live from washington, this is bbc news. us secretary of state antony blinken touches down in beijing for a high—stakes weekend of talks with his chinese counterparts. dozens of students have been killed at a school in western uganda by rebels linked to an islamic state group. and the stand—up comic from kyiv who's bringing wartime humour to the comedy circuit in new york. i am afraid that the rocket well hit my building, the wall will come down and everyone will see how i live. hello, i'm helena humphrey. thank you forjoining us. we begin in beijing, where us secretary of state, antony blinken, hasjust touched down, at the beginning of the highest—profile visit to china by a us official

since president biden took office. it's been five years since a secretary of state has met with chinese counterparts, and us officials say expectations for the meeting are low. tensions have been steadily growing between the countries. live now to the bbc's china correspondent stephen mcdonnell in beijing. stephen, its been a tense few months for both sides — the white house says expecations are low. so what is this visit all about? well, the goal of the meeting is the meeting itself or rather meetings, i should say, because they do not expect some huge breakthrough as a result of antony blinken coming to beijing butjust starting to talk again, possibly lining up future meetings so more high

level us representatives can come to china, more high—level chinese representatives can go to the us and, you know, we're talking about serious matters. at stake is trying to avoid war, for example. it is quite an incredible situation when you think about it. a few years ago it would have been all about trade and definitely there are a huge trade hurdles both these nations have to get over but before they can get to that, they have got to somehow establish a means of talking to one another again, and it is quite crucialfor the one another again, and it is quite crucial for the world really that these two superpowers are able to communicate with one another in order to maintain stability for everyone on the planet, really. indeed, it is, and with all that in mind, how is china viewing the visit, what is china saying about it? i think what they — china saying about it? i think what they would _ china saying about it? i think what they would like - china saying about it? i think what they would like to - china saying about it? i think. what they would like to happen is for a signal to go out.

imagine like a pyramid structure. a signal to go out within the party that relations are kind of healing, at least a little bit, and it is a catered start talking to the us again. now, antony blinken in the coming hours and speak to his counterpart, qin gang, and they will be other meetings tomorrow. it has not been confirmed but it is possible he could meet with xi jinping, the leader of this country. if that takes place, that is a clear signal and people would be able to say, ok, our government is trying to somehow reach out to the us and the us is somehow trying to reach out to us so it is a case for us to start speaking to people on the other side of the world who, in some ways, are viewed more and more as enemies, unfortunately, so that would be the hope, that things could stabilise as a result of this visit, to the

extent that china and the us — of because you have these vast areas of disagreement that but they can go, where can we co—operate? climate change, trade, those are two areas where they could really be working with one another so you can still have disagreements about the south china sea, about the south china sea, about all matter of things, and yet still find places where they can work together. great to talk to _ they can work together. great to talk to you. _ they can work together. great to talk to you. thank - they can work together. great to talk to you. thank you. - earlier i spoke to jacob stokes, senior fellow for the indo—pacific security program at the center for a new american security. how crucial do you think these talks are? i think this is an important trip. as you said, the secretary of state from the united states has not been to china in five years and that is really

an extensive period of time for the world's two top superpowers to not have a person in person visit. of course, they have been other exchanges, including with the leaders last bowl in person in indonesia since then but given the downturn, the incredible downturn in us—china relations, where the relationship has been the worst it has been in nearly 50 years, it is incredibly important to keep up this type of diplomacy and will really hope for the secretary of state to understand and build more ties between the us and china. how much more though do you think things like the china balloon saga and cuba surveillance operation hang over these talks? there's a number of areas of disagreement in the security arena, human rights, trade, technology, many, many more areas of disagreement certainly then converging interests between the two

powers these days but it is really the view from the biden administration that this intense strategic competition or geopolitical competition, as they call it, requires intense diplomacy to make sure a given incident or areas of disagreement do not spiral or veer into conflict that would effect not only the us and china but the rest of the world. do you think there is any area where both sides may make tangible progress? i think it is really about finding areas where they passively co—ordinate, for example vis—a—vis the war on ukraine where the us has more insight into what ukraine is thinking, european allies,

partner, russia and certainly issues like iran's nuclear plant are areas things like that that they could be tacit cooperation. there will not be any real agreement on any issue. taiwan will be watching this visit very closely. what do you think places like that will be wanting to see come out of this visit? well, i think the region is really responding to the more aggressive foreign policy that china has undertaken under the last ten years under leader xi jinping and so in many ways that china has kind of driven the rest of the region into the us arms, certainly countries like japan, australia, the philippines and even taiwan are facing additional pressure and looking for the united states to help counterbalance that type of pressure from china. at the same time, they do not want to be caught up in some sort of conflict between the us and china and be forced to choose explicitly

so there is really a balance washington is trying to strike here and that is why engagement with beijing is on the table. one thing i do wonder is the fact that this trip, as we know, was delayed for months, and now we're seeing the secretary of state antony blinken be the one to make it, do you think there is a potential here that it is washington who is more eager to smooth over relations than beijing? that is possible but at the same time the us has built a very strong strategy towards china that is not predicated on effective engagement. it is really predicated on investments at home to improve us core strengths, the marshalling of coalition of allies and partners, and the going out in the world to compete with china, to be able to offer the world alternatives in security, technology and trade. on top of those three pillars

which can stand alone, there is this kind of push for engagementjust to keep the relationship on an even keel. what we have heard from administration officials is they are really looking to, as they say, manage the downside risks, that is avoid the possibility of something spiralling into conflict, so that is really the goal here, not trying to create some new partnership with china. and briefly, talking about what is going on at home, the us is entering a presidential election cycle and beijing will be aware of that and know that trump had been hawkish on china previously, do you think that political dynamic might affect prospects of repairing the relationship with trump having an eye on 202a? i think the view in beijing was that trump was very hawkish but he was not always effective at improving us strengths,

specifically the strength of us democracy. which leader china would prefer is my sense is they would probably prefer trump but they are trying to watch what the trajectory of american policies is and china will play a pretty big part in the foreign policy discussions. an very interesting analysis. jacob stokes, senior fellow for the indo—pacific security program at the center for a new american security. thank you so much, jacob. sudan's warring factions have agreed to a new 72—hour ceasefire starting sunday morning. more than three thousand people have been killed and 6,000 people have been injured in sudan since the war broke out in april, the sudanese health minister has said. haitham ibrahim said only half of the capital khartoum's one hundred and thirty hospitals were still operating and all hospitals in west da rfur state are out of service.

at least 17 people, including five children, were killed this saturday after an air strike in the south of khartoum. in uganda, an attack by militants linked to the islamic state has left scores of teenagers dead. the massacre happened in the far west of uganda, at a secondary school in the town of mpondwe. it is believed the attackers came from the democratic republic of the congo — the town is just 500 meters from the border. 0ur correspondent barbara plett usher sent this report from nairobi — and a warning it does contain distressing details. he survived, but has to live with the horror. the community stunned by this brutal attack against children. targetted in their dormitories, the militants set fire to the boys' residence. the girls were hacked or shot to death as they fled, some abducted. translation: then | they started shooting at the windows and the door. we went to hide under

our beds on the floor. as they continued to shoot out the windows, one of us was hit by a bullet and started shouting, "help! come and help me!" those who escaped, still in shock. schools are an easy target but this was the worst attack in years. there are angry questions. if they are telling us the borders are secured, security is tight, i want security to tell us where they were when these killers came to kill our people. the military drove the rebels across the border decades ago into the eastern congo, but it didn't defeat them. they are now linked to the islamic state group. translation: security is a collaborative work. | why do you people keep quiet when you see strangers? right now we have deployed planes in various places to hunt them down. it's an alarming escalation and an unbearable tragedy. barbara plett—usher, bbc news, nairobi. the first minister of

scotland humza yousaf is urging the uk government to step up efforts to secure the release of a scottish blogger who's been jailed in india for 6 years. in a letter to rishi sunak, the first minister said jagtar sinthohal had been wrongfully imprisoned. mr sinthohal was in punjab for his wedding when he was arrested over an alleged murder conspiracy. our news correspondent jamie mcivor has more on this. jagtar sinthohal is from dunbarton, near glasgow. he's been held without conviction on terror charges since 2016. his family claim he's been tortured and forced to sign blank confession documents — that's a claim which is strongly denied by the indian authorities. now, mr sinthohal has been detained in a number of prisons over the years. he's accused of funding the purchase of weapons used to assassinate hindu political and religious leaders. he claims his arrest was politically motivated. now, his family in scotland

continue to fight for his release and earlier this week, his brother met the new first minister of scotland, humza yousaf. it was a really positive meeting, to the extent straight away after the meeting, he's called for his release, and he promised to write to rishi sunak, and he's done that. i don't know what else he can do because it's not within humza yousaf�*s reach to be able to go to india and bring him back home. but it is within the uk government's reach. i've got a statement here from the uk foreign office. it says it has raised its concerns, including the allegations of torture, with the indian authorities on more than 100 occasions. and it also says that consular staff visit him regularly to check on his welfare. the most recent visit was last month. meanwhile, the uk foreign secretary, james cleverly, most recently discussed mr sinthohal�*s case with india's external affairs minister in march. video footage has emerged showing people dancing

at conservative party headquarters in the uk — despite covid lockdown restrictions in 2020. the footage has been obtained by the mirror newspaper. at the time, there were tier—2 restrictions in london, which meant people should not socialize indoors, unless they were in the same household. police did investigate this event, but did not issue any fines. our political correspondent iain watson has more on what this might mean for the current conservative government. i think it certainly something we would be unwelcome for rishi sunak, he of course himself got a fixed penalty notice, a fine for attending a gathering in downing street, hejust turned up downing street, hejust turned up early for a meeting but nonetheless he was fined for what was a gathering on boris johnson's party. he really does want to draw a line under this. he wants to leave all this behind and just keeps bobbing up behind and just keeps bobbing up time and time again. of course, going to be a lot of attention on the issue on monday because that's when mps are debating a report from a

cross—party committee of members of parliament which said that borisjohnson has effectively lied to parliament on numerous occasions. so that will be an uncomfortable debate from the conservative party to conduct and it will show differences in and potentially splits. also the wider inquiry which is expected to last for years is also getting under way as well and certainly don't think rishi sunak would welcome perhaps some of the comments which are inevitably going to flow once this video is seen by some of the families for whom this will be very, very raw. he's trying to move on and deal with the big economy challenges at the moment, not least the rising interest rates and mortgage rates once again he can't quite escape the shadow of his predecessor. in the uk, another conservative mp, david warburton, has announced he is resigning from parliament forcing another by—election for rishi sunak�*s governing party. speaking to the mail on sunday newspaper, the mp who represents somerton

and froom in south west england, said he was resigning because he did not believe he would receive a fair hearing over allegations of sexual harrasment. he was suspended from the party in april last year after being accused of sexually harassing three women and attempting to buy cocaine. after a slow start, us president biden has held his first political rally of the 2024 election campaign, in his birth state of pennsylvania. biden addressed union members in philadelphia, a key demographic in the battleground state. he's also received the endorsement of america's largest union group, the afl-cio. president biden touted his success on infrastructure and what he called "biden—nomics," in a speech his campaign said was designed to lay out his economic message. let me tell you what it's about — it's about bidding an economy, literally not figuratively from the bottom up, and middle out and figuratively from the bottom up, and middle outand not figuratively from the bottom up, and middle out and not the top down. when the middle class does well, everybody does well.

in other news: teachers in england will go on strike for two more days injuly, in their long running dispute with the government over pay. the national education union says teachers will take action on wednesdayjuly 5th and fridayjuly 7th. the uk government says the strikes will cause damage to learning and disruption to parents. king charles has become the first monarch to take part in the trooping of the colour on horseback in more than 30 years. the ceremony has been a tradition of british infantry regiments since the 17th century and marks the official birthday of the british monarch. uk homeowners who remortgage are being warned they may have to pay nearly three thousand pounds extra in their annual repayments from next year. the think tank, the resolution foundation, which campaigns on living standards, is predicting a �*mortgage crunch�* over the coming years, as cheap deals run out and interest rates rise. new yorkers have had the opportunity to laugh about wartime life in ukraine this week. a stand—up comic from kyiv, hanna kochehura, has been a hit — performing at two new york city comedy clubs.

between the laughs, her routine is a way to relate to the war in ukraine that goes beyond the daily headlines. i'm afraid that the rocket will hit my building, the wall will come down and everyone will see how i live. laughter and, - laughterl and, yeah, laughter- and, yeah, and my laughter— and, yeah, and my mum will be, "i told you to clean up." laughter hello. - laughter hello. are| laughter- hello. are there any laughter— hello. are there any russians here? laughter she's also the star of the new documentary, "comedy of war: laughter in ukraine," premiering at the tribeca film festival, which follows her and other comics touring their homeland. earlier, hannahjoined me to speak about her comedy, and why laughter can be so vital in times of conflict. your routine is very, very funny but i think some people when they first watch it, particularly if they do feel moved by what they're seeing happening in ukraine, they might feel a little bit nervous. is it ok to laugh

along at what you're saying? i just wonder when you first performed your routine, were you nervous about the reaction that you might get from it? yeah, hello. thanks for having me. yeah, iwas yeah, hello. thanks for having me. yeah, i was very nervous about it because i didn't know whether the jokes would land and i understand that the context we're living in is completely different from what us audience is living in. but i also hope that it will resonate because it's just my experience from living in war. yeah, i think that the audience was a bit unsure at first, but they reacted greatly. they laughed and we all had a great time you know, and we all had a great time you know. some — and we all had a great time you know, some of _ and we all had a great time you know, some of the _ and we all had a great time you know, some of the things that you were saying in your routine, they really remind me of things that me and my friends say to each other, you know, laughing about the state

of our apartments, for example, the mess and so on, and in doing so, you are showing ukrainians in a very relatable multi—facetted way, you are humanising them. is that something that you set out to do on purpose?— do on purpose? yeah. this is one of my — do on purpose? yeah. this is one of my goals _ do on purpose? yeah. this is one of my goals and - do on purpose? yeah. this is one of my goals and this - do on purpose? yeah. this is one of my goals and this is l do on purpose? yeah. this is l one of my goals and this is one of the goals of the documentary we have done and that premiereked in tribecca isjust to show that ukrainians are just regular people, like, we have the same problems, the same issues daily routines, we do, and itjust makes it more humanising all our experiences and more relatable to people here. so the point is to show stories of people going through this — going through war and how we cope and how we deal, and, yeah, this is something i want to do in my stand—up because i do a lot of observational comedy and it

just — the surreal nature of it to have daily and normal problems like my apartment is a mess and also dealing with, you know, war. so that's — there is... know, war. so that's - there is... �* , know, war. so that's - there is... v . know, war. so that's - there is... �* , . ~ is... there's a link there. yeah- — is... there's a link there. yeah. and, _ is... there's a link there. yeah. and, you - is... there's a link there. yeah. and, you know- is... there's a link there. - yeah. and, you know zelenskyy of course _ yeah. and, you know zelenskyy of course himself— yeah. and, you know zelenskyy of course himself famously - yeah. and, you know zelenskyy of course himself famously has | of course himself famously has gone from comedian to president. do you think that has shaped his handling of the conflict? i has shaped his handling of the conflict? ~ , conflict? i think it definitely made him _ conflict? i think it definitely made him great _ conflict? i think it definitely made him great speaker. i l conflict? i think it definitely - made him great speaker. i think all this experience with performing to different audiences made him amazing at what he does, amazing to speaking to people's hearts. and it also it makes him closer to us, like, we don't feel like he is somewhere on the top of the hill. we all feel like he's one of us and he is without supreme in this wartime. find

supreme in this wartime. and how would — supreme in this wartime. and how would you _ supreme in this wartime. and how would you describe, you know, ukrainian sense of humour? your show a little bit dark. do you think the ukrainian sense of humour is a bit dark? , ., bit dark? um, yeah, well, i wouldn't — bit dark? um, yeah, well, i wouldn't - _ bit dark? um, yeah, well, i wouldn't - i— bit dark? um, yeah, well, i wouldn't - i didn't - bit dark? um, yeah, well, i wouldn't - i didn't think- bit dark? um, yeah, well, i wouldn't - i didn't think it l wouldn't — i didn't think it was too dark before i heard reactions from people from other countries because ukrainians are a bit of — a bit blunt, a bit straightforward, so we don't, like, beat around the bush. yeah, it is dark, sometimes, because we are living in wartime. so i don't see how it could be any different, but we have not — not only dark humour. ukrainian stand—up comedy is young, but it's developing and we have a lot of talented comedians of all sorts doing different things. all sorts doing different thins. , , all sorts doing different thins. , ~ ., things. absolutely. we have certainly seen _ things. absolutely. we have certainly seen many - things. absolutely. we have| certainly seen many talented oraters and speakers, rising to prominence through this

conflict. but ultimately, would you say this is comedy about bringing people together or is it also about comedy as a weapon of war as defiance almost? i weapon of war as defiance almost?— almost? i would think it's both. comedy _ almost? i would think it's both. comedy brings - almost? i would think it's i both. comedy brings people together and it helps us to — it's also extremely important because stand—up comedy works only with the audience it's always better when it's offline so we can share our experience and understand we are not alone in this. so we stand united in this humour and laughter. but at the same time, it is also a part of informational war, i would say, because, first of all, it — it really extension, gives people more energy, it helps them get through the day sometimes. we all need that. and also it is a rebellion

against all this even russian empire because i think they want us to be — to be not to be laughing, not to — because laughter, it's freeing. when you laugh at something it — it doesn't control you. absolutely. hanna kochehura there, a ukrainian comedienne, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, your experiences with us. really great to talk to you. with us. really great to talk to ou. . ~ with us. really great to talk to ou. ., ~ . before we go, we leave you with this... this is andriy levishchenko — a ukrainian volunteer who helped shuttle people by boat — to safety in the flooded kherson area. and then clambered onto the roof of a flooded house to play his saxophone. surrounded by high water — he played the ukrainian national anthem as russian shells fell nearby. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello there. we saw a lot more cloud around on saturday, and it signals a change in the type of weather. we did manage some sunshine, mind you, in temperatures — 27 celsius in the southeast of england, where it is much better weather for a fly—past this time. but things are really going to kick off on sunday, especially later on in the afternoon, through the evening, a lot of rain developing, aould be some large damaging hail. torrential rain likely to bring some flooding, and a lot of thunder and lightning, as well. we start the day with some sunshine, but may well be some sharp showers from overnight in southeast of england and east anglia. and as temperatures rise, so the cloud builds up, and we'll see more of those downpours developing, particularly across england and wales, and into northern ireland. probably not so many showers in scotland. more in the way of sunshine here, and temperatures around 22—24 celsius — and again, it'll be quite muggy. now, we may well have some thunderstorms across

northern ireland, but the worst of those will be developing across parts of england and wales. and through the latter part of the afternoon, into the evening, really wet weather will push its way northwards up into northern england, away from southern england and the midlands, and wales, and eventually that wetter weather arrives overnight into scotland. some torrential rain likely to bring some flooding, a lot of thunder and lightning in there, as well. that wet weather still across northern scotland on monday — it does tend to ease off. following on from that, there'll be some sunny spells, a scattering of showers, 1—2 of them on the heavy side perhaps. many places may well be dry. still quite warm, temperatures again around about in the mid—20s, more likely, across the midlands and eastern parts of england. now instead of high pressure that's brought dry weather for some areas of the country for so long, it'll be low pressure that's sitting close by over the week ahead, which will bring the threat of some more heavy and thundery downpours. there'll be some sunshine around, as well, on tuesday, and it should be quite warm.

many eastern areas likely to be dr — it's out towards the west that we've got most of those thunderstorms developing, and again, there could be some localised flooding. so temperatures around about 22—23 celslius on tuesday. and we'll keep temperatures over the weekend around the mid—20s or so. there will be some further heavy, perhaps thundery showers over the weekend. maybe turning a little less humid, a little fresher, and perhaps some southeastern parts of the uk later in the week will be a bit drier.