welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president trump's former personal lawyer, michael cohen, pleads guilty to breaking campaign finance rules. in court, under oath, he says he committed the crimes at the direction of "the candidate". and another dark cloud for the president. his former campaign manager, paul manafort, is found guilty of tax and bank fraud, over his work for foreign governments. the returnees have to be sent back by bangladesh, and we can only welcome them at the border. aung san suu kyi defends her government's handling of the rohingya crisis and blames bangladesh forfailing to send back refugees. an astonishing day, in a presidency full of astonishments.

donald trump's former personal lawyer michael cohen has pleaded guilty to breaking election campaign finance law, and testified in court that the candidate directed him to commit the crimes, with the principal purpose of influencing an election. mr trump has previously denied any knowledge of payments to women alleging they had affairs with him. in a new york court, under oath, michael cohen effectively said the president is lying. and all this as the man who chaired the 2016 trump campaign, paul manafort, was found guilty of tax and bank fraud. here's deputy us attorney robert khuzami, lead prosecutor in the case against michael cohen. these are very serious charges, and reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over an extended period of time. they are significant in their own right. they are particularly significant when done by a lawyer — a lawyer who, through training and tradition, understands what it means to be a lawyer, to engage in honest and fair dealing, and adherence to the law.

mr cohen disregarded that training, disregarded that tradition, and decided that he was above the law, and for that he is going to pay a very, very serious price. as all that was unfolding in new york, a jury in virginia found one of mr trump's key strategists in the 2016 campaign, paul manafort, guilty on 8 charges of tax and bank fraud. no verdict was reached on 10 other charges. none of them relate to the time he was working for donald trump. he was forced to resign, months before the election, because of questions about his links to foreign governments. the president was asked about him, tonight. i must tell you that paul manafort‘s a good man. he was with ronald reagan. he was with a lot of different people over the years, and i feel very sad about that.

it doesn't involve me, but i still feel it's a very sad thing that happened. this has nothing to do with russian collusion. this started as russian collusion, this has absolutely nothing to do — this is a witch—hunt, and it's a disgrace. he made no mention of this act the rally that he was on to. i short while ago i spoke to our north america correspondent chris buckler, about an extrodinary day for the president. when you think is facing questions, and two men who are now facing substantial jail sentences. these are two separate cases. they both have very different influences. if you look first at the manafort case, he is right in saying that this all happened well before

paul manford became donald trump's campaign manager. however, it still goes to questions ofjudgement. someone who made tens of millions of dollars from russian oligarchs and pro—russian parties in ukraine, which he hid in bank accounts and paul manford has been found guilty of these series of bank and tax fraud charges. still, mr trump seems to want to defend his former campaign manager, saying specifically, that is a good person, is someone he feels has been treated badly and unfairly and at one stage during his trial, he tweeted that he felt paul manafort was being treated worse than al capone. that shows how strongly he feels, but part of that is dismissing the whole idea. it is anything more than what he continues to say and that is a witch—hunt. those charges are not connected to that. however, the other charges that

michael cohen has pleaded guilty to, admitting he was involved in trying to influence the election and that president trump was involved in that. it is not to with russian collusion or interference, it's very squarely suggesting, president trump will try to break campaign finance laws to give them a better shot at winning the presidency. as cohen's attorney said, if these payments were a crime for michael cohen, why weren't they a crime for donald trump? fundamentally, that is the question that donald trump is to face. he's been giving a rally tonight in west virginia. he avoided those questions, he didn't talk about michael cohen or about

paul manafort, but he did make mention of the allegations that have surrounded the whole question of this investigation. he described it as a witch hunt, that there was no collusion from what he describes as the fake news media. there is much talk of impeachment, there is much talk of pardons, all kinds of things. with them facing jail time, that is a pressure on them to talk, isn't it? and the pressure will remain on paul manafort in particular. he faces another trial on separate charges here in washington next month and again, that has been bought by the special counsel, robert mueller, and he has been trying to put pressure on paul manafort to do what is often called

flipping, co—operating with the special counsel as part of a plea deal. that would be important because paul manafort was one of the members of the trump team and was involved in the meeting at trump tower. that of course is part of these questions about whether or not there was collusion. the special counsel robert mueller, is interested in that meeting in which the president's own son, donald trumer, was also a member of the team who met a group of russians. but it is clear from manafort‘s lawyer up to this point, he has no intention of cooperating to the special counsel and there have been suggestions that perhaps the president might believe it will be appropriate to pardon him at a future occasion. he seems to feel he has been treated unfairly.

for michael cohen, there is no intention of him cooperating either. the charges have been bought in new york and they are separate from the special counsel investigation, but i imagine robert mueller is a man who would quite happily talk to michael cohen if he got the chance but at this stage, there is no indication of him cooperating either. is fairto is fair to say you are a fan, what would your strategy for dealing with all of this? donald trump is right 110w all of this? donald trump is right now are coming more and more associated with corruption and the story today, from the fact that you saw his fail —— his former campaign manager and his former personal attorney joined a 700 manager and his former personal attorneyjoined a 700 people who also all worked for donald trump in

his campaign had been convicted or admitted to felony is. the sense of corruption is building up around donald trump and is growing as a public issue. democrats are successfully framing this as an issue. we are seeing campaigns in the past where corruption helped one party more than the other. after watergate, after the banking scandal, thousand six after the republican page scandals and the enron scandal is a. those elections all swung largely because voters are so all swung largely because voters are so repulsed by the sense that the president or the leadership is surrounding themselves with the wrong kind of people and engaging in behaviour that no one else can get away with. that is certainly a narrative we saw today. michael cullen confirming that the president broke the law in seeking to silence these two women, of many to protect himself in the campaign. we are seeing that growing sense that there isa seeing that growing sense that there is a problem at the top and the

people he has surrounded himself with are going to jail for things that ordinary americans, even those who support from, take a second look and think this person wanted to buy the silence of women that the president had affairs with. this guy tried to hide money that was being paid for him in cash by the ukrainian government. all of these things are adding up in a way that is very damaging to republicans and i think the president is going to be an increasing anchor on the opportunities to take off and try to turn this election season around. opportunities to take off and try to turn this election season aroundm is worth being specific about that list, convictions and guilty pleas from his former campaign manager, his former personal lawyer, his former national security adviser and his formerforeign former national security adviser and his former foreign policy adviser. the robert mueller investigation, largely republicans, get the president seems to have convinced his core vote is that this is

democrats railroading the people stop it —— railroading good people. you know the party is very much behind him, isn't that all that matters in the midterms? two things have happened to the gop. the first thing is it has become donald trump's party almost exclusively. its fortunes rise and fall with donald trump seen a direct correlation. the problem is that the gop is shrinking very rapidly. right 110w gop is shrinking very rapidly. right now we have seen women gop is shrinking very rapidly. right now we have seen women voters, republican women voters, particle egos with college education have flooded the party, they are out. you have seen flooded the party, they are out. you have seen younger voters flooded the party, they are out. you have seen younger voters by the party, they are out, they are born. with donald trump's reputation with the old right, he is rappelling hispanics and african—americans in ways we couldn't have imagined previously and so this shrinking base that is to weaken and a lot of

the members of congress are sticking by him are doing so because they are afraid by parts of the base, they fear them and fear his twitter mob. he is going to lead them down this path that is looking at awful lot like an electoral beating in the. it —— in the fall. like an electoral beating in the. it -- in the fall. and there is much more on the cases on oui’ -- in the fall. and there is much more on the cases on our website. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a decade in the making, three young golden eagles are released at a secret location in scotland. washington, the world's most political city,

is today assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man. indeed, i did have a relationship with miss lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. in south africa, 97 people have been killed today, in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. over the last ten days, 500 have died. chanting: czechoslovakia must be free! russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 118 submariners who died on board the kursk. we're all with them now, within our hearts. the pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of more than 2.5 million people, in his hometown of krakow. "stay with us, stay with us," chanted this ocean of humanity. "well, well," joked the pope, "so you want me to desert rome?" this is bbc world news.

the latest headlines: president trump's former lawyer michael cohen has pleaded guilty in a manhattan court to violating campaign finance laws. and in separate case, donald trump's former campaign chief paul manafort is found guilty of eight criminal charges, including bank and tax fraud. the leader of myanmar, aung san suu kyi has defended her government's handling of the refugee crisis in rakhine state. almost 750,000 rohingya were driven into neighbouring bangladesh. our south—east asia correspondent, jonathan head has more. this was a setpiece speech by aung san suu kyi, in a country where she was guaranteed a sympathetic audience. singapore is one of myanmar‘s largest investors and trading partners. much of it dwelt on the troubled

history of myanmar‘s political development, but she did talk about her government's efforts to deal with the rakhine crisis, paying tribute to the contribution of former un secretary general kofi annan, who died last week. however, ms suu kyi made no mention of the allegations of massive human rights abuses by the burmese military against the rohingya population, blaming what she called terrorism for the crisis, which she said still posed a threat. the danger of terrorist activities, which was the initial cause of events leading to the humanitarian crisis in rakhine, remains real and present today. unless this security challenge is addressed, the risk of intercommunal violence will remain. it is a threat that could have grave consequences, not just for myanmar, but also for other countries, in our region and beyond. she also blamed bangladesh for failing to send back the rohingya refugees.

her government was ready to receive them, she said. it was up to bangladesh to decide when they should come back. the two countries have signed a repatriation agreement, but this stipulates that the refugees must return voluntarily. most refugees say they do not feel safe enough to go back. the timeframe can be decided only by our two countries working together. the idps have to be sent back by bangladesh, the returnees have to be sent back by bangladesh, and we can only welcome them at the border. that is part of our agreement. access to rakhine state for international organisations is still very limited, and the military has refused to acknowledge that its troops committed atrocities in what the un has described as a campaign of ethnic cleansing. the uk brexit secretary, dominic raab, has told the bbc that in the event of a no deal on brexit, he will move swiftly to secure the rights of european union citizens in great britain. mr raab said there was absolutely no question of eu citizens

being tu rfed out. he was speaking after talks with the eu's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier, who said overrall discussions are now entering their final stage, but some fundamental disagreements remain. from brussels, ben wright reports. many of the continent—hopping train travellers at the eurostar this morning probably didn't notice the man who now leads the uk's brexit negotiating team. dominic raab landed the job last month after david davis quit the cabinet in frustration at the government's own brexit plan. so it is mr raab who is now trying to get a deal with the eu over the line by end of march next year. but what if there is no agreement? some of theresa may's ministers have ramped up warnings it could happen. i asked the brexit secretary would that could mean for the many eu citizens who now live in the uk.

we value their contribution, we want them to stay. it's inconceivable we would do anything other than make sure that they're legally in a position where they're secure to stay. and — but we'd need to set out the details of that, in due course, to do it in a responsible way. i see — so it's working out the structure, but legally they would be able to stay. they shouldn't worry, if there is a no—deal, about being turfed out of the uk? absolutely, there's absolutely no question that you're going to see eu citizens turfed out. we've made that clear in the past, i've made it clear in the past, i'm happy to give that reassurance again today. reporter: do you miss mr davis, mr barnier? the eu's chief negotiator has a new opposite number. he was unimpressed by threats of a no deal. translation: i hear the debate in the uk about no deal, and to be very frank with you, i do see this blame game starting against the european union. but the european union is not going to be impressed by that kind of blame game.

everyone should understand that. the two sides are trying to hammer out a deal by the autumn. our focus is that if the ambition and pragmatism is reciprocated on the other side. isn't the truth that, even if you have a vague outline of what the future relationship looks like, really, we leave the eu and it's a leap into the dark? we're not going to know. it could take years to negotiate this stuff. no, that's wrong. certainly we'll want to make sure that we hammer down, hammer out as much of the detail as possible. it'll be really important to make sure, for people at home, but also for the eu, that we choose a clear model for our relationship, and we're both committed to doing that. ministers and officials are clocking up the miles. brexit talks are now intense, the clock is against them, and the final destination remains farfrom certain. ben wright, bbc news, brussels. the british home secretary, sajid javid, has apologised to 18 members of the so—called windrush generation.

a review has found that they may have been wrongfully removed from the uk or detained. the phrase refers to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who moved to the uk from the caribbean and other commonwealth states between 19118 and 1971, but were never given proper documents. almost 12,000 cases have been re—examined. chi chi izundu reports. they were invited to come and help rebuild britain after the second world war. but questions over proper documentation proving their indefinite right to remain have left thousands with problems accessing things like healthcare, getting a job, or even remaining in the country. but today, the home secretary offered a formal apology to 18 people. the home office found they were unable to demonstrate their continuous residence, which led to them being removed or detained. in a statement, sajid javid said... but, for some, sorry‘s

just not good enough. it questions the value and the validity of an apology. what is the value and merit of an apology when, in actual fact, you've got thousands of people up and down the country in britain, british citizens of caribbean heritage, who have not been given any compensation? the government have refused to even consider interim payments. the treatment of the windrush generation caused furious backlash against the government since it was highlighted earlier this year. but today, some have welcomed this symbolic first step. i think when you're issuing personal apologies, that you have to bear in mind that that carries some weight in terms of accepting liability, so it is progress. the home office also confirmed that the 18 will be put in contact with a special taskforce set up in response to the crisis, but for the thousands waiting,

like glenda, life is still on hold. we're still going through difficulties, it's like we said before. in the beginning, we were allowed to work, if we were allowed to get in touch with the benefits what we paid into, taxes what we paid into, then perhaps, you know, it — we would have felt, you know, some kind of way to say yeah, thank you very much. but we're still going through difficulties. after ten years of planning, a small group of golden eagles has been released at a secret location in scotland. there are fewer than five breeding pairs in the south of scotland, and none in england or wales. lorna gordon had exclusive access ahead of the eagles taking flight for the first time. they are a sight more familiar to the moors and the mountains of the highlands and islands. but this young golden eagle is about to be released into the wild, much further south.

the raptor is hooded to keep him calm. he is one of three birds moved to a new home in a part of scotland where less than a handful of pairs remain. this is a male, he's really healthy. he's got a nice bit of meat on his sternum. and he's ready — ready to go, you think? he's definitely ready to go. before that, they are measured. 124. ..examined to ensure they are healthy, then fitted with one of these, a satellite transmitter to track them once they take to the skies. the birds have been handled just twice — once when they were taken under licence from their nests in the highlands, and thenjust now, when they have been checked over and tagged before being released. scotland's golden eagle population has faced challenges, from changing land use to persecution, but those behind this project are confident they will get a warm welcome here. young golden eagles

are heavily persecuted. i mean, a third of them have been killed, either through shooting or poisoning. down here, in the south of scotland, we've been able to reassure ourselves that persecution is not an issue. it's just a small, fragmented population, which needs this helping hand from us. filmed on remote cameras, when the time comes to spread their wings, the birds hesitate. that is not, though, unexpected. then those first, short flights, harried by buzzards above the heather. so this will be their first time out of the aviaries. they may fly a few metres, they may fly a few hundred metres up the valley. we've chosen a spot where there's lots of different sites they can rest and perch, rocks for them to sit on, things like that. so hopefully they'll fly out into the valley, find somewhere to settle, and then just in their own time, get up into the skies and start to explore. their range could reach from the rolling hills of southern scotland to the lake district or wales. the hope is they may eventually return to sites last populated by golden eagles more than 100 years ago.

lorna gordon, bbc news, in the moffat gills. a powerful earthquake struck the northern coast of venezuela. tremors we re northern coast of venezuela. tremors were felt in many areas, including the capital, caracas. buildings were evacuated. seismologists in the us say it had a magnitude of seven. much more on that and all the news for you at any time on the bbc website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @bbcmikeembley. hello. well, in the last few days it's been

pretty warm across the uk, with temperatures in the high 20s across the south. we've got another fine day on the way on wednesday across central and southern areas of the uk. we'll probably see scenes like this from tuesday, lovely weather there around the docklands in london. but there is change on the way. this weather front will cool things off over the next few days, but initially, the cooler air will be reaching scotland and northern ireland. but ahead of it, we still have warm air coming in all the way from the azores, from the almost subtropics here, so that's why it's so warm outside. in fact, temperatures overnight around the mid—teens across much of the country. now, the weather front will be moving across the uk through the early hours of wednesday morning. it's already been wet across scotland, parts of northern ireland too have seen quite a bit of rain, and that's just about moving into south—western scotland now. but, to the south of that, it's dry. where the skies clear, there might be a little bit of a chill in the air, 13 degrees for norwich.

but generally, where we have the cloud, it's around 15, 16,17 degrees. so this is very warm, very humid air over us first thing this morning. here is the weather front. this is a cold front, or a cool front, you could call it in the summer. behind it, coolerair comes in, much fresher air, so scotland and northern ireland in the afternoon will be quite a bit cooler. you can see those yellow colours here indicating those lower temperatures from the north atlantic, mostly around the teens — 17 in belfast, only 1a in stornoway, but to the south, we've got temperatures in the high teens. and then this central bit here, around northern england, wales, that's where the weather front is moving through, so the chance of catching, i think, some rain during the course of wednesday. now, wednesday into thursday, these weather fronts, in fact a succession of them, start moving through the uk. and then, behind it, and the forecast has been the same for the last few days, we have this much fresher air coming in off the north atlantic, almost from iceland, so that cooler air starts invading the uk on thursday. but one weather front moves through the south—east earlier

in the day, so possibly some rain. again, more weatherfronts or showers moving into scotland and northern ireland, and also a bit of a breeze. these are winds in miles per hour. you can double these for gusts of wind, so gusting perhaps to 30 mph there off western scotland. but cool already on thursday. you can see temperatures in the low 20s in the south, in the mid—teens for belfast, glasgow and for edinburgh. how about the next few days? well, it looks like the temperatures might pick up a little bit, but not an awful lot, and cardiff may be up to 19 by monday, possibly 21 in london by monday, but it will be quite changeable. bye— bye. this is bbc news. the headlines: a huge test for donald trump's presidency as his former personal lawyer pleads guilty to breaking election campaign law and says in court, under oath, that the candidate directed him to commit the crimes, with the principal purpose of influencing an election. michael cohen admits paying hush money to two women who claimed they'd had sex with mr trump. and in a separate court case in virginia a jury convicted one

of mr trump's key strategists in the 2016 election, paul manafort, on 8 charges of tax and bank fraud. none of them relate to the time he was campaign managerfor mr trump. the leader of myanmar, aung san suu kyi, says her government wants the safe and dignified return of ethnic rohingyas who've fled to bangladesh. she defended the government's handling of the crisis. now on bbc news, hardtalk.