it's newsday. welcome the programme. we begin with the breaking news from the us, where the former leader of the proud boys militia, the far right group that took part in the january 6th attack on the us capitol has been sentenced to 22 years. henry "enrique" tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges. he wasn't present in washington during the riot — having been arrested and ordered to leave the city before the unrest broke out. i spoke with our correspondent in washington, wyre davies, about the latest from inside the courtroom. 22 years is by far the biggest sentence handed down to a member of the proud boys. but enrique tarrio, although he was the last of the proud boys to be sentenced for his role in the violent events of january six, 2021,

he was the leader of that group, and thejudge had made it clear that even though he wasn't in washington on the day, that fateful day, he did orchestrate, organise and take credit for what happened. many viewers will remember, of course, the violent scenes when people died. many people were injured during the attempts by the proud boys and other right wing groups who supported donald trump to stop the peaceful and constitutional handover of power from one elected president to another. of course, presidentjoe biden won that election of 2020, even though that was denied and they still denied by many supporters of donald trump. tarrio was in the courtroom, sat in a head to toe in an orange prison, prison issued jumpsuit. as he listened to his lawyers try to plea for some leniency. he stood up himself. he showed a lot of remorse, even though, as the judge pointed out, he hadn't shown remorse in the days and months since the events of january the 6th.

but this is a very long sentence, although it falls short of the 33 years that was asked for by the prosecution. what exactly was henry "enrique" tarrio�*s role? we understand, of course, his main argument was that he wasn't there. what more was said by both sides in court where? yeah. he tried to persuade the judge, although, remember, he'd already been found guilty by a jury of seditious conspiracy. now, this is a very serious offence. his defence tried to argue that he wasn't some foreign born conspirator determined to bring down the us government. but the prosecution and thejudge said he'd been found guilty of very serious charges and he was clearly in control. he was clearly orchestrating what his fellow proud boys were up to. the proud boys tried to almost brush this off, saying they were a pro—western boys�* drinking group. but the prosecution said they had been very nearly successful in achieving

what they wanted to achieve, which was to stop this peaceful constitutional transfer of power. what vice president pence was due to do that day, what he did that day was to hand over formally the votes that had been collated in the electoral college in the election of 2020 and formally declared joe biden as president. and quite clearly, the proud boys and the other groups wanted to stop that. donald trump wanted to stop that. donald trump himself urged mike pence not to carry out his constitutional duty. and in fact, the proud boys lawyer had has on a previous occasion said that donald trump himself should bear some of the blame for what happened. of course, donald trump will appear in this courtroom behind me. he's due to appear there in march of next year on lesser charges. he's not been charged with conspiracy, but donald trump also has been charged on other criminal charges in relation to trying to overturn the election result of 2020.

it is the longest sentence that has been handed out in the us so far. —— making the case so far. moving to the breaking news in the uk — where the russian mercenary group wagner is set to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation — meaning it will be illegal to be a member or support it. a draft order to be laid in parliament will allow its assets to be categorised as terrorist property and seized. i asked our security correspondent frank gardner about what this effectively means for the wagner group. well, it means that it is an offence, as you said, imprisonable by up to m years for anybody to be a member of or to support the private military company, this mercenary group. and the british government has been under a fair bit of pressure for not doing enough to restrain wagner, which is acted as a kind of proxy force for the kremlin across three continents. it's been operational in ukraine, in syria, in libya, in a number of african countries such as central african republic. it's been accused by human rights organisations there of carrying out atrocities, of torturing civilians and making an awful lot of money for themselves

in the process. so i think a lot of people are going to say, well, this is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted because wagner today is not nearly as powerful and effective and organisation as it was even just three months ago, because if you remember, it launched that failed mutiny march, that mutinous march against moscow at the end ofjune, which was stopped. and then a few days ago, a couple of weeks ago, in mysterious circumstances, the wagner leader, yevgeny prigozhin, and the senior leadership all died in a plane crash, which a lot of people in the west said, well, this is president putin getting his revenge for that mutiny. but the kremlin has absolutely denied it and said that that's just a load of nonsense. it was an accident, but it's being looked into. actually, they've stopped saying it was an accident. they're now saying it seems to have been foul play, but they deny any responsibility.

but going back to the proscription, the banning of the wagner group as a terrorist organisation, the difference i think this will make is primarily in law. it now means that this provides the legal basis for thousands of ukrainians to sue the wagner group through british courts and lawyers already rubbing their hands at how much money could be at stake here. up to £5 billion. that's six or seven billion usd. so there's a lot of money here and it is going to make it make it harder for the wagner group to operate around the world, given that they are now proscribed or about to be a proscribed terrorist organisation. frank, just for more context, i want to press on that point. after yevgeny prigozhin�*s death, what more do we know about the group in the sense that how much of a threat really does it continue to be? well, they're kind of in limbo at the moment because they've had to hand over their heavy weapons after that march. the kremlin and president putin in particular is never again

going to tolerate such a powerful, well armed, essentially independent force that ended up marching against his own generals. he can't have that again. so he allowed them, thousands of them, to relocate to belarus, the neighbouring country, and an ally of russia. quite a lot of them are still there, but they are unhappy their wages have been reduced. there is a potentialfor them to cause quite a bit of problems on nato�*s borders with poland and lithuania and possibly letting in migrants, for example, encouraging migrants to come into belarus and then cross over that border into nato countries. wagner boasted that they want to do a raid on warsaw and go and have lunch in warsaw. it's the last thing the poles want, but in africa they are quite a powerful, well connected network. they've got a business there, a very successful business model, which essentially means providing security services to undemocratic, autocratic regimes, mostly military juntas. and in return they get a lot of mineral and

precious metals resources. they're smuggling, not smuggling. they're shipping vast quantities of gold, diamonds, timber and other materials out of africa, enriching the kremlin in the process. the people who lose out on this are the populations of those countries. at least one person has died in eastern greece after severe rainfall triggered flash floods. the regional capital volos has seen the same amount of rain falling in 2a hours that it usually gets across the whole of autumn, according to local experts. and on nearby skiathos, planes reportedly can't approach the airport. here's reeta chakrabarti. greece this summer — first, wildfires now rain so torrential, it's turned roads into rivers and has washed away trees, cars, anything that stands in its path. the island of skiathos in the northeast has been transformed, usually a buzzing

holiday paradise now deluged as fierce rainstorms lash its streets. happy holidays, clive. tourist plans are in disarray and there are reports of tourists, including from the uk, forced to stay in their hotels, effectively stuck while the downpour continues. volos on the mainland has also been lashed by the storm. one man has been killed and the local mayor has pleaded with people to stay at home. translation: in a little while, it will overflow . onto the street. look, it will be sweeping people up. look at the bridge. please stay in your homes. with homes flooded and people stranded, it's another punishing bout of extreme weather for the people of greece and its visitors.

taiwan's president tsai ing—wen is visiting her country's last remaining diplomatic ally in africa. the tiny southern african nation of eswatini has engaged in formal relations with taipei for 55 years. globally, only 13 countries still have diplomatic ties with taipei, and beijing opposes any official visits by the taiwanese president. for more on this we can cross live to delhi and join abhishek mishra, who is an associate fellow at the manohar parrikar institute for defence studies and analysis. thank you for your time. eswatini is the last remaining ally of taiwan in africa. can you put in context of the significance of this relationship? significance of this relationshi? , ., relationship? eswatini, the official rhetoric, _

relationship? eswatini, the official rhetoric, i - relationship? eswatini, the official rhetoric, i would . relationship? eswatini, the i official rhetoric, i would say, is that taiwan wants to celebrate the independence of eswatini, which is for 55 years. but there is a lot of underlying geopolitical connotations with saying that. first and foremost, being how china will react. but china will react in the sense that they want to play the long game, they don't want to rush into anything. but at the same time, they have been very

successful especially in other... especially from the aftershocks. we are seeing a trend in chinese investments, large—scale infrastructure projects in china is kind of slowing down and much more progressing in other areas. but at the same time, china already has an established relationship, more so with african countries, how trade will go, it remains to be seen. but in my personal opinion, i

don't think much... we but in my personal opinion, i don't think much. . ._ but in my personal opinion, i don't think much... we also set her globally _ don't think much... we also set her globally only _ don't think much... we also set her globally only 13 _ don't think much... we also set her globally only 13 countries i her globally only 13 countries have diplomatic ties with taipei. what is the reason behind its wateeny�*s proximity to taiwan whichever it a landlocked country. itches to be -- used — landlocked country. itches to be -- used to _ landlocked country. itches to be -- used to be _ landlocked country. itches to be -- used to be a _ landlocked country. itches to be -- used to be a regional. be —— used to be a regional power... in the race side,. this wateeny has a population ofjust this wateeny has a population of just over this wateeny has a population ofjust over 1.1 million people. it's very small country. in terms of population, in terms of demographic. it shouldn't matter a lot. it is a landlocked country also. but just a symbolic nature, a

diplomatic symbolic nature of why china would want to have this last ally in the african continent, but at the same time, they wouldn't wouldn't want to play the game of, you know, trying to coerce eswatini or a small landlocked nation into diplomatic relations, they are playing the long game in terms of taiwan, of course, it is a major recipient of taiwanese assistance in various sectors like from health to education, health care etc. for a taiwanese perspective, we can... �* . . a taiwanese perspective, we can...�* . ., a taiwanese perspective, we can...�* . . ., �*, ., can... i'm afraid that's all the time _ can... i'm afraid that's all the time we _ can... i'm afraid that's all the time we have - can... i'm afraid that's all the time we have but - can... i'm afraid that's all. the time we have but thank can... i'm afraid that's all- the time we have but thank you very much for the perspective on that impending visit. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

preparing for a challenging journey. these skaters call themselves the un—skater buzz, they are getting ready in barry to raise funds in memory of the friends wayne and james who both had brain tumours and died after receiving end—of—life care at the nightingale house hospice in wrexham. we have lost two close _ hospice in wrexham. we have lost two close friends - hospice in wrexham. we have lost two close friends who - hospice in wrexham. we have l lost two close friends who were very active, loves the outdoors, setting charges so i guess— outdoors, setting charges so i guess this will be an epic challenge heels of the group have — challenge heels of the group have been putting in plenty of training — have been putting in plenty of training to try and get used to skating — training to try and get used to skating through the very varied terrain— skating through the very varied terrain they will face and the possibility of all sorts of weather. but of energy from the first push — weather. but of energy from the first push on a journey covering nearly 280 miles up and down the hills and mountains of wales, from barry island _ mountains of wales, from barry island to — mountains of wales, from barry island to the isle of anglesey in memory of two friends and their— in memory of two friends and their own _ in memory of two friends and

their own adventurous spirit. for more _ their own adventurous spirit. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. now to the crisis engulfing the management of spain's women's football team. the country's football federation has sacked jorge vilda, the coach of its world cup—winning women's team. he is considered a close ally of luis rubiales, the suspended president of the federation who has been underfire for kissing the playerjenni hermoso on the lips without her consent as the team celebrated winning the tournament. it's named montse tomme to replace him, becoming the first female coach of the national team. here's our sports correspondent katie gornall. 16 days ago, jorge vilda seemed on top of the world. little could he have known what was to unfold. the fallout from luis rubiales's now infamous kiss onjenni hermoso today taking a new turn. the writing had been on the wall after he was seen applauding rubiales at a federation meeting on friday when instead

of resigning, rubiales announced he was going nowhere. vilda later distanced himself from the spanish fa president, but stopped short of calling for him to go. the spain coach was already a controversialfigure. last year, 15 of his players went on strike, accusing the leadership of poor treatment. the federation supported him back then. not any more. he is notjust a coach that has won a world cup. he has also played an active role in this kind of misogynist culture within the federation that the players are now speaking up about. things would have remained the same, but now the world is looking and this is what happened, just because it happened in the middle of a world cup celebration. two weeks on from that incident, the spanish football federation has today apologised for the enormous damage caused by its suspended president, describing rubiales's behaviour as totally unacceptable, saying it had tarnished our national team, our football

and our society. now spain want to look to the future. montse tome has been announced as wilder's successor, becoming the first woman to hold the role. spain's next match is september's nations league fixture against sweden. currently, all of this squad are refusing to play while rubiales remains in post. will these changes be enough to persuade them back? katie gornall, bbc news. some other stories making the headlines now. the republican leader in the us senate, mitch mcconnell, has brushed aside questions about his health on returning to congress after the summer break. the 81—year—old senator again froze when speaking at a news conference last week. satellite data from brazil shows that the rate of deforestation in the amazon is continuing to fall. according to the latest figures, it dropped by two thirds in august compared with the same period last year. there was a similar decline injuly. in the uk, an investigation by the bbc has found that three major water companies

in england discharged sewage hundreds of times last year on days when it wasn't raining. the practice known as �*dry spilling' is illegal. birmingham city council — the largest local authority in europe — has declared itself effectively bankrupt. it says all new council spending in the city must stop, except for services that it has to provide by law — schools, social care, waste collection, protecting the vulnerable for example. the labour run council is still struggling to pay off a huge equal pay claim that dates back more than a decade. 0ur midlands correspondent, navteonhal is there. the pressure on this city's finances has been rising and rising, and europe's biggest local authority is now in big trouble. the news that their council is in effect declaring itself bankrupt has left many people living in birmingham shocked and angry. oh, my god, i've never heard of such a thing in my life. how can the council

be bankrupt? after the commonwealth games last year, this city was thriving. it is a dynamic vibrant city. but this should never have happened. it should never have got to this point. it's really, really sad. its problems began more than a decade ago, when a landmark case was brought against the council which has led to it having to pay out more than £1 billion so far in equal pay claims to mostly female staff. but earlier this summer the authority announced it had up to £760 million still to find to settle the equal pay claims and that is on top of the cost of a botched roll—out of a new it system which has set it back another £100 million. the city council leader who is currently abroad, he says, as part of a long—standing family commitment, told us questions on this will be answered. we have already got a governance review that has been commissioned jointly with the department for levelling up that's looking at those issues of governance and accountability

within the authority. i've also made it clear that at the end of this, there needs to be a judge—led inquiry that looks at the issues around equal pay. this is devastating news for birmingham taxpayers here. the administration have had to declare that they are effectively bankrupt because of their failure to deliver proper accounts for the last three years and their failure to get to grips with the equal pay mess. the council is responsible for, among other things, social care, housing, and waste collection. it says it will protect core services but nonessential spending has stopped and no new expenditure is permitted. it's currently unclear what services will have to be cut, but could include parks, libraries orfunding for cultural projects. the fact they've done this, the nuclear option, the last possible thing, because they know going cap in hand to government, they are not going to get much joy, anything the government do for them is going to come with lots of strings attached. the commonwealth games here last year were supposed

to herald the start of a golden decade for the city but instead, the outlook for residents is one of cuts to services instead. navteonhal, bbc news, birmingham. to france, where dozens of girls have been sent home from school for insisting on wearing the abaya — a traditional muslim dress. the french government announced a ban last month, arguing that wearing the garment broke rules on keeping education secular. there is now a legal challenge in front of the courts on the matter. azadeh moshiri has more on the first day of the ban. here's how the first day of the ban played out. according to official figures, 298 girls turned up to school in an abaya. now, a strict protocol was already in place, and so each student then had a dialogue with school staff. in most cases, they changed and were able to start their classes, and yet 67 of them refused. and so instead they were sent home. now, according to the government, 12 million boys

and girls started their school term on monday. and so as far as they're concerned, they believe the ban was widely accepted. and yet this comes after months, if not years, of debate over whether the abaya is fit for purpose in france's classrooms. some context — france has a strict ban on any religious items of clothing in state schools as well as government buildings. that includes things that the government believes are ostentatious, like large christian crosses, and that's because they believe these items go against france's secular system. and so they made it official in 2004, they passed a law banning headscarves in state run schools. in 2010, they went further, they banned full face veils in public. now, this caused protests both inside the country as well as outside of it. and yet that wasn't the end of it. france went further and in 2016 banned full body swimsuits, also known as burkinis. now, that one was then

overruled in courts. and so what took so long to make a decision about the abaya ? well, that's because people consider it a lot more complicated as an issue, because the abaya, unlike other banned items of clothing like the burqa, the niqab or the hijab, is more of a loose fitting dress, a robe from the shoulders down. and so even within the muslim community, there's debate over whether this is a religious item or a cultural one. but as far as president emmanuel macron is concerned, he backs the ban. his education minister, gabriel attal, explained... the government believes that this principle is at the core of france's secular society. the matter is also now in court and we will be tracking the story of the other stories very closely. you can get more details on our bbc�*s website

for more updates as well. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. hello there. 0ur september heatwave is set to continue with more sunshine around the corner over the next few days. now, temperatures on tuesday reached 30.8 celsius in hampshire. we don't see 30 degrees every single september. we had similar kind of temperatures back in 2021 and 2020. now, so far this year, the highest temperature we've recorded all year was 32.2 celsius and we're going to get really close to that during wednesday. if we get past 32.2, well, that becomes something quite unusual. there have only been four years in the last century that have had the hottest temperature of the year recorded in a september. so we'll be keeping a close eye on that stat. now, right now, we've got some low cloud filtering in and around some of our north sea coasts, a little bit

of mist and fog around as well, but otherwise clear and starry skies and pretty warm as well. temperatures only towards dawn getting down to around 15 to 17 celsius. now, you might have been hearing about the extreme rainfall we've seen across south—east europe with some severe flooding here. we're underneath this area of high pressure, though, and that's what's bringing us the fine, settled and sunny weather. so we've got more of that to come on wednesday. any morning mist and fog, low cloud will tend to burn away from these eastern coasts and then the sunshine comes out. it's going to be another hot day. temperatures quite widely in scotland and northern ireland reaching the mid 20s. but for england and wales, somewhere between 26 and 32 degrees for most of us, very hot for the time of year and could be the hottest day of the year so far. now, for thursday, more of the same to come. a few subtle changes — there'll be a little bit more in the way of high cloud across north—western areas, making the sunshine little hazy. and you'd be unlucky, but you could see an odd shower in the west as well. most, though, will continue with the hot, dry, sunny

weather with those high temperatures as well. for friday, probably a little bit more in the way of mist and fog patches running both through the irish sea coasts and also our north sea coasts. but aside from that, it's another dry day with lots of sunshine around for the vast majority. top temperatures, well, again, mid to high 20s, pretty widely. low 30s in the very hottest areas. and we've got more of the same into the weekend. it's only really probably during the second part of the weekend and more especially next week, that we start to see the weather pattern breaking down, rain starts to arrive and those temperatures drop closer to normal for the time of year.

representatives from a year's three largest economies are expected to hold their first three—way meeting since 2019. we have analysis on the region's outlook. growing fears that an erratic monsoon could derail the auto industry recovery in india. hello and welcome to asia business report. asian leaders are gathering in the indonesian capitaljakarta this week for

the asean summit. china, japan and south korea plan to hold a meeting. they haven't had a three—way meeting since 2019 and this comes at a challenging time for asia, as china struggles with a slowdown, and relations between beijing and washington remain frosty. the global chief economist for s&p global chief economist for s&p global ratings told me the current state of the chinese economy will weigh heavily on export reliant countries. we think china _ export reliant countries. we think china is _ export reliant countries. - think china is going to struggle to make its 5% growth target this year. we have a couple of economies, india and indonesia being the prime one, that are more domestically driven. we are in a period where rates are high and global growth is slowing, so the trade —dependent economy is in the region will continue to struggle to put up high grade numbers while the major economies are raising rates, and china is growing below target. and china is growing below tarret. ~ ., and china is growing below tar.et_ . ., ., and china is growing below tarret. ~ . ., and china is growing below tar.et_ . ., ., ., and china is growing below tariet_ . ., ., ., target. what are some of the comlex target. what are some of the complex pressure _ target. what are some of the complex pressure point - target. what are some of the complex pressure point that l complex pressure point that these countries will have to

navigate?