welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... the us senate approves joe biden�*s landmark bill to fight climate change, channeling billions of dollars towards ambitious clean energy goals. the world will be a better place for my grandchildren because of what we did today, and that makes me feel very, very good. very, very good. a ceasefire comes into effect between israel and the palestinian militant group, islamichhad, but there are already reports of continued fighting. the fight for life in afghanistan — one year since the taliban takeover, we see how the country's maternity services are at breaking point.

this week we'll have a series of reports looking at life in afghanistan — also on the programme. china says it will carry out new military exercises near south korea until the middle of august — as taiwan accuses china of practising for an invasion of the island. and the icelandic volcano spewing out lava and molten rock that's become a hit with tourists. live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme... there were tears ofjoy amongst democrats in the us senate as a landmark bill to tackle climate change was passed. after more than a year of intense wrangling, the sweeping reforms are being seen as a major victory for president biden.

republicans had tried to derail the legislation — worth 430 billion dollars claiming it would undermine economic growth. it also contains measures to reduce the price of health care and introduce new taxes for business. senate majority leader, chuck schumer, shared hisjoy that the bill has passed. our bill reduces inflation, lowers costs, creates millions of manufacturing jobs, enhances our energy security and is the boldest climate package in us history. the senate has now passed the most significant bill to fight the climate crisis ever, and it's going to make a difference to my grandkids. the world will be a better place for my grandchildren because of what we did today. and that makes me feel very, very good. very, very good. our washington correspondent gary o'donoghue sent this update.

this is a huge win for the democrats and forjoe biden, the largest piece of climate change legislation ever passed by congress. it will go something like 80% of the way to reducing carbon targets by 2030. it also means for individuals that they can get seven and half thousand dollars in tax rebates if they buy an electric vehicle. incentives too for businesses to switch to renewable energy. there will be higher taxes on businesses with profits of more than $1 billion, and there will be attempts to bring down prescription drug prices, a hugely contentious issue in this country. it is the latest victory forjoe biden, a series of legislative wins for him. and that will, they hope, influence the november elections when congress gets reelected. the problem, though, is that those elections are often a referendum on the administration itself, and joe biden�*s approval ratings are underwater. let's talk to professor jeff colgan, director

of the climate solutions lab at brown university. he's in providence, rhode island. it is great to get you on the programme. let's start by getting your reaction to what has happened today.- getting your reaction to what has happened today. thank you for havin: has happened today. thank you for having me _ has happened today. thank you for having me on _ has happened today. thank you for having me on finally, - for having me on finally, finally, we have good news on the fight against climate change. this is a major step forward, not only for the united states, but really for the whole world.— the whole world. professor, it's wonderful _ the whole world. professor, it's wonderful to _ the whole world. professor, it's wonderful to hear - the whole world. professor, it's wonderful to hear you i the whole world. professor, | it's wonderful to hear you as enthused and i certainly appreciate that lots of people in the audience will be feeling like that as well stop talk as to the invention, the size and scale of what this tale is trying to achieve. i scale of what this tale is trying to achieve.- scale of what this tale is trying to achieve. i love a bunch of _ trying to achieve. i love a bunch of the _ trying to achieve. i love a bunch of the different - trying to achieve. i love a - bunch of the different features of the spell. one is that it closes about two thirds of the gap between where the united states is headed right now and where it needs to go under the paris agreement. for the first time, this tale puts a tax on methane, which is a really

potent greenhouse gas and is may be the obvious place for us to start in terms of reducing us emissions. it also gives, as your reporter said, tax credits to individuals for purchasing electric vehicles, for heat pumps, for doing all of the things that we need to change america's economy away from one thatis america's economy away from one that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and america's love affair with the internal combustion engine that drives cars and switching instead to a much cleaner energy technology. professor, ijust want much cleaner energy technology. professor, i just want to put to use some of the criticism that we have heard from the republicans who have said that this spell will inflict more damage on the american economy, they have called it reckless and a spending spree. how true is that in your view?— is that in your view? well, i think it's — is that in your view? well, i think it's just _ is that in your view? well, i think it'sjust remarkable i is that in your view? well, i l think it'sjust remarkable that think it's just remarkable that the republicans not one republican senator was willing to stand up for climate change

in this regard. their criticisms economically are just breathtaking and assertive hypocrisy. this spell actually reduces the deficit by $300 billion, which is part of the deficit that was inherited from previous republican administrations. i don't normally like to take such a partisan view, but it is really a win to see that the party that cares about climate change is willing to make some progress on it and do so in a way that is economically sustained.— way that is economically sustained. professor, how challenging _ sustained. professor, how challenging do _ sustained. professor, how challenging do you - sustained. professor, how challenging do you think. sustained. professor, howj challenging do you think it might be for the us to try to bring the world along with it for want of a better phrase in this sort of battle to combat climate change, particularly when we have these tensions between us and china. the us has been accused of hypocrisy before by countries like india

who say it is not doing enough to combat climate change. right, so for years us diplomats have been going around the world and encouraging other countries to do more on climate change into reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. they have always had a weak case to make because the us hasn't had its own housing two house in order. this bill really goes a long way to strengthening the emissions reductions but also giving those diplomats a real leg to stand down and say, yes, the us is not on the back in the paris agreement, but also has started to reduce its emissions in really significant ways and is 80% on track to getting to the paris commitments. so now we can start to say, look, the next step here for the worlds, europe has made a lot of

progress, the united states is starting to make progress. now it's really the onus on china into a certain extent india for making much progress than they have to date.— have to date. professor at brown university, - have to date. professor at brown university, i- have to date. professor at| brown university, i should have to date. professor at - brown university, i should say, director of the climate solutions lab in rhode island, thank you so much forjoining us on the programme. lots more on this topic and the bbc website. do you have a look. simply download the bbc news app, simply download the bbc news app, lots of in—depth analysis on this story for you. do you have a look when you get a chance. now it's time to take a look at some of the other stories in the headlines for you today. ukrainian nuclear authorities have accused moscow of committing an act of nuclear terrorism by launching a new rocket attack on the zaporizhzya power plant late on saturday. the operator of the plant said a russian rocket had landed close to a storage facility containing casks of spent nuclear fuel. russian forces occupy the site while ukrainian staff still operate it. russia has blamed ukrainian

forces for attacks. police in thailand have arrested the owner of a nightclub where fifteen people died in a fire that broke out early on thursday. at least 30 others were injured. the police say the owner had turned himself in, and he's expected to face charges including causing death through recklessness. thai rescue teams say they found the bodies of victims piled up near the exit, which eyewitnesses say was locked. specialist teams from mexico and venezuela have joined firefighters in cuba as they struggle to control a massive blaze at an oil facility in matanzas. more than 100 specially trained personnel are involved in the effort, with planeloads of fire fighting chemicals. officials say around 5,000 people have now been evacuated from the area where two fuel tanks are burning uncontrollably. gustavo petro has been sworn in as colombia's first left—wing president.

large crowds gathered in the capital, bogota, for the ceremony. mr petro, a former marxist rebel, has pledged to tackle poverty and inequality. tax hikes for the richest are among the measures he has promised to introduce. it's reported the israeli military has struck targets in gaza within minutes of a ceasefire coming into force between israel and palestinian militants. the truce, negotiated by egypt, was designed to end three days of violence in which 44 palestinians were killed, including 15 children. there'd been heavy rocket fire from the islamichhad group against israeli cities in retaliation for the killing of one of the movement's top commanders in the bombardment of gaza. from jerusalem, our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, reports. a crush of grief for islamichhad's most powerful commander in gaza. "revenge," the mourners shout.

and soon it came, the armed group firing barrages of rockets at israeli cities. the death of the veteran militant is a serious blow to the jihadist group. he was killed here with seven others in intense israeli bombing. "it was horrifying. they targeted the house with "five or six rockets," says this man, who lives nearby. "there were bodies on the ground." and today, the violence also reached jerusalem, as israeli nationalists visited its most disputed holy site for a jewish holiday. israel's air defence system could be seen intercepting two palestinian rockets over the city, leaving trails of white smoke. israeli officials say they launched their military operation to prevent attacks by islamichhad on israeli civilians, that they had precise, detailed intelligence

of its plans. but normal civilian life has been on hold in much of israel. this evening, warning sirens sent beach—goers in tel aviv rushing to air raid shelters. further south, that's become routine. we have to live with this situation. we have a shelter in our house. it's ten seconds to go there. and then we need to stay there ten minutes. after fighting since friday there are hopes that a ceasefire brokered by egypt will stick. but people here know that a truce is always temporary. yolande knell, bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... as on the programme... the commonwealth games ci to as the commonwealth games come to a close, australia sits at the top of the metals table. we hear from one of the gold medal

winners. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a huge job of crowd control. idi armin — uganda's brutal former dictator — has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it's began itsjourney off the coast of canada ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani, in singapore. our headlines... the us senate approves joe biden's landmark bill to fight climate change, channeling billions of dollars towards ambitious clean energy goals. a ceasefire comes into effect between israel and the palestinian militant group, islamichhad, but there are already reports of continued fighting. pregnant women, new mothers and their babies are being affected by acute shortages and a lack of basic services in afghanistan. it comes nearly one year on from the taliban takeover and with much foreign funding suspended. to give birth in remote parts of the country means difficult journeys on makeshift roads — sometimes being turned away from hospital — sharing beds on wards — and little medicine.

our report was filmed in badakhshan province in the north—east of afghanistan — by cameraman sanjay ganguly — producer imogen anderson — and correspondent yogita limaye. some viewers may find this report distressing. in afghanistan's maternity wards, women forced to endure unbearable suffering. groans. no drugs to ease the pain. barely any resources for an emergency. only female staff are allowed here. they scramble around a woman in a serious condition. bibi sara's waters have broken too early. the only female doctor helps sara pull through. her baby is rushed to critical care. there is a faint heartbeat but she isn't breathing.

to treat the child, a male doctor is called in. these are crucial moments. after half an hour of intense efforts the baby girl is stable. doctors have told us she has a good chance of survival now. but they see scenes like this every single day here. it's also the middle of the day on a weekday when all of the staff were here. but there's just one female doctor and five nurses in an area that's home to more than 200,000 people. life is precarious here. a day later, before she could be named, the baby's condition worsened and they couldn't save her. one of too many such cases. the number of newborns dying in badakhshan province has almost doubled since foreign funding to afghanistan

was frozen last year. in this striking but harsh land, two decades of progress saving the lives of babies and mothers is in rapid decline. imagine taking a woman in labour on these roads. that's what this family had to do three weeks ago. abdul hafeez�*s wife and the mother of these two children died in a car, turned away from the local clinic, which wasn't equipped. zeinab was 38. "i feel like i've lost my whole life, i'm so lonely." she says "i've lost my main support. "without her, my life is meaningless." in the neighbouring village,

this man's sister was turned away from two medical facilities and died on the road to the third a few months ago. he's taken in her daughter, a five—year—old, whose father works in iran. translation: if we had proper clinics and good l roads i would not have lost my sister. now what will happen to her daughter? he was hoping to get his sister to this facility, badakhshan's main hospital. better equipped than any other in the province, but overwhelmed. since foreign funds stopped they've had to reduce their beds by a third. in every cot there are at least two women. staggering evidence here of how quickly the situation is unravelling.

this room and another one next door is full of women who have miscarried. doctors tell us there are twice as many miscarriages this year than in 2021. stress and hunger are the main triggers. this woman tells me what she eats every day. translation: | drink tea - in the morning, tea for lunch, and for dinner we find something to cook and eat. we had no food the day this happened. i was going to our relatives' home to borrow some rice orflour. i started to feel weak and began to bleed. on the floor above, the number of premature babies also surging sharply. this boy was born at seven months, still to be named. nurses and doctors are exhausted. and the taliban's bar on girls'

secondary schools means no reinforcements are coming. a series of blows have been inflicted on afghan women in the past year. its collective impact nowhere more visible than in the country's maternity wards. yogita limaye, bbc news, badakhshan. all through this week we'll be looking at life under the taliban, one year on. a special report from our teams there, including the team just featured. turning now to the issue of taiwan, and china says it will be carrying out new military exercises in the yellow sea, near south korea, until the middle of august. it follows a barrage of drills which have encircled taiwan for four days. taiwan has accused china of practising for an invasion of the island,

while the us has accused beijing of using military drills to change the status quo. our correspondent, rupert wingfield—hayes, is in taipei. so what we are hearing from taiwan's defence ministry today is that it believes the last four days of china's military drills around the island have been a dry run for a future invasion. interestingly we have also heard from the people's liberation army eastern command in china, effectively saying almost the same thing. perhaps the most significant statement has come from washington over night. the white house released a statement saying it believes the drills from china are an attempt to change the status quo in the taiwan strait. that language is very significant, because for the last a0 years or more the fundamental bedrock of the relationship between america and china has been that america will oppose any unilateral attempt by taiwan or china to change the status quo in the taiwan strait.

for the last few days, we've been hearing loudly from china from the foreign minister and other officials that it is america that is to blame for this crisis, nancy pelosi's visit has provoked this. this is washington really pushing back against that, saying to beijing, no, it is you being aggressive, you are trying to change the rules of the game and you are attempting to unilaterally change the status quo in the taiwan strait. the commonwealth games are drawing to a close in birmingham later. there have been some incredible performances but perhaps unsurprisingly australia top the medals table. once again their swimmers enjoyed considerable success in the pool. and that included 23—year—old zac stubblety—cook. he secured gold in the 200 metres breastroke. (read on) he secured gold in the 200 metres breastroke. a little earlier, zac spoke to me about what it was like to be part of the games. yeah, the moment of victory in birmingham was pretty special for me. four years ago, i didn't make

the final, so it was special for me to be able to stand up on those blocks and have the crowd back and have that moment, all my team—mates and my family there, it was pretty special. yeah, i can imagine. what a moment indeed for you. give us a sense of how difficult competing in the commonwealth games was in comparison to the olympics, for example. yeah, i mean, every race is always a little bit different. for me, this year has probably been different again. last year, i came in as an underdog, this year i've come in kind of coming in as that guy to beat. so that's been different pressure. i wouldn't say it's easier or a different quality, it wasjust, yeah, a different race, if you will. it was still a tough race, so that's always great to come away with a win. what is it like to go from that transition from being, as you have described it, you know, the underdog

to the man to beat in pool? it is a strange feeling in something i'm still learning to deal with and learning how to race, given that, and the last 12 months has been an absolute whirlwind like it was 12 months to the day from tokyo to the 200m breaststroke and birmingham. so it was a pretty special 12 months and something i'm still learning how to do, at the end of the day, i stand behind the blocks and represent my country, but i'm representing myself and trying to get the best out of myself and trust that process and continue to perfect that process. are wondering, the discipline that is involved in becoming you know, a lot of people watching, i'm sure, are wondering, the discipline that is involved in becoming the kind of athlete you are and having to push yourself every single points. what do you do in order to sort of psych yourself up,

i suppose, to get even faster and beat that next record? i enjoye the challenge, i guess, is the easiest way to put it. it's always about trying to find the best of myself, i guess, that's kind of the way i view my life, if i was to pass away or die tomorrow, would i be content with the life i've lived? trying to live each day to its last, and that is kind of how i live and how i continue to live in trying to get the best out of myself each and every day and make the most of each and every day, and that means challenging myself in and out of the pool both in life and in the pool. try to just be the best person i can be, it's as simple as that, i guess. wades to live by. now for an unusual tourist attraction —

the fagradalsfjall volcano erupted last wednesday — but as it spews out lava and streams of molten rock — tourists and locals have travelled to the site, onlookers, decribed the experience as "amazing" and "scary. " that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello there. there was a lot of dry, sunny, very warm weather over the weekend, certainly across england and wales. and that's just the taste of things to come, because as we move through this upcoming week, it's set to get very hot and sunny across parts of england and wales, a developing heatwave here. but even scotland and northern ireland will turn much warmer with plenty of sunshine. now, high pressure will keep control of the weather through this week, weather fronts always flirting with the northwest corner of scotland and will bring more cloud, breeze, outbreaks of rain. and then towards the end of the week, the area of high pressure will sit towards the east of the uk, and that will bring very warm southeasterly winds off the near continent. now, of course, we know it's been very dry last month across england and wales

and we continue the dry theme into august. very little rain over the next few days for much of the country. most of it will be falling across the north and the west of scotland. and there will be further splashes of rain across northwest scotland, over the northern and western isles, over the course of monday. more sunshine, though, for northern ireland, much of central, southern and eastern scotland. most of the sunshine, though, and warmth will be across england and wales. so we've got the low 20s across the north in the sunniest spots, the high 20s further south. we could be up to around 29 degrees in a few spots across the midlands and southern england. monday night, then, dry and clear for most, a bit of mist developing here and there. it'll stay cloudy and breezy across the north and west of scotland, further splashes of rain here. and temperatures will begin to creep up, 10—16 degrees will be the low. and as we move through the week, the nights will get warmer. so for tuesday, then, it's a fairly mild start to the day, plenty of sunshine across the country. again, the far north and west of scotland will see most of the breeze and the cloud. quite windy across the west highlands, into the western isles. 17 degrees here, the mid—20s further south, and we could be close to the 30 celsius mark

across parts of england and wales. until wednesday, i think a sunnier picture across much of scotland and northern ireland, that weather frontjust pushing to the northwest of the country. so we're up to around 2a, 25 degrees through central, southern scotland, up to 30 or 31 celsius across the midlands and the south wales, southern england. and it gets hotter across england and wales as we move towards the end of the week, perhaps up to the mid—30s in places. warm as well for scotland and northern ireland. don't forget, the nights will get much warmer as well.

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. russia's war on ukraine has turned culture into a battleground in countries supportive of ukraine's resistance to putin's invasion, some russian artists, musicians and dancers have been stripped of their platforms or they've been asked to denounce russia's military aggression. when does solidarity turn into censorship?

my guest is the world renowned soviet—born conductor semyon bychkov.