as soon the promises given to us are fulfilled. an awkward day for rishi sunak as the prime minister denies overseeing budget cuts that led to crumbling concrete in hundreds of schools across england not being repaired. senior doctors and dentists in new zealand will go on their first ever strike — frustrated they won't receive pay rises to match inflation, currently running at six percent. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news, it's newsday. welcome to the programme. we start with the war in ukraine, as north korean leader, kimjong un, will travel to russia for talks with president putin according

to american officials and several media outlets. in a statement, us national security officials say that "arms negotiations between russia and north korea are actively advancing. we know that the russian defense minister travelled to north korea to convince them to sell artillery ammunition to russia. we urge north korea to cease its negotiations and abide by the public commitments that pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to russia." the two men already met in russia in 2019, for their first ever summit that took place in vladivostok. it is likely that this meeting, should it happen, would take place in that same city or possibly in moscow in september. here is whatjohn everard, british ambassador to north korea between 2006 and 2008 makes out of kimjong un and putin's plan to meet in russia to discuss weapons. but of course the background is all about the possibility that north korea might supply

russia with useful amounts of munitions and other weapons for its war effort against ukraine. there have already been some north korean weapons on the battlefield. curiously some north korean munitions fell into ukrainian hands. they were turned on the russians rather than fired by them. but not very much. and it's quite clear, i think, when the defence minister visited pyongyang on the 70th anniversary of the end of the korean war that there were a lot of talks then about possible supplies. what we don't know is exactly how far those talks have gone. i suspect it'll be a while before a deal is dropped because the north koreans know that the russians are desperate for these munitions and the price north korea will ask them will be eye wateringly high. i spoke to edward wong, diplomatic correspondent for the new york times and one of the journalists who broke the story and asked him what more he knows on kimjung un's planned visit to russia.

well, our sources have told us that one of the strong signs that emerge at this meeting would take place was that there was an advance team of north korean officials who travel to vladivostok and then moscow in late august. and those included security officers who deal with the protocol of the surrounding travel of the leadership. so that was a strong sign for officials looking at this. and they've concluded or they've assessed since then that this meeting will likely take place in vladivostok and that kimjong un will likely take his private armoured train as he travels from pyongyang north. and he has taken that train before to vladivostok, notably in that 2019 meeting that you just mentioned. right. just to get a little more perspective on what this meeting means militarily, what could the two countries offer each other that they haven't already?

well, russia really needs more artillery ammunition. both ukraine and russia have been firing off many, many rounds of artillery shells at each other. both countries are running low and russia needs more of that from north korea. it's hoping that north korea will agree to send useful amounts of artillery ammunition. north korea our our sources tell us that north korea might be seeking advanced technology from russia to help it with its satellite programme and a nuclear powered submarine programme. also, north korea is one of the poorest countries in the world. it often goes through bouts of mass hunger. and it is seeking food aid from russia too. how concerned do you think edward, the us and nato will be about this meeting? i think they will be fairly concerned. part of president biden's strategy, as well as that

of his allies and partners, is to really isolate russia, to cut it off from other countries around the world economically, diplomatically, militarily. and any country that seeks to provide aid really deals a blow to those efforts. we've seen several countries do that. i mean, north korea, as we've mentioned here, has provided some aid. iran has. maybe iran might be the most notable country in terms of providing military aid so far. and russia has reached out to china, according to us officials, to get military aid from china, though china has not given any substantial aid so far, american officials tell us. so if north korea were to start giving substantial military aid, then that would really be a blow to the strategy of trying to really isolate russia. and part of the tactic that this administration had used in the past was to sort of leak intelligence on possible cooperation between russia and other partner nations in order to put

that out there in the public and then dissuade those other countries from doing so. staying with the war in ukraine — president volodymyr zelensky has visited the frontline between russia and ukraine. a message on his telegram channel, showed him awarding medals to ukrainian troops in the donetsk region as the army claimed significant progress in the counter—offensive against russia's invasion. they say their troops have breached the first line of russian defences in the south, near zaporizhzhia. meanwhile turkey's president, recep tayyip erdogan has been holding talks with president putin about reaching a deal to allow ships safe passage through the black sea. he said he's optimistic that a workable agreement will be reached and that there would soon be an important annoucement. vladimir putin, on his side, dismissed the turkish plans, complaining that an agreement promising to remove obstacles to russian exports of food and fertiliser hadn't been honored.

translation: this often happens with our western partners, - they've deceived us once more by again doing nothing. that's all. now we say we're not against this deal. we're just ready to return to it immediately, as soon the promises given to us are fulfilled. 0ur correspondent paul adams in kyiv explains some of the reasons blocking the deal. for several weeks, russia has been attacking ukraine's river danube ports in an attempt to prevent ukraine from using those ports, those facilities to export its grain. because the black sea grain initiative, which was brokered by the un and turkey last year, is still on hold after russia withdrew injuly. ukraine is looking for other ways to get its grain out and moving it down the danube and around the corner to romania is at the moment the most viable route and that's why russia has been trying to target that now in the last set of attacks last night a number of drones were fired.

they landed on those ukrainian towns along the river danube. but according to ukraine, one or more of them landed on the other side of the river inside romania. and this has led to a bit of a war of words throughout the day because ukraine says it has photographic evidence of what happened. but romania is saying nothing of the sort happened at all and that there was no threat to ukraine, to romanian land or territorial waters. so there's a contradiction there. i would suggest that perhaps viewers might want to remember what happened last november when the ukrainians claimed that a russian missile had fallen on polish territory. it turned out after that episode to be a ukrainian air defense missile that went astray. we do not know exactly what the evidence suggests in this case. the bbc has seen the photographic evidence and we consider it

to be inconclusive. so clearly that needs to be cleared up because at the moment the ukrainians are saying one thing, the romanians are saying another. and of course, if a russian projectile of any kind landed inside romania, that would represent a russian attack on nato's member. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the general who led a coup in gabon last week has just been sworn in as transitional president. general brice 0ligui nguema seized powerjust after ali bongo was declared to have won a third term. that election was widely described as flawed and mr bongo is now under house arrest. the head of the un nuclear watchdog has said he regrets that "no progress" has been made by iran on resolving outstanding issues over its nuclear programme. rafael grossi of the international atomic energy agency cited tehran's failure to re—activate surveillance cameras at its nuclear facilities.

2.7 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than $200 million has been seized off the canary islands in a joint operation by spanish and serbian police. it began in brazil where the cocaine was loaded onto the boat which was intercepted in international waters. six people were arrested and authorities say a balkan criminal organisation was dismantled. videos have emerged from syria which suggest that a renewed wave of protests against president assad is continuing. unverified videos from the province of sweida show demonstrators calling on president bashar al—assad to step down. footage — said to have been taken on monday morning shows demonstrators clapping and dancing to protest songs and carrying banners mocking the president. the debate over the safety of school buildings in england has intensified, with the uk's prime minister having to deny overseeing budget cuts that led to crumbling concrete

in schools not being repaired. on monday, a former senior civil servant told the bbc that rishi sunak halved the money available for recommended safety work when he was in charge of the nation's finances in 2021. more than a hundred schools in england have closed their buildings because of problems with what's called reinforced auto—claved aerated concrete, or raac. it has caused anxiety for children, parents and teachers and also provoked a full—blown political row, as our political editor chris mason reports. you probably hadn't heard of it until the other day, but this stuff — concrete that can get crumbly — is building into a political mess. did rishi sunak, when he was chancellor, walk away from repairs happening sooner? the man who used to be the department for education's most senior civil servant reckons he did. i was absolutely amazed to see that the decision made by the government was to halve

the school rebuilding programme down from 100 a year to 50 a year. the chancellor, of course, was at the time? rishi sunak. so, what does the prime minister make of that? i think that is completely and utterly wrong. actually, one of the first things i did as chancellor in my first spending review in 2020 was to announce a new ten—year school rebuilding programme for 500 schools. now, that equates to about 50 schools a year that will be refurbished or rebuilt. and if you look at what we've been doing over the previous decade, that's completely in line with what we've always done. this secondary school in county durham was meant to open for the new term tomorrow, but it can't because of dangerous concrete. in both 2020 and 2021, the government promised 50 schools a year would be rebuilt. in 2019, the national audit office said that £765 million was allocated to repairing school buildings. that number has since fallen,

and now stands at £450 million. so, squeezed budgets and competing priorities for spending. speaking to those who were involved in the internal negotiations within government at the time, the department for education did want more money for school repairs. the treasury wasn't persuaded. but i'm told there were other bigger priorities then for education, not least, the amount of funding allocated per pupil. this concrete wasn't regarded as dangerous then as it is now. it's the education secretary who's decided on the need for greater caution. but there wasn't much caution when she went all potty—mouthed after an interview this afternoon. does anyone ever say, "you know what, you've "done a bleep good job, l because everyone else has sat "on their bleep, and done nothing?" | no signs of that, no? it turns out, no, not really. a few hours later, a new outfit and a rather different tone. i'd like to apologise for my choice language there.

that was unnecessary, but it was an off—the—cuff remark, basically based on the interview. the interviewer had been pressing me quite hard, you know, why i hadn't solve this issue, which had been going on since 1994. and, you know, it is frustrating, because we're doing everything now to take a leading position, to be on the front foot. but the consequence of that is schools like this one in eltham in south london, having to close the gym, canteen and toilets. 0bviously, what's now been said shows the extent to which there is, you know, this passing the buck within the cabinet. is rishi sunak strong enough to do anything about it? i doubt it. for some pupils, parents and teachers, it isn't going to be the start of the new term they expected. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

tucked away with it when people often you you say i'll try it. i bet there is a way, where there's a will there's a way. that door is closed but they are just today, it's today and tomorrow and i can't live my life again. tomorrow and i can't live my life again-— tomorrow and i can't live my life aaain. . �*, ., ., life again. that's the main aim ofthe life again. that's the main aim of the centre, _ life again. that's the main aim of the centre, to _ life again. that's the main aim of the centre, to use - life again. that's the main aim of the centre, to use the - of the centre, to use the healing power of plants from people from all backgrounds. we have reams and reams of evidence _ have reams and reams of evidence that show gardening, being — evidence that show gardening, being in— evidence that show gardening, being in nature helps to calm a person — being in nature helps to calm a person it _ being in nature helps to calm a person. it helps with reducing stress — person. it helps with reducing stress it_ person. it helps with reducing stress. it gives people a meaningful activity that is outside _ meaningful activity that is outside in nature. a sense of belonging. outside in nature. a sense of belonging-— belonging. for more stories from across _ belonging. for more stories from across the _ belonging. for more stories from across the uk - belonging. for more stories from across the uk head . belonging. for more stories from across the uk head to| belonging. for more stories i from across the uk head to the bbc news website.

you're live with bbc news. there's a worrying development as the world faces rapid increases in the cost of living — an increase in the number of children forced into commercial sexual exploitation, or other harmful forms of work. the international labour 0rganisation estimates, around 1.7 million children are involved in the practises. commercial sexual exploitation is a murky issue, with many countries having no publicly available database for the illegal activity. kenya is one such nation — it has been identified by the us state department as both a source, a transit country, and a destination for the crime. one recent study estimated that more than 21100 children, between the ages of 13 and 17, were currently subject to sexual exploitation in two regions bordering the port city of mombasa.

the bbc�*s barbara plett usher sent this report from kenya and we should warn you, you may find some of the details distressing. in mombasa, life is hard for those on the margins, but tough economic times are making it even harder, forcing some parents to take painful decisions. this mother washes clothes a few times a week to support her three children. she doesn't want us to use her name. the money for school fees quickly runs out. there's barely enough forfood, so her daughter has to find work. she's started selling her body. she's14 years old. translation: as a parent, it's not easy to tell a child i to do something like that. i would like her to go to school like other children, but because i don't have any means, she's forced to do thatjob. my heart is broken, and i don't

want it to continue. she's not the only one. we've spoken with a woman who runs a brothel. she told us she's been getting more and more young girls. music. at this shelter, a rare moment ofjoy — celebrating a birthday party. these children were abused, abandoned or trafficked, some forced into the sex trade. rescue centres are struggling to meet the growing needs. everyone wants to survive. they've been giving away their children for exchange of money. and has it always been that way, or is it more so now? now it's more so because there is no money. there is no money. there is nojob. "we're tired. " that's the chant at protests against rising

prices and higher taxes. there's anger and frustration across the country. it's the poorest kenyans who've been hit the hardest, and in mombasa, they can tap into a thriving business. mombasa has long been a well—known hub for child sex tourism, but covid and the increasingly harsh cost of living have helped push the sex trade online and further underground, drawing even more children into the industry. kenyan police are fighting back against the dark trade in child sex. they track down suspects using cyber tips from a database in the united states, then search phones and computer drives for explicit material about children. up against an economy of depravity that feeds on desperation. this woman is in charge of the unit. she says there's no data on whether the recent cost

of living crisis has driven more children into the sex trade, but her team has begun monitoring it. of course, of course, it is a major contributor into child sex trafficking. so we would say that poverty, we'd say that unemployment. there are so many children that are dropping out of school, and then you find that they're getting to this, especially in the coastal region. one girl who hasn't escaped the streets told me about the despair that shapes her young life. we're using her words, but not her voice. i am afraid, because i know that when you're sleeping with a man, you can get hiv or become pregnant. sometimes i feel so hungry. and when i look at other children, they don't suffer. sometimes i think that i have no reason to live. barbara plett usher, bbc news, mombasa. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk.

one of the uk's most senior judges will lead the inquiry into serial killer nurse lucy letby�*s crimes. led by ladyjustice thirlwall, the inquiry will have legal powers to compel witnesses, including former and current staff of the countess of chester hospital nhs foundation trust, where letby worked and carried out the killings, to provide evidence. 33 year old letby, was sentenced to a whole—life term last month for murdering seven babies and trying to murder six more. the metropolitan police say a 42—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of assault after sky sports pundit roy keane was allegedly headbutted following arsenal's match against manchester united on sunday. footage of the incident was circulated on social media and appeared to show keane and fellow pundit micah richards involved in an altercation with an individual. the chief constable of the police service of northern ireland, simon byrne, has resigned. he'd been under increasing pressure following a number of controversies at the force,

including a data breach which resulted in the details of thousands of staff being leaked online. senior doctors and dentists in new zealand will strike for the first ever time, after pay negotiations broke down. over 5000 staff members are expected to walk out, with the strike lasting for two hours. further strikes are planned for later this month. new zealand's health authority say they are frustrated and extremely disappointed that their latest pay offer has not been accepted. earlier i spoke to sarah dalton, executive director of the association of salaried medical specialists the union for senior doctors and dentists. i asked her how it has got to this point. we've been in bargaining with the health authority sense february this year. we've been trying really hard to get a pay increase for our members that matches the rate of inflation.

they took real pay cuts of the last few years with the last time they had in 2020 got 9% which was cpi at the time. they say they have other priorities and have stretched as much as they can and what they are offering is equivalent between four and 5% for our members. we say that's not good enough. we rely very heavily on an international workforce, nearly 50% of consultants come from other parts of the world. we are in an international market and we have significant vacancies now that are not being billed. what does this mean for patients? it's a two hour stoppage. our members have agreed to make it as short as possible. we understand about 250 procedures are going to be cancelled or delayed as a result of the strike action. like any health union, we have arrangements in place so some of our members are staying to work to ensure patients are safe and cared for.

and in the conversations you've had, the new zealand health authority has expressed disappointing saying they came up with a reproved revived offer which they say was fair. how do you respond to that? we don't agree. the numbers aren't stacking up and they seem unable to explain to us what fair means. they talk about other priorities which seem to be hired to them that our specialist medical and dental they suggest we have 1700 missing specialists across oui’ system. we will not be able to recruit to those vacancies if doctors elsewhere understand that salaries in new zealand don't keep pace with inflation. and compare very unfavorably with those in australia. our members could double their salaries just by crossing. sarah dalton explaining the situation. this is a two hour strike but there are more

planned. the other big story we're looking at is the possible visit of kim jong on to russia to visit president putin. all other stories are on our website. thank you very much for watching. hello there. the weather story so far this week has been dominated by sunshine and heat. and i suspect as we go through the week ahead, it's all going to be about numbers. 30 degrees was recorded on monday across parts of england and wales. highest temperatures of the summer �*23 was back injune with 32.2 celsius, but there is a possibility as we go through the week with heat and humidity building, that we could see 32 degrees, maybe even higher. which would be ironic because september is the start

of meteorological autumn. for tuesday, though on the whole will start off with a little bit of low cloud, mist and fog across eastern england and maybe shrouding the far north of scotland, but that will quickly burn away. a lot of sunshine coming through, generally light winds. and once again, it is going to feel warm, if not hot in many places with temperatures peaking once again at around 29 or 30 degrees. now, as we move out of tuesday into the early hours of wednesday morning, we'll see yet again more low cloud, mist and fog developing. a little bit more extensive, perhaps coming in across eastern england. but it will be a mild at night, temperatures widely into the mid—teens. so as we move into wednesday, we're still under this influence of high pressure with lows sitting out across iberia. and that's driving in this southerly breeze, so it will turn increasingly more humid as we go through wednesday and thursday. and it's wednesday and thursday that we may well see those temperatures peaking. so to start off on wednesday, yes, perhaps a murky start, but it won't be long before that sunshine breaks through and we will see those temperatures continuing

to climb with that light southerly wind direction. so highs possible of 31, maybe a degree or so higher as well. we will keep a very close eye on that as we go through the day on wednesday. into thursday, there's a risk of a few thundery downpours breaking out with that increasing humidity, they should be fairly isolated. but if you catch one, you may well know about them and they're likely to be up through the north—west. top temperatures generally of around 21, again into the low 30s across central and southern parts of england and wales. the dry, settled conditions continue into the weekend with the risk potentially of some rain, perhaps from monday onwards. take care.

new headline figures show an expanding south korean economy. we'll take a deeper look at the health of asia's fourth—largest economy. plus �*finfluencers' what are they and what's their market? we take a look at the world of �*financial influencers'. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm arunoday mukharji. we begin with south korea where the latest figures released in the last hour show its economy expanded in the second quarter. gross domestic product expanded by 0.6% during the april

tojune period marking a second consecutive quarter of growth. however, our next guest says china's slowdown is still weighing on south korea's post—pandemic recovery. krystal tan is an economist at anz bank. shejoins us now from singapore. thank from singapore. you forjoining us. we will thank you forjoining us. we will get to the point about china's impact on the numbers, but first the figures are pretty much in line which what we were expecting, what do you make of the recovery we are looking at? it make of the recovery we are looking at?— looking at? it is in line of advance _ looking at? it is in line of advance estimates - looking at? it is in line of advance estimates we . looking at? it is in line of| advance estimates we saw earlier. the breakdown is slightly different in that the pull—back in government spending was a little bit more than what you saw in other —— earlier estimates so a little shallow work of the take away is to look at the headline number, yes. sequential growth

picked up at the