live from washington, this is bbc news — welcome to viewers on pbs in america. pressure mounts in washington to reach a deal on raising the debt ceiling, with just over a week until a possible default. russia says it has defeated "saboteurs" who attacked the belgorod region on the border with ukraine. and spanish football club valencia is fined $48,000 after fans chanted racial abuse at real madrid's viniciusjunior. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. we start tonight in washington, where another day of talks to tackle the us debt crisis has failed to produce results.

on tuesday, representatives of us presidentjoe biden and congressional republicans met again on capitol hill. the two sides have untiljune 1st to come to an agreement on raising the govenrment�*s borrowing limit, or risk the us not being able to pay its bills. some analysts have warned a default could lead to huge job losses in the us and even a global recession. stocks on wall street finished sharply lower on tuesday. despite this, optimism among leaders remains. negotiations are very hard, very difficult, both sides have to understand they won't get everything they want. we are trying to get to a budget that is reasonable and bipartisan. that democrats and republicans in the house and senate will be able to vote on and agree on. this is the process, that's why we are moving in this way, to make sure it's bipartisan, but also reasonable. that's what you all can look forward to. for the latest on this story, i spoke

to cbs news congressional correspondent, nikole killion. has there been any movement in negotiations? not much movement at all. in fact, it seems like talks have once again hit an impasse, although both sides are still at the negotiating table to a certain extent. but as of now, we're not aware of any further scheduled meetings between the white house and negotiators for house speaker kevin mccarthy. the speaker told me earlier today he still believes that he and president biden are nowhere near a deal. one of the big sticking points is the issue of spending caps. the speaker's team continue to emphasise that there are some fundamental differences. they really want to make a fundamental shift in the trajectory of how the us government spends its money. as you know, this has been an age—old argument between

democrats and republicans foryears, decades. they are trying to resolve all of this in a matter of days, and it's proving to be quite challenging. we have also heard these terms of optimism, talks about the negotiations being productive. both sides showing willingness to agree that a default is off the table, so why can't they get past these sticking points? the negotiators continue to applaud each other and commend each other for being very productive, and they feel like they're getting a better sense of each other�*s positions, but as i mentioned, this really comes to some fundamental differences over spending. republicans passed a debt limit billjust last month where they proposed increasing the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, which would lift the debt ceiling in the united states

through march of next year, and it would also reduce spending by $4.8 trillion. that's the amount of cuts republicans are proposing in their legislation, which did pass the house with republican support. but democrats have continued to argue they feel that is too draconian. republicans have also insisted that spending levels be lowered. they want it closer to what the government spent in fiscal year 2022, they think that is a good baseline. the white house has proposed freezing spending levels, but that is not enough savings to republicans. they argue the white house and the democrats have spent a lot of money with respect to covid and with respect to a variety of bills that they feel has fuelled inflation, so they don't want to keep spending at those levels, even at current levels. that said, both sides say they are committed and they understand the gravity

of the situation, knowing the us could potentially default on its obligations, not be able to pay its bills, as soon asjune 1st. so they continue to keep that deadline in mind as they try to work towards an agreement. that's our final question. even if they reach an agreement, it would have to get through both chambers, so how concerned are republicans and democrats about the real possibility of a default, just days away? again, that's the one interesting thing, everybody agrees that they don't want us to default on its obligations. but it continues to be difficult to see where they find an off ramp. we're at nine days, less than two weeks to try to hash out an agreement. as you know, nothing moves quickly here in congress. so even if an agreement is reached, its going to take time for lawmakers to craft the legislation.

and of course, many republicans insist once the legislation is crafted, they want 72 hours to be able to review that bill, that's three days out of the nine—day window that they have left. and that's not to mention that, here in the senate, the senate is out, they still have to come back and take up the legislation as well, which could take upwards of a week. so we are really talking about a very difficult deadline and schedule to meet. the hope is if they can try to reach an agreement this week, the speaker said he wanted a deal last week but he has said if they can reach a deal this week, he still thinks it's possible to meet that deadline. thank you so much for “oining us. ., , staying in the us, lawmakers in the state of south carolina have passed a ban on most abortions after

fetal cardiac activity begins — around six weeks of pregnancy. the vote passed mostly along party lines, but the three republican women in south carolina's senate all opposed it, voting with the democrats. the hotly contested bill is a revised version of an earlier measure that the south carolina supreme court ruled unconstitutional earlier this year. the ban is expected to be signed into law by republican governor, henry mcmaster. mount a legal challenge, saying on twitter, "we'll see you in court". russia says insurgents who launched attacks inside russian territory near the border with ukraine have been defeated. the kremlin claims it killed 70 attackers who crossed into the belgorod region on monday. it says the rest were driven back into ukraine. belgorod's governor said one civilian died in the violence. ukraine denies involvement involvement in the attack. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner has more. this raid, launched from ukrainian territory but carried out by russians, could turn out to be

a little bit of a mixed blessing for kyiv. why? well, on the one hand, it's embarrassing for moscow, it shows that its borders and defences are not as watertight as they would have liked, and it could end up drawing some russian troops away from southern ukraine, where the thrust of the coming ukrainian offensive is expected to focus. but on the other hand, it reinforces the kremlin narrative that mother russia, sovereign russian territory, is coming under attack and under threat from malign forces — armed, encouraged and equipped by the west. and despite denials from ukraine, it's hard to imagine this raid would have been carried out without the knowledge or even help from ukraine's military intelligence, the gur. and anotherfactor, some of those involved in this raid are reported to be linked to far right extremism. now, this is a tiny group that no—one has heard of until now,

almost no—one, and they don't represent the bulk of ukrainians or ukraine. but nevertheless, in the battle for pr, this is bad optics for ukraine. if some of them turn out to be linked to neo—nazism orfascism, it reinforces the kremlin narrative that it's fighting this war to rid ukraine of neo—nazis, and that's a bad look for ukraine. earlier, my colleague azadeh moshiri spoke with bill taylor, former us ambassador to ukraine and current vice president of europe and russia at the us institute of peace. ambassador taylor, thank you so much forjoining us. so first i want to start on belgorod. there are a lot of competing narratives. how do you make sense of it? it appears to me that these are russian citizens, they have been training and preparing in ukraine. there's no doubt about that. there's probably been some coordination between these two outfits — these russian citizen outfits — coordination

with the ukrainians. there's no doubt about that. but it's also the case that the russian citizens don't like the russian government. they don't like president putin. and this is a way, i guess, to listen to what they've been saying. it's a way to demonstrate that — it's a demonstration to other russian citizens who have not left the country that there are things that can be done. so you said that it's likely that there was ukrainian coordination with all this. you actuallyjust came back from a trip in kyiv — you met with high—level officials there. what are they telling you about this next phase of the war? they are preparing...vigorously for the next phase of the war. they're preparing for this long—discussed and planned counteroffensive. the ukrainians, i think, are at a high point in their preparations, in their strength, in their equipment,

certainly in their morale. they are... they are ready. and it seems to me that the russians are probably at a low point in all of those things. their morale is terrible. their equipment is worn out. their people have been... decimated. the soldiers that they've thrown into bakhmut have been just wiped out. so they... i think the russians are at a low point, the ukrainians are at a high point, so the ukrainians are optimistic that they can go now — they can go very soon. so when it comes to equipment, though, president biden has actually reversed his earlier decision about training ukrainians on the f—16 jets, about allies providing that support. but, time and time again, we've heard pentagon officials and other officials say that it would take months, if not years, for ukrainian pilots to be able to operate these

f—16s effectively. so, practically speaking, is that a good use of money? i think it is, i think it is. i mean, one thing we heard over and over — notjust from the defence minister and the former defence minister and the foreign minister and the former... across the board, government and non—government — the amazing thing is the non—governmental organisations, the democracy—supporting organisations — they also want f—16s, they want weapons for their counteroffensive. that society, the government, the non—gov... the people outside the government — civilians. we talked to privates, we talked to generals, we talked to lieutenants. they are focused on this. and, yes, the f—16s give them a real edge. but you're right and they're right — these f—16s are probably not going to play a role in this counteroffensive over the next two months. but not too long after that — maybe in the fall, maybe in september, october — the first f—16s may be there. you mentioned how long it's

going to take to train — it turns out the ukrainians learn very quickly on a lot of these different systems, and they've been preparing for these f—16s, as well. you said that it gives the ukrainians a real edge, but isn't thatjust one of the problems — that these jets could cross the border into russia and suddenly this war could become escalated ? the ukrainians have had weapons — from the united states and from other nato nations — that could, right now, reach into russia. the ukrainians have not used those weapons to attack targets in russia. they have used their own weapons — it is clear, it is true that the ukrainians have used their own weapons, that they've developed, ukrainian weapons to fire on russian targets. if there are targets in russia, there are military units in russia, that are firing at ukrainian targets,

then the ukrainians... argue — and i think persuasively — that they should be able to fire back. they, however, have not used western weapons. and i just want to touch on nato�*s expansion. turkey is, of course, very reticent for sweden to join. turkey is also asking congress — the us congress — for its own f—16fighterjets. should that request be tied to accepting sweden's membership? yes, absolutely. there's no reason for the turks to hold up the swedes. if the turks have recognised that their use of russian weapons — and they've got some anti—aircraft weapons from the russians, which makes no sense in a nato nation... so, yes, we do have some leverage over the turks — and the turks want those f—16s, we want the swedes into nato. and in the end, i think the turks will allow that to happen. and very briefly, ambassador, looking to the future —

having been in kyiv so recently, do you think that ukraine can win this war? do you think peace can be achieved without ukraine giving up some of its territory? i do. i don't know how long it's going to take, but i do think that the ukrainians can win. they're very well prepared right now. and the foreign minister told us this is not the last battle. this next counteroffensive is not the last time. they may do great in this next counteroffensive. they may only take partially what they're after in this next kind of phase. it doesn't matter. ukrainians will keep fighting. they will keep fighting for their territory. and i think, yes, in the end, there can be a peace, there can be a peace with the russians entirely out of ukraine. ambassador taylor, thank you so much forjoining us. thank you, azadeh, good to be here. staying in russia, a court has extended the detention of wall street journal reporter evan gershkovich by three months. it follows a request by investigators from

the russian federal security service. the journalist was arrested in march on espionage charges — which he denies. mr gershkovich�*s detention had been set to expire on may 29 but he will now remain there until at least august 30. the wall streetjournal�*s world coverage chief gordon fairclough gave an update on evan gershkovich�*s condition. he spoke to my colleague yalda hakim on the bbc earlier. he is writing a lot of letters. a lot of his colleagues and friends have been sending letters in and he is sending letters out. his sense of humour seems to be very intact, which is great. you know, he seems to be doing pretty well, all things considered. and his health is fine? he can get access to medical help if he needs it? i mean, luckily he is young and in good shape. i know he's been doing push—ups in his cell, and taking advantage of getting his steps in when he is allowed outside for exercise.

he's been reading a lot. so he is trying to keep himself strong. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. padel is the tennis/squash hybrid that's becoming the must—play sport of 2023. anyone can play it and then you sort of get addicted — it's a very social sport, so it's a lot of fun. it's a cross between squash and tennis. it's tennis scoring, but you can play off the backboard like you can with squash. well, it couldn't be simpler — bats instead of rackets, and the rest is pretty obvious. i mean, it is a sign ofjust how popular the sport is becoming that it is attracting this kind of investment. each of these courts cost £30,000, and here they've got 14 of them. but the uk is embracing it, and a national team — yes, there is one — well, they're doing pretty well.

we were in the world padel finals last year, and that's 13 countries, so it's pretty good! so just down the road is the centre that was actually the first one to open in bristol, and only in august last year. back then there were just four courts in the city — now there are more than 30. you're live with bbc news. indian prime minister narendra modi is in australia looking to boost the countries�* economic ties. a short time ago, mr modi held bilateral talks with his australian counterpart anthony albanese in sydney. the pair discussed trade and investment, security, and climate change. a day earlier, thousands gathered in sydney's 0lympic park to hear the indian prime ministers heap praise on each other. both leaders thanked the crowds for their contribution to the relationship between the two countries. lets go to sydney, where bbc�*s phil mercer is covering the visit.

deepening economic ties, what has been at the heart of these discussions? i has been at the heart of these discussions?— discussions? i think australia has great _ discussions? i think australia has great ambitions - discussions? i think australia has great ambitions to - discussions? i think australia has great ambitions to tap i discussions? i think australia i has great ambitions to tap into the markets in the world's largest democracy. trade between australia and india last year was worth about $30 billion, and australia wants to increase that. also significantly, australia wants to diversify its global trade, it's dominated with trade with china, australia's biggest trading partner, so certainly australia is looking to tap into other markets to boost its trading relations. and we do here, after these talks between anthony albanese and no random mode d, that a free trade agreement between the countries could even be signed this year. —— and prime minister modi. he -- and prime minister modi. he received a _

—— and prime minister modi. he received a rock star welcome yesterday, how popular is the indian prime minister in australia?— indian prime minister in australia? it's extremely unusual— australia? it's extremely unusual for _ australia? it's extremely unusual for an _ australia? it's extremely unusual for an australian politician or the visiting world leader to receive such a welcome from thousands of devotees in a stadium, but that was the experience for modi, a rock star welcome at an event in sydney. he was really playing not only to that audience there but also to a domestic audience back home, saying that the audience shared his dream of eventually making india a developed country. he said india was a globalforce for good. so certainly the people who packed into that arena were very pleased to see mr modi, many describing him as a once—in—a—lifetime leader. however not all of india's diaspora in australia were happy to see mr modi. muslim and seek asterisks raising human rights concerns and other political grievances. —— and

sikh activists. political grievances. -- and sikh activists.— political grievances. -- and sikh activists. how much is the concern about _ sikh activists. how much is the concern about china _ sikh activists. how much is the concern about china playing . concern about china playing into the deepening ties between the countries?— the countries? having a look at the countries? having a look at the statement _ the countries? having a look at the statement issued _ the countries? having a look at the statement issued by - the countries? having a look at the statement issued by the i the statement issued by the australian prime minister, he said that not only has trade been a significant part of bilateral talks, been a significant part of bilateraltalks, but been a significant part of bilateral talks, but also regional peace and stability. experts say that powerful geopolitical forces have been bringing india and australia closer together. that is china, and certainly australia and india have been co—operating more deeply on security and defence matters. that is in large part because of china's growing influence in the region. you speak to experts in australia and they say that for the most part, australia's foreign relations have a great deal to do with china's growing influence in the indo—pacific. thank you so much.

more than 130 members of the us congress and the european parliament have signed a letter urging that an oil industry executive should not lead the next un climate change conference. sultan aljaber, who is chief executive of the abu dhabi national oil company, has been chosen to head cop28, to be held in dubai in november. but the signatories say his appointment is incompatible with hisjob. they point out the company he runs plans to increase its output by 7.6 billion barrels of oil, which threaten to undermine climate negotiations and jeopardises public faith in the cop process. the spanish football federation has ordered the partial closure of valencia's stadium after fans chanted racist abuse against real madrid player, vinicius junior on sunday. the club has also been fined $48,000. it's been confirmed viniciuisjunior will not be suspended, after getting a red card sunday. the footballer was sent off for hitting a player from valencia, but only

after he was grabbed around the neck. the spanish football federation says they lifted the suspension after watching the tape back. police in spain have arrested three fans of valencia football club suspected of hurling racist insults at the real madrid player during the game. police have also detained four people suspected of hanging an effigy of vinicius, reminiscent of a lynching, from a bridge in madrid injanuary. the abuse has sparked outrage in brazil. the brazilian government switched off the lights illuminating rio's statue of christ the redeemer to show their support for the athlete. they have also requested a meeting with officials in madrid. police have started digging near a reservoir in portugal, in the long—running investigation into the disappearance of madeleine mccann. the arade dam is 50 kilometres from where the british toddler went missing in praia da luz 16 years ago. german police are leading the operation looking for evidence to link her disappearance to christian brueckner, a german man who was made a formal suspect by portuguese

prosecutors last year. 0ur correspondent navtej johal reports from the reservoir where the search is taking place. so far today, the search has been focused around the arade dam, this area, this vast expanse of water you can see behind me. and actually, i can see from here, still, a couple of officers wearing white forensic suits, justjutting out from that promontory in the distance. it might be a bit far away for you from home to watch that. and that gives you an indication of what we have seen today. forensics officers, police officers, emergency vehicles, we have seen an inflatable boat being launched into the water with a couple of police officers, sniffer dogs moving along the bank. and that gives you an idea, i think, of the scale of the operation and the variety of tools being used as part of the search of this area, which is around 30 miles or 50 kilometres away from praia da luz, where madeleine mccann went missing back in 2007. borisjohnson has been referred to police over new claims he may have broken

lockdown rules during the pandemic. the former uk prime minister was fined last year for breaking covid rules in 2020 and denies any wrongdoing. johnson's spokesman said the allegations are untrue and that the events were not in breach of any covid regulations. former president donald trump made a virtual appearance in a new york criminal court on tuesday. it was his first appearance since pleading not guilty last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush—money payments. the judge leading the case, judgejuan merchan, set a trial date in the case for march 25, 2024, which will be in the heat of the presidential primary season. florida governor ron desantis will announce he is running for president on twitter, in discussion with ceo elon musk wednesday evening. the campaign is also expected to release a launch video. the news comes a day after south carolina senator tim scott announced his presidential bid for the republican nomination. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello. temperatures on tuesday reached 21 degrees celsius in yorkshire, and i think wednesday's going to be every bit as warm — maybe even a tad warmer. and the next few days, very little change on the weather front. a large area of high pressure is dominating the weather across our part of the world. but the air is riding around the area of high pressure, and the air actually originates from the central north atlantic, so we're not seeing the push of warm air that we sometimes get from the southern climes. and that means that, so far this may — depending how you look at it — has been a little disappointing in terms of the temperatures. so we've only managed to reach 23 degrees so far. in most years, those values reached the mid or the high 20s at least at some point in may.

so, yes, it has been a little on the cool side, which is not necessarily a bad thing — not all of us like hot weather! so the forecast, then, early on wednesday shows a bit of cloud across western scotland and northern ireland — maybe a few spits and spots of rain — but elsewhere we're waking up to mostly sunny skies. a bit of a nip in the air, though, particularly in the north. now this weather front will continue to bring spits and spots of rain and thicker cloud for a time through the morning, into the afternoon towards these northwestern areas. but to the south of that, it is going to be a gloriously sunny day. so this is where the temperatures will be at their highest — typically in the high teens to perhaps the low 20s in one or two areas. 22, for example, in cardiff. also worth mentioning that the sun is, of course, very strong this time of the year. and look at that — high uv levels pretty much across the board. the high pressure is still with us on thursday, but it means also that the wind directions will be changing around the uk as this high pressure changes its sort of shape.

and that does mean that cloud will be pushed across the country into different areas. so it does look as though parts of england will be a little on the cloudy side at times on thursday. so just because we've got high pressure doesn't necessarily mean it will stay sunny all through the week. and here's friday — you can see the temperatures again, fairly similar — high teens, possibly up to about 22 degrees celsius. the high pressure system over us is going to last through the weekend and quite possibly into next week, as well. and look at the values in cardiff — it's pretty much the same every single day. certainly not looking bad at all. bye— bye.

welcome to hardtalk from johannesburg. i'm stephen sackur. for 29 years, south africa's national politics has been dominated by the african national congress. but right now, the anc is in big trouble. a protracted energy crisis is doing further damage to an economy already hit by shocking levels of unemployment, inequality and corruption. now, if the anc is faltering, who is best placed to