this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm rebecca jones. our top stories. presidents biden and putin describe their first summit as positive and constructive, but both leaders stress differences still remain between america and russia. borisjohnson�*s former top adviser makes more damaging allegations about his handling of the pandemic. he's published messages which allegedly show the prime minister calling his health secretary "hopeless". covid vaccinations are to be made compulsory for staff in care homes for older people in england. and are the days of blatant product placement numbered? sponsors may rethink, after cristiano ronaldo removes coca—cola bottles from

a euros news conference. the first summit between president biden and president putin has ended in switzerland. the two leaders held about four hours of talks. topics included, nuclear arms control, opposition figure alexi navalny and alleged cyber—attacks by moscow. our north america editor, jon sopel, has more. best wishes and goodbye. he says "best wishes and goodbye" in russian. and with those words, the swiss president left them to it. there was little in the way of theatrics or fanfare, and the body language suggested a good deal of wariness on both sides as the us and russian presidents shook

hands on the portico of this handsome 18th—century villa overlooking lake geneva. i'm not sure how this is working. in the library, they sat somewhat awkwardly. a reporter asked the russian president whether he feared the opposition leader alexei navalny. no comment. the american president was asked whether he trusted vladimir putin. he appeared to nod. he says, "there are a lot of issues that require the highest level of meeting." the us president concurred. like i said outside, i think it's always better to meet face—to—face. there'll be subjects where they agree, but plenty where they won't. the us is most vexed by the endless cyber and criminal ransomware attacks on american infrastructure and election interference in western democracies. the president will raise human rights, and in particular the treatment of the opposition leader alexei navalny. and the us has grown increasingly concerned

about the destabilising effect of russian military activity on the ukrainian border. then after two hours of intense talks, it was over. on the central issues that joe biden pressed on, the russian leader either deflected or denied responsibility. president putin acknowledged the talks had been "frank and candid", normally a euphemism for a row, but he also said they'd been constructive. translation: both sides expressed their intention | to understand each other and to seek common ground. talks were quite constructive. the president - of the united states. then it was the american president's turn once the aviators had come off. been a long day for y'all. he said he'd given vladimir putin a blunt message. i made it clear that we will not tolerate attempts to violate our democratic sovereignty or destabilise our democratic elections, and we would respond. the bottom line is i told president putin that we need to have some basic rules

of the road that we can all abide by. and he said he was satisfied with what had been achieved. it was important to meet in person so there can be no mistake about or misrepresentations about what i wanted to communicate. i did what i came to do. this was more "clear the air" than "new dawn". the americans had set the bar low for this encounter, and on that basis, it met expectations. and our north america editor jon sopel told us more about those expectations. i think thatjoe biden will see a success as the fact that they sat down for two hours, were engaged in detailed conversation about some of the knottiest issues around. i thinkjoe biden, for a domestic audience, also wanted to prove that the america is back tour also means "i'm not donald trump". and i think he was very keen to underline that in his news conference that i attended a little while ago.

but asjoe biden goes back to america now on air force one, he has said, "we will respond if russia doesn't do what we want on cyber, on human rights and the rest of it," but respond how? that's the bit of it that is unclear, and i'm sure vladimir putin returning to moscow will be thinking, "well, he said these things, but what's he going to do about it?" vladimir putin has seen down western leaders before. maybe he will think that joe biden is a different sort of american president, but i think that vladimir putin is going to test it and joe biden will eventually have to decide how he is going to respond. angela stent, is an expert in russia—us relations and a former national intelligence officer for russia at the national intelligence council. she says modest develoments at the summit were widely expected.

it achieved its major goal which was to re—establish a baseline for engaging with russia have our ambassadors go back to each other�*s countries and refill the embassy. we have and refill the embassy. we have a skeleton staff there at the moment. and one thing that was not mentioned, the agreement to begin strategic stability talks which means you have a group of officials who meet regularly and talk about nuclear weapons, they may talk about other kinds of weapons, about trying to make sure that regional conflicts don't escalate, so it is really to try and contain the dangers of nuclear and other types of escalation and they have agreed but i also believe that really you have to wait and see what happens in the next 3—6 months. will they talk about cyber intrusions? will they make any progress? will they make any progress? will they make any progress? will they agree to rules of the road and in six months if the

same patterns that russia has been exhibiting continue then i think the biden administration will realise that there really is a limit to how much they can engage with russia to have a more productive relationship. i more productive relationship. i suppose the bottom line is there are huge differences in there are huge differences in the way they see the world and that has not changed, how is it? it that has not changed, how is it? ., , ., ., that has not changed, how is it? ., ., , it? it has not at the russians believe it _ it? it has not at the russians believe it is _ it? it has not at the russians believe it is their _ it? it has not at the russians believe it is their right - it? it has not at the russians believe it is their right to - believe it is their right to have a sphere of influence in the post—soviet space and they believe that others recognise that and should not interfere in what is happening in ukraine or belarus and they believe that the drivers of world politics are very different to what the united states and most of its allies do so it is a different worldview and the definitions of what a productive relationship would look like a very different. now they have established a professional relationship, i would say a businesslike one. is there any more they can do to work together even though they have very different

understandings of what drives the world and what should drive the world and what should drive the world. ., , the world. there are still areas of _ the world. there are still areas of friction. - the world. there are still areas of friction. how - the world. there are still i areas of friction. how much the world. there are still - areas of friction. how much of the plight of the opposition leader and major sticking point in improving the relationship. he was poisoned in the mid to kill him and now he is in prison but also the fate of other opposition figures. the greater repression we see happening every week in the run—up to the parliamentary election in september. but as a brake on relations. president biden was clear that he discussed this with pearson. and putin praised back and accused the united states of violating human rights. but i don't think that will be a barrier towards moving forward to some of the strategic questions. let s get some of the day's other news. save the children, says more than 700,000 rohingya children are facing severe discrimination and denial of their most basic rights

across several different countries. the aid agency says the children are vulnerable to sexual abuse, trafficking and detention, as well as being forced to work. most rohingya muslims have fled their home country, myanmar and now live in refugee camps in neighbouring bangladesh, but some live in malaysia, thailand and indonesia. the chinese government has acknowledged that the fuel rods at a nuclear power plant in the south of the country have been damaged, but insist that no radioactivity has leaked. the admission comes after us media reported that the us government was assessing a reported leak at the facility. france is to lift its night time coronavirus curfew from sunday, allowing people to leave home at night without official justification for the first time since october. and from thursday they will no longer be obliged to wear a mask outside,

except in queues here in the uk, dominic cummings the man who used to be the prime minister's closest adviser, has launched another wave of attacks on borisjohnson and his handling of the pandemic. mr cummings has published what he says are messages that he exchanged with mr johnson. downing street has not questioned the authenticity of those messages which apparently show mrjohnson describing his health secretary matt hancock as �*hopeless'. mr cummings also accuses the prime minister of lying. our political editor laura kuenssberg has more details. a convenient afternoon jog? is this nowjust a vendetta, mr cummings, with mr hancock? dominic cummings just happened to be seen for the cameras hours after chucking another grenade his old boss's way. he'd already been plain the man in charge of the health system during the biggest health emergency in decades wasn't up to it, in his view. i think that the secretary of state for health should've been fired for at least

15, 20 things. the health secretary's retaliation — the boss had been behind him all the way. i had the prime minister's wholesome support - all the way through. yet remember how close mr cummings and borisjohnson were. having promised evidence to back up his blast from the outside, he's now even published private messages. in those crucial days at the start of the emergency, the adviser apparently messaged the prime minister, accusing the health secretary of failing to ramp up testing. but the prime minister seemingly replied — in expletive—filled terms — "totally hopeless". later, the adviser raised other concerns. "officials had admitted we've been turning down ventilators because of price mark—ups," he said. borisjohnson seems to have replied, "it's hancock, he has been hopeless." a month on, the prime minister, apparently in a message to mr cummings, wrote, "on ppe, it's been a disaster." and appears to have

suggested taking hancock off and putting gove on. to which mr cummings seems to have replied, "this would have a severe risk of making it worse, not better." reporter: did you really thinkj matt hancock was useless, sir? boris johnson's team says they have full confidence in mr hancock. but dominic cummings was part of making the decisions that affected thousands of lives and deaths. strip away the personal animosity and the huge political bust—up, and he's not the only voice critical of the government's handling of care homes, of testing, of the speed of lockdown at the start. and no secretary of state wants to be asked this kind of question. reporter: are you - hopeless, mr hancock? i don't think so. "are you hopeless?" "i don't think so," he says. asked about his own competence ahead of a vote on covid today... the right honourable _ gentleman now forever branded as "hopeless hancock" by his own leader. - well, for many of our - constituents, when they'll be watching the news tonight, -

when they know that they failed to protect our borders, i when they know that they allowed this variant to take off and when they saw that| restrictions are being . extended, i think many of our constituents i will no doubt repeat the prime minister's - expletive—laden sentiment. dominic cummings knows he would hardly win a popularity contest, but the real fear for number 10, given how close he was to the prime minister, what versions of events does he still guard that he can lob from far away? laura kuenssberg, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come:

this is bbc news, our top story this hour: presidents biden and putin described their first summit as positive and constructive, but the leaders made it clear,

differences still remain between america and russia. covid vaccinations are to be made compulsory for staff in care homes for older people in england. announcing the plans the health secretary matt hancock said it was a �*sensible and reasonable step�*. but care organisations have warned that the move could dissuade people from taking jobs in the which is already facing a recruitment crisis. our health correspondent sophie hutchinson has the story. 82—year—old wendy at her care home in scarborough. her daughter—in—law says the home's been covid free throughout the pandemic and would prefer staff to be vaccinated to keep it that way. everybody should be vaccinated wherever possible. i think lots of people have had anxieties about being vaccinated, but if the majority of people aren't vaccinated,

we wouldn't be in the position we're in today. the government expected to give care home staff 16 weeks to get the vaccine or face being redeployed or losing theirjobs. one care home manager told us mandatory vaccines are what she's been waiting for. we've had 12 months of this. i've seen the sadness, i've seen the stress and i think, if we can, if we can keep people as safe as possible, then we've got to do it. so, what are vaccinations rate like amongst care home staff working with older people? well, across england, more than 80% have had at least one dose of the vaccine, but look in more detail and problems emerge. around 25% are unvaccinated in cities like manchester and birmingham. and dig deeper and here, in the london borough of lambeth, around 30% of care home staff still haven't had a jab. but many insist workers should

have a right to choose and have described the policy as forced vaccinations. alison, a care worker in lincolnshire, says she will quit herjob rather than get the jab. it makes me feel sick, i don't want it for my personal reasons and i feel like we have been bullied into having it now. i feel like, after 27 years, i'm going to be made to look for something totally different. and care organisations are warning compulsory vaccinations could cause them significant difficulties. you can't redeploy staff in a small care home because where do you put them? most of the step on the frontline, it's a difficult circle to square. the government has very craftily put all of the onus on the care homes. along with care homes, the government will consult on whetherjabs should be mandatory in the nhs, prompting questions about which other workplaces could adopt the new rules. sophie hutchinson, bbc news.

personal protective equipment has become essential in the global fight against covid—i9. but the environmental impact is obviously massive with millions of masks ending up in landfill. so is re—usable ppe an option? researchers in new zealand have been investigating. (read on dr mark staiger is an associate professor in materials engineering at canterbury university in christchurch, new zealand. before we move on to what you are investigating tell us what is happening to ppe at the moment. is happening to ppe at the moment-— is happening to ppe at the moment. , , ., moment. yes, so, there is a hue moment. yes, so, there is a huge build-up _ moment. yes, so, there is a huge build-up of— moment. yes, so, there is a huge build-up of waste - moment. yes, so, there is a huge build-up of waste and | moment. yes, so, there is a . huge build-up of waste and ppe huge build—up of waste and ppe around the world because of the pandemic and the way they are normally disposed of is to incinerate so a lot of countries are incinerating that

in many countries they don't have the infrastructure to cope with the amount of ppe that has been produced so some of it has actually been going into landfill, which is obviously a contamination issue. so, yeah, thatis contamination issue. so, yeah, that is what we're doing with ppe at the moment. in the uk a lot of the pp been disposed of by incineration but in some other countries unfortunately it is not sufficient for that. on the one hand you've got all this ppe being destroyed and you have got in some countries there is not a sufficient amount of ppe so what is it that you are proposing? so what we're trying _ that you are proposing? so what we're trying to — that you are proposing? so what we're trying to do _ that you are proposing? so what we're trying to do in _ that you are proposing? so what we're trying to do in our- we're trying to do in our research is looking at ways we are using the mars because they are using the mars because they are a major item being disposed of at the moment. something like 3 million masks are disposed of globally which is a staggering figure. so the idea

is to think of ways of being able to treat the ppe so that it can be disinfected and basically our research is aimed at looking at the activation of the virus so the tethered i9 virus can be deactivated by more than 20 different methods and are investigating some of those methods in our laboratories to understand how it can be deactivated and whether or not the ppe is unsafe to use.— whether or not the ppe is unsafe to use. what some of those methods _ unsafe to use. what some of those methods be? - unsafe to use. what some of those methods be? could i unsafe to use. what some of those methods be? could it| unsafe to use. what some of. those methods be? could it be unsafe to use. what some of- those methods be? could it be a simple rise, dare i say it, put a mask and a washing machine? presumably not. ha. a mask and a washing machine? presumably not.— presumably not. no. with facemasks _ presumably not. no. with facemasks there - presumably not. no. with facemasks there are - presumably not. no. with | facemasks there are some presumably not. no. with - facemasks there are some layers in there which are protective layers and a layer which is an electrostatic layer and that's what results in particular has been captured by the masks and

many of these methods will actually render this electrostatic layer ineffective so the type of technique that you used to process and deactivate the covid virus, it is important you don't damage that internal layer so we are trying to develop methods that will do that that will not destroy that layer that at the same time are cost—effective and can be deployed cost effectively in countries around the world so a developing country for example. presumably ou've country for example. presumably you've got _ country for example. presumably you've got to _ country for example. presumably you've got to be _ country for example. presumably you've got to be able _ country for example. presumably you've got to be able to - country for example. presumably you've got to be able to ensure i you've got to be able to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the safety and effectiveness of the ppe? because for health workers, for example, they are going to be nervous, a day, they think that might be compromised. they think that might be comromised. ~ , , ~ ., compromised. absolutely. what are workers _ compromised. absolutely. what are workers trying _ compromised. absolutely. what are workers trying to _ compromised. absolutely. what are workers trying to do - compromised. absolutely. what are workers trying to do is - are workers trying to do is ensure that the ppe items will be perfectly safe so that part of our research and when we have carried out surveys of medical workers and front line workers they're actually medical workers and front line workers they�* re actually really keen to see people being reused because at the front line they see how much wastage there is

so anything we can do to make that safe and reassure them that safe and reassure them that it that safe and reassure them thatitis that safe and reassure them that it is safe is going to mean huge reduction in the amount of plastic wastage around the world. we amount of plastic wastage around the world. ~ , ., around the world. we must leave it there but _ around the world. we must leave it there but good _ around the world. we must leave it there but good luck _ around the world. we must leave it there but good luck and - around the world. we must leave it there but good luck and keep l it there but good luck and keep us posted. a couple of major sponsors of the euros have suffered the embarrassment this week of top footballers shunning their products. first there was the great cristiano ronaldo. here is the portugal captain sitting down at a press conference, only to take a couple of bottles of coca—cola out of shot. the renowned health fanatic then held up a bottle of water instead. he small gesture took li—billion dollars was wiped from the company's value. the ronaldo shunning coca—cola incident was followed on tuesday by this: french world cup winner paul pogba — who is a practising muslim — removing a heineken beer from the table in front of him.

that's despite the fact that it was non—alcoholic. both official sponsors, the two drinks giants are reported to have splashed out $80—million dollars on the euros between them. for product placement. eric mitchell ceo of the global talent agency, lifeflip media. his clients include the legendary boxer floyd mayweather, as well as basketball players. he gave me his reaction to what the football players did. ijust think it is i just think it is funny, right? because we don't think about it but most of us when we let you leave a gym drinking a sodais let you leave a gym drinking a soda is not the first thing we are going to do and then we look at amazing athletes playing in the euro cup. putting a coke in front of them is probably not going to be the thing that they want to endorse when most of them are role models and especially someone like rinaldo. you think is image to the younger generations coming up. a lot of the younger footballers look up to him so he is doing the right

thing in shoving you can drink water. coke makes water so it is not like they don't offer that also and they could have done that but it is something that we are seeing with athletes that they want to show that they do take great care of their bodies and there is concerns out there when it is a global epidemic that we have. these athletes are like, look, we are not realistically running up and down the pitch and sadly when were done we are going to grab an ice cold coke. we're probably going to drink water and hydrate our bodies because we don't want to get diabetes and lose a limb. he was looking out for image and coca—cola came out with a great statement saying each player and person has a difference in taste. �* , ., and person has a difference in taste. �* ,, and person has a difference in taste. �* i. ., taste. are you saying then that he knew exactly _ taste. are you saying then that he knew exactly what - taste. are you saying then that he knew exactly what he - taste. are you saying then that he knew exactly what he was i he knew exactly what he was doing? i he knew exactly what he was doinu ? ., �* ~ ., he knew exactly what he was doinr? .,�* ~ ., he knew exactly what he was doinr? ~ ., ~' doing? i don't know if you knew exactly what — doing? i don't know if you knew exactly what he _ doing? i don't know if you knew exactly what he was _ doing? i don't know if you knew exactly what he was doing. - doing? i don't know if you knew exactly what he was doing. i'ml exactly what he was doing. i'm not going to speak for a great like him but as a person who

takes great care of his health. even today nba players were talking about health. these folks are looking forward so i think ronaldo did, coke is not the first thing you should be thrown in your body after working out. coca—cola is one of the official sponsors of the euros. wouldn't expect footballers to behave in this way? are there certain obligations that footballers have to the sponsors? just like all the athletes they have that big petition behind them. it has all the sponsors. i know you mentioned heineken and a memo to go up there. coca—cola has never met up there so these footballers are any athletes, they do have a responsibility to the but also they want to represent themselves to their

fans. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @rebeccajonesbbc hello there. over the next few days, bouts of thunderstorms will be affecting parts of england, bringing a risk of some localised flooding. now, wednesday was another very hot day in the capital. 29 degrees celsius, that was the highest temperature recorded in the whole of the uk. it was also very muggy. but we had some thunderstorms that started to break out as well across northern france, and these have been tracking across the english channel into southern and eastern areas of england. really anywhere from around about dorset, somerset north—eastwards at risk of a storm overnight, but really it's a more general area of rain with some thunderstorms mixed in. that's kind of what we'll have over the next few hours. now, across the north west, it should become largely dry here. a fresh night, ten degrees, comfortable for sleeping, but very muggy in eastern england. 18 degrees as we start the day on thursday. now, through thursday,

a wet start, i think, across the south east of england, east anglia, a good part of the midlands as well, with outbreaks of rain. still a risk of a few thunderstorms mixed in. most of that rain will clear off into the north sea with the weather becoming drier and brighterfrom the south—east, but still with a lot of cloud around. best of the sunshine, scotland, northern ireland and north—west fringes of both england and wales probably having some bright and reasonably fresh weather as well. but it will still be very humid in the east. thursday night, well, it should become dry at least for a time before the next batch of storms begin to make inroads from the south. and then through friday, again, we're looking at another pulse of thundery rain kind of affecting the same sort of areas really. southern england, the midlands, east anglia, parts of lincolnshire and yorkshire. and within this area of rain, there will be some hefty downpours bringing a risk of some localised flooding. still relatively fresh weather across the north west with some bright or sunny spells coming through. now, friday night, the rain slowly pushes its way northwards and eastwards with the thunderstorms as well. saturday does look a little bit drier generally. there'll be a few bright

or sunny spells around, perhaps one or two showers here and there as well. and then through saturday night, more storms work up from europe. but this time, the rain's going to be more widespread, and it will push right across into northern ireland and scotland as well, still with the risk of some thunderstorms embedded in that area of rain. so, all in all, very unsettled for the next few days. the biggest storms capable of bringing a lot of rain in a short space of time, which could bring the risk of some localised flooding. that's your latest weather.

this is bbc news with

the latest headlines both the us and and russian presidents have spoken positively about their summit in geneva, but significant differences were laid bare in their answers to reporters' questions. president biden said he'd told mr putin that the us would respond to actions that threaten its interests and raised human rights abuses. dominic cummings, the man who used to be boris johnson's closest adviser, has published whatsapp messages allegedly revealing the british prime minister called his health secretary matt hancock �*hopeless�*. downing street has refused to deny the claims. mr cummings also accuses the prime minister of lying. covid vaccinations are to be made compulsory for staff in care homes for older people in england. announcing the plans health secretary matt hancock said it was a �*sensible and reasonable step�*.

now on bbc news. it's hardtalk with stephen sackur.