hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. vladimir putin makes his first public comments after the wagner mercenary group staged an armed mutiny — then abandoned it — over the weekend. in a five—minute speech, mr putin claimed russian society had rallied around his leadership. the rebellion on saturday was led by wagner's head, yevgeny prigozhin. it all ended after a deal purportedly brokered by belarusian president alexander lukashenko. putin reaffirmed his promise to allow wagner troops to either continue in the russian army or go to belarus as part of that agreement. translation: we knew and we know that the overwhelming majority of the fighters know that the overwhelming majority of the fighters and commanders of the wagner group are also patriots of russia, devoted to the nation and the state. they proved this with their courage on the

battlefield, dundas, and they tried to be use in darkness between the brothers and ours —— brothers in arms. —— donbas. following the address, putin held a meeting with his security officials, including defence minister sergei shoigu. putin made no mention of wagner boss yevgeny prigozhin by name. prigozhin, who was thought to be in belarus but whose whereabouts are currently unknown, is claiming the rebellion wasn't meant to overthrow the russian government. our correspondent sarah rainsford has more on the rebellion's aftermath from warsaw. this is yevgeny prigozhin's attempt to answer some questions but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. we still don't know where he is. we don't know if he is in belarus as had been suggested over the weekend but he did leave a bit of a hint because he said it was alexander lukashenko, the president of belarus, who had intervened to

resolve the crisis over the weekend. as to what caused that crisis, mr prigozhin was trying to make very clear that he was not attempting to overthrow the elected authorities of russia. this was not a challenge he was trying to make clear to vladimir putin himself. he pays all of it as a fight with the russian defence ministry. it is a huge fight that had been brewing for a long time between him and the defence minister and he claims it was triggered, this march on moscow, when that russian defence ministry fired on positions on his group within ukraine although we have never seen any proof of that. although he is trying to say this was not a challenge to putin, the very fact of this march and the detail of what happened, they have i think dented to the authority of vladimir putin. he is a president who makes control and stability is by words and those have been challenged very

directly by what happened over the weekend. so i think it is important that today we discovered that the criminal charges against yevgeny prigozhin are still in force. there is still a case out against him which is potentially why he is lying low, potentially why we still don't know an awful lot including where exactly he is. i spoke to democrat congressman raja krishnamoorthi, who serves on the house committee on intelligence, about putin's comments and this weekend's developments in russia. great have you back on the show and thanks forjoining us. if we look at what vladimir putin said in his address earlier today, he said all necessary steps were ta ken today, he said all necessary steps were taken at the start of the mutiny and it would have been suppressed anyway. is that true? i been suppressed anyway. is that true? . �* , ., , true? i haven't seen any evidence _ true? i haven't seen any evidence to _ true? i haven't seen any evidence to suggest - true? i haven't seen any evidence to suggest one true? i haven't seen any - evidence to suggest one way or the other wings were under control. it is a really unusual for a military company to be

travelling hundreds of miles down the highway unchallenged in russia and for them to have taken over the military ta ken over the military headquarters taken over the military headquarters in rostov on don, it may be betrays a little bit of the disingenuous nests of mr putin's statement. he of the disingenuous nests of mr putin's statement.— putin's statement. he also said he would keep _ putin's statement. he also said he would keep his _ putin's statement. he also said he would keep his promise - putin's statement. he also said he would keep his promise to l he would keep his promise to the wagner group who wanted to to go to belarus. do you think that the instability we witnessed over the weekend in russia is over orjust beginning? i russia is over or 'ust beginning?�* russia is over or 'ust beginning? russia is over or 'ust beaainnin? ~ , , beginning? i think it is still an unstable _ beginning? i think it is still an unstable situation, - beginning? i think it is still an unstable situation, i - beginning? i think it is still. an unstable situation, i don't think this beauty is over. i don't think that whatever understanding he announced the other day is somehow a resolution. on the one hand, prigozhin sees putin and the ministry of defence with blood on their hands because they did kill a number of wagner group mercenaries in ukraine and on the other hand prigozhin just staged a rebellion and so i

don't think that putin is going to be viewed as the same strong person that he was a couple of days ago today because prigozhin is still alive and well and i think that he has thousands of people in russia who still pledge their loyalty to prigozhin.— to prigozhin. the eu's... he said that — to prigozhin. the eu's... he said that the _ to prigozhin. the eu's... he said that the ukraine - to prigozhin. the eu's... he said that the ukraine what l to prigozhin. the eu's... he| said that the ukraine what is cracking russia. do you think this is a window of opportunity for ukraine cosmic allies to capitalise or do you worry we could see the russian president further consolidate power and even maybe escalate the conflict further? possibly. so we have to — conflict further? possibly. so we have to monitor - conflict further? possibly. so we have to monitor the - we have to monitor the situation very closely in concert with our allies and partners. that being said, the wagner forces were most effective component of the russian military forces in ukraine so that they are

somehow disengaging from that conflict weakens the overall effectiveness of the russian military and then secondly, vladimir putin is more focused on his own internal position. he is trying to stabilise that. in some ways what has happened over the weekend distracts him from over —— other matters and this will provide an opening for ukrainian forces to impress any advantages they may have on the battlefield.— the battlefield. what should the battlefield. what should the west and _ the battlefield. what should the west and the _ the battlefield. what should the west and the us - the battlefield. what should the west and the us do - the battlefield. what should the west and the us do this| the west and the us do this is a window of opportunity? i5 the west and the us do this is a window of opportunity? is it we should _ a window of opportunity? is it we should continue _ a window of opportunity? is it we should continue to monitor it closely, the situation closely, continue to provide intelligence to the ukrainians with regard to the situation and then continue to step up and then continue to step up and help the ukrainians in every way and take advantage of any opening this might provide although at the end of the day this is not an easy situation in ukraine for the ukrainians

to kind of capitalise in a big way right now.— to kind of capitalise in a big way right now. president biden has been commenting - way right now. president biden has been commenting today i way right now. president bidenj has been commenting today on what happened. this is what he said. " we had to make sure we gave putin no excuse to blame this on the west to blame this on nato. we made clear we were not involved, we had nothing to do with it. this was part of struggle within the russian system". again, sitting on the intelligence committee, did the us anticipate this happening? i can't get it classified information but suffice it to say that there were noises for months, very public ones from prigozhin, about the feuding that was escalating in its tone and its tenor with russian defence ministry officials including sergei shoigu as well as chief of staff barrass of of the russian military —— ——

gerasimov. but the most damning thing that was set on television the other day was that he questioned the motives of the whole russian invasion of the whole russian invasion of ukraine and said it was done for a profit —— a profit motive —— of any promotion at this. that was perhaps maybe the most damaging thing that mr prigozhin has done publicly and would suggest a big rift. i want to ask you about politics here in the us as well. president biden is touting his biden economics and infrastructure agenda this week. m2 billion was announced for high—speed internet access. here is what he said about it.

do you think this is enough to bring broadband to everyone by the president cosmic goal which is the year 2030? i the president cosmic goal which is the year 2030?— is the year 2030? i think it would be _ is the year 2030? i think it would be a _ is the year 2030? i think it would be a very _ is the year 2030? i think it would be a very strong - is the year 2030? | think it | would be a very strong step is the year 2030? i think it. would be a very strong step in the right direction. we will see if it is enough in the weeks and months to come but basically what we learned during the pandemic is that internet connectivity is almost like as important as running water or electricity. children can't learn, people can't remote work unless they have a good internet connection so in rural areas where connectivity has been not what it should be, i think that this particular legislation which was passed on a bipartisan basis by the way will make crucial investments to connect people to the world wide web. to connect people to the world wide web-— to connect people to the world wide web. ~ . ., ,., wide web. what about where the resident wide web. what about where the president stands _ wide web. what about where the president stands in _ wide web. what about where the president stands in all— wide web. what about where the president stands in all of- president stands in all of this? he said as i said touting his economic agenda but the polls don't think he is doing very well and he is not very

popular. message working? remember i think at the end of the day they are not going to compare joe the day they are not going to comparejoe biden into the almighty, they will compare him to the alternative and so we welcome —— we will see who his opponent is but i think that when they make the comparisons and they look at what he has managed to pass and get signed into law whether it is the infrastructure deal or the bipartisan ships in science at all the inflation reduction act, as they sit heading implemented, hopefully they feel it in their everyday lives in terms of the beneficial impacts of those pieces of legislation and so i'm hopeful that track record combined with results will go down to the president cosmic benefit. —— president's benefit. the biden administration announced more than mo billion in funding to make access to high—speed internet universal in the us by 2030. the pool of funding will be divided among us states

and territories, with the most populous states, texas and california, receiving $3.1 billion and $1.9 billion respectively. also among the top ten recipients are virginia, alabama, and louisiana, less populous states with large rural areas which lack widespread broadband access. biden stressed the large—scale investment comes as internet access is increasingly perceived as essential for daily life. it is the biggest investment on high—speed internet ever because for today's economy to work for everyone, internet access is just as work for everyone, internet access isjust as important work for everyone, internet access is just as important as electricity or water or other basic services. our david willis sent us this report. the biden administration believes that access to reliable and affordable high—speed internet service is no longer a luxury, it is an essential part of life, as

essential part of life, as essential as electricity or water come to that. but 8.5 million households and businesses in this country do not enjoy such access, largely because rural areas it can be expensive providing that sort of connectivity. all this brought into sharp relief of course during the coronavirus pandemic when a lot of people were suddenly working from home and doing online activities including learning. so now, the biden administration has announced the provision of more than mo billion to iron out those disparities stop the white house is calling it the biggest expansion of the internet of its kind ever in history and has likened it to fdr's new deal and the bringing of electricity to the most far—flung parts of this country. all this of course is part of the biden infrastructure law which was signed back in 2021, designed to boost the american economy,

yet polls continue to show that the majority of americans don't trustjoe biden's handling of the economy. so this marks the start as well of a three—week nationwide campaign involving both the president and the vice president which they will be touring the country basically touting the economic advantages, they say have come from joe biden's term in office and the run—up of course to next year's presidential election and that is all seen as part of biden omics and the new term that will be delivered in the keynote speech that will be delivered on wednesday night in chicago focused on his economic achievements, but this launch, the rollout and the ending of the problems involving internet access in this country a key part of the economic development thatjoe biden has prescribed for the

united states. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. voiceover: bringing you different stories from across the uk. it's a dirtyjob at these pedal borders are ready to do it, litter picking on the teams as they cruise along. 100 volunteers are taking part to raise awareness, it is clear some of the plastic pollution is clogging our waterways. trying to find as much plastic pollution as we can. we trying to find as much plastic pollution as we can.- pollution as we can. we find all sorts _ pollution as we can. we find all sorts of strange - pollution as we can. we find all sorts of strange things, i all sorts of strange things, signs— all sorts of strange things, signs from the river, from the road. — signs from the river, from the road. i— signs from the river, from the road, i found laptops before, bags, — road, i found laptops before, bags, all— road, i found laptops before, bags, all sorts of things, bones. _ bags, all sorts of things, bones, things you really do not want _ bones, things you really do not want to— bones, things you really do not want to find in the river. according to the charity thames 2165% of all the rubbish collected from the teams is mainly food and drink packaging, things like coffee cups, plastic bottles and beer cans, which will take decades to decay. so an awesome job by

these pedal borders but the problem of plastic waste is one we all need to carry on clearing. voiceover: for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. as the situation in russia remains tense, the war in ukraine continues. ukraine president, volodymyr zelensky said in an address that his troops have made advances in all sectors of the front lines. he gave no details, but described monday as a happy day and wished for more like it. ukraine's defence ministry, meanwhile, confirmed the recapture of the village of rivnopil in the donetsk region. zelensky visited soldiers fighting near the eastern city of bakhmut and handed out awards to boost the morale of troops engaged in a counter—offensive, as some ukrainians hope russian forces might be undermined by saturday's mutiny. israel has advanced plans for 5,700 new housing units for settlers in the occupied west bank. the right—wing israeli government has given

the green light to more than 13,000 new homes in settlements so far this year. israeli media are reporting that it's the largest number to have been approved in a single year. israel's main ally, the us, has opposed the settlement plans and has announced it will stop funding scientific research with israeli academic institutions on the west bank, where violence between israeli settlers and palestinians has escalated in recent months. the bbc�*s yolande knell has more. these plans for newjewish settler homes across the west bank were approved by israel's supreme planning council, and they really show how settlement construction is accelerating. according to the israeli anti— settlement group peace now, since the start of this year 13,000 new settler homes have been advanced. that is three times more than the whole of last year. most countries see settlements as being illegal under international law, israel

disagrees with that. its new plans include 1000 extra homes in the settlement of italy which is deep in the west bank, and close to where palestinian gunmen killed israeli settlers last week, this was the israeli government response, we are still seeing so much fallout from that attack. which is sending mobs of israeli settlers out on the rampage, in palestinian villages setting fire to palestinian homes and cars, one palestinian was killed and over the weekend, there was an unusual move, joint statement by the heads of the israeli military as police and its shin bet security services condemning the vigilantism, that drew a angry response from far right members of the governing coalition it shows there is a deep split over how to deal with this violence. to the nation of greece now, where kyriakos mitsotakis has been sworn in as prime minister, one day after an election victory for his centre—right new democracy party.

the conservative leader entered his second term as greece's prime minister. mitsotakis has pledged to address greece's low birth rate by pouring money into the country's public health system, which was stretched to its limits by the covid—19 pandemic. he also pledged to improve railway safety after 57 people died in a february train collision. us presidentjoe biden sent his congratulations, saying, "i look forward to continuing our close "cooperation on shared priorities to foster prosperity "and regional security." the bbc has uncovered new evidence of china's spy balloon programme — including flights over japan and taiwan. japan has confirmed balloons have flown over its territory and said it's prepared to shoot them down in the future. this comes as a result of a bbc panorama investigation, that discovered evidence of one suspected surveillance balloon, travelling overjapan in 2021. china has not directly addressed the evidence. our security correspondent gordon corera has more details. i am sitting in my driveway and this thing is up

in the sky. it was february when residents of the us state of montana saw something strange in their skies. i know there is a lot of questions about the flying objects. the spy balloon was then spotted moving all the way across the us. they're shooting it! that balloon was eventually shot down, but its journey raised questions about the nature and reach of china's foreign surveillance operation. to find out more, bbc panorama has been working with corey jaskolski, founder of an artificial intelligence company. the ai has been sifting through millions of satellite images to track the balloon. we're looking for something that's maybe a0 metres across. and we're looking for that in millions, and millions, and millions of square kilometres of earth's surface. the balloon was tracked, passing close to a us nuclear base and all the way back to a probable launch site on hainan island in china. china claimed the balloon was a civilian airship used

for scientific research, such as meteorology, and that it was an isolated event. but working with corey, the bbc can now reveal new details about other spy balloons. corey's ai programme discovered four satellite images of a balloon crossing northern japan in early september 2021. the japanese ministry of defence told the bbc that they suspected this was one of three chinese spy balloons that has flown over their territory since 2019. it is strongly presumed that the balloons were reconnaissance balloons flown by china. the ministry of defence ofjapan is taking all precautions to monitor the situation on a daily basis. japan says it's prepared to shoot down chinese balloons in the future. for protecting lives and property of people in the territory of japan, it is possible to respond to the situation with the use of a weapon. the ai software also found evidence of another balloon off the coast of taiwan. the taiwanese government

says it believed this was a weather balloon. but corey says that's unlikely. so i suspect, just based on the diameter of the balloon and the fact that the operating altitudes look similar, that looks an awful lot like the balloon that flew over the united states, overjapan. the chinese embassy say they respect all countries sovereignty and territorial integrity. but former us intelligence officials say they believe china may be using balloons to intercept communications. if you're trying to pick up cell phone transmissions or understand communication patterns, then i could theoretically see where the balloon could be a useful platform for that. countries spy on each other all the time. but the very public nature of china's balloon flights has drawn new attention on the potential scale and ambition of china's surveillance programme. gordon corera, bbc news. in other news: a judge in the american state

of colorado has sentenced a twenty—three—year—old to life in prison without parole, for shooting dead five people in a gay nightclub last november. anderson lee aldrich pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in relation to the shooting in colorado springs. sudan's rsf paramilitary commander, general mohamed hamdan dagalo, better known as hemedti, announced on monday a unilateral truce during muslim celebration of eid al adha. in an audio recording aired on al arabiya tv he said that the truce will be effective on tuesday and wednesday. hollywood actors ryan reynolds and rob mcelhenney have already attracted worldwide attention for their work beyond tv and movies. they grabbed headlines when they bought the welsh football club wrexham in 2020. now they're expanding their sports portfolio to include a stake in a formula 1 team. sarah mulkerrins from the bbc sports centre has more. the hollywood duo who

transformed the welsh football club wrexham after the takeover in 2020 are expanding their sporting portfolio, they have now turned attention to formula 1, ryan reynolds and rob mcelhenney part of an investor group that had taken a 24% equity stake in the alpine team. they are currently fifth in the constructors championship this season. reynolds to other parent company of the team announcing the news today the actors are investing alongside opto capital and red bull capital partners and a collective deal thatis partners and a collective deal that is worth around 200 million euros. we know the pair were widely praised for the approach at wrexham, they attended a lot of the games, promoted the town and the club, all around the world at that time and money paid off on the pitch because the team were promoted back into the football league in april after a 15 year absence. it is interesting one of the other investors redbird have a state already in the sports group that own the

premier league side liverpool also the boston red sox team and the italian side ac milan, alpine said investment would boost the formula 1 team media profile and considering the usa is one of the key areas marked for formula 1 growth, reynolds and rob mcelhenney certainly fits that bill. returning to our top story, vladimir putin makes his first public comments after the wagner mercenary group staged an armed mutiny then abandoned it over the weekend. the rebellion on saturday was led by wagner's head, yevgeny prigozhin, ended after a deal purportedly brokered by belarusian president alexander lukashenko. putin reaffirmed his promise to allow wagner troops to either continue in the russian army or go to belarus as part of that agreement. prighozhin, who was thought to be in belarus but whose whereabouts are currently unknown, is claiming the rebellion wasn't meant to overthrow the russian government. after just one afterjust one day we had only 200 kilometres left to moscow.

we got to rostov and took it under our control, it was feasible and civilians were happy to see us. we demonstrated a masterclass on 24 demonstrated a masterclass on 2a february 22 what her should have looked like we did not aim to overthrow the existing regime, it was said many times, we turned back not to spill the blood of russian soldiers. more on that at _ blood of russian soldiers. more on that at the _ blood of russian soldiers. more on that at the top _ blood of russian soldiers. more on that at the top of— blood of russian soldiers. more on that at the top of the - blood of russian soldiers. more on that at the top of the hour. l on that at the top of the hour. thank you for watching. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. with a more active jet stream now it looks like we're going to see a more unsettled theme to our weather for this upcoming week. there will be some rain at times, followed by sunshine and showers and generally it's going to feel a lot fresher than what we've seen of late with temperatures close orjust above the seasonal norm. now, this low pressure system will be the first of many. that's going to bring a rather breezy, cloudy, wet day to the north and the west of the uk.

initially, northern ireland seeing the rain this morning and that rain will move across much of scotland, northern england, north wales and the north midlands. probably the best chance of staying dry with some hazy sunshine, although even here it'll be quite cloudy, will be across the south and the southeast. temperatures reaching highs of around 22 degrees — that is above the seasonal norm. a little bit fresh in the north and the west, but the humidity will start to increase as well. as we move through tuesday night, the rain begins to push away into the north sea. it'll leave a dry night with variable cloud, a bit of mist and murk, one or two showers. and it will feel a lot warmer and muggy as the humidity levels build, certainly across england and wales. so this is the picture for wednesday. we will have this weather front pushing into western areas gradually on wednesday. it's a cold front introducing some rain, cooler air. but ahead of it, we're in a wedge of warm and more humid air across england and wales. so variable cloud, a bit of sunshine depending on how much sunshine we get will depend on the temperatures. but it's going to be warm generally across england and wales, one or two showers

ahead of the rain band, which will be pushing into western areas. some of this could be heavy and thundery, but you'll see the temperatures coming down behind it. high teens here up to 25 degrees, though, central, southern and eastern england. then for thursday, it looks like that weather front may get stuck across the south—east of england. it could bring quite a bit of rainfall here, we think throughout the day. this other weather front will bring some enhanced showers to the north and the west of scotland, elsewhere, it's largely dry. so plenty of sunshine around on thursday, a bit of uncertainty to the position of this rain. it could be a bit further east across the near continent or a little bit further westwards. but at the moment, it looks like east anglia and the southeast could see some very much needed rainfall here. temperatures will be coming down, though. it will feel cooler and fresher across the board — high teens, low 20s. similar story for friday and the weekend, it stays u nsettled. most of the rain in the north and the west. a better chance of staying dry with some sunshine in the south.

china gears up to host business china gears up to host business and political leaders as it and political leaders as it looks to boost investment in looks to boost investment in the the country and the first ever olympic esports week wrapped up in singapore. but it didn't feature the usual games fans might recognise.