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 king charles takes part in his first trooping the colour as monarch. hello, i'm helena humphrey. great to have you with us. we begin in beijing, where us secretary of state, antony blinken, has 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. earlier i spoke with the bbc's china correspondent stephen mcdonnell. stephen, its been a very tense few months between both sides, i think it is fair to say and the white house has now been saying that expectations are low for this particular trip, 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 that more high level us representatives can come to china, more chinese high—level representatives can go to the us and, you know, we are talking about serious matters. i mean, 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 huge trade hurdles that both these nations have to get over, but before they can get to that, they have got to somehow establish means of talking to 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 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 that it is ok to start

talking to the us again. now, antony blinken in the coming hours, he'll speak to his counterpart, qin gang, and there will be other meetings but tomorrow — and we have not had this confirmed yet — it is possible he will even meet with xijinping, the leader of this country. if that takes place, that is a clear signal and people would be able to see, 0k, 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 ok 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, and so that would be the hope, that things can stabilise as a result of this visit, to the extent that china and the us — of course they have these vast areas of disagreement — they can go, where can we co—operate? climate change, trade — i mean, those are two areas

where they really could be working with one another, so you can still have your disagreements about the south china sea, about hacking, about all manner of things, and yet still find places where they can work together. bbc china correspondent stephen mcdonell in beijing with all eyes on those talks. great to talk to you. thank you. for more, 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 an in—person visit. of course, there have been a number of other exchanges,

including with the leaders last fall in person in bali, in indonesia, since then, but given the downturn, the incredible downturn in us—china relations, where the relationship is really the worst it has been in nearly 50 years, it is incredibly important to keep up this type of diplomacy and it will really help for the secretary of state to understand and build more ties between the us and china. how much though do you think that things like the spy balloon saga, for example, also the alleged cuba surveillance operation will actually 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 than 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 which would effect not only the us and china but the rest of the world. as you said, many areas of disagreement between both sides. do you think there is any area where both sides might make real tangible progress? i think it is really about finding areas where they might tacitly co—ordinate, for example vis—a—vis the war on ukraine where certainly the us has more insights into what ukraine is thinking, european allies, and china will have more insights into its strategic partner, russia. and certainly issues like iran's nuclear program or potential areas, the global macro economy, things like that there could be tacit cooperation. but ther eis not going to be explicit partnership

between the us and china on nearly 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 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 to 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 in its strategy 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 that 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. and marshalling a coalition.

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. a 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. now to uganda, where dozens of students were killed by militants linked islamic state. the massacre happened at a secondary school in the town of mpondwe, just 500 meters from the border with the democratic republic of the congo, or drc. it is believed the attackers came from over the border — the east of the drc has been the site of nearly continuous conflict for two decades. our 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 dumbarton, 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 forjagtar�*s 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 jagtar 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. sudan's warring factions have agreed to a new 72—hour ceasefire starting sunday morning. more than 3,000 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 130 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.

now, this may sound a little strange. 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, yeah — and my mum will be, "i told you to clean up!" 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, hannajoined 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, you know, they might feel a little bit nervous. is it ok to laugh along at what you're saying? and 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, 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. so, and 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, 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, multifaceted way. you are humanising them. is that something that you set out to do on purpose? yeah. this is one of my goals and this is one of the goals of the documentary we have done and that premiered in tribeca is just 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, normal problems like my apartment is a mess, and also dealing with, you know, war, so that's — there is... there's a link there. yeah. and, you know zelensky, of course, himself famously has gone from comedian to president. do you think that has shaped his handling of the conflict? i think it definitely made him a 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 with ukrainians in the wartime. and how would you describe, you know, ukrainian sense of humour? your show is a little bit dark. do you think the ukrainian sense of humour is a bit dark? um, yeah, well, iwouldn�*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. and 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. absolutely. we've certainly seen many talented orators and speakers, you know, 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 would think it's 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, 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 releases tension, 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 evil russian empire because i think they want us to be — to be not to be laughing, not to — because laughter, it's freeing. you know, 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. thank you so much. thousands of people turned out to watch king charles take part in his first trooping the colour since becoming monarch. he became the first monarch to take part in event on horseback in more than 30 years. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell has more. finally, it was a birthday parade for him. guards! royal salute! present arms!

god save the king plays. king charles took the salute in his own right as monarch. the king was on horseback — a ratherfriskier mount than he might have wished. shoulder arms! princes george and louis and princess charlotte were taken to watch from a window overlooking horse guards as the parade got under way. on the dias, queen camilla in an outfit modelled on the uniform of the grenadier guards — of which she is now honorary colonel — and the princess of wales in emerald green — she's colonel of the irish guards. for the first time in more than 30 years, all five of the foot guard regiments were on parade. the colour being trooped

was that of the welsh guards. and then, back up the mall to buckingham palace. a carriage ride for the children with george leading the waving. the king led the principal members of the family onto the palace balcony for the fly—past, which couldn't take place on coronation day because of the weather. but in the clear skies of summer appeared the battle of britain memorial flight and some of the raf�*s latest and loudestjets, including 18 typhoon fighters spelling out the letters cr — charles rex — in tribute to britain's new king. nicholas witchell, bbc news. novelist ben okri, director stephen frears and vogue's anna wintour are among some of those who received the king's

birthday honours. our lizo mzimba has more on this year's honourees. reporter: terry waite is free, after five years held _ hostage in beirut. terry waite has devoted much of his life to helping others being held against their will. he's received a knighthood. very difficult to express my feelings about it but i am honoured to be a part, to be recognised by my country. those traditions i deeply respect and value. in traditions i deeply respect and value. ., ., ., value. in the world of film and tv. value. in the world of film and tv, celia _ value. in the world of film and tv, celia emery _ value. in the world of film and tv, celia emery becomes- value. in the world of film and tv, celia emery becomes an l value. in the world of film and . tv, celia emery becomes an cbe. abena mccall says it is a great honour to be made an mbe. while line of duty star vicki mcclure also becomes an mbe for her acting and charity work. in the world of sport, ian wright has been made a cbe to his contribution to football and to

charity. campaigner suzanne richards, who has been aid and mbe, lost three members of her family in the 2015 tunisian beach attacks. she set up a charity for people bereaved through homicide and issue that is constantly relevant. the news from _ is constantly relevant. tue: news from nottingham is constantly relevant. tte: news from nottingham is heartbreaking and i totally feel how those families are feeling, especially when they've just lost a 19—year—old, same as myself, a university student. it mirrored what happened to me eight years ago so, as a charity we will there to support them in the future if they need us. she is 'ust one future if they need us. she is just one of — future if they need us. she is just one of many _ future if they need us. she is just one of many being - just one of many being honoured. for making a difference to their communities. lizo mzimba, bbc news. remember, plenty more on our website, abc .com slush news. more coming up at the top of the hour. i'm helena humphrey. thank you for your company. see you soon.

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 south—east 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, could 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 south—east 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 degrees — 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, one or two 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's going to 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 dry. 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 degrees on tuesday. and we're going to 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 south—eastern parts of the uk later in the week will be a bit drier.