live from washington. this is bbc news. high—level arrivals in delhi. joe biden meets with india prime minister, ahead of this weekend's 620 summit. the un calls for radical changes to slow global warming — as extreme weather events hit areas from greece to hong kong. new details about the georgia election interfence probe and a top us lawmaker avoiding charges. hello. leaders from many of the world's largest economies are gathering in india for the 620 summit that's getting under way. while the theme for the meeting is sustainable development, the leaders are expected to tackle an array of issues over the weekend in india's capital delhi — including global food security,

climate change, trade, and the war in ukraine. india's prime minister narendra modi would like the summit to promote his country as a major global power. but russia's war in ukraine may be standing in his way. india is looking to put aside those disagreements over ukraine, hoping it won't detrail concerns of the global south and developing countries. india's capital has also been gearing up for it's moment in the spotlight as the summit kicks off. here's the bbc�*s christian fraser speaking with our south asia correspondent yogita limaye — they have the view from delhi. so, yogita, new delhi is a city transformed. i drove in from the airport today. there were people sleeping, potlucks were being put out. they've really gone to town on it. why is it so important? well, a couple of things, but it is a part of indian culture when you have guests visiting your home, even in your home, you clean it up, spruce it up, do something. you might draw

a pattern outside. so it is very much part of culture here. but for the government, it's also very much a moment to show the world what india's place is in it. and therefore i think it's very important for them to project new delhi as a city of the world. and that's part of the reason why it's been spruced up and why you saw what you did on the way in here. i look at everybody around us. they're young people. it's the most populous nation. it's the fastest—growing major economy. they put a lander on the moon in the run—up to this. it's a brilliant opportunity to showcase just how far this country has come. absolutely. we have a few things, we have become the most populous country in the world this year. you have had, as you said, the moon mission, and there was lots ofjoy, lots of pride in india about that, and now the host of the g20 summit.

so for the government, certainly this is that moment. they want to say, "we are the voice of the people," the global south as they are calling it, "so we are the voice of the developing countries. we are the people who can talk to you on their behalf. we are the people who are the middle ground between russia and ukraine. we can be the people who solve problems for the world." and that's how india and the government and the prime minister narendra modi hope to position this summit. he's everywhere, on every street corner, it feels like an election. but that we are in the run—up to an election is important for him personally. absolutely. i think we will have elections within the next year, probably next year. so it is extremely important politically, and there is a lot connected to that. because i think part of the domestic pitch is also global. and i think some part of it, you know, india is feeling confident. when they step out of this country and they go places, people recognise the country, they recognise the leader. i've had people tell me we've never had that before. that is suddenly something that this government

can take credit for, and it is something which is part of their political pitch as well. and now this gives you the imagery. you have got all of the big presidents in the world, and of course the russian president and president xi will not be here, but you have all the big leaders in the world coming here and shaking his hand and it gives you a big photo opportunity to make that pitch also to the domestic world. us presidentjoe biden and uk prime minister rishi sunak were among the global leaders who arrived to delhi on friday. sunak made history — becoming the first prime minister of indian heritage to visit the country. his goal? a trade deal between india and the uk. mr sunak is hopeful, but says it will take time. well, we're keen to see a comprehensive and ambitious trade deal concluded between our two countries. both of us think there is a good deal to be done. but trade deals always take time, they need to work for both countries. although we've made enormous progress there are still hard work to go.

that's what we do to keep going through. the g20 is not the forum for those discussions, of course i will touch on that with prime minister modi. but notably absent from the world leaders arriving — china's leader xi jinping and russian president vladimir putin who both sent their respective foreign ministers to attend in their place. it's mr xi's first time skipping the gathering, with no explanation offered. their absense gives a potential opening to president biden — who is hoping to persuade other leaders to align with him on matters including ukraine and curbing china's dominance in the indo—pacific. mr biden first order of business? a meeting with mr modi for a 52 minute bilateral. the two leaders discussed india's recent moon landing and investments in indian technology. they released a joint promise to deepen their relationship saying it was quote — "based on trust and mutual

understanding." the white house says it still has concerns about mr. modi's controversial human rights record, but those concerns appear to be on the back burner as the us looks to counter china's reach in the region. and let's take a look at what the g20 is. the group of twenty is a block of the world's 20 largest economies that was formed in 1999 in response to the 1997 asian financial crisis — when thailand devalued its currency plugging much of east asia into a deep recession. originally, the g—20 was a forum for the finance ministers and central bank governors of member nations to meet to discuss global economic and financial issues. by 2008, heads of state and government began meeting to address the 2007 financial crisis. and in 2009, the g—20 summit became an annualforum focused on not only economic issues, but sustainable development, health, environment, and anti—corruption. the g—20 itself is comprised of 19 countries and the european union.

and together its member nations account for an estimated 86 percent of the world's gross domestic product and two—thirds of its population. former white house chief of staff mark meadows lost an effort to move his criminal case from fulton county, georgia to to a federal court. meadows is charged along with 18 others, including former president donald trump, in connection with a 2020 election interference probe. this comes hours after a newly unsealed report indicates a special grand jury in the state also recommended charges against a powerful sitting senator and two ex—lawmakers among others in the investigation into former president donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. the recommended charges against south carolina republican senator lindsey graham and former republican senators kelly loeffler and david perdue of georgia were not pursued. in total the special grand jury recommended charges against 39 people. eventually 19 people, including

mr trump, were charged. betweenjune and december of last year, the special grand jury heard testimony from 75 witnesses. earlier, i spoke with tamar hallerman.she�*s an atlanta journal—constitution reporter reporter covering the fulton county trump probe. there's a lot of information in this report. just why was it released now? well, this report was actually written in december of 2020 ——2022 finalise that january and has been under seal since then. the district attorney, fani willis, asked the judge overseeing the grand jury to keep it under wraps. she didn't want it to step on any indictment decisions she was about to make, and she argued that it could harm the due process rights of folks who were eventually indicted in all of this. so she asked the judge to wait once those indictments were announced. the judge said he saw no reason to still keep it private. and here we are. now, charges were suggested against 39 people in this

report, as we see, but the da has only moved against 19. tell us about who some of the others were and what sorts of charges were suggested to be brought against them. the recommendations in this report were very broad, much broader than i think most of us were expecting. of course, you mentioned the the three current and former us senators. there was also some former and current state senators in georgia. the current lieutenant governor, bertjones, was among those listed many people affiliated with the appointment of a slate of alternate republican electors here in georgia. mark meadows, trump's former white house chief of staff, all sorts of names, some of whom are very familiar to us. 18 of those people ended up being indicted here in georgia, but many other names that the da decided to pass on, at least for now. that said, this document was really recommendations. they weren't binding in any way. but it goes to show that after spending eight months collecting evidence, hearing testimony, these

were everyday citizens who no more than pretty much everyone else, and they believed that 39 people were worthy of indictments. it's a pretty strong statement. do we know why or why the da did not prefer charges against those other individuals? and you touched on it slightly. there could charges be brought against them at a future point? very possible that charges could be brought at a future date. but there's a bunch of different considerations that we should take into account. the first is the potential that immunity deals were struck between some of these people. we know that at least eight of the people on that list of recommendations, eight of the alternate republican electors, do have immunity deals in place with the da's office now. and there could be more that we don't know about. it's possible that the da's office took a look at the recommendations and thought, we don't have enough evidence to prove their guilt in court, so it's not worth it. and with some of the legislators, there's also some constitutional concerns there, especially with the us senators. they have constitutional protections under the speech or debate clause that

would have just led to a giant headache to get these people to come in and to be able to prosecute. lindsey graham fought having to testify at all part of my dogs. he went all the way up to the supreme court to try and fight testifying. so maybe the da's office decided it wasn't worth the resources. and remember, there's already 19 defendants in this case that's very logistically complicated to bring in court. it becomes a lot harder the more people you add to that. and what does this report tell us about the sort of arguments that district attorney fon williams might bring to trial, might bring to court when it gets there? sure. well, it depends on who you're going to talk about. she alleged a really widespread scheme involving all sorts of different incidents in georgia in the aftermath of the 2020 election, which this this special final report goes into. it talks about the breach of elections data in south georgia. it talks about false testimony given to state legislators, the harassment of a local

poll worker here. so it really depends on who's in trial. and right now, there's all these different defendants who are trying to fracture. some want to speed up their prosecution. others want to slow it down as much as possible. and it's looking likely that this prosecution may end up on multiple tracks, at least to potentially. at least two, potentially. so that's certainly something to watch. and it will impact the way that the da's office may argue all of this, although to them they say there's one large conspiracy, doesn't matter who's on trial, they still are going to have to prove that that conspiracy existed. now, we heard from lindsey graham just a moment ago, briefly tomorrow, has there been any response from any of the others named in this report? yeah, we've heard from kelly loeffler, one of the former georgia us senators, and she sees this as a prosecution of conservative political beliefs. so she sees this as kind of another political stunt using the legal system to go after conservatives. she's remained a prominent figure on the right here in georgia, and her name has come up in conjunction

with potentially running for governor in the years ahead. so she's one to watch. 0k. well, tamara hallerman of the atlanta journal constitution newspaper, thank you so much forjoining us. the mali an army suffered another attack on one of its bases in the country's northeastern region, a day after raids by islamist militants killed more than 60 people. this news comes during three days of national mourning declared after thursday's attack. on friday, a boat on the niger river in the northern gao region, and a military camp at bamba were targeted. fifty militants are also thought to have been killed. the last two days of attacks in the northern region of gao in mali seem to suggest that the malian military does not have a handle over the security situation in the country.

a group claimed an attack on friday over a military base in the region and on thursday, a riverboat carrying civilians down the river. niger was also attacked by islamist militants, suspected islamist militants. nobody�*s yet claimed responsibility for that attack. now, rivers are an important way for many people in northern mali to travel because many of the roads are considered too dangerous and are not in very good condition. and this is one of the highest death tolls that the region has seen in a while. more than 60 people, including women and children. it illustrates just how difficult the security situation has become in northern mali. it's an area that is one of the most dangerous areas in the world now and one of the deadliest for terrorist attacks. groups affiliated with the so called islamic state and al qaida have been killing civilians and targeting soldiers there for many years now. and this latest wave of attacks comes after the french removed their troops from the country following a coup in 2021. and also the junta that is currently in charge

of mali has asked un peacekeeping forces to leave. this has led many people who observe the region to be concerned for the future of security there. the malian junta that's currently running the country came into power in 2021, saying that it was going to restore security to the region. it invited mercenaries from the russian wagner group to help them do this. but this hasn't seen... this doesn't seem to be going very well at the moment. we've seen an increase in attacks and data suggests that much of the region has become a lot more insecure. the main problem is there are now concerns that this violence, which has already bled into neighbouring burkina faso and niger, may spread wider into this region that has very porous borders and could be very dangerous for the for the future of security in west africa. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news.

a us caver who's been trapped underground has recorded a video message thanking turkish authorities and rescuers. about 150 workers have been trying to reach mark dickey, who's more than a thousand meters inside the cave or three—thousand feet. the ao—year—old was co—leading a team in the cave when he began to suffer from gastrointestinal bleeding. hawaii's governor, josh green, gave an update on the recovery and response efforts to the devastation a month since wildfires ravaged the island of maui. he reported 115 fatalities with 66 people are still missing. displaced survivors will continue to receive housing assistance as the government finds more permanent solutions to the crisis. a texas appeals court is allowing the state to keep its floating buoys on the rio grande river — for now. this comes after a federal judge had ruled on wednesday that the barriers were a threat to safety and diplomatic ties. the controversial buoys are part of efforts aimed at curbing migration into texas from mexico.

you're live with bbc news. well with many of the world's top leaders gathering in delhi this weekend, there has been some hope that the g20 summit could be an opportunity to make progress towards ending the war in ukraine. india expressed confidence on friday that world leaders will finalise a declaration at this weekend's summit. however, sources say the wording about the war in ukraine is not yet resolved. negotiators are said to be having a difficult time crafting a comminique that all parties can agree on. sticking points include how important it is to get sign—off from moscow and beijing, and about turning the spotlight to other issues, like climate change and economicjustice. so how willjoe biden navigate it all? i spoke earlier with illinois congressman mike quigley, who chairs the congressional ukraine caucus. congressman mike quigley, thanks forjoining us. if we can turn to the conflict in ukraine, first, war rages on there. russia this week launching a missile attack at a market in the middle of the afternoon, killing civilians there. we're heading

into another winter. what's your assessment of where the war is at at the moment? it depends on which way you look at this. i mean, if you had told me that three days into this conflict that the war would have gone this way, i honestly would have been thrilled because, as you know, everyone thought this would be a war that lasted days or weeks only and that the russians would roll over kyiv. 0bviously, right now we want to see the counter—offensive work more effectively and quickly, but that's asking a lot given the incredibly difficult defences that have been put in place. we have to remind ourselves of some history here. when the allied troops landed in normandy to retake the european continent, they didn't just sweep across europe. it took a long time. there were setbacks. so i think we have to be realistic on how long this will take.

president biden, speaking in india at the g—20 summit, forming an alliance with india to counter the might of china. what do you expect him to do to try and rally further international support for the war in ukraine? you know, i think president biden probably deserves as much credit as anyone outside of ukraine for the war moving forward successfully so far. i mean, he's unified the west. so this is an effort to continue that. i'd like to see india do more and particularly have india help freeze out and hurt russia economically for the war in ukraine. but then continue to expand it to the groups outside of naito i think is foremost on his mind and critically important to accomplish right now. do you expect to see some sort of agreement on that come out of the g—20? we're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. i'd like to think they understand just how important this is.

putin's aims aren't just toward ukraine. it's extreme efforts beyond that. so, you know, those agreements that are taking place, that have taken place with the expansion of brics is of concern. i'd like to think this isn't just an us versus them mentality, but i think reaching out to entities and countries like india that have agreements with china and russia would help unify our relationships with them and frankly, keep them from even once removed, helping russia in this effort. now, you'll be back with your colleagues in the house of representatives next week. president biden has asked you all for 2h billion in more funding for ukraine as part of a wider spending package. do you think, are you still going to see bipartisan support to send more arms to ukraine? i think so. look, if the bills were on the floor, they would pass they would pass the house,

they would pass the senate. they would pass on a bipartisan basis. getting there is a little tricky. we saw the senate moving forward with spending bills rather quickly, and i think there's going to be bipartisan support to accomplish that. i think the democrats and republicans, both majority of which are in support of continued aid to ukraine. the problem is, you know, is that there's a small minority of republicans on the far right, ten to maybe 20, who have disproportionate influence with the speaker because of the rules we live under and how narrow their majority is. they are, i think, putting at risk what's extremely important here, is to get those supplementals passed. but half that supplementals for the war in ukraine, the other half of it is for protecting our southern

border and supporting the united states, dealing with all the manmade and nature's made crisis that are taking place. so they have to pass those bills. it has to get done very quickly. my concern with all of them is, can we fund the government? can we move forward? i'm concerned that they're heading us, heading us into a shutdown because speaker mccarthy isn't willing to confront them to get the aid that's so desperately needed to address these natural disasters, protect our southern border and so forth. and the problem with that not only is shutting down the government disrupting, i think it's important to stress that perhaps the most important thing is it shows the world that we can't govern. and i think that has national security implications. i think the rest of the world watches us. and if we can't get our house in order to move forward, i think it shows weakness

on the west and i think it encourages china, russia and other governments aggression. given that time is not on your side, to get that agreement on at the end of the month is the deadline. it sounds like you are preparing yourself for a shut down there. i've been there before. i've seen them come. frankly, it's up to speaker mccarthy to decide what's more important right now, solely defending his gavel and the control he has or doing what's right for a country and really the world as a whole. so an intense few weeks ahead in congress anyway. congressman mike quigley, thank you so much forjoining us. thank you. anytime. with global temperatures rising, more countries are witnessing extreme weather conditions. greece witnessed its heaviest rainfall in almost a hundred years this week. some areas were hit with a year's worth of rain in under three days. local authorities are working to rescue hundreds of people after storm daniel left

at least ten people dead and four people missing. many residents have lost their homes in the downpour and are uncertain about how they'll recover their livelihoods. the bbc�*s sofia bettiza has more. a massive rescue operation is under way today in this part of greece to try and rescue, to try and evacuate hundreds of people stranded by the floods. many homes are still without power. entire villages are almost completely underwater. helicopters are being used to airlift people who are stuck on rooftops. but the evacuation efforts are proving to be very, very difficult. and that is because of the ferocity of the downpour. this is the heaviest rainfall that greece has seen in decades. you can see the damage behind me. bridges, roads are very badly damaged and the authorities have been unable to reach some of the worst affected areas. and that's because the water is so deep.

so there are still villages that are completely cut off and nobody has been able to reach them yet. now, climate change has caused heavy rainfall and heavy flooding in greece in the past few years. and what's happening here this week comes after a summer of devastating wildfires. so the concern here is that natural disasters like wildfires or like flooding are becoming more and more common and we can see the consequences. several people have died this week in greece because of the storm and the authorities are searching for several people who are still missing. and so the fear is that the death toll could rise. thank you for watching. we will be back at the top of the hour with an in—depth look at what is at stake for china, russia

and the rest of the world. stay with us here on bbc news. hi there. for many, this weekend is going to be hot and humid again, especially for england and wales, with temperatures only slowly coming down across scotland and northern ireland. and as the cooler air starts to invade in there, we're likely to see increasing chance of thundery downpours, some of which could be quite heavy in places. certainly england and wales on sunday. now we've had some cloud drifting up from the south as we move into the early part of saturday, some mist and low cloud around some coasts of south west england and wales. and it's here where we could see some showers or some thunderstorms, same too, across the north and the west of scotland. but elsewhere, it's a dry and a clear night. and again, another very warm and muggy one to start saturday morning with temperatures no lower than around 18 or 19 in one or two spots. so it's a very warm start to saturday, pretty much from the word go. we'll have sunshine around, but well, this weather front will be pushing into the north west of scotland, bringing thicker cloud breeze, outbreaks of rain,

a few showers elsewhere. and there will be some scattered thundery showers developing across england and wales as we see temperatures peak at around 32 or 33 degrees in the south east. so this could be the hottest day of the heatwave. but these showers and thunderstorms, although well scattered, could be pretty intense if you catch one and there's a chance of some localised flooding as well. but most places will be dry to take us into saturday evening. we could see further clusters of showers and thunderstorms running up from the south. again, it's going to be a warm and a muggy night, especially so for england and wales with temperatures beginning to come down across the northwest. now the great north run on sunday across northeast england looks pretty decent actually, although there will be some rain around. some of it could be thundery. these temperatures will be pretty comfortable for running in, but we could start off with some thundery rain in the morning and then into the afternoon. heavy showers could develop with a bit of sunshine in between. but sunday is another warm and humid one for england

and wales, with a scattering of thunderstorms developing into the afternoon. temperatures again up to 30 degrees in the south east, but you'll notice the low 20s for scotland and northern ireland. so things are turning cooler and the trend as we head into next week is for this cooler, fresher, less humid air to spread southwards across the country. and that'll introduce northwesterly winds and also plenty of showers, particularly in the north and the west. it'll be much cooler by day, much fresher at night, but still some good spells of sunshine across the south.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after this programme. thailand's landscapes are like something from a dream... ah! imean... i mean, look at this. this is absolutely stunning! ..from dazzling coastlines to lush countryside and wildlife that will take your breath away. visions of paradise that in normal times attract more than 30 million of us every year. but that weight of numbers isn't necessarily good news for this country's fragile natural heritage. the boats are disturbing the sediment and that also harms a lot of the coral reef in this area.