to defend themselves, citing the threat of foreign military intervention. they claim to have information a "foreign power" is preparing to attack. it comes after the expiry of a sunday deadline from west african regional bloc ecowas, which demanded the coup be reversed. the group now plans to hold an emergency summit on thursday. meanwhile, the united states is suspending more than $100 million in aid to niger. but officials insist there's still time to solve the crisis. i spoke to former state department official bisa williams earlier to get insights into the situation. we are now learning more about the acting deputy secretary of state's unsuccessful attempts to negotiate some kind of settlement to see a return to power of president mohamed bazoum. why do you think she wasn't able to make any progress there? i'm not sure i would characterise that as unsuccessful completely. my understanding was that the acting deputy secretary left the door open for continued discussions and that basically the united states, in what i considered a rare move, offered its good officers to help move toward a diplomatic solution. that would be my interpretation of that experience. why do i think on this first encounter with the acting head of this junta was not more compliant or more embracing, i think it is because it is a first encounter, i also got the impression from reports i heard that maybe the deputy secretary didn't see the whole junta. i'm not sure if there is still unity in that group. victoria nuland and said they were extremely frank and at times they were difficult. we know she wasn't able to meet with president mohamed bazoum. what do you think this says about the us�*s influence in niger? has it lost its influence? no, the fact that they allowed her to land and were willing to meet with her, to me, is a big indication they are hoping for some kind of, that they will be able to maintain some kind of a relationship with the united states government, that they weren't able to meet with president mohamed bazoum, i think is a military coup attitude, they are trying to control their power and are trying to make sure there are no images of the united states with the duly elected and still president of niger. that is just a power move. but at this point, i wouldn't say that that interaction indicated a total loss of the relationship for the united states. i do think this is a fragile moment, period. i'm not ready to count victoria nuland out yet. present biden hasn't called this situation a coup yet, we know that would allow the us to hold back all of their aid there, some has already been withdrawn, given the results of monday's meetings, should the biden administration now call this situation a coup? if the united states government really is committed to trying to use its good officers to talk to this group of officers who have taken this very drastic measure, then we need to put all the support behind them as possible. so i would refrain from calling this a coup. i can do it, i am a civilian, i am no longer in the government, it is obvious they are a group of military men are acting like they're trying to run things go my understanding legal situation of the united states government and i would hold off on that if was absolutely convinced there was no other outcome. ambassador, we have seen the regional block of west african nations, ecowas, and the deadline for president bazoum tabea be reinstated, we have seen the deadline come and go, there has no intervention yet from them, how critical are the next few days? i do think that it was really important for ecowas to say this was a huge mistake, we will give you a week to rectify it. so, correct, that week has transpired. i didn't interpret that to mean that one minute after that week they were going to intervene, now, if there was really going to be an intervention, think that is what they have been planning, i think it is really important for ecowas to stand on its ground and to say and to mean that they want to preserve the beginning of the democratic transition that niger was showing and that clearly the states of ecowas are concerned about stability in the region, security and stability in the region, so i think the leadership did and had to take the move that they had. what do you think ecowas needs to to make that happen? i don't know how much prior co—ordination there was between the us and ecowas, imagine there was some communication, that's normally how we operate, so it seems to be that there needs to be communication between the united states, which is willing to put itself really out there on a limb to try to help things move along, and the leadership at ecowas. if there is a way to somehow talk this group into really looking at what its options are, if this group of military men who have taken over really are doing this for the nigerian people and you can see the suffering that sanctions are causing and the suffering in the nigerian public, they should be able to sit down with the leaders of ecowas and whatever external good friends is there to try to work a way out. i think that is possible if, again, if these soldiers really are considering the population. i do think the window is, small, think the timeline is short for that and the longer that this kind of period, this period lasts, the worse it is for the nigerian people and the worse it is for mohamed bazoum the worse it is for this little coup group as well. the real hostages in this situation are of course president bazoum and his family and the nigerian people. and the military, all the military, notjust this little group that appear on television, but the rank and file ought to see that, and i think that's also now what the leadership at ecowas is conscious of. bisa williams former us ambassador to niger, thank you so much for being with us. you're welcome. thank you. earlier, my colleague caitriona perry spoke to the chairman of the house intelligence committee republican mike turner about the situation in niger and other international crises. chairman turner, thanks forjoining us. we'll start off just looking at niger. niger's coup leaders have closed the country's air space citing potential intervention from other countries in the region to reinstate the president. the us has about 1100 troops there, a drone base there. the biden administration is pausing some aid, but hasn't pulled it all back and it hasn't called it a coup yet either, should they? i think by now everyone is hoping this is reversible, this is the concern of authoritarianism versus a democracy, democracy we hope be restored. it certainly is a very tense time right now, but i think certainly both the united states, the eu, and others are looking at how we can restore peace from this conflict. does it have any potential impact on us military operations in the region? certainly, think it affects everyone. what is really key here is, as you will hear the reports that maybe they will be pulling in the wagner group and the group that did the coup, it might be aligned with russia, versus democracy push here, think that is why people are so concerned because as you look in the region it is what has happened with mali and others, this is really an important pivot point to hopefully restore democracy. if we move to the situation in ukraine, china is obviously providing assistance to russia in that war there, it did attend the peace talks injeddah over the weekend for the first time, talks which excluded russia, do you support a third round of talks? i think ultimately this is going to have to be a diplomatic resolution and i think talks are certainly helpful. when president xi stood with vladimir putin in russia and they had their open mic incident where they captured their conversation, president xi said we are bringing about change that hasn't happened in 100 years, that 100 years is world war i and world war ii, the fight between authoritarianism and democracy that is how china russia see this conflict, as russia trying to impose its will through aggressiveness against a democracy. so we're going to have to be very careful as to any discussions or negotiations because ukraine needs to have its territorial integrity restored and it needs to have guarantees on territorial integrity in the future. should the us do more to help ukraine? i think the united states is certainly doing a greatjob in both providing them advance weapon systems and training. this administration has been a little slow on the uptake on weapons systems, sometimes they will out right say they are not going to give them weapon system, for months, that ultimately do so, but we need to provide them every capability that they need so they can win this conflict and push russia's aggression back into russia. if we move to look at that relationship with russia and china themselves, we saw them engaging in joint military operations very near to alaska. the us in response moving four navy warships in place in recent days, how concerned are you about that? i'm very concerned about the co—ordination that is happening between russia and china. but again, back to president xi's statement, this is a long—term plan from both of these nations, russia and china working together as to what they see to go against democracy, they see it in rising up against nato and the eu and opposition and they have the united states as a self—declared adversary. so we're going to have to watch this, but is going to take unified efforts from both the eu, nato, and the united states to make sure we counter this. so what specifically would you like to see the us doing then? i think we need to work cooperatively and the fact that these two nations are working together and openly stating that their goal is to go against democracy and to promote their authoritarian regimes and other authoritarian regimes around the world, this is going to take co—ordinated thought, if we take our eye off the ball in any area like niger and allow russia and china to continue to move the flags of authoritarian movements we will see it impacting both our freedoms and our allies. the philippine government has released video of china shooting water cannons at their own vessels in the south china sea and the us says it has a right to defend itself as tensions rise over those crucial water ways, do you think the us is doing enough to defend those international waterways? we certainly have a presence and we have asserted that these are international waterways, what we're from china, it is why people are so worried about taiwan, is it is notjust about taiwan for china, they are looking at a broader area where they want influence and where they want to rule and so we have to make certain that we work with nations to ensure that, you know, international territorial waters remain international waters. former us ambassador to un, nikki haley, who is running for the republican presidential nominee, she has been talking about the threat that china poses to the us over the weekend and this is what she says. china has been planning war with the united states for years. that's not over dramatising. this— that's not over dramatising. this is— that's not over dramatising. this is the _ that's not over dramatising. this is the biggest threat we have — this is the biggest threat we have had since pearl harbour. do you agree with her? well, think that china has been planning a conflict with the united states, but you have heard president xi himself say to his populus, we need to prepare for war. strong words coming from the leader of a nation to its populus and i think we need to believe our adversaries, when an adversary makes a statement like that we need to take note. and what is the us doing to be prepared for that, we are certainly increasing our military capabilities in the area, including weapons systems. as a result of ukraine we certainly have seen a need for increased production for weapons capabilities, we are doing that, we are also increasing our intelligence capabilities, seeing what china is doing, or the leadership is doing, and threats it may pose and also sharing that intelligence with our allies so they understand what china is doing. some of the things they are doing a wide open, for example they are tripling their nuclear weapons capabilities, they are telling new icbms, the silos, and putting weapons in them, the world can see that and that is something a nation doesn't do that just wants to maintain the territorial integrity or peace. that is a very aggressive act. when you look at the us economic dependence on china, we're already seeing statistics out from the us census bureau that the number of companies who are importing from china has declined for the first five months of this year, that presumably, based on what you're saying there, is something you are happy to see. absolutely. china is more vulnerable to the west than i think the west is to china. the whole economy is based upon the world shopping there, if you will. what we need to do is to make certain that we have inherent domestic capabilities in case there is a conflict so that we don't have massive disruptions of supply chains. clearly, china believes our dependency might result in there being able to exert their will around the world and that's just not the case. the west, especially as we have seen with russia and ukraine, is united on, you know, democracies need to stand, authoritarian nations are not going to be permitted to come in and just overthrow them. we leave it there now. chairman mike turner, thank you. in that interview, you heard congressman mike turner talking about the war in ukraine there, and officials say that at least five people were killed in russian missile strikes in the eastern town of pokrovsk in the donetsk region. that included at least four civilians and an official. dozens more were injured. rescue efforts amid the rubble are ongoing. the head of the region said that the strikes damaged two residential buildings, a hotel, shops and administrative buildings. he warned of a threat of repeated attacks and urged residents to take shelter. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. voice-over: bbc news, - bringing you different stories from across the uk. this is pauline. she teaches diving at skegness aquarium and she's 76 years old. i find it very therapeutic. i enjoy being in amongst the fishes. pauline has been here for eight years and teaches people of all ages how to dive. she says the oldest person she's taught was 90 years old. i like helping people, especially the people that are nervous. if we have trouble getting them into the water, once they've actually managed to get in and come out all smiles, that is the best, best feeling. and those that work with pauline adore her. yeah, we call her �*grandma shark�*. everyone comes in to ask if she is in on the day. underneath the water amongst the fish is where she says she belongs. age isjust a number. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. lawyers for donald trump say a protective order sought by special counseljack smith violates the former�*s president's first amendment rights. in monday's filing here in washington, the attorneys wrote: they urged the judge to only restrict "genuinely sensitive material." the order would limit what information mr trump and his legal team can share publicly. it comes after he posted online what appeared to a threat of revenge for anyone who went after him. these kinds of orders are not uncommon in criminal cases. after his third indictment last week, mr trump pled not guilty to charges of trying to overturn the 2020 us presidential election. this comes as officials in the us state of georgia have put up barriers around an atlanta courthouse ahead of a potential fourth indictment against mr trump. the district attorney there is wrapping up a probe into his alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state. earlier, i spoke with sarah krissoff, former federal prosecutor in the southern district of new york, and cbs chief election and campaign correspondent robert costa for their take on the case and the political consequences. trump's legal team have today opposed a government order for a protective order. sarah, what does this mean for the january 6 case against the former president? these types of protective orders have become very standard, frankly, in recent years and they are going to be litigating the details of this protective order. it is clear one will be issued. the question is how broad it will be, the question is what types of classifications will be for the various documents, and so that really remains to be seen. it is, frankly, reasonable for donald trump's team to be litigating the contours of that protective order and that is something that is done in a really standard way. rob, to you now. this past weekend, we saw donald trump attack judge tanya chutkan online. since then, we have learned that the security detail has been upped for both the judge in this case and special counsel jack smith. are there concerns about their safety? there are growing concerns about the safety of judge chutkan and special counseljack smith. cbs news has learned that both of those individuals have seen bolstered security in the past few days as this case has moved forward, but it is going to be complicated on a legal basis, as well as political basis and how this all plays out because not only is former president donald trump an active candidate for federal office and running for the presidency, but so is one of the key witnesses in this january 6 investigation of trump's conduct — former vice president mike pence who was pressured by trump in the final days to take steps to block the certification of president biden in congress, and when you have a key witness and the defendant all talking about the case publicly on the campaign trail, sources close to both of these individuals say they expect this to be litigated and it could go all the way to the supreme court to, ultimately, have a ruling about how political speech can be managed when it comes to a protective order. but until it gets there, there is a belief that there could be, if it's narrowly done, some sort of understanding with the trump legal team and the special counsel about what exactly he can say, and we have seen on the records case, for example, trump has been railing against the special counsel there, but so far that is moving forward without any real concern about evidence being disclosed. in other news: new satellite images show the size of wildfires raging in portugal. smoke from those blazes has destroyed roughly 60 square kilometres of forest and undergrowth — that is about 23 square miles of foliage. more than 1,100 firefighters and 1a water—carrying aircraft have also been deployed. this all comes as portugal recorded its hottest day on record this year, raising the risks for fires. the american red cross is now allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood without restrictions. the move comes after the food and drug administration further eased a longstanding policy that targeted them over their sexual orientation. restrictions were introduced early in the aids epidemic, before blood screening for hiv infection was effective. the red cross says a recent shortage of donations led to an appeal for more donors. in the us, a former minneapolis police officer has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his role in the death of george floyd. the ex—officer, tou thao, held bystanders away while another ex—officer knelt on floyd's neck for 9.5 minutes in may of 2020. thao was found guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter in may of this year. thousands of scouts at an international event in south korea are being evacuated from a campsite due to an incoming storm. attended by more than 40,000 young people from 155 countries, the world scout jamboree has also been plagued by high temperatures and poor sanitary conditions. history is set to be made later this week with the latest launch of virgin galactic�*s commercial space programme. the first mother—daughter duo will go to space. they'll also be the first people from the caribbean to make the journey. the pair won the voyage in a competition as louise hosie reports. welcome to space. it's a once—in—a—lifetime adventure few of us will ever experience. but for keisha and ana... fire, fire! ..their dream is on the edge of becoming a reality. they're about to become the first ever mum and daughter in space. they'll be on board virgin galactic�*s vss unity spacecraft. to just have the experience to actually go to space and look at our amazing planet from that high and to just breathe that in and to just be in that energy isjust super amazing. it brings out a lot of emotion in me because it's something that i've wanted for so long and it's happening. i know that we'll get to experience weightlessness and be able to see the planet from outer space. i have no words to describe how i feel about experiencing that. originally from antigua in the caribbean, ana is currently studying physics at aberdeen university and hopes to eventually work for nasa. hi, ana. you and your mother are going to space. ana, we won! her mum won their seats on the rocket after entering a competition she saw advertised on a flight as they travelled to get ana's student visa. ana believes it was written in the stars. had i not randomly chosen aberdeen university and had we not had to take a massive detour to get my visa, we wouldn't be going to space. this is cool! ana hopes her example will inspire aspiring astronauts — like some young people at this event in aberdeen. i think that's really cool that people from aberdeen can go up into space. it's, like, really, like, amazing. how does it make you feel seeing the rocket and everything? it's great! because i see the earth very well, i can see my house on earth. you're going to be the first mother and daughter to ever go into space. how does that feel? it is so much more reassuring and so connecting to be able to do this with someone i love so much. the virgin space flight takes off from new mexico on thursday. and before we go, william friedkin, who directed the classic horror film the exorcist, died on monday at the age of 87. friedkin's nearly 60—year career began with the musical comedy good times. his other famous films included crime thriller the french connection, which won five academy awards including best director. he spent much of his career creating some of the most disturbing, violent and controversial images in film history. friedkin died before his latest movie, the caine mutiny court—martial, could hit the screens at the venice film festival. that's all from us here in washington. 0ur colleagues in london will pick things up at the top of the hour. we leave you with these live pictures of london as the day begins there. bye from us here in washington, dc. hello there. there's a promise of something a little bit warmer for all of us towards the end of the week. but it's going to be a short—lived warm snap as cooler, wetter conditions return for many northern and western areas over the weekend. for the next few days, it's southern areas which will see the mist, the murk, the cloud, the rain. a bit brighter further north. this deep area of low pressure will bring all sorts of problems to scandinavia with localised flooding, heavy rain and strong winds. but the weather front pushing in across the south of the uk for tuesday will be a much weakeraffair, bringing increasing cloud to the southern half of the country with some patchy rain and drizzle, low cloud, some sea fog around southwestern coasts and into wales. but for northern england, northern ireland, scotland, bright with some sunny spells, one or two showers in northeast scotland where it will be windier, especially in the northern isles — gusts up to 50mph here, with only 12 degrees in lerwick. but for the mainland of the uk, 16 to maybe 20 degrees from north to south. as we move through tuesday night, it looks like the showers, long spells of rain across the south of england clear away and it turns dry with lengthy clear spells. but it will continue to be windy in the northeast of scotland into the northern isles. temperatures in single digits across the north. another chilly night to come here, but milder in the south and west, where it will be a bit more humid, misty and murky. wednesday then, not a bad looking day. quite a bit of sunshine around. still windy in the northeast of scotland and the northern isles, but thicker cloud will push into western areas at times and there will be some mist and murk around too. but i think most places will stay dry. increasing sunshine across the east and southeast of england. so, here, 2a, maybe 25 degrees and it'll feel increasingly humid as well. towards the end of the week, we start to tap into that warmer air over the near continent, so it will turn drier and sunnier. but it will turn a little bit humid as well. but you can see the red and orange colours spreading their way northwards across the uk. we could be up to the mid—20s in scotland on thursday and the high 20s for parts of england and wales. but it will be a short—lived warm spell. low pressure out in the atlantic will send a weather front across the uk during friday, which will bring showers or longer spells of rain, particularly to the north and the west of the uk. some of them may be heavy. and as it moves through, temperatures will drop back down below the seasonal norm once again. so an unsettled theme as we head into friday and the weekend across the north and the west of the uk. not looking that bad, though, across southern and eastern parts of england. v0|ceover: 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?