We are going to have a great night tonight. We are honoring literary liens, emma white will be honored, a big night for the Massive National Book Foundation for literature, culture, a big night for all of us. When i have the ability to stand in front of people i mention my mothers name jean christian. She is the reason i like to say about my mother i am the man that i am because she is the woman sheis or was. My mother was my first teacher. My mother graduated from college at the age of 17, the first person in her family to go to college. For me to be a wellknown literary advocate in this nation, a place where only a scant few generations ago it would have been illegal for me to read is no small thing. [applause] literature is the birthrightof every single one of us, no exception and if you can read in at least one language youare in my definition free. That is to say , no one can pull the wall over your eyes. No one can give you a set of what they want to call alternative facts and co
and extreme poverty. hello and welcome to bbc news. us defence chiefs have identified what they say is a second chinese surveillance balloon, this time over latin america. the first balloon is floating across the us mid west. antony blinken, the us secretary of state, has cancelled a trip to beijing, and accused the chinese authorities of being irresponsible. china insists the balloon is a weather monitoring device which has blown off course amd has called for tensions between the washington and beijing to be handled in a cool headed and prudent manner. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. a surreal but increasingly serious international row. this speck in the sky could be spying on the us the chinese balloon that s been hovering over the country for several days. china insists it s a platform to conduct weather related research that s deviated from its route. beijing has apologised but the us state department says it stands by its assessment that the ball
for a summit on ukraine president zelensky says he believes his country deserves talks on joining the eu this year. deserted railway stations as train drivers in england stage their second walkout this week. australian tennis star nick kyrgios admits assaulting his ex girlfriend but avoids a criminal conviction we ll have the latest from canberra. # falling in our hearts # here again, hawai i # aloha, aloha # and could this song by the former sex pistols by the former sex pistolsrontmanjohn lydon written about his wife s alzheimer s be chosen to represent ireland at the eurovision song contest? it s very hard to be away from her. but i have to do this. i have to bring awareness to this problem. hello, and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. the us department of defence says it s tracking what s believed to be a chinese surveillance balloon that entered american airspace two days ago. the military considered shooting it down over the state of montan
showers will become further and fewer between, particularly into next week. more in the way of dry weather, and it might turn warmer. another couple of showery days to come. and that s bbc news at six on wednesday 29th june. now wejoin our now we join our colleagues in the nations and regions. hello again. low pressure is with us through the rest of this week, so hello and welcome to sportsday i m chethan partak. andy murray is in the prime time slot trying to lift the mood. coming up slot trying to lift the mood. coming up on the programme a straight sets defeat in the second round. powering through and finding his best tennis again also coming up in the programme england face a race against time to win against south africa after rain stops play in taunton. and the welsh swimmer tells the bbc he is gay and he hopes to inspire people around the world ahead of next month s commonwealth games. , ., ., ., , games. there will be a lot of people watchin: games. there will be a l
Fessor woody holton from the university of South Carolina. Third we hear from professor eri c slauter from the university of chicago. Finally, we hear from professor David Armitage at Harvard University known fo the declaration of independence a global history. Everyone will speak about 10 to 12 minutes and then we have questions from the audience. I think youre all set. Prof. Brewer thank you to organizers of this conference, which is terrific. When the delegates to the Continental Congress assembled in june of 1776, they faced a dilemma. Fighting between colonists and british troops have been going on more than a year. Political disputes over whether colonists needed to dissent to their own government and taxes remained at a standoff. Some delegates sought peace and redfin scissors peace and reckons lesion with their king. Only seven supported independence. New york, new jersey delaware, and South Carolina were not yet ready to fight. Congress chose a committee of five men to persuad