hello this is bbc news. the headlines: more than 60 people are thought to have been killed after a russian bomb hit a school in eastern ukraine. heavy fighting continues in the east of the country. the american first lady, drjill biden, has made an unannounced visit to ukraine for talks with her ukrainian counterpart, olena zelenska. mrs biden said the visit was intended to show support to the people of ukraine. doubts over power sharing in northern ireland — sinn fein are in line for the first minister's role at stormont — but the democratic unionists say they won't take part unless the uk government scraps new brexit trading rules. labour hits back at fresh claims over keir starmer�*s lockdown meal with colleagues — saying he didn't break covid rules. and ncuti gatwa has been announced as the new doctor in doctor who. he'll take over from

jodie whittaker next year. now on bbc news, time for our world: welcome to the metaverse. axie infinity is a hugely popular online game in which players breed, battle and trade fantasy creatures. but for many people it's now much more than that. around the world a new type of worker is emerging. they make big profits for companies but rarely 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.

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, lunacia. in his first month he doubled the money he made in his previous job as an accountant.

to play you must form a team of three axies. you then do battle, and if you win, you are rewarded and in—game currency called smooth love potion. when you have enough, you use it to breed more powerful axie fighters. to make hard cash, you can sell your love potion and axies on online exchanges. but before you can make a cent, you must first buy your axie team from the game's owners, sky mavis. this can cost hundreds of dollars, more than most can afford. i'm kookoo, and i became a millionaire from from playing a video game. but kookoo tv is here to help. a lot of people are cheering

and shouting my name. he's one of the philippines�* most he�*s one of the philippines�* most influential manager recruiting players to the game. also their love games, they want to compete. he also their love games, they want to com ete. ., , compete. he works with the yield uuild compete. he works with the yield guild games. _ compete. he works with the yield guild games. or _ compete. he works with the yield guild games, or why _ compete. he works with the yield guild games, or why 66, - compete. he works with the yield guild games, or why 66, a - compete. he works with the yield guild games, or why 66, a group| compete. he works with the yield l guild games, or why 66, a group of investors who buy axies in rent them out to players. these players are known as axie scholars every time they produce a smooth love potion of they produce a smooth love potion of the guild takes its cut. we they produce a smooth love potion of the guild takes its cut.— the guild takes its cut. we have 20,000 the guild takes its cut. we have 20.000 plus — the guild takes its cut. we have 20,000 plus scholars, - the guild takes its cut. we have 20,000 plus scholars, most - the guild takes its cut. we have l 20,000 plus scholars, most from the guild takes its cut. we have - 20,000 plus scholars, most from the philippines, onboarding from different places. they have the

opportunity to earn while they are playing. and then eventually they can buy their own axies. playing axie can be your full—time job. can buy their own axies. playing axie can be yourfull—timejob. the axie can be your full-time “ob. the name has axie can be your full—time job. the game has given him wealth and fame, but for him it is about more than just the money. it but for him it is about more than just the money-— but for him it is about more than just the money. it is like running a business but _ just the money. it is like running a business but you _ just the money. it is like running a business but you are _ just the money. it is like running a business but you are helping - just the money. it is like running a business but you are helping other people by providing opportunities. seeing the results, for example, from the parents who are buying milk or paying their bills from their earnings makes us so happy. and when a typhoon struck in 2021, kookoo tv and the guild stepped in. that is actually my vitamins to keep positive, keep

energetic and also to continue what i am doing. i think that is my compensation. that is my reward for helping people. he was signed up to be a scholar and desperately needed money to replace lost revenues from his ailing holiday lets business. he is one of kookoo tv�*s most ambitious players.

but recently, axie players were rocked by crisis. it has been quiet for too long. slp has been going down and down and down. smooth love potion was hit by inflation, wiping out nearly its entire value. many scholars refused to produce love potion and were sacked or left the game. however, others, like kooya kevs and dom, remained loyal. for me, it comes as a blessing.

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.

kooya kevs has enlisted his own brother to work as a scholar for the guild. so it is a win—win situation for us. kabee is unable to get a job using his computer science

but his axie earnings have taken a nosedive and kooya kevs must rely on side hustles 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. its 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. every bouncing axie is, in fact, a non—fungible token, or nft, a unique piece of digital data that represents ownership and value. and every drop of smooth love potion is actually a unit of crypto currency, or digital money. stop both exist on a blockchain, an online ledger that is stored on computers around the world and is protected by powerful cryptography. making axies and love potion digital assets that can be owned and traded incentivises players to invest their time and money in the game. and, as they are exchangeable

assets, axies 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 our future... ..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. it changed the narrative that philippines is notjust for call centres or ofws. now we are becoming the centre of the play—to—earn metaverse games. by 2018, venezuela�*s economic crisis pushed nearly 90% of its citizens into poverty. and forfirst—time dad miguel margo, scarcity became a way of life. with hyperinflation rampant,

alongside millions of others, miguel tried to escape his misery abroad. he hitched and walked 2,000 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 a way of surviving and to earn to give people like ana a way of surviving. and to earn cryptocurrency 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�*re playing.

and what use is an axie asset if there is no axie game? so he turned to another job 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 a way for players to make money, today, many venezuelans rely on it to survive. miguel does this for wealthier, 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 collects 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 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 for miguel. a better way to escape...

..with one catch. even though runescape, a game madejust for having fun, is a safer bet than axie infinity, miguel knows he can take nothing for granted.

hello. plenty of fine weather around on sunday, with sunshine and warmth. the trees continued to unfurl their leaves and release a lot of tree pollen, courtesy of their bloom. the week ahead, things are going to become more mobile in terms of the weather pattern. we are going to bring in some areas of rain as this area of high pressure slips eastwards, and that should allow us to wash away some of that pollen. certainly from the wettest areas on monday. namely northern ireland and scotland, particularly wet for western scotland through monday. cool as well, ia

degrees in the rain. further south across england and wales where it remains fine, 22, 23 degrees. the pollen high as a consequence of the fine weather for england and wales, down to low to moderate for scotland and northern ireland. monday into tuesday, this low will drift eastwards, the fronts will drift south across the uk, but i think by the time they get into england and wales on tuesday, probably nothing more than some thicker cloud for a time and the odd showery bit of rain. a shade fresher across england and wales on tuesday. these showers coming in behind for western scotland and northern ireland could be pretty potent and could be accompanied by hail and thunder. you can see they rattle on into tuesday night as well into western scotland. this is probably our biggest forecast question through the week ahead, this little area of low pressure set to come in from the atlantic. our models are pretty keen on developing it now, butjust exactly how quickly it will work its way across the southern uk is one question, and exactly how

north or south it may sit. looking at this model run, wednesday is dry for the majority of england and wales, and it looks like the rain will come in overnight wednesday and start to clear eastwards early thursday. but there is also the chance that this low could get slowed down, so it could be wetter than this across england and wales, certainly first thing on thursday. but later on in the day we are fairly confident that low will be away to the east and it should brighten up and there should be some sunny spells. fronts to the north, though, still bringing rain into western scotland, just 12 degrees in glasgow. and as one front pushes away eastwards, we see this trailing front targeting northern and western scotland yet again. still looking wet here on friday. elsewhere, i think a dry story. there should be some bright spells, maybe the odd isolated shower across the western side of england and wales. temperatures widely 17, 18 degrees, away from the rain in the north—west. but just look at the accumulations for the week ahead. somewhere like oban, notice this bright spot forming there, we are getting well up this rainfall scale, perhaps 100 millimetres of rain to

come here through the week ahead. next weekend things change quite notably, it becomes dry and the temperatures start to come up. and those temperatures are set to lift across the uk it looks like, further ahead in our forecast. this week the jet is plumbing in straight across us, bringing areas of low pressure, windier and more unsettled weather. by next weekend it starts to arc its way north, steering weather systems away from us up towards iceland and bringing in, it looks like at the moment, so much warmer airfrom the near continent. so this week around average temperatures, really, particularly as we go further on into the week. wettest for western scotland and a question mark about that area of low pressure across england and wales wednesday and thursday. further ahead at the moment it looks like ourjet will be heading north allowing high pressure to build across the uk once again, and temperatures to rise as we introduce some warmer air from the continent.