welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm monica miller. the headlines... an aide to president trump's chief of staff has told a congressional committee that mr trump knew some of his supporters were armed when he urged them to go to the capitol building to try to overturn the election result. the president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. mr ingle grabbed his arm, said, "sir, you need to take your hand off "the steering wheel. "we're going back to the west wing, we're not going back to the capitol." also on the programme... in new york, ghislaine maxwell is sentenced to 20 years

for helping jeffrey epstein abuse young girls. turkey agrees to support finland and sweden's nato membership applications, the breakthrough comes after the three countries signed a joint memorandum. the campaigner dame deborahjames, host of the bbc�*s you, me and the big c, has died at the age of a0. live from our studio in singapore... this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's six in the morning in singapore and six in the evening in washington, dc, where an official inquiry into the riots at the american capitol has been hearing dramatic testimony from a former white house aide. cassidy hutchinson said former president donald trump knew supporters had weapons when he urged

them to march to congress last year. she also said senior officials had warned repeatedly that mr trump's rally on that day to try to overturn joe biden�*s victory could spiral out of control. our north america editor, sarah smith, has more. a surprise witness. her appearance, kept secret until today, delivered explosive testimony. describing how trump had been informed that many in the crowd on the 6th of january were carrying weapons. yet he was furious about security measures. metal detectors were used to find guns and knives. he wanted the screenings stopped to let more people in, ms hutchinson told the committee in previously recorded testimony. i overheard the president says something to the effect of, "i don't care they have weapons. they are not here to hurt me.

they're not here to hurt me. "take the effing mags away." donald trump: we are going to walk down and i'll be there with you. - trump did want to go to the capitol but as he ordered the secret service to drive him there he was told it wasn't safe. he said something to the effect of, "i'm the effing president, take me up to the capitol now." when the president's secret service agent, bobby engel, refused to go to the capitol, trump got physical. the president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. mr engel grabbed his arm and said, "sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel." "we're going back to the west wing. we're not going to the capitol." mr trump then used his free hand to lunge towards bobby engel. trump has responded, saying this is a "fake story that is sick and fraudulent." today is the first time we have heard exactly what was happening inside the white house on the 6th of january, how the president's most senior advisers anticipated the violence

and did little to stop it, and then asked trump for a presidential pardon so they couldn't be prosecuted. did white house chief- of staff mark meadows ever indicate that he was interested . in receiving a presidential pardon relating to the 6th ofjanuary? mr meadows did seek that pardon, yes. that pardon, yes, ma'am. first—hand evidence from someone who was right at the heart of the white house. sarah smith, bbc news. i'm joined now by frank bowman, professor of law at the university of missouri and former federal and state prosecutor. frank, thanks very much forjoining us on the programme. some top republicans are downplaying her testimony, but what was your take? of course she added new detail about what was happening inside the white house as well as the shocking indications that the president actually tried to force his way up to the capitol to lead the riot, but

to the capitol to lead the riot, but to me, the most important thing she said in some ways places the whole thing in a larger perspective. when she was asked for her reactions to the whole business at the end of the hearing, she said she was experienced... we were watching the capitol building being defaced over a lot. that's important because it's easy to forget that. this is not some liberal commentator or democratic opponent of the president, this is a long time, if young, rough toilet —— republican loyalist who had gone into the white house as the senior aide to the white house chief of staff. and she confirms what all this essentially knows. the basis for all this and

the underlying basis for all of this violence and all of this turmoil was a lie. and people inside the lighthouse, people right next to donald trump knew it —— the white house. as we've heard last time round, donald trump himself said over and over again that the claim that there was any fraud was a lie. here we have somebody sitting right down the hallway from him confirming that. . ~ ., ., ., , ., that. frank, one of the heads of the committee. — that. frank, one of the heads of the committee. liz _ that. frank, one of the heads of the committee, liz cheney, _ that. frank, one of the heads of the committee, liz cheney, ended - that. frank, one of the heads of the committee, liz cheney, ended by i committee, liz cheney, ended by saying there is evidence of witness tampering and possibly other criminal activity. tampering and possibly other criminalactivity. but tampering and possibly other criminal activity. but what did kassidy hutchison offered today? is not the smoking gun thejustice department need to prosecute donald trump? i department need to prosecute donald trum - ? ., �* ~' department need to prosecute donald trum? ., �* ~ ~ ., ., trump? i don't think we know that recisel . trump? i don't think we know that precisely. there _ trump? i don't think we know that precisely. there is _ trump? i don't think we know that precisely. there is a _ trump? i don't think we know that precisely. there is a lot _ trump? i don't think we know that precisely. there is a lot more - trump? i don't think we know that precisely. there is a lot more to l precisely. there is a lot more to be learned. i think one of the key

point today that was quite interesting was that she said that mark meadows had wanted to go across the street from the white house to the so—called war room where rudy giuliani and the other planners of the activities were making their plans. think of that for a second. the white house chief of staff wanted to go and be part of the conspiracy that was going to lead to this riot the next day. he was dissuaded from doing so only by his 26—year—old staffer, but nonetheless, insisted on being part of a phone conference into that meeting. i would like to know a good deal more of what was said during that meeting because it suggests that meeting because it suggests that there was direct participation by the white house in the planning of the insurrection. and that is really the key thing. you're also correct to point out the importance of the notion that even today,

supporters of trump are trying to intimidate courageous witnesses that are coming forward to speak the truth. ., ~ ., ~ are coming forward to speak the truth. . ~ ., ~ _, , are coming forward to speak the truth. . ~ ., ~ , . truth. frank, thank you very much for “oininu truth. frank, thank you very much forjoining the _ truth. frank, thank you very much forjoining the programme. - ghislaine maxwell, a former girlfriend of the sex offenderjeffrey epstein, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in new york. she was convicted last december of helping epstein abuse teenage girls. our north america correspondent, nada tawfik, reports from new york. a long—fought victory for annie farmer and all of ghislaine maxwell's victims. justice was slow. she was one of the earliest to report maxwell and the paedophile jeffrey epstein to police, in 1996. but today, annie said it was never too late for accountability. maxwell and epstein were predators who were able to use their power and privilege to harm countless individuals and for far too long, the institutions that should be protecting the public were instead protecting them.

and i still hope that we find out more about how that was allowed to occur. maxwell did not look at her victims, but she did address them. she said she was sorry for the pain they had experienced. she also said her association with epstein, who she described as a manipulative, cunning man, was the greatest regret of her life. her statement felt like a very hollow apology to me. she did not take responsibility for the crimes that she committed and it felt like, once more, her trying to do something to benefit her and not at all about the harm that she had caused. the court allowed others who were not a part of the trial to also confront maxwell. the pain and anguish she caused was plain to see, as several accusers emotionally spoke about the lasting impact of her crimes, such as liz stein. she had a wonderful, full, beautiful life. full, beautiful life, and so many of usjust didn't have a chance to have that. i think that the closure part

of her sentencing is maybe the beginning for a lot of us to start having the life that we anticipated we might have if we had never met ghislaine maxwell and jeffrey epstein. the british daughter of the disgraced media tycoon robert maxwell ran in the most influential circles, rubbing elbows with presidents and princes. but in court, as she waited to hear her fate, she was supported byjust three members of her family. the judge rejected the defence's claim that maxwell was being punished in epstein�*s place and said her sentencing had to reflect the seriousness of her role in the horrific scheme. today is a major step towards justice and perhaps healing for the victims. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. china has cut the time of quarantine for travellers

arriving in the country by half. incoming passengers will now have to isolate at a government facility for seven days instead of ia. they then have to stay in their own place for a further three days. beijing and shanghai both reported no new covid infections on tuesday for the first time since february. millions of people living in and around tokyo are being asked to use less electricity and ration air—conditioning. it's as japan struggles with growing power shortages, but the capital has faced scorching temperatures for a fourth successive day. temperatures hit 35.1 degrees celsius in tokyo. it's the worst streak of hot weather injune since records started 150 years ago. in the us state of texas,

dozens have been found dead in an abandoned truck on the outskirts of san antonio. a fire official said 16 people, including four children, had also been taken to hospital. the truck was found just over 100 miles from the us—mexico border. will grant reports. the sight which greeted the emergency services when they opened the abandoned trailer was beyond grim. dozens of people had been trapped inside the unventilated lorry with no drinking water in blistering 40—degree heat. among the dead lay a handful of survivors, including several children. they were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital. the patients that we saw were hot to the touch. they were suffering from heat stroke, heat exhaustion. no signs of water in the vehicle, it was a refrigerated tractor trailer. we're not supposed to open up a truck and see stacks of bodies in there. none of us come to work imagining that. the republican governor of texas was quick to blame the biden administration for the tragedy, accusing president biden

of failing to enforce the law. yet the drug cartels which run these networks have abandoned vehicles with migrants inside many times before along the us—mexico border, though rarely with so many victims. trailers like that, it's going to get at least, if it's 100 outside, it goes to about 125 degrees inside. without water, without air, with nothing, it's ridiculous. ijust can't understand how drivers can do that. the migrants' journey from central america to the united states is often described as treacherous or risky. well, there can be no clearer example of that risk than this — being left in a suffocating, airless truck at the side of the road, and no clearer illustration of the callousness of the criminal gangs who operate these people smuggling routes into texas. as the authorities continued to sift through the scene this morning, many families who fear their loved ones may have been in the truck now face an awful wait.

yet with conditions in central america so dire, many more young people won't be deterred from trying to reach the us by this latest tragic attempt. will grant, bbc news, san antonio, texas. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme — turkey drops its opposition to sweden and finland joining the nato military alliance. we are going to ask a former us ambassador to nato why turkey has changed its mind. china marked its first day of rule in hong kong with a series of spectacular celebrations. a huge firework display was held in the former colony. the chinese president, jiang zemin, said unification was the start of a new era for hong kong. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal.

scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly that was cloned in laboratory using a cell from another sheep. for the first time in 20 years, russian and american spacecraft have docked in orbit at the start of a new era of cooperation in space. cheering. challenger powered past _ the bishop rock lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering a record that had stood for 34 years. _ there was no hiding the sheer elation ofj richard branson and his crew. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm monica miller in singapore. 0ur headlines... a former top aide to the white house chief of staff says president trump had wanted to lead the march on the us capitol and didn't care his

supporters were armed. in new york, ghislaine maxwell is sentenced to 20 years for helping jeffrey epstein abuse young girls. turkey has changed its mind and has now agreed to support the nato membership applications from finland and sweden. the breakthrough came after the three countries signed a joint memorandum "to extend theirfull 0ur europe editor, katya adler, reports from madrid. it's taken weeks of negotiations, but sweden and finland are now well on their way to becoming nato members after they signed an agreement with turkey to counter threats to each other�*s security. nato hoped to present this united front tonight to send a clear message to vladimir putin. welcoming finland and sweden into the alliance will make them safer, nato stronger, and

the mid—atlantic area more secure. this is vital as we face the biggest security crisis in decades. ukraine, of course, is on everyone's minds here, but so is the wider security threat from russia. nato is ramping up its rapid reaction forces, from 40,000 to 300,000... ..like these french paratroopers preparing to support nato countries close to russia, now feeling very exposed. we can't defend ourselves alone. we will never be alone strong. so we have to have, like, friends and allies. finland and sweden agree. just look at finland's long border with russia. hello. thank you so much for taking the time. moscow's aggression has shocked them. we realised that we have to make a change. - well, it appeared that russia is ready to try to invade - a neighbouring sovereign country.

are you worried, though? because president putin told you directly, he warned you not tojoin nato, or there would be repercussions. yes, we are not afraid, not at all. but today, russia's foreign minister, sergey lavrov, warned the west beefing up its defences and supporting ukraine would only prolong kyiv�*s agony. and that is the delicate balancing act here. all nato countries agree russia is the aggressor, ukraine must be helped militarily, but to what extent? that's where there's disagreement. should russia be given such a bloody nose, it thinks twice in the future about acts of aggression? or, if vladimir putin feels pushed in a corner, is there a risk that he'll escalate, even making good on a threat to use nuclear weapons?

trying to keep nato allies together isjoe biden, arguably the star guest at tonight's gala dinner hosted by spain's king and queen. europe's security has been thrown upside down by vladimir putin, but one thing hasn't changed — when this continent is in crisis, it it still relies heavily on washington. katya adler, bbc news, madrid. i'm joined now by kurt volker, an american diplomat who served as the us ambassador to nato. thank you forjoining us on the programme. in addition, nato is also looking at what is going on in the pacific and has its eyes on the growing influence in china. how is this going to change the strategy is the organisation moves forward? there is a lot of news coming out of

the summit on exactly those questions. first off, nato is recognising that russia is a serious threat to nato countries still, and that nato has not done enough to prepare itself to defend its allies if needed and to deter such aggression. so adding more forces, getting up to 300,000, making sure they are deployed for their forward, bringing in these new members, finland and sweden — all of them will reinforce nato because my capabilities. in addition, nato is looking longer—range on the road —— nato's capabilities. spyware, nato's capabilities. spywa re, anything

like the fact that several nations were invited this year as an indicator that there is a desire on nato's part to engage with these discussions with like—minded countries. discussions with like-minded countries-_ discussions with like-minded countries. ., ., ., countries. japan and south korea have been _ countries. japan and south korea have been invited _ countries. japan and south korea have been invited and they - countries. japan and south korea have been invited and they are i have been invited and they are expected to have a discussion after the sidelines. what do you expect that to achieve? fix, the sidelines. what do you expect that to achieve?— the sidelines. what do you expect that to achieve? a couple of things. the 're that to achieve? a couple of things. they're expressing _ that to achieve? a couple of things. they're expressing solidarity - that to achieve? a couple of things. they're expressing solidarity when i they're expressing solidarity when you're up at the time of a major war, and solidarity in particular with ukraine. it's also an opportunity for nato members to say that they are interested and sherry interest in security in asia —— sharing interest. and to provide other support to each other. i don't think it means nato playing an active military role in asia at this time, but this isjust active military role in asia at this time, but this is just the first step and we'll see what happens in the future. ambassador, thank you very much for joining us on the programme.

the campaigner dame deborah james has died of bowel cancer at the age of a0. she had been receiving end—of—life care at home and had raised millions to help others affected by cancer. dame deborah was host of the bbc�*s you, me and the big c podcast, and was honoured in recognition of her fundraising work. 0ur correspondent rachel burden reports. my name is deborahjames. i'm a mum to two kids and a dog called winston. three years ago, at the age of 35, i was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer and i have been living with cancer ever since. she was young, she was vibrant, with an infectious sense of fun. for deborahjames, cancer was a devastating blow. but she was determined to share her story, in the hope it would help others. i've had everything. surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy,

i've had everything — surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy — to enable me to live with cancer. 0n social media, the former teacher called herself bowel babe, detailing the endless rounds of treatment, but poking fun at her disease. having fun with her kids and making life's important milestones. i made my a0th birthday. that's huge, that's enormous, it's the birthday i never thought i would make. i like winding up my oncologist because he is very strait—laced! on her podcast, you, me and the big c, deborah was open... you're sat on the chemo ward in an orange catsuit! funny... and he's, like... doesn't want to say anything

and you'rejust, like, "yeah, hi!" in a final interview, she hoped new treatments would soon be found. cancer should become a chronic disease. i hope it will be in my kids' lifetime, i hope it will become a chronic disease. but i think... there are people doing amazing things and we need to support them and fund them. # and i'll rise up # i'll rise like the day...# the fund she set up to aid research has raised millions. foryears, dame deborah, as she became, fought to increase awareness of her disease... ..with social media posts like these inspiring thousands of fellow patients. in the words of one cancer charity, the lives her campaign saved and will continue to save was nothing short of incredible.

the campaigner dame deborah james, who has died of bowel cancer at the age of a0. finally, to a story which caught some attention yesterday. assume to be married couple were serenaded by coldplay�*s chris martin. he sings after spotting the singer, the couple told him they were planning to play his song at their wedding. the star respond with an impromptu performance that will be forgotten anytime soon. that's all forgotten anytime soon. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. you can keep up with all the news on our website at abc .com. we want to thank you forjoining us —— bbc .com. thank you very much for

watching. hello again. we've had a real mixture of weather across the country today. for western areas, it's been quite cloudy — very cloudy in parts of west scotland with some heavy rain here thanks to a weather front. contrast with these grey and gloomy conditions with the bright, sunny summer like weather we've had at times across central and eastern england. with temperatures into the low 20s, it has felt pleasantly warm, as well. but not as warm as the weather that we have across central and eastern europe at the moment, where there's something of a heatwave with us. temperatures into the mid—a0s, even, across the south of italy. those high temperatures have built up because of this ridge in the jet stream — that not only allows the weather to get very hot at this time of the year, but it also prevents weather systems from moving eastwards. and unfortunately for us, we're underneath this trough that encourages an area of low pressure

to form — here it is — and it'll be with you for the rest of this week bringing rain or showers. so, it is a very unsettled looking weather picture for the next few days. 0vernight tonight, a band of rain that's been pushing eastwards over recent hours will continue to move from wales across into eastern england, central and eastern areas of scotland, as well. behind that, across western portions, we'll see a few showers, and temperatures for the most part staying into double figures — so a mild start to the day on wednesday. wednesday, we start off with the same band of rain, quite heavy for eastern scotland, but moving out of the way. it'll be followed by a mixture of sunshine and showers. heavy showers and thunderstorms in the forecast for scotland. and for southwest england, some of the showers will tend to form up in a line across inland areas. so, a few areas that see several showers or thunderstorms during the day. east anglia in southeast england, fewer showers, more in the way of dry weather and sunshine, and temperatures into the low 20s. now, ifanything, over the next couple of days, the winds will tend to get lighter and lighter. and that means, where we see the showers form —

and there'll be loads of them on thursday — they could be quite slow—moving in nature. as well as that, there'll be heavy thundery with some hail mixed in., could see some localised flash flooding, even, from some of the heaviest downpours. similar temperatures — high teens in the west, low 20s across the warmest areas in the east. beyond that, well, pressure should start to rise as we go through the weekend and into next week. so, the weather will tend to settle down, and it should get a little bit warmer with temperatures pushing into the mid 20s into next week for some. that's your weather.

this is bbc news, the headlines. a former top aide to the former white house chief of staff mark meadows gives critical testimony to a congressional committee, as she speaks about president trump's decision to join the capitol hill rioters. in new york — ghislaine maxwell — is sentenced to 20 years for helping jeffrey epstein abuse young girls. maxwell, who is sixty, was found guilty in december of sex trafficking. turkey agrees to support finland and sweden's nato membership applications, the breakthrough comes after the three countries signed a joint memorandum. turkey said it had 'got what it wanted' from the talks in madrid. the campaigner dame deborahjames has died at the age of a0. she had been receiving end—of—life

care for bowel cancer at home