steve rosenberg has more. russia's singing grannies are on a mission.ndlierface for the world cup. a friendlierface for the these bubbly babushkas have penned a world cup anthem. and produced a pop video to go with it. the message to foreign football fans, you have nothing to fearfrom russia. fans, you have nothing to fearfrom i won't scare you, anna says, i'll hug you. i'll kiss you, i'll sing and dance for you. russians will even smile at you. sing and dance for you. ahead of the world cup, train conductors here have been taught to forget the frowns and give foreigners big shiny smiles. to match the big shiny new stadiums foreigners big shiny smiles. built for the tournament. foreigners big shiny smiles. russia's reputation on the world stage, though, isn't so impressive. on the world stage, a global sporting event of this scale is the perfect stage for a host nation to promote itself to the world, to boost its image. nation to promote itself to the and russia knows that right now it has an image problem. right now it has locked in a diplomatic war wi

steve rosenberg, bbc news, grozny.our views about legalising cannabis for recreational use following canada's decision to do so let us know your thoughts — use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. the continuing ban on cannabis is a nonsense, says one viewer. it's an effective medicine for many conditions. keep your views coming in andi conditions. keep your views coming in and i will see you soon. temperature and weather contrasts will continue over the next 36 hours. pressure coming in from north atlantic. separating to air masses as ever is a weather front which will get a bit more potent through the day. patchy rain across some western areas but note that temperatures. your commute will of course be a bit fresher the further north you are. a good deal brighter. the best of the sunshine through the morning. the cloud will break up to the east of the high ground. some rain and drizzle throughout the day. mainly across western coasts. humid here, temperatures into the 20s. pressure further north. by the end of the afternoon,

he spoke exclusively to our correspondent steve rosenberg. and politics are proving hard to separate. this is grozny, chechnya. the egyptian team has its world cup base here. fit again after injury, liverpool's mo salah is trying to focus on football, but he has faced some distractions. a week ago, mo salah was paraded around the stadium by chechnya's controversial leader. ramzan kadyrov is on the us sanctions list. he has been accused of gross violations of human rights, but he was still happy to invite us to his palace. mr kadyrov was a former chechen rebel who switched to the kremlin side, and he rules chechnya like a personalfiefdom. your critics say that you used mo salah for political propaganda, for self—promotion. did you? translation: everyone has played here, even maradona, but we never use this kind of thing for politics. 0ur enemies are paid to write things like that. i didn't invite mo salah or the egyptian team. they chose us themselves. of course, politicians all over the world love photo opportunities with stars. but what made

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow.at @nkem|fejika. and just a reminder that tomorrow could be an historic day for diplomacy. and we are in singapore watching it. indeed i am. exciting times ahead over the next day or so when we will be watching the outcome of these historic talks. let me put into context just how of these historic talks. let me put into contextjust how historic there. this is the first meeting of aus there. this is the first meeting of a us president with the north korean leader in history. who the outcome will determine whether north korea dismantles nuclear armaments that it has spent three decades and massing. president trump has already said that the outcome will be an historic opportunity to bring north korea out of isolation. we have a few new lines coming out. we know that president cup arrived last night here in singapore. today he is due to meet the singaporean prime minister and we believe his motorcade is en route to go and meet the prime minister. we will show you some of these live picture

steve rosenberg, bbc news, grozny.n schools are being taught self defence and how to report sexual and physical attacks. the most recent figures show a rise in the number of rapes recorded in kenya — which is encouraging groups to take action to help protect the next generation, as david wafula explains. macron's girls are learning how to fit to defend themselves from rape. —— kenya. training like this has beenin —— kenya. training like this has been in areas where attacks are common. we want to give girls the skills to prevent themselves and get themselves into an attack or a situation. more than 5000 rapes were reported in kenya in 2016. but as many of these crimes are unreported, the true figure at could be much higher, which is why these hills are learning how to defend themselves. you are being held tight, you use your hands in case someone comes next to you, you point it at their faces. my voice can also be a weapon, through shouting now i can stop the assailant from harassing me. i have also known that i should

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow.watching. bye—bye. hello there. on sunday we saw heavy thunderstorms and showers across northern england into south—east scotland, but the majority of the country was warm, dry and sunny, which led to a lovely day for many. some glorious sunday evening sunsets. we start monday morning off on a fine and dry note. we've lost the overnight showers and storms across northern areas, but we're ready to do it all again. plenty of sunny spells as those temperatures rise. that could set off a few heavy showers and thunderstorms, namely a high—grade feature. through monday morning there will be plenty of sunshine. a bit of cloud in central and eastern scotland, showers developing here but the heaviest will be over the pennines and maybe into the high ground of wales in the south—west of england. elsewhere, dry again, top temperatures 2a or 25 degrees. a bit cooler across the north—eastern coasts. we have a ridge of high pressure across the country for tuesday. a bit of a northerly breeze as well

steve rosenberg, bbc news, grozny.started running services on a line in cumbria where northern rail services have been suspended for a month. there was widespread anger among business and residents in the lake district when trains between oxenholme and windermere were replaced by buses. danny savage reports on the emergence of west coast railways and the impact it's had. the branch line to windermere in the lake district has become a symbol of northern rail‘s problems. while other routes are subject to a reduced timetable, all the services on this line have been axed for a month and replaced by buses. that is until today. when a privately owned and trained became the bus—replacement rail service. we were expecting to get a bus that would probably take much longer and make our journey a bit more boring. but now we're on a train, which is much better. a good thing? a really good thing, yeah. quickerjourney, nicer than being stuck on a bus, which we didn't want to do in the first place.

proud to be hosting the world's most famous festival of football. hosting the world's most famous steve rosenbergut do stay with us on bbc one, it's now time for the news where you are. have a very good night. now time for the news where you are. hello. this is bbc news with martine croxall. a memorial garden in west london has opened to the public, to remember the victims of the grenfell tower fire. this week marks the first anniversary of the disaster. the bishop of london and the mayor attended the ceremony at st clement's church in notting dale, in the shadow of the tower. caroline davies reports. may this garden teach us regeneration... nearly a year on, neighbours, friends, family met at the church at the foot of the grenfell tower — this time to welcome new life. a memorial garden for the community left devastated by the fire. particularly in the week that is coming, which i think will be very difficult, it will provide a space for people to find quietness, but also reflection to think about not just looking back but to look forward. st clement's was just one of the religious and community

steve rosenberg has more. at the russian railways training centre, they are studying hard. than a million foreign football fans heading here for the world cup, russia is keen to make a good impression. russian people usually don't smile. that is why when other people come to russia, they think that russian people are not friendly. we need to teach them how to smile. we need to change their attitude. he is doing well! look at his teeth, cries the teacher, they are shining. but beware. in russia, smiling in public can get you into trouble. i got stopped by a policeman and i was quite angry about it and he asked me to show my id. afterwards i asked him why did he stop me? and he said to me, because you were smiling. that is what he said. literally. because it is strange. a russian person walking on the street and smiling. it looks alien and suspicious. laughter. talking of suspicious... here are some russians who are bucking the trend. this is laughter yoga. it gives me joy. energy. energy, and a feeling that anything is possible. and i can do everything. it is highly infectio

steve rosenberg has more. at the russian railways training centre, they are studying hard.n a million foreign football fans heading here for the world cup, russia is keen to make a good impression. russian people usually don't smile. that is why when other people come to russia, they think that russian people are not friendly. we need to teach them how to smile. we need to change their attitude. he is doing well! look at his teeth, cries the teacher, they are shining. but beware. in russia, smiling in public can get you into trouble. i got stopped by a policeman and i was quite angry about it and he asked me to show my id. afterwards i asked him why did he stop me? and he said to me, because you were smiling. that is what he said. literally. because it is strange. a person walking on the street and smiling. it looked alien and suspicious. laughter. talking of suspicious... here are some russians who are bucking the trend. this is laughter yoga. it gives me joy. energy. energy, and a feeling that anything is possible. and i can do everything. it is highly infectious. but a l

steve rosenberg managed to speak to abuses. steve rosenberg managed to speakto him. abuses.paraded around the stadium by the controversial leader. he is on the us sanctions list and is accused of gross violations of human rights. but he was still happy to invite us to his palace. he is a former rebel who switched to the kremlin‘s side. he rules like a personalfight him. kremlin‘s side. he rules like a personal fight him. your critics say that you used mohamed salah for political propaganda, self—promotion. did you? political propaganda, self-promotion. did you? everyone is played here. even maradona but we never use this kind of thing for politics. are paid to write things like that. i did not invite mohamed salah or the egyptian team, they chose as themselves. politicians all over the world love photo opportunities with stars but what made this one controversial and egyptian‘s teams controversial is the fact that he is one of the most powerful and feared men in russia. the uk government has announced a review of the medicinal use of cannabis. this directly connected to a se

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the businessman and nightclub owner peter stringfellow has died at the age of 77. the yorkshireman, who is best known for establishing the world famous gentlemen‘s club in london, was suffering from cancer. time for a look at the headlines here now on bbc news. house of fraser announces its to close more than half of its stores with a loss of 6,000 jobs. the government says its proposed temporary customs arrangement for the irish border after brexit should not continue beyond december 2021. ahead of his historic summit with north korea, president trump says he will consider inviting kim jong—un to america — if the meeting goes well. now it's time for meet the author. the persistence of the civil war in american culture is remarkable, but maybe not surprising. kevin powers is the latest writer to take a story of slavery from days of conflict in the 18605 and pick up its threads in virginia 90 years later, when an old man tries to chase his origins. a shout in the ruins is his second bo

our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg has more.nging grandmothers are on a mission to give russia a friendlierface for the on a mission to give russia a friendlier face for the world cup. these bubbly babushkas have penned a world cup anthem. and produced a video to go with it. the message to foreign football fa ns— video to go with it. the message to foreign football fans— mac you have nothing to fear from russia. i won't scare you , nothing to fear from russia. i won't scare you, and says. i will hug you, kiss you, sing and dams for you. russians will leave and smile at you. ahead of the world cup, train conductors here have been taught to forget the frowns and provide foreigners big shiny smiles to match the big shiny stadiums built for the tournament. russia's reputation of the world stage, however, is not so impressive. a global sporting event of this scale is the perfect stage for a host nation to promote itself to the world and boost its image. russia knows that right now it has an image problem. locked in a diplomatic war w

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow.t's all from us, but you can see continuing coverage live of the trump—kim summit in singapore on the bbc news channel overnight. it's due to get under way at 2:00am our time. here on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm hugh ferris. the headlines tonight. watch out england. belgium fire four against costa rica to round off their world cup warm ups with a big win. the two meet in russia onjune 28th. brazil are already in the country. the tournament's just three days away and the joint favouirtes are among the first to arrive. and novak djokovic will play at queen's for the first time in eight years, just a week after saying he might miss the whole grass court season. hello again. thanks forjoining us. one of england's world cup group opponents have signed off before the tournament with an impressive win over the same team england defeated in theirfinal warm up match, and it was partly thanks to one of their premier league stars. belgium be

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. suffering from cancer.

and as our correspondent steve rosenberg noted, the answer was "not to lie", which raised a few eyebrowsnt putin as a cross between father of the nation and father christmas, with a bit of wizard of oz thrown in. to create the image in other words of a modern—day magical tsar who will solve your problems, caller. so what problems did russians ask him to solve? aleksei asked the president to do something about rising fuel prices, and immediately, the kremlin leader got the energy minister on the line to discuss the issue. then residents of a little town complained that their local hospital was facing closure. putin ordered the local governor to get on the case. and then a family asked president putin to rewrite government rules and regulations about mortgages. the president agreed, just like that. the kremlin would say that this is democracy in action, but kremlin critics maintain that this show is the product of an inefficient political system, the system that vladimir putin built, a system with weak institutions and where so often, nothing gets done without the intervention of the man a

steve rosenberg bear in samara. in spain against —— the game in moscow against —— the game in moscow against spain on sunday. the each of the game in volgograd, we thought it would be dull but it was nothing of the sort. a fantastic game, this one. egypt put ahead by mo salah. they were fielding their goalkeeper, at a5 years and 161 days, the oldest player ever to appear at the world cup. saudi arabia got a late winner. also a penalty. it's going to get even more dramatic. tomorrow, argentina could be heading out to the world cup. there's been rising tension in the last few days between china and taiwan as two mainland warships sailed along taiwan's east coast. they were moving in open waters but close to taiwan's territorial waters. in response taiwan's defense ministry scrambled its fighter jets and ships to monitor the chinese warships. these exercises are becoming increasingly common as tensions rise between the two rivals. joining us live is our taipei correspondent cindy sui. are these chinese military exercis

steve rosenberg was there. the final whistle has just gone and samara.carf underneath, even he couldn't help it instantly there is one big positive, russia is through to the last 16 of their own world cup. that is an incredible achievement when you consider that russia came into this tournament as the lowest ranked side in this walk up. —— world cup. iam very side in this walk up. —— world cup. i am very proud and i hope that we will win and we will go. as you can see, the russian fans are staying pretty positive. actually, the russian authorities are very pleased too. but only because there tea m pleased too. but only because there team has won to back gains in the group stages, because they feel that already this world cup, their world cup, has been a public relations success. we haven't forgotten about saudi arabia versus egypt. a fantastic game. mohamed salah put egypt ahead, egypt were fielding their goalkeeper at 45 years, he saved a penalty and is the oldest player ever to appear ata is the oldest player ever to appear at a world cup. saudi arabia

recent diplomatic controversies, security has become a major concern, as our moscow correspondent steve rosenbergs deadly serious. they‘re training to counter a terrorist attack. a hostage scenario at one of the world cup stadiums where england will be playing. russia says it‘s doing all it can to make sure footballers and fans will be safe. translation: the security measures we‘ve taken they are based on russian and international experience. everyone who comes to russia will be comfortable and secure. and monitored. in the host cities, more security cameras have been installed. in kaliningrad, they spied us as soon as we arrived. each face caught on camera is automatically checked in a police database. this is what‘s making russia nervous. in the run—up to the world cup, groups sympathetic to so—called islamic state have threatened to target the tournament. such threats could be scaremongering.

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow.ssels they collected from uk seawaters, and bought from supermarkets. researchers from the universities of hull and london say more work is needed to understand the implications of digesting the microplastic. here's our environment analyst, roger harrabin. the mighty oceans. nature at its most pristine. but, looks can deceive. human pollution is everywhere. including in shellfish like mussels. these creatures feed by filtering seawater. in the process, they're ingesting tiny bits of human debris. every 100 grams of mussels tested in this study contained an estimated 70 bits of waste. scientists suggest that consumption of micro—plastics and other waste by british people eating mussels is likely to be common and widespread. here's the source of many of the fragments of waste — our own washing machines. when we put clothes in the wash, small fibres break off and wriggle their way through the sewage filters into the sea. in a nutshell, if you like, we were able to find small microparticle

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. a little bit scary? darren bett has the weather.or two showers around as well. today, we have had this zone of cloud across across the midlands and wales. the rate and that is petering out. the cloud in scotland and northern ireland has gets some thunderstorms and slow—moving downpours. those should become fewer and lighter overnight, but not completely. otherwise, should be dry, with cloud coming up the eastern areas of the uk. temperatures in single figures in eastern scotland and northeast england. a cloudy start to the east, the clouds break. sunny spells develop widely, very few showers across england and wales. a few storms perhaps for northern ireland, and especially across scotland over the high grounds, some slow—moving downpours here. quite warm and as such, light winds with temperatures in the low 20s away from the east coast. sunday sees the showers mainly across scotland, perhaps on to the pennines. again, if you don't read downpours here. most of england and wales will be dropped with more sunshine and probably a warme

here's our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg. at the russian railways, they are studying hard.they think russian people aren't friendly. we need to teach them how to smile, how to change their attitude. but aware. in russia, smiling in public can get you into trouble.|j got stopped by police men and i was quite angry about it. he asked me to show my id. afterwards i asked him why he stopped me, and he said to me, because you were smiling. that's what he said, literally. because it's strange, person walking on the street and smiling. it looked alien and suspicious. laughter here are some russians bucking the trend. this is laughter yoga. it gives me i0y. this is laughter yoga. it gives me joy, energy. anything is possible. i can do everything. laughter itjust goes to show that despite their frosty exterior, russians have what it takes to put a smile on yourface. laughter do russians really need to learn to smile?! we arejoined now by olga makarenko, who is the founder of the russian language centre in manchester. give us a smile. big smile. my best smile! is that really true? i

our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg was there.cs might say it is the product of an inefficient political system, the system that vladimir putin held. a system that vladimir putin held. a system with weak institutions and we re system with weak institutions and were so often nothing gets done without the intervention of the man at the top. that‘s it from your afternoon live team for today, next the bbc news at five. time for a look at the weather... another fine day across most of the uk and we keep this settled weather for the rest of the week and into the weekend. but not completely dry, we had some showers early this morning and there‘s a chance of catching a shower a bit later on this afternoon. the angry looking clouds are across the bay of biscay and the thunderstorms continue across the continent. but here we are dealing with just a couple of showers may be breaking out during the afternoon in southern counties. well inland away from the coastline. for the majority of the country we should have a dry day and again cooler on