live from washington. this is bbc news. us treasury secretary janet yellen kicks off her high—stakes visit to beijing. the mystery deepens around the current location of the wagner group's chief. and — twitter threatens legal action over meta's threads app after millions sign on. i'm sumi somaskanda. us treasury secretary janet yellen is in china for the latest in a series of visits intended to stabilise relations between washington and beijing. ms yellen was given a low—key welcome as she arrived in the chinese capital, as both countries have placed modest expectations on the visit. she is spending her first day in beijing in meetings with chinese premier li qiang and liu he, a former economy tsar known to be a close confidant of china's president, xi jinping. as if to underline just how tense things are between china and the us,

while ms yellen was still in the air on her way to beijing, mr xi was inspecting people's liberation army troops near the taiwan strait. he told them they must "dare to fight". and added quote "it is necessary to deepen war and combat planning... focus on military training for actual combat, and accelerate the improvement in our capacity to win." the bbc�*s asia business correspondent monica miller has more. it is great to see you. how significant do you think these comments are?— significant do you think these comments are? this is a stern message _ comments are? this is a stern message to — comments are? this is a stern message to the _ comments are? this is a stern message to the united - comments are? this is a stern| message to the united states, saying that there is a line that could be crossed when it comes to taiwan which is the real geopolitical flashpoint in this relationship economically speaking it is also very vital to both china and the us. taiwan makes all kinds of semiconductor chips which is something that both countries are fighting over. earlier in

the week china said they will now require a special license to get two key minerals to make microchips that use in things like solar panels and semiconductor is and electric cars. so they are sending a stern message about their feelings on taiwan and said that they will fight, if necessary, to keep that as part of the mainland. what i did find interesting was janet yellen�*s tweet before she landed saying that we will take action to protect our national security when needed on this trip but then balance that by saying we are open to communication and trying to find common ground is the relationship between these two countries gets much hotter every day. countries gets much hotter every day-— countries gets much hotter eve da . , , ., every day. given the tension in the lead up _ every day. given the tension in the lead up to _ every day. given the tension in the lead up to this _ every day. given the tension in the lead up to this visit, - every day. given the tension in the lead up to this visit, what i the lead up to this visit, what do you think the us and china hope to get out of it?- hope to get out of it? simple conversation. _ hope to get out of it? simple conversation. these - hope to get out of it? simple conversation. these two - hope to get out of it? simple | conversation. these two have not sat at the table, at least on the economic front since the

covid pandemic broke out. just having dialogue, again, i knew she would have a meeting with the american chamber of commerce there as well as officials in china but sometimes these trips really bring a large gathering of ceos from different companies and many people where is this trip seems to be not having all that pageantry seems to be not having all that pagea ntry really seems to be not having all that pageantry really is a matter of just trying to build a dialogue again and that is something that the us treasury department said was the goal of this trip, to start having discussions on a more regular basis and some sort of substantial dialogue over key issues such as the slowdown of the global economy. are there any items on the agenda that these two sides may find common ground on and agree on? i find common ground on and agree on? ., , ., find common ground on and agree on? ~' , ., ., on? i think they are going in hand with — on? i think they are going in hand with a _ on? i think they are going in hand with a couple - on? i think they are going in hand with a couple of - on? i think they are going in | hand with a couple of things. one is climate, climate change issues and trying to find a way to work better on those particular issues. but also distress of debt of certain nations. one of the things that

presidency as part of his big golfer kinda is, the one belt, one road initiative where they have given all kinds of money to places like shall anchor and many parts of africa and now these countries are finding it hard to pay that debt back. they are working with the imf on many of those issues but thatis on many of those issues but that is something that no—one benefits from, not the borrowers nor the creditors as janet yellen has said when they cannot pay their bills. janet yellen is someone who has advocated smoothing tensions between china and the united states. how is she seen in china? she is seen as the good cop. wejust had china? she is seen as the good cop. we just had antony blinken and come into town and that was seen as a bit of an olive branch, so to speak, these two sat down, these counterparts are face—to—face and that was tarnished a bit when president biden was overheard calling president xi a dictator which set things back. donna defence

fronts there is radio silence on the big level discussions, as we saw not too long ago here in singapore when they had the shangri—la dialogue, the two defence ministers could not even have a photo opportunity when they sat down to meet and part of that was over what the chinese says sanctions against a defence minister. these two technically cannot even sit in a room to dial this tension down. , ., ., a room to dial this tension down. , . ., . ~' a room to dial this tension down. , ., ., ., ~ ., down. great to talk to you, monica- — earlier i spoke to bonie glaser, managing director of the indo—pacific program at the german marshall fund. i think that the chinese are trying to threaten the united states and other countries to try and get us to limit the kind of restrictions we impose on china. frankly i think this may backfire. in fact it may convince european countries in particular that de— risking is necessary, that they must exhilarated because china is willing to use its access to these raw materials as a political weapon and that is

too dangerous for countries to continue, there for, to be too dependent on china. find continue, there for, to be too dependent on china.- continue, there for, to be too dependent on china. and we will have the full _ dependent on china. and we will have the full interview _ dependent on china. and we will have the full interview in - dependent on china. and we will have the full interview in the - have the full interview in the next hour. the mystery over the whereabouts of yevgeny prigozhin, the leader of the wagner paramilitary group, took an unexpected turn today. prigozhin led the attempted mutiny against the russian defence ministry last month. it ended after the leader of belarus, alexander lukashenko, claimed he had negotiated an end to the stand—off with putin by granting prigozhin exile in his country. we know prigozhin�*s private jet had landed in minsk shortly after the rebellion, but we don't know whether he was on it. just over a week ago, lukashenko said prigozhin had arrived in belarus. on thursday, lukashenko said prigozhin is in russia. translation: is for yevgeny pri . ozhin translation: is for yevgeny prigozhin he _ translation: is for yevgeny prigozhin he is _ translation: is for yevgeny prigozhin he is in _ translation: is for yevgeny prigozhin he is in saint - prigozhin he is in saint petersburg. he may have gone to moscow this morning or somewhere else. he is not on the territory of belarus. lukashenko also said the question of whether the wagner units would relocate to belarus was still in the balance, and would depend on the decisions

taken by moscow and by wagner. he made those comments to a very small gathering ofjournalists — including the bbc�*s steve rosenberg. translation: less than two weeks ago — translation: less than two weeks ago we _ translation: less than two weeks ago we were _ translation: less than two weeks ago we were told - translation: less than two weeks ago we were told that | weeks ago we were told that alexander —— alexandr lukashenko had brokered a deal under which the mutiny would end and under which the mutiny would end an: , ., ., end and yevgeny prigozhin would move from _ end and yevgeny prigozhin would move from russia _ end and yevgeny prigozhin would move from russia to _ end and yevgeny prigozhin would move from russia to belarus - end and yevgeny prigozhin would move from russia to belarus andj move from russia to belarus and any fighters who wanted to could join him in belarus. today, alexandr lukashenko told us that, actually, yevgeny prigozhin is not in belarus but he was in saint petersburg, he may be in moscow today and the wagner fighters are not in belarus. he indicated they went back to their camps in russian occupied eastern ukraine. alexandr lukashenko said he also will discuss the situation with wagner with vladimir putin in the near future although the kremlin has not given any date for that discussion. so what is happening, what is going on?

who knows. we also spoke about nuclear weapons because he has said —— russia has said it is moving tactical neck real weapons to belarus and alexandr lukashenko said some have arrived and more would arrive by the end of the year. a short while ago he said that god forbid he should actually have to take the decision to use those weapons. i said to him these are not your weapons to take the decision to use. they are russian weapons. he said, well, if ukraine can fight with other peoples weapons, meaning nato weapons, then why can't i? live now to ambassador william courtney, former us ambassador to kazakhstan and georgia, and seniorfellow at the rand corporation think—tank. great to have you on the programme again. i want to ask you about what we are seeing. alexandr lukashenko said he granted yevgeny prigozhin exile in belarus and now he says yevgeny prigozhin is still in russia. what do you think is going on here?—

russia. what do you think is going on here? there is a lot of mystery — going on here? there is a lot of mystery about _ going on here? there is a lot of mystery about this. - going on here? there is a lot i of mystery about this. alexandr lukashenko may have granted that permission but yevgeny prigozhin is a major powerbroker and a hardliner, unalterable hardliner who have been putting pressure on president putin and on the russian military for failed military activity in ukraine. so yevgeny prigozhin, by going to russia, still has enough support amongst hardliners that he will not be arrested despite the attended coup or mutiny. you say he has support. a former ambassador to ukraine said last week when you cross putin, bad things happen. why do you think yevgeny prigozhin, until now, has not seem to suffer any consequences from leading this armed mutiny? support from hardliners. if russian military forces had done better in ukraine, for example, several months ago, they tried to mount an

offensive against ukrainian forces in the offensive failed. they gained no territory. so this has weakened vladimir putin in the eyes of the hardliners and let me putin appears to be trying to adjust. talking about the role of belarus and all of this. russia claims it is — belarus and all of this. russia claims it is moving _ belarus and all of this. russia claims it is moving tactical- claims it is moving tactical nuclear weapons into belarus and we just heard he was told that if ukraine can fight with other peoples weapons, why can't i? how seriously should we take those comments? hat can't i? how seriously should we take those comments? not too seriousl . we take those comments? not too seriously. russia _ we take those comments? not too seriously. russia would _ we take those comments? not too seriously. russia would never- seriously. russia would never allow others to have control over its nuclear weapons. and the kremlin tend to regard alexandr lu kashenko regard alexandr lukashenko as a wild man so he would be the last person to do that. they maintain tight control over their weapons as we do over hours. ~ ., ., ,, , . hours. what do you expect the biden administration _ hours. what do you expect the biden administration to - hours. what do you expect the biden administration to do - hours. what do you expect the biden administration to do in l biden administration to do in terms of a response?-

biden administration to do in terms of a response? right now the main us _ terms of a response? right now the main us strategy _ terms of a response? right now the main us strategy is - terms of a response? right now the main us strategy is to - terms of a response? right now the main us strategy is to give l the main us strategy is to give ukrainian forces the latitude and support to carry out a counteroffensive thus far the ukrainians have been mounting probing attacks, small attacks to find soft spots in the russian forces in eastern ukraine. at some point then they may engage their very large armoured brigades to try make a lot more progress and perhaps cut off the land bridge in crimea which would be a major victory. in crimea which would be a majorvictory. it in crimea which would be a major victory. it isjust in crimea which would be a major victory. it is just too soon to tell how this will all come out and too soon to say that ukraine has not really been successful because ukraine does not engage their main forces yet. does not engage their main forces yet-— does not engage their main forces yet. ambassador, you touched upon _ forces yet. ambassador, you touched upon president - forces yet. ambassador, you i touched upon president putin's russia right now. what you think think this tells us about his grip on power was to mark

we saw reassurances when he was out in public shaking hands and speaking directly to people, trying to project an image of strength and unity with the russian people. has he actually been weakened by what happened? the effort to go down to dagestan and handshake people is something that vladimir putin really does. so it is a sign of weakness and he is trying to show that he is popular but, again, with russian military forces doing bad and in russian history when czars or other leaders, when their military forces fail in their military forces fail in the field that is a point of vulnerability. so as i nicholas ii abdicated after various failures. ii abdicated after various failures-— ii abdicated after various failures. ~ ., failures. do you think vladimir putin will allow— failures. do you think vladimir putin will allow yevgeny - putin will allow yevgeny prigozhin to have any influence on the battlefield in ukraine going forward? hat on the battlefield in ukraine going forward?— going forward? not unless alexandr _ going forward? not unless alexandr lukashenko - going forward? not unless alexandr lukashenko is i going forward? not unless - alexandr lukashenko is willing to send belarusian forces into

ukraine alongside russian forces. thus far! is not allowed that in belarus, most people in belarus would be opposed to that and i think alexandr lukashenko would be worried if he engaged russian forces in ukraine. you worried if he engaged russian forces in ukraine.— forces in ukraine. you said it was too early _ forces in ukraine. you said it was too early to _ forces in ukraine. you said it was too early to say - forces in ukraine. you said it was too early to say how - forces in ukraine. you said it was too early to say how this will play out on the battlefield but how is ukraine perhaps or can ukraine gain from what we have seen with his continued uncertainty? the disarray in _ continued uncertainty? the disarray in russian - continued uncertainty? tue: disarray in russian leadership could cause disarray or uncomfortable feelings among the russian military in the field. so this is really advantageous for ukraine because the quality of russia's defence may be weaker because of some of the russian generals and officers and enlisted people have been to moralised ljy people have been to moralised by what has taken place. thank

ou so by what has taken place. thank you so much — by what has taken place. thank you so much for— by what has taken place. thank you so much for sharing - by what has taken place. thank you so much for sharing your. you so much for sharing your thoughts with us tonight. meanwhile, in ukraine, russian missiles hit the western city of lviv, killing at least six people. ukraine's air force says the missile strike deliberately targeted civilians, despite russia claiming they only go after military targets. our gordon corera is in kyiv with the latest. the city of lviv his way out in the west of the country close to the polish border, a long way from the frontlines of this conflict and so there was shock in an apartment welding was hit in an apartment welding was hit in the early hours of the morning and you can see from the images that the devastation caused was extensive, with the roof torn off the upper floor seriously damaged, people trapped underneath the rubble for hours. now, the russian military claimed it had carried out precision strikes against military targets the mayor of lviv said that this was the

most significant attack against civilian infrastructure since the conflict began, since the full—scale invasion of february last year. president zelensky of ukraine promised a response, a tangible response, he said, in an online message although he didn't specify exactly what that would be. this isjust the latest attack which has killed civilians, three were killed by a drone strike earlier this week and last week 13 people were killed when a pizzeria restaurant was hit by a missile and meanwhile the counteroffensive by ukrainian forces goes on, slow going, trying to push through russian defences, probing them, looking fora defences, probing them, looking for a place where perhaps a larger force for a place where perhaps a largerforce can be pushed through but clearly there was a lot of shock today at that targeted strike which killed so many in lviv. and we will be speaking to the

former ambassador to ukraine in the next hour, he will be commenting on the latest developments in the war. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. whether you are on two wheels or four, travelling through kingston can be a bone—shaking ride. just ask anyone here. and it is the impact on driving habits that makes the potholes more dangerous still. you see people driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid potholes or speeding to get to the top of the hill before it comes down. tim sharp owns a garage here and sees a steady stream of automotive casualties. you get broken springs like this where theyjust snap because they have gone into a pothole and the extra sudden jolt can shear them. will we see a significant impact? we won't do it all in one go. we know that there is a significant backlog,

if you like, of road repairs. notjust in essex but across the country. —— notjust in east sussex. in an area of competing pressure forfunding and a limited budget, it seems the problem of potholes will not be going away anytime soon. you're live with bbc news. twitter is considering legal action against meta over its rival app threads, which launched just over 2a hours ago. in a letter to meta's owner, mark zukerberg, twitter�*s lawyers alleged his company had of hired dozens of former twitter employees and misappropriated "twitter�*s trade secrets and other intellectual his part, twitter�*s owner, elon musk said, appropriately enough, on twitter, "competition is fine, cheating is not". threads is similar to twitter and has been pitched by meta bosses as a friendly alternative. mark zuckerberg said on thursday sign ups for the app had surpassed 30 million. live now to caroline hyde, anchor at bloomberg technology.

the first 2a hours of threads, what do you think of? the first 24 hours of threads, what do you think of?- what do you think of? well, there was — what do you think of? well, there was a _ what do you think of? well, there was a feeling - what do you think of? well, there was a feeling of- what do you think of? well, there was a feeling of first i there was a feeling of first day at school about it all and they have to say the note that you make, the kindness, the feeling of positivity, that does seem to be true, the 30 million followers and i am told by meta themselves that that has been growing at a similar clip throughout the next few hours since mark zuckerberg posted that. that means it is on track to be the fastest—growing at ever stopping i know you are on it, i am on it, i am just enjoying the experience but there are some issues to it. for example, people are frustrated that it is just an algorithm you are exposed to, you are not actually able to follow certain people and only get their content but for the most part it feels deeply positive from the rest of the market. interestingly analysts are worried that matter as maybe getting a little distract. it may be overshadowed by the fact

that twitter is now threatening to sue the crew to, saying it has appropriated its trade secrets, will this move forward?— secrets, will this move forward? , , . . forward? this is a letter that has been _ forward? this is a letter that has been widely _ forward? this is a letter that has been widely reported - forward? this is a letter that has been widely reported by| has been widely reported by other outlets and indeed seemingly the letter seems to be on, guess where, threads, but if indeed this letter is true it comes from therefore the lawyer who represents elon musk. what is notable the current ceo of twitter is not named or anywhere evident within that letter and really, this is something that we have seen a little bit of eye rolling from the rest of the journalistic community because elon musk ausmat lawyer has been firing off a few of these letters as of late, they've been firing them off to microsoft around chatgpt microsoft around chatg pt scraping microsoft around chatgpt scraping the internet and twitter content so for now meta's own response is basically saying look, your accusations are false because none of our engineering team,

and it's about what, a couple of dozen who have been building this, none of them are actually form a twitter employees, they claim. . , form a twitter employees, they claim. ., , ., claim. there have been other twitter clones _ claim. there have been other twitter clones but _ claim. there have been other twitter clones but what - claim. there have been other. twitter clones but what exactly does meta offer that twitter does meta offer that twitter does not?— does not? scale, ithink. i mean. _ does not? scale, ithink. i mean. the _ does not? scale, ithink. i mean, the fact _ does not? scale, ithink. i mean, the fact that - does not? scale, ithink. i mean, the fact that you i does not? scale, ithink. i. mean, the fact that you are getting 30 million onto threads is because it is so darn easy to move your instagram account immediately onto threads, the fact that there are more than 2 billion people on a monthly basis using instagram immediately just basis using instagram immediatelyjust means that immediately just means that they immediatelyjust means that they can draw an audience, that is why you have got the influences on there, jennifer lopez, paris sultan, key journalists and even politicians so scale is what they can offer and look, a lot of people would just colloquially say, it is not owned by elon musk. what is interesting and this is more technical is the fact that this might well become decentralised. it's not at the moment but it's looking to and some weight become interoperable with other so—called decentralised social

media platforms such as bluesky or mastodon which could mean it is not controlled by meta. t5 is not controlled by meta. is better going to address the issue that it is not easy to delete once you've downloaded it? ., ., , delete once you've downloaded it? ., , . it? that has been vehicle cominu it? that has been vehicle coming from _ it? that has been vehicle coming from mark- it? that has been vehicle - coming from mark zuckerberg and adam mosseri, they are saying look, we're on this. that is why there are not hashtags at the moment, that is why there is not polls like you see on twitter, that's why there isn't spaces, in fact earlier was doing rather oddly a spaces about the threat of threads on twitter�*s own platform so i think there are still a lot of additions to be made to the platform more generally in i think there are improvements to be made certainly with the way in which you use it and again i think the key issue is you as a global broadcast are going to be thinking about so much as

people in the eu can't access it. this is more a focus on regulation and the worry that some of the datasharing, the privacy that's going to be going on between instagram and threads, they don't know how thatis threads, they don't know how that is going to be looked at by the eu more broadly and the dma, the main regulator there so for now you can't access it in the eu. so for now you can't access it in the eu-_ so for now you can't access it in the eu. ., , ., ,., ., in the eu. that is an important oint. i in the eu. that is an important point- iwant— in the eu. that is an important point. i want to _ in the eu. that is an important point. i want to ask— in the eu. that is an important point. i want to ask you - in the eu. that is an important point. i want to ask you about| point. i want to ask you about the rivalry between mark zuckerberg and elon musk. mark zuckerberg and elon musk. mark zuckerberg posted no words, he posted just eight meme. i think it is one that everyone on twitter is familiar with but that came just weeks after the two billionaires said could fight on ——in a cage match to be how seriously should we take this rivalry?— this rivalry? that mean what kind of the _ this rivalry? that mean what kind of the perfectly - this rivalry? that mean what kind of the perfectly placed. kind of the perfectly placed one and mark zuckerberg hadn't posted on twitter in more than 11 years since 2012 and he seemed to have saved quite a good one for the moment because yes, he is outwardly saying, we are copying you and we actually

know that akrotiri doesn't rather well, just think about stories that they from snapchat, just think about how they made real is integral to they made real is integral to the offering taken from tiktok. they do know how to do this well, they are owning that they want to be a rival, a direct competitor to twitter and it's really ruffling some fetters. i don't know whether we're going to see them at the coliseum or las vegas actually within a cage match but ultimately i think negatively speaking, it is game on. bill think negatively speaking, it is game on-_ think negatively speaking, it is game on. all right, great to seak is game on. all right, great to speak with — is game on. all right, great to speak with you _ is game on. all right, great to speak with you tonight, - is game on. all right, great to | speak with you tonight, thanks so much. in the us, a member of the house freedom caucus says the conservative group has voted to remove georgia reprsentative marjorie taylor greene, politico is reporting. this comes after she broke with the group on supporting the debt bill and has become a close ally of speaker of the house kevin mccarthy. greene is also known for clashing with other members of congress. in a statement to the media on thursday evening, greene did not directly

address her freedom caucus membership but said: "in congress, i serve northwest georgia first, and serve no group in washington." in other news: oceangate says it has suspended all exploration and commercial operations. the company operated the titan submersible that imploded on a trip to the wreck of the titanic, killing five people. investigators are trying to establish exactly what caused the submersible to implode, with questions raised over the safety of the vessel. two rockets were fired today from southern lebanon towards israel. that prompted a cross—border strike by the israeli military lebanese state media said 15 shells from israel, landed in the outskirts of two villages close to the border. that all comes in the wake of the huge military operation israel has been carrying out in the palestinian refugee camp injenin. in the us, the food and drug administration has given full approval to a landmark drug to treat alzheimer's disease. it's called leqembi and has shown promise in slowing the progression of the disease in the early stages.

the drug is not a cure for alzheimer's. it is the first time in or two decades that the fda has given an alzheimer's drug full approval. day four of wimbledon delivered both expected wins and surprising upsets. reigning wimbledon champ elena rybakina defeated france's alize cornet after an injury at the end of the second set. britain's liam broady eliminated fourth—seed casper ruud in a major upset. a nail—biting match between andy murray and stefanos tsitsipas will continue tomorrow. murray had just won the third set to take the lead when play was suspended 20 minutes before curfew. also tomorrow, three—time grand slam winner stan wawrinka will face wimbledon champ novak djokovic. djokovic has bested wawrinka in all but six of their 26 matches against each other. thank you for watching bbc news, i'm sumi somaskanda in washington.

hello there. thursday was a better day for play at wimbledon and for the start of the test at headingley. there was quite a lot of cloud generally, but we did see temperatures peaking at 23 degrees. however, into friday, we're tapping into some heat and humidity, and temperatures may well peak as high as 29 celsius, 84 fahrenheit. there was some cloud and rain around, though, and you can see quite clearly where i'm talking about on the satellite picture. this is a frontal system bringing some wet weather, fairly showery first thing friday morning across scotland and northern ireland. slowly brightening up into the afternoon. but with that southerly wind direction dragging in that warm, humid air as we go through the day, producing clear skies across england and wales, temperatures will respond. highs of 29 celsius in one or two areas by the middle of the afternoon. so that means for the tennis at wimbledon, we could see temperatures as high as 27. it has the potential to be the best or the hottest day of this season's championship. and it'll be similar story as well for the men's ashes. thunderstorms perhaps threatening as we go through the weekend. as we go into friday evening, it will be a relatively quiet

one. during the early hours of saturday, we've got this front pushing in from the south—west, but temperatures not falling very far. it's going to be a humid night, an uncomfortable nght for getting a good night's sleep, particularly in the south—east, as temperatures only as low as 18—19 celsius. and with that front continuing to move in from the south—west, bumping into that humid air, that has the potential to spark off some sharp, thundery downpours. they will drift their way steadily north and east, so saturday will not be a wash—out by any means. but if you do have outdoor plans, it's worth bearing in mind that there could be some interruptions with some sharp showers. top temperatures as we go through saturday still on the warm side at 20—24 degrees, maybe 27 across parts of east anglia and the south—east. need to keep a close eye on sunday. there's a risk of some really sharp, thundery downpours moving up from france, butjust where they will appear is still subject to question

so keep abreast of the forecast for the second half of the weekend. just to summarise then, our weekend is going to start off on a humid note. there will be some decent sunny spells around from time to time, but also the risk of some sharp, thundery downpours. take care.