this is bbc news. i'm tonya beckett, our top stories... a suspected chinese spy balloon is shot down off the coast of south carolina, on the orders of president biden. three airports were shut and airspace closed, so it could be targeted over the atlantic ocean. they successfully took it down, and i want to complement our aviators who did it. and i want to complement our detectives searching for nicola bulley, who disappeared during a dog walk in lancashire more than a week ago, say they want to speak to a woman who was seen pushing a pram. the forced installation of pre—payment metres in england and wales — the bbc learns that magistrates were given advice suggesting permission could be waved through. a peace mission to south sudan — the pope makes an unprecedented

visit, alongside the leaders of the church of england and church of scotland. hello to you in the uk, and around the world. in the last few hours, a united states fighterjet has shot down a chinese surveillance balloon which had been spotted over sensitive us military sites, on the orders of president biden. three airports on the east coast were closed in preparation for the operation. beijing has tried to calm the diplomatic row about the balloon, insisting it was gathering weather data and wasn't being used for spying. a short time ago, this is what president biden said. i ordered the pentagon to shoot it down as soon as possible, they decided without doing damage

to anyone on the ground. they decided that the best time to do that was as it got overwater within a 12 mile limit. they successfully took it down, and i want to complement our aviators who did it, and we'll have more to report on a little later. our north america correspondent david willis has been giving us the latest. the challenge is to retrieve the data that part of the balloon that contains all the information about its intent before it sinks to the bottom of the atlantic ocean. there are parts of the ocean that go down as far as 6,500 feet in depth, i'm told, so this is really the big challenge that lies ahead for officials. now, apparently navy craft are in the area, liaising with local coastguard, but it's going to be quite a battle. but it's a battle that the us wants to win — or needs

to win, i should say — if it's to prove that this balloon was actually engaging in some sort of surveillance or spying operation, as distinct from, as the chinese allege, simply gathering weather data. when president biden spoke about the balloon, he was very keen to say that he ordered it to be shot down on wednesday, that that order came from him and that was his initiative. so there is a lot about optics here, isn't there? 0h, very much so. and of course, the president had come under increasing criticism from his republican adversaries for not acting sooner on this. and it was explained at a pentagon briefing why he didn't — apparently, he gave the order for this balloon to be brought down back last wednesday, which is the day before its presence was even made public. but military officials decided to hang on because of the fear of this thing raining debris down over the us mainland. instead, they decided to wait, as they did cautiously, until it had crossed the coast

of south carolina, whereupon they cleared the airspace, they cancelled flights into and out of three local aircraft, and then they fired that one shot from a us fighterjet that brought the balloon down. for all of the messages to china that are sent through this very decisive action, no doubt the concern is also to instill confidence in the american people. 0h, very much so. and, you know, relations with china will be contentious and key in the run—up to next year's presidential election, most particularly, of course, if china does anything in regard to taiwan. so there's a lot at stake here. but the clear message from the biden administration, which if anything, has been tougher on china than his predecessor, is that this sort of thing cannot be engaged with this cannot be tolerated, and that china's explanation for this that is simply

blown off course whilst it was gathering weather i spoke to earlier to dr michael clarke — a defence and security analyst — and asked whether the balloon presented any surveillance danger. i don't think it presented any any surveillance danger, given the areas that it went over. it wasn't going to pick up very much from montana or the mid—west states where the missile fields were, where the americans keep their intercontinental ballistic missiles. there was nothing to be gained from that that they can't get from satellites. but this was clearly a chinese stunt of some sort, it was a challenge. the chinese must have known that this baloon would be easily detected, because it was pretty low down, flying at 60,000 feet, which meant it was visible to the naked eye from the ground. and so, i think this was meant to be a challenge. i think it went wrong for the chinese — they lost control over it. and the united states — i think biden, whether he has changed his mind about shooting

it down or not, he has a perfectly straightforward explanation. he says that he decided on wednesday it should be shot down, and they waited until the safest possible moment when it was over water but with inside the 12—mile limit, the legal limit, and that was the time to shoot it down — that's what they've done. and so he can seem he can he can make the case that he has been completely rational, cool and calm — and it makes the republicans who are calling for the thing to be shot down over over land, looking sort of adventurous and quixotic, and so on. so the republicans have now got to explain what benefit there would have been of shooting it down over montana when the debris might have fallen on people — i think that's an overstatement, but it might have — as opposed to doing it in this very careful, calculated way over water with ships waiting underneath to recover the material on board. and how difficult would that be to execute and any recovery? oh, the recovery�*s always got to be a problem. i mean, as your correspondent was saying, i mean, 650 metres

is pretty deep in terms of recovering relatively small objects from the water. and if it goes over the over the continental shelf, which is what he was talking about, down to 6,000 metres, that would be a big job and it may not be worth it, for the sort of surveillance material that was on this balloon. there wouldn't have been anything very amazing, i think, in the electronics or the surveillance material on this balloon, but it's worth recovering in itself. and what's interesting is that balloons are not that easy to bring down. they've failed in the past, because the these balloons will take but they don't, as it were, deflate them enough to bring them down. and in this case, it looks as if it was f22s circling underneath it about 10,000 feet below it — because f22�*s maximum ceiling is about 50,000 feet. so there must have been about 10,000 feet below it. and they fired at least one, maybe more than one sidewinder missile, which is a very old missile with modern variations. but it'd be interesting if a single missile brought it down. we spoke earlier to haley walsh, she saw the balloon coming

down from her house. here is her recollection of the events. so i knew that the balloon would be heading towards south carolina, but i could have never imagined that it would be going over myrtle beach, where i live. i was driving in the car with my mother — we pulled over because i'd seen on twitter that it was in the area, and we located it. and that's where i have the video of the balloon being surrounded by three fighterjets, and theyjust kept circling and circling. so we came home — my stepdad's a retired marine, let him know, and went outside to watch it some more, just kept watching the jets circle around it as it moved closer to the atlantic. and my stepdad said he suspected they would shoot it over once they were in the ocean, so it wouldn't hit any people and population — and he was absolutely right. we stepped in for a second to watch the news and see what was going on, and get updates, and we heard a huge boom and the house shook. i grew up on a military base,

and i'd never heard or felt this before. and were you aware that something was afoot? because your local airport was shut down, wasn't it? yes, absolutely. that was definitely a big sign that something would happen, because previously when airlines were flying by the balloon, they were pointing it out. so it definitely gave us a flag that there was a plan — and the fact that the balloon was about to go over the ocean and away from the population, it all just started making sense. and how do you feel about the idea of a chinese balloon flying over the united states, does it make you feel unsettled? you know, i'm not quite sure because we know they have satellites — so it's very strange that they would fly a balloon over, unless they're having issues with their satellites not gathering the information they want. i think they're definitely trying to test the usa, and i think that —

well, people are concerned they're watching us, i think our military was watching that balloon and gathering information from that, as well, and that might be the reason they didn't shoot it down. so it's now in the ocean? yes, i believe so, yes. yes, and one wonders how easy or difficult it will be to retrieve information from it? well, they definitely make sure they shot it down in the daytime too, so there would be able to retrieve pieces of it, and not have to do that in the dark. everything aligned perfectly for the military. now is this something that you and your neighbours have been talking about? because it's been in the news a great deal — or is it really something that you've just thought about for the first time when the balloon was close to where you live? no, i've been tracking it since it came into us airspace, i've been talking to my friends about why it's here and what the us will do about it. and once we saw the balloon and headed home to observe it more,

all our neighbours were outside talking about it. and when the balloon got shot down, you could hear them screaming, "oh my god, it's going down, they shot it" — so it's definitely the talk of the town. i'm not sure how many people had on their radar before, but everyone in myrtle beach knows there was a chinese balloon overhead today. detectives searching for nicola bulley, who disappeared during a dog walk in lancashire more than a week ago, say they want to speak to a woman who was seen pushing a pram on the morning the mother of two was last seen, along the river bank in st michael's, on wyre. police have released this image of the woman they believe was walking along the same path — they're urging her to get in touch as a potential witness. in response to the police�*s theory, nicola's friend of ten years emma white said it's important to keep searching for evidence. we can't be talking about a life and basing it on a theory. we can't go and tell those girls, well, the theory could be x, y and z — we need some evidence.

whatever the news is, then we'll deal with whatever the evidence is. so again, we're out in force today and raising that awareness. if anybody does see anything, hear anything, jogs the memory of last friday, please share. but on the bulletin yesterday, we're asking for factual information so that influx of calls yesterday, we want the facts. 0ur reporter 0livia richwald has been in the village of st michael's on wyre in lancashire. well, the light has faded now, but it has been another day of searching here in lancashire. the police have had their helicopters up above the river and they have walked the length of this riverfrom here near where she was last seen eight—and—a—half miles out to say. it is now eight days since the 45—year—old mum of two was last seen. only in the last half an hour, the police have had a drone up so it is very much a search in progress. and the community have

also been helping out — not farfrom here, there is a tennis club where volunteers have been turning up all day to get maps to do their bit to look for nicola bulley. and the searches are likely to continue for the rest of the weekend. the bbc has learnt that courts were given advice suggesting warrants for the forced installation of pre—payment metres in people's homes in the uk could be waved through. more than 1,000 warrants a day were approved by magistrates last year, as the cost of living crisis put many customers into arrears. earlier this week, the regulator 0fgem asked firms to suspend the compulsory installation of the devices — after a times investigation showed british gas subcontractors breaking into the homes of vulnerable people. our business correspondent noor nanji has the details. this was the footage that thrust energy companies firmly under the spotlight. an undercover reporter from the times showed debt collectors working for british gas, breaking into the home of a single father with young children, to fit a pre—payment meter.

energy suppliers can legally force fit these devices. it should be a last resort if people are in arrears and vulnerable customers should not be switched. last year, more than 1,000 warrants per day were granted to energy companies, mainly in order to forcibly install prepayment meters. energy companies identify customers who are in arrears, then their agents apply for a warrant by telephone. they send in large spreadsheets with between 100 and 1,000 cases. the hearings will sign off, issue and send all the electronic warrants in a maximum of 15 minutes, according to evidence from pilot. this new advice to all magistrates, obtained by the bbc, reflects internal disquiet that the process had been watered down and that magistrates were being obliged to take energy companies�* claims in good faith with little or no questioning. the advice was posted by the top magistrate leadership executive to other magistrates, saying it would be irrational to block the warrants

because they had been made by energy companies under oath. some legal experts said the advice showed that magistrates had no safeguarding role in the process. i don't think this is what the public would reasonably expect of a process that empowers a private company to come and break your front door down. this is turning the process, has turned it, into a rubber stamp, when it should be a safeguard. campaigners said vulnerable customers could be the victims. vulnerable customers, when faced with energy companies forcibly entering their homes to fix in a prepayment meter, expect protection from the courts. that appears to not be happening and that's very concerning. the government said this was a matter for the independentjudiciary. judicial sources suggested the document was an explanation of the current law and processes that magistrates are bound to apply. noor nanji, bbc news. the pope, the archbishop of canterbury, and the moderator of the church of scotland

are on a historic three—day visit to south sudan. they've called it a pilgrimage of peace — to a country where more than 400,000 people have been killed in violence since independence 12 years ago. 0ur religion editor aleem maqbool is travelling with the papal party — and sent this report from the capital, juba. it's his 40th foreign trip as pope, but it's a visit like no other he's had before. he has previously postponed this because of ill health and mobility issues, but he was clear that there was one country he was sure to go — south sudan. but what makes this visit different is that for the first time on a foreign trip, he's accompanied by the leaders of other global christian denominations.

the moderator of the church of scotland and the archbishop of canterbury are injuba, too. "at last i am here," said pope francis. "together with my brothers on this pilgrimage of peace." since independence in 2011, south sudan slipped quickly into conflict. it's along tribal and not religious lines, but the leaders are mainly christian — catholic, anglican, and presbyterian. back in 2019, in one of the most powerful moments of his papacy, pope francis kissed the feet of south sudan's rivals at the end of a meeting at the vatican. they promised to work for lasting peace, but little changed. so, the religious leaders came here. does the same thing happen — you make a dramatic gesture and you go away, and things don't move forward? dramatic gestures are to kick open

doors, to create momentum. they don't solve problems. what they do is they may unstick stuck situations, and then they have to be followed up. tonight, the three christian leaders held a cross—denominational prayer service. it's been a remarkable coming together of churches and has brought somejoy. that is not to say many south sudanese are confident it will lead to real change. aleem maqbool, bbc news, injuba. ukraine says it's recovered the bodies of two british men who were killed in the east of the country. the bodies of christopher perry and andrew bagshaw have been reportedly handed over by russian forces as part of a prisoners swap. they were killed by shelling last month while doing voluntary work, evacuating civilians from conflict zones. a 16—year—old girl has died after being attacked by a shark

in western australia. she was pronounced dead after being pulled from the swan river, in fremantle. reports say the girl was riding jet skis with friends when the incident happened, and local police say it'ss possible the girl had jumped in the water to swim with dolphins nearby. it's believed to be the first fatal shark attack in the swan river in 100 years. an award—winning iranian film maker, jafar panahi, has been released from jail on bail on friday, two days after he went on hunger strike to demand an end to his imprisonment. mr panahi was arrested last july when he protested against the detention of two fellow film—makers, who had been critical of the authorities. earlier, my colleague, ben boulos, spoke to kasra naji from the bbc persian service. he was released yesterday evening, early evening, and he was released two days after he had announced, as you said, going on hunger strike

because he was in a legal limbo. he didn't know why he was in jail, on what charges he was in jail, and the judiciary officials were not sort of announcing anything about his his case. and after quite a bit of publicity about him going on strike, the authorities released him. what had he been arrested for? he actually went to, seven months ago, went to evin prison to inquire about two otherfilm—makers who had been arrested a few days earlier. and when he went to to to the prison to ask about them, he himself got picked up and put injail. but previously, he had given had been given a six—year sentence for signing a petition in which he, along with 1a others, had called for a peaceful transition to a secular democracy. and they were saying in this

petition that this regime in iran is incapable of reforming itself, the leaders are incapable of reforming themselves. so they had asked for regime change in a sense, but a peaceful one. so he had been given six years, but that sentence had been overthrown by an appeal court. so, technically, he had no sentence against him to be put in prison. he is well known abroad. his films have won prizes at various major international film festivals — do you think that has made a difference? of course it has, because once he announced that he's going on hunger strike, there was quite a lot of publicity around that because he's a well—known person. he was nominated for an oscar, twice won prizes in cannes film festival, three times in in in berlin film festival. so he is very well known. and alongside the publicity, you had a lot of international

film—makers, artists, actors, and actresses coming out in support of him at that. and the whole issue of him going on hunger strike, of course, sort of managed to draw the attention of the iranian judiciary — maybe they thought it's not worth keeping him in prison. they released him on bail, by the way, not completely. and, of course, across iran, the protests following the death of mahsa amini, those continue, presumably with the same levels of commitment and anger from the protesters? there's quite a bit of anger and commitment, but we don't see the same level of direct confrontation on the streets with the authorities, not in the country, except for one city in the southwest, where every friday tens of thousands of people use the friday prayers to come out and shout slogans against iran's supreme leader and the regime, wanting the overthrow of the regime.

but the rest of the country, their form of protest has changed. it's become more safe protests, if you like, setting fire to to banners with pictures of iranian leaders on them, setting fire on a flag with the insignia of the islamic regime on it, and so on and so forth. but nobody thinks that this is over. the legitimacy of of the regime has gone in a big way. senior health leaders have warned that strikes in the uk's health service are making it harder to clear a backlog of treatments. the industrial action is believed to have led to the delay service are making it harder to clear a backlog of treatments. the industrial action is believed to have led to the delay or cancellation of about 90,000 appointments and operations, and more walk—outs are due next week. the government has urged unions to carefully consider the impact of any action on patients. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake reports. escalating strikes across the nhs in england. next week, nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists and others,

will walk out demanding higher pay in some of the most widespread industrial action the health service has seen. the impact on patients has been clear, and so far figures suggest nearly 90,000 operations and appointments have been cancelled. health leaders say it is getting harder for hospitals and other services to cope. it's absolutely vital in the interests of patients in terms of those waiting for operations and those coming in as urgent cages, that we see a resolution to the industrial action, and all trust leaders across the country really want to make sure that we can find a resolution to this, but to do that we do need negotiations at a national level. i mean, it is all brilliant. rishi sunak has promised to bring down nhs waiting lists but says his main priority is halving inflation and argues paying public sector workers more would keep prices rising.

the health secretary steve barclay has urged unions to keep talking and described previous discussions as constructive, but there is clearly an impasse on pay. what do we want? fair pay! - when do we want it? now! _ in wales, most of the strikes planned for next week have been postponed as union members consider a new pay offer from the welsh government of an extra 3%. for now, any similar pause to ongoing action in england looks unlikely. jonathan blake, bbc news. the royal navy is conducting an investigation after sailors on a warship needed hospital treatment for drinking contaminated water. hms portland returned to portsmouth after the incident, which is thought to have been caused when a crew member put the wrong chemical into the ship's drinking water system. nearly all of the sailors have been discharged from hospital. the ministry of defence said it's taking measures to safeguard personnel. and just before we go, how's this for beginner's luck? 18—year—old juliette lamourjust scooped nearly $36 million

in canada's gold ball lottery jackpot on her first try. although she's the youngest canadian to ever win such a big prize, she still plans to finish her university studies and become a doctor. this is bbc news. hello there. a tale of two halves with the weather for this weekend. there's a lot of cloud around today, and that's because we've got a weather front slipping southwards, it's mild air, as well, it is mostly cloudy. tomorrow behind our weather front, it looks as if we a good deal of sunshine. but we do change from this mild air ahead of that weather front to this cold air coming in behind under a ridge of high pressure. but again, i do think it will feel

decent enough in the sunshine. this is the weather front that's slipping southwards through today, the rain starting to peter out. brighter skies and a few wintry showers following on behind. a little bit of sunshine ahead of it but more limited. and overnight, the cloud will allow southern areas to just about escape a frost — but under that high pressure, further north, temperatures will fall away under the starry skies and we're looking at a fairly widespread ruralfrost at the very least. so, we start off on a rather chilly note first thing sunday — quite a keen wind coming through the north sea, as well, in eastern areas, still that brisk wind towards the north and west. but for the north, just a day of dry and bright weather with hazy spells of sunshine for the most part, and temperatures will obviously not be as high today because they are starting at lower level, 8—10 celsius in east anglia. but some pleasant feeling whether, like winds if you are out and about. during the evening and overnight, we do have a bit more cloud ahead of the next weather system in the north and the west, so it won't be quite as cold for the far north west of scotland

and the northern isles, the western of northern ireland, but elsewhere, a cold night, and this time it will be frosty further south, as well. possibly 1—2 mist and fog patches because of that high pressure sat with us. just slipping away towards the south and allowing more of an atlantic influence, if you like, on monday across parts of scotland and northern ireland, bringing a bit more cloud, perhaps a few more spots of rain and drizzle. but eastern scotland, northern ireland, much of england and wales, after the clearance of any morning fog in england and wales, we will have plenty of sunshine, dry and bright, as well, lightish winds so feeling pleasant enough in the sunshine. the high pressure stays with us pretty much for the rest of the week but we will have some strong winds at time and those weather fronts brushing the far north, but with a high pressure staying firm in the south at least, it looks like very little rain here, some chilly nights with frost and fog but by day, some good spells of sunshine, a little bit more unsettled, windy in the northwest.

this is bbc news, the headlines... a suspected chinese spy balloon is shot down off the coast of south carolina — on the orders of president biden. three airports were shut and airspace closed, so it could be targeted over the atlantic ocean. i ordered the pentagon to shoot it down on wednesday they successfully took it down and i want to compliment our aviators who did it.

detectives searching for nicola bulley, who disappeared