this is bbc news. our top stories: police in the bahamas arrest the former head of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange — ftx — at the request of the united states. more than 30 years after the lockerbie disaster, the accused bombmaker is charged at a court in washington. the european parliament's president says the institution, and european democracy, is under attack — following a corruption scandal. and could we be one step closer to abundant clean energy? reports of a major breakthrough in nuclearfusion.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. police in the bahamas have arrested the former ceo of the cryptocurrency exchange ftx, sam bankman—fried. he's also known as sbf. that's after the bahamas received formal notification from the united states of criminal charges against him in connection with the collapse of ftx in november. it's now likely the united states will request his extradition. david willis, our north america correspondent, is with us. what do we know so far? i what do we know so far? i have to say since _ what do we know so far? i have to say since ftx _ what do we know so far? i have to say since ftx collapsed - what do we know so far? i have to say since ftx collapsed just i to say since ftx collapsed just over a month ago as sam bankman—fried has remained at his luxury penthouse apartment in the capital of the bahamas,

occasionally giving interviews, in which he has denied defrauding his client. tonight in the early evening the police arrived at that gated compound, and they arrested mr sam bankman—fried at the request of the united states government, thatis the united states government, that is pending the expected extradition plea from the us, that will take sam bankman—fried from here to the united states of america to face charges, what sort of charges? the indictment filed by the new york prosecutors is yet to be unsealed, the new york times is reporting sam bankman—fried faces charges that include, wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering, all of this coming on the eve of what was widely anticipated testimony he was due to give to a us congressional hearing, looking

into the collapse of ftx. mit? into the collapse of ftx. why has ftx become _ into the collapse of ftx. why has ftx become such - into the collapse of ftx. why has ftx become such an - has ftx become such an important issue?- has ftx become such an important issue? has ftx become such an im ortant issue? , u, important issue? ftx became the second largest — important issue? ftx became the second largest crypto _ important issue? ftx became the second largest crypto currency - second largest crypto currency exchange in the world, it had assets or valuation of $32 billion, one particular point. now it is worth more or less nothing, it was revealed back in the beginning of last month, that basically funds had been funnelled out of ftx and into another company, also owned by sam bankman—fried, a company known as alameda research, that prompted a massive run on customers monies that were tied up customers monies that were tied up with ftx, and that revealed a massive hole in the accounts

at the company, which only accelerated the race to withdraw funds from ftx, it collapsed as i say a month ago, and sam bankman—fried, who was month on paper is one of the wealthiest people in the world, t—shirt wearing, cyber whizzkid as he was hailed in the media, is now said to be down to one credit card only, and worth much less than he was at that point. much less than he was at that oint. ., ~' ,, much less than he was at that oint. . ~ ,, much less than he was at that oint. . ~ . , the libyan man accused of making the bomb that destroyed a us passenger plane over lockerbie in southern scotland in 1988 has appeared in court. the explosion killed 200 and 70 people. abi agila masud is alleged to have been a member of libya's intelligence service. us prosecutors say he won't face the death penalty. 0ur north america editor sarah smith has this report.

abi agila masud was told in court what the charges against him are and that he could face life in prison if convicted. he's accused of making the bomb that killed 270 people when it blew up pan am flight 103, over lockerbie in 1988. two years ago, that then us attorney general, william barr, announced formal criminal charges against masud. why is it important that masud is brought to the us and tried in american court? from a policy standpoint, i think it's important to let it be known that if you attack americans, you are going to be brought to justice, even if it takes 30 years. when we learned in november of 1991, when we came to the determination that this was the libyans that carried out the attacks, my own personal view was that it was not enough just to go and seek to try the individual agents who were acting on behalf of libya. obviously, the intelligence service doesn't go off on its own and do these things.

so i felt we had to take direct action against libya and i felt that we should establish the precedent at that point that if you attack, if you engage in this kind of mass atrocity, terroristic attack on the united states that you will be signing your own death warrant. while masud was in custody in libya on separate charges, he confessed to his part in the lockerbie attack. are you convinced there is enough evidence to guarantee a conviction? that is the standard we use in the department ofjustice which is we don't bring charges unless we feel we have admissible evidence sufficient to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the individual is guilty. we know there was an interview he gave that to libyan law enforcement in which he described his involvement in the lockerbie bombing. do you have evidence beyond that? have you seen evidence beyond that? i can't get into talking about the evidence i saw while i was attorney general, and i certainly don't know what evidence has been developed in the subsequent time.

but there is additional evidence? we did spend time developing additional evidence beyond his interview with libyan law enforcement. abi agila masud will appear in court again on the 27th of december. a full criminal trial will not begin until next year. sarah smith, bbc news, washington. let's get some of the day's other news. in south america, police in peru have once again clashed with protestors as anti—government demonstrators blocked the airport in peru's second largest city, arequipa. demonstrators are calling for the reinstatement of the former president pedro castillo after he was ousted last week. five people have now died in clashes with security forces since the protests began. chile is battling to control the spread of several wildfires that are impacting its central region. more than 4,000 hectares have been destroyed and local communities put at risk. authorities have asked residents to evacuate. the federal government

and emergency agencies have met to discuss firefighters' progress and the threat of new outbreaks. in south—east asia, authorities in indonesia say foreigners visiting the country will not be charged under its new law which criminalises sex outside marriage. the legislation, which is due to take effect in three years, carries a penalty of up to a year injailfor sex outside marriage. businesses are worried that the strict law will negatively impact indonesia's tourism industry. china says it will deactivate a phone at that has tracked movements during the pandemic, it is the last step in its abandoning of its zero covid—19 strategy. i'm joined now by peter lee a british expat who lives in shanghai.

these steps are changing and moving very quickly as beijing unravels its policies, what are the rules at the moment, how often do you have to test and who do you have to tell if you test positive, do you have to lock yourself inside question? as of today it seems like all the restrictions have been lifted completely, starting from about three or four days ago restrictions were gradually loosened, first of all we didn't need to show negative pcr test to into restaurants and bars, but as of today, my understanding is we no longer to even check in, previously we would have had to have scanned the venue code so there was a record we had visited that the new and then there could be traced back of they happen to be a positive case at the same venue, we would all be isolated in centre quarantine or locked

down at our apartments. my understanding now that is completely gone, i have friends who are positive now who are at at home they inform the authorities and the authorities or the community management shrug and say, good luck get well soon. so it's a very quick reversal and it has taken us all by surprise.— all by surprise. china's covid-19 _ all by surprise. china's covid-19 measures - all by surprise. china's i covid-19 measures were all by surprise. china's _ covid-19 measures were received covid—19 measures were received differently many from outside said they were draconian and authoritarian into heavy—handed, china maintains this is how they have been able to keep case numbers so low by keeping this tight grip on the lives of people stop how did you feel about them at the time? in you feel about them at the time? :: ' , time? in 2021 when it first broke we _ time? in 2021 when it first broke we were _ time? in 2021 when it first broke we were quite - time? in 2021 when it first | broke we were quite happy time? in 2021 when it first - broke we were quite happy and able to live lives, but recently, most of 2022, it has been quite hard on us in shanghai or locked down

completely for april and may, that was very tough on everybody, and so there is a cost, and it's a trade—off, and i think there is no doubt lives have been saved, but a lot of people feel that the cost has been too high, disruption to business, to people's livelihoods, people having difficulty accessing medical facilities because they are a lot down, it's quite a complicated situation. how do ou feel complicated situation. how do you feel about _ complicated situation. how do you feel about the _ complicated situation. how do you feel about the way - complicated situation. how do you feel about the way it - complicated situation. how do you feel about the way it is . you feel about the way it is being unravelled is being done appropriately? this being unravelled is being done appmpriately?_ appropriately? this is what everybody _ appropriately? this is what everybody is _ appropriately? this is what everybody is saying - appropriately? this is what everybody is saying in - appropriately? this is what everybody is saying in the l everybody is saying in the outside world buys china trying to snuff it out at every corner, i'm very happy, most of the people i know are very happy the restrictions are being lifted but we have been taken by surprise by the speed, for example i haven't been

vaccinated because up until yesterday, three years i did no single person in china who actually got infected with covid—19 while in china, there was really no perception of risk but that has changed overnight, it's very real now, i have many friends in shanghai and beijing who have already tested positive in the last few days so it's changing so quickly. unfortunately the vaccination bookings are fully booked as you can imagine people scrambling to get vaccinated.— people scrambling to get vaccinated. thank you very much. the european parliament has been engulfed in a corruption scandal, with allegations that qatar bribed eu officials to try to win influence. the president of the european body said the assembly would be launching an internal investigation over the allegations, and so far belgian police have arrested four people. earlier, i asked our news reporter azadeh moshiri what more we know about this

investigation. belgian prosecutors and investigators have believed for some time that a gulf state has been buying influence in parliament either with cash or potentially with gifts, and they believed they were in particular targeting aides for that kind of operation. it has to be said, qatar completely denies any involvement or wrongdoing, where the investigation stands right now is belgian police have arrested six people and released two. the prosecutor's office says they charged them with participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption. one of those people is eva kaili, one of the 1a european parliament vice presidents elected to that position, that is how high this potential corruption scandal goes, the bbc has reached out to her office for comment, we haven't received one so far, it is worth listening to what she said in parliament about human rights when it

comes to qatar. they committed to a vision by choice and they opened to the world, still, some here are calling to discriminate them, they bully them and accuses everyone who engages of corruption but still they take their gas, still they have their companies profiting billions there. currently she has been suspended by the socialist democratic group, her group in the european parliament as well as her domestic party in greece. this is a big operation, how have police and prosecutors been looking into all of this? it is really the details that are truly astonishing, it is not a bunch of investigators conducting some bureaucratic investigation in an office looking through some paper. for example, the president of the european parliament had to fly back from malta to brussels to witness belgian police search through an mep�*s house, that's part of the belgian constitution, she had to be present for that

search and they've seized about 600,000 euros in cash, after having searched about 16 homes, offices, they even at one point found a suitcase full of cash, in a hotel room, it is really the stuff of hollywood movies. they have also seized things like computers and mobile phones to examine them so it's a very big operation. how have european officials reacted to this news? they are not pleased, they have said the investigation is extremely an important and this had at the core of european democracy. the eu 0mbudsman has called for a complete overhaul of the ethics system that they have, she has also criticised, ursula von der leyen, the european commission president for saying she have set up a system which is toothless and it needs more investigative power and sectioning power, they have also taken some action in regards to qatar

even though the gulf state denies any wrongdoing currently but in april, they are recommending further investigations but there is another issue here and it's about trust in some of the eu and europe's most important institutions, and meps are saying the actions being taken right now simply not strong enough, let's listen to one mep who is part of those questioning it part of the left group in the european parliament. some specific groups played a key role to stop any strong language condemning the role of qatar in human rights violations for the organisation of the world cup, that's the one thing i'm saying, the second thing is that scandal was only the part of the iceberg on top of the water, but it is probably a bigger part of the iceberg under the water. in which investigations are continuing. so tip of the iceberg, it really does seem like this could the beginning of what we are learning when it comes to this possible corruption scandal at one of the most critical

european institutions. there is more on that story on the bbc website. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: building for the future — why this metal mason could revolutionise bricklaying in the 21st century. cheering and singing saddam hussein is finished, because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes but they brought a formal end to 3.5 years of conflict — conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders, the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off

from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteeing bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: police in the bahamas arrest the former head of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange, ftx, at the request of the united states. more than 30 years after the lockerbie air crash, the accused bomb—maker is charged at a court in washington. to the us now, where reports suggest there's been a major breakthrough in the field of nuclearfusion. scientists at this federal lab in california say they may have found a way to generate more

energy than the amount they put in. nuclearfusion works by combining rather than splitting atomic nuclei. hurdles do still remain — but this net energy gain could bring the world one step closer to an abundant source of clean energy. i've been speaking to anna erickson, professor of nuclear and radiological engineering at georgia tech for more on this breakthrough. this was very exciting news for the community and i'm so happy to share this, looking forward to the announcement tomorrow. it turns out that we may have achieved a break even even point where we get as much energy as we put in and that would be for the first time. it's happening at the national ignition facility, you notice the word ignition and it means exactly that, getting that reaction to be productive, getting more energy than you put in, so looking forward to the wonderful

news tomorrow. in layman's terms, how have they achieved this? what have they actually done in the lab? fusion fascinates everybody because it is so mysterious but it is all over the place, the sun works with fusion, so it's the most natural thing, but it's difficult because in fusion you put two nuclei together and they are positively charged so if you try to put two magnets together, they tend to repel each other, it can be difficult. same with nuclei, you have to put a lot of work into make them come together so the nuclear forces take over. once you achieve that, once the two nuclei are close enough, they fuse, hence the word fusion, and that energy is released. and more amounts than traditional fission energy. so why is it so difficult? fission and fusion were

discovered at almost the same time in the 1930s. ten years later we had the atomic bomb and nuclear power plants operating on this basis. breaking things is easier than putting them together. fusion still remains ahead of us, so this is a great breakthrough but it's a step forward. i can't imagine we are all going to be switching on our nuclearfusion reactors in our kitchen cupboards tomorrow morning. what hurdles still remain? if you look at the largest laser facility in the world, which means it pumps a lot of energy into something very tiny, the target they are working with is the size of an eraser for a pencil, and inside of that eraser—sized target there is something smaller, the secondary target that contains those elements that fused together,

including heavy hydrogen and tritium — they are both elements of hydrogen. so they are so small, the engineering has to be incredibly precise. we are talking about precision that is far beyond what can even be imagined on a mass scale, however, if tomorrow's announcement is about the breakthrough, then i guess the engineering is working. netflix has released clips from the second half of the series on harry and meghan. in these newly released episodes, meghan says she was �*fed to the wolves�* after she joined the royal family — and harry suggests the british media was �*happy to lie to protect�* his brother but never willing �*to tell the truth�* to protect him and his wife. to see this institutional gaslighting. i wasn't being thrown to the wolves, i was being fed to the wolves. they were actively. recruiting people to

disseminate disinformation. they were happy to lie to protect my brother. they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us. 0ur royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, says the trailer leaves many questions unanswered. these are trailers, the purpose of the trailer is to attract attention and hype the contents. the programmes last week did not live up to the hype of last week�*s trailers. but in this instance, the presentation of these two sentences, they were happy to lie to protect my brother, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us, it�*s ambiguous. who is the �*they�* that harry is referring to there? is it the palace or the british media? either way, what is the evidence? this requires more than vague generalisations. we had a flavour of this on the oprah winfrey interview, when meghan talked about who made who cry over what the bridesmaids wore and she feels that was leaked to the british media in an unflattering way to her, but

surely there must be more than that behind this suggestion now, and what comes through isjust how angry harry appears to be and how determined he appears to be to get his truth out there. much of the world is experiencing a housing crisis. too many people and too few places to live. but building new homes isn�*t easy — in part due to a lack of trained workers. in the netherlands they�*re trying a new and innovative way to solve the problem — as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. this is a skilled and venerable tradition. for more than 9000 years humanity has been laying bricks. but what happens when you run short of people who can do thejob? well, how about this? a robot bricklayer, working with precision, accuracy, and most importantly, speed. translation: he can lay bricks better than a bricklayer, - i did a competition and it won.

this metal mason operates in human supervision and can do the job around three times faster than any normal bricklayer. it never tires, never falters, never needs to take a comfort break, and believe it or not, it may also be good for the environment. translation: it's a solution to build faster and _ without errors, saving time and money, it�*s also an opportunity to build much more sustainably, with fewer materials and fewer co2 emissions. this company has bought two of these machines and for now they are only in the testing phase. the hope is that they will soon be bricklaying in earnest, a robot revolution, house building for the 21st century. tim allman, bbc news. there is much more on all those stories on the bbc news website or you can download the bbc news app. you can find me on

twitter, please get in touch. from all of us here, thank you for your company and we will see you next time. hello there. for many of us, the cold weather will last for the rest of this week and we had some sunshine on monday, but it was a really cold start to the day. temperatures in royal deeside, braemar got down to minus 15.7, the lowest temperature recorded in the uk for over a year. and after such a cold start to the day, temperatures only got up to minus 9.3 in braemar. that made it the coldest day for over a decade, according to provisional data from the met office. the cold weather has been brought in by an area of high pressure over greenland. that�*s losing its grip. heading into the weekend there are signs of something of a change across south—western areas, with some of us seeing a return to milder weather. before we get there, over the next few hours we could have a few issues around with ice patches around particularly for northern ireland, northern and eastern scotland, down the eastern

side of england. mist and fog also causing problems in north—east england, the midlands, wales, lincolnshire. visibility in a few spots down to 100 metres in places. we sometimes see some of our lowest temperatures at about nine o�*clock this time of year. that temperature overnight low record in braemar is under threat. it has certainly been very cold over recent hours. throughout the day there will be a fair bit of sunshine, the brighter fields generally through east anglia and south—east england, but still some further showers falling as snow across northern scotland to watch out for. cold for just about everyone, but we are watching the weather system just move into the english channel. we might even see a bit of winteriness from this, something we are keeping close eye on. away from that, looking at the weather picture into the middle part of the week, we will continue with those cold northerly winds, bringing lots of snow showers to northern areas of scotland. and as the winds pick up here, we are looking at some blizzards and drifting up over the high ground, and elsewhere wednesday will bring a largely fine and sunny day, a few showers

coming down our coastal areas at times. some of these could be wintry. but for most it�*s a sunny but really cold kind of day, with temperatures not changing a great deal through the rest of this week. we are looking ahead later in the week and moving on into the weekend for that change to milder weather conditions. the transition might bring some rain and some snow for one or two of you for a time and eventually south—westerly winds will bring milder air. it looks like the change will head in in time for the weekend. you can find out more about that where you live by looking at the bbc weather app on android or apple.

this is bbc news. the headlines: police in the bahamas have arrested the former head of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange, ftx. they said sam bankman—fried had been detained as a result of criminal charges being filed in america. a police statement said washington was likely to seek his extradition. ftx filed for bankruptcy last month. a former libyan intelligence officer has appeared in court in washington to face charges of making the bomb that destroyed a passenger plane over lockerbie, in scotland, more than three decades ago. relatives of some of the victims were in court to see abu agila masud in person. the president of the european parliament says any members found guilty of corruption will face

the full extent of the law.