live from washington, this is bbc news. we're live in washington dc tonight, where the white house and us republicans reach an agreement in principle to raise the government debt limit. air strikes on ukraine's capital as the country's most senior security official says the military is ready to launch its long—expected counter—offensive against russian forces. and turkey's first—ever presidential run—off election gets underway in a matter of hours. hello, i'm carl nasman.

we start tonight here in washington — these are live shots of the capitol building. the biden administration and the republican majority in the us house of representatives have reached an agreement in principle on a new government debt limit. the deal will be put to a vote on wednesday. we'll have more on what we know so far shortly, with our north america correspondent jess pakrker shortly. but first let's hear from the leaders at the centre of these negotiations. house speaker kevin mccarthy said there would be historic reductions in spending and no new taxes. he shared this statement a little earlier. ijust got off i just got off the phone with the president and talk to him twice today and after weeks of negotiations we have come to an agreement in principle. we still have a lot of work to do but i believe this is an agreement in principle worthy of the american people. it has

historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out of poverty into the workforce, rain in government overreach, no new taxes or government programmes, and a lot more within the bill. we still have more work to do tonight to finish all of the writing of it. i do want to take a moment though. i do want to thank garret graves and patrick mchenry for their work on this. over all the work that we will continue to do tonight. i know you will have many questions. i will not take them tonight stop out of respect, i want to brief our members where we currently. i expect to finish the writing of the bill, checking with the white house and speaking to the president again tomorrow afternoon and posting the of it tomorrow. then we will be voting on it on wednesday. thank you for your time and i think this is very worthy of the american public.

and shortly following that, we heard from the us president. in a statement, he said: referring there to a potential default on the us debt. with me is our north america correspondent, jess parker. you have been following the latest on all of these negotiations. finally, on memorial day weekend, late in the night, it seems we have some sort of framework for a deal on what is the latest of what is inside that?- what is inside that? late saturday _ what is inside that? late saturday night _ what is inside that? late: saturday night announcement. we do not have the text yet aware saying the text still seems to

be being written so all still in flux. from what we know what has been said and what we believe so far is there will be reductions in spending, kevin mccarthy said there will be no new taxes. looks like there are not changes at the moment to medicaid but there may be limitations on food stamps. so it does seem as though each site will have won some confessions and gains as well. but it will be a compromise and it will now be a question as to well they can sell that compromise to their respective parties. we compromise to their respective arties. ~ . n . , parties. we had kevin mccarthy and president _ parties. we had kevin mccarthy and president joe _ parties. we had kevin mccarthy and president joe biden - and presidentjoe biden signalling that a little bit, speaking to the members earlier, there was a meeting with kevin mccarthy and republican meeting today and joe biden will be meeting with democrats tomorrow on a limb call to get that deal passed. —— tomorrow on a zoom call.

last hour we took a closer look at the deal. we wa nt we want to get more on this deal. we bring in the �*washington post�* reporter and joel rubin, is serving food the obama legislation. first of all, thank you forjoining us on this late hour and what is a holiday or memorial day weekend in the united states. many lawmakers thought they would be getting a week and often it doesn't look like that is happening! thank you for joining us. starting off, asking each of you, leanne, what was your reaction when he started to hear the details that may be in this framework agreement? we that may be in this framework agreement?— that may be in this framework agreement? we are still going throu~h agreement? we are still going through the — agreement? we are still going through the details _ agreement? we are still going through the details and - agreement? we are still going through the details and trying | through the details and trying to figure out what it actually means. and the practicalities. once this legislation is written. it seems like a

relatively good deal for the democrats. democrats have been resisting, for months, even negotiating, to lift the debt limit, saying it should be done with no conditions, that they can have a separate conversation about this trajectory of spending in the country. but not tied to the debt limit. well, they ended up having to negotiate the spending in this country, tied to the debt limit. the cuts that we, as far as we can tell, in both domestic spending and is not nearly as much as republicans wanted. republicans also wanted an increase in defence spending and that seems to be holding flat. for another year. they're all sorts of other details, including work requirements for people who are

on social safety net programmes. there seems to be a split here. republicans got some additional work requirements. we are still trying to figure out exactly how that will work. but the democrats really push back on work requirements for low—income people who receive health insurance or medicaid programme, that was not included and that was a big red line for the president. so, we're still going through these details but it first look it looks to like a relatively better deal for republicans. but both parties are really going to have to sell this to their members, to cobble together the 218 votes in the house, for it to pass. joel rubin, you served in the obama administration. what is your initial sense about which side might have gotten the better deal? look, carl, my initial reaction is this is a really big

waste of time. kevin mccarthy created a dynamic that was unnecessary, a false — a false crisis. a debt ceiling is about paying past bills. the idea that somehow, as one of his members said earlier in the week, that they were going to shoot the hostage, meaning the american people and our economy, in order to get extreme fiscal restrictions that are not part of this negotiation but part of an appropriations process, is just ludicrous. i'm relieved. i'm gladl that president biden was able to talk some reason to kevin mccarthy. kevin mccarthy saw the politics of this. and this is turning in a direction where he was going to be looking very much like the one who was going to take the american economy, especially with his members speaking like they did. and don't be surprised

if they speak that way next week any vote on the house floor, when many members may begin to threaten vacating kevin mccarthy's speakership to prevent passing of the bill. disappointing this is happened, but i'm glad we have an agreement and we have a way forward and this can be punted at least so that after the 2025 election, when hopefully the democrats or when the majority and not have to worry about this kind of manufactured crisis again. a lot to be seen. a big election coming up. this is just a framework deal. we need to see what the reactions will be from lawmakers, who are starting to get the details being briefed just in the last few minutes, actually, by republicans bigger kevin mccarthy, on a conference call. i want to read some reaction that we are getting in from lawmakers. this is coming from the freedom caucus. it is a group generally considered to be the most conservative wing of the republican party, this coming from congressman bob good.

he says: leigh ann, we have been talking about the difficulties on the extreme sides of both parties. what you make of what we're hearing from some of the more far right members the republican party? reactions are starting to come in. but bob good is somebody i didn't expect to support this. and there is a whole host of members. i would actually be shocked if any members of the freedom caucus, there might be a couple who do support this, but i think that republican leadership went into this knowing is that the freedom caucus, there are about three dozen of them, they probably aren't gettable in the situation anyway. when republicans

decided to force the administration to negotiate on the debt limit by tying it to government spending, the freedom caucus was always saying that the bill that the republicans passed that cut spending like you said by $4 trillion over ten years is their bottom line. that is what needs to be agreed to. most republicans have been saying, well, this isjust our opening offer. and, so, there was really a disconnect there between the freedom caucus and most in the republican party but then there is also questions about who in the democrats are going to support it, or who is not going to support it. but i think that, you know, republicans have historically been much more resistant to lifting the debt limit. and so it will be a much harder task for mccarthy and his leadership team to try to sell this to them.

because he has said that he wants to get a majority of his conference to vote for it. and that seems like a pretty tough task at this point. joel, how about you? please, go ahead. under donald trump, democrats voted three times to lift the debt ceiling and didn't threaten to destroy the destroy the american economy to get tax increases for the top 1% of taxpayers so i agree with leigh anne, i think there is going to be a lot of democrats who are going to vote for this and support president biden and remind the american people which party wants to govern and which party wants to destroy the system that we have... (crosstalk) will there be democrats out there, joel, and sorry to interrupt, won't there be some democrats out there that won't be happy with what they're seeing in this agreement? yeah, absolutely. without a doubt, there's a chunk of progressive

democrats are concerned that — biden didn't actually go further than he has been and — the 14th amendment, use that clause to essentially say he can unilaterally raise the debt limit. the president said he needs to look at that through the courts process as a concern and there's not enough time to use that. there's going to be grumbling but it sounds like the core of the biden agenda, the inflation reduction act, student loan forgiveness, protecting social security medicare, protecting veterans' benefits, those are solid, and if those are solid then you are going to see democrats crow less. there are going to be a lot of concerns but the problem in this equation from a progressive democratic perspective is notjoe biden, it's kevin mccarthy. leigh ann, let's circle back because we've been talking about this process that needs to happen and this is a late night deal, there are still details to be worked out, we only have a few of the details now in front of us but looking ahead,

you mentioned we have to see a certain number of democrats and republicans getting on board. if you had to predict what we might see on wednesday because there are also ways that some lawmakers can slow down the process, to maybe try and extract some more demands and bring us even closer to thejune 5 deadline. do you think there are enough lawmakers out there that are happy enough asjoel was saying with this deal that this might get done on wednesday? so, i will say that there is some concern about the 72 hour rule. in order to be speaker of the house, mccarthy made a lot of commitments, including bringing bills to the floor that a majority of his conference support and also that there has to be 72—hour waiting period before the legislation is released until there is a vote. there is some concern among people that that just allows time for people to hear from interest groups, to hearfrom people who don't like this bill

and really derail it. and, so, while there is this principle on agreement, they still have to finalise the legislative text, they have to finalise, they have to find the votes and they have to keep those people on board until this vote takes place. they're going to want to take place as, you know, they can't hold the vote as soon as they have the votes, they're going to have to wait the 72 hours and so there is some concern there but, you know, i do think, and this isjust a prediction because i'm not a whip counter, butjust knowing the republican and democratic caucuses very well, i think it's going to be a majority of democrats who push this over the line and is mccarthy willing to move in that direction and allow this bill to pass with mostly democrats? i could be totally proven wrong and he could sell this really well to his conference and they could come on board, but it's risky

for mccarthy moving ahead. interesting, joel, i want to give you one more last question here, regarding president biden himself, he cut his trip short to asia during that g7 trip, to come back here and what he said, focus on getting a debt deal done. he then took off for camp david and has been making a few phone calls, of course, with mccarthy. what's your sense on the role that the president actually ended up playing in these negotiations? the principle is the principle. and all the team around him are still his staff and he was applied and engaged the whole time. it was very unfortunate that he had to come back from the g7 directly rather than go to papua new guinea and engage our allies in the pacific that we need in the fight in dealing with china in that whole area. he had to come back, he showed his leadership

and dealt with kevin mccarthy and i think he has been applied and on the phone the whole time. remember, this is a man who spent 50 years now roughly between the senate and as vice president negotiating with congress and he knows how the rhythm of these negotiations go so without a doubt he was very engaged. he did need to be here and it looks like it has paid off. looks like we have a deal in place and in the next 72 hours it will be very interesting indeed. leigh ann caldwell and joel rubin who served with president obama as the deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs. take you so much to both forjoining us on this memorial day weekend. let's turn to ukraine where a fresh air attack on kyiv has left at least one dead and a further three injured. the city's mayor, vitali klitschko, says around 20 russian explosive drones had been eliminated but that a fresh wave is heading towards the capital. russia has stepped up

its attacks on kyiv over the past month, using barrages of drones and missiles in an attempt to overwhelm the city's defences. this latest attack comes as one of the country's most senior security officials says ukraine is ready to begin it's long—awaited counter—offensive. oleksiy danilov, the secretary of ukraine's national security and defence council, has been speaking exclusively to our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. this is what's left of bakhmut in eastern ukraine. images filmed by russian forces of the ruins they now largely control. mercenaries from the wagner group claim they're withdrawing, being replaced by regular russian troops. but ukraine insists its forces are still engaged on the ground in the outskirts, as the country's most senior security official told us. translation: we control 'ust a small part of the city, i and we admit that. but you have to keep in mind that bakhmut has played a big role in this war.

are the wagner mercenary group withdrawing, as their leader, prigozhin, says? translation: yes, that is happening. l but it doesn't mean that they will stop fighting us. they're going to concentrate more on other fronts. our intelligence is following that. we understand where they will appear next. they are regrouping to other free locations and we're following that. voiceover in ukrainian and all the while, ukraine is preparing a counter—offensive. this propaganda video broadcast by military commanders to raise morale and encourage what they called a decisive offensive. but when might it begin? translation: we'll figure out when that will start _ so that we can have the best result at that point of war.

it could happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week. it would be strange if i were to name dates or the start of that or another event. that cannot be done. but you're ready. translation: we're always ready. - the same as we were ready to defend our country at any time. and it is not a question of time. we have to understand that that historical opportunity that is given to us by god, to our country, we cannot lose. so we can truly become an independent, big european country. but until that happens, ukraine will remain vulnerable to attacks like this. a hospital in dnipro destroyed by a russian missile that air defences this time failed to stop. james landale, bbc news, kyiv. now to turkey, where the first ever presidential election runoff is set to begin — with polls opening injust under two hours. it's a two—way race between the current president

recep tayyip erdogan — who has been in power for two decades, and his main rival, the secular opposition leader, kemal kilicdaroglu. both candidates are now chasing support from nationalist voters in a bid to close the gap. in the first round of the election earlier this month, president erdogan won 49.5% of the vote — about 4% more than his rival. the bbc will continue coverage of the run—off election across the day. let's take at some of the other news making headlines in the uk. it's been a day of long delays and frustration, for passengers arriving at major airports in the uk, because electronic passport gates broke down. officials say technical issues at uk border force were to blame, with the e—gates failing last night. as a result, staff had to check passports manually, which takes more time. this evening, the home office says the problem has been fixed, and the gates are working again. british tv presenter holly willoughby has reacted to phillip schofield's admission about a relationship with a younger employee,

saying she is hurt. on friday, mr schofield resigned from itv saying he had lied to cover up the relationship, which he described as "unwise, but not illegal". itv has said it investigated rumours of the relationship but both men repeatedly denied it. detectives investigating the attempted murder of dc! john caldwell have tonight charged seven men with attempted murder. those charged are aged between 28 and 72. two of the men who have also been charged with being members of a terrorist group, namely the ira. three of them have also been charged with preparation of terrorist acts. all seven are due to appear before dungannon magistrates court via video link on monday. staying in the uk, the post office has apologised, after revelations it categorised sub—postmasters by racial group, using highly offensive language. it happened during its own investigations into the computer scandal, that saw hundreds of sub—post masters wrongly prosecuted, for false accounting. here's our business

reporter, peter ruddick. the post office, already dealing with the reputational damage of hundreds of wrongful prosecutions of sub—postmasters, now finds itself embroiled in a scandal over the use of racist language. post office branch managers have been fighting forjustice for years. this weekend, they discovered they had also been logged according to their racial profile. between 2008 and 2011, investigators were asked to classify potential suspects according to their racial profile. the category terms included chinese/japanese types, dark—skinned european types, and an offensive colonial word used to describe people of african descent. that's no way to identify someone, is it, really? that's disgusting. ijust feel sometimes that there is too much labelling going around. just say black or white. one of the post office victims,

baljit sethi, lost the business he ran with his wife. he now finds it too traumatic to discuss. his son, adeep, said his family were not surprised to read the document. it was quite disturbing. and itjust goes to show that the post office has had a rotten culture at its core for a number of years. and this information was not made available by the post office, this information came about because of the campaigners and people who are fighting for justice from the post office, so this is how it came to light, otherwise, it would have stayed buried for a very long time. a spokesperson for the post office said it did not tolerate racism, but that the abhorent language was historic. well, i think describing the document as historic is really utter nonsense. these documents were put together between 2008 and 2011, and i think we're not talking about a time in the 1970s or the 1980s, we're talking about only a decade ago. so really, that's not a good enough excuse. many sub—postmasters have had their convictions

overturned and have been promised compensation. but for victims like baljit, this document is a traumatic reminder of the way they were treated. peter reddick, bbc news. the french film anatomy of a fall — directed byjustine triet has won this year's palme d'or award at the cannes festival. triet becomes the third female director to have won theprestigious prize. the film tells the story of the trial of a widow accused of murdering her husband. the best actor award went to japan's koji yakusho for his part in perfect days from director wim wenders. and turkey's merve dizdar won best actress for about dry grasses. before we go, let's take a look again at our top story this hour — we're live in washington dc. us presidentjoe biden and the republican house speaker kevin mccarthy have reached an agreement in principle on a new

government debt limit, bringing weeks of meetings and negotiations to a close. mr biden said the deal was a compromise but would stop a "catastrophic government default". mr mccarthy said there would be historic reductions in spending, and no new taxes or government programmes. it's expected to be put to a vote on wednesday. thank you for staying with us. hello there. it really was a gorgeous day today across england and wales, lots of sunshine around. temperatures in west yorkshire reached 24.3 celsius, making it the warmest day of the year so far. in northern ireland and scotland we saw more cloud for a while, producing one of two spots of rain. that was mainly due to a very weak weather front — that's heading its way out into the north sea. following on from that,

we've got some cooler air coming around our area of high pressure from the north, so temperatures for many of us will be a little bit lower on sunday. we start quite chilly where we've got the clearer skies across eastern areas of scotland. temperatures here could be close to freezing in one or two places. there is more cloud coming into the north—west mind you, and we've got that cloud affecting some eastern parts of england and into the north sea. there will be some sunshine at times in scotland and northern ireland. the cloud coming and going, particularly in the north—west, and with the north—easterly breeze across eastern england, it will push that cloud further west, although hanging on to the best of the sunshine in west wales, western england and along the south coast. but the highest temperatures are going to be pushed to the south—west this time. it will be cooler further north and east, and quite a significant drop in temperature on sunday for the north—east of england. but it's still dry.

we've got high pressure in charge. the position of the high means that there's some stronger winds on monday into shetland, blowing in more cloud, and there is also a stronger east to north—easterly wind affecting southern parts of england, which will make it feel a little bit cooler, probably. and we could blow in some cloud in the morning through the midlands and eastern england. that should break up in the afternoon. lots of sunshine around on bank holiday monday. there is cooler air in place across england and wales. highest temperatures will be further west. in northern ireland and scotland, it is turning a bit warmer on monday, temperatures back into the low 20s. high pressure remains in charge on monday and into tuesday. the position is not really changing very much. light winds for many, but still those stronger winds through the english channel and southern parts of england. with the wind coming in off the north sea, we could see more cloud through much of the day on tuesday for eastern areas of england. always going to be warmer towards the west and the north, temperatures getting into the low 20s. and in scotland, we could see highs of 2a degrees or so on tuesday. and really all week we are dominated by high pressure, it is still dry, sunshine most days, and those temperatures reaching the mid 20s for the middle part of the week.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. hello and thanks forjoining me here at the bbc�*s headquarters