welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm monica miller. the headlines... a dutch court sentences two russians and one ukrainian to life in prison for shooting down a malaysian airlines plane, killing almost 300 people. plane, killing almost 300 --eole. ~ , ., plane, killing almost 300 neale, . plane, killing almost 300 --eole. ~ ., people. when you look at the world, there's _ people. when you look at the world, there's always - world, there's always tragedies, but this one was part of me, my life, and it'll stay there forever.— stay there forever. the bbc here details _ stay there forever. the bbc here details of— stay there forever. the bbc here details of atrocities i stay there forever. the bbc here details of atrocities byi here details of atrocities by russian soldiers before they left the liberated reason of kherson in ukraine. the uk's finance minister says families will face real challenges ahead

with further since spending cuts on the horizon. and the the political era — —— the end. live from our studio in singapore... this is bbc news. it's newsday. a court in the hague has found three men guilty of murdering 298 people after shooting down a malaysian airlines plane over ukraine in 2014. the men — two russians and a ukrainian — were tried in absentia and given life sentences. the court said the missile that took down flight mh17 was supplied by russia's military, and fired from territory controlled by kremlin—backed militia. moscow denies any involvement. 0ur correspondent in amsterdam,

anna holligan, has been at the trial and sent this report. he speaks dutch the judges ruled that the three men had set out to bring down a plane, even though they had intended to shoot down a military, not a civilian aircraft. the court found the surface—to—air missile was supplied by a russian military brigade and fired from territory controlled by russian—backed separatists. for the relatives at the epicentre of this disaster, this long—awaited judgment day brought mixed emotions. when you listened to what was said in there, what was your feeling? it was grief, anger, relief, anger, grief. when you look at the world, all these tragedies happen, but this one was part of me, part of my life, and it'll stay there forever, so... the families here have been waiting eight years for this verdict, and the sentiment among so many of them is that their loved ones

were among the first casualties of a conflict which is still raging today. this verdict is a reminder that russia's military presence in ukraine started long before this year's full—scale invasion. many of the victims' families feel this is a vindication of their sentiment, but if the world had taken a tougher stance against russia eight years ago, that invasion and the geopolitical instability that followed could have been avoided. 0k! among them, this girl's father, hans de borst. he cherishes the memories of his only child and her documents, recovered intact from the crash site. it is extremely important to me. that feeling of justice to be done gives a good feeling and gives, i hope, gives us some peace about this subject. while this judgment can't heal the pain and it's unlikely to result in anyone serving life for taking those 298 lives, it has established

the truth and has kept the victims' memories alive. anna holligan, bbc news, schiphol. russian state media has responded to the mh17 ruling, saying the court had shown a lack of impartiality and that its decision was politically motivated. 0ur russia editor, steve rosenberg, has more from moscow. russia's foreign ministry has said it wants to study the verdict of the dutch court very carefully before it issues an official statement. but the russian state media, they haven't waited before commenting, and no surprises here — the state media in russia have condemned the outcome of this trial — using the kind of arguments we've been hearing a lot from russia, basically, since 2014. in other words, accusing the west, accusing investigators and the international court of russophobia, of anti—russian

sentiments, complaining that russia wasn't part of the investigation and basically trying to dismiss the whole process as illegitimate. now, after what was a painstaking international investigation into this disaster and a two—year trial, i think these russian arguments will convince few people in the international community. but i think they are aimed principally at a domestic audience to try to sow doubt in the minds of the russian public. two of the three men who were convicted of murder today were russian citizens, igor girkin and sergey dubinskiy. they were not in court, they are at large, and i think there's virtually no prospect of moscow handing them over to serve their sentences. that's steve rosenberger in russia. relatives of victims of flight mhi7 are convinced the current conflict in ukraine could have been avoided if the world had taken a harder line with russia

eight years ago. the verdict comes as investigators in the recently—liberated ukrainian region of kherson discovered 63 bodies scarred with signs of torture. russia has denied its forces have been committing atrocities. 0ur correspondentjames waterhouse has been speaking to people who were held by russian forces in the southern city for most of this year. and just a warning, his report contains details you may find distressing. it's only once russia leaves... ..that you get a sense of what they've done. what allegedly happened here is a picture of brutality. this used to be a police station in kherson. after russian forces took control, officials say it became a torture chamber. angella, a tvjournalist, spent 31 days there.

translation: on the third - floor, people, men were beaten. 0n the first floor, we heard that it was electrocution. when a person is being tortured with electricity, you hear it. it is a peculiar sound. after hearing what angella has been through, you get a really vivid glimpse of what this place must have been like. there is still the smell of burning in the air, but the silence is almost deafening, and each one of these rooms has its own story and all of them come out over time. she shared cell number six with four other women. what she didn't know... ..was that her boyfriend was there, too. translation: there were some people who were electrocuted. l

it was horrible. one guy was brought to the cell after interrogation. his tongue was black. it was so swollen, he couldn't put it back in his mouth. in kherson, daily life runs alongside grim discoveries. a mass grave was found here. elsewhere in the city, the bodies of 63 civilians were also found. they all, say investigators, showed signs of being tortured. "there were more than 3,000 crimes committed throughout occupation," the chief investigator tells us. "90% of them are war crimes, including rape, torture and murder." as the evidence mounts, so do moscow's denials of targeting civilians, but when russia retreats, it leaves a now

familiar footprint. james waterhouse, bbc news, kherson. fresh russian strikes have hit cities across ukraine. they're the latest in a wave of attacks that have crippled the country's energy plants as winter sets in. 0ur correspondent catherine byurahhanga has the latest from kyiv. this is the second time in less than a week that russia has carried out nationwide attacks on ukraine. moscow has conducted a series of missile strikes on this country following military setbacks. country following military setbacks, the most recent setbacks, the most recent being in the southern city of kherson. ukraine's prime minister said today's strikes targeted energy infrastructure and weapons production plants. 70 shells are said to have landed around the city of nikopol in southern ukraine. thousands of homes are left

without energy and water. gas facilities in eastern ukraine were also targeted. temperatures are dropping here in kyiv, and residents are braced for the worst to come. the united nations is warning that there could be a serious humanitarian crisis here in ukraine during the winter because millions face constant power cuts. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. lawyers for the american basketball star, brittney griner, have confirmed that she's been taken to a penal colony in the mordovia region of russia, about 500 kilometres east of moscow. she was arrested at moscow airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil and was jailed in august for nine years on drugs charges.

malaysians go to the poll this weekend, but voter apathy could... ..but voter apathy

and disillusionment with politics is expected to see a low turn out this saturday when voting gets underway. 0ne party has dominated politics for years— politics for years, the united malays national 0rganisation or umno. but they suffered a shock defeat in 2018 amid public i'm joined now by el sun 0h, senior fellow at the singapore institute of international affairs. thank you forjoining us. tell us why this snap election has been called.— been called. that's mainly because. _ been called. that's mainly because, and _ been called. that's mainly because, and there - been called. that's mainly because, and there has i been called. that's mainly i because, and there has been been called. that's mainly - because, and there has been an internal power struggle within the ruling party. the umno party, to which the minister belongs. there were efforts to type toppled the prime minister, and we felt holding it sooner would be a sure way of getting rid of him. of course, the ruling umno party were supremely confident going into this election, but now we are the tail and of this

are at the tail and of this campaign, ithink are at the tail and of this campaign, i think that level of confidence is no longer there —— the tail end. i do need to point out that you worked with the umno party and yourformer boss the umno party and your former bos . , , . ., ' the umno party and your former bos . , boss was sentenced to 12 years in prison- _ boss was sentenced to 12 years in prison. corruption _ boss was sentenced to 12 years in prison. corruption has - boss was sentenced to 12 years in prison. corruption has been| in prison. corruption has been high on minds of voters as they go to the polls. how widespread is it today throughout the political system? i is it today throughout the political system?- is it today throughout the political system? i think after more than — political system? i think after more than 60 _ political system? i think after more than 60 years - political system? i think after more than 60 years of- more than 60 years of essentially one party ruled, as we say, absolute powers would corrupt absolutely. you would see that in malaysian normal daily life as well. corruption and also collusion between government officials, and this business persons. it's very widespread indeed. and the opposition,

vowed to eradicate this level of corruption. there is sort of confrontation for those looking towards a for our reformist government versus those who are looking for more —— who are more conservative in the political outlook.- more conservative in the political outlook. more conservative in the olitical outlook. �* ., ., political outlook. and one more question. _ political outlook. and one more question. many _ political outlook. and one more question, many new _ political outlook. and one more question, many new voters - political outlook. and one more| question, many new voters have been added to the rosters because they lowered the age from 21 to 18. what impact will this have on voter turnout? they will make up to one third of malaysia's electric, but we are yet to see what kind of voting preference that will exude on voting day. it is expected that a lot of them perhaps would vote for the opposition, for the more reformist. i think that prediction is a bit premature because a lot of those voters are perhaps not as exposed as

others. . ~' , ., are perhaps not as exposed as others. ., ~ i. . are perhaps not as exposed as others. ., ~ . ., others. thank you so much for “oininu others. thank you so much for joining us _ others. thank you so much for joining us on _ others. thank you so much for joining us on the _ others. thank you so much for joining us on the programme. | joining us on the programme. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme — nancy pelosi says she will not seek reelection to lead the democrats. benazir bhutto has claimed victory in pakistan's general election and she's asked pakistan's president to name her as prime minister. jackson's been released on bail of $3 million after turning it was the biggest demonstration so far of the first growing european antinuclear movement. the south african government i

has announced that it's opening the country's remaining whites—only beaches i to people of all races. this will lead to a black majority government in this country and the destruction of the white civilisation. part of the centuries—old windsor castle, one of the queen's residences, has been consumed by fire for much of a day. 150 firemen have been battling the blaze, which has caused millions of pounds worth of damage. welcome back to newsday on the bbc. i'm monica miller in singapore. 0ur headlines — a dutch court sentences two russians and one ukrainian to life in prison for shooting down a malaysian airlines plane. and the bbc

hears details of alleged atrocities by russian soldiers before they left the liberated reason of her song in ukraine. the uk finance minister, jeremy hunt, has announced tax rises and spending cuts to bolster an economy that he says has already entered recession. two months on from a disastrous mini—budget that dented britain's economic credibility, mr hunt outlined a $65 billion package to reduce government borrowing. this includes additional windfall taxes on oil and gas firms. 0ur political editor, chris mason, reports. it's not even eight weeks since we reflected on the last chancellor's big moment, which sent the markets into turmoil and brought down the prime minister. 55 days on, under the same governing party, and a colossal change of direction. now it'sjeremy hunt's turn. i now call the chancellor of the exchequer- to make a statement. jeremy hunt.

in the face of unprecedented global headwinds, families, pensioners, businesses, teachers, nurses and many others are worried about the future. so, today, we deliver a plan to tackle the cost of living crisis and rebuild our economy. 0ur priorities are stability, growth and public services. the picture is bleak. the government's independent analysts say living standards are falling by the largest amount for 70 years. price rises will ease, but the economy is shrinking. they confirm that our actions today help inflation to fall sharply from the middle of next year. they also judge that the uk, like other countries, is now in recession. and tax is going up. i have tried to be fair by following two broad principles.

firstly, we ask those with more to contribute more. and secondly, we avoid the tax rises that damage growth. although my decisions today do lead to a substantial tax increase, we have not raised headline rates of taxation. but they have frozen the levels at which we pay various taxes, meaning, over time, we end up paying much more, and the best paid will be paying a higher rate of income tax. so, what about government spending? there will be less of it overall than had been thought, but listen to this on schools in england. because we want school standards to continue to rise for every single child, we're going to do more than protect the schools budget. we're going to increase it. and on the health service in england... i will increase the nhs budget in each of the next two years by £3.3 billion. on both health and education, there'll be an equivalent

option for an increase for scotland, wales and northern ireland. the state pension will keep pace with the rise in prices, as will all benefits in england, scotland and wales. mr hunt's concluding claim about his plans was this. it shows you don't need to choose either a strong economy or good public services. with conservatives, and only with conservatives, you get both, and i commend this statement to the house. the opposition parties here responded with derision. the mess we are in is the result of 12 weeks of conservative chaos, but also 12 years of conservative economic failure. growth, dismal. investment, down. wages, squeezed. public services, crumbling. these difficult choices _ are of nothing compared to what many of our constituents face. the tories spent the summer

squabbling in a leadership i contest when they should have been preparing for this- difficult winter ahead. we're talking about 1.2 billion additional for wales. that actually doesn't touch the sides of what the welsh government themselves have predicted with the sort of cuts they will need to make. in real terms, they will be around about £4 billion short in three years' time. tell me what you've been doing here. at a school in south london this afternoon, i had the chance to ask jeremy hunt the questions you might want answering. chancellor, what do you say to people tonight who are facing the biggest drop in living standards since the 1950s? these are real challenges for families up and down the country. i'm not pretending these aren't going to be difficult times, but there's a plan, there's hope, and if we follow this plan, if we stick with it, we can get through to the other side, make the recession shallower than it might otherwise have been, and give hope to families that we can get back to more normality.

in truth, though, you've ducked the difficult decisions until after the next election, when you might be gone. well, i've been accused of many things, but ducking difficult decisions... postponing some of them. a conservative chancellor standing up in the house of commons and saying there will be £25 billion of tax increases, that is facing up to difficult decisions, but it's facing up to them in a balanced way that recognises that, for the next 18 months, we are going to be in recession. can we ever trust a conservative politician again who talks about being keen on low taxes, because we have the highest tax burden for nearly 80 years? 0nly conservatives understand that successful economies need to be lightly taxed if they are going to be dynamic and innovative. you say that, and yet they keep going up. yes, because we have a very exceptional situation. we had a once—in—a—century pandemic. we had the fuel price hikes caused by vladimir putin. you are a tax—raising chancellor presiding over a recession and government spending not what you hoped it would be.

do you have any hope of winning the next election? conservatives win elections when they're trusted with the economy, and what you've seen today is a conservative chancellor outlining a very difficult path that gets us through this crisis. a grim picture which many will conclude feels more grim courtesy of today's announcements. but the government wants to try to convince you it's still not as bad as it might have been without their decisions today. chris mason, bbc news, at westminster. it's been more than a week since polls closed in the us midterms, and we now know the result. the republicans will take control of the house of representatives. the seat that handed them the majority was california's district 27, with the republican incumbent mike garcia re—elected. it means they have passed the 218 seat threshold. although our partners cbs

project the republicans' majority will be five seats at most. and that means there will be a new speaker — most likely kevin mccarthy. it also marks the end of an era. with the passing of the gavel, democrat nancy pelosi — now 82 — today announced she is standing down. my friends, no matter what title you all, my colleagues, have bestowed upon me — speaker, leader, whip — there is no greater official honour for me than to stand on this floor and to speak for the people of san francisco. this i will continue to do as a member of the house, speaking of the people of san francisco, serving the great state of california and defending our constitution. and with great confidence in our caucus, i will not seek reelection to democratic leadership in the next congress.

for me, the hour's come from a new generation to lead the democratic caucus that i so deeply respect, and i'm grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility. here's our north america correspondent anthony zurcher researchers say a new species of turtle recently discovered in north—east spain may have been one of the largest ever to have lived. scientists believe it was more than three—and—a—half metres long and weighed nearly two tonnes, which makes it roughly the size of a small car. it inhabited europe's subtropical seas some 83 million years ago and had a smooth carapace similar to contemporary leatherback turtles. now to the japanese mountain resort of hakone, where visitors have literally been bathing in red wine. despite its rising cost, japanese wine lovers stepped into a pool of this year's french beaujolais nouveau. 0ne bottle of the french wine costs 31 us dollars — that's twice as much as it did last year.

so, why bathe in it ? advocates of vinotherapy say it can help you get rid of spots, cellulite and even wrinkles. but others say the alcohol just dries out your skin! happy friday! that's all we have now. stay with bbc world news. hello. our very unsettled spell of november weather is set to continue for some of us, particularly towards the north and east. there's some fairly heavy rain in the forecast over the next 2a hours or so. further south and towards the southwest, things are tending to dry out through the day on friday, so it's going to be a day of mixed fortunes. let's look at the expected rainfall accumulation over the next 2a hours. not much for southern england, wales, northern ireland, but take a look at scotland — this green zone here — that is where we're going to see the heaviest and most persistent rainfall. in fact, the met office have issued an amber warning for heavy rain in eastern scotland, particularly for aberdeenshire, angus, perth and kinross as well. could be up to 150 mm perhaps over the cairngorms, certainly enough to cause some flooding issues. so, we've had this low

pressure drifting its way northwards overnight, continuing to bring all of this heavy rainfall. through the early hours of friday morning, still a pretty soggy scene in the north and east of scotland. most of us frost—free to start the day — we could just see a touch of frost, though, earlier on across northern ireland. through the day on friday, there's that persistent rain driven in by these easterly winds across parts of scotland, drifting its way westwards. elsewhere, a few showers around, but they're tending to peter out through the day. best of the sunshine for parts of southern england, wales, perhaps into northern ireland later in the day. it's not quite as warm as it has been — temperatures generally around 9—12. then, over into saturday, we've got more cloud and rain sitting in the east, so overnight temperatures by saturday morning around about 4—6, but further west, we're looking at a touch of frost for parts of northern ireland, into western wales, for instance, as well. but through the day on saturday, the next front will move its way in from the west. we've still got that front in the east as well, so something of a frontal

sandwich. we've got cloud and patchy rain moving in from the east, another area of cloud and rain from the west, and in between, there will be some sunshine and some drier weather on the cards. it's going to be a little cooler than it has done recently with temperatures generally only around 7—9 around that east coast, perhaps up to around 12 down towards the southwest. it looks like the front in the west winds out as we head into sunday. it pushes its way east across the uk and it's followed by scattered showers. so, early on, perhaps a band of persistent rain slowly clearing eastwards, some heavy, potentially thundery showers and turning colder — could even be a little bit of snow on top of the mountains in scotland. top temperatures by this stage around 6—11 degrees. bye for now.

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 with me, zainab badawi. next month, the ruling anc in south africa holds its five yearly national conference, where president cyril ramaphosa is seeking re—election as leader of the party, which puts him in a position to contest national elections in 202a. but south africa is currently in the midst of a severe

economic meltdown, with mass unemployment and crippling power cuts and a political culture which many are warning could bring the state to the point of collapse.