welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm monica miller. the headlines: the us federal reserve raises interest rates again, despite fears that it could add to financial turmoil after recent bank failures. the former uk prime minister borisjohnson denies lying to parliament about lockdown parties at downing street. i apologise for inadvertently misleading this house, but to say that i did it recklessly or deliberately is completely untrue, as the evidence shows. uganda faces international criticism after passing a new law threatening anyone who identifies as gay with life in prison.

the search is on for the family of one of the uk's last world war ii veterans — ahead of his funeral next week. and millions of muslims around the world prepare for the start of ramadan. one of the holiest months in the islamic calendar will be marked with fasting, prayer and spiritual development. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. the us central bank the federal reserve has increased interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. it's trying to balance the need to tackle inflation while protecting the financial sector. the collapse of two us banks

this month were blamed in part on higher borrowing rates. the latest decision has raised fears about the health of the us financial system, but the fed chairman spoke to reassure the public. our banking system is sound and resilient, with strong capital and liquidity. we will continue to closely monitor conditions in the banking system and are prepared to use all of our tools, as needed, to keep it safe and sound. in addition, we are committed to learning the lessons from this episode and to work to prevent events like this from happening again. borisjohnson — the former british prime minister — has repeatedly denied lying to parliament about lockdown parties at downing street. he has been giving evidence to a cross—party committee of mps, who are investigating whether he deliberately or recklessly gave misleading assurances that all rules and guidance had been followed. mrjohnson did — during three hours of questioning — admit that social distancing had not been "perfect" but insisted the gatherings were "essential" work events.

here's some of what he had to say. the first concern is that i may have knowingly or recklessly deceived parliament on the 1st and 8th of december, when i said that the rules had not been broken and that the guidance had been followed completely in number 10. when i said those words, i was not trying to cover up or conceal anything. i said what i said in good faith, based on what i honestly knew and reasonably believed at the time. that belief, what was in my head, was based on my understanding of the rules and the guidance. that did not mean that i believed that social distancing was complied with perfectly. that is because i and others in the building did not believe it was necessary or possible to have a two—metre — or one—metre afterjune 2a, 2020 — electrified force field around every human being. that is emphatically not

what the guidance prescribes. our political editor chris mason joined us with the latest. there's an old adage in politics that if you are explaining, you are losing, and borisjohnson had to do a lot of explaining today — a lot of explaining about his record in government, his relationship with the truth, all of those issues that were kicked around a year or so ago, dredged back up for all to see. there was the spectacle in that hearing of conservative mps scrutinising a fellow conservative mp, while other conservative mps — allies of mrjohnson — were heckling the questioner, a reminder of the insurrection, the civil war that was prompted within the conservative party by borisjohnson�*s downfall and the chaos that followed. for the committee, they now have to go away and work out if mrjohnson recklessly misled parliament or intentionally misled parliament. now, proving intent, proving he lied is always — was always — going to be

a high bar, but recklessness is much more subjective, and they are both labels that borisjohnson will be desperate to avoid. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the uk parliament have voted in favour of a key part of a new agreement for implementing post—brexit trading arrangements for northern ireland. 29 mps voted against it, including members of northern ireland's democratic unionist party and several high—profile mps from the governing conservative party. president volodymyr zelensky�*s has visited front line positions in eastern ukraine in the area of bakhmut, where his troops continue to resist a sustained russian assault that's lasted more than seven months. he handed out awards and was photographed with ukrainian soldiers.

prince william has thanked troops based near the ukrainian border for "defending our freedoms" at the start of a trip to poland. the prince of wales said the two—day trip will allow him to personally thank troops. he also said he wanted to pay tribute to the "inspiring humanity of the polish people" helping ukrainian refugees, who he's also been meeting on the trip. the pakistani opposition leader, imran khan, has accused the country's election commission of violating the constitution by postponing elections in punjab province. they are expected to take place next month. earlier, the commission said it was delaying the vote for the provincial assembly in punjab until october. 25 people have been injured when a ship tipped over in a dry dock in edinburgh's portarea. the 3,000—tonne vessel was dislodged by strong winds. the ship is owned by the us navy after they bought it from thejoint founder of microsoft, paul allen, last year.

the us secretary of state antony blinken has called on uganda's government to reconsider anti—lgbt draught legislation passed by parliament. under the bill, anyone identifying as lgbt could face up to ten years in prison. the bill still needs to be signed by president yoweri museveni. human rights watch says if it becomes law, it will be the first anywhere to to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. the bbc�*s patience atuhaire reports from kampala. this gay man in his early 20s says that he is afraid for his life. he spoke to the bbc on condition that his identity is kept hidden and says that he has already faced online attacks and was outed to his family. they even took the information to my mother, so my mum was very mad at me and called saying, "you're gay?

"i never want you back in my life. "never even come near my other children. "you are no longer my child." the newly passed bill will see anyone who is convicted of grooming or trafficking children for purposes of engaging them in homosexual activities face life in prison. but it includes even tougher penalties. a clause titled aggravated homosexuality now stipulates the death penalty in cases where somebody has sex with a minor, a disabled person, or in cases where the victim gets infected with a lifelong disease as a result of the assault. this is the first time in decades in uganda that the death sentence has been included in a new law. ordinary ugandans have been reacting to the passing of the law. i am over the moon, very happy, because as ugandans, the biggest percentage of ugandans, they don't agree with the homosexuality.

i don't wish our kids to face that, like, ladies sleeping with ladies. i was so excited about it and i really thank the parliament of uganda because they didn't let us down. activists have said that the anti—homosexuality bill may have far reaching consequences for ugandans in general. there's no reason why we should have a bill that criminalizes - individuals that are having consensual same—sex - adult relationships. all ugandans should be really scared of this bill because it i will not just affect suspected lgbt individuals or people . who are actually lgbt. it can affect anyone. you know, anyone can- accuse anyone of touching with the intent to - commit homosexuality. anyone can accuse anyone - of promotion of homosexuality. government representatives in parliament gave the bill overwhelming support, but it will have to be signed by president yoweri museveni before it can officially become law. patience atuhaire,

bbc news, kampala. tiktok�*s ceo, shou zi chew, is expected to give testimony in the us congress for the first time on thursday over security concerns. mr chew is likely to face a barrage of questions on tiktok�*s relationship with china, what data it collects and what it does with it. he will reportedly appear before the us house of representatives energy and commerce committee, as lawmakers scrutinise chinese—owned video—sharing app. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the huge clean—up operation under way, after millions of dead fish filled a river in australia. applause

i'm so proud of both of you. let there be no more war or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. with great regret, the committee has decided that south africa will be excluded from the 1970 competition. chant streaking across the sky, the white hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers on fiji.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm monica miller in singapore. our headlines: the us federal reserve raises interest rates again, despite fears that it could add to financial turmoil after recent bank failures. let's stay with that story now. i'm joined by tony nash, chief economist at complete intelligence, who is in houston, texas. thank you very much forjoining us on the programme. thank you very much for “oining us on the programmeh thank you very much for “oining us on the programme. thank you. so we have _ us on the programme. thank you. so we have seen, _ us on the programme. thank you. so we have seen, we _ us on the programme. thank you. so we have seen, we debating - so we have seen, we debating exactly if the fed would raise these rates or not. it looks like they have gone ahead with it, in terms of trying to tame inflation, but what does that say in terms of the banking sector? how comfortable should people feel about these rising interest rates?— people feel about these rising interest rates? you know, the key thing _ interest rates? you know, the key thing here _ interest rates? you know, the key thing here is _ interest rates? you know, the key thing here is that - interest rates? you know, the key thing here is that the - interest rates? you know, the key thing here is that the fed | key thing here is that the fed can actually do two things. the main reason the fed was started

in the first place was to provide a more stable banking system and that is what they have done the last two weeks, with silicon valley bank, signature bank and the other stuff. they are also there to work on monetary policy and make sure inflation does not get out of hand. there are quite invalid doing that is well and did that without hike. —— they are quite capable of doing that. we did nothing that stand pat or pivoting was the right thing to do because it would have committed aided that there is something more wrong with the economy, especially with the economy, especially with inflation still at elevated levels, so it was actually a very good statement from the fed. jerome powell said the right things in his press conference and really a lot of the late day sell—off that we saw in the states was people who were pretty hopeful that the fed would not raise rates, despite the fact all of the inflation and labour market indicators were saying that they should.— indicators were saying that

the should. �* ., , they should. but tony, if your customer _ they should. but tony, if your customer one _ they should. but tony, if your customer one of _ they should. but tony, if your customer one of these - they should. but tony, if yourj customer one of these banks, they should. but tony, if your. customer one of these banks, or you see what is going on in the news, you're not feeling particular confident right now. how is the fed going to get confidence back up in the system?— confidence back up in the s stem? . , ., , ., confidence back up in the sstem? . ,., system? the customers of those banks have _ system? the customers of those banks have access _ system? the customers of those banks have access to _ system? the customers of those banks have access to their- banks have access to their deposits, so they're actually feeling ok. those banks have the liquidity from the fed to allow those depositors access to their deposits, and so those depositors are feeling ok. they may be a little bit nervous though they may be moving their funds to other systemically important banks, like citibank orj.p. morgan or something, orj. p. morgan or something, but for orj.p. morgan or something, but for now, things are fairly stable. there is scepticism in the banking system for, say, regional or smaller banks, but the fact is, the risk teems with these banks had what is called duration risk, so they had held securities that had a very low interest rate as the fed was raising interest rates,

so they did not have the liquidity to because of the assets they held to keep up with the needs of the bank, and so the risk team should have traded up those assets but they didn't, and so the fed now is making sure that banks have the right duration risk within their portfolios and they have their portfolios and they have the facilities in place to allow banks to exchange that out. ., , ., , allow banks to exchange that out. ., , ., ~ , out. tony nashe, thank you very much for — out. tony nashe, thank you very much for that _ out. tony nashe, thank you very much for that explanation. - much for that explanation. thank you. a major clean—up operation is under way in a small town in new south wales after millions of fish died in a local river. it has now been almost a week since the incident and it's been an anxious time for residents of the town of menindee, who are worried about possible contamination of their water supply. earlier, our correspondent in sydney, phil mercer, gave me more details. we've heard from the senior police officer who's leading this emergency clean—up in menindee, and he believes that up to 20 million fish could have died

in this mass die—off. it's believed that the native fish suffocated in what is called hypoxic blackwater. this is a naturally occurring phenomenon that causes oxygen levels in the river to be drastically reduced, so essentially it's believed that these fish died because they didn't have enough oxygen. and the clean—up will be absolutely exhaustive. the police say it will be a logistical nightmare, so what we're seeing in menindee — this is a small community about 1,000 km to the west of sydney — is contractors using giant booms to scoop up the fish on the surface and also try to reach those that are floating to the bottom of the darling river too, so it will be a huge logistical operation for contractors. as for residents, they're living with fears, as you say, of contaminated water supply

and this awful stench of millions of rotting fish. i want to take us to scotland now. first minister nicola sturgeon has formally apologised to thousands of women who were pressured into giving up their babies for adoption because they were born outside marriage. the women were then often left in the dark about what was happening to their babies. our correspondent duncan kennedy first reported on this story a decade ago and has played a crucial role in bringing their traumatic stories to light. this is his latest report. these women have waited 50 years for this day. they're just some of the 60,000 scottish mothers forced to give up their babies for adoption, simply because they weren't married. this is a very big day? this is an enormous day for us, one that i don't think any of us really expected. they came to the scottish parliament for an unprecedented moment, official recognition from scotland's first minister that historic forced

adoptions had caused grief, heartbreak and shame. the horror of what happened to these women is almost impossible to comprehend. it is the stuff of nightmares. forced adoptions took place in the three decades after world war ii, when pregnancy out of wedlock was considered shameful. thousands of the women were coerced into giving up their babies for adoption. in many cases, it was state employees like doctors, nurses and social workers, who put them under pressure. over the past two years, the bbc has highlighted dozens of their stories, revealing the horrors of losing their babies. our report is helping generate the momentum for today's historic moment, with nicola sturgeon becoming only the second world leader to apologise. to the mothers who had their babies taken away from them, to the sons and daughters

who are separated from their parents, to the fathers who were denied their rights, and to the families who have lived with the legacy, for the decades of pain that you have suffered, i offer today a sincere, heartfelt and unreserved apology. we are sorry. applause for the birth mothers, it was enough to unburden years of guilt. with the speech over, the women emerged, a lifelong feeling of shame now at an end. you got the apology. we have got it. it's been a long haul, and it's great. what are your thoughts? i actually can't believe that's actually happened after the day i sat in the house and you

interviewed me the first time. i thought, "this will never happen," and it has happened and it's wonderful. it's been a long time coming? it's been a long, long time coming, yeah. l they have waited a lifetime for today's lifeline, official confirmation that they did no wrong and should not have been forced to give up the babies they had yearned to keep. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in edinburgh. controversial influencer andrew tate and his brother tristan will remain in custody in romania for a fourth consecutive month. the brothers have been detained since december and are being investigated on allegations of rape, people trafficking and forming an organised crime group. both have denied wrongdoing. here's our correspondent lucy williamson. there's been a strong response from the tates' legal team to the ruling by this court here today. a spokeswoman said the team was speechless and that it would take years for the tates to rebuild their reputation. andrew and tristan tate stood in court today, smiling. they appeared relaxed.

and we're told that the judge — for the first time — asked them to directly respond to prosecution arguments that they should stay in custody because they were a flight risk and a risk to public order. we're told there was a dynamic exchange between the judge and the brothers. but despite this, the court eventually ruled that their custody should be extended for a further 30 days, until the end of april. that's still within the six months of preventative detention allowed by the romanian courts. but this case has really shone a spotlight on the way romania deals with human trafficking cases, and experts say it's likely to be really important that prosecutors rely notjust on the testimony of alleged victims but that police also gather hard evidence — from phone taps, for example — something we believe they have done both before and after the tates' arrest. they're also expanding their investigation into possible money laundering activities. lucy williamson, bbc news, bucharest.

the search is on for the family of one of the uk's last world war ii veterans as preparations are made for his funeral next week. he died alone in his flat. flight sergeant peter brown was born injamaica. hejoined the raf in 1943 and served as a radio operator and air gunner on lancaster bombers. he never married and had no children. but there is hope some surviving relatives may be found. helena wilkinson has the story. this is peter brown when he was serving as a flight sergeant in the royal air force in 1916. age 17, it's thought the young jamaican had travelled thousands of miles so he could volunteer to fly and fight in world war ii. after training, he flew as a crewmember in the avro lancaster, britain's famous strategic bomber that was used

as the raf�*s main weapon against targets in germany. in december, the air force veteran died alone in his flat in west london. fiercely independent, stubborn as hell, but a wonderful guy, always smiling. he was never miserable. he chatted about his health. he was always complaining about one thing or another, but he kept going. he said, "my knee hurts, but i've got to walk to "the shops, got to keep it going." peter brown had no known relatives. now officials are searching forfamily members to attend his funeral. after peter brown came to britain, he trained as a wireless operator and air gunner, and he flew in a lancaster bomber like this one when he served in 65 squadron. he was one of a50 young black men from the caribbean, africa and parts of the uk to fly with the raf during the second world war. they were specialists that became a tightly knit team.

everyone's survival depended on everyone's abilities to do theirjobs. they were the best and brightest. they took only the best and the brightest. his job was one of that team. without him, they would not have been able to go forward. it is hoped that anyone related to peter brown or anyone who knew him will get in touch ahead of his funeral next week, so he can be given the very best sendoff he deserves. helena wilkinson, bbc news. shoppers have also been visiting dubai's souqs. ramadan begins to be celebrated. it's one of the holiest months in the islamic calendar. hundreds of worshippers in indonesia have offered evening prayers at one of the largest mosques in southeast asia, the istiqlal

grand mosque injakarta. for some, it's their first time marking the start of the holy month at the huge venue. shoppers have also been visiting dubai's souqs for traditional sweets and spices, with the historic markets adorned with ramadan lights and decorations. that is all here on newsday. a reminder of our top story — us stock markets have fallen after the central bank decided to move forward with another rise in interest rates. the key index, the dow jones industrial average, closed down by i.6%. shares in banks saw some of the steepest falls, with investors still fearful about the health of the financial system. here in asia, we have kept an eye on those markets. tokyo's index has fallen by more than 2%, so we will be keeping a close eye on that. stay tuned

for asia business report, we will give you the latest. bye—bye for now. hello there. the weather is remaining pretty unsettled for the rest of this week. low pressure will always be nearby, out to the west of the uk, in the atlantic — steering weather fronts our way, bringing outbreaks of rain, followed by sunshine and showers. and it will be blustery, even windy at times, particularly across england and wales. but on the plus side, it'll be fairly mild, with our air source coming in from the south—west. but it's quite a messy picture, i think, as you can see here for thursday, low pressure out to the west, lots of isobars, plenty of weather fronts. this weather front will bring more persistent rain to the south and south—east of the country later in the day. so we'll have showers, even longer spells of rain

affecting central, northern and western areas. some good spells of sunshine around, too. but later in the day, we'll see the cloud building up across the south and south—east as this persistent rain starts to push in. it will be a blustery day, certainly for england, wales, parts of northern ireland, not so much for scotland. a quieter day for you, but gusts around a0 miles an hour in exposure. but another mild day to come, temperatures reaching the low to mid—teens for many. a little bit chilly there for the far north of scotland. that rain, then, persistent at times, affects the south—east corner and then pushes on into the north sea. that'll be followed by further showers, even longer spells of rain, across scotland, in towards northern ireland for a time, but some clear spells, too. and temperatures, again, fairly mild because of the cloud, the breeze, the rain. no lower than around 5—8 degrees. now into friday, our area of low pressure is a bit closer to the uk, so it looks like we'll start off with some sunshine, fairly breezy, but then showers will get going. they'll be widespread and they will be heavy at times, some thunderstorms mixed in, some hail at times too. but again, temperatures low to mid—teens for many. it will feel quite pleasant when you're out of the showers

and in the sunshine. then it's all change into the weekend. we start to pick up northerly winds. that'll turn things very much colder. and we'll see showers turning increasingly wintry, particularly across the northern half of the country. you can see the arctic air plunging its way southwards gradually as we move through the weekend. the coldness of the air initially at the weekend across the north and then spreading to all areas by the time we reach sunday. so another mild day on saturday with sunshine and showers. by the time we reach sunday, it'll be very much colder, particularly in the north — where we could see some snow, notjust in the hills, even down to lower levels.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all of the main news stories at the top of the hour straight after this. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in a world fixated with the unstoppable march of the digital revolution, it's kind of refreshing to look at what's happening in the old school business of selling books. ink on paper has not been eliminated by the rise of the e—book, and the good old bricks and mortar bookshop hasn't been wiped out by online shopping.

my guest today, james daunt, boss of a growing bookshop