welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm arunoday mukharji. the headlines: slow to react or caution in a siege situation? police criticised over the texas school mass shooting. give us more heavy weapons — ukraine's plea to the west as russian attacks intensify on more than a0 towns in the donbas region. the us insists china remains a bigger challenge to the world order than russia. the actor kevin spacey is facing charges on five counts of sexual assault against three men. the allegations date back to when he was in the uk.

live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news — it's newsday. welcome to the programme. the police in texas are facing criticism for how they responded to the mass school shooting in uvalde on tuesday. some parents say officers appeared hesitant to confront the teenage gunman after he barricaded himself inside a classroom and that led to a delay in tackling the shooter. but at a news conference a texas police official said special equipment and negotiators were required and officers also had to evacuate the rest of the school. the attacker killed 19 children and two teachers in the space of up to an hour, before he was himself shot dead. our north america editor sarah smith sent us this report. all of the 19 children who were killed in the same school class.

this boy's family had to wait 12 hours before they were told he was dead. this girl had been given a phone for her tenth birthday and she used it to try to call the police. jackie had just celebrated herfirst communion and she died alongside her cousin, annabel. irma garcia was one of the teachers killed. today her husband, joe, died from a heart attack after visiting her memorial. they had four children. what were you thinking as you without waiting in the classroom? film thinking as you without waiting in the classroom?— thinking as you without waiting in the classroom? am i going to die? you are — in the classroom? am i going to die? you are worried _ in the classroom? am i going to die? you are worried that - in the classroom? am i going to die? you are worried that he - die? you are worried that he miaht die? you are worried that he might come _ die? you are worried that he might come in _ die? you are worried that he might come in and _ die? you are worried that he might come in and start - might come in and start shooting children in your classroom? mil shooting children in your classroom?— shooting children in your classroom? �* , ~ ., , classroom? all they know is that he hurt _ classroom? all they know is that he hurt my _ classroom? all they know is that he hurt my teacher- classroom? all they know is that he hurt my teacher andi classroom? all they know is - that he hurt my teacher and my friend. , ., ., g ., ., , friend. ten-year-old jaden was in a nearby _ friend. ten-year-old jaden was in a nearby classroom - friend. ten-year-old jaden was in a nearby classroom where i in a nearby classroom where they could hear the gunshots which killed several of his friends. , . , , ., friends. ever since my stomach has been _ friends. ever since my stomach has been hurting, _ friends. ever since my stomach has been hurting, like, - friends. ever since my stomach has been hurting, like, it's - has been hurting, like, it's been hurting to know that all these kids that died does not

deserve any of this, because we did nothing wrong. these pictures show the scene outside the school on tuesday. "there's a shooting," one man yells. distraught parents pleading with police officers, being told to stay back. get back! holding on to each other, desperate to know what is happening inside. we are now learning more details about what was happening inside the school. the two teachers who were killed as they threw themselves in front of their students to try to save them from the gunmen and what the terrified children saw as he burst into the classroom. questions are now being raised about how long it took for the police to go into the school and tackle the gunman. officers were there, the initial officers, they received gunfire. they didn't make entry initially because of the gunfire they was receiving. but

we had officers calling for additional resources. we need speciality equipment. we need body armour. we need precision rifleman. , . , , ., body armour. we need precision rifleman. , . ,, ., ,, ,, rifleman. the duchess of sussex made an unexpected _ rifleman. the duchess of sussex | made an unexpected appearance, laying a bunch of white roses in the town square. right across america, students walked out of the schools in protest, demanding action to keep schools safe. in a valley, a small grief stricken town, 21 briefed families are now starting to plan 21 funerals. —— bereaved. james densley is a professor of criminaljustice at metropolitan state university in minnesota and co—author of a book called the violence project: how to stop a mass shooting epidemic. he said he hoped the outrage caused by this tragedy could lead to real change. the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers isn't enough

to compel our lawmakers to action, then i don't know what would be. it's hard not to lose hopein would be. it's hard not to lose hope in situations like this because it is a recurring theme for american history, that is something we have studied over time, going all the way back to 1966 there have been mass shootings in our project. but i'm optimistic that we might finally get some movement here. people are realising enough is enough. people are realising enough is enou:h. ., ., enough. right. you are optimistic, _ enough. right. you are optimistic, but - enough. right. you are optimistic, but help - enough. right. you are optimistic, but help us| optimistic, but help us understand how this will go at this point onwards. as i understand, the debbie democrats are in control of both houses, does it make it easier for both houses, does it make it easierfor them both houses, does it make it easier for them to go ahead with some sort of data regulation was yellow the challenge that is often the case is in the senate, the senate is not necessarily representative of the american people. representative of the american --eole. ., . ., representative of the american n-eole. ., ., ., people. you have two senators for each state, _ people. you have two senators for each state, that _ people. you have two senators for each state, that means - people. you have two senators for each state, that means the | for each state, that means the smaller states have an undue

influence on the voting and the decision—making. so you've got to convince enough people to side with the legislation. and, at the moment, when you've got politicians who are really thinking about their real election and are thinking about the position and power more than they are thinking about the safety of our children, it's hard not to despair that this would move. but the one piece of this that i think is really important is everyone always points to the american constitution as if that's the issue here. you know, for 200 years the interpretation of the constitution was this was a collective right to bear arms around a well—regulated militia. only in the past a sort of decade or so after the decision in 2008 did this become a focus on individual right to bear arms. and so this is a new interpretation of that old document. if it can be reinterpreted like that, you know, just in the last few years, why can't we sort of

look at this again more strategically and think perhaps we could re—evaluate this. in the constitution is not the issue here. that was professorjames densley speaking to me a short while back. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. japan has announced that it will reopen to tourists from 36 —— taiwanese authorities have raided ten chinese companies they suspect have illegally tried to poach engineers and other staff from computer chip manufacturers. companies such as tsmc have made taiwan the world's leading manufacturer. but china is trying to increase its own manufacturing capacity amid a global shortage. the chips are used in everything from smartphones to cars. japan has announced that it will reopen to tourists from 36 countries starting from 10 june, but travellers will only be allowed in with tour groups. the move ends a two—year pandemic closure. for most of the pandemic, japan has barred all tourists and only allowed entry to citizens and foreign residents. ray liotta, who made his name

starring in martin scorsese's 1990 gangster classic goodfellas, has passed away. he was 67. the actor died in his sleep in the dominican republic, where he was filming a movie. the cause isn't yet clear. ray liotta was born in newjersey and was abandoned at an orphanage before being adopted. he later moved to new york and then los angeles, following his dream of acting twitter shareholders are taking the billionaire elon musk to court, accusing him of manipulating the company's share price to reduce the cost of his plan to take the social media platform over. the shareholders say mr musk failed to disclose his own early purchases of the twitter stock and that has saved him over $150 million. there's been no response from mr musk so far and twitter has refused to comment.

switching focus. the government of ukraine says fighting in the eastern donbas region has reached a new intensity, with the russians attacking more than a0 towns and storming ukrainian positions in several areas. among the russian forces who've been fighting are two brothers whose mother has spoken to the bbc, claiming they were conscripts — despite president putin's assurance that only professional soldiers have been deployed. she spoke to our russia editor steve rosenberg. this is how moscow portrays its soldiers in ukraine — as professionals. but away from the official images, some here tell a different story. marina — not her real name — has agreed to tell me her story. two of her sons are conscripts. the kremlin promised that conscripts wouldn't be sent to ukraine, but her sons were deployed close to the border. when russia invaded, she lost contact with them. translation: for me,

time stopped. - i couldn't eat, i couldn't drink. i messaged mothers of other conscripts from the same unit. many of them had lost contact with their children too. i got into the car and started searching for my sons. on the phone, one of their commanders insisted they were on military exercises in the fields. i said, i've driven round all the fields where there are exercises, they are not there. please don't lie to me. he hung up. fearing her sons were dead or injured, marina went to a military hospital. no sign. translation: there wasn't l enough medicine or bandages. local residents supplied everything. the soldiers, they were cold and hungry. eventually, an admission from the military. her sons had gone into ukraine. translation: i was told the terrifying news, - your children have signed contracts to be professional soldiers, they are taking part in a special military operation.

they will return as heroes. i said, what on earth are you talking about? they had no plans to sign a contract. they've been in the army for three months. they've only held a gun once. vladimir putin had said there wasn't a single russian conscript in ukraine. the authorities later backtracked. marina filed a complaint. it was upheld. her sons hadn't signed any military contract. they were brought back to russia. translation: when my youngest son came out i called him - and said, son, i'm coming to get you. is there anything you need? he said, mum, i don't need anything, just you. when i saw him he looked like a total mess. the lads that came back from there were so thin, dirty and exhausted. their clothes were all torn. my son said, it's better that you don't know what happened there, but all that mattered to me was that he had come back alive.

human rights groups say there are still russian conscripts in ukraine. the kremlin says it ordered an investigation into officials who allowed them to be sent there. translation: they lied to my face. officers lied, sergeants lied, but i'd like to believe that our president, the commander—in—chief, just isn't aware of the mess and chaos in the army. i want to tell him that not everything here is like they say it is on television. marina says her sons came back different people. they've stopped believing in a bright future. steve rosenberg, bbc news, russia. the american actor kevin spacey is facing five charges of sexual assault against three men. the allegations date back to when he was in the uk and relate to incidents in london and gloucestershire between 2005 and 2013.

our special correspondent lucy manning has the latest details. he's facing two counts of sexual assault from one man who was now in his 40s. the allegations other that that sexual assault happen in london in 2005, so presumably when that man was in his 20s. he's also facing two further charges from another man, another alleged victim. one of those is sexual assault in 2008 in london, the other allegation is that he caused a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent, that is in the same year as well. and then the final charges again of sexual assault against another man who is now in his 30s. that was in 2013 in gloucestershire, so the allegations have been made. he was, kevin spacey, during that period of eight years, the artistic director at the old vic in london. he has

previously denied any allegations of sexual assault. what isn't clear is when or whether he will come to court in the uk. he is out of the country at the moment so he either has to come back here to face those charges or perhaps even face extradition. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: at home with queen elizabeth — rare images are being shared with the public for the first time. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletic events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started forming at 7am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, _ fighting to full—scale riot - as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into i the juventus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. i the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today.

he was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 11,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as 'ginger spice', has announced she's left the spice girls. argh! — i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, girl power. _ not geri. why? - this is newsday on the bbc. i'm arunoday mukharji, in singapore. our main story: police in texas are facing mounting anger over the way they dealt with the mass school shooting in uvalde on tuesday. let's have more on that story. lauren mcgaughy is an investigative reporter for the dallas morning news.

she will be attending this weekend's annual nra conference, in houston. thank you very much for your time. what are your thoughts, what are you expecting? will this incident have a bearing on the conference? the this incident have a bearing on the conference?— the conference? the an array ut out the conference? the an array put out a _ the conference? the an array put out a statement - the conference? the an array i put out a statement expressing condolences to the families of the children count and they said they would like to see more secure schools but as far as missing on the ground, i am not seeing any changes and that has not been any scaling back to any of the events. we heard some politicians _ to any of the events. we heard some politicians are _ to any of the events. we heard some politicians are pulling - some politicians are pulling out of this event?— out of this event? that is true. out of this event? that is true- the _ out of this event? that is true. the senator - out of this event? that is true. the senator from . out of this event? that is -

true. the senator from texas, senior senator, and a congressperson but both explicitly said it was not because of uvalde but that they had other engagements elsewhere that would keep them from attending. that would keep them from attending-— that would keep them from attendinu. ., , ., ., attending. for the benefit of a foreian attending. for the benefit of a foreign audience, _ attending. for the benefit of a foreign audience, how - attending. for the benefit of a foreign audience, how much l foreign audience, how much pressure is the an nra under? there are a lot of upset people, angry people. the city has been thrown into complete chaos right now, notjust with the media and what happened but all of the questions posed as to how long law enforcement responded but in terms of the pressure on the nra, i am not seeing it. there have not been any calls from the republican leadership for the nra to change its stances on gun laws. they have not indicated they will change any stances. it is important to know, this is not the first time the nra has been

in a position like this. under the columbine shooting, they actually held the convention in denver and they did scaled back some of the events at their convention but they are not doing that this time around so it does not seem there is pressure on the organisation to make any changes because of this mass casualty event. could ou hel this mass casualty event. could you help us _ this mass casualty event. could you help us understand - this mass casualty event. could you help us understand more i you help us understand more about the an array? how big is it and what kind of influence does it well? it it and what kind of influence does it well?— does it well? it is an incredibly _ does it well? it is an incredibly influentialj incredibly influential organisation stop someone say less so in recent years because it has dealt with some of its own internal issues, issues with funding, bankruptcy, leadership problems, lots of internal back and forth their but it is still a large organisation. it has a lot of members here in the united states and something that it is

a huge critical donor to republican campaigns and gives out raters, scorecards, similar to what kids get into school, to what kids get into school, to politicians based on that stances of gun laws. it is still something that republican politicians will run on, having an a+ rating from the nra. they are an influential organisation and having the support of that organisation for republicans is still very politically important from their perspective.- important from their perspective. important from their --ersective. ., ~ ., perspective. thank you for -uttina perspective. thank you for putting that _ perspective. thank you for putting that into _ perspective. thank you for i putting that into perspective and breaking it down. the us secretary of state anthony blinken has said that china remains the most serious threat to the international order, despite russia's invasion of ukraine. in a speech in washington, he said that, under xijinping, china's ruling communist party had become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad.

here he was speaking earlier: china is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do it. beijing's vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the world's progress over the past 75 years. earlier i spoke to robert lawrence kuhn, a commentator and author on china based in the us. i asked him how he expects the chinese leadership to react to mr blinken�*s comments. overtly, they will, of course, criticise it severely, but, ithink, privately, they will appreciate that at least there is a coherence and a predictability, and for chinese leadership, that is very important. under the prior administration, there was a chaos and unpredictability which actually becomes more dangerous. the downside, of course, is that the coherence

of the biden policy, which secretary blinken articulated today, which people on both sides of the aisle have been clamouring for since the biden administration took office — this was a very clear articulation of that and it not only set the guidelines for us—china competition and distinct differences on the world scene, but also framed the possibility of cooperation, particularly in climate control, and it's set very clear boundaries about taiwan, which is probably the most sensitive issue. so in that sense, the predictability is good, although the effort of the biden administration, to rally allies around the world, not only in europe but in asia, given a boon by the horrific russian invasion of ukraine, which gave unity to the west

and to most of the developed world, that is definitely a negative from china's point of view, as they would see it, its competition between blocks of alliances and that does not do any good. but that is the heart of the biden policy, but it is coherent, and it is predictable, and at least that is a good sign. how much pressure will china be feeling at the moment considering we had the quad meeting earlier this week, president's statements on taiwan and other statement from mr lincoln. taiwan and other statement from mr lincoln-— mr lincoln. clearly it is a time when _ mr lincoln. clearly it is a time when the _ mr lincoln. clearly it is a time when the west - mr lincoln. clearly it is a time when the west is i mr lincoln. clearly it is a . time when the west is more unified in recent memory, again triggered by the ukraine situation. —— antony blinken. but also the position on ukraine, they say they are neutral but statements are

definitely pro—russian and that is given a bad flavour to many people in the developed world at this point. but there is opportunity and antony blinken tried to make a distinction between the chinese people who he gave credit for for that culture, history and achievement and the us is not trying to stop china from its rightful place in the world, not trying to stop the development of china for the benefit of the people, so that is good. he was distinguishing between the government and the communist party, and the people. i thought it could have been more nuanced. you presented it all in a negative way into the chinese that is not the case. chinese people see that the government and the party has, for example, eliminated extreme poverty in china, a remarkable development, xijinping so china, a remarkable development, xi jinping so that was his most important piece of

business over some time. that could have been monuments over the understanding between the people and the government because we do not want to inflame nationalism which is a disease which most countries have. buckingham palace has released rare images from home movies and items from the queen's private family albums, ahead of her platinum jubilee next week. the films have never been seen in public before. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell has been studying the images. balmoral is a place one looks forward to very much. she has been filmed throughout her life but for the queen, these images have a special place. they are from her private collection of home movies. the queen herself explains why they are so special. cameras have always been a part of our lives. i think there's a difference to watching a home movie when you know who it is on the other side of the lens holding the camera. it adds to the sense of intimacy.

some of these sequences were shot as the then princess elizabeth and her sister, margaret, travelled with their father, king george vi, and their mother, to south africa, in the early months of 19117. elizabeth was by then secretly engaged to prince philip. this is a previously unseen photograph of her with her engagement ring. the voyage to south africa aboard a royal navy battleship was elizabeth's firstjourney outside the united kingdom. it gave the family moments to themselves and opportunities to relax. five years after these home movies were taken, the course of elizabeth's life changed with the unexpected death of her beloved father. the young woman, who is so carefree in these images, was queen. the long reign of queen elizabeth ii had begun. nicholas witchell, bbc news.

that's all for now. you can catch more on our website. stay with bbc world news. hello, there. we'll be developing a north—south split across the country into friday, that's because we've got higher pressure building in across southern areas. so, that will bring in quite a long sunshine around, far more sunshine across the south than we had on thursday, but we maintain the windy, blustery theme across the north with further showers. that's because it's closer to this area of low pressure. but this area of high pressure will continue to push its way northwards, dominating the weather scene across much of the midlands, southwards, and in towards wales. there will be some sunshine for northern ireland, southern scotland, too, but here it will be windier and at times could see a few light showers. but most of the showers will be across the north and west of scotland, some though will be quite heavy and they will be blustery, as the winds will be quite a feature here once again. the winds will be lighter further south,

with more sunshine — we could see 21 degrees again, otherwise, it's the low to mid teens across the north. through friday night, the showers continue for a while across scotland. the winds begin to back more northerly as we head through the night. that will feed in a few more showers across the far north of scotland, but much of the country will be dry. but it will be a cooler air mass, temperatures in the single digits, i think, for most places. so, it's a coolerfeel into the weekend. it will be turning cooler still, thanks to these northerly winds. and by sunday, we could even see a few showers around, with limited spells of sunshine. saturday though probably looking like being the brightest day of the weekend. but even then, there will be quite a bit of cloud being pushed down on this northerly wind across central, northern and eastern areas. i think the best of the sunshine, southwest england and wales, northern ireland, it's here where we'll see the best temperatures, perhaps 20 degrees in cardiff. otherwise, it's cooler across more northern and eastern areas, where we will have more cloud as well. as we move into sunday, you can see the blue hue trickling further southwards across the country.

it will be turning cooler as our area of high pressure begins to drift in towards iceland. so, northerly winds, quite a lot of cloud around on sunday. that wind will be quite stiff across northern and eastern areas, and the cloud thick enough for some scattered showers, a swell. as well. so, sunshine will be pretty limited. probably the best of it again will be in the southwest, where we could see 16 or 17 degrees. but distinctly chilly for the time of year across more northern and eastern areas, where we hold onto the cloud, as well. into next week, i think we will have a very weak area of low pressure nearby. that will bring further sunshine but also the risk of some showers, some of which will be on the heavy side.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. alex and chris, on an episode of newscast on bbc sounds the other day we were talking about there's a new rock opera about tony blair. and i said, oh, i'd love it if there was a newscast musical. big musicalfan. and i said, but please don't put too much effort into it. don't, like, do a demo of a whole newscast musical. jeff from indianapolis has actually done a demo of a newscast musical. so that's the first amazing thing. the second amazing thing is he's taken lots of newscast characters and written songs about them based on actual musicals. no! so there was one about chris mason based onjesus christ

superstar.