the irish singer and activist sinead o'connor dies at the age of 56. president biden�*s son, hunter unexpectedly pleads not guilty to two charges of tax offences. hollywood actor kevin spacey says he's grateful and humbled after being found not guilty of sexually assaulting 4 men. 70 years since an armistice ended the fighting in the korean war we speak to a south korean veteran who was held captive in the north.

the acclaimed irish singer songwriter sinead o'connor has died at the age of 56. she shot to fame in 1990 with her song nothing compares 2 u. tributes have been pouring in from across the globe. her family said they were "devastated". our arts correspondent, david sillito, has been looking back at her life. the acclaimed irish singer songwriter sinead o'connor has # since you been gone i can do whatever i want # i can see whomever i choose... sinead o'connor, nothing compares 2 u. # i can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant... quite why a song becomes such a huge global hit is often a bit of a mystery. but one thing is for certain. the emotion, the heartbreak. # nothing compares 2 u... there was nothing fake here.

herfirst hit, mandinka marked her out as a performer with an edge. when a record executive had started talking about her hair, she shaved it off. she was wary, angry. she had a troubled upbringing and spent part of it in care. butjoining a band revealed her gift. # chiquitita, tell me what's wrong... she had the voice and charisma to be a chart friendly pop star. used to worship god as a mother. now look at what we're doing each other. but saw herself as a protest singer. in an era before the truth about the abuse of children within the catholic church had been widely accepted,

her views marked her out as a troublemaker. # i have sinned a lot... but she had a global platform to speak her mind and she was always going to go too far. that moment came when she ripped up a photograph of the pope on american tv. a few years later she declared that she was mother bernadette, ordained by a breakaway catholic sect. after that she announced she had converted to islam. her life was turbulent but she was more than open about her struggles, her mental health. it's been an eventful life for you, sinead. well, as my friend said to me the other day, "you're not boring"! i sometimes get upset because you get a lot of, you're a terrible person this and that. my mates would say, "you're just not boring". # i thought that living with you was sometimes hard... she continued to perform

but losing custody of her son, shane, left her bereft and then, aged 17, he was found dead. # nothing compares... sinead o'connor. those were real tears. # nothing compares... music journalist matt charlton told us more on how sinead o'connor will be remembered. as a force of nature, i think that's the first thing that will spring to mind with people. but then very, very closely followed up by this amazing voice coming out of this very diminutive, tiny figure with huge eyes.

and the voice that emerged from her and the energy she had when she was on stage was always so striking, which is what first got her noticed even before nothing compares 2 u. and she had that star quality that she used in such a different way to any other person who's ever had that platform as well. as david mentioned in his report, she had a very difficult childhood and she was also very outspoken in her social and political views. and later in her life, she converted to islam. what was her relationship with religion? it was a very difficult one, as you just said. i mean, she was brought up within the irish catholic church when the catholic church had a much stronger hold on ireland than it does now. as as you said in the package, she was one of the first people to speak out against child abuse in the catholic church. and this was on one

of the biggest platforms in the world, saturday night live. and it actually didn't really get picked up by anyone else for ten years. and she was persona non grata for a very, very long time. she arguably ruined her career in the us for quite a long time, although she never, ever regretted it. i mean, i've got a statement in front of me. she said there was no more there was no more mistaking this woman for a pop star. it was not derailing. people say you messed up your career, but they're talking about the career they had in mind for me. i messed up the housing in antigua that the pr people had already put by for themselves. so it's that sort of attitude and that way that she used her platform that was like no one else. none of her contemporaries that you can mention, you could sort of say the divas like mariah carey, whitney houston. i mean, whitney houston, obviously very troubled. but sinead o'connorjust used her platform in a way like no other singer.

because of those incidents how was she treated by the music industry? in her biography, she said prince had been quite nasty to her, something his legal team refuted. yes, absolutely. there were some revelations a few years back about when after she'd had the hit with nothing compares 2 u. it wasn't written for her. but he asked to meet her at his his paisley park estate, and apparently he was it got violent. again, as you said, this has been refuted by prince's estate as well. she was a pariah in the music industry because she was a woman in the 90s who spoke out. i mean, it's a bit better now. it's not that much better. but she just went against every single box they tried to put her in. and again, in the package, when her hair was commented on, she shaved her hair. she turned up to the 1989 grammys, having shaved the public enemy logo into her hair because the grammys weren't televising the hip hop category. and that was her little comment on that. she always railed against the system and she really spoke out

for what she believed in. let's turn to the united states. president biden�*s son, hunter, has unexpectedly pleaded not guilty to two charges of tax offences. ajudge in delaware had been deciding whether to approve a deal under which hunter biden would avoid conviction on a separate charge of illegally owning a gun on the assumption he would enter a guilty plea. but the process ran into some hurdles. this is an unusual situation. everyone expected this to be a relatively straightforward court appearance where this deal between prosecutors and the defense would be, to use the judge's own words, "rubberstamped" in the court. and the judge said she wasn't able to do that. we expected hunter biden to, as you've just explained,

to plead guilty to two tax charges that he didn't pay on time, his taxes in 2017 and 2018, but also to admit this more serious gun charge that he was in possession of a gun while using drugs. and it seems as if it is the combination of these two charges that the judge is questioning that it may she questioned whether it would give him immunity from future liability if he were to face charges in the future, especially as they apply to taxes if this deal gives him some sort of future immunity. she wasn't clear from the detail that she was given and she sent the two sides away. the prosecution and the defense gave them two weeks to present her with a deal that, at least in her mind, makes sense and she is able to understand it. and only then will she make a decision as to whether she can indeed in the court, rubber stamp this.

and that would ultimately mean that hunter biden wouldn't face any jail time. well, republicans have always alleged that he was offered a lenient plea deal because he is the president's son. while president biden says he's a private citizen and this is a personal matter. but could this become a huge headache as we, of course, head into the presidential elections? well, yeah, republicans have described this as a so called "sweetheart deal" that he's being given preferential treatment because of who he is. and clearly, all of this is entwined in politics, even though, as you say, the white house insists that he is indeed a private citizen. but the longer this drags on. and it was interesting, there was an acknowledgement from the prosecution in court today that investigations against hunter biden are continuing, although notably the prosecution didn't say precisely what they were investigating. but investigations are continuing. the longer this goes on, as we get closer and closer

to the election next year, where hunter biden�*s father is trying to become the president again for a second term, joe biden, clearly this is going to potentially cause problems and to some extent could overshadow that campaign byjoe biden. officials from moscow and beijing are the first known foreign visitors to north korea since the pandemic border closure. they're in pyongyang to mark 70 years since the signing of the korean war armistice. although the armistice has largely held, it has never been replaced by a peace treaty, meaning the two sides are technically still at war. it means tens of thousands of south korean prisoners of war have been held captive in the north since the early 50s. a tiny number have managed to escape, but most are thought to have perished, as our seoul correspondentjean mackenzie reports.

newsreader: news that communist troops have i invaded southern korea. for three years fighting gulf the korean peninsula. for three years fighting engulfed the korean peninsula. in the 70 years since, peace has eluded it. newsreader: a set of documents is signed by general harrison. - the delicate armistice signed in 1953 has never been replaced by a peace treaty, and tens of thousands of captured south korean soldiers have never been returned. it bong is one of the very few who managed to plot his own escape. like if he lost his fingers not to war, but to the 5a years he was forced to work in a north korean coal mine. translation: we gave our entire youth to that coal mine. _ we had no rights. you must have missed home terribly. who wouldn't? i was all alone and scared. i could face a meaningless

death at any moment. at what point did you give up hope that anybody was going to come for you? north korea was saying it didn't have any prisoners of war, and so nobody wanted to question it. it seemed as if the south korean government didn't want to make any efforts to retrieve us. south and north korea are marking 70 years since the armistice. but for the prisoners of war, the battle is not over. they were branded outcasts in north korea, left to perish in the mines. few, if any, are still alive. but the children remain. this woman spent her childhood being beaten at school, punished by association. she was six when her father was killed in a gas explosion at a north korean mine. only after his death did

she find out he'd been a south korean soldier. translation: in thatj moment, i hated him. i blamed him so much for making us all suffer, she says. she too, decided to escape north korea and the misery of being an outcast. how do you feel about him now? now i respect him and try so hard to remember him. i feel different to other north korean defectors because i'm the proud daughter of a south korean war veteran. by the time lee arrived home, already an old man, his parents had passed away, believing their son had been killed in action. the absence of peace between the north and south have left lee and the families of these soldiers struggling

to find peace of their own. jean mackenzie, bbc news, seoul. i spoke to yang gyu kim, he's the principal researcher at the east asia institute. he told me the importance of the recent visits to north korea by russia and china. it proves that after the war in ukraine the north korean regime strengthen relations with like—minded groups so i think it still proves that looks like the cold war has not ended on that side. recently north korea has been testing many missiles and it has been a while since their last nuclear test but it has expanding capabilities, how concerned are ordinary south koreans? we usually say it is a game changer if north korea has

miniature nuclear warheads and the solid fuel missiles that's why we worry about icbm missiles and solid fuel missiles which could reach the us continent, but that is already happening in south korea in 2019 where they showed the solid fuel missiles that can carry warheads that can carry and hit any part of south korea any time that they want. so now we have the say that north korea has capability to launch an attack on any part of south korea territory with a nuclear warhead. this is terrifying indeed. i remember something like 70% of the south korean public were eager to unite the two countries, do you think that has changed is the us—pyongyang talks have stalled? that was the highest point. after we did a survey

on people's perception on reunification and now according to the most recent data collected by the national unification, now 53% of people support it, the lowest number ever since we have conducted the survey and if we break down these responses by each group. people who support reunification drops from 66% to 39% if age group moves from 16 to 20s. so it looks like more young people do not want to be united. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. time is ticking on the prime minister pledge to have inflation by the end of the year to slow down soaring average prices. when he made that promise inflation had been at over 10%. so his target is to get it down to around five.

richmond and north yorkshire is a historic market town and for less in tourism. with household puzzles squeezed, people cutting back on things like many breaks in eating out. it does not seem to be a 24 does not seem to be a 2k bedroom hotel, our occupancy levels or anything between 1900% most nights including the week nights. 1900% most nights including the week nights-_ 1900% most nights including the week nights. there is some good news. week nights. there is some good news- food _ week nights. there is some good news. food prices _ week nights. there is some good news. food prices are _ week nights. there is some good news. food prices are not - news. food prices are not rising quite as fast as they were. the average grocery shop is still costing significantly more than it did a year ago. and many are wearily wondering when that pressure on household budgets will to ease. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. to some developing notes. a group of soldiers in niger have appeared on national television to say that they have carried

out a coup. they said that they had a dissolved the constitution and close the borders. that they did not directly refer to the president who has been held by troops from the presidential guard since early on wednesday. early the presidential guard fired warning shots at the protesters. 0f warning shots at the protesters. of course a lot more on that story on our website to do check that out. the actor, kevin spacey one of the most successful stars of stage and screen of his generation has been cleared of all charges of sexual offences against him in the uk. the allegations were made by four men, and covered more than a decade up to 2013 while he was the artistic director at the old vic theatre in london. mr spacey broke down in tears when he heard the verdicts, and later said he was "humbled" by the jury's verdict. our special correspondent,

lucy manning, reports. with hugs for the court security staff, a very relieved and emotional kevin spacey walked out of court an innocent man, the result he can celebrate on his 64th birthday. i imagine that many of you can understand that there's a lot for me to process after what has just happened today. but i would like to say that i am enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached the decision. and i am humbled by the outcome today. we love you, kevin! after 12 hours of deliberation, kevin spacey heard the verdict that he wanted — not guilty repeated nine times.

he sobbed in the dock and thanked his legals team and his manager. later, he went to thank thejurors. oscar winner, american beauty star, house of cards lead, and acclaimed former old vic creative stage actor, director — but for all the awards and acclaim, this could be kevin spacey�*s most satisfying moment. for more than three weeks, the actor, returning to england as he said he would to defend himself, listened as allegations were made that he was a sexual bully who had assaulted men. he called the case weak, said the men were after money or lying, or in one case, he'd just mistakenly made a pass. in a moment of real—life drama, the jury agreed with him. it's the weirdest thing. ifeel like i've been

in a coma for 20 years. when he gave evidence earlier in the trial, he wept as he described how, after the allegations that had started in america, his world had exploded, causing his work to dry up. but even though he's been cleared of all the criminal charges, there were other questions about his behaviour at the old vic after an investigation commissioned by the theatre in 2017, 20 people alleged mr spacey had behaved inappropriately. but the star leaves court an innocent man. he will hope he can resume a career that reached the highest levels. lucy manning, bbc news. competition is heating up at the 2023 women's world cup. on wednesday, ireland became the first team knocked out of the tournament, with a 2—1 loss to canada. the group stage continues on thursday. we'll see the us face off against the netherlands, portugal take on vietnam and hosts australia will meet nigeria.

live now to sydney, let's bring in katie silver. i know you want to talk on ireland and spain but i also want you to talk about japan so let's go. i want you to talk about japan so let's no. ., ., let's go. i will do them all and don't _ let's go. i will do them all and don't worry i - let's go. i will do them all and don't worry i will- and don't worry i will certainly get to japan. we will start with ireland because that is the team that will be the most disappointed to be knocked out in these early group stages. ireland is one of the stronger teams but they were in a really tough group and we saw them losing 2—1 against kennedy yesterday to getting them out of the competition. scoring first, the captain katie mccabe managed to score. quite common in the first time. there was in on goal scored for canada that helped canada along. but i half—time it seemed canada made a lot of changes and when they came back on the field they dominated and then managed to secure that wind of 2—1 and indeed to have the position. salade disappointment from the irish kit. but if i talk about that grouping very tight the

group that isn't is group see in their we have seen two teams progress indefinitely to the next round into teams going home. so spain managed to beat zambia more than 5—0 securing its spot in the next stage and we saw the return of the captain who had been into you do it with an acl injury. a lot of excitement from the spanish camp to see her back in spanish media they have been saying... which means welcome back and she is overly valued member of the team so huge excitement for that. currently ranked sixth in the world and emerge despite a lot of turmoil and difficultly as a team to watch and this broke up. the other team and i will get there now is japan. they beat costa rica 2—0 meaning thatjapan will be going through. we have heard for simple that one of the players from goalkeeper from costa rica has emerged of the star of one of this broke up

because of how many times i go she managed to stave off what they can spain and japan. but we heard from the japan manager saying that they are unified as a team and that is one of japan's strengths. so they are previous pictures of the broke up previous pictures of the broke up when he back in 2011 emerging as a team as one to watch in the real competition will be spain takes onjapan, the last set of these group stages. the last set of these group staues. . ~' ,, the last set of these group staues. . ~ i. the last set of these group staues. . ~' ,, . stages. thank you so much, katie silver. _ stages. thank you so much, katie silver. we _ stages. thank you so much, katie silver. we will- stages. thank you so much, katie silver. we will end - stages. thank you so much, | katie silver. we will end this edition of the programme with that. thank you so much for watching and i will be back with businesses shortly. hello there. generally, over the next few days, it's going to be a mixture of sunshine, but also some showers. over the last 2a hours, we have seen quite muggy air heading our way from the atlantic. it's brought with it a lot of cloud, had some rain around as well.

but before the rain arrived in eastern england, it was quite warm on wednesday. suffolk was the warmest place in the country with temperatures of 2a degrees. but this was the cloud that's been streaming in from the atlantic. it's been bringing with it some steady rain as well. all on these weather fronts here, the worst of the rain is going to get moved away out into the north sea. it dries off later on in the night, but there's still a lot of cloud. and so it's going to be a much warmer start to thursday with temperatures typically 1a or 15 degrees, but a dull, misty, damp start and fog over the hills. the rain may continue on and off through the day in northern parts of mainland scotland, possibly through the english channel and along the south coast, where it's going to be breezy. elsewhere, the winds do become lighter. it may well brighten up a little bit, as well. some sunshine coming through. that could trigger some showers, a few sharp ones in the north—east of england. but it should be slightly warmer across northern ireland, wales and western areas of england, with the highest temperatures again in eastern parts of england. first day of the fifth

the test match begins at the oval and it may well be a bit frustrating. some help for the bowlers, but there may well be some rain around, especially in the afternoon. as we head into the end of the week, and we're going to keep an eye on this area of low pressure that's sort of dominating the weather at the moment. but it gets closer and brings more showers in on friday to northern ireland, especially later on in the day, perhaps into western most parts of scotland. otherwise, a few mist patches, some sunshine at times, a few showers developing here and there, but probably not too many. many places, i think, we'll have a dry day on friday. and those temperatures could still reach 2a, maybe even 25 degrees across east anglia. but another weekend, another area of low pressure — that's going to dominate the weather again. it'll slide its way eastwards across the northern half of the uk. and this is where we may well find some persistent rain at times and there'll be some stronger winds wrapped around that area of low pressure initially in northern ireland, then moving over the irish sea

into the north—west of england and north wales. so, maybe the wetter weather for northern parts of the uk. whilst there'll be some sunshine in the south, there will be some showers and it's not particularly warm.

american central bank is back at its hiking cycle and they say that there might be more to

come. british banking giant continues to remain under pressure over an inaccurate bbc story about the closure of nigel�*s account. 0ur our top story for you this morning as the us federal reserve is moved to hike the cost of borrowing once again. the central bank raised interest rates by quarter perspective each point and 22 years. as my colleague explains, they have left the door open for more. the federal reserve is _ door open for more. the federal reserve is moved _ door open for more. the federal reserve is moved with _ reserve is moved with unprecedented speed to get inflation under control and it has raised its benchmark rate by 5.25" present in the latest move is likely to push up american businesses and consumers, even further. with inflation showing prices

rising, more slowly than a year