earlier this year, the bbc reported drax burned timber from rare forests in canada, places it had claimed were no go areas. now newsnight has been given data by land and climate review about the next step in drax's supply chain, these pellet mills. and it shows that since drax started sourcing wood pellets from them in 2012 across ten mills, they've breached canadian environmental regulations 189 times. more than 25 violations took place after drax took ownership. most relate to air pollution. those who did this research say the number of breaches is significant. i would say so, especially given the repeated nature of many of these offences. given that locals in some of these towns are already very concerned about the specific air pollutants that drax is breaching, sometimes two times more than they're allowed, in one case three times over the limit.

we see a lot of repeated violations here. inspectors seeing the same thing again and again. why can't those separately rather than grouping issues together? yeah, that was something that we put a lot of thought into and we were actually much more conservative than lawyers would be about this. when you've seen similar cases in the us, the violations often get into the thousands because they will count every hour or every day that violations continued, whereas we just looked at every event. given that, 189 we think is a pretty large number. not everyone would agree the scale of these environmental breaches is egregious. if you look at each individual plant, you're probably only looking at one or two breaches of varying degrees of magnitude each year. for a large industrialfacility in the uk, that's something similar to what i've seen in the various businesses that i've looked at over the years. so i wanted to show you this

database, but when we showed angus the evidence, while some violations like delayed pollution testing are relatively minor, there are incidents before drax took ownership, like wetlands being filled in with wood fibre material. that i think would be viewed as much more serious by a regulator. and then up here, what we see is a failure to cease discharge after a testing failure for three months. how serious would that be? that, again, looks like a much more serious breach. i think in that situation, at least in england, you'd be looking at a potential criminal prosecution by the environment agency. those who receive government subsidies have to submit annual reports on the biomass they use and abide by sustainability criteria. the energy regulator, ofgem, is currently investigating whether drax are in breach of those conditions, but how that biomass

is then processed in this case, how sustainable these pellet mills are, is not currently part of that process. well, i think this is highlighted that there is a potential loophole here, that the sustainability of the production process is something else that may also need to be addressed. it confirms what the national audit office, so that's the government auditor in the uk, basically raised concerns about two months ago, which is that the government in the uk either doesn't have the resources or the capability to properly scrutinise the supply chain and know what's going on in other countries. activists have long argued those in receipt of green subsidies should be held to high environmental standards in their subsidy decision. the government will also be thinking about their long term plans and keeping the lights on.

thank you to all of you who are unpaid carers who whatsapped us on 07977 701980 to tell us about your own experience of being asked/forced to pay back overpayments of carer�*s allowance to the department for work and pensions. here are some of your experiences. emma from essex said...

paula from ayr messaged to say... thank you for those. that's all from us tonight. kirsty is here tomorrow. before we go, we're learning that the actress gudrun ure has died at the grand old age of 98. i'm told by one of our producers that her portrayal of supergran in the 19805 will mean something

to many in our audience — and as it's his last shift on newsnight, who am i to argue? goodnight. who wants a frail old normal granny when i can be a superstrong, supersonic supergran? but gran... 0oh, but me no buts. so it was, on that incredible day, that supergran arrived in our midst... come on, willie. ..to boldly go where no granny has ever gone before. to support the weak and to fight evil, wheresoever it lurketh. # hang about # look out # for supergran.# breaking news from around the world 2a hours a day, this is bbc news. yeah, it was interesting seeing that show of support from other gop politicians. there are some in

question marks around mr trump ozment legal cases for some how much damage do you think they are doing to his reputation? just damage do you think they are doing to his reputation?— to his reputation? just about 0%. the peeple _ to his reputation? just about 0%. the peeple that _ to his reputation? just about 0%. the people that are _ to his reputation? just about 0%. the people that are going - to his reputation? just about 0%. the people that are going to - to his reputation? just about 0%. the people that are going to vote for donald trump are going to vote for donald trump are going to vote for donald trump anyways, and you can't really change the mind of the maga base, so his reputation was in the gutter already with the people that don't like him and he's exulted by the people that do like him, and this at the moment is just sort of a political sideshow, to be honest. 0k, we will have to leave it there. shannon felton—spence from harvard university's think tank. shannon felton-spence from harvard university's think tank.— around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you are with newsday. some breaking news for you now.

the first report by investigators into the collapse of a bridge in the us city of baltimore says the ship that crashed into it had experienced an electrical blackout. the findings said the cargo vessel, the dali, had a power outage hours before while undergoing maintenance. shortly after leaving port, the blackout happened again — it then crashed into the francis scott key bridge. six people died. the report concludes that human error was to blame after a crewmember mistakenly closed an exhaust dampener, causing the engine to stall. and we will bring you more on that as it comes through. to georgia. there've been violent clashes between riot police and thousands of protestors after the parliament there voted through a so—called foreign agents bill after weeks of protests. critics are likening the bill to legislation in neighbouring russia, used to stiffle dissent and silence criticism of the kremlin. they say it will make it harder — if not impossible — for georgia tojoin

the european union. 0ur correspondent rayhan demytrie is in georgia — she sent this report. they marched in with a warning against the protesters who have been demonstrating outside parliament for weeks. protesters stood defiantly, refusing to move away... ..and then violence... ..all in the name of a contentious law which protesters fear will mark the end of georgia's democracy. you get a sense, now, they are moving more intensely. and the protesters are beginning to boo. they're being pushed away from the square. we will be in the eu. we will be in the eu. freedom to the georgians! georgian people are

standing for their rights, to make a decision, which is to be against this law. we do not wish it. it is dragging us back into the same hole that we finally crawled out of. a similar foreign agents bill law exists in russia, used there to crack down on the government's critics. georgians worry the same thing might happen here. they are liars, they are putin's guys, you know? they are doing the russian work here. earlier, mps from the governing party passed the law after a debate turned into a brawl. authorities defended the bill, saying it would help protect georgia from foreign interference. critics suspect the government is trying to defend the interests of one man, bidzina ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in russia. that is also intrinsically very russian — to defend the interests of one man against the interests

of one nation. these mass protests have been driven by georgia's youth, standing up to defend the national dream of a future in europe. king charles unveiled the first official portrait of him since his coronation at buckingham palace on tuesday. it's destined to be hung at london's drapers' hall, where the king has a long association with the drapers' company charity. 0ur royal correspondent daniela relph sent this report. the nervous moments before the big reveal as the king unveiled his portrait in buckingham palace. applause the artistjonathan yeo had four sittings with the king over the course of two years. it is remarkable, actually, how it has turned out. work on the portrait began when the king was prince of wales, but it changed into a defining image of a monarch.

someone asked if i get nervous before unveilings. well, no, not normally. but then the subject doesn't normally become king halfway through the process. the king wears the uniform of the welsh guards. near his shoulder is a butterfly. that was the king's idea — to reflect his love of nature. but it is the vivid use of the colour red that is most striking. the idea of the colour came from that very red welsh guards' tunic. you know, if that was on its own, it would dominate the picture. therefore i took the liberty of spraying that everywhere, which i think makes the whole aesthetic more interesting. and it feels a bit more in tune with the 21st—century as well. so how do people like this first official portrait of the king? i like it a lot. yeah, i think it's great. the red is quite disturbing. red is definitely known as kind of a colour to portrayj

negativity, in a way. very good contrast between the head and the rest of the art. it's like the body has had to go through fire, but you can see the person's suffering for it. it'sjust so different from a usual royal portrait. his face stands out beautifully. jonathan yeo said he aimed to capture the life experiences of the king in the portrait and hoped people would see what he described as the humour, curiosity and humanity of the man. daniela relph, bbc news, buckingham palace. and just before we go, we want to go back to the us secretary of state antony blinken visiting kyiv. after he'd finished his diplomatic mission, he went out to relax and ended up on stage, playing guitar, with a band in an underground bar. his choice of music — the neil young classic rockin�* in the free world. let's take a listen.

# keep on rockin�* in the free world # keep on rockin�* in the free world. # there you go. the song was written in 1989, just before the fall of the berlin wall, which heralded the end of soviet domination of eastern europe. it was the only song mr blinken played with the band — who are called 19.99. a spokesman for the band said he was impressed by the secretary of state, saying he played well. that's all for now. to stay with bbc news. hello. we've some damp weather out there at the moment, and there's also some rain in the forecast for wednesday — not an awful lot.

here's the outlook for the rest of the week — a bit of a mixed bag, a little bit of sunshine, some scattered showers, but at least it'll be relatively warm. now, on the satellite picture, you'll notice this swirl of cloud — that's an area of low pressure. this is the weather front, and this low pressure will stick around really for the rest of the week. so actually, the overall weather pattern won't change an awful lot across the uk, but there will be some regional differences from day to day, of course. here's the morning, then — around 7am, we will have had temperatures between 12—14 celsius, some damp if not at times wet weather from east anglia into lincolnshire and along these eastern counties. but elsewhere, it's a bright and even sunny start to the day, and through the afternoon, i think our best weather will be in the north of scotland. some sunshine there in the highlands, and temperatures could reach 23 celsius. that's the exception, though — for most of us, it'll be in the range of 18—20 celsius. now, if this low pressure not really moving away anywhere, the weather

front�*s still in the same place, so thicker cloud and, at times, outbreaks of rain from east anglia and across northern england, and elsewhere, we'll see some clear spells. and here's thursday morning again, the weather front still in the same place, at least roughly. there'll be some glimmers of brightness between the layers of cloud, but also some rain at times — or at least showers coming — and going. and again, temperatures between around 18—20 celsius — maybe a little bit cooler where the clouds thicker and the rain's just that little bit heavier. into friday, then, you can see the distribution of showers in slightly different places in scotland, maybe the northwest of england, too. i think further south, it should be brighter, and again, temperatures don't really change — it's because that area of low pressure is basically carrying the same atmosphere, and the temperatures won't be changing. high pressure is starting to push in through the weekend, but it'll be a very slow process, so don't expect major changes. so here's the summary for the rest of the week

and the forecast into the weekend — notice that actually more northern parts of the uk fare better as we head into the weekend, with some sunshine on the way for belfast, and really quite warm. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines at the top of the hour as newsday continues, straight after hardtalk.

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. russia's invasion of ukraine served as a wake—up call to those members of nato who have long ignored american demands that they spend more on defence. ordid it? canada, for one, may still be snoozing, still well short of nato's defence bending target. of course, canada is a long way from kyiv. but there are concerns about russian and chinese intentions much closer to home, and in arctic north, for example. my guest is canada's defence minister, bill blair. is canada ready to get serious about defending itself? bill blair in ottawa, welcome to hardtalk.