president biden's plan to cancel the student debts of millions of americans faces a challenge in the supreme court. the us secretary of state announces further financial aid to five central asian nations during a visit to kazakhstan. a massive police search in southern england fora missing baby — whose parents are under arrest on suspicion of manslaughter. and — why these two dogs from london could help combat the smuggling of rare animals in asia.

it's eight in the morning in singapore, and 7pm in washington where a powerful house committee is debating wether to allow president biden to completely ban the chinese—owned app, tiktok, which is used by more than 100 million americans. the white house has already ordered government agencies to wipe tiktok off federal devices within 30 days. and it's notjust the us. the european parliament has also banned the video—sharing app from staff phones citing security reasons, following canada which imposed a similar ban. but china has hit out at the us — and this is what a government spokesperson had to say. translation: the united states, the world number one _ superpower, is so afraid of a mobile phone application that young people like so much that they completely lack any self—confidence. we firmly oppose the us�*s wrong approach to overstretching the concept of national security, abusing national power, and unreasonably suppressing the companies

of other countries. earlier, i asked her why the us government has ordered the removal of tiktok from federal phones. there are cyber security concerns with having tiktok on government phones. in the us, this isn't a new ban. tiktok has already been barred from government phones, from the department of defence and other defence and security related agencies. this just takes things a step further. the worry is that peoples personal and professional lives could cross and that government data and government secrets could be collected by tiktok and end up in the hands of the chinese as a result. how likely do you think is it for the us to

totally ban tiktok? notjust from government devices but altogether? from a logistical standpoint this will be incredibly hard and something that doesn't happen in the united states. civil liberties groups are already up in arms about this. to single out one app and then ban it from phones would be incredibly hard and face a court battle. you could force companies like apple and google to remove that app from their app stores, but people already have it, millions of people already have it on their phones. absolutely. also, a lot of americans make quite a lot of money through the app as well, aren't they? it's incredibly popular with influencers. people use tiktok to promote all types of products, to promote their own influencer brands. especially when it comes to the millennials and young

people, tiktok is their social media of choice. as we heard, china has hit out at the united states also, bytedance, which owns tiktok, says it has no intention of sharing that data of its users with beijing. do you think it is a legitimate concern for the us government and other governments? it definitely is a legitimate concern. tiktok may have no intention of sharing data, but the chinese have controls over tech companies that we don't have in the united states or in europe or uk. they have the keys to the data and they can get at it if they want, and there really isn't a lot tiktok or bytedance can do about it.

bree fowler from cnet. we can show you like pictures where a mentee is going through a debate about whether to ban tiktok. this bill was brought on by republicans and now this power for the house is on by republicans and now this powerfor the house is debating and it has to go through all of congress before it can become a proper law. and we'll have more analysis on this story in asia business report later. the us supreme court has heard arguments over the legitimacy of president biden�*s plan to cancel the debts of millions of students. six republican—controlled states have brought the case, arguing mr biden is exceeding his powers. he promised to cancel 430 billion dollars�* worth of student loans after the covid pandemic under a federal law known as the "heroes act", which it says allows the debt

relief in national emergencies. we can hear from some students who have been gathering outside the us court in washington. so, i do have student loan debt which will be $115,000 once i graduate in may, and biden�*s plan to release the loan will help me tremendously. so, i am a daughter of brazilian immigrants, so i don't come from generational wealth. so, i had to take out student loans in order to go to university. so, i have about $30,000 of student loan debt, and through biden's cancellation plan i would have two thirds of my debt cancelled stop so, for me, that is a lot of relief. the stakes are very high. i feel like i have a lot to i gain if this relief is passed. i have an older brother who went to college, l i have a little sister in college. - so, the financial burden has i forced us to take out the loans and now i'm graduating, i and i'm going to be looking forjobs, i have to consider, ok, if these loans are not . cancelled to look at different prospects because i need - to start making payments - so the interest does not accrue and become out of hand.

so, here in the united states, women hold the majority of student debt, and when you really get into that, black women hold the highest student debt burden of any other group in this country. when you look at states like california, where we have latina women who hold the bulk of student debt. so, when we think about the people who work the hardest to get their college education, they entered the workforce and make less money than their peers, we also owe the most money for our education. the ruling is not expected for several months. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes explained both sides of the arguments and why the republicans don't like it. the arguments in the supreme court earlier focused on the fairness of the situation. a question was raised by a conservative justices about different sections of society. that some people wouldn't benefit from what would amount to a colossal government payout.

we are talking about almost half $1 trillion here. what about those people who didn't go to university? what about people who already paid off their loans? that people would benefits or not benefit from this to different extents. the liberaljustices had a counter argument to that, saying that in the normal course of events people benefit from different government schemes to greater or lesser extent depending on their individual circumstances. so, the students we have just been hearing from, clearly expressing the fact that this is crucially important to them. i think it is well—known that in this country it can take some people years if not decades to pay back their student loans. whether it is or not, can have an effect on their ability to get perhaps a new loan for a car or mortgage. so, there is a lot at stake for them and a lot at stake for the government as well.

based on some of the most recent rulings by the supreme court, what are analysts saying about the possible outcome from this ruling? as we know, there is a conservative, is significant conservative bias, on this court now. listening to some of the arguments, the tenor of the questions seem, at least at this stage, go against the bidens administration want. joe biden said he is confident that the government has a law on its side. you go back to that law from 2003 that allows a government to modify or waive loans in terms of a national emergency. the national emergency in this case being the covid pandemic. depending on what the court decides, and it won't be untiljune that we find out, it could go against the government. the biden administration

would have to rethink. if it goes in favour of the government, there is every possibility of more legal challenges. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. police in israel say that all israeli suspects detained over rioting against palestinians in the occupied west bank on sunday night have been released. eight people were detained over the rampage in which houses and cars were set alight. a police spokesman said that three of those released remained under house arrest. at least 650 schoolgirls have been poisoned by toxic gas in iran since november, in what many believe is a deliberate attempt to force their schools to shut. iran's authorities have opened an investigation. no girls have died, but dozens have been admitted to hospital, with respiratory problems, nausea, dizziness and fatigue. some say that the schoolgirls are being poisoned as payback for their role in the anti—government protests.

a massive fire consumed a plastic factory in ecatepec, mexico, on tuesday causing a large plume of smoke. the fire at distribuidora reyma's factory prompted response from the fire department. its origin remains unknown. according to a local media outlets, the fire consumed tonnes of plastic. workers from other nearby factories were evacuated for safety. a massive police search is under way in the uk, for a missing baby, whose parents have been arrested, on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. constance marten, and her partner mark gordon, who's a convicted sex offender, were found by sussex police in brighton last night after a member of the public reported seeing them. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has the latest. working their way slowly through allotments in north brighton, police officers from london searching for a missing baby.

every shed and greenhouse was being checked with temperatures close to zero. 0fficers looking for an infant who was born less than two months ago. the baby's parents, constance martin and mark gordon, were arrested last night after a police hunt that began injanuary. they are now being held on suspicion of gross negligence, manslaughter. they had been in this convenience store and were spotted by a member of the public who called 999. they were arrested just moments after this cctv camera caught them walking along a road that leads to the allotments and a golf course and the south downs beyond. but there was no sign of the baby. as time progresses, as the weather is closing tonight, as it was last night, in terms of the cold and the coldness and the impact that would have on a baby, clearly the risk is getting higher and we have to be open to the fact that this may not end in the way we would like, but we need to remain hopeful.

constance martin comes from a hugely wealthy family growing up in this country house in dorset. her father was so close to the royal family that in the 1970s he held the ceremonial role of third page of honour to the late queen. injanuary, he made this appeal to his daughter. darling constance. even though we remain estranged at the moment. i stand by, as i have always done and as the family has always done, to do whatever is necessary for your safe return to us. constance martin became estranged from her family in 2016 when she met mark gordon. he was convicted of rape in the united states, aged just “i, and served 20 years in prison. police believe the baby was born in the back of a car in earlyjanuary. the couple came onto the police's radar onjanuary the fifth when their car caught fire on the m61 near bolton. from there the pair took a taxi to liverpool and another

to harwich, arriving there on the morning of the 6th of january. by lunchtime on the 7th ofjanuary, they were in east london where they bought a tent from argos and abandoned their pushchair. they were then yet more taxi journeys, including a final one to the port of newhaven. since then they'd evaded detection untiljust before 930 last night when a member of the public saw them and dialled 999. while detectives still hope the baby is alive, perhaps being looked after by someone else, they're becoming increasingly concerned. and constance martin's father has said that while he's relieved that she's been found, he is worried about the missing baby. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. meet one of the ocean's unsung heroes— we'll tell you about the sea cucumber and how it helps to keep the waters clean.

first, the plates slid gently off the restaurant tables. then suddenly, the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards. it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans had successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i had heard the news earlier, and so my heart went bang, bang, bang! the constitutional - rights of these marches are their rights as citizens of the united states, - and they should be protected, even in the right to test them | out so that they don'tl get their heads broken and are sent to hospital. this religious controversy — i know you don't want to say too much about it — but does it worry you that it's going to boil up? oh, it worries me, yes,

but i hope everything'll be all right at the end of the day. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko 0i in singapore. 0ur headlines is time running out for tiktok? china condemns the us government's decision to order all its agencies to delete the social media app. president biden's plan to cancel the student debts of millions of americans faces a challenge in the supreme court. the us secretary of state antony blinken has been holding talks in the kazakhstan capital astana with key central asian officials, including the kazakh president kassym—jomart to kayev. mr blinken met with ministers from kyrgyzstan, turkmenistan, tajikistan and uzbekistan.

all five countries are former members of the soviet union until its collapse in 1991 and have followed a policy of strict neutrality since russia's invasion of ukraine. last week they all abstained in a key un vote demanding a russian withdrawal. so how important is this region for both washington and moscow? let's speak to kireel nur—zhanov — associate professor of central asian studies at the australian national university. hejoins me now live from canberra. thank you forjoining us on the programme. what is the us looking to get out of this visit and to get it in your opinion? visit and to get it in your opinion?— opinion? there are two objectives _ opinion? there are two objectives behind - opinion? there are two - objectives behind secretary jenkins visit to central asia. the first one is to persuade the local leaders tojoin the first one is to persuade the local leaders to join the corn rows of his information and criticism of russia over

the war in ukraine. the second objective is to ensure the republics do not have russia and agree to the sanctions imposed by the west. the powerful human rights law bids in the united states want antony blinken to want raise concerns about the situation with media freedoms and political prisoners in the region. so far, the success of the trip can be gauged as mediocre to be honest. 0n the first count, that is, whether the central asian republics willjoin the central asian republics will join the the central asian republics willjoin the us and look at russia as a emporia imperialist beast and creditor that success is lacking. i noticed that in the joint press conference with antony blinken the kazakhstan

minister of foreign affairs said that kazakhstan does not see or have, or have any reason to field threats from the russian federation. which means, in plain english, the republic of kazakhstan does not see russia as a colonial power. secondly as to whether they will maintain the original sanctions. that was part success because there were verbal agreements from a few countries saying they will not help russian banks through the sanctions as usual. 0n the other hand kazakhstan it reiterated the point that the country has a free—trade agreement with russia and it will not change the situation. it would not impose a blockade on the border with russia. 0n

the cone of the human rights situation, i saw no evidence that secretary antony blinken raise such concerns publicly. kirill nourzhanov thank you for joining us on you said today. thank you. pangolins are one of the most sought after animals on earth. they're mostly wanted for their meat and their scales — which can be used in traditional chinese medicine. there's been a global ban on trafficking them since 2017— and now london's met police is doing its bit to combat this illegal trade — as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. meet beth. and her best friend buster. the latest weapons in the fight against the illegal trafficking of animals in asia. these two labradors have been trained by london's metropolitan police. their next stop, thailand.

and a new life sniffing out crime, one pangolin at the time. live and critically endangered and, indeed, one of the most trafficked animals in the world. we reckon one is poached every five minutes. so, really horrific numbers they are being trafficked in. by one estimate, nearly 3 million of them are poached each year. and there not that many of them left. there are eight types of pangolin, and all of them are on the so—called red list of endangered species at risk of extinction. their meat is regarded as a delicacy in parts of asia, and their skills are said to have powerful medicinal qualities. beth and buster will be used airports, ports and along thailand's road network, and this is a lifetime commitment for the pair of them. they'll have a working life of about seven to eight years, and then they'll be retired and cared for in thailand.

so, yeah, we're going to sunnier climes. the world wildlife fund says that the pangolin is the most trafficked memo in the world. if all goes according to plan, beth and buster would have something to say about that. tim allman, bbc news sea cucumbers are arguably the ocean's unsung heroes. they dwell on the ocean floor, and yes, they look like soggy sausages , but they help to keep the waters clean. and they're also a popular dish in parts of asia, which means their numbers have been declining. one solution is to farm sea cucumbers. the bbc world service, �*people fixing the world', programme went to madagascar to meet people who are doing just that. they do a lot of work to keep the oceans healthy and they're helping to improve the lives of people in madagascar.

the sea cucumber lives in the ocean and they buried themselves in the sand where they feed. they can't bite. and they're very soft. sea cucumbers. one of the most undervalued animals on the planet. they are normally found in deep water and this makes harvesting them difficult and dangerous. demand is high and many species are now threatened. there used to be a lot more sea cucumbers. | now their numbers have - decreased and they've almost vanished from the ocean. but in the south of madagascar, they've come up with a solution. a charity, blue ventures, has built sea cucumberfarms, cucumbers are bred nearby and then put into these shallow pens. when they reach maturity, they can be harvested later. in the past, there was no real income for myself and my parents.

we would all go out fishing in the ocean, but we couldn't really save any money with sea cucumber farming. i can now also afford to have a small business. they are prepared and sent to asia where they are eaten as a delicacy. a kilo can fetch up to $1,000. the operation is run by a co—operative which also invests in local schools and health care. but not only are these creatures good for the community, they play a vital role in cleaning pollutants from the sea. you actually have the sand or sediment going in to the mouth and inside the sea cucumber. the cucumber is able to actually clean the sand of all sorts of things that might be attached to it, like bacteria, little bits of algae. and at the bottom end comes really clean sand.

farming sea cucumbers is stopping them being fished in the wild so they can keep doing their important work in the ocean. bbc news. and finally — some pictures from greece, where people celebrate the day before the start of the fasting season with tradition called alevromou—tzouro—mata, which translates as flour smudging. the day is celebrated with a massive annual feast and people taking to the streets to throw tonnes of dyed flour, painting each other and dancing. at the show you like pictures from washington where that debate is continuing in that house committee over the ban on tiktok. you have been watching newsday. good morning. not a lot happening in any great hurry in terms of the weather across the uk in the days ahead. a big area of high pressure centred to the north of scotland has been with us so far this week and it stays

with us right the way too into the weekend. you can see it wobbles about a bit in the next few days. but to the changes really that that will bring about are going to be very subtle in the next couple of days, very much like it's been just start the week. there'll be a lot of cloud across the u:k., but it will bear very little in the way of rain. it's the wind directions, if anything, that will shift about. and that could just bring about some changes where we see the showers. a northeasterly, again this wednesday favors the northeast of england, parts of the midlands, maybe south wales picking up some showers, a few for east anglia to the far south east of england, maybe a bit more brightness than we saw on tuesday. again, some decent sunshine, i think for western scotland. temperatures on the thermometer, 8, 9 degrees. but in that northeasterly wind, it's going to feel closer to five or six. plenty of cloud drifting around again overnight, wednesday into thursday, perhaps the skies becoming a little clearer towards the southeast across southern counties of england, greater chance of catching a frost here and also again, clearer skies for western scotland, allowing it to turn chillier.

but any breaks where we've got some shelter could mean we catch a frost for first thing on thursday. subtle change for thursday. well, there's the high picture. doesn't look too different, does it? but those ice bars are further apart. further apart, they get the lighter our winds become. and lighter winds for us on thursday may mean itjust feels slightly less chilly. so our temperatures will feel closer to the figures that we'd read on the thermometer. feeling around the nine or ten degree mark is an improvement by three or four degrees really from earlier in the week. still a lot of cloud drifting around, perhaps a little more in the way of sunshine on thursday, friday into saturday. the high wriggles a little bit further westwards, though. and look how those parallel lines start to track from north to south. that's the indicator that towards the end of the week and into the weekend, we could well be pulling in some arctic air. so, yes, it's felt chilly with the breeze off the north sea recently, but come the weekend, we could be pulling in some much colder air. and later on in the weekend, into the start of next week, signs it might become a little

bit more unsettled as well. so there's just the possibility of something a little bit more wintry in our outlook.

and all the main news stories this is bbc news. this is bbc news.

we'll have the headlines we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues, straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. as russia's war on ukraine grinds into a second year, how complete is vladimir putin's control of the home front? critics of the war risk prison, independent media outlets have been closed down, and the kremlin propaganda machine has been supercharged. but thanks to the internet, the costs of this war