welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm mariko oi. the headlines... "an environmental bomb of mass destruction" — president zelensky accuses russia of blowing up a crucial dam on the dnipro river, unleashing a flood of water. translation: unleashing a flood of water. for translation: unleashin: a flood of water. ., ~ ., its translation: for the sake of its own security, _ translation: for the sake of its own security, the _ translation: for the sake of its own security, the world - its own security, the world should show that russia cannot get with such terror. but moscow denies involvement and accuses kyiv of sabotaging the dam. prince harry takes on the tabloid press at the high court. he says, the papers' behaviour had put him into a "downward spiral". and the us—based pga tour has announced a shock merger with its saudi—backed rival liv golf, ending a bitter split in men's professional golf.

live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. hi there, thank you for being with us. we start in ukraine — and the attack on a crucial dam in the south of the country. thousands of people have been forced to evacuate because of rising flood waters. the dam sits between russian—held territory to the south, and ukrainian territory to the north. kyiv says that moscow is to blame — and so do nato and the eu, which has called the destruction a "war crime." at a un meeting, russia has accused ukraine of sabotage. the uk prime minister, rishi sunak has said it's too soon to make a definitive judgment, but if russia is found responsible, it would "demonstrate the new lows that we will have seen from russian aggression". to kherson now — and this report from our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse.

i think it is still — if you go by what you officials are saying just today — it is still in its early phases. -by -- by what us officials are saying- — it has started nevertheless where ukrainian forces, small new units are probing different parts of this vast front line. they're trying to find different weaknesses, so what the destruction of the dam means is that a major potential crossing point has effectively been taken off the table. it means ukrainian forces couldn't cross along the dam itself, and it also means that they couldn't mount some kind of amphibious assault involving boats, involving troops making their way across, trying to form some kind of temporary crossing to eventually push forward. that would be the most ambitious attempt — i think in military circles, it was seen as one of the least likely paths for a counteroffensive —

but for kyiv, it's about making russia guess, and i think what we've seen from invading forces is an effective counter—punch. after months of ukraine and the west talking up this counteroffensive, russia has previously tried to seize control of the narrative and the information war, and should moscow be behind the destruction of the dam, than it is a counterpunch. but working out exactly who is behind it, who's behind this apparent detonation — i don't think we will ever realise, but we need to be bright—eyed to the military dynamics around at a crucial phase for ukraine in this conflict as it tries to unlock what has been months of static fighting. a breach of a barrier designed to protect. this is the major kakhovka dam, failing to contain a reservoir resembling a sea. the waters of ukraine's dnipro river surge downstream, towards dozens of towns and villages. this is effectively front line which separates territory ukraine controls

and russia occupies. close to the dnipro's mouth is the city of kherson. officials are worried the flooding could become catastrophic. when our team arrived this afternoon, it didn't take long to find out what life is like. "it's dangerous," says katarina. then... explosion russia may have retreated here last year, but they're not far away. it takes a lot in these parts to make people leave. back upstream, you can't really see what's left of the dam and hydroelectric plant. so, who did this? russia controls this area, but blames ukraine. kyiv is in no doubt. translation: the kakhovka hydroelectric power station. l it was an absolutely deliberate, prepared explosion. they knew sadly what they were doing.

translation: tonight, i the kyiv regime committed another terrorist crime. the kakhovka hydroelectric dam was blown up, which led to the flooding of significant territories. so what is the significance of the nova kakhovka dam? it supplies water to huge swathes of agricultural land, including in crimea. and the reservoir behind it provides water to cool the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant further upriver. both areas are under russian control. the reservoir is huge, the dnipro river is especially wide here — 150 miles long, and up to i4 miles across. this is what the dam looks like undamaged. our colleagues at bbc verify said this image of a smaller bridge was taken days ago — but since early this morning, this is what the dam has turned into. thousands of people are at risk from flooding. whole villages are underwater. here, the landscape is transformed. whoever destroyed the dam knew this would happen

and decided it was worth it. one ukrainian mp watched as the river burst its banks. "you can see how the water is coming up every second," he says. "it's starting to rise." ukraine has been ravaged by becoming a giant battlefield. a country forever remoulded, and now a region partially submerged. james waterhouse, bbc news, kherson. in the last couple of hours, we've heard from president zelensky, who has accused russia of causing mass environmental destruction by blowing up the dam. translation: the deliberate destruction of the dam - and other structures by the russian occupiers is a bomb of mass environmental destruction. for the sake of its own security, the world should show

now that russia cannot get away with such terror, and i'm grateful to all leaders and states, the international organisations that supported ukraine and are ready to help our people, our de—occupation steps. the attorney general has already appealed to the international criminal court to involve international justice in the investigation of the dam explosion. the fact that russia deliberately destroyed the kakhovka reservoir, which is critically important in particular for providing water to crimea, shows that the russian occupiers have already realised that they'll have to flee from crimea as well. some breaking news, which has been flagged up to us by our cyber correspondentjoe tidy, who says that a cybercrime gain thought to be based in russia hasissued thought to be based in russia has issued an ultimatum to victims of a mass hack affecting many large organisations, including the bbc, british airwaves about

100,000 staff are thought to have been affected, and they've been told that they have until 14 been told that they have until iajune, orstolen been told that they have until iajune, or stolen data will not yet asked for ransoms, but there but they are being urged to not pay the criminals. breaking news coming into us from our cyber correspondent, that ultimatum has been given from a cybercrime gain thought to be based in russia affecting 100,000 staff, including the bbc. -- 100,000 staff, including the bbc. —— cybercrime gain. prince harry has become the first senior member of the royal family to give evidence in court for 130 years, after taking to the witness stand in his civil case against mirror group newspapers. he's accused the publisher of using unlawful methods, including phone hacking, to get stories about him — something they deny. 0ur media editor katie razzall has been following the case

at the high court, in london. in a cul—de—sac in central london, the world's media... ..focused on itself and one man. others have settled claims over the years, but here was prince harry, determined to have his day in court, telling those inside a packed court 15 and an overflow annex that every single article written about him had caused him distress and agreeing he had felt hostility to the media, even before he knew about their methods. he was asked about this line in his witness statement... prince harry told the court he was talking about journalists responsible for causing a lot of pain, upset, the press in general. asked if he was in the witness box to "put a stop to the madness," he replied, "that is my hope." harry's case is that specific articles in mirror group newspapers from 1996 to 2011 were based

on phone hacking and other unlawful information gathering, often by private investigators. today he was questioned about them in detail. he says the journalist behind this story, about visit from his mother on his 12th birthday, was a known user of private investigators. mgn's barrister told him journalists could not have hacked his mobile phone as he did not have one back then. harry replied, "it could have been my mother's." how could journalists know he was at the particular pub as reported in this article, prince harry asked. isn't it likely the celebrity chef owner contacted the paper, mr green suggested. and mgn's barrister told him this story of a thumb injury had already been reported by the press association the day before. harry claims that just encouraged others to take stories further, using illicit methods for that extra information. he says he was often teased at school after these kinds of articles. it caused him paranoia and distress, led him to dump friends, even to distrust his own

brother william when a disagreement leaked. mgn denies phone hacking and unlawful information gathering for the articles under scrutiny, in a civil trial in which a judge, not a jury, will decide, explains this lawyer. 0n the balance of probabilities, is it more likely than not that the mirror engaged in phone hacking? or is it more likely than not that they didn't? they are weighing up just to see where that balance tilts so it is a slightly different standard — a lower standard, if you like. the prince also had sharp words for the former daily mirror editor, now tv presenter, piers morgan, saying he makes him physically sick and that he wants to hold him and others accountable for their vile behaviour. mr morgan denies wrongdoing. for the best part of the five hours inside here, prince harry calmly, quietly, seriously answered the questions put to him, questions designed to show that his claims are wrong. in his witness statement, he was broad in his criticism of the media and he raised eyebrows and some hackles when he described not just the british press

but the government as at rock bottom. but then he has broken so many of the rules of being a royal, political criticism is just another one to add to the list. he, though, has found his calling — to make reform of the press his life's work. it has been an intense day for prince harry. the first time a senior royal has been cross—examined in more than a century, and there is more to come tomorrow. katie razzall, bbc news. now, the world of golf is in shock after the pga and dp world tour have agreed to merge with their bitter rival liv, which is a breakaway circuit backed by saudi arabia. the launch of liv rocked men's professional golf over the past year after it poached several top players, lured by its huge prize money. josh carpenter is the assistant managing editor covering golf for the sports businessjournal in the us. i asked him what's changed given the boss of the pga was

very critical of liv until now. it's got to be all about money, right? you know, if you look back, i think personally it would've made more sense in my mind for the pga tour and liv, if you're looking at it from an ethics standpoint, you know, from other competition standpoints, it would have made more sense for the pga tour to merge with liv this time last summer when you had these top players — 0pen champion cam smith, dustinjohnson, bryson dechambeau — joining liv. if anything, in my mind since then, liv launched last june and since then, their product has progressively gotten a little bit weaker. the pga tour at the same time, there haven't been many top players who have been rumoured to bejoining liv recently — they've created this new structure on their schedule, where you'll have the top players a lot of weeks playing together, higher purses, better tv ratings, all those

sorts of things. so really, in my mind, the pga tour had a lot of leverage at this point in their battle against liv — the one thing you could look at is the ongoing court battle and, did the tour feel boxed in in some way around that? did liv feel boxed in? and then at one point theyjust decided, "maybe it's best if we just get together and work on this". and some of the top players actually stayed loyal to the pga, like tiger woods and japan's matsuyama. they can't be too happy about this? no, i wouldn't imagine so, and especially with a lot of them — you know, jay monahan, just spoke to the media a little while ago, and evidently, not any of the top players even knew this was coming today. it was basicallyjay monahan, jimmy dunne, who's a very influential member of the pga tour policy board, and one other pga tour policy board member who knew about this. so if you look at a player like tiger woods, like rory mcilroy,

who didn't even know this was coming, who pledged their loyalty to the pga tour for really the last two years since liv was created — they've got to feel pretty jilted at this point, the fact that they stayed around and turned down big sums of money, and now the pga tour has partnered with the very entity that they were speaking out against for all those months. so, yeah, they can't be very happy, i wouldn't think. and some have been saying golf has sold its soul — would you say that saudi arabia's sportswashing is actually working now? i mean, ithink you have to, right? you've seen saudi arabia's investment in golf for the last two years, you've seen how they've invested in formula one and premier league soccer — and now, they'll be pumping who knows how many billions of dollars into the pga tour, which from a pure competition standpoint, you've got to think — again, it's very early on at this point — but long—term, you've got to think the competition on the course will only get better. so what does that do? it makes saudi arabia look better for that money that they've pumped into the tour.

josh carpenter speaking to me earlier. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news — bringing you different stories from across the uk. every week, these volunteers are testing the water quality — and the results are getting worse. extremely frustrating because you can see this area of outstanding natural beauty being degraded. what volunteers have found is one of the main problems with this river are high levels of cow poo and chicken poo. it's being spread as a manure, and when it rains, of course, it then washes off the land and seeps down into the river. the poop produces phosphate which attacks the water quality — and with the number of chickens being farmed in the area going up, the wildlife in the river has been going down. two years ago, the friends of the lower wye action group were set up with a single goal

— to have a clean, pollution—free, healthy river and valley. i'm hoping what we're doing will make a difference. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. the us, japan, and philippine coast guards have been holding their very first trilateral drills in the south china sea over the last seven days, with australia joining as an observer. six countries in the region — china, vietnam, the philippines, taiwan, malaysia, and brunei — have competing territorial claims over this strategic waterway, with china claiming the largest share. will these joint exercises escalate tensions in the region? scott edwards, research fellow at the yokosuka council on asia pacific studies, joins me to answer that question. thank you so much forjoining

us on newsday. i guess when it comes to these drills and exercises, the debate is about whether it's routine or something more. what's your assessment? i something more. what's your assessment?— assessment? i think these drills should _ assessment? i think these drills should be _ assessment? i think these drills should be seen - assessment? i think these drills should be seen as i drills should be seen as something relatively routine, rather than a kind of broke of significance in terms of cooperation. and there's a few reasons— the first and most simple is this is a routine coastguard operation that's focused more on routine areas such as law enforcement, rather than something like military exercises. therefore it's just a kind of sensible way for the coast guards to build their capacity. and they do follow other activities like joint training, but for example, which do the same thing in a way but don't necessarily receive the same attention. and i think the other reasons that should be seen as a more

routine activity is that they are embedded in this broader trend, i guess, towards coastguard cooperation across the region as most states share this similar interest in working together to make the seas safer. working together to make the seas safer-— seas safer. yelled back and then the — seas safer. yelled back and then the final _ seas safer. yelled back and then the final reason - seas safer. yelled back and then the final reason on - then the final reason on this... then the final reason on this. . .- gone - then the final reason on - this. . .- gone kimmich this... sarri. gone kimmich keep going _ this... sarri. gone kimmich keep going succulent - this... sarri. gone kimmich keep going succulent i - this... sarri. gone kimmich keep going succulent i was| this... sarri. gone kimmich - keep going succulent i was also going to say the coast guards of the us, the philippines and japan have all been historically working together over the past couple of decades, and they're ready to democrats are the strong relationship, so— democrats are the strong relationship, so coming in as a toic relationship, so coming in as a topic demonstrates _ relationship, so coming in as a topic demonstrates it's - relationship, so coming in as a topic demonstrates it's a - topic demonstrates its a routine activity. topic demonstrates it's a routine activity.- topic demonstrates it's a routine activity. some would sa that routine activity. some would say that these _ routine activity. some would say that these exercises - routine activity. some would i say that these exercises could be aimed at sending a particular signal to china — you don't agree? i particular signal to china - you don't agree?— particular signal to china - you don't agree? i don't think i aaree you don't agree? i don't think i agree with _ you don't agree? i don't think

i agree with this. _ you don't agree? i don't think i agree with this. china - you don't agree? i don't think i agree with this. china has i i agree with this. china has made comments about these exclusionary, self—serving groupings, but i think one of the main problems here is that it's actually china's coastguard that's been largely absent from the more inclusive dialogues, and these more inclusive dialogues have been taking place in singapore, for example, having the international maritime security conference where we saw a large number of regional coast guards coming together to talk but chose not to attend. so i don't think this should be seen as a signal against china, but more a move towards good governance at sea and making the seas safer and more secure. there is that territorial _ safer and more secure. there is that territorial dispute - that territorial dispute involving quite a lot of countries, isn't there? do you see this group of four countries expanding to include other maritime powers? i countries expanding to include other maritime powers? i don't necessarily _ other maritime powers? i don't necessarily see _ other maritime powers? i don't necessarily see this _ other maritime powers? i don't necessarily see this grouping . necessarily see this grouping expanding, but i think what we've seen in the region is

this broad trend towards multilateral is, these smaller groupings of states who come together because they generally share a similar view on a very focused set of issues— we've seen this with the quad, and some are terming this a new quad as well because the philippines are stepping in their defence ties with the us, japan and australia. but i don't see membership expanding mostly because there aren't many states who have the kind of same sense of purpose or necessarily the same strategies, or preferred partners. also many states have their own joint exercises of cooperation, so there's a question of how important it would be to hold these exercises in the waters in the philippines with countries they'll retrain with. and also there are those states that are like minded but don't necessarily have the same capability i guess to engage in

this very particular set of coastguard cooperation, an example being the uk who has these defence ties with japan and australia growing, it's focusing more on the philippines but doesn't have the law enforcement coastguard that could interface and contribute. so i don't see it necessarily expanding significantly in terms of membership, but i do think if the momentum really ramps up and is generated, then it could be seen — we could see an important deepening between these four partners without necessarily expanding it outwards to members. scott, thank you _ outwards to members. scott, thank you so _ outwards to members. scott, thank you so much _ outwards to members. scott, thank you so much for- outwards to members. scott, thank you so much forjoining us on newsday today. thank you so much for “oining us on newsday today._ thank you so much for “oining us on newsday today. to bournemouth in the uk now — where all boat operations have been suspended "as a precaution" following the deaths of two children. the council said the ban affected just one company, which operates the dorset belle sightseeing boat. that boat was impounded by police after 12—year—old

sunnah khan and 17—year—old joe abbess died. an inquest heard a "suggestion" that a riptide led to the pair drowning. there've been sharp rises in sexually—transmitted diseases in england, with a record number of cases of gonorrhorea last year and the highest levels of syphilis since the end of world war ii. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh has been giving us more details. after a dip during covid, these sexually transmitted bacterial infections are back with a vengeance. there were more than 82,000 cases of gonorrhoea last year in england — that's up 50% on 2021. and it's the highest number since 1918, the year the first world war ended, when cases began being recorded. as for syphilis, there were more than 8,600 cases last year — that's the largest

number since just after the second world war. chlamydia was the most commonly diagnosed sti, with almost 200,000 cases recorded, with the 15—t0—24 age group most likely to get an infection. the uk health security agency says only some of the rise can be accounted for by increased testing. it says condoms are the best defence. young people in particular often regard condoms as a means they can have a major impact on your health and the health of your health and the health of your sexual partners. there is risk that gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and could be untreatable in the future. the terrence higgins trust said cuts to sexual health services were making a bad situation worse, with many people struggling to get appointments.

there is a report that the saudi prince mohammed bin salman has been meeting with the us secretary of state antony blinken to discuss bilateral relations. we don't have that much detail yet, but that's according to the saudi state news agency spa. they also discussed aspects of corporation fields and develop its in regional and it's in regional and international situations. so that news is just breaking at the moment, saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salman, also known as mbs, meeting with antony blinken to discuss bilateral relations. of course a lot more on this story at our website, do check that out as well. but with that, we end this issue of newsday, stay on bbc news but thanks for watching.

hello there. you've probably noticed the weather not really changing very much over recent times, and that's because high pressure's been firmly dominating. and with high pressure around, its not rained very much anywhere. but in warwickshire, in church lawford, you'd have to go back to 11 may — that was the last time it rained — so that's nearly four weeks of dry weather. some of the warmest weather has been across in northern ireland, county tyrone — it's been very warm in castlederg for the last nine days, but five of these recent days have seen temperatures reach 2a celsius — that's six above average. now it's the west that had the highest temperatures again on tuesday, but england, stuck underneath this area of cloud, had much lower temperatures in many areas — for example, in leek, in staffordshire, 18 celsius on monday, 12 celsius on tuesday. we also had some cloud dropping the temperatures in parts of west scotland as well. now over the next few hours, we're seeing that cloud again thicken up across parts of england and wales, northern and eastern scotland.

you might find a few spots of drizzle, although predominantly it will be a dry start to the day on wednesday. the best of the early morning sunshine, like recent times, will be across these western areas of the country. could be a few mist patches, clearing and lifting, and then the sunshine comes out. i think there is a better chance of seeing this cloud break up across the midlands, east wales, so you probably will see some sunshine. but there could be some areas of eastern england again that keep the cloud all day. where that happens, temperatures into the teens — but otherwise, i think more of us will see temperatures into the low 20s. and with those sunny conditions out west, we'll see some very high levels of pollen building in across parts of england and wales, so it could be quite a sneezy day for hay—fever sufferers allergic to grass pollen. now for thursday, again, there could be a bit of cloud around across eastern areas — probably east scotland, northeast england, the favoured spots for holding on to that. but otherwise, plenty of sunshine around, and those temperatures again reaching the mid—20s in the very warmest areas. we then do start to see a change, courtesy of this storm system — storm 0scar, that's been bringing some

torrential rain to madeira. what that'll do, it moves to the southwest of the uk, and it shoves a load of humid air across the country. and so, we'll see a change in the weather conditions as we head into the weekend. as it turns more humid, we'll start to see some showers and thunderstorms break out. and, although the rain from these will be hit—and—miss in nature, some could see the first significant rain forfour weeks.