and around the world. some breaking news now — the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has arrived in kyiv on an unannounced vist. this is his convoy, driving into the us embassy a few hours ago. a senior american official has said they expect him to announce more than a billion dollars in new us funding for ukraine during the visit. he's also expected to hold a news conference later with president zelensky. we'll bring you that as soon as it comes into us here on bbc news. live now to kyiv and our diplomatic correspondent paul adams. we are expecting a very big announcement, what more do we know? is not that big, to be honest. bear

in mind the us has already committed around $15 billion to ukraine, just in security assistance, since russia launched its full—scale invasion last year. what we are going to hear today, we understand, is another $1 billion in a mixture of security and other assistance. we have not been told the details, the mix yet. but it is yet another pledge by the americans, in what has become a very, very constant stream of pledges of all sorts of assistance to keep ukraine float and fighting, as this war goes on. i think what is interesting about this visit, which is the sixth visit by the secretary of state since the war, since the full—scale invasion happened, is that it full—scale invasion happened, is thatitis full—scale invasion happened, is that it is his first trip since ukraine launched its counteroffensive in the south back in june. counteroffensive in the south back injune. ithink counteroffensive in the south back injune. i think it is an opportunity for him to hear directly

from the ukrainians about how that offensive is going. bear in mind that in recent weeks we have heard quite a bit of criticism from unnamed american officials about the way the counteroffensive was being managed, and how slowly it was going. in the last week or so we have been hearing signs of progress, and so that is definitely an opportunity for the ukrainians to tell the americans exactly what is going on down in the south. paul. tell the americans exactly what is going on down in the south. paul, we have heard ukraine _ going on down in the south. paul, we have heard ukraine consistently - have heard ukraine consistently throughout this war have been asking for support, whether it be financial, weapons, what could this money be spent on, the next announcement of funding? it money be spent on, the next announcement of funding? it will be announcement of funding? it will be a whole range _ announcement of funding? it will be a whole range of— announcement of funding? it will be a whole range of things. _ announcement of funding? it will be a whole range of things. on - announcement of funding? it will be a whole range of things. on the - announcement of funding? it will be a whole range of things. on the one j a whole range of things. on the one hand, of course, the united states is absolutely adamant that it is going to stay with ukraine in its fight against the russian invasion for as long as it takes. there is a good chance that a big chunk of what we are going to hear of today will be more of the same kind of security

assistance that we have been seeing for a year—and—a—half now. there is also attention being paid to keeping with ukrainian economy front. this is a ruinously damagingly costly war for ukraine. quite apart from the need to make sure that they can continue the fight, there is also the very urgent matter ofjust keeping the economy going, and then thinking about how ukraine's economy recovers in the future. there is an enormous range of things that the assistance will be spent on, and this is probably... i think i have lost count of the number of individual pleasures that the americans have made, i think it is over a0 so far. and there will be more. over 40 so far. and there will be more. , , ., ., teaching unions have accused ministers of "calculated neglect" , after analysis by the bbc found that 13 schools in england containing weak raac concrete had their rebuilding plans cancelled in 2010.

they had been approved for rebuilding under a labour scheme and were later scrapped by the conservative—led government. our correspondent tim muffett reports from one of the affected schools. this is honywood school in essex. one of many schools affected by the concerns over raac. one of the areas here, as you can see, is no longer accessible to pupils. and what that means is that many won't be starting school as they would have hoped to have done this term this week. now, james, you are the head teacher here. thank you for letting us have a look around. just tell us, when did you first realise you had a problem with raac? well, we have known about raac for some time and we have been managing that. we only knew it was a problem when there was a change in policy a week ago. ok, so let's have a little look around. this is one of the areas where students went to be allowed to come but we are allowed to have a look around today. what are the ramifications for you and for the school?

put simply, we have got to close half of the school. we have 22 rooms out of action. we are walking down our maths corridor at the moment. there is also office spaces out. another 22 spaces. that includes the medical room, counselling room, our maths rooms, our english rooms. this is a maths classroom here. our humanities classrooms, our languages classrooms. our computing classrooms. all of them are out of action. so that means that the students will be learning from home, which is what many of them had to do, all of them had to do at some point during covid? yeah, we are quite geared up for remote learning, although we would rather not do it. but, yes, we can only get a maximum of three of our five year groups on site at any one time. so two of them will have two, on a rotational basis, work from home. how well do you think the government is handling the situation? i think the thing that they need to do to speed things up is to cut out some of the red tape. in terms of dealing with the varying layers of caseworkers or managers. so that we can get decisions a lot faster.

and then we can get things happening on the ground. ok, now, much of this stuff is unseen, it is above the ceiling. but there is part of the school where we can see a little bit of it, you know, just below the window frame of the skylight, we are going to get a shot of that. it's extraordinary, that's something that looks so innocuous is causing so many headaches. and the fact it is so difficult to access makes the challenge even greater?- so difficult to access makes the challenge even greater? none of our raac is challenge even greater? none of our rmc is rated — challenge even greater? none of our raac is rated critical. _ challenge even greater? none of our raac is rated critical. it _ challenge even greater? none of our raac is rated critical. it was - challenge even greater? none of our raac is rated critical. it was part - raac is rated critical. it was part of our _ raac is rated critical. it was part of our regular buildings management programme. we have bits of raac rated _ programme. we have bits of raac rated high — programme. we have bits of raac rated high risk or medium risk. the policy— rated high risk or medium risk. the policy and — rated high risk or medium risk. the policy and guidance at the time we have been— policy and guidance at the time we have been following was that we don't _ have been following was that we don't have to do anything immediately to attend to that. however, that changed, that guidance, last week. no longer is it 'ust guidance, last week. no longer is it just critical— guidance, last week. no longer is it just critical raac that needs immediate attention, it is anywhere with pot— immediate attention, it is anywhere with pot present which means we have to close _ with pot present which means we have to close. ~ ., ., i. , ., ., with pot present which means we have to close. ~ ., ., , ., ., ., to close. what do you plan to do now? you _ to close. what do you plan to do now? you have _

to close. what do you plan to do now? you have outdoor- to close. what do you plan to do now? you have outdoor space i to close. what do you plan to do - now? you have outdoor space now? quite a large outdoor field. now? you have outdoor space now? quite a large outdoorfield. our quite a large outdoor field. our plan _ quite a large outdoor field. our plan is — quite a large outdoor field. our plan is to— quite a large outdoor field. our plan is to source accommodation as quickly— plan is to source accommodation as quickly as_ plan is to source accommodation as quickly as possible on the school field, _ quickly as possible on the school field, so — quickly as possible on the school field, so we can get all of the chiidren— field, so we can get all of the children back at school learning. exactly — children back at school learning. exactly what they should be doing. just one of many schools caught up in this growing problem, and we expect from the government this week a definitive list of those schools that have been affected. the issue is certain to come up in a couple of hours' time in the house of commons — when prime minister's questions return after the summer recess. we'll bring you live coverage of that — but let's get a taste of what the ruling conservatives and the main opposition, labour, are likely to say. here's the defence minister, grant shapps — followed by labour's leader sir keir starmer. there was a big increase, actually a quarter increase, in 2021's budget on these capital project for schools. we had done about 500 over the last ten years.

the project is to do another 500. as i've already explained a couple of times, i don't want to keep going back on this for your viewers, but the building schools for the future programme that i know labour are very keen to push this morning only referred to secondary schools, and secondary schools are the minority of schools. so it clearly couldn't have resolved the problem. and i had a look at that article, the bbc verify article this morning, and the verify team themselves say that many of those schools have had other maintenance work and other actions and renovations taken place. a number of the schools affected today were on the list for building schools for the future, the labour list, the labour programme that, in 2010 this government cut. and you aren't true that that in 2021 a list of schools that needed work done was put before the prime minister, when he was then chancellor, and he refused to allow the funding to go forward. as a direct result, you have pupils this morning who are not in school. so, it's a story which has featured last minute decisions

to close schools on safety grounds, crumbling classrooms — and even a few swear words from the education secretary. we're expecting plenty of political drama in prime minister's questions — that's at noon uk time so do join us for that. the father and step mother of sara sharif have said they are willing to co—operate with uk authorities in a video — the first time they've spoken out publicly since her death. the 10—year—old's body was found at her home in woking, surrey, on the 10th of august. surrey police want to speak to her father urfan sharif, his partner beenish batool and brother faisal malik in relation to a murder investigation. this is what they said in the clip. we are coming forward and presenting

ourselves. there are a couple of things i would like to address. firstly, i would like to talk about sara. sara's death was an incident. ourfamily in pakistan are sara. sara's death was an incident. our family in pakistan are severely affected by all that is going on. they are harassing my extended family. they have also illegally raided many more of my family member's homes. we have already approached our lawyer, and our lawyer is representing is in high court. the next court hearings on the 19th of september 2023. my main concern is that the pakistani police will torture or kill us, that is why we have gone into hiding. lastly, we are willing to cooperate with the uk authorities and fight our case in court. live now to islamabad where we can talk to our pakistan correspondent caroline davies. what is the reaction to the video so far? we have spoken to pakistan police about some of those allegations that have been raised by beinash batool

and urfan sharif, they have said they are baseless, and the allegations of harassment, and in the course of the video, beinash batool alleged some of her family had been subjected to torture, they have so that all of those are false. they have also said that there were allegations in that video as well of the police are being accused of having taken jewellery, the police are being accused of having takenjewellery, mobile having taken jewellery, mobile phones, having takenjewellery, mobile phones, the police have again said there was are all false and completely baseless. the police chief has said if the family has any fears, they should be going to court to seek protection. i would also add that the bbc were unable to verify the exact conditions that this video was made in, or the location of beinash batool and urfan sharif. you also heard her mention a court case appearance as well. because she has mentioned a decision, a verdict that was come to by the court yesterday morning, we believe this video must

have been recorded in the course of the last day or so. the other element of course, crucially important here, is that this is the first time we have heard from the couple since they left the uk on the 9th of august. this is also the first time we have heard them publicly say that they want to work with the uk authorities to fight their case. this is something we are now working, we are speaking to various different authorities, to see what the reaction is. this is, of course, a crucial development in this story, but has now been going on for nearly four weeks.— on for nearly four weeks. caroline davies in islamabad, _ on for nearly four weeks. caroline davies in islamabad, thank- on for nearly four weeks. caroline davies in islamabad, thank you i on for nearly four weeks. caroline | davies in islamabad, thank you for that update. you can read more on that update. you can read more on that story if you head to the bbc news website. a court in washington has jailed the former leader of the far—right proud boys group for 22 years for his part in the storming of the us congress.

the sentence given to enrique tarrio is the longest of any of the hundreds convicted of involvement in the capitol riot of january 2021. supporters of then—us president donald trump stormed the congressional building as lawmakers met to certify joe biden�*s election victory. mr tarrio was not in washington during the riot, but helped organise the far—right group's involvement. his lawyers say he plans to appeal. our north america correspondent peter bowes has more on the significance of the sentence. this is the longest sentence of all of the proud boys sent to prison over the last four days. there were four people at the end of last week and now we have this sentence for what the judge described as the ultimate leader of the conspiracy, the leader of the proud boys, the person who was really at the centre of the conspiracy, the organisational centre of that

assault of the us capitol. he and others from the proud boys really shortly after the 2020 election, during that period before january the 6th when there was a lot of uncertainty over what was going to happen, but he and others were sending out social media messages, messages online threatening that there would be violence if donald trump left office. and then, on the day, as you say, he wasn't actually in washington. that's because he had been stopped by the police two days earlier in possession of high—capacity ammunition, which is against the law in washington, dc. he was given bail but he was ordered out of the city. so he was actually in baltimore on january the 6th. he was watching events unfold at a distance, no doubt watching it on television. but again posting messages in social media encouraging there is rioters as they entered the capital. at one stage leaving a message that said "enjoying the show". around the world and across the uk.

this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. new analysis by the un suggests about six billion tonnes of sand is dredged from the world's oceans each year. the un environment programme said the practice endangered marine life and coastal communities and that there is an urgent need for better management of sea mining. sand is among the most exploited natural resources in the world and is used in the prodution of concrete and glass. satellite pictures from brazil show that the rate of deforestation in the amazon is continuing to fall. it dropped by two—thirds in august compared with the same period last year. the brazilian government announced it will give financial support to the municipalities that reduce deforestation rates the most. three people have been rescued off the coast of queensland after their boat was damaged by sharks. two russians and a french citizen were hoping to circumnavigate the world on a catamaran when they were attacked several

times on theirjourney between vanuatu to cairns in northern australia. the group sent out a distress signal and were picked up by a nearby cargo ship. you're live with bbc news. the uk's national air—traffic service has explained the cause of the problem which led to the cancellation of more than 2000 flights at the end of august. a preliminary report says it was a system error — followed by a back—up failure — which both occurred within 20 seconds. our transport correspondent katy austin reports. from holiday bliss to airport misery. thousands of people's plans were thrown into chaos amid hundreds of cancellations. with planes and crew out of position and most flights already booked up, many people found themselves stuck abroad, facing long waits to get home. behind it all, a problem at air traffic provider, nats. a newly—published report says there was an extremely unusual error with the system it uses to process flight plans last monday morning.

it happened after one was received containing two markers with the same label, but in different locations. it was so unusual. in fact, one in 15 million unusual that the system decided the safest course of action was to stop and allow manual intervention, so that we could then continue to safely control aircraft. the backup system also shut itself down. this all happened in just 20 seconds. nats says the situation had never happened before in the five years the system had been in use. fewer flights could be handled while controllers were working manually and that had big knock—on consequences. nats says a software update will prevent the same thing happening again. as last week went on, airlines put on extra planes to clear the backlog and get people home. the aviation regulator has said it will launch a review into the system failure and how nats responded. airlines are seeking legal

advice on whether they can claim back their costs. katie austin, bbc news. the general court of the european union has dismissed an action for damages, which was brought by a number of syrian refugees against the european border agency, fro ntex. the case relates to an incident in 2016, when they were returned from a greek island to turkey — they've since moved to iraq. their claim, that they suffered damages after they were illegally pushed back, was thrown out, after the judges ruled that frontex could not have directly caused any financial losses. our europe regional editor danny aeberhard explained the background of this case. this syrian family came to greece in 2016, at the time of the syrian civil war. there were hundreds of thousands of people who had crossed over to europe. they launched an asylum claim on one of the greek

islands in the aegean, but 11 days later they were then put on a plane. they say they were tricked until they were going to be flown to athens, in fact, they were flown to a town in eastern turkey. there, they were left to their own devices, essentially. they say they were returned, you know they had applied for asylum, 11 days afterwards, later, a report said that their original application for asylum was not registered by a police database until the day after they were deported. until the day after they were deported-— until the day after they were deorted. ., ., , . , deported. what sort of consequences cut this case — deported. what sort of consequences cut this case have _ deported. what sort of consequences cut this case have for _ deported. what sort of consequences cut this case have for the _ deported. what sort of consequences cut this case have for the european . cut this case have for the european union and its migration policy, would you say?— union and its migration policy, would ou sa ? ~ ., ., would you say? well, frontex have not et would you say? well, frontex have rrot yet reacted _ would you say? well, frontex have not yet reacted to _ would you say? well, frontex have not yet reacted to the _ would you say? well, frontex have not yet reacted to the decision. - would you say? well, frontex have| not yet reacted to the decision. the decision by the general court have said that they could not be held responsible, because frontex does not assess either decisions to return asylum seekers, or the actual

application for asylum itself. those decisions are made exclusively by the member states. so, decisions are made exclusively by the memberstates. so, in decisions are made exclusively by the member states. so, in this case, greece. its reasoning is that frontex cannot be held responsible for the damages that the family had. when the family arrived in turkey, they were originally imprisoned and then they fled to northern iraq, where they felt safer than going back into syria. they say all of the damages they caused, both in terms of the anguish of the way they were treated, but also in terms of the financial losses where they had to get accommodation on things like that, that would have been down to frontex. the case has been thrown out by the general court, which is the second highest court in the european union. they have two months to appeal. we will see if they actually appeal this case. if frontex had been found guilty, it would be the first time a eu agency would be the first time a eu agency would have been found to have

breached things like non—reform and, the international law requirement that people who are vulnerable should not be returned to countries where they face things like torture or degrading treatment. the war in ukraine has been one in which technology has played a central role. and now in an exclusive interview the ukrainian security service has revealed how it uses artificial intelligence and drones in a daily high—tech battle with its russian enemy, whilst also fighting off cyber attacks. our security correspondent gordon corera reports from kyiv. alongside trenches and artillery, ukraine's war has been one of drones and hackers. and that's led ukraine's security service — its version of m15 — to move its teams to the front lines. here, they direct a kamikaze drone to strike a camera being used to track ukrainian troop movements. in an exclusive interview,

the man in charge of cyber security and technology for the security service reveals they also hack into russian cameras to collect intelligence. using artificial intelligence, we penetrate their surveillance cameras on the occupied territories, and we understand the movement of the troops, this information being analysed, and we understand which type of military and weapons they are about to use, and what direction. the security service also uses artificial intelligence to track down those responsible for war crimes like here in bucha. we use artificial intelligence, as well. facial recognition, yes. so we get the information from cameras, from pictures, and then we understand who was exactly guilty in different war crimes conducted by russian troops — who was the possible spotter, who was the possible traitor?

and this is also a usage of artificial intelligence, and we have thousands of people that we've found exactly who they were. technology has been at the heart of this conflict from the start. in the opening days of the war, russian missiles hit kyiv�*s main tv tower. translation: last year, the russians attacked this tower. they were trying to deprive ukrainians of access to truthful information, and destroy the infrastructure. the missile attack was accompanied by a cyber attack on the same facility. since then, as victor zora — the man in charge of cyber defence — shows me, the pace of cyber attacks has been relentless. so these are serious incidents here. what is rated high and critical. but it's every day, you're facing... every day. ..something's happening. yeah. you don't have any days off. we don't have days off. it's often said that wars spur on innovation, and this conflict has been no exception. what we've seen here in ukraine is an incredible pace by which new technologies have been adopted. nowhere has the pace of innovation been clearer than drones.

in a location we've been asked to keep secret, operators are taught not so much how to fly the drones, as how to stay alive themselves. risks are increasing as they move closer to the fighting. right now, the distance is getting shorter and shorter and shorter because of enemies jamming systems. hackers and drone operators are now on the front lines, with both sides knowing that technology could give them a vital edge in a hard—fought war. gordon corera, bbc news, ukraine. just before we go, i want to show you some live pictures. let's try to cross to some live pictures. we are watching antony blinken, the us secretary of state. he has just been doing a photo call. we seem to have lost the pictures there. but that was antony blinken, the us secretary of state, visiting here. he wasjust doing a photocall with the foreign

minister in ukraine, as he is expected to announce £1 billion in us funding to help ukraine with the war against russia. stay with us and bbc news. hello. in the last century there has been only four occasions where the highest average for the year has occurred in september, either today or tomorrow we could make that a fifth time. 32.2 celsius is the highest temperature so far this year, recorded injune, in chertsey and in coningsby. today, we could get up to 32 celsius, if not a little bit more. same again tomorrow. that's because we have high pressure city across central and northern europe. around the fringes, that is storm daniel, producing the flooding in greece. this area across the west is helping to draw humid air away with a general southerly wind. a bit breezy at times and part of scotland. mr blow cloud through shapland, parts

of eastern england, and there could be a bit of sea, the isle of man, dumfries and galloway. 26 in northern ireland, 29 in wales, 30 or 32 in the south—east corner. what will follow will be a humid night. low cloud is dominant around the eastern coasts. in the west, south—west of england, wales, eventually the isle of man, a small chance of one or two heavy and thundery showers. most of them will be dry and temperature is not much lower than 15 or 19 degrees. low cloud again close to these eastern coastal counties of england, and eventually scotland later in the day. low cloud with a chance of some showers around the irish sea, through northern ireland and later into scotland. a rumble of thunder with those. a lot of you will stay dry. if anything, with those. a lot of you will stay dry. ifanything, increased humidity, the highest starting temperature is hotter tomorrow.

heat, humidity and potentially some overnight showers in the north and west. a bit more mr and low cloud on friday and it will linger around the coasts of the north sea and parts of the irish sea. an isolated shower possible for northern ireland, for most of us staying dry and hot. how long will dispel last? for england and wales coming to the weekend. we started to changes in scotland and northern ireland as low—pressure edges its way in, they more widespread breakdown as we go through into the middle part of next week. certainly through this weekend it is still pretty warm out there, even at the showers are to develop more widely in scotland and northern ireland. hot and more widely in scotland and northern ireland. hotand humid more widely in scotland and northern ireland. hot and humid air england and wales on the showers are widespread next week.

this is bbc news, the headlines. mps accuse ministers of being slow to recover more than £1 billion lost to fraudulent or incorrect grants being given to businesses during the pandemic. prime minister rishi sunak faces calls to intervene in the case of british campaigner jagtar sinthohal who is facing the death penalty in india. birmingham council in england insists vital services will still be delivered despite the local authority effectively declaring itself bankrupt. mps have accused ministers

of being slow to recover more than £1 billion lost to fraudulent or incorrect grants being given to businesses during the pandemic. the public accounts committee says that three years on, less than 2% of the money has been recouped. the government said it was working with councils to recover the erroneous payments. live now to our economics correspondent andy verity. do we know the scale of the fraud? we do, the amount lost due to fraud and errors 1.1 billion, we need to cast our minds back of course to the situation back the march 20020 when the on set of the pandemic meant that governments had to put economies in lockdown and businesses weren't getting the income they needed to pay wage, there was a threat that millions of businesses might go underand threat that millions of businesses might go under and of the huge support that the government gave at

that time, there was not