Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. Lawyers for the Trump Organization and its chief financial Officer Allen Weisselberg have pleaded not guilty to Tax Fraud at a court in New York. The prosecutor said thered been a sweeping and audacious illegal Payment Scheme at the former president s company. Our North America Editor Jon Sopel is outside Trump Tower in New York for us. If 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 whats happened. Listen to the Trump Organization and you get a completely different story. Theres a long Statement Illjust 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 Das 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 Trumps 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. Hed been hoping to flip Mr Weisselberg so that hed work with prosecutors, but the Trump Cfo is having none of it. And a statement from the Trump Organization spat defiance over the treatment of Mr Weisselberg after a short defiance over the treatment of Mr Weisselberg after a short hearing, he left court charged with fraud, charged with giving perks to trump executives and Family Members that were never declared. On the face of it, these charges might seem, after a 3 Year Investigation, relatively minor keeping payments off the books but the District Attorney is making clear to Mr Weisselberg, whos just leaving court now, that this is the start of a process, not The End of it. Trump lawyers after the hearing were trying to sound upbeat. The company is very, very optimistic, uh, that, uh, and, uh, were certainly hopeful that there will not be significant effects. What Donald Trump desperately needs now is that he remains tough, because weisselberg is under pressure from the new York Authorities to tell them everything he knows. This isnt over nowhere near. Jon sopel, bbc news, New York. Richard painter is a Law Professor at the university of minnesota. And he was the former White House chief Ethics Lawyer for george w bush. He says the allegation of fraud is very serious. We will see what happens but it appears that the District Attorney has powerful evidence that the Trump Organization and Mr Weisselberg, the cfo, Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, engaged in Tax Fraud. And this is not a minor matter. This is a very, very highly paid executive of the Trump Organization who apparently received substantial portions of his compensation under the table, which means taxes were not paid. While ordinary americans pay very high taxes, the Trump Organization has made it possible for one of its most highly paid executives to skirt his obligations under the law to pay his fair share. This is serious, it is a criminal Tax Fraud if the prosecution can prove its case in court, and as the Manhattan Da has made clear, they are not finished with investigations yet. There is quite a bit else going on, its being investigated. The New York times has reported the Trump Family has engaged in various prior this is to avoid taxes or, in various practices to avoid taxes or, rather, evade taxes back which is illegal over many decades so we will see where all of this goes. And therein lies an important distinction, as you just sort of acknowledged there its one thing to avoid taxes to so within the law by using loopholes and measures that are entirely above board and legal, it is another entirely to prove that taxes have been evaded which is unlawful. Absolutely right. This is a distinction that was made by arthur sullivan, an economist at the London School of economics, and his colleagues had put together a book in 1979 with the title tax avoision. Avoision is a combination of tax avoidance, which is legal moving to different jurisdictions to pay lower taxes for Example And Tax evasion, which is criminal that would be pretending you have moved to a differentjurisdiction in order to pay lower taxes, or paying for, perhaps, the private School Tuition of your Employees Grandchild so your employee does not have to incur Income Tax on the salary. So the bottom line is that this has been going on for a long time and, indeed, arthur sullivan, when he wrote the book in 1979, in some ways celebrated this practice as a way to fight back against high taxes. This was the era before thatcherism in the uk and reaganism in the united states when we lowered some of our taxes for the highest paid people. And the notion was that the way to fight against high taxes is to engage in avoision. Well, i can say is those who engage in this practice whether in the uk or the united states whether it is Trump Organization or anyone else run the risk of prosecution, and that is exactly what happened today. Richard painter. Folks are being counted in a crucial By Election in the uk, the race for the Conservative Party is tight in italy and spend. It has wider implications because many see it as a test of the leadership of the Labour Party under sir keir starmer. Batley and spen. We are going to speak to Nick Eardley at the count in butterfield. Huddersfield. How far off the count do you think . H,. ,. ,. How far off the count do you think . H,. ,. , ~ ,. , think . Good morning. We should aet a think . Good morning. We should get a result think . Good morning. We should get a result within think . Good morning. We should get a result within the think . Good morning. We should get a result within the hour get a result within the hour and it could be as soon as 30 minutes from now. At the moment, wejust dont minutes from now. At the moment, we just dont know with any certainty whether the conservatives are going to manage to take this seat away from labour and do something that actually no government in the uk has done since the second world war, which is as a ruling party, when two By Elections in seats they had not held before. Win. And as you say the wider implications for this for british politics are pretty significant because borisjohnson the Prime Minister has been riding a bit of a wave of success after the Vaccine Rollout here, he did well in local elections, and the Labour Party is really struggling to make any inroads. Normally at this sort of point within a Government Cant remember the conservatives have beenin remember the conservatives have been in Powerfor Ii remember the conservatives have been in powerfor 11 years of the uk, normally at this stage you would expect an Opposition Party to be doing really well in by Elections Midterm and the fact that the conservatives are potentially going to take this away from labour is a suggestion that they are actually getting more support than they were, rather than less, and it raises big questions for the opposition Labour Party about how they win Back Power. find Labour Party about how they win Back Power Back Power. And for the viewers around the Back Power. And for the viewers around the world, Back Power. And for the viewers around the world, nick, Back Power. And for the viewers around the world, nick, i around the world, nick, i suppose worth mentioning the rather sad and tragic history of this particular constituency that i suppose we can trace back to the road that has led to this By Election . Back to the road that has led to this byelection . To this byelection . Yeah, thats right, to this byelection . Yeah, thats right, this to this byelection . Yeah, thats right, this used to this byelection . Yeah, thats right, this used to i to this byelection . Yeah, | thats right, this used to be the seat that was held by a Labour Mp called jo cox, you may remember she was murdered by a far right extremist back in 2016, just before the Brexit Referendum here. A Labour Mp, another took over, tracy brabin, and the reason this election is taking place is because she has another elected jobs that she had to stand down and the Labour Candidate this time is called Kim Leadbetter and she isjo coxs sister and and she isjo coxs sister and a local candidate, someone who is quite popular and they are hoping the Labour Party that because she has the local Name Recognition that she would be able to win a number of seats for the party and i think it has happened, the fact that it is close is a sign that perhaps they are not in the worst place in this seat but the fact that the conservatives are, we think, may be marginally ahead, maybe by a few hundred votes, although that is within a margin of error because its pretty hard to forgive these things out in Counting Centres at the moment because of covid 19 restrictions, the fact the conservatives are potentially going to take this seat, as i say, is assigned the Boris Johnsons party seat, as i say, is assigned the borisjohnson� s party is reaching parts of england that in the past it struggled in kim leadbeater. Remember it won the hartlepool By Election a few months ago, i think the party had never won. This is slightly different, party that the conservatives in the uk used to hold back in 1992 but it has been labourfor 25 used to hold back in 1992 but it has been labour for 25 years and its the kind of area but if labour were going to challenge the conservatives realistically at a general election, they need to be winning here. So as you say ben, some really tragic history in this seat but todays result will be mostly about what it means for wider british politics and what it means for the future of this area. Qm. The future of this area. 0k, nick, for the future of this area. 0k, nick, for the the future of this area. 0k, nick, for the moment, the future of this area. 0k, nick, forthe moment, thank the future of this area. 0k, nick, for the moment, thank you very much. Nick eardley at the count in west yorkshire. Lets get some of the days other news. Turkeys president has rejected accusations that his country had taken a step backwards by pulling out of an international treaty to prevent violence against women. Mr erdogan said Turkeys Battle on the issue did not start with the Istanbul Convention and Wouldnt End with its withdrawal. 130 countries have agreed reforms to business taxation. They want to ensure that multinationals pay taxes where they operate and impose a minimum tax of at least 15 . Ireland and hungary are among nine countries that have not signed up. Scientists have found that an area of the Arctic Ocean that was thought likely to stay frozen far longer than the rest of the region may be more vulnerable to Climate Change than previously predicted. Researchers found that the region suffered a Record Decline in Ice Concentrations last year. To miami now, where President Biden has been meeting families and Rescue Workers in surfside, where an Apartment Building collapsed last week. 18 people have been confirmed dead, while more than 140 are still missing. The bbc� s Sophie Long reports from surfside. How are you . President biden, thanking the Rescue Workers who have been searching for Survivors Day and night. Applause. He also spent time with the families affected, who he said are going through hell. They had basic, heart wrenching questions. Will i be able to recover the body of my son or daughter, my husband, my cousin, my Mum And Dad . How can i have closure without being able to bury them if i dont get the body . What do i do . Jill and i wanted them to know that were with them and the countrys with them. When i saw the video, my heart was ripped from my chest because thats the moment i saw my mum and my grandmother die, so it was very difficult. And thats all i see now when i close my eyes. Now, pablo tries to hold on to memories of happier times. In the days that have passed since the building where his Mother And Grandmother lived crashed to the ground, Rescue Teams have been working around the clock, painstakingly removing rubble, searching for survivors. It is a dangerous and demanding task, both physically and emotionally. We are Human Beings and we are dealing with Human Beings beneath the surface and we know that we look for them and we do the best to get to them, but still, the thought that under all this concrete, all this steel, there is a person maybe a little boy that is buried there, its very difficult to feel, to understand. The families of those still unaccounted for have been to visit the site, and some have told me that seeing the homes that they used to visit reduced to rubble with their own eyes is helping them now to start to prepare for the worst. All of them, though, have one question how long . How long can someone possibly survive in there . Its a question no one can answer, but they were able to see whats being done to reach those trapped in the twisted Metal And Concrete before the hope they cling to fades completely. They were able to understand that there was no longer a specific apartment, there is no spaces, and the crews are working night and day, 2a hours a day, 12 hour shifts, working on top of that pile, doing everything they possibly can to dig deeper into the rubble to try to find anyone that could possibly be there. As the Rescue Operation continues, people are demanding answers their Loved Ones will never hear. My mum would have been shouting at the top of her lungs from the rooftop, from anywhere, speaking to anybody that would listen to make sure that those responsible for this are brought to justice and that reform happens so that this never happens again to any otherfamily, because no one should have to go through this. This wasnt an earthquake, it wasnt a terrorist attack. This was a building. People went to sleep, and then they died. Sophie long, bbc news, surfside, miami. Canadian authorities are battling wildfires after the extreme heatwave thats hit western areas. On tuesday, the town of lytton recorded the countrys highest ever temperature of 49. 6 degrees celsius. Gordon murray was filming has he made his way out. We Gordon Murray was filming has he made his way out. He made his way out. We are still in shock. He made his way out. We are still in shock. It he made his way out. We are still in shock. It all he made his way out. We are still in shock. It all happened so fast and, as you know, there was the Record Heatwave before that and before that was fully over, the winds picked up and it happened so fast that nobody really had a chance to fully comprehend it before we just had to basically run. We gathered up. I have the clothes on my back. They still smell of smoke. We grabbed our pets and most precious things that we could quickly find and left behind all kinds of things like passports and things that, if we had the time, we would have been able to get, and just got in the Car And Drive and had no idea even which direction to drive because there was so much Smoke And Fire and we picked the direction we thought would be the most likely to get us out of the fire and go for it. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come a royal reunion Princes William and harry unveil a statue of their mother on what would have been her 60th birthday. China marked its first day of rule in Hong Kong with a series of spectacular celebrations. A huge Fireworks Display was held in the former colony. The chinese president jiang zemin, said unification was the start of a new era for Hong Kong. The worlds first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. Scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly that was cloned in a laboratory using a cell from another sheep. I for the first time in 20 years, i russian and american spacecraft have docked in orbit at the start of a new era of cooperation in space. Cheering and Applause Challenger powered past the Bishop Rock Lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering the record that had stood for 3h years, and there was no hiding the sheer elation of Richard Branson and his crew. This is bbc news, the latest headlines the Trump Organisation and its Chief Financial Officer have been charged with multiple counts of tax related fraud. They pleaded not guilty. President biden has said it is essential to find out what caused an Apartment Block in miami to collapse last week. More on the crucial of the By Election taking place in the north of england. Byelection taking place in the north of england. North of england. Lewis, you have been north of england. Lewis, you have been looking north of england. Lewis, you have been looking at north of england. Lewis, you have been looking at the have been looking at the various campaign. What is the mood . ,. , ~ mood . Very, very nervous. When Ou Talk mood . Very, very nervous. When yOu Talk to mood . Very, very nervous. When yOu Talk to Labour Mood . Very, very nervous. When yOu Talk to labour people, mood . Very, very nervous. When yOu Talk to labour people, they. YOu Talk to labour people, they are quite chipper and not because they think they have won but that they are still definitely in the game. So much of the campaign had been written off with the conservatives doing so well and Borisjohnson Swinging much of the north of england. George galloway mopping up a lot of the muslim vote in that constituency and the assumption that labour was out of it. That does not seem to be the case. It is very, very, very close according to one labour source. The fact that they are still in contention that galloway has taken Votes Contention that galloway has Ta Ken votes from contention that galloway has taken votes from the party suggest they are eating into some of the conservative votes as well. Labour should be winning it, they should not be losing sense. You would have to go back to the 1920s to find an example but they are glad to still be in the game. Still be in the game. Even retaining still be in the game. Even retaining a still be in the game. Even retaining a seat still be in the game. Even retaining a seat to still be in the game. Even retaining a seat to labourj retaining a seat to labour would feel like a winner . In the strange world of politics, partly because there was an expectation after hartlepool, with such a drubbing, the conservatives doing well into the conservative piles in that part of northern england, the realignment of labour sees galloway factor, an assumption that labour would lose. I never said that assumption entirely. Kim leadbeater, the sister of the assassinated mpjo cox, the Labour Candidate, is respected and embedded in the constituency. At this point now, if labour were to take the seat, it would shift some of the narrative we have seen about the Labour Party and sir Kier Starmer. Pm about the Labour Party and sir Kier Starmer. Kier starmer. An interesting shift in the Kier Starmer. An interesting shift in the political shift in the political landscape in a recent By Elections. Conservatives taking hartlepool, the Liberal Democrat taking Chesham And Amersham from the conservatives just last month, things seem to be in flux. What is the feeling in terms of the bigger picture . Absolutely. What were seeing is what we have seen since 2016, the slow realignment of british politics. People thought the Brexit Realignment was done but it is not an event, it is a process. Hartlepool, going over to the conservatives from labour. Perhaps more left wing, the borisjohnson morphing. Some Boris Johnson morphing. Some conservatives borisjohnson morphing. Some conservatives going to Liberal Democrats, perhaps more graduates living there. Not entirely approving of Boris Johnson or brexit going over to the Liberal Democrats. We are seeing this in other countries as well in terms of what is happening to traditional left of centre in the us, the french socialist, Marine Le Pen and other sources, socialist, Marine Le Pen and othersources, in socialist, Marine Le Pen and other sources, in italy and other sources, in italy and other places. It is part of an international phenomenon. The Labour Party, in the middle of all that, has found itself most squeeze of all because it has not been able to easily appeal to its more traditional supporters. Sir Kier Starmer perhaps appealing to younger voters. Making a pitch to the so called Red Bull seeds. Wall. Because of expectations, it would be good for his leadership if they do indeed win it. Our royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell reports. The event should have been solely about their mother the unveiling by her sons of a statue of diana, princess of wales. But the sons, William And Harry, have fallen out. The special bond between two young princes has been broken. Harsh words are said to have been spoken. This afternoon, it could largely be hidden. They were with the Spencer Family dianas two elder sisters, sarah and jane, and her brother, charles. Everybody chatted quite amiably. How could it have been otherwise . William and harry, Side By side for some of the time, but more often than not they stood apart, until the moment of the statues unveiling. The statue shows diana with anonymous children. It is intended, in the words of kensington palace, to reflect her warmth, elegance and energy. William and harry stood together to look at the statue and exchanged their impressions. The brothers went on together to inspect the gardens. There had been talk of them both making speeches. Instead, there was a joint statement in which they said they remembered their mothers love and strength. Every day, they added, we wish she was still with us. Perhaps then her sons will wonder what she wouldve made of the current tensions. Perhaps today will help them to reflect. That is the hope of the sculptor. The fact that their mother is there, you know, in a real physical sense, perhaps in the evening when the grounds are shut, they could easily come here for a moment of quiet reflection, and i hope that will give them some sort of comfort or solace. Todays events will have been an important, shared moment for William And Harry in which they will surely have felt their mothers influence. And perhaps it will have encouraged them to move on. Because William And Harry must surely know that the current tensions between them are not good, for them orfor the widerfamily. Nicholas witchell, bbc news. Thank you for watching. I will see you soon. Bye bye. Hello there. Thursday wasnt a Bad Day for many of us. It stayed dry across much of the country, apart from a few showers which developed later in the afternoon across southern england. For friday, though, it looks like we could see a few more showers around generally. But that said, there should still be quite a bit of sunshine around. Itll feel quite warm too. So were in between Weather Systems for friday. This area of low pressure, though, will be moving in just in time for the weekend. It could bring quite a bit of rain at times and even some thunderstorms. So we start this morning off rather cloudy for many, bit of Mist And Fog around. That should tend to melt away quite quickly, and then there will be plenty of sunshine as we head on into the afternoon, but a scattering of showers will develop. Some of them could turn out to be heavy and thundery. I think the focus of them towards central and eastern parts of the country. Some areas avoiding them completely and staying dry, and it will be quite warm too top temperatures around 2a degrees. Those showers continue into the evening, push their way further northwards, and then we start to see the influence of that area of low pressure arriving across the south west, sending a band of Showery Northwards and eastwards across wales, the west country, into the midlands, and some of the rain could be quite heavy and thundery by The End of the night. And generally double figure values for most, so its going to be a mild night. So for this weekend, it is looking decidedly unsettled, as low pressure will be nearby. Here it is, very slowly moving its way north eastwards as its pushing against this area of high pressure. Its likely to bring spells of heavy rain, maybe longer spells of rain at times on saturday. And then into sunday, widespread showers develop, and some of these could really be quite intense. So this band of rain will continue to journey its way northwards across england and wales through saturday morning. Again, some of it could be thundery. Scotland could start dry with some good spells of sunshine, before Showery Rain arrives there later on. Further south, there will be some sunshine appearing, but again showers will develop when temperatures reach highs of around 21 or 22 degrees. Sunday, i think generally looking more unsettled across the board. Well start off with some sunshine, but then showers will get going some of these will be heavy, some thunderstorms mixed in there. We could see some localised flooding in places, in fact. And temperatures might be a degree or so down range from around 17, generally, to around 20 or 21 celsius. And then into the start of next week, low pressure sticks nearby. In fact, we could see a deep low which could sweep through, to bring some wet and windy weather for a time. Welcome to bbc news. Our top stories Donald Trumps long serving Finance Chief Allen Weisselberg and the organisation set up in the former president s name have pleaded not guilty to Tax Fraud and theft at a court in New York. The charges are the first to be brought as part of a 3 Year Investigation by the manhattan District Attorney. President biden has said it is essential to find out what caused an Apartment Block in miami to collapse last week. He also promised that federal funding for the Rescue Effort would continue for a month. Mr biden was speaking after meeting families of victims of the disaster. Counting is underway in the Yorkshire Constituency of batley and spen, where voting has been taking place for a new member of parliament. The results are expected in the next few hours and will be seen as a test of sir keir starmer� s leadership of labour. Lets get more on the