this is the briefing — i'm victoria fritz. our top stories: the pentagon says us forces have shot down an iranian drone as it approached an american ship in the gulf. president trump tries to distance himself from the racist chanting, targeting a democratic congresswoman, at wednesday's campaign rally. but another democrat remains unimpressed. we remains unimpressed. will not go back to the days injustice we will not go back to the days of injustice to we will not rollback oui’ injustice to we will not rollback our rights. we will not go back, we will go forward. we went there 50 years ago — never to return again. we look at the historic importance of the moon landing, on the eve of its anniversary. beating expectations. microsoft unveils upbeat results driven mainly by its azure cloud services.

a warm welcome to the programme — briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. instagram is hiding likes on posts in seven countries to remove pressure on users. the aim is to help people concentrate on content rather than popularity. is this a step forward for social media? or will it undermine the popularity of the business itself? let me know what you think. get in touch on twitter using the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. president trump says the us military has shot down

an iranian drone in the strait of hormuz. he said staff on the uss boxer took defensive action as the drone came within 1,000 yards of a us navy ship. this, according to iran was the moment that it sees the panamanian—flagged tanker. the circling speedboats were manned by members of the iranian revolutionary guard. once on board, they say they found a million litres of fuel which they allege was being smuggled out of iran. later, president trump said the us military had shot down an iranian drone in the strait of hormuz. he said staff on the uss boxer took defensive action as the drone came within 1000 yards of a us navy ship. these latest incidents reflect the mounting tension in the gulf region between iran, the us and its allies. in may, the us tightened up sanctions that it reimposed on iran's oil sector after it unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

in retaliation, president hassan rouhani said that it would be scaling back its commitment to that deal. since then, the white house has blamed iran for two separate attacks on oil takers in the guld of oman in may and june, an allegation that tehran has denied. iran has also shot down a us surveillance drone, over the strait of hormuz, again under disputed circumstances. and it's notjust the two countries at odds here. uk warships have been shadowing british oil tankers in the area since iran threatened to seize one in response to the impounding of an iranian tanker off gibraltar, earlier this month. the uk claimed that the tanker was suspected of breaking eu sanctions against syria. this led to another denialfrom tehran. the us has beefed up operations in the regions since withdrawing from the nuclear deal,

and is asking its allies to help protect strategic waters off iran and yemen. we believe that is an international responsibility, not a united states responsibility. but the united states is very happy to be part of the solution, and we're going to work very aggressively with our partners both in the region and with those partners internationally that move commerce through this critical part of the world. the latest incidents have led to more demands and denials from both sides. iran said it had no information about a missing drone, while the us has insisted iran should release the seized tanker immediately. condemnation of president trump is growing despite his attempts to distance himself from the "send her back" chants directed by his supporters at a democratic congresswoman, a former refugee, at a north carolina rally on wednesday. the president claims he was not ‘happy‘ with the chanting, but video footage makes it plain he made no attempt to stop it. from the podium he had specifically named ilhan 0mar and 3 other

congresswomen of colour, who have criticised him. mr trump was asked why he didn't stop the chant. number one, i think i did. i number one, ithink i did. i began to speak very quickly. i disagree with it, by the way but it was quite a chant and ifelt with it, by the way but it was quite a chant and i felt a with it, by the way but it was quite a chant and ifelt a little with it, by the way but it was quite a chant and i felt a little did badly about it but i will say this, but i did, and i started speaking quickly. but it started fast as you probably noticed. i would say that. i was not happy with that. i disagree with it but, again, i did not say that, they did. that i disagree with it. one of those congresswomen he named during the rally, alexandria 0casio—cortez — who was urged by mr trump in his original tweet to "go back where they came from" says americans should focus on looking forward.

we will not go back to the days of injustice, we will not rollback our rights, we will not deny liberty to oui’ rights, we will not deny liberty to our transit others and sisters. we will not deny our own humanity at the border. we will not go back, we will go forward. meeting in montreal, the canadian prime ministerjustin trudeau and european union council president donald tusk have added their condemnation of donald trump's comments at the rally. i want everyone in canada to know that those comments are completely unacceptable and should not be allowed or encouraged in canada. i've been through many of the most pro—american politicians in europe. it is difficult to understand some facts, some words. and sometimes if you feel that something is totally unacceptable you have to react.

despite business, despite interests for me, values are much more important than trade. sorry, it's maybe...maybe i am old—fashioned but i will never change my opinion here. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. police injapan are investigating why a 41—year—old man set fire to an animation production compa ny‘s studios, killing 33 people. the president of the kyoto animation company says his firm had received threats by email. a man resembling the suspect was caught on cctv filling two 20 litre jerrycans at a nearby petrol station. japanese media say he believed the company had plagiarised his works. ajudge in new york has denied

bailforjeffrey epstein as he awaits trial on charges of trafficking dozens of underage girls. if convicted, mr epstein — who once counted bill clinton and donald trump among his friends — could face 45 years in jail. britain's parliament has voted to make it more difficult for the next prime minister to try and force through a no—deal brexit. lawmakers have made it more difficult to suspend parliament — a move that borisjohnson, the favourite to become the next prime minister, has not ruled out. they're not the only trillion dollar company for nothing. microsoft has comfortably beaten even the most optimistic of expectations for its business. in the three months to the end ofjune — it brought it almost $34 billion in revenue — and increase of 12% on the same period last year — and a substantial proportion of that was profit.

with me to discuss is the technology entrepreneur eileen burbidge, who's a partner at technology investment fund passion capital. thank you for coming in. they seemingly have done the impossible. they have made the transition to the new tech economy where cloud services are dominating. that is right. they count on their customers using fewer of their own managed data centres and more microsoft data centres and cloud —based services. at the same time, to your point, what seemed impossible is that they have grown all areas of their business. the cloud area grew greater than analysts expected but so greater than analysts expected but so did personal software and sales of xbox, office and surface. every single sector grew beyond what was expected. analysts expect a huge amount from this company. double—digit growth for the next two

yea rs. double—digit growth for the next two years. how can they avoid the slowing growth we have seen at alphabet and apple? if they continue to focus on their business and stay out of the regulatory scrutiny spotlight, that plagues is on and google and maybe assess concern for apple. they will continue to do well. thank you very much and will see you later to go through the papers. in the ukraine, president volodymyr zelensky believes his strategy for bringing peace to war—torn regions in the east, is bearing fruit. pro—russian separatists and the ukrainian army have both agreed to pull back their forces from a key checkpoint. could it give president zelensky a boost at the polls in parliamentary elections on sunday? the bbc‘s zhanna bezpiatchuk reports. life has gotten a little bit better for this 67—year—old woman. there is

a cease fire between the army and russian separatists in her village on the frontline of eastern ukraine. translation: i used to talk to soldiers in my garden. the ukrainian soldiers in my garden. the ukrainian soldiers are still present but they have pulled back one kilometre. the russian separatists have done the same on their side. the aim is to hand the area over to civilian control but for now it is a safer place to live. translation: they used to be gunfire at night and things we pulled back we have not heard gunfire from the other side. i think it is a step forward. it is a small piece advance and it happened near a checkpoint. they used to be a stone bridge here but it was destroyed. this bridget represents five years of conflict where a stalemate has taken hold. ukraine

cannot push back pro—russian ‘s and reta ke cannot push back pro—russian ‘s and retake the territory but it needs to show it cares for its people no matter what side of the frontline they live. president zelensky was elected in may. he says his peace strategy has already shown results. the timing is significant with parliamentary elections on sunday. he hopes his new party will win a majority. translation: may be the president wants to show that can achieve some kind of peace when you are fighting a war, such a pullback seems premature. thousands of people must cross the frontline everyday. from the russian eased into ukraine and back again and thousands have lost their lives in the five year conflict. a previous attempt at a ceasefire failed. it takes a lot for people living here to believe in a better future. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: two years

on from the ousting of robert mugabe as the president of zimbabwe, we ask the country's foreign minister what progress has been made in repairing relations. after months of talks and missed deadlines, a deal has been struck to keep greece within the eurozone. the immediate prospect of greece going bust, in the worst crisis to hit the eurozone, has been averted. emergency services across central europe are stepping up their efforts to contain the worse floods this century. nearly 100 people have been killed. broadway is traditionally called the "great white way" by americans, but tonight it's completely blacked out. it's a timely reminder to all americans of the problems that the energy crisis has brought to them. leaders meet in paris for a summit on pollution, inflation and third world debt. this morning, theyjoined the revolution celebrations for a show of military might on the champs—elysees.

finally, wildlife officials in australia have been coping with a penguin problem. fairy penguins have been staggering ashore and collapsing after gorging themselves on a huge shoal of their favourite food, pilchards. some had eaten so much they could barely stand. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: the us says its forces shot down an iranian drone that approached an american vessel near the strait of hormuz. but iran says it has no information about a downed drone. president trump has sought to distance himself from racist chanting aimed at a somali—born congresswoman, during his election rally on wednesday. he said he was not happy about people shouting "send her back". zimbabwe's president

emmerson mnangagwa took over from robert mugabe in november 2017 with a promise to build a country based on respect for human rights. but since then, not much has changed. sibusiso moyo, the minister of foreign affairs and international trade has been in london where he was confronted by some angry zimbabweans. the bbc‘s peter okwoche first asked him if he understood their anger. in another democracy, you find a few people who are exercising their constitutional right, the only point is that sometimes every exercise of such rights must be respectful of other people ‘s rights. such rights must be respectful of other people 's rights. why other still human rights abuses going on into barbeau? there's been quite a lot of reforms which have taken place and the reforms of which are

destined for the better. reforms which are aimed at ensuring that the rights of people are respected. in the reforms which are, which ensure that all institutions are strong and deliver what they are supposed to deliver what they are supposed to deliver to the people. deliver what they are supposed to deliver to the peoplelj deliver what they are supposed to deliver to the people. i find it ironic saying that because your government, despite all its pre—election promises has been accused of human rights abuse in the country, are you denying that there are human rights abuses in your country? i don't say yes, but sometimes there are issues which are portrayed as human rights matters of violations. unions have spoken out about it, the lawyers union have mentioned it, teachers unions have mentioned it, teachers unions have mentioned it, teachers unions have mentioned it, hundreds of people are still being rounded up and put in

prison. to the contrary, in fact, the government of emmerson mnangagwa, has provided freedoms which have never been experienced in zimbabwe before. let me assure you that the policy of the government is strictly to ensure that there are no human violations —— no human rights violations at all, and if they are they are investigated, reported and dealt with. why is there a shortage of passports in zimbabwe? people cannot get travel passports in the country. this is one of the events and challenges which developed as a result of a lot of issues which arose coming from behind. but that me assure you that talking to the

minister of home affairs, he has assured me that in the next 4— five weeks, the issue of passport is going to be sorted out, and people will be entitled and they will start to be receiving passports. on a personal level, your wife has been named the country ‘s anticorruption share. people are pulled by that, how can your wife hold someone like you to account? she is independent she has been a judge before, and she has held decisions in her own right asa has held decisions in her own right as a professional, that has not even affected our dealings and there is no way i can divorce. sibusiso moyo, the zimbabwean minister of foreign affairs speaking to peter okwoche. this saturday marks the 50th

anniversary of humans landing on the moon. onjune 20th, at 8:00 in the evening, the lunar module eagle touched down on the moon's surface. just before 3:00 in the morning on the 21st, the astronauts inside were ready to go outside. here's our correspondent pallab ghosh on the scientific importance of the apollo 11 landing. neil armstrong stepping out into the unknown. it's one small step for man. one giant leap for mankind. his one small step fulfilled apollo 11 ‘s main objective to go when no human had gone before. specifically, to go there first, before the soviet union. this was to demonstrate the superiority of of american capitalism over communism. this is a

cf tranquillity, whether lunar module, the eagle landed. planting the american flag and cemented america status as a technological and economic superpower we know today. apollo 11 scientific mission secondary stop but the results have been of immense value. it was from here that neil armstrong and buzz aldrin said they pursed for —— send their first pictures to the earth. they collected and brought back moon rock. analysis showed that the moon was once part of the earth and was probably ripped away during a collision with a planet —sized rock more than 11.5 billion years ago. next, an experiment to see if the sun radiated a stream of electrically charged particles that scientists call the solar wind. this wind doesn't normally make much of an impression on earth except in

northern and southern parts of the globe where it causes auroras, but the moon should be bombarded by these particles. the astronaut attached sheet of aluminium foil on attached sheet of aluminium foil on a pole to catch them. when this foil was taken back to earth, scientists we re was taken back to earth, scientists were able to determine the solar winds chemical composition for the first time. this is a passive seismic experiment. it discovered that the moon also has a case called moon quakes. this and other detectors ( letter apollo missions gave researchers a profound insight of the moon ‘s internal structure. and finally, the laser ranging retro factor —— retro reflector. the mirrors left on the moon ‘s surface, there are flecked laser beam central telescopes on earth. the time it ta kes to telescopes on earth. the time it takes to get back gives an accurate measurement of the distance from the moon to the earth at any given time

and is still being used today to monitor the slow drift away at the speed of just less monitor the slow drift away at the speed ofjust less than four centimetres a second. most of the apollo experiments were short and fairly basic. but they provided scientists with a giant leap in understanding of the world that had, up understanding of the world that had, up until this point, been completely alien. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm gavin ramjaun — and this is your friday sport briefing. the final major of the golfing calendar is underway, the open championship, at royal portrush in northern ireland. and it's jb holmes who leads the way. the american is 5 under after an opening round of 66. he's one shot ahead of ireland's shane lowry. brooks koepka, the us pga champion, who's won four of the last ten major championships — is one of 13 players who are two off the lead on 3—under—par. you know, i hit it great. you know, i didn't miss too many shots, and when i did, i missed them in the right spots,

putted well, stuck to our game plan, and just executed about as perfectly as i could do it. but it really was a terrible day, for rory mcilroy and tiger woods. mcilroy, the pre—tournament favourite, started the round with a quadruple bogey, and ended it with a seven. he's 8—over—par after shooting a 79 — and faces a battle just to make the cut. australia have taken control after the first day of their test match with england at taunton. they'll start the 2nd day on 265 for 3. the tourists need only a draw to retain the ashes. meg lanning's side recovered, after losing an early wicket to dominate, with the skipper making a half century. ellyse perry top scored with 8a. australia won the opening three one—dayers of the series, and will take an unassailable lead with a draw — and there are still three t20 matches to play. later we'll know the winners

of the africa cup of nations. the 2019 final see the favourites, senegal, up against 1990 winners algeria, at the cairo international stadium in egypt. and senegal‘s star man sadio mane, says he would swap his champions league medal for african football's top honour. his team are the bookmakers tip for ths final — but algeria feel they owe a lot to their head coach. we do have to give it to the players. it's important that we be very — a team, as we are, and it's important for algeria, because we used to have good individualities, and now i think we feel very strongly as a team. we used to have good individuality and now we feel very strong. frenchman julian alaphilippe still holds the leader's yellow jersey, going into stage 13 of the tour de france. britain's simon yates claimed his maiden tour de france stage win on stage 12. he's now won stages at all three grand tours. friday's stage is the only individual time trial

on this year's tour, so will be a chance for the time triallists to excel, on the 27 kilometres in pau. the defending champion geraint thomas is 72 seconds behind alaphilippe. major league soccer side seattle sounders, had an unlikely goalkeeper, in their most recent friendly. a little shorter than normal perhaps, certainly younger, but no less deserving. bheem goyal is 8 years old, and is battling leukemia. but he started the game against borussia dortmund, making the opening save too! keeping is as much about passing these days. bheem proving he could do that too. after that, his day was done, though it seemed like he wanted to stay on the pitch! you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, gavin ramjaun, and the rest of the sport team, that's your friday sport briefing.

stay with us here on bbc news — so much more to come. hello there. if you're hoping for warm weather, it might be worth sticking around until the end of this forecast, but in the meantime, some soggy weather to get through during the day ahead. this frontal system sliding in from the south—west, this is going to bring some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain northwards across many parts of the uk, and with that, a brisk breeze. that rain very quickly getting into south—west england and the south of wales through the morning. many other spots starting the day dry and clear, but through the rush hour, some very heavy rain falling across parts of the west country and particularly south wales. could well be some surface water and spray on the roads, some very poor travelling conditions, perhaps some disruption. but as we drift further north, across northern england,

northern ireland and scotland, many places starting the day dry, with some spells of sunshine. this wet weather across the south in the west will push its way northwards, moving to the midlands, across the london area, to east anglia, northern england clipping into northern ireland and southern scotland. the odd flash of lightning and odd problem of thunder, she was chasing on behind from the south on the risk breeze. the best of the dry and bright weather with one or two showers across novels, and in temperatures of18— showers across novels, and in temperatures of 18— 21 degrees. through the evening on the back edge of that, southern scotland, there could be some intense thunderstorms and another pulse of wet weather will slide through southern parts of england. temperatures on friday night into saturday morning are holding up at16 night into saturday morning are holding up at 16 or 17 degrees across the south—east corner, a little uncomfortable for sleeping here. we get into saturday, here is our brain band siding away eastwards by the state, behind it, we will see

sunshine but a scattering of showers and some of the showers can be heavy and some of the showers can be heavy and possibly thunder, they could crop upjust and possibly thunder, they could crop up just about any level to especially for central and eastern parts of the country. temperatures 90 degrees in belfast, 21 in cardiff, 2a in london. a lot of fine weather around, increasing amounts of cloud of the day, we will see some outbreaks of rain into northern ireland and the western side of scotla nd ireland and the western side of scotland and for the north—west of the uk, it stays unsettled into the start of next week but i promise you some warmth and indeed some heat, pushing in towards parts of the south, temperatures for some into the low 30s stop ——.

some had eaten so much they could barely stand.

beating expectations. microsoft unveils upbeat results driven mainly by its azure cloud services. boeing profit warning. the world's biggest planemaker reveals the multi—billion dollar financial impact of the 737 max groundings. and on the markets, oiljumped in asian trading on growing geopolitical fears and sterling edges higher as british politicians backed a parliamentary manoeuvre designed to stop a no—deal