this is a scarborough shoal at low tide. ship that ran aground here in the 18th century. filipinos refer to it as panatag, or �*peaceful�* shoal. you can see hundreds of these rocks jutting out from the waterline. and although it seems like a benign place, this is an area that's at the centre of a major geopolitical dispute. 0n the one hand, china claims large swathes of these waters as theirs. and then you have countries like the united kingdom, the united states, australia and india, coming together with this indo—pacific doctrine, this idea that these waters should be free and accessible to all. america's indo—pacific strategy aims to reassert its influence in asia by working with its allies to promote rules—based international order. when nations try to game the system or tip the rules in their favour, it throws everything off balance. that's why we are so adamant that these areas of the world remain peaceful, whether that's the south china sea, the arabian gulf and, increasingly, the arctic. it's of vital interest to am

george and jr fish at scarborough shoal. tical miles from bolinao and more than 400 nautical miles from china's coast. the shoal is above water at high tide, so it does have its own territorial sea, but the philippines claim it as theirs. vietnam also claims historical rights to fish there. china has been blockading the lagoon since 2012. george and his sonjr have been repeatedly chased away from scarborough shoal. they've agreed to take me with them to witness what happens at sea. this journey became riskier earlier this year when china changed its coastguard law to allow the use of weapons to eliminate dangers when their national sovereignty is being infringed upon. after 22 hours of sailing, we arrive at scarborough shoal. it's high tide and the reef is hardly breaking the surface, but if you look closely, waves from the deep blue ocean break on a lighter turquoise body of water. that's the limestone reef you can see in this satellite image. easier to spot is the chinese presence. so there's a chinese coastguard vessel tha

howard johnson reporting from scarborough shoal.sea, this weekend on bbc world news. a reminder of our main news — england are in the final of a major football tournament for the first time in 55 years. they'll play italy on wembley this weekend after beating denmark two goals to one in the second semifinal. as you might imagine there have been celebrations in london — and elsewhere across england. covid restrictions notwithstanding. goodness knows what they'll do if england actually win on sunday. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ bbcmaryam. well, quite a lot of pent—up energy in the atmosphere wednesday afternoon and evening. we had some thunderstorms, some really quite heavy downpours. you can see the showers — that was earlier in the last 10—12 hours or so. and then, towards the end of the day on wednesday, we saw those thunderstorms across some central and eastern areas, and the weather remains quite unsettled over the next few days. i say unsettled for a summer month. a fair bit of cloud out there across the atlantic heading

howard johnson reporting from scarborough shoal.ednesday afternoon and evening. we had some thunderstorms, some really quite heavy downpours. you can see the showers — that was earlier in the last 10—12 hours or so. and then, towards the end of the day on wednesday, we saw those thunderstorms across some central and eastern areas, and the weather remains quite unsettled over the next few days. i say unsettled for a summer month. a fair bit of cloud out there across the atlantic heading our way, and we'll see further showers developing over the next few days with low pressure in charge of the weather. so, i think a showery day on the way for some of us on thursday, but actually, the showers will be very well—scattered, so that does mean that many of us will miss them altogether. so, the forecast through the early hours shows a lot of dry weather across the uk. temperatures will be around 14 celsius or so across the south of the country, just a tad fresher in the north, around 11—12. now, the morning will become increasingly sunny rig

howard johnson reporting from scarborough shoal.n bbc world news. it's not just one it's notjust one tradition being broken on the sporting field this wednesday night. whenever tennis star roger federer has stepped onto centre court at wimbledon over the past nine days, fans have feared it could be his last time in action at the all england club — and his hopes of winning a ninth wimbledon title have now ended in the quarterfinals. the eight—time wimbledon winner has been knocked out of this year's championship in straight sets by poland's hubert hurkacz. federer, who's won 20 grand slam titles, had been chasing martina navrattilova's record of nine wimbledon titles. federer, who is 39, said he doesn't know if he'll play at wimbledon again. i was able to make it this year, which i'm really happy about. and like i said, it was everything that comes after wimbledon, we were always going to sit down and talk about it, because clearly — now wimbledon is over, you know, take a few days, obviously we'll speak a little bit tonight dependin

howard johnson reporting from scarborough shoal. bbc world news. let's bring you some breaking news now: the search for survivors after the building collapse near miami has ended, the mayor of the region has said. eight more victims have been found, bringing the death toll to sa. the mayor says the operation has transitioned from rescu e to recovery. it's been made clear that no further survivors will be found in that collapsed building in miami. a reminder of our top story: england have reached theirfirst major football tournament final in 55 years, beating denmark 2—1 after extra time in the second semifinal of the euro 2020 tournament. the match at wembley was hard—fought, with both sides having a number of chances after denmark had taken the lead. the game was decided by a penalty from the english captain, harry kane. england will now return to wembley on sunday to play italy and try to repeat the heroics of the world cup winners from 1966. well, quite a lot of pent—up energy in the atmosphere wednesday afternoon and evening. we

howard johnson reporting from scarborough shoal.a sea, this weekend on bbc world news. a large diamond, described as the third biggest ever found, has been unearthed in botswana. the diamond, about the size of a fist, was discovered by canadian mining firm, lucara and presented to the country's cabinet in the capital gaborone. botswana is a leading producer of diamonds. the government said the latest find could not have come at a better time for botswana after the pandemic caused diamond sales to slump last year. now for more on england's semi—final victory in the euros, and a defeat for roger federer at wimbledon. lets go to the bbc sport centre. hello, i'm marc edwards with your sports news. and there'll be some sore heads in london this morning after the pandemonium at wembley last night. england are into their first major final since 1966. they beat denmark 2—1 in extra time of their euro 2020 semi—final at wembley. the 65,000—crowd treated to an absorbing contest that saw the danish take the lead before england drew level court

we arrive at scarborough shoal the following morning.stone reef you can see in the satellite image. easier to spot is the chinese coastguard presence. so, there's a chinese coast guard vessel that's watching us at the moment, it's done three sweeps — first of all, 200 metres away, then 100 metres away, and now 50 metres away. it's watching our every move. the boat leaves without incident — but our captain knows the lagoon is off limits. translation: we are the bandits in our own territory. _ why is that so? we steal our own territory? we steal our own fish? that's because we don't have our own coastguard there. 0n the last day at scarborough shoal, we venture into the blockaded eastern entrance. but after ten minutes, we notice a boat moving on the horizon towards us. it's coming here? ok, let's go. it's a maritime militia boat. by cross—referencing our footage with satellite data, it appears that the vessel that sailed towards us is called cheong sa nsha yu00311. sansha is where the maritime militia promotional video was filmed. five ye

was scarborough shoals well as far as international law is concerning, the problem always was enforcement. it's also a question of diplomacy. how do countries that when international arbitration against super powers, like china, how the, how did they leverage that legal victory or legal warfare to gain actually concessions on the ground? so i think the probably indicates that the philippines was that it legally was able to invalidate the bulk of trying to claim across up to 85 percent of the south china sea and international water. we're talking about trying to 9 the line and historic rights claims. but the problem was that, you know, the arbitration case was initiated by the former been ignored administration, which are the liberal american friend the reform he said ministration. but when the result came out, we had a completely different person in charge in the philippines, which is present or the good, who by the way, try to people to china. so consciously, over the past 5 years, the tilting president has downplaying and sometimes even denigrated, the philippines own legal victory in o

was scarborough shoals well as far as international law is concerning, the problem always was enforcement. it's also question of diplomacy. how do countries that when international arbitration against super powers, like china, how the, how did they leverage that legal victory or legal warfare to gain actually concessions underground? so i think the probably in the case of the philippines was that it legally was able to invalidate the bulk of trying its claims across up to 85 percent of the south china sea and international water. we're talking about trying to 9 the line and historic rights claims. but the problem was that, you know, the arbitration case was initiated by the former been ignored administration, which are the liberal american friend the reform he said ministration. but when the result came out, we had a completely different person in charge in the philippines, which is present, or the good is there who by the way, try to p what the china so cautious the over the past 5 years, the president has downplaying and sometimes even denigrated, the philippines own legal victory in or

was scarborough shoals well as far as international lawyers concerning the problem always was enforcement. it's also a question of diplomacy. how do countries that when international arbitration against super powers, like china, how the, how did they leverage that legal victory or legal warfare to gain actually concessions on the ground? so i think the probably in the case of the philippines was that it legally was able to invalidate the bulk of chinese claims across up to 85 percent of the south china sea and international water. we're talking about trying to 9 dash line and he started grades claims. but the problem was that, you know, the arbitration case was initiated by the former building administration, which is the liberal american friend the reform he said ministration. but when the result came out, we had a completely different person in charge in the philippines, which is present or the 3rd, who by the way tried to p what the china. so conscious the, over the past 5 years, the president has downplayed and sometimes even denigrated the philippines own legal victory in order to ke

was scarborough shoals well as far as international lawyers concerning the problem always was enforcement. it's also a question of diplomacy. how do countries that when international arbitration against super powers, like china, how the, how did they leverage that legal victory or legal warfare to gain actually concessions on the ground? so i think the probably in the case of the philippines was that it legally was able to invalidate the bulk of trying its claims across up to 85 percent of the south china sea and international water. we're talking about trying to 9 dash line and historic rights claims. but the problem was that the arbitration case was initiated by the former been chino administration, which is the liberal american friend the reform he said ministration. but when the result came out, we had a completely different person in charge in the philippines, which is present or the good, who by the way, try to p what the china. so conscious, the over the past 5 years, the tilting president has downplaying. and sometimes even denigrated, the philippines own legal victory in order to