welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm monica miller. the headlines... france will face argentina in sunday's world cup final — after a two—nil victory over the tournament sensations morocco. china has re—called six diplomats, wanted for police questioning over a violent scuffle outside the country's consulate in manchester. and — the corruption scandal involving alleged bribes of one and a half million euros — that's stunned the european parliament. on friday, belgian police stopped the father of the vice president of the european parliament trying to leave this brussels hotel with a suitcase

crammed full of cash. and — four people have died and 43 others have been rescued — from a sinking boat, carrying migrants through freezing, choppy waters — in the english channel. live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. france have shattered morocco�*s hopes of becoming the first african and arab nation to reach the world cup finals. france won 2—nil. the defending champions will now meet argentina in the final this sunday. both teams are hoping for their third world cup trophy. let's start our coverage with olly foster in doha. what a final it should be on sunday between the reigning champions, france and lionel messi's, argentina. the french winning 2—0 here in

the second of the semi—finals at the el bayt stadium against morocco. the moroccans have been the story of the world cup, but it's the end of the road for them. the french took the lead very early on, theo hernandez, with a scissor kick from a very tight angle after a killing mbappe shot a deflected and fell to him kindly. but morocco were never really out of this match. jawad el yarmouk had an overhead kick that hit the base of a post. france were always in a game here. they knew they couldn't be complacent. they'd seen morocco�*s progress throughout this tournament, finishing top of their group ahead of croatia and belgium, beating spain, beating the portuguese, leaving cristiano ronaldo in tears. so france were on their guard against morocco and it wasn't until late on that they scored their second goal inside the last ten minutes. the substitute with a pretty much his first touch

of the game, he benefited from another mazy bit of work from kylian mbappe and it was his deflected shot that fell to him at the far post. randal kolo mounie with his first international goal, france winning 2—0. even in injury time, morocco pushed for a goal that they really deserved. but this historic march to the finals, the first african nation here, the first arab speaking nation to get this far, that is at an end, although they will have to lift themselves because they have another match to play, the one that no nation wants to play at a world cup, the third, fourth play off. they've got croatia on saturday. and ijust hope for all the tens of thousands of moroccan fans who have made their way to qatar after this incredible run that morocco have had, they hang around and pack out the khalifa international stadium to give morocco a truly great send off. but our attentions really now focuses on sunday as we look to the reigning champions,

france, to see if they can make it back to back titles. no team has done that until since brazil back in 58 and 62. or will it be a third title forargentina, france? against argentina? it should be a brilliant final or as we're going to call it, for the next three days or so, it will be messi against mbappe. hugh schofield is in paris with more on how france's victory went down back home. the french did put their supporters through the wringer a little bit. it was a 2—0 score at the end, which suggests that it was an easy victory, but it's not an easy victory at all, and for those of us watching, you know, everyone wanted france to win, obviously. there was a long period in the middle where i think their hearts were in their mouths as morocco pushed forward again and again, and you sensed also that france was losing it.

you sensed the french team is losing concentration, and in a way which i hadn't seen before, they suddenly seemed very vulnerable. i think it was because they didn't know what to do, whether to defend or attack. they got the one goal, they could sit on it. they decided to sit on it, they didn't push forward with any kind of confidence and not knocking around the ball between defenders lead to mistakes and led to very nearly to the equaliser, of course, it also created opportunities, this moroccan aggression because it meant on the counter attack, france could seek another goal and they did. they got it towards the end. up until that moment, it could so easily have shifted to an equaliser and then who knew, who knows what could've happened. so the people i was with whether very ecstatic at the end, very relieved, but not exactly inspired with confidence for the match against argentina. there was heartbreak for moroccans, who were hoping

mayeni jones sent this report from casablanca they started off hopeful as supporters in this is dog cafe sang the national anthem, beaming with pride at being the first african nation to make it to a world cup semifinal. but soon they grew frustrated as the team struggled to score against france. well, the game isjust coming to a close and fans are already leaving the cafe. there'sjust so much disappointment here. many had hoped that the moroccan team would be able to defeat the reigning champions france, but it wasn't to be. unfortunately france scored since the beginning, we lost our captain in the first 20 minutes, but still we managed to fight, we managed to fight until the end. all players, they played good. they really tried. but they were tired, a lot of games, a lot of stress of the whole game, the whole world cup. ithink... dima maghreb. yeah, dima maghreb, that

means always morocco. across the city, people watched the game anxiously. this team has galvanised support across generations and in the wider african region. as the dust settles and they recover from the disappointment, moroccans may look back at the historical performance with pride. mayeni jones, bbc news, casablanca. china has removed six diplomats from britain after an incident in october, when they were involved in a violent scuffle with pro—democracy protestors outside the country's consulate in manchester. the officials — including the most senior, the consul—general — refused to waive their diplomatic immunity and be questioned by police. here's our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. manchester last october, and pro—democracy campaigners from hong kong gather outside of china's consulate.

but then some men come out of the gate. they kick down posters, remove others. a violent scuffle ensues. as a senior diplomat looks on, one of the protesters is dragged inside the gates and is attacked. police have to enter the consulate to drag him clear. the foreign office asked for six of these men to have their diplomatic immunity waived so they could be questioned by detectives. instead, china has called them home, including the consul—general, the most senior diplomat, mr zheng xiyuan. the foreign secretary, james cleverly, said he was disappointed the men would not facejustice but... this demonstrates that our adherence to the rule of law, the seriousness with which we take these incidents, has had an effect. the protester who was attacked told the bbc this solved

a complicated diplomatic problem. what happened on 16th of october 2022 was unacceptable and illegal. and the withdrawal of these chinese diplomats gives me a sense of closure. officials here at the foreign office say that china was aware that if the diplomats did not waive their immunity, then they would be declared persona non grata and expelled. instead, china choose to pre—empt either option in a way that avoids further escalation. a chinese embassy spokesman said its staff had been the victims of the violence and the consul—general had simply completed his term of office. james landale, bbc news. china is facing problems with stockpiling after it relaxed its most severe covid—i9 policies last week. people have been rushing to buy ibu—pro—fen, cold medicines and covid testing kits amid reports of shortages. products for home remedies are now largely unavailable

let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. peru has declared a state of emergency for the next 30 days. supporters of former president, pedro castillio, continue to protest. the country's main roads and airports are blocked as people take to the streets. mr castillo was impeached and detained for alleged corruption following his attempt to dissolve peru's congress. russia has launched a new wave of air strikes on ukraine — targeting the capital kyiv. ukrainian officials say their air defences shot down 13 drones, but fragments hit residential buildings, and a government office. russia has repeatedly targeted ukraine's power network since october, using missiles and drones. president biden led tributes today to mark the tenth anniversary of one of the worst school shootings in america's history. mr biden said the nation should have �*societal guilt�* for failing to take more action to address gun violence since the killings at sandy hook elementary school in connecticut.

26 people were killed — 20 were young children. three men have appeared in a belgian court accused of being involved in an alleged corruption scandal, which has rocked the european parliament. prosecutors say they've found more than one and a half million euros in cash stashed in various properties, which had been given as bribes — allegedly by qatar. they deny any wrongdoing. a member of the parliament has also been charged, but has our europe editor katya adler reports. cases full of cash seized by belgian police linked to key figures in or close to the european parliament. prompting hair raising questions about trust and whether eu influence can be bought. translation: the investigation concerns the suspected - corruption of european parliamentarians by a gulf nation. the purpose of the bribery was to favour this country

in the financial and political decisions of the european parliament. the scope of the investigation is spreading, so what do we know so far? this vice president of the european parliament, formerly a glamorous tv presenter in greece, here with qatar's minister of labour, is making the most headlines. this is her last month, praising qatar's record on migrant workers' rights... qatar is a frontrunner in labour rights, abolishing kafala and introducing minimum wage. ..just as her fellow meps passed a resolution deploring them. she is accused of taking bribes to try to influence votes here in qatar's favour. qatar denies involvement but this scandal shines an uncomfortable spotlight on the world cup host. ..2022 fifa world cup is qatar! a reminder of the multiple allegations of corruption surrounding its successful bid, though no concrete evidence came to light. back in brussels, how

were the suspects there caught, according to police? it sounds like something out of a scandal—filled crime novel. on friday, belgian police stopped the father of the vice president of the european parliament trying to leave this his daughter protests her innocence but whatever happens in this case, it is going to have far—reaching implications on how decisions are made at the parliament, just down there, and on the tens of thousands of lobbyists who work here in brussels trying to influence those decisions. there are too many loopholes and we think there are several countries that engage in these kind of practices, of basically buying the support of meps and it looks like qatar, if it is qatar, may have got a bit overconfident in their approach to this. the sums involved are so huge that this was inevitably going to leak out. the vote is closed.

a shocked and shamed european parliament voted overwhelmingly yesterday to strip its vice president of her title. the eu's reputation is at stake here, said the bloc�*s leaders, in brussels today for a planned summit. in the current energy crisis, they look to gas rich qatar to help them. katya adler, bbc news, brussels. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... why south korean women fear they could lose their hard —fought gains on gender equality. 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 three and a half years of conflict, which 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 i to prevent the details - of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. on trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair means bill clinton is guaranteed a place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm monica miller in singapore.

our headlines. france will face argentina in sunday's world cup final — after a two—nil victory over the tournament sensations morocco. china has re—called six diplomats, wanted for police questioning over a violent scuffle outside the country's consulate in manchester. let's now turn to europe — where four people have died after a small boat carrying migrants capsized while crossing the english channel from france in freezing conditions. more than forty people were rescued in a joint operation by air and sea, conducted by the british and french navies and coastguards who were searching in the area circled. mark easton reports. the mayday call came around 3am — dark and below freezing, an extraordinary rescue effort to save the lives of dozens of migrants in a sinking dinghy in the middle of the english channel. a fishing boat first on the scene, pulling people

from the stricken inflatable. men, women and children screaming for help. rnli lifeboats, the royal navy, french navy and coastguard helicopter joined the operation. with daybreak, the search for survivors intensified, rescue teams trying to spot anyone in the cold waters of the channel. but within a few hours, it became clear the search was for bodies. and later, one of those who didn't make it was brought ashore at dover. lifeboat crews tried to resuscitate some survivors on the quayside. a helicopter took one adult victim to the william harvey hospital, in ashford, where he later died. another adult also received treatment and is thought to have since been discharged. 450,000 people... in the house of commons, the home secretary reflected the mood of shock at what had happened in uk waters, just off the kent coast. these are the days that we dread. crossing the channel in unseaworthy vessels is a lethally dangerous endeavour. it is for this reason,

above all, that we are working so hard to destroy the business model of the people smugglers. evil, organised criminals, who treat human beings as cargo. migrants from other dinghies have been brought ashore in dover during the course of the day. almost 16,000 have now crossed this year, despite the risks and the costs. those rescued today said they'd paid people traffickers £5,000 for a place on a flimsy dinghy and the promise of a better life in britain. the sea, flat, calm, when they set off from the french coast in the early hours, but with a two—metre swell in the middle of the channel. how do we stop people making these perilous journeys? there are opposing strategies. refugee agencies say the answer is to make it easier for asylum seekers to seek refuge in the uk, so they don't have to make the crossings in the first place. the government is intent on making it much more difficult, criminalising and swiftly deporting anyone who arrives by an irregular route.

by adopting an approach which is all about punishment and control, it doesn't stop the crossings. we need an approach which is about compassion above control, and which recognises the reasons people have to flee. the owner of the fishing vessel which first arrived on the scene spoke of his pride at the crew's actions. horrific incident but, you know, our guys there, we're proud that they did a cracking job, you know, rescuing 31 of those guys, yeah. it's just over a year since 27 people lost their lives in the channel, a tragedy that prompted both uk and french governments to say they were stepping up efforts to defeat the people smugglers. but since then, the criminal gangs have expanded their operations, while the desperation of those who would buy their services appears undiminished. mark easton, bbc news, dover.

absolutely tragic. for all its recent success — south korea has a dire record on women's rights. it has the worst gender pay gap of any wealthy nation country, and men dominate its boardrooms and politics. but rather than promising to tackle the issue — south korea's new president wants to close its ministry for gender equality. our seoul correspondent jean mackenzie has sent this report — there are details some viewers may find distressing relating to sexual assault and suicide. many women in south korea are angry. the new president here has claimed structural sexism is a thing of the past. but you need only scratch the surface to reveal shocking discrimination. when eunice started herjob as a clerk at a major bank, she was told to make the lunch and wash the hand towels in the men's bathroom.

they said, "this fell to me as the newest female member of staff." i said, "wouldn't it be better for the men to wash "the towels in their bathroom?" but my boss said, "how can you tell men to wash towels?" i politely said no, but my boss got very angry and started to torment me. south korea has the worst gender pay gap of all wealthy nations. but rather than promise to fix this, the president has courted young men who feel they're being disadvantaged by recent attempts to improve women's lives. "abolish the gender equality ministry," they shout here. the ministry supports women and those who've been sexually assaulted. and the president has agreed to close it.

anna was raped by her professor at college. she credits the gender equality ministry with saving her life. translation: | went to - a hospital, which was supposed to support victims of crime. the doctor there heard my case and said i was delusional. it was heartbreaking. five months later, i tried to kill myself. the gender equality ministry stepped in. it found her a place in a shelter and supported her to pursue a successful prosecution. anna is now fighting along with more than 800 organisations to save the ministry. for months i've been asking to interview the gender equality minister, but they've refused

to sit down with us. can ijust, do you agree with the president that there is no structural sexism in korea ? "there needs to be more women in politics and we must close the gender pay gap," she says. she goes on to explain how the current services will be protected. but what about all the progress still to be made? that's what women are now worried about. how can korea fix a problem it won't even acknowledge? jean mackenzie, bbc news, seoul. fiji's opposition leader is thought to be ready to challenge the country's election results after the election supervisor stopped publishing results for four hours. as votes began to be tallied on wednesday, siti—veni rabuka held an early lead. but when republishing started again four hours later his rival frank bain—eem—ah—rama was in the lead.

the elections office said they had to review the entire mechanism that were pushing out results. yan bingtao has become the latest chinese player to be suspended from the world snooker tour as part of an on going investigation into match fixing. he's the highest profile player to become embroiled in the investigation and his suspension comes just days five other chinese players were also suspended. earlier i spoke to snooker commentator elliott west about this latest suspension. i think the biggest shock, obviously a top 16 player and we don't know what has happened regarding this individual case, but it is worrying. if you look at the history of snooker, there is a number of players over the years that have been involved in match fixing, some of them have got

fines, some of them have been suspended from the game, and obviously, this is bad for snooker, we don't want anything like this and we want it cleared up as soon as possible. china is a massive market for the game, a lot of revenues, sponsorships come from this. how bad is this news for the game internationally. the trouble at the moment is that covid restrictions still exist in china, so there was five major tournaments prior to covid that were played in china and still to this day, we haven't been able to play snooker in china because of the restrictions. obviously, a lot of chinese players are over here now because they are in academies,

etc, they play the name ——main tour anyway. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello. this long spell of cold weather is not ending just yet. for the time being, we are still stuck in a deep freeze. this cold air that has been brought down from the north. but there are signs of a change in the outlook through the weekend and into the start of next week. a south—westerly wind starts to develop and that will bring something significantly milder. by monday, the southwest of england could see highs of 16 degrees. with that there will be some wind and rain at times. in the short term we stick with the cold and frosty feel to the weather. some icy stretches to start thursday morning and a day of sunshine and wintry showers awaits. the icy stretches are where we have had the showers

over recent houi’s. parts of northern ireland, the east coast of england and most especially the north of scotland. and here we will see frequent wintry showers of sleet and snow continuing through the day. some further accumulation of snow. some showers for northern ireland, briefly for west wales and also for the east coast of england. again, those would have a wintry flavor. some of those showers will fall as snow. but for many other places it is going to be a dry day. with plenty of sunshine not helping the temperatures much though. one to 5 degrees at best. through thursday nights, once against those temperatures will drop like a stone. there'll be further wintery showers, some further icy stretches and widely we are looking at lows of “4 or —5 degrees. some places will get colder than that. so, fog is likely to affect some southeastern parts of england through the first part of friday. the other feature of friday's weather is this weather system. which is likely to bring a mixture of rain, sleet and snow. across central parts of scotland. that could cause some disruption. it could certainly give rise to some ice.

it's another cold day but maybe not quite as cold. that is a sign of things to come. by saturday, we start to shift the wind direction. we start to pick up these south—westerly winds. still some showers around, especially in the west and northwest. some of those will still be wintry but those temperatures beginning to creep up. but as we get into sunday we see this big change. this frontal system driving its way from the southwest. that will bring heavy rain, strong winds and perhaps some snow for a time. but behind that, things will turn much milder.

this is a bbc news. we would have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the are new resurvey continues straight after our talk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. the uk isn't quite in the grip of a general strike, but it's not far off. vital public services like health, railand mail are being disrupted by industrial action. workers want to protect themselves from spiralling inflation. the government is desperate to keep a lid on wage rises and public spending.

as the economic gloom deepens.