welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: nato debates the future of troops in afghanistan, after nearly 20 years of bitter conflict. are taliban willing to piece? if not, then taliban should know that the international community will remain. a huge storm sweeping across the us state of texas has killed at least 21 people and left millions without power. the united states charges three north korean computer programmers of conspiring to steal more than $1 billion in a global hacking spree. buckingham palace says the duke of edinburgh, who's 99, is in hospital, as a precaution, afterfeeling unwell. and, facebook blocks users in australia from sharing or viewing news content, in a dispute over planned

social media laws. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. nato defence ministers are meeting to discuss the future of the alliance�*s 10,000 troops in afghanistan, in what will be a critical decision with profound implications. hanging over them, a deadline of may the first, which was agreed between the taliban and the us, for troops to leave the country. that move by donald trump has been described as premature by critics and is now under review by president biden. lyse doucet reports from kabul. a stark snapshot of a gathering storm — the national police hospital. doctors tell us they've never

seen so many patients. there's fighting in so many provinces now. this policeman took a bullet. translation: the taliban blew up a vehicle outside school, so i went there to help get the children out. the taliban started shooting and we fired back. i was shot. the bullet hit me here and come out the other side. gunfire. and they're braced for more. this was a training exercise, but it's all too real. afghan police on the hunt for suicide bombers... ..and civilians trapped inside. the government gave us access to film this, as taliban warn if the us deal breaks down, there will be more of this. the interior minister thanks his men and a few women, what's his advice to washington? i would say let's review

what the taliban agreed to. did the taliban cut their relationship with terrorists? did the taliban respect that? are taliban are willing to peace? if not, then the taliban should know that the international community will remain. a taliban call to arms. they insist they've kept their commitments, that foreign forces must be out by may. if not, they'll be attacked. 0n the streets, there's already a wave of targeted killings. every day, a blast or more. no one claims them, many blame the taliban. 18—year—old ramin survived a horrific taliban suicide bombing. i say goodbye to my family. you don't know if you're going to make it home alive or dead each day. 20 years after us forces came in, there's no easy way out.

violence may surge whether they stay or go. there is still talk of peace and plans for war. lyse doucet, bbc news, kabul. the brutal winter storms across the south and east of the us have left millions without power, and more snow is on the way. nowhere has been hit harder than texas, where nearly three million people are facing their third day without light or heat. a blanket of snow has fallen across northern parts of mexico, and southern states in the us, stretching from texas to north carolina. at least 21 people are reported to have been killed. barbara plett usher reports. another day of winter misery for texas. millions of people are still without power. this historic storm has generated an epic energy crisis in america's energy state. it's freezing cold and people

are seeking warmth wherever they can find it, even in this furniture store. getting food has also become a mission, rationed out in places as supplies have started to run low. and the catastrophe has triggered the politics of climate change. the republican governor blamed clean energy for the scale of the power failure. 0urwind and oursolar got shut down, and they were collectively more than 10% of our power grid. that thrust texas into a situation where it was lacking power in a state—wide basis. it just shows that fossil fuel is necessary. in fact, the state's grid operator reports that every source of energy got crushed by the cold. the power plant simply didn't prepare for such a winter. the democratic author of a sweeping policy on global warning challenged the governor. she said the texas crisis showed the urgency of addressing climate change. scientists say global warming is partly to blame. it's let arctic weather patterns

escape further and further southward and stay longer. the storms have engulfed large swathes of the midwest and southern states. power grids have buckled elsewhere under the extreme demand, but overwhelmingly in texas. free markets and deregulation are partly to blame. now, rolling blackouts are preventing the state from going totally dark. i think the fundamental decisions that our operators made very likely could have prevented a catastrophic blackout. the outcome of preventing that catastrophic blackout unfortunately turned out to be a long period of outages like we had not seen before. there may be some relief by the weekend, but right now, the forecast is bleak and texans are facing another long, cold night. barbara plett usher, bbc news, washington. let's get some of the day's other news. russia has rejected a call from the european court of human rights, to free the jailed kremlin critic, alexei navalny. thejustice minister said, the court in strasbourg had reached an �*unlawful decision�* which amounted to wanton

interference in russia's affairs. protests have been taking place in the catalonia region of spain ifor a second night running in support of a catalan communist rapper. pablo hasel has been jailed for lyrics and online posts deemed slanderous and pro—terrorist. supporters of chile's popular football club, colo—colo, have been celebrating victory in a play—off match that stopped them from being relegated. hundreds of security forces were deployed after the club's biggest supporters�* group threatened to kill the players if they failed to save the team from relegation. the usjustice department has charged three north korean hackers with conspiring to steal $1.3 billion in a series of cyber attacks. thejustice department has also linked them to some of the biggest recent cyber attacks. they include the wannacry attack which crippled the uk�*s national health service and affected more than 150 countries, and an attack on sony entertainment pictures. the us branded north korea "a criminal syndicate

with a flag". former cia analyst sue mi terry told me charging the hackers sends an important message to north korea. it is very important to expose north korea, their cyber capability and what they have been doing. north korea has become one of the most sophisticated cyber actors out there. it has really become adept at hacking international financial institutions and networks and using it to generate revenue, to fund its nuclear weapons program and obtain hard currency. cybercrime is just one of the extensions of their longtime reliance on various illicit activities to fund the regime. the us government, obviously, and intelligence community is very concerned, that north korea�*s cyber attack capabilities could inflict greater damage in the future and it is important to highlight this.

you have said it has been going on for some time, thejustice department has been trying to link these people to the so—called wannacry attack which crippled the uk�*s national health service for a while, affected more than 150 countries and that attack on sony entertainment. from north korea�*s point of view, does it work? does it advance their interests and bring them hard currency? it absolutely brings them hard currency and more and more, they are really focusing on this because their cybercrime operations does not include attempts just to get $1 billion from financial institutions all over the world, they have done multiple cyber attacks attempts against south korean companies, international companies, us companies, and their cyber activities will continue. they will get more increasingly sophisticated, including the use of ransomware to raise funds for the state and again i�*ve mentioned earlier, there is other criminal activities beyond cyber too, but they will rely on these

because of all of the us—un sanctions and they have to go around the sanctions to generate funds for their weapons programme. the duke of edinburgh is spending his second night in hospital after feeling unwell and being admitted to the private kind edward vii as a precaution on tuesday. he is 99 and has been isolating with the queen at windsor castle during the coronavirus lockdown, he received his covid—19 vaccine in january. 0ur royal correspondent, nicholas witchell�*s report contains flashing images. fanfare plays. he�*s been retired for more than three years now, and he�*s remained largely out of public sight during the lockdown. this was an exception. july last year, when he took his leave from the rifles, one of the regiments of which he�*d been honorary colonel

in chief for many years. the most recent image of him is this, at windsor castle with the queen, a photograph released by the palace last november to mark their 73rd wedding anniversary. prior to that, there was a photograph of the couple together lastjune, on the occasion of the duke�*s 99th birthday. and, for the royal doctors, it will no doubt have been his age as much as anything which will have persuaded them to err on the side of caution. the duke has apparently been feeling unwell for several days so, last night, at windsor castle, his doctors decided to admit him to hospital. at 2pm this afternoon, the palace issued a statement... the duke is in the private king edward vii hospital in london. it�*s understood he was driven there by car. it was not an emergency admission. it is not covid—related,

says the palace, and the duke is said to be in good spirits. he�*s a no—nonsense sort of man. i think he would be embarrassed by the fuss, and would not want it. i�*m sure he�*s in good spirits. he�*s always in good spirits. the duke was admitted to the same hospitaljust before christmas 2019 for treatment of an undisclosed condition. he left afterfour nights tojoin the queen at sandringham. anxiety, on top of everything else. today, the royal family has been continuing with business as usual. this was prince charles and the duchess of cornwall this morning at a hospital in birmingham. fanfare the queen has remained at windsor castle. she, too, is carrying on with her duties but, inevitably, in everyone�*s mind will be the fact that the duke is now just four months short of his 100th birthday.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the life and times of the massively influential right—wing radio host, rush limbaugh who�*s died, at the age of 70. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible affect on the morale of the people. i'm terrified of the repercussions on the streets, one wonders who is next. gunfire. as the airlift got under way, there was no letup . in the eruption itself. lava streams from . a vent low the crater flowed down to the sea the east of the island, i away from the town for the time being. | it could start flowing again at any time. i the russians heralded their new generation space station with a

spectacular night launch, they called it �*mir�* — the russian for peace. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: nato leaders debate whether to stick to a may deadline, for pulling thousands of troops out of afghanistan, after nearly 20 years of bitter conflict. the huge storm sweeping texas has killed at least 21 people and left millions without power. japan�*s suicide rate jumped in 2020, rising for the first time in more than a decade. the number of cases involving women and young people showed a marked increase. specialists studying the problem say the increase is almost certainly the result of the covid pandemic. a warning, you may find parts of this report from our correspondent in tokyo, rupert wingfield hayes, upsetting.

the streets of tokyo are still crowded with shoppers and commuters. apart from the masks, there are few signs here of the pandemic. there has been no lockdown. don�*t be fooled, amid the glittering neon and jostling traffic, for some, life amid the pandemic is becoming unbearable. since the pandemic began, this woman has tried to kill herself multiple times. translation: from about this time last year, - i have been in and out of hospital many times. every month or so. i tried many times, but i couldn�*t succeed. so now i guess i have given up trying to die. the young woman is now undergoing intensive counselling at this suicide prevention charity. its founder tells me since mid—2020, they have seen a dramatic

increase in harrowing calls. translation: people calling saying, - "i want to die, i want to disappear. "i have no place to go." a girl i talked to the other day said she�*s getting sexually harassed by her father, but because of covid, her father is not working so much and he is at home a lot. so there�*s no escape for her. in previous financial crises, such as the 2008 banking collapse, it�*s always been men and particularly middle men whose suicide rates have gone up dramatically. but covid seems to be complete different. it is affecting young people, and young women are being hit the hardest. in central tokyo, darkened and shuttered restaurants and bars tell part of the story. experts say the rise in young female suicides is being driven by economics. this pattern of female suicides is very, very unusual.

i have never seen this much of an increase in my past career as a researcher on this topic. the number ofjob losses among female prominentjobs are just so large over the last six to eight months. japan has been quite successful at controlling the covid pandemic. but in the year since the virus arrived here, more women have died from suicide than have died from the virus itself. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. myanmar has seen some of its biggest protests yet, against the military coup, that deposed the civilian leader, aung san suu kyi, earlier this month. hundreds of thousands of people gathered across the country, as the campaign of civil disobedience entered its 12th consecutive day. jonathan head reports. the military government has dismissed the protesters as a

violent minority. today people across myanmar set out to prove it is wrong. this was the capital, the seat of power for the generals, but everywhere the generals, but everywhere the face of the woman who hasn�*t defied them for so long. it was a military�*s decision to rush aung san suu kyi�*s trial on flimsy charges that brought out the crowds today. there were civil servants here, teachers and bankers, part of a movement that aims to cripple the new regime by withdrawing their labour. here, they sat down at the spot where a young woman was shot in the head by police last week and shunted prayers for her. —— shunted. the day begun with a breakdown protest, drivers leaving their cars on the road to block anyone to get to work and any

police or army vehicles also. so people came into the city on foot, to protest. these are members of the siemens unions. though ms marinus work on ships all over the world. —— burmese mariners. there were few signs of security forces here and as a field the streets. they sang old songs of resistance. from a previous era that they have thought they had put behind them. the military has a promise to be patient in the face of this powerful challenge to its authority but for how long? jonathan head, bbc news rush limbaugh, the highly influential american talk show host, has died. he was 70 , and had been suffering from cancer. in provoking his opponents with colourful, often deliberately offensive, verbal onslaughts. critics frequently accused him of racism, sexism and homophobia. he was a staunch supporter of donald trump, who awarded him the presidential

medal of freedom. reporter: what did rush limbaugh tell you - after the election of november 3rd? what were those conversations like? rush said we won, and so do i, by the way. i think we won by — substantially. and rush thought we won. they thought it was over at ten o�*clock — 10:30 it was over, and a lot of other people feel that way too, but rush felt that way strongly. facebook has blocked australian users from sharing or viewing news content in a dispute over a proposed law. australia wants social media giants to pay for the content re—posted from news outlets. facebook said the proposed law "fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers". australian treasurer, josh frydenberg, hasjust addressed the media. facebook was wrong. facebook�*s

sanctions were unnecessary. they were heavy—handed and they will damage its reputation here in australia. the decision to block australian access to government sites, be they about support through the pandemic, mental health, emergency services, the bureau of meteorology, were completely unrelated to the media code yet to pass through the senate. but what today�*s event to confirm for all australians is the immense market power of these media digital giants. the laruest media digital giants. the largest union _ media digital giants. the largest union in - media digital giants. the largest union in australia, the president told me facebook is trying to flex its monopoly power. the idea that you have free internet and monopoly power is quite an interesting one

to hold at the same time. this is a global tech giant flexing its monopoly power and trying to avoid abiding by the laws of australia. the laws are pretty simple that are coming in, which will be that media companies that distribute content from a media organization — a technology company should just pay a little bit back from the advertising revenue they have been hoovering up for the last 10—15 years. facebook is being particularly bullish about this, isn�*t it? i guess because it thinks it is likely to be fighting this same same battle all over the world? absolutely, this is not just about australia, this is a precedent globally. in the united states, facebook is facing investigation by the us trade commission. the federal trade commission there is looking at busting open facebook and its monopoly power, so it is really protecting its global power, not just about australia. google, on the other hand, has been coming to deals with australian media

companies ahead of the law which could come into effect as soon as tomorrow, if it passes at the senate. it has bipartisan support here in australia. and google has been making deals and agreeing to pay millions of dollars to media companies in australia in order to share linked and other contents made by our members, journalists. healthy, young volunteers are to be infected with coronavirus in the world�*s first human covid trial, which will begin in the uk within a month. it aims to provide a greater understanding of the virus. our medical editor, fergus walsh, reports. this is where trial volunteers will spend just over two weeks, in en suite rooms at the top of the royal free hospital in north london. there�*s quite a view and all meals provided, but the stay includes being deliberately infected with coronavirus. the aim is to find the smallest

possible dose that will trigger an infection. we believe the risk on this trial is incredibly small because they are young, healthy adults. most of them will even be asymptomatic, but we�*re doing every thing we can to make sure we�*re monitoring it and mitigating it. future trials will be used for head—to—head comparisons between different vaccines and how well they work, but this initial study should also yield important information about covid. in no other kind of study can you understand what�*s happening right at the beginning of the infection, how much virus comes out of people�*s noses, and most importantly amongst asymptomatic people, who we think are an important contributor to transmission in the community. the volunteers who do spend 17 days here at the royal free hospital and attend their follow—up blood tests over the course of a year, will be compensated to the tune of £11,500,

but it�*s altruism rather than money that seems to be the main motivation. alastair is 18 and has already signed up. he�*s been campaigning for the trials to take place as a means of speeding up research into vaccines and the virus. i think challenge trials are really going to shorten the pandemic. anything we can do to shorten the pandemic is certainly really worth doing. so, i guess it�*s that which is really driving me. challenge trials have a long history. in this study in oxford, volunteers drank a solution laced with typhoid bacteria to test whether a vaccine they�*d had protected them. it�*s an approach that should help find new covid vaccines and treatments in years to come. fergus walsh, bbc news. much more for you any time on

the bbc website and our twitter feed. thank you for watching. hello. quite a lot of wind and rain in the forecast, but some sunshine too. at least it is very mild out there. thursday is going to be quite a mixed bag, so we might have a spell of very heavy rain, but there�*s also some sunshine on the way. you can see the weather fronts gathering out towards the southwest. they are going to be moving across the uk. there�*s another one deep out in the atlantic. that�*s on the way for friday, and that will bring more heavy rain and strong winds. so here is the first bout of wet and windy weather through the early hours. the weather front crossing england and wales, also some heavy rain there wrapping around the centre of the low—pressure, close to northern ireland and scotland. obviously, very mild — between 5—9 celsius across the uk overnight.

into western parts of the uk through thursday morning. it will be accompanied by some very gusty winds across cornwall, devon, parts of wales as well. this is where it will be around eight o�*clock in the morning just about moving through bristol, parts of the midlands, the northwest of england as well, into parts of western scotland. this is where the centre of the low is. winds actually not too strong in scotland. they�*re slightly stronger towards the south here. and then the rain will reach the east coast by the time we get to around lunchtime, and then after that, actually, the skies clear, and it�*s going to be a bright day but a blustery one. gusts of wind in excess of 40, maybe approaching 50 mph in places, and also plenty of showers out towards the west. so suffice to say it is going to be a mixed bag on thursday. 9—10 celsius — it�*s going to feel chilly in the gusts of wind. here�*s thursday night, into friday. that next area of low pressure heading our way. more weather fronts. a lot of isobars here, so that means some strong winds. in fact, a prolonged spell of strong winds

out towards the west. gales around these coasts here — 50 mph at least, maybe even 60 in places. breezy inland, too. the best of the weather, i think, on friday, will be towards the east, say, hull, norwich, london as well. but once the rain sets in and out towards the west, it could last well into the weekend. now, we were promising some milder weather. it is heading our way. saturday and through sunday, milder air streaming straight out of the canaries. so that does mean that temperatures come sunday could get up to around 16 or 17 celsius across the southeast.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the afghan taliban have called on the united states and its nato allies to withdraw all foreign forces from afghanistan by the first of may, in line with last year�*s us taliban deal. the statement, was released before a meeting to debate the future of troops in the islamic republic. nearly three million people in texas are without power in sub zero temperatures, as a huge storm sweeps through the south and east of the united states. at least 20 people have died and thousands of homes have been left without water because of frozen or burst pipes. us authorities have charged three north koreans with conspiring to steal more than $1 billion in cash and crypto—currency from banks and businesses worldwide. justice department officials say pyongyang�*s cyber activities pose a significant threat to the us, and its allies.

now, the exiles: hong kong at a crossroads.