to publish seditious material. if found guilty, the 76—year—old could face life in prison. the prosecution named five foreign political figures that lai was said to be in communication with, including three british nationals. hey, good morning, everybody, this is a very...very nice day in hong kong today. in 2020, while out on bail, the bbc filmed a live stream betweenjimmy lai and a former us deputy secretary of defence. when you think they're soft, they turn out to get tough when you behave badly — and they don't like bullies. today, live streams like this are being used as evidence claiming that mr lai colluded with foreign powers. and please help. in 2020, i was the lastjournalist to speak withjimmy lai. just hours before his detention, he remained defiant. i'm prepared for the worst.

if the worst comes, that means the most effective way that i can bring the world's attention to hong kong — nothing that i'm going to suffer would be lost. fear is the most inexpensive and convenient way of ruling people and controlling people — you know, if they can induce fear in you, that's the easiest way to control you, that's the cheapest way to control you and the most effective way, and they know it, and they're very good at it. sebastien lai is living in self—imposed exile in taiwan. he's campaigning for his father's release. my one goal is to free my father, because he deserves to be free. he has committed no crime. because standing up forfreedom is not a crime.

and doing so peacefully, journalism is not a crime. freedom of speech is not a crime. even now, if you ask the hong kong government if they have freedom of speech, freedom of press, they will tell you that they do. now, they can't tell you that they do and then put someone in jail for saying something they don't like. freedom of speech isn't freedom to say what they want you to say, it's freedom to say what they don't want you to say. sebastien has become a reluctant activist speaking out against the hong kong government. beijing said the national security law was needed to restore order after a year of political unrest. but critics see the law as a vengeful attack on anyone who dares to speak out.

if you've got a story, you can e—mail us at... newsnight@bbc.co.uk or whatsapp us. have a usually sorting a day out takes gary flint a lot of planning. but he's not had nearly as much work to do before coming to castleton. normally i would have to do a bit of research online or quite extensive research online to actually make the day pleasurable for myself and any family member that i'll be with.

it's because a new map has been produced. on it is clearly marked where facilities are for disabled people like accessible toilets, special parking and where wheelchair hire is. the park authority's teamed up with accessible uk to produce this map. it isn't rocket science and that's the big thing that we need to get across. this is quite basic information. it's hope that castleton can become an example to other places. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. it's been more than a century since treasures were looted by british soldiers from ghana — many of them hold huge cultural and spiritual significance. now, in a landmark agreement, the victoria & albert and british museums in london are returning them, on loan, to the asante king. our culture editor katie razzall has this exclusive report. there is anger. people look at it in colonial terms, looting of items, precious items belonging to people, items that they don't easily forget. gold from the royal court of the asante kingdom,

which was once one of africa's most powerful states. these objects, and many more, were looted by british troops in the asante capital, kumasi, in 1874, during the third anglo—asante war. now they're going back to ghana for the first time in 150 years, to kumasi's manhyia palace museum, in a landmark loan deal with the victoria and albert museum, which bought most of them at auction at the time. they're put on display and they're displayed both as a work of incredible west african goldsmithery, but also as a sort of sign of british imperial and colonial power. 17 v&a items are returning, including a peace pipe used by asante kings, the asantehene, and heavy cast gold badges worn by courtiers tasked with cleansing the king's soul. the agreement is not with the ghanaian government but with otumfuo osei tutu ii, the current asantehene, who once worked for brent council, monarch for a people whose history is steeped in gold and wealth.

the deal�*s chief negotiator is ivor agyeman—duah. there's so much interest in these items. these were objects that were created by the royal artisans for all sorts of ceremonial reasons. at least these objects will be home after 150 years. the british museum is also loaning 15 gold items, including a sword of state looted by british troops during the anglo—asante war of 1895—86. british law bans some national institutions, including the british museum and the v&a, from permanently returning objects. in giving a piece back, you're also giving back a missing piece of history. nana oforiatta ayim is a special advisor to ghana's culture minister. she welcomes the loan deals with the ashante king — the ghanaian government could not have agreed to the terms. the metaphor is, you know, someone comes into your home and steals something from your house, keeps it in their house, and then x amount

of years later comes and says, "i'm going to lend you your thing back." i mean, it doesn't make any sense. those objects, with origins in war, in looting, in military campaigns, we have a responsibility to the country's origins to think about how we can share those more fairly today. and it doesn't seem to me that all of our museums will fall down if we build up these kind of partnerships and exchanges. have you felt ashamed that these items are here? i don't feel ashamed they're here. i feel they're part of a history of british—ghanaian interactions, some of which is around war, some of which is around slavery, some of which is an incredible creative ghanaian diaspora in the uk today. the v&a insists this is not restitution by the back door. for ghana, it's both a way forward and a way to bring the treasures back. well, ghana's chief negotiator for the agreement, ivor agyeman—duah

that you heard in the piece joins me now. thank joins me now. you for your time. how will the deal work and how much time and effort has gone into negotiations? we started in may 2023, about nine months from now visiting, having discussions and agreeing and disagreeing on issues. it's come to this for them and finally at least these objects will come back to the country of their origin. these items were taken 150 years ago. how important was this for ghana? and what impact did it have on its relatonship with the uk? these are a set of objects of 150 years old as you rightly said. the descendents of the creators of these

objects definitely are not that old. so for them and coming from society the visualisations of the items are very important. it links the present to the past. it will serve another purpose i suppose in the creativity of the past generations of those who never had the opportunity to preserve palace culture, palace creativity. and what it was and what it is now. for the tens of thousands of schoolchildren, adults who will see the palace museum and you're talking about 80,000 people who do that every year, this is a new acquisition that will go a long way towards enlightening them of the past. and there roll ourforebears played. past. and there roll our forebears -la ed. ~ �* , past. and there roll our forebears laed.�* , played. we're seeing some beautiful artefacts nova _

can you tell us about some of the items in question and the importance of them to ghanian people and history? these are royal regalia. 0ne these are royal regalia. one is about 300 years old. it's one of the two state swards that they used to fight against the people. also they were using the same sward to pledge of allegiance to the subtleties of the past. the wind that is in the british museum, the bond we see is the original. after the 1900 war and another one was created to replace what was taken away. for many this is the original one of 300 years old. and since that is 300 years old, that is something that has its own fascination. the loan is only for a maximum of six years — in 2030 do you see ghana

happily returning them? we will that's the agreement. the issue within there's much that be done. it will be exposed to people, the impact is also what we look at. we will have to look again but we're talking of 80,000 people visiting. we estimate that about twice this number will visit the museum in the years that these objects will be with the museum. stuart we're looking at the economic value of this but also the historical significance that this will bring. and connecting the present to the past and the creativity of now and then. these are multifaceted issues that we're dealing with. we've been talking about these for the last 50 years. now there is a new way. of

course there is a contrast of the can to give the and after all these were looted items back then. you can't talk about issues for 50 years and continue to make the same case. and there's nothing coming out and to continue. i think there is a way you can get to something for that for the time being, why not try other strategies? there is always room for coming to new terms or new agreements. you never know. we will leave it there — agreements. you never know. we will leave it there for _ agreements. you never know. we will leave it there for now. _ agreements. you never know. we will leave it there for now. ivor _ leave it there for now. ivor agyeman—duah, thank you for talking to me. joe lewis, the former tottenham hotspur owner, has pleaded guilty to insider trading and conspiracy in a manhattan courtroom on wednesday. the 86—year—old billionaire businessman and investor was accused injuly

of passing on confidential information he had gathered in corporate boardrooms to friends, pilots and former love interests. this information enabled them to make millions of dollars in profits. joe lewis apologised, saying he was embarassed and knew what he was doing was wrong. 0ur north america business correspondent — michelle fleury — has more. mr lewis faces sentencing after pleading guilty to insider trading and conspiracy. this was part of a plea deal to settle charges that were brought by the us attorney here in new york last summer. which are something of a black mark on the record and remarkable career of mr lewis who rose from being born and raised in a pub in the east end of london to becoming a billionaire and well—known investor. he shared the information that he gleaned from various boards with friends, we understand what the employees and former romantic partners for the two of those employees were in fact the

pilots of his private jets. they also separately face charges. that is a separate case to what we're seeing here. as for mr lewis, this is trying to settle what could potentially have been a far worse outcome. while she has pleaded guilty to three counts, initially there were 16 brought against him. thejudge wanted to there were 16 brought against him. the judge wanted to take note of this today and basically said she may take that under consideration, that there were these other charges, when she decides on sentencing. as part of the agreement mr lewis has a deal that if he does end up serving jail time, we don't know yet, what will be the outcome of this, he has the right to appeal. that is baked into his plea deal agreement.

an international team of scientists has successfully implanted a southern white rhino embryo into a rhino for the first time. it's proof ivf is possible in this species. they hope the technique can be used to save the northern white rhino, which is technically "extinct "as there are only two left on the planet, and neither of them is able to reproduce. this report from our science editor, rebecca morelle. not coming to you now if he likes it or more you can find out thank you for your company here on newsday. i will be back in a moment with asia business report. hello. after two bouts of stormy weather so far this week, things are looking quite a lot calmer over the next few days. not completely plain sailing, they'll still be some rain at times. it'll be breezy, but less windy

and mostly fairly mild. now for thursday, we've got this frontal system pushing its way northwards and eastwards. this warm front, introducing cloud, introducing some outbreaks of mostly quite patchy rain, but this wedge of milder airflooding north eastwards across the uk. so for most a mild starts to thursday. still a little bit chilly in the north of scotland. here, though, we will see some early sunshine, but generally speaking, lots of cloud, some mist and murk, farquharson hills, some splashes of rain, a few brighter glimpses. and i think particularly in northern ireland, maybe the north—west of scotland, we will see a little bit of sunshine as we head through the afternoon. but those temperatures 9—13 degrees above what we'd expect at this time of year. now, during thursday night, we will see this band of rain sweeping its way eastwards. there's a short, sharp burst of heavy rain and some quite squally winds. clear skies following on behind. and while it will stay mild across the south—east corner, it will start to feel a little bit chillier further north and west

because this weather front here pushing its way eastwards is a cold front. it will introduce for a time at least some colder air, but with a little ridge of high pressure toppling through, some spells of sunshine on friday. now there will be some showers, particularly in scotland, some of these wintry down to, say, 100—200 metres for a time, although those snow levels coming up through the day as the air turns a little bit less chilly. temperatures in single digits for just about all of us on friday afternoon. but that slightly chillier weather will not last long because as we head into the weekend, mild air is going to surge northwards once again. we're expecting some pretty high temperatures, a lot of dry weather for the weekend as well. this is saturday's forecast. some spells of sunshine. the further north and west you are more cloud and some outbreaks of rain, some quite heavy rain actually in parts of north—west scotland, seven degrees for lerwick, ten for london and for plymouth. but as we get into sunday, those temperatures will be a little bit higher. we will see some spells of sunshine, i think most places dry again, some rain in the north=west

of scotland, maybe western parts some rain in the northwest of scotland, maybe western parts of northern ireland, but highs of 12 or 13 degrees.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour,

straight after this programme. it's being called direct action against yemen's houthi rebels. british and us forces attacked their military bases, hitting almost 30 of them with laser—guided weapons... 16 different locations, dozens and dozens of targets struck. ..all in response to houthi attacks on ships in the red sea. strikes on international shipping have a direct effect on our economy. which could drive up prices for consumers in the uk and elsewhere. we would be foolish if we thought j that our strikes were going to put| a quick end to this crisis. the houthis, supported by iran, are not backing down. translation: any american aggression will never - remain without a response. mass protests, sanctioned by the houthi authorities in yemen, have followed.