and stopped from coming to the city two days earlier, the prosecution said enrique tarrio organised, orchestrated and took credit for what happened that day. the 39—year—old was dressed head to toe in a prison issue orange jumpsuit as he listened to his lawyers urge thejudge for clemency. the state had asked for 33 years in jail, but as tarrio himself took the stand, he sounded contrite, he apologised for his actions and said he was embarrassed by what he had done. he also said he now believed donald trump had lost the 2020 election. nonetheless, the judge said he should be sentenced to 22 years in jail, and thus the most important and most senior member of the proud boys to take part in the riot of january the 6th will now serve the longest prison sentence yet handed down to orchestrators of what happened that day. more than 1,100 people who participated in or plotted the events of january 6th have been arrested and around 500 of them have been sentenced to prison or house arrest. tarrio�*s lawyers said that they "will definitely" appeal the sentence. turning now to two developing stories — both involving russia's war in ukraine, and both involving old cold war ties. in a moment we'll look at reports that president vladimir putin may host north korea's kim jong—un for arms talks. moscow has refused to comment on whether or not it's happening. but first to cuba, where officials say they've uncovered a human trafficking ring out of russia aimed at recruiting cubans to fight for russia's war in ukraine. cuba's foreign ministry says that cubans living in russia, and even some still at home have been "incorporated" into the military forces taking part in the war. russia has not yet responded to the claims, and cuba's foreign ministry did not specify who was behind the operation. russia and cuba have been forging an ever tighter relationship in recent months. cuba's prime minister met with putin in moscow as recently as june. but in a rare rebuke of russia, cuba's foreign minister issued a statement saying: pascal fletcher from bbc monitoring joined me in the last hour to talk about all this. thank you for being here. what more do we know about this alleged operation, and how this trafficking might have worked? well, first of all i wouldn't have necessarily described it as a rebuke to russia. what the cubans have said is that they are treating this as a trafficking operation, human trafficking network, but of course this follows days, almost a week of news coming out of the cuban exile community which has been publishing information about two young cubans complaining they were duped, swindled into taking up a contract in russia and finding themselves on the ukraine front line. so this is, if you like, the official cuban response, it has been a while coming and they have chosen to present it in this form, as a trafficking operation, but i would say there are still quite a lot of questions about who was exactly involved and whether those persons, and apparently there are people who were wearing military uniforms and that's how these young cubans were received in russia, it is still not clear what links they might have with either the military in both countries, with state entities, so there are still a lot of unanswered questions about this. diving a bit deeper into those unanswered questions, cuba and the former soviet union obviously were cold war allies, what do you think is behind russia potentially operating this kind of scheme instead of being more open in recruiting cubans or seeking some other sort of military partnership? well, i think it is still, as i say, not clear how open this was. it seems to have been that the young people involved, or the young people who have been testifying to the cuban exile media have been saying they found these numbers on facebook and they made contact with a russian and a cuban woman in moscow, and they sorted it out, they then signed contracts in russian including life insurance in russian, they understood they were going to work as constructors, possibly cooks in russian military units, but then they say they were duped and found suddenly they were on the ukraine front line. that is their version, but as i say, the cubans are presenting it as a trafficking thing, they are presenting that they are acting against it. they do make very clear that they do not form part of a war in ukraine — that was interesting, that they would be so specific. but there is no suggestion necessarily that their political alliance is necessarily particularly damaged here... that's what i wanted to ask you, because we are looking at pictures of the previous meeting in moscow between a delegation of cubans, the prime minister and vladimir putin. where does this relationship stand right now and could we be seeing signs of russia reaching out to these former or current partners that were part of the cold war alliance? certainly i think the relationship is still very strong and there is no question that the cubans have made very clear that they support the russian position over the war in ukraine — the cuban state media constantly echo moscow's talking points and that has been specifically addressed by the cuban president saying they oppose nato expansion, basically agreeing with russia's reasons for going to the war. but that is one thing, that's their political position. we are no longer in the days where cuba sends troops with russian cooperation to parts of the world to fight against the us or the south africans in angola — let's remember, 35 years ago they sent 50,000 troops to angola who were equipped with russian weaponry and tanks, so i think we quite a long way from that and that is a completely different thing and i don't think that is what we're seeing here. i do think that there seems to be some sort of contract where cubans can go and serve in some capacity, maybe constructors, maybe even as military if they are already in russia. we will have to leave it there, very interesting stuff. thank you very much. cuba's accusation against russia comes as the us claims north korea's leader, kim jong—un, plans to visit russia this month for talks with vladimir putin. the pair are expected to negotiate supplying weapons to russia for its war in ukraine. it's not yet clear what mr kim would get in exchange. as mentioned earlier, russia has not commented on the reports, but the possible meeting is the latest sign that the two nations are open to a closer working relationship. the us says if north korea does supply weapons for use in ukraine, it will pay a price in the international community. i think it says a lot that russia is having to turn to a country like north korea to seek to bolster its defence capacity in a war that it expected would be over in a week, but in september 2023 it is going to north korea to get munitions to try to continue to grind out on the battlefield in ukraine. while russia is looking for extra support, ukraine's first lady is speaking out about the impact of the protracted war beyond the battlefield. 0lena zelenska will host the summit of first ladies and gentlemen wednesday — dedicated to mental health. dozens of countries are expected to participate, although the exact number and names of the guests are kept secret for security reasons. first lady is speaking out about the impact really, for a year and a half now, we cannot be sure about tomorrow. we don't have confidence in our future. in one month or two, we have a huge hope for victory, but we do not know when it comes. and this long wait, constant stress, it takes its toll. so everyone finds their own way here to deal with it. for me, such stimuli are work, including our interview, because when you have the reason to wake up and go to work, it doesn't give you a chance to stop and think why this is happening to us. and i am very much supported by inspiring stories of ukrainians every day because in every tragedy, there is a story of saving, help, heroism and it inspires me a lot. i'm holding onto that and i think so are my colleagues and friends. how do you deal with other strains on yourfamily? for example, your husband being compared to winston churchill, how do you respond to that? translation: well, it depends on the way you would _ like to look at winston churchill. of course, he is a historicalfigure. i did not dream about my husband becoming a historic person. maybe it's selfish, but i need my husband, not a historical figure beside me. but, on the other hand, if it is about a leader who led his country through the difficulties of war, if that kind of comparison would be accurate, i'd love it. he really does has the energy, the willpower, the inspiration and stubbornness to go through this war so we finally see our long—awaited victory. i believe in him. and i support him. i know that he has enough strength. for any other person i know, i think it would be much harder to handle this situation. he really is a very strong and resilient person and this resilience is what we all need right now. ukraine's first lady speaking there to the bbc�*s yalda hakim. turning now to afghanistan, and the world food programme is cutting off food to millions of people there, due to a lack of funding. the un agency says it has had to cut rations to an additional two million people this month. all told, the wfp has had to cut aid to 10 million afghans this year. and the agency is warning of a "catastrophic" winter, if more funds are not made available. about three—quarters of the country are in need of humanitarian aid, following decades of conflict, and coming on the heels of the taliban takeover in 2021. the bbc spoke to the world food programme's country director in kabul about the extent of the crisis. we have just a short window of opportunity. in places where i just was, couple of weeks ago, there is no road past a certain point, it takes them days and days to get to a distribution site, for example. and they get cut off as early as early october. what the people were 0ctober. what the people were telling me is that once it is cut off, there are days where they are not able to go to the nearest village, and this to a market to buy food. and we fear that if we are not able to pre—position food in time, then we will not be able to help them when they really, really need it. and as you say, winters are extremely harsh on afghanistan and we all know how difficult it is to bear the cold on an empty stomach. lee went on to say that the taliban's restrictions on women and girls playing a role in society has also made their work more challenging. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making the news. the british government is preparing legislation to classify the wagner mercenary group as a terrorist orgnisation. that means it will be illegal to be a member or support the group. wagner's assets could also be seized. the group has played a key role in russia's invasion of ukraine, as well as operating in countries in africa including syria, libya and mali. new analysis by the un suggests about six billion tonnes of sand is dredged from the world's oceans each year. the un environment programme said the practice endangered marine life and coastal communities and that there is an urgent need for better management of sea mining. sand is among the most exploited natural resources in the world and is used in the prodution of concrete and glass. hong kong's top court issued a landmark ruling tuesday ordering the government to create a framework for recongising same—sex partnerships. the ruling did not grant full marriage rights to same—sex couples, but the case is still seen as a victory by equality advocates within hong kong. you're live with bbc news. we have some weather—related stories for you now, and let's start in southern brazil, where torrential rains and winds from a cyclone have killed more than 20 people. the storm forced hundreds of people from their homes, and many roads in the region are closed because of flooding. the governor of rio grande do sul said it was the state's worst—ever weather—related disaster. brazil's president has said the federal government is ready to help the affected area. from brazil we turn to eastern greece, where at least one person has died after heavy rainfall swamped homes, businesses and roads. local experts say the area saw as much rain in a single day as it usually gets through the entire autumn season. the bbc�*s reeta chakrabarti has more. greece this summer — first, wildfires, now rain so torrential, it's turned roads into rivers and has washed away trees, cars, anything that stands in its path. the island of skiathos in the northeast has been transformed, usually a buzzing holiday paradise now deluged as fierce rainstorms lash its streets. happy holidays, clive. tourist plans are in disarray and there are reports of tourists, including from the uk, forced to stay in their hotels, effectively stuck while the downpour continues. volos on the mainland has also been lashed by the storm. one man has been killed and the local mayor has pleaded with people to stay at home. translation: in a little while, it will overflow . onto the street. look, it will be sweeping people up. look at the bridge. please stay in your homes. with homes flooded and people stranded, it's another punishing bout of extreme weather for the people of greece and its visitors. and it's notjust greece — the same weather system is hitting neighbouring turkey. this is the scene in istanbul. there's been a new development in the controversy surrounding spain's women's football team. head coachjorge vilda has been fired. he was seen as an ally of the president of spain's football federation, luis rubiales. rubiales has been suspended for kissing a player on the lips without her consent as the team celebrated their world cup victory. here's our sports correspondent katie gornall. 16 days ago, jorge vilda seemed on top of the world. little could he have known what was to unfold. the fallout from luis rubiales�*s now infamous kiss onjenni hermoso today taking a new turn. the writing had been on the wall after he was seen applauding rubiales at a federation meeting on friday when instead of resigning, rubiales announced he was going nowhere. vilda later distanced himself from the spanish fa president, but stopped short of calling for him to go. the spain coach was already a controversialfigure. last year, 15 of his players went on strike, accusing the leadership of poor treatment. the federation supported him back then. not any more. he is notjust a coach that has won a world cup. he has also played an active role in this kind of misogynist culture within the federation that the players are now speaking up about. things would have remained the same, but now the world is looking and this is what happened, just because it happened in the middle of a world cup celebration. two weeks on from that incident, the spanish football federation has today apologised for the enormous damage caused by its suspended president, describing rubiales�*s behaviour as totally unacceptable, saying it had tarnished our national team, our football and our society. now spain want to look to the future. montse tome has been announced as vilda's successor, becoming the first woman to hold the role. spain's next match is september's nations league fixture against sweden. september's nations league currently, all of this squad are refusing to play while rubiales remains in post. will these changes be enough to persuade them back? katie gornall, bbc news. officials in new york city will begin enforcing laws meant to limit holiday rentals in private homes. after years of relaxed rental agreements, from today, the city council will be cracking down with what they call local law 18. the change of law has angered hosts. but advocates for new york's tenants and communities are hopeful this could ease the city's housing shortages. the city argues that short—term rentals push up rents and hurt housing options for locals. airbnb has said the change will be bad for tourism. 0ur correspondent nada tawfik in new york has the latest. airbnb has called this law a de facto ban on short—term rentals in new york. thousands of bookings across various sites, not just bookings across various sites, notjust airbnb, will no longer be able to offer stays of less than 30 days unless property owners have registered with the mayor of�*s office, so as last month airbnb estimated there were 15,000 hosts with active listings for those short—term stays, while only 260 registration applications had been approved by the city so far, and those new restrictions are things like hosts must be physically present during the stay and no more than two guests are permitted at a time. those who do not follow the new rules could be fined up to $5,000, and for those wondering what this means for them, well, airbnb�*s existing reservations for sties that start after december the 2nd will be cancelled and guest will receive refunds. new york is just the latest in a series of cities that have enacted strict regulations. revenue from the big apple makes up barely 1% of the company's $8.4 billion annual revenue, so experts say this will not drastically impact airbnb. two construction workers in northern china have been arrested for allegedly causing major damage to a section of china's iconic great wall. according to local authorities, the suspects admitted to using an excavator to create a short—cut going through a portion of the ming dynasty—era wall. police say the pair caused "irreversible damage" to the integrity and safety of the cultural relic.images of the damaged historical monument have sparked outrage and concern across the globe. there's been a growing call in the uk for a more public recognition of britain's role in the slave trade. as part of that effort, the current earl of harewood commissioned a portrait of the actor david harewood, who himself descends from slaves. harewood is known for his starring role in the tv series homeland. katie razzall has the story. one of britain's grandest stately homes — harewood house in west yorkshire, built in the 18th century on the proceeds of slavery from money made on caribbean sugar plantations. obviously, it was my ancestors who were actually doing the work. absolutely, and that's not something that's acknowledged fully enough, i don't think. renowned actor david harewood is descended from slaves, slaves owned by the current earl of harewood's forefathers. this is henry, the second earl. he's the guy who owned my ancestors. yeah. which is why you share the name. yeah. each slave was given the surname of the owner. my family's history and your family's history interlock in a weird and dark way, historically. the portrait in the frame. wow. the room where it will end up. hey, david. dude, how are you, man? good to see you. that is fantastic. now, this new work by the artist ashley karrell will sit amongst the harewood family portraits painted by the likes of reynolds and gainsborough. it's a commission for harewood house's missing portrait series to reflect a more truthful history. hundreds and thousands of people visit this house. when they see that, they're going to stop for a minute and go, "hang on a minute." "so what's he doing?" "what's he doing?" and that's exactly the question we want them to ask. exactly. and then they will understand the legacy of slavery. i'm not responsible, but i am — and i feel this very strongly — i am accountable for the legacy of that time. and that's what we've tried to do in many ways here over quite a long period of time now. 230 negroes. .. what's that say, at £45... per person. ..per person. the archives itemise plantation property — enslaved people listed below horses, goats and cattle. and after slavery was abolished in the 1830s, the lascelles received £26,000 in compensation. that's more than £2.6 million today. slaves got nothing. and more widely, demands for apologies and reparations are increasing. do you think the british government should apologise for slavery? i'm100%. to acknowledge it is at least making, is going towards mending it. healing. and until you do apologise, that sense of healing, i think, will remain a bit of an open wound. there's a part of me that just wants to scream, "burn the place down," but i'm not sure what that would achieve. it's a complex issue. at least we can talk about it, because i don't think being angry about it is going to achieve much. visitors to this house are now part of growing conversation about the brutality and enduring legacy of slavery. katie razzall, bbc news, west yorkshire. and before we go — around 2000 southern white rhinos are to be freed from captivity due to the closure of the world's largest rhino breeding farm. african parks, a non—profit organisation, bought the farm in south africa to rescue the animals after it was put up for auction. the world wildfire fund estimates there are less than 16,000 of the species left. that's all from us for now. i'm carl nasman, and i'll be back at the top of the hour with more. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. 0ur september heatwave is set to continue with more sunshine around the corner over the next few days. now, temperatures on tuesday reached 30.8 celsius in hampshire. we don't see 30 degrees every single september. we had similar kind of temperatures back in 2021 and 2020. now, so far this year, the highest temperature we've recorded all year was 32.2 celsius and we're going to get really close to that during wednesday. if we get past 32.2, well, that becomes something quite unusual. there have only been four years in the last century that have had the hottest temperature of the year recorded in a september. so we'll be keeping a close eye on that stat. now, right now, we've got some low cloud filtering in around some of our north sea coasts, a little bit of mist and fog around as well, but otherwise clear and starry skies and pretty warm as well. temperatures only towards dawn getting down to around 15 to 17 celsius. now, you might have been hearing about the extreme rainfall we've seen across south—east europe with some severe flooding here. we're underneath this area of high pressure, though, and that's what's bringing us the fine, settled and sunny weather. so we've got more of that to come on wednesday. any morning mist and fog, low cloud will tend to burn away from these eastern coasts and then the sunshine comes out. it's going to be another hot day. temperatures quite widely in scotland and northern ireland reaching the mid 20s. but for england and wales, somewhere between 26 and 32 degrees for most of us, very hot for the time of year and could be the hottest day of the year so far. now, for thursday, more of the same to come. a few subtle changes — there'll be a little bit more in the way of high cloud across north—western areas, making the sunshine little hazy. and you'd be unlucky, but you could see an odd shower in the west as well. most, though, will continue with the hot, dry, sunny weather with those high temperatures as well. for friday, probably a little bit more in the way of mist and fog patches running both through the irish sea coasts and also our north sea coasts. but aside from that, it's another dry day with lots of sunshine around for the vast majority. top temperatures, well, again, mid to high 20s, pretty widely. low 30s in the very hottest areas. and we've got more of the same into the weekend. it's only really probably during the second part of the weekend and more especially next week, that we start to see the weather pattern breaking down, rain starts to arrive and those temperatures drop closer to normal for the time of year. you're watching bbc news. the latest news headlines follow at the top of the hour, after this programme. this is the kashmir india's government wants the world to see — beautiful, serene, full of tourists. away from the site is the more grim picture — a painful, long—running conflict. more recently, a clampdown on democratic rights. journalists who can bring out people's voices and ground realities say they are being silenced by the government. asif sultan, a kashmiri reporter pictured here at one of his court hearings. he's been injailfor five years, charged under terror laws.