hello i'm helena humphrey. donald trump has told republicans in iowa that he's the only candidate who can win next year's election, despite facing a raft of criminal and civil charges. speaking at a state party dinner, trump insisted he will still run for the white house even if he's convicted. federal prosecutors widened their criminal investigation into the former president over his handling of government documents after leaving office this week, but he still remains the frontrunner for the republican nomination. a dozen candidates trailing mr trump also took to the stage in iowa, which votes first in the primary contest for the republican nomination next year. that includes trump's closest rival in the polls, florida governor ron desantis. our north america editor sarah smith filed this report from iowa.

there are about 1200 republican supporters in this ballroom, listening to all the different republican candidates, trying to decide who they should report for the republican nomination. of course the note was dominated by one man, and of course that one man was donald trump. this is the first speech he has given since the new criminal charges were unveiled against him. he's a man whose legal problems just keep piling up and up and never seem to stop but he won't let that deter him, and he didn't tonight. this was not the best speech he has ever given, he was rushing through his script trying to stick to the time limit but nonetheless he still grabbed everybody�*s attention and did what he always does best, made it all about him. that's what all these other candidates are up against, what they are trying to compete with, one of the lesser—known candidates, former congressmen well heard, he dared to say the only reason donald trump is running for president is to try and stay out of prison and he

almost got booed off the stage for that. almost got booed off the stage forthat. ron almost got booed off the stage for that. ron desantis, almost got booed off the stage forthat. ron desantis, he almost got booed off the stage for that. ron desantis, he got a very enthusiastic reception, and he approached the whole issue very differently, he did not say his name but he did say that if he is elected president he would and the weaponisation of the federal government and fire the director of the fbi, that's his way of saying to trump supporters, i agree with you that the charges against donald trump are politically motivated, but i'm still the guy that you should elect to put in charge of all of this, but when he is aiming to make that case, it still means this race is all about donald trump, who is still very clearly the front runner in the polls and very much the man that all the other republican candidates have to try and beat. for more on what ron desantis is doing in iowa, my colleague carl nasman spoke earlier with cbs news�* ed 0'keefe who interviewed him ahead of the dinner. ed 0'keefe, thank you so much forjoining us. i just want to start with these latest charges that were unveiled against former president donald trump.

how has his campaign responded today? they've essentially brushed it off and said that, you know, this continues to be part of what they call a witch hunt, politically motivated work by the biden administration and prosecutors that they question and don't believe that it will have any real detrimental effect on their standing politically. he made clear in a radio interview on friday that despite all of this, he intends to continue running for office, that there's nothing in the constitution that stops him from doing so. and he's right about that. and look, despite the legal issues, he enjoys high double digit leads over the rest of the field. right now here in iowa, it's somewhere between 30 to a0 points. in national surveys it can be as much as 30 or a0 points as well, and nobody yet has been able to really catch him. 12 of president trump's rivals are there tonight in a while. what have we heard from them? have they been speaking out?

well, not only are they here, but the former president is scheduled to be here as well. you ask most of these guys, what do they make of what's going on with the president? and they don't directly criticise him. they take on instead the federal prosecutors who are looking into this or they question the motives of the justice department more broadly, say that the weaponisation of government, as they call it, needs to end. we pressed, for example, the florida governor, ron desantis, who right now sits in second place, although, like i said, double digits behind the former president. and he says, look, i'm not a prosecutor. i don't understand the legal manifestations of all of this. i'm just going to continue running my race and expressing the disagreements i have with mr trump on immigration, border security, government spending, how the pandemic was handled. and i'll leave the other stuff up to voters to decide. and i want to ask you about your recent interview with donald trump's top rival, florida governor ron desantis. does all of this legal stuff he's facing disqualify him, though, in your view? at the end of the day, voters make that decision. some people ask me like, well,

if somebody is indicted, should they be able to run? the problem is we've seen political indictments. i mean, i think brad was political. you have these other these people. so that would just give any prosecutor the ability to to render someone ineligible. so i've not said that. but i also thinkjust at the end of the day, the election�*s got to be about the future. it's got to be about what people are concerned about. and the more it's about other things, the more biden is able to hang out in the basement again and end up cruising to a victory. and i know republicans don't want that to happen. what did you make of the governor's response? well, it's an example of of how they're trying to work around direct criticism of the former president. he said, look, it's up to the voters to decide whether this is something that disqualifies him. he himself won't go that far. some of his other lesser known opponents have, and they're not doing as well in the polls. but what he also says repeatedly when asked about trump is the country republican voters in this primary want to think about the future, need to be focused on that.

and how can the gop find a way to defeat president biden? because if the party gets mired in the legal troubles of the former president again, then, as desantis says, the current president, joe biden, will be able to run again from his basement in delaware, as he did during the pandemic, and get away with a lot of things he says. let's focus instead on defeating the current president. i'm the better option for that and not necessarily the former president. but at this point, his standing continues to slip. the florida governor this week had to trim his sails, cut. about 38 staffers, travel with a far smaller footprint than he had before because of concerns that he's spending too much money too quickly and may not have enough to even survive into the fall. you've been watching him in iowa. he spent a lot of time there, much more time than the former president, donald trump. has he been able to get any traction? you mentioned those poll numbers, but what have you seen in terms ofjust the one—on—one interactions with florida governor ron

desantis and iowa voters? well, it's still very early. so, you know, what's happening injuly isn't necessarily indicative of what will be happening injanuary. and just like in a long season of football, american or otherwise, you don't want to peak six months before the championship. you want to be doing better when it comes to the playoff season, and we're not there yet by any means. he, though, has seen his support slip since he launched his campaign in may, and others are beginning to rise in the polls amid concerns about whether desantis can connect with voters here, whether his policies are correct. and he's demonstrated no ability to cut into trump's lead. trump doesn't have to campaign anywhere across the country right now that often because he has been able to sustain his support again by double digits, doing very little work. maybe that's just name id. maybe it's that most republicans aren't paying attention to the alternatives right now. but either way, he doesn't have to do much to maintain that lead. there are some black republicans criticising desantis new education reforms made in florida when it comes to slavery.

how is ron desantis handling those critiques from members of his own party? by doubling down on what the florida education commission has approved, and it's a 21 page set of standards for students from kindergarten through the end of high school and how african american history should be taught. it mentions within it that when it comes to slavery, perhaps there has to be a mention of the benefits that enslaved people may have had after they learned certain skills and once they were freed. it's that language there that's been so criticised by members of both parties, but notably now in the last several days by republicans who are black. tim scott, his opponent, who is the only black republican senator from south carolina, and three black republican congressmen from michigan, texas and florida who all support donald trump, saying that desantis needs to retract his defence of this, needs to understand that there is nothing about slavery that was beneficial.

or, as tim scott said, there's no silver lining when it comes to slavery. desantis continued to say, they don't understand what we did. i'm defending what florida has decided to do, and he's standing by that position. whether that's sustainable in the coming days, we'll see. but it is drawn unexpected and some campaign aides would say unwanted attention to something that was done as a result of legislation that's been passed with desantis support in recent years to strip away or neuter lessons about diversity, ethnicity, inclusion and racial history across the state of florida. ed 0'keefe, cbs news senior white house and political correspondent there in iowa for us. thank you so much. take care. the nation of niger is grappling with the ramifications of a military coup. niger's democratically elected president mohamed bazoum was overthrown as part of the coup and detained. bazoum was first elected to office in april 2021 in niger's first peaceful

democratic transfer of power. on friday, general abdourahamanay t—chiani, who also goes by 0mar t—chiani appeared on state television, announcing himself as the country's new ruler. he urged the population to remain calm. have a listen. translation: the action of the sea nsb has motivated by this old desire to conserve our beloved homeland in the face of the continuous deterioration of the continuous deterioration of the security situation of our country. the foreign authorities have failed to give authorities have failed to give a real solution to the crisis and have provided poor economic and have provided poor economic and social governance. us secretary of state antony blinken spoke to niger's president bazoum in a phone call, saying the us would work to ensure the full restoration of constitutional order, and offering him, quote, "unflagging" us support. earlier, white house national security spokesman john kirby had this

to say on friday. what, we have watched this with deep concern peter, we certainly condemn any effort to detain or to subvert the functioning of niger's democratically elected government. we would advise all americans in niger to be careful about where they are and what they are doing. our bbc correspondent chris ewokor has been following the developments from niger's neighboring country of nigeria. the coup has been condemned by both the regional and international community, although it's gotten the support and backing of the wider military hierarchy in niger, as well as some of the citizens who had come out to demonstrate and show their support for the action of the soldiers. niger, a landlocked country rich in uranium but one of the poorest in the world, has joined three other

countries that have been under military rule to become the fourth country in the west african subregion under military rule. the regional bloc will now be working to see how it can negotiate a quick transition to military rule. at the moment we are about of president bazoum is not known. he is believed to be detained by the military in the presidential palace and there are indications he would be forced to sign a resignation that we effectively hand over the government of niger to the hands of the military. niger is used as a hub in the fight againstjihadist extremism, but there are now indications that the coup risk affecting the fight againstjihadist extremism and collaboration of western allies, especially france and us, which have their bases in the country.

chris ewokor, bbc news, abuja, nigeria. the russia—africa summit in st petersburg concluded with african leaders pressing russian president vladimir putin to end the war in ukraine and restore the grain deal that ended just over a week ago. some also called for an end to the war in ukraine. the bbc�*sjewel kiriungi has been following the summit from nairobi. russian president vladimir putin has today said that he's carefully studying a peace deal that was shared by african countries in order to end the war in ukraine. just last month, a delegation of african leaders led by president cyril ramaphosa of south africa offered to mediate in the conflict between russia and ukraine. in st petersburg today, the leaders called for a renewal of the grain deal that allows the safe passage of ukrainian grain through its ports in the black sea. now, with this deal not in place, these leaders say that prices of wheat have gone up and this is having an effect on other commodities, threatening the food security

in the region. putin also today announced his country will be allocating more than $90 million in funds to ease the debt burden which most countries in africa are currently facing. he says that he wants to grow trade and economic ties, which are currently relatively low between russia and africa. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky posted this video to social media, saying a multi—storey residential building and a security service building was struck in the central city of dnipro friday. he blames russian missiles for the attack. earlier, moscow released this footage of damaged buildings in southern russia, saying it shot down two ukrainian missiles close to its border. well, ukraine's counteroffensive does appear to be intensifying but questions over its success still remain. our correspondentjames waterhouse is in kyiv with more. how successful this counteroffensive has been depends on who you ask. now, it is clear on this south—eastern part of the frontline that there has a major push — that ukraine is concentrating a lot

of men and machinery, and the claim this morning was that the village of staromaiorske had been liberated. the advances are relatively small — we're talking about 5km — but there are reports of heavy shelling. analysts are describing a full frontal assault towards the city of robotyne, which is further south—east of zaporizhzhia. so, it is clear that ukraine is trying to make moves. now, there are unnamed sources — unnamed us officials who see this as the start of a major thrust but ukraine, kyiv is trying to water that down a bit, saying any talk of the major push through is premature. but a push through is what ukraine needs. it needs to push through. it is hoping to, in this part of the front line, to effectively cut russia's occupied land corridor in half. what that would do is isolate tens of thousands of troops and bring crimea comfortably within its sights. and what kyiv have hopes

is that will bring moscow to the negotiating table and force a sizeable compromise, in a way. but, i've got to stress, a lot needs to happen. it's too early to say whether this is the start of something much bigger. earlier, i spoke with retired lieutenant colonel alexander vindman for his take on ukraine's counteroffensive. lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, thank you for being with us. now, after months of slow progress in ukraine's counteroffensive, it does appear that ukrainians have broken through some of those defensive lines in the south—east of the country. what do you make of what we're seeing? is it progress? i think it is. but we shouldn't overstate what we're seeing just now or underestimate how much longer this offensive is going to go. this is always going to be a months—long effort. we're only about two months into it. we still have quite a bit of summer and fall fighting season to go, and we won't know for certain what the ukrainians

have managed to accomplish. but we can say that the ukrainians have taken some hits, taken some losses, have started out slower than some analysts, some optimists have expected, but are making gains. they're plugging away. they're doing probably one of the most important things they can do — reduce russia's fighting manpower to the point where they could actually achieve some breakthroughs and manoeuvres. for this current phase that we're seeing over the past couple of days, what's been unfolding over the past 70—96 hours, we will see probably within the next two, three, four days how successful this phase of the offensive is going and i expect some gains. i think the ukrainians have definitely learned some lessons over the past couple of months. when i was there just weeks ago, talking to senior ukrainian policymakers and military personnel, they were learning, they were adapting, and i think there's going to be some gains but we should not underestimate that this is going to be wrapped up any time soon. there are still months of fighting. at the same time, we've also been seeing recently odesa

being pummelled by missile strikes, air defence systems seemingly not able to repel those kinds of attacks. what more what else do you think ukrainians need right now? well, the ukrainians are certainly contending with russia, also learning quite a bit. they're ramping up on the tactical battlefield with suicide drone attacks. they're effectively employing artillery — although their numbers are dwindling — and minefields to slow down ukraine, and they're adapting with regards to their terror campaign, figuring out ways, figuring out whether ukrainians are more vulnerable with their air defences like odesa and pummelling those sites — because this is, in part, a terror campaign that the russians are employing to try to crush the will of the ukrainians to resist and to get the ukrainians to capitulate and give up the territory that they are now fighting to liberate, give up the territory that the russians have claimed to annex.

and i think this is going to play out, really — this terror campaign is going to continue on for months. even the months beyond this counteroffensive, the russians are going to continue to terrorise the ukrainian population. so, what they need is considerably more air defences. they need layered air defences. they need the us patriots, the nasams, the various kind of systems that the uk is providing in abundance but in greater numbers, and those need to continue to flow into ukraine. eventually, they need air power to continue to provide some air cover against russian cruise missile attacks. all these things are going to be essential to help ukraine deliver victories on the battlefield and, ultimately, force the russians to the negotiating table. colonel vindman, 18 months into this war now. i want to ask you about putin's strategy here. does he have anything else in his war chest that he can commit to this war? he really has nothing new in terms of capabilities but what he can rely on is the brutality that he's experienced thus far,

or his leverage thus far to continue to punish the ukrainian population. the callousness with which he treats his own troops — they continue to mobilise tens of thousands of russian soldiers to put into the meat grinder — and, frankly, he may very well choose sometime in the fall, when he's out of resources, when he's out of military resources, to mobilise hundreds of thousands of troops like he did last fall, and that's really all he has. he's looking to buy time to see if he could exploit some fractures — what he perceives to be fractures — divisions between eastern and western europe, between western europe and the united states, and he's going to look to exploit those to see if he could actually pull victories out of the jaws of defeat. and he may very well choose to hang on through 2024, see if he gets a more favourable outcome in us elections in 2024, in european elections in 2024, and see if that's the way he actually causes a political victory, even though he can't achieve military victory on the battlefield. well, what we've seen him do most recently is extend the age

of the draft right now for troops in russia. we've also seen him apparently try to keep prigozhin closer than many might have anticipated after that attempted mutiny. what do you think that tells us? well, i think you pointed out the costs of this continued folly of russia's war against ukraine, and those are massive internal instability. we saw, really, a peek behind the curtain about the russian factionalism with prigozhin and his mutiny that, really, was quickly suppressed but it is a peek behind the curtain to see the way the factions — ultranationalist factions, are criticising putin for not doing enough. there are, in fact, moderate factions that are quite quiet because they've been suppressed that are looking for ways outside of this war, and we're going to see this kind of factionalism continue to unwind. we may very see even more dangerous events occur. i think there are areas around russia's periphery that are quite brittle. north caucasus in particular,

where there are ethnic majorities that are, right now, not exercising their national identity because they know that — for instance, chechnya doesn't want to face another chechen war — but they are there and they're looking for opportunities. and i think we're going to see some of that unwinding over the remainder of this war. and even after the post—war period, there will be a reckoning for putin for this folly of a war. all right, lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, thank you for being with us. thank you. an australian military helicopter has crashed into the sea off the country's eastern coast. a search is underway for four missing crew members in waters near the whitsunday islands, off the state of queensland. the crash has put on hold a massive military exercise happening in the area involving us marines and australian soldiers. here's the australian defence minister. the helicopter was engaging in a 2—helicopter mission. there were four aircrew aboard.

because there was another helicopter present, a search and rescue was able to commence immediately. as we speak to you now, the four aircrew are yet to be found. the search and rescue continues. now to the tale of twiglet, a 16—month—old dachshund who's been reunited with her owner after she was taken during a burglary at her home in the uk earlier this week. a member of the public got in touch after essex police released footage of the dog attempting to get away from the intruder. here's joe inwood. safely back home. young twiglet has had quite the adventure. alarm blares. it started on wednesday with what seems to have been a targeted theft. despite her attempts to get away, the thief soon makes his escape. the only thing he took was twiglet. it was horrifying.

it was — we realised quickly because the alarm had gone off, that there'd been a break—in and my husband was able to see the video pretty quickly after it had happened, so we knew almost immediately she had been taken. it was your worst nightmare. essex police released the video of twiglet being taken and, tojo�*s amazement, it was viewed thousands of times. before she got some remarkable news. ., , before she got some remarkable news. . , ., news. twiglet had been found. when my husband _ news. twiglet had been found. when my husband said - news. twiglet had been found. when my husband said that. news. twiglet had been found. when my husband said that hej when my husband said that he yeah, it was disbelief, elation, all of the emotions. there was a bit of barking when we first arrived but as you can see, twiglet seems happy enough. none the worse for wear. for her 48—hour adventure. but it has been an upsetting few days for the family. upsetting few days for the famil . , upsetting few days for the famil. , ., , family. dog theft is actually much more _ family. dog theft is actually much more widespread - family. dog theft is actually| much more widespread than family. dog theft is actually - much more widespread than we realised. it brings it home how awful it is and how four people, it is a member of the family.

people, it is a member of the famil . �* , ., people, it is a member of the famil . ~ , ., , family. as for twiglet, she seems blissfully _ family. as for twiglet, she seems blissfully unaware i family. as for twiglet, she l seems blissfully unaware of family. as for twiglet, she - seems blissfully unaware of her moment in the spotlight. her starring role in a tail with a happy ending. joe inwood, bbc news, essex. 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 colleagues there. i'm helena humphrey in washington, dc. thanks as ever for your company and see you again soon. goodbye for now. hello there. so far, this july looks like it's going to be a little bit below average for our temperatures, but a long way above average for rainfall. yes, there are some places — for example, blackpool — that have already seen 2.7 times their average july rainfall. so, it's been a lot wetter than normal and that pattern really has been repeated across most of the uk. now, the satellite picture from friday shows this curl

of cloud out towards our north—west. it's an area of low pressure and you can see the weather fronts spiralling into the centre of the low. now, over the next few hours as that low continues to move closer to the north—west of the uk so, increasingly, we'll see some heavy downpours working in, especially to northern ireland and western areas of scotland. these are the kind of temperatures you'll have as you start off the weekend — 14 or 15 degrees — so, it is going to be quite a mild start to things on saturday. however, we will see plenty of downpours around and, as i say, the closer you are to that area of low pressure, the more likely you are to see some fairly heavy and even some fairly prolonged outbreaks of rain. that's especially the case for northern ireland and west scotland but, to a degree, north west england and north—west wales will probably have a lot of showers as well. elsewhere, well, probably not that many showers across the midlands and eastern areas of england, so some dry weather and lengthy dry spells for these areas. showers few and far between. temperatures still, by and large, a little below average. now, for the cricket, the ashes, i suspect it

will probably stay mostly dry on saturday. if you catch a shower, it'll be a fleeting, light one. on sunday, rain on the way but late in the day so, again, it should be a largely unaffected day for play. different story, though, for monday. we are going to see low pressures working and bringing more rain. sunday's forecast, then. we have an area of low pressure that's going to be pushing rain into northern ireland, wales and western areas of england. should stay mainly fine to the north and east, although there will be a few showers here. temperatures continuing to run a little bit below average for the time of year. on into monday and tuesday's forecast. well, even as one area of low pressure crosses the uk, there's another one brewing and developing to our west, so it'd be nice to think as we finish the month and started a new month going into august, that we'd see a change in the weather pattern but no, that's not the case. it stays unsettled with further showers or some lengthier spells of rain.

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. it is going to be a cold, dark night for many south africans with stage 6 load shedding announced.

south africa is sinking into darkness, its crumbling power system no longer able to keep the lights on. the poorest here hit hardest. after 20, 25 years. you're going to have to close down. yes. the power crisis is the result of decades of mismanagement and massive corruption, criminal gangs ready to kill anyone who tries to stop the looting. i was shaking badly. i was literally lying like this and i started gasping for air. a mixture of cyanide and sodium arsenite. today, south africa still gets almost all its power from burning coal. it's a lethal addiction. it's killing us. this coal is killing us.

the answer, to many, is a green revolution.