welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: presidents biden and putin describe their first summit as "positive" and "constructive", but serious differences still remain between america and russia. this is the scene live in the gobi desert, where the first astronauts for china's new space station are set to blast off for the country's longest crewed mission. police in hong kong arrest five executives from the pro—democracy apple daily newspaper, which opposes beijing's tightening grip on the territory. and is blatant product placement falling flat? after cristiano ronaldo removes coca—cola bottles

from a euros news conference. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. 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 alexei navalny and alleged cyberattacks 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 speaks in russian 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. it's 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. mark simakovsky is a former europe/nato chief of staff in the us defense department and now non—resident senior fellow at the atlantic council's eurasia center. thank you very much becoming on the thank you. thank you very much becoming on the thank vom— thank you very much becoming on the thank yon-— the thank you. that headline in the thank you. that headline in the new yorker _ the thank you. that headline in the new yorker seeing - the thank you. that headline in the new yorker seeing the - the new yorker seeing the summit took place and nothing crazy happened. clearly a tongue—in—cheek reference to the trump era. clearly different, but what do you make of it? ., ~ ., ~'

different, but what do you make of it? ., ~ ., ~ of it? you know, i think both sides achieve _ of it? you know, i think both sides achieve their _ of it? you know, i think both sides achieve their primary l sides achieve their primary objectives, and you are right, there was no seeing in any one's soul, there was clearly a frank dialogue about differences between the united states and russia. i think there was an airing of grievances on both sides, the united states being very firm in laying out the areas it would no longer tolerate russian aggression, both here in the united states and abroad, and the costs that would be associated with additional russian aggression. and president putin likely laid out clear red lines on how far it would go. i didn't see many concessions, clearly, president putin spent the majority of the day rebuffing accusations of cyberattacks and election hacking and mistreatment of the russian opposition at home and mr navalny. but i think mr navalny avoided any sort of

accusations that he wasn't tough enough. i think clearly he laid out, and the fact that putin laid out that conversations were frank and candid, there were a number of issues the united states and russia disagreed on, and in contrary to his predecessor, president biden was willing to confront president putin in person and highlight those concerns. what was the result? the result was limited. there was little progress made other than to continue discussions, on one issue, in particular, strategic stability and arms control. that is the issue that has the most potential for additional discussion, i think. even thejoint statement even the joint statement released did not include any discussion of discussions on cybersecurity and cyberattacks, even though clearly the two presidents that there is a need for rules of the road on that issue. they were able to agree on the language.— on the language. cyber and nuclear some _ on the language. cyber and nuclear some of _ on the language. cyber and nuclear some of the - on the language. cyber and| nuclear some of the issues.

some critics saying it should have been wider than that? he should not have met putin at all or dignified him with the photo opportunity, and actually president putin walks away with more credibility on the international stage than perhaps president biden should have been giving him? {iii perhaps president biden should have been giving him? of course there is concern _ have been giving him? of course there is concern about _ have been giving him? of course there is concern about giving - there is concern about giving president putin that type of global stage, particularly as russia, not only continues but escalates its aggression and instability and amasses tens of thousands of troops. but things could have gone a lot worse if this meeting did not create an opportunity to de—escalate tensions and get back from the low point of relations. i applaud president biden taking applaud president biden taking a very bold stroke while he was in europe. the other piece that is important to note is why he met with putin at this time during this trip to europe. he had the winner of the us alliance at his back —— wind.

us allies want to confront russia and many are interested in engaging russia, potentially. president biden knew he would have a stronger hand with our allies to have a more united approach to russia, if it continues its aggression, if it continues its aggression, if you could meet with russia now and showcase to allies, look, i gave them a chance, a laid out risks if they continue aggression, and if they do continue, we will have a much more united front to deal with later on. a ~ more united front to deal with lateron. ~ ,, ., later on. mark simakovsky, thank you _ later on. mark simakovsky, thank you for _ later on. mark simakovsky, thank you for coming - later on. mark simakovsky, thank you for coming on. i thank you for coming on. thanks. let's take you live now to the gobi desert. the first astronauts for china's new space station and set to blast off shortly, actually, for the country's longest crewed mission to date. it is china's first crewed mission in nearly five years, and it represents a landmark step in establishing beijing as a major space power.

the three astronauts will launch on a long march 2f rocket, heading for the space station, where they will spend three months. lift—off is expected in a few minutes' time. their spacecraft will dock with the main section of the space station, that has been in orbit since april. the first crew will test and maintain the systems onboard, conduct spacewalks and undertake scientific experiments. things like that. we will be keeping an eye on this and bring more to you in about half—an—hour. hong kong police say they've arrested five executives from the pro—democracy apple daily newspaper in a dawn raid on its offices. the newspaper — which has opposed china's tightening grip on hong kong — says

its editor—in—chief, ryan law was among those detained. the founder and owner of the newspaper, jimmy lai, has already been put on trial over similar accusations — which could carry a life sentence. let's speak now with our reporter in hong kong, danny vincent. bring us up—to—date with what has happened? good morning. in the early hours of the morning, the early hours of the morning, the national security police arrested five executives from apple daily, including the chief executives and the managing editor. this is the second time apple daily has been raided. the first time, jimmy lai, the outspoken critic and owner of apple daily was arrested and paraded through the newsroom. is now in prison for charges relating to the protest movement in 2019. he is also being charged and standing trial for violating national security law. i think the difference between this raid and the raid before is clearly the people that have been

arrested, jimmy lai is not the managing editor, he is not involved technically with editorial decisions inside the paper, he is an outspoken actor in his own right. he was arrested under those charges, because of his involvement with the protest movement. this time we are seeing editorial staff arrested at the newspaper. some of the journalists we have been speaking to our apple daily have been livestreaming the event. the police are still outside and inside their offices at the moment. there were reports earlier in the moment from some journalists inside the newspaper ——in the month, that apple daily would be further targeted and even raided or even closed. so journalists i have been speaking to, they felt this was not just an attack speaking to, they felt this was notjust an attack on the pro—democracy movement, but there seems to be a shift, in their words, a shift here, that their words, a shift here, that the media itself is also under

attack. , ., attack. danny, i am intrigued about the _ attack. danny, i am intrigued about the public _ attack. danny, i am intrigued about the public reaction - attack. danny, i am intrigued. about the public reaction here. what you think it will be? is there a sense now that this is inevitable or are events like this are still shocking to ordinary people in hong kong? 1 think the scale of this, of this arrest, and also the pictures that hong kongers will be seeing livestream from inside apple daily will again be surprising and shocking and maybe that is in some ways deliberate. we have seen more than 100 police officers inside apple daily, raiding the premises this is the second time it has happened. some residents feel they are prepared, you know, they are used to dawn raids, they know activists and pro—democracy individuals are being targeted. this again represents a change in hong kong. the first time apple daily was raided, people

had not seen anything like that before. the image of hundreds of police officers inside the most popular newspaper in the city. it is shocking. in the time that has passed between them, hong kong has changed substantially. activists say people, both, inside and outside of the formal opposition have been targeted. the young, the old. i think most activists would think this is yet again another example of how drastically the city has changed. how drastically the city has changed-— 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 mrjohnson. downing street has not questioned the authenticity of those messages, which apparently show mrjohnson describing his health secretary matt hancock as "hopeless". 0ur 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? borisjohnson'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, 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 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: is it a bird — is ita plane?

just what is flying high over the middle eastern countryside? find out a little later. what a way to see the countryside! there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act which, for a0 years, forcibly classified each citizen according to race. just a day old, and the royal baby is tonight sleeping in his cot at home. early this evening, the new prince was taken by his mother and father to their apartments in kensington palace. germany's parliament, i the bundestag, has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat of government - from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into i the night, but the decision was greeted with shock in bonn. the real focus of attention today was valentina tereshkova, the world's first

woman cosmonaut. what do you think of the russian woman in space? i think it's a wonderful achievement and i think we might be able to persuade the wife it would be a good idea if i could to get her to go up there for a little while. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: 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. police in hong kong arrest five executives from the pro—democracy apple daily newspaper, which opposes beijing's tightening grip on the territory. now, is it time to rethink the age—old advertising practice of product placement? a couple of major sponsors of the european football championship have this week suffered the embarrassment of top footballers shunning their products.

courtney bembridge reports. first it was portugal's christiano ronaldo, as he sat down at a press conference on monday he shuffled two bottles of coca—cola out of shot, and then held up a bottle of water, apparently encouraging people to drink that instead. the small gesture took the fears of coca—cola's share price which fell in the hours that followed, wiping $4 billion from the company �*s value. coca—cola, which is still worth around $240 billion knows better than to pick a fight. the company issued a statement saying everyone is entitled to their drink preferences. christiano ronaldo is notjust anyone. christiano ronaldo is not 'ust an one. ~ , ., anyone. when you consider that christiano _ anyone. when you consider that christiano ronaldo _ anyone. when you consider that christiano ronaldo is _ anyone. when you consider that christiano ronaldo is 299 - christiano ronaldo is 299 million followers on instagram, what he does is big news every time he does something. and what he does is big news every time he does something. and it was notjust _ time he does something. and it was notjust ronaldo. _ time he does something. and it

was notjust ronaldo. one - time he does something. and it was notjust ronaldo. one day. was notjust ronaldo. one day later, french football and practising muslim paul pogba removed a heineken beerfrom the table in front of him. it turned out the beer was non—alcoholic, but many are asking whether this kind of product placement has had its day. product placement has had its da . , ., day. the trend here is that fans will — day. the trend here is that fans will become _ day. the trend here is that fans will become more - day. the trend here is that l fans will become more wary day. the trend here is that - fans will become more wary in the heightened profile of these examples where we will have fans talking to see what they want to be affiliated to. both coca-cola — want to be affiliated to. both coca-cola and _ want to be affiliated to. both coca-cola and heineken - want to be affiliated to. both coca-cola and heineken are | coca—cola and heineken are official sponsors of the euros, and may well feel their investment has fallen flat. in the football itself, italy are through to the last 16 of the euros. the italians thrashed switzerland 3—0 in rome. it prompted jubilant celebrations from their supporters in the fan zone. in the same group, wales beat turkey to boost their chances of proceeding in the competition.

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 police in the italian capital rome have diffused a homemade explosive device, that was found on a car near the olympic stadium just hours before the euro 2020 clash between italy and switzerland. the bomb was reported to have been filled with bolts and gunpowder and had been put on a vehicle belonging to a local government official. let's return now to the live pictures from the gobi desert, where the first astronauts for china's new space station are set to blast off shortly, for the country's longest crewed mission to date.

it is china's first crewed mission in nearly five years, and a landmark step in establishing beijing as a major space power. a hugely significant moment this will for beijing and we can see some action there, that crainey is moving away from the rocket, which suggests things are about to happen. what will happen is this rocket will launch and then it will dock with a section of the main space station which is already in orbit, that went up in april, then the three astronauts on board will continue with the process of getting it already do permanently have astronauts up there, so this launch sued happen in a few seconds time, so we will stay with these pictures and watch it go.

so what a moment for china there! a successful launch, and you have to remember part of the reason behind this whole endeavour for china the reason behind this whole endeavourfor china is the reason behind this whole endeavour for china is the fact that they are excluded from the international space station, mainly at the request of the us, so they will have had to go it alone with their own space station, and this is a significant step towards that, three astronauts flying right now towards that space station,

supplies are already there, they have separate living spaces waiting for them, treadmills for exercise once they get there, three members, you can see them there, of the military, their identities kept secret until very recently but they now on their way to china's space station. so often when we talk about lebanon, we're bringing you bad news. it's a poor country that's experienced decades of sectarian division, and has had to provide shelter to thousands of refugees. but it's also the home of unesco world heritage sites, and a beautiful landscape. three french adventurers wanted to witness it first hand in an unusual way. tim allman reports. for all its troubles, let it be no doubt, 11 on is truly stunning. a country of history, mystery and a spectacle ——

lebanon. forthese mystery and a spectacle —— lebanon. for these three men, there's only one way to truly appreciate it. fred, vincent and aurelio and aurelian are wingsuit flyers, so if they want to look around, they take to the skies. jumping out of a helicopter, they glide across the lebanese countryside, seeing the country's highest peak and flying through the khadijah valley in the forest of the cedars of god. like a trio of cape superheroes, they seem to defy gravity in a fairly nonchalant way. translation: it's cool that we're the first people to over this country. in we're the first people to over this country-— this country. in the end, reality asserted - this country. in the end, reality asserted south, l this country. in the end, i reality asserted south, and this country. in the end, - reality asserted south, and the parachute down—to—earth. an unprecedented an extraordinary trip across an extraordinary country. tim allman, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter —

i'm @ l vaughanjones this is bbc news, goodbye. 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.

the headlines: both the us and and russian presidents have spoken positively about their summit in geneva but significant differences were laid bare. president biden said he'd told mr putin that the us would respond to actions that threaten its interests. the two leaders held about four hours of talks. hong kong police say they've arrested five executives from the pro—democracy apple daily newspaper in a dawn raid on its offices. the newspaper, which has opposed china's tightening grip on hong kong, is owned byjimmy lai, who's already been put on trial over similar accusations. the first astronauts for china's new space station have blasted off in the gobi desert, for the country's longest crewed mission to date. it is china's first crewed mission in nearly five years, and a landmark step in establishing beijing as a major space power.