it's emerged vladimir putin met the head of the wagner mercenary group days after he led a failed mutiny. the parents who made claims that a bbc presenter paid their teenager for explicit photos stand by their allegations, despite a lawyerfor the now 20—year—old saying the claims are "rubbish". and a scanning method involving a see—through mouse — that could revolutionise the testing of cancer drugs. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to bbc news. in europe, there've been some major developments ahead of a nato summit in lithuania. the alliance�*s

chief says turkey's president erdogan has now agreed to support sweden's bid tojoin nato. that was a priority for us presidentjoe biden, who touched down in vilnius on the eve of the summit. it's clears the last major hurdle for sweden's accession. let's take a listen to what the nato secretary general — jens stoltenberg, had to say. i think what we did today builds and we did in madrid because they agreed to invite finland and sweden to become members and the ratification process has been finalised or finland, finland is already a full member and now president erdogan has indicated they are ready to ratify sweden. our correspondent lewis vaughanjones has been following developments in vilnius. it seems this nato summit here in vilnius will be getting

under way after a very significant concrete achievement. ian's stoltenberg, the head of nato, announcing that turkey had agreed sweden could start the process to membership. ,jens. why is that so significant? within nato, each and every member country effectively has a veto against anyone else joining. effectively has a veto against anyone elsejoining. turkey effectively has a veto against anyone else joining. turkey had some reservations that it made public and at the beginning of the day, the two sides seemed a long way apart. president erdogan is starting to talk about things like opening a doorfor about things like opening a door for turkey to eu membership before sweden then is allowed to open the door into a nato membership. eeo and nato completely separate organisations. that was the start of the david at end of the day, jens stoltenberg making that announcement and there has been some significant reaction from several politicians who are here. joe biden welcoming it,

the german foreign minister saying it's good news from vilnius. of course, the swedish government saying it's a good day for sweden. that seems to be one issue of membership well and truly settled. there is a little detail, though. just because recep tayyip erdogan has agreed that sweden can now become a member, it is actually the parliament in turkey the needs to approve that so a little side detail. the bigger issue of membership. just because sweden seems like it will become a member, there is of course another key country, ukraine. it is not a member of nato. it wants. but the agreement here is that while there is a war going on in ukraine, it simply can'tjoin. president zelenskyy wants assurances from the leaders hear that when the war ends, it will, very, very quickly, become a member of nato. still

challenges ahead at this summit. a little earlier dr sue thompson, an associate professor at the national security college of australia national university says it's not quite a done deal yet until the turkish parliament supports it. this decision, the announcement from erdogan means that this will be happening and sweden will be happening and sweden will be happening and sweden will bejoining and the irony is that dispute putin stand—off in ukraine has only seen the sort of strengthening of nato. if he was determined to face off against nato, it potentially is backfiring against him. since the cold war, since nato�*s first inception, there have been, scandinavian countries haven't been that clear and wanting to been that clear and wanting to be members, apart from norway yet this latest crisis is

seeing them lined up tojoin, finland first and then probably sweden will bejoining finland first and then probably sweden will be joining very soon stop meanwhile, leaders of the western allies in the region, new zealand, australia, south korea and japan, they been working together with nato for many years now but there have been some objections from countries like france as well. can you talk us through why that is? . ., that is? the french are concerned _ that is? the french are concerned about - that is? the french are concerned about what. that is? the french are - concerned about what signal that will let off towards the chinese. and i think it won't just be france, france has been more vocal about the inclusion of the so—called indo pacific on the sidelines of the summit, this is the second time they all turned up, last year in madrid. france as i said is vocal, i'm sure there will be other countries which will be

wondering what this then means for the asia region. on the one hand you have the issue of, you know, china is obviously key for a lot more activity going on from the asia region, when it comes to nato and there is the proposal that there might be a nato liaison office opened up be a nato liaison office opened up in tokyo next year. so on the one hand, there are concerns about what might be happening in asia vis—a—vis china but on the other hand, there will be some that are concerned about what message this sends to the chinese. doctor sue thompson speaking to me a little earlier. it's been revealed that russia's pesident —— president vladimir putin held talks with wagner mercenaries, just days after he publicly accused them of betrayal for launching a failed mutiny two weeks ago. the kremlin has confirmed that the wagner leader —

yegveny prigozhin — was among those present — at three hours of talks in moscow, where his mercenaries are said to have declared their loyalty to the president. our russia editor steve rosenberg has this update. it's very strange indeed and on the day of the mutiny, it vladimir putin had called the organisers traitors who stabbed russia in the back and promised that they would be punished. five days later is, goodness me, he was sitting down with them in the kremlin, with yevgeny prigozhin, with the commanders of wagner, chatting about what happened. so what does this tell us about the relationship between wagner and kremlin. we knew they were close, very close. putin had admitted the state had been financing wagner is what was this three—hour meeting in the kremlin, a sort of post mutiny postmortem? an attempt to reboot or rebuild what had been a pretty effective fighting force for the kremlin. we don't know, we don't know how that meeting ended. what we do know is that states media here continues to try to discredit

yevgeny prigozhin. last night, state tv said he is not the robin hood he tries to pass himself off as, he is a businessman with a criminal past who was involved in dodgy dealings but for now, yevgeny prigozhin is a free man so what will happen next? i wish i knew. my advice, stay tuned for the next bizarre episode in putin and prigozhin. at least one person has died and a number of others have been critically injured after a huge metal structure fell onto a busy road in bangkok. videos of the collapse quickly spent on social media. the massive girder that fell was part of a project to build elevated highways in the city. the governor of bangkok says the cause of the accident is not yet known.

to the united states now, where flood warnings and catastrophic flooding have affected the region. these images are coming out of upstate new york where you can see rainfall is washed out roadways and overwhelmed rivers. at least one person has died after being swept away by floodwaters attempting to leave their home. as much as seven inches of rain is predicted to fall in the northeast areas spanning from eastern new york to western maine. injapan at least two people including a 77—year—old woman have been killed following what forecasters have called the heaviest ever rains in the north of the country. tens of thousands of been advised to leave their homes because of threat to life caused by the flooding. there are reports of many rivers boasting their banks and some train services have been suspended with power

supplies lost for thousands of homes. at least 29 people have died as heavy rain battered northern india, causing widespread landslides and flooding. additional weather warnings have been issued for several other states and evacuations are underway in low—lying areas of punjab. in delhi and its suburbs, all schools will remain closed and there are fears the river yamuna could break its banks. the capital registered its highest daily rainfall in more than a0 years. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. where been growing stories on this farm for 45 years in this year is one of the lowest yields you've seen. in a good year you would expect to go like that and have tons of ripe fruit but as you can see here we are still way behind with these ones waiting to ripen up stop pat wilson's farm should

be heaving with people telling the plastic punnets but not this year. the plastic punnets but not this year-— this year. when you've got customers _ this year. when you've got customers coming - this year. when you've got customers coming and - this year. when you've got customers coming and it i this year. when you've got i customers coming and it got more demand than have supply, that's really strafing. the extreme weather, the really cold, wet spring, which the established store busier didn't get growing until late april into early may.— get growing until late april into early may. realising the co was into early may. realising the cop was failing, _ into early may. realising the cop was failing, but - into early may. realising the cop was failing, but has - cop was failing, but has planted 30,000 strawberry plants in may. is slowly beginning to ripen but even that may not be enough to salvage much from this season. there weren't very many to pick but she enjoyed picking them whether they were green or small or big or whatever. for more stories _ small or big or whatever. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. more information has emerged concerning allegations a bbc presenter paid a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit images. the young person, now aged 20,

has claimed via a lawyer that nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place, and that the claims that first emerged in the sun newspaper are "rubbish" and an invasion of their privacy. the sun says it stands by its story. this meanwhile, the metropolitan police say they are making further inquiries but there is currently no investigation under way. the male presenter, who has been suspended, has not been named. here's our media editor katie razzall. the first time, where the bbc have had our contact with the lawyer the young person acting in this. they told us one thing that effectively the story as reported by the sun is untrue and the son's on page tonight recently published this is quite another. the parents say they stand by their account and in an interview they say we did this to help and that the presenter has got into their loved ones had, as they put it. the stepdad says the claims tonight on the other that young

person are not true and accuse the bbc of lying about what happened when they made their complaint. where does that leave us? not much clearer perhaps. here is my account of how the day has unfolded. the story has dominated the front pages for days, driven by the sun newspaper, which first reported it in its saturday editions. now a lawyer for the young person at the centre of the allegations has told the bbc that on friday, via whatsapp, they told the sun the statement by their mother was totally wrong and there was no truth in it, adding, "nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place and the allegations are rubbish". the sun newspaper has pushed back tonight, telling the bbc its story was about two concerned parents who made a complaint about the behaviour of a presenter and the welfare of their child. their complaint was not acted upon by the bbc. "we have seen evidence that supports their concerns," they say, adding it is now for the bbc to properly investigate. time is of the essence because it is not fair

on victims, it is not fair on people who could be implicated and it is not fair on the bbc, which does an importantjob. you know, iam not here to, as it were, bash the bbc, but i do think they to get their house in order and they need to proceed promptly, otherwise you will have plenty of collateral victims. according to the sun, for three years, the presenter paid ten of thousands of pounds in exchange for sexually explicit images to a person who was 17 when it began — a potential criminal offence. the family told the paper they were frustrated that the presenter remained on tv after they approached the bbc. the family complained to the corporation on 19 may. nearly two months on, last thursday, the bbc says it received new allegations. the next day, the sun published claims that a bbc presenter paid a teenager for explicit images. on sunday, the bbc suspended the presenter. i think one of the questions that will come out of this in the inevitable inquiry is who did the complaint

come into and did they escalate it fast enough and in future, should a red flag go up when an issue of this seriousness comes in, whether or not there is a huge amount of information or not, that it should go straight to senior management and that they should deal with the issue immediately. escalation yesterday involved a referral of the allegations to the police. today, after a virtual meeting with the met�*s specialist crime command, the police said they are working to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence. there is, they added, no investigation at this time. until it is clearer, until we have a greater knowledge from possibly the police, the bbc itself, the alleged victim or the victim's mother, in this case, it is very hard to know exactly what we are criticising the bbc for. the acting bbc chairman is only in her role after the resignation of the politically appointed former chairman richard sharp. now the corporation is at the centre of another crisis. tomorrow, she and the director—general, tim davie, will have to face the media as they launch the annual

report, with the corporation in the eye of a storm. our legal correspondent dominic cashiani has been looking into the letter from the young person's lawyer as well as the sun's latest article. i think it is a really, really important development in the story as is the latest story tonight. the law of privacy is there to effectively protect reputations and careers and futures from undue harm which is because there are things in our private life which are private to us and if you analyse this, what they are saying on behalf of their client, this is not a modest high street phone, they are saying there is a breach of privacy here even though the individual has not been named

nor has the presenter. the young person denies involvement in unlawful or inappropriate activity and they are effectively saying, if you carry on doing this and if you were to name the client, you might end up in court is the subtext. and if you take that as a starting point, i think it is really interesting then to have a look at what the sun has said tonight and one line sticks out to me, it's quite the stepfather saying, "i told the stepfather saying, "i told the bbc had gone to police in desperation but they could not do anything as i said it was not illegal.". we're not quite sure exactly what that relates to but from the perspective of this young and thinking about this young and thinking about this in purely legal terms, if nothing has been done which is wrong, what is the case then for this person to be named or the presenter to be named and i think that is why there is so much at stake. this scotland

yard statement, really telling they are assessing the information but it has not crossed a criminal threshold and the takeaway is we are not the only ones who are really unsure about what is going on. let's now turn to south korea. south korea has restated its commitment to welcoming north korean defectors. the number who've escaped and made it to the south has fallen dramatically over the last decade or so, from 3,000 a year to fewer than 100. but south korea thinks more people will try now that pyonyang has eased covid restrictions. its main reception centre is getting ready to greet them. michael bristow was shown around. these north korean women fled hunger and repression. now they're learning the art of the manicure — filing, painting and shaping. it's just one of nearly two dozen courses on offer at the south korean reception centre for those who've escaped north korea and need new skills

for their new lives. in another room, defectors are introduced to high tech devices commonplace in south korea, less so in the north. they learn about the software that powers these gadgets. this resettlement center for north korean refugees is also a medical facility. south korean doctors try to fix health problems that might have gone untreated for years. from top to toe. drjunjin yong is a psychiatrist who's worked here. not surprisingly, he says, many defectors suffer with their mental health, not least from being separated from their relatives. translation: these people have families back in north korea - who they can't see. it's a little like bereavement, but different because they haven't passed away. they're still there.

for the defectors, its complete torture. whatever problems the defectors face, the resettlement center is just the beginning of their education. the hardestjourney starts on the outside. north koreans who arrive in south korea aren'tjust coming to a different place, they're also coming to a different time. in terms of the way people live their lives, south korea is decades ahead. imagine suddenly being transported half a century into the future and you get some idea of the difficulties faced by north koreans trying to adjust to their new lives here. one of those who's managed to do that is kim seung hui. she started her own business, making a spirit popular in north korea. translation: the first night| on the outside is a memorable one for all defectors.

i hugged my daughter and started to cry, not because i was sad or lonely, but because we've survived. she's notjust survived, she's thrived. those still here will be hoping for a similar success. michael bristow, bbc news, seoul. a new scanning technique has been developed that can see inside the body in unprecedented detail, using a transparent mouse. the technology makes it possible to detect cancerous tumours at cellular level. scientists say it could be revolutionary for medical research. pallab ghosh reports. meet the transparent mouse. everything inside, its nerves, tissues and organs, all made invisible by a chemical process.

and then it's bathed in different chemicals to reveal the parts the german developers want to study. under the microscope, they're searching for cancer tumours shown in small pink and white dots throughout the body. compare this image to a conventional scan, which shows only two of the largest concentration of tumours. it enables to see every single cancer at single cell level. because diseases like cancer, they kill at cell level. so if we don't see them, we cannot treat them. this technology enables us to see this hidden enemy. in green are the nerve endings outside the mouse's body. different chemicals show different tissue. inside the purple tube snaking around is part of its digestive system. we can even look in the tube. medical researchers try out new drugs and treatments

on mice first before trying them out on people. the new scanning technique enables scientists to see things they've never seen before. it also has the potential to improve the way in which new drugs are developed and tested. and it could greatly accelerate the understanding of hundreds, if not thousands, of diseases. currently, scientists slice up tissues into very thin sections to study them under a microscope. uk researchers are excited about this new way of analysing their samples. the potential that it has to be able to identify various tissues, cells, structures and also understanding really the development of diseases, we can't wait to get our hands on the technique. muzlifah haniffa is imaging cells to help create an online map, or atlas, of every cell in the human body. she says the new scanning technique will be useful for all kinds of medical research.

without a doubt it will accelerate the pace of medical research. i mean, combining these types of fantastic cutting edge technologies and building the human cell atlas will no doubt completely revolutionise medicine. a whole human will to be made transparent because the process would kill the patient. but it could use donated tissues and organs to study human diseases, something can scientists say would transform research. pallab ghosh, bbc news. an incredible development. before we go, i want to show you some dramatic pictures out of iceland because a volcanic eruption near the capital allows a massive cloud of smoke to be seen. domestic flights have now been delayed and many

earthquakes have been recorded in the past week, and eruption was imminent. it is the fourth separate volcano to erupt in the area and three years. your seen pictures from iceland and with that we and of this addition of newsday. of course, addition of newsday. of course, a lot more on our website covering all the top stories including the allegation facing a bbc presenter. i will be back with a business news shortly but for now, thank you so much for watching newsday. hello there. there's no real change in our weather patterns coming our way any time soon. and that means it stays unsettled. loads more showers in the forecast as we'll see in a moment. for monday, we have some heavy

downpours come through, starting off across parts of northern ireland before spreading to scotland. and as they work through, threave brought 15 millimetres of rain in a space ofjust an hour, really torrential rain. that's a bit more than half an inch of rain injustan hour. now, those heavy bursts of rain are working north eastwards at the moment. the rain will ease as we head towards dawn, but at the same time we'll see some heavy rain pop up across the midlands running into lincolnshire and east anglia as well. still quite warm and humid across eastern areas of england as we start the day tuesday. but in the west a relatively fresh field to the day, with temperatures around 13—14 degrees. now, tuesday morning, we'll see that band of rain start off with across east anglia, south east england, taking a while to clear out of the way. but once it's gone, it's essentially a day of sunshine and showers. i think some of the showers could merge together to give some longer spells of rain for west scotland, and perhaps through the central lowlands, and also some fairly lengthy downpours coming across wales and running into the midlands too. temperatures a little bit below average for the time of year, but in the sun it won't feel too bad. now, wimbledon, i can't rule

out an odd passing shower, but there'll be large stretches of the day that are dry with some sunshine coming through. taking a look at the jet stream pattern across a good chunk of the northern hemisphere. we've got this pattern at the moment. this is an omega block. now, the uk finds itself underneath a trough. that's where low pressure form. and the thing with these blocks is theyjust don't move very far. it's going to be like this really throughout the rest of this week, into the weekend and even into next week. and what that does for us is, even as we lose one area of low pressure, later in the week another one pops up as if by magic and works back across the country. we've got that kind of repeating pattern. weather kind of like a broken record at the moment. wednesday, yes, it's a day of sunshine and showers. probably a cooler feel to the weather across scotland and northern ireland, where we'll start to get more of a northwesterly breeze. so temperatures just coming down here, a few degrees in the south and east, 21, maybe fewer showers here for wednesday. but really looking at the rest of the week into the weekend and even into the early stage of next week, the showers will continue to pack in. there will be quite a lot of dry weather, even

on these showery days. the showers perhaps lasting an hour or two, but still some heavy downpours to come.

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