live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. president biden arrives in belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the historic good friday agreement. the us says it's determined to find the source of a leak of classified us documents. and brazil's president lula da silva heads to china on an official state visit. us presidentjoe biden has touched down in belfast for the start of his visit to northern ireland and the republic. the 4—day trip marks the 25th anniversary of the good friday agreement.

the deal largely brought an end to the 30—year conflict in northern ireland, known as the troubles but political turmoil persists, even if less violent in nature than the past. here's president biden�*s schedule: on wednesday, biden will deliver a speech at ulster university before travelling to the republic of ireland. there, he'll celebrate his own family's roots, attending events in louth and mayo. there will also be official discussions in dublin, where biden will meet with irish president michael d. higgins. he'll then head back to america on friday. the bbc�*s lucy hockings has more from belfast. so president biden has arrived and there was a small crowd that came down to the centre of belfast to greet him. they braved the wind and the rain — the weather has truly been atrocious — to welcome him to belfast. ana i spoke to one northern ireland politics student and he said the reason that he had come was because a visit by one of the most powerful people in the world,

a us president, offers hope — hope at a time when there is no power—sharing at stormont, at a time where people say that vacuum could be filled once again by violence. he says that president biden visiting offers a real sense of hope to that process. it has really been a day of reflection here and also anticipation around the arrival of president biden. it is 25 years since the signing of the good friday agreement and this country has changed enormously. if you can imagine the streets around me here in belfast 25 years ago, there were armed bullies on the street. ——years ago, there were armed police on the street. you didn't see cars in this part of town very often because there were worries about bomb scares, if you went into a shop people searched your bags. there was an ever—present threat of violence. you wouldn't go out onto the streets around here at night. so the good friday agreement has led to peace here, but it is an imperfect peace.

i mean, yes, the killings have stopped, but the political stalemate, as i mentioned, has for now ended power—sharing at stormont. and i guess the hope is from people here is that american presidents have been influential before and now with that sense of anticipation people are wondering ifjoe biden could use his influence, his famous negotiating skills, to once again kickstart the process. he is expected to meet with all political leaders here all at the same stage, so there's not a huge amount of expectation that something will come of that meeting. but words matter here in northern ireland and it's his speech tomorrow that will be keenly watched by all sides, including the democratic unionists. it's also thought tomorrow that he will remind younger people that they may think at times that the good friday agreement belongs in the history books, but that peace is fragile and it is an agreement that still lives and is vital to the future of northern ireland. turning now to the

fallout of the massive document leak out in the us. the files, some marked "top secret", are circulating on social media. us officials say it's still not clear who's behind it and for the first time since the leak, we've heard from the us defense secretary, lloyd austin. now, i can't say much more while the justice department department's investigation is ongoing, but we take this very seriously and we will continue to investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it. and the us is taking this investigation seriously because officials say this leak is a risk to national security. so let's look closer at what's in those documents and the impact they may have in the us and abroad. here's the bbc�*s barbara plett usher. there's been an alarming hit on us intelligence, dozens of apparently classified documents from the defense department, some of them are top—secret, circulating on the internet. so what's in these documents and what impact will this have a national security? there are maps, charts,

and photographs, and they paint a detailed picture of the war in ukraine, including its air defences. there is also sensitive information about other american allies and it seems that many of the documents from daily pentagon intelligence briefings, although some of them appear to have been altered. the defense department is working around the clock to try to figure out how big the leakers, ——to try to figure out how big the leak is most damage it might have caused, and who did it. what we know is that the documents first appeared at the beginning of march on a chat forum for a minecraft videogame. they don't contain detailed battle plans, it's more like a us a snapshot of the conflict, but they could give the russians useful information, they could us intelligence sources at risk and it is a diplomatic embarrassment. as barbara mentioned, the leaked documents detail a lot of infromation about the war in ukraine. our correspondent in kyiv, hugo bachega, has more. washington and its allies are still dealing with the fallout of a massive leak of secret documents, one of the largest in recent years, and most

of these documents are related to the war here in ukraine. now, the washington post reported that egypt was planning to secretly produce and supply russia with 40,000 missiles, we know that there have been recent reports suggesting that russia was perhaps running low on missiles, especially after the campaign targeting ukraine's essential infrastructure. and official in egypt rejected these allegations and said this was a baseless claim. now, also on the washington post, a report suggesting that us officials had questioned the ability of the ukrainian military to achieve major gains with a counteroffensive, we know the ukrainians are planning an offensive to try to take back territory that is now under occupation, this offensive it is expected to start within weeks. we also know that the ukrainian

military is facing a number of challenges, including a lack of ammunition, despite all the help that has been provided by nato countries. a fifth of this country remains under occupation and we've seen evidence that russian forces are fortifying some of their positions. i think some of the leaks give an indication of the conversation that happening behind the scenes in the us, which has been one of ukraine's most important allies in this war. now, we still don't know how much has been leaked and for american officials investigating the leaks, two key questions remain, who was behind it and why? let's stay with ukraine. after more than a year at war — now 174,000 kilometres of the country is believed to be covered with landmines. that area is roughly the same size as syria. they're mostly concentrated in the north—eastern kharkiv region. this map shows the areas in red that have been contaminated by mines and unexploded ammunition left by russian soldiers, though both russia

and ukraine have been accused of using these weapons. from kharkiv, james waterhouse sent this report. this is what you call a scratching of the surface. a sweep, and a gentle prod for hidden killers. a job with very obvious occupational hazards. it's hard to describe this as anything other than random. this is a patch of land in the middle of a city. it's not a place unlike other areas that was once contested, where there was heavy fighting, but what these minesweepers are looking for our so—called butterfly mines. they are banned by international law. they don't look much, but the damage they can cause is severe. only a few inches wide and shaped like a propeller, they are scattered from a flying rocket. they are illegal because of the indiscriminate way they can kill and injure civilians.

in the area around here, russia and ukraine have been accused of using butterfly mines. the latter denies it. the city's deputy mayor tells me they have been de—mining every month since the world war ii. it is now every day. translation: they are everywhere. mines can be found in yards, cemeteries, agricultural fields, woodlands, along the severodonetsk river. there are a lot of mines. and the damage they cause is devastating as shown inside izyum's battered hospital. mykola stepped on one in the garden of his destroyed home. translation: i have no house, no car, no cows, no property, i and i used to have it all. it all got burned down, ruined. my grandchildren cannot visit

because everything is mined. mykola is under the care of yuriy kuznetzov, the only doctor who kept working throughout the russian occupation last year. translation: unfortunately, in most cases, an encounter l with an unknown explosive device ends tragically, and losing a limb or getting other injuries is not the worst outcome. for instance, a week and a half ago, we received a patient who uncovered a mine. he is still here, but the other person who was with him died. at a mine lecture, there is an appetite to better understand this resident threat. translation: i am very cautious. - i don't walk around much, but when i do, i use the same path, because i'm scared. i have a 16—year—old son and i'm really worried about him going out on his own.

back in balakliya, the butterfly clearing reaches its crescendo. a job likely to be replicated for decades. james waterhouse, bbc news, kharkiv region. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. what i love most about myjob? i love that i work with so many interesting and innovative people and the fact that when i come to work, i know i would tell a story or many stories to viewers, both in the uk and around the globe and i know how important it is in the age we are living in. i love the fact i get to speak to so many different people every day and get them to tell me their stories. as a chief presenter at the bbc, it is myjob to be across what is happening in the morning i get up in the first thing i do is look at what is

happening in the papers dig electively and i come to work and talk through everything with my team and i am listening to podcast through the day, what is happening on the radio and watching some of the competition as well sometimes. it's really important for people like us to be across was happening in the news because we are the ones you are relying on to give you the full facts. you're live with bbc news. to myanmar, where the military government says it is responsible for carrying out an air strike that killed at least 50 people. it happened in the village of pa zi gyi in the north—western sagaing region, which has opposed the military government. one villager told the bbc that a militaryjet had flown over at about 7am local time and dropped a bomb, followed by a helicopter gunship which attacked the village for 20 minutes. here's one picture of the aftermath of the attack. the military has increasingly used air strikes against their opponents since seizing power in 2021. i spoke to the un

special rapporteur on human rights in myanmar, tom andrews. what do you know about what happened in sagaing and why this community was targeted? this region is a really very, very vitally important area for the opposition. opposition has grown very, very quickly and is very, very strong in this area. don't get me wrong, opposition to the junta is widespread, it is very deep all around the country, but we see some of the most intensive opposition, most focussed and organised opposition here in this part of myanmar. so people as a result living here are vulnerable to attack by thejunta. what do you think this strike tells us about how much control the junta has at this point? well, ithink, really, this is an act of desperation in many respects. they are losing control of the country. they have lost control of significant parts on the ground,

and what that means is that soldiers that the junta puts on the ground are more and more susceptible to attack, so, as a result of that, the junta is using these helicopter gunships, these aircraft that are dropping bombs over these civilian areas more and more. we've seen a significant uptake in the use of aircraft for these attacks over the last year. that means that more and more civilians, innocent people, including those that were killed earlier today, are going to be suffering, including many, many children. you are the un special rapporteur in human rights, as we said, in myanmar. how difficult is it for you to access independent information? we know that there are regular blackouts in myanmar? well, i'll tell you, sumi, thejunta, they are like mushroom, they thrive in the dark and they do everything that they possibly can to hide what they are doing, particularly the atrocities that they are committing

against civilians, but we have a network throughout myanmar, we have extremely important information that's coming to us from around the country from people who are working very hard to make sure that that information gets out. it goes through a variety of channels and there is enormous courage used that's being used to get this information out but it is difficult. the junta will do everything it can to prevent the world from seeing the reality on the ground in myanmar because that reality is just horrific. that is precisely what i want to ask you next, is the world's reaction. i want to bring up a tweet that you had tweeted out a little bit earlier in the day, asking... who, tom, actually has the influence to get the junta to stop its crackdown? first of all, those nations that are supplying weapons, the very weapons that are being used to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity,

they have enormous influence on the junta. china and russia among them. but countries that has spoken out in favour of the people of myanmar in opposition to thejunta, criticising attacks like today, they have influence, but my problem, my concern is that the response of the international community has been fractured, it has been disorganised, it has not been strategic, and unlike the response to the attack on ukraine, for example, in which a coalition of countries gathered together and formed a very clear, coherent, co—ordinated plan, no such co—ordination, no such coalition, has been built with respect to confronting this horror that has been just subjecting the people of myanmar day after day, so, i think, frankly... tom, if i canjump in there, why is it that no such action is been taken, co—ordinated action? well, sumi, that is a very, very good question. i frankly do not know that. i get asked that by people in myanmar all the time.

i do not think that the political will exists obviously. i think many of these nations of the world that could be acting are distracted. there are obviously other conflicts that are going on around the world. they have a lot of political capital in some of those conflicts, a lot of geopolitical interests at stake, but the political will does not exist and as long as it does not exist, then we're going to see continuous assault like we saw today in myanmar. china is set to host another world leader this week, as it seeks to expand its global influence. brazil's president, luiz inacio lula da silva — also known as lula — is headed there right now for an official visit. the war in ukraine, and trade between china and brazil, are top of the agenda. he's first going to shanghai then beijing to meet with china's president xijinping on friday. china is brazil's largest trading partner. trade between brazil and china was nearly $153 billion last year.

lula is looking to strengthen those economic ties. i spoke to leandro prazeres, who is following lula on his trip. lula is likely to raise this idea of a peace club when it comes to negotiating a peace for the war in ukraine and he's looking to work with china on this. how viable are these peace efforts? well, diplomats i have been talking about is what brazil has presented so far is one of a statement of good intentions than a proper peace plan. what we heard from brazilian sources is that the chinese government will hear what brazil has to say about the crisis in ukraine, but they do not expect china to make a move towards this peace club that brazil — that mr lula da silva is proposing now. that's interesting. we have seen brazil in recent years with lula's predecessor, jair bolsonaro, take a more isolationist approach, but lula is now back out on global stage. why is that? and how does he see brazil's

role on that global stage? yeah, that's true. since lula took office injanuary this year, he and his ministers have been repeating this slogan that says more or less that brazil is back — back, of course, to the international stage. it is, of course, a criticism of the foreign policy adopted by his predecessor, jair bolsonaro, but what we are seeing now, it's sort of a continuation of lula's foreign policy during the period of 2003 and 2010 when he also led the country. because lula and his close advisors have always placing a bet on multi—lateralism as a way of ascertaining brazil's role on international stage considering that brazil is not military nor an economic superpower. yes, so lula has said very clearly that he sees the us and relations with the us as a priority. at the same time he's taking this trip to china.

we know the us and china have very strained relations right now. we have seen commentators in brazil say that essentially brazil is being caught in between these two superpowers. how do you think this trip will affect lula's relations with the us? well, what we have seen is that the brazilian government's trying to avoid the situation as much as it can. we must remember that before coming to china, lula has just visited the us presidentjoe biden. on the other hand, there are clear indications now that biden�*s administration is watching very closely the brazilian moves towards china. a few weeks ago, a senior state department official, brian nicholls, said the united states is focusing on showing to latin america that the united states is the best partner for the region, especially for brazil, but for the moment there is no indication whatsoever that the united states could retaliate brazil for its recent diplomatic moves. so we mentioned as well that a lot of this trip is about economic ties and trade and we mentioned that number trade between brazil and china nearly $153 billion last year. what does lula hope to walk

away with from this trip? well, that's one of the most interesting questions. because lula expects to track chinese investment to brazil as the country right now is struggling to make its gdp grow. here in shanghai, lula will meet with chinese businessmen from different sectors from the economies such as technology, communications, energy and infrastructure, and lula is trying to convince these businessmen to put their money in brazil right now. one of the deals that is likely to be announced here is the selling of a car plant from four to chinese company called bid, which is famous for its electric cars. us and filipino forces have started their largest—ever joint military exercise in the philippines and it's waters. you can see that's across from the disputed south china sea and the island of taiwan around which china finished military

exercises a day ago. and us defence secretary lloyd austin and us secetary of state antony blinken met their filipino counterparts and announced a new diplomatic and defence agreement. our tokyo correspondent shaimaa khalil told us more. what exactly is in this agreement? this agreement is part of the us—philippines defence alliance and it aims to strengthen the philippines military capabilities and military power in as part of that, the us is agreed that it will deliver priority equipment such as radars, military transport aircraft and drones within the next 5—10 years. this was announced by the us defence secretary lloyd austin and the optics i think were also quite telling in that strengthening of relations between washington and manila. you have the us defence secretary, the secretary of state antony blinken

and their philippine counterparts. we've seen a much warmer relation between the us and philippines under president ferdinand marcos, jr, much more, much closer than they were under his predecessor, president duterte, who was beijing—leaning. i think this again further strengthens that relationship and defence alliance the philippines was after. and it comes as we are seeing these massive military exercises. tell us what these joint drills involve. that's right, the exercises, called balikatan, which means �*shoulder—to—shoulder�*, now the largest exercises, involving 17,000 troops, and 5,400 philippine troops. 12,00 american troops. they involved for the first time live fire exercises at sea and live fire exercises on a sunken ship in the south china sea. remember these were preplanned and they were announced when the us secured a defence

deal with the philippines. we now know there are going to be for naval bases we now know there are going to be four naval bases established in philippine islands so we knew they were going to happen, we knew these would be the largest, how big they were going to be but i think the timing of them could not come at a more sensitive period in the region. because they, because of the china's drills around taiwan. in the last hour, china made this warning: more strong words from the us towards russia today about the detention of the wall streetjournal reporter, evan gershkovich. russia has accused him of spying on behalf of the us. he and the wall streetjournal deny that charge for which there's no evidence.

the us state department said he was wilfully detained. the white house says president biden telephoned mr gershkovich�*s family during his flight to northern ireland to say he was working to secure their son's release. and president biden said this to reporters before his flight. we are making it a really clear that it we are making it a really clear thatitis we are making it a really clear that it is being totally illegal what is happening and it changes the dynamic. evan gershkovich�*s family responded, saying: and finally, some record breaking news — a pair of trainers once worn by michaeljordan has sold for 2.2 million dollars — that's 1.7 million pounds — at auction at sotheby�*s, becoming the most expensive shoes ever sold. the us basketball player wore the shoes at his sixth and final nba title, back in 1998. they were orginally given to a ball boy after the game. no word yet on who the winning bidder was. thanks for watching.

i'm sumi somaskanda in washington. stay with us here on bbc news hello there. stormy weather is expected to continue through tonight and into wednesday. and that's because we've got this powerfuljet stream up above that weather system, developing it very rapidly in the past 24 hours, giving those severe gales, unusually windy weather, a lot of rain to go with it. it means the conditions on the roads have been pretty atrocious. and now, we've got cold airtucking in, around that low pressure across scotland, so turning progressively to snow, several centimetres over the hills here and even the showers further south following the rain band could be a little bit wintry. it's certainly going to be a chilly end to the night under the clearer skies further south, within a degree or two of freezing. but really, that's not the story. the story is these powerful winds once again battering many western and southern

areas during the day. we're expecting gusts up to, if not above, 70 miles an hour, which will cause disruption, bringing down the odd tree. 50 miles an hour inland is really quite unusual. and, given that it's already been very windy through tuesday, we're going to see some very large waves around the south—west approaches, through the channel, into the english channel as well. and that could overtop the coastlines as well. so, some dangerous conditions. it also looks on that north—westerly to be a very windy end to the morning, start to the afternoon, across northern ireland. and we will keep very strong winds around that band of rain across the northern isles. so nowhere really exempt. and there'll be a lot of showers after the bright start. those showers rattling in really quite cloudy and wet for much of the day. potentially northern ireland, northern and western scotland. still that snow risk on the hills. perhaps as high as 12 in the south. but really we will notice a cooler feel, those showers rushing in, becoming frequent with hail and with thunder and still around into thursday, but fewer in number potentially.

that low pressure is with us in the north sea. it stays put actually through thursday into friday. but you can already see friday's rain is due in. some uncertainty on that. but temperatures might recover just a little bit more on thursday, given a bit more sunshine. but it might be then that as we go into friday, we get the next area of low pressure pushing more rain in, with some fairly strong winds. it doesn't look as windy as the current stormy conditions. and perhaps starting to settle down as we get into the latter part of the weekend. and in fat, next week, there's the hint that we might see the first 20, 21 of the year. but between now and then, a lot of nasty weather to come.

voice-over: 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. i'm stephen sackur. ina in a world awash with information and disinformation who and what can we trust, facts, data points, original open sources, all powerful weapons in this war and that is why my guest today, christo grozev, bases his investigative

journalism in