first para astronaut. ignition. it s the job of dreams. with an out of this world view. many would love to be an astronaut but very few make the cut. there you go! the european space agency is pushing boundaries with its latest candidate, john mcfall. absolutely amazing. this is what it feels like. woohoo! he s an amputee, and he s taking part in a ground breaking project to see if someone with a disability can go to space. this project will deliver a very strong message to redefine or define what people s interpretation of what someone with a physical disability can do. meet the world s first para astronaut, who could open up space for everyone. chosen from 22,000 applicants after an incredibly tough selection process, these are the european space agency s new astronauts, the brightest and the best. among them is a candidate who s a first. so, i think it s wise that we now announce our para astronaut, and that isjohn mcfall. john mcfall has been selected using exactly the
we begin this hour with a shake up in russia s military hierarchy. russia s defence minister sergei shoigu is being removed from his post and will become the new secretary of russia s security council. he s a long standing ally of vladimir putin and has served as defence minister since 2012, playing a key role in russia s invasion of ukraine. his replacement will be andrei belousov, an economist and the deputy prime minister. earlier our russia editor steve rosenberg explained that at the kremlin, reshuffles are unusual. whoever the russian government ministers are, whoever s sitting around that cabinet table, there is one man and one man alone in russia who calls the shots, and that is vladimir putin. he s the man with all the power. having said that, a government reshuffle in russia is interesting, particularly when key ministers like the defence minister is being changed. they don t happen too often. for 20 years. mr shoigu has been defence ministerfor 12 years. he was app
the socialist party in the lead. and the best television programmes of 2023 are honoured at the bafta tv awards in london. sarah lancashire from the bbc s police drama happy valley taking home best actress. hello, i m rajini vaidyanathan. russia s defence minister, sergei shoigu, is being removed from his post and will become the new secretary of russia s security council. he s a long standing ally of vladimir putin and has served as defence minister since 2012, playing a key role in russia s invasion of ukraine. his replacement will be andrei belousov an economist and a deputy prime minister. what is the significance in this move i think the most significant thing is the fact that on the year of the full scale invasion, the third year, putin decided to change his minister of defence. the fact that the more senior position is losing a lot of influence when she used to have is now taking a new role. it says a lot about putin s mind and his opinion of the state of the ministe
the wikileaks cofounder has been fighting extradition to the us on espionage charges for over a decade. let s look at the key dates that have brought us here. in 2010, julian assange was part of a flood of classified military files and diplomatic cables spilled by wikileaks that year. months later, an international arrest warrant was issued. sweden wanted to question him about sexual assault allegations made by two women. to avoid extradition, he sought refuge in ecuador s london embassy. he d spend seven years there. but in 2019 in a dramatic moment he was dragged out of the embassy after the ecuadorian government withdrew his political asylum. he was thenjailed for skipping bail. and soon, the americans were asking for his extradition. backed by his supporters, he fought against it in the courts and lost. his extradition was approved in 2022. butjulian assange kept appealing until finally this new plea deal with the us allowed him to fly out of the uk. more on our websi
Dmitry medvedev, the deputy chairman of russia s security council says russia may have to use nuclear weapons if ukraine s counteroffensive is successful and ends with, quote, of our land being taken away. this comes as the counteroffensive seems to be entering a new, more aggressive face. for the first time, ukrainian forces have reached one of russia s dragon teeth. the anti-tank fortifications are one examples of the deeply layered defenses that russia has developed to slow any attempt to take back territory in southern ukraine. with us now, is former member of the joint staff, i should say, the pentagon and former deputy director for training at the nsa, retired colonel, cedric layton. before we get to what we just showed people, what s your reaction hearing what dmitry medvedev said? i think it s very concerning, poppy. good morning to you. one of the things that the russians are looking at is the fact that they annexed, officially annexed all of this territory right here that t