanders will be leaving her post at the end of this month. just hours earlier a government watchdog said another white house aide kellyanne conway should be fired. our correspondent in washington, chris buckler, has more details about mrs sander‘s departure. sarah sanders has been the face of the white house at times and the

voice of the president. and sometimes that can be a difficult role, given that president trump can be more vocal and outspoken than many of his predecessors and there have been times when you've seen at the podium during those white house press briefings, they were once more common than they are now, standing there and struggling with what she needed to say, like that time there was the family separation policy for immigrants coming to the border and pa rents immigrants coming to the border and parents being separated from their children. she did struggle with that at times and during the mueller report, see said she had lied at one time when fbi agents supported the president in his action removing the fbi directorjames kony but she says she is leaving to pursue other roles outside of the white house to spend some time with her own children and actually the president has been very supportive of her commerce describing her as a warrior. while

she is going, someone else‘s staying despite being controversial. kelly and conway, another spokesperson for the white house and advise of the president has been found to breach the hatch act act, the office of the special council, however the obvious of the president is dismissing that, despite the fact that she has been pa rt despite the fact that she has been part of artisan accusations. also making news today. the suspected white supremacist, brenton tarrant, has pleaded not guilty to all charges related to a mass shooting at two mosques in christchurch, new zealand.51 people were killed and dozens more wounded in the march attack. tarrant is facing 51 counts of murder, a0 of attempted murder and engaging in a terrorist act. cyclone vayu has changed course, sparing india's western state of gujarat. authorities said the region would remain on high alert as strong winds and heavy rain lashed coastal areas. hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from the area as a precaution.

tourism officials in nepal say post—mortems, carried out on climbers killed this year on mount everest, suggest their deaths were not the result of over—crowding on the mountain. instead, they died of altitude sickness, physical weakness or exposure to severe weather. as many as eleven climbers are thought to have died on everest this year. the former british foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has taken a commanding early lead in the contest to become the uk's next prime minister. in the first round of voting by conservative mps to choose the party's new leader, mrjohnson received more than a—hundred votes. further votes next week will whittle the field down to two candidates. an ancient tower in the afghan city of ghazni has collapsed, raising questions over the government's ability to protect the country's artefacts. footage from social media shows a fort in the old city crumbling. the tower was one of dozens already destroyed in the city. officials blamed heavy rain,

but some critics accuse the government of negligence. ghazni's islamic and pre—islamic architecture is widely admired although war has taken its toll. let's turn now to hong kong, where after days of protests — a pause, in the fight over the proposed extradition bill. as of thursday evening, 81 people have been injured and 11 others arrested. but what next for the extradition bill? the president of hong kong's legislative council, andrew leung kwan—yuen, had said that he wanted the extradition bill to be passed by 20th june. but with the debates postponed, that is looking very unlikely. legislators are also due to begin their summer recess around mid—july. if the bill isn't passed by then, it will have to be brought up again after the recess, giving protesters the entire summer to organise further opposition against it. so for now — a waiting game. let's turn now to our

correspondent sharanjit leyl who's in hong kong. there has been a lull in the protests 7 there has been a lull in the protests? yes, because it's two days after those protests and use all the footage of the violence, the pitched battles between protesters and police that took place two days ago. it isa police that took place two days ago. it is a day later from the same spot we we re it is a day later from the same spot we were out yesterday, i should add, and yesterday, what a difference a day has made because yesterday, there were piles of rubbish in the streets, simply thrown all over the place and a day later, it's all been cleaned up. the traffic is flowing again. people very much going back to their regular lives this friday morning here in hong kong but if you ta ke morning here in hong kong but if you take a look really closely, there is still some evidence of the kind of violence we saw, the thousands of protesters who have filled these streets on wednesday. you can see

this, barriers being forced from the side of the road, the physical number of people here trying to blockade these roads to prevent lawmakers from debating that controversial extradition bill in the legislative council complex behind me. what we know of course is that some government buildings remain closed, including the complex there and there are still signs of police presence around, we are seeing police wandering around but as you say, a lull in the protest and people still very much going about their regular day again back to work. are more protests being planned? yes, in fact, i should say on sunday, there will be plans amongst organisers saying to bring together more protesters. sunday is crucial, it will be a week since, last week on sunday, where we saw a million people, organisers said, gathering here in the streets,

showing their displeasure. the mood here of course very much in shock in hong kong. it's the worst violence people had seen for decades. rubber bullets being fired. teargas as well. a number of arrests have been made. even the territory's leader carrie lam has described it as organised rights. the sense of what's been happening over the last week, what they've seen in terms of television footage, what they've participated in themselves, emotions are going to be running high because there is still a lot of anger, a lot of rage. we were talking to a group of rage. we were talking to a group of students, volunteer medics, who had come up here to try and help potentially any more people getting injured. they are still here two days later. they've got to stand essentially and they say they sense real disappointment, rage and frustration at their government. there is no sign the hong kong

government is backing down on this controversial extradition bill. but for now, life is but a normal. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the wife of china's most famous dissident spent years under house arrest: now an exhibition of her photos show how she suffered. also on the programme: some of the oldest trees in the world are dying. researchers are trying to understand why. the day the british liberated the falklands. and by tonight, british troops had begun the task of disarming the enemy. in the heart of the west german capital, this was gorby—mania

at its height. the crowd packed to see the man who for them, has raised great hopes for an end to the division of europe. michaeljackson was not guilty on all charges. the screams of the crowd, a testament to his popularity and their faith in his innocence. as long as they'll pay to go see me, i'll get out there and kick 'em down the hill. what does it feel like to be the first man to go across the channel by your own power? it feels pretty neat. feels marvellous, really. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm samantha simmonds in london. our top stories: iran denies it but the united states blames tehran for the attacks on two oil tankers.

one of donald trump's closest allies is leaving the white house, and another is staying put despite advice that she should be fired. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the hong kong—based south china morning post is focusing on this week's demonstrations against the extradition bill. its front page features comments from the city's commissioner of police, who outlines the extent of the violence and the lengths his officers went to in order to control it. the london based financial times is looking at the impact of the tanker attacks on the markets. as this graph shows, the incidents pushed the price of brent oil up by as much as 4.5%. and the japan times is looking at the meeting in tehran between japanese prime

minister shinzo abe and iranian president hassan rouhani. abe is the first leader of his country to visit iran in 41 years. those other papers. —— are the papers. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? yes, let's look at what is trending right now. president donald trump has caused a splash on twitter after he tweeted to say he had met the "prince of whales", misspelling the country's name as the mammal. mrtrump was intending to refer to prince charles, and subsequently deleted the tweet, before correcting his mistake. let's return to our main story — the explosions on two oil tankers in the gulf of oman. geneive abdo is a resident scholar at the arabia foundation where she specializes in iranian geopolitics. the us secretary came out very quickly, he is very confident that eran is behind the attack on the two tankers. he seemed to have evidence.

i tankers. he seemed to have evidence. , what is your analysis? —— tankers. he seemed to have evidence. ,what is your analysis? —— iran. let's not forget they have been several attacks now that are not necessarily aimed at the united states directly but are basically leave to be initiated by iran or its p rox i es/ leave to be initiated by iran or its proxies/ proxies. the trumpet ministration does not want to go to warand trump has ministration does not want to go to war and trump has said this very specifically, at the same time, they cannot allow these attacks to happen. iran has been very insistent it was not behind the attack, who might have reason to provoke or instigate to try and cause conflict between the two countries?” instigate to try and cause conflict between the two countries? i do think there isn't absolute evidence at this point but we can assume the most likely suspect which is probably higher than elements inside

iran or those operating outside that wa nt to iran or those operating outside that want to make sure that there are not negotiations that are renewed between the united states and iran. it is not a coincidence that the japanese prime minister was in iran when it happened, he came there on the behest of president trump. to try to upstart these negotiations again. something that the higher than elements inside and outside do not want to happen. they don't want the negotiations to continue, they wa nt the negotiations to continue, they want the situation to escalate. the negotiations to continue, they want the situation to escalatem it is proved that iran or possibly the hardliners or government authorisation was behind this attack, what happens next? well, i think that the united states will try to apply more pressure if that is possible without any sort of military confrontation and it is important to note that secretaries

state m e nts important to note that secretaries statements today did not focus on a military confrontation, that's not something the united states wants. it's highly unlikely that the united states would ever initiate direct confrontation with iran, country to country, but i do think there is a military plan in place and if, for example, us civilians are injured or us interests are targeted and destroyed, then we are a different ball game. so that is the game changer. i think that the united states will continue its pressure, it is clear that there are elements that are trying to sabotage any initiative for negotiations again, that might include broader issues. that are outside the nuclear deal, this is something that the conservatives inside iran do not wa nt to conservatives inside iran do not want to happen. i think that we will see an escalation of the conflict continue but unless us interest are

specifically targeted, i don't anticipate that the united states will initiate any sort of military confrontation. 10 years ago researchers in california launched a long—term project to track the life histories of some of the world's oldest trees. they wanted to find out why some of the giant species in yosemite national park are dying out. the first decade of this ambitious plan has already seen dramatic changes in the forst, with wildfires and dought taking their toll. peter bowes reports from yosemite. this is yosemite national park, a vast expanse of forest land and some really breathtaking views. when i came here ten years ago i met with a group of scientists just embarking on a long—term project to track the life histories of these trees, some of the oldest and tallest in the world. we have understood from previous research that the number of large

diameter trees is less than it used to be. what we would like to do is investigate why that is. i've come back to see how things have changed. it's right down there, isn't it? just a kilometre away are the 35,000 trees. shall we go have a look? let's do it. let's go. the tree right over there is the same tree that we filmed. so, here we can see the tag. the same tag, it was fresh ten years ago and we can see the discolouration by the heat of the fire. the park embraces science and the role of fire to manage the forest year round. five years into the project, in 2013, we experienced a fire. a backfire that the national park service lit to check the advance of the rim—fire, at the time the largest fire in the sierra nevada of california. today my role is to remeasure

all of the trees that are alive, to compare it to the measurements we took after the fire. 0.24 metres. the year after the fire, my first year here, a lot of the trees died, especially the small ones as a direct result of the fire. now, we are starting to see some more delayed fire effects. the fire did not immediately kill any of the larger trees. following the fire we had two very, very strong drought years — very, very dry. we had a beetle outbreak of several species of beetles, which successfully killed a lot of the trees, and it's really this combination of factors that provide a situation that the trees can't resist well. even in the ten years we have already been studying, we still don't know enough to track the reasons why those rates of tree deaths might be changing. we are just starting to be able to understand drought effects. we're just starting to understand how the beetles

kill trees in patches. we've had very promising early results but it's still an ongoing process. if you were to come in and look at things for a couple of years, you really wouldn't be able to get the whole picture. our goal is nothing less than to understand how this forest works. this long—term science project is still in its infancy. the researchers plan to return as long as they are able, gradually handing over the study to the forest ecologists of the future. liu xiaobo is one of china's most famous dissidents. he won the nobel peace prize but died in 2017 while in prison. his wife liu xia was kept under house arrest for nearly 10 years and was only allowed to leave china last year. she rarely speaks to the public, but instead takes photos to express her views. a selection of those photos are being exhibited in taipei — we went to take a look.

when a person is persecuted, subjected to violence by 1's government, you must get beyond this. only then will you have freedom and dignity. i think she has been able to do this. without these dolls, she wouldn't have had the strength, these dolls open another world for her. these dolls are shown screaming in

pain. distorted, lonely and helpless. they also show a strong strength to break free from an environment.

you have been watching newsday. i'm samantha simmonds in london. powerful and emotional photographs. and i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. as the us and iran trade barbs over the gulf tanker attacks, we look at what it all means for oil prices. an update on the top story. and the unfunded claims have been rejected regarding accusations that they attacked two tankers in the gulf of attacked two tankers in the gulf of a minorand they attacked two tankers in the gulf of a minor and they gave a statement to the united nations, also in the past few minutes, as foreign secretary has said they believe they are working on the basis that iran is responsible for attacks on the two

oil tankers in the forehead —— foreign secretary said that these actions were deeply unwise. stay with us on bbc world news. hello, is the flooding and destruction continues across parts of england, some spots have had three months worth ofjune rainfall and just a week, over 150 millimetres in the wettest places. still ran in the forecast but not necessarily the same areas. there is low osha adopting a new position to the north—west of the uk in the coming days, it means showers are most frequent in the north and office. as a fresh area of red affecting parts of finland and wales, also ran in scotland. where you start the day with rain, things should improve as we go through the day, it should brighten up and it will be an afternoon of sunshine and showers. his look at ins at eight o'clock in the morning. rain an

offer scotland, while tushar was elsewhere but where you have got clear skies into northern ireland, your temperature could be around the mid single figures of the day starts. the upper of rent from northern england, the midlands into wales, perhaps affecting parts of south—west england, the odds are reversed towards the south—east but the further south—east you are, there will be seeing such an as today begins. on through the day you can pick out two areas of rainfall but they are slowly easing and thinks brighten up. more widely so by the afternoon, it is sunshine, showers, may be heavy and under, very few for east anglia and southeast inventor, perhaps up to 20 celsius. most of us it will feel warmer especially where you have data stuck in the rain. going for friday evening, and the other area of rent, this time pushing into northern ireland, beating on to suffer scotland, wales and western england. ahead of that, it will be mainly clear by the odd shower. the

texas onto the weekend, the big picture has low pressure here to the north—west of us, it will be feeding on weather disturbances from the west this time, and this is the first one we are contending with on saturday morning. there will be an area of cloud, shall we ran out of that, moving further east as a day goes on. ahead of its sunny spells, maybe a shallow, behind it, sunny spells was not on a fairly breezy day with temperatures starting out in the mid—— high tensor stop part two of the weekend on sunday, it looks a bit breezy. it will be another day of sunshine and showers was not the showers most frequent in the north and west where again it could be heavy and possibly thunder if, some will push further east on the breeze, showers, not everybody will catch on. temperature is mostly in the mid—to high teens. that alleges for cost, i will see you $0011. alleges for cost, i will see you soon. ‘— alleges for cost, i will see you soon. —— does your latest forecast.

i'm samantha simmonds with bbc news. our top story: the united states has accused iran of carrying out attacks on two tankers in the gulf of oman on a vitally important shipping route for oil exports. the british foreign secretary described the attacks is deeply worrying and said the uk's starting point was to believe the us view that iran was to blame for the attacks will president's donald trump secretary and spokesperson sarah sanders is to leave a job at the end of the month. and this story is trending on bbc.com. and its another tweet from the us president this time he said he had met the "prince of whales", misspelling the country's name as the mammal. he quickly corrected the mistake but social media had a field day with the image. that's all. stay with bbc world news.