hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. we begin with a conference in a symbolic location. dozens of european leaders held a summit on the war in ukraine in moldova — a country that neighbours ukraine to the west. moldova has become increasingly important strategically, following the russian invasion. it's a former soviet republic — and it has remained economically dependent on moscow, struggling for years with pro—russian rebels. moldova's president said hosting the summit, just 20 kilometers from ukraine's border, was a show of solidarity with kyiv. president zelensky was at the gathering — where he repeated his calls for ukraine to be allowed tojoin both nato and the eu. 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 moldova's capital, chisinau, and has more on the summit. 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. let's get more now on the situation on the ground in ukraine — where for yet another night, air raid alerts have been declared across the country

ahead of more expected strikes from russia. last night at least three people were killed in air strikes on ukraine's capital, kyiv. officials say a child was among the victims, and more than a dozen other people were injured. meanwhile, the russian region of belgorod has again come under attack from across the ukrainian border, with at least eight people reportedly hurt in the shelling. the bbc�*s james waterhouse has this analysis. what moscow is trying to do, it seems, is exhaust ukrainian air defences which have been extremely effective. but what is more significant is that we are now seeing similar scenes across the border inside russia. a rare mirror image in the belgorod region, where russians are evacuated after artillery strikes. which moscow says came from ukrainian forces. factions

of the russian military repelled attacks by russian terrace, says mr�*s defence ministry. they suffered significant losses. anti—kremlin militants, made up of russians crossed into belgorod from ukraine last week, he have denied responsibility then and hasn't committed yet today. the russians —— like the russian foreign minister is in south africa ahead of a summit. south africa is coming under increasing pressure to decide whether president putin will be allowed to attend that meeting after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for mr putin over war crimes in ukraine. the brics group owes its name to the initials of its 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 3.25 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 it's 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 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. let's go to pictures from the senate, where lawmakers are racing to pass the debt ceiling deal, after it moved past the house wednesday night. the bill has to make it through the senate and to the president for signing before monday june 5th. that's when treasury secretary janet yellen has warned that the us would face a "catastrophic" default and fail to pay all of its bills. as lawmakers vote on amendments, senate majority leader chuck schumer, who is a democrat, has insisted the senate cannot make any changes to the house bill this late in the game. doing so would risk that monday deadline. here's what senate party leaders had to say earlier today. the bill is now in the senate, where we begin the process today of passing this legislation as soon as possible. the senate will stay in session until we send the bill avoiding default to

president biden�*s desk. we will keep working until the job president biden�*s desk. we will keep working until thejob is done. keep working until the “ob is done. h. keep working until the “ob is done. ,, , done. the fiscal responsibility act avoids _ done. the fiscal responsibility act avoids the _ done. the fiscal responsibility act avoids the catastrophic . act avoids the catastrophic consequences of a default on our nation's debt. and just as importantly, it makes the most serious — importantly, it makes the most serious headway in years toward curbing — serious headway in years toward curbing the reckless spending washington democrats. we will keep an eye on that and bring you any updates. 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 materials he kept after leaving office had been declassified. bob costa is with us here in our studio, chief election and campaign correspondent for cbs news. it is great to have you back with us. what exactly does donald trump say in this phone call? ~ ~' ., donald trump say in this phone call? ~ ~ ., call? we know the special counsel investigating -

call? we know the special counsel investigating the | counsel investigating the former president's handling of classified materials has obtained this audio recording. trump at times would record conversations he had behind—the—scenes, mostly with reporters, sometimes with advisers and one of these audio documents has landed in the hands of federal prosecutors and based on our reporting, the former president during the summer of 2021 was discussing joint chiefs of staff chairman mark millie and the possibility of a strike on iran and some of the detail in a memorandum which was allegedly in his possession at the time, he discussed in front of a group of aids, we don't know the specificity he went into about the material and what he had document lies in his position but we do know based on our conversations with sources close to the investigation that this is certainly an area that the special counsel has been shining a bright spotlight on in recent weeks. fix, shining a bright spotlight on in recent weeks.— in recent weeks. a pretty significant _ in recent weeks. a pretty significant revelation. - in recent weeks. a pretty l significant revelation. what could this mean for donald trump? it could this mean for donald trum - ? . , could this mean for donald trum . ? ., , ., trump? it means that he continues _

trump? it means that he continues to _ trump? it means that he continues to face - trump? it means that he continues to face intense trump? it means that he - continues to face intense legal scrutiny as he moves forward in his 2024 presidential campaign. notjust on the classified records but the special counsel and the federal level and also investigating trump injanuary the 6th and his handling of the attack on the capitol. e is also being investigated in georgia where he could face an indictment at state level for his efforts to literally pressure commission officials in georgia. mil pressure commission officials in georgia-— in georgia. all this comes as he is once — in georgia. all this comes as he is once again _ in georgia. all this comes as he is once again running - in georgia. all this comes as he is once again running for| he is once again running for president. how do you think this will impact the 2024 race? so far many republican voters, and i have been there, they say that these issues might be lingering like a cloud over trump's campaign but it doesn't yet affect how they see the former president. he continues to hold a commanding lead in the polls. but here is what is interesting. privately, so many of his rivals tell me they believe trump is vulnerable. should he face an indictment from the special counsel, or

should he face an indictment in georgia, they believe that could change the race, but there are in wait—and—see mode. i want to ask you about the debt ceiling vote. we were just looking at some pictures from that bout taking place. what do you expect to see which we are watching the senate right now and it if i can tell you one thing i have learned, senators do not like to be left out of the deal. do not like to be left out of the deal-— do not like to be left out of the deal. , ., , ., ., . the deal. this was a deal cut by president _ the deal. this was a deal cut by president biden - the deal. this was a deal cut by president biden and - the deal. this was a deal cut| by president biden and kevin mccarthy. what you're seeing now is a scene where the senators are deliberating, they're frustrated, they would like to see amendments to the bill but because of warning from the treasury secretary, my sources say the senate will ultimately finally come around and acknowledge they want to move forward with this package, but the white house could be a political price for nudging the senators along.— senators along. what do you think we will— senators along. what do you think we will see _ senators along. what do you think we will see from - think we will see from president biden? we expect this to get through the senate and will end up on his desk. what we see from him is in terms of

his messaging? will he take a victory lap? he his messaging? will he take a victory lap?— victory lap? he is not likely take a victory _ victory lap? he is not likely take a victory lap. - victory lap? he is not likely take a victory lap. white i victory lap? he is not likely - take a victory lap. white house sources say and said he wants to move on and say he averted a crisis. part of the reason he doesn't want to take a victory lap is that he knows that some of the progressive democrats in his party like bernie sanders, he doesn't want to support this bill, he's not going to vote for it. biden needs the progressives to remain enthusiastic about his presidency as he moved towards the election and because of that he will not constantly talk about something that might be a political victory for him but long—term would not be a victory within the party to generate that enthusiasm. find generate that enthusiasm. and something _ generate that enthusiasm. and something we _ generate that enthusiasm. and something we saw today is far from president biden, he had a fall on stage, he was delivering a speech at the commencement for the air force academy in colorado. this is something that we have been seeing across social media

today, this fall. this is again being discussed as another sign that the president is not fit to run again, what do you make of that? and i think we can bring up the video as well when the president arrived back in dc and he was asked by reporters what happened. he said, i was a sandbag, he tripped over a sandbag. this little jig to prove he is tripped over a sandbag. this littlejig to prove he is ok, what do you think? i little jig to prove he is ok, what do you think? i called a friend of president _ what do you think? i called a friend of president biden - what do you think? i called a l friend of president biden after this happened and the source reminded me of a story that very quickly when biden one time tripped going up the stairs of air force one, he came of the plane and said, my gosh, i can't believe ijust did that, and so angry because the press will be talking about this for days. he can't stand that the press likes to talk about him tripping on the stairs orfalling down on about him tripping on the stairs or falling down on stage and he wants to believe that the voters see him as a vigorous person, and he wants to project confidence and you

can expect him to do a few more jigs can expect him to do a few more jigs on the campaign trail in the coming weeks to project that confidence that he so often has inside the west wing. bob custer, great to have you with us. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. last summer, in hot bone dry conditions, the wildfires spread. the fire service in dorset and wiltshire were kept very busy by call—outs, like this one on the isle of purbeck. the number of wildfires they dealt with went up by half and they worry this year they may be at least as busy again. the recent dry spell and warm conditions mean dorset and wiltshire fire service are currently on amber alert, the second highest warning level. the conditions are absolutely rife at the moment and they will be going into the summer months as well. james cox is also concerned about the prospects of another scorching summer. so much so, he and other

farmers are now in talks with the fire service with a possible solution. finding an easy way to allow fire crews to use the water stored on farms. it all comes down to finding a universal fitting that will work at any farm. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. the chinese government has told the united states to stop trade negotiations with taiwan, after washington and taipei signed the first of what is expected to be a series of trade agreements. this initial deal is meant to simplify customs procedures, improve regulatory processes and establish anti—corruption rules. but china's foreign ministry spokeswoman mao ning hit out at washington, saying, quote... "the us should stop any form of official exchanges with taiwan. it should not negotiate and sign agreements with taiwan

that imply sovereignty and are official in nature. it should not send any wrong signal to the separatist forces for taiwan independence in the name of economy and trade." live now to david dollar, a senior fellow at the brookings institution and leading analyst on china and taiwan's economies. david, good evening. thank you forjoining us. taiwan and the us are saying this agreement will strengthen economic ties in a number of ways, why do you think we are seeing them reach this steel now? it think we are seeing them reach this steel now?— this steel now? it is mainly political- — this steel now? it is mainly political. you _ this steel now? it is mainly political. you quoted - this steel now? it is mainly political. you quoted the i political. you quoted the blowback from beijing, they are unhappy that the us is negotiating directly with taiwan on trade issues. frankly the agreement is very minor. it involves some simplification of customs procedures but it's not going to have much economic effect. it is not economic. but the fact the us is doing it with taiwan is political and there will be further stages in

this developing economic relationship. but there is not really any lack of access or trade liberalisation built into this, so it's pretty minor. qm. this, so it's pretty minor. 0k, minor economically _ this, so it's pretty minor. 0k, minor economically but - this, so it's pretty minor. 0k, minor economically but how significant is it but i want to have this agreement? taiwan would really _ have this agreement? taiwan would really like _ have this agreement? taiwan would really like to _ have this agreement? taiwan would really like to have - would really like to have deeper economic ties with the us. their experts, they have four times as many experts in the mainland as they do to the us so they have very deep integration with the mainland. they would like to diversify, there would like to have more relationship with the us. there were about to get into reciprocal negotiation with reduced trade barriers. the us right now is not negotiating new trade deals that involve better market access. the us is focused on a different type of trade deal, this is a good example, some minor changes in customs administration and future rounds will deal with important things like labour standards and environmental standards. but it's not really

trade liberalisation. if standards. but it's not really trade liberalisation.- trade liberalisation. if this is politically _ trade liberalisation. if this is politically symbolic, - trade liberalisation. if this is politically symbolic, do | trade liberalisation. if this . is politically symbolic, do you think the agreement opens the doorfor think the agreement opens the door for other countries to sign similar agreements with taiwan? i sign similar agreements with taiwan? , , ., , taiwan? i guess i would be surprised- _ taiwan? i guess i would be surprised. i— taiwan? i guess i would be surprised. ithink_ taiwan? i guess i would be surprised. i think that - taiwan? i guess i would be| surprised. i think that other countries... the us is not getting a lot of partners to getting a lot of partners to get with this strategy. a lot of our partners are telling us the us really should get back in the big trade agreements like the one we negotiated with europe but never implemented, or the trade agreement we negotiated with asian partners, the transpacific partnership, never got permitted. so i think our partners would like to see us get back in the big trade agreements and that's where they all are, basically. you are seeing a lot of trade liberalisation around the world, especially in asia, you're just not seeing much american involvement. to talk about us china _ american involvement. to talk about us china relations, - american involvement. to talk about us china relations, as i american involvement. to talk| about us china relations, as we mentioned, beijing has

denounced these talks as it does all high—level engagement between the us and taiwan, does this agreement threatened to escalate tensions further between the us and china? it has a little bit of that effect. it's definitely a bit of additional annoyance in the relationship. but if the us were also pursuing trade discussions with china, i think that would defuse the situation. in the past, the mainland never objected to taiwanjoining mainland never objected to taiwan joining the world trade organization for example. taiwan is a member of the wpl. we used to have pretty good movement was trade liberalisation. but in the mainland and taiwan. —— bull. but it's more a narrow focus of the us and taiwan without any action concerning the mainland. i think that is problematic as far as the mainland goals. they would like to give back into economic dialogue with the united states—

united states what is the likelihood _ united states what is the likelihood of _ united states what is the likelihood of the - united states what is the likelihood of the us - united states what is the likelihood of the us and i united states what is the - likelihood of the us and china getting back into a dialogue about their own trade? president biden said that there are some signs of a thaw, but i'm afraid he's being a bit too optimistic. mostly, you have a lot of hostility between the us and china these days, maybe we can stabilise that, but i don't see much trend toward improving relations in any dimension, especially in the economic. we don't see our economic officials going to beijing, for example, orthe officials going to beijing, for example, or the chinese cabinet officials coming to the united states. so without that kind of high—level engagement, it's hard to see how they can really be much progress.— hard to see how they can really be much progress. david, great to have you _ be much progress. david, great to have you on _ be much progress. david, great to have you on the _ be much progress. david, great to have you on the show- to have you on the show tonight, thank you. one of america's most fiercely contested challenges is under way — the final of the 2023 scripps national spelling bee. 11 of the brightest young spellers are competing in the final of the three—day competition, held in national harbor,

maryland. and our reporter riley farrell went along to meet the voice of the contest — jacques bailly. so the spelling bee has this devoted following. and i was wondering, what is it about the spelling bee that captures the imagination? well, i think it's the age of the kids. we've all been there and they're alljust so super cute and so, like, right on the edge of doing things with their lives. also, we all use the english language every day, and yet there are whole reaches of it that we don't know about that we're always surprised by, and there's difficulties in it, and there are things that surprise us, things that interest us, so it's something relatable to everybody. there's also, its a contest that's a combination of skill and luck, and that's always interesting, that interface. and of course, to the prepared, there is no luck or there is no bad luck. so it's a kind of test. there's a lot of tension, a lot of relief, a lot of excitement. absolutely. and how are the words picked for each round?

it starts a year before and we'll go back to a year before, there's three or four people who choose a few hundred words each. and then we put those into a computer with a lot of database fields, and then we test those out with a bunch of other people. i put in language origin information, dr sietsema puts in pronunciation information. we meet, we talk about them, we go through them, we try and figure out how difficult they are, which is really hard. we set up lists, we review the list, it goes on and on. we were all the way up until sunday, this past sunday, we reviewed the list and we were still finding little things to adjust. and then the day of the bee, what happens is we decide, ok, so we have this group of spellers and we have 50 left and we need to get down to about ten. so we know this group of spellers, we have lists of various difficulties. so we say, ok, we'll try this and see if we can get... we don't want to get a bunch down at a time. we want to slowly get them down, so we keep the best ones,

the ones who know the most. and so we'll pick this list and then the computer randomises that list so that we don't even know which word the kid will get and then it pops out in front of me. so it's a very long process to write a script. by the time we get here, i am reading a script. lawmakers and the surpassing to the to pass the debt ceiling deal. they are debating allotment dub 11 amendments. there are about halfway through the process of voting on this deal. it is to make it through the senate and then to the president for standing before mondayjune the 5th. that is when the treasury secretary has said the us would default and failed to pay all its bills. lawmakers here have urged senate colleagues to pass this as quickly as possible and also urged senators not to make any

changes to the bill so late in the game, to avoid defaulting on the debt ceiling. you can follow the latest happening here in the senate on our page, we have a live page following the senate vote so check that out. thank you for watching bbc news. stay with us. 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, 24—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 — us lawmakers in the senate are bound to vote on a bill that will raise the debt ceiling. we will bring you the latest. the us and taiwan sign a free—trade agreement — a provocative move attracting warnings from beijing. hello, and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. let's ta ke let's take you straight to washington and show you some live pictures from the senate, because of course as we've been

telling you, those