welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm mariko oi. the headlines... authorities in alabama charge two teenage boys after last week's shooting at a birthday party. a new un report predicts india will soon take over china as the world's most populous country. the last few hong kong activists still willing to demonstrate in public. and the 25 year old k—pop star moonbin is found dead in his apartment at the age of 25.

welcome to bbc news. we begin in the us — where gun crime continues to affect thousands of american lives — including in dadeville in alabama where two teenage boys have been charged with four counts of murder after a deadly shooting at a birthday party on saturday. this scene shows the aftermath of the shooting where more than 30 people were wounded — some critically, after shots were fired at the mahogany masterpiece dance studio. the district attorney spoke about the victims and theirfamilies and you can see he struggled to maintain his composure. the message that i want to send is, i know some of these victims personally, some of these kids are kids

of friends of mine, people i went to school with, people i play ball with and against in the community back in high school. and these are my kids. these are our kids. don't mess with our kids. do not mess with our kids. thank you. it comes as, in the state of missouri, 84 year old andrew lester has pleaded not guilty in the shooting of a black teenager, ralph yarl, after yarl mistakenly rang his doorbell. our north america correspondent nomia iqbal has more. andrew lester walked into court with the help of a cane stick and sheriff deputies underlining just how old he is. he walked up to the judge and answered his questions. at times, he appeared to be confused. he pleaded not guilty to the charges of armed criminal action and assault. at his age, if he's convicted of any of them, he would spend the rest of his life in jail. now, he's not denied

shooting, ralph yarl. he said it was late at night. the door bell rang. he's an old man and he was worried that his life was at risk. now, some legal experts disputes whether or not mr. lester can argue it was self—defense. there are such laws in this state. given that ralph yarl rang the door bell, they said that people who are trying to break in do not ring door bells. also, prosecutors had earlier said there was a racial component to this case, but mr. lester has not been charged with any hate crime. ralph yarl�*s lawyers spoke just outside after mr. lester was arraigned, saying that there were concerns that the next appearance would be injune. they think this is being dragged out when to them it's a very clear cut case. they also confirmed to us that ralph yarl is now at home and he is recovering slowly. meanwhile, two cheerleaders in texas have been shot after they mistakenly got into the wrong vehicle in a supermarket car park. one of the victims was treated and released at the scene, but the other was taken to hospital and remains

in a critical condition. a 25—year—old man has been arrested. it's renewed the discussion of so—called "stand your ground" laws, which is a person's rights to protect themselves and their property in the us by using deadly force. earlier i spoke tojohn roman. he's the director of the center on public safety and justice, and also the senior fellow with the national opinion research center at the university of chicago. i began by asking him how the "stand your ground law" came about. stand your ground laws began being enacted in the united states in about 2005 and quickly spread such that there are now 32 states across the country that have a stand your ground law. and the idea here is to take what's english common law, which is the basis for self defense in the united states, which says you can use deadly force to meet deadly force in your own home, is to take that principle out into public spaces, out onto the street, and remove people's duty to

retreat so they can use deadly force if they feel threatened. i mean, 53,000 cases overfive years of your report. that's quite a lot. how often does the law get used then? so the self defence laws get used pretty routinely in criminal cases of homicide. self defence laws, stand your ground laws get used in these 3032 states pretty routinely now to justify all kinds of all kinds of actions. typically, though, the the judge and the jury don't buy this. they only fail to convict because they think somebody acted in self defence in about two and one half percent of cases. but that's still twice as many cases found to be justified, that people were acting in self defense when they claim stand your ground, as is the case in states where there's no stand your ground law. so it's sort of doubled

the likelihood that somebody is found not guilty and that probably, that probably leads people to use more force than they would otherwise if they didn't think they had that protection. also data from your reports show that depending on the shooters or killers skin colour, the outcome is vastly different when stand your ground laws are featured. can you tell us your findings? yeah, there's just there's a huge racial disparity here. right. so if there's a white shooter and a black victim, that self defense claim is upheld about ten times as often as when the situation is reversed and there's a black shooter and a white victim. so in the united states, there are racial disparities all throughout the criminal justice system from who gets arrested to who gets convicted, how much time people are sentenced to serve. but this racial disparity is probably about the biggest that exists anywhere in the system. it's really quite astonishing.

in just a few months india will take over from china as the world's most populous country. that's according to a new report published by the united nations. experts predict that india's population wlll rise to over 1.4 billion people. the un also says the global population now exceeds 8 billion people. apart from india, otherfast growing nations include egypt, pakistan and the philippines. alanna armitage is from the united nations population fund who produced the report. big story is really how both india and china are going to address their demographic change. it's not so much about the fact that india will take over china in population numbers by aboutjuly of this year, 2023. but it's really about then what will india do? because more than a quarter of india's population is between the age of ten and 24. a huge youth population, so many

possibilities to invest in young people's health, education, employment, and that, we know, really helps countries take off. that's what we call a demographic dividend. so the big story for the united nations population fund is not so much the numbers and who has the biggest population or the smallest population, but how do we actually anticipate our demographic change and how do we ensure that we are formulating inclusive policies to ensure that everybody�*s rights are are being met? yes. i want to ask you about that later. but china is also now trying to implement policies to increase birth rates after, of course, having that infamous one—child policy. and it's not alone, is it? but are those policies trying to boost birth rate effective. no. we know from history that the types of policies which we call demographic engineering just don't work. and so our report, in fact, is using this opportunity

of this demographic milestone to really try to change the narrative, to work with countries to ensure that they are implementing rights based policies based on evidence. because we know, in fact, that just by trying to incentivise women to have more babies, we've seen in many countries all over the world, it just doesn't work. what does work is when we understand the underlying determinants of why women are not having children, and that is often the inability of women to be able to combine their work life with their family life. so really investing in gender sensitive family policies is a much better investment than investing in trying to get women to have more children. also, your reports show that the global population now stands at eight billion, which is hugely significant. but we also have issues like food supply, don't we, with food and agriculture organisation, warning that the world could even run out of food in four years. how would you balance this?

well, i think any kind of population milestone, demographic milestone, whether it's reaching eight billion as we did last november or whether it's india taking over china, it does kind of, it makes people nervous. it leads to this kind of demographic anxiety, as we call it in the report. but what we're trying to point out is that often it's not the population numbers that are the issue. the issues are many other structural factors that we need to look at. so, in fact, it's not the fertility rates. there is no ideal population number, but population numbers do matter in the sense that we need to be prepared for that demographic change. we need to know what is our age structure. we need to know the population dynamics that we have in order to plan for that. but i think we're trying to address that anxiety and say, you know,

often we use these numbers to keep us from looking at what's really happening, whether it's inequality, whether it's discrimination. and we have to look at those human rights issues first and foremost. a new ceasefire agreement in sudan appears in doubt, as gunfire was heard in the capital khartoum, after the 2a hour truce was due to come into effect. the leaders of kenya, djibouti and south sudan paused their attempt to get into sudan to try to mediate between the rival generals whose forces are battling for control. at least 270 people have been confirmed dead. the un has now described sudan's humanitarian situation as "catastrophic" — with mass displacement of people. the red cross has echoed that concern. the truth is that at the moment, it is almost impossible to provide any hunamitarian services in and around khartoum. there are calls from various organisations and people

trapped, asking for evacuation. for the past four days, people have been out of water, food, electricity has been rationed and in some places totally disconnected. k pop star moonbin has passed away at the age of 25. he was a member of the famous boy band astro and debuted in 2016. moon bin was found unresponsive on wednesday evening in his apartment in the korean capital seoul. the local authorities have not provided any explanation for the death while his music label, fantagio, asked that everyone refrain from speculative and malicious reports. the family of tyre nichols — the black man who died after being beaten by police have filed a lawsuit against the memphis police department for his killing. the 29 year old died injanuary, three days after he was being beaten by five police officers during a traffic stop.

last month marked the start of hong kong's biggest national security law trial. forty seven of the city's leading activists face possible life in prison for taking part in an unofficial election. it's been almost 3 years since beijing imposed the law on the former british colony. hundreds have been arrested under the law. only a handful of people are now willing to demonstrate in public. danny vincent has been to meet them. we have blurred some images and slogans in our report. chen poyang is one of the last street demonstrators in hong kong. a wide ranging national security law has all but silenced the political opposition. she is certain she's under surveillance. surveillance has become more severe for frontline social activists. in the past, the police didn't pay much attention to our streets.

now both, plainclothes and uniformed police surround us. they even set up cameras and record us when we set up. it is psychologically intimidating. you never know when it could be used as evidence. pyongyang's husband, is known as longhair, a veteran rebellious activist arrested under the national security law. he's one of 47 pro—democracy advocates on trial for taking part in an unofficial election. they include prominent scholars like benny tai, lawmakers like claudia mo. and activists such asjoshua wong. if found guilty, they face possible life in prison. bo is a former lawmaker and street activist. critics say the national security law is intentionally vague. as a precaution, we've blurred the words on this banner. in 2020, beijing imposed

the national security law on hong kong it's effectively criminalise dissent. today, the majority of the political activists in this city have either fled or they've been detained. critics say what's happening to hong kong is a type of legal warfare. they still take to the streets, but the banner is blank. the demonstration brings unwanted attention. what looks like a plainclothes surveillance team look on. they're surrounded. pro—establishment lawmakers say the national security law was needed to restore order after months of street protests. don'tjust blame everything on the national security law. the law is there. everybody has to obey the law, whether you like it or not. it's passed by the hong kong legislators. so that is the law that we need to to uphold.

that's the law that we need to abide. and if you break the law, then certain consequences will come into play. hong kong is opening up after years of covid restrictions, but the space for dissent is shrinking. danny vincent, bbc news, hong kong. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. it started with a coffee and a chat, 15 months and 2000 miles later, barbara and gay set off for the final miles of their cathedral cycling tour with filing a ride between coventry and birmingham cathedrals. seeing all the beauty of the countryside, fantastic cathedrals, just wonderful places to visit and breath in the atmosphere. it's just been the most

enjoyable thing i could have done. a network of british cycling groups have seen the women make friends and explore on two wheels. today's cycling buddies joined in the celebratory ride and wejoined them en route as they extolled the virtues of two wheels. i guarantee you won't look back. once you've done one ride, you get the bug and you love it. it may not have been the fastest ride but as the friends made their way towards birmingham cathedral this afternoon, there were smiles and celebrations. are you ever too old for this? no, definitely not. you're live with bbc news. netflix's long promised crackdown on password sharing will begin in the coming months. the plan means members who want to share accounts with people outside of their household will face an extra fee. and has been trialled in some countries but not yet

rolled out in the uk or us. russia has been accused of making plans to sever vital power and communication cables running under the north sea. the allegation has been made in a documentary produced by public broadcasters in scandinavia and finland. it says russian ships have been touring the coastline around norway, denmark and sweden often disguised as fishing or scientific research trawlers. their real purpose is alleged to be marking out sites that russia could sabotage in the event of a conflict with nato countries. one of the ships has also been spotted in british waters, as our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley reports. we're filming everything on the ship. we're filming in turns. i can see crew members walking around on the deck. this is the moment the journalists find their target.

they've been tracking a russian ship called the admiral vladimirsky. officially, it's an underwater research vessel. in reality, they say, it's spying for the kremlin. the men on deck are masked and armed. for their own safety, the journalists make a quick retreat. their investigation tracked the ship late last year, as it headed across the north sea to the moray firth in scotland. it lingered at this huge wind farm, then headed south to another. it then travels down the east coast of england, passing by yet more wind farms. reconnaissance of sensitive sites by intelligence agencies is not unusual, but there are now growing fears of a murky new underwater front line. last year, near the norwegian island of svalbard, an underwater data cable was severed.

this is one of the world's biggest satellite stations, and another russian vessel had been spotted behaving strangely there before the connection was cut. translation: it's a completely illogical movement _ pattern for a trawler. there may have been an insane amount of fish there, but still, passing over such a limited area more than 130 times... i'm no fisherman, but it doesn't look like regular trawler activity. last september came a dramatic act of sabotage on the nord stream pipeline under the baltic sea, intended to carry gas from russia to germany. the eu blamed russia, while the russians blamed the west. so far, we haven't got any confirmation who's behind that, but i'd say it's very important that we follow all the maritime traffic in the baltic sea and our region in the north sea also. the kremlin�*s denied that it has a secret programme looking for targets to sabotage. translation: the media in these countries have made a mistake -

in their investigation. they prefer to once again accuse russia without basis. but the threat that russia could pose to critical national infrastructure at sea — both here in the uk and in europe is being taken increasingly seriously. caroline hawley, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news from the uk. the treasurer of the scottish national party — colin beattie, is stepping down from the role in the party until a police investigation into the party's finances is concluded. mr beattie was arrested on tuesday and later released without charge pending further investigation. scotland's new first minister humza yousaf said the post will be filled "as soon as possible". inflation in the uk fell to 10.1% in march, down from 10.4% in february. however, analysts had expected it drop a lot more than that. blame has been put on the soaring prices of food

and drink, which has gone up by almost 20% in a year and has reached a its—year high. a coroner in england has ruled that the cause of a man's death was due to complications from a coronavirus vaccine, and not natural causes. the family of 32—year—old stephen wright believe he was the first person in the uk to die as a result of the astrazeneca vaccine. they say they intend to pursue legal action. now, you may remember the british court room battle that came to be known as "wagatha christie" — the showdown at the high court between two footballers' wives. well rebekah vardy — who lost her libel claim against coleen rooney, has just trademarked the name "wagatha christie". to tell us more and remind us of that courtroom drama, here's our newsroom reporter naomi choy smith. well, it seems rebekah vardy may have had the last laugh

in her epic legal standoff with coleen rooney because in trademarking the wagatha christie name, she can essentially cash in on everything from jewellery to beauty products to stationery. so essentially, if you're printing a mug with a wagatha christie logo on it, you'll have to talk to vardy�*s lawyers and likely fork over a significant amount of money. and just having a quick look at amazon and all the products that already are emblazoned with the wagatha christie logo. we could be talking serious amounts of cash, which could go some way to paying back some of those astronomical legalfees, estimated to be about £1.5 million. now a quick refresher for those who may not know where the term wagatha christie came from. so in the uk tabloid press, they coined the term wags to refer to wives and girlfriends of famous footballers. combine that with famous crime author agatha christie and you get wagatha christie. now, the sleuth in this

case was coleen rooney, wife of famous footballer wayne rooney. now, she accused herfriend rebekah vardy, also the wife of a famous footballer of leaking negative stories about her to the press. now, rebekah vardy fought back in court claiming that this was libel, that she never carried out any of those leaks of stories. however, the high court found vardy to be not credible, so she essentially lost that court case. now, we should say rebekah vardy has always claimed she wasn't the one who leaked those stories to the press. regardless, it was a court case that grabbed headlines, spawned a netflix show, and even a west end production. now, the producers of that west end production have already weighed in about this trademark saga, saying the story continues to have more twists and turns than an agatha christie novel. however, at this point, the producers do continue planning to put the show on the west end. how long that will last? whether we will see any more trademark claims,

we'll have to wait and see, as the wagatha christie saga continues. in new zealand — a competition for a children's cat—hunting competition in new zealand has been cancelled following backlash against the event. organisers of an annual hunt were criticised after announcing a new category for those aged 14 and under to hunt feral cats. the animals are considered a pest and a risk to the country's biosecurity. youngsters were told to not kill pets, but they were otherwise encouraged to kill as many feral cats as possible for a cash prize. and before we go, a story of money, power, real estate and great views. a new york city apartment featured in the hit tv show succession is on the market for a jaw—dropping 29—million dollars. it stands in as the home of kendall roy, the troubled son and would—be heir of the roy media empire.

wow, of the roy media empire. what a crazy story. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello there. high pressure is continuing to bring a lot of dry, settled, sunny weather throughout the day for most areas on thursday, but like the last few days, we've got a keen easterly wind out there. that's taking the edge off. the temperatures will be noticeably chilly along north sea coasts and there will be some rain at times and more cloud across south—east england courtesy of this weather front, which will move in off the near continent. you'll notice there's a slight blue hue to the air mass, indicating that the air is quite chilly as well. so when you factor in the strong wind and slightly cooler air, then it will be a little bit fresher across the board. however, most places starting off dry, widespread sunshine and much of the country will stay dry and sunny all day. but then we'll see that area of cloud and some splashes of rain pushing into east anglia in the south—east during the afternoon. it's here where the winds

will be quite gusty as well. so with a lack of sunshine here and the gusty winds, it'll actually feel on the cool side now. now certainly cool along north sea coast, nine or ten degrees at best, but head further inland — it's the low to mid—teens or the warmest spots again, western scotland, the high teens, maybe even more than that. and like the last few days with the dry and sunny weather, tree pollen will be high or very high for many of us. so as we head through thursday evening and overnight that area, clouds, splashes of rain in the south—east starts to migrate westwards across much of england and also wales. whereas the northern half of the country will see clearer skies, slightly lighter winds. so another chilly one here. less cold, though, where we have the cloud, the rain and also the stronger breeze. so for friday, some changes for england and wales. we've got a number of weather fronts bringing more cloud outbreaks of rain, whereas scotland, northern ireland poking out into the high pressure. we'll have yet another dry and sunny day. pretty decent temperatures for western scotland, but england and wales will see outbreaks of rain. longer spells of rain, northern england, showery

in nature, i think parts of wales, central and southern england, a little bit of sunshine in between. but with more cloud and showers around, that'll impact the temperatures 10 to 13 degrees here, whereas again, another fairly warm one for parts of scotland. but it is all change as we head into the weekend. lower pressure starts to bring more unsettled weatherfor a time. and as that low clears into the north sea, it opens the floodgates to a cold arctic northerly. so a much colder spell expected, particularly towards the end of the weekend and into next week. but you can see those temperatures beginning to fall across the north of the uk.

dented by price cuts. tesla reports a drop in profit after aggressively slashing prices to sell more vehicles. we will have the latest. plus, looking to china from down under. canberra and beijing could be talking trade again after friction show signs of easing. hi there, welcome. this has turned out after hours trading after the electric car makers quarterly results miss marketing expectations. because of his income and earnings fell

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