welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm mariko oi. the headlines. chanting thousands gather for the funerals of 12 palestinians killed during israel's two—day military operation in the occupied west bank. this is about sending a very powerful message that, despite everything that has happened, they are not beaten. they are still here. in fact, their belief, they are victorious. the us treasury secretary janet yellen heads to beijing — seeking to ease tensions between america and china. the uk ministry of defence confirms special forces are at the centre of an inquiry into unlawful killings in afghanistan. triubutes pour in for hong kong—born pop singer coco lee who's died at the age of 48.

hello and welcome to the programme. we begin injenin in the occupied west bank, where thousands of people have attended a funeral procession for 12 palestinians who were killed during israel's two—day military operation. these are images taken by the bbc from inside a refugee camp injenin, where, as you can see, palestinians have been returning to widespread destruction in their homes. the city ofjenin lies in the west bank, which israeli forces captured and occupied back in 1967. previously, it was ruled byjordan. thousands of palestinians live in thejenin refugee camp which was set up after the first israeli—palestinian conflict in 1948.

our international editor jeremy bowen reports from inside the camp... and a warning you may find some images in his report distressing. with the israelis gone, the palestinians ofjenin were able to bury their dead. they processed out of the refugee camp and, on a finaljourney, passed the homes of the dead men and around their town. israel says it has closed thejenin terrorism factory. but armed men from the militias that control the camp were everywhere. in 48 hours, israeli forces did a lot of damage in what they call a successful operation to find and destroy weapons. but someone�*s livelihood will have disappeared along with that van. and smashing the refugee camp's infrastructure, electricity, as well as water, alarmed the un. it looks more like collective punishment. "there is no solution," said aymen al saadi. "not until we get back what we lost in 1948.

"we are refugees here. our lands are there." he means in israel. in the camps are descendants of palestinians who fled or were forced out of what became israel in 1948. mourners brought the bodies back to the camp to be buried. palestinian leaders say their people have a right to defend themselves. israel says the palestinian armed men here firing into the air to salute their dead are cowards, terrorists and the tools of iran. this is about sending very powerful message that, despite everything that has happened, they're not beaten. they are still here. in fact, their belief — they are victorious. the conflict sucks

in the generations and suffocates hope. at the cemetery, men got into the graves to lay them to rest. israel says this is no longer a protected place for terrorists. palestinian leaders say there are no terrorists here. the poor and angry injenin camp have a deeply rooted culture of resistance to israeli occupation of land palestinians want for a state. israel's military hails its two days injenin as a professional, highly effective operation, but the key to a better future lies in politics and diplomacy, not anyone�*s bombs and bullets.

and jeremy bowen has given us this analyisis of the israeli operation injenin. well, after these things, both sides like to claim victory. the israeli position is that they put in a very professional force of troops a new specialforces brigade that was able to achieve what it had to do in terms of destroying weapons, getting suspects all in two days and they got out. so they feel they've done theirjob very well, but against that, the palestinians were palestinian fighters were walking openly around the camp this morning carrying american—made assault weapons. and i think that, you know, these are people who will not be thinking about surrender. they'll be thinking about revenge. and, yes, they've lost a lot of weapons and explosives. but there's also ways

here of replacing them on the black market. you can buy apparently american m—ii or m—16 rifles for about £30,000. ironically, many of those have been stolen from israeli army stores. so i think that while all this messaging is going on about claiming victory, the messaging that isn't happening and hasn't happened for many years now is between the two sides and the message with the message, you know, we better talk about this, guys, because actually, if we don't, it's going to get worse. and i think in the continued absence of that, because there is no peace process and there are none of those contacts going on, i think the situation with everything else happening here remains just another couple of bad incidents away from the next serious crisis. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, said that,

he's ready to launch more operations, if needed. this is a sign of the of our next steps. this is just the first step. it's not, by no means the last action that we will take. we will do what we can from the ground, from the air, with superb intelligence. we will do what we can to fight the terrorists. they shall have no safe haven. the white house press secretary, karinejean—pierre, says the priority is to restore infrastructure for civilians in jenin. as you all know, and we have said this many times, we support certainly israel's security and right to defend its people against hamas, palestinian islamichhad and other terrorist groups. it is imperative to take all possible steps to protect civilians from harm, and measures need to be taken to improve the humanitarian situation on the ground and restore critical services like electricity and water

to the civilian population. and so don't have anything more to share beyond that. but certainly we are certainly we are monitoring things very closely. speaking outside the un security council chamber, ambassador riyad mansour, the permanent 0bserver of palestine at the un, condemned israel's actions in jenin. it's a horrific situation. it's a barbaric situation by the israeli occupying forces in which they used aircrafts. they used the large number of forces and inventories and mechanized units to attack this small refugee camp. and they wanted to destroy the camp completely, and they failed to do so. but they created a lot of suffering for our people. we condemned in the strongest possible terms these, this aggression against our people.

meanwhile in tel aviv, an israeli driver has rammed through an anti—government demonstration, injuring one person. protesters took to the streets after the city s police commander quit the force. he cited political intervention by members of the cabinet — whom he said wanted him to take tougher action against anti—government protesters. in the next few hours, the us treasury secretary will arrive in china for a long—anticipated three day trip. it's part of the biden administration s push to ease tensions between the two countries. these are picture of janet yellen s departure from washington earlier on wednesday. it's the second trip by a cabinet official since ties worsened earlier this year. secretary of state antony blinken visited beijing a few weeks ago 7 meeting with china's president xi.

wendy cutler is the vice president of the asia society policy institute, and a former us diplomat. she says she doesn't have high hopes for the trip. i think we'll need to keep expectations low for her visit. this is her first trip to beijing two and half years into the biden administration. she needs to meet the new team of counterparts and frankly she is on a short leash, with respect to be able to offer anything. she's not going to be able to say yes, we can lower tariffs, yes, i can get rid of export control so as he does is more relationship building

and explore whether there is any potential for cooperation or collaboration on issues of global concern. surprisingly or maybe not, just ahead of her visitjust ahead of her visit on monday, beijing announces export controls on minerals used in the manufacturing of semiconductors and china also introduced a couple of new laws on foreign relations and counterespionage and so on. is beijing playing hardball or could their moves backfire? again, the relationship has got to the point where both sides continue to announce measures against the other. coming on the eve of her trip, this is not a welcome development. i think it means that more time will have to be spent going through our grievances with china versus exploring what we can do together in a collaborative manner. despite the cooling relations, trade between the two actually grew last year for the third straight year. china's economy is recovering more slowly than expected, in your view, how much does china actually need the us? i think it clearly needs the united states. it needs the us market but it is also very worried

about losing its central position and supply chains. it is watching us and european businesses, not leaving quickly, but beginning to question whether they need to diversify and at least have a strategy of redundancy. so i think china is worried and clearly china is trying to convey the message that they are open for business, but at the same time they continue to impose legislation and restrictions which introduce a lot of uncertainty for foreign businesses in china and janet yellen will raise all of these issues. social media giant meta — which owns facebook and instagram — has launched its new app, named threads. it'll be linked to instagram and is widely seen

as a major rival to twitter. meta describes it as a �*text based conversation app�*. the move is the latest in a rivalry between the meta boss mark zuckerberg and twitter owner elon musk. threads will not be available in the european union because of regulatory concerns. the uk's ministry of defence has confirmed for the first time that uk special forces are at the centre of an inquiry, into alleged war crimes in afghanistan. the mod had previously refused to confirm or deny the claims, that the sas killed scores of unarmed civilians, between 2010 and 2013. 0ur reporter, joel gunter has more. so the background is during the time that british forces were fighting in afghanistan, special forces units were carrying out raids on hundreds of homes and villages. those raids have now come under scrutiny because of allegations that the special forces units murdered unarmed people and civilians. as you said, bbc panorama

revealed that one sas unit killed 5a people in suspicious circumstances in just one six month tour. that reporting led to calls for a public inquiry, which is now under way to examine these underlying allegations of war crimes. in an unexpected reversal today, the ministry of defence, as you said, confirmed for the first time that uk special forces were involved in these raids that are now being scrutinised. but the ministry of defence is still asking for widespread reporting restrictions on the public inquiry. lawyers for the bereaved families and for the bbc and four other media organisations are calling for as much of this key evidence to the inquiry as possible to be held in open court so the public have as much access to that information as possible. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. a london court has heard evidence from one of the men claiming to have been sexually assaulted by kevin spacey. the alleged victim, who can't

be named for legal reasons, said the hollywood actor grabbed him �*like a cobra'. the american actor is facing 12 charges, all of which he denies. train companies are pressing ahead with plans to close hundreds of railway ticket offices across england over the next three years. under the proposals, some ticket kiosks would remain in large stations, but elsewhere staff would be on concourses to sell tickets, offer advice and help people with accessibility. rail unions are opposed to the plans, and have warned of further strikes. a court has heard a man who arrived at windsor castle armed with a crossbow "to kill" the late-queen was partly inspired by the star wars films. jaswant singh chail, from hampshire, was arrested on christmas day 2021. he's admitted a charge under the treason act, and is expected to be sentenced on thursday.

you're live with bbc news. the un's nuclear watchdog says it needs to be now to ukraine we have talking a lot about the war started by moscow. the un's nuclear watchdog says it needs to be able to check the whole of the russian—occupied zaporizhzhia plant in ukraine to confirm there are no mines or explosives there. it comes after kyiv again accused moscow of planning to stage an incident at the plant — and blame it on ukrainian shelling. on tuesday, volodymyr zelensky told france's president macron that russia was planning �*dangerous provocations�* at zaporizhzhia. moscow disputes those claims, in turn accusing kyiv of planning to attack the site. 0ur analysis editor ros atkins explains why this plant is so significant.

this week, ukraine had a warning. translation: now| we have information from our intelligence that the russian military has placed objects similar to explosives on the roof of several power units of the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. president zelensky didn't provide proof of this, but america says russia is playing a dangerous game and should think long and hard about whether they want to risk causing a nuclear catastrophe. russia denies it's taking that risk. but because of russia's invasion, europe's largest nuclear power plant is in a war zone. the plant is in south—eastern ukraine. before the war, it supplied one fifth of the country's electricity, but after the invasion, russia took control of it. and in september, un inspectors paid a visit. it is obvious that that the plant and the physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times. as well as that the plant has become militarised. russia is in control. russia has stationed military

equipment in the plant, - actually within the reactor halls itself. _ on occasions it is mined. the area around the plant it claims for defence. russia claims ukraine has shelled the plant, something ukraine denies. and a few days ago, un inspectors were back saying they found no visible indications of mines or other explosives, but that they still need additional access to carry out further such checks. in other words, they couldn't inspect all of the plant. and ukraine insists that russia is placing explosives and that if detonated, they would not damage the reactors but would create an image of shelling from the ukrainian side. russia dismisses this and has turned the accusation around. russia also claims zelensky

is going to conduct a terror attack on the plant, but it's provided no evidence for this. and as ukraine and russia trade accusations, bbc verify has been looking at satellite images of the reactors. this is from the 5th ofjuly. no objects resembling explosives can be seen, but the fear of sabotage or military damage is real, not least because of the nova kakhovka dam. in earlyjune, it was destroyed. ukraine and its military allies say it was russian sabotage. russia blamed ukrainian shelling, whatever the cause. thousands of people's lives were affected. with issue, there is some reassurance. dr mark webman from imperial college tells us the reactor buildings are able to withstand earthquakes and aircraft impact strikes and that it would take a very concerted effort to damage the containment building and cause any form of radioactive release. the risk to the reactors may be low, but zaporizhzhia is getting so much attention

because the stakes are high. the authorities in south africa say 16 people, including children, have died from inhaling toxic gas in an informal settlement — nearjohannesburg. the emergency services say they believe the gas, which leaked from a cylinder stored in a yard in the angelo squatter camp, could be linked to illegal mining in the area. apologies for the poor sound in this next clip. we came here following a report that there was an emergency with a potential of either a gas leak or an explosion that happened here in the settlement and upon us coming here we then get given information that an actual fact there was a gas leak. as to what type of gas this is we

still follow the investigations and will find out what happened. but they definitely came from a gas leak potentially from much referred to as illegal minors... —— miner. they found themselves in a situation where they passed on. apologies again for the audio quality there. some sad news to bring you now — the hong—kong born singer coco lee has died, at the age of 48. the announcement came from her family — who said she had been treated in hospital, after attempting to take her own life on sunday. coco, who grew up in california, was perhaps best known for her performance as the voice of mulan in the mandarin—language

version of the disney film. she performed at the oscars in 2001, and was also a star with her recordings in english and mandarin. in a statement posted online, her sisters said they were thankful to god for having given them such a kind angel — and her rays of light will last forever. brandon lewis is the founder of a pop culture and entertainment blog, when things go pop, and he told me what her legacy is. i think her impact is really just broadening what was possible for east asian performers on the international stage. i became aware of her performance in the oscars 2001 associated with crouching tiger, hidden which actually was recently re—released here in the theatres

in the united states and should perform such a beautiful song and also having that relationship with disney through mulan where she was the voice in the cantonese, mandarin version broaden what was possible and showcased a strong affinity for asian culture. and made it possible and opened doors for east asian performers on the world stage. you mentioned how you became aware of her. what performance do you remember the most? it would absolutely be the performance at the oscars. just everything from the actual presentation of the performance. there was a beautiful choreographed scene based on the film, just the choreography of her walking down the stairs, with her beautiful voice

and beautiful performance of a love before time, it really sticks with you and really brought the themes of the film mentioned of unrequited love and love that stands a generation, i think that really struck with me and millions of people who were able to see crouching tiger, hidden dragon through that performance and through that film's extraordinary success in the united states. she was also very active in making collaborations, michaeljackson concert in the late 1990s as well. yes. she was very active in the late 90s and early 2000. she performed with michael jackson and friends, she was also did a lot of us collaborations as well. i think that really goes back to her ability to bridge the gap between station

audiences and western audiences the gap between east asian audiences and western audiences and showing that there is not that much difference and that there is an audience in the west that is hungry and interested and accepting of this culture. i think her loss is immense and i think she will be remembered for laying the groundwork culturally and musically. if you need support with the issues we've been talking about, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. details of help available in many countries can be found at befrienders worldwide. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. back with business news shortly but for now thank you so much for watching the programme. hello.

0ur fairly unsettled spell of july weather is set to continue through the remainder of the week, really and we're going to be seeing temperatures gradually on the rise over the next few days. but through thursday, some sunshine in the forecast, particularly so towards the east, but also a bit of rain mainly across the north—west of the uk. down to the fact that we've got this area of low pressure approaching from the atlantic, whereas high pressure across the near continent is dominating things further south and east. so for thursday, fairly fresh starts the best of the sunshine will be for eastern scotland, eastern and southern parts of england and into wales, but cumulus cloud builds through the day and that willjust bring the odd shower, mainly in the north and the west of the british isles. more persistent rain arrives across northern ireland during the afternoon. it'll be windy here with gusts about a0 miles an hour and temperatures 15 to 22 degrees. don't think we'll see any interruptions at wimbledon today due to the weather, but just a very small chance of a shower in the afternoon as that cloud builds.

next few days at wimbledon — hot and humid on friday, thunderstorms and showers possible for saturday and for sunday. now back to thursday in the afternoon, in the evening, that area of rain drifts out of northern ireland across parts of scotland, becoming fairly light and patchy overnight, but across england and wales, quite a warm, humid night. temperatures certainly remaining in double figures overnight. so not quite as fresh compared to wednesday night. but what we're going to see on friday as this area of low pressure, this frontal system drifts its way northwards, it'll open the doors for this warm and moist flow coming in from the south. so a hot, humid feeling day for some of us on friday, especially so across england and wales. a bit more cloud and showery rain at times for scotland and northern ireland with a bit of a breeze blowing too, but for the warmest spots we're likely to see 28 or 29 degrees on friday, typically the low 20s further north. now heading on into the weekend, we've got that warm, moist, humid air with us and then low pressure again moving in from the atlantic. so the combination of those two things means we could see some very lively weather on saturday. some thunderstorms possible

almost anywhere where you see these heavy showers and that hot, humid air, fresh airjust returning from the west later in the day. a bit of uncertainty about the timing, location of some of those showers still quite warm ahead of them with temperatures again in the mid 20s. so a brief spell of heat to think friday into saturday, but some thunderstorms through the weekend and they're going to continue the unsettled trend into next week. bye— bye.

hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko 0i. meanwhile, it looks like more interest rate