welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm monica miller. the headlines... the head of tiktok is grilled by us lawmakers, as he tries to convince them the chinese—owned app is not a threat to us national security. issue whether the company, tiktok, would commit to selling its data to anyone and just using it for its own purposes internally. i can get back to you on the details. interest rates in the uk go up for the 11th time in a row — putting yet more pressure on many with mortgages or loans. a special report — just 700 metres from russian lines

in eastern ukraine — where soldiers are engaged in brutal trench warfare. get in here and get down. those two russian shells that have just come in, i think it's tank fire. and — tear gas and dozens of arrests in paris — as the protests across france against plans to raise the pension age continue into a ninth day. live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 7am in singapore, and 7pm in washington, dc — where the boss of tiktok has been put on the hot seat. he's been defending the social media app during a us congressional hearing. around the globe, an estimated 1.5 billion people use tiktok�*s non—china app every day —

and more than a 150 million of them are in america. but the company's chinese ownership... has raised concerns that beijing could use it to harvest data. several governments and even big companies have advised their staff to take care when using it. it led to some angy exchanges on capitol hill — as nomia iqbal reports. even before he arrived shou zi chew was on tiktok arguing for its existence. even before he started speaking, lawmakers made it clear how they felt. tiktok has repeatedly chosen a path for more controlled, more surveillance and more manipulation. your platform should be banned. shou zi chew it back. bytedance is not owned by the chinese government. but politicians and activists here don't believe that. former president, donald trump was suspicious.

we're looking at tiktok, and we may be banning tiktok. presidentjoe biden and congress are too. they claim that apps beijing —based company bytedance has ties with the chinese government and feared data of american users could end up in the hands of the chinese communist party. we don't sell data to data brokers. i asked you if the company tiktok would commit to not selling data to anyone or easy process. i can go back to you on the details. shou zi chew claimed the app could create it if i was on leave concerns. legally, it's unclear how a ban would work but politically it may be damaging. if you're a politician trying to win over young voters, bending their favourite app may cost you. the president has made an effort

to demonstrate in the past that he values and cares about young people and cares about their opinion. i think the fact that has not been something he has publicly discussed when talking about tiktok that can be a let down. do you feel let down? i wouldn't say i feel let down, but i would hope to see a clear demonstration about how people are being included in this after four hours it's hard to say if shou zi chew has convinced politicians here. president biden has been given the backing by lawmakers to ban tiktok. he has told the company to find a new owner or as. nomia iqbal, bbc news washington. let's bring you some breaking news. north korea claims — it tested a new underwater nuclear attack drone this week. state media says — the drone detonated its test warhead off the country's east coast — staging a mock attack

on an enemy port. this all comes amid heightened tensions in the region — and these joint military drills carried out by the us and south korea earlier this week. the two countries have stepped up security cooperation — countering a string of weapons tests and growing nuclear threats from pyongyang. the bank of england has raised the uk's interest rates to their highest in 14 years. they went up by a quarter of a percent — to stand at 4.25%. it's being seen as an attempt to control inflation — which went up in the uk against expectations on wednesday. and it's not yet clear if they have reached their peak. our economics editor faisal islam reports. well, what does this house mean to us? it means everything. it means 20 years of memories. but as rates shot up, his interest—only mortgage trebled at first and as we arrive,

another bank letter showing a further rise for neil. in january last year, we were paying £255 a month, and now from next month onwards, we're having to pay £1,465. that, neil says, will force him and his seriously ill wife out of their home. you despair quietly, inwardly, but i can't let that show a day on from surging fresh produce prices and stubborn inflation, the bank's further rise was expected but there are some signs it could be the last rise for now. we don't know if it is going to be the peak. what i can tell you is that we've seen signs of inflation really peaking now, but, of course, it's far too high. now, we think it is going to come down sharply , really, from the early summer onwards, but we haven't seen that happen yet. the bank of england's been pretty gloomy over the last few months and understandably so, given the size of the ukraine war shock. but in today's interest rate deliberations, they've rowed back,

say their predicted recession may not now happen, that unemployment could stay flat and not go up, and whilst the economy does remain broadly stagnant, that's a lot better than expectations given the sheer size of the energy price shock. the governor said authorities were vigilant over some international bank failures such as america's silicon valley bank, but there were no fears of a repeat of the financial crisis of a decade and a half ago. no, i don't think it's a repeat of 2008 at all. we have obviously increased the regulation of the banking system since then. we learned a lot of lessons from the financial crisis. it is a three—way balancing act for the bank of england on the financial system, the economy and inflation. faisal islam, bbc news. much more on this on our website — just log on to bbc.com/news — or go via the bbc app. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines — starting with donald trump. there has been no indictment

of the former president, over his alleged hush—money payments to a pawn star. he had predicted he would be arrested on tuesday — but that didn't happen. the grand jury, which will decide on whether or not to bring criminal charges, was apparently not sitting on thursday. and that means any decision is now unlikely to come before next week at the earliest. the world athletics federation says it will not allow transgender women to compete in elite female events, to protect the female category. the decision comes after studies into the effect of testosterone levels in athletes born with male sex — and will come into force at the end of this month. the council has agreed to exclude male—to—female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from female world ranking competitions for march the 31st at this year. still to come a bit later in the programme — that special report from the very

front line of the fighting in ukraine. but first... the us has charged south korean cryptocurrency mogul, do kwon with fraud. it comes after police in montenegro say they've arrested a man suspected of being do kwon. montenegro's interior minister called the south korean national "one of the world's most wanted fugitives. a man was arrested at pod—goritz—a airport with forged documents. do kwon is wanted by the us, singapore and south korea. people who invested in his terraform company — and the terra and luna cryptocurrencies — lost around a0 billion dollars. earlier our correspondent in the balkans, guy delauney, said montenegro was still trying to identify the man arrested. philip, the interior minister of montenegro saying that the authorities in montenegro have picked up somebody who apparently is do kwon. everybody is still waiting for confirmation on this so far.

we have been hearing from authorities in korea saying that the information that they have received from montenegrin so far does indicate that it is this that very same do kwon, but they are waiting for a fingerprint id to be completely done so that they can confirm it is as was put, one of the worlds most wanted people who has been found at this airport and montenegrin. we did think that do kwon was in the region. a lot of people had said they thought he was in serbia, south korea had even sent some officials to serbia to negotiate and try to help with an investigation. montenegro, of course, just next door to serbia, so this does seem to be giving that earlier information some credence. over a million people have taken to the streets across france in the latest round of protests against president macron�*s plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. the biggest protests were in paris, from where lucy williamson reports.

after bypassing opposition in parliament, president macron is facing it on the street. in paris are largely peaceful demonstration was hijacked by violent protesters, less concerned with battling pension reform than battling police. there are now running battles between small groups of agitators and the police in all the streets around this area of central paris. there are bins on fire, tear gas being fired, many projectiles being hurled at the police. this public protest has now descended into public unrest. more than a million people protested across france today. their slogans and their anger less focused on pensions than on the president, and the way his government has forced this reform through parliament without a thought. ——forced this reform through parliament without a vote.

tonight the interior minister visited police headquarters. translation: since this morning police have been the target - of unacceptable attacks. 149 have been injured, some of them seriously. they have been hit with acid, molotov cocktails and cobblestones. fires are still burning in paris, with fresh protests planned for next week. mr macron made two promises when he first ran for office. reform france and unite it. this battle is forcing him to choose which promise he most wants to keep. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... why one woman has run 200 marathons in a year, from her native australia to america, to highly the growing problem of water scarcity. 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.

welcome back to newsday. let's take you now to the war in ukraine — and the very dangerous front line, around bakhmut. it's a city in the east of the country, held by the ukrainian military — but it's been under siege from russian forces for months. there have been huge casualties on both sides — as the territory took on symbolic value. but — the commander of ukraine's ground has told the bbc he feels the russian forces are now losing any impetus they had. 0ur correspondent quentin sommerville, and camera operator darren conway, have been to the front line where some of the fiercest fighting of the war has taken place. into a created no—man�*s land, where even tank armour can be breached. up close and in range, this tank crew releases everything it's got against russian targets. explosions. the enemy is just 500 metres away across the field.

watch this round hit, top right. the orders are get in, get out and take cover. we are right behind them. quickly! go to position. go, quickly. go quickly! 0pen ground is their enemy's friend. translation: our tank worked successfully on the target, - so the enemy artillery is now targeting us. 0ur drone spotters gave the tank crew the commands to urgently roll back our range. so our guys won't be hit by the enemy's artillery. explosions. that was a 120 millimetre shell landing, maybe around 20—30 metres away from us. a brief lull and it's time to move again. this is what a year of attacks

has done to the town of velyka novosilka. 0nce thriving, it's all but abandoned. and still, russian bombs fall here. explosion. a mortar lands to the right. the town has already been reduced to rubble. and yet another mortar lands... explosion. ..even closer. they are zeroing in. any movement here captures russia's attention. in the town and on its outskirts, travelling in the open can be a matter of life or death. this road is within range of russian guns and it has to be taken at speed. to a stricken wasteland, where russian eyes are always watching.

gunfire. infantryman dima, only 22—years—old, is escorting us forward. the trenches we are heading to are about a kilometre ahead. and dima hasjust told me that the village over here is half held by the ukrainians and half held by the russians. gunfire. explosions. gunfire. he breathes heavily. whoa!

mortars, tank fire, grenades — they get hit by everything here. fast, fast, fast! separated by incoming fire, camera journalist darren connelly... in here! pulls us into the trench. there is a bunker here! this way. come on, run, run, run! straight to me. down, down, down, down. get in, get down. those two russian shells that have just come in, i think it's tank fire. i think they're very close to these positions. it gives you an idea of how exposed it is here. there's absolutely no tree cover. the safest place for these men...is in the trenches. they've already taken a couple

of casualties here in the last week. the bombardments never stop. explosions. translation: we are standing at zero position and right now— we are under mortar fire. when the next one might be a direct hit... ..it�*s hard not to flinch. does dima think russia could win here? translation: it's a good question. this question needs to be addressed to the senior military. explosion. oh, that was close. what do you think, can russia win? i don't know. they have an unlimited amount of shells. they have entire

warehouses full of them. they can shoot all day and they will never run out of shells. and what about us? we will run out of shells this year. but we are forming various assault brigades and we have been given tanks like abrams. so i think with their help, we will win. and we are cossacks, we are brave guys. we can handle it. translation: ok, you and dima go together and i will go _ with the other group. dima checks if the ground is clear. explosion. "we won't go for now", he says. dima welcomes the cover of darkness.

a single shift here feels like a lifetime. beyond these trees lurks a great danger. their daily duty is holding it back. their country's freedom depends on it. russia could attack again at any moment. dima and his comrades will be waiting. quentin sommerville, bbc news, velyka novosilka. the un's first conference on water security in almost half a century wraps up on friday, with a plea to governments to better manage the precious resource. the conference has heard water scarcity is becoming endemic due to over—consumption and pollution. 0ne campaigner has literally gone a long way to highlight this issue, running 200 marathons in one year, from her native australia to america. thejourney taking mina guli through the outback down under via the mountains and snow, in places like central asia and europe.

and across the plains of africa before finally arriving in the us. a trek of more than eight—and—a—half thousand kilometres. the australian arrived at her final destination outside the un headquarters in new york city on wednesday. she says she set out looking for a water problem, but discovered a global "catastrophe". let's get some more on the tiktok congressional hearing — our reporter nick marsh is with me. thank you forjoining us on the programme. we have heard a lot from washington lawmakers. but what has china's response then to this? first and foremost. _ china's response then to this? first and foremost, china _ china's response then to this? f "st and foremost, china sees this as another example of the united states being unfair to the chinese company of what they would call this cold war mentality that they like to say

about how tiktok is being treated, the idea is that us tech companies collect data, and they are not being singled out, it is on the tiktok being singled out, so from a political standpoint, they are really bothered by this. in terms of what they want to happen now, it is like an order of preference, and to put it quite simply, they would much rather a ban on tiktok than any kind of sale, and this is what some lawmakers have been proposing, that tiktok be sold by its parent company and put into american hands, and the reason the chinese government don't want this to happen is because tiktok�*s algorithmic technology, which is very advanced and it is more advanced than competitors like meta, for example, or alphabet, that would fall into american hands, so ironically, the chinese government on their own national security grounds don't want any kind of sale, in fact, they passed legislation to that effect a couple of years ago,

essentially saying that if any chinese technology company with this kind of special advanced technology is proposed for sale to a foreign nation, then they have the power to be told that. so even though us lawmakers are making a big song and dance about how byte bands need to divest and sell tiktok to make sure that it divest and sell tiktok to make sure thatitis divest and sell tiktok to make sure that it is an american hands, as victim of the chinese government will most likely be told that. tell! will most likely be told that. tell us quickly. _ will most likely be told that. tell us quickly. the — will most likely be told that. tell us quickly, the us and china relations are already incredibly tense. what do you think the outcome will be now after all of this? it’s will be now after all of this? it's hard to see _ will be now after all of this? it�*s hard to see any kind of outcome that would please both sides. i think the proposal that tiktok is putting forward of essentially locating all of the data on these fast servers in the us, which means that data cannot theoretically leave the us is probably the most likely solution,

like i said, a sale is probably not going to happen. a ban would be politically inflammatory, so this kind of ring fencing of data in the us, that tiktok is putting forward, is probably the most likely scenario, but then analysts have said there are flaws to that as well. . ~ , ., said there are flaws to that as well. . ~' , ., , said there are flaws to that as well. . ~ i. , . ., ., well. thank you very much for that anal sis. just time to share some amazing pictures with you from seoul, where a zebra was filmed running around the streets, after escaping from a zoo. it's not yet known how it got out — but — it took a team of experts using a tranquiliser dart to bring its adventure to a halt. the zebra was then wrapped up in a net, loaded onto a truck, and taken back to the zoo — where its keepers say it was none the worse for its experience. a recap of our top story, the head of tiktok was grilled by us lawmakers earlier today as he does try to convince them that the chinese owned app is not a threat to

us national security. that's all we have for you now. stay with bbc world news. hello. quite an ominous—looking sky behind me with heavy showers forecast for friday, perhaps with hail and thunder. and indeed, the outlook is looking very unsettled. sunday onwards, it'll also turn quite a bit cold, particularly across the northern half of the uk. now, here's the satellite picture — look at this broad area of cloud to the south, that brought the rain on thursday evening. but the centre of the low pressure here now, a very large area of low pressure, is approaching ireland — and within this centre of low pressure, we have frequent showers circling. so from early morning onwards, the winds will start to strengthen across many western parts of the uk. it's already cloudy with showers across scotland and northern ireland, but in england and wales it'll actually start off pretty clear — and in fact, lots of sunshine

expected early in the morning. but as this area of low pressure approaches, the winds reach gale force around the southwestern coasts of the uk, gusting 50mph or more, and really blustery inland, too. so the showers will be fast—moving across england and wales. again, some of them will be downpours with hail and thunder. in northern ireland and scotland, the showers will be slow—moving — the winds are much lighter here — so any showers will last for longer, and that's in the centre of this area of low pressure, and this blustery weather will continue into the evening hours on friday. this is saturday's weather map and one area of low pressure clears away — another one is approaching, but we're sort of in—between these areas of low pressure. i think the most frequent showers on saturday will be across more northern and eastern parts of england. elsewhere, yes, some showers in the forecast, not as heavy, not as frequent. temperatures will get up to around 12—13 celsius, i think, for most of us. and then on sunday, we start to see a change.

cold northerly winds spread from the northern climes, pushing that milder air to the south. and in the north of the country, yes, it will be cold enough for some hill snow watch. the wintry showers spreading across the highlands of scotland. in the south, however, closer to a weather front, there will be some rain early in the day, but eventually that rain will clear away. temperatures may be making double figures across the south of england and wales, but further north, it will be around six celsius in aberdeen, and a wind chill. and before i go, just a reminder that the clocks change this weekend. bye— bye.

hello, i'm hugh ferris. for england and their captain, the european championship qualifying campaign could barely have got off to a better start. harry kane became his country's all—time leading goal—scorer, his 54th in international football, proving the winner in england's 2—1 victory against italy in naples, their first away win in the country since 1961. jane dougall reports. it may have seen better days, but the footballing pedigree of the diego armando maradona stadium is in tact. italy haven't played here for ten years... ..and it's been longer since england fans saw their country beat them. security was tight, with good reason —

supporter napoli has added repetition for intimidation.