a rare visit overseas and discuss the possibility of north korea providing moscow with weapons to support its war in ukraine. the exact location of the planned meeting is not clear. in a statement, us national security officials say that arms negotiations between russia and north korea are actively advancing. so will kim jong—un — a man who is rarely seen outside his country — go to russia for this meeting? here's our correspondent in seoul, jean mackenzie. there is a question mark now over whether this meeting will go ahead. because, as you say, kim jong—un rarely leaves the country. the last time he did was to go and see vladimir putin back in april 2019. and the last few times he has travelled, he has travelled by armoured train. he is incredibly paranoid about security, so his trips abroad are seen as being fraught with danger. and it is quite possible that is the reason the us decided to release its intelligence,

that they hope to spook kim jong—un by making this meeting so public and putting the eyes of the world on him and on this travel, that he will decide it is just too dangerous to go, and by thwarting the meeting they probably hope they can thwart the arms deal. the us priority in this right now seems to be to stop these weapons getting to the front line of ukraine. but here in south korea the concerns run much deeper. it is, what does this mean for the future of russian and korean cooperation? russia is desperate and it is expected that kim jong—un would put a high price on any weapons he would sell the russian leader. the things he will broadly worry about are, could this increase military cooperation in this region between north korea and russia? could we see military drills between the two sides? another fear is that kim jong—un might ask for russian weapons at some point far in the future when north korea needs them most. so by far the biggest worry is if he could demand

from vladimir putin to provide key pieces of advanced technology, technology that would help mr kim make progress on his nuclear weapons programme. but whatever mr kim gets in return from vladimir putin, if this deal were to go ahead, if it were just food, oil, money, these are all things that the north korean regime needs so much and it could provide it with a lifeline to be able to put that money into its nuclear weapons programme. so whatever it gets from russia, it could end up going into north korean weapons. dr duyeon kim is a north korea analyst at the center for a new american security. she told me a potential meeting between the two leaders is significant. it's anyone�*s guess whether he actually will be going to russia to meet with vladimir putin. if he does, it will not come as a surprise at all. there seems to be enough indicators carried through the news and elsewhere that this might happen

at some point in the near future. and if it does, it's significant for several reasons. one, the biggest and most urgent concern would be potential arms deal and trade between north korea and russia, which not only fundamentally violates un sanctions, but that could continue to increase and heighten tensions in the region. and also another concern is north korea's potential getting help to potentially advance its nuclear weapons capability with the help of russia. if that's part of the deal, if north korea gets not only food and humanitarian aid that it would need right now, but also if it is able to secure russian help in receiving advanced technology for weapons such as parts such as satellites and nuclear subs.

so that's all very concerning. tell us a bit more about what russia could get out of this if a deal is done. what do we know about what north korea has to offer in terms of weaponry? well, what we know so far, or what we understand to be the case is that russia would receive help in north korean army, whether it's artillery shells and other types of arms that it needs in its fight in its war in ukraine. and that's something that we believe is where russia is hurting because of global sanctions. so that in that sense, it would be a pretty big win for russia if it's able to receive north korean arms and help in that sense. but this also points to a bigger concern, a more geopolitical and strategic concern in this part of the world. because if we see russia, north korea and even china, we're seeing that triangle, the relationship there strengthen. that is cause for concern because we're seeing

already the united states, south korea, japan strengthening their relations. north korea has been calling that triangle a so—called new cold war arrangement. and so it would not come as a surprise that the other three, the three autocratic regimes in the region would also want to strengthen their relations if they start conducting trilateral military exercises of their own. and if if that continues to escalate, if there's any type of miscalculation, that would be a major concern for this part of the world. as far as north korea goes, could any deal be more transactional than actually strategic in terms of the fact that north korea desperately needs food, doesn't it? sure. and that could be one scenario. it could be a transactional deal or it could be both. it could be both transactional and strategic, because if the two leaders do meet, then it wouldn't be a surprise if they wanted to discuss everything while they're meeting, because they don't meet every year. they don't meet so regularly. and the last time they did was, i believe, in 2019. so in that sense, you know,

it's really again, it's anybody�*s guess exactly how detailed their conversations will be. but it would not come as a surprise if if either they go the transactional route or the transactional plus the strategic route. the schools minister, nick gibb, has defended the government after criticism of its approach to carrying out essential maintenance on school buildings in england. more than 100 schools will remain fully or partially closed this week over concerns about crumbling concrete and there are questions about how many more could be affected. but nick gibb said the government's response to the crisis has been "world leading". 0ur chief political correspondent, henry zeffman, told me more about what the schools minister has been saying. what nick gibb has been doing today is basically defending rishi sunak and that is because yesterday the prime minister was dragged to the heart of this issue. we had a former head of the department for education, where nick gibb is now a minister,

claiming that when rishi sunak was chancellor, he cut funding for rebuilding schools, the kinds of schools that might now be those affected by this dangerous concrete. what nick gibbs said was, no, that's not right, rishi sunak kept school rebuilding at broadly the level it always has been under the conservative government. now, the issue with that is that nick gibb did confirm that, nevertheless, the department for education had asked for more money from rishi sunak, and he, or at least the treasury under his command, had said no. so while he's defending rishi sunak, he did basically confirm one of the big political issues here, which is that we are being told that education officials said to another part of the government, "we need more money to fix these schools," and the treasury, under the now prime minister's leadership, said no. what is your view on how potentially damaging this issue could be

for the government now? well, it's just the sense of chaos, isn't it, that is most concerning for the government? they say there will be a full list of schools affected published by the end of the week and i think they will be hoping, over the road from where i am now in downing street and whitehall, that that will draw a bit of a line under it, but i wouldn't be so sure because in government they do admit still that there may be some schools affected that they don't yet know are affected, and that's just schools. there are all sorts of other public buildings that were built using this material from the 19505 to the 19905 — courts, prisons and so on. people in government say that those will probably be ok because they have more constant maintenance than schools, but if that turns out not to be the case, then you could end up with large parts of britain's public infrastructure having to be, at the very least, mitigated, but perhaps even closed down, and that could just be very damaging for lots of people's lives, way beyond schoolchildren

and their families. staying in the uk and birmingham city council has effectively declared bankruptcy. the local authority, which is the uk's biggest, has issued what's known as a section 114 notice to the government. that means it feels it cannot meet its financial commitments from its current revenue. the council has blamed growing demands on its services, along with what it says is £1 billion of funding removed by successive governments. essential services will continue, while the council's financial affairs are put in order — but some aspects of the council's work are now likely to be suspended. a bbc investigation suggests that three major water companies in the uk illegally discharged sewage hundreds of times last year on days when it was not raining. the practice, known as "dry spilling", is banned because it can lead to higher concentrations of sewage in waterways.

raw sewage can only be discharged after heavy rain or snow. let's speak now to our environment correspondentjonah fisher, who's at langstone harbour in hampshire. tell us more about your investigation. this is the combination of a long investigation by a large bbc team, we requested from all nine english water companies into exactly when they had discharged raw sewage into our seas and rivers. _, , ., , and rivers. three companies, thames, wessex and — and rivers. three companies, thames, wessex and southern _ and rivers. three companies, thames, wessex and southern water, - and rivers. three companies, thames, j wessex and southern water, complied with that request, they give us huge amounts of data and that data was then crunched, cross—referenced with weather data. why did we do that? because sometimes, spilling raw sewage into our waterways is legal, the system is under pressure, if there is no other place for that sewage and rainwater to go, it is legalfor sewage and rainwater to go, it is legal for water companies to release it into the rivers or the seas. if

the weather is dry, it's very clear that it the weather is dry, it's very clear thatitis the weather is dry, it's very clear that it is a breach of the permits on these overflow pipes and it is illegal. so what we did is we looked at all the spills that had taken place from the data, cross—referenced it with the weather and discovered something in the region of what looks like 400 potentially illegal dry spells taking place by these companies, lasting thousands of hours. so if this is illegal, _ lasting thousands of hours. so if this is illegal, why _ lasting thousands of hours. so if this is illegal, why is _ lasting thousands of hours. so if this is illegal, why is it - lasting thousands of hours. so if this is illegal, why is it happening in what's been done about it? the water in what's been done about it? tue: water companies that we in what's been done about it? tue water companies that we have been dealing with give us a number of reasons, there may be good enough reasons, there may be good enough reasons which means that they don't end up being prosecuted for that of the largest of the reasons, the most frequently heard one, is to do with ground water stop water companies are saying there is so much water, the high water level in the ground is effectively forcing water into cracked pipes, pipes which have not been perhaps maintained properly, but that water going into cracked pipes is contributing to sewage

plants being overloaded and discharges are taking place. 0ne water company told us the data they had given us was flawed, thames accepted that london, there were dry spells taking place and apologies for that. so a mixed fixture at the water companies. and the trade body was clear that it was acceptable and the onus was on the regulator to investigate. the onus was on the regulator to investigate-— investigate. jonah fisher, thank ou. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the electoral commission says it failed a basic cyber—security test run by the uk government before it was hacked last month, leaving the names and addresses of 40 million voters accessible. a spokeswoman for the commission admitted the failings, but claims they weren't linked to the cyber attack. she also added that the commission had still not passed the test. 200 women in the uk who claim

they were left in pain after having a permanent contraceptive device fitted have been given the go—ahead to take a group legal action against the manufacturer. the essure coil, made by the german company bayer, was withdrawn from sale in 2017. the manufacturer says it will defend itself vigorously. an original proof of harry potter and the philosopher's stone that was rediscovered at a primary school could be worth thousands of pounds. the book was found at st kenelm's primary school in oxford. it was bought for e1 in 1997. it is expected to fetch up to £20,000 at auction. you're live with bbc news. the first african climate summit of its kind is taking place in nairobi, kenya to discuss ways the continent can respond to the threat of climate change. at least 23 african heads of state and government willjoin thousands of delegates with a goal to influence climate commitments, pledges and outcomes.

the african development bank estimates the continent loses $7 billion to $15 billion annually and says african countries need to raise an average of $124 billion to help mitigate the effects of climate change. however, they only recieve $28 billion a year. kenyan leader william ruto has been speaking at the climate summit today. 0ur senior africa correspondent, anne soy, told us more about what he's been saying. been talking about climate justice and the need to have political leadership in dealing with climate adaptation. and this conference is is really about that, about getting leaders together, getting different voices together to speak with one voice ahead of the un climate summit, the cop28, which is coming up in november. so this meeting is the first of its kind, african countries really trying to take a different approach to tackling climate change. what's the focus there?

well, the focus is really about building consensus. and in light of the challenge that you mentioned there, there have been global commitments, financial commitments to climate adaptation. but the follow—through has been missing. just about 12% of the funds that were promised have been honoured. and the calls here have been to urge nations that are committed to funding climate adaptation to make good their promises, but also at the same time, just looking at the global financial architecture. and they are talking about new ideas of how to raise funds to deal with the challenges that countries are facing. of course, africa is facing the biggest impact of climate change, and when they have floods, when they have recurrent droughts, the impact is so great. there have been examples given — for instance, when the tropical cyclone hit mozambique, the losses in terms

of infrastructure were so huge, it will take the country a long time to recover from that. so really, it is in this context that they are thinking that they cannot wait, they have to urgently look for other ways to raise these funds. the un secretary—general isjust speaking right now and he's been calling for climate justice and that is really for everybody to honour their commitments, that's what he is talking about. he's bringing on the table ideas like debt suspension for developing countries, so that it cushions them against the adverse impacts of climate change. and how much optimism is there, anne, that this summit could lead to real change? well, people are really watching and asking that very question because of what they have seen in the past, the commitments that have been made but have not been honoured or have not been honoured fully.

but they are seeing this as the inaugural... since it's the first summit of its kind to happen on the continent, they're seeing it as a step forward and really anticipating that it will change the direction in which things have been happening. at least it is a step forward. they don't know how far it will take them, but there is some political commitments being made here. at least three people have died and three others are missing after record rainfall caused heavy flooding in central spain, across madrid, catalonia and valencia. roads and train lines had to be closed, and helicopters were sent to some areas, to rescue those who'd scrambled onto roofs to escape the rising waters. 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 40 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 i 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. guy hedgecoe, bbc news, madrid. with ukraine making advances in its south—eastern region of zaporizhzhia, first lady 0lena zelenska will host the summit of first ladies and gentlemen on wednesday — dedicated to mental health. dozens of countries are expected to participate, although the exact number and names of the guests are being kept secret for security reasons. 0lena zelenska has been speaking to the bbc�*s yalda hakim about the impact of the war on mental health in ukraine and within her own family. thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. i want to begin by asking about the summit that your hosting. if you tell me little bit more about it. translation: little bit more about it. tuna/mom- little bit more about it. translation: ., ~ , ., , . little bit more about it. translation: ., y a a translation: thank you very much. we started in 2021 — translation: thank you very much. we started in 2021 as _ translation: thank you very much. we

started in 2021 as a _ translation: thank you very much. we started in 2021 as a platform _ translation: thank you very much. we started in 2021 as a platform for - started in 2021 as a platform for sharing thoughts, experience for the first ladies and gentlemen of the world, and this format works, we could see it basically from the first days and weeks with russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine in 2022. as the first lady of ukraine, i saw my colleagues are starting to help straightaway, effectively, promptly. many processes became faster. and so, and a couple days, the summit will take place which will be dedicated to such a very hot topic as mental health. it's an important now —— most important thing for discussion in many countries. therefore this year we gather the record number of first ladies and gentlemen in various formats online and in person as well as record number of experts. you have not as record number of experts. you have got this _ as record number of experts. you have got this national campaign for mental health, but i guess, how

often do people ask you, how are you? translation: it often do people ask you, how are you? translation: tt is often do people ask you, how are you? translation:— often do people ask you, how are you? translation: it is a difficult cuestion. i you? translation: it is a difficult question- i can _ you? translation: it is a difficult question. i can respond _ you? translation: it is a difficult question. i can respond honestly, i question. i can respond honestly, which will be a long answer, and the time set up for this interview will not be enough. all respond, the way we respond to each other. i am holding on, really, for a year now. we cannot be sure about tomorrow. we don't have confidence in our future. in one month or two, we have a huge hope for victory, but we do not know when it comes. and this long wait, constant stress, it takes its toll. so everyone finds their own way here to deal with it. for me, such stimuli are work, including our interview, because when you have the reason to wake up and go to work, it doesn't give you a chance to stop and think why this is happening to us. and i am very much supported by inspiring stories of ukrainians every day because in every tragedy, there is a story of saving, help,

heroism and it inspires me a lot. i'm holding onto that and i think so are my colleagues and friends. how do you deal with other strains on yourfamily? for example, your husband being compared to winston churchill, how do you respond to that? translation: well, it depends. on the way you would like to look at winston churchill. of course, he is the historicalfigure. i did not dream about my husband becoming an historic person. maybe it's selfish, but i need my husband, not a historicalfigure beside me. but, on the other hand, if it is about a leader who led his country through the difficulties of war, if that kind of comparison would be accurate, i'd love it.

he really does has the energy, the willpower, the inspiration and stubbornness to go through this war so we finally see our long—awaited victory. i believe in him. and i support him. i know that he has enough strength. for any other person i know, i think it would be much harder to handle this situation. he really is a very strong and resilient person and this resilience is what we all need right now. you can watch the full interview right here on the bbc news channel. scuffles broke out at the venice film festival premiere of woody allen's new movie. here he is, arriving on the red carpet for the premiere of coup de chance — which translates into english

as stroke of luck — he was accompanied by his wife, soon—yi previn. but as that was going on, a group of protesters seemed to try to disrupt the event. they were prevented from reaching the red carpet area, and chanted slogans about abuse. woody allen has consistently denied allegations made by his ex—partner mia farrow and has told reporters he supports the #metoo movement "where it does something positive". a part of china's world famous great wall has been severely damaged by construction workers who used an excavator to dig through it. police, who released this image of the damage, say two people are suspected of digging a "big gap" to try to create a shortcut for their construction work. chinese media say police in shanxi province followed tracks made by the machinery. officials said they had caused irreversible damage to that part of the wall, which was built

more than 2,000 years, and is a un world heritage site. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. we've two seasons in one day again today. the early morning autumn fog clearing and then temperatures will soar. yesterday, we had 30 degrees. once again through today, and for the rest of the week, we'll see temperatures in that sort of category in the hottest spots, the warmest spots. plenty of sunshine, as well. there are a few flies in the ointment. this is a weak weather front still across parts of northern scotland, just threatening a few showers as well in the south and the west of both england and wales. even the odd rumble of thunder, but the exception rather than the rule. what that will do is increase the humidity. the breeze is picking up a little in southern areas, as well. as it's an easterly, it's going to drag some low clouds and sea haar and fret close to the east coast of scotland

and north—east england. so the highest temperatures for scotland further west today, perhaps 26, but widely the mid 20s. the high 20s possibly into the low 30s in the south and east. there's that low cloud, though, and it will creep further inland as we go through the night. so it is going to increase in humidity both because we've got that moisture coming off the north sea and that south to south—easterly flow further south. temperatures 14s and 15s quite widely, but a little higher in some of our biggest cities. there's the high pressure that's keeping things dry sat to the east of us. therefore, we've got this southerly wind across the uk, or southerly or south—easterly, which will continue through tomorrow, when we expect the peak of the heat to come actually through wednesday and thursday with some really humid nights wednesday night and thursday night — quite uncomfortable for sleeping given the time of year. but there will be some relief during the evening, at least, with the nights a little longer. so that low cloud gets burnt away a little bit on wednesday, perhaps hugging some of the coasts

in eastern scotland, perhaps some early morning fog elsewhere, but most of the sun's energy taken in lifting those temperatures once again. come thursday, there's probably a slight increased risk of showers breaking out as that low pressure sitting to the south just starts to push a little bit further north, so most likely central and northern areas, but not putting any detail on that just yet. temperatures once again in the mid to high 20s for many parts of england and wales, certainly the mid—20s further north, as well, butjust the hint that by the end of the weekend things start to cool down and turn a little more unsettled once again.

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weight—loss wonder drug wegovy swells the fortunes of its maker, danish pharma giant novo nordisk. asean showdown — can leaders unite on geopolitical issues to woo international investors eyeing faster—growing economies as china slows down? welcome to world business report. i'm ben thompson. the maker of weight—loss drug wegovy has become

europe's most valuable firm, dethroning the french luxury conglomerate lvmh. shares in the danish pharmaceutical giant novo nordisk have soared since it launched the popular drug in the uk, taking its market value to around $428 billion. the drug, available both on the uk's national health service and privately, is an obesity treatment that tricks people into thinking that they are already full. to discuss this further i'm now joined by chris beauchamp. he is chief market analyst with the ig group. so, just this weekend, being approved for the limited circumstances on the nhs. right around the world it is proving to be around the world it is proving to be a big money spinner. tt is. around the world it is proving to be a big money spinner.— a big money spinner. it is. there is a big money spinner. it is. there is a hue a big money spinner. it is. there is a huge market _ a big money spinner. it is. there is a huge market for— a big money spinner. it is. there is a huge market for this, _ a big money spinner. it is. there is a huge market for this, really. - a big money spinner. it is. there is a huge market for this, really. we |

a huge market for this, really. we expect similar