this is bbc news. welcome to our viewers in the uk, on pbs in america, and around the world. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: hong kong's government leader says a controversial draft bill allowing extradition to the chinese mainland is dead, and won't be brought back. i reiterate here, there is no such plan. the bill is dead. donald trump lashes out at the british prime minister and the uk ambassador to the us, following leaked memos criticising his adminstration. the wealthy american fiancier jeffrey epstein pleads not guilty to charges of trafficking underage girls for sex more than a decade ago. footage of eight international

climbers swept away by an avalanche in the himalayas is released by the police. in the last hour, the leader of the hong kong government, carrie lam, has told a news conference that a controversial draft law that would have allowed extradition to the chinese mainland is dead. the planned legislation had prompted mass protests in hong kong. this is what she had to say. the cause of all these grievances and confrontations is an exercise to amend the fugitive offenders ordinance. i have almost immediately put a stop to the amendment

exercise. but there are still lingering doubts about the government's sincerity, or worries whether the government will restart the process and the legislative council. so i reiterate here, there is no such plan. the bill is dead. we will continue following that story in the coming hours, getting analysis from our correspondence in the region. the big question now is will that be enough to mollify the protesters and the demonstrators? we will keep tracking that story on bbc news. president trump has accused the british prime minister, theresa may, of making a mess of brexit. in a series of tweets, he also said the us would no longer deal with the uk's ambassador in washington. it comes after e—mails from sir kim darroch were leaked in which he described trump's administration as inept. our north america correspondent

nick bryant reports. at a personal level, it has always looked more like an awkward rather than special relationship — the reserved vicar‘s daughter alongside the brash manhattan tycoon. and, although this isn't the first time donald trump has criticised theresa may, it is his most brutal assault yet. he fumed on twitter. the ambassador he is referring to, of course, is sir kim darroch, britain's man in washington, whose leaked secret messages to london describe donald trump

and his administration as inept, insecure, and incompetent. yesterday, the president singled out the ambassador for criticism. now, he has broadened his attack. his tweet tirade came just hours after theresa may said she had full faith in sir kim, but did not agree with his views. her spokesman described the leak as absolutely unacceptable, and said downing street had made contact with the white house. meanwhile, a whitehall whodunnit as the foreign office mounted an investigation to find out who leaked the e—mails, and just as importantly, why. as for sir kim, he seems safe in a job that he will soon leave anyway, after four

years in washington. it's a personal view. and there'll be many people in this building who don't agree with that view, and indeed, i don't agree with some of the views that we saw in those letters. i've said i think the us administration is highly effective, and we have the warmest of relationships, and a partnership based on standing up for shared values. during his state visit to london, before tea at clarence house with the prince of wales... hi again. ..donald trump shook hands with the ambassador he has now made persona non grata. clearly he still has fond memories of all the pageantry at the palace, when he went out of his way to show respect for the british monarch. but rarely has an american president displayed such public disdain for a british prime minister. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. in the last few hours, we have been hearing that sir kim has been disinvited from a dinner

at the white house. more on this from freelance journalist max kutner. it certainly does. those are the latest reports, that the ambassador was disinvited from this event that was for the emir of qatar. and so yes, it does seem that the fallout is happening immediately. this is notjust twitter rhetoric, this is actually happening. and i did speak with an expert on diplomacy at stanford university, and he told me, sure, the president does have this power. the president can say we're cutting ties, and then follow through with it. a receiving country, as it's called, does not have to honour the — and welcome the ambassadors of another nation. yeah, it doesn't say much about the special relationship, then, does it? well, it doesn't. and as, you know, your programme said moments ago, the us and england have had this, you know, hot—and—cold relationship. certainly president trump

and prime minister may have had this relationship. there have been negative tweets by president trump about the prime minister before. there have also been positive ones, and the state visit, weeks ago, obviously seemed to go very well, at least seemed publicly to go well. but these things have gone hot and cold. it's been dysfunctional, as other reporters have described it. trump at one point has reportedly referred to the prime minister as — "she'll be my maggie," is what he reportedly said. so the relationship has ebbed and flowed. earlier on in his tweets, president trump said of the ambassador he is not liked or well thought of. that's not really true, is it? half of his staff at his parties, we hear. right, this has been questioned throughout the past few days. there are certainly photographs that i was reviewing moments ago that — it was from an inauguration event that the british embassy in washington held two days before president trump was sworn in,

in january 2017. and you saw some people who are very close to the president at that party, including former campaign manager corey lewandowski, newt gingrich, chris christie, his lawyer, former new york city mayor giuliani. so these are all trump associates who were all at this party, photographed with the ambassador, and the reports go beyond that party and beyond those people. the acting attorney—general at the time, matthew whitaker, was reportedly dancing at the embassy on new year's eve, just months ago. let's get some of the day's other news: the son of a former south korean foreign minister who defected with his wife to north korea has reportedly followed his parents‘ footsteps and moved to the north. north korean state media released this footage of choe in—guk arriving at pyongyang airport, in what could be a rare defection from the south to the north.

france's president, emmanuel macron, is sending a diplomatic advisor to tehran in an effort to de—escalate tensions between iran and the us. tensions have continued to grow in the year since the us pulled out of the iran nuclear deal. tehran announced earlier it had reached limits on uranium enrichment, calling on european nations to live up to their side of the agreement. the wealthy american financier jeffrey epstein has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking. mr epstein once counted president trump, bill clinton and queen elizabeth's son prince andrew as friends. he is accused of luring under—age girls to his homes in florida and new york. the prosecutor outlined the charges. this conduct, as alleged, went on for years, and it involved dozens of young girls,

some as young as 14 years old at the time that they were allegedly abused. as alleged, epstein was well aware that many of his victims were minors, and not surprisingly, many of the underage girls that epstein allegedly victimised were particularly vulnerable to exploitation. the bbc‘s nada tawfik in new york has more details. this was basically a hearing to determine mr epstein's bail, and so prosecutors were putting forth evidence to show that he should remain in detention. on saturday, they raided his manhattan mansion with a search warrant, and there at the mansion they said they found credible, explicit evidence that matched victims‘ testimony. so for example, many of the victims said that mr epstein lured them into a private room with a massage table, where they were told to give him a massage, but to undress, before they were then molested by him.

well, investigators at the home found that room, found that massage table, saying it wasjust as it was 15 years ago. they also found in his safe multiple cds that contained hundreds if not thousands of nude photographs of females, many of them underage girls. and they had very explicit labels on them. they had the victims‘ names, they said "young nudes". so these were some of the things that prosecutors, if the case goes to trial, will have to support their case. the final footage of eight international mountaineers who were killed by an avalanche while climbing india's second highest mountain has been released by the indian authorities. four climbers from the same expedition survived after turning back due to bad weather, but the remaining team members died during their ascent of nanda devi. gareth barlow has more details.

these are some of the last recorded moments from the ill—fated expedition. the eight mountaineers, roped together for safety, walking slowly as they attempt to scale the peak. shortly after this, the footage ends. an avalanche, a common threat on snow—covered mountains, swept the climbers to their deaths. as members of the team who were sent to retrieve the victims‘ bodies were recognised for their efforts, the leader of the rescue operation called for more climbers to carry cameras. i think it should be mandatory to all high—risk area climbers, they should carry — all team members should carry a gopro, i think. for every mountaineer, i think it should be like a black box of an aeroplane. if i‘m not wrong, it should be, because that can give last evidence and can say what went wrong. despite the huge effort to retrieve the remains of the four britons,

two americans, an australian and an indian, the body of a british climber, martin moran, has still not been found. nanda devi is considered one of the world‘s toughest climbs. this footage and the lives lost testament to the danger of taking on the mountains. gareth barlow, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: how we can all watch the restoration of a world famous rembrandt painting, as a team of art historians carry out their delicate work. central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. police say there have been many casualties, and there is growing speculation that al-qaeda was responsible. germany will be the hosts of the 2006 football world cup, and they pipped the favourites, south africa, by a single vote. in south africa, the possibility of losing hadn't even been contemplated, and celebration parties were cancelled. the man entered the palace through a downstairs window and made his way to the queen's private bedroom. then he asked her for a cigarette, and on the pretext of arranging for some to be brought, she summoned a footman on duty, who took the man away.

one child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. education is the only solution. applause this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: after causing riot on the streets, the government in hong kong says a controversial draft bill allowing extradition to china has been killed off and won‘t be brought back. over the last week we‘ve been looking at the threat deforestation

poses to the amazon rainforest. it is one of the biggest sources for capturing carbon dioxide on the planet. but just how significant is the rainforest in helping to limit the rise in global temperatures? 0ur science editor david shukman has been meeting the scientist who‘s spent the last decade finding out. this must be the hardest way to investigate why the trees of the amazon are so important — climbing right up into them. down on the ground, a scientist, erica boehringer, is asking for samples of the leaves. her assistant, way up above, cuts away a few branches and throws them down. according to erica, understanding the forest is vital.

for me, it‘s really important because the amazon cannot speak up, the trees cannot speak up. they cannot say that they are worth it and they have a value, they are really important. so i made this my life. erica has studied the same batch of trees for ten years now, measuring exactly how they‘re growing and how they affect the climate. they‘re helping us, forfree, to remove carbon from the atmosphere and put it in the forest and lock it up in here. this matters to the whole world because of the sheer size of this forest. we‘ve used graphics to show how the billions of leaves are breathing in carbon dioxide, a gas which is heating up the planet. as human activity keeps adding more and more carbon dioxide into the air, magnificent trees like this pull a lot of it in. but chop it down and burn it and all the carbon that‘s been stored inside over the many years is suddenly released back to the atmosphere, which of course increases the speed of global warming.

in the last few months, the rate of deforestation here has suddenly increased. the new government of brazil wants to encourage development, creating fields where there used to be forest. so, erica‘s research is all the more urgent. in this lab, she studies the leaves collected from the forest to work out how much carbon the amazon holds. it‘s the equivalent of america burning fossil fuels for nearly a century. in 97 years of the us fossil fuel emissions, that‘s how much carbon there is in this place. because a big tree might store three tonnes of carbon, four tonnes of carbon. it‘s a lot of carbon. but the forest is about more than carbon and climate change. it‘s home to an extraordinary variety of creatures,

and it‘s unique. it‘s so wonderful, it‘s so full of life, it‘s so full... just so beautiful. and to lose it, it‘s never going to come back again, we‘re never going to be able to build an amazon. it‘s going to be gone forever. so once it‘s gone, it‘s just gone. all that‘s left where forest once stood — a stark reminder of what‘s vanishing and of consequences for the rest of the world. david shukman, bbc news, in the amazon. 15—year—old coco gauff‘s remarkable fairytale run at wimbledon came to an end with a straight—set defeat by former world number one simona halep. earlier i spoke with sports directorfor abc — tv zach klein in atlanta about gauff‘s success. yes, thank you for having me tonight. it truly is amazing, from a 15—year—old sensation born in atlanta, and moved to florida when she was just over

seven years old. this city very electric for the last week and a half. all of the bars in atlanta, even though the match started at 2:00am, tuned in to watch this phenom, kind of off our radar in sports coverage up until this point, captivating not only the tennis community, but also everyone here where she was born in atlanta. so this has genuinely taken you by surprise — and i know you‘re a bit of a sport expert. yes, without question. she was obviously heralded in an unprecedented run injunior rankings, reaching number one in the world. because she hasn‘t lived in atlanta for so long, it‘s more the professional ranks at the university of georgia, for example, which has the number one collegiate tennis programme in the country, gathering most of our attention here in atlanta. but, when she won that first match against venus williams on centre court at wimbledon, you know, i think everybody fell in love with her at that moment. how could you not love the fact that she goes into that match, and before she starts and stepped out on the court, duncan, she gives her dad a kiss on the cheek as she‘s making her way to centre court. from that moment on, i know every everybody in atlanta was cheering for her. we were just talking about her in the newsroom, and we were saying what is remarkable about her is, for a 15—year—old, she is so calm and collected,

despite all that pressure. and before she starts and stepped out on the court, duncan, she gives her dad a kiss on the cheek as she‘s making her way to centre court. from that moment on, i know every everybody in atlanta was cheering for her. we were just talking about her in the newsroom, and we were saying what is remarkable about her is, for a 15—year—old, she is so calm and collected, despite all that pressure. i can‘t fathom being 15 years old on that stage, being that composed, that professional. you look at the way she handled the global media, getting pulled in so many different directions. she had so much poise and character and professionalism from that young age, it‘s really hard to fathom. but she has enjoyed the moment. when she was between the lines, she was so focused and prepared, and she won. and when she was away from court, she was on instagram, growing her followers from about 20,000 when she started

the tournament to over 353,000 now, and she was blown away at all these celebrities and stars that were dming her. so she appreciated the opportunity wimbledon gave her by getting into the draw, and when she was away from the tennis court, basically being a 15—year—old kid and cherishing the moment. and just briefly, if you don‘t mind, where does she go from here? how does she capitalise on this? well, being 15 years old, these rules are set in place to protect her, so she‘s only allowed to play about four more tournaments as a 15—year—old. but she will have the choice to go anywhere in the world, because every tournament director, without question, wants coco gauff to be part of their tournament. they‘ve called it 0peration night watch. a military like plan, to move a masterpiece by rembrandt into position, so experts can start restoring the painting. in a first, the whole thing will be open to the public to watch, as restorers, data experts and art historians work in a giant glass chamber. anna holligan reports. it‘s called the night watch,

but it‘s not even set at night. the restorers are bringing rembrandt‘s most ambitious work back into the light of day. this state—of—the—art glass chamber will allow them to work while the public keeps watch. it was supposed to be a standard group portrait, a popularform of art among high society folk during the 17th century dutch golden age, but rembrandt broke with convention, filling his canvas with movement and action. this style evokes passions, not always positive. it‘s been attacked three times in the last century. when it was slashed in 1975, the restoration was done in private.

this time, the only damage is time. its modern name comes from the painting‘s varnish, which has darkened over the years, dimming the original colour. the challenge for the restorers is to bring it back to life. now to the story of 88—year—old chen hsi—huang, who is one of the few traditional puppet masters left in taiwan. puppet shows used to be the country‘s main form of entertainment — and he‘s on a mission to keep the craft going.

top story. the leader of the hong kong government, carrie lam, says the extradition bill which led to the extradition bill which led to the worst political crisis in decades was dead. she said there was no plan to reintroduce the bill that would have allowed the extradition of detainees to the chinese mainland. 0ur correspondence though so mainland. 0ur correspondence though so that protesters are likely to make —— remain wary until the extradition bill has been formally

withdrawn. that‘s how it‘s looking the sour. you can reach me on twitter — i‘m @duncangolestani. hello. this time last year, we were on a run of five days with temperatures sitting 30 celsius or above somewhere in the uk. great news if you don‘t like heat like that. there is nothing like that on the immediate horizon. high pressure being squeezed to the south, rain—bearing weather fronts moving in, mostly across the northern half of the uk, average temperatures for most of us this week. it‘s a warmer start, though, in the morning compared with where we‘ve been over recent mornings, but a lot of cloud around and some outbreaks of rain. this is what it looks like at 8am in the morning, with outbreaks of rain running eastwards across scotland. a few heavier bursts within this. still some patchy rain for northern ireland and northern england. it‘s at least a damp start for some of us here.

some of this rain will fringe north wales, through the midlands and even push onto parts of east anglia but it is going to be lighter, more patchy than it is to the north. south of that, a lot of cloud around but there will be some brighter sunny spells to be had here. let‘s take a look at how wimbledon is shaping up for tuesday‘s play, a rather uninspiring look at cloudy skies. a few brighter spells out there, maybe the slight chance of a shower but dry for a full day‘s play once again. this is how tuesday goes. scotland and england and northern ireland will see most of the rain at times, drier interludes but we could see an area of heavier rain running eastwards as we go on through the afternoon. again south of that, it is mainly dry. some sunshine, cornwall down to the channel islands, a few spots in the 20s, most of us 19s or low 20s. the next spell of rain could turn things quite wet at the end of the day in northern ireland and southern scotland and northern england, clears overnight. and into wednesday, another spell of rain running

into northern ireland and north—west england and western scotland later in the night, and the nights are getting a little warmer. it‘s getting rather humid for many of us as we go through the week. for wednesday then, another spell of rain pushing east to start the day. this may end up digging a little further south to parts of eastern england. sunny spells follow, particularly to england and wales. a lot of cloud in scotland and northern ireland, and a few more showers following on as we go through the day. let‘s take a look at thursday, because we could well see some quite heavy, thundery downpours developing in parts of northern ireland, scotland and northern england. by no means everybody will see, them but where they do pop up, that could lead to some disruption in some spots. england and wales seeing a few showers moving from west to east as well, and still a few sunny spells as well. going into the weekend, the showers slowly fade over the weekend. it turns drier, sunnier and a little warmer.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the leader of the hong kong government, carrie lam, has confirmed a controversial draft law that would have allowed extradition to the chinese mainland is dead and won‘t be briught back. the planned legislation had prompted mass protests in hong kong. donald trump has announced that he will no longer deal with the uk‘s ambassador in washington, sir kim darroch, following the leak of e—mails written by the diplomat criticising the president‘s administation. mr trump also attacked the way, the british prime minister, theresa may, has handled brexit. the american financier jeffrey epstein has pleaded not guilty to trafficking dozens of underage girls for sex more than a decade ago. the 66—year—old appeared in a new york court and was ordered to remain in custody until his bail hearing.