welcome to bbc news. i'm gareth barlow. our top stories: the us supreme court deals 3 major blow to efforts to tackle climate change, with a ruling that limits government powers to cut greenhouse gas emissions. this is a setback this is a set back in ourfight against climate change when we are already far off track in meeting the goals of the paris agreement. president xijinping travels to hong kong, to mark the 25th anniversary of the british handover. prime minister, borisjohnson says china must be held to commitments made about the former colony. on the 25th anniversary of the handover, we simply cannot avoid the fact that for some time now, beijing has been failing to comply with its obligations.

as nato leaders wrap up their summit in madrid, president biden says the united states and its allies will stick with ukraine for as long as it takes. and, temperatures in japan are the highest in nearly a 150 years, in nearly 150 years, amid fears the electricity grid could be overwhelmed. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe the biden administration has condemned a supreme court ruling which curbs the us government's power to limit carbon emissions from coal—fired power stations, calling it a devastating decision. all six members of the conservative majority in the supreme court backed the landmark ruling, which marks a victory for the coal industry.

the case was brought on behalf of mostly republican—led states which were worried that they'd be forced to move away from using coal to cleaner sources of energy. from washington, here's our north america editor sarah smith. in california today, wildfires burning out of control are a vivid reminder of the urgent need to take action on climate change. america is a large part of the problem — the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gase in the world after china — but also a victim. you can see from the water line above the vast lake how much it has shrunk in recent years, impacting the water supply for millions of people in the south—west. president biden came into office pledging to lead a global effort to reduce carbon emissions, promising at the cop summit in glasgow last year to lead by example. will we act and do what is necessary? will we seize the enormous opportunity before us or will we condemn future generations to suffer? future generations may not

thank the us supreme court for a decision today that restricts the federal government's ability to regulate energy producers. this ruling makes it harderforjoe biden to try to meet his climate change goals. the court has decided the environmental protection agency does not have the authority to impose carbon limits unless there is new legislation coming from congress, and that's something joe biden knows he doesn't have enough votes to get passed. coal lies at the heart of the problem. america still relies heavily on this most polluting fossil fuel to keep the lights on. the supreme court case was brought by 19 mostly republican states afraid they may be forced to move away from coal to generate electricity. those are states that have an outside share of america's carbon emissions and have done little so far to reduce them. california's landscape is vulnerable to the effects of climate change. a democrat—run state, it's spending billions — more than most countries —

to protect the environment but that effort will be undermined by the supreme court ruling. the idea that the us supreme court moved to take away one of the most significant and historically powerful tools to address the ravages of climate change is incomprehensible. in the states that won this case, they are celebrating a ruling that gives them a right to make their own rules on carbon emissions, rather than be told what to do by washington. and they say it will prevent a rise in the price of electricity. the united nations secretary general�*s spokesman says they're disappointed by the move. while it is not our role to provide legal commentary on traditional decisions of individual states, just more generally, i can say this is a in ourfight against generally, i can say this is a in our fight against climate change when we are already far off track in meeting the goals off track in meeting the goals of the paris agreement. the secretary general has said

repeatedly that the g20 must lead the way in dramatically stepping up climate action. i'm joined now by noah diffenbaugh, an american climate scientist and professor at stanford university. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. we heard about the political and legal ramifications of this ruling but were interested in the climatic impact of these really potentially. how significant is it? ., ., , potentially. how significant is it? ., ., y , a, it? not only is global warming happening _ it? not only is global warming happening but _ it? not only is global warming happening but the _ it? not only is global warming happening but the climate - it? not only is global warming happening but the climate is l happening but the climate is changing, extreme events are intensifying and we have clear events that those changes are already impacting people and ecosystems, from the equator, to the poles, in the oceans, on land, on the coast, into the tops of mountains, and it is costing us. it is costing us billions of dollars a year, it is exacerbating economic inequality and ecosystems around the world. we have clear evidence that this is notjust

a problem for the future, it is a problem for the future, it is a challenge for the present and the more global warming we have in the future, the more those impacts intensify. now global warming is going to be determined by the amount of emissions. in determined by the amount of emission— emissions. in a time of electric— emissions. in a time of electric cars, _ emissions. in a time of electric cars, wind - emissions. in a time of - electric cars, wind turbines, this argument is all about coal. why are we still argue about coal into thousand 22? about 80% of the world's energy supply is fossil fuels right now. ——in 2022. we have a large and growing global population and growing global population and the reality is, there are very large fractions of that population that live in energy property, that should not have the resources necessary for human well being. what we have now, in terms of... for those

who do have it, it is consumed by fossil fuel. they are very effective at supplying energy. they also have a number of side effects and one of them is climate change, and pollution and health impacts, water pollution and the health impacts of that water pollution as well. there are side effects of fossil fuel usage. it is a balance of energy axis and the impacts on the environment and people. impacts on the environment and --eole. . . ~ impacts on the environment and --eole. . ., impacts on the environment and theole, . ., . ., people. tackling climate change has been a _ people. tackling climate change has been a key _ people. tackling climate change has been a key pillar _ people. tackling climate change has been a key pillar for - people. tackling climate change has been a key pillar forjoe - has been a key pillarforjoe biden. he got the us to go back into the paris climate accord on the first day of his presidency. what can he do now? what can the white house do now as a result of this ruling to try limit emissions? there's lots that _ try limit emissions? there's lots that the _ try limit emissions? there's lots that the executive - try limit emissions? there's i lots that the executive branch does to enact the laws of

congress and there are the laws of congress and the laws on the books and laws under consideration so clearly there's both the opportunity made within the current laws on the books and the question of what new regulations and incentives congress passes and a number of those, a number of new bills have been proposed by the biden administration that they have put forward. it is also important to note that the state are also important factors, not only california but many states that are already and have ambitious goals in terms of electricity sector, transportation and other sectors and then there are non— state actors. i am

here in my university offers, we have it zero emissions both in its an investment, and endowment as well as in operations so we're seeing it multiple levels. the federal government is very important, it is not the only level that is important, this is certainly — today the options for the biden administration are more limited than they were yesterday. it limited than they were yesterday-— limited than they were yesterday. it is a critical time for _ yesterday. it is a critical time for the _ yesterday. it is a critical time for the world. - yesterday. it is a critical. time for the world. thank yesterday. it is a critical- time for the world. thank you very much for the moment. nato leaders have pledged more financial aid and weapons for ukraine. the alliance also renewed calls for president putin to end the invasion. nato's secretary general, jens stoltenberg, insisted that ukraine must prevail as an independent state. here's our political editor, chris mason. salisbury plain, usually a place where british troops train. now those in ukrainian uniforms are here, too, being taught how to use the weapons and equipment being given to them by the uk.

this as the prime minister, at the end of the nato summit in madrid, promised more money to help ukraine further. the best way for us to win the argument around the world about our values is for the ukrainians to win. that's why i'm pleased today that we've announced another £1 billion worth of military support. reporter: 50, prime minister, what is the overall objective of the uk's help and strategy for ukraine? we want to give them the means to repel the russians, to expel the russians from the territory that they have occupied, because that is the right thing under international law. this gathering of the world's biggest defence alliance has had a sense of urgency — even emergency. an invasion in europe, a hostile russia, an ongoing war without obvious end — huge human suffering, profound global economic consequences. president putin has been meeting his allies

in turkmenistan. his decision to go to war in ukraine has spooked others close to russia's borders. for years, sweden and finland felt sufficiently safe to be neutral. no longer — russia's aggression means they're joining nato. translation: we don't - have a problem with sweden and finland, as we do with ukraine. ukraine and its people's well being is not the aim of nato or the west. it's just a means to defend their own interests. the prime minister has spent the last few days urging other countries to commit more to defence spending, while facing criticism at home that the british army is shrinking. nice to meet you, how are you doing? he's also faced criticism from the scottish and welsh governments, who feel, while helping ukraine is noble, they've been pickpocketed by the government at westminster to help pay for it. but he's set a big, long—term goal, saying that, by the end of the decade,

the money allocated to defence will rise to 2.5% of national income — much more than most other countries. in afghanistan, the taliban are holding a gathering in kabul of more than 3000 muslim clerics, scholars and tribal leaders from across the country. religious, social and economic issues are being discussed, but no women have been included in the meeting. from kabul, the bbc�*s south asia correspondent, yogita limaye, reports. for the first time since they seized power in august last year, the taliban are holding a national meet. for more than 300 districts of afghanistan, clerics and tribal elders have come to kabul. but no media allowed, and no photo or video of the gathering has been released so far. the roads to the meeting tightly secured, but earlier in the day, a gun battle took place outside the venue.

a little—known anti—taliban group, called national liberation front, claimed responsibility. the taliban say they've killed the attackers. on wednesday, this video was released showing preparations for the meeting, in which the taliban hopes to get an endorsement from muslim scholars and tribal leaders in the country. but women and people from different ethnic groups have been excluded. and when asked about whether a decision on lifting the ban on secondary schools for girls would be discussed, the answer was vague. translation: girls' education is definitely an issue _ which needs a solution from the government. people want it, and it is a need for the future as well. but for conditions to be suitable and for all religious scholars to reach a consensus, we require some time.

this woman is a women's rights activist. translation: the religious scholars who attend this meeting cannot be representatives of women. i'm sure they will not talk about women's rights. we have so many women who could've attended the gathering and negotiated for us. but if half the population is missing from it, then i don't think the meeting has any legitimacy. and it's notjust that they've been missing from the gathering. since the taliban seized power last year, women have begun to disappear from public life. unless the group can make firm commitments on women's right to work and be educated, this gathering will not further their case for international recognition — something they really need to pull the country out of the economic crisis it's in. yogita limaye, bbc news, kabul. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: wildcard katie boulter produced

the shock of the day at wimbledon, coming from a set down to beat last years runner up and number six seed karolina pliskova. china marked its first day of rule in hong kong with a series of spectacular celebrations. a huge fireworks display was held in the former colony. the chinese president, jiang zemin, said unification was the start of a new era for hong kong. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly that was cloned in a laboratory using a cell from another sheep. for the first time in 20 years, russian and american spacecraft have docked in orbit at the start of a new era of cooperation in space. tennis balls thwack cheering and applause

challenger powered past the bishop rock lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering a record that had stood for 3h years, and there was no hiding the sheer elation of richard branson and his crew. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: a setback for the biden administration, as the us supreme court issues a ruling limiting the government's ability to regulate emissions from power plants. hong kong is marking 25 years since britain handed over control of the territory to china. xijinping, china's president, has been in the city to celebrate the event. this was the scene at the railway station as mr xi arrived. he was greeted by the outgoing chief executive, carrie lam, who he credits for stopping what he called "chaos and violence" in the territory.

her time in office saw the erosion of civil liberties, and the crushing of huge pro—democracy protests. speaking ahead of the anniversary, the british prime minister, borisjohnson, accused beijing of failing to meet the commitments it made in 1997 to respect hong kong's freedoms. on the 25th anniversary of the handover, we simply cannot avoid the fact that for some time now, beijing has been failing to comply with its obligations. it is a state of affairs that threatens both the rights and freedoms of hong kongers and the continued progress and prosperity of their home. but we're not giving up on hong kong. 25 years ago, we made a promise to the territory and its people and we intend to keep it. doing all we can to hold china to its commitments so that hong kong is once again run by the people of hong kong for the

people of hong kong. in the next hour, hong kong �*s new leaderjohn lee is due to be inaugurated. let's cross live to our reporter martin. this is xijinping's this is xi jinping's first visit outside mainland china for 2.5 years. he has gone to hong kong. give us a sense of the significance of this visit. i think the significance here is on quite a few sides. one of course is what you said about xijinping being out of mainland china for the first time after the pandemic. but also because of the fact that the pandemic is still going on, at least that is still the case in hong kong. he has actually returned to mainland china last nightjust after dinner. he is expected to arrive, he should be arriving right now back in hong kong. and head to their

exhibition centrejust hong kong. and head to their exhibition centre just behind where i am to officiate the inauguration ceremony for the new government led byjohn lee as chief executive. that is the place where he is expected to give us beach which is to the other significance of this visit. that is possibly to show beijing's grip or control over hong kong, especially when yesterday is the second anniversary of beijing's hong kong security law which topped down most of the activists from the pro—democracy camp which in beijing's eyes are allegedly in collection with what they call for an evil forces. these are the two major significance is of xijinping's visit

the two major significance is of xi jinping's visit in hong kong. of xi jinping's visit in hong kona. ., ., ., , ., kong. how will ordinary hong kona kong. how will ordinary hong kong peeple _ kong. how will ordinary hong kong people react _ kong. how will ordinary hong kong people react to - kong. how will ordinary hong kong people react to his - kong people react to his presence in the city? that would be. _ presence in the city? that would be, there _ presence in the city? that would be, there will- presence in the city? that would be, there will be i presence in the city? twat would be, there will be people welcoming him. that is of no doubt who call themselves chinese. but there will be others complaining about the travel disruptions with roads closed ahead of his arrival and his motorcade is passing through. there are also appeals that people should be more tolerance on this occasion and they have the obligation to protect the president. somewhat divided opinion as always. for the pro—democracy camp, if you like, it is unlikely they will go out vocally today. just two days ago, one major political party from the pro—democracy camp, sadly their members have

been invited to talk to national security police. they decided they would not come up to protest even in the smallest group possible under the covid-19 group possible under the covid—19 prevention laws. it is more like if all goes well, the pro beijing camp will celebrate today. but you might have heard all the wind noises, as a typhoon approaches hong kong, there has been raining in the morning. there is sunshine right now but we're not sure if the weather will bring a typhoon and that will factor into many of the activities for the rest of the day. we into many of the activities for the rest of the day.— the rest of the day. we will follow the _ the rest of the day. we will follow the weather - the rest of the day. we will follow the weather and - the rest of the day. we will follow the weather and the | follow the weather and the words. thank you martin yep. injapan, an unprecedented heatwave has got many worried about global warming, and a possible shortage of electricity to keep air conditioners going. tokyo reported record breaking temperatures on thursday — making it the worstjune heatwave injapan since records began nearly 150 years ago.

rupert wingfield—hayes reports. in isesaki, it is another blazing hot day. at 11am, the temperature is already somewhere north of a0 celsius. for masaya maruyama, his wife, and brother, working outside in these conditions isn'tjust hard, it's dangerous. masaya shows me the electric fans in his jacket, designed to keep him cool, but they hardly seem up to the task. "it went up to 47 degrees on the car's thermometer yesterday," he tells me. "is it dangerous?" i ask. "yes, it's dangerous. "we've never had temperatures like this before injune. "usually, it's raining now." a week ago, most people had never heard of the little city of isesaki, 100 km north of tokyo. now, it's suddenly famous. this is now officially the hottest place injapan.

it's been above a0 degrees twice already this week, and according to my thermometer, it's well above that out there in the sunshine today. this has never happened before injune, anywhere injapan. this should be the middle of the rainy season, and it's causing huge problems forjapan's electricity—generating system. it's just barely keeping up with demand, and if it fails, people are going to die. these heatwaves are notjust a naturalfluctuation in weather. man—made climate change is making them more extreme and more dangerous. over the past 100 years, the average temperature forjapan has risen by about one degree, which is more than a world record. for tokyo, it was like three degrees higher, so temperatures have been rising. so, definitely, climate change is part of the reason. the increasingly frequent heatwaves are particularly dangerous for old people, of which japan has many.

so, here in the north of tokyo, they've opened a cooling—down centre, where i find 86—year—old kiyoji saito taking refuge from the heat and playing japanese chess. "i'm overwhelmed by the heat," he says. "coming here to cool down is really important. "i don't want to use the air—con at home, "but we've been told if we don't, we could die." four years ago, another heatwave killed scores of elderly people and put 20,000 in hospital. this one is expected to break on sunday, and for millions of people across japan, it won't come a moment too soon. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. tennis now, and it was a rainy day four at wimbledon, where rafael nadal is through to round three our sports correspondent chetan pathak was watching the action.

the great champions have a habit ofjust finding a way to win. that's exactly what rafael nadal showed here on thursday on centre court. he hasn't played on grass for three years when you consider these championships were postponed in 2020 and he missed wimbledon entirely last year. but he's finding his feet underneath the grass. again, he may have dropped a set against ricardas berankis, but his hopes of winning a third wimbledon title continue in this extraordinary year, where he's already won the french open and, before that, the australian open. his biggest fan is the world number one, iga swiatek. she survived a big scare and also progressed to the third round. thursday's stand—out result here — for the british fans, at least — involved home favourite katie boulter. at 25 years old, her career plagued by injuries. she's now ranked outside the top 100. she knocked out last year's beaten finalist, karolina pliskova, the biggest win of boulter�*s life. she's never reached the third round of a grand slam until now. after the match, she dedicated her win to her grandma, who died only two days ago.

you can reach me on twitter, i'm @ gareth barlow. hello again. well, thursday was a day of sunshine and showers. but the day's showers were a lot bigger, there were loads more thunderstorms around than we've seen over the past few days and whenever you see big cloud tearing upwards through the skies like these, well, you know someone is getting soaked. someone lived in south newington as those heavy downpours came through here. really hefty shower. the showers and thunderstorms that developed through the day have actually kept going for the first part of the night as well and they have tended to migrate towards the pennines, north—east england and will generally begin to fade away over the next few hours by the same time, will probably see some rain to spinning its way across the north sea, grazing northeast scotland over the next few hours. here are your morning temperatures. now, for friday itself, we've got low pressure in charge.

it's a day of sunshine and showers, broadly speaking. however, we will see another low bringing some more general rain into northern ireland as we go through the afternoon. here's the forecast for wimbledon — the computer reckons it's dry. well, you might be lucky, i suppose. but i'd go for a chance of a shower, to be honest. the showers will be quite widespread, they'll get going to the morning and come the afternoon, some of them will turn heavy and thundery. the greatest chance of seeing those heavier showers will be across eastern areas of scotland and down the eastern side of england. down to about norfolk, i suspect. temperatures similar to recent days, high teens across western areas, low 20s in the east. feeling warm in the sunshine with a bit more of a breeze around on friday compared with the last couple of days. the weekend sees further weather fronts diving eastwards across the uk and so on saturday, we start off with this weak weather front. a band of rain pushing eastwards across england and wales and what follows is sunshine and showers again. some of them heavy, particularly across north—western areas this time. it's here where we've got the greatest chance of seeing some thunder.

and those temperatures not really changing a great deal. low 20s in the east, but generally for most of us, we're looking at temperatures into the high teens. now, pressure starts to gradually rise from the south—west as we go through sunday. so, probably dry for wales and most parts of western england and probably the midlands, too. a few showers elsewhere, notably across scotland and northern ireland and temperatures, well, they haven't changed very much, have they? pressure will rise more generally into next week. so, more of us will enjoy drier weather, a bit more sunshine and it will start to get a bit warmer as well.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the us supreme court has dealt a serious blow to president biden's plans to tackle climate change. it's issued a ruling that limits the government's ability to regulate emissions from power plants. the case was brought on behalf of 19 mostly republican—led states and some of america's largest coal companies. hong kong is marking 25 years since britain handed over control of the territory to china. the chinese president, xijinping, is in the city to celebrate the event. he'll also oversee the inauguration of hong kong's new leader, john lee. the former policeman will take over as chief executive from carrie lam. nato leaders have pledged more financial aid and weapons for ukraine. the alliance also renewed calls for president putin

to end the invasion.