after a submersible taking tourists to view the titanic wreck goes missing. russian opposition figure alexei navalny faces a new trial on charges that could keep him in prison for decades. his supporters say it is all politically motivated. and as the us celebrates juneteenth, we speak to an historian and author about reflecting on black history and racial injustice today. i'm sumi somaskanda. thanks forjoining us. the search is on for a submersible that's gone missing in the atlantic ocean. the underwater vessel had taken people to see the wreck of the titanic. a ship carrying the sub left newfoundland, canada, and arrived at the shipwreck site on sunday.

officials lost contact with the sub an hour and 45 minutes after it started itsjourney to the seabed. the sub itself is about seven metres, or 23—feet long, and can carry about five people. typically, crew and passengers. it's believed that the vessel has enough oxygen for four days. there is a major search and rescue operation under way to find this vessel, pictured here, before oxygen runs out. the titanic sank in 1912 and lies some 3,800 metres — or 12,500 feet — beneath the surface. five people were on board the mini sub. one of those is british businessman and explorer hamish harding, who wrote on facebook recently that he was due to join the latest expedition. i spoke with our correspondent jess parker, who gave us this update from boston. it's all being coordinated from here in boston. they are leading what has become an international search involving officials from the us and canada as well. because it's, of course, from newfoundland that the ship that transported this sub to the wreckage site of the titanic left from.

and then the dive began, we understand, on sunday morning. and as you were just saying, about an hour and 45 minutes into that dive, that's when contact was lost. in terms of the search going on, it's happening about 900 miles away from the north—east coast of the us at the moment, in an extremely remote area, which does bring enormous challenges, as the coastguard was saying. what do we know about the people on board and this expedition itself? yes, so we haven't had official names of people on board by the coastguard or by authorities. they have confirmed five people were on board, including one pilot. you mentioned before we believe, or it is believed that hamish harding, a british businessman and an explorer, 58—year—old, was one of those, or is one of those on board this sub, but we don't have details of other people at the moment.

typically, though, with these types of expeditions, what seems to happen is there will be crew on board and paying passengers — who pay a lot of money, nearly £200,000, in order to get this extraordinary experience of being able to go and see the titanic wreckage site right up—close, which is deep far down on the ocean seabed. and, jess, just tell us more about some of the factors that make it so hard to locate where the submersible vessel is. well, of course, one of the issues here is, how deep did it actually go? now, listening to the coastguard briefing earlier, they were saying they were conducting two types of searches here — one on the surface of the water using aircraft, looking to see if maybe, somehow, this vessel actually came back to the surface and is waiting to be found and rescued. but then, they're also trying to conduct sonar searches as well. they're saying they have dropped sonar buoys onto the ocean, and they can detect activity

potentially underneath, many thousands of feet down into the ocean. so that seems to be the main planks of the search operation at the moment. the big question is, if they were to find the vessel underwater, how would they then try and conduct a search and rescue mission? as you were saying, it's understood that there is going to be limited oxygen supply, and so there is limited time in which to do this. there has now been a new statement, saying this. the us and china have pledged to stabilise their tense relationship, following us secretary of state antony blinken�*s two—day visit to beijing. blinken met china's president xi jinping for talks on monday, restarting high—level

communications between the rival superpowers. xi said they made progress, while blinken indicated both sides were open to more talks. the visit resulted in few concrete agreements, apart from the establishment of communication channels and future visits. us presidentjoe biden, meanwhile, said relations between the united states and china are on the right trail, and that progress was made. for more on blinken�*s visit, i spoke with retired brigadier general david stilwell — former assistant secretary of state for the bureau of east asian and pacific affairs. general, it's great to have you on the show. so president biden said today he thinks us—china relations are "on the right trail", after secretary of state blinken met with president xi of china. do you agree? i don't. i think it's hard to alibi what happened in beijing, and it's primarily the visuals. the words. it's the same anodyne statements that came out

of both sides, looking to balance the relationship. but it's the visuals of him coming off the plane and being met by a guy layers below him. that's a strong message, meant to embarrass. and the big one is that setting. where xi jinping is at the head of the table and you have the chinese side on one side and us on the other. basically, almost like subordinates, where xi jinping is in a meeting with his people, dictating how things are going to go. i can't imagine how they thought that would be a good idea. how important are those visuals, if progress was indeed made in repairing this relationship? look, i want to support this administration, i want them to succeed, because if they succeed, we all succeed. but the visuals. .. and josh rogin said this today elsewhere, from the washington post, that the message is notjust to the american people, it's to the people in the region. and what it says is, we're in a supplicant mode, we need something. to me, that telegraphs fear and weakness.

and as you know, weakness breeds aggression. what we should be sending is a strong message. a strong message would have been getting up and walking out of that setting. no—one has ever seen a diplomatic arrangement like that. it's completely nonstandard. the last secretary of state there was pompeo. and it was cushy chairs. where you have xi jinping and pompeo with their comfy chairs and with their staff down the side. having just the chinese representative at the head off the table sends the wrong message. let's discuss what they talked about. blinken said he wanted to establish a line of contact from military to military. that did not happen, as we know. he did speak to cbs news about what the contact should look like. this is what he said. quote, "it is less of a hotline and more regular engagement, regular communication, so that they understand what we are doing and are not doing." why do you think they haven't been able to establish that communication? because the chinese

don't want it. we have yet to put them in a position where they want to talk to us. when i was in government in this position, the approach was that when we've put enough pressure on, they will talk to us. we are yet to put enough pressure on the prc to make them, to drive them to the table to engage in a serious fashion. and we've just given them an excuse to continue to not do that. we should not ask them for meetings, definitely, we shouldn't ask publicly. but they have at least five channels for contacting us. it's not like they can't get a hold of us. the fact is, they don't want to talk to us. it's a negotiating strategy. they want to see us squirm and they want to see how much we'll put up with. in ukraine, the counteroffensive continues. and ukraine says they have made gains. 0ur correspondent mayeni jones is in kyiv with the latest. the ukrainian authorities say they're making slow and steady progress in their counteroffensive to regain territory from russia in the east and the south of the country. they claim to have recovered

eight settlements since the fighting started two weeks ago, including the small village of piatykhatky, in the zaporizhzhia region. now, russian forces have confirmed that the bulk of the fighting has been happening in zaporizhzhia, but they deny that they've ceded any territory. this is despite the fact that a senior russian official initially did admit losing piatykhatky, before this was denied by russian forces. all this comes at a time when president zelensky has been making diplomatic overtures to his nato allies and other countries. he wants support for the counteroffensive, in the form of ammunition, tanks and weapons. he had a conversation on monday with british prime minister rishi sunak about bolstering ukraine's defensive capabilities and perhaps providing the country with long—range missiles. both countries�* analysts believe they are still in the very early days of this counteroffensive, holding some troops and ammunition back, and hoping maybe to push forward when they've depleted the first line of defence. one thing everybody agrees on is that this

counteroffensive will take several weeks, if not months. mayenijones, bbc news, kyiv. president putin's most prominent critic inside russia, alexei navalny, went on trial again today, facing a series of charges, including extremism. the case — like others against him on previous occasions — is being seen as overtly politically motivated, as our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. 0n trial again. the jailed kremlin critic alexei navalny in the dock, in prison. we were allowed into the penal colony to watch, but only on a video screen. he's facing multiple charges, including extremism, that could keep him locked up for decades. on paper, at least, it is

a moscow court which is hearing this case, and yet, this trial is taking place here, 150 miles from the russian capital, in a makeshift courtroom, in a penal colony. and that suggests the russian authorities want to limit the publicity that would inevitably come from transporting russia's most high—profile prisoner back to moscow. but the prison picture show didn't last long. the judge decided the trial should be behind closed doors. the press had to leave, and mr navalny�*s parents. his father anatoly�*s reaction... "they have no shame." a protest leader and anti—corruption campaigner, alexei navalny has long clashed with the kremlin. i remember this five years ago. alexei navalny is russia's most prominent opposition figure and president putin's most vocal critic. he's been barred from running in the presidential election. he's now being

arrested by police. in 2020, in siberia, he was poisoned by a nerve agent and airlifted to germany for life—saving treatment. he claims it was the kremlin that tried to kill him. the russian authorities deny it. in 2021, he returned to russia. he was arrested on arrival. he's been behind bars ever since. russians are told by the state media hear that mr navalny is a dangerous extremist. in the town where the prison colony is, that messaging seems to be working. "if they've put him in prison," anna says, "he must have done something wrong." locked away here, alexei navalny�*s message that needs change is harder to get out. steve rosenberg, bbc news.

earlier, we spoke to nina khrushcheva — great—granddaughter of the former leader of the soviet union nikita khrushchev. she's currently a professor at the new school, and joined us from moscow. nina khrushcheva, thank you so much forjoining the programme. so another trial, it is outside of moscow it is a closed trial, they are clearly trying to avoid any fanfare or too much attention around it. how much influence does alexei navalny actually have from jail? actually have from “ail? thank ou. actually have from “ail? thank you. ves. * actually have from “ail? thank you. yes, another _ actually have from jail? thank you. yes, another trial, - actually have from jail? thank you. yes, another trial, many| you. yes, another trial, many more accusations. now it is extremism and terrorism, supporting nancy's and whatnot. and it is a close trial also because all these issues are issue of national security —— supporting nazis. that is how it has been playing. mr navalny is still popular among the opposition. but let's remember

that in the last year and few months since the war as they call it, russia's special military operation in ukraine, began, essentially, there is absolutely zero, well, not zero, but almost no existence of civil society. every organisation that deals with human rights is now branded as a threat to national security. these organisations are being closed. people who work for these organisations are being prosecuted. so navalny, before, he was the opposition. now he is the longest leader of the opposition. 0ne is the longest leader of the opposition. one of the longest 0pposition. one of the longest leaders of the opposition, but he isjust one leaders of the opposition, but he is just one of many that are being absolutely pushed to the back burner of the russian society. so it is really not major news any more. ma'or news any more. you say it major news any more. you say it -- that he _ major news any more. you say it -- that he is _ major news any more. you say it -- that he is one _ major news any more. you say it -- that he is one of _ major news any more. you say it -- that he is one of many - major news any more. you say it -- that he is one of many when l —— that he is one of many when it comes to the kremlin's response to the opposition, but you have been following this as

long as navalny has been targeted by the kremlin. as you know, hejust targeted by the kremlin. as you know, he just seems to get under president putin's skin like no other. and i wonder whether the war in ukraine has made that a bigger concern for the president? i made that a bigger concern for the president?— the president? i don't think so, the president? i don't think so. actually- _ the president? i don't think so, actually. he _ the president? i don't think so, actually. he certainly i the president? i don't think. so, actually. he certainly does get under putin's skin like no other. also because he has been there for a very long time. he has been producing films and investigations about the kremlin. really doesn't mince words when it gets to putin, as you of course remember also following this many, many times. and for some years, he was the man that is not to be named. although of course, unlike the dark force of lord walter mott, this was the bright force of existence of civil society of alexei navalny, so the kremlin refuses to use his name. the kremlin thinks that once they give him

more power. so the kremlin is certainly concerned. but i don't think that his influence increased. i think that basically, he is as i said one of many. because the minute there is something that might potentially be seen as a threat, or even not as a threat, or even not as a threat, butjust the word, let's mention the word civil society or investigation or some sort of interest in human rights, the kremlin, and though it is notjust the and committed as the whole apparatus he has talked about in the last 22 or 23 is a putin. this apparatus pushes on to delete and devalue. and in fact threaten everybody who is part of that. fact threaten everybody who is part of that-— fact threaten everybody who is part of that. nina khrushcheva, thank you _ part of that. nina khrushcheva, thank you so — part of that. nina khrushcheva, thank you so much _ part of that. nina khrushcheva, thank you so much for- part of that. nina khrushcheva, j thank you so much for speaking from moscow. around the world and across

the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. i, ., ., different stories from across the uk. ., ., , different stories from across theuk. ., a, , , a the uk. borrowdale is idyllic, -o - ular the uk. borrowdale is idyllic, popular and _ the uk. borrowdale is idyllic, popular and passed. - the uk. borrowdale is idyllic, popular and passed. the - the uk. borrowdale is idyllic, | popular and passed. the river derwent— popular and passed. the river derwent has simply evaporated and a _ derwent has simply evaporated and a long dry spell of hot weather. it is of huge concern to those — weather. it is of huge concern to those whose job it is to protect _ to those whose job it is to protect the special and vital ecological landscape. it is becoming _ ecological landscape. it is becoming more _ ecological landscape. it is becoming more and - ecological landscape. it 3 becoming more and more of a regular occurrence, we are getting lots of periods of dry weather, with very little rainfall, and that is leading to rivers like this drying up. it can have a devastating impact on the wildlife. there are insects and fish that live here. and that will have an impact on the entire ecosystem, so the otters and the birds that feed on them. where there is no water, there will be no life. ~ . , is no water, there will be no life. ~ ., , ., is no water, there will be no life. . ., , ., , ., is no water, there will be no life. ., , ., , ., ~ life. what is to blame? a number— life. what is to blame? a number of _ life. what is to blame? a number of factors, - life. what is to blame? a number of factors, says i life. what is to blame? a - number of factors, says ruth mackay. _ number of factors, says ruth mackay, climate change among them — mackay, climate change among them. but also the way the river— them. but also the way the river has_ them. but also the way the river has been deliberately modified over the years, now running — modified over the years, now running straight through the valley — running straight through the valle . ., ., , ., ,

running straight through the valle. ., ., , ., valley. for more stories from across the — valley. for more stories from across the uk, _ valley. for more stories from across the uk, head - valley. for more stories from across the uk, head to - valley. for more stories from across the uk, head to the i valley. for more stories from l across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you are watching bbc news. here in the us, people across the country have been commemorating juneteenth, or what some call freedom day. it's both a celebratory and reflective federal holiday, marking the end of slavery after the civil war. in washington, the white house held a concert to commemorate the day, with star—studded performances and speeches. juneteenth was made an official holiday in 2021, after presidentjoe biden signed thejuneteenth national independence day act. earlier, i spoke to new york times bestselling author of how the word is passed: a reckoning with the history of slavery across america, clint smith. clint, thank you very much forjoining us. juneteenth celebrations are supposed to be an opportunity for americans to remember, to reflect on the origins of the country, but also to highlight racial injustice in america today. has that happened since this holiday was established?

well, certainly, ithink the catalyst for the holiday being established was the murder of george floyd and the reckoning that happened following his death. so much of what has happened over the past few years is that there was an intense move forward with regard to sort of a collective engagement, a sort of shift in our public consciousness around issues of race. but inevitably, as has been the case throughout the history of this country, anytime there is progress on issues of race, racial understanding, the history of racism, a more expansive understanding of the history of this country, there's also intense pushback. so now, we have sort of a moment full of cognitive dissonance, in which so much of the history thatjuneteenth is celebrating, so much of the history that juneteenth is asking us to sit with, we now have state legislatures across the country who are attempting to prevent teachers from teaching the very history from

whichjuneteenth emerges. so it's this both—and moment, in which we have certainly more people than we did a decade ago, five years ago, three years ago, who have a more complex understanding of the history of race in this country. but also, we have people who are attempting to weaponise and distort that history and name it as something that is ideological, rather than empirical. when all people are trying to do is give a more honest account of who this country is and what this country has been. why is that that those moments of racial are reckoning followed by what you called a pushback? i think a lot of it is fear. a lot of it is fear. i think that for many people, their identity in this country is deeply entangled in the story that they have been told about who and what america is. some people are conscious of that relationship,

some people are not necessarily conscious of it. but when people begin to tell you — your father, your grandfather, your mother, your grandmother, the people in yourfamily and your community, when they begin to tell you that that story isn't necessarily true or that the story is more complicated than that or the story of this country is not this simple, a linear narrative of work hard and you get ahead, anything is possible, when you begin to realise that certain groups of people have been intentionally and systemically prevented from having access to the levers of upward mobility and those opportunities have been given to others at the expense of other groups of people, it begins to challenge a sense not only of this country, but your sense of self. so it becomes a crisis of identity, an existential crisis, where you're notjust challenging understanding of this history, in doing so, you're challenging their understanding of who they are. and i think that is really hard for people to sit with. clint, you have said that juneteenth is an important first step in remembrance and creating a culture of memory in the us,

but that more needs to be done. what do you think still needs to be done? certainly, juneteenth becoming a national holiday, i am of the opinion that it is a good thing. that it is an important symbol, it is an important entry point, it is important to conserve as an ongoing source of reflection, an ongoing source of discussion, an ongoing source of engagement. with what our history, specifically having more intentional conversations about the complexity of the history of slavery. with that said, juneteenth in of itself is not enough. the same way that putting up a statue or taking down a statue in of itself is not enough, the same of changing a street name is not enough. those things matter, i would never say they don't. but part of what my hope is forjuneteenth is not simply the establishment of this new federal holiday that we have, but that this holiday serves as a catalyst for the sorts of ongoing discussions that shape our collective narrative of different communities across this country. and also shape the way...

what we know is that the narratives of communities, the narratives that shape our public consciousness and public discourse are what shape public policy. they play an immense role in shaping public policy. so i think to the extent that juneteenth can serve as an entry point for us to more effectively understand the totality and the complexity and the robustness of american history, then it might better equip us to have a different conversation of what sort of public policy interventions at a local, state and federal level are necessary to make amends for this history of violence and oppression. and you said public policy, clint. what do you think the us congress, the president themselves can do to further that process you just described? i think having that conversation is an important part. i am of the opinion that so much of this is a local,

hyper—localised endeavour. we've seen examples of cities like san francisco, we see evanston illinois, we see asheville north carolina. cities across the country that either have begun to implement some programme of reparations broadly defined, i think reparations means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. but i think that those efforts are most interesting to me because the nature of segregation, the nature of discrimination, the nature of slavery, the nature of these things all occurred on hyper—local levels. they occurred in neighbourhoods and communities and towns and cities. and certainly, i think there is room and there is a role for a sort of national conversation to think about what responsibility the federal government has. but i also think that something that can happen more immediately is that these local cities and towns are having conversations about the specific harms that have been done in these specific localities. and what harms have been done to people who are still alive today? for so much of this, we don't have to go back 250 years,

we don't have to go back 150 years or even a century. we can go back to the lives of people who are still with us today, prevented from buying homes in certain neighbourhoods, prevented from getting loans from certain banks, prevented from sending their children to certain schools. there's very real harm that was done to people who are still with us today, and who are suffering the social, economic and political repercussions of that. and we have the data, we have the information for many of these cities and towns to pinpoint who those people were. and i think that those are things that we don't necessarily have to wait for, in order to make interventions immediately. clint, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us today. thank you so much for having me. that is it from washington. 0ur colleagues from london are working on the next programme. they will have headlines at the top of the next hour. stay with us, you are on bbc news. hello.

once again, some of you, thundery downpours on the way for tuesday. not a wash—out of a day, there will be some brighter moments too, but especially for england and wales, that thundery rain comes from what was some of these clouds over the bay of biscay on monday edging their way northwards. and by the end of the night, into the start of the day, that rain will have set in across parts of wales and southern england. another humid start here, in particular. a tiny bit fresher further north, but temperatures in double figures. isolated shower for much of scotland, northern ireland, northern england. start the day dry, with some sunshine, but spells of heavy, thundery rain work their way northwards and eastwards across much of england and wales. the worst of the overnight rain clearing the south—west quite quickly, but some intense downpours in amongst that. but further east, east anglia, southeast, rainfall amounts will vary quite widely, some say not much at all. that heavy, thundery rain moves across northern england during the morning and early afternoon, affecting some eastern fringes of scotland as well. west of scotland, northern ireland, another day of sunny spells, but also some well—scattered, heavy and thundery showers. and across england and wales, while skies will brighten into the afternoon, some

slow—moving thunderstorms possible here — not too many, but some of those could be close to edgbaston, on what will be another reasonably warm day. the rain to the far east of scotland to finish the day clears northwards as we go into wednesday night. most will then have a dry night, a few isolated showers out into the far northwest, but temperatures 11—14 degrees, with a little less humidity out there. it should feel a touch more comfortable for some of you for sleeping. but there is a change for wednesday, in that whilst we've also got low pressure close by to the north, which will be prone to bringing showers to the northern half of the country, the winds will be westerly. so showers will develop, but they'll move through across the skies quite quickly. so it'll be a chopping and changing day for scotland, northern ireland and northern england. some of the showers are heavy and thundery. further south, though, fewer showers and more of you will be dry. and with some longer sunny spells, temperatures should lift a little bit across the south, up to 25 or 26 degrees. for the end of the week, a brief ridge of high pressure

tries to push its way into southern, eastern areas. weather fronts always close by to the west. so it does look like we will still see some rain at times, especially across the western half of the country. but in the sunnier moments, it's going to turn increasingly humid. 29 degrees possible this weekend in the london area, but not completely without the rain. and with lots of events going on through this week and weekend, check the latest details for where you're heading on the bbc weather app. take care.

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. demographers reckon india has just overtaken china to become the world's most populous nation. its economy is growing at 6%—plus per year