these are the latest pictures we have. a commercial building that was struck over the weekend, damaging the facade of the tower block, was struck again, he said. sobyanim added that several other drones were downed by air defence systems. he says there's no information on casualties but emergency services were at the scene. this happened after officials in ukraine's second largest city, kharkiv, say drone strikes destroyed two floors of a college dormitory there and also hit the city's centre. they say one person has been injured. this follows an earlier stike that killed at least six people in the hometown of ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky. it partially destroyed a residential block. zelensky has called the strike an act of terrorism. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has more on this attack. so we're hearing now that the search has now finished in the central city of president zelensky�*s hometown after russian missile struck overnight.

we know six people have been killed, including a mother and her ten year old daughter. almost 70 have been injured and around a dozen are trapped under rubble. it is a familiar yet still horrifying sight where you have a residential block with a chunk missing smoldering debris and rescue teams frantically trying to save who they can. and when you have wave after wave of missile strikes, there is always a place in ukraine that is the most acute, acutely hit, and it is the turn of kiev. but alongside this, ukraine is desperately trying to seize the initiative in its counteroffensive, which is coming up to two months old. the gains it has made have been modest and they have been intensely contested. we are seeing an increase in fighting. it is true to say that they are concentrating men and machinery, notably in the southeastern and eastern

parts of the front line. but we are getting comments from the kremlin alleging that the counteroffensive is not going according to plan, in their words, saying that all of that western hardware is getting wasted in that endeavor. but kiev still sees its destiny in this invasion in its own hands, and it will be desperate to try and achieve its ultimate goal of repelling russia completely. it is refusing to accept russia's presence in the country. but you fear that as long as russia keeps hold of what it has taken, it may start to slip away from kiev�*s control. but i've got to stress, neither side has played its full military hand in this counter—offensive, and the next two months could well be crucial ahead of the onset of autumn and winter, when any kind of development will be near to impossible. meanwhile, after a year and a half of bloodshed, the battle for bakhmut shows no sign of ending. the city holds little strategic value but it holds great symbolic value for both sides,

especially as ukraine pushes on with its counter—offensive. the bbc has been given exclusive access to a team of elite snipers, named the ghosts of bakhmut, conducting night raids close to the city. our defence correspondent jonathan bealejoined them on a journey to the front lines. we're on our way to a secret location, a place they call the edge of existence. behind the wheel, the man simply known as ghost. he tells me his team of snipers are all known as the ghosts of bakhmut because they silently bring death. their base is already well within range of russian artillery. rumble. that was close. but they'll be going even closer towards enemy lines. translation: you can hide from artillery, - but not from snipers.

and their work is more precise than the shelling. do you know how many russians your team have killed? translation: yes, - the confirmed number is 524. 76 of those are mine. the ghosts have been operating on the edges of bakhmut for the past six months, often looking for high—value russian targets. they record every kill through their sights. kusia will be the marksman for tonight's mission. before the war, he worked in a factory. translation: when i was a civilian, i didn't - like weapons, but now i've had to take up arms to defend my country. of course i'm scared. only a fool wouldn't be. a quick blessing. music plays.

we leave with dusk approaching. the music to lift the mood and mask the sound of artillery. several times, the driver, kuz, warns "incoming". they wear british—supplied uniforms. the insertion of the team can often be the most dangerous part of the mission. from here, they'll have to walk another mile to reach their target. explosion. and that's a big explosion. we soon discover that shrapnel has torn through one of the back tyres. it's a long, nerve—racking limp home. metallic clunking. now the anxious wait for the team's return. ghost says he hand—picked each

man for their patriotism. while he waits for news, he calls his seven—year—old daughter. he's already taught her how to strip a gun. seven hours later, the two—man team are extracted. early morning, just before the shelling resumes. the relief is palpable. kusia, the sniper, says the mission was a success. just one shot. "one shot, one target," he says. the commander, ghost, is just relieved they're safe. translation: every trip could be our last. - but we are doing a noble deed. it's also part of ukraine's psychological warfare — killing from a place that can't be seen and with a sound that can't be heard.

burkina faso and mali have issued a joint statement saying they'll regard any military intervention in niger as a declaration of war on them. the two countries, which have both also seen recent military coups, say in such a scenario they will come to the defence of their eastern neighbour. it comes after a west african bloc gave niger's military seven days to give up power and threatened to use force if that didn't happen. elected president mohamed bazoum was deposed on wednesday. reports from niger say 130 officials from the president's party have now been arrested. mr bazoum himself remains a captive of the army. but we've now seen the first picture him since the coup began, sitting on the right. it was published shortly after he met with the president of chad, who's working to resolve the crisis. chad's president also met with the coup�*s leaders in niger's capital.

earlier and before mali and burkina faso'sjoint statement, i spoke to niger's ambassador to the us. ambassador, thank you very much forjoining us here in our studio. military coup leaders in niger have on monday arrested two more cabinet ministers, as well as the head of the governing party. what do you make of these latest developments? i mean, that shows that thejunta has no intention to respect human rights as he started by claiming that he will do that. and again, i mean, this coup has really no reason whatsoever. there was no political tension. there is no situation, security situation that is worsening as they claimed, that just faints. the security situation is improving in our country. you know, you accept to power by the ballot, not by the bullets. and we have elected

a legitimate president, mohamed bazoum, and we want him to be restored, like all the international community echo us, the regional body, the african union, the united states of america, france, all our european union, all are asking them just to give back power to preseidnt bazoum. you mentioned ecowas. i do want to ask ecowas, the economic community of west african states and they have threatened military action. would you welcome that, that west african states would stage a military intervention here? yeah, my position, my position is as following. of course, i would hope and wish a peaceful solution that thejunta will come to reason and give up, give back power to president bazoum and to the parliament that were again elected in a fair and transparent election. but if that is not possible, i will not rule out any solution that will restore democracy in my country,

including a military. absolutely. i will not rule out any solution because this junta in africa comes to power by the force they want to substitute force to election. this is not acceptable. they do exactly the same as the terrorist jihadist group we are fighting — because we have the bullets we have to rule the country. but if there were to be a military intervention, we could then see a full fledged conflict between the military leaders and any intervening forces. are you worried about that again? again, i am worried about anything that will create damage to my people. but if the choice is to the junta, they have to come back to reason. they have to realise thatjust because you have the bullets, because you have the arms,

you are not ruling a country. if you want to rule the country, you have to run in an election. what about the people themselves? because we have seen protesters on the streets, especially in the capital, waving the flags, for example, of russia burning the flags of france and also supporting the coup leaders here. what do you make of that? and do you think this opens the door for russia to gain more influence in your country? i think two things. first of all, demonstration, if you know west africa, if you know urban cities in west africa, you have a lot, a lot of young people without jobs. these people are easy to manipulate and to make demonstration. demonstration are not a substitute for election. so you're saying these demonstrators are just being manipulated? yes, i can see it loud and clear. and again, demonstration, even if it is not manipulated, is not a substitute of election. you go by power, go to power by election, not by demonstration.

but at the same time, there was a recent survey from the afrobarometer that showed that 52% of the people who were surveyed in your country said that they thought the country is going in the wrong direction, that they wanted the government to do more for the economy, to reduce the inequality between the rich and poor. do you think there is a level of frustration there that the president did not anticipate? i mean, what you are asking me is that if if the opinion if the opinion if those who are rating a president or a government as bad or is that the favorable the positive rating is not good, then the president should go. if you go by this one, it will be no president in any ocd country. so from time to time people yes, people can be upset. people can be impatient for the policies to deliver. but we are working hard. we have done 7% of economic growth. we have had the first

the first peaceful school year in 15 years. no strike. there is no strike at all in our country for the last year. so, yes, we are a poor country. people have a hard time in their day—to—day life. but that's not a justification for people who keep the arms, who are supposed to protect the president, who are supposed to protect us. to protect our freedom. to protect our liberties. supposed to protect us, to protect our freedom, to protect our liberties, to come and to seize power. very quick final question. you are the ambassador here in washington. what do you want to see washington and its allies do? washington is is already doing a lot. have you seen all the statements by secretary blinken and he keep doing it? that's what we want him to do

and that's what he's doing. our un, our us partners are standing with us firm and strong. they want democracy back immediately in niger. and that's exactly what we want. ambassador, thank you so much for the conversation today. thank you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. so this is my box of tricks. these are all the medications thatjeanette has to take every day to ease the symptoms of pots. the condition that leaves her feeling exhausted, have dizzy spells and brain fog. the difference is such a simple treatment, that's not... ..cost wise, it's pence, but the difference it can make... she'd been on a trial for a new treatment, which allowed her to walk the dog and go shopping for the first time in over a year. she's not the only pots sufferer calling for the medication to be reinstated. like, she'd be downstairs or she'd, like, have the energy to go out.

and it wasjust a lot better and it felt like things were getting better. and obviously they stopped it and it wasjust sort of like... for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. the united states says it would support the deployment of a multinational police force to haiti. the caribbean country is in the grips of a criminal gangs crisis. the state department says it could take the form of spearheading a push for the un security council to authorise the mission. kenya has offered to lead the mission and send 1,000 police officers to haiti to help combat an epidemic of lawlessness and kidnappings. an affiliate group of the islamic state, the iskp, is claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing at a political rally in pakistan. mourners are burying the dead after sunday's attack which killed at least 5a people in the north of the country. it injured hundreds more. pakistan's goverment says it

will find those responsible. 0ur pakistan correspondent, caroline davies, reports from islamabad. we've now heard from the amaq news agency that the so called islamic state in kp. this is the province where the suicide blast took place that that group has now claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing that took place on sunday afternoon so far, taking the lives of 45 people. now, this has come through the amaq news agency, which is quite often the outlet that the so called islamic state tend to use to announce when and claim various different attacks and the same thing for their affiliate groups as well. now, while this declaration did include the name of the individual that they say was the suicide bomber, it hasn't contained any further details of the motive and the intention behind it. but the fact that this has happened and this is not the first time that the so—called islamic state has carried out attacks in pakistan. this many people are already suggesting that this appears to show a growing rift between the so called

islamic state and other religious groups operating in pakistan, and that this is becoming increasingly serious. for more on the perspective here in washington, i spoke to former us ambassador—at—large and coordinatorfor counterterrorism, nathan sales. ambassador, thank you so much forjoining us. i want to start with who is responsible for this attack in pakistan, because the islamic state has claimed responsibility on its news agency, saying the following, quote, "the attack comes in the natural context of the ongoing war waged by the islamic state against democracy as a regime hostile to true islam and in conflict with its divine law." and they struck an election rally that was being held for a cleric that is pro—taliban. what exactly is happening here? why is this group being targeted? well, i think over the past two years, we've seen a very pronounced increase in terrorist attacks carried out by the local isis affiliate, isis k or khorasan. and these attacks are happening

notjust in pakistan, but even more so across the border in afghanistan. and this increase in violence, i think, is the direct result of the united states and nato's withdrawing from afghanistan nearly two years ago. over the past 2a months, we've seen, i think, about 400 attacks in afghanistan and in pakistan carried out by isis—k with as many as 2000 people killed. so unfortunately, the security environment in this part of the world is dire and it looks to be getting worse with attacks like this. why is pakistan's government struggling to stop these kinds of attacks? well, i think the pakistani government has tried to counter terrorist threats within its borders and coming across the borders. but there's a sense in which the pakistani government is now reaping what it has sown for many years. for decades, the pakistani government has played a double game, a risky double game with the united states

and with nato and with other western countries. 0n the one hand, partnering with us on certain occasions to combat terrorist threats, but on the other hand, secretly and maybe even not so secretly bolstering the fortunes of the taliban in afghanistan. and today we're seeing the results. the afghanistan taliban is not really capable of countering the threat posed by icis. you know, they seem to be more worried about the threat posed by women and girls going to school or working than they are about the threat posed by isis—k. and so it's sorry to say, but there is a sense in which the dire security environment that pakistan faces today is the direct result of a pakistani government's efforts to bolster the taliban over many years. how big of a threat is isis—k in not only this region in pakistan, but across the country? i think it's a very significant threat. and, you know, don't take my word for it. a couple of months ago, the commanding general of us central command assessed that

within a matter of months isis—k would have the capability to strike us interests in the region or abroad. now, he didn't say that it was going to be in a position to carry out a 9/11 style attack on the us homeland. but this is definitely a group that has the capability and is rapidly developing more capability to be a significant threat, notjust in afghanistan, notjust in pakistan, but across the region. and that's why i think it's so important for the united states, for pakistan, for other interested countries to figure out how to degrade this group, because the current approach of outsourcing security to the taliban is just not cutting it. a top state department official said in february when asked about this rise of terror attacks in pakistan that you've been talking about, he said that the us is trying to quote, wrap its head around the evolving terrorism situation in pakistan. what do you make of that and what should washington and its allies be doing

about it? well, i think the time for wrapping heads around problems is over, and the time has come to start acting and acting decisively. look, over the past two decades, the united states and our allies have developed a reliable playbook for how to degrade terrorist organizations. we were successful in degrading core al-qaeda in afghanistan after 9/11 to a shadow of its former self. and we followed a similar, similar approach in syria in destroying the so—called isis's caliphate. and it's no secret, what you need is a credible partner force on the ground that will carry out the brunt of the fighting, backed by overwhelming air power provided by the united states and our nato allies. that kind of arrangement in afghanistan really isn't possible right now in view of the biden administration's decision to withdraw from that country two years ago. so we're going to have

to find an alternative. does that mean partnering with pakistan to carry out counterterrorism operations? maybe. there's other countries in the region that we should be considering, as well as potential partners. but the one thing that's obvious, that's painfully obvious, is the taliban simply does not have the capability to fight terrorism on its own, and we should not trust them to do so if it's a matter of our own national security. the united states needs to act and nato needs to act. ambassador, thank you so much for the conversation. thank you for having me on. let's take you to israel now. for the first time, all 15judges on the country's supreme court will take part in a hearing on the first law passed in the government's overhaul of thejudiciary. it'll happen next month. the reforms have led to weeks of protests. us trucking giant yellow is ceasing operations and laying off 30,000 workers. the company was once one of america's dominant transporting forces, but it's been in financial trouble for years.

it now intends to file for bankruptcy. scientists in siberia discovered a pair of roundworms that were once alive during the ice age. the worms were found dormant, deep in a layer of arctic permafrost, dating back 116,000 years. when the researchers put them in water, they came back to life. other species of roundworms have been known to survive long periods, suspended in another time. but none as long as these. here's tim allman with more. he's having a good sleep and then there's having a good sleep. what you are seeing are some tiny creatures that are old. very, very old. somewhere in the region of 50,000 years old. this all started when our russian colleagues dug up a bit of permafrost for their studies. so they have a very good reason to believe that everything that's coming out of this patch

of soil was frozen for 116,000 years. it was here in north eastern siberia that the extraordinary discovery was made. dna analysis, identifying a new type of nematode or roundworm that had been dormant since the late ice age. an astonishing example of what scientists call crypto bioscience. that's where an organism suspends its own metabolism in extreme conditions. but if this worm has effectively been frozen in time for millennia, could it be carrying some ancient disease or infection? it's something that's possible. and with covid, we all saw what can happen very suddenly. but i wouldn't say this like an imminent danger of these worms bringing some bacteria that suddenly start killing humans. scientists hope that studying organisms that can adapt to difficult and extreme conditions might help us preserve other endangered species. protecting the future. with a little help

from the past. tim allman, bbc news. keep watching. we'll leave you with pictures of london live. we will head to our colleagues there. stay with us. hello. july has certainly been a pretty wet month. and we started off the new working week with another dollop of rain, particularly across northern areas of the country. so skies quite cloudy like these in cumbria. it was also quite windy as well. and so far this month, we have seen some areas picking up more than three times as much rainfall as during an average july, for example, in preston. so it has been very wet. even as the area of low pressure that brought the rain on monday starts to edge away, out in the atlantic, underneath this trough in the jet stream, we develop another potent area of low pressure that's set to bring wet and windy

weather our way by wednesday. now, over the next few hours, it is a story of the rain across scotland, northern ireland, northern england, gradually turning a little bit lighter and a bit patchier in nature. it's largely dry, though, further south for southern wales, the midlands, east anglia, southern england. so it should be a fine start to the day for these areas. on tuesday we go, and i think the thickest cloud we'll see will be across southeast scotland, northeast england, threatening a few patches of rain, probably a few showers running into the north—west of both england and wales, but otherwise should be a brighter kind of day. a little bit of sunshine poking out to northern scotland and across wales and parts of southern england as well. heading into tuesday evening and overnight, that area of low pressure i showed you on the satellite picture will continue to develop and will start to swing its way in. and this one will bring quite widespread outbreaks of rain and a swathe of strong windsjust running into its southern flank. so quite wet weather for northern ireland, northern england, some heavy

rain also pushing into wales and the south—west, but it is across the south—west of england, really along the south coast, that we could get gusts of around a0 or 50 miles an hour, 50 to 60 perhaps across parts of northern france and the channel islands. that is likely to lead to some localised disruption. a few trees down and a few ferries across the channel could be affected by those strong winds and large waves as well. across northern scotland, that's probably where we'll have the best of the dry weather with some sunshine coming through. temperatures not that special across the north, not that special anywhere, to be honest. highs of about 17—21. that low pressure pulls away and for thursday the winds get a bit stronger in northern ireland for a time, but elsewhere the winds will gradually calm down. but it'll still be quite a blustery kind of day on thursday, a day of bright spells and passing showers. as you can see, as we work deeper into the first week of august, no real change — it stays unsettled.

this is bbc news. the latest news and headlines follow at the top of the hour, after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. and today i'm in west sussex in the south of england. this land, 25 years ago, was intensively farmed, but today it's an internationally

acclaimed example of rewilding. that is a form of land management that aims to reverse the degradation of ecosystems and reverse the extinction of species. my guest is isabella tree, the co—owner of this knepp estate. now, does her passion for rewilding represent an indulgence or a pathway to a healthier planet? isabella tree, welcome to hardtalk and thank you so much for inviting us to your estate here in sussex. pleasure. absolute pleasure to have you. i'm sorry it's not better weather. ah, well, it's actually still, for me,

very exciting to be here.