i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. south korea's president, yoon sung yeol has said he will expand his country's military and humanitarian aid support to ukraine. he was speaking during a surprise visit in kyiv. he confirmed seoul would continue to supply much needed military equipment, including bullet—proof vests and helmets. south korea has one of the largest stockpiles of ammunition in the world, and a thriving defence industry. but government policy prohibits arms deliveries to countries at war. ukraine and its allies have been urging seoul to make an exception. for more on the significance of this visit, the bbc�*s abdujalil abdurasulov reports from kyiv. one of the main questions many people here in ukraine were asking prior to the meeting of these two presidents today was whether south korea

would provide lethal aid to ukraine. this asian country has one of the biggest stockpiles of ammunition in the world, and ukraine is facing severe shortages of them, especially artillery shells. and south korea has been facing growing pressure from its main allies in the us and in the uk to start providing lethal aid to ukraine. but interestingly, neither president zelensky nor his south korean counterpart mentioned about lethal aid today at all. they spoke about economic assistance, about humanitarian aid, but nothing about weapons or ammunition. president of south korea spoke about the military aid, but only in the context of providing helmets and body armour. he also mentioned about de—mining equipment that south korea provided in the past, and he said that he hopes his country would provide even more of such aid in the future. but state policy of south korea prohibits providing any military aid to a state that is at war. so south korea is unwilling to break this rule because it could antagonize russia as well, which has a serious influence on its neighbour in north korea.

our diplomatic correspondent james landale has been telling us about the significance of a visit to kyiv from an asian leader. we don't often see them there, the president of indonesia went last year, the japanese pm earlier this year. china has sent an envoy earlier this year. but that is few and far between. kyiv is a conveyor belt of european and american politicians, visiting on an almost daily basis. it is unusual so i think diplomats will take some comfort from this because one of the great failures of the west, of europe and united states, in this walkabout has been to try to convince the rest of the world that it matters to them as well. the large parts of the world sees this as a european issue and are frustrated the war continues because it is disrupting their own economies. europe and ukraine and the united states have gone out and said no, we think this matters to you as well because it matters about sovereignty, territorial integrity. those are universal concerns. i think

having a country like south korea visit ukraine — i think it is the first time ever that a south korean leader has ever been to ukraine — significant because i think the message essentially is south korea of all countries is concerned about the threat to his territorial integrity, from a neighbour, so they have some income with ukraine. it is symbolically very significant. us special presidential envoy for climate, john kerry, is set to travel to beijing, where he will meet with his counterpart to discuss a major push by the world's two largest economies to combat climate change. kerry set modest expecations ahead of his visit — but told the house foreign affairs committee this week that he does not intend to "concede anything" during his visit with chinese officials. the visit will mark the formal restart

of climate talks between the us and china, which stalled last year following a visit by then house speaker nancy pelosi to tawian. the trip will mark the third visit to china by a top biden administration official in the span of a month. we start with the dangerous heatwaves setting in across the globe, with potentially dangerous consequences. here in the us, the national weather service has warned "do not underestimate the impact of heat." nearly a third of americans, or 113 million people, are currently under extreme advisories. authorities have warned that scorching temperatures, especially in western states like texas, could be deadly to anyone without effective cooling and hydration. california is among many states sweltering. firefighters in the south of the state are battling multiple wildfires, with an evacuation order in place for the rabbit fire. sweltering temperatures are expected to linger for the next few days. phoenix, arizona, is likely to hit 43 degrees celcius, or 110 degrees fahrenheit, on saturday for the 16th straight day, nearing a record. and las vegas, nevada, may match its all—time high of 47 degrees celsius or 117 fahrenheit in the next few days. that will be on saturday, the 16th day in a row.

live now to professor kim cobb, an award—winning climate scientist at brown university, and a member of president bidon�*s intelligence advisory board. thank you for being with us. firstly i want to get your thoughts on the extreme heat wave that many of us are experiencing both in the united states and around the world. —— president biden�*s. does this in any way feel different to you because they could potentially because they could potentially be a wake—up call? it because they could potentially be a wake-up call?— be a wake-up call? it strikes me about — be a wake-up call? it strikes me about this _ be a wake-up call? it strikes me about this year, - be a wake-up call? it strikes me about this year, the - be a wake-up call? it strikes| me about this year, the rapid pace of climate and weather extremes we're dealing with this summer, just already getting started here, still in earlyjuly, yet we have had several devastating heatwaves across the united states, air—quality emergencies, catastrophic flooding in vermont, and mindful of the horrific flooding in south korea over the last day as well

and temperatures that are approaching record—breaking temperatures across southern europe. it is the pace and the extremes that we are seeing right now and the numbers of records that are falling right now that does seem like this summer maybe worse than those in recent memories, but we have been dealing with these kind of piece of headlines for some years now. piece of headlines for some years "ow-— piece of headlines for some years now. we have indeed. i don't hear — years now. we have indeed. i don't hear you _ years now. we have indeed. i don't hear you have - years now. we have indeed. i don't hear you have been - don't hear you have been appointed by president biden as the first ever climate scientist on the president's national intelligence advisory board, which helps his office evaluate the quality of the intelligence that he receives. what does that mean? it means this administration _ what does that mean? it means this administration is _ what does that mean? it means this administration is taking - what does that mean? it means this administration is taking a i this administration is taking a whole of government approach to climate change, making sure that wherever there is an important decisions being made, especially about national security, public health and safety, that people are using the best available silence and where possible are involving those of us who are close to

the size in keeping our economy going and keeping our national economy stable. —— available science. in keeping public health in our minds as we deal with the worsening landscape of climate extremes. that is what harnessing the science is all about. that is what we can use to try our best to get through these next couple of decades of warning. these next couple of decades of warninu. , ., ., warning. tell us more about that. warning. tell us more about that how — warning. tell us more about that. how does _ warning. tell us more about that. how does climate - warning. tell us more about - that. how does climate change, climate science actually relate to intelligence? national security?— to intelligence? national securi ? . , , ., , to intelligence? national securi ? ., , ., , security? really this goes back over a decade, _ security? really this goes back over a decade, now. _ security? really this goes back over a decade, now. for - security? really this goes back over a decade, now. for those | overa decade, now. forthose wondering what this connection is, the department of defence has long been studying this issue and the report goes back to 2009, the release of a report noting how much of their military infrastructure is vulnerable to climate change and in particular at that point they were concerned about sea level rise. fast forward to 2015 and another report, more

expensive in scope, understanding the increasing landscape for worsening extremes is going to threaten the military in a number of ways, including, of course, implement conflicts in vulnerable regions across the world. and impacting military redness, notjust at home and abroad. —— readiness. reports in 2021 recommended expanding the intelligence community, noting that collection of intelligence will be affected by climate change. these are public reports. this has been a long—standing issue for the department of defence and what they take seriously and now we have a new, of course, nato report, released in the last week, noting at an international level there are threads that countries must come together to deal with when we think about keeping the world safe from climate change from the perspective of conflict readiness, adaptation, and, of course, what they can do to contribute to emissions

reductions necessary to keep impacts to a minimum this next couple of decades. pare impacts to a minimum this next couple of decades.— couple of decades. are there any specific _ couple of decades. are there any specific global _ couple of decades. are there any specific global tension i any specific global tension points, conflicts, risks, right now, or even in the future, that are potentially brewing that are potentially brewing that you could link to climate change? i that you could link to climate chane? ., that you could link to climate chane? ~ ,., ., change? i think something that the need change? i think something that they need to report _ change? i think something that they need to report flags - change? i think something that they need to report flags which | they need to report flags which i have already mentioned is the threat to coastal infrastructure due to rising sea level and increasing floods. that might seem obvious but that is a very serious issue for many regions that rely on armies and navy installations that are within reach of coastlines. 0f installations that are within reach of coastlines. of course we also have to think about the role of climate change in raising conflicts around the world. i don't do those regions that are poised to reach temperatures that are unlivable for humans, temperatures

exceeding the threshold for human survival or regions that will be increasingly under threat from diminishing water resources, dry regions, arid regions, so these are the kinds of things that we need to consider when we look at the full impact of climate change for our national security here at home as well as international security on the global stage. international security on the global stage-— international security on the global stage. you mentioned their dwindling _ global stage. you mentioned their dwindling water - global stage. you mentioned l their dwindling water supplies, droughts, we have seen an increase in the number of them increase in the number of them in the past few years. are you seeing intelligence that could potentially foresee conflict, for example, overthings potentially foresee conflict, for example, over things such as water supply, briefly, for example, over things such as watersupply, briefly, if you don't mind? as water supply, briefly, if you don't mind?— as water supply, briefly, if you don't mind? really covered the intergovernmental - you don't mind? really covered the intergovernmental panel. you don't mind? really covered j the intergovernmental panel on climate change really flies water resources that a major issue and what are their biggest reports. we don't need intelligence reports, we need to look at the science to see where we would expect those water resource conflicts to come into play and how that will impact food security for millions of people going

forward. again, harnessing the science to understand the threats and doing what we can to meet those threats is the challenge of the moment and it is great to see institutions like nato and the us department of defence turning to the science to understand what they can do to minimise the impacts on human health and safety, our economies, and the security landscape as well. professor kim cobb, — landscape as well. professor kim cobb, award-winning i landscape as well. professor - kim cobb, award-winning climate kim cobb, award—winning climate scientist at brown university at a member of president biden�*s intelligence advisory board. thank you for being with us. ., ~' board. thank you for being with us. ., ~ , ., board. thank you for being with us. . ~' i” ., board. thank you for being with us. . ~ ., ., it's been three weeks without clean drinking water for one small central arkansas town as they face a brutal heatwave. helena—west helena, arkansas is set to experience temperatures as high as 97 degrees farenheit or 3a degrees celsius next week, but residents there are still relying upon bottled water provided by the arkansas national guard and red cross to drink, cook and bath. a 25june water line break caused the operating system that runs the town's water to automatically fail, leaving 9,000 without water

for over 20 hours on a 32 degree celsius day — that is 90 degrees farenheit. but its 60—year—old water system is still experiencing more leaks. some 20 days later, low water pressure has returned, and the arkansas town has been under a cautionary boil water alert. 0fficials reportedly believe that it could cost up a whopping $10 million to repair the ageing pipes. arkansas's governor has issued helena—west helena only a $100,000 loan. rescue workers in south korea are trying to reach people trapped by flooding inside their cars in an underground tunnel. floods and landslides have killed more than 20 people over the past three days. in the latest rescue operation, one person is reported to have died and at least nine have been rescued so far. it's not clear how many people are inside the vehicles. south korea's annual rainy season has become more intense in recent years as a result of rising temperatures. 0ur reporter, je seung lee,

gave us this update. so a few hours ago, officials gave a press conference updating the progress of this rescue operation. in south korea right now, it is well into the night, but rescue officials said they will continue this operation throughout the night, and thatjust tells how dire the situation is. now, it is important to say, it is not entirely clear how many vehicles are trapped under there, in this underground tunnel which has been completely submerged underwater, as well as exactly how many people are in these vehicles, but officials said after analysing footage from surveillance cameras, there appears to be about 15 vehicles, and out of those 15, they said they believe one is a bus and two are trucks and the rest, 13 of them, are cars. so far, one person is reported to have died from this and at least nine people have been rescued, and ii more reported to be missing, but that figure is expected to rise as it continues throughout the night.

now, there is growing criticism as to why officials didn't restrict access to the tunnel sooner, because a heavy rain alert was issued in this area four hours before the tunnel was completely submerged underwater. and i've seen footage when this accident just occurred. it was just a matter of seconds, it was just a few seconds until the whole underground tunnel, the roadway, was completely submerged underwater, so there is going to be a lot of criticism over the next few days as this unfolds. trade ministers from the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans—pacific partnership nations are meeting in auckland for the annual conference. with britain's membership set to be finalised in auckland on sunday, discussions are expected to turn to whether china or taiwan's bid to join the group should be

next to be reviewed. for more on this, sydney correspondent phil mercerjoins me now. greater happy with us. first on britain, what does that hope to gain from joining?— gain from “oining? economic benefits gain fromjoining? economic benefits is _ gain fromjoining? economic benefits is looking _ gain fromjoining? economic benefits is looking for? - benefits is looking for? britain hopes to have opportunities in an economic club 500 million members. britain will be the first european member of the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans—pacific partnership, it is a bit of a mouthful, it is abbreviated to the cptpp, so britain hurts its goods and services will be able to have the opportunity to be sold in a grouping of the moment it is 11 countries, soon—to—be i2, moment it is 11 countries, soon—to—be 12, they include japan, australia, new zealand, malaysia, vietnam, canada, peru and others. britain britain is saying that it will give its citizens unparalleled

opportunities, and it is a symbolic victory for australia and its post brexit endeavour to strike trade deals with other parts of the world. of course britain has left the european union and this is according to the british government an opportunity to forge opportunities elsewhere, but when you look at the details in the short—term, it is likely that the economic benefits to the united kingdom are likely be quite minimal. the potential though is enormous and that depends on many cases on what happens next in terms of china and the united states, so the hope is that the united states will reverse a decision by president trump not should join the cptpp, also helps with the block that maybe one day china could join, block that maybe one day china couldjoin, bring its block that maybe one day china could join, bring its economic might along with it, but we did hearfrom the might along with it, but we did hear from the australian trade minister in our state also saying that china's membership is not on the immediate agenda

and could take some time, but for britain this is a symbolic day, a big day for the british government, as it becomes the 12th member of this massive indo—pacific free trade agreement. indo-pacific free trade agreement.— indo-pacific free trade aareement. , agreement. sydney corresponded phil mercer- _ agreement. sydney corresponded phil mercer. thanks _ agreement. sydney corresponded phil mercer. thanks a _ agreement. sydney corresponded phil mercer. thanks a lot. - in other news: ben wallace, britain's defence secretary, says he will resign at the next cabinet reshuffle. he's been one of the most consistent advocates of western military aid to ukraine. mr wallace says he's standing down due to the toll the job had taken on his family. he was widely tipped to be the next head of nato, but more recently ruled himself out. twitter owner elon musk said saturday that advertising revenue has fallen just as competition between the microblogging platform and emerging rival threads intensifies. musk tweeted: he said his social media site will "need to reach positive "cash flow before we have

the luxury of anything else." turning to israel now where prime minister benjamin netanyahu says he is feeling "very well" after experiencing dizziness and being rushed to hospital. he was taken to sheba medical centre near tel aviv, his office said he was in "good condition and undergoing medical evaluation." the preliminary assessment is that he was dehydrated. but he's being kept in overnight and an israeli cabinet meeting is being postponed from sunday to monday. well, this is what mr netanyahu had to say in a video released by his officejust a few hours ago: translation: yesterday i spent time at the sea of galilee - with my wife in the sun, without a hat, without water. not a good idea. i'd like to thank all of you for the concern and to thank the excellent team here in sheba who examined me. but i have one request of you — we are undergoing a heatwave in the country so i ask of you to spend less time in the sun and drink

more water. hollywood stars jason sudeikis, susan sarandon as well as thousands of other actors have joined screenwriters for hollywood's biggest strike in more than six decades. they are concerned about pay, working conditions and the industry's use of artificial intelligence. the studios say the sector is changing and they have to move with the times. actors will not take part in any filming or even promote movies during the strike action. majorfilms in production, including the avatar and gladiator sequels, may be affected by the shutdown. peter bowes reports from los angeles. newsreader: thousands of actors on strike - - the major stars speaking out tonight. the strike that's gripped america. actors, some rich and famous, others struggling to make ends meet, all cast together on the picket line. horns blare this was day one of what could be a very long stand—off between the actors�* union and the studios — a union

with 160,000 members determined to show they mean business about a better pay deal and reassurances that artificial intelligence won't be used to do actors out of a job. it's pretty clear to me, just on a very primitive level, that if you can take my face and my body and my voice and make me say or do something that i have no choice about, it's not a good thing! horns blare from la to new york, as the sets went dark, actors took to the streets to explain why they walked out and that their worries are just the same as everyone else. working actors like me and my friends, you know, we're just trying to pay our rents or mortgages and put food on the table, so this will help all of us be able do that. the use of ai - and corporate greed, to be quite honest, has put us all in a situation where it's - just not viable for anyone to have a living — - a living at all, especially in a city like los angeles.

the strike was called when union negotiators and the employers failed to reach a deal. the studios said they'd made an "historic offer" but the union insisted it didn't come close to what they wanted. fran drescher, best known for her role in the �*90s sitcom the nanny, is now the union's leader. 99.9% of the people that i'm fighting for right now are working class people. they are the ones that are being squeezed out. for tv viewers and movie—goers, it is going to mean thin pickings over the coming months and possibly years. majorfilms in production, including the avatar and gladiator sequels, may be put on hold indefinitely. this is the most serious hollywood strike in decades. and with no new talks scheduled, la is raising for a long, hot summer of disruption. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. councils in england and wales

have called on the uk government to ban the sale of single—use vapes by 2024 on both environmental and health grounds. this proposal comes as both the european union and france are proposing to roll out bans on single—use vape products, with france's rolling out at the end of this year. angus crawford has more. cheap to buy, simple to use and littering our public spaces. more than 1.3 million disposable vapes are thrown away every week. now the lga wants the government to ban all single—use vapes as soon as next year. so, what is the problem? it's not just that they litter our high streets. each one of these contains a tiny lithium ion battery wrapped in plastic and that is difficult to recycle. if it gets crushed in a bin lorry or waste disposal centre, it can catch fire. they are technically recyclable, but there is a real difference between what is technically

recyclable and what happens in practice. and we know that what happens in practice in the uk is less than i% of these things are actually being recycled. it's not very economical to recycle them, they are always going to be really difficult and as a result, most of them are being thrown away, or even worse, they're being littered. but that's only half the story. garish colours and sugared flavours appeal to children, giving a gateway to nicotine. a growing epidemic, says the british medical association, which wants a ban on flavoured vapes and the rest to be sold in plain packaging. the industry disagrees. it claims sales are already regulated and vaping actively reduces smoking. the key thing is it's illegal to sell vaping products to under 18s like any age restricted category, so from our perspective these are doing a really good job at helping smokers move across to vaping because they are so simple to use. but what do the vapers and non—vapers think of a ban? they shouldn't ban the vapes at all. i why? think about the people smoking cigarettes. i

would you rather have cigarettes or vapes? l think about that. they're not great for the environment, are they? and especially with the lithium batteries too. also, because so many children are smoking them now as well, it's not great. i don't know about total ban though, maybe greater regulation? in england, the government is reviewing vaping regulations, scotland is weighing up a ban, and france may bring one in later this year. could the days of the disposable vapes be numbered ? angus crawford, bbc news. the second quarter fundraising totals are in for a number of us republican presidential hopefuls. frontrunnerformer president donald trump and his joint fundraising committee has raised $35 million between april and june. florida governor ron desantis raised about $20 million

this quarter. however, trump's former vice president mike pence's campaign has only raised 1.2 million, lagging far behind several of his rivals. it's unclear if pence has met the donor threshold to qualify for the first republican presidential debate next month. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. 0ur spell of rather cool, unsettled and blustery mid—july weather is set to continue through the remainder of the weekend. this was the picture saturday evening just before the sun set in north berwick, east lothian. we've had some big, vivid rainbows around, and we could see more of those on sunday with that mix, again, of some sunshine and further heavy and blustery showers. they won't be as frequent as they were on saturday, though. so we've still got low pressure close by, just edging its way towards the north—east. but still plenty of isobars

on the map showing another fairly blustery sort of day. quite a bit of cloud first thing for parts of northern england, scotland as well and we'll continue to see patchy rain on and off for much of the day across northern and western scotland. a bit more sunshine, but also scattered showers further east and really for northern ireland, england and wales, sunny spells and blustery showers. the gusts of wind 30 to a0 miles per hour, even a bit more than that around exposed coasts and hills. so temperatures between about 1a to 22, north to south, but feeling a touch cooler if you are exposed to those north—westerly or westerly winds that we've got with us. winds do ease away, i think, sunday evening and overnight, some late sunshine before the sun sets in the south. we've got a bit more cloud again as we head through into monday across parts of scotland with a few splashes of light rain, 11 degrees or so here, the overnight lows, but we could see single figures in one or two more rural spots, though, so a fresh start to your monday morning. now monday sees higher pressure trying to nudge in from the south. not as many isobars on the map. so not such a windy day, i think, on monday. and fewer showers compared to the weekend. there will be a fewjust bubbling up through the day across england, wales, northern ireland and scotland

too, less in the way of cloud lingering. so a bit more sunshine and a few scattered showers. temperatures similar to recent days around about 1a to 22 degrees, but feeling a touch warmer because we will have lost the breeze. moving ahead now into tuesday in the next area of low pressure moves its way in from the atlantic. so initially, probably a dry start to tuesday for many of us, some early sunshine. then the rain creeps in across parts of northern ireland, perhaps western parts of england and wales, southern scotland to northern half of scotland, probably seeing sunshine and showers once again on tuesday. and east anglia and the south—east, you're likely to stay dry for a good part of the day and perhaps a touch warmer up to about 23 degrees or so. but as you can see from our outlook, the next five days or so through much of the week ahead, still unsettled. sunny spells and heavy showers. bye—bye.

v0|ceover: this is bbc news. national security la- burgaudeau- — we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. after this programme. recognition. the former british colony was promised certain political freedoms when it was returned to china in 1997. but those freedoms are being eroded. four years ago, pro—democracy protests rocked this financial centre.

beijing's response was to introduce a draconian national security law.