live from washington, this is bbc news. political corruption in the spotlight in kyiv as ukraine's topjudge is dismissed over bribery allegations. the creator of chatgpt calls on us lawmakers to regulate ai. and optimism — but no resolution as us leaders try to sort out the country's debt crisis. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. welcome to our show. we start in ukraine. as kyiv cleans up after monday night's air raids, the country's supreme court has dismissed its top judge. vsevolod kniaziev was detained

for allegedly taking multi—million dollar bribes. prosecutors say he was arrested as part of their biggest ever anti—corru ption case. ukraine is under pressure to tackle corruption as a requirement forjoining the european union. meanwhile, ukrainian officials have praised their anti—missile defence system. overnight, it blocked an intense barrage of russian rockets over the capital kyiv. they say the system shot down six advanced russian hypersonic missiles, which president putin has claimed are "unstoppable". kyiv�*s mayor, vitali klitschko, described the night. actually, last night, our citizens didn't sleep because three hours long, beginning at 2:30, we have an alarm, a bombing alarm. and the whole night we listened to huge explosions and it actually was one of the massive missile attacks to our hometown. different kinds of rockets the russians sent to our hometown.

our hugo bachega has more from kyiv on ukraine's air defence and what comes next. it was the eighth time this month kyiv had come under attack, but this attack was different. we heard a number of extremely loud explosions here in the capital at around 3am and we could actually see the work of the air defence systems destroying some of those missiles over the city. now, the ukrainian military said it had destroyed all 18 missiles that had been fired by russia, including six hypersonic missiles. this is significant because, if confirmed, it shows the ability that ukraine has to destroy one of the most sophisticated weapons in russia's arsenal and this has only been possible because of the patriot air defence systems which have been supplied to ukraine. there has been reaction from moscow. the defence ministry

there said it had actually hit one of those systems, something that has not been confirmed by authorities here. these latest attacks came just hours after president zelensky finished a tour of european nations. he received a promise that billions of pounds�* worth of military assistance would be provided to his country and this includes a package from the uk with attack drones and also air defence missiles. and as we are seeing here today, these missiles have been vital in protecting towns and cities from these relentless russian air strikes. earlier i spoke with the former us special envoy to ukraine, ambassador kurt volker about the fallout from russia's strikes. ambassador, thank you very much forjoining us on our programme. we have seen a barrage of missile and drone strikes hit kyiv and other cities in ukraine. ukraine has said that it has been able to repel these strikes. but what do they tell us about the state of ukraine's defenses? of ukraine's defences? well, several things. first off, ukraine's air defences are far more capable

now than they were three, four, six months ago. that is the result of a lot of western assistance, which could have been provided much earlier. and they did suffer a lot of attacks in the autumn and during the winter. now they're in a better position to repel these attacks. secondly, it tells you also that ukraine's forces are doing a very good job on the front lines. they've taken back some territory around bakhmut and they're preparing a counteroffensive. so russia is again trying to use this tactic of attacking ukrainian civilian infrastructure and cities because it's not able to do much on the actual battlefield. then, ambassador, what do you think we might see russia do to react, to see that ukraine's air defences have been able to repel these attacks? well, i think we're going to see a lot of experiments from the russian side. i think they're going to try waves, so they'll pause for a while and then have a massive attack. i think they're going to try

high altitude launches again and hypersonic missiles. that would at least force ukraine to use the patriot missile systems and try to deplete those. and the russians will probably also try to target ukraine's air defenses. so by firing some things, seeing where the defence is coming from, then trying to target those and see if they can weaken it. all of this, ijust have to say again, is incredibly cynical because all it is is about targeting civilian populations. the russians want to kill ukrainians. it is appalling that this is what the russian side of the war looks like. we spoke to lieutenant colonel alexander vindman on the bbc, and i want to ask you about something that he told us. here's what he said. i think nato is really the only thing that's going to satisfy going to satisfy the ukrainians and, frankly, create lasting stability. do you agree? yes, i agree. yes, i agree, but i would i would phrase it differently for different reasons. the first thing is that at the end of this conflict —

there's a war going on, but it will end someday — russia will attack ukraine again unless it is deterred. and there won't be any security assurance that russia will pay attention to if it does not involve the united states. the united states has to be part of assuring ukraine security. i don't see any possibility that the united states would agree to this on a long—term perspective to protect ukraine and leave all of our other allies off the hook. we would insist that if we're doing it, everybody has to do it — and that means nato. and nato membership for ukraine will be the strongest deterrent to any future russian aggression. but nato members are split about ukraine's accession into the alliance. do you think it's realistic, then, that we could actually reach that point where ukraine is accepted as a member? not only do i think it's realistic, it's already a nato commitment. back in 2008, nato said that ukraine will become a member of nato.

we just didn't put in place any practical steps. this past week, i've been at various conferences in europe, in tallinn, in prague, meeting with europeans, including germans, french, british, eastern european, central europeans, and i have to say that most of the european allies are ahead of the united states. they are thinking more seriously about ukrainian membership in nato than we're hearing from washington right now. and i think the reason is because the eu has already decided that ukraine will be a member of the eu, but there is no prospect for that to happen if ukraine is not secure. and that's why nato membership now makes sense to a lot of europeans. so what do you think the timeline would be, then, for ukraine membership? well, we have a summit, a nato summit in vilnius in just about six weeks�* time. and there i think there needs to be a clear statement that we are moving forward,

that we are beginning to operationalise nato's existing commitment to ukraine's nato membership. as to when that becomes real membership, when they're actually in the alliance, that may take a little while because i don't think people want to do that while the war is going on. no—one wants to say, "we're going to join the war". but i do think we need to send a clear signal that this is where the end point is. and i think that's important both for russia to hear. i think it's important for the ukrainians to hear. for economic recovery, that investors and those who are trying to rebuild ukraine's economy know that ukraine will be a secure country in the future. ambassador, thank you very much forjoining us here on bbc. thank you so much for having me. the war in ukraine was high on the agenda at a meeting of european leaders on tuesday. leaders at the fourth council of europe summit in iceland reaffirmed their strong support for ukraine in the conflict.

a year ago, we were not able to shoot down most of the terrorists�* missiles, especially ballistic missiles. and i am asking one thing now. if we are able to do this, is there anything we can�*t do when we are united and determined to protect lives? the answer is that we — in unity — will give 100% in any field when we have a goal to protect our people and our europe. translation: the council has acted to support ukraine - and help it document the abuses committed by russia. i am thinking of the bombings of civilian infrastructures, of rape used as a weapon of war, of the murders, of the generalised torture, of the deportations of ukrainian children. at this summit, the council is once again leading the way alongside the victims of aggression by creating today

an international register of damages caused by russia's aggression against ukraine. i call on all states to adhere to it and to actively contribute to its elaboration. as russia wages war - against democracy itself, europe is united in standing up for ukraine. _ this is our commitment. here in washington, he co—founder and ceo of 0penai, the company behind chatgpt, testified before us congress to say that artificial intelligence should be regulated. us lawmakers questioned tech entrepreneur sam altman about the benefits the technology can bring and the threat it could pose for humanity. altman told the panel, which seemed to largely agree, that al has the potential to revolutionise how people work, shop and interact, but also poses many dangers. my worst fears are that we cause significant... we the field, the technology, the industry cause significant harm to the world.

i think that could happen in a lot of different ways. it�*s why we started the company. it�*s a big part of why i�*m here today, and why we�*ve been here in the past, and we�*ve been able to spend some time with you. i think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong. and we want to be vocal about that. we want to work with the government to prevent that from happening. but we try to be very clear eyed about what the downside case is and the work that we have to do to mitigate that. so who is sam altman, the man in the hot seat today and at the forefront of this emerging technology? he�*s an influential investor and entrepreneur in silicon valley. his startup chatgpt has 100 million monthly users. he started 0penai with spacex founder and twitter owner elon musk in 2015, before the two went their separate ways. altman, who is 38 years old, has reportedly been described a "start—up yoda" and even compared to another famous

tech wizard, bill gates. also speaking at the hearing today was ai specialist, gary marcus. he warned of the risks of a poorly regulated industry. we have unprecedented opportunities here, but we are also facing a perfect storm of corporate irresponsibility, widespread deployment, lack of adequate regulation, and inherent unreliability. ai is among the most world—changing technologies ever, already changing things rapidly than almost any other technology in history. and we�*ll have more on this story next hour — i�*ll be speaking live to former google ceo, eric schmidt. we want to bring you some breaking news from the us state of north carolina. lawmakers overrode the democratic governor�*s veto of a i2—week abortion ban, allowing it to become law. the current state law allows abortions up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, but the new law would see this cut to 12 weeks, in most cases.

governor roy cooper vetoed the abortion ban on saturday after the republican—controlled state senate advanced the bill to his desk in a party—line vote. republicans gained a veto—proof majority in the legislature last month when a democratic member switched parties. we heard from the white house a short time ago. in a statement, press secretary karinejean—pierre said, "republican state legislators in north carolina overturned governor roy cooper�*s veto of a dangerous bill that is out of touch with the majority of north carolinians and will make it even more difficult for women to get the reproductive health care they need." around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. taco has been david gilly�*s eyes and companion for eight years. —— tarka. now at the age of ten, he is nearing retirement.- of ten, he is nearing retirement. ., , , , retirement. he means my safety and independence _ retirement. he means my safety and independence when - retirement. he means my safety and independence when i - retirement. he means my safety and independence when i go - retirement. he means my safety and independence when i go out| and independence when i go out and independence when i go out and about. without him, i would

certainly struggle.— certainly struggle. david will be getting — certainly struggle. david will be getting a _ certainly struggle. david will be getting a new _ certainly struggle. david will be getting a newjob, - certainly struggle. david will be getting a new job, but. certainly struggle. david will be getting a new job, but at| be getting a newjob, but at the moment he has no idea when that will be. the breeding and training by the guide dogs charity was positive during the pandemic and the impact of that means waiting times are longer than they would like. in the meantime, david, who is severely sight impaired will have to go back to using a white cane. there is also the matter of what happens to taka when at the new dog arrives. == when at the new dog arrives. -- what when at the new dog arrives. » what happens to tarka. i'm what happens to tarka. i�*m getting tearful talking about it now. as long as i know he is going to a good home and i can see him on a regular basis, hopefully, that�*s all i want for him, really. you�*re live with bbc news. us presidentjoe biden says he�*ll cut short a planned tour of asia this week as he negotiates to avoid a us debt default next month. biden held emergency talks at the white house with congressional leaders earlier, including republican house speaker kevin mccarthy. it ended with cautious

optimism among the leaders, who are hopeful a deal to raise the us debt ceiling is within reach. on monday, us treasury secretary janet yellen warned again that the us could run out of money by the first ofjune if congress fails to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. if it defaults on its debt, it will have broad and severe impacts on the us and other global economies. president biden remains confident economic catastrophe will be avoided. the policy differences between the parties should not stop congress from avoiding default. i made clear again at today�*s meeting that default is not an option. america pays its debts, pays its bills, and we will have plenty of time to debate the policy differences, but the country has never defaulted on our debt and we never will. 0ur north america correspondent nomia iqbal has more from the white house. this meeting lasted for more than an hour. and like last week, both sides came out and gave their version of events. the speaker of the house,

kevin mccarthy, and the senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell, struck a more optimistic tone. they weren�*t as bitter as last time. they had both accused the president of not negotiating and not compromising. the democrats had come out, chuck schumer and hakeem jeffries, and accused the republicans of not taking default off the table, sort of using it as a negotiating tactic. i put to kevin mccarthy, if they had taken default off the table this time? he sidestepped the question. he pointed to the bill that the house republicans are trying to pass, but he did say that neither side wants default. that was actually something that had progressed in this meeting. he was also asked about how the world is looking at america right now, and if it does default, what the global implications would be? look, i think america is the number one economy in the world. and when we get done with this negotiations, america's economy is going to be stronger because we're going to make the american economy stronger by putting more people back to work, lifting them out of poverty, lowering our energy costs, and, more importantly, curbing our spending at the runaway.

so if the world looks around and looks back around and looks back at america and says "they were spending too much," they won't be able to say that when we're done. we all agreed that defaultl is not an acceptable option and must be avoided, - and we all agreed that over the next few weeks we have to proceed with the fierce i urgency of now in order to make sure we can reach that - bipartisan, common sense, j common ground agreement so that we can protect the health, the safety| and economic well—being of the american people. i there is, of course, huge pressure to get this done because president biden is off to japan tomorrow. he was then due to go to australia and papua new guinea, but he�*s now cut short that trip in order to get this over the line. and i did ask mr mccarthy and mr mcconnell if they had put pressure on the president to cut short that trip and if, therefore, the us was neglecting its foreign obligations because theyjust can�*t find the solution. they didn�*t answer that question, but mr mccarthy did say that it�*s up to the president what he wants

to do with this schedule. there are still some sticking points they have to get through with the negotiations, but bear in mind, when they do reach a compromise, it will probably take about a week for it to get through congress, so time is ticking for for the congressional leaders to get this through. earlier, i spoke with wendy edelberg, former chief economist at the congressional budget office and senior fellow in economic studies at the brookings institution. are you optimistic after what we heard from today�*s meeting? i�*m absolutely encouraged that they�*re talking and it looks like they�*re talking with with seriousness. i am frustrated that the proposal that the republicans put

on the table that was passed in the house actually only postpones the debt ceiling through march of 2024, which is not very long from now. and so if that is what we�*re past, we would be, injust a few short months, a few short months, talking about brinksmanship yet again. do you think democrats should therefore not agree to it? i think the best way that policymakers in washington, dc can reassure financial markets that the united states stands behind not only just its obligations on treasury securities, but its obligations across the federal government is to put off the debt ceiling for several years, or even better yet, abolish it. let�*s get to some of the nuts and bolts of what they�*re discussing. republicans have said work requirements for public assistance programmes will have to be in any deal. they also want to see budget caps unspent covid stimulus money recouped, and democrats are against those measures. do you see any room there for a deal? it�*s so... i mean, these are difficult... these are difficult decisions that policymakers will make.

this is why we all send them to washington, dc, so that they can iron out these hard decisions. i will say that the bill passed by republicans in the house is a very different version of the federal government than what we have today over the next ten years. it reduces discretionary spending as a share of gdp by about 40% relative to its historical share. that is an unrecognisable federal government. so i would say that where the republicans are starting is a pretty stark change from the kind of government that that us citizens have grown accustomed to. so the treasury secretary, janet yellen, has said today that the standoff is already impacting financial markets, increasing the debt burden on americans. are we seeing the impact already now? we are indeed. so interest rates

on treasury bills that are scheduled to mature in the first half ofjune are now trading at a premium of about one percentage point, which is to say anybody holding a treasury bill that is scheduled to mature in the next couple of weeks is charging a pretty high price to hold the risk that they may not be paid on time. there are now only three days remaining where the house and senate are both in session before june 1st. that is the day, of course, that the treasury�*s predicted that the us could run out of money. do you feel that there is sufficient urgency in these negotiations that you�*ve seen so far to address that? i hope so. i mean, this is... this crisis has been a long time coming. it is true thatjune ist is an earlier date that was anticipated a few months ago. but it is not news to anybody who is a federal policymaker in washington, dc that the debt ceiling

had to be increased, so they�*ve had a long time to work this out. i am frustrated. i am now very cautiously optimistic that at least both sides seem to be talking. if the president does not come to an agreement with congressional republicans, do you think he should bypass congress, invoke the 14th amendment and continue to pay the us bills? i feel very strongly that any of the workarounds that have been discussed would not be helpful. so what treasury needs to do is act in a way... ..pay all of its obligations to keep financial markets stable and ensure the full faith in credit of the us government. by borrowing in financial markets with legal uncertainty, by ignoring the will of congress, they will not create stability and certainty in financial markets,

and so i fear that if treasury were to do that, it would actually bring about just about the same reaction as if they actually missed a non—interest payment. i think financial market participants would be filled with uncertainty as to how the legal uncertainty would get resolved, whether or not this is the now permanent state of affairs. is treasury going to just ignore the debt limit forevermore? i think any of the workarounds create uncertainty and bring chaos. wendy edelberg, thank you so much for sharing your analysis with us tonight. thank you. impeachment proceedings are under way against president guillermo lasso of ecuador. 0pposition legislators accuse the president of embezzling funds from public companies, which lasso strongly denies. he is mounting an in—person defence at the ecuador national assembly to present his case, and seems ready to do whatever it takes to maintain his post.

south america correspondent will grant has been following the story. another tumultuous day in ecuadorian politics as president lasso made an impassioned plea to the opposition run congress to save his job or, as he put it, to save democracy in the andean nation. he says the charges against him are politically motivated. well, let�*s take a look at them. the suggestion from his opponents is that he embezzled funds from public companies through a deal between a state—run energy company and a private tanker company. he says that is nonsense, that he himself denounced the deal to the judiciary. now he has to find out if around two thirds, more than two thirds of around 140 lawmakers vote against him, which would then depose him, remove him from office. but he has a final constitutional trick up his sleeve, which is that he can invoke something called

"muerte cruzada" — roughly translated as "dead man�*s standoff". that would dissolve parliament. he could then rule by decree for the six months before elections can be held. it�*s absolutely the last resort, but mr lasso has already indicated that he would be prepared to use it. the country�*s most powerful indigenous rights organisations said that they would oppose such a move and hold major protests. and it�*s been known in the past that they can bring the entire country to a standstill when they do that. and all of this comes on top of a of a worsening security situation in the country where the murder rate has has worsened significantly, around 250% rise in the murder rate in just a two—year period as mexican cartels are getting more and more involved with local criminal organisations over the control of key ports and the cocaine trade to the united states and europe.

willa grant reporting their for us. stay with us here on bbc news hello there. looks like high pressure will continue to bring a lot of fine and settled weather to the country for the rest of this week and into the weekend. temperatures will be climbing slightly, particularly where we have the sunshine. that said, there�*ll still be a few showers around and outbreaks of rain around the area of high pressure. so this weather front will be bringing some wet weather to the north of scotland throughout the day on wednesday. now, the blue tinge is fading away for wednesday. we�*re starting to import that yellow and orange colour, so the temperature�*s climbing a little bit. so in the sunny spots, it�*ll feel very pleasant through the afternoon, but it starts off chilly, lots of sunshine. then the clouds build again. showers, this time affecting the southern half of britain. further north, it�*ll

be dry, some sunshine. but north highlands, the northern isles, some heavy and persistent rain here with a stronger breeze, feeling quite cool. but elsewhere again, it�*s the mid to high teens. and then through wednesday night, the showers fade away, many places will be dry. we�*ll see variable amounts of cloud around, probably more cloud around, i think wednesday night than what we�*ve had recent nights, so that should stop temperatures in falling much below five to nine celsius so a little bit milder. so here�*s the picture for thursday. high pressure bringing a lot of dry weather for most. this weather front, though, another weather front will start to push into western scotland and northern ireland through the day. so here, cloudier, breezy with some splashes of rain east in scotland, england and wales. the best of the sunny spells though. we will see some showers developing across southern and eastern england and we could see more cloud around, i think, into the afternoon. temperature—wise, though, in the brightest spots, again, the high teens, the mid—teens, though further north, that weather from pushes its way eastwards to bring a band of cloud and showers across england and wales for friday. so a bit ofa mixed bag, i think, to end the working week. some sunny spells around, variable cloud,

but also some showers. weather front, particularly across england and wales, and the odd one could be on the heavy side. in the sunshine, then, temperatures again 17 or 18 degrees, but with more cloud around then i think it won�*t be quite as warm on friday than what we�*ll see on thursday. into the weekend with high pressure dominating the scene for most, and it�*s going to be mainly dry and settled once again with some good sunny spells. but weather fronts flirting with the north of the uk will, at times, bring thicker cloud, maybe some spots of rain to scotland and northern ireland. best of the sunshine, england and wales and we could be into the low 20s in the warmer spots.

you�*re watching bbc news. the latest news headlines at the top of the hour, after this programme. you can plan for everything except the weather. this is 0peration golden 0rb

in action — the code name used for the king�*s coronation by those planning it,