Theresa May nervously awaits Donald Trump's UK arrival
President’s visit will be heavy on flattery and pomp, and tailored to avoid protesters
The protests have already begun, police leave has been cancelled, while the prime minister and her foreign secretary are nervously preparing for any potential mishaps, gaffes or insults: Donald Trump is finally arriving in the UK.
The US president’s plane touches down on Thursday lunchtime for a four-day visit sandwiched between the Nato summit and his trip to Helsinki to meet Vladimir Putin. Theresa May is fervently hoping her welcome will keep Trump’s loyalties focused on the former.
May has staked considerable political capital on maintaining close ties to the often capricious US president, meaning she and Jeremy Hunt, three days into his job as foreign secretary, will be praying he can remain on message.
Japan floods: Death toll nears 200 as intense heat brings threat of disease during clear up
Disasters set off by torrential rains have become more frequent in Japan due to global warming, experts suggest
Intense heat and water shortages raised fears of disease outbreaks in flood-hit western Japan on Thursday as the death toll from the worst weather disaster in 36 years neared 200.
More than 200,000 households had no water a week after torrential rains caused floods and set off landslides across western Japan, bringing death and destruction to decades-old communities built on mountain slopes and flood plains.
The death toll rose to 195, with several dozen people still missing, the government said on Thursday.
The Burmese python and the fight for the Florida Everglades
The Florida Everglades are famous throughout the world, with alligators as perhaps their best-known inhabitants. However, there’s a new predator in town — and it is wreaking havoc on this remarkable ecosystem.
At a coffee shop in Davie, Florida, I'm waiting for wildlife biologist Ian Bartoszek. He causes a huge stir as he walks in with a giant platter of what could easily be choux pastries. Patrons look on confused, some approaching to ask if they are potatoes.
"These are Burmese python eggs," he tells them. "Right now in the field, there are many female pythons we didn't catch sitting on a clutch like this that will probably hatch."
Amnesty fears 'war crimes' in Yemeni prisons run by UAE
Human rights violations in a string of Yemeni prisons run by the United Arab Emirates could amount to war crimes, Amnesty International said Thursday.
It called for investigations by the UAE and allies including the United States into a network of unofficial prisons across southern Yemen where it said "egregious violations" have been committed, including enforced disappearances and torture.
"Ultimately these violations, which are taking place in the context of Yemen's armed conflict, should be investigated as war crimes," said Tirana Hassan, Amnesty's crisis response director.
The Thai cave rescue ended in success. But only two weeks ago, it all seemed hopeless
Updated 0004 GMT (0804 HKT) July 12, 2018
The Wild Boars are back. Twelve young boys and their soccer coach are safe, freed from the floods in a labyrinthine set of caves in northern Thailand where they had been trapped in for more than two weeks. The mood in Thailand's Chiang Rai province is elated.
When a Thai military unit had finished dismantling a section of water pumps that had proved so crucial in the successful operation, they jumped into their open-topped vehicle near the Tham Luang caves on Wednesday, smiling triumphantly to the crowd of cheering supporters who had stayed on to give their heroes a proper send off.
But behind those jubilant scenes lay the knowledge that each one of those rescue workers carries: the near three-week operation had rested on a knife's edge, with equal chance of success or disaster.
Killing rats could save coral reefs
The much maligned rat is not a creature many would associate with coral reefs.
But scientists studying reefs on tropical islands say the animals directly threaten the survival of these ecosystems.
A team working on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean found that invasive rats on the islands are a "big problem" for coral reefs.
Rats decimate seabird populations, in turn decimating the volume of bird droppings - a natural coral fertiliser.
The findings are published in Nature.
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