As far as the eye can see parts of Japan on the water mass evacuations are now underway whole families being floated to safety others left stranded and forced to wait on roofs for rescue most of the damage is a few 100 miles west of Tokyo in Japan's Hiroshima prefecture hit by high winds rising river levels and what Japan's meteorological agency has called unprecedented rainfall. The u.s. Secretary of state might Pompeo is stressed that there will be no let up in sanctions on North Korea until it's got rid of its nuclear weapons Mr Pompeo is speaking in Tokyo after talks with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts the economic sanctions and the continued enforcement the world will see continued enforcement actions by the United States in the days and weeks ahead and I'm counting on those other countries that are with me here today and others around the world to continue to enforce the sanctions and while. Sanctions will continue until denuclearization is complete Mr Pompeo said he was encouraged by the progress me during his recent 2 d. Visit to North Korea adding that officials in Pyongyang had reaffirmed their commitment to denuclearize ation he dismissed a North Korean statement the stance taken by u.s. Negotiators was gangster like and not constructive. You're listening to the latest world news from the b.b.c. The president of Nicaragua and Danielle Ortega's again ruled out early elections as demanded by opposition protesters who want him to resign Mr Arteaga tooled around of his supporters the rules set by the Constitution would not be allowed to be changed by what he called a group of plotters. South Sudan is taking a further step towards ending almost 5 years of civil war with the announcement of a power sharing agreement President Salva Kiir will reinstate the rebel leader react my charas is verst vice president final details have yet to be agreed and further talks brokered by regional powers are to be held in the coming days the stickier sacked Mr much Aaron 2013 accusing him of planning a coup tens of thousands of people have died in the ensuing conflict the General Synod of the Church of England is due to vote later today on a proposal to disinvest from any company that's not aligned its business plan with target set out in the Paris climate agreement the church is an investment for all your vote $33000000000.00 Martin Bashir reports the motion is supported by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams who says this is an opportunity to encourage society to take control of an issue which threatens to overwhelm us but it is strongly opposed by the church commissioners the body responsible for investment strategy and the Bishop of Manchester David Walker who said it was better for the church to use its influence as a shareholder of major fuel companies like Exxon Mobil rather than disinvesting the Vatican's 1st order to general liberal Maloney says criminal charges against him have been withdrawn Mr Miller when he was appointed by Pope Francis 3 years ago to investigate Vatican finances he resigned following a church police raid on his offices b.b.c. News. Hello it's 506 g.m.t. This is weekend from the b.b.c. World Service with me Paul Henley coming up shortly we'll hear from our correspondent who's close to the mouth of the flooded cave in Thailand where rescue efforts are underway to free the 12 boys and their coach the football coach who remain trapped there and have been for the past 2 weeks Also the wall Donald Trump would like to build this time not with Mexico what is pure obvious to me I've lived here on a life I'm 63 years of age and I seen what it has done 2014 and talking more dispersed arms and when you get into southwesterly star and we just being tight it beats maybe 50 yards off a few of the course of the week and someone has to come up to take it and use men like has the money to do it stay tuned for Donald Trump swore off the west coast of Ireland 1st this hour North Korea has said it might have banned and plans to give up its nuclear technology if the United States continues to demand unilateral denuclearization by Pyongyang a North Korean government spokesperson said that the regrettable stance taken by u.s. Negotiators was gangster like not constructive He said the route to a nuclear free Korean peninsula was by both sides taking steps at the same time the comments followed 2 days of talks in the North Korean capital with the u.s. Delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompei Oh he'd earlier described the discussions as very productive see who is the publisher of The News website Korea expose and he joins me now so conflicting pictures being given by both sides this sounds quite an angry response from North Korea see Will. It sounds like an angry response but at the same time it was very much a predictable response experts recognized. Into supporting Mr Powell's visit to come here would be under tremendous pressure to shore result and that would imply. I might try to force his hand then demand concessions from North Korea the North Korea would not be necessarily ready to give out and that seems to be what has happened and coming up he's saying this is not going to work for it and what did Mike pump aoe base his assertion that discussions have been productive. So based on what we have heard from the international media there seems to been some agreement as to what they're calling the more deleterious of North Korea's disarmament or giving up of its a missile technology so there seems to be progress then certainly Mr Pompeo can talk up at this point but unfortunately where they do not see eye to eye is over the timeline of denuclearization or just exactly what North Korea will do next to show that it is sincere about its commitment to denuclearize does North Korea expect the u.s. To denuclearize is not what it's saying now and certainly not we have certainly seen some concessions from Washington that is true but what North Korea is really looking for at this point in time is to lifting up some of the economic sanctions have taken such a hard hit on its economy Mr Kim has been talking all of his commitment to bringing about economic boom in North Korea but in order to realize that he really nice these sanctions to go away and that's exactly what is not happening at this moment where do you think you see things going next. So we have seen of Korea play this kind of court before back in May well made some very belligerent statements which led to Mr Trump actually canceling the Singapore summit briefly I think we can see us responding in perhaps 2 ways it will also respond with strength and force North Korea to once again come back to a more conciliatory tone or u.s. Needs to essentially make the concessions that North Korea wants to see it's going to be a game of brinkmanship and it's a question of who folds 1st and my pump aoe is making it clear at this point in time and that there will be no letup in sanctions that's true in maintaining that sanctions are going to sting place so it certainly seems that Washington is going down the more hard line wrote and I guess the ball is now again backing off Korea's court thank you very much see womb coup publisher of a news website called Korea expose You're listening to Weekend from the World Service now the authorities in Thailand have confirmed that an operation is underway to try to rescue 12 boys and their football coach has been trapped in a cave for 2 weeks now 13 foreign divers and 5 from the Thai and Navy are involved in the rescue mission in a moment we'll hear from our correspondent who's at the cave 1st let's hear from some of the boys themselves about how they're coping having spent a fortnight on the ground yesterday a series of handwritten letters between the boys and their parents was released by the time Navy SEALs who are running the rescue operation we voiced up some of those letters the youngest person trapped in the cave is 11 years old his nickname is Titan mom and dad don't worry about me I'm fine tell my brother to be ready to bring me fried chicken I love this was his mother's reply Titan I'm waiting for you in front of the cave I love you son and miss you a lot you should be patient and willing to fight and be strong I'm waiting for you outside you. Make it I believe you can make it your dad misses you as well and he loves you very much the team's defender is 14 year old and the captain is 13 year old dumb and flying so well so is a bit too cold but don't worry about me and don't forget to do you might birthday party. Don't worry about me I can take care of myself one letter addressed to all of the boys' parents was written by their 25 year old coach to all the parents the kids are fine I'm really sorry I promise I will take care of them as best I can thank you to everyone who has come to help. To my grandma I'm Ok I'm fine don't worry about me too much and take care of yourself Auntie tell grandma to cook vegetables and pork skin for me I will eat it when I get out I love you guys the words of the coach that well with the rescue already in progress the families of the boys trapped in the cave can only wait for news of their return on yesterday's program and D.E.V.'s who's from the British caving Association told us how divers intended to get them out safely they will be taken by the scruff of the neck by a very long story and I think there's no turning the $1.00 to $1.00 or even 2 dogs. They will accompany them. That's the way they do it it's been done not. They've taken complete don't even know we're being novices through to some before there are some 1st year I have to say so many so young and so far 3 words that immediately come to morrow but it has been done before let's talk to our correspondent Sophie Long who's in Thailand near the mouth of that cave so if it's raining there isn't it I've seen you on the telly with an umbrella. So that's making things up and. Well that is why I think I've decided to go now you know they said they authorities told us yesterday that the pink time will be in the next 2 to 3 days but they might be pushed to make a decision 'd earlier depending on the weather well last night it rained very very hard and a lot of people were looking around thinking this is not good news and so you know the water gushing down the mountain again now they have they are prepared for this water and this weather and to make that no more welcome the governor can ride province through with that this is a war against water they build dams around the mountain to try and divert the water from going into the cave but he said the following that the conditions and never going to get any better than this that they thought. To the boys they know it's going to happen he said that physically fit and the heart of the strong and determined they talk to their families they support the mission and they've all for everyone else to do that as well but as he has illustrated it is a very complex operation it will take at least 11 hours each boy to people's House will do that and eventually to die this young footballer and one of the reasons for that is that they don't want him to kind of condition they so one panic they could set the others off as well so the operation began here at 10 o'clock this morning we're not expecting if it's successful we won't be expecting to see the 1st boy to mange a mud story in the cave complex until 9 pm and threw things at us 3 pm in the afternoon in the u.k. So Sophie We know they've been pumping the water around do we know that they got it to a level where the boys can can count without their heads going on the water isn't much detail much. Well we certainly can't confirm that and I wouldn't that's the case what the governor said this morning the guy leading the operation is the water levels are the lowest they have been for 10 days and the fact is they're not going to go out and you know when you look at the weather here they can only go up they think they pumped millions and millions of leases of water out of the case system over the past week since the boys were found and the woman levels inside the cave on at the lowest they have been for 10 days so I think they've been monitoring the conditions in find a k. The oxygen levels have all said been an issue they've got to an athlete going in that said right there is now. The monitoring the conditions in the side the very Kathy they've been monitoring the health of the boys very carefully and it's felt that the conditions are as good as they're ever going to be and the condition of the boys physically I mean we heard them sounding very upbeat in extracts from letters that what's the very latest on them. Well the only information we have to there is that is that came out they came out of the night last night brought out by a tiny seal divers we just heard in the press conference this morning they gave not day. Gov trying my problem is that the boys are healthy they are physically fit and of course they're not going to get much better they can build up less strength as they were found a week ago high prices have been taken in water and building up their strength and he says they are physically fit a few days ago we were told that 3 of the party were not in a right condition to go and this they would not necessarily wait for them to be in physically fit condition and they would bring them out one by one and someone felt strong enough to be bought out and they would say that what we had this morning is that all the boys are physically fit and he set their heart on strong and determined Sophie long in Thailand many thanks for listening to the b.b.c. World Service on Paul Headley with weekend. The authorities in Haiti in the Caribbean have been forced to cancel fuel price rises of over 40 percent after violent protests broke out the prime minister Jack. Appealed for calm in a televised address several u.s. And lines Council Deffeyes to Haiti the feeling crease is a part of reforms that Haiti agreed with the International Monetary Fund whole bare facts only is professor of political science at the University of Virginia Charlottesville in the us I asked him what the scale of the protests had been Yeah it was quite big. You can go west of the capital city and in this suburb. Your village was just really should be in the area where the elite of he lives so both areas were deeply affected and actually all international flights were suspended today the streets were blocked there were barricades tires were burning there were losing so it was a real situation Syria and the rest was precipitated by. The a rise in the price of fuel Yeah over 40 percent which would get people anywhere angry why did the government and decide to put up prices like this well you can call the riots to some extent an i.m.f. Riot today extent that they i.m.f. Reach an agreement with the Haitian government whereby the Haitian government would get some sort of financial assistance to ditch you know about $100000000.00 if they raised the price of fuel so the government decided that they would do so and the consequences were very very evident and immediate when you raise the price by almost 50 percent it's not surprising that people 'd are going to be angry and particularly that would have affected the public transport patients and in some of the routes the price would have gone up by some 50 percent and that clearly was not deliverable by the Hisham book relation in particular people who are working in your vehicle or in both ques now the protests work do you think the protesters will look at a taste for success more demands now well it's not clear because the government simply put the increases on hold it's not clear what they're going to do there are clear signs that the position of the prime minister might be endangered is legitimacy is essentially God the people in the streets who are calling for his dismissal and they're also calling actually for the dismissal of the president himself so my expectation is that someone is going to fall and he probably is going to be the prime minister members in Congress ask for a special consultation aware by. There would be a vote of no confidence in the government and I think if the if the Congress convenes there will be a vote of no country don't send the government will fall and then you would probably have a new prime minister and those things will happen probably within the next 3 or 4 days so things are still very times it's not clear that this iteration is completely under control of the Tories is the police in Hades extremely weak and the international forces which had been in Haiti have been reduced significantly so for the Haitian government it is a complicated story to control those riots and as you said it might be that the population taste of victory and their wants more than just the reduction in the price of fuel now is Professor whole band fattened of the University of Virginia Charlottesville in the us. President Trump is known for his post for building walls and as Ed force one prepares to deliver Mr Trump to meetings in the u.k. Later this week its flight path might well cross some way he wants to build one but not Mexico it's along the west coast of Ireland correspondent Chris page reports from County Clare. This is Harvard's Atlantic coast as we always imagine this huge sweep of pristine sand we have sparkling the beach magnificent use for miles around overlooking this picture postcard scene is the Trump International Golf Links and which is strong tens of thousands of visitors here to the village and did they even got a mention from the president while he was on the campaign trail so doing bag you know about Doonbeg I guess most of it. Was for a lot of money or make it it's just perfect and once during great but now I the Trump company wants to spend more money on this resort to protect it from stormy waters and wild winds the firm plans to build barriers signed to stop the illusion of the sun jeans which border the golf course. It's little time does the scene something interesting spin reveals tree stumps almost like the submerged remains of a small wood on the shoes Holly the landscape here has changed over the decades. So in some stage the mob was retreated be pushed back by the sea from here on the way a better country here it's not for profit company to me pander says there's been repeated damage to the site for years the coastal wear and tear has to be contained what is pure obvious to me I've lived here all my life I'm 63 years of age and I seem what it has done 2014 and Turkey and more dispersed arms and when you get into the southwest from the east on which to spring type it heats maybe 50 and often here over the course of the week someone has to. My particular And yes man like has the money to do what he's part of the dock or coastal protection group which is very strong local support and other campaigner Liam Ryan says there used to be a coastal defense barrier here but it was broken during for material to build rooms in the 1940 s. We believe that there is a model obligation to protect our day existing on Mars it's implying overtrained 100 people in this area it's extremely important for the west coast of Ireland hasn't been a major business opened in this region in the last 1510 to 15 years this is one major project and we have to hold on to it for the people to have walking here and for the industries that depend on it there is nobody will stay and keep that open if they can protect us and if he was to walk away if they were to walk away from that business tomorrow morning I can see anybody grown anywhere coming in buying it nobody. The truck firms original plan the screwball 4 and a half meters high and almost 3 kilometers long but that was dropped on the scale during proposal was given planning permission in December several organizations are appealing against stop the session 2 losers from friends of the environment's it really is most interesting an initially because we had somebody who didn't believe in global warming on a political level but when it came down to rezone property he was quite willing to build or a defense against the impacts of global warming Charles Stanley Smith from The National Trust on top. Of the protection work isn't necessary Well we believe there's actually no need to target best way of protecting the area sides for tearing it so off turns move every so often during a winter storm or come and take part in tearing away the next summer it comes back in the summer after a fact so to predict the jury and the press to be easiest thing is to do nothing just let them be here and the jury and you're going to ruin the whole. The appeal process may not be results for months yet he says it hopes it will be able to begin the work as soon as possible in the beach didn't beg locals are stressing their support for this particular new level wall to me pander says the president's people are doing them a favor because it's not just the golf course which is at risk from sea surges he doesn't go ahead we're on their own too we're going to be washed away and we have someone to protect us and we don't care. We're back for Mr Trump we don't care who owns the golf course we back them to the nest. That was Chris page reporting from the west coast of Ireland this is the b.b.c. World Service. Our main headline this hour is that the tile ferrety say they've started an operation to bring 12 boys and their football coach out of the flooded caves where they've been trapped for the past 2 weeks now it's time on weekend for the sports news his and Barwell and the high Hollow for a while England and Croatia completed the semifinal lineup of football's World Cup they will face each other are one state 24 hours after the France Belgium game in the last for a England yesterday were 2 nil with a service weighted in that quarter final boss Gareth Southgate praised his team for withstanding a lot of physical pressure and felt that their resistance was crucial former England defender Rio Ferdinand said it was a well deserved win to sponsor a balanced oiled machine at the moment come with them and love everyone was. Very happy with the same and same but once you get into it they've got that come 1st now my friends are happening for him and they're just performing and the draws open up people get point for the team get put in front of you you say on paper it's easy it's never easy confidence and easy wish I dispatch of the Swedish team well there was disappointment though for the host nation Russia who went out to Croatia after a penalty shoot out the match it finished $22.00 after extra time John Benny times this report the game started slowly but burst into life when dentist chair a chef scored one of the goals of the tournament firing a left foot shot into the top of the net from outside the box it was one want just 8 minutes later on crime rate has had a silence in the home fans the next 2 goals came in extra time defend DOMA going to heading in what looked like Croatia's winner from a corner then Mario Fernandez forced penalties with yet another header in the shootout Croatia held their nerve yet again as he did against Denmark even records which scored the winner tennis news now. Nidal will keep his number one world ranking after he managed to reach the 4th round of the men's singles at Wimbledon but another big name went out of the way in singles the top seed Simona Halep lost in 3 sets to tie one's suit white shirt and talent that explained exactly what went wrong it is Ok as a game I just believe that I was not. Very unprofessional for me a funny News poll that the world champion Luis how much time will be on pole position for today's British pray at Silverstone the current championship be to Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari He's also on the front row of the great thank you very much that was Andy well and this is weekend from the b.b.c. World Service money pull had a very soon I'll be introducing our guests who be with us for the course of the next 2 hours they're both here in the studio with me much more to come here on Weekend Live from London. The b.b.c. 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News if you own a McDonald's a rescue operation is underway in Thailand to bring 12 boys and their football coach out of flooded Keys who have been trapped for the past 2 weeks 18 expert divers are taking part in the risky mission which might take up to 4 days to complete millions of liters of water have been pumped out of the cave system as part of the rescue plan. Japan's prime minister Shinzo our bases emergency services are racing against time to trying to save people caught up in devastating flooding in the central and western regions of the country nearly 5000000 people have been told they should leave their homes about 50 people have been killed by the deluge. The u.s. Secretary of state might Pompeo is stress that there will be no letup in sanctions on North Korea until it's got rid of its nuclear weapons he said he was encouraged by the progress me during his recent 2 day visit to North Korea dismissing a North Korean statement criticizing the position taken by u.s. Negotiators. Ethiopia's prime minister made is visiting Eritrea just 2 days after the 2 countries agreed to end a 20 year border dispute last month Mr Abbey promised to accept the recommendations of a border commission which awarded Eritrea disputed territory. The General Synod of the Church of England parliament is voting later today on proposals to disinvest from any company that hasn't aligned its business plan with target set out in the Paris climate agreement supporters of the idea say it's a chance to encourage society to tackle in this you that threatens humanity and the Vatican's 1st order general liberal Maloney says criminal charges against him have been withdrawn Mr Malone he was appointed by Pope Francis 3 years ago to investigate Vatican finances he resigned following a church police read on his offices and was accused of hiring private investigators to spy on Vatican officials. Hello you're listening to Weekend from the b.b.c. World Service I'm Paul Henley coming up later one of President Barack Obama's closest advisers Ben Rhodes tell us about the tells about the things that really made his former boss mad I lost my razor insurgency for a couple days and Obama snaps I mean he says you know you can't even bother to shave you need to pull yourself together here and I thought he was kidding in 1st and I said well you know somewhere in Brazil and he really was your double about it what would bother him is we have to be unflappable we have to carry ourselves with a certain ethos as he did we share a reprieve that well we take this seriously and we look the part more of that interview coming up later now this wouldn't be weekend without the presence of 2 guests to give their personal perspective on the news and issues we discuss today we're joined for the rest of the program by Chandra Cole who is an Indian born senior lecturer in modern history at the University of standards in Scotland specializing in the British Empire and the media and by Charles Yeah Giles you know it upon John's geneticists and broadcaster who teaches at the University of Cambridge both he and Chandra here with me in the studio you had early career aspirations Chandra as a journalist I understand and you went the academic route how come yes absolutely my father was a journalist a newspaper editor in India having trained in the us and my mother was and is an academic having trained in in the u.k. So I kind of you know felt I could jump either way but when I got a scholarship to Oxford It just seemed to sort of seal the the path to academia a little more but I decided to have my cake and eat it too and work on on media and history and print particularly nice they've is my 1st because about the press so I feel I'm I'm sort of satisfying both if you like an Oxford was your 1st taste of the u.k. . He was correct yes and now you're Scott sort of so with Elf Yes but you know sometimes. It's a very sort of English or there is a non Scottish enclave not sure that everyone there would be pleased to hear you say oh I know I know but I mean it is very international place and so I don't I do feel quite at home that you feel quite at home anywhere I suppose Giles you've been all around the world have a new ping around like a pinball That's right early years in this country in fact you were born here I was born in one King's College Lambert King's College Hospital followed my dad around right and other places you've lived to include Newcastle I spent 5 right after I was born I think I spent the next 5 years of my life in Newcastle and I learnt English pronunciation. And you've been educated in the States as well yes I did. Was in the states that high school and then university I went to university and the University of California Berkeley and why do you say you're not actually a medic but most people assume you are. They do when they say you know Dr you they just assume that I only use the term doctor because I because I'm American I'm a basic scientists I'm a geneticist and so no I'm not no I'm not a medical doctor what does that mean what you specialize in these days my specialism is in genetics that's what I trained in but then people study genetics actually to study a disease typically and I study obesity and so I'm a obesity geneticist we look forward to finding out more later Giles you know and Chandra cool are our guests here on Weekend much more to come from them let's start with Japan they say half hour because Japan's prime minister Shinzo our Bay says rescue workers are in a race against time to save people trapped after several days of heavy rain the authorities say at least $48.00 people are known to have been killed and more than 20 others I'm missing at the moment almost 5000000 people have been ordered or advised to leave their homes in some of the affected areas high level alerts have now been lifted but new warnings have been issued in other parts of western Japan let's talk to Michael Penn who runs the get soon news agency in Japan tell us Michael and welcome to the extent of the damage these floods of course over the past few days what what is the landscape look like Well in fact we don't know exactly the extent of the damage because the rainfall is continuing and in some areas there is going to continue to be intense rainfall probably until tomorrow so but what we have seen already are lots of pictures of roads washed out bridges washed out hillsides that have collapsed in the mud and there's communities especially in some mountainside communities which have been isolated from from the rest of the world in fact I was reading just now about they. Incur a shaky city which is another prefecture called Ok Omma there's more than a 1000 people who are cut off from the world and they are there putting s.o.s. Signs on top of buildings and so. To try to get the authorities to reach them and to and to you know put them back in contact with with the rest of the world with food and all of the other things they need a massive upheaval for a big chunk of the population that's a huge number of people being advised to get out of the houses isn't it yeah well the issue is that you know it's basically half of the country the entire western half of Japan has been hit by these rains which are in some places being recorded a level of intensity in terms of the amount of precipitation and has ever been recorded in Japan before so so the issue is that it's from you know the tip of Cuba shoe Island all the way past the Consol basically the entire western half of Japan is being hit by massive rains you say this is unprecedented I mean the must be something of it that people have seen before where people in the western part of the country prepared to anyway. Well yes flooding in this season is not unusual in fact. Last year there were also some very very heavy floods in the northern part of Kew show which killed 41 people which was considered to be quite. Quite a major event then but you know there seems to be an escalation as the years go by of these storms getting worse and worse and this one at the moment the figures are 65 people confirmed dead and 59 missing so it looks like when it's all said and done we could speak seeing well over 100 people dying in the cement extremes of weather seem to be a theme of the northern hemisphere this summer we've got extreme droughts and heat in Europe at the moment and then this in Japan is the much talk of climate change there. Well I mean the Japanese authorities don't tend to and the media as well don't tend to sort of put that issue right up in front but for those who study climate change and those who are set or so I say aware of the issue intensity of storms storms becoming more stronger winds being stronger more rain more precipitation this is all you know this is all fitting the models which climate scientists have been telling us would be happening and here we have a rain storm which show has an intense that it's never been recorded in Japan so you know you can put 2 and 2 together for yourself it seems like we're heading in that direction Michael Paine in Japan Many thanks this is weekend from the b.b.c. World Service and $540.00 g.m.t. Is the time Pakistan will be holding general elections at the end of the month they come after one of the longest periods of Democratic rule in a country that's been run by the military for nearly half its existence but there are fears ahead of the vote that the army is suppressing the media's freedom to try to influence the results the army deny that but journalists say they've been. Warned in strict terms not to report on allegations about the military some journalists have been threatened with violence in one of the country's oldest newspapers and seen its distribution severely disrupted succumb to come on the reports. It's 5 am and I'm in a bottling newspaper market in roll the know tens of thousands of newspapers are being distributed from places like this to homes in offices in cities across Pakistan. Now for over a month the country's oldest and most recent down list English language paper Dawn has been an officially banned from a number of districts controlled by the Pakistani military it began when they published an interview with the former prime minister in which he seemed to criticize the intelligence services for interfering in politics and not doing more to tackle militant groups the many in Pakistan this is part of a wider clampdown on press freedom head of the elections we had something like 650 complaints across the country of people one not receiving Dawn despite their insistence because their distributors want to deliver it but they are being physically obstructed by the military I meet her is the c.e.o. Of dawn and also heads the all Pakistanis papers society what is occurring in fact is a decapitation of a political class. Of political leadership. On the eve of the elections the media is required to be silent about it under the guise of national security and as a consequence we are being targeted because we don't believe that kind of silence is what this country is all about yes. Last year the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from office he's now on trial for corruption Sharif had repeatedly classed with the military. His supporters and many analysts say they forced him from power using the courts as a cover. For. Its alleged the military backing the party led by former cricketer Iran can't they both deny that but they're journalists and outlets being targeted at those critical of the army election dollars An advantage of making it a month earlier this year a popular t.v. News channel became unavailable in large parts of the country before reportedly agreeing to change its editorial stance but it's those using social media with face the greatest threats traditional media both print and electronic media is completely under their control Mark. And activists are still defying. Censorship what cost Correia is a social media activist who says he was picked up by the intelligence services last year held without charge and tortured he was released a few weeks later and now lives in Europe where he has continued to criticize the Pakistani military online some of his family though a still in Pakistan and he says recently received threats they've used to my family they have introduced themselves from me and there to morrow I was there. I learned they were quite angry and they said that a family court be. Clear instructions of their should be silent at least 20 months until elections are the Pakistani military has previously denied targeting work. At the offices of the door newspaper they're still printing copies every night and continuing to report as they did before. But with just 2 weeks left until the election many here I. Us about what lies ahead 2nd a commodity reporting from Pakistan Chandrika cold is an irony here given that newspaper's history is in the dorms history absolutely Dawn was established by Muhammad Ali Jinnah as leader of the Muslim League and in the 1940 s. And it's always had this. Oppositional role in politics I'm very very upset obviously at what is happening in Pakistan but but I'm not surprised this is not the 1st time and I'm afraid this isn't this is probably not going to be the last time there is a further irony in the fact that a lot of these newspapers like Dawn were born in an era where you know there was a not to be a political but to be involved in political opposition to the British and what happened I think is part of some of these continuity is that marked the transfer of power in the subcontinent successive governments or military governments in Pakistan you know in a way to prove the role that the British Raj had played in terms of sort of suppressing news not wanting you know aggressive criticism to be leveled against governments and that tradition seems to be sort of continuing in many ways but the other point I really want to emphasize is that you know we mustn't equate the media with democracy you know with democratic the democratization of communications is an intrinsic part of of of of you know what it means to be a democracy in some parts of the world that seems an automatic assumption exactly I think mustn't do that in Pakistan particularly And what also concerns me is is the sort of lack of institutional ability. You know institution buildings you know institutions like the judiciary I mean you know the Supreme Court the High Court in Pakistan I mean what is there ever told in this contemporary context I haven't heard too much about you know their views in terms of defending the liberties of the press in constitutional terms and I would very much like to see more of that and how intimidating is the military in Pakistan for those who don't naturally support it. I mean it's intensely I mean there's a there's no way of sort of sort of. You know it's it's the threats of the best snow level we just heard in the news report those are real abductions take place all the time particularly social bloggers are you know continuously abducted one doesn't know when when when people are killed people are sort of people disappear and this is not just in Pakistan as you know as I'm sure we're all aware it's happening in other parts of the world to you listening to the b.b.c. World Service and Paul Henley with weekend. A quick reminder today's main news a rescue mission is underway to free the 12 boys and their coach from flooded caves in Thailand where they've been trapped and the Japanese prime minister says emergency teams are working against the clock to save people caught there in devastating floods now there's a big week of international diplomacy coming up for the u.s. President Donald Trump on Wednesday and Thursday he'll be in Brussels for a NATO summit before traveling on to the u.k. For what's been described as a working visit to meet Britain's prime minister and the Queen last week London's mass city can gave permission for a giant blimp a 900 foot balloon betraying Donald Trump as an orange snarling baby to be flown over Parliament by protesters during the president's visit President Trump has made it a priority during his time in office to on Ravel the foreign policy achievements of his predecessor Barack Obama on climate change global trade perhaps most notably the Iranian nuclear deal so how might Mr a bomber be reflecting on the United States his current position on the world stage Well Ben Rhodes was officially a deputy national security adviser he was described by many of the time as right hand man to President Obama. He's just written a book about his years in the White House in titled the world as it is I've been speaking to him there's a lot of acceptance you know I described the night of the election him sending me an e-mail about 3 in the morning saying there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on the earth but Obama has a way of saying is that really well what it means is sitting out perspective that essentially you know Obama has a serenity that is almost kind of Asian in its ability to not get too high or too low based on whether things are going well or not I think his view is that you know if he sat there making himself crazy over every little thing Trump did it would be the best use of his time I think it takes a longer view of what he did and how history's going to sort that out how much serenity does he have when he he is that the new president is I'm picking his Iran nuclear deal you know that was a particularly tough one because some of the other things Trump has done don't have a permanence to them so for instance the Paris climate agreement the next u.s. President is reenter that agreement you know or what I worked on the opening to Cuba you know the next president can pick that up and move it forward the Iran deal is pretty binary you're either in or out and we spent 7 years getting that done basically have sanctions and then diplomacy I think that was one that bothered him more because Trump frankly spent a year and a half trying to find some evidence that Iran wasn't complying with the deal couldn't find it and left anyway President Obama never managed a face to face meeting with Kim Jong un Diddy No but we didn't really seek one you know why not well we were we more than willing to meet with adversaries Iran and Cuba chief among them Kim Jung un came into office in kind of the middle of the Obama term and there were 2 differences to trump one is that there was a right wing government South Korea that never would have gone for that type of summit and. The 2nd is frankly we had to take the measure of Kim Jung un you know he spent the 1st year or 2 of his time in that office purging his opponents including killing a lot of people and then turning to his nuclear program so there was not a diplomatic opening while we were in office you write a lot about how President Obama's foreign policy was informed by his principles what about that red line in Syria did you get the principals role and then I think one of his principles was that if you're going to do something as consequential is going to war you both have to know that there is a reason to do that but also a likelihood that you can succeed and I think the difficulty that he found in Syria is that there was no clear military option to resolve this incredibly complicated civil war and that the conditions weren't present you know the u.s. Congress was not support of international support didn't materialize that was not a good way to start another American war in the Middle East can you give us an example of when Barack Obama lost that Zen calm that we all find quite easy to imagine you know it would happen over strange strange things come on different I tell for instance we were on a trip to South America and we launched the Libyan military intervention and we were working and Le stays and I'm writing speeches and briefing the press and going to meetings and I somewhere along the way and this may sound trivial but it actually illuminates Obama I lost my razor and so I didn't shave for a couple days and Obama snaps I mean he says you know you can't even bother to shave you need to pull yourself together here and I thought he's getting in 1st and I said well you know somewhere in Brazil and he really was irritable about it you know what I realized what would bother him is we have to be unflappable we have to have a carrier selves with a certain ethos as he did that we're pros you know we shave reapers out well we take this seriously and we look the part I mean he also loses. Temper when he felt like he wasn't well served on a certain issue I remember the assessments that we had of the ability of the Iraqi security forces to hold off ISIS I remember that when they overran Mosul he was quite happy that you know we've been hearing for years about how the Iraqi security forces were so we trained them and then they could hold this ground but he didn't never raise his voice and so I remember him saying he was unhappy with the information that he was getting we needed better information but then presented because he knew I had to pause and say I'm aggravated you know and that was you know because he wasn't a yell or scream or your most had to tell you that he was upset and aggravated That's an interesting way of expressing anger isn't it Giles you know. I think so I mean he is such the diametric opposite I know I'm saying the obvious to to to to triumph it is incredible Actually Ben Rhodes that was on his new book on working with President Obama in the White House also containing his reflections called The World As It Is What did you you make of that interview. I think it's very interesting so it was it looks behind you know kind of the curtain so I hadn't for example understood that he really liked to see people nicely nicely put together he had his way of it was just it was an interesting it was an interesting interview you know unlike I've been interested to see the exact same interview but behind the Trump White House right do you think would ever get it probably I mean I think that one of the interesting things about the Trump White House is that to an extent it's uncensored people there's a certain freedom to to say what people think don't you don't you find I do I do find I mean I think there is there is a lack of control that obviously reflects the top and reflects Trump's way of doing things party free politics it's not party politics he runs and destructive politics because I think it probably represents his character and his business in a very common acumen of the way he runs things how much do you want insights into the White House sold or. Or knew Chandra Well my interest would be as far as you know some of this inside help me to understand the impact of potential decisions made by the president which have broader international impact for instance you know his appointments to the Supreme Court given the Supreme Court's rulings for instance recently on the whole immigration issue you know certain countries being targeted and that's where my interest comes it's quite easy to imagine President Obama's chain of advisors isn't it you can you can very clearly picture Ben Rhodes in the White House being part of a team of people presenting evidence opinion whatever to President Obama how do you imagine the Trump White House chain of advice but if you want goes with with the comments that have been made official including back from it's about the getting the best person for the job you know it's a very sort of business model you know you know literally no guarantee that he'll listen to that best person absolutely I mean that's right I mean in a way it's it might some critics might argue that that's how he ran his businesses do and often not with very good consequences you know he was declared bankrupt at least once you know so 11 really is dealing with someone who is inexperienced but there is a certain sense of sort of I think freedom in such a position but you know with freedom comes responsibility and voters do not vote for advisers today so you could argue that it's more democratic indeed Well that's what one would say that Trump and some of his supporters do say that this isn't you know the president who's died down to any lobby he's above that you know he's he's working sort of in a way for the nation as a whole do you see that jobs no I mean this is I think this is expected to this this is his it is his argument but I mean it's it's it's it's awful it's really really over I can. I cannot express how upset I am yes I've got to go beyond saying this is awful Tell me what you know what is undemocratic about about. Unelected advisors being less powerful in the White House because the president has never been in a situation where he was the the expert at everything and I think this is the most critical thing he supposed to be there he's supposed to be taking consensus from experts to make decisions about science about politics and about things and they're supposed to be there and listening to the advisers not a view completely in experts and most things and we all are an expert in most things and if we don't take the advice of your advisers who do we become and I'm and I'm not the president United States your experts have taken reputational blow recently haven't the Chandra well indeed and one doesn't only have to look to the u.s. You know closer to home to you know and I think this is part of possibly an argument to be made about the kind of presidential democracy that exists in the u.s. And this is a much bigger question you know we can say that the president needs to work in a coalition and listen to his advisors but you know he is you know. In terms of the decentralization of power you know he is the buck stops with him I mean a bit like what Obama said you know we have to present a certain facade and it starts from Obama down you know it's it's that image and it's all linked to this one person is it more difficult being an expert Giles these days you are one it is more difficult being an expert I think we do have a role to play experts all of us here in letting known experts know what we do and how we do what we do and why particularly in today's Post truth world Giles you know and Chandra Kokoro are our guests this is we can't from the b.b.c. World Service We are live from London. 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