live from washington, this is bbc news. the defence ministry in moscow says wagner mercenaries with the support of russian troops, have taken full control of bakhmut. ukraine denied similar claims earlier. the war dominates talks at the g7, as president zelensky spends the day meeting world leaders. and in sport, as manchester city win the premier league for the third year in a row, our analysis editor ros atkins takes a look at the problems the club faces off the pitch. hello, i'm helena humphrey, glad

you could join us. we begin with some news from the war in ukraine. russia says its troops have fully captured the ukrainian city of bakhmut. there has been no immediate reaction from kyiv to those claims, but if true, it could mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15—month war. russia has been trying to take bakhmut since last year in a grinding war of attrition. and in the last few minutes, the russian news agency interfax has said president putin congratulated his troops for capturing the city. earlier, ukraine had said its units were still fighting in the city. this comes on the heels of the us agreement to allow ukrainian pilots to train in american—made f—16 jets. a move moscow had criticised. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has been on a whirlwind tour in an effort to drum up support and weapons for an expected counter—offensive against russia. it's been a busy few hours for zelensky, touching down injapan on saturday for diplomatic talks with many of the gathered heads of the g7 nations.

that includes prime minister rishi sunak, one of ukaine's closest allies. he also met with nations that have yet to pick a side in the conflict. indian prime minister narendra modi has never condemned russia's invasion. and india has emerged as a top buyer of russian oil. mr zelensky will address the leaders of the major western democracies during meetings on sunday — and reportedly will also meet directly with presidentjoe biden. live now to the bbc�*s nick marsh who is in hiroshima for the summit. we have just seen pictures of the japanese prime minister meeting with the south korean president in hiroshima, but what is the latest you can tell us? , ., ., us? yes, we will get onto the bilateral meeting _ us? yes, we will get onto the bilateral meeting between i us? yes, we will get onto the | bilateral meeting between the leaders of south korea and japan in a moment, but ijust wanted to pick up about what you are saying about president

zelensky�*s visit which did steal the spotlight. the focus was meant to be on china but president zelensky�*s arrival marked the culmination of 48 hours of speculation as to whether he would come. we understand the ukrainians were very keen for him to visit here in person at the g7 summit so he could meet all of his allies all in one place and continue to plead his case for more support, more weapons, more finance to fight russia on the battlefield. g7 nations are here, willing to reciprocate, it seems. they're standing by ukraine and doubling down on things like shanks and is. but as you pointed out earlier, he was a just meeting with allies who have said what they have said and done what they have done, he was meeting the leaders of other countries, narend ra modie vendy, leader of the world's fifth biggest

economy under a country that has been ramping up its purchasing of russian oil. so much so, it has become a key source of revenue for moscow since the war began. i think his intention to meet the leaders of other countries, the so—called outreach partners who have also been invited to the g7 summit, a reflection of the recognition of the reality it is notjust the g7 countries but other countries who are important. it's notjust important. it's not just ukraine important. it's notjust ukraine today, it is a very important meeting happening now between fumio kishida ofjapan and the president of south korea. i am very pleased to say to talk about this, it is that time of the morning. i to talk about this, it is that time of the morning. i would 'ust ut time of the morning. i would just put down _ time of the morning. i would just put down my _ time of the morning. i would just put down my coffee. - time of the morning. i would| just put down my coffee. our tokyo— just put down my coffee. our tokyo correspondent, you have been _ tokyo correspondent, you have been keeping across this meeting. these two men have been — meeting. these two men have been meeting quite a lot recently? they have, but they

have — recently? they have, but they have been meeting quite a lot recently. _ have been meeting quite a lot recently, which hasn't happened for many— recently, which hasn't happened for many years. in the past, this— for many years. in the past, this actually started with a landmark visit by the president of south — landmark visit by the president of south korea to tokyo in maren _ of south korea to tokyo in march. that was the first visit by a _ march. that was the first visit by a south korean leader since 2011— by a south korean leader since 2011 so— by a south korean leader since 2011. so that was quite remarkable. i think that it really— remarkable. i think that it really marked the u—turn in the change — really marked the u—turn in the change of— really marked the u—turn in the change of the relationship and it happened after south korea decided, but long dispute about paying _ decided, but long dispute about paying back families of victims of forced — paying back families of victims of forced labour, we will not foot — of forced labour, we will not foot the _ of forced labour, we will not foot the bill, because we have more — foot the bill, because we have more important things to work on. more important things to work on eartier— more important things to work on. earlierthis month, the japanese _ on. earlierthis month, the japanese prime minister was in sebul— japanese prime minister was in seoul and met the south korean president— seoul and met the south korean president and they are meeting not very— president and they are meeting not very far from where we are, because — not very far from where we are, because high on the agenda is what — because high on the agenda is what you _ because high on the agenda is what you have been talking about, _ what you have been talking about, china and the increasing

instabitity— about, china and the increasing instability in the indo—pacific. these two men are worried — indo—pacific. these two men are worried about north korea and the nuclear weapons being developed at an alarming pace. exactly, — developed at an alarming pace. exactly, it— developed at an alarming pace. exactly, it is a case of putting aside all disputes focusing on priorities of the agenda. president biden is going to be pleased that these two men are meeting. interesting they will be laying a wreath at the peace park... i have got a fly buzzing in my face. interesting, they will be going to the peace park and paying their respects to the victims of the bombast here in hiroshima. these have an intertwined history?- hiroshima. these have an intertwined history? let's not foruet, i intertwined history? let's not forget, i think— intertwined history? let's not forget, i think it _ intertwined history? let's not forget, i think it is _ intertwined history? let's not forget, i think it is useful- intertwined history? let's not forget, i think it is useful to l forget, i think it is useful to remind _ forget, i think it is useful to remind viewers, we talk about bilateral— remind viewers, we talk about bilateral relations and this cooperation betweenjapan bilateral relations and this cooperation between japan and south — cooperation between japan and south korea against the threat coming — south korea against the threat coming from north korea against an increasingly belligerent china _ an increasingly belligerent china. these two countries have

not been — china. these two countries have not been friendly. this is south _ not been friendly. this is south korea, a country essentially sitting down with a historical occupier and domestically, that doesn't play well in — domestically, that doesn't play well in south korea. but as you mentioned, washington is watching this very closely and these — watching this very closely and these two countries are key allies— these two countries are key allies of— these two countries are key allies of washington in unstable region. if you look at the big — unstable region. if you look at the big picture of the world, president biden is saying to these — president biden is saying to these two men, we know it is a tense _ these two men, we know it is a tense and — these two men, we know it is a tense and intertwined in complicated history, you have a lot of— complicated history, you have a lot of explanation for your people. _ lot of explanation for your people, but you have to say there — people, but you have to say there are _ people, but you have to say there are bigger threats in the region— there are bigger threats in the region that would benefit a lot if region that would benefit a lot it you — region that would benefit a lot if you worked closely together. that _ if you worked closely together. that is — if you worked closely together. that is the main theme of what they— that is the main theme of what they are — that is the main theme of what they are doing. we that is the main theme of what they are doing.— they are doing. we have seen this so much, _ they are doing. we have seen this so much, countries - they are doing. we have seen| this so much, countries having to balance their domestic interests and then also their multilateral geopolitical obligations as well? that's ri . ht. obligations as well? that's right. remember, - obligations as well? that's right. remember, when i obligations as well? that's - right. remember, when north korea — right. remember, when north korea fires missiles, and

interestingly enough, in the landmark meeting when the south korean— landmark meeting when the south korean president came to tokyo, that very— korean president came to tokyo, that very morning, north korea fired _ that very morning, north korea fired an— that very morning, north korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile. it wanted to punctuate that day and say, we're — punctuate that day and say, we're watching here and we are going _ we're watching here and we are going to — we're watching here and we are going to retaliate. any time north— going to retaliate. any time north korea fires intercontinental missiles there is a big — intercontinental missiles there is a big worry injapan, because _ is a big worry injapan, because some of them land in the japanese territorial waters. i think a few weeks ago. — waters. i think a few weeks ago. they— waters. i think a few weeks ago, they fired a missile and on alarm _ ago, they fired a missile and on alarm went off in northern japan — on alarm went off in northern japan it— on alarm went off in northern japan. it was quickly cleared, but you — japan. it was quickly cleared, but you can see that this is not — but you can see that this is notjust— but you can see that this is notjust about south but you can see that this is not just about south korea, you can see — not just about south korea, you can see it — not just about south korea, you can see it is also a japanese issue — can see it is also a japanese issue and _ can see it is also a japanese issue and there is a great deal of nervousness that anything that— of nervousness that anything that might happen, if pyongyang wakes— that might happen, if pyongyang wakes up and says we have developed nuclear weapon, japan is inevitably going to be pulled _ is inevitably going to be pulled into that.-

is inevitably going to be pulled into that. is inevitably going to be ulled into that. ., ,, , ., pulled into that. thank you so much for _ pulled into that. thank you so much for speaking _ pulled into that. thank you so much for speaking to - pulled into that. thank you so much for speaking to us. - pulled into that. thank you so much for speaking to us. stayj much for speaking to us. stay caffeinated, stick around and we will speak to you later in the morning. plenty more to discuss but i'm going to hand back to the studio in washington.- back to the studio in washinuton. , ., washington. nick marsh, great to hear from — washington. nick marsh, great to hear from you _ washington. nick marsh, great to hear from you both. - the celebrated british novelist martin amis has died at the age of 73 — his wife said the cause was oesophageal cancer. martin amis was one of the defining writers of the 1980s and 90s. he produced 15 novels, and perfected a style that was satirical, witty and caustic. our arts correspondent david sill—ito looks back at his life. everything hated everything else, and everything else in return hated everything back. martin amis, reading from his 2012 novel lionel asbo: state of england, a pitch—black comedy about the darker side of britain. trademark amis. money, london fields, yellow dog, much of his best work was in london, little signposts of the changing, and in his opinion declining,

state of our nation. the son of another famous author, kingsley amis, the connection was at times both help and a hindrance. but the quality of his writing soon established him as a literary star in his own right, a generation that included salman rushdie, who paid tribute to a unique and instantly recognisable literary voice. his willingness to take on the big topics and talk at length sometimes got him into trouble. but if september 11th had to happen... especially after his 9/ii book the second plane. but while his subject matter was often dark, beautifully written black jokes, old age, he said, had changed him. you begin to value life as much as you did when you were a child. and if this is a second childhood, then it's good fun. you have a kind of leave—taking poignancy about you. not anger, and certainly not reactionary anger. i don't want to turn the clock back.

that is the idlest kind of inquiry. i want to see what's there and see what comedy is there in it. martin amis, who has died at the age of 73. to los angeles now where it's now been more than two weeks since the writers guild of america announced its strike against the alliance of motion picture and television producers. they're demanding higher wages, a stable pay structure, and improved working conditions. the work stoppage has stalled the production of several major tv shows, including abbott elementary, stranger things, and saturday night live. earlier, i spoke with mike diaz, a tv writer and a writers guild of america strike captain. a couple of weeks now into this strike, how are you and other writers doing? just remind us of what you're calling for? it's been a really

exciting couple of weeks. there's a tremendous community happening out on the picket lines. we are seeing, not only incredible turnout from our membership, but our sister unions, people from the screen actors guild, from lots of other unions that are affected by what is happening currently in hollywood. point in the industry where we are seeing basically incredible profits from the advent of streaming and then writer wages on the decrease. you mentioned that you and your colleagues, you have been on the picket lines, are there any indications that negotiations could resume any time soon? not as far as we are seeing currently. that is partially because sag, the screen actor's guild is in negotiations for their deal, which expires onjune the 30th. and then the director's guild of america is also going to be in negotiations, you know in the next couple of weeks. both deals expire

onjune the 30th. there's really no telling, we're going to strike as long as it takes and we are ready to go back to the negotiating table whenever the amptp is. you mention the sag union, and also the performer�*s union, sag aftra, including actors could join the walk—out, what could that mean to your strike movement and also to people who want to be watching entertainment in weeks, months to come? i have been very inspired by the presence of sag members on the picket lines. i would say aside from, you know, current wga members aspiring wga members that i see on the pickets. i see tremendous numbers of sag supporters out there. obviously if they strike it would be, it drive production to a stop. but there's really no telling what will go on behind those closed doors between sag and the amptp. all i know is i am encountering

a lot of support from them and we are all in this together. let's dig into some of the issues behind all of this. i think it is really interesting that clearly, as a society in the us and the uk, we are very content hungry. we have seen the rise of streaming platforms, so the demand is there. but that hasn't resulted in improved pay and working conditions, so why do you think that is? i think that it is very much indicative of where corporate structure in america and may be in the world is going currently. we are just seeing the rise of many companies that used to be just involved in tech, looking at amazon and apple that are entering the world of entertainment and they are looking to cut profits, cut revenue as much as possible in order to exploit... you know, the advent of content

and everything across these brand—new streaming platforms. i think part of it is that we are seeing the incredible potential of streaming but we have got two entities operating in hollywood at the legacy studios, classic studios, abc, cbs, fox and disney. and then you have the newcomers that onlyjoined amptp in 2021, which is amazon, apple, netflix and they have different structures and the new tech companies don't have a lot of experience working with labour organisations, whereas the legacy companies do. so another bone of contention you have been raising and that being the rise of artificial intelligence, it is already being used in some parts of the entertainment industry. but what are some of your concern is that you and your colleagues have about al? i think ai is misunderstood. artificial intelligence

is a stretch. these technologies are aggregators, it takes content that already exists, screenplays, movies, whatever else and then it will spit out a conglomeration of all these disparate pieces of media. the concern is as the studios look to cut further costs they will not see the value that rightist and artists that writers and artists in hollywood bring two productions and they are going to deploy ai. we are starting to see this when it comes to actors, which i know is concerning for the screen actor's guild. in terms of writers, you can theoretically type in a few prompts and try to get a script, but it's not going to be the quality you would see from a human you would see from a human writer and it won't be original.

the technology is brand—new and we don't know the implications for copyright law and we want to get ahead of the curve on this. i am really intrigued about that, because you are a writing professional, have you ever seen ai come up with a joke or a routine or a scene that you think is truly funny? not that i have seen. but that is not to say that in the future it won't be able to do that. but we are a waya away of ai, close to producing what a human writer could produce. in other news... the two warring sides in sudan have agreed to a seven—day humanitarian ceasefire — that's according to the us state department. the truce will take effect in 48 hours. fighting between the sudanese military and its rival, the rapid support forces, is entering its sixth week. more than a million people have been displaced in the conflict. the world health organization has launched a worldwide network to quickly detect and deal with the spread of infectious diseases.

its head said covid—i9 showed the world was stronger when it shared the fight against health threats. it's emerged that the uk's home secretary suella braverman, when caught speeding last summer, asked civil servants for advice on arranging a one—to—one speed awareness course — the government has confirmed. the speeding happened when she was attorney general and as is routine she was offered in september, the choice of a fine and three points on her license — or a speed awareness course with other members of the public. sinn fein has become the largest party in local government in northern ireland for the first time. the results in the local council elections come at a time of political crisis in the devolved government at stormont where the dup have been blocking a return to power—sharing. to football — and manchester city have won their third successive premier league title. their spot at the top of the table was confirmed this evening, after second place

arsenal lost 1—0 away at nottingham forest. fans gathered outside the etihad stadium to celebrate the title victory — and they have the chance to claim a treble with the fa cup and champions league finals to come next month. but questions remain off the pitch, with the club facing more than 100 premier league charges for breaching financial regulations. the bbc�*s anaylsis editor ros atkins has been looking at the story. manchester city are premier league champions, but questions remain about how the club does business. people don't know if this team, this whole project is based on some wrongdoing in the past. that's because city stand accused of over 100 breaches of the premier league's financial rules. some of those charges are extremely serious. i mean, there are... you know, the claim is that they've been basically been falsifying their accounts. city denied doing this and the questions they face stretch back years because this

is a club transformed — from one that went decades without a trophy to one that's won the league five years out of the last six. that is a long way from where it was in 2008. financially, we were almost out of business. but it was about to become the richest club in the world. sheikh mansour is a billionaire member of the abu dhabi royal family. his investment company bought manchester city and the spending began. three years on, uefa, the governing body of football in europe, introduced something called financial fair play. it was designed to stop clubs spending more than they earn. and to some observers, it was clear why. i think ffp was brought in principally to reduce the overreliance on very wealthy benefactors because that's simply not financially sustainable. uefa said it wants to protect clubs from financial trouble and to keep football fair. and in 2014, it fined nine clubs for breaking the rules. manchester city

was one of them. it paid a e60 million fine while insisting it hadn't broken the rules. that was 2014. four years later, the german newspaper der spiegel published this investigation based on leaked emails from inside manchester city. it claimed the club's new—found glory is rooted in lies. and the story connected to a central claim about city's finances. we've seen this repeated accusation of overly inflated sponsorship deals. in other words, the allegation is that city agreed deals with sponsors with a connection to abu dhabi. the sponsors then paid more than the market value. that allowed the club to inflate its income, which in turn allowed the club to spend more money while appearing to be within the rules of financial fair play. manchester city denies doing this, but uefa investigated and in 2020 it concluded manchester city committed serious breaches of the uefa financial fair play regulations by overstating its

sponsorship revenue. it banned city from european club competitions for two years, but the club's position remained unequivocal. the most important thing i have to say today is that the allegations are not true. and city took the matter to cas, the court of arbitration for sports and contested all of the charges, including the sponsorship allegation. when the case went before cas, the verdict was that they couldn't find any compelling evidence to say that that was the case. and that's why city's champions league ban was lifted. city were back in europe, but that wasn't all. the ruling said city did fail to cooperate with uefa authorities and that most of the alleged breaches were either not established or time barred. in other words, some alleged breaches weren't considered on a technicality. they'd been brought too late. 0ne academic describes that in these terms. in my personal view, what things happened is we've been able to exploit a few

legal loopholes here so that manchester city have never really had to answer the charges that were brought to them. and city's rivals were unimpressed by the outcome. liverpool'sjurgen klopp called it bad for football. jose mourinho then at spurs called it disgraceful. city though, called it a validation of their evidence. and in 2021, they reached the final of the champions league. they also won the premier league that year and the next. and then a city chased the league this season, in february, there was another development. the dominant force in the english game hit with an unprecedented catalogue of charges by the premier league that in its most severe case could see it expelled from the league. the period in question is 2009 to 2018, the first nine full seasons under city's abu dhabi ownership. the charges included the failure to report financial results, in particular with respect to its revenue, including sponsorship revenue.

it's also accused of not giving full details of player salaries, and failing to cooperate with the league's investigation. if the charges are upheld, losing a title is one possible punishment. but there are others. the most likely sanction will either be a financial one or a points deduction. we're not at this stage, though. city said it was surprised by the charges and denies them. a statement pointed to a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position. and the bbc�*s dan roan asked city's manager, pep guardiola, about this. how confident are you that you have been told everything? has it in any way affected your belief in the club? my first thought is that we are already being condemned. so likely to happen — what's happened right now, this weeks after monday, it's happened, the same would happen in uefa. the club proved that we're completely innocent. i said to them, "what happened?" they said, "pep, we did nothing wrong." but this case won't be quick.

days before city won the title, the times reported that manchester city have launched a legal fight against the premier league charges. they are questioning the legality of the process. it could be years before what city did and didn't do is settled. people are going to continue to raise their eyebrows about it until the premier league either can prove some, you know, some kind of financial misconduct or city can clear their name. and so, as city's fans celebrate another title and their team's domination of english football, the club that's just won the premier league remains accused by the premier league of extensively breaking its rules and gaining a financial advantage. we wa nt we want to bring you an update on the us debt ceiling story. the house speaker kevin mccarthy says the white house has moved backwards in talks.

the republican offer on friday was a big step backwards because it contained extreme part is in demand. that deadline is ticking down to the 1st ofjune. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. it's been a lovely start to the weekend, really, especially across england and wales where we've had lots of sunshine. so blue skies over these bluebell woods in south wales, in pontypridd. and on the satellite picture you can see the extent of the sunshine that have more cloud for scotland and northern ireland. the weak weather front overhead here, but we've still managed some brighter spells for scotland, and for northern ireland, england and wales we had temperatures reaching the low 20s and the warmest spots, the 21.5 there in porthmadog, actually making it the warmest day of the year so far for wales. now, over the next few hours we've got another weather front moving in. it's kind of pepping up, bringing a bit of heavier rain just for a time to scotland and northern ireland. but then as we get towards dawn, that will tend to start to fizzle away. clear skies for england and wales, allowing

temperatures to dip down to around 5 to 8 degrees celsius. so it will be quite a cool start to a sunday morning for england and wales. sunday's chart, we've got a weak weather front that's moving into an area of high pressure. the high pressure will squish the weather front. so not much rain on it really as we head into sunday. it's just this stripe of cloud. so a few spots around. but, generally, although quite cloudy, there'll be some bright weather coming through at times. england and wales again having the best of the weather with plenty of sunshine around, perhaps a bit of cloud developing through the afternoon across east anglia and the southeast. but those temperatures, again, not bad for the time of year, quite close to average, really, with highs into the upper teens, although 20s, 21, maybe a 22 in the warmest spots. now heading into next week, it's a similar kind of scenario, very weak weather fronts trying to come around the top side of this area of high pressure. so again, you might see an odd bit of rain for scotland and northern ireland, but not much. most of the day will be dry with some sunny spells coming through. again, it's england and wales that will have the best

of the day's sunshine and we continue to see those temperatures in the warmest spots climbing into the low 20s. now, deeper into next week, the jet stream takes this kind of pattern, get a ridge over the uk, so high pressure is going to be close by. these troughs around southern europe will ensure that we continue to see heavy thundery showers across southern europe, which is quite unusual really for this time of the year. so here's the forecast in a bit more detail. over the next several days, you can see the extent of the dry weather we'll have with temperatures again holding for the most part at around 18 to 21 degrees celsius. so some fine weather next week.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. hello, everybody. a very warm welcome to talking business weekly with me, aaron heslehurst. let's go and take a look at what's on the show. eyeing up africa — as the west competes with china, who will end up having the most influence on that fast—growing continent? as the g7 uses its summit injapan to draw the world's poorest countries closer, will recent visits to africa by its leaders pay off as they look to tackle concerns about food and energy in return for natural resources? i'm going to be discussing all of that with these two.

there they are.