us. let's begin in ukraine where a russian missile strike on a popular restaurant in kramatorsk left 11 dead and 60 wounded. rescue efforts are still under way as the search for survivors continue. mayenijones has more on the strike. at the moment, officials here think that the rescue operation is ongoing. we are hearing that the death toll has gone up to 11 people. this includes three children, unfortunately, including those two teenage girls that you mentioned. that is because, as andrew mentioned in his dispatch from the field, it was a restaurant that was very popular with journalists, with families, with members of the armed forces, and it was struck at a particularly busy time. now, president zelensky condemned the attack. he has also, over the past few days, reached out to nato members about the need for more equipment.

i suspect one thing that might become a new point of conversation following this latest attack is the need for further air defences. one of the reasons why casualty figures have been so low in recent months in ukraine is that a lot of cities have received much stronger air defence systems from nato donations, from donations from other western countries, that's really helped reduce the civilian toll caused by air strikes. but as the latest strike has shown, it's not foolproof, it's not — it doesn't always stop all of the missiles. that is partly because in this instance, these iskander missiles were very hard to intercept by air defence systems, and ukrainian authorities are saying they're not foolproof, they're encouraging people to listen to air raids, alarms, go to shelters, and not ignore them. now, that's very difficult in a place like donetsk where you regularly hear alarms and people need to get on with their live, but i think this latest incident

will have scared a lot of people here. the wall streetjournal is reporting that two russian military chiefs were targets of a foiled plot by wagner group leader yevgeny prigozhin during his attempted mutiny last weekend. the wagner group's leader originally planned to capture russia's defense minister, sergei shoigu, and valery gerasimov, the chief of russia's general staff, during a visit to a southern region that borders ukraine. according to western officials, prigozhin plans were foiled after russia's intelligence agency learned of the plot two days before, forcing prigozhin to improvise and move early with his mutiny plans. russia has relied heavily on wagner mercenaries in its war in ukraine since 2014 when the group supported pro—russian separatist forces in eastern ukraine. but wagner's notoriety stretches well beyond europe and into the middle east and africa where it promotes russian interests through a combination of influence and violence. the wagner group worked in africa for almost a decade, providing security services in the central african republic, mali, sudan and libya.

on monday, russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov, was quick to clarify that the attempted mutiny wouldn't impact the group's activities on the continent. translation: in the conditions when they were left face - to face with the bandits, they contacted wagner pmc with a request to ensure the safety of their authorities. in addition to relations with this pmc, the governments of the central african republic and mali have official contacts with our leadership. at their request, several hundred military personnel are working in the car as instructors. this will continue. earlier, i spoke to john lechner, an author and journalist reporting from the central african region. he has an upcoming book on the wagner group. it is good to see you. thank you forjoining us. i want to start with mali, we got the news the un's peacekeeping mission is set to end onjune 30. is wagner in a position there to combat militants, together with mali's army,

especially if you look at the fact that its leader, yevgeny prigozhin, and some fighters, are in belarus. thank you for having me. it's a difficult question to answer right now. i think for wagner and mali itself, they've been having a difficult time combatting the various jihadi groups in mali. but at the same time, i'm not sure that their mission necessarily was to retake control of territory from these jihadi groups. at the same time, i think their most important role was actually to protect the malian government and bamako. at at least for that mission, they're still succeeding. although the current events in moscow are certainly causing quite a bit of worry, i would say, in mali, at the moment, both within the malian government and probably quite a bit of confusion among

wagner themselves. so, what is exactly wagner's mission in mali? i would say that the most important — probably mission for wagner group in mali at the moment would be the protection of the regime. and to have a partner that can help the malian military get to places that it wasn't necessarily able to go. to think that 2,000 contractors, though, would be able to just retake the vast swathes of territory from these jihadi groups, i don't think that that necessarily was in the minds of the malian military at the time. so, as we mentioned, wagner has built a significant presence in sudan, also, the central african republic, libya. why is the wagner group in africa? i think for a number of reasons. i think, first and foremost, we have to remember that as a profit—driven organisation as well, any company that provides security protection

or private military company services has to be in africa. this is the largest market, probably, for any type of pmcs, wagner included. and so i think, first and foremost, we have to remember that mercenary and pmcs in general, they're a symptom of conflict, a symptom of the illness, but not necessarily the illness itself. so they will chase conflicts where they see it, because that's the best place to offer their services. as another aside, they're able to frame the services that they offer within, i would say, the kremlin�*s preferred foreign policy narrative, which is that russia is a great power returning to the world stage. you said the wagner group, essentially, is able to chase conflicts in what is a lucrative region for them, but how does this really serve the kremlin�*s interests? well, i think contractors are useful for a number of governments. the united states included. for africa, we see that a lot of national governments

would rather put contractors on the ground than their actual troops. there's a number of reasons for that. unfortunately, the first and foremost is that the continent is not a national security priority for most major governments. and its public too do not like to see the loss of soldiers themselves. so any government that wants to have a footprint will probably not want to report troop losses to a public. so contractors are particularly useful in this regard. what happens next with prigozhin in exile? it's a great question. i wish i knew the answer to that tonight. it would certainly help me writing my book. but i think the answer is probably prigozhin himself is also unaware exactly where this is all going to go. i think what we're looking for right now is to what extent we're going to see any type of management change

within africa, we've had lavrov of course say that there's going to be continuity. to what extent the russian government will try and take control of those operations, whether it's through personnel changes on the ground, or sending minders to watch after wagner, or other methods of leverage, it's still a little bit too early to tell. what about his position at the moment? how many fighters he still has with him. i mean, the russian government essentially said that wagnerfighters could go to belarus. so, do you think we could still see prigozhin move against putin again? i think that that's unlikely. i think that what we saw over the weekend was much more an appeal to authority, albeit in a very dramatic and naked show of force, but, nonetheless, not — not necessarily a coup. i don't think that prigozhin was trying to oust putin. i think that he was trying to show his own importance and dangerousness

to putin in order to oust his internal rivals, as your team has stated earlier, shoigu and gerasimov. i think events somewhat got out of control and ahead of even what prigozhin himself was expecting. and i'm not sure that either he or his — those who serve under him would be up necessarily for another go at it from belarus. john lechner, thank you so much for speaking with us tonight. thanks for having me. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. voiceover: bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. it was one of the falklands war�*s bloodiest days. the bombing of the circle had. 56 men were killed, 32 of them welsh guards. survivors and bereaved family members gathered in westminster to call for the full release of documents surrounding the attack. a, documents surrounding the attack. �* ., ., , documents surrounding the attack. ., ., , ., attack. a lot of people have blamed the _ attack. a lot of people have blamed the welsh - attack. a lot of people have blamed the welsh guards. l

attack. a lot of people have i blamed the welsh guards. we want — blamed the welsh guards. we want the — blamed the welsh guards. we want the enquiry opened. katie lost her father, _ want the enquiry opened. katie lost her father, mark. - want the enquiry opened. katie lost her father, mark. we - want the enquiry opened. katie lost her father, mark. we needj lost her father, mark. we need to see what — lost her father, mark. we need to see what actually _ lost her father, mark. we need to see what actually happened | to see what actually happened that day, and why is it still 41 years _ that day, and why is it still 41 years later from us? an investigation _ 41 years later from us? in investigation into what happened was held in 1982, but the redacted parts of the enquiry will not be published until 2065. the uk government is as confident in the findings and recommendations of the 1982 enquiry. voiceover: for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're watching bbc news. here in the us, president biden has been hitting the road to make the case for his economic policies. during a major policy speech in chicago on wednesday, mr biden touted what he's calling �*bidenomics.’ he also stressed his administration's economic successes, arguing he deserves more credit

for his handling of the economy. it's part of a three—week push by his team to win over voters, who are struggling with high inflation and rising interest rates. here's some of what the president had to say about his policies. bidenomics is working! when i took office, the pandemic was raging and our economy was reeling. supply chains were broken, millions of people unemployed, hundreds of thousands of small businesses on the verge of closing after so many had already closed. literally hundreds of thousands on the verge of closing. today, us has the highest economic growth rate leading the world economies since the pandemic. the highest in the world. applause shortly after that speech, my colleague helena humphrey spoke with congresswoman haley stevens, a democratic representative from the state of michigan. the president's speech was all about touting his achievements of what others and the president himself have now called bidenomics. if you look at recent polling,

though, 57% of people disapprove of president biden�*s handling of the economy. if you compare that to 38% of people who approve of biden�*s handling of the economy. why do you think that voters feel this way? well, look, it's that point in what is soon to be the heat of a presidential election cycle, where people are paying attention in different ways. one thing we know here in michigan is that we have some of the lowest unemployment we have ever had in this state. the city of detroit, and the city of detroit as its lowest unemployment since the 19705, so it's absolutely remarkable and, sure, we can credit this to president biden�*s leadership and his investment, he's shepherding obvious country

through the passage a bipartisan infrastructure bill that's fixing our roads, modernising our systems, and we can also look at, now we're actually competing with china in real time and at real scale, investing electric vehicle battery manufacturing production, investing in chips and chip manufacture. but what else would you like to see the president do to actually get through to all voters? well, what he's doing today in this three—week tour, and i love that he kicked it off in the midwest, i love that he's getting out on the road, and i also think it's going to be talking to everyday americans. we've got to break through. think about how many people were at that speech. how many people listened to what was said at that speech, hearing his passion. that's what he needs to do, is go and talk to people, and he is doing just that and it's going to work. you mentioned china. you are on the select committee

for competitiveness with china, the new york times reporting that the biden administration may impose greater restriction on china's ability to build high—end chips that power ai. how should they handle this? we've got to look at where we are strong in technology investments from the university level to the private sector. we've obviously seen some amazing contributions made from microsoft, with mr sam altmann�*s company, and in innovations, which is now chatgpt, but we know there are global indicators that show china is leading in 27 out of 34 critical technology areas. 5g is a great example of how we fell behind. i'm here in the automotive capital of the united states in america, in michigan, we are racing to catch up on electric vehicles, racing to catch up on chips. how do we not fall behind on quantum and ai in particular? we've got to do autonomous

vehicle technology. on that point, the president has been touting the chips act which includes billions of dollars investment into us technology into manufacturing. it will likely take some time before we see the chips act pay—off, like after 2024. will that be too late? i don't think so because you are hearing of the investments coming in, you are hearing about other positive situations, for example, investments from arizona, i don't think so because you are hearing of the investments coming in, you are hearing about other positive situations, for example, investments from arizona, and the congress secretary said, you are right, from 2030, we will see from the design to production and shipment of chips, the only country of the world that has that full suite of activities but you are hearing about those investments today. it's turning heads, it's pleasing our supply chain

and its meeting the manufacturing charge of what we need to do to succeed. i want to turn to ukraine because of course you will have seen those ramped up attacks on civilian targets by russia, still managing to break through. is more us support needed so that ukraine can continue to defend civilian areas? i agree with president biden that we are going to continue to support our democratic ally in ukraine and make sure they have what they need to push back on this evil and malicious and illegal war that was started by russia. the attack on the restaurant. it is weak man activities, putin's classic playbook. he deals with his own up riding, uprising from the wagner group and attacks innocent people dining out in ukraine and it's not acceptable that it's taken

place in the united states will continue to invest in support. we must. your constituent is paul whelan, the former marine in a russian prison right now. what does that tense situation mean for efforts under way to secure his release? it has been, since the beginning, an unbelievable situation with mr whelan and it was lawlessness and frankly an example of what we call canary in the coal mine of what mr putin was going to partake in at the global stage with illegal activities. as we knew that this war was going to start and when it started, the concern for paul's well being increased, and he does still have counsellor access but it is very touchy, the leverage points that we have to see him return home.

there is something about his profile and the fact that he is a former marine, that has just left him stuck in this russian prison for far too long but as is brother david recently said, we believe and we know we're not going to give up hope that he will come home, i am working day in and day out and i was so pleased to see every democrat, every republican support unanimously a resolution in the congress, calling on the russian federation to release him, calling out the russian federation for their illegal kidnapping and imprisonment of mr whelan. earlier, i spoke to margaret talev from axios about the prospects for biden�*s economic agenda. thank you forjoining us, president biden�*s team said the speech was an opportunity for him to explain his economic

policies but lay out his economic mission? what is that vision? , . , economic mission? what is that vision? , �* ., ., vision? the phrase bidenomics resident vision? the phrase bidenomics president biden _ vision? the phrase bidenomics president biden did _ vision? the phrase bidenomics president biden did not - vision? the phrase bidenomics president biden did not invent| president biden did not invent it, it was coined first by the wall streetjournal used it, he wall street journal used it, he has wall streetjournal used it, he has had two choices over these months, one is to distance himself from people's perceptions, bad perceptions about the economy and the other one is to try to seize on positive numbers, abrasive and find himself in the economy together as a success, that is what this is an effort to do, what this is an effort to do, what does bidenomics mean, joe biden says it means job creation, it means ideas like cheaper prescription drugs, it is a repudiation of reaganomics the idea of low taxes and most importantly, the administration would define bidenomics is the idea, targeted government investment in very specific things, like renewable energy,

like microchip manufacturing, and like structure spending, those are going to be ways to make the american economy robust and higher the working class. some of the voters who went towards donald trump over the last few years. whether americans are going to bite, thatis americans are going to bite, that is to be determined? you touched on — that is to be determined? you touched on the _ that is to be determined? you touched on the negative perception, this is the conundrum for biden, inflation is coming downjob numbers are strong and the economy is growing but only 40 —— 34% of americans approve of his handling of the economy according to the latest associated press. his highest economic advisor spoke about it today? at economic advisor spoke about it toda ? �* ., ., economic advisor spoke about it toda 7�* ., ., , , economic advisor spoke about it toda? ., ., , today? a lot of it depends on how ou today? a lot of it depends on how you ask _ today? a lot of it depends on how you ask the _ today? a lot of it depends on how you ask the question, i today? a lot of it depends on how you ask the question, if| how you ask the question, if you ask broad questions, one of the problems you find these days as you immediately tap into a deep well of partisanship. bidenomics is about getting things that are

pretty grain overdone, building the economy from the bottom up and middle out in a way that resonates strongly with people. does it actually resonate with people, margaret? you does it actually resonate with people, margaret?— people, margaret? you are askin: people, margaret? you are asking a — people, margaret? you are asking a great _ people, margaret? you are asking a great question, i people, margaret? you are| asking a great question, the quiz —— the challenge for biden and his advisers that people who listen to npr are probably already supportive of biden. i heard on fox news i watched to see how they treating the story and the chiron across the bottom of the screen was biden cannot explain bidenomics. somewhere in the middle are the swing voters, it is true human psychology people are more likely to remember bad things longer, they will remember gas prices, the spike in inflation, but i will say this, during president obama's error republicans tried to take on with the phrase obama care to describe the affordable care act, it hurt democrats in the mid—term elections but over time affordable care act became

really popular, americans embracing, obama and the democratic party got a lot of credit for it, biden and his advisers are rightly will continue to get better and they can convince americans that is true he will want that to be associated.— true he will want that to be associated. let's talk about his possible _ associated. let's talk about his possible opponent - associated. let's talk about his possible opponent the l his possible opponent the former president are still the front runnerfor the former president are still the front runner for the republican nomination and still multiple investigations against him. today the head of elections for the state of georgia spoke to the state of georgia spoke to the other subject smith, trump was reported asking him to find votes in his favour after the election, many of us have heard that uncle. how significant is this given we expect an indictment to come in the next few weeks? it indictment to come in the next few weeks?— few weeks? it could be very significant. _ few weeks? it could be very significant, there _ few weeks? it could be very significant, there has - few weeks? it could be very significant, there has beenl few weeks? it could be very| significant, there has been a separate probe in georgia with prosecutors, into the election and conversations with brad raffensperger, this is the time the jack smith team has had this case and the team talking

with another election official the georgia secretary of state office suggesting smith's team is ramping up its focus on the former president's abbas to try to overturn the election results and that is separate from some of the other cases, is just a pileup of potential real legal jeopardy for the former president. real legaljeopardy for the former president.- real legaljeopardy for the former president. how does it actually victim? _ former president. how does it actually victim? we _ former president. how does it actually victim? we will- former president. how does it actually victim? we will see. i actually victim? we will see. this moves _ actually victim? we will see. this moves on _ actually victim? we will see. this moves on two _ actually victim? we will see. this moves on two tracks, i actually victim? we will see. | this moves on two tracks, the legal track and the political track. very early days but it appears in the gop primary contest, all of these added pressures are just solidifying the support, again within the republican base. the president is an american citizen, he can face serious legal consequences that can be very important, all of those republicans in the primary field are counting on the idea is like will run out at some point, these legal investigations will catch up with them, notjust republican

voters will decide the primary process they will grow sick of it and change their minds. it is unclear, when that will happen. is unclear, when that will happen-— is unclear, when that will hauen. . . . happen. margaret talev, great to talk to you, _ happen. margaret talev, great to talk to you, thank _ happen. margaret talev, great to talk to you, thank you - happen. margaret talev, great to talk to you, thank you for i to talk to you, thank you for joining us. canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season in modern history, surpassing its record for the largest area burned in a single year. there are currently 483 wildfires burning across the country with more than 250 considered to be out of control. the blazes have burned more than 20 million acres or 8.1 hectares — 21 times above the average over the last decade. the wildfires are also bringing record—breaking air pollution to the us, with air quality alerts in effect in parts of 17 states, covering nearly a third of the population. one more item for you. and four—time olympic gold medallist simone biles is set to make her return to competitive gymnastics at the 2023 us classic in august. biles has not competed since the delayed 2020 olympics in tokyo in 2021.

she withdrew from five of her six finals in tokyo over mental health and safety concerns. it is not yet known if biles will compete at next year's olympics in paris. the us classic is a warm—up event to the national championships. that's all from us here in washington. we leave you with these live pictures of london as we hand off to our colleagues there. they will have more at the top of the hour. thank you for watching. hello there. much of the country, particularly england and wales, was very warm and muggy on wednesday, but a band of rain pushing in off the atlantic has introduced much fresher air. and for thursday, most of us will be in that cooler, fresher air mass, but it will be bright with sunny spells and scattered showers. there's that rain band, then slow to clear from the southeast through this morning. so it'll start off rather grey, cloudy with further outbreaks of rain, free standing

in the southeast, eventually clearing away as we reach lunchtime and that willjoin in to the bright skies that most of the country will start the day with. into the afternoon, a bit of cloud bubbling up, allowing one or two showers. most of these will be across the north and the west of scotland. they'll be more of a breeze here, too, but it'll be a cooler day across the board, 15 to 21 or 22 degrees across the south and feel noticeably fresher across southern areas. then as we move through thursday night and the clear skies, temperatures fall away, but we'll see further cloud and showers across northern and western scotland and thicker cloud pushing into northern ireland later on. but a cooler night to come out of towns and cities will be in single digits. so this is the picture then for friday, we start off dry across eastern areas, but this next low pressure system and its weather fronts will continue to push into northern and western areas through the day. so a nice, bright but cool start to central and eastern parts of the country. soon the clouds will tend to build in and spread to all areas and it turns wetter for scotland, northern ireland. then some rain getting into northern and western england and wales, but tending to stay dry across eastern england until after dark. mostly cloudy though, limited brightness temperatures

again mid to high teens in the north, high teens low 20s in the south. that rain band clears right across the country during the course of friday night. the rain clears in the southeast, saturday morning, and then its bright but breezy. plenty of sunshine, low pressure sitting to the north of scotland will bring windy weather to scotland with showers or longer spells of rain here and again, temperatures around orjust below the seasonal norm. but we could be up to 23 or 24 in the southeast with a lot of sunshine here. sunday, low pressure shifting to the north of the uk again stays windy across scotland with outbreaks of rain or showers. some of these heavy in the west of scotland, fewer showers the further south that you are on some areas in the southeast staying completely dry with sunny spells, but quite a noticeable breeze. and again, temperatures will range from around 15 to 22 celsius.

a committee that monitors the ta committee greenhouse gas ta committee that 1house gas government's action on climate ta committee that monitors s ta committee that monitors the government's action on climate change says the uk is no longer change says the uk is no longer a world leader on climate a world leader on climate issues. in 2019 the uk set a issues. in 2019 the uk set a target to cut greenhouse gas target to cut greenhouse gas

emissions to net zero x 2050, emissions to net zero x 2050, meaning it would no longer add any additional greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.