live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to the programme. we start with the big announcement from media welcome to the programme. we start with the big announcement from media tycoon rupert murdoch. for decades, he has arguably been the world's most powerful and controversial media tycoon. now, at the age of 92, he says he's retiring as chairman of fox and news corporation — which owns the sun and the times newspapers. his son, lachlan, will take over. in a letter to staff, rupert murdoch said he would still take an active interest in the companies and in what he called �*the daily contest of ideas.�* here's our culture editor katie razzall. the most powerful media mogul in the world, rupert murdoch is rumoured to be able

to change governments, making and destroying political careers. for more than half a century, his influence on britain has been profound. his professed philosophy always antiestablishment. we don't believe that people who set themselves up in positions of privilege or of public figures, or public role models and either make money from that or get power from that, we believe they should be looked at. we live in a democracy now. now at 92, he is stepping down as chairman in favour of his son lachlan. in a statement today, he said... the murdoch dynasty inspired the tv series succession with its brutal power struggles to take control

of the business. in real life, of rupert murdoch's six children, three have vied at different times to play significant roles. liz runs her own media company, james quit the board in 2020 over editorial disagreements and lachlan is now at the helm. lachlan murdoch is no rupert murdoch. he hasn't got the force of personality, or the experience of the genius of murdoch, i think, to hold that company together, so it will be interesting to see whether he can prevent it breaking up. the murdoch path to influencing the uk came with the australian's purchase of the news of the world and later the sun. he reinvented the british tabloid, taking on the print unions in a huge disruption to the media industry after he acquired the times newspapers. his empire expanded into the us and into the wider broadcasting sphere. murdoch's influence became legendary, courted by many uk prime ministers.

i'm not hiding behind an editor in saying, no, i had nothing to do with the policy of whatever, i do get involved in it, and i don't make a secret of it. despicable, that's how many parents have reacted... in 2011 it emerged his news of the world had illegally listened to the voicemails of the murdered schoolgirl milly dowler. the wider phone hacking scandal forced the paper to close and was a personal and costly humiliation. i would just like to say one sentence. this is the most humble day of my life. he is reported to have spent more than £1 billion paying out to phone hacking victims, and earlier this year came another huge settlement, more than three quarters of $1 billion in a defamation lawsuit against fox news over false comments about voting machines used in the 2020 presidential election. he has now passed the baton to the next generation. i very much doubt whether the sun will be a print product within the next couple of years.

they will be other difficult decisions, which i imagine rupert will want to hand onto somebody else. there is absolutely no point in saying, "lachlan, you are the chairman", and you turn out to be actually chief operating officer. from november rupert murdoch will be the company's chairman emeritus, a man who made politicians sit up and listen. will future prime ministers feel as inclined to pick up the phone? katie razzall, bbc news. live now to paddy manning, who has written a biography about lachlan murdoch. thank you very much for your time here on the bbc. so what's your opinion on lachlan taking over and what it means for the murdoch media empire? it's a challenging task ahead. well, i think in some ways it is a recognition formally of what has been happening in fact

for the last 3—4 years. there has been a progressive handover to locklin from rupert, and i read in my biography that lachlan, his mansion in beverly hills, they bought the boards and the senior leadership together and that was a real moment of lachlan taking charge. he spent the ceo, the most important part of the empire forfour years now, and rupert murdoch has been progressively relinquishing his roles in the empire. so i think this is kind of a logical progression of what has been happening for some time. what happening for some time. what in our happening for some time. what in your view— happening for some time. what in your view it _ happening for some time. what in your view it might _ happening for some time. what in your view it might be - happening for some time. what in your view it might be some of the major challenges that lachlan finds himself in as he takes over. we have heard from experts earlier on as well in

the story that we just played out that it would be important to see how well he keeps the company together. i to see how well he keeps the company together.— company together. i think he willt company together. i think he will try to — company together. i think he will try to bring _ company together. i think he will try to bring both - company together. i think he will try to bring both arms i company together. i think he will try to bring both arms of| will try to bring both arms of the empire back together in time. it would be surprising if, you know, we where still, the fox news corporation were still separate empty technique entities into a three years. the big challenge. there is a challenge for fox news editorially but the next presidential election and trump versus biden rematch seeming to be the most likely possibility and the murdochs have already flagged and fox news has been treading very carefully and its coverage of the relationship with donald trump. you know, he refused to participate in the most recent republican primary debates, for example. so there is a kind of arm wrestle going on between fox news and trump, which has got to be delicately managed, and that is going to be a challenge for fox news,

and we've already seen them declined to put them on live, for example. and we have also seenin for example. and we have also seen in the wake of the demeaning case, you know, fox news fired its biggest anchor, or bench ten, tucker carlson, so i think there are signs of a recalibration that's already happening at fox news in the wake of the record settlement, $780 million us wake of the record settlement, $780 million us that wake of the record settlement, $780 million us that fox agreed to pay to dominion earlier this year. but also i think this is where the announcement overnight is an expression of confidence in lachlan is that he has managed to navigate quite well in his time as ceo that streaming wars, and you have seen carnage in the media whether it is disney, paramount, warner bros., as a result of that collapse of streaming business model whereas fax corporation by

focusing on live news and sports and with lachlan�*s initiative to buy two b has navigated the streaming wars quite well. navigated the streaming wars quite well-— quite well. very briefly, ru ert quite well. very briefly, rupert to _ quite well. very briefly, rupert to moderate - quite well. very briefly, rupert to moderate has quite well. very briefly, - rupert to moderate has said he will still take an active interest in affairs. —— rupert murdoch. what kind of involvement do you think that looks like? he involvement do you think that looks like?— involvement do you think that looks like? he remains on the murdoch family _ looks like? he remains on the murdoch family trust - looks like? he remains on the murdoch family trust of - looks like? he remains on the | murdoch family trust of course and he still has the ultimate sway, which controls they 40% of voting shares, so although he is no longer on the boards of either company, rupert murdoch still has enormous influence over, you know, any decision that the boards might make. and i think that lachlan will continue to consult his father. they speak on most every day if not every day. as he has done all through his life. but i think that rupert has had a tumultuous year, and i think he genuinely wants to

retire. this is not driven by his health as i understand it. he genuinely wants to express confidence and handed over to lachlan. �* . . confidence and handed over to lachlan. �* ., ., ., �*, ., lachlan. i'm afraid that's all the time — lachlan. i'm afraid that's all the time we _ lachlan. i'm afraid that's all the time we have. - lachlan. i'm afraid that's all the time we have. thank i lachlan. i'm afraid that's all| the time we have. thank you very much for your time here on newsday. straight to the us now where presidentjoe biden has approved a new package of security assistance for ukraine valued at $325 million. it includes upgrades to air defences — but not the long—range missiles that president zelensky has been requesting. the announcement came at the end of a meeting between the two presidents at the white house. earlier mr zelensky briefed us senators about his government's plans. isa is a picture is coming in from the us where president zelensky has been speaking to the national archives. that's where he is at the moment carrying out his address. i'm joined now by helena humphrey who's at the white house. good to see you back on the

programme. what's the latest in terms of assurances from the us to ukraine? well, president zelensky has now left the compound here at the white house, but once again to you just mentioned, we had that confirmation with regards to for the security assistance, which had been approved from presidential drawdown authority for $325 million worth of security assistance including more ammunition for those in the rocket launchers, something that president zelensky had been calling for, but not those attack missiles which were seen as key for further reaching into those russian lines and taking back territory, for example, in crimea. and of course, this isjust a drop in the ocean when you think about that $24 billion worth of assistance that the biden administration is calling for right now at a time when this country is just right now at a time when this country isjust nine right now at a time when this country is just nine days away from how potential —— from a

potential government shutdown if it doesn't come up with a spending bill potentially or not with aid for ukraine in that. at a time when republican lawmakers in the house and a right—wing part of that party are calling for that age essentially to be scrapped. now, president zelensky has been here today making his case behind closed doors to members of congress, congressional leaders and the message that he delivered according to chuck schumer, the senate leader is essentially without further weaponry, ukraine well not to be able to win this war is. given the us political landscape that you're talking about, but the latest assurances that has been given, what kind of reaction is a getting already from political quarters or is likely to get? you have to bear in mind that we are around a year out now from a presidential election, and with that we start to see the conversation changing in this country, that is what we have been seen. we've been hearing from the speaker of the

house saying that aid would be contingent on assurances, accountability. we need to see what ukraine would be doing with this money and how essentially it plans to turn the tide on the battlefield. ultimately, i think we will continue to see president biden go forward with trying to make that case, that this isn'tjust about money and charity for ukraine, this is about global security. this is about making sure that russian president vladimir putin is thwarted in his ambition to take my territory in ukraine and reach even further. and ultimately, this is what the us has to do in order to send a message to russia, send a message to china and showed that the united states is a reliable partner. we believe it there. thank you very much for putting that visit in perspective and highlighting the big takeaways as they stand at the moment. a woman in los angeles has decided to speak publicly for the first time about an incident in 2008 involving russel brand that she says happened in an office building shared with the bbc.

the woman, who worked for another media company, says russell brand exposed himself to her and then laughed about it on his radio 2 show. she has been telling her story to our correspondent nomia iqbal. you're listening to bbc radio 2. it's the russell brand show. and here's your host, i am! actor, comedian, presenter and now alleged sex offender. russell brand is facing a growing list of claims of sexual impropriety, which he denies. now we have spoken to a woman who says brand exposed himself to herjust moments before recording an episode of his bbc radio 2 show in los angeles. olivia, whose identity we are protecting, did not work for the bbc, but did work in the building. she says she was in the bathroom when brand came in and stood over her. and he said, "i'm going to call you betty." and i said, "but that's not my name." and then he said, "well,j

i'm going to- you." and i went, "what?" olivia says that the door was closed as this was happening. and he pulled out his penis on his hand and served it to me, you know, as you would be serving someone some food. and i said, "no, no, no, you're not going t me." and then all of the sudden there was, like, banging, like, bang, bang, bang. like, "russell, you're wanted, russell. you're wanted in the radio studio." olivia said russell brand left the bathroom. he went outside to the hallway to meet his team. moments later, she said she also walked out of the bathroom. she says she remembers feeling ashamed, embarrassed. she said she was red in the face. she also remembers walking past a group of men who were hanging out here in the hallway. she continued herjourney to her office that way. mmeanwhile, russell brand had entered this studio, where he went on to prerecord his radio 2 show, where he and co—presenter matt morgan laughed and joked about brand exposing himself.

the bbc has removed some of brands offensive content from its services, but we think it's important to hear this moment. russell brand: i won't be able to drag her off into a cubicle - and show her my pubicles! that would never... how long ago did you do that last? been a long while, max, since old russy brand... j 25 minutes since he showed his willy to a lady. laughing: very easy to judge! olivia never made a formal complaint, but bbc management was told about the exchange in 2019. no action was taken. olivia only recently realised that the exchange had not been cut from the final broadcast. what's your reaction to the bbc now investigating? it's a bit late. but isn't there a sense of duty? the audio that i heard at the weekend was vile. what made the bbc think that was appropriate to go out like that?

ijust don't understand why they didn't investigate this much sooner. in a statement, the bbc said... we put olivia's allegations to both russell brand and his co—presenter matt morgan, but have not received a response. her claims come after an investigation by the sunday times and channel 4's dispatches programme, in which four women allege they were sexually assaulted by russell brand between 2006—2013. the metropolitan police also says it's received a sexual assault allegation from 2003. brand has denied any wrongdoing. i was very, very promiscuous. now, during that. time of promiscuity, the relationships i had were absolutely- always consensual. this is the first time that

brand has been accused of sexual misconduct and then heard discussing it. the bbc is looking at these latest claims as part of its review, but the corporation is facing even more serious questions about brand's time at the bbc and what he was allowed to say and do on airfor so long. nomia iqbal, bbc news, los angeles. and the bbc has received a statement from russell brand's former co—presenter matt morgan. here's nomia iqbal, with an update. we received this e—mail from matt morgan, and it is a long statement. in it, he says, "i stopped working with russell brand several years ago." he says during the time that he worked with him, he was not aware of any allegations of serious sexual misconduct against him. i'll read another part of the statement verbatim — he says, "i was not aware until now of the nature of this encounter," that we are reporting. "i express my regrets now, looking back at the impact of the show, and this is a further example. the recent coverage has been very distressing to read, and i reiterate my absolute

condemnation of any form of mistreatment of women." that's the statement we've received a short while ago from matt morgan, who was the co—presenter alongside russell brand on that show that we've been reporting on. in addition: we put olivia's allegations to russell brand but have not received a response. the latest claims follow an investigation by the sunday times and channel 4's dispatches programme — in which four women allege they were sexually assaulted by russell brand between 2006 and 2013. the metropolitan police also says it's received a sexual assault allegation from 2003. brand has denied any wrongdoing. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the man accused of escaping from wandsworth prison two

weeks ago has pleaded not guilty. daniel khalife, a 21 year old former soldier, who also faces charges under the official secrets act and the terrorism act, appeared by video link at the old bailey. mr khalife allegedly escaped prison by strapping himself using bedsheets under a food delivery vehicle. a metropolitan police firearms officer charged with the murder of chris kaba, during a police stop in september last year, has been released on bail. the 24—year—old was fatally shot through the window of the car he was driving in streatham hill, in south london. british prosecutors say five bulgarian nationals will be charged with spying for russia. they're due to appear in court in london next week, accused of conspiring to collect information of use to an enemy. the charges against the three men and two women cover a three—year period dating back to 2020. when they were arrested in february, three of them were charged with possessing false identity documents.

you're live with bbc news. india's upper house of parliament has passed landmark legislation that will almost double the number of women in its lower chamber. the women's reservation bill was passed almost unanimously by the lower house on wednesday. just two votes were cast in dissent. the constitutional amendment would guarantee a third of all seats in the lok sabha for women. it needs to secure a two—thirds majority in the upper house to pass. rather it needed to, although now it has been passed. what it means and what kind of impact it is likely to have, for that and more i spoke to professor rohini pande, the director of the economic growth center at yale university. hopefully, the law will pass, but it will only be implemented no sooner than 2029, possibly later, but let's assume it is implemented. much of the research we have comes from both represent reservation for women and local governments in

india but also from other countries across the world is that female politicians tend to represent women's policy preferences at her, so as a result, we may likely see legislation that is supportive of women's preferences which may range from issues like better policing for women safety in india to investments in public infrastructure that they favour. there's also evidence that they are investments in women's health that we see when female politicians are in place. i think overall we should anticipate changes in policy and of which should hopefully see a change in the types of debates that often happen in legislatures. we debates that often happen in legislatures.— legislatures. we have seen attempts — legislatures. we have seen attempts to _ legislatures. we have seen attempts to politically - legislatures. we have seen - attempts to politically empower women in the past, but the way the indian political set up as especially in the rural parts of the country, the presence of proxies is a concern, isn't that? so while the woman might be the political representative, the men in the family will still wield the power. do you think what this

that way might still persist? first of all, i'm not sure that that's correct. you have to realise that this is a narrative that is extremely convenient for men who don't want to give up power is to state that women will not wield the power. in fact in all the evidence we have, when we see increases in female representation in this is something that the researchers have been able to study very well because how it has been implemented commits been implemented commits been implemented randomly so we can do the equivalent of the kind of clinical trials he would see for medicine. you do see impacts. it's also the case that in a society that is reasonably patriarchal connect may be strategically the smart thing for women to do to give the appearance to have a man in charge and then actually change things from within. so i think i would first want to challenge the narrative that women are being puppets. that's not what we see in the data or in any of the evidence. it may happen in some cases, but i think in

others, that is not the narrative. hopefully harder thing to do and when we think about national and state legislatures where we are in the spotlight, and we should remember that india has a long history of diagnostic politicians, so if you are talking but a change between having the grandson of a criminal politician, male politician or having a grand daughter, she is perhaps less likely to have a criminal record. likely to have a criminal record-— likely to have a criminal record. , , , ., record. very briefly, we are runnina record. very briefly, we are running out _ record. very briefly, we are running out of _ record. very briefly, we are running out of time, - record. very briefly, we are running out of time, can . record. very briefly, we are| running out of time, can this also lead to wider economic inequality in a country like india? i inequality in a country like india? ~ . inequality in a country like india? ~' ., inequality in a country like india? ~ ., ., ., india? i think india has had a concerning — india? i think india has had a concerning declining - india? i think india has had a concerning declining female | concerning declining female labour participation of the last two decades. in some of it seems to do like with childcare and also safety in the workplace. he certainly hope that the kind of legislation that the kind of legislation that women may face may lead to direct benefits but also aspirations. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines.

armenia's prime minister says the country is ready to host tens of thousands of people displaced from the breakaway region of nagorno—karabakh, after its surrender to azerbaijani forces. nikol pashinyan says accommodation had been prepared, although he saw "no direct threat" to karabakh�*s ethnic armenians. a ceasefire was agreed with azerbaijan on wednesday after 24 hours of intense fighting. venezuela says it has regained control of a notorious jail, which had been under the control of the powerful tren de aragua criminal gang. around 11,000 security personnel were deployed to tocoron prison, which had been run by inmates for years. prisoners were able to roam freely inside the penitentiary, which had hotel—like facilities including a pool, nightclub and a mini zoo. now here's one for taylor swift fans. the first academic conference on the pop star is set to happen in australia next year. forfour days in february, the university of melbourne will host

what it's calling a "swiftposium" — with talks and discussions on the singer's influence on a range of topics, including the economy, culture and the music industry. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello. it's been a particularly wet week for many, autumnal feeling. some of the wettest spots have seen 160mm of rain, the likes of the lake district and north wales. now, some of that moisture was wrapped around this deep area of low pressure which are the remnants of hurricane lee, so that's why we've had so much rain. but that low pressure is still influencing our weather — we've still got showers thrown up across its eastern flank here, as you can see, to southeastern parts, and then we're picking up a northerly wind as it's continuing itsjourney into the north sea, and that'll be a different feel to friday. near gale force winds in the north but a stronger wind ushering those showers further south and east. hopefully, those across

the east of england clear away fairly soon and then we've got the showers coming down from the north. no area exempt to catching a shower and temperatures similar to thursday, i think, but, with more breeze, it will feel cooler and there'll still be some lively showers with rumbles of thunder. but, actually, through the night on friday, the winds ease away, the showers also ease, the skies clear, and it really looks like a chilly night, chillier than thursday night into friday with a touch of frost potentially in the glens of scotland, which means a fine start to saturday morning. there might be just the odd pocket of mist underneath this ridge of high pressure, but it's reallyjust a brief window of drier weather because we already have this next low rolling in. this is the remnants of hurricane nigel, so more tropical air heading our way. but, for the meantime, it's going to be chilly, as i say, to start saturday morning. and as we start saturday morning, we'll see some good spells of sunshine, just patchy, fair—weather cloud. but, as the day wears on,

we will find more cloud piling in across the southwest into northern ireland in particular and western scotland. and for northern ireland, actually, the latter part of the afternoon might bring a few splashes, the first splashes of rain from the next weather front. but ahead of that with sunshine and with light winds, it should feel quite pleasant at 16—17 celsius, and we're losing that northerly breeze because we're picking up instead a milder south—westerly wind but, with it, more wet, more rain and the tightly packed isobars indicate that the wind will be strengthening once again, so the likelihood is we will see further gales, particularly around the coast, and we will have further heavy rain. again, we could see similar totals — perhaps 50mm in the wetter spots, even more over the hills. but there's some uncertainty, but it does still look as if some southern and eastern parts of england might escape and stay dry with more cloud but warmer — 20—21 again because we're switching the wind direction. we are tapping into this south—westerly and starting with that high pressure close by but, eventually, on monday, that weather front does slip through across central and eastern areas. by then, perhaps not that much rain around it, but it will freshen things up again behind with showers — sunny spells and showers

as we go through towards monday. and potentially something a little bit more unsettled looking towards the west. but look at those temperatures —19—21 celsius, feeling quite pleasant. and that's because we're still keeping this south—westerly. then there is some uncertainty as we go further ahead, then, into next week. low pressure looks more dominant, doesn't it? but there's always the chance that a ridge of high pressure mightjust start to build across southern areas, so it's more likely that we'll see the wetter and windier weather taking shape across northern and western parts but, even further south this stage, it does look set to stay very changeable but still quite warm — temperatures into the low 20s into next week here, and up into the high teens further north. as ever, there's more on the website and we'll keep you up—to—date here.

the end of an era — media mogul rupert murdoch steps down. we look at how the leadership transition will change his empire. plus — an aeroplane design that would cut flight emissions in half? we talk to the ceo that's bringing this idea to the market. hello, and welcome to asia business report. i'm arunoday mukharji. we begin in the us — with news of the transition at the top of one of the world's largest media empires. rupert murdoch has stepped down as the chairman of fox corp and news corp, ending a more than seven—decade

career which saw him spread his business from australia to the united states. our north america business correspondent erin delmore has the latest from new york. at 92 years old, rupert murdoch has been preparing for this day. his eldest son, lachlan murdoch, currently serves as chief executive of fox, and his siblings have cleared the way. but nonetheless the announcement sent shock waves through media circles. the elder murdoch had been noted to joke that he planned to leave his companies feet first, and in that spirit, he said he would remain close at hand, keenly watching his media outlets�*s offerings and reaching out with advice. he'll become america's chairman of both companies in mid—november. it's hard to overstate mr murdoch's influence on the media and political landscapes, both domestically and around the world. his news platforms capitalised on waves of right—wing populism in the united states and elsewhere

that sometimes propelled conservatives to power and