welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm arunoday mukharji. the headlines... the us capitol riot hearings are told about the pressure election workers faced from donald trump, leaving them and their families to cope with abuse and intimidation. various groups came by arguing and threatening with neighbours and myself. so it was disturbing. it was disturbing. the uk experiences its biggest rail strike in 30 years. unions confirm a second nationwide stoppage on thursday. tensions between russia and lithuania,following a ban on the transfer of goods to the russian territory of kaliningrad on the baltic coast.

after the floods — the struggle to reach millions of people affected by the rising waters in bangladesh and northeast india. and after meeting president zelensky on a brief trip to ukraine, the hollywood actor ben stiller praises the spirit of the ukrainian people. these does people like you and i who have been caught and ate circumstance totally beyond their control. and nobody wants to flee their home. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello, and welcome to the programme. three us republican state officials have been describing the direct pressure they were put under by donald trump and his team to overturn the 2020 presidential election result. in an at times emotional testimony to the congressional committee, they described

threats of violence directed at them from trump supporters when they refused to bow to the pressure. we have various groups come by, and they have had video panel trucks with videos of me, proclaiming me to be a paedophile and a pervert, and corrupt politician. and blaring loudspeakers in my neighbourhood, and leaving literature both on my property and arguing and threatening with neighbours, and with myself. one gentleman that had the three bars on his chest, and he had a pistol and was threatening my neighbour — not with the pistol, butjust vocally — when i saw the gun, i knew i had to get close.

we had a daughter who was gravely ill, who was upset by what was happening outside. and my wife's a valiant person, very strong, quiet, a very strong woman. the secretary of state for georgia, brad raffensperger, also detailed a series of false claims made by the trump campaign. our north america editor sarah smith has this report. onjanuary 6th, donald trump was still repeating what he knew to be lies about the election. the mysterious vote dump of up to 100,000 votes forjoe biden. almost none for trump — oh, that sounds fair! - committee members today heard from an official that trump had called days before, alleging fraud in georgia.

we found two dead people, when i wrote my letter to congress, that's dated january 6th, and subsequent to that, we found two more — that's four people, not 4,000, just a total of four. all the fraud allegations had been investigated and dismissed. but still, donald trump asked him to find the exact number of votes he needed to beatjoe biden. what i knew is that we didn't have any votes to find. we had to continually look, we investigated — i could've shared the numbers with you. there were no votes to find. the result of donald trump's attempts to illegally overturn the election result have now been branded as an attempted coup.

what donald trump and his allies did after the last presidential election was shocking— but even more worrying isjust shocking— but even more worrying is just how many politicians continue to repeat these election lies and are now manoeuvring to be in a position to oversee and certify the next presidential election. rick wilson, a co—founder of the lincoln project — a political action group to oppose the re—election of donald trump — says the testimonies on tuesday form a body of evidence for a conspiracy to subvert the election results. i think it's vital that the testimony today be seen in context for what it means about where the republican party stands in this moment. there are very, very few mike bowers or brad raffenspergers in the republican party today — men who would stand up to donald trump and say, "no, i will not cheat, i will not give you this election, i will not violate my oath of office or the constitution, or violate state and federal

law to illegally pretend that you won this election and declare that to be the case." but it also gave you a window into the kind of intimidation and threats, and the violence that are inherent in the maga—trump republican movement today against everyone — from the individuals themselves in high office to folks like shay and ruby, who were revealed to have been intimidated and threatened. these were people who you would never have heard their names, you would've never known who they were — they were anonymous state election workers and volunteers who, when they didn't do what the trump organisation wanted, became the target of death threats and a smear campaign. and this tendency to violence and threats, this tendency to use the social media amplification mechanism that trump has to harm people is definitional now to the republican party, and it's profoundly

anti—democratic — and i mean that with a "small—d" democratic. rick, we're still a fair bit away from criminal charges possibly being pressed against donald trump. where do you see the outcome of this investigation heading? i think there will be consequences to this, because we are now seeing that this wasn'tjust rhetoric or tweeting — it was, in fact, a broad conspiracy that set out to violate the sacred will of the american people. this republic rests on the fundamental representation of people's democratic voice in our national elections — they were intending to overcome that merely to hold power. i do think we'll see prosecutions in georgia first, and i hope at the federal level, as well. to the top story developing in the uk. the biggest train strike in the uk in 30 years has disrupted travel for millions of people.

it was planned as the first of three days of action — but rail bosses and the unions now say they will hold new talks on wednesday to try to find common ground. the effects of the first day of strike have been severe, with only a fifth of services running across england, scotland, and wales. here's more from our transport correspondent katy austin. hull, bournemouth, and much of scotland and wales were among the places which turned into train deserts as thousands of workers walked out in the biggest rail strike in three decades. this is one of the stations where some trains are running today, but across the country only about 20% of the usual services are operating. and they finished much earlier. the last train from glasgow to crewe today departed just after 2.30pm. major stations like cardiff looked empty, as passengers heeded the warning to avoid the railway and many commuters switched back into working from home mode. that's not an option for ruth, who relies on taking the train from southampton to herjob in portsmouth, but there were no services

to portsmouth today. well, i won't be able to work today. i have a work phone, so i can log in that way, but i won't be able to do my full job today. but my colleagues have been really understanding. obviously i've made the effort to try and get there, but today it's just not going to happen. lack of rail services didn't mean gridlock on the roads — in fact, major routes appeared quieter than usual. in london, a walk—out by underground staff brought additional disruption. commuters queued for buses instead. leisure plans this week will also be affected. sue, from bradford, sympathises with striking workers, but has had to find another way of travelling to a special birthday theatre trip. i would get a return train for i think only £6—8. plan b is taxis. and adding on extra expense, really. the return taxi, i've been given an estimate of, i think, £22 each way. the rmt union says members need a pay rise that reflects

the increasing cost of living, and thatjobs and conditions must be protected. it has rejected a pay offer worth 2% with a further i% if reforms are accepted requiring job cuts — and it's warned more strikes could follow. i don't think sunday will be the end of it, from what i can see. if we can negotiate a deal this week, it can be. but otherwise, we'll have to look at what campaigns we'll put on going forward. and we think other unions willjoin this dispute on the railway. but the rail industry, under pressure to save money after the financial hit from the pandemic, says ways of working need updating — from using more technology and maintenance to making weekends part of the normal rota. network rail says its changes, which would mean 1,800 fewerjobs, would enable a higher pay offer. it now hopes to push them through whether or not the rmt agrees. we'd much, much prefer to do this by agreement with the trade unions. so, we can stop that process at any point if there's a willingness to strike the deal. the prime minister told

cabinet the country must prepare to stay the course during the strikes. these reforms, these - improvements in the way we run our railways, are in the interests. of the travelling public. they will help to cut - costs for fare—payers up and down the country. but they're also in _ the interests of the railways, of railway workers| and their families. tomorrow morning, fresh talks are planned between the two sides in this dispute. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... a texas senate hearing into last month's uvalde school shooting has been told that the law enforcement response was an "abject failure". a senior state official said there were enough police officers to have stopped the gunman three minutes after he entered the building, but they waited for more than an hour to go in. singapore has a confirmed case of monkeypox — it's the first one reported in southeast asia during this year's outbreak of the viral disease. the health ministry says

the patient is stable and has been identified as a 42—year—old british flight attendant. hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in southern china, due to floods and landslides. authorities there say the rainfall in the guangdong, fujian, and guangxi provinces are at their highest levels since 1961. police in ecuador have used tear gas to disperse thousands of students, workers and indigenous people who took to the streets of the capital quito for the ninth day in a row. they're demanding changes to the conservative government's economic policies. several people have been injured in clashes between demonstrators and riot police. a state of emergency has been declared in three provinces. ukraine has confirmed that russian forces have captured a key front line village in the eastern region of luhansk. the loss of tosh—kivka gives russia a further foothold in the grinding battle for the nearby cities of severodonetsk and lysycha nsk.

the region's governor says continuous artillery fire have caused catastrophic destruction to both cities. russia has warned lithuania of "serious" consequences after it banned the rail transfer of some goods to the russian territory of kaliningrad. the region — where an estimated one million people live — is sandwiched between lithuania and poland. it relies heavily on imports of raw materials and spare parts from russia and the european union. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, has this update from kaliningrad. when one of the most powerful men in russia, nikolai patrushev, the hawkish chief of the russian security council, flies into kaliningrad as he did earlier today and issues a very public and stern warning about the consequences of russia's response to all of this will be very bad, very serious for the lithuanian people —

that makes you wonder what russia is planning here. now some russian politicians and commentators are calling for a military response to lithuania — a show of force by russia. now that's quite incredible, really, because that would mean basically, russia against nato. and i don't think that's very likely, but the fact that some people are talking about this and pushing this shows just how bad relations have become between russia and the west. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... hollywood actor ben stiller praises the spirit of the ukrainian people after meeting president zielinski —— volodymyr zelensky. members of the neo—nazi resistance movement stormed the world trade centre armed with pistols and shotguns. we believe that, according

to international law, that we have a right to claim certain parts of this country as our land. i take pride in the words "ich bin ein berliner." cheering as the uk woke up to the news that it is to exit the european union, leave campaigners began celebrating. in total, 17.4 million people voted for the uk to leave the eu. the medical research council has now advised the government that the great increase in lung cancer is due mainly to smoking tobacco. it was closing time for checkpoint charlie, which for 29 years has stood on the border as a mark of allied determination to defend the city.

welcome back to newsday on the bbc with me, arunoday mukharji, in singapore. a check of our top stories again... the congressional hearing into the us capitol riot on tuesday focused on how some electoral workers were pressurised by donald trump to overturn the result — and later faced death threats from the public. a nationwide strike has led to the cancellation of around 80% of rail services across the uk. another stoppage is due to happen on thursday. floods in bangladesh and northeastern india have claimed the lives of at least 100 people and forced millions to leave their homes. the heavy rains are making it difficult for rescuers to help those stranded due to rising water levels. the floods are affecting the north eastern indian state of assam and parts of northern bangladesh. our south asia correspondent yogita limaye has sent this report. when the rain relents, rescuers work with the means they have to get people out. in small groups and clusters,

hundreds of thousands are still to get to safety. in these rural and remote areas of the indian state of assam, it isn't a fast—moving operation, but without it, some would simply not make it. across the border in bangladesh, the situation is even worse. this is the gate of a school in sylhet that was turned into a shelter. if it rains any more, it will no longer serve as a refuge. inside, people who've managed to save themselves but lost everything they had. "our home was swept away in the floods. all our belongings have gone too," this woman says. anger against the administration is growing. "our home was flooded and we've come here for shelter, but we haven't received any relief material yet. we're here without

food," she says. unrelenting rainfall for more than a week caused the flooding. and while this is a common occurrence in these low—lying areas during the monsoon season, bangladeshi officials say it's the worst they've seen in more than a century. today prime minister sheikh hasina surveyed the scale of the disaster that's hit her country. she insists her government is doing all it can. supplies have reached some areas. food packets, water and medicines. this is moulvibazar, to the south of sylhet. but the threat of more rain remains. and in both countries, most people who've been affected had very little even before the floods hit. they'll need all the help they can get to rebuild their lives. yogita limaye, bbc news, india.

in the us, a new law preventing imports from china's xinjiang region has come into effect. the uyghur forced labour prevention act covers all imports following earlier bans on goods such as cotton and tomatoes. the us has accused china of using forced labour from the minority uyghur community to produce goods in xinjiang — accusations that have been heavily denied by beijing. earlier, we heard from winnie king, who is a policy analyst and expert in chinese political economy at the university of bristol. the american government has put out some basic guidelines, but the complexity of notjust the production processes, but the supply chains themselves, in terms of not just where the goods are made, the materials that are being used, how they'll trace everything becomes quite problematic, particularly for international companies trying to import to america. and how has china been

viewing this policy? they have actually been quite on the defensive, making it clear — and that's part of the reason why it invited the un human rights ambassador there, to do an assessment. but they've been consistent in a new approach in terms of trying to call out american and western leaders on the basis of the issue of human rights, which is the basis of this new legislation, challenging americans' positions with regards to forced labour by contrasting america's own record, with regards to human rights and the large number of prisoners that are used as forced labour in america's prison system. so they have been quite reactive and taking quite the offensive in trying to call out the inconsistencies of this legislation and policy.

what would you say would be the implications of this ban on china? there are questions as to whether or not implications for china itself would be exacerbated by whether other countries will come in line and take this policy themselves, adopt this policy themselves. the question becomes a matter of how china responds — so the immediate response that china adopted following the signing of the bill in 2021 was that they basically took the line that, with regards to a lot of these goods produced in xinjiang — so notjust cotton and textiles, notjust tomatoes, like you mentioned earlier, but xinjiang is also a major producer with regards to poly silicon, one of the fundamental products you need for solar panels, they hold 50%

market share in the world. the hollywood actor and campaigner, ben stiller, has told the bbc he worries that the world will forget about the victims of ukraine's war. he made the comments on a visit to the city of irpin, as part of his role as an ambassador for the un's refugee agency. while visiting the capital, kyiv, he also met president zelensky, calling him "his hero" — and complimented him on his previous acting career. the zoolander star has been working as a goodwill ambassador since 2016, and spoke tojon kay about the impact the visit has had on him. the thing that gets me is these are just people like you and me who have been caught in a circumstance totally beyond their control. nobody wants to flee from their home, nobody wants to have to go out into the world and have to start fresh, or even just try to find a way to survive. and that's what i'm taking from this — these are just people living their lives. the stories we heard today were from mothers who, when this shelling and these

rocket attacks started at the beginning of the war, were having to grab their kids in the middle of the night. one mother who had two twins had to grab her kids and run for shelter, not even knowing where to go for shelter. they went to the basement, then had to wait till the sound of rockets had gone away and take a chance to come back up and grab their clothes. how concerned are you that as time goes on and the seasons pass, and maybe we start to think about the economy in our own individual countries and the cost of living and that kind of thing, that ukraine disappears from the headlines and maybe we start to forget? how much does that worry you? well, it's a real thing. it's very valid, too, because we all have to deal with our own problems in life, and what's right in front of us and all these things you're talking about — domestic issues, pocketbook issues, things that affect us — are very important and top—of—mind. but i think the reality is that our news cycle goes

so quickly that it's really hard to keep the attention on these issues that maybe don't affect us directly, but they do have an effect on us overall. i mean, wars do — they have trickle—down effects economically and all other ways. but morally, our responsibility that we have to each other as people, i think, is something that everybody deals and wants to do something about. have you felt in danger there? have you felt at risk? erm...no. i mean, it's my first time coming to an area that's in conflict, but it's really kind of strange because when you drive into the country, in the west of the country, you don't feel a conflict. lviv, except for the curfew at night, where it gets very quiet and a little bit eerie, people seem to be going back to life as normal or trying to as much as possible. and then, as you get closer and closer to kyiv

and to the east of the country, you start to see the roadblocks and the destruction — which is really shocking when you haven't seen anything like that up close. in terms of safety, inside the city of kyiv, people are doing their thing — they're living, they're going out to dinner — we went out to dinner tonight. and it feels like people are trying to get back to normal here, and the reality is the war is right now focused in a different part of the country. that doesn't mean it can't come back here, but it's a very different reality in the east right now or in some cities in the south for sure. breaking news coming in from the us — a jury in los angeles has found the entertainer bill cosby liable for the sexual assault of a 16—year—old girl at the playboy mansion in 1975. he denied her claim butjurors in the trial ruled against him and awarded her half $1 million in damages. we will have more

on that on our website. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello there. the heat is continuing to build just for a few days, before it becomes cooler this weekend. today, it was the turn of england and wales to see temperatures into the mid—20s in the strong sunshine and blue skies. there's been much more cloud, though, across scotland and northern ireland, so temperatures today not quite as high as they were yesterday. that cloud, though, is continuing to thin, so this evening and into the night, we'll have some patchy cloud for scotland and northern ireland. generally across england and wales, any cloud that we have at the moment will melt away and we'll have clear skies. temperatures typically overnight 11—12 celsius. could be a little bit milder than that in northern ireland if it stays cloudy here, but i suspect we'll break through that cloud and give some sunshine through the day on wednesday. and more sunshine to come across scotland,

particularly in the east. the sunnier skies continue to be across england and wales. no wind at all, those temperatures rising rapidly once again, adding a couple of degrees on today's values, so for many, 26—27 celsius. it'll be a warmer day than today in northern ireland and much warmer, i think, for eastern scotland in the sunshine. but when you do have the sunshine we've got high or even very high grass pollen levels once again tomorrow. the heat is building underneath the clearer skies and light winds, under that area of high pressure, but it's getting eroded a bit on thursday, particularly from that weather front in the south. and that will bring with it some showers. it looks like those are moving a little further north more quickly, through the english channel, into southern parts of england, eventually into south wales, the south midlands, maybe even into east anglia before the end of the day. some sunshine ahead of that, but still some cloud for western scotland and northern ireland, so temperatures not quite so high. otherwise, another very warm day, but because the showers are moving northwards more quickly, the highest temperatures are going to be

pushed further north, through the midlands and northern england. and things continue to break down a bit by the end of the week — pressure falling, some heavy showers around, this band of rain approaching the southwest, with cooler air coming in behind that for the weekend. we do have some heavy and potentially thundery showers still from overnight, moving northwards across northern and western parts of the uk, ahead of that band of rain in the southwest later on. so we've got more cloud around to end the week, so temperatures are going to be a little bit lower. but with more sunshine and dry weather for eastern england, it's still going to be very warm.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues, straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. after a painful divorce, you never know if the ex—partners will be able to build an amicable relationship. for britain and the eu, it seems the brexit break—up has left a legacy of mistrust and bitterness, which is overwhelming any desire for cooperation. northern ireland is currently what they're fighting over. the uk is refusing to

stick to the divorce settlement and the eu is threatening legal action.