live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. this hour, france's president emanuel macron is sititng down with leaders in beijing. we'll bring you the latest. china says it will make a resolute response after the taiwanese president met the speaker of the house of representatives in poland. —— in california. and ukraine's president caps off a trip to poland, one of the country's staunchest allies. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. at this hour, french president emmanuel macron is meeting with the chinese premier li qiang in beijing,

at the start of a three—day summit. the leaders are delivering opening remarks at the great hall of the people during the first event of a packed schedule today. the french president said it would focus on economic ties and stability. macron is expected to press chinese officials, including li qiang and president xi to do more for peace in ukraine. we will bring you more on the talks as they take place later. this summit comes as tensions between china and the west are running high. and as taiwanese president tsai ing—wen is in california meeting with us speaker of the house kevin mccarthy. here she is meeting lawmakers despite objections by china.

mccarthy stressed the need to speed up arms deliveries to taiwan. china, which has long considered taiwan as part of its country, denounced the meeting, accusing the us of seeking taiwanese independence. it comes on the heels of other high—profile summits, including then—speaker of the house nancy pelosi's trip to taiwan last year. speaking after the meeting, mccarthy responded to warnings from china of escalating tensions. well, my first message to china — there's no need for retaliation. but the one thing i will say to china too, at no time — i am the speaker of the house — there is no place that china is going to tell me where i can go or who i can speak to, whether you be foe or you be friend. the california visit is not the first stop on president tsai's trip. last week, she flew to new york where she met with three us senators. tsai then made her way to central america for official visits to guatemala and belize, two of taiwan's few allies on the world stage. and on her way back, her last stop was today's meeting with mccarthy and representative mike gallagher, the head of a congressional committee on china outside los angeles. it's her seventh such trip as president to the us in as many years.

earlier in the day, president tsai thanked congress for standing by taiwan, but sounded the alarm on the threats to the island. it is no secret that today the peace that we have maintained and the democracy which we have worked hard to build are facing unprecedented challenges. we once again find ourselves in a world where democracy is under threat. mccarthy says lawmakers had a productive discussion with president tsai. earlier, we spoke with one of the congressmen who was in the room for those conversations, democratic representative seth moulton of masschusettes, who serves on the house select committee on strategic competition with china. what was discussed with the taiwanese president in these meetings? we discussed our important partnership between our nations. not just our security

partnership but our economic partnership and the opportunities to improve that. we talked about a wide range of issues. there is obviously a very real concern about china invading taiwan and so we talked about military deterrence but we also talked a lot about economic competition, trade issues and trade opportunities and we talked about our allies in the region. if we talk about the threat of a chinese attack on taiwan, did president tsai specifically ask for assurances from the us? no, she didn't ask for any change in our long—standing policy but she did ask that we accelerate deliveries of weapon systems and other things that taiwan has ordered and that we are working to provide. our goal here is peace and we are sitting at the reagan library, we understand that you achieve peace through strength. we want to make it clear to the chinese communist party and their leader, xijinping, that invading taiwan is a bad

idea and there is going to be a united alliance that will oppose that just as the west has stood together to oppose vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine. to understand what the us can provide taiwan as an assurance, is that these weapons deliveries?— is that these weapons deliveries? . �*, ., ., deliveries? that's an important art of deliveries? that's an important part of the _ deliveries? that's an important part of the picture, _ deliveries? that's an important part of the picture, again - deliveries? that's an important part of the picture, again this l part of the picture, again this is notjust about military confrontation, this is about an incredibly important economic partnership, we know that taiwan is opening semiconductor manufacturing plants in the united states, that's good for both of the economies and through strengthens the economic partnership between the nations. we talked about the nations. we talked about the important ally relationships we have in southeast asia with countries like japan and south korea also worried about these new provocative stances from the chinese and how we can be

stronger allies both economically and militarily together. it was a very wide ranging discussion and that's exactly what you should expect from two democratic allies. earlier, i spoke with susan thornton, former us acting assistant secretary of state and asked for her takeaways from today's meeting. first i want to make the point that this is the president of taiwan transiting the united states on her way to a stop in central america, so we see taiwan authorities make these transit stops frequently, president tsai has been here a number of times. of course it is meant to show support for the united states by taiwan and every time there is a transit like this there are activities, there were activities in new york last week and now we have the meetings today in california with officials from the us congress. typically on this transits recently the president does meet with congress members but of course the meeting with the speaker is a big event.

it is much better though that i think she meets him here in california than that he travelled to taiwan. certainly, speaker pelosi's visit to taiwan in august i think was seen pretty widely even in taiwan as not necessarily contributing to making taiwan more secure and so i think having the meeting in the us is a much better option. us secretary of state antony blinken has spoken out in support of the detained wall streetjournal journalist evan gershkovich. gershkovich was arrested last week by russian security services during a reporting trip and accused of spying — something the wall street journal vehemently denies. he is believed to be the first us journalist to be detained in russia on espionage charges since the cold war. here's blinken earlier today: in the case of evan, we are working through the determination on wrongful detention and there is a

process to do that, and it is something we are working through very deliberately, but, expeditiously as well. and i will let that process play out. in my own mind, there is no doubt he is being wrongfully detained by russia, which is exactly what i said to the foreign minister of russia when i spoke to him over the weekend, and insisted that heaven be released immediately. —— evan. earlier, my colleague yalda hakim spoke to gordon fairclough, of the wall streetjournal to understand more about the conditions gershkovich is facing. he was first brought into court and given a state funded attorney, alloys weren't allowed to see him, they did get on tuesday and reported back he seems to be in good health and good spirits, that's very encouraging hopefully that will continue.— will continue. what you think is auoin will continue. what you think is going to — will continue. what you think is going to happen _ will continue. what you think is going to happen now, - is going to happen now,

hopefully he is quickly released but we often see in situations with others? obviously, we want him out as soon as humanly possible we are doing all we can to try to achieve that. there is a term for it now, hostage diplomacy, and it certainly does seem to be a trend globally, of countries taking people prisoner so they can trade them for geopolitical advantage, it makes it dangerous times for journalism, i think. to warsaw now, where ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, and first lady, olena zelenska, have just concluded a state visit to neighboring poland — their first foreign visit together since russia's invasion began. mr zelensky�*s polish counterpart, andres duda, says he is sending forteen additionalfighterjets to ukraine, and promised to push his fellow nato leaders to extend security guarantees to ukraine. the leaders capped off the visit with a rally in warsaw's central square. the bbc�*s mark easton

was there. in the royal castle crowd has gathered to hear president zelensky who has just begun his speech they are watching on large screens, notjust polls lots of ukrainians here as well some of the people will say they have a sense they are witnessing an historic event. this is the combination of president zelensky�*s is it, there's been a lot of talk about continued and increased monetary assistance to ukraine from poland, talk about sending more fighterjets to kyiv, this part, the public part is a chance for president zelensky to come to the polish capital and tell polish people of his appreciation that in february last year, russia invaded, poland opens notjust its homes but its hearts ukrainian refugees fleeing the fighting. hundreds of thousands of polish

families opened their homes to the refugees and some of them are still hosting. president zelensky now is talking to the polish public, thanking them for their humanity.— polish public, thanking them for their humanity. mark easton re ”ortin for their humanity. mark easton reporting there. _ zelensky�*s visit coincided with a tense ceremony in moscow, where russian president, vladimir putin, accepted the credentials of new ambassadors from the eu and the united sates. only a few hours later, mr putin told his security council that western intelligence services had helped ukraine to carry out terror attacks on russian soil. but in kyiv, the focus was towards the west — to warsaw, and further on to brussels, as the bbc�*s hugo bachega explains. it important visit by president zelensky to one of its key allies, poland, he said he was gratefulfor allies, poland, he said he was grateful for the help poland has given to his country since the beginning of the war.

poland has welcomed more than i million refugees and urging european countries to step up military assistance. this visit happened as nato foreign ministers wrapped up a two—day meeting in brussels where ukraine was one of the main topics, at the end of this meeting, the nato chief, james stoltenberg said continued support for ukraine was essential but he made a warning he said in chinese supply of lethal weapons to russia for the war here would be a historic mistake. the systematic activity happens as ukraine is planning what is expected to be a major offensive to try to take back territory that is under occupation, officials here saying the military still needs more help, such as fighter jets, nearly a fifth of the country remains under occupation so that ukrainian still face major challenges on the battlefield. around the world and across the uk.

you're live with bbc news. wendy and ian have been married for 36 years but everything changed in 2014 when ian was diagnosed with front oh dementia atjust 50. diagnosed with front oh dementia at just 50. dementia at 'ust 50. 2013, he was dementia atjust 50. 2013, he was behaving _ dementia atjust 50. 2013, he was behaving in _ dementia atjust 50. 2013, he was behaving in a _ dementia atjust 50. 2013, he was behaving in a strange - dementia at just 50. 2013, he l was behaving in a strange way, we didn't think he was ill, we just thought there was something wrong, i thought my marriage was breaking down because he seemed to ruin everything we were trying to do. , , , ., ., do. this type of dementia affects people _ do. this type of dementia affects people between i do. this type of dementia i affects people between ages do. this type of dementia - affects people between ages of 45 and 65, symptoms can include personality and behaviour changes and problems with language and mental focus. changes and problems with language and mentalfocus. when he is pleased there is already more awareness around this type of dementia since the actor bruce willis has been diagnosed. if bruce willis has been diagnosed.— bruce willis has been diaanosed. , ., diagnosed. if this -- there are celebrities _ diagnosed. if this -- there are celebrities out _ diagnosed. if this -- there are celebrities out there _ diagnosed. if this -- there are celebrities out there that - diagnosed. if this -- there are celebrities out there that can l celebrities out there that can promote this it is fantastic.

there is still no cure or a way of slowing the disease but wendy hopes more awareness will help those living with it and their families. you're live with bbc news. former us vice president mike pence will not appeal a judge's ruling requiring him to testify over the january 6 attack on the us capitol. it sets up a possible appearance by pence in front of a federal grand jury in the coming weeks — one of several investigations into former president trump. in brazil, at least four children have been killed by a man wielding a hatchet in a kindergarten in the south of the country. another four children were injured. police in the city of blumenau say the attacker has turned himself in to authorities. the governor of the us state missouri says it could take months to rebuild after tornado or through the east on wednesday, five people were killed in the incident. .

thousands of people have been protesting across argentina against spending cuts imposed by the international monetary fund under a new debt repayment deal. disruption was reported in 135 cities. the imf has eased economic targets in its latest deal to lend argentina $44 billion, but critics say the agreement is setting the country up for more economic failure. police forces in 17 countries have taken part in a major operation to dismantle one of the biggest online criminal marketplaces. in the us, it was called operation cookie monster. genesis market is thought to have sold personal information that was stolen from more than two million people to fraudsters — enabling them to impersonate the victims without raising any suspicion. daniel sandford reports. come to the door! police! come to the door! a dawn raid in grimsby at the home of a suspected fraudster. the start of an international operation against alleged hackers who steal from

online bank accounts and shopping sites. here, officers from the national crime agency and the police arrested a man in his 30s on suspicion of fraud and computer misuse — one of 24 people arrested in the uk. the target of the raids was the genesis market website, a one—stop shop for hackers who could log in and buy stolen passwords for bank accounts, paypal accounts and accounts for services like amazon, uber and netflix. what was particularly dangerous about the data being sold on the genesis market website was that it wasn't just log—in details. the hackers could purchase all of what's known as your digital fingerprints, your browser information, your ip address and your physical location, so that when the hackers logged in to a bank account or shopping website, it really did look as if they were the original user. hackers trying to use genesis market today didn't get the usual login page. rather, they got this message

from the fbi saying the website had been seized as part of operation cookie monster — a reference to the fact that one of the things that genesis market was selling was computer cookies to help hackers impersonate genuine users. for too long, criminals have stolen credentials from innocent members of the public. we now want criminals to be afraid that we have their credentials, and they should be. and people today are getting a knock on their door, very early in the morning. the national crime agency advised members of the public that, to avoid fraud, they should always take software updates on their phones and computers, they should use strong passwords and, where possible, use two—factor authentication. that's when a text message with a one use password is sent as part of the login process. daniel sandford, bbc news, at the national crime agency. and at the national crime agency. we have got some b

news and we have got some breaking news coming into us at the bbc. the house foreign affairs committee chairman michael mccall is leading a investigation that has just landed in taipei. chairman mccall isjoined by mccall is joined by representative mccall isjoined by representative young kim of the indo—pacific and a ranking member of the subcommittee on the indo—pacific and some other representatives. the delegation, while they are there, will meet with time in his business leaders we understand as well as senior taiwanese officials from the executive and legislative branches to discuss the ways that the us can strengthen economic and defence relationships. this is of course significant because just on wednesday we saw the taiwanese president visiting california meeting with the us speaker of the house kevin mccarthy. so, this visit is another sign of the us strengthening its relations with taiwan. we will continue to follow that visit from michael mccall and his colleagues in taiwan and bring you more details on that a

little bit later. a bbc investigation has exposed how a life—coaching organisation in the uk, which offers lessons in personal self—development, has encouraged people to hand over tens of thousands of pounds and taken over their lives. some people have accused the organisation, called lighthouse, of operating like a cult. they have suffered extreme harassment. one charity, which helps people free themselves from abusive groups, says it receives more calls about lighthouse than about any other organisation in the uk. catrin nye reports. it's been 18 months since jeffrey leigh—jones left lighthouse international group, a life coaching company accused of being a cult. the 34—year—old sailor initially signed up for business coaching, but soon, he was on the phone to his mentor at all hours of the day. i thoroughly enjoyed the conversations that you and i

have~ — at first, i was motivated, i was inspired, and i started working hard. these calls then became more frequent, longer, more intense, more about deeper parts of your life. in time, i began to share traumatic things, things i found deeply painful. jeff became part of lighthouse full—time. that meant being on group phone calls every day with their leader, paul waugh. many people who don't know me very well think i'm a mystic. iam able i am able to sort of feel things that no—one else can. all these calls were recorded, then painstakingly transcribed. they began to take overjeff�*s life. they got longer and longer as we went. so, within six months, they were five to six hours. every day? every day. i would listen in at times.

the topics were getting more sinister. narcissists, you know, toxic parents. and then that's when i started worrying cos i thought he's literally being brainwashed all day, every day. people in lighthouse have become isolated from family. some move into shared houses, and there's a financial cost, too. in total, jeff paid £131,000 to the organisation. he sold his house to fund some of it. lighthouse says that any money paid is a self—investment. another paid over £35,000. i took out a credit card and i felt that i could not say anything unless my mental said it was a healthy thing to think. ~ , ., , it was a healthy thing to think. ~ , , ., a think. when people ask questions _ think. when people ask questions things - think. when people ask questions things can i think. when people ask i questions things can turn nasty. lighthouse do not like

criticism. some people have spoken to the police. lighthouse was told that she was unfit to do herjob. i consider lighthouse a very classic example of a cult. firstly, cults are started and led by a charismatic and authoritarian leader. but they're also bullies. the structure is steeply hierarchical. it is heavily isolating. then you have this process of what i call brainwashing, or we could also call coercive control. if you do this to people, you can then exploit them. martin's daughter is still a part of it. she no longer talks to herfamily. i part of it. she no longer talks to her family.— to her family. i feel so powerless. _ to her family. i feel so powerless. what - to her family. i feel so powerless. what can l to her family. i feel so powerless. what can i | to her family. i feel so - powerless. what can i do? what is it like having _ powerless. what can i do? what is it like having a _ powerless. what can i do? what is it like having a child _ powerless. what can i do? what is it like having a child in - is it like having a child in lighthouse? it is it like having a child in lighthouse?— is it like having a child in lighthouse? is it like having a child in liahthouse? , ~ , lighthouse? it is like she has died because _ lighthouse? it is like she has died because the _ lighthouse? it is like she has died because the daughter i lighthouse? it is like she has i died because the daughter that i know is not there anymore.

one week ago lighthouse international group was shot down over a lack of natural transparency. we put our allegations to their leaders. how do you feel about the fact that so many people think you are running a cult?— are running a cult? we're not runnina are running a cult? we're not running a _ are running a cult? we're not running a cult. _ are running a cult? we're not running a cult. they - are running a cult? we're not running a cult. they do - are running a cult? we're not running a cult. they do not i running a cult. they do not know what a cult is. if you ask them — what is the difference between a cult and a community that supports people, they would not be able to tell you. why do so many people say it? they are smearing us. pare why do so many people say it? they are smearing us.- they are smearing us. are you auoin to they are smearing us. are you going to carry _ they are smearing us. are you going to carry on? _ they are smearing us. are you going to carry on? yes, - they are smearing us. are you going to carry on? yes, we - they are smearing us. are you| going to carry on? yes, we are car in: going to carry on? yes, we are carrying on- — going to carry on? yes, we are carrying on. thank— going to carry on? yes, we are carrying on. thank you. - going to carry on? yes, we are carrying on. thank you. we - going to carry on? yes, we are i carrying on. thank you. we have had no comment. a controversy surrounding a 68—year old spanish actress ana obregon who said she had a baby by surrogacy in the us. the practice is illegal if carried out in spain. the afco's said that she used the frozen sperm of her dead son. this is anna abragun and she found herself at the centre

of controversy when a magazine in spain publish this as a front cover and you can see her with a baby girl born via surrogacy in the us. this is outside a hospital in miami. this caused a debate because surrogacy is banned in spain but some important background. this is her son. this is an old picture of them because sadly he died in 2020 from cancer. he was 27 years old but she made reference to this when she announced the baby's birth on her instagram channel. you can see she shared the same photo outside the hospital. she has written a caption in spanish and we have translated it for you. but it has not stopped fierce debate, not least from spain's left—wing government and many ministers have come out criticising her, because, as i said, it is illegal. here is what some have had to say. here is explains a quality

minister who said: she was not the only one. we have also had this from the education minister: but today, we have had another twist. also in the magazine, revealing that not only is she the child's mother, but also her biological grandmother. stay with me. that is because her sons sperm was taken before he died and used in this process, and if you look closely here, you can see his name, alex, on her necklace here. so, she is not only the child's mother but also the biological grandmother. as you can imagine that has propped it even more discussion in spain, and have a look at this. this is google trends. you can see when the announcement came through a sharp spike in interest, people searching the story, and it stayed the number one most searched topic in

spain today. iam in i am in washington. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. the easter weekend just around the corner, a heads—up for what to expect coming shortly, but first of all, let's take a look at wednesday's weather. best of the sunshine was certainly across eastern england. yes, it clouded over into the afternoon, but most of us had skies like this — fairly grey with outbreaks of rain at times. now, that rain is pushing its way east and it will clear over the next few hours and allow this ridge of high pressure to build and quieten things down. so, first thing thursday, it's a rather grey, damp, dreary start across the east, but it's a mild one with the cloud around, temperatures holding up above freezing, so that early rain will ease away. mist and fog patches lift to sunny spells and scattered

showers into the afternoon. maybe some of those showers filtering down through the cheshire gap could be quite heavy, maybe with the odd rumble of thunder mixed in there as well. so, by the middle part of the afternoon, it's sunny spells and scattered showers. highs of 11—14 degrees, slightly drier, brighter skies into northern ireland and western scotland as that ridge of high pressure takes over. but there will be some showers across the northeast of england and eastern scotland here, highs of 9—12 celsius. so, by the end of thursday, the high pressure is building and quieting things down quite nicely. a spell of really wet weather for a time, moving away through east anglia and southeast england. but under those clearer skies out to the west, once again, those temperatures fall away low enough for a touch of frost to form first thing on friday morning. but good friday is going to be a reasonable day — dry, settled and sunny. these weather fronts trying to push in from the atlantic, but they will take most of the easter weekend before they arrive. so, on the whole, we could just

see a little more in the way of cloud just pushing in off north sea coasts, unfortunately for eastern england. but most of us dry with some sunshine coming through and light winds. it'll be pleasant enough — highs of 10—14 celsius. similar story as we go into saturday, but there's a greater chance of seeing more cloud developing from the north sea with that easterly flow. there's our weather front, trying desperately hard to push in from the atlantic. it takes its time to do so, perhaps not arriving until sunday, with more significant rain for some of us by easter monday. take care.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk, today, i'm in wilts southern england, farming country with the serene rural views belie deepening economic anxiety. because right now agriculture is under enormous pressure. spiralling costs, shortages of labour,