laura bicker, bbc news, cambodia.ial channel of disgraced nigerian televangelist tb joshua's megachurch for violating its hate speech policies. it comes weeks after an investigation by the bbc and opendemocracy focused on allegations of widespread sexual abuse and torture by the late preacher. emmanuel tv played a key role in his rise from local pastor to global star. it had more than half a million followers on youtube and hundreds of millions of views. the church has not commented on the removal, but has said previous allegations of wrongdoing have been "unfounded". the sesame street character elmo has become the internet�*s therapist... after posing a casual question on x — formerly known as twitter — asking how is everybody doing? that was enough to prompt thousands of people to unload their woes on elmo, saying they weren't ok at all. our reporter, courtney bembridge, has more from the newsroom. it's a simple question, but it's hit a nerve online. almost 180 million people have seen this post on x from elmo, and

that was laura bicker on beijing the's reaction.of william lai, presidentjoe biden said the united states does not support the independence of taiwan. as we've been hearing, taiwan is a key flashpoint in the tussle between china and the us for supremacy in asia. but what is the historical background to their current, complex relationship? our reporter tom brada has more. the elections in taiwan are being closely watched around the world. that is because taiwan finds itself at the centre of a geopolitical flashpoint between the us and china. for all practical purposes, the island has been independent since 1949. but china sees it as part of its own territory which will one day unite with the mainland — if necessary, by force. on that, here's the chinese president speaking in 2022. translation: we will never promise to renounce the use| of force as an option. to understand why the issue of taiwan is so contentious, it is important to understand some of the island's history. in the first half of the 20th century, there was a civil war

lucy becker —— laura bicker reports. j°y lucy becker —— laura bicker reports.r class have found full—time jobs. she has taken a job in sales, not a dream career, but she is determined to make the most of every opportunity. do you think it is more difficult now than when your parents were growing up to get a job? translation: growing up to get a “ob? tuna/momfi growing up to get a “ob? translation: . , translation: yes, the fact is, there are lots ofjobs- _ translation: yes, the fact is, there are lots of jobs. the _ translation: yes, the fact is, there are lots of jobs. the problem - translation: yes, the fact is, there are lots of jobs. the problem is - are lots ofjobs. the problem is whether you are willing to lower your expectations. these jobs don't have good prospects for your future. they offer low salaries and you are easily replaceable. that is why most people would rather stay at home than choose one of these jobs. some than choose one of these “obs. some dish erunon — than choose one of these “obs. some dish elution graduates _ than choose one of these

laura bicker, bbc news, fujian. i was talking about the semiconductor industry.ited the home of one. this place has been described as taiwan's silicon shield. this is hsinchu, about an hour and a half's drive south of the capital, taipei, and this is now the global behind me here in this very bland—looking building, this is taiwan semiconductors plant, or one of many of them in this city. and inside here are some of the most advanced manufacturing processes anywhere in the world. this is where they make the really cutting—edge chips, the five nanometres, or recently they started production of three nanometre chips. these are the things that go into all of our high—tech devices — our mobile phones, our laptops, our cars, and increasingly the smart devices in our homes. taiwan now produces more than 50% of all the semiconductors in the world, but here they produce over 80% of the really, really cutting—edge chips. and that is why, if you like, the outside world needs to be interested and concerned about what happens to taiwan. it's why countries are saying some of

laura bicker, bbc news. let's turn to some other news around the world.ol in perry, iowa. five others were injured in the shooting. police say the shooter, who was armed with a pump action shotgun and a small calibre handgun, was found dead with a self—inflicted gunshot wound. police also say they found an improvised explosive device while searching the building. after more than 2,000 people plunged to their deaths off san francisco's golden gate bridge since it opened in 1937, the iconic structure now has a "suicide net". work has now been completed on 20—foot—wide stainless steel mesh nets on both sides of the 1.7 mile bridge, that began in 2018. authroties injapan say the death toll from this week's earthquake has risen to 92. an additional 2112 people have now been confirmed as missing. thousands of rescue workers continue to search for survivoes, days after the devastating tremor set off landslides and a tsunami tens of thousands of residents are still in shelters. in england there have been hundreds of flood alerts as heavy rain continued to batter

laura bicker, bbc news. let's turn to some other news around the world.perry, iowa. five others were injured in the shooting. police say the shooter, who was armed with a pump action shotgun and a small calibre handgun, was found dead with a self—inflicted gunshot wound. police also say they found an improvised explosive device while searching the building. after more than 2,000 people plunged to their deaths off san francisco's golden gate bridge since it opened in 1937, the iconic structure now has a suicide net. work has now been completed on 20—foot—wide stainless steel mesh nets on both sides of the 1.7 mile—long bridge, that began in 2018. it comes after two decades of persistent advocacy from a group of parents who lost their children to suicide at the bridge. peru says a recent discovery of unrecorded bird species has set a record. the peruvian bird record committee says the country's total of 1,879 avian species makes it home to the greatest diversity of birds in the world. it's also big business for the country. peru says birdwatching draws in 2

that was laura bicker.ng you some live pictures from washington of pro—palestinian protests, and as you can see, there has been quite a turn out as pro—palestinian protests have also been taking place in london. many there have been calling for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. president biden says the us has delivered a private message to iran about the houthi movement in yemen, which iran backs. he said the us and its allies are well prepared for any further attacks in the red sea. the us and the uk launched dozens of strikes against houthi targets in yemen on thursday night, and there was a fresh air strike last night on a radar site which it says was being used by the group. the action is in response to houthi rebels attacking vessels in the red sea, causing huge international shipping delays. for more on that, let's listen to hugo bachega. before and after — these satellite images show the impact of the american and british attacks on houthi targets in yemen. the us says airfields and weapons storage dep

laura bicker, bbc news, qinhuangdao.s of people in the uk facing soaring housing costs. lenders have started the new year by slashing the cost of mortgages — as financial markets bet the bank of england will soon begin to cut interest rates from their 15—year high. banking giant hsbc becomes the first major lender to bring back mortgages below 4% since last march. it comes as rival halifax slashed almost a percentage point off some of its mortgage rates this week. and it's raised hopes of a price war between banks. our cost of living correspondent kevin peachey reports. more than one and a half million homeowners are going to be renewing their their mortgages because their current deal is expiring this year and that new deal is likely to be more expensive. so this renewed competition between lenders is really good news for them, may relieve some of that financial pain, may make it a little bit less intense. remember, too, that landlords, the pressure on them may ease a little and that could feed through to tenants who ma

laura bicker reporting there. and they had to the polls in taiwan this weekend.t today. what will they share about the welds because economy? see you in a moment. hello there. on wednesday, we were all in the same area of high pressure. but despite that, the amount of cloud we saw from place to place varied a lot. the cloud was at its thickest across eastern scotland and north—east england, where we saw drizzle move in from this sheet of cloud from the north sea. but there was some sunshine. western scotland did ok, and for east anglia and southern england also there was quite a bit of sunshine around on wednesday, and what a difference the sunshine made to how the weather looked. for example, here in cornwall, barely a cloud in the sky. now, we're going to have the same kind of weather picture with us for thursday, with the cloud varying a lot from place to place. still got a bit of drizzle falling from it, mind you, east scotland around these eastern coastal counties of england, otherwise dry start to thursday, still some frost slowly melting away for southern

laura bicker, bbc news.nintendo's classic electronic puzzle game, tetris. willis gibson managed to arrange the falling blocks into horizontal lines at increasing speeds, reaching level 157, causing the game to crash. no—one has ever done so well since tetris was released more than three decades ago. oh, my god! the teenager, who goes by the name of blue scuti on youtube, has been playing tetris since he was 11. he took 38 minutes to complete the game. elvis presley, who passed away in 1977, is be bought elvis presley, who passed away in 1977, is to be brought back to life, virtually. a life—sized digital elvis will be created from thousands of his personal photos and home—videos, all part of a new immersive concert experience. the show is due to open in london in november. david sillito has the story. # the warden threw a party at the countyjail...# - elvis never played the uk while he was alive, but 46 years after his death, plans have been announced for a show in london. with what the organisers say will b

our correspondent, laura bicker, has more details.crisis for the second year in a row. the population has declined. this year, 2023, tt�*s declined by around 2 million. that's double that of 2022. the biggest problem is the low birth rate. women, it appears, do not want to have babies, despite the fact the party is encouraging them to do just that. it goes way back to the one—child policy, right from the 1980s, this controversial policy that only allowed families to have one children up until 2015. the party saw this looming demographic crisis and decided to abolish it. since then, they have been promoting a message of marriage and childbirth, but that's had a limited effect. women instead are moving to urban areas and very much like their counterparts in the west, they want to wait to have children. there are issues regarding money. they want to know that they have finances in place to pay for education, for instance. and these are some of the things that are holding many women back. other things, they want to have a career. the othe

laura bicker, bbc news. to david woo, a former international monetary fund economist and macro strategist. thank you for coming in the programme. thank you for coming in the programme-— thank you for coming in the rouramme. . ., ., programme. thanks for having me. what is going _ programme. thanks for having me. what is going on — programme. thanks for having me. what is going on here, _ programme. thanks for having me. what is going on here, what - programme. thanks for having me. what is going on here, what is - programme. thanks for having me. what is going on here, what is the | what is going on here, what is the root of this problem? i what is going on here, what is the root of this problem?— root of this problem? i think the root of this problem? i think the root cause _ root of this problem? i think the root cause here _ root of this problem? i think the root cause here is _ root of this problem? i think the root cause here is the _ root of this problem? i think the root cause here is the chinese . ro

our china correspondent laura bicker has more from beijing.he landslide hitjust before dawn and witnesses told chinese state media that the mountains simply seemed to collapse and just as they slept. what we've seen on state media in terms of pictures as rescuers combing through collapsed bricks and mortar. we understand at this time that 47 people remain unaccounted for from 18 separate households over two villages. so they are spread out over two villages and trying to comb through that collapsed brick and mortar in freezing cold conditions. and we understand it's been snowing heavily in the region and that is hampering rescue efforts. 500 people have been evacuated from the area to safer ground. yunnan province has had many landslides in the past. it is prone to landslides. there's a steep mountainous ground right next to the himalayan plateau. but we do understand that within the afternoon, within daylight hours, rescuers have managed to find four people and one of them is still alive. they are now in a race against time. darkness is falli

laura bicker, bbc news. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. there�*s no denying just how exciting people find fossils, you know, how manyjobs, how many hobbies, how many passions has finding a fossil actually inspired? there�*s no question about it, it did for me. you know, i used to collect fossils — and still do. so it certainly has that natural history attraction. the ammonites here on doniford beach, in somerset are around 197 million years old. but some have been seriously damaged. police have confirmed two people from france were spoken to for allegedly using an angle grinder to try to remove some of the fossils. we�*re used to seeing people collecting on a small scale, when it happens. but, yeah, just the magnitude of this — you can see they�*ve taken out a very large portion of that bedding plane there. you�*re live with bbc news. a second batch of court filings related to jeffrey a second batch of court filings related tojeffrey epstein has been released in new york the first batch were unsealed making public names of people associate

our china correspondent laura bicker, in beijing, gave us china's reaction to the dpp's victory. taiwan affairs office which says that the results of these elections in the taiwan region show that the democratic progressive party cannot represent the mainstream public opinion on the island. that's obviously a nod to the result that william lai, the new president of taiwan and president elect of taiwan, got 40% of the vote. so they're saying he cannot represent the mainstream public opinion on the island. taiwan is part of china, obviously reiterating china's belief on that, these elections cannot change the basic framework and direction of cross—strait relations. now, the statement is very much what we would expect from beijing at this time. they reiterate the point that taiwan is part of china, that these results are local elections and that unification will happen. but there is no mention of force in this statement. it says that the taiwan issue and achieving national reunification remains consistent and unwavering, their position on that, and they firmly opposed separatist act

to safety, and rescue efforts are under way in bitterly cold weather. 0ur china correspondent laura bicker seemed to collapse and just as they slept. what we've seen on state media in terms of pictures as rescuers combing through collapsed bricks and mortar.

laura bicker, bbc news, fujian.lections that are being held tomorrow let's speak with the assistant professor of political science at a local university. political science at a local university-— university. how will the election _ university. how will the election outcome - university. how will thej election outcome affect taiwan's relations with china and the united states? there will be a u-turn _ and the united states? there will be a u-turn of— and the united states? there will be a u-turn of taiwan's l will be a u—turn of taiwan's policy because most of the opposition parties including kmt are more friendly towards beijing and they want to keep a closer relationship with china but not too close with the united states. so there will be a u—turn. but if the dpp wins than everything will remain similar to the situation right now. �* , ., , ., now. and tensions will remain hiuh? i now. and tensions will remain high? ithink— now. and tensions will remain high? i think so. _ now. and tensions will remain high? i thi

laura bicker, bbc news. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. marine life was like in a time before humans. there's no denying 'ust how before humans. there's no denying just how exciting _ before humans. there's no denying just how exciting people _ before humans. there's no denying just how exciting people find - just how exciting people find fossils, you know, how manyjobs, hobbies and passions has finding fossils inspired? there's no question about it, it did for me. i used to collect fossils every day. so it certainly has that natural history attraction. the ammonites here in somerset _ history attraction. the ammonites here in somerset are _ history attraction. the ammonites here in somerset are around - history attraction. the ammonites here in somerset are around 197 l here in somerset are around 197 million years old. but some have been seriously damaged — police have confirmed two people from france were spoken to for a democrat allegedly using an angle grinder to try to remove some of the fossils. we are used to seeing people collecti

from anne soy on what is being done to counter climate change in kenya but first let's hear from laura bicker house gases on the solutions being found there. china burns more coal than anywhere else in the world, and they have the equivalent of around two new coal—fired power stations per week, and it is that reliance on coal that means that china accounts for around a third of the greenhouse gases in the world every year, more than north america, south america, africa and maldon combine, but here comes the but, china is one of the biggest polluters —— africa and asia combined. it is building more wind turbines and more solar panels than anywhere else in the world and it accounts for around 80% of the solar panel manufacturing and that is helping to drive down the costs of a solar panel. and that push for renewables means that this year co two emissions in china are set to fall. �* .., two emissions in china are set to fall. �* .. .., , two emissions in china are set to fall. ~ ,., , ., fall. african countries are set to be the most _ fall. african countries are set to be the most vulnerable

our china correspondent laura bicker has been to south—west china to meet young people who graduated

our china correspondent laura bicker has more on china's reaction to the election results.e the results of taiwan's presidential election. we've had two statements, one from the ministry of foreign affairs and the other from beijing's taiwan affairs office. it says that the democratic progressive party cannot represent the mainstream public opinion on the island of taiwan and it ends with the strong words, "they cannot stop the unstoppable trend of the eventual reunification of the motherland." for the last ten years, president xi jinping has sold china this vision of a strong, unified china with taiwan and he has not ruled out the use of force if necessary. his tactics have become ever more aggressive, sending warships and militaryjets around the taiwan strait repeatedly. but many people are now asking, what does he do now? because a third term for the dpp would suggest that president xi jinping's vision of a unified taiwan is no further away than he would like. this is a party that here in china and in beijing say is a gang of separatists. there have been warnings that wi