how much sweet does antony blinken have at the moment? have at the moment?— have at the moment? an interesting cuestion, have at the moment? an interesting question, someone _ have at the moment? an interesting question, someone who _ have at the moment? an interesting question, someone who speaks - have at the moment? an interesting question, someone who speaks on l question, someone who speaks on behalf of the united states in that position of secretary of state, whatever he says is deemed as the voice of the us in matters of food security and the situation in niger. there is a lot of interest in what he had to say. his views on the president of niger who is under house arrest, the wagner group, a lot of interest, and also, a sense in which whilst he was speaking to the bbc yesterday, in that exclusive interest, focus on accuracy —— africa, the secretary of state was in miami trying to see. what speculation is that you are seeing eight us that are increasingly trying to assert itself, may be more prominent in terms of what happens movin

us secretary of state, antony blinken, speaks to the bbc... every single place that this group, wagner group has gone, death, destruction and exploitation have followed. south american leaders meet to discuss measures to save the amazon rainforest. thousands gather on the streets of bray — to pay their respects to the singer sinead o'connor. hello, i'm lucy hockins, welcome to bbc news now. three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. we begin with the major political emergency unfolding in west africa — following a military coup in niger. diplomatic efforts to find a resolution to the crisis have stepped up a gear — with a warning from washington. speaking to the bbc, the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has voiced his concern that niger'sjunta might turn to the russian mercenary group wagnerfor help. the group is active in neighbouring countries and its leader has welcomed the takeover. the coup leaders are currently standing firm against calls to restore democratic rule. here's what mr blinken had to say about wagner. for

it feels more like autumn than august out there thanks to storm antoni.he western edge of this area of low pressure as it journeys eastwards through the rest of today. so a met office amber warning covering parts of south—west wales and south—west england, the risk of gusts of 60 mph or more, particularly for exposed coasts and hills, but even quite a long way inland some quite strong, unusually strong winds for this time of year, hence the risk of disruption. also some pretty heavy bursts of rain journeying eastwards, in fact some thunderstorms likely across southern and eastern parts of england, some pretty hefty showers across parts of northern england up to scotland. perhaps fewer showers out towards the west as we head towards the end of the day. temperatures quite disappointing, some places only up to 1a degrees. through this evening and overnight in our area of low pressure roles eastwards and we will continue to see one or two showers, particularly out to the west, towards the end of the night, and also some rain lingering in eastern parts, in bet

and a danger to life warning has been issued as storm antoni hits parts of the uk, bringing heavy rain and strong winds. imran khan, pakistan's former prime minister, has been arrested, after being sentenced to three years in prison. his team say they will file an appeal against the ruling. and in a statement on camera, mr khan calls on supporters to continue peaceful protests. "don't sit silently at home," he says. thejudge found him guilty of failing to declare money he had earned from selling state gifts. as the decision was announced in islamabad a crowd, including some prosecuting lawyers, began chanting, "imran khan is a thief," outside court. multiple cases have been filed against mr khan in the last 16 months. in may, he was detained for not appearing at court as requested but was subsequently released after the arrest was declared illegal. since then, his party has been under intense pressure from the authorities with many senior officials leaving and thousands of supporters arrested, accused of being involved in the protests that followed imran khan's arrest. the pakistan par

one outsider still prepared to share his observations is australian lawyer and author, antony dapiran that i do breaches the national security law. bill: he's lived here for 16 years and, before that, in beijing, chronicling the uprising and the politics of his adopted home. antony: there's a very strong sense, really, across an entire generation of hong kongers, that this is--this is their fight, it's a fight that they strongly believe in. and i'm not sure that just jailing the key leaders or even the threat of jail for people who continue to participate will be enough to entirely dissuade them, and it certainly won't win over their hearts and minds. bill: do you think the chinese government would want there to be an exodus of pro-democracy types? or would it be kind of annoyed to see them go? antony: it's long been part of the beijing playbook to force leading dissidents, even from the mainland, into exile, where they quickly lose their relevance. they lose their connection back home, their message ceases to be communicated back to within china, and they lose their potency as a thre

storm antoni. , , , ., antoni. this is the first named storm. antoni.fice, the second highest warning for potentially damaging gusts of wind is for south—west of wales and parts of devon today. the rain associated with storm antoni will continue to move east but look at the bright colours, some heavy bursts from time to time and as the rain continues moving north and east we see some heavy thundery showers developing in the south. also some showers across scotland, again those could be heavy but it will be drier and brighter across northern ireland into the afternoon. disappointingly cool for august, into the afternoon. disappointingly cool foraugust, maximum into the afternoon. disappointingly cool for august, maximum temperature is 13 or 14 degrees in the midlands, perhaps 18 or is 13 or 1a degrees in the midlands, perhaps 18 or 19 further south, sunday looking a little better. that is aood to sunday looking a little better. that is good to hear. — sunday looking a little better. twat is good to hear, simon thank you. we're with you until 10 o'clock t

now, antoni will have a number of hazards. persistent rain for northern ireland, 20410 millimetres here, maybe more than that over the high ground in the morns, could be enough to bring some flooding issues here. but as the rain extends into england and wales, the winds really pick up for wales and south—west england. we're talking about gusts reaching 50—65 miles an hour in places could be strong enough to bring down one or two trees. so there is a risk of seeing some transport disruption. the wet and windy weather will continue to extend its way eastwards. it will be brighter for scotland, a mixture of sunshine and a few showers here and brighter through the afternoon for northern ireland as well, with winds slowly calming down. for some it will be really quite a cold day for august with temperatures potentially just around 11; or 15 degrees for some. now, as we go through saturday night, the winds will continue to calm down. the rain tending to become confined to eastern areas of england. the weather drier across western po

and a danger to life warning has been issued, as storm antoni hits parts of the uk, bringing heavy rainnd strong winds. it is the uk's first named storm in more than a year. those are the headlines here on bbc news. now on bbc news, the travel show. india. more than 75 years after independence, this emerging world power of more than a billion people is still changing. i'm on a journey to two extremes of this vast subcontinent. it's just crystal, it's hard crystals. white salt — probably taste it. i began in gujarat, in the far west... this is genuinely incredible. i'm in heaven. looks pretty crowded! ..and this week, i've travelled 2,000 miles over to the north—east. i'm on the banks of the mighty river brahmaputra and about to go to a very spiritual place. it's one of india's lesser—known regions... we're really high up. and just to my right is the border with bangladesh. 0ne... ..a part of the country that prides itself on its traditions... he makes it look so easy, and it's incredibly difficult. ..but it's also looking forward and embracing progress. so now, i'm on my way to go and s

and — a danger to life warning has been issued, as storm antoni hits parts of the uk, bringing heavyn and strong winds. it is the uk's first named storm in more than a year. hello, i'm samantha simmonds. pakistan's former prime minister, imran khan, has been arrested after a court sentenced him to three years in prison on corruption charges. he was found guilty of failing to declare money he'd earned from selling gifts he received while in office. mr khan's previous arrest in may triggered violent protests — and the army was deployed. our pakistan correspondent, caroline davies has the latest. sirens blaring, police truck after police truck, arresting former prime minister imran khan. the judgment came from here. police filled every corner in islamabad's session court. mr khan says the case is politically motivated. the court said he's dishonest. this is after months and months of waiting. we now finally have an announcement, imran khan has been found guilty and has been sentenced to three years in prison. outside court, shouts of, "your show is over, khan!" minutes later we heard he

(antoni maria cubadda) traditionally, sardinian polyphonic singing features four voices. there's a solo voice, called the boche, the mesu boche, which is a second tenor voice, then the bassu and the contra, which uses a guttural voice technique. these are the voices in our traditional polyphonic singing. - is it taught in schools, this way of singing? no? - no. i learned to sing like this at the barbershop in our village. the barber was a bachelor and lived alone, and i knew that he had been very successful as a singer. i discovered my passion for this style of singing when i was 16, and i've been doing it ever since. - where do we find this type of singing in sardinia? is it all over sardinia? - there's a triangle area where this kind of singing is still quite popular. the tip of the triangle is seneghe, the last village in the province of oristano, right next to nuoro. this singing is also popular in the villages of baronia. the region where this traditional form of singing is still very much alive includes 70 villages. many young men have taken it up, like federico. th

thanks to storm antoni. there is cloud which you can see here on the satellite picture.edge of the savvy of low pressure, as it continues to journey you switch to the west of today. so, a met office amber warning covering parts of south—west south—west england. the risk of gusts up to 60 mph particularly for exposed coasts and hills but even quite a long way in man. some quite strong wind and unusually strong winds for that time of year hence the risk of disruption. also some heavy bursts of rain journeying eastwards, particularly thunderstorms likely across southern and eastern parts of england. pretty hefty showers across northern england up into scotland. perhaps you have fewer showers out towards the west as we head towards the end of the day. temperature is really quite disappointing. up to 13 or 1a. through this evening at unaided so we have low pressure builds a way eastwards and while we to see one or two showers, particularly out towards the west by the end of the night and also some main lingering and eastern parts, in between some clear spells and actually, th

antony blinken went to china, got basically nothing too. maybe fourth time's the charm. already that both sides have agreed to some sort of biannual twice a year commerce meeting, which is, i would say, a bare minimum for something successful. broadly speaking, though, it's not good optics for the chinese side. i don't think the us side realises this, but we've sent four different people now to china and they've sent no one back to the us we've invited wang yi. he hasn't come yet. so we're looking, i think the next couple of weeks are going to show china's true response for this. but so far, i would say it's at least mildly positive if they've agreed to some meetings. real estate is a big part of the economy, 25 sometimes 30% of the gdp depending on the year. and that's really suffering. and probably the actual data is worse than the reported data. so i think that's the big difference that gina raimondo may have more success than her three cabinet minister predecessors is simply that china is not looking as good now. they're concerned about the economy. they want to do s

and a danger to life warning has been issued, as storm antoni hits parts of the uk, bringing heavy rainnd strong winds. it is the uk's first named storm in more than a year. those are the headlines here on bbc news. now on bbc news... scandalous: phone hacking on trial: episode four. i wanted to expose the criminality that runs through the heart of this corporation. they very nearly ruined my life. i have certainly seen how they have ruined the lives of others. it's really difficult for me to sit here and talk about this because the whole point of fighting these newspapers is because i was so keen to have my privacy. i feel a sense of duty to expose them as they have exposed us. prince harry and sir eltonjohn have launched legal action against the publishers of the daily mail. action is being taken against the sun newspaper. action over the mirror group of allegations of phone hacking. who did you hack? it would be quicker to say who i didn't hack, wouldn't it? celebrities, politicians. i was living in this sort of superhighway of illicit information. it was exciting, you felt like a sp

us secretary of state, antony blinken, speaks to the bbc...estruction and exploitation have followed. south american leaders meet to discuss measures to save the amazon rainforest. thousands gather on the streets of bray — to pay their respects to the singer sinead o'connor. hello, i'm lucy hockins, welcome to bbc news now. three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. we begin with the major political emergency unfolding in west africa — following a military coup in niger. diplomatic efforts to find a resolution to the crisis have stepped up a gear — with a warning from washington. speaking to the bbc, the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has voiced his concern that

i was talking to antony blinken and he said whatever you call it, it's a disruption of the constitutionalrder. it immediately means aid would need to be ended. it turns out it has been suspended anyway. >> thank you. meantime, al jazeera has been speaking to the u.s. secretary of state about why washington has so far avoided calling developments a coup and what efforts the united states is making to improve food security. >> antony blinken, thank you so much for talking with us. >> good to be with you. >> my first question is about related priorities, improving food security and restarting the green initiative. there is a growing perception that restarting the bsgi will help african countries deal with food security issues. can you help me understand why this is confusion? is it about making sure global food prices are not skyrocketing? sec. blinken: first, the effect is good for everyone, even if you are not a direct recipient of the grain that was getting out of you karen -- ukraine. the fact it was helping prices stay low was good for everyone area we have seen prices go up 10% to 15%

whilst storm antoni has been passing over large parts of britain and ireland.t's happening across europe. yes, nancy. as you say, unseasonable summer weather has hit large parts of europe. i want to take you first to georgia and show you some pictures there, as the search for survivors continues after a deadly landslide on thursday. you can see there a torrent of mud swept down that valley. 11 people died and dozens are feared missing. the army has been brought in to try and help find them. the good news is that 200 people were evacuated to safety. now, if we move to slovenia next, there has been torrential rain there. a month's worth of rain fell in 2a hours, hitting the north—east and centre of the country. now, three people died. there has been a meeting of the national security council and afterwards, the prime minister said it was the worst natural disaster in slovenia's recent history, since independence over 30 years ago. he said the scale of the damage from the floods is estimated to exceed half a billion euros and a clear—up operation is under way ther

now antoni will bring outbreaks of rain quickly into northern ireland.land, wales and western england. 0ur temperatures overnight holding up into double figures. but antoni could cause a few impacts weather—wise on saturday, accumulating rain for northern ireland, first of all, 20—40mm, maybe a bit more than that over the high ground in the mournes. it's enough to cause some localised flooding. and as our wet weather extends into england and wales, it comes with a punch. some very strong gusty winds affecting wales and south west england, where gusts could reach 50—65mph, strong enough to blow down a few trees. and given there's a lot of people out and about at the moment, given the summer holidays, well, there could be a few impacts, some disruption out and about. the wet weather extends eastwards through the day. the weather brightens up for scotland and northern ireland. just a few showers here. for some, it won'tjust be wet and windy, it'll be really cold for august as well, with temperatures around 14—15 celsius. that really is rubbish. 0n into sund

secretary of state, antony blinken. [applause] let me just say a word.et me say a word about our secretary. over three decades, 30 years, and three presidential administrations, secretary blinken has helped shape u.s. foreign policy to ensure it delivers results for americans in partnership with people around the world and that's what we consider all of you. secretary blinken is a big -- deep supporter of public diplomacy and the idea that we must be investing in relationships between people not just between governments, to make change. he has traveled extensively throughout the continent of africa as his time as secretary of state. he is no stranger to the magic and the power of the mid-washington fellowship. please join me in welcoming him to the stage. [applause] ♪ e] ♪ sec. blinken: good afternoon mandela. what an incredible pleasure to join you for the first in person mandela washington fellowship summit in four years. and to see, to feel the incredible energy, the ingenuity, the talent in this room. my friend, my colleague, thank you for the wonder

whilst the storm antoni has been passing over large parts of britain and ireland.schiller, who has been monitoring what's happening across europe. what else can you tell us? yes, as ou sa , what else can you tell us? yes, as you say, unseasonable _ what else can you tell us? yes, as you say, unseasonable summer. what else can you tell us? yes, as - you say, unseasonable summer weather has hit large parts of europe. i take you first to georgia and show you pictures there as the search for survivors continues after a deadly landslide on thursday. you can see a torrent of mod swept down that valley, 11 people died and dozens feared missing. the army has been brought into help find them, the good news is 200 people were evacuated to safety. if we move to slovenia, there has been torrential rain, a month's worth of rain fell in 24—hour is. hitting the north—east and centre of the country. three people died. has been a meeting of the security council and the prime minister said it was the worst natural disaster in recent history since independence over 30 years ago. he s

now antoni will bring outbreaks of rain quickly into northern ireland.ight holding up into double figures. but antoni could cause a few impacts weather—wise on saturday, accumulating rain for northern ireland, first of all, 20—40mm, maybe a bit more than that over the high ground in the mournes. it's enough to cause some localised flooding. and as our wet weather extends into england and wales, it comes with a punch. some very strong gusty winds affecting wales and south west england, where gusts could reach 50—65mph, strong enough to blow down a few trees. and given there's a lot of people out and about at the moment, given the summer holidays, well, there could be a few impacts, some disruption out and about. the wet weather extends eastwards through the day. the weather brightens up for scotland and northern ireland. just a few showers here. for some, it won'tjust be wet and windy, it'll be really cold for august as well, with temperatures around 14—15 celsius. that really is rubbish. on into sunday, it's a better day weather—wise, as the storm system

now, storm antoni swept across southern parts of the uk, but affected mostly the southwest in terms of and the south east. so more of a breeze here, perhaps a few showers through the early hours and maybe through the morning into the afternoon, but for the vast majority of us, it's a quiet start to the day. these are the temperatures around 8:00 in the morning, a little fresh out there, ten in the lowlands of scotland, 12 or 13 in the south. so through the morning and the afternoon, a bit of a breeze there on that lincolnshire coastline and into the southeast and east anglia. showers will develop through the course of the morning into the afternoon. but many of us should miss the showers and, actually, compared to what we've had, it's not going to be bad at all. temperatures still a little low, around 16—18 degrees, maybe 20 or 21 in the southeast. but the good news is that sunday evening is looking fine and it should be a calm end to the weekend. how about monday? well, high pressure is trying to push in that weather. it's trying to settle down. but this little area of low pressure is

it antony blinken and is this a fork in the road? , . . . ., the road?matic _ the road? it is a criticaljunction because diplomatic efforts - the road? it is a criticaljunction because diplomatic efforts to i because diplomatic efforts to reverse the coup have not worked. niger is one of several countries in west africa belonging to something called ecowas, the economic community of west african states, and they have got together and said enough is enough, we can't have any more, if the coup plotters were not backed down, we will intervene militarily, and the one—week deadline expired on sunday. the bark is worse than its bite of ecowas and they are clearly reluctant and they have not even got in an mmc on how to intervene militarily. —— they have not even got unanimously. it is inevitable that the wagner group will want to move in because they have so not very successfully mali and burkina faso where they have a very lucrative arrangement with those governments, they provided security solutions and i use the word very broadly. because they are accused o

now antoni will bring outbreaks of rain quickly into northern ireland. england. 0ur temperatures overnight holding up into double figures. but antoni could cause a few impacts weather—wise on saturday, accumulating rain for northern ireland, first of all, 20—40mm, maybe a bit more than that over the high ground in the mournes. it's enough to cause some localised flooding. and as our wet weather extends into england and wales, it comes with a punch. some very strong gusty winds affecting wales and south west england, where gusts could reach 50—65mph, strong enough to blow down a few trees. and given there's a lot of people out and about at the moment, given the summer holidays, well, there could be a few impacts, some disruption out and about. the wet weather extends eastwards through the day. the weather brightens up for scotland and northern ireland. just a few showers here. for some, it won'tjust be wet and windy, it'll be really cold for august as well, with temperatures around 111—15 celsius. that really is rubbish. 0n into sunday, it's a better day

can we look at the warning from antony blinken about wagner being in niger and how destabilising thating that could be and could you tell us what is the presence of wagner in niger are all the only active in neighbouring countries? it the only active in neighbouring countries?— countries? it is uncertain to confirm at _ countries? it is uncertain to confirm at this _ countries? it is uncertain to confirm at this time - countries? it is uncertain to confirm at this time if - countries? it is uncertain to l confirm at this time if wagner forces are in niger. however, they have had huge presence in mali and burkina faso where the military leaders have requested for their support ever since those two countries had military operations with the former colony france. we know that a few days ago, niger's leaders reach out to wagner for support, especially in military operations as equal was threaten use military intervention should the coup leaders remain defiant and seek to power. and? what is the american influence in niger in terms of age and militarily as well? what influence in niger in

storm antoni will bring strong winds particularly to southern areas and heavy rain but that will easege of honour — donald trump says being criminally charged will help him win the us presidential election.

this is storm antoni. it's moving its way gradually eastward, this big area of low pressure. areas of england. that's where we're going to see the strongest winds today and there's an amber warning from the met office. we could see some damaging gusts of wind of 50—70 mph, particularly around coastal areas of south—west wales, in towards devon as well. so those could provide some pretty tricky conditions for those down in that part of the world holidaying. now, the rain is going to gradually move its way eastward, but then there'll be some thunderstorms developing across southern and south—eastern areas during this afternoon. showers likely across scotland turning a bit drier in northern ireland, compared to this morning. and it will feel disappointingly cool for the time of year, 13, 1a celsius where you've got more persistent rain across the midlands, 15 to 16 celsius with some sunny spells across scotland. now, storm antoni will continue to move eastwards overnight and it'll clear away, so sunday certainly looking like the quieter, brighter day for many of us. still a bit

more recently, he has had conversations with secretary of state antony blinken and others.ut a senior u.s. diplomat who was just in niger, she was denied access to him, so i think there was certainly growing concern over the conditions he is being kept in and what direction this coup is going to take now. anchor: what about the warning for american citizens to shelter-in-place? reporter: yeah, it's clearly a very volatile situation and a reflection of u.s. interests there. there are about 1100 troops, a certain number of american citizens and the british government as well advising people not to travel to niger. this is a situation that washington is watching very closely. if a junta remains in place here, the that means a domino effect will happen, military juntas could result in neighboring countries, a revival of the islamic state and terrorist attacks, and the other long shadow being cast here is russia. we have seen on the streets, anti-french sentiment and pro-russian sentiment, warnings for antony blinken and others, that this situation could be exploited, as we have

now, antoni will have a number of hazards.—a0mm here, maybe more than that over the high ground in the mournes. there could be enough to bring some flooding issues here, but as the rain extends into england and wales, the winds really pick up. for wales and southwest england, we're talking about gusts reaching 50—65mph in places. could be strong enough to bring down 1—2 trees, so there is the risk of seeing some transport disruption. the wet and windy weather will continue to extend its way eastwards. it will be brighter for scotland, a mixture of sunshine and a few showers here, and brighter through the afternoon for northern ireland as well, with the winds slowly calming down. for some, it will be really quite a cold day for august, with temperatures potentially just around 111—15 celsius for some. now, as we go through saturday night, the winds will continue to calm down, the rain tending to become confined to eastern areas of england, the weather drier across western portions of the uk. temperatures overnight, saturday nig

on fentanyl, we are part of the global coalition on synthetic drugs established by antony blinken.hat are we doing? in mexico we have clear instructions by president lopez and the head of the navy, army and of course the head of health , what are we doing? we established a system. when i say we, it is mexico. for tracing the whole value training of synthetic drugs. the first thing we are going to do is control the precursors of synthetic drugs. where are they coming from? we don't go to the precursors but we receive them. we need to follow up the beginning to the end now the problem with the precursors of synthetic drugs is they come in very let's say difficult formats to trace. it is not containers. we are talking about sometimes a package, a small thing. but we are pulling together a digital tracking system that is very sophisticated and very interesting. and the most important control that we are setting up are in the coastal areas and the ports of this is happening both in coastal areas and the border and we are collaborating quite a bit between mexico in the u.s. but also cana

now antoni will bring outbreaks of rain quickly into northern ireland.s and western england. 0ur temperatures overnight holding up into double figures. but antoni could cause a few impacts weather—wise on saturday, accumulating rain for northern ireland, first of all, 20—40mm, maybe a bit more than that over the high ground in the mournes. it's enough to cause some localised flooding. and as our wet weather extends into england and wales, it comes with a punch. some very strong gusty winds affecting wales and south west england, where gusts could reach 50—65mph, strong enough to blow down a few trees. and given there's a lot of people out and about at the moment, given the summer holidays, well, there could be a few impacts, some disruption out and about. the wet weather extends eastwards through the day. the weather brightens up for scotland and northern ireland. just a few showers here. for some, it won'tjust be wet and windy, it'll be really cold for august as well, with temperatures around 11r—15 celsius. that really is rubbish. 0n into sunday, it's

us secretary of state, antony blinken, speaks to the bbc: every single place that this group, this wagner group has gone, death, destruction and exploitation have followed. we'll be live in ireland as thousands gather on the streets of bray to pay their respects to the singer sinead o'connor, who died last month. after years of rampant deforestation in the world's biggest rainforest, leaders meet in brazil to find ways to save the amazon. some breaking news to bring you neu about the woman's world cup. you may well know with the —— know the name of laurenjames, the england star. an incident in the game against nigeria, when the lioness is defeated the super falcons on penalties, you can see it happening here, this is when laurenjames, who has been a key player, got a red card against nigeria. she was shown a straight red for what was seen as stamping. you can see pictures of it here. it means you will not be able to play on the quarter final match on saturday. england will be playing colombia. we understand now that she has just apologised. she colombia. we understand now that she hasjust

it's all thanks to storm antoni, this swirl of cloud, this storm system named by the met office.eastwards as we head through tonight and into tomorrow. so tomorrow should be a somewhat drier and brighter day. still some areas of cloud and some splashes of rain across eastern parts of england as we head through the night. further west will see clear skies, some showers feeding in across some western parts and temperatures actually dropping away. it's going to be quite a cool and fresh night, seven, eight or nine degrees, and that's in some of the towns and cities out in the countryside. it may getjust a little bit chillier than that, but after that, quite cool fresh start, a sunday will see this area of high pressure trying to build. it's not going to be a completely dry day, but on balance, it should be a drier and a brighter day than saturday has been. so some clouds, some rain, a bit of a breeze across eastern england for a time. further west, sunny spells and showers. some of the showers heavy, possibly thundery, particularly across parts of scotland. a slightly warmer day for

and a danger to life warning has been issued, as storm antoni hits parts of the uk, bringing heavy rainnd strong winds. it is the uk's first named storm in more than a year. those are the headlines here on bbc news. and now, in a change of programming, stephen sackur speaks to the former prime minister of pakistan, imran khan, in an interview recorded in lahore, on wednesday. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. how grave is the risk of pakistan spiralling into political and security chaos? terror attacks continue to impose a heavy toll whilst the nation braces for a potentially destabilising election season. and at the heart of the political turbulence, my guest today, former prime minister imran khan, currently facing close to 200 charges which threaten his pti party's ability to mount an electoral challenge. has pakistan's populist political star been outmanoeuvred by the generals who once backed him? imran khan, in lahore, pakistan, welcome to hardtalk. from the outside, mr khan, it looks as though a legal noose is tightening around your neck. does it feel that way to you? yes,

now, antoni will have a number of hazards.high ground in the mournes. there could be enough to bring some flooding issues here, but as the rain extends into england and wales, the winds really pick up. for wales and south west england, we're talking about gusts reaching 50—65mph in places. could be strong enough to bring down 1—2 trees, so there is the risk of seeing some transport disruption. the wet and windy weather will continue to extend its way eastwards. it will be brighter for scotland, a mixture of sunshine and a few showers here, and brighter through the afternoon for northern ireland as well, with the winds slowly calming down. for some, it will be really quite a cold day for august, with temperatures potentially just around 14—15 celsius for some. now, as we go through saturday night, the winds will continue to calm down, the rain tending to become confined to eastern areas of england, the weather drier across western portions of the uk. temperatures overnight, saturday night, well, ranging from around 7—12 celsius

says antony blinken has spoken with the president of -- and conveys support for democracy. you the latest after the military coup in the west africa nation, that is next. this is bloomberg. ♪ >> welcome back to bloomberg daybreak europe, the u.s. says secretary of state antony blinken has spoken with the president of niger -- conveyed his support for democracy. several countries have been evacuating citizens after the military coup in the west africa nation. joining me now is bloomberg's africa correspondent. what are the latest developments on the situation in niger? >> good morning, we did hear overnight from the u.s. secretary of state that the state department is saying that antony blinken did speak with president mohamed, conveying the support for democracy. still continuing to drive home that message that they want to see a return to constitutional order in the country, despite this and despite what we have seen over the past few days. especially from the regional block of west african countries, financially squeezing the military leaders in niger. there still appears

we heard from antony blinken. the most advantage out of a situation like this. , . ., , advantage out of a situation like this. , , ., , this. yes. the coup leaders in niger have asked — this. yes. the coup leaders in niger have asked the _ this. yes. the coup leaders in niger have asked the wagner _ this. yes. the coup leaders in niger have asked the wagner group - this. yes. the coup leaders in niger| have asked the wagner group forces for support following the ecowas deadline at the ultimatum to cede power to president mohamed bazoum. we know mali and burkina faso, their co—leaders arrived in the capital of niger, niamey, yesterday, to show solidarity in the event of military intervention if ecowas decides to do that. , , ., intervention if ecowas decides to do that. , ,, intervention if ecowas decides to do that. ,, ., that. give your assessment on the resence that. give your assessment on the presence in _ that. give your assessment on the presence in the _ that. give your assessment on the presence in the ar

announcer: next, secretary of state antony blinken talks about u.s. policy toward iran, following the country's decision to place five detained americans on house arrest who were previously held in their iranian prison.