live from singapore, this is bbc news. the uk will purchase fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons, in an effort to bolster nato's nuclear capability, as leader's of the alliance meet for a key summit in the hague. a preliminary assessment seen by our us media partner reveals us strikes on iran's nuclear sites may have only set the program back by months. plus, the commander of a british aircraft carrier on a rare pacific deployment tells the bbc he expects the warship to be closely monitored by the chinese military. and coming up on business today we hear from the managing director of the world economic forum who says despite geopolitical tensions, there are reasons to be hopeful

about global growth. welcome to newsday, i'm steve lai. the uk government says it will purchase fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons in a move that would significantly expand the uk's nuclear deterrent. the decision to purchase 12, us-made f-35a fighter jets will be announced at a key nato summit happening in the netherlands this week. 32 member countries, including the uk, are expected to agree to a new nato target to spend 5% of gdp on defence. ahead of the summit, president donald trump revealed private messages from the nato secretary general mark rutte appearing to praise him for his criticism of the bloc and his push for more defence spending from european allies. our europe editor, katya adler has this report.

russia has been busy in ukraine while the world was distracted watching iran. translation: it is it is simply unthinkable that russia, with an economy 25 times smaller than nato's, should be able to outproduce and outgun us. we must spend more to prevent war. this is the man who holds peace in his hands. he says, "europe relies heavily on us troops and us military capabilities." leaders worry donald trump could pull them out of the continent. he's a known nato sceptic. this whole summit was essentially designed around wooing donald trump, trying hard to get him to commit to nato and to the defence of all of its allies, trying so hard that the nato secretary general used almost excruciatingly fawning language and even imitated donald trump's use

of capital letters in a private message that the us president made public just before he got here: 100,000 us troops are stationed in europe. many, like these on a nato training exercise, are based in the east, close to russia, to protect nato allies. donald trump is not the first president to complain europe must do more for its own defence. this time, europe's listening. we are here at the nato summit at a crucial time because i think everybody recognises that the world is more volatile now than it's been for a long time. nato is stronger now. that's what ukraine's president fervently hopes. and to get donald trump's buy-in at dinner tonight with the dutch king and queen

and a closed door meeting tomorrow, the uk and others here, bar spain, will serve donald trump what he ordered - a pledge to spend 5% of national income on defence within ten years. nato leaders believe they have no choice, but the cash will be hard to come by. katya adler, bbc news, the hague. i'm joined now by rose gottemoeller, former deputy secretary general at nato. great to be able to chat with her about this. given that nato spending on military equipment is going to be key to the summit, what do we make of the announcement that the uk will spend money on f-35a jet that will be able to carry nuclear weapons? it is a very important step. nato allies who have been basic states nuclear weapons have all signed up to buy f-35a

and they are certified to carry nuclear weapons. it is a big deal that the uk has pledged buy these new aircraft and assure they are also capable of carrying nuclear weapons and presumably that would be be to bolster the role of the independent uk nuclear deterrent, should it be called upon to strengthen extended nuclear deterrent in nato europe against a russian thread. i think it is a significant step and an important step in a serious step by the uk government. the deputy secretary general of nato has played a significant role in committing to an increase in spending? he has indeed and i remember mark rutte's first visit to nato when he shocked the entire nato alliance by threatening not to live up to the so-called article five commitment to defend nato member states should they be attacked. that was a huge shock at the time

and it was really based on his complaint that nato countries work free riding. seriously free riding on the united states are not spending enough for the right defence. i would say that has been remedied now not only in this recent period by beginning in his first term in office when nato got the message. now i think the message has been bolstered by russia's aggression against ukraine. there is truly a threat to nato europe that the member states are taking seriously. when it comes to events in ukraine, is president trump going to be meeting president zelensky and what will they be looking to discuss? it seems like it. both president zelensky and donald trump said on his flight over to the hague that he hoped the meeting could take place so i hope it will take place. it will be not a big formal session but more of a pull aside, is what we call them. similar to what we saw when

zelensky and trump got together on the margins of the funeral for pope francis a couple of months ago. a photo of them seriously talking together in the vatican. i hope we will see a serious meeting this time but it will be brief and rather informal. and the article five clause, he said he would share the finished at the summit. what else is new. mention here ready raise doubts back in may 2017 so he has been raising them right along and frankly it would be a huge head danny stanley trump and brace article five and said he was fully committed to it. -- had line if donald trump and brace article five. that is if the trump way. his atley knows how to continue to draw attention to this matter and from his perspective

it continues to make nato members nervous enough that they are pulling new funds and that is important and it is all for nato itself and not just for mr trump. do you think events in the middle east could overshadow this summit? i think as long as assessed by continues to hold overnight that donald trump will be taking a victory lap in the hague among the nato allies. you had your diplomats attempting a solution last week and it did not work but now i have been able to get the ceasefire place. i do not expect it will be a big topic of discussion as a crisis per se but i think the allies should expect mr trump will be taking some good credit for his own success. rose, thank you very much for your time. a truce between israel and iran appears to be holding for now,

with both countries claiming to have secured victory in their twelve-day war. the israeli prime minister said existential threats to his country had been removed and the iranian president said tehran had ended the conflict with a "great victory". this comes after president trump accused both sides of initially violating the fragile ceasefire. our north america editor, sarah smith, reports from washington. israel launched a barrage of air strikes on tehran as the ceasefire deadline approached. also striking iranian missile launchers in a last minute all-out assault. donald trump was furious with both iran and particularly israel, for not respecting the deal. i'm not happy with israel. you know, when i say, "ok, now you have 12 hours," you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them.

so, i'm not happy with them. i'm not happy with iran either, but i'm really unhappy if israel is going out this morning because of one rocket that didn't land that was shot, perhaps by mistake... we often see president trump exasperated, but never actually swearing like this. you know what we have? we basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the bleep they're doing. do you understand that? understand that israel has pushed him too far this time, just when he's on his way to take a victory lap at a nato summit in the hague, but only if the truce holds. he posted on social media... then from on board air force one, in a call to the israeli prime minister, which the white house described as exceptionally firm and direct, trump demanded he stick to the ceasefire. and then posted again, saying...

hello, everybody. it's great to be with a friend of mine. the nato secretary general mark rutte is hosting donald trump in the hague tonight. they get on well, but he still might be very surprised to find the text messages he sent praising the president posted on social media. he wrote... on air force one, mr trump is already talking about his desire to agree a ceasefire in ukraine. you know, i'd like to see a deal with russia. as you know, vladimir called me up. he said, "can i help you with iran?" i said, "no, i don't need help with iran. "i need help with you."

the pentagon has dismissed - as false - us media reports that the bombing of iran's nuclear facilities had not destroyed core components of the country's atomic programme and only set it back by a few months. several media outlets were quoting a preliminary assessment of the us defence intelligence agency. i'm joined now from washington by our north america correspondent jon donnison. tell us more about what these reports detail? if these were three intelligence officials who spoke initially to cnn and also to the new york times, they spoke anonymously but they were referring to a preliminary report, as you were saying, into the level of damage suffered by these nuclear facilities and that attack on saturday in the early hours of sunday morning and what this report says apparently is that while the facilities were badly damaged, it has not significantly setback in front's nuclear ambitions. it said it had pushed them back by up to three months. -- iran. at a push everyone could build a

nuclear weapon within three months so we think now that has been pushed back to six months but really what these officials are saying basically completely contradicts what the white house has been saying ever since those attacks unfolded on saturday night. and the white house has been very quick to rubbish them, including the secretary of defence pete access. how have they been responding? yes, he did. he alt-right rubbished them. he said that the nuclear facilities had been completely obliterated. the white house press secretary said you cannot drop 14 30,000 pound bombs on facilities and not have them completely destroyed. the truth is i just do not think we actually know the extent of the damage but i do think, over time, we will know and that is because the israelis, well,

there intelligence agencies have infiltrated the iranian security system so successfully, they will no doubt be trying to find out to what extent that ambitions have been sent back. israel's prime minister on tuesday evening in an address of the nation on tv, he said they had been completely destroyed. but he is trying to sell his actions over the past 12 days as a victory to the israeli public. i think it will take time to see the extent of the damage but certainly there are concerns amongst intelligence officials here in the us that it is not really been a significant setback and where that leaves us in terms of future relations between iran and israel and where this might go in the coming months and years, well, at least a lot of questions to be answered. it certainly seems the battle for the narrative as well is just as contentious as the physical battle as well. is

there anyway to independently verify, beside on israel and onto the pentagon, one has actually happened? well, no. there isn't, to be honest. all intelligence agencies, most western intelligence agencies, will be working to try and assess the extent of the damage but it is very, very difficult. iran is not going to be allowing the iaea inspectors to inspect the site so it is difficult to know and iran is probably going to want to keep secret the extent of the damage. but what these officials were saying that crucially, that's 500 kilograms of enriched uranium, which is what essential in order to build a nuclear weapon, well, they had been moved from the key sites before the attacks happen. thank you very much. appreciate that context from

docked here in singapore as part of a rare deployment to the asia pacific. the presence of the hms prince of wales is part of an 8-month deployment involving other uk allies and comes just a week after china criticised the passage of another british warship through the taiwan strait. i spoke with the carrier strike group's commander and began by asking him what the deployment signals to regional powers. to our partners and allies it is about reassurance and our commitment to the region as well and about our absolute commitment to uphold all based international order. £286 billion worth of trade between

the uk and the indo-pacific represents about 20%. maritime trade routes are so important and part of our reason to be here is to demonstrate a commitment to maintaining a free and open pacific. china might take a different view of the presence in the region. how are you looking to manage the interaction? in the same way that china has every right to sell its ships in international seat space, i almost expect they will want to come and watch what we're doing. this is a capable striker group and lots of other parties will wish to witness what we're doing but i do recognise it will be safe and professional and that is a way we operate in the maritime. it is really clear and we will respect each other and observe what each other do. other communication lines? communication shed about your movement and what you will be doing to avoid any potential...

? at a really basic level, between ships, bridge communication, where was make sure we offer an hello to each other and make clear what our intentions are. the world has significantly changed since 2021. warfare itself has changed. how is an operation such as this look to change? i think we all recognise that warfare and the way welfare occurs is evolving rapidly so we have to evolve with that and learn the lessons and implement those. during this deployment we will be operating on aircraft but increasingly we will integrate them with crude aircraft. that will set us on the pathway to get closer to a position where increasingly

uncreated were able but only crude where we must. -- crewed. so we can start to develop some tactics and capabilities. rescuers in gaza say at least 46 people waiting for aid have been killed by israeli fire in two incidents in central and southern gaza. un agencies have condemned the us and israel-backed food distribution system, with one official calling it 'a death trap'. such deadly incidents have recently become a near daily occurrence since the gaza humanitarian foundation began work in late may. the israeli military said it had received reports of 'injured individuals as a result of idf fire' - the military added that it was reviewing the incident. thailand has imposed restrictions on all travellers heading into cambodia, as the two countries remain locked in a bitter border dispute.

the ban applies to any vehicle or person trying to cross into cambodia from checkpoints across several thai provinces, as well as foreign tourists flying into siem reap. the military said in a statement the new restrictions "matched the current security situation". bilateral relations between the two countries are at their worst in more than a decade, after armed clashes along the border in may. it's time to cross over to our asia business correspondent suranjana tewari who's live in tianjin, china with all the latest business and market news. hello and welcome to this special edition of business today, presented from a key economic meeting in china, known as the summer davos. us stocks have climbed for a second straight day

while oil prices have fallen further amid optimism that a fragile truce in the middle east will hold firm. it's a sentiment that is shared by business leaders gathered here in tianjin. i've been speaking to the managing director of the world economic forum, mirek dusek, who told me that while the current geopolitical situation and trade tensions pose significant risks, there are also reasons to be hopeful about the global economy. what we are seeing, of course, fracture, sections of trade and investment but we are also seeing diplomacy. what is quite interesting, geopolitics and geoeconomics aside, you have some secular trends, you just have more attention being paid by investors from around the world to the china ai eco- system. are they enough to be

able to lift global growth or given a boost going forward? i think it is very important because trade has been an important engine of growth over the past decade or two and so it is very important that we keep working at it. having said that, of course, it is clear, particulate certain technologies are now deployed to industry and markets and they have a huge potential to help us with new sources of growth and competitiveness. obviously, they need to be deployed responsibly, which is also something that for example, when it comes to ai, we tend to work a lot on. what is your sense, is china willing to accept the investment and interest from foreign companies to do business here and set up their manufacturing here? at this summit, which is a global summit, but there has always been a section where people just come here from around the world to also understand what is going on with the chinese

economy. obviously, there is the move towards an innovation driven trajectory and for example end of the field of the energy transition, if you look at the different technologies, batteries, solar, it is well known they are leaders of the commercial side and global leaders in those technologies, but that has been also discussions around how you particularly make consumption and the demand driven part of the economy better. one of the biggest challenges to the global economy is inflation because if it does not come down, central banks cannot lower interest rates and in the us, federal reserve chat jerome powell has testified in congress and it does not look like interest rates will come down either. there are growing divisions inside america's

central bank. two fed officials both appointed by donald trump calling for an interest rate cut but jerome powell pushed back on one. i would not point to a particular meeting. i do not think we need to be in any rush because economy is still strong. mr powell defended that stance, saying the fed needs more time to understand how prices are reacting to the president's trade policies. lawmakers pressed him away the fed remains a focus on tariffs, especially with inflation looking modest. i have heard from months at the sky is falling but it seems that at this point at least, that the inflation rate is pretty steady. how many months of steadiness do you need? that testament came as donald trump once again lashed out at the fed chair, writing on social media, i hope congress really works this really dumb headed

person over. the president argues other central banks are already lowering rates and the fed should follow suit. mr powell returns the capitol hill on wednesday morning to face more questions, this time from the senate banking committee. we will have plenty more from tianjin in china and the state of the economy but for now that is all. thank you for watching.

hello, and welcome to talking business with me, mark lobel. on this show, the uneasy alliance between freedom and firepower. another conflict rages in the world and defence spending is shooting up across the globe. in america, donald trump has announced plans for america's first $1 trillion military budget, and he's not alone. nearly every country in the world is ratcheting up the money