live from washington, this is bbc news. a 21—year—old man arrested on suspicion of being behind the worst leak of secret us intelligence documents in years. today the justice department arrested jack to sharer in relation to the alleged unauthorised removal, retention and transmission of classified national defence information. brazil's president lula is in china, looking to smooth relations with his country's biggest trading partner. and ghana becomes the first country in the world to approve a new vaccine against malaria. hello. i'm sumi somaskanda.

the fbi has arrested the suspected leaker of classified pentagon documents. his name is jack teixeira, a 21—year—old member of the intelligence wing of the massachsetts air national guard. agents swooped in to arrest teixeira at a property in north dighton, massachusetts. he oversaw a private online group named thug shaker central, where 20 to 30 people, mostly young and men teenagers, came together over a shared interest in god, video games and guns. his online friends include individuals in ukraine and russia. one member of the group spoke anonymously to the washington post. the group really became close during the pandemic when we were all locked down together. and every single day we would watch movies, play games, do activities together, we'd stream our houses and mess around, dance and have fun. we didn't realise the sheer, just immense nature of these lea ks until a bit later.

i spoke to 06 about two days ago before he gave his final goodbye to us. he signed off saying that he did not want to be associated with any of us to bring anything bad to him. at least 50 secret files were published on social media. they included sensitive information regarding the war in ukraine, as well as on china and america's allies. the pentagon called this leak of classified information a "deliberate criminal act." the department is taking the issue of this unauthorised disclosure very seriously. we continue to work around the clock, along with the inner agency and the intelligence community, to better understand the scope, scale, and impact of these leaks. earlier i spoke to bradley moss, a national security lawyer. the young man faces sentences under the espionage act. he joined 2019 as was part of the

100m second therefore swing, reserve of the us air force. promoter lastjuly to airman first class, relatively new position, he was based at 0tis air national guard base western cape cod. he air national guard base western ca -e cod. . , air national guard base western cae cod. ~ ., cape cod. he was known as the undiswted _ cape cod. he was known as the undisputed leader _ cape cod. he was known as the undisputed leader of _ cape cod. he was known as the undisputed leader of an - undisputed leader of an invitational only disgorge at rink rat in 2020. before he became sharing photos of documents he previously wrote versions of the sensitive information and shared it to that chat room. one teenager told the new york times, quote, this guy was a christian, anti—war, just wanted to inform them of his friends about what's going on. earlier i spoke to bradley moss, a national security lawyer. first of all, take us through what would be happening right now. would us intelligence officials be interviewing, interrogating teixeira? i'm sure they would love to be able to do so, if i was his criminal defence lawyer the last thing i would do would have him provide any information like that.

he was just arrested, he's going to be indicted, is going to be arranged, there is going to be a discussion about whether or not he can be released on bail. i suspect he will not remain in custody. this is all going to come out into what is the nature of what he leads, how did he get it out, how did he extract it from any secure facility, and is there a defence he has that he wants to bring up? is he going to negotiate a plea deal? he is young kid, no other criminal history we know of, it appears this amounts to stupidity not like a deliberate leaker like manning or snowden, so there might be some mitigating circumstances there where he make it some consideration in sentencing. that will ultimately be up to him. you might want to take it to trial. if he does though i think he loses. tell us more about what it could be charged with and what is involved with those charges.

sure. he is probably going to be judged under the espionage act, it sounds like spying, it's not. most of it has nothing to do with spying. it has to do with the unauthorised removal and dissemination of national defence information. in this case classified information, the details of the war in ukraine, intelligence estimates, things along those lines. that is what they will charge him with. they can also if they want throw in the kitchen sink, there is removal of government documentation, there might be an obstruction provision in there depending on evidence taken to conceal it, but the espionage act is a truly serious liability for him. you talk about his possible defence. what if he hadn't actually intended to cause harm, does that change at all the charges and the approach? it is not change his criminal liability. this is the public interest or inadvertent offence that people such as edward snowden always wanted to raise. it is irrelevant from the consideration of are you liable, did you commit the offence? it is a consideration possibly at sentencing in terms

of a mitigating factor. unlike say and edward snowden this individual does not appear to have intended this to be disseminated outside the discord channel, it doesn't change whether he is criminally liable but it is a consideration that could mitigate a criminal sentence which could be tens upon tens of years depending on the number of documents ultimately he leaked. i want to ask for more question about the motivation here. in the washington post investigation, one of the suspect�*s acquaintances is quoted as saying "i would definitely not call him a whistleblower, i would not call 0g a whistleblower in the slightest." to understand this correctly, if you want to say he was a whistleblower this would not change the situation for him. there is no whistleblower defence in this context. to be clear, the whistleblower laws as set up in the united states requires you to go through a very specific process to authorised individuals to bring forward your concern about potential violations of law, it does not allow you to take classified

documents out of a secure space, put it on a discord channel or leak into the media and claim a public interest defence, that is not how the laws work here. so he can claim now he is a whistleblower, it would mean nothing for purposes of whether or not he is criminally liable. it might, at most, and i don't see any evidence as yet, at most an issue for sentencing. but i don't see him as a whistleblower, he was just a dumb kid showing off to his friends. brad, you talk about other uses of the espionage act, how does this compare for example to the wikileaks source, chelsea manning, who was convicted for violating parts of the espionage act? so there will be some of the same provisions because it was an intentional removal of the classified information and dissemination to unauthorised parties, so some of the same provisions will come into play there are other things that won't necessarily be an issue with chelsea manning, remembered that she was prosecuted in the military system, right now this appears to be going through the civilian system,

but with chelsea manning they also raised a separate charge with respect to aiding the enemy. i don't see that happening here, partially because in this case, like chelsea manning or say edward snowden, it was deliberate that they wanted to the public writ large, to the entire world, and they wanted to do it through the media. with this individual he was just showing off in a discord chat. it was still an intentional and deliberate leak, but it was not in the same context based of the facts we know right now. i don't see some of those judges being considered. there were a lot of other people in that chat, so what is the liability for the people in that chat who might have actually shared those images further? so by and large none of them are going to face any real problems unless they themselves held security clearances with us government. but if they were just ordinary, average teenagers, goofing off on a chat and gaming, as it sounds like they were doing during the pandemic, the government could always bring espionage act charges

against them, but they could bring that against any of us who are reading washington post and the new york times today because it is discussing classified details of what was leaked out. the government generally does not do that, they do not have the resources to do that, nor would it be in the public interest, they are up to the person who was the leader, in this case mr teixeira. all right, very interesting insights. baddely moss, thank you forjoining us on the bbc. any time. now to abortion in america. florida has passed a bill that would ban abortions after six weeks, making it one of the most restrictive states in the country. there are exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and human trafficking. they can obtain an abortion up to 15 weeks into a pregnancy, but only if the woman provides a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other evidence. the bill heads to republican governor ron desantis�*s desk. desantis, who is expected to run in the 2024 presidential elections, has indicated his support, making it likely the bill will be signed into law. it's the latest move

from republican—led states to restrict abortion access in the wake of the supreme court's overturning of roe v wade last year. the white house says the florida ban, quote, "flies in the face of fundamental freedoms and is out "of step with the views of the vast majority "of the people of florida." also today, the biden administration is taking steps to push a texas abortion pill case to the supreme court. 0ur correspondent, jessica parker, has more. there has been a lot of legal wrangling going on, but according to the latest ruling, access to mifepristone could be restricted and essentially rolled back to the situation we had in 2016 where it can't be administered beyond seven weeks of pregnancy, rather than ten, as things stand now, in states where abortion is legal, and as well you couldn't get mifepristone delivered by mail. but the biden administration appealing these changes, trying to stop them happening. so the legal battle goes on. for anti—abortion activists, though, they welcome the idea of further restrictions.

they say it will be a win for women and girls. however, i have is speaking to clinics that administer abortion today and they are deeply concerned, they say they are getting calls from women who are panicking, trying to figure out what is happening, particularly women who maybe are travelling quite far from where abortion is banned, they are saying "should i still get "on my flight? "should i still make the long carjourney "for my appointment?" so a lot of patient reassurances is having go on. to go on. now, while this is a divisive issue, something everybody agrees on is that this is now heading for the supreme court. jessica parker reporting for us there. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. helen gallagher was desperate for a child but after years of trying she decided to put her attention to living her best life childless. we attention to living her best life childless.— life childless. we try to children _

life childless. we try to children and _ life childless. we try to children and they - life childless. we try to - children and they putdowns of unexplained infertility. we ivf but in the marriage started to break down.— but in the marriage started to break down. she started a blog and podcast — break down. she started a blog and podcast to _ break down. she started a blog and podcast to hope _ break down. she started a blog and podcast to hope to - break down. she started a blog and podcast to hope to find - and podcast to hope to find other adults in a similar situation.— other adults in a similar situation. ., , ., , situation. you become really isolated, _ situation. you become really isolated. you _ situation. you become really isolated, you look _ situation. you become really isolated, you look on - situation. you become really isolated, you look on social. isolated, you look on social media and there are a counterpart that nothing for me. counterpart that nothing for me, , ., . ., , counterpart that nothing for me. ., counterpart that nothing for me. ._, me. the podcast has led to an a . . me. the podcast has led to an app connecting _ me. the podcast has led to an app connecting helen - me. the podcast has led to an app connecting helen with - me. the podcast has led to an l app connecting helen with other adults who also can't have children. collected had other adults around the world like tansyin adults around the world like tansy in new zealand. having --eole tansy in new zealand. having people understand _ tansy in new zealand. having people understand what - tansy in new zealand. having people understand what it's i people understand what it's like to go through that and understand that feeling of loss. how is helen getting on? now i've accepted, it was a hard process and i deserve to be happy, i deserve to be moving forward and live a happy life, which is i'm doing now. you're live with bbc news. to china, where brazil's president lula da silva has arrived for an official visit aimed at bolstering relations between the two nations. here he is arriving in shanghai on wednesday,

where he was welcomed by chinese officials and former brazilian president dilma roussef. later, he met with chief of the chinese communist party, chenjining. the two—day visit is also expected to include a meeting with chinese president xijinping. the two countries share deep economic ties. china is brazil's top trading partner, involved in 30% of all brazilian imports and serves as a major market for brazilian products, including soybeans, iron and oil. china also invests more in brazil than any other country in latin america. brazil's president, commonly known as lula is expected to sign at least 20 deals with china during the trip. live now to our asia correspondentjoao da silva in singapore, whose been following lula's vist to china. what you tell about his stop in shanghai? in what you tell about his stop in shanghai?— what you tell about his stop in shanahai? ,, . ., , shanghai? in shanghai president lula da shanghai? in shanghai president lula da silva _

shanghai? in shanghai president lula da silva attended _ shanghai? in shanghai president lula da silva attended the - lula da silva attended the inauguration of his protege and former brazilian president as head of the new development bank. that's an international bank. that's an international bank established by a group of emerging countries including countries like brazil, china and others. his speech really focused on how the institution gives emerging countries around the world an alternative to traditional international banking institutions like the imf. he also proposed moving away from the us dollar in international economic transactions. other than that he was at innovation centre of the chinese tech giant huawei, considered a security risk by the united states, and facing export restrictions from the white house. all of this is being interpreted in brazil and media are signalling at least a slight realignment of brazilian foreign policy away from the

u.s.—led global order, tying in with china's agenda of challenging what it sees as the us dominance in world affairs. what about the meeting with chinese xi jinping? what about the meeting with chinese xijinping? what what about the meeting with chinese xi jinping? what do you expect to come from that? we don't know _ expect to come from that? - don't know the exact details or the agenda but there are at least a couple of issues likely to make it to the topics. first is trade and investment, the brazilian side saying they expect to sign more than 20 bilateral agreements, signalling their desire to strengthen economic relations with china. president lula da silva, returned to power months ago, knows he needs brazil's largest trading partner to deliver his promises to fight poverty and boost brazil's economy. chart is interested in strengthening trade ties, facing growing tensions with united states, its largest trading partner, and looking to boost its company's presents and other markets. brazil being latin america's largest economy, makes an obvious choice. the other issue that

could make it onto the talks between lawler and resident she is the war in ukraine. president lula da silva looks to play a role in the conflict. joao da silva reporting from singapore. we will talk to you in the next hour. thank you. let's turn to margaret myers, who serves as director of the asia & latin america program at inter—american dialogue, and is a former department of defense analyst. margaret, thank you orjoining us. how important do you think this trip is for lula?— trip is for lula? well, it's an important — trip is for lula? well, it's an important trip _ trip is for lula? well, it's an important trip for _ trip is for lula? well, it's an important trip for memory l trip is for lula? well, it's an - important trip for memory three in part because it is an effort to really re—establish a very strong bilateral partnership with china, which suffered somewhat under the previous boss and arrow administration. it is also an important trip because lula has been regarded as one of the presidents in the latin american region with the strongest overall personal ties

to leadership in china. it was really a very remarkable relationship that lula forged with the former president and in many ways this is sort of a homecoming for lula and i think will be envisioned as such. just as was mentioned previously this is also critically important in terms of reinforcing a lot of the trade and investment ties that have been established and have underpinned the relationship now for about two decades but also to seek new investments in sectors that brazil deems critical to its own economic growth. critical to its own economic . rowth. critical to its own economic urowth. _, , growth. our corresponded mentioned _ growth. our corresponded mentioned that _ growth. our corresponded mentioned that resilient l mentioned that resilient commentators see this trip as signalling support for a realignment towards an international order that is not headed by the united states, do you see it that way as well? it has been very much described that way, notjust now but when

the brix platform was originally developed in part by lula several years ago. this has been a vision that lula has articulated for many, many years and indeed will reiterate once again and reinforced during this meeting, i imagine, with xijinping and during this meeting, i imagine, with xi jinping and throughout the strip. there is an interest in establishing a system of global economic governance that puts the interests of the global south front and centre and lula and president xi and i think many others envision just not the brix but other initiatives is a critical and effective means by which to achieve the subject of. do effective means by which to achieve the subject of. achieve the sub'ect of. do you think that — achieve the sub'ect of. do you think that lula _ achieve the subject of. do you think that lula in _ achieve the subject of. do you think that lula in particular . think that lula in particular prefers china as a partner to the us? it prefers china as a partner to the us? ., , , prefers china as a partner to the us? . , , , the us? it was very interesting that lula chose _ the us? it was very interesting that lula chose to _ the us? it was very interesting that lula chose to visit - the us? it was very interesting that lula chose to visit the - the us? it was very interesting that lula chose to visit the us| that lula chose to visit the us and have this meeting withjoe biden first and i think that does indicate the extent to which brazil will be attempting

to balance its important partnerships. but certainly in economic terms, at this particularjuncture, china factors very prominently. it is the top trade partner and as was mentioned is a critical investor across sectors but especially in sectors where really many other investors are not even present so it is going to be, the extent of the delegation heading to beijing and in beijing right now, the many, many people who have accompanied group three is indicative, i think, accompanied group three is indicative, ithink, of accompanied group three is indicative, i think, of the importance of this particular relationship. lula has emphasised, previously and now, is his interest in making brazil a global actor and this is very much part of that as was the trip to the us as will be future trips to other places. be future trips to other laces. �* be future trips to other places-_ be future trips to other laces. �* ., ., places. and part of that as well as this _ places. and part of that as well as this discussion - places. and part of that as well as this discussion of l places. and part of that as l well as this discussion of the war in ukraine and brazil is

proposing working together with china on bringing peace to ukraine. how seriously do you take these proposals coming from brazil? it take these proposals coming from brazil?— from brazil? it is absolutely art of from brazil? it is absolutely part of this _ from brazil? it is absolutely part of this broader - from brazil? it is absolutely| part of this broader agenda, this effort to envision brazil and ensure brazil's place is a critical global actor notjust in economic terms but in this case as an international arbiter of peace in the ukraine and russia conflict but also potentially more broadly. it is hard to imagine what role brazil could reasonably play and what sort of leverage it would have over either china and china's alliance with russia or over russia directly to affect any sort of decision—making or viewpoints that would alter considerably the equation in that particular conflict. but this appears to be a very big part of the agenda and some thing that lula

has mentioned notjust during this trip but previous ones as well. ., , this trip but previous ones as well. . , , ., ., ., this trip but previous ones as well. ., , ., ., ., i” well. last question, how do you think this trip _ well. last question, how do you think this trip plays _ well. last question, how do you think this trip plays for - well. last question, how do you think this trip plays for lula - think this trip plays for lula back home in rozelle? i think it is in the _ back home in rozelle? i think it is in the interest _ back home in rozelle? i think it is in the interest of - back home in rozelle? i think it is in the interest of a - back home in rozelle? i think it is in the interest of a lot - it is in the interest of a lot of industries, of sectors, of industry representatives, the private sector in general to continue to forge a very strong ties with china this is something that is of interest at the national level but also the subnational level so ism at least in economic terms this is broadly supported. i think many are wondering whether there will be some things said about the environment and potential cooperation at least since the green revolution or energy transition or any of these issues. they have been of tremendous interest to both sides. xijinping talks about this considerably as does lula so if that were to emerge i

think that would be something that would be looked favourably upon by civil society and a wide range of other actors. margaret myers, thanks so much forjoining us. let's turn to some important news around the world. more details have been revealed about the alleged ties

between us supreme court justice clarence thomas and billionaire harlan crow. propublica is reporting that crow bought real estate from thomas and thejustice did not disclose the deal which may be a violation of the law. propublica initally reported that thomas was secretly accepting luxury trips from crow last week. the women's tennis association has said it will resume tournaments in china from september after suspending operations over concern for the chinese player, peng shuai. she briefly disappeared from public view in 2021 after accusing a former political leader of forcing her into a sexual relationship. the wta said it concluded that china would never satisfy its demands for an investigation. ghana has become the first country in the world to approve a new vaccine against malaria, thought to be by far the most effective yet produced. regulators have cleared the way for the vaccine developed by oxford university to be used, even though the results of final stage clinical trials have not yet been published. malaria kills more than 600,000 people around the world every year, many of them children in sub—saharan africa. bbc health and science correspondent, james gallagher has more. here you have it, the game changer. this is the malaria vaccine described by the university of oxford team of scientists that made it as life

changing. it has been approved in ghana and other countries are likely to follow suit. the way that it works as it tackles the first stage after you are bitten by a mosquito, so as i'm sure you know malaria is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes and it is right here at the first moment that the parasite injected into your bloodstream and protected in order to prevent a bloodstream infection and that is what causes the deadly symptoms of malaria. despite the huge progress, and there has genuinely in huge progress in tackling malaria around the world, we still live on a planet where nearly 250 million people are in acted with illyria each year and 620,000 people die from it. nearly all of those are young children under the age of five living in africa so there is a need for new tools for tackling this deadly disease and this is where the bank comes in. early trials have suggested that gives up 77% protection against

the disease but they are small trails injust the disease but they are small trails in just 409 children so really the world has been waiting for the bigger date that was due to be published at the end of last year, that takes these trails up from 409 up takes these trails up from 409 up to nearly 5000 children. they will be the definitive piece of information that decides whether other countries follow in ghana's for depth. but i can give you a really big clue as to whether we are anticipating this vaccine to go around the world. the serum institute of india, the will�*s biggest vaccine manufacturing company has already put it into place and plans on manufacturing 200 million doses a year of this vaccine. so clearly there is the potential here for this to become a significant new tool in the global efforts to tackle malaria and may be a lot more countries will be using a vaccine like this. health and science correspondent james health and science correspondentjames gallagher correspondent james gallagher reporting there.

correspondentjames gallagher reporting there. thanks for watching, download the bbc news app watching, download the bbc news app for more on these stories and other headlines from around the world. stay with us here on bbc news. hello again. thursday brought us a day of sunshine and showers, many of the showers came from these big cumulonimbus clouds looming over the skyline of hastings. not too far away in kent we had a heavy downpour that brought some hail, two centimetres of hail was reported and temperatures came down to about one celsius as well so a sudden drop in temperatures as that storm went through. at the moment we have still got a few showers left over across scotland but otherwise some clear spells around, bit of rain starting to edge back into south—west england, southern parts of wales. a chilly old start to the day with temperatures 1—3 degrees. this area of low pressure moves rain across southern wales, southern areas of england and dives into northern france.

i think away from that for scotland and northern ireland there is another day of sunshine and showers, some of them slow—moving as well. as that low pressure works into france it changes the wind flow and we get this zone of convergence where the winds bash together, a big line of thunderstorms form. maybe we will get an odd funnel cloud even from that kind of area. eyes to the skies. where the sunshine comes out even though temperatures will be below average everywhere, probably won't feel too bad but where cloudy, ten, 11 degrees, that is not going to feel too great but on into the weekend we go and the prospect is the weather is going to turn drier, sunnier and a good deal warmer as pressure rises and we start to get these milder southerly winds blowing their way across the country both saturday and into sunday as well. weatherwise not a bad start to the weekend, most of us will see some spells of sunshine, still a few showers left over for eastern areas of england and there is the threat

of it turning a bit cloudier for northern ireland into the afternoon, maybe with an odd patch of light rain in the extreme west. it's starting to get warmer though and 15 degrees given the light winds for glasgow and london, it should feel pleasant in the sunshine you will have. a lot of dry and reasonably sunny weather i think for most of us on sunday. that said, probably a bit more in the way of cloud across north—western areas with an odd spot of light rain, temperatures continuing to climb. 15 in liverpool and manchester, 17 in london and that should feel pleasantly warm. high pressure hangs around next week so a lot of dry weather to come with some warm april spells of sunshine but fairly brisk winds developing in the south—east towards the middle part of the week.