between north korea's leader kimjong—un and russian president vladimir putin that could impact the war in ukraine. the leaders are expected to discuss north korea supplying russia with weapons for use in ukraine. the new york times reports, north korean leader kimjong—un may seek food aid and technology used in satellites and nuclear—powered submarines from russian president vladimir putin. this would be a rare trip abroad for kim jong—un. the white house put out a statement saying:

for more on this, i spoke withjean lee, the former ap pyongyang bureau chief and co—host of the bbc podcast, the lazarus heist. thank you for being back on the programme. first of all, what's the significance of this potential deal between two countries that really are becoming even more isolated on the world stage? i think you laid it out. if the two leaders do meet and arrange a deal of some sort, this is a deal that is possibly going to help the russian president extend that war in ukraine by supplying him with munitions that he desperately needs, and in exchange, possibly, food that north korea needs, but beyond that, quite possibly technology that north korea needs to take its weapons programme to the next level, and that certainly has implications that have a far greater reach because it is about

nuclear proliferation and so it may be that the leaders meet, they hold a high level summit, lots of pomp, lots of propaganda, but it will be interesting to see what they say about any deals that come out of that. i have a feeling they are not going not admit to any kind of a weapons deal which they both know would be illicit activity as members of the un. we are watching some footage now of previous meetings between the two leaders. i want to ask you, what would you make between another potential face—to—face meeting between kim jong—un and vladimir putin in russia? as we mentioned, north korea's leader rarely makes it out of the country these days. this is an interesting development. just to provide a little context, north korea has been in self—imposed isolation since january 2020, and we assume and they say that is because of the covid pandemic but i believe that the reason goes beyond that and that is

because nuclear talks broke down in 2019 between the united states and north korea. that is when i started to see north korea retreat, kimjong—un closing up borders, so he could recalibrate his strategy, reshape the narrative, and now he is emerging at a time when, frankly, this border closure has been so devastating to their economy. so, there are a couple of things here. he is setting himself up for his re—emergence but also he needs to tell his people, listen, we may have been closed off for 3.5 years but this superpower, russia, ourally, has not forgotten about us and i'm just as important as i was in 2019 when i last met vladimir putin in vladivostok. so really, for kimjong—un, if he does make this trip, he is looking for those photos that he can take back to north korea. so that is the political propaganda, part of it, but clearly that is going to be much more coming out of that meeting that we should be concerned about in the rest of the world. russia seems to be seeking weapons for its

continued war in ukraine. do we know how effective are north korea's weapons are and whether they'd be any help to russia on the battlefield? so, on the part of president putin, this is a time where he is increasingly isolated, i think he is kind of digging at the bottom of the barrel when he is looking for friends like north korea, but north korea is a country that did invest in its military�*s conventional weaponry for many, many years. kim jong—un, as we know, has been investing in nuclear weapons. his father, the late kim jong—il invested in conventional weapons, and they have a lot of that kind of conventional weaponry that we are seeing russia use in ukraine and so this is a time of rare opportunity for north korea to step up and say, hey, we have something that you need. it is illicit. north korea has denied supplying these weapons in other types of partnerships but and other types of partnerships but this is an interesting moment where we are seeing these reports come out and perhaps

us officials saying, listen, we want do know we are seeing this, we are flagging it, we are trying to draw global attention to it, we see what you're doing. we have seen this relationship between north korea and russia getting a little bit closer. how would that tight relationship between those two countries impact the rest of the world? so, this is a traditional alliance, it has not always been so strong so seeing the restoration of this alliance also serves as a reminder that this global divide between the us and the west, and russia, china and allies like north korea on the other side, isjust deepening but i would say it really comes down to the extension of that ukraine conflict and also with this partnership it is going to be so much harder at the un security council for the us and its allies and the west to really press ahead with more sanctions to stop both russia, china and north korea. and then also of course if this

doesn't help north korea and then also of course if this does help north korea with its nuclear programme that's a proliferation issue so i think that we should be worried that this partnership, this strengthening alliance and it has implications far beyond the korean peninsula. jean lee, former ap pyongyang bureau chief and current co—host of the bbc podcast the lazarus heist, thank you so much forjoining us. thank you. my colleague catriona perry spoke with evelyn farkas, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine, and eurasia. they discussed that kim—putin meeting, plus ukraine's latest military shakeup and the conference she's attending on putin in tbilisi, georgia. you have been to north korea, what you make of this breaking story? well, i would say first of all, it is sort of pathetic that russia has to rely on north korea for weapons. this once great

superpower relying on its small, veryjunior partner, if you will, under communism, and now of course they continue to have a convenient relationship and russia as a member of the security council, russia was on the security council and voted for all of the sanctions on north korea for their illegal nuclear weapons programme. the world banned north korea from selling weapons and we know no sanctions are perfect but this is a very public sanction busting by a card—carrying member of the un security council so it is also another one of putin's blatant attempt to upend the international order. can the international community do anything about the situation? well, of course, diplomatically they can and they should do everything they can to censure russia and north korea, of course, because north korea is aiding and abetting a genocidal war being waged against ukrainian people, against innocent

civilians, by the russian government. they are of course under pressure from the west. kim is trying to get attention from the world with his weapons programme and of course russia feels isolated. vladimir putin is weak, he has been demonstrated to be weak on the international stage and has been under arrest warrant by the international criminal court and i could go on. talking about ukraine specifically, we saw president zelensky has removed his defence minister as part of his wider investigation into corruption and that is not for a moment to say there have not been any charges against reznikov. at this point in time he has not been in charged personally in any way but what does all of this mean for the current state of the war? i actually think it is a really positive sign, catriona, because i have travelled around the world, meeting with defence ministers from all kinds of countries, urging them to reform, to root out corruption, to make sure their defence ministries are up to western democratic standards in many cases and, often times, if they are waging a war

and they are reluctant reformers, they will use the war as an excuse, and in this case, president zelensky did not do that. he took the courageous move to to move out against corruption. he's picked a defence minister who looks absolutely ready on day one to do something about it, somebody with a business background and somebody with already some experience in ukraine rooting out corruption in the government, and privatising in a very transparent fashion, so i am actually taking a great deal of encouragement from this that president zelensky means what he says. he is still the anticorruption president while he is also a wartime president. ukraine has lauded some successes on the counteroffensive in the past week. does that call that into question now that the defence minister has been changed? i think that these are two separate things. i am here at the tbilisi conference, the annual conference which the mccain institute hosts, with our georgian partner, the eprc,

and the bush institute. and we have had a lot of interesting conversations about the progress of the war and i think that most people believe that the war progress thus far has not been a failure, so it is not a firing because it is not going as president zelensky thought it should proceed. my sense is that this truly is related to corruption, although of course it is possible he thought he needed some fresh blood and fresh advising on the war as well. you mention you are at the conference in tbilisi, georgia. it is the 15th anniversary of russia invading georgia and it continues to occupy territory there. georgia has not imposed international sanctions on russia and in fact it has seen its trade go up with russia since the war began. do you see that situation, that relationship continuing? unfortunately, i do not see any indications that it is going to change. georgia now is in a grey zone of its own making,

of the government's making rather, not the making of the georgian people, not the desire of the georgian people, but this government is in effect aligning with vladimir putin because they are not participating in sanctions against russia and they're allowing goods to flow freely to russia. these goods, of course, help the russian military effort against ukraine and so that is problematic. the future of georgia is very much in question under this government. you mentioned the eu membership. the eu council is to make a decision on that by the end of the year. given the slow pace of progress and hitting these goals, do you think georgia will meet that deadline? again, our georgian colleagues who have been speaking at this tbilisi conference today and will be speaking tomorrow as well, they are very pessimistic. they do not believe this government will do the 12 things that the european union is requiring. most significantly and problematic is the de—oligarchization.

i am not exactly sure how you do that but what they mean is there is one oligarch in the republic of georgia who is funding the main political party and is basically buying off opposition, and there is a very strong civil society here that is pointing all of this out, but whether the government has the will to turn against the man that has given them all the power is an open question and one that right now nobody is optimistic that the answer to it will be yes. the theme of your conference is defeating putinism. when it comes to the war in ukraine, do you think the russian president can be defeated? absolutely, but i think the reason we picked defending putinism as the theme of our conference — because last year it was actually slava ukraini, helping ukraine to victory — was the recognition that it will not be enough just to defeat putin or to remove putin from the political scene, it is putinism and the various forms in other countries,

0rbanism or trumpism — these sicknesses, these authoritarian tendencies, these anti—democratic, anti—human rights regimes, and the power that they exert across the globe, putting their tentacles into democratic societies and other struggling societies to try and gain advantage, whether it is in africa, latin america, europe or the united states, is what we're trying also to draw attention to here. thank you so much for speaking to on bbc news. thank you. talks between russia's vladimir putin and turkish president recep tayyip erdogan to revive the black sea grain initiative have ended without a deal. turkey helped broker the agreement alongside the united nations in 2022 that russia backed out of injuly. putin argued that russia would only return to the deal once its conditions are met, including removing obstacles its own food and fertilizer exports and its lack of access to the swift financial

transaction system. for his part, mr erdogan appeared hopeful that a deal could be reached soon. here in the us, first ladyjill biden has tested positive for covid. that's a developing story. her office says she is currently experiencing only mild symptoms, and will remain at the biden�*s home in rehoboth beach, delaware. as for the president, the white house has issued a statement saying — quote — "following the first lady's positive test for covid—19, president biden was administered a covid test this evening. "the president tested negative. "the president will test at a regular cadence this week and monitor for symptoms." this is a second covid diagnosis for the first lady. she also tested positive in august of last year. and it comes just three days before president biden is set to go to india for the g20 summit and then vietnam. the first lady's postive test comes as the us is seeing a rise in coronavirus cases,

especially as the labor day holiday weekend comes to a close. according to the centers for disease control and prevention, patient hospitalisations have jumped by nearly 20% in the past week. but overall, cases are still down by about 60% compared to this time last year. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. in syria, people took to the streets of suwayda province — the latest in a wave of protests against president bashar al—assad. the demonstrations started a couple of weeks ago over poor living conditions and appear to have spiraled into renewed calls for political change. such prolonged anti—government protests outside of opposition—controlled areas are rare in syria. scrutiny over the structural safety

of schools across the uk is intensifying. the british prime minister has denied claims that he oversaw budget cuts that led to crumbling concrete in schools not being repaired. more than 100 schools in england have closed their buildings because of problems with the concrete known as raac. new video shows a caravan of cars and vans leaving the burning man festival site in nevada's black rock desert. rare rainstorms turned the area into a muddy mess, leaving the 70,000 attendees stranded. some attempted to walk nearly 10km to the nearest road with plastic bags on their feet. that's about six miles. you're live with bbc news. turning to spain, now, where at least three people have died and others remain missing, after record rainfall caused flooding in the centre of the country. roads and train lines had to be closed. 0fficials used helicopters to reach some of those affected. guy hedgecoe has the latest. this weather event was a dramatic and deadly end to the spanish summer, striking just as many

people were returning to work after the holidays. the central province of toledo was one of the worst hit areas. a man died after being trapped in a lift there, apparently because of the flooding. another man was already dead when rescue services reached him near his car. just west of madrid, one man is still missing after his car was swept away, although his ten—year—old son was rescued after clinging to a tree for eight hours. just over a week ago, many parts of the country were seeing temperatures of up to a0 celsius. spain often sees heavy rain at the end of the summer but this weather event, caused by a mass of low pressure, has been much more extreme than normal. in and around madrid, where rivers burst their banks, flooding has damaged homes and left many residents struggling to keep the water out. 200 people were evacuated. translation: the water came into the house - as if it was a wave. it went upstairs and we panicked a bit. we tried to solve the problem as best we could. we put the dog on the roof.

the flooding caused severe travel disruption with an estimated 60,000 rail passengers affected. the high—speed rail link between madrid and the southern andalusia region has now resumed but other services have been disrupted throughout the day. the extreme weather has now eased off. guy hedgecoe, bbc news, madrid. doctors and dentists from across new zealand are striking for the first time ever. more than 5000 hospital and healthcare employees were expected to walk out, with additional strikes planned for later this month. unions are demanding pay increases to keep up with inflation. this comes ahead of general elections in new zealand, which are set to take place in less than six weeks. we want to look now at the intersection of rising inflation and child exploitation. as rising prices add more pressure to the cost of living in many parts of the globe, there are growing concerns over a corresponding increase

in the number of children forced into commercial sexual exploitation. the international labour organization says an estimated 1.7 million children were involved in such practices within the last year. the ilo's director—general said the situation was getting worse and often it was down to the way families felt they had to respond to global inflation. in some families it really has been the difference between having one meal a deal or not. ——1 meal a day. therefore the temptation to bring the young girl to the street or entice them to go for the sex work increases. and therefore increases. and therefore increases the risk of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, and therefore the worst form of child labour. putting that into context, 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. this week bbc news is bringing you a special series on the impact of the cost of living crisis on children around the world. 0urfirst report comes from our correspondent barbara plett usher — 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 for food, 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. 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 are 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, would 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. and before we go, smash mouth frontman steve harwell has died at the age of 56. the band was one of the biggest names in music in the 1990s, with hits including walking on the sun and their cover of i'm a believer. smash mouth sold over 10 million albums worldwide. their song all star brought the band a broad audience when it was featured in the movie shrek. harwell left the band in 2021, citing mental health and physical issues. the band's manager says harwell died from acute liver failure, and was surrounded by family and friends when he passed. thats all from us here in washington. i'm carl nasman.

we leave you with these live pictures of london. a little foggy there tonight. 0ur colleagues will return with the headlines at the top of the hour. stay with us here on bbc news. 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.

v0|ce—0ver: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. and this is lake como in northern italy, backdrop for the ambrosetti forum, a gathering of international politicians. there is a real sense of geopolitical unease here, partly because of the ukraine war, but also because another us presidential election looms, and it looks likely to be a rematch between trump and biden.

and that will not be pretty. my guest today is the us congresswoman nancy pelosi, former speaker of the house of representatives. is her democratic party right to stick with biden? nancy pelosi, welcome to hardtalk. my pleasure to be with you. it is a pleasure to have you on the show. now, you have always been seen as an incredibly internationalist american politician. i think in your years as speaker of the house and congresswoman you visited more than 80 countries. yes. but in that experience, would you say you have seen american power and influence on the wane? well, i certainly hope not.