welcome to bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: donald trump refuses to answer questions under oath as part of an investigation into his business activities in new york. he called it a witch—hunt. dozens of people are missing after a boat, laden with migrants, sinks off the greek coast. a search—and—rescue operation is under way. china reaffirms that it could take taiwan by force. nancy pelosi, the us house speaker, whose visit sparked china's drills around the island, has defended her trip. we will not allowed china to isolate taiwan. they have taken

part in the world health organization and other things were taiwan could make a very valued contribution. british farmers fear their harvests will fail as a heatwave and drought conditions have a devastating impact on the agriculture industry. # 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. hello. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the former us president, donald trump, has declined to answer questions under oath as part of an investigation into his family's business practices, at a hearing in new york. mr trump described the inquiry by the state's attorney general, letitia james, as a witch—hunt.

she's investigating whether the trump organization tried to acquire loans and avoid taxes by misleading the authorities. mr trump'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. "i declined to answer the questions under the rights "and privileges afforded to every citizen under "the united states constitution." our north america correspondent, peter bowes, explained why mr trump's decision to plead the fifth amendment is so significant. well, in one sense, it isn't a surprise. in another sense, you could say it is a surprise, and that is based on donald trump's statements over the years, criticising others who have pleaded the fifth — mr trump suggesting that anyone

who does that has something to hide, although now he is saying that he understands why 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 could be incriminating 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 it is 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 criminal case.

we've had some senior republicans over the last 2a, 36 hours coming out, again, in support of mr trump, or at least going as far to say that they believe the authorities, the fbi, the justice department, ought to justify why they searched his home. and it seems to have really boosted his base to the point that some other republicans are suggesting that donald trump that he should declare now, or should declare very soon, that he is standing again as a candidate for the presidency. going to europe. a search—and—rescue operation is taking place off the coast of greece to find 50 migrants who've been missing since their boat sank in the aegean sea near the island of karpathos. wendy urqhuart reports. navy and commercial boats were deployed to the scene as soon as the alarm was raised by the greek coastguard. a greek air force helicopter hovered above, training spotlights on the ocean in a bid to help find survivors, but in the pitch black it was not easy, and very strong winds made winching up those who were found a bit precarious.

the boat was en route from antalia in southern turkey to italy when it capsized near the greek island of karpathos, 38 nautical miles south—west of rhodes in the middle of the night. there are conflicting reports about the number of people on board, with some saying there were 60, and others insisting there were 80. these are the lucky ones — just 29 people who are reportedly from afghanistan, iraq and iran, who were saved by the emergency services, and said no—one on board the boat was wearing a life jacket. thousands of people risk their lives every year sailing to greece in rickety boats to start a new life in europe. hundreds have been rescued, but 64 have perished already this year. the search and rescue operation in greece is continuing, but it's likely that many of those who were on board the boat that sank tuesday

night won't make it. wendy urqhuart, bbc news. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. state—run media in north korea say the country's leader kim jong—un has declared victory in the battle against coronavirus, and ordered the lifting of restrictions imposed in may. he described government figures of only 7a deaths as an "unprecedented miracle" — but many believe official numbers are unlikely to reveal the whole picture. at least 16 people are dead or missing in south korea after record rainfall caused severe flooding in the north of the country. most are in the capital, seoul. weather forecasters say it's the worst rain in over a century. a thousand firefighters have been mobilised in france to tackle a resurgence of wildfires in the southwest region of gironde. the blaze has spread faster than those that devastated the region in july. france, like the rest of europe, has been struggling this summer with successive heatwaves and its worst drought on record. a beluga whale that got stuck in the river seine

in france has died after a dramatic attempt to rescue it. experts used a net and a crane to hoist the mammal out of the water and into a truck — but it had to be euthanised after developing breathing difficulties. china has vowed zero tolerance for what it called "separatist activities" and reaffirmed that it would take the self—ruled island of taiwan 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 it's 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 visit there last week. mrs pelosi has defended her 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 goverment 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.

let's go to britain now. a man allegedly linked to the so called islamic state group has been arrested in the uk after arriving on a flight from turkey. aine davis is accused of being a member of an is cell dubbed "the beatles" because of their english accents — an accusation he denies. daniel sandford has the details. he has always denied being the fourth member of the group that became known as the beatles, the englishman responsible for the englishman responsible for the beheading of hostages, edition american hostages, and the so—called islamic state during its time in charge of parts of syria.— during its time in charge of arts ofs ria. �* ., ., parts of syria. before mohammed and wiseleigh. — parts of syria. before mohammed and wiseleigh, the _ parts of syria. before mohammed and wiseleigh, the leader of - and wiseleigh, the leader of the group was killed by a drone strike and before the two men were brought to justice strike and before the two men were brought tojustice in america, aine davis was

arrested in turkey and put on trial interactive membership of a terrorist organisation and has been in prison in turkey since 2015. that sentence has come to an end, he has been deported from turkey, still has british citizenship and on arrival in the uk this evening, he was arrested by police from the metropolitan police counterterrorism command. he has not been held on suspicion of murder or hostagetaking. he is held on suspicion of terrorist offences to do with fundraising and possession of articles for terrorist offences. he is in custody in a police station in south london are notorious case. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: former inmates and victims speak to the bbc about the systematic abuse and torture, inside russia's prison system — we have a special report. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached.

as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, 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 began its journey off the coast of canada, ending three hours later, when the sun set over the bay of bengal.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the former us president, donald trump, has refused to answer questions at an appearance before new york's attorney general, who's investigating the business practices of the trump organization. he called it a witch—hunt. dozens of people are missing after a boat laden with migrants sinks off the greek coast. a search—and—rescue operation is underway. here in the uk, the heat across much of the country continues to intensify. a four—day extreme heat warning comes into force on thursday, lasting until sunday. combined with the heat, the continued dry weather is causing significant problems forfarmers and the agriculture industry. our climate editor, justin rowlatt, sent this report from gloucestershire in south west england. farmers�* fields are their bank account. a healthy harvest means a healthy income and money to invest

for next year's crop. but look, the fields have been desiccated by months of low rainfall. it is a disaster for many farmers. it can't sustain itself. david is trying to grow turnips to feed his cattle. not looking very happy. very dry. there's just not enough moisture, so most likely this crop will fail now and we're running out of time to re—drill it. david is already feeding his cattle fodder he set aside for winter. without the turnips and with grain prices at record highs, it'll cost him a fortune to feed them through to next year. and don't think his problems won't affect you, because what happens on farms like this helps determine the price we all pay for food. extreme weather almost always means bad harvests, bad harvests, less food. that's right, means higher prices for all of us. and it isn'tjust the uk, crops in much of europe have been affected too, and that is just the start. india, china, brazil and the us have

all seen yields hit by unusually hot and dry weather this year. now add in the impact of the russian invasion of ukraine... we're producing less of our crops. we have less production effective when harvest happens. and this means that supply is limited and therefore, when people try to buy this supply, the prices then move upwards and it impacts the consumer, impacts the farmer, impacts a wide range of market players that have to deal with these weather issues. we all know what will break us out of this cycle... i'm just looking for rain. that's that's all i need is the temperature to go down and rain andjust have some proper, decent rain and then everything will feel so much better and it will start to grow. by next week, we'll lose that intense heat... but the forecast from the met office is offering no guarantees of that. there's a regime change happening next week. we expect to see some heavy showers and thunderstorms potential there. not everywhere is going to get that rainfall. a lot of places

are going to miss it, but at least there's a chance next week. so a chance of rain for some, which means there's only one thing farmers like david can do... they've got to hope for the best, that's all they've got left. justin rowlatt, bbc news, gloucestershire. the japanese tech giant softbank says it expects to make thirty four billion dollars by reducing its stake in the chinese e—commerce company alibaba. the move marks a step back from the huge investmest made in 2000 by softbank�*s chief executive. alibaba is one of china's biggest companies, but has lost more than two—thirds of its value from its peak in late 2020, hit by beijing's crackdown on the tech sector. a bbc investigation has revealed systematic abuse and torture inside russia's prison system. former inmates have spoken to the bbc about being raped and tortured. leaked footage of the abuse

was circulated by an insider last year, and now victims have told the bbc why and how it happens, and how they're fighting forjustice. the bbc asked the russian prison service for a response but has received no reply. our correspondent oleg boldyrev has the story, and a warning that you may find some of the material in his report is disturbing. in 2020, this prison protest in siberia ledger hundreds of inmates being rounded up. human rights activists say at least 300 of them were then beaten and tortured. dennis was among them. what happened still haunts him. �* ,, �* them. what happened still haunts him. �* ,, �* haunts him. translation: the rison haunts him. translation: the prison officers _ haunts him. translation: the prison officers told _ haunts him. translation: the prison officers told me, - haunts him. translation: the prison officers told me, do - haunts him. translation: the prison officers told me, do you| prison officers told me, do you think we care whether you are guilty or not? the beating went on for almost three months, every day, if a man is mentally

broken, he will do anything. now, dennis is one of the few victims who is prepared to testify against prison staff. systemic torture in russian presence has long been systematic. proof came last yearin systematic. proof came last year in russia's largest leaked cash of torture videos from the notorious prison hospital. stuff i said to use hardened prisoners, to do their dirty work and experience for ——in exchange for privileges. work and experience for --in exchange for privileges. these foota . e exchange for privileges. these footage was — exchange for privileges. these footage was smuggled - exchange for privileges. these footage was smuggled out - exchange for privileges. these footage was smuggled out on | footage was smuggled out on release, and published in france. the activist explains what is happening. translation: the are what is happening. translation: they are giving — what is happening. translation: they are giving signs _ what is happening. translation: they are giving signs to _ what is happening. translation: they are giving signs to each - they are giving signs to each other, in silent concert, understanding each other even without words, because they are following a well—established system. he gives signs on how to rape him.

system. he gives signs on how to rape him-— to rape him. this will surprise no-one- _ to rape him. this will surprise no-one- it's _ to rape him. this will surprise no-one. it'sjust _ to rape him. this will surprise no-one. it's just that - to rape him. this will surprise no-one. it's just that we - to rape him. this will surprise no-one. it'sjust that we have no—one. it's just that we have never— no—one. it's just that we have never actually seen it before. the bbc_ never actually seen it before. the bbc has analysed thousands of court documents, and found from 2015 to 2019, 41 members of the prison service were put through the most serious prisoner abuse trial. only half of them were handed suspended sentences. the videos forced the replacement of two senior prison officials, and president putin must further change. last month russian _ putin must further change. last month russian law _ putin must further change. last month russian law was threatened, making it illegal to extract evidence using torture. by challenging russian authority still carries risks. despite being a recognised victim of torture, dennis is still worried about reprisals. but he is determined to fight

forjustice. and you can see more about this investigation by bbc eye on the bbc news website. the 1970s exodus of ugandan asians is well documented. they were fleeing persecutation at the hands of the then ugandan dictator idi amin. he 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. among them was manju patel and her husband who arrived in london with 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 restaurants. gaggan saber—wal 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, 1.5 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 localfactory, 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. manju's is a completely family—run restaurant, with manju's sons greeting and taking orders from customers to manju and her daughter—in—laws, dipali and kirti, running the kitchen and preparing the food. translation: i 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 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 bbc has collected a whole series of stories about the exodus of ugandan asians, you find it all and online, just find it all and online, just find it all and online, just find it as bbc history. the author and illustrator raymond briggs, best known for the snowman, has died. he was 88. in a statement, his family said he'd lived a rich and full life, and had treasured drawings sent to him by fans, in particular children, who'd been inspired by his work. 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 10 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's 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 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. and finally, the world record forfreediving has been broken in the bahamas by frenchman, arnaud jerald. he dived 120 meters — that's over 390 feet — injust over 3 and a half minutes. it's the seventh time time he's broken the world freediving

record, and the second time he's done it this week! much more on the bbc news website, get me on twitter. goodbye for now. 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 refused to answer questions from the new york attorney general who is investigating the trump organisation's business practices. mr trump invoked his right against self—incrimination under the fifth amendment. afterwards, he called the process a witch—hunt. dozens of people are missing after a boat, laden with migrants, sank off the greek coast. the vessel is believed to have gone down near the island of karpathos, after setting sail from southern turkey and heading for italy. a search and rescue operation is underway. china has completed its military drills close to taiwan. they were launched in response to a visit by the us house speaker nancy pelosi, to the self—governing island.

ms pelosi has defended her trip,