this is bbc news. with me, tim wilcox. our top stories: from inside afghanistan, a special report on how the taliban have to deal with their own terror threat from the islamic state group. we have been called here by the taliban police who wanted to show us an isis super cell they recently attacked. britain's prince andrew demands a trial byjury, as he rejects the allegations of sexual assault made by virginia giuffre. the us formally responds to russia's concerns over ukraine, saying they've offered moscow a serious diplomatic path forward. the white house confirms president biden will pick a black woman to replace a retiring liberaljustice in the us supreme court.

and tapping tiktok for talent. the man behind the spice girls forms a new band after holding auditions on the app. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. it's been six months since the taliban swept to power across afghanistan after decades of war. the economy is close to collapse, millions face starvation, and the former allies of osama bin laden now face a new terror threat of their own — large scale attacks by islamic state in the khorasan, or is—k. this report is from yalda hakim, who has travelled to sangin in helmand province, a small village 600 kilometres south of the capital kabul. it was one of the deadliest places

for british and american forces and their afghan allies. the road to sangin in helmand province was once littered with roadside bombs. now there is relative calm. our taliban escort says that this highway was hell for american marines and british troops. abdul karim laid mines. he is responsible for the killing of hundreds of coalition forces and civilians. translation: when the people saw that they were dropping - bombs on us and killing us they stood against them. all the people help. even when i was planting mines, children around ten years old would help me. when i asked him to clarify if the children were forced, he insists they were not.

translation: no. they volunteered and said that we are members of the resistance. many families fled during the years of fighting. translation: a bullet went | through the wall and hit here. the bullets were fired incessantly. mohammed has now returned with his children to rebuild their lives. translation: everything is expensive now. - i cannot even afford cooking oil and bread. people learn to get by, but everyone is happy that foreign forces have left here. people genuinely felt occupied by the foreign forces and the former government. and this is what they've left behind. homes destroyed. and this is the price of freedom that these people say they have had to pay. in the conservative heartland

of sangin, the taliban in power may be welcome. but in many parts of the country, afghans continue to pay a heavy price. the economy is close to collapse. poverty and hunger are affecting millions. across the country, the taliban are intimidating and crushing dissent. and this one—time terror organisation is dealing with a terror threat of its own. islamic state in the khorasan, or is—k, has launched a string of large—scale attacks across afghanistan in recent months. we have been called here by the taliban police who wanted to show us and isis sleeper cell that they recently attacked. translation: in all parts of the world these kinds . of incidents are seen. even the place where you consider the safest place in the world.

i mean, the united states, new york, britain, even in those places, incidents such as these happen. the taliban is trying to make afghanistan the safest country in the world. despite abdul karim's assurances, members of the shia community say they do not feel protected by the taliban. they continue to be targeted by is—k. in october, a suicide bombing of a shi'ite mosque in kandahar claimed the lives of 50 worshippers. this woman's husband was killed. translation: what should i do now? i no longer have him. my partner has gone. i feel completely devastated. the family now face an uncertain future. translation: it was rumoured that the schools were being - bombed and my children were very scared. i told them to go to

school and they said no. they were meant to protect us and then a bomb went off. is that what you call protection, bombing ordinary people? afghanistan is a country shattered by decades of war. sanctions on the new regime are biting hard. as the humanitarian crisis deepens and violence continues, the taliban are struggling to even begin rebuilding the fragile country. yalda hakim, bbc news. prince andrew is demanding a trial byjury. he formally denied all the allegations against him as he gave a court in new york his official response to allegations of sexual assault. virginia giuffre accuses the duke of york of forcing her to have sex more than two decades ago at the london home of the convicted sex trafficker ghislaine maxwell.

the ii—page document sets out the duke's detailed response, strongly denying that he abused ms giuffre when she was 17. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell has more details. across 11 pages, andrew's lawyers have set out his defence — a denial of the central allegation of sexual abuse made by virginia giuffre and an assertion in respect of others that andrew lacks sufficient information to either admit or deny what's been claimed. he says, for example, in relation to the widely publicised picture of the two of them, that he doesn't have enough information to admit or deny that there exists photographic evidence

of his alleged meeting with miss giuffre. elsewhere, his lawyers assert that virginia giuffre's civil complaint should be dismissed because she's a permanent resident of australia and not domiciled in the united states. and they say this: finally, they demand this: all of which suggests that andrew is determined to fight it out in court, though lawyers say this doesn't preclude an out—of—court settlement. you can certainly have a settlement further down the road, and it wouldn't shock me at all, between now and a trial, to see something like that happen. and sometimes, though, there are cases where no amount of money will make them go away. there are times when, again, a victim wants their day in court. and that certainly seems to be virginia giuffre's intention. her lawyer has said they look forward to confronting prince andrew with his denials and his attempts to blame miss giuffre for her own abuse at the trial. nicholas witchell, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. the uk's prime minister has once again rejected calls for his resignation. boris johnson is facing criticism over allegations of parties held at his official residence, despite covid restrictions. the first report into the case is due to be published in the coming hours or days. the matter is also under

police investigation. the opposition has called the situation shameful. a single body has been recovered by us coastguards after a boat capsized off the coast of florida. a sole survivor had earlier told rescuers that the vessel had left the bimini islands in the bahamas on saturday with a0 people on board. the boat is believed to have been made up of people from cuba and haiti who paid smugglers to take them to the us. the united states has responded to a series of russian demands over the future of ukraine, with the us secretary of state, antony blinken, insisting that ukraine "can choose its own allies." it comes as moscow has deployed an estimated 100,000 soldiers near the border in both belarus and russia. president putin has accused western nations of aggressive expansion into russia's sphere of influence. he says one of his key concerns is the expansion of nato, the military alliance of european states with the us and canada. many countries in eastern europe became members after the fall

of the soviet union. 0ur eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford has more from the ukrainian capital, kyiv. matches, needle, etc. medicals and bandages, medicine. yuri is getting ready for a war he hopes he never sees. he's packed an emergency bag to grab and go if russian bombs or troops reach kyiv. a basic survival kit for the worst possible scenario. what does it actually feel like to be doing this? it's unbelievable. so, i understand it, i am living now in the 21st century. i'm amazed that i should do this, that i should pack this bag, but this is what i have to do to keep my family safe.

yuri thinks a major escalation in ukraine's 8—year—long war with russia is unlikely. he just feels better being prepared for it. today, the us government strongly advised its citizens to leave ukraine. the government here calls warnings of a major new incursion by russia alarmist, but it's not ignoring the tens of thousands of troops deployed near its border. a few weeks ago, the authorities here actually released a map with all the bomb shelters, and just look at it — there's thousands of them — 5,000, in fact — all over the city. marking a map, though, is the easy bit. the door�*s locked. and this is one of the official bomb shelters, supposedly. so, either nobody here's expecting war to break out any minute now or they're just not very well prepared for it. the metro might be a safer bet, deep below ground. if the air raid siren sounds, people will have 20 minutes to get down here.

there's so much talk now outside ukraine about the possibility of the conflict escalating, ofan imminent russian invasion, and it's quite weird being here inside kyiv itself and realising that people are just going about their ordinary lives. there's no sense of panic here at all. do you think it's possible that the conflict could actually reach kyiv? i don't know. i don't have any information about that, so i'm just living my best life right now and hoping that everything will be ok. did you make any kind of preparations, or any...? no, no. so, as western governments wrestle with moscow's ultimatums and demands, ukrainians for now are getting on with a life they've long lived in the shadow of russian threats and aggression. sarah rainsford, bbc news, kyiv.

a new oil leak is being tackled on the pacific coast of peru. it happened just ten days after a major crude spill which has been called the biggest ecological disaster to hit the south american country in recent year, killing scores of seals, fish and birds. but the clean—up teams have been using a rather unusual method to mop up the spill as stephanie prentice explains. volunteers have been inching forward in an attempt to clean up the coast here, but now efforts have taken two steps back as another leak has seeped into the problems of teams here on the beaches on a coastline, local fishermen say, smells like death. mopping up the oil is slow work and doing it quickly no small feat of ingenuity. the major spill almost two weeks ago led to a national cry for help in one unusual campaign, asking people to donate not their time, but hair, to be used in clea nu p efforts.

that is because human hair repels water but actively absorbs oil. peruvians across the country headed to hairdressers, or even the streets, for a hair cut — the hair then formed into cylinders and shipped to the coast. the feeling? every little bit helps. some even donated dog fur in an attempt to save marine wildlife. translation: we are not pet groomers— but there is the will of the people because in the end the hair grows, everything grows, but what does not return is the death of the animals. but while the nation comes together to tackle disaster, a row over who is to blame for it has proved divisive. 0il provider repsol is denying responsibility while environmental agencies pursue it but, for now, it is the local people and wildlife feeling the full effects of the darkness that washed up here. stephanie prentice, bbc news.

stay with us on bbc news. still to come: why president biden is to pick a black woman after a us supreme courtjudge retires. the shuttle challenger exploded soon after lift—off. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman schoolteacher. all of them are believed to have been killed. by the evening, tahrir square, the heart of official cairo, was in the hands of the demonstrators. they were using the word 'revolution'. the earthquake - singled out buildings and brought them down in seconds. _ tonight, the search for any survivors. has an increasing desperation about it as the hours pass. i the new government is firmly in control of the entire

republic of uganda. survivors of the auschwitz concentration camp have been commemorating the 40th anniversary of their liberation. they toured the huts, gas chambers and crematoria and relived their horrifying experiences. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: britain's prince andrew demands a trial byjury as he rejects the allegations of sexual abuse and assault made by virginia giuffre. the us formally responds to russia's concerns over ukraine, saying they've offered moscow a serious diplomatic path forward. the white house has said presidentjoe biden will honour his commitment to make an african—american woman his first nomination to the supreme court. she would replace the liberal justice, stephen breyer, who has announced his plans

to retire at the end ofjune, aged 83. it will need to be approved by the senate where democrats have a slim majority. earlier, i spoke to the dean of boston university's law school, angela 0nwuachi—willig, to talk about the challenges president biden might face. time is of the essence. if they don't confirm this candidate, whoever the nominee will be by november, then they risk losing control of the senate, and at that point, it will be incredibly difficult to get any through. it's not going to affect the balance, isn't it? it's 6—3 in terms of conservative judges as well. but i suppose this is an important issue when you've got big legislation coming forward, for example, roe versus wade, abortion and things like that. it's incredibly important for a number of things. number one, it's important

because diversity is so critical to the excellence of the decisions that an appellate court gives. an appellate court is best when you have a diversity of perspectives and different life experiences and different work experiences, bringing all of those experiences, all of these insights, how they read a case, how they understand the doctrine and how they apply it and how they come together and how they think about they are creating doctrines that apply to the entire country. and having a black woman, someone whose life experiences are shaped by how race, how gender have shaped their perspectives, will be really important on the bench. it will be really important, given the kinds of controversial cases coming up, roe versus wade, affirmative action, having somebody who might bring that lens, who might see something that a fact that may see a legal doctrine, who might — the harms

of a particular case from someone who has not had that life experience, might not understand them, is really, really important. it's also really important because even if you don't have the majority, it will shape the nature of the conversation that's happening behind the doors when the supreme court justices are discussing the cases, right? and that conversation is so important to what the majority decision comes out like. now, after growing up in care thinking he was an only child, bbc journalist ashley john—ba ptiste suddenly received a message from a man who said he was his older brother. although the law says brothers and sisters should be kept together where possible, he found out that in many areas of the uk, half of siblings in care are split up. he tells the story. i was only a toddler when i entered the care system and i didn't leave until i was 18. to the knowledge of my various social workers

and foster parents, i had no siblings. i was an only child. then what happens, in my mid—to—late 20s, as i'm still coming to terms with my own childhood, i get a message from a man on facebook who tells me that he's my brother. it was completely crazy, because, for a long time, i thought that i was kind of isolated in terms of family, that i didn't have anyone. this personal revelation made me think about the state of sibling relationships in today's care system, so i decided to investigate. freedom of information requests sent to over 200 uk local authorities have revealed that more than 12,000 looked after children are not living with at least one of their siblings. in their adoptive home, saskia and her two brothers suffered physical abuse and neglect for a decade. when they went back into council care, they were separated across different areas.

i lost such a key part of myself, i think, because it was, like, it's us three against the world, you know? it always has been. and so, being so far away from them, it's like, oh, i'm not as strong anymore. the law says siblings should be placed together when it is safe and possible to do so. where this is not appropriate, contact should be prioritised if this is right for the child. how are you feeling about meeting your brothers? excited. yeah? yeah. in scotland, new laws are giving siblings more control over their relationships. karen morrison is a veteran foster carer instrumental in these changes. our family are foster carers and it didn't take long for us to realise, you know, that these children are going into the care system and they're not going to the same place together. in fact, they don't even know when they're going to see each other again. just imagine that trauma, it must be awful. karen also runs

siblings reunited, a charity providing a safe space for split—up siblings in care to meet every few months. how excited have you guys been to meet today? good. ten out of ten. ten out of ten! just because i know it's halloween. 9,000. 9,000?! an independent review of the england care system is currently under way, with findings and recommendations expected to be published later this year. in scotland, new laws are giving siblings more control over their relationships. for these brothers, however, it's time to say goodbye for now. ashleyjohn—baptiste, bbc news. more on that on the website as well. now, the man behind the spice girls and s club 7 has launched his latest pop group, this time with the help of the social media sensation, tiktok. # this kind of love... is this the future of music? well, artist manager

simon fuller thinks so. he held auditions on the app over the last year to form the seven—piece band called the future x. tiktok has become an increasingly essential tool for the music industry, launching the careers of stars like lil nas x and doja cat. the band members already have a combined 4.4 million followers on their individual accounts. taylor lorenz is the new york times's internet culture reporter. all of these creators were found on tiktok through an online competition where you were able to submit your portfolio essentially through a tiktok video. essentially, to those who do not use tiktok as much as you do, i certainly don't, it's normally 15 seconds long, so these were brief auditions? they were allowed from 15 seconds up to three minutes long, so you do get a bit more time. i believe 15 seconds is... how is gone down with uses of tiktok, who has hundreds of users? hundreds of millions! does this run with a grain

of the ethos of tiktok? i think tiktok users are split. while a lot of these people that are now members of this group have their own fans on tiktok and they have been excited to watch their stars come up, a lot of others accuse them of being industry planners and don't like that it is preplanned on tiktok, feeling a bit too orchestrated. and it seems to be coming more of an essential tool for the music industry because it has such huge penetration, doesn't it? absolutely. tiktok dominates the charts these days. if something is popular on tiktok, it's popular on spotify and the way that tiktok has reshaped the music industry has reshaped the industry and created stars like lil nas x and doja cat and it really is the go—to place of online talent these days. is it the death knell for record labels? i think they can go to tiktok to scout out talent,

but it really does flip the dynamic a little bit. you used to get signed to a record label to get fans, but now you can produce music in your bedroom, you can rack up millions of followers on tiktok and create users and make music directly for them. it definitely balances out the power a little bit between the artists and labels. how it this monetised? you can monetise a million different ways, but tiktok does pay for streaming. every time you stream or use a song on tiktok, the artist that created that song, hopefully, theoretically, gets the money. so, say something streamed many times a tiktok, the artist gets a portion of that streaming. you say theoretically — doesn't it always happen? tiktok, the remix culture is really strong on that app, and so a lot of the times people take snippets of songs, remix them together, uploaded as new audio, and in that case, the person does not always get the money from it.

there you go. get practising. that is it from me. hello there. we've certainly seen some windy weather across more northern parts of the uk into the night. the winds will continue to ease down during the day on thursday. it'll still be breezy, mind you, and there should be more sunshine more widely. the strongest winds have been near that area of low pressure that's moving away from the northern isles. this weather front is continuing southwards. it's continuing to weaken, and that means the rain and drizzle on it is becoming very light and patchy. this is the picture towards the end of the night. further north across the uk, clearer skies are continuing to follow with some more of those showers, mainly in the north of scotland, but it should be a frost—free start to thursday. but we start quite cloudy across much of wales, the midlands and southern england. some light and patchy rain and drizzle mainly in the west.

that'll move southwards, soon cheering up in wales in the midlands. the cloud takes all morning to move away from southern england, heading out into the channel. then sunshine follows widely, a few more of these showers continuing mainly across northern and western scotland. but not a cold day despite the north—westerly wind, temperatures double figures for most. it will feel quite a bit cooler than of late, though, in northern parts of scotland. the winds ease down during the evening. some clearer skies will turn it chilly for a while overnight. and then, if we look out to the west, a stream of weather fronts there will bring some wet weather mainly towards scotland on friday. but at the same time, we're drawing in some very mild south—westerly winds. ahead of it, though, across england and wales, a chilly start. some sunshine, one or two early mist and fog patches. does tend to cloud over more and more from the west during the day, hanging onto some sunshine towards south—eastern parts of england, most of the rain coming eastwards from scotland. and for many, those temperatures will be reaching 10 or 11 degrees. it is turning milder

and turning windier throughout the day, and most of the rain will continue to affect scotland overnight, that weather front pepping up the rain over western parts of scotland. then that weather front moves southwards on saturday. so, again, it's going to weaken and the rain becomes light and patchy. moving away from scotland and northern ireland, there won't be much rain heading down across england and wales. then we get a north—westerly wind once again, a few showers across northern parts of scotland. double—figure temperatures for most of the day. very mild in the south—east of england at 1a degrees. a windy day on saturday. the winds are not going to be as strong, though, on sunday. it will be a bit cooler. northern areas turn wet and windy later on.

this is bbc news, the headlines: prince andrew is demanding a trial byjury in a civil case accusing him of sexual assault. the duke's formally denied all allegations against him in an 11—page document submitted to a new york court. he also cast doubt on the authenticity of a photograph showing him with accuser virginia giuffre. the us has formally rejected russia's draft security pacts with the west, published last month. a ban on ukrainejoining nato was among moscow's demands. secretary of state antony blinken said washington had made no concessions but insisted the document offered a serious diplomatic path forward. the white house says president biden will honour his commitment to make an african—american woman his first nomination to the supreme court. she would replace the liberal justice, stephen breyer, who has announced his plans to retire at the end ofjune.

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.