live from washington, this is bbc news. a delegation of african leaders visit ukraine on a peace mission ahead of a visit to russia. the gunman accused of killing 11 worshipers moves into the sentencing phase. the us department ofjustice says systemic problems within the city's police made what happened to george floyd possible. hello, i'm carl mannesmann. we did begin to my in ukraine, where leaders met with president zelensky in kyiv to

hold talks with vladimir putin in moscow for tomorrow. they were taken on a tour of kyiv and shown a range of military equipmentjust hours after a missile attack on the capital. rim oppose us of the trip was intended to give an african profession —— professed —— prospective on peace —— ramaphosa. he recommended that they stay away. according to the reuters news agency, the delegation�*s proposals include this... during the press conference today in kyiv, mr zelensky added that a negotiated solution wasn't on the cards at

the moment. in orderfor that to happen, mr zelensky said russia would have to let go territories that had taken from ukraine. translation: you can't with good words or kind steps towards the russian president stop his depression. i think there should be diplomatic isolation. to show that the whole world understand he's in a terrorist, and people around him are war criminals like him. ithink around him are war criminals like him. i think this would be serious leverage which can influence his people. president sero ramaphosa _ influence his people. president sero ramaphosa said _ influence his people. president sero ramaphosa said he - influence his people. president i sero ramaphosa said he wouldn't be drawn into choosing sides. he says his tradition is neutral but you will be taken the comments when he visits in st. petersburg on friday —— cyril ramaphosa. it st. petersburg on friday -- cyril ramaphosa.— cyril ramaphosa. it is precisely _ cyril ramaphosa. it is precisely this - cyril ramaphosa. it is precisely this type - cyril ramaphosa. it is precisely this type of| cyril ramaphosa. it is - precisely this type of event that— precisely this type of event that we _ precisely this type of event that we saw today, and

experience that makes us called for de—escalation. and there are offensives on both sides, and — are offensives on both sides, and we — are offensives on both sides, and we are saying those must be de—escalated, as both countries proceed — de—escalated, as both countries proceed on the road to peace. three — proceed on the road to peace. three l— proceed on the road to peace. three l and said the reason they come to ukraine is because they come to ukraine is because the economies have been disproportionately affected. a number of african countries import grainfrom number of african countries import grain from ukraine and fertiliser from import grain from ukraine and fertiliserfrom russia. the war has made the supply of both of these commodities rarer, and driven prices of food up across the continent. not to greece, where up to 500 people are still missing after one of the worst migrant quote disasters in years. hope remains low for finding more survivors. from the southern port of call amado, are your current —— correspondent nick beake brings

us more details. the grim reality is they may never know what happened to them and they may never have them and they may never have the bodies of the loved ones recovered because the boat went down in an extremely deep part of the mediterranean sea. there was a moment of hope today, when two brothers were reunited. it was fear that one of them had drowned, but he was found in one of the reception centres. there was an incredible moment when the two brothers were reunited, but the big picture here is one of profound sorrow. there's been some demonstrations in the streets in greece because people don't think the response from the coastguard was good enough. i from the coastguard was good enou.h_ ., ,., ., , from the coastguard was good enou:h. ., ., , ., enough. i apologise for the technical — enough. i apologise for the technical difficulties - enough. i apologise for the technical difficulties there l enough. i apologise for the i technical difficulties there on that report. our europe correspondent, nick —— nick

it's been five years since the secretary of state has met with chinese counterparts in us officials say expectations for the meeting are low. earlier, i spoke to a ranking member of the house select committee. i'm really glad it's happening, i commend the biden administration for being persistent in making

sure the strip occurs. but as you know, this is going to be not an end, leads to more dialogue, more engagement and kind of stabilising the relationship. taiwan likely to be on the agenda, we've seen several close calls in the taiwan straits. recently, a chinese warship crossed. what should blinken be doing to reduce tensions between the us and china? i think for some reason, the ccp believes that may not having military aid in a military dolly it all been having these dangerous manoeuvres and in international not having military aid in a military dialogue it all been having these dangerous manoeuvres and in international waters will somehow lead to us not exercising our freedom of navigation, or for that matter, all the different nations in that neighbourhood. but i think that what they do is they basically create an image of bullying, and as you know, nobody responds well to bullying, and instead of being de—escalation of the situation, perhaps pressure to escalate.

and so, i think secretary blinken, i hope, will convey to them that this type of aggressive manoeuvring, this type of aggression really is counter productive is counterproductive for everyone in the neighbourhood. so i would hope that he explains and i trust that he will, that they understand that we will continue with our transit, that the taiwan strait, the south china sea and other national waters continue to be areas where different nations exercise their freedom freedom of navigation. and finally, we should have military—to—military dialogue. that is very crucial. blinken said on friday that he be raising the issue of illicit drugs on china. i know that you've been outspoken out about the use of fentanyl.

a group of republicans is proposed there could be chinese and sanctions to stem the flow of fenta nyl from the country. is that something you would support? i'm not sure, i'd have to look at them more closely. but what we know is that the people's republic of china is the source of the vast majority of the precursor chemicals that go into the fentanyl that is pressed and made into pills in mexico. and i think a lot of people on capitol hill are scratching their head, wondering how the ccp would not be aware of the production and the supply chain that leads to fentanyl in america. we've also heard reports of us media that china denies that the country is setting up a spine operation in cuba. it took days for the us to shoot down the suspected chinese spy balloon. do you think the white house is being tough enough on china's surveillance programme? well, i think, as the white house, i believe — said the other day and its public information —

there's long been such operations from cuba. not something that we want to celebrate, but we have to take countermeasures with regard to and to protect ourselves. i think here's the bottom line, which is we know that the ccp operates satellites, operates other means of reconnaissance and other nations do the same. that does not necessarily mean that our relationship needs to become worse than it is right now. just to hop in, just to emphasise, this is a suspected spying operation in cuba. that would be about 100 miles from the shores of the united states. sure, but i think with the white house says the other day is this has long been present in cuba — not that we should be celebrating it, to take countermeasures with regard to it. i think at this point, we have to stabilise

the relationships and have dialogue. expectations seem to have been set fairly low for this trip by blinken. in your mind, what would be a success? honestly, i think that this would be successful if there's not a spy balloon! laughter. that seems to be a fairly low bar to clear. in addition to that, hopefully we'll have more dialogue. honestly, carl, at this point, we need a more point, we need to have more engagement and we need to have the opportunity to disabuse, for instance, notions in china that we are out to suppress them, repress them, prevent them from rising, attaining their potential. that is not what folks like myself or my committee members or anyone else wants. we want a relationship where we can engage, but with guardrails, where we can preserve our values and interests and those of our partners and friends as well. i do want to be sure to ask you — blinken has called china's systemic detention of uyghurs in the country agenda for

in the country a genocide and crimes against humanity. what can the us do for the people of western china? he's correct about that, and your viewers may know this, but upwards of two millions of uyghur people are in concentration camps as we speak in xinjang province. which basically tries to remove goods that are produced concentration camps as we speak in xinjang province, which basically tries to remove goods that are produced by uyghur slave labour, and we're going to urge the uk, as well as our friends and allies around the world, to enact similar measures, because we have to end this genocide. congressman, you're the ranking member of the us select committee with china. it's one of the rare committees in dc where you see bipartisan cooperation. concentration camps as we speak in xinjiang province,

i think two things.we have to access the economic, i think two things. we have to access the economic, technological and security challenges posed by the ccp, and on top of that, we have to propose ways to deal with it. so we're kind of simultaneously doing both. we had multiple public hearings. we need to be humble, and yet serious and act in a order to till the very, very challenging situation. thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. thank you, carl. oh, well done, girls. sunny school days exploring the outdoors. these pupils in west yorkshire are on a nature trail and know how important it is to apply suncream. you can't go to school without having suncream on and it protects you. but according to the charity

melanoma focus, one in ten people are not wearing suncream because it's so expensive. it's hugely concerning. we don't we strongly believe this is not a luxury item. this is something that prevents melanomas, prevents deaths. melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and the number of cases are increasing in the uk. charities are calling on the government to help make this life—saving product more affordable. there have been conversations about removing vat. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news ajury in the us has found a truck driver guilty a two—year investigation by the usjustice department into the murder of george floyd by a police officer in 2020,

found that the minneapolis police department had a pattern of using excessive force on, and discriminating against, black and native american people. george floyd's death led to mass protests across the country and overseas. president biden released a statement on friday saying the findings are disturbing and underscore the urgent need for congress to pass common sense reforms that increase public trust, combat racial discrimination and thereby strengthen public safety. our north america editor sarah smith breaks down the report. ——joining us —— joining us now is activist, author of on the other side of freedom, race and justice in a divided america. thank you very much. i want to ask you about your reaction to the findings of this federal probe? unfortunately, it wasn't surprising. every time this goes into police department, we get similarfindings. you'll remember in baltimore, we got something very similar to minneapolis, the police were actually engaging in illegal

things with the department of justice staff in the car! so i'm happy that this is exposed. i'm happy that this is exposed. i'm interested to see what minneapolis will do for corrective action immediately. would you like to see the cd —— what would you like to see the city do? what would you like to see the ci do? ., , ., what would you like to see the ci do? ., ., city do? the mayor has made commitments _ city do? the mayor has made commitments to _ city do? the mayor has made commitments to making - city do? the mayor has made commitments to making sure city do? the mayor has made - commitments to making sure that public safety is not a matter of policing, so he has the most restrictive ban in the united states, which is good. i do think the police operate in the shadows so much. this report, its like they are doing things it's like they are doing things like stealing a kids wallet and then joking about killing kids, killing people in the military. it's a range of corruption we see. theyjust swap out the police commissioner. i think what we see is wejust commissioner. i think what we see is we just need to stop sending people with guns to solve conflict in communities.

scaling down the police department is part of it and then putting robotic manageability. it didn't happen, and even when there was accountability, it was clear there wasn't people getting the message. there wasn't people getting the messaue. ., . ., message. you are mentioning some of the — message. you are mentioning some of the findings - message. you are mentioning some of the findings in - message. you are mentioning some of the findings in this i some of the findings in this report. there were some disturbing details of use of force. one findings as officers frequently used neck restraints without warning. how would you think some of these details will resonate?— think some of these details will resonate? you think about the death of— will resonate? you think about the death of george _ will resonate? you think about the death of george floyd, - will resonate? you think about the death of george floyd, it | the death of george floyd, it was one of those things captioned on film that people said weren't happening. yet we saw it happen in real time. i think what this report highlights is that this department has been doing whatever it wanted for a long time, and imagine if you had a job where it was impossible to get in trouble. remember in the united states, only i% of officers would kill —— to kill

only ever get convicted. the highest present is 11 in a given year. the police know going into this they have a 99% chance of not getting held accountable at all if they kill people, and only about 10% of the complaints are sustained against officers across the country. in this report, they just dismiss complaints even when the police did wrong things. there's no accountability. there's really no check on them. i hope the city council presses the mayor, i hope the mayor uses this as a tool in his toolkit to really implement the changes. last ear, implement the changes. last year, president _ implement the changes. last year, president biden - implement the changes. last year, president biden signed and a executive order to create and a executive order to create a national database of police misconduct. his administration is the one that conducted this probe. do you think the white house is doing enough to

prevent future abuse? here the hard thing- _ prevent future abuse? here the hard thing- the _ prevent future abuse? here the hard thing- the president - hard thing— the president doesn't actually have the power to legislate local police departments. we have a handful that are pretty big. even the george floyd legislation will not do that. most of these things will be state and local. it is local police contracts, its state laws that protect the police. we have over 20 states here in the us that have a state office and bill of rights. so, it will send a message and incentivise change, and also, what he can do is change the federal officers. like the da, ice, border patrol. in terms of local police, it really will be cities, towns and states. looking more broadly now, how

would you assess the impact of george floyd, his life and his death? ? in george floyd, his life and his death? ? ,, ., , death? ? in the united states, the police _ death? ? in the united states, the police kill— death? ? in the united states, the police kill an _ death? ? in the united states, the police kill an average - death? ? in the united states, the police kill an average of. the police kill an average of three people a day. that has not changed. from 2014—2020, we try to convince people this was a problem all across the country. it wasn't until the death of george floyd that people were finally like, i get it. they aren't fighting us about whether there is a problem. now the question becomes what we do about it. in terms of is there a problem, we spent six years trying to convince people on the left and right that there was actually a problem, and the killing of george floyd cemented for almost everybody that there was almost everybody that there was a problem. almost everybody that there was a problem-— a problem. deray mckesson, activist and — a problem. deray mckesson, activist and author, _ a problem. deray mckesson, activist and author, thank- a problem. deray mckesson,| activist and author, thank you so much for your insights.

could good to be here. ajury in the us has found a truck driver guilty of killing 11 worshippers at a synagogue in pittsburgh. robert bowers was convicted of all 63 criminal charges he faced. the mass shooting at the tree of life synagogue in 2018 the gunman was found guilty in all 63 counts. what's your reaction to the verdict. accountability is important, and there is no happy ending after a mass tragedy like this. this was the deadliest shooting it's the jewish this was the deadliest shooting it's thejewish community in american history. so we know that lives will not be brought back, that wounds will take time to heal. knowing there is some accountability does send an important message.

the way that the pittsburgh community continues to rally around thejewish community i think is something that will be remembered and notjust the violence and they hate that led us to this deadly day five years ago. this trial now moving to the penalty phase, do you think that the death penalty should be handed down? it's really not something for anyone organisation for any one organisation or any one person to sort of have, an assessment on what should happen. it's really about the people in pittsburgh, the survivors, the family members. i think there are lots of different opinions there, actually, and i don't think there's a right or wrong answer. everybody has their own views on whatjustice may look like. i think at the end of the day, some people will be happy with whatever the sentencing is, but not everybody is going to be happy in a case like this that has impacted so many people. now, the killer used social media to attackjews on line before going

on this real—world rampage. is the federal government, and your opinion, doing enough in your opinion, doing enough to really monitor and crackdown on this kind of online hate? to really monitor and crack down on this kind kind of online hate? the sad fact is, ever since pittsburgh, we have seen mass attacks against communities that were motivated by the same type of hatred that this shooter espoused online prior to carrying out his attack. we saw in el paso, more recently in the united states, we saw it in buffalo. but these white supremacists�* ideas are actually global and have led to violence in many places. so it's notjust a federal government issue about policing what we're seeing on social media's basis, but but it's the social media companies themselves. they can decide what people can and can't say on their platforms, and frankly,

just not doing enough. some of the affected that we know that this shooter to carry out this attack in pittsburgh is still easily available on multiple different social media platforms. for large ones in the fringe ones. last month, the bided administration issued a new strategy to counter anti—semitism. what of the top priorities to bring down the number of anti—jewish incidents we've been seeing across the us? fine point on that. five years after this horrible shooting in pittsburgh, we are seeing historically high numbers of anti—semitic incidents reported to us. we had over 3,700 in 2022, which was the highest number ever recorded to abl in over a0 years of doing this. in the last ten years, we have seen 500% increase in anti—semitic incidents in the united states. that includes harassment, vandalism and assault.

and so the white house strategy to combat anti—semitism was really the first of its kind, where we need to attack anti—semitism in different ways. whether its social media companies doing more in order to protect their users and help people exploit those platforms to animate violence in the real world, whether it's reaching out between communities. the there's no one silver bullet, but what the government has said is basically lay down the gauntlet to figure out how to model ways to combat it. how safe do you thinkjewish communities feel in 2023 in the united states? so thejewish community feels vulnerable. this is data we get from surveys that we conduct. the fact that anti—semitic incidents are on the rise, hate

in general in this country against various other communities is often combined, frankly, with anti—semitism. and so, the community in many ways feels vulnerable, but it does not feel hopeless. there are allies and partners that stand up with people when they are targeted. the white house strategy again is a significant message sent to everybody in this country that anti—semitism has no place here. law enforcement thwarting attacks regularly throughout the year... there are reasons to be hopeful, but the fact is the numbers speak to the vulnerability that the jewish community feels. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you so much for “oining us. ., ~' thank you so much for “oining us. ., ~ , ., in the next hour, we will look at the striking mortality numbers in the us. stay with us on bbc news.

hello there. it's looking pretty different weather—wise this weekend — we're not going to have wall—to—wall sunshine like we've had the previous weekend. we have low pressure working its way and that's going to bring showers and some thundery downpours for many places. and there will be some sunshine around, but you'll notice it's going to feel increasingly humid. our air source still coming in from the south, so it's going to be fairly warm. but here it is, this area of low pressure continuing to edge in towards western areas. that's where we'll see most of the showers, even longer spells of rain across northern ireland for saturday morning. best the sunshine towards eastern areas — could see a little bit of cloud here. and there could be the odd shower popping up into central areas into the afternoon, some low cloud, mist and murk

affecting northeast scotland and the northern isles. so temperatures here only around 13 or ia degrees, but for most, it's the low to mid 20s. so, not quite as warm as of late, but still well above the seasonal norm. now, as we head through saturday night, we continue with showers through central and western areas, again, some of them will be heavy and thundery, tending to stay dry the further east that you are. and it's going to be slightly milder, i think, saturday night — a warmer, muggierfeel to things out west. now, into sunday, this is the day where i think we could see most of the showers and thunderstorms. they will become widespread across england and wales during the day and there could be some torrential downpours in places. now, there will be more cloud around, too, so it's not going to be quite as warm than of late, which then we're looking at the high teens, low 20s for many of us, and still some low cloud, mist and murk for northeast scotland, the northern isles. through sunday night, it looks like we could see an area of thundery rain spreading northwards across england and wales, pushing across scotland

into monday, so a very wet start for monday morning across scotland. that heavy rain becomes confined to the north highlands into the northern isles, but elsewhere, it brightens up sunshine and showers — again, some of the showers could be heavy and thundery in places. but with more sunshine around, it'll be a little bit warmer, i think, with temperatures again reaching the mid 20s in the warmest spot. however, towards the end of the new week, it could be the high pressure wants to build back in again, so that should kill off the showers across southern areas, and we could see temperatures rising again across southern britain with the increasing amounts of sunshine. but most of the showers will tend to be across the north and the west of the country. see you later.