this is bbc news. the headlines: a further 50 civilians have been evacuated from the azovstal steelworks in the besieged ukrainian city of mariupol. the figure was confirmed separately by the ukrainian deputy prime minister and russia's ministry of defence, which said that women, the elderly and 11 children were among those rescued. the white house has announced a new $150 million package of us military aid for ukraine, including artillery, munitions, and radar. the ukrainian president has urged western allies to send additional heavy weaponry to help kyiv stave off the russian offensive in the eastern donbas region. an explosion at a luxury hotel in the cuban capital, havana, has killed at least 22 people and left more

than 60 injured. the blast ripped through several floors of the hotel saratoga. the police believe the blast was the result of a gas accident. now on bbc news, our world. around the world a new type of worker has emerged. they make big profits for companies but really leave home or break into a sweat. they generate millions playing a new breed of online video game. for me it comes as a blessing.

ina in a virtual world where work and play are one and the same. could this be our future in the metaverse? the philippines has been hit by its deepest recession since records began.

dom rescued his family by playing an online video game called axie infinity. with millions of others, he earns money breeding and battling fantasy fairy creatures called axies in their digital universe, lunasia. in his first month he doubled the money he made in his previousjob as an accountant.

to play you must form a team of three axies. new then do battle and if you win, you are rewarded and in game currency called smooth love potion and when you have enough you

recently, players were robbed by crisis. it recently, players were robbed b crisis. . , recently, players were robbed b crisis. , by crisis. it has been quiet for too long, _ by crisis. it has been quiet for too long, slp - by crisis. it has been quiet for too long, slp has - by crisis. it has been quieti for too long, slp has been going down love potion was hit, wiping out as entire value.— as entire value. many scholars refuse to _ as entire value. many scholars refuse to produce _ as entire value. many scholars refuse to produce love - as entire value. many scholars refuse to produce love potionl refuse to produce love potion and were sacked or left the game. however, others remained loyal.

and now he is doing his part to recruit players to the guild to work in the axie economy. this is gail, dom �*s sister.

he has enlisted his own brother to work as a scholar for the guild. kabee is unable to get a job using his computer science degree.

but his axie earnings have taken a nosedive and they must rely on side hustle to pay the bills. however, axie infinity is still worth over $2 billion and remains one of the most popular

play to earn games in the world. be this success is down to its ingenious design that has transformed everything in the game into a financial asset that can be owned and bought and sold. stop every bouncing axie is, in fact, a non— fungible token, or nft, a unique piece of digital data that represents ownership and value. stop and every drop of smooth love potion is a unit of crypto currency, or digital money. stop both exist on a blockchain, an online ledger thatis blockchain, an online ledger that is stored on computers around the world and is protected by powerful cryptography. making assets and love potions digital assets that can be owned and traded incentivises players to take time and money on the game and as they are exchangeable assets, assets and love potion

can be traded for other crypto and traditional currencies, such as dollars. every time this is done by its millions of players the game �*s owners charge a fee, turning play into a highly efficient way of making profits. many think that the fusion of play and work in virtual economies like axie infinity is ourfuture. and a new business opportunity for the philippines. other countries have silicon valley. in korea there is samsung. in vietnam a lot of people are creating new technology. so in the philippines we want to be known

as the centre of the play to earn concept. be it change the narrative that philippines is notjust narrative that philippines is not just for call centres. narrative that philippines is notjust for call centres. now we are becoming the centre of the play to earn metaverse games. by by 2018, venezuela �*s economic crisis pushed nearly 90% of its citizens into poverty. the end for first—time dad magill margot, scarcity became a way of life.

with hyperinflation rampant, alongside millions of others, magal tried to escape his misery abroad. —— miguel. he hitched and walked 2000 kilometres to peru, but was unable to make a living. but on his return to venezuela, he discovered the axie promise. venezuela's government has even set up its own axie academy, to

give people like ana away of surviving. and to earn crypto currency for itself. but until recently, the regime saw the game as a threat. however, for miguel, doubts crept in when he realised the axie economy is no more stable

than venezuela's. it made him question the whole idea of play to earn gaming. some even think that axie is a form of digital piecework, but done when you think you are playing.

and what use is an axie asset if there is no axie game? so he turned to anotherjob to survive. miguel is a very efficient assassin in his home town.

he grinds away up to 15 hours a day playing an online video game called old school runescape. although never intended to be away for players to money, today, many venezuelans rely on it to survive. miguel does this for wealthy, mostly foreign players, who pay him to boost their avatars' status in the game. he

completes missions, defeating monsters and other players in battle, and collect valuable items such as armour, weapons and gold that can be sold to other players. and runescape is much better suited to miguel�*s world than axie infinity. venezuelans axie infinity. venezuela ns endure axie infinity. venezuelans endure constant power blackouts, high data costs and low—grade computer hardware supplied by the government. but this is no problem for runescape, which uses simple,

old—fashioned graphics to please its nostalgic players. miguel works long hours to provide for his son. but playing is taking its toll.

however, runescape is much more than just work however, runescape is much more thanjust work for however, runescape is much more than just work for miguel.

a better way to escape. with one catch. even though runescape, again madejust for having even though runescape, again made just for having fun, is a safer bet than axie infinity, miguel knows he can take nothing for granted.

hello there. we've got some rain moving its way southwards through the rest of the night. but ahead of that, during the day on friday, temperatures nudge to 23 degrees celsius in a couple of spots. that won't be repeated this weekend — i think generally temperatures into the high teens, possibly 20, because there will be some sunshine but a few showers as well. as i say, that rain's been making its way southwards on this weather front here. some quite heavy rain for a time before it starts to clear away and the azores high spreads drier weather across most of the uk. but still a watering for the gardens on that weather front.

some misty, low cloud and rather grey weather. behind it as well, we're seeing some mist and some fog — low—level fog — forming and it's turned quite chilly, particularly in the glens of scotland, perhaps a touch of frost here. so, a bright, chilly start for some in the morning. best of the sunshine, i think, in the west today. but still some drizzly rain in south—eastern areas, and as that cloud breaks up, it will be moist enough for a few showers to form — not just across east anglia and the south—east, but possibly in other areas. as i say, west is best for the sunshine. 16—20 potentially in areas here where we see some sunshine, but there'll be rather cool breezes on the north sea coast. a little bit more cloud here at times as well during the day. now, that azores high pressure continues to drift a little bit further eastwards into sunday, allowing these weather systems to come into the north and west. so the main change — again, mist and fog first thing, a little bit on the cool side, but then some fair—weather cloud coming and going. a lot of dry weather for england and wales, fewer showers. but instead, we pick up a bit of a breeze from the south across northern ireland and scotland to bring in some cloud and perhaps some patchy rain later in the day,

but perhaps not as chilly for the north sea coasts. then, taking it further ahead into monday, we keep that north—west/south—east split, at least on monday, with the best of the drier, brighter weather across parts of england and wales. the strong sunshine, as we'll see this weekend when it comes out, but perhaps something heavier rain—wise coming into scotland and to northern ireland. so, it's still looking unsettled as we head into next week, and why? that's because we've got low pressure dominating towards the north. even further south, some of these weather fronts could brush in some rain from time to time. the detail is uncertain, but it looks as if it will be wetter further north and windier, potentially, with the driest weather further south. but even here, we might see a little bit of rain as well. as ever, you can keep up to date on the website.

this is bbc world news. i'm tim willcox. our top stories: in ukraine, a further 50 civilians are evacuated from the mariupol steelworks that's been under attack by russian forces. the white house announces a new $150 million package of military aid for ukraine, including artillery, munitions and radar. a huge explosion rips through an upmarket hotel in the colonial district of havana. at least 22 people are dead. macro translation you could see people shouting, dust rising — a disaster. it was like a horror film, a disaster. it was like a horrorfilm, really. a state of emergency is declared in sri lanka as thousands of protestors demand the resignation of both the president

and prime minister. chelsea football club accepts $5.2 billion bid from an american business group