—— after a deadline to reinstate the country's ousted president expired. west african regional body ecowas had given the country's junta a week to reverse its coup, which has seen mohamed bazoum placed under house arrest. the bloc threatened military intervention if the demands weren't met by sunday. but the deadline has now passed, so far, without action. but a short time ago, niger's junta warned the threat is still there. translation: the planning of this war has been carried out. | free deployment of forces to take part in this war has begun in two central african countries. niger's armed forces and all our defence and and security forces, backed by the unfailing support our people, are ready to defend the integrity of our territory and the honour of our homeland. well, france has suspended all development aid to niger's neighbour, burkina faso, after its military government said it would see any intervention against the coup leaders a declaration of war. thousands of people gathered sunday in the main stadium of niger's capital in support of the coup, chanting anti—french slogans and waving russian flags. the bbc�*s nkechi ogbonna has been monitoring developments in neighbouring nigeria. we are yet to hear from the original bloc, ecowas, on what the decision would be concerning niger. the ultimatum has elapsed this evening — sunday evening — the 7—day ultimatum. we are yet to hear from ecowas but we also know that there are suspected moves in niger in the coming days, the rally this afternoon showing pro—coup supporters at a stadium in niamey, the capital city, showed that the people were supporting thejunta, chanting anti—france songs and waving pro—russia flags in the crowds. it's a mix of feelings. the first part being that a lot of nigeriens believing since 1960 independence, france has had a stronghold on niger, both economically and politically, and they say that france has not helped in any way to curb the islamist and jihadist operations in that part of the sahel region so, they believe it was time for a change, to see if the military would bring the much—desired change. but on the flip side of things, civil society groups and some other private individuals also believe that they want democracy to continue, as it would offer them a freedom of expression and their human rights would be protected. rescue teams in southern pakistan are continuing to search for the survivors of a rail disaster which has killed at least 30 people. police say 100 passengers were injured when an express train derailed in sindh province, and there are fears the number of casualties will rise. 0ur pakistan correspondent caroline davies reports. twisted, contorted and thrown off the tracks, derailed so violently, some carriages flipped on their side. inside were passengers travelling from karachi to rawalpindi. locals arrived before the army and rescue services. translation: iwas sitting in my shop. l suddenly, there was a huge bang. we were all stunned. we immediately thought an accident had taken place. we started running and when we arrived here, we saw the train accident had happened. we pulled out bodies and wounded people from the wreckage. passers—by clambered over wreckage, carefully guiding survivors out through windows and down over mangled metal. other passengers did not walk away. local hospitals declared an emergency as tens of injured began arriving. some were treated outside and the dead began to be counted. losing the light, the rescue teams began moving the train from the tracks, the cause of this disaster is not yet clear. translation: based | on initial investigation, it doesn't seem like the the incident was caused by sabotage or terrorism. it's more likely that it was due to a technical problem which the railway will look into thoroughly to prevent similar accidents in the future. local police have told the bbc that this was not due to flooding on the tracks, contrary to local media reports, leaving the question what caused this disaster and could such a loss of life have been avoided? caroline davies, bbc news, islamabad. talks hosted by saudi arabia on finding a way to end the war between russia and ukraine have ended with no sign of concrete action. a closing statement committed only to more peace discussions. russia was not invited to the talks. but china, which has maintained close ties with moscow, sent a delegation. meanwhile a russian—installed official says ukrainian forces have damaged two bridges linking the occupied region of kherson to crimea. pictures posted to telegram show huge holes in the chonhar bridge. to the us now, and former vice president mike pence says he won't rule out testifying against his former president if donald trump goes to trial on charges of undermining the results of the 2020 presidential election. here's mr pence speaking to cbs news. people can be confident we'll obey the law, we'll respond to the call of the law if it comes and we'lljust tell the truth. president trump was wrong. he was wrong then, he's wrong now. i had no right to overturn the election. well, also on sunday, donald trump's attorney john lauro told cbs news that if called to testify, mr pence would actually be donald trump's "best" witness. the reason why vice president pence will be so important to the defence is the following. number one, he agrees that john eastman, who gave legal advice to president trump, was an esteemed legal scholar. number two, he agrees that there were election irregularities, fraud, unlawful actions at the state level. all of that will eviscerate any allegation of criminal intent on the part of president trump. meanwhile, legalarguments are already playing out publicly in the former president's election fraud case. donald trump says he'll be asking the judge to step aside, claiming he won't get a fair trial unless she does. well, mr trump attacked judge tanya chutkan on his social media platform, also saying he'll be asking to move the trial out of washington, dc. 0ur correspondent sean dilley joined me earlier to help break this all down. sean, thanks so much for being with us. now, donald trump says that he doesn't believe that the judge in this trial, with regards to january sixth, will give him a fair trial. is there any evidence to support that? look, these things are very subjective. they're the views of the defendants, aren't they? you have to put donald trump's view and public statements into the context that he doesn't see any of this process as being legitimate at all. one thing he's picking up on is that the fact that this judge was appointed by one of his predecessor presidents, president 0bama, in the same way he personally appointed thejudge who's hearing his florida classified documents case. so, you know, that in and of itself — judges are supposed to be impartial. however, what he and his legal team would certainly be likely to pick up on is that this judge has sentenced many of the january six attackers and she's been known to give sentences that are actually longer than the department ofjustice have asked for but in this casem what he appears to be —— have asked for but in this case, what he appears to be upset about is the judge's refusal to grant the defence more time to respond to a prosecution request to limit what donald trump can say about the evidence once it is disclosed to him. the former president also says he wants this trial to be moved out of washington. he says that it's anti—trump. what's the likelihood of these kind of requests succeeding? again, he would say that because he thinks it's all twisted against him. look it's very common in different parts of america for a change of venue when a small community, for instance, knows the defendants or victim of a crime really well and you can't get a fair trial. his argument is because, essentially, like 95% of people in washington, dc voted forjoe biden, he is arguing that it is stacked up against him and he can't get a fair trial. what he would like to do is to move it to fairly nearby west virginia but, you know, again, there's not a massive surprise here because it's not the first time he's been asking for this. of course, sean, this is the third indictment in some four months. it's completely unprecedented for the united states. but now, all eyes are on georgia, aren't they? yeah, �*unprecedented' again seems like a trite word but there is no other word for it, is there? if you think that it is the first time in history that someone has been running as a candidate for president if they could conceivably end up in the white house and they don't know if they could conceivably end up in the white house or even a federal prison. the issue around georgia, you are quite right — fulton county expected to issue its own indictment related to this case around claims of election interference. of january 2, 2021. donald trump described that as a "perfect call" — it was released to the media — and he'd asked the secretary of state in georgia if he could find 11,780 votes because it was donald trump's assertion at that time that there were thousands of people voting who weren't even alive. but there was no evidence he was able to produce there. just one point to leave you with — donald trump's lawyer speaking to us networks on sunday, picking up on the point that the first amendment does protect free speech. they are arguing it that that include actions and they were saying that donald trump was then allowed to lobby people. ultimately, the conclusion of their thesis is this — they say the prosecution, or they put it, joe biden�*s administration, but we know what they mean by that, is not going to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that donald trump didn't honestly believe he won the 2020 election. and just briefly, if you don't mind, sean, all of these legal cases stacking up — how is that impacting his race for the republican nomination? you know, if we're being totally honest, you never actually know. at the moment, it doesn't look like it's impacting him badly because there are two hurdles, if you think about it. there's the republican party race to become the nominee to run for president — and he's way ahead of any of his other candidates. the nearest rival, ron desantis, is 30 points behind him, so it looks at the moment as though he will win that republican party nomination. of course, anything can change. bear in mind, he's presumed innocent. if he was convicted of an offence or imprisoned, that could change things, and there are some polls suggest that could be of concern to republican voters. but if he is running as the republican party candidate, those polls seem slightly less believable because the alternative would then have to be that republican voters would have to vote either forjoe biden or not vote at all. that's pretty much unthinkable. 0ur north america correspondent sean dilley there. sean, thank you very much. around the world and 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can never believe things - teapot in the garden. you can never believe things that - never believe things that pe0pte _ never believe things that pe0pte can _ never believe things that people can make. - never believe things that people can make. for. never believe things that people can make. for more stories across _ people can make. for more stories across the - people can make. for more stories across the uk, - people can make. for more stories across the uk, head people can make. for more i stories across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. on friday, a texasjudge ruled that parts of the state's ban on abortion may be too restrictive. judgejessica mangrum issued a temporary injunction, granting exemptions for women with pregnancy complications and their doctors. butjust hours after that decision, the state's attorney general filed an appeal with the texas supreme court, blocking the judge's order from taking effect. well, in march, 15 women, the center for reproductive rights and their physicians filed a lawsuit against texas, claiming the abortion law put their lives in jeopardy. here's what polling tells us about attitudes in the us towards abortion. 26% of texans believe abortion should always be legal without any restrictions, according to a joint university of houston—sta nford poll. 28% believe that there should be at least some minor restrictions. 33% say it should only be allowed in special circumstances, like when the mother's life is at risk. and 13% of texans believe abortion should be completely illegal. nationwide, 64% of us adults believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a june survey. earlier, i spoke to lead plaintiff in the texas lawsuit, amanda zurawski. thank you so much for taking the time to be with us on the programme today. to begin with, if you would, tell us what happened to you because of the abortion laws currently in place in texas. thank you so much for having me, it is a pleasure to be here, despite the circumstances. last summer almost exactly one year ago, it was august 2022, i was one—day shy of 18 weeks pregnant and was diagnosed with a condition called cervical insufficiency or incompetent cervix which meant that i was dilating prematurely and we were told after a brief examination that miscarriage was inevitable. and so we asked what could be done to move the process along and protect me and respectfully lose the baby which meant doctors intervening but doctors could not because of the laws in texas. because the baby's heart was still beating so providing any sort of intervention would have been considered an illegal abortion so we had to wait until her heart stopped beating or until my life was considered at risk enough that i would then have qualified for healthcare and what happened to me was eventually after three days i went into septic shock and finally doctors were able to provide healthcare. an incredibly distressing situation and we are grateful that you will share it with us. so this situation of yours meant that not only did you lose your daughter, your own health was also at risk through this. yes. you are exactly right. imagine getting the news that you are going to lose your child that you have wanted and worked desperately for, for over a year and there is nothing they can do to protect you so not only was i grieving and trying to mourn her loss but i was also terrified because i did not know what was going to happen to me. and you went into sepsis and if i understand, it also means that could potentially make future conception more challenging. we know that conceiving in the future will be more difficult. it was extremely difficult the first time and it will be even harder, if it can happen, again because the sepsis left in my reproductive organs a substantial amount of scar tissue, leaving one of my fallopian tubes permanently closed. the state of texas there says it does make exceptions for mothers whose life is threatened but you brought a case against the state calling for more clarifications. why doesn't the current law go far enough? to your mind? i am not a healthcare professional but i understand that the law is extremely vague and has very confusing language and so healthcare professionals do not know what they can do and when they can provide healthcare and what kind of healthcare they can provide. some of my fellow plaintiffs are physicians in the state of texas and they have said time and time again that they do not know, you know, what the law truly means and when they can practice bestjudgement. on top of that if they make a mistake, if they violate the law they face up to 99 years in prison, massive fines, losing their license and those are risks that they should not have to even consider when potentially providing life—saving healthcare. so we now know that a judge in texas has ruled in favour of your case but the state attorney general has already appealed it. so, halting it while the ultimately considered. what do you anticipate happening next? firstly we were thrilled that the judge ruled in our favour. it was really, i think, encouraging to see a court rule that patients like us are being harmed and will continue to be harmed so that gave us a huge amount of hope. we're not surprised the state appealed, for sure, we expected that but i think it really speaks to their views on pregnant people in texas. now we know in no uncertain terms that they intend for pregnant people in texas to be facing harm. they know what the possible consequences are, they do not seem to care about our lives and our health and our safety and they say that, yes, we should have to face these crimes. you brought this case forward very publicly, sparking a conversation there in texas. when you speak to people in your community and when you speak to people in the state about the abortion laws currently in place, what kind of things do they tell you? what kind of views are they sharing and do you see any kind of momentum shift in the conversation? definitely. it has been an amazing amount of support, of outrage, of disbelief. i think we're kind of through the phase of shock and disbelief because initially people did understand that this was happening and they did not understand why. i think we have made a lot of headway there and now people know this is happening and they are outraged and they wanted change. so we are getting support from not just people in texas all across the country, across the world. i think people are very, very motivated to fix this and to change it and, so, i am very hopeful that we may be the first lawsuit of our nature but i do not think we will be the last and that is very i think people are very, very motivated to fix this and to change it and, so, i am very hopeful that we may be the first lawsuit of our nature but i do not think we will be the last and that is very encouraging. amanda zurawski, thank you so much for being with us and for sharing your story on bbc news. thank you so much for having me. the two—time defending champions at the women's football world cup, the united states, have crashed out of the tournament — the final result decided by just millimetres. the round of 16 match finished scoreless in regular and extra time, sending it to a dramatic shoot—out. sweden prevailed 5—4, with three us players missing their penalty kicks, including star forward megan rapinoe. sweden sealed the deal on this penalty shot. it was nearly saved by us keeper alyssa naeher, but was ruled to have just crossed the line. earlier, i spoke with dw sports correspondent 0liver moody who's in new zealand for the tournament. good you once again it is fair to say that the us seemed dominant for most of this mansion and in the end it came down to just a couple of millimetres. how big a shock as this result? the defending champions and the top—ranked team in the world are out and that will always be a big shock. to realise how much of a shock this is, you must think about how long the usa have been at the top of women's football around the world. it was 2015 when they won the world cup in canada and that was when they reach the summit and they have been there ever since. so for that eight years of dominance to come to an end will always be a big surprise for fans around the world. and just on the fans, i think we must remember that women's football is a sport that has experienced tremendous growth in that time, in that last eight years and even more recently than that. so many people who today are avid women's football fans have only known the usa as the world champions so i think this will be something that people around the world experience is quite a big deal and you can see it on the faces of the usa players as well straight after the game. they were clearly in a state of shock. they were experiencing was that they were going out of the world cup after putting in the best performance of the tournament so far. as you said they dominated sweden for large stretches of the game and it was only excellent goalkeeping that stop them from scoring and then at the end, two, maybe three millimetres was the difference. this is the world cup, it is not out football decided by the finest of margins and that is why we love the sport. i also saw a recent headline saying that if the us loses the world cup does global soccer win? what do you think? is this now set the stage for a new era in women's football? i certainly think it is not good for any sport to be dominated by one team for too long. i also saw a recent headline saying that if the us loses the world cup does global soccer win? i think that can lead to a bit of apathy among fans and that is never good. looking at, for example, the experience england had last year winning the european championship and how that increased the awareness of the women's game and engagement with it and now, if you could imagine that happening on an even bigger scale to columbia or australia, that is something really exciting prospect for women's football. we should also acknowledge and recognisejust how much of a driving force this usa team has been doing this spell of dominance. 0n the pitch, obviously, how many people got into the game because they loved meghan rapinoe or alex morgan. but of the pitch, the way the team fought for its rights in regard to equal pay, for example, in the way that they have engaged with social courses as well. i really do think we have to pay attention to just what this team has dumb for the profile of women's football around the world. so while i think it is exciting for the women's game to see a different team coming out on top this time around, i think if you are a fan of the global game it is perhaps not the time to celebrate an early demise of the usa team. such an important point to make. briefly, england and nigeria, what do we expect from that game? england have started to come on strong at the back end of the group stage and we heard the quite surprising news that kira walsh, the midfielder, is back in training after suffering an earlier knee injury. that will be a big roost for england, she is an important player for them. a strong england team, european champions and nigeria spring a surprise against australia although, who knows, it is knocked out football. always good to talk to you. thank you so much. and australia have won the netball world cup. they beat england by 16 points in cape town to take the title for a twelfth time. england have never won the tournament before but equalled their best performance at the event since the 1970s. stay with us here on bbc news. well, i have got some good news for you. the weather outlook for most of us this week isn't looking too bad at all. and as promised, it is going to turn warmer for all of us. but it may not last that long. let's have a look at the big picture across the atlantic. and here's the jet stream, that current of wind, the weather systems, the rain here. and notice how by thursday, the jet stream takes on the shape of a ridge, which means it allows the warmer air to stream in from the south. but let's have a look at the short term. and this is the satellite picture — we're in between weather systems, the gap in the clouds here, so some clear spells through the early hours, and then this smaller area of low pressure will be a bit of a fly in the ointment, i think, for the beginning of the week through monday and into tuesday. so here's the forecast, then, through the early hours. for most of us, it's dry, a few showers in the north and the northwest. but as i say, sunny spells, if not even clear blue skies in one or two parts of the country. now, through the morning, into the afternoon, the cumulus clouds will bubble up and we will see showers developing. but i think they will be well scattered and most of us will miss the showers. but you might catch one or two, particularly across the north of the country. temperatures between 17—21 celsius. now, here's that rather small area of low pressure, but the winds are coming in from the south—west, which means it's relatively humid air. so turning quite murky in the south—west late on monday, perhaps drizzly and wet. there is that small weather system here. if anything, this meansjust a fair amount of cloud across the uk during the course of tuesday. also, the humidity will rise — it will feel quite muggy out there. so, cloudy, maybe damp at times with a bit of rain across the south, with sunny spells, too. but the best of the weather — northern half of the uk. so, sunshine for newcastle and glasgow on tuesday. temperatures in the high teens. and then the weather really does improve on wednesday. i think broken cloud with some sunny spells, a generally dry day. the winds are coming in from the south. the temperatures are rising widely into the 20s across the uk, mid 20s in the southeast and the south. and i think by thursday, we could be hitting the high 20s. but as i say, it's not going to last for that long because by the weekend in the northwest of the country, guess what? showers and strengthening winds. voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. ukraine sees itself locked in an existential struggle against russian aggression. already, the conflict has lasted 1.5 years — almost a decade, if you trace it back to moscow's first military moves in crimea and the donbas. what has the fight and the human cost of it done to ukraine, to the spirit, the morale of the people? well, my guest is andriy khlyvnyuk, a ukrainian rock star turned armed defender. as ukraine becomes a militarised society, what has happened to its culture?