live from washington. this is bbc news. and this is the scene in hiroshima right now, world leaders gathering for the g7 with global trade, china and sanctions against russia high on the agenda. a sweeping crackdown on gang violence in el salvador has lowered crime, but it's believed thousands of innocent people are still stuck behind bars more than a year later. uncovering the mass graves of an armageddon death cult in kenya. what authorities are discovering.

we start injapan, where the g7 summit is getting under way. leaders of seven of the world's most powerful democracies are gathering in hiroshima. you see these pictures here? that is the french president emmanuel macron who has just met the japanese prime minister kishida who has been welcoming everyone to the memorial piece garden there in hiroshima. this meeting is expected to get under way shortly but what the japanese prime minister has been doing is welcoming all the leaders of the g7 nations as they have been arriving just a moment ago. the canadian prime ministerjustin trudeau also arriving at this meeting. there is plenty on the agenda, we know the leaders will be discussing the war in ukraine for one, certainly china's presence in the region stop either has already been a flurry of news in the lead up to this summit,, a us official saying there would be new steps

to economically isolate moscow and we can its ability to wage war. we are looking at the hiroshima memorial piece garden where the japanese prime minister has been welcoming world leaders. we will continue to keep an eye on these pictures as we are expecting more world leaders to arrive there and be welcomed by the japanese prime minister. the location of hiroshima is significant with a leaders meeting at the museum documenting the devastation caused by a us atomic bomb in 1945. the caused by a us atomic bomb in 1916. the hope is to discuss talk about nuclear disarmament. one survivor has been speaking about her experience. one night there was a flash. the flash was blinding, white flash and everything was then turned to white, no colour at all and soon after that, it was

like i was in a tornado or typhoon, then i became unconscious. i don't know how many minutes but when they opened my eyes everywhere was just dark and gradually i could see my neighbourhood and everything was just broken. there was so many people. they start to die. there was so many people. they start to die-— start to die. those stark words from a nuclear— start to die. those stark words from a nuclear bomb - start to die. those stark words from a nuclear bomb survivor. from a nuclear bomb survivor there in the city of hiroshima. these live pictures we see from the memorial and also the museum where visitors will be paying a visit after they are greeted by the japanese prime minister. earlier i spoke with the bbc�*s nick marsh who has more on what to expect from hiroshima. symbolically, a big one but to be blunt in a practical sense i

think not so big. g7 leaders have higher priorities on their list, russia, ukraine, china's military and economic influence there but that doesn't diminish there but that doesn't diminish the symbolic significance of holding a summit injapan here in the city of hiroshima the very first act that the g7 leaders will be doing, the thing that will kickoff the summit will be a visit to the memorial, to the aims of that devastating atomic bomb attack in 1945, the world's first ever atomic bomb attack and just walking around the city we can see it everywhere, we were there yesterday where those leaders are going to be in an hour or so, we went to the museum, this is something that looms large around the city, people talk about the view from under the mushroom cloud, so many people see it from the outside, people here see it from the inside whether it is people like the woman we just heard from there who is a

survivor or people who came after, the fact is if people don't remember that people are very much aware of what happened and of the fragility of peace in this region and that taps into other issues that taps into other issues that g7 leaders are going to be talking about in this summit. as you said the war in ukraine is one of them and g7 leaders are expected to formalise more sanctions on russia, do we know what these will entail?— what these will entail? yes, this is a fresh _ what these will entail? yes, this is a fresh batch - what these will entail? yes, this is a fresh batch of- this is a fresh batch of sanctions that we heard about this morning from us officials, they are basically targeting russia's access to battlefield materials. so the idea is that we've got dozens and dozens of new materials, new exports that are going to be targeted by these sanctions, the idea is to try and hurt russia as much economically as well as militarily to try to dissuade it from continuing its attack on ukraine but there is one thing putting in sanctions,

there is another thing actually imposing them and we know that russia is using third countries as a way to get around these sanctions and we are acting to hear what g7 leaders have to say about tightening restrictions and to make that regard but in terms of how far the leaders go, we are going to have to see how much the us which is pushing for really, really harsh export bans, almost a complete export ban on russia and its partners out here, japan and also its european partners are willing to meet in the middle. european economies are still very exposed to trade in russia so we're going to have to see how the intentions match the reality. the intentions match the reali . ~ ., the intentions match the reali .~ ., ., , the intentions match the reali .~ . . , ., , reality. what are g7 leaders exnected — reality. what are g7 leaders exnected to _ reality. what are g7 leaders expected to discuss - reality. what are g7 leaders expected to discuss on - expected to discuss on defending taiwan? expected to discuss on defendin: taiwan? ., . , defending taiwan? taiwan is the bi talkin: defending taiwan? taiwan is the big talking point _ defending taiwan? taiwan is the big talking point here, _ defending taiwan? taiwan is the big talking point here, what - big talking point here, what has happened in ukraine over the past year or so has animated discussions about peace in this region. we all know what china says about taiwan, this self—governing

island, they say it is part of china and they will do whatever it takes to unify taiwan with the mainland. japan is particularly concerned, we know about the history of conflict here in this region, they are trying to rally, if not support they are trying to rally opposition to any potential invasion. i think there is a recognition in this part of the world that we can't simply rely on the us�*s military and economic support. countries in this part of the world are arming. japan has really ramped up arming. japan has really ramped up its military spending in view of any potential conflict, so we are going to have to keep across what countries say not just in regards to chinese perceived aggression but also what they intend to do to combat that.— combat that. nick marsh reporting _ combat that. nick marsh reporting there, - combat that. nick marsh reporting there, thank . combat that. nick marsh l reporting there, thank you combat that. nick marsh - reporting there, thank you so much. we had that conversation with nick marsh little bit earlier, he's covering the summit for us. it we are seeing these pictures of the hiroshima peace memorial park and the japanese parameters to have an

welcoming world leaders there just to give us an idea of what will happen after he has welcomed all of the leaders, we have seen a few arrive already, the canadian parameters to justin trudeau as well as the french president emmanuel macron. they will then visit the peace memorial park together, they will hold a working lunch, they will have a family photo session as well and they have indeed already been talking about as we just heard from nick there introducing a new package of sanctions from russia and indeed the european council president delivered a press conference before this got under way and said this summit will reaffirm support for ukraine so we will see what nuts and bolts come out of the summit particularly on support for ukraine but to talk about all of this ice spoke earlier with derek grossman. thank you very much forjoining us. let's start with the two headliner topics of this g7 summit. politico reported us officials

are planning for the growing possibility that russia and ukraine — the war will turn into a frozen conflict. how do you think g7 leaders will approach this, to try to keep up momentum for the west's support for ukraine? thanks. yeah, well, i think that the g7 has been quite unanimous in its view that russia's invasion of ukraine was in violation of international law and norms and behaviour. you can't have one sovereign country invading and destroying another and so, regardless of what they anticipate as being the future, whether frozen conflict or otherwise, i think the fact that they're all singing from the same sheet of music is going to help a lot as they collectively pool their resources to deal with the issue in the future. do you anticipate more promises of aid for ukraine? i don't, but i do — i do expect there to be conversations at, you know, the highest of levels between the leaders themselves about what to do going forward. but i don't — i don't know that we would see additional aid packages.

so, the other big topic they'll be discussing, of course, is china — how to contain china but also, how to prevent relations from deteriorating further. are they on the same page on how to do that? so, yeah, i mean, politico — you mentioned politico. politico — and i don't think this is the same article, maybe a different one — but politico also reported that the us and japan are kind of on one side of the ledger and then, the european countries of the g7 are on the other when it comes to how to deal with china. the us and japan want to take a very kind of sharp approach in terms of countering china through all kinds of different means and they believe that china's preparing to attack or perhaps even invade taiwan over the coming years. european leaders, in particular — i mean french president emmanuel macron a couple of months ago raised some eyebrows when he referred to taiwan as not necessarily being a priority for europe and that europe should not automatically follow

america's lead when it comes to countering and competing against china, and so, yeah, i think we're going to see some divergence there but at the same time, i'm also being told that the g7�*s gonna bring up chinese economic coercion worldwide and how that is a constant and growing problem that they have to deal with, so i do think that there are going to be more areas of agreement on china than disagreements. you wrote specifically, derek, about the role that china's playing in taiwan's upcoming election next year. what do you think g7 countries can do to specifically counter that influence? yeah, well, again, they first have to agree that taiwan — protecting taiwan is a priority — which, again, i'm not so certain — so certain that they all agree on that, but let's say for a minute that they do. i mean, one way of dealing with the problem is to bolster

deterrents within the taiwan strait. we've seen the united states do deterrence patrols through the strait but we have also seen other european countries participate as well in, you know, more limited forms, so that's one way to do it, among many. new on the agenda for the g7 is artificial intelligence. with chatgpt being released earlier this year, there are concerns about how the technology can be used, for example, by authoritarian leaders to disseminate misinformation as well. what do you expect to see to come out of this summit from the g7 leaders on al in particular? well, i mean, yeah, it's too early to tell on that but chatgpt certainly has all types of implications, especially for authoritarian regimes to be able to manipulate information that is being produced by the regime in favour of, you know, maintaining some sort of influence or control over the people living under it and so, yeah, i expect the g7 to say something about that.

derek, thank you so much forjoining us on bbc news. thanks for having me. as we heard there plenty of weighty issues on the agenda, weighty issues on the agenda, we are again looking at these images of the hiroshima peace memorial park, we have seen the japanese prime minister welcoming some of the leaders who have already arrived, they will be getting their summit under way their. we mentioned that hiroshima itself is an important backdrop for this conversation, leaders will of course be visiting that memorial, looking at the devastation caused by us atomic bomb in 1945, becausejust bomb in 1945, because just ahead bomb in 1945, becausejust ahead of this japan had also promised to double tokyo's military budget with china seen as a very big threat in the region so all of this will certainly be discussed with japan hosting this summit. we are going to be keeping an eye on these pictures have. it looks like we are just seeing

the us president arriving, indeed, it looks like those are the pictures of us president biden arriving here at the summit so it looks like president biden is about to get out of the car here at. interesting to note that resident biden coming to this summit made clear that he wanted to take part in this g7 summit even though he cut short the rest of his trip he was intending to make this trip to japan and then go on to australia and papua new guinea to speak about the us' commitment to that region. he had to cut short that trip because of the debt ceiling dispute here in the us and there were some concerns that allies would not look too kindly upon the fact that the us was not showing its presence in the region but indeed president biden said its commitment to the region and the g7 showing up to be part of it this year was extremely important. we also know that the us itself was a country that raised the issue of

artificial intelligence to be discussed in this summit with the advent of chatgpt comedy biden administration made sure to call other leaders in other countries and make sure that this was an issue that was put on the agenda but certainly one message we have seen the biden administration stress going into this g7 summit is that really affirming support for ukraine is going to be a critical part of what they discussed here so there you see the japanese prime minister fumio kishida hosting this event. wejust mentioned fumio kishida hosting this event. we just mentioned that japan has made a clear military commitment as well in the lead up commitment as well in the lead up to the summit, actually announcing back already in december doubling its military budget and that has madejapan really a critical part of what the us sees as a military and strategic partnership in the region, so that is whyjapan again hosting the summit in hiroshima is particularly important. so we are looking at

these pictures here as we are expecting the us president to get out of that car there on what has been a very rainy day so far in hiroshima and we have as we mentioned already seen a few leaders greeted by the japanese prime minister, we have seen already the canadian parameters to justin have seen already the canadian parameters tojustin trudeau, the french president emmanuel macron, we earlierjust missed some images of the british prime minister rishi sunak was arrived as well so the g7, an important meeting of course because it represents leaders of seven of the world's most powerful democracies and these meetings are incredibly important with some of the issues that we mentioned on the agenda at the summit. some of them of course also discussing nuclear symbolism and the importance of nuclear deterrence or a time where there are concerns about the threat of russia and the escalation of the conflict in ukraine, possible escalation of the conflict in ukraine so this drop has all the more

significance for this particular segment. here we are looking at these pictures again of the japanese prime minister and again, we are expecting president biden to be stepping out of that car any moment. this is a quick turnaround for the president. been holding several meetings here in the us on those debt ceiling negotiations, a quick turnaround to go to japan and then going back on the weekend, i mentioned already, he had expected to take a longer trip because of the urgency of the situation in the us, he has cut it short. but it was seen by the administration as being crucially important that the us show its presence in this meeting. russia's invasion of ukraine appears to be really the headline of what they will be discussing. there are concerns about the upcoming expected counteroffensive to make sure that ukraine is equipped with the weapons, the

resources that are needed, of course, to launch that counteroffensive but more than that, to sustain it and we are expecting that to be one of the main messages, to keep the momentum up for the west and forjapan, of course, as well, to keep up the momentum in supporting ukraine, so we see one door opening there, expecting the president to be getting out there and yes, there he is, president biden arriving here. this, again, is the hiroshima peace memorial park and the us presidentjust arriving here to meet with the japanese prime ministers and the other g7 leaders and you can see he is making his way here over to where the japanese prime minister and his wife are standing to greet him. this, again, a significant location because they will be visiting not only the peace memorial park but the museum and we see the first lady, doctorjill biden, also arriving with the president. both of them here to

show the us�*s presents and it's important to note that we have also seen that the spouses will be taking also part in what is happening of course not in the official meetings but the spouses will be taking a photo and will be visiting certain sites there in hiroshima, and that will include of course doctorjill biden, the first lady, we also expect to see, as we see the us president meeting the japanese prime minister there, we expect them to see a working lunch and a family photo with all of the leaders but here is that image. a handshake. again, reaffirming support between these two leaders and that strong commitment in the region. we are expecting them to work together on a number of issues here with japan hosting the summit and probably likely there will be a photo taken here as well, as we just saw them do with the friends president emmanuel macron. this

—— french president. this is a powerful symbol of the impact of war, something that's been underlined multiple times with the guests we've spoken to already and against the backdrop, the impact of war, really, is the underlying message of what these leaders will be discussing, isn't it? with the threat, as these leaders see it, of a possible chinese attack on taiwan and that in the future as well. the war in ukraine. here, we see the leaders walking off together. it appears they will be heading into the museum, just adjacent from the memorial park. it's an entire complex. they will be entering into the museum and then, as i said, they will be having a working lunch. this is the very beginning of the summit will be getting under way. —— that will be getting under way and of course people follow all of these meetings, have correspondence on the ground as

well following what will be happening on the summit as well and keeping us updated on the action, as we have heard new sanctions against russia already, reaffirming rather commitment to ukraine but other points that may come out of this programme, we will have to wait and see what our correspondence tell us on the ground but certainly, a symbolic beginning, having these leaders welcomed at the peace memorial park and we seeing them just about to enter building there we will keep a close eye on this for you, see if we have another chance to view the world leaders together as they start their programme and is the summit gets under way —— correspondents. let's move onto some stories now. for more than a year, el salvador has been living under an emergency measure called a state of exception in which several constitutional rights were suspended in a national crackdown

on the country's powerful street gangs. the police have arrested a staggering 66,000 people and el salvador�*s murder rate has fallen but human rights organisations say thousands of people with no link to the gangs have been unjustly detained. will grant reports. harsh, uncompromising and, the government insists, ruthlessly effective. these images of a new supermax prison were released by the administration of media—savvy president nayib bukele to show off its gang crackdown to the world. for over a year, the police in el salvador had special powers of arrest. with certain constitutional rights suspended, troops patrol the former gang's stronghold, checking youths for gang tattoos and criminal records and going door—to—door. most gang members are long gone, rested orfled. crime, including the murder rate, has plummeted. but the policy hasn't brought everyone peace. with more than 65,000 people arrested, thousands with no

discernible gang links were caught in the dragnet. among them jose duval mata. troops swept into his village a year ago. his mother hasn't seen him since and is desperate with worry. translation: i went to the jail and - i heard cries coming from inside, "help us! "help!" "i can't take any more." that caused me so much pain in heart. my poor son. marcela provided the court with evidence thatjose duval had no gang ties, from his clean criminal record to his high school diploma. yet still, he remains behind bars. what's interesting about all of these papers is that they add up to a picture of a young man who had a job, who had a family, who's been vouched for by the community, by his workplace, graduated high school as a young man who simply wasn't involved in gang activity. he's far from the only one. on the year anniversary of the state of exception,

hundreds of families took to the streets of san salvador to demand the release of their relatives. in an exclusive bbc interview, the vice president admitted thousands had been wrongly imprisoned. we have so far over 65,000 persons in prison. there are mistakes, so people could be arrested with no links to the gangs. as i said, the perfect is enemy of the good. what we are doing is something really good, appreciated by the population — over 90% of the population agree with the state of exception and they wanted to be extended. —— and they want it to be extended. jose duval�*s wife was pregnant when he was detained. he's never seen his baby boy. now, as the bank threatens to repossess their half—built home, he's locked up far from his family and branded a gang member, and the government won't accept any proof to the contrary. will grant, bbc news,

el salvador. six months of rain fell in just 1.5 days in italy, rescue workers searching for anyone trapped by floodwaters in the emilia—romagna region. this is the moment elderly couple were rescued south of bologna after being spotted hanging out of their roofs —— roof�*s skylight. and this was the scene in nearby lugo, where water inundated the city centre. more than 20 rivers have burst their banks in italy and 40 towns have been flooded. that's the show at this hour. thank you for watching. we will be back at the top of the next hour with our focus, the g7 summit taking place. you can

download the app for all of the latest headlines and news. thank you for watching. hello there. here at home, our weather is quite quiet but in italy, the flood situation will be ongoing. there's more cool, wet and windy weather developing in southern parts of europe and this is the rainfall accumulation in the next few days. heavy rain for corsica and sardinia. the heaviest of the rain this time is more for the north—west of italy, and that could lead to some further flooding. away from that thickening cloud, we've had this band of cloud on that weather front producing just a little bit of rain. that's heading its way down into england and wales in some areas. clearer skies following to scotland and northern ireland. and first thing in the morning, temperatures could be as low as about five degrees. we will have more sunshine,

though, on friday for scotland and northern ireland, although it may well cloud over a little more in the afternoon. some areas of cloud for england and wales producing this rain and drizzle. it will tend to peter out but as it brightens up will trigger a few showers all the way from yorkshire into the west midlands and the west country as well. but there will be some warm spells of sunshine around on friday and in light winds, those temperatures are going to be very similar to what we had on thursday. it could actually be a bit warmer in scotland, particularly across the east with more sunshine. now, this developing area of low pressure is storm nino and that's going to bring all that wet weather into central parts of the mediterranean. here at home, it's high pressure that's tending to dominate, although there is this strip of cloud coming in from the atlantic and it looks like it could be quite cloudy for scotland and northern ireland. probably dry. most of that cloud is going to be quite high cloud. and away from here, england and wales seeing the lion's share of the sunshine. a bit of a breeze picking up perhaps in the far south—east of england but warm in the sunshine — temperatures hitting 20 or 21 celsius, particularly in the west,

holding at 16 or 17 for scotland and northern ireland. and into the second half of the weekend, we've still got a lot of cloud for scotland and northern ireland. a little or no rain around. it could well brighten up and warm up in the south—east of scotland but again, sunshine for england and wales, some fair weather cloud and temperatures reaching 20 or 21 celsius. a little bit cooler perhaps around some of those north sea coasts. so, we've got some decent weather on the whole for this weekend and not a great deal of change into next week. many places still dry with some sunshine, more cloud in the far north, and this is where we're more likely to have some rain at times.

significance for this particular segment. this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme.