injuly election coming up for the upper house in july so election coming up for the upper houseompromise would be politically difficult. what would be politically difficult. what would be politically difficult. what would be the compromise between the japanese and the americans for both of them to sign an agreement? well, it is very difficult to say because their positions in automotive is including the industry and consumer sentiment is miles apart. i would say that the agreement timing and scope still remains very unclear.“ both sides are far apart, could the americans be piling on the pressure? like the japanese, like the chinese, implementing higher tariffs.“ could be, and there would be more pressure but at the end of the day, the us may have to compromise. it has its own reasons to hurry. the china trade war seems to be escalating with no visible solutions inside reportedly. secondly, if the currently resilient us economy sta rts currently resilient us economy starts to falter, ease trade policies by the current administration could be blamed for triggering the downturn. a

japan has the upper house of parliament election injuly, has the upper house of parliament election inhe upper house of parliament election injuly, but there has also been speculation that the prime minister might actually dissolve the more powerful lower house of parliament, as well, so double elections over the summer. and then president trump again said that he expects a deal in august. as you can imagine, that raised some eyebrows here in tokyo, and officials here we re here in tokyo, and officials here were quick to deny that there was no agreement, a deal would be reached in august. but they did definitely discuss this very tricky situation. all right, both countries have been at loggerheads basically two industries. one is agriculture and the other one is auto. so with this lavish state visit of president trump injapan, do you think he has basically softened his tough stance onjapan? basically softened his tough stance on japan? i think that's definitely the hope of the prime minister, shinzo abe. whether or not he succeeded we will remain to see, but of course it all started wh

the elections for the upper house injuly horizon.the upper house in july so assured horizon. the elections for the upper house injuly so assured friendship and strength alongside donald trump may add to his party's electoral prospects. thank you very much and just to remind you, the live pictures you are seeing from the naval base is prime minister lshinzo abejust emerging from naval base is prime minister lshinzo abe just emerging from the helicopter now just abe just emerging from the helicopter nowjust out of view. and you can keep up—to—date with all the latest. and — you can keep up to date with all the latest on that story on our website. you'll also find analysis of a possible face—to—face meeting between the leaders ofjapan and north korea. that's all at bbc.com/news or download the bbc news app. let's get some of the day's other news. french police have arrested four people after a suspected parcel bomb exploded in lyon last week, injuring 13 people. the device, which was packed with screws and ball bearings, was detonated o

he is also looking like he will strengthen his hand in the upper house with vote counting still going on. both houses it looks like he is going to be in a much better position to get his legislative agenda through. his first priority is going to be tax cuts, sweeping tax cuts for middle income earners. it will be interesting to see how far they go in china blocked those measures when parliament resumes. we are not sure at the -- trying to block those measures when parliament was in ruins. resumes.ment all the leaders are expecting we would have a new government in labor. that is just not going to occur. the abc australian broadcasting corporation now reporting scott morrison on track to have 77 seats in the parliament. he could still have a majority. one of the interesting things on the weekend was the former prime minister, losing his seat to an independent. on the way out the door he held scott morrison saying his place in the liberal pantheon is secure for pulling off this victory. records inof the key the past three years of all that instability. he is gone now. jewel shepard said

in the lower house and the upper house in his pocket, he is the upper house in his pocket, he is they for drug trafficking and lower the age of criminal liability for children as i was nine years old. his foreign secretary said this week when he looked at the unofficial figures that, this week when he looked at the unofficialfigures that, this is week when he looked at the unofficial figures that, this is a referendum on the president as you said, and he won that referendum. so you should shut up about the drug warand it you should shut up about the drug war and it will go on. maybe a wrapping up of the drug or in the months to come, a new senate seat as congress comes together injuly, resident duterte. the term with a state of nation address and he will be emboldened now that he knows the philippine electorate are fully behind his punitive war on drugs as some of the other controversial measures he has taken the last few yea rs. let's return to brexit now. iain anderson, founder of the international communications agency, cicero groupjoins me now. good morning, lovely to see if a yo

there is an upper house election as you mentioned but there has been speculation that shinzo abe mightr house of parliament to have double elections before his government has to hike sales tax to 10% in october which will be a very unpopular move among voters so that raised eyebrows. then president trump said it again he hopes the trade deal will be reached in august. so that made news headlines here injapan and japanese officials had been busy explaining what the president may have meant, one minister said maybe he meant he hopes the deal will be reached in august but definitely, nothing concrete so far. thank you for joining us. let's look at the markets. in asia, trading somewhat higher, chinese investors thinking the government about to offer some more stimulus into the economy after we learned many companies profits we re we learned many companies profits were lower in april. you can see, most of the asian indices closing up, the same for the american auto—makers. making gains yesterday because of the planned merger between fiat chrysler and renault. then let's look at the picture

some kind of agreement being signed until after japan holds elections for what is essentially its upper house of parliament until july, that pushes back the white house's own schedule. it had said the trump administration in the run-up to this meeting here in tokyo that it wanted a trade deal between the u.s. and japan signed before trump came out to tokyo. now he is pushing that back, a concession, if you will, to prime minister shinzo abe's own political cycle. and president trump signaling that he is hoping for some breakthrough for u.s. agricultural products to come to japanese markets. this as the trade war rages between the u.s. and china and the u.s. has lost access to very lucrative markets for its agricultural exports in china. >> this is also a cultural visit as well for president trump. and we know that he is attending a sumo wrestling match. the question is, will he bow to tradition and sit on the floor. much to say about how japan loves its sumo wrestling. >> reporter: that's right. i mean this has been a day of athletics for the two leaders. first they choppered out from tokyo a

to understand how the easy elected the lower house of parliament has five hundred seats in the upper house at the senate two hundred fifty that's a total of seven hundred fifty seats in parliament any party needs to win more than half that's three hundred seventy six seats needed to form a government however yes to catch the military appoints the two fifty members of the senate and not all of the remaining five hundred seats in the lower house up to the vote only three hundred fifty of these five hundred of voted for by the people directly and the remaining one fifty are allocated proportionally to a complicated formula two parties. and this time around suits have been allocated to twenty six parties in this list of first for thailand then you know somebody on city is a political scientist at thailand's. tell us what you know as the employer got that wrong and is also an associate professor in berlin professor somewhat consider it good to have you back in the studio now you have the figure of twenty six new parties we've been allocated seats in this party list but you have for a time which

think it is a good idea to break japan's vested interest but having said that, we have a summer upper houseng up and this is one of the weak spots of the government really don't want to be touched so obviously, these negotiations are difficult for the japanese delegates. how do they go about addressing this trade imbalance that we were discussing in the introduction there? is there a way it can be done in a sort of more pain—free manner? way it can be done in a sort of more pain-free manner? at the end of the day, the conclusion is that mr trump wa nts to day, the conclusion is that mr trump wants to show his power and autonomy over political issues so i really think getting down to the actual nitty—gritty of these matters, be it automobile orfarming nitty—gritty of these matters, be it automobile or farming goods, nitty—gritty of these matters, be it automobile orfarming goods, is not really the agenda. so that is one of the reasons why the japanese manufacturers are really going on the sidelines with all their investments because you can't really determine what kind of rational argument w

stephen: do you expect a deal to get done that has been delayed until after the upper house electionssolution of the lower house in general elections? robert: i do not expect the guilt to be done before -- the deal to be done before the elections. there is a real opportunity for the two sides to change the competition of tariff hikes into a competition of tariff cuts. japan can say we will as of today cut tariffs on agricultural goods to below where they are in tpp for a year. during that year, please discuss whether you will eliminate tariffs on japanese autos. if you do that, we will make our japanese tariffs on american products lower. stephen: that will not go over well in michigan. robert: but it might go over well in the mid-west. politics are very interesting. similarly really, the u.s. could come to japan and say we will cut auto tariffs to zero as of today but within a year, we expect you to cut your agricultural tariffs below where are inre -- where they the tpp agreement. if you do that, then we can move into a tariff cut. stephen: we have both been following what japan has

expects there may be something to announce in august now that's a key date because it comes after the upper house elections in japan in july and there's a sense that there's no way that the japanese prime minister will want to announce any concessions to the united states before that election because that is seen as too risky when it comes to getting votes in that election and why and just over an hour ago pyongyang released a statement calling us national security adviser john bolton a war fanatic and saying he was wrong to conclude that north korea's recent missile tests violated united nations resolutions and that giving up missile tests would mean giving up the right to self-defense presumably north korea will be a priority on the agenda at today's meeting. absolutely i think particularly considering those 2 missile launches by north korea earlier this month they were short range missiles seemingly some new type of short range missile that north korea had test fired of great concern of course to japan john bolton the u.s. national security adviser made those comments on saturday while he was

dangerous than dirty money red money from russia there are fears it could be flooding britain's upper house of parliament the house of lords the sunday times newspaper has done some digging it's published a list of what it calls men the lords benefiting from russian rubles. just like employees the lords half there's a clear their business interests and official register but unlike their colleagues in the lower house they don't have to say how much those business interests have them although the government is said to be thinking about changing that security minister ben wallace has warned that parliamentary rules need to be changed for the sake of greater transparency in countries that seek to undermine the west target vulnerabilities in the politics and media the u.k. has a strong mainstream media that gives us better resilience the most but i'm certain that one of our wee points is where we lack transparency in our political system now a group of british politicians is pushing for a new law to counter foreign influence. britain needs a foreign agents registration act we need to know the in

that's the essentially the upper house of parliament. that is a bit of a concession to his japanese alley at a time when the government here says it's economy, it's forecasting that its economy is slowing down. sos in one sense, contradicting his japanese alley. in the other sense, giving a concession to his japanese alley as he and the prime minister continue to enjoy all of these things. they choppered out to a golf course today and moments ago they walked into a stadium where you have the finals of a tournament of sumo wrestling. it is the most iconic. >> japanese sports. sumo. a contest between huge men grappling in a tiny ring. and the u.s. president is getting a front row seat for the finals of the grand sumo tournament during his visit to tokyo. >> what would you advise president trump to know about the sport as he's about to attend? >> well, the rules itself, the rules themselves are very simple. it's a down or out situation. so i think he won't have nets problem understanding what's going on in the ring. >> john gunning is an ir

argentina posner national parliament, and of course was rejected by a narrowing majority by the upper house, the national senate, which is a much more conservative institute. broughte members were frfrom the rural conservative provinces, where the catholic church has a much greater influence. pro-choice campaigners will face exactly the same obstacle in the national senate. argentina is traditionally roman catholic but is an increasingly secular society as well. there is increasingly public demand to change the strict abortion laws, but the challllee ththat faces pro-choice putut -- hasas forced harlem and terrence to put themselves in charge instead where this public issue is regarded. genie: now to spain where a number of first and second division football players have been arrested over suspicions of match fixing. a spanish paper broke that story, saying a number of players are linked to forming a criminal organization that has been able to profit from betting on games. andral former players coaches are reportededly now unr arrest. sarah morrrris joins us from madrid to talk more about a

mainly to a recently written constitution allowing the military government to appoint the 250 member upper house but they'll still have to form a coalition to reach the 376 seats needed for control of both houses and there are strong indications that they have the numbers there's a physical transition with this new parliament as well the old parliamentary building has been closed and is set to be torn down the new building was supposed to open 4 years ago but remains unfinished the king had to meet with the new members here in the ministry of foreign affairs. on the eve of this opening session the constitutional court decided to move forward with a case against on a torn. wrong kids his new future forward party ran on an anti who platform and did very well in the election the party is in the democratic alliance coalition with main opposition party it garnered the most votes there are multiple biegel cases against the court he says there trumped up charges by the military government and politically motivated earlier he told our he's concerned about people losing faith in the system look at the bi

mainly to a recently written constitution allowing the military government to appoint the 250 member upper house but they'll still have to form a coalition to reach the 376 seats needed for control of both houses and there are strong indications that they have the numbers there's a physical transition with this new parliament as well the old parliamentary building has been closed and is set to be torn down the new building was supposed to open 4 years ago but remains unfinished the king had to meet with the new members here in the ministry of foreign affairs on the eve of this opening session the constitutional court decided to move forward with the case against qana torn june kit his new future forward party ran on an anti who to platform and did very well in the election the party is in the democratic alliance coalition with main opposition party it garnered the most votes there are multiple beagle cases against the court he says there trumped up charges by the military government and politically motivated earlier he told al-jazeera he's concerned about people losing faith in the system and lo

one country that's resisted them is germany, but on friday, the upper house of parliament may vote toone of these? electric, or e—scooters, are all the rage these days. nippy little things that can weave in and out of traffic, or pedestrians for that matter. they're being sold as a flexible and environmentally—friendly alternative. so we're spending 10—15% of our time a car, and for me, this is no goal. we need to find ways to find ways to reduce co2, to reduce pollution, to reduce the contamination and also to enjoy our cities. but they do have their critics. this is paris, where some complain e—scooters have been left abandoned in the street. others point out that inexperienced riders have helped cause accidents. but the companies that make them say they're offering potential solutions. so the first thing is this brings order to the chaos. if you see a lot of deployments with scooters, you'll notice they get scattered scattered around and they can oftentimes be a negative view to the community. what this does is it gives it a place to actually park, but then it charges. these things

constantly in causative head of the foreign relations committee in the federation council russia's upper house of parliament he's said unfounded accusations from the mouths of the americans have already become an absurd norm in international affairs so they're certainly not shy in how they're phrasing what they think about what the latest comments are coming from the u.s. as the situation stands the rushers of us or the u.s. has said that these public discussions are not going through the right channels and these questioning why they're not going through the right channels and ending up in the public domain for the u.s. are breaking clear obviously that they they're not trusting the way the russians in terms of nuclear testing and development so we have to wait and see whether actually the 2 nations be able to sort this out will they be able to have those discussions behind closed doors or indeed not. go through some of the main aspects of it with jonathan you international or 1st commentary live on the program jonathan good to see you what do you think the u.s. defense intelligence director t

reached in this trade negotiation until after july the reason he's saying that is because there's an upper house election coming up in japan in july and there is a feeling that shinzo up is in want to going to want to make too many concessions to the united states before the election because of course it could risk alienating some of his votes a base now donald trump is saying in that brief media conference that he gave before the bilateral talks with shinzo abo would you to get under way in the building behind me he's saying now that they hope to announce some sort of trade deal in or go so it seems that we have a few more months of negotiations still to come out of there as well and have a following that visit for some time here thank you. whether it's next still ahead on now is there an iraq signal support for iraq standoff with the united states one again offering a mediator. hello again here across united states it has been another day of severe weather particular across oklahoma here the storms have pushed through and they were deadly in el reno oklahoma where people had died because of th

and be kinder to the environment. 0ne country that's resisted them is germany, but on friday the upper housedon't fancy riding a bike? well, how about trying one of these? electric, or e—scooters, are all the rage these days. nippy little things that can weave in and out of traffic, or pedestrians for that matter. they're being sold as a flexible and environmentally—friendly alternative. so we're spending 10—15% of our time a car, and for me, this is no goal. we need to find ways to find ways to reduce c02, to reduce pollution, to reduce the contamination and also to enjoy our cities. but they do have their critics. this is paris, where some complain e—scooters have been left abandoned in the street. 0thers point out that inexperienced riders have helped cause accidents. but the companies that make them say they're offering potential solutions. so the first thing is this brings order to the chaos. if you see a lot of deployments with scooters, you'll notice they get scattered scattered around and they can oftentimes be a negative view to the community. what this does is it gives it a place t

constantine cause the chair he's the head of foreign relations committee in the federal council in the upper house of parliament he said that these unfounded accusations on the mounts of americans have already become an absurd norm in international affairs so as you can hear very strong statements coming back from the other side and perhaps the russians have a point because actually the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty organization the c t b t o they have actually said in a statement that they're finding it hard to find any evidence let's have a listen to what they have to say. c.t. b.t.o. has full confidence in the ability of its monitoring system to detect nuclear test explosions so as you see there isn't the hard evidence there as a situation stands the russian ambassador to the to the u.s. he said that these public discussions are not going through the correct diplomatic channels the u.s. seem to be clear about their mistrust towards russia in terms of nuclear testing or the possibility of an advancing their warheads and the question is you know are the 2 nations actually going to go thro

grip on power filipino subsided who will fill $800000.00 positions including half the seats in the upper house or senate to 30 is aiming to have more allies elected to that chamber which has resisted some of his more controversial policies including his crackdown on illegal drugs general allen duggan has more now from manila. when polls opened earlier. this morning people here told us that they were excited and eager to cast their votes not minding the humidity and the difficulty of the situation in many precincts here but as hours dragged on many voters excitement turned into frustrations some told us they have been waiting for as long as 5 hours just to be able to cast their votes while out there complained they were unable to see their names on the list and the election commissioner also said that there are been rampant vote buying across the country and over the last few days the police have arrested over 300 people involved in vote buying in many areas and not just here in manila when polls closed at about 6 pm local time there were still long lines in different areas but the poll watcher

inherited as home area of our city early on monday turkey's allies are expected to gain seats in the upper house senate and that could help him push through controversial policies real alan durbin as more from manila. as people turn up early to vote there is a strong sense of excitement but as the hours dragged by that's changed to frustration. they have been lining up for more than 4 hours because they said our machine broke down so hard mccluster believes both theirs are lining up to be accommodated by one machine thousands still we would like the boat because it only happens every 3 years michael carey new says he doesn't mind waiting for long as he starts long and hard about who to vote for but i will only put those who are treated done something for us not pollute the sense of only speak to us during campaign season. here at this polling station in downtown manila it's hot and clams and the situation is similar around the country but people here tell us they don't mind the heat and the queues as they are determined to make their voices heard in this elections but there are widespread allega

of representatives up forgrabs, and 151 seat house of representatives up for grabs, and half the upper houseof paper literally as long as your arm piece of paper literally as long as yourarm and a piece of paper literally as long as your arm and a bit, if you are voting in the senate. that is the way the voting is going in australia. full details of that in the next ten or 12 hours or so, we should have some guide as to how thatis should have some guide as to how that is going. tanks were watching bbc news. there hello. much of this week has been gloriously sunny, dry and reasonably warm. things turned a bit cloudier and cooler. this was a picture taken by one of our weather watches in kent. a bit of sunshine across scotland. through the course of the weekend the sunshine will be in shorter supply, and on settlement shall restore it. some sunny spells, upper —— especially across parts of the uk. scotland will see the bulk of the rain on saturday morning because we have this fairly weak front coming and which is introducing a lot of low cloud, mist and fog as well. outbreaks of rain across no

it's thought that shinzo bear won't make major concessions particularly in agriculture before an upper house election in july the us produces one better access to japan's food and agriculture markets that have traditionally been protected by subsidies and other non-tariff areas the rural voter base is one that there weren't want to risk losing ironically u.s. farmers would have had better access to japan if the united states had remained part of the trans-pacific partnership multilateral trade deal that came into force in december but donald trump all the u.s. out of that agreement after he won the election. trump also wants to revive the u.s. car industry believing that imports of harmed american innovation. as you arrived in japan classic car enthusiasts gathered outside tokyo keeping the glory days alive. what i like most is the design and also the sound of the v 8 engine i don't think the design has aged the designer who came up with his car 50 years ago is amazing. to help the revival the president wants japanese companies to invest more in the states he made demands japan limits vehicl

completely free rein when it comes to legislation he still needs to get new laws through the senate the upper house of. in that way doesn't have a majority nevertheless his party is in a stronger position now than it was even a week ago when they were in government but with the support of independent m.p.'s and that is against all expectations and against the opinion polls were saying a ceremony has been held in bangkok to remember victims of a military crackdown 9 years ago accounts of members of parliament prepare to meet for the 1st time since the march general election election was supposed to bring an end to military rule but the new parliament includes a senate that's dominated by soldiers by and he reports. to me what i might do you would think that thailand's history is stained with political violence and what victims say a fruitless search is for justice it's a pass critics say the military wants ties to forget and tries to prevent them remembering that our neighbor there's no denying people died here in this temple or it's supposed to be a save zone it's very cruel that authorities don't

he wants more than anything to delay until the upper house election.still has time because he wants to favor him in the presidential election. abe wants to wait until after july and trump need something before november. japan does not necessarily -- we know elections could swing otherwise. why is he waiting until after the election? the lower house could be dissolved -- >> he wants to retain as much of the two thirds majority as he can. he wants to revise the constitution. he can't lose too many seats. i think he and trump have been talking about this for the last several months and have an will helpthat trump him domestically by holding off until after the elections and he in return will provide something to trump so trump can claim victory as we go towards the u.s. elections. >> a lot of this hinges on whether donald trump will stay on course with this messaging. he says good progress is being made with trade negotiations, but he said that with the chinese. he said that as well with north korea. successful, he needs donald trump to come through. does

on power filipinos are deciding who filled $80000.00 positions including half the seats in the upper house or senate mr is aiming to have more allies elected to the senate so that he can push through some of his controversial policies including his crackdown on illegal drugs has the details from manila. when polls opened early this morning there was a strong sense of excitement millions of filipinos were eager to cast their vote and make their voices heard but as hours dragged on there had been some frustrations we've spoken to some voters who say they have been waiting for as long as 5 hours just waiting to vote and poll watchers also saying that several electoral machines have broken down at an earlier press conference it was reported that around $400.00 machines broke down across the country with many pretty scenes resulting to manual voting and the election commission there also said that there is a widespread vote buying across the country so as you know when the campaign started the president was eager to basically make sure that elections are going to be peaceful and safe but now it

that has also likely been put off until after the july elections in japan where we will have the upper housens called in july. they could dissolve the more powerful lower house and that could of course affect negotiations. the u.s. wants a clean slate to start negotiating. shery: thank you so much, our chief north asia correspondent in tokyo. billionaire founder said they will find ways to keep their lead in the smartphone and 5g arena. in an exclusive interview, the founder and ceo told us how the u.s. ban will impact china's largest tech company. the u.s. manages its own companies. it is not the international police. they can't manage the whole world. the rest of the world decides whether they should work for us based on business interests and positions. if some companies don't want to work with us it is like a hole in the airplane. we are working to fix it what it is still flying. of the chips we have been using half are from u.s. companies and half we produce ourselves. if the u.s. imposes for the restrictions we will reduce our purchases from the u.s. and use more of our own chips. if a

completely free rein when it comes to legislation he still needs to get new laws through the senate the upper house of parliament where he doesn't have a majority nevertheless his party is in a stronger position now than it was even a week ago when they were in government but with the support of independent m.p.'s and that is against all expectations and against the opinion polls. and the nation's presidential candidate. who is refusing to accept defeat in last month's election and will challenge the result in court election commission declare a presidential veto the winner with 55 percent of the vote that opposition party say there was systematic cheating something the election board has ruled out citing lack of evidence. a corruption trial of argentina's former president cristina kirchner is set to become an apprentice artist on tuesday but as traceable reports her trial will take place this year self is running for vice president in the upcoming election the latino vote and is here now. she was argentina's president for 18 years from 2007 to 2015. 4 years later cristina fernandez that continues

strengthening his grip on power of the will still $18000.00 positions including half the seats in the upper house senate mr deter say is aiming to have more allies elected to the senate so that he can push through some of his more controversial policies including his crackdown on illegal drugs chairman alan dorgan joins us live now from manila so general is this really a referendum on mr tertius. and just as we were going to jamila we lost communications with her we'll try and reestablish that link and go back just as soon as we can. at least 6 people including a priest have been killed in an attack on a catholic church in bikini in west africa about 20 gunman stormed the church near the town of double northeast of the capital or dougal witnesses say the attackers locked people inside and set fire to the building now this comes 2 weeks after a similar signficance the church also in the north we have managed to reestablish contact with our correspondent in manila jamila and began reporting for us live this hour on those midterm elections in the philippines not quite sure if you heard my 1st questi