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 reiterated that ukraine should urgently be allowed to join 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 correspondent jenny hill is in 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 at least three people

have been killed after another night of 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, her russians are evacuated after artillery strikes. which moscow says came from ukrainian forces. the selfish actions of the russian military repelled three attacks by ukrainian terrorists, says

the russian foreign ministry. they suffered significant losses. anti—kremlin militants, made up of russians crossed into belgorod from ukraine last week, keep denying responsibility of them and it hasn't commented yet today. live now to asif chaudhry, who served as us ambassador to moldova from 2008 to 2011. he's now vice president for international programmes at washington state university. welcome to bbc news. what does this summit tell us about moldova's place in the world? an important summit taking between european leaders and ukrainian president zelensky. thank you for the invitation, thank you for the opportunity to speak on this subject. what this does is, this actually pinpoints exactly why for a long time people who were in favour of moldova becoming closer to the european union

were saying that more needed to be done, and right now, the opportunity came up where all these leaders were gathered in moldova, their presence over there is a simple and it is an actual clear sign that the world has not recognised the significance of moldova in the region and in fact it is a strategic significance of the location of the republic of moldova and why it is important for us to look at ways to integrate eight more into the european union sooner rather than later. 50 european union sooner rather than later-— than later. so what is the strategic _ than later. so what is the strategic importance - than later. so what is the strategic importance of l strategic importance of moldova? it strategic importance of moldova?— strategic importance of moldova? , , , moldova? it is quite simple. moldova? it is quite simple. moldova should _ moldova? it is quite simple. moldova should have - moldova? it is quite simple. moldova should have been, | moldova? it is quite simple. i moldova should have been, in moldova? it is quite simple. - moldova should have been, in my view, one of those countries right at the beginning when the soviet union broke up, along with the baltic states, moldova had a very similar background where it was part of romania just before the second world war, then it was annexed with the soviet union. what needed to be done, in my view, was

soon after, ways should have been found to reintegrate it back to its home country or the european union, or the west as quickly as possible. the republic of moldova mostly is romanian origin and a small percentage of russian or ukrainian origin. it percentage of russian or ukrainian origin. iii percentage of russian or ukrainian origin. ifi could 'ust ukrainian origin. ifi could justjump _ ukrainian origin. ifi could justjump in. _ ukrainian origin. ifi could justjump in, around - ukrainian origin. ifi could justjump in, around halfl ukrainian origin. if i could l justjump in, around half of the country right now, if you look at moldova, once integration with the eu. moldova is a candidate at the moment. at the other half prefers better relations with moscow. so do you think this discussion risks pulling moldova between the west and its interests with russia? i think the difficulty might occur if there was a conversation ofjoining nato. but as far asjoining conversation ofjoining nato. but as far as joining the european union or becoming a member of the european union or becoming closer to the western european community, think that

is something most of the moldovans want, just the fact that right now moldova is ruled by a party both in the parliament of the presidential palace which is supported and is looking for ways to bring the country closer to the european union and to the west. they have won the elections, they are democratically elected, hence it is my view that the majority of the people are in favour of it. in fact the regime that has been implemented, that has been a very successful step that has been taken on all the steps announced today in my view are going to accelerate reforms and create the environment for moldova to get closer to the european union. 50 moldova to get closer to the european union.— moldova to get closer to the european union. so what do you think the direct _ european union. so what do you think the direct impact - european union. so what do you think the direct impact of - think the direct impact of russia's invasion of ukraine has been on moldova itself? well, very significant. there has been economic impact, you should see a look at the refugee crisis, the number of refugees who have been hosted

and were coming up republic of moldova are think the largest in any place in the region. that has had an impact. the trade issues that have been developing between ukraine and, ukraine's ability to export their grades, many of those commodities have had to come through moldova into romania and then going beyond the european borders. it has impacted in that way. at times, moldova has been directly threatened by russia, as we have seen, either by a flyover of missiles or other statements that are meant to scare moldova into some kind of either neutrality or submission. so they have been threatened both on the security front as well as on trade front, and of course there have been clear economic impacts on the republic of moldova, which fortunately most of the world

has recognised and has supported moldova to be able to get through this. titer? supported moldova to be able to get through this.— get through this. very quick last question. _ get through this. very quick last question. do _ get through this. very quick last question. do you - get through this. very quick last question. do you think| get through this. very quickl last question. do you think it is realistic that moldova will join the eu in the nearfuture? it depends on what it means in the nearfuture, because the statements today were very encouraging, the fact that the reform is being accelerated by sending more advisers, more economic aid is being given to help the country to get ready for that kind of integration, think these statements are showing that there is a real true well right now in the european union to bring moldova into the fold. of course the environment has to be right and moldova has to play its part. right now moldova has the leadership with a commitment and the will to actually implement the reforms that are neededin implement the reforms that are needed in order to create that environment.— needed in order to create that environment. �* , ., ., ~ environment. ambassador, thank ou for environment. ambassador, thank you forjoining — environment. ambassador, thank you forjoining us. _ environment. ambassador, thank you forjoining us. thank- environment. ambassador, thank you forjoining us. thank you - you for “oining us. thank you for you forjoining us. thank you for having — you forjoining us. thank you for having me. _

you forjoining us. thank you for having me. we _ you forjoining us. thank you for having me. we go - you forjoining us. thank you for having me. we go now i you forjoining us. thank you for having me. we go now to some live — for having me. we go now to some live pictures _ for having me. we go now to some live pictures from - for having me. we go now to some live pictures from the l some live pictures from the senate. 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. live now to daniella diaz, who joins us from capitol hill and has been following the ins and outs of the vote for politico. you have to spend a little booth in which to speak with us out thank you for journeys. so voting is continuing right now, is there any sense if any of these amendments, changes to these amendments, changes to the bill, could actually hold up the bill, could actually hold up this vote?— the bill, could actually hold up this vote? what we were seeinu up this vote? what we were seeing in — up this vote? what we were seeing in the _ up this vote? what we were seeing in the last _ up this vote? what we were

seeing in the last couple - up this vote? what we were seeing in the last couple of| seeing in the last couple of hours, chuck schumer and republicans, possibly no other amendment would succeed because as you noted, it would mean that this legislation would have to go back to the house, be voted on again and something to note here, this procedure here in congress, the house is now in recess to all the lawmakers went home today after the late—night votes so they will have to come back, which does risk going over thatjune the 5th deadline, that monday deadline, and no lawmaker i have spoken to this entire week once the nation to default on its debt. so they mutually agreed this was why the senedd has really been pushing these amendments, it does seem like we are having an earlier night on capitol hill than we

expected we have still seen some descent on both sides of the aisle from republicans and democrats and also in the house we saw something of a revolt on the far right side of the republican party. lawmakers are objecting to parts of this agreement. how much has the debt ceiling deal revealed rifts in both parties? we expected that. each democrat and republican have their own factions, the far right, the far left, that is normal to see in the democratic party and in the republican party. what we saw last night was a lot of progressives supporting the legislation, which was expected. but there have been a lot of very conservative but is not supporting the legislation but there have been some surprise parties who came out and voted for this. thomas massie who has never voted to raise the debt ceiling in the past but came out and supported this legislation last night. very conservative republican member in congress. just one of many. there was a lot of

support last night in the house. 314 members supported the legislation, a super majority. that was more than i think any reporter really expected to see last night. any critic of what happens here expect to see last night. we also expect it to pass through the senate with more than 60 votes and we're not quite sure yet, especially watching democrats. ii yet, especially watching democrats.— yet, especially watching democrats. ., , , ., democrats. if it does end up on the president's _ democrats. if it does end up on the president's desk— democrats. if it does end up on the president's desk at - democrats. if it does end up on the president's desk at the - democrats. if it does end up on the president's desk at the end | the president's desk at the end of the ceiling, can he call this a victory?— of the ceiling, can he call this a victory? what's most interesting _ this a victory? what's most interesting about _ this a victory? what's most interesting about this - this a victory? what's most interesting about this thatl interesting about this that i've seen from democratic and republican leaders, they are both doing victory laps. kevin mccarthy yesterday was incredibly happy that this happened. he credited his top republican negotiators for being able to get this over the line. along with the white house negotiators. what we'll

see also is the president and chuck schumer, who is expected to have a press conference, he wasn't even part of the negotiations and he's going to take a victory lap. so it's really an interesting case, we are seeing both sides are saying, hay—mac, we did this and this was our way to win. normally see what side of the other. but there are a lot of conservatives that do support this and a little progresses who don't support this and they are not keen on victory laps. we have been looking at those live pictures of the senate either on the second to last amendment so to speak to what he that it could be a shorter evening than we expected. last question for you, how do you think this will play into the 2024 race for the presidency? that was part of the negotiation they had when they were figuring out how long to

raise the debt ceiling for and we are now seeing that will happen through 2024. it seems very evident that president biden did not want this to be an issue during his election and of course republicans didn't want this to be an issue either, they are trying to have an open field right now, trying to be president biden and take the white house from him. but of course i do expect... we as supporters to expect president biden to mention this as a victory for him and republicans too, they will campaign on this. they will be saying that they helped negotiate the democrats to avoid a financial crisis. so expect a lot of that in the coming weeks. daniela diaz joining — in the coming weeks. daniela diaz joining us _ in the coming weeks. daniela diaz joining us from - in the coming weeks. daniela diaz joining us from capitol i diazjoining us from capitol hill. we will let you get back to the floor, thanks so much from taking time out of your evening to speak with us

tonight. 0ur bbc website has a live page following the senate vote, they are in the second to last amendment so it could be that we reach a conclusion a conclusion about sooner than expected. well, let's look at something that happened earlier on thursday. presidentjoe biden tripped and fell onstage, after delivering a commencement speech to graduates of the air force academy in colorado springs. he was helped up by air force officials and secret service agents. a white house official said the president is fine, and arriving back in washington, he told reporters he was "sandbagged" and offered them a little jig. a press pool reporter said there was indeed a sandbag onstage. this isn't the president's first fall. bob costa, who is cbs news' chief election and campaign correspondent, gave me his take. i called a friend of president biden after this happened and the source reminded me of a story that very quickly when biden one time trip to going up the stairs of air force one, he

came into the cabin of the plane and said to his aides, my gosh, i can't believe ijust did that, i'm so angry before 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 out there see him as a vigorous person, and he wants to project confidence. you can expect him to do a few more jigs expect him to do a few more jigs on the campaign trail in the coming weeks to projects that confidence that he so often has inside the west wing, from what i'm told from his top advisers. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. swarming bees, filmed recently on campus at the university of warwick in coventry. this spring has seen a surge in such incidents. just ask any beekeeper — like alan deeley. it's been a lot more this year. at times i was getting six or seven calls a day, whereas last year and in previous years, i'd probably get

that in a week. alan helps run an apiary at the university, which has around 25 hives. and it's the queens that cause the swarms. at this time of the year, she'll be laying something like 2,000 eggs a day. and the colony is growing very, very rapidly. the captured swarms are rehomed into a hive, where they can carry on making honey. bees have to fly around 50,000 miles just 1lb of honey, and each hive produces around 60lb. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. in the uk, the legal battle between rishi sunak�*s government and the independent public inquiry into the handling of the covid pandemic has been escalating. government officials in the cabinet office missed a deadline today 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. 0ur 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 - 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.

one of america's most fiercely contested challenges has wrapped up — 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, 0k, 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. well, we have a winner in this year's scripps national spelling bee! dev shah, age 14, has outlasted more than 200 other competitors, finishing in first place by spelling this word correctly. the winning word was "psammophile" — which means a plant or animal that thrives in sandy areas. as the winner dev — an eighth grader — receives a 50 thousand dollar prize, a medal and a trophy. and of course plenty

of bragging rights. a quick update on that vote in the senate, they are voting on the senate, they are voting on the second to last amendment, we might see this conclude in the next hour, we will keep you updated. thank you for watching. 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. 0ut 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.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. it is going to be a cold, dark night for many south africans with stage 6 load shedding announced. south africa is sinking into darkness, its crumbling power system no longer able to keep the lights on. the poorest here hit hardest. after 20, 25 years. you're going to have

to close down. yes.