welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: the us defence department says it's confident a balloon spotted over montana is a chinese surveillance platform. the us also reaches a deal to increase its military presence in the philippines, as it seeks to counter chinese influence in the region. a former russian officer tells the bbc he witnessed russian soldiers humiliating and shooting ukrainian prisoners of war. translation: the ukrainian had a blindfold on. you _ translation: the ukrainian had a blindfold on. you cannot - translation: the ukrainian had a blindfold on. you cannot put. a blindfold on. you cannot put a blindfold on. you cannot put a pistol to the present apps for head and said i am going to counter three, and then shoot in the head.

the australian tennis star nick kyrgios is due in court in canberra later, charged with an alleged assault of a former partner in 2021. and covid, vaccines and those conspiracy theories — we speak to the microsoft founder and philanthropist, bill gates. i guess people are looking for the bogeyman behind the curtain. there are over simplistic explanation. voice-over: live simplistic explanation. voice—over: live from our voice—0ver: live from our studio— voice—0ver: live from our studio in_ voice—over: live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc— studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. we start with breaking news from the us, where the defence department says it's confident a balloon spotted over montana is a surveillance platform from china. a short while ago, the pentagon press secretary brigadier general pat ryder put a statement on the us department of defence website

confirming the high—altitude surveillance balloon is being tracked. he added, "the balloon is currently travelling "at an altitude well above commercial air traffic "and does not present a military or physical threat "to people on the ground." he also said: our north america correspondent, peter bowes, gave us some more insight into this story. when according to the pentagon that the surveillance balloon believed to be china's has been hovering over the united states for several days. specifically detected over the city of billings, in the state of montana. we don't know, or at least the pentagon isn't saying where it is believed to be now, but we understand from what the officials there were saying that it officials there were saying thatitis officials there were saying that it is still hovering somewhere over the united states. at stratospheric

altitudes, that means extremely high, much higherthan high, much higher than commercial aircraft high, much higherthan commercial aircraft and therefore it is interposing any danger to aircraft. it isn't posing a danger to people on the ground either. we understand that at one stage the option of it out of the air was considered, in fact, aircraft military were deployed at one stage. that idea of shooting get down was rejected because of the danger of a potential debris field, that's bits of debris coming down from the balloon, imposing a danger to people on the ground. so it is up there somewhere. also, we understand from those officials that they don't believe that it is collecting sensitive material that is so critical that couldn't have been collected in any other ways. in terms of spying, using satellites, for example. so it seems at least for the time being that the monitoring process is continuing. the

surveillance is continuing very closely by the military, but the balloon continues to hover. peter bowes. will monitor that story for you, attending to get reaction from china later on bbc news, so stay tuned for that. there's been a big development in a story we brought you 2a hours ago. america has sealed a deal to greatly increase its military presence in the philippines. the deal gives the us access to four more military bases in the philippines, which will make a total of nine. china's foreign ministry called the agreement a threat to regional stability. but the us and the philippines said it would boost peace and freedom. i've been speaking to gregory b poling, a senior fellow at the centre for strategic and international studies in washington, and the author of a recent book on territorial disputes in the south china sea. he told me how significant this agreement could be. it is pretty significant. the american government

has made commitments, explicit commitments to the philippines since at least 2019 to defend filipinos if they come under attack in the south china sea. and it's always been pretty clear that it couldn't do that from guam or okinawa. it needed access, more access to philippine facilities. so that's directly important. the other piece is this is part of an 18—month—long process of strengthening the alliance. it's just one of a series of agreements that have been ongoing. what does it say, do you think, about the relationship that the philippines has with both china and the us? because of course, it has had in the past to strike a delicate balance between the two. well, in your intro, you pointed out the previous government of rodrigo duterte did really bend over backwards in an attempt to appease beijing, improve ties with china, even at the cost of the long—standing alliance with the united states. and china's response to that was to not reciprocate. it didn't deliver aid

or investment as requested or as promised, and most importantly, it increased its coercion and bullying, and violence in the south china sea rather than dialling it back. so what all that has done is reinforce this strategic consensus within manila that they face an external threat from china, that it's only getting worse, and that their only option is to deepen the alliance with the united states. and i just wonder what you think of the sort of wider region, gregory, given the fact that, you know, the philippines and that relationship between the us and china isjust one of example of the countries that are caught in the middle of these two superpowers. do you think that many other asian countries might be looking at this and thinking, "we might do the same thing?" well, i don't think that you're going to see the same kind of tightening with non—allies. so the philippines, japan, australia, and the republic of korea are in a camp of their own as longstanding us allies — and in the case ofjapan and the philippines,

as the direct targets of chinese coercion. we should not discount the agency of these countries. the philippines is not doing this because it's been tricked by the us. the philippines is doing this because it's been kicked around by china for more than a decade. other countries, though, are deepening security and diplomatic cooperation both with the us and with each other and other parties like the japanese, largely because they don't like what they see from china's behaviour. that was gregory b poling speaking to us a little earlier on newsday. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. one child has been killed and a second badly injured when a freight train hit pedestrians in the german town of recklinghausen. eyewitnesses say the victims were dragged by the train for several hundred metres. rescue workers are at the scene of the accident, near a former freight yard. a guantanamo bay prisoner who once worked for al-qaeda and was tortured by the cia has

been released and resettled in belize. majid khan said he planned to make the most of his second life. he's the biden administration's first resettlement of a prisonerfrom guantanamo — the us military base in cuba. the manchester united footballer mason greenwood is no longerfacing charges of attempted rape and assault. the crown prosecution service said the withdrawal of key witnesses, and the discovery of new information in the investigation, meant there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction. he was originally charged after audio of the alleged assault went viral last year on social media. more than 20,000 train drivers in the uk are set to strike again in the dispute over pay and working conditions. the action will effect 16 train operating companies. the british government has asked the unions to "play their part" in bringing the row to an end. a former russian army officer has told the bbc he witnessed russian

soldiers committing war crimes in ukraine. in an exclusive interview, konstantin yefremov said ukrainian prisoners of war were humiliated, beaten and shot. mr yefremov left the russian army in august last year and has fled abroad. he spoke to the bbc�*s russia editor, steve rosenberg. this is the war in ukraine — the official russian version of it. packaged, promoted, propagandised by moscow. fearless russian soldiers fighting the good fight, defending the motherland. but konstantin yefremov was there, and the reality, he says, is very different. konstantin was a senior lieutenant in the russian army, but he's fled russia and he's agreed to tell me about crimes he says he saw russian soldiers committing in ukraine. starting here. this is one

of konstantin�*s first photos from ukraine — an air base seized by russian troops in melitopol. translation: i saw looting there. - soldiers and officers grabbed everything they could. they climbed all over the planes and went through all the buildings. buckets, axes, bicycles — they bunged it all in trucks. konstantin says that on the day russia invaded ukraine, he tried to quit the army. he was warned he'd face up to ten years in prison for desertion. in occupied ukraine, he was sent to guard this artillery unit, and then a facility where he says he witnessed ukrainian prisoners of war being tortured. translation: the ukrainian had a blindfold on. _ the colonel put a pistol to the prisoner's forehead

and said, "i'm going to count to three "and then shoot you in the head." he counted, and then fired just to the side of his head, on both sides. the colonel started shouting at him. isaid, "comrade, colonel, he can't hear you. "you've deafened him." the interrogations became increasingly violent, claims konstantin. translation: during anotherj interrogation, the colonel shot the prisoner in the arm and in the right leg, under the knee and hit the bone. i went to the commanders and said, "the ukrainian "needs to go to hospital. "he'll be dead by morning from blood loss." we dressed him up in a russian uniform and took him to hospital. we told him, "don't say you're a ukrainian prisoner of war "because either the doctors will refuse to treat "you or the injured russian soldiers "will hear you and shoot you."

the bbc has verified documents, photographs, and videos provided by konstantin confirming his identity and his movements. once he'd returned to russia, back on base, he was accused of a serious breach of discipline for refusing to go back to ukraine. he was dismissed from the army. a russian human rights group, gulagu.net, has helped him leave the country. translation: | apologise i to the whole ukrainian nation for coming to their home as an uninvited guest with a weapon in my hands. i don't even have a moral right to ask forforgiveness from the ukrainians. i can't forgive myself, so i can't expect them to forgive me. konstantin says that

senior officers called him a traitor for being anti—war, but he points out that he gave an oath to protect his country, not to attack another. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the eu has pledged to double the military aid programme for ukraine by training an extra 15,000 soldiers. ahead of a war summit in kyiv on friday, the european commission president, ursula von der leyen, said the eu will have a tenth package of russian sanctions in place by 2a february — the first anniversary of the invasion. meawnhile, the chair of russia's council on foreign and defense policy, sergey karag—anov, a putin ally, told hardtalk�*s stephen sakur that russias would utilise all means necessary, to deal with the cancer, as he put it, that is nato.

we are fighting the cancer, the cancer as nato and its expansion. we are trying by persuasion, by therapy, now by surgery, i hope it won't be through radiology now. sorry, sir, are through radiology now. sorry, sir. are you — through radiology now. sorry, sir, are you alluding _ through radiology now. sorry, sir, are you alluding there - through radiology now. sorry, sir, are you alluding there to. sir, are you alluding there to russia's_ sir, are you alluding there to russia's nuclear weapons capability when you talk about crosstalk. "m - crosstalk. i'm not letting anything. i'm saying that we shall win the war, whatever that means. and there is no, i assume, that we have all kind of possibilities. i hope that we will not use all possibilities, but our western partners are enemies, or whomever, are ramming the door to hell. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme:

meeting the man behind microsoft — we talk covid vaccines and conspiracy theories with bill gates. this is the moment that millions in iran have been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of ayatollah khomeini on iranian soil. south africa's white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid, and the anc leader nelson mandela is to be set free unconditionally. mission control: three, two, one. a countdown to a critical moment. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of its engines at once. and apart from its power, it's this recycling of the rocket, slashing the cost of a launch, that makes this a breakthrough in the business of space travel. two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. one of them called it, "a piece of cake." thousands of people have given l the yachtswoman ellen macarthur a spectacular homecoming - in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed

the world record . for sailing solo _ around the world, non—stop. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines: the us defense department says it's confident a balloon spotted over montana is a chinese surveillance platform. the us also reaches a deal to increase its military presence in the philippines, as it seeks to counter chinese influence in the region. in the united states, house republicans have voted to remove a prominent progressive democrat from a powerful committee. ilhan omar, was one of the first muslim women elected to congress five years ago. but house republicans say she should not serve on the foreign affairs committee because they consider some of her past comments about israel to be antisemitic. here's her defiant

response to that ousting. idid not i did not come to congress to be silent, i came to congress to be their voice. my my leadership and voice will not be diminished if i am not on this committee for one term. my committee for one term. my voice will get louder and stronger. and my leadership will be celebrated around the world as it has been. so take your vote or not, i am here to stay and i am here to be a voice against harms around the world and advocate for a better world. the australian tennis star nick kyrgios is due in court in canberra on friday after being charged with an alleged assault of a former partner in december 2021. lawyers for mr kyrgios have said they will apply to have the assault charge against him dismissed on mental health grounds. our correspondent phil mercer has more from canberra. lawyers for the australian

tennis star say that his mental health troubles have been well documented in his medical history for several years. indeed, nick kyrgios has spoken openly about battles, indeed, nick kyrgios has spoken openly about his battles, his loneliness, his depression and also his abuse of alcohol. so, under the crime act here in the australian capital territory, the magistrate has the authority to dismiss these assault charges against nick kyrios on the grounds of mental health and it is finally a decision for the director of public prosecutions, if the magistrate decides that's the way that the court wants to go. nick kyrgios is expected in court today for the very first time. he has not attended previous hearings so in the next few hours we are expecting the magistrate to decide what happens next. the new zealand government has

weighed into reports that fifa is set to allow saudi arabia's tourism authority to sponsor the 2023 women's world cup. new zealand sports minister grant robertson said fifa should consider the empowerment of women and girls when making commercial arrangements. football australia and new zealand football have said they are shocked and disappointed by the reported deal. rebecca sowden is a former player for the new zealand football ferns. i began by asking herfor her reaction to the reported deal. like most players, fans, women's sports advocate and the general public, this isjust a gross misalignment between fifa, who themselves sell package and market the women's world cup on celebrating and progressing women so this gap is too big to reconcile, i think particularly with this women's world cup being the

first instance where fifa have bundled sponsorship right with the man's cup providing opportunity to align to brand which have the same values of progressing women. —— unbundled. progressing women. -- unbundled.— progressing women. -- unbundled. ., ., ~' unbundled. how do you think fifa may _ unbundled. how do you think fifa may respond _ unbundled. how do you think fifa may respond to - unbundled. how do you think fifa may respond to this - fifa may respond to this criticism? it fifa may respond to this criticism?— criticism? it will be very interesting. _ criticism? it will be very interesting. you - criticism? it will be very - interesting. you mentioned football australia and a number of responses have asked for of clarity. no matter how much noise or opposition, there is not a lot of these organisations can do. however, moving forward, it is really going to hurt the women's game as a potential host nation or sponsor and people will be careful about sponsoring these events if they know could get blindsided at any moment. to our blindsided at any moment. to

your point about the football fans, players i should say, what kind of pressure you expecting to see on fifa from them? i expecting to see on fifa from them? ~ ., , , expecting to see on fifa from them? ~ . , , ., them? i think it has been great seeinu them? i think it has been great seeing the _ them? i think it has been great seeing the likes _ them? i think it has been great seeing the likes of— them? i think it has been great seeing the likes of new - them? i think it has been great| seeing the likes of new zealand football and football australia come out and have a son. international players in the women's game by sharing posts about it. they are already encouraging people to sign a petition so i think we will see a lot of vocal resistance. the women's game and the players in the game are some of the leading advocates of gender equality and lgbt rights and they are not going to stay silent on this one. if they are not going to stay silent on this one.- silent on this one. if this doesn't _ silent on this one. if this doesn't go _ silent on this one. if this doesn't go ahead, - silent on this one. if this doesn't go ahead, whatl silent on this one. if this - doesn't go ahead, what happens? are you expecting football players to pull out or fans not to show up? qatar in the end did go ahead with the world

cup? it did go ahead with the world cu - ? , did go ahead with the world cu . ? , ., ., , did go ahead with the world cu? ., , did go ahead with the world cup? it is a really tricky one, from the _ cup? it is a really tricky one, from the host _ cup? it is a really tricky one, from the host nation - cup? it is a really tricky one, from the host nation to - from the host nation to spotting bodies. this tournament for most players caress is the highlight. the government in new zealand and australia have invested a lot of money and everyone wants the tournament to be a success so no—one wanted to boycott it as such but expect a lot of vocal opposition and i think it is really bad around the tournament for all brand if there is vocal opposition. players have a great social media present and it will damage all parties in this instance. bill gates has said that he was surprised to be at the centre of so many conspiracy theories during the pandemic. the philanthropist, who has donated tens of billions of dollars to the causes of global health and tackling climate change, was accused of profiting from covid—19, or even spreading it. from kenya, amol rajan reports. for most of his life, bill gates has been the richest man in the world.

but the founder of microsoft has, somehow, gone from being the face of american computing and capitalism to the front man for endless conspiracy theories. he's given tens of billions to philanthropy, focusing on climate change and global health. particularly that of children. i travelled to kenya to question him on a range of issues, including those raisd by critics of his philanthropy. who made you god? i'm not god. i mean, as a percentage of the world economy, i'm kind of round in there, but, yes, i decided that the death of children, when i read that diarrhoea was killing half a million children and that the vaccine to stop those deaths was being given to the rich kids but not to the poor kids, i said, "wow.

"now i know the area of inequity most of my money will go on." during the pandemic, gates became the subject of countless conspiracy theories. i did not expect that but, you know, during the pandemic, there were tens of millions of messages about, that i intentionally caused it or i'm tracking people, which... it's true i'm involved with vaccines but i'm involved with vaccines to save lives. you know, i guess people are looking for the bogeyman behind the curtain, the oversimplistic explanation, that its malevolence is a lot easier to understand than biology. greta thunberg credits her asperger�*s as her special power. what is your special power? defining whether somebody is on the asperger�*s spectrum is a pretty vague thing but my ability to concentrate... ..is very high. and when i was young, it was weirdly high. you know, to memorise things and try out my thinking, which made science and maths super interesting.

and then i discovered software and was able to throw all my energy into that. you're going to turn 70 in three years, that's a big milestone for some people. how do you feel about it? no, it's strange to be an old person. i don't think of myself that way. you know, ifeel young but i have limited time. my life is two thirds done. can i get malaria eradication done? i think so. bill gates... thank you. ..a real pleasure to talk to you. amol rajan, bbc news, kenya. finally, the last boeing 7117 to be built at the company's factory in seattle has played a prominent farewell in the sky. as it was —— thejumbo was first introduced at the paris

air show in 1969. it brought commercialflight to the commercial flight to the masses. that's all for now, stay with bbc world news. hello. weather change is on the way at the weekend. i'll detail in a moment. first, it's been a pretty wet 2a hours across parts of northern scotland, over 50 millimetres of rain in places, over 5 hours of sunshine in the sunniest parts of kent on thursday, although much of the uk has been cloudy. some cloud, rain we are all in the mild air at the moment. it's this that changes at the weekend. by sunday, the blue takes over. it will be turning colder but actually it will be tipping the balance on sunday in favour of sunnier skies. once again with a big area of high pressure moving right across the uk. we're not there yet, and there will be a lot of clouds to start off on friday. there'll be a damp start

across parts of southern scotland, northern ireland and northern england. particularly mild here though, double figure temperatures from the word go. now, any early rain will clear away from northern ireland and northern england, and push north across scotland. so any early sunny spells here will be short—lived. for northern ireland, england and wales into the afternoon, a lot of cloud around. you may still encounter some light rain or drizzle, but there'll also be some brighter spells developing in a few places too. and as for temperatures, they will be a little bit higher than they were on thursday, up to around 13, 1a degrees celsius for, say, hull and for london. now on through friday night, we'll keep a good deal of cloud around. it's western areas that are most likely to get some further light rain or drizzle. very wet weather poised to move into scotland as we go on through saturday. another mild start to the day. so here's the weekend under way. we've noticed a lot of cloud around during daylight hours. for england and wales it'll stay mainly dry. there will be a few sunny spells here and there. whereas for scotland and for northern ireland, we'll see this band of rain working its way southwards during the day

and temperatures for many still in double figures. it will be turning colder in those areas. they'll see the back of the rain before the end of the day. and it's the rain along with this weather front that just moves its way southwards and weakens overnight, saturday night into sunday morning. and it's behind that — it is a cold front — the colder air moves in, but with a big area of high pressure across the uk — see the wind circulating around it here — there will be loads of sunshine around on sunday. just parts of scotland, maybe the far southwest of england, holding on to some cloud. temperatures are down, yes, and a frosty night to follow on sunday night.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. its adam in the studio. and chris in the studio. the mayor of manchester _ chris in the studio. the mayor of manchester will _ chris in the studio. the mayor of manchester will be - of manchester will be in manchester.— of manchester will be in manchester. and a former conservative _ manchester. and a former conservative mp _ manchester. and a former conservative mp and - manchester. and a former conservative mp and did l manchester. and a former- conservative mp and did almost alljobs in government. i conservative mp and did almost alljobs in government.- alljobs in government. i don't know about — alljobs in government. i don't know about you _ alljobs in government. i don't know about you but _ alljobs in government. i don't know about you but i - alljobs in government. i don't know about you but i love - know about you but i love reading a bank of england monetary policy report. they

meet every so often and make decisions on interest rates and they put up