the office of the speaker of the house of the united states house of representatives is declared vacant. history in the united states congress — kevin mccarthy, officially the first speaker of the us house of representatives to be forced out of his post after a vote by lawmakers. i'm sumi somaskanda, on a busy day here in the us capital. that vote has thrown the us house of representatives into chaos. republicans will not meet again until next week to sort out who will become the next speaker. kevin mccarthy said he will not run again, blaming those in his conference who voted against him for the turmoil here in washington. my my theory is the institution fell today. because you cannot

do the job for eight people, you have 96% of your entire conference but eight members can partner with your whole other side. can partner with your whole otherside. how can partner with your whole other side. how do you govern? as of now, there's no clear candidate to replace him. republicans are now going home for the week, effectively shutting down the house. they say they may have a candidate by next tuesday with a possible vote next wednesday, but that all remains very fluid. it was all brought on after congressman matt gaetz, of florida, launched the vote to oust the speaker. after some debate, lawmakers voted 216 to 210 vote to remove mccarthy from the leadership position. gaetz and seven other republicans, joined by all 208 democrats present in the room, voted to remove mccarthy. our correspondent, gary o'donoghue, has more from outside capitol hill. a truly historic moment in the life of this country. never in the 234 years since the american constitution was put

in place, never has a speaker of the house of representatives been removed. kevin mccarthy in truth was heading for a fall. there were people in his party who never liked him. it took 15 votes at the beginning of the congress to get him to confirmed as speaker in the first place and ever since, a small group of republicans have been voicing their opposition to him. the final straw came in the last few days when he did a deal with democrats to keep the government open for 45 days, that push them over the edge and they brought this motion. they got the help of democrats, of course, to get him removed and now the question is who can actually get to 218 votes to be elected speaker? in the meantime, all of business has been put on hold and the question of the funding of the federal government will be delayed. allies of america around the world will be wondering what is happening for money for the ukraine, which is also not agreed at this time,

and the republican conference, the democratic caucus in the house, huddling this evening to try to work out what to do next. in truth, the congress, one of the great branches of government in this country, is in complete paralysis. one of the eight members of the republican party who voted to oust mccarthy is congressman ken buck, of colorado. i spoke with him in the last hour and he defended his vote. i will put my conservative record of voting up against anybody, particularly from someone from california like speaker mccarthy or some of the other critics who have criticised me from new york. i believe that we're spending too much money in this country. i could believe it is an existential threat to the country. i believe that we need to in this point of time make sure we are doing the right thing and spending responsibly and that is why voted the way i did. other republican lawmakers are angry at the eight members of his party who voted to oust mccarthy. after the vote, republican don bacon said matt gaetz should be

thrown out of the republican party. earlier i spoke with mr bacon, before mccarthy announced he's not running again for speaker. congressmen, great to have you back on bbc news. your thoughts on what we saw happen today. fix, on what we saw happen today. bad day for america. we had eight republicans vote with 100% of republicans — as democrats to remove speaker mccarthy and it is really a vote for chaos. we had so many important issues we have to decide on right now, appropriations bills, farmville, defence bill, and all of this will go on hold. i think it weakens america and i think it weakens america and i think it's a good day if you are a russian government guy or are a russian government guy or a chinese communist, you are probably, they are probably smiling are given high—fives to matt gaetz. did smiling are given high-fives to matt gaetz— matt gaetz. did you speak to an of matt gaetz. did you speak to any of the — matt gaetz. did you speak to any of the eight _ matt gaetz. did you speak to any of the eight members i matt gaetz. did you speak to l any of the eight members and what did they tell you about the reasoning? mil what did they tell you about the reasoning?— the reasoning? all different reasons and _ the reasoning? all different reasons and most _ the reasoning? all different reasons and most want - the reasoning? all different reasons and most want to l the reasoning? all different. reasons and most want to get the border fixed and

reasons and most want to get the borderfixed and most reasons and most want to get the border fixed and most are focused on spending but they do not seem to realise that we are not seem to realise that we are not just the not seem to realise that we are notjust the us house of representatives. we are also the senate. it is a democrat runs senate and president and therefore you have to negotiate get the best deal you have to do. speaker mccarthy is done that. the president refused to negotiate for months and months over the budget but kevin mccarthy forced him to the table. they got 12 concessions and $2 trillion in budget cuts. so, what these folks demand the impossible and they have basically taken a four seat majority and made us not a governing majority because you cannot count on these, between five and sometimes up to 15 people but today. i5 five and sometimes up to 15 people but today.— people but today. is there an one people but today. is there anyone congressmen - people but today. is there anyone congressmen you | people but today. is there - anyone congressmen you think could be the speaker who have enough votes among your republicans to become speaker? kevin mccarthy is the best choice and frankly the only choice. anybody else that they

put out there and get 218 republican votes, festival, it would be hard to get to 218 with these people but they may agree to that initially but the demands will be so unrealistic that within a few months they will be wanting to vacate the chair in the next speaker. frankly the only answer is we have to have, look at this in a more bipartisan way. and for a more bipartisan way. and for a more bipartisan way. integrate ways we can get a bipartisan vote for speaker which means we have to negotiate on the rules for example, committee ratios and things like that. by doing that you can make these eight people irrelevant, put them aside and really they need to be irrelevant. they are ungovernable. i do think members of your party would go along with that? i don't know, i'm advocating for it because i'm advocating for it because i'm advocating for it because i'm a trust player and i can read and think three or four or five moves down the road and in the end you will only get a governing majority in a bipartisan way in this congress. we only have a four

seat majority and have between five people today, it was eight, that refused to be part of the governing majority and then you have to find a different answer. my goal would be to make these eight people irrelevant and find a way we can govern more effectively and it has to be done in a bipartisan way.- it has to be done in a bipartisan way. it has to be done in a biartisan wa . ., ., bipartisan way. you said today was a vote _ bipartisan way. you said today was a vote for _ bipartisan way. you said today was a vote for chaos _ bipartisan way. you said today was a vote for chaos and - bipartisan way. you said today was a vote for chaos and you | was a vote for chaos and you saw earlier that matt gaetz said it was real chaos at the house was recess for six weeks and not vote on appropriations bill. he said that was a problem. do you understand that perspective? we problem. do you understand that perspective?_ problem. do you understand that perspective? we have always had auaust perspective? we have always had au . ust as perspective? we have always had august as a _ perspective? we have always had august as a working _ perspective? we have always had august as a working period - perspective? we have always had august as a working period and l august as a working period and the plan from june —— july, we made the budget agreement with president biden. the plan was to a short—term resolution bill to a short—term resolution bill to finish all 12 appropriations bills. many of the same people of the 80 have done everything they can to derail the appropriations bills and the committee and the rules and in two cases voted down the rulebook on the four for the

defensive appropriation bills, multiple times. the same people voted against a lot of the appropriations and slowed it and refused to do it to continue resolution. even one had an 8% cut in spending wasn't conservative enough. my point is these eight people do not want to govern, they do not want to lead. they are better off in a minority to yell and scream and vote know all the time. when you are in the majority, you have to make some compromises, you cannot get everything your way. at, compromises, you cannot get everything your way.- everything your way. a final question. — everything your way. a final question, are _ everything your way. a final question, are you _ everything your way. a final question, are you worried i everything your way. a final - question, are you worried about the message it sends to voters to the american people? absolutely. these eight people just had our country, are congress and the republican party for november 2024 and frankly, i think it's shameful. congressmen, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today. sharing your thoughts with us toda . ,., ., sharing your thoughts with us toda . ., sharing your thoughts with us toda. ., ., ~ ., today. good to talk to you aaain. the biden administration has weighed in on tuesday's events on capitol hill. after the vote, presidentjoe biden said in a statement: "the urgent challenges

facing our nation "will not wait." he hopes the house will quickly elect a speaker. the american people deserve leadership that puts the issues affecting their lives front and centre. i spoke with democratic representative annie kuster for her take on the democrats role in all of this. are you surprised what we saw transpire today? i are you surprised what we saw transpire today?— transpire today? i was not surprised _ transpire today? i was not surprised because - transpire today? i was not surprised because we - transpire today? i was not| surprised because we have transpire today? i was not - surprised because we have seen it coming for quite some time now. really, what this was about was that kevin mccarthy had a choice from the very beginning. he only had a five vote margin and ever since the beginning of the session when it took 15 votes for him to win the speakership back last january, he has steadily eroded his position by caving into an extreme right—wing element of his party. now what we saw is they have turned on him. when they have turned on him. when they turned on him, he could not maintain his majority.

congresswoman, this leaves the house of representatives paralysed, as you know. democrats did have some options here and could have decided not to vote for example to keep kevin mccarthy in his position as speaker. was this the right decision for democrats? absolutely because kevin mccarthy refused to negotiate. you refused to come to democrats. the absolutely had that option. we have been talking about it for quite some time now. he had plenty of opportunity to come to us and propose what we would consider to be a power—sharing agreement. i think this is something that happens frequently in the british parliament. it is not as common here in the united states but certainly in state legislatures across the country they have done the. if across the country they have done the-— across the country they have done the. .. , , done the. if i can “ust “ump in their... ah done the. if i canjust “ump in their... a bipartisan _ their... a bipartisan power—sharing agreement in such a divided house, do you really think that is possible?

absolutely. i don't think there's any reason why so much of our legislation is broadly conceived, it's bipartisan, if you look at something like aid to ukraine right now, strong bipartisan majority, every single democrat, over half of the republican caucus supporting it in the house, and equally strong bipartisan majority in the senate. president biden has asked for this aid, kevin mccarthy refused to bring it to the floor of the house for a vote and we could easily take that vote. another example is our farm bill set to expire and we need to reauthorise our farm bill, broad bipartisan support... bill, broad bipartisan support- - -_ support... right, so congresswoman... l support... right, so i congresswoman... you support... right, so - congresswoman... you are support... right, so _ congresswoman... you are saying there are examples of bipartisan, two parties working together but at the moment, funding is going to run out once again injust funding is going to run out once again in just about a months time and there is no

speaker. what happens? there will be another _ speaker. what happens? there will be another speaker. - speaker. what happens? there will be another speaker. we . speaker. what happens? there will be another speaker. we goj will be another speaker. we go back into session in the morning and the speaker will be chosen. i'm not concerned there will not be a speaker. 0bviously will not be a speaker. obviously there is urgency to it but as you sawjust over the we came together to make sure that we did not shut down the government and we will continue to do that. that is absolutely a possibility and those conversations may be happening as we speak with a much more reasonable speaker who is willing to work with both sides of the aisle to get the job of the american people done. congresswoman, the last vote took 15 rounds, this could take time, i democrats partly responsible for not allowing the stability to get the work of congress done? this the stability to get the work of congress done?- the stability to get the work of congress done? this is 100% at the shoes — of congress done? this is 100% at the shoes of _ of congress done? this is 100% at the shoes of kevin _ of congress done? this is 100% at the shoes of kevin mccarthy. they have had plenty of opportunity to work across the aisle. we are absolutely ready

to do that. he refused. this is a civil war within the republican party. they need to come to their senses and we can move the country forward. congresswoman, really interesting conversation. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. good to be with you, thank you. ajudge in new york has issued a gag order against former president donald trump. it's the latest development from his fraud trial that opened this week in new york. the trial poses a major threat to trump's business empire. at stake is $250 million in potential fines, a permanent ban against trump and his sons from running businesses in new york, and a 5—year commercial real estate ban against trump and the trump organization. the bbc�*s nada tawfik reports from outside the courthouse. donald trump spent the full day again here in new york in court as he arrived he attacked the attorney general once more saying the entire case was a sham. , ., ., ., sham. inside he again heard with attorneys _ sham. inside he again heard with attorneys and - sham. inside he again heard with attorneys and was - sham. inside he again heard - with attorneys and was engaged

as the prosecution and defence questioned donald bender, a former accountant who worked former accountant who worked for the trump organisation for many years. mr bender said it was up to the company officials to certify the numbers they were giving was accurate. there was a number of objections that thejudge was a number of objections that the judge overruled from the defence side. for the most part, it was very stock standard question and answering. the real drama came outside of the courtroom when donald trump took to social media to attack the judge's clark. thejudge issued a gag order on the former president telling him he can no longer make personal comments about his staff, barring anyone else from doing so. during one of the break sleep i did get a chance to throw a question to donald trump. take a listen. mr trum - , donald trump. take a listen. ij�*i trump, will donald trump. take a listen. m trump, will you be testifying? yes, i will. trump, will you be testifying? yes, iwill. in trump, will you be testifying? yes, i will. in the appropriate time — yes, i will. in the appropriate time i— yes, iwill. in the appropriate time i wiii— yes, i will. in the appropriate time i will be. i think it is going _ time i will be. i think it is going very well. everybody was

given _ going very well. everybody was given financial statements and they are — given financial statements and they are extremely strong. it is much _ they are extremely strong. it is much more valuable. it cannot— is much more valuable. it cannot be fraud when you have told institutions to do their own— told institutions to do their own work. this case is a fraud and _ own work. this case is a fraud and it— own work. this case is a fraud and it is— own work. this case is a fraud and it is a _ own work. this case is a fraud and it is a scam. thank you very— and it is a scam. thank you very much _ and it is a scam. thank you very much-— and it is a scam. thank you ve much. ., , , very much. donald trump still has time to — very much. donald trump still has time to change _ very much. donald trump still has time to change his - very much. donald trump still has time to change his mind. | has time to change his mind. legal experts say that taking the stand would be a risky strategy and any false statements that he makes could open him up to perjury charges. at the end of the day, donald trump left and said he will be back tomorrow. in other us legal news, hunter biden has pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally owning a handgun. he put in that plea at a courthouse in the us state of delaware. prosecutors allege that the son of us presidentjoe biden lied about his drug use on application forms when he purchased the weapon in 2018. mr biden has acknowledged that he was a heavy user of crack cocaine at the time, but denies breaking the law. he faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted

of the three federal counts against him. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the bbc understands that british prime minister rishi sunak will announce in the next few hours the scrapping of the hs2 high—speed rail line from the west midlands to manchester. sunak is expected to set out a range of alternative projects in the north of england and wales. he is likely to argue these projects will be a better use of money and can be delivered more quickly. the government of pakistan has ordered all illegal immigrants to leave the country by the end of the month or face expulsion. the decision is thought to be targeting mainly afghan nationals, many of whom left the country after the taliban came to power in 2021. islamabad has blamed afghans for recent suicide attacks. india has reportedly asked canada to withdraw about 40 diplomatic staff from india amid an ongoing crisis between the two countries. the financial times first reported that diplomats who stay past october 10 would lose their

diplomatic immunity. last month, canada's prime minister said india may have been behind the killing of a sikh separatist leader on canadian soil. india has denied this. you're live with bbc news. turning to tragedy in venice, where a charter bus has fallen of a viaduct bridge in the neighbourhood of mestre, killing at least 20 people. devastating scenes show the destroyed bus under an overpass as firefighters continue to search for any remaining survivors of the crash. officials say the bus caught fire on impact on train tracks below. these are live pictures coming to us from italy where it's 4am right now. you can see firefighters and other emergency responders still at the scene. we now know that among the dead are five ukrainians, one german and the italian driver. at least 18 people are known to have been injured, five of them seriously. jon donnison has more. in the darkness,

emergency crews are battling to rescue the injured and recover the dead. the bus upturned and crushed by the force of the fall. from up on the bridge, it veered off — you can see the drop. eyewitnesses say the bus then caught fire when it hit the ground. it happened in the mestre district on the mainland, across the water from venice's tourist centre. in a statement on social media, the city's mayor said the scene at the crash site was apocalyptic, and italy's prime minister expressed her deepest condolences. on the bridge, you can see where the bus went through the crash barriers. investigators are now trying to work out why. officials are warning the number of people killed is likely to rise, with italian media reporting that several children are among the victims. jon donnison, bbc news. nato's most senior military official has warned that

ukraine's western allies are running out of ammunition to give to kyiv to fight russia. admiral rob bauer told a security forum in warsaw that, as he put it, the "bottom of the barrel" was visible. he's called on the arms industry to ramp up production considerably. britain has also echoed similar concerns. its ministerfor the armed forces james heappey described stockpiles as "a bit thin". he urged all nato members, at a minimum, to meet a commitment to spend 2% of their gdp on defence. ukraine currently depends on nato for the majority of its current ammunition stockpile. the uk defence ministry says it has given more than 300,000 rounds of ammunition to ukraine, while the us state department says it has given more than two million since the war began. earlier, my colleague caitriona perry spoke to former us secretary of defense bob gates before the vote to oust house speaker kevin mccarthy on capitol hill. mr secretary, thank you forjoining us. when you look at what someone called the chaos we are seeing in congress today

and over the past weekend, what impact does that have on the perception of us leadership abroad? i think it has a very negative impact. it basically calls into question the constancy of american commitments, whether we are prepared to — be in support of ukraine for the long haul, but, more broadly, can the government govern? can we do something as simple as get a budget? and, clearly, that is being called into question. you have been writing in foreign affairs about how this sort of dysfunction renders the us uncapable of delivering a strong and coherent response to threats. when we look at perhaps the situation in ukraine, regarding russia, we look at china as well, and then we see that the only way for congress

to be able to keep the government open is to remove that funding from ukraine from a temporary bill. how is that received? i think it does send a signal that it is going to be very difficult to get additional assistance for ukraine and, again, the whole question of whether the united states can be counted on to fulfil its commitments. the president says we will be in support of ukraine for as long as it takes, but that requires more appropriations by congress. now, i think that you will see an effort, significant effort, to include money for ukraine in whatever next appropriations or continuing resolution actions are taken by the congress, but i have heard some republican senators say that there is probably only support for one more large commitment of assistance to ukraine. that they do not want to do this, even those who are supportive

of ukraine, they do not want to go through this legislative battle every quarter. i think the likelihood of another big aid package is very real, and i think the likelihood of it being passed is quite strong, but the question then is — what happens next year? critics supporting this ukraine funding would question by sending $24 billion to ukraine when so much needs to be fixed domestically. how did the congress, the politicians, the president better sell that idea to americans? well, to use an old american expression, we need to be able to show that we can walk and chew gum at the same time, that we can meet our international commitments that protect our security and our interests at the same time we deal with domestic issues, whether it is the border, the budget or anything else. and, frankly, the notion that i have heard of my life people make the argument, well, why should

we invest in the space programme, why should we invest in defence when we have so many problems here at home? the reality is the country is big and wealthy as the us has to be able to do both, and i think the argument is that if you back away from ukraine and demonstrate that the united states will not fulfil its commitments, that that has profound consequences for our security and probably for our prosperity going forward. and on that note, what is your view of ukraine's chances of a victory against russia? the counteroffensive has clearly gone slower than the ukrainians expected. the russian defences have been more sophisticated and deeper i think than had been expected. i think they are making slow progress and they say they will continue to fight through the winter, although that makes the use of heavy equipment much more difficult

because of mud and so on. i think that the objective of the counteroffensive, at least initially, should be breaking through the russian defences and getting to the town of melitopol. that would break the russian land bridge to crimea and also give the ukrainians access to the sea of azov. that might be the opportunity for some kind of negotiation at that point, but i think that is still going to be a heavy lift for the counteroffensive because that's probably another 50 miles beyond where they are now, and it has been very tough going, but they have been making some progress. we have one more item for you. an inspiring story. she left her walker on the ground and off she went and made the 13,500—foot tandem jump. born and raised in chicago, dorothy hoffner, now a spirited 104—year—old, has achieved

a remarkable feat by becoming the oldest person in the world to tandem skydive from an airplane. she has surpassed the previous guinness world record set by linnea ingegard larsson from sweden, who completed the tandem jump at the age of 103. the organisers who facilitated dorothy's jump in chicago are working now to have her extraordinary accomplishment officially recognised by guinness world records. thanks for watching. i'm sumi somaskanda in washington. you can follow all the breaking news at bbc.news.com or on ourapp. stay with us. hello there. we're now all into some fresher feeling air. but temperatures are still a little above the average for this time of year. tuesday was rather blustery with sunshine and showers for most of the uk. there will be some more rain in the forecast as we head through the week, but it's mostly out towards the north and the west. the further south and east you are, the drier your week is likely to be, and then things will be turning warmer,

some more autumn warmth for most as we head into the weekend. now, on wednesday, as you can see, we've got rain out towards parts of western scotland, across northern ireland too, driven in by this area of low pressure. so it's a wet start to the day here, further south across england and wales, lots of clear skies throughout the night. so a chillier start to the morning than we've been used to of late and still rather breezy with a brisk westerly wind. now, it's across western areas of scotland, the west highlands, argyll and bute. there are some localised weather warnings in force, some of this rain likely to pep up at times. it curls around across to northeastern scotland, up towards the northern isles, and then our front sinks southwards across northern ireland, the borders, into northern england perhaps as we head through the afternoon. bright skies to the north of the weather front with a few showers around, the sunniest skies across england and wales, a few isolated showers out towards the west. temperatures again in the mid to the high teens with a brisk westerly wind blowing. now, we don't have to wait for too long before the next low—pressure system pushes some more fronts our way.

and they're going to arrive as we head through thursday morning. so some further outbreaks of rain, quite saturated ground by now out towards southwestern areas of scotland. the warnings extending further north as we head towards the end of the week. some spells of rain too for northern ireland. a lot of cloud being thrown towards eastern areas, the best of any brightness towards the southeast of england. temperatures once again in the mid to the high teens in celsius. now, as we head through friday, you'll notice that these weather fronts are starting to come more round towards the north and the west, being driven away by the high pressure building in from europe. and that is going to keep us largely dry throughout the weekend. and there will be a lot of sunshine around. as you can see with that now southerly wind, we start to see the warmer air feed through and the temperatures rise, particularly for england and wales. so it will be feeling warmer over the weekend. temperatures up to 26 celsius in southeast england on sunday, low to the mid 20s across much of wales, low 20s for northern ireland, perhaps a little cooler and wetter for scotland. bye— bye.

voiceover: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme.

imagine doing this while under enemy fire. trying to find and make safe a deadly hidden device which could also kill you. it's what these experienced ukrainian engineers have been doing for the past year. now, here in neighbouring poland, honing their skills. with the help of british sappers, who faced a similar threat in the heat and dust of afghanistan. gunfire. back in ukraine, this is what they are facing. ground littered with russian mines and explosives.