welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: in afghanistan, the taliban announce their new government. none of the cabinet officials are women and their new prime minister is on a un terrorism sanctions list. earlier, the group fired warning shots on the streets of kabul, as hundreds took part in protests condemning the taliban and criticising pakistan. we'll be live in washington for more. also in the programme: the british prime minister announces one of the largest tax rises in decades, saying it will pay for a large catch—up programme in the national health service and fund long—awaited reforms to elderly care. and huge demonstrations are taking place in brazil in support

of controversial president jair bolsonaro, who has launched attacks on congress and the supreme court. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 6am in the morning in singapore and 2:30am in the morning in kabul, where the taliban have announced an interim government. it comes more than three weeks after they ousted the afghan president and took control of most of the country. the head of the interim cabinet is this man, mohammad hasan akhund, who also happens to be on a united nations terror sanctions list. today, hundreds of protesters, many of them women, took to the streets of the capital, kabul. they were met with warning shots from the taliban. the bbc�*s secunder kermani

reports from kabul. "death to pakistan," the crowd chant. they're furious at what they believe is the country's support for the taliban, including, they allege, in taking over panjshir, the last province to be captured by the group. translation: pakistan has directly attacked our country. _ we don't want pakistan to announce the government here. afghanistan is a free country. we women and men are not the same as those 20 years ago who were being whipped into submission. but pakistan says the taliban are afghan, it's got nothing to do with them. translation: | accept. the taliban are afghans, but behind them is pakistan. they gave them this ideology. pakistan says it has always worked for peace in afghanistan. taliban members initially appeared to allow the protesters to march through the city.

this is the biggest challenge to the taliban's authority that we've seen so far, and it's not coming from a militia force. it's coming from peaceful protesters, from both women and men. in amongst the protesters, some not afraid to directly criticise the group. translation: we demand freedom of speech, democracy, _ national resistancel against the taliban. aren't you afraid? we are not afraid of death. we are the young generation, - and we'll bring the bud of freedom. our voices will make history. at a taliban press conference, the group rejected what they termed "propaganda" about pakistan's influence. this evening, they finally announced their new government, naming mullah obaidullah emir, or supreme leader of the country,

mohammad hasan akhund as prime minister, and sarajuddin haqqani, wanted by the fbi, as minister of interior. there's no women in the cabinet. what message do you think that sends out? translation: we haven't announced all the ministries and deputies yet, i so it's possible this list will be extended. back at the protest, convoys of taliban vehicles made their way to the site. eventually, fighters fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd. dissent is not something the taliban is used to. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. i'm joined now by dr madiha afzal, a fellow at the brookings institution in washington, who has been following the situation in afghanistan. great to have you on the programme. remarkable scenes there on the streets of kabul. and what we are hearing, no women, no non—tellabs in the cabinet line—up, and no

international recognition yet by the international recognition yet by the international community for some how important is that to the taliban? shore. this is the furthest thing from an inclusive cabinet for this interim cabinet that the taliban have announced, and the taliban say that international recognition matters to them, but... and its words certainly are designed to placate the international community, but its actions are quite different from its words, including this announcement of this cabinet. i think the taliban may in fact be able to gain some recognition even without government, though, especially from countries that it has been close to, china, russia, pakistan, iran, turkey and qatar. yeah, when you talk about the international recognition, in the cabinet line—up, though, you have

got sarajuddin haqqani, part of a militant group known as the haqqani network, wanted by the us, he is not interior minister for some two other governments navigate the issue of working with the taliban in this way? i working with the taliban in this wa ? ~ , , , ,, way? i think this puts the us certainly in _ way? i think this puts the us certainly in a _ way? i think this puts the us certainly in a very _ way? i think this puts the us certainly in a very difficult. certainly in a very difficult position. i don't see the us engaging with a taliban government in which sarajuddin haqqani is a part of that government, so i think that certainly puts the us in a difficult position. i do think that there are certain governments, right? the taliban may be able to gain more regional recognition rather than international recognition. they may be thinking more of these countries i mentioned rather than western recognition, so i do not thicket as the entire western community engaging with this government, isaac is going to be a part of the international community —— | part of the international community —— i do not think it is going to be. on that regional recognition, pakistan of course one of the

countries that you mentioned, and yet they have been having anti—pakistan protesting the country, some allegations they supported the taliban. pakistan's su ort supported the taliban. pakistan's support for _ supported the taliban. pakistan's support for the — supported the taliban. pakistan's support for the taliban _ supported the taliban. pakistan's support for the taliban in - supported the taliban. pakistan's support for the taliban in the - supported the taliban. pakistan's i support for the taliban in the 1990s was crucial for the taliban, it was part of pakistan's old strategy of a friendly government on its western border, and put 2001, pakistan's centuries for the group have really played a crucial role in the group being able to regroup and launch its insurgency —— post—2001, pakistan �*s sanctuaries. the taliban positive families live in —— taliban's families live in pakistan. there were some recognition and encouragement of

that from the pakistani government as well, and so there is anger at that coming from kabul and coming from various afghans all over the country, and the recent visit has inflamed tensions. there is also a fair bit of propaganda and fake news that inflames tensions, but the basic case of pakistan's support for the taliban is something that afghans feel very strongly about, thatis afghans feel very strongly about, that is going to certainly play a role in a resistance, i think, to the taliban in the future. dr madiha afzal, a fellow _ the taliban in the future. dr madiha afzal, a fellow at _ the taliban in the future. dr madiha afzal, a fellow at the _ the taliban in the future. dr madiha afzal, a fellow at the brookings - afzal, a fellow at the brookings institute in washington, thank you forjoining us on tuesday. —— on newsday. if you want to know more about the interim taliban government, just go to our website, where you'll find more details on who's in the cabinet. still to come a bit later in the programme, we'll tell you about those huge demonstrations

taking place in brazil, in support of president jair bolsonaro. but first, more from the uk now. hiking up taxes on working families is one of the most risky things a politician can do, but the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has done just that, breaking a key election promise in the process. he thinks voters will back him because the money is to provide care for elderly people and for the national health service, which has been put under huge strain in the pandemic. here's our political editor laura kuennsberg. even most of the cabinet were in the dark... morning, sir. happy to be raising taxes and breaking promises? ..until this much—anticipated plan emerged this morning into the bright light. there were some polite objections behind closed doors, but no straying from perfect manners for the cameras. i'm happy to give great support to boris johnson, who is a wonderful prime minister. even though borisjohnson�*s breaking a promise, raising a tax to catch up after covid and pay for social care.

we must now help the nhs to recover, to be able to provide this— much—needed care to our constituents |and the people we love, and we must| provide the funding to do so now. we will also fix the long—term - problems of health and social care. a low tax party? well, it's being hiked on millions of workers and business in what will become a specific charge on your pay to raise 36 billion over three years. from next april, we will create a new uk—wide1.25% health. and social care levy on earned income. | he says covid's the catalyst, even though care was creaking long before. i will be honest with the house, yes, i accept that this breaks i a manifesto commitment, - which is not something i do lightly. but a global pandemic was in i no—one's manifesto, mr speaker. the new promise that no—one in england will find themselves in sharon's position. i've got some food for you here.

desperately worried she'll have to sell the family home in stockport, she does her best to look after her mum jean, who's in the late stages of alzheimer's. but before too long, she's likely to move into expensive residential care. it's the hardest thing in the world, when someone doesn't know who you are and you're right in front of them. my mum is ready for a residential home, a care home. i'm not in a financial situation. it's about £1,000 a week. there would be no house money left. to have somewhere to live is what everybody needs, and it's my home and it can get taken away. just like that. have you got a smile for me? from october 2023, there'll be a guarantee, a cap that no—one who starts paying for care from then will pay more than £86,000 over their lifetime and anyone with between £20,000—100,000 of assets will get some help towards the cost.

ministers will push mps to vote on the deal tomorrow. labour believes the rise isn't fair, but it's not entirely clear what they'd do instead. this is a tax rise that breaks a promise that the prime minister made at the last election, a tax rise on young people, supermarket workers and nurses. mr speaker, read my lips, the tories can never again claim to be the party of low tax. changes to social care will only take place in england, but it's a uk tax rise and will mean extra money for scotland, wales and northern ireland, too. cos it will fall hardest _ on the young and the lowest—paid, the two groups who have suffered the worst economic _ consequences of the pandemic. before today, tory anger was frothing about putting tax up to make these changes, but there wasn't much evidence of that today. the reform of social care has been ducked for decades because successive governments... ..successive governments have put it in the "too difficult" box.

but... the conservative way to raise revenue is to lower taxes, not raise them. don't doubt it's a huge day for the trio who insiders have accused of cooking up this massive deal alone. what is fair about a huge tax rise, prime minister, that will overwhelmingly be borne by working people while the expensive properties of wealthy pensioners are protected? the measures that we're setting out |today, we're protecting everybody'sj assets of up to £100,000, i but it's also now the right thing ito do to take reasonable, fair, i responsible steps to put the nhs back on its feet. people who have wages and no assets are the ones who will pay here. but everybody, laura, - everybody has relatives who can potentially face the costs of care. sometimes, politics can feel like a game, but how we pay as a country to look after those who desperately need care is anything but. today's decisions are huge

and not without risk, but borisjohnson�*s calculation is that this strategy is one that he will win. the bbc�*s laura kuenssberg there. meanwhile, the us president joe biden is in newjersey and new york today, surveying the damage caused by tropical storm ida. ida first slammed into louisiana as a category 4 hurricane more than a week ago, then became a tropical storm as it deluged the northeast. more than 60 people died across eight states. in newjersey, heavy rain and catastrophic flooding killed 27 people and took the lives of 17 in new york. here's what president biden had to say. we got to listen to the scientists and the economists and the national security experts. they all tell us this is code red. the nation and the world are in peril. that's not hyperbole. that is a fact. they have been warning us the extreme weather would get more extreme over the decade, and we're living it

in real time now. if you want to get in touch with me on any of the stories that you have seen on newsday so far, the situation in afghanistan, for instance, you can reach me on twitter. @bbckarishma i'm looking forward to hearing from you. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: struggling to remember their letters. how india's school children have been hit hard by the covid pandemic. freedom itself was attacked this morning and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto township as well as the whites in their rich suburbs. we say to you today, in a loud and a clear voice,

enough of blood and tears. enough! the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. i it's an exodus of up to 60,000 people, caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines: the taliban have announced their new government in afghanistan. there are no women and their new prime minister is on a un terrorism sanctions list. earlier, taliban fighters fired shots into the air to disperse

protesters in the kabul. hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets, many of them women. brazil has been marking its independence day — normally a moment of national unity, but not this time. huge demonstrations have been taking place in support of presidentjair bolsonaro, but the opposition were also out in force. this was the capital brasilia, where bolsonaro's followers demonstrated against the congress and supreme court, who they accuse of mistreating the president. and this is sao paulo and another huge demonstration in support of the brazilian leader, who is facing record—low poll numbers. mr bolsonaro seemed to be enjoying himself. he watched a military parade in brasilia from the back of a rolls—royce. but not everyone was so enthused. critics of the president also gathered for a counter—demonstration.

let's get more on this with our correspondent in sao paulo, camilla mota. great to have you on newsday today. you've been out talking with president bolsonaro's supporters. what have they been telling you? the what have they been telling you? tue: president's what have they been telling you? tte: president's supporters, what have they been telling you? "tte: president's supporters, but what have they been telling you? t'te: president's supporters, but we what have they been telling you? tte: president's supporters, but we saw in the streets of sao paulo today is what is known here in brazil to be the hard—core base of supporters of the hard—core base of supporters of the president — white, middle upper class brazilians who are here with very, sometimes disconnected, a disconnected agenda for tub a lot of them were carrying signs with anti—democratic messages, asking for the destitution of the 11 supreme courtjustices, some of them asked for military intervention, a lot of them were carrying signs saying that they don't want brazil to be

overtaken by communists, which is quite surreal because there is not a commonness movement in brazil, so to speak. == commonness movement in brazil, so to seak. .., , ., speak. -- communist movement. camilla, looking _ speak. -- communist movement. camilla, looking at _ speak. -- communist movement. camilla, looking at these - camilla, looking at these demonstrations, it seems like lots of people are supporting him, so why is he doing so badly in the polls at the moment? t5 a is he doing so badly in the polls at the moment?— the moment? is a combination of factors will— the moment? is a combination of factors will to _ the moment? is a combination of factors will to brazil _ the moment? is a combination of factors will to brazil has - the moment? is a combination of factors will to brazil has done i factors will to brazil has done terribly during the pandemic. it has the second—worst death rate, second only to the united states. also, the economic conditions have been deteriorating over the past few months, currency devaluation is in a record high, unemployment is high, inflation is on the rise, resilience are paying more for virtually everything, from food to gas, and this has definitely taken a toll on the president assad popularity. latest polls show bolsonaro accounts for 24% of approvals and what is interesting is that what we saw in the street today actually go along

the street today actually go along the lines with the statistics —— president positive popularity. the picture showed a really crowded area in sao paulo, but i can be misleading. when i was out there in the streets, i saw a lot of buses parked in the side streets, so a lot of people came from other cities and other states, so organisers wanted this protest here in sao paulo to demonstrate, to be really crowded, and what bolsonaro said when he was here speaking to the crowd at 4pm was exactly this — this is the image i wanted to show the world — so it does not necessarily mean the president has a huge support base. fascinating analysis there from camilla mota, our correspondent in sao paulo. thanks forjoining us on newsday. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. opponents of myanmar�*s military rulers have called for a countrywide uprising to drive them from power. the national unity government, whose members are in exile, in detention or in hiding,

said all citizens should take part in a revolution. the military rulers have dismissed the call. angela merkel has addressed a regular session of the german parliament for the last time as chancellor before her successor is elected later this month. she has been in office for 16 years. during an unusually heated debate, angela merkel used the event to campaign for her chosen candidate for chancellor, conservative leader armin laschet, who is doing badly in the polls. mexico's supreme court has ruled that criminal penalties for terminating pregnancies are unconstitutional, a decision which could lead to the decriminalisation of abortion across the country. in a unanimous ruling, the top court ordered the northern state of coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from its criminal code — a move which will set a precedent across mexico.

a unicef study on the impact of school closures in india has found that 42% of children reported not using any type of remote learning during the pandemic. the indian government has rolled out tools for online education but to very mixed results. as schools finally consider reopening, the bbc�*s divya arya meets some children living through this long shutdown of education. radhika and herfriends are excited but nervous. they're trying to write after many months. radhika lifts her tiny chalk, hesitates and finally writes the wrong letter. the ten—year—old's education has become a casualty of the pandemic. "what did they teach you at school?", i ask her. "a, b, c, d, the hindi alphabet and math. they used to teach us

everything," she says. hindi and english were herfavourite. children in this village in eastern india'tharkhand do not have access to internet or smartphones. parents are mostly illiterate. with no classes during the pandemic, online or offline, learning has come to a halt. this dilapidated building is the local primary school for children up to the age of ten, and it has been shut for more than 16 months now. and even when these doors open, some children may have been left too far behind to compete and get through school again. education, definitely, for most poor parents, it's the only hope that their children will have a better life. this economist is coordinating a survey to understand how underprivileged children have been impacted by the lack of schooling.

the public policy is driven largely by what is called the middle class, but actually it's the privileged classes — a relatively small minority, maybe 20—30% of the population. and this entire policy of complete reliance on online education, that is geared to this so—called middle class. it works well for them, their children are safe at home. like in this home in a delhi suburb, where this seven—year—old continued to study safely. she is helped by her educated mother and has online classes regularly. how is having classes online? good, but bad. good because i can wake up at quarter to 8.00 and also sit in my class. and bad that i have tojoin, not go. she has also learned dance and the spanish language, but it's not enough. i want to go back to school. no, no, i demand that it opens.

it's what radhika told me too. the wide gap between such children has only deepened during the pandemic. when schools feel safe enough to reopen, the challenge will be to bridge this learning divide. divya arya, bbc news, jharkhand. such a difficult situation for so many children around the world. well, one last story before we go tonight. a blue plaque has been installed at the former london home of the muppets creatorjim henson ahead of what would have been the puppeteer�*s 85th birthday. henson bought the home in hampstead in north london at the peak of the muppets' success at the end of the 1970s. mr henson died in 1990 and was the creator and the voice of characters like kermit the frog and rowlf the dog. well, lots of memories there from when i was much younger! and i'm sure the same for many of us in the

audience. thanks so much forjoining us on newsday. i'm karishma vaswani. stay with bbc news. very quiet on the weather front out there right now and quite warm too, after a hot tuesday for some of us. here's a reminder of the temperatures we had on tuesday in a selection of places. these are the hotspots — up to 31 degrees in one or two spots in wales, close to 30 in many other areas, for example, across the midlands. and wednesday is going to be another hot one, with tonnes of sunshine on the way. but we are starting to see a breakdown of this sunny weather in the far southwest of the uk. there's just the possibility of some showers early in the morning in cornwall, maybe even the odd crack of thunder. but for many of us, it's sunshine right from the word go and warm — 17 degrees in the morning. now, the reason the weather's going to be changing over the next 2a hours or so is this low pressure which is approaching us.

in fact, you can see itjust on the bottom of the screen there. showers and thunderstorms are expected to creep, gently creep into southwestern parts of england and wales. they won't make much progress during the course of wednesday. in fact, by the afternoon, they're just into southern wales, just across the west country, maybe a shower possible in northern ireland. but look at the weather across the rest of the uk — hot and sunny. i wouldn't be surprised if temperatures hit 30 degrees once again on wednesday. now, even through the evening on wednesday, you can see these showers just about moving a bit further north into the midlands, into central, southern england, many of us remaining dry. but a risk of downpours certainly possible, and that risk will continue into thursday because this low pressure will come closer. it's going to park itself over us. the winds will be light in the centre of this low pressure, and that means that these showers circling the low will be slow—moving, so the possibility of long—lasting downpours and even some flash flooding across parts

of wales and england. some eastern areas may escape the worst of the showers. and here, still a little bit of warmth left, maybe 2a in hull, 25 in norwich, but out towards the west, we're talking about temperatures maybe not even making 20 celsius on thursday. so the hot spell will come to an end on thursday for all of us. and you can see in the outlook the temperatures come the weekend will be barely making 20 degrees across many parts of the uk. that's it for me. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines...

mullah mohammad hasan akhund has been named as the taliban's new interim leader in afghanistan. he's a taliban founder who's on a un sanctions list for terrorism. his appointment was announced at a taliban press conference in kabul. among other posts, the leader of the militant haqqani network has been named as minister of the interior. president biden has visited some of the sites in newjersey and new york, which were hit by tropical storm ida. he's said that climate change is an existential threat, as every part of the us is being hit by extreme weather. in the uk, borisjohnson has announced a big tax rise, to pay for health services and care for the elderly. he's admitted the move breaks a manifesto promise — but says no—one predicted a global pandemic.