welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: in eastern ukraine, the governor of the luhansk —— severodonetsk has been taken by the russians, a chemical plant has been hit. the prosecutor of the international criminal court has described ukraine as a crime scene, where they will be carrying out the biggest ever investigation. one week after the horrific school shooting in texas, our correspondent hears from parents who lost their daughter. cheering. after more than two months of full lockdown, shanghai eases its covid restrictions.

and bts, the wildly popular south korean k—pop group, visits the white house to speak about the growth in anti—asian hate crimes in america. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. . it's 8:00 in the morning here in singapore, and 3:00am in ukraine, where it's reported that a russian air strike has hit a chemical plant in the embattled city of severodonetsk, releasing a cloud of dangerous gas. residents have been told to stay in bomb shelters to avoid the fumes. the ukrainians say russian forces now control most of severodonetsk, the main focus of the russian offensive in the donbas region. the local governor said the city wasn't surrounded, but continuous shelling was making it impossible to bring in supplies or evacuate the remaining

civilians. and russian troops are pushing deeper into the region. this is the city of slovyansk, where three people have been killed in a russian missile strike. ukraine's president zelensky has been talking about the situation in the donbas in his daily address. translation: the direction of the situation in the donbas is very complicated. given the presence of large—scale chemical production intranets, the russian army strikes there, including blind air bombing are just crazy. in his address, president zelensky also welcomed the eu plan to ban a majority of russian oil imports into the bloc, saying russia will lose out economically and be isolated from the civilized world. i asked former us ambassador to poland daniel fried, who also oversaw us sanctions on russia in 2014, how significant the move was.

it's not a little move, its a significant move by the european union but it's not enough by itself. i think the americans are going to have to come in and help support this move to prevent the russians from circumventing it, getting around it. so, it's a serious move. the european union deserve some credit, but we'll see what the effect is. it's only beginning. it's only beginning, but at the same time, it is one thing to announce our stated reduction or the ambition to reduce dependence on russian oil, it is another thing for this to play out in reality, can't rush just its oil to other places like china and india? it can try, and this is where the us government can come in. the us government does have the

ability to backup the european union sanctions with threats of sanctions of its own against governments, including china and india, if they pick up the slack. there are different ways in which the us could do it, they could do a price, they could do various — there are various options, but you're absolutely right that to avoid the russians figuring out how to circumvent the european union sanctions, the us can come in and back them up, and i think the us is considering its options right now. daniel, just to say, what is stopping the us from acting faster on this, and it strikes me that russia is willing to continue despite all of the sanctions that have already been put in place on moscow — what makes the difference in

the long—term? the long—term ? sanctions bite the long—term? sanctions bite in the long—term. the problem you identify is not the long—term, it is the immediate term, which is that putin is going for victory on the battlefield. sanctions aren't going to stop him, weapons may. our policy that relies just on sanctions isn't going to work, but a policy that relies on sanctions for the medium and longer term, and sending weapons to the ukrainians right now has a chance. the ukrainians are fighting. it's not clear that they will be defeated on the battlefield. i'm not going to say they are going to win, i am saying the battle hangs in the balance. indeed. daniel fried there, speaking to us a little earlier. in another development, the prosecutor of the international criminal court has described ukraine as a crime scene, and said the tribunal was carrying out its largest ever investigation there, with plans to open an office in kyiv. our correspondent anna holligan at the hague has more details.

thejoint the joint investigation team is working together to gather, preserve, and share evidence of alleged atrocities. they are looking at everything right now from cases of rape to the deliberate killing of civilians, to the forcible transfer of children. the ukrainian prosecutor here in the hague pointed out they didn't have access to some of these alleged crime scenes which are currently under russian occupation but they do have access to people — victims, witnesses, and areas that have been liberated by ukrainian forces. the icc prosecutor talked about the importance of sharing notjust evidence but also the investigate of skills, forensic techniques. among the member states, he also talked about the importance of the icc�*s presence in the region, which is why they are working on setting up an office in at the capital, kyiv. beyond this, thousands of atrocities are now

under investigation, 600 suspects have been identified, including within the military and political circles, according to the ukrainian prosecutor. the icc prosecutor pointed out this case wasn't just about protecting europeans or european values, but, he said, basic human standards in the 21st century. and hogan reporting. in other news, i want to tell you about taiwan now, which says it has deployed fighterjets to ward off 30 warplanes sent by china into its air defence zone, the biggest incursion by beijing since january. monday's incident came shortly after the us presidentjoe biden warned china against invading taiwan, and on the same day that the us senator tammy duckworth visited the island to discuss security. beijing claims the self—ruled island of taiwan as its own. in other headlines — the first funerals for the 19

children and two adults killed adults killed in a school shooting in uvalde, texas, have taken place, one week on from the shooting. president biden vowed action on gun reform on sunday. will grant has been speaking to one of the families now facing a future of unimaginable grief. there is grief and then there is the grief of losing a child. come on, ok. further still, the grief of losing a child in these most awful of circumstances. she was just loved. alithia ramirez was one of the 19 children killed by a gunman inside her classroom as an ordinary school day at uvalde descended into horror. a week on, her parents, jess and ryan, are still struggling to comprehend their loss. i haven't able to, like, eat or sleep or drink and it'sjust affecting me really, really bad. like, she was my best friend and she looked a lot like me.

i would always tell her like, she is my twin and she would always smile. and it'sjust been really, really hard on me. how can you move on from that? how can you get over that moment? this is a parent's nightmare. this is the worst of the worst. a talented artist, alithia's bedroom is full of her awards, especially for drawing. compounding her parents�* grief is their anger over how the police let the gunman spend more than an hour in the school before they shot him. i don't understand how... you know, police officers, they're sworn to protect and they're outside the room and just hearing gunshots, kids screaming. you know, go in there, save those kids. on sunday, president biden came to uvalde to pay his respects and meet the victims�* families.

ryan told him alithia was an artist and mr biden asked if he could have one of her pictures to hang in the white house. he did say that, "whenever we hang "it up, we're going to send you a picture where it's "hanging and you're free to see it any time." there's something special that she put her heart into it, and it's there hanging in the white house. after the darkest week in its history, uvalde must now bury its victims, a community heartbroken over the senseless murder of alithia, 18 of her class—mates and her two teachers. will grant, bbc news, uvalde. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk: borisjohnson�*s independent standards adviser says there's a legitimate question over whether the british pm broke the ministerial code

by receiving a fine for attending a lockdown party in downing street. it comes as more conservative mps add their voices to the criticism directed at the pm. the nightmare continues for many travelers caught in massive queues and delays at airports across the uk and ireland as many try to get away for the long weekend break. staff shortages are thought to be responsible for the disruptions. let's go to shanghai now, where there are scences of celebrations on the streets of china's biggest city after a significant lifting of covid restrictions. after more than two months of full lockdown, most people can now move more freely around the city. public transport and many offices are reopening, though life will remain restricted in many ways, and leaving shanghai is still difficult for many residents. our china correspondent robin brant has been one of the millions of residents

locked down for the past two months, like everyone he's been looking forward to this day. for the last 65 days, i've been coming up to this gate on the edge of the compound where i live. i've been filming myself and explaining what it's like to live under the restrictions this city has faced, what it's like to be confined to your home. and here i am again, by the gate, but it's different now. we're outside. let me just step over the barrier. we've been allowed some freedom for the last 48 hours, which has been a huge relief. still, though, it's very, very quiet. this road will not be like this... ..this time tomorrow, when the bulk of the restrictions are being lifted. people are going to be able to walk around in and out of where they live, go to shops that are going to be opening but not to full capacity. there will be a basic service on public transport, the buses and the metro

cars will be allowed to drive around. it is a significant easing of the restrictions, which obviously is hugely welcoming, because the city has been crippled, frankly — there's no two ways about it — by that full lockdown. but it is not a full lifting of the lockdown. over 500,000 people remain confined to their homes because they are still in areas classified as sealed. they can't come in or go out. also, people like me and the other 25 million or so people that live here are going to need three things to go about your daily business now. you're going to need a green code on your smartphone to show you haven't been anywhere suspicious. you're going to need a certificate to show that you've had a pcr test, valid for, at the maximum, the last 72 hours. and you'll also need a mask if you want to get on a bus or a metro or, frankly, get close to anyone here. so it's not normal, in the sense of what was required before, but the other thing that remains — the crucial thing that remains — as we see the significant easing

of restrictions is china's commitments to its zero covid policy. that is absolutely rock—solid. so the prospect, the threat, if you put it like that, of central quarantine for anyone who gets covid—i9 here, that remains. robin brandt reporting. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the popular south korean k—pop group — addresses anti—asian hate crime at a white house press briefing. the queen and her husband began their royal progress to westminster. the moment of crowning, in accordance with the order of service, by a signal given, the great guns of the tower. tributes have been paid around the world to muhammad ali, who has died at the age of 74. outspoken but rarely outfought, ali transcended the sport of boxing, of which he was

three times world champion. he was a good fighter. he fought all the way to the . end, even through his illness. yes, he did. uefa imposes an indefinite ban on english clubs playing in europe. today is the 20th anniversary of the release of the beatles�* lp sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band, a record described as the album of the century. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines: the governor of the luhansk province says russian forces now control most of the key city of severodonetsk. the prosecutor of the

international criminal court describes ukraine as a crime scene, where his tribunal is carrying out its biggest ever investigation. to the us now, where a meeting between k—pop powerhouse bts and president biden saw the korean boy band saying they're �*devastated' by the recent surge of hate crimes, including against the asian american community. the south korean group met with president biden at the white house today to discuss the issue of anti—asian hate. the k—pop phenomenon are well known for using their music and enormous fan base to speak out on important social issues. they met with the us president privately after making brief statements to media in the white house press briefing room. lastly, we thank president biden and the white house for giving this important opportunity to speak about the important causes, remind ourselves of what we can do as artists.

i spoke earlier to hope king, who has been covering the issue of anti—asian hate for axios. she reflected on why the us president would be meeting with the k—pop group. they are a global hurt and if they do anything also anything online, it'll read hundreds of of people. that's one reason the white house invited them today on the last day of asian american pacific islanders heritage month to talk about this issue, one of the tweets last year after the shooting death of six asian women in other deck areas by shootings was one of the most retweeted tweets of a 2021 stop that's why it was important for the white house, which has try to do a lot more to raise awareness around anti—asian hate crimes, to invite them here today. i5 hate crimes, to invite them here today-— hate crimes, to invite them here toda . , , , ., here today. is my understanding is riaht here today. is my understanding is right that _ here today. is my understanding is right that i — here today. is my understanding is right that i don't _ here today. is my understanding is right that i don't totally - is right that i don't totally we definitely did see hate crimes against the asian community rise posed covid or

during covid? talk us through why that happened.— why that happened. right. reau why that happened. right. really starting _ why that happened. right. really starting in - why that happened. right. really starting in 2020 - why that happened. right. really starting in 2020 we | why that happened. right. - really starting in 2020 we saw a surge in these hate crimes and there have been different ways to measure the number of those hate crimes. there are official federal reports based on what the cities are reporting back up to the federal level and their academic studies. one of the most recent reports has shown that last year there was an increase of about 3a0% in hate crimes directed toward asian people. that is on top of the record that we already saw in 2020 and part of the reason is because of the former president criticising china and talking about where the virus may or may not have come from, in accurately. people were conflating the region, the country of china, people who look like me, maybe from that region, here in america, where

that kind of rhetoric. one reason why we see that continue, the numbers continue to climb, is because as we enter the mid—term election season in the us, there have been politicians who have been using china again as part of the campaign to drum up support for their base whether it's about anti— competitiveness, things unrelated to covid. you are seeing that play out as well. is are seeing that play out as well. , , . , ., , well. is it 'ust about covid though? — well. is it 'ust about covid though? i’— well. is itjust about covid though? i am _ well. is itjust about covid though? i am interested, i well. is it just about covm| though? i am interested, if well. ls it just about covm - though? i am interested, if you though? iam interested, if you don't mind, or is it more widespread?— widespread? it's been a systemic— widespread? it's been a systemic issue - widespread? it's been a systemic issue but - widespread? it's been a l systemic issue but covid certainly has brought it back up certainly has brought it back up to the forefront in the last couple of years. since the founding of this country, there have been the specific law is passed to prevent that say chinese people from coming in, from getting citizenship and then during the civil rights movement and even a couple of decades after, there have been protests and violet beatings

and killings of asian americans because of the stomach believe that asians have created some kind of economic unfairness. == kind of economic unfairness. -- systemic— kind of economic unfairness. —— systemic belief. that was hope king, a journalist with news outlet axios speaking with us earlier. another meeting for us presidentjoe biden — he's told new zealand prime ministerjacinda ardern that he wants her advice on tackling growing gun violence. the pair met at the white house to discuss a range of issues, including climate change and the pacific. biden noted new zealand's response to the 2019 christchurch shooting — a ban on military style rifles — and called for their guidance. the us president also promised he would meet with congress on the gun control issue. in a record 70 years on the throne, britain's queen elizabeth has dealt with no fewer than 11l prime ministers, starting with winston churchill, right through to margaret thatcher, tony blair, and now boris johnson. one of the mainstays

of the royal and political calendars is the weekly audience between monarch and prime minister, just one aspect of the queen's work on affairs of state, as our deputy political editor vicki young reports. the queen and her prime ministers. this was a reunion organised in the 1990s. head of state and head of government appear side—by—side for dozens of public events, but the relationship is forged behind closed doors — weekly meetings at the palace... nice to see you again. lovely to see you again. ..that we only get a glimpse of. the queen's views are kept private, political neutrality carefully adhered to, her words written by her prime ministers. i pray that the blessing of almighty god may rest upon your counsels. her first was winston churchill. he was protective of this new young sovereign who had so much to learn. archive: now, upon the shoulders of sir anthony falls the role of the queen's first minister. after churchill came anthony eden, whose decision to send troops to suez in 1956

brought national humiliation. in 1964, harold wilson became the queen's first labour prime minister. she does her homework, i hadn't done mine. i hadn't read a particular cabinet committee, which i didn't chair, and i was leaving for the weekend. she knew i hadn't done my homework, she was very nice about it. the queen's constitutional right is to be kept informed of government policy — she offers encouragement and advice. every prime minister, i would guess, from talking with other prime ministers and from my own experience, has the greatest friendliness from the queen. on rare occasions, the queen has very subtly aired her views, like this speech where mr callaghan�*s government was considering devolution. i cannot forget that i was crowned queen of the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. you've had a very long day... when margaret thatcher became britain's first female prime minister, there were reports that the queen privately disapproved of

the government's social agenda. but the iron lady played down suggestions of a serious rift. even if she did say it, all right, she may have felt something, but there was never any difficulty in saying anything to me. any difficulty at all. every year, there's a royal invitation to balmoral — matters of state discussed over a cup of tea. in the years that i came to know her as prime minister, prime ministers had private meetings with the queen each week, she invariably looks forward. tony blair certainly appreciated the queen's advice after his landslide victory for labour. even though i was the politician and she was the monarch, ifound her notjust useful, but sometimes deeply insightful. it's very good to welcome you here... when you have to explain what you're trying to achieve, it's a very good form of therapy. imagine doing that to the world's greatest public servant who's seen it all and heard it all.

there's really no better way of getting your head straight about what you're trying to do. 14 prime ministers — 14 very different politicians with their own visions, worries and agendas. for seven decades, the queen has worked with all of them, a monarch at the heart of a democratic constitution — advising, encouraging and warning, providing continuity as each new political tide swept in. vicki young, bbc news. i bring you breaking news. a developer in ukraine, a story we followed on bbc news for some time. presidentjoe biden has confirmed he will send more advanced rocket systems to ukraine to fight against the russian invasion. this comes from a piece for the new york times that he wrote where he said the weapons will enable ukrainians to more precisely strike key targets on the

battlefield in ukraine. president biden didn't specify the exact type of rocket systems but it is thought they will be the m142 high mobility artillery rocket system. writing in the same new york times article, mr bidon also said that this would allow an unable ukrainians to strike russian targets more precisely on the battlefield. lastly he said he did not want to provide weapons that could reach deep into russia itself that standard us a multiple launch rocket systems will still have twice the artillery so far delivered and more accurate, according to analysts, then the russian equivalent. also stressed in the article but america's goal was to give ukraine the means to defend itself but he wasn't seeking war with russia or try dipping about the ouster of vladimir putin. we will have lots more for you on that story on bbc news so stay tuned for that.

that's it for us. thanks so much for watching. do stay with bbc news. hello. a new month starts with very similar weather. after tuesday's big cloud, showers and thunderstorms, umbrellas at the ready for wednesday. the showers probably not as widespread, but there will still be some heavy ones around, with warmer sunny spells in between. low pressure's still close by. high pressure's trying to build in, and although that may be in time for the platinum jubilee weekend, there are some complications, as we'll see in a moment. this is how we start off wednesday morning, low single figures in the chilliest, clearest spots. an area of rain pulling out of wales, into the midlands, and then just turning into another batch of showers as it bears down on south—eastern areas. now, many other places will start the day dry with sunny spells. cloud's going to build, scattered and at times heavy showers break out through central, southern parts of scotland, northern, central and eastern areas of england in particular,

maybe with a rumble of thunder. not many showers at all for northern ireland, northern scotland and for wales and the south—west, becoming mainly dry at the end of the afternoon, and a day where temperatures are a little bit higher than they've been. and in fact, a lot of fine weather to end the day. overnight and into thursday, increasing cloud towards northern ireland here. there's a weather system from the atlantic trying to feed in. ahead of that, clear spells with some patchy fog around and another rather chilly start to the day for thursday, the first, of course, of this long holiday weekend. and outbreaks of rain look as if they're going to push in very gradually towards northern ireland on thursday. ahead of that, a few showers breaking out across scotland and northern england, whereas the further south you are in england and through wales, stays largely dry. temperatures are a bit higher than they've been — we're talking high teens and low 20s. in the sunshine, it will feel warmer. what's moved into northern ireland by friday will be a batch of showers across mainly central areas, but some breaking out towards wales and south—west

england as well. and away from these, still some pleasantly warm sunny spells to be had. keeping things a bit cooler along north sea coasts with an onshore breeze. it will get stronger over the weekend, as we look to the south, to an area of low pressure throwing in some heavy and thundery showers through parts of england and wales saturday into sunday, whereas closer to high pressure, northern ireland and scotland stay mainly dry with the sunniest and the warmest weather for saturday and sunday. so from thursday onwards, yes, warmer, sunny spells, but if you've got outdoor plans — and, of course, there are street parties to be had — factor in, there will be some occasional downpours here and there.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. this week, we will catch up with an olympic superstar hoping to help women exercise smarter. i'm trying to run for a gold medal here, but i'm also very aware that i've just

started my period. chris is braving the cold.