now, we look at the increasingly oppressive actions taken by authorities in the country, that have people fearing for their lives. north korea has become increasingly closed—off from the outside world, since officials closed the borders during the covid—19 pandemic. our correspondentjean mackenzie has this exclusive coverage. before these borders closed, north korea was one of the hardest countries to report on, we had such limited information to report on, but when kim jong—un sealed the border this weekend this information blackhole because all the sources journalist normally relied on left the country which is why we decided, we really had no choice but to try and speak to ordinary people underground. there were two things we really wanted to find out, firstly what was happening in the country in the second

was how did people feel about the regime, because ultimately, this is the sort of thing that will determine the future of north korea. have a look at what we found out. this is the world's most tyrannical state, its supreme leader rules by terror, but kim jong—un is tightening his grip. pushing his people to their limits. translation: every day it gets harder to live. - one wrong move and you are facing execution. this is chan ho, one of three north koreans who have risked their lives to tell us what has been happening since the country cut itself off from the world. we have changed their names and illustrated their words using actors and animations.

translation: if | live - according to the rules i feel like i will starve to death. butjust trying to survive i could be arrested by the state security, branded as a traitor and killed. one way to survive north korea is to escape across the border to china, butjong—un has become walling his people in, installing fences and surveillance cameras, guards have been ordered to shoot anyone attempting to cross. nyung sook is a market trader living close to the border. translation: the government strictly controls the border - using covid as an excuse. but really, it's to stop the smuggling and people crossing the river to china. if you even approach the river, you will be given a harsh punishment. there is almost nobody crossing now. those who dare to try now

gamble with their lives. translation: a friend's son told me about several closed | door executions he saw. each time, three to four people would be executed. the crime was trying to escape. people are stuck here and waiting to die. sealing the border has also allowed kim jong—un to shut out the thing he fears the most — foreign films and tv programmes. these are the only way that north koreans can learn about the prosperous world outside their borders. south korean videos pose the biggest threat. those who share them can now be executed. this propaganda video shows people being publicly punished. translation: i was taken in for questioning. - i'm more afraid of people now. ji yun told us many of her friends and their children also been interrogated.

translation: at a court - in pyongyang, the local leaders were gathered to judge a 22—year—old man in a public trial. he had gone around spreading south korean songs and film. his punishment was ten years and three months in hard labourcamp. before 2020, this would have been a quiet trial, with perhaps one year in prison. people were shocked. we have brought our interviews to the un team that investigates human rights north korea. wow. 0k. that's quite sobering. you should not be reprimanded, let alone jailed or even executed for consuming foreign media. they are very serious violations of human rights and in fact in the past the commission of enquiry

for the un has said that these can in many cases amount to crimes against humanity. but amidst the fear, there are small signs that people's loyalty to the regime is waning. translation: before covid, people view kim jong-un - positively. we hope perhaps that he would rule in a new way, and now, almost everybody is full of discontent. translation: nobody believes the propaganda on tv, - the state says we are nestling in a mother's bosom, but what kind of mother would execute their child in broad daylight for running to china because they were starving? at one of the hardest times in north korea's history, the state is closing in on every front. people have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. it's important we put this period of increasing repression within the context of the food shortages that we know are currently happening in the

country, because if you look at crimes in the past when north koreans have been short or through the government has actually given them small pockets of freedom to do what they needed to do in order to survive, be that selling things on the side or smuggling things over the borderfrom china but now it is clamping down on all those things and it is restricting people's ability fit to fend for themselves and thatis fit to fend for themselves and that is what makes this period so concerning, one by one these lifelines that people have relied on to be able to get by being taken away from them as the state closes in and tries to tighten its control over people. we put ourfindings to the north korean government, which calls itself the dprk. its embassy in london said this: the information you have collected is not entirely factual as it is derived from fabricated testimonies from anti—dprk forces. the dprk has always prioritised the interests of the people even at difficult times and has an unwavering commitment to the well—being of the people.

we put our reporting on north korea to us congresswoman, young kim, a republican from california. she chairs the house foreign affairs subcommittee on the indo—pacific. conquer someone, conquer someone, thank you for joining us. i wanted your thoughts on some of these testimonies that the bbc has been gathering from inside of north korea, that there is a lack of food, supplies, medicine and many people there are either starving or on the brink of starvation.- brink of starvation. first of all the stories _ brink of starvation. first of all the stories of— brink of starvation. first of all the stories of people i brink of starvation. first of| all the stories of people are north korea starving, it's nothing new to me. after having worked over two decades as a congressional investigator working with the member who paid a lot of attention to theseissues paid a lot of attention to these issues and i worked on a lot of the women rights issues and had the opportunity to meet and had the opportunity to meet and interview are not of the north korea defectors. i actually went out to the border

to meet with those defectors and i heard these horrible stories of how they were starved to death, they saw their families dying because of famine and how the north korean regime is treating its own people, and the reasons why they are crossing the border, risking their lives, this is nothing new to me, and i'm just so sad that the last three years or so, because north korea was closed due to covid, we have not even been able to see anyone crossing the border, obviously it was not easy to begin with but it is so close, we don't know exactly how many more people died as a result of covid, i'm sure it was also affecting them, but that was really heartbreaking as a story and i'm so happy that you are doing a special on this one to give them the platform so that they can tell their story of what it is like to live under the oppressed regime like a north korea. the dictator that

kimjong—un has no desire to stop the nuclear emissions, even at the risk of human rights violations, they don't care about their people, their only interest is in increasing the nuclear ambitions, and they will do it at whatever cost. the us has cooperated with north korea in the past to combat famine in the country, you are the chair of the house foreign affairs committee, what would you like to see the united states doing to bring humanitarian aid to the country?— humanitarian aid to the count ? , ., . country? first of all, the united states _ country? first of all, the united states has - country? first of all, the united states has for - country? first of all, the united states has for a l country? first of all, the i united states has for a long time, starting with the 1992 framework provided humanitarian assistance, economic assistance, economic assistance, this was an exchange for north korea. the nuclear weapons programme. look what happened over two decades plus, they got everything, we got nothing in return. we need

to live with the reality that north korea is not going to stop the nuclear weapons programme, we need to treat north korea for what it is, not what we want north korea to be. that includes complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation of the north korean peninsular and also demanding that north korea improve on its human rights violations that we are seeing outside, so without that it has to be both, it cannot be one of the other. we have to talk about north korea weapons and human rights.— human rights. what would you like to see _ human rights. what would you like to see north _ human rights. what would you like to see north koreans - human rights. what would you like to see north koreans do l like to see north koreans do and bring to the table in terms of some sort of negotiations in order to maybe pave the way for the desperately needed supplies for the people of the country? first of all we have a dictator who does not care about what his people are going through, even starving to death, keeping them in the present system, even the gulags, i know it still exists, but they need to improve on that and make sure

they work with the united states get international committees to come in with the humanitarian assistance, so we can help those individuals from starving to death, personable, and start opening up with the international world, work with their big brother, china, for example, open their economy so that, then they can build their economy to the level that their people will not starve to death. , , , .,, people will not starve to death. , ,, , ., death. despite those reports of a lack of food _ death. despite those reports of a lack of food in _ death. despite those reports of a lack of food in the _ death. despite those reports of a lack of food in the country, i a lack of food in the country, kimjong—un spends a lack of food in the country, kim jong—un spends an estimated half $1 billion on dozens of metal tests, just last year, what should the white house be doing to try to prevent this buildup of weaponry in north korea? , , , ., buildup of weaponry in north korea? , ,, . . ., korea? just this year alone north korea _ korea? just this year alone north korea has— korea? just this year alone north korea has fired i korea? just this year alone j north korea has fired more missiles than ever before, and just last night, or this morning we saw the news reports of north korea firing two more short—range missiles. we need to tell our biden

administration, they have to a strong message that you have to stop doing this, and work with the united states otherwise they will be more sanctions against you, and we just want our government to send that strong message. we cannotjust tell them north korea, kim jong—un, come to the table, anytime, anywhere, under no condition. we need to put conditions they are, we need to stop the nuclear weapons programme if our international communities will not provide humanitarian assistance, so we can help stop more people in north korea starving to death, they need to work with us. fire they need to work with us. are reporting _ they need to work with us. are reporting also _ they need to work with us. are reporting also shows there is growing discontent within the country. how much trouble do you think the current north korean regime is in? the north korean regime is in? the north korean regime _ korean regime is in? the north korean regime obviously, i korean regime is in? the north korean regime obviously, it's i korean regime obviously, it's really hard to tell what's really hard to tell what's really going on inside, we have to rely on the testimony and the stories of the north koreans who are lucky enough to

defect and come out. we have to tell them the story, that's why i introduce the north korea human rights act including in their will be asking the state department to appoint a special envoy, just a focus on human rights issues, and it also includes funding for helping those broadcasting. we have a lot of north korean defectors who are utilising the radio and mediums such as free north korea radio stations operating out of south korea and hong kong and other places, to tell their story using their voices, to tell them what it is like to live in a free world. no—one understands what it is like, those of us who live in freedom, but they can tell that story and i tell them about north korea and south korea, if you want to see what it is like to live in a free world verses in an oppressed country like north korea, just look at south korea at night versus north

korea. that's the stark difference between freedom versus oppression.— difference between freedom versus oppression. chair of the house, foreign _ versus oppression. chair of the house, foreign affairs - house, foreign affairs subcommittee on the indo pacific region, thank you so much. ., ~ pacific region, thank you so much. . ~ ,, pacific region, thank you so much. . ~ ., ., much. thank you for having me. defence ministers _ much. thank you for having me. defence ministers from - much. thank you for having me. defence ministers from a i much. thank you for having me. | defence ministers from a number of western nations spent thursday in brussels where they were joined thursday in brussels where they werejoined by thursday in brussels where they were joined by the thursday in brussels where they werejoined by the ukrainian counterparts. members agreed new measures to support ukraine in its counteroffensive against russia, and to strengthen the nation's defences. us defense secretary lloyd austin spoke at a press conference in brussels, laying out how much each country will be allocating to ukraine. several countries stepped up today with new commitments to ukraine. canada committed another $500 million package to support ukraine, and that will include more than 200 critical air defence missiles to help protect ukraine skies. the united states, along with the uk, denmark and the netherlands all contributed funding for

additional critical air defence missiles for ukraine. italy also announced its latest tranche of assistance, which includes highly critical capabilities that meet ukraine's most urgent needs to defend itself, and several allies are beginning to think about supporting ukraine for the long term. the bbc�*s defence correspondentjonathan beale sent this report from the summit. ukraine's defence minister 0leksii reznikov arrived at brussels for this meeting welcoming allies's commitment to train ukrainian pilots to fly modern westernjets, fly modern western jets, including the us fly modern westernjets, including the us made f—16. that programme, that plan is being led by both the netherlands and denmark, and it is being joined by other countries, and supported by the us. what's missing at the moment, of course, though, is a specific timeline, a pledge to supply the jets themselves, and that would have to be facilitated — in the case of f—16s, which are made in america —

by the us itself. now, we heard from the us defense secretary, lloyd austin. he made very clear that his, what he called "laser focus" at the moment is on ukraine's offensive and providing ukraine with the ammunition it needs. and what we've heard from western allies at this meeting is more offers of support, of donations of artillery shells and specifically air defence systems to counter the aerial assault that ukraine is facing at the moment from russia. now, going on to that offensive, the head of the us military said that it was steady progress and it will take some considerable time for ukraine, and come with high costs. i think the message from all allies here at the moment is — on that offensive — it is still too early to judge as to whether it will be a success. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

bringing you different stories from across the uk. could this be the start of the battery revolution? the company nyebolt unveiled it. the electric car is a collaboration between designers and battery developers, with engineers claiming they have developed technology to create ultrafast 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 to charge. that convenience has brought in ultrafast 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, offering 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. turning to india and pakistan, where the most powerful cyclone in 25 years to hit the area has now made landfall. even before the storm hit, most than 170,000 people had fled their homes. millions more are bracing for impact. cyclone biporjoy is barrelling through parts of north—west india and southern pakistan, in particular, the western indian state of gujarat, and the coast of pakistan's sindh province. experts say the extent of the damage won't likely be known until later on friday, and into the weekend. 0ur correspondent arunoday mukharji is at a shelter in gujarat, and has this report. cyclone biporjoy threatening to live up to its name. meaning "disaster" in bengali, storm has brought heavy rain and winds on the coastal villages of gujarat. mandy is on the

shoreline and preparing for the worst. this child is three days out and this high school classroom has been his first home, a makeshift helter in a village, holding around 300 people now. helpless in the face of nature's fury, he and his family have no choice but to wait it out. i'm worried, his mother tells me, handling the situation with a baby makes it more difficult. i'm concerned about him and worried that in my home is affected, what will i do then? in this village, 13 kilometres away from where the cyclone is expected to hit, this family among hundreds of others has to leave. they don't know when they will come back. the 70—year—old has seen it all before, too many times. cyclones are common in these parts, but it's been over two decades since she was asked to move to a shorter home. ——

shelter home. women and children first, as they head toward safety in a school bus, leaving their hearts and minds back at home. speaking to me, she recalls a devastating cyclone in 1998, which killed thousands. she tells me how she had to wade through chest deep water to get to safer ground in a neighbouring village. she doesn't know how bad this one will be. for these families at the shelters, there is certainty of safety, but the uncertainty of what these families will all go back to after the cyclone is the overwhelming sentiment over here. the only noise to drown out the howling wind and rain is the sound of a generator being powered up. with the electricity gone, this is going to be the only source of light for the 150 people staying at this shelter in this village. it is their second night away from home, and this will be a

long one, as they wonder what they will wake up to. up to 600 people could be missing, after a fishing boat, carrying migrants, sank near southern greece on tuesday. doctors treating survivors say up to 100 children may have been on board, huddled in the ship's hold. at least 79 people are known to have died, more than 100 were rescued. 0ur europe correspondent nick beake reports from kalamata in greece, where survivors have been taken. relatives of the hundreds lost at sea rushed to this port city, fearing the worst. we found aftab, from wolverhampton, searching for news about his cousins from pakistan. my relatives were on board the boat that capsized. how do you know that? we've had confirmation. we've found one of the relatives — he's in there, but the rest of them we haven't got hold of yet. how many relatives? four of them. the victims of greece's worst ever migrant ship wreck had set off from libya.

many syrians were on board, kazim abu zeeb told me, including his wife. translation: how would i feel? i have lost my wife now. i don't know where she is. it's my wife. 21—year—old izra had been unable to find a legal route tojoin her husband in germany. this evening we went to meet dr makaris. he treated 30 of the survivors, who told him dozens of children had been on board. they told us that there were children in the bottom of the ship, children and women. one of them told me about 100 children. the other told me about 50. lots of children?

lots of children. hanging over this tragedy is one simple question — should the greek authorities have done more to save those on board ? the coastguard says the migrants didn't want their help — a claim that's been challenged. so we've been trying to piece together exactly what happened in this disaster that seemed to unfold in slow motion. at around 8am on tuesday, the greek authorities are first informed about the fishing vessel. the coastguard has first contact at 11am, and claims it doesn't request assistance. a little later, an emergency helpline for migrants in trouble at sea, receives multiple distress calls, including one at 3:20pm saying the captain has left the vessel. the migrant boat has no publicly—available tracking data, but bbc verify has used a ship—monitoring website

to follow the movements of boats in the area that offered assistance. at 3pm, greece sends a nearby commercial vessel, the lucky sailor, to the migrant boat, supplying it with food and water. tuesday evening, a coastguard vessel sails near the fishing boat, and from a distance, apparently concludes there was no problem with its navigation. but less than four hours later, the migrant boat overturns and sinks. the greek authorities, as well as fending off criticism, have been making arrests — up to a dozen. but who was really to blame for such a huge loss of life is being fiercely debated. nick beake, bbc news, in southern greece. the us supreme court on thurday issued a decision, upholding a decades—old law, which prioritises the placement of native american children with native families during child custody proceedings. in a rare seven—to—two decision, justice amy coney barret, writing for

the majority, said congress did not exceed its authority, when passing the indian child welfare act, which was passed, in hopes of protecting native culture. stay with us here on bbc news. hello, there. the last day of the working week promises to be another largely fine, dry and settled one for most of us, but we are looking at some changes taking place to our weather, all because of this area of low pressure, sitting out in the atlantic, very slowly edging towards our shores. it's going to continue to destabilise the atmosphere across western areas, so, through the morning, we'll see a bit of cloud here, certainly across the southwest, cornwall and devon, into wales, northern ireland. some western parts of england could start to see some showers developing. some of these could be heavy and thundery, but the vast majority of scotland, central and eastern england, another dry, sunny one. warmer along the east coast, along north sea coasts, and we could be up to around 27 or 28 degrees. as we head through friday night, it looks like those showers, thunderstorms,

trundle their way northwards into southern and western scotland. further showers pushing into wales and the southwest, but central and eastern areas, once again, staying dry, and a mild night to come, certainly across the west. some chillier spots under clear skies in the east. the weekend, then, looks a bit more unsettled. we'll see increasing chance of showers, even longer spells of rain on sunday, and for most of us, it's still going to feel quite warm, but not as warm as it has done. so, for saturday, then, a bit more cloud around, generally, but again, lots of sunshine, central and eastern scotland, central and eastern england. most of the showers will tend to be across the south and the west, and again, some of them could be heavy and thundery. temperatures reaching highs around 25 degrees, a little bit lower out west, because of more breeze, and certainly more cloud and showers, and as we move into sunday, it looks like this weather front will push across the country, bringing areas of thundery rain and further showers. so, initially, it'll start dry, with some sunshine in central and northern areas. but these showers and longer spells of thundery rain across england and wales, northern ireland, will start to migrate their way northwards into central and southern scotland, later

in the day on sunday. so, because of this, temperatures won't be quite as high — still above the seasonal norm, but we're generally into the low—to—mid 20s. and then, beyond sunday, into next week, it looks like low pressure will stick close by to the west of the uk, constantly bringing a feed of showers, but there will be some sunny spells in between. best of that sunshine will tend to be across southern and eastern areas, where, once again, it'll turn quite warm. but further north and west, temperatures will be a bit closer to the seasonal norm. take care.

country will be allocating to ukraine. us authorities look into a socket golf merger meant to bring rivals together but has sparked anti—trust concerns, and foxcon looks for its next big thing is this microphone maker reaches saturation, we will have an exclusive interview with its chairman. 11 welcome to asia business report, i am monica miller. it was a movement to bring together two rivals, but it was also a merger that shocked the golfing world. that tie up between the pga tour, de p2,

and the saudi backed