jon sopel is outside trump tower in new york and joins us.hese charges likely a test of how loyal allen weisselberg will be to donald trump? reporter: yes, they certainly will be. it is also being seen as whether this is a question of justice or whether iis a question of politics. if you listen to the district attorney, he makes it clear this is following the facts and following the law and that a grand jury has approved what happened. listen to the trump organization and you get a different story. it's a long statement. "afterears of investigating, millions of documents and millions of dollars of taxpayer money, the manhattan das office decided to charge select trump entities with providing a car and apartment. make no mistake, this is not about the law, this is all about politics." donald trump will have been furious at the way he saw his chief financial officer treated today. the powerful moneyman of donald trump's business empire today led him to court in handcuffs surrounded by police, a heavy-handed and deliberate show of force by the n

jon sopel, bbc news, washington.rofessor jorge duany, director of the cuban research institute at florida international university in miami. thank you very much forjoining us. i want to start with the point made byjon there, do you think this is going to run on or is it likely to be dealt with fairly comfortably now? well, it appears from reports today on television, diaz—canel government has been able control the protests, an image of the capital building which had been surrounded by protesters yesterday, today it was cordoned off, withjust police on the streets. so it appears it was quite quickly controlled by the government. in which case, president diaz—canel makes the point, not for the first time, that this is the fault of the united states. given the nature of the embargo and given the biden administration's lack of movement, let's say, in terms of the embargo, does he have a point? i of the embargo, does he have a oint? ~' ., , , point? i think he does. it is the traditional— point? i think he does. it is the

jon sopel, bbc news, washington.ivanco is the director of the americas division of human rights watch. he started by giving me more details of the situation on the ground in cuba. the demonstrations continued today. those demonstrations were not as massive as yesterday. the government has been confronting peaceful demonstrators with brutal force. plenty of cubans in arbitrary detention. some of them are victims of injuries. we don't have clear numbers of those ones in detention or who has been wounded. but the truth of the matter is the reaction of the cuban government has been pretty brutal, to try to effectively control this peaceful demonstration. the message from the protesters is anxiety about coronavirus and simple freedoms, as well as of course the economic hardship which everyone i think recognises is taking place in cuba. but the president points out there has been a us embargo which has even been tightened in the last six months, and that's where the trouble is coming from. well, that is the classic argumen

our north america editor jon sopel has more. libertad!bertad", the crowd in havana shouts, orfreedom. but while many cubans feel this in their hearts, it's extremely rare for protesters to take to the streets to give vent to their anger in this one—party communist state. translation: we are here because of the repression l against the people. they are starving us to death. havana is collapsing. we have no house, nothing, but they have the money to build hotels and they have us starving. and shouting "down with the dictatorship," as many of the protesters did, can come with a heavy price. but a toxic cocktail of economic collapse, a faltering response to the pandemic and lack of civil liberties has emboldened these people. and the response of the president? "blame your over—mighty neighbourjust 90 miles "to the north, the united states." translation: there will be a revolutionary response, i so we call upon all the revolutionaries in the country, all the communists, to take to the streets of any of the places where these provocations are g

jon sopel, bbc news, new york.est yorkshire. labour is defending a majority of 3,000 and it's being seen as a test of sir keir starmer�*s leadership. 0ur political correspondent alex forsyth is there for us — alex. sophie, this is a by—election that has been hard—fought and at times fraught. perhaps that's a sign of what is at stake, because a loss here for labour would be damaging and would undoubtedly prompt another period of introspection about the party's direction, but perhaps more crucially, the party's leadership. for the tories, this is a test of whether they can continue that charge in this part of the country now that it is their handling of the pandemic rather than brexit that is at the forefront of people's minds. so the result here will have national significance, but there are important local factors at play here too. this was the seat once ofjo cox, the mp who was murdered by a far right extremist, so it has known division before, and this has been a difficult campaign, tense. there has been anger an

jon sopel, bbc news, washington.s secretary of state antony blinken said this in response to the cuban government's claim that the us helped fund and cause the protests there. it would be a grievous mistake, because it would show that they simply are not hearing the voices and the will of the cuban people. people deeply, deeply, deeply tired of the repression that has gone on for far too long. tired of the mismanagement. of the cuban economy. tired of the lack of adequate food, and of course an adequate food, and of course an adequate response to the covid pandemic. at least 42 people have been killed in a fire at a hospital treating coronavirus patients in the iraqi city of nassiriya. health officials say the fire at the al—hussain hospital has now been brought under control and a search operation is being carried out. tanya dendrinos reports. a roaring inferno and a sea of desperate voices. fire crews battling the flames raging against the night sky. dozens have died, many are injured, and others still unaccounted

our north america editor jon sopel is outside trump tower in new york for us.f you listen to the district attorney, he makes it absolutely clear this is just following the facts and following the law, and that a grand jury has approved what's happened. listen to the trump organization and you get a completely different story. there's a long statement — i'lljust read you a bit of it. "after years of investigating, dozens of subpoenas, millions of documents and millions of dollars of taxpayers�* money, the manhattan da's office has decided to charge select trump entities with providing a car and apartment. make no mistake — this is not about the law, this is all about politics." and donald trump will have been furious at the way he saw his chief financial officer treated today. the powerful money man of donald trump's business empire today led into court in handcuffs, surrounded by police — a heavy—handed and deliberate show of force by the new york authorities. the charge is being led by the district attorney, cy vance. he'd been hoping to flip mr weisselberg so

jon sopel, bbc news, washington.on for hundreds of thousands of health workers, following a sharp rise in the number of covid cases caused by the delta variant. from september 15th they won't be allowed to go to work and won't get paid if they are not vaccinated. president macron also said that from next month people wantinig to go to bars, cafes and shopping centres or travel on planes and long distance trains will have to carry a health pass showing they've either been vaccinated or have had a recent negative test. it comes amid signs that the uptake of the vaccination programme has been slowing with around 40% of the population fully vaccinated. south africa has deployed soldiers to tackle unrest — triggered by the jailing of former presidentjacob zuma. shops were looted and buildings were set on fire today as mr zuma challenged his sentence at a hearing in court. the boss of the search engine google says the model of a free and open internet is under attack. sundar pichai says many countries are restricting the f

jon sopel, bbc news, washington.ys that all healthcare workers must be fully vaccinated against covid—i9 by september, or they risk not being paid. the announcement, by president macron, comes as cases of the delta variant there are rising. greece is also following suit, after italy unveiled similar measures back in april. mark lobel reports. to france's healthcare workers, a message from the president: get vaccinated in the next two months or risk not being paid. translation: it is the only way to return to normal life. - initially for healthcare staff in hospitals, clinics, retirement homes, institutions for people with disabilities, for all professionals or volunteers who work in contact with the elderly orfrail, including at home, vaccination will be made compulsory without delay. president macron says it is a race against the clock as the take—up of firstjabs is falling and less than 40% of the population has had two shots. that's a concern because of a rise in cases of coronavirus with the delta variant causing

jon sopel, bbc news, new york.n speak now to form a cheap house ethics lawyer for george w bush. —— chief white house ethics lawyer. it's good to have you with us. in your assessment, what you the pilot could be from this for the trump family could be from this for the trumpfamily and could be from this for the trump family and the trump organization? just mark the fallout? , . ., ., , fallout? the district attorney has powerful _ fallout? the district attorney has powerful evidence - fallout? the district attorney has powerful evidence that l fallout? the district attorney l has powerful evidence that the trump organization and allen weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the trump organization, engaged in tax fraud. this is not a minor act, this is a very highly paid executive of the trump organization who apparently received stencil compensation. under the table. that means taxes were not paid. ordinary americans pay very high taxes. the trump organization has made it possible for one of its most highly pai

jon sopel, bbc news, washington. africa has deployed its military to two of the country's provinces, following deadly riots that erupted after former president jacob zuma handed himself in to begin a is—month jail sentence. mr zuma was convicted of contempt of court, afterfailing to attend an inquiry into corruption during his presidency. the bbc�*s southern africa correspondent nomsa maseko has the latest. south african police were clearly overwhelmed. they had their hands full, trying to stop mobs who started looting shopping centres. nothing was spared. every shop was looted here. the military was then deployed. with more on the ground, the government hopes the protests and looting will come to an end. the jailing of south africa's former president, jacob zuma, resulted in violent protest action, followed by looting incidents in two provinces — mr zuma's home province of kwazulu—natal and gauteng, the country's economic hub. more than 200 people have been arrested. police are investigating the deaths of six others

jon sopel, bbc news, new york.s are now battling wildfires after the extreme heatwave that's hit the western part of the country. residents in lytton were forced to evacuate, as fires engulfed the area. on tuesday, the town recorded the country's highest ever temperature of 49.6 degrees celsius. some 250 people fled the fires, some filming as they left. oh, my god, look at that! our house is actually doing pretty well so far. holy bleep! spences bridge... cos at least we sort of know a few people there. those ones have just gone. the whole village is going. that footage was filmed by gordon murray and his family as they fled lytton. he is now in safety in vancouver. it is... we're still in shock. it all happened so fast. and as you know, there was the record heatwave before that, and before that fully was over, the winds picked up and this conflagration happened so fast that nobody really had a chance to fully comprehend it before we just had to basically run. we gathered up... i literally have the clothes that are

our north america editor jon sopel has more. libertad!rtad", the crowd in havana shouts, orfreedom. but while many cubans feel this in their hearts, it's extremely rare for protesters to take to the streets to give vent to their anger in this one—party communist state. translation: we are here because of - the repression against the people. they are starving us to death. havana is collapsing. we have no house, nothing, but they have the money to build hotels and they have us starving. and shouting "down with the dictatorship," as many of the protesters did, can come with a heavy price. but a toxic cocktail of economic collapse, a faltering response to the pandemic and lack of civil liberties has emboldened these people. and the response of the president? "blame your over—mighty neighbourjust 90 miles "to the north, the united states." translation: there will be a revolutionary response, i so we call upon all the revolutionaries in the country, all the communists, to take to the streets of any of the places where these provocations are goi

jon sopel, bbc news, new york.re treated fairly and humanity. the current administration put 13 convicts to death and its office, ending a 17— year moratorium. the boy scouts of america has reached a deal with the lawyers representing about 60,000 men over claims of historic sex abuse. this could help resolve the bankruptcy status. the organisation filed our protection from creditors last year, and the scale of abuse became apparent. canada's national holiday has been marked by protests following the recent discovery of unmarked graves of indigenous children. in his message, justin trudeau said it was right to reflect on historical failures in canada, and the injustices that exist for indigenous people still. australia plans to halve its international arrivals because of the outbreak of the delta variant of covid—19. the weekly intake will be cut to around 3000 people. residents remain banned from leaving the country. more than 12 million people are under stay—at—home orders and sydney, brisbane, perth, darwin, tow

jon sopel, bbc news, new york.ter, borisjohnson, says he will set out in the next few days how he plans plans to end coronavirus restrictions in england on the 19th ofjuly. it comes as the uk today recorded its highest daily number of new infections since the end ofjanuary — almost 28,000. here's our health editor, hugh pym. it's been more than a year of unprecedented restrictions, including mask wearing and lockdowns, with shops and some other businesses told to close their doors. but now, largely thanks to the vaccination programme, ministers say an end is in sight in england onjuly the 19th. borisjohnson said vaccines had broken the link between covid infections and deaths with the virus. that's an amazing thing. that gives us the scope we think on the 19th to go ahead cautiously, irreversibly, to go ahead. experts agree that vaccines are having a significant impact. during the peak injanuary and february, daily hospital admissions, seen here on the right, moved up sharply following the rise in cases, seen here

administration's so—called �*war on terror�* has been heavily criticised by many. 0ur north america editor jon sopeln who's a professor of us political history at the american university. good to have you with us, professor. what do you think the most enduring aspect of donald's legacy will be? he was a dedicated _ donald's legacy will be? he was a dedicated public _ donald's legacy will be? he was a dedicated public servant - donald's legacy will be? he was a dedicated public servant for i a dedicated public servant for five decades, member of congress, chief of staff twice, secretary of defence and ambassador, but what everyone is going to remember is he was complicit in some of the worst decisions with regard to foreign policy and human rights in the history of the country. he began talking about invading iraq right after the 9/11 attacks even though iraq had absolutely nothing to do with those attacks. he was central and cherry picking and distorting intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in iraq that led to our disastrous war, and iraq the cost so many lives to seemingly no end whatsoever.

administration's so—called �*war on terror�* has been heavily criticised by many. 0ur north america editor jon sopelresidents over five decades. hawkish in outlook, and a waspish personality, he was a key architect of america's response to 9/11 — the invasion of afghanistan and, most controversially, the invasion of iraq. a navy pilot in the 1950s, rumsfeld later became an illinois congressman. richard nixon and henry kissinger saw in him a cold ruthlessness and gave him a job in cabinet. a strong defence posture gives weight to our values and our views in international negotiations. in 1975 under gerald ford, he became the youngest ever defence secretary. ronald reagan sent him to the middle east, where he met saddam hussein, the leader he'd one day help to overthrow. i'm submitting the name of donald rumsfeld to be secretary of defence. nearly 20 years later, george w bush reappointed him defence secretary. within months, america came under attack. rumsfeld was in his pentagon office on september 11, 2001 when an airliner hit the building. he helped move the injured and then planned a way to strik