:00:00. > :00:00.This is BBC World News Today, I'm Laura Trevelyan.
:00:07. > :00:11.Jared Kushner denies any coordination with Russia
:00:12. > :00:17.That was the message to US lawmakers - and when he got back
:00:18. > :00:22.to the White House he underlined it, for all to hear.
:00:23. > :00:27.I did not collude with Russia nor do I know of anyone else in the
:00:28. > :00:31.campaign who did so. The parents of terminally ill baby
:00:32. > :00:34.Charlie Gard give up their legal fight to get him new treatment
:00:35. > :00:36.in the US. And this ice sheet could
:00:37. > :00:38.be disappearing even We're in one of the world's
:00:39. > :00:49.most remote regions, British scientists have come here to
:00:50. > :00:52.Greenland to try and work out how rapidly the Acer is going to melt
:00:53. > :00:57.and what that means firstly levels around the world. -- for sea levels
:00:58. > :01:02.around the world. He's not only President Trump's son
:01:03. > :01:07.in law, but one of his And today Jared Kushner
:01:08. > :01:10.was on Capitol Hill - speaking to investigators
:01:11. > :01:12.on the Senate Intelligence committee, who're looking
:01:13. > :01:13.at Russian interference The meeting was behind closed doors,
:01:14. > :01:18.but when he got back to the White House, Mr Kushner
:01:19. > :01:29.made this statement. Since the first questions were
:01:30. > :01:31.raised in March, I have been a consistent in saying that I was
:01:32. > :01:38.eager to share any information I have. With the investigating bodies
:01:39. > :01:44.and I have done so today. The wreck of the documents I have voluntarily
:01:45. > :01:48.provided will show that all of my actions were proper and occurred in
:01:49. > :01:55.the normal course of events of a very unique campaign. Let me be very
:01:56. > :02:03.clear. I did not collude with Russia nor do I know of anyone else in the
:02:04. > :02:06.campaign who did so. I had no improper contacts, I have not relied
:02:07. > :02:11.on a Russian funds for my businesses. And I have been fully
:02:12. > :02:16.transparent and providing all requested information.
:02:17. > :02:22.And joining me now from Capitol Hill is the BBC's Laura Bicker.
:02:23. > :02:26.Very emphatically, I did not collude with Russia during the campaign.
:02:27. > :02:32.How's that going down on Capitol Hill? He has been very adamant and
:02:33. > :02:36.jihadist agent issued to us before he gave evidence to the Senate and
:02:37. > :02:42.in it he detailed those meetings that he had with the Russians. The
:02:43. > :02:45.key one of the Democrats and Republicans working keen to hear
:02:46. > :02:49.about was the meeting he had with a Russian lawyer. That meeting that
:02:50. > :02:52.was arranged by Donald Trump junior. It was a meeting where they were
:02:53. > :02:56.promised incriminating information about Hillary Clinton and here is
:02:57. > :03:00.the crucial part, when they were e-mailed about this meeting they
:03:01. > :03:03.were told that there are robbing giving this information because it
:03:04. > :03:09.was part of Russia and its Government support for Donald Trump.
:03:10. > :03:14.One of the questions that senators opposed to have put two Jared
:03:15. > :03:17.Kushner is why take that meeting. He said he didn't take the e-mail
:03:18. > :03:21.properly, he arrived late and when he got there it was clear that it
:03:22. > :03:25.was a waste of his time and fact he couldn't wait to leave. But there
:03:26. > :03:28.are still questions with regard to cry and the only getting the
:03:29. > :03:30.information about this now considering we have known about this
:03:31. > :03:35.meeting for the last couple of weeks. And then he set about the
:03:36. > :03:39.revelations made in March, when it was discovered and revealed that he
:03:40. > :03:42.had met with a Russian banker and the Russian ambassador during the
:03:43. > :03:48.transition phase before Donald Trump took office. He said he was making
:03:49. > :03:53.contact because he wanted to have some contact with Russia before,
:03:54. > :03:57.took office. When it comes to that, he said he doesn't ask for those
:03:58. > :04:02.meetings, they were organised by the Russians themselves. Again in the
:04:03. > :04:08.issues were raised with regards to why not put that on your right has
:04:09. > :04:11.clearance form, and when it comes to reform itself and sincere is
:04:12. > :04:15.blooming his assistant for putting it through to LA for not mentioning
:04:16. > :04:19.those meetings so there is a lot to clean up. Democrats are making much
:04:20. > :04:24.of the fact that this meeting was not under oath and they were saying
:04:25. > :04:28.it was not in public and they are saying there are still many more
:04:29. > :04:29.questions are to be absent. Thank you.
:04:30. > :04:32.And joining me now is legal scholar Jonathan Turley who teaches
:04:33. > :04:44.I know you been studying the written statement by Jared Kushner, what do
:04:45. > :04:50.you make of the very carefully phrased town of what he has to say?
:04:51. > :04:54.He is not working with much. Either is not a good narrative here. He
:04:55. > :04:59.said he went to the meeting and then decided there was nothing here. But
:05:00. > :05:02.the meeting was set to collude with the Russians. This says that a lot
:05:03. > :05:06.like I went to collude and they didn't collude with us. That is not
:05:07. > :05:11.a good narrative. It is also not a crime. But there are not many good
:05:12. > :05:16.options for Jared Kushner here. The best you can see was he that he was
:05:17. > :05:20.a bit clueless but he was trying to collude. The record contradicts that
:05:21. > :05:23.to a point. In order for him to make this work he has to say that he went
:05:24. > :05:28.to this meeting with virtually no idea why he was going to the
:05:29. > :05:32.meeting. He says in that statement that he even e-mailed an assistant
:05:33. > :05:35.and asked him to get out of it because it was so boring. But he
:05:36. > :05:39.also says he didn't collude with Russia nor does he know of anyone
:05:40. > :05:44.else in the campaign. Again he is really covering himself. It has that
:05:45. > :05:50.build Bill Clinton type of thing, I didn't collude with this country
:05:51. > :05:53.moment. The problem with the collusion argument is that the
:05:54. > :06:01.e-mail itself as an invitation to collude. Saying the Russians have
:06:02. > :06:09.stuck on Hillary Clinton. Right. And Donald Trump trump Junior said I
:06:10. > :06:13.love it. That is a bad narrative, but it is not necessarily a crime.
:06:14. > :06:17.What he has to worry about from this point on I see is going into very
:06:18. > :06:21.precarious waters. He has to keep a consistent and coherent narrative,
:06:22. > :06:26.something the company 's vision hasn't been good at. Is that very
:06:27. > :06:28.high risk for him, the fact he has given this written statement and
:06:29. > :06:35.televised statement saying he didn't collude with Russia? He is
:06:36. > :06:39.committed. God help if there's anything that contradicts the
:06:40. > :06:47.statement at this point. Even though he is not under oath, lying to
:06:48. > :06:50.Congress a crime. I think Jared Kushner is trying to minimise his
:06:51. > :06:54.role in all this is put a lot more pressure on Donald Trump junior. Not
:06:55. > :06:58.to mention the president himself who is clearly feeling the pressure.
:06:59. > :07:05.What do you make of his tweets? He is rinsing his complete power to
:07:06. > :07:09.pardon. No one has been prosecuted by what he is even thinking about
:07:10. > :07:16.the possibility. It is fairly complete it is not absolute. The pit
:07:17. > :07:19.one limitation on a President's pardon power which was he couldn't
:07:20. > :07:23.use it to someone out of an impeachment but it is true that the
:07:24. > :07:27.supreme court has treated this as an unfettered power. You can use it
:07:28. > :07:30.before or during someone has been charged during a trial after the
:07:31. > :07:35.conviction. You can use it at any time. So the president could
:07:36. > :07:39.technically even before the special Council has found anything, he could
:07:40. > :07:42.pardon in advance is associate and his family and even himself
:07:43. > :07:45.questioned what he can do an anticipatory pardon and it has been
:07:46. > :07:49.done. That is what Richard Nixon got. Richard Nixon was pardoned by
:07:50. > :07:54.Gerald Ford without any charge against them. The question of
:07:55. > :07:57.whether a president and pardon himself as one of the long-standing
:07:58. > :08:02.questions of Cosic additional law and it has divided most of us. The
:08:03. > :08:09.answer is not clear. Because attrition itself, the text which
:08:10. > :08:10.supports the president has underlying policies that would
:08:11. > :08:12.contradict. Thank you. It's a heartbreaking case which has
:08:13. > :08:17.made headlines around the world - but now the parents
:08:18. > :08:19.of the terminally-ill baby Charlie Gard have ended their legal
:08:20. > :08:23.battle to bring him here to the US In an emotional statement,
:08:24. > :08:26.Charlie's father said they're going to spend their last precious
:08:27. > :08:28.moments with their son. Earlier, their lawyer told the Court
:08:29. > :08:31.in London that "time had run out" for the baby,
:08:32. > :08:33.after an American doctor who examined Charlie said he was no
:08:34. > :08:36.longer willing to offer the therapy. Here's our Medical
:08:37. > :08:47.Correspondent Fergus Walsh. The fight over Charlie Gard's future
:08:48. > :08:56.is over. This desperately sick little boy will no be allowed to
:08:57. > :09:02.die. After a hugely emotional hearing where his parents said they
:09:03. > :09:07.had agreed to let the sun go they urged to face the world's media. Our
:09:08. > :09:14.son is an absolute warrior and we can not be prouder of him and we
:09:15. > :09:19.will miss him terribly. His body, heart and soul may soon be gone but
:09:20. > :09:24.his spirit will live on for eternity and he will make a difference to
:09:25. > :09:30.Eagle's lives for years to come. We are now going to spend our last
:09:31. > :09:35.precious months with our son Charlie who unfortunately would make his
:09:36. > :09:40.first birthday in just under two weeks' time. Charlie has been an
:09:41. > :09:45.Great Ormond Street Hospital since October. He has a serious inherited
:09:46. > :09:50.condition, mitochondrial depletion syndrome. You cannot move feed or
:09:51. > :09:56.breathe unaided. The central question in this case was whether
:09:57. > :10:00.this powder therapy which is added to food could boost his muscle
:10:01. > :10:04.function. His parents raised ?1.3 million for the treatment and the
:10:05. > :10:09.United States, that money will now go to a foundation and Charlie's
:10:10. > :10:12.name. But Great Ormond Street Hospital backed by many independent
:10:13. > :10:15.experts said the treatment was retail because Charlie has suffered
:10:16. > :10:22.catastrophic and irreversible brain damage. Because Charlie's parents
:10:23. > :10:26.and doctors could not agree the matter went to the High Court. In
:10:27. > :10:31.April the judge ruled that Charlie's suffering should end. His life
:10:32. > :10:35.support be withdrawn. Every legal appeal brought by Charlie's parents
:10:36. > :10:44.failed. Then came interventions from the book and Donald Trump. The
:10:45. > :10:49.latter treating an offer of help. This has been an extraordinary case,
:10:50. > :10:53.a battle over the fate of a baby boy which was what not just in court but
:10:54. > :10:55.internationally. The judge said it was one of the pitfalls of social
:10:56. > :10:58.media that the watching world filtered right to have opinions
:10:59. > :11:03.without knowing the facts of the case. He said the court's paramount
:11:04. > :11:12.consideration and been Charlie's best interests at all times. The
:11:13. > :11:14.case came back to court when an American neurologist claimed new
:11:15. > :11:21.evidence showed his nuclear state therapy could help Charlie. Last
:11:22. > :11:26.week he flew over to examine. New MRI body scans were ordered. On
:11:27. > :11:32.Friday Charlie's parents accepted these showed his muscle wasting was
:11:33. > :11:36.now so severe she was beyond help. It is an incredibly brave decision
:11:37. > :11:38.by Charlie's parents will stop they have fought through for themselves
:11:39. > :11:43.what the new evidence shows and they have reached a conclusion probably
:11:44. > :11:47.the judge would have reached the scene, very brave of them to do it
:11:48. > :11:52.before or without waiting for 40 has to say. . Connie Yates said he would
:11:53. > :11:56.be appointed for the rest of their lives with what if their son had
:11:57. > :11:59.received the treatment months earlier. She said he had the
:12:00. > :12:07.potential to be a normal boy but it was now too late. To Charlie, we say
:12:08. > :12:10.mummy and daddy love you so much. We always have and we always well and
:12:11. > :12:17.we are so sorry that we couldn't save you. We parents are now with
:12:18. > :12:19.Charlie and his final hours. Great Ormond Street Hospital said the
:12:20. > :12:20.agony and desolation and bravery of their decision humbled all the
:12:21. > :12:27.water. Day all who worked there. In the weeks since Iraqi
:12:28. > :12:29.forces recaptured Mosul from so-called Islamic State,
:12:30. > :12:32.a grim picture has emerged of life Much of the city has
:12:33. > :12:35.been reduced to rubble, and the civilian population says
:12:36. > :12:37.atrocities were carried The BBC's Yalda Hakim reports
:12:38. > :12:41.from HAMAM AL ALIL about thirty kilometres to the south
:12:42. > :12:43.of the centre of Mosul. It was the scene of a massacre
:12:44. > :12:46.of civilians at the hands of Islamic State as Iraqi forces
:12:47. > :12:58.were fighting to liberate it. For three years this
:12:59. > :13:00.was the so-called Islamic Now it is the broken
:13:01. > :13:04.heart of the caliphate. The Isis reign of terror
:13:05. > :13:06.is now over but this After constant bombardment
:13:07. > :13:17.and shelling, an eerie silence Hundreds of thousands
:13:18. > :13:22.have been displaced, their lives like the city
:13:23. > :13:27.lies in ruins. This woman has returned
:13:28. > :13:29.to her neighbourhood with her two children for the first time
:13:30. > :13:31.in a month. They had attempted to get away
:13:32. > :13:34.during the battle but were captured She says she may now be liberated
:13:35. > :13:45.but it means nothing Life, she says, has become
:13:46. > :13:50.even more difficult. The people of Mosul are still paying
:13:51. > :13:58.the price for their freedom. Everyday people queue up,
:13:59. > :14:04.the injured, the sick, The battle is officially over
:14:05. > :14:12.but it is not safe in Mosul. Isis rigged houses and buildings
:14:13. > :14:15.with booby traps, returning home now All over the city there
:14:16. > :14:21.are unexploded devices. And it is now up to the Iraqi
:14:22. > :14:24.military to clean it up. TRANSLATION: There was
:14:25. > :14:27.a car bomb over there. So we are moving forward
:14:28. > :14:39.because there are more All over this city now Iraqi forces
:14:40. > :14:53.are working day and night to clear the areas of unexploded devices
:14:54. > :14:57.and booby traps so that families can This particular unit has been
:14:58. > :15:01.working for the last two days The task of rebuilding
:15:02. > :15:08.the city is monumental. But reconstruction will be easy
:15:09. > :15:12.compared to building trust. Real reconciliation
:15:13. > :15:16.will be a battle. Thousands of fighters
:15:17. > :15:18.for the caliphate had been killed. But the ideology
:15:19. > :15:22.hasn't died with them. Who is to blame for
:15:23. > :15:25.the devastation of Mosul? This man says his Sunni tribe
:15:26. > :15:31.didn't support Isis. But when the Iraqi militaries fled
:15:32. > :15:36.the city they had no choice. TRANSLATION: The Iraqi military
:15:37. > :15:39.controlled all of Mosul. He now has a stark warning
:15:40. > :15:48.for Baghdad and the world. I blame what happened
:15:49. > :15:51.to our city on politics. The politicians need
:15:52. > :15:57.to strike a deal. If they don't come up
:15:58. > :16:02.with an agreement we Laughter is once again
:16:03. > :16:07.allowed in Mosul. As children leap to take advantage
:16:08. > :16:10.of their new freedom. Many have known nothing
:16:11. > :16:13.but life under Isis. The Iraq they will inherit has
:16:14. > :16:17.arguably never been more divided. This generation will be tested again
:16:18. > :16:20.and again as old scars in this Let's take a look at some of
:16:21. > :16:35.the other stories making the news... At least 35 people have
:16:36. > :16:38.died - and 50 injured - An Afghan Government spokesman,
:16:39. > :16:41.said the car bomb exploded, near a bus carrying
:16:42. > :16:43.Ministry employees. The Taliban say they
:16:44. > :16:46.carried out the attack. And across the border,
:16:47. > :16:48.the Pakistani Taliban say they were behind an attack,
:16:49. > :16:50.in which at least twenty-six people died and around fifty were injured
:16:51. > :16:53.in the city of Lahore. A car bomb exploded
:16:54. > :16:58.at the side of a busy road. A manhunt in underway
:16:59. > :17:00.in Switzerland, where five people have been injured by a man
:17:01. > :17:03.with a chainsaw, in Police have identified the man,
:17:04. > :17:06.warning the public that he's highly dangerous,
:17:07. > :17:31.but not related to terrorism. The Sri Lankan navy were on hand to
:17:32. > :17:35.help these two elephants and put them back to shallow waters.
:17:36. > :17:38.A case of ruthless human trafficking - that's how police are describing
:17:39. > :17:40.the horrific scene they discovered on Saturday night outside
:17:41. > :17:43.Eight people were found dead, and two died later in hospital,
:17:44. > :17:48.after being crammed into a trailer with no air conditioning.
:17:49. > :17:50.It's a shocking example of the risks undocumented immigrants
:17:51. > :17:54.Just 65 miles north of the Mexican border, Brooks County, Texas,
:17:55. > :18:04.is bearing the brunt of this crisis - we've gone to see the impact.
:18:05. > :18:07.I will always refer to these things as senseless death.
:18:08. > :18:10.Over the last two or three weeks, we are having more
:18:11. > :18:16.They were unfortunate enough to perish in their journey
:18:17. > :18:37.I'm guessing about almost half a mile or so from here.
:18:38. > :18:39.We already have 30 for the year and we have
:18:40. > :18:49.What they do, they circumvent the checkpoints.
:18:50. > :18:52.Because they don't have the documentation they need.
:18:53. > :18:55.It is not a pleasant walk, it is a harsh walk.
:18:56. > :19:03.If they're not bringing any provisions, no water or
:19:04. > :19:07.anything, if they get lost they are screwed.
:19:08. > :19:09.Pretty much before they were just getting buried.
:19:10. > :19:27.Without any type of analysis being done.
:19:28. > :19:32.This is where we store all of the remains.
:19:33. > :19:35.Each and every one of these boxes contains the remains of a
:19:36. > :19:42.Brooks is a small county, population less than 8000.
:19:43. > :19:45.They don't have the funds and the manpower to do with that
:19:46. > :19:48.many sets of remains, have them properly
:19:49. > :19:53.autopsied, transported to a medical examiner's office for the autopsy.
:19:54. > :19:57.The definition typically given for a mass disaster
:19:58. > :20:00.is that there are so many deaths that overwhelms the local
:20:01. > :20:06.authority's ability to properly handle that disaster.
:20:07. > :20:09.And that is absolutely the case in south Texas.
:20:10. > :20:15.This happened after death and is related to animals just scavenging.
:20:16. > :20:20.Everyone is an individual, everyone had an identity in life and they
:20:21. > :20:23.deserve to have that identity in death.
:20:24. > :20:26.We have definitely taken corrective measures to handle that.
:20:27. > :20:31.So now we're not even burying people here in the county.
:20:32. > :20:49.The Greenland ice sheet may be melting faster than expected,
:20:50. > :20:53.raising ocean levels more than predicted.
:20:54. > :20:55.That's the concern of scientists who say warmer conditions
:20:56. > :20:59.are encouraging algae to grow in the ice and darken its surface.
:21:00. > :21:02.That matters, because darker ice absorbs more of the sun's rays
:21:03. > :21:07.And what happens in Greenland could affect millions of people
:21:08. > :21:16.Our Science Editor David Shukman has this exclusive report.
:21:17. > :21:19.A vivid blue snakes across the Greenland ice sheet.
:21:20. > :21:22.A beautiful sight but when the ice here melts, the oceans
:21:23. > :21:32.On the horizon, the ice sheet looms ahead of us.
:21:33. > :21:35.We've joined a team of British scientists.
:21:36. > :21:38.They are trying to understand how the ice is changing.
:21:39. > :21:41.People are very worried about the possibility that the ice
:21:42. > :21:49.sheet might be melting faster and faster in the future.
:21:50. > :21:54.We touch down in one of the remotest corners of the planet.
:21:55. > :22:02.A home in an utterly barren wilderness.
:22:03. > :22:05.Once it's there, we will leave it to you to take the measurements.
:22:06. > :22:16.Painstaking research to measure how quickly it might vanish.
:22:17. > :22:20.From the air, all you can really see is what looks like a vast
:22:21. > :22:24.expanse of endless white, but that isn't the whole story,
:22:25. > :22:27.because what's hard to grasp as I stand here is that this is just
:22:28. > :22:33.the surface of a vast mass of ice that's unbelievably thick,
:22:34. > :22:38.so let's imagine cutting it away right in front of me.
:22:39. > :22:41.The ice sheet stretches for as much as two miles,
:22:42. > :22:46.three kilometres from the surface here right down to the rock below.
:22:47. > :22:49.In fact, it is so thick you could take the world's tallest building,
:22:50. > :22:53.the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and fit four of them end to end inside.
:22:54. > :23:00.And because there's such a volume of ice here,
:23:01. > :23:05.there is the potential if much more of it melts for real damage
:23:06. > :23:13.And everywhere we look there is a growing threat.
:23:14. > :23:20.And the darker a surface, the more it absorbs the sun's rays,
:23:21. > :23:24.and, like wearing a black T-shirt on a hot day, the more it warms up.
:23:25. > :23:30.Martyn Tranter, the chief scientist here, shows me
:23:31. > :23:38.Algae have always been here but with more meltwater,
:23:39. > :23:41.and higher temperatures, conditions are ripe
:23:42. > :23:47.The algae are microscopically small but they might be
:23:48. > :23:52.What we want to know is how the algae can spread over
:23:53. > :23:57.the Greenland ice sheet as the climate warms.
:23:58. > :23:59.And it might well be that they will cause more
:24:00. > :24:07.melting and an acceleration of sea level rise.
:24:08. > :24:10.To investigate that, drones are used to scan the dark
:24:11. > :24:13.areas of the ice sheet, so the scientists can work out
:24:14. > :24:17.how rising temperatures could encourage the algae and lead
:24:18. > :24:24.In the evening light, the shimmer of gentle streams,
:24:25. > :24:29.Until recently, the amount of ice melting in summer was balanced
:24:30. > :24:37.But, in the last 20 years, the flows of water have multiplied.
:24:38. > :24:42.Each one eventually adding to the level of the oceans.
:24:43. > :24:45.No one is saying that this whole thing is going to melt in the next
:24:46. > :24:48.decade or even in the next 100 or even the next 1,000 years,
:24:49. > :24:52.but it doesn't all have to melt for more people to be in danger.
:24:53. > :24:54.Only a small amount, a very small portion of this ice
:24:55. > :24:58.sheet has to melt to raise the sea levels and then threaten millions
:24:59. > :25:05.of people in coastal communities around the world.
:25:06. > :25:07.What's striking is that this massive block of ice is vulnerable
:25:08. > :25:10.to a vicious cycle of warmer conditions, more algae,
:25:11. > :25:21.Down at the edge of the ice sheet, the tiny streams become a torrent.
:25:22. > :25:24.The research is are trying to improve the forecast for how this
:25:25. > :25:27.meltwater will raise the level of the sea.
:25:28. > :25:30.And for people in low-lying areas of Florida, Bangladesh
:25:31. > :25:32.and parts of Britain, getting those predictions
:25:33. > :25:44.David Shukman, BBC News in Greenland.
:25:45. > :25:46.Don't forget you can get in touch with me and some
:25:47. > :25:48.of the team on Twitter - I'm @LauraTrevelyan.
:25:49. > :26:06.Thank you for watching and we hope to see you back here tomorrow.
:26:07. > :26:13.It has been a stunning day across western parts of the UK.
:26:14. > :26:14.Temperatures have been soaring