For more on this, i spoke withjean lee, the former Ap Pyongyang Bureau chief and co host of the bbc podcast, the lazarus heist. Thank you for being back on the programme. First of all, whats the significance of this potential deal between two countries that really are becoming even more isolated on the world stage . I think you laid it out. If the two leaders do meet and arrange a deal of some sort, this is a deal that is possibly going to help the russian president extend that war in ukraine by supplying him with munitions that he desperately needs, and in exchange, possibly, food that north korea needs, but beyond that, quite possibly technology that north korea needs to take its Weapons Programme to the next level, and that certainly has implications that have a far greater reach because it is about Nuclear Proliferation and so it may be that the leaders meet, they hold a high level summit, lots of pomp, lots of propaganda, but it will be interesting to see what they say about any deals that come out of that. I have a feeling they are not going not admit to any kind of a weapons deal which they both know would be Illicit Activity as members of the un. We are watching some footage now of previous meetings between the two leaders. I want to ask you, what would you make between another potential face to face meeting between kim jong un and Vladimir Putin in russia . As we mentioned, north koreas leader rarely makes it out of the country these days. This is an interesting development. Just to provide a little context, north korea has been in self imposed isolation since january 2020, and we assume and they say that is because of the covid pandemic but i believe that the reason goes beyond that and that is because Nuclear Talks broke down in 2019 between the United States and north korea. That is when i started to see north korea retreat, kimjong un closing up borders, so he could recalibrate his strategy, reshape the narrative, and now he is emerging at a time when, frankly, this Border Closure has been so devastating to their economy. So, there are a couple of things here. He is setting himself up for his re emergence but also he needs to tell his people, listen, we may have been closed off for 3. 5 years but this superpower, russia, ourally, has not forgotten about us and im just as important as i was in 2019 when i last met Vladimir Putin in vladivostok. So really, for kimjong un, if he does make this trip, he is looking for those photos that he can take back to north korea. So that is the political propaganda, part of it, but clearly that is going to be much more coming out of that meeting that we should be concerned about in the rest of the world. Russia seems to be seeking weapons for its continued war in ukraine. Do we know how effective are north koreas weapons are and whether theyd be any help to russia on the battlefield . So, on the part of president putin, this is a time where he is increasingly isolated, i think he is kind of digging at the bottom of the barrel when he is looking for friends like north korea, but north korea is a country that did invest in its military� s conventional weaponry for many, many years. Kim jong un, as we know, has been investing in nuclear weapons. His father, the late Kim Jong Il Invested in conventional weapons, and they have a lot of that kind of conventional weaponry that we are seeing russia use in ukraine and so this is a time of rare opportunity for north korea to step up and say, hey, we have something that you need. It is illicit. North korea has denied supplying these weapons in other types of partnerships but and other types of partnerships but this is an interesting moment where we are seeing these reports come out and perhaps us officials saying, listen, we want do know we are seeing this, we are flagging it, we are trying to draw global attention to it, we see what youre doing. We have seen this relationship between north korea and russia getting a little bit closer. How would that tight relationship between those two countries impact the rest of the world . So, this is a traditional alliance, it has not always been so strong so seeing the restoration of this alliance also serves as a reminder that this global divide between the us and the west, and russia, china and allies like north korea on the other side, isjust deepening but i would say it really comes down to the extension of that ukraine conflict and also with this partnership it is going to be so much harder at the Un Security Council for the us and its allies and the west to really press ahead with more sanctions to stop both russia, china and north korea. And then also of course if this doesnt help north korea and then also of course if this does help north korea with its Nuclear Programme thats a Proliferation Issue so i think that we should be worried that this partnership, this Strengthening Alliance and it has implications far beyond the korean peninsula. Jean lee, former Ap Pyongyang Bureau chief and current co host of the bbc podcast the lazarus heist, thank you so much forjoining us. Thank you. My colleague Catriona Perry spoke with evelyn farkas, former Deputy Assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine, and eurasia. They discussed that kim putin meeting, plus ukraines latest Military Shakeup and the conference shes attending on putin in tbilisi, georgia. You have been to north korea, what you make of this breaking story . Well, i would say first of all, it is sort of pathetic that russia has to rely on north korea for weapons. This once great superpower relying on its small, veryjunior partner, if you will, under communism, and now of course they continue to have a convenient relationship and russia as a member of the Security Council, russia was on the Security Council and voted for all of the sanctions on north korea for their Illegal NuclearWeapons Programme. The world banned north korea from selling weapons and we know no sanctions are perfect but this is a very public sanction busting by a Card Carrying Member of the Un Security Council so it is also another one of putins blatant attempt to upend the international order. Can the International Community do anything about the situation . Well, of course, diplomatically they can and they should do everything they can to censure russia and north korea, of course, because north korea is aiding and abetting a genocidal war being waged against ukrainian people, against innocent civilians, by the russian government. They are of course under pressure from the west. Kim is trying to get attention from the world with his Weapons Programme and of course russia feels isolated. Vladimir putin is weak, he has been demonstrated to be weak on the International Stage and has been under Arrest Warrant by the International Criminal court and i could go on. Talking about ukraine specifically, we saw president zelensky has removed his Defence Minister as part of his wider investigation into corruption and that is not for a moment to say there have not been any charges against reznikov. At this point in time he has not been in charged personally in any way but what does all of this mean for the current state of the war . I actually think it is a really positive sign, catriona, because i have travelled around the world, meeting with Defence Ministers from all kinds of countries, urging them to reform, to root out corruption, to make sure their Defence Ministries are up to Western Democratic standards in many cases and, often times, if they are waging a war and they are reluctant reformers, they will use the war as an excuse, and in this case, president zelensky did not do that. He took the courageous move to to move out against corruption. Hes picked a Defence Minister who looks absolutely ready on day one to do something about it, somebody with a Business Background and somebody with already some experience in ukraine rooting out corruption in the government, and privatising in a very transparent fashion, so i am actually taking a great deal of encouragement from this that president zelensky means what he says. He is still the anticorruption president while he is also a wartime president. Ukraine has lauded some successes on the counteroffensive in the past week. Does that call that into question now that the Defence Minister has been changed . I think that these are two separate things. I am here at the tbilisi conference, the annual conference which the Mccain Institute hosts, with our georgian partner, the eprc, and the bush institute. And we have had a lot of interesting conversations about the progress of the war and i think that most people believe that the war progress thus far has not been a failure, so it is not a firing because it is not going as president zelensky thought it should proceed. My sense is that this truly is related to corruption, although of course it is possible he thought he needed some fresh blood and fresh advising on the war as well. You mention you are at the conference in tbilisi, georgia. It is the 15th anniversary of Russia Invading Georgia and it continues to occupy territory there. Georgia has not imposed International Sanctions on russia and in fact it has seen its trade go up with russia since the war began. Do you see that situation, that relationship continuing . Unfortunately, i do not see any indications that it is going to change. Georgia now is in a grey zone of its own making, of the governments making rather, not the making of the georgian people, not the desire of the georgian people, but this government is in effect aligning with Vladimir Putin because they are not participating in sanctions against russia and theyre allowing goods to flow freely to russia. These goods, of course, help the Russian Military effort against ukraine and so that is problematic. The future of georgia is very much in question under this government. You mentioned the eu membership. The eu council is to make a decision on that by the end of the year. Given the slow pace of progress and hitting these goals, do you think georgia will meet that deadline . Again, our georgian colleagues who have been speaking at this tbilisi Conference Today and will be speaking tomorrow as well, they are very pessimistic. They do not believe this government will do the 12 things that the European Union is requiring. Most significantly and problematic is the de oligarchization. I am not exactly sure how you do that but what they mean is there is one oligarch in the republic of georgia who is funding the Main Political Party and is basically buying off opposition, and there is a very Strong Civil Society here that is pointing all of this out, but whether the government has the will to turn against the man that has given them all the power is an open question and one that right now nobody is optimistic that the answer to it will be yes. The theme of your conference is defeating putinism. When it comes to the war in ukraine, do you think the russian president can be defeated . Absolutely, but i think the reason we picked defending putinism as the theme of our conference because last year it was actually slava ukraini, helping ukraine to victory was the recognition that it will not be enough just to defeat putin or to remove putin from the political scene, it is putinism and the various forms in other countries, 0rbanism or trumpism these sicknesses, these authoritarian tendencies, these anti democratic, anti human rights regimes, and the power that they exert across the globe, putting their tentacles into democratic societies and other struggling societies to try and gain advantage, whether it is in africa, latin america, europe or the United States, is what were trying also to draw attention to here. Thank you so much for speaking to on bbc news. Thank you. Talks between russias Vladimir Putin and turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to revive the black Sea Grain Initiative have ended without a deal. Turkey helped broker the agreement alongside the United Nations in 2022 that russia backed out of injuly. Putin argued that russia would only return to the deal once its conditions are met, including removing obstacles its own food and fertilizer exports and its lack of access to the Swift Financial transaction system. For his part, mr erdogan appeared hopeful that a deal could be reached soon. Here in the us, first Ladyjill Biden has tested positive for covid. Thats a developing story. Her office says she is currently experiencing only mild symptoms, and will remain at the biden� s home in rehoboth beach, delaware. As for the president , the white house has issued a statement saying quote following the first ladys positive test for covid 19, President Biden was administered a covid test this evening. The president tested negative. The president will test at a regular cadence this week and monitor for symptoms. This is a second covid diagnosis for the first lady. She also tested positive in august of last year. And it comes just three days before President Biden is set to go to india for the g20 summit and then vietnam. The first ladys postive test comes as the us is seeing a rise in coronavirus cases, especially as the Labor Day Holiday weekend comes to a close. According to the centers for Disease Control and prevention, Patient Hospitalisations have jumped by nearly 20 in the past week. But overall, cases are still down by about 60 compared to this time last year. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. Lets look at some other stories making news. In syria, people took to the streets of suwayda province the latest in a wave of protests against president bashar al assad. The demonstrations started a couple of weeks ago over poor Living Conditions and appear to have spiraled into renewed calls for political change. Such prolonged Anti Government protests outside of opposition controlled areas are rare in syria. Scrutiny over the structural safety of schools across the uk is intensifying. The british Prime Minister has denied claims that he oversaw budget cuts that led to crumbling concrete in schools not being repaired. More than 100 schools in england have closed their buildings because of problems with the concrete known as raac. New video shows a caravan of cars and vans leaving the Burning Man Festival Site in nevadas black rock desert. Rare rainstorms turned the area into a muddy mess, leaving the 70,000 attendees stranded. Some attempted to walk nearly 10km to the nearest road with plastic bags on their feet. Thats about six miles. Youre live with bbc news. Turning to spain, now, where at least three people have died and others remain missing, after record rainfall caused flooding in the centre of the country. Roads and train lines had to be closed. 0fficials used helicopters to reach some of those affected. Guy hedgecoe has the latest. This Weather Event was a dramatic and deadly end to the spanish summer, striking just as many people were returning to work after the holidays. The Central Province of toledo was one of the worst hit areas. A man died after being trapped in a lift there, apparently because of the flooding. Another man was already dead when Rescue Services reached him near his car. Just west of madrid, one man is still missing after his car was swept away, although his ten year old son was rescued after clinging to a tree for eight hours. Just over a week ago, many parts of the country were seeing temperatures of up to a0 celsius. Spain often sees heavy rain at the end of the summer but this Weather Event, caused by a mass of low pressure, has been much more extreme than normal. In and around madrid, where rivers burst their banks, flooding has damaged homes and left many residents struggling to keep the water out. 200 people were evacuated. Translation the water came into the house as if it was a wave. It went upstairs and we panicked a bit. We tried to solve the problem as best we could. We put the dog on the roof. The flo