welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm arunoday mukharji. the headlines... a powerful earthquake kills more than 1,000 people in afghanistan. the taliban appeal for international help. the scale of this disaster is hard to comprehend. all villages have been flattened. this is just the start of this crisis. as russian forces advance on the remaining ukrainian—held towns in the donbas, we join a group of volunteers trying to evacuate civilians from the area. another family has just been loaded into the truck. anotherfamily saying goodbye to their home, and to their lives. a stark warning from the head

of the international energy agency as europe is told to prepare for russia turning off gas supplies a new statue to the windrush generation is unveiled in london — a tribute to the thousands who arrived from caribbean countries in the 1940s. and glastonbury is back after the pandemic — the crowds are heading to the iconic music festival in england, hoping for sunshine. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday.

welcome to the programme. a devastating earthquake in afghanistan has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, and left many more injured. the quake measured 6.1 in magnitude, damaging thousands of homes in one of the poorest countries in the world. the country, which is governed by the militant islamist taliban, is already in the grip of a humanitarian disaster, with millions facing famine. the taliban have asked for international aid. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani is in sharana, the capital of paktika province, where casualties from the earthquake are being cared for. a desperate search for survivors. hundreds of homes, entire communities, wiped out in a single dreadful moment in the middle of the night. "everything here has been destroyed," says the man filming this video. the villages worst affected by this earthquake are in remote south—eastern afghanistan. with no paved roads, helicopters were used to transport some of the injured to hospital.

"there was a rumbling, and my bed began to shake," shabir tells us. "the ceiling fell down. i was trapped, but i could see the sky. my shoulder was dislocated and my head was hurt, but i got out. i'm sure seven or nine people from my family who were in the same room as me are dead." at the hospital in the city of sharana, patients are treated for their wounds. there's a fight to save lives, but thoughts are already turning to what happens next. shelter is now a crucial need, because all the houses have been collapsed. food, medicine, you know? i mean, human things that are really, really essential. the scale of this disaster is hard to comprehend. all these people have gathered to donate blood in case it is needed, but whole villages have been flattened.

this is just the start of this crisis. this one—year—old was struck on the head by a piece of debris. "three of our relatives were trapped under the rubble," says shamira, his grandmother. "there's nothing left of our house. if someone buys us a tent, we'll find a place to put it and live there. we have no choice." taliban officials have called for aid agencies to help provide support. many are rushing towards the epicentre, though bad weather could hamper their efforts. this was a country already struggling with a humanitarian crisis, with millions going hungry. now, the misery is intensifying. secunder kermani, bbc news, paktika province. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... the french president,

emmanuel macron, has acknowledged that sunday's parliamentary elections have underlined divisions in the country, but said all parties must make compromises. mr macron said various political parties at the national assembly would have to make clear how much responsibility they were willing to take. uk health officials are urging people to make sure they're fully immunised against polio because the virus has been found in multiple sewage samples in london. polio was common in the britain in the 19505, but eradicated by 2003. a client of chinese e—commerce firm alibaba has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for sexually assaulting one of its female employees on a work trip. the court found that the woman had been forced to drink alcohol before the assault. she was later fired after making her allegations public. president biden has called for a three—month suspension of the federal gasoiline tax.

the average cost of a gallon is up $1 from a year ago. a relief in the tax would knock 18 cents per gallon off of the cost of gasoline, and 2a cents off diesel. argentine legal officials have confirmed that eight medical staff will stand trial accused of criminal negligence in the death of the legendary footballer, diego maradona. he died of a heart attack two years ago while recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot. no date has been set for the trial. now, to the war in ukraine — russian forces are closing in on the beleaguered city of lysychansk, in the donbas region, where russia has been focusing much of its firepower. artillery attacks on the city have intensified in recent days, and military sources have told the bbc the russians are less than three kilometres away. they've already captured almost all the neighbouring city of severodonetsk, where fierce fighting is continuing.

local officials say about 7—8,000 civilians are still there in lysychansk, compared to the pre—war population of 100,000. 0ur international correspondent 0rla guerin, and video journalist colm 0'molloy, joined volunteers who are busy evacuating civilians from the city while there is still time. several 0n the road to war. ukrainian tanks heading towards lysychansk laden with troops. we follow a team of volunteers risking their lives to get others out. along the way, they stop for a daily ritual, praying to god to keep them safe. inside the city, the hallmark

of russia's invasion — destruction, which comes without warning. this shell exploded in front of our convoy. without the pause for prayer, we would have been right in its path. and, yeah, something just landed very close, so we're going to go here and check out what the situation is in town. but it's been landing the whole day very close to the police, so that whole area is very dangerous. 10—15 minutes... at the first stop, katya grabs a few documents inside, katya grabs a few documents as her 12—year—old son becomes homeless.

they are leaving with next to nothing. 0ne they are leaving with next to nothing. one more family uprooted, like millions of ukrainians. "after the shell fell outside our yard yesterday, we lost all hope of being able to save ourselves without help." and help comes from anton yaremchuk. he co—founded the aid group base ua with friends. for two months, they've been doing rescue missions on the front lines. they bring out sasha, a suspected stroke victim, who has had no medical help for five days. "sasha, don't be scared," says a relative. "everything is going to be fine." but sasha can no longer speak.

are you worried that a lot of people will be left behind? that it willjust be too late to reach them? i know for sure, i know for sure that they will be left behind. i know that street fights will happen here for weeks or maybe months, and obviously these people shouldn't stay behind, but they will, and many of them will die orjust stay under horrible circumstances for ages. and those who remain are witnessing the death of their city. this was a community arts centre. lysychansk is being hollowed out by loss. and by anguish. a father robbed of his son when the russians hit a field with a cluster bomb. killed by what looks like a russian cluster bomb attack. some still have time to grab their belongings and flee with their children.

like nina, a mother of four, clutching her toddler katya. she and herfamily havejust emerged from months in a basement. her 12—year—old is old enough to help with bags and understand adult worries. it's all too much. nina says she tries to calm the younger ones by telling them it will all be ok. well, another family has just been loaded into the truck, another family saying goodbye to their home and their lives. the light is fading here now. there isn't much time to evacuate more people tonight, and the sound of explosions is getting louder and closer.

they were driven away to relative safety at sunset. the russians are closing in. lysychansk is running out of time. 0rla guerin, bbc news, eastern ukraine. staying with events in ukraine — russia says it's drawing up plans to retaliate against lithuania, which has stopped goods under eu sanctions moving to the russian territory of kaliningrad. kaliningrad doesn't have a land border with russia, and is surrounded by countries of the european union, so russia relies heavily on goods moving by rail through lithuania. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg reports from the region. it is a piece of russia in the heart of europe. kaliningrad is 300 miles from mainland russia. russia's outpost and fortress. this is the home of the baltic fleet. for supplies, it has relied on rail links

through lithuania, but because of eu sanctions, the transit of key russian goods is now banned. and that's a problem for igor pleshkov�*s concrete plant. it's barely operating as it is. and with russian cement now on the sanctions list, that's another blow to his business. translation: the sanctions | won't only affect our business, they will affect everyone. our factory is at a standstill. we aren't making anything, so the builders can't build anything. there is a chain reaction. lithuania insists it has not blockaded kaliningrad. russian passengers can transit freely through lithuania to get here, and so can russian goods that are not on the eu sanctions list. that hasn't silenced the chorus of criticism from russian officials, or the sabre—rattling.

this week, the hawkish head of russia's security council flew to kaliningrad. nikolai patrushev attacked the west and denounced the transit ban as a hostile act. he warned of serious negative consequences for the lithuanian people. today, his boss, president putin, marked the anniversary of the nazi invasion of the soviet union. the kremlin leader has yet to announce his response to the ban. the message from america — don't even think of involving the russian army. our commitment to nato, and specifically our commitment to nato�*s article 5, the premise that an attack on one would constitute an attack on all, that commitment on the part of the united states is ironclad. and what does fisherman sergei think? well, like many of the people i spoke to in kaliningrad, he doesn't blame lithuania or the west.

"we need to re—establish relations, make them better," sergei says. "i want peace and friendship with all countries." cooperation instead of confrontation — that is not the kremlin line. steve rosenberg, bbc news, kaliningrad. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the iconic glastonbury festival opens its gates to music fans and festivalgoers for the first time in three years. members of the neo—nazi resistance movement stormed the world trade centre armed with pistols and shotguns. we believe that, according to international law, that we have a right to claim certain parts of this country as our land. i take pride in the words

"ich bin ein berliner." cheering as the uk woke up to the news that it is to exit the european union, leave campaigners began celebrating. in total, 17.4 million people voted for the uk to leave the eu. the medical research council has now advised the government that the great increase in lung cancer is due mainly to smoking tobacco. it was closing time for checkpoint charlie, which, for 29 years, has stood on the border as a marker of allied determination to defend the city.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm arunoday mukharji in singapore. 0ur headlines... aid agencies say they're scrambling to get emergency assistance to afghanistan, to help survivors of a powerful earthquake which has killed at least 1,000 people. the ukrainian government says it's continuing its attempts to evacuate civilians as russia steps up its bombardment of key cities in eastern ukraine. let's get the latest on the wider battles being fought as a result of russia's invasion of ukraine now. we've got new information about russia's cyberwar against ukraine and its allies. you'll make this refers to a microsoft report saying russian hacking is more widely reported then recently suspected. 100 organisations in america and dozens more in around a0 to other countries, the kind of

places they were attacking were the offices of foreign ministries and nato allies, humanitarian agencies and energy suppliers. and the success rate of these attacks was around 30%, microsoft says, and in 25% of the cases data was actually stolen. and it's with the president of microsoft called a formidable, intensive, even ferocious set of attacks. and there were attacks in ukraine, as well, cyber attacks, a8 government ministries were attacked by the russian army according to microsoft. most of them were repelled by a coordinated attack where missile strikes were taking place on railroads, even that power plant that was occupied. even that power plant that was occu - ied. �* ., , even that power plant that was occuied. �* ., , ., occupied. and what is of particular— occupied. and what is of particular concern - occupied. and what is of particular concern is - occupied. and what is of. particular concern is there's also a warning to europe that russia may turn off the gas this winter. that warning coming from the - coming from the head of the international aid agency, who says russia may stop supplying gas to europe this winter. he

said it wasn't the most likely scenario but contingency plans were needed to prepare for that. why is he saying that? there have been a number of times where russians over the last few weeks have blamed technical difficulties on the delivery of gas to europe, where it's being slowed down. europe is almost in a rush to prepare for winter and is trying to fill up its storage specials the —— storage facilities with gas. but it can give russia more leverage in a winter scenario if they are unable to fill those gas supplies. and so for example, a0% of the natural gas that was coming from russia to europe has been cut to 20% since the beginning of the invasion. in the last few weeks, the north stream one pipeline has been a a0% of capacity — so we've seen churches in italy, slovakia, bulgaria, finland, all over europe, and the 80% capacity target group set itself or its storage facilities is currently at 55%. it has planned democrat

led them to believe that a shortage of gas may be a possibility. shortage of gas may be a possibility-— shortage of gas may be a possibility. shortage of gas may be a ossibili . ,, ,, ., ., possibility. stepping away from this at a moment _ possibility. stepping away from this at a moment to _ possibility. stepping away from this at a moment to are - possibility. stepping away from this at a moment to are also i this at a moment to are also about to witness a first case of a russian soldier scheduled in kyiv on wednesday. tells more about that.— more about that. this is a russian — more about that. this is a russian soldier _ more about that. this is a russian soldier in - more about that. this is a russian soldier in an - more about that. this is a - russian soldier in an armoured regiment surrounding kyiv. the story goes he broke into a house and shot and killed the homeowner, then raped his wife possibly several times, so he will be tried on wednesday in kyiv, so the first such trial of its kind for the rape that took place. it was called a shameful war crime, according to the prosecutors office. now these allegations will be tried in absentia because the man himself is not actually been captured, but he was found through pictures on social media — the victim identified

him that way, and this follows the prosecution of a 21—year—old russian soldier in may who was put in prison for life. this cannot be lessened, because the ukrainian prosecutors are basically saying that for victims of rape to come forward, cooperation is crucial, so they need to show thatjustice can be done. mark, thanks very _ thatjustice can be done. mark, thanks very much _ thatjustice can be done. mark, thanks very much for _ thatjustice can be done. mark, thanks very much for that - thanks very much for that update on all those developments. the queen has praised the windrush generation for what she called their "profound contribution" to british life. a new monument at waterloo station, in london pays tribute to the thousands of people who arrived in the uk from caribbean countries between 19a8 and 1971. it was revealed to mark windrush day. 0ur correspondent celestina 0lulode reports. cheers and applause dressed in their sunday best,

the new monument to remember the vital contribution of the windrush generation. the statue represents the thousands of caribbeans who travelled to the uk. they first arrived on the empire windrush 7a years ago today to help rebuild post—war britain. but despite living and working here for decades, many were told they were here illegally because of a lack of official paperwork, while some were wrongly detained and even deported. tens of thousands of that generation were profoundly wronged by the windrush scandal. that rightly reverberates throughout the caribbean community here in the uk as well as in many of the caribbean nations. for those who have campaigned for a monument of national recognition, this was an emotional moment. i came here in 1960 as a little ten—year—old, standing on platform 19, walking around this

cathedral—like building, not realising what the future held for me. waterloo station was chosen as the location for this monument because thousands of people who arrived from the caribbean passed through this station on the way to start their new lives. the government has offered compensation, which some are still waiting to receive. it shouldn't have come to that. when they realised things were bad, they should have made up their mind and compensated people straightaway. some are still waiting for answers, but the statue is a permanent tribute to the contribution of the windrush generation. celestina 0lulode, bbc news. britain's famous glastonbury festival has opened its gates again after a gap of three years because of the coronavirus pandemic. around 200,000 people are expected to descend on the site in somerset in anticipation of the first performances,

which begin on friday. colin paterson reports. we're open! after a three—year wait, the very moment glastonbury finally reopened its doors. woohoo! and the festival's founder michael eavis was there to greet people. i like the top hat. greatest party on earth. thank you. - thanks for coming. it was clear how much it meant to be back. incredible, isn't it, the feeling of everybody getting here? honestly, it's quite emotional. it's all so exciting. you'd never believe it, you know? have an amazing time. festivalgoers had queued all night to make sure they got in early. it means everything, and to get back here after what's happened is just absolutely fantastic. it's my first time. i've had my ticket for three years, so i can't wait. a bit tired after the | rave tent last night. and for nanny pat, it's been a very special day. in 2020, it was her 80th birthday — and all she wanted was a glastonbury ticket.

you've made it, you're in. i'm in' finally, she's getting to use it. i hear you get quite near to the front of the stage. finally, she's getting to use it. i hear you get quite near to the front of the stage. just describe your tactic. sneak around the side! you can get near the front. i can't get in the middle, i'd be slaughtered. nanny pat says she will definitely be on the front row for paul mccartney, and taking no prisoners. colin paterson, bbc news, glastonbury. fans of motorbikes might be crushed by this next story — more than 100 dirt bikes and all—terrain vehicles have been flattened by a bulldozer. they werejust some of the 2,000 illegal vehicles that seized this year by the new york police department, under a promise from mayor eric adams to eradicate the nuisance from city. they're designed for unpaved roads, and it is illegal to ride them on the city's streets.

you can find more on our website. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello there. over the past few days, we've seen temperatures rising, and on wednesday, temperatures reached 28 celsius in london. and here in aboyne, aberdeenshire, 26 celsius was the warmest day of the year so far in scotland. the next few days will turn tooler, temperatures will be dropping — it's turning more unsettled. we've got more rain in the forecast, as well. now, we still have some cloud in the north and northwest of scotland, but it's the cloud in france that we need to keep a close eye on — that's been producing some thundery downpours, and that will trigger some more showers as we head through thursday. especially early on through the channel islands, in the english channel, and then, we'll see those showers developing and moving further north into england and wales. some of them will be heavy and thundery. there'll still be some warm sunshine around, as well. and scotland and northern

ireland may well have a dry day, with some sunny spells and a lighter wind. not quite as warm as it was on wednesday in eastern scotland. a very warm day across england and wales despite those showers — probably the highest temperatures ahead of those showers across north midlands and northern england. the weather's changing because pressure is falling, and that means we're likely to find more cloud, and we'll find some more rain, as well, particularly on that weather front approaching the southwest. ahead of that, though, there will be some sunshine around, but we're going to find more showers breaking out — and those turning heavy and thundery in the afternoon, especially across northern england, heading into scotland. this band of rain arrives in parts of wales and the southwest of england, and with more cloud around, temperatures will be lower, typically 20—22 celsius. the last of the warm weather probably stuck across east anglia. heading into the weekend and, rather than high pressure dominating the weather, it'll be low pressure swirling around to the west of the uk. so looking at the details for saturday, and we're looking at most of the wet weather across the western side

of the uk with more showers breaking out through the day. there will still be some sunshine, but we may see the cloud thickening, threatening some rain across the southeast of england and east anglia. temperatures are looking like this, round about 19—21 celsius. cooler i think in northern ireland, could be quite wet here close to that area of low pressure. and again, it'll be northern and western areas that see most of the rain, could be heavy and thundery in places. further east through the midlands and across eastern england, it may well be dry on sunday. that's where we'll find the highest temperatures. it will be cooler in the wetter weather in the west.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues, straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. 0n the eve of russia's february invasion of ukraine, president xi of china and president putin declared their two countries enjoyed a friendship without limits. is that a strategic partnership that beijing may come to regret? my guest is influential chinese think tank founder and sometime government adviser henry wang. from a draconian covid response, to stalling growth,

to a western alliance reinvigorated by that