welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: do you find that mr depp has proven, by clear and convincing evidence, that ms heard acted with actual malice? answer — yes. the hollywood actorjohnny depp wins his multi—million—dollar lawsuit against his former wife amber heard. russia accuses the united states of escalating the conflict in ukraine, after president biden promises to send advanced rocket systems

to help ukrainian forces. ukrainian soldiers in kyiv celebrate their country's 3—1 victory over scotland in the world cup playoffs. and the record—breaking brit who's defied the odds to climb everest not once but 16 times, even as his doctors warned he may never walk again unaided. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. it's 7am in the morning in singapore and 7pm in the evening in virginia in the us, where a jury has found that the actress amber heard defamed her ex—husband johnny depp and ordered she pay the hollywood star $15 million in damages. our arts correspondent david sillito has been following this trial for us from the beginning. here is his report.

mr foreperson, is this the verdict of the jury? after six weeks in court and six years of angry disputes since their divorce, finally, a judgment by a jury on the allegations that johnny depp had violently assaulted his ex—wife, amber heard. was this defamation? the answer... yes. outside, there were cheers from the waiting fans, the end of a trial that had been provoked by an article in the washington post in which amber heard had written of being a victim of domestic abuse, allegations that she said were backed up with real proof. there were videos, photographs and, remember, a uk court in 2020 ruled that her recounting of the marriage was substantially true. slapped me across the face. then he slapped me again. hejust kicked me —

in the back. i thought he was the love of my life. he was, but he was also this other thing. cheering for six weeks, johnny depp has arrived at court each day to cheers. amber heard, silence — and sometimes worse. can you please tell the jury why you're here today? um, yes... the answer to that question was reputation. johnny depp, hollywood star, was trying to prove to the world that his ex—wife�*s claims of domestic violence were simply untrue. and more than that, he was claiming that he was the real victim. ms heard, in her frustration i and in her rage and her anger, she would strike out. she'd given me a good chop in the ear, you know. - suddenly...

i said, "go ahead, hit me." bam! so two completely different accounts of a marriage, and one in whichjohnny depp said he was the victim, and that is what the jury has agreed with today. and not only that, they have accepted that amber heard acted with malice, with a reckless disregard for the truth. but there has been a second case going on here, one that's been taking place in the court of popular opinion. over six weeks, amber heard had been accused of lying, faking injuries, fabricating evidence. and online... i receive hundreds of death threats regularly, if not daily. thousands since this trial has started, people mocking...

..mocking my testimony about being assaulted. this was a case all about words — amber heard's right to say she was a victim of domestic violence, an accusation that johnny depp says was simply a lie, he was the victim here. and thejury — and much of the watching public — has, after hearing it all, believed him. david sillito, bbc news, fairfax, virginia. well, for more on that trial, we can hear now from our north america correspondent nomia iqbal, who has more from outside the court. we had about an hour's notice before the verdict came through, and it was pretty quiet, but then over the course of that hour, lots of fans made their way outside court. there's been a huge amount ofjohnny depp supporters here throughout the six—week trial. most of the fans are johnny depp supporters, and many of them hold signs in which they make that clear and they make it clear they don't like amber heard.

and you can actually find the amber heard fans — there's a few of them — and that, i think, says a lot in and of itself. but when i stopped to talk to people... we're talking about young women here who... one teenager said to me she came here because she felt this was a once—in—a—lifetime opportunity, she felt that it was important to see johnny depp�*s name be cleared. one woman i also spoke to was here for amber heard. she had this banner that said, "we stand with amber heard." and it had messages on it from lots of amber heard supporters. and she said to me that she was worried that would be the verdict and she felt angry that, despite all the evidence that was shown, that it was ruled against amber heard, and she was worried about what sort of precedent it would set. amber heard was inside court — we saw that, because, obviously, this was being televised — whilst johnny depp was not here. he's somewhere in the uk. his legal team were here and they released a short statement afterwards. but this is very much a resounding victory forjohnny depp.

yeah, a resounding victory, as you point out, forjohnny depp, but also a sort of a trial by tiktok for particularly amber heard, given some of the vitriol that she's described in david's reporting there. if social media had been thejury, johnny depp would have been cleared a long time ago, probably even ahead of the trial, to be honest with you. the support for him has been pretty overwhelming on there. so i just want to give you a statistic here. each evening, on the american networks here, there are about 18 million people that watched the bulletins. the views on tiktok for this story have been 18 billion. that is a huge amount. in terms of the hashtags on tiktok, #justiceforjohnnydepp has had 7.5 billion views and counting. #amberheardisaliar has had 2.5 billion views on tiktok and counting. i mean, there has been some support for her. there's been a #justiceforamberheard, but that's had 2a million views. and what's been really fascinating is that

there's been two trials. there's the one where you havejournalists going in and reporting on the evidence, as we do, keeping it balanced, and then you have those on social media — because this was a trial has been televised — taking curated content and skewing it very much in favour ofjohnny depp, in which it has been massively, like i say, in his favour. sojohnny depp can look at it as that. he's not only won in the courtroom, but he has won in the court of public opinion. nomia iqbal reporting on that story for us. in other headlines for you today, a war of words has erupted between moscow and washington over america's decision to supply advanced rocket artillery to ukraine. russia has accused the united states of adding fuel to the fire by providing ukraine with advanced rocket systems. the weapons, which have been described as game changers, have a longer range than russia's. russia has called the move a provocation. russian forces are now said to be in control of around 70%

of the strategically important city of severodonetsk. james waterhouse has the latest from kyiv. faces of anxiety, wives and mothers of ukrainian soldiers on the front line, brought together by a frustration of their lack of support. translation: i'm very worried. i know he's sitting in the trenches there. i know there are wounded and killed. i believe that if they receive proper weapons, they're real warriors and they will fight for the serenity of ukraine, defend our country and get our seized territories back. olga's son was called up to fight two months ago. today is his 41st birthday. translation: it is his birthday today, but i cannot even - congratulate him and tell him that i love him and wait for him.

a56 miles to the east, a reflection of ukraine's loosening grip on the luhansk region, satellite images showing damage from shelling to komyshuvakha and severodonetsk. russian soldiers now appear to move through its streets and wander into this state security service building. they're thought to be chechen fighters, who have a reputation for being fierce. almost all of the luhansk region is in moscow's control. russia's gains are relatively small, but the cities they now occupy won't be easily retaken, and that is why ukraine is asking for help to do more than simply be on the defensive. one wish has been granted by the us — precision—guided missiles, which can travel up to 45 miles — with a condition. the ukrainians have given us assurances that they will not use the systems against targets on russian territory. there is a strong trust bond between ukraine and the united states, as well as with our

allies and partners. the kremlin has described kyiv�*s request for weapons as a provocation to bring the west into this war. ukraine has long seen them as crucial for its survival. james waterhouse, bbc news, in kyiv. a little later in the programme, we'll hear from a former us assistant secretary of state on what impact he thinks the weapons will have on the war. but for the moment, let's stay with ukraine and focus on a different battle, not in the trenches. for a brief period at least, ukraine's soldiers have had their hopes pinned on another victory. ukraine took on scotland in a long delayed world cup qualifier earlier and pulled off a stunning defeat to reach the playoffs. our correspondentjoe inwood watched the game in a barracks in the capital kyiv and sent this report. this is no normal world cup qualifier. and these are no normal fans. these young ukrainians have all volunteered to join the fight against russia's invasion.

23—year—old alex used to be a software engineer. he will soon be heading to the front. i will be really proud of myself, because i'm doing a really great thing for my country. football is a big deal here, even in the darkest of times. everybody, especially the ukrainian team, feel their responsibility, because they want to show to us that they are fighting too. now, of course, normally for a game this significant, all the bars, the restaurants, the sports pubs would be packed, but of course there's a curfew, and so people are watching it at home — or, in this instance, in their military base... ..an unusual setting for an almost unique sporting event. right now for us, it's really important to have some victory, like we won eurovision. and also the ukrainians would be really happy if we win this match.

but in their way, a scotland team that almost everyone assumed would be ukraine. but not here. cheering 1-0. 2-0. these soldiers have grown used to remarkable victories, but they also know that victory can turn into defeat. it's actually been a really good game, but it is getting tense now. ukraine have got a one—goal advantage, but scotland is pushing. it's getting nerve—racking, even for the neutrals. cheering we won this match so it's really great, so it means that there is nothing impossible for our country. and we're going to win this war. joe inwood, bbc news, in kyiv.

you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the final rehearsals have taken place and the celebrations are about to begin, as queen elizabeth marks 70 years as monarch. we've a special report coming up. 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 power. tributes have been paid around the world to muhammad ali, who's died at the age of 7a. outspoken but rarely out—fought, ali transcended the sport of boxing, of which he was three—times world champion. he was a good fighter and 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 hollywood actorjohnny depp wins his multi—million dollar lawsuit against his former wife amber heard russia accuses the united states of escalating the conflict in ukraine, after president biden promises to send advanced rocket systems to help ukrainian forces. for more on those weapons to

ukraine, earlier, i spoke to mark kimmitt, former us assistant secretary of state for political—military affairs. i started by asking him what the impact of these new weapons could be on the battlefield. they certainly won't change the game, but they may slow down this initiative we're seeing on the part of the russians. these weapons will be able to get into the rear lines of the russians, where they are most vulnerable and where they will need to continue their logistics and their artillery if they want to continue this assault. so hopefully these weapons will allow the ukrainians to fire deep into these echelons and slow and possibly reverse the russian assault. does that mean you are seeing a faster end to this conflict, a way out? oh, no, not at all. again, this is not going to be a strategic turning point, this is simply a technical capability we are giving to ukrainians so they can go a little bit deeper

into the russian lines, to go after their logistics and artillery, but this is no magic weapon, no magic wand. and in fact, that's part of the criticism we hear over here in the united states, that we are giving the ukrainians enough to fight but not enough to win. but why now, though, mark? why has the us decided to make this move at this point in time? i think you're starting to see the bulldozer—like offensive being kicked off by the russians. severodonetsk is not that strategic of a city, but it certainly means that if they can take severodonetsk, they'll be pushing further and further into the donbas. so so hopefully these weapons, which came at the request of the ukrainians...

—— so hopefully these weapons, which came at the request of the ukrainians, will be able to slow down and possibly reverse this offensive. do you see more weapons in the pipeline from the us, mark, more along the way? that's an interesting question. president biden today published an editorial inside the new york times, laying out what we will and what we won't do for ukraine. that editorial was not aimed at the russians but really at the french and the germans. this has been a remarkable unity among the nato allies. we are starting to see a split, and it may certainly be the case that president biden is trying to make sure that this alliance continues the fight against the russians and doesn't allow the russians to try to wedge between the nato allies. that was mark kimmitt speaking to us a little earlier. there's anticipation building ahead of four days of celebrations for the queen's platinum jubilee. a host of events are planned nationwide, with many communities throwing their own jubilee parties to mark the queen's 70 years on the throne. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. the final preparations are almost complete for a celebration that's been 70 years in the making.

in the pre—dawn gloom of a rather damp capital city, the horse guards and others have been tracing the route to be taken by sunday's pageant. on horse guards parade, the footguards have been preparing for the event that will launch thejubilee, the first full—scale trooping the colour for three years. and outside buckingham palace, a huge stage has been under construction for saturday's bbc party at the palace. it is the platinum jubilee, an opportunity to step back briefly from everyday pressures to show appreciation to a long—reigning monarch. it's the story of all our lives, as well as the story of her life, that we're celebrating. and i think particularly at the moment, with the way the world is, the way some people feel about politics in this country and around the world, the way people feel about putin and what is happening in ukraine, you look at the queen,

and you see somebody who has been consistent, decent, dignified and there, delivering the goods, delivering on her promises, for seven decades. quite how visible the queen will be at this jubilee is unclear. it's hoped she'll be able to appear on the palace balcony. absent from the balcony will be the sussexes — harry and meghan — and the duke of york. this isn't the moment for reminders of family difficulties. it has been difficult, this period, and i think hard on the queen, really, to have these sort of family problems quite so much in the public limelight. some die—hard royalists are already camping along the mall. however, their devotion is not universal. not everyone across the country will find this celebration to their taste — not everyone is a monarchist. but it is surely true that the overwhelming majority of people have deep respect for this monarch and her 70 years of service.

in herjubilee message, issued with a new photograph, the queen says she hopes the next four days will give people a chance to reflect on what has been achieved over the past 70 years. thejubilee programme will also be a chance for millions of people at different events across the country to say thank you for her 70 years of service. nicholas witchell, bbc news. what a remarkable 70 years it has been. now for a remarkable tale of struggle and success. for many climbers, summiting mount everest even once in your life would be considered a dream come true. but imagine doing it 16 times, even after once being told by doctors that you could never walk again without help. that's the story of british mountaineer kenton cool. recently, he became the first non—nepali person to climb everest 16 times.

we spoke to him on the summit, on the telephone, just a few weeks ago, but now he is back at home, hopefully taking a break, hopefully having cut his breath. we can speak to kenton cool again now. hejoins us from gloucestershire in the west of england. iam sure i am sure you must be told us a lot, but how appropriate your last name is! how does it feel like your latest climb? it feels fantastic, obviously. i have always been a believer that records don't have a place on mountains, and the first person to climb the mountain, perhaps that does. that said, never did i believe 16 summ is... right now, it hasn't sunk in, but it's great to be home,

and, yeah, iam reveling and already planning for number 17. you already planning for number 17? i am sure it has not been easy, though, kenton, just in terms of your health in all of this, and i'm sure that a lot of the members of our audience, and i am ordering myself, given the fact that doctors have said to you... it is a very challenging process for you. why do you keep going back? it is multifaceted. partly, it is what i do for work i am in everest guide. that is part of it. it is essentially how i pay the mortgage. but then more than that, i love the country of nepal, i love the people of nepal and i love the himalayan mountains in general, especially everest. she really has defined my life over the last 20 years or so, so put all those into the mix, and for me,

it's a really obvious thing to go back to everest each springtime. and the time that i don't go back, perhaps in a few years time, there will be a huge hole in my life. it years time, there will be a huge hole in my life.- huge hole in my life. it is dangerous. _ huge hole in my life. it is dangerous, though, - huge hole in my life. it is dangerous, though, isn't| huge hole in my life. it is dangerous, though, isn't it, kenton? we don't know for sure how many people, sadly, lose their lives from climbing everest the last several years, but how do your family feel every time you go back? i think that's a swer— every time you go back? i think that's a super interesting - that's a super interesting question, because i've got two young children, i got a very lovely wife, and it is easy for me to say, that is what i've always done since being married or since having children. however, i am or since having children. however, iam not or since having children. however, i am not the one left at home, and there clearly is an anxiety and concern every time i leave, not only to go to everest but any mountain that i claim. it could be month—long in the western alps, it could be kate two in pakistan that i claim last year, or whatever it

is ——, k2. however, there is a safety net. although there is always risk on everest, we try to mitigate that as best we can, hopefully know we can come back home safe and sound. indeed. i wish you all the very best, kenton. thank you for taking the time to speak to us, kenton cool in gloucestershire. before we and the programme, some breaking news that is coming from the us, in tulsa. the police have said three are dead after a gunman in the hospitalfor dead after a gunman in the hospital for stomach comes not long after a shooting in an elementary school in texas —— in a hospital. and a racist

mass shooting in buffalo. stay with us for the latest on bbc news. hello again. we had some warm spells of sunshine around on wednesday but also some scattered showers, particularly across northern and eastern areas. one or two heavy ones mixed in. but in the west, a largely fine day, some lovely sunshine there in anglesey. satellite picture, at the moment, shows largely clear skies, but we do have some thicker cloud approaching from the northwest. that's going to be bringing some rain into northern ireland as we head deeper into thursday, but for the time being, the skies are clear in most areas and it's another pretty chilly night, really, underneath those clear skies with light winds for the time of year. we are looking at temperatures down to around 5—7 celsius for a number of you, which is on the cool side, certainly, forjune. now, looking at the pressure charts, pressure's actually raising a little bit across the uk, but then we've got this weather front — that area of cloud i showed you a moment ago — that is set

to swing its way in, so cloud will increase across northern ireland and we'll steadily see outbreaks of rain moving in here, turning quite heavy by the time we get to the afternoon. scotland, england and wales, a lovely sunny start to the morning, if somewhat cool, but those temperatures will quickly rise. bit of cloud bubbles up. that could bring a few scattered showers to scotland and northern england, but for many, it's a dry day. temperatures a bit higher — 18 in glasgow, but we're into 19—21 kind of territory for england and wales. so it is warmer. that warmer trend to the weather continues into friday, but again friday not wholly dry. there could be a a few showers, this time across wales, northwest england, western scotland and northern ireland. again, pretty well spaced out, so you do have a chance of missing them. the emphasis is still on some warm spells of sunshine for most. temperatures, quite widely, reaching the high teens to low 20s. now, this weekend, the weather will stay fine across the north of the uk, so scotland,

northern ireland and northern england keeping the dry weather and sunshine, but the weather starts to get more iffy in the south. on saturday, we'll start to see some thundery showers moving up from the near continent, the greatest risk of those probably across the southwest of england and south wales. there will be a few more storms coming up through saturday night, and then into sunday, the storms kind of merge together to give some spells of heavier rain across parts of england and wales. now, this rain band could vary in position a little bit by the time we get to sunday, but nevertheless warm spells of sunshine, a few showers over the next few days, but we are going to see some heavy, thundery rain developing over the weekend.