frank gardner, bbc news. where work is under way to install the national symbol, the trident on the massive ukrainian motherland monument. the workers are replacing the soviet coat of arms installed on the shield of the giant statue. this is a controversial project that divided ukrainian society. replacement costs nearly a million of us dollars, a million us dollars, a huge amount of money for the budget of the country at war. at times when people are crowdfunding for uniforms and drones for the front line soldiers, some think it is an unnecessary spent. it is an unnecessary spend. unseasonable weather has hit parts of europe, with flooding in slovenia and austria. whilst storm antoni has been passing over large parts of britain and ireland. our reporter nicky schiller has been monitoring what'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 a

frank gardner, bbc news.n to charge the us live—streamer kai cenat with multiple counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly, after a giveaway event he organised in manhattan got out of control. thousands of people rampaged through union square and new york park, with some throwing bottles, stones and tins of paint at police officers. they also set off fireworks and took spades and axes from a nearby building site. police said more than 60 people were arrested and they had to deal with a whole range of injuries. i personally observed young people walking out with their heads, bleeding from their heads, bleeding from on their faces. i've seen young, i personally observed young people having panic attacks, anxiety attacks, you know, asthma attacks. it was multiple, you know, people were suffering out here. it was a lot of people. it was uncontrolled. it took us a while to get it under control. and a lot of young people got hurt. britain's met office is warning of potential road closures, power cuts and flyi

frank gardner, bbc news. let us return to one of our top stories. free access to cash withdrawals for consumers and businesses under new plans by the treasury. for more on this, kevin peacheyjoins us. tell us more about this. this, kevin peachey “oins us. tell us more about this._ us more about this. cash use obviously _ us more about this. cash use obviously is _ us more about this. cash use obviously is declining, - us more about this. cash use obviously is declining, as - us more about this. cash use i obviously is declining, as more people turn to contactless cards, to digital payments on smartphones. but there is still a large group of people, millions, as many as 8 million, who still rely on cash for day to day lives, perhaps they find it helpful to budget with it, they may struggle with some of the digital payments. there has been a campaign to try and assist those people, make sure that they still have access to cash. the problem is we have got bank branches closing, etienneclosing at the rate of 50 a month, we'll concerned people will not b

frank gardner, bbc news. let's take you to israel now.iv against the government's controversialjudicial reform plans. the protests come a day after israel's supreme court began hearing the first of a number of appeals against changes to the judicial system which have caused months of mass protests. opponents fear the changes could undermine the country's democratic system, tipping it into authoritarian territory. they worry that nationalist and ultra—orthodox religious parties allied to mr netanyahu will be able to shape policy with unchecked power. but the government argues that the reforms are necessary to correct an imbalance in power which has seen the courts increasingly intervene in political decisions. thousands of uk scouts are leaving an international event in south korea that has been hit by extreme heat. hundreds have fallen ill at the outdoor world scout jamboree, which is attended by more than 40,000 young people from around the world, amid 35 degree heat. jean mackenzie, reports from seoul. as the sun pounded the campsite, t

frank gardner, bbc news. that is what is happening with the counter offensive.i arabia aimed at finding a solution to the war in ukraine. the leader of the ukrainian delegation at talks designed to broaden international support for its peace plan to end the war says he expects the discussions won't be easy. andriy yermak has acknowledged disagreements between the dozens of countries taking part in the meeting in saudi arabia. earlier i spoke to kurt volker, former us ambassador to nato and former us special envoy for ukraine. i think that there is zero chance of these talks causing peace in ukraine. i do not think that is the point. i think that the global south and many members of the global community have been on the sidelines here when it comes to russian aggression against ukraine. they have taken more of a neutral stance. and this is really an opportunity to bring those countries together, and for ukraine to address him directly, to explain what is actually happening, and to explain how russia's aggression against ukraine is actually having global implicati

with me is our security correspondent frank gardner. let's get back to basics.ammad bin salman so controversial?— muhammad bin salman so controversial? , , . ., ., ., controversial? he is such a paradox. on the controversial? he is such a paradox. 0n the one — controversial? he is such a paradox. on the one hand, _ controversial? he is such a paradox. on the one hand, he _ controversial? he is such a paradox. on the one hand, he is _ controversial? he is such a paradox. on the one hand, he is transforming saudi arabia for the better. he is freeing it up socially, he has scrapped the absurd ban on women driving that the clerics wanted for decades. he has started these huge megaprojects, which may or may not work but he has a vision for the future, incorporating something called vision 2030. on the other hand, he is presiding over a country that has a pure human rights record and more specifically he is suspected by western countries to having been complicit in the murder five years ago ofjamal khashoggi. —— bad human rights record. i had lived there for years, th

frank gardner, bbc news.ortugal, where he's been visiting the shrine of fatima. he's recited the rosary with sick and disabled young people before travelling back to lisbon. hello, there. it's been a very wet start to the day, not a great start to the weekend, of course, with storm antoni that's been moving its way in, giving us some strong winds and some heavy rain. that was the scene this morning in staffordshire. that rain is really quite nasty on the roads, so do take care if you're travelling today. this is storm antoni. it's moving its way gradually eastward, this big area of low pressure. look at the white lines here, the isobars quite close together towards wales and south—western 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 d

frank gardner, bbc news.ll at the outdoor world scout jamboree, which is attended by more than a0,000 young people from around the world, amid 35 degree heat. as our seoul correspondent, jean mackenzie, reports from the site there have also been claims that the event has been poorly organised. as the sun pounded the campsite, the uk scouts packed their bags. and boarded buses bound for more comfortable hotel rooms. you can see just how little respite this campsite has from this scorching sun but one of the uk team members who i spoke to an earlier said this decision to pull out the british scouts wasn't just decision to pull out the british scouts wasn'tjust because of this extreme heat, it was also because of concerns about the facilities and the food. they were no longer confident that they could keep everyone here safe. but the remaining scouts we spoke to are happy to still be here. in remaining scouts we spoke to are happy to still be here.— remaining scouts we spoke to are happy to still be here. in my

our security correspondent frank gardner is here now. we know about what or who is behind this? we know his name was on the manifest of that plane, and russia has confirmed he was on it. what we have not seen as any physical evidence of his body. they have recovered all ten bodies, three crew and seven passengers, and according to russia both mr prigozhin and dmitry utkin, the co—founder of the wagner group, were both on that plane. but we have not seen the evidence yet. some people i think of a conspiracy theory that at the last minute prigozhin did not get on the plane and he has disappeared somewhere, putting his feet up and sipping a cocktail. i think that is very unlikely. the presumption in western capitals and in the uk is that this was the work of the fsb, russia's domestic intelligence and security agency. and this was revenge for his mutinous march on moscow. no proof, but that is the presumption. what does prigozhin�*s death mean for the wagner group? it leaves it decapitated. wagner had already had their heavy weapons taken o

with me now is security correspondent frank gardner. making extensive use of drones in their "fight back" you've been investigating, can you give us an update? this is not the first drone war but it is almost certainly the most intense drone war we have ever seen. they are and integral part of the battle space because both sides, russia and ukraine, have effective air defences, so it is too dangerous for piloted aircraft to fly to close to the front line, or at least a very long. we have seen a ramping up of drones, both aerial but also interestingly, something we've been looking into, maritime drones, boat bombs, see drones, but basically remotely piloted 5.5 metre long boats, newbury on them, steered from the shore with explosive on—board to hit targets quite deep into russian territory —— nobody on—board them. in the last month the ukrainians have managed to hit back by sending explosive sea drones all the way round crimea to hit russian targets. and this is what one of these sea drones looks like. it's technically called an uncrewed

with me is our security correspondent frank gardner. lline, intelligence consultancy — who's also a british army veteran, and marina miron, post—doctoral researcher at the king's college war studies department. frank, if i could start with you. thank you for being here. what we know? lots of questions about what might have happened, but what do you think happened? lets might have happened, but what do you think happened?— think happened? lets out with the fact, we think happened? lets out with the fact. we know _ think happened? lets out with the fact, we know this _ think happened? lets out with the fact, we know this light _ think happened? lets out with the l fact, we know this light commercial aircraft... a privatejet, rather, was brought down halfway roughly between moscow and st petersburg. it was 29 minutes into its flight. there are still some speculations and confusions around what brought it down. was it a device on board? a surface—to—air missile? an air to air missile? either way, surface—to—air missile? an air to air missile

in a moment, we'll talk our security correspondent frank gardner about the increasing use of drones in today's attack. the russian capital under attack once again, the defence ministry said a drone had been shot down by anti—aircraft systems at around aam local time last night. and as you say, they blamed ukraine for that attack. video on social media shows an explosion in the area of the moscow city business district, that is where the skyscrapers are in moscow.

we asked our security correspondent frank gardner to explain a little more of why's visit has been soversial. frank: because really he is such a paradox. on the one hand he is transforming saudi arabia for the better. he is freeing it up socially, he has scrapped the absurd ban on women driving get the religious clerics insisted on for decades, he has allowed public entertainment, he is diversifying the economy away from the dependence on oil, he started these huge mega projects which may or may not work, but he has a vision for the future, which is incorporating something called vision 2030. but on the other hand, he's presiding over a country that has a very poor human rights record, and specifically he suspected by western countries of having ordered or at least been complicit in the very easily murder fight -- gri sly murder five years ago of 70 journalist jamal khashoggi. he denies that. they say it was carried out by rogue agents. there is no such thing in the gulf. i've lived there for years, this doesn't happen. these were saudi officials who flew unofficial planes. on unoffic

i asked our security correspondent frank gardner to outline the context of the visit. uk, will mark the fifth anniversary of that very grisly murder and dismemberment of the journalist jamal khashoggi at the embassy in istanbul. since then, because of the investigation and conclusion by western intelligence agencies, led by the cia, that crown prince mohammed bin salman must have known about the attack or authorised it, something he denies, becuase of that, he has been a pariah for the west. not completely though — injune, president macron of france invited him to visit and in those intervening five years, saudi arabia has become an absolutely massive player on the world stage, in sport, in business, in construction and even in diplomacy. they've just finished hosting a big peace conference injeddah to try to find ways to end the ukraine war. it didn't achieve anything but it brought in a0 countries, including china. saudi arabia is simply considered too big a country to ignore for countries like britain, so it's partly about money, partly about diplomacy, partly about

earlier, i spoke to our security correspondent, frank gardner. crown prince is regarded as such a controversialfigure. well, because, really, he's such a paradox. 0n the one hand, he is transforming saudi arabia for the better. he's freeing it up socially. he's scrapped the absurd ban on women driving that the religious clerics insisted on for decades. he's allowed public entertainment. he is diversifying the economy away from a dependence on oil. he started these huge megaprojects, which may or may not work, but he's got a vision for the future which is incorporated in something called vision 2030. but on the other hand, he is presiding over a country that has a very poor human rights record, and most specifically, he is suspected by western countries of having ordered or at least been complicit in the very grisly murderfive years ago of a critical saudi journalist, jamal khashoggi. now, he denies that. the official saudi version is that this was a murder carried out by rogue agents. there's no such thing in the gulf. you know, i've lived there

here's security correspondent frank gardner. other challenges facing the new defence secretary. defence procurement is one, so in other words, the kind of securing the supply of new equipment, much of which is delayed or is running over budget. it's an absolute augean stables that every defence secretary has to try and grapple with. and i think when it comes to grant shapps, it all really depends on whether you want to see the glass half full or half empty. his detractors, of which there are many, say, "look, "this guy doesn't know the first thing about defence. "why are we putting somebody in there in charge of one "of the most important ministries in britain at a time when britain "is supporting a european ally in its war against russian invasion? "why are we putting in somebody in there who doesn't have any "military experience?" 0n the other side, that can be an advantage if the new defence secretary is prepared to listen to people. and he has got some experience of logistics, which are the unglamorous but hugely important p

i asked our security correspondent, frank gardner, for his assessment of mr blinken's comments — andc efforts to try to reverse this coup have not worked. niger is one of several countries in west africa belonging to, ecowas, the economic community of west african states. they have got together and said that enough is enough. if the coup plotters won't back down, we will intervene militarily. there was a one—week deadline which expired on sunday. ecowas�*s bark is worse than its bite, they are reluctant and haven't got unanimity on how to intervene militarily. i think it is almost inevitable wagner want to move in there because they have been able to sew up mali, burkina faso, the central african republic, where they have a lucrative arrangement with those governments. they provide security solutions, and i use that word very broadly, because they are accused of horrendous human rights atrocities, massacres of civilians and so on, which they deny. in exchange for that, they get lucrative mineral contracts, minerals, diamonds and gold, and niger is the world's seventh largest producer

and more on this from our security correspondent, frank gardner.tony blinken and is this a fork in the road? it antony blinken and is this a fork in the road? , . . . ., the road? it is a critical “unction because diplomatic _ 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

for more on this, let's bring in frank gardner, our security correspondent.ly importantjob this, and it comes with really massive challenges, no bigger than what is going on in ukraine? yes. challenges, no bigger than what is going on in ukraine?— challenges, no bigger than what is going on in ukraine? yes, ukraine is the military's — going on in ukraine? yes, ukraine is the military's main _ going on in ukraine? yes, ukraine is the military's main effort, _ going on in ukraine? yes, ukraine is the military's main effort, but - the military's main effort, but there are plenty of challenges facing the new defence secretary. defence procurement is one, in other words, securing the supply of new equipment, much of which is delayed or is running over budget. it is an absolute staple that every defence secretary has to grapple with. when it comes to grant shapps, it all depends on whether you want to see the glass half—full or half empty. his detractors, of which there are many, say this guy doesn't know the first thing defence. why are we putting this guy in char

frank gardner, bbc news.p will surrender to the authorities in georgia in the coming hours — he faces charges there of trying to change the result of the 2020 presidential election in georgia. mr trump is expected to have his fingerprints and mugshot taken. he denies the charges, which he will answer in court next month. our north america editor sarah smith has the latest. the hero worship awaits donald trump each time he is arrested or indicted. today supporters are waiting for him to surrender at fulton countyjail on charges of election interference. we fulton county jail on charges of election interference. we wanted to be here to pray _ election interference. we wanted to be here to pray for _ election interference. we wanted to be here to pray for him, _ election interference. we wanted to be here to pray for him, to - election interference. we wanted to be here to pray for him, to show- be here to pray for him, to show support for him, to blow our show for him. , ., ., ., ., for him. they owe him a favo

let's go live now to our security correspondent frank gardner. certain can we be about what the russian authorities say they have confirmed? i russian authorities say they have confirmed?— russian authorities say they have confirmed? ~ , ., , , , confirmed? i think this largely puts the nail in the _ confirmed? i think this largely puts the nail in the coffin _ confirmed? i think this largely puts the nail in the coffin of— confirmed? i think this largely puts the nail in the coffin of the - the nail in the coffin of the conspiracy theory that prigozhin at the last minute dodged the flight because there was a second plane linked to him, owned by him, that left russia for azerbaijan and some people may be thinking he was on that. he was our of threats to his life or potential threat but he seemed to be one of those on that original list and did indeed get on the plane. it seems extraordinarily bad operational security that the three top people in the wagner group, prigozhin, utkin and another he was the co—founder of the group in 2014 should all b

we asked our security correspondent, frank gardner, to explain a little more why the visit would be soadox. 0n the one hand, he is transforming saudi arabia for the better. he's freeing it up socially. he's scrapped the absurd ban on women driving that the religious clerics insisted on for decades. he's allowed public entertainment. he is diversifying the economy away from a dependence on oil. he started these huge megaprojects, which may or may not work, but he's got a vision for the future which is incorporated in something called vision 2030. but on the other hand, he is presiding over a country that has a very poor human rights record, and most specifically, he is suspected by western countries of having ordered or at least been complicit in the very grisly murderfive years ago of a critical saudi journalist, jamal khashoggi. now, he denies that. the official saudi version is that this was a murder carried out by rogue agents. there's no such thing in the gulf. you know, i've lived there for years. that doesn't happen. these were government agents who flew on saudi official planes

the bbc�*s security correspondent frank gardner has teamed up with bbc verify to assess what progresshe full—scale russian invasion last year. if it looks familiar, that's because it is. it hasn't changed much since last november with the russian occupied areas are shaded in red. in orderfor ukraine's counteroffensive to succeed, it needs to cut the russian area in two. earlier this summer, earlyjune, south of the city, there was a battle, the russian defensive lines are in black, let's have a zoom in and look, you can see the russian defensive lines, heavily mined, interspersed trenches, artillery, bunkers, very hard for ukraine to get through all of that. this verified drone footage shows what happens when a ukrainian army patrol ran into a minefield, some of the close—up staff is frankly too graphic to show but the point is these minefields and russian defences are so heavy, so intense that it makes it very slow going for the ukrainians to advance and southward, and the russians have been quite innovative in some of the things they have done, so this for example is that tm 62 antit

let's talk to our security correspondent frank gardner.k up on a point you made on the live page on our website that uk defence sources say russia's domestic intelligence agency most likely targeted this pain. why would they do so and what more do we know about those comments from the uk defence sources?— defence sources? first, there is no roof et defence sources? first, there is no proof yet provided _ defence sources? first, there is no proof yet provided either _ defence sources? first, there is no proof yet provided either by - defence sources? first, there is no proof yet provided either by the - proof yet provided either by the russians or wagner group that prigozhin is dead and his body has been identified, but it is certainly the assumption, so if this was a deliberate targeting, and that is certainly the brief by most people, it would be the fsb who has done it. they are the domestic internal intelligence agency in russia, they are the successors to the kgb, and vladimir putin of course spent much of his early career working for

our security correspondent frank gardner has teamed up with bbc verify to assess the situation.an into a minefield, some of the close—up stuff is frankly too graphic to show. is this minefield and russian defences are so heavy, so intense it makes it very slow going for the ukrainians to advance southwards. and the russians have been quite innovative in some of the things they've done, so this for example is there tm 62 anti—tank mind. now, some of ukraine's armour would withstand a strike by one of these but not too so what are the russians do? they put one on top of another to blow up through the whole of the ukrainian armoured vehicle. —— hull. and fish as a whole bunch of those anti—tank miles that have disabled a western supplied tank. another weapon that the russians are using very effectively is the alligator, the kr 52 attack helicopter, so given all of these factors, how successful this counteroffensive actually be?— successful this counteroffensive actuall be? «a, . , . actually be? ukrainian forces want to retake all— actually be? ukrainian forces want to retake all o