hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. the heads of five of the world's biggest social media firms faced nearly four hours of aggressive questioning at a us senate hearing on child safety online. senators accused them of providing platforms for sex offenders and failing to protect minors. meta's mark zuckerberg and his peers insisted that they already have robust protections in place and are investing billions of dollars in safety features. it was a rare opportunity for the us senators to question the tech bosses. but while it created an opportunity to air grievances and offer strident defences, there's been little sign of concrete progress on the issues at play. the bbc�*s technology editor zoe kleinman has more. today's vast social media empires are managed by a handful of big names — meta, snap, tiktok,

discord and x. their bosses faced angry lawmakers in washington for a tense grilling about why children continue to be exposed to harm on their platforms. as a mother, this is personal and i share the sense of urgency. words cannot begin to express the profound sorrow i feel that a service we designed to bring people happiness and joy has been abused to cause harm. it may have been heartfelt, but the senators weren't buying it. mr zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, i know you don't mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands. mark zuckerberg from meta, which owns facebook and instagram, came under the heaviest fire. these results may contain images of child sexual abuse, and then you gave users two choices — get resources, or see results anyway. mr zuckerberg, what the hell

were you thinking? all right, senator, the basic science behind that is that when people are searching for something that is problematic, it's often helpful to, rather thanjust blocking it, to help direct them towards something that could be helpful for getting them to get help. i understand �*get resources'. in what sane universe is there a link for �*see results anyway�*?! while tiktok�*s shou zi chew faced tough questions about china. your platform is basically an espionage arm for the chinese communist party. why should you not be banned in the united states of america? senator, i disagree with your characterisation. many of what you have said, we have explained in a lot of detail. tiktok is used by 170 million americans. also in the room were devastated parents who'd lost their children to online harms. mark zuckerberg stood to address them. ..continue doing industry—leading efforts

to make sure that no—one has to go through the types of things that your families have had to suffer. for ages, the us has had plenty of proposed legislation aimed at tackling the problem, but none of it's got over the line. it's clear that the tech firms' toolkits aren't working well enough either, and parents are struggling to cope. one parent summed up to a senator how helpless they felt. "it's like a tap is overflowing and all we've got is a mop." zoe kleinman, bbc news. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing for the passage of the kids online safety act, also known as kosa. the bill puts in measures to tackle online bullying and sexual exploitation against minors. if passed, it would also provide safeguards to restrict companies from collecting personal data and allow parents or guardians access to children's privacy and account settings. one of the tech bosses at the hearing, snap�*s evan spiegel, broke ranks with the company's trade group to support the legislation. kosa's co—sponsors, democratic senator richard blumenthal and republican senator marsha blackburn, have applauded mr spiegel�*s endorsement.

none of the other tech execs have come out in support of the bill. for more on this, i spoke to lori schott. she attended the senate hearing, and has been fighting to hold social media companies accountable after losing her daughter annalee to suicide in 2020. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. i know it can't be easy and we appreciate you coming in to talk to us about your lovely annalee. she was just 18, tell us about her? she was beautiful, tiny, little petite powerhouse. she had joy wherever she went and a pep in her step. she was adored by many, very much an old soul. you believe she took her own life because of what she was exposed to online? absolutely, don't hesitate. annalee took her life on 15 november, 2020 and after i heard and read about the whistle—blower reports, my sons

said do you think that had anything to do with her demise? and i got the courage to go down and read herjournals. in herjournals, she had quotes from tiktok, "i might as well just kill myself," and things about comparing herself to others, "how can, when i look at other girls�* profiles, how could somebody love me when i am this ugly?" i sit there, and it was more content of anxiety and depression and pro—suicide when we were able to get into her phone and her platforms. what are you trying to do to change, to make sure no other parent or family has to go through what you are? i want to be a voice for anna but also other parents who were devastated by what has happened to their children, whether fentanyl poisoning, annalee;s was more related to mental health, and i think acting upon the online safety act has got to pass. we have to carry this over the finish line. litigation, legislation,

we need to pass it. do you think these big tech companies understand the power of what they have and the power it has on young people? i think they know but i think they're hiding behind legal shields because they're afraid of the outcome. i also think that their bottom dollar is more important than our children. our children shouldn't be a product of a click. i think they don't understand the full extent of the pain, until today, when i felt that some of the comments from the senators were harsh and forward and direct were exactly what was needed to be said to them. we saw mark zuckerberg stand up and address you when other families that were there. what did you make of his remarks? i thought it was hollow. i will say a time and time again, he not sincere, —— it wasn't sincere. spoken as we have lost our most precious asset. he knew what was going on, there was documentation,

he knew what was going on and did not stop it. anna might still be here today, be alive and flourishing, if we were to know what we know now. and what would you say to the members of congress again? they are there today, and the broader group who have the power to pass the act? no more meetings. no more collection of data. no more research. we know what is happening. we need to pass this legislation immediately. no more children deserve to die. will that be enough, the passing of the legislation? it needs to be. if not, litigation. something needs to make them realise our children don't have a price on the head. if there are other families and parents tuning and now in the may have concerns about their sons and daughters, what would you say to them? now that we know as a family what anna was exposed to, i think every parent needs to take notice of a child, their mental health will be,

look at theirfront, realise the depth of what can happen on these platforms. to see a live suicide on tiktok devastated my daughter. to me, every time i want to get motivated to speak to people like you and the media, i just look at annalee�*s tiktok page in the depression and anxiety posed re constant feed. does it give you — it will never replace her, but does it give you any comfort to know you can fight this in her name, a tiny legacy for her? absolutely. her, other children around the world, i don't care, it needs to stop. i can't realise an industry could be so unregulated when other industries like agriculture and energy are regulated. why? why do they get a free pass to do whatever they want for profit? clearly you would like to see them do more themselves, not just this act. sit down at the table. like they said, do you want to interview the parents that were there today and what they went through? make it crystal clear that this is what is

hurting our children. every single day. and the grasp on them and their mental health and the addiction they have is devastating. i never looked at it as a physical addiction but it is a physical addiction, and their algorithms are powerful and dark. and evil. thank you so much for coming into talk to us about the fight about your beautiful annalee. i know it is not easy, we appreciate it. thank you so much. turning now to the middle east because the pentagon has taken further action against houthi targets in yemen. us central command says it destroyed a houthi missile in the red sea that presented a threat to a us aircraft in the area. also on wednesday, the us says it engaged with houthi anti—ship ballistic missiles in the gulf of aden and the uss carney shot down three iranian uavs in its vicinity. no injuries or damage was reported — but it's the latest in a series of us strikes against houthi fighters, who have been preparing to launch missiles into key shipping lines

off yemen's coast. this comes against the backdrop of rising tensions in the broader region following a deadly drone strike in jordan on sunday. the white house says it blames the iran—backed umbrella group, islamic resistance in iraq for the strike which killed three us troops injordan. president biden says he's decided on a response but the world is waiting on what form that response will take, and when. meanwhile, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has called for the shutdown of the un agency for palestinian refugees. mr netanyahu says the agency, known as unrwa, should be replaced by other aid organizations. unrwa sacked members of its staff following accusations from israel that they some of its workers took part in the hamas october 7 attacks. a number of donor countries, the us and uk included, have suspended their funding of the agency. the un has urged funding to resume. the bbc�*s nick beake has more from jerusalem.

publicly and in private the united nations is desperately asking its donors to reconsider their decision. these of course their decision. these of course the donors who said they will be stopping funding to this agency that looks after palestinian refugees in gaza. this comes after israel made allegations that some members of staff of the organisation known as unrwa were actually involved in the october the seventh hamas attacks. we had today the heads of various united nations agencies coming out and saying you need to look at the wider picture here, that there are some 13,000 members of staff working for this particular un agency in gaza and that palestinians shouldn't be made to suffer as a result of this. you've got the united states coming forward to say that even though they are pausing their contributions for now, they believe that the organisation does vital work that no other agency should come and do all certainly would be able to come in and do in what is of course an active war zone. the fighting continues. we've seen the israelis using

seawater and trying to pump it down into the vast underground tunnel network. they say this is part of their operation to try and eradicate hamas. but in the past 24—hour as they have been deaths on both sides. the idf the israeli defence force, has said they have killed 25 palestinian for —— palestinian fighters. also in terms of casualties on the israeli side, at least three soldiers had been killed so of course the fighting does go on. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's take a look at a top story in the uk. the british government revealed details of its deal with the democratic unionist party to restore power—sharing to northern ireland. it will reduce checks on goods moving from great britain to northern ireland — the dup�*s major sticking point after brexit. our correspondent tomas morgan has the view from belfast. so many people working in public services across the country have seen staging strikes over the past few months due to pay conditions. so that was something that was much—needed and what many people

here across northern ireland were hoping for. there will be a sense of relief. but there are some critics. some people here, some hardline unionists, say that this deal hasn't gone far enough, that when they read between the lines, this is not exactly what they wanted but nevertheless the leader of the dup, sirjeffrey donaldson, says, well, we have the deal through, it was worth fighting for two years, two years of a stalemate that means no government has functioned here in northern ireland and he believes it was worth fighting for this deal and now potentially government will be back in force by friday or saturday. you're live with bbc news. turning now to the frontlines of the war in ukraine. avdiivka is a ukrainian town where few people remain, as it is bombed relentlessly by russia. its pre—war population was more than 30,000. now, there arejust over 1,000 left. many have fled and many have been killed. a special police unit called the white angels goes door—to—door in avdiivka, helping to evacuate

the town's remaining civilians. they've shared their filming with the bbc and our correspondent abdujalil abdurasulov, has filed this report. evacuation from avdiivka is literally a matter of life and death. policemen are running out of time to save this wounded woman. and not only because she is bleeding heavily. a russian drone drops a grenade, aiming for their car. itjust misses. car. it just misses. translation: car. itjust misses. translation: , , ., , translation: hurry up, drone is hoverin: translation: hurry up, drone is hovering above. _ translation: hurry up, drone is hovering above. these _ translation: hurry up, drone is hovering above. these men's - translation: hurry up, drone is hovering above. these men'sjobl hovering above. these men's “0b is helinu hovering above. these men's “0b is helping evacuations i hovering above. these men's “0b is helping evacuations and i hovering above. these men's “0b is helping evacuations and airh is helping evacuations and air strikes. the other white

angels, a special unit in avdiivka, a frontline town in eastern ukraine. they gave me the footage from the past month inside the town. it shows how people survive in desperate conditions. the town is being raised to the ground and yet some residents are still willing to stay. he begs this old lady to leave the town. this is her answer. "let me die here," she says. in some cases, they use the help of a person's relatives and sometimes it works. "we have come here and they are refusing to go," he says. "mum, please, go," voice from the other and begs the

woman. "what if dad dies after we leave, what will they do, " she us. eventually, the woman's daughter convinces her to leave. opportunity to escape our slipping away. small russian groups have already entered the southern outskirts of the town. evacuation from there is no longer possible. ukrainian troops are desperately trying to stop russian attacks around avdiivka, but they are running out of supplies as military aid has decreased. as a result, there are huge shortages of ammunition, guns, and spare parts. this is the german bergepanther, whose main role is to damage because on the commits track and road wheels are broken, but because there are broken, but because there are not enough spare parts this group has to scavenge, they're

taking the track from the other vehicle and putting it on this one. for now, ukrainian forces are holding on in avdiivka, but those residents who refuse to leave the town may soon no longer have a choice. abdujalil abdurasulov, bbc news, eastern ukraine. ukraine and russia exchanged another large number of prisoners of war on wednesday. ukraine said 207 of its personnel had been freed. while, russia's ministry of defence said it was a straight swap of 195 people from each side. the exchange comes a week after a russian plane crashed, which moscow claimed being used to transport ukrainian pows. from kyiv, here's our east europe correspondent sarah rainsford. authorities here in ukraine have released video footage of prisoners of war arriving back in this country. they have shown them tumbling of buses, one man rolling around in the snow with his excitement to be back home. now, those men have

arrived back wearing russian prison uniform. many of them look pretty gaunt. they all have close shaven heads, but there is a lot of happiness, of course, for these men arriving back home. they being wrapped in the ukrainian flag, some of them shutting "glories ukraine!" they have been singing the ukrainian national anthem, because many of these men have spent months, if not up men have spent months, if not up to two years, and russian captivity. the ukrainian authorities are saying they were captured in various places, some in mariupol where you will remember the brutal siege of the city and does —— and of the as a v—style steel plant bacchin me 2022. some others from snake island. so key battles in this war. men who have been held prisonerfor a long, long time, finally being able to come home and call theirfamilies at being able to come home and call their families at last. there are, still, thousands of ukrainian prisoners of war in russian captivity entered a volodymyr zelensky talk about the need to return every single one of them back to this country. now, of course, this

exchange has happened a week after another exchange was supposed to play —— take place, and on that occasion a russian military transport plane crash in belgorod close to the u border and russia claimed there were ukrainian prisoners of war on board. it said ukraine has shut down the plane. now, has no evidence of all of that, and russia has a long history of lies and propaganda. ukraine, though, hasn't ruled it out, they have said they can't exclude the possibility that there may have been business of war on board the plane, although they say they have no confirmed information. so lots of questions are still for lots of questions are still for lots of family is extremely worried about their relatives, the prisoners of war was still inside russia and his fate remains completely uncertain. for more on the prisoner swap and the broader war, i spoke to kurt volker, former us ambassador to nato.

thanks forjoining us. after the plane crash we saw last week was the significance of this second prisoner swap going ahead today?— ahead today? clearly what russia was _ ahead today? clearly what russia was trying - ahead today? clearly what russia was trying to - ahead today? clearly what russia was trying to do . ahead today? clearly what | russia was trying to do was ahead today? clearly what - russia was trying to do was use the downing of that plane to try to make the ukrainian government look bad as if it had somehow harmed its own prisoners of war, we don't actually know what the real story is about that crash, but seeing that there was a prisoner of war exchange now is away for the ukrainian government of reinforcing the fact that doing everything they can to have the prisoners of war returned. d0 can to have the prisoners of war returned.— can to have the prisoners of war returned. do you think we will ever get _ war returned. do you think we will ever get to _ war returned. do you think we will ever get to the _ war returned. do you think we will ever get to the bottom . war returned. do you think we will ever get to the bottom of| will ever get to the bottom of what happened to that downed aircraft? ., . , what happened to that downed aircraft? ., ., , ., what happened to that downed aircraft? ., ., aircraft? not as long as we have the — aircraft? not as long as we have the russia _ aircraft? not as long as we have the russia that - aircraft? not as long as we have the russia that we i aircraft? not as long as we i have the russia that we have today stop it would require a change in government, removing vladimir putin. there is nothing russia says or does it we can rely upon at this moment, everything is done for influence and propaganda purposes. influence and propaganda purposes-_ purposes. looking at the continued _ purposes. looking at the continued holdout - purposes. looking at the continued holdout by - purposes. looking at the continued holdout by the purposes. looking at the i continued holdout by the us congress to commit further

funding to ukraine, how much of a problem do you see that? if the us funding were not to be provided, there would have to be alternatives found and in short order and we have to look at them and re— authorising the legislation which will allow ukraine to borrow funds, use of access defence article legislation is a way to declare things available for ukraine, providing more financing through other means to ukraine, those are all alternatives. as it is right now you have a majority in both the house and the senate, republicans and democrats alike, who favour approval of this aid to ukraine, the challenge is getting it to the floor amid all the other political difficulties that are there, particularly concerning the southern border. so it has been held up, but they don't think it is fundamentally lost. and as a result i think everyone is still trying to hang onto doing it the right way through a supplemental budgetary appropriation rather than

having trees —— river to some of those alternatives. having trees -- river to some of those alternatives.- having trees -- river to some of those alternatives. when we look at the _ of those alternatives. when we look at the us's _ of those alternatives. when we look at the us's impending - look at the us's impending mission, if you want to call it that come into the middle east, we have heard from the president there will be action taken that sooner rather than later, what is the risk to the focus on the ukraine to the us refocusing on the middle east? welcome i think that the understanding of the issues in ukraine, again, both sides of the aisle, both chambers, and the aisle, both chambers, and the white house, it's all very clear, is all very strong, denting as much doubt about how they view the conflict and the desire to help ukraine. you do have an acute situation in the middle east and one that risks escalating far more than the war in ukraine risks escalating, frankly, and their i think the administration is spending time and energy on that. but anything really detracts from ukraine. as was happening in the middle east, i think is good that the president said he has decidable cause of action to take, but

days have gone by after these attacks. three servicemembers killed, clearly directed by iran, and we have seen no direct response. even if there is a strong response to come so far this is reinforcing an image of a lack of willingness to respond. image of a lack of willingness to remand-— to respond. and is that damaging _ to respond. and is that damaging to _ to respond. and is that damaging to the - to respond. and is that damaging to the us - to respond. and is that i damaging to the us more to respond. and is that _ damaging to the us more broadly speaking? it is damaging to the us more broadly s-ueakin? , ., ., damaging to the us more broadly s-ueakin ? , ., ., ., ,, speaking? it is damaging to us credibility overall. _ speaking? it is damaging to us credibility overall. the - speaking? it is damaging to us credibility overall. the better l credibility overall. the better thing to do, if there is an attack against american soldiers and people are killed, just respond, just do it, do it swiftly, do it substantially, overwhelming force to make a point. that would actually have more of an impact than saying we have a response that is yet to come and stay is going by. i think we need to do a better job of understanding the psychology of how these things play out in the minds of our adversaries.— adversaries. and given all that's going _ adversaries. and given all that's going on, _ adversaries. and given all that's going on, can - adversaries. and given all that's going on, can nato| that's going on, can nato allies and eu partners support ukraine alone if they have to?

if they have to do without the us? ~ ., �* 4' , if they have to do without the us? ~ ., �* ~ , ., us? well, don't think they have to do without _ us? well, don't think they have to do without the _ us? well, don't think they have to do without the us. _ us? well, don't think they have to do without the us. i - us? well, don't think they have to do without the us. i think- to do without the us. i think us will provide support as well. and, as i've said, there are alternatives available even to the administrator now that they could do if we don't get a supplemental appropriation from the congress, although those are less than desired outcomes. and as far as the europeans go, they are providing the bulk of they are providing the bulk of the assistance already. most of the assistance already. most of the dollar figures or the euro figures of eight ukraine are actually coming from europe. the us support is critical for the military equipment. but, again, with financing ukraine can buy military equipment. so there will be ways to support ukraine going forward, no matter how all of this shakes out. and to reiterate, i'm pretty confident it will be passed by congress within the next few weeks as we sort out the politics behind it. qm. next few weeks as we sort out the politics behind it.- the politics behind it. ok, we believe it _ the politics behind it. ok, we believe it on _ the politics behind it. ok, we believe it on that _ the politics behind it. ok, we believe it on that note. - the politics behind it. ok, we believe it on that note. kurt i believe it on that note. kurt volker, former us ambassador to

nato and distinguished fellow at the centre for european policy analysis, thank you very much forjoining us.— policy analysis, thank you very much forjoining us. much for “oining us. thank you ve much forjoining us. thank you very much _ much forjoining us. thank you very much for— much forjoining us. thank you very much for having - much forjoining us. thank you very much for having me. - you can get all the latest on the war in ukraine and our other top stories on our website. other top stories on our website-— other top stories on our website. �* ., ., ., , website. i'm caitriona perry, that is if— website. i'm caitriona perry, that is if the _ website. i'm caitriona perry, that is if the moment. - website. i'm caitriona perry, that is if the moment. stay | that is if the moment. stay with here on bbc news. hello. a powerful storm passed to the north of the uk on wednesday — storm ingunn, named by the norwegian weather service. across the faro islands, it brought wind gusts in excess of 120mph. then it slammed into the west coast of norway with gusts of more than 100mph. there's our storm system moving away as we head into thursday. now, across shetland, we saw wind gusts of 78mph, but even those winds have been easing a little. and through thursday, it's a quieter day ahead. some hazy sunshine, dry for many, still quite windy up towards the north, but not as windy as it has been. some wintry showers across the northwest of scotland. and a touch of frost for some of us first thing. for the majority, we'll see spells of hazy sunshine

with high cloud streaming across the sky. thicker cloud into northern england, northern ireland and scotland, with rain returning to the northwest of scotland later. temperatures across the board, eight, nine or ten degrees. now during thursday evening and overnight, we'll see this band of rain pushing across the north of scotland. behind that, we see lots and lots of cloud filtering in from the west. it'll turn really misty and murky for coasts and hills, some spots of drizzle. but look at these temperatures by the end of the night, by the start of friday morning, some spots up in double digits. that's because we will be between these two weather fronts — between this warm front and this cold front in what we call a warm sector — a wedge of very warm or at least very mild air. but these south—westerly winds, not only mild, also laden with moisture. so, a lot of cloud on friday, some mist and murk for western coasts and hills, where there will also be some bits and pieces of rain. best chance of any sunshine to the east of higher ground, although the winds here will be pretty gusty. but look at the afternoon temperatures — 13, 1a.

we may see highs of 15 celsius. now during friday night, we see a weak cold front pushing its way southwards. that will bring a lot of cloud. it will bring some bits and pieces of showery rain. nothing much, really, on this weather front to look at for saturday. to the south of it, we're still in that very mild but rather cloudy and damp regime. to the north of the weather front, something a little bit brighter, but with some showers still not particularly cold. temperatures north to south, 7 to m celsius. into sunday, mild air, ifanything, pushes northwards again. a lot of clouds and bits and pieces of rain. highs of 1a celsius.

an interest rate cut is coming but notjust yet. the us federal reserve pours cold water on the hopes of rate—weary americans. plus... mr zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, i know you don't mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands. social media bosses face the heat in a senate hearing on child safety online. we'll have the details. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai.

we begin in the us where the federal reserve held interest rates steady leaving them at a 23—year high. with inflation cooling and solid economic growth, the question on the minds of many economists, consumers and businesses was when the central bank might start cutting rates. but the guidance offered by the fed chairjerome powell disappointed those on wall street who were hoping for a rate cut as soon as march. powell's warning that it is unlikely the central bank will be in a position to lower borrowing costs at its next meeting sent shares lower, with the dow losing more than 300 points and the nasdaq down by more than 2%. from new york, here's the bbc�*s north america business correspondent michelle fleury. for the fourth meeting in a row, the federal reserve did not raise interest rates. this is the longest pause since policymakers began their aggressive rate campaign to tame inflation back in march of 2022. but for rate weary americans, well, they will likely have to wait a few more months to see any relief, given these comments

by the federal chair.