this is bbc news. i'm anjana gadgil. our top stories: wanted for war crimes. the international criminal court issues an arrest warrant for russia's leader, vladimir putin, for his alleged role in deporting ukrainian children to russia. thejudges issued the judges issued arrest warrants, their execution depends on international cooperation. tiktok reportedly under investigation in the united states over allegations the video sharing app spied on journalists. police in paris arrest more protesters angry at the french president's pension reforms. the mystery of the dead fish found floating in an australian river.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the international criminal court has issued an arrest warrant for russia's leader, vladimir putin, in connection with war crimes. the court says there are grounds to believe that president putin is personally responsible for the deportation of hundreds of children since last year's invasion, from children's homes and orphanages in ukraine for adoption in russia. it's the first time the court has ordered the arrest of a prominent, serving political leader. ukraine's president zelensky, has hailed the decision as historic, but moscow dismissed the announcement as outrageous, saying it doesn't recognise the jurisdiction of the court. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports from kyiv. it is a war that he ordered. a war that brought

death and devastation. a war that sent millions fleeing for their lives. but it is one that has now left president putin accused of war crimes by an international court and even more isolated on the world stage. the judges have reviewed the information and evidence submitted by the prosecutor and determined that there are credible allegations against these persons for the alleged crimes. the international criminal court, based in the hague, alleges the russian leader and another official are individually responsible for the war crime of unlawfully deporting children from ukraine to russia. in the chaos that followed the invasion, millions of people were displaced and reports of thousands of children being sent to so—called, re—education camps in russia.

alleged crimes for which ukraine's president has repeatedly demanded justice. translation: this is a historic decision from which historical i responsibility will begin. the head of the terrorist state and another russian official have become suspects in a war crime. a kremlin spokesman said the allegations were outrageous and unacceptable. the foreign ministry said the arrest warrant meant nothing legally. translation: russia is not a party to the ruling statute | of the international criminal court and bears no obligations under it. these are only the first arrest warrants and more are expected for the killing of civilians in bucha and elsewhere across the country, where russian forces have been accused of rape, torture and indiscriminate shelling. the man investigating these allegations and those against mr putin denied the warrants were symbolic.

there are reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within our courts jurisdiction have been committed. so those that feel that you can commit a crime in the daytime sleep well at night should perhaps look at history. vladimir putin may never be arrested or appear in court, but it's not every day that a serving head of state is accused of war crimes and it is a signalfrom international community that they will seek justice for what's been happening here in ukraine. at home, vladimir putin may enjoy some popular support, however staged. but abroad, he now faces the possibility of arrest and trial. he probably will not be getting on a plane soon. james landale, bbc news, keogh. with the reaction from russia and the impact this arrest warrant could have, here's our russia editor, steve rosenberg.

on a practical level, do not expect russian police to slap the handcuffs on vladimir putin and dispatch him to the hague. russia, just like america, does not recognise the jurisdiction of the international criminal court and russia does not extradite its citizens. and yet, this is an extraordinary moment. just think about it. the serving president of the world's largest country, a nuclear power, a permanent member of the un security council, the icc has issued a warrant for his arrest over alleged war crimes and that makes him even more of a pariah at a time when vladimir putin is still trying to be a global player. we have the chinese president coming in three days' time for a state visit. no wonder the kremlin is furious, outrageous, unacceptable. and the former russian president and putin ally referring to the arrest warrant in a social media post wrote this. he said no need to explain where this paper should be used. and he followed that

within emoji of a toilet bowl. well, earlier i spoke to dr angela stent, director of the georgetown university center for russian studies. i asked her under what circumstances could president putin be arrested? it's very difficult to see that now. obviously, as your correspondents have said, he will be very careful about what countries he will travel to in the future, i don't think you will be visiting london anytime soon, so were he to go to a country that is part of the icc, and 123 countries have signed on to this rome statute, then theoretically he could be arrested but we have even had the example of the president of sudan, also under indictment from the icc, and he has been able to travel to other countries and nothing has happened to him, so i think we have to wait and see how the war with ukraine and is, what happens to putin afterwards, but right

now it's difficult to see him being arrested. but it will restrict his movement, his ability to travel around the globe, he will be restricted to only a very few countries? yes, i mean really go to the 620 summit in india? india is another country that has not signed onto the icc, which countries can he visit? i also think it is very interesting that this indictment was handed down today, three days before president xi jingping visit to russia, because it puts him in a more awkward position because i'm the one hand china has been backing russia, and on the other hand, it also wants to appear as a peacemaker, it wants to appear as a statesman, so how does it look to arrive in a country and shake hands with the president who has now been indicted for war crimes? as you say president xijingping will visit president putin very soon, saying he has a peace plan for the war

between russia and ukraine. how does that affect his plan? i'm not sure that it affects the plan very much because the plan is very vague, and it has been dismissed by most western countries, either president zielinski has said he wants to discuss it with president xi jinping and i don't know whether this will give xi jinping any more leverage over president putin to try to get him to come to the negotiating table, we will have to see what they say when the summit is over. we are talking primarily about the deportation of children, the horrifying idea in itself but the list of potential war crimes is long, isn't it? is a very long, and if you look at the atrocities, it's the mass, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, energy infrastructure during the winter,, so there is a long list of potential war crimes, and these are being very actively investigated. energy infrastructure during the winter, so there is a long list of potential war crimes, and these are being very actively investigated.

i think the one with the deportation of the children is one that will really terror the heartstrings of billions of people around the world who are parents and grandparents, or even if they aren't, the idea that children are taken away and forcibly given to other parents, trying to wipe out who they are, it's really horrifying. how do you think this has been received in russia in south? of course we have had only official denials that we have heard from your correspondence, and ijust wonder because the russian people, the ones that have stayed there that have not left because of the war, they know that this is happening, they know about the denials from their own government, it remains to be seen whether this softens any of the support for president putin, and whether the people who just watch state—run tv will believe that these are all lies, or whether they might begin to question what that president has actually done. the news of president putin's arrest warrant came as china announced its president, xijinping, will visit russia

next week to hold talks with mr putin. beijing and moscow say the two men will discuss strategic cooperation. beijing is currently promoting a plan it says can bring a negotiated end to the war in ukraine. however, china's neutrality has been questioned as beijing continues to maintain close ties with moscow. the announcement of the state visit was made by the foreign ministry in beijing. translation: during his state visit to russia, - president xijinping will have an in—depth exchange of you with president putin on bilateral relations and a major international and regional issues of common concern. china will uphold its objective and fair position on the ukrainian crisis and play a constructive role in promoting peace talks. here's our china correspondent stephen mcdonell on what beijing might be looking forfrom this trip. beijing has created considerable expectation that this visit by xijinping might lead to some sort of a breakthrough in terms

of promoting peace in the war between russia and ukraine. the reasons for that are that beijing does have some sway with moscow, and some would say considerable sway. beijing says it's a neutral player in the war and therefore that it could become a sort of honest broker. and also, the chinese government has just come off the back of brokering this deal which saw saudi arabia and iran resume diplomatic relations, and so people are thinking if you can get those two together, could beijing also do the same thing in terms of the war between russia and ukraine? the problem is though that some analysts would say that really it is in china's interest to stop the war, if we consider the most cynical potential possibility. in a way, russia is doing china's dirty work — it's challenging the west, making the west eat up all of these military resources it has, and actually furthering beijing's geopolitical goals. that said, of course it is also disrupted trade and china did have good relations with ukraine before the war started, so for those reasons, people might say it wants to have peace.

our us partner cbs is reporting that the fbi and the department ofjustice are investigating the chinese—owned video sharing app, tiktok, over allegations the company spied onjournalists. the reports come after several governments, including the us, the uk, the european union, canada and new zealand banned tiktok on government—issued mobile devices. there are concerns that the app collects information that could be accessed by beijing. our north america correspondent david willis has more details. it appears that this investigation was launched sometime last year, and then

ramped up a couple of months ago after bytedance, which is the chinese company that owns tiktok, confirmed reports here in the american media that some chinese staff had been using the app to spy on american journalists, in particular to get information about their sources of stories that had appeared about tiktok in the american media. bytedance has said in response today's report that it is strongly condemning the actions of those staff who it says have subsequently been dismissed, but it's only a couple of months since tiktok the app was banned from government phones here and in an attempt to basically head off further restrictions, bytedance has suggested that maybe the company should keep all user data, american user data, on servers located here in the united states. it appears that that sort of compromise may well have been blown out of the water by these latest allegations of tiktok being used for spying.

as you said there the us, as well as the uk, new zealand and a list of other countries have all banned their employees from having tiktok on their work phones. is there any evidence that tiktok has been harvesting data from government employees? certainly the united states, and this goes back to the trump administration, which of course was not particularly well inclined towards china at the best of times, they were looking into tiktok, and the biden administration has come under criticism from opposition republicans for not doing enough to ensure national security through apps such as this. earlier this week, the biden administration announced it was going to demand that bytedance either sells off tiktok or face a nationwide ban here in the united states. the us is its biggest audience by far, there are more than 100 million regular american tiktok users, so that would be a considerable blow to bytedance and to tiktok, which is due to parade its ceo before a congressional panel next week to face questions from lawmakers, probably incredibly sharp questions i imagine, about possible links to the chinese

government and to the communist party in china. fascinating stuff, thank you very much. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the benefits of early exposure to peanut butter. why a spoonful for babies may help prevent an allergic reaction. today, we have closed the book

on apartheid and that chapter. more than 3,000 subway passengers were affected. nausea, bleeding, headaches and a dimming of vision — all of this caused by an apparently organised attack. the trophy itself - was on the pedestal in the middle - of the cabinet here. now, this was - an international trophy, and we understand now that the search for it. has become an - international search. above all, this was a triumph for the christian democrats of the west, offering reunification as quickly as possible, and that's what the voters wanted.

this is bbc world news. the main story this hour: the international criminal court has issued an arrest warrant for russian president vladimir putin for his alleged role in deporting ukrainian children to russia. several thousand people have been protesting for a second day in paris and a number of other french cities. this follows president macron�*s decision to force through pension reforms without a vote in the lower house of parliament. opposition parties tabled two separate motions of no confidence in the government for its use of a constitutional mechanism to raise the national retirement age from 62 to 64. azadeh moshiri reports. anger has spread and it is engulfing president emmanuel macron. he knew there would be protests but his decision has now brought france to a standstill.

police have responded with force. they have carted off hundreds of demonstrators, even his party's own mps are asking for police protection. but the threat is not just out on the streets. opposition parties are furious mr macron raised the retirement age without a vote. they filed two no—confidence motions against his government. translation: something i quite fundamental happened, which is that immediately there were spontaneous demonstrations throughout the country. it goes without saying that, for my part, i encourage them because i think that's where it's going, with unions united. those unions are calling for strikes to continue. paris's bin collectors have left 10,000 tons of rubbish to pile up according to the mayor's office. workers across some of france's largest refineries are halting production.

with mr macron largely silent, his prime minister has faced the brunt of the anger. now, more of his ministers are in the firing line. translation: we are | carrying out this reform, which is difficult, which is not popular. it is true that the majority of french people do not support it and we are perfectly aware of that. it is a difficult reform that we are making to balance the pension system by 2030. mr macron made pension reform a key part of his campaign, but now that he has done it, he must whether one of the greatest challenges to his authority yet. azadeh moshiri, bbc news. residents in the australian town of menindee in new south wales have been horrified to find millions of dead fish in their river.

the darling—baaka river, where the fish were found, is a part of australia's largest river system. these are the shocking pictures in the murrey—darling basin with dead fish floating in the river as far as the eye can see. the summer heat is causing the fish to rot quickly. local authorities say the kills is a result of low oxygen levels in the rivers. i'm joined now by menindee local resident graeme mccrabb who can tell us more about the situation. thank you forjoining us. thank thank you for “oining us. thank ou for thank you forjoining us. thank you for having _ thank you forjoining us. thank you for having me. _ thank you forjoining us. thank you for having me. you - thank you forjoining us. thank you for having me. you are - thank you forjoining us. thank i you for having me. you are down b the you for having me. you are down by the river— you for having me. you are down by the river right _ you for having me. you are down by the river right now. _ you for having me. you are down by the river right now. the - by the river right now. the pictures with all look horrible. what is it actually like on the ground? it is very disturbing- — like on the ground? it is very disturbing. the _ like on the ground? it is very disturbing. the vision - like on the ground? it is very disturbing. the vision you . like on the ground? it is very| disturbing. the vision you can see, dead fish in the background and the smell is something horrendous, to be honest. i something horrendous, to be honest. . , something horrendous, to be honest. ., ., honest. i was going to say that. especially _ honest. i was going to say that. especially with - honest. i was going to say that. especially with the i honest. i was going to say i that. especially with the heat and then rotting, it must be a horrible place to be right now. it is not ideal, and i think the thing that adds weight to the thing that adds weight to the disappointment and frustration and anger was that it was avoidable. it is a pure water management issue of the

lakes and water new south wales have failed this community again. we were flooded out of six weeks ago and here we are again now with millions of dead fish, and an issue that will be ongoing for weeks from here. explain how it happens then in your view, explain how it happens then in yourview, graham. is ita explain how it happens then in your view, graham. is it a case of bad water management there? yes, absolutely. water comes into the lake system and can be let out at several outlets. they chose the wrong outlet because it was easy for them and now we ended up massive amounts of dead fish floating down river. there are a massive amount of dead and rotting fish floating through the town. i5 floating through the town. is it preventable? yes, - floating through the town. is it preventable? yes, it - floating through the town. is it preventable? yes, it is - floating through the town. is| it preventable? yes, it isjust it preventable? yes, it is 'ust ure it preventable? yes, it is 'ust pure mi it preventable? yes, it is 'ust pure water management h it preventable? yes, it isjust pure water management and | pure water management and better data collection. we were warned about the fish kills up to 18-19. the warned about the fish kills up to 18—19. the state government were told they need better data. here we are again with a biggerfish kill and a more disturbing event than what we had last time, and everyone

thought last time was unrepeatable.- thought last time was unrepeatable. thought last time was unre eatable. ., unrepeatable. how will the river be cleaned _ unrepeatable. how will the river be cleaned up? - unrepeatable. how will the river be cleaned up? are i unrepeatable. how will the | river be cleaned up? are the authorities looking after it or is it down to residents like yourself?— is it down to residents like ourself? ., , ., . yourself? no, there is not much ou can yourself? no, there is not much you can do _ yourself? no, there is not much you can do now. _ yourself? no, there is not much you can do now. the _ yourself? no, there is not much you can do now. the fish - you can do now. the fish floating downstream and they will move about ten or 15 kilometres today. three or four days like this and the fish will eventually rot and sink to the bottom. there are too many to clean up. do the bottom. there are too many to clean urn-— to clean up. do you expect something — to clean up. do you expect something like _ to clean up. do you expect something like this - to clean up. do you expect something like this to - to clean up. do you expect i something like this to happen again? i something like this to happen auain? . something like this to happen aiain? ., ., , something like this to happen auain? . ., , . again? i am really concerned that the next _ again? i am really concerned that the next section - again? i am really concerned that the next section from i again? i am really concerned| that the next section from us down further, another ten kilometres down, they will be a lot of other fish die there. we have had small numbers or reasonable numbers die at the moment, but there is a big risk we could lose a lot more fish in the weeks to come.- in the weeks to come. that really is — in the weeks to come. that really is disturbing, - in the weeks to come. that really is disturbing, thank i in the weeks to come. that really is disturbing, thank you very much forjoining us. we appreciated. very much for “oining us. we appreciated.— appreciated. thank you, and thank you — appreciated. thank you, and thank you for _ appreciated. thank you, and thank you for the _ appreciated. thank you, and thank you for the interest. i thank you for the interest. thank you. a new study suggests that introducing babies to smooth peanut butter between the ages

of four and six months could reduce the risk of allergy dramatically. researchers are now calling on the government to change official weaning advice. here's our medical editor fergus walsh. a spoonful of smooth peanut butter twice a week mixed with breast milk if preferred. she really seems to like the peanut butter! yeah! this is how doctors say babies can be safely introduced to peanuts. whole and chopped nuts should never be given as they're a choking hazard, but when should parents start? i in 50 children in the uk is allergic to peanuts and it can be life—threatening. there has been a threefold increase in recent decades, partly driven by faulty advice to avoid peanuts altogether until the age of three. that was dropped in 2009. the current official nhs advice is that introducing peanuts should begin

at around six months, as part of weaning. but a study by allergy experts says it should begin earlier, at between four to six months. they estimate peanut allergy could fall by 77% if this was done. that would mean around 10,000 fewer children with a peanut allergy each year in the uk. so we know that if babies eat peanuts, the gut sees that as harmless and the body does not develop an allergic reaction to them. if you contrast that with a baby that first sees peanuts on the skin, the body then tends to develop a peanut allergy. splash, splosh... sienna is 2.5 and allergic to peanuts. her mum followed official advice and she was not fed them early on, but now wishes she had been. if i had another opportunity, it would have been completely different.

everyday life would be a normal situation, same as it is for her brother, and we would not have to worry about her getting older and making sure she is safe as well. we are going to do some bubbles on your arm, 0k? and when they are all there, we will go pop, pop, pop! yeah! sienna is now being tested for other possible allergies. the researchers are urging the nhs to change the guidance to recommend peanut products are introduced between four and six months... pop the bubbles. ..and say it would make a huge impact on safeguarding the health of children in years to come. fergus walsh, bbc news. a former professional australian surfer has broken the world record for the longest surf session. blake johnston eclipsed the previous mark of 30 hours and 11 minutes at the cronulla beach in sydney, clocking up more than a0 hours on the ocean. he's raising money for youth mental health projects and said he felt "pretty cooked" after catching more than 500 waves.

despite risking infected ears, dehydration, hypothermia and drowning. that is it from us. we will see you soon. hello there. the weekend is getting off to a mild start. we will certainly stick with those mild conditions throughout saturday. there will be some spells of sunshine, but there will also be some pretty heavy, thundery showers around for sunday. perhaps a little cooler for some of us and a little drier for a time as well. now, on the earlier satellite picture, we can see various clumps of cloud. the cloud has been bringing some showery rain in places and all of that cloud and those showers rotating around an area of low pressure, which will be dominating the scene for saturday. and this little frontal system wriggling its way up from the south, well, that will bring a pulse of more persistent rain up across southeast england and into east anglia. also, this band of rain swinging across northern

ireland and into the western side of scotland in between some spells of sunshine. but some showers will pop up, some of which will be heavy and possibly thundery. turning a little bit brighter through the afternoon across parts of southeast england and eventually east anglia. it's going to be mild again, 15, maybe 16 degrees, a little bit brighter in northern ireland through the afternoon as this band of rain progresses into scotland. in fact, some quite heavy rain across the far north of the mainland into orkney. although shetland should hold on to some sunshine. the rain will arrive across shetland as we head into saturday night. elsewhere, this band of cloud and some spots of rain pushing southeastwards, a bit of mist and murk around here and there. but most places by sunday morning will be dry and clear and a little bit chillier. there could be very locally just a touch of frost to start sunday, because sunday will bring this ridge of high pressure, quite a transient feature. but it brings us a window of drier and brighter weather. a little bit of low cloud and mist around first thing,

but then some good spells of sunshine. northern ireland, though, will cloud over through the morning. some rain getting in here during the afternoon. that rain perhaps just getting into the far southwest of scotland by the end of the day. still mild, maybe not quite as mild. 8 to 13 degrees covers it for most of us. and then into the new week, that ridge of high pressure clears off into the near continent and is replaced by frontal systems running in from the atlantic, and that will bring bouts of heavy rain, some quite strong winds at times. but throughout, it is set to stay mild. it mayjust get a little cooler in the north for the end of the week.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for vladimir putin and his children's commissioner, accusing them of war crimes over the unlawful deportation of children from ukraine to russia. it's the first time the court has ordered the arrest of a prominent serving political leader. our us partner cbs is reporting that the fbi and the department of justice are investigating the chinese owned video sharing app, tiktok, over allegations the company spied onjournalists. several governments, including the us, the uk, the european union, canada, and new zealand banned tiktok on government—issued mobile devices. several thousand people have

been protesting for a second day in paris and a number of other french cities.