this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. let's begin off the coast of greece, where a major search—and rescue operation is under way after a migrant boat capsized. almost 80 people are known to have drowned — however, the real number could be much higher. the government has declared three days of mourning. the boat is reported to have been heading to italy from the libyan port of tobruk, when it began taking on water late on tuesday. more than 100 people have been rescued and taken to the greek port of kalamata. the greek coastguard says the search operation has been hampered by strong winds. it's thought the vessel may have been carrying up to 400 people. kalamata's mayor has been talking to the media. translation: we are shocked.

we are shocked like everyone in greece, obviously. after we were informed of this incident, all services were mobilised. the municipality of kalamata we have prepared. we are hearing that, unfortunately, the number of dead is increasing. our europe correspondent nick beake is in athens and has this update. we don't know the scale of this disaster tonight, but it's clear it is bad. more than 100 people have been rescued, but survivors are saying that up to 700 people, they believe, were on board this fishing boat. it set off reportedly from libya and was heading to italy. an image has emerged showing the vessel packed with people in the deepest part of the mediterranean. no—one, it would seem, had a life jacket on. the greek authorities have said tonight that they went towards the vessel and that no—one wanted help

when they offered it. but that has been challenged by an organisation which provides an emergency phone number for people at sea, and it says, in fact, the authorities waited hours before they approached the vessel. they also said that, in terms of anyone refusing the offer of support, that was because of the so—called pushback policy that greece pursues — in other words, pushing people out of greek waters. that is a policy which athens says doesn't exist. it repeatedly and strenuously has denied that it uses this sort of tactic. so, where are we tonight? well, the families of the dead are grieving. for hundreds more families, they face an unbearable wait to try and find out what has happened, and european leaders are talking once again about trying to find a solution to all of this. but the reality is so far this year, more than 70,000 people have arrived in europe, mainly in four different countries in the south

of the continent. and with us going further into the summer, with the weather being good, the fear is that many more people will attempt this perilous crossing. that's nick bea ke that's nick beake there in athens. now let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. italy has said a final goodbye to former prime minister silvio berlusconi. his state funeral was held in milan on wednesday. it was attended by his political allies, opponents and members of his family. the billionaire media tycoon and scandal—ridden politician dominated italian public life for decades. the us central bank has left interest rates unchanged for the first time in more than a year, atjust over 5%. but the federal reserve cautioned that it was too soon to say that inflation in the country would continue to retreat, despite encouraging figures a day earlier. and members of the european parliament have approved a draught voluntary code

of conduct to regulate artificial intelligence tools. they're trying to limit harm from al while also promoting innovation in everything from self—driving cars to chatbots. new laws could be in place by the end of the year. i want to take you to the uk now, where thousands of people have gathered for a vigil at nottingham university, to remember those killed in an attack on tuesday. the fathers of barnaby webber and grace 0'malley—kumar praised the bond among students at the university and urged everyone to "look after each other". the third victim has been named as ian coates, who was 65, and a school caretaker. police are still questioning a 31 year—old man on suspicion of murder. 0ur correspondent navtej johal has this report. united in grief. these students came to express their shock

and share their sadness at the loss of two of their own. it's hard to explain the grief at the loss of two talented students who had their futures curtailed. barnaby webber and grace 0'malley—kumar were in their first year at the university of nottingham. theirfamilies were their families were instead here at a vigil as tributes were paid to the lives of their children. i lost my baby boy and i can't even comprehend how i'm going to deal with it. myself and emma and charlie, all his family and friends. barnaby would be super touched by everyone that's here. the love that we have out here, ijust wish i we had it everywhere.

so... look after each other. barnaby was a talented cricketer studying history. his family described their complete devastation at his death. they said he was a beautiful, brilliant, bright young man with everything in life to look forward to. grace was training to be a doctor. she too was a keen cricketer and played hockey for england under—16s and under—18s. to herfamily, she was an adored daughter and sister, who was a wonderful and beautiful young lady. the attacks third victim was 65—year—old ian coates, who worked in a local school. his call he said he was much

loved friend who will be greatly missed. his friend paid tribute. lovely, lovely gentleman. he was one of those people who would go out of his way to help anyone, and i reckon that's probably what he was trying to do that morning as well. i've been here three and a half years and there's never a day we don't see him with a smile. no matter what came his way, he was always smiling. on a day of raw emotion, for now, there is little comfort to be found amid this tragedy. navteonhal, bbc news, nottingham. it's been confirmed that the us secretary of state, antony blinken, will visit china on sunday. it will be the highest—profile visit to china by a us official since president biden took office. a us government spokesman said america was not expecting major breakthroughs. china has blamed the us for growing tensions. live now to texas, where we can speak to david firestein, president of the george w bush foundation for us—china relations.

thank you very much forjoining us on the programme. thank you very much for “oining us on the programmeh thank you very much for “oining us on the programme. thank you very much _ us on the programme. thank you very much for— us on the programme. thank you very much for having _ us on the programme. thank you very much for having me. - us on the programme. thank you very much for having me. i - us on the programme. thank you very much for having me. i know| very much for having me. i know exnectations _ very much for having me. i know expectations are _ very much for having me. i know expectations are being _ very much for having me. i know expectations are being drawn . expectations are being drawn down for this visit, but what will they discuss and who will he meet with? i will they discuss and who will he meet with?— he meet with? i think it's likely that _ he meet with? i think it's likely that secretary - he meet with? i think it's i likely that secretary lincoln will certainly meet the foreign minister and probably mr wong yi, one rank above the foreign minister. it's possible that secretary lincoln will see the president xi jinping secretary lincoln will see the president xijinping —— president xi jinping —— blinken. president xijinping —— blinken. i think those details are being worked out, but i think those will be probably the main inner lockers, and certainly the first two are going to be very important for secretary blinken and there's a lot on the agenda. the shangri-la _ lot on the agenda. the shangri-la dialogues l lot on the agenda. the shangri—la dialogues took place about a week and a half ago and

one issue was that both defence ministers did not meet. the chinese are saying that is because the us has sanctions against their minister. do you see possibly the us lifting these sanctions or do you see them staying in place? i don't think anything _ them staying in place? i don't think anything 's _ them staying in place? i don't think anything 's going - them staying in place? i don't think anything 's going to - think anything �*s going to happen with the sanctions any time in the immediate future. i think it's very difficult politically to undo sanctions once they are in place, given the state of the politics of china and the united states. there tends to be a kind of ratchet effect when it comes to this type of approach. 0nce this type of approach. once it's done, it's going to stay done for quite some time unless there's really a major reason to change it. i don't think we'll see a change in the sanctions approach that the united states has applied. to some of these individuals in any time in the future. [30

some of these individuals in any time in the future. do you see them _ any time in the future. do you see them making _ any time in the future. do you see them making any - any time in the future. do you see them making any groundl any time in the future. do you | see them making any ground in taiwan in terms of coming to any sort of resolution anytime soon? we are seeing increased activity in the taiwan strait. how do you see this resolving? well, i think the fundamental problem with the issue of taiwan as an issue in the bilateral relationship between the united states and china is that fundamentally, the conditions of the united states and china are in effect incompatible and irreconcilable. the likelihood is that this is ever going to be advanced level of resolve, i think is very low. but i think both sides certainly share a common objective, and it's a bit objective that stems from self interest in both cases. it is to prevent the situation from devolving into conflict. neither side, from devolving into conflict. neitherside, northe from devolving into conflict. neither side, nor the mainland, nor taiwan for that matter, have an interest in seeing this

consecrate. i think the parks around taiwan are going to be, how do we keep this into her in on the rails, how do we preclude a military confrontation? i think that's a goal fundamentally that both the united states and china share, so i think there is reason to believe that the two sides can find a way to work together in order to achieve that particular outcome. but beyond that, it's going to be very difficult and i think impossible in the future to make any progress on the issue. david firestein, thank you so much forjoining us on the programme. much forjoining us on the programme-— much forjoining us on the programme. much forjoining us on the rouramme. . ., , . around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bringing different stories from across the uk. could this be the start of the battery revolution? the prototype niabolt ev was unveiled to an audience of engineers and developers.

inspired by lotus elise, the electric car is a collaboration between designers and battery developers, with engineers claiming they've developed technology to create ultra—fast batteries capable of charging electric cars in six minutes. if you had convenience, you don't think about the range, you don't think about the time it takes a charge. that convenience is brought in ultra—fast charge that matches the convenience of filling fuel. work is under way on a one—tonne prototype road version that could charge in six minutes, a range of 155 miles. their technology could go into production by 2024, potentially removing range anxiety for motorists. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. north korea is in a period of unprecedented isolation.

it's been over three years since it sealed its borders in response to the pandemic. no—one has been able to leave or enter the country and for a long time, even supplies of food and medicine were stopped. three people living in north korea have risked their lives to tell the bbc what is happening. in our first exclusive report, they tell us that food is so scarce, their neighbours are starving to death. this from our seoul correspondentjean mackenzie — and a warning, you may find the report distressing. these supplies are so low, people have started dying. this chilling testimony comes from inside north korea. once, i didn't eat for two days. i only drank water. recently people have been knocking on the door, - asking for food, because they are so hungry _ hearing from people inside this isolated country is extremely rare.

but with fears the country is on the brink of a famine, we've been secretly communicating with people who live there. we're using actors and animations to illustrate their words, and have changed their names to protect them. in our village, five people have starved to death. chan ho is a construction worker living near the chinese boarder. in one family, the wife was too ill to work, so the two children were surviving by begging. in the end, all three of them died. at first, i was afraid of dying from covid, but then i began to worry about starving to death. at the start of the pandemic, north korea completely sealed its borders. these pictures released by the regime are all the world's been able to see. for years, no—one has been allowed to enter the country. authorities even stopped food and medicine from

crossing the border. in south korea, we began to get reports of chronic food shortages, and so we teamed up with an organisation here. daily nk has sources inside the country who were able to get our questions to people. this isji yeon, who lives in the north korean capital pyongyang, the wealthiest part of the country. she tells us even here supplies are running dangerously low. once i didn't eat for two days. i thought i was going to die in my sleep at night. my husband and i survived by thinking ten more days, and then another ten days, thinking, if something happens, we might starve, but at least we will feed our kids.

there are lots of beggars now. if they are lying down, we check them and usually find they're dead. there are others who kill themselves at home or disappear into the mountains. what these people are telling us evokes memories of the devastating famine of the late 1990s, known as the arduous march, which killed as many as three million people. for the past 10, 15 years, we rarely heard of death by starvation. that was something that happened in the late 19905 or early 20005, but to hear it happening, again, you know, in the past two, three years, i think, you know, it is taking us back to the arduous march, which was the most difficult period for the north korean people. when covid finally breached the country's borders, the authorities banned people from leaving their homes. during one lockdown, -

i know of five people that were trapped in their house for ten days _ they were half dead - by the time they were let out. they managed by sneaking out at night to get food. _ but the spectre of another famine has not stopped kim jong—un from funnelling his limited finances into building nuclear weapons. the money he spent on missile tests last year would have been enough, according to some estimates, to ensure his entire population was properly fed. the people never wanted this endless weapons development that brings hardship to generation after generation. i want to live in a society where we don't starve, where my neighbours are alive. north koreans are more isolated than ever before. it's getting harder for them to survive, and impossible to help them.

jean mackenzie, bbc news. we put our findings to the north korean — or dprk — government. a representative from its embassy in london said: tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in india and pakistan, as the countries prepare for a severe cyclone to hit on thursday evening. the cyclone is forecast to make landfall in the western indian state of gujarat and on the coast of pakistan's sindh province, including parts of karachi city. in india, trains in the region have been suspended — while two of the countries largest ports have

stopped operations. meanwhile, authorities in pakistan say they are evacuating nearly 100,000 people. the country is still recovering from last year's devastating floods. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. the former uk cabinet minister nadine dorries, who dramatically announced she'd be stepping down as an mp with immediate effect, now says she won't resign until she gets answers to questions relating to the process of her nomination for the house of lords. she initially said she'd be quitting parliament on friday, shortly after it was confirmed she would not be given a peerage in borisjohnson's resignation honours list. police scotland has announced the appointment of its first female chief constable. jo farrell will replace sir iain livingston, who is retiring in august. last month, sir iain admitted the force needed to change after a review uncovered

first—hand accounts of racism, sexism and homophobia by serving officers. new research has found that most women in the uk with early breast cancer now beat the disease due to major improvements in treatments. a study funded by cancer research uk has discovered that the risk of dying within five years of diagnosis is now at around 5%. that's down from 14% in the 1990s. now to china, where a friendly football match is scheduled to take place in beijing. world cup holders argentina will face australia, and fans are going crazy with anticipation of seeing lionel messi on the field at the workers stadium in what may be the last chance to see him play live in the country. i've been speaking with mark dreyer, who runs the website china sports insider. he's been telling me

more about the growing excitement over the match. china is definitely a football—mad country, but this has reached new levels of anticipation. i think it's no surprise that the authorities here. the authorities here chose an opponent that wasn't china. they chose in australia of course, even though the game is right here tonight. you would otherwise have this fairly unusual situation where you have the chinese national team playing in the capital. the vast majority of the chinese crowd would have been cheering for the other team, even though it's a friendly. the score doesn't matter so much. but everyone is most definitely here to see messi for the national team. and certainly his last appearance in china.

this is not home turf for either team, so why are they playing in china? well, i think we are experiencing now the post—covid resumption of activities. the chinese authorities have been very keen to get sporting activities back to the country. they would've had the asian cup at around this time of year, the equivalent of the euros in this part of the world, but hat was taken away because of the covid zero situation a year ago. the formula 1 usually is in shanghai, but we haven't had that in several years. they have to wait another year. people here, both fans and the officials, are happy to see international sporting events resume here in china as the country gets back to pre—pandemic life. i should say football, my americanism shone my americanism shine through with soccer! xijinping has a big plan forfootball in china. he wants to make it a superpower in the sport.

there's also the chinese super league, which they spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get players in. how close is he to reaching this goal? to be honest, quite a long way away. those plans were announced way back in 2015, which feels like a lifetime ago in football terms. we've had a bit of a boom and bust cycle. the peak was probably around 2018 when. .. some clubs were thinking china was competing financially for some of the top players in the world. kobe hit the league and it was rte on the slide. very much on the slide. the domestic league has suffered, the national league has yet to make any significant progress. that's one of the reasons why they're not playing tonight against argentina. the passion is still here. the fans are out in force. people are walking the streets, wearing argentina shirts. it's been great to see

that passion, so that's what keeps me hopeful about the future of chinese football. but at the moment, the official organised teams, whether it's the domestic league or the national scene — not that great. mark, very quickly, i know those tickets are incredibly expensive. are you going to be attending tonight? i'm still hoping to get my hands on one, but they're incredibly expensive. just at face value, you can imagine the resale market, even though the authorities are trying to stop that with some id regulations. face value tickets are going for about $500—$600, including vip seats as well. this is playing in indonesia just four days later, to see the exact same players about a third of the price. that gives you an example. they were sold out within about 20 minutes. so very hard to get tickets. my goodness. and you've been watching newsday. if you want to see the rest of the day's news visit our website.

rest of the day's news visit ourwebsite. if rest of the day's news visit our website. if you haven't already, please download our app. thank you so much for watching. hello. the warm weather is set to continue, but you might be thinking more about the rainfall by now. it's notjust our parks and gardens that are desperate for the rain, but of course, our wildlife, and there is some rain on the horizon. if i show you what's going to be happening over the weekend — well, this low pressure here will continue to push warm air in our direction, but also a lot of moisture and perhaps more widespread storm clouds than of late. but, again, not everybody�*s going to get the rainfall. hopefully, it will be a little more widespread and hopefully it'll fall at the right time and not on your barbecue. anyway, let's have a look at the forecast for the short term, so a lot of clear weather first thing in the morning. temperatures will be around the mid—teens at 7am on thursday, and then,

basically, it's blue skies steady as she goes through the course of the morning and into the afternoon. now, fair—weather clouds will be bubbling up and some of them will form locally, at least, into a few storm clouds, and we could see some thunderstorms developing around the north and the west highlands. temperatures in glasgow up to 26 celsius, a warm day for northern ireland, too. also, perhaps, one ortwo showers and the odd rumble of thunder, maybe across wales, maybe the midlands and also in the southwest of the country. but the vast majority of us are in for another very warm and sunny day with highs approaching the high 20s. now, here's the weather map for thursday into friday — low pressure to the west and south west of us is nudging in. it's pushing that energy in, that moisture, those clouds, but you can see there's not too much rainfall at all. in fact, we'll see a few maybe reaching parts of northern ireland and western areas of the uk. but, again, many of us are in for a dry and very warm day on friday with temperatures typically in the mid 20s. and notice just how much warmer it's also getting

because of a change in the shift in the wind direction across the north sea coast. now, here's the weekend. that low pressure is much closer to us, but look at that — some storm clouds coming in from the south — and this could bring some appreciable rain to at least some parts of the country. it's not guaranteed, but i think quite a few of us will get the rainfall, so we'll have to wait till saturday, some of us sunday, and into next week. but in the very short term, it remains very warm and of course, very sunny. bye— bye.

the us federal reserve holds rates steady for the month ofjune but warns that more monetary policy tightening might be on the horizon. and it's messi mania in china! but is it enough to give a boost to its football scene? hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm monica miller. let's start on wall street where markets ended the trading day mixed after the us federal reserve kept interest rates unchanged but warned that more hikes might be coming later this year. still, it's the first time that the cost of borrowing

has been kept unchanged in over a year.