welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. president biden signs into law the biggest ever investment to tackle climate change. this bill is the biggest step forward on climate ever. ever. and it's going to allow us to boldly take additional steps towards meeting all my climate goals. a series of explosions rocks russian occupied crimea. for the second time in a week — a military base is targeted. a battle for the future of the us republican party is

under way in the cowboy state — wyoming — as a prominent critic of donald trump tries to fight off a primary challenge. i'v e i've never agreed with one thing liz cheney has ever said. i respected how she fought for democracy. i respected how she fought for democracy-— democracy. she standing for principal. — democracy. she standing for principal, she _ democracy. she standing for principal, she said _ democracy. she standing for principal, she said she - democracy. she standing for l principal, she said she doesn't care _ principal, she said she doesn't care about _ principal, she said she doesn't care about losing herjob, she's_ care about losing herjob, she's going to do the right thing _ one of the last remaining countries to avoid an outbreak of covid—i9 — the marshall islands — is now seeing a surge in infections, after community transmission was found a week ago. and tributes to the former uk pop idol contestant and theatre star darius danesh who has died at the age of ai.

we start in the united states where president biden has signed into law the biggest ever investment to fight climate change in the us. the bill, known as the inflation reduction act, includes more than four hundred billion dollars of new spending. it's being seen as a major victory for the biden administration — and also contains reforms to the price of prescription drugs and tax rises on corporations. mr biden said it was one of the most significant laws in america's history. ahead of signing the bill, this is what he had to say on its importance for tackling climate change. this bill is the biggest step forward on climate ever. ever. and it's going to allow us to boldly take additional steps towards meeting all of my climate goals through the one set out. it includes ensuring that we create clean energy

opportunities and front line and fence line communities that have been smothered, smothered by the legacy of pollution and fight environmental injustice that has been going on for so long. the bill has been one year in the making and considerably less than what the democrats originally wanted, a point i put to our north america correspondent peter bowes. it is significantly less in the more $2 trillion dollars of the put together as a package by the president and the democrats that did not see the light of day. there was a lot of concern within his own party amongst democratic standard senators who are concerned that this would not tackle inflation and that it would add to inflation during these difficult times that the us is currently going through but it is much better than nothing and a few weeks ago, it looked as if nothing is what the president would get because of that opposition. so,

he has this major achievement in at least it's getting the bill through it's interesting that you should highlight the climate change initiative and the fact that this can make it easier for the fact that this can make it easierfor him to meet his climate goals, i think of the international stage, that is going to benefit the presidents usually because they'll be some concern expressed overseas that america might be back at the table as far as climate change is concerned. but the rest of the world was announcing the us make any significant changes. that's on the international stage, peter. what do you think about the timing of this in terms of the domestic front, given that a lot of the conversation us media has been dominated by what is been happening with president trump. you think this is an attempt in terms of the timing to move the attention away from that back to the main policies of the democrats? i to the main policies of the democrats?— to the main policies of the democrats? ~ democrats? i think the timing is urel democrats? i think the timing is purely coincidental- democrats? i think the timing is purely coincidental and - democrats? i think the timing is purely coincidental and i - is purely coincidental and i think president biden will welcome the passage of this

bill anytime over the last year. and if you say, we are seeing a lot of action on the sidelines, a lot of drama in the road of donald trump and thatis the road of donald trump and that is happening now but doesn't have any bearing on the passage of this bill which as far asjoe biden is concerned, is much bigger than a lot of the drama that is going on and i think what it does is in terms of pure domestic politics is give president biden something to campaign on over the next three months before the next three months before the midterm elections and is planning to travel the country and campaign somebody�*s trying to get done with this bill. and say look, i kept my promise i wanted to make these changes and make it easier to get the cost of prescription drugs down to make it easierfor americans to make it easierfor americans to get electric cars and promote solar energy. that is what he has done.

to the war in ukraine now and russia is blaming what it calls "sabotage" for a series of explosions at an arms store and another military facility in occupied crimea. the blasts, which also hit a power station and damaged a railway, came a week after a string of explosions destroyed russian warplanes at a black sea base on the crimean coast. ukraine has hinted that it was behind the latest incident, describing it as "demilitarisation in action". this is what a russian—appointed local governor in crimea had to say about the explosions: translation: as of now, the information that - we have is that two people were injured. one man was hit by shrapnel fragment and the other wounded person was buried under a wall. after ordered five km to be closed off for all civilians within this area is under way.

the united nations chief, antonio guterres, is to travel to lviv, in western ukraine, on thursday to meet both president zelensky and the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan. he'll then travel on to ukraine's black sea port of odesa. mr guterres last visited ukraine in april, when he witnessed some of the destruction in towns previously occupied by russian forces. i spoke to drjenny mathers, who is a senior lecturer in international politics at aberystwyth university in wales. as we have been reporting — russia has been calling this sabotage and there is some suggestion from the ukranians — that this may not be completely accidental. dr mathers explained what could be going on. i think it is important to realise that ukrainians have been very good at maintaining informational secrecy. keeping close control over key bits of information that may reveal too much to the russians about the capabilities and the deployment of their forces and so on. ukrainians want to be a bit cage and leave the russians guessing about what happened and who is responsible and how they did this by the same time, they're giving pretty strong

hints that yes, they were indeed responsible for these are the spectacular attacks. behind the front lines in russia and crimea. with these conflicting _ russia and crimea. with these conflicting narratives, - russia and crimea. with these conflicting narratives, is - conflicting narratives, is impossible to say at this point who is gaining ground in the conflict? i who is gaining ground in the conflict? ~ ., who is gaining ground in the conflict? ~' ., ., conflict? i think we have to, rather than _ conflict? i think we have to, rather than take _ conflict? i think we have to, rather than take a _ conflict? i think we have to, | rather than take a snapshot, conflict? i think we have to, i rather than take a snapshot, i think we have to look at the trends in the way things are moving. russia has had a very considerable advantage in terms of the sheer amounts of material that he can throw at ukraine in the amount of weapons in the amount of ammunition and so on and really overwhelming force. what ukrainians of the advantage of and is strategy and stealth and they've been very careful at deploying the forces that they have to try and cut off russia's supply line and also to try and attack their command

centres and so, russian forces have been steadily degraded by these ukrainian attacks but there's on mistakes and being trained by the western gaining very valuable experience in strategy and so on. so, the russians of overwhelming force, but their abilities to which the war in the way that they have been recently is being degraded. have been recently is being degraded-— have been recently is being deuraded. ., ., degraded. what you make of the word of the _ degraded. what you make of the word of the russians _ degraded. what you make of the word of the russians are - degraded. what you make of the word of the russians are using, l word of the russians are using, saying that this is sabotage. what is this allowed them to effectively do in this case? sabotage suggests that there may be random people around that they could round up and arrest and accuse of this crime and makes it sound quite casual and makes it sound quite casual and perhaps, a bit unprofessional. where if we were to call them ukrainian paramilitaries forces a special

forces are intelligent forces, it makes them sound a lot more professional and worrying. it's a way the russians can downgrade what is happening and also imply that the solutions are within russian control in the sense that they can go out and arrest people and deal with the problem. the first united nations ship bound for africa since the russian invasion has set sailfrom ukraine. it's heading for drought—hit ethiopia with 23 thousand tons of grain onboard. the world food programme says three hundred and forty five million people in 82 countries are now facing acute food insecurity, and need urgent humanitarian support. don't forget you can find more analysis online. including from our correspondents on the ground in ukraine and in moscow.

let's return to the us now, where voters in the state of wyoming are going to the polls in a republican primary election, seen as a key test of donald trump's enduring popularity. this woman, liz cheney, is the incumbent. fiercely critical of the former president, she's facing a major challenge from harriet haagerman, a political newcomer and trump—backed candidate. so far, potential candidates, like those in south carolina, washington state and michigan, who've been openly critical of donald trump, have had huge trouble winning republican primary races. our north america correspondent, john sudworth, has been speaking with voters across the state of wyoming. at wyoming's junior rodeo finals... ..some children don't stay on for long. a fitting metaphor, perhaps, for the state's republican

congresswoman liz cheney and her hard fall from grace. for the most part the state of wyoming is very big trump supporters. so when she goes against the masses it doesn't work good for us. for hours, donald trump chose not to answer the pleas from congress. liz cheney is one of only two republicans to have joined the committee investigating donald trump's attempts to cling to power. the people of wyoming are going to tell her, "liz, you're fired, get out of here." cheering. "get out of here." and he is out for revenge, personally picking her challenger, harriet hageman, who is now way ahead in the race to become the official republican candidate. wyoming is a place of stunning beauty but the high rocky mountains loom over a landscape with deepening political fault lines, too. with 70% voting for trump here,

truth is now in the minority. the widespread belief that the 2020 election was stolen from donald trump in wyoming is very concerning to me as a journalist. and all i can do is report people's beliefs and i report the truth. they are not bad people, it is just a heartfelt belief that they have. and other than that, they're just ordinary folks here in wyoming. ordinary folks but extraordinary times. there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than donald trump. liz cheney's famous father, once a hate figure for the american left, now on common ground. and at the polling stations some democrats have been registering as republicans to try to keep liz cheney on the party ticket. i've never agreed with one thing liz cheney has ever said but i respected how she fought for democracy. election denialism is now a potent political force, notjust here, but in arizona, wisconsin, other key states.

the process remains intact, the polling booths and ballot papers, but amid a torrent of misinformation and false, something seismic is shifting and the concern is the very essence of democracy is under threat. doorbell rings. good morning. we are just knocking on doors for liz cheney. these republicans, rare voices of support for liz cheney, are from out of state. evan and his dog have driven 17 hours to be here, from austin, texas. when you have republicans, former republicans, independents, democrats, a socialist, knocking on doors for liz cheney, of all people, i think you have to look at why. and i think the reason is she is standing for principle and she is saying, "i don't care if i lose myjob, i'm going to do the right thing." all eyes are on the "cowboy state" and a test for party and country — just how much donald trump still calls the tune.

john sudworth, bbc news, wyoming. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we'll tell you about the pacific nation that's seeing a surge in covid—i9 infections, after having avoided an outbreak until now. washington, the world's most political city, is today assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man. indeed i did have a relationship with miss lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. in south africa, 97 people have been killed today in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. over the last ten days, 500 have died. chanting: czechoslovakia must be free! _ czechoslovakia must be free! russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 187 mariners who died aboard the kursk. we are with them now,

within our hearts. the pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of morej than two—and—a—half million peoriie in his _ hometown of krakow. "stay with us, stay with us," chanted this ocean of humanity. "well, well," joked the pope, "so you want me to the desert rome?" this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines. president biden signs into law the biggest ever investment to tackle climate change, which includes more than 400 billion dollars of new spending. a series of explosions rocks russian occupied crimea. for the second time in a week — a military base is targeted. one of the last remaining

countries to avoid an outbreak of covid—i9 is now seeing a surge in infections, after community transmission was found just over a week ago. (map the marshall islands closed their borders ago. the marshall islands closed their borders at the start of the pandemic, implementing strict quarantine measures to keep the virus out. but a new outbreak in the pacific nation has forced restrictions to be implemented — with a state of health disaster declared. well, we can cross live to the capital majuro and join the secretary of health and human services for the marshall islands — jack niedenthal. you were one of the last places in the world to avoid community spread of this virus — how did you manage to keep it at bay for so long? i think people have to understand that even being in a health emergency due to an outbreak of fever. that went right into the january of 2020

when we what was happening and china and we decided we did not want to be fighting two different viruses at once and so, we close the border, very dramatic, a lot of people thought we were crazy but it turns out that when we did that come a lot of pacific countries, we did and they also close the borders and it was just something that we had to do. we don't have a very healthy people, we have diabetes rates in cancer rates per capita and so, we do so we had to protect our public we had to protect our public we had very strict protocols, quarantines, strict monitoring quara ntines, strict monitoring quarantines, strict monitoring quarantines for people coming in from the us and when they get here, there also under strict quarantines and orders. we managed to do it for over two years without a single community case of covid—i9. he did have a few border cases but i was it. ., ., i. ~' did have a few border cases but i was it. ., ., i. ~ , i was it. how do you think this community —

i was it. how do you think this community transmission - i was it. how do you think this community transmission has l community transmission has taken place?— community transmission has taken lace? �* ., ., , taken place? and forwarded very cuickl taken place? and forwarded very quickly this _ taken place? and forwarded very quickly this omicron _ taken place? and forwarded very quickly this omicron variant - taken place? and forwarded very quickly this omicron variant is . quickly this omicron variant is very contagious and almost on par with measles. it's a very quickly to the community and also the 11th person on the day we discovered it when i went home and did a self test, i had it. i had already recovered pretty much but what we've been doing to fight it, we were prepared for this and so, he spent the last two years preparing we had new covid—i9 works here come a lot of ventilators we got all the vaccines, we got the ability to test a lot of information and know you have other therapeutics and so, would been handing it out all the vulnerable people and people who fit into a certain age range of six alternative care sites and we've kept covid—i9 relatively free from our hospitals in a few cases and there but overall, i think our response is been fabulous here

in the islands. you've had six deaths believe that almost word for 4000 cases and six deaths and 4000 cases is a pretty good number and very sad for all of those because it is a smiley community and we have about 25 to 30,000 people here with the big outbreak is now and so, we know all these people when they die, so unlike other places. virtually every death is very hard for us.— virtually every death is very hard for us. i'm sure it is and i'm hard for us. i'm sure it is and i'm very _ hard for us. i'm sure it is and i'm very sad _ hard for us. i'm sure it is and i'm very sad to _ hard for us. i'm sure it is and i'm very sad to hear- hard for us. i'm sure it is and i'm very sad to hear that. - hard for us. i'm sure it is and i'm very sad to hear that. 0f| i'm very sad to hear that. of this happening on the rest of the rotor parts of it have moved on from covid—i9 and learn to live with the virus. is that the strategy going forward given how infectious it is as you have described? there's not a lot of choices here and is just something will have to live with but the one thing, the one point that we stress read from beginning of this that i don't think the rest of the world did is we

needed to let the science catch up needed to let the science catch up with the virus and i'm really proud of everyone in this country, especially my fellow workers of the ministry of health and we did everything we could to get politicians on board with that and they're really good about it, the president was in a cabin and very supportive of the entire time of what we wanted to do at the ministry of health to fight this virus and keep it out of here. we have a military base with the us military it's been fabulous, the us cdc is coming to be fed a lot of partners like taiwan, australia and japan and new zealand and they've committed really helped us quite a bit. so, we are ready. us quite a bit. so, we are read . ,, . ., , us quite a bit. so, we are read. ,,. ., , ., ., ., ready. secretary of health and human services, _ ready. secretary of health and human services, thank - ready. secretary of health and human services, thank you . ready. secretary of health and human services, thank you so | human services, thank you so much forjoining us on the programme. now to brazil, where campaigning is officially under way in a race that will see the right—wing incumbent, jair bolsonaro,

take on the left—wing former leader, luiz inacio lula da silva. the latest opinion poll puts mr lula da silva in the lead with forty—four per cent of the vote, with mr bolsonaro on thirty—two per cent. from brazil, here's our correspondent katy watson: horns honk. back on the road and back on the bike. it's bolsonaro's favourite way of campaigning. driving throuthuiz de fora, he paraded for his fans. this is a small city that has huge significance for bolsonaro. it was here four years ago he was stabbed at a rally, a defining moment in the previous campaign and a moment he alluded to at today's event, saying he'd been born again. translation: it was here | they tried to stop us in 2018. i thank the hand of god that saved me. he wanted me to be president. and brazil is doing so well. it's a rich country, robbed

by the left who was in power. chants of "mito" — or myth — his nickname among his devoted fans. he is the mito. he is the best one for brazil. he is the best - president for brazil. he is honest, - he is very popular. i can trust in bolsonaro. his rival lula chose to kick off his campaign at a car factory, staying true to his political roots as a union leader and metalworker in sao paulo. translation: you made me the best president brazil ever had. i he's got this woman's vote without a doubt. translation: lula defends the rights of the poorest, i the most humble, and bolsonaro supports the rich. if bolsonaro wins, i'm scared. it's a noisy start to the campaign and says a lot about what's to come —

two men on either end of the political spectrum, two men who conjure up both adoration and hatred among people here. we'll see that play out in the coming weeks. plenty of bolsonaro supporters are convinced anything less than a victory for their candidate will only mean one thing — a stolen election. there may not be any basis for these allegations, but in such a divided country, there are some people who will try anything to stamp out the opposition. katy watson, bbc news, injuiz de fora. the former uk pop idol contestant and theatre star darius danesh has died at the age of 41. the cause of death is not known, but his family say he was found in his us apartment. # and i must confess

# i still believe, still believe...# the scottish singer rose to fame when he gave this memorable audition singing �*baby one more time' for the itv show popstars in 2001 — before going on to finish third on pop idol the following year. after turning down the offer of a record deal with the entrepreneur and record executive simon cowell, his debut single colourblind went straight to the top of the charts — and he went on to forge a successful stage career performing in west end shows including chicago and guys and dolls. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news.

to give so much forjoining us on the programme. please stay with us for the latest global headlines and analysis. hello there. it's been cooler and fresher but we hold onto some humidity where we will see further thundershowers across the south largely drank some sunshine and across the north because of this ridge of eye pressure in this ridge of eye pressure in this with a friend continuing to generate showers and thunderstorms from south wales in the middle and southwards against some of the torrential risks of localised flooding in places. but try here and more sunshine around and feeling quite pleasant with temperatures reaching 18 or 19 degrees and a bit cooler for england and wales in the southeast, 2o england and wales in the southeast, 20 or 23 degrees and wednesday night, showers across the southeast and then clearing away with more in scotland and

northern ireland and temperatures rise here but in single digits across and a bit milder causes of these. it the end of the week, sunshine ensures most of the shows will affect northern and western areas.

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. we humans face a series of interlinked existential challenges. how do we feed a global population heading toward 10 billion? can it be done without degrading ecosystems and exacerbating climate change to a calamitous extent? well, my guest today, the writer and environmental campaigner george monbiot, has spent decades addressing these questions and framing radical answers. why are so many politicians and voters seemingly unwilling to listen? george monbiot, welcome to hardtalk.

thanks, stephen. you have been a campaigner and writer on environmental issues for decades, warning about the toxic relationship between human beings and our planet. i just wonder how you prioritise? how do you decide where to focus? mm, it's very hard. i mean, every week when i'm writing a column for the guardian, for instance, or making a video, i have a choice of about 20 different topics that i could latch onto. it's very frightening. i mean, to be environmentally aware, to have an environmental education is, as the great writer aldo leopold put it, to live in a world of wounds. you're surrounded by grief, you're surrounded by the pain of what you're seeing, and surrounded by fear, also.