this is bbc news. the headlines: ukrainian forces launch counter attacks in the east, forcing russian troops out of villages near the country's second biggest city kharkiv. the city is just a0 kilometres from the russian border, and the russians�* retreat could pose a wider threat to moscow's stated aim of capturing significant territory in the east. us republican senators have blocked a democrat bill which aimed to preserve women's right to abortion nationwide. democrats had attempted to introduce the measure ahead of a supreme court decision that is expected to overturn a ruling that established the right to abortion in the 1970s. sri lanka's president, gotabaya rajapaksa, has promised to appoint a new cabinet within a week but stopped short of stepping down himself. he made the pledge in his first address to the country since anti—government

protests erupted last month. his brother, the prime minister, resigned on monday. now on bbc news, our world. 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 influential manager recruiting players to the game. also their love games, they want to compete. he works with the yield 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 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 yourfull—timejob. the game has given him wealth and fame, but for him it is about more than 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.

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 degree.

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 0fws. 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 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. rain reached some of the driest southern areas of the uk on wednesday. it wasn�*t very much, but it was more than has fallen for quite some time. that system now out of the way, and southern areas are having a mainly dry thursday to come — whereas across northern areas close to a weather front, there�*ll be some more rain, particularly across parts of scotland, and especially in the west. there will be a lot of dry weather

to begin the day and a cooler start, with temperatures quite widely into single figures, a little bit lower than this in some rural spots. there will be a lot of sunshine first thing. all parts will see cloud increasing — not everywhere will get rain from that cloud. there will be a few showers popping up in northern ireland during the morning lasting into the afternoon. northwest scotland turning wetter more widely across western parts of scotland — later in the day, you�*ll see some rain, some of that pushing a bit further east during the afternoon. the odd shower for wales and southwest england to cross wales and england, more cloud in the afternoon compared with the morning. and a warmer day across the east and southeast of england, where it stays dry with some sunny spells, compared with wednesday�*s rain. it is scotland, northern ireland, northern england with some patchy rain on to thursday night, and then, really by friday morning, it�*sjust the northern half of scotland really seeing some rain on what will be a milder start to the day. so on friday, then, it�*s really across northern scotland we will see some further outbreaks of rain for a time. some cloud elsewhere in scotland, northern england, and northern ireland. it�*s wales and the southern half of england that will see the lion�*s share of friday�*s sunshine. and what will be a windy day across scotland, northern ireland and northern england in particular, really quite gusty winds here.

and temperatures are edging just a touch higher. now, it is a sign of things to come into the weekend — it will be pleasantly warm, especially when you get to see some sunshine, high pressure is close by. but that�*s not the whole story — later saturday, saturday night, first thing sunday, there are some showers, even some thunderstorms pushing up from the south into parts of england and wales. some of those come back sunday night and into monday morning. so, whilst many places this weekend will stay dry, there will be a chance of seeing a shower or maybe a thunderstorm, especially the further south you are. so, a selection of locations — you can find more places, of course, online and through the app showing a lot of fine, pleasantly warm weather when the sun is out. but again, that chance of showers and thunderstorms later on saturday, particularly into england and wales.

welcome to bbc news. i�*m nuala mcgovern. our top stories: we�*re on the frontline of war in ukraine, near kharkiv, where despite ukrainian advances, the threat of russian fire is constant. every inch of ground they gain here, every other mile gives their city respite from the russian guns that you can hear. in the us, republican senators block a democrat bill which aimed to preserve women�*s right to abortion nationwide. it was put to a vote ahead of a key supreme court ruling. sri lanka�*s president vows to give up most of his executive powers, but stops short of resigning over the country�*s economic crisis.