hello. i'm sumi somaskanda. we start in ukraine — where russia continues its violent bombardment, despite its own domestic if people screaming as rescuers tried to reach them underneath the rubble. that witness of belgian freelance journalist also estimated that up to 80 staff lives and customers were in the restaurant at the time of the strike and said he fears the casualty numbers could be severe. strikes come after a weekend of instability in russia where the wagon a mercenary group merely states rebelling against leadership of

president vladimir putin. that music came to a halt when yevgeny prigozhin told his troops to stand outjust hundreds of kilometres away from moscow. his whereabouts were unknown until today. he was flown to the capital minsk where he has started his exile. he discussed his interactions was speaking earlier. fiur he discussed his interactions was speaking earlier. our first relatives lost _ was speaking earlier. our first relatives lost in _ was speaking earlier. our first relatives lost in 30 _ was speaking earlier. our first relatives lost in 30 minutes i relatives lost in 30 minutes and we talked mostly swear words. mostly only swear words. later it occurred to me that there were ten times more swear words the normal words. he says, i'm not asking for a lot, let them hang them over. i also need to meet putin. no more ever had him over. you know putin as well as i do. the strength of vladimir putin's grip on power has now been cast in doubt. earlier today, he addressed the nation's military,

telling them they had stopped a civil war following the aborted wagner rebellion, and insisted his rule was not weakened. putin also claimed today that wagner was wholly funded by the russian federal budget. he said in the past year alone — since the assault on ukraine — moscow had paid the wagner group around i billion dollars in salaries. the us treasury department announced sanctions on four companies and one person who had deals with the wagner group, saying they exploit insecurity around the world. prigozhin was previously sanctioned by the us, eu, canada, and the uk. 0ur mayenijones has more from kyiv. this week's failed mutiny in russia has certainly been a morale boost for ukraine. president zelenskyy said that it exposes the chaos at the heart of mr putin's administration and shows that he's a lot weaker than the world thought that he was. it's also been an opportunity for mr zelenskyy to reach out to nato allies and remind them that

ukraine is the first line of defence if there were to be any chaos in russia. this has resulted in more aid coming from australia and the us towards ukraine and really is an effort by nato to show that it's fully backing ukraine at a time when it's trying to recapture territory in the east and the south of the country. how well that's going, president zelenskyy says his troops are advancing or all fronts but his deputy defence minister released a statement today saying her troops were also focused on the city of bakhmut which was the centre of fierce fighting between ukrainian and russian forces earlier this year. it became incredibly symbolic because it made wagner troops said it captured the city and mr prigozhin used that to emphasise that waghorn was central to russia's so—called special military operation. if ukrainian forces are successful in recapturing bakhmut, it would be a further blow to president putin at a time when he is looking weaker than the

world thought he was. i spoke to lieutenant colonel alexander vindman earlier, who served on the us national security council, and is currently in kyiv. thank you again for joining us on bbc news. you are in kyiv. what has been the reaction there in ukraine to developments in russia? i think a lot of people continue to scratch their heads, frankly, as they do in western capitals in places around the world where people have been monitoring this war to understand what unfolded. i mean, the president for a 24—hour insurrection, a short—lived coup in russia is pretty thin. so people are trying to understand what the implications, quite frankly, what happened, and what the implications are long—term. what about ukraine itself? what does ukraine need to do to capitalise on the instability we have seen in russia? are you getting the sense that there is a change of strategy there in kyiv? i don't think there was

necessarily a change in strategy, i think to the ukrainians were quite close to the matter, they certainly understood the dysfunction of this war. they had been watching this fued between wagner, which has tens of thousands of troops, and one of the most formidable military units that the russian federation fielded and, frankly, gave quite a pounding to the ukrainians around the city of bakhmut, even though the ukrainians inflicted heavier casualties the russians and wagner were able to seize it. they have been watching this viewed slowly boil over and the fact that vladimir putin, who could have at any moment put a stop to this, he could have said, "i pay your bills, prigozhin, i don't want to hear anything from you, subordinate yourself. prigozhin would have bent his knee. he did not do that. i think there was an

expectation as we come to a flashpoint and in a lot of ways i think they are ready to seize the next initiative. i want to ask you about something happening on the battlefield. according to the uk, ukraine is likely to have recaptured some russian land that had been occupied since 2014. at the same time, the bbc spoke to ukrainian president zelensky last week and he said the counteroffensive is not going as quickly as they had hoped. what do you think is actually happening? i think there was a little bit more nuanced what he said it did not go as quickly as they would have hoped, but at the same time he did, because everybody tends to be a little bit of an optimist and tends to have overinflated estimates of how well they will do, but he also, as leader of his country, and a country that has been at war for almost a year and a half, recognises how difficult these things were and he also counselled him not to think of this as days, but in terms of weeks and months. so, yes, he kind of suppressed

the extremely high expectations, but he also said that ukraine is going to win. for me that resonates. for me it is quite clear that the ukrainians will actually come over the course of the summer, my expectation has consistently been that over the course of the summer they will liberate swathes of territory. right now what we are seeing is almost a war of attrition, where the russians are being ground down by ukrainian advances. there were reporting today that russian struck kramatorsk and other areas, how do you expect russia to move forward with that? it has been a many months long terror campaign. when russia can't succeed on the battlefield they shift to terrorising the population. is there a military benefit to it? not really. they were not successful in destroying ukraine's critical infrastructure and freezing the population out, they haven't been

successful in forcing any kind of capitulation. so this is mainly just lashing out. russia does not have much in the way of additional resources . i would also like to ask you about something you tweeted out today about the role that the belarusian leader has been playing. what do you think has actually changed in the power dynamic between these two men? in a fundamental way i think putin has lost some of his lustre, some of his strongman mystique. he is still pretty firmly in charge. i think he has some doubts in his own mind about how reliable the military is, how reliable the population is,

he was firsthand, what happend, how warmly wagner was welcomed. he is not a man he was a week ago, has definitely lost that lustre and i think he is weaker and he is weaker in the eyes of strongmen that expect, have a particular kind of expectation for behaviour. you don't allow things to boil over, that results in an insurrection. final question, what are the global indications of all of this? do you think, for example, the instability in russia could have consequences for china's relationship with russia? i think there are some indications that already might be true. china has enormous footprints around the world. the ambassador to the uk came out and, you know, advanced the notion that china supports the territorial integrity of ukraine. i think he fact is that russia looks weak. russia has not delivered on this quick lightning war that putin promised to xi early on in the days before the war unfolded.

this war has had costs for china in terms of stability and trade and inflation and things like that. and the chinese are not looking to back a loser. so the weaker that putin looks, the weaker that russia looks, i think the more definitive china is likely to be with regards to supporting ukraine and pressing china to potentially negotiate. lieutenant colonel alexander vindman thank you so much forjoining us. thank you. in other news. an area of tropical forest the size of switzerland was lost last year, according to new data. in that time, the tropics lost 10 percent more rainforest than 2021. this increased deforestation comes just a year after global leaders vowed to halt and reverse forest loss. five cases of malaria have been detected in the us states of florida and texas. it's the first time the disease has been locally spread in the us in 20 years, according to the ceners for disease

control and prevention. but the health agency says the risk of contracting malaria in the us still remains low, as most cases are contracted by people traveling outside the country. a report by the usjustice department has found signficiant misconduct by federal prison staff contributed to the suicide of the high—profile sex offender, jeffrey epstein. it said thirteen staff were complicit in failing to check on epstein in the hours before he was found hanging in his cell in new york. the report found systemic failures, including severe understaffing and lax maintennce of surveillance cameras. brazil's former president, jair bolsonaro, has gone on trial. he's accused of abusing his power and spreading false information about the voting system. if found guilty — the supreme electoral court could ban the ex—president from running for office for eight years. the charges revolve around a speech he gave last year while he was still president. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

a shoplifting spree in peterborough city centre in a store targeted virtually every day — this time it's toiletries, but what they steal isn't limited. we toiletries, but what they steal isn't limited.— isn't limited. we have to deal with all of— isn't limited. we have to deal with all of it _ isn't limited. we have to deal with all of it ourselves - isn't limited. we have to deal with all of it ourselves to - isn't limited. we have to deal with all of it ourselves to be i with all of it ourselves to be entirely honest because i think for us to actually call the police or anything like that, the waiting times are pretty long so that means that one member of staff is away from the shop floor and we can't really afford that.— really afford that. the sheplifting _ really afford that. the shoplifting figures - really afford that. the shoplifting figures for| shoplifting figures for peterborough are quite staggeringft they have gone up almost 60% to more than 1,800 in the last financial year. and that works out at more than five shoplifting cases every single day. five shoplifting cases every single day-— single day. there are more olice single day. there are more police than _ single day. there are more police than ever— single day. there are more police than ever before - single day. there are more | police than ever before and single day. there are more i police than ever before and i would encourage police to go back to that beat—style policing.

you're live with bbc news. the top court in the us ruled today on election laws ahead of the 2024 presidential election. in a 6—3 decision on tuesday, the supreme court rejected the independent state legislature theory, which would have given state legislatures almost unlimited power to decide federal election rules, including the passage of voter suppression laws and the drawing of partisian districts without interference from state courts. it is a theory favored by conservatives and would have been a radical overhaul of america's election laws. the ruling comes after monday's decision that cleared the way for louisiana's congressional map drawn by republican lawmakers to be challenged, and for another majority black district to be added. that's come just weeks after the court approved the same action to be taken in the neighboring state of alabama. in the alabama ruling, also known as allen v milligan, the bench said the state's

newly enacted congressional map violated the voting rights act of 1965, which outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states. here is a portion of whatjustice ketanji brown jackson had to say when this case was first argued before the court. i understood that we looked at the history and traditions of the history and traditions of the constitution and what the framers and founders thought about and when i drilled down to that level of analysis, it became clear to me that the framers themselves adopted the equal protection clause, the 14th amendment, the 15th amendment, in a race conscious way, that they were in fact trying to ensure that people who had been discriminated against, the freedom then during the reconstruction. , were actually brought equal to everybody else in society.

to get more analysis on the wave of recent decisions, i spoke with shan wu, formerfederal prosecutor, emily birnbaum, bloomberg legal reporter and justin hansford, associate law professor at howard university. this would have given states almost unlimited power on election law. what was the judges' reasoning in their decision? they said that, you know, the state had argued that the republican lawmakers in the state had argued that the constitution basically enabled this, this sort of off the wall theory that a lot of people have taken issue with, essentially that state legislature can always override state courts. they said this right exists in the constitution and the supreme

court said that is incorrect at all, that isn't the reading of our election laws that the founders intended, so they struck it down. what did you think of the ruling, shan? i had a lot of relief, because it seems it really could have led in its extreme form tojust a wholesale rewriting of the election results. i think it is very much what some of trump's strategists were banking on — that they could overturn the original election. there is a lot you could say about what roberts was trying to do to erode the court's credibility. but there is relief. justin, did you sense that same relief? idid. one thing to keep in mind in terms. of context, this is ten years after the supreme court- essentially gutted the voting . rights act in the shelby county decision. we come out of a legislature

in north carolina _ that about six years ago - was going to have discriminated against black voters - in the voter id department with surgical precision. so this particularl legislature, trying to create a mechanism - where they would be unchecked, essentially, was a very, i very problematic notion. so many of us are really breathing a sigh - of relief, although we are keeping it in context, - and this is more so. upholding the status quo great leap forward. three justices voted against. what are they saying their descent? i think one of the concerning things is that chiefjustice roberts still leaves the door open a little bit, saying there still could be some reason to rein in the state court. and i think one thing to keep in mind with that is the default position is really that it ends up letting the supreme court decided these sorts of big issues. like in bush versus gore.

and i still see that with some alarm. you have on the descent side some of the more extreme folks that are all in favour of the idea that the state courts, state legislature should be totally unreviewable. i want to get your take on that as well of leaving the door open. did you see that in the dissent? what should we take away from that? i did see that as well. this is an ongoing battle. justin cavanagh was one - of the surprise those in favour here. many court watchers were hoping that justice barrett _ would be the fifth vote as well. - we see a break in the 6—3 divide that most of us had predicted would hold for all of these civil. rights then cases.

just as who is sometimes a swinging vote, that - is an optimistic view of it. but it is an interesting i development, and i think there is more to come. do you agree, emily? iagree. i think that we have seen that these election—related cases fall along interesting kinds of lines. but i don't think, necessarily, that we can glean, you know, that legal experts have been wrong in their predictions about the court likely overturning affirmative action or siding with the website designer who doesn't want to make webpages for gay couples. those are just a couple of the important civil rights related cases that we still haven't got decisions on and i'm not sure

if the breakdown really tells us a lot about how that will go. there is a statement from chiefjusticejohn roberts. that's where we can bring that up. he writes "the elections clause does not insulate state legislatures from the ordinary exercise of state judicial review" that is what we heard from the chiefjustice. how much do you think the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the politics of this, wait on the decision? i think it is hard to see legally, but i think you can seejustice roberts really trying to pull together the majority, because he is aware that the court's credibility has really tanked. you can see him trying by some means to try to cobble together something just to keep the status quo, rather than make it look like completely going over the precipice. yes, justin, i would ask you about some of the decisions we saw a little earlier. two critical voting rights cases in alabama and louisiana. we mentioned that before we started the interview. what precedent do you think that these cases that? do you think we could see

similar rulings other states? you know, i also am cautious. in terms of these other rulings because, again, these were also rulings that avoided _ 0ur catastrophe. going back to the ruling today, upholding the principle - ofjudicial review, which, according to the opinion, predates even the constitution, starting from your side - of the pond. so these are old i principles that are being upheld, not a leap . forward per se, in anything except for our low- expectations, i suppose, from a voting rights perspective. - but i think perhaps this was a term - on the voting rights side - that was a pleasant surprise

for many will give people hope that in 2024 we will have - a more reasonable election process. i something you mention just a moment ago, shan, how important you think that cases that we have just discussed, and in terms of the court's reputation? i think they are really important. it is at such a low point right now, the reputation of the court. when you have justices saying things that we are not political hacks, making it clear that they know people may think of them that way. but also questions about the lack of a code of ethics, all the financial questions that look like conflicts of interest. i thinkjustice roberts is aware of the problems for the court. usually the chiefjustice is the gatekeeper, trying to keep things in the middle, making sure the court isn't too radical. and it is this hard situation to him. justices have made a lot of headlines in recent months. emily, this is a conservative court at the moment but they haven't always ruled

as people might have expected. what have we learned about the justices from some of these rulings? we have learnt thatjustice brett cavanagh was more of a wildcard than was expected. we have also learnt that supreme courtjustice jackson is unspoken and willing sometimes to partner with people as conservative asjustice gorsuch. we are seeing strange alliances between liberals and conservatives that are bucking some of our assumptions about what these cases might look like. the bigger stage in case we are waiting for is that on affirmative action. given some of the things we have sent you what you expect to see? i have very low expectations. one way to look at these decisions is sort of - a softening of the blow, which many of us feel. is inevitable, certainly. from affirmative action,

certainly probably with student debt as well. i most of us are holding our. breath, waiting for opinions on those two cases especially. that is the second big case. what is your take, shan? i would say on the affirmative i would say on the affirmative action we are pretty much action we are pretty much looking at a wholesale loss on that point, i think. i think what will be left after that is how employers, as schools in particular will try to manage the ruling try to manage diversity, the way it is implemented, i think this will be quite problematic. your thoughts? i think the basically most experts think that they are going to end affirmative action in higher education within the question becomes what about race neutral actions that have the effect of improving diversity at colleges and universities? they will be the most extreme version. that is what will be really looking out.

it be an exciting week, watching the scotus. shan, threejustices voted against it. emily, john, shan, thank you for your opinions. stay with us here on bbc news. that's all from us here in washington, we leave you with these live pictures of london as we hand off to our colleageus there. hello there. it looks like today will be the warmest day of the week, feeling quite humid, especially across england and wales, and it's across england and wales where we should tend to stay dry for much of the day. but there will be a band of rain pushing in across scotland and northern ireland that will continue its journey eastwards during tonight. so, we're in this wedge of warm and humid air, especially for england and wales. this cold front, though,

will be pushing rain initially into northern ireland and then into scotland as we run through the day and behind it, it'll turn brighter, but there'll be some cooler, fresher air here and the rain will tend to ease down as it pushes its way eastwards. but much of england and wales will stay rather cloudy, generally dry, bar the odd heavy shower and some glimmers of brightness here in there. but it will be warm and muggy, 22 to 25 degrees here. but the mid to high teens, further north and west where it brightens up behind the rain band. but through wednesday night, it looks like that rain band then starts to pepper up as it reaches the midlands, southern and eastern england. so send the rain may turn out to be heavy by the end of the night. and again, it'll be quite a warm, muggy night in the southeast corner, much cooler and fresher further north and west. this is the pressure chart for thursday.

there's that weather front, very slow to clear from the southeast. so, it could be quite a wet day here. of course, temperatures are lower across the board, away from the very far southeast. we're looking at 15 to 18 in the north and the west, 20 to 22 for much of england and wales. for friday, though, another set of weather fronts start to spread down across the country thanks to low pressure. so it'll tend to stay quite cloudy and damp, but more isobars on the charts, too. so a breezier day to come on friday, especially around irish sea coast across scotland and northern ireland. it's here where we'll see most of the rain, the heaviest of the rain. but we also some patchy rain pushing into western england and wales. further east that you are tending to stay dry with variable cloud, maybe some glimmers of brightness which could push temperatures up to 22 degrees. otherwise for most, it's the mid to high teens, so feeling fairly fresh for the time of year. into the weekend, low pressure continues to bring sunshine and showers mainly to the north and the west of the country. better chance of staying drier and a little bit warmer further south and east.

heyt i'm zof hey t i'm zof with the catch—up. tonight revenge law, the nicola bully case and lewis capaldi the nicola bully case and lewis ca paldi takes the nicola bully case and lewis capaldi takes a break. a report into how cricket is run in england and wales has found that racism, sexism, classism and elitism are widespread in the sport. the independent commission for equity in

cricket spoke to more than 4,000 people over two