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. world athletics issues new guidance on transgender athletes saying they cannot compete in the female category at international events. 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 — tier gas and dozens of arrests in paris — as 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 8am in singapore, and 8pm in washington, dc — where the boss of tiktok has been in the hot seat, defending the social media app during a us congressional hearing. around the globe, an estimated 1.5 billion people use tiktok every day — and more than a 150 million

of them are in america. several governments and even big companies have advised their staff to take care when using it. shou zi chew insisted data would never be given to the chinese communist party, but did accept that data is currently accessible to staff in china. 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 hit 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. now in a rare moment, 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 they created a billion—dollar firewall to alleviate 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. 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 conversation by government. 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. well, the governor of utah has signed a sweeping bill to limit children's access to social media. the utah social media regulation act puts some of the strictest limits on apps such as tiktok and instagram. our reporter azadeh moshiri joins us now with more on this.

so what does this new bill entail? is been a lot of focus on tiktok, but of course, parents and lawmakers have been worried about the impact of social media apps in general and children's mental health, apps like instagram, snapchat, facebook, apps that are under scrutiny right now, and that is because if you are a parent, you are concerned about your child being exposed to harmful content, worried about the impact it can have on the way children perceive their bodies. there's been a lot of serious studies on this, and, of course, on the bbc, we have also reported on the fact that sometimes children get exposed to content that relates to self harm, for example, in that social media companies have had a bit of a problem in regulating how search engines recommend that kind of content to children. if you are a parent, you are feeling pretty powerless about this. utah

lawmakers have decided that it's time take some sweeping it's time to take some sweeping action, and this is one of the most aggressive bills we have seen when it comes to how the police social media for children. there are three major ways that it does that. the first is that children can no longer, once this bill comes into effect next year, create an app, create an account with other parent or guardian�*s explicit consent. it also establishes a social media curfew, so children cannot use it from 10:30pm until 6:30am unless they have sign—up from a parent. this is most controversial part. parents now have access to their children's posts, messages as well as replies on these apps. thatis that is quite extraordinary, actually, but this bale isn't going smoothly with some people. there has been some criticism in terms of some tech experts as well as civil

liberty experts.- experts as well as civil liberty experts. that's right. the real concern _ liberty experts. that's right. the real concern is - liberty experts. that's right. the real concern is about. the real concern is about whether this is infringing upon children's privacy, the fact that parents can actually now have access to what they are saying, there are concerns about free speech and some experts have said they are wary about communities that could be generally isolated nc social media as a resource for them and away where they can find some sort of belonging. groups such as the lgbt community, some of these kids growing up in being communities that don't totally understand them or don't accept them and they find solace and find that social media can help them in that way. when i spoke to a representative, a spokesperson for meta, facebook�*s parent company, they said that they are doing everything they can to make sure that children feel safe and have already worked with lawmakers to put in place certain tools.— certain tools. always great to have you _ certain tools. always great to have you on _ certain tools. always great to have you on with _ certain tools. always great to have you on with your - certain tools. always great to i have you on with your insights. let's take a look at some

of the day's other stories in brief — starting with donald trump. there has been no indictment of the former president, over 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. at that meeting, the world athletics council also announced that russian and belarusian athletes would still be banned

from its competitions. the original ban was down to doping offences — but while that has been lifted, the invasion of ukraine means athletes from those two countries will still not be allowed to compete. in israel, protests against the overhaul of the judicial system have intensified — with tens of thousands of people on the streets tonight. it's after a law was ratified limiting the circumstances in which a prime minister can be removed from office. there've been months of rallies over plans to give the government final say on the appointment ofjudges and limiting the supreme court's powers to strike down laws. 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. our 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. infa ntryman 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, camerajournalist 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. l 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. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... tear gas and dozens of arrests in paris — as protests across france continue into a ninth day against plans to raise the pension age. 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 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.

world athletics issues new guidance on transgender athletes saying they cannot compete in the female category at international events. 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. translation: if parliament had voted for it democratically - i probably wouldn't be here at this protest today. i'm not a militant and protesting isn't what i like to do. mr macron�*s appearance on national television yesterday did little to calm the mood. i mean, it was seen by pretty much everyone as a middle finger to the entire population. i mean, they were angry already, and itjust threw a lot more oil on the fire. 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. 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. gene edited food can now be developed commercially and sold in england after a change in the law. supporters of the technology say it will speed up the development of hardier crops that will be needed because of climate change. critics say that the change could bring "disaster" to food production and the environment. here's our science correspondent, pallab ghosh. this research centre, in the cambridgeshire countryside, has been developing crops for farmers for more than 100 years. they crossbreed different varieties to produce new ones that grow better and are more resistant to diseases. it can take 10—15 years of development. but from now, they'll be able to use a new genetic technology in england called gene editing

that can halve that time. but the other thing which we need to now do is adapt to climate change. mario carcamo, who's the head of the lab, shows me what can be done with gene editing. one of the characteristics we are looking into, into wheat is their root structure. and typically, wheat will have a very shallow structure, what we see here. but then we do have some other varieties that can go deeper, and they will be better prepare for for climate change because they will do better in the conditions of drought. professor carcamo believes that traditional breeding methods won't be able to produce all the food we need for a growing population in a warming world. the projections show that if we don't bring an acceleration into how we can improve crops, we're going to be struggling to feed the world. the uk is among the world leaders in plant genetics, but that expertise hasn't really been able to take off because of the effective ban on the commercial development of the technology. the hope is that the change in law will attract greater investment, leading to new companies, new jobs, and new foods.

but gene—edited foods won't be allowed in scotland, wales, and northern ireland because the devolved governments won't be changing their rules. and there's also opposition from campaign groups in england. the entire process of this bill has been one of the government consulting a narrow range of vested interest scientists, usually in the biotech industry, who are reassuring the government that this change in the law will have no consequences. history has shown that when we remove regulatory control, particularly around food and the environment, there's a looming disaster on the horizon. the next step is to allow gene—edited animals on english farms, like these disease—resistant pigs. but that will require another vote by mps in westminster — once the government is satisfied that animals won't suffer. palab ghosh, bbc news, cambridge. that's all for 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 colder, 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.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and news stories for you at the top of the hour, as newsday continues — straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, from prague, i'm stephen sackur. vladimir putin hoped that europe's determination to stand with ukraine after russia's invasion would not last. he counted on a winter energy crisis and economic disruption to weaken european resolve. has that happened 7 well, my guest today is the newly—elected president of the czech republic, petr pavel. now, he is a former nato general and a staunch ally of ukraine.