welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm arunoday mukharji. let's get you the headlines. the biggest prisoner exchange between russia and the west since the cold war era. among those released, wall streetjournal reporter evan gershkovich. hezbollah accuses israel of "crossing all red lines" after the killing of a top hezbollah commander in beirut and the political head of hamas. new details of his assassination now emerge. another slice of sporting history for simone biles, as she picks up her sixth olympic gold. and we will hear from a witness to the titan submersible disaster that gripped the world injune 2023. rory golden tells the bbc about the fear and false hope felt by those on its support ship.

hello, and welcome to the programme. broadcasting in the uk and around the world. starting with the story we've been tracking over the last few hours — the biggest prisoner swap since the cold war has taken place between russia and the west. those who've been freed include the wall streetjournal reporter evan gershkovich, and the former us marine paul whelan, as well as prominent kremlin critics and anti—war campaigners. several of those released by the west back to russia have links with intelligence agencies. this report from our russia editor steve rosenberg in moscow. he was out ofjail but not free — yet. reporter evan gershkovich and former us marine paul whelan. he'd spent more than five years in a russian prison. but this was the start of their journey to freedom. along with other prisoners

to be swapped, they were flown to ankara airport in turkey and the stage was set for the largest prisoner swap since the cold war. those moscow had released went one way. the russians they'd been exchanged for boarded their plane home. the swap involved 26 people being held in seven different countries. as well as evan gershkovich and paul whelan, moscow freed us russian journalist alsu kurmasheva. also, prominent kremlin critics, including vladimir kara—murza, oleg orlov and ilya yashin. and an anti—war artist, sasha skochilenko. swapped, among others, for this man — convicted assassin vadim krasikov, identified by german officials as a russian agent. to set up a prisoner swap... evan gershkovich�*s boss says she is overjoyed to see her reporter

free, but... it feels all wrong to be trading people who are entirely innocent for, you know, a convicted criminal, an assassin, but, you know, we wanted our man back. paul whelan wanted his freedom, you know, understandably. so i think it puts governments in an impossible position. flanked by relatives of the freed americans, at the white house, president biden gave his reaction. it says a lot about the united states that we work relentlessly to free americans who are unjustly held around the world, but it also says a lot about us that this deal includes the release of russian political prisoners. they stood up for democracy, human rights, their own leaders threw them in prison. the united states helped secure their release as well. america accuses moscow ofjailing us citizens to trade them for russians jailed abroad. for the families and friends of evan gershkovich, paul whelan and dissidents

like vladimir kara—murza, this is a moment to celebrate. but keep in mind — for the kremlin, it's mission accomplished. it got what it wanted. it got its agents back. for moscow, the takeaway from all of this will be that hostage diplomacy works and that means we are likely to see more of it, more prisoners here being used as bargaining chips. tonight, president putin gave a heroes�* welcome to the returning russians — among them, spies and sleeper agents. he clearly thinks he got a good deal. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. kurt volker is the former us ambassador to nato. he gave me his take on the prisoner swap. this is a deliberate tactic by putin to take hostages, then trade them for genuine intelligence officers, assassins, and criminals, and so forth. so that's what he's done here,

and he's done it successfully, and i think he feels good about it. and that means he's likely to keep up this pattern of behaviour — that's the big takeaway and the big problem. now, that said, i think this was the right thing to do because we saw what happened to navalny injail, in russia — that could very well have happened to vladimir kara—murza, could very well have happened to any of the americans being held hostage, as well. so it was probably time to do this, from a western perspective. now, the interesting question is from putin's perspective — why was it time to do this? this is right in the middle of the us presidential election campaign, kamala harris is trying to shore up her position. this is a win for the biden administration, and it makes you wonder what it is that is causing putin to do this now? right, and ambassador, the point that steve also mentioned in his report that the takeaway is hostage diplomacy works, and we might see more of that — then what does this mean for western journalists or activists

operating in russia 7 do they face an increased risk, given they are ammunition for future prisoner swaps? absolutely, my message to them would be, don't operate in russia. this is not a normal place. one of the interesting things about this prisoner exchange thatjust took place — if you can call it that — is that, in some cases, this was russians being traded for russians. you have russians who committed crimes that the kremlin wanted back. you have russians who just spoke their mind, who were exercising some freedom of speech in russia, who were imprisoned, and they're being released to the west. so, this is not a normal society, i would not trust being there if i were a journalist at all. it must have been a mammoth process — how complex are these kind of negotiations, and how much coordination and time would something like this have taken, you'd say? yeah, well, the big question is, what does putin want and how much is he willing to pay to get what he wants? and in this case, it was clear

what he wanted was the fsb killer who was in germany, and getting him back. we had an earlier release of some prisoners, but paul whelan and evan gershkovich were not among them — so obviously that's what we wanted. so, we wanted to get them included, we wanted to get some of the russian dissidents included, and then, the price started going up. ok, you have the german—held fsb colonel, then they wanted some from the united states, they wanted some intelligence officers held in a variety of other countries — this is clearly something the biden administration worked to co—ordinate. but we ended up paying a fairly significant price to get our people back. switching focus to developments in the middle east. israel says it's received intelligence that confirms the head of the military wing of hamas was killed in gaza last month. the israelis targeted mohammed deif in a strike on a compound in the khan

younis area on 13july. another hamas senior figure — the group's political leader, ismail haniyeh — will be buried later in qatar on friday, two days after he was killed in a strike in tehran. hamas�*s armed wing said the death of haniyeh will have major repercussions. meanwhile in lebanon, the head of hezbollah said the battle with israel has entered a new stage, after it killed a top hezbollah military commander. our correspondent nick beake has this update from beirut. well, this was the first reaction we've had from hassan nasrallah, the head of hezbollah. and he was speaking today to mourners via a video link—up at the funeral of one of his top commanders, who was killed on tuesday evening in a southern suburb, here in beirut. and the message was that this was a strike that was completely unacceptable, that israel had carried out an assassination — but also that civilians had been killed, including two children.

he said what had happened really has raised the temperature in the middle east and taken the conflict to what he described as "a new level". he also spoke about the killing this week, just a few hours later in iran, of the head of the political wing of hamas. and the killing of ismail haniyeh has certainly been a significant development. he said that the two killings — assassinations — will really provoke a very strong reaction from iran, which of course backs both hezbollah here in lebanon, and also hamas, too. we didn't get any indication as to what the response will be — but certainly, lebanon's neighbours have been talking about the need to really lower the temperature at the moment. the united states, as well, saying that there's a real fear that things could escalate, and that no—one wants to see a wider war in the middle east. so lots of people, i think, concerned about what happens in the coming days. there has been this tit—for—tat over the past ten months

between hezbollah and israel — will this escalate further in the days to come? news from the ongoing tensions in venezuela now — where opposition leader, maria corina machado, she has called for more protests on a saturday after the president declared victory in the disputed election last weekend. in an op—ed for the wall street journal, miss machado claimed that the opposition candidate, edmundo gonzalez, won the vote. antony blinken has said there is overwhelming evidence that the opposition candidate won the opposition candidate won the election. for more on this, i am joint by a crisis group analyst philip, thank you for yourjoining us today. we have just been going through the fed in the wall streetjournal where it was said there is a threat to her life. how worrying would you see is the situation on the ground for opposition leaders there? it is

very worrying _ opposition leaders there? it 3 very worrying indeed. one opposition leader was essentially kidnapped a couple of days ago off the street and we still do not know where he is or what is happening to him. the government is calling for the arrest of the opposition candidate but there is an error facility here which is palpable as security forces have been very tough leave putting down demonstrations that began on monday. the streets i come at the moment but that is because people are afraid to go out. the op—ed also says they are the us to do much more, seeing if president biden doesn't have a democracy, america should be speaking publicly on behalf of the opposition leaders there. is every sense you are picking up is every sense you are picking up of disappointments among opposition parties there that the us is not doing enough? i

would not put it like that. they have recognised and said clearly, antony blinken has said that the clear majority of the vote was one in the election. i think they understand that there is an attempt by the united states and other regional powers such as colombia and brazil and mexico as well to forge some kind of return to negotiations because obviously there is a lot of condemnation in the air of what nicolas maduro did but the key thing is to sort out a solution and that seems a bit elusive. ii solution and that seems a bit elusive. .., , solution and that seems a bit elusive. , ., ., elusive. ifi can pull out for a picture. _ elusive. ifi can pull out for a picture, what _ elusive. ifi can pull out for a picture, what is - elusive. ifi can pull out for a picture, what is your- elusive. ifi can pull out for| a picture, what is your view elusive. if i can pull out for. a picture, what is your view of the role of russia and china in all of this and the significance of their support to nicolas maduro? he significance of their support to nicolas maduro?- significance of their support to nicolas maduro? he has been under a very _ to nicolas maduro? he has been under a very severe _ to nicolas maduro? he has been under a very severe sanction - under a very severe sanction regime by the united states

since 2019 witches had severe economic impact in that period countries like russia and cuba to some extent the chinese have been helping maduro to evade those sanctions and to survive economically. it is no small thing to have two permanent members of the un security council on your side. there is a big geopolitical element to this and some of the usa it would be wise to ease up on the pressure of maduro because what is happening is simply driving him into the hands of the us geopolitical at the series. we will have to _ geopolitical at the series. we will have to leave it there but thank you very much forjoining us and putting your thoughts there on that story. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news.

in the uk, the 17—year—old boy charged with murdering three girls and attempting to murder ten others in southport has appeared in court in liverpool. he can now be named as axel muganwa rudakubana — after the judge lifted reporting restrictions. it's understood that the teenager from lancashire has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and has at times refused to leave his house. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford was in court. sirens blare three days after the horrifying mass stabbing in southport, the police's only suspect, axel rudakubana, was brought to court in a white custody van. accompanied by two police cars, three riot vans and several other vehicles, he was driven to the main court complex in liverpool, where the road was briefly closed. dozens of other officers were providing extra security because of tuesday night's riot in southport.

the first hearing in the youth court lasted about five minutes. 17—year—old axel rudakubana, who at that stage still could not be named, was wearing a police issued grey tracksuit made of a sweatshirt material. apart from a brief glance at the press benches, he kept his face covered at all times. throughout the hearing, because of the defendant's young age, the district judge spoke to him using only his first name, axel. as well as being charged with murder and attempted murder, he is also charged with possessing a kitchen knife with a curved blade. at a second hearing in the crown court an hour later, judge andrew menary kc lifted the legal restrictions, saying that "in the public "interest, axel rudaku ba na should "be publicly named". the young girls he's accused of murdering at monday's taylor swift—themed dance class are six—year—old bebe king, seven—year—old elsie dot stancombe, and nine—year—old alice dasilva aguiar.

he's accused of attempting to murder the class organiser, leanne lucas, john hayes, who had rushed to help, and eight other young girls who can't be named because of court reporting restrictions. whilst these charges are a significant milestone within this investigation, this remains very much a live investigation, and we continue to work with our partners from lancashire police and counter terrorism policing north—west. axel rudakubana, seen here in old photos, was born in cardiff but grew up in southport and went to local schools. it's understood he has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, and has at times refused to leave the house. for the last seven years, he'd been living in this close in the village of banks, just outside southport, with his parents, who were originally from rwanda. as he was driven from court, angry bystanders shouted at the van. he'll be held in youth detention accommodation

at least until his 18th birthday next week. his next court appearance will be a plea hearing on october 25th. let's turn to the olympics — and simone biles has cemented her place as one of the world's greatest ever gymnasts. she won the all—around gymnastics title — for her second gold at paris — and her sixth overall. she has been the oldest winner of the blue ribbon event for 72 years. staying with the olympics, a dream ending has alluded andy murray as their feetin alluded andy murray as their feet in the doubles quarterfinals brings his tennis career to a close. he and his team lost in the three sets to the american taylor fritz. in a women's boxing, the algerian boxer is through to the quarterfinals of the 66 kilo category after her opponent, the italian athletes, abandon in a 46 seconds. she took one

punch to the face and walked to her corner where she was heard saying it is not right. the italian boxer was in tears after the match and told reporters it was the hardest one she had ever taken and she stopped the fight to preserve her life. she is one of two athletes he was cleared to compete in paris despite being disqualified from the world boxing championships last year forfailing to pass boxing championships last year for failing to pass a boxing championships last year forfailing to pass a gender eligibility test. whether games now in full flow, the world anti—doping agency is also under scrutiny following allegations it failed to pursue positive tests of chinese swimmers subsequently went on to win medals at the tokyo games in 2021. robert koller is the director—general and appellees advocacy body global athlete and before this he worked at the anti—doping agency for almost 20 years. he gave me his thoughts on the boxy controversy in how things that has been handled in testing centres. the whole

thing has been a complete disaster for the anti—doping movement and ifeel disaster for the anti—doping movement and i feel bad for the chinese athletes, ifeel movement and i feel bad for the chinese athletes, i feel bad for the competitors.- chinese athletes, i feel bad for the competitors. every time a chinese _ for the competitors. every time a chinese athlete _ for the competitors. every time a chinese athlete is _ for the competitors. every time a chinese athlete is the - for the competitors. every time j a chinese athlete is the podium there is a cloud of suspicion against them, the competitors wonder, and there are three organisations to blame, the chinese anti—doping agency, the world anti—doping agency in the world anti—doping agency in the world aquatics. there is a mandatory provisional suspensions that are required for this drug and after that they should have been hearings and then an announcement, a public announcement whether there was contamination or doping. none of that was done, so that is the problem that the world anti—doping agency has lost all credibility because of the lack of transparency, and one asks was this statewide doping victimising athletes or was it a cover—up to protect this strong nation? until the world anti—doping agency releases all the files and the reports, the reasons why they did not pursue an appeal because the rules were not

followed, their own rules are not followed, the cloud of suspicion will hang over the world anti—doping agency in the world anti—doping agency in the world aquatics for a long time. athlete confidence is at an all—time low and they are destroying what we're trying to create, a level playing field and equally in sport. lack of transparency, it is outrageous. we demand more. the anti-doping auen we demand more. the anti-doping agency said — we demand more. the anti-doping agency said on _ we demand more. the anti-doping agency said on tuesday, _ we demand more. the anti-doping agency said on tuesday, and - we demand more. the anti-doping agency said on tuesday, and i - agency said on tuesday, and i quote, it is unfairly caught between the us and china geopolitical tensions which they they spilt over to the olympics. what do you make of the argument? this olympics. what do you make of the argument?— the argument? this is the diversion _ the argument? this is the diversion tactic, _ the argument? this is the diversion tactic, this - the argument? this is the diversion tactic, this is . the argument? this is the| diversion tactic, this is not about politics. it is about a country did not follow the rules in the world anti—doping agency did not make sure they follow the rules, nothing to do with the chinese — us relations. it is about a guardian of the code, the world anti—doping agency, they did not uphold its own rules to make those athletes accountable

for doping or allowing them to go free because of contamination. they still do not find out how those substances got into the kitchen in china, and that is a must under their code. you have to find the source, if you do not find the source, if you do not find the source, then athletes are suspended, results removed in the event of a four years, so you understand where there is so much concern of what went on behind closed doors, while the decision not to move forward. this has got nothing to do with politics, it is about not following their own rules. the titan submersible disaster injune 2023 gripped the world for days, knocking sounds were heard that were thought to possibly be coming from the oceangate sub, but hopes were dashed when titan's wreckage was found. rory golden was on the mothership at the surface. our science editor rebecca morelle spoke to him before he set sail on the first expedition to the titanic wreck site since the submersible disaster. a service held at sea above the wreck of the titanic to remember the 1,500 lives

lost in the 1912 maritime disaster, but also those who died on board the titan submersible injune last year. the sub was attempting to visit the wreck when contact was lost. rory golden was on the surface ship, anxiously waiting. when the sub was overdue, we weren't unduly concerned because communications break down a lot in the ocean. but when the alarm was finally raised, that's when we realised that there was some serious issues. a major search and rescue operation was launched, but a few days in, banging sounds were detected underwater, raising hope these were coming from the missing sub. it wasn't the case. titan had imploded just hours into its dive. we lived in false hope forfour days, you know, and the one redeeming thing that we can say is that at least we know they didn't suffer, because we had this image in our heads of them being down there, running out of oxygen in the freezing cold, getting terribly frightened and scared. that was actually quite more

frightening than the fact that we didn't know that they had died instantly. those who perished were british explorer hamish harding, the british—pakistani businessman shahzada dawood and his son sulaiman, french diver ph nargeolet and stockton rush, the ceo of oceangate who owned the sub. rory was a close friend of ph nargeolet. i was one of the last to see him. he left the ship in great spirit and great form, and he was happy. he was going to somewhere that he wanted to be. a plaque is being laid to honour ph. rory had also visited the titanic on the titan sub. i made a dive two years ago when i was on the oceangate expeditions. and i'm here, you know, as are many others. that titan had made 15 dives to the titanic up to that point. so it had worked. what do you think now about going in the sub? do you wish you hadn't or do you...

no, i don't wish that at all. it wasn't my time. life is precious. and i got a second chance. because you never know when your time is going to come. and that certainly brought that home to all of us. when the wreckage of titan was finally found, rory and those waiting on the ship knew all hope was gone. we all cried when the remains were found of the sub, you know? and a special bond has been formed between all of us, all those who were on the ship that week, you know? and that's a bond that will always be there. industry experts had raised many questions about the safety of the sub, and an investigation is still ongoing. it's likely to call for changes to ensure such a tragedy doesn't happen again. rebecca morelle, bbc news, providence, rhode island. that's all the time we have for now, remember our top story remains that biggest prisoner exchange between russia in the west — and there is live reporting being posted on the bbc news website.

that's all for now. hello there. thursday was another day of heat and humidity, particularly across central and southern wales, where we saw temperatures widely into the high—20s. but temperatures did peak in wisley, surrey, and bournemouth at 30 celsius once again. it did, however, come at a price, this heat and humidity — because, through the afternoon, we saw a cluster of sharp, thundery downpours moving their way eastwards. now, they started off across south wales, then steadily pushed their way east. there were quite slow—moving because the winds pretty light, and they brought a lot of heavy rain in a short space of time. those sharp, thundery downpours still continuing to drift their way eastwards during the early hours of friday, but they will clear away. clearer skies behind — sign of a change to come on friday, with more cloud and rain gathering in the far north—west. but friday will start off on a warm, sultry

note in the south—east — 17 celsius to greet us first thing in the morning — and still the risk of a few sharp showers easing away from east anglia. but the real change will come with this area of low pressure, up into the north—west — it will gradually introduce stronger winds, more cloud, and eventually some rain. so, we start off with a few scattered showers across east anglia, slowly brightening up and warming up once again — another warm, humid day here. but heavier rain developing into northern ireland, north—west scotland as the afternoon progresses. it may well stay relatively dry across eastern parts of scotland. temperatures in scotland and northern ireland 16—21 celsius — but a warm, sultry afternoon across eastern england, with highs of 27 celsius. somewhat fresher conditions will arrive as we move into the weekend because, as this front — a cold front — sinks south and east, it will introduce slightly less humid air. but there is still a risk of a cloudy start across parts of england and wales, and a line of sharp, thundery downpours moving

their way south and east. behind it, brighter conditions, a few scattered showers into the north—west — and saturday, not quite as warm right across the country, ranging from 15—24 celsius. and that trend is going to continue into the week ahead. temperatures perhaps back to where they should be for this time of year. there will be more in the way of rain around but, all in all for some, still some good dry, usable weather. take care.

apple and amazon report a mixed bag of results, not helping boost wall street, as the dowjones index sees its worst day of the year. the bank of england pulls the trigger on its first interest rate cut in four years. hello and welcome to business today. i'm arunoday mukharji. it was an ugly day on wall street, with the dow sliding nearly nearly 500 points, as recession fears re—emerged. both the s&p 500 and the tech—heavy nasdaq also closed in the red.

the report cards of tech giants amazon and apple didn't do much