hello. this is bbc news, with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines... england and scotland played out a goalless draw at wembley but both countries keep their hopes alive of reaching euro 2020's knockout stage. hardliner ebrahim raisi is projected to win iran's presidential election — partial results give him a commanding lead over his nearest rivals. us catholic bishops are on a potential collision course with president biden after voting on a document that could bar him from taking communion. the son of a private investigator whose murder has remained unsolved for more than three decades criticises the metropolitan police's handling of the case. pop—up vaccination centres and walk—in clinics open in england in a major push to offer coronavirus jabs to all remaining adults. and rock fans from across the uk celebrate at the scaled down version of the download festival in england as it goes ahead as a test event.

now on bbc news... dateline london, with shaun ley. hello. i'm shaun ley. welcome to the programme which brings together columnists from leading journals, bbc specialists and the reporters who write, broadcast and blog for folks back home from the dateline: london. this week — biden's back and bibi's out. what changes will follow from a united states administration re—engaged on the world stage and an israel led by its first new prime minister in more than a decade? to discuss that and more, i'm joined byjeffrey kofman, who hails from canada and anchored programmes there and in the united states. he's also served as a foreign correspondent in war and peace.

russian—born arkady ostrvosky reports on the country of his birth, as well as eastern europe, for the economist. the bbc�*s chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, also canadian by birth, is with me here. canadian by birth and nationality. we are glad to have you here. thank you for being with us. pasties in cornwall, pate in brussels, petite arvine by the glass on lake geneva. us presidentjoe biden has had a busy week, encompassing multi—national diplomacy with g7 and nato and a bi—lateral with vladimir putin. more than once, in the folksy style honed by five decades in america's national politics, mr biden declared, "america is back". it is a metes phrase, some might even say it is a grab ——glib phrase but america is back in what way and where?

the question is an existential back or aspirational america is back? the answer is it is a bit of both. the fact is that donald trump took america out of international organisations and threatened to get out of nato and really affected the western alliance. whatjoe biden is saying is we are back in this alliance and we are back as a collective but that aspirational part of it is that donald trump and the american democracy has really been tested and the legitimacy of american democracy is not where it was a decade or two ago and so it becomes an aspirational america is back. america wants to be notjust economic but the moral leader of the world. joe biden is keen to restore that but there is a lot of work to do nonetheless, america is back at the table. and that really is the take away

from this past week. in european terms, what might america is back mean? i think this is the moment that everybody has been waiting for with some trepidation and huge anticipation after the psychodrama of donald trump and his relationship with vladimir putin. i thinkjust a sense of america returning to its former self in terms of diplomacy, and institutions and in terms of predictable statements and policies and that in itself has brought some relief and of course for europe russia has been one of the main worries, particularly since 2014 and the war in ukraine, belarus.

so this is a very important moment for europe to see american leadership because for many years, for the past few years a lot of europeans particularly in eastern europe were not sure where they stand. in terms of president putin, he stroked his ego with his invitation to meet one—on—one as if and two superpowers meeting like the old days. but whenjoe biden says we will return what you do in kind unless you co—operate on things like cyber attacks, does president putin really have cause to take that seriously? president putin understands power and understands force. for the past few years he has been able to claim escalation dominance partly or largely in that knowledge

that there would be no push back. ..after the reset of americans relationship with russia in 2008 by barack obama. there wil be no real pushback from donald trump. i think in his press conference they had individual press conferences, it's quite interesting that joe biden tried to walk a very tight line here. on the one hand as you say not so much to massage his ego but to meet him face—to—face and try to mitigate whatever he can by not giving him an opportunity to have a joint press conference. but as i said, putin understands what power means and when somebody is prepared to push back and joe biden in very calm terms has made it incredibly clear that cyber attacks on american infrastructure will be retaliated. he gave him a list of things that... a list of infrastructure sites that should not be touched. he delivered a thinly veiled threat saying how

would you like if your pipeline was attacked? and he said all the things on ukraine i think which was important to state particularly following russia's build—up of troops on the ukrainian border that the conflict should not go further in military terms. i think putin did take it seriously. i think for him it's important to get a sense where he can concentrate on things at hand which unfortunately means suppression of opposition, purges is of the political system and getting himself back into power in 2024. how should allies measure his words against his actions because the obvious place to talk about is afghanistan where there was a consultation but not much of a consultation before america announced we are off. i think he's right. there was a palpable sigh of relief. you could hear it when president

biden won the election and when he was inaugurated. they had been waiting for the day to meet face—to—face. they left the fact that america is back. he used the phrase stable and predictable. president biden said i want a stable and predictable relationship with president putin. europeans want a stable and predictable relationship with the united states as well. if only to use the phrase if we could have been in the room where it happened. we are told that when the 13 nato partners sat down together there was the a consensus in the room. that he had made the right decision. there was no good time to put out the last of the nato—led forces but now is the time he had to pull them out. yes, there was to use the british phrase very concealed frustration. europeans had not been consulted and nato allies had not been consulted but there �*s that expression that we went in together we are going out together

and they are showing a public show of strength and unity. but there is clearly a lot of scrambling going on. where will they base us forces in the region? where will they train afghan national security forces? because they're all saying, our troops are leaving afghanistan but we are not leaving afghanistan. we are going to help you and they still need to help as the taliban inch closer district by district back into power. so there seems to be a lot of scrambling going on when the weeks are counted before the last of the forces leave. when you hear a quote like this from the defence secretary who says it possibly could take two years for international terrorist groups to regroup, regenerate inside afghanistan and pose a threat to the us. that almost sounds like speaking against the administration. we are told the defence secretary actually gave his advice to the president that they actually should leave some kind of residual

force and counterterrorism force and he may have heard that from other senior commanders as well. joe biden thought very carefully about what he wants to do and he decided now is the time to go. what president biden said publicly was is 2021 is now 2001, the terrorism threat is different. we don't need to have a huge footprint in order to deal with it. and as he put it, it's notjust afghanistan, it's many others, where there is a terrorism threat and he feels this is the optimistic view that they could deal with it. but there is clear concern and the secretary—general of nato has made that clear as well. publicly. one subject we should not avoid mentioning at this point is china because it was specifically singled out in both the g7 and the g7 communique at the end of the summit and also in the talks in nato. we are told thatjoe biden

and xijinping have a relationship from whenjoe biden was vice president. we are told they can have a dialogue with one another but is there much for china to fear from the other remaining superpower in the world? i think it's interesting that china is now so high on the agenda. if you look a few years ago it was all about russia but clearly the balance of power in the world has changed. i think it's not a question of if china has something to fear, china dismissed g7 as a clique of rich western countries and nothing to be afraid of but i think unity within the g7 and unity with nato is a really important power balance against china's power which is very effective for economic and international aid. in biden saying he is

back and leading that coalition, that very much is what he is after is a unified voice against china to speak out about human rights. to say hey if you want to be an international player that's fine but there is basic standards of civility on the international stage that you have to live up to around freedoms and suppression of people within your country, around human rights and forced labour and taiwan and around hong kong _ the only way that is going to be effectively heard is if china really is shamed into this and forced by a western coalition to do something. should we expect concrete responses and for china to back down immediately? no, that is not going to happen. these are incremental beings but it's clear that a unified western voice will have much more impact. china has been very discreetly spending trillions of dollars in developing countries

but a hundred countries have received its road and bridge aid and infrastructure projects and highways in kenya and ports in brazil. these are countries starved for modern infrastructure as the west has become more parsimonious about supporting developing countries, china has taken the opposite track and has effectively through soft power and hard infrastructure asserted itself massively on a global scale and one of the things that came out of this is a commitment to counter western countries. let's check back on that because that means they have to spend real dollars on places where they are not voluntary and that is always hard. thank you very much. it was an understandable error by benjamin netenyahu. just after the vote during sunday's special session of the knesset approved the new government formed without him, the now ex—prime minister returned to his seat. a parliamentary seat he had first occupied 25 years before —

almost to the day, in fact — and where this oft—described israeli hawk had been entitled to perch for the last 12 years. entitled no longer. his seat was that designated for the leader of the opposition. he seemed not quite able to believe it. quite a lot of other people are not able to believe an israel without netanyahu in charge. it's an extraordinary situation and one that does not mean that government replaces him is going to be very long either? start with america is back, he is biding his time and i don't think anyone can rule out bibi and he's in opposition and he's already using every podium he came to talk about this dangerous left—wing government that he is going to try to bring down. even by the standards of electoral politics and coalition politics of israel, this is a very rickety one.

it goes from the far right, the nationalist parties to the secular left—wing and including an error that is amazed who could not get more of a motley collection and what is the glue that holds them together? to get benjamin netanyahu out of power. and they did. but they are going to be tested. they've already been tested. israeli air strikes into gaza, baloons coming in from the gaza strip and there has been an ultranationalist march through the streets ofjerusalem and they will be tested again. because benjamin netanyahu will continue to make it clear that he is waiting in the rings, perhaps that is something that will hold them together. i think everyone is already wondering when will the next election be? one thing that might

is bennett and his force of his personality because he's an interesting political character himself isn't he? he is fascinating. this is a really interesting story to watch. he has to be a contortionist to survive. he has this clinician in which he only has seven feet and yet he heads the clinician as he pointed out of base push and the israel politics for the first time far right from his party to centrist and the far left and the islamic party. for him to hold it together, it's going to be extraordinary. a former aide to netanyahu and he has turned on his boss. he is against a two—state solution and said very clearly does not support the traditional peace process that he had been watching back and forth for the last number of decades. and yet he says he is a liberal on gay rights and wants to break the union's hold on the israeli economy and he picks

and chooses what he believes and but the important thing is in his initial speech he said we have to talk together and we have to work together. it would be very interesting to see whether he can hold that coalition and if he genuinely believes that. he had a very direct message in his opening address to russia and the other members of the security council and germany negotiating with iran at the moment, don't sign a nuclear deal. what clout do you think he has in that context, given this weekend we will see a change of president in iran? these are not real elections. these are pretty much staged. the idea of iran coming back into a deal is very important| and clearly something that _ president biden has thought through.

the timing was very interesting of biden's iran diplomacy- because it came before g7 and it came before his meeting - with russia and with - russian president putin. i don't think, of course _ prime minister bennett has to say this is one of the lines of attack on bibi. - look, iran should rejoice - now that we had this change | of power, being very sarcastic, | and mr bennett will not be able to stand up to biden. there are huge interestsj on the us side and every side to bring iran back into a the nuclear deal. one country that actually might descend to israel more -

, listen to israel more —— - interestingly i think is russia. l not out of great love for israel. though president putin seemed to think that is you that is an example land how to stand for your own and| how to take critical action and etc. but because russia might not want a deal with the us, - for the us to have a deal with iran because that will bring oil - and gas back and they will give much lgreater leverage to president bidenl and the european powers over russia i because if iran gas and oil come i back to that reduces russia's ability- to blackmail europe. how much is russia interested in israel because so many russians actually moved to israel after the collapse of the soviet union. there is a strong eastern european diaspora in modern israel. that's right. russian is the second most spoken language in israel. i there is a huge diaspora. russia is very interested in israel. it has an easy relationship.

historically the soviet union| was very much against israel on the hamas side and leadership still meets hamas in moscow- but as somebody who likes to go after his opponents l abroad and hit out putin has this institution and former kgb that - runs the country now. been anti—semitic. putin himself is not and as i said i think he has admiration - for israel and the people and i think it's- something that he does very much admire and appreciate. could this make any difference to the departure of netanyahu on the palestinians?

no. they simply do not agree at all on anything to do with the palestinian issue. they will try to work on the israeli domestic issues which are really urgent but bennett has been on the record saying he opposes the palestinian state. there are members of his coalition who are strong proponents, still on the two—state solution, so that is not going to be an issue where we are expecting to see much progress but the palestinians will say that has not been any progress on the palestinian issue for as long as they can remember. just time, before we go, for each of you to mark our cards about a story you think hasn't received enough attention — arkady, first. i think this story that has not... it receives attention sporadically when it breaks into the news for unfortunate reasons is belarus. that idea that people are being tortured and suppressed

this way and the plane has been hijacked as we know and the opponents have been snatched off the plane and it's tragic it's happening in europe in the 21st century. this story has also much wider importance for the world. notjust for humanitarian reasons, although they should not be underestimated, but belarus, the small european country that has been in the midst of tragedies of the 20th century is really important today for how the relationship changes between the west and russia. they are watching that as a potential theatre of action. russia considers it its backyard and the only reason lukashenko is in power is because of russia's backing. it's all the more important for america and europe to impose sanctions now on his regime which will serve as a message to russia.

it's also a message too, it's a small country which including china, has been a traditional backer of lukashenko. a lot of things could be decided, a lot of decisions can be made, a lot of calculations made on the basis of what happens next in belarus. i think it's the country we must watch very carefully and we should lend whatever support we can give to very brave people who are in jail, in terrible conditions. thank you. i am going to take a different approach. i think the story that does not receive enough attention in its author's eyes and that's dominic cummings, revelations about health secretary matt hancock and borisjohnson and their utter mismanagement of the covid—19 crisis early on. a year ago johnson's own lack of confidence in matt hancock.

in another era there might have been resignations about this stuff but it shows you how accountability of politicians has changed in the last number of years. like donald trump, it's acceptable that people just accept that borisjohnson is kind of chaotic and incompetent and now he says his own health secretary is and yet the story had no impact, itjust kind of dissipated and so we moved on. we do move on indeed. this story about one corner of syria which is now controlled - by president assad's forces. according to the un people living in the northwest corner— are being kept alive by a lifeline which is a border crossing - from turkey and that cross—border operation is at risk and it - would expire july the 10th. president biden said he discussed it with president putin _ at their meeting but no decision was made and president putin. did not confirm that russia would not again veto that i last border crossing.

there used to be four. it's now because of the vetol by china and russia it's down to one and so the fate of millions of people rests on that un - security council next month. just briefly on russia, continuing concern in russia about what's happening in syria? or has this conflict been parked? no, the conflict has not been parked, russia will use whatever cards it's got. the confrontation with the us has not ended. it's a bargaining chip in putin's relationship withjoe biden. what putin wants most of all, this meeting that we began with has been all about firming up lines and clarifying rules of engagement.

for putin, the most important thing is thatjoe biden and america keeps out of russian politics which russia sees as interference and essence of a conspiratorial mind and keeps it out of russian's backyard in return for that syria is a very important bargaining chip that russia thinks it can trade. it does not really care about assad, it does not care about rebuilding the state in syria. thank you all very much. thank you for your company. i hope you have a good night. hello, there. it's been a relatively quiet start to our weekend so far. yes, a lot of cloud around, but i suspect if you are waking up

to scenes like this in south—east england you'll take it, because yesterday was a miserable day, wasn't it? we had a month's worth of rain. it was really relentless throughout the day. so cloudy skies for many. the cloud is already starting to break up and some sunshine coming through and that may welljust trigger off a few isolated showers as we go through the day across scotland and northern england. if we draw a line really from the wash down to the bristol channel, here it may well stay quite grey and by the end of the afternoon further heavy showers likely to push up across the west country. top temperatures where we see the best of the sunshine likely to be 22 degrees, 72 fahrenheit. through the evening and overnight, though showers will become more widespread across central and southern england, with the heaviest bursts likely once again across south—east and eastern england and it will tend to linger first thing on sunday morning. quite a lot of cloud around. those temperatures are going to hold up, but that does mean another grey start to the second half of the weekend. a rather grey sunday morning.

there will be showery outbreaks of rain from this weather front that's going to gradually drift off into the north sea, so it will be an improving picture as we go through the day for many. so early showery rain gradually easing. there will be a few showers south of the m4 corridor, as well, but england and wales should see some brighter skies into the afternoon. a line of more organised showers stretching from the northern isles down through the great glen over into northern ireland, and some of those could be quite intense. top temperatures on sunday ranging from 12 to 20 degrees. there is an area of low pressure which is going to move its way through france and it mightjust bring some showery rain into southern fringes. at the same time we've got a north—easterly flow developing and what that is going to do is it's going to really push the warm russet tones, the extreme heat, back over to the near continent, so getting cooler still potentially on monday. yes, some showery rain south of the m4 corridor. factor in that north—easterly breeze, look at the temperatures, only around 1a degrees here.

monday is the summer solstice and this is not really the weather that we would like, but as we go through the week temperatures will gradually recover back to where they should be for this time of year. still some showery rain around.

this is bbc news. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. england and scotland played out a goalless draw at wembley but both countries keep their hopes alive of reaching euro 2020's knockout stage. we could have done a lot better than we did. it's just not a great game for us, really. brilliant performance from the guys. the england team is worth millions and millions of pounds, our guys just do their best for scotland. at its peak, 20 million people were tuned in to watch the action