welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: the head of the united nations sees for himself the price paid by civilians during russia's invasion of ukraine. the war is an absurdity in the 21st century. the war is evil. president biden asks congress for $33 billion in extra support for ukraine. also coming up on newsday: we report from shanghai, where the government has made a small concession to the zero covid strategy. "some men in parliament behave like animals" — the verdict from a senior minister after claims that an mp watched pornography

in the commons chamber. and could it finally be take—off for flying cars? a dutch company is hoping to make it a reality in a matter of months. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. russia has attacked the ukrainian capital —— ukraine says two missiles have struck the capital kyiv while antonio gutierrez was —— ukraine says two missiles have struck the capital kyiv while antonio guterres

was visiting the capital. mr guterres saw for himself some of the places near kyiv where there've been alleged war crimes by russian troops. our correspondent sarah rainsford travelled with mr guterres and has this report, which i want to warn you contains some details you might find upsetting. it was like a message from moscow, the first missile strike on kyiv in two weeks. a residential building was hit here and civilians wounded, right when the un chief was in town. earlier, antonio guterres had been on the edge of kyiv witnessing the destruction there from russia's war. it is breathtaking. in irpin, there are ruins everywhere you turn. ukrainian families came under fire here in their own homes. antonio guterres was taken to bucha, too, a name that's now synonymous with massacre. when russian troops occupied this town, locals dug a mass grave in the churchyard for civilians shot in the streets. mr guterres called war "evil" and "absurd". i am glad that international criminal court sees the situation, that the prosecutor's office was already here.

i fully support the international criminal court and i appeal to the russian federation to accept to cooperate. he got a warm welcome at the presidential palace. volodymyr zelensky had been annoyed mr guterres went to moscow first, when vladimir putin won't accept any talk of russian atrocities, but it seems the un could report progress on helping the last people trapped in mariupol. translation: we dedicated much of our time to this issue, _ and like the relatives of those trapped at azovstal, we will have a successful result bringing people back alive. in bucha, the morgue is still receiving bodies exhumed from shallow graves, gathering ever more evidence of war crimes. some of the dead here are just numbers for now, still waiting to be identified. and people are still searching

databases for their loved ones a month after russian forces suddenly withdrew. grigori just found his son. he tells me, "vlodymir was shot, then burned. "only his bones are left to bury." at the town cemetery, liudmyla described how her husband was killed with a single shot to the head. she still has his hat with the bullet holes. valieri had just come out of their bomb shelter to make a phone call. at last, liudmyla can give him a proper burial in the graveyard, not their garden. in bucha alone, more than 400 civilians were killed. translation: they should be prosecuted, they have - to be, but who knows? putin should be first

and his band of war criminals. this has happened because no—one punished russia sooner and russia corrupted the whole world with its oil and its money. there are already so many personal tragedies in ukraine, in a war that russia launched and shows no sign it's ready to stop. sarah rainsford, bbc news, bucha. speaking to the bbc, the un secretary general expressed shock that two missiles struck the ukrainian capital while he was visiting. i'm in kyiv. today, two rockets have exploded in kyiv. i was shocked to be informed that two rockets had exploded in the city where i am, so this is a dramatic war and we absolutely need to end this war and we absolutely need to have a solution for this war.

that was antonio guterres there, speaking to the bbc a little earlier. president biden has asked the us congress for $33 billion in extra funding for ukraine. he said the package would support the government in kyiv for the next five months. he called for the funding to be approved as quickly as possible and that it was designed to defend ukraine, rather than attack russia. he made the announcment from the white house. basically, we're out of money. and so that's why today, in order to sustain ukraine as it continues to fight, i'm sending congress a supplemental budget request. earlier, i spoke to former us envoy dennis ross about president biden�*s finanical support to ukraine. about president biden�*s financial support to ukraine. we had all become accustomed to the idea that conflicts in europe were something you referred to historically, they weren't something that were part of our reality today, whereas conflicts in the middle east still seem to be the norm. so we're sadly being reminded

that war in europe is not, unfortunately, relegated to history and the war that we're witnessing is one that seems to respect, at least from the russian side, almost no rules. so, really, it's very difficult to have to contemplate this, but we do have to face up to it. and i think one of the things you're seeing president biden do is acknowledge that we need the wherewithal to be able to provide help to the ukrainians so they can defend themselves. how concerned are you, mr ross, about the fact that this conflict might escalate into neighbouring states, which could even pit the us and russia again into a new cold war in this era? the danger of a new cold war, i think, is already upon us. the question is whether or not that new cold war in any way translates potentially into a hot war. i think it's pretty clear the united states does not want to get into a shooting war with russia and i think

it's also pretty clear that president putin doesn't want to get into a shooting war with us. he has his hands full as it is right now. the performance of the russian military, frankly, has been awful, and i don't think he's really looking to expand wars. his own military right now is reeling from a lot of what it's had to contend with. so i don't think that he needs to expand the war, i think he wants to create the impression that there's a danger of escalation, as a way of trying to deter us from doing more to be helpful to the ukrainians. i think what you see in president biden... go ahead, i'm sorry. sorry. just tojump in there, mr ross, we have heard president putin time and time again, he has implied and threatened to use nuclear weapons. is he bluffing 7 yes, he does. i think that's meant to try to frighten us about not providing support. nuclear war is not something and nuclear threat is not something that he wants

to act on. as long as, i think, we respect certain limits, meaning we don't directly enter the fight, the risk of that kind of escalation is low, but i think we have to be mindful. we take account of what he has to say, but we also have a responsibility, i think, to help the ukrainians, who are fighting a completely defensive war against someone who's sought not only to invade ukraine but pretty much to wipe ukraine's separate identity off the map. so what happens, mr ross, if russia uses a kind of small tactical nuclear weapon inside ukraine? what would the west, what would president biden do in that situation? that would be such an awful development. it would break a taboo. and i'm afraid once a tactical nuclear weapon is used, it means this is a weapon that is usable. we have looked at nuclear weapons and we've had

the russians themselves sign up to commitments and statements that nuclear weapons should never be used and a nuclear war must ever be fought. if the russians end up breaking that taboo, suddenly the issue of using nuclear weapons becomes thinkable. we're all in a dramatically worse situation under those circumstances. whether such use... crosstalk ..it�*s not at all clear. but i don't think that president putin should think that he does it and he doesn't suffer any consequences worse than what he's already suffering. for the last a0 years or so, i think it would be fair to say, certainly for people in my generation, mr ross, the idea that nuclear war was a relic of the past. in your view, is that the case today? well, istill think that it is something that we're not going to see fought, but i have to admit the threshold for its use seems lower than today than it did

in the past, and that's not a good thing. i think we all want to raise that threshold, not lower it. former us envoy dennis ross, speaking to us a little earlier. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. amazon has reported a loss of $3.8 billion for the first three months of the year, hit by its stake in electric truck maker rivian. amazon had warned of testing times in the months ahead because of the pandemic and the war in ukraine. the world health organization and unicef say producers of baby milk formula are using unethical and aggressive social media marketing practices, in violation of international commitments to protect breast—feeding. new research found that the industry was using apps, social media influencers and online baby clubs to promote infant formula. oklahoma has passed a bill banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, after the house of representatives voted 68—12 in favour of a ban on abortion before many women even

realise they are pregnant. the bill has already been approved by the senate and is expected to be signed by republican governor kevin stitt, who said he would sign any pro—life documentation that comes his way when he ran for office. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we'll tell you about the company with high hopes of making flying cars a reality. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. nothing, it seemed, was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed

calls for government help to build better housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12—year war for them. they've taken the capital, which they've been fighting for for so long. it was 7.00 in the morning. on the day when power began to pass from the minority- to the majority, when africa, after 300 years, reclaimed its last white colony. - this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines: the head of the united nations sees for himself the price paid by civilians during russia's

invasion of ukraine. president biden asks the us congress for $33 billion in extra support for ukraine. turning to china now, where the megacity of guangzhou has cancelled hundreds of flights and launched mass testing afterjust one suspected covid—i9 case. it mirrors the approach in shanghai which has been under lockdown for the past five weeks. but there are signs of a small shift in government policy, as robin brant reports. we are approaching the end of our fifth week of a lockdown that has confined almost everyone in this city — this vast city of almost 25 million people — to their homes, or in some cases their places of work. now, the good news is that the statistics appear to show the cases are consistently coming down. so that is good news. but this thing has not bottomed out yet. the government is shifting

the goalposts slightly. it's not aiming for absolute zero covid now. what it's aiming for is something it calls "societal zero covid", so no cases are springing up outside of quarantine centres, outside of places where people already identified are being contained. so that's what it's aiming for by this weekend. it has been brutal, though, for many people. tens of thousands taken off to quarantine centres, many of them 100 miles or more away from shanghai, and kept in varying conditions. some of those people have been very young, some have been very old, but all of them taken away because this government remains committed to maintaining its zero covid policy. if you test positive for covid here, symptomatic or asymptomatic, you are taken off at some point to a quarantine facility. now, what is clear, as i said, as we approach the end of the fifth week of lockdown

here is that the government in shanghai — and overall, xi jinping, the man at the very top — remain committed to this policy of containing zero covid here and then trying to maintain it. no exceptions. early on, it looked like shanghai was trying to go another way, a dynamic approach — staggered lockdowns, maybe even living with it. that is not happening. the focus now is slightly shifting to the capital, beijing, hugely symbolic, obviously. a handful of cases there. they appear to be spread across the city. they are going ahead with some kind of whac—a—mole, localised lockdowns. but beijing is not the same as shanghai. it's always been like a fortress, and so they have a much better chance there of containing it and containing it early. but at the moment, the statistics seem to suggest that maybe by this weekend, they will have contained it to the extent they want to.

that was accurate to reporting on that story for us. —— that was robin brant. millions of chinese people are currently living under some degree of lockdown, as authorities battle with outbreaks of the coronavirus in several cities. there are now concerns about the kind of impact the stress of these lockdowns could have on people's mental well—being. i'm joined now by dr wendy li, an associate professor of psychology at james cook university in queensland who published research last year investigating the mental health of chinese people during the covid outbreak. it is great to get you on the programme. ijust want it is great to get you on the programme. i just want to get your thoughts right now, in terms of the research that you've working on, what are your main concerns for people living in lockdown in china right now? $5 living in lockdown in china right now?— living in lockdown in china right now? as a researcher specialising _ right now? as a researcher specialising in _ right now? as a researcher specialising in mental- right now? as a researcher. specialising in mental health, i am definitely concerned about people's mental—health conditions during the pandemic in every country, including china, such as the recent lockdown situation in shanghai and maybe later in beijing and gong show as

in one of our studies, we follow i88 in one of our studies, we follow 188 chinese university students for eight months from november 2019 delivery this year, we surveyed them every three months —— for 18 months. we compared the participants level of mental distress, in self isolation... lockdown means there can find with limited space... idr means there can find with limited space. . ._ means there can find with limited space... dr li, 'ust to “um in limited space... dr li, 'ust to jump in there. * limited space... dr li, 'ust to jump in there, to h limited space... dr li, 'ust to jump in there, to get _ limited space... dr li, just to jump in there, to get a - limited space... dr li, just toj jump in there, to get a sense of how people are feeling now, i understand you've been following many of these students for some time now. what is the response you're getting today?— what is the response you're getting today? they found, our study found _ getting today? they found, our study found that _ getting today? they found, our study found that during - getting today? they found, our study found that during the - study found that during the hard lockdown— which means quarantine centre, they were

not in quarantine centres, they were confined in limited space — the level of mental distress was significant higher in the hard lockdown situation compared to the home isolation, so i think it is very important to consider the negative impact on people's mental—health. and on people's mental-health. and just briefly. _ on people's mental-health. and just briefly. dr— on people's mental-health. and just briefly, dr li, _ on people's mental—health. and just briefly, dr li, what is the existing mental health infrastructure in china like right now? i infrastructure in china like right now?— infrastructure in china like riaht now? ., ., ., ~' right now? i am not working in china, but— right now? i am not working in china, but the _ right now? i am not working in china, but the mental- right now? i am not working in china, but the mental health l china, but the mental health system, from the literature. during the covid 19 pandemic, the chinese government developed a mental health system. the first level is counselling services offered to communities or school places in the second level is the psychological assistance... there are 2a hour mental health

services, and third level is enter health —— mental health services and the fourth level. -- mental health services and the fourth level.— the fourth level. thank you so much, the fourth level. thank you so much. dr_ the fourth level. thank you so much, dr wendy _ the fourth level. thank you so much, dr wendy li, _ the fourth level. thank you so much, dr wendy li, for - the fourth level. thank you so | much, dr wendy li, forjoining us on the programme with your thoughts. a senior british minister, the attorney general suella braverman, has described the behaviour of a small minority of men in parliament as "like animals" after it was claimed that an unnamed conservative mp had been caught watching pornography in the house of commons chamber. ms braverman also said that if the allegation — which is to be investigated — was true, the culprit should lose their position in parliament. here's our political correspondent chris mason. parliament is being renovated, a never—ending building site, scaffolding and hard hats. but what about the culture inside? does that need

modernising, too? today, a cabinet minister told us about some of the men she works with. there are some bad apples who are out of order who behave like animals and are bringing parliament into disrepute, to be honest. so i don't think we should be saying there is a pervasive culture, that's not my experience. there are certain individuals who are behaving in an unacceptable way. the prime minister added it was obviously unacceptable for an mp to watch pornography while here in the house of commons. the claim made by a minister about a fellow unnamed conservative mp. the government is now suggesting it's investigated by parliament's independent complaints process. labour say... i think it is very good that we've got an independent system and obviously that requires anonymity. this is an unusual case because the tory party knows who this individual is. i think that they should deal with it and deal with it sooner rather than later and take appropriate action. ministers have promised appropriate action once an investigation is finished. meanwhile, sir keir said it was

deeply concerning an mp — who wants to remain anonymous — has alleged a member of his shadow cabinet has described her as a secret weapon because women want to be herfriend and men want to sleep with her. let's be blunt, this is a strange workplace. who is an mp's boss? ultimately it's you, voters. but what does that mean between elections? the current complaints system was set up four years ago following criticisms about how claims of sexual harassment by mps were dealt with. we need to bring people to account, we need to protect staff and other members of parliament so they have an independent complaints process, but it needs to be seen to operate at pace. and yes, loads of people here say investigations take ages, denying alleged victims and perpetrators answers and justice. and there's a broader point here, that the reputation of politics is dragged into the gutter.

scotland's first minister said that has consequences. we will rue the day we make it more difficult and less attractive for women to come forward for election to public office. it is time to draw a line in the sand and it's time for men, not all men are misogynists, but misogyny comes from men, and it's time for them to change. for plenty, that change is not happening anywhere nearfast enough. chris mason, bbc news, at westminster. now, are flying cars just a sci—fi fantasy? or could they one day be lifting off? a dutch company that makes them has set up a base at coventry airport in the uk, so our midlands correspondent phil mackie went to find out more. for as long as there have been cars and planes, someone's been trying to combine the two. this italian model was built in the 1940s. the trouble is they've never been really practical, but now things could be about to change. so, we have to stop dreaming,

and we are now at the very last stage of processing the regulations within permissions forflight with this vehicle. so, it's getting so close. the liberty is made by a dutch company which is nearing the end of the long process to get everything licensed and approved. the question is — who's going to buy one? well, they've already got lots of orders. this is the fastest way to become a pilot, so there's always a smalljames bond seat in every heart of every guy and every girl, so that's where we are selling to. it takes less than ten minutes to turn it from a plane to a car. you could land it at any airfield and then drive home. if you want to buy one of these, it's going to cost you 300,000 euros. sounds a lot, but probably a snip if you want to be at the forefront of what they're promising will be a new motoring and aviation revolution. you'll need a private pilot's licence, but you can learn both here in coventry and in oxford. there've been many false

starts in bringing a flying plane to market. next year, they reckon, is when you may see one driving along a street near you. phil mackie, bbc news, coventry. so would you get into one of those flying cars? you know where to find me, i want to hearfrom you. i am on where to find me, i want to hear from you. i am on twitter. tweet me your thoughts. are you one of the brave ones who would attempt that flight? well, before we go, my colleagues at the bbc�*s headquarters at broadcasting house in london had a royal visit earlier. the prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall met staff to mark the 90th anniversary of the bbc world service, learning how the bbc is maintaning world service, learning how the bbc is maintaining operations across ukraine, russia and afghanistan, that's it from us as

—— from newsday. do stay with bbc news for the latest headlines. hello there. the month of april has been an exceptionally dry month up and down the country. that's because we've had high pressure dominating the weather scene. now, as we head into the may bank holiday, it looks like this area of low pressure will bring some rainfall, some of it heavy across the northwest. as it spreads south across the uk, it will tend to weaken. but high pressure will bring another fine day for friday. a chilly start, mind you, across northern and western areas. plenty of sunshine here. again, more cloud for east and southeast england and northeast scotland. here, we'll see a few showers into the afternoon, the odd one across the far southeast. and temperatures will reach highs around the mid—teens for many of us, but we could see 17 or 18 through the central belt of scotland. our winds will be light but still fresh through the channel. now, as we head through friday night, under largely clear skies, certainly for england and wales, it'll

turn quite chilly. but we'll start to see the first signs of that area of low pressure pushing into the northwest, so here, less cold as the cloud and the breeze starts to pick up. but a touch of frost across parts of england and wales. so for the weekend, it's quite a different feel. we will see this rain pushing its way southwards and eastwards. like i mentioned, it will be weakening somewhat. so into saturday, high pressure holds on again for much of england and wales. low pressure will start to pile into scotland and northern ireland, so here, it will be turning breezier and quite wet. some moderate bursts of rain across the north and the west of scotland. after that chilly start, though, england and wales will see another fine day with quite a bit of sunshine around, though cloud will tend to thicken across northern and western areas. so where we have the rain, then, that'll impact the temperatures, the low teens. quite a warm day to come for england and wales where we have all that sunshine. now, as we head through saturday night, that area of cloud and rain in the north begins to push its way southwards into much of england and wales, but it will be a weakening

feature and conditions will dry up across the far north of scotland. but we hold onto a lot of cloud, so saturday night will be a milder one across the board. sunday promises to be a rather cloudy day, quite damp for parts of england and wales. the rain at this stage will be quite light and patchy, some drizzly rain. but the northern half of the country will see the driest of the conditions on sunday, so it's a reversal of fortunes and a bit of sunshine. we could make 16, 17 degrees. a little bit fresher further south because we'll have the thickest of the cloud. bank holiday monday looks a little bit drier. there could be a little bit of rain at times on tuesday. generally, it's a dry week next week, and there are just hints of it turning a little bit warmer across the south by friday.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. workers across much of the industrialised world are being hit by a triple whammy, inflation is outpacing their wages, the gig economy is undermining job security and intelligent technology promises to transform the world of work.

how should employees respond?