start of the country since the start of the war. we have a special report on efforts to bring them back. live from singapore, that is bbc news, it's newsday. hello, and welcome to the programme. some live pictures from capitol hill in the us where we are seeing house majority leader kevin mccarthy speak, as they get very close to holding a vote to pass this debt ceiling bill that we have heard so much about. again, we are less than an hour away from this vote, and we will be keeping a close eye. earlier, ispoke and we will be keeping a close eye. earlier, i spoke to my colleague who explained the latest coming out of washington.- latest coming out of washinuton. ., , ., . w , washington. lots of lawmakers walkin: washington. lots of lawmakers walking around _ washington. lots of lawmakers walking around the _ washington. lots of lawmakers walking around the capital - washington. lots of lawmakers walking around the capital and |

walking around the capital and giving their viewpoints, saying how they plan to vote. lots of republicans expressing their disappointment at the bill. there's a lot of confidence, president biden is confident it will pass, the speaker of the house kevin mccarthy as well. and a key figure people might not have heard of, the majority whip for the republican party. they need 218 votes, the republicans control the boat with 222. he said he is confident republicans will pass it through the house, and he says those making the noise haven't probably fully read the 99 page bill and when they do, he thinks they will get on board. ., , ., board. you just mention the republicans _ board. you just mention the republicans control - board. you just mention the republicans control the - republicans control the house, are we seeing any defectors? there is the house freedom caucus, they are members of the republican party who expressed a lot of anger yesterday at a press conference. they don't like the bill, they don't think

it goes far enough. they have not explicitly said so but they are questioning kevin mccarthy's leadership in all of this. they think any compromise with president biden is too much. so we are hearing some of them planned to vote no in the house. it's notjust the republicans. remember, it has to go to the senate as well. it needs to 60 votes, the democrats control the senate by 51 votes so they need republicans on board. already bernie sanders the vermont democrat senator has said he plans to vote no to the bill. a lot of yes, no, but we will find out. lot of yes, no, but we will find out-— lot of yes, no, but we will find out. ., ., , , ., find out. for the latest, you can no find out. for the latest, you can go to — find out. for the latest, you can go to our _ find out. for the latest, you can go to our website. - russia has been accused of multiple war crimes since it invaded ukraine — but it was allegations of the illegal deportation of children that led to an international arrest

warrant being issued for vladimir putin. ukraine claims that around 19,000 children have been taken to russia. sarah rainsford has this report. tetyana makes the most of every minute with sasha, now her son is safe with her in germany. because last year, he was taken from his school in ukraine by russian soldiers. his mother had to travel deep into enemy territory to rescue him. forced separation would be upsetting for any child, but sasha has special needs — and for someone so vulnerable, it was deeply unsettling. he tells me how armed russian soldiers in balaclavas came to his school that day, loaded him and 12 other children onto buses, and drove off with them. translation: to be honest, it was pretty scary. _ i didn't know where they were taking us. sasha then had no contact at

all with his mum for six weeks. i ask how hard that was. translation: yes. to be honest, it's too distressing to even remember. ukraine believes more than 19,000 children have been moved to russia since this war began. russia claims it's just protecting the children. but russia's president is now a wanted man. the international criminal court has accused him of the illegal deportation of ukrainian children. i asked tetyana what she made of that charge. translation: it's not only putin who should | be put on trial. it's all the main people — the commanders, all of them — for what they did

to the children. what right did they have? they knew it was impossible for us to get them back, and they didn't care. and tetyana showed me new evidence of how those children are treated. tetyana just showed me this photograph, and these kids here are classmates of sasha, of her son. and look at them here in this russian—run school — they've got military uniforms and they've got these zs on their sleeves. these are the symbols of russia's war on their country. line rings. so i called the woman in charge of that school. i wanted to know about the z mark. "the ukrainian children dressed as russian soldiers." "so what if they were?" the school director shot back at me. "what kind of question is that?"

moments later, the line cut out. line beeps. sasha has told me five children taken with him still haven't been returned to their families. because russia doesn't make it easy — even when vladimir putin has been indicted for their removal as a suspected war criminal. sarah rainsford, bbc news, ukraine. staying with ukraine, the bbc has been speaking exclusively with the former us military chief general david petraeus. he's in kyiv and has met president zelensky. he says the ukraine upcoming counteroffensive could be "very impressive", and says russia's operations over the winter largely failed. he spoke to our diplomatic correspondent james landale. i believe we will see for the first time in this war on either side the achievement of two combined arms effects, in other words the results of

tanks protected by infantry against anti—tank guided missiles, artillery and mortars keeping the enemy's heads down, engineers reducing the obstacles breaching these fortifications that the russians have established. air defence keeping the russians off the ukrainians, electronic jamming facilities... and all orchestrated by very, very good ukrainian command and control, and also using drones out over the russians to attack them in debt with the precision munitions of the us, the uk and others. this, ithink, is going to break the front lines where they do this attack, i won't speculate on where, although the ukrainians has publicly stated their objective of course is to sever the groundline of communications that enables the russians to go along the south—east coast into crimea. i think this is going to be impressive. we achieved

combined arms effects in the fight for baghdad when i was a two star general and it's terrifying for the enemy. the difference this time compared to last fall when the ukrainians carried out a very successful attack is when the lead elements culminate after 96 hours, it's as far as you can physically go, there are follow—on forces that will capitalise and exploit and maintain the momentum and continue this. then i think the russians have to react. they have to move to try to re—establish their defensive line somewhere in the rear of where they are, and where they were. and on the russian side, this is a force that has been battered, many of these units have been in constant combat for well over a year. they are not pulling units off—line and reconstituting them, in other words replacing the losses, the people, the equipment, and retraining them. they are just adding people to the front lines. that's not the way you

produce a cohesive, coherent, well disciplined organisation, and i think therefore, that's why they are going to crack, crumble and perhaps actually collapse. and then if you can get the russian defence is really moving, then i think there are opportunities even more broadly.— there are opportunities even more broadly. that's retired us general david _ more broadly. that's retired us general david petraeus. - nato will send more soldiers to kosovo after peacekeeping soldiers there were hurt in clashes with protesters. the conflict began when ethnic—albanian mayors took over in several towns, where ethnic serbs are in the majority. more troops are on standby. us media reports say donald trump's former vice president, mike pence, will officiallyjoin the race for the white house next week. he's expected to begin his campaign for the republican nomination with a speech in iowa. his poll ratings so far are low, putting him far behind mrtrump.

ammunition believed to be from the hms prince of wales and another ship which were sunk by japanese forces more than 80 years ago were found on board a ship. these are highly desirable... to find out why, let's speak to the curator of naval heritage and archaeology at the australian national maritime museum, james hunter. thank you forjoining us. goad thank you for “oining us. good morning. — thank you for “oining us. good morning. rm _ thank you forjoining us. good morning. i'm interested - thank you forjoining us. good morning. i'm interested to - morning. i'm interested to hear, morning. i'm interested to hear. we _ morning. i'm interested to hear, we have _ morning. i'm interested to hear, we have to - morning. i'm interested to l hear, we have to remember morning. i'm interested to - hear, we have to remember these are war graves, butjust how common is it to plunderfor ships like these? common is it to plunder for

ships like these? unfortunately it's becoming — ships like these? unfortunately it's becoming a _ ships like these? unfortunately it's becoming a lot _ ships like these? unfortunately it's becoming a lot more - it's becoming a lot more common. we really didn't see the scale of commercial salvage of these wrecks until around 2014. it got really bad at that point. up through probably the beginning of the covid—19 pandemic. and then it kind of stop for a while. and i'm afraid with what we are hearing out of malaysia, it looks like they might be right back at it again. they might be right back at it aaain. ~ , , ., they might be right back at it auain.~ , , ., ., again. why is the metal on these ships _ again. why is the metal on these ships so _ again. why is the metal on these ships so valuable? i again. why is the metal on - these ships so valuable? well, we think there _ these ships so valuable? well, we think there were _ these ships so valuable? well, we think there were probably l we think there were probably two things going on. one, strictly opportunism. the wrecks are around, they are known and large, a lot of metal there and people are probably exploiting that. but the other aspect of this is what's called low background metal. this is metal that was forged before the first atomic bomb was dropped. i don't know if you knew this, but following the first atomic bomb test, radiation is everywhere from nuclear weapons. so everything

absorbs it. these metals, because they don't have that background radiation, they haven't been contaminated, they can be used for very sensitive instruments and they are very rare, and that makes them very valuable. ., �* , rare, and that makes them very valuable. . �* , ., ., ., , valuable. that's extraordinary. what does _ valuable. that's extraordinary. what does international- valuable. that's extraordinary. what does international law i valuable. that's extraordinary. | what does international law say about this activity?— about this activity? well, in the case — about this activity? well, in the case of _ about this activity? well, in the case of warships - about this activity? well, in the case of warships such . about this activity? well, in | the case of warships such as the case of warships such as the prince of wales, they are considered sovereign vessels. unless they are formally surrendered, they belong to the nation that they sailed for. their navy. in the case of prince of wales, it was never surrendered, it was lost during wartime, and still belongs to the government of the united kingdom. it’s the government of the united kinudom. �* , , kingdom. it's interesting... war graves. _ kingdom. it's interesting... war graves, exactly - kingdom. it's interesting... war graves, exactly what i kingdom. it's interesting... | war graves, exactly what are kingdom. it's interesting... - war graves, exactly what are on these ships?— these ships? oh, it runs the aamut. these ships? oh, it runs the gamut- i _ these ships? oh, it runs the gamut. i have _ these ships? oh, it runs the gamut. i have worked - these ships? oh, it runs the gamut. i have worked on . these ships? oh, it runs the gamut. i have worked on a i gamut. i have worked on a shipwreck in indonesia, an australian warship lost in the

second world war. what we saw ranged from the actual structure of the ship itself through to unexploded munitions. in one part of the engine room, we even saw part of a cotton gloves. so the level of preservation in areas where there has been a lot of salt, and a deoxygenated environment, it actually preserves these very fragile artefacts. preserves these very fragile artefacts— preserves these very fragile artefacts. . ,. ., ., ~ artefacts. fascinating, thank ou ve artefacts. fascinating, thank you very much _ artefacts. fascinating, thank you very much that - artefacts. fascinating, thank. you very much that information. this is bbc news. the brownlee name has long been associated with athletic excellence. brothersjohnny associated with athletic excellence. brothers johnny and alistair dominated the sport for years, alistair dominated the sport foryears, memorably alistair dominated the sport for years, memorably crossing the line first and second at the line first and second at the rio 0lympics the line first and second at the rio olympics in 2016. nine years ago, they set up their foundation to give children a first experience of the sport

they love. aha, first experience of the sport they love-— first experience of the sport they love. a triathlon can be exnensive — they love. a triathlon can be expensive to _ they love. a triathlon can be expensive to get _ they love. a triathlon can be expensive to get into. - they love. a triathlon can be expensive to get into. if - they love. a triathlon can be expensive to get into. if youj expensive to get into. if you want to do it competitively at the top level. but these foundation events, it's not about that, it's about children doing a triathlon, achieving something they never thought they could achieve, and it can be free. there is no barrier to entry. be free. there is no barrier to ent _ , ., be free. there is no barrier to ent . , ., ., entry. schools are invited to events at — entry. schools are invited to events at sports _ events at sports centres across the country, where children get the country, where children get the mini triathlon experience. 50,000 children have now come to the programme. it’s 50,000 children have now come to the programme.— to the programme. it's been fun activities in _ to the programme. it's been fun activities in my _ to the programme. it's been fun activities in my school— to the programme. it's been fun activities in my school and - activities in my school and with my friends, i really enjoyed it. i with my friends, i really enjoyed it-_ with my friends, i really enjoyed it. i feel like i've done hard _ enjoyed it. i feel like i've done hard work, - enjoyed it. i feel like i've done hard work, and - enjoyed it. i feel like i've done hard work, and it . enjoyed it. i feel like i've i done hard work, and it feels good — former british prime minister borisjohnson says he has handed over notebooks and whatsapp messages, after a request from the uk's official covid investigation. the inquiry is investigating

how ministers handled the pandemic. the government have so far refused to hand over material it does not consider relevant. 0ur political correspondent has more on what the documents could reveal. we don't really know what is in this material but the covid inquiry say they need to see it and they need access to the unredacted copies of whatsapp messages, diaries and notebooks that were held by the former prime minister borisjohnson, prime minister boris johnson, if prime minister borisjohnson, if they are to properly conduct their inquiries as part of this investigation. essentially, the rows that have been going on are twofold really. 0ne between the cabinet office, the inquiry itself... the inquiry has asked the government to hand over the full version of the document. the cabinet office and the government have argued they don't think it would be

appropriate to hand over anything they have deemed to be unambiguously irrelevant to the inquiry. i am told for example this could include sensitive personal information or private matters which the government fears could set a worrying precedent in terms of future policy making but also a politician's right to privacy. separately there has been this ongoing back and forth about what material of boris johnson's was still held by the government. borisjohnson has government. boris johnson has said government. borisjohnson has said he had handed over all his material to the government, and says the government could now hand that to the inquiry if they wanted to. boris johnson could also choose independently to hand over all his material to hand over all his material to the inquiry if he wanted to, and his spokesperson has said if he is asked to, he will. he claimed the cabinet office have had access to this material for months, but sources in the cabinet office say effectively, since borisjohnson stop using lawyers that were employed by the government, they haven't had access to some of the material that the inquiry

wanted. so lots of back and forth, but fundamentally the government's position still stands, that they don't think it would be appropriate to hand some of this material over, which means tomorrow, when the inquiry has set a deadline for them to do that, there could well be a big stand—off between the inquiry and the government itself. a 12—year—old girl and 17—year—old boy have died after an incident off bournemouth beach. a man in his 40s has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, following the incident. it's not clear how the boy and girl sustain their critical injuries. an initiative to tackle racism in policing in england and wales is itself facing allegations of racism from some of the ethnic minority staff involved. the police race action plan was launched after african—american george floyd

was murdered in the us in 2020. itaims to it aims to help police build better relationships with black communities. uk tv channel itv has launched an externally—led between former presenter phillip schofield and a younger colleague. the review was confirmed by chief executive dame carolyn mccall in a letter seen by the pa news agency. the former presenter left the network last week after he admitted lying about the affair. itv previously said it had investigated in 2020, but that both parties denied the relationship. new research from the international rescue committee claims eu states have consistently neglected afghan

refugees and have failed to provide adequate safety and inclusion for the small number that reach europe. the report claims the bloc took in just 271 vulnerable afghans under resettlement programmes last year. it says other programs to bring people into the eu have also underperformed, while neighbouring countries it's calling on eu states to expand their refugee resettlement and rehome tens of thousands more afghans in the coming years. before we go, jordan is gearing up before we go, jordan is gearing up for a grand royal wedding. sorry, actually, we are going back to our initial story on afghanistan. 271 people at risk in 2022... the un has identified 270,000 vulnerable and at risk, and now among the 1.6 million people in neighbouring countries, mainly pakistan and iran, and we think

that there is a failure of the system as it is in place. we see also very important pushback and complication on the administrative side for afghan people, asylum seekers, to access this scheme. and to access the eu even when they are near to the border. we see for example that 40% of the pushback at the border of the eu, including in the mediterranean sea, are against afghans who are obviously at risk, especially women and girls. so we really called for the eu to re—establish legal and safe passage way for these people who need to be welcome in europe. just after the shift in europe. just after the shift in 2021, and the beginning of 2022, there were evacuation schemes, humanitarian schemes... and then 41,000

afghan people could be welcome in the eu. but after that, this new system which has been put in place, the resettlement system, in co—operation with the unhcr, has not been functioning really. for example, in germany, there were pledges to welcome 1000 people in a special scheme last year, but none of the afghan people could benefit from this. in italy as well, roughly 1000 people was pledged, but only 500 people of this figure could really benefit to afghan people. some member states in the eu have committed to welcome 30 or 40 people. others have either not committed at all. they are not welcoming afghan refugees. and so we see a lot of afghan people trying to go through very dangerous routes, taking risks for their life, crossing the

mediterranean sea or border, land borders, without any protection. and being also sometimes in the hands of smugglers. so we think it's very important to ensure afghan people who, for reasons of safety, sometimes they have no choice, had to flee the country and are very vulnerable and are mostly in very poor and very difficult places in neighbouring countries to afghanistan. that they get a real and safe passage way to europe. real and safe passage way to euro ne. ., . real and safe passage way to euro-e. ., ., ., ., ~ real and safe passage way to euro-e. ., ., ., .,~ europe. now i want to take you to jordan where _ europe. now i want to take you to jordan where the _ europe. now i want to take you to jordan where the nation - europe. now i want to take you to jordan where the nation is i tojordan where the nation is gearing up for tojordan where the nation is gearing upfora tojordan where the nation is gearing up for a grand royal wedding of crown prince hussein. royal fever has definitely swept royal fever has definitely swethordan ahead of the crown prince's wedding. posters of the happy couple appearing across the nation. some people

even wearing t—shirts with their portraits. photos from her bridal party went viral on social media last week, mainly due to her white gown, embroidered in gold with an arabic poetry verse that said, when i see you, life becomes sweet. this is some of the official youtube video released showing the groom's mother and his sister to singing and dancing with guests at the party. the queen said, like any mother, i have long dreams of his wedding day, telling her subject, the seine is your son and you are his family and this is your wedding. and you are his family and this is yourwedding. —— hussain is your son. a drone belt out the words celebrating hussain. the crown prince took part in a traditional pre—wedding ceremony alongside his family and the armed forces. the crown prince is 28 and he followed in his father's footsteps by going to britain's sandhurst military

college. he studied history at washington's georgetown university. in 2009, he was named heir to the throne when he was just named heir to the throne when he wasjust 16. named heir to the throne when he wasjust16. his bride is 29. she is an architect and was born and raised in saudi arabia. she studied architecture at so accuse university in new york. talking of the us, the first ladyjoe biden was amongst the guests at the wedding ceremony, as is the king of the netherlands. a public holiday has been declared injordan so people canjoin in the declared injordan so people can join in the celebrations. before we go, a recap of the top story. the us house of representatives is on track to vote on the debt limit bill after lawmakers approved to debate the rule. it goes to a make or break vote and without the deal the us would hit its borrowing limit on monday. that would mean defaulting on its $31.5 trillion worth of debt. if that happens, federal and military workers would stop being paid and the economy

could fall into chaos. we will take you live there after this bulletin, so stay with us as we join our colleagues in the us to give you the latest. that's all on newsday, stay with bbc news. hello there. the weather for half—term week continues to frustrate some but glorious for others. west has certainly been best — wednesday was the warmest day of the year so far, scotland just shy of 25. once again along the east coast of scotland and england, it was cool and grey at times. that is because the high—pressure centred

to the far north—west with the wind direction swinging round clockwise, always going to be driving in cloud off the chilly north sea. thursday, we start off grey and gloomy, damp after some drizzle but the sunshine will come through, and into the afternoon once again we have those contrasts. south west england and wales, the west midlands and south coast — dry, sunny and warm. east anglia and east of the pennines, cool and breezy at times. more sunshine west of the pennines and into northern ireland, and for western scotland the temperature peaks in the low 20s. so really a tale of two halves. where we have the best of the sunshine, that's where we will have the highest pollen, grass pollen as well at this time of year. low to moderate, especially on the east coast. high pressure just drifts a little further east. then we see subtle differences with that high, but it will mean more sunshine coming through on friday. slightly drier air and lighter winds and a good deal of dry, settled and sunny weather.

it will still feel cooler along the exposed east coast, but sunshine to go with it, which will hopefully compensate and once again sheltered western areas will see highs into the low 20s. the weekend sees the high pressure continue to push steadily eastwards, so some subtle differences. if you are heading to the beaches, west is best once again, with the temperature into the low 20s, but along the east coast we have sunshine as we head into the weekend. and we still continue to see the breeze coming from the north—east, and guess what? as we head into early next week, very little in the way of change, largely dry with the warmest weather out to the west. take care.

welcome to our show. straight to some live pictures from congress here in washington the pictures that you are looking at right now, remember, the clock is ticking. lawmakers are racing to approve the deal before thatjune five deadline. that design treasury secretary was warned that the us would

face a catastrophic