hello, i'm carl nasman. welcome to the programme. we start with the war in ukraine — where in the past hour the ukrainian military says its air defence systems have been activated in the kyiv region. and its being reported that a russian ballistic missile has struck a hotel in the city of kryvyi rih in the dnipro—petrovsk region. pictures released on monday evening from the kyiv post show the devastation. it's believed that the hotel was filled with civilians. it comes after russia launched what ukraine calls the biggest air attack yet against the country. at least six people have been killed after russia fired around 200 missiles and drones at energy and water facilities. ukrainian officials say 15 regions were attacked in the strikes. the cities that were hit include kharkiv and zaporizhia. moscow says it is targeting

facilities which support kyiv�*s military. and a short while ago, us presidentjoe biden condemned russia's attacks saying that the us will now surge energy equipment to ukraine to repair its infrastructure and aid the country's war efforts. the bbc�*s nick beake sent this report from ukraine. the first strikes came in the early hours, crudely curtailing a long weekend of ukrainian independence day celebrations. this missile just missed a power station near the capital, kyiv. the ukrainian defenders shot down what they could. "i got it", this soldier exclaims. but one in five missiles did get through. russia said it successfully targeted energy infrastructure. olha's brother was killed on the zaporizhzhia land he had farmed all his life. translation: i was very scared because of the explosion. - i was shaking. and then i saw him,

and i couldn't recognise him. near the city of dnipro lives and livelihoods extinguished. president zelenskyy argued that a collective effort had protected israel from aerial attack and called on western allies to do more to shoot down russian missiles and drones. translation: it was one of| the biggest combined strikes. more than 100 missiles of various types, and about 100 iranian drones. in various ukrainian regions we could have done more in order to protect life if aircraft of our european neighbours had worked together with our f—16 jets and air defence. the missiles also hit this region, sumy, which borders russia. it was from here the ukrainians launched their surprise incursion three weeks ago, going in and then seizing russian territory. that undoubtedly gave ukraine a big morale boost, but today has been a jolting, nationwide reminder

of what russia is capable of. and the kremlin suggested more punishment for the recent incursion into russian soil was still to come. translation: such hostile actions cannot remain - without an appropriate response. there will definitely be a response. but ukraine, under great pressure on the home front, is on the attack, sending its own drones into russia, hitting the city of saratov and urging the west to allow it to strike further and harder. nick beake, bbc news, in the sumy region, ukraine. let's go to ukraine. michael, great to have you on the programme. i believe you are in the capital right now, we've been hearing reports of explosions and air defence systems engaging russian

strikes. what have you been hearing, what is the latest you know on the ground?— hearing, what is the latest you know on the ground? good to be with ou. know on the ground? good to be with yom if _ know on the ground? good to be with yom if i _ know on the ground? good to be with you. if i have _ know on the ground? good to be with you. if i have dark - with you. if i have dark circles under my eyes like many other people here in kyiv it has been a pretty sleepless night. it has been one alert after the other and within the past hour we have heard a very loud explosion here in kyiv, probably ativan systems bring down a russian rocket. most of the evening were drones but than they were followed by rockets. earlier in the day we had massive power outages in fact we had more time without power than with and of course thatis power than with and of course that is causing huge disruption as well. i have to tell you, this was one of the worst attacks i have seen since the start of the war and we always knew those of us who were based in ukraine that this would be coming after the ukrainian incursion into russia that you mentioned. we incursion into russia that you mentioned-— mentioned. we are obviously . lad mentioned. we are obviously lad that mentioned. we are obviously glad that you _ mentioned. we are obviously glad that you are _ mentioned. we are obviously glad that you are safe - mentioned. we are obviously glad that you are safe where | glad that you are safe where you are right now. can i ask

you, what is the mood like in ukraine? i'm assuming they must�*ve been a bit of a lift in the past couple of weeks as the successful incursion made its way to russian territory, now with what ukraine is calling the biggest strike on ukraine in the entire war. has that shifted a bit there? we are about to — shifted a bit there? we are about to go _ shifted a bit there? we are about to go to _ shifted a bit there? we are about to go to a _ shifted a bit there? we are about to go to a press - about to go to a press conference later today with volodymyr zelensky and i hope to put that question to him is that when they plan the incursion into russia did they calculate that it will likely trigger a massive response from russia because let's not forget they have a seemingly unlimited supply of iranian drones and rockets. speaking to people here the mood you asked about, they have cautiously applauded what ukraine has done in russia. this is unbelievable by any stretch of the imagination, it caused vladimir putin lots

of humiliation and a lot of anger there. of humiliation and a lot of angerthere. ukrainians of humiliation and a lot of anger there. ukrainians i've talked to as well i wondering what is going to be the endgame of ukraine. that is probably what we will put to volodymyr zelensky later today.- zelensky later today. what do ou think zelensky later today. what do you think the _ zelensky later today. what do you think the calculation - zelensky later today. what do you think the calculation may| you think the calculation may have been there? you obviously take morale into account and mood into account but was their hopein mood into account but was their hope in the end that russia may have to shift some of its resources on the battlefield to account for that incursion? i talked to a senior tv anchor in ukraine a couple of hours ago and she put the question to be of white russia hasn't strike back within their own territory and the only way we can answer thatis and the only way we can answer that is perhaps they are so disorganised with massive corruption on the defence ministry so they are not that well prepared and they have a lot of forces and resources deployed on ukraine's frontline. i think ukraine's calculation was they wanted to use this as a bargaining chip

and it produced a very big exchange of pows but whether it last that long remains to be seen. in last that long remains to be seen. ., ., , last that long remains to be seen. . .,, . seen. in that last package we saw some — seen. in that last package we saw some footage _ seen. in that last package we saw some footage of - seen. in that last package we saw some footage of i - seen. in that last package we| saw some footage of i believe what they are calling a drone missile, a new weapon that ukraine has been deploying and they think can be pretty effective striking within that territory. do you think ukraine is going to press the case to start using more of this western ammunition and weapons a bit further afield despite what the us and other allies have not —— poje the not to do. since they've taken the stance on using these weapons, asking for forgiveness rather than the mission. the weapon you have spoken of has caused a lot of chatter here because goes back

to the start of the war where was one of those words that was used to identify russians on ukrainian soil if they can pronounce it. if they can pronounce it. if they can pronounce of our probably not russian. ukraine is really itching to strike further into russia and for good reason. right now as we sit here we are facing a humanitarian catastrophe for the winter with russia striking all of these power plants in ukraine including a 408 megawatts one yesterday in kyiv. if ukraine can strike these lodging sites deep inside russia, then it will in theory reduce the number of strikes back here and possibly make the winter more bearable. a good reason for doing it because the strikes have not ended and a defence systems are not enough to stop them. , ~ , _, them. the strikes continue even toniuht, them. the strikes continue even tonight, michael, _ them. the strikes continue even tonight, michael, senior- them. the strikes continue even tonight, michael, senior fellow. tonight, michael, senior fellow at tonight, michael, seniorfellow at the atlanta council we hope you stay safe and get some rest, thank you again. thank

ou. the united nations is halting aid operations in gaza, following a new israeli evacuation order in the centre of the territory. the evacuation orders cover parts of the israeli—designated humanitarian zone in and around the central town of deir al—balah, where the un has its main operations centre. however, an official stressed that un agencies would not be leaving gaza and were now trying to find somewhere to operate safely. jon donnison has the latest on the fallout, from jerusalem. after that dramatic escalation on sunday, things seem to have quietened down a bit. israel's military says it has carried out some strikes on hezbollah targets in southern lebanon in the past 24 hours, but certainly the level of cross—border we saw in the early hours of sunday morning seems to have quietened down. what are the two main parties saying? hezbollah for its part says the first phase of its operation to retaliate for the killing of that senior commander fuad shukr,

it says the first phase has now ended. for israel's part — benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister says that this was just the beginning and he wanted to change the game in the north. change the game in terms of the situation in the north of israel and of course you have tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border, living close to the border area who have been displaced now for many, many months. there will be increased diplomacy i imagine this week to try and ensure this does not flare up into something much more dangerous and a lot of this is tied to the ongoing diplomacy to try and get a ceasefire deal in gaza. we still have officials from qatar and egypt working in cairo to progress with a ceasefire and hostage

release deal for gaza between israel and hamas. but to be honest those talks do not really seem to be going anywhere despite intense diplomatic pressure especially from the united states. the us has said that key to calming things down in the north of israel's northern border with lebanon is getting a ceasefire deal in gaza but that does not seem to be in the offering at the moment. we have to wait and see, both sides say they do not want a full—scale war, but both sides say they are ready for it. and people in gaza are also facing an increased threat of disease. unicef says more than one million doses of the polio vaccine have now arrived in the territory. it plans to vaccinate more than 645,000 palestinian children with the help of other agencies. 0fficials found the first case of polio in gaza in a quarter century after traces of the virus were found in wastewater samples.

some health experts link the outbreak to gaza's sanitation situation. these images show how water on parts of gaza's main coastline have turned brown over the last couple months. local officials say displaced people are sending sewage directly into the sea. israeli officials have told the bbc a dedicated task force is working to improve the sewage system in gaza. health workers in the democratic republic of congo have told the bbc more than 70% of people being treated for mpox at their clinics are children under the age of 10. the world health organization has announced a six month plan to curb the spread of mpox, expressing optimism that the current outbreak can be controlled. the director—general said the plan included recruiting more healthcare staff and enhancing surveillance and response strategies. he also said it would require a $135 million in funding. the bbc has been given exclusive access to two treatment centres in the eastern part of the country

— the epicentre of the latest mpox outbreak. 0ur africa correspondent simijolaoso has this report, filmed inside the drc for the bbc by a local camera operator. a warning, viewers may find some images distressing from the start. toddler cries weary and in pain. two—year—old encima caught mpox from one of her five siblings who have all had the disease. translation: this is - the first time i've seen it. when my child got sick, other parents told me it might be measles, but we started treating measles and failed. this hospital in kavumu is in south kivu, the epicentre of this new mpox crisis. it has had 800 patients sincejune. more than 70% have been children. eight have died, all under the age of five. about 100 miles away, the spring in amani's step

slowly returns after four days of free treatment at this centre in munigi near goma. like the hospital, three—quarters of patients here have been under the age of ten. health workers told the bbc they've had up to ten new cases a day. the idp camps are overcrowded, so you see children in idp camps, they are always playing together, so they have time together. they don't really care about distance, social distance, they don't care about that. so they play together. they are always together. and you can also see like in the household, they even pass the night on the same bed. you can find three, four, five children. so that means the transmission is really present on a daily basis. these camps, in the eastern part of the democratic republic of congo, are crammed with millions who have been displaced because of an ongoing armed conflict — the perfect place for mpox to run rampant.

charity workers are trying to get ahead by teaching people about symptoms, stigma and hygiene. simijolaoso, bbc news. top chinese and us officials are expected to raise taiwan as a major concern during jake sullivan's first trip to china as the us national security adviser. mr sullivan is travelling to beijing for talks with top chinese diplomat wang yi. the three day trip is the first by a national security advisor since 2016. laura bicker, our china correspondent, is with me now. what are we expecting these talks between jake what are we expecting these talks betweenjake sullivan and his chinese counterpart to focus on?— his chinese counterpart to focus on? ,., ., ., focus on? good morning, where state media _ focus on? good morning, where state media are _ focus on? good morning, where state media are describing - state media are describing these talks is coming at a criticaljuncture between us critical juncture between us and criticaljuncture between us and china relations. when we are expecting him to arrive we

are expecting him to arrive we are not sure, later today betting time but you mentioned it a bit earlier. taiwan is one of the clear issues, china is sitting out its priorities for these talks. taiwan is a redline for beijing, they believe the self—government island is part of the man—made and will not tolerate any encouragement by america of taiwanese independence. they want to make that clear. they have in the past and they will do so again. when it comes to other tricky negotiations, another area will be the south china sea within the last few minutes in fact the philippines hasjust minutes in fact the philippines has just described minutes in fact the philippines hasjust described china minutes in fact the philippines has just described china as the greatest disruptor of peace in southeast asia and that is because within the last few weeks alone, there have been a number of skirmishes between chinese coastguard boats and filipino boats in the south china sea. china will want reassurances from america that they will not interfere, they

will not intervene and for america, the philippines is a key ally and analyse they have strengthened in recent years. then we come to ukraine, when antony blinken the secretary of state was here earlier this year, he encouraged china and wants china not to support russia's war in ukraine. the date at this visit was announced, the day the us announced, the day the us announced jake sullivan was going to visit here, the us also announced a raft of sanctions against chinese companies for their support, alleged support, of russia's war in ukraine. as you can see, some very tricky conversations to have but none of the things analysts keep telling me is at least these conversations i happening. and that is the way to ease tensions. i was reading a speech by jake sullivan that he made to the council of foreign relations earlier this year. he said that he had a

decent relationship with wang yi, to the point where they could put sometimes put the talking points aside and talk directly to one another. it is an encouraging sign but many people are wondering what exactly will come from these talks over the coming days. it feels like the buyer has been lowered recently in terms of talking it is seen as a success. remind us of you don't mind where relation stand right now between us and china. i think over the past 16 months since that chinese balloon went over north america they have managed to ease tensions. there's been a number of communications and q2 there's been a number of communications and 02 that is one of the things that analysts are telling me the meeting may be for is lay the groundwork for the final summit between xi jinping and joe biden and they believe that that may take place in china. that is something we will be watching for. ., .,

something we will be watching for. . . �* ., ., for. laura bicker, are china corresponded _ for. laura bicker, are china corresponded in _ for. laura bicker, are china corresponded in beijing, i for. laura bicker, are china i corresponded in beijing, thank you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. firefighters are still at a block of flats in dagenham in east london where a large fire broke out early this morning. more than 80 people were ta ken to safety. two needed hospital treatment. the london fire brigade says everyone has been accounted for and it is investigating how the blaze started. tributes are being paid to the former england manager sven—goran eriksson, who has died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. the swedish coach became the first foreign manager of the england men's team in 2001. he led the side to three consecutive quarterfinals during his five years in charge. the metropolitan police say one person has been stabbed on the final day of the notting hill carnival in west london. 0fficers made 145 arrests on monday — mostly for possessing an offensive weapon or drug offences. 16 people were held for assaulting emergency workers, four for sexual offences

and one for having a firearm. more than a million people were expected at the carnival on monday. you see the colourful parade taking place on monday. you're live with bbc news. the us special counseljack smith has asked an appeals court to revive the classified documents case against donald trump. the former president was accused of breaking the law by mishandling top secret papers at his florida estate. butjudge aileen cannon dismissed the case, ruling mr smith himself was unlawfully appointed to oversee it. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has the details. new life in a case that really started just over two years ago now, is when the fbi executed a search warrant at mar—a—lago, donald trump's home in florida that led to these 31 charges against the former president. we saw the pictures, the allegations that dozens and dozens of boxes of top—secret classified

documents, government documents had been found at his home on a stage enable room, in a storage area, in a room just outside a shower. and the charges, 31 of them related to alleged wilful retention of national defence information. donald trump said he was not guilty of those charges. had the case gone ahead and he had been found guilty, he could have been sent to prison for up to ten years on each charge. a very serious situation for the former president, as you say. we learned a federaljudge had thrown out the case on the basis that the special counsel had been appointed by the attorney general on a basis that it seems was unconstitutional. that is what the special counsel is now challenging in a motion that he claims the process, the basis

on which he was appointed that there is a constitutional precedent for that process and he believes the case should go ahead. briefly, this was thought to be one of the stronger cases against donald trump. do we have a sense now of whether or not this will begin even by the time voters go to the polls in november? it seems extremely unlikely. this process alone, the appeal could take several weeks and may not even be resolved by election day, november 5, which means if a trial were to go ahead that would not happen until the election. a significant political and legal consequence for the former president. peter, thank you. dozens of people are dead after multiple attacks across pakistan's southern province of balochistan. a spokesperson for the baloch liberation army, a militant group, said that it had launched attacks around the province. the army says it's killed 21 militants in response. here's our pakistan

correspondent, caroline davies. the largest number of people killed according to police officials was on sunday night when several vehicles travelling from balochistan to punjab were pulled over. according to police officials, militants asked to check the ids of those people on board and took them out of the vehicles and opened fire. we know of a different incident 500 kilometres away where according to one hospital official, several bodies were brought into the hospital, including some security personnel. in a different area, we heard of bodies being discovered there after a bridge was destroyed. we have heard from the militant group known as the baloch liberation army, which released a statement saying they had conducted these attacks across the province. we have also heard from pakistan's military that they responded to those militants, killing 21 of them in the process of that operation. they also say they lost

14 security personnel. it is not clear at this stage how many of those 14 overlap with the 39 we heard of earlier on. the army here in pakistan have been adamant that they intend to bring all of those who are responsible for these incidents tojustice. to sudan, where at least 60 people have died and the un estimates around 118,000 have been displaced — after a dam burst due to heavy rainfall. search operations are currently underway — and it's believed the death toll could rise in the war—torn country. the arbat dam is the main source of drinking water for the coastal city of port sudan. french prosecutors say they will extend the detention of the founder of the telegram network until wednesday. pavel durov was arrested near paris on saturday. prosecutors have now said his detention is part of a cyber criminality investigation. earlier, the french president emmanuel macron was asked about the arrest. mr macron said there was no political element and france was committed to freedom of expression — as long as it

did not break the law. that's all we have for you this hour, stay tuned and we will hand over to our colleagues in london with plenty on the day's top stories. you can check out our website, we at the latest updates around the clock. stay with us right here on bbc news. hello there. when it comes to rainfall totals so far this month, there's quite a marked contrast between the northwest and the southeast. hardly any rainfall in comparison to what we should be seeing for this month, but further north and west, we've had double the amount of rainfall — over 200% in the far northwest of scotland and across the lake district as well. and in fact, that's where we're likely to see further rain

to add to these totals to close out the month of august, potentially another 18mm in the extreme northwest, whereas hardly any traceable usable rain once again across eastern england and southeast england. so, for monday, we are going to see a relatively dry, quiet day. this weak weather front, a band of cloud, a few nuisance showers close to the scottish borders, northern england and north wales. to the north and south of that, sunny spells, breezy, but the winds not as strong as over the weekend, and it will feel a little warmer, which is good news for many as it's the bank holiday weekend away from scotland, so highs likely of 23 degrees. as we move into tuesday, central and southern areas under this influence of high pressure into the near continent, but a toppling around that high is another low moving in, bringing wet and windy weather, but at the same time, the wind direction swings around to a southwesterly and just taps in to some pretty warm air coming from the near continent. so, the rain still heavy

as it moves out of the scottish borders and into north wales, but ahead of it, with that sunshine and that increasing warmth, we should see temperatures at 25 degrees — that's 77 fahrenheit. we're looking at mid to high teens across scotland. now, that weather front is not moving very far at all on wednesday as it continues to bump into this area of high pressure, so we could see this conveyor belt of rain just sitting across southwest england, wales and northern england for a time. and that means we'll see some increasing warmth. still a level of uncertainty where that front is going to be sitting, but potentially from hull down to the isle of wight, anywhere south and east of that could see temperatures peaking at 27 or 28 degrees — that's 82 fahrenheit. we keep some sunshine and warmth, although not quite as warm, through thursday and friday across england and wales. staying unsettled further northwest.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme.

welcome to hardtalk from rome. i'm stephen sackur. across europe, political parties once regarded as too far right to get a sniff of political power are now winning elections, or getting mighty close. but what happens when they do achieve national office? well, the best case study in western europe right now is here in italy, where prime minister giorgia meloni's far—right coalition has been in power for almost two years. my guest today is nicola procaccini, a meloni confidante who is a member of the european parliament. how is far—right rule changing italy? nicola procaccini, welcome to hardtalk.

thank you for your invitation.