in the future. president zelensky marks 500 days since russia's invasion of ukraine. and some allies express concerns over the united states�* decision to send cluster bombs to ukraine. hello, i'm carl nasman. thanks forjoining us. us treasury secretary janet yellen is wrapping up her multi—day trip to china, aimed at strengthening economic ties between the two super powers at a time of tension. while in china, ms yellen held ten hours of talks that she described as "direct and substantive." the us treasury secretary criticised chinese curbs against us firms, and also called on beijing to work with washington to fight climate change. here's ms yellen speaking in the past hour at press conference. the us and china have

significant disagreements. those disagreements need to be communicated clearly and directly. but president biden and i do not see the relationship between the us and china through the frame of great power conflict. we believe that the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive. both nations have an obligation to responsibly manage this relationship, to find a way to live together and sharing global prosperity. live now to the bbc�*s asia correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes, who joins us from bangkok. several items were onjanet yellen�*s agenda, among them diplomatic ties, and easing of economic tension. how much progress doesn't seem has made? well, from what she said in her press conference in beijing this morning and what we have

heard from chinese officials i think this is about as positive as we could expect. i don't think anybody was expecting any major breakthroughs, but as she said in her press conference, they have had a direct, i think she said candid, constructive and and that they build the present —— a resilient and productive dialogue for the future. she said one triple not solve all the problems between the us and this is building the foundation but they can now continue talking to each other. i think one of the key things about this is that the biden administration's senior officials had not met with any officials had not met with any of the new senior chinese economic team that came in last year, after the communist party congress at the end of last year. but nowjanet congress at the end of last year. but now janet yellen has had the chance to do that. she hasn'tjust met had the chance to do that. she hasn't just met with had the chance to do that. she hasn'tjust met with lee chan, the chinese premier, but she also met with huli fong, the vice premier in charge of the economy, and absolutely key

official in the chinese government. he is very close to xijinping, they had several hours of closed—door fa ce—to —fa ce hours of closed—door face—to—face meetings yesterday, but was probably the key moment in this visit to really understand the most important counterparts in the chinese government. fin important counterparts in the chinese government.- chinese government. on the china side. _ chinese government. on the china side, china's _ chinese government. on the china side, china's economy| chinese government. on the - china side, china's economy has not been performing as well as the country had hoped, especially coming out of the pandemic. there are fears about a debt crisis in the country. what do you think china was hoping to get out of these meetings, and also looking forward to future summits? well, i think the chinese... although the chinese have been talking very tough on the us in recent months, behind that bravado, there is deep concern about the decoupling of the us and chinese economies, the us market is so vitally important to the chinese economy. last year china exported something in the region of 500 billion us dollars worth of goods to the united states. so it is the

absolutely key economic partner for china. what china would like is to see the trump—era tariffs imposed on china lifted, that clearly has not happened now, buti lifted, that clearly has not happened now, but i think there is hope that if a dialogue can be continued, ms yellen in particular and other members of the biden administration have talked of those tariffs not being fair. i think the chinese would like to see those lifted as soon as possible, really. certainly that is their key desire. ,, ., certainly that is their key desire, ,.,, certainly that is their key desire. ,.,, , desire. some positive messaging from that trip _ desire. some positive messaging from that trip there _ desire. some positive messaging from that trip there by _ desire. some positive messaging from that trip there by yellen, i from that trip there by yellen, thank you so much, rupert wingfield—hayes. to ukraine, where the country's president has marked the 500th day of russia's invasion with a video of his visit to the site of one of the war�*s most iconic battles. volodymyr zelensky posted the clip on telegram of his trip to snake island, a strategically significant outpost in the black sea that ukrainian border guards refused to surrender to russia on the first day of the invasion, february 24th, 2022. their obscene reply to russian warnings became a rallying cry,

and they were presumed dead when russian troops invaded and captured the island, though it later transpired that the guards had survived. ukraine re—took the island four months later. mr zelensky toured the island, laid a wreath and spoke to his nation. translation: dear ukrainians, i wish ou translation: dear ukrainians, i wish you good — translation: dear ukrainians, i wish you good health. _ translation: dear ukrainians, i wish you good health. today - translation: dear ukrainians, i wish you good health. today we | wish you good health. today we are on snake island, our snake island, which will never be conquered by the occupier, like the whole of ukraine, because we are a country of the brave. today we honour our ukrainian heroes, all the soldiers who wore —— who fought for this island, who liberated it, and although this is a small piece of land in the middle of our black sea, it is a great proof that ukraine will regain every bit of its territory. i want to

thank from here, from this place of victory, each of our soldiers for this 500 days. it comes as eight people were killed in a russian rocket attack on a residential area of the eastern ukrainian town of lyman. the governor of the donetsk region said multiple rockets struck the town mid—morning, setting cars and buildings on fire. lyman is a major rail hub. it was recaptured by ukrainian forces last october. as ukraine's counter—offensive grinds on, the us has committed to sending controversial cluster munitions. but divisions within nato countries about supplying the weapons are starting to emerge. british prime minister rishi sunak has confirmed that the uk, like several other nato countries, is signed up to a convention that bans their use. on friday, president biden said the weapons transfer was "a difficult decision." he arrives in the uk on sunday. rishi sunak is playing down any differences. well, the uk is a signatory to a convention which prohibits

the production or use of cluster munitions, and discourages their use. we will continue to do our part to support ukraine against russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion. we have done that by providing heavy battle tanks and, most recently, long—range weapons. and hopefully, all countries can continue to support ukraine. russia's act of barbarism is causing untold suffering to millions of people. it's right that we collectively stand up to it. and i will be heading off to the nato summit next week in vilnius, where we will be discussing with our allies how we can strengthen our support for ukraine. so what is the convention on cluster munitions? it's an international treaty that prohibits all use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of cluster munitions. cluster munitions are an explosive weapon which scatters bomblets over an area. the convention entered into force on i august 2010 and a total of 123 states are committed to it. the united states and russia

have not signed this convention, nor has ukraine. but most nato countries have. european nations have also been reacting to the news. spain's defence minister, margarita robles, said "no to cluster bombs and yes to the legitimate defence of ukraine." but germany, which is also a signatory of the treaty, said while it would not provide such weapons to ukraine, "we're certain that our us friends didn't take the decision about supplying such ammunition lightly." kurt volker a former us ambassador to nato, and former us special representative for ukraine. he's told the bbc why he backs the move. ukraine, as we have seen, as been able to advance on the battlefield but only very slowly. and that is because of the minefields and the trenches that have been put in place by the russians as defensie measures to prevent the ukranians from advancing. using these types of munitions will substitute for singleshot artillery shells, it will cover more ground and they will force the russians to have to withdraw their personnel to avoid these types of weapons which will make it more

feasible for the ukrainians to advance more quickly. there are new allegations concerning a bbc presenter accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit photographs, beginning when they were 17. the claims in the sun newspaper allege the unnamed male presenter paid the teenager tens of thousands of pounds. it's understood the corporation is investigating the allegations, and the star is currently not scheduled to be on air in the coming days. earlier i spoke with our graham satchell. graham, just fill us in — what more do we know about this story? well, as you say, these allegations first appeared in a british newspaper, the sun newspaper. they have spoken to the mother of this teenager, now 20, but was 17, we understand,

in this first started to happen. and the allegation is that the unnamed bbc presenter paid significant sums of money over a period of time for explicit photographs. these allegations are serious, not just ethically or reputationally, but legally, as well, because in british law it is an offence to share, create or possess pictures like that of anyone under the age of 18. and in tomorrow's paper, the sun is giving more details of the kind of things that were allegedly exchanged between the unnamed presenter and the teenager, so, it says that there are pictures of this presenter allegedly in his underwear on the sofa in preparation for a video call. you can see that there are now serious questions being asked about the way the bbc is starting to handle all of this. the bbc for its part has said that it takes these allegations very seriously, that it has tried to speak to the people involved, the family involved, to get further details. but their statement goes on to say that if it gets no reply or receives no further contact, that can limit its ability to progress

things, but that doesn't mean the inquiry stops. still unnamed, but some bbc presenters have felt compelled to come out and say that they are not involved? that's right. we're in a very difficult situation at the moment because the sun isn't naming the presenter, the bbc is not confirming their name. and, so, what you have had here is a frenzy on social media, frankly, with people speculating as to who the bbc presenter is. and it's led to a number of other bbc presenters to basically go on social media and say, "it ain't me." so people like gary lineker, jeremy vine, nicky campbell, radio presenter, ryland, have all taken to their various different twitter and instagram accounts to say, "well, don't speculate about me, it is not me." some have been threatening legal action. so, this is a very serious situation, particularly for the bbc and, of course, for the unnamed presenter. graham, you alluded to this earlier but there are also some questions about how the bbc has

handled these allegations? that's right, because the family say they complained to the bbc in may. so, we're talking some six, seven weeks ago now. and the bbc is not confirming to us or it's not telling us whether there has been a formal suspension of this bbc presenter. but they are saying he's not expected to be on air in the coming days. the questions are being asked and they are serious questions — who knew what, when? what questions were asked, why wasn't this presenter immediately suspended ? if it is potentially, allegedly a criminal offence, why wasn't this referred to the police? there are big questions here. and politicians here have been getting involved, so, caroline dynage, for example, who is in charge of the culture select committee in the house of commons here, is saying the bbc has questions to answer. there's pressure on their hr department to investigate these

latest claims quickly and explain what has happened since this story first came to light back in may. the bbc�*s graham satchel. in the us, legal action against the sale of so—called ghost guns has been filed by philadelphia following a fourth ofjuly weekend mass shooting in the us city. the suspect allegedly used two ghost guns to fatally shoot five people. philadelphia's deputy commissioner of investigations confirmed the weapons used in the rampage fit the definition, meaning they were privately made — and there is no way to trace where they came from. now the city says it has filed a lawsuit against two suppliers of ghost guns confiscated in philadelphia. one of those makers was also sued by the us city of baltimore in 2022, accusing the manufacturer of causing a public health crisis. because ghost guns are untraceable it is hard to quantify exactly how many are on the street. however, the philadelphia

police department confirmed that 575 ghost guns were confiscated in criminial investigations in 2022 alone. meanwhile, in 2023, the city of philadelphia reported 87% of ghost guns recovered in criminal investigations were made by one of the largest manufacturers that's listed as a defendent in the suit. for more on philadelphia and its issue with ghost guns, i spoke to philadelphia city solicitor and chief legal officer, diana cortes. we heard how over the recent holiday weekend, the shooter in philadelphia was armed with ghost guns. how have these weapons affected your city? well, thank you very much for having me. so, ghost guns, like many other... ghost guns in philadelphia havejust been inundating the streets of philadelphia, just like many other cities around the country. in 2018 there were only 12 recovered, and as you noted in the segment leading up to this, 575 in 2022 were recovered. that is a 4600% increase, as ofjuly 5th, 2023, when we had the press conference announcing this lawsuit, there were 292 recovered fully assembled ghost guns, as of today.

that number has increased and is putting philadelphia on pace for a record breaking number of ghost on recoveries over the full calendar year. as you noted, onjuly 3rd there was a mass shooting that also involved two ghost guns. so it is definitely infiltrating our streets and killing a great amount of people in philadelphia. do you know what is behind this recent increase in the number of ghost guns that you are seeing in philadelphia? i would say it is the easy access to these ghost guns. the only thing somebody needs in order to access a ghost gun kit from polymer80 and jsd supply, the two defendants in our lawsuit, is essentially an address and credit card. that is all that is

necessary for them to buy and purchase and have these ghost gun kits delivered to them. currently our pennsylvania state laws require certain guardrails for people to get firearms, and right now these two defendants are violating those laws. you are the city's chief legal officer. why did philadelphia decide to bring this lawsuit? well, these statistics that i mentioned earlier are unimaginable, and as i think your segment prior to me speaking noted, it is actually an underestimate, because these ghost guns are not serialised. there is no real way to capture the exact impact that these ghost guns are having, but it is catastrophic, and so we need to do something, we need to hold these ghost gun manufacturers accountable, and therefore, it is the time to act. 0ur lawsuit is a 70—plus—page complaint going detail by detail as to everything that these ghost gun manufacturers

have done wrong, including violating state laws which require them to have firearms that have serial numbers, they require firearms to only be sold to adults, and they also require firearms to only be sold to adults who have passed a background check. right now none of those things are happening. these manufacturers are not ensuring that is being done. they are putting profits over people, it needs to stop. there are some pro—gun groups and pro—gun legislators out there in the united states that say that legislating or limiting these self—made guns actually goes against the constitution. what is your response to them? well, i would say that right now, these ghost gun manufacturers are violating, already, our state laws. so i would say that this really

is not an issue of second amendment rights. it is an issue of these ghost gun manufacturers violating our current state laws that have been passed by our state legislature, which encompasses several of those gun rights supporters, so i would say that this is not an issue, or should not be viewed as an issue of second amendment rights, it should be viewed as an issue of who is being responsible in distributing and selling these firearms, and who is being responsible in obtaining them. we spoke just last week with a city council member from baltimore, another city in the united states that saw a recent shooting over the holiday weekend and another city that has also filed suit against these ghost gun manufacturers. it was interesting, because they told us that they have seen a recent rise in these ghost towns ending up in the hands of young people. is that something you've seen in philadelphia as well? absolutely, again, because these ghost gun manufacturers, these two defendants, are not requiring that people of age

are getting ghost guns. in pennsylvania you are required to be 18 years of age. right now anybody, because they are not ensuring that the person submitting this credit card or doing any type of verification, these ghost gun kids are getting into the hands of anybody, including minors who have a credit card and have an address, so, yes, we are definitely seeing a steep rise in that. is there any action you would like to see on the state or federal level on these ghost guns? i would like to see a continuous push for accountability. right now the pennsylvania state legislature has put in place laws that these two ghost gun manufacturers are violating, so i would like to make sure that the legislature maintains those laws, and i would encourage anybody and everybody affected by these ghost guns to continue

to push for some level of accountability, including lawsuits. diana cortes, philadelphia's city solicitor, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. thank you so much. the dutch prime minister has been meeting with the country's king to discuss the formation of a caretaker administration after the collapse of his coalition government. mark rutte left the palace after talks with king willem—alexander. mr rutte announced late on friday that his entire cabinet had resigned after it failed to agree on stricter immigration policies. new elections are not expected to be held before mid—november. anna holligan has more from the hague. so, mark rutte met king willem—alexander here, in the hague, to explain what had happened and discuss forming a caretaker administration. the chat lasted about an hour and a half. and afterwards, mark rutte came out, he told reporters it had been good, but he wouldn't give any further details because he said they were confidential. so no indication as to when that caretaker government may be formed. what happened ?

well, the coalition collapsed because of a disagreement — "irreconcilable differences," mark rutte said — between the four coalition parties over different rules for different asylum—seekers on when they should be allowed to bring family members into the country, so, family reunifications. and according to reports, mark rutte wanted to place a cap on the number of people war refugees could bring to the netherlands at 200 per month. other parties, including the family—focused, christian union, and the liberal d66, were opposed. so what happens next? well, the dutch electoral commission has said the earliest elections can take place is november, due to electoral rules, the summer holidays, and the need to give parties time to campaign. before that, though, mark rutte will address parliament monday morning, first thing, 10.15am local time, after which, we are expecting a pretty heated debate.

in other news an airstrike in a sudanese city on saturday killed at least 22 people, health authorities said, in one of the deadliest air attacks yet in the three months of fighting between the country's rival generals. the assault took place in 0mdurman, outside the capital, khartoum. the attack was one of the deadliest in urban areas of the capital and elsewhere in sudan. an eu envoy has strongly criticised israel over the force used during this week's raid on thejenin refugee camp in the occupied west bank. twelve palestinians died in the two—day anti—terrorism operation, as well as one israeli soldier. the eu representative for the palestinian territories questioned the proportionality of the force used. there's fresh hope for the world's largest gannet colony — on bass rock, a volcanic outcrop off the east coast of scotland. climate editorjustin rowlatt reports.

bass rock in scotland's firth of forth is the largest gannet colony in the world. david attenborough�*s team visited bass rock three years ago. at bass rock three years ago. at the bass rock three years ago. git the height of summer the home of bass rock is jam packed. but of bass rock is 'am packed. but this time last — of bass rock isjam packed. but this time last year, right in the middle of the breeding season, bird flu stock. gannets including chicks died in their thousands. this was the population in 2020. an estimated 150,000 birds. this is 2022. one year on and we are headed back to bass rock with a team of scientists from edinburgh university who were doing the first population survey of the gannets this year. there have been huge

changes. year. there have been huge changes-— changes. this area was completely _ changes. this area was completely covered - changes. this area was l completely covered with changes. this area was - completely covered with birds, gannets everywhere. not reading but it was just full with life. maggie has been coming here virtually every week for more than 20 years. tn virtually every week for more than 20 years.— virtually every week for more than 20 years. in the space of three weeks. _ than 20 years. in the space of three weeks, actually, - than 20 years. in the space of three weeks, actually, this i three weeks, actually, this colony died. it was heartbreaking to watch this magnificent bird, who was so strong, have no power at all. so in the far corner... . the scientists send up a drawing to take pictures. they will use artificial intelligence to come the birds. ., , ., artificial intelligence to come the birds. . , . ., artificial intelligence to come the birds. . , . . ., the birds. humans are far more rone to the birds. humans are far more prone to error— the birds. humans are far more prone to error so _ the birds. humans are far more prone to error so you _ the birds. humans are far more prone to error so you can - the birds. humans are far more prone to error so you can get i prone to error so you can get tired or bored of counting birds which means you get less accurate as time goes on. a computer does not get bored nor tired. �* ., �* computer does not get bored nor tired. �* ., ~ i. tired. but even without ai you can see a _ tired. but even without ai you can see a lot _ tired. but even without ai you can see a lot of— tired. but even without ai you can see a lot of birds - tired. but even without ai you can see a lot of birds have i can see a lot of birds have come back. some have survived the flu stop look how it can change their eyes. and there are cheap. lots of them. maggie

is delighted. this are cheap. lots of them. maggie is delighted-— is delighted. this is magnificent - is delighted. this is magnificent we i is delighted. this is magnificent we are | is delighted. this is i magnificent we are seeing is delighted. this is _ magnificent we are seeing here. what we see now is established breeders that have survived. a lot more than we hoped for. but man of lot more than we hoped for. but many of the _ lot more than we hoped for. but many of the birds have not nests. gannets pairfor life. nests. gannets pair for life. these nests. gannets pairfor life. these birds are waiting for their partners to come back. but it is late in the season. maggie fears most are probably dead. it will be a couple of months before the scientists publish their�*s findings. the colony has taken a dig hit the good news is the gannets of bass rock will survive. justin rowlett, bbc news, the firth of forth. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. it was a very thundery start to the weekend, and particularly so across parts of the west midlands, into north—west england.

and later, those storms spread their way northwards, into scotland, during the overnight period. part two of the weekend looks a little bit better. there will be sunny spells around, but further showers too and low pressure always close by, and these weather fronts, which will continue to generate these showers and thunderstorms. now, we start sunday off on a bright note, plenty of sunshine. that's the overnight rain — thundery in places, clearing northwards, so it could be quite wet in 0rkney all day. an area of rain, some of it thundery, could affect east anglia and the south—east for a time through the morning. then that clears into the afternoon, and then it's sunny spells, scattered showers. most of these, northern ireland, wales and western england. now, it's going to be a cooler, fresher day across the board. top temperature, around 23 degrees in the south—east. so we could have some disruption at wimbledon for that early rain. but then, into the afternoon, it does look like conditions will improve, with increasing amounts of sunshine. so as you move into sunday evening, most of the showers fade away — not completely, but most of them will. we'll see lengthy, clearer skies, but across the south—west, here, we'll see some cloud

thickening, with increasing breeze too. temperatures lower, fresher than what we've had over the last few nights. range from 10 to 12 degrees. cooler than that out of towns and cities. this area of low pressure will throw out further weather fronts into the south—west. this area of cloud will thicken up further. we'll see outbreaks of rain, strengthening winds — south—west england, into wales, pushing into the midlands. some of this could be quite heavy. elsewhere, it's sunny spells, scattered showers. so we could be up to around 2a degrees in the south—east, given plenty of sunshine. a little bit lower than that further north. but as you move out of monday into tuesday, this area of low pressure sits right on top of the uk, so a really unsettled day, i think, on tuesday. it'll be quite breezy. there will be some sunny spells in—between, but showers or longer spells of rain, and some of these showers could turn out to be heavy and thundery in places. pretty much anywhere could catch a shower. and temperatures will be lower, 16 to 21 or 22 degrees. that's below par for the time of year. and temperatures fall further as we move deeper into the week. this area of low pressure pushes towards the north of the uk,

bringing some cooler air down on that north—westerly wind. so it stays unsettled for much of this upcoming week, with temperatures below par for the time of year. there will still be some sunshine in—between the showers.

actors v0|ceover: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. of the hour, straight in 2020, 0scar—nominated actor elliot page announced by news stories for you at the top elliot page announced by instagram that he is a instagram that he is a transgender man. star of the transgender man. ecksmen series and hit films juno and inception as well as the umbrella academy, elliot

page enjoyed height that only