welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: donald trump refuses to answer questions at an appearance before new york's attorney general, who's investigating the business practices of the trump organization. he's called it a witch hunt. china reaffirms that it could take taiwan by force. us house speaker nancy pelosi, whose visit sparked china's drills around the island, defends her trip. we will not allow china to isolate taiwan. they have kept taiwan from participating in the world health organization, other things, where taiwan can make a very valued contribution. foreign ministers in the g7 group of nations demand russia hand back ukraine's main nuclear power plant

after it was shelled this week. they say moscow's actions are increasing the risk of a terrible accident. # we're locking in the air... # we're walking in the air... and the author and illustrator raymond briggs, best known for the children's book the snowman, has died at the age of 88. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we start in the us, where donald trump has declined to answer questions under oath as part of an investigation into his family's business practices. mr trump described the inquiry

by the new york attorney general, letitia james, as a witch hunt. ms james is looking into whether the trump organization tried to acquire loans and avoid taxes by misleading the authorities. the former president's deposition comes just days after the fbi carried out an unprecedented search at his florida home as part of a separate investigation. shortly after his visit to the new york attorney general�*s office, he released a statement... he added... well, more now from our correspondent peter bowes in la. he has been looking at this story very closely. peter, just talk us through this, because of course this

comes just days after that fbi executed a search warrant at donald trump's florida estate, part of a separate investigation, of course. how significant is it that he has refused to say anything in this deposition? in refused to say anything in this deposition?— refused to say anything in this deposition? refused to say anything in this deosition? ., , , , ., deposition? in one sense, it is not a surprise- — deposition? in one sense, it is not a surprise- in _ deposition? in one sense, it is not a surprise. in another _ deposition? in one sense, it is not a surprise. in another sense - deposition? in one sense, it is not a surprise. in another sense you i a surprise. in another sense you could say it is a surprise, and that is based on donald trump's statement over the years, criticising others who have pleaded the fifth, mr trump digesting that anyone who does that has something to hide, although now people do that when they feel, and their families feel, that they are under attack in a particular way, so he has... and this is his constitutional right not to answer any questions, not to say anything that would be terminating or self—incriminating. one theory here is that he is not saying anything

because, in fact, there is another investigation with the manhattan district attorney on the same subject and that could potentially lead to criminal charges and would be possible that, had mr trump said anything today, had he answered those questions, that whatever he said could've been used against him in that terminal case.— in that terminal case. peter, he has been pushing _ in that terminal case. peter, he has been pushing this _ in that terminal case. peter, he has been pushing this narrative, - in that terminal case. peter, he has been pushing this narrative, hasn'tl been pushing this narrative, hasn't he, that he has been persecuted by authorities? how much is that narrative planed to his base? it seems to be playing quite strongly the stub there was a surge of support, it was almost visceral. we had people turning up outside his florida home in the streets, waving flags, cheering on donald trump. that's certainly a very visual show of support for the former president, perhaps even more signalling than that, we have had some senior republicans over the last 2a, 36

hours coming out, again, in support of mrtrump, at hours coming out, again, in support of mr trump, at least going as far to say that they believe the authorities, the fbi, thejustice department, ought to justify why they searched his home, and it seems to have really boosted his base to the point that some of the republicans suggesting the donald trump that he should declare or should declare very soon that he again is standing as candidate for the presidency. again is standing as candidate for the presidency-— again is standing as candidate for the presidency. peter bowes, on a sto that the presidency. peter bowes, on a story that is _ the presidency. peter bowes, on a story that is likely _ the presidency. peter bowes, on a story that is likely to _ the presidency. peter bowes, on a story that is likely to develop - the presidency. peter bowes, on a story that is likely to develop in i story that is likely to develop in the coming days, and i'm sure he will keep a close eye on the developments for us, but for now, peter, thank you very much indeed. turning to taiwan now, and china has vowed zero tolerance for "separatist activities" and reaffirmed that it would take the self—ruled island by force if necessary. china's taiwan affairs office issued a white paper laying out how it intends to claim the island through a range of economic measures and military pressure.

meanwhile, the chinese military says its successfully completed operations around taiwan after days of unprecedented excercises. military officials say the exercises focused on sea assaults, land strikes, air operations and anti—submarine operations. they say the drills also involved new military equipment such as stealth fighters and new rocket launchers. the multi—day operations around taiwan were in response to us house speaker nancy pelosi's stopover there last tuesday. and nancy pelosi has defended that visit to taiwan. she said the purpose of the trip was to underline america's respect for taiwan's democracy and assert the rights of us government officials to go there. we will not allow china to isolate taiwan. they have kept taiwan from participating in the world health organization, other things, where taiwan can make a very valued contribution. and they may keep them from going there, but they're not keeping us from going to taiwan.

we will not allow them to. so we think their reaction... that was our purpose, to salute this thriving democracy — don't take it from me, freedom house said one of the freest democracies in the world — show our respect for that, for the success of their economy, for the enthusiasm of their young people to embrace a democracy, and others as well, but the young knowing nothing else except a free taiwan. i'm joined now by brian hart, fellow with the china power project at the centre for strategic and international studies in washington. great to get you on the programme, i just want to get your thoughts on what nancy pelosi has just said, the fact that her visit was very much a part of showing the world, showing china, obviously, that us officials can go to taiwan to celebrate

democracy there. has that been received by beijing? i democracy there. has that been received by beijing?— democracy there. has that been received by beijing? received by bei'ing? i would start off by saying. — received by beijing? i would start off by saying. and _ received by beijing? i would start off by saying, and thanks - received by beijing? i would start off by saying, and thanks for- received by beijing? i would start i off by saying, and thanks for having me, that i think it is important to note that it is important for the united states to continue to support taiwan, to support its democracy and continue to support it being active in the international world, but this has clearly been received as a slight by beijing, which is not surprising. taiwan is one of the most sensitive issues for the chinese communist party and the chinese communist party and the chinese government, and so is not surprising they reacted so strongly. they have taken some unprecedented steps here, with their military, and other steps to really show resolve and to punish taiwan and to show resolve to taiwan and the united states and other us allies and partners in the region. so beijing has certainly responded pretty sternly to this, and i think i would just emphasise that while these

exercises may be ramping up right now, the long—term impacts will be doled out in the coming days, weeks, months. �* ., ., , ., , months. and what do you see the long-term — months. and what do you see the long-term impacts _ months. and what do you see the long-term impacts of _ months. and what do you see the long-term impacts of that - months. and what do you see the | long-term impacts of that looking long—term impacts of that looking like? as you point out, we've seen those military drills. are they the dress rehearsal for the real thing was not our the closer to taiwan than what we have seen before? yes. than what we have seen before? yes, these drills were _ than what we have seen before? yes, these drills were very _ than what we have seen before? ye: these drills were very much closer than they were, for example, in the i995, i996 than they were, for example, in the 1995, 1996 taiwan straits crisis. the exercise zones around taiwan were closer to the island, they were further from the chinese mainland, a sign that the pla can project its power further and sign that the pla can project its powerfurther and is sign that the pla can project its power further and is confident in doing so, and there were a string of moves that beijing took that really were aimed at showing that they were willing to escalate somewhat. they fired missiles over the island of taiwan, they fired

missiles into the economic zone, and the worry for people like me, who watch the chinese military, is that this will become part of the new normal, that asian will continue to escalate, it will continue to fly its pla aircraft across the median line and into the taiwan strait. the chinese have ramped up crossings of the median line over the past week, and they've made statements saying this is largely going to continue, so the concern in the long—term is beijing is using this as an opportunity to push the status quo further on a military domain but also in other areas as well, so i think long—term, that's what worries me. think long-term, that's what worries me. ., think long-term, that's what worries me, ., i ., ., think long-term, that's what worries me. . ., ., ., me. yeah, brian, at what point do ou see me. yeah, brian, at what point do you see the _ me. yeah, brian, at what point do you see the us — me. yeah, brian, at what point do you see the us stepping _ me. yeah, brian, at what point do you see the us stepping in, - me. yeah, brian, at what point do you see the us stepping in, given| you see the us stepping in, given the fact that what you're out is further incursions by the chinese military into taiwan's airspace? 50. military into taiwan's airspace? so, i think what — military into taiwan's airspace? srr, i think what the military into taiwan's airspace? 557, i think what the united states military into taiwan's airspace? 5513, i think what the united states has

done so far, the blighted administration, is to largely not escalate the situation further. we have not seen the united states and aircraft carriers into the region as aircraft carriers into the region as a show of force, and we have seen the biden administration take effort to lower the temperature a bit, for example by postponing icbm tests in place before this, so the biden administration is see what xi jinping does next and to be ready to respond as necessary. i have seen reports the administration is considering reevaluating the thinking it was doing in terms of... we are still in the early days of what i would call the crisis, and i think the biden administration is still waiting to see where things would fall and setting the stage for how they will respond. brian would fall and setting the stage for how they will respond.— how they will respond. brian hart therre, fellow _ how they will respond. brian hart therre, fellow at _ how they will respond. brian hart therre, fellow at the _ how they will respond. brian hart therre, fellow at the china - how they will respond. brian hart

therre, fellow at the china power| therre, fellow at the china power project, thank you so much for joining us on newsday.- project, thank you so much for joining us on newsday. good to be here, joining us on newsday. good to be here. thank— joining us on newsday. good to be here, thank you. _ let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. up to 50 people are still missing after their boat sank off the greek island of karpathos. a large—scale rescue operation saved 29 people initially but has since failed to find any other survivors or bodies. those who've been saved are said to be migrants from afghanistan, iraq and iran. seven men linked to the sexual assault of a group of women nearan abandoned mine injohannesburg have been officially charged with multiple counts of rape. they were among more than 60 suspects. the case has sparked violent protests in south africa. demonstrators gathered outside the court where the men were charged. children in london between the ages of one and nine—years—old will be offered a polio booster vaccine, after the virus was detected in sewage there. no actual cases have been reported.

it follows a warning from a health official in new york that there could be hundreds of undiagnosed cases of polio in the state. one case of polio in new york last month was genetically linked to the traces found in london. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we have the wonderful story of a woman who was forced to leave uganda in the 1970s and went on to found one of the uk's most popular gujarati restaurants — but not till after she turned 80. 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 amin, uganda's brutalformer 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. 2 billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennia. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later, when the sun set over the bay of bengal. welcome back to bbc news. let's turn to ukraine now, and foreign ministers of the g7 group of industrialised nations have

demanded russia hand back control of the nuclear power plant it seized in zaporizhzhia, accusing moscow's forces of increasing the risk of an accident at the site — which could threaten the entire region. it comes after overnight air strikes across ukraine, including near that plant in the south of the country, killed at least 13 people. britain says it's sending another three long range multiple the ukrainian air force is also claiming that nine russian warplanes were destroyed at a russian base in crimea yesterday — something russia has denied. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky says the war in ukraine began with crimea and must end with its liberation. russia invaded crimea in 2014 and took control of the region. and of course this year, it's taken other areas in the south, including kherson. let's listen to mr zelensky. translation: this russian war. against ukraine and a free europe started in crimea and has to end in crimea, with its liberation. it is impossible to say when it will happen, but we are getting there. for more on that, i'm joined now

andrew d'anieri, assistant director with the atlantic council's eurasia center. great to get you on the programme. just start by asking you, dg seven says that russia has to hand back control of the nuclear power plant act ii ukraine. how likely is that, in your view?— act ii ukraine. how likely is that, in your view? good to be with you. it is absolutely _ in your view? good to be with you. it is absolutely the _ in your view? good to be with you. it is absolutely the right _ in your view? good to be with you. it is absolutely the right move - in your view? good to be with you. it is absolutely the right move forl it is absolutely the right move for the g7 foreign ministers to call on russia to back away from the largest nuclear power plants in europe, which russia has essentially made into an arms depot, stalking soldiers there, supplies and even mining the facility, according to many reports. so it's absolutely the right move and russian soldiers they are actually shooting at ukrainian positions and daring them not to fire back, because the power plant is actually of huge strategic imports to ukraine for its energy resources, so this is absolutely the right thing to do, but it is a bit

unlikely, because russia knows that ukraine and now the westview it as a strategic asset. so we could see them use it as may be a bargaining chip, but it is really unlikely at this point russian forces will back off on their own volition.- off on their own volition. yeah, andrew, off on their own volition. yeah, andrew. the — off on their own volition. yeah, andrew, the g7 _ off on their own volition. yeah, andrew, the g7 is _ off on their own volition. yeah, andrew, the g7 is saying - off on their own volition. yeah, andrew, the g7 is saying that l andrew, the g7 is saying that moscow's forces they are putting the entire region in danger. how serious is that threat right now? it’s a is that threat right now? it's a serious threat. _ is that threat right now? it's a serious threat. moscow - is that threat right now? it's a serious threat. moscow is - is that threat right now? it�*s —. serious threat. moscow is playing a dangerous game by stationing troops here. fortunately, there are major security apparatuses in place at this point in particular, and it regards to russia's nuclear threat on europe, it is really unlikely that we'll see a nuclear strike as has been talked about for months. wooden is not suicidal. he understands nato and article five. so these threats... i think he would like to come after the baltics at

some point, poland, he said this, but putin understands that, so far, the western response in support of ukraine has been really strong and he would be loath to escalate that. i want to get your thoughts now, andrew, unlike president zelensky has said about crimea, saying that the board ukraine started with that and must and was —— the war in ukraine started with that and must and with its liberation. review surprised by that?— and with its liberation. review surprised by that? ukraine, frankly, the are surprised by that? ukraine, frankly, they are the — surprised by that? ukraine, frankly, they are the ones _ surprised by that? ukraine, frankly, they are the ones fighting _ surprised by that? ukraine, frankly, they are the ones fighting the - they are the ones fighting the russians, so they get to set the parameters of a ukrainian victory, and president zelensky is exactly right. this would not start in february, it began in 2014, when russia illegally and crimea and went after don bass. it is unlikely at this point ukraine will retake all of crimea. they simply don't have

the military at this point, but if the us, uk, germany, keeps supplying ukraine with long—range rockets and ammunition fires, those chances of ukraine regaining all the territory and restoring all its sovereignty go way, way up. and restoring all its sovereignty go way. way up-_ and restoring all its sovereignty go way. way up-— way, way up. andrew d'anieri, assistant director _ way, way up. andrew d'anieri, assistant director with - way, way up. andrew d'anieri, assistant director with the - way, way up. andrew d'anieri, - assistant director with the atlantic council's eurasia centre, thank you forjoining us on the programme. i want to tell you another story now. the 1970s exodus of ugandan asians is well documented. they were fleeing from dictator idi amin, who ordered them to leave the country within 90 days and accused them of "milking" uganda's money. thousands were displaced and many forced to emigrate to the uk, including manju patel and her husband, who arrived in london with just their two young boys. now 85, manju has seen her dream come true, and today, she and her sons run one of uk's most popular and award—winning indian vegetarian restaurants. gaggan saberwal has their story.

meet 85—year—old manju patel. manju owns and runs one of the uk's most popular gujarati restaurants. her restaurant, manju's, is located 48 miles south of london, in the city of brighton in england. born in gujarat in 1936, manyu later moved to uganda with her parents. in 1964, manju got married and had two sons and was leading a very happy life until tragedy struck in august 1972, when uganda's asians were asked to leave the country within 90 days by dictator idi amin. and around 25,000 of these displaced people, including manju and herfamily, emigrated to the uk. my brother is here and i'm coming in london. my son is a seven years boy. one is one year, one and a half years. after three days, i look for myjob.

because without money, i'm coming to england. manju had a passion for cooking and had always wanted to run her own restaurant, but because of her financial situation, she was forced to put her dreams on hold and took up a job at a local factory, where she worked as a machine operator till her retirement. i knew mum always wanted to do a restaurant at some point in her life. so my brother and i said, "why not? "let's do one." and so we were actively looking and this place come up. and so we bought the place, it came through, and in a coincidence, itjust fell on her 80th birthday. i'm not thinking my sons buying for me a restaurant! they give me surprise. so happy! i say my dream is now finished. and since 2017, the restaurant has been serving traditional home—cooked vegetarian gujarati dishes. we decided do a gujarati restaurant, simply because we're _ gujarati, you know? it's the food we know, .

it's the food mum's been cooking since she was 12. it's different. when we first opened, people didn't understand what it was. _ they'd sit down expecting to eat chicken tikka massala. - initially, a lot of people - would get up and walk out. as the restaurant became more and | more well—known, then it got easy. j manju's is a completely family—run restaurant, with manju's sons greeting and taking orders from customer to manju and her daughter—in—laws running the kitchen and preparing the food. translation: | never thought | in a million years that i would be living in england and would be cooking for british people. i feel very happy about this. translation: whenever customers visit us, they leave our restaurant i satisfied and happy. and this makes me very happy. due to covid and the recent rise in gas, electricity and food prices, manju's restaurant too has had to face some challenging days,

but neither covid nor the rainy days have deterred or slowed manju down. i like work. i like cooking. never stop my cooking. i like to cook. so you will never retire as a chef? no, never retire, no. gaggan saberwal, bbc news, brighton. the author and illustrator raymond briggs — best known for the immensely popular children's book the snowman — has died at the age of 88. as a young man, he worked as a commercial artist, before moving on to illustrating children's books. but he was so unhappy with the standard of writing in some of the works that he decided to try his hand at being an author. our arts correspondent david sillito looks back at his life. it's become part of christmas — the story of a snowman who comes to life. magical, heart—warming, and at the end, the snowman melts. # we're walking in the air... # a very raymond briggs twist. he was a children's author who was never writing for children.

i don't think about what children want. you get an idea and you just do it. you don't think, "oh, children of ten won't want this," or... you don't think like that at all. you don't think about the audience. couldn't possibly. it was his father christmas that was raymond briggs' breakthrough, but this was no jovial gift—bearer. this father christmas moaned, swore and drankjust a bit too much. the bogeymen are stirring in their beds... and then fungus — a gloriously disgusting story of a bogeyman having a midlife crisis. nice cold, filthy water! good head of scum on it this morning. raymond briggs had for a while worked in advertising and hated it. he illustrated children's books but loathed the saccharine stories. he had his own vision, and one friend who worked with him on the animations saw how much of it was an expression

of his own joys and sadnesses. raymond was someone who felt things, really, really deeply felt things. he was not afraid to study pain, to study grief, to study loss, and even as felt by a small boy, for instance, in the snowman. good morning, madame! just you keep off my i clean step, young man. his childhood, his mum and dad, it was rooted in realfeelings. and over the years, he'd also helped change attitudes to his art form with the beauty of his drawings and their slightly subversive stories. raymond briggs, who's died at the age of 88. such amazing memories from all of our childhoods, i'm sure, and legacy

he has left behind for all of us. that is it from me on newsday. thanks for watching. do stay with bbc news. hello. there will only be a few exceptions to the hot and sunny story over the next few days. so far this week, we've got above 30 degrees three times, 32 celsius on wednesday afternoon. the heatwave intensifies further through the rest of the week and into the weekend. we could have four consecutive days above 35 degrees, more than we saw back in 1976. the highest of the temperatures are in the area covered by the met office extreme heat warning, an amberwarning, health and transport impacts expected — leeds, liverpool, down the way to the south coast. and it's this area, under high pressure, where we'll also see heat build elsewhere. but notice weather fronts very close to the north of scotland. this is your exception. here, through the night and into the morning, we'll have had some rain, temperatures not dropping away much. maybe a little bit fresher

through scotland, northern ireland, parts of northern england, but a warmer night and start to thursday morning in the south. a few mist and fog patches clearing, dry and sunny for many, but across the western isles, orkney, shetland, the northwest highlands, rain will come and go through the day. 14—18 celsius here, but 27, 28 eastern scotland, 27 in parts of northern ireland, 35 degrees, potentially, to the south midlands, that heat continuing to build. now, as we go into thursday evening and overnight, more cloud, occasional rain or drizzle in the north of scotland. chance of a few mist and fog patches close to eastern coasts of england and scotland too, but night by night, temperatures starting to creep up a little bit as well. friday, we do it all again. some early morning mist and fog in the east, one or two patches close to eastern coasts, a greyer outlook across the north of scotland but not as wet as it'll have been for some on thursday. under sunny skies and light winds elsewhere, we'll see temperatures climb, potentially 36, maybe 37 celsius, through the south midlands. a little bit fresher down some eastern coasts. coolest of all, though, in the far north of scotland. by the start of the weekend, probably a better chance of

some sunshine in the far north of scotland, but a better chance of some low cloud continuing, eastern coast of scotland, northeast england, limiting the temperatures in aberdeen a little bit. 26 inland, 27 to northern ireland, again, 36 or 37 in some parts of southern england. that warmth and heat continues into sunday, but a slot of something changing. a bit more cloud, the chance of a few storms around later on sunday into monday, bringing a drop in temperature. but even though those storms may occur into next week, they'll be fairly sporadic, many places probably staying largely dry. and, of course, we need a good deal more rain.

this is bbc news, the headlines. the former us president, donald trump, has defended his decision to remain silent under oath during an investigation into his business practices in new york. he refused to answer questions at an appearance before new york's attorney general, which he's called a witch hunt. the us house speaker, nancy pelosi, has defended her recent visit to taiwan and said china must not be allowed to establish a "new normal" with its military drills around the island. foreign ministers in the g—7 group of nations demand russia hand back ukraine's main nuclear power plant, after it was shelled this week. they say moscow's actions are increasing the risk of a terrible accident. the author and illustrator

raymond briggs has died at the age of 88.