welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. i'm david eades. our top stories: president biden has confirmed that the leader of al-qaeda ayman al—zawahri has been killed in a drone strike in kabul. he made videos, including in recent weeks, calling for his followers to attack the united states and our allies. now, justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. al—zawahiri had previously been osama bin laden�*s number two and was deeply involved in the 9/11 attacks on the united states in 2001. one of america's most senior politicians, nancy pelosi is now expected to visit taiwan on tuesday, putting further strains on relations with china. and beyonce will re—record one of her new songs, replacing a word, after

disability campaigners raised concerns about the lyrics. hello and welcome to the programme. president biden says an american drone strike has killed the al-qaeda leader, ayman al—zawahiri. he said the operation, which he authorised, took place in the afghan capital kabul on saturday. mr biden described ayman al—zawahiri as having been deeply involved in the september the eleventh attacks as well as earlier attacks on us embassies in africa and the uss cole in the late nineties. zawahiri, who succeeded osama bin laden as al-qaeda chief, was on the fbi's most

wanted terrorist list. this is what president biden announced a short time ago on saturday at my direction, the united states successfully concluded an airstrike in kabul, afghanistan, that killed the emir of al-qaeda, ayman al—zawahiri. ayman al—zawahiri was bin laden�*s leader, he was with him all the whole time, he was his number two man and deputy at the time of the terrorist attack on 9/11. he was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11. one of the most responsible for the attacks that murdered 2,977 people on american soil. for decades, he was the mastermind behind attacks against americans, including the bombing of the uss cole in 2000, which killed 17 american sailors, and wounded dozens more. he played a key role in the bombing of us embassies in kenya and tanzania, killing 224 and wounding over 11,500 others. he carved a trail of

murder and violence against american citizens, american service members, american diplomats and american interests. and since the united states delivered justice to bin laden 11 years ago, zawahiri has been a leader of al-qaeda, the leader. from hiding, he co—ordinated al-qaeda's branches and all around the world, including setting priorities for provided operational guidance that called for and inspired attacks against us targets. he made videos, including in recent weeks, calling for followers to attack the united states and our allies. now, justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. our reporter mark lobel is here with me. i is here with me. think the us intelligence officials i think the us intelligence officials say they have high

confidence they have the man. i think that translates as they know they got him. you have some detail?— some detail? the picture the americans — some detail? the picture the americans are _ some detail? the picture the americans are painting - americans are painting according to us officials is ayman al—zawahiri was hit as he was standing on the balcony of his house by two hellfire misfires. these are there to surface missiles, precise missiles and the 71—year—old was killed but none of the members of his family and note civilians were killed and that is not been challenged to date. why that is interesting, the precision nature of the result was reflected by other accounts the american officials were giving about the thought process behind this, that was meticulous. a month ago we are told president biden sat down with the director of the cia, counterintelligence director and shown a model of the save house and was able to ask about the kind of construction materials behind it and get his head around about how the

strike would work and how accurate it would be. this was accurate it would be. this was a house said to be in the centre of kabul, in a residential area, which raise questions about what the taliban knew about his location and what kind of agreement the americans had come to with the taliban. is this the taliban harbouring somebody, potentially a terrorist, from the americans or is this americans crossing the line of afghanistan which is now under control of the taliban.- control of the taliban. thank ou control of the taliban. thank you very _ control of the taliban. thank you very much _ control of the taliban. thank you very much indeed - control of the taliban. thank you very much indeed for - control of the taliban. thank l you very much indeed for that. mark fallon is the interim executive director of the center for ethics and rule of law at the university of pennsylvania. he was the us government's former chief investigator responsible for bringing suspected terrorist to justice before the military commmissions at guantanamo bay cuba. he's in philadelphia. thank you forjoining us. first of all, the response to the

news. i of all, the response to the news. ~' , of all, the response to the news. ~ , , ., news. i think this is a wonderful— news. i think this is a wonderful symbolic l news. i think this is a - wonderful symbolic victory for the united states, picking up the united states, picking up the amir of al-qaeda but it is not due to do a victory lap just yet. al-qaeda has grown from numbers around 500 at the time of 9/11 to tens of thousands that it is today and so i think this reflects is really the challenges we have had on our counterterrorism policies where ayman al—zawahiri has been able to survive for two decades, outlasted the afghanistan war prior to us being able to eliminate him. while it is a great success and offer some solace to the 9/11 victims, the uss is coal, and victims of the embassy bombing. but how long it has taken to get ayman

al—zawahiri is questioned. it has taken to get ayman al-zawahiri is questioned. what constitutes— al-zawahiri is questioned. what constitutes the _ al-zawahiri is questioned. what constitutes the moment - al—zawahiri is questioned. what constitutes the moment where you can have a victory lap? is it the erasure of al-qaeda? that is unlikely. it is unlikely but al-qaeda has proliferated two franchises and what we have to see is what is the aftermath of our attack of a taliban household in kabul. what we're to have to analyse, if the taliban government has violated the agreement and they will be challenging whether we have violated the doha agreement.— have violated the doha a . reement. ., have violated the doha aareement. ., ., agreement. the treatment of detainees. — agreement. the treatment of detainees, whether - agreement. the treatment of detainees, whether in - detainees, whether in guantanamo bay or more in various parts of the world, you feel served the us and are less

badly indeed in terms of bringing tojustice badly indeed in terms of bringing to justice people like ayman al—zawahiri? if bringing to justice people like ayman al-zawahiri?_ bringing to justice people like ayman al-zawahiri? if you look at the history — ayman al-zawahiri? if you look at the history of _ ayman al-zawahiri? if you look at the history of ayman - at the history of ayman al—zawahiri, he was in egypt, picked up after the assassination of sadat, he was brutally tortured in prison, along with others, who sanctioned the first world trade center bombing. ayman al—zawahiri emerged with osama bin laden to form al-qaeda and so if you look at this history of torture, if you want to create violent extremists, if you want violent extremists to proliferate, what you need to do is abuse are populous as we did in afghanistan and iraq to create more enemies and that is why al-qaeda has grown from 500 to tens of thousands of franchises and that is what we have to be wary.—

franchises and that is what we have to be wary. thank you very much indeed. _ a short time ago, secunder kermani — our correspondent in kabul — outlined the regional reaction to zawahiri's death. earlier on tonight, taliban officials announced that the drone strike that had been carried out over the weekend in kabul, they initially said it was a rocket attack that landed in an empty house. they said their investigation had determined it was carried out by a us drone strike. they made no mention of any victim, certainly no mention of ayman al—zawahiri or al-qaeda at all. we will have to wait and see other taliban respond to this. we will have to wait and see how the taliban respond to this. this killing of ayman al—zawahiri really does get to the crux of the tense relationship, the very, very antagonistic relationship that there has always been between the taliban and the united states.

and that is because if you cast your mind back to 2001, the reason why the taliban were overthrown by the us was because al-qaeda had its haven here in afghanistan. they used afghanistan as a base from which to plot the 9/11 attacks. before american troops were withdrawn from afghanistan last year, the taliban and america signed a deal paving the way for that withdrawal and as part of the deal, the taliban committed to not allowing foreign militant groups to plot attacks abroad or on the west. it was never clear what they were going to do with al-qaeda because the taliban and al-qaeda have always been close allies. it never seemed likely that they were going to turn against their old former allies. but certainly, it did seem as if they did not want groups like al-qaeda to be plotting attacks from afghanistan against the west.

it was very surprising, i think for many people in afghanistan to learn that ayman al—zawahiri was here in kabul. i mean, he has long been believed to be in the border regions between afghanistan and pakistan. the fact he was here in kabul according to a number of credible reports, either in a house belonging to senior member of the taliban or next to a house belonging to a senior member of the taliban, that really suggests complicity by at least elements of the taliban with ayman al—zawahiri. and presumably, other members of al-anda, being here in kabul. it would appear to be completely possible for him to have been here without their knowledge and acceptance. seth g jones is director of international security program at the centre for strategic and international studies, having served as special operations advisor to the coalition military in afghanistan, and has written extensively on counterterrorism and afghanistan

extensively on counterterrorism and afghanistan hejoins me now he joins me now from washington. hejoins me now from washington. thank you very much indeed forjoining us. there have been numerous attempts to target ayman al—zawahiri. finally it appears they have got their man and i am sure there will be much satisfaction about that but who is it they really got? how big a fish is in today's al-qaeda world? really got? how big a fish is in today's al—qaeda world? it in today's al—anda world? it is important to note two things. one that al-qaeda commend dick control is relatively centralised. it essentially runs its own operations in somalia. a range of groups run most of their operations in syria and if the same is true in other areas. in west africa. ayman al—zawahiri does not have operational command in a tactical movement

way but it is a serious blow. since the creation of the organisation and the movement, along with osama bin laden, ayman al—zawahiri has been a central member of the organisation and even more than osama bin laden in some ways, has written a number of important texts, including nights under the profits banner that have been extensively read byjohn hardest so his death does create some broader problems for an organisation that has a really got a major terrorist attack in quite some time. ., , , ~ terrorist attack in quite some time. . , , . time. -- jihadists. were you surprised — time. -- jihadists. were you surprised that _ time. -- jihadists. were you surprised that he _ time. -- jihadists. were you surprised that he was - time. -- jihadists. were you surprised that he was in - time. -- jihadists. were you i surprised that he was in kabul? he was made an afghan citizen some 20 odd years ago but given the circumstances surrounding the circumstances surrounding the taliban or very prickly relations with the us, in terms of the us removal of their

forces from afghanistan, were you surprised?— you surprised? no, i was not surprised- — you surprised? no, i was not surprised. the _ you surprised? no, i was not surprised. the un _ you surprised? no, i was not surprised. the un security . surprised. the un security council has put out a number of reports, one of them last year noted that elements of the taliban, particularly those closely linked with the minister of interior, senior al-qaeda leaders including my name ayman al—zawahiri, fully aware of the progress or lack thereof of the peace talks between the us and the taliban, so, also we have had multiple recent indications of close relations between senior elements of the taliban and ayman al—zawahiri so when they overthrew the government, the fact that ayman al—zawahiri moved into kabul is not a surprise. it does not sound like from my sources that he necessarily moved willingly.

there were some operational security concerns which was a case to have been valid. given 9/11, case to have been valid. given am, given _ case to have been valid. given am, given uss _ case to have been valid. given 9/11, given uss cole _ case to have been valid. given 9/11, given uss cole and - case to have been valid. given 9/11, given uss cole and the i 9/11, given uss cole and the attacks on us embassies in africa, there is clearly a big purpose for the united states in taking this man out and targeting ayman al—zawahiri but i wonder, on the basis of what you said, the franchise nature of al-qaeda today, is it so important as to who replaces him? not necessarily. it certainly is helpful to have a leader that inspires at a strategic level the organisation will stop i think the other big challenge is that we are seeing already afghanistan become a sanctuary for a number of groups, notjust al-qaeda but islamic state, and a range of other groups. we are seeing a

resurgence of terrorism including in afghanistan. my question is, al—zawahiri is now dead, what comes next in afghanistan? that is the big question. afghanistan? that is the big ruestion. ., ~ afghanistan? that is the big ruestion. ., ,, , ., , afghanistan? that is the big ruestion. ., ~' , . question. thank you very much indeed. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: beyonce is going to rerecord one of her new songs after disability campaigners raised concerns about the lyrics. the question was whether we wanted to save our people and japanese as well and win the war, or whether we want to take a chance on being able to win the war by killing all our young men. the invasion began at two o'clock this morning. mr bush, like most other people, was clearly- caught by surprise. we call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all the iraqi forces.

100 years old and still full of vigor, vitality and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen in british history has lived so long, and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she's achieved this landmark anniversary. this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the anglican community. this is bbc news, our main headline: president biden has confirmed that a us drone strike has killed the al-qaeda leader ayman al—zawahiri. mr biden said he authorised the operation which took place on saturday. he said the mission was successful and there were no civilian casualties.

the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi is expected to visit taiwan as part of her tour of asia, although there is no official confirmation on this yet. it does seem as if she is very clear she wants to do this. china has warned of serious consequences if the trip to the self—ruled island goes ahead. last week, president xi jinping told president biden not to �*play with fire'. earlier i spoke to zack cooper a senior fellow with the american enterprise institute and a former senior pentagon and white house official. i asked him if he thought the visit will go ahead. it looks like it will happen probably in the next 2a hours. so i think we're going to have a very tense week ahead of us. why is nancy pelosi deciding to push this? it's a great question. she has a long history of pushing the chinese on a variety of issues. she famously went to tiananmen square in 1989. this isn't her first time

being embroiled with beijing. it's a legacy issue for her, something she wanted to do before leaving office. maybe a bit of a political issue — everyone in congress in washington is trying to be tough on china and she certainly has a long history of doing so herself and i think that may be part of the logic here. that's quite worrying in the sense that it is essentially a personal issue that she is pursuing here with a bit of a political side element. clearly it is antagonistic at a time when tensions are pretty high. that's right. we cannot take the pressure off of beijing on this. if china escalates and uses military action against nancy pelosi's plan, that'd be a huge escalation. if they do other things to demonstrate how

unhappy china is, with military tools, that's still the burden of escalation that will be on beijing. i think you are right that this is a visit that doesn't have a huge amount of upside and it has a fair amount of downside, which is why some of us have been a bit critical of it. i presume there is a sense from nancy pelosi's office or the white house that if we should choose to go to taipei, for example, we mustn't let beijing tell us not to. absolutely. and look, i believe that as well. i think it's important that if us leaders decide that they are going to do something, that they not be deterred simply because china doesn't want them to. i think we also have to take a step back and see, if you are thinking about this from the chinese point of view, you've had a string of actions that have really begun to question the us one china policy. you had two recent secretary

of defences and secretary of state from the republican side go to taipei and say the us shouldn't embrace, notjust the strategic ambiguity policy on taiwan, but also the one china policy. you've had joe biden make several statements on taiwan policy, you've got something called the taiwan policy act going through congress just this week and now nancy pelosi's visit. it's not really just about this visit but about a fear in china that actually the one china arrangement that we made back in the 1970s is eroding and that's why they are pushing back so hard. is there an element from the us perspective that it's an opportunity to build those alliances within the region at a time when, let's be honest, fairly heavy—handed beijing approach to many of the neighbouring countries, has alienated it from a good number of them too? i completely agree. china has been remarkably heavy—handed in a number of cases. you could think about australia, south korea, you could go on and on.

look at what's happened with europe in the last few yea rs. many people expected the china and europe relationship to be in pretty good shape right now and actually it's worse than it has been in decades. it's another case where china may overplay its hand but it's still — we're still entering quite a risky few days. the next 48—72 hours, there is maybe a 20% risk that we see a major crisis emerge. worrying words there. let's get some of the day's other news. an international study says that the risks of a climate change catastrophe, including human extinction, are not being taken seriously by scientists. the authors say that the consequences of warming beyond three degrees celsius have been "dangerously underexplored", and the world needs to start preparing for the possibility of what they term the "climate endgame. " at least 37 people have now died in the us state of kentucky, as the region

braces for more rainfall. the state's governor said the death toll would continue to rise as hundreds remained unaccounted for. overnight, curfews have been declared in two devastated counties. a member of a militia group from texas who was convicted of storming the us capitol has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison. his sentence is the longest so far for anyone involved in the riot. guy reffitt also threatened to shoot his own children if they informed on him. the funeral of the former ulster unionist party leader and nobel peace prize winner, lord david trimble, has taken place in northern ireland. the 77—year—old was instrumental in the negotiations and signing of the agreement that ended 30 years of violence known as the troubles. lord trimble died a week ago. british airways has halted sales of tickets on short—haul flights from london's heathrow airport until next monday as disruption to air travel continues. the airline said the move was in response to the cap on daily passenger numbers that the uk's largest airport has imposed over the summer.

beyonce has agreed to re—record one of the songs on her latest album to remove a word that can been used to demean people with disabilities. the term appears twice in the song, heated, which was released on friday as part of her album, renaissance. some fans had defended beyonce, pointing out that the term she used can have a different meaning in the us. our music correspondent mark savage said it was hard to know what had gone wrong to allow the offensive lyric to be recorded. they have teams of lawyers who listen to songs to see whether they sound like previous songs. there is another track on her album that gives a credit to the right said brad song, i'm too sexy, because she sings a line that sounds vaguely similar to that. i think in beyonce's case, her albums are usually shrouded in secrecy,

their efforts to make sure it doesn't leak, although this one did 48—hour was before the release. maybe fewer people heard it than usual to prevent a situation like this. we don't know. the good thing is she has recognise what people have said, very quickly, people only really started making noise about this this morning in europe and by the time america woke up, there was a statement saying that beyonce is going to rerecord the song and replace those lyrics. surgeons have used virtual reality headsets to help successfully separate brazilian twins born with fused brains. doctors in brazil and britain wore the technology to test techniques, before operating on the three—year—olds. the final procedure was carried out in rio dejaneiro. it took more than 27 hours to complete and almost 100 medical staff were involved. the twins are recovering in hospital and will be supported with six months of rehabilitation, an extraordinary operation.

virtual but real success. you can reach me on twitter, i'm @bbcdavideades. you're watching bbc news. hello, then. of course, july 2022 will be remembered for the first time the uk saw temperatures widely in excess of a0 celsius. however, it's also been a very dry month — and in southern england, it's been the driestjuly on record — those records date back to 1836 by the met office. now, anywhere in the brown has seen below—average rainfall, but the darker brown's way below the average rainfall totals for this time of year, and 1—2 stations along the south coast have not seen any measurable rain. now, if you can see over the next few days, we won't see any rainfall either across the far south and east. the heaviest of the rain will be out to the north and west — that's because you're closest to an area of low pressure that's moving in at the moment. the isobars squeezing together, it'll turn pretty windy,

and it will be quite wet as well. so that means it could be a pretty damp start for the commonwealth games in birmingham, but quickly brightening up by lunchtime, so an improving story. and that will be the story generally across the country. some heavy bursts of rain across northwest england and wales drifting their way steadily eastwards. the rain never getting as far south, really, as the south midlands, and then behind it, brightening up with 1—2 showers. a strong south—westerly wind as we go through the day — so blustery, but from a very warm source. it'll feel once again quite humid across the country — 2a celsius in eastern scotland, highs of 30 celsius perhaps in southeast england — that's the mid—80s fahrenheit. now, as we go through the evening and overnight, there's another frontal system that will sink its way south, just really a band of cloud and a few scattered showers, can you see, stretching from hull down to the bristol channel. again, it stays very warm, so a humid start to wednesday morning. that frontal system — a weak affair, a band of cloud, a few isolated showers — continues to sink south. but behind, it's introducing fresher air as the winds here come round to a northwesterly. so more showers being driven in by that northwesterly wind, and temperatures

down a few degrees. not so in the far southeast, as that fresher air hasn't quite yet arrived, but it will do so. the northwesterly wind direction continues to dominate for a few days. high pressure then builds in from the west, quietens things down. so, over the next few days, it's dry, settled, and sunny, but just that little bit fresher.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president biden has confirmed, in a live televised address, that the al-qaeda leader, ayman al—zawahiri has been killed in a us drone strike in kabul. mr biden said al—zawahiri was one of the organisers of the 9/11 attacks on the us, and that his death would bring closure to families of the victims. the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi is expected to visit taiwan as part of her tour of asia. that's according to several american and taiwanese media reports, although there is no official confirmation on this yet. china has warned of serious consequences if the trip to the self—ruled island goes ahead an international study says that the risks

of a climate change catastrophe, including human extinction,