the influencer andrew tate is challenged in a bbc interview — he denies the allegations made against him. the british government launches a legal challenge to try to avoid handing over boris johnson's full whatsapp messages to the covid inquiry. it's 8 in the morning in singapore, and 3am in moldova, where a summit of european leaders to discuss the war in ukraine has been taking place. moldova neighbours ukraine to the west — so it's become increasingly important strategically, following the russian invasion. it's a former soviet republic and it's remained economically dependent on moscow.

it's also struggled for years with pro—russian rebels. moldova's president said hosting the summit, just 20km from ukraine's border, was a show of solidarity with kyiv. president zelensky has been at the gathering — where he emphasised once again that ukraine should be allowed to join both nato and the eu urgently. every european country that borders russia and that does not want russia to tear it apart, should be a full member of the eu and nato. and there are only two alternatives to this — either an open war or creeping russian occupation. our correspondentjenny hill is in chisinau for us. today was largely about symbolism, as is often the case with this kind of summit. it's no accident that those european leaders chose to meet here in moldova.

of all of ukraine's neighbours, it arguably has the most reason to feel vulnerable in the wake of vladimir putin's full scale invasion of ukraine. moldova is a former soviet state. it's wedged between ukraine and the eu. for many years it's been heavily dependent on moscow forfuel, forfinance, and whilst its government leans heavily to the west, it's desperate to join the eu. there is a region, transnistria, which is in the hands of pro—russian separatists. there are still russian troops there. it's a hangover from the soviet era and the way in which it ended in this part of the world. so for those european leaders who gathered in that rural castle today was about sending a message to the kremlin. they're saying not only are we continuing to support ukraine, we're also supporting moldova, but what moldova wants is to be in the eu. and we've heard the country's president once again saying she really hopes accession talks can begin this year.

it already has candidate status. ukraine, too, wants that kind of security guarantee. it wants to be in the eu. it also wants to be in nato. and we heard today that despite the warm words of support from various leaders, what neither moldova nor ukraine are getting right now are those guarantees. and without those security guarantees, the ukrainian president said there can be no lasting peace. russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov, is in south africa ahead of a summit of major economies — the so—called brics group — in august. south africa is coming under increasing pressure whether president putin will be allowed to attend that meeting after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for him over war crimes in ukraine. the name brics comes from the initials of the five key member states — brazil, russia, india, china and south africa.

due to the presence of china and india in particular, they represent 43% of the world's population, with more than three and a quarter billion people living in those five countries. together they now account for a slightly larger share of the world's economy than the g7 group of nations which includes the uk and united states — and that's set to be more than half of the world's gdp by 2030. our africa correspondent andrew harding has this report from cape town. at the southern tip of africa today, russia is hard at work assembling allies. the russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov, joining his chinese, indian, brazilian and south african counterparts. a growing alliance seeking to challenge the west on many issues, including the war in ukraine. mr lavrov lashed out at a "selfish west", accusing it of exploiting and imposing its will

on poorer nations. stop putin, stop the war! on the seashore outside the venue, a small group of ukrainians, protesting against russia's invasion of their country. we want minister lavrov to immediately stop an unjust and unprovoked war. to stop killing civilians, to stop killing our children. russian officials watch from their balcony. for russia, the point of all this is to show that it's not isolated. yes, the west may be united against it because of ukraine but huge countries like india, like china are still supporting moscow, and large parts of africa too are at least trying to sit on the fence. officially, south africa is neutral on ukraine butjust down the road from today's gathering, a naval base from where its claimed weapons were recently shipped to russia, an act allegedly caught on this amateur video.

we are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel and i would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion. south african officials insist that's not true but they have an even bigger headache now. vladimir putin, wanted by the international criminal court, is due to come here in august for a summit meeting. so if putin comes here, what will it achieve for him? yet another propaganda coup. "i'm strong, i'm not alone and the west is helpless to stop me going where i want." minister, andrew harding from bbc. if president putin coming here in august, will you arrest him? yes or no? the south african government is currently looking at what the various legal options are. but it sounds to a lot of people like a lot of fudge. the answer is clear cut, your obligations are to arrest him. the obligations are clear but the answer is not fudged.

the answer is the president will indicate what the final position of south africa is. privately though, officials here are hoping for a deal that avoids a putin visit and spares south africa's struggling economy from a furious western backlash. andrew harding, bbc news, cape town. defence ministers are gathering at the shangri—la hotel here in singapore today to attend asia's biggest annual security summit, and the relationship between the us and china is expected to take centre stage. earlier this week, washington accused beijing of an "unnecessarily aggressive manoeuvre" near a us surveillance aircraft. and in the build—up to the summit, the us said china turned down an invitation for its defence minister to meet with us secretary of defence, lloyd austin. monica miller has the details. top military brass from more than a dozen countries are meeting here in singapore to discuss critical security issues. and on top of the agenda

is the rising tension between ukraine and russia as members of nato are expected to attend. the us and china will be represented by defence ministers. on saturday, lloyd austin is expected to talk about us security issues in indo—pacific. and on sunday, lee xiang fu will give a speech about china's new security initiatives. the relationship between the two countries is in a precarious spot. however, presidentjoe biden has predicted that there may be a thaw in the tension with beijing. at the g7 summit two weeks ago, members had decided to change their wording from decoupling to de—risking when they talk about china. trade ministers met one on one when they met in the united states last week. this was after months of no conversations taking place on a high level after the downing of a chinese surveillance balloon in the united states. if tensions continue to thaw, there is hope the two leaders may meet if they attend the 620 summit in india or the apec summit in san francisco in november.

richard betts is a senior fellow for national security studies at the council on foreign relations. he told me more about the importance of asia to global security. importance of asia to global securi . . ., . security. that importance has been going — security. that importance has been going for— security. that importance has been going for quite - security. that importance has been going for quite some . security. that importance has i been going for quite some time. there is also a difference now between the temporary priority that the war in ukraine is making in washington, and the recognition that the long—term priority is our relations in asia, both economic and security. the problem of balancing the interests and cooperation for economic reasons with the interests in a more steadfast policy towards security reasons is the prime issue for american foreign policy beyond ukraine. indeed, and the us _ policy beyond ukraine. indeed, and the us china _ policy beyond ukraine. indeed,

and the us china tensions - and the us china tensions remain very key to the summit. but china's defence secretary choosing not to meet with the us counterpart, what did you make of that?— us counterpart, what did you make of that? well, it is a way of probably _ make of that? well, it is a way of probably trying _ make of that? well, it is a way of probably trying to _ make of that? well, it is a way of probably trying to get - make of that? well, it is a way of probably trying to get our i of probably trying to get our attention. to convince the americans that we cannot take for granted relations, diplomatic or otherwise, on our terms, and the united states has always had a greater interest in military to military contact in order to prevent the chances of accidental engagements between our forces, accidental engagements between ourforces, and the accidental engagements between our forces, and the chinese have never been as interested in that, seeing more questionable motives for the united states in that, so this is a way of telling the americans that we just can't get our way on everything. can ou tell get our way on everything. can you tell your— get our way on everything. can you tell your view _ get our way on everything. can you tell your view on what's happening in taiwan with mike china's increasingly assertive, if you like. is that the main topic of the moment when it comes to this relationship with china for washington?-

china for washington? that's the main problem _ china for washington? that's the main problem because i china for washington? that's i the main problem because both countries have an interest in avoiding direct conflict, certainly avoiding war. for many obvious reasons. but there is really no clear or obvious solution to the taiwan problem. and it hasn't been a crucial problem so far because until recently, china was content to leave it on the back burner. do not make it a high priority. but that is changing, now the united states is having to face the problem that strategy for dealing with this is very difficult to put together, given the really peculiar situation with taiwan —— meant that taiwan occupies. it is not an independent state but still suffers of to american protection.— suffers of to american protection. and another geopolitical _ protection. and another geopolitical tension i protection. and another geopolitical tension in l protection. and another l geopolitical tension in the region is north korea, and lloyd austin talked about it

when he was in tokyo earlier. can you tell us what the us can do about this north korean issue with its allies here in asia? ~ ~ . asia? well, i think the main problem _ asia? well, i think the main problem is _ asia? well, i think the main problem is to _ asia? well, i think the main problem is to reassure i asia? well, i think the main| problem is to reassure allies that the long—standing american commitments, especially in korea, remain, and that the evidence we give of that, the deployment of significant american forces in korea, the allocation of a lot of our defence resources to that problem, has not changed. the problem, has not changed. the problem is that north korea is becoming more difficult to deal with, because of the nuclear weapons combined with the sort of wild and crazy nature of the north korean regime, putting more pressure on those who worry about any doubts that local countries may have about the american role.

let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. new zealand police say they've charged a man with five counts of murder in relation to a deadly hostel fire in wellington last month. the 48—year—old man is already remanded in custody on two counts of arson. the deadly blaze engulfed the four—storey, 92—room hostel in the city center, killing five men who police have named. us prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of donald trump, in which he acknowledges keeping a classified document after leaving the white house. the former president has repeatedly claimed that all the material he kept after leaving office had been declassified. in canada, firefighters in nova scotia are battling the largest wildfire in the province's history. officials say the fire on the southern tip has burned more than 17,000 hectares. meanwhile, another fire that has forced the evacuation

of thousands near its largest city, halifax, continues to burn. smoke from the fires has travelled south, with air quality warnings in the us. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. nasa want to return to the moon in the near future. they've heard about the famous potholes of orpington and decided that some of the potholes have a remarkable resemblance to moon craters. orpington resident tim webb has found a creative way to highlight the issue of potholes. he's turning them into art using the help of some bath—time friends in an attempt to speed up repairs. i post it on various facebook groups, and i'm amazed at the number of likes i get, sometimes into the hundreds. and people seem to enjoy and understand my sense of humour. bromley council says harsh winter conditions has meant

the number of repairjobs has gone up, but it is investing more money into solving the problem. i have used the official channels, and because i'd been doing this for a while and some of the potholes hadn't been resolved, i decided to try a slightly different approach, which is why i went down this route in particular. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. the social media personality andrew tate has denied using his influence among young people to fuel a culture of misogyny and intolerance. he's currently under investigation by romanian prosecutors following accusations of rape, human trafficking and exploiting women. he's denied the claims and he's told the bbc that he was "acting under the instruction of god to do good things". he also dismissed the testimonies of women, who've accused him of rape and exploitation. andrew tate spoke to our correspondent lucy williamson in bucharest.

andrew tate has built his image around cars, cigars and controversy, his followers swallowing his sexism along with his success. you know i'm innocent. he's said little in public since his arrest in romania five months ago for rape and human trafficking. today, the bbc was the first major media outlet to challenge him on those allegations and on concerns from police, schools and rights organisations that he's spreading misogynistic attitudes among boys and men. andrew tate. hello. have you raped anybody? absolutely not. have you trafficked anybody? absolutely not. exploited any women for money? absolutely not. but you have admitted using emotional manipulation to get women to work in the webcam industry for you. no. the bbc has spoken to somebody since your arrest who says exactly those things — that with you, it's all manipulation. there's an ulterior motive to everything... is this sophie?

oh, sophie. the fake name. no face. "i was so intent on wanting to please him and wanting him to be "happy that i was just kind of, �*yeah, ok, do whatever you want.”' has she accused me of a crime, this imaginary sophie? she's making the point that there... has she accused me of a crime? ..emotional or psychological manipulation... i've asked you a question. and i allowed you into my house. i'm asking you a question. correct. but you're not the boss here because i've allowed you into my house. i'm asking you the questions... correctly, and i'm telling you... you get to decide the answers. no, we are equal here. i've allowed you into my house. you don't come here with a position of authority. i'm doing you the favour as legacy media, giving you relevance by speaking to you. and i'm telling you now — this sophie, which the bbc has invented, which there is no face of, nobody knows who she is... the bbc did not invent her. of course not. because you never invent anything. we've got the chief executive of rape crisis naming you individually as spreading a dangerous ideology of misogynistic rape culture. absolute... it's the comments you make that are leading people to say things like this. absolute garbage.

national organisations who are saying, blaming you for increasing levels of misogyny, schools that are saying they are having increased incidents of girls being attacked, of female teachers being harassed... if that was true... ..by pupils, because of you and your teaching, and your influence. that's absolute garbage. i have never, ever encouraged a student to attack a teacher, male orfemale, ever. i preach hard work, discipline. i'm an athlete. i preach anti—drug. i preach religion. i preach no alcohol, i preach no knife crime. every single problem with modern society i'm against. i've presented you with case after case after case with quote after quote after quote of people who are genuinely concerned about the impact you're having and you brush it off as if it's nothing. no, what you have done is come here with an agenda. you've come here with loaded questions. things taken out of context. you come here with things that you don't understand are satirical and you expect me... satirical, sarcastic and jokes. that's how you explain the comments you make. for you to sit down... would you like to apologise for any of them? for you to sit down and say that one woman said that

her boyfriend watched an andrew tate video and now he won't do the dishes or whatever your argument is, and that i'm somehow the worst, most dangerous man in the world because i have a car, isjust disingenuous. andrew tate's arrest and detention haven't dented his influence. he's followed by media to the prosecutor's office, followed by millions on twitter. an indictment in this case, expected here within weeks, will mark a new phase in his fight with romania's legal system, as teachers across the uk continue to battle his message. lucy williamson, bbc news, bucharest. lucy williamson explains why the bbc thought it was important to interview such a controversialfigure. we have been following this case very closely here in romania ever since the tates were arrested. we have spoken to as many people as possible

around the case to try and get an accurate picture. we have spoken to the prosecutors, to former employees, witnesses, neighbours, everyone, to try to build up an accurate picture. the tates themselves were in custody for three months and not able to do video interview but they released in april but into house arrest, when that became possible. at that point we were talking to their team—mate because we thought it was important that we try to put some of these allegations to them and also as i said in the interview, some of those wider concerns that schools and police and others in the uk have expressed about the things they say. we went to their compound outside bucharest to do the interview, very much on their territory. do the interview, very much on theirterritory. it do the interview, very much on their territory. it was quite combative, as you heard, the and andrew tate was quite evasive that some of the issues, quite hard to pin down on some of the specifics but i think it was valuable to put some of those allegations to him and to hear how he responded to them. there will be some people in the audience who feel that giving him a

platform was wrong but i think on balance it was important to talk to the people at the centre of this story and hear what they had to say about those very serious allegations. in the uk, there's an escalating legal battle between prime minister's rishi sunak�*s government and the independent public inquiry into the handling of the covid pandemic. government officials in the cabinet office missed a deadline to hand over all of borisjohnson's private messages and papers to the inquiry. what's more, the government is now launching a legal challenge, arguing that some of the material is not relevant to the inquiry�*s work. our political correspondent alex forsyth reports. the covid pandemic had a huge and lasting impact. now a public inquiry is examining what happened, the decisions taken in government that affected so many lives. it's about learning lessons in case it happens again, but already there's a row over what exactly the inquiry

should be allowed to see. the chair, baroness hallett, wants borisjohnson's notes and his whatsapps with other government figures in full... welcome everyone, including those attending remotely... ..so she can decide what matters to her work. but at the heart of government the cabinet office is refusing, saying some of the material isn't relevant to the pandemic, like personal whatsapps, and they should be kept private. this was the prime minister earlier. the government has cooperated thoroughly with the inquiry today, handing over tens of thousands of documents and we will continue to comply, of course with the law, and cooperate with the inquiry. we are confident in our position but are carefully considering next steps. then four o'clock came, the deadline for the government's response to the inquiry�*s demands, then a letter from the cabinet office sticking to its position. it's not handing over unredacted material. in fact, they're taking the matter to court. it said...

it went on to say... so, what is the crux of their argument? any material, you know, . frank advice from officials, confidential discussions i between cabinet ministers, might make it out into - the public domain and they say that that's damaging _ for the business of government. from the inquiry's point of view, the problem i they've got is if they say. the government can decide what's relevant, then what's to stop everyone deciding i what they send to the inquiry, at which point it undermines. their ability to say that - they're doing a thoroughjob. borisjohnson has added pressure, saying the government should pass everything to the inquiry in full, even offering to himself. but it's emerged he hasn't yet handed over his phone from the crucial first year

of the pandemic. he says he will if security concerns are addressed. labour says the government should trust the inquiry with the material. i think that britain deserves to know the truth. deserves to know they have a prime minister that can be trusted by thejudges because if rishi sunak the prime minister doesn't trust one of our nation's most senior judges, then they'll be asking themselves, how can we trust him? so the row continues and now seems headed for court, while many of those who lost loved ones during the pandemic just want answers. that report by alex forsyth. we go live to washington because we can show you pictures of the us senate where lawmakers are preparing to vote on that bill to suspend the government debt limit. the bill passed the house of representatives on wednesday, and the hard deadline is monday. a short

while ago the senate majority leader chuck schumer said the senators will vote on 11 amendments to the bill before considering the final passage. that is it for the programme, stay with bbc news. hello there. the next couple of days should bring a bit more in the way of sunshine to some parts of the uk that haven't seen that much of it recently. the brightest and warmest of the weather has been found in the west of the uk, whereas some spots further east have had a lingering cloud and onshore breeze which has made it feel cool, even chilly — during thursday, some eastern parts only got to around 11 celsius under cloudy skies. out west, 2a—25 in some sunshine. but what is coming our way shows up clearly here on the earlier satellite picture — some thinner cloud, which will be in place for friday morning, particularly across england and wales. but because that cloud is thinner, it should break up a little more readily,

so i'm hopeful that more places will see sunshine during friday. just a bit of cloud close to the east coast of england, and also some more cloud into the western isles. but otherwise, largely sunny skies overhead, still a little bit on the chilly side for some eastern coasts with the breeze off the sea, highest temperatures in the west 23 celsius. with more of us, though, seeing sunshine, i think high uv levels will be an issue pretty much wherever you are. and then, as we head through friday night, we'll keep largely clear skies overhead, a few patches of cloud will float in from the north sea, and a bit more cloud hugging the coast of north—west scotland. but unusually chilly for an earlyjune night — temperatures perhaps down to 3—4 celsius in a few places. but after that cool or chilly start, saturday will be a predominantly dry day, with high pressure still firmly in charge, and most of us should get to see quite a lot of sunshine. there will be some patches of cloud close to this eastern coast. at times a bit more cloud maybe for the north coast

of northern ireland, certainly for northwest scotland, and there isjust the small chance, a very small chance of catching a shower in scotland, particularly over high ground. highest temperatures again in the west, up to around 22—23 celsius. now as we move through saturday night, our area of high pressure, slightly changing shape, and i think we will pull a bit more of this cloud back around that high into some eastern counties of england. i don't think it'll linger in many places, it mayjust stay a little bit grey for some along the coast. but further west, again, lots of sunshine and highs of 23 celsius. and if you're looking for some rain, well, very little in the forecast next week — any that does turn up will be very short—lived. it'll stay predominantly dry with some spells of warm sunshine.

the us and taiwan sign a free—trade agreement — a provocative move attracting warnings from beijing. as turkey prepares to swear in recep tayipp erdogan for a third term, we take a look at how the election result has sent the lira plummeting. hello, and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. the united states and taiwan have just signed a new trade agreement which is meant

to strengthen the economic and trade relationship between the two.