protests as japan prepares for the release of millions of tonnes of treated nuclear waste water into the pacific ocean. the sun newspaper says a bbc presenter has been accused of paying a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photographs, beginning when they were 17. it's understood that the bbc is looking into the allegations. hello, i'm krupa padhy, thank you forjoining us. five—hundred days into russia's invasion of ukraine president volodymyr zelensky visited snake island, where ukrainian soldiers famously defied a russian war ship at the beginning of the war —

calling it a sliver of land in a wide sea — but proof — he says — that ukraine will win the war. today we are in snake island which will never be conquered by the occupier. like the whole of ukraine. because we are a country of the brave. today we honour here our ukrainian heroes. hold the soldiers who fought for this island, who liberated it. under though this is a small piece of land in the middle of our black theatre is a great proof that ukraine will we gain every bit of its territory. i wanted to thanks, from here, from this place of victory, each of our soldiers for these 500 days. the visit comes as president zelensky thanked the us after washington agreed to supply cluster bombs to ukraine. it's a weapon that has been banned by more than 100 countries around the world.

despite this, ukraine has been pressing for the artillery shells which drop multiple explosives to help with their counter offensive against russian forces. russia has been using the weapons since the start of the war. for more — our securoty correspondent, gordon coirera is in kyiv. it is contentious because human rights groups and others have long viewed them as dangerous to civilians, and more than 120 countries have banned them, but they have been used already in this conflict and ukraine has been pushing for them. it has become clear that ukraine has been pushing for them for months. the issue has been on president biden�*s desk in washington for a decision on whether or not to provide them and i think a few things have made the difference. one is that ukraine is running short of regular ammunition and artillery rounds, and needs more ammunition and one option is to stocks the cluster bombs which the us already had. there is also the fact that the ukrainian counteroffensive has gone slower certainly than some would have liked, and military strategists believe they offer the possibility of penetrating

some of those russian defences, and targeting russian artillery and russian infantry. so they believe there is a military value and that clearly has been enough to overcome washington's initial concerns. and ukraine has provided written assurances, things like it will only use them in certain areas, and will invest in a clean—up to make sure that the risk to civilians is minimised. but there is no doubt there will still be controversy around this, and some caution among some other nato allies about provision of cluster munitions. i spoke to sir richard shirreff, former nato deputy supreme commander europe, for his thoughts on this latest development in the war. i think the first point i would make is that, to those allies, nato allies who are complaining or criticising president biden�*s timely decision to give these munitions to ukraine, ukraine has been crying out for ammunition for months. and if what ukraine

had wanted and ukraine needed had been given right from the start, instead of the incremental drip drip drip approach that has characterised so much, ukraine would not be in the same position so they should look to themselves and the extent to which they have supported ukraine. this is ukrainian territory and ukrainians want the cluster munitions, they should get them. well, many rights group are opposed to this news, and condemned this decision. earlier i spoke to tamar gabelnick, interim director at the international campaign to ban landmines and cluster munition

coalition, who explained the dangers of these munitions, especially for civilians. so, the cluster munition convention is ratified by over 120 created for a very good reason. it is because cluster munitions relate to a class of weapons which is indiscriminate which means there is no way they can distinguish between a civilian or military target given the huge size of the target hit by each munition which is football fields wide. so it is just not possible and that strike area, to distinguish between the military target and any civilians which might be in the area. there is a second problem, also mentioned. many of the bomblets which fly out when the main bomb opens up in the airfailed to explode so that means that they're going to sit on the ground will eventually get buried under the ground and act like landmines for years, decades to come, creating a terrible risk to civilians

because there are even worse than landmines. the explosive impact of each bomblet can kill especially for children so we see in countries like cambodia, 50 years later, there are still areas which are off—limits, children are still being killed by these weapons. last year alone, over 95% of the casualties of cluster munitions are civilians and in 2021, over 60% were children. you outlined the dangers for us there but what you make of the argument that russia is already using these weapons actively, so shouldn't ukraine have the opportunity to defend itself in the same way? well, i would say that russia is not known exactly for their concern for the harm they cause to civilians. and i'm not really sure ukraine would want to emulate this behaviour, nor with the united states want to give them weapons to act like russia's doing. ukraine is putting their own population at risk. their own children at risk. when they might pick up something that looks sort of fun to play with and it explodes.

they're cutting off access to farmland, potentially, for decades. and, yes, they can clean up. there's already so many unexploded ordinances there. landmines scattered. the cluster munition used by russia already. it is a very long—term, very expensive process to clean the line so it is notjust 0k to say, well, we will clean up afterwards. it's going to take a very long time. there are more precise weapons available to ukraine can distinguish between military and civilian targets. the us is that the failure rate is low for theirs. and it lessens the danger. i imagine you don't agree with that? well, they haven't exactly been transparent about how they came up with a number. us law says they should be no transfer of a weapon that has

more than 1% rate and they're coming up with a number 2.35%. but they haven't explained how they came up with a number on the real number could be upwards of 10%, even 30% because they are in testing these weapons any more. they are old and may be they will do a computer simulation but that is not the same thing is actually, when the bomb hits the ground there may be softer land at the and so the dead weight can be much higher. let's stay with the story because we've just had news and on the story, the us are playing cluster bombs to ukraine. the british prime minister says the uk is a signatory to a convention which prohibits the production or use of cluster munitions and it discourages the use but says the uk would continue to play its part in supporting ukraine and this obviously taps into that concern, that pool of thought that the state that the us has taken

could indeed put at risk the unity of the alliance that is supporting ukraine with the keep you posted on that as well. ukraine with the keep you posted on that as well. protests have been taking place in the south korean capital seoul — overjapan�*s planned release of treated radioactive water from the wrecked fukushima nuclear plant. the head of the un's nuclear watchdog, rafael grossi — who is in seoul — has endorsed the plan, but surveys in south korea indicate overwhelming public opposition to the release. the plant was severely damaged in 2011 after being struck by a tsunami. the south korean government has said it respects the un body's conclusion that the discharge of waste water, from the plant onjapan�*s east coast, will be largely safe. 0ur asia pacific editor, michael bristow has more from seoul. outside the japanese embassy in the capital of south korea, seoul, and you can see here an opposition politician is on hunger strike. it is her 13th day, and essentially she has protested about the release of contaminated water from the nuclear

power plant, the one that was damaged in the tsunami more than a decade ago. the release of water into the sea. she and people like i believe that will cause harm to coastal communities across the region. japan's neighbours, south korea, china, other countries as well. her protest shows the depth of feeling here in south korea where opinion polls suggest the majority of people, four out of five, oppose the release of water. despite that, scientists say it's safe and the international atomic energy chief is actually in the south korean capital today talking to officials and nuclear safety experts, trying to persuade them and people here that it is safe to release this water. i spoke to dr peter martin, expert in nucler energy at the university of bristol i asked him what was being done prior to water being released? so, the fukushima site since the accident has been sending a lot of its kind of waste water, all of its

waste water to some very kind of complex treatment processes. the advanced liquid processing system. that removes most if not all of the kind of contamination in the water. however, it can't remove everything so carbon—1a that is abundant in this waste water still remains. as i understand it, it is quite routinely practised for waste like this to be released into the ocean so why is the fukushima incident on this instance, so controversial? it is a controversial topic globally. radioactive materials are released from all nuclear facilities. i think the main issue surrounding this release, is the fact that extends from an accident. prior to the kind of fukushima accident in 2011 the actual site was releasing as part of its routine discharges so this release, planned for next month,

and would only release it back up to levels which were previously acceptable and permitted prior to the accident. we have had this endorsement that it is safe for the water to be discharged into the ocean but that is doing little to appease ordinary folk who want to ensure that their food is safe and they can go about their work in a safe manner. i wonder, is there a consensus among scientists that this approach is the right approach? yeah, i think everything is underpinned by a huge amount of science. in this regard been working on the fukushima accident for the last ten years now and it is not complete, it will release water street into the environment, there will be routine monitoring as it goes along so we won't release it all under stuff is released we will take it back, do kind of monitoring out in the pacific and understand, is this an issue

and a lot of work has said that the tritium, the radioactive water which will be released, doesn't accumulating kind of fish or marine organisms like caesium would but that has been released through the process so a lot of the scientific community believes this is the right thing to do in order to kind of reduce the risk on the fukushima site and progress the decommissioning. the dutch prime minister, mark rutte, is about to meet king willem—alexander to discuss the formation of a caretaker administration after the collapse of his coalition government. mr rutte announced late on friday that his entire cabinet had resigned after it failed to agree on stricter immigration policies. he said differences over measures to limit the flow of asylum seekers were insurmountable. new elections are not expected to be held before mid—november. let's get bring you some the day's other news now. latvia's long—serving foreign minister edgars rinkevics has become the first openly gay head of state

of a european union or former soviet country. he has been sworn in as the country's president. mr rinkevics first came out in twenty—fourteen and has been a vocal champion of lgbt rights ever since. gay marriage is illegal in latvia, though the country's constitutional court recognised same sex unions last year. police in the indian state of west bengal say at least ten people have been killed in violence related to local polls. the ruling bjp and the trinamool congress party are competing for over 70,000 seats. this election is a crucial test for the parties�* future in west bengal and upcoming parliamentary elections. a bbc presenter has been accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit photographs, according to the sun newspaper. it is understood that the bbc is looking into the allegations. 0ur media editor, katie razall has more.

these accusations concerns serious misconduct by a presenter that the newspaper claims is known to millions. the front page story claims that the man who has not been named, it is claimed in the paper that he paid a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit images. the mother tells the newspaper the person had gone from happy—go—lucky to a ghostlike crack addict in three years. the family is reported to have complained to the bbc in may 19th this year, which leaves questions around what steps were taken after the complaint. the family is reported to have become frustrated that the star remained on air. the bbc said it treats any allegations seriously and takes steps to investigate, including actively trying to speak to those who contacted them. it said if it gets no reply that can limit the ability to progress things, but it does not stop inquiries and acts on any new information that comes to light

including from newspapers. we understand the presenter is not scheduled to appear on air in the coming days. here in the uk — tributes are being paid to the eight—year—old girl who died when a car crashed into her school in wimbledon on thursday. she's been named as selena lau — her family say she was "adored and loved by everyone". an eight—year—old girl and a woman in her 40s remain in a critical condition. a woman who was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving has been released on bail. 0ur correspondent aruna iyengar is in wimbledon we know the school. we pass by it every day. and we see the children go in and out of the school, see all

of their happy faces. and it is such a tragic incident that happened and it is so unfortunate because the whole community here has all come together to pay their respects for a little girl who so tragically lost her life. ,, ., ., ., little girl who so tragically lost herlife. ,, ., ., ., , her life. selena lau for 'ust eight ears her life. selena lau for 'ust eight years old. — her life. selena lau for 'ust eight years old. sheh her life. selena lau for 'ust eight years old. she was _ her life. selena lau for 'ust eight years old. she was at _ her life. selena lau forjust eight years old. she was at an - her life. selena lau forjust eight years old. she was at an end - her life. selena lau forjust eight years old. she was at an end of. her life. selena lau forjust eight. years old. she was at an end of year picnic with her school friends on the grass lawn in front of her school in wimbledon. she has been described by her family as intelligent and cheeky. at around 9:30am the unthinkable happened. a land rover burst through the school fence, injuring 16. selena lau was killed. another age or older seriously injured along with a woman in her 40s. 16 people were taken to hospital. a46—year—old woman has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. she has been released on bail until

late july. the she has been released on bail until latejuly. the school is known for its nurturing atmosphere, it is well known in the community. among the tributes were messages from other schools, church groups and fellow pupils. the skills as it is profoundly shocked by the accident. and that it is too soon to understand what has happened. police have asked the not to speculate on the cause of the incident. there is plenty more on that story over on our website. now it's time for a look at today's sport. hello from the bbc sport centre. rain�*s affecting matches at wimbledon — but on centre court carlos alcaraz — the men's top seed is first up. that's before katie boulter flies the flag for the home supporters. the british number one tries to topple women's champion elena rybakhina later, to make the 11th round.. let's get some more now with chetan pathak, who is there for us. a tough test against the number one player, in many peoples eyes, to win this title here. she is seeded third, actually, because she has had

a few injuries and had a virus coming into this. she has looked a little bit vulnerable, it is safe to say, early on at these championships. and dropping a set in the opening round as well but she has still got that powerhouse serve, hasn't she? and that absolute killer forehand. her opponent will have her work cut out. both the british number one came into wimbledon having one that maiden wta title at nottingham. it is going be a major shock if she will do it today. the referee shirt on centre court. we had that scorching hot day yesterday, the only day of the championships that we had no rain but the rain is very much back at the moment and you've got all the umbrellas up. the outside courts, you've got the cover is inflated, play delayed, you would expect, are suspended on the outside courts but on those show courts at least we will see tennis as scheduled. just

to tell you about what else we have to tell you about what else we have to look forward to. a beaten finalist here last year, she has looked pretty formidable, i think it is fair to say, but a former australian open champion, two times around, will be a tough test for her around, will be a tough test for her a little bit later on. we will also see some other games. the state the sense of occasion has got to one player. her opponent gave her a real test but she will be feeling, i think my little bit better now having matches under her belt. i'd make great chance for the world number one to prove himself at wimbledon, isn't it? forthe number one to prove himself at wimbledon, isn't it? for the first time, playing on centre court. it was his first when. a player that should not have caused him to many problems. shouldn't have any issues against his opponent. a big

challenge for novakjoker pitch's crown. some big names, including on the outside courts, too. intermittent showers expected and should clear up a little bit later on in the day. should clear up a little bit later on in the day-— play�*s been delayed — and early lunch has been taken at headlingley — as england attempt to stay in this ashes series against australia. rain has prevented play on day 3 of third test. with england needing 6 wickets. when it does get going again — australia will resume on 116—4 at headingley — a lead of 142 in their second innings. friday's second day saw big wickets steve smith, marnus labuschage — and both openers david warner and usman khawaja fall. england 2—0 down to australia, and have to win this. if they're to regain the ashes.

and there's risk of thundery conditions affecting qualifying for the british grand prix later — charles leclerc set the fastest time in final practice. before the session was interrupted by rain. the ferrari driver came injust ahead of alex albon — the british born driver also one of the last drivers to run before the weather intervened at silverstone. mercedes driver lewis hamilton was fifth, with red bull's championship leader max verstappen 8th today. and that's all the sport for now. more than 2 billion people around the world eat insects every day and many rave about them as a source of vitamins and protein. sofia bettiza has been to an insect farm in north italy that produces pasta made from ground critters. would you eat cricket pasta? eating insects is nothing new in parts of the world like asia. but is there a shift happening in europe? this farm in northern italy

turns 1 million crickets into food every day. first, the crickets, still alive, are frozen. boiled. dried, and then pulverised. this is the final result, a cricket—based flour that can be added to food, like pasta, bread or pancakes. and it is good for the planet. insects require a fraction of the land and water that is used to produce meat. translation: what we do here is very sustainable. to produce one kilogram of cricket powder we only use about 12 litres of water. whereas producing the same amount of protein from cows requires about 60,000 litres of water. but how does this get on your plate? some restaurants buy the flour and add it to some of the more traditional dishes, like pasta. cricket pasta?

yes. here we go. i am about to taste cricket tagliatelle. this is really good. it tastes like normal pasta. i would not be able to tell that this is cricket based. it is delicious. do you like? and it's a superfood. it is packed with vitamin c, fibre and minerals. 0ne plate of cricket pasta contains as much protein as a steak. but is it a realistic option? there is one problem— it is very expensive. cricket flour costs about 55 dollars per kilo, way more expensive than a standard bag of pasta which costs about £1. that means that for now,

insect food is a niche option. translation: the meat i produce is much cheaper than the cricket flour, and it is very good quality. it is healthy and i am absolutely against this new food products. we don't know what they can do to you. a good steak makes you happy. i can't really imagine people eating crickets at restaurants. but a change in attitudes is happening. belgium, austria and the netherlands are the countries that are more open—minded, and with the eu approving foods made from insects, the prices are expected to go down, which means insects could soon become a part of the european diet. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. after the heat and humidity come

the storms and many of us today could see some pretty heavy showers and thunderstorms moving their way in. already this morning, there's been a lot of those across some parts of the midlands and through southern areas of england. around the thundery showers there will also be some sunny spells. but this is the satellite picture from earlier on today. you can see this area of cloud here moving its way north and eastwards, that is the main troublemaker of the heavy and thundery showers. but even ahead of that, we've got some of these downpours towards the northeast of england, eastern areas of scotland. but as we go through this afternoon, look at the brighter colours associated with some of those showers, really indicative of some torrential downpours, some hail, frequent lightning, the risk of some localised flash flooding as well. it's still going to be hot and humid across northern scotland. it's 27 or 28 degrees celsius. otherwise temperatures perhaps a little bit lower than they were yesterday. but you can just see that these storms will continue going throughout this afternoon, particularly around parts

of merseyside, northeast wales, some towards eastern areas of england as well. but away from that, there will still be some dry, lengthy dry spells and some sunshine. and the threat of showers diminishes as you go through the afternoon at wimbledon. certainly by this evening, it should be fine with that sunshine. but at headingley, for the ashes cricket, there's a chance of showers pretty much all day. so the risk of some downpours giving some interruptions to play at headingley. now, this area of low pressure is still with us on into sunday. and that's the cold front bringing the heavy showers today. it had moved its way eastward. so by sunday morning, still the threat of some heavy downpours down towards east anglia and the south east of england. and then as we go into the afternoon, just to get a rash of showers developing, which will again be heavy and thundery in places during sunday afternoon. temperatures down a touch again. it will feel fresher on sunday with those temperatures about 21 to 23 degrees. on into next week then, this area of low pressure moves its way north and east. and then when you see low pressure, you've got to think of unsettled weather.

the air is rising within that. so a north westerly winds will bring a fresher feel to things next week. but certainly the threat of some showers or longer spells of rain really for most of the week and maximum temperatures in the range of about 16 to maybe 22 degrees celsius. watch out for those showers today. goodbye.

this is bbc news, the headlines. president biden defends supplying ukraine with cluster bombs, a weapon banned by more

than 100 countries for their record of killing civilians.