william rick singer was convicted of funnelling money from wealthy parents to university coaches to secure a place for their children at various elite american colleges. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. in russia, voicing opposition to putin s war in ukraine is a crime. it can mean years injail. imagine, then, the resolve of a russian opposition activist who returned to his homeland after the ukraine invasion in order to speak out against the putin regime from within. not only that, vladimir kara murza had already survived two apparent poisonings inside russia. he is now languishing in a russian prison. his wife, evgenia kara murza, is my guest today. has putin s repression effectively neutralised meaningful opposition? evgenia kara murza in washington, dc, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much for having me here. it s a pleasure to have you on the show, and i must begin by asking you about the condition of your husband, vladimir
and viva new south wales the australian festival celebrating the king of rock and roll. hello and welcome. we begin int the us where the house of representatives has adjourned for a second day without electing a speaker, extending the paralysis at the heart of american politics. president biden said having a congress that can t function is embarrassing for the country. republican kevin mccarthy has been stopped six times so far by a group of hardliners within his own party who refuse to back him. our north america correspondent peter bowes says the deadlock shows no signs of letting up. after six rounds of voting where he is found to be elected speaker. 20 members of his own party on the right to the party were consistently voting against him and at the end of the day, on wednesday, with an adjournment, he gave the republicans an opportunity to meet behind the scenes, a private meeting, kevin mccarty and some of those in the group of twenty who have been holding up of twent
of us. ahead of that a band of rain, some of that heavy, accompanied by squally, gusty winds but for much of england and wales this afternoon there will be some bright eclipses. the winds really starting to strengthen particularly in western scotland. those were the wind gusts and these are the temperatures, 9-14 , and these are the temperatures, 9 11; , above where we should be in early january. 9 11; , above where we should be in earlyjanuary. as 9 11; , above where we should be in early january. as we go into this evening this band of rain, this active weather front, will push southwards and eastwards with squally winds and as the low passes to the north west of scotland there will be some really strong winds, gusts of 60 70 mph for exposed western parts and strong winds funnelling through the central belt for a time. it s going to be a mild night generally, 6 10 the minimum temperatures. tomorrow, a plus to restart particularly in scotland where there will be some showers
us presidentjoe biden and his rival donald trump have gone head to head he has been criticised for a week and hesitant performance in the first head to head tv debate. he struggled as his rivalformer president donald trump made repeated claims that weren t true as the two sparred over their respective terms in office. they even swiped at each other about golf are several key topics were not mentioned at all. let s speak tojohn sudworth, who is in atlanta, where the debate took place. this was a bad night for us politics. yes, in normal circumstances the focus might be on those falsehoods that littered donald trump s performance, but in contrast he appeared presidential. this was a terrible night forjoe biden, faltering, at times seeming to be unable to complete his train of thought, and an event that was asked for by the democrats that had the purpose of trying to allay concerns about his age and mental competence has only amplified them and it has pushed those long simmerin