welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore — i'm arunoday mukharji. the main headlines... political uncertainty in israel, with a fifth election likely in just four years — the prime minister calls for parliament to be dissolved as his coalition falls apart. the uk braces itself for the biggest railway strike in three decades — after talks on pay and conditions break down. the argument over bulldozing homes in india — are political parties using bricks and mortar to punish their opponents? hollywood actor ben stiller travels to ukraine to meet the president — telling volodymyr zelensky he's his hero.

rear part how in thailand has legalised marijuana leading the way to all sorts of cannabis creations. live from our studio and singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to the programme. israels�*s prime minister, naftali bennett is to step down from his post and dissolve parliament — triggering a fresh election. the current foreign minister, yair lapid, will temporarily take over. mr bennett has been in thejob forjust over a year and has struggled to stabilise his increasingly fragile governing coalition. translation: i held a series of talks with officials - and i realised that in ten days were the expiration of the west

bank regulations, israel will experience serious security damages and legal chaos. we spared no efforts to galvanise whomever was needed to pass the regulations, but our efforts bore no fruit. therefore, my friend the foreign minister and i decided to act together to dissolve parliament and set an agreed—upon date for elections. for more on the political situation in israel, i have been speaking to the chief political correspondent of thejerusalem post — gil hoffman. it came to this because they had another ten days to pass a bill that had to be passed in order to prevent chaos, and the opposition wasn't willing to support it in the coalition had too many rebellions and was left with a minority government, and that minority government could not last very long, but it doesn't say anything wrong with diversity. we could very well have just a diverse government with dues a diverse government with jews and arabs cooperating again

after the next election. the former prime minister has been looking to stage a comeback, he's made that clear. a lot of interest surrounding this aspect. what are the chances of that happening? i would say 60—40, at least. he still does have the support of the majority of the people for his diplomatic security and economic policies, and this government failing to last very long only makes him look better. he's the longest serving prime minister and israel's history and at 72 years old, he is still young, his father passed away at the age of 102. israel will be holding its fifth general election in underfour years. just a word about the citizens, how have they been viewing these rapidly changing political developments within such a short period of time? look, the citizens of israel have been through a lot politically, einstein's theory of insanity, during the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. i can understand how it can

be frustrating and yet 70% turnout in four elections in a row and probably the same in the next election coming up. so they are still committed to israeli democracy in spite of all of its challenges. what can we expect in conclusion in the next few weeks in the to the election? a very big mess. there could be an attempt to form an alternative government and avoid an election, it is unlikely but it is still very much on the table. after the elections are called, there is going to be recruitment of all kinds of celebrities to try to restructure the political map. so, hopefully in one way or another, a stable government can be formed and can and the political chaos that has gone on for way too long. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines.... a chinese filmmaker wanted by the malawian authorities over allegations of racism and child exploitation has been arrested in neighbouring zambia.

lu ke was exposed by a bbc africa eye investigation which reported he had used malawian children to film personalised greetings videos, some of which included racist content. colombia's largest active rebel group, the national liberation army has said it's willing to resume peace talks with the government once the new president, gustavo petro, takes office in august. mr petro has become the country's first left—wing leader after winning sunday's presidential election. the president of world athletics, lord coe, has suggested the sport could ban transgender women from elite female competitions. it follows the decision by swimming's governing body to bar trans athletes if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty. 120,000 people have been protesting in the georgian capital, tbilisi, in support of the country's bid to become a member of the european union.

on friday, the european commission recommended eu candidate status for ukraine and moldova, but said georgia's application should be deferred. a floating restaurant that was a famous hong kong landmark has sunk, days after it was towed away from the harbour where it operated for nearly 50 years. the jumbo restaurant capsized in the south china sea while on its way to an undisclosed location. nobody was hurt. the biggest rail strike in the uk in 30 years will go ahead this week with services affected on tuesday, ——india's supreme court will hold a hearing on tuesday — on whether bulldozing homes belonging to muslims accused of taking part in violent protests in the state of uttar pradesh, is being carried out legally. the demolitions have been criticised in india, and made headlines globally. many say that bulldozing has

become a weapon of choice for the hindu nationalist bjp government to destroy homes and livelihoods of the minority muslim community. 0ur south asia correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan, has the details. in the streets of saharanpur, a lingering fear. for muslims in the town, nothing feels safe any more. anti—muslim sentiment is growing in india. targeted in hate crimes, attacked in political speeches. now they are afraid the government is coming for their homes. this is what happened... bulldozers sent in after her 17—year—old son, abdul, was detained. authorities say they will demolish illegally constructed homes, of those accused of taking part in violent protests. she was here with her young grandchildren when the diggers showed up without warning. translation: the | children were crying. they were howling. there were lots of police here, too. everyone was scared.

the bulldozer was outside and we were in here. thousands demonstrated in the town following friday prayers over a week ago. after a national spokesperson for the hindu nationalist bjp made offensive remarks about the prophet muhammad. a largely peaceful march turned tense. dozens of muslim men detained. this woman hasn't seen her son since that day. he is accused of rioting. she says he wasn't even at the protests. but officials have been to inspect her house. she's scared the bulldozers could visit next. translation: we sacrificed | everything to build this house. they came and said it's illegal and threatened to break it down. we are insects for them. they can crush us any time they want.

it's notjust the town of saharanpur. in recent months, bulldozers have been deployed across india by the governing bjp to crack down on dissent. they are calling it bulldozer justice here in india, a form of punishment which many say targets muslim protesters. one which has drawn criticism from some of the country's top legal minds. in a statement, a group of retired judges and sitting supreme court lawyers said it was an unacceptable subversion of the rule of law and a violation of citizens' rights. one which makes a mockery of the constitution. but india's bjp government disagrees. we asked an elected official from the party here if bulldozing was a proportionate response. translation: nobody has a right l to destroy any public property, l so according to the law, definitely the bulldozer

must be used on them. bulldozing is the right thing to do. a threat to their homes and their rights. the bulldozer risks shaking the foundations of india's democratic values. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, saharanpur. the biggest rail strike in the uk in 30 years will go ahead this week with services affected on tuesday, thursday and saturday. last—minute talks between union leaders and rail bosses failed to generate a breakthrough. union leaders want a pay rise of at least seven percent for their workers, as the cost of living crisis begins to bite. but the government has described the unions as �*outdated'. here's our transport correspondent, katy austin. people heading home this evening were catching some of the last trains before much of the network grinds to a halt

in the biggest national rail strike in three decades. last—ditch talks between rail bosses on the rmt union this afternoon ended without a settlement. the rmt has rejected a pay offer worth 3%. faced with such an aggressive agenda of cuts to jobs, conditions, pay and pensions, the rmt has no choice but to defend our members industrially and to stop this race to the bottom. the rail industry is under pressure to save money after the pandemic hit passenger numbers and revenue and billions of tax—payers' money kept services running. rail bosses and the government want the rmt to agree to reforms and more modern ways of working. if we are able to bring modern practices into the way we run the railway, that could save hundreds of millions of pounds, and that could be transferred into savings and a better pay offer we could put on the table. up to 40,000 members of the rmt are due to walk out on three days this week.

they work for 13 train companies, for example guards and cleaners, and at network rail, which maintains and operates the railway across england, scotland and wales. its staff include signallers. signalling staff are crucial to be able to run any trains at all on the tracks, and even with contingency measures in place, about half of britain's rail network will be completely closed tomorrow, thursday and saturday. where trains can run, there will be a very limited service, and only between about 7:30am and 6:30pm. portsmouth is one of the places that will have no trains at all on strike days. josh takes a train to work as manager of this pub in portsmouth city centre because he finds parking difficult and fuel prices have gone up. he will have to drive this week, and is worried the business will suffer if customers who can work from home. labour and the unions have called on ministers to intervene to try and solve the dispute. the transport secretary today insisted that wasn't his place. the employers have the facility to be able to negotiate

what are complex and detailed, 20 different areas of reform that are required. there is no way that a minister could step into that discussion and be any help. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... ben stiller has called to —— travel to ukraine to call for better services for refugees. members of the neo—nazi resistance movement armed with pistols and shotguns. we believe that, according to international law, that we have a right to claim certain parts of this country is our land. i take pride in the words "ich bin ein berliner." cheering. as the uk woke up to the news that it is to exit the european union, leave campaigners began celebrating. in total, 17.4 million people voted for the uk to leave the eu.

the medical research council has now advised the government that the great increase in lung cancer is due mainly to smoking tobacco. it was closing time for checkpoint charlie, which for 29 years hosted on the border as a mark of allied determination to defend the city. welcome back to newsday on the bbc with me arunoday mukharji in singapore. 0ur headlines.. uncertainty in israel with a fifth election now likely in just four years, it calls for parliament to be dissolved as its coalition forms a party. the uk braces itself are the biggest railway strike in three decades after talks of pay and conditions break down.

millions have been left marooned with rescue team struggling to reach them. dozens of people are known struggling to reach them. dozens of people are known to have died and many more are missing. floods and landslides where triggered by a week of relentless rainfall, and some of the border areas between bangladesh and india, the authorities say about 60% of the area is currently submerged. powersupplies the area is currently submerged. power supplies and communications are down while flood and fresh drinking water are running short. 0ur correspondent is in mumbai but is keeping a close watch on those developments and sent us this update. the those developments and sent us this update-— this update. the situation in both bangladesh _ this update. the situation in both bangladesh and - this update. the situation in both bangladesh and india l both bangladesh and india remain severe and thus selected region, hundreds of thousands of people are still stranded, and the military has been pressed into action to try to reach them. we have been told by the bangladeshi military that they are in the worst affected area, but that there

are lots of remote places beyond that as well where there is no connectivity with people in those areas. power lines are down. those who have been moved to safety have talked about how they were waiting on their rooftops for a day or two before someone came to rescue them on a makeshift boat. they've talked about how this is the worst flooding they have seenin is the worst flooding they have seen in their lives. we heard a bangladeshi officials say that this is the worst the country has seen since 200a. in india as well, the northeastern state, the situation remains grim. the ministrations of 615 camps have been set up for people who have been moved to safety. these are temporary shelters in schools and community centres. the national disaster response forces trying to reach as many people as they can bite boat, and the indian air force has been pressed into action as well, primarily to try to get food packets, medicines and clean drinking water to people who are in relative safety, but are cut off from other areas, so until they can be moved to safety, at

least they have food, water and medicines. 0f least they have food, water and medicines. of course, there is the great risk of disease breaking out, so there are also teams forming in the areas where people have been evacuated to to offer basic treatment. now, these are areas that are used to seeing floods each year, but what has happened this time around as they were hit by floods in may, and even before they had a chance to recover, this has now happened again. there are usually warning systems in place as well because this happens every year in south asia during the monsoon season, but it has been unrelenting rainfall for nearly a week, so people were not able to move to safety, they were not able to be evacuated on time. hollywood actor, ben stiller is on a visit to ukraine where he visited the war torn city of irpin which was targeted by russian troops in the early days of the conflict. on monday, which was world refugee day, the actor met the ukrainian president,

volodymyr zelensky in kyiv and the two talked about the importance of keeping ukraine in the headlines. ben stiller also told mr zelensky it was an honour to meet him and thanked him for all he is doing for his country. you're my hero. you're amazing. you quit a great acting careerfor this. not so great as yours. no, but pretty great. but what you've done and the way that you've rallied the country and for the world, it's really inspiring. it's too much for me. 0ur our special report now, thailand has seen a strike turned around and its laws on illegal drugs until recently, the kingdom's harsh penalties and see hundreds of foreigners locked up on long sentences, but now the government has completely legalised the use of marijuana, released thousands of prisoners and, as our southeast asia —— south asian correspondent reports sparked a boom in weed related businesses.

a cannabis craze is sweeping thailand. see how beautiful it is? this is the country's health minister. the architect of what is now the most liberal marijuana regimes anywhere in the world. being cheered by enthusiastic locals who hope that this green gold will bring them new wealth. it is an astonishing turnaround for a country that still has some of the toughest punishments for drug use. we want to destigmatize these products from being a narcotic. people, when they have access to this cannabis industry, they will not go to the dark side. they will only focus on how to make a better living. already, cannabis is being offered in a mind blowing variety of forms. the official view is that this should all be for medical or therapeutic purposes.

that's what the government is promoting to tourists. they want people coming to thailand to get well, not high. in practice, though, the new law makes pretty much anything from the marijuana plant — however potent — legal. translation: | am| happy, really happy. now villagers like us can grow it legally. we no longer have to hide. even what is perhaps thailand's most famous product — its cooking — has been caught up in the craze. it's actually an old tradition here of putting marijuana into quite a few recipes, including the dishes in front of me here, which the government would like to tap into, as it pursues its goal of turning thailand into a marijuana hub. but can it do that without an explosion in recreational use? something the government doesn't want to happen. many doubt that it can. so what happens in here, nan?

we are mostly focusing on cbd flower strains, so... nan is a marijuana enthusiast. super exciting. today is such a big win, i think, for all stoners in thailand. she's also the daughter of a powerful local politician who's backing cannabis cultivation in this puerile region of thailand. ——who's backing cannabis cultivation in this poor, rural region of thailand. nan plans to help local farmers with her know—how. she's not convinced that the government's focus on medical use is realistic. we all know from studying, like, other markets, recreational is where the money is at. so i think this is a good step towards that if we are really thinking of this as an actual economic crop. even though the government says it strictly for medical purposes, it's not for recreational. i hope that they see the potential, the economics of it, and hopefully that will aid with the legalisation of, like, recreational use. this really feels like a new age for thailand. just a month ago, possessing this much marijuana might have got you 15 years in jail.

today, anyone can cash in on the weed bonanza. and with just a few restrictions, enjoy consuming it too. jonathan head, bbc news, thailand. another special report, the variety of life across the world is under threat like never before according to some scientists, to combat that from the united nations is now trying to ensure that humanity lives in harmony with nature, setting a deadline to it about 2050. the latest conference working towards that goal is set to begin in kenya, but is that goal achievable is in rowlett has been to visit the guerrillas in uganda to find out. this park is one of the last two places on earth

where mountain gorillas still survive. we're just hacking our way through the forest... ..because obviously the gorillas do whatever they want. there are no paths up here. he whispers: have you seen something? just round here. ah, there's one down here! it's a gorilla. gorilla groans. this is just incredible. you can hear the sound of gorillas all around us. you can't see most of them because the vegetation is so thick. there are baby gorillas in the trees. adults withjuvenile gorillas on the ground. it's incredible to be so close to one of our closest adults withjuvenile gorillas on the ground. it's incredible to be so close to one of our closest

the population is growing steadily. it is a dramatic turnaround. sir david attenborough feared he might be seeing the last of their kind when he visited a mountain gorilla family in the �*705. so how have the gorillas been saved? conservation charities say this — ecotourism — is a large part of the answer. tourism really does help wild animals if it's done right. when i first started out, there were only about five lodges, now there's as many as 70. the lodges have created jobs, the ngos have created jobs. but tourism alone will not be enough. the un says the world needs to set aside a third of all land and sea to protect biodiversity. they bump into each of them are comments associated with aggression, we see higher rates of infanticide, so infants can oftentimes be killed when these families come together.- families come together. bigger arks cost families come together. bigger

parks cost more _ families come together. bigger parks cost more money, - families come together. bigger parks cost more money, the i families come together. bigger| parks cost more money, the un is asking countries to set aside a third of their land and sea area for conservation. the developing world says it needs $100 billion a year to help fund that. the hope is the deadlock can be broken nairobi this week. we've been told by scientists — we only have this century and we only have one planet. there's no planet b. the mountain gorilla shows we can save species from the brink of extinction. the question now is whether the world is ready to commit the money and resources to make it happen on a much bigger scale. justin rowlatt, bbc news, bwindi impenetrable forest. if you want to keep up with all the stories that we are covering, head to our website, there is background and analysis to all the main news that we are tracking. you will find it on bbc dot com on and you can always download the bbc

news app as well. that's all on this edition of newsday. do you stay on with bbc news. hello. tuesday promises a long day ahead, quite literally the longest day of the year. it's the summer solstice, and for shetland, we're looking at close to a whopping 19 hours of daylight. i can't promise you 19 hours of sunshine here, however, because there is a weather front closing in on the north of scotland, and that will mean more cloud around, maybe even some rain through tuesday, although it should brighten across scotland later in the day. quite grey initially with some drizzly rain, but by the afternoon, skies should brighten especially in the east and we could see some isolated showers. for the clearest of the skies and the best of the sunshine, england and wales will be the place to be, and here, the top temperatures returning to the mid 20s. cooler for aberdeen as we see the weather front slide south.

pollen levels come down somewhat across scotland in response to the weather front in place, but still remain high across england, wales and northern ireland. tuesday evening, some more fine weather around and more sunshine until quite late into the evening, and then, as darkness falls, clear skies continue across england and wales and more in the way of patchy cloud in scotland and northern ireland, overnight lows typically in double figures, somewhere between the 10—12 degree mark. for wednesday into thursday, we've still got high pressure trying to push across the uk, this little ridge from the west, so actually quite a lot of fine weather to come for both wednesday and thursday, and no really dramatic changes — perhaps more sunshine across central and eastern scotland, and here, we should see temperatures responding to that and pushing up into the low 20s. still cooler in the north west of scotland with more cloud, but look at england and wales — 28 degrees, actually seeing

some significant heat returning through wednesday, and thursday's picture will be very similar indeed for england and wales. chance of a few showers closing into the south coast, spilling up from the continent, but they should be few and far between. scotland and northern ireland, perhaps little more cloud around, but temperatures up to 20 in belfast and aberdeen. it's the end of the week where it looks like things will start to turn more unsettled, and into the weekend, showers becoming more widespread, the wind picking up and the temperatures sliding down.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues, straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. after a painful divorce, you never know if the ex—partners will be able to build an amicable relationship. for britain and the eu, it seems the brexit break—up has left a legacy of mistrust and bitterness, which is overwhelming any desire for cooperation. northern ireland is currently what they're fighting over. the uk is refusing to

stick to the divorce settlement and the eu is threatening legal action.