from ukraine's president, accusing them of moving too slowly to confront russia. but first to the fight against climate change. as the un focuses on urgently addressing a warming planet, the uk's prime minister generated his own headlines back home, announcing plans to roll back some of his government's environmental targets. speaking at downing street, rishi sunak announced that a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars will be introduced in 2035 instead of 2030. the scrapping of gas boilers to be replaced by heat pumps will also be delayed until 2035. but the prime minister says he remains committed to reaching net zero by 2050, meaning the uk would no longer add to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. so i'm interested in the right long—term thing for the country and actually bringing people along with me and minimising those costs on families and that's why i think what we're announcing today — it is a

break from the past. it is a change. it's a different way to approach these decisions. britain's 0pposition labour party has condemned mr sunak�*s move and vowed to stick to the government's original net zero strategy. and the scottish national party, which holds power in scotland, has also criticised the uk government's change of course. earlier i spoke to the first minister of scotland, humza yousaf. first minister, thank you so much forjoining us on bbc news. i want to start with the uk prime minister rishi sunak�*s announcement today on climate goals. the uk has been a leader on battling climate change. where does this decision leave the uk? well, it very firmly takes the uk out of the global consensus. the global consensus is we need to do more to tackle climate change. and the reason why scotland has been invited, for the first time, to the un for the climate ambition summit is because we are showing leadership. so the same day we are showing leadership, the same day the whole world is gathered to talk about what more we can do, we have a uk prime minister rolling back on commitments. are you saying that he's not showing leadership?

not only is he not showing leadership, i think what he's doing is utterly unforgiveable. it is something that, frankly, you would see on the fringes — not in the mainstream — on the fringes of politics, not in the mainstream. and what he's done is he's taken the uk out of that global consensus. i've been speaking to heads of government. i've been talking to heads of nations, and every single one i've spoken to, virtually every single one, has asked me what on earth the prime minister is doing. it's, frankly, an embarrassment. and what have you answered? i've answered look, i'm from scotland. i'm responsible for what i can do. and i promise you we'll continue to show leadership. we'll just—transition away from fossil fuels to renewables and we'll commit to loss and damages. we'll continue to do everything we can to get the uk government to u—turn, to change course. because it is simply unforgiveable because our children and future generations will be the ones who will suffer as a result. and the uk has lost a lot of influence over the years, post brexit. it's now, i'm afraid, diminished, i think, beyond recognition. so if you look at what rishi sunak has said,

he has said that people are struggling with cost of living and the uk will still be able to meet its climate goals. what's your response to that? just as a side, of course, people are struggling with the cost—of—living crisis because his predecessor completely tanked the economy with a mini budget that meant inflation went up beyond 10%. but let's put that to the side for a moment. he's right. people are suffering a cost—of—living crisis, so it's incumbent on government to step up and support people. so in scotland, for example, when it comes to if you want to buy an electric vehicle, we provide monetary support. when it comes ro changing your heating system from a direct—emission heating system to a zero—emission heating system, we provide funding. we provide funding in order to transition away from oil and gas and towards renewables. so governments have to step up, not step back. at the same time, it is also going to be difficult to balance, in scotland, combatting climate change and also helping people with the cost of living, isn't it? of course. this is all about difficult choices. let's not pretend. let's not equivocate. this is going to be difficult. the climate catastrophe deserves difficult choices.

we have to make difficult choices. if we don't, what we saw this summer, all of the scenes of devastation across the world, including, of course, here in the united states, it will be worse next year and worse the year after and the year after and the year after. it is more expensive, both to economic costs, but human cost to do nothing. i want to come back to your point about the uk's place in the world, because we spoke a little bit earlier to the former us vice—president al gore, and he said that he was also befuddled. he doesn't, of course, have any thoughts on uk politics as he's not a citizen, but he's befuddled by the decision. he said the following. he said he has spoken to members of the conservative party "who have used the phrase utter disgust and contempt and young people feel really strongly about this". is that the sentiment in scotland as well? they'll feel betrayed. the difference is at least people in scotland have a scottish government that can try to prevent some of the harm that's coming from westminster. but we can't do all of it. we can't protect them entirely, because the full levers are not in our hand.

and al gore is absolutely right. there is utter disgust, i think, at the uk government's u—turn, the prime minister's u—turn in dumping some of these pledges. i don't even think electorally, it's going to work for him either. what do you mean by that? i think he's taken a political calculation. he's looked at some number somewhere that's been given to him that says if you go on this issue, it will help you in the polls. i really don't think it will. i think most people out there see the news, see the pictures, see the devastation and what they don't want is their world leaders or their heads of government, regardless of politics, to roll back. they want them to step up. that's what the scottish government will do. it's just a shame that uk government, as i say, have further diminished their standing in the world by this nonsensical announcement. again, rishi sunak would make the argument that his constituents in the uk would say we need to bring down the costs of energy at a time when people are really struggling to pay the bills at the end of the month and in the meantime, while meeting 2050 goals, it is important to make sure people can get by. and look, i agree that

people are struggling. so the responsibility for the uk government is to make sure that they do energy market reform. why don't they make sure they price renewable energy so that it is, of course, cheaper than electric and gas? look, on our west coast, we have the united states that have brought in the inflation reduction act. they've shown that they're will to put money to incentivise, to bring that investment in renewable technologies to their country. on our east coast, we have the eu, who's done a green deal partnership. and what's the uk done? they've twiddled their thumbs, they've sat on their hands, they've decided that they're not going to do anything. and that's bad for our planet but it's also really bad for the cost—of—living crisis. scotland has an abundance of renewable technology. if you've been to scotland, which i know you have, it's a windy place, which is not grate for your tourist experience but is great for renewables. but the uk government have never priced it properly and it could mean cheaper energy for everyone in the uk. a few days ago you said scotland would transition to be the net zero capital

and provide moral leadership on the climate crisis but can scotland actually still do that with the prime minister's announcement today? do you know what? i wish i could give you the absolute straight answer and say definitely. the difficulty is we'll need to look at what the uk government have done and whether that impacts us because many of the levers still exist with the uk government. the power is in their hands over a number of issues. so i need to look at the detail of that. what i won't do is i won't step back on my ambition. 0ur ambition remains to be net zero five years earlier than the uk in 2045. that remains the ambition and even if the uk government put roadblock after roadblock, ourjob will be to find a way to overcome that. i understand you have to go back and look at the details but what concrete steps can you take, that is scotland, to move forward despite the restrictions from the uk? i suppose one of the biggest things is put up, as we have agreed to do, £500 million for thejust transition from oil and gas to renewables. because, look, ultimately, we don't want to leave a single oil and gas worker on the scrapheap. that's not fair.

that's not a just transition. so we have to invest. what i've said to the uk government is, look, you have extracted billions of pounds to the uk treasury, hundreds of billions, over the decades, from oil and gas. put a fraction of that back in order to help us with a just transition and that's what i'd urge the prime minister to do. so one of the key debates about the uk's climate ambition is over rosebank, one of the largest oilfields, that is still untapped. now, with the prime minister's announcements, will you push for that to indeed remain untapped? i'm not at all convinced that rosebank should be going ahead for quite obvious reasons, i think, particularly the argument around energy security, when the majority of rosebank as you rightly say is oil and that oil then gets exported. it doesn't stay in scotland or indeed the uk. what i would say is if you want another example of the abdication of political responsibility from the prime minister, he came up to scotland, i mean, a week, two weeks at most after the secretary—general of the un said thatjuly was said to be

the hottest month in human history —— set to be. and unlimited oil and gas extraction is not going to help scotland, the uk, and most importantly it isn't going to help the planet. what message are you taking back from this un general assembly? particularly on climate, back to the uk? pretty simple message. we all have to do more. we have to do that with pace and urgency and let's stop overcomplicating the matter. we have to put up the finance in order to transition. we have to make sure that we work with the global south around loss and damages and we have to phase out oil and gas. it is actually pretty simple when you boil it down and we have to take collective action and scotland is certainly willing to play her part. first minister, thank you so much forjoining us. thank you for your time. the un secretary—general warned a summit of leaders on wednesday that time is running out to tackle climate change. antonio guterres was addressing the climate ambition summit, one of many gatherings taking place here at the un. he invited 3a countries to speak about their own

actions on climate change. and he placed blame on those standing in the way of progress. the move from fossil fuels to renewables is happening, but we are decades behind. we must make up time lost to foot—dragging, arm—twisting, and the naked greed of entrenched interests raking in billions from fossil fuels. one of those in attendance at the climate ambition summit was washington state governorjay inslee. he's been a leading force among the nation's governors in addressing environmental challenges. governor inslee laid out for my colleague caitriona perry the areas where his administration has been successful battling climate change. well, i think we've succeeded for three reasons. one — we have had action today rather than just aspiration for decades thanjust aspiration for decades from now. i think, actually, the road to destruction is paved with long—term aspirations. we need action today.

so we've decided to not be hooking up toxic gas to our homes and businesses starting just in a few months. that's action today rather than just aspirations of what we're going to do in 2030 or 2050. second — we haven't relied just on offsets. there's an idea that you can just have offsets somehow and shuck your responsibility off to some other continent or country. we don't think that works. it's kind of like building one of these new york skyscrapers, you know, just on sponge cake. it's not sustainable, doesn't really work. and third — we've recognised that we can't be shackling our children to these multidecadal fossil fuel infrastructure projects. it means, you know, 50 or 60 years, of continuing to be addicted to this material. and that's just not acceptable. you know, when you're in a hole, you need to stop digging. and fossilfuel is a you need to stop digging. and fossil fuel is a hole we're in right now. we've got to stoping for our future. right now. we've got to stoping for ourfuture. so i think those are the three things we've been stepping. we have a capital invest bill, we have a

low—carbon fuel standard. we're going to wean ourselves off gas cars. we're making progress. fin cars. we're making progress. on that, when you look at something that, say, has been outlined today by the british prime minister rishi sunak actually delaying some of the targets, moving to delay the ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035, what's your response to that?— response to that? well, we're movin: response to that? well, we're moving forward. _ response to that? well, we're moving forward. we - response to that? well, we're moving forward. we have - response to that? well, we're moving forward. we have a i response to that? well, we're. moving forward. we have a law response to that? well, we're i moving forward. we have a law - moving forward. we have a law — 2035, we want to make ours to 2035. ithink 2035, we want to make ours to 2035. i think that's achievable. people love these cars. they're safe. they're quiet. people arejust cars. they're safe. they're quiet. people are just snapping them up. you know, it was interesting during our super bowl — what we call football in america — almost every single ad was forfully america — almost every single ad was for fully electric cars. people just love them. so ad was for fully electric cars. peoplejust love them. so i think it's going to be shocking to people how fast we bring them into production and usage. and your — i believe it was your mayor in london today, at least someone from london spoke today, how they're moving forward in their city. he expressed disappointment that the national government wasn't

going to hew to its commitments. so what we've found in our state is the technology has come on so fast and so cheap, they always outperform our expectations. solar—powered cars have come down 80% in the last decade. so if you ask for it, they'll hope up, you'll have good technology.- up, you'll have good technology. up, you'll have good technolo: . ., ~' technology. so do you think rishi sunak _ technology. so do you think rishi sunak is _ technology. so do you think rishi sunak is making - technology. so do you think rishi sunak is making a - rishi sunak is making a mistake, then?- rishi sunak is making a mistake, then? well, listen, i'm not- -- — mistake, then? well, listen, i'm not... not _ mistake, then? well, listen, i'm not... not the _ mistake, then? well, listen, i'm not... not the prime - i'm not... not the prime minister or king, you know, for the united kingdom, so i reserve a little bit of judgement. i believe we will be fully available for electric cars in 2030. that's what i believe. under ourfederal cars in 2030. that's what i believe. under our federal law, we can only do it to 2035 right now in our country. we'd like to change that so we can go faster. i think electric cars are here and people are going to love them even more than they do today. it to love them even more than they do today-— they do today. it is an international - they do today. it is an international effort, i they do today. it is an - international effort, though, that's required.— international effort, though, that's required.- to | that's required. indeed. to - lease that's required. indeed. to please these _ that's required. indeed. to please these climate - that's required. indeed. to| please these climate goals. indeed. 50 please these climate goals. indeed. ., ., ., indeed. so one part of a country _ indeed. so one part of a country is _ indeed. so one part of a country is speeding - indeed. so one part of a i country is speeding things indeed. so one part of a - country is speeding things up and another is showing to down. well, here's the good news. i always like to focus on the

good news. first off, we can do this. we know we can do this. we have the technologies today. these renewable energies, we just had a wind and solar developer talk to us, they are as cheap or cheaper than fossil fuels and most of the world today, they're available. and we have the power of other governments rather than our national government. so california, washington, london are going faster than our national governments. we call ourselves our supernationals. we're more aggressive. we want to go further faster than our national government. and that's really important that we're doing t we have 60% of the whole us economy and the us climate alliance that's going faster than the us congress. so that's good news.— that's good news. what would ou like that's good news. what would you like to _ that's good news. what would you like to see _ that's good news. what would you like to see the _ that's good news. what would you like to see the us - that's good news. what would l you like to see the us congress push forward on, bearing in mind that it might shut down the week after next?- the week after next? well, i would like — the week after next? well, i would like them _ the week after next? well, i would like them to - the week after next? well, i would like them to just - the week after next? well, i - would like them to just embrace nationally what we've done in my state of washington state. is that realistic, though? it’s

is that realistic, though? it's certainl is that realistic, though? it�*s certainly achievable, politically, if they'll do t there's no reason not to. a low—carbon fuel standard to bring more efficiency to people with their cars, a capital invest bill to put a price on carbon and put that money back in to help people get access to electric cars and heat pumps and more efficient housing, a cessation of hook—ups for gas, you know, stop huge infrastructure depending on new infrastructure, those things are achievable nationally. i'd certainly like them to do t and you know what happens when you do it? you get a better economy. my state's got one of the best economies in the face right now in part because we're buildingual these clean energy jobs in my state. [30 buildingual these clean energy jobs in my state.— jobs in my state. do you think there could _ jobs in my state. do you think there could be _ jobs in my state. do you think there could be bipartisan - there could be bipartisan support for something like that, though?— support for something like that, thou~h? ~ _, that, though? well, there could be, but that, though? well, there could be. but there — that, though? well, there could be, but there won't _ that, though? well, there could be, but there won't be, - be, but there won't be, unfortunately, because we have one party that's sort of a cult right knew and that's following a person who used to serve as president, no longer serves as president, no longer serves as president, who says this is a hoax. and the republican party, unfortunately, has been awol on

this. we'd like them to help but they're not available to help. they won't help. he refuse to help. they think it's a hoax. as long as the republican party thinks climate change is a hoax, we'll have to depend on democrats to carry the load. we're happy to do that and we need more democrats in office to do that. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the group that won a supreme court victory that struck down race—conscious college admissions is now taking its fight to the us military academy. students for fair admissions are suing west point, arguing it unlawfully discriminates against applicants on the basis of race. a west point spokesperson would not comment on the suit. the us attorney general told congress that he's "not the president's lawyer". republican lawmakers grilled merrick garland on capitol hill on wednesday. they accuse him of targeting donald trump, but not being hard enough on hunter biden, the president's son. garland said numerous times

that the cases against both men are being overseen by special counsel. the mediterranean diet could cost you more — olive oil prices have spiked. us government data shows that the price of olive oil surged 130 percent last month. that's the most since 1996. analysts blame dry weather in the mediterranean for disruptions in olive oil production. it comes as the world's largest olive oil producer, spain, suffers a 2—year drought. you are watching bbc news. the prime minister of poland says his country will stop providing weapons to ukraine, in an escalation of a dispute between the two countries over ukraine's right to export grain to the eu. russia's invasion forced ukraine to export most of its grain over land into europe, sparking protests from eu farmers about plummeting prices. in response, the eu imposed a temporary ban on urainian grain. that eu—wide ban expired last month, but poland, hungary and slovakia

kept their own national bans in place, a move that has rankled kyiv. in his speech here at the un general assembly on tuesday, ukraine's president, volodymr zelenskyy, said some of ukraine's "friends in europe, play out solidarity "in a political theatre, making a thrillerfrom grain". poland condemned mr zelensky�*s remarks, and summoned ukraine's ambassador, accusing kyiv of implying that poland is indirectly supporting russia. poland's prime minister, mateusz morawiecki, says poland will stop sending weapons to ukraine in order to focus on modernising its own armed forces. speaking to a polish tv network, mr morawiecki said, "we were the first to do a lot for ukraine and that's why "we expect for them to understand our interests. "of course we respect all of their problems, "but for us, the interests of our farmers "are the most important thing." the move by poland follows zelenskyy�*s address to a highly watched special meeting of the security council. he said it needs to do more to confront russia, including removing its veto power in the group.

just four other nations: the us, china, france, and britain have "the right to veto" resolutions in the unsc. in cases of mass atrocities against human rights veto power should be voluntary suspended but we can also observe that russia will not give up this stolen privilege voluntarily. therefore the un general assembly should be given a real power to overcome the veto. this will be the first necessary step. it is impossible to stop the war because all efforts are vetoed ljy because all efforts are vetoed by the aggressor. russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov defended the veto power, calling it a "legitimate tool." other countries, including estonia, havejoined ukraine in calling for reform of the un security council's veto powers. i spoke to estonian foreign minister, margus tsahkna, earlier. can you tell us what his message was to security council members?— message was to security council members? , ,., ., , , members? the message was very clear. members? the message was very clear- the — members? the message was very clear. the security _ members? the message was very clear. the security council- members? the message was very clear. the security council is - clear. the security council is not working because the aggressor and is using their

veto right and blocking everything. and also it harms a lot — the un charter. all the basic groups, all the rules we have agreed as a global society and it cannot be prolonged in the meaning of — we need reform as well in the security council. watcher that look like? we must take out from the rhetoric these kinds of decisions as connected to this russian crime. the crimes against humanity and war crimes. in his remarks at the un, mr zelenskyy has also made it a point to mention russia's dangerous attacks on nuclear plants, including on zaphorizhia. my colleague caitriona perry spoke with rafael grossi, the director general of the international atomic energy agency about the security of the plants. from the very beginning we took the bull by the horns and we went there. the iaea is present there it is the international organisation that is present and that is providing assistance and informing

international community of what is going on. i have been seeing president zelensky frequently so for the minister yesterday we are continuing their support. i negotiated here at the united nations security council a certain number of basic principles that should be observed to avoid a nuclear accident with serious radiological consequences. boiling down to attack from a nuclear plant or don't militarise a nuclear power plant using it as a military base to project for. so far we have been able to contain this situation. i'm not saying it is stable or that we have reached any point of satisfaction in terms of the security of the plant, we go day by day. we have to continue. meanwhile, volodymyr zelenskyy�*s tour of the us will continue on thursday with a visit to washington, dc. he will will travel to capitol hill to meet with members of both the house and senate. and he'll visit the defense

department where he is expected to speak with defense secretary lloyd austin. the ukrainian president will also meet with president joe biden at the white house. this visit comes as zelenskyy is looking for congressional support for the biden administration's request for $24 billion in additional aid for ukraine, amid a looming us budget battle. just hours ago, azerbaijan's president, ilham aliyev, said he had restored full sovereignty over the armenian—majority region of nagorno—karabakh, which has been ruled as an unrecognised breakaway republic since 1991. in a statement after accepting a ceasefire deal from the separatist forces, mr aliyev insisted he had nothing against the ethnic armenian population, only what he called their "criminal leadership". mr aliev launched a military offensive two days ago, claiming that troops from neighbouring armenia were on ground in nagorno—karabakh. armenian officials denied those claims and said azerbaijan had carried out a clear violation of international law. despite mr aliyev�*s

reassurances, the white house has expressed concern about a worsening humanitarian situation. many armenians appear to be fleeing the region.russian peacekeepers say they've already evacuated at least 2000 people. reports say hundreds, if not thousands, have headed to the region's main airport. reyhan demetrie has more. the wednesday ceasefire agreement marks the failure of a 35—year struggle of the karabakh armenians for self—determination. uncertainty now looms over the 120,000 ethnic armenians living in the region. almost everybody there has a family member who fought in wars with azerbaijan and many fear persecution. azerbaijan says that the rights of ethnic armenians will be guaranteed under its constitution but there is very little or no trust between the two communities. azerbaijan's anti—terror operation was the

final push by barcoo to regain territories it lost in the 1990s, with the aim to return hundreds of thousands of azerbaijani's displaced by the conflict. the republic of armenia, which supported karabakh armenians both financially and militarily, has suffered a bitter defeat and its relation with russia, once a powerful ally, have reached a new low. un human rights experts have denounced a controversial bill in iran that would increase prison terms and fines for women and girls who break its strict dress code, which has just passed parliament there. the bill targets so—called �*repeat violators. the move comes just a few days after the anniversary of the death of mahsa amini — a woman who died in custody after being held by morality police for an allegedly improper hijab prompting protest across the nation. it still needs to be approved by the guardian council to become law.

that is a show at this hour on bbc news. you can get our latest coverage of the un general assembly here on bbc on a website and make sure to follow us on twitter. thank you for watching. hello, there. wednesday was a wet and a windy day starting off across north—west wales, capel curig, where we had gusts of wind of 70 miles an hour. it was here where we also saw some very heavy rain. over the space of 36 hours, 133 millimetres fell — a good chunk of the september average. and so far this month, we've actually had 226 millimetres of rain, so it has already been a wetter september than average. and, of course, there's more of september just around the corner. the same area of low pressure that brought all of us

wet and windy weather conditions stays to the north of the uk over the next couple of days, and certainly windy at the moment with rain in scotland. another rain band slowly pulling away from east anglia and south—east england. what follows essentially for england and wales is a day of sunny spells and showers. however, that low pressure will continue to bring strong winds to scotland and to northern ireland. and, in fact, it's notjust windy, this band of rain will push its way southwards, so the rain does return to the central lowlands and to northern ireland after a sunny start. for england and wales, those showers really get going into the afternoon, and i think across parts of wales and south—west england, some of the showers will merge together to give some really intense downpours. it could be pretty prolonged, as well. temperatures quite close to average, really — about 15 to 19 degrees celsius. 0n into friday, it's the same story. the low pressure is still there for northern scotland. these strong north—westerly winds bringing frequent showers to the north and western side of the uk, but into the afternoon there'll be showers popping up in the east, as well.

some of them could be heavy — again, with the odd rumble of thunder — and the temperatures not really changing too much, about 15 to 18 degrees celsius. feeling cool in the north, given those strong winds. now, heading into saturday, another change — we'll get a ridge of high pressure building in ahead of this next weather system. what all this means is that saturday, actually, is going to be an ok day. 0k, there'll be a few showers for northern scotland, but most of us will have a fine and sunny morning. make the most of that because cloud will tend to build in, and certainly into the afternoon we'll start to see some rain arriving in northern ireland, and perhaps fringe into western scotland, but that is towards the end of the day and, overall, saturday's looking 0k. by sunday, well, the low pressure in the atlanticjust nudges a bit closer, we've got another band of rain moving into the west, and so it does turn quite windy and increasingly unsettled with rain and showers around, and that's probably going to stay with us, as well, into the early part of next week.

higherfor longer — the us federal reserve holds steady on interest rates, but warns that the fight against inflation is far from over. and reviving tourism in the land of smiles. we look into why thailand is anxiously awaiting the return of chinese visitors. hello and welcome to asia business report. we begin with the latest monetary policy decision by the us federal reserve,

which is keeping rates unchanged. but not without leaving the door open to an increase, before the end of the year. officials are feeling more optimistic about growth in the world's largest economy, but they are also saying that they expect rates to stay higher for longer. and this is how the wall street decided to the news. all the three major us stock indices retreated in the wake of the announcement. the bbc�*s correspondent has the latest from new york. the us federal reserve left interest rates steady between 5.25% and 5.5%, its highest level in over two decades, as it weighed up its next steps. now, officials at america's central bank signalled that they are prepared to hike one more time this year. they also don't expect to cut rates by as much next year as they have suggested perhaps in the past. fed chairjerome powell explained why central bankers were moving towards holding rates higherfor longer. economic activity has been

stronger than we expected, stronger than i think everyone expected.