welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm mariko oi. the headlines. ukraine's abandoned children — displaced by the war a bbc investigation finds some of the most vulnerable have been left behind. because of their disabilities, they are not treated as human beings, they're only kept alive here and it's not a problem of this institution, it's the problem of a system. in the besieged port of mariupol — officials say russia has launched a major assault on the remaining ukrainian forces there. no escape from covid, for hong kong's poores, we meet those living in such crowded conditions, self—isoloation is almost impossible.

amber heard takes the stand in the defamation trial brought by former husband johnny depp, she alleges domestic abuse. he's slapped me again, like. it was clear it wasn't a joke any more. life from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news, it's newday. hello and welcome to the programme. we start with the plight of thousands of disabled children in ukraine, victims of the russian invasion who've been abandoned without proper care. the human rights organisation disability rights international says its investigation found children with severe

disabilities tied to beds in children s homes that don't have the facilities to cope. the bbc has visited one institution in the west of ukraine, where disabled children from the east of the country have been left by carers fleeing the conflict. this report by our correspondent danjohnson includes some distressing images. here's a sound of the war you haven't heard yet. anna's teeth—grinding anxiety hints at the hidden trauma of ukraine's disabled children, this conflict�*s most vulnerable and least visible victims. they are nervous, disorientated and distressed. they're not treated as human beings. they're only kept alive here. and they've been dumped in a place that can barely cope. are you certain you can give these children the care they need? ni. the director couldn't believe how their carers fled and left these children behind.

translation: they were | so selfish that they ran out of here as fast as they could. i thought they would come in here and tell us who had epilepsy, who was incontinent, and so on _ but then they sat here till lunchtime and left. i don't like criticising my colleagues, but this is not the way it's done. victoria's one of 22 children moved here from an orphanage in donetsk, and left behind when the less severealy disabled children were taken to germany. she has frequent seizures, and we're told she's put in restraints at night. victoria is m years old. in fact, these are all teenage girls. the nurse tells me she's not used to dealing with this level of disability and she believes the children aren't able to understand their situation. she asks, "what intellect can you see here?" my heart breaks, actually, as a mother of two children. disability rights experts are documenting the conditions. even though they're in a safe place, their state will

deteriorate with time because they are not getting any stimulation, any kind of rehabilitation. and, to me, this is further disabling them. these were confined lives of institutionalised dependence long before the war. there's no future for these children beyond these walls. these homes are relics of an outdated system. the boss insists a resident sings for us. staff shortages mean older residents help care for some children, and those in from the east have much greater needs than this place can handle. and disability rights investigators filmed at three more nearby institutions struggling with fragile young arrivals. they barely had time to give them any individual attention before the war. now they are left lying in cribs, lying in beds, tied down. total neglect. it's very dangerous. these children with disabilities are paying the price for the war.

this flies in the face of any sort of international good practice in terms of the care these girls should be receiving. but then, on the other hand, this is people trying to do their best in the toughest of circumstances. we were told oksana couldn't speak because of severe trying to do their best in the toughest of circumstances. we were told oksana couldn't speak because of severe learning difficulties, but helena makes a connection. she says, in a full sentence, that her toe hurts. and then oksana spots our microphone. there's a flicker of the potential that could be unlocked. are you taking myjob, oksana? da! there is a call for these children to get more international support or the love and care of a family. but when so many ukrainians are running from war, it looks like thousands will still face lives of loss and waste, unseen and unheard. danjohnson, bbc news, in south—western ukraine. moscow has intensified its assault on the azovstal

steelworks in the southern port of mariupol, where at least 200 ukrainian civilians are believed to still be trapped. the city's mayor says the russian forces are going all out to defeat the remaining ukrainian forces holed up in the plant. so far, the united nations has evacuated 300 civilians from mariupol and other nearby areas. president zelensky has made a further appeal to the un to help save the lives of those who remain there. for months, hong kong managed to control the spread of covid i9. but the omicron variant overwhelmed the healthcare system. the city recorded the highest death rate in the world. many of those affected are the city s most vulnerable, the underprivileged and elderly. danny vincent reports from sham shui po district. for mr fong, home is a three metre square cage. the cities extreme poor live in subdivided apartments. hong kong is one of the most

densely populated cities in the world, until recently, six people lived in this room. but when omicron hit, he lost two roommates in the space of a week. translation: one person died on that bed, - the other person also died. he slept over on that bed. we called the ambulance, it got through but no one picked up. for the poor, living with covid means living in tiny apartments where the virus can easily spread, self isolating is almost impossible. translation: it was too late, he died at about 8pm that - night, he suffered a lot, he kept saying he was unwell, he had asthma and underlying illnesses. hong kong is coming out

of the fifth wave of covid—i9. this city is stuck between two seemingly opposing policies and its most vulnerable in the society that have suffered. nine families live inside this narrow dwelling. we are taken to another subdivided apartment. since the latest outbreak, they've been living in isolation, supported by social workers. he has been living in his cramped apartment for 12 years, he's barely left his room for three months, he's unvaccinated. translation: many of| the elderly in hong kong are reluctant to get the jab. whether or not to consider getting vaccinated,

this is a key question, it depends on whether your health can handle it and is suitable or not. the right decision is in your hands. now the government enforces people to get vaccinated, now it is calling for the fourth jab, it feels like it's never ending. the elderly lives alone without neighbours, if they died and no one will know. china is determined to eradicate covid. in hong kong, the fifth wave led to the highest death rate in the world, here, the impacts will last long into 2022. for more analysis i'm joined now by professor dale fisher, from the who global outbreak alert & response network. thank alert & response network. you forjoining us on th programme. thank you forjoining us on the programme. china and hong kong really seem to be struggling to keep their zero covid policy. in your view, do you think

they're doing the right thing by sticking to that policy? i think it's important to try and understand the strategy. i don't think they are communicating it well. but the most important thing is, they are very experience, i don't think they're fools. i don't believe that they are really trying for zero covid and eradication, i think they're buying time. we know they've had trouble with vaccine hesitancy, particularly in their senior age groups and they would literally have their hospitals overwhelmed and have huge health implications if they went too soon. they are just a little bit behind the pack and we see this in other countries, particularly singapore and hong kong with the senior vaccine hesitancy. advocates about buying time. you talked about vaccine hesitancy. as one regimen in the report mentioned, a lot of people are wondering how many

more booster shots do people need? what is your view on that? i need? what is your view on that? 4' need? what is your view on that? ~ , need? what is your view on that? 4' , , that? i think this is where the communications _ that? i think this is where the communications not - that? i think this is where the communications not the - communications not the strategy. we know that the vaccination rates in people over 80 last month were about 52% or something. it's really got a lot of room to go. so if they would explain this to the population over at the endgame, it would be a lot easier for them to do this. they don't have to explain to the world but they should be explaining it to their population. elsewhere in the region, we are seeing group limits lifted, mask outdoors mandates scrapped, borders reopening. has asia finally turned a corner? i think we are turning a corner. this so obviously a lot of disease around. but the vast

majority is miles. we are now in the process of almost embedding others is another disease in other respiratory condition that we have to do with whether it's flu or pneumococcus or other reasons for potentially severe respiratory illness. we have to embed that and put that into our early diagnostic treatments, ideally treat the treatments, ideally treat the treatments which will help us deal with it. as you say, we are embedding it, all the restrictions are being lifted gradually. the mass grand, the group sizes as we come out the other end. group sizes as we come out the other end-— other end. thank you so much forjoining _ other end. thank you so much forjoining us— other end. thank you so much forjoining us on _ other end. thank you so much forjoining us on newday. - let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines...

the us central bank has raised interest rates by half a percentage point — the most aggressive such increase in more than 20 years. the move is intended to tackle rapidly rising prices, fuelled by the war in ukraine. with us inflation at a ao—year high, further hikes are expected. us secretary of state antony blinken has tested positive for covid—i9. mr blinken had hosted both the mexican and swedish foreign ministers in washington over recent days. joe biden�*s foreign policy chief had been set to make a landmark speech regarding us policy towards china on thursday, but that has been postponed. local elections are taking place across the uk on thursday. seats in all local councils are being contested in scotland and wales. voters in northern ireland will elect members of the assembly at stormont. in england, four and a half thousand councillors are fighting for re—election. polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm.

you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... the actress amber heard gives evidence for the first time in the defamation trial brought by her ex—husband johnny depp. i nelson rolihlahla mandella do hereby swear to be faithful to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterrand. the tunnel is still not ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister becamel the first man in the world to run a mile in under four minutes _

memories of victory as the ve celebrations reached their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko oi in singapore, our headlines. a bbc investigation finds some of ukraine's most vulnerable children have been left behind in insitutions, after being displaced by the war. ukrainian officials say russia has launched a major assault on the besieged azovstal steel works in mariupol — the last part of the city held by ukrainian forces.

north korea is testing its weapons with renewed urgency. earlier in the week, it fired its 14th known round of missiles so far this year. it comes days before south korea s new president takes office, who is promising to take a hard—line on north korea. the outgoing president, moonjae—in staked his legacy on achieving a breakthrough with the north ? using diplomacy ? but his attempts failed. our seoul correspondent jean mackenzie has been looking back at what went wrong, and what lies ahead with tensions on the korean peninsula rising once again. forjust a moment, peace looked possible. but north korea is back to testing its biggest, most powerful weapons. a disappointing end for south korea's outgoing president, who staked his legacy on building peace. remarkably, he convinced the us president to meet north korea's

leaderfor the first time in history. excitement built as these leaders announced to an audience of north koreans their plans to end the war that's divided their country for decades. 150,000 north korean citizens were applauding his speech. it was really a moving moment for me. a special adviser to the president, professor moon attended all the summits, even sharing food with kim jong—un�*s sister. but when talks between these unlikely friends broke down, so did talks between the koreas. is it fair to look back now and say that you failed? no, i don't think so. was there war on the korean peninsula? the moon government has shown very clearly what kinds of incidents can bring north korea to the

negotiation table. but for years, kim jong—un has continued building more sophisticated weapons while president moon has been accused of appeasing a brutal regime. you saw those images of their arms are in each other, laughing, and i rememberseeing that and it just sent shivers down my back. like, this is... this is a dictator. now south korea has elected a tough talking president who's promising to do things differently. north korea is the enemy, he said, and he will strike if necessary. last week, north korea paraded its missiles with this warning.

these south korean students, about to start their compulsory military service, would be on the front line of a conflict. what do you think about your president's policy of taking a more hard line on north korea? the world might be looking elsewhere, but north korea is getting harder to ignore. jean mackenzie, bbc news. amber heard has taken the stand in the defamation trial brought by her former husband johnny depp. he originally sued for $50 million over an article in the washington post

where she claimed she was a victim of abuse. he denies the allegations. amber heard then counter—sued depp for $100 million. a warning there's some strong language in this report by our correspondent david sillito. thank you, your honour. will you please state your name? it is amber laura heard. amber heard. over the last three and a half weeks she has sat in court each day and listened as a series of witnesses and her ex—husband have described her as violent, emotionally unstable and a liar. this was finally her chance to give her side of the story. why are you here? i am here because my ex—husband is suing me for an op ed i wrote. how do you feel about that? i struggle to have the words. i struggle to find the words to

describe how painful this is. this is horrible. this has been, this is the most painful and difficult thing i've ever gone through. this, the beginning of her story of a marriage she said left her injured and traumatised, and. and sitting just feet away in front of her, the man she says assaulted and abused her, johnny depp. do you remember the first time he physically hit you? yes. please tell the jury about it. she said johnny depp had been taking cocaine and it was a comment about one of his tattoos that lead to abusive language and violence. he slapped me across the face. and i laughed. i laughed because i. i didn't know what else to do. i thought, this must be a joke.

he said, you think it's funny, you think you're a funny beep? and he slapped me again. it was, she says, just the beginning of years of abuse. but he was the love of my life. and he was. he was. but he was also this other thing. he was also this other thing. and the other thing was awful. throughout it all, johnny depp sat head down with his notes and jelly beans, all of it, he says, is untrue, but his ex—wife has a much more to say. earlier, i spoke to emily d. baker, legalanalyst and host of the emily show podcast who has been following the case. amber heard took the stand

today really starting to tell about her childhood and i thought would see a lot more testimony on that but they move very quickly, directly into her meeting johnny depp on the rum diaries and then into her allegations of abuse. things we haven't heard before but work on the photos we have not seen before in court and there were moments of her testimony that ring is very authentic. there were some moments that were very dramatic and i'm not sure how those will play to the jury. she was looking right at them for most of her testimony, a very different testimony that what we sought johnny depp give. i think it's fair to say that it's one of the big as he said she said trial that we've seen in a while. i was looking at social media and opinion seem to be really split about who was the victim and who was the abuser. some say both are in the wrong. absolutely. i think it's very reasonable that the jury could find both are in the wrong. they are trying to determine

who defamed who, who lied. this is really not about determining what happened but is osmeone lying about what happened. and if thejury says both might be wrong or in the wrong they might find that no one defamed the other over her statements are that op—ed for the washington post. that's a very real possibility here. butjohnny depp has had his side and now it's amber heard turned to state no, this is what happened in the stories. she has to overcome weeks and weeks at their story is checking against everything she says. at the same time, the reputational damage to the both of them could be quite huge. absolutely. i don't know if a rule and for each of them will fix that reputational damage with how much is coming out in court. i wonder if after all of this plays out publicly the damage will already be done and might not be repairable. as you said, this

is a jury trial. can you remember something as exclusive as this? i don't remember a civil jury trial that we've ever seen like this. normally in the states we see big trials like this that are televised in the criminal space. even though these are allegations of physical and sexual abuse, this is not a criminal case, this is a civil defamation case. i truly can't remember anything quite like it in this context. johnny depp fought very hard to have cameras in the courtroom, amber heard fought against it and here we are playing out day over day for everyone to see it now in four weeks of really rapt attention to see what can happen in court the next day. i'm still surprised thatjudge did notjudge is allowing jellybeans of the courtroom, i've never seen that either. you have been watching newsday — just time to let you know that karishma will be back with us on friday — presenting a special programme from manila ahead of the philippines elections. dojoin me for that.

that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello. some spots down the eastern side of england had more rain on wednesday than they've had in four weeks. it is a different weather set—up, though, for the day ahead. high pressure building in will most of england and wales dry. closer to weather fronts in scotland and northern ireland, there is a chance of seeing a little rain. in fact, a cloudy and damp start for many places here. and as for temperatures, well, it will be a cooler start. the chilliest parts of england and wales perhaps down to mid—single figures, a little bit lower in some areas. so, a lot of cloud across scotland and northern ireland. the chance of seeing a little light rain. it's more especially in western and mainly north west scotland. this will be most persistent. eastern and southern scotland may see some sunny spells, and into the afternoon, a few breaking through in northern ireland. for wales and england, there is a slight chance

of catching a shower. the vast majority will stay dry. and though there'll be a lot of cloud around, it'll be a warmer feeling day with some occasional sunny spells, up to 22 in the warm spots in south east england. so, here, a lot of dry weather will continue as we get on into thursday night, but the rain really gathering into scotland and northern ireland going into friday morning. so, it'll become more widespread and heavier, and it'll be a milder start to the day across the board. so, some rain in scotland and northern ireland, gradually clearing southwards during friday. sunny spells and a few showers following on behind. the rain moves into northern england, heaviest to the west of the pennines, into wales, parts of the midlands, perhaps south west england getting on into friday evening. whereas ahead of that, there will still be some sunny spells for a time before it clouds over. and this is where we'll see the date's highest temperatures, just into the low 20s. now, it looks as if those parts of eastern england that have been so dry will see some more

rain as we get on into friday night before clearing early on saturday morning and another area of high pressure moves in. could be a lot of cloud for a time in scotland, northern ireland and northern england. one or two light showers or some patchy light rain and drizzle, and a cooler feeling day towards these north—eastern coasts. whereas elsewhere on saturday, if we do break out into some sunny spells, it'll feel quite pleasant. and then for part two of the weekend on sunday, well, most will stay dry, again with some occasional and pleasantly warm sunny spells. another weather system moving close to northern ireland and especially into scotland, with a chance of seeing a little more rain here. that's your latest forecast. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. we'll 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. the eu is looking to tighten the straitjacket around the russian economy by imposing a ban on russian oil imports by the end of the year, or next year in the case of hungary and slovakia. but budapest has steadfastly opposed talk of an energy embargo and often seems to view brussels with more distaste

than moscow, regardless of putin's invasion of ukraine.